UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 23, Page 3
March 7, 1996
Student leaders conduct seminar in Bacchus March 13

     At the Table, a campus seminar focusing on the importance of
coalition building as a campus leadership skill and presented by the
Honors Congress of Delaware, attracted more than 50 student leaders
last month.
     Conference facilitator Walter H. Brown, a secondary school
educator in Cherry Hill, N.J., has written about the effects of gaming
and simulation methodology in enhancing cooperative problem solving in
an academic environment, and he has conducted several workshops in the
area.
     Student leaders also addressed the group. The speakers were
Margaret Chandler, Student Environmental Action Coalition; Andrew
Hill, president of the Honors Congress of Delaware; Eli Lesser,
Resident Student Association; Damian O'Doherty, Delaware Undergraduate
Student Congress; Joelle Perry, Spirit Ambassador; and Bill Werde,
Interfraternity Council.
     Hill said, "It is an amazing thing to see so many different
campus leaders in this room working together on the same problems.
Breaking down group stereotypes and tensions is important. I am proud
that the Honors Congress of Delaware has been able to host this event
and start us down a road on which University of Delaware students can
be more united and hopefully more spirited."
     Brown led exercises. One role-playing exercise involved a
fictitious bike club where members had to decide who got the club's
new bike.
     Another simulation was the Game of Coalition, followed by a
discussion of the ways campus coalitions can be built and their value.
     A reception, sponsored by the Black Student Union, concluded the
conference, which was cosponsored by the Delaware Undergraduate
Student Congress, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic
Council, the Black Student Union and the Resident Student Association
and was funded by the University Honors Program and the Division of
Student Life.
     The Honors Congress, which represents approximately 1,300 honors
students at the University, began planning the event last fall, in
cooperation with other campus groups.