The QC, Vol. 76, No. 14 • March 1, 1990

              QUAKER CAMPUS
.,, t™t xt i_-m ^P1'™™!*'""'''**^ March 1, 1990
Volume LXXVI, Number 14
Black Student Union Demands
Ash Hire A Black Administrator
• Concerned About The Dwindling Numbers For Black Enrollment and
Retention, Tracie Tyler, President of the Newly-Renamed Black Student
Union, Presented Whittier College President James Ash With a Letter of
Demands. Both Sides Are Confident A Solution Can Be Reached.
By Chuck Bock
QC Editor-in-Chief
Students of the newly-
renamed Black Students Union
(BSU), concerned about
decreasing enrollment and
retention figures for black
students, presented demands to
Whittier College President
James Ash for the hiring of a black
administrator who would deal
with these problems.
"I'm not going to say [the
problem is with] minorities as a
whole because the problem is
with black students," said Tracie
Tyler, president of the BSU, who
presented Ash with the letter of
demands. "The problem is the
lack of understanding, the lack of
attention by administration, the
lack of recruiting, and the fact
that the number of black students
attending Whittier College is
decreasing rapidly."
Tvler savs that there are 36
black students presendy enrolled
at Whittier College, which has an
enrollment of 955. Registrar
Gerald Adams says exact
numbers on this year's black
students are not available but that
in 1988, there were 44 black
students (out of 979).
Since 1982, the retention rate
of black freshmen in four out of
the eight years has been in the
50th percentile. Presently there
are three black members of the
faculty.
"We organized and decided to
demand that a black administrator be hired to address these
needs that should have been
addressed a long time ago," said
Tyler. "We feel that we are being
very reasonable and are sorry that
it has gone this far."
The two sides have not met
face to face, but Ash said that he
will be happy to meet with Tyler
and members of the BSU.
"I'm very concerned about
minority recruiting in general,"
said Ash. "I think we are under-
represented as far as black
students, black staff, and black
faculty. And I think we need to
work to correct it."
"We submitted a list of
demands to Ash and are hoping
for peaceful negotiations," said
Tyler. "We want to be fair about
this. There's a problem. Let's
fix it."
"Those are very legitimate
needs for the college," said Ash.
"Whether the answer for the
needs is to create a position, and
whether we can fix it this year, is
a matter we have to confront."
"He [Ash] responded imrae-
Please see page 3.
Complaints About Student Services
Cause Redefiniton Of Future Roles
By Caitlin Duffy
QC Staff Writer
Due to lack of coordination
and centralization, students and
administrators are looking to
reorganize Student Services.
In a recent Quaker Campus
poll, when asked what the
purpose of Student Services is
and what it involves, 28 out of 40
people did not know the function
of Student Services. Some
students responded that they are
unhappy with the current
program.
"Sufficient time and financial
commitment isn't given to
Student Services. We want to
make sure we are involved in this
restructuring process," said
Miguel Santana, director of
development for BOG.
"Residential Life is more of a
bureaucratic structure that
doesn't always operate satisfactorily in die views of the
students," said senior Lisa
Garman. "The level of cooperation is just not there."
Restructuring of Student
Services began this fall when the
Financial Aid Office was moved
from the basement of
Mendenhall to the second floor
of Platner Hall. "The decision
was made to move financial aid
because student concerns were
inaccessible at the former
location," said Kathryn Forte,
vice-president of enrollment
affairs and the present head of
student services.
Dick Archer, who has held the
position of Dean of College Life
for the 1989-90 academic year,
and faculty and student
committees are in the process of
choosing a successor for the
1990-91 academic year.
A proposal is being made by
administration to eliminate the
position of Student Life
Ombudsman held by Mark
Taylor. The new dean of College
Life would be responsible for
disciplinary decisions, new-
student orientation and meeting
with the Board of Governors.
"Our basic hope is for better
integration with college life and
student, services," said Archer.
Modifications will be made to
Student Services on the basis of
the findings of research into the
effectiveness of the current
program. Faculty meetings are
being held to get input and
concerns. A committee of
students will also be involved in
giving input and assisting on the
search for a successor for Archer.
"Our goal is to extend values
of the classroom into other
aspects of student life such as
residential life and activities in
order to have the faculty in roles
working with students," stressed
Forte.
The restructuring of Student
Services is a primary issue in the
Student Agenda, a list of
concerns compiled by a small
group of students which will be
presented to Dr. Ash. [See related
story]
Student Services involve all
non-academic aspects of college
life. These include: tutoring,
health services, counseling,
career planning, intramurals,
discipline, campus organizations
including student government,
extra-curricular activities and the
chaplain.
Forte took over Student
Services after the positions of
Dean and Associate Dean of
Students, held by Barbara Green
and Robert Giomi respectively,
were eliminated due to budget
cuts.
AGENDA SETTER: ASWC President Paul McManus
heads a group of student leaders who have
come forward with an agenda of student
concerns.
Student Leaders Combine,
Create Agenda of Concerns
By Chris Perkins
QC Managing Editor
A group of Whittier student
leaders organized by ASWC
President Paul McManus has
delivered a "Student Agenda" of
student concerns to college
President James Ash in an
attempt to influence administration decisions regarding changes
on campus.
"Just as there has been faculty
antagonism because they feel that
they have been left out of the
process [of change], so do we feel
the same way," McManus said.
McManus said he hand-picked
the four other group members
instead of trying to put together
an agenda through BOG because
the size was more manageable
and the group was more diverse.
The other four members are
junior Miguel Santana, senior
Betty Hart, junior Chuck Bock
and junior Tracie Tyler.
McManus presented the
results of the group's work on the
agenda to BOG at their Feb. 25
meeting and invited discussion.
No vote to support the agenda
was taken, but "the concensus
was that this was a good idea," and
the BOG members seemed to
agree with the details of the
agenda, McManus said.
The Student Agenda cites five
issues of concern.
Please see AGENDA page 3.
Financial Aid Changes Its
Name, Policy Supervision
By Michele Apostolos
QC Assistant News Editor
Previously known as the Office
of Financial Aid, the newly-
renamed Office of Student
Finance is undergoing changes
in policy, role, location, and
supervision.
According to Tom Enders,
assistant vice president of
Student Finance, the role of the
office has been expanded to
coordinate and develop all
aspects of assisting students with
financial aid.
According to the current
Whittier College viewbook
approximately 75 percent of
students attending Whittier
receive financial aid in the form
of scholarships, grants, loans or
jobs. The average student
financial aid package was $9,150
for 1988-1989.
"The whole issue of financial
aid has never been addressed in
a  systematic way," said Joyce
Kaufman, chair of the newly-
constructed Student Financing
Committee, which is gathering
information in order to make
recommendations for changes in
policy. Kaufman said there is a
need to sit down and examine
financial aid policies.
Kaufman said one of the tasks
of the committee is to help "make
and implement policy that is
responsive to student needs and
fits [the] fiscal restraints of the
college."
Katy Murphy, director of
Admissions, said a goal is "to
maximize the college's resources
in packaging for new and current
students fairly." She added,
"there are policies in place for
current students being reviewed"
and "policies are being looked at
for next year's and subsequent
Please see MONEY page 3.
Luminarias Weekend
See Page 5.
Hoop Season Recap
See Page 8. <
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