Aredavidsonstandards Too Steep for Summa?
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QL\)t 29abtb£oman ALENDA LUX UBI ORTA LIBERTAS DAVIDSONCOLLEGE MONDAY,NOVEMBER18, 1996 VOLUME 88,NUMBER12 '98-'99 calendar will observe MLKDay ■ i By Alex Obregon such as Veteran's Day, are not StaffWriter giventhe sameattention. At theNovember5SGAmeet- The Faculty Executive ing,juniorclass senatorEric Sapp Committee's recent decision to proposedaresolutionwhichwould cancelafternoonclasses onMartin give Veteran's day the same rec- Luther KingDay in January will ognition that has recently been be effective beginning the 1998- giventoMartinLuther KingDay. 1999 academic year. Although some students op- As word oftheacademic cal- pose this idea, saying Veteran's mkM HI f^k endar change spread, the Dayhas littlerelevance tostudent committee's decision prompted life, Sapp, along with other stu- debateamongstudents,as wellas dents and Davidson's chapter of inthe Student Government Asso- ROTC,respondsthatveteranshave ciationSenate. played agreatpart inthe livesof The question of whether the students and shouldbe justly Davidson College should recog- recognized. nize Veteran's Day as a national As statedinSapp'sproposed holiday by cancelingclasses has resolution,"We oweour veterans beenraisedby severalstudents on an incredible debt for the sacri- campus. Members ofKyleSummers andGod's Anointed,aband from theJetton family'schurch ficesandrisks thathave takenfor groupbeltout some tunes aspartof Sunday'scelebration for thecompletionof theirhome. Traditionally, Davidson has oursakes... this debt obligatesus not canceled classes torecognize nottoforgetthesemenandwomen Veteran'sDay,MartinLutherKing or the holiday that was created to College unveils plans to save energy Day,oranyothernationalholiday. honor their memory." As aresult, any activitiesor pro- He alsopointsout thatdue to By Greg Garrison group'srecommendationsbysay- installing the metering system, grammingpertainingto themhad Davidson's policy of mandatory StaffWriter ingthatallofthemwouldbeimple- whichhas anestimated$100,000 tobescheduledaroundclassesand ROTC,whichendedinthe 1960s, mented, except for the system of price tag. TheTaskForceonEffi- often onweekends. many of the college's graduates Lastspring,a taskforce made usercharges. ciencyisproviding$25,000ofthis. Becauseof theimportance of are veterans. seven for Usercharges woulddetermine recommendations low- Kuykendall says that the issue ofrace relations during Inaddition, alargenumberol ering the college's $1.?5 theamount million ofenergyusedbyeach Davidson's building projects go the'fime of Martin Luther King, the scholarships awardedto stu- annualenergybill. department and charge them ac- beyondcoderequirementsforen- andevennow onthis andcollege dentsarenamedaftersomeofthese Thereweresuggestionsforef- cordingly. ergyuse. campuses everywhere,theExecu- veterans. ficientuseofallfacilities,possible Although it was tabled by He also says that per square tive committeefelt it should give Inthepast,eventscelebrating userchargesfor someutilities,an Kuykendallbecauseofits lackof footenergyuseis wellbelowmost thestudentsabetterchance torec- specificholidayshavebeensched- engineeringstudy,andan"energy feasibility,hesays that the system nationaland regionalcollegesand ognize and celebrate Dr. King's uledaroundclasses tocommemo- awareness" campaign. would be reconsidered after the universities. achievements. rate Martin Luther King Day, Lastmonth,collegePresident meteringsystem isinstalled. However,somestudentswon- Veteran's Day and other nation- JohnKuykendallrespondedtothe Thephysicalplantiscurrently Source:NovemberCampusChronicle der why other national holidays, allyrecognizedholidays. Are Davidson standards too steep for summa? PercentagesforLatinhonors lower than at other schools By Kirsten Recknagel scale conversion,Davidson'sLatin Stanford University were As and Davidson. thatLatinhonorsrequirementsbe NewsEditor honorsrequirementsremainedthe Bs. AtHarvardUniversity,Asand Two years ago, the Council modifiedinaccordwithgradescale same. Bs constituted73% of all grades submittedaproposaltotheEduca- changes caused by the introduc- For the past 20 years, Davidson awards cum laude awarded. tional Policy Committee, urging tionof "minus grading." Davidsonseniorshopingtogradu- honors tograduates says, withGPAsof Griffin "Every school Graduation withhonorsat somepeerinstitutions atecumlaudehad tomaintainaB+ 3.5. (See box atright.) defines theirLatinHonorsas they average. Now, however, some From 1984 to 1994, the per- will." CarletonCollege CumLaude 3.25 students argue that, due torecent centageofseniorswhoearnedLatin AtWilliamsCollege,typically MagnaCumLaude 3.50 changesinthe gradepoint scale, honorsremained fairlystable,hov- regardedasoneofDavidson'speer SummaCumLaude 3.90 cumlaude requirementsareharder eringbetween18.05%and21.05%. institutions,cum laudehonors are DavidsonCollege CumLaude 3.50 than to meet. ever Of the 390— members of the awardedtograduatingseniorswith MagnaCumLaude 3.75 When the"minusgradingsys- Class of '95 Davidson's first 3.3GPAs. SummaCumLaude 4.00 tem" was introduced in 1991, class tohavestudiedallfouryears— A recent Yale University Davidson recognized "minus undertheminusgradingsystem policy limits that percentage of RhodesCollege CumLaude 3.50 grades," for example A-, for the thepercentageofLatinhonorsre- studentsgraduatingwithhonors to MagnaCumLaude 3.85 first time. Inlight ofthischange, cipientsdropped to 16.92%. 30%. Inpast years,according to SummaCumLaude 3.95 the entire Grade Point Average "Lastyearwas adip,whichis theWallStreetJournal,asmanyas Washington &Lee Cum scaleshifted;aB+is nownotwhat unusual," saysRegistrarPolly W. onehalfof Yale graduates Laude 3.25 earned MagnaCumLaude 3.50 it used to be, terms grade Griffin. in of suchhonors. SummaCumLaude 3.90 point According toan which value. article Liz Abernathy, Chair of ■ """■«"»'. ■" In1991theGPAvalueofaB+ appeared inthe WallStreet Jour- Davidson'sCouncil onAcademic WilliamsCollege CumLaude 3JO fellfrom3.5 to3.3,and althougha nal in 1994, 90% of all under- Affairs,says the Councilis moni- MagnaCum Laude 3.60 B+ student's GPA fell with the graduate grades awarded at toring the honors situation at 199SiUHsticspn>vUleilbyCouxciloiiAauUmk Affmin SummaCumLaude 3.83 -n T i 4 [""^Mi^^^^BBI |HOROSCOPE 13 Focus LI Football. sports u „ Jack's 1 T1 ... _. , H'^V i NEWS BRIEFS 2 HealthCare Back. 1 seniors leave elsewhere 6 Fimciass Man " CROSSWORD 6 U.S. PostagePaid An. n rf^PI winning leglpPflPVacy. lnAinca. l^wpPP^] EDITORIAL 7 Permit#i KM fr OPINIONS 8 Davidson,NC28036 News 5 Opinions 9 MaruynMansononp.io Sports 14 arts&living io 2 THEDAVIDSONIAN NEWS MONDAY,NOVEMBER18,1996 Infocus... student voices What do you think ofinstituting cat Goodall lecture sold out. cards off-campus and where wouldyou like to be able to use cat cards? "I think catcards off-campus wouldbe areally greatidea. Iwouldusemine at the Soda Shopand Ben & Jerry's. Idon't doCosmic Coffee,butit would begood to be able to use them there too." Adrienne Nixon '98 "Ithink it'sagreatidea. Myfriends andIhaveactually discussedtheconvenience ofbeingable to use cat cards off-campus at some restaurants and stores,and especially for thoselate-night pizza deliveries. Other schools and universities,such as Emory, have implemented similar programs wheremostof thebusinesses surrounding the schoolaccept thestudent'sIDasaformofpayment. Ithink it would make my life a wholelot simpler." MelissaPlatman '00 "Idon't think it would beof very muchuse." Jay Erter '99 — "Ithink it wouldbe agreatidea to have cat cards offcampus. Asfar asplaces Exxonand anyof the assortedfast food restaurants,andevenHarris TeeterandBi-Lo. Also,the Uniondesk and the 900 Room, especially on 21-year-oldnight." Flyingsomewhere KrisHorrocks '97 for "Fast food places in Cornelius." ThanksgivingBreak? Ainsley Natta '99 "Yeah,that'sagreatideatohavecatcardsoffcampus.I'dusemine atHarris Teeter,Dover's,maybe the hairdresser." Needaride to the airport? Prashant Kaishap '00 "Ithinkcatcards off-campus willbemore troublethan they'reworth. Evenifsomelocalbusinesses actually agree tothe system, students aren't going to want tobe restricted to in-town usage. If Cornelius agrees...now that's a different story." The SGA Rides Committee James Berry '97 is offeringrides from Davidson to It takes a village: Habitat CharlotteInternational Airport onTuesday,November 26and rides from the airport to Davidson House nears completion on Sunday,November 31. By Allison Dolph The initial challenge was The "Our Towns"affiliate, Staff Writer fundraising. Thecommitteehadto which encompassesHuntersville, raisea totalof$40,000,orroughly Moorsville,and Davidson,chose Signup this week at the UnionInformationDesk. A full year of brainstorming, $20 from eachcommunity mem- the houses's recipient family last fundraising, and constructionled ber,inordertobuilda'house. spring. to the celebration of the comple- This goalwasmet throughT- The recipient's, Danny and tion Jetton family's Habitat for shirt sales, change drops,in-kind Ethlelene Jetton,along with their HumanityhomelastSunday. donations, and other fundraisers three sons Danny Jr., Joey, and In the summerof 1995, eight such as Kappa Sigma fraternity' Christopher, have participated in Davidson studentshelpedbuilda "Homeruns for Habitiat" event. the construction of their future Habitat house in Jacksonville, Construction began in Janu- home. Florida. ary at 537 Westside Terrace in Although the current corn- Two of them, Smita Davidson, with junior Ben mitteewillnolongerexistafterthe DonthamsettyandMeredithStrong, Kinnaman overseeingthe