Behrend collegian. (Erie, Pa.) 1971-1988, October 14, 1971, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Page Two
New Precedent For Behrendt
Students Act, Change Occurs
For all too long the Behrend students have malfunctions, administrative indecision and
maintained an "I don't give a damn" attitude "economy" measures. But they did not merely
toward the major social and academic complain. They made specific, reasonable
problems on our campus. When asked to get proposals to the Assistant Director for Resident
involved the average Behrend student respond Instruction. Within three days they had their
with: "Why should I get involved?l'm only answer. Improvements would be made. They
here for two years!" "You can't fight the ad- are being made right now. As a result of the
ministrative bureaucracy and red tape so why organized manner in which the Instructional
try?" "Nothing can be done to change the Services Department presented its problems,
system!" And so the problems continue at the majority of its difficulties have been
Behrend while students stand around coin- resolved, while those issues still outstanding are
plaining, but doing nothing. At least this has being negotiated.
been the case until now. This action is dramatic proof that an
This past week, the student personnel of - the organized group of students can effectively
Instructional Services Department submitted a create change at Behrend. The administrative
list of grievances to the Office of Resident officers of this campus can be persuaded to act.
Instruction. Although the problems of wages They will hear and respond to forceful, logical
and hours for student employees were and responsible demands of the students. But
discussed, the essential concern exhibited by the they will- do this only if the students, and even
letter of grievance was the quality of education the faculty, take firm and reasonable stands.
at Behrend. The students, actually running the Although compromise and negotiation will be
department at the present time, were convinced required, unity and determination of purpose
that the lack of administrative direction and can work change.
decision were severely restricting the activities Last year there were cries from all segments
and capabilities of the department. Educational of the campus community that the ad
chaos seemed to be developing as a result of this ministration at Behrend turned deaf ears to any
indecision. The department was on the verge of plea from the students or the faculty no matter
a complete shutdown. This would have ter- how reasonable, meaningful or necessary the
minated several courses on campusand would suggested improvements were. So far this year
have eliminated the audio-visual materials used there have been two examples that change can
in many other courses. The student employees be wrought by concerned action. Perhaps "the
felt compelled to act to end this confusion and to times they are a-changing." We certainly hope
rectify the grievances they had. they are. Perhaps this is the start of a new era
And act they did, putting their own jobs on the for Behrend, an era when students and faculty
line. In a respectful yet firm letter, they alike not only urge,but actually propose and
presented the difficulties they had in fulfilling inaugurate changes which can only result in the
their assigned functions because of equipment improvement of the academic life at Behrend.
T.V. Courses Poor Substitute;
Professors Needed To F ill Gap
Any Behrend student who has taken
Meterology 300, Anthropology, Psychology 14,
Art History, or Health is familiar with the
awesome machine known as the Video Tape
Recorder. These same students are also
familiar with the poor quality of these TV
courses.
In the past Behrend has relied on TV courses
to fill an otherwise lacking curriculum.
Television is a poor substitute for live in
struction. Video instruction seems so ridiculous
since an instructor must be present to sup
plement what is presented on tape. The in-
structor should be the main source of in-
formation. TV should merely supplement in
struction like any other visual aid.
The quality of the videotapes is far below that
needed for quality education. The audio is often
garbled and the video is equally as bad.
Dropout, shedding tape, and clogged video
heads are just a few of the technical problems
with the present tapes.
4:en ,
littera, Totteg,ta.p.
Member of
Myr frros Assuriatimt
of Olonumnutwalth &mum
Editor-in-chief Managing Editor
Ray Geiger Doug Leichliter
Faculty Advisor
David Daniel
Mailing Address - Behrend Campus, Station Road, Erie, Pa. 16510
Office-Student Offices, raged Union Building
Office Hours: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
Phone:B99-3101 Ext. 238
Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of the Behrend Collegian
are not necessarily those of the University Administration, faculty, or
the student body.
Published every Thursday throughout the Fall, Winter, and Spring
Terms, with exclusions for holidays and term breaks.
AsKFD
itorial Opinion
As far as tape production is concerned,
television's visual medium is used poorly. The
present approach to TV courses is to tape lec
tures. Taking an instructor out of a classroom,
putting him in front of a camera and taping his
lectures does not make a TV course. Present
lecture practices are not usable on television. A
good television course requires an instructor
familiar with television production practices
and familiar with the advantages and
limitations of the medium.
There are ways in which television can be
utilized effectively to benefit both student and
teacher. Using the TV close-up in science ex
periments, video taping commercial television
programs to be used during class time, student
self evaluation in theater and speech courses,
and teacher self evaluation of teaching prac ;
tices are a few ways in which television can be
ised as a course tool instead of a course sub
stitute.
Ourins Dqylistit they
Behrend Collegian
Editorial
Policy
The editorials appearing in this
newspaper will be opinionated
and therefore subject to
criticism. All letters that are
typewritten of 200 words or less,
and submitted to the newspaper
staff will be printed with the
exception of those that are
repetitions or in poor taste. The
staff reserves the right - to correct
or delete portions of all letters for
publication purposes.
All letters must be signed, but
names will be withheld upon
request. Term standing, major,
and hometown must be included.
Signed columns represent the
view of the author only and do not
reflect the Editorial policy of the
Behrend Collegian.
bo_corne the clown,
'Jfs••• bf the cArnp.s. Til.ey;se
Called yi-4.4y -1•11;ri -• Wotfecte-kS,
-, v b u nters, r na.sked ritairarders--
/Pori
anegißeM
No Funds Hinder
Behrend Growth
by Doug Leichliter
Managing Editor
Times are rough. Times are rough all over. But times seem to be
especially rough at Penn State, more specifically the Behrend
Campus.
For a state that has taxes as high as they are, the average.person
would imagine that there would. be a little bit of money around to
give to Penn State, with the hope that a 'modicum of it might ac
tually filter down to the Behrend Campus.
- Theoretically Behrend is supposed to be a four year institution of
higher learning. Theoretically of course. In reality, Behrend is still
stumbling along on the funds that would barely meet the
requirements of any of the other commonwealth campuses. While
Behrend is supposed to be progressive, it is barely managing to
maintain what it has at the moment.
One of these days the powers that be in this fair state of Penn
sylvania are going to wake up and realize what a dynamic place
Behrend really is, and perhaps give us the money necessary to
accomplish what Behrend is required to do. In the meantime, the
Behrend Campus is struggling along with one hand tied behind its
back. There is no room for any of the campus organizations to
utilize in order to realize the potentials that many of them contain.
The buildings that the campus so desperately needs are at the
moment held up in some Appropriations Committee. There is no
money to hire the faculty to meet the academic requirements of the
campus, and as a result the students are being short changed from
an- educational viewpoint. Behrend is dying while legislators and
University administrators fiddle.
"The Who" Make It;
Same Old "Blues"
by Charles Eschweiler
Staff writer
Who's Next... The Who
The Who have always had a
hard time maintaining a level of
consistency over the space of an
L.P. This is obvious from Magic
Bus up to Live at Leeds. Magic
Bus was only half of what it could
have been, Tommy would have
made one good album but loses
its effect stretched over two
separate records and just as Live
at Leeds approaches greatness
Townshed decides to show how
well he can imitate Jimmy Page
and blows everything. Who's
Next is the first really solid
album the boys have come up
with; it starts out with a tightly
Speak Easy
by Garry Cochran
Staff Writer
Q-What is the problem-some of
our showers don't work; you have
to wait in line on Friday and
Saturday night. Flustered
A-Food and Housing director Bob
Finley checked with the Plum
bing Contractor about this
problem. It seems that some of
the supplies were stolen.
Plumber had to first order
replacements; they have been
installed or will be finished this
week. If yours are missed con
tact Mr. Finley and give him the
location of the shortage.
Q-This campus lacks something
don't you think? A.Q.
When You Patronize
Our Advertisers
Tell Them
You Saw Their Ad
The Behrend Colle
October 14,1971
structured rocker, Baba O'Reilly
and maintains an energetic
tension all the way into the ex
plosive eight minutes of Won't Be
Fooled Again. I suspect that this
album will sound as good a year
from now as it does today. How
many albums can you honestly
say that of?
Every Good Boy
Deserves Favor...
The Moody Blues
Yes, this is another Moody
Blues album just like the last five
Moody Blues albums. Next year
there will be another Moody
Blues album; it will probably be
just like the six previous Moody
Blues albums. Isn't that nice?
A-Definitely. The administration
lacks bureaucracy, the faculty
doesn't have that unap
proachable attitude with
students, and the buildings lack
those colorfully painted slogans
on their walls. The students lack
unrest, unfriendliness and
apathy.
These are some of the lackings
of Behrend, and as long as they
persist this campus will lack
some of the flavor of bigger
schools_
"SPEAK EASY" will reply to
questions of general interest to
students and faculty at Behrend
Campus. Any questions you have
can be addressed to this column.
!PRI
iFTI