Provost's `Fireside Chat' stirs intellects

Penn isn't always considered the most intellectual of the Ivies. But students sought to combat that image during the second round of the Fireside Chats with Provost Robert Barchi series last night in Houston Hall. About 30 students gathered for the discussion, which occurs on the first Tuesday of every month. The Undergraduate Assembly, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Office of Student Life co-sponsored the forum. Last month, about the same number of students came together for the inaugural Fireside Chat, which dealt with the academic mission of Penn. Students and Barchi discussed the broad topic of the intellectual environment at Penn. Specifically, Barchi asked students to help answer the question of "how we, as faculty, can share with you, as students who are mostly here for four years, this feeling of being a part of an intellectual community." One student raised the question of how off-campus students might be able to tap into Penn's intellectual environment. Barchi said the Internet can help inform students about events to enhance their intellectual experiences at Penn, and also brought up the importance of chance interactions outside of the classroom. College freshman Papa Wassa Nduom then questioned whether the current on-campus housing procedure promotes such "random" interaction between "random" individuals. He noted that the college houses process "in-house" housing requests before "inter-house" requests, which makes it easier to stay in one dorm than to diversify housing. "You have a much easier time getting into a dorm you already live in," Nduom said. In response, Barchi said that the College House System is designed to foster a sense of community and encourage students to stay in the same house for four years. College junior and SCUE steering committee member Allyson Bohensky praised her experiences living in the Quad freshman year. "It was such an amazing experience," she said. "It was the best opportunity for me to be with all of the freshmen." However, she added, "I just don't think it's realistic to expect juniors or seniors to want to stay in a place where freshmen and sophomores are first coming in." The conversation then turned to the flow of information regarding intellectual events on campus to all Penn students. UA Chairman Michael Bassik mentioned the PennWeb Calendar as a valuable resource that students can use to find out about events. "There's something like... 10,000 events that are posted [on the PennWeb Calendar]," Bassik explained. For a while, the chat also focused on faculty-student interaction. Many commented on the difficulty of contacting professors in huge lecture classes. But College junior and SCUE member Anne Nicolaysen said she managed to avoid this frustration at a College House-sponsored dinner with professors. "We had small tables, good conversation, 'cause they were human," she said. "They weren't up on a podium giving a lecture." Barchi acknowledged that undergraduates "don't have the chance, because of the sheer number of you, to make the same level of personal contact as you would at the graduate [level]." He also asked for suggestions on how to increase contact, as he did throughout the chat, hoping to engage everyone present in an active dialogue. During the rest of the discussion, topics covered a wide range, from how the Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowships can promote intellectual activity to the popularity of preceptorials. Students said they liked the chance to meet the Provost in an informal setting. "I thought it was a nice way for students to approach the administrators, because you don't really see them at all," College sophomore Jennifer Sullam said. College sophomore Jesse Friedman agreed with Sullam. "I thought it was a really great opportunity for students to communicate with Provost Barchi, and I thought a lot of interesting ideas came out," he said.