Student Involvement
"The students were involved in almost everything. One group, for instance,
went out to secondhand-restaurant-equipment places on the Bowery and came
back with almost new cafeteria furniture that was to last fourteen years.
It was a good educational experience for them and it made the development
of the college a part of their lives. Another group ran the little bookstore
underneath the grand staircase during their spare hours. They ordered the
books, kept inventory, and sold the books at specified hours. Another committee
prepared the sandwiches for lunch and integrated their knowledge thus gained
with the class on dietetics. They were the best sandwiches we have ever
had at Fairleigh Dickinson University."
"I made the opening of the bids [for construction] to coincide with
our college community conference, which was the weekly meeting of the entire
college, faculty, and students. Contractors usually want to be present at
such openings. We placed them on the stage. The architect was, of course,
present there too. The sealed bids were on a table on the center of the
stage. To the side was a blackboard on which had already been written in
columnar form the names of the firms bidding. The students ran everything.
One student opened the bid. Another read out the actual bid. A third wrote
the amount to the right of the name of the firm. After a while the students
would get the hang of the thing. On a low bid they would applaud; on a high
bid they would boo. ... Students could ask any questions they wanted to.
The contractors or the architect would answer. 'Why was there a fifty percent
difference in the bids?' Some contractors would lamely try to answer that
one. Curiously, the students were most concerned that the lowest bidders
might not be able to deliver."
"I used to take a great deal of pleasure in dealing with students directly."