Lunch with President Faust

University President Drew G. Faust ventured out from Mass. Hall to bond with undergraduates in Eliot Dhall. Flyby picked up a plastic tray and followed Faust into the servery, where she marveled at the salad selection and bestowed kind smiles upon students.

Presidential musings from the roundtable discussion after the jump.

12:30-- Smalltalk about classes, house life, and concentration suffers a prolonged death.

12:33-- Faust peers at the seven Eliot residents over her glasses, asks if anyone wants to change anything about Harvard. Roundtable atwitter with nervous laughter. No brilliant suggestions offered.

12:35-- Faust admires the floor-length portrait of former University president Charles W. Eliot.

12:37-- Faust chokes on Diet Coke. Faustfail.

12:45-- Faust blinks in surprise as a rowdy gang from SLAM -- the student labor action movement-- interrupts the intimate meal to hand Faust an open letter petition against layoffs and a conciliatory t-shirt Faust will never wear.

12:50-- Faust shares her fantasy of a sustainable house by the river in Allston after students pose questions about the status of the housing renewal project. Students nod uncertainly.

1:17-- Faust describes her job as "sometimes stressful" with tasks ranging from the "substantive" to the "symbolic." Flyby wonders which category this lunch would fall under.

1:30-- Faust leaves.

Photo Courtesy of The Boston Globe