Bates College - Mirror Yearbook (Lewiston, ME)

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S ilfv 3 Dean of the College James Walter Carignan The academic year 1984-1985 will be remembered in a variety of ways. An election year, the political rhetoric was ever-present in the fall as students participated in the national debate. Bates students bucked the national trend among undergraduates by sticking to a more liberal position, particularly in areas of social policy and international affairs. The fall also saw the dramatic announcement ofthe Olin Grant to begin construction ofa new art facility. The enthusiasm of student and faculty response was a shot in the arm for the whole community. The winter brought the most successful winter carnival in recent Bates history. From the resumption of alpine and nordic competition to the expansion ofthe social activities, more students than ever participated in this well- organized event. This was also the year of SA T's optional, the expansion of Freshman Centers, the announcement of plans for a regional social center on Frye Street, a short term without lots of rain, weekly barbeques on the quad for faculty and students in short term, and much, much more. Most of all this was a solid year at Bates. Much hard work occurred. In small groups, one-on-one, and even in a few large classes, learning took place. It was a year without crisis - a year of quiet, solid, mutually enriching growth. That's okay.

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William Charles Hiss But it was also the first year of reading folders with optional SA Ts. A quarter ofthe applicants in the 1984-85 elected not to submit their SA Ts, and 16'ht of the Feshmen entered Bates without SA Ts. The faculty made that decision aherjive years of admissions research suggested that: 1. SA Ts overlap substantially with Achievement Tests in terms of their predictive value, thus we could make decisions that had equal validity with one instead of two sets of standardized testing. 2. Students were wrongly using average SA Tscores to try to choose a college, and thereby misunderstanding the role of standardized testing in the Admissions process. 3. Bates, as a college with an abolitionist heritage, had ethical objection to the explosion of coaching for the SA Ts. If it doesn 't work, the students are being cheated economicallyg ifit does work, the tests are not as standardized as we would like to think. We did not want coaching to shape the curriculum of high schoolsg we wanted to support teachers who taught carefully and rigorously. In a broad sense, the optional SA T decision was intended as a strong signal to theArnerican Educational Community that Bates would try to have admission be based on a complex mix of the criteria we think are important for academic and personal success at college: intellectual ambition, good writing, a broad variety of extra- curricular strengths, imagination, humor and a zest for understanding people Dom different backgrounds. H1984-1985 was in many ways a banner year for the Deans of Admissions. In Admissions, unlike some other parts ofthe college, change sometimes comes slowly, for we must communicate the change to our public of guidance counselors and prospective students. Often it is a number of years before any change filters down and is reflected in the entering classes. This year, however, a number of changes occurred simultaneously that together have resulted in the largest application pool in Bates'history, 2,909 applications for 409 places. The Deans of Admissions, who routinely turn themselves from tent evangelists in the fall into medieval monks in the winter of a reading season, had even more reading to do, and the selection process for entrance to the college was even more demanding. Some of these healthy changes, which obviously run against all demographic and jinancial trends, have to do with the long term and growing strength ofthe college. The calibre of the faculty continues to draw enthusiastic reviews, and most students enjoy close personal relationships with peers, faculty and MZ at Dearl of Admissions and Financial Aid staff If the work of the Admissions Ojice is to be an accurate, clear sheet of glass into the institution, then our insistence on doing 3,000 hour-long personal interviews with candidates is a reflection ofthe personal attention that students feel once they come to Bates as students. We try to make decisions based not only on statistical predictors of academic performance. No formula will predict more than hah' of a student's academic performance, and GPA is aher all not the only definition of success: imagination, humor, grit, and desire to meet other kinds of people. Other facets of the Admissions year are new. Hearing ofthe Olin Building, one high school guidance counselor said to us, 'Now I can start to send you top arts candidates, 'and this year the Art and Music faculties will be reviewing several hundred pordolios and tapes which prospective applicants have submitted.

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James Lorenzo Reese The measure ofa year can be summed in the myriad activities that come to campus. This year Bates hosted events that were educational and significant, memorable and enjoyable. The Sugarloaf Conference on The Minority Experience at Bates, The TODA Y Show on campus, the Shirley Chisholm lecture, the New Black Eagle Jazz Band, Triad, Winter Carnival and John Cajjferty, Paul Ehrlich, the I-Tones, and the Short Term barbecues broadly sketch a year of attractive events amid the academic schedule. These events and many others like them have prompted students to engage in countless conversation, both serious and light, that raise the spectre on the meaning of their lives within and without this college. The results of these conversations reveal another measure ofthe year. It has been my privilege, seemingly solely at times, to hear the remarks of visiting lecturers, guests, and artists who come to college. Repeatedly, these guests will respecU'ully remark either that the students ask tough questions or 'people here know to enjoy themselves. These simple, but acute statements, I believe, geminate directly Dom the campus conversations we all hold during the lectures, after concerts, in the classrooms, in Commons, at parties, in dorm rooms, or on the Quad, year ajier year. Each conversation becomes its own test and quest for inquisitive observation, insighU'ul vision, and gainful personal understanding and pleasure. When this occurs for us, individually and as a whole, the year is good, the experience is memorable. fnfiaaf CoordinatorlStudent Activities, Assistant Dean of the College