Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 10, 1988 Page: 1 of 4
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TEXAS WESLEYAN
MAR 1 0 1988
Midterm deficiencies go wit amidst controversy
by Amy Palps Wall
Among ichool officials, faculty
and students, mid term deficiency
reports rarely spark controversy.
In recent weeks this topic has
stirred up a debate within TWC's
Academic and Faculty Councils.
Questions have surfaced concern-
ing the validity of these reports.
Several of the questions were
raised by Buddy Carter, Regis-
trar and Director of Placement.
Last semester, Carter ''inten-
tionally" did not send out de-
ficiency notices to see what the
response would be He did not
receive one negative phone call
or conversation; thus, he began
to question the validity of the
reports, whether they were doing
any service to the student
He reported to the Academic
Council his findings and gave
them time to think about the
future of mid-term deficiency re-
ports. He had points against
them, one being that students
&
Rambler
TEXAS WESLEYAN COLLEGE, FORT WORTH, TEXAS
"Representing All — Obligated to None."
.S',.
&
Ss
VOl. 63 —No. 15
Thursday, March 10, 1988
ELIZABETH "Mama" Biggs retired frm Mama's Pina on 3130 E. Resedale last Friday. The 73 year old
pizza matron worked for Mama's for 17 years. Photo by Jorry B. Mahle
Ad Campaigns students win contest
by Amy Paige Wolf
Got a problem that might need
legal intervention, but you can’t
afford the court costs? Try Dis-
pute Resolutions Services of Tar-
rant County, a non-profit organ-
ization designed to take the
burden off the courts.
According to Roberta Wolff,
Executive Director of DRS, “Dis-
pute Resolutions Service is an
incredibly useful and valuable"
tool to settle disputes without
the intervention of the law. The
service is free because it is sub-
sidized by court costs
Until a few weeks ago, this
service was little known in the
area except to a group of TWC
students who were developing
the service's advertising cam-
paign.
Dr. Sandra Hart's Advertising
Campaigns class repeated last
year's 9-1-1 advertising campaign
success by being awarded $1,000
for devising a public relations
plan to make DRS more visible
in Tarrant County. Only this time,
the students were different.
The Second Vice President and
Chair of Public Information for
DRS, Jim Adkinson, was behind
the "whole shebang." The Hu-
man Resource consultant who is
a non-paid volunteer for DRS
has worked with TWC before,
teaming with Dr. Alta Dollar to
design a career planning work-
shop and home review for stu-
dents preparing for the re-
sources test. He presented the
idea of using an advertising class
to the DRS board and got the
money to finance the project.
Starting last September, the
advertising campaigns class di-
vided into four groups to devel-
op original and individual cam-
paigns to present to the Board
of Directors at DRS.
With an advertising budget of
$5,000, the five groups competed
against one another, developing
logos and other advertising tools
to appeal to their respective
target markets.
One group chose the low-in-
come black market as their tar-
get audience. They developed
an original and creative twist
to their marketing techniques,
Quadrangle bids for
Mortar Board status
by Susan Morriman
The prestige of Quadrangle,
Texas Wesleyan's Senior Honor
Society may soon be enhanced
with another prestigious honor
— affiliation with Mortar Board,
a national honor society. The
lengthy application is due for
completion by April 15. Once
the Mortar Board foundation re-
views it, a representative will be
sent to inspect the chapter and
the school in order to make the
final decision.
Ralph Adkins, President and
coordinator of the endeavor,
feels “very optimistic" about the
application process. Five years
ago, Quadrangle's request for
Mortar Board status was denied.
Adkins explains, "In 1983 we
were rejected because of the or-
ganization's programming. The
application requires information
about the programs that the or-
ganization has participated in
within the past five years. Pre-
viously, all Quadrangle did was
hold the awards banquet. In the
(Continued on Page 3)
developing a rap video, plus
changing the somewhat compli-
cated name of Dispute Resolu-
tions Services to “i 2 i." They
even created t-shirt designs.
Group member Susan Merri-
man was pleased with the out-
come of their proposal. “I think
we were the most original," she
said.
Tracy Pinkerton was a mem-
ber of the group that targeted
small business as its market.
They developed a professional
logo and concentrated on bro-
chures.
Shelley Henderson and Becki
Ward’s group developed bus
bench ads focusing on the bi-
lingual market.
Classmate Keith Kamer head-
ed a group that targeted the
low-income market with multi-
media campaigns involving vi-
deos, posters and an identifiable
logo.
The students conducted hours
of research on their target mar-
kets and the various tools of
advertising to create effective
campaigns that remained within
the $5,000 parameters.
The groups presented their
individual campaigns to Wolff
last semester. She, in turn, pre-
sented them to the DRS Board
of Directors. Not until the Feb.
22 reception in the board room
did the students know they were
in competition with Texas Chris-
tian University and the Univer-
sity of Texas at Arlington.
According to Wolff, TWC was
the “hands down winner." She
said that the students had kept
the small budget in mind, devel-
oping creative ideas and solu-
tions.
Instead of choosing one parti-
cular group’s ideas overall, DRS
chose bits of each presentation
(Continued on Page 2)
are aware If they are doing poor-
ly in a class or not. He stated
that the process of sending out
deficiencies to the students' home
addresses could be eliminated if
the professor went directly to
the student and made the stu-
dent aware of his/her poor per-
formance. This action would pro-
mote the personal touch of Wes-
leyan. Another argument Carter
presented involved the 25-30 per-
ctnt of teachers who do not ad-
here to the present policy of
sending out deficiencies.
According to Carter, a student
may receive a deficiency in one
class and not in another where
the student is doing poorly,
creating a "false hope.”
“This is very misleading to
the student," explained Carter.
"Yet, there's no enforceable way
to make professors adhere to
the policy."
Several faculty and staff mem-
bers countered naming documen-
tation and legal issues as fac-
tors.
Debbie Guffy, Assistant Dean
of Students, supports sending
deficiency notices.
“I think some people need to
see it in black and white,” said
Guffy. “It provides a real tan-
gible way for students to tell
how they are doing.”
Guffy also cited retention as
a consideration.
“A lot of times we don’t know
someone needs help until it’s too
late," explained Guffy. She add-
ed that deficiency notices are an
early warning sign as to who
will last and who will not, and
that the notices can make help
available to a struggling student
early on.
Carter became curious as to
how students regarded mid-term
deficiency notices.
"I’m more interested in the
students’ perspective than mine,”
said Carter. “Those are the im-
portant ones . . . it’s what the
students’ feel that matters.”
Carter enlisted SGA President
John Casey to represent the stu-
dents. After asking questions of
students, Casey found that many
students would prefer the pro-
fessor personally come to them
and discuss performance. Acting
on behalf of the students, Casey
went before the council with his
findings.
“In students' beliefs, students
who are failing, in all but the
rarest occasion know they are
doing so and should take the
responsibility to act,” said Casey.
“In that all but rare occasion
that a student is unknowingly
failing, they need the professor
to point out to them and act as
teachers, and in the sense that
the word 'teacher' implies."
Casey supported Carter's con-
tention that this process would
also uphold the "personal touch"
of Wesleyan.
“It is the responsibility of a
faculty member to confront a
student personally,” said Casey.
"It is part of the Wesleyan in-
dividuality. It is personal atten-
tion. It is efficient.”
Casey contended that mid-term
deficiencies were of little valid-
ity since the report is sent to
the students’ current address in
hopes that the parent will see
it and put pressure on the stu-
dent to do better.
Speaking as the student body
president, Casey sees a “regret-
table lack of commitment of the
faculty to carry out the personal
touch Wesleyan speaks so high-
ly about.
“I know this does not apply to
all faculty members. Those who
are interested are roally inter-
ested.”
Speaking as an individual stu-
dent, Casey felt that sending out
of deficiencies is a “half a--
blackmail attempt . .. that is ter-
ribly underhanded, in my opin-
ion, and insulting to the stu-
dent’s intelligence.”
If deficiencies were not sent
out, the school would save about
$200 in postage, not counting the
amount for materials, machine
costs, envelopes and labor.
Regardless, the councils ruled
to continue with the mid-term
deficiency policy for this year.
In the future there could be
some changes.
One suggestion was to send
mid-term grades to freshman
and sophomores only. Casey be-
lieves this idea has some validity,
because freshman and first-year
sophomores might need the “ex-
tra prod" to act.
Another suggestion and hope
of Carter’s is to create a
department that would receive
the deficiencies and act as ad-
visors to help the students bring
up their grades. Funding does
not allow that presently, yet it
would be a hope for the future.
“If we’re going to send out
mid-term grades, I want them to
be meaningful,” said Carter, who
wants the office so that students
can get personal time and car-
ing.
“I know that we've got the
caring," said Carter. ”... If it’s
only five students a year that
we help . . . they would ap-
preciate someone to care."
»ho Advertising Campaigns class display places of
Mialr award-winning, p,o|.c». (From laft) Dr. J#rry B.wc,m, Dr.
.H*rt’ B**ki W*rd’ Sh*lly Handarson, Roberta Wolff (of
DRS), Susan Morriman, Jim Adkinson (of DRS), Tracy Pinkerton
and Keith Karner.
Photo by Reggio Woods
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Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 10, 1988, newspaper, March 10, 1988; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth643264/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.