[Feature: 30 Years of SFC] A Campus Where Everyone is a Stakeholder—SFC Through the Eyes of a Student and Staff Member

2020/10/06

When I was a junior, I took a class called "Location and Spatial Analysis" taught by the late Professor Junjiro Takahashi, who was a Vice-President at the time and one of the key figures in the founding of SFC. The group work assignment for this class was to record the testimonies of all kinds of stakeholders involved in the creation of SFC. As a member of the interview team, I went around to talk not only to the SFC faculty and staff of the time, but also to Keio affiliates at Mita, people from Fujisawa City, and local landowners.

I was deeply impressed by how many people from various positions were involved with such passion in the task of "creating a new university." I heard heroic tales of the late Professor Ichiro Sekiguchi and the late Kazuo Shimizu going around the neighborhood day and night with bottles of sake to persuade residents, and stories of heated curriculum discussions where ashtrays would sometimes fly. This experience was one of the reasons I decided to become a university staff member. Many of the people I interviewed back then, including Professor Takahashi, have since passed away, and I vividly remember him saying in class, "This is a project that must be done now" (though I wonder where all that massive amount of data from that time went...).

Later, when I visited the late Hiroshi Magofuku, who was the Administrative Director of SFC at the time, to consult about my master's thesis, he advised me, "If you are interested in universities, come to Keio." Until 그 moment, the option of becoming a university staff member had not been in my mind, but because of the aforementioned experience in "Location and Spatial Analysis," I thought it seemed interesting and like fieldwork, so I decided to apply for a position as a Keio staff member. At the time, the media was criticizing SFC students, saying things like "SFC students don't last long even if they get a job." I myself was skeptical about whether I could work in one place for a long time, so I never expected that I would reach 20 years of service at the Juku.

I entered the Faculty of Policy Management in 1992 as a member of the third class of SFC. When I was a high school junior, I knew nothing about SFC, but a friend took me to an open campus event. At the remote campus where everything was not yet complete (I believe it was a classroom in Omega Building), the late Professor Hiroshi Kato, the first Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management, said, "There is nothing here now, but SFC will change the region. Eventually, the Shinkansen will come, and an airport will be built." I didn't quite understand it, but I felt excited seeing everyone so thrilled to start something new (Professor Kato, 30 years have passed, but unfortunately there is still no Shinkansen or airport...). I think that was also the first time I heard the phrase "International Students from the Future."

During my undergraduate years, I served on the 1st and 2nd Aki-sai (Autumn Festival) Executive Committees, and I was also involved in an activity called "SFC Guide," showing the campus to outside guests and prospective students. Through these activities, I probably had more contact with staff members than the average student.

As a member of the festival committee, I was particularly indebted to the staff in charge of student life. In particular, Mr. Hitoshi Takano (currently the Secretary General), who went as far as obtaining a pyrotechnician's license along with the students, gave me many "loving rejections" on my proposals. I didn't give up and submitted them many times, and he helped us realize various eccentric ideas. Now that I am on the side of receiving festival proposals as a staff member in charge of student life, I feel very deeply moved and think about how difficult it must have been for the staff back then.

Also, at that time, there were visits from many university officials from all over the country almost every day. While showing them around as an SFC Guide, I felt firsthand that SFC was attracting attention as the front line of "university reform," and I felt proud of how lucky we were to be able to study in such a wonderful campus environment. I also heard many stories of the hardships and memories of creating SFC from staff members Yuichi Tomiyama and the late Hiroki Kobayashi, which allowed me to learn that there are many different roles for "staff."

Another unforgettable person is the late Fumio Anzai, who was affectionately known as the "Duck Man." He wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt with a towel tucked into his waist. He was always driving around the campus in a mini-truck and was popular with many students. Our interaction continued after graduation, and graduates would flock to his pear orchard for pear picking. I also had interactions with the people of Shonan Community, who handle the management and operation of SFC. When the familiar gentleman at the North Gate security office (I believe his name was Mr. Ohno) retired, my friends and I gave him a collection of farewell messages. There were many other familiar faces among the Co-op staff and cafeteria workers.

In short, what I want to say is that since my time as an SFC student, I think everyone involved with the campus—faculty, staff, students, and even contractors—recognized each other as "comrades." I felt that way as a student, and the faculty and staff I interacted with treated each other and the students as "comrades." The fact that students, faculty, and staff were so close and shared a sense of being comrades-in-arms who shared joys and sorrows was likely a privilege of the campus's founding period.

After completing the Master's program at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, I joined Keio in 1998. After a temporary assignment at the Mita Academic Affairs Department, I was first assigned to SFC. I spent four years in charge of AO admissions and other tasks, and then moved to the Mita Campus in 2001. For me, a true SFC kid, Mita was such a different world; it was like a carp living peacefully in Gulliver Pond (Kamoike) being suddenly thrown into Tokyo Bay. From there, I experienced various departments at Mita, mainly in the international field, and in June 2019, I was transferred back to SFC after 17 years.

I had visited SFC several times while working at Mita, but being assigned there and commuting every day feels completely different. On my first day back, as I climbed the stairs next to the central cascade, I remembered my mentor, the late Professor Teruo Inoue, saying mischievously, "SFC is postmodern! That's why the buildings are asymmetrical (referring to the Omega Building) and the steps of the front stairs are intentionally made difficult to walk on." I felt a simple joy of "I'm 'home' at SFC!" and was moved by how much the trees on campus had grown and how deep the greenery had become (thanks to the hard work of everyone at Keiryoku Sangyo!).

That said, after 17 years, there were naturally many faculty and staff members I didn't know, and it was somewhat nerve-wracking to see former classmates and juniors who had become professors. However, I was relieved when Professor Jun Murai, whom I have known since my student days, welcomed me in his usual style, saying, "I'm glad you made it back before my retirement."

The first thing I felt at SFC after a long time was a sense of wild, live energy. Although many things have changed, for better or worse, the way the campus is always bustling and seeking change remains the same. I especially missed the way faculty and staff engage in heated discussions in meetings from the perspective of "how can we make SFC even better."

What I felt daily in the early days of SFC was that faculty, staff, and students all had a strong sense of pride that "we are creating SFC" and a deep attachment to it. Faculty, staff, and students were not just "beings who enjoy" a completed campus, but comrades who "create together" a campus under development; everyone was a stakeholder.

So, how about now, 30 years later? Surprisingly, SFC is still not finished; it is a campus under development in the present tense. The SBC (Student Built Campus) project, which continues to create residential education and research facilities, furniture, and even ways to use the facilities, is underway, and a dormitory is scheduled to be built on campus within a few years. The curriculum is also constantly evolving. While I won't say it's exactly the same as the early days, I feel that the tradition of everyone being a stakeholder who continues to build the campus is certainly rooted in the SFC of today.

Coincidentally, this year, as SFC marks its 30th anniversary, the world is facing an unprecedented situation. When SFC was founded in 1990, it was the dawn of the internet, the beginning of a new era where information technology would change the way society works. And SFC was at the forefront of that. Now in 2020, while coexisting with infectious diseases for which treatments have not been established, we are facing environmental issues like global warming, as well as social division and diversification, and are seeking new sustainable ways for society to exist on a global scale.

In the spring semester of this academic year, all SFC classes were conducted online, and faculty, staff, and students alike faced a series of challenges through trial and error. Even in such difficult times, students have created a Virtual SFC on their own and held an online Tanabata Festival. Faculty and staff are also seeking new ways for the university to exist while working on new class management and research projects. We staff members, in particular, have spent the last few months in a quiet campus without students or faculty, desperately thinking about and working on what kind of campus environment, systems, and structures are needed to support the future education and research of SFC. One of the founding principles of SFC is "Problem Finding and Solving," but this is not the exclusive domain of students. Staff members also work on "Problem Finding and Solving" in their daily duties. SFC was, is, and surely will continue to be a campus at the forefront, under development, that everyone continues to create while finding and solving problems.

By the way, having returned as a staff member, I also have the aspect of being an SFC graduate. I have a strong sense of nostalgia and affection for the campus scenery filled with all kinds of memories, and I find myself taking photos every day. The photos of the beautiful green campus that I occasionally post on my personal social media are very popular with my friends from student days. I get more comments saying that SFC feels closer and that they definitely want to visit again, and I am happy to be able to act as a bridge between SFC and its graduates. Once the COVID-19 situation settles down and the lively campus with students and faculty returns, I want to welcome many graduates, show them around the constantly evolving SFC, and make them feel envious.