Taking Our Profs Out to Dinner

When pre-frosh decide to attend Harvard, they know that they are not choosing a school with a small and intimate liberal arts setting, where tenured professors instruct every section and student-Faculty interaction is the rule rather than the exception. There are drawbacks to attending a school as acclaimed, as competitive and as large as Harvard. Students suffer because Harvard professors are more interested in personal research than in personal interaction with undergraduates.

But the College doesn't have to function in this way, and more importantly, it shouldn't function in this way. Too many students graduate from this school without ever tapping into the most fertile resource that the University offers: its faculty. Harvard may boast the most impressive library system in the world, complete with millions of volumes of books and an archive that spans multiple centuries, but interaction between the faculty and the students is where most of College learning should take place. Books, maps and charts may last for centuries, but this is the only opportunity for a lucky 6,500 students each year to engage in intellectual conversation and to study with the leading experts in the academic fields of their interest. It is possible to regain the collegiality that has been lost in recent decades, without Harvard having to revert to an elitist institution.

It is immensely difficult for undergraduate students to construct one-on-one relationships with a member of the Harvard faculty. We are obliged to fulfill eight Core Curriculum requirements, which banish undergraduate students to impersonal, anonymous lecture halls. Although even the most world-renowned Harvard professors are required to have open office hours, so that students may presumably interact with professors outside of the classroom setting, yet both students and Faculty need to make a greater effort so that office hours are more comfortable and ensure both convenient and meaningful Faculty-student interaction. Professors make little effort to mingle or interact with the undergraduates enrolled in their courses--they most often do not attend the class section and most faculty members do not even ask for questions at the end of lecture. Disappointingly, teaching fellows often serve as a go-between for the students and faculty members where no middle person should even exist. Although the TF's surely have the students' best interests at heart, the potential for direct interaction between students and professors is lost when TF's are stuck in the middle.

The College has recognized the lack of interaction between its Faculty and its students and has made various proposals to amend the situation. In this year's annual report to the faculty, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles suggested a worthy proposal that would foster interaction between the Faculty and the group of Harvard students with the least amount of faculty interaction: first-year students. Knowles recommended that all first-years should have the opportunity to participate in a freshman Seminar during their first year at college. The atmosphere of these classes, because they are conducted with a pass/fail grading system, places the emphasis on instruction and learning rather than preoccupation with grades and examinations. This is undoubtedly helpful for first-year students adjusting to the rigorous demands that define Harvard curriculum. Also important, the creation of more freshman seminars would guarantee first-years the opportunity to enroll in two classes, the other being Expository Writing, that provide a deservedly intimate classroom setting.

Last February, the College proved it was thinking along the right track with its decision to re-invoke dining hall options for faculty members. Meals are an opportune chance for students to interact with their professors. Lunches and dinners are conducive to conversation especially because they are removed from anonymous lecture halls and intimidating faculty offices and placed in more familiar student turf. Unfortunately, however, the plan has only received meager attention and even more scanty application; during the plan's first month, only eleven faculty members took advantage of the opportunity to dine with their students. Of course, it is up to students to invite their professors to dinner. But it would help if the University fostered a more intimate relationships between faculty and students in the first place.

One solution that could help bridge the gap between professors lecturing to students and professors conversing with students are more interactive classes. Instead of accolade laden professors delivering lectures that conclude with the first chime of the eleven o'clock bell, professors can reserve a few minutes during each lecture to answer questions and to listen to student responses to the material. Professors who lecture should also be required to attend each of the class sections at least once during the term, so that they may interact with their students on a more intimate level.

Harvard faculty should not shirk their responsibility as teachers and instructors because of their personal research and individual pursuits. Some progress has been made, but students must take advantage of the opportunities to interact with Faculty, and it remains the responsibility of the administration to find more ways to encourage personal interaction.