[Gsc-anno] Presidential Search Committee Presentation

[Albert Chow]

WHAT THIS IS

A rough outline of the issues we, the Student Advisory Group to the
Corporation Committee on the Presidency, intend to present in our
report to the Corporation. It contains controversial issues identified
in your feedback.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

Flames and feedback, particularly on the controversial/undecided
issues. We will send a report (derived partially from this outline) to
the Corporation claiming that it represents *your* views. If it
doesn't, tell us. Tell us what you think!

OUTLINE

- Challenges MIT is Facing and Opportunities MIT Has
   - Controversies:
     - Diversity (affirmative action vs. strict meritocracy)
     - Balance of science/engineering vs humanities in education
       and public image
     - Free expression on campus
   - Preservation of MIT's unique culture (esp. undergrad)
   - Administrative services
   - Graduate student quality of life
   - Internationalization (both programs and international students)
   - Research Fundraising

- Desired Qualities in the Next President
   - Controversies:
     - Direct experience with MIT vs. should be an outsider
     - Willingness to take a public stance on moral issues
     - Commitment to free expression
   - Commitment to preserving MIT's unique culture
   - Ability to communicate with students
   - Willingness to take on administrative review
   - Vision for the role of science and engineering in the US
   - Political experience and connections
   - Skilled manager
   - Direct experience with science or engineering in academia

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES MIT IS FACING

Controversial: Please let us know what you think!!

- Diversity

   Many students feel that the Institute must expand its commitment to
   ethnic diversity, and in particular must work harder to recruit
   graduate students and faculty who are female, members of
   under-represented minorities, or both. However, some students feel
   that in the long run these efforts exacerbate the alienation and
   discrimination experienced by women and underrepresented minorities,
   as they can create the impression of the dilution of meritocracy,
   and that the Institute should therefore reconsider its affirmative
   action policies with long-term equity in mind.

- Balancing science/engineering and the humanities in education
   and image

Many graduate students feel that the Institute must increase its
   commitment to educating students in the humanities, the history and
   impact of science and technology. Some feel that while many good subjects
   in these areas are offered, the current curriculum makes it quite
   difficult for graduate students to take advantage of them.

   On the other hand, many undergraduate students feel that recent (and
   some proposed) changes to Institute requirements, such as the
   introduction of CI-M subjects and the diversity GIR, are both
   ineffective at providing students with useful communication skills
   and educational breadth and detract from the fundamental educational
   value of MIT's undergraduate program. Furthermore, some
   undergraduate students feel that the technical rigor of several GIRs
   has declined unacceptably, and that MIT should refocus its educational
   efforts towards science and engineering to best serve its students.

   Also, some administrators have stated that MIT must maintain a more
   well-rounded image if it is to effectively compete in admissions
   with Ivy League schools. Many undergraduates feel this approach is
   wrongheaded, and that instead we should build on our strengths by
   focusing on identifying those students passionate about science and
   technology and who are willing to commit to four years of intensive
   study in these areas.

- Free expression (see below)

Consensus:

- Research Fundraising

   Competition from universities for a fairly static pool of federal
   funding for science and engineering has increased substantially over
   the past two decades, greatly impeding MIT community members'
   abilities to carry out their essential research activities. While
   we applaud MIT's remarkable successes despite these constraints, the
   next President should be as capable, if not more, of identifying or
   creating new sources for research funds, and that in particular the
   next President must be willing to actively court research money from
   the private sector.

- Internationalization

   As a leading institution of science and technology, we feel MIT has
   an obligation to advance the causes of science and technology world
   wide. MIT's many recent successes in this area such as
   OpenCourseWare, the Cambridge-MIT Alliance and the Singapore-MIT
   Alliance, have shown that MIT can both make important contributions
   through international involvement and that the Institute's members
   (and particularly its students) benefit directly from the
   opportunities international service creates. We therefore believe
   a major focus of MIT's efforts over the next ten years should be
   the development of new international connections.

   On the other hand, international students at MIT, particularly
   graduate students, are facing mounting challenges stemming in part
   from September 11th-driven policy changes. MIT draws heavily from
   the expertise of its international students; we therefore feel the
   Institute must help alleviate their plight and help to drive US
   policy changes which remove the new barriers they face.

- Preservation of MIT's unique undergraduate culture

Undergraduates at MIT have historically enjoyed considerable freedom
   in their social lives, and the overwhelming majority have used this
   freedom responsibly. However, changes stemming from MIT's response
   to the Kruger incident, especially the Bacow report, have eaten away
   at these freedoms in an extremely detrimental way. For example, dorm
   rush has been made optional and consistently been allocated
   substantially less time. This has substantially weakened residental
   communities and consequently eroded the most important support
   mechanism available for MIT undergraduates. It has also effectively
   destroyed the only campus-wide community-building and social event
   at MIT.

   The administration has recently increased the punishments for
   hacking and interfered with students' extracurricular engineering
   projects, as in the summer of 2003 raft incident. We feel these
   changes are extremely damaging to MIT, as the combination of
   technological savvy, creativity and irreverence MIT students develop
   through these pursuits serves as a critical complement to classroom
   education and underpins the innovative culture which draws the best
   students to MIT. Some administrators have also publicly stated that
   the Institute must serve as "in loco parentis" for its
   undergraduates and that MIT students want to be "led"; we feel this
   is absolutely incorrect, and that the Institute must reject this
   view both because it is damaging to its educational mission - the
   creation of responsible and technically savvy citizens - and because
   it exposes the Institute to tremendous liability. [[Report will
   expand on this.]]

   Also, according to the CDSA Office at MIT, only 16% of MIT students
   consume more than 4 drinks per week, yet MIT policies towards
   parties (even dry ones) have grown increasingly restrictive over the
   past few years. We feel these procedural restrictions are
   inappropriate on a campus consisting of remarkably responsible
   adults, and represent another area of student life in which the
   administration is inappropriately assuming a parental role.

- Administrative services

   Many critical administrative offices at MIT often provide students
   with inadequate service. Both to reduce administrative costs and to
   fulfill its commitment to providing services for its students, we
   feel MIT must undertake substantial administrative reforms over the
   next ten years.

   [[Final report will include examples; Please send us all the ones
     you have.]]

- Graduate Student Quality of Life

   A major impediment in our ability to recruit graduate students is
   the high cost of living they face and consequently the reduced
   quality of life they enjoy. For example, MIT has not yet lived up to
   its decades-old commitments regarding graduate student housing.
   Even in departments which provide competitive stipends, the high
   cost of living in Cambridge leaves many MIT graudate students with a
   lower standard of living. We feel the Institute must take major
   stides in solving these problems if it is to remain competitive in
   research.

- Emerging Technologies

  One of the most important challenges of any major research University
   is the task of predicting where technological trends are headed and
   moving resources in that direction.  If MIT is to remain competitive
   in the future, the ability to recognize emerging technologies will be
   cruicial to maintaining it's postion as a center of innovation and
   cutting edge research.


QUALITIES THE NEXT PRESIDENT SHOULD HAVE

Controversial:

- Direct experience with MIT/Outsider

   Some students feel that the next President must have direct
   experience with MIT, either as a student or a faculty member, to
   ensure that he or she is properly informed about MIT's environment
   and culture, as well as the issues it faces. Other students feel
   this is less of a priority, as an outsider may be able to offer a
   fresh perspective on MIT issues.

- Willingness to take a public stance on moral issues

   Many students want a President who is willing to use his/her status
   as MIT President to effect change on relevant moral, ethical and legal
   issues both within and outside of MIT. However, some students feel that
   the President must take extreme care not to bias the groups and
   individuals at the Institute who are empowered to deal with moral
   issues within MIT, and that this precludes many kinds of public
   declarations we have observed in the past.

- Free expression

   Many students feel that the next President must be completely
   committed to protecting student expression both inside and outside of
   the classroom, as free expression is a sine qua non for the
   successful pursuit of knowledge, which is arguably MIT's chief
   mission. Some students feel that freedom of expression must be
   valued at MIT above almost all else, reserving restrictions for
   cases of extreme harassment, and that such cases must be defined as
   unambiguously as possible; in particular, they feel that MIT's flag
   policy is completely unnaceptable and that MIT's current harassment
   standards (which include anything deemed "offensive") constitute
   unwarranted censorship. Other students feel that MIT's commitment
   to creating an inclusive environment for all students takes
   precedence over free expression, and that these restrictions are
   therefore reasonable.

Consensus:

- Commitment to preserving MIT's unique culture

   The next President must have the courage to publically decline the
   role of "in loco parentis" on behalf of MIT and to ensure that his
   administration's policy does the same. He or she must also work to
   restore the choices historically enjoyed by MIT students and to
   protect their often quirky extracurricular activities.

This is particularly critical given the negative publicity MIT has
   received regarding campus suicides and mental health; while the next
   President must be committed to creating support options for
   students, he or she must acknowledge that their lives at MIT, and
   consequently their mistakes, are ultimately their own
   responsibility.

- Ability and willingness to communicate with students

   As many of the challenges MIT is facing surround student life, the
   next President must be committed to working closely with
   students. He or she must be able to understand the issues faced by
   undergraduates and graduate students and be willing to do what it
   takes to effectively solicit and substantively incorporate their
   viewpoints.

- Willingness to take on administrative review

   As many students find the service provided by many administrative
   offices to be inadequate, many also feel that the next President
   must make reform of MIT's administration a priority of his or her
   administration, and that he or she must appoint a Provost and a
   Chancellor capable of carrying this out. Some students also feel
   that a systematic change to MIT's organizational policy involving
   direct solicitation of student feedback for use in human resources
   decisions and, ideally, an Institute committee including sitting
   student members which reviews administrative services is the right
   way to go about this.

- Vision for the role of science and engineering in the US

   MIT has had a tremendous impact on the role of science and
   technology in the United States. Vannevar Bush, for example, was
   largely responsible for the founding of the National Science
   Foundation, as well as the promulagation of the notion of the modern
   research university. The next President should have similar vision
   regarding the role of science and engineering in the United States
   and the dedication required to realize it.

- Political experience and connections

   The next President should have the experience and connections in
   Washington and at other major universities to effectively advance
   the cause of science and technology and to represent MIT on issues
   of national and international importance.

- Skilled manager

   Many of MIT's upcoming crises are of a fiscal and organizational
   nature. We therefore feel the next President must have strong
   financial and managerial experience as well as the ability to
   delegate aspects of these activities to his or her administration
   as appropriate.

- Direct experience with science or engineering in academia

   To properly understand the issues faced by the MIT community and to
   interact successfully with the faculty, the next President must have
   direct experience with science and engineering in academia. Graduate
   work is a minimum, though we would generally prefer a President who
   has held a tenured faculty position. While we recognize these qualities
   may disqualify some individuals with many other desirable traits, we
   believe this experience is a must-have for our next leader.