Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows
248
Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows
248Paperback(Reprint)
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Overview
When Jay Keyser arrived at MIT in 1977 to head the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, he writes, he "felt like a fish that had been introduced to water for the first time." At MIT, a colleague grabbed him by the lapels to discuss dark matter; Noam Chomsky called him "boss" (double SOB spelled backward?); and engaging in conflict resolution made him feel like "a marriage counselor trying to reconcile a union between a Jehovah's witness and a vampire." In Mens et Mania, Keyser recounts his academic and administrative adventures during a career of more than thirty years.
Keyser describes the administrative side of his MIT life, not only as department head but also as Associate Provost and Special Assistant to the Chancellor. Keyser had to run a department ("budgets were like horoscopes") and negotiate student grievances—from the legality of showing Deep Throat in a dormitory to the uproar caused by the arrests of students for anti-apartheid demonstrations. Keyser also describes a visiting Japanese delegation horrified by the disrepair of the linguistics department offices (Chomsky tells them "Our motto is: Physically shabby. Intellectually first class."); convincing a student not to jump off the roof of the Green Building; and recent attempts to look at MIT through a corporate lens. And he explains the special faculty-student bond at MIT: the faculty sees the students as themselves thirty years earlier.
Keyser observes that MIT is hard to get into and even harder to leave, for faculty as well as for students. Writing about retirement, Keyser quotes the song Groucho Marx sang in Animal Crackers as he was leaving a party—"Hello, I must be going." Students famously say "Tech is hell." Keyser says,"It's been a helluva party."
This entertaining and thought-provoking memoir will make readers glad that Keyser hasn't quite left.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262537117 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | MIT Press |
| Publication date: | 02/26/2019 |
| Series: | The MIT Press |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 248 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Lawrence Bacow is President of Tufts University and the former Chancellor of MIT.
Table of Contents
Foreword Lawrence S. Bacow ix
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xvii
I Mens
1 The Wrecking Ball 3
2 The Steps of Widener 13
3 The Making of a Department Head 25
4 The Life of a Department Head 33
II Et Mania
5 To Be or Not to Be a University 43
6 Housemaster 55
7 Pornography and Free Speech 73
8 Hacking 95
9 Role Compliance 107
10 "Don't Tell Me What to Do" 115
11 Apartheid 123
12 The Aftermath 137
13 After the Aftermath 145
14 What's Going On Here? 157
15 Recommendation 14 165
16 A Good University Is a Bad Business 175
17 They Are Us 183
18 Chushingura and Catastrophes 195
19 "Hello, I Must Be Going" 215
What People are Saying About This
S. J. Keyser is a shrewd and insightful observer of academe. His experiences in three universities, Brandeis, UMass, and MIT, enrich his perspectives about the way universities work, and his exploration of the culture of MIT is brilliant.
Jay Keyser's report of his voyage through MIT's life is as riveting and important as de Tocqueville's report on life and social practices in the early 19th century United States. The reader will be struck by the energy, diversity, and creativity of the place and by the wit of Keyser's account.
Jay Keyser's report of his voyage through MIT's life is as riveting and important as de Tocqueville's report on life and social practices in the early 19th century United States. The reader will be struck by the energy, diversity, and creativity of the place and by the wit of Keyser's account.
—John Deutch, Institute Professor, MITMIT is one of the world's great academic institutions and Jay Keyser presents an intimate insider's view of how it actually works in the best of times and in the worst of times. Keyser writes with verve and great humor. His book will be an inspiration to anyone committed to preserving both the excellence and the humanity of American higher education.
—Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor and Professor of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, BerkeleyS. J. Keyser is a shrewd and insightful observer of academe. His experiences in three universities, Brandeis, UMass, and MIT, enrich his perspectives about the way universities work, and his exploration of the culture of MIT is brilliant.
— Paul E. Gray, Professor and President Emeritus, MIT
S. J. Keyser is a shrewd and insightful observer of academe. His experiences in three universities, Brandeis, UMass, and MIT, enrich his perspectives about the way universities work, and his exploration of the culture of MIT is brilliant.
— Paul E. Gray, Professor and President Emeritus, MITMIT is one of the world's great academic institutions and Jay Keyser presents an intimate insider's view of how it actually works in the best of times and in the worst of times. Keyser writes with verve and great humor. His book will be an inspiration to anyone committed to preserving both the excellence and the humanity of American higher education.