Aden Hizkias
  Staff Writer

Students discussed their thoughts on the new strategic plan with Chancellor Frank Gilliam, Jr. and Provost Dana Dunn during a forum held last Monday night from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

“The best joke is one you don’t have to tell the punchline to, and that is what the meta-narrative should be,” Chancellor Gilliam said.

Unlike the faculty forum, which focused on the Healthy Lives, the students took the focus to the Vibrant Community theme. Students seemed to agree with the strategic plan for the most part but were concerned with the implementation.

The main discussion focused on UNC-Greensboro’s perceived need for tradition. Students brought up that although there are some traditions for the university such as the luminaries, community garden, and the rock, it needed more.

A physical mural or something of that nature in which students could participate in was also mentioned as something that could be done in the future.

Virtual versus the physical world was a miscommunication that came to the forum. The lack of information distribution and awareness in particular displayed why students did not know about UNCG traditions.

Traditions such as placing apples on the Minerva statue during exam time for good luck and painting the rock that is open to the community and exchanged after 24 hours are known, students acknowledged; the students claimed that other matters such as the location of the community was not information easily available.

A collaborative discussion took place with questions from the students and Gilliam on how UNCG can establish this.

Students asked for better access of information through professors, canvas and a physical bulletin board along with the emails that are sent.

“I really like the strategic plan and see it as an asset that we are the most diverse UNC campus and one that educates large numbers of first-generation college students,” Dr. Lisa Levenstein from the department of history said. “We believe that UNCG must insist that all students, no matter what their background, deserve an education that allows them to deeply engage with questions about philosophy, history, religion, arts and literature.”

Dunn stressed that it was important that the plan publicized its merits and the effect it would have on both the students and the overall community.

Gilliam noted that the Vibrant Community theme was a major part with the Spartan Village II in Glenwood, which will have a grocery store, and the development of S. Elm Street.

Gilliam and Dunn believe that UNCG needs to work with the stakeholders to make a difference in the community through getting students to be more involved in community activities.

“I would like our students to be more worldly,” Gilliam said.