3-5-09: Reflecting on Tuesday's intellectual life forum
By: Andrew Bruner
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Editor's blog
Advertising the event involved 70 red posters hung up around campus and full-page advertisements in the paper in the week leading up to Tuesday. I had no idea how effective this would be. I could see 10 people showing up to the forum, or entire greek chapters pouring in together.
I'm happy to say that Tuesday's forum went really well. The ballroom was pretty much full. Students came with good questions and left with concrete knowledge on how to share their ideas with faculty. We ran over our advertised event length of one hour, but very few students left - and anyone who's gone to a speaker or panel event on campus knows how rare that is.
If you're reading this post but didn't attend the event Tuesday, let me summarize here what you can do to let the faculty know what you think on any of the five intellectual life issues on the table right now. Any group of at least three University community members (mix and match students, professors, staff) can submit a proposal, two pages at the longest, about one issue, a few of them or all of them. The laundry list of issues is Winter Term, graduation requirements, first-year experience, internships and the Programs of Distinction. Groups must e-mail their proposals to Dave Berque (dberque@depauw.edu) by March 11.
As a senior Media Fellow, I've already been talking with some friends about sending in a proposal on when students should be admitted to the Programs of Distinction. If you've got an idea about any of the intellectual life issues, talk with your friends and professors, and make your opinions known! This might be the best chance students get to reshape DePauw for years to come; it would be a shame if we don't take advantage of it.
I'm happy to say that Tuesday's forum went really well. The ballroom was pretty much full. Students came with good questions and left with concrete knowledge on how to share their ideas with faculty. We ran over our advertised event length of one hour, but very few students left - and anyone who's gone to a speaker or panel event on campus knows how rare that is.
If you're reading this post but didn't attend the event Tuesday, let me summarize here what you can do to let the faculty know what you think on any of the five intellectual life issues on the table right now. Any group of at least three University community members (mix and match students, professors, staff) can submit a proposal, two pages at the longest, about one issue, a few of them or all of them. The laundry list of issues is Winter Term, graduation requirements, first-year experience, internships and the Programs of Distinction. Groups must e-mail their proposals to Dave Berque (dberque@depauw.edu) by March 11.
As a senior Media Fellow, I've already been talking with some friends about sending in a proposal on when students should be admitted to the Programs of Distinction. If you've got an idea about any of the intellectual life issues, talk with your friends and professors, and make your opinions known! This might be the best chance students get to reshape DePauw for years to come; it would be a shame if we don't take advantage of it.
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