NOTES FROM THE DESK

Author: Katherine Doorley

Last night I spoke to a friend of mine and he mentioned that his school has a "President for a day" program, where one student is able to be just that. This got me thinking about what I would do if I had that power. Now of course you're probably thinking that I'd reform the alcohol policy or eliminate classes at 8 a.m. and on Fridays. Quite honestly though, neither of these options were the first thing to pop into my mind. No, I would reform the senior work policies.
I should probably start my discussion with a disclaimer: I am currently writing a thesis, and it was my choice, as neither of my majors requires senior work beyond a seminar. However, I believe that the challenges and the benefits presented by senior work are such that every student should be required to do something, whether for a semester or an entire year. Even beyond academic self-discipline - which J-Term proved I still lack even after four years at Middlebury - my thesis has allowed me to both combine knowledge from courses I've taken throughout the years and explore one small facet of my discipline in greater depth than I would otherwise be able to.
Requiring every student to do senior work would necessitate some changes in the structure of senior work programs, which should have been made long ago. Departments should help their students by setting strict guidelines for deadlines and for year-long theses the deadlines for first pages should come mid-semester at the latest in order to allow students to take full advantage of their year. Otherwise, students end up with a page requirement equal to a yearlong thesis but with only about a semester to write the paper. I for one have found myself in the past few days realizing with a mix of fear and some strange, crazed giddiness that my thesis, which is barely more than half written, is due in seven weeks. On that note, back to work...