E April 9, 1985 Vol. 83, No. 48
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VISTA
Tuesday Edition
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
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Fifteen file for Student Senate posts By Curtis Killman Associate Editor
dent and vice president, Nsiegbe said.
The Student Association (SA) filing period for 1985-86 offices closed 5 p.m. Monday with only 15 of 22 senate seats petitioned.
John Buttry, who was defeated last semester by SA President Ed Howell, has filed again for the president's office and will face Debbie McClaren, Student Senate historian. The Vice President's position will pit Mark Kinzie, B.S. Uwalaka and Spencer Weyerman against each other. Kinzie and Uwalaka are current student senators. Weyerman is a
Since all the positions are uncontested, there will not be an election to decide senate seats, according to Iyke Nsiegbe-Osuji, SA vice president. An election will be conducted April 17, to decide the SA presi-
former student senator, Nsiegbe said. Student senator Joe Guthrie was the only applicant for the office of Ombudsman. The senate seats were apportioned according to the percentage of students in their respective colleges, Nsiegbe said. A total of 22 seats were available, according to Nsiegbe, but only 15 seats were petitioned, leaving seven positions to be filled by appointment by the SA presi-
dent next year. The College of Liberal Arts, with five seats available, was petitioned by Scott Birdwell, Linda E. Foglesong, Sue Y. Gnagy, Jessica Grassmann and Mary Hawkins. The College of Business, with five seats available, was petitioned by Junaid T. Bashir, Desiree Lavicky, Patty McLean, and Virginia Nichols. The College of Education, with five seats available, was petitioned by Gaye Claiborne, Carla E. Krauss and Carl Ray.
The College of Math and Science, with four seats available, was petitioned by Desmond Fernandes and Mary K. McLean. The College of Special Arts and Sciences, with three seats available, was petitioned by Cynthia Griffin. This is the second consecutive semester that the elections for student senators have been scratched due to a lack of applicants for the offices, said Joe McCourry, student senate speaker.
Faculty Senate passes proposal to move up last day to drop class 3
By Curtis Killman Associate Editor If you are one of the students prone to wait till the last few days of a semester before dropping a class, pay attention, that habit may need to change. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday to move the drop deadline up to the Friday of the tenth week of semester. Students currently can wait till the last class day to drop a class. The resolution, authored by the Academic Affairs Committee, passed by a 19-3 vote after faculty members and one student debated the proposal briefly. Dr. Jean Caldwell, assistant professor of economics, speaking against the proposal asked "what is the rationale" behind the resolution? Dr. James Tarr, assistant professor of business law, said the proposal was backed by 73 percent of 216 faculty members polled on the subject of moving the drop date up. "Some of the reasons the faculty members gave," said Tarr, "was — one — that the student make a more complete commitment at the beginning of the semester." Another reason for the change, according to Tarr, was to protect students in group activities and class projects, such as Chemistry labs from losing a partner late in the semester. Dr. Lewis Irving, professor of sociology, spoke against the proposal: "I feel like periodically throughout the semester the students will drop in, drop out of class for various reasons. I think we ought to give them every opportunity to go as long as they possibly can. "It's not going to impact me whether they do or do not show up. It's going to impact them and their learning skills. But, some students have the capability of catching up and providing external data to themselves to increase their knowledge in the area. I don't see a reason to move that (the drop date) forward." Dr. Terrill Smith, professor of chemistry and member of the Academic Affairs Committee, agreed with Tarr. Smith said, that he has had students come in and use laboratory time, chemicals and "generally spend the taxpayer's money and then at the end (of the semester) drop out." Smith said, the results of the questionnaire indicated the faculty wanted an increase in responsibility on the part of the students, and for the students "to get their act together by second week after mid-term." Student Senator Scott Birdwell, expressed concern that some
See FACULTY, page 3
In this issue. . Profs claim curricula deficiency...page 4 Dorm policies examined...page 5 Calender girl deadline extended...page 6 Lady Bronchs dump Cameron, St. Mary's...page 7 Baseball team stomps Cameron...page 8
Funny Bunny?. • •Tweet
E. Byrd (Lauren Allen) and are E. Rabbit (Winston Banta) entertained treasure hunters
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Vista photo by Alison Hinton
Friday at Fink Park. The Easter Party was sponsored by the President's Club.
Liberal arts committee calls for enhanced writing skills By Melissa Mercer Editor A resolution to promote the implementation of
significant writing projects in 3000 and 4000 level courses was adopted Feb. 28, by the executive committee of the college of Liberal Arts. The aim of the resolution is to improve writing skills among undergraduate students in the college of Liberal Arts. "The English department is not solely responsible for imparting writing skills in students. That responsiblity resides with all of us on the faculty," said Dr. Frank Wert, dean of the college of Liberal Arts. The resolution requests "each individual faculty member within the College to carefully, and in good faith, examine the writing assignments in his/her courses to insure that each course contributes significantly toward enhancing the writing skills of students..." and "that in grading writing assignments, faculty shall evaluate mechanics, spelling and style of expression in addition to content." Wert indicated that the resolution is a timely measure in light of recent national reports such as the National Institute of Education report, the Association of American Colleges report and the reports recently released by Education Secretary William Bennett.
"Poor writing is really a symptom, not necessarily the problem." Wert said. "Behind the ability of an individual to write well and express himself well, is the ability to reason. And behind the ability to reason critically lies the ability to read and understand critically the material that is being assigned to them. And to be able to read and understand in a critical fashion the material that is being assigned, the student has to have other skills associated with that. For example skills in listening and skills in the use of bibliographic material." Wert said that inadequate writing skills in college graduates is the primary criticism of undergraduate curricula nationally as well as locally, and that this is the partial result of a decline over past decades in the expectations of undergraduate curricula. "We went through a tremendous period of growth
in higher education. During that period we were
strained to the gills just to accomodate students and we ended up with larger and larger classes; and as we do that we lose more and more to objective testing and to objective criteria and (devote) less and less to the subjective perspective which writing clearly is," Wert said. Faculty are presently reviewing course assignments. Wert said he expects increased writing assignments by fall semester, 1985.