Maroon

              MAROON Vol. 59, No. H* M Loyola University, New Orleans April 24,1981 Degree plan? Live from New York! A high school orchestra from Potsdam, N.Y., visited New Orleans and entertained students Tuesday. The ensemble was originally destined for the Netherlands, but financial problems forced them to detour to New Orleans. Photo by Mark Botello Proposal to transfer graphics to visual arts causes dissension By Siegfried Zelt Maroon University Reporter The contract degree is designed for individual students who want to form their own distinctive major under the supervision of the dean's office. It is university policy to establish a new degree program in a department when too many students seek the contract degree. In a quick survey of those persons now in the program and those wishing to enter it, White found that these students "do not wish to become visual arts majors. "There isn't one student who is a contract major or asking for a contract that wants to go into the art department," White said. However, William M. Grote, chairman of the visual arts department, believes "graphics is an area of the arts. Most other colleges that have graphic arts programs are under the heading of a visual arts department. It is a natural place for graphics to be." Grote said it doesn't matter which department will get the new degree. "If the degree program comes under visual arts, students will still be able to get a separate degree. It will be the same program as the contract degree but will simply be moved to visual arts," he said. White thinks "the focus of the graphic arts contract is not to train Plans to transfer the graphic arts major from contract degree status in the communications department and make it a secondary concentration within the visual arts department have caused controversy between members of the two departments. The graphic arts contract degree was set up about four years ago by Leonard White, associate professor of communications and the person who teaches the graphics courses, and the Rev. Leo Nicoll, S.J., who was then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and is now associate professor of history. White said the program has become one "that would eventually involve 20 to 30 students. That is too many people to have under a contract."Faculty lounge dispute sparks petition, forum By Cindy Hite Maroon Assistant News Editor The Senior Common Room is the subject of both a petition now in circulation among students and faculty members and an open forum scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Monday in the Audubon Room of the Danna Center. Kevin Baker, a senior history and education major, is a representative of and spokesman for a coalition responsible for the petitions. Baker said the nameless coalition is comprised of representatives from SGA, BSU, ISA and the Jesuit community. He said their petition protests the amount of money spent on the construction and decorating of the Senior Common Room and the amount of money spent each week to subsidize the room. Baker said the main intention of the petition is to "get the facts out into the open and then protest if the need be." Of 10 petitions circulating, five have been returned to Baker with an accumulation of 569 signatures — including the signatures of 16 faculty members, 6 professional staff members and 35 support staff members. "Through the petition we hope to display the widespread disapproval that has come about through the Senior Common Room," Baker said. He said he believes the open forum, which will allow the public to participate in discussions pertaining to the Senior Common Room, was brought about as a direct result of the petition. Baker contends that there has been conflicting information on construction costs and subsidies of the See Editorial/Page 3 room. "On April 1, I was told that $84,000 was spent on construction and $1,000 a week was spent to subsidize the room," he said. But on April 14 Baker received another figure. "Then I was told that $84,000 was spent on construction with $500- 800 spent on weekly subsidies to the room," he said. Dr. Dale Williams, associate history professor history and acting president of the Senior Common Room Association's Executive Committee, which oversees Senior Common Room operations, said to his understanding $77,000 was" spent in total construction costs with subsidies of approximately $1,000 a week for the room. "But these are not authoritative figures," he said. Dr. James R. Watson, associate philosophy professor and a anothei member of the SCRA Executive Committee said he was unable to provide any information on construction and subsidy costs for the room. However the Feb. 6 issue of the Maroon quoted Watson as saying, "The board allocated $75,000, but the figure is now up to $84,000-plus." Baker said John Eckholdt, university vice president for business and finance, was placed in charge of resolving the financial difficulties of the Senior Common Room by the Rev. James C. Carter, S.J., university president. Eckholdt could not be reached for comment. LU's black enrollment tops other La. private colleges' By Allen Johnson Jr. Maroon University Reporter Loyola University has a higher percentage of black students enrolled than any other historically white private college in Louisiana and Tulane has the lowest, according to a recent survey conducted by a national college administrators' and teachers' magazine. The Chronicle of Higher Education lists Loyola as sixth among state and private schools combined in a 15- college survey, with blacks comprising 10.8 percent (606 students) of Loyola's student population. Northeast Louisiana University (Monroe) ranked first with 18.7 percent, followed by Northwestern State University (Natchitoches) with 17.8 percent, and the University of New Orleans with 16.9 percent. Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge and Tulane University made up the bottom of the overall list, with each reporting that blacks made up less than 5 percent of their student enrollments. Records from the Loyola Office of Management, Planning and Evaluation (LOMPE) and Loyola's Civil Rights Ombudsman show the sharpest increase in black enrollment has been in the College of Business Administration. There were 147 blacks in the business school last spring — up from 21 in 1973 when Loyola began keeping records on minority students. "We've been constantly trying to stimulate interest [in studying business) See Faculty lounge /Page II See Degree /Page 12 See Black students/Page 2 Getting It Right: In the April 10 Maroon, James W. McKinney of Memphis, Tenn., was identified as a student at Dillard University. This information - obtained from a New Orleans Police Department source - is incorrect. McKinney, a former Dillard student, is not enrolled this semester. The Maroon regrets the error. INSIDE: Women fill key posts in Loyola's administration / Pages 6-7 24-hour dormitory visitation decision left to Trustees / Page 11