Welcome Week 2013 Speech to the Class of 2017

Since in my last blog I talked about what I was going to say to our new first year undergraduate students, my blog for this week will be my actual Welcome Week 2013 speech to the Class of 2017.

Good morning.  I am Herman Berliner, Hofstra’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and I am pleased to add my welcome to Hofstra.  For the last few weeks, I have been thinking about what my message should be when today happens and I have the opportunity to talk with you about your Hofstra experience and your future.  But before we talk about your experience and your future, let’s move quickly into the future and go to year 2154.  What is so special about that year -- other than all of us will be more than 154 years old?

If you have seen Elysium, you will know that the movie takes place at that time.  In fact, it starts by noting that in the year 2154, two classes of people exist, the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium where all disease has been eliminated and people live happily, healthily and affluently ever after; and the rest of the population, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth.  Any effort to move from earth to Elysium is thwarted; illegal immigrants to Elysium are simply killed.

Neill Blomkamp, the writer and producer of Elysium, has not only made a science fiction film; he also actually believes in this scenario.  In an interview with The Guardian,  Blomkamp, who comes from South Africa, stated, “The issues raised by Elysium have been in existence as long as homo sapiens.  You’d literally have to change the human genome to stop wealth discrepancy.”  Neill continues by noting:

We have biological systems built into us that were very advantageous for us, up until we became a functioning civilization 10,000 years ago.  We are literally coded to preserve life, procreate and get food—and that’s not gonna change.  The question is whether you can somehow overpower certain parts of the mammalian DNA and try to… take…away wealth and pour it out for the rest of the planet.

I don’t believe the future will really be this gloomy and I’m not here to convince you to see the movie but I do want you to think about the future—both your future and the future of our planet and humanity itself.

Let’s start by talking about being at a University, either as a student or as a faculty member, staff member, or administrator.  Universities are great places to be and Hofstra is a particularly great University.  I’m an economist by training; quoting a friend of mine, “an economist is someone who would have been an accountant but didn’t have the personality.”  Please think about that.  Meanwhile, in addition to being an economist, I’m also interested in politics, education, the environment, a little bit of basketball, cars and theater.  I have been to almost every Broadway musical so I know from first-hand experience that when our students put on a production of Gypsy this fall it will certainly be professional quality.  Please go to see it.  Overall, no matter what your interests are, the range and quality of what we offer on campus translates into outstanding experiences.  You can major in pre-med; you can major in economics; you can major in education; or in history or almost 140 other choices, but you can actually do so much more.  Think about taking a course in another area outside your major, take a minor, pursue a dual major—go to events on campus or volunteer through our Center for Civic Engagement.  Attend a lecture from our Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency.  Listen to a Pulitzer Prize winner as part of our Great Writers Great Readings series.  Participate in our fall festival.  In the past, we have had Jimmy Fallon headline the fall festival comedy show and had performances by Cobra Starship, Taking Back Sunday, Big Sean and Snoop Dogg as well as Rick Ross.  I don’t know who these groups or performers are (other than Jimmy Fallon) but I may be the only provost who’s taken his younger daughter to a One Direction concert and his older daughter to the Jonas Brothers.  In both cases my hearing did come back within 48 hours.  Getting back to what we offer:  Make use of our fitness center, attend an athletic event, swim in our pool.  I’m a regular in the pool but I claim no resemblance to Michael Phelps.  Actually, in sports I’m more like Mike Wazowski from Monsters University. We have so many things happening that no one is able to go to everything that happens on a 24/7 University campus. Don’t overdo it, but do take advantage of what we offer.  Many of my interests developed when I was a college student.  Take a chance.  Try something new even if it isn’t in your comfort zone.  Open your mind.  You won’t regret it and it can help you secure a successful future.

Let’s go back to Elysium for a moment. If I were alive in 2154, I doubt that I would be part of the wealthy or privileged few who live in this outer space paradise.  More likely I would be living on earth.  Most of you might be in the same situation.  There is still time to avoid such an Elysium scenario but the responsibility will rest with you and your contemporaries to confront the issues that my generation has not and is not fully confronting.  Issues that must be confronted if the earth is to become a better place to live rather than a more “overpopulated” and “ruined planet.”  We can clearly do so much better than a world with a few haves and too many have nots.

Your Hofstra education will help you deal with those problems and confront the issues that must be resolved. 

One more immediate issue that all universities are dealing with is how to best promote, protect and uphold academic integrity.  To that end, we have implemented an Honor Code which all of us are being asked to sign.  I am steadfast in my commitment to the Honor Code.  Let me be very clear.

Plagiarism and other forms of cheating do not represent your quest for knowledge.  Instead, plagiarism is simply cheating and constitutes presenting someone else’s work as your own.

One of my favorite stories regarding academic dishonesty features two students in a history course who emailed a faculty member a few hours after an exam was given in class indicating they had a flat tire on the way to campus, and therefore could not take the exam at that time.  The faculty member asked them both to come in to take a make-up, placed each of them in a separate room, and gave them their make-up exams.  First question on each of their multiple choice exams was “The location of the tire that went flat was a) driver’s side front, b) driver’s side rear, c) passenger side front; d) passenger side rear.”  The results of the exam and the rest of this story really are history: each student came up with a different answer to that question.

As diverse as we are, we must all unite in stating it is simply unacceptable to cheat.  Respect for integrity is inextricably interwoven and essential to your success as a Hofstra student.  So is respect for diversity.  We are a diverse population at Hofstra but we are also a microcosm of the planet. 

Our University celebrates and encourages diversity.  As indicated in our Diversity Mission Statement:

The University believes that institutions of learning have a responsibility to provide and sustain multiple cultures, to encourage scholarship and knowledge production incorporating multiple perspectives and to demonstrate commitment to fair and equal access to higher education.

Diversity includes the recognition and incorporation of a multiplicity of voices and perspectives in thought and action, in policy and practice, in all spheres of the academic enterprise.  It involves recognizing the value of “difference” and the inclusion of members of groups that experience discrimination or under representations.

Join with us in embracing diversity.

Above all, view your education as an opportunity, as a way of enhancing and fast- forwarding your future success and as a time to enjoy.

Give it your best shot.  We will be your partners.  

I look forward to seeing you on campus.  And please stay in touch.  Welcome again to Hofstra University, Class of 2017. Thanks and continued success.

Pride

About a week ago one of my earliest students was appointed superintendent of a very important neighboring school district.  He was a very smart student more than 35 years ago and he is still smart today.  The students will benefit greatly from his leadership and my sense of pride is enormous in recognition of his accomplishments.  I have stayed in touch with this particular alum over the years.  We even played tennis a number of times but I am a better educator and economist than I am a tennis player so the tennis matches were few and far between.

There are also some former students I have lost track of, and then fortunately we are able to reconnect.  A few years ago, a personnel folder crossed my desk for a new hire in the education area.  The person was an experienced high school teacher who was now beginning a new career in higher education.  The name was familiar, though hardly unusual.  And this person’s undergraduate degree was from the institution where I began first teaching as an adjunct while completing my doctorate.  Sure enough when I looked further, he was my former student. He has been a tremendous asset to Hofstra in the decades since he first began teaching on our campus. Interestingly enough, when this person was an undergraduate and my student, he complained that I wasn’t liberal enough for his political positions.  Decades have passed and he is still complaining.  Middle of the road economists have trouble gaining appropriate respect from either the left or the right.

As I think back to the students I taught in my early years in teaching, I can easily identify a now university president, a professor of English, a number of psychologists, lawyers, successful business people, all individuals I have stayed in touch with.  One of my former students is  even a University trustee and a number of years ago, there were actually two of my former students on the trustees. There are other former students that I am not in touch with or have lost contact with and I am sure within this group are many successful individuals. I hope my economics courses made a difference in their education and their lives and I am humbled by the thought that I have had a positive  impact.  I want every Hofstra graduate to succeed but I do care even more about those I know and have worked with personally.

It’s interesting that as a dean and as a provost, I have hopefully impacted positively the education of tens of thousands of students. Knowing that I have been able to play a leadership role for decades and have made a difference on many key issues, brings a great sense of satisfaction.  But in a University, it is ultimately the relationship between students and faculty, or students and advisers, or students and their coaches that make the greatest difference.  That personal touch can help inspire and there is no substitute especially for an undergraduate.  As we look to make the best decisions in a time of  constraint, we should all strongly advocate for keeping   as much of a personal touch in education as we can.

Cheating

Six students from a top Long Island high school each hired the same recent high school graduate to take the SATs for them so that they could submit a higher test score than they would receive on their own as part of their college admissions profile.  I am pleased they were caught but I’m certain that these students are not the only students who have substituted other individuals in their place to take important admissions and other examinations.  What should happen to these high school students?  The punishment should be severe (though I wouldn’t advocate jail time).  How severe?  If they are guilty as charged, I would recommend they should be barred from submitting a SAT test score or a high school transcript for at least a year and during that time they should provide extensive mandatory community service. A course on ethics should also be required.  The test taker should also face at least as severe a punishment.  And if there were any parents that aided and abetted this effort, their punishment should be much more severe. Furthermore, it appears that we need to substantially improve test security so that every possible safeguard is in place to prevent anyone else from taking the place of the student who is supposed to be the test taker.

Academic honesty is a problem in many high schools and in many colleges and universities.  At times, especially since we are dealing with young adults, the plagiarism is unintentional.  At other times, the cheating is both intentional and on-going.  Many teachers and professors will react forcefully to cheating as it happens but at the same time intentionally moderate or eliminate long term consequences.  Often cheating is not reported so as not to tarnish the student’s record and often the punishment is determined based on this cheating being a once in a lifetime occurrence, not a pattern.  Once in a lifetime suggest that a moderate response is appropriate; a pattern suggests there needs to be an escalating response.  How do we know what response is appropriate if the tracking system throughout much of a student’s education is rife with omissions?  We really need to do better so that the message is more clearly and emphatically that academic dishonesty doesn’t pay.

Students are very aware of who cheats and students can help foster an environment where academic honesty is valued but at the same time, I don’t think we should count on students alone to play a lead role in moderating the cheating of other students.

What can we do?  Every incident of cheating—unless it is clearly not intentional—should be reported.  The penalty for an individual offense should be determined by the faculty member but there needs to be an additional penalty triggered by repeat offenses.  Every student can make a mistake and learn from his/her mistakes.  But more than one occurrence should be accompanied by a zero tolerance response that should, if it continues, result in suspension and, if justified, dismissal.

The penalty should also escalate as students advance in their education.  We should all be more tolerant of a high school student or a first year college student making a mistake and much less tolerant of an advanced undergraduate or graduate student having an ethical lapse.  And in certain fields such as law and medicine, the penalty for academic dishonesty, if proven, should be immediate dismissal.

All of us comment with dismay on the widespread culture where academic dishonesty is more or less prevalent.  But to change the environment we need to do more than comment and more than deal with individual occurrences.  We need as a community to work together, to report and to track academic dishonesty as it happens.  If we are determined to reduce academic dishonesty, our actions can help make it happen.

Race To Nowhere

For almost a year, I have received a series of recommendations to see the film Race to Nowhere by filmmaker and parent Vicki Abeles.  Early last week I had that opportunity and I certainly agree that the film presents a powerful message on the state of K-12 education.  The film focuses on the over scheduling and then consequent stress (and possibly worse) we inflict on the current generation of students. Too many classes,   too much memorization, too much homework, too many after school obligations, too little downtime, too little sleep.  And much of what the film shows, I see firsthand in my kids, and in the kids of my friends and neighbors.

But in delivering a powerful and worthwhile message, the film also oversimplifies and distorts the answers to difficult questions and leaves out key facts that would help present a more complete and accurate picture.  For example, on the issue of too much homework, the film includes a relatively young teacher stating that when he reduced the amount of homework, test scores went up.  The inference is clear—if we reduced homework across the board, test scores across the board would rise.  I don’t doubt that this can happen in one case and perhaps in more cases.  But I have yet to see any proof of the strong correlation suggested and that the first happening (the reduction in homework) is the cause of the second happening (increase in test scores). This message from the movie actually gives me the opportunity to utilize the majority of my Latin vocabulary.   First, we have here a classic example (what could be better for Latin) of Post hoc ergo propter hoc.  In other words, it is a logical fallacy of that what comes second is caused by what happens first.  On very hot and sunny summer days, I tend not to open the shades of south facing windows until very late in the day, to cut down in the heat in the house.  Typically, almost immediately after the shades are opened, the sun goes down.  But no one would argue that this is cause and effect and similarly, it is difficult to argue that less homework leads automatically to better test scores.  My second use of Latin in this blog is perhaps the favorite Latin phrase of all economists: ceteris paribus which translates into all other things remaining the same.  Less homework and a more dynamic teacher or a less rigorous test, can lead to higher test scores.  Brighter students or better foundations courses together with less homework will still likely lead to higher test scores.   But because all other things did not remain the same, in no way did we prove that less homework equals higher test scores.

The film also doesn’t really take into account the stress that parents can place on kids.  We all know parents who consider any grade of less than an A to be failing, parents who want their kids to take every advanced placement course offered, as well as parents who want their kids to accomplish – in the classroom and out on the field—what they couldn’t accomplish.  There may be too much stress placed on our kids but in searching out the causes, looking in the mirror helps as well as looking at the schools.

But even with the concerns I have about this film, I consider Race To Nowhere worthwhile viewing for all educators.  To the extent that our kids are overscheduled and overstressed, we need to improve our educational system but at the same time not cut back on the important learning taking place.

Highly Recommended

I welcome the opportunity to provide recommendations for outstanding students.  I believe it is part of our mission as faculty and as administrators to facilitate continued success for the top students.  I always try hard to capture the essence of the student I’m recommending so that whoever reads the recommendation has both a better understanding of the student and of my motivation for providing the recommendation. Capturing the essence of the student isn’t easy but without that effort, all a recommendation comes down to is a collection of flattering words often without a context or a common thread.  Isn’t almost everyone we provide a recommendation for, intelligent, hard working, and successful in their schoolwork?  What makes the person you are writing about an excellent candidate for admission to a highly selective graduate or professional school?  Why this person as opposed to another candidate who’s GPA and honors are equivalent.

To be in a position to write a recommendation for a student requires more than the act of writing itself.  You should not only know the student (through class or through working in your office or through shared governance) but you should also ask for person’s transcript, their resume, and their personal essay. This should be followed shortly thereafter by a full conversation with the student asking what does the student have in mind and why.  This actually provides a great opportunity to help the student reflect on exactly what he/she is thinking as a next step in his/her education/career.  It was actually during such a conversation in my senior year in college that the faculty person I was talking to suggested a doctoral program in economics. Up to that time, I had actually focused almost exclusively on career opportunities and I have always been thankful for the conversation and the advice.

I have also learned over time to say no when asked by students I don’t really know or can’t recommend wholeheartedly to write recommendations on their behalf.  I know that I could write the recommendation, not say anything negative, still tell the truth, and in that way avoid saying no to the student.  But is it really helpful to say that student X has a nice personality, or came to class regularly, or handed in assignments on time? What does that really tell you? What value would be placed on such a recommendation? I think we all know the answers to these questions.  Saying no can also at times open the door to a fruitful conversation that can lead to a much more positive outcome in the future.

I also read recommendations from applicants as well as recommendations for a union scholarship that I help to judge. My belief is that recommendations can be most helpful at the margin. When you are undecided as to whether a person should be accepted or rejected, or should or should not be awarded a certain scholarship, a good recommendation can be of enormous help. A mediocre or superficial recommendation, on the other hand, is of no value whatsoever.  And too many of the recommendations I have read over many years fall into the superficial category.

If you believe a person should be highly recommended, go ahead and make the recommendation. Make it convincingly and passionately.   It will matter.  But if you don’t feel strongly about recommending the person, do yourself and the person a favor.  Nicely suggest they look elsewhere.

You Never Know Who’s Looking Over Your Shoulder

Recently I attended a lecture where the audience included a significant number of high school students.  One of our most gifted teachers was lecturing and I was sitting in the audience directly behind a row of high school students, many of whom had brought their laptops to the lecture to take notes. I appreciated how conscientious they were.

Now, before I continue to talk about this experience, I want to go back to last week’s blog where I wrote about the advantages that classroom technology, including smart boards, can bring to the learning process.  I am clearly an advocate and as an educator and an economist, I understand what can now be easily done in the classroom that could not be done before.

At this lecture, the technology was not being used by the speaker though the teacher effectively introduced some drama into the presentation which did help highlight the points being made. Rather, at this lecture, the technology was being used by the students.  The student in front of me was especially facile with technology.  She was taking notes, responding to emails, using instant messaging and shopping on-line almost simultaneously.  At least two screens were always visible on her laptop and the shopping screen appeared on a frequent basis.  I am certain that there are some individuals who can undertake all four of these endeavors simultaneously and perform them flawlessly but I am also certain the number of such individuals is minuscule.  What is inevitably lost for almost anyone attempting this level of simultaneous multi-tasking is detail, context, and nuances.  In shopping and in doing emails, this may or may not be a problem.  But in the learning process, in listening to an important lecture, not paying attention results in sound bites rather than a fully textured educational experience.  Text messaging, social media and even, to an extent, email all promote sound bite questions and answers at the expense of completeness and perhaps to some extent accuracy.

Use of technology on the part of some students can also undermine academic integrity.  Cell phones, computers, the Internet have all made possible more sophisticated forms of cheating and all of us have to be more vigilant in making sure such cheating is prevented and, if it does take place, dealt with firmly (but within an educational as well as punitive context).  Technology also facilitates the invasion of privacy as the tragic death of Rutgers’ student Tyler Clementi makes clear to us.  Here too, we need to be more vigilant to make sure that technology is not used to undermine the respect, tolerance and civility we should have for each other.

We know that students benefit greatly from the use of technology.  Some of the benefits are more mundane, such as word processing; others, such as analytical tools and access to information, allow for vastly high quality student work.  But with the privileges that technology provides comes the responsibility to use the technology wisely and well.  All of us in higher education have a lot of work to do with our students to make that happen.

A Very Private Office

After I completed my PhD and accepted my first tenure track full-time teaching appointment, I was assigned a faculty office that I shared with three other full-time faculty.  I was on campus usually four days a week but I hated the office even though I liked my office mates.  Trying to talk with students and trying to grade exams, or trying to do research was seriously and negatively impacted.  It is impossible to talk to students about their future plans and ambitions, about courses they needed to meet requirements and graduate, and about economics.  Often I would just leave the office and do research in the library, and talk with students at a remote table in the cafeteria.  My situation was not unique in those days.  Many faculty shared offices with the same ramifications as I experienced.

Fast forward to today.  Every full-time faculty member at Hofstra has his or her own office and once again this is not a unique situation.  The facilities provided for faculty have been enhanced with the realization that a private office is a good investment.  The more comfortable a faculty member is on campus when having meetings with students and when doing research, it should follow that the faculty member spends more time on campus.  In turn the campus becomes more attractive to students with the easy accessibility to faculty. And for many years this relationship worked as predicted.

But the world has changed.  First of all communication is very different than when many of us went to school and very different from the way it was when we started working in higher education.  When I started teaching, a student would always be able to see me if they came during my regular office hours.  Typically, this was 4 hours per week.  Student could also make appointments to see me or any other faculty member; if the regular office hours didn’t work for a student or students, alternatives could usually always be found. Notes could be left in the department mailbox and a phone call to the office was also a possibility. Today, email, text messaging, Blackboard as well as other classroom management tools, provide a much faster and more convenient way of increased student/faculty communication (but you do lose the in-person contact).   In addition, the campus library, which often was key to a faculty member’s research or to a student’s education, has also felt the impact of technology.  As a starting faculty member, I often spent time in the Government Documents Room studying economic data and trends.  All the information is now available on-line with many more analytical options. 

Furthermore, many faculty look for a teaching schedule with fewer days per week on campus and often faculty live further away from the campus.  And students often have part-time jobs and some are looking for an earlier start and a later finish to the weekends which also leads to a more compact class schedule. For faculty the end result is less time on campus and less time in their private office.  Often an office is not occupied for extensive periods of time during the academic year.  Faculty need and deserve first rate office space.  But presently we are not using resources in the most efficient way possible. It’s time for a new model of space utilization.