FAN FAVORITE Faculty votes for requirement hike "Not everyone graduates with 128 credits, so there will be a small subset who need to pick The change would raise up one more class to graduate," said Yeterian. "There will be an even smaller subset who the graduation minimum need to pick up two classes." f rom120 to 128 credits The • majority of comparable institutions already require 128 credits to graduate, or the equivalent number of courses. Middlebury and By MATT APUZZO Bates, for instance, require 32 courses to gradu- EDITOR IN CHIEF ate. The credit requirement is more flexible than The faculty voted by a significant majority course requirements at other schools, as each at its November meeting to raise the gradua- semester with three courses must be offset by a tion requirement to 128 credits. The proposal semester with five courses. At Colby, because would raise the minimum from the current 120 classes are weighted differently, students can required for current students. elect five-credit courses while only taking three "This is something we needed to do to get classes a semester. At schools that require a us in line with our peer institutions," said Dean minimum number of courses, this is not possi- of the Faculty Edward Yeterian. ble. The change would take place for the class of One of the issues brought up last year was 2005, but requires approval from the Trustees how the change would effect Jan Plan intern- before it is implemented. ships. For each of the last two years, approxi- The proposal originated during ihe 1997-98 mately 360 students elected to do non-credit scholastic year but was not voted upon until course work during January. If the credit mini- this latest meeting. The Academic Affairs mum was raised, it was speculated, more stu- COMMUNICATIONS Committee reviewed the proposal last year, dents would be forced to take Jan Plan classes Colby president William R. Cotter, seen here with members of the 1979 field hockey team, has just over one more evaluating the number of courses each student for credit, thus limiting the number of students semester to go until his tenure on Mayflower Hill draws to a close. The Echo takes a look back at 20 years with takes during their stay on Mayflower Hill. electing internships and study abroad pro- Cotter on pages six and seven. Forty-three percent of the 1998 graduating grams. class had less than 128 credits upon gradua- But, Yeterian said the foundation of the aca- tion, according to data from the Registrar's demic program revolves around a course load office. But 12.6 percent of die seniors graduated of four courses per semester. A student who with over 143 credits, and 12.8 percent had takes four courses of four credits each will fin- between 136 and 142 credits. ish his academic career with 128 credits and Jan "The switch to 128 credits makes sense," Plans can be used for internships or the like. If Economics class survey said Student Government Association a student elects to take three courses one President Benjamin Humphreys '00. "I don't semester, or, takes several three-credit classes think if s really a big deal. It affects such a small and no five-credit courses, Jan Plan can be used number of people." to make up the difference. compiles data on Colby lifestyles Fifty-three percent of the students in 1998 "Just in terms of comparison with other would not have needed to take additional schools, it doesn't makes sense for us to be at By JON SILBERSTEIN-LOEB Selected Survey Results classes, a trend many believe will continue. 120," said Humphreys. ASST. NEWS EDITOR Preliminary Results as of November 11, 1999 (We wil try to run the full survey at a later date) With a sample size of 831, a number Was Colby your first choice? 58% Yes 42% No that grows daily, Associate Professor of What were your highest SAT scores? Math: 659 Verbal:658 Economics Michael Donihue said of the What is your iavorite a cappella group on campus? Colby Student Lifestyle Survey, "maybe No favorite: 37% Colby 8: 19% Colbyettes: 7% we've hit on something here." Megalomaniacs: 7% Sirens: 9% Colby Sounds of Gospel 1% "I thought we might get 100 economics Blue Lights: 19% 120 YEARS OF majors but we got 850 some-odd respons- How many times do you go home each semester? es," said Donihue, quite surprised yet 8+ 3% 6-7 2% 4-5 11% COTTER pleased. The survey's popularity and enor- 2-3 49% 0-1 35% mous response rate have led some to What is your GPA? .. .3.24 .. ,(N=575; no first-year students) The Echo celebrates the believe that it could be used to solve cam- Politically you are: tenure of Colby's 18th pus-wide social issues, like the . present Left Wing 6% controversy over smoking tobacco in dor- Democrat 35% President mitories. Independent 39% see pages 6 & 7 Donihue, who began teaching econo- Republican 15% metrics at Colby this year, thought the sur- Right Wing 1% ~~ vey might present an interesting data set How many hours of TV do you typically watch each week during the semester his students could analyze for their final (not including videos),? I ART: projects. Econometrics, simply put, is the 15+ 5% 10-15 6% 5-10 15% Faculty art show debuts at application of statistical analysis to eco- 2-5 37% 0-1 38% nomic ideas to identify relationships Colby's alcohol policies are too strict. Colby museum. between different things. Strongly Agree 13% Agree 29% No opinion 20% Tlie purpose of the survey is to use the Disagree 31% Strongly Disagree 7% collected data to "predict GPA as a func- During the semester it would be easy for me to get beer if I wanted to. tion of student lifestyle. see page 8 " Strongly Agree 67% Agree 29% Don't Know 3% Donihue, in conjunction with members Disagree >-• 1% Strongly Disagree 0% of the psychology department , economics During the semester it would be easy for me to get hard liquor if I wanted to department and a variety of other faculty Editorials pg. 4 Strongly Agree 62% Agree 32% Don't Know 4% members including Associate Dean of Disagree 2% Strongly Disagree <1% "Ward's Words" pg. 4 Students and Director of Intercultural During the semester it would be easy for me to get marijuana if I wanted to, "Devils Quoting Scripture" pg. 4 affairs Gerry Roseboro, developed the sur- Strongly Agree 32% Agree 33% Don't Know 30% vey questions, Students on the Street pg. 4 Disagree 4% . Strongly Disagree 1% The initial results of the survey present During the semester it would be easy for me to get cocaine if I wanted to. Buzzed pg. 5 some interesting information about the Strongl Agree 1% Agree 7% Don't Know 73% CD Shakedown pg. 9 Colby student body, including statistics y Disagree 11% Strongly Disagree 8% from students' highest SAT scores to how Movie Review.. pg. 9 During the semester it would be easy for mc to get heroin, LSD, diugs, often they use cocaine, or other hard Strongly Agree 2% Agree 9% Don't Know 71% Sports Scores pg. 10 see SURVEY on page 2 Disagree 11% Strongly Disagree 8% Devastator of the Week pg. 11 Wh ite privilege topic of discussion By MEGHANN FOYE "white privilege" to the audience, they do not have the privileges that became discriminated against as a his specialization was Spanish, NEWS EDITOR explaining her process of coming up whites have. "dark-skinned spic" in Miami. He Whites do not have to worry about with a specific list of privileges that "I kept hearing voices.,, that explained that during this limbo-like these assumptions, he said. He is sure Some people say that white people whites have that people of other races seemed not to want to go away," experience in Miami in political exile that these faculty members are not have privileges that minorities do not, do not. began Bryant. "The first was my he did not have access to all of tlie free- doing this intentionally,but, "uninten- They argue, for instance, that white , "Do I have anything I didn't earn," own." doms that other whites in America tional racism is as pernicious as inten- people can be sure that if they need she asked herself, admitting, "My con- He explained that his own voice had, tional racism.,, and it's everywhere," id, help, the color of their skin will not scious mind refused to answer." told him that people do not give up This did not change, he said, when he sa work against them. White students do r To clarify, she gave the example of their privileges voluntarily. However, he became a member of academia as a Ollvares finished his testimony by , saying "I am no longer annoyed, but not question if they are at Colby the national statistic that found people a second voice came to mind, that of professor of Spanish Other members proud of my darkness," because of their race. White people do of color are generally served slower James Baldwin, told him that "people of the Colby community assumed that Sanders offered students a power- not question their ability to pay with than whites in restaurants. "Whites are pay for what they do and still more for because he was of Spanish decent, that ful message by explaining how the list credit. served faster than people of color,,.thls what they have allowed themselves to Mcintosh, from;the; Weilaley College of 46 privileges affected her personally.