PAC commission proposes increase in required courses
More required courses may be imposed upon students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
The Commission on Undergraduate Education of the President’s Advisory Council has proposed changes in general education requirements for the college. A 12-member committee from the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is being formed to consider the proposed changes.
Instead of academic divisions, general education requirements will be categorized according to areas of exposure, which will include the physical world, the varieties of culture, literature and the arts and major modes in the study of the individual and society.
The proposed changes would include a distinction between the exposure and skill requirements. Competency
levels in composition, mathematics and foreign languages will be defined.
The skill level in composition will be set by a new composition committee. In math, skill levels will be measured by completing a college-level precalculus course or by achieving a specified score on Scholastic Aptitude Tests of placement tests. Foreign language skill levels will be measured by placement exam scores or completion of 12 units of a foreign language.
General education requirements for the areas of exposure will be met by the completion of 11 classes ranging over the 4 areas. In the area called the physical world, three courses will be required. In the area of varieties of culture, single courses in the contexts of political action in the United States and foundations of Western and other cultures will be required.
In literature and the arts, one course in each subject will be required. Requirements for the fourth area, which will study the individual and society, will be met by courses in the areas of social scientific approaches, normative areas of ethics and politics and analytic approaches to thought and language.
“The very magnitude of our lower class enrollments — demands that we assign them high priority in the allocation of our attention, not to mention our resources,” said
John Marburger, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
“Failure to provide quality education at this level is at best an abdication of our reponsibility to prepare young people for life in a complex world. At worst, it makes us academic slum landlords who support a high standard of scholarly living at the expense of masses who are powerless to improve their own situation,” he said in his comments on the recommended changes.
The 12-member committee being formed by the college will seek to contact the LAS faculty to insure a consensus on their reactions to the proposals and then submit their recommendations to the President’s Advisory Council, whose Curriculum Committee will make the final recommendations.
“We and the committee feel that there are too many students who were missing vital parts of their education,” Marburger said. “The focus is on students coming to grips with the big gaps in their education. For example, many students are not being exposed to important moral and ethical decisions they need to deal with,” he said.
Marburger estimated that the program should be fully instituted by the fall of 1979.
“We’re making the general education requirements tight enough so no one can escape,” he said.
Social events blocked at Century Apartments
An attempt to initiate social activities at the new Century Apartments was postponed until communication between the students and government-subsidized family residents of the facility can be organized.
A party sponsored by the Student Community Council will be held Friday at Troy Hall rather than at the Century Apartments, the original location.
The Office for Residential Life advised the council to alter the location or postpone the party until things become more organized at the Century Apartments.
“We feel that it is important for the community residents and student residents there to meet together to plan future events,” said James Appleton, vice-president of student affairs.
There are 48 subsidized families and 324 students living in the apartments. Because tenants have lived there for a short time, officers and programs for the residents have not yet been decided upon.
“It is very important that their is a liaison between tenants,” said Randy Rice, director of residence halls.
“Soon people, through selection or by volunteering, will be working on the planning and developing of programs for the Century community,” he said. “It is essential that students and the community people work together.”
Rice said that a Community Council will also be established to ensure that the federal requirements for communities, such as health care and career referrals, will be met. Students can already obtain these services from the university.
Problems often arise when a variety of people from different age groups and backgrounds make an effort to live together compatibly under one roof. At the new Century Apartments, where such an intermingling exists, people are being extremely cooperative, said Rice.
“I think its a super situation,” he said. “People are concerned about
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Group says university let KABC-TV air crime series
The University-Neighborhood Relations Commission has questioned a university vice-president on the school’s involvement in the KABC-TV series on crime here.
In a letter to Anthony Lazzaro, vice-president of business affairs, the commission members expressed their displeasure with what they termed “a deep university complicity in allowing... stereotyped and potentially racist reporting to go forward.”
The letter added to the actions already made by the commission of the President’s Advisory Council to counter the effects of the series, which aired in Los Angeles Feb. 13-15.
A letter to the Federal Communications Commission and a memorandum to President Hubbard encouraging the revocation of KABC-TV’s license were drawn up by the commission earlier in the week. A mailing to 700 persons in the community telling of the university’s views on the series has also been prepared.
In the new letter, the university group said the television reports “substantially misrepresented” the character of the university community in a way that appeared to be stereotyping the surrounding area.
The letter referred to clips and portions of statements made by university officers used extensively on the series somehow being used to promulgate university policies.
It asked Lazzaro what plans the university had to keep such misinformation from occurring again questioned the effectiveness of university spokesmen trying to relay the university’s position after the program as seen by a large portion of the population.
Daily i Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXXIII, Number 21	Los Angeles, California	Thursday,	March	9,	1978
WEAVING A WEB — The
Spiderman crew has returned to campus after filming an episode last summer. Nicholas Hammond, a graduate student at the university, plays Peter Parker, alias Spiderman. The title of the show being filmed is "Deadly Dust." In this episode, Hammond portrays a college physics student and photographer for a newspaper, the Daily Beagle. The series is based on the original Spiderman comic strip. It is scheduled to begin April 5 and will show at 8 p.m. Wednesdays. DT photos by Marc Corman.
LAS issues memo reprimanding faculty for increasing absenteeism
who anticipate being absent, but Marburger said it was necessary that they notify the department chairman in advance if the absence is under their control.
“It’s important to have continuity in the class. If no one is notified then it becomes difficult to find an acceptable faculty substitute or teaching assistant,” he said.
The present problem of faculty absences seems to be confined to the college. Other schools said they have found ways to prevent its oecurrance.
Lenora Blauman, administrative assistant to Maurice Hamovitch, dean of the School of Social Work, said in order for a faculty member to be absent from class he must first get the approval of the dean and then present a plan for the make-up session, which the students must approve.
“This has been a standard practice here, so we have never had any problems with absences," Hamovitch said.
The Law Center, the School of Business Administration and the School of Performing Arts also said that they had no problems with absences by professors and that if a professor had to miss class it was always rescheduled.
By Carole Long
Staff Writer
Student complaints have prompted the administration of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to issue a memo reprimanding its faculty for increasing absenteeism.
The memo described the number of student complaints as reaching an alarming level due to faculty not meeting their teaching obligations. The memo said that this practice, “is irresponsible and must be curtailed.”
John Marburger, dean of the college, said he was advised by President Hubbard’s office to
send the nemo because of complaints it had received from the Office of Student Affairs.
“No systematic study has been made to indicate how many (instructors) have been absent, but I have a feeling the problem is more widespread than I have been told,” Marburger said.
Students have also complained to Marburger about the absences.
“I haven’t had a lot of students come to me, but even three or four complaints are enough to take the problem seriously,” he said.
“The problem has been building over the past few months, so the administration felt it was time for a little reminder. We will probably have to do this again in five years,” he said.
Marburger said the increased absences may be due to faculty pursuing research projects and writing scholarly material.
“The university has been giving strong signals for the need for research and scholarly activity, but now we need to give signals on the other end. The faculty must remember that their first obligation is to their regularly scheduled classes,” Marburger said.
The college does not have any written procedure for faculty