this seems to have sparked quite a conversation. i was just trying to tell a funny story... but since i'm catching flack from a few people i will clarify a few things with some boring details:

the committee consisted of a bunch of profs and faculty heads, a few grad students, and a few undergrad students. the position was designed for a rep to bridge the gap between grad students and undergrad students in the bio department; making sure that changes to the undergrad programs were suitable for graduate students. but at the end of the day, the higher ups have been doing this for years and they know what they're doing. by the time a new course idea gets to that meeting it's already basically in stone, and me speaking up against it, or even for it, doesn't really change anything. they would cancel courses and create new ones all the time, and a brand new grad student isn't going to change that. i went into the position bright eyed and bushy tailed. i was excited. i had to run a little election campaign to get elected. who better for a graduate-undergrad rep than someone who had done both their undergrad AND graduate programs here?! i was familiar with all the undergrad courses that were being discussed from both a TA and a student perspective. a major topic in of a lot of the meetings was that they were having trouble connecting all of the undergrad bio courses to have a take-home theme. a major problem they were trying to solve was why kids weren't making connections between the individual courses and the overall goals of the programs. for example, half of the kids were graduating the biology program without really being able to theorize evolutionary histories, and some without even believing in evolution.. so they would learn about it on a molecular level, and even on a macro scale in their 2nd year, but then when it came time to do another course in their upper years they wee failing to make the connections. but they had just CANCELLED a 2nd year evolution course. i was very passionate about biology and evolution; to the point where i did a masters in the field. so that stuff was very important to me, but any time i voiced my opinions they were just overshadowed. it would just be people staring at me until i was done talking, and then move on with whatever they had planned to do in the first place. no one wants some new kid to com in and try to change the system all of a sudden. i even had ideas for outreach programs which was another purpose of the committee, but again, any time i spoke up i realized no one really cared and it was all just a big circle jerk.

and when i left i had briefed the guy on all these details and more, over a series of back and fourth emails. i relayed all of this useless information, in addition to the summary of notes he had received from the meetings note takers. i told him again and again to email me if he needed anything but each time he wanted to meet in person; to the point where i thought there must be something important he wanted to do... and when i showed up, there was nothing important. and if you had heard the tone of his voice he really wasn't trying to bounce anything off of me, he was just lecturing me and trying to pump his own ego. which is what makes my story funny. but now probably less funny because i had to sit here and discect it.