Princeton lectures so far this year have faced a different challenge, though. While statistics aren’t readily available, the number of students in attendance at public lectures has been worryingly low. Community members rather than Princetonians fill seats in Richardson Auditorium and McCosh 50 — even when big-name speakers come to campus. The presence of community members isn’t itself a problem: Molecular biology professor Samuel Wang, chair of the University Committee on Public Lectures, told me in an e-mail that “the endowments that fund the Public Lectures series require us to reach the community outside the University.” But the lack of attendance by students certainly is a problem, given the intellectual stimulation lectures are supposed to provide. To quote Wang, Princeton students have “poor attendance at lectures of intellectual merit that are not required by their coursework.”
There are a number of reasons why Princetonians don’t go to more public lectures. Some of these can be addressed and ameliorated, some simply can’t. Unless CERN miraculously proves otherwise, we can’t create more time. The biggest reason undergraduates attend so few public lectures is that we simply don’t have the time to. Also, some students just aren’t interested in going to public lectures. This is, likewise, nearly impossible to fix, at least in the short term. That aside, however, there are still a number of things the University can do to boost student attendance at public lectures across campus.
First, lectures often fall prey to foolish scheduling. Many Princeton classes — seminars and labs in particular — don’t finish until 4:20 p.m. Most public lectures begin at 4:30 p.m. One of the most popular and important panel discussions this year, “Election Aftermath,” held Nov. 5 and featuring, among others, professors Cornel West GS ’80, Eddie Glaude GS ’97, Julian Zelizer and former Wilson School dean Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80, began at 4:30 p.m. Many students were turned away because community members had shown up a half-hour early to get seats in the Friend Center.
Scheduling also prevents many athletes from ever attending public lectures independent of their workloads. Most sports teams hold practice from 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. onward. Scheduling is a fairly easy problem to fix: Start lectures a half an hour later. Reserve the most impressive lectures and speakers for 8 p.m. Thursday slots so that athletes have a chance to attend at least some of the time. If lectures absolutely have to start at 4:30 p.m., let students in first and then admit community members. The requirement that lectures in the University-sponsored Public Lectures series benefit the community at large doesn’t extend to all lectures campus-wide. After all, as Wang confirmed, “The University’s primary mission is that of teaching its students.”
Second, many lectures are poorly advertised. While some are listed on Point, and some are even advertised on posters around campus, the University doesn’t appear to make much of a concerted effort to let Princeton students — underclassmen in particular — know when important speakers come to campus. My politics professor last semester used to tell my class about visiting speakers whose lectures would supplement or augment the material we were studying. The University ought to encourage more professors to do so. Modernizing and delegating the lecture ticket distribution system would help as well: Give lecture tickets for big name speakers to residential colleges to distribute to students. Let students know about big-name speakers months in advance and have the Committee on Public Lectures send e-mails to students to remind them that lectures are happening.
Public lectures provide valuable intellectual stimulation to the University community. A professor once jokingly told me that he thought Princeton students could learn as much by going to public lectures as they could by going to class. In an era in which budgets are being slashed and programs are being put on hold, the University administration should be especially careful to ensure that the lectures it sponsors are well attended by the students they’re intended to enlighten. Though he was a swindler and a con artist, I think Barnum would agree.
Charlie Metzger is a freshman from Palm Beach, Fla. He can be reached at cmetzger@princeton.edu.
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