[1316] in UA Senate
Re: Questions of CoS nomination
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Chang)
Fri Apr 29 16:51:31 2011
Cc: Allan Miramonti <allanm@mit.edu>, ua-senate <ua-senate@mit.edu>
From: David Chang <dchang@MIT.EDU>
To: Tim Jenks <tjenks@mit.edu>, Jessica Chen <jessicachen.dbhs@gmail.com>,
Karan Takhar <kstakhar4691@gmail.com>, Sammi Wyman <swyman@mit.edu>,
Benjamin Shaibu <benjaminshaibu@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <BANLkTi=YonN8v3C6AqUGU1tOu2PDydQn3w@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:51:23 +0200
Hi Tim, Jessica, Karan, Sammi, Ben, et al.
Hope you don't mind if I answer things in a different order for the =20
sake of clarity. The text is self-standing and should flow if you read =20=
from beginning to end, but if you just want to jump to your question, =20=
I've tried to label as appropriate.
I look forward to hearing back and welcome any additional questions or =20=
constructive feedback.
Best,
David Chang
My goal as Chief of Staff is to help policy makers, MIT Administrators =20=
and Faculty alike, to make the best decision. To this end, I will =20
attract and retain a community of knowledgeable student =20
representatives and facilitate conversations and interactions with =20
policy makers.
Tim Jenks wrote :
> 1) What is the role of a student on an Institute Committee? How is =20=
> this different from a faculty member or administrator?
A direct result of the above statement: The role of the faculty and =20
administration is to make good policy that advances MIT mission, and I =20=
believe that good policy is more likely when they have a better =20
understanding of the students and their experiences at MIT. Then, to =20
help them to their job of making good policy are students, whose goal =20=
is to provide the insight and knowledge necessary to help craft good =20
policy and to avoid pitfall.
Ben et Sammi wrote :
> 1) Hi David, can you give any examples of times you had to work with =20=
> Administrators when not necessarily on the same page and came up =20
> with a positive solution?
> 1b) How about with Faculty?
Then, in order to help create good policy, it requires students to =20
simultaneously understand the needs of the faculty, admin, and =20
students. I truly believe that all three parties share a common =20
interest, to advance knowledge, but disagreements can occur as each =20
party has had different experiences and therefore see different routes =20=
to the goal. The only possible way of breaking gridlocks is to =20
understand their first order intentions. One poignant example is when =20=
the CUP considered moving drop date from the 12th week to the 7th week =20=
of school. The projected savings were astronomical (and also a bit =20
suspect), but if we had been arguing about money, we would all have an =20=
early drop date. But even with financial pressures, a bit of prodding =20=
was all that was necessary to remind some key faculty in the room =20
about what they were really interested; for one, it was the well being =20=
and mental health of students, for another it was pedagogy, and =20
another the impact on social equality. That's the power that students =20=
have, is to provide insight on how a policy could affect students in =20
each of the interest domains of the faculty. With administrators, I'm =20=
hoping that the same holds; appealing to their interests is the best =20
way to advance student interests.
Karan wrote:
> 2.) How would you handle a situation in which you didn't agree =20
> with a policy decision/opinion proposed by the UA President and/or =20
> Vice President?
That being said, my role as Chief of Staff differs from the role of a =20=
student representative: My goal is to facilitate conversations between =20=
parties. Policy differences do not affect my ability to serve as Chief =20=
of Staff, and that is part of the beauty of this particular office. My =20=
job is to help student representatives, faculty, and administrators do =20=
their job, regardless of political persuasion. Even though part of my =20=
constitutional duties is to help the UAP, I trust that the student =20
representatives, Allan, and the rest of the UA will do an admirable =20
job with interacting and communicating with policy makers.
David wrote: (shameless self-plug)
> What is an idea that you have for next year?
Now, while faculty committees and high level administrators are the =20
most high profiles cases and I'm glad to have the formalized structure =20=
of student representatives to serve them, I think that we ought to be =20=
thinking about street level bureaucrat as well. Often they are making =20=
key policies that affect student life with little understanding of =20
students. If they are lucky, they've built a relationship with a =20
student and can ask them for advice before creating policy. Many have =20=
not, so to facilitate that conversation, I plan on giving them direct =20=
access to student representatives, a very knowledgeable and helpful =20
cohort. If they would like student opinions, in hopes of better =20
policy, they can ask our mailing list or they can ask for =20
participation in a focus group and I hope that administrators from all =20=
departments will take advantage of student opinions. Participating is =20=
not compulsory for representatives, but I hope to incentivize it and =20
trust that the student representatives have a deep interest in policy =20=
and student life.
Ben wrote:
> How would you handle a situation where they were being disregarded, =20=
> do you feel that would be part of your responsibility?
Now the administrators and faculty only respond to student input when =20=
they think it is good advice and can help them craft good policy. =20
Thus, when student input is being disregarded, I think that it's a =20
great shame. However, it signals to us that we are not being helpful, =20=
for whatever reason, and as students with little formalized power, the =20=
only response is to double our efforts to be helpful and I'm sure that =20=
we can demonstrate our worth to them.
Part of demonstrating and maintaining our worth is having a diverse =20
and active body of student representatives that speaks with legitimacy =20=
and knowledge.
Ben wrote:
> 2) How do you feel about working with other students, particularly =20
> in regards to selections and maintaining neutrality/objectivity?
(I believe you are asking about fairly selecting a diverse =20
representatives, so feel free to ping me again if I misinterpreted.)
When it comes to diversity, I have upmost respect for all MIT students =20=
in all disciplines, testified both from personal interactions and by =20
the MIT news office research emails on research from all corners of =20
the Institute. I believe in the importance of balance, as a personal =20
belief is "all things in moderation"; At MIT, I take political science =20=
classes to balance Course 6, and here at a political science =20
university in France, I'm still doing a UROP with CSAIL. More so, =20
while I believe the best decisions are made when aware of opinions =20
from all perspectives, it's something that I've also heard from a =20
committee staff member, so there is both internal and external =20
incentive to maintain diversity and no incentive to choose only a =20
subset of the MIT population. Lastly, my friends aren't interested in =20=
policy at MIT (they yawn loudly when I talk about it), so there's no =20
chance for nepotism.
Ben wrote:
> 3) How would you deal with student members on Institute Committees =20
> not performing their duties?
To encourage active members, I hope to create an environment where =20
student representatives feel respected and important, inline with the =20=
work that they do to promote quality work and to keep them engaged. =20
Ideas for doing this are raising their profile on campus, a closer =20
community among representatives, or perks and I would welcome any =20
ideas you have about this.
When dealing with inactive members, the details of the case matter =20
greatly, so it will be handled on a case by case basis, but I what I =20
will say is that In the case there someone hasn't been attending or I =20=
hear that they have been unprepared, my first concern is that they are =20=
okay; those are signs of a difficult personal or physical issue, not =20
likely out of willful negligence as all representatives are =20
volunteers. The student has shown a desire to serve, but is unable to =20=
for some reason, so berating them does little good. Thus, my goal is =20
to treat them with respect, understand what they are dealing with, and =20=
then go from there.
Karan wrote:
> 1.) How do you plan to stay in touch with student representatives to =20=
> Institute Committees in the coming year and how often will you be in =20=
> contact?
Staying in contact with student representatives is an important way to =20=
build community and to increase student say in committees as =20
currently, students don't know the other students on similar =20
committees. This puts us at a relative disadvantage as committee staff =20=
members are working with other committees, administrators, and =20
interested faculty to build consensus outside of scheduled committee =20
meetings and as a result, most policies pass by the time they reach =20
the faculty floor. We ought to emulate.
I'm looking at the possibility of meeting with each student =20
representative 3 times a semester. With ~60 representatives, this =20
would involve 3 reps plus me at lunch everyday for 4 weeks to cycle =20
through. I do think it's a quick schedule, but that scheduling events =20=
regularly is important and even representatives that only meet once a =20=
semester can contribute. However, this can only happen on a couple =20
conditions: 1. Funding to reimburse everyone's lunch 2. An automated =20
way to schedule meetings online 3. A procurement credit card to handle =20=
reimbursements.
I know that this plan is ambitious and I'd welcome your feedback on it =20=
to make it work. The runner-up alternative is having larger groups for =20=
dinner, also on a ~4 week cycle.
Karan wrote:
> 3.) What will your other time commitments be next semester and =20
> how much time per week do you think would be sufficient to complete =20=
> your workload as Chief of Staff (I understand that answer probably =20
> varies with Institute Committee vacancies)?
This will be my only leadership position, as my time in France has =20
reduced my commitments elsewhere and my ability to complete a second =20
major, so I'm in a good position. Predictions are so difficult, =20
especially as my previous role as SCEP chair is a completely different =20=
creature and so I will trust in my ability as an MIT student to get =20
everything done when needed.
Le 29 avr. 11 =E0 18:20, Tim Jenks a =E9crit :
> Great questions so far guys! I have one too:
>
> 1) What is the role of a student on an Institute Committee? How is =20=
> this different from a faculty member or administrator?
>
> --Tim
>
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 2:56 PM, Allan Miramonti <allanm@mit.edu> =20
> wrote:
> I mentioned last night that I would create a thread to take =20
> questions for David Chang. He has also agreed to draft an =20
> introduction outlining his goals and experiences in the next couple =20=
> days.
>
> Please keep your questions reasonable and use good judgement. Try =20
> and ask thoughtful questions that don't waste anyone's time. If I =20
> don't see many questions over the next few days, I'll bump the =20
> thread again.
>
> Basic information:
> David is a former SCEP chair who is currently studying abroad. He =20
> will be a senior next year and is from Burton Conner. In the past he =20=
> has served on CUP and spent time with other institute committees. =20
> It is not a stretch to say that as SCEP chair and his involvement =20
> with other institute committees, David understands how to work with =20=
> faculty and administration and get things done.
>
> -Allan
>
>
>
> --=20
> ----------------
> Tim Jenks
> Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
> MIT Class of 2013
> tjenks@mit.edu
>
