12C - Wednesday, September 5, 2001- New Student Edition - The Michigan Daily
RC school changes
old ways, starts
with letter grades
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Students aid key to the success of the Detroit Project
By Sarah Scott
Daily Staff Reporter
Nothing lasts forever, and neither
does a long-standing tradition within
theResidential College designed to
discourage competitiveness among
students and encourage improve-
ment and learning. Beginning this
fall and for the first time since it
was formed more than 35 years ago,
the RC will give students letter
grades along with their written eval-
uAtions for their RC classes, with
few exceptions.
Not affected by the new policy are
classes under the RC foreign lan-
guage program - intensive classes
in Russian, Spanish, French, Ger-
man and Latin. The classes - which
require students to take 8 credits
worth of a language for two semes-
ters - are designed differently from
other classes. Because the classes
are intensive and because students
are expected to learn many different
things. in a short amount of time,
students pass to the next level based
oi end-of-the-semester performance
as opposed to the average perfor-
mance.
The new policy only applies to
this year's freshman class and subse-
quent classes.
Several factors contributed to the
policy changes, said Thomas
Weiskopf, director of the RC.
"We were getting an increasing
number of requests for GPAs for RC
students and while, in the past, we
,coUld provide an estimate, we could
not provide an official GPA," he
said.
The change also follows the rec-
ommendation of an external review
committee that analyzed the college
a few years ago and recommended
the RC offer grades as well as writ-
ten evaluations.
The decision to implement letter
grades has not been without contro-
versy. To gather input the RC creat-
ed the RC Working Group on
Evaluations and Grades, {mss
which has been working on
this issuecfor the last year
and will continue to workr xbz ~
through next year R 4 1
"Our concern is that the -. '
RC philosophy of education
may be adversely affected
by the introduction of letter"
grades," Weiskopf said,
adding, "this has been a
very controversial matter
since it began to be dis- MF:
cussed a few years ago and
opinions remain divided on. . .
the wisdom of the move."
Warren Hecht, Assistant
Director for Academic Ser-
vices for the RC and headT
of the creative writing pro-
gram, has been teaching in'
the RC for more than 30 y aye
years and has yet to give a R
student a letter grade
"It's something I've been
thinking about a lot," hef
said, "how to put a letter
grade on a creative writing
paper. One of the purposes '
of grading simply by writ-F
ten evaluation is that it'
makes the classes non-com-
petitive. Perhaps receiving K
grades will put students in ..
a more competitive frame
of mind."
Hecht adde d he feels FILE PHOTO
rades will ive the RC a Renovations and a change of policy will give East Quad and the Residential College a new look
different atmosphere. "I'm and feel in the coming academic year.
sure the students will do very well, covered on tests in graded courses. RC junior Luke Carmichael said
but it won't be the same for those of "I was never a big fan of grades or he disagrees because he believes the
us who continue to remember." tests because it just shows how good changes are for the better. He said
RC students also remain divided someone is at memorizing things he believes the written evaluations,
as to whether or not letter grades and regurgitating it back to the when coupled with letter grades,
have a place in the RC. teacher; so, when I saw that the RC would provide more information
RC junior Gia Jones disagrees did evaluations instead of grades I about a student and that grades
with the new policy implementing jumped at the chance to finally be in might encourage competitiveness
grades. "I actually wouldn't have an educational situation where I between students, causing them to
even applied to U of M if there was- would be expected to actually learn learn more.
n't a program like the RC," she said. and gain more knowledge to merge Carmichael also said the imple-
Jones said receiving a written with what I already knew," she said. mentation of grades could mean RC
evaluation pushed her to learn more Even though Jones will not classes would be less likely to be
than just the questions that are receive grades, she said she still treated as "blow-offs."
By Hanma LoPatin
Daily Staff Reporter
Fifteen-year-old Tenicia Tramble, a
resident of Brightmoor, a community in
the northwestern section of Detroit, was
the only volunteer to race against four
male students from the University of
Michigan during a potato sack race at
Warren G. Harding Elementary school.
Tenicia, whose pigtails barely
reached the hips of her opponents, was
participating in a field day, one of the
more than 60 activities that made up the
Detroit Project -the largest communi-
ty service endeavor at the University.
An estimated 1,400 students partici-
pated all-day Saturday in an array of
community service projects in the city
including painting a mural, picking up
trash, demolishing vacant buildings and
running the field day for neighborhood
kids.
"I was anxious," said Tenicia, who
remained smiling and giggling as she
hopped around in a dirtied pillow case
even though she was edged out by one
of the men.
"They care," Tenicia said of the vol-
unteers, adding that she was apprecia-
tive of the effort.
Across the street from the school, a
24-year-old man who prefers to be
known as "D" and his friends Elroy
Jackson and Shawn Johnson watched
the army of University students parade
through the neighborhood on their way
to other varied activities.
"D" is a construction worker who
lives in Southfield, but he grew up in
the Brightmoor neighborhood.
He said he appreciated the effort of
the students to help clean things up.
"Y'all need the experience part of
this," he said. "The only thing that we're
negative about, is that we had some out
siders come in, instead of the communi-
ty getting together."
Jackson, the only one of his friends
to remain in Brightmoor, said it's possi-
ble to move out of poverty. "You got to
want to do something. You got to want
to get out of here."
But if the Detroit Project works, chil-
dren like 11-year-old Terri Mitchell
won't have to leave the neighborhood
that she loves in order to fulfill her
dream of becoming a professional
singer.
Detroit Project Executive Director
Katie Foley, an LSA senior, said Saturi
day's activities seemed to push the city
in the direction of changing itself.
Foley, who said she spends a lot o
time in the area, said she and othei.
community members noticed an unusu?
ally large number of people cleaning up
outside their houses while volunteers
planted hundreds of trees alongside the
street.
"A big goal was empowering the
community," Foley said. "You could tell
there was a difference in the number of
people working outside their homes."
LSA freshman Alana Aaron said sh
was drawn to the Detroit Project by the
fact that it held low commitment, but
high results.
"I think a lot can be done in one day'
she said. "In one day there's going to be
more than 200 more trees on this block.
These kids are going to remember one
day with us. One day is better than no
days.
Aaron's favorite moment was talking
to a mother as she watched her son
plant a flower near the school. Aaror
said the mother was moved, saying
"That is the nicest thing he's done in his'
entire life. This must be a good day."
I
2
5
5
7
r
I U
feels slighted by the change. "[The
change] says to me that because the
school I'm in is so small, it doesn't
matter, and even though its set-up
works well for me and my learning
style and maximizes the intellectual
gain I get from attending this uni-
versity, it still doesn't matter. It's
like the RC was a square peg and its
ends were rounded out so it could fit
in a circular hole."
Although she said both policies
have advantages and disadvantages,
RC sophomore Sarah Nisbett agrees
with Carmichael.
Nisbett said she believes that plac-
ing grades and evaluations together
create a better system than just
receiving grades or just receiving
evaluations.
"I wish we had that for our class,"
she said. "I feel like we missed out."
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Engineering freshman Matt Gessford picks up branches at the Detroit Project.
U,
gets money for
breast cancer study,
Classroom notetakers for hearing impaired
students. Use MAC or IBM laptop provided by
.Services for Students with Disabilities. Must
type 80 words per minute. $12.00/hour,
Contact Joan E. Smith at 763-1083 or
jonism@umich.edu.
EVERYBODY'S DOING IT.
NO, NOT THE LOCOMOTION.
READING THE DAILY.
YOU SHOULD TOO.
By Kelly Trahan
Daily StaffReporter
The University is $1.75 million rich-
er, thanks to the National Cancer Insti-
tute, which donated the money for a
national study on breast cancer treat-
ment options.
Dr. Steven Katz, associate professor
of internal medicine and health man-
agement policy, and his research
S I
team at the University will be the
principle investigators in the study. It
will expand on a pilot study conduct-,
ed by the University and the Barbara-
Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute ii Y
Detroit.
The pilot study indicated that diag
nosed cancer patients may not always
be fully informed of the treatment
options available to them.
"Results of the previous study sug
gests women weren't fully informe
about the risks and benefits of treat-
ment options," Katz said.
Results of the pilot study indicated
52 percent of all participants chose a
mastectomy - or the removal of the-
breast, as opposed to only the tumor;
as treatment.
However, only a quarter of partici
pants knew that their chance of sur
vival was the same whether the*
chose a mastectomy or lumpectomy
because of the early stage of their dis-
ease. A quarter of them thought a,
mastectomy gave them a better
chance of survival
Dr. Kendra Schwartz of Wayne
State University will be a co-investi-'
gator in the study. "There seems to
be some geographic variation in the
care of women with early stage breast-
cancer," Schwartz said.
"Women in some parts of the counW
try more often choose a radical mas-.".
tectomy and in other parts choose a
lumpectomy as treatment even though
survival rates in the early stages are
shown to be the same," she said.
"We are trying to find out why this
difference occurs and whether all
women in all geographic regions are
adequately informed," she added.
Co-investigator, Dr. Nancy Janz, a
associate professor in the School of
Public Health, said the purpose of the
study is to understand how involved
patients are in the decision making
process and whether they are given
the opportunity to be involved.
"We also want to know the extent
Welcome Week at
U of M Hillel
The Center for Jewish Life...and much more
Welcome to Michigan Shabbat
Friday, August 31, 7:00 pm at Hillel.
Start the semester with a home cooked Shabbat dinner. For all new students,
your meal plan will cover half the cost of the meal, and we'll pick up the
rest. Reform, Conservative, Humanistic, and Orthodox services precede the
meal. Reservations preferred by 5 pm the day before.
Havdalah and Stucchi's
Saturday, September 1, 8:30 pm at Hillel.
Celebrate the end of Shabbat with a creative Havdalah service. We will then
walk to Stucchi's, one of Ann Arbor's hot spots, some of the best ice
cream in town.
Bagel Brunch
Sunday, September 2, 11:30 am in the Green Lounge, East Quad.
Enjoy a free bagel brunch and find out about Hille, the Center for Jewish
Life and the second largest student programming organization on campus.
Meet other first year students and learn about the many activities Hillel has
to offer.
Snacks and Schmooze
Monday, September 3, 7:00 pm at Alice Lloyd Hall.
A great opportunity to meet other first year students, ask questions of upper
class students, and of course, snack on lots of food.
Hillel Open House
Wednesday, September 5, 8:00-10:00 pm at Hillel.
Check out the incredible variety of Jewish life on campus. This is a chance
to learn more about the 25 illel-affiliated student groups, to meet new