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              LOYOLA  MAROON VOL. XLV Loyola University, New Orleans, La., Friday, November IS, J968 No. 9 LU senate formally organized By FERREL GUILLORY (Maroon Special Reporter) Faculty's voice recognized After a year and a half of effort, the Loyola faculty now has a formal organization through which it can conduct its own business and make known its views. The organization is known as "The Loyola University Senate." Its constitution, which was completed after a year and a half of deliberations by a committee of the faculty, was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors on Oct. 11 and was distributed to the entire faculty on Oct. 22. Elections for members to the Senate were held in the period from Oct. 11 to Nov. 8. "The University Senate," the preamble to the constitution says, "provides a forum in which all viewpoints can be represented, and its success requires the open-minded, willing cooperation of all sectors of the University toward its goal. "Thus the University Senate can both resolve problems which may arise within the academic disciplines and harmonize the specific functions of administrative and faculty specialists." The faculty has had an organization ever since the Very Rev. President Andrew Smith, S.J., the university president before the present president, the Very Rev. Homer R. Jolley, S.J., gave permission to the members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to organize on campus. For at least the past five years, this organization has conducted business and has not been entirely ineffective although it lacked a formal structure as the senate constitution provides. Law professor Dennis Rousseau, who has been chairman of this faculty organization (known as the Faculty Council and the Faculty Senate at various times), delineated in an interview last week some of the subjects with which this faculty organization has concerned itself. He explained that the faculty organization has discussed and made recommendations on dress rules, the cut system, smoking, day-to-day faculty business and parking. However, he said these matters were mundane and trivial compared to the three biggest projects of the group. These large projects were the drafting of the University Senate's constitution, the negotiating of a good faculty retirement program and the revision of the faculty handbook spelling out the rights and freedoms of faculty members. Rousseau pointed to the retirement program as an example of how a faculty organization can be effective. A new retirement and fringe benefits program is scheduled to become effective on Jan. 1, 1969, Rousseau said. He called this new program an "excellent" one which should help the university "to attract and retain good people" on its faculty and administrative staffs. Rousseau said the new program is designed to protect investments into the retirement fund from being chipped away by inflation and other economic factors. He also said that special arrangements are being made for faculty members who have given long service to the school and that the retirement program is set up so that faculty members transferring from other universities would not lose retirement benefits because they switched jobs. There are still some matters yet to be resolved in regard to the retirement program, Rousseau said, and these will be handled by the newly formed senate. Now that the constitution has been adopted, the major tasks facing the University Senate will be to complete the work on the faculty handbook and to establish its own operating procedures. Rousseau described the senate as an "advisory" body, which can adopt resolutions to be sent to the president and the administration of the university. In the past, Rousseau said, "No request has ever been made of the administration that has not received attention and action." The constitution provides for one representative for each six faculty members, with each section of the university not having less than two representatives. The College of Arts and Sciences is divided into two groups—one for the humanities and one for the sciences and mathematics—for representation purposes. Representatives are elected for two-year terms and the senate itself elects its own officers, which include a chairman, a vice-chairman and a secretary. They also elect an executive council, which is given certain powers to act in the place of the entire senate. The president of the university, the academic vice-president and the student affairs vice-president are ex-officio members. The president is designated the honorary president of the senate. In addition, the elected chairman of the senate is awarded full, voting membership on the Board of Regents. Rousseau, who has been one of the mainsprings of the faculty organization in the past who helped spur along the writing of the new constitution, feels that the faculty \ organization in the past has been : successful and that it will continue to be so under the new constitution. The new constitution, he said, : "gives us formal organization: structure. We are now ready for the j next stage." DENNIS ROUSSEAU Explains functions of University Semite Can a small liberal arts college do its job? By RONNIE SIMERAL (Maroon Staff Reporter) Dr. Preston queries "We have to question whether a small liberal arts college can do what it says it can do or whether the mega-university is the solution to the problem of better liberal arts education." This comment was voiced by Dr. Thomas R. Preston, chairman of the Department of English, in an interview concerning his recent trip to the University of California at Los Angeles. "I am not certain," said Preston, "if a small liberal arts college can do its job." The biggest advantage of the small college is the personal contact between professor and student, said Preston. "However," he added, "I have found that this type of contact was equally prevalent at a university such as UCLA with 28,000 students." Preston pointed out that freshman English classes at UCLA contain no more than 20 or 30 students per class. The student-teacher ratio, continued Preston, is no different at UCLA than at Loyola in similar classes. "The facilities for both students and professors are multiplied hundredfold at a large university," said Preston. "Cultural events, which a small college can afford only a few times a year, can be held nightly at a large university." The library at UCLA, continued Preston, contains over 2.5 million volumes. "The rare books kept behind bars at Loyola's library, and necessarily so," he added, "are out for common use at UCLA." Comparing the relative worth of the faculty between the large university and small college, Preston noted that the UCLA English faculty, with over 100 professors, has at least 20 or 30 professors who are well-known writers and accomplished scholars. "The major part of the English faculty," said Preston, "is comprised of good Ph.D.'s, such as those found at Loyola." With such a variety of faculty membership found at a large university, said Preston, a student interested in a certain writer or literary movement can speak to a professor accomplished in that field. This produces more accurate and meaningful knowledge for the student, added Preston. Preston stressed, however, that he wasn't certain that the large university was the solution to the problem of maintaining a strong liberal arts education. The personal contact often found at the small college, said Preston, is a very important part of this education. "Theoretically, small liberal arts colleges should have high standards," contined Preston, "but I think that the majority of Loyola's students couldn't get into UCLA." Commenting on students at UCLA, Preston noted that he was first impressed by "the aura of intellectualism." "You can talk with undergraduate students on an extraordinarily high level of intellectualism from Bach to Rousseau," said Preston. "This high level is not commonly found on Loyola's campus," said Preston. The reason for this, he added, may lie in the fact that UCLA has a much larger student body than Loyola. Preston added that his reception at UCLA was most cordial. "I found a warmth between the students and faculty which I haven't found in evidence at Loyola," said Preston. Preston conducted a seminar at UCLA on the relation of history to the eighteenth century novel and delivered a paper entitled the "Biblical Context of Johnson's Rasselas." DR. THOMAS R. PRESTON^^^^^^^ Returns from trip to i'CLA Communications board adopts policy statement The university Board of Communications recently adopted a policy statement outlining its general area of operation. The statement says that the board will act as an "impartial arbiter" in disagreements involving the student communications media and the university or the media and other parties (students, faculty, non-university members, etc.). It also says that "as an impartial arbiter, (the board) will be obligated to consider and evaluate the questions, requests and complaints of all parties to disagreements involving the student communications media." The board is also .to periodically review procedures for appointing and removing editors and broadcast managers of the campus media as well as procedures for financing the student media. Janet Riley, chairman of the board, also appointed a subcommittee to develop the procedures the board will follow in handling disputes. Until the procedures are set, she said, the board will not begin handling any regular business. Both the policy and the procedural statements will be submitted to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, the Rev. Thomas H. Clancy, S.J., for his approval. LU apathetic, says panel By MARY O'LOUGHLIN (Maroon News tditor) The majority of Loyola students are apathetic, according to a panel of students and faculty who opened homecoming activities for Loyola alumni Sunday night. Discussing "The Loyola Student Today: His Views, Ideas, and Disagreements," the panel told alumni that Loyola's students are largely non-intellectual and non-involved. A&S seniors Michael A. McConnell and John M. Wiemann 111 were not hesitant about discussing the shortcomings of the Loyola student body. McConnell spoke of the "trade school atmosphere," and said "You won't find Loyola students rioting, but they are clannish. . .'status quo'. . .without action." In opposition to this majority, McConnell put the "significant minority" who mix little and are concerned, but do not try to make their highly critical attitudes heard. Wiemann pointed out that concentrating on their own majors "keeps the students from being involved." Wiemann estimated that, excluding the "social drinkers," 80 per cent of Loyola students don't care what is going on around them. "People are so apathetic," Wiemann continued, "that they don't even fight the accusation that they are apathetic. They generally would rather not vote than make a choice." Dr. David R. Chabot, clinical psychologist, preferred to call the apathy "complacency." "There is less disagreement on the Loyola campus than I have seen elsewhere," dr. Chabot said, "but this may be attributed to the fact that the average student at Loyola is coming out of a structured society; he is used to things being handed to him, and he becomes complacent in realizing the virtues of the university." Dr. Chabot quoted figures from a comparative study of college freshman that put the incoming Loyola student in the top 35 per cent intellectually in the nation. However, this same study put Loyola freshman in the bottom 30 per cent in the area of "intellectual pursuits." Dr. Chabot explained this radical difference by saying that the Loyola student ". . .tends to be more pragmatic. . .he delves into the sciences rather than the arts. . .and thus he has a limited view." The Rev. Henry Montecino, S.J., associate professor of philosophy, was also concerned by what he called the "anti-intellectual atmosphere on the campus." Though he admitted that the incoming Loyola freshman was eager and ready to learn, he expressed concern over the fact that freshman orientation was not geared to the intellectual life, but to the life in the French Quarter. Father Montecino told alumni that even the students who become critical and involved in activities often only "talk a good game. . .these students dodge the hard professors just as the others do." Although the panel was pessimistic about many of the attributes of Loyola students, they agreed that the university had revamped its academic program to challenge the student. With the broadening of the curriculum and the increase in student freedom and participation, they agreed that the only ones who can overcome the apathetic atmosphere are the students themselves. MlkEMccc-MkLL  /. U students are too 'status quo SC job needs re-examination Perspective: Student Council By GARY ATKINS (Maroon Desk Kditor) "Student practice of democracy is one of the most effective ways to promote the convictions and the habits essential to constructive citizenship." Alden J. Carr "Student Participation in College Policy Determination and' Administration" Student Government and Student Council at Loyola are in considerable need of a thorough investigation. The council's past performance as a sub-unit among other sub-units in Student Government (such as the Student Union, the rights committees, the residence councils, etc.) is something less than perfect-though the future does seem to offer brighter prospects. Few in number as they might be, council members are beginning to seriously question the council's vague role in Student Government—a role that so far has occasionally amounted to being a hodge-podge of miscellaneous activities. The council has never clarified for itself where its duties lie and so its "duties" have slowly grown to include everything from entertainment to service to providing a vague type of "representative government." Student Affairs The council, very simply, has taken on too much to do—it has become bogged down in outdated constitutional laws that place it squarely in something called "student affairs"—read student social affairs. Student affairs, after all, concerns both student social affairs and student academic affairs (connected of course with faculty academic affairs). And though the council has occasionally ventured into academics, the bulk of its work has historically been in student social affairs. Basically, student academic affairs includes everything affecting the student in the classroom and in his education—curriculum, admissions, scholarships, teaching, grading, etc. Student social affairs, on the other hand, are mainly concerned with the student's life on campus but apart from factors directly affecting his academic education. In other words, while social affairs include dances and entertainment, that is not all that is covered by student social affairs. The field includes such things as student services, dorm life, orientation, and so on. Social affairs toe-hold Historically, the council's main concern has been in student social affairs, even though other sub-units in the field have developed and have somewhat displaced the council, making its social role somewhat redundant.But for some reason, instead of ordering and organizing the field of student social affairs under the new sub-units and moving on, the council has clung to its old duties almost like an old emperor trying to keep a toe-hold in every bay, beach and valley. It has not been a conscious effort—most council members seem only too ready to disperse of their old duties in student social affairs and find new, more relevant duties for the council. But the change is a large one and movement toward it is slow. The council must do more to make the change than just write out of its constitution the requirement that it sponsor certain dances and elections. It has to re-define and reorganize itself within Student Government. But right now, the council is trying to do a little of everything -and that is what is doing: a little of everything. What it is doing and what it should be doing are complete opposites. Plan for Future The most basic thing that can be said about what the council should be doing is that it should be examining its own role in the university. The council must decide generally what it wants to do and where it wants Second in a three-part series (continued on page 4)