The Eagle-pag- e Thursday February 2 2 1989 Vice president urges faculty to stop inflating grades by G Scott Warren staff writer College of Eastern Utah Academic Vice President Robert Torgerson has just completed an analysis of faculty grading practices and feels there are some startling results in some departments Torgerson stated in a memo sent to faculty that he had suspected considerable grade inflation by certain members of the faculty The memo states that nearly two-thirof all departments have an average grade point average greater than 275 The individual faculty results show that 50 percent of the regular faculty and 62 percent of all faculty award grades resulting in GPA's higher than 275 The memo listed individual departments and their average GPA's Among the departments giving the highest amount of A's and B's was the education department which gives an average 400 GPA The speech nursing dance and physical education all give average grades well above 175 all are just above 3 51 Classes such as art literature and math still rate well by keeping average grades for their departments below the 275 mark or anywhere from a C to a B- Torgerson believes according to the memo that certain faculty members are relaxing their grading policies making it much easier to get A's and B's This in return puts pressure on other faculty members to do the ds same so called "watering down" of class curriculum Torgerson's proposal to remedy this problem will be to monitor faculty members by requiring each to "repent the total number of each type of grade given and the overall GPA for the course Reports will be on the final grade report form for the registrar's office" Starting winter quarter 1989 all grading practices and faculty members will be monitored on a compliance basis with the new stricter grading practices All facts considered the policy simply states that the current trend at CEU is one of severe grade inflation and lessened curriculum According to the memo the curriculum of each department will not be difficult enough until the majority of the students enrolled have GPA's that average 275 and below The question that comes to mind is "Is CEU a major university consisting of some 30 to 40 thousand students where one expects to find a large portion of the student body with GPA's below 275?" CEU has a small student body with classes smaller than 50 students allowing each one to receive necessary individual attention concerning material covered in classes Whereas a larger school has classes consisting of nearly 500 students where often times an individual is only a number on a grade sheet The curriculum at a junior college is that of general education not a major field The average student wishes to get his w her GE finished with a good grade point in order to transfer to a four-yecollege or university to where field of a diversity between instudy pursue major is not to say that jushow That to dividuals is expected nior colleges should be relaxed in their programs only that with the smaller classes much higher averages among students should be expected due to better ar relations While it's true that grading policies should be monitored from time to time it is not true that it should be condoned each and every quarter An example is the activity oriented classes where much of the grade is determined by class participation involvement and overall support of the program If a certain percentage of students were given C grades or below then they would not be as likely to take the class again and many programs would fail because of lack of participation This only breeds discontent and bad relations among those individuals involved Winter and spring quarter of 1989 will be those with the most emphasis and hopefully after the academic vice president's office receives the results CEU can evaluate itself and determine that it is a school with very competent faculty and advisors a main reason it is one of the fastest growing junior colleges House passes bill naming English as official language by Kirsten Christensen news editor Whew! I had certainly really sweated that one out I was so relieved to read in the Salt Lake Tribune that the "Utah House has adopted English as the state's official language" Despite complaints that the bill would be construed as racist Construed as ridiculous would be more likely After all what purpose will it serve? Is it going to keep Utahns with Greek heritages from speaking Greek in the meat department at the grocery sieves when they arc complaining about the price of ground beef and they don't want to offend the butcher with a Mexican background? Will an official state language keep the butcher from expressing in Spanish to his how nice the Greek women's daughters look in tight jeans so as not to offend the women? Another question that is raised in my mind is which English language will be Utah's official one? The English spoken in England is a different language than the English spoken on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City In England you co-work- er don't call someone on the telephone you knock them up Another English is the one spoken in Australia Anyone who has seen Crocodile Dundee can tell you that For example take the word rubber in Australia a rubber is used to erase a mistake made with a pencil on a piece of paper Here a rubber is used to prevent a mistake It can all be very confusing Even within the boundaries of our preuy great state English is spoken in several languages Have you ever listened to a St George native? Could you understand him? A few words huh? 'In St George they arc aware of the language barrier between Capitol Hill and Temple Hill so they have written a translation guide for visitors The guides arc put in all the St George motel rooms at least there was one in the room I stayed in In Sl George folks eat corn with forks and babies arc barn in harspitals but horses arc barn in borns And more than one visitor has raised an eyebrow when a native has given a history lesson about some of the early pioneer structures built under the instructions of LDS church presidents The lesson might begin like this: "All of Brigham Young’s farts around Southern Utah protected the pioneers against Indian attacks Cove Fart is one of the most famous ones" Like I've said it can all be confusing Even at CEU English comes in a variety of forms The English students can sound foreign But then so can spoken by some Price students I have often heard in the halls brilliant statements such as "Yea like it was ya know man" I haven't the foggiest notion what it means but I'm sure whatever it is it is totally awesome out-of-sta- Editor Lee Mathle Kirsten Christensen News Editor HIINMNIHIIHIMMMilMHMHnHMIlNHHIMIIMMMmiMli Feature Editor IININNIlINMMUMHIMai Gina Howard Entertainment EditorIMMaMIHMMaMMNMMHIHHIHHHHHai IHMIIHIMH Travis Mann Pene Stacee and Richard Hickmon Women's Sports Kristie Eliason and Jake Shewmake Men's Sports West Patrick Dunn Garth Frandsen Jan ReportCTSMMCordy Holiday Ragun Larkin Anna Murphy Kathryn Painter Chris Korenko Theresa Green G Scott Warren Wendy Young and Edith Berdan C Hamaker Kirsten Christensen Photographers and Garth Frandsen Susan A Polster Advisor The Eagle it Iht official student publication of Ikt College of Eastern Utah and it printed every other Thursday fall winter and spring quarters Opinions expressed in this publication may or may not reflect the official opinion of CEJTs administration rs te bom-and-br- ed Co-Edito- rs factyHtorTEIeeulloomJlIlUmBiMm American English is really just a concoction of several languages molded and reshaped by each culture Whether English is i Utahn's mother tongue or his or her second language what is the point of making it the state's official language? It will be interesting to sec which English the HB130 is making official Perhaps it will be the one spoken by Rep who introduced the bill when he defended it Haynes Fuller "I what don't care language we expoundbul I think it's by saying axiomatic that that's English" That was English he was speaking wasn't it? one-senten- D-Ed- cn ce Theatre students attend festival at Mesa by Cordy West staff writer They called it a festivention - a festival of workshops and a theatre convention all in one! Several CEU theatre students had the rare opportunity to attend a theatre convention at Mesa College in Grand Junction The Rocky from January 18-2- 1 Association Mountain Theatre presented workshops and lectures covering a range of subjects from theatre design and makeup to acting and directing The CEU students attended plays presented from other colleges in the region and observed many aspects of theatre According to CEUs theatre director Dian Henderson the students had a chance to observe prepared auditions for upcoming plays and to get a feel for what is expected "We just went to watch and learn from those around us Maybe next year we may do some auditions ourfive-sta- te selves" CEU theatre student Laurel Randquist had the chance to go and said die enjoyed her stay at Mesa College "The makeup workshop was the best Bob Kelly a highly acclaimed makeup artist taught the workshop and I really liked it"