Student Group Demands LDA Benefits at St. Norbert College
Suzan Odabasi
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Features
Korenak argued for LDA benefits from a business perspective when he stated that such benefits would lead "employees [to] become more comfortable, more open," would encourage diversity, and would be attractive to potential faculty and staff.
In an interview with the St. Norbert Times, Pavlik explained the possibility of implementing LDA benefits at SNC further. "We've got a lot of the startup work done for this policy change," he said. "We just need to nail down the specifics (phrasing of our LDA definition, since they vary widely; clearly articulated costs and likely enrollment; etc.) and talk to the right people. We need students to help with this sort of research coordinated with the work we've already done on the issue."
When asked what implications a policy change would have for SNC, Pavlik said, "I think that adoption of the LDA benefits policy would signify a genuine, reflective commitment to community and the courage to be proactive in finding ways to make St. Norbert College the best living/learning community possible. I also think it would show a willingness to consider issues on a deep level, in line with our heritage of the liberal arts and the Catholic intellectual tradition, which seems to be an admirable path and the right one for an institution of higher education."
Pavlik also spoke about the challenges of communicating the goal of implementing LDA benefits to the larger SNC community: "The contemplation linked with this issue is pretty important, especially given that discernment of values and action is a vital part of the SNC experience, but in explaining, we can lose people in detail, and in simplification, we can lose the reflection." He also pointed out his awareness of potential conflicts in terms of religious core values of the college: "I don't see the religious dimension personally as an issue, as a Catholic myself, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Nevertheless, we took care to devote time to it during our presentation because we were aware, both independently and in our discussions with others, that it might become or be made an issue by our audience. We wanted to be intellectually honest and straightforward, and address the fact that arguments against LDA benefits could be found in a religious dimension, but that it wasn't cut-and-dried since there was also a solid case to be made in favor of the benefits from those same perspectives. Other colleges sharing similar values and situations had worked through these conflicts before, and so we realized that sharing those conflicts and the resolutions would be a good way to educate on the topic."
In an interview with the St. Norbert Times, Pavlik explained the possibility of implementing LDA benefits at SNC further. "We've got a lot of the startup work done for this policy change," he said. "We just need to nail down the specifics (phrasing of our LDA definition, since they vary widely; clearly articulated costs and likely enrollment; etc.) and talk to the right people. We need students to help with this sort of research coordinated with the work we've already done on the issue."
When asked what implications a policy change would have for SNC, Pavlik said, "I think that adoption of the LDA benefits policy would signify a genuine, reflective commitment to community and the courage to be proactive in finding ways to make St. Norbert College the best living/learning community possible. I also think it would show a willingness to consider issues on a deep level, in line with our heritage of the liberal arts and the Catholic intellectual tradition, which seems to be an admirable path and the right one for an institution of higher education."
Pavlik also spoke about the challenges of communicating the goal of implementing LDA benefits to the larger SNC community: "The contemplation linked with this issue is pretty important, especially given that discernment of values and action is a vital part of the SNC experience, but in explaining, we can lose people in detail, and in simplification, we can lose the reflection." He also pointed out his awareness of potential conflicts in terms of religious core values of the college: "I don't see the religious dimension personally as an issue, as a Catholic myself, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Nevertheless, we took care to devote time to it during our presentation because we were aware, both independently and in our discussions with others, that it might become or be made an issue by our audience. We wanted to be intellectually honest and straightforward, and address the fact that arguments against LDA benefits could be found in a religious dimension, but that it wasn't cut-and-dried since there was also a solid case to be made in favor of the benefits from those same perspectives. Other colleges sharing similar values and situations had worked through these conflicts before, and so we realized that sharing those conflicts and the resolutions would be a good way to educate on the topic."
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