Graduate students discussed ways to enhance their intellectual experience at a student government meeting Monday night.
"We need more open discourse between students and faculty in an enjoyable manner that challenges each other," said Michael Eng, a third-year medical student.
But some of the students at the Graduate and Professional Student Council meeting said administrators are overreacting to an atmosphere that is common among many colleges and universities across the nation.
"The problem of anti-intellectualism is just a reflection of society at large," Eng said. "The administration has their picture of what intellectual life should be, but I don't think it fits with a student's perception of intellectualism."
To combat anti-intellectualism, some graduate students said there should be more interaction between graduate and undergraduate students.
"I think the University has done some things to increase the exchange between undergraduates and graduates. . . but a lot more could be done," said Eric Anderson, a graduate student in computer science.
Anderson cited the Bryan Center's new cappuccino bar and the University Writing Course as positive examples of interaction between graduates and undergraduates.
To promote intellectualism among graduate students, the University should consider more lecture series and interdisciplinary programs that are geared toward graduate students' interests, said Rich Larsen, GPSC president and a student in the Fuqua School of Business.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The University's various student health services, including Pickens Health Center and the Healthy Devil Health Education Center, are making efforts to reach graduate students, said Susan Timberlake, a graduate student in biomedical engineering.
Some groups that sponsor health seminars on such issues as safe sex are eager to present information to graduate students, Timberlake said.
Graduate students who make better use of these services might be able to reduce their health insurance premiums, Larsen said.
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