Brown and White Vol. 83 no. 10

              lehigh university brown and white vol 83 no 10 tuesday october 12 1971 866-0331 student caucus argues issue of all-u complex by gary s hauk david c amidon lecturer ln the university's social relations department spoke out m support of the minority report on the all-university complex at the student caucus sundaynight saying that the sheer economics of the situation support lehigh's development of academics rather than intramural and inter-collegiate athletic facilities amidon declaring himself not flatly m favor of either the majority opinion or the maloney report reflected the opinion of many of the students at sunday's meeting he com mented that lehigh's main concern presently should be for the maintenance of high academic standards and the attraction of high-caliber undergraduates amidon noted that a small private university like lehigh has no hope of competing with publicly-supported institutions m the realm of athletics and therefore instead of trying to cope unsuccessfully with the intramurals problem the university should interest applicants with high quality educational programs paul maloney who played a major role m formulating the minority report noted that even the funds appropriated m his applicants decline in quantity quality by patrick fekula editor's note this is the first of a series of three articles dealing with admission policy this article deals wikh the present admission policy of'the university and the problems of admission that are presently plaguing private colleges and universities . recently there have been many rumors spreading throughout the lehigh campus concerning current admission policies of the university accordlneto many unofficial sources lehigh is accepting 80-percent of the applications received for admission according to samuel missimer director of admission out of about 3400 applications about 2700 students were acceptable for admission into the university to all outward appearances this would give lehigh a 79-percent acceptance rate however missimer continued over one-half of the 2700 acceptances had also applied for financial aid which the university could not give with this taken into account lehigh actually issued about 1400 letters of acceptance or about 40-percent of the total that applied it is missimer's belief that about 85-percent of the students applying to lehigh are we 11 qualified to do the work i feel there is a lot of self-selection by the students themselves before they apply he went on new admission trend lehigh is gradually changing its outlook on admission policy we are now looking for diversity m evaluating the candidate we look for more students with all kinds of talent missimer stated this trend by private college admission officials seems to be catching on all over the nation state universities and land grant colleges received a record number of freshman applications this past fall however there has been a major drop m application figures to the private colleges or universities final application figures from the ivy league colleges for the fall 1971 showed a seven percent drop after steady growth for the previous three years in pennsylvania private colleges alone there are 10,000 student vacancies economics major problem the reasons for this trend are many and varied the biggest being economics the private college pool is shrinking due to ever-rising tuition costs a fresh man entering lehigh university this fall had to pay 2450 for tuition alone along with about 1250 m room and board fees compare that figure witha freshman entering northampton county area college m bethlehem paying a tuition of only 360 a year the community college is also being more widely accepted m the united states with three out of every five college students m attendance , engineering played down a singular problem for lehigh is the playing down of engineering m colleges since the many publicized layoffs of en gineers due to the economic situation of the country many people believe there are no jobs available m the field and consequently we are receiving fewer applications for the college of engin b&w photo by k fn 1)1 sunday night a student caucus meeting was held m the university center to dis cuss the minority and majority reports of the pp&r committee although the caucus did not vote on any issues it did inform the students about the all university complex all-university complex deleted in close forum vote by john klucsik the all university complex was deleted from the university ten-year development plan monday during a four-hour forum meeting which was punctuated with emotional appeals for and against the complex needs of the university community were of great concern to the body and it was argued that a 5,000 seat complex could not be filled for creative arts perform ances concerts or athletic events short of those of national scope operating expenses that would continue after the capital expenditure was made constituted an important point of contention as did the value of locating a facility designed to meet the needs of students more than two miles away from residences the fear that the university was committing itself to fragmentation by planning the complex for saucon valley was also voiced prof lawrence leder suggested that the need for the complex was m the mind and not m the university community many members concerned themselves with the prospect of funds being used for buildings when they should be used to maintain the academic excellence of the university saleable item the proponents of the majority report of the priorities planning and resources committee which supported the complex stressed the point that an all-university complex and the development package that went with it was the plan most saleable to the contributing alumni however john fields 72 expressed the belief that m this context the complex became a gimmick m a got to have a gimmick world president collier gives founder's day speech we as a people and as a cquntry seem to be caught up in a mood of darkness and anxiety said dr herman e collier at lehigh sunday collier president of moravian college delivered the founder's day address and was one of five recipients of honorary degrees from the university president w deming lewis also conferred 252 undergraduate and graduate degrees at the 92nd ceremony honoring asa packer founder of lehigh others receiving honorary degrees were the hon a leon higgenbotham jr judge of the u.s district court for the eastern district of pennsylvania doctor of laws dr j osborn fuller president of fairleigh dickinson university doctor of laws harry edmonds founder and president of international house in new york city doctor of humane letters and prof john j karakash dean of lehigh's college of engineering doctor of engineering in suggesting a parallel between our own time and the 15th century collier com mented the truth of our times is being eroded away or at least lies unattended due to our constant and relentless verbal rehearsal of the ills of our day we have grown to where it isn't fashionable to compliment ourselves or others for the advances gained rather we ask why didn't the effort include or care for this or that problem also he expressed concern that in our zest to cure our serious ills we are undermining our strength for the future by omitting that recognition of accomplishment rightfully university president w deming lewis delivered opening remarks to the founder's day gathering on sunday oct 10 dr lewis conferred bachelor's and advanced degress to men and women who completed their academic re quirements during the summer herman e collier president of moravian college gave the founder's day address b&w photo by allenj see quay page 4 see current page 5 see independent page 4 see inadequate page 4