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To recommend reforms
History ·grad students petition
by IRENE SPRADLING
The history grad students at UL
became distressed to the point of action
last Tuesday. That morning, they
presented the following petition to the
Department of History.
" •. Jn the interest of improving the
quality and relevance of the graduate
program in history •. : an official
committee of students be appointed to
study and analyze the present graduate
program and recommend improvements
and reforms •• ~ ." ·
Half of students sign petition
Ten· history grad students signed the
petition. This is over half the number of
people in the department.
Stan Ousley and Pat McElone, the two
history graduate students who wrote the
petition explained that there were four
major grievances in their field that they
believed to be unsolved. But after C. W.
Brockwell, history department chairman
who received a copy of the petition and
the grievances, revealed, "Many of these
problems have been taken care of for the
most part. If some of the students would
have only come and talked to me, they
would have known this." ....
Basically, the problems that history
grad students feel most hindering are
these:
In the past, they have been
discouraged from taking any except
600-level courses, of which only two or
three are offered each semester. Thus it
takes a significant amount of time to get
a master's degree. Dr. Brockwell said they
are now able to take 500-Jevel courses,
"This works out better for both the
student and the teacher," he said,
"because in many cases, 600-level classes
must be taught on a one-to-one
(student-instructor) basis. Besides being
time consuming, it's not so good, since
students do learn a lot from each other."
Another related gripe is that many of
the same courses are offered over and
over every semester. 'For instance,
611-612 (Studies in American History)
has of lately only dealt with either "The
Civil War'' or "The Late Nineteenth
Century." · "Several students have
requested an American history course in
Twentieth-Century America," said
Ousley. Dr. Brockwell explained that
with each semester and each new
instructor, the course content changes
somewhat. "However," he said, "we can't
offer too many different courses in one
semester, simply because our grad
department is so small." ·A course in
Twentieth-century American History is
scheduled for next semester (The
Progressive Period).
Too few houn for M.A.
History grad students are also
distressed that their master's thesis only
counts for three credit hours, where as
other masters' theses give six. Students
ask, "Is a history thesis worth only half as
much as any other M.A.' thesis?" All Dr.
Brockwell could answer was, "Students
are allowed to do six hours of thesis
work, but only three count.'' It takes 30
hours to get an M.A. iri history. Since it
does prepare a . person to be a practicing
historian, a great deal of writing is
For Hawaii haskethall tournament
involved.
The final major grievance expressed
was the practice in the history
department of putting a grad student on.
probation if he received one "C" and
"Kicking him out'' if he receives another.
"Breakdown" in communication
In most grad schools at UL all that is
required is the maintenance of an overall
'£B" average, making it possible for a
student to have two or more "C's" as
long as he had enough "A's" to keep a
"B" average. Dr. Brockwell stated that
the history department changed to such a
system a couple of months ago.
"Somehow, there's been a breakdown
in communication between students and
faculty ," said Dr. Brockwell. "A petition
wasn't all that necessary."
Stan Ousley seemed to think
differently about the petition.
"While the number of students
affected by the petition is numerically
small, this petition has much preater
symbolic significance. It is one of the few
times graduate students here have dared
to ask for anything." ' .
The petition has also brought about a
meeting of aJl who signed the petition
and the instructors involved scheduled for
Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7:30p.m. in Room
103 in the Social Science Building.
Another grievance will probably come
up in the discussions next Thursday, that
of the inadequate graduate facilities in
the main library. This has been a long
standing problem on Belknap Campus for
all graduate students.
Cheerleaders seeking travel funds
by IRENE SPRADLING
Four UL cheerleaders will join the
basketball team in Hawaii between this
coming Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 to participate
in the Rainbow Oassic Basketball
Black Jack
Tournament -if students raise $744.
"This is only half the actual cost," said
George Howe, director of student
activities. uPresident Ekstrom has
Diana Hart had the deal at the AnFI Flight Casino
Party last Wednesday nipt in Biaelow Hall.
promised to contnbute half the expenses
from university funds if students can
match it."
Professor Sherrill B rak meier ,
cheerleading sponsor, said that only four
from the squad are allowed to go because
of the high cost and because of the
possibility of UL's football team
competing in a bowl game at the same
time.
The cheerleaders hopefully attending
the Rainbow tournament are Mary Lou
Bowles, Steve Lockwood, Cindy
Shrudder, and Chris Williams. A
designated committee of students and
faculty chose those four on several
different grounds. They decided that two
male and female cheerleaders should
attend. Since Steve and Chris are the only
boys on the squad, they were
automatically selected. The committee
selected Mary Lou on the basis of her
seniority. The rest of the cheerleaders put
their names in a_ hat for the remaining
selection. It was Cindy's lucky day.
Student Senate helps
Student Senate Vice-president Susan
Blanchard has taken on the task of
"beating the money bushes" around
CaJ!lpUs. She says she's "not too worried
about finding enough financial support.
Several organizations, such as the various
student governments, fraternities, and
sororities have already pledged a good
deal of funds.''
Cheerleader Mary Lou Bowles looked
into the possibility of collecting funds
outside the UL community, but when
Dean Lawrence (of students) discussed
(Continued on .... I)