Newspapers / The lance. / March 13, 1987, edition 1 / Page 5
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inteRna€iorx:iL March 13,1987 Page 4 ————— As Others See Us The following article appeared in The London Times Education Supplement on December 12,1986. You may find it interesting to read what others see & report abou our college community. St Andrews -- US style By Bill Fyfe Hendrie "As a member of the honor community of St. Andrews I pledge that I will not lie, cheat or steal," begins the pledge made by all students at St. Andrews University— but as, the spelling of “honor" reveals, this is St. Andrews, North Carolina. While the spelling is distinctly American, however, in every other way St. Andrews aims to be as Scottish as possible — from the portrait of Flora Macdonald in the entrance hall to the blue and white Saltires, which appear on everything from the students' T- shirts to the fleet of dust carts, sorry trash trucks, which keep the 700-acre lakeside campus immaculate and absolutely litter free. Grafitti is only allowed on one wall, where a sign reminds the 800 students that even there it must be in "good taste." This term St. Andrews, which is delightfully situated in the quiet, little backwoods town of Laurinburg, is celebrating the silver anniversary of its foundation in 1961 and it was Bill Caudill, the official university piper, who piped in the enormous birthday cake, big enough to give every student a fair slice. St. Andrews also offers its students a slice of all that's best in the academic field, as I discovered when I spent a week recently on its impressive campus. For three out of their four years of study at St. Andrews, no matter what their main choice of subject or "major", all students must participate in SAGE, the St. Andrews General Education programme, which is looked upon as one of the most innovative in the United States. "The SAGE curriculum was built around the idea that if we hired a faculty with strong interdisciplinary interests, as well as notable expertise in a specific discipline, we could do something no other college was doing and provide our students with the liberal arts education we feel is so crucial to success in life," explains Dr. Dick Prust, Professor of Philosophy, who is currently chairman of the faculty team involved in this important aspect of life at the American St. Andrews. "As a faculty," he continued, " we decide what kinds of skills and awareness our graduates should have. The key to SAGE, though, is that once these decisions are made the entire faculty shares the responsibility of teaching the common elements. This means, for example, that during SAGE, our chemists discuss literature, and our English professors explore psychology." This term these professors include the Very Rev. Dr. Ian C. Fairweather, associate minister at Glasgow Cathedral, who is a member of the Church of Scotland’s education committee and until this month the Church's representative on the General Teaching Council. Each year St. Andrews aims to broaden the range of its SAGE team still further by including a distinguished Scottish scholar, and Dr. Fainweather's book on Christian ethics is being studied by the students. As well as including a Scottish dimension on the campus in North Carolina, St. Andrews also encourages its students to travel to Scotland either by taking part in a one-year exchange with students at Stirling University or St. Andrews or by coming to study one aspect of life In Scotland during the special one-month winterterm, which is another of the American St. Andrews innovations. "These four weeks in January are looked upon as a very precious time by our 800 students," June l^ilby, >St. Andrews public relations director. told me as we met for coffee on the lakeside patior outside the cafeteria of which both staff and students share. "This month provides a time for exper imentation, innovation and variety in learning experiences, and presents suject matter and areas of study not offered in the same form in the fall and spring terms." "A winter term course occupies a student's full academic time for the month. This means that students are expected to spend as much time on the one course during this short term as they are expected to spend on four courses during a given month in the fall or spring. During the past few years students have chosen to study theatre in London, archaeology in Mexico, marine biology in Puerto Rico and folk music in Scotland." The American St. Andrews is equally eager to encourage its professors to travel to Scotland, and next summer accompanied by their spouses and families they are coming to spend two weeks in July at St. Salvators Hall in the Fife town. The study visit is being organized by the Rev. Bob Martin, the chaplain, who told me: "St. Andrews is a gem of a place where we can come together for fellowship and restoration. Our programme will include subjects ranging from theology to theatre, from journalism to jurisprudence and from poetry to politics." "There will also be ample time just to relax with afternoons free to explore the Angus coast and whole-day tours further afield on both the Wednesdays, and there will be two large banquets with a Scottish dancing team on hand to conduct a "how to" session. We look upon St. Andrews as an extraordinarily safe place for our children and they're looking fonward to pony rides on the beach, visits to Kirkton Park and a trip to Edinburgh Zoo." While I am sure the St. Andrews visitors will get as much out of their stay in Fife as I got out of my visit to their campus in North Carolina, there is one area in which they have nothing to learn.The American St. Andrews is far ahead of anything I have seen in Scotland as far as the integration of physically handicapped students is concerned. With its purpose-built campus, St. Andrews caters for the wheelchair-bound, or "The Wheelies”, as they've become known. St. Andrews has many special facilities, ranging from a medical clinic to a breakdown centre for motorized chairs, but as far as possible the Wheelies are encouraged to be independent by the provision of specially-equipped computer keyboards to help them with their work and by the creation of special events such as a Wheelie frisby tournament. Specially-equipped vans are even provided so that they can go out on dates. One of the Wheelies said,“My mom and dad pushed me toward college and told me I could do it. Still, it was difficult for me to accept. But when I came to St. Andrews I found everything to be so accessible, even socially, because the people are so friendly." I too felt that friendliness at St. Andrews, North Carolina, and was amused to learn that the Wheelies had a nickname for me along with their fellow students. To them I was one of the "Tabs", "The Temporarily Able Bodied", and that — like much else at America's St. Andrews — certainly made me think. Woodrow Wilson Fellow To Visit By Molly Hartsell International Editor From Sunday, March 15 until Friday, Inarch 20, St. Andrews will host Sol H. Chafkin and his wife, Dorothy. I^r. Chafkin is the 6th Woodrow Wilson Fellow in this 3rd year that St. Andrews has participated in the Woodrow Wilson Fellows program. I^r. Chafkin received a B. A. from the College of the City of New York and holds a M.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Chafkin has a long and impressive resume including positions as the Director of the Office of Planning & Programming of the Peace Corps, member of the Advisory Committee of the United Nations University World Hunger Program and a member of the Food and Nutrition Board for the National Academy of Sciences. l^r. Chafkin has also done extensive work with the Ford Foundation in the areas of nutrition and related issues of the (continued on page 10) Yes! Another Section As you can see, The Lance is proud to present the International Section! We, the staff, are really excited about this addition to the paper. It is hoped that through this section, students will be made more aware of events and people that make an impact on the world. Some of these people are right here on campus. Through this section, we hope to bring these events and people more clearly into focus. As always, we encourage and eagerly await (hint, hint) your contributions to this section, whether it be an article about an experience yea studying aboard or justafreshperspectiveon traveling and studying in that great big classroom commonly known as the world. I hope for as much participation as 1 can muster up. Thissectionisgoingtobealotoffun to edit and write for, and it can only get better with items submitted by others. You’ll be hearing from us, and hopefully, us from you. CIAO! Molly Hartsell internatfonal Editor Ext. 431/Box 420
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