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OSeHin Cottege Volume 15, Nttmber 6 OBserver OBerCin, Ohio Thursday 11 November 1993 College considers change in aid policy "Our current financial aid policy may be interfering with the College's efforts to reach goals for student recruitment and retention." Presenting this possibil¬ ity to the college faculty 2 November, the general faculty planning committee offered four recommendations for discussion. The recommendations came from two other committees, both chaired by professor of mathematics George An¬ drews: the college faculty committee on admissions and relations to second¬ ary schools and the general faculty committee on student financial aid. The admissions office has already received two of the recommendations. The other two must await general faculty ap¬ proval because they "impinge on the college's current policy of need-based aid and need-blind admissions," An¬ drews said. Merit and index One of the two recommendations already communicated, Andrews said, advised the admissions staff to explore "new approaches to yield enhance¬ ment," including "merit-based awards." The other suggested that the staff use "an admissions selection in¬ dex as a basis for admitting students to Oberlin." The most important factors in the index are "academic strength as measured by standardized tests and high school record, type of application [regular or early decision], alumni connection, ethnicity, athletic experi¬ ence, and personal promise." A statisti¬ cal analysis identified these factors as the ones which best explain the way admissions decisions have been made in the past, said director of research Ross Peacock. The admissions commit¬ tee has not yet decided the weight to give to each factor in the index. One of the recommendations requir¬ ing faculty approval adds another factor to the admissions-selection index that would, in effect, end need-blind admissions: "a weight for family con¬ tribution." The other recommendation requiring approval would end need-based aid for some admitted students: "In conferring financial aid, a student's admissions rating will be employed so that the college can attract students according to their desirability to the institution." The rationale behind these recommendations was in the general faculty planning committee report presented by committee chair Grover Zinn, Danforth professor of religion (and author of a related article in this Observer). 'Honorable principles' During the college faculty discus¬ sion, professors and student represen¬ tatives sought information and offered opinions about the four recommenda¬ tions. The consensus was that the present policy needs changing, but some speakers questioned the need for particular changes. Opening the dis¬ cussion, professor of classics Thomas Van Nortwick warned against an emo¬ tional attachment to need-blind and need-based admissions. "Financial aid is eating at our budget while we pre¬ serve our honorable principles," he said. Associate professor or history Gary Komblith replied that the prin¬ ciples were not based on "mere emo¬ tion," that "the soul of the institution is indeed at stake. If you change the com¬ position of the student body, you change the character of the college." Later Komblith said, "Students come here caring about things intellectual. I wouldn't trade that for higher board scores." Noting that Oberlin's aid has not always b^en need-blind. Biggs profes¬ sor in the natural sciences Norman Craig said that Oberlin had given merit scholarships in the 1950s. Oberlin's Eroblem now is the yield decline of the ist 20 years. "We shouldn't make projections only out of our recent his¬ tory," he said. "Rather, we should make significant changes in order to become more competitve, recognizing that our history is complex." In the 1960s, said Jay professor of art Richard Spear, Oberlin did not have to talk aoout "marketing," but now it does. "We can't keep doing what we're do¬ ing now," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't be need-blind." To improve yield, said professor of chemistry Terry Carlton, Oberlin ^<(#*\, — ^— ^•^■^l^^i^^' '':;.m.^mimm^»m>: '—j-ai! i— Fdll FoVWUVd? Addie Male '95 is one of the dancers in next weekend's Fall Forward dance concert. should make its "substandard" aid package competitive with aid offered by other schools. He warned against faculty "polarization" on the aid issue. Komblith saw "basic agreement" among the faculty on the need to limit the financial-aid budget but not on the dollar amount of that limit. Taking action "We should have discussed this 10 years ago," said professor of biology Richard Levin. It is "demoralizing to students" he said, "to keep hearing that they are of lower quality" than their predecessors. "We should take action." Professor of classics James Helm was the only speaker to say he was "heart¬ ened" by the discussion. The situation was so bad that it could only get better, he said; the planning committee had offered reasonable responses to the problem; and he was confident that the faculty would take action. Only one vote was taken at the meeting: Before discussing financial aid and admissions, the faculty ap¬ proved a change in the membership of one of its committees. No smoking The general faculty on 26 October voted to limit campus smoking to out¬ door areas away from building en¬ trances, a policy recommended by the general faculty council (Observer 14 October). The legislation does not de¬ fine how dose to a building a smoker might stand, nor does it provide for enforcement. A motion to refer the legislation back to the council for spe¬ cifics on these matters, however, was defeated, and the faculty approved the legislation by voice vote, with some dissent. The faculty discussed proposed course-scheduling changes that speci¬ fied new times when classes longer than 100 minutes could be scheduled. Some members of foreign-language departments said the proposal would reduce the time slots for courses taught five days a week, as beginning lan¬ guages usually are. The faculty ap¬ proved a motion to table, postponing a vote until another meeting. At the beginning of the meeting the faculty heard two memorial minutes: Emeritus professor of music theory and trombone Thomas Cramer read the minute for emeritus professor of music history Richard Murphy, and Long¬ man professor of English David Young read the minute for emeritus professor of English Francis X. Roellinger. —Carol Ganzel Students protest graffiti, other incidents Incidents of graffiti on the Memorial Arch and a statement slurring Muslims attached to the door of the Muslim student group's Wilder office led to a student protest Monday. Students gathered at noon by Wilder porch to listen to speeches, then reassembled at Cox Administration Building. In Cox they handed out fliers say¬ ing, in part, "These racist attacks clearly illustrate the need for a Hate Crimes Policy to challenge offensive events and support services specific to the concerns of students of color on campus." The students issued a press statement protesting "the lack of av¬ enues by which members of the Ober¬ lin College community can address such events." Listed in Student Rules and Regulations are informal grievance procedures for persons who nave suffered racial abuse and harassment. In years past the student life commit¬ tee has considered a "hate crimes policy," according to its chair, profes¬ sor of politics Ronald Kahn. It was concerned both about protecting indi¬ vidual students from harassment and protecting First Amendment speech. At the time the committee operated under concurrent-majority voting procedures, Kahn says, and was un¬ able to agree on legislation to present to the general faculty. President S. Frederick Starr issued a statement to the campus community Tuesday on the subject of hateful graf¬ fiti and symbolic acts. In it he an¬ nounced a meeting that the students had scheduled to discuss these matters; it will begin at 10 pm tonight. Dean of student life and services Patrick Penn, dean of the College of Arts and Sci¬ ences Alfred MacKay, and professor of politics Ronald Kahn, who chairs the student life committee, are among those who will attend. A long-sched¬ uled John Frederick Oberlin Society meeting in New York will keep Starr from attending. Another incident referred to in the protesting students' handouts was an apparent cross-burning near Harkness on Halloween. The security report in Friday's Review said, "Officers... found two wooden crosses had been set ablaze with paper." The "crosses," however, had been supports for burn¬ ing scarecrows, according to first-year student Joshua Robinson, who watched them bum Halloween night. "I saw the scarecrows in the hallway of Harkness earlier in the day," he said. The anti-Asian slurs on the arch were apparently painted Saturday night. Early Sunday afternoon building maintenance area manager John Howard learned of their presence from • Continued on page 6 SISC town meeting On 22 November from 3 pm to 6 pm in Finney Chapel, trustee chair William Perlik will moderate a town meeting on "Strategic Recommendations for Oberlin College." The strategic issues steering committee (SISC) published these preliminary recommendations last month. The committee is inviting students, faculty, other employees, alumni—all members of the Oberlin community—to discuss the recommendations. Two open microphones will be available in the aisles. Besides Perlik at least two trustees from the steering committee will be present—William Warren and Alan Wurtzel—as will administrators, fac¬ ulty, and student members of the steering committee.
Object Description
Title | Oberlin Observer. 1993-11-11 |
Description | volume 15, number 06 |
Subject | Oberlin College--Periodicals |
Editor | Ganzel, Carol |
Contributors |
Mehwald, Barbara (au) Hill, Deidre (au) Wargo, Scott (au) Huston, Thomas (au) Zinn, Grover (au) |
Topics | Residential life surveys students' alcohol use; Article on Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships; Field hockey's best season comes close to championship; Recycling: 70 tons and growing; First step in long-lange planning: Financial-aid policy |
Date | 1993-11-11 |
Year | 1993 |
Month | November |
Day | 11 |
Type | text; image |
Format | |
Identifier | Oberlin_Observer_Vol_15_No_6.pdf |
Publisher | Oberlin College. Library |
Language | English |
Relation | http://www.oberlin.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/library/ref/index.php?db=observerindex |
Number of pages | 6 |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Transcript | OSeHin Cottege Volume 15, Nttmber 6 OBserver OBerCin, Ohio Thursday 11 November 1993 College considers change in aid policy "Our current financial aid policy may be interfering with the College's efforts to reach goals for student recruitment and retention." Presenting this possibil¬ ity to the college faculty 2 November, the general faculty planning committee offered four recommendations for discussion. The recommendations came from two other committees, both chaired by professor of mathematics George An¬ drews: the college faculty committee on admissions and relations to second¬ ary schools and the general faculty committee on student financial aid. The admissions office has already received two of the recommendations. The other two must await general faculty ap¬ proval because they "impinge on the college's current policy of need-based aid and need-blind admissions," An¬ drews said. Merit and index One of the two recommendations already communicated, Andrews said, advised the admissions staff to explore "new approaches to yield enhance¬ ment," including "merit-based awards." The other suggested that the staff use "an admissions selection in¬ dex as a basis for admitting students to Oberlin." The most important factors in the index are "academic strength as measured by standardized tests and high school record, type of application [regular or early decision], alumni connection, ethnicity, athletic experi¬ ence, and personal promise." A statisti¬ cal analysis identified these factors as the ones which best explain the way admissions decisions have been made in the past, said director of research Ross Peacock. The admissions commit¬ tee has not yet decided the weight to give to each factor in the index. One of the recommendations requir¬ ing faculty approval adds another factor to the admissions-selection index that would, in effect, end need-blind admissions: "a weight for family con¬ tribution." The other recommendation requiring approval would end need-based aid for some admitted students: "In conferring financial aid, a student's admissions rating will be employed so that the college can attract students according to their desirability to the institution." The rationale behind these recommendations was in the general faculty planning committee report presented by committee chair Grover Zinn, Danforth professor of religion (and author of a related article in this Observer). 'Honorable principles' During the college faculty discus¬ sion, professors and student represen¬ tatives sought information and offered opinions about the four recommenda¬ tions. The consensus was that the present policy needs changing, but some speakers questioned the need for particular changes. Opening the dis¬ cussion, professor of classics Thomas Van Nortwick warned against an emo¬ tional attachment to need-blind and need-based admissions. "Financial aid is eating at our budget while we pre¬ serve our honorable principles," he said. Associate professor or history Gary Komblith replied that the prin¬ ciples were not based on "mere emo¬ tion," that "the soul of the institution is indeed at stake. If you change the com¬ position of the student body, you change the character of the college." Later Komblith said, "Students come here caring about things intellectual. I wouldn't trade that for higher board scores." Noting that Oberlin's aid has not always b^en need-blind. Biggs profes¬ sor in the natural sciences Norman Craig said that Oberlin had given merit scholarships in the 1950s. Oberlin's Eroblem now is the yield decline of the ist 20 years. "We shouldn't make projections only out of our recent his¬ tory," he said. "Rather, we should make significant changes in order to become more competitve, recognizing that our history is complex." In the 1960s, said Jay professor of art Richard Spear, Oberlin did not have to talk aoout "marketing," but now it does. "We can't keep doing what we're do¬ ing now," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't be need-blind." To improve yield, said professor of chemistry Terry Carlton, Oberlin ^<(#*\, — ^— ^•^■^l^^i^^' '':;.m.^mimm^»m>: '—j-ai! i— Fdll FoVWUVd? Addie Male '95 is one of the dancers in next weekend's Fall Forward dance concert. should make its "substandard" aid package competitive with aid offered by other schools. He warned against faculty "polarization" on the aid issue. Komblith saw "basic agreement" among the faculty on the need to limit the financial-aid budget but not on the dollar amount of that limit. Taking action "We should have discussed this 10 years ago," said professor of biology Richard Levin. It is "demoralizing to students" he said, "to keep hearing that they are of lower quality" than their predecessors. "We should take action." Professor of classics James Helm was the only speaker to say he was "heart¬ ened" by the discussion. The situation was so bad that it could only get better, he said; the planning committee had offered reasonable responses to the problem; and he was confident that the faculty would take action. Only one vote was taken at the meeting: Before discussing financial aid and admissions, the faculty ap¬ proved a change in the membership of one of its committees. No smoking The general faculty on 26 October voted to limit campus smoking to out¬ door areas away from building en¬ trances, a policy recommended by the general faculty council (Observer 14 October). The legislation does not de¬ fine how dose to a building a smoker might stand, nor does it provide for enforcement. A motion to refer the legislation back to the council for spe¬ cifics on these matters, however, was defeated, and the faculty approved the legislation by voice vote, with some dissent. The faculty discussed proposed course-scheduling changes that speci¬ fied new times when classes longer than 100 minutes could be scheduled. Some members of foreign-language departments said the proposal would reduce the time slots for courses taught five days a week, as beginning lan¬ guages usually are. The faculty ap¬ proved a motion to table, postponing a vote until another meeting. At the beginning of the meeting the faculty heard two memorial minutes: Emeritus professor of music theory and trombone Thomas Cramer read the minute for emeritus professor of music history Richard Murphy, and Long¬ man professor of English David Young read the minute for emeritus professor of English Francis X. Roellinger. —Carol Ganzel Students protest graffiti, other incidents Incidents of graffiti on the Memorial Arch and a statement slurring Muslims attached to the door of the Muslim student group's Wilder office led to a student protest Monday. Students gathered at noon by Wilder porch to listen to speeches, then reassembled at Cox Administration Building. In Cox they handed out fliers say¬ ing, in part, "These racist attacks clearly illustrate the need for a Hate Crimes Policy to challenge offensive events and support services specific to the concerns of students of color on campus." The students issued a press statement protesting "the lack of av¬ enues by which members of the Ober¬ lin College community can address such events." Listed in Student Rules and Regulations are informal grievance procedures for persons who nave suffered racial abuse and harassment. In years past the student life commit¬ tee has considered a "hate crimes policy," according to its chair, profes¬ sor of politics Ronald Kahn. It was concerned both about protecting indi¬ vidual students from harassment and protecting First Amendment speech. At the time the committee operated under concurrent-majority voting procedures, Kahn says, and was un¬ able to agree on legislation to present to the general faculty. President S. Frederick Starr issued a statement to the campus community Tuesday on the subject of hateful graf¬ fiti and symbolic acts. In it he an¬ nounced a meeting that the students had scheduled to discuss these matters; it will begin at 10 pm tonight. Dean of student life and services Patrick Penn, dean of the College of Arts and Sci¬ ences Alfred MacKay, and professor of politics Ronald Kahn, who chairs the student life committee, are among those who will attend. A long-sched¬ uled John Frederick Oberlin Society meeting in New York will keep Starr from attending. Another incident referred to in the protesting students' handouts was an apparent cross-burning near Harkness on Halloween. The security report in Friday's Review said, "Officers... found two wooden crosses had been set ablaze with paper." The "crosses," however, had been supports for burn¬ ing scarecrows, according to first-year student Joshua Robinson, who watched them bum Halloween night. "I saw the scarecrows in the hallway of Harkness earlier in the day," he said. The anti-Asian slurs on the arch were apparently painted Saturday night. Early Sunday afternoon building maintenance area manager John Howard learned of their presence from • Continued on page 6 SISC town meeting On 22 November from 3 pm to 6 pm in Finney Chapel, trustee chair William Perlik will moderate a town meeting on "Strategic Recommendations for Oberlin College." The strategic issues steering committee (SISC) published these preliminary recommendations last month. The committee is inviting students, faculty, other employees, alumni—all members of the Oberlin community—to discuss the recommendations. Two open microphones will be available in the aisles. Besides Perlik at least two trustees from the steering committee will be present—William Warren and Alan Wurtzel—as will administrators, fac¬ ulty, and student members of the steering committee. |
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