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September 19, 2007
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Vol. 80 Issue #3
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Mandatory Advising On The Horizon By Joe Robillard Anchor Editor Over the past two semesters, Rhode Island College has been researching possible changes to be made to academic advising for students of the school. The result is a test program currently being tried out which will mandate academic advising for each student in order to register for classes. During the last academic year, Rhode Island College formed a special committee on undergraduate academic advising, complete with student and faculty representation. “The college has been worried about retention—people disappearing after one year and people graduating in five years,” stated Dr. James Magyar, who is chairing the committee. Upon gathering information the counsel ultimately advised the school to make academic advising mandatory for students, and RIC has begun testing such a program this fall. The test program is being run in the English department and the Bachelor of Social Work program this fall. All students in these fields of study will need to see an advisor before they can register for classes. There will be a registration “lock” preventing students to enroll in classes that can be removed by their advisor after they’ve met.
Up to three weeks before student registrations begin, advisors will be available for meetings to discuss the classes students will be taking, and progress towards their degree. The pilot program will work out all the kinks in the system, and if things go well, the program will be extended to the entire college. “A big challenge is assigning every student an advisor,” explained Magyar. There are presently many students without any official academic advisor enrolled in classes at the college. So what if you don’t have an advisor right now? “We’re really emphasizing the use of RICMail,” continued Magyar. “That’s where advising information will be sent.” So if you don’t have an advisor already, keep an eye on your RICMail account. A key part of the process will be student feedback, Magyar also stressed. It’s a program meant to help students, so student input is critical. There are other problems being ironed out in the fall, particularly among the larger programs on campus. For example, the nurs-
ing major have a large number of “intended” majors that plan onn joining the nursing program when they take certain classes. Also, some programs are so large they would likely need advisors from other disciplines to do the advising. Any questions, comments, or advice can be sent to jmagyar@ric.edu.
INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: INDIA S LAWLESS STATE
By: Bienvenue Ndahiriwe Anchor Staff Obviously, enough was enough for the people of Bihar, a northern state of India. In fact, a mob in fury in the village of Dhelpurva caught and lynched ten suspected thieves last week. Following a skyrocketing rate of burglary and thefts, and fed up with governmental inefficiency in dealing with criminals, the villagers of Dhelpurva in Bihar established night patrol teams with the purpose of protecting themselves. On September 13 at about 3:30a.m., one of those teams noticed fourteen suspicious individuals supposedly coming from another strike. Seeing their evil plans about to be unveiled and thwarted, the gang members panicked and tried in vain to flee the area. The night patrol immediately raised the emergency alarm. What ensued was a quick gathering of a mob 300-strong that armed itself with anything they could put their hands on stones, sticks, metal rods before going after the alleged criminals. An unspeakable and macabre dance between the villagers and the thieves began to unfold in full public display. Even though three gang members were
able to escape, the net result of this manhunt was that eleven were caught, among which ten were beaten to death and one seriously
injured, before the police’s arrival on the crime scene. This display of raw brutality not only brought to light the leniency of the police force in that part of the world, but it also revamped Bihar’s long-standing reputation as the most lawless state of India. In fact, no later than Monday the ninth of this month, another mob in fury brandishing metal tools blinded three youths as a punishment for stealing a motorcycle. That same day, A. Tewary of the BBC reports that two youths “aged 13 and 12 were beaten up by locals…for allegedly stealing salt and detergents” from their employer. The list of similar incidents of friction between inhabitants of Bihar and criminals is forever growing. Still, villagers assert that local authorities look the other way. All that seems to be changing now as citizens of Bihar have decided to take law into their hands. As S. Gupta, an Indian social scientist, explains, “People think justice will not be delivered. So they resort to instant justice by lynching the culprit.”