McMurry University, The War Whoop (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 6, Ed. 1, Wednesday, December 5, 2001 Page: 1 of 4
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McMURRY UNivtRSlTY
The War Whoop
McM switches to block tuition
All full-time
students to pay
same flat rate
In Imiihii Snpp
Block tuition has
been approved and will be
in effect beginning next fall
It will only aflect those stu-
dents coming in under the
new catalog therefore cur-
rent students will continue
to pay per hour
The way block tu-
ition works is quite simple
McMurry sets a Hat rate for
tuition and fees The same
rate will be charged to all
full-time students who are
taking 12-18 hours
Teresa Csman
ice president tor financial
affairs stated Block tu-
ition has been approved but
the details are still in the pre-
liminary stages "
Ihese details are
Apartments still plagued with problems
In hul Gtn
It's early Decem-
ber and McMurry apartment
dwellers are still handing
out plenty ot complaints
about their increasingly
humble abodes
Previously doors
windows weather stripping
and sheet rock were the
main problems McMurry
students were experiencing
but recent events have
New yearbook staff at
work on backlog
1999-2000 Totem roughly one-third complete
In Kim Inhoti
A yearbook staff
has been put together to as-
semble the Totems for the
1 999-2000 2()()()-2()() I and
2001-2002 school years
Tor the past couple
ol years the Totem has had
problems in keeping a func-
tioning stall Last year the
yearbook staff had little stu-
dent interest so the work
that was done on the Totem
was tor the most part com-
pleted by members ot the
McMurry stall Since the
Totem had no staff to start
the school year the Totem
did not receive a budget al-
lotment tor student workers
McMurry Student
Government President Leah
Cameron approached Insti-
tutional Advancement with
regard to how MSG could
assist in getting the year-
books published Since no
student work budget had
been allotted to the Totem
McMurry Student Govern-
ment and the Office ot In-
stitutional Advancement
agreed to split the costs of
paying a hired staff and
completing the two books
1 he staff consists
of Gary Ellison (director of
university relations) who
will serve as the facultystaff
subject to change Csman
said Right now the tuition
fees for the new students
entering next fall will be set
at S 11.968 for the year This
includes a 5 increase and
is based upon an average of
16 hours per semester
Csman said "The
reasons for implementing
this new change in tuition
arc to present students and
parents with an all inclusive
package for marketing
easier verification of cost
and to help with budgeting "
Currently
McMurry budgets for tu-
ition and fees by making an
educated guess as to how
many hours the average stu-
dent takes This makes bud-
geting difficult because ol
the adding and dropping of
classes
There arc many
benefits that conic with
block tuition. Csman said
t or example it is hoped that
block tuition will promote
brought new doubts not only
about the apartments' lon-
gevity but also about their
health risks to students and
faculty alike In short sev-
eral ot the apartments liav e
sprung leaks and at least one
apartment is growing mold
Reportedly an
apartment on the east side
developed bubbles in some
of its sheet rock as a result
of water leaks and the prob-
lem threatened to cave m the
advisor and lour students
Leah Amos Krystal Kline
Joel Calk and Karla
Gaeblcr the acting editor
The Totem is working with
a staff of four to be as effi-
cient as possible
Editor Gaebler has
visited with the publisher
Taylor Publications and the
publisher's representative is
working with the staft to
help get the books out as
soon as possible
The stall is work-
ing to have the 1999-2000
yearbook which is the old-
est of the yearbooks com-
pleted first According to
Gaebler one hundred forty-
two out of the one hundred
The run of annual Totems has been halted for
the past two years. The newly appointed stall
hopes to remedy that situation soon
an increase in the number of
hours students take each se-
mester so that students will
graduate in four years
"We would like to
make graduating in four
years more of a norm here
at McMurry" Lsman said
Block tuition is
more economical and will
simplify the cost of educa-
tion As students take more
hours they will graduate in
tour years instead of five or
six
As Csman pointed
out it students graduate on
time then they will no longer
have to pay oft the cost ot
so many student loans and
they will save a lot of
money
A final benefit ot block tu-
ition is flexibility Students
w ill be able to add and drop
classes at no extra charge
They will be able to Like-
classes that they want to
take outside ol their major
at no extra charge as well
ceiling while m apartment
on the west side had mold
growing through the wall ot
a bathroom creating a seri-
ous health haard that is per-
ceived to be an unlaw ful liv-
ing condition within the
State of Texas
It appears that hu-
man error m communication
is the primacy cause ot the
See APARTMENTS
page 3
seventy-six pages ot this
yearbook have been com-
pleted The stall's goal is
to start work on the 2000-
2001 yearbook during
Spring Semester ol 2002.
and will start work on the
2001-2002 book when a sig-
nificant amount ol the 2000-
2001 yearbook has been
completed
"We're not prom-
ising to have the 200 1 -2002
yearbook done since we are
so far behind Right now
we are focusing on the
1999-2000 yearbook and
we'll take it from there"
said Cditor Karla Gaeblcr
II nbyT niTurnir
Snow Day!
A inter storm blankelted the campus
with snow I ist week causing the ad-
ministration to cancel classes on
Wcdnesdav and delay them until 10 10
am on 1 hursd ty Most students seemed
happy lorlhc- break and took advantage
ol the opportunities tor play In the
photo above Kris Knight does his im
personation ol the Abominable
Snow m in (actually he had been body-
sknng behind a pickup truck) In the
the photo at light Knstv White throws
snow into the air
Forum addresses
plus-minus grading
Statistical
models indicate
new system
neutral with
respect to GPA
In Kun 1 1 thou
McMiury Student
Government hosted a lot urn
Monday. November 19 in
response to lecenl student
discussion on the plus mi-
nus grading sy stein I acuity
members and members ol
the curriculum committee
addressed the new policy
and what its changes will
mean to the student bod)
Approximately "U)
students and laeulty at-
tended the loiimi I orum
speakers weie Dr Paul
Lack who addiessed the
background and instigation
ol the grading svsicm Dr
Joseph Christensen who
addressed the inalheinatic
ettects ol the grading sys-
tem and Dr Paul I abriio
and Dr Robert Mamies
who discussed how the
grading system would altect
grades transcripts and ad-
mission to graduate school
The torum was
being hosted in response to
concerns from the sopho-
more class senators who
lelt that the implementation
of the new guiding system
was unlair Recent com-
ments by the student body
had led the laeulty to re-
evaluate this policy
Accoiding to Vice
President Lack discussion
about the plus-minus grad-
ing system began two years
ago 1 he Curriculum Com
nuttee ot the laeulty. which
governs all ot the academic
activities ot the University
began to discuss the possi-
bility ol changing the grad-
ing sy stem to reeogiue plus
and minus grades At the
end of the 1999 2000 school
year the faculty voted to
pursue the plus-minus grad-
ing system A proposal
came out ol the Curriculum
Committee and was passed
by the laeulty at the end of
the 2000-2001 school year
I he laeulty smam
reason tor implementing the
new sy stem w as that the old
system was deemed impre-
cise I or example a student
earning an 88 in a class
would under the old sys-
tem earn the same as a stu-
dent earning an 8 1 in a class
Contrary to stu-
dent tears a model pro-
duced by Wake I orest Um-
versity Physician Rick
Matthew s supported the tact
th it the plus-minus grading
system would actually have
a positive impact on GPA's
At the beginning
ol the school year much
concern was voiced by the
students about the imple-
mentation ol the grading
system The argument had
been made that the imple-
mentation ot the grading
system was unfair as stu-
dents who came in under
one catalog should not have
been affected by a change to
llie new one A member ot
the sophomore class vocal-
ied her dissent to Lack and
asked about how the policy
11 tbvT il nur
II l It K (
might be changed
Upon hearing stu
dent opposition the Cui-
riculum Committee p ussed
a resolution which would
have grandfathered the plus
minus system beginning
with those coming in under
the current catalogue 1 he
resolution was debated at
the November 16 laeulty
meeting but the proposal
was defeated by an over-
whelming majority Thus
the plus-minus system is
now in effect lor all stu-
dents 'We recognie
now that our major error in
all ot this was the way in
which we communicated or
failed to communicate this
to the students" admitted
Lack 'We had very little
opinion discussion about
this last year and then when
you came back to school
this year it must have
seemed to you like an 'aha'
or a 'gotcha' or something
like that which was never
intended "
following Lack's
discussion Dr Christensen
presented a statistical analy-
sis ot the grading system
following the model devel-
oped at Wake Torcst Univer-
sity Christensen pointed
out forexjmiple that under
the ' B" range of the old
grading system grades in
the lower half (80-85) were
inflated whereas grades in
the upper hall (85-89) were
deflated
An observation of
the graphs composed by
See GRADING
page 2
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McMurry University, The War Whoop (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 6, Ed. 1, Wednesday, December 5, 2001, newspaper, December 5, 2001; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth104643/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.