Topic: Welcome back St. Louis!!!
It’s amazing how a physical place can raise so many emotions in a person. After being on a bus for over 12 hours, including a couple of hours where we were at a standstill because the highway flooded and we had to eventually take an alternate route or drive through literally a foot of water, I saw the arch. I saw the arch, and felt like the city was my family welcoming me at the airport.
My first day was a good day. On the side of the book, I’ve scheduled two meetings next week. The first is with one of the most inspiring, well-known, and outspoken professors at Wash U., professor Smith. His final lecture brings back alumni of his course, and ends usually in a standing ovation. What he does is challenges students to make a difference in the world of politics, especially in protecting the environment. While 99.9% of people that attend that lecture grow inspired to save the world, only .01% hold onto his message and try. On Tues., I will have a chance to show this professor how his words helped the .01%
The other person I will meet is one of the deans who I was assigned to after failing my two final courses in college. While I am no less angry at Wash U. for sending me to summer school in order to graduate, this one dean was very helpful in getting me through the process. Together, these two people I hope will open the door to getting my book and ideas into the hands of many faculty and admin.
I spent yesturday catching up w/ my freshman year roommate, whose couch i’ll be crashing on for a while. In 5 years of college, he never finished his degree, and never really had the desire to, since he had no focus or interest in what he was learning. Was he lazy for school, probably, but that’s definately not a bad thing. He’s still one of the smartest people I know, and one of the few who expresses complete happiness with what he’s doing. Working at an amazing piano bar, meeting all types of people, playing darts, watching movies. He doesn’t have the need for status, he just has the need to enjoy himself.
And let me say, while I always thought 4 years of the mid-west was enough, St. Louis is one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. My first night, and a friend of mine tells me to go to a bar called the Red Sea, where I see several people I know playing in their band. I’ve never felt home in New York City, and there’s no shortage of people to meet, and things to do in St. Louis. There’s a new bar called the Pin Up Bar, which is a small bar w/ a fancy bowling alley in the back that plays Comedy Central. There’s nothing pretentious about St. Louis, I can walk around in shorts and t-shirt like it’s my own apartment.
And I’ve broken the ice and had a few conversations with strangers about my book. I’ve yet to meet a person who hasn’t said that they felt college as it exists today works as it should, and when I’ve been asked if i really believe I can change such a traditional and old institution, my answer is “if we put a voice to the majority of people in the system, the majority that agrees there is something in need of change in higher education, than we most certainly will change college.” Change only requires individuals to continue to push forward, to network with the right people, and to organize that change. Just being in st. louis for one day has helped me ground all my thinking this past year, and has made me realize that if I dedicate a significant amount of time toward improving what a Wash U education is, than I can expect change to happen.
TOPIC: Another article printed in Wash U’s student paper, written by yours truly:
We need to subsidize students’ books
By Dan Lilienthal
I write this letter to inform you of a problem at our university, and to propose a solution. The problem is not unique to Wash U, but solving it would demonstrate this university’s ability to be innovative in finding solutions to improve the education of its students.
The problem I write to you about involves the affordability of textbooks. They’re very high, I’m sure you know. In fact, there’s no other time in a person’s life when they would spend more than, say, $20 or so on a book, let alone the $100+ that most students are required to spend on not one, but each of several textbooks.
The problem I am writing about is not specifically about the price of books, or requirements by professors that students buy these books. The problem is that, due to the costs, many students are not buying their books. Whether they are not buying them because they cannot afford them, or because they fear spending so much money on a book that they may not use very often, and won’t be able to return for much money after the course, I can’t say. However, the very fact that there are students who do not possess the books they need is a bad thing for their education, especially when students have already invested so much money into each course. Clearly, a student must possess their own copy of the texts required for class, in order not to fall behind in reading, and to be fully engaged in lectures, assignments and out-of-class discussions. While some people share texts, not everyone is afforded this opportunity, nor does sharing allow each individual the freedom to use and mark texts as they please.
When a student does not purchase a book due to high costs, which happens frequently, she is losing out. The solution I see to this problem, is to help all students with the purchase of their books. That is why I propose a “book credit,” whereby the money spent on books is subsidized through a students’ tuition up to a certain amount.
If a student is able to purchase books without having to spend money beyond tuition, they will buy those books. More students buying books means more students engaged in their courses, which means more learning, which obviously helps the overall health of the university. As I see it, the policy should apply to all books, for class and for leisure. This will encourage students to read where before the cost of books may have been a discouragement, and the ability to use tuition money to buy books has the potential to inspire new passions’ in student learning.
The question you naturally have for me is, where does this money come from? Well…to be honest, I don’t know much about the Wash U budget. Would a “book credit” mean something else would have to be cut? I can’t say. I do know this school has a lot of money, in fact, we’ve just raised $1.55 billion. I do know that this university has and continues to invest heavily on other quality-of-life items for students, including building the finest new dorms, and providing some of the top-ranked dining facilities in the country. I do know that this school also invests heavily in student recruiting in order to attract students who might otherwise have gone to other universities in Wash U’s peer group. With those factors in mind, I assume that a “book credit,” can be afforded by the University, without the need to sacrifice other programs and plans that the University has. I would expect the financial freedom provided from this policy to help many students, both the successful and struggling students alike.
There are clearly many ways that tuition money can be spent. While the idea of a “book credit,” may or may not come to fruition, I write this letter with the spirit of creating a dialogue between students and administrators on how to best use Wash U’s wealth to ensure we are looking out for the education of every student. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
