College questions quality of student intellectual life

Author: Caroline S. Stauffer

The enhancement of academic excellence has been one of the foremost topics of discussion at Middlebury College since before President Ronald D. Liebowitz took office.

A position paper created during the Presidential search cited that one of the goals of the College was to enhance its academic reputation.

Last month, the Trustees discussed what it means to make Middlebury a better institution and what attributes should be preserved. These broad goals are now being expanded, consolidated and debated.

Dean of Students Tim Spears attributed these discussions to the belief that Middlebury has developed and improved over the last decade, and "is now poised to take one extra step" in achieving excellence.

A recently-created task force on student body composition held an open forum for faculty, students and staff yesterday afternoon. On March 16 and 30, a separate task force will hold open meetings on academic excellence and reputation.

Similar topics were discussed at the faculty meeting held at Breadloaf in September, and last fall, Spears organized three faculty forums on intellectual community.

Many faculty members are concerned that the college community is simply far too busy, making it impossible to arrange for sufficient time for reflection and intellectual growth during the day. The College's role in encouraging such a lifestyle has been called into question.

"I worry that both students and faculty members at Middlebury are simply too busy and absurdly overscheduled to take advantage of much of what Middlebury offers us in the way of intellectual life and intellectual community," Associate Professor of Psychology Barbara Hofer said.

Hofer noted the amount of time e-mail takes for faculty members on a daily basis - an estimated two to three hours - on top of classes, research and other commitments.

Pardon Tillinghast Professor of Religion Larry Yarbrough said that many faculty members work to foster intellectual pursuits on campus.

For example, the department of art and architecture has a program that brings faculty, students and staff together for lectures, conversations and lunch, the Religion Department has a monthly colloquium that allows faculty and staff to converse both formally and informally over dinner and the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs sponsors countless events promoting intellectual discussion.

"Unfortunately, however, such events have to compete with so many other activities that faculty, students and staff are too busy to focus on them," he said. "In fact, I suspect being busy is the greatest hindrance to intellectual community at Middlebury."

Suggestions to remedy the problem of over-scheduling have included reducing the teaching loads of faculty members and decreasing the student-faculty ratio.

In his column in the Middlebury Magazine Liebowitz advocated eliminating triple majors.

Yarbrough suggested smaller dining spaces to allow more informal conversations over lunch and regular Friday afternoon "happy hours" for faculty, students and staff within the commons, but insisted that real intellectual community begins in the classroom or lab.

"Lest this all sound too ponderous, intellectual community also involves listening to music, observing sunsets, running until you feel 'high' and doing all those other things that make us human," he added.

In addition to the student-faculty ratio, other aspects of the relationships students have with members of the faculty are being analyzed.

Some question the types of assignments, claiming that intellectual work should be the emphasis and 'busy work' should be minimized.

Spears emphasized the distinction between a "hard working" community and the intellectual community.

It was brought up in the faculty panels that often students arrive on campus and do not approach their work intellectually, but instead do what they have always been expected to -- perform.

Others question the degree of independence students gain in an environment where they can ask for help with almost anything.

Professor of Physics Noah Graham emphasized the role students must play in promoting an academic environment on campus.

"Students sometimes limit themselves by thinking in terms of what should be provided to them, rather than what they can create," he said.

Some have questioned whether the College's emphasis on well roundedness is the best approach and if such students attempt to do too much on campus.

"We make it available for students to double major, fulfill pre-med requirements and go abroad - we have to consider if this should be controlled," Spears said.

"Sometimes it is hard to play the bad cop when, for example, students make too many extracurricular commitments and expect unreasonable compromises from their academic work, but in the long run doing so is part of our job," Graham said. "

Some faculty members argue that the College should admit students who excel in one or two areas, "pointy students" ahead of those who are good in half a dozen, "well-rounded students."

"I am just as happy to have students with particular areas of academic strength, as long as these areas are spread across the curriculum when we consider the class as a whole," Graham said. "I'm confident that the natural osmosis that occurs here will ensure that students share their particular academic interests with each other."

The task forces looking into these issues will have completed their reports by May 19.

Spears expressed the belief that "whatever changes come out of the task force will be changes on the margins."

He stressed the College's commitment to the liberal arts as expressed in its Mission Statement, "To educate in the tradition of the liberal arts," reaffirmed by the Trustees in 1999.

"There is room within our statement to sharpen edges," he said, "but ultimately the idea of what a liberal arts education is must be looked at."