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Show The Forum January 5, 2003 1 Strategic Continued from pg. statement. Bassis and others will then 1 collaborate to refine and elaborate the draft vision statement in the fifth phase. Finally, in the sixth phase, Bassis will formally propose the final plan to the Board of Trustees next tainted with a form of censorship. Bassis stood before the crowd at the end of the morning session and defended the process, calling it imperfect and admitting, In a group this large, it can get messy. He assured everyone present the committee would be accessible and available for feedback as the strategic planning process continues January. The afternoon session of Fridays meeting went much the same as the morning session, with smaller groups forming lists of critical issues, defined as opportunities and challenges facing the college, and then reducing the lists as throughout the year. The year-lon-g process consists of six phases, of which Fridays conference was the first. The conference was designed to identify core values and critical issues facing the college. For the second phase, the Steering Committee will appoint task forces to explore the critical issues. The findings of the task forces will be brought , they merged with other groups. After the lists were compiled, members of the crowd broke into three separate groups to clarify the listed ideas, vote on them and come up with their final lists. The three groups then gathered together again on the gym floor and presented their ideas to everyone. There was less dissent in the crowd when the final lists of critical issues were together for phase three, when a vision statement for Westminster will be drafted. The fourth phase of the plan- presented, possibly because more ideas made their way into the final cut. The meeting ended with thanks to the meetings facilitators, who were members of the ning process will take place over the summer, when new task groups will begin implementing the vision ) 1 r2 i alumni and the Board of Trustees, who volunteered their time and efforts to make the meeting run as smoothly as possible. Many participants commented on the lack of student involvement at Fridays meeting. While the faculty, staff and alumni were well represented, few students made time in their schedule to attend. Many people at the meeting understood, saying that students schedules dont often give them a whole day off, but some people saw the lack of student involvement as indicative of a lack of interest in the future of Westminster College. Bassis said students might not understand the effects and benefits of attending and determining the future of this school. He wanted to remind students, The value of your degree is only worth the current state of the institution it came from. At the end of the meeting,-Bassi- s addressed the crowd with some closing remarks about the days events: For months people said it couldnt be done, but what , Lesa Ellis takes advantage of the continental breakfast at Fridays Strategic Planning meeting. Dr. happened today was quite extraordinary. student body, faculty, staff, li 1. .5J i 5 i to Visit Westminster Angel Jenson Staff Writer One of the nations funniest comedians is slated to perform for Westminster students Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. in Gore Auditorium. Mimi Gonzalez is a loud comic known for her funky feminist humor and director of the Media Education Foundation. Jhally is the author of four books, Andy Sullivan Staff Writer including Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences and the Myth of the American Dream. He is also the author of numerous schol- lecture, Why Americans Can t Think Straight About Race at Thursday s KeyBank Cultural Diversity Lecture Series. Sut Jhally, one of the worlds leading experts on advertising and media studies, will give a lecture titled Why Americans Cant Think Straight About Race this Thursday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. in Gore Auditorium. Jhally s lecture is part of the KeyBank Cultural Diversity Lecture Series. ; . Jhally is a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the executive attacking the gap between men and women in the battle of the arly and popular articles. . Jhally is perhaps best known for his film Dreamworlds: DesireSexPower in Music ' Video, which the Los Angeles Times described as a scathing examination of pop videos use and abuse of women. Jhally s lecture explains his belief that popular culture causes Americans confusion when dealing with race and sexes. Gonzalez began pursuing . comedy in New York in 1985 and since has toured the U.S. twice and traveled overseas to entertain the military in Japan, Bosnia and Kosovo. Some highlights of her career include performing at the 1993 March on Washington, and scoring a fea- tured spot on Comedy Centrals Women Aloud. She has also been featured in numerous radio and television spots, including The Maury Povich Show. While living in San Francisco she became the producer of Women with Balls, a class issues, leaving us helpless to deal with the controver- ' sies that are tearing the nation apart and leaving the inner city in a state of desperation and violence. e weekly stand-u- p comedy pro- gram for women. The event is sponsored by ASWC. Comedian Mimi Gonzales at 8 p.m. will visit Gore Auditorium Jan. 15 c |