■Sftotember 9, 1983
The Lance
The Lance
Comment
Student Input
Removed
Recently at St. Andrews, three decisions have been made
that will definitely shape student life for the entire
academic year. Unfortunately, there was a total lack of
student input involving any of the decisions.
Last year, the administration decided to terminate the
Resident Assistant position in each of the dorms. The RA
position was many faceted, but most importantly they pro
vided leadership for the entire dorm. The RA s were also
an integral part of the “channel system . which was
designed to make the work of the Student Life Officer less
cumbersome. The RA postion was eliminated m order to
save money. . ■ n
Financially, this was a very sound decision. However, in
regard to student interest, the decision may have been a
costly one. The duties of the RA will now rest upon the
RD’s and the dorm councils, each of whom already had a
full slake of responsibilities.
One alternative to this decision may have been to see it
there were any students who would have been
serve as RA’s without pay, but out of concern for the dorm
and a willingness to help their fellow students. This is just
one of the alternatives students may have produced if they
had been consulted on the matter.
During the summer, the residents of Mecklenburg Dorm
were informed that their dorm would be closed for the
1983-84 year, in order to complete renovations. This move
caused 40-50 students to be relocated in other dorms and
destroyed any fellowship among the residents of Mecklen-
burg. j u •
The residents of the dorm were under the impression
that the building was to be renovated over the summer
months. It would appear that the adminstration could have
consulted with the dorm residents last year if there was a
question as to whether or not the renovations would be
completed before the opening of school.
It must be noted that Patsy Webb, Director of Housing,
has done an excellent job of relocating the Mecklenburg
residents, which was her first task once she accepted her
present position.
The third decision concerns the appointment of Dr.
William Loftus to the position of interim dean of students.
Loftus will certainly perform the task in a very competent
manner, but why was the decision made without consulting
the students?
Although realizing that the decision had to be made
quickly we feel that the selection process was unnecessarily
rushed. Including students in the process would have
made the transition smoother for all involved.
A dean of student’s job is to work with other students,
as the name implies, and it seems the students should have
had some input in the selection of a faculty or staff interim
dean. A committee of students and faculty could have
made recommendations or perhaps there could have been
recommendations for the interim position.
Hopefully, in the future, there will be more students in
put involved in the decisions that so directly affect their
lives.
Rick Hanna
(for the Editorial Board)
Global Glance
Jay Austin, a member of
the St. Andrews community
for two years, died this sum
mer shortly after returning to
his home. His death was at
tributed to heart failure.
In Memory of Jay Austin
While at St. Andrews , Jav
worked extensively with the
volleyball team as manager
and participated in the in
tramural program as statisti
cian.
Jay’s parents sent a brief
note acknowledging the
shared sense of loss of such a
valuable individual and par
ticipant in the St. Andrews
community.
By Corey Ingold
One of the most important
political developments in re
cent memory was initiated
last week when Russian
fighter planes missiled down
a Korean commercial airline
plane. Thirty Americans
were aboard and all were kill
ed among them Con
gressman McDonald of
Georgia. Much of the world
St, Andrews Forum
Faculty
of communication between
the administration and the
Communication students. The administration
must at once stop this great
was and still is in a state of
outrage over this attack on a
non-military and helpless
group of people.
The Soviets have claimed
that the plane was over Rus
sian property, yet this hardly
excuses an act of piracy such
as occured. While the United
States is not totally blameless
in all of its many interna
tional disputes this recent
Continued on Page 8
Dear Editor,
It would be quite easy to
scrawl out a quick editorial
blasting the administration
for its irrational decision to
close Mecklenburg Dorm.
Yet, so often, such outraged
comments only lead to fur
thering the gap of com
munication between the
students and the administra
tion. Therefore, I would like
to offer a brief and hopefully
constructive cirticism of the
administration’s decision,
and then I would like to pro
pose that both sides (strange
that we should feel as we
must take sides!) discover a
lesson from the experience.
Primarily, it seems that
Mecklenburgers’ request that
“We’re not asking for an
Orange, but we’re tired of
living in a lemon” was
fruitless. Anyone who closely
examined the issue would
have concluded that not only
do repairs take time, but the
building of relationships bet
ween fellow Mecklenburgers
and their growing identifica
tion with the dorm (not
merely the structural aspect
of the dorm, but the underly
ing essence of common
ground among all in
habitants) took years. Yet,
the administration seems to
have single-handedly made
the decision to close
Mecklenburg without con
sulting students or without
weighing the consequences of
each move.
Ah, but perhaps Mecklen
burg may become the
“mecka,” the birthplace of a
new era for St. Andrews,
There must be a true means
“mosque-a-rade” and see
that student frustrations can
not simply be vented as in a
machine, which requires a
steam valve. The valve is
opened only to release
pressure while the machine
continues to function. In
stead, both parties should
cooperate by means of open
communication, and most
importantly, joint decision
making. The emphasis
should be shifted from mere
ly listening to student input
to actually acting upon stu
dent input.
If the Mecklenburg deci
sion does not become a
“mecka” for ending the
great “mosque-a-rade” in
which students are not allow
ed to participate in making
decision, then my next
editorial will simply be to nail
you Turks! All I can say is, if
you are wondering whether
or not to let students have a
true say-so, well, “You Ot
toman!”
Sincerely,
Philip Leist
(Presently Crusading in
Europe)
Continued on Page 8
The Lance
Editor Rick Hanna
Assistant Editor Maureen Ingalls
Features Editor Sally Schiel
Assistant. Features Leslie Palmer
Sports Editor Christie Williams
Science Editor ; i:^David Propst
Photo Editor ; .Patrick Voswinkel
Assistant Photo . .-CraigPiccola
Art Editor ... Jan St. Pierre
Layout Editor...'. . tl;. .. Kim Lutian
Advisor I,., Jim McDuffie
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