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Volume LXIV
Number 3
October 30,1981
The Salemite
serving the salem college community since 1920
Patricia Suilivan
Something Special ...
Dean Stresses Academics
by Amanda Mays
“Something special exists
here, and something special
happens to students here,”
said Academic Dean Patricia
A. Sullivan. Sullivan comes to
Salem most recently from
Texas Women’s College in
Denton, Texas, where she
was associate professor of
biology. Prior to that, she
taught at six other in
stitutions of higher education.
She is impressed by the
openness of people in
Welcoming her on campus, as
Well as the way faculty and
students care about each
other and get involved in
Salem.
Sullivan, 41, is a cum laude
graduate of Notre Dame
College of St. John’s
University in New York,
where she obtained a degree
in biology. She earned her
niaster’s degree and doc
torate in physiology and cell
biology at New York
University. She has held
Various fellowships in
cluding: New York
University Teaching
fellowship from September
1961 to August 1964, and a NIH
Tost-doctoral Traineeship,
Upstate Medical Center, from
November 1968 to June 1969.
Sullivan plans to put the
academic part of her
education to work in the
biology department at Salem
by next year. She plans to
leach a bioethics course.
Personal Appeal
The Dean came to Salem
because of its personal appeal
to her. It is a woman’s
College, it is a small college,
and as a result, it is more
Personal than a large
University. Finally, it is an
institution with philosophical,
stylistic, and academic
programs which are con
sistent with her personal
philosophy.
She has been interviewing
Salem’s different depart
ments and putting together
information about them. She
wants to insure that careful
planning goes into the
curriculum of each depart
ment.
Sullivan has also been
examining January Term,
which she feels “offers ex
citing possibilities.” She
wants the program to be a
balanced blend of travel and
courses to meet student
needs.
A Good Look
at Goals
She also wants to take a
good look at the goals of
students and to devise
academic programs to meet
these goals. She believes that
internships offer good
preparation for students, but
is worried in some cases
about how an internship is
tied to the academic
program.
As far as immediate goals
are concerned. Dean Sullivan
would like to see more
recognition of academic
quality in a public way. This
is the reason for the academic
awards presentation at the
SGA meeting held Tuesday.
Another area of concern to
Sullivan is communications
between the students and the
administration. She en
courages students to visit her
with their academic
problems. Appointments may
be made with her secretary,
Dorothy Cannady, at 721-2617.
“I am willing to listen and
want to help,” Sullivan says.
Brian Meehan’s
Book of Poetry
To Be Published
Plainsong, a book of poems
written by English professor
Dr. Brian Meehan, will be
published in the spring of
1982.
The poetry in Plainsong “is
not nature poetry,” said Dr.
Meehan, but rather “an at
tempt to understand and
analyze motions.” He con
tinued, “The poems deal with
important topics-the or
dinary, common experiences
to all humanity.”
Dr. Meeban has previously
written poetry for the winter,
1972 edition of the Southern
Review literary journal. In
Plainsong, he said, he tried to
explore the form of poetry, in
an attempt to use rhyme and
rhythm to create an unforced,
natural speech pattern. Dr.
Meehan explained that in his
poems he attempts to achieve
extreme precision and clarity
by carefully using the skill
and craft of poetry writing,
resembling, in this respect,
the poetry of the 18th century.
Dr. Meehan added that he
follows the Yvor Winters
school of poetry, which was
begun by the American poet
Yvor Winters in the 1930s. He
said this is a highly moral
school of verse that is
predominant in the West
Coast, and which is also
followed by several modern
poets such as Charles GuUans
and Turner Cassidy.
Copies of Plainsong will be
available in the Gramley
Library shortly after the
book’s publication in Los
Angeles by Publisher Charles
Gullans of the Symposium
Press.
Academic Council
Makes Proposal
On the basis of a faculty
wide survey. Academic
Council has considered the
possibility of instituting plus
and minus as part of the
formal grading policy of
Salem College. Academic
Council is further considering
that the plus and minus be
calculated in the student’s
Q.P.A. The student’s Q.P.A.
prior to the institution of this
policy will not be changed.
Academic Council is in
terested in the student
opinion regarding this policy.
This is not a policy making
ballot, but will be taken into
consideration by the faculty
when they review the policy.
All changes of policy in
academic regulations are the
prerogative of the faculty as a
whole.
This issue was brought to
the attention of Academic
Council last year by a
student. After further
examination of the matter, a
faculty survey revealed that
an overwhelming majority of
the faculty use plus and
minus in reporting final
grades, (only five faculty
members do not use plus and
minus).
In response to the student
body request for more
detailed information.
Academic Council has
3. This will more accurately
portray the student’s level of
academic achieyement. If
chosen to be utilized, the
pluses and minuses would be
a better indication of the
professor’s evaluation of the
student’s work.
4. For students considering
graduate work at institutions
that use the plus and minus
system consistency in giving
plus or minus among the
faculty will be helpful;
however, the student’s Q.P.A.
would be susceptible to being
recalculated.
Even though a student’s
Q.P.A. at Salem does not
reflect plus or minus grades,
when transcripts are for
warded to graduate schools,
plus and minus notations are
carried. Graduate schools
using a numerical system
that incorporated plus and
minus notations will
recalculate a Salem student’s
Q.P.A. according to their own
system. Therefore, if a
student is entering graduate
school, or taking a graduate
course, the plus or minus
notation on her transcript is
significant.
Students are reminded that
the final, decision will be
made by the faculty. Student
opinion, as revealed by a
questionnaire being placed in
compiled the following list of student boxes today, will be
pros and cons:
1. Incorporating plus and
minus into the Q.P.A. will put
Salem on a nation-wide
system for colleges and
universities that list plus and
minus on student transcripts.
2. This raises the question
of whether there would be a
change in the student’s
eligibility for various Salem
honor societies.
considered in
final decision.
making the
Interclub 1982
Weekend Begins at 4 p.m.
Interclub Weekend,
sponsored by Big Four,
begins this afternoon at 4
p.m. with a scavenger hunt.
The scavenger hunt starts in
the area between the Science
Building and the Refectory.
At 9 p.m. a Halloween
carnival and tape show will
be held in the Refectory.
Prizes will be awarded to
those dressed in the best
costumes.
Tomorrow afternoon from 1
p.m. to 4 p.m. a kickball
game will be held on the
hockey field behind the
Refectory.
Tomorrow evening at 9
p.m. the Interclub dance will
be held with music by The
V’oltage Brothers. Tickets for
Salem students are $3 and $4
for guest couples.
All activities are BYOB and
BYO-Mixers except for
Saturday afternoon when
beer will be provided.
Students are reminded to
abide by the North Carolina
drinking laws: 18 for beer and
wine, 21 for liquor. Students
are also reminded that there
is to be no smoking in the
Refectory.
Will Oscar’s
Close?
by Barbara Meskill
The rumor that Oscar’s is
closing is dead. So says Mark
.Vlasis, owner of the popular
local bar on Bethabra Road
which opened in June of this
year.
The rumor that Oscar’s has
city zoning problems is
“nothing that can’t be han
dled,” said Vlasis in a recent
interview with this
newspaper. According to
Vlasis, Oscar’s will remain
open and will continue to sell
beer for 75 cents.
A 1981 graduate of UNC at
Chapel Hill,- Vlasis saw a
market for a place like
Oscar’s in Winston-Salem. He
commented that he did not
expect the crowds Oscar’s
has been drawing, though it is
extremely satisfying to see
the success of his venture. He
finds his clientele intelligent
and describes his Salem
patrons as “fun” and “pretty
wild.”