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Show 1 v- 4 Signpost May 26, 1978 Edit Letters to the Editor As the school year draws to a close, it might be interesting to take a short look at the year's events on campus. For instance:The Dee Events CenterSand the new Engineering and Technology Building were opened and put into use. The go-ahead was given for the Master's program at Weber. Ogden industrialist Val A. Browning donated $1 million to the college, a donation which will hopefully help broaden the cultural offerings possible in the area. The Basketball, Cross-Country and Golf teams all won their respective Big Sky Conference titles. The combined effort by all Weber athletes won the Big Sky "All-Sports Trophy" for the first time since 1970. For veterans, a field center was opened, benefits were raised, and the VA decided WILKIT's were alright after all. Inflation took its toll, with the prices of food, tuition and books, and about everything else going up. That's the bad news. The good news is that the prices of calculators and digital watches actually went down. But just try eating a calculator. Bella Abzug came to town and was greeted by what was probably the biggest campus controversy since the Vietnam war. Interestingly enough, the protest came mostly from local housewives, not "radical degenerate students." Fortunately, the national guard was not needed. Just a bomb squad. And, after finally encountering a Signpost which was not publicly committed to his removal, President Joseph L. Bishop resigned. (Of course, his mission call had something to do with that.) As far as next year is concerned, rumor has it that Beverly Taggart is only a freshman, and incoming Signpost Editor John Redding has built a neutron bomb (he says he'll leave the buildings standing). Well, that's about it. We at the Signpost hope the year was a good one for our readers, and we hope the future holds success and fulfillment for each of you. Published twice weekly by the Media Board of Weber State College during fall, winter and spring quarters. Entered as second class mail at the Ogden, Utah Post office. Mailing address: Weber State College, 3750 Harrison Blvd., Ogden, Utah, 84408. The opinions expressed on the editorial page do not necessarily represent those of the student body, the administration, the WSC Media Board or that of the Signpost Staff. Val Williams Dale Hicks John Redding Brad Hart Donna Schultz Lynn Arave f Mike Reberg , Clyde Mueller Heiko Glander Jill Farquharson Eunice Schlenkev I'lionc: Editor Advertising Manager Managing Editor , News Editor News Editor Sports Editor Staff Reporter Photography Editor Photographer Secretary Staff Assistant :$M-.VH1 .-vt. 2)C. Dear Editor: I was dismayed as I read your front-page article on the Rockefeller Grant recently awarded to Dr. Ernest Partridge. There is no argument that Dr. Partridge deserves all the praise for this magnificent achievement. What I object to is the College being given any credit for this individual effort. In particular when ' one considers that a mere few weeks ago the administration was prepared to let Dr. Partridge go and this was one of the reasons he sought the grant in the first place. Dr. Partridge has been at Weber for two years during which time the administration has paid him literal peanuts while restricting him to only half time during the day and granting him no benefits, such as medical insurance. This has occurred despite the fact that he has been an excellent teacher and has also proven himself to be an outstanding scholar, leading out in his field with articles in professional journals and papers presented at professional meetings. The justification for such action seems to be that after all he accepted beforehand the conditions in which he was to be exploited. The article on Friday, May 12's paper sounds as if Dr. Partridge was merely taking leave from his position here at Weber. The truth is that because of the lack of imagination and boldness of the administration, who should spend some time keeping people like Dr. Partridge on campus, this fine professor, like so many others who have been here under similar prostituted conditions in the last few years, will undoubtedly never return to Weber. The embarrassing fact is that these people who are not good enough for Weber end up getting Rockefeller Grants or teaching at Berkeley or some other "lesser" institutions. And it seems that the administration can find millions of dollars for computers and machines, but not a few thousand for the most valuable asset that any educational institution can have, its creative and productive minds. Sincerely, J. Henry Ibarguen P.S. Dr. Partridge in no way knows that this letter has been written by me. I wrote it simply because I felt that this needed to be said. KWCR-FM 88.1 All summer long! Dear Editor: During the 77-78 school year, our Work Activity Center has received many special services from the students, staff, and programs at Weber State College. We wish to publicly thank all concerned persons and to let the readers of the Signpost know how great we feel about the relationship we have with the College. Our employees have enjoyed football and basketball games, a dress rehearsal for an Orchesis program, and Planetarium shows. The little gym, complete with timer, scoreboard, and officials, has been made available to us for a basketball game. We recently held a track meet and students planned and officiated it. At least half a dozen students have gotten practicum hours by assisting in our bowling or swim program or in our work areas. A recreation-games class help a party for us as a part of a group project. At every occasion we have experienced kindness, patience, and enthusiasm, and interest from staff and students. Our thanks for the tremendous experiences we've had this year! We hope to continue to utilize the facilities and services at Weber State College. Sincerely, Brent V. Petersen, Director Margo Stevens, Howard Halverson, Karen Sue Guertin Weber Vocational Workshop Editor: I would like to personally thank the 200 WSC students; 42 faculty and administrators; and Higher Education Board of Regents . employees Drs. Tad Williams and Leon McCarrey for very affirmative responses to my survey and proposal on Major-Minor Media Kits. Particular thanks goes to Dr. James Foster of the Math Department for encouragement and statistical review. These kits, when created would represent all WSC major and minor fields on media kits containing audio cassette portions with appropriate visual representations. The kits would characterize the meaning of majoring or minoring in a certain field. It was noted that of the 15 questions asked in the survey, among their highest ratings was intensive interest by students desiring to know what areas of employment hired their major or minor; 93 percent rated this highly. Another 88 percent gave high marks to knowing what cluster areas related to their major-minor. A high rating was also given to the idea that the Media Kits should contain information on the goals of courses and the skills that would be acquired (83 percent). Seventy- six percent rated highly that the basic learning experiences of the major-minor area should be made known in the creation of the kits. Interestingly enough, out of live problems to be solved in college success, nealry half (48 percent) chose choosing a major-minor as the biggest problem; 27 percent chose choosing a major-minor in second place . . . elucidating the fact that 75 percent of the students think that choosing a major-minor is highly important. Some 63 accumulated comments by WSC students indicate this project ought to be done . . . soon. Assuringly, 80 percent of the students surveyed said they'd use the kits "much" to "very much". As one student commented: "Where were you (the kits) when I needed you?" Roger Clark Dear Editor, This letter pertains to the campus bookstore. For an operation that is supposed to serve the students, we are being taken for a ride. We pay exorbitant prices for new books, resell them to the bookstore for roughly half of what we paid, only to have the bookstore charge wild prices for used books. That is if you're lucky enough to be able to sell your book back to the store. Many books are changed form one quarter to the next or the class is not being offered next quarter. The students are expected to absorb these monetary setbacks even with the high cost of tuition. A typical example of the bookstore rip-off operation is the Botany 110 book by Widson, Loomis, Steeves. The new book sells for $17.20, the used sells for $12.90, and as of this writing the bookstore is not buying this book back. This is not an isolated case. I myself have several such books, whose price I have had to absorb. There are several remedies for this situation. First off, if possible, the instructor should forewarn the bookstore a quarter in advance of the book's termination. This way the bookstore could greatly reduce the price of the book for the last quarter of the book's use, forewarning the students that the book can not be resold. Furthermore, the bookstore should not sell used books (new books bought for greatly reduced prices from the students) for a mark-up from what the bookstore bought the used book for; evidently paying the bookstore for the student's use of the book. Lastly, discontinued books should be offered to local high schools for cheap prices if not absolutely free. The bookstore is to be a student enterprise, not an extremely high priced library or private enterprise. David Williams |