Brown and White Vol. 82 no. 28

              lehigh university brown and white 866-033 i vol 82-no 28 bethlehem pa tuesday february 16 1971 few students or faculty attend forum meeting don mi les ", 1 ( termed the student l i ulation's ■ eneral apat tr „ t he . nrtim's " most i mmediate problem and aid its resolution w.i.s "< j iti al at t!ir semester's hist forum meeting fridav in race hall ess than one hundred students la ult and administrators attended the meeting despite a month of advertisin forum chairman dr ferdinand p beer sud of the poor attendance i'm not surprised i'm disappointed lhe original reason for the meeting as to review the birth and early life of the forum a lfi-page summar of the drum's proposals lielped sustain beer's contention that the forum is well on its wav to proving itself ieer called the record a remarkable one more significant than its actual a hievement however deer added is the fact t hii t the forum did tiring together students faculty and administration giving them the opportunitv to learn to know each other better anti work toward their common goal--a better lehigh (' ni versitv ." however the meeting's poor showim re i ed last semester's < riticisni of what main < ailed lehigh apathv one tudent said that the forum was like a machine with the internal parts and wheels working s moot hi v but it hasn't tiee n plugged in hi ." dave doodman 72 read a list of 17 student f or urn members who have attended three or fewer meetings goodman then added six more names who we don't even know ilthe i have ever attended a meeting dr heer commented that ive had a list ot his own consisting of facuitv members with si mi lar attendance records however heer declined to read it because of the genera feeling ofapathv pervading the university some of the forum memliers expressed concern over the possibility of difficulties when the eneral elections for forum seats comes up next month i'om mcclaron a graduate student , aid up to this point the forum has been introspective despite its accomplishments now it has to turn itself outward tr :♦?. constituents it has to spread the gospel during the course of the meeting there was also some discussion on the i'm versitv budget dr ralph llndgren asked whether prime consideration is being mven to cutting expenses rather than asking students and facuitv to take a cut in income lindgren added tins would l>e considered onlv as a last resort however presentation of the budget committee's report was delayed neither the chairman nor the vice-chairman was present at the start of the meeting robert frazier a senior student forum representative offers his com ments on lehigh apathy before 100 interested persons who attended the thursday open forum meeting departments may evaluate own courses by donald suss a unique depart mental course evaluation booklet offered bv the department of management and finance is now available to the uni versitv community . the booklet will cover each course offered in tlte department during the fall semester of 1970 according to prof james hobbs chairman of the department the new evaluation booklet is far more compre hensive and better coordinated than the old faculty evaluation booklet or the present student-run booklet although the department of management and finance is presently the only university depart ment to offer such a booklet hobbs feels that the new departmental approach is far superior to the original evaluation method in addition to its comprehensiveness he cites as an advantage the fact that the booklet is not biased and subject to editorializing by the evaluation committee hobbs gave three major areas where the department's booklet will be used to effect changes first he cited faculty improvement by giving the instructor a solid idea about the course second it will be used for curriculum development help user jail pusher says bethlehem official by dave morrison the attitude todav in the poll e department is to heht not hurt drug users hut we should throw the pushers in jail and throw awav ttie key stated bethlehem citv < ouik'ilman walter dealtrev in a panel discussion on " drugs in the vallev sundav at r lte w'eslev united methodist church otlier panelists were barbara fahs c hair man ol the bethlehem drug commission ind hif hard csandl executive director ol confront an agency which deals with drug problems among the vouth ( ont root has centers in allentown bethlehem and strouds bure csandl who said lie does not l>elieve in jails believes that the pusher is a result of our materialistic soc let v when the question as to what should l>e done with pushers rose an elderlv voice from the audience responded shoot them councilman dealtrev discussed the areas of the drug culture which did not require punishment concerning marijuana users he said if we wanted to we could fill the jails trom here to harrisburg however dealtrev labeled the pennsylvania law which prescribes two vears or a 2000 fine for smoking pot as ridiculous csandl stated that the confront people supported the legalization of marijuana heroin is a one way ticket to hell dealtrev said three to five new people a week come to confront with heroin problems said csandl several thousand people in the area are strung out on smack according to mrs fahs methadone is success ful in curing heroin addicts about two percent of the time dealtrev believes therefore that it is the m-lvetween user who should be reached and helped those who are on their way to hard drug addiction need the help csandl called attention to the great difference between marijuana and stronger drugs kids discover that all they've heard about marijuana is lies it's not the dangerous evil it's put across as they think the same thing about heroin and it's not so better drug education said mrs fahs is needed in the bethlehem school svstem national apathv class of 1974 seems uninterested in governance by bill white time magazine observes manv uni versities report that this year's class is the most apolitical in vears " barges ot general apathv which deserve investiga tion have plagued lehigh's treshman c lass this vear william qua \ . i'n versit \ dean ot student life savs that this vears treshman are not as interested in governance as past classes have been during treshman orientation week he ml the governance sessions were the most poorlv attended the treshmen aren't .. i • l _ \\ terested in how the university is governed quav pins the horns oi this dilemma on the university l-orum with fhe uistitii tion of tiie forum the necessity for student activism was largely diminished the freshmen have no representation in the forum quav observed i'd like to see the constitution revised to include treshman memliers tie said even if thev onlv serve for a month or so until the general election anv sort of represen tation he added would im an improvement on their left out status counselor dave maher 71 j has also noticed treshmen disinterest in lehigh government and his explanation is similar to quav's conditions in the university are a lot different this vear . students are sitting back to see what happens with ine new svstem for evaluating changes , '' he said manv treshmen openlv voice disinterest in forum workings i haven't met one freshman who's interested m student government remarked bob shu it 74 we're not a part of it he added i think it's tiie whole school that's apathetic look at the forum it's a shambles are freshmen interested in national politics are thev more socially concerned than past classes so far i've seen no great manifestations of that " said quav thev seem less socially awa re but tliat seems to be the mood of the country in december the new york times com mented the nation's college campuses are so quiet that some observers have begun to complain of a return to student apathy a princeton graduate student suggests that reforms on manv campuses have left student and facuitv sharing regularlv in the governing of universities this makes it more difficult for students to react to grievances by making war on the administration since they're part of that administration the reaction all across the country ls that this freshman class is much quieter than past ones said samuel missimer university director of admission students don't seem to be getting as involved he said quay observed here they're more orderly in the sense of the way the whole concept of order seems to relate to their i nterests if freshmen are not interested in campus or national politics if they're more quiet and orderly what are they doing with their t i me ? we're studying says allen mix 74 with the heavv work load and the fresh mar average so low we don't have time to worry about other things the statistics do show an academic gap between fall semester freshmen of this vear ac.d last while the freshman average dropped 041 this vear the cumulative averages of everv other major faction at the university went up perhaps most prof charles vihon forum re presentative to the board of trustees was instrumental in that body s creation whether or nol his dreams will be realized will depend on stu dent and faculty committment to the forum see new page 4 see freshmen page 4 see drug page 4