Maestro Benjamin Zander speaks at the Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series. Courtesy of CoSI.

“Have you ever considered why nobody ever sits in this row?” inquired Maestro Benjamin Zander, gesturing at the lonely row of empty chairs lining the front of Sidney Pacific’s otherwise packed multipurpose room.  On the day after Hurricane Sandy, over 250 MIT students and community members ventured through the rain to attend Sidney Pacific’s Distinguished Lecture Series, one of the dorm’s longest-running traditions.

They came to attend a talk by Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and world-renowned TED speaker.  Far from delivering a typical lecture, Zander led Sidney Pacific through an unusually interactive evening focusing on leadership, transformation, and personal growth through what he termed “the art of possibility.” Through colorful white board drawings and live piano demonstrations, Zander captivated us with tales of his personal adventures and life lessons. The front row of empty seats immediately filled with audience members who took up Zander’s invitation to engage in a mindset of possibility.

The Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series is hosted and organized by Sidney Pacific’s Committee on Scholarly Interactions (CoSI), which fosters community dialogue and interaction around intellectual, social, and political issues. We started off the term with a timely lecture by Christina Romer, former Chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, who spoke on economic issues at stake in the 2012 presidential election. The lecture drew a record-breaking number of attendees from MIT as well as students from neighboring universities, and Zander’s rousing lecture mid-semester was similarly well attended. We rounded off the fall with Sidney Pacific Faculty Night, an evening for students and faculty to get to know one another in a more informal, non-academic environment.

Behind the scenes, these events are made possible through countless collaborations with other Sidney Pacific committees, including the Music Committee, our Housemasters and Associate Housemasters, and our heroic House Manager and staff.  Zander’s interactive lecture was enriched and preceded by a very successful 70-person Boston Philharmonic music outing to Sanders Theatre, organized by Sidney Pacific’s music chair (Nate Zuk). Moreover, the novel seating format at Christina Romer’s lecture was made possible by joint planning with House Manager Jack Ahern and his staff. Most recently, our CoSI dinner discussion on female work-life balance was facilitated by Annette Kim, Sidney Pacific Associate Housemaster.

Next Spring, we look forward to hosting a town-hall discussion with MIT President Rafael Reif, a multimedia lecture on the neuroscience of creativity by neurosurgeon and musician Charles Limb, and a talk on civic engagement by Ethan Zuckerman from the MIT Center for Civic Media.

As always, we invite any residents to get involved with CoSI by emailing us at sp-cosi-chair@mit.edu. Perhaps we’ll see you next time in the front row!

Carrie Cai,

on behalf of Carrie Cai and David Rosen (CoSI Co-Chairs)