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*be the opinion of many and itseems that the recor d shouldbe set .straight once and for allso fthati we ?can get about themore--serious mattersi.at hand.

A series of questions wereput before, both {male an d female students here at school.The results of these questionsshould helip to .alleviate someof the strained relations hereat school.*;The fallowing boyswere most helpful in givingtheir opinions: Ralph Sortine,Tom JMstefane, Bill Guyton,Roy Feinberg, Jim Trombetti,Bob Beck, Dave Williamson,Joe Barbotti, Dave Collins, BenCurreri, John Petrini, Ed Man-ing, Boh Jancula, Steve Gutting, Ken Wyten, and Jim Mc-pAndrew.The majority of men seemto feel that the relations haveI improved with the women ofcampus since the start of< firstterm.V Some of the m even felt

that there was no problem atthe start. They all seem verysatisfied wilh the school andthe work here at the 'Hurst.*Thejmain complaint is a veryunderstandable one, tthe lackof activities here on campusand| the lack of support givento them by*;theIgirls. They appreciate the? coffee house andthe attempts being made by theadministration to furnish moreactivities.

Of course, no discussion ofthe ibo ys ' attitudes could becompilete unless some mentionis made of Gannon. The freshmen boys, for the most part ,ar e ^resentful

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MERCYHURST COLLEGE December 17,? 1970

MEECYHUBST COLLEGE E R I E , P A .fMerduad Staff

Editor . . .|jS i 4 l-Al MessinaAssociate Editon A Boh yParksLayout Editor .? | m Davd RohdeNewswJditori J . . . . }m .. vBitt SachseSports Editor | | . . . . J . . J . .Will DopieralaPhotographer . . . 5 | . | . . . Debby DockestaderCirculation and Exchange . . M.. Marlene SmithLayout Staff | g . . . Fran Ahearn, BilUfJhiodo,"i ll ll 1 * ^a Hadfalvij Bob BeckStaff Writers . . . re .Paul Anderson, Rick Lamb, if Audrey Rosenthal, Jeff Helfand,Brendia Brewer} Carolyn ShadeStaff 4 Carol Meuhling, Mark Turos:& Ellen Heinrichj Dolores KrasinsM

BYMEDUCATION & YOU:

Can you learnwithout grades?by Bob Parks

How important are grades and| what do they dofor| learning? IAcademic success is something we measure, not finknowledge, but in grade points. Grades don't make uswant to enrich our minds; they make us want to pleaseour teachers. What!we receive on our finals is all thatis important; what we retain after that is irrelevant.

Oddly enough, many of us understand all of thisand yet remain convinced that we need to be graded inorder to learn. We Shave been prodded with phony motivations forf so long, that we have|become insensitive tothose more valid.Learning evolves when the person, simply wants toknow. Ask yourself ;fdid you need grades? to learn howto drive ?fTo learn how to talk ? Yet these are the thingswe do ver y| well, much bett er p erhaps than^ French orSpanish, upon which we have ^consistently been gradedsince high school. |If Ifor any reason youl really want to learn aboutsubjects; you can learn it without beingfgraded. An dif you don't want it and don't need it, you'lljprobablynever "getfit straight!" Grades or not. | |Some of us still maintain that we need grades togive us self-discipline. But self-discipline is nothing morethan a certain way of pleasing yourself, and it is thelast thing anyone is likely toilearn forla grade. 1| % Even so, if the^ gradin g systemlean be shown ftowork against learning you may assume that grades arestill necessary to evaluate people for! various kinds ofwork. | | m |There are better ways to determine a person's qualifications i-than th e grading^system. Many fields do theirown screening by examination, while in some areas,supervised on-the-joblexperience would probably be themostl effective* qualifying J technique. In a great manyfields, screening is not at all necessary. Countless employers require a college degree as their only criteria;perhaps! it aidsftheir personnel J departmen t from thegrisly taskf offmaking m eaningful individual evaluations,andjjto manifest t o their competitors th at they ! are solidan d standardized.! i S | ' |ffltt the grading systemlis seen to be ineffective, thenwhat alternative system is there? | 1 f fv Apos sibl e solution lis th e "Credit System", whichis discussed by Jerry Farber in? hi s book ;5 The StudentAs Nigger, f

| Under th is |syste m, some courses could |be$ madetotally Ifree of grading; basic algebra, drawing, *j>oetry,writing, etc., fthe rest wouldlrunlon a fcredit basis, flfyou^meet the m inimum requirements of? the course, yousimply%get the credit for it. And i&you don't meet therequirem ents,! it's not held against you;|^rou're no tpenalized. Youyust don't get*credit for the course. Andthis is not the Pass-Fail System, wherejif you don't passa course|you get "hurt". | | IUnder the Credit System, all that! your transcriptmakes any record of is the courses you received!creditfor, NOT the ones you attempted, perhaps very heartily.And then when you've earned enough credits you getsome kind*6f certification according to the number andtypekrficourses taken.|This would m ean more jmeaning-ful and varied certifications and degrees. A &. College] would then ^become more) of a place forlearning, and growth, and not fearful anxieties. It shallbecome ag learning community,! where you're not pittedjn daily battles* against your fellow students.And if an employed requiresimore than just th e

BE T WEENl U SPaul Anderson

ANDRick Lamb

Student Arrogance,Polorization of FeelingAmerica is the land of thefreie and the home of the bigot.Society! is polarized on m anydifferent levels. We have hippievs . hard|hat, rich man vs. poorman, conservative vs. libe raland so on. All of |th es e| groupsar e sfelf justified and self righteous. They all believe! ihem-selvesf to be unquestionablyright in ftheir |endeavors. Thereis a tendency! to ignore thethoughts and ^beliefs oft othersand the great dogma oflhate inanything different shines on.Society, naturally being an|in-teraction of many people, demands a willingness to understand others and possibly learnsomething from them. A middle class white man certainlyhas difficult times willingly

helping! n*s fblack country menif he doesn't make an attemptto understandMvhat he isrlike?I can think off no one I knowwho has attempted to learnabout the American black manand still call him |*fnigger.'' Inthe same lightUf you throw 5 or6 young people from theisubcul-ture into a conversation (notlanargument) with a colonel tfromthe joint chiefs of Staff at thePentagon |the result $s liable tobe a loss of|hatred. Thefoppo-sites will not totally agree witheach other but| with a realization of what makes other people do whatever they do dt be -comeslhapder to hate them. Theman from the white m iddleclass will'not want! to go live ina ghetto, and the freak won'tgo join the army butphey willbe able to act reasonab ly towards people rather than reacting irrationally.The college campus presents

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a perfect! situation for the understandin g of others. Collegelife trains $ts . inhabitants to bereasonable and thoughtful, supposedly. They are supposed tobe studying and investigatingvarious aspects of human {life,which would place them at anadvantage over the rest^of society. Most offsociety lives withpeople like themselves, businessmen associate with businessmen, factory workersaround with factory w orkers ,farmers live with farmers andthese people outside of theirown g roup. College students,however! have the opportunityto cornel into contact jwith people of varying backgrounds andoutlooks. While it is true thatcollege students will associatewith college students, as agroupMn themselves, they$ dohavefthe y advantagejof ? havingtheirigroup being composed entirely by fragments of othergroups. These fragments maintain the properties of the groupthey came from.

With |al1 thisj[ to their advantage why&s itfcthat students aresuch bigots. While students havethe occasion to be very understanding! they fcanfalso be beli-gerent and arrogant. They realize they have advantages others in society don't and insteadof putting ffchem to good usethey let it go to their head s.They feel themselves special.We are sorry to say- that we toobelong to this group of arrogantintellectualse

We hadn't ever really thoughtof ourselves and our fellow students in this way before. Wewere somewhat moved to wMte

onlthis sub ect when we n oticedthe attitudes of many studentstowards jthe hired help here atMercyhurst. Students seemed tolook down at the people whoserve and clean up after themas being lower than themselves.Sometimes| this is blatent butmost of the time wjg unconscious . The unconscious drivetha t keeps people going, theidea that they amount to something is certainly necessary|lnorder for a person to $accom-plish anything but|to allow thisself pride to negate a personwho doe sn't {function on |thesame level as you do islignor-ant.|Th e |lack of understanding 1among students in contrast withthe fact that they have such anexcellent opportunity, couldperhaps point to a defflttciency inou r schooling system. studentsin the system are so busy studying forf tests that they reallydon't? see any significant insight into how to |get alongwith the ir fellow men. Theirschools serve to remove themfrom societyJ in order to trainthem how to perform a specificfunction in society* instead| ofhow to live better among therest offpeople in society.We|believe that learning howto coexist,? somewhat peaceful

ly, with othe rs is somethingthat can't be taught. |It comesabout through an attempit tounderstand and appreciate other people for what ?they are.Look > a t yourself, and them talkto some of the people who workaround you and dig them. Afterall iU'tis the season to be jolly.Merry Christmas

LETTERS TO THE EDITORDear Editor:One of Jthe 'Educational Ex periences" is being! undertakenby Sociology |Dept. JThis yearduring Interesssion. The courseis under khe direction of Mr.Robert *Knapp an d consisted J ofan in depth istudy of Erie Urban Phenomenon..jDuriiug the course field trips,were made to places like the

Models Cities Agency, NATO I,O.l.C., City Council and SchoolBoard meetings an

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Pocember . 17 , J1970 MERCYHURST COLLEGE Pa?e Three

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MylCollege right orfwrong.

Open daily 9:00-4:00Monday th ru FridayT e x t b o o k sR e f e r e n c e M a t e r i a l s .D r a w i n g S u p p l i e s jN o t i o n sS o u v e n i r s

O N STUDENT FREEDOMiby \A1 Messina^Editor

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Regulations for Assembliesand Demonstrations! What doesthat mean? Do you know?Probably not!However at the initial CollegeSenate meeting for this academic^ year it was the fprimarytopic of discussion. Not only isthe consequence of such a document of vital importance^ t o |each individual student, but itVis also of paramount significance ito the destiny ofjMercy-hurst as a viable educationalinstitution. fThe great majorifty of thedocument^ received consensusacceptance. However it was es

sentially over onel very controversial idea expressed in thedocument that discussion reached a temporary iinpass. The debate seemed to revolve aroundthe question! of cam pus tiegaljurisdiction. |It|jwas the affirmation of la number of Senaterepresentatives that the Col-lege should and must*act in cases in which a Mercyhurst student is involved in a fcrime off!the |physical boundaries of thelcampus, especially serious crim -|es such asmurder and drugs.The question I would! like topose is . . . Why? I have posed?this! question to a? number ofpeople since the conclusion of*ne meeting and have yet to rv?-$ceive a thoughtful and unbiasedanswer.

Some say how,say why?I dare say if the people of theErie community look upon theCollege with enmity because

one of it's students is accusedof a crimethe hell1 withthem! \ What is|an accusation?Is it a mandateffor reprisal?1 have alwaysitoeen under theimpression Jtfta1$||private institutions, such as Mercyhurst,were created to serve the individual, not control him. Andan institutional firmly believe,should only assert control whenthe individual- encroaches tuponits proper function, not whenmatters of reputation andi honor are concerned. Unquestion-ably potential threat and accusation injno way fall withinthe confines of encroachment.|M s it honor and reputationMercyhurst has at stake? iln-deed ifjthe College, jin the wakeof criminal acts* off the campuswhich involved} Mercyhurst students, succumbed to community pressure it would be? directly % violating frights guaranteed in the Student Rights andFreedoms Statement whichlpro-fesses most forcefully that "Institutional action should be independent oflcommunity pres-

jE f Mercvhurst

MY CHOICE f | |People often spend theiiltime, in search of splendid daysAil too often I listen,Jfeftenns of Summer s praise.But to me thefday, whose echoes*that|I djprolong,The ephemeral season; Christmas, that's my song.Piw +ViQ f^And momnricsi s h a l l a l w a y s c o m e t h a t d a yAnonymous:

The veryWarmest Christinas wish, ftomfha ^nfiVft M e r c i a d Staff"

decides itmust quickly and decisively reprimand students involved incriminal!acts off this campus itmust* live 4with th e |danger ofprecedent. The College has unfortunately already begun a po-licy of unrestrained administrative decision. Yes,|it was theAdministration that| arbitrarily,that is, without *tfae consent ofthe students, canceled ail hoursfor upperolassmen. It was in allprobability |a wise and muchneeded re(fiorm|but did anyoneendeavor to ask|the students?No they did not! ! The overall concern of suchan a ction! in a conceptual senseis that arbitrary decision(something fCoMege^ Administrators now find! very fashionable and then wonder what iswromg|withMlie rotten kids) Ionthe ipart of any Administrationis a | dangerous precedent.Without question the presentadministration is* a most competent one. They are Jindfcedpeople of impeccable character.But will Mercyhurst alwayshave ! such a; competent administration? And more importantwill such action lead to morearbitrary decision?The aoaosfclardent supporter ofthe exten sion! otg| the College'slegal jurisdiction stated emphatically ithati Mercyhurst shouldbe concerned! about seriouscriminal problems (such ! asdrug pushing) ^because he feltthe community I would expectsome J acttoiM to be taken. Healso stated that if | he Collegedid not aot|in isuich a situationits reputation Iwould be vilified.What if we had Ja Charlie jMan-son? Whatfwould ^happen to ourreputation/he averted.

sure. >Furthermore,? does Mercyhurst? College have the legal apparatus to deal with serious

problems such as murdfer |anddrugs? Does accusation meritexpulsion or even long suspension from an academic community? And certain ly if thecollege >is to compassionatelyand intelligently fjuddcate acriminal case in which non-Mtercyhurst students are involvedp ^ would be necessary tosummons itliem f to ascertain the guilt or innocence|ofthe Mercyhurst student involved. But |does the ^college havethe *legal right to make thesepeople comply?Presently one of thejjinjustices

that is tearing at fthe hearty ofthis country is the shadow ofskepticism that has been caston the credibility off the court.The court has in numerouscases been prodded into an obvious bias th:*s mitigating! itstraditional reputation of possessing Igenuin'e legal wisdom andcompassion.!; American peopleno glonger look in awe fat th eAmericamcourt but in fact question and distrust it.fWhy | s this so ?! Simply because trials are held in order toobtain convictions. *The argument! that the scrupulous observance of technicalities of due. . .

process slowsiup or frustratesspeedy convictions'' saidfHenrySteele Commager, "is of coursecorrect if all you want is convictions."Should Mercyhurst >fall preyto the same kind of ignoranceand bigotry? It is|my contentionthat the college should NOT actWith haste andjlook for quickand simple decisions in collegelegalf matters. Time allows^ onethe advantage of ^retrospect.Useiit. | | | |In the final fanalysis,* shouldMercyhurst's legal jurisdictionbe extended beyond this campusto placa te public opinion?! Ithink notff Does the philosophy

of the^ school warrant such action? If the philosophy of theschoolfds antithetical to the basic human! rights a s | guaranteedin the |constitution, it should {beamended. Should the college actto eliminate a deleterious gele*ment? Again I say* theicollegeshould inlno way act on thestrength of accusation because*until indicated by a civil court,or until a criminal act is committed on Mercyhurst's campus,the person in question *wouIdonly be fa POTENTIAL ratherthan actual affront to the col*lege.|- J IgIt is evident that if Mercy*hurstj College did not have acredibility fixation! of the community, it 1would not! find itnecessary to extend its "legaljurisdiction. Yes indeed, as oneadministrator ^vehemently stated, the College has the|POWERto act in suchjimatters,|POWERJ. I J POWER . I .POWER. I believe everjK thinking person is sick* and tired ofhearing it. Yes, I know the College has the powerJ binf th equestion is should the ^Collegeexercise it. Power doesn't makeilright.Then who is right? Tragically no one realMknows, Smt th esensible man afe least FIRSTconsiders the WHY, not the

HOW. mLetters I

( Con t i nue d f r o m P a g e 2 )Dear Mister Editor:This is just a short letter tocongratulate you and your staffon ithe fine job you're doing inputting out the^ "Merciad". Ifeel|that|it is very informativeand not just for "Men Only*'but for thetwhole school as yourpast issuses prove. Most peopledo not realize the pains youand your staff gof through inputting the p aper lout and itseems they are^ first to makesome fcomment about lit. Sokeep up the |good work.*i I fltonCampus Togetherness (Continued from Page i l )ment. 4The girls questioned were -allresidents of ^second floor Mc-Auley. They all seemed veryinterested in f getting to knowthe boys better, and jf very willing to take whatever steps arenecessary to further th e \ interaction between the two groups.Their first suggestion taasltochange the||policy concerningopen dorms. Perhaps, 7:00-2:00a. mj on weekend nights?Over all, ^everyone seemsvery open to the idea of menand!; women living together asaduibtsf This does not f ncludetaking exception to every offhand! remark jthat someonemakes fand turning it^into anissue. Understanding, cooperation and a little|love could Justbe our solution! #

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PagfesFour MERC YHURST COLLEGE " "' -

B I L L D O P I E R A L AS p o r t s E d i t o r

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