September 23, 1983
The Lance
The Lance
Comment
|i:5rFSAapl
SAGE: A Sensible Solution?
As a core program. SAGE has won national acclaim in
the past few years. The program has also stirred up a great
deal of controversy on the St. Andrews campus recently.
The revision of the 401 and 402 sections of the program are
at the heart of the matter which is affectmg the environ
ment of students and faculty alike.
First of all, “The Lance” is not attempting to address
the question of whether or not the revisions should be add
ed. Instead, we wish to take a look at some of the quptions
the revisions beg, the communication involved with the
decision, and the atomsphere of the campus since the plans
for revamping the program were announced.
The experiences one gains in four years of college, both
educational and social, are the tools with real world is at
tacked. The revisions involved in the new SAGE 401^ and
402 courses would certainly serve as a “capstone for
one’s years at St. Andrews. This “capstone would be
useful to any student who saw it as a positive part of an
education and not just a lot of required work to fill up a
senior year or a graduation requirement.
The communication surrounding the revisions is partial
ly to blame for the intense debate surrounding the issue. It
does appear that the students could have been informed of
the decision during the summer months, even if the main
thrust of the revisions are scheduled to take place Spring
Term. Students have a right to closely monitor decisons
such as this one and communication between the faculty
and students is an essential requirement for this to occur.
Now, that the changes have been announced it is time
that St. Andrews community to deal with those changes in
a mature manner. The students should refrain from com
plaining loudly to the faculty and administration. If
peoplw have problems with the decisions, groups should
beformed to construct reasonable alternatives. If there
seems to be room for criticism, it should be made construc
tively or not at all. The last thing the students need to do is
appear as if they are only offering opposition to the deci
sion in order to get out of the work involved.
As for the faculty, it can only appear as if the decision
was announced before there was total agreement on the
issue. The same rules would seem to apply to the faculty as
well as the student body. Certainly public displays of in
tense disagreement are not the best method for the handl
ing of this issue.
As a community dedicated to learning, is seems that St.
Andrews would not want to handle this problem as
maturely as possible. This mature handling of the issue
does not include petty arguments among sensible adults,
students, and faculty alike. The initiative required to for
mulate a well-planned, constructive and reasonable
defense or attack on any decision is great, but it does not
appear to be too much to ask of a community of adults.
Windows On The World
By Bob Martin
This column provides a marvelous opportunity for me as
Director of International Programs to get certain kinds of
information out to the St. Andrews community in ways
other than the infamous “memos!” It will give me an op
portunity to “fudge” now and again as College Pastor
regarding issues and/or events that we all must
acknowledge if we have commitments to being humane
citizens within a global community.
In this “inaugural” column, I want to remind the stu
dent community about the International Winter Term of
ferings and the schedule that needs to be followed to ex
plore and to secure a place to participate in one of them.
By now, each o^o\||j^s received the brief summaries for
each of the courses. Many will have met with us this past
Wednesday afternoon. For those who could not or did not
attend that meeting, let me say several things:
1) The date for off-campus Winter Term registration has
been moved from Thursday, October 6 to Wednesday, Oc
tober 12. With the date change, we have bought you more
time to pursue tha matter further with your parents or with
other possible funding sources over your Fall Break, Oc-
Continued on Page 4
OSTOMSI
An Open Lett^
Cafeteria Carding
By Therese Beebe
St. Andrews’ students who
subscribe (and some who
don’t) to the cafeteria service
provided by SAGA, have en
dured the enforcement of a
few new policies in cafeteria
procedure. Unfortunately,
the policies, including having
to have, on hand, one’s iden
tification card in order to
enter the cafeteria, were in
itiated by “surprise attack”
-not notices were posted and
no effort made to inform the
student body as a whole
beforehand. According to
Nathan Wannall, Food Ser
vice Manager here at St. An
drews, the “surprise attack”
was unintentional. He stated,
though, in defense of the ac
tion, that the Saltire (“which
every student has a copy of”)
states “Students must show
their St. Andrews I.D. cards
a all meals.” However, since
the rule has not been strictly
enforced for at least several
months, it does seem a trifle
unfair (if not annoying) to be
slapped with the idea as one
is sent back to his room to
trace the elusive card. (A
search, for some of us, that
could develop into days of
starvation.) Wannall admits
that unavoidable conflicts
have called for compromise.
Disabled students have been
granted permission to slide
through the door if they have
memorized their food service
numbers (the numbers will be
checked off of a special list).
Athletes who arrive at dinner
just ctff |he playing field may
exercise the same privilege.
But what of the run-of-the-
mill student who just plain
loses his card? If he is for
tunate enough to have
money, he can pay for the
meal in cash and, upon
locating or replacing the card
(if this location/replacement
occurs before 2:30 p.m. on
the following Sunday), can
obtain reimbursement for the
meal(s) paid for by the stu
dent.
Why the crackdown? Ac
cording to Wannall, the
cafeteria was losing money to
people trying to cheat the
system by passing off cards
for double usage, by using
stolen cards and/or by just
charging through the door
without stopping at the desk.
Thus, the students who are
paying for the service would
end up footing the bill for the
freebies. Dozens of lost or
stolen cards have been
replaced since the implemen
tation of the crackdown.
Fraudulent cards are con
fiscated and are then turned
over directly to the Dean of
Students for Honor Code
violation investigation.
Again, the masses suffer the
incovenience due to the ac
tions of a few.
SAGA workers have been
made aware of our opinions
of the inconvenience (in a
variety of ways) and counter
that the procedure is even
more inconvenient for their
staff since they have to ex
pend more time and energy
on the paperwork, use an ex
tra person at the entrance
desk and tolerate some not-
so-friendly reactions from
the students. If this is the
case, has it been worthwhile?
Continued on Page 4
The Lance
Editor Rick Hanna
Assistant Editor Maureen Ingalls
Features Editor Sally Schiel
Assistant Features Leslie Palmer
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The opinions^^pressed on this page are not necessarily
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courages responses to the material in this publication, but
reserves the right of editorial freedom as governed by
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