Do you participate in an eclectic range of social activities at Georgetown? Could students and faculty befriend each other through participating together in campus activities? These are just a few of the questions that the FRIENDS group, whose prime initiative is to identify ways to reduce harm from high risk alcohol use and to build a stronger sense of community at Georgetown, presented to undergraduate students and faculty on surveys during the spring and summer months of 2002.
With assistance from the Office of Planning and Institutional Research and approval by the university’s institutional review board, the Georgetown FRIENDS group created separate surveys for students and faculty asking for reflection on their social perspectives and critiques of campus life. Issues such as the availability of weekend alternatives to campus parties and the notion of a closer interaction between students and professors were echoed by students and faculty, who both offered creative ideas and suggestions for such movements in the university community.
A total of 600 students out of 6,422 enrolled – about 10 percent of the student population – responded to the survey. Although students unanimously reported feeling like a significant a part of Georgetown’s community, a majority of students said they were searching for more on-campus weekend activities and connections. Aside from the typical weekend activities such as on- and off-campus parties, barhopping, dining at restaurants and sports competitions, students showed interest in an on-campus all night diner, dance club and late night movie showings.
The Georgetown faculty, of which 146 out of 900 Main Campus members responded, strongly spoke out for a stronger intellectual and social connection with students, despite inconvenience factors such as time shortage, personal living distances and lack of funding for activities. Interactions such as sports competitions at Yates Field House, lectures, readings and discussions at campus coffee shops and free cafeteria meals and cultural events were suggested as possible functions where faculty and students could spend time and help dehumanize the systematic classroom limitations to friendship and mentorship.
“Interaction would help faculty be clued in to general student life and concerns. Conversely, interaction with interested faculty can provide students with non-academic input on a variety of issues important to people moving into young adulthood – integrity, morality and career choices,” one professor said in the survey.
Many faculty members offered various suggestions to help make faculty-student interaction more feasible. Ideas such as local faculty housing and better university funding would help bring down the barrier between students and faculty, thereby cultivating stronger on-campus communication and integration. “Georgetown should be committed to faculty housing locally. Especially young, highly motivated faculty (rising stars) could be successfully recruited to GU if there was housing available at some reasonable cost,” one professor commented in the survey.
Although the FRIEND’s survey only presented a snapshot perspective of Georgetown’s undergraduate students and faculty, the FRIEND’s group has several initiatives in the works to respond to the call for stronger on-campus interaction, specifically between students and professors. Wednesday marked the launch of the Faculty-Student Lunch program, and initiative that allows a student to invite a professor to lunch in New South or Darnall dining halls. The group hopes the lunches will provide a more informal forum for students and professors to interact.