THE GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
Task force report released
♦The Academic Structure Task force recommendations cause conflict across the campus
BY ELLEN YUTZY
Staff Writer
Students may be mostly un
aware of the unrest, but waves
caused by the Academic Structure
Task Force draft report are sweep
ing across campus. The report, is
sued on Nov. 25, 1997 for faculty
feedback, concerns many members
of the Guilford community.
Essentially, the report func
tions not as a specific proposal for
action, but a compilation of the
analysis that the Academic Struc
ture Task Force did over the semes
ter. They make several recommen
dations for downsizing the size of
the faculty at Guilford, relying pri
marily in the short term on attri
tion.
The long-term suggestions are
causing most of the controversy. In
a list entitled "Departments Sug
gested for Possible Review for Merg
ers, Reduction to 'Service" Status,
or Termination... [list two]" the task
force included 11 different depart
ments (see pg. 3).
The task force invited faculty
MSDE
A SUMMARY OF THE
ACADEMIC
RESTRUCTURING TASK
FORCE'S REPORT NEWS
PG. 3
CLASH OF THE TITANS:
A LOOK AT THE PAIN
AND THE GLORY OF
SCRABBLE FEATURES
PG. 6
CONFESSIONS OF A COKE
ADDICT FORUM PG. 14
GLOBAL WARMING
SUMMIT HELD WORLD
AND NATION PG. 11
KETCHUM WINS AWARD
SPORTS PG. 15
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responses, which will be included
in their final report.
Many departments filed re
sponses to the report. The ques
tions raised mostly center on the
process used by the task force to
judge the viability of certain de
partments. The task force lists eight
criteria (see sidebar) used in their
process, and writes that they are
not weighted in any formulaic way.
In the explanations for including
departments on list two, the task
force addresses primarily the first
criterion, quantitative data. Geol
ogy professor Charles Almy said,
"They gave a list of eight criteria,
but they only considered the first."
So many people had similar
questions that the task force added
the following passage to the final
report issued on Monday, Dec. 8.
"Our discussions drew on various
of the criteria, but we found that
we had more clear-cut data on some
criteria than on others, and that we
were able to reach agreement more
easily about some criteria than oth
ers."
The report explains, "As a re-
Security director arrives
♦Sylvia Chillcott takes charge of the Guilford Security and Safety Office
BY JESSE LAPLANTE
Staff Writer
Security. The very word sends
chills down many a student's spine
and leaves negative images of Ge
stapo thugs dancing in their heads.
Like it or not, however, the Se
curity and Safety Office is an impor
tant part of the Guilford community.
By protecting students and making
sure the rules and regulations of the
college are observed, Security and
Safety plays not only a protective role
but an educational one as well. Just
ask new security director Sylvia
Chillcott.
As of Dec. 1, Chillcott has been
on campus, getting to know the ad
ministration and the students. Al
though she has not met everyone yet,
it is her goal to be familiar with the
Guilford community by next semes
ter.
Chillcott brings over ten years
Since 1914, but never quite like this
suit, when it came to pro
viding justification for our
recommendations, the
task force was more likely
to agree on harder
data...than on more quali
tative evaluations."
Richie Zweigenhaft,
chair of the task force,
said, "We did draw on all
of them, at times...as we
looked at the more quali
tative data, we found it
was hard to get a handle
on those."
There is disagree
ment, though, even about
the hard data. The The
atre Studies Department,
included on list two, feel
that the data is flawed in
general. They filed their
own analysis to correct
what they saw as misrep
resentation of the depart
ment in the data used for
the report. For example,
by averaging practicum courses
into the student-faculty ratio for
theatre classes, the student-faculty
of experience in public safety service
to Guilford and hopes that she can
apply that knowledge here. Previ
ously she was the Director of Public
Safety at Ringling School of Art and
Design in Sarasota Florida, which, she
is quick to point out, is not the clown
college.
After working three and a half
years at Ringling, Chillcott says she
is happy to be returning to North
Carolina, which is her home. Before
working in Florida she worked at
Catawba College in Salisbury, North
Carolina, which is also where she
grew up. She also graduated from
Catawba with a Bachelor of Arts de
gree in sociology with a minor in his
tory.
Her first impression of Guilford
when she came in late September for
her interview, a two-day process, was
that of the "traditional college cam
pus atmosphere."
"It was like being back in that
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Carolyn Beard Whitlow is one of the members of
the task force.
ratio used by the task force was
much lower than the size of aver-
PLEASE SEE REPORT ON PG. 3
liberal arts school atmosphere I was
accustomed to at Catawba," says
Chillcott, who also credits Guilford's
history and architecture as factors
that drew her in.
When asked how she feels she
can apply her previous knowledge to
the Guilford community, a smile
creased Chillcott's face. "I consider
myself a professional student. I learn
something new everyday," she re
plied. "My whole objective is to over
see the well-being of the student
body," without whom Chillcott says
she would not have a job.
Chillcott wants to know the stu
dents, and wants to be able to learn
from them. She would like for every
student to feel comfortable in talk
ing to her about security-related
problems, or anything else they have
to say. "The security department is
just as much a part of the educational
process as other programs," she says,
PLEASE SEE SECURITY ON PG. 2
December 12, 1997