Think your voice gets lost in the shuffle of the thousands of people roaming around UMass Boston? Wish that you had a say in student events or parking or food service on campus? Well, you do. Every first Tuesday of each month members of the UMB community are invited to stop complaining and start thinking.
The Beacon Think Tank is a discussion group that joins students, administrators, and members of every facet of the UMB campus. In the hopes of promoting an institutional climate of critical thinking, communication, leadership, and learning, this group forms to define issues that arise at the university and hash out solutions.
“The Think Tank is a way for students to come to the table with…our administration and bring an issue or concern that we have, however with a solution,” says student Eliza Wilson who helps to coordinate the group’s monthly meetings.
According to Wilson, the meetings of the Beacon Think Tank have addressed a number of important issues at UMB and have helped all the parties involved gain perspective.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Charlie Titus is among the administrators who have participated in the think tank. He says that it is one outlet within Student Affairs that Interim Chancellor Keith Motley wanted to remain heavily active in after changing roles from vice chancellor of student affairs to chancellor of UMB in August of 2004.
“It’s part of his leadership style, he believes in communicating, he believes in sharing information. I think that it’s been real consistent since he’s gotten here as a Vice Chancellor. He has been very accessible, he’s been a serious communicator -that’s just his style,” says Titus of Dr. Motley.
Wilson, who also works within the chancellor’s office, agrees, crediting Motley for reviving the Beacon Think Tank that had been established before he took his former position at the helm of Student Affairs.
She offers that issues and discussion concerning the need to fix the university’s garage-foundation, the opening of the campus center, and food service on campus have all been among topics of think tank sessions.
“Having those vice chancellors there is…very helpful with creating the solutions to the issues…they have a different vantage point from their positions, and I believe it’s beneficial to the vice chancellors that attend these meetings because they get feedback,” says Wilson of the representatives from student affairs, administration and finance, and enrollment management who have attended meetings.
According to Titus, the three initial Beacon Think Tank meetings this semester have successfully tackled a number of issues. Further, he feels that issues surrounding Sodexho food service on campus are a testament to the think tank’s effectiveness. Discussions of register lines, pricing, expedience of service, as well as employee practices were surfaced within the tank.
“They had the food service people come in to a think tank meeting to talk about how they saw the issues from their perspective, and they also talked about the things they thought they could do to impact some of the concerns the students and the campus had,” said Titus of Sodexho, who came under scrutiny last semester when a Boston Globe columnist denounced the company’s treatment of former UMB cafeteria employee Mary Barry.
“I believe it was very beneficial to the group, because we got to learn their perspective -not just ours,” says Wilson of Sodexho’s participation. “It was just like a fusion of ideas and laws and regulations,” she continues.
The next meeting of the Beacon Think Tank is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to Eliza Wilson via email at [email protected].
“This is not just a complaint session,” says Wilson. She continues, “College is what you make it…we are what generates this campus, we the students. If we don’t make it happen, it won’t happen… that’s one of the greatest things about this group.”