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Show j jpjjTainSt tHe W3II The Daily Uiah Chronicle. January 30, 19fi9 : 'Students and faculty look at the Utah collet crisis By Jeannette Brown .There is a little boy standing alone by the sea. it in the chilly wind-promises die peacefully. . he's looking like me. Yes, he's looking like me." 1' theme song "Sanctuary Part II", written by Dave ,i r echoed a melancholy mood throughout KUED's 5 nientary on Utah's higher education problems. "Surface approaches to academic subjects don't satisfy Hent demands. Colleges are failing the students," ' pnted Ed Yeates, writer and producer of "The fTess Generation: Utah Looks at the College Crisis". Th hour-long film consisted mostly of interviews with Hminislrators, faculty and students at the University, ' S State University (USU), Weber State College, Westminster College and Brigham Young University IRYU) The questions focused on a definition of university and comparisons of Utah campuses and their communities in relation to the definition. Generally, students, faculty and administrators talked in terms of continuing change. University interviewees seemed less afraid of openly discussing student protest and participation than other faculty or administrators. Virtually everyone in the film agreed that heavy demands are being" made upon Utah's colleges from students, faculty, taxpayers and. industrial concerns. The conclusion, stated by Yeates, forecast continuing changes in education coupled with more requests for supportive ' ' funds. ' , - , -7 ' - Jim Bever, University chairman of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), called the present University function a "glorified trade school." He suggested colleges "lake the emphasis off the degree and put it back on knowledge." - George Woods; studentbody president of Westminster, was equally disillusioned with higher education: "Colleges haven't given students what I consider truth in the last ten or fifteen years. We have been given formulas and equations. The college student doesn't want knowledge; he wants self-knowledge." More optimistically, Virginia Frobes, University Dean of Students, explained that a new general education program and a new counseling plan have been initiated at the University to re-humanize students. The problem S,' tudmenhtsWa Mi rrheVery SWitCh- He alS0 luestio! hefsterSlSinSsef"0 ' unSyv"Udent Pr0t,eSt0tS have a inception of a - admnityratorC"Aented SUn CaZier' Utah Stat administrator. A university advances knowledge ha an ouZTh SmeS SOdety With il- A ""ive-S As cjX rpaK Students for sociaI tion." club win ' r"Ver film Sh0Wed ch-helmeted, roMp B Pl,cemen at Sa" Francisco State College-more policemen were in the film than students the modus operandi," continued Cazier "of administrations is to respond to students " Dr. Thomas King, University Vice President of Academic Affairs, the last administrator interviewed compared two types of student demonstrators. "There are those who are agitating to be agitating, and there is a larger-and growing -group who have legitimate concerns. a Faculty members on the five campuses generally related more to students' viewpoints than the administrators. Doug Alder, History at USU, said "Students are saying, 'you are using me; I am just going through rote-process.' The bigness campuses are now in is forcing us into this corner." Condemning the loco parentis concept, David Raskin, University psychology department, claimed, "So often administrations respond emotionally rather than rationally to students, often insulting students and treating them as if it doesn't matter what they say. They are told they will be listened to and then they aren't. This breeds more contempt." From a faculty viewpoint, Dr. Lewis Rogers, University philosophy department, blamed students for o w continuing many educational problems. "Some students are distressed when an instructor doesn't walk into a class with prepared lecture notes. They feel secure in this kind oi situation. ' He approved of student participation, however, explaining that the philosophy department has three students on its curriculum committee with full power to vote and discuss issues. "Administrators and others who tend to Dernetuate old wavs ought to relax " he said A university is on a frontier and change should happen here first." .. Eliminating physical limitations of the exploding higher education institutions has been planned, according to Bruce Jensen, University planning department, but action is stymied. "The key question is, will the Legislature and those who sit in positions of responsibility make the funds available for physical development?" Budgets for colleges affected by the Utah State Legislature listed $82 million necessary for the 1968-69 school year. During the 1967-68 school year, Utah ranked 44th among the nation's 50 states in the amount of funds expended per student. At the same time Utah ranked first among the 50 states in the number of students, as a percentage of total state population attending higher educational institutions. Yeates final comment was, "There are no pat answers Colleges must abolish old ways of teaching and open new channels of communication and participation." "Castle, Castle with earth gates flung open wide, Long-shadowed evening sun silently steps inside' Waiting forever now, her laughing meadow bird, Yesterday's learning has died. Passing cathedral clouds scattered their tears in the cold. Burgundy veil in the season of my growing old. And, he's frightened like me. Yes, he's frightened like me. Footsteps and emtyness tasting the earth's merciful sand, Gone is the fairy tale, sharing the life that we planned. And, I don't understand. No, I don't understand." |