The College News 1987-4-29 Vol. 8 No. 9

Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College Publications, Special Bryn Mawr College News Collections, Digitized Books 1987 The olC lege News 1987-4-29 Vol. 8 No. 9 Students of Bryn Mawr College Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews Custom Citation Students of Bryn Mawr College, The College News, 1987-4-29 Vol. 8 No. 9 (Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College, 1987). This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews/1389 For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE COLLEGE NEWS VOLUME VIII Number9 FOUNDED 1914~1^ BRYN MAWR COLLEGE April 29,1987 BMC ranks high Luckily, there are more reliable ways of by Rachel Winston judging an institution. Academic quality "On a scale of one (not very) to five (very) rankings have been published since 1910 please respond to the following statements: and provide an excellent way to get to know l)The girls at my school are mostly here to a school and its strengths. Institutions are get married. 2) Most of the girls at my school often ranked by such factors as "productiv- are ugly. 3) There are a lot of geeks (var.— ity, selectivity, and popularity, if the com- jocks, nerds, homosexuals, Japs—Daddy's pilers of such rankings make it clear they money, you know the type [sic| granolas— regard their criteria as dimensions of aca- outdoor lovers [sic] at my school. 4) Women demic quality," writes U. Penn educator at my school know how to hold their liquor. David Webster. Not surprisingly, Bryn Mawr 5) The wife/husband of my school's presi- consistently posts high scores across the dent is attractive." board, notably in the sciences. These are a few of the disturbing ques- With nearly a third of the undergraduate tions contained in a survey sent to SGA population majoring in a science, Bryn President Mili Cisneros by a couple of enter- Mawr has managed to escape the nation- Lucia Russett, Elisabeth Kushner and Charlotte Taylor wax poetic during last week's prising young men from New Jersey. So wide trend indicating that just seven percent erudite and stimulating bad poetry reading. For more, see p. 4 much for the latest attempt to rank the social of college freshmen intend to pursue a LYNNE BOWERS AHD ELIZABETH SCHUBERT climate of the American college. science-oriented major. In fact, over the last decade U.S. undergraduate science majors have decreased by 33 percent. Students explain financial equilibrium proposal Carol Fuller cites Bryn Mawr in her report, task—a way in which every student can be had read and understood the Proposals. Our Educating America's Scientists, The Role of by Claudia Calloway involved—the Undergraduate Representa- conclusion proved correct: a recently distrib- Research Colleges, as a liberal arts college As May second, the date designated by tives decided upon the course of holding uted questionnaire, though it served to pro- "distinguished by [its] research records and the Trustees as the deadline for the final de- weekly information sessions, open to the en- mote discussion of the Proposals, misrepre- proportions of science graduates." cisions concerning the achievement of tire community. At these meetings students sented in its own simplcity the complexity of Science magazine rates Bryn Mawr as the financial equilibrium rapidly approaches, can both have questions about the Proposals the issues, complexities which cannot be only women's college and one of five liberal the Student Committee on Achieving Finan- answered, and introduce their own pro- resolved with "yes or no" questions. arts colleges included in the ten schools with cial Equilibrium would like to take this op- posals for consideration. These meetings We then charged Undergraduate Major the greatest number of students winning the portunity to elaborate on the Student Re- are held on a weekly basis in order that any Representatives to seek out concerns about highly regarded National Science Founda- sponse to the Proposal for Achieving Financial student decisions can be formulated using the possible effects of the Proposals from tion Fellowships from 1976 to 1983. Equilibrium which was submitted to the Bryn the most currently available information, within their respective departments in order Bryn Mawr ranks first out of fifty colleges Mawr Board of Trustees on April 7th. We and the students who were initially involved to write their own departmental reports. In and universities with the largest percentage thought it a good idea to remind the com- felt that this would be the best course for addition, other students volunteered to of students who go on to get Ph.D.s in the munity exactly what the Student Committee making the formulation of the report a pro- gather information and write reports detail- humanities, according to a study by the involves, what the role of the Undergraduate cess open to every student. The Proposals ing the possible effects that the Proposals Great Lakes Colleges Association. BMC is Representatives to the Bryn Mawr Council were distributed, and mailboxes were stuffed will have on Undergraduate Admissions and the only women's college out of fifty top- entails, and exactly how the report came into with fliers which informed the community of Financial Aid. ranked schools in the number of Ph.D.s being. the formation of the Student Committee on The information collected was invaluably awarded in the sciences, ranks twenty-fifth The Undergraduate Representatives to Achieving Financial Equilibrium, open to all varied and thought-provoking. Several of for Ph.D.s in the life sciences and posts an the Bryn Mawr Council are charged with the undergraduates, which continues to hold the reports from the Major Representatives impressive twentieth in all fields of Ph.D. task of distributing the Proposal for Achiev- meetings on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. in the brought out opinions that were in many awards to graduates. ing Financial Equilibrium to the undergrad- Computer Center. ways unique to their individual departments. BMC listed third in the percentage of stu- uate community, then gathering responses We were asked, "Why haven't you distrib- But in writing the Student Response to the dents matriculating at medical school in from the community to take to the meetings uted a questionnaire which deals with the Proposal for Achieving Financial Equilibri- 1980-1982 and has garnered a hundred per- of the Bryn Mawr Council and to the Board concerns created by the proposals?" In dis- um, each opinion was weighed, and we at- cent medical school acceptance rate for the of Trustees. cussing this option, we concluded that a tempted to highlight those concerns which past two years. In the search for an effective, informative questionnaire, however thorough, would not are most often expressed by students at All these statistics play a significant role in and thorough method to accomplish this be truly effective unless every respondent (Continued on page 5) illustrating Bryn Mawr's position as a private "science active" college. Strangely, in spite of all the data available indicating the impor- tance of small research institutions, the fed- Saler receives prestigious Watson fellowship eral government continues to favor the fund- ism and non-Western or non-White femin- ity of the world's women come from Third ing of larger research universities. by Laura Miller ism in New Zealand. According to Saler, dur- World countries... If feminism is to con- According to a recent article in Change Bethel A. Saler, a History major and Cities ing the past 15 years, Western feminist tinue as a movement, it needs to be re- magazine, science-active liberal arts col- minor, has been awarded a Watson Fellow- movements have experienced both inside defined by indigenous women of the Third leges "received, collectively, less than one ship this year. The Thomas J. Watson Foun- and outside criticism. "Ethnic minorities, World." (Continued on page 11) dation initiated the Watson Fellowship Pro- working-class women, women of color, and gram in 1968 to give college graduates a many middle-class women organizing with- post-graduate year of financially backed in- in Western feminist movements have Acquaintance rape seminars held dependent projects. claimed that these movements have... ex- The Foundation looks for dedicated stu- cluded the concerns of non-white, middle- cident rates consistently outweigh the by Sharon Levitch dents who wish to thoroughly explore a self- class women." number of victims, showing that these rape developed and imaginative project. These Saler has chosen to study "a situation in According to "Hidden Rape," a recent experiences are not isolated and many projects are frequently unconventional, which a 'Western' women's movement and a study of college students throughout the women are victims more than once. always unique, and usually involve extensive Third-World' women's movement are in country, 84% of all rapes of college women Accepted norms of behavior for both travel. The projects are non-academic in direct contact." Saler feels that New Zealand are committed by an acquaintance. At the sexes and the victim's unwillingness to ask focus, and, in fact, cannot be executed at a is ideal for her study, because the Maori time of the rape, the women are on average for help perpetuate the existence of acquain- university. (Aboriginal) and Pakeha (European) 18.5 years old and 41% are virgins. How- tance rape in college communities. Part of An applicant for a Watson Fellowship women's groups co-exist in a state of con- ever, only 27 % of acquaintance rape victims the problem lies in unclear notions of what must first submit a proposal to a Bryn Mawr stant interaction.

Load more