0TUN1 VOL. XLIX
NO. 19
LONGWOOD COLLEGE, FARMVILLE, VIRGINIA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1974
English Proficiency Proposal Submitted The Committee to Study English Proficiency, after extensive research, submitted a proposal to the faculty. The proposal was accepted, and some of the provisions of the program are as follows: "That the faculty insist that students practice and maintain the proficiency represented by passing freshman English. "Every faculty member, insofar as the course will lend itself, will include proficiency in written English as one of the objectives of each of his courses and will include achievement of this objective as a portion of the grade for the course. Since department chairmen should consider the fostering of English proficiency when evaluating the merits of faculty members, evidence that proficiency is an objective should accompany other examples of competence submitted by the faculty to their chairmen. "Each faculty member will, insofar as the course lends itself, have proficiency on oral English as one of his objectives in each course. "That students who have passed English 100 be subject to a communication consition if they are not proficient in English. "Any teacher who thinks a student not proficient will notify the Dean, even though the notification comes at the end of the
term. "The Dean will notify the students instructors for that term or the following term that he has been reported deficient in the use of the language. "The instructors, within the next three academic weeks, will make an effort to determine the student's proficiency and will notify the Dean of the results. "If there is no concern on the part of his other instructors no actual condition will be recorded unless at some future time another professor initiates a condition. "If a writing deficiency is confirmed by one other instructor, then the Dean will notify the student of his condition and place a notation in the student's file. "The student may elect the means of programming himself for an examination to remove the condition. The student would prepare for the test by choosing to do individual study, to be tutored, or to take composition courses at Longwood or elsewhere. "The student will be unable to graduate until he has removed the condition by passing a short essay test, given under supervised conditions. Test topics will be a matter of test security: each department will be urged to suggest topics and a committee, composed of an elected
Q - We have heard that Curry and Frazer are badly infested with rats in the heating vents. Is this true? If so, why hasn't the condition been corrected? C.G. A - The Physical Plant has received no complaints of rats in either of the high-rise dormitories. All complaints with regard to the presence of rodents or insects in dormitories are acted upon without delay by the college's exterminator. Q - Why is it that complaints concerning maintenance prob lems MUST be registered with the Head Resident? Why can't we notify the Maintenance Dept. directly since Head Residents often forget to call in the problem? K.V. A - The system of reporting maintenance problems to the Head Resident has been found to be the most orderly and accurate method of processing these complaints. Before any repairs are made on campus, administrative approvals are needed for financial reasons as well as informative purposes. For this reason, and in order to schedule the work load of maintenance personnel. Head Residents are required to submit any reported maintenance probThe Virginia Museum Art- most of the art works produced mobile will be at Longwood on during the period, there is no lems in writing on a work order rigid style. The movement derequest which must be properly March 4-8, according to Mr. Mark Bald ridge, Artmobile veloped simultaneously in seprocessed prior to action being Chairman for the Art Departveral different countries, with taken by the maintenance department. no planned course of action and ment. Viewing hours will be from little sharing of ideas. Only emergencies (when the 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to As was the case with most art deteriorating- of a facility or mal- 5 p.m., Monday through Thurs- movements, until recent years, function of equipment will result day, and 9 a.m. to noon on Fri- Art Nouveau was slow in coming in injury to personnel or damage day. The artmobile will feature to America. However, an Amerito property if not promptly re- Art Nouveau. can, Louis Comfort Tiffany, was destined to become one of the February 21,1974 -One of the paired) may be called in directly best-known practitioners of the to the Physical Plant Department most interesting features of the by Head Residents. Emergency artistic movement known as Art style. The College Community will calls are followed by a confirm- Nouveau, which developed around have the opportunity to see a the turn of the century, is the ing work order. fact that, although there are cer- representative cross-section of Q - Why are there no fire es- tain characteristics common to the art movement, including four capes in Curry and Frazer and is objects by Tiffany, when the Virthe school prepared to be responginia Museum Artmobile comes to Longwood. sible for the possible injury to The idea of an Art Mobile hundreds of students should a fire exhibition featuring Art Nouveau break out in the buildings? S.M. came from the overwhelming A - There is no requirement popularity of a major Loan for exterior fire escapes on CurGallery exhibition at the Museum ry and Frazer Dormitories. The in Richmond during the 1971-72 buildings are rated AAA fireseason. Interest in that display proof. There are interior fire eswas so high that Museum officials capes (fire proof) in the form of extended it an extra week to accomodate visitors. Since the stairwells at each end of the Museum's innovative Artmobile building. The plans for these system was devised to make I buildings had complete approval ~*. available to residents of the enof the State Fire Marshal Prior tire state exhibitions they could to construction and were con not normally see without visiting structed according to his specifiRichmond, "Art Nouveau" seemcations and the Code of Virginia ed a natural choice for an ArtThe gilt-bronze statue (Continued on Page 2) mobile exhibition. of Loie Fuller.
Virginia Museum Artmobile Exhibits At LC March 4
member from each department, will make and administer the test as well as evaluate each student's paper. Each paper will be evaluated on a pass-fail basis by two readers; a split decision by these two readers would require the judgement of a third reader. "II the student's problem is spelling only, the condition should so specify. The committee by private consultation with the student can determine the best method to help the student. "That since both professional opinion and research generally agree that extensive reading tends to facilitate good writing, each faculty member encourage his students to do extensive reading in the best writing of the discipline being studied. "That, since effective use of the English language depends upon establishing correct habits early in school and upon reinforcing students to maintain these
Dr. Hevener headed the committee to study English Proficiency. habits, we convince our students in the teacher training program that instruction in the English language is every teacher's responsibility. This philosophy, along with suggestions for implementing it, should be a part of our teacher training courses."
Percentage Of LC Students Attending Grad School Decreases By JANET LINDNER The percentage of Longwood College graduates who pursue their graduate or professional studies has decreased from 5.1 percent in 1972 to 4.2 percent in 1973. Students on the national level, especially new college freshman who plan to pursue their graduate degrees, have increased according to the eighth annual survey of college freshmen, conducted by the University of California in Los Angeles and the American Council on Education. A low point was reached in 1971 when 42.3 percent of the freshmen planned to obtain graduate degrees. The percentage increased in 1973 to 56.9 percent, which was the highest number since the survey began in 1966. The survey for 1973 was directed by Alexander W. Astin, professor of education at UCLA. The former director of the Council's Office of Research reported that the survey was based on 318,733 questionaires that were used from 360 of the institutions to be used in computing the national average, which were adjusted statistically to represent the approximate 1.65 million new freshmen in the nation. The 1973 survey reported that the enrollment of minority students decreased slightly from 14.8 percent in 1972 to 13percent in 1973. Much of the decline was accounted for by black enrollments, which also decreased from 8.7 percent in 1972 to 7.8 percent of the new college freshmen in 1973. The decrease in graduate students here at Longwood College who go on to further their education went down as reported during the last two years. This does not account for the
number of Longwood freshmen who plan to pursue such studies upon entering college. According to Mr. Raymond Alie, Director of Placement, and Assistant Director of Admissions, another such decrease was shown in the 5.7 percent of graduates in 1970 with the 5.01 percent in 1971. On the national level, 80.2 percent of new college freshmen expect to receive financial support from their parents. Other common forms of support are part time jobs and summer employment which rank about 72.1 percent with the students; 54.0 percent from savings; 40.4 per cent from scholarships or grants; and 20.1 percent from college or federally insured loans. The highest figures that received both scholarships or grants which were 75.0 percent, and loans, which were 46.3 percent, were basically among students entering black private colleges. Altogether, 44.4 percent of these students will receive scholarships or grants of $1,000 or more during their freshmen year as compared with 11.4 percent of the nation's students. In spite of the high rate of financial aid, the concern of financing college is reported to be more of a major concern to students of black colleges than those of any other type of institutions. Surveys which were conducted reported that the percentage of new freshmen who considered themselves "conservative or far right" in 1972 was decreased in 1973 from 16.6 percent to 14.5 percent. However, the percentage of these students who classified themselves as either "liberal or far left," remained basically the same.