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Ed VOLUME Bl

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8,1972

 

Student Auditors Resign

by Don Dagenais

Michele Conway and John Mead,
student Auditor and Assistant Audi-

tor respectively, announced late this -

week their resignations from those
positions. Ms Conway’s resignation
is effective at the end of the semi
ester, while Mead’s is effective imr
mediately.

The action came after a series of
complications arose this semester
between the Auditor's office and the
Student Government Association,
culminating in a debate this week
over the use of student government
funds for the purchase of liquor
for nail parties.

Mead was named Assistant Auditor
last Spring, at the time of the ape
pointment of Loren Hart to the posi-
tion otAuditor. Ms. Conway, how»
ever, was named to the Auditor
position earlier this year when l-lart
left Grinnell to attend law school
at Columbia University.

“We had been able to make com-
promises with SGA earlier in the
year,” Ms. Conway said in an in-
terview with the 5528 this week,
“but it comes to the point where
you can be pushed too far, SGA has
no idea what goes on in our office.
They bulldoze their Way into situar
tions, pass resolutions, and then
leave." Afterwards, she noted, stu-
dent government has rarely follow-
ed up on the resolutions passed.

A series of debates over the role
of the Auditor’s office in SGA ear»
lier in the semester resulted in the
passage of a set of Auditor's guide
lines in the Joint Board meeting of
November 15. The guidelines, which
were drafted without the assistance
of Ms. Conway or Mead, provided
for an "open voucher" whereby

Michele Conway and John Mead

house presidents could be issued
a voucher for $10 on request, with
reimbursements to be madeafter the
fact with approval from the SGA
Treasurer.
Not Feasible

“No one ever asked us if it were
feasible,” Ms. Conway observed.
“No one investigated the operations
of the office to see if it could be
done.” in fact, the open voucher
system was not practical to im-
plement under the practice afthe ci-
lice, and therefore no such vouchr
ers have been issued.

Furthermore, Ms. Conway cums
merited, SGA has never informed
the Auditor’s office of the guide—
lines which were passed over three
weeks ago. She had not, in tact,
seen the guidelines until earlier this
week when she requested a copy
from Student Coordinator Craig

16 Faculty Receive Notices

by Don Dagenais

Sixteen members of the faculty received letters from the Dean’s office
late last week informing them of personnel decisions regarding their
contracts for next year, Dean Joseph Wall told the S515 Wednesday.
The letters, which included both positive and negative notifications,
contain the final decisions of the Executive Council except in cases where
the faculty member wishes to talk to the President, the Deans, or the
Executive Council in order to present evidence which may change the

original decision.

Since the announcement oinegative
decisions may have an effect on a
faculty member’s ability to find
another job, however, the Dean'sof—
{ice will not release the names of
the persons involved, The release of
that information, according to Wall,
is up to the individual himself. He

library Hours
Extended

Burling Library will be open 12
more hours per week next semester
if, in the words of SGA President
Russ McGregor, “technicalities can
he worked out.”

hurling will probably be open ad-
ditional hours Saturday evening and
Sunday morning, but details have not
yet been worked out. According to
McGregor, the estimated Cost ofthe
extended hours will total about $2500
per semester.

Burling, which is currently open
until midnight on weeknights, will
remain open until 2 am. Sunday
through Friday under the new plan
worked out by SGA and the Adminis-
tration,

The primary “technicality" in-
volved in extending the library's
hours concerns finding a nonrstudent
to man the library for theadditional
hours each night. According to
MCGregor, the Library has found a
person willing to dothejob,but no
formal contract had been signed as
ol Thursday evening,

Extended hours for the Forum is
the next priority according to Me-
Gregor.

would not give a breakdown at posi—
tive and negative notifications among
the sixteen.

Faculty members who received
notifications last weekarethose who
are serving in the second year of a
two-year contract, or whoare serve
ing their second contract of a one-
year duration. in such cases, Wall
told the 83:3, college rules specify
that the person must be notified nine
months before the expiration of his
contract. All contracts expire on Au-
gust at, so the ninth—month deadline
in these cases is Dec. l. The letters
were sent out on November 30.

“The letters are not absolutely fi-
nal for faculty whose contracts are
not renewed,” said Wall, but unless
the person involved attempts topre»
sent additional information in his
favor the letter represents the offi-
cial decision of the Executive Coun-
cil.

There are three periods duringthe
year when contract renewals are
considered. Those iaculty on one
year contracts must be notilied by
March 1, six months before the ex-
piration date; those in the groupmost
recently under consideration must
be notified by December l. nine
months before expiration; and those
serving out a contract of two years
or more must be notified at year in
advance. In the latter case the Cole
lege usually notiiies by Junel, since
no one is here during the summer
months.

H)
The next issue of the 5&8,
on Friday, December is, will
be the last or the semester. we
will resume publication next
semester on Friday, January
26.

photo by lion v. or urn

Kugisaki.

Debate over the policy regarding
the purchase of liquor did not come
to a head until this week. it has
been the practic of the Auditor’s
been the practice of the Auditor's
office in the past to write on each
Voucher the statement “No Alco—
holic Beverages,” to inlorm store
clerks that the office would not pay
for purchases of alcohol, The po—
licy, long a practice of student Au—
ditors, has been according to Ms,
Conway “to protect the students
tor their own good."

The college haspreviously directed
that student funds could not be Spent
for alcoholic beverages because the
college could be held legally liable
tor any destruction of property by
persons under the influence of bev»
erages from a hall party, Recently,
however, the college has taken the
position that those who authorize

(continued on page 7)

NUMBER 15

ISPIRG Funding Plan Set

Grinnell students will likely have an option regarding contri-
buttons to 1817ch as part or the tuition bill ior next semester.
The new plan would allow students when titling out the tuition bill
to indicate whether they would like to contribute to lSPlRG or not,
and to adyust the amount oi the payment accordingly.

The proposal, which has been submitted to members of the Board
of Trustees by mail, has the support of Trustees Warren Buffett
and George Drake, who were the most vocal opponents of ISPIRG's
original plan which was rejected by the Board last November.
“My instinct tells me that the new plan will go through," Presi-
dent Glenn Leggett told the son Thursday, “But then, my instinct

has been wrong before "

Should the proposal be approved, a separate sheet of paper con-
cerning lSPlRG will be mailed to students along with the regular
tuition bill for next semester, containing the following statement:

lSPlRG (town student Public interest Research Group) is a student-
tunded and studentrdlrected public policy research and advocacy group,
The state ISPIRG office hires a professional staff to direct student
proyects to increase Citizen involvement in the public decision-making
process The educational success ot lSPlRG lor students at Grinnell
and other towa colleges, and its enicacy asapublic interest organ-
izntion, depends on student contributions from participating campuses,

The student will then be given a choice between contributing and
not contributing. The donation per semester is $150,

The local lSPlRG group will receive $450 and l% of the money
collected lrom the Grinneli student body for projects on the local
level, and will have the opportunity to apply for turther funds from
the state oilice on a "grant” basis for special projects requiring

more substantial assistance.

State lSPIRG chairman Mary Jane Wynn, a Grinnell senior, thinks
that the new plan is less effective thanthe original lSPlRG proposal,
which would have required mandatory contributions with a chance
to obtain a refund after the beginning of the semester. “For next
semester the plan should work well,” she told the son, “since
students know about ISPIRG. But in future years freshmen will
not know what we do, and probably won‘t contribute heavily.“
SGA VicerPresident Anne Walter expressed similar feelings this
week, although she observed that with the new plan students Will
have to be thoroughly convinced of the worth of ISPIRG, “and that
may be an impetus to make sure the organization is very good.”
Sixteen Iowa colleges and universities are presently ISPIRG mem-
bers, six ol which have “positive checkrof " fundingplans, similar

to the new Grinnell proposal.

The state lSPlRG office anticipates from studies madeon the basis
of experience in other states that under the “positive check-off”
system 40750‘79 of the Students will contribute.

cc»

All-College Evaluation Proceeds

by Merry Wiesner

A numberof investigations involved
in the analysis of the college pro-
posed by President Leggett earlier
this year have been tabulated, and
the results will be published early
next semester. Further study is be
ing carried out, with hopes that 3117
campus discussion will begin early
in the second semester.

The questionnaire distributed to
students earlier in the semesterhas
been key-punched and will be tab-
ulated by computer. in an interview
this week James Hamilton, Assocr
iate Dean of Administration, spoke
of an “amazing" response level,
with over 700 questionnaires turned
in. Unlortunately, because student
advisors in the dormitories were
given the task ol distribution, peo—
ple living off campus were not pol.
led, which may Color the results
somewhat.

Besides this questionnaire, Hamil-
ton and Dean Joseph Wall have been
involved in an exploration of his-

torical records, attempting to dis~
cern trends in registration and stur
dent interestl The most notable find-
ing is the increase in independent
projects, up 400% from five years
ago The individual departments
were polled on their leelings about
guidelines on independent study, but
were pretty evenly divided aboutthe
benefits of limitation. The study
found a gross imbalance in the dis-
tribution of independents among the
faculty, some having as much as 92
credit hours worth of independents
and some having no independents at
all, Most faculty have about 6 or '7
projects which they advise.

Both Wall and Hamilton View the in-
dependent study question as one of
major importance Hamilton has
completed a study or the grades re-
ceived in independents compared
with the grades in nonrindependent
course work, and Wall is particus
larly concerned with ways olrecoga
nizing faculty input into independ—
ents. Proposals (or guidelines may
be lorthcoming sometime next sem-

photo by in, Maniac

Members of the Grinnell College Chorus lifted their voices in song last
Sunday, in the annual Christmas concert. Celebration of the yule season
continues today with a Christmas dinner in Cowles and Quad.

ester

Concern over the departmentaland
divisional credit-hour limitation
prompted another analysis. The
number of students approaching eit~
her limit was iound to be minimal,
but most students do appear to be
concentrating in two divisions and
nearly ignoring the third,

The special ad hoc committee on
offrcampus study, headed by John
Dawson, should publish its specific
recommendations next week, Wall
mentioned the possibility of insti-
tuting Grinnell’s own off»campus
program, rather than only partici-
pating in the ACM programs, but
this is still simply in the realm
of possibility.

The departmental evaluation the
volvingoutside observers has been
completed for the Art and Politic
cal Science Departments, with Bio-
logy and Psychology to be evaluated
in February or March and English
in late March or April, Wall spoke
lavorably about these evaluations,
noting that the simultaneous selfr
evaluations of the departments have
been very valuable. He expects that
some report will be published con-
cerning these specific evaluations
next semester.

The other questions brought out by
Leggett have not received careful
scrutiny up to now, but will prob
ably be explored in the near future.
A proposal regarding counseling
services is currently in the Dean of
Student Affairs Office, and students
are working with that office to estabr
lish better career counseling. The
evaluation system, begun only this
semester, will have to be in opera»
tion longer before a valid study can
be made.

Substantial progress has been made
since Leggett’s call toactionearlicr
this fall, with the next step being
the development of specinc propos-
als, analysis of the data already
gathered, and further exploration
into areas of concern.

 

