Last Thursday, the Committee on Student Life of the Student Senate sponsored the second Pizza with the President event at Mother’s in the Union. Soon after President Shirley Ann Jackson came in, she struck up a conversation with a student seated at her table.
About 15 minutes into the event, the introductions took place and the questions began. They began with a query about the Biotechnology Center being opened to the entire campus. Jackson assured students that it would be open to students on a regular basis soon. From there, the topic shifted to the ongoing thorny issue of the TA shortage and the Graduate Tuition and Student Support Policy. In addition to citing statistics for how many TAs there really are, Dr. Jackson provided insight into how the status of TAs has changed and what role she sees them playing in the future.
Dr. Jackson began her answer—the most extensive to any question in the event’s two-hour duration—by pointing out that “the math department has more TAs today than they did two years ago.” Coupled with the fact that RPI enrolled even fewer freshman than it usually does this past year, that should translate into less stress on the number of TAs. Jackson mentioned that “When I came here, TAs were teaching whole classes. I believe you came here to be taught by a professor, not another student.” With the new definition of a matriculated graduate student, Jackson pointed out that the role of graduate students at RPI would continue to move towards research. Going to the heart of the issue, Jackson explained, “Some departments have over-admitted graduates, figuring that the Institute will pick up the slack—it’s irresponsible to the school and it’s irresponsible to the students—that’s the battle that’s being played out in The Poly and elsewhere.”
Later, two complaints about the excessive vehicular traffic on campus were fielded by Jackson. She conceded that “we should be able to do a much better job in that regard” and said she “sympathized completely.” One of the reasons for this seems to be the lack of a central receiving department—each department orders its own supplies independent of anyone else. Jackson commented “For reasons I don’t totally understand, Rensselaer has no central receiving department.” Eventually, RPI plans to ban all vehicles from central campus, though how goods ordered independently by each department will make their way from the edge of campus to the right people is unclear as of now.
As for the continuing increase of room, board, and tuition this year, Jackson said that the money will not be going to build new buildings, but to maintaining the current RPI physical plant. As for complaints about the lack of food choices in the contract dining halls, Jackson highlighted the efforts to “try to give students more of a choice of where they can eat with their plan,” as well as the possibility of a “declining balance” meal plan.
All during the proceedings, President Jackson took some notes and afterward spoke to many students on issues of importance to them. On a more personal note, she was asked about her choice of college and how the RPI experience stacked up. She commented, that among the institutions she’s familiar with (Georgetown, MIT, Dartmouth, Princeton, Rutgers, and RPI), she chose MIT over RPI for college because of a lack of women’s housing on campus (MIT had built a new women’s dormitory at the time). “When I came here,” she recalled, “RPI’s facilities were much more utilitarian—if you can believe it.”
When asked about the comments of Harvard’s president concerning women in science, she broadened the topic to say, “the conversation we really should be having is whether we can encourage invention and innovation in America.” She pointed out the fact that 40 percent of advanced science degree holders were not born in the U.S. and that in the next decade, we’ll lose 50 percent of our scientific workforce. She was not extremely offended at the remarks themselves, but felt that “discouraging 50 percent of the population from careers in science is foolish—whoever that 50 percent is.”
Further issues were presented, including the orchestra’s request for a practice location until EMPAC is built, the drab and dreary atmosphere at Folsom Library, inappropriate distribution of athletic funds to teams, problems communicating with foreign TAs, crime on College Avenue, as well as continued bad publicity of RPI by the Albany Times Union.
Tim Herger ’08, a bioinformatics major, said, “Given the variety and depth of both questions and answers, I’m optimistic that these events will really continue to be productive for Dr. Jackson as well as all of us.”
