Lunch?

Posted on November 18, 2008

From the web site:

I would like to see members of the EC make an effort to eat lunch with faculty/students.  The only member that currently does is Bill M. and on occasion Brad P.  All the other members come in, order lunch, and return to their offices.  We are all very busy — taking 10 minutes out to eat lunch with us is not asking much.

Response:

I’m not sure the issue is really about lunch.  After all, one’s lunch is one’s own business.  One EC member lives alone and uses the lunch hour to hurry home and walk the dogs so staying later doesn’t become a problem.  Another uses lunch to squeeze in a workout.  Four out of five days mine are working lunches, often off campus.  I won’t dictate to people how they use their lunch time.

However, I suspect the real question here is one of access.  The anonymous writer must feel like he or she isn’t getting opportunities to speak with EC members one-on-one and I’d feel bad if that’s really the case.  Perhaps with the exception of Yvonne Simon, who is situated down in the millyard, all of the EC’s members are out and about on campus and engaging with colleagues.

My fear is that our schedules get too full of formal items, the meetings and events that often fill the day, and leave too little time for the casual chat that is so important to communication.  I was feeling that way about my own presence on campus last spring and have set out to host more informal dinners and lunches and to just drop by offices more often.  It’s actually some of the best fun I have on campus, but the tyranny of the schedule creeps back in and takes over the day (including lunch quite often).

I will ask all of us who serve on the EC to be more conscious of the informal time and its importance in our week to week schedules.  And they can decide what to do with their lunch times….