At the May 15, 2024, Institute faculty meeting, a motion passed to stand up an ad hoc committee to review and revise the policies and procedures of the MIT Faculty Newsletter (FNL) and clarify its relation to the Faculty as a whole.  The membership of the committee was appointed by Faculty Chair Mary C. Fuller, and included Susan Silbey (Committee Chair),  Amy Brand (director and publisher, MIT Press); Nazli Choucri (FNL editorial board member); Roger Levy (faculty chair-elect); Nasser Rabbat (FNL editorial board member).  The committee has been meeting regularly since the semester began, reviewing prior reports and archival materials, and conversing with current and former members of the FNL editorial board and the managing editor individually, and in small groups.  An interim report, presented at the October 16, 2024 faculty meeting, is included (see page ?).

We plan to complete the committee’s work by the end of Spring Semester 2025.  To complete this work, we are mounting a specifically designed survey, to which we hope you will respond by providing comments and suggestions. Enter the survey via this link: (https://bit.ly/fnl_survey); we will also discuss the committee’s work during scheduled open meetings which will be announced in January and February. If you have any questions about the survey, you can email fnl_survey@mit.edu. 

Among the issues that we are currently addressing and for which we are seeking more information are the following:

a) Given the informality of the FNL, we hope to identify ways to routinize process in the flow of materials, and to provide added support for the current personnel.

b) Especially notable is the need to address the  orientation of new members and facilitate their information of, integration in, current practices – as seamlessly as possible.                                                                   

c) While we are confident that we have cleared up the misunderstanding surrounding the nomination process for the FNL board, we would like to make sure that there are no further ambiguities.

d) Ideally, we would like faculty members to consider contributing to the FNL as an attractive proposition. This issue calls for further exploration.

e) Eventually we hope to succeed in reducing the labor to secure the FNL content. We hope to elicit from the faculty topics that may be of interest.

f) Further clarification is needed about contributors to the FNL other than members of the faculty or of the administration.                                                                                                                                                

g) While we know that insufficient labor makes it difficult to ensure a regular and transparent process for participation and organization, we still seek to identify ways of addressing this aspect of the FNL reality.

We look forward to receiving your input via the survey or messages at this address (fnl_survey@mit.edu), or through face-to-face meetings from now through the spring.

Click here to read the Interim Report Presented at the October 17, 2024 Institute Faculty Meeting Regarding the FNL.

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