Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 26, 1976, edition 1 / Page 1
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Today's Weather Warm and partly cloudy through Saturday, with a chance of thundershowers Friday end Saturday, High tomorrow in the low to mid-70's; low near 55. Chance of precipitation Is 20 per , cent on Friday Increasing to SO ' per cent for Saturday. Vc.'urr.s Uo. C3 L Artist's conception of the $3.75 million Library. The addition will double the library's stack capacity Addition may be filled by 1981 Wilson capacity to he by Colette Chabbott Staff Writer The $3.75 million addition under construction behind Wilson Library will more than double the library's stack capacity, but according to library administrators both the stacks and the addition will be full by 1981. "We're acquiring over 70,000 volumes per dmisten to appeal ru I i ng on New Rive r - : by Laura Toler -Staff Vrlter Wednesday's court ruling authorizing a proposed hydroelectric project on the New River is only a minor setback for opponents of the project, the spokesman for the board of directors of the National Committee for the New River said Thursday. . "There are several courses we can follow, and we will continue to use those courses until the New River is preserved," board member Douglas Henderson said. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.. upheld Appalachian Power Company's (APCO) license for its proposed $500 million Blue Ridge Project, which would dam the river at two points in Grayson County, Va., and flood about 40,000 acres in Grayson, and Ashe and Alleghany Counties in North Carolina. The license, which was granted by the Federal Power Commission (FPC) in June, 1974, effective January, 1975, had been under a stay-of-execution order pending the court's ruling on a challenge of the license by the state of North Carolina. N.C. Atty. Gen. Rufus Edmisten said Wednesday that the state will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. The license was originally challenged on the grounds that the state considered the environmental impact statement on the project inadequate; that alternative methods of power production were not thoroughly considered, that need for the project had not been demonstrated; and that a study indicating archeological significance of the river valley was not introduced in FPC hearings. APCO argued that receiving a license after nine years of extensive hearings by FPC By Julie Knight Staff Writer Recently released grade statistics indicate that UNC's grade inflation problem may be corrected simply because it was recognized and vocalized. For ' the first time since 1961, the percentage of As decreased last semester, dropping 1.4 per cent. Also, the percentage of Cs and Ds increased for the first time in several years. All but one of several UNC faculty members and administrators interviewed during the past few weeks viewed grade inflation as either a harmless phenomenon or as a problem that could be solved only by changing the grading system. , Only E. Maynard Adams, chairman of the faculty, said he thinks the self-correcting process "is happening to some extent." "When one becomes conscious of and aware of grade inflation it makes a difference subtly," he said, "I do think the faculty is more conscious of its grading practices and there is concern to maintain the credibility of edditlon to Wilson end provide carrei year," Head Librarian James F. Govan said Tuesday, adding that the stacks have been full since they were completed in 1952. Archie Fields, in charge of circulation, has been - responsible for coping with the overcrowding in Wilson for 10 years. Fields was enthusiastic about both the capacity and design of the addition. "We're going to have daylight in the stacks for the first time," Fields said. "There will be givesthe -company- ample mandate -to construct the project, and that the archaeological study was withheld from hearings at the request of its author. The court ruling was qualified by a requirement that APCO remove and protect archaeological items of the area before it is flooded. Wednesday's ruling invalidated a March 13 decision announced by U.S. Interior Secretary Thomas S. Kleppe granting North Carolina's request to preserve its 26.5-mile segment of the New River in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Kleppe said that f because North Carolina filed its complete scenic river application" in June, 1975, after the license was granted, court approval would give the license precedence over the scenic river designation. Henderson said that prior to Kleppe's deefsion "thousands 6f people across the country had expressed a desire to see the . river preserved. Yesterday's decision does not address the major issue of whether it should be preserved. The ruling dealt only with whether FPC had adequately followed procedure in granting a license. "We are sure that in the long run the wishes of the people will prevail" Henderson added. Rep. Stephen L. Neal, D-N.C, who represents the area to be affected by the project, introduced a bill in Congress prior to Kleppe's decision to place the river in the national scenic system. He has said he will push for the bill's adoption before Congress adjourns this yean . Henderson said that passage of this bill would not invalidate the license. "At this point there is nothing to stop Appalachian from beginning construction," he said. the grading system." But Adams said that no deliberate pressure has been exerted on the faculty to lower the percentages of As and Bs. Adams mentioned a phenomenon that occurred in the late 1950s which helps explain how awareness of the problem subtley affected last semester's grading. "Dean Spruill of the General College became concerned in the 1950s that grades were being inflated. What we did then as a counter to grade inflation was to have a print-out at the end of each term of the grades that had been given by each department," Adams said. "We distributed these to the whole faculty so each department could look at other departments' grading and everybody could look at each instructor's grades. ."Making it public who the easy graders were and who the hard graders were had a salutory effect. I don't think a professor's colleagues exerted any deliberate pressure on him. It was just that his grades were going to be exposed," Adams continued. Last semester's grade inflation- inr ation: 7 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Chrp:l Kill, forih Carolina, Friday, March 23, 1976 I I end lounge space. increase a window near almost every carrel." The addition will contain 800 open carrels, 100 locked faculty carrels, typing spaces and three times the restroom facilities now in Wilson. Five two-story carpeted lounges, with all-glass fronts, will face the Bell Tower. Each will be decorated in a different motif, from traditional walnut to chrome and fiberglass. The addition will enable the library to bring 30,000 little-used volumes back to the stacks from two warehouses in Durham. Another 60,000 volumes stored in boxes in the Law School, Library School, Undergraduate and Wilson libraries will also be brought back to the main library's shelves. Library acquisitions may force these books back into storage by 1980, Govan said; ;FjeldS' predicted that:by 1984 the library would be back to its current squeezed state. The UNC Board of Trustees has approved a plan to construct a $22 million physical plant for the main library on the site of the Union parking lot. Govan said he. was not optimistic about money being appropriated for a new library for several years due to North Carolina's tight budget. Wilson Library is not alone in its space problem. "The limit to growth is one of the central issues being debated among librarians today," Govan said. Harvard Library, the largest in the nation with over nine million volumes, has reached its limit, Govan said. Some large libraries, including the libraries at Harvard and Yale have had to excavate underground additions to acquire adequate space. "The growth of research libraries in this century has transformed American scholarship," Govan said, noting that UNC held only 100,000 volumes at the turn of the century. He added that a 25 per cent inflation rate in the publishing industry am! tight public spending may curb the growth rate of many libraries. To keep their collections from becoming obsolete, Govan said many libraries are beginning to specialize in certain fields and depend on other libraries to round out their collections. UNC graduate students and faculty members can now obtain rare or technical books from almost any library in the world. Direct loaning privileges at UNC-CH are available to graduate students and faculty members from other UNC campuses. By special arrangement, UNC students may borrow directly from the Duke Library, and vice versa. controversy publicized that the UNC faculty had gradually graded easier for the past fifteen years. Over this time period, the percentage of As increased from 10.6 to 28.0 percent, B grades increased from 29.2 to 38.7 per cent, while Cs fell from 40.9 to 26.3 per cent and Ds from 12.7 to 6.2 per cent. Besides Adams, the other faculty members who see grade inflation as a problem said that only changes in the grading system can correct it. History Professor James Leutze said that the present system is losing its credibility, and that "We must seriously evaluate our grading system and finally adopt one of gradually counteracting grade inflation." , " ' . . - - Last semester Leutze proposed a grading plan that would assign different values to ."plus" and "minus" grades. For example, instead of just giving three quality points for a B, Leutze's system would award 3.33 points for a B plus, 3 for a B and 2.67 for a B minus. But botany professor William Koch, who believes grade inflation is not a problem, said d Mew by Russell Gardner Staff Writer University finance and student government officials have scheduled a meeting for early next week to discuss next year's bus service contract, Student Body President Billy Richardson said Thursday. Richardson said Claiborne Jones, vice chancellor of business and finance, has -agreed to a joint meeting between students, University and Chapel Hill officials. Student officials have sharply criticized the agreement between the University and Chapel Hill which could mean termination of the U bus route at 1 1:30 p.m. (instead of the present 1:30 a.m. termination) and night service on other routes at 7 p.m. Richardson said plans for an injunction by the N.C. Attorney General have been dropped. "1 called the attorney general's office Wednesday to find out what students' options were if going through the proper channels failed," Richardson said. "We have since gone through the proper channels, the contract has not been signed and everyone in the University administration has been open to having a meeting to discuss a better plan." University and town officials agreed on minimum service levels for the bus system to offset an 1 1 per cent increase in operating costs. Neither the University nor town is willing to absorb the costs of maintaining the present level of service. Chapel Hill Transportation Director John Pappas said Thursday that although the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen has approved the minimum service levels, these levels are not definite and service may be added if money becomes available. Pappas said that to maintain the present level of bus service would cost Phillips analyzes by Jim Buie Staff Writer A White House loss in the November elections would probably be the death sentence of the Republican party, conservative political analyst Kevin Phillips said here Wednesday night. Criticizing President Gerald Ford's "country club mentality," Phillips said Ford's unsophisticated approach to elections could be fatal to the party. "As 1 talk to party officials all over the country, I get an increasing feeling that the Republican party has no future," Phillips said. The North Carolina primary results were an omen of what is to come, he said. "Ronald Reagan did not win this election on personal appeal. Probably half of his vote was a protest against the policies of Gerald Ford and to say what a turkey Jim Holshouser is." N.C. Gov. James Holshouser is one of Ford's key southern strategists. Phillips said Sen. Jesse Helms' strong campaigning for Reagan probably had "a marginal effect" upon the results. Acknowledging a very cynical view of American politics, Phillips said he would not be surprised to see Helms in the forefront of a conservative party movement should the Republicans lose in November. "That way he'd get his face in front of the mirror four times a day instead of just once. He probably dreams of conservatives minting bills with his picture on them." that stopping grade inflation "by adding plusses and minuses to the student's record is not a solution but is dodging the issue." Koch said, "If this proposal goes through, the students will get the bad end of the deal." He added that professors will be more likely to give a slightly lower grade. Although Koch does not consider grade inflation a problem, he said in the last two semesters "it has been harder for me to justify giving high grades." One other faculty member did see that the grading in his department was being affected by publicizing the controversy. English instructor Steve Katz said, "I think there is some attempt in the English department to level the standards in English 1 and 2, regardless of who is teaching the section, namely by defining grades and programming the grading workshop." But Katz's said of his own experiences, "I have given better grades because 1 do feel that students are slightly better." - Tracy, who said he has definitely not changed' his grading standards, said the effect of grade inflation is to force others r T t L' j i i I J t I f I ! t CV X s$ rfs f tf 5 HI approximately SI. 2 million, which is $350,000 more than the funds available. A federal operating assistance bill could provide revenue in the future, Pappas said. The bill has passed the Senate and must be ratified by Congress. The yearly cost of maintaining service on the U bus route from 11:30-1:30 p.m. is approximately $6,200, which is about $40,000 lower than the price quoted during preliminary negotiations with the town, Pappas said. Temple said he learned of the new figure Thursday and the reduced figure warrants further discussion. Pappas cited ridership figures from the week of Jan. 26-Jan. 30, 1976, which show ridership on the U route decreases in the late evening. These ridership figures include: 180 riders between 7-8 p.m. (100 percent capacity); 104 riders between 8-9 p.m. (58 per cent capacity); 99 riders between 9-1 0 p.m. (55 per cent capacity); 88 riders between 10-1 1 p.m. (49 per cent capacity); 70 riders between 1 1 p.m.-midnight (39 per cent capacity); 39 riders between midnight-1 a.m. (22 per cent 5: BEYOND THE BICENTENNIAL Douglas Davis, Art Editor of Newsweek, will lecture at 4 p. m. in Great Hall. The New Roscoe Players will present Paul Zindel's play, "Let Me Hear You Whisper" at 8 p. m. in Memorial Hall. Saturday John Barth, noted author, will lecture at 8 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Hall. Stiff photo by Charttf Hardy Conservative political analyst Kevin Phillips addresses Memorial Hall audience Wednesday night. But Phillips said that Helms' egotism is no different from that of any other politician and "at least he'll tell you what he really thinks." On the Democratic side Phillips said that former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter will probably win the presidential nomination but will have problems in the north and among the "eastern liberal establishment." who want to know the level of performance of a student to look at things other than grades. Chairman of the chemistry department T.L. Isenhour said, "If we simply give higher grades for the same work, we have to redefine what our standards are." Besides Koch, education professor Gerald Unks also said that grade inflation is not a problem. "I think my students seem to be brighter than ones I have taught in the past." "If grade inflation is perceived as a problem," he said, the only way to lick it is to: (I) change the notion of what an A paper is, (2) make harder tests and (3) change the percentage of As. But he said that making any of these changes would "work unfairly to our student body." Another proposal that was made last fall would have redefined A grades a proposal that would have reduced the number of As drastically. Besides offering different predictions for ' the future of grade inflation, most of the faculty members also gave varying reasons 4r Drug Bust F3fl grind Jury indicts fourtstn parsons Thursday, many of then rnilitiry personnel, for tmu;;Ung heroin into the U.S. by u$;ng mil.ury bases and aircraft. Details cn page 3. Issue 12' u n ' I la i If! : S capacity) and 18 riders between 1-1:30 a.m. (20 per cent capacity). The costs of running the U route after 7 p.m. is disproportionately high because it is necessary to keep the bus garage open and the dispatcher and night crews on duty for one bus, Pappas said. Temple estimated it would cost the town $140,600 to maintain the night service on other routes. He added that the late-night U route service would be retained if money is available. Both Pappas and Temple emphasized that both the University and town are interested in public safety and would like to maintain the present level of service; however, the $350,000 necessary to maintain the system is simply not available. The University is plagued by increased costs of maintaining the present parking system and the debt remaining on the parking deck, Jones said last week. Pappas indicated that the costs of operating the bus system have been much higher than originally expected. 76 CAROLINA SYMPOSIUM 4MERIGTS UTURE pfirn&ry "'Yes, We'll Gather at the River' and 'Onward, Christian Soldiers' just doesn't wash in Irish and Jewish neighborhoods," Phillips said. "Washington is scared to death of Carter. They don't own a piece of him. He doesn't eat at French restaurants or talk to all the Washington lawyers." Speaking to an audience of less than 75 people in Memorial Hall, Phillips was highly critical of Congress and the media. The media is superseding Congress as the third branch of government. Congress responds only to media coverage and is a "traveling circus for reelection," he said. "Congress is much more interested in guarding their own little baronages and fiefdoms than in governing effectively." Phillips touched on a variety of other personalities and issues, including: Hubert Humphrey:"If he wins the White House, he'll be the first president since Richard Nixon to have had a campaign manager convicted of accepting bribes. He used his vice-presidential papers as a tax write-off and probably accepted a loan from Howard Hughes in the back seat of a car." Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown: "Probably just a short-term phenomena.. . He has taken the traditionally conservative, idea that 'small is good' and told people he got it off some mountain or from some Hindu vegetarian." Redistribution of wealth: "All it means is higher salaries for graduates of the Yale School of Social Work. There is very little trickle-down and most poor people know it." for the development of the phenomenon. Adams attributed part of the inflation to the "cafeteria-style curriculum in which students do not take courses unless they have some interest in the course." Other factors Adams cited were the "very easy drop policy" and the decrease in the number of required hours." Leutze said grade inflation is muhifaceted and cited the drop system, a societal change to a less authoritarian role and a more egalitarian attitude as causes of grade inflation. He also noted a closer "ideological association" between students and faculty which has resulted in higher grades. George Taylor, chairman of the history department, attributed higher grades to fear of student complaints and an improvement in the level of ability in the student body. "My position is that grade inflation is to some extent unjustified and to a larger extent justified."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 26, 1976, edition 1
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