Giving them something to talk about

Looking out at the faculty that filled Meharry Hall before him Aug. 22, President Brian Casey emphasized a theme that has become a mantra of his administration."The intellectual life of any college or university is the core of its mission, yet it can be the most challenging aspect to discuss," Casey said, "because it is simultaneously pervasive and intangible."

Casey's first speech to DePauw's professors as president opened the Faculty Institute, a morning when randomly selected groups of 18 or 20 spread out on campus like students at a middle school orientation.

From East College to Academic Quad, the faculty contemplated their ideal intellectual atmosphere at DePauw. The faculty discussions at the Institute produced 39 pages of notes.

"It was really gratifying," said Beth Benedix, professor of religious studies.

Casey synthesized those notes into four specific areas of exploration: connections around campus across traditional lines, the complexity of student and faculty requirements, spaces for people to naturally interact on campus and DePauw's ability to tell itself and the world about the institution's intellectual life.

Each of these initiatives is starting with an internal examination by faculty and students.

While Casey hopes to bring new attention to the subject, for some on campus, examining, "Why do I do what I do at DePauw?" is already automatic.

"I ask myself that question every day on the way to class," said sophomore music student Patrick Meyer. "I can't get away from it; I love it."

For senior Beth Lunik, the idea is integral to her personality.

"Your center is your intellectual life," Lunik said. "You can't let it be dull and sit there. You have to live it out."



Taking learning outside the classroom



Students and faculty shared many goals, visions and critiques. The most common sentiment was a desire to connect the classroom with campus life. Sophomore communication and anthropology major Elizabeth Ratchford articulated a point of view shared by many of her fellow students.

"I have this picturesque idea of college being the perfect mesh between the social and the academic," Ratchford said.

Meyer said he felt best about his interactions in the school of music, and that he connected with his music school professors far more than liberal arts professors.

If Meyer saw Barbara Pare, adjunct associate music school professor, for instance, at Wal-Mart, he'd stop and say hello since he has "seen her innumerable times in just the past two days," he said.

Even though DePauw is often dubbed a bubble, there is still a culture that can spark dynamic moments in class - moments Casey said show joy, curiosity, delight and wonder.

"What you want is those moments when students are truly engaged in deep conversation about what's going on in their courses outside the classroom, with each other, with faculty, in multiple spaces," Casey said.

He described the Julian Science and Mathematics Center as a model space where students already work together in an excited way.



A vision for the future



When asked to describe a model for a more fluid classroom experience at DePauw, Benedix and Ratchford both talked about Peace Camp. During a week in early October students, professors and other guests facilitate discussions dealing with peace. Different groups from campus mingle and exchange ideas in a way rarely seen on campus.

"It's one of the few places you see all members of the community coming together," Benedix said.

Casey added faculty reading groups and the first-year seminar program as potential models. He hopes to expand the faculty reading groups, with topics like the ethics of Islam, to students.

"It's real intellectual work," Casey said.

The freshman seminars meet Casey's goals of bringing together social and academic experiences. The students meet in social settings with each other and professors to talk about the class, courses are almost always interdisciplinary, and the faculty adviser adds a dimension of personal interaction.

Beyond campus itself, many students and faculty voiced a need to improve the exchange between the University and the surrounding town if intellectual life is to flourish. While town-gown relations are often criticized, talk of intellectual exchange is a newer part of the relationship.

"If you don't want a compartmentalized notion of intellectual life," said Marcia McKelligan, a philosophy professor, "you don't want to see this as a limited campus."

Some students with hands-on experience understood the community's value in expanding the campus.

Meyer plays trombone frequently at First Christian Church, and goes to barbecues they host on Saturdays. Lunik worked at a garden part time, hearing residents' stories and relishing the spontaneous connections she made. She visited a woman named Ms. Ola at her house and talked about race relations, white privilege and civil rights. She still sees her around occasionally.

"Greencastle is consistent while the DePauw community is transient," Lunik said. The two are "supportive" and have a lot to teach each other, she added.

For those with broader horizons, experiential projects off the continent have the same effect Lunik found in Greencastle. Senior French and communication major Kristen Irgens hopes to find a new level of engagement when she leads a trip to Peru for Winter Term.

"This is about developing relationships with people," Irgens said, "taking the knowledge they share and sharing it with other people."

McKelligan and other faculty said it will take time to develop initiatives so that a more intellectually engaged DePauw can emerge.

"We're talking about the whole notion of the life of the mind," McKelligan said. "There's still a long way to go."



- Kali Geldis contributed to this story.