A year ago, when the Student Advisory Committee released its interim report, we coined the phrase "Educational Triad" to describe our vision for a new, model MIT. In our conception, research, academics, and community - the three educational areas - are integrated to create a new, better, and unique educational product. At present, the three educational areas are treated as separate countries, to be kept apart whenever possible. Faculty and undergraduate students interact at the academic level; faculty and graduate students interact at the research level. The community region does not intersect the other two areas; the very real education students receive through involvement in the MIT community is kept apart from the rest of the MIT universe.

How can we continue to compete as a major educational and research institution? If we continue to treat research, academics, and community as separate worlds, and if we continue to keep faculty and students apart except for during brief, stilted classroom or advising encounters, the product we offer will be outpaced by large research institutions, online teaching, and other up-and-coming educational institutions.

This report has outlined a philosophy of how MIT can create a better educational product that will not only make us proud of our achievement, but also stand as a model for other universities around the world. What is MIT's role in the world? It is greater than developing and demonstrating professional excellence in science, technology, and engineering: MIT must produce leaders to satisfy the growing demand for technically proficient, analytically rigorous, and socially adept men and women who can guide the world through the next century.