LETTERS
Expanded mentoring

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The description of "Out and About" in the February/02 "College Report" made me wonder why graduate counselors at Career and Placement Services don't run a mentoring program providing College advisers for all College students: mentoring "by other students…can't offer the life experience and perspective that faculty and staff can." (All quotes are from the article.) Mentors not only "offer mentees the benefit of life experiences [but mentees] can also be a source of inspiration [for the mentors]." Therefore the high ratio of four faculty advisers to five students (during the past two years) might be justified by the added inspiration of the faculty.

"Mentors and mentees talk at least once a week and meet in person at least once a quarter. The program also sponsors field trips, such as dinners, Cubs games, and Court Theatre performances." "Mentors say the program is a chance to make a younger person's college experience easier than theirs was." The program shouldn't be "narrowly focused [but] also about having fun." Finally, the faculty would be able to advise all students about whether they should "mention sexual orientation on a résumé or a grad school application."

It would seem that a program with such rich mutual opportunities should be available to all faculty and students.

George H. Klumpner, SB'45, MD'48
Oak Park, Illinois

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