Happy birthday, Oklahoma!
7E1E1E11 November 16, 1982
YzsTg Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Vol. 81, No. 21
Student Senate officer elections set for tomorrow
Cr
Vista photo by Craig Clark
G etting a closer look--
CSU Funeral Science students examine the eye and many other essential organs during the course of a days study. The funeral science program is one of only two at the university level in the United States.(See related story and picture on page 5)
Student Senate officers will be elected tomorrow when the student legislature holds its elections for the upcoming spring semester. The offices of president, vice-president and secretarytreasurer will be filled. Derek Haney, John Roper and Joe McCourry are in contention for president. Tami Fischer and Jimmy Adsit are the only candidates in the vice president race and Mike Cook and Sherri Andrews are vying for secretary-treasurer. Students may vote in the University Center on the first floor in the Activities Corner. Polls will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Wednesday. Mary Kelley, secretary-treasurer of the Student Senate said elections for the officers generally draw about 600 students to the polls. Kelley said that officer elections show a higher turnout than those for the senators. Kelley, Vice President Susan Witt and Tim Reese all elected not to run for another term. The newly elected officers will be sworn into office in a public ceremony Nov. 29. This will mark the first time that new officers have been honored in public, said Kelley. Thatcher Lake, located south of University Center, is the likely spot for the inauguration ceremonies, she said. In other senate news, John Bond and Dean Kaiser were appointed to senate seats by President Tim Reese. The appointments filled the two remaining vacancies in the student legislature.
Committee hopes to reinstate English skills exam By Mike Sherman Assistant Editor Picture yourself in a classroom during your junior year of college. You are taking a test which could determine if you will graduate, after you have completed most of your general education requirements. This test will have nothing to do with your major unless you are an English major. It is an English proficiency examination, and may be re-instituted at CSU within the next two years.
"If it is properly organized and carried out, it can be very helpful because it will establish a minimum level of writing competancy for all of our students," said Anne Lynch, president of the Faculty Senate. CSU had a required English exam for all students four years ago. The exams were dropped in favor of the introduction of remedial English classes for students lacking in English skills. However, the remedial program has yet to be instituted.
In this issue... Religious Emphasis Week begins...page 3 Funeral service offers experience...page 5 Parachute jump highlighted...page 6 Sherm's Sidelines... page 7 Bronchette basketball reviewed...page 8
The push for the re-institution of the proficiency exam was begun by Ed Livermore, publisher of the Edmond Sun, and member of the Board of Regents which governs CSU and the five other regional universities in Oklahoma. In fact, the Regents have recommended that all six universities look into a proficiency test. Livermore has said that the literacy and writing skills of college students have deteriorated enough to warrant an English skills test. Lynch said she has witnessed enough evidence of poor English fundamentals in her classes to agree with Livermore. Such a measure was "dr,derately urgent," she added. "I give essay exams and, I promise you, it is urgent," she said. "Even on papers where students do them out of class it is conspicuous. I get a considerable amount of students each semester who don't know how to use capital letters." Lynch said studies have been conducted showing the median reading level for freshman enter-
ing CSU falls at the eleventh grade :nark. Half of the incoming freshman are reading and writing below that level, she said. "Eleventh doesn't frighten people too much, - Lynch said, "but if you think of how many that means are at ninth grade, it is a real problem." Lynch said that the exams would prouably be given during the junior year in order to require that the students retain what they have learned earlier in English classes. The exam would require that a student write on one of a number of possible themes, she said, and be graded on the development of their ideas. Improper spelling and other grammar mistakes would count against a student and Lynch added that students who fail to pass the exam would be forced to take an additional English class, possibly a remedial course, in order to graduate. Another proposal under consideration would be a exam given to freshman to determine their aptitude in English. Lynch said this would be a kind of placement test.
Again, students who do not perform well would enter a remedial English class before taking the six hours of English currently required by the university. Lynch said a special committee, set up by the Office of Academic Affairs, is looking into the proposal along with the English department. Lynch said it was conceivable that the exam could be instituted by the fall of 1983, however it would more than likely be in effect in two years. Some departments within the university may institute their own grammar proficiency tests. The journalism department is currently considering introducing a journalism grammar course into it's degree requirements. Lynch said that these courses may serve the purpose, but take time away from other classes within a certain major. Lynch speculated that if instituted, a proficiency exam would affect only incoming freshman, and not upperclassmen.