How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
NYU's new Quality Service Task Force wants to hear your complaints.
Created at the request of NYU Provost David McLaughlin and Executive Vice President Michael Alfano, the task force aims to examine the experiences of all NYU students and to remove the glitches that sometimes make student services difficult to access. To achieve this, each of its 23 members — who are NYU administrators, faculty, staff and students — is assigned to a specific sub-committee corresponding to each class at NYU, ranging from freshmen to graduate students. Sophomores and juniors are grouped together.
Students will be able to identify areas that need improvement via the task force's website, and should e-mail the group with suggestions at quality.service@nyu.edu, said Marc Wais, vice president for Student Affairs. Wais co-chairs the task force with Nancy Morrison, associate vice provost for academic initiatives. Wais added that the student input process will most likely include focus groups as well.
On Dec. 15, the task force will propose potential improvements to McLaughlin and Alfano. Wais said these early efforts at change will be "low-hanging fruit, kind of like easy wins, things that we can do quickly," and he hopes students will see visible results of the task force's work by this spring.
The task force also aims to streamline students' interaction with various areas of NYU.
"I hear students say that this place is bureaucratic, and so anytime we can reduce stress or sending people from one office to another I think is a good thing," said Tom Ellett, assistant vice president for student affairs and a task force member.
In addition to addressing specific classes of students, Bob Cameron, the associate dean of student affairs at Tisch and a task force member, believes the group can help students connect better with their specific schools within NYU.
"Students' lives are centered in their schools," Cameron said. "Outside of their dorms, they also have school-specific experiences."
Currently, the task force has already appointed three student representatives: Stern senior Uma Krishnan; Gallatin senior and student senator Brad Powell; and graduate student Nancy Verdine, president of SCPS Student Council.
Yesterday, Wais said he is in the process of choosing a fourth student to serve on the task force. Whitney Petrie, chair of the Student Senators Council, was initially asked to appoint two undergraduates and one graduate student to the group. Petrie said Krishnan, Powell and Verdine volunteered to serve.
Several members of the task force declined to name specific changes they would like to see. Wais said he preferred to open the discussion to students before weighing in himself.
But Christopher Nicolussi, senior director of student services and support in NYU's Office of Global Programs, said he wants to work with the task force to create one convenient, simple way for students to pose questions about their concerns while abroad.
"The question I've heard from students is, 'Well, who do I call?' " Nicolussi said.
CAS freshman Sasha Mazhbits thinks the task force could improve campus life.
She said: "In order to be successful, the task force should really work to consult students on issues that are most pressing."
