On Monday, March 4, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz was interviewed by former correspondent, anchor, and Washington bureau chief for CNN Frank Sesno ’77. Preparing for his departure in June, Liebowitz reflected on his thirty-one years at the College. The interview was streamed over a live webcast on the College’s website, and a recording can be viewed on the News Room page.
During the hour-long interview, Liebowitz was asked summative questions about the value of a liberal arts education, the changes he has noticed with Middlebury and its student body and faculty, and the effect of technology use in the classroom.
Speaking about his interview, Liebowitz said, “With regard to the more broad questions, I find it difficult to give such short answers. You know you always want more time to sort of explicate on a difficult topic, and he did ask about a lot of good issues. I think trying to hone in on what I wanted to say in that short period of time was challenging. I think Frank happened to put the questions in a good order, and many of them came from a student perspective, which I thought was really smart.”
Sesno was especially interested in Middlebury’s student body, and asked Liebowitz to talk about the changes he has observed over his time at the College.
“I thought Frank really honed in on some of the issues, like asking about how the students have changed, and not specifically what they’re majoring in, but rather about them as people,” Liebowitz said. “I think students now are a lot more idealistic in a good way, and they’re also much more pragmatic, much more able to sit down, I find, and listen and have their minds changed and affected. They hear, they listen, and they digest. I find that to be refreshing, and a good environment for learning.”
He continued, “I think [this change] stems from the incredible access to information … back in the 70s, if you didn’t read the newspaper, you didn’t have any idea what was going on. Today, students are getting bombarded with information. The big challenge I see is having to sift through it all and make meaning from it, but if students are as smart as they are here, and they are dedicated to a particular issue, the amount of information makes them that much more aware of the problems that are facing us.”
As a result of the changes in students over the past few decades, Liebowitz explains that the College must adapt to accommodate them properly. For example, students now enter the College having used a computer for much of their primary education, and expect to be able to do so here.
On the College faculty, Liebowitz said, “I think we’re slow to react to, or we resent these computers in the classroom. But the more I think about it and the more I engage with students, the more I see this mismatch of pedagogy and learning styles.”
He concluded, “I watch our kids who are in [the] third, fifth, and sixth grades, and what they’re doing and how much of it is independent with computer assistance. It’s so different. The first reaction from someone like me, growing up with the old pedagogy is to feel a little bit insulted. But you know what? I changed my mind. I think students learn so differently that it would be counterproductive to expect them to sit in a classroom they way we did.”
