Entries in "village_at_115"
Hundert's Fireside Chat
President Hundert had an informal "Fireside Chat" (oh the historical references!) in the Village yesterday, and, though I hadn't intended to go, I stayed for the entire time. Part of my motivation, I suppose, was going for old time's sake: I still think the SAGES seminar I had with him and Timothy Beal during my sophomore year was the best class I've ever had. Topics of discussion during the chat ranged far and wide; we hit everything from curriculum changes to how to bring students in the Village closer to our neighbors on E. 118th.
Of course there were moments where Hundert got a little too deeply into his role as foreteller of the future of the University--a stance that doesn't go too far with the 3rd and 4th years who were his audience. The concern in that crowd is really more of "What can be done now?" All the same, I think some excellent topics were brought up. I was especially intrigued by extending the services of alumni to current students for networking and interning opportunities.
In addition to being a sounding board for such ideas, students expressed their own gripes. When asked about life in the Village, the topic of our keyswipe cards immediately jumped out of several mouths at once. "I had no idea key cards were such an issue!" Hundert exclaimed. All that I could think was, "Well, you asked." Glenn Nichols attended, too, and was busily taking notes the entire time, so hopefully some of the student suggestions and reactions will be acted upon.
Hundert ended with a word of advice for those of us getting ready to head out into the world. With the background that most of us have had, he said, we are excellent at rationalizing decisions and creating complicated pro- and con- lists for every decision from what to eat for dinner to how we should write our essays. But there are two decisions in life where we should avoid that and go with our gut feelings: deciding what to do with our lives and choosing with whom we are going to do it. For those two major decisions, sixteen variable regressions aren't going to work. As I was sitting there with the pressure of the German decision sitting on my shoulders again, I realized that that was exactly what I needed to hear.