The QC, Vol. 83, No. 09 • October 31, 1996

              WHITTIER
COLLEGE
^^^^ ^-^ October 31,1996
Quaker Campus
The Voice Of The Campus Since 1914
Photo courtesy of Greg Phillips
► Poets Finish
Season
Men's cross country
took third place in Conference and Women
placed fifth after finishing 5-2 and 3-4 respectively at the championship
meet last Saturday.
pg 15
C   A   M .P   U/IS
ffl
► The Many Hats
of Ed Malone
There is a lot more to
Ed Malone, Chief of Campus Safety, than just his
occupation. Learn all
about him inside.
pg6
C   O  L  L  E  G
LEGE
M
► Umm...BOO!
Halloween night and
nothing to do? Why not
pass out candy in your
residence hall to cute little neighborhood trick-O-
treaters? Or what about
checking out the Haunted
House in the basement of
Ball Hall? See story inside.
pg 10
news
you can use
>- Welcome Sack,
Phil!
Phil Pizzino, the mail-
room worker who last
week vvent in for quadruple bypass surgery, is out
of the hospital and continuing recovery at home
with his wife. He plans to
return to work when able,
which will probably not
be u; ber.
Proposed Curriculum Emphasizes
Connections, Excludes Interim
CURRICULUM
► The ReVisioning committee,
white far from finished with its
task of revamping Whittier's
curriculum, is currently
considering a number of
curricular proposals.
by LORNA BELL
QC Editor-in-Chief
Curriculum revision has been
the main topic ofthe faculty meetings recently, as the revisioning
committee, a branch ofthe Faculty Executive Committee, attempts
to finalize proposals and instate a
new curriculum for the 1997-1998
school year.
Although no official decisions
or changes have been made, the
committee has come up with a
proposal called the October Curriculum which is currently under
scrutiny by the faculty.
The revisioning committee
meets weekly and is made up of
the Dean of Faculty and Provost,
Richard Millman, Dean of Residential Life and Assistant Dean of
Student Life, Dave Leonard, and
professors Howard Lukfar, Crystal Brien, Glenn Yocum, Mary
Finan, David Hunt, and Joseph
Price.
The committee also has one
interim student representative,
Vice-President of the Council of
Representatives, Keristofer Saryani. The committee is in the process of taking applications for a
permanent student representative.
The October Curriculum includes the development of a common interdisciplinary course for
all freshmen focusing on Culture
and Identity, a restructuring ofthe
math and science requirements,
the elimination of January Interim, and the restructuring of paired
courses.
"Everything's up for grabs,"
Saryani said. "We are trying to
create a curriculum which will
follow the philosophy ofthe school
as well as meet the needs of the
students."
The interconnectedness of
knowledge, the appreciation of
cross-cultural similarities and differences, and an intellectual excitement through a common experience are a few ofthe learning
objectives ofthe October Curriculum.
The theme of the new proposed curriculum is "Making Connections," and breaks down the
various ways of "making connections" according to each year of
school. (Please see page 4 for a
Geology Program Closes
CURRICULUM
► Professor of Geology Dallas
Rhodes was notified last week
that there will no longer be a
Geology program offered at
Whittier. The College is
exploring an environmental
science major as a possible
replacement
by PARUL PATEL
QC Asst. News Editor
Last Thursday, Oct. 24, Chair
of the Faculty Fred Bergerson
notified Professor of Geology
Dallas Rhodes that the College
will no longer offer a Geology
major, but that the one hundred
and two hundred level classes in
Geology will continue to be offered as part of the liberal education program.
The faculty were officially informed ofthe decision on the same
Thursday at their midday meeting. "The manner in which the
decision was made is very
upsetting...it seems as though the
school just wants to sweep this
under the rug," senior Geology
major Adam Bennett commented.
A recommendation for the
Geology and the Speech Pathology and Audiology majors regarding the future of both majors was
made to all faculty in a memo last
Feb. 19 by then Dean of Faculty
Richard Millman.
In his memo to faculty, Mill-
man recommended that "the Geology and Speech Pathology and
Audiology majors be eliminated.
The process should be done in
such a way that all students who
are presently enrolled in either of
these majors (or minors) do graduate in their usual time."
v The decision was made, in
part, through faculty involvement
last Spring said Millman. The
decision process requisitioned the
Educational Policies Committee
(E.P.C.) design criteria which were
discussed with the Faculty Executive Committee (F.E.C.) and the
Dean ofthe E.P.C. "If [E.P.C. and
F.E.C] reached a consensus, then
that would be the decision. If they
did not reach a consensus the decision would be referred to the
President for the ultimate decision," Millman said.
There were two main reasons
Please see GEOLOGY, pg. 5
ISSUE 09- VOLUME 83
"We are really
still in preliminary
stages...the faculty, the staff, as
well as the students all have
opinions which
are going to be
heard before any
decisions will be
rendered."
—Dave Leonard
sample four year schedule of
courses.)
Freshman year, students will
be able to "make connections"
between theory and practice in
Lab Science courses, between
culture and identity, and between
themselves and at least one faculty member.
These connections would be
made through quantitative reasoning in mathematics, Freshman
Writing Seminars, and the Culture & Identity (C & I) Course
sequence.
The C & I course would be an
interdisciplinary course for all
freshmen, team-taught in two large
sections by two instructors. The
course would run two semesters
for three credits each. The course
would meet three hours per week.
During the fall semester, the
course would include alternate
Friday discussion sections of 15-
20 students who would meet with
a faculty member and discuss the
issues and ideas presented during
class. The discussion session proposal is modeled after the freshmen seminars taught at Whittier
during the 1980's.
One ofthe specific objectives
of the C & I 'course would be to
introduce students to the liberal
arts education as a means of understanding one's culture and
identity through various disciplines. The hope is that the course
will increase the quality and excitement ofthe freshmen learning
experience, as stated by the Starting Points for the Freshman Exposure Course presented at the
faculty forum in early May.
The proposal suggests that
sophomore year, students will
"make connections" through
paired courses, Math and Science
in Context, as well as through
aesthetic evaluations.
The Math and Science in Context course (Please see the Oct. 3
issue ofthe QC for details regarding the course), is the only one of
the many proposals which is in its
final form and ready to go before
the faculty, according to Millman.
During their second year, students would need to fulfill an
Aesthetic Exploration requirement which would include courses which examine dramatic productions, study artistic styles or
survey musical forms.
The goals of this course, according to Millman in a revisioning update, would be for students
Please see PROPOSAL, pg. 4
Special Focus: ASWC Election
SecneraKy
Graphic courtesy Toni Amen
On Nov. 6 and 7, students will go to the polls to elect the
executive members ofthe 1997 Associated Students of Whittier
College. Positions to be elected include president, vice president
and secretary.
This year, four candidates vie for the position of president,
three for vice president and two for secretary.
Find out about each of the candidates-their ideas, goals and
past activities—inside.
pgs. 8-9
>