Point News, 1985 March 26

              The ’Dove’
returns to the
[shores of St.
Clements
Island
A reenactment of the
settler's first landing in
Maryland at St. Clements
Island was carried out
cheerfully by modern-day
"settlers" on Maryland Day
despite the inclement
weather. This was the
third consecutive year of
rain, which dampened the
day’s festivities.
Photo by Dave Wood.
Student art show to open April 14
Chr is Smi th
S t a f f R e p o r t e r
On the 14th of April the
Fifteenth Annual Student Art
Exhibition will commence
with a reception and awards
ceremony at 8 p.m. in the
gallery at Montgomery Hall.
"It’s an opportunity for
the students to have, on the
wall, their accomplishments
throughout the year,"
commented John Ingersoll,
Gallery Director at St.
Mary's College.
All works must be
submitted to the gallery on
April 8th or 9th and a
variety of media are being
accepted including pain­tings,
drawings, sculpture,
prints, black and white
photography, pottery, jewel­ry,
and weaving.
"It's open to all
students," added Ingersoll,
"so the college community
can see their works."
Entries are being encouraged
from all students, regard­less
of whether or not
they're involved specifi­cally
in the art program.
Jonathon Ingersoll, Tom
Rowe, Lisa Sheer, Sandra
Underwood, l/esna Miksic, and
Sandra Waskoflood, the six
judges for the show, will be
judging works on the
neatness of presentation and
artistic quality.
The works will be
on display in the Montgomery
Hall Gallery until April 30.
For those interested, a
clinic for matting works
will be held this week.
Ingersoll, who helped
conceive of the show fifteen
years ago, responded glibly
when asked about the most
unusual piece ever to be
entered.
"There was this student,
he showed up with a bed and
he was naked; we had to
reject him though."
Another soggy Maryland Day
Lynda Davis and
Vicki Edgar
Sta f f Repor ters
Rain beat hard on
umbrellas and raincoats as
people dashed from tent to
tent, to be greeted by the
smiling faces of St.
Mary's artisans proudly
displaying their crafts.
Such was the typical scene
at the Maryland Day
festivities which took place
March 23 and 24. The tables
of crafts held jewelry,
brooms, quilts, paintings,
stuffed animals, and other
hand-made items. An aroma
of roast filled the air.
The State House provided
entertainment such as
reenactments of early legis­lative
and judicial actions,
which were dramatic presen­tations
by St. Mary's City
Commission living history
The landing of the Dove was
also reenacted.
Maybe it is not so bad
that it seems to rain every
Maryland Day. After all, it
was raining in 1634 when the
Dove first landed.
Board of Trustees unanimously approves
general requirement proposal for 1986
John Oravec
Managing Edi tor
On Saturday March 13, during Spring
Break, the SMC Board of Trustees
unanimously approved the new curriculum
changes regarding general college
requirements. The curriculum which affects
the class of 1990, was passed after more
than three hours of discussion.
Dr. Richard Stark, chairman of the
curriculum review committee, opened
discussion by voicing his support of the
new curriculum. President Lewis also voiced
his approval of the curriculum. Dr.
Rosenthal, Dean of the College and Vice
President for Academic Affairs, followed by
reviewing each proposed change.
Following Dean Rosenthal's testimony,
critical discussion began. The board asked
questions like why there is no foreign
language requirements and the reason for
adding a natural science course.
Someone also brought up the 46 to 29
split vote which occurred when the Faculty
Senate approved the curriculum. Dean
Rosenthal gave reasons for the split, "Most
who voted against the curriculum were
against the total number of credit hours.
Probably 20 of the 29 opposing voters would
have liked to see one or two courses cut
out; each had different ideas about which
courses to cut. The rest did not like the
idea of a more restrictive curriculum."
The discussion changed from a critical
to affirmative manner and a half hour later
the proposal was passed.
Dean Rosenthal gave his evaluation of
the Board's reception of the proposal,
"All(trustees) were properly critical.
They recognized that a lot of work went
into it and that it was not casually or
trivially approached.
The Changes
The total number of general requirement
credits will jump from 44 to 50/52.
Presently students may take any two
history classes. Beginning in the fall
of 1986 all freshmen will take two courses
on the history of Western Civilization.
Presently students are only required to
take one natural science course, Starting
in the fall of '86 freshmen will take one
physical and one biological science course.
Finally, a junior year philosophy course
and a general college senior seminar will
be initiated to integrate the material
covered during the ’core’ years.
The new curriculum entails four areas of
emphasis: Abilities/Competencies, Heri­tage,
The World Around Us, and Integration.
'Abilities/Competencies' includes the
mandatory math and English requirements’,
'Heritage' includes two Western
Civilization courses, one art history
course, and a literature course? 'The World
Around Us' involves one physical science,
one biological science, one behavioral
science., and one policy science course.
Finally, 'integration' includes a
philosophical enquiry and a senior seminar
that coordinates the 'core' material.
St. Mary's is not alone in changing the
general college requirements. A recent
study by the American Council on Education
found that more than half of the colleges
studied (413) were in the process of
reviewing their respectivei curricula. The
changes these colleges are affecting are
also similar to SMC's. 89 percent of those
studied are placing greater emphasis on
abilities and competencies, 92 percent have
developed a core of general requirements,
60 percent have institution-wide writing
requirements and 59 percent are developing
increased course requirements.
The only area where St. Mary's is in the
minority is placement tests. Nearly 70
percent of all four year colleges have
placement tests for mathematics and 81
percent have placement tests for English
skills.