-THE RECORD-
-Page 3-
Psych moves
Now id's an exact science
By Vince King
Behavioral psychologists say that one's environment plays a great part in determining one's mood. If this is the case, the psychology department should be very happy among the more exact sciences in the Science Hall.
The department, previously housed on the second floor of St. Luke's Hall, moved itself (white mice and all) to the basement recesses of the Science Hall during the frosty days of January, while many students from the two colleges braved the 70-degree temperatures of Phoenix or risked life and limb in the Rockies.
Dr. Gordon Henley, chairman of the psychology department, said that the move was necessary. "Our old quarters were quite inadequate in terms of both office and laboratory space," he said. "Things on second Luke became even more crowded when we added two new members to the department last fall."
In addition to a lack of office space, the department suffered from space restrictions in its lab facilities, which until the move were located on the third floor of the Quadrangle. According to Henley, the old lab facilities did not render themselves to the type of research the department's faculty and students wished to carry out. "This was especially true with regard to the conduct of experiments with animals, an essential
part of psychological research," Henley said.
Henley added that so far, the psychology department finds its new quarters in the Science Hall basement more than satisfactory, and expects to remain there permanently. Plans are currently being made to equip advanced lab facilities in the new location. The department will then engage in research activity with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation.
The relocation of the psychology department is only the first of a number of changes planned by the University under a major renovation program adopted by the Board of Regents. The program, which follows the recommendations of a study conducted in 1976 by a Massachusetts planning firm, Dober & Associates, calls for a major face-lifting of St. John's physical plant. Projects for the University under the Dober plan include the renovation and remodeling of the Quadrangle, St. Thomas Hall, and the Auditorium, the construction of a "mall link" building, and the creation of a center for Instructional Media.
The psychology department move was placed high on Dober's list of priorities, according to Henley. "We were fortunate in being recognized as the department in the greatest need of more space," he said.
RA applications being taken
Spring is the time for medical school rejections, unrequited affections, SEC elections, and RA selections.
Applications for resident assistant positions for next year are now being accepted from freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. An application form may be obtained from LeeAnn Teske in the Center for Student Development (Q154). It must be filled out and returned by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3.
Specific qualifications for being an RA are: the applicant must be a full-time resident student at St. John's during both the fall and the spring semesters; he must qualify for a work award from the Office of Financial Aid; he
must be willing to accept the terms of the RA contract; and he must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5 during his time of employment. New resident assistants are also required to attend a helping skills workshop held during the last week of August.
Applicants will be interviewed by members of the residency program staff later in the semester. After clearance from the financial aid office, the selected applicants will be given a contract to sign before summer vacation begins.
RA's are paid according to various scales which differ from dorm to dorm. RA's on freshman floors receive slightly higher compensation for their work than do those on upperclassmen floors.
None of the above
By Steve Dennis
With this issue, the Record officially begins its ninety-first year as a student publication.
Begun by Fr. Chrysostom Schreiner in 1887 as both a school and alumni newspaper, the Record appeared for the first time on January 27, 1888. It was printed during its first year by the St. Cloud Daily Times. The following year, however, the school purchased its own press and the newspaper has been printed here ever since (except between the years of 1974 and 1976 when Community became the official publication of the St. John's administration).
Early Records contained news notes about students, news from alumni, editorials, articles, literary essays, current affairs and book reviews.
The next issue of the Record will be devoted, in part, to the
history of student publication at St. John's. ***********
Tuesday is election day in Collegeville. Students will be voting to fill the sixteen positions of the Student Executive Council for the 1978 term.
Year after year, an enthusiastic and ambitious council is elected and, year after year, students are promised that their voices will be heard and their rights defended. This year is no different. But even as the campaign rhetoric is still echoing through the pines and the poster tape still clings to the walls, the spirit of the election seeps into the crawl space beneath Tommy Hall and is never seen or heard again.
Council members discover right away that their job is to perform a service for the student body (and for the administration). They discover that they must stew over budgets, allocation requests, presidential and vice-presidential memos and parking tickets. They discover that, amid all the paper work and red tape, the rights and needs of students must fall by the wayside.
Consequently, some members become so bewildered that they quit before half their term is completed. Many recent councils have been so resignation ridden that constant special elections have been necessary to keep the committees filled.
The basic problem with the SEC is that members cannot see that, by the very nature of their constitution, they serve merely an administrative function. The SEC does not concern itself with student's rights because it simply does not have the time. Its main function is to see that things run smoothly. ************
One of the first things that the new SEC should do to help reverse the present situation is to move out of the Student Affairs Office. Student government belongs out among the students. Meetings should be held in visible areas. If students don't attend SEC meetings, the meetings should be brought back to the students.
The new SEC must also realize that its real power lies not in its committees, but with the students. The collective expression of students is the most powerful and most influential tool available to any student government. Recently, at the University of North Dakota, students protested the soaring prices of textbooks in the university bookstore. The protest was made, not by one or two students on behalf of many, but by many students on behalf of themselves. It was organized by the student government but was carried out by throngs of students who had a cause. The president of the University responded to this power by ordering cuts in textbook prices.
