Trustees approve computer help in dorms, shrink language classes

In addition to the financial aid overhaul, the University Board of Trustees approved two programs, tenured two faculty members and celebrated a fund raising milestone in its Jan. 24 meeting.

The Trustees ratified a CIT initiative to place computer consultants in each residential college and upperclass dorm. The program, which will cost about $50,000, will recruit students to work between 10 and 20 hours per week answering computer-related questions, according to Associate Director of Information Services for CIT Steven Sather.

Though CIT currently sponsors a hotline to answers such queries, Director of Information Services for CIT Jacqueline Brown said the hotline alone cannot adequately address students' needs.

"Residential computer consultants will still have the backup of the CIT help desk, but they will be deployed closer to students," she said.

"We are trying to emulate what has been done elsewhere," Brown added, noting that both Stanford and Yale have instituted successful in-dorm computer-assistance programs.

Smaller classes

Vice President and Secretary Tom Wright '62 said the Trustees also reviewed and accepted a plan to spend $100,000 to shrink the size of foreign language classes. Under new guidelines, a maximum of 13 students will be allowed in each class; the average class size is currently 15, with many sections exceeding that number, according to Romance Languages Chair François Rigolot.

"It's wonderful news," Rigolot said, noting that small classes will give students a better opportunity to hone their verbal skills.

"Learning a language is an interactive process. Learning a language is something that requires total immersion."

Tenure

The Trustees awarded tenure to two professors, Wright said. The group confirmed Peter Schäfer as the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies, and Eduardo Cadava became associate professor of English.

Schäfer comes to the University from Berlin, where he served as the director of Free University's Institute of Judaic Studies since 1984. Cadava has taught at Princeton since 1989.

The Trustees also noted that the University's 250th anniversary fund raising campaign has raised $500 million since it was launched on July 1, 1995. The campaign aims to raise $750 million by June 30, 2000, said Vice President for Development Van Zandt Williams '65.

The campaign differs from other types of University fund raising – such as annual giving and capital fund raising – because it represents a "higher intensity effort" to solicit contributions from donors, he added.