tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post2021458870421537490..comments2024-03-12T14:31:50.264-07:00Comments on Bits and Pieces: The honor code discussion continuesHarry Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17088418333536732728noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-26319651141240822822014-02-14T12:36:48.263-08:002014-02-14T12:36:48.263-08:00Actually, I personally am not isolated, but that&#...Actually, I personally am not isolated, but that's because I've put a lot of effort into proactively making and maintaining connections which wouldn't have occurred otherwise, while also devoting much time to learning all that I could about the history and the present of the place. That's not a focus of one's existence for which most community members here of whatever category would have time or the inclination. There are certainly people here far more connected and cognizant than I am, but for the vast majority, I don't think there's much of a sense of being potentially empowered to create significant change for the better, even within the small realm of one's own work experience. <br /><br />The Undergraduate Council for years has advocated in favor of dedicated social space, convenient to the main campus areas. The Hilles experiment - after donation of the library there - has not been greatly successful in that regard. When one sees what has to happen at Memorial Hall for an event of any size to take place at Annenberg - with all the tables being trucked off elsewhere - it's clear there's a need for some supplementary large venue. How much if any improvement whatever is done with the Smith Center will make, I have no idea. I do firmly believe, however, that there are great, unexplored opportunities for enhancing communication, building community so that referring to that more so means something, and giving people more "agency" for contributing their thinking to decision-makers about those factors which especially affect quality of life. Alastihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13953712927557028668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-42287551642059808442014-02-12T06:44:50.563-08:002014-02-12T06:44:50.563-08:00It's part of a larger trend -- your comment co...It's part of a larger trend -- your comment could have been attached to the post above about running the university like a business. We're more hierarchical than we used to be. I don't mean that faculty weren't always at the top of the food chain, they were. But there is more going through channels, checking things with your boss, not including people in the conversation if it is not their responsibility. At the same time there is this fantasy of hyper democracy, the anonymous mass surveys of what should be in the Smith Campus Center, the electronic suggestion box into which proposals for budget cuts could be submitted a few years ago (no indication they were ever read), the generic address to which suggestions about who should be Dean of this or that should be sent (without even an auto-generated acknowledgement). Harvard knows that it is supposed to appear to listen, but you are not the only person here who has told me he feels isolated in a place he has served for a very long time.Harry Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17088418333536732728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-11751753379727122842014-02-12T01:42:17.151-08:002014-02-12T01:42:17.151-08:00What I would like to see, after working here for 2...What I would like to see, after working here for 20 years in a variety of facilities, is a commitment by the university - separately from anything to do with oaths or disciplinary actions - to excellence in every aspect of its operations. Although clearly there is aspiration toward that, and for the most part the reality of it in academic endeavors, it's not uncommon to find that the quest for excellence is significantly lacking as an overall ethos for improving wellbeing of all our community's participants. With that focus, our physical environs and mutually supportive human relations would be more of a caliber such as to so far as is possible maximize quality of life for all. <br /><br />There are a lot of factors which can combine to constrain the potential for transcending the ordinary inadequacies of the present, but suffice it to say that many who engage with the mundane frustrations of institutional inertia and territorial fiefdoms here have long ago resigned themselves to there being little likelihood of change in the direction of what ought to be possible. If there were means for people to provide inputs on how in every way from basic maintenance to aesthetics we might progress toward comprehensive excellence, I think that would alter the whole flavor of the place, with resulting benefits to the academic experience accruing as well.Alastihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13953712927557028668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-88661120783484599082014-02-09T20:21:56.742-08:002014-02-09T20:21:56.742-08:00I take your point about the downsides of requiring...I take your point about the downsides of requiring students to write a pledge on each assignment. But the psychologist you mention makes an interesting point about getting people primed. What about (i) requiring students to indicate by signature or checkbox that they are aware of the school's policies on cheating, or (ii) giving them a potential-cheating situation to judge at the beginning of each assignment?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04635496839285401611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-69176061715817940312014-02-05T21:05:40.410-08:002014-02-05T21:05:40.410-08:00Every item of interest seemed to be off the table....Every item of interest seemed to be off the table.<br /><br />What was on the table? <br /><br />Also- an old Software Eng. aphorism applies here: if you don't know what your goals are then you are not going to achieve them.GASARCHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06134382469361359081noreply@blogger.com