Filreis will lead college house planning efforts

After a highly visible tenure as the undergraduate chairperson of his department, English Professor Al Filreis will now lead University efforts to create residential colleges. Provost Stanley Chodorow recently announced that Filreis will succeed former English Professor Robert Lucid as chairperson of the Residential Faculty Council, a job that arose as part of the 21st Century Project on Undergraduate Life. "[Filreis] is an energetic campaigner for undergraduate education and a great supporter of the idea that the faculty have an important role to play in residential living," Chodorow said. Filreis now lives in Van Pelt College House, serving as the residence's faculty master for the second year. Filreis also directs the Writers House, a non-residential college house pilot program. Chodorow noted that Filreis will help to integrate "the residential experience into the cultural and intellectual life of the University." Filreis said he hopes to "advocate for the concept of academic programs in residence." But he may have a difficult task ahead. Plans to open pilot residential college houses -- which were to form the basis for future collegiate planning -- this fall were put on hold due to lack of student interest. Student support is crucial to evaluating any new model for undergraduate life. The only residential remnants of the pilot houses are the Science and Technology Wing, which existed before collegiate planning was proposed and EFFECT, a student-run engineering program that took the place of one of the failed pilots. At the first RFC meeting last Wednesday night, Filreis said his goals include having faculty administer the residences, increasing communication about physical renovations and creating a more "unified" system. "The Residential Faculty Council is committed to making an already pretty good residential system work much better," Filreis said. Filreis' goals do not differ substantially from those of Lucid, according to Chodorow. "I do not expect to see any change in the goals of the RFC, but Filreis is young and energetic while Lucid was close to retirement," Chodorow said. "The difference will be one of style rather than substance." The RFC includes faculty-in-residence who live in the University's first-year dorms and college houses. Each residence includes some form of academic activity for the undergraduates living there. "The college houses in particular have deep, rich traditions of residential academic programs -- non-credit courses, theatre and opera series? cultural tours and events and there's just the value added of having faculty members just around," Filreis said. The chairperson of the RFC represents the faculty-in-residence and makes sure their needs are a high priority of the administration. Academic Programs in Residence Director Christopher Dennis said Chodorow will meet with RFC members September 26 to review how the residential system relates to the 21st Century Project. Dennis said the RFC hopes to implement programs that do not dominate an entire house but "work in a larger context" and are open to non-residents as well as residents. Dennis and the RFC will meet with outside consultants to "analyze which direction we want to go in and what we want to accomplish," he said. He cites EFFECT as an example of such a program, though it is not a University-sponsored program. Student residents of Van Pelt College House coordinated EFFECT after the opening of one of the original pilot programs, the Center for Advanced Undergraduate Study and Exploration, was postponed. CAUSE, as it was known, was geared toward undergraduates who are interested in research. Although EFFECT is based in Van Pelt College House, the program is not restricted to residents. Lucid also served as chairperson of the Collegiate Planning Board until his retirement from the University last year. Though the position was temporarily filled by English Professor Peter Conn, it now remains vacant.