Dpinion/editorial
Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, January 17, 1984
Final exams vote
lacking student input
Monday the Faculty Senate passed a
esolution requiring graduating seniors
o take final exams. Although the vote
vas 57 to 11, some faculty members
irgued against the resolution.
The Battalion Editorial Board ap-
jlauds those who voted against the mea-
.ure, for several reasons.
A primary reason is lack of student
nput. The academic standards commit-
ee invited leaders of major student
organizations to discuss this, but with a
elatively short response time.
Leaders had time to comment and
he Student Senate had time to pass a
resolution against the policy change, but
:onstituents didn’t really have time to
make their views known.
The committee’s report does state
that discussions with those groups we
ren’t intended to be representative.
‘The committee was most concerned
with learning the strongest and most
articulate arguments from the student’s
perspective,” the report said.
And the leaders who argued against
the proposed policy change — Student
Body President Joe Jordan and Senate
Speaker David Alders — presented arti
culate comments.
But the average student on the street
was caught off-guard.
True, the Faculty Senate doesn’t
have to receive student input at all. But
using comments from a basically non
representative sample of student lead
ers to help aid important decision mak
ing isn’t fair.
The question of fairness must be
raised in another aspect of the report.
The committee’s report relies heavily on
a survey concerning the present final
exam policy which was sent to “perma
nent” faculty members. But Alders and
a few Senate members have commented
on the negative bias which the question
naire seems to contain. One question
listed problems which may result from
the present policy, whereas the question
asking about advantages to the system
required the respondent to make a list.
Many faculty members seemed to
feel finals are a necessary part of a stu
dent’s education — every semester.
They have every right to that opinion.
But this opens up another question:
Who says final exams really have acade
mic value? That is a question that will
probably never have an answer, and it
has many individual considerations.
A common gripe from Faculty Sen
ate members was inconvenience with
having two different grade deadlines.
As one member said, a main problem
seems to be “inconvenience to the facul
ty.” That’s certainly not what you would
call “a serious compromise with fair and
equitable academic standards.”
The Senate tried to avoid questions
about how the proposed finals policy
would affect commencement, saying
that those considerations are adminis
trative details. However, that has to be a
consideration when 95 percent of a
school’s graduating seniors participate
in the event.
And of course, the old “it’s a tradi
tion” argument was raised. That’s not a
valid reason. But a few senators gave
that argument validity when they said
“we’re the only ones who do this.” Same
type of logic.
Thorough, unbiased research seems
to be lacking in this resolution. The
committee spent quite a bit of time on
the report, but it already seemed to have
its mind made up before soliciting any
outside opinions. It isn’t fair to base a
resolution on a biased questionnaire, re
latively little student input and argu
ments that “we’re the only ones who do
it this way.”
Since when did we ever feel a need to
be like everybody else?. -
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Smallest news items predicted
By DICK WEST
Columnist for United Press International
Here, in keeping with the New Year
tradition, are my predictions of what will
be the Smallest News Items of 1984:
MOUNT BALDERDASH, Mont. —
The long-range weather forecast for
Mount Balderdash and vicinity calls for
average temperatures accompanied by
normal amounts of precipitation.
DOTSVILLE, N.Y. — Two days ago,
en route to the corner grocery for a loaf
of bread, Elrood Bangleshake stopped
off at a neighborhood gambling hell and
spent the bread money on a lottery ticket.
Today, the lottery drawing was held.
Bangleshake didn’t win.
OCEANDROP, Fla. — Last year, while
fishing on Lake Bagatelle, Vernon Flick-
nagle dropped his watch into the water
and never found it again.
iffi.
he i
Last week, while casting in almost the
identical spot, Flicknagle hooked a 20-
pound bass.
“Sure beats losing a watch,” he com
mented.
WASHINGTON — The Senate today me3
approved a 9.8 percent pay increase for
House members.
The action came on an amendment to
a House bill, which raised the pay of sena
tors by 9.8 percent.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
BROKEN TREATY, Okla. — When
his expectant wife began having labor
pains at 2 a.m., Harvey Wallbeat called a
taxi to take her to a hospital.
The cab made the trip in plenty of
time. It was almost noon before Mrs.
Wallbeat finally gave birth.
Slouch
Phone call taping addictive
By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
The news that Charles Z. Wick, the
director of the United States Information
Agency, was taping the telephone con
versations of everyone from United
States senators (Mark Hatfield) to movie
stars (Kirk Douglas) to his most intimate
friends (Walter Annenberg), without
their knowledge, has left everyone in
Washington with an uncomfortable
feeling.
It’s all right to read another person’s
mail (we do it all the time), but it is still
considered bad manners to turn on a Dic
taphone when your phone rings.
After Watergate it’s also considered
very, very dumb.
“What the hell got into Wick?” I asked
one of my pals at the USIA.
“He caught the Potomac Tape Bug,”
the friend explained. “I’ve seen it happen
time and time again. A guy comes to
Washington to do a job, and slowly para
noia sets in. He’s afraid something he says
on the phone may be misinterpreted, so
he decides to tape the conversations so he
can refer to the transcripts in case some
one takes something he said out of con
text. At the beginning he only pushes the
record button when he’s talking to the
press.”
“Is that fair?”
“The government will never object to
you recording conversations with the
press,” my friend said. “But when you
start down that secret taping road, it’s
hard to stop. Pretty soon you automatic
ally turn on the Dictaphone when you’re
talking to a subordinate on business.”
“So far the official is keeping his secret
taping within the bureaucratic ballpark,”
I said.
“Now this is where the guy goes off the
track. He figures if he can tape his sub
ordinates without their knowledge, there
is no reason why he can’t tape his equals
in other departments of the government
without telling them. Pretty soon he has a
stack of taped conversations with White
House staff, Cabinet members, senators
and leading citizens in the country.”
“They could have historical value,” I
said.
“That’s what the official talks himself
into believing every time he turns the
machine on. He decides he’s doing it for
future generations of Americans who
want to know how he arrived at so many
momentous decisions.”
“I can understand a person wanting to
secretly tape his official calls. But why
would he record his conversations with
friends?”
“Because by now he has become a com
pulsive taper. He has to tape whether he
wants to or not. If the Dictaphone stops
whirring, he can’t talk on the phone.”
“Couldn’t he tell his friends that he was
recording the telephone call?”
“If he did he wouldn’t have friends for
very long. The worst thing about having
the Potomac Tape Bug is that even if you
stop, no one will believe you. Once the
secret is out that you have been taping
people’s conversations without their
knowledge, no one will call you again. It
will be pretty hard for someone like Wick
to run the world’s largest propaganda
machine when everyone in and out of the
country will now put him on HOLD.”
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"Are you still messing around with that electric blow dryer?
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