ANALYSIS

One of the strongest ren
actions came from Ronald
Fishbein, M.D., who is \ssis-
rant Dean for AdmiSsion at
Johns Hopkins Medical School.
He stated, “I think it is quite
reasonable that you make inn
quiries such as this since we
are all well aware that the
faculties of insritutions of
higher education haveattimes
been tornlly impractical in the
educational changes which
they propose."

Different View

Lawrence G. Crowley, Chairn
man of the Stanford University
Medical School Admissions
Committee takes quite a dif-
ferent view. “cho liketosec
the student develop his inn
terests in both the humanities
and sciences. The pas5nfail
system may encourage stun
dents to explore new areas
without the risk of receiving
a low grade which they might
feel compromise their inn
terests in the medicalschool‘s
evaluation oftheirapplication.
In this light we see the pass-
fail option as offering new
latitudes for the student and
the development of his under-
graduate program."

And former Yale Graduate
School Dean John Perry Miller
stated "I shall not enter the
controversy over the educan
tional needs of the college as
well as the needs of graduate
schools in decisions concern~
ing admissions. I suggest that
those teachers who find that
the grading system interferes
with their effectiveness define
with clarity their educational
objectives, discriminate ben
tween students in the extent
to which they achieve those
objectives, and use thegrading
system to reflect that disn
erimination."

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Pnrenls

enjoy the weekend
stop by and say hi--

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'\nuther point which many of
the Deans stressed was the
need for replacing the infor-
mation which is lostwhen stun
dents elcct Pass/Fail instead
of grades. Most Deans indi-
cated the desire for a thor-
ough written evaluation from
professors of all Pass/Fail
courses n a thought which
worries those professors to
whom the 5&8 spoke at Grinn
nell.

Stephen R. Hudson, Assis-
tant Director of admissions
at Ohio State University was
most implicit on the latter
point. “On occasion, Ihave
had the experience of the
Graduate Committee asking a
student who submitted apass/
fail transcript to secure a
written statement from each
professor for each courseapn
pearing on the transcriptprior
to the Committees considern
ation of his admission re-
quest." Obviously, this pron
cedure would be both time-
consuming and difficultfor the
student - especially if pron
fessors he had as a freshman
or sophomore are no longer
connected with Grinnell.

Tobling Transcripts

Another rumor which has
plagued undergraduate stu-
dents has been that transcripts
containing Credit/Fail, work
are tabled for later consin
deration by Admissions Com-
mittees. Most schools either
hedged on this question or re-
plied that while there was no
formal policy to this effect,
such transcripts would often
be delayed while awaiting
evaluations or other "suppor-
tive data”.

W. H. Bragonier, Dean ofthe
Colorado State University
Graduate School, was much
more explicit about thispoint,
however. “Are transcripts
which contain Credit/Fail
credits tabled for later consin
deration7 Probably they are.
Generally departments do not
regard students with Credit/
Fail grades as top quality and
consequently they require
scores on the Graduate Record
Examination and three or four
additional letters of recom—
mendation so that they can be
certain of the students capa-
bilities before theyadmithim.
To the extent this requires
considerably more time, such
applications are considered

later. If in the meantime all
vacancies are filled they will
not be admitted."

Recommendations

From our correspondence
with these and many other
Graduate School Deans, sev-
eral recommendations ben
come clear for students with
graduate school in mind.

1) Required work fora major
should not be taken under the
Credit/Fail under any cirn
cumstances. This applies as
pecially to prospective Medi-
cal students and their science
oriented courses.

2) Students should be pre-
pared to obtain from theirpro-
fessor a fairly detailed written
evaluation for each Credit/
Fail course. Several Deans
noted that an evaluation writ-
ten in 1975 for courses taken
in 1972 wouldbe oflittle value.

3) Students with specific
schools in mind shouldwrite to
the Dean of the Graduate
School or the Director of Ad—
missions and find out the spen
cific policies of that school.

Although most of the Deans
who responded to our letters
indicated at least some sup-
port for certain uses of
Credit/Fail grading, they till
agreed that this system pre-
judiced a graduate school a-
gainst a prospective student.
In the words of Dean Bragonn
ier of Colorado State Univer-
sity, "When decisions become
difficult students with stand
ard grades are going to be
given opportunities that stun
dents with Credit/Fail grades
are not."

(Editor's nore: In researchn
ing the preceding story, the
5&8 received letters from
Deans of more than twenty
graduate schools. These let-
ters have been turned over
to the Registrar's office,
where interested students may
consult them.) ‘

Quotation of the Week:

“Breaking the glass is
one thing, but stealing the
ball and the flipper is an-
other."

Anonymous student
watching while pin-
ball machine was ben
ing repaired.

 

W

938 Main

3 LEVELS OF SHOPS

ladies and Children’s Wenr
Home Furnishings - Gift Wore

Faculty Members Pun

Grinnell municipal elections on November 12 will see two
faculty members on the slate.

Running for Town Councilman from the second ward is
Professor of Communications William Vanderpool. He faces
Dr. Harold Bradley and Mr, Ronald McKeag as opponents.

Biology Professor Benjamin Graham is unopposed in his bid
for Park Board member.

This ClL‘CUOI‘l ts the first time in many years that the office
of mayor is being challenged. Mr. Wayne Whittom is opposing
incumbent Floyd Beaver.

The Other candidates for Town Council are upopposed. They
include M Eisenman from the first ward, Webb Wallace from
the third, Jim Miller from the fourth, and Kevin Griffin and
John Hotchkin for the at-large spot.

Veterans Hold Conference

The weekend of October 15, lo, and 17, the Mankato Chapter
of Vietnam Veterans Against the War-Veterans For Peace
will be hosting a slxnstate conference for all members and
potential members from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wiscon-
sin, and North and South Dakota. The threenday conference
will be held on the campus of Manth State College, Mankato,
Minnesota, and will feature national spokesman John Kerry.

Housing and food will be provided during the conference, but
a sleeping bag or bed roll will be necessary. ,

Plans Demonstration

The Student Mobilization Committee at an Upper Midwest
Conference in Minneapolis has outlined plans {or a massive
antivéi/ar demonstration in the Twin Cities on Saturday, Novem-
ber .

The demonstration, held in conjunction with antiwar protests
in is other U.S. cities this fall, “will be the largest demonn
stration this city has ever seen," noted SMC coordinator Dave
Walters. Interested students should contact the SMC. at
1813 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minn. 55414

Cetvene Exhibition

An exhibition of paintings by Richard Cervene, professor of
art at Grinnell College, opened Sunday (Oct. 3) at the Coe
College Galleries in Cedar Rapids.

The one-man show, which continues through Oct. 27, features
a group of large color-field works executed by Prof. Cervene
in Acapulco, Mexico, and in the French West Indies. , , «a

A rt in Omaha “

Two works from Grinnell College’s permanent art collection
are included in a special 40th anniversary exhibition at the
Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.

The exhibition, which runs from last Sunday through Novem-
ber 28, includes “Pumpernickel,” an oil painting by Karl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Knaths, and "Une Grand’mere,

a drypoint print by Jacques

Villon, from the Grinnell collection.

Ads Promote ACM Enrollment

Since the end of August, St.
Louis has been the pilot city
for a specialpromotionalpro-
gram advertising the 12 coln
logos in the ACM (Associated
Colleges of the Midwest).
Grinnell, along with Beloxt,
Carleton, Coe, Colorado, Corn
nell, Knox, Lawrence, Macal-
ester, Monmouth, Ripon, and
St. Olaf colleges are the
schools that will reap the
benefits of the newspaper ads
and radio promotion.

The radio promo is aimed at
radio stations which have
large student listening audin
ences.

According to Admissions
dean D. N. Ryan, heandrcpre-
sentatives from the other
schools met in June, 1970 and
the Conop program was pren
sented. The costofsucha pron
gram is $1000 to $2000 per
school. St. Louis was chosen
to be the pilot city because of
a general interest by the comn
mittec and because ofiis loca-
tion, where noonc n\CM school
has an advantage over others.

The need for sticha campaign
is due to the fact that most of
the conference schools have
experienced a decrease in
numbers of applicants. The
loss of selectivity occurs when
a school must accept 85% of
its applicants in order to fill
its quota for the freshman
class.

The Scarlet and Black

The ads themselves stress
the individual attention each
student gets with lower tean
chernstudent ratios alongwith
offn campus housing and pro-
grams abroad. At‘ademic ex-
cellence is another reason
cited for the prospective stu-
dent to find interest in an
ACM school. '

It might benoted thatalthough
Grinnell is participatingin the
promotional campaign, it is
the only school in the con-
ference that does not particin
pate in the Single Application
Method (SAM). Grinnell finds
the system limiting andunfair
in some ways, such as the un-
certainly concerning which
school will accept the student
and the amount offinancialaid
rewarded.

The effects of the advertisen
merits will not be known until
next spring when all the data
on new students can be tabun
latcd. The trial program ter—
minates at the end of October.

Should the ACM'sprogram go
well, it may be possible to
slack up on school visitations
because of the wider audience
being met. This could lighten
up the load on recruiting in
personnel and the budget. Mr.
Ryan is skeptical as to its
merit, but feels we all have
to wait and see what happens
after this pilot project.

October 15, 1971

 

