THE
ETROPOLITAN
The Metropolitan State College of Denver student newspaper serving the Auraria Campus since 1979
Denver, Colorado
Volume 13, Issue 2
August 31, 1990
Meet the Plain & Fancy person ·or the year
I
Mission c_ omes of age
p.81
p.15
Lady spikers enter new era
p.19
New tests get students co~ing and going Gayle Neyman The Metropolitan
Students question sidewalk preacher's message. Story on page 10.
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Colorado's college freshmen are facing a testing program that could dash their hopes of attending a four-year college and plunk them into remedial courses at a junior college - and even if they pass the entrance tests, they still face the spectre of failing a proficiency test required fortheir degree. At Metro, entrance tests began last year for first-time degree-seeking students. If students fail to show a minimum level of proficiency in the three categories being tested -math, writing and readingtbcy can't. e-.nroll .in MSC'D courses_ that require the testing prerequisite. Students are still allowed to take classes that don't require the tests, said David Moore, interim executive director of the Freshman Year Program and assessment testing. , • The testing is required under a state\rpandated program that requires state four,\ year colleges to assess and track college students, Moore said. "The w_o rd here is accountability and it is just as much an assessment of curriculum as it is of student ability," Moore said. Frieda Holley, a math professor and the director of program evaluation, said the testing is forthe benefit of the students. She acknowledged that there are ways to get around the requirement.
Since the tests are only required for first-time, degree-seeking students, students could apply as non-degree-seeking students, take a few classes, switch to degree-seeking status and evade the testing requirement. "If they did that, they would only be hurting themselves," Hawley said, because they could get into classes they aren't prepared for academically and find themselves floundering. Metro is working to expand the program to transfer students. Now the program involves only a small population at Metro, Hawley said. In addition to the entrance tests, the students will need to take more tests before they' ve completed 60 credit hours at Metro. These tests would give the students an.idea of where they are falling c;hort and give them another two years to work on those areas before the final tests they need to pass to graduate, Hawley said. Hawley said the assessment and proficiency tests will help students in course placement and also raise the level of respect for an MSCD degree. MSCD doesn't want employers to hire graduates and say, "How come you have a college education and can't do this?" Hawley said. Moore said that last year approximately 2,500 students were tested and so far this year 1,900 have been tested. The percentage of students failing the tests have not yet been made available, Moore said. 0
Mid East turmoil sparks campus preparedness Carolyn Bauer The Metropolitan The current turmoil in the Middle East has activated some and elevated the level of readiness among military personnel and reservists working and studying at MSCD, according to campus and state officials. "The way the National Guard and reservists are responding is just super," Lt. Col. Larry Tatum, chair of military science at MSCD said. None of Tatum's current crop of 42 Army ROTC students is eligible for immediate military service because they must fini sh a four-year college degree before receiving an officer's commission. But Tatum, 44, a Vietnam vet, and someofhis staff could be deployed
as part of the massive U.S. military mobilization in Saudi Arabia. "If my president and the people of my country decide that I should go, then I go," Tatum said. "That's probably the opinion of every person in uniform in the United States military." Glenn Morris, director of Veteran 's Upward Bound at MSCD and a former Marine sergeant who also served in Vietnam, suspects the current crisis will raise military enlistments. " If it comes to war, I don't think a new draft will need to be started," Morris said. He added that he believes young adults will enlist on their own. " It is exciting at first. Some of these young men are going to think it's a chance to check their manhood, but the reality is that a lot of young people will end up fighting for their Jives
if it really comes to war." ButMorris, 47, wouldn't hesitate to reenlist if he was needed. "I'd be on a plane tomorrow," he said. According to Petty Officer 1st Class IV,tike Byrd, Morris' prediction about en-· listments is right on the money. "It's been easier to sign up candidates," Byrd said from the Naval Reserve office in Lakewood. Byrd added that recruitment has been "doing a roller coaster thing," depending on the daily events in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. As the tension grows, phone calls increase. When events cool down, phone calls to his office lag, he said. While many ponder the possiblity of enlistment, for others participation in the military deployment isn 't optional. Auraria Public Safety employee and
naval reservist Phillip S~vage was ordered to report for duty at Norfolk, Virginia as of Aug. 27., David Rivera, director of public safety said. Rivera said that he believed Savage would be on duty with the navy for 21 days, after which he would return to his job at Auraria. At Veteran's Upreach, Morris has yet to lose any of his staff to the current deployments, but he said that three of his staffers have received "green light warnings" as notice of possible future activation. Though the effect of the Middle East tensions on MSCD students and staff doesn't appear significant at this point, if the turmoil overseas heats up, campus departments could well find themselves ·in a battle against attrition during the coming academ ic year. 0