Here is an article by Bilesh Lavda, Culturally Cap Co-Chair, on President Tilghman’s recent visit to Cap:
Cap was pleased to welcome President Shirley Tilghman to a “Culturally Cap” dinner at the club recently. President Tilghman is currently the JP advisor of one of our fellow Cap members, Nikhil Basu Trivedi. Nikhil extended a personal invitation to President Tilghman, and we were delighted that she accepted.
My Culturally Cap Co-Chair Haley Thompson and I were very excited to have a visit from the president as one of our first Culturally Cap dinners of the year. There was such a large interest in the talk that the number of people who wanted to attend the talk had to be limited to prevent overcrowding.
As part of our Culturally Cap program, we specifically asked President Tilghman not to prepare a presentation, so the discussion could be lead by Cap members’ questions. As expected, the bulk of the discussion centered around the relationship between the eating clubs and the University. (The University has initiated a Task Force on the Eating Clubs and University Relations.) Perhaps the most surprising aspect of our discussion was that, contrary to popular belief, President Tilghman was not negative about the eating club system and certainly does not want to prevent students from experiencing club life. However, she did have two main concerns with the eating club system, firstly that it should have stronger ties with residential colleges and secondly that an institutional change take effect to alleviate some of the difficulties faced by students who do not receive a bid to the club of their choice.
Cap members gave well thought out responses to the problems raise by President Tilghman and provided some informative suggestions to bring back to the administration.
On a more personal note, President Tilghman told some of her most memorable anecdotes from her time in the top job. For example, she went on vacation to one of the Forbes family summer houses and took a majestic ride on one of their fleet of hot-air balloons.
The discussion gave Cap members new insights into the administration and their way of thinking. It also gave Haley and I the idea to use our roles as Culturally Cap Co-Chairs to reach out to the residential colleges and organize joint events with them. We'll be meeting with President Tilghman later this month to discuss this possibility.
Cap members were appreciative of the opportunity to have an intimate dinner with our president.
Bilesh Lavda
Culturally Cap Co-Chair
