Campaign for Students

The Campaign For Students is currently lobbying the MIT corporation. We’ve drafted a letter which you can access below

Letter to the MIT Corporation

(last updated 27 Oct 2008)

Sam Duffley, Jasmine Florentine, Jeremy Flores, Daniel McLaughlin, and David Sheets recently met with Dean Chris Colombo to bring up the concerns of the Campaign for Students that led to the Lobby 7 protest on October 17, 2008. Also present were Noah Jessop to represent the UA and Vinayak Ranade as an intermediary for all groups involved.

The CFS representatives brought up many issues to Dean Colombo, including the administration’s apparent disregard for student body opinions (for example, the numerous recommendations from the UA), the mishandling of Green Hall evictions, financial aid issues, Star Simpson, and the recent W1 delays. Through our discussion, we tried to emphasize two important themes: the administration has seriously flawed methods of communication (both interdepartmental and in notifying students of important decisions), and the administration is out of touch with the needs and attitudes of the student body.

Dean Colombo agreed with our communication stipulation, saying that he thinks many students don’t know how or why decisions are being made. He is new to MIT, so he cannot definitely comment on how the administration handled the cases prior to his recent arrival. Both he and Noah serve on the Taskforce for Student Engagement, and they both suggest that representatives from the CFS talk with the students on the council so that they can advocate for us.

The next Taskforce meeting is on November 19, and the CFS will put together our concerns so that the student reps. can express them to the others in the committee

The Campaign for Students is a loose association of MIT students formed to fight for fair representation of students at the Institute. Our goal is to raise awareness for the issues troubling students and campaign for lasting change in the nature of student-administrator interaction.

“We’re quite amazed at the process that was used to make this decision and troubled by it. It certainly continues the precedent of the past couple of years … it’s a very similar trend.” — GSC president Leeland Ekstrom, on the conversion of Green Hall from graduate to undergraduate sorority housing

Over the past few years, we have noticed a worrisome trend: decisions that affect student life are increasingly being made without regard for student input. Many decisions come as a surprises to the students affected. Student government groups are often consulted after the fact, when processes are already in motion and it is “too late” or “too difficult” to implement changes. Members of the MIT upper administration have expressed sympathy with issues of student involvement, but we have not seen results. On a broad variety of subjects from housing and dining issues to preserving the institution of hacking, the Campaign for Students aims to make the voices of students heard and turn the administration’s “commitment to student life” from words into deeds.

“Perhaps the largest barrier to productive interaction with the [Office of Campus Dining] is the students’ lack of trust in the OCD.” — Baker House Dining Report, 2007

The most concerning effect of this situation is a lack of student trust in the administration. While we know that MIT ultimately cares deeply about student life, it is hard for us to believe that the administration will support student raised issues when they have disregarded student input time after time. Students do not have a clear forum for communication between all of the administration and the student body, and the proceedings of administrative committees which make decisions regarding student life are all too often opaque and inscrutable. Feeling unheard, ignored, and disregarded has turned the student-administrator relationship into one of distrust and distaste.

“… Not only did the Boston Herald and other papers slander me on the day, but MIT made a press statement on that same day… when they definitely did not know what was going on… There were no facts available and they were making statements about what had happened, my own school… I’m trying to do well in school, here’s my school telling the entire world what they think of me without any basis. “ — Star Simpson, interview with BoingBoing

Although the overarching theme of the Campaign is increasing effective, proactive, useful dialogue with the administration that effects change at MIT, the Campaign for Students has specific concerns in the following areas:

• Support of Students: from the infamous Star Simpson case, to the lack of support against the RIAA’s litigious bullying of students, MIT students feel abandoned by the official voice of the Institute they call home.
• Dining: For decades, students have repeatedly fought against a dining program that doesn’t serve students needs, disregards dormitory culture, and drains money from the pockets of both students and the Institute. Today, residents of W1, Macgregor, and other dormitories are in danger of being forced into the unwanted, unfair House Dining plan.
• Hacking: One of the most public facets of MIT and a major selling point in Admissions, hacking today is suffering a chilling effect from multiple incidents of MIT hackers being arrested and criminally charged - a radical departure from the policies and traditions of the past. If this MIT tradition is to survive, we must have open dialogue with the entire community so that roof and tunnel hackers do not feel threatened.
• Housing: MIT’s housing system and communities are unique in higher education, and have become very important to students’ social lives and identity. The strength of our housing system makes it all the more important that dormitory and FSILG cultures are respected and maintained. The preservation of Residence Exploration (REX/Rush) is critical to the continued existence of MIT undergraduate culture.
• Campus Police: A perceived bias against supporting students and a stronger line against hacking in recent months has caused students to lose trust in the Campus Police as an organization. When The Tech’s front page carries stories about police brutality lawsuits, students begin to wonder: how has it become that we cannot even rely on our own college’s police officers?
• Other issues including art on campus and the response to student reaction are mentioned on this website as well, to raise awareness of past issues regarding respect for student input.

Our message is simple: MIT must give priority to seeking and giving full attention to student input when making decisions that affect students, and the administration must act concretely towards student-raised concerns. We have outlined these issues in our open letter.