1997-10-09

              •..THE BIGGER THE COMMUNITY, THE FULLER IT IS OF MISFORTUNES.

P.O. Box 1866

Saint John's University

Collegevitle, MN 56321

The Record

Non-profit organization

US Postage paid

Saint John's University

Volume CX, Number IX

Official Student Newspaper Since 1887

October 9, 1997

CSB president shares personal history, vision

Lyons aims to increase endowment, strengthen coordinate relationship

By Jennifer Winkels

Staff Writer

A crowd of over thirty students, faculty and religious community members met at O'Connell's last Tuesday to learn more about CSB president Dr. Mary Lyons. This event served as a forum for students to ask questions and hear the history and vision behind their school's leader.

Dr. Mary Lyons spoke informally of her past with the audience. She started her presentation with stories of her grandmother, who, in spite of her sad childhood as an orphan and child laborer, grew up to push the cultural limits imposed on her gender. Lyons proudly displayed a picture of her grandmother on a motorcycle in 1911 — not a widely accepted mode of transportation for women at the turn of the century. Lyons also explained her mother's impact on her life, describing how she was an example of courage, perseverance and free spirit.

Lyons graduated from high school in California and decided to become a member of a monastic community. While in the monastery, Lyons taught high school. Five years later she left the monastery and became a navy officer. During her active duty she taught English to minority sailors.

After attending graduate school, Lyons taught for ten years at the University of California Berkeley's

graduate school of theology. Soon after attaining the title of academic dean at the school, Lyons became the first woman president of California I Maritime Academy. Six years later Lyons re- ; ceived a call about the opening of the \ president's posi-tion at CSB. After Some trepidation about CSB's location               in Minnesota's cold climate, Lyons said once she arrived on campus she "fell in love" with it.

Lyons shared her vision for the future of CSB. She j emphasized  the ; need             for i

fundraising toac- i complish.     the goals and objectives of the institution. Lyons ar- 1 ticulated her hope I to raise the level LyOns describes the impact of her grandmother on her life.

CSB so that women of all economic backgrounds have the opportunity to attend.

Lyons also described her ideas of the growing relationship of CSB with the monastic community. She felt that developing and maintaining ties with the sisters iscrucial to CSB's success. Lyons stated: "I am convinced that one of the reasons this college is so, so successful has a lot to do not so much with what the sisters did but what the sisters can do now with us — not for us, but with us."

Lyons also spoke on the relationship between St. Ben's and St. John's. "What we're doing with our  two  institu-

of endowment for

(photo by Reggie Aligada)

tions, I think, is vital. Maybe less by design than by sheer coincidence and circumstance, we're learning how to negotiate as men and women together on a common project with a vision. The great wonder of this place— the great challenge of this place is how to use the best of what we both have as individual species [men and women] in our resources and create something tremendous together."

The presentation concluded with a question and answer period. Lyons commented further on the character of our college as sustained by Benedictine values. She addressed the "college" status of CSB and the possibility of the institution attaining a graduate school curriculum and a university status. She stressed the goal of CSB education to teach students to adjust and adapt to life's challenges:"Pm really comfortable with ambiguity, that's part of my rhetorical training and as a liberally educated woman I hope by the time you finish here, you too will be comfortable with ambiguity. If you leave here rigid, we haven't done a good job because that's what's so rich about a place like this — is being able to navigate and maneuver through all kinds of situations that are not always clear.**

Lyon's presentation was sponsored by the Saint Ben's senate.

Plagiarism policy goes to Faculty Assembly Students allocate funds

to bring back Koestner

SAASV proposal provokes SJS questions

By Rebecca L. Johnson Staff Writer

On Sunday, the St. John's senate approved a new set of guidelines for the plagiarism policy. Last spring, the St. Ben's senate passed a similar set of guidelines. The Committee on Academic Policies and Standards (CAPS) reviewed them on Tuesday night and will be forwarding them to the Faculty Assembly for approval.

The St. John's senate did not approve plagiarism guidelines last spring because there was no inclusion of a peer appeals process in the tentative policy and the consequences were too strict.

"The SJS believed that the policy didn't give enough leniency — meaning that the restrictions were too restrictive and harsh," said SJS Joint Academic  Board  co-chair  Gabe

Alisna.  "It didn't give students the benefit of the doubt."

New guidelines were written and introduced to the senate by Alisna. The guidelines would allow professors to deal with cases of proven plagiarism on a case-by-case basis. Specifically, a studentproven to have committed plagiarism may fail the class in which the offense occurred, or have the penalty reduced by the involved professor. Subsequent offenses would result in meetings with the academic dean of the student's respective college and possible suspension or expulsion.

"The first time is a warning, the second time is a problem and the third time you really get serious," Alisna said.

All cases of proven plagiarism will result in a signed agreement that is kept in a closed file until two years

after the student's graduation both in case post-graduate programs want access to the information and also to protect the college against lawsuits contesting, grades, according to Alisna. The St. John's senate had passed a formal amendment to the policy stating that the file would be destroyed upon graduation, but that cannot be done, according to state law.

"The CAPS committee was happy with the work on our part (the SJS). It came down to the fact that if the SJS didn't pass it, even without student approval it would have to go on to the Faculty Assembly without (St. John's) student approval," Alisna said.

Alisna stresses the importance of having a plagiarism policy in place at the colleges.

See PLAGIARISM Page 5

By Rebecca L. Johnson and Sarah Brouillard Staff writers

Student Advocates Against Sexual Violence (SAASV) has received funding to bring Katie Koestner, a nationally known speaker on date rape, back to SJU and CSB on November 6.

Last spring, Koestner spoke to a large audience of both men and women about her personal experiences and the validity of date rape as a crime. With the recent co-funding board's approval of $1150 from each senate, this November she will be returning with friend Brett Sokolow to address issues of sexual violence.

Both Koestner and Sokolow are members of Outreach Services, a group that visits campuses to educate on the prevention of sexual assaults and to facilitate communication between students on issues that specifically affect them in their campus setting. In the program, Koestner presents on her date rape experience as a freshman in college and Sokolow focuses on the development of college administrative policies for sexual assault victims.

The itinerary for Koestner's November presentation is comprised of several programs spanning two days. On Thursday, November 6, Koestner and Sokolow will meet privately with

See SAASV Page 3

Arson inflames St.

Joe citizens

Page 5

Howe-Veenstra

wins #300

Page 19