reinventing the residence system @MIT

Submitted 29 January 1999

Proposal by Ted Peck; S.B. Math 1982
I’ve stayed in touch with MIT primarily through Sailing, the Aikido club, and my Fraternity.

Introduction & Preface

Our residence system can be the envy of the Ivies without major upheaval.
Fall Rush and Freshman Housing Choice are valuable institutions which we should preserve.

Last month, I heard of this contest from Bill Hecht, the contest chair and head of the MIT Alumni Association.
I had gone to urge the Association to better solicit and represent the views of alumni on this and other issues. Instead, he urged me to join this contest, and here I am. He assured me that if no proposal was better than the current system, or if the best proposal included letting freshmen live off campus, then his committee would recommend to let freshmen continue to choose their housing. While the published contest rules seem to contradict that assurance, and while I object to the idea that the ultimate decision belongs to the Chancellor and President alone, I am taking Bill’s assurance at face value and presenting the best plan I can envision, which includes Freshman Rush before Registration Day, similar to the system we have now.

A classmate of mine, now an MIT professor, tells me that pursuing this issue is divisive and counterproductive, like the Impeachment proceedings under way in Congress. I however, being on the defensive side, prefer to identify with the Democrats, where it’s clear that a vigorous defense and not capitulation is in the best interest of the country.

This same professor confides that when as a freshman, he unknowingly joined a fraternity at MIT where drinking was on the upswing, and he was unprepared for it. I do not argue that structured pressure to drink is defensible. But the news reports show that even where freshmen live on campus, drinking can still be a problem. Even where there are no fraternities, drinking is still a problem.

When we came to MIT 21 years ago, most students were of legal drinking age, free beer was served on the steps of the Student Center, and public outdoor drinking contests were a celebrated event on campus. Times have really changed, probably for the better, but college drinking remains a fact of life. I argue to my classmate and to you that the problem of drinking and the problems of housing are not the same. Dangerous drinking should be reduced through thoughtful, sensible, effective engagement, not through preaching or clumsy attempts at repression or to find a magic bullet.

Furthermore, I argue that MIT’s residence system is already better than the systems at any of her sister institutions. While it certainly merits improvement, it does NOT merit demolition. While I know that demolition has already been promised in many quarters, I for one can still envision a day, a year or so from now, when we can announce that after detailed consideration and democratic involvement, better ways have been found to address dangerous drinking than making all freshmen live in dorms.

I hope you will recognize that it has required some courage and commitment for me to assemble and present my proposals for such an august group as yourselves. I have paid a real price in time & opportunity to devote myself to this issue, because I believe that the precedent and course set by this process will dramatically affect the lives of those who come after, the greatness of MIT, and ultimately the quality of our country’s future.

Due to time constraints I haven’t attempted to assemble a team effort, but over the past several months I’ve discussed these issues with many people, and I feel my effort represents their contributions along with my own.

Analysis of the problem

Let me begin by offering a broad analysis of the sense of Community at MIT, from my perspective as a former undergraduate.

With dozens of robust independent living groups, strong cohesion and identity on numerous dorm floors, hundreds of clubs, teams, and interest groups often involving family members and faculty, unparalleled levels of student satisfaction, worldwide recognition and respect, and alumni who maintain contact with their classmates and their living groups far into their lives, the state of our Community is STRONG.

However, the Task Force has identified a lack of school-wide community feeling and involvement, and they have put their finger on an important point. Most students I have known maintain a Love/Hate relationship with MIT as an institution, and have fewer friendships among their classmates than they could.

First and foremost, students come to MIT to learn. Socializing, networking and the credential come second. This is a
major distinction from other undergraduate colleges. It is an unadulterated blessing, but it has the consequence that students here put their studies first, sometimes to the detriment of their social experience.

Also we have hazards of hazing and alcohol abuse within some of our living groups.

The latter problems can be straightforwardly addressed, but the Love/Hate relationship bears deeper inquiry. My observation is that most students feel they succeed at MIT in spite of the Institute, not with help from it.
Here’s a list of things I think students love and hate about MIT:

they Love:
· the tremendous constructive energy of the students and faculty
· the atmosphere of learning and discovery
· presence of top-notch ideas and intellects
· great lectures (sometimes)
· the strength and enjoyment of communities
· challenge of doing well
· the comraderie of shared struggle
· the freedom to organize their own lives

they Hate:
· bureaucratic inflexibility
· intrusive administrative requirements
· the distance and condescension of many faculty
· excessive pressure and unmeetable demands
· lack of sympathy for the struggle of academic survival
· scarcity of invitations for meaningful policy participation
· lackluster commitment to excellent teachers
· treatment of symptoms rather than causes of campus problems
· the lack of support for fun and relaxing activities and events
· the remoteness and mystery of the Corporation

While I haven’t studied last year’s reorganization of the offices of undergraduate support, I gather that it was intended to address some of these issues; I hope it’s succeeding.

The point I want to make, though, is that all of these items are fundamentally people and policy issues, not money issues. MIT is in the enviable position of being financially sound and able to spend. But buildings and facilities or even staff are not the key to quality of life. They’re important, but the key is what you make of what you’ve got. As we say in hi-tech, "people are your greatest asset".

Unfortunately, I think the Love/Hate aspect of the MIT experience can never be completely erased. Part of what we love is overcoming what we hate. If MIT weren’t so hard, we’d have less of a common bond.

Also, I think the primary job of the faculty is to advance human knowledge, not to coddle undergraduates. Having a nice personality is not a job requirement, although fortunately it usually comes along for free.

Nevertheless, much can be improved, particularly in the area of administration and governance.

In particular, when considering these matters, the faculty should remember that they are the anointed ones and have some compassion for mere mortals: even at MIT not all undergraduates are as singularly focused on academics or as brilliant as they were and are.

NOT a problem is the fact that life-education outside the classroom is un-orchestrated by the Deans or un-integrated with the curriculum.. Notwithstanding the call of the Task Force, students need an escape from academic pressure. MIT is already a pressure cooker - screwing down the safety valve is bound to have disastrous and unpredictable effects. Management of extracurricular life should be like management of traffic: decide on the rules of the road and then just let it flow.

Also not a problem is the emergence of the Net. The Task Force anticipates competition for students in a wired world from the Net itself. I say, let MIT grow with the Net to become more effective; don’t let it intimidate us into curling inward. There will always be value in shared experience and face-to-face collaboration among students and faculty.

Critique of alternate plans

Before expanding on my own proposals, I want to go over my reasons for rejecting other plans that have come to my attention. I’ll start by examining the likely alternatives if freshmen are required to live on campus.

The idea of housing all freshmen in one set of dorms the way Harvard does seems to have virtually no advocates, so I won’t go into it any further, other than to say that not being the same as them is a joyful distinction.

That leaves us with students moving into ILG’s either in the middle of freshman year or the beginning of sophomore year. The first option is exceedingly wasteful of housing resources: hundreds of fraternity rooms would be vacant in the fall, and hundreds of dorm rooms in the spring. One might argue that this is an acceptable price to pay to support the ILG's, but this is clearly not an ‘A+’ solution for a housing system, to paraphrase Mr. Hecht.

The second option (having freshmen live in the dorms all year) avoids at least this difficulty, but leaves the ILG’s in the position of having to attract 30% more members every year to fill the same number of rooms, or 60% rather than 44% of the incoming males, based on current ratios. This seems an unrealistic expectation. Calculations based on the reasonable assumption that fraternities will achieve only 80% of their former recruitment level due to inertia (Appendix A), show that at the end of a 4-year transient period, the fraternities would be reduced to 60% of their former numbers, while the dorm population would be 22% higher. The resulting dorm overcrowding and waste of fraternity beds is also clearly not an ‘A+’ solution. The problem is only compounded if admission levels are forced to drop because of dorm overcrowding.

There are also social and psychological disadvantages to keeping all freshmen on campus: all freshmen considering joining ILG’s will be distracted from the many extracurricular activities that would otherwise have the benefit of their attention. And the ILG’s upperclassmen will be similarly distracted, with added pressure to go to extreme lengths to recruit the freshmen, both because of the lengthy period of competition with other houses, and to overcome the competing academic and extracurricular demands on the freshmen’s time.

MIT’s current system has the wonderful advantage that for most freshmen, Rush and housing decisions are over and done with before classes even start. As Mr. Hecht himself pointed out to me, freshmen are understandably daunted going into Rush, but afterward they have forgotten it and focused on the future.

Plan

1. Orientation & Rush

1.1 Extended Orientation

Whereas:
· freshmen often experience disorientation and pressure on their arrival, and
· a degree of intimidation is to be expected when arriving at such a fabled institution, and
a gentler and more comprehensive introduction to MIT is desirable,

Therefore:
the Freshman Orientation period will be extended as follows:

The freshman picnic and the start of rush take place on the first Friday after Labor Day, similar to the way they traditionally have.

The freshmen are invited to arrive on the Tuesday before (the day after Labor Day), when orientation sessions are held in groups of 10 at various pre-arranged places around the Institute at 3:00 in the afternoon.
1.1.1 Monday (Labor Day)
Temporary dorm assignments will be issued in advance by mail, and some rooms will be available from Monday evening, to allow for freshmen to arrive a day early in case they can’t get a flight that arrives Tuesday morning.

1.1.2 Tuesday
Session leaders will be volunteers from within the Staff and Faculty.
Freshmen, if they have indicated they will attend, will have been randomly assigned to an orientation session.

They will be provided with a standard hour-long curriculum around which they can elaborate. The curriculum will cover the layout of the campus and environs, the numbering system and structure of the various departments, the athletic facilities, registration procedures, the residential system, etc.

After that, the session leader will take the whole group out for dinner at a local Dining establishment, with MIT picking up the tab, and deliver them back to campus afterwards, providing transportation if they choose to.

Tuesday night, two or three big performance or lecture presentations will be available for freshmen to attend, arranged by LSC and sponsored by MIT. The performances will be arranged to allow the freshmen to interact with each other, and whatever other MIT community members may be in attendance.
1.1.3 Wednesday & Thursday
Freshmen attend group activities which they have signed up for in advance by mail. Two days are provided for these activities so that they may involve overnight trips, such as going camping or visiting Cape Cod. The activities are organized and led by volunteers from the MIT Community and student groups, and are underwritten by MIT.
1.1.4 Thursday Night
Activities night in the student center, like the one held this year. Freshmen only.

1.2 Rush and Traditional Orientation
Whereas:
· living group choice is a core value of MIT, and
· fraternities, Sororities and other Independent Living Groups are an essential part of MIT’s residence system, and
· this part of the housing system can only be sensibly maintained with the full participation of freshmen, and
· choosing their living arrangements before embarking on their academic and extracurricular pursuits is the most satisfactory system yet discovered,

Therefore:
freshman rush for both dorm and ILG residences will be conducted before the start of the fall term.
1.2.1 Friday
Freshman Picnic at noon, Rush beginning at the end of it.
1.2.2 Saturday, Sunday
Rush Activities as customary
1.2.3 Monday onward
Rush continues as customary, along with customary orientation activities such as Activities and Athletic Midways, Parents Weekend, and then the term begins.

2. Community-building Activities

Whereas:
· the Task Force on Student Life and Learning has identified the need for a stronger sense of Institute-wide community, and
· students would benefit from increased contact with faculty , staff and each other, and
· learning to work in groups is a key way to become prepared for later life, and of developing communication, citizenship, leadership, and social skills, and
· voluntary participation in activities that develop self-esteem and social responsibility should be encouraged,

Therefore:
the following activities will be supported:
2.1 For-credit activities
2.1.1 Freshman Design Contest
A multidisciplinary design contest seminar for freshmen will be offered each Spring semester, in two parts. The seminar will be organized and sponsored jointly by the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Materials Science.
It will be called the Micro Games seminar and will attempt each year to use a smaller arena and entry dimensions than the previous year.
2.1.1.1 Freshman Design Contest Introductory Seminar
A two-week introductory seminar will be offered for 3 general academic credits in which participating freshmen are introduced to the design parameters of the year’s contest, and research design ideas and background information, and become familiar with the components in the box of parts each team will receive.
2.1.1.2 Freshman Design Contest Competition Seminar
For the remainder of the term, freshmen who choose to continue participating will be assigned to teams using a randomizing algorithm to assure a broad distribution of gender, residence and home state within each team.
Each team will then construct from its box of parts a device which will be entered in the final competition, to be held near the end of the term. This phase of the seminar will be worth 6 credits. Pizza will be served at weekly team lab meetings.
2.1.2 Design of the Freshman Design Contest
Each fall semester, a contest design seminar open to all students will be offered. The first assignment of the seminar will be to invent the contest parameters for the following year’s Spring Micro Games. From the submissions of all the students, a contest design will be chosen or synthesized. The remainder of the term will be devoted to producing the components and arena to be used in the next Spring’s freshman design contest, with students working in teams of their own choosing. This seminar will be worth 9 credits.
2.1.3 Community Service Volunteer Work
6 humanities credits will be awarded to each student who completes 60 hours of work in a term for an approved community service organization.
2.2 Not-for-credit activities
While students will undoubtedly continue their vigorous participation in Varsity and Intramural athletics, clubs, service organizations and other student associations, and IAP, MIT will actively encourage student participation in campus-wide events such as the following:
2.2.1 Performance Presentations
2.2.1.1 Rock Concert
Each semester LSC will organize and MIT will subsidize a performance by a popular music group and at MIT, with free soft drinks provided for all attending.
2.2.1.2 Dance Concert
Each semester LSC will organize and MIT will subsidize a performance by a popular dance group and at MIT.
2.2.1.3 Student Music Competition
Each year MIT will host a "Battle of the Bands" style competition among bands containing at least one MIT student, with free soft drinks provided for all attending.
2.2.2 MIT Olympics
Each semester the Athletic Department will organize a competition among self-selected teams of MIT students in traditional and whimsical team athletic events. Free food and soft drinks will be provided for participants and spectators.
2.2.3 Varsity Games
Free food and soft drinks will be provided for spectators at suitable Varsity sports home games.
2.3 Independent Activities Period (IAP)
Whereas:
· IAP is a cherished part of MIT’s tradition, and
· IAP is the venue for innumerable community-building events, and
· IAP’s usefulness in this regard is diminished when students are tempted or required to take courses for credit during the period,
Therefore:
Academic courses for credit will be prohibited during IAP.

3. Student Advising

Whereas:
· the time of faculty members is exceedingly valuable and should not be demanded frivolously,
· adequate mentoring resources will usually be available to students through their community, and
· effective counseling resources will be available,
Therefore:
A suitable freshman advising program will be arranged for freshmen, staffed by volunteers from the MIT staff and faculty and organized from the office of the Dean for Student Life, which will help students understand the Institute and get to know each other.

4. Oversight of Residential Life

Whereas:
· Student self-determination carries with it the need for responsible student behavior, and
· Irresponsible student behavior must be penalized, and
· Irresponsible student group behavior must be curtailed, and
· the gravity of the consequences of unchecked irresponsible student group behavior is now amply apparent,
Therefore:
A Dean with responsibility for oversight of residential life will be designated, who will
· ensure that the student judicial mechanisms for regulation of student behavior are properly functioning,
· and who will carry out disciplinary recommendations from student judicial mechanisms,
· and who will refer offenses to the Faculty’s Committee on Discipline where appropriate.

5. Campus Judicial Proceedings and Civil Liberties

Whereas:
· Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression are core values of all secular institutions of higher learning, and
· MIT’s Deans have in the past demonstrated insufficient commitment to these principles, and
· enrollment or residence at MIT should in no way restrict the constitutional rights a person might otherwise enjoy, and
· the resources of the institution are much greater than those of any individual against whom it may file Judicial proceedings, and
· customary rights of due process should apply in the context of MIT judicial proceedings, and
· internal MIT judicial proceedings are not an appropriate forum for the disposition of charges of serious crimes such as murder or rape, and
· MIT’s commitment to these principles should be clearly stated, and
· MIT should be a leader among her peers in enunciating her commitment to these principles, and
· clear and fair campus judicial procedures are essential to the regulation and well-being of the students,

Therefore:
the following rules and statements will be added as appropriate to the MIT Policies and Procedures and to the Rules and Regulations of the Faculty:
5.1 Statements of Principle
· Academic Freedom and Freedom of Inquiry guaranteed for all Faculty and Students at MIT
· Freedom of Expression is guaranteed for all Faculty and Students at MIT
· No student and no member of the Faculty shall enjoy fewer or weaker civil liberties and constitutional rights as a result of his or her association with MIT.
· Accusations of serious crimes will be referred to the criminal courts of the State and will not be addressed internally unless a guilty verdict is rendered in criminal proceedings.
· Willfully bringing false accusations against another shall be a punishable offense.
5.2 Due Process
In MIT’s internal judicial proceedings, including those of the Committee on Discipline, any party charged with an offense shall enjoy:
· presumption of innocence until proven guilty,
· the right to advice and representation of his or her choosing,
· the right to know and question his or her accuser or accusers,
· the exclusion of hearsay as evidence,
· the right to call witnesses,
· right to challenge committee members for bias by appeal to a designated independent judicial administrator or a majority of the committee,
· freedom from double jeopardy or retrial for same offense,
· freedom from administrative sanction if acquitted, and
· appeal to the President of MIT if convicted.

6. Student Participation in Policy Decisions

Whereas:
· students have the most intimate and direct knowledge of student affairs, and
· students should have a say in decisions on matters affecting them
Therefore:
No major policy decisions on matters affecting students will be made without an affirmative majority vote in a referendum which the Provost will cause to be administered by the Undergraduate Association, the Graduate Student’s Council, or both, as applicable.
Furthermore:
the Provost will consider policy recommendations made with an affirmative majority vote in a referendum administered by the Undergraduate Association or the Graduate Student’s Council.

7. Alumni Participation in Policy Decisions

Whereas:
· alumni have intimate and direct knowledge of student affairs, and
· alumni have perspective on and sympathy for the concerns of students
· alumni are the constituency that can be presumed to have the best regard for the quality of student life
Therefore:
No major policy decisions on matters affecting students will be made without an affirmative majority vote in a referendum which the Provost will cause to be administered by the Alumni Association to all alumni who can be practically contacted.
Furthermore:
the Provost will consider policy recommendations made with an affirmative majority vote in a referendum administered by the Alumni Association to all alumni who can be practically contacted.

8. Student Counseling Services

Whereas:
· MIT places her students under a great deal of academic pressure, and
· student suicides are known to occur, and
· students having psychological difficulties cannot be expected to go to great lengths to seek counseling, and
· counseling or referral services would probably benefit such students, and
· the community would benefit from more direct knowledge of the concerns and difficulties of students in general,
Therefore:
A special group of excellent, confidential and impartial student psychological counselors will be formed under the MIT medical department, who
· will keep office hours for students or others seeking advice or counseling, and who
· will actively survey the MIT community seeking signs of students in need of counseling, and who
· will publish at the end of each semester a report on the psychological state of the student body, and who
· will report any urgent or dangerous situations requiring his attention to the Dean with responsibility for oversight of residential life.

9. Sociable Dining & Community Space

9.1 Lobdell Dining Hall
Whereas:
· the Task Force on Student Life and Learning has identified dining as a domain with great potential for facilitating community interaction and sense of community, and
· Lobdell dining hall is so large and open as to inhibit a sense of neighborliness and comfort, and
· The upper half of the open space in Lobdell could be put to better use, and
· the Task Force on Student Life and Learning also identified a shortage of community performance spaces as inhibiting community-building,
Therefore:
Lobdell should be remodeled along the lines of the Carpenter Center commons at Wellesley, to provide numerous accessible dining areas, and
the lower front end of Lobdell should be converted into a small community performance space adjoining the Wiesner Gallery.
9.2 Seating at LaVerde’s
Whereas:
· LaVerde’s Market in the Student Center is a good place to get a quick meal, and
· there’s no place to sit down and eat on that floor except in Toscanini’s,
Therefore:
A comfortable seating area should be provided outside LaVerde’s.
9.3 Departmental Cafés
Whereas:
· Most academic departments maintain faculty and student lounges, and
· the academic departments are nicely distributed around MIT’s campus, and
· many people could be expected to sit down for a snack or a coffee if they had a comfortable place to do so near their office, lab or classroom,
Therefore:
MIT will encourage and support each department in converting at least one of its lounges into a public café area.

10. Graduate Student Housing

Whereas:
· the new dormitory being designed is not substantially needed for undergraduate housing, and
· graduate student housing availability is still far short of 50%, and
· undergraduate housing requirements are difficult to accurately predict
Therefore:
the new dormitory will be used to house graduate students, with one floor or some other suitable subsection being reserved for temporary overflow housing of undergraduates,

11. Greater Emphasis on Teaching in Tenure Decisions

Whereas:
· the quality of a professor’s teaching is of greater consequence to most undergraduates than the quality of his or her research,
Therefore:
The Faculty are directed to accord greater consideration to the teaching skills and inclination of candidates for tenure in making their decision.

12. Implementation

After synthesis by the contest committee, the resulting plan or plans will be published for the MIT community, community participation will be invited through public meetings, and revised plans will be assembled.
12.1 Ratification
Key questions and recommendations will be voted on through referenda of the students and alumni as described above under Student Participation in Alumni Decisions and Alumni participation in Policy Decisions.
12.2 Administration
The Chancellor will refer various successfully ratified proposals to the appropriate Deans, Faculty, other administrative organs, or student groups.
12.3 Funding
12.3.1 Undergraduate Community Fund
A fund will be established under the office of the Dean for Student Life, which will finance various not-for-credit community-building activities, and food and drink at designated for-credit community-building activities. It will also subsidize wages for student operators of Departmental Café’s.
12.3.2 Institute Funds
Funds for recommended construction and renovation of Institute facilities will be allocated as is customary for such projects.
12.3.3 Departmental Funds
The expense of operating the Freshman Design Contest will be allocated to the various participating departments.
12.3.4 Dining Services
Dining services will be operated in such a way as to encourage a sense of community. Certain designated operations, such as Departmental Café’s may be supplied by dining services with subsidy from the Undergraduate Community Fund.
12.3.5 Independent Residence Development Fund (IRDF)
The IRDF will continue to support the growth of ILG’s as usual.

13. Evaluation

13.1 Annual Surveys
Each Spring before Commencement, the Undergraduate Association will undertake a survey of seniors, which will attempt to determine levels of satisfaction with their MIT experience, areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, degrees of community involvement and belonging, levels of development in communication, citizenship, leadership, and social skills, and of self-esteem and of commitment to social responsibility. The results of this survey will be presented to the office of the Dean for Student Life and to the Alumni Association, which will publish them for the Alumni.

Each Spring before Commencement, the Graduate Student’s Council will undertake a survey of graduate students, which will attempt to determine levels of satisfaction with their MIT experience, areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, degrees of community involvement and belonging. The results of this survey will be presented to the office of the Student Life and to the Alumni Association, which will publish them for the Alumni.

13.2 5-year Reviews

Every 5 years, the Alumni Association will arrange an IAP Design Contest for the Undergraduate Experience similar to this one. Participants and committee members from previous contests will be invited to present their stories to the new participants and committee members. The resulting ideas will be synthesized and implemented according to the above procedures for implementation, as they may be revised..

Conclusion

I know that there’s been a lot of politics behind this crisis, some of it going back for decades. While most of the politics is mysterious to me, there are some understandable pressures. Less palatable is the PR whitewash in alumni publications and the dissembling regarding the history of the issue. After all, it has been "unresolved" only if you had a preconception of how it should be resolved. One thing remains clear: on its merits, the current direction is irrational and counterproductive. I say, let Self-Determination and Merit drive this process. Those are the core values of the MIT community I know and love. Following them will lead us to build an institution we can all be proud of.