Monday, March 4, 1968
The Dally Nebraskan
Pag $
March comes in like a lamb
Educators initiate silent revolution
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Everyone feels like lion
photo by Dan Ladely
by changing course
requirements
Editor's Note This stcry
is the result of a Depth Re
porting class at the Univer
sity's School of Journalism.
Jan Itkin has contacted 14
colleges and universities in
compiling this examination on
the quiet revolution in educa
tion: from emphasis on sci
ence back to the humanities.
Discipline . . .
Wirtz: Students receive
due process in system
by Kent Cockson
Junior Staff Writer
The Office of Student Af
fairs provides students due
process under the present dis
ciplinary system, according
to Peter G. Wirtz, assistant
in Student Affairs.
Wirtz was replying to a
senate subcommittee report
The report asked for deci-
Student Tribunal.
Wirtz said that the Student
Tribunal now serves as a re
commending agency for the
Office of Student Affairs. It
only recommends action to
be taken against a student
who has allegedly violated
University rules.
Make no decisions
He added that this has
been the function of the Tri
bunal since it was chartered
in 1961. and that all final de
cisions concerning student be
havior are made by the ad
ministrators in Student Af
fairs.
These administrators pro
Vide the elements of due pro
cess to the student in that
he is told during a confer
ence with staff members that
he can present any people or
evidence on his Denau to clar
ify iis position, Wirtz said.
He added that before a con
ference is conducted, the stu
dent is informed in writing
that "a matter has come to
the attention" of those in Stu
dent Affairs and that it is
a matter of concern to both
the office and the student.
Student notified
The student to be called
In is also notified of the pos
sible consequences that could
result, he is told during the
conference the source of the
report submitted against him
and he is informed that he
may request a Student Tribu
nal hearing before any ac
tion is taken by Student Af
fairs. Contrary to the last point,
the subcommittee report
notes' that it is unclear at
what point and at whose ini
tiation the right to a hearing
before the Tribunal is avail
able to the student.
The report further charges
that the elements of notice
do not include any require
ments to inform the student
of the specific rule he has
allegedly violated wmcn in
cludes providing him with a
copy of the rule, nor "the
facts, evidence or list of wit
nesses involved in the alleged
Violation."
Can request hearing
Wirtz indicated that student
affairs administrators make
most decisions on student dis
ciplinary action themselves,
but that the office uses the
Tribunal for more serious in
fractions. Any student could request
a Student Tribunal hearing
for any reason, and Student
Affairs most generally concur
with the Tribunal's recom
mendations, which are usu
ally "extremely sensible," he
added.
When the decisions of both
bodies do not concur, Wirtz
said, the normal practice is
to hold a joint meeting and
establish an equitable agree
ment. "We continue to work with
the Tribunal and involve the
students to establish why we
don't concur. The point here
is that we are not acting ar
bitrarily," Wirtz said.
"No guide lines"
charges that "there are not
sufficient guidelines nor prac
tices to . . . preserve intel
ligent decision-making at
present."
This is indicated in part,
the report continues, by the
large number of students who
admit to violations during
"informal" discussions with
Student Affairs staff mem
bers and the number of those
who withdraw from the Uni
versity following these same
decisions.
Wirtz said that he did not
feel the report was a chal
lenge to the integrity of Stu
dent Affairs administrators
because the office supports
all efforts to improve fair
play.
Open for suggestions
"We are open to investi
gation, exchanging dialogue
and being persuaaea to im
prove procedures in handling
student Denavior.
"We do support tne faculty,
students and administration
questioning the procedures
involving any aspects of the
University community"
Wirtz said.
"The students have every
right to question the proce
dures that affect their lives
in a dramatic way. I would
be disappointed if they
didn t, he added.
Work toward change
The questions and invest!
gations such as those raised
by the subcommittee report
are a very important part of
the University learning pro
cess, Wirtz said, and "we
should not only be concern
ed, but also work toward
constructive change."
Prof. Lisle Rose, faculty
advisor to the Student Tri
bunal, said that he will meet
with its members Tuesday to
discuss the subcommittee re
port in hopes of releasing
an official statement on t h e
report.
Seminar planned
on oceanography
The Oceanographic Com
mittee of the University of Ne
braska will present seminars
Tuesday, Mar. 5, through Fri
day, Mar. 8.
Topics to be discussed in
clude "Oceanography and Na
tional Defense," "Internation
al Law," "Ocean Engineer
ing, " "Harvest of the Sea"
and "Man in the Sea."
by Jan Itkin
Educators who are more
concerned with living with the
atom bomb than building one
have initiated an almost si
lent revolution in may Ameri
can colleges during the past
10 years.
Those c o 1 le g e s have
changed and are changing
course requirements from the
Sputnik-inspired emphasis on
science, math and increased
specialization to a renewed
study of the humanities
non-scientific areas. In doing
so, they apparently have li
beralized the course of study
in colleges of arts and
sciences.
Most universities depend
upon the arts and science col
lege to provide the broad, 11
beral background for most st
dents. Here, in the liberal
arts branch of the university
students get their English, for
eign language, humanities
social sciences, and, in some
cases, the sciences.
Revolution stirring
And it is here, in the li'
beral arts areas, that a revo
lution seems to be stirring.
Indicative of the revolution
is that 13 of the 14 universities
throughout the nation reported
that change, and usually more
than one change, had taken
place in their group require
ment system n the past 10
years.
Only the University of Illi
nois reported that no major
changes had occurred.
The changes range from
dropping requirements alto
gether as Colorado is doing
with English composition (and
as Grinnell and the University
of Illinois have already done)
to increasing the number of
hours required (as Grinnell
did with foreign language).
Greater flexibility
Most schools, however, re
arranged courses within re
quirements or are allowing
greater flexibility with the re-
quirements themselves.
Robert L. Hough, associate
dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences at the University
of Nebraska, explained the dif
ference from university to
university in the location of
various courses as to group
requirements as follows:
"In the 1920s there was a
move toward teaching the hu
manities in all fields of en
deavor. Now there are at
tempts to put them (the hu
manities courses) back to
gether." Extensive grouping
Some schools, he added,
have grouped their depart
ments more extensively than
have others.
In all schools there is bound
to be overlap.
What determines humani
ties, for instance, is still dif
ficult to determine by looking
at the humanities group re
quirements.
English, foreign language
All the schools classify En
glish and foreign language as
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humanities, although they
may be and aften are, re
quired as groups themselves.
History is considered both
humanity and a social study
in such schools as Illinois,
Wisconsin, Berkeley, Iowa
State, Kansas and Iowa, too
The only courses seemingly
agreed upon as strictly hu
manities in all the schools are
art and music. Most, however,
do place drama and philoso
phy in this group also.
Educators seemingly agree
that the requirements are be
coming more liberal. Floyd
Hoover, register emeritus and
professor of education at the
University of Nebraska, put
lttnis way:
Durnig the past few years,
the group requirements, too,
are becoming more liberal "as
educators realize that the pur
pose of education is making
a man fit to live with him
self." Trend to liberalize
Dean Hough, also of Ne
braska, said that the trend
in group requirements at col
leges of arts and sciences is
liberalizing in an "attempt to
broaden the student's range
of knowledge."
In the years following the
Sputnik-scare, he said, educa
tors have begun to realize that
if students are being turned
out with the necessary know
ledge to "blow up the world"
they also must know what it
is they could be blowing up.
He noted that the number
of hours required in group or
general requirements was re
maining static or enlarging
while the number of hours re
quired for a major was also
increasing.
Requirements for miner
"Something's got to give in
this push for added breadth
and depth and that something
is often the minor," he said.
The requirements for a minor
are being reduced or elimi
nated at some schools.
The College of Arts and
Sciences at Nebraska, for in
stance, is giving the indivi
dual departments the option
on whether to require minors.
"Breadth and depth" is edu-
cationl jargon for having both
a wide range of knowledge
and a deep knowledge of the
subject matter.
Wide background
Since colleges of arts and
sciences all attempt to give
the student a background in
a wide range of subjects,
group requirements follow a
fairly difinite pattern from
school to school.
Most require four semesters
of a foreign language as do
the University of California at
Berkeley, Harvard, the unive
sities of Michigan, Kansas,
Colorado, Nebraska and Grin
Science requirement
Two to four semesters of
science also is commonly re
quired. To further ensure ex
posure in more than one area
of science, some schools
Illinois, Berkeley, Iowa State,
Oklahoma State, Nebraska
and Colorado modify this
by Insisting that the courses
be divided between the bio
logical and physical areas.
Other schools now
recognize the close connec
tion between mathematics and
science and allow mathemat
ics to count either toward the
science requirement in gen
eral or toward the physical
sciences in particular as do
Kansas, Illinois and Nebras
ka.
The study of mathematics
and beginning philosophy is
usually regarded as a means
of disciplining the mind and,
while they were strictly re
quired in the past, are often
omitted from present group
nell.
Since the object of the re
quirement is to provide pro
ficiency in the language, the
requirement is often reduced
if proficiency is shown either
through testing or previous
course study.
requ rement systems. Most
schools that do require them
do for only one course and
usually waive it if a student
has had a certain amount of
mathematics in high school.
Social studies
Social studies or the study
of society is required in every
school. The number of re
quired courses ranges from
two at Illinois and Colorado
to six at Minnesota with the
average being three or four.
Most schoos with more
than a two-semester require
ment temper the requirement
by insisting that at least two
courses be taken in the same
department to form a se
quence.
English would seem to be
generally a one-year require
ment except at Iowa State
where three semesters is the
minimum, but the require
ment is undergoing changes
or elimination at some
schools.
Freshman English
Hough explained that what
was normally considered the
requirement was a freshman
English composition course
and that many places are
either not requiring it at all
or are changing the course to
avoid emphasis on composi
tion. These changes were in
stigated by tests showing that
writing quality was usually
not sustained after completion
of the course.
"It was rather disconcerting
to see the same people who
were such good writers as
freshmen not be able to write
a literate theme as Juniors,"
he said.
The most extensive and
general of the group require
ments are the humanities re
quirements dealing with
man's search for exlression.
A minimum of two courses is
required at some schools with
many requiring four. While
the schools do consider some
fields notably literature
and foreign language for
both humanities and other
areas, the same course can
not be used to fulfill more
than one requirement at a
time.
Waste of time
Students often say the
group requirements are a
"waste of time or a nuisance"
and occasionally will transfer
colleges to avoid a require
ment. However, Lloyd Weaver, as
sistant dean of Arts and Sci
ences at Nebraska, discount
ed the significance of t h e s e
complaints. He explained that
students usually do not real
ize the value of any given
course until "after they grad- j
uate and are out in the world
a while."
In an attempt to make the
courses more meaningful in
fields not normally of inter
est to many students, some
universities have revised the
courses.
General 'biology course
The University of Nebras
ka for instance, has recently
compiled botany, zoology and
anatomy into a general bio
logy course relating the three
life science areas instead of
having the first course deal
with any specialized area.
Berkeley now offers a history
of science course with a simi
lar purpose.
While the educators are un
able to predict what will hap
pen to group requirements in
the future, Hough indicated
that, to his mind, their gener
al function would not change.
"We like to think that, by
the time he graduates, the
student has at least been ex
posed to the major areas of
human knowledge," he said,
"and that these glimpses into
the fields of endeavor will con
tinue to be given to him at a
time of his intellectual mat
uration."
Technologically prepared
In this manner, he con
tinued, the student will enter
the world not only technologi
cally prepared but with an
understanding of "how this
world got the way it is."
The college student s world
is changing world. He has al
ready experienced one major
shift in the g o a 1 s of educa
tion, is now in the midst of
counter-reform movement
and will no doubt In his life
time see the educational pen
dulum swing again.
Just like a swinging pen
dulum, however, it seems
certain that the changes will
not return education to t h e
starting point, but will retain
some of the aspects of t e
first, second or even third
revolution.
The student may not real
ize that the revolutions ar e
taking place but they are and
are affecting his world as
much as they are teaching
about it for these revolu
tions affect the thinking of the
people in it.
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