Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 09:04:51 -0400 From: Emma Bingham To: John Hinsdale Cc: "navarre@mit.edu" Subject: Re: Interview w/ Chancellor Barnhart Message-ID: Hi John, At the time we interviewed Chancellor Barnhart, the information about Senior House had not yet been released (I think the email was sent to Senior House at almost the same time as our interview). Actually, we did not even know what the interview would be about going in. We did have another interview yesterday, though, and we were able to ask follow-up questions there. We will be publishing that today. Best, Emma On Thursday, June 16, 2016, John Hinsdale wrote: > > To: William Navarre, Emma Bingham > The Tech > > Hi William, Emma, > > I'm a Senior House alum, who read with great interest your coverage of > the upcoming freshman ban, and your 6/1/16 interview with Chancellor > Barnhart, here: > > > http://thetech.com/2016/06/11/barnhart-announces-senior-house-turnaround-= interview > > I was wondering ... among the questions you chose to ask Chancellor > Barnhart, why there was nothing along the lines of "So, what has been > the reaction from Senior House residents ... how are they taking all > this?" > > Is there a reason the reaction from Senior House, at least at its > present level, was not covered in the interview? It's hard to > understand how that essential aspect of the situation would not be > relevant and newsworthy. > > To make sure I've noted the absence accurately, below are what I > understand to be all the questions you asked. > > Thanks in advance for any enlightenment you can give in helping an > alum understand the situation. > > Yours truly, > John Hinsdale > MIT Senior House class of 1986 > hin@alma.com > > -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-= =3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D > > Questions asked to Chancellor Barnhart on 6/10/2016: > > [EB]: Do you think that first-year students will be placed in Senior Hous= e > in coming years? Is it difficult to say? > > [EB]: Do you know how many spots will be empty at Senior House? > > [WN]: Will there be additional upperclassmen moving there, maybe? > > [WN]: It could depend on how many upperclassmen wind up leaving? > > [WN]: So, you mentioned illegal drug use at Senior House which obviously > has not only=E2=80=A6 it=E2=80=99s sort of unfortunately both a health is= sue and sort of a > political issue. How do you plan to address that in a way that doesn=E2= =80=99t > become =E2=80=9CChancellor Barnhart is cracking down on drugs and getting= us in > trouble=E2=80=9D or something? > > [EB]: There=E2=80=99s been a lot of talk in the past few months about the= Good > Samaritan Policy, which I=E2=80=99m sure you=E2=80=99ve been involved in.= I was wondering > sort of, like, how are you going to adjust the help-seeking policies, at > Senior House to help. > > [EB]: I was also curious, you mention having an S^3 dean and mental healt= h > clinician associated with Senior House. I was wondering if something like > this would be implemented in any other dorms? It seems like something > people have asked for in the past. > > [EB]: You also mention the turnaround committee. Do you know like who=E2= =80=99s > involved with this? Who else is gonna be involved? > > [WN]: So, one of the things I=E2=80=99ve learned about Senior House readi= ng our > own coverage and everything else is that a lot of the quotes and stuff th= at > I=E2=80=99ve heard Senior House people say is that they really draw a pre= tty solid > line between the house team and the administration. > > [EB]: I was wondering if it=E2=80=99s possible for you to send us the dat= a you > were looking at? > > [WN]: Do you, was there any sort of control for, sort of, selection bias. > Maybe that people less likely to graduate are more likely to select Senio= r > House? For example, maybe like, students who ranked Senior House first bu= t > didn=E2=80=99t get in, how they did? > > [EB]: So does that mean that all the students who put Senior House as > their first choice got into Senior House? > > [WN]: I was going to ask how, specifically, do you plan to deal > specifically with the drug problem? You know, again, that=E2=80=99s an as= pect where > there is probably a disagreement. Some people want to use drugs and you > would prefer that they not. So it=E2=80=99s sort of not a communications = problem, > it=E2=80=99s sort of a fact. > > [WN]: So do you anticipate, if there is this fundamental disagreement, do > you worry, do you have plans to mitigate the option that students have of > just leaving Senior House and moving to a fraternity or to live in an > informal thing where they all sort of live together and continue as they= =E2=80=99d > prefer? > > [EB]: Do you think that helping to implement that environment would > involve changing the help-seeking policy? What are you emphasizing when > you=E2=80=99re trying to minimize drug use? > > [WN]: I suppose that, when I first heard you talking and guessing what wa= s > coming, one of the things that was a guess was that randomized housing is > on your mind, or on somebody=E2=80=99s mind. And that turned out not to b= e it, > but... I have a feeling that when other undergraduates read this, they wi= ll > also have that in the back of their mind and I sort of, it could be good = if > you give some sort of idea on if that came up in the discussion or if tha= t=E2=80=A6 > you know, given the mind of the undergraduate is jump to that idea as wha= t > the administration might have in the back of their mind. But it=E2=80=99s= unclear > if that=E2=80=99s actually what=E2=80=99s happening in the administrator= =E2=80=99s mind. > > -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-= =3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D