Ingrained in the human psyche lies an aphorism that warns against accepting anything supposedly "free."
"There is no such thing as a free lunch," cautions the famous axiom.
But for students and faculty at Penn who participate in the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education's "Take Your Professor To Lunch" program, lunch is, in fact, free.
No questions asked.
"Thanks to Larry Moneta in Business Services, and his commitment to student-faculty interaction, the program is entirely free to the students and the professors," said SCUE Chairwoman Lindsey Mathews, a College junior.
"The food always tastes better when it's free," Deputy Provost and English Professor Peter Conn added.
Many students complain about teacher inaccessibility. A revitalized program is now attempting to correct the situation, one student at a time.
"SCUE Lunchroom" -- the formal name for the effort -- was launched in the early 1990s, enabling Penn students and professors to converse beyond the classroom walls.
"It gives students and faculty the chance to interact in a less formal atmosphere," Conn said.
Hundreds of students participate in the program annually.
A tremendously popular program during the early 1990s, the project declined in student participation toward the middle of the decade.
However, with the opening of the Faculty Club in 1999, SCUE's Lunchroom is once again bustling with professors, students and sandwiches.
"The program has had a comeback in the new facility," Conn said.
Active promotion by both SCUE and Conn has also contributed to the Lunchroom's development.
"Current promotion has included a grassroots effort by the committee to showcase the program by inviting their professors to lunch and encouraging their friends and classmates to do the same," Mathews said.
"I sent out an e-mail describing the program to various listservs, including College House deans and masters," Conn said. "I believed that this was a good way to get the word out."
Currently, Conn serves as a deputy provost, faculty advisor of Civic House, faculty fellow of Gregory House, co-director of the Urban Education minor and board chairman of Pearl S. Buck International.
Conn's role as deputy provost propelled him to reinvigorate SCUE's program.
"I really wanted the program to do well, because I believed it was a great opportunity for both students and faculty to associate."
Besides the Lunchroom program, which stipulates that students and faculty dine at the Faculty Club, "Standing Invitation" -- a college house system initiative -- permits students to chow down on burgers and fries with their professors at all of the college house dining halls, including Irv's Place, during regular hours.
Students just contact their college houses, which in turn hand out coupons exchangeable for food.
SCUE has also taken an active role in spearheading Standing Invitation.
"We are pairing up with Standing Invitation... to encourage students to use both resources," Mathews said.
The University's support for SCUE's Lunchroom and Standing Invitation demonstrates efforts to increase student-faculty involvement across the entire campus.
Away from the dinner table, preceptorials -- another SCUE program -- have helped foster student-faculty discussion.
The small classes on intriguing topics, like sushi-making and the business of gambling, forge close relationships.
"Preceptorials [are] one of the most popular programs that SCUE created, namely because they provide for something that Penn students thirst for-- informal learning that happens through high-quality interaction with their professors," Mathews said.
Operating outside the SCUE umbrella, the newly created "Fireside Chats," headed by Provost Robert Barchi, are also designed to bring faculty and students together.
Barchi and the Undergraduate Assembly joined forces to create the monthly forum, encouraging open discussion between all students and professors.
Choosing to forego formal programs, some faculty members take it upon themselves to get to know their pupils.
College junior and Urban Studies major Carla Nunziante has had dinner at the homes of two of her professors -- George Thomas and Theodore Hershberg.
"They do a good job of dispelling the notion that professors aren't real' people," Nunziante said.
And far more importantly, she added, "you get to see how good of a cook your professor -- or his wife -- is."
