University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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Dissent: Kent Sitaiteooo The summer news of l l iifli litillilgs 1 5 that Kent State has not 1977 flashed back to 1970 iflg 55. been for otten or for- as Kent State University 255 13: iiigigv iiijiiiii i given. Tae spirit of Kent once again becameahead- l' l5 .iifs,- fi State lives on. lt is the line grabber. Tent City at 'T spirit of rebellion, the Kent State captured the - r 'A ui' L M n 1 spirit of strength and uni- irlriaginagon argd energy of i L - ty and the spirit ofileter- t ousan s, an UMass was i Q , ,f-t mination to stan o - no exception. The Revolu- . T is POSed to the injustice bf tionary Student Brigade be- 'til 'Q E G A war. gan the fall semester with a ,Q ' H V Over 2,000 students campaign to popularize the F ww Alll signed petitions which struggle there. More than lie' E l' -' demonstrated enough 125 UMals1s stugents took gil 4 ' g p' -G ' support foruthe Student part in t ree emonstra- 1' 7 A Senate to a ocate a most tions at that university, sac- ii 54,000 for traveling ex- rificing weekends and par- Z 0 I penses to the site. ties to spend twenty- our file ' Q In 1970 National grueling hours of traveling it 1 -- A Guardsmen used brute to take a stand at Kent AM, -f I,,.-M,-15 ' force with the consent State. s' .,.' 1 iifs ' 'i T ' and encouragement of Many of the students , nan' -U j . .Q-..q,,V,jV :fig Ai., 1' gjdnfenvi .'7fs-:':f:..VV:x:-fffjig . were Only In elementary J' A emi, 1 ,.7f.:e?:L'1-fr :,1u'fw1:.1-e-- '--iw'-Liviwfz-.c ..,- -.LA-it school when the four stu- dents were killed by National Guards- men at an anti-war rally at Kent in 1970. Yet over 1700 students at UMass wore armbands as art of the National Arm- band Day calTed by the Revolutionary Brigade in support of the struggle at Kent State to put an end to injustice. They joined the thousands across the country who opposed the construction of a gymnasium on the site were the students had been killed seven years before. UMass students joined the thousands who proclaimed to the powers to be then Governor Rhodes of Ohio to suppress the peo- ple's demands for an end to the war in Indochina. ln 1977, police used the same methods again to try to scauash the spirit of strugg e, that spirit 0 unity at Kent State and campuses across the country, which will one day provide the strength to insure that Kent State will never happen again. - Ellie Gitelman and Charles Bagli X

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The GordonfTyson ticket fell short of the necessary majority, hence an electoral convention became a reality. Another controversy arose when the second place vote receiver, none of the above , was not allowed a place in the electoral convention. Inconsisten- cies were prevalent, and an ad hoc committee was formed to iron out as many difficulties as possible. The electoral convention consisted of factions from each of the six area governments with a total of fifty votes, and the Student Senate with a total of fifty votes. ln order to win the election in the convention, a candidate re- quired fifty-one votes fa majorityl. The convention eventually went to seven ballots over a period of six weeks, often without a quorum. Eventually the de- clared winners were Bob Dion and Don Bishop on the seventh ballot. Bob Dion was an election offical who participated in developing and officiating election rules, then resigned to run for presi- dentftrustee with Don Bishop, who had come in fourth in the popular elec- tion. The election is still in contention, with the Student Senate abolishing the electoral college and voting for the res- ignation of Dion and Bishop in the fall of 1978. But until that time, Dion and Bishop will act as S.G.A. co-presidents. - Herb Tyson OQOEWaltttaiciomssooowmiomssoso C.A.T.E. Last fall the Academic Affairs Com- mittee ofthe Student Senate published On the Other Hand , A Course and Teacher Evaluation Guide. The guide was put together from information provided by willing teachers, data from a teacher assessment questionnaire published in the Collegian, information derived from computer forms passed out at the end of each semester and, in several cases, the opinions of one stu- dent. Many students felt that the guide was well prepared and found it very useful. Others felt that the idea was basically a good one, but the guide itself could stand improvement. Teachers were quite varied in their opinions of the publication. Some felt it was well done and welcomed student evaluations, while others felt it was poorly researched and created an adversary relationship between teachers and students. The teachers who were displeased with the guide pointed out that some evaluations were made by one student, and resented the publication of their salary and tenure status. Several students felt that they have been evaluated by one teacher since time eternal, and that it was about time students got their chance. One student said, The guide tells it like it is. Teach- ers should be able to take some criti- cism. They certainly dish out their share. Former Provost Paul Puryear criti- cized the booklet in the Springfield Union. Puryear said he felt the booklet was incomplete and contained some unevenness in the format. Several teachers felt that the guide was used by students as a means to get back at teachers f.or past differences. These teachers felt that they could rec- ognize the personal style of the authors of some of the evaluations, and that these authors used the guide as a means of revenge. Also, many complaints were made about the graphics used in the guide. Some went so far as to say that the drawings were crude, racist, deroga- tory, and disgusting. Student Govern- ment Association co-President lon Hite apologized publicly in the Collegian to anyone who was offended by the graphics. joseph Connolly, the student in charge of the guide, apologized also and explained that the drawings were intended to satirize stereotypes, and not intended as stereotypes them- selves. So it has been established by stu- dents, faculty, and administrators alike that the first issue of On the Other Hand has many shortcomings, the most obvious of which is its incom- pleteness. Can the student publishers be blamed for this? The Student Senate sued the school for access to teacher evaluations under the Massachusetts freedom of informa- tion law. The information was not re- leased. Without the raw data it seemed impossible for anyone to put together a truly complete guide, but the students felt the idea was sound so they did the best they could with the information they had. Certainly they should not be criticized for incompleteness by the very administrators who withheld the information in the first place. As we have seen, the opinions on the guide are as varied as the students, fac- ulty, and administration themselves. One idea that seemed to hold up is that a course and teacher evaluation guide, written and published by the students and for the students is a good idea. lt reflects a progressive student attitude toward student-teacher relationships. The fact that many people were dis- pleased with the various aspects of the first issue of On the Other Hand be- comes almost irrelevant when viewed with respect to the potential of the guide. - leff R. Lambert

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Student Senate Speaker Brian DeLima was made a scapegoat I when he was found guilty by the Student judiciary on two charges fggff from his abuse of the senate phones to make seventy-three long- , T distance phone calls worth 5313 to his home state Hawaii. The charges were: misrepresenting the senate without prior consent of that group, and fradulently obtaining telephone ser- vice through unauthorized charging tothe account of another. On the witness stand DeLima was asked if he had prior con- sent for use of the phones for personal calls. At no time was the use of phones frowned upon, DeLima stated. ln fact it was sanctioned. Delima arranged to pay for the calls from his intersession salary as Senate Speaker. ooo DQIDim?QlOO0i?.EQlmSi,iEl-i OOOEEQESOOO UKAK re if .xx Q 'u N . REWEVWISEQ Protests were prevalent on campus this past spring. On the left students are shown prior to their April 8th occupation of Chancellor Bromery's office in Whit- more. ln all seventy-five students were in- volved with the seventeen hour takeover in protest of University housing policies. One of the other major groups of pro- testers was the faculty, shown here before their May 3rd picket of Whitmore. The faculty was protesting that they had not yet received the two and a half percent pay increase granted by the state to all state employees. The faculty protests did not end with the march on campus, how- ever, but continued into the month of june, when they did not release student's grades till the administration met their demands. - S W ll MOP Ufvltiss 4 M me ADMmH5TFlif Q' JN A ibrtrtgtlgfrixii If 1 Tami F l-My S li tbl? l f. Q aol'-axle lllfmul 23