The Stetson Reporter

. C^»«fi»H«9JN^I9*Si^W««**^«^aiSW»S,-» liiwwwia^^^ I^WWWSW«S*«*»11«*SM«*8!l«*WS«^WMwj«f**^s »wa« v ■;■., ■...■■. *».- v THE STETSON n. ink 5IEISON B 111 Florida % oldest college mewspape$ Vol. 84 Friday, October. 15, 1971 Study shows curriculum healthy Editor's note: Tilts is the first article in a sis-part series dealing with curriculum .to Stetson. There has been a great ieai of discussion ia such areas as faculty-student ratio, minimester, the university's philosophy in hiring professors, etc. There are two resolutions now before the student senate dealing with these matters (see page 5). By ERNIE ACOSTA Stetson University still has one of the most desirable student-faculty ratios in the country. It is still small. It is still very individualistic. But all these attributes will soon be nothing tat history unless the university can cheek several of the trends that have developed in recent years. Such are our conclusions after three-weeks of studies conducted by the Reporter on Stetson's curriculum. The student-faculty ratio presently stands at 18 to 1. By this time next year the ratio will have increased to 18 to 1. The university will have lost twelve more faculty members, according to predictions made by an informed soiree. In discerning the size of an average classroom it must be remembered that most students take a load of four or five courses while the average professor teaches three or four. Thus the average Stetson classroom has 24 people, seven more than what the student- faculty ratio figures would lead us to believe. Dr. Robert Chauvin, Dean of the college of Liberal Arts, explains that the class load is heaviest at the freshman and sophomore levels where students must meet their major and university requirements, "At the upper division level," says Dr. Chauvin, "we have almost individual teaching." The Stetson student going into Ms junior year can expect to enroll in classes of about twelve students, depending on his major. But it is not in the breakdown by level, but by department, that the greatest disparity in ratio shows. The most burdened departments were in the social science and education divisions. The lightest loads were in the natural sciences and in the School of Music. Dean Chauvin explains that this is due to a trend in stadent attitudes that has been Chauvin "The emphasis now is in the social and behavioral sciences," he says. "More and more students are going into the fields of sociology and psychology, for example, and less and less into the technical sciences." But the university is still functioning with a faculty prepared for the student body of the early sixties, when most interest lay ur'- technical programs, such as pre-engineering. This explains why the physics department has-a ratio of 17 to 1 in students taking courses to available professors. Psychology, on the other hand, has a ratio of more than 100 to 1. Dr. Chauvin Believes that the university is in a very good position to cope with the situation, coming since the mid-1960's. . _ ( Continued On Page ., ^m^m Y;>i4.j6bisss*s »*«. ~™;m,km, .£/* mm,, m m mzm~ <*.-^r*«ft- -mfZy John Howard Griffin, author of the Best- seBfag book "Black Like Me," will speak Monday, October 18, at 8 p.m. in Stetson's Elfaabeth HaU auditorium. His lecture will concern the latest in race relations, according to a university spokesman. A noted journalist and lecturer, Griffin undertook a personal assignment in 1959 to find out what it was like to be a Negro in the South. He had Ms skin darkened under a doctor's supervision and travelled through flie South as a Negro for two months. The story of Ms experiences was set down ■ in Ms book "Black like Me," which established the author's fame and helped to dramatize the immediate need for social change. The book had a measurable impact on people throughout the United States. It has since been made into a movie and has been the source of numerous radio and T¥ programs. Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1920, Griffin spent most of his life in that state. He served with the armed forces during World War II in the Pacific theater and gradually lost Ms sight' as the result of a wartime injury. He remained Mind until 1S57 when Ms sight was restored. His book "Scattered Shadows" covers the ten years of Ms blindness. Other novels include "Nunu" and "The Devil Rides Outside." The most recent book, favorably reported by the New York TIMES, is "The Church and the Black Man." Griffin now serves annually in Belgium as a visiting professor at the University of Peace in Tihange-lez-Huy. He has spoken before college 'audiences throughout the United States. His appearance on the Stetson campus is being sponsored by the University's Artists and Lecturers Committee in cooperation with the Student Government. Griffin is scheduled to meet informally with students and faculty in classrooms on campus Monday from 2 to 5 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 till 2:30. ECO wants trash Dr. Robert ' Loftin led the Environmental Concern Organisation in their introductory meeting Tuesday night on the S.U.B. lawn. E.C.O., a group of ecology- minded students has established a refuse collection center at the Bridge at 221 Amelia Av. in DeLand, where discarded cans and newspapers will be collected for recycling. The E. C. 0. asks that aluminum cans, tin cans and old newspapers be brought to the Bridge where interested students will.prepare the material for processing. Aluminum and , composite (aluminum-topped) cans should be mashed before being brought to the Bridge. Tin cans should have the tops and bottotns cut out and mashed flat; newspaprs should be tied in bundles. However, E. C. O. will gladly take material in any conditioa The. Bridge is open 24 hours a day, and delivery can be made at any time. Do your thing for ecology - stash your trash for E. C. O.!