Tag Archives: olin meta

Discussion of Olin culture, policies, etc.

Olin SWE is on a Mission

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At the national SWE conference in Houston this year, 3 out of 10 finalists for best posters were from Olin. Earlier this school year, Olin SWE taught several girls in Newton’s Science Club for Girls about engineering.

These activities help Olin SWE fulfill the mission of the Society of Women Engineers: to “stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity.” This is done through professional development, outreach, and education. As anyone can be part of this mission, members are not required to be female.

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Qualified: Public vs Private

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Were you part of the 66% of Olin students who felt unqualified at some point during your first year at Olin? Have you ever blamed your high school background for not preparing you enough for Olin? Similar questions have been asked by multiple U.S. colleges. Interestingly enough, different studies show extremely different results for these controversial topics. A study published by the U.S. Center on Education Policy found that when comparing students who had attended private and public high schools, there was no difference in achievement tests, college attendance rates, or job satisfaction in later years. Essentially, this study found that the difference between a private and public high school education didn’t matter much in the long run.

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Reviewing the Honor Code

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How many clauses does the Honor Code have? What are they? Take a minute and think about it.

It turns out that only a small number of students really knows them all, as we found out last spring when a majority of the student body voted to append the Sunset Clause to the Honor Code, which states that unless the student body ratifies a new Honor Code, it will be abolished and OSL policies will be instated in its place. This amendment was intended to serve as a motivator to the college at large to start thinking about whether or not the Honor Code still reflects the values of current classes. This is not to say that something is wrong with it. The intention is to figure out how to encourage the student body to feel ownership of the Honor Code.

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What’s in the Olin Houses?

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Olin has five buildings. No wait, six buildings, counting the project building. No wait, seven or eight counting those random houses out there… right?

Actually, Olin College is the proud owner of five houses on its campus, named Tesla, Edison, Curie, daVinci, and Curtis, bringing our building total up to 11… depending on how you count, of course. All of these houses were originally owned by Babson College, and came with Olin College’s land purchase. It seems strange that most Oliners (in the author’s experience) know little about what half of the buildings on campus are used for… so what does Olin do with them?

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Helping Olin be Sustainable

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This summer, we worked with Facilities to improve sustainability and stewardship at Olin. Our overarching goal was for Olin’s monetary, environmental, and proprietary resources to be managed and maintained more responsibly. We realized that we could work on many sustainability and stewardship efforts, but they would founder if we did not achieve community-wide involvement. Thus, our true goal was to not only begin sustainable projects, but also to make it easy for everyone to get involved.

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