Ad Hoc Committee on Student Life
Marilyn M. Boucher, Associate Dean of Students
Michael G. Boughton, S.J., College Chaplain
Linda Carli, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Mark Freeman, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
          (Spring Semester, 1989)
David M. Hummon, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Edward F. Kennedy, Professor, Department of Physics
Clyde V. Pax, Professor, Department of Philosophy
Victoria Swigert, Professor, Department of Sociology, Chair
Matthew A. Toth, Director, Counseling Center

The Ad Hoc Committee on Student Life was appointed by the President of the College in the fall of 1988. In consultation with Frank Vellaccio, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ross Beales, Chair of the Ad Hoc Steering Committee for Reaccredidation, and the Educational Policy Committee, six faculty members from Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, and Sociology, the Associate Dean of Students for Residence Life, the College Chaplain, and the Director of the Counseling Center and Career Planning Office were asked to prepare a report on Student Life. Student life and the curriculum were the two areas identified for special focus in anticipation of the reaccredidation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. To assist the Committee in its work, an Advanced Research Seminar on Student Life was constituted in the spring of 1989. Twelve juniors and seniors, eleven from Sociology and one from Psychology, were invited to become research associates for the project. These associates were involved in all stages of the study, from research design to data analysis and interpretation.

The information on which this report is based comes from many sources. Two hundred and seventy-seven students completed a 38-page, questionnaire survey of their backgrounds, activities, likes and dislikes, attitudes and experiences, stresses and concerns.³¹ Student research associates studied a year's worth of issues of the Crusader; others looked at the funding, membership, and programming of organized student activities. They analyzed data from the Survey of Residence Life conducted annually by the Dean of Students Office and the Annual Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use administered by the Coordinator of Student Alcohol Education. Associates also analyzed essays written by anonymous applicants for the position of Resident Assistant and the House Council Minutes from all residence halls for a full semester.³² Dozens of students were interviewed by the Committee, as were the Directors of Campus Security and Health Services. A workshop on Student Life and the Curriculum held on Saturday, March 18, 1989, brought together students, faculty, and staff for discussions of and reactions to our preliminary findings.

We have learned much about student life at Holy Cross College from these sources. The report that follows is a highlight of findings synthesized from the technical report submitted to the Ad Hoc Steering Committee for Reaccredidation. This report is necessarily selective; it selects from among the hundreds of questions and hundreds more pages of analyses those findings that provide an essential portrait of campus life.

The report is organized into four sections. Part I describes the several dimensions of campus culture: the intellectual, the religious, the formal extracurriculum, and the informal social life.³³ Here, we explore students' experiences with each of these dimensions of their lives. What do they think of their course work, their professors, the education they are getting here? How do they spend their academic time, and how do they see themselves as students? What are their religious beliefs and expressions and the personal relevance of their faith? What do they think of the formal extracurriculum, and how often do they participate in the extracurricular clubs, organizations, and sponsored events of the College? Finally, what are their relationships with one another? What are the shape and texture of the informal social life at Holy Cross? How do they spend time with one another; how do they think of themselves and their peers; what are their evaluations of and concerns with peer culture?

Part II addresses the impact of academics, religion, the extracurriculum, and the informal peer life on the quality of students' experiences at the College. We want to know how the educational experiences of our students affect them socially. What differences can we find academically, religiously, and interpersonally between students who are more and less involved in the formal extracurriculum? Do variations in religious faith and activity influence students' intellectual experiences or their relationships with one another? Most important, how do all these spheres affect how students think of themselves, their sense of well-being, their behavior in and out of the classroom?

Part III synthesizes our findings toward a more comprehensive understanding of student culture. What are its origins and why does it persist? Learning about its motivating principles will allow us to affect peer life in such a way as to ensure the best possible educational and social experience of our students. Part IV summarizes our findings and includes our recommendations to the College.

Part I: STUDENT LIFE
The focus of this study is student life. Our goal has been to map its many components, to assess student perceptions and experiences with each, and to understand the relationships among those parts. Student life is complex. It involves the interplay of personal characteristics and personal histories, relationships with people beyond the campus and with peers and professionals at Holy Cross. Its spheres are intellectual, religious, extracurricular, and social, and all these interact and sometimes compete with one another. Together they comprise student life at Holy Cross.

Personal Philosophies of Higher Education
We begin our description of student life by noting what students themselves say they want from the Holy Cross experience. In the survey, we asked respondents to select among four philosophies of education the one that most accurately describes their own. These philosophies include education primarily for development of the intellect, for career preparation, as a search for meaning, and one which emphasizes the importance of the extracurriculum. Overwhelmingly, students chose the last. Almost three-quarters report that for them "an important part of college life exists outside the classroom, laboratory, and library." They chose the one that said that "extracurricular activities, living-group functions, athletics, social life, rewarding friendships, and loyalty to college traditions are important elements in one's college experience and necessary to the cultivation of the well-rounded person." This philosophy of education does not exclude academic activities but "emphasizes the importance of the extracurricular side of college life." So it is that students come to Holy Cross seeking an integrated experience, one that balances the intellectual with the social, and the formal and programmatic side of campus life with the informal and interpersonal.

Academic Life
Students report satisfying academic lives. They believe they are getting a good education at Holy Cross (90%). Virtually all are at least moderately satisfied with course work in general (97%) and with the curriculum in their majors (85%). They find faculty and advisors to be accessible (84% and 73%) and easy to talk to (89%); they report that professors listen to students (92%), respect their points of view (82%), and treat them fairly (83%).

For many, academic life extends beyond the classroom to course-related activities off campus (42%); extra, unassigned work for a class (70%); interaction with faculty outside of class (91%),³⁴ over a meal (34%), and for help on course work (87%). Most (79%) spend at least an hour a week talking to other students about their classes and one-third report three hours or more of course-related conversations with friends.

Students also study. It is at this activity, however, that nearly two-thirds of the students report spending no more than 15 hours each week. If they are in class an additional 12 hours, this means that most undergraduates dedicate 27 hours or less to their studies. Yet, these same students report that examinations (66%), grades (57%), fear of inability to absorb all the material (52%), and the number of hours required to keep up (44%) were very stressful - more so than any other dimension of their lives. They feel they have too much to do (72%) and that their professors sometimes (49%) or usually (39%) expect too much of them. Eight of ten said they had felt overwhelmed by the load this year. All but one in ten said they had so much reading to do they could not relax and enjoy college. They tell us there is a great deal of competitiveness for grades at Holy Cross (42%), and they themselves attach "quite a bit" of importance to their own grades (72%). Some have resorted to cheating on tests (5.8%), many more have copied other students’ homework (33%), and most have turned in late assignments (73.3%). Still, 64 percent study 15 hours a week or less.

How are we to understand this paradox? Many students like their educational experiences; yet they study little and, at the same time, feel stressed. For an answer, we must look at the other dimensions of student life to understand the claims that are made on their time and attention. These are dimensions that have to do with those aspects of the college experience that three-quarters of our respondents told us were a very important part of their personal philosophies of higher education and which lie beyond the classroom, laboratory, and library: extracurricular activities, living-group functions, athletics, social life, rewarding friendships, and loyalty to college traditions.

Beyond the Classroom, Laboratory, and Library
Among the traditions that appealed to the students who eventually elected to come here are the College's Catholic heritage and its religious mission. Two-thirds said that the Catholic tradition of the College was at least somewhat important in their decision to matriculate at Holy Cross; the religious mission appealed at least somewhat to more than half (59%). Students are themselves religious. They believe in God (78%), pray several times a week or more (62%), and, at least on occasion, meditate (63%) and read religious material (76%). Sixty percent attend religious services at least once a week. They discuss religion with one another (94%) and are involved in religious activities (62%). Two-thirds say that their religious faith serves as a guide for their personal conduct.

Students are active in the organized extracurriculum. Athletics is an important part of their week. Two-thirds spend up to five hours a week exercising or playing intramural sports. Members of athletic teams spend, on average, six to ten hours a week working out. Three-quarters are involved in student organizations or clubs. Only nine percent had not attended a sponsored lecture during the year. Virtually all (91%) reject the idea that they are here for the classes and therefore do not need the extracurriculum. Finally, half are moderately satisfied with the extracurricular offerings at Holy Cross, and one-third said they are very satisfied.

Most respondents also indicate that they are satisfied with their personal relationships. They report very satisfying (74%) and supportive (85%) friendships and good relationships with their roommates (70%). They say they have close ties with their families (95%) and usually consult with them when making a decision (77%). They feel they can turn to a wide variety of people including peers (97%), professionals (52%), and family (90%), when they are faced with personal problem. They report with equal frequency that they have been personally influenced by many of the same individuals. Overall, respondents tend to describe Holy Cross as friendly and comfortable (79%) and community oriented (71%).

When students were asked to think about specific dimensions of the social climate, there was much more diversity in opinion. Many believe that Holy Cross students are all alike (45%) and that the College should recruit a more diverse student body (69%). Others report, however, that once you get to know people they are really quite different (67%). The sample was almost equally divided on how much personal importance they attached to being at a college where students share so much in common: 39 percent said such commonality was important, 34 percent said it was not.

Many agree that Holy Cross students are intolerant of people from different backgrounds and life styles (60%), have negative feelings against homosexuals (78%), and treat staff like second-class citizens (47%). There are divisions within the sample on the salience of peer pressure and the social significance of cliques, on the effectiveness of student government, and on the extent of apathy among students. Between a quarter and one-half of the respondents felt that each of these issues was a problem.

In spite of these critical assessments, students say they are moderately (46%) to very (21%) happy with their social lives, and they spend a great deal of their time at informal social activities - more time than they spend studying. Socializing with friends consumes, on average, 11 hours of a student's week; partying, no less than six hours a week. Much of this social activity occurs off campus, and much of it centers on the use of alcohol.

The Worcester Migration
The off-campus exodus of students has two dimensions. First, large numbers of students have left the residence halls to take apartments in the city of Worcester. According to the Registrar, nearly one in five lived off campus during 1988-89. More dramatic, 60 percent of the seniors had left the halls. More than half of the off-campus residents in our sample indicated that control over food plan and budget, a more homelike environment, independence and privacy, and dissatisfaction with the residence halls accounted for their selection of off-campus housing. Four in ten said they moved in order to have more freedom in social relationships and activities and to avoid restrictive drinking rules.

Second, the residential migration of older students has shifted the locus of social life for many residents to off-campus activities. Every weekend large numbers of students join their off-campus peers for parties and to patronize Worcester's bars and clubs. Seven of ten respondents said they leave campus in search of popular entertainment at least occasionally; this includes the 32 percent who say they do this frequently.

Alcohol
An important part of the weekend exodus is alcohol. A relatively small number of students at Holy Cross are of legal drinking age; nevertheless, 93 percent of the sample drink, and more than half told us they drink frequently. Findings from DOS' annual survey of alcohol use underscores the centrality of alcohol to the social life (Ambrose and Emanuelli, "Alcohol Survey").

In spite of changes in both the Massachusetts law and campus policy since 1981, the first year of DOS' alcohol survey, there has been an increase in the number of students who describe themselves as at least moderate drinkers (from 39% to 49%) and an increase in the quantity of alcohol students say they consume each week. In 1988, students said they consumed an average of 7-9 drinks each week, more than a third have 10-12 drinks, and one-quarter, 13-15 drinks. In 1984, the first year these data were collected, the median number of drinks was 4-6; 55 percent said they drank this much or less. More students now report that they drink more than their parents (57% in 1988, 38% in 1981) and more than they did in high school (62% in 1988; 48% in 1984, the first year of these data). There has also been an increase in the social motivations for drinking. More students say they drink to mingle more effectively at parties (73% in 1988, 48% in 1981) and to feel more comfortable with the opposite sex (55% in 1988, 35% in 1981).

Many students tell us there is pressure to drink at Holy Cross (39%); many more believe alcohol is a problem on this campus (70%, "Alcohol Survey"); and more than half would like to see more non-alcoholic activities on campus.

We believe that when students say this, they are expressing their desire for alcohol-free places. This conclusion is based on the observation that the campus calendar offers many alcohol-free activities. It is also derived from responses to a series of questions regarding their preferences for purely social places. Students are nearly unanimous in expressing their interest in places on campus that are open late at night (97%), places with mellow entertainment and refreshments (93%), common areas outdoors where people can meet and talk (87%), and more lounge space in the residence halls (79%). When asked if there were enough places on this campus for students to socialize, six of ten (61%) said no. Thus, they go off campus to places where alcohol features prominently in their activities.

These are the kinds of things we have learned about students and their lives at Holy Cross. We know much about their academic experiences; their religious commitments; their extracurricular participation; their personal relationships; their evaluation of one another; and their informal social lives, including the centrality of off-campus activities and the role of alcohol. It remains to discern how each of these dimensions affects students. What is the impact of campus culture on the ways students feel about themselves and their peers, their academic performance, their satisfaction with their college experiences and with one another? These issues are the focus of Part II of this report.

Part II: CAMPUS CULTURE AND THE QUALITY OF STUDENT LIFE
In this section we discuss the ways in which the different aspects of student life relate to one another. Specifically, according to the reports of our students, what factors lead to as well as result from the stresses that students experience, their academic performance, their feelings about themselves, and their satisfaction with their lives here?³⁵

Stress and Depression
In the survey, we asked respondents to indicate how stressful they found various academic, social, and personal issues. From these we identified three basic sources of stress: peer, dating, and academic. Peer stresses included loneliness, peer pressure, worry about getting along with and being accepted by others. Dating stresses were identified as concern with dating, sexuality, and popularity with the opposite sex. Examinations, absorbing course material, grades, and study hours were the academic stresses we studied.

We also asked respondents about episodes of depression, including how frequently they had felt depressed, had trouble concentrating, and had felt overwhelmed during the year.

As indicated earlier, students report a substantial amount of academic stress. Well over half found examinations, absorbing all the material, and grades to be very stressful, and 44 percent said that the number of hours required to keep up was very stressful. There are other stressful issues in their lives. Peer stresses, including loneliness (22%), being accepted by peers (14%), getting along with others (8%), and peer pressure (6%), are worrisome to some students, as are dating (20%), sexuality (14%), and popularity with the opposite sex (9%). None of these, however, comes close to the level of academic stress that students report.

What factors are likely to lead to peer, academic, and dating stress; and in what way do these stresses affect one another? First, all three stresses are interrelated; that is, higher levels of stress in one area are likely to create stress in others. Second, perceived stress, in all its forms, is best explained by social antecedents. That is, the extent to which students report that they are stressed is likely to be a product of their interpersonal lives, of their informal interactions with others. Even academic stress, by far the most stressful part of students' lives, is more likely to be the consequence of interpersonal issues than of academic ones. Thus, students who have higher levels of peer stress, along with those who feel that cliques make it hard to meet new people (41%), that to be happy here you have "to go along with the crowd" (32%), that it is not who you are but what group you belong to that is important (48%), will experience higher levels of academic stress. Measures of academic involvement, the amount of time students spend studying, whether or not they do extra reading for a class, and the frequency of interaction with peers and professors around academic issues, were not related in any significant way to academic stress. The only academic factor that did affect the level of academic stress reported was quality point index. Students who have lower grades worry more about examinations, grades, and the workload.

Of special interest is our discovery of a significant relationship between academic stress and satisfaction with Holy Cross' informal social life. Students who are most satisfied with campus social life (21%), with getting acquainted with a wide variety of students (36%), who find the College to be a friendly, comfortable place (79%), and for whom it is important to be where people share so much in common (39%), report the highest levels of academic stress. Participation in peer life seems to come at some expense to personal well-being, namely higher levels of stress, including academic stress.

Of all the personal, interpersonal, intellectual, and religious variables assessed in this study, only one, academic stress, was related to depression. Students who are most worried about examinations, grades, absorbing material, and the like are most likely to report that they had felt depressed (70%), overwhelmed (80%), and had trouble concentrating (83%) two or more times between September and March.³⁶

Self-Concept
We wanted to know about students' self-concepts and asked them in the survey to rate themselves on a number of traits compared to the average person their age. From these self-ratings, we identified three dimensions of self-concept: achievement orientation, intellectual competence, and social self-concept. Achievement orientation combines students' assessments of their academic ability, competitiveness, and drive to achieve. Intellectual competence is a composite of self-ratings of intellectual confidence and of writing, speaking, and artistic abilities. Finally, social self-concept combines self-ratings of social confidence, popularity with peers, and leadership skills.³⁷

At the same time students find course work so stressful, they rate themselves highly on achievement orientation and intellectual competence. The majority are confident about their academic ability (76%), competitiveness (59%), and drive to achieve (76%), as well as about their intellectual self-confidence (58%) and writing skills (57%). More than a third rate themselves highly on speaking ability and nearly a third on their artistic talent. They feel less sure of themselves interpersonally. More than half (56%) of all respondents rated themselves as average or below on social self-confidence; four in ten said this about their popularity with peers; one-third felt this way about their leadership skills.

What affects the ways in which students think of themselves? The three dimensions of self-concept measured in the study, achievement orientation, intellectual competence, and social self-confidence, are interactive: a positive self-concept in one is associated with higher self-esteem in the others. Many other factors affect self-concept independently of these interactive effects; only one, however, is not purely social. Students who have higher grade point averages report higher achievement orientations; that is, relative to their peers, they think of themselves as having above-average drives to achieve and as more competitive. There were no other academic predictors of the three dimensions of students' self-concepts. Rather, the frequency with which students go off campus for popular entertainment or for cultural events and volunteer work, their involvement with team and intramural sports, the degree to which they were active in their high schools, and the amount of dating stress they experience here are the kinds of things that influence how highly students rate not only their social self-concepts, but their achievement orientations and their intellectual competence. We have seen that students' interpersonal lives affect how much stress they feel. We learn here that their interpersonal lives also affect how highly they think of themselves.

Academic Performance
Academic success, as measured by QPI, figures prominently in how much stress students experience and their self-esteem. We were interested, therefore, in which variables in this analysis affected students' grades. White students have higher grades than black students, as do those who are more involved in the organized extracurriculum and those who have close and supportive relationships with their families. Achievement orientation, itself affected by academic performance, reinforces success. That is, students who feel they can do well given their drive and competitiveness do get higher grades. Students who are socially confident, however, tend to be less successful academically. That is, social self-concept, including confidence in leadership skills in informal peer settings, in popularity with peers, and high self-rating of social confidence, is inversely related to grade point average. Thus we note again the apparent tension between peer social life and the academic experiences of students. We have seen that satisfaction with peer life yields greater academic stress. Here we find that students' sense of competence in their social world may come at some expense to academic performance.

Satisfaction with College Life
The final set of dependent variables measured students' overall evaluation of the College, its academic sphere, and its social life. The first came from a questionnaire item asking students if they would choose Holy Cross if given the opportunity to make that decision again. Nearly half (47.8%) said yes. But four in ten were not sure, and 11 percent said they would not. What affects students' endorsement of Holy Cross?

Four factors in combination with one another accounted for more than a third of the difference in responses to this question. Students who said that the Catholic and Jesuit nature of the College was important in deciding to come here originally would choose Holy Cross again. So, too, would those students who feel more empowered. Empowerment was a composite of four separate items. Students who felt that rules and regulations are made with their consultation (8%) and that they get their concerns known and acted on (16%), those who said that they are given the respect and responsibility of adults (14%, always; 38%, often), and those who argued that student groups should be allowed to organize and meet on campus without having to get permission from the administration (57%), think of themselves as effective members of the larger community. Those who felt this way were more likely to say they would come to Holy Cross again.

Note, however, the numbers of students who feel unempowered, and especially the 71 percent who said students were not consulted when policies were made, the 57 percent who reported that it is hard for them to get their concerns heard, and the 41 percent who felt they were given the respect and responsibility of adults only some of the time and the eight percent who said never. Those who do not feel themselves to be empowered members of the College are less likely to tell us they would come here again.

Satisfaction with the educational experience is also an important predictor of who would again choose Holy Cross. The direct antecedents to satisfaction with education are, in large part, academic. Students who were happy with the quality of their education were also satisfied with their course work. They were, in addition, the students who were most involved with the intellectual life outside the classroom, doing extra work and extra reading. The perception that Holy Cross provides a stimulating environment is likewise associated with satisfaction with education. These are the students who disagree with the statements that people here do not care about much except getting through with college (59%); that this is a place where students just go to class, not much else happens (74%); that this College should recruit a more diverse student body (69%).

The best predictor of who would again choose Holy Cross is satisfaction with the social life. If students are content with the social dimension of their college experience, they are more likely to say they would make the same decision about attending Holy Cross as they did before. Level of stimulation, along with three other social indicators, predict who will be most satisfied with Holy Cross' social life. These three are 1) peer stress: those who report more peer-related stresses are less happy with their social lives; 2) homogeneity of the student population: those who tend to think of students as all alike (45%) and who disagree that once you get to know students you find out how really different they are (10%) are less satisfied; and 3) alcohol consumption: students who drink alcohol frequently also report the most satisfaction with the social life at Holy Cross.

The Primacy of Peer Social Life
This brings us to the heart of our study of student culture at Holy Cross. We have already seen that peer social life - informal socializing on campus and off, and especially around alcohol - is primary to student experiences, concerns, self-esteem, and their satisfaction with Holy Cross. We have seen, too, evidence that the demands of peer culture can be at the expense of other facets of students' lives. Recall that academic stress is very high for more than half of the respondents and that most attach considerable importance to their grades. Academic stress, in its turn, was the single best determinant of depression, of feeling overwhelmed, and of difficulties concentrating. Still, for two-thirds, the average academic work week is 27 hours or less, including class time. It is reasonable to conclude that if students feel they have too much to do, the demands they are referring to are social ones. Concerns such as loneliness, peer pressure, getting along, and being accepted, those issues which comprise the composite index of peer stress, account for twice as much of the level of academic stress as do grades. The amount of time students put into t heir classes and the frequency with which they do extra reading or work for a course do nothing to ameliorate academic stress. Rather, involvement in course work is a consequence of that stress, an adaptation to the stresses that develop when the demands of social life cost students their ability to keep up academically.

Peer life is primary and not only separate from academic life but competitive with it. Students who are satisfied with their social lives, with getting to know a wide variety of students, those who find this place to be friendly and comfortable, and those for whom it is important to be where people share so much in common, report higher levels of academic stress. The work that students do socially is hard work and it claims a great deal of their time and attention. Those for whom peer concerns are most worrisome and those who are most integrated into peer life are stressed academically. Finally, as we saw earlier, those who see themselves as socially successful, who rate themselves most highly in popularity, peer leadership, and social self-confidence, get lower grades. The reverse it not true. Poorer grades do not propel students into a more active social life, as an alternative, it might be hypothesized, to failure to achieve. Social life is primary; it is an antecedent demand. This demand costs students in academic achievement and well-being. Academic well-being predicts the frequency with which students feel depressed.

Students who said they would choose Holy Cross if given the opportunity to make that decision again were. those who were most satisfied with the social life here. This, of course, appears to fit well with the personal philosophy of higher education selected by three-quarters of the sample, the philoso6hy that emphasized the importance of the "extracurricular side of college life." It does not seem, however, that students are thinking about the organized extracurriculum or, for that matter, any formal, institutional, non-academic program when they indicate the importance of this other side of college life. There is no significant relationship between participation in the extracurriculum (in activities sponsored by a religious organization, in House Council or Student Government, in student clubs or groups, attendance at non-required lectures) and satisfaction with the social life; or between the social life and sports (intramural or intercollegiate); or between the social life and politicality (frequency of political discussion, level of political awareness, work in a political campaign), or between the social life and religiosity (belief in God and life after death, religious participation, and seeing one's faith as a personal guide).

Students are highly involved in each of these areas. The majority of respondents were active in clubs, organizations, the co- and extracurriculum. The majority were active in sports; over half spent at least three to five hours each week exercising or playing on intramural and intercollegiate teams. The majority discuss politics with friends and consider themselves politically informed; 13 percent had worked in a political campaign. Most believe in God and life after death; most pray, meditate, read scripture, and attend religious services. Two-thirds said that their religious faith was a guide for their personal conduct. These, like academics, are all important areas of students' lives, but they are independent of their informal, social lives. None affects how students feel about themselves, their sense of well-being, their satisfaction with the decision to attend Holy Cross.³⁸ Students do not have these in mind when they describe their satisfaction with the social life here. Rather, they think of a host of peer-related stresses, how stimulating they find the social environment, how much of a problem they find homogeneity to be, and the frequency with which they consume alcohol. Students who drink more frequently are more likely to say they are satisfied with the social life, and these are the students who would choose Holy Cross again.

The peer life that compels so much of students' time and attention and that has academic and personal costs, is alcohol centered. This is more so than it was eight years ago before the changes in alcohol law and policy and more likely to take students off campus now because of the changes in law and policy. Students consume more alcohol than before and they are more likely now to drink for social reasons - to mingle more effectively and to feel more comfortable with the opposite sex. The relationships among social interaction (number of hours each week socializing with friends, number of hours partying, pursuit of leisure time with friends), off-campus social activities (bars, clubs, movies, sports events), and alcohol consumption are among the strongest in the analysis.

The direction of influence among these three measures is important. First, the off-campus exodus for popular entertainment has no significant effect on social interaction. It is not, in other words, because students leave campus that they socialize more frequently. Rather, those who spend more time socializing leave campus to do so. Second, off-campus activities and socializing do affect how much students drink; both are strong predictors of frequency of alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption, however, is a much better predictor of who will be more active socially and who will go off campus. Alcohol is the coin of social participation; drinking is a significant determinant of sociability. In fact, frequency of alcohol consumption explains nearly a third of the difference among students in how often they socialize. Peer life is alcohol dependent. There are no other involvement’s, commitments, or beliefs that ameliorate the strength of this dependency - not academics, the extracurriculum, or religion. One exacerbates it. Students who are more involved in sports are more likely to leave campus for their entertainment.

The informal social life is a primary concern of students. It affects how they feel about themselves, the stresses they experience, their academic performance, and their satisfaction with Holy Cross. Peer life is centered on alcohol: participation in the social life requires drinking, and much of that drinking requires that students leave campus.

Part III: MAKING SENSE OF STUDENT LIFE AT HOLY CROSS
We turn now to a synthesis of our findings on student life toward a more comprehensive understanding of the culture we have described and whose impact on student lives we have assessed. How do we make sense of the social life that consumes so much of students' time and attention?

The majority of students describe Holy Cross as friendly and comfortable (79%) and community oriented (71%). We believe that when many students use these words they are articulating a need more than they are describing a fact. For late adolescents, who come to Holy Cross in the midst of personal struggles with independence and with the recent experience of conflict between family and peer group through which this struggle manifests itself, the issues of autonomy and belonging are central. These issues require their full and immediate attention; they are focal concerns.

The College to which they bring these concerns promises our students the opportunity to develop their unique talents and abilities in the nurturing context of a closely knit, campus community. The College Catalog speaks, for instance, of a "community that generates a strong feeling of belonging and a vital sense of loyalty" (College of the Holy Cross, 1988-1989:4). These same words preface the Admissions Bulletin. Students are told of a residential life characterized by "friendly cooperation and mutual consideration" and where "many students find their experiences ... to be among the most memorable of their college days" (Catalog:167; Admissions Bulletin:47).

Family and community are words we use to describe ourselves in printed literature and public speeches, and in our more informal communication with one another. To late adolescents, for whom acceptance into this community is of paramount importance, this rhetoric can become obligatory: fitting in, being liked, and having friends are imperatives. To describe Holy Cross as uncaring and cold, as less than community or family, would be to admit personal failure, one's own marginality.

The social life to which they turn to satisfy needs for belonging and acceptance is one created by adolescents for adolescents and in response to the marginality of other spheres of the campus. The classroom and library, religion and the extracurriculum are available to them; students are involved in them; and they describe them as personally important. These spheres are not, however, an integrated part of the daily business of peer life. What are central are the conflicts between difference and commonality, intimacy and sociability, justice and injustice within which students struggle with who they are and how they fit.

The Problem of Difference
Students at Holy Cross do come from similar backgrounds; they are similar in race, religion, and social class. Beyond these similarities, however, are important differences. Respondents in the sample not only have definite views on a range of issues but their views are diverse. Most (84%) identify themselves as Roman Catholic, a demographic fact that students and professionals alike tend to use to summarize the issue of uniformity. Variation in religious expression and faith, however, tell us about important differences. While 78 percent believe in God, one in five does not know, is not sure, leans one way or another, believes in a transcendent force, or in nothing at all. They do not agree on their beliefs regarding life after death. Four in ten say there must be something after death but have no idea what; one-quarter envision a life with rewards and punishment; half that number reject the notion of punishment; the remainder are not sure of what they believe, or say there is nothing, or believe in reincarnation. These differences belie demographic uniformity. So do differences in religious expression. If six of ten attend services at least once a week, four in ten do not. There is variability in the frequency with which students pray, meditate, read scripture, and participate in religious activities, and variability in the degree to which students' faith serves as a guide for personal conduct. The difference among students may not be demographic; they are, however, fundamental.

Students also differ remarkably in their political views and their underlying values. They split nearly equally on issues of abortion on demand, the death penalty, and mandatory AIDS testing. There are significant numbers who disagree with majority opinions on the over-abundance of criminal rights (33%), mandatory drug testing (35%), and the role of the welfare state in destroying individual initiative (35%). All but a very few have opinions on most of these issues. More than half believe they are well informed about political affairs, almost half that they are not. Almost a quarter have participated in a demonstration even if more than three-quarters have not. Four in ten claim identification with the Democratic Party, one in four are Republicans, and the remainder are distributed among other party affiliations or have none at all.

Students differ in important ways - in values, attitudes, and beliefs. Still many complain about homogeneity (45%), and two-thirds would like to see Holy Cross recruit a more diverse student body. The demographic commonalities we do find here are taken as lack of difference. Why?

It is a truism that people whose interaction is superficial learn little about each other. They have scant information with which to recognize individuality. This is the dynamic of stereotypes. Races and genders categorically perceive one another across biological, ethnic, and racial boundaries; universalistic descriptions dominate particularistic ones: "they are all alike." We are most familiar with this principle when we see it at work between groups: between blacks and whites, rich and poor, men and women, even faculty and students. Students are sometimes surprised that their professors have lives beyond the classroom; professors have been equally surprised to learn painful lessons about the non-academic lives of their students. Between-group stereotypes tell us about superficial interactions and the denial of differences. Within Holy Cross peer culture, there is a similar process at work.

Many students do not have the kind of interactions with one another that admit to difference, that permit the manifestation of unique individuality. Their connections are demographic, the ties that bind are parties, the shared experience is alcohol. Personal differences can threaten these fragile ties, and belonging is urgent. In their eagerness to become an integral part of the whole, and with pressure to do so from peers, individuality may be sacrificed. The complaint of homogeneity, therefore, may be less a description of students at Holy Cross and more the lament of those who long for a community with depth while fearing the revelations of difference this would require.

The Problem of Intimacy
Several of our findings tell us about the tension between sociability and intimacy. Students spend a great deal of time with one another, at parties, socializing informally, and "hanging out" with one another. They do not date with any frequency: one in five not at all; 29 percent less than once a month. Yet more than half said they had had intimate sexual relations this year. Almost half tell us that casual sex is a problem at Holy Cross and this problem along with increasingly frequent reports of date and acquaintance rape co-occur with Blind Date Balls. BDBs are formal occasions which allow students to meet new people and to go on dates complete with formal attire, dinner, and flowers. They are also anonymous liaisons, arranged by third parties. These events drew the participation of nearly eight of ten respondents this year; 46 percent, however, said they would not like to see more of them held. Blind Date Balls underscore the desire to be with others and the difficulty of doing so except under conditions of anonymity; they are paradigmatic of the tension between, and students' ambivalence about, sociability and intimacy.

Students belong to groups, about which they complain (48.1%) and upon which they depend (83%) for leisure-time pursuits. They spend little time alone, 63 percent are by themselves 3-5 hours or less each week; more than a third are alone less than two hours. They worry about being unaccompanied. Content analysis of the "typical day essays" written by Resident Assistant Applicants tell us something about the anxiety that explains the groups of students who head for Kimball:

Every applicant who mentioned Kimball might not have mentioned the food, but most mentioned the socializing, talking, gossiping, and people watching that went on there.. Many days end in one's hallway discussing what time and who will meet at Kimball. It is important to students that they have someone with whom to eat meals. One applicant remarked that "eating alone is one of my great fears." (Landau and it Nowak, Resident Assistant Applicants at Holy Cross.")

Being seen as part of this friendly and comfortable place is a compelling concern for students. Sociability is the measure of fitting in. Intimacy, which depends precisely upon the recognition and celebration of individual difference that peer culture denies, is discouraged.

The Problem of Justice
Many students at Holy Cross are socially conscious. They support environmental protection laws (94%), nuclear disarmament (86%), employer provided day care (87%), and an end to investment in South Africa (66%). They reject personal failing as an explanation of poverty and note rather the failure of education (63%), prejudice and discrimination (58%), and low wages (52%) as the most important reasons that people are poor.

Their social consciousness extends to career aspirations. Most want a job where they can help others or be useful to society in general (83%). In addition, almost four in ten envision joining a service organization such as the Peace Corps or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps sometime in the future. The same number currently does volunteer work during the week. In addition, more than 50 students were involved in the Appalachian Project this year. Between 40 and 45 students are placed in JVC positions upon graduation each year. Between 500 and 600 are annually involved in SPUD programs.

Co-existing with liberally oriented, social consciousness and socially conscious activities, however, are relations between races and sexes that many of our students find problematic. Peer racism is especially troublesome. Most students, minority and non-minority alike, report racist jokes and insults from their peers (64%). Nearly half of each race and ethnic group believe that the other does not frequently initiate interaction. More than a third feel that minority organizations and race-related classes engender resentment. Students, again from all groups, think minorities are at least sometimes treated preferentially by faculty (56%), the administration (63%), and athletic staff (63%). Twice as many black students as white perceive discriminatory treatment from faculty (58% and 28%), administrators (45% and 24%), staff (48% and 22%), coaches (48% and 22%), and security (84% and 43%). But students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds agree that their peers discriminate against minorities (70%). They are nearly unanimous in agreeing that there are racial problems at Holy Cross (89%).

Most students also agree that there are problems between men and women and that these are also peer related. It is from peers that students (60%), and especially women (74%), report having been made uncomfortable because of sexually offensive jokes, comments, and insults. As we saw with race, significant numbers of students, both male and female, believe that women's organizations (24%) and classes focusing on gender (35%) create hostility and resentment. Most importantly, more than three-quarters of both men and women believe that there are gender problems at Holy Cross.

Among those problems are unwelcome sexual advances. Some report this from professionals (2%); many more from peers. In fact, 74 percent of the women and 30 percent of the men said they had experienced an unwelcome sexual advance from a peer. These advances are sometimes coercive. Half report having been pressured to have sex (64% of the women, 30% of the men); 12 percent said they themselves had pressured someone, this includes 19 percent of the men and eight percent of the women. There were 34 individuals who said they had been sexually assaulted at least once in their lives. Fourteen of these said this happened while they were students at Holy Cross. Most students, and women (68%) more than men (32%), have received obscene phone calls on campus.

Students know about injustice, they support just causes. Analysts of the Crusader report that "[one] could not help but notice [from reading this campus publication] that ... students are... involved and interested in helping those less fortunate [by] giving blood, serving at the Mustard Seed, adopting a little brother or sister, and running a Charity Week to raise funds for Worcester service organizations" (Brezovsky and Peace, "Crusader News"). Crusader opinion is replete with letters and editorials addressing political (20% of all column space and 26 separate references in a year) and social justice (13% and 19 references) issues. There were nearly one hundred calls for students to take action on one question or another. "It seems safe to assume that although a strong desire [exists among students] to take a stand on issues and work to correct injustices, [they have yet to determine how to do so.] As an alternative, perhaps, they complain about the administration and denigrate one another" (Doherty and Esposito, "Crusader Opinion").

Students espouse just beliefs and they support just causes. They have a hard time, however, living justly, expressing their concern for the others with whom they live. Peer culture may wish to be for others; it is, however, self-absorbed:

Part IV: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Students come to Holy Cross seeking a college experience that balances the intellectual, religious, extracurricular, and social. Our analysis has revealed that students are involved in all these spheres, and many report satisfaction with each. We also find, however, that for a substantial number of students not only are their involvement’s and commitments not balanced, they tend to be at odds with one another.

Student life is filled with contradictions. They report satisfying educational experiences at the same time that they tell us that academics are too stressful; we have found that this stress leads to depression. They report that they like their classes and professors and have been personally influenced by them; yet they spend less than 15 hours per week studying. They spend much more socializing with friends, and the more they socialize the more academic stress they experience. Finally, the better students feel about their social selves, about their ability to fit in, and their popularity with peers, the lower their grade point averages tend to be. Academic life and peer social life are in conflict.

Satisfaction with this peer life is the best predictor of who among our students would choose Holy Cross if given the opportunity to make that decision again. Among those who are most satisfied with peer life are those who consume alcohol more frequently. Alcohol is the center of peer life. We argue in this report, in fact, that the informal social life of students at Holy Cross is alcohol dependent. This dependency has increased over the eight years we have information on alcohol use, and it has increasingly shifted the locus of student activity to those places off campus where alcohol is more readily accessible. Its centrality to peer culture is unaffected by any other dimension of students' lives here; it is unaffected by their academic experiences, by their participation in the formal extracurriculum, by their religious beliefs and activities.

Alcohol abuse is, of course, a problem in its own right. The College's commitments to alcohol education and alcohol awareness are important measures toward addressing that problem. Alcohol abuse, however, is also a symptom. It tells us something about the nature of the social world within which it occupies such a central position. This world is an adolescent one, created by eighteen-year-olds in isolation from other spheres of campus life. It is one driven by urgent concerns with belonging and acceptance, being liked and fitting in, and by the struggles with and for adulthood.

The struggles that students face manifest themselves in the several tensions we found operating within peer life. The first is the tension between likeness and difference. Students differ from one another in important and fundamental ways. They have different views on social and political issues; while most are Catholic, they differ in their beliefs and religious expressions. Their complaints about a too homogeneous student body seems to be at once a wish for meaningful ties with one another and a fear that the differences that do exist will jeopardize the ties they have.

The second tension, and it is related, is the tension between sociability and intimacy. Students spend very little time alone, and they worry about being seen alone. They spend more time informally socializing with one another - in the residence halls, at parties, at Kimball - than they doanything else. There is evidence, however, that their interpersonal relationships are more quantitative than qualitative. Students belong to groups and they do things in groups. They do not date very frequently, and when they do it is likely to involve a Blind Date Ball, where third parties arrange anonymous liaisons between couples. Student comments about sexual coercion at these events and the quantity of alcohol consumed in preparation for them are other indicators of the problem of intimacy.

There is, third, the tension between justice and injustice. A characteristic feature of our students is their social consciousness. They not only espouse socially conscious attitudes, large numbers are involved in social action programming. Race and gender relations on this campus, however, are problematic; they are not just. Students know about social justice, they are committed to it, they have difficulty living it.

The tensions we found between likeness and difference, sociability and intimacy, justice and injustice are befittingly adolescent. They arise from the struggles that typify the transition to adulthood. These tensions remain, however, the experience of our students for all four years. They are part of the campus climate, built into the very fabric of student life. Students at Holy Cross, like, we believe, students in most contemporary colleges, are isolated from other dimensions of campus life. Our data do not permit us to identify the causes of this isolation; we have focused on student life and not on the social and historical context within which it has developed. The professionalization of college faculty and of the criteria for tenure, promotion, and salary increment, along with changes in the American family and in elementary and secondary education have undoubtedly played important roles in this regard. Whatever the reasons, it remains that the link between student culture and the intellectual, extracurricular, and religious life of the College has become a tenuous one. It is not the job of students alone to forge a meaningful link; they can not be asked to take sole responsibility for their own maturation. The responsibility lies with the College at large.

The question becomes how do we proceed to make a difference? How do we ensure a Holy Cross community in which all are invested, to which all are responsible, and which facilitates development, not delay? The solutions must involve all of us, students and faculty and administrative staff. The solutions hinge on cultivating shared responsibility and shared experience; these are the necessary stuff of community. It is insufficient to provide more activities - students have enough to do. It is not a matter of heavier course loads and more rigorous requirements -peer life will remain the focal concern and stress and depression will increase. We do not need more stringent alcohol policies - alcohol abuse has increased with the implementation of the policies we now have. Faculty presence will mean little if faculty and students approach one another from antagonistic cultures.

Students cannot be men and women for others when they need too much themselves. They need a culture where belonging and community are facts not anxieties. They need a climate where they feel safe enough as individuals to risk the differences upon which intimacy depends. They need authentic ties to one another to build a community of shared experience and goals. They need a climate that encourages the full participation in and identification with their own education as young adults - "in the classroom, laboratory, and library; and in extracurricular activities, living-group functions, athletics, social life, rewarding friendships, and loyalty to college traditions." They need the integrated living and learning experience that three-quarters say they want.

The recommendations below are toward an integrated campus life. They are offered to the College as guidelines. The final determination of policies and programs to address the issues raised in this study must be a community event, one in which faculty, student-life administrators, the chaplains, and students themselves are fully involved.

Student life at Holy Cross has been shaped by eighteen-year-olds in isolation from other dimensions of campus life. At its center is a social life to which academics, the formal extracurriculum, and religion are marginal and with which they are sometimes in conflict. It is a life that involves too much stress, too much depression, and too much alcohol. It is also comprised of people who are exceptionally bright, energetic, and caring and who seek a mature and integrated community. Actualization of such a community will depend upon the development of meaningful ties among member populations: students, faculty, and administrative personnel. These ties, in their turn, will depend on the discovery of common ground among people who are mutually invested in shared experiences. The task before us is to build the kind of community which is an affirmative alternative to the one described in this report. This cannot be asserted; it must be chosen. Community resides in the commitments and involvement of those who seek its membership; it succeeds when constituents develop a personal stake in the whole; it thrives when it compels the time and attention of all of us. Below are our suggestions of the kinds of things that we believe will yield a campus climate conducive to shared community. These suggestions begin the process of coming together to be that community.

Recommendations

1. We recommend college-wide distribution of this report "Student Life at Holy Cross: Final Report to the College."

2. We recommend an all-college convocation early in the fall semester of 1989. This convocation would feature the reports of the several committees whose work during 1988-89 affords us a comprehensive assessment of where we are as a college that we might begin to decide where we want to go and how. These committees include the Reaccredidation Committees on the Mission, Curriculum, and Student Life, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Resources and Educational Quality. This convocation should be a day-long event during the regular academic week, and to which faculty, administrators, and students are invited.

2. We recommend that the Ad Hoc Committee on Student Life be re-appointed for the 1989-90 academic year. This committee would act as a steering committee to begin our deliberations of policy and programs.

2. We recommend the institutionalization of a commitment to a full integration of the several spheres of campus life: intellectual, extracurricular, religious, and social. Toward this end, we might consider:

a.  Creation of an Educational Policy Committee Subcommittee on Student Life. Its members would be elected and represent the faculty, administration, and students; its mandate would be to pursue policy and program for report to the EPC and for deliberation and vote by the Faculty Assembly. This committee would subsume the work of the Student Personnel Policy and Student Activities Committees.

b.  Creation of the position of Dean of Community Life, whose full-time responsibilities are the development and coordination of curricular, extra, and co-curricular events and programs for the mutual participation of administrative personnel, students, and faculty. This might include responsibility for colloquia, workshops, team-taught courses, and symposia which bring faculty, chaplains, student-life personnel, and students together on community related issues. It might also include coordination with faculty, chaplains, and assistant deans of extracurricular offerings that best fit their respective needs and interests. First-year student orientation, discussed below, could be organized here as could the social justice programs, Black Week, SocialJustice Week, Women's Week, sponsored each year.

The Dean of Community Life would also provide ombuds-services, ensuring the full communication of student concerns to the College toward a much improved communicative climate generally. Many students do not feel listened to; many say it is hard to get their concerns acted on. Many others, in our interviews, expressed deep concern about the lack of communication between them and the administration. For them it was not just a question of being included in decisions that affect their lives, but of hearing from the administration the rationales for policies - tuition increases, food service, computer facilities - implemented without student input. This is alienating; it denies full membership. The Dean of Community Life could centralize this all-important flow of communication

c.  Faculty and administrative recognition of the involvement of faculty in student life beyond the classroom and in informal contexts. Building relationships takes time and this time is not readily quantifiable. This is time taken away from other pursuits, especially research and publication. It is time spent on committees and in capacities that are not given the weight of the EPC, CTP, and Curriculum Committee memberships. In fact, it is time spent in informal interactions that are not documentable. If faculty must choose between the standard criteria for tenure, promotion, and salary increment and interaction with students and involvement in their lives, the division between faculty and students will continue. Faculty must be trusted for their commitments to this College and recognized for the many capacities in which they express their commitments. That recognition begins with increased consciousness of the centrality of the student-faculty relationship to the educational process and extends through departmental, College, and administrative evaluations that acknowledge and reward faculty for their efforts to provide students a whole learning experience that extends beyond classroom instruction.

 
d.  All standing committees at Holy Cross should be evaluated and restructured where appropriate to include the membership of students and student-life personnel.

5. We recommend that the staffing of Student Services, the Counseling Center and Career Planning Office, the Dean of Students Office, and the College Chaplaincy be augmented. Student -personnel ratios are critical for ensuring the quantity and quality of programming and, as important, informal, interpersonal contact. We recommend that these ratios be reevaluated in light of a college commitment to providing more than crisis intervention, discipline, and formal programming.
6. We recommend substantial changes in the residential environment. The places where students live and socialize affect the quality of their lives.

1. A free-standing student center should be constructed. This facility would include ample lounge space, recreational and entertainment opportunities, snack and meal centers, meeting and study rooms. This building should be available to students around the clock. The Office of Security endorses this concept.
2. Residence halls should be redesigned and new ones constructed which balance private and public space. Suites and social rooms, semi-private bathrooms, study rooms, kitchen and game rooms, all maintained and cleaned regularly, would humanize the living environment and obviate many of the reasons students leave campus for Worcester apartments. These residential facilities should be available to all students, regardless of class year or financial resources.
3. Resident Assistants, who provide an essential service to the College and are important role models to other students, should be compensated. Compensation is a clear statement of how much we value the dedicated students who fill these positions. Compensation might also encourage seniors, who are underrepresented in these positions, to participate in the program.
4. We need to provide common areas campus-wide. These areas should be featured prominently, near the entrances of or in the most heavily trafficked areas of building and grounds. We need places where people, students and professionals, can sit between classes and meetings and do the interpersonal work necessary for building relationships that go beyond formal, role-bound interactions.
5. A more flexible meal plan should be adopted. We suggest one that allows students the freedom to choose the number of meals per day and among dining facilities. Regarding the latter, a computerized meal card would make it possible for students to choose their meals at Kimball, the Side Door, or Hogan.
6. The College might encourage more informal interaction among students, faculty, and staff by supporting a guest meal plan and especially by providing a coffee shop/snackbar throughout the day and into the late night.
7. Constituent populations need separate places: students need their social centers and professionals theirs. Ties among professionals, among and between faculty and administrations, require cultivation. To offer an alternative community to students, we must have our own experience with one. We have left adult community to departments, offices, and membership on committees. This is insufficient and especially if we are committed to fostering campus-wide relationships. We recommend a faculty/administrator center.

7. The introduction of first-year students to Holy Cross is a critical moment in their careers here. It is not only the time to familiarize students with the campus and its resources, policies, and procedures, but the time to establish the goals that the College has for them; to discuss with them the important issues and problems they will face as first-year students; to encourage interaction among them and with the faculty, staff, and students who participate in this orientation. The orientation program should be established by a committee of faculty, administrators, and students, and should be held over several days well in advance of the new academic year.
8. The College of the Holy Cross would offer the finest liberal arts education in the country. The Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Resources and Educational Quality has spent many hours over the past year compiling an inventory of the resources we have and those we need to meet this goal. It is clear from our study of student life that the academic climate at Holy Cross requires attention. The educational experience of our students is positive: they like their classes, professors, and majors. There is little evidence, however, that the intellectual sphere is an integrated part of how students live here or how they think of themselves. Classes are places students must go to, requirements are something that must be satisfied, assignments must be submitted, quality point averages accumulated, and degrees completed.

We do have models of those experiences to guide us and we have from them a guiding principle. People develop a stake in those things for which they can claim personal ownership. People feel responsible when they have responsibility. Ownership of and responsibility for learning are more likely to occur when people participate fully in the process. Students, for example, who do research, independently or with other students, own what they are learning. It is theirs, their responsibility, an integrated part of their experience and identity. That experience is shared with a supervising faculty member, equally invested in the project. This experience, among students, between students and faculty, permits common discourse. Seminars, tutorials and local internships, f4 the same reasons, facilitate connections between the personal and the intellectual, between faculty and student, between the social and academic.

The Washington semester encourages students to take personal responsibility for their own education. The positions they assume in Washington presume and, therefore, produce maturity and responsibility; from their experiences they create an academic thesis. Students who have spent a semester in Washington return to campus different people; most revealing, they report how difficult it is to resume peer life.

We recommend that these models and their underlying principles become the prevailing instead of the exceptional educational experience for students at Holy Cross.

1. Small classes, independent research, small group projects, should comprise the majority of a student's curriculum. This will depend on a vigorous commitment to improving student-faculty ratios.
2. Semester away and study abroad should be supported and encouraged. These are not only intellectually and socially maturing experiences for students who participate in them, but ensure important role models for the campus upon their return.
3. We endorse the concept of a first-year program and especially one which emphasizes small classes, a common curriculum, and integrated co- and extracurricular components. We urge consideration of a fourth-year capstone program with an emphasis on individual research.
4. There are few opportunities for students to become recognized as intellectual leaders. Such recognition is an important part of establishing and communicating priorities. The creation of scholarships for intellectual achievement is one important way of recognizing academic excellence. Another would be funded student -assistant programs in departments. These individuals, selected among those who have been outstanding students of the major, would act as contacts for their peers: introducing them to the major, familiarizing them with its resources, assisting with independent research and class projects.