·Cluster College Plan Underway by Dan Meeron

\ \ November 22, 1976, Retriever, Page 1 \ I university .re~riever \ \ news\ volume 11 number 12 november 22, 1976' \ ·Cluster College Plan Underway by Dan Meeron . hist~rical.pers~tiv~. Lucie ~olvin, ~ho's Two extraordinary new courses a~e speclalty IS Af~can history, ~Ill e~amm~ a Tbe course titled Human Nature con- being offered to UMBC freshmen in this numbe~ ?f. Afn~an comml:lIll~les, mcluding tains a rather startling combination of spri~g's course catalog. Th~ courses, two the prlvlti,:e. :rlllB:ge societies and ~ore academic disciplines- a contrast of the sections of FRCC0100 (standmg for ~resh- a~vanced clvlhzatIo~s, s~ch as an African arts-dancer and a cinematographer and man Cluster College), are titled, CIty state .and .emplres ~n Dahomey.and art historian, and a biopsychologist and respectively, The Quest for. Commun~ty, EtgyJ;>t, whIle Jlm.Arnqms.t, an Amencan geneticist; but part of the point of the and Human Nature; each WIll carry rune Svudi~s schol~r, :-Vill. exam~ne a num~r of course is that the contrast between the two credits and meet three hou~ a day, three. AmerIca~ socI~bes, l!lcludmg th~ Puritans areas is not real but only something days a week. Th~ courses WIll be ta~ght by and . ~arlous mtentlO.na~ UtopIan com- cted by the modern machine age. t~a~s .of three 1I1~tructors .fr.oJ? different mumbes, real and fIctional, and some Psychologist Sol Petrovich's primary aim dl~clph~es and different diVISions of the in the course is to "bring science back to uIllverslty. the humanities " a central theme in one of Meetings will be held this ~ondar, his texts for th~ course, The Sscent of Man, Tue.sday, .and Wednesday .at one 0 clock 111 by J. Bronowski, from the television series SOCial ~clence ~01, at which students can of the same name. Science is nothing more meet With the 1I1structors. than one way of looking at things; all of the The central purpose ot me cluster pOints of .view presented within the couse college is to develop in the student the are shown as cultural developments- spirit of academic inquiry, and to develop things created by human beings. An at- an ability to understand and to participate tempt will be made in the course to in the process ofintellectual thought. At examine various concepts from diffeerent present studentshave problems in writing. points of view in the arts and in the A goal of the course is to draw the fresh- sciences. For example, a film may be men into the intellectual community, to shown about the structure of the brain; Sol teach them, or to make them realize, that Petrovich will then examine the use pf the they can make meaningful statements brain in communication; Jim Fasanelli about the questions they study; that what might then look at the use of film and art in they think does have a real value. the process of communication; and finally By exposing the students to an en- Liz Walton would look at movement from vironment in which three instructors from the point of view of how it is used to as many different disciplines work communicate. together, it is hoped that the students will be able to see the process at work, rather The most striking thing that comes out in than have knowledge seemingly handed talking to the instructors of the clusters is down to them from a distant professor. their universal entusiasm. While most The students will see the ideas of par were careful to make it clear that they ticular disciplines presented in conjuction Dr. James Fasanelli considered this yo be a highly ex with each other in such a way that students more modern ones, such as the world of perimental program, all agree that will be able to conceive of each as a par the migrants in the Grapes of Wrath, and something gOOd will come of this ex ticular manner of viewing or analyzing the George Orwell's anti-Utopia of 1984. As the periment even if it "fails" because the same things. Beyond this, they may even course progresses, sociologist David students don't do better on the tests be represented with the various in Lewis will draw from these specific designed to measure their progress in structors disagreeing with each other • communities and the discussions of them comparison to students not in the cluster about a question- perhaps giving them an some generalizing principles which can program. Certaiply, if nothing else, the " understanding of the processes involved in then be applied to the students' own faculty members themselves will have the original development of the ideas communities- home neighborhoods, their gained immensely from the cross presented in the courses. community at UMBC, and, within it, the fertilization of ideas they have ex Dr. Slo Petro vich But the purpose of the cluster colleges is cluster college itself. perienced in the creation the course. not entirely explicitly academic- an essential goal of the course is to draw the student into the UMBC community, both in an academic and in a social sense. The Commuter Student Association cluster colleges will provide a community in themselves; the students will be in contact with each other at least nine hours Draws Large Voter Turnout a week, and often more in projects and field trips outside class hours. The in structors, similarly, will be in regular and frequent contact with students, not merely in lecture- formatted class sessions, but also in small group discussions and in their capacities as advisors to the students. Each student will be assigned a faculty member as an advisor. Because the student's advisor will regularly be in close contact with him or her, the advisor will be a ble to providde better cCiunseling than is usually available. :rhe faculty will advise the students not only on academic matters, but, hopefully, on personal matters which may interfere with the students par ticipation in the college; certainly, they will be able to direct the student to an apropriate counselor if it is apparent that he or she needs some help. Each of the clusters is structured around the theme stated in it's title. The quest for Community concerns itself with various aspectts of community in history and in literature, and with developing some Commuter Elections :by Jeff Scholnick general concepts from these studies and be given the opportunity to head three applying them to the student's own The Commuting Students Association other committees ....' community, both at home and at UMBC held its first elections last Wednesday and The CSA has finally l!ompleted the task one question to be examined might be the received a turnout of over 500 voters. "We ot filling all 01 Its executIve ooard posts origins of the lack of community at UMBC. only expected a turnout of about two and its various other chairmanships. In Human Nature is directed towards un hundred people," ·CSA President Jeff the last couple of weeks, Fran ~re~t derstanding the concept of people, and Silver admitted. "A vote of five hundred schneider has been appointed secretary esspecially ones self, as a biological being is a major victory for the CSA." The CSA and Albert Rojtman has been appointed and as a human being- towards feeling vote appears enormous when compared to , Treasurer. Running unopposed in the yourself as a real being within your life. past SGA presidential election votes which "election for chairmanships were Gary The concepts, while abstract, address at times barely got two hundred voters. Epstein (computerized carpool com some fundamental issues bearing on the The CSA election was to determine the mittee), Ann Merrill (MTA Committee), questions of identity that everyone chairmen for three committees. In the Leslie Goldstein (Communications wrestles with so much in the post race for the Grievance Committee Committee), Mark Speake (At Large adolescent years of college. Chairmanship, Linda Lanman beat Anne Committee) and Steve Lynch (Tran The course about community is con Davis 269 to 201. In the vote for the Social sportation Committee). cerned primarily with the needs of in Life Committee Chairmanship, Scott Meanwhile, the CSA is readying itself for dividuals for the support of the group, and Belskie squeezed by Christine Renzi, 233 to the coming winter ~nd spring. It will their need for a collective mythology to · 221. John Schaoiro beat Wayne Cockrell submit a budget to the SGA Senate for over define their life and their universe. Early 265 to 205 for the Chairmanship of the In one thousand dollars. Silver says that the in the course, the emphasis will be on the tramural Committee. Silver predicts," CSA's sprin~ plans include "mixers and ~tudy . of individual communities in a The three candidates that didn't win will movies, like the Marx Brothers' type." Page 2, Retriever, November 22, 1976 Editorial A Trade School Mentality? UMBC's "Liberal Arts education" took a brow beating atlast weeks Senate me.eting as Dr. William Rothstein opposed the adoption of a 69 credit interdisciplinary major. Rothstein said the proposed fusion of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology perpetuates a "trade school mentality," because of the heavy focal concentration of study. The proposal for the science major was adopted by the Senate, despite Rothsteins criticisms. Dr. Rothsteins concerns, however, are legitimate concerns. UMBC is defined as a "liberal arts" institution Iyet serious question must be raised when one major demands more than half of those 'jliberal arts" credits needed for graduation. More importantly, the adoption of this program by the Senate, may create a trend toward specialization; a ~"end away from liberal arts.

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