Post 7: Recurse Center’s user manual

This is a bit of a reflection of the speakers from the recurse center as well as my thoughts on their user manual. 

First, I really enjoyed visiting the recurse center. Being that it is so close to Tandon and I had no idea makes me realize how many resources are available that I just miss. The building itself was really nice and the atmosphere was calming and definitely fostered this sense of community. I first noticed the variety of ages of the people who were there working on their own coding. I really enjoyed seeing this because I think it is a sort of microcosm for what diversity in tech should be. It’s not for just one group of people, tech knows no boundaries. Where a lot of societal implementations can really prevent people from trying to get into the STEM field it was refreshing to see so many people if different ages working on the same thing. Moreover, I really enjoyed the presentations given by the students of the recurse center. I found them to be both enlightening and just a genuine treat to watch.  I think it can be easy to forget how privileged I am to be at Tandon, and have access to so many resources that many people don’t have access to or even know about. I still think about the students at the recurse center and I wish them all the very best as they progress with their STEM journey. 

As far as the user manual goes I did express my concerns during the lecture. What I found to be concerning was the manual talked about what to do if a student at the recurse center, I believe they are called recursers, do not follow the guidelines. The way it was written it was very much, this is how we hold recursers accountable and it is administered through the faculty. What was missing was what students can do if a faculty member doesn’t follow the guidelines or acts out of place. This was concerning to me because I think if you truly want to curate trust within a program like the Recurse Center you should take into account that accountability goes both ways.