The QC, Vol. 81, No. 21 • March 23, 1995

              WHITTIER
COLLEGE
March 23,1995
The Voice Of The Campus Since 1914
▲ SPORTS
Junior Brian Polcovich
scores as the Poets rebounded from an overtime
loss to Connecticut on
Saturday to annihilate
Santa Clara on Sunday.
pg 16
CURRICULUM
Increased Enrollment Leads to Problems
With Larger Classes; Solutions Discussed
C   A   M J>   UilS
w
► Cure Those
Summertime
Blues
Learn about the unique
things you could do this
summer from working on
a fishing boat in Alaska to
working at a vineyard in
Italy. . pg 7
COLLEGE
M
V Meet Artist
Desiree Revior
pg 15
^■Increased class sizes have
forced faculty to employ several
coping mechanisms to deal with
the greater number of students.
by GEORGE RIGGLE
QC Staff Writer
The recent growth of the
Whittier College student body has
created not only larger class sizes
and difficulty in meeting liberal
education requirements where students are concerned, but also an
interesting crux for the administration and faculty.
The increase in the size ofthe
Whittier student body has been
due to the school's "plan for
growth," according to Dean of
Enrollment Tom Enders.
Enders called the plan, which
has increased the school's total
undergraduate population by
twenty-seven percent since the
fall of 1990, a "success in a big
way."
Enders said the school has
reached its expected level of
growth and is looking to "main-
SOCIETIES
tain" its current size. Enders acknowledged the obvious "pressure on class offerings" which the
College's growth in enrollment
has created.      '■.
According to Vice President
of Academic Affairs Lisa Rossbacher, there are currently many
proposed solutions to the problems created by the school's recent population growth. These
proposals are currently under examination by the Educational Policies Committee, which has been
talking since September, Rossbacher said.
There are for the most part
"two different takes on the subject" and two directions in which
the school can go, Rossbacher said.
The options include either restructuring class sizes so as to fit existing resources and faculty, or adding new faculty to accommodate
the growth in size.
The latter possibility, Rossbacher added, creates a new problem of "where [to] add faculty," a
subject she is sure "everyone has
an idea about."
Despite the problems of accommodating growth, Rossbacher said she sees "much that's good"
at Whittier. There still remains
the opportunity for the small class
sizes which "attract a lot o*'-people" to the school, Rossbacher
said, citing last year's average
class size of twenty to twenty-one
students.
Rossbacher said there is & necessity for "better variety in
class sizes," in the future. Students need to understand that although there is a need for some
larger classes of thirty or forty
students, Whittier still remains an
adequate forum for seminar and
small discussion group classes of
ten or fifteen students, Rossbacher added.
According to Psychology Professor Chuck Hill, larger class sizes do not necessarily make his job
any harder, although they do require a little more time in grading,
and a bit of creativity.
Hill, who regularly teaches an
Introduction to Psychology course
of about one hundred students,
says he is able to maintain "meaningful discussion" and interaction,
even in large classes, by breaking
his students up into small groups
and assigning class exercises.
Coping with growing class
sizes takes another approach in
the English department, however,
where Professor and Department
Chair Anne Kiley cites the absolute necessity for the type of class
interaction which can only occur
in classes with no more then twenty-five to thirty students.
Kiley pointed to an informal
agreement among the members of
the English department to stop
adding students to their classes at
thirty.
Kiley added, it is difficult to
turn students away from your
class, but in English—a "very discussion oriented" discipline—
small class size is crucial to the
development of students' analytical skills. Kiley cited the development of the senior seminar in
order to "give majors more time
for interaction" with other high
level students.
► On Campus for
Spring Break?
W.mberg .aid Wardman
Halls will remain open for
.halls
will h v    ' > pril 8
at no» 6 at noon.
Si - * <■- is! ■ • ostay
on campus over \b '. :
:must make an\,-i^-mcnls
with residents of Wanberg
or Wardman . • >ul a
housi l and
submit it to their AC by
March 31. Failure to register with one's A.C. will re-
sultina$2 . • -.cy fee
and disci] • n.
Society Advisory
Board Discusses
New Constitution
by BENJAMIN HUBBLE
QC A&E Editor
The Society Advisory Board (SAB) meeting on
Thursday, March 16 focused on concerns brought
forth by the faculty concerning the societies' pledging procedures.
Moderated by Susan Allen, the often heated
discussion touched many aspects of both society and
academic life but the power to act on the ideas was
encumbered by the lack of a SAB constitution.
Without a constitution, an organization such as
the SAB cannot act in an official capacity. To
remedy the situation, the next SAB meeting (scheduled for Thursday, March 23 at 5 p.m. in the Faculty
Center) will focus on the creation of a constitution.
At a previous meeting, a constitution was passed
without quorum.
This "acting" constitution was unilaterally declared not only ineffective but invalid.
"The faculty is concerned. We care about your
education. This is not about ridicule, it is about
concern," said Cheryl Swift, professor of biology,
one of eight faculty members present at the meeting.
The faculty's concern focused on the January
Interim pledging period. "It is interfering with
January education," Swift continued.
Please see SAB pg. 4
Recently Completed 1995
Acropolis to Arrive in May
YEARBOOK
► /w a break from U m, this
year's Acropolis will be delivered in
thespi       vithasupplen spring
events to ha distributed next fall
by JANINE LEIGH KRAMER
QC 1 EDITOR-in-Chiit
Just a few weeks alter last year's
Acropr. ided out. this year's
staff finished up the 1995 book and sen!
the last section of it to the publisher on
March 2.
On I • ivious
years, the \995 Acropolis was finished
without any late fees being assessed.
Because it was completed on schedule,
the book will arrive in time to be handed out to a nts the week before
finals..
"The yearbook staff made it a priority to gel it done. With the pressure of
a spring book you have to meet every
deadline." said .Bell.
Acroi tor.
- 5 the tsoni'or • i • was
that people took individual initiative,
i-orna didn't i Ely have to tell
people to. ■ ' junior
Mark Bistricky. mAcropolis staff mem-
 ^__	
■■■ |f  v  ■■   .■■■■.
^''
1
"
X
1    ■„,,■<„„,„-
Editor Lorna Bell working on finishing up the 1995 Acropo is
ber.
"It was a lot of dedication on the
part o\ a few people," said Bistricky.
When asked about reasons for having a book which came nut in the spring
as opj . Bel!
said "a yearbook is more meaningful to
the students at the end of the year."
Having (he annual come out in the
spring would fix some of the budget
problems ol" pa nslall-
I'lease see YEARBOOK pg.6
ISSUE 21 • VOLUME 81