Letter of support: COC still under SA, risks not addressed by move

Dear ___

I am writing to express my alarm at the current moves to force the
Syracuse University Outing Club (SUOC) from the Student Association to
become a Club Sport under Rec. Services. I doubt that any other part of
OGLEL provides more worthwhile experiential learning opportunities than
SUOC, and I fear that moving SUOC outside of the Student Association and
student governance would cause irrevocable damage.

Given the uproar on the SUOC alumni email list, I'm sure you will receive
other letters attesting to the value of SUOC as a student-run organization
within the Student Association. I would like instead to focus on two
specific issues.

First, Mitch Gartenburg and others have stated that SU wishes to emulate
Cornell's successful outdoor education program and have suggested that
this is somehow incompatible with the existence of SUOC as a Student
Association club. Our experience at Cornell is quite the opposite: the
Cornell Outing Club remains a Student Association club while Cornell
Outdoor Education is a University department. In fact, the director of
Cornell Outdoor Education, Todd Miner (607-255-8004, tm49@cornell.edu),
recently expressed his support for this model in an email to the SUOC
email list:

At Cornell the Outing Club is still very much alive and well and
kicking, and it is not under recreational services. It remains an
independent club, I believe under the general student government.

Thankfully, at Cornell we enjoy many outdoor organizations. The
Cornell Outing Club provides backcountry and outdoor recreational
opportunities for the campus and community. TEVA does the same
thing for Jewish students and the community. Cornell Outdoor Education
provides outdoor and adventure physical education, student
leadership, and teambuilding. A number of other clubs and units
practice all kinds of outdoor recreation and education (skiing,
sailing, natural history, etc.).

As the head of COE I very much value and appreciate the mission
and role of the Cornell Outing Club.

Second, I would like to question one of the contradictions in arguments
put forward about risk-management. If Dean Baker and Rec. Services claim
that the move from SA to Rec. Services is necessary because of "risk
management issues", it is incongruous to argue simultaneously that there
will be no changes to the way SUOC is run. I understand that the
University has a responsibility to manage risk and also that random
reorganization will not mitigate risk. However, if these risk management
issues can be articulated (they haven't been to date) then there could be
a constructive dialog about how to address them under the current
framework.

I thank you for your time considering this issue and I hope that SUOC will
remain as valuable a part of the experience of Syracuse students as it has
been for the past 70 years.

Yours sincerely,
Simeon Warner
(Cornell Outing Club Advisor)

Why "fix" what is not broken??

I just sent this letter to the Chancellor and all those other high-falutin' people:

 

I am a Syracuse alum writing to request that you leave the Syracuse Outing Club under its current capable student-run leadership. I was a SUOC member from 1985-1989. My involvement with this remarkable club was the most valuable experience I had at Syracuse University. When I discovered it during my freshman year I felt like I had finally found some kindred spirits in the midst of a large unwelcoming student body. I have never been part of a more caring and supportive group of peers. We forged lifelong friendships and continue to feel deeply connected to all the generations of SUOCers who have come before and after. This club is truly a giant extended family.

I had great respect for and confidence in those of my peers who took on leadership roles in SUOC. They brought thorough knowledge, safety-awareness and skill to every trip. It was so empowering to be taught by them and to grow into a leadership role over the years myself. This unique organization showed me that people can work together with respect, compassion and equality and when they do, every member becomes personally invested in its success.

Now I am a high school teacher who understands the value of empowering my students with the right to make their own choices and trust their own leadership skills. Democratic (student-centered) classrooms work much better than dictatorships. It surprises me that there are administrators at SU who do not know this and who wish to take over a club that is already healthy, strong, safe and vibrant just the way it is. Why "fix" what is not broken??

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Kendall Kalkstein Laird

FW: SUOC Blog

 To add to the Blog...
I sent the following letter to the Chancellor, Deans, and Dir. Of Student Affairs on 4-27-05

Dear ________

It is my understanding that the University is currently proposing to move the Syracuse University Outing Club under the University's Outdoor Recreation Program.  Through this letter I urge you to keep the Outing Club as a student run club through Student Government.

I am a 1988 graduate.  I had an incredible education at Syracuse, SUNY ESF, and the University of Washington (where I received my Masters degree). These institutions provided me an excellent education.  I must also say that the single most important experience I had in those years was my involvement with the Syracuse University Outing Club.  This experience provided me leadership, professional, and social skills that a single class or summer job could not have.

I was a member of SUOC for all four years at the University. I held numerous positions in the club as well as being president in 1987-88.  To date, these years are the most amazing and memorable experience in my life.

On a personal level - I was introduced to outdoor sports I never would have tried.  I vastly improved my outdoor skills.  I was trained in first aid.  I learned how to organize, plan and carry out trips and became a trip leader.  I still maintain an incredible network of friends and colleagues from the Outing Club. I left with lifelong friends not just from my own graduating class but from those before and after me. The alumni group from SUOC is strong and we keep in regular touch.

On a professional level I learned more from SUOC than any business class could have taught. Through this Club I learned how to run an organization, set agendas, run and facilitate meetings, manage and defend budgets, set priorities, resolve problems and conflicts, manage the equipment and inventory, provide service to members and students, ensure trip leaders were well-trained, track progress and accomplishments, and ensure that this was a fun and safe organization. 

Looking back almost twenty years now, what was so impressive about that Club was how organized and responsible we all were. The Club was so much more than just taking trips. We learned to work together and be responsible for the success of every aspect of the organization. We were owners. We were partners. It was our club and its success or failure depended on us.  That ethic has continued.  The Club is over 70 years old and it continues to provide a place for students to learn practical life lessons, responsibilities and friendships that could not happen through a University run event where students are not expected to take on the full responsibilities of managing an organization.

SUOC is working as a student club that can provide experiences that the University itself can't.  This is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. Having a diversity of student run organizations is a draw to many students looking at colleges and should be a priority for the administration too.

I strongly urge you to continue to allow students to exercise leadership and remain in control of their own activity clubs.  Specifically, the Syracuse University Outing Club should remain underneath the Student Government.

Sincerely,

Sandra Kilroy

SUOC Blog

To add to the Blog.
I sent the following letter to the Chancellor, Deans, and Dir. Of Student Affairs on 4-27-05

Dear ________

It is my understanding that the University is currently proposing to move the Syracuse University Outing Club under the University's Outdoor Recreation Program.  Through this letter I urge you to keep the Outing Club as a student run club through Student Government.

I am a 1988 graduate.  I had an incredible education at Syracuse, SUNY ESF, and the University of Washington (where I received my Masters degree). These institutions provided me an excellent education.  I must also say that the single most important experience I had in those years was my involvement with the Syracuse University Outing Club.  This experience provided me leadership, professional, and social skills that a single class or summer job could not have.

I was a member of SUOC for all four years at the University. I held numerous positions in the club as well as being president in 1987-88.  To date, these years are the most amazing and memorable experience in my life.

On a personal level - I was introduced to outdoor sports I never would have tried.  I vastly improved my outdoor skills.  I was trained in first aid.  I learned how to organize, plan and carry out trips and became a trip leader.  I still maintain an incredible network of friends and colleagues from the Outing Club. I left with lifelong friends not just from my own graduating class but from those before and after me. The alumni group from SUOC is strong and we keep in regular touch.

On a professional level I learned more from SUOC than any business class could have taught. Through this Club I learned how to run an organization, set agendas, run and facilitate meetings, manage and defend budgets, set priorities, resolve problems and conflicts, manage the equipment and inventory, provide service to members and students, ensure trip leaders were well-trained, track progress and accomplishments, and ensure that this was a fun and safe organization. 

Looking back almost twenty years now, what was so impressive about that Club was how organized and responsible we all were. The Club was so much more than just taking trips. We learned to work together and be responsible for the success of every aspect of the organization. We were owners. We were partners. It was our club and its success or failure depended on us.  That ethic has continued.  The Club is over 70 years old and it continues to provide a place for students to learn practical life lessons, responsibilities and friendships that could not happen through a University run event where students are not expected to take on the full responsibilities of managing an organization.

SUOC is working as a student club that can provide experiences that the University itself can't.  This is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. Having a diversity of student run organizations is a draw to many students looking at colleges and should be a priority for the administration too.

I strongly urge you to continue to allow students to exercise leadership and remain in control of their own activity clubs.  Specifically, the Syracuse University Outing Club should remain underneath the Student Government.

Sincerely,

Sandra Kilroy

Email to the Chancellor and Deans

Sent yesterday:

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

I’m an SU alum, class of ’91. My fondest memories of university all center on my time with the SU Outing Club. I joined when I was a junior, became an officer when I was a senior. In the vigorous, boisterous, patient and loving environment of the club I found myself . . . and then I found someone else, another SUOCer who fifteen years later is my husband and father of my two kids. SUOC has quite literally set me on my path for life.

 

SUOC for us was more than just a way to learn about and experience outdoor recreation. The club’s very philosophy of self-reliance, perseverance and determination have guided me throughout my life. My friendships formed within the club have lasted over 15 years which is why I am completely aware of the current situation and the potential crisis facing SUOC today.

 

SUOC is not an organization that the university should attempt to control. To do so will kill the initiative of its student leaders, the vitality of SUOC’s strong alumni and eventually bring about the end of the club as we know it, thereby bringing an end to a 75 year old university tradition.  

 

SUOC is a club that exists for its members. It does not exist for the administration. It’s a club, not a class.

 

Already I am hearing of the stifling consequences of your administration’s insistent and unwanted participation. Sending in your rec program’s faculty to eavesdrop on the trip storytelling that takes place during every SUOC meeting (a tradition as old as SUOC itself) to try to find weaknesses in the club’s leadership is uncalled for and unnerving. That will put a stop to the storytelling pretty quickly which is the most fun part of the meeting so meetings will be less attended.

1. Meetings are where trips are set up, so less attendees at meetings means less trips go out.
2. New members fall in love with the club and bond with each other on these trips so less trips means less new members.
3. New members replace the graduates so less new members means a smaller and smaller club until it simply doesn’t exist anymore.

 

Hmm, how did that happen? Just look at Cornell and countless other outing clubs that simply don’t exist anymore as they have been completely swallowed by their school’s administrations.

 

What is SUOC to do in the face of such withering bureaucracy? I can’t control the outcome of your decisions. All I can say is that whatever SUOC decides they must do to keep the philosophy and traditions of the club alive I will support with my voice, my heart and my wallet.

 

copy of email to administration

Thanks to everyone involved for keeping the non-locals aware of what's happening. Hope we can make a difference...
FYI, here's what I sent:

Chancellor Cantor, Dean Baker, et al.,

I am writing to express my outrage about the plans to restructure the University control of the Outing Club.

I feel very strongly about my academic experiences at Syracuse, but hope that you are aware that academics are only a facet of the university experience. The way SUOC has fit into the SU infrastructure for the last 70 years has created a very unique organization. As the trend for large organizations to protect themselves from liability has evolved, so has a tendency for individuals to fail to assume responsibility for their actions. SUOC has been paddling successfully against that current for many years. The activities that SUOC members enjoy are often perceived by non-participants to be "risky". SUOC has been introducing students with absolutely no previous experience to "risky" outdoor sports with zero incidents of litigation against the University over 70 years. I propose that it is the peer leadership model and autonomy of SUOC that have made this a reality. Reliance on peers is very different than reliance on a guide. The current and past structure of SUOC teaches invaluable life lessons about risk, responsibility, leadership, teamwork, environment, and physical activities that can be enjoyed for a lifetime (to mention only a few!). I implore you to keep SUOC separate from Rec Services.

For me personally, SUOC was the most profound experience of my 4 years at SU. The other Outing Club / Outdoor Education models that I have seen since my undergraduate years do not compare to SUOC. (Plymouth State College, University of Maine (Orono), University of Southern Maine) If SUOC was a part of Rec Services from 1989-1993, I would not be a Syracuse University Alumnus. I joined SUOC fall semester of my freshman year, and it literally kept me at Syracuse University.

Ed Manion, class of 1993

SUOC president '92-'93

My Letter of Support

I sent this to everyone on the list except Dean Baker. I'm really not sure what to say to him.

Chancellor Cantor,

Both of my parents were dedicated members of SUOC, a family tradition i intend to continue. We are strongly opposed to Dean Roy W. Baker's efforts to forcibly make SUOC a club sport. SUOC has functioned autonomously, with the support of SA for 70 years. I can see no reason to mangle a system which has evolved over the years into what I believe is one of the best opportunities for "experiential learning" Syracuse University has to offer. Dean Baker's attempt to ignore the will of both SUOC and SA so close to finals (when we students are a little preoccupied) and the end of the academic year (when we aren't here anymore to stop this) appears to be blatantly underhanded and malicious in its intent. I implore you to protect SUOC from being ruined by an ambiguous plan, the effects of which have not been remotely considered by its enactors. Even the obvious issue of equipment has not been adressed by Dean Baker. All of SUOC's equipment is the property of SA and valued at approximately $150,000. Despite having been asked repeatedly, Dean Baker has yet to give SUOC any specifics about what the relationship between SUOC and Recreational Services will be. I ask that you support us in our efforts to preserve our beloved organization from the damage it will suffer if this thoughtless scheme is forced upon us. Thank you for taking the time to consider my opinion. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to further discuss this issue.

Sincerely,
Benjamin W. Stephens
315.443.7940
839 Sadler Hall
1000 Irving Ave.
Syracuse NY 13210

PS According to the Club Sports Handbook, SUOC would have to be renamed The Outing Club at Syracuse University. OC@SU Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue.

Talked to Dean Eric Spina

Syracuse University Outing Club

I went to the SU College of Engineering Alumni mixer in San Jose today. Dean Eric Spina of the College of Engineering and Computer Science was there. I spoke to him about my experience with the Outing Club and mentioned what I had heard about the administration plans for the club.

Without any prompting from me, he expressed the view that this was not a good thing, that he would look into it when he returned, and would express the view that SUOC should be left the way it is. I was pleasantly surprised at how supportive he was, right of the bat.

Uminder Singh

Syracuse University Outing Club

Syracuse University Outing Club

MOFOCO UT checking in. Stick it to the fun haters as best you can, young students. We will be sending some emails and making some calls shortly. No donations shall flow from our deep pockets if this change is made to the club which shaped our time at Syracuse!

MOFOCO UT chapter of the Syracuse University Outing Club Alumni

I called the Chancellor's office last Friday. I did not manage to speak to the Chancellor, who had already left. I explained the situation and my concerns to someone in her office. She offered to connect me with the appropriate administration official.

So, on her recommendation, I wrote an email to the Chancellor, which was forwarded to one of the deans, with a request that they get in touch with me.

Unfortunately, they have not done so. I called the Chancellor's office again today, to get things unstuck. So far, to no effect.

Matt Stillerman

my letter of support

ok, so I was kinda debating on whether I wanted to post this on here or not since it is a little personal. But under the circumstances, I feel it's suprememly important to support this club in every way possible. The following is the letter I sent via snail mail to the chancellor, deans, etc.
-minty

______

Chancellor Cantor,

There is no need to remove the Syracuse University Outing Club (SUOC) from the control of the Student Association (SA) making it a part of Recreation Services. The structure of SUOC is a finely crafted one, one that has run problem free for
70 years. The web of interaction and trust, development of responsibility and self esteem, should not be tampered with. It is a fine structure that needs nurturing NOT administrative control.

I came to Syracuse as a transfer student, my sophomore year, only to be confronted by an impenetrable student body with different values than my own. I fell into a near suicidal depression, taking handfuls of over the counter pills just to sleep through the time. It was without a doubt the worst two years of my life.

The first week of my senior year I made a promise to myself to try anything in my power to seek out some redeeming quality this ‘great’ university might actually have to offer. I joined nearly every club on campus to no avail. Until there was one; I wandered into a Syracuse University Outing Club meeting and for the first time saw students working together in a non-competitive fashion. These were students not concerned by the overwhelming corporatism and need for brand identity that runs rampant through the rest of the campus. For once there was a gathering of people concerned with sharing experience, responsibility and adventure.

I became a very active member of the club. Taking part in rock climbing, ice climbing, white water kayaking and caving. Each trip, lead by fellow students certified in Wilderness First Aid and highly experienced in the given activity, gave me a newfound piece of my own self-esteem. These trips taught me, that yes, you can trust people, yes, people do have interests outside of Steve Maddens’ latest shoe style, and yes, Laissez-faire does work.

I am now in graduate school with my thesis focusing on the significance of caves. I am confident I would not have made it to this point in either my education or my life without the camaraderie and experience SUOC has provided. Please do not undermine the importance of this club or the need for it to remain student run.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Mindy Goldberg
415.596.3895
mjosta@comcast.net

Start the Blog

Okay People, this blog is to publicly discuss what is happening to the Syracuse University Outing Club in the face of a Syracuse University Administrative take over of a 70 year old traditional student run club.

Please post any letters that you've sent to the Chancellor or various other University officials. I will post the addresses below:

Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President
CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE
300 Tolley Administration Building
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244
315-443-2235
ncantor@syr.edu

Dean Barry L. Wells
Office of the Senior Vice President of Student Affairs
308 Steele Hall
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244
315-443-4263
blwells@syr.edu

Dean Roy W. Baker
Associate Dean of Students
126 Schine Student Cetner
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244
rwbaker@syr.edu

Dean Anastasia L. Urtz, Dean of Students DEAN OF STUDENTS OFFICE
301 Steele Hall
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244
315-443-4424
alurtz@syr.edu

Mary Jo Custer, Director of Student
Affairs & Associate to the Senior
Vice President for Student Affairs
OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS
228 Schine Student Center
Syracuse Univeristy
Syracuse, NY 13244
315-443-4357
mjcuster@syr.edu