Page Six

SCARLET AND BLACK

Unrealized Potential for Student involvement

By KATHY BULL

The Havemnn report of Scptelllber,
1967 proposed the establishment of Ed-
|icatlorlal Policy Committees for the
three div ons, Humanities, Social Sci-
ences, and Science. Tlle E,P.C.s are still
in the discussing and planning stage of
all proposals and no concrete action has
been taiten to initiate signiﬁcant changes.

One of the unfortunate aspects of
the E.P.C.s is that they have no real
decision-making power; their function
is purely recommendations]. This
weakens the positive action of form
log a student-faculty committee.

A major issue in each division has
been the desirability of student repre-
sentatives, the role of the students on
the committee, and the methods with
which the students on the committee.
and the methods with which the stu-
dents would be selected. The divisional
E.P.C.s have dealt with this problem in
Various ways, and have emphasized dif-
ferent areas requiring renovation. Vot-
ing power for both the faculty and stu-
dent participants is still undecided.

The need for a Well-defined divisional
organization and assuming of “import-
ant educational functions,” the promo-
tion of communication and cooperation
among departments, particularly con<
cerning interdisciplinary and interde<
partmental study and the facilitation of
communication with other divtsions and
the Executive Council, are specified by
the Haveman Report as reasons for es-
tablisning E.P.C.S.

The committees do not sewe as de-
tisionemaking bodies; rather, they make
recommendations to be voted on by the
laculty, division or Executive Council. A
large share of the Work is done within
the departments and is cleared by the
committee,

Each di sional committee decided
how often they will meet and how
many student representatives they
will have. The latter decision is sub—
ject to the entire faculty’s approval.
Although most at the committee mem-
bers agree that student participation

%
Penalty credits considered

After the Thanksgiving recess. a num-
ber of faculty members questioned the
half credit penalty which is added to the
graduation requirement or absent siu<
limits This penalty was instituted several
years ago to curb students who cut, not
only the days immediately before and
after Vacations, but in some cases. seV<
eral days preceding and following.

A committee composed of a faculty
member from each division and two stu-
dent consultants was established to look
into the questions A report should be
compiled in the next few weeks and pre~
sellted to the Executive Council of the
Faculty, who will in turn make recom-
mendations to the faculty as a whole.

It is difficult to predict what the final
‘decision will be. The student body and
many faculty members are opposed to the
penalty because it is ineifective in that
it covers only six days of the school year.
However, there is also support of the
penalty for lack of an alternative.

on the committees is important, the
Humanities and Social Science di-

visions have not yet elected student
representatives. This, however, is not
entirely the fault of the faculty The

student attendance 'at the EEC. 01‘-
ganizational meetings was very poor.

The Humanities committee held ﬁve
organizational meetings last semester
ahd have not met this semester. Pres-
ently sludenu are not represented at
these meetings. While there has been
some sentiment against student repre-
sentation, the majority recognize a need
for student participation, disagreeing
only on form. A faculty member describ-
ed the function of the E.P.C. as a
“cleaning house for course proposals and
the other proposals related to curricu-
lum revisions,”

The Science division has met once this
semester and plans to meet every two
weeks. A student elected by the majors
represents his department at the meet-
ings. Mr. Danforth, head of the com-
mittee, feels cooperation between the
students and faculty will be worthwhile.
in the future he hopes to sea the cum<
mittee examining the acceptance and
eifectiveness of Science I and it re-
quirelnents and assembling information
to make recommendations to the entire
division.

The Social Science division has not
yet determined their policy on student
representation and is delaying issues
until student participation is estab-
lished. The Political Science depart-
ment majors have initiated their own
Student Educational Policy Committee,
electing two juniors and three seniors.
This committee will participate in var-
ious decision-making aspects of the de-
partment, but will not be directly as<
sociated with the divisional E.P.C.

%

Students Challenged

From
RICHARD SCHMIEKEN, JANET SMITH
KATHY BULL, ROGER KOENKER

The Humanities and Social Science
Divisions have still not elected student
representatives to their Educational Po<
licy Committees. We feel that the stu~
dents should not wait for the faculty to
request their organizing but should go
ahead and take action. If they expect to
have a voice in the important issues that
will be considered by the committees this
semester (perhaps recommendations for
a new Dean could be suggested) they
must take the time and etiort to organ-
ize Within the department and elect re
preseiltatives. Regular meeting times
shoulti be agreed upon immediately.

We hope that the E.l’. .s will not be
only “clearing houses" for departmental
proposals, but will also be able to illi<
tiate experimental interdisciplinary and
independent studies programs and re-
search the value of comprehensive
exams, and general educational require-
ments. \Ve also hope that the delay in
establishing the committees Will not
have condemned them to second semes-
ter lethargy'. or worse, that the faculty
will Stall action until it becomes too late
for the students to share in any decisions
about next year’s curriculum

 

ART SUPPLlES

Posters, Frames, Gifts

hiitl’o dhtdh litiiEEi.

813 4TH AVENUE

Grionell's Decorating Center

Friday. February I4. [96?

The Diggers pulled another no-no at the slew dimer Saturday night in Loose

Lounge when most of the 60 who attended d

ecided it was time [or fingerpainting the

Free Sioze and kitchenette, as well :is each other’s tacos. But Blue Meanies Ralph

‘ Pomerenk and Ken Etzkorll didn't appreciate the unleashed creativity and ordered

iboth rooms to be cleaned by Thursday evening or else. Since no one can afford to
pay B to G cleaning rates, the Diggers will comply, but yellow submarines have been

spotted in the vicinity.

 

Controversial Concert Defended

By MOLLY MCGUIRE

A new breed of music was introduced
to Grinneii last weekend in the term or
the Cecil Taylor Unit, an avantegarde
jazz quartet. If nothing else. the concert
became a topic of controversy on cam
pus as the music was ioreign and incom-
prehensible t0 the cars at most of the
audience. Arguments raged over the
quality or value at the music itself as
well as the advisability of bringing this
type of music to Grinnell.

Comments ranged from the facetious
Bandstand favorite, “Oh, it didn’t have
a very good beat and I couldn't dance
to it," to the popular. “It stunkl” Those
who liked it seemed overpowered by it—-
they were completely carried away emo-
tionally: “l was intoxicated by it," was
one of the more extreme comments on
the positive side.

Generally. however, there seemed to
be unfavorable response from the cam-
pus, On this note, the 5&3 talked to Gary
Giddcns and Lee Shambel‘g oi the Social
Coordinating Committee to let them ex-
plain their reasons for bringing in Cecil
Taylor, and also to let them comment
on the student reaction.

Their reason for presenting a concert
of tllis type was two-fold, First, ciddens
felt that “any controversy started in this
conservative melange of apathy and
lethargy would be beneficial.” Shamberg
added, ”The concert was a result ol a

> GUlde

(Continued from Page 5)
each persons thinks of what should be
done and then does it. “Things are a bit
sloppy, but they get done." The protes-
tors are particularly concerned in not
defining a power structure.

Life during the ﬁrst week was excit-
ing but with time some interest is dying.
Protesters, no matter what interest
group they were from. were unified by
their actions and engaged in intensive
communication. One student said it was
a “great educational experience," DisA
cussions between very different types
of people ranged all the way from
politics through concepts of human na-
ture.

After almost two weeks, the tudents
remain in the building, unwi 'ng to
budge until some action is taken on their
demands. Some people are losing inter»
est. but many students insist on staying.

continuous attempt to make the concerts
program an organic part of the educa-
tional process. Education involves a
challenge to one's standards and pre-
conceptions."

Secondly, they wanted to expose stu-
dents to music they may never listen to
on their own, or even realize existed.
"The importance of the concert,"
stressed Giddens, ”was that the students
got a chance to hear this music, not
Whether they liked it or disliked its one
of my hopes in bringing in Taylor was
that people would be moved to investi-
gate the music more fully on their own,"

Those criticizing the quality of the mu-
sic itself were severly chided by Giddens
and Shamberg. They argued that to criti-
cize quality [mm a position of total ignor-
ance is “indefensible,"

Instead of judging the music by the
standards of familiar Western music,
they stressed that one must realize that
Taylor is working in a diiierelit medium,
that of an AirorAlnerican culture. Gid-
dens stressed, “Whatever similarities
there are between Tay rand Mozart are
outweighed by similarities between Tay-
for and Ellington,"

Giddcns was particularly disturbed by
the fact that so much of the audience
left before and during intermission. He
said that if they would have stayed longer
they very possibly would have ended up
enjoying it (which is what did happen
in several cases.) He said that Taylor
Wasn't playing for those who left, but
for those who stayed long enough to
enjoy listening to the music as much as
he did playing it.

it’s

I
THE VARSITY

NEWSSTAND

FOR
SMOKES,
SNACKS,

BOOKS.

 

