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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1978)
The Battalion Vol. 72 No. 52 Monday, November 13, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611 12 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 Great Issue's speech canceled The scheduled speech of former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Simon has been canceled. Simon was to give a talk Tues day entitled, “Consideration of the American Economic Pic ture.” The Memorial Student Center’s Great Issues Commit tee, sponsor of the speech, re ported that Simon is unable to be here because he is working in Indonesia. Views vary on contract used to remain at A&M Battalion photo by Mike Baile; ‘Look-out below!' Rising out of a 10-foot hole, the center pole of the bonfire stands 65 feet above the ground. Dirt is packed around the base of the pole and four guylines secure the top. The crew has begun stacking wood around the pole, which was raised Friday. Battalion photographer Michelle Scud- der was barred from the bonfire site Friday when she attempted to photograph activity around the pole. Bonfire officials said tradition pro hibited females from entering the grounds close to the stack. After dis cussion, they agreed to admit all photographers at the site if they are accompanied by a redpot and wear a safety helmet. Annual Walton Bonfire Marathon Flame comes from UT stadium Editor’s note: This article and the related story below are the first part of a two-part series on students at Texas A&M Univer sity who run into academic difficulty and want to change majors. Tuesday’s article will explore why students tend to pick the wrong major in the first place, and why they are reluctant to change. By UZ NEWLIN Battalion Stall The odds are better than they used to be, but chance still has a hand in deciding a student s fate when his grades are had. A 2.0 grade point ratio on a four-point scale is needed to graduate and, in prac tice, to change majors. With good grades, a student at Texas A&M University may change to any major he wants with no re striction (except those in the College of Business, which requires a 2.5). But if a student is making poor progress, he’s under his academic college’s control. Usually that control is transferred by the college to an associate dean of student af fairs. Nine officials — one dean from each of the eight colleges and one administrator in biomedical sciences — oversee students who want to change majors but lack the proper grades. Until a few years ago, no alternative existed for students who wanted to change majors but had poor grades. Now it’s pos sible — if the deans are agreeable — to use a contract. The contract, introduced three or four years ago, is an informal agreement between the associate dean of the student’s current college and the as sociate dean of the college the student wants to enter. It describes the courses the student will take the next semester By UZ NEWLIN Battalion Staff Deans views vary on the contract sys tem that allows students with low grades to change majors. And that variation is important, because the contract is controlled by deans. The contract is an informal convention used by deans to allow students with low grades to take courses in another — perhaps more suitable — major and possibly raise their grade point ratio so they can transfer into that other college. Contracts are not mentioned in the Un dergraduate Catalog or University Rules and Regulations. The deans are simply bending the rules a little to help students stay in this University. For example, a student flunking out of agricultural economics decides he is better suited for history in the College of Liberal Arts. He and an associate dean from both colleges sign an agreement that he will take courses suggested by the history de partment and post a particular GPR that next semester. The courses he takes will lead to a degree in history, not agriculture, even though he is still officially registered in ag eco. No accurate or complete count is kept of the number of students on contract; judg ing from records that are available, proba bly about 1 percent of Texas A&M’s some 30,000 students are in the program. The associate deans of each college and the administrator of one special under graduate program, biomedical science, explained how they regard contracts and how they use them; Agriculture: Dwayne Suter says his col lege uses quite a few contracts and calls them “good for the college and the stu dent.” Often, he said, fi eshmen just don’t know their interests and talents and can lose confidence if they “bomb” the first semester. New college students also are often “lost a significant part of the first semester,” which can contribute to bad grades, especially if they are misplaced and what GPR he must post to remain in school. Generally, if he makes the required GPR, the student may transfer to the new college. If he does not achieve the GPR, one of two things usually happens; he will get an extension of the contract for another semester, or he will be dropped from the rolls of the University. The contract — dependent on the par- ticular dean’s attitude — is still chancy, but it is the only out for those students. Even with contracts that can allow stu dents to eventually change majors, no program at Texas A&M is set up specifi cally for students with low grades. And that’s where the real chances seem to come into play. Many leading American universities allow a student to change majors if reasonable evidence of success in the new field can be shown....Generally, if a student qualifies to remain in his university, he may change his major. If a student’s adviser is not well in formed or doesn’t care about the student, the student can be in academic trouble and not know it. Or if his college’s as sociate dean does not like contracts, he could be dropped in a semester. In addi tion to this, the student at Texas A&M is not forced to take a reduced course load to ease making good grades or required to take courses that will help him make good grades. This situation is not common in large universities. Many leading American universities allow a student to change majors if reason able evidence of success in the new field majors. The contract prevents penalty for a bad choice, Suter said. Architecture: Gordon Echols says con tracts are too binding. Instead, he allows majors to “step out” of the college for a semester and take other colleges’ courses. If his grades rise enough, the student may then transfer. Echols says the college is lenient on those who don’t make the re quired 2.0. Business Administration: Carlton Stolle says he doesn’t deal much with contracts since his college requires a 2.5 GPR for admission. He does work closely with stu dents who have “almost” the 2.5 in choos ing courses that will raise their GPR. Once students get in the college, he says, they have little trouble staying in with a 2.0. “I don’t like the idea of the contract, person ally,” he says, “and the college doesn’t be lieve in it. If we have a 2.5, we ought to live with it.” Education: Philip Limbacher says con tracts are “about as fair as anything.” He emphasized that Texas A&M works hard to allow students to stay in the University or re-enter if they have taken college work elsewhere. Like other deans, he said the decision to extend a contract another semester for incoming students rests with the student’s original college. “In general, if the attitude is there, we ll extend it.” Engineering: Ned Walton says he will not initiate a contract for a student to transfer to another college. But he will allow students to take courses that apply to a degree in engineering and a degree in something else, removing him from tech nical engineering courses. “We run it pret ty tight,” he says. “We do not let him get very far behind. If he is behind, we boot him out. It he does not make it in two semesters, his head is not on tight enough to make it in any major.” Geosciences: Joseph Sonnenfeld says contracts, negotiated through depart- can be shown. Potential for success is usu ally measured in terms of interest and abil ity test data and performance in specific courses, said Dr. Arthur Tollefson, direc tor of the Academic Counseling Center at Texas A&M. Generally, if a student qual ifies to remain in his university, he may change his major. In the few places where contracts do not exist or are hard to arrange, a student can end up in what Tollefson calls an academic “debtor’s prison.” Usually the student has made a mistake in choosing a major and is flunking out. But because he’s Exiling, he can’t change his curriculum to something that is easier for him. “It’s an impossible situation for the stu dent,” he says. The college student is forced to continue in a curriculum when he has shown he has a lack of talent or which he originally chose for less than pro fessional reasons — glamor, money, job opportunities or “because daddy did it.” Many educators, Tollefson says, still think a student should remain in the major he first chooses. “This idea is still preva lent — that students don’t change their majors. This is contrary to fact.” Some institutions have more formalized systems, Tollefson says, where students are regularly allowed to enter another field of study on probation. At Texas A&M, the deans control the flow of students. From a professional point of view, Tol lefson says, Texas A&M’s policy “is not very sophisticated in relation to known phenomena and principles of student de velopment. ” Tollefson says the associate deans who are responsible for contracts are student- ments, are on the way out in his college. “We try to get to them in the first semes ter,” he says, instead of trying to salvage them later. He says he works with new students to help them find an area in which they can excel or advises they trans fer. “If they don’t make it on contract, they’re out.” Liberal Arts: Diane Strommer helped develop contracts with Dean Beckham of sciences, and they use them most fre quently. “For the student, I think it has the advantage all written agreements have. It guarantees a deal and gives the student something to realistically ap praise,” she said. About other colleges, she said, “I think they use them to differ ent extents. I think they’re all willing to use it as a receiving college.” But a dean can block the use of a contract is he wants to. The deans reported no such occasions, but the possibility exists in the informal system. Science: John Beckham says he is trying to get away from contracts, especially in the fall semester, by catching misplaced majors before they get into serious academic difficulty. “The number on con tract is dropping because we encourage earlier change.” He said other colleges, particularly agriculture, are cooperative in taking “borderline” students. Veterinary Medicine: Alvin A. Price di rects the biomedical science program, which is used by many students as pre professional training for veterinary school. He uses contracts for students who want to leave the program, and also uses a similar program during the summer for students who want to enter the program: they take courses and if they make a specified GPR, they are allowed to enter in the fall. He says that sometimes, the best thing to do for a student is to bar him from Texas A&M until he has made better grades at another institution. “The student may need time to get things in order and turn things around.” oriented and concerned, but their indi vidual philosophies still influence their decisions. “Colleges being very protective of stu dents is perhaps beneficial to college as a whole, but it is devastating to students who choose the wrong major or others who are in other colleges and want to change into it,” Tollefson says. The director said that many universities have some kind of systematic method to help students re-direct their efforts to goals that are more suitable for them. Tollefson started one program for stu dents in academic hard times at Ferris State College, a technically oriented col lege of about 9,000 students in Big Rapids, Mich. “Colleges being very protective of students is perhaps beneficial to col lege as a whole, but it is devastating to students who choose the wrong major or others who are in other colleges and want to change into it,” says Dr. Arthur Tollefson, director of the Academic Counseling Center at Texas AOM. Dr. Matthew Klein, assistant dean for student academic affairs at Ferris, de scribed the School of General Education this way: All students who have below a "C” aver age, a 2.0 GPR, are put in the school. They may not transfer out until their grades rise above a 2.0. About a year (two of Texas A&M’s semesters) is given for students to raise their grades. Each student in the program is assigned a tutor who is paid by the col lege. Students, also participate in peer counseling and educational counseling. The student in the School of General Education must take two courses: a study skills course for freshmen and a career ex ploration course to learn how to match interests with skills. They also are encouraged to become in volved in student development services, which includes a reading skills course. Klein said that even with the mandatory 2.0 requirement, some students are still slipping through. “There is a significant percentage of students who have some educational prob lems we aren’t reaching,” Klein said. “We think it’s due to grade inflation. And we’re fraught with ability levels going down. The ACT (a college admissions test) standard score we use for freshmen may also be too low. “We befieve unofficially and informally that we should raise it,” Klein said. Ferris State College also tries to help students with counseling before they get into academic trouble, he said. And if their grade point ratio falls below 2.0, they’re automatically put in the School of General Education. Texas A&M offers counseling through regular academic advisers, the General Studies Program and the Academic Coun seling Center. A study skills course, Edu cational Psychology 101, also is available. Students may receive extra help from de partmental and private tutors and at the English Annex on Ross Street. But the student must get the help on his own. By MARK PERRIN Battalion Reporter At 2 a.m. Sunday, the flame that will eventually start the Texas A&M Univer sity bonfire on Nov. 30 will be ignited at Memorial Stadium in Austin. This will begin the fifth annual “Walton Bonfire Marathon,” a 115-mile run by Walton Hall residents from Memorial Stadium to Kyle Field. Mike Griffin, in charge of the run, said a torch will be lighted at Memorial Stadium and the flame from that torch will be used by the yell leaders to start the bonfire. He said the runners will not carry a lighted torch, but the flame will be trans ferred to a candle and will be kept buring until the yell leaders light their torches from it. “It will still be the original flame that was started in Austin,” Griffin said. The candle will be brought back to Texas A&M by car and will be kept in the dorm room of Giffin and his roommate, Mike Collins. Between 25 and 30 Walton Hall resi dents are expected to participate, Griffin said. The marathon will be run as a relay, with each participant running a half mile at a time. Each person will run about for miles, he said. Griffin said the run will take about 1 hours. The group plans to arrive in Co lege Station between 2 and 3 p.m. Sur day. He said the torch will be carrie along Texas Highways 71 and 21 and wi go through Bastrop and Caldwell. He said the runners plan to enter Co lege Station on FM 60 (University Drive Griffin said the runners will meet at th School of Veterinary Medicine and run I Kyle Field together. Anyone is welcom to run with them from the vet school, h added. Deans control changing majors if students' grades below 2.0 C hili-Bang-Out pull of fun They tugged and tugged and fi nally pulled the other team over the middle line in the Tug-of-War. It was just one of the activities at the Chili-Bang-Out Saturday, spon sored by the Recreation and Parks Club, “Rompin Stompers“. The winning team was presented T-shirts. One exotic chili was the Ostrich and Bear Chile cooked up by the Wildlife and Fisheries Soci ety. Battalion photos by Beth Brueker