Curriculum Committee Needs Feedback From Students By MAUREEN HANLEY Longwood, over the past few years, has progressed through a wide variety of changes, not only in their traditions, rules,
VOL. LI
standards, but also their curriculum. What once was basically a teacher's college has now widened its barriers to include other occupational
selections. In order to study this expanding field, a curriculum committee has been established. The main purpose of this committee is "to study the general education requirements for the B.S. and B. A. degrees for the nonteaching preparatory candidate," stated Dr. Sprague, who is head of the committee. This includes only nonteaching majors because, according to Dr. Sprague, "nothing can be done at present about the teaching requirements because they are state set." This committee, which is six years old, was turned into a purpose committee four years ago, and just recently reorganized as a curriculum committee when the need for change was realized. At present "the committee is trying to formulate some distinction between the two degrees," stated Dr. Sprague, "because now they appear very similiar." She also said that the committee has a December 1 deadline to present a proposal to the policy and faculty committees stating any changes that they have formulated. Before this proposal is presented,
a mutual agreement must be reached on what the committee members feel the general education subjects should be. Right now, the traditional purpose of the general education requirements that all students are supposed to fulfill, are to acquaint the students with the four great academic disciplines These consist of the humanities, history and social science, mathematics and science, and philosophy The curriculum committee members, who were appointed by the dean of the college, consists of four students and eleven faculty members. "The members of the faculty who are serving on the committee, requested to be placed on the committee and are very interested in what is going on," commented Dr. Sprague. The four students who signed up and were selected to serve on the committee are Judith Moffitt, Carolyn Henshaw, Gay Harrington, and Dean Davis. These students are very important because "the main portion of this committee is centered around the students and the members are very interested in student input," said Dr. Sprague.
The student members also feel the need for the committee and student participation, for as Judith Moffitt. one of the student members stated. there- is a definite need for this committee, for there should be a separation between the teaching and the nonteaching majors." She al said that "there should more general .specific education requirements and that some of these courses should be required for the student to fulfill before graduation. She feels these requirements are necessary because "you need some of Muse courses to be considered educated." When the question of obtaining a general education as opposed to a specialized education was asked, Ms. Moffitt stated that she "can realize now, as a junior, how important and needed the general education requirements are because as you begin to take more of your major courses, you can understand how they relate to each other.,"' Judith also urges that "all students get involved with a committee; because when something goes wrong they have the right to complain. For, at Continued on Page 8)
NO. 6
LONGWOOD COLLEGE, FARMVILLE, VIRGINIA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1975
L.C. Attends Area Conference- Various Topics Discussed On October 1, Longwood representatives attended the Peaks of Otter Conference for Area Student leaders and Deans. This was the first year which Longwood has been asked to attend this annual conference, and the representatives were Dr. Heintz, Dean of Students; Rachel Jolly, chairman of Judical Board; Beth Rafferty, editor of the ROTUNDA; and Sue Scarborough, chairman of Legislative Board. The other colleges that were participants are both public and private institutions. These colleges were: Hampden-Sydney, Hollins College, Lynchburg College, Madison, Mary Baldwin, Radford, Randolph-Macon Women's College, Roanoke College, Sweet Briar, Virginia Military Institute, and Washington and Lee The conference opened with student government chairmen from each college presenting a short summary on such topics as change within their institution, areas of concern, and new policies implemented. Hampdsn-Sydney's president mentioned the fact that their SGA is attempting to gain more student representatives on their council. Mary Baldwin's president stated that improving communication was their main theme. Attempting to gain student representation of their Board of Visitors was mentioned by Radford, which Roanoke College has. Another major area of concern during this session besides
communication and increased student representation, was possible revisions of academic programs, which was first suggested by Randolph-Macon and Sweet Briar. Many of the private schools in attendance, such as Hollins, Lynchburg and Hampden-Sydney, who have very loose General Education requirements felt that possibly these requirements should be more stringent. Reasons for this is the fact, that in may of these schools, students take, for example twelve hours out of twenty possible hours of General Education requirements, and these students do not take the subjects that they are less capable at. This causes many students to be deficient in various areas. It also presents a problem when these students take medical boards, law boards, and graduate school exams, because their deficiency is reflected in their scores. Mary Baldwin stated that their college's policy was, if a professor felt that a student, who at the end of the semester should receive a D or an F, would progress in this subject if she was awarded more time, has the right to grant her this extended time to bring up her grade. This, in effect, is the same as receiving an incomplete. Many of the colleges in attendance, are experiencing growth in both student numbers and actual buildings. Madison has christened two new buildings this year, Mary Baldwin has a new student center opening, and
Washington and Lee and Randolph-Macon also have new buildings. Virginia Military Institute mentioned possible renovation of their barracks. Participation in Student Government was another topic of conversation. In working towards a more effective student government, Hollins believes that their program works, whereby students engage in a workshop dealing with such skills as problem solving and decision skill are taught. Madison seems
to have one advantage, in that their SG A chairman is paid $1,000 a year and they also have leadership training in the form of workshops. Mary Baldwin has a system where one hour a week during the day is set aside specifically for SGA meetings and no other organization or class convenes during this time. When all the college representatives were :ÂŤsked if students support and attend SGA functions at their schools, only Longwood and
Mary Baldwin answered affirmatively. Another area discussed was possible solutions to the patting of bad checks by students, which was of interest to Sue Scarborough since legislative Board lias established an Ad Hoc Committee to study the problem and more possible recommendations for remedies. Lynchburg has a system dealing with bad checks where the college does not back the (Continued on Page 3)
Legislative Bd. Recommends Increased Representation- Needs Student Approval By ANITA RIVARD A change in Legislative Board policy with respect to representation may occur in the near future, with the approval of the student body. After discussion at recent meetings, legislative Board has proposed that class representation on that board be increased from two representatives per class to four representatives for each of the four classes, or a total of sixteen class representatives. The exis*'ng system of two representatives per class is set forth in the constitution of the Student Government Association. Any attempt to change the constitution must be approved by two-thirds of the student body voting. According to Sue
Scarborough, chairman of legislative Board, the proposed change will be presented to the student body for ratification during major-minor elections in December. The board members, during recent discussions, voiced the hope that an increase in class representation would better serve the student body as a whole. According to Elaine Snead, corresponding secretary of legislative Board, "Twen'y people is a better representation than twelve." Elaine added that this would provide for "more contact with the student body." General student opinions seem to favor more representation for students by increasing the size of the voting body of legislative Board. Sophomore Debbie
Adams said, "I think it's better with four than with two because four representatives can gather opinions from the whole class a lot easier." Juniors Jan Miller and Kathy Arthur were both in favor of the proposed change. "I think it's a good idea because you'll get more involvement from the student body and different views will be expressed," Jan said. Kathy added, "The more minds you have working, the more input and ideas." Hennie Bruno, a sophomore, believes that an increase in student representation on legislative Board would be a good idea because "it would be more of a cross-section of the student body." Freshman Diane (Continued on Page 8)