. 7W - - C - I- ~ ~: * . . .~ LSA Journal November. 1986 4 ALTERNATIVE DEGREES SAFEWALK by Gregg Graver You sent out all your applications, hassled with your transcripts, fought with your parents as to where you are going to spend the next four years of your life and figured out how to pay for it all. Well, you thought the worst is now behind you, right? Wrong. Now you are here... at the University of Michigan. Of course it's the Harvard of the mid-west, of course Michigan football is some of the best in the country, of course you party hard, but you also study hard. Yes folks. that's why we're all here. But have you sat down and thought about your degree? Maybe you have and maybe you haven't. If you have then I hope you looked at all your alternatives before you signed on the dotted line of that ever-present declaration of major form. If you haven't then keep reading because you have some options you might not know about. The I.C.P: Commonly referred to ICP, the independent concentration program allows the motivated student to create and name his own major. An ICP allows a student who has fulfilled all of his distribution requirements to pick and choose those courses he is most interested in and at the same time gain a valuable liberal arts education. While there are dozens of official majors, some students feel that they want more than the standard B.A or B.S degrees have ,to offer. Don't get carried away yet, the ICP is not a free for all, each student's program must be submitted to the College of LS&A for final approval. It is more than likely that if a student prepares a well rounded and reasonable program it will be acceptable. The B.G.S: The bachelor of general studies, commonly referred to as the BGS, allows the well motivated-student to set up his own course of study without filling the standard distribution. But in most cases the student can't help but fill the most immediate distribution requirements. The BGS degree is only as good as the courses a student elects to take, a student who opts for the BGS as an escape route from the distribution requirements is only hurting himself and fooling no one. There are only a few requirements of the BGS candidate: he must complete sixty credits of upper- level course-work; he must take no more than twenty credits in any one department (of course a student may take more than twenty, but only twenty in any single department will count towards graduation); and finally the student must fulfill the junior-senior writing requirement. There are some vicious and unfounded rumors about the BGS floating around the better rest- rooms of Ann Arbor. All of these are unfounded. Contrary to popular rumor: you can get into grad school with a BGS degree, many students do each year; you can get into even the top professional schools; you can get a job with a big city firm; and most of all you can get a well rounded and well structured education and set the whole thing up yourself. So now it doesn't look all that hopeless does it? Wake up, the time to think about this stuff is now! Ask your friends what they're doing, go to a professor you are impressed with, go to the counseling center, go to career planning and placement.... it's never too early to worry about your future. by Kevin Fox This year a new program called Safewalk is being offered as an alternative to walking home alone. This new program which is offered to all university students has been organized by student groups, university services, and community interests. Saftwalk is a program which has been instituted in other universities around the country. Last year, the idea for such a program came out of MSA's Women's issues Committee and PIRGIM. They decided to initiate a pilot program for students walking to and from Helen Newberry House and Betsy Barbour. Michelle Missaghich was appointed to coordinate the program. It was a success and was then adopted on a campus wide scale. Safewalk is a volunteer, student run program. It is composed of a body of approximately one hundred, which includes two student coordinators, Julie Steiner, the head of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, and Vern Bayson, from the Department of Public Safety and Security. Safewalk is run out of room 102 in the UGLI. Any student may call at 936-1000 (off campus), 6-1000 (on campus) or go to the UGLi. They will be accompanied. by a team of walkers, either coed or two females, who will show the walkee their special Safewalk I.D. cards. If these cards are not shown, it is the responsibility of the walkee to request to see these cards. The walkers will accompany students anywhere on campus within a 20 minute walking range of the UGLI. It operates Sunday - Thursday from 8:00p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Safewalk has been in operation for about five weeks now and has had excellent results. It has accompanied over 150 students to their destinations and has already expanded. Safewalk started with issuing two teams an hour. In the future, Safewalk hopes to create another base of operations as well as incorporate the use of walkie-talkies to enhance communication with the base. In the far future, Safewalk coordinators hope to work with the nite owl bus service in walking students from the drop-off points to their homes. Safewalk is run through the help of volunteers who are asked to donate a minimum of two hours a week. It is sponsored by PIRGIM, MSA, the Department of Public Safety and Security, Housing Security, The Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, the UGLi and University Celler. Anyone wishing any further information or who would like to donate their time are asked to get in touch with the Safewalk Program in the library or Julie Steiner at 763-5865. The Voice of LSA Student Government :. LS&A STUDENT GOVERNMENT by Betsy Drilling & Michelle Tear LSA Student Government (LSA- SG) is comprised of 17 students who are elected each November. One of our functions is to allocate funds to various student groups for events which promote LSA student interest. These events are educational forums. This is not, however, the only function of LSA- SG. Each year we hold an essay contest which is designed to generate student input and interest. There is prize moiney for both under and upper- classmen. LSA-SG succeeded in placing a student on the TA training board. This was significant in that there had never been a student allowed on this board in the past and it showed that student participation in the process of TA approval is indeed vital. LSA- SG is also responsible for placing students on committees such as Academic Judiciary, Admissions, Curriculum, and the Joint-Student Faculty Policy Committee. We are also responsible for the graduation ceremonies for the individual majors in the college of LSA. Currently, LSA-SG is planning a forum, in conjunction with Career Planning & Placement, on the options available to an LSA student who is not geared toward professional school. This forum will be of interest to all LSA students, regardless of class status because it may introduce previously unknown fields of interest to the liberal arts student. ,Our main function is to advocate student interests to the administration. In the past, we have met with the Executive Committee (the governing body of LSA) to discuss student needs. Right now, LSA-SG is looking for suggestions from students as to what problems are, if any, and if they feel there is a certain area or vroblem which LSA-SG should address. Please give us your input; we have much power and money to get things done! SUGGESTIONS TO LSA-SG: Please drop this off at the LSA-SG office 4003 Michigan UnionI RESOURCES AT YOUR, FINGERTIPS by Michael Nelson Many students at this university-- both freshpersons and others--are not aware of all of the resources on our campus. Indeed, most all know of the computing centers (e.g. NUBS & the Union) on campus, and of the Campus Information Center (CIC), but that's not all. Some resources that seem to take people the longest to discover are those of the thorough university library system. With our twenty (20) libraries, the university library system offers a great variety of resources for the more than thirty-eight thousand (38,000) students at the Ann Arbor campus. The libraries are located throughout the campus: e.g. in the Frieze Bldg., on Beal Street (north campus), on South University, and on E. Catherine St. Our libraries are some of the most respected in the country and have collections devoted to such topics as art and architecture, physics and astronomy, law, music and social work. STAN "THE. MAN" KAPLAN by Bill Goldberg Many LSA juniors and seniors are at the point in their college careers when they must begin to prepare for graduate school. Standardized placement tests are at the heart of this preparation and there are several methods of studying for these exams. Some students prefer to study on their own while others turn to the Stanley Kaplan Educational Center for assistance in their preparation Kaplan Centers across the country offer classes for the LSAT, MCAT, GMAT and GRE. Most of these tests are given twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall. The fee for the Kaplan Services which include classroom work, study guides, and practice tests is substantial, but most students feel that it is money well spent. One LSA junior who just finished his MCAT's said, "The course was expensive and studying was a nightmare but I couldn't have learned what I did without Stanley." For more information on the Stanley Kaplan Educational Center in Ann Arbor, call 662-3149. Perhaps t libraries on Hatcher Gra Undergradua Hatcher Grad as "the grad' former "Mic library is on country wit structure and The Gradua resources, requests. S reading room essay topics; for those pu the like; and displays som collections n "Michigan". huge chambe more referen probable care The Und similar resot "the UGLI", the undergra Undergradua such as: lo who frequen group discus students in I projects; anc the status of The Reserve whereby prc are in muchn They can onl few hours at more avails Undergradua an area fo machines a establishmen realized by Government. Both libra service for st a book that i book is retur and it is hel The aforeme are not the c Grad" or "th the most outs The impc remember is are on camp are at our attention. paper or stu the libraries Other lib special featur information, prepared of and locations HOPWOOD AWARDS by Howard Solomon The Avery Hopwood Award came to being under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 at the University of Michigan. According to the terms of Hopwood's bequest, the regents are endowed to award annual prizes under the Hopwood name to University of Michigan Students who perform the best creative work in the fields of dramatic writing, fiction, poetry, and essay. The awards are classified as major awards, open to graduate students and seniors, and minor awards, open to undergraduates. Monday, February 2,1987 is the last day to order, transcripts from the transcript office. Manuscripts are due in the Hopwood Room, Tuesday, February 10, 1987 . Announcement of awards will be made April 15, 1987 at the Rackham Lecture Hall. In addition to the major and minor Hopwood contest, there are numerous other contests also sponsored under the Hopwood name. The Roy W. Cowder Memorial Fellowship is an award made on the basis of demonstrated writing and financial need. Awards"rangefrom $250 to $1000, and are presented at the Hopwood underclassmen awards ceremony in January. The Kasdun Scholarship in creative writing is a tuition award of up to $1500 made on the basis of financial need and promise in the writing of screen plays, drama, or fiction. The Arthur Miller Award of the University of Michigan Club of New York Scholarship Fund is open to sophomores and Juniors who have demonstrated writing talents in the areas of drama, screen play, fiction or poetry. The Jeffrey Weisberg Memorial Prize in freshman poetry is awarded for best poems submitted by freshmen. Amy questions regarding rules of eligibility, preparation of manuscripts, or regulations for 1986-87 Hopwood awards can be made in the Hopwood Room, Angell Hall. PRE-REGISTR- ATION by Robin Goldstein Waiting on endless lines to crisp, suffering the endless trauma of DROP/ADD, and worst of taking a class because others were closed, these are all the problems that plague the University of Michigan Class Registration Procedure. Realizing these serious drawbacks, the LS &A Student Government spoke with various deans and professors in an attempt to change the system. What we proposed was a method of pre-registration. Under a system of pre-registration the students would fill out a form selectingthe class they would like to take the following semester. In addition to selection of class they would also choose times they wanted in a preferential order. These forms would be sent back to the University and processed by computers. Then the students would receive their schedules in the mail along with a specific time and day in which they would be able to drop and add if necessary. Although this general idea would reduce the chaos and time spent in C.R.I.S.P. lines, students would still be closed out of classes. Unfortunately for the students the only way to solve this problem is to hire more T.A.'s and professors to-teach the popular classes-- a step that this University does not seem willing to take. Instead of allocating some funds directly to the student's education, by opening more classes, they are spending money on a new Chemistry Building, more copying machines, and more computers. It is difficult to understand why at such a well respected university, several hundreds of students should be excluded from different classes each term.