Bok Speaks to Students About University Reform

Research and discussion, not protest, bring changes in a university, President Bok told 110 student delegates of the Association for College Research and Communication (ACRC) at Emerson Hall yesterday.

Bok opened this weekend's second annual ACRC conference with an informal talk on the student's role in shaping university policy.

"The concept of the conference is for students to share information on various policies and programs at the different schools in order to discover the different alternatives for change," Richard N. Chassin '81, chairman of the conference, said yesterday.

"With conscientious and deliberate effort," students have changed living arrangements and academic policy at Harvard, Bok said. He cited the introduction to the House system and the General Education program as examples.

Bok added that the administration had not excluded students from taking part in the planning of the Core Curriculum. "The students lacked the initiative to have influence," he added.

Bok said that neither protest nor student participation on administrative committees results in "significant change".

"Pressure tactics have high limitations because the administrators have a strong feeling not to back down and look weak," he said.

Bok added, "The students on the committees are not necessarily representative of a diversified student body...student representation is overrated as a practical means for change.

"What creates change in a university are good ideas," Bok said, adding, "It's not the structure of representation but the point of view presented that matters."

The administration bases many decisions on opinions expressed through housing and concentration surveys, Bok said.

Leonard H. Ginsburg, a delegate from the University of Pennsylvania, said yesterday, "If according to Bok the student body is too diversified to be truly represented, how can the Faculty Council, which represents an equally diverse group, function correctly?"

Chassin supported Bok, saying that "although demonstrations are effective for a reaction to a specific policy, if students ever want to influence university policy decisions, they will have to be active and not reactive.

"Mr. Bok brought through the tone of the conference, which is, in order to have influence, we must present documented and reasoned arguments, Chassin said.

Chassin added, however, that Bok presented a paradox. "These kinds of reforms take time, and with only four years, students will not be around to enjoy the benefits of their efforts," Chassin said