$ T h e O b s e r v e r \# i v m „ university of notre dam e- st. mary's college Vol. X. No. 47 ' ________» ________________________________Thursday, November 6, 1975 COUL proposes 'neutral space' by Jill Truitt the second floor of the library need as a congenial place for students Staff Reporter to be created," Syburg stated. and professors to meet,” Weber Professor Ronald Weber said. “ And student access to the The C om m ittee on U n ­ suggested that the residence halls University Club is limited.” dergraduate Life (COUL) report, be more than they are. M all proposed released last spring, cited “ All they are now are bedroom students' need for additional in­ communities,” he said. “They COUL recommends continuing formal meeting places on the could have more congenial rooms extensive renovation of LaFortune Notre Dame campus. for informal gatherings.” Student Center. The report recommends a strong “ LaFortune should remain open and concerted effort be made to Library lounges 24 hours everyday,” Syburg said. create and maintain areas of The creation of an outside mall neutral space for recreation on an The COUL report suggests the and picnic area would help develop informal basis. possibility of developing or more social interaction, COUL Dormitories are single sexed and building more lounge areas in or recommends. classrooms have formal and-or near the library. These areas “The area between LaFortune competitive atmospheres, ac­ would facilitate social interaction and Hayes-Healy could be made cording to the COUL report. and alleviate the problem of noise more attractive,” Syburg said. “It “ There needs to be a place that in the library. would be a nice place for students is not tied to the classroom or Weber stated that students and to m eet.” dorm,” said Ellen Syburg, COUL faculty members need more Professor John Houck suggested co-education committee chair­ congenial meetings places. that conversation pits and cement person. “The relationship between “The huddle and library benches be built in this area. men and women that occurs in the basement are not conducive to this “ A nice courtyard could be classroom can be competitive.” at all,” Weber said. “The pay created here,” Houck said. “This Syburg said that the dining halls, cafeteria is a good place.” area is convenient and would even second floor of the library, and the A place is needed where students be a good place to hold classes Nazz are common places to meet and professors can get together for outdoors.” with other students. a beer, Weber added. Houck stated that places where “ More places like the Nazz and “The Senior Bar does not work students and professors normally visit should be in one location. “A great problem was the Dean approves piecemeal decision to spread out places such as the post office and bookstore,” Houck explained. He suggested that a “downtown” Pink slips area be created. “ This area could contain bookstores, the post office, restaurants, a small theater and To illustrate the need for some decent kind of casual area for members of by John Shaughnessy barber and beauty shops,” Houck the Notre Da pie Community to gather, one has only to examine the areas Staff Reporter said. which currently exist for people to come together. Case in point: (continued on page 4)LaFortune. (Photo by Paul Clevenger) The number of students receiving academic deficiency notices this semester totalled 1314, an increase of 110 over last fall’s figures. Cheating, lack of student help Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Richard Thompson “approved” of the increase. The total encompasses approximately 20 percent of the un­ plague Notre Dame pre-meds dergraduate student body. Last fall, the total was 1,204 while in the spring the number decreased to 1,067 students. give you an immediate F.” were to report it to these faculty Commenting on this semester’s increase, Thompson stated, “I by Eileen O’Grady members. The faculty themselves would have to approve of the increase. It allows a student to re­ Staff Reporter He has held the same attitude were not there to look for cheating. evaluate himself and work towards doing better. From an ad­ towards cheating for 20 years. “If Danehy maintains his job is a m inistrative viewpoint, it gives us a chance to solve those problems Is their such things as the typical you let the pre-med group go and teacher, not a policeman. He which might be causing the trouble.” “cut-throat” pre-med student here don’t have some control during claims only the students them­ The increase results from more professors reporting deficiencies at Notre Dame? Do pre-med examinations, then I think some of selves can stop the cheating. “The and not a reaction against grade inflation or greater academic students actually resort to such them would cheat. But if you students can stop this cheating pressure, according to Thompson. tactics as sabatoging fellow m aintain fairly close scrutiny, students’ lab experiments, or cold. I am inviting them to turn Thompson explained that in the past some professors didn’t give then it will be difficult for them,” destroying parts of medical books such people in,” he states. “ pink slips” or other indications of possible failure. As a result, he from the library? Danehy blames students’ stated, students didn’t know where they stood academically. “ We hesitancy to turn cheaters in on a These practices and more were thought this was unfair,” he stated. “perverse morality” in our reported to be the nation-wide Now, according to Thompson, the policy is to encourage society. “ The students have been trend among pre-med students in a professors to report deficient students. brainwashed. Somehow it is im­ recently conducted Associated “We have encouraged professors to report students who are moral to snitch, but actually it is Press survey. But the trend at doing D work or worse,” said Thompson. “Perhaps it is our en­ immoral not to do so,” he claims. Notre Dame does not appear to be couragement that has resulted in the crease of ‘pink slips.’ It He cites the example that so drastic. makes more work for us but we re not unhappy with it. We’d prefer happened last year. “Four to be alerted rather than have the student flunk.” Most students would agree the students were reported cheating Thompson also stressed that the majority of people who get “pink main problem in the Notre Dame by other students and we nailed slips” don’t fail. pre-med program is cheating. A them,” he explained. Some people, however, ignore the slips and decide to drop thesecond problem most complained The matter was sustained by an courses in which they receive a pink slip, according to Thompson. about is the lack of help from honesty committee. It was made a “The student feels the deficiency report is written in stone. Hefellow students, whether it be matter of permanent record that isn’t willing to make the effort to change the situation, so he pulls lending out notes or misin­ they had been proven to be out. I’m not happy with this,” Thompson commented. formation given out. Dr. James P. Danehy dishonest. Of course, they all got “ On the whole I don’t think the he states. F ’s in the class,” he added. More classes dropped situation here is as acute as ’ ’ I refuse to look for cheating, but painted in the article,” said As a result of his policy, he claims there is very little if it hits me in the nose then I won’t In recent years, Thompson has noted an increase in the number General Biology professor, Dr. dishonesty in his course. “ So far miss it,” states Danehy. of drops. He cited administrative changes and competition for Ralph Thorson. “It occurs though, this year, I haven’t seen any overt grades as the m ajor factors in this increase. let’s face it,” he added. cheating,” he contends. Opposing student attitudes Thompson stated that students have been encouraged to with­ Thorson described the pre-med draw from courses due to a change in academic regulations in 1973. majors here as “ a compulsively One junior pre-med student Organic chemistry Before then, a course could only be dropped within the first five aggressive group and over thought that Notre Dame is weeks of the semester. In 1973, the academic code was changed to achievers.” He claims one reason drastically different from the allow students to drop a course up to one week after the distribution the cut-throat competiton is not as According to the AP poll, schools listed in the survey. of mid-semester deficiency reports. prevalent here is the quality ofOrganic Chemistry is one of the “The severe cut-throat tactics The extension of the time period has increased the number of students. major courses for cut-throat are non-existant here. The only “drops”, Thompson declared. “ There is a tremendous urge to competition. problem I see at Notre Dame The problem, stated Thompson, also results partly from com­ get into med school,” he said, “but within the realm of cut-throat In the last organic chemistry test petition for grades. If a student has a D or F average at mid­ I think the majority of students tactics, is cheating,” he said. given here, 382 students took the semester, the tendency is to drop the course. realize to cheat to do it would not “And 1 think that’s a problem the test at tables in the North Dining “Students must realize, however, that C’s, D ’s and F ’s are a fact reflect their ability to be an ethical pre-med department can’t deal Hall.