The QC, Vol. 90, No. 03 • September 18, 2003

              The Voice Of Whittier College Since 1914
September 18,2003
QUAKER CAMPUS
http://web.whittier.edu/qc
Faculty
advisors
vacate
Felicia Chapman
For the QC
The large number of student
organizations on campus translates
to a large number of activities, responsibilities and the occasional
setback. To help avoid any problems, Whittier requires that student
organizations have a faculty advisor.
Recently two faculty advisors
have left their positions with COR
and Program Board. JoeDmohows-
ki left the position of advisor to
COR after five years of service.
"It's a lot of involvement," stated
Dmohowski. "You appreciate how
hard it is to do things."
Along with Dmohowski, Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature Sean Morris
recently left an assigned advising
job with Program Board. Morris
stated, "I certainly feel faculty always has student ideas up front. It's
just a matter of time availability."
Faculty advisors help different
clubs in different ways. "A good
faculty advisor will help to direct a
group in a position that's better for
the school." Faculty advisors are
more involved with theP.R. aspects
of clubs," Dmohowski explained.
"It is a student club though, so you
let them run things."
Advisors are paired with groups
in two different ways. For most
groups it is the club's responsibility
to find a faculty advisor. Program
Board, Publications Board and COR
are a different matter. For these
three groups the Faculty Executive
Council (FEC) nominates advisors.
"The academic program is the
real work that the college undertakes, and the faculty is responsible
for the academic program," explained FEC member Associate
Professor of Biology Cheryl Swift.
"FEC is the elected representative
body of the faculty, and as such in
part represents the interests of the
faculty and therefore the academic
program to the rest of the institu-
See ADVISORS, Page 6
A tight one
So there's this new column
and it has a really screwy
name but thats cool just
read it.
Opinions, Page 2
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..   ...... : ...   ■■?««.
CANDY CHARLSON / QC ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature Tony Barnstone discusses poetry with Shannon Center
guest speaker and former Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins. See Page 11 for the full story.
Changes to curriculum in the works
Genevieve Roman
QC Assistant News Editor
The Curriculum Committee will
be making decisions and changes
this year that will affect the Whittier
College student experience from
vacation dates to graduation requirements. Five sub-committees are
working to make changes and improvements to the calendar (including Jan-term), the freshman experience, praxis, student transformation, maturation at Whittier and
community. The committee is also
working to reduce and streamline
the liberal education requirements
so that students will have the opportunity to take more classes that
they're interested in.
The committee on the calendar
and January interim has a few proposals, none of which have been
decided for certain yet. Some of the
options include requiring one but
no more than two January interims;
doing away with Jan-term altogether; committing to staffing January
as it stands; or to change the month
from January interim to "May en-
derims" and requiring that students
take one but no more than two—
and the most recent proposal, "developing a thematized January for
freshman with related courses and
shared speakers, possibly with a
follow up in an ensuing year." Interim Dean of Faculty and Professor of English Language and Literature Charles Adams prefaced, "I
think people have got the mistaken
impression that we're trying to get
rid of January, it's just a topic, like
any other topic... it'spartof apack-
age. The question that we face is
'Are we doing everything that we
do in the best way possible?'"
Adams explained his goals: "I
have questions right now about
whether our January is where it
needs to be. It's hard to find a January class. I really think it needs a
close examination. Really, we're
looking at the whole thing, how
long should our semesters be? How
many classes should a student take?
Whether what we do in January
should be the same as it's been?
And what are the ways to make the
most of our time. As long as students need Jan-term we'll-have it."
Sophomore Kristen Kershek is up-'
set by these options: "I'm in the
Thalian society... I'm definitely
opposed to it because of pledging.
Societies are a big part of Whittier
pride and the college experience."
Said Professor of Physics Seamus
Lagan, "four weeks is too short to
teach a physics class, but it's very
good for some specialty classes and
for praxis. The problem I see with
Jan-term is that it seems that many
students only stay because they feel
like they have to because of credits."
Over the past year, the Curriculum Committee has come to the
agreement that "it's not just the way
you learn, it's the community. You
could learn this material at any college, you could even sit in the library for four years and learn it..."
said Associate Professor of Philosophy Paul Kjellberg. The committee organized their thoughts on the
Whittier community and found that
it is of central importance: "If we
want to produce the right kind of
individuals, then we have to provide the right kind of community,"
according to the Sept. 10 meeting
agenda. The committee goals are
based on the idea that this is the
foundation for the learning objectives of the College and that "it is
the experience of participation in
the right kind of community that
catalyzes education into a productive life."
The sub-committee on community is headed by Lagan, who says
that part of his goal for Whittier is to
create a setting in which the "intellectual endeavor is not confined to
the classroom." The committee
wants to establish a common set of
knowledge for students and aims to
have the academic programs of
Whittier collaborate with student
life in order to strengthen the student bond to the College.
The sub-committee focusing on
See CURRICULUM,page 7
ISSUE 3 • VOLUME 90
Cribs, cars and more
Check out our first edition of
Cribs! These Turner girls put the
Fab 5 to shame! Or at least they
must take tips from them. Bravo!
Campus Life, Page 9
Club scene, wha?
Did Billy get a chance to
check out L.A.'s club scene
while he was here? Probably
not, but we did!
A&E, Page 10
Sporty hills, oh my!
Baseball hunks, oops, I mean
hills. We've got the downlow on
their left-field woes and much
much more!
Sports, Page 14