When Yeni Ufuklar Klübü asked Professor İhsan Doğramacı to address the students on a topic of his choice, they were surprised to hear that his topic was the "Role of Students in University Administration." 
Last Thursday, students packed the C Block auditorium to hear what the founder of the university would be saying.
Professor Doğramacı gave an enjoyable speech and discussed the history of the role of students in the university administrative system (it was interesting to find out that Oxford University was founded by some students who were dismissed from Paris Studium Generale!). He then tied this historical role to the status of students today.
He gave a brief history of the current university system and explained that back in the 1960s, when he founded Hacettepe University, the student representatives were included in the senate. However, when in 1973 all Turkish universities were required to follow a uniform system, this privilege came to an end in Hacettepe.
Dr. Doğramacı stressed the importance of students evaluating the performance of the teaching staff. He pointed out some interesting research: there is very little correlation between the students' evaluation and their course grades. In other words, students with low grades can still evaluate their instructors highly.
At the end of his speech, when asked "How could Bilkent be better?" he answered, "With a swimming pool"!
