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Show FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1992 Editorial page is a sounding board for Weber State's thinkers p. 4 The WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY OGDEN, UT 4 V VOLUME 52, ISSUE 35 Vii 'J ' SSI ysass i 00 T7 GNPQST Weber told to raise its admissions standards Less prepared students would be turned away By J. STANLEY HOWARD Staff writer of The Signpost The State Board of Regents has recommended that Weber State implement stiffer admission requirements by fall 1993 to deal with student overcrowding, said Robert B. Smith, vice president for Academic Affairs. The admission requirements could eliminate 200-300 of the least prepared freshmen each year and would probably be established through an admission index based on high school grade point average and ACT scores. "The single best predictor of academic success in college has been high school grades, and when you add a national score report (ACT), the predictive value goes up," said L. Winslow Hurst, director of Admissions and Registration.However, "traditional academic screening may show certain students as lacking academic or intellectual adequacy in a way that really isn't true," said J.J. Fussell of the WSU Counseling and Psychological Services Center. "My own personal experience leads me to believe that academic screening has nominal value in predicting academic success," she said. "I had a tremendous amount of trauma when I was in high school and had a parent die, so my grades my last few years in high school were terrible," she said. "But I went on to get an associate's, a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate. Three of those degrees were with high honors. I probably would not have met the standards they're proposing." Hurst said there are too many stu- Honors Issue Forum dents in the state and not enough money to educate them. Total enrollment at Weber during fall quarter of 1991 was 14,495, 7.8 percent larger than last year, with a 32 percent increase in freshmen. "This will be a continuing problem," Hurst said, "because there's a surge of enrollment that will come from the secondary system to the university system ... between now and 1996." Implementing higher admission standards is one solution to the problem, he added. Fussell said she believes it is not the best solution, especially fornon-traditional and economically underprivileged students. Many of these students do not score high on the ACT and may have poor high school GPAs. "In my view," Fussell said, "ACT scores measure people's ability to take the ACT rather than predict how well they do in college - and the same with high school grades." "We have no business in trying to make judgements about which people can go to college. This is a state institution. It is funded in large part by its citizens, and those citizens are often asking to be educated to use their tax money to their advantage," she said. "Students need to be given the opportunity to prove themselves in higher education. That would be a true measure of their academic capacity. "Many students succeed in college only after they have matured emotionally and intellectually," she added. "In the long run, obviously, if we fail to educate large numbers of students (from our community), that would be a detriment to society," Hurst said. Temperature inversion blues 5W 1 s AjL 111 v :ltrn iHnlm - 3- 5 J ..v(.A'. ' ... I; . ' . DANIELLE MABEY7HE SIGNPOST THAT MUCKY STUFF filling the valley by day and coating your car by nlghf Isn't going away anytime soon. Forecasters expect no significant changes through Monday. Weber State must face challenge of nurturing diversity By GREG WEBBER Staff writer of The Signpost Cultural diversity can help individuals pursue knowledge and truth, in that they can learn to understand things mutually, Jeff Simons said Thursday at the Honors Issues Forum in the Wildcat Theatre. Simons, WSU Native American counselor, was part of a six- member panel which addressed the topic of cultural diversity and what its impact should be on a community campus. Dr. Daily Oliver, Bachelor of Integrated Studies coordinator and Ethnic Studies coordinator, said when he thinks of cultural diversity, he thinks of the United States and South Africa. "South Africa preaches separatism and practices separatism. America preaches diversity and practices separa- "South Africa preaches separatism and practices separatism. America preaches diversity and practices separatism." -Daily Oliver, WSU ethnic studies coordinator tism," he said. Oliver said cultural diversity can be achieved in part by overcoming ignorance and greed. He said students must see, listen, and think for themselves in order to be responsible in making their own decisions. "One should be appreciated and accepted for what he or she is," said Marty Ramirez, a visiting professor at WSU. "When we talk about diversity, we talk about each other." Ramirez said everyone is impacted by cultural diversity and that it is a very complicated issue. The population of the U.S. represents the essence of diversity. Simons said there is probably (See DIVERSITY page 2) University hopes to soon operate restored Egyptian Theatre By TINATRITSCH Asst. News editor of The Signpost The Egyptian Theatre Foundation and Weber State University plan on full restora-tionoftheEgyptianTheatreand construction of a convention center in the next two years. Costs of restoration and preservation of the theater and construction of the convention center are estimated between S8 and S12 million, said Egyptian Theatre Foundation President R.W. White. White said the controversial one percent Weber County restaurant tax, specifically designed to fund this project and the construction of the Olympic ice sheet, took effect September 1, 1991 and should generate S800,000 a year. Upon completion, Weber State University agrees to operate the theater, said Sher-win Howard, Dean of Arts and Humanities at Weber State University. Howard said the theater will operate in an arrangement similar to that of the Dee Events Center. The theater, located on Washington Boulevard in Ogden, will house Utah Musical Theatre and other performing arts events. In addition, the convention center, located adjacent to the theater, will be available during the day for conferences. Howard said revenues from these ac tivities will pay for operation and upkeep of the buildings. Van Summerill, Egyptian Theatre Foundation vice president, believes that restoration of the Egyptian Theatre will attract tourists. "It's so unique. Why do we need new office buildings? Tourists won't come to Ogden to sec glass buildings. I know without a doubt it will turn this town around and (See EGYPTIAN page 2) |
