Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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THE ACADEMIC PROCESS The time is now. It is a time of student involvement, and a time of change. Students are learning from the mistakes of the past, and applying these teachings toward making a better future. People are participat- ing in open demonstrations and exercising more fully their basic freedoms. The students of today have been taught to think critically and to weigh every aspect of any problem. Their suggestions are considered more seriously and acted upon more frequently than ever before. Now, more than ever. Temple ' s academic program of studies is becoming characterized by today ' s spirit of involvement and change. REGISTRATION Contrary to popular opinion, this year ' s pre-regis- tration was the easiest and most efficient in the plan ' s two year history. According to Dr. Harry S. Gallagher, Registrar, more than 14,000 out of 35,000 full time day students pre-registered for the fall semester. In addi- tion, over 11,400 students paid in full as of September 1, he said. Previously, registration was held one week before the start of the current semester, which led to mass confusion, long lines and disgruntled students. The reaction of most students to this year ' s pre- registration was favorable. According to some, even late registration was easier with the increased facilities of the new gymnasium. Many students reported that they had no difficulty in obtaining the courses they needed at the times they wanted, providing the course was still open. During the opening of the fall semester, there was the initiation of a new system, whereby if a student dropped or added a course, he received a drop card in addition to the usual add card. In this way classes were not closed out before they were filled and a student could pick up a course that another had dropped. Pre-registration had been cited as offering advan- tages to both the student and the university. The student knows beforehand what courses he will have, and his class hours, thereby leaving him extra time for work, sports participation, and community affairs. The university, in turn, is aware of the demand for a cer- tain course before the semester begins. It can then make changes in the master schedule, combining or cancelling sections as the need arises. BASIC STUDIES Basic Studies was started in September, 1964, for the broad purpose of human living, citizen involve- ment and preparation in all the professional courses. Instead, the Basic Studies Program had been criticized by many students as stringent, inflexible and ridicu- lous. Frustrated student criticism concerns the inac- 26 curate advice of Basic Studies advisors, the loss of credits when transferring from one college to an- other, and the sheer ridiculousness of taking required courses which are many times not applicable to the students ' needs or desires. Steps are finally being taken to reform the current program. Basic Studies Student Organization, the branch of student government which represents the 7,000 students in Basic Studies, is the means by which students are trying to change the current policies. Due to the efforts of BSSO, the Summer Committee for Basic Studies was formed in the summer of 1969. It contained representatives from BSSO, Basic Studies Faculty Committee, Student Senate, and the Faculty Senate. The commission favors a new Self-Develop- ment Program over the old Basic Studies Program. SDP would consist of fifty-six credit hours, thirty-two completely elective, and twenty-four taken in at least two divisions outside the student ' s prospective major. As was stated in the Temple Plan for University Governance: The Basic Studies students know re- quirements and the classrooms, but they share the life of Temple in no other structured way. It is precisely in the Temple student ' s first year that he has his most shocking encounter with isolation and anonymity.

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AMBLER The Ambler campus is tar removed from the intense pace of city life which pervades the main campus. Set on 186 acres of land in Montgomery County, the school provides a relaxed atmosphere for its 750 students. Ambler ' s 73 faculty members relate to the students in a persona! way, and everyone knows everyone else, according to Dr. John Cassidy, Dean of the College. The intimacy of the Ambler campus has both posi- tive and negative aspects. The campus area utilized by the students is only a small portion of the land belonging to Ambler. One hundred acres of campus land are totally unused. This fact, in addition to growing criticism of the further expansion of Temple ' s main campus, has made Ambler a prime area for prospective expansion. Some members of Temple ' s Board of Trustees are now in the process of investigat- ing recommendations that the Ambler campus become a four-year college, but this plan is now only in the conception stage. The school presently offers the two-year Basic Studies curriculum that is in effect on Temple ' s main campus. Ambler also offers programs of study in hor- ticulture and agriculture. Many students attend Ambler for their first two years of college, and obtain their bachelor ' s degree after two subsequent years at Temple ' s main campus. However, Dr. Cassidy noted that the percentage of students who transfer out of Ambler to come to the city is very small. Dr. Cassidy feels that the facilities at Ambler are adequate for present needs, and he would be reluctant to see a change in the atmosphere of Ambler. LIBERAL ARTS If one disects the term Liberal Arts, he would find that liberal connotes a non-restrictive modus operan- di and of course, art is defined as a skill in perform- ance, acquired by experience, study or observa- tion. By the additive property of mathematics, we would surmise that Liberal Arts refers to the non-re- strictive means of developing a skill in performance through the process of careful study. WRONG! Not only is the Liberal Arts program a limited arts curriculum, but many of us do not really get into it until our senior year. Here is where the philosophy of the liberal education takes root. We will all be round- ed individuals because we took a theater course in which all that was learned was how to know which number seats are on what side of the theater. To make us more worldly, we are offered a course in Govern- ment and Politics in Brazil 138, and one in Field Geology 252 so we can identify the stones in the Thomas Hall wall. Although the actual principle behind the concept of Liberal Arts is valid, it has been perverted to the point that the only really non-restrictive semester of the college career is the last. When Brazil takes over the world, maybe I ' ll be glad I had the course. — Scoop Boogwah, 1970