The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, September 17, 1991 - Page 3
LSA Dept. issues
.guidelines for
take-home finals
Health leader
sees ill future
by Lynne Cohn
Daily Faculty Reporter
Beginning this term, take-home
finals will be more standardized
under a new set of guidelines issued
by the LSA Executive Committee.
Assistant Dean of LSA Eugene
Nissen said the guidelines are for
the benefit of the student as well as
the instructor.
"It is important that there be a
clear understanding of what is to be
expected," Nissen said.
The LSA take-home final guide-
lines include:
due date of the take-home fi-
nal should coincide with the sched-
uled exam date in the time schedule
with exceptions approved by the
Final Examination Committee;
possible penalties for late
take-home exams should be clearly
stated at the beginning of the
course;
* the instructor should specify
when the exam will be handed out
and where or to whom it must be re-
turned;
the amount of time expected
to complete the exam should be
clearly outlined, and;
rules on working with other
students should be defined, includ-
ing how much discussion is allowed
between students and to what ex-
tent students may work together.
Nissen said the number of in-
structors issuing take-home exams
has steadily increased during the
past few years as a result of time
constraints at the end of the
semester.
"Sometimes an instructor wants
to give an (in-class) essay test but
only has 72 hours in which to ade-
quately grade each final and com-
pute the course grade," he said.
"That takes an enormous amount of
time."
Professor Thomas Tentler, assis-
tant chair of the history department,
has issued take-home finals fre-
quently in the past. "I violate the
rules and give students the option of
the regular exam or the take-home,"
he said. "My fear is that students
won't finish them (in-class exams)
and we'll have incompletes - I do
it simply to avoid incompletes."
He added that it is "good to lay
down the rules," although he said he
has never questioned any students
about "handing in the same exam. I
don't much care if they discuss it."
'Sometimes an
instructor wants to
give an (in-class)
essay test but only
has 72 hours in which
to adequately grade
each final and
compute the course
grade. That takes an
enormous amount of
time'
-Eugene Nissen
LSA Assistant Dean
Nissen said possible sanctions if
the guidelines are not followed have
not yet been determined, although
students may always appeal a grade.
"Last year we had 35 (grade ap-
peals) that were brought to my at-
tention," he said. "It has been as
high as 72 four years ago, but the av-
erage is between 35 and 40."
Nissen said the guidelines might
reduce the number of grade appeals
since many appeals concern take-
home finals.
"They (appeal cases) are very
hard cases for the judiciary to sort
through," he said. "Generally a stu-
dent is not wrong if the teacher did
not give any idea of what is ex-
pected."
LSA senior Andi Janowicz said.
she usually plans in advance when an
instructor mentions a take-home
exam.
by Joshua Meckler
Reduced interest in biomedical
research by today's students could
lead to potentially disastrous conse-
quences for the United States in the
future, said Dr. Bernadine Healy, the
Director of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), yesterday.
"It poses a threat to the health
and economicwelfare of our soci-
ety," Healy told an audience of over
500 people at the University
Hospital's FordaAmphitheater.
Healy was the keynote speaker at
the Pursell Forum on Health, a se-
ries of lectures focusing on the
health industry and related topics.
U.S. Rep. Carl Pursell (R-Ann
Arbor), the sponsor of the forum, is
the ranking Republican on the sub-
committee which oversees appropri-
ations for the NIH. In the 1990 fis-
cal year, the University received
over 550 grants from the NIH for
about $103 million. -
Over the intermittent ring of
doctor's beepers, Healy described
several recent trends which she be-
lieves help explain the shrinking in-
terest in research.
Healy pointed to the biology
test scores of American high school
seniors which rank last in the
world. Also, over the last decade,
graduating high-school students
have turned from majoring in fields
such as biology and medicine to
business and the humanities, she
said.
Even those students who do go
to medical school are trained to be
doctors, not researchers. She said
part of the reason for this decline is
the enormous amount of money in
health care service.
"The medical schools have
moved more and more into the de-
livery of health care, reflecting the
money from this service," she said.
Healy also cited the rising cost
of medical school as a cause for the
drop in the number of students en-
tering research. Since eighty percent
of senior medical students are ex-
'The medical schools
have moved more and
more into the delivery
of health care,
reflecting the money
from this service'
- Dr. Bernadine Healy
pected to have loans this year aver-
aging $50,000, many opt for the,
higher paying job of a medical
physician to pay off these debts.
Healy suggested that the current
problem could be turned around by
explaining to the general public the
necessity and benefits of research.
In a press conference following
the speech, Healy was critical of re-
cent government audits of univer-
sity research grants.
"Institutions with the sharpest
pencils and most aggressive accoun-
tants can recover the most money in
this system. Let's correct the sys-
tem and not crucify the people who
have been lawfully recovering
funds," she said.
Java the Hut KIM
Stephen Burns serves Business School students Craig Ward and Amy
Bakus at the University Java Expresso Cart, the newest campus
innovation for students on the run.
Aquino calls for referendum on bases
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -
President Corazon Aquino vowed
yesterday to call a public referen-
dum and use "people power" to
overturn a Senate vote against re-
newing the lease for a big U.S. Navy
base.
Her action could delay a U.S.
withdrawal from the Subic Bay base
for months or even years. The base is
a major supply and repair station for
U.S. 7th Fleet ships in the western
Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
The current lease on the base ex-
pired yesterday.
The U.S. government had said the
Navy would begin leaving quickly
if the Senate rejected the treaty to
U.S. forces delay departure indefinitely
extend the lease for 10 years. But
U.S. officials said yesterday the de-
pature would be delayed to await
the referendum.
The White House praised Mrs.
Aquino. "We do appreciate her ef-
forts. She's trying to engender pub-
lic support for the treaty,"
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.
Mrs. Aquino's former allies in
the "people power revolution" that
put her in office pleaded withher to
accept the Senate's 12-11 vote to
close the base and end the U.S. mili-
tary presence in the Philippines af-
ter 93 years.
They said holding a public refer-
endum could undermine the demo-
cratic institutions she created after
replacing the ousted Ferdinand
Marcos in 1986. But Mrs. Aquino
would not back down on her plan to
let the voters decide the issue.
"The great majority of the
Filipino people still want the
Americans to continue to stay on,"
she said.
Most Filipinos are believed to
support keeping Subic Bay open, al-
though surveys also say about 25_
percent of the 61 million Filipinos
are unaware of the U.S. presence.
Opponents said they are not
against the United States, but view
U.S. military bases as an infringe-
ment on the Philippines'
sovereignty. They also complain the
treaty provided no firm aid guaran-
tees.
U.S. officials agreed earlier to
close four small bases, three of
which were handed over yesterday.
The Americans also decided to give
up Clark Air Base, 50 miles north of
Manila, because of damage caused by
Mount Pinatubo.
Fleming gunner gets
off on 1 of 3 charges
by Melissa Peerless
Daily Crime Reporter
Judge Ross Campbell of Washt-
enaw County Circuit Court agreed
yesterday to drop one of three
charges against Roger Guiles, a for-
mer University employee who
opened fire on the Fleming Admin-
istration Building at 2:30 a.m. April
19.
Campbell granted the defen-
dant's motion to dismiss the third
count of Use of a Firearm in the
Commission of a Felony.
Guiles will be tried on the re-
maining two charges- Discharging
a Firearm at an Occupied Building
and Damage to Real Property over
$100- next Friday.
Michael Stillwagon, Guiles' at-
torney, requested that the third
charge be dropped because the
Felony-Firearm charge applies only
'to cases in which the crime in ques-
tion could be committed with
weapons other than firearms.
Stillwagon said that since the
use of a firearm is implicit to the
Discharging a Firearm count, the
Felony-Firearm charge may not be
applied.
However, Washtenaw County
Prosecuting Attorney William
Delhey said the count of Felony-
Firearm should stand because it can
be applied to the Property Damage
charge.
In his request, Stillwagon also
said the mandatory two-year prison
term required of a defendant found
guilty of Felony-Firearm would be
detrimental to the health of his
client.
Guiles has been diagnosed with
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Fur-
thermore, a forensic psychiatry cen-
ter found that while Guiles is com-
petent to stand trial, he suffers
from a psychosis which is severe
enough to warrant a defense based
on impaired capacity.
Campbell decided to dismiss the
Felony-Firearm statute, explaining
that regardless of which charge it
was to be applied to, it was not ap-
propriate to include it in this case.
He added that the prosecutor meant
to use the extra charge to call for a
stricter sentence to be imposed upon
Guiles.
Guiles wrote for the University
Institute of Science and Technology
from 1979 to 1987. After a dispute
,over pay for a sick-leave period,
Guiles took out his frustrations
with University administrators by
showering the Fleming Building
with 19 shots from an M-14 semi-
automatic rifle.
Two security officers were in the
building at the time. Guiles dam-
aged windows, the front door and an
elevator. No one was injured.
He was apprehended by police
later shortly after the shooting
spree.
Soviet State Council makes plans to ease shortages, create union
MOSCOW (AP) - The Soviet
Union's interim ruling body
yesterday promised to develop an
immediate plan to ease looming
food shortages and opened talks on
a draft economic union treaty.
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev
led the discussion of the State
Council on a treaty to move the
country from central control to a
loose economic union of republics
in the wake of last month's failed
hard-line coup.
Leading economist Grigory
Yavlinsky, a key architect of the
plan, said an accord between the re-
publics above all would affirm the
"independence of all members of
this union," Tass reported.
He also predicted in an inter-
view with Soviet television that a
basic agreement could be ready for
signing in three weeks.
The participants said they
would issue a joint statement in
two or three days on a coordinated
policy by the republics on receiving
and distributing foreign aid to get
the country through the winter, the
Interfax news agency said.
The food situation is particu-
larly critical this year, with the
grain harvest expected to be
roughly 45 million tons smaller
than last year, according to U.S.
Department of Agriculture fig-
ures.
Close cooperation is needed for
securing urgently needed Western
food and financial aid.
. Yavlinsky said the draft eco-
nomic union treaty would give re-
publics the right to have their own
currency, but would require inter-
republican trade using the Soviet
ruble.
He underscored that the central
government must have power to
coordinate republics' budget poli-
cies to control spiraling internal
and external debts, which totaled
about $1.4 trillion at the official
exchange rate last June.
THE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
Meetings
Asian American Association, mass
mtg. Union, Pendleton Rm, 7 p.m.
Hindu Students Council, mass mtg.
Union, Pond Rm, 7 p.m.
Society of Physics Students, mass mtg.
337 W. Engineering. Call David at 995-
8741 for time.
Time and Relative Dimensions in
Medical School Practice Interviews,
CP&P, 9:10-11 a.m.
Writing Your Curriculum Vitae. CP&P
Program Rm, 12:10-1.
Interviewing. 1006 Dow, N. Campus,
4:10-5.
U-M Swim Club, Tuesday workout. IM
Pool, 5:30-7:30.
U-M Women's Lacrosse Club. Call
996-8591 for info.