THE COLLEGE NEWS Friday, November 18, 1966

Faculty Members Reveal Plans
For Lame Duck Experimentation

by Cookie Poplin
Once again Bryn Mawr professors assert their
ndividualism and independence. Their responses to
; the ‘‘lame duck’? session -- that last, week of
school in between Christmas vacation and exams --
: were as varied as their personalities and their

Page Two

  
 

 

  
  
 

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FOUNDED IN 1914
Published weekly during the College Year except during Thanks-~-
giving, Christmas and Easter holidays, and during examination
weeks in the interest of Bryn Mawr College at the R.K. Printing
Company, Inc., Bryn Mawr, Pa., and Bryn Mawr College.
The College News is fully protected by copyright. Nothing that appears in

   

Mr. Connor would like to use that last week for
professors in the department to explain to biology
students the research that they themselves have
been doing in their special fields;

The chairman of the Philosophy Department, Mr.

    
 
   

  

 
 
 

 

      
     

it may be reprinted wholly or in part without permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

EDITORIAL BOARD

EditoreineChief.....e eee a oe ere%
MANN GING RONNGls 66s 66a ert 0 eee kee iss cee eee
A ener yr rire rer i area
Membereat-Large ...

-Nanette Holben ’68
« «+e eKit Bakke 68
Robin Johnson ’68
« -Kathy Murphey ’69

Make-up Editor. eeeees eee eee ccc e ences ee cee ee sCoOkie Poplin '69
Contributing Editors ........2.+.+++++.+Pam Barald ’67, Emily McDermott '68
Business Manager...... Vy ew era Wh ee ere we es Ge ae et - Fern Hunt '69
Subscription Manager ......; Veer Ceas ts bea wae Mary Ann Spreigel ’68
Advertising Manager. ...eesveesesecsvees ¢eeeeeeee Diane Ostheim '69
Photographer... cccccseitcves ° « Marian Scheuer ’70

 

kay to Sion: ‘Outs

The Constitutional Revision Committee for the Self-Government
Association will probably. be taking up the matter of Bryn Mawr’s
sign-out system; we know the topic has already been under discus-
sion among members of the group. The new Erdman system, which
involves. discarding of sign-out cards upon return and informing
the hall’ president of late minutes, is a noteworthy experiment which
lays _more-stress-on the individual's responsibility to the honor sys-
tem, and we encourage all dormitories to try it out, there being no
regulations in the present constitution as to sign-out systemsthem-
selves,

But as the constitution comes up for review, it is time to question
the regulations that do exist, especially in terms of curfews. We
approach the subject after reading the newspaper of Muhlenberg
College, where upperclassmen have no curfews and enter the dorm
with a key. Granted the system exists at other colleges, such as
Radcliffe, but we cite Muhlenberg because its Women’s Council
sent a questionnaire to parents to ask if they would object to a key
system, and 87.6 per cent were in favor of the program,

If the key system were used at Bryn Mawr, the privilege should go
to all undergraduates, not only to juniors and seniors. We suggest
that such a system is perfectly feasible here, operating as follows:

Every student would not possess a key; rather, she would sign one
out if she planned not to come back before 2:00 a.m. and would sign it
in when she returned. There should still be a 2:00 a.m. sign-out, with
no keys needed up until that time and student doorkeepers on the job
until that hour. If a girl planned to be out past 2:00, she should sign
out until 6:30 a.m., at which time the dorms would open. If she
planned to be out later than 6:30 a.m., she should sign out in the
overnight book. There should be no stipulations as to where or where
not the 6:30 a.m. sign-out could be used.

The main objection to the system is that Bryn Mawr girls have no
locks on their. room doors, and if keys to the dorm were lost or dupli-
cated, it could be dangerous., The only answer is that the respon-
sibility for the keys rests with the students, and loss or misuse of
them would not be treated lightly.

We propose that the Constitutional Revision Committee poll the
campus, as well as send’ out questionnaires to parents, And we invite
parent subscribers to submit their reactions to the NEWS if they feel
violently pro or con.

In conclusion, we add that the system we propose would be an even
greater expression of the integrity of Self-Government at Bryn Mawr.

The Undergrad Affair

The NEWS? stand on the so-called abolition of Undergrad has been
widely misinterpreted. Our point has been all dlong not to abolish
Undergrad, but rather to de-emphasize and decrease its status. The

_ Executive Board itself admits that Undergrad is a ‘‘catch-all or-
ganization.’? We simply do not think a ‘‘catch-all organization’? de-
serves to be on the same plane as Self-Gov, a body which is not only
unique in function, but which represents the social and academic
integrity of the whole Bryn Mawr community, Undergrad mistakenly
seems to symbolize Bryn Mawr in many cases where instead it should
be Self-Gov.

The letter from the heads of the Big Six states that Undergrad has
not hindered any one of them, Yet we think the example of Alliance’s
calendar proposal clearly illustrates how Undergrad, because of its
position ‘‘over’’ the Big Six, slows procedure and generally bogs
things down.

Alliance wrote a proposal several weeks ago onthe method of select-
ing the college calendar. It intended to submit it to Curriculum Com-
mittee, in whose jurisdiction the matter falls, Instead of being able to
do this directly, Alliance had to submit it to Undergrad (on one Mon-
day night), Then Undergrad gave it to Curriculum Committee, who
expanded it and took it back to Undergrad (the next Monday night), But
it was not brought up at that meeting, but at the succeeding one (the
next Monday night). It was then approved and the next day it was sub-
‘mitted to Mrs. Marshall,

This process took over three weeks when it should not have taken

“ much over three days. This is what we mean when we say Undergrad
bogs things down.

Undergrad is now in the process of revising its Constitution. It
will be voted on by Legislature sometime in 1967. Unfortunately, it is
not considering the reduction in status that we advocate, but rather
the reduction of NSA’s status on campus, which we most strongly do
NOT advocate. Therefore we ask that Amendment 9, which adds ‘‘if
she is so needed’? to ‘‘The Vice President shall serve as NSA Co-
ordinator’? be defeated. This campus would greatly benefit from closer
ties with the National Students? Association, and we do not see any
reasons a —. it to the asandeervcie, 38 the 08 whe aio needed’?
‘implies. ~~

~ On the other hand, ~we- are” wienied to see othe woutis abeintica-er
reality which is manifested in the changing of the ‘‘Tri-College
Standing Committee” to the ‘<Bi-College Standing Committee.”

Finally,

‘‘Each undergraduate will Passel one vote” to ‘‘Each undergraduate

 
 

: departments, Though it seemed that in general
: they opposed the lame duck arrangement, a num-
‘ ber were willing to experiment or at least see how
: the week worked out before condemning it out-
- right. There were teachers who hoped it would
‘lead to new, better-planned developments and
‘there were some who had not thought much about
: it at all.

Mrs. Myers of the English Department, for
example, thought the week was too broken up to
be really effective; she called it ‘‘a vestige’?
in the process of reorganizing the school sched-
ule. Nevertheless for her Chaucer class at least,
she is considering assigning a project in connec-
tion with exams and possibly cancelling one or
two of the class meetings (depending on how much
ground remains to be covered at the end of the
term),

Mr. Berthoff’s reaction was even more positive.
He is also in the English Department, and would
like to see eventually at Bryn Mawr a two week
reading period like the one he had as an under-
graduate at Harvard. Thus he is joining the read-
ing period to the last week of classes; he will not
hold scheduled classes for his novel course but
has instead assigned the reading of another novel
and specified criticism in preparation for a ques-
tion on the exam, Students can also work on the
assignment over Christmas.vacation.

In the science departments the reactions were
mixed. Physics professor Miss Hoyt will con-
tinue to hold regular sessions for all her classes.
Mr. Anderson did not feel that the new schedule
arrangement would make possible changes in the
program of Chemistry 101. On the other hand,

 

  

Nahm, offered at least one of his classes the op-
tion of cancelling classes during that last week.
Interestingly enough, the students voted to hold
classes, ‘‘Those freshmen!?’ said one disgusted
junior. Mr. Ferrater Mora has decided not to
hold classes during the lame duck session. He
sees the week as a period which will provide
especially smaller classes like Kant and Logic
with an opportunity for small groups to meet
with professors about points they did not under-
stand or to further develop topics which inter-
ested them. Thus Mr. Ferrater Mora will be
available all during, the week. He acknowledged
however, that such a system might not work as
well for larger classes like Phil 101.

In somewhat similar fashion, economics pro-
fessor Mr. DuBoff felt that while the extra week
might be useful in a small, paper-oriented
more loosely constructed seminar, the new time
arrangement made no difference in a tightly
structured course like 101. He said he would
wait, however, to see what happened, Basically
he would prefer a system like Penn’s, where
students come back early, take exams before
Christmas vacation and then enjoy a long vaca-
tion until about the middle of January.

History professor Mr. Brand would like to
make an expedition with his medieval culture
class during that last week to the Hagley Mills
Museum in Delaware if he can find funds,

Mr. Enslin of the History of Religion depart-
ment on the other hand will start classes again
immediately after vacation as before. He pointed
out that there-is not enough time as it is to get
through the course material.

  
     
      
    
      
     
     
      
      
     
         
       
     
    
      
      
      
    
      
    
     
     
     
      
     
     
    
      
    
     
      
    
   

 

‘around

we do strongly support Amendment 31, which changes

 

  

 

Letters to the Editor

For Undergrad

To the Editor:

In-regard to the Undergrad con-

troversy in the last NEWS we

 

applebee

 

i know you are wondering if owls
eat turkey on thanksgiblet, a fellow
bird and all, ‘well the answer is,
people eat pig don’t they? ... we
fly to family. trees from. miles
around ... this year it’s to beat
grandmother’s, she lives in a
spanish moss on an estate near the
main line, filigree tree, full of
knickknacks ... she uses pressed
snowflakes as doilies, makes them
christmastime for the
following november ... leaves for
plates, of course, horsechestnut
ones for platters ... sometimes
gravy drips onto the squirrel family
who live one floor below, they chat-
ter horrendous imprecations ...
anyway there we all are arranged
around the dinner branch ...
grandm’owl brings out the fowl
and suddenly it’s the golden bough
e.. the groaning board in pristine
form ... nothing to say but ‘‘hoot?’
which in this context means ‘‘pass
the cranberry, i’m having mynine-
teenth helping” ... pumpkin pie for
dessert, thus there’s no full moon
that night ... when the leaves have
cleared (i.e. swept to the ground--
that’s why there are never any
leaves left on the trees after
thanksgiving) the owl’ folks lean
back and hoot (i.e. burp) then tell
stories of the olden days when
november brought hardship rather

_than gourdship upon main coevals
“the colonial settlers ... and we

all have to listen and listen eee
traditional families, you |.see, have
traditions of their own’... but we
don’t mind, we’re too full to move

 

would like to state that Under-
grad has not hindered the opera-
tions of any of the Big Six or-
ganizations and does not make
them subordinate to itself. It is,
as Margaret Edwards has said, a
meeting and talking place for stu-
dents representing many different
interests,

This does not mean that we are
closed to a reappraisal of Under-
grad, particularly of what may
seem superfluous functions,

Lola Atwood,
A.A, President

Drewdie Gilpin,

Alliance President
Andrea Lurie,
Curriculum Committee
President

Ronnie Scharfman,
Arts Council President
Madeleine Sloane,
Interfaith President
Peggy Thomas,

League President

Finish the Job

To the Editor:

It is now 10:55 a.m. (Sunday).
The door to the Library was just
unlocked; it was supposed to be
opened at 10:00 a.m. The purpose
of opening the Library early on
Sunday was to provide more time
to use the Reserve Room, Has it
been opened? No. Provisions were
made to have somebody work in
the Reserve Room this morning
and was she notified that it would
not be opened? No. (And the same
thing happened last week.)

Inconvenience? Yes, not only for
her but the many others who had
fond hopes of imbibing the treas-

‘ures of knowledge to be found within

the tomes imprisoned within the
Reserve Room. One would think
that those who went to the trouble
to get permission to open the
Library early would have the
integrity to follow. the e job through
to completion.

Elizabeth Freedman
Jean Mason Miller
Roni Goldberg
Sally Rosenberg
Elizabeth Karess

r ——e

 

  
 

Priscilla Pedersen
Carol Banquer
Mary Gard

Room Keys

To the Editor:

I am about to make a state-
ment which will shock you. If
one is to go by appearances, it
expresses a desire which is ac-
cording to the college viewpoint,
anti-social, unpatriotic, and
vaguely illegal. Let me explain
this last implication by making
my stand.

I want a lock on my door, or,
at least the option to place one
there or not according to my own
volition. Now let me explain the
legal aspect of the question; a
part of the dormitory population *
of Bryn Mawr seems to be under
the impression that county fire
laws prohibit the use of locks on
academic residence buildings, It
would seem incongruous that fire
laws would impede the instituting
of locks on college halls when
there is no such provision made
for apartments, hotels, or other
public living places.

Even if this last were -true,
however, it might certainly be
open to change or amendment. In
any case, the necessity for locks
to rooms has been made dramat-
ically apparent at least in some
dorms recently by outbreaks of
petty theft, but should these be
nonexistent, the very size and
nature of the undergraduate com-
munity would seem to underline;
the fact that a closed and locked)
door means privacy and property ©
security rather than social. ex-
clusion,

 

Marina Wallach, ’70

Saga oman

To the Editor:
If the food at Pembroke is any
indication of what students are”
being subjected to on a campus

wide scale, we cannot unders
their lack of reaction, To wi

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