Page 2
Three Years
the Heights
To the Editor,
Our three years in Meade
Heights have been comfortable
and happy, and if the Heights as
a whole has never really become
a strongly unified community
(too much to expect, no doubt,
and perhaps not even altogether
desirable) it has given us friends,
opportunities to listen as well as
to talk, and (surprising as it may
seem to a few of our colleagues)
privacy.
Meade Heights is a remarkable
resource for Capitol Campus,
and while we believe that more
could be done to integrate our
academic programs with the lives
that students and teachers lead
outside of the classroom, at least
living here has made it possible
for us to see, and hopefully to
demonstrate, that there is more
to Capitol Campus than one
large building and two parking
lots.
For our children, living in
Meade Heights has been an
altogether joyous experience.
They have made their own
friends and they have explored.
They could teach an interesting
course in the geography of
the Heights the houses where
they like to watch TV and angle
for candy, the woods, the Bus
Stops, the short cut, the Horsey
Swings and so on.
The disappearance of the
Horsey Swings one evening
during the term break warned us
that soon "children" and
"adults" would vanish too. We
can understand that as the
Campus grows more space is
needed for student housing.
But we don't believe in
segregation by generation. Too
many essentially artificial
barriers already exist in
Contemporary America, dividing
people into administratively tidy
but socially dysfunctional
categories. It should be the task
of a university to break down
such barriers, not to reinforce
them.
For this reason, and because,
frankly, we have enjoyed living
in Meade Heights, we will be
sorry to leave. We would have
stayed.
John & Fiona Patterson
Letters to the Editor
Towards
Chaos
Community?
To the Editor,
There was an excitement in
the air when, in the Fall of
1969, we moved into our house
in Meade Heights. We considered
ourselves fortunate to be among
the few faculty families living in
what we hoped would be a great
community. We speculated
about the future: It was the start
of our teaching at Capitol and
the beginning of a provocative
experiment in a learning/living
community. We were, one might
have said, animated by our
enthusiasm. At least, for awhile.
Of course, there were the
good times. Parties, open houses,
sports, coffee house events,
community suppers, THE
MEADE-lUM, and just a lot of
informal interaction. There were
the serious raps and cultural
ha ppenings. Planning and
governing took place with
selection of the Resident
Assistants and in meetings with
Student Affairs persons. All of
these times will be remembered.
Other times will best be
forgotten. As, for example, the
time when we were asked what
exciting newprograms and
activities we were planning for
the forthcoming year. When we
submitted our suggestions,
which included all sorts of
experiences, we got "STOP"
signs.
According to the brochure on
the residence living program,
"Meade Heights provides a
setting in which students can
benefit from the experience of
living in a community such as
they might inhabit following
graduation." The question
remains: Is Meade Heights the
type of community we should
project for the future? I'm not
sure. One thing that I have
learned from my Meade Heights
experience: The expression of
community will flow from the
resolution of individuals
problems and needs as they
work together. In Meade
Heights, this expression is still
dormant.
Jack Susskind
ANYONE STILL DESIRING A
1972 YEARBOOK MAY
ORDER ONE BEFORE
FRIDAY, JUNE 9, AT 8198
WEAVER.
THE CAPITOLIST
Meade Heights
Experience
To the Editor,
Meade Heights is a good place
to live, both for students and
faculty. It is spacious, green,
relatively unhassled by
regulation, fairly open and
warm. For us, it was an exciting
three years, a time when one
never quite knew how many
people there would be for
supper, when people would just
drop in and sit down. Our
children love it, and willmiss it, I
think. The ravine and the open
spaces are part of the place's
riches, and they must be
preserved.
Educationally, Meade Heights
was a place to grow. I think
there was much serious
exploration of ideas and
relationships, much candor,
much trust. There is a great
contrast between the Heights
and The Building, and I think we
could learn much by seeing if we
could integrate the styles of the
two places. No, forget it,
because then the Heights would
just wind up looking more like
The Building.
We gave a number of open
houses while we were there, and
I think mostpeople who came
dug them. I know we did. We
had to go through hassles with
the university, largely over
financing them, although John
Grimm and George Dressler did
what they could, within the
confines of a pretty rigid system
of bookkeeping. I got the
impression that the
administration and academic
programs never really got very
interesting in exploring Meade
Heights as a living/learning
situation. Once I wrote the
Director and President a long
letter about alienation, drug use,
general aimlessness, vandalism,
and the like -- something about
how they might be telling us
something about Capitol
Campus. The reply was brief:
Get rid of your dog. So it goes.
Meade Heights is still not a
community, although there are
many sub-communities within it.
But there still seem to be a lot of
lonely people sitting in front of
their TVs. I think the coffee
house helps things along, as do
the communal dinners, which
are very beautiful times. I'm
afraid it may go the way of the
university, which is ever toward
depersonalization, toward
hierarchical structure and
regulation of everything. Our
policeman has gone from a plain
blue sedan and a plain blue suit
to a traveling light show and
para-military drag; and you need
an act of god to get into the
coffee house other than at
designated hours, and then only
in the company of an R.A. This
makes for community?
PROBLEM
Dear Ed.,
I am writing about the Senior
Ball last Saturday at Hershey.
One incident upset me slightly
the fact that one of the bands
was asked to leave. Naturally
everyone I confronted blamed it
on someone else. So whoever the
real culprit is all I want to say is
"Fuck You "
Steve Wesley
A Ripped Off Senior
Having Them
Post-Pre-Registration Blues
If You Think
by Tom Hagan
Remember when one of the
most ballyhooed concepts to get
you to come to this campus was
the flexibility of the college?
You were supposed to have
virtually a free hand in designing
your curriculum. For some, this
has indeed been the case.
For others, it has not been so
ideal. Many courses are only
offered at one inopportune time
of day. Many are conducted by
an undesirable professor. Still
others are held during a single
semester of an academic year.
But this is a small school with
a small faculty. Difficulties
should be expected. After all,
this is an experimental school.
The only problem is that when
the bugs are worked out at this
place, a few bugs of hassles are
unnecessarily worked in.
The latest brilliant move is the
new "pre-advisement" procedure
that has begun this term. The
student goes to his Faculty
Advisor (Pre-Advisor?) to be
pre-advised. (One wonders what
kind of preparations should be
made in order to facilitate things
when you pre-decide with the
aid of this pre-adviser what you
later decide with advising what
you will take.)
Granted, filling out those
index cards for nine courses has
a good purpose. The result can
be a tentative idea of who wants
to take what and when.
But there's more. If, after
pre-advisement, you decide to
take something other than what
you chose in pre-advisement,
look out. You will have to find
your long lost Advisor to get his
signature to change the course.
(I wonder if this too will
eventually involve a two dollar
add-drop fee?)
Why the hell aren't those
cards used just to take a poll?
The argument is that then
most students will change their
minds. That is debatable, but
even if it is true, SO WHAT?
What is so flexible about forcing
a commitment to a block
schedule for an entire year?
Well, the argument goes, it
isn't exactly forcing a block
schedule. All a student has to do
is get advisor approval.
But wouldn't it be better to
lessen hassles by letting the
student change his mind,
without having to get approval
on his self-designed (?)
curriculum?
But then everyone will change
their minds
But isn't that forcing ... etc.,
etc.,
Got the idea?
It's called institutionalization.
You endorse an idea for
maximum personalized benefit.
Somebody adds rules and
procedures of dubious merit.
You end up with less
individuality, more hassles and
more paperwork.
You graduate with a
standardized eight-and-a-half
by-eleven stamp of approval
which states that you have
experimented to become a
better educated person.
Juniors, next year, when you
are running around at
registration, trying to find your
Advisor who has to sign your
request to change your decision
on a course from pre-advisement
which has since been
pre-registered for and
unfortunately unwanted, leaving
leftover courses for late
registration . . . Stop and think
about it.
Ed Racey
Was Bad . . .
Thuridsy, June 8, 1972.
If you think you have a
headache now, you're wrong.
It's only a pre-headache.
Wait until next year.
Security
To the Editor,
Students beware! Mr. Paul is
lurking behind trees and bushes
trying to catch you violating a
regulation any violation his
little mind can fabricate. If he
can't legally reach his quota of
tickets, then he "trumps up"
charges to make his day.
Unfortunately, the victims of
his false arrests have no recourse
but to pay the fine, and try to
avoid the vindictive Mr. Paul.
Our student court is powerless
against him. A student hasn't a
chance to prove his innocence
no one can fight the man.
Does Mr. Paul have x-ray
vision that enables him to see
through trees and bushes in the
ravine to spot cars committing
"moving violations" or is it
just an active imagination? Why
does Mr. Paul call a student a
"liar" for telling the truth when
he tries to prove the man wrong?
Does Mr. Paul lie purposely to
ruin a student's record? What is
his problem?
Security personnel do have a
place and a role to perform on
this campus. That role does not
include picking up students on
false charges. Where was Mr.
Paul when the cow's horns were
"borrowed" last week? Why
wasn't he doing his job then?
Maybe he was at the corner of
sth and Rosedale waiting for a
car to stop at the stop sign so
that he could issue a ticket for
"running" the sign.
If enough of us complain
about the security on this
campus, in particular Mr. Paul,
perhaps the University will start
to see the man as he really is.
Then, if we're lucky, they will
replace him with someone who
doesn't have to prove to himself
that he has authority by passing
warnings and tickets on false
charges. That, of course, is too
much to ask for.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
A Letter of Thanks
At a time when there is an
abundance of rhetoric regarding
ways in which we can do
something constructive to help
our fellow man, there is one
person who has transformed talk
into action.
He is a student here at Capitol
who will be graduating next
week, and his name is Bill
Bill has devoted a
considerable amount of his time
as a volunteer at the Day Care
Co-Op in the Athletic Bldg.
Much of this energy was given at
the expense of his free study
time, and not an inconsiderable
amount was at the expense of
more critical class time.
For his help and dedication
we wish to extend our profound
gratitude to Bill and to all the
other generous people who
helped make the Co-Op a success
this past year.
Anyone interested in finding
out how they can help keep the
Center going next Fall (parents
or volunteers), is urged to
contact Janet Reid at 232-8113.