The Michigan Doily-Thursday, February 1, 1979-Page 7 CLB reviews course evaluation guidelines Carter administration considers Heat hCare By JOHN SINKEVICS Student evaluations of courses and professors is an issue which has cap- tured the attention of students and faculty members at the University for several years, and two major questions now face administrators and depar- tment heads: * Should results of all course evaluations be released for perusal by the student body? * Should these results be used by departments in their assessment of a teacher's abilities as a criterion for promotion or tenure approval? These questions were raised at last Thursday's Civil Liberties Board (CLB) meeting where members attem- pted to pinpoint a specific direction for the group's involvement in the course evaluations issue. 'U' prof. studies ape language .(Continued from Page 1) A baboon vocalization is a grunt-like sound which can vary in the number of sound units, intensity, and rate of deliv- ery, according to Gilmore. "ANIMALS VARY the mode of per- formance according to who they are addressing and the situation. It's (vocalization) used by older animals to interact with younger ones, especially, infants, or mothers with infants," he stated. Gilmore said a comparable feature has been found in human language by socio-linguists who say that humans vary the level and mode of language depending on the age and status of the person to whom they are speaking. "Since human language is at its essence composed of units of sound which can be arranged and rearranged to give sounds different meanings, it is fascinating to discover that, to a limited extent, animals are capable of doing a similar thing. "THIS BY NO means suggests that baboons have language capacity equal to that of humans, but it does demon- strate that the gap between human language and animal vocal com- munication is not as wide as was once thought," remarked Gilmore, who is the first primate behavior specialist in the University anthropology depar- tment. Gilmore said he thinks animals can only communicate about themselves, and cannot'commiunicate about the ex- ternal world. As the fifth researcher at the Gilgil project, Gilmore kept detailed records of births, deaths, copulations, and fights, which were kept for later com- puter analysis. LIFE IN GILGIL was dictated by the animals' routine. Gilmore said he usually observed the baboons from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then transcribed his taped notes in the afternoon. Gilmore became an anthropologist after working for eight years as a high Yschool humanities department chair- man. In 1970, at age 30, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, with Dr. Robert Harding as his mentor. "Ultimately, as an anthropologist, I want to figure out what neW perspec- tives this (research) sheds on the evolution of humans."~ WITH THE Gilgil project under his belt, Gilmore is presently conducting two research projects in primatology. The first tries to analyze the functions of the vocalization made by the female baboon in a mating context. The second project is an attempt to trace the evolution of a behavior found in baboons and macaques, "agonistic buffering." This behavior occurs during a tense situation. A male picks up an infant and holds it to prevent a second male from attacking him, even though there is potential injury to the infant. REA OR SKI SPRING BREAK DAYTONA BEACH FLORIDA only * 890 " 6 davs/5 nights at the Plaza Hotel . Stay on the beach on the "Daytona Strip" " Free tennis and Olympic size pool " Disney World option available. WINTER PARK COLORADO only *13900 . 6 Days/5 Nights in luxurious condominiums . 3 days lift tickets " 3 days ski rental Call Toll Free for Reservations 1Rafl25flA.2 PROF. JAMES Duderstadt, an assistant to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs and head of a special committee which has investigated the course evaluations issue, asked the CLB to set up some evaluations guidelines and said that any proposal which the CLB decides to endorse in this regard should be brief and general. "The guidelines which have been brought forward are still too complex," he stated. "I think if they were brought up for a vote before the Senate Assem- bly tright now, I don't think they would pass." A preliminary set of guidelines was approved by the CLB last year - a three-page document which recom- mended that all teachers should submit to some form of evaluation - but Duderstadt said that this document contained too many details which could be attacked by faculty members and administrators. Instead, he said the guidelines should be vague enough to pass on principle. CLB MEMBERS agreed to tackle the question again and Chairman Milton Heumann has now formed -a special course evaluations committee to look into problems and solutions. CLB members agreed that two Civil Liberties issues are involved. One con- cerns students' rights to know the results of evaluations in which they have participated, and the other con- cerns the professors' rights to not have their courses evaluated by students. School of Social Work Professor Sallie Churchill, a member of CLB, said that although she is in favor of student course evaluations, she would like to see students sign their evaluations before they hand them in. "THERE IS no accountability on the part of the students for what they say about a professor," she stated. "If a professor's promotion or tenure is to be considered in part because of these evaluations, a student should be willing to take the responsibility for saying what he does." "It's different when I grade a student," she continued. "I'm damned by confidentiality and I have to account somewhere for that grade." In an attempt to get more teachers to ,release evaluation results, the Student Counseling Office (SCO) worked exten- sively with the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) as as part of a special Course Evaluations Project (CEP) last term. The CRLT is now providing an evaluations service in which teachers can select certain questions for their course evaluation sheets from which computerized results can be obtained. In addition, a block of eight questions was placed on the teachers' selection sheet, which would allow results to be forwarded to the SCO for student perusal. Individual professors are given the choice of selecting this set of questions or ignoring them in favor of others. JAMES KULIK, associate director of CRLT, said that out of 1,600 courses that were evaluated last term, only 80 teachers elected to send the bloc of eight questions to the SCO. "It's actually a pretty good response. It's the first term we've done this and there really hasn't been that much publicity concerning if," he explained. "Also, most teachers didn't have any say in the matter - some departments have a policy of not releasing this in- formation." However, Barbara Roberts, an SCO coordinator who was directly involved in last term's CEP, said she is disen- chanted with the prospects for a University-wide release of course evaluations to the students at large. The SCO has a long history of problems in trying to get departments to release such information to the office, and she said that until she heard yesterday that 80 teachers had agreed to release their course evaluation results to the SCO, she had assumed that the whole project had been scrapped. "I don't know if we really want to get involved with this thing again," she said. "We wasted a lot of time and good people with this last term, and we can't afford to give them up again.' Roberts said, however, that the SCO may still assist in the project, if MSA will agree to coordinate it. She said coordinators will be meeting with MSA representatives next week. (Continued from Page 1) and a special rate negotiation board made up of.providers, consumers and insurance companies. The government also would establish a special re-insurance program to un- derwrite all catastrophic health costs so no individual or company could be bankrupted by huge, unanticipated costs. TO FINANCE the plan, employers would pay a minimum of 75 per cent of ,the premium for each employee, and the premiums would be paid either to HealthCare or a federally-approved private insurance company competing with the government for the employer's business. The one per cent payroll tax that now helps pay for Medicare would be transferred to HealthCare. The poor, unemployed, uninsurable, and elderly would be guaranteed in- surance through HealthCare, even if they couldn't afford to pay a premium, and the cost of that coverage would be paid from general tax funds. The plan doesn't carry a specific price tag, and much still depends on how it would be implemented, but earlier government estimates for a similar program said it would take "a rough minimum" of $40 billion in new money to pay for the proposed system. The nation's first accident insurance company was formed in 1850. The first company specifically organized to write health insurance was founded in 1847. Mental Health Research Institute 205 Washtenaw Place SEMINAR-=Brain Catacholaminef & Sexual Behaviour "A new perspective on sexual dimorphism & brain function" Speaker: ANTHONY R. CAGGIUOA from University of Pittsburgh Thursday, Feb. 1I at 3:45 pm ROOM 1057 TEA at 3.,15 I . Mountaineering #1. eir- ---i ?7 T What is mountaineering all about?Funy you should ask. Because we just happen to have an answer. (Ah-h, life's little coincidences.) Mountaineering is a skill, a science and an art. Yet anyone wth a thirst for excellence and normally developed moor stkills can master it. Simply study these damentals and follow them faithfuy -1 -~ '/-I - f. " 1 r " ~appropri- """. kyhr' . ately enough, 0 hr hefnb 111 sztarnts hv selet- gins.- . Hjt -okaythere's tai Vtw '4 .,9 ..ig the correct site. To do so, pick up . a bottle of Busch. This is commonly called heading for the mountains. 3Now for the 3 tricky part. Neophytes, listen up: the proper pour. is straight down o the center of the glass. Only in thi& way will the cold, invigo-o rating taste of o 0 the mountain come to a head. -.?.I" " - firmly in your left hand, grasp the mountain , top with your right hand and twist t the little fella off CC ' .There you o. Once poured, pacing becomes paramount. As any seasoned " mountaineer will tell you, the only way to down a mountain is slowly, smoothly and steadily - savoring every swallow of the brew that is Busch. If you're a bit awkward at first, don't be -. discouraged. Perfection takes practice. Soon enough, having " emptied your gl s and filled your soul you too will be a . t mountaineer * - IFPI g1Before DurigAfter Fig" 1 ountaineering. g.A Mountaineering. !. ountaineering .... V ;i": . : t , j, } tK'. _ i