The QC, Vol. 82, No. 18 • March 7, 1996

              WHITTIER
COLLEGE
^^"^W ^mm^ March 7, 1996
Quaker Campus
► SPORTS
The women's Lacross
team improvedto 3-1 in
league play by demolishi-
ing USC 17-9
pg 15
► The Big Event
This year's formal
dance will be held at the
Sheraton Universal, near
the Universal CityWalk.
Find out more about Whittier's big night, pg 7
C  O  L  L  E  G
L  E  G  E,
► Thespian
For three years senior
Wendy Newell has acted
in Whittier plays. Find out
more about her. pg   10
► Dialing for Dollars
Last week President
James Ash announced the
tuition increase for next
year. The 5.3% increase in
tuiti .   it in the
last
Whittier is one of the
first colleges in the southland .mee its tuition . :. Here are
some Whittier competitors
in the area and their tuition
Wh; allege
95-96	
96-97 $17,800
The Voice Of The Campus Since 1914
Remedial English Class Created
CURRICULUM
► The faculty has created a
program to help students learn
the basics about college writing
and texts. The program is a two
year experiment.
by ADAM PAVA
QC Staff Writer
In order to address concerns
about first year students being
poorly prepared for freshmen writing courses, the faculty recently
approved a proposal for a developmental writing program for incoming students that do not meet
certain minimum G.P.A. and
S.A.T. requirements.
The new class, titled the Developmental Writing Seminar
(DWS), will be taken by roughly
20% of freshmen. Students who
pass this three unit course will
then take one of the regular writing seminar classes, giving them a
total of six units of writing instruction-for the year.
"This is not a class for stupid
people," said English Professor
Susanne Weil, who helped craft
the proposal. "They are being admitted to Whittier because they' ve
got the potential to succeed here.
We are taking people who come
from a wide range of backgrounds
— not people who are preprogrammed for success — and giv-
"This is not a class
for stupid people.
They are being admitted to Whittier
because they've got
the potential to
succeed here."
— Susanne Weil
English Professor
ing them a shot at succeeding."
ChuckHill, aprofessorof psychology, put together the data analysis to determine what system
should be used for a cutoff point
in deciding who is allowed to advance to FWS without taking
DWS.
"We want all students to see
this as a positive thing. We think
that they can succeed here, or we
wouldn't let them in. We're trying to meet everyone's needs by
providing the right tools," said
Hill, who is the chair of the Assessment Committee.
According to the proposal,
"based on analysis of data for
freshmen entering in Fall '92, '93,
and '94, the best predictors of
writing measures and college
G.P.A. were the S.A.T. verbal
score and the high school G.P.A.;
other indicators do not correlate
significantly with performance in
freshman writing."
Currently, the cutoff points for
Compromise Reached
on Geology, SPA Cuts
CURRICULUM
^■The proposal to dissolve the
Geology Deptartment will be
decided next semester. The fate
of SPA will be decided this
semester, faculty chair
announces.
by CATHERINE PAYNE
QC News Editor
Acompromise aboutproposed
cuts of the geology and SPA majors has been reached between the
faculty and administration. The
compromise allows the faculty to
decide what academic programs
get cut, announced Faculty Chair
Mike McBride yesterday.
. The compromise has also received the support ofthe administration and faculty members.
Currently, according to McBride,
"the FEC, Chair of the EPC, Chair
of SPA, the Chair of the Geology
Department has agreed to it, the
Dean [of Faculty] and the president has agreed with this."
Prior to the compromise, the
faculty had no methods of handling a situation that deals with
cutting of departments. "In meetings, the Faculty Executive Committee has worked to find some
process to deal with the situation," McBride said.
The process will not only involve the faculty in the decisionmaking process about the proposed cuts, but also set a framework to deal with future issues
about cutting and downsizing.
The first thing the process calls
for is a body which will handle
situation like this. The body will
consider whether the cuts for the
Please see MAJORS, pg. 4
► The Compromise
What do you think of the
compromise reached on the
Geology Department?
Call the Comment Line
ext. 4856
the program will be the following:
• Those with an S.A.T. verbal
score below 300
• Those with a high school
G.P.A. below 2.4
• Those with an S.A.T. verbal
score below 400 and high school
G.P.A. below 2.6. Approximately 60 entering freshmen are expected to fall into one of these
categories.
This proposal was put together through a joint effort of the
Writing Committee and the Assessment Committee. According
to Weil, head of the Writing Committee, the class will be a remedial
course focusing on writing as well
as reading comprehension of college level texts that many students
did not get in high school.
According to Dean of Faculty
Richard Millman, an increasing
number of students are entering
college less prepared in English
and math.
The new course will be in a
trial period for the next two years.
The class will be continued after
that depending on whether significant improvement is shown
through.the students' writing portfolios and college GPAs.
The DWS sections will be
taught by Wei 1, Professors Wendy
Furman, Kathy Landis and Rafael
Chabran. Like the freshmen writing seminars, each class will have
a theme.
Please see CLASS, pg. 4
The Proposed
Syllabus
The new developmental
writing class would incorporate subjects from current
freshman writing seminars
while teaching students basic skills through "lessons in
reading comprehension and
critical thinking, fin addition
to] lessons in time management and study skills."
The proposed syllabus
uses Plato's Crito, Henry
David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" essay, Martin
Luther King's "Letter from
Birmingham Jail" and Ori-
ana FallaciV preface to Interview With History. As in
current freshman writing
seminars. The Random House
Handbook will be used to
further writing skills.
Students will also use the
Skills Bank III software
The focus in such a
class would be far more ana
lytical II1U1
IRSiif H
► QC Editorial
A good program, but
there is a problem.
pg. 2
Handbook Problem
Solved With COR Funds
SOCIETIES
► The Hustler's Handbook
"er
names were mistakenly
released. The second printing
will be partially funded by
COR.
by DEMIAN MARIENTHAL
QC Staff Writer
the wnJJAM Pmti
SOCIETY'S
HUSTLER'S
HANDBOOK
QC File Copy
lilable last Decem-
d the names, phone
d addresses of many,
o had requested that
ins received
complaints from students erro- - ^
inal printing of the   Please see HUSTLER'S, pg. 4
ISSUE 18 • VOLUME 82