Sitting by the fire with the President
President Neuhauser and the SA organize fireside chat

Maura Bannon | staff writer

On Nov. 27, St. Michael’s President Jack Neuhauser sat on the Alliot Student Center purple couches and chatted casually with students about anything on their minds.  The Student Association (S.A.) and Neuhauser collaborated to form their own version of former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats.”    

Getting cozy with the President

Neuhauser says he held this event because he thought it would help him get to know the students better. 

“It’s good to just sit down and have unstructured conversations with students,” he says.  “It’s important to make myself available."

Neuhauser says he wants to interact one on one with students so he can hear what is on students’ minds rather than discovering the issues secondhand.

President Neuhauser along with Marilyn Cormier met with students for a fireside chat in Alliot on Nov. 27. Jon Stewart, photo

“I plan to continue to meet with students, listen to them, and to see what concerns them,” he says.

Neuhauser also says he thinks that it is important for students to express their beliefs.

“I think we would be pretty unsuccessful as an institution if students didn’t voice their opinions,” he says. 

S.A. President Alex Monahan says these meetings are going to occur on a monthly basis. He hopes more and more people will attend. 

“People may be intimidated to meet the president of the school, but hopefully over time that will change,” Monahan says.
 
Neuhauser says that it’s a stressful time of the year right now with finals coming up so that might have been a reason why not a lot of people were in attendance. 

“Maybe next time 10 people will show up because students will tell their friends about it,” Neuhauser says. 

Neuhauser says in the end, he was happy with the fireside chats. 

“Essentially this is a new tradition, so we’ll have to keep at it for a while in order to see if the students have an interest in this manner of regular interaction, but I do think it was successful, " he says. "I met with a good amount of students and had several interesting conversations."

Breaking the ice

The students who attended the talk with Neuhauser say they were very pleased with the results.  Having students in small groups made it easier for them to interact and socialize.

“It’s a good way to connect with the student body on a more approachable level,” junior Kelsey Soderblom says.  “It creates a sense of community with the school,” she says. 

Even though Soderblom says she enjoyed the meeting, she also added that they could be improved.

“If there were some conversation starters written down beforehand it would be easier to break the ice,” she says. 

First-year Rachel Clayton says she would love to come to a meeting again.

“It’s fun to get to know the faculty and staff.  It makes college less scary,” she says. 

Raising issues over cookies and cider

At first only two students came to talk with Neuhauser, but as people walked by the Alliot purple couches and saw the President, more students became curious to stop by.  The conversation started off by talking about the liberal arts requirements and how they are helpful in guiding students to find what major they would like to peruse.  

But the student’s say Neuhauser’s friendly attitude and witty personality put them at ease.  As more students joined in, the issue of parking came up and why first-years can’t have cars first semester. 

“There is a huge crunch for parking, but we are working on it,” Monahan says. “There just isn’t enough space.  Even faculty members have trouble finding spots.”  

Monahan says the S.A. is working to figure this problem out.  The Chittenden County Transportation Authority, (CCTA) which is the free busing system into Burlington is a great alternative for students who don’t have cars, he says.   

SA officers helped organize the fireside chat with Neuhauser and lured students in with cider and cookies. Jon Stewart, photo

“It works out great because you just swipe your card,” says Soderblom. 

Another topic that was brought up during the fireside chat was that President Neuhauser may be teaching a math class in the future.  Last year Neuhauser taught a course about mathematical models of social situations.

“We learned how groups form, such as how to use a schedule to organize umpires in baseball or how often the grass is cut,” Neuhauser says.

As the conversation changed, one student brought up the issue of having the Alliot hours extended later into the evenings.

“I know it would put a lot of pressure on the Alliot workers, but it would be so great for students, especially on the weekends,” Soderblom says.