Tuesday, October 1, 2002

by Jeremy Schifeling
Co-Managing Editor

Despite an already lengthy slate of issues to tackle this semester, the Student
Council
entertained debate on a number of new fronts in their weekly meeting last
night.  Most
prominent amongst these new areas of discussion were proposed reforms of the the
exam-scheduling process and the parking permit allocation system.

After meeting with Registrar Martin Warner this week, Council Co-President Ryan
Budish ’04
and Student Life Rep Ed Stehlik ’05 announced three proposals that would alter
the academic
calendar.  Budish noted that Warner supported each of the initiatives, although
he was
awaiting further details on the third issue before granting it his full
approval.

The first proposal, which was unanimously approved by the full Council, seeks to
combat
end-of-the-year stress by guaranteeing students an unhampered reading period. 
It calls on
the faculty to “adopt a policy that will ensure a meaningful reading week,”
which would
entail a ban on mandatory course meetings and exams during the semesterly hiatus
between
classes and finals.  However, it would leave the faculty with some flexibility,
in that it
allows optional review sessions and exams, as well as seminar meetings.

The second proposal, which calls for the creation of an official self-scheduled
exam system,
met with more dissent within the Council.  In its original form, the initiative
sought to
allow all students the option of taking exams at the time and place of their
choosing
throughout the finals period.  According to Stehlik, this system would allow for
more
balanced exam spacing, an elimination of exam conflicts, and more flexibility in
travel
planning for students.

However, many Council members were concerned that the proposal would encourage
cheating and
thus, not stand up to the scrutiny of the faculty.  New Secretary/Treasurer Anna
Morgan ’04
raised concerns that the plan wouldn’t fly with departments that offer non-essay
exams, such
as economics and those in the natural sciences, while Campus Relations Rep
Marielena Velez
’04 labeled the proposal “discriminatory against students who don’t cheat.”

Stehlik defended the plan, saying that students who wanted to cheat would do so
regardless
of the system.  Nevertheless, due to the numerous concerns of the Council,
Stehlik and
Budish agreed to revise the plan, incorporating a model in which students could
take exams
on a day of their choosing, but would have to do so at scheduled times and in
proctored
rooms.

The final academic proposal concerned changes to the Credit/No-Credit option
currently
offered by the Registrar’s Office.  While students presently have to make a
decision
regarding this option by the end of the second week of classes, Budish and
Stehlik suggested
that this deadline should be pushed back until the fourth week, allowing
students to
concentrate on selecting classes in the first two weeks and then offering them
an additional
period to consider the credit option.  Additionally, the proposal seeks to allow
for
students to switch their preference back to regular grading at the end of the
semester.

The parking permit issue was raised early on in the meeting by Todd Gillette
’03, who spoke
to the Council based on his personal experience with the Parking Committee. 
Gillette voiced
concerns that the committee, which is currently staffed by students, had
“conflicts of
interests up the wazoo,” and as such, wasn’t able to make objective
permit-allocation
decisions.  His concerns were affirmed by Co-President Matt Rubin ’03, who came
away with a
similar impression after attempting to create a parking appeals committee last
year.

As a result, Rubin said that he would speak with Terri Narkin of Public Safety
this week, to
discuss a new system in which campus security personnel would make the
permit-allocation
decisions based on formal criteria outlined by the Council.  Additionally, Rubin
envisioned
the transformation of the current Parking Committee into a body that would hear
appeals to
decisions made by Public Safety.  While the ultimate verdict would rest with
Owen Redgrave,
Director of Public Safety, the student committee would still retain some
involvement in the
process.

For all of its new policy goals, the Council continued to make steady progress
on some of
its outstanding issues.

For instance, the group discussed student appointments to the Living Wage
Committee and
agreed that there needed to be some level of ideological diversity within this
representation if the entire student body could feel “ownership of the result.”
Specifically, the Council blamed the failure of last year’s Student Advisory
Group to the
Compensation Review Committee on the fact that it was unable to recruit students
with
diverse views on the issue, instead drawing solely from members and ideological
affiliates
of the Living Wage and Democracy Campaign.  Thus, this week the Council will
seek to
encourage students from across the political spectrum to apply for positions on
the
committee.

*****

Class President

Kai Xu: 26%
Gabriel Tajeu: 24%
Poulami Roychowdhury: 22%
Anna Perng: 16%
Sean Finney: 12%

Class Vice President

Renee Willemsen-Goode: 33%
Lucy Lang: 30%
Vincent Ip: 27%
Sam Sadow: 10%

Class Secretary

Sophia Acord: 41%
Brandyn White: 34%
Kasia Koziol-Dube: 25%

Class Agent

Jeremy Schifeling: 52%
Suzanne Wu: 25%
Thomas Harding: 23%

*****

* The first day of negotiations on the logistics of returning UN weapons
inspectors to Iraq
was completed Monday in what was described as a “generally positive” fashion.
The talks were
hosted at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and IAEA
Director-General
Mohamed ElBaradei said that the hoped for result of the conference would be to
get
inspectors back in Iraq with access to “anyplace [at] anytime.” Hans Blix, head
of the UN
Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission, will report to the UN
Security Council
on Thursday after the talks have finished. Also on Monday, White House officials
campaigned
for a UN resolution supporting force if Iraq does not comply with inspectors’
requests.
Officials showed video footage of Iraqi attacks on coalition aircraft patrolling
the no-fly
zones in Iraq during the past two years as evidence of Saddam Hussein’s
disregard for UN
regulations. However, not all nations consider the no-fly zones to be
legitimate. Some
nations consider them to be part of international law, while others, most
notably Russia, do
not.

* Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli of New Jersey announced Monday that he
would withdraw
from the race this fall, even though the elections are only five weeks away. His
campaign
for re-election has been challenged by charges of ethics violations and illegal
campaign
contributions from his 1996 campaign. State Republican leaders will challenge
the Democratic
Party’s attempt to change their official nominee in court. State regulations
require the
change to be made at least 51 days before the election, and it is now only 36.
If the
attempt to change the Democratic Party’s candidate succeeds, one possible
substitute is
former senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

* Results from an international online poll assessing top world concerns were
released on
Monday. The survey was conducted by the Andreas Papandreou Foundation, a Greek
think tank.
More than 25,000 people participated in the survey, representing 175 countries.
The top
three concerns were poverty (33%), the environment (28%), and terrorism (13%).

* Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar rejected a proposal by Basque regional
premiere
Juan Jose Ibarretxe on Monday that would arrange for a vote on shared
sovereignty of the
three Basque Provinces in northern Spain within the next year. Government
officials stated
that a regional government of that nature would threaten the rights of the
non-Basque
residents in the area. The non-Basque residents make up approximately half of
the
population.

*****

Innovative Book Forms Inspired by Claire Van Vliet
Scheuer Room – Kohlberg, 4:15 p.m.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream and Tofu Party
For students interested in astro/physics & SWAP mentoring
DuPont 139, 6:00 p.m.

Info Session for Sunday’s NYC Protest against War with Iraq
Followed by documentary and discussion
Kohlberg 115, 7:00 p.m.

Aikido Club Practice
Wrestling Room – Lamb-Miller Field House, 7:00 p.m.

Biology Careers Night
Martin 213, 7:00 p.m.

Economic Lecture: “The IMF and the Poor”
by Sanjeev Gupta, IMF
Kirby Lecture Hall – Martin, 7:00 p.m.

Halai: Fiddle Concert and Cape Breton Step Dance Workshop
Upper Tarble, 7:15 p.m.

Argentine Tango Class
Upper Tarble, 9:00 p.m.

Animal Rights Coalition Meeting
Hicks 211, 9:15 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

After demolishing her first four opponents in the ITA Southeast Regional at Mary
Washington
College, Anjani Reddy ’04 finally met her match on Monday, falling to Elena
Blanina of
Methodist, 7-5, 6-1.  It was a heroic effort for the fourth-seeded Reddy,
considering that
the top-ranked Blanina is the nation’s two-time NCAA Division III champion. 
Blanina went on
to defeat three-seed Lindsay Hagerman of Washington & Lee in the final, 6-4,
6-1.

*****

Today:
Field hockey at Bryn Mawr, 4:30 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Men’s soccer at Ursinus, 4:00 p.m.
Women’s soccer hosts Muhlenberg, 4:30 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead.”
–Arthur Honegger

*****
.
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