Maroon

              LOYOLA MAROON VOL. XLVI Loyola University, New Orleans, La., 70118, Friday, March 13, 1970 No. 20 New dedication needed An Editorial "Peter Paul traveled light, " one faculty member said, paying tribute to a young colleague who died last week. Peter Paul Fersch traveled quietly as well. And rationally. He worked with quiet but intense dedication for weeks, striving to help find an acceptable solution to the faculty-administration conflict at Loyola. Young — he was 30 — with a new doctorate and a growing interest in students. Dr. Fersch gained the respect and friendship of a wide circle of faculty and students. He was just beginning his scholarly work. He worked diligently throughout the present controversy. The day before he died. Dr. Fersch met with the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to discuss contracts - he told his faculty colleagues that the meeting had been amicable. A memorial fund has been established in Dr. Fersch's name for the best literary work by a student in the university. Support for this fund and return to rationality in this university would begin to constitute a fitting memorial for this young scholar. SC supports Blouin; Directors urged to act The Student Council voted Tuesday to "respectfully urge" the Board of Directors to resolve the case of Michel Blouin, an instructor in the Department of English. The motion was appended to the report of an ad hoc Council committee formed last week to investigate the Blouin issue. The bill asked the Directors to act on the case by adopting one of three suggested alternatives: 1) By granting Blouin tenure outright; 2) By agreeing to abide by the decision of the University Rank and Tenure Committee; or 3) By renewing Blouin's contract with the stipulation that if he does not show "concrete progress" toward a Ph.D. or increased contribution to faculty committee work he will be assigned 12 class hours per semester "to make maximum use of his talent" as a teacher. The only serious objection to the motion was raised by Ralph Adamo, senior representative from Arts and Sciences (A&S). Adamo questioned the wisdom of adopting all three of the motion's alternatives, saying that passage of all three would mean that the Council was "copping out to some extent". Instead, he said, the Council should recommend only the first two alternatives in order to make the Council's vote of support "as strong as possible". Adamo also argued that it was not the Council's function to recommend course loads for faculty. That determination, he said, belonged more properly to the individual departments. However, Pat O'Keefe, A&S sophomore, urged that the third alternative be included "as a possible compromise measure". O'Keefe said that by providing the Directors with the less rigorous third alternative for resolution of the Blouin case, "both parties might emerge unscathed". The Council unanimously passed the entire package when Adamo abstained from voting. The motion passed after Alan Vera, A&S senior, presented the report of a special committee commissioned last week to investigate the Blouin case. The report, which urged that Blouin be retained, did not offer an opinion on the question of Blouin's tenure, but instead focused on the University's possible motives in ordering his termination. "The issue of whether or not Mr. Blouin has tenure is a question of what is just," said the report. "The issue of whether he should be granted tenure and retained at this institution is a question of what is right. This committee feels that it is right to retain Mr. Blouin at this university." According to the report, the University's decision to terminate Blouin may have been based on any or all of four reasons, all of which the committee objected to: 1) Because Blouin neither holds nor is making progress toward a Ph.D.; "We judge that the terminal degree is not the only indication of research and study," said the report. "It is only the result of the channeling of these efforts through established procedures for the granting of a doctoral degree..." "It is the judgment of this committee," the report continued, "that Mr. BJouin gives satisfactory evidence of his research and study and that his teaching is in itself a contribution to the university even without the terminal degree." 2) Because the content of Blouin's classes are damaging to the character of his students and incompatible with the goals of a Catholic university; According to the report, the committee could find no evidence to support the charge. "The committee feels," said the report, "that even if it could be established that the contents of the lectures were of an unfavorably controversial or objectionable nature the answer would not be found in the suppression of ideas or in the termination of Mr. Blouin." 3) Because Blouin is not a competent teacher; Terming this motive "the least tenable", the report cited faculty praise for Blouin as well as his high rating on a recent teacher evaluation survey. "We can find no evidence to indicate that Blouin is anything but a competent teacher," said the committee. 4) Finally, said the committee, Blouin may have been terminated because his "effectiveness as a teacher will not endure." "It has been argued", said the report, "that age would reduce the effectiveness of a teacher and that the only manner in which the university could insure itself of continued contribution from the man would be to demand the obtaining of a terminal degree. "This committee first of all points out that Mr. Blouin was not a 'young teacher' when hired, a contradiction of the above policy. Secondly, we have observed that although Mr. Blouin had, in fact, aged since coming to Loyola, his teaching ability seems to have increased... "Finally," concluded the report, "there is no absolute guarantee that the mere possession of a terminal degree will cause a professor to publish and research after age has begun to hinder his ability to teach." The Council accepted the repcct unanimously. In other Council business, elections committee chairman George Joint announced that four additional candidates had qualified for next week's election for Council president and vice president. According to Joint, Bill Dohme, A&S sophomore and Mike Sexton, A&S freshman, have filed to run for the Council presidency while Richard BOTH SIDES NOW Ronald Batain, left, Bryan Zinnamon and Dorothy Goldsmith find out what it's like to eat a 14 cent meal. 1 he practicc may be repeated many times next week throughout the city. See related story, page seven. CAP moves closer to completion with acceptance of two reports Loyola's Council oh Academic Planning (CAP) moved a few steps closer to completion of its job with the acceptance of two more committee reports this week. The education committee and evening division and special programs committee had their reports approved at Monday's CAP meeting, according to the Rev. Thomas H. Clancy, S.J., chairman of the CAP. The CAP is a program established to determine long-range goals and means of achieving those goals for Loyola. Three of eight committee reports have now been accepted by the CAP. The report of the philosophical aims committee was accepted at a CAP meeting Feb. 16. Still outstanding are reports from the committees of business and law, arts and sciences, student life, fine arts and communication and finance. A subcommittee of the CAP, the report-drafting committee, takes the committee reports as they are accepted and goes over them to iron out discrepancies in the reports, according to Father Clancy. This subcommittee will try to come up with "some sort of conciliation" of all the reports that are accepted by the CAP and then the full Council will consider the report of the subcommittee. Father Clancy said the work of the subcommittee is very important to the final result of the CAP because from this subcommittee would come the basis of the final CAP findings. Father Clancy said he hopes to have the final report of the CAP approved and revised by the end of April or beginning of May. He said he was worried somewhat about a couple of committees meeting the deadline for committee reports. "I haven't had many reports from business and law or fine arts and communications," said the chairman. "They're the ones that are worrying us." He said he would hope to have all eight committee reports in before beginning to draft a final report, but "if something is not in, we will forge ahead. We're not going to wait until every single report is in," he said. Progress is being made in the student life and finance committees, according to Father Clancy, and he expects these two committees to definitely have their reports in on time He said if five of the eight reports are in, that number would be sufficient to move on to the task of drafting the final report. The report-drafting committee is chaired by John McAulay, professor of law; its members are Sheila Sylvester, A&S senior; Allen Boudreaux, professor of accounting; Dr. John Mosier, assistant dean of A&S; and Milvern Ivey, instructor in music. R&T committee unable to hear Blouin's appeal By GARY ATKINS (Maroon Associate Editor; The Blouin case -vas taken out of the hands of the University Rank and Tenure Committee this week at least temporarily, but possibly permanently. In a letter to the chairman of the committee, the Very Rev. Presient Homer R. Jolley, S.J., said "It would be fruitless for your committee to have a hearing or any jurisdiction in this matter before the full Board (of Diiectors) meeting of March 19." Miss Janet Riley, chairman of the committee, said that in the letter, the president also stated that he did not recognize the committee as having jurisdiction in any other pending matter. Miss Riley said that the committee could not now hold a hearing on the Blouin case and would have to wait "in anticipation of further instructions." The Blouin case came before the committee two weeks ago when English insturctor Michel (Tom) Blouin filed an appeal. Blouin has not received a contract for next year, in spite of contentions by some faculty I lial Vita hac Ipntirp unrl in snitp of protests by students who want him retained. Miss Riley would not release the full text of the letter from Father Jolley, saying that since the committee was created by the University Senate, the Senate should decide whether or not to release the text. She said committee members were divided as to whether the letter should be made public before the next Senate meeting, March 19. The Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on the same day. Two weeks MISS JANET RILEY Two-point motion passed by curriculum committee The Curriculum Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences passed a two-point motion Wednesday concerning the appointment and removal of departmental chairman. The motion, made by Dr. Robert McLean . chairman of the Department of Mathematics, called for the establishment of a sub-committee of the Curriculum Committee to study and report on possible methods of appointment or removal of chairman. Until then the dean will proceed by the consultative method. Dr. McLean's motion came after a discussion of possible procedures in this area. There was a tense moment early in the discussion when Dr. Anthony DiMaggio, chairman of the Department of Chemistry, moved for the reinstatement of Dr. John W. Corrington as chairman of the Department of English "1 will not entertain the motion," responded the Rev. Joseph Tetlow, S.J., chairman of the committee and acting dean of A&S. Father Tetlow removed Dr. Corringron from the chairmanship two weeks ago despite a unanimous vote for Dr. Corrington's retention by his department. An immediate by Dr. DiMaggio that the meeting be adjourned was greeted by silence from the acting dean. Father Tetlow answered, "Mr DiMaggio, this is a consultative body. I think that if we adjourn, I will simply be forced more to act without consultation. 1 am asking your consultation in the matter of appointing and removing chairmen. I really feel that I need this consultation now. There is one chairman at least who needs to be replaced. I would like your consultation, please, as a bady, on the manner in which I should proceed in replacing this chairman. "If we adjourn now I will not hear your consultation on this. This has happened before, Mr. DiMaggio, in a department meeting whin I found it impossible to get the consultation on a matter, and I had to act without that department's reasonable.., consultation. I ask please that the meeting continue and that we have discussion on the appointment and election of chairman." » » • The discussion continued from this point with several methods being proposed, leading to Dr. McLean's motion. It was brought up in the discussion of this motion that Dr. Robert Pearman had resigned as chairman of the Department of Sociology, and that he would have to be replaced. The english department is without a chairman currently, according to Father Tetlow, but Dr. Anthony Lala, R&T petition returned The Rev. Joseph Tetlow, S.J., acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences said that he would not ask the university president to inaugurate proceedings for the termination of Dr. John W Corrington, former chairman of the Department of English. In an eight page letter dated February 23,(See February 27 Maroon for text of letter), Father Tetlow said he would ask the Very Rev. President Homer R. Jolley, S.J., to begin proceedings to have Dr. Corringron terminated as a faculty member here unless Dr. Corringron withdraw his petition asking the University Rank and Tenure Committee to hear the case of Tom Blouin, an English instructor. A smoldering seventeen month dispute over whether Blouin is tenured exploded two weeks ago when Father Tetlow wrote the letter. In the letter Father Tetlow detailed his understanding of the Blouin case and concluded that all the evidence indicated the case was closed. He said in the letter that "prosecution of this case any further can achieve nothing but further disturbance in the university." and that he would ask that Dr. Corrington be terminated if he did not withdraw his petition from the Rank and Tenure Committee. However, in an interview Wednesday, Father Tetlow said that the committee had returned the petition to Dr. Corrington three days later bacause Blouin himself had asked the committee to hear his case. Father Tetlow said that even Request termed unnecessary though Dr. Corrington did not request that his petition be returned to him, the fact that the letter was returned fulfilled the request. Dr. Thomas Preston, Chairman of the Department of English in 1968-69, sent a letter Monday to Father Tetlow in which he related a chronology of the Blouin case during his stay at Loyola (See page six for text of letter). Dr. Preston is currently teaching at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. In the letter Dr. Preston reiterated many of the points Dr. C'orrington made in his March 4 response to Father Tetlow (See March 6 Maroon for test of this letter). However, Dr. Preston added that the Board of Directors had "demanded" the termination of Blouin in early February of 1968. In his own statement, Father Tetlow had said that the Board's communication was "not an order to take action", but simply a statement indicating "the mind of the Board." In referring to Dr. Corrington's response letter and Dr. Preston's letter, Father Tetlow said Wednesday that both documents aided him in getting the entire Blouin case into the open. "One of the aims I had in writing my letter was to pull out the document in the case and make them public," he said. "Both Dr. Corrington's and Dr. Preston's letters did this." Father Tetlow said that he wanted an "open and public staement in clear and unmistakable terms" explaining thy Blouin case. Concerning the English department, Father Tetlow said that he had spoken to some members of the English faculty during the week and thinks that there are indications that he and the department may initiate better lines of communication. Father Tetlow and the English department have been at odds ever since he removed Dr. Corrington as chairman on February 27. Father Tetlow said then that Dr. Corrington had democratized the department to such an extent that it had no effective leadership with which the administration could communicate. He said that in Dr. Corrington's absence, Dr. Tony Lala, the department's assistant chairman is handling contract negotiations for the English faculty. FATHER JOSEPH TETLOW (continued orl page 5) /continued on page 5) (continued on pagv 4)