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Sociology Department seeks two new profs. by Dave DeKok
Volume 8 7 - 2 1
Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49423
April 11,1975
Recommendations cited
By the way, Hope's Department of Sociology is not being phased out, as the currently circulating rumor might have you believing. IN FACT, THE department is actively seeking two new professors to replace Assistant Professor of Sociology Kenneth Sebens and Lecturer in Sociology Ruth VanKampen. The possibility also exists that a consulting firm may be hired in the future to evaluate Hope's social work program with an eye toward possible accreditation of the program. 4t WE WANT TO strengthen the department," Provost David Marker said. "We have a lot of flexibility since so many professors are leaving. The two persons being sought for the teaching positions will need to be knowledgeable in several areas of sociology or social work. "ONE OF THE persons we're seeking will have to have his Ph.D. with his major field in social organization, an area we're deficient in," stated Dr. William McIntyre, chairman of the sociology department. "He should also be knowledgeable in social stratification." Mclntyre explained that social stratification touches on such things as social inequalities. The new professor in this position would also need at least some knowledge of sociology of edUcation and religion, and social psychology, he added. "WE'VE GOT several good candidates for this position," Mclntyre said. The department's other vacancy is in the area of social-psychology. This vacancy will be difficult to fill, Mclntyre said, due to the many abilities and credentials the person must have. "THE PERSON will have to have an MSW degree (Master of Social Work) as well as some practical social work experience," he said. "He'll have to have some experience in handling field placements and be able to teach as well." Mclntyre said that people with • MSW degrees are in great
VanLiere defines co-op housing by )ohn Scholten
Director of Student Residences Elaine Van Liere, presented a report from the task force on co-op housing to the Campus Life Board on Thursday, March 13. Task force members studied the feasibility of introducing a co-op housing concept on Hope's campus, particularly in the cottages and fraternity houses. WORKING WITH Van Liere were students Paulette Tippy and John Scholten. The task force members define co-op housing as, "the process of students jointly assuming responsibility for simple up-keep chores of a particular living unit with a concurrent saving of money to the college and/ or the students involved." Copies of the complete report are being distributed to the head residents and are available in the Dean of Students' Office for further study to any member of the college community. Also at the meeting the following recommendations of the task force were adopted by the Campus Life Board. FIRST, in consultation with Associate Dean of Students Michael Gerrie, the decision was previously made to select resident assistants for the residence halls first, and make the decision on cottage staffing at a later date. The committee recommended
ELAINE VANLIERE that priorities for cottage occupancy continue to be given to students of senior and junior standing, and that any group of seniors and juniors in a given cottage have the option to adopt the co-op housing concept if unanimously decided upon within the living unit. SECOND, THEY decided that cottage residents be allowed to choose their own resident advisor.
PBB offers no threat to Saga meat quality by Marjorie DeKam With the PBB scare reaching many parts of Michigan, people are wondering about the level of PBB in the meat, milk and poultryproducts they consume. STUDENTS AT Hope haven't expressed concern about PBB in Saga food, according to the Director of Food Service Jess Newkirk, who said he hasn't faced any problems with PBB yet. "Most Saga meat comes from Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska," he explained, "there are no distributors in Michigan that deal in the large volume that the food service needs, so the PBB problem hasn't affected Saga as yet," ONLY FIVE percent of Saga meat comes from Michigan distributors, Newkirk said, and hot dogs, for example, are made in Michigan but the pork comes from Wisconsin. Milk and poultry products do
come from Michigan, but Newkirk said all products are inspected by state and federal authorities. Milk comes from Detroit, and eggs are bought from a distributor in Hudsonville." . THE DANGER, Newkirk pointed out is not how much meat is being marketed now with PBB, since the state has established PBB levels which are considered safe. The future implications are of concern, he said, because when the waste is absorbed in the soil, PBB may even be showing up in fresh produce. The PBB poisoning began in 1973 when the fire retardant chemical was mistakenly shipped by the Michigan Chemical Company to Farm Bureau Services and mixed in a feed supplement. Quarantined cows, pigs and chickens and eggs have been destroyed by the feed company, but the repercussions of the PBB incident are still being investigated by the state.
liaison person or onter type agent to represent them to the Associate Dean and the Director of Student Residences; and, that the salaries of such persons be reduced. Third, cottage residents would be allowed the option to choose a member or members of their living unit to do custodial and the simple maintenance chores for pay, rather than depend upon the maintenance staff. FOURTH, in the \inlikely event an. excessive amount of requests are made from cottage residents to participate in the coop housing concept, the Associate Dean of Students and the Director of Student Residences reserves the right to limit the number of cottages in which the experiment can be tried. "The unlikely event" is based upon the fact that the task force sent out 150 questionnaires to poll student interest in co-op housing; only 21 were returned. Van Liere said that if the residents prefer the conventional system we have had for the cottages in previous years, she and Gerrie will be willing to make the R.A. selection. However, this would differ in the sense that it would have to be a person already assigned to that cottage and the salary of that person would be reduced. WHEN QUESTIONED further. Van Liere stated that, "the benefits of the plan are that hopefully upperclass students would establish a greater sense of community through group sharing and group responsibility for the upkeep of their unit, that they would experience a sense of pride in their living unit from this type of identification, and that the money saved could be used in one of the several ways stated in the proposal. It could be used as saving to the college, returned for the improvement of the living unit, used to purchase something desired by the residents, such as a TV set or refrigerator, to reduce the cost of room fee or paid to the student(s) who do the work. VAN LIERE AND Gerrie will be meeting with groups of students signed up for cottages after housing assignments are made, as consultants for their desired plan, but will also be glad to meet with any group of students interested in adopting one of the plans for a unit they are considering before housing assignments are made. The hope is that the innovative plan will be mutually beneficial to 4he residents and the college. It grew out of a need to revise the cottage R.A. position because of the need for a different type of training program.
demand right now. "We may try to obtain accreditation for our social work proK1"3"! after it is evaluated by the consultant and he makes recommendations," Mclntyre said. The Council on Social Work Education wil1 Iikel y b e t h e consulting firm, ASSISTANT Professor of Soci0 0 ^ 8y Dr. Howard lams would like t0 ?ee expansion of the Hope so cial work program to include instruction in group work and community organization. The pre8601 emphasis is on casework, or person-to-person, social work, he said. "I think the curriculum is too narrowly drawn," lams said. "This prevents students from gaining knowledge of other areas of work available to them, such as group work, community organization. and administrative social work." IAMS ALSO believes students in the social work program need more background in the social sciences, especially political science, sociology and economics. "For someone planning to go into community organization, a background in these would be very important," he said. lams admits that a student studying casework would not need nearly as much social science as one in community organization but believes such students could benefit from more social science than they receive now. "JOBS DO EXIST in social work," lams said, "but most require an MSW." About the only ones which don't, he said, are in the corrections casework field, and these are traditionally low paying because of tight budgets. Mclntyre said he basically agreed with lams' ideas. 'We need to provide sufficient theoretical background for those going into community organization and group work," he said. "We want4he department to provide a good background for grad school for our students." Both men agreed there was a need to strengthen the academic sociology offerings in the department. lams hopes the department can develop an approach to the study of sociology which develops the ability to perform social research.
Frats recall requests, receive another chance by John Scholten At a spring meeting of the Campus Life Board last year, the policy on fraternity housing was changed. Before the meeting, the policy was that any fraternity was required to fill 100 percent of two floors in the living unit and provide independents to fill the remainder of the house. . THE NEW policy, however, stated that the fraternity must provide for 100 percent occupancy of the house and at least 60 percent of those in the house must be members of that fraternity. — The Fraternal Society last year failed to reach their quota. However, the Campus Life Board decided to give the house to the Fraters for this present school year because they were only one member away from the residence requirement. THIS YEAR, the Fraters felt that they could fulfill the requirement with approximately 30 to 31v members of their fraternity living in the house. But they had seven or eight members of their organization who were seniors and desired to live off campus next year. Then the fraternity decided that it was in their best interest to try to find an alternate method of housing. The Fraters felt that perhaps they could opt for a cottage or even to try to' buy a house off campus.
THE FRATERS then went to Associate' Dean of Students Michael Gerrie with .their request to buy a house off campus. He told them, "That's not a decision that I can just make overnight. That has to go through the Campus Life Board," The Fraters went to the Campus Life Board with their proposal to buy an. off campus house. The CLB told them that this was a matter that would have to be studied in great depth because there were numerous legal ramifications for the college. CLB also felt that this study wpuld take at least a year. CRISPELL or Taylor cottage were then considered by the fraternity as a viable option for next year's housing. After the Fraters had expressed an interest in a cottage, the Centurian Fraternity also expressed a similar interest. In light of these requests, many independent students became alarmed. Many asked the question, "Why should the best housing on campus go to the fraternities?" The Centurian fraternity has since withdrawn their request for a cottage and so has the Fraternal Society. Currently, the Fraters are committed to filling their quota to retain their house. Gerrie said, "For next year, they want to try and fill their quota requirement and remain in the Frater House. As long as they can do that, as far as I'm concerned, it's their house again."