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.