;: , ; Blaring Grammatical Errors? Fordham's Communications Department Says 'Yesy byTomDiLenge Claiming that the quality of student HOT writing and grammar was "atrocious," the adjunct professors in the Communications by Matthew Dertron Department called for a stricter policy con- Despite the fact that the Northeast is ex- cerning written assignments when they met pected to face a shrinking pool of high school last April with the full-time faculty of the graduates in the near future, Fordham ad- department. ministrators are still optimistic about future As a result of this meeting, the Commu- enrollment, and some feel Fordham is just nications Department drafted a letter to now becoming a "hot" school. address this problem and to "make it very Fordham as a popular school in the clear to students that they have to write Northeast is an idea that has permeated better," said Dr. Trisha Curran, chairman of recent important decisions made by the ad- the Communications Department. ministration, not least of which included the The letter, which was distributed to stu- building of The Villages and the planned new dents in Communications courses, stated dormitory. that "the faculty will not accept work that "We feel Fordham is on a roll," said fails to meet the basic standards of grammar, Executive Vice President, Joseph Cammaro- spelling, punctuation, and style and is not sano in an interview concerning the construc- proofread before submission." tion of The Villages. "We wanted to capital- "It's a question of proofreading with a ize on that." dictionary and style book... this is meant to In addition to relying more heavily upon help students develop the craft of writing and the alumni network, the admissions depart- to go public with their works," said Curran. ment has begun to recruit to a greater degree, Curran added that other schools are those students outside of the Tri-state area, having this problem. according to Richard Avitable, director of "It's a national problem. The quality of admissions. In addition, he said, each admis- writing has been deteriorating in high schools sions counselor at Rose Hill and Lincoln and grammar schools... I'm sure that other Center, has increased their personal recruit- professors in other , departments (at ing work by 20 to 25 percent. "It's a question of proof reading with a Fordham) are doing this as well," she said. "There has been a turn around in the Although no other University image of New York City by college students dictionary and style book... this is meant to help department has officially followed suit, many and high school counselors," Avitable said. have been experiencing the same problems "Fordham is becoming a place people think students develop the craft of writing and to go with student writing skills. According to Dr. about in New York." John Antush, English department chairman, The corps of alumni volunteers that public with their works." this writing deficiency is,"an on-going Fordham depends upon to increase the expo- problem that we always have to address." sure of students interested in applying for ad- —Dr. Trisha Curran continued on page 3 mission is known as F.A.S.T. (Fordham Alumni Student Team). F.A.S.T. volunteers provide students who live outside of the metropolitan area, the information and assistance they need when applying. Avitable cited an increase in applica- McGinley tions, from about 16 states four years ago to 38 states last year, as an indicator of Ford- hani's growing popularity. Twenty-six states and eight nations are represented in the Expansion current freshman class, a jump of four states over the current sophomore class. by Frankie Hopkins "There is a very broad course of studies University administrators met last week offered," said Sr. Joseph Agnes, a guidance to begin planning the expansion of the continued on page 3 McGinley Center. With the new residence hall expected to be completed by the fall of 1987, adminis- trators are looking to the future needs of the University's expanded campus population. According to Michael Sullivan, dean of student activities, the design review committee will be looking at how much space would be needed to move all of the student clubs presently located in Faculty Memorial Hall and relocate them to the McGinley Center. Also, the Saga food service will be asked to project the amount of space they will need to handle a larger resident student population when the new dormitory opens in the fall or 1987. design review committee will develop develop a list of potential architects." "It's an enormous project," said Dr. recommendations for short, and long- McGowan said when the McGinley Joseph McGowan, vice-president for student term renovations and present them to an Center was built in 1955, it was more than affairs and dean of students. He also said architectural firm. Thus far, however, there adequate for that time period. that the committee must find a way to allow are no completed estimates or secured funds "Since 1978," Sullivan said, "we have Drinking the students to use the food service facilities to go ahead with construction. gradually turned from a predominantly during their renovation. "We'll call several schools to see how commuter campus lo a predominantly resi- Problems? Once the planning is complete, the they renovated," Sullivan said. "And dence campus, with few modifications." 2/THE RAM/THURSDAY, SEPTEMBERS, 1985 CALENDAR Thursday, Tuesday, September 19 September 24 Fine Arts: Presents The Bronx Arts American Age: Presents Sydney Schanberg Ensemble. McGinley Center Ballroom. 12:30 p.m. McGinley Center Ballroom — 10:30a,rn. —a Woodwind Quintet. A reception will follow. Refreshments will be served. Cultural Affairs: Buses leave at 6:15 p.m. Cinevents: Sponsors A Passage to India- for La Cage Aux Folles in front of the Keating 1st 10:30 a.m., 8 p.m. McGinley Center and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, September 25 September 20 Cinevents: Sponsors Rocky III— 8 p.m. Keating 1st. Concerts: Presents UB40 8 p.m. T.O.P.: Presents "Open Mike Night" 9 p.m. Rose Hill Cym (Tickets $7). Mixer intheRamskellar9p.rn. Ramskellar. Sign-ups are on Thursday, Sept. 19 and Tuesday, Sept. 24 during the Activity Periods. Monday, Thursday, September 23 September 26 T.O.P.: Presents Dave Binder— a musician Cinevents: Sponsors A View to Kill— and singer 9 p.m. in the Rarnskellar. Keatingist—10:30 a.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 Join C.A.B. We need new members with innovative American Age presents Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sidney Schanberg whose reporting ideas! was the basis of the film The Killing Fields. MEETING TIMES: Fordham University American Age: Mondays, 4:30 p.m., T.O.P.: Mondays, 4:30 p.m. McGinley, Rm. 229. McGinley, Rm. 229. Coffeehouse Calendar:Thursday, 9 p.m. Special Events: Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m McGinley, Rm.229. McGinley Center, Rm. 229 Monday, September 23; Cinevents: Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Cultural Affairs: Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. Dave Binder , Keating 1st McGinley Center, Rm. 229 Wednesday, September 25, Concerts: Thursdays, 11 a.m. Fine Arts: Tuesdays, 4:30 p.m. McGinley Center, Rm. 229 McGinley Center, Rm.229 "Open Mike Night," 9 p.m. Ramskellar. Use this lorm to list events in me GRB calendar Sponsoring Group Address Description of Event Admission Requirements otlnterettTo: D General Public Students f] Other _ Members of Fordham University Only 55KSB55KSB.VV, 0.1,0, THE RAM/THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19,1985/3 Office of Brennan Replaces Tinker Residential by Lance Cerutti This fall, Michael Brennan has replaced Curt Tinker as the Student Activities Budget Corrdinator. Life Divides Brennan is looking forward to complet- ing some of the projects that Tinker had begun. At present the Budget Department is Campus converting all of the manual bookkeeping to the computer, and hopes to have this process by Suzanne Tedeschi done by early spring. One of the biggest changes at Fordham "In the short term I would like to main- this year is the rearrangement of the Office of tain the good system," Brennan said. "My long term goal is to switch from manual to Residential Life and the way it is running the computer bookkeeping. It's a great way to residence halls. learn the nitty gritty dynamics of campus The most noticeable change is the divi- administration. sion of the campus into three zones, with Once the computerization process is each one having its own area coordinator and finished, Brennan hopes to become more in- Residence Hall Office. According to Wini- volved with the student organizations as an Michael Brennan fred Wegmann, assistant dean of students for advisor as well as budget director. Brennan Lenox China, Brennan was hired by a search residential life, these changes were said he hopes to "enlarge the scope of the committee after answering an ad in the New implemented to "provide better service to office to be more than just a bookkeeper." York Times. He was interviewed twice by the resident students." A 1977 Marist College graduate and a committee and once by Associate Dean of "Up until this year, a simple key re- former sales marketing representative for Students, Rev. Denis Moran, S.J. placement was an extremely inconvenient process. Now due to RHO's and the area coor- dinators, the process is simpler, and we can "The main idea be more serviceable to the students," \behind the reason for Wegmann said. Bite the Big Apple Lisa Peterson, assistant director of resi- dential life for staff and student develop- [change was to become by Eileen Collins and the student body from both Lincoln ment, added that "the main idea behind the This weekend the University is welcom- reason for change was to become better \better equipped to Center and Rose Hill is invited.