Please Vote!

Steven Leeb

During the fall of 2008, the Committee on the Undergraduate Program (CUP) reviewed the final report of the Educational Commons Subcommittee (ECS), a subcommittee of the CUP. This final report led to a formal motion made at the November 2008 Institute faculty meeting. This motion proposes a number of changes to the General Institute Requirements.

The General Institute Requirements (GIRs) are in many ways the central statement of vision, culture, and procedure that binds our diverse community together. The GIRs are the red carpet that greets the youngest and newest members of our community. Traditionally, the effort of bringing proposed changes in the GIRs to the faculty meeting floor has served as an affirmation of our community principles, and as a sentinel for the quality of what is arguably our single most important educational program.

Paragraph III of the motion, if adopted, would have the effect of transferring the responsibility of reviewing and approving changes to the Science and Mathematics GIRs away from the faculty as a whole, giving full authority to the CUP.

The last quarter century may not have seen a more important matter come to the faculty floor for a vote. Please do not let the December faculty meeting pass without your consideration and participation.

The full text of the motion can be found in Appendix E1, pages 28-30 of “Enclosure B” sent via email to all faculty members with the agenda for the November 19 faculty meeting. This enclosure can be found online at: http://web.mit.edu/dept/libdata/libdepts/d/archives/facmin/081119/081119.html.

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