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Show News Opinion Signature page 2 page 4 page 6 Entertainment Sports Classifieds page 7 page 9 page 12 What's stressing you? , Inside: see Sianature A se5 page 6 Thursday, January 14 1988 i-j Weber State College Vol. 48 No. 23 ill Nation's newest holiday Coral Lou Glenn Ass. News Editor On January 18 Americans will celebrate our nation's newest holiday, a day set aside to honor civil right's leader Martin Luther King. Many confess to not understanding his contributions to the American people as readily as they do the contributions of other exalted American leaders. "There is a distinct difference between celebrating the birth of King and the birth of other great leaders," said Dr. Candadai Seshachari, English department chair. "King is unlike any other American national symbol. Washington and Lincoln have come to symbolize our nationhood, our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations; they have come to symbolize our tryst with destiny." "But with Martin Luther King," continued Seshachari "we are observing the life of a great man who reminds us of the promises broken and the distance left to go for equality and the pursuit that Thomas Jefferson called happiness. He is a symbol of dreams unrealized for too long and for too many people." While in graduate school, Dr. Seshachari developed a great personal and intellectual interest in King and the civil right's movement. He has done considerable archival research on both King and Gandhi-renowned leaders of nonviolence. In 1969, Seshachari wrote a book titled "Gandhi and the American Scene; an Intellectual History and Inquiry." "King read Gandhi extensively," said Seshachari. "King's followers saw in him an imprint of this distant mentor. The connection between (them) was deep and abiding." Through Gandhi, King learned that one need not kill in order to wrest one's God-given right to self-dignity. He came to realize that the Christian doctrine of love, operating through nonviolence, was one of the most powerful weapons available to the oppressed people and their struggle for freedom. "King was an extraordinary leader. Without him the civil rights movement would not have been, in a sense," Seshachari went on to say. "King sensitized Americans to the moral dilemma of double standards and their own unequal cruel treatment of the American blacks. (see KING page 3) Semester conversion "on hold ii Donna Brown Managing Editor In December, Utah State Higher Education Commissioner Rolfe Kerr issued a statement in a report recommending the nine Utah state colleges and universities convert from a quarter system calender to a semestertrimester calendar effective fall semester, 1989. After a president's council meeting held Monday involving the presidents of each of the Utah schools, the commissioner changed his recommendation to the board of regents to put the decision "on hold" until further study into the issue can be made. A recommendation was originally scheduled to be discussed by the regents at its Jan. 22 meeting and acted on in early February. "This has been a very mixed issue," said Dr. Cecelia Foxley, associate commissioner for Utah Academic Affairs. She said the issue will now be placed on the regent's agenda as an "information item," or items to be studied only. "There are still merits to the semester system," Foxley said, "but the commissioner feels that the economics of the state indicate that now is not the time." Currently, Utah state colleges and universities operate on a quarter system four quarters of 48 days, with the exception of the law school at the University of Utah, which is run on a semester calendar. Foxley said three Utah colleges-Utah Valley Technical College, Dixie College and Southern Utah State College-indicated that they still have very strong interest in the semester system. "All institutions found there were strong reasons for both (semesters and quarters)," Foxley said. "There will be a door left open for institutions to come to the board and ask special permission to change to a semester system." WSC Academic Vice President Robert Smith said he is surprised at the commissioner's decision. "I think it seems logical" he said, "but surprising." The debate of quarters versus semesters is nothing new to the state of Utah. In 1984 Kerr asked each institution to conduct a study of the quarter versus semester issue as it relates to them individually. In December 1985, WSC responded to the commissioner's request with a report that said, "...Weber State College urges that the Utah System of Higher Education retain the quarter system. This position is supported by both student and faculty opinion. In essence, it is based on a conclusion that for us the subjective and speculative benefits of change to a semester calendar at this time are outweighed by the tangible and predictable cost of carrying out the process in a respectable manner." Smith said when the study was conducted in 1985, 60 percent of the faculty were in favor of retaining the quarter system while 24 percent were in favor of the conversion; the rest were undecided. At the same time, 537 students were polled by the college student senate. Smith said 55-60 percent of the students were in favor of quarters while only 15 percent were in favor of semesters; the rest had no opinion or were undecided. The feeling of the faculty and students as a whole was not strong enough one way or the other, according to Smith, and the financial and academic superiority of semesters over quarters was not significant enough to warrant the expense and massive effort it would require for Weber State to make a conversion. (see SEMESTER page 5) A little help from their friends Debra Luby Staff Reporter Editors note: This is the second story in a five part seried on intercollegiate athletics and the issues surrounding them. Reports show that athletes are receiving good grades but that some faculty and students feel differently. A report from the Weber State Office of Eligibility showed that the average WSC athlete had a GPA of 2.62 fall quarter 1986, compared to a 2.79 GPA for all WSC students. Some Weber State students wonder how these athletes received their grades. One student noted that the athletes are gone a lot, hardly ever crack a book and rarely take notes. Dr. Jock Gliddcn, professor of political science and philosophy, agreed. He said the athletes as students fall quarter 1987 did not come to class regularly or complete assignments. "The kids (athletes) are really good," said Joyce Rich, eligibility coordinator, in reference to athletes knowing academic expectations. According to Rich the teams hold study halls, and each sport has its own criteria as to who attends these. For example, all freshman football players are required to attend a study ha.i. "Most athletes do pretty well in my introductory courses, but a good number of them fail," said Dr. (see ATHLETE on page 2) |