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Show editorials Personal Touch In Multiversities Until recently it has generally been felt that the benefits of a small university the informal atmosphere, atmos-phere, the smaller student-teacher ratio, the maintaining maintain-ing of personal inclentity, were necessarily lost to those : attending a larger university. Lately, however, there have been encouraging signs of a change towards personalization per-sonalization on the campuses of some of America's large "multiversities." The trend now in higher education seems to be towards enabling the new student to become not only more intellectually but also more socially involved in his university. Thus, to a certain exten, the university has taken over social areas which were previously the sole domain of social organizations. One of the key principles of the "humanization" of the university seems to be the realization that dormitories dormi-tories can be much more than simply a place to sleep. Universities are now coming to the realization that a student's quarters need not necessarily be separated L-om his studies or his social life. To this end Michigan State University recently began a unique experiment with its Justin Morrill College, a college within a college. col-lege. The college is a sort of co-educational academic-resident academic-resident hall in which 400 freshman students will live and study. Commenting on the college's effectiveness, Dean Rohman of MSU said, "First and foremost the sense of community, of common enterprise and espirit is definitely emerging." Another experiment of interest of interest is being conducted by Florida State University. Last fall FSU instituted a "cluster ' project" in which a group of frehman took the same English, history, social science, and mathematics sections. At the end of the first semester semes-ter attitude surveys revealed that the students felt a close, personal relationship to their instructors, their fellow students, and the university. Although involvement in extra-curricular activities is one way many students are able to gain personal identification iden-tification with the university, it should be obvious that many students have neither the time nor the desire to participate. But we are of the opinion that these students deserve the opportunity to gain a more personal per-sonal association with fellow students. |