Yesterday, current Dean of Students for Georgetown University Law School Mitchell Bailin made his case for the position.
Speaking to administrators, faculty and students, Bailin presented himself as ripe for the job, even without the undergraduate experience of the other candidates.
Bailin presented his life’s work as evidence of his qualifications for the job. From being a teacher at a boarding school in Alabama to a residential advisor at Harvard to a lawyer for undergraduate institutions and, finally, the Dean of Students at Georgetown Law, Bailin’s career trajectory has allowed him to consider the educational system from many perspectives.
He is now ready for another change of direction. He does not want to leave life as a dean of students, but does hope to deal with a different type of student.
“[As undergraduates,] you all are in a place where you have a blank slate to choose where you are going,” Bailin told students in O’Connor Commons last night. “You haven’t defined a path yet about where you are heading.”
Bailin suggested that many of responsibilities at the law school are similar to those of an undergraduate dean. At Georgetown, he acts as an individual advisor on personal and academic issues and oversees over 90 student organizations as well as residential life.
He has been at Georgetown for five years and was named Dean of Students in 2007 — the first ever appointed to the newly formed position. “It would be a new experience, but the approach you take to any issue that may be raised as a problem or concern is similar,” said Bailin.
While at the law school, Bailin started a peer-mentoring program in which all first-year students have upperclassmen advisers to guide them through the first year of law school. He has also initiated student-faculty lunches and dinners for faculty to share their areas of interests with students. Further, he has simply tried to walk around each day — in dining halls or on the main quad — to “try to give students the opportunity to catch up with me.”
Bailin did not have many specifics as to how the College could improve, as he needs time to learn about the campus community. He emphasized the need for widespread discussion on issues ranging from advising and diversity to the dining hall, so he could make informed decisions. Several times, however, Bailin did mention that the College could step up its Web presence. For one, the College could take better advantage of Twitter, particularly to make sure students who are abroad can stay in the loop. He also mentioned the need to do more to make a visit to the College’s Web site feel like a visit to a virtual campus.
Bailin embraced the idea put forth by a student that the College take more steps to prepare seniors for the real world. Both on the practical and personal sides, Bailin said that the College should offer programs to give students skills ranging from negotiation to financial planning. He also voiced strong support for studying abroad. “It’d be the rare student who couldn’t benefit from it,” he said.
Some 25 students came out to hear Bailin, which was on the lower end of the attendance for the four candidate meetings that have taken place over the course of the past month. “His answers were very thoughtful; he stressed meeting with students and a stronger Web presence,” said Ali De Leon ’10. “Some of the other candidates were from very similar institutions to Amherst, so I feel like that can be a drawback. But on the other hand, he might able to provide us with a useful perspective on what’s coming ahead in our lives.” Comments like that have been streaming into the mailboxes of the Dean of Students Search Committee over the past four weeks, to be passed along to President Marx as he makes his decision.
“This whole process has reminded me of some of the College’s shortcomings that we could all work on to improve,” said AAS President Peter Tang ’10. “Each one of these candidates is sort of like an external auditor, giving their perspective on what we could do better, with their analysis influenced by their different experiences and expertise.”