Student-Faculty Conference!

Before most current undergrads were even born, a group of Caltech students and faculty gathered in JPL's von Karman Auditorium for the first ever Student-Faculty Conference. The two-day marathon event in February 1980 sparked numerous reforms on campus, including course evaluations and an expanded humanities curriculum. The event became a biennial tradition, with students and faculty meeting every two years to discuss issues ranging from the core curriculum to an on-campus ATM. Somewhere along the way the tradition was lost, but next Monday, April 29, the Student-Faculty Conference will return from a long hiatus to invade Ramo Auditorium.

Starting at 11:00am, the conference will begin with a panel of administrators including President David Baltimore, Provost Steve Koonin, and Vice-President for Student Affairs Gary Lorden. For 45 minutes, they will answer student questions about Caltech. The first few questions will be solicited via e-mail (send suggestions to pres@donut.caltech.edu) and the rest will be taken from students in the audience.

At 11:45am, a panel of alumni faculty will answer questions and talk about their experiences as undergrads at Caltech. From their unique perspective, they will compare their Caltech experience with the current situation.

The House kitchens will be closed and Tom Mannion will be arranging for lunch to be served on the Court of Man at 12:15pm.

At 1:00pm, the conference will reconvene with a presentation and discussion on Academic Advising led by a committee of students and faculty that has been meeting for over a month and recently surveyed student opinion on that issue. This will be followed at 1:45pm by a similar presentation and discussion by a separate committee on the Honor Code. The conference will close at 2:30pm, but the event should only be a starting point for discussion and reform.

Whether you have a pressing question for President Baltimore, are wondering what Caltech was like in the 60's, or are deeply concerned about advising or the honor code, make sure to attend the 2002 Caltech Student-Faculty Conference. What else are you going to do from 11:00am-2:30pm on a Monday, go to classes?

Although there are many topics to be covered, the conference will move along at a brisk pace according to a strict schedule. During the first half of the conference, faculty and administrators will answer students' questions about Caltech. After lunch, committees of students and faculty will discuss specific issues critical to student life.

The conference will open at 11:00am with remarks from Melany Hunt, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Vice Chair of the Faculty Board. Ted Jou, ASCIT President and Master of Ceremonies for the Conference, will then give a brief overview of the schedule and will introduce the members of the Administration Panel.

The panel of administrators will consist of President David Baltimore, Provost Steven Koonin, and Vice President for Student Affairs Gary Lorden. They will answer questions from students on a wide variety of student issues until 11:45. The first few questions will come from the moderators, former ASCIT President Martha-Helene and former ASCIT Director for Academic Affairs Nick Knouf. The remaining questions will all come from the audience.

At 11:45, a panel of faculty alumni will take the stage. Six of the twenty-five undergraduate alumni now on the faculty will talk and answer questions about their Caltech experience for a half-hour. The faculty who have agreed to sit on the panel are Jason Hickey, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, B.S., Caltech, 1985; Steven Koonin, Professor of Theoretical Physics, 1972; Anthony Leonard, Professor of Aeronatics, 1959; Gary Lorden, Professor of Mathematics, 1962; Richard Murray, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 1985; and Kip Thorne, Professor of Theoretical Physics, 1962. They will talk informally about Caltech then and now, and it should make for a lighthearted session right before lunch.

Lunch will be served outside on the Court of Man. The kitchens in the Student Houses will be closed and Caltech Dining Services will set up a Jamaican-style barbecue. Conference attendees will have to eat fast though, as committee reports will begin promptly at 1:00pm.

The Student-Faculty Committee on Quality of Life Outside the Classroom will begin this segment of the conference by presenting their findings on advising and mentoring. The Co-Chairs of this committee are Laura Elliot, a junior Geology major, and Cathy Jurca, Associate Professor of Literature. The other members of the committee are Kim Border, Professor of Economics; Steve Frautschi, Professor of Theoretical Physics; Jeannette Hagan, a senior Geology major; Joseph Jewell, a sophomore Aeronautics major, Yuliya Ruvinskaya, a senior EE major; Todd Schuman, a senior Mechanical Engineering major; and Kim West, Director of Residence Life. After the presentation they will take questions from the audience.

At 1:45, the Committee on the Honor Code will begin their presentation. The Co-Chairs of this committee are Dave Guskin, a senior Physics major, and David Politzer, Professor of Theoretical Physics. The other members of the committee are Silas Hilliard, a freshman; Gary Lorden, Professor of Mathematics; Joseph Olivier, a sophomore EE major, Jean-Paul Revel, Professor of Biology; Liz Stameshkin, a junior Biology major; and Jeff Sullivan, a senior E&AS major.

The question-and-answer session will end at 2:30pm, but the discussion will not end there. The online bulletin board at http://sfc.caltech.edu has been full of activity this past week and the conference itself should encourage even more discourse. The entire conference will be audio-taped, so a full transcript will be made publicly available as soon as possible. Hopefully, some of the students, faculty, and administration in attendance will be inspired to turn the issues discussed into positive reforms. If there's anything we can all agree on at Caltech, it's that everything can be taken apart, analyzed, and improved.

Dear Editors,

I would like to thank all the students, faculty, administrators, and staff who attended the Student-Faculty Conference last Monday. Special thanks go out to the keynote speaker, Professor Melany Hunt, the moderators Nick Knouf and Martha-Helene Stapleton, and those who sat on the four panels at the conference: President David Baltimore, Provost Steven Koonin, and Vice-President Gary Lorden on the Administration Panel; Professors Jason Hickey, Steven Koonin, Anthony Leonard, Gary Lorden, Richard Murray, and Kip Thorne on the Alumni Panel; Professors Cathy Jurca, Kim Border, and Steve Frautschi, and students Laura Elliott, Joe Jewell, Yuliya Ruvinskaya, Todd Schuman, and Marcus Williams on the Quality of Life Panel; and Professors David Politzer, Gary Lorden, and Jean-Paul Revel, and students Dave Guskin, Silas Hilliard, Liz Stameshkin, and Jeff Sullivan on the Honor Code Panel.

Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with the scope of the conference; I have heard many comments regarding issues that were not mentioned or not addressed adequately last Monday. To those students, I urge you to get involved! The IHC and ARC will soon be interviewing and nominating student representatives for faculty committees on academic policies, the core curriculum, health, housing, and many others. If there is no committee appropriate for what you want to discuss, get a group of students together and start your own committee. The ASCIT BoD can help you get recognized - the Student-Faculty Conference wasn't organized by Caltech administration, it was put together by ASCIT and those committees were simply appointed by the BoD earlier this year. If you want to save Russian Literature or investigate student depression, don't wait around for another conference - you can do something about it right now. Send me an e-mail at pres@donut.caltech.edu and I can help you get started.

Sincerely, -Ted Jou, ASCIT President