When Dartmouth faculty think of a proposed cluster system like the one the steering committee's report recommends, they do not envision residential colleges like those at Harvard or Yale. A toned down version of the East Wheelock cluster is what they envision.
One of the recommendations of the steering committee report was that professors live near students in a cluster system environment, but faculty interest in the proposal is vague.
In five years, three different faculty members have lived as faculty member advisors to the East Wheelock Cluster. English professor Cleopatra Mathis and history professor Leo Spitzer have served as senior associate of the East Wheelock Cluster in the past -- Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman is the current associate.
Faculty do not live in the residence hall with students directly, but in a house near to the cluster.
Redman said that living with students was a "lifestyle choice," and that "not every faculty member would want to do this."
Spitzer said that the goal of the cluster system is to "break down the walls between the classroom and living spaces of students."
Spitzer added that the job would be better for junior faculty and that the College would have to compensate them with rent subsidies or lighter course loads. Enticement of the faculty would have to be worked into the development of the cluster system, he said.
Associate professor of religion Susan Ackerman said that faculty are not necessary for a cluster system. She said more graduate students would be helpful and that students in a cluster system like East Wheelock can get better advising. She added that more snack bars would make everyone happier.
Dean of the Faculty Ed Berger proposed that if clusters were based on majors, then combining social and academic programs would be much easier, as programming could be targeted to a specific group.
He added that this was just an idea, but that the College needed to think creatively about what Dartmouth is looking for and should look at other College's systems for ideas.
Redman said that clusters should offer social activities and enhance opportunities for people to come together.
Most faculty said that the cluster system would allow students to talk to professors outside of an academic environment.
Another portion of the recommendations was the institution of Thursday morning exams and more challenging course work to discourage drinking at Wednesday night meetings of Greek houses.
Everybody asked said that the idea of "social engineering," such as Thursday morning exams, or harder classes, were silly.
Ackerman said that teachers should not adjust their syllabi to oppose meetings and that doing so would compromise the academic integrity of a course.
Spitzer said that the term system is very demanding. Ackerman agreed saying that the students work hard already and that there is only so much work that a professor can assign and grade.
Faculty said that there was not a conflict between the push for a cluster system and the push to make Dartmouth into more of a research institution.
Spitzer said that the faculty already handle the split between student interaction and research very well.
