 

 

 

 

 

Briefs

Letelier to lecture
on Chile

Isabel Letelier, the wife of Orlando Letelier, the late Chilean
Ambassador to the United States, will speak in South Lounge on
Monday, February 6. Ms. Letelier’s visit is being sponsored by the
Latin American Studies Committee, the political science depart
ment and the Spanish department. Ambassador Letelier was
killed on September 21, 1976. when a bomb that Was attached to the
underside ofa car he and a colleague were driving in exploded, The
Justice Department suspects that Letelier, who was a prominent
figure in the government of Salvador Allende, was murdered by the
DINA, the secret police organization of Chilean dictator Augosto
Pinochet, With the help of right-wing Cuban exiles

Turner releases
school alcohol policy

President Turner released the school’s official alcohol policy
Tuesday. It does not differ from the alcohol policy statement ap-
proved by the Joint Boards on November 30. The official school
policy mandates that each student Who is legally entitled to drink
can get two free drink tickets and purchase additional tickets at the
Forum Desk for allrcampus parties not held in dorms. The price of
the tickets will be determined so that money from ticket sales Will
cover as much of the cost of liquor as possible.

All campus parties serving alcohol must have a method for
checking student I.D,’s to insure that liquor will not be served to
anyone except Grinnell students and registered guests of the
college.

College balks at
installation costs

Theroirege‘hasreiused'co pay tor the installation or telephones
for the twelve .new hall representatives, In a notice to SGA
President Jon Neiderbach, Dean of Student Affairs Jim Tederman
said that if the phones are to be switched, the SGA will have to pay
for the costs of installation. Tederman estimates that the cost of
such new installations could run anywhere from $120.00 to $210.00.

Room fire disrupts
Main 2nd Saturday

A room fire on Main Second last Saturday destroyed a mattress,
smoking accoutrcments,i‘a lamp and caused half the lights in the
ﬂoor to go out temporarily. The fire was discovered about 7: so pm
Saturday by Tim Mullaney, who saw flames shooting through the
door of another student‘s room. Mullaney was able to put out the
blaze with a fire extinguisher.

Obermiller gets
World Game post

Men’s swimming coach Ray Obermiller has been appointed by
the NCAA as a delegate to the planning organization for the World
University Games. Obermiller, along with Richard W, Gilbert of
Cornell University, will Work to organize Ub. participation in the
diving competition. The World University Games are slated to be
held in Mexico City in 1979,

Spitz, Stuart, named
off-campus reps

Doug Spitz and Jim Stuart were elected to be representatives for
college owned oft»campus housing for second semester and Dean
Mcllvaine and Mark Frankel were selected as representatives for
non-college owned offrcampus housing in elections held Wed-
nesday. Carrie James and Tom Keifer were named collegerowned
housing alternates, while Cheryl Robertson and Hilary Rago were
named nonrcollege owned housing alternates,

 

 

 

 

Pressure plagues Grinnell 7

by Bob Mitchell

The phenomenon of academic
pressure can take many forms.
leading to mental anguish,
academic probation, and in some
cases, academic dishonesty.

The problem oi academic
pressure is not limited to a low
incompetent students. In fact,
according to Academic Advising
head Ray Obermiller, l1|5 office
will see approximately one quarter
of the entire student body each
semester for one reason or
another.

THE sources of academic
pressure are often largely in-
ternal, Ron Cohen, a student ad-
viser on Main fourth and a pre-mcd
student, observed that one com
mon type of academic pressure
stems from the beliefthat a certain
grade point average has to be
maintained in order to get into a
particular graduate program.

Cohen, who has taken a wide
range of courses in the humanities
and social science divisions, feels
that the level of pressure is higher
in the sciences, though he has not
taken upperrlevel humanities or
social science courses.

“I THINK the science courses
are definitely more pressured. I
think it’s a function of the rigor of
the material.. and the aspiration:
of the students,” he said.

The belief that academic
pressure is self-imposed is shared
by academic counselor Gerald
Gurney. _

“The level of competition here is
self-inflicted for the most part
However, there are faculty
members that carry their loads a
bit too far,” he said,

STUDENTS will occasionally
respond to the perceived academic
pressures by cheating, though,
according to Obermiller, the
number of students found guilty of
academic dishonesty by the
committee on academic standing
has been negligible.

Ninety per cent of academic
dishonesty cases, Obermiller
stated, involved plagiarism, The
rest of the cases invulved cheating
on inrclass and takerhome exams,

OBERMILLER cited the writing
lab and the reinstatement of the D
grade as two factors that have
helped to alleviate academic
pressure at the college The
writing lab, where students can
seek assistance in writing papers
for class, has helped meet the
student's need to learn how to
write, which he feels is not being
done today by high schools.

TheD grade, in his View. has had
two positive effects. It has, for one,
helped students who have worked
hard in a particular course but
were unable to do average work.
Obermiller also feels that theD has
legitimized the c grade. According
to Obermiller. about one per cent
of the student body received one or
more D’s last semester.

rm: Academic Advising oilice-
was established to help students
cope with the difficulties of
academia, Today, it is staffed by
four persons, and has three
responsibilities. It holds academic
advising workshops for faculty and
student advisers, and offers
tutoring and counseling services
for students.

FACULTY
Academic

to the
olfice’s

response
Advising

Eyes Examined
Phone 236-7502

JENSEN
OPTOMETRISTS
Earl J. Jensen, 0.D.
Clark J. Jensen, 0.D.

Across from Post Office
Closed Thursday p.rn.
. and Sat. p.m

 

program of education has been
mixed, according to Gurney. 0n
the one hand, he is encouraged by
the increase in faculty attendance
at academic advising workshops.
He recognizes, however, that many
faculty members are indiiierent to
the work of his office.

“Faculty tenure and promotion
has little to do with how well they
advise students. so it is very dif-
ficult to get the faculty to rally
around the cause of academic
advising," he said.

TO HELP students identify the
signs of academic pressure as well
as advise them on how to handle
their academic load, the office
distributes hypothetical case

studies and weekly calendars
which could serve as models for

schedule planning to S.A,’s in
workshops.

A SECOND program of the
Academic Advising office is the
tutoring program, which is ad-
ministered by Barry l-luif. The
tutoring program usually involves
around 50 to 60 tutors and ap-
proximately 80 to 90 students per
semester. The tutors volunteer or
are nominated by a professor and
are payed $2.40 an hour.

Most students who seek out
tutors get Cs and B’s, according to
Obermiller, and a few get A’s. Less
than 10 per cent of those students
who are involved in the program
fail their course. Obermiller said,

GURNEY BELIEVES that peer-

Time To Order Your

Chumpaign Cake
For
Valentine Day

 

group relationships can play a
major part in alleviating academic
pressure,

“Must of the academic advising
done in College is not done by
faculty members, or from our
otiice. but is done through
students. If you can teach a group
of SA 5 who command some
leadership and respect on the floor
to promote sound academic advice
and good study habits, then you're
going to be doing a tremendous
service,” he said.

THE Academic Advising office
also counsels students who are
having some sort of academic
dilticulty, During the time it has
existed, the number oi students
who have been counseled by the
office has increased steadily.
Obermiller said this merely means
that both students and faculty are
becoming more aware of the need
lo diagnose and correct academic
problems.

Gurney commented that most of
his counseling time is spent with
students on academic probation,
Additional time is Spent with
students who have been referred to
him by a professor over the course
oi the semester. Gurney has
learned that students, more than
anything else, often need someone
who will listen to them,

"SOMETIMES I kind of Sit back.
. .and empathize with them, and
show them that i care. Sometimes,
that’s enough,” he said.

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