Advocacy Teaching Central to Pearson Controversy
Editor's Note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series of stories examining the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program and the controversy surrounding it.
By LINDA CHAPUT
AND
ANN MCFERREN
Kansan Staff Writers
Controversy over the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program (PIHP) appeared tied to the issue.
Dennis Quinn, John Senior and Franklin Nelick, founders of and teachers in the program, believe strongly in the existence of a positive school communicating that belief to their students.
This is one reason that the program has become the focus of heated debate in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The College Assembly now is voting by mail ballot to decide whether to allow the program to substitute for normal freshman
and sophomore requirements, and whether to establish an advisory committee for the
Some critics of the program argue that students are not allowed to form their own concepts of truth. Instead, they say, truths must be upon the student by advocacy teaching.
Some critics say that advocacy within the program creates a religious environment and sets a dangerous precedent in a state-supported university.
OTHER SAY that the program has not been properly evaluated and should not be continued until it is. The professors' students also have drawn apre attacks.
According to James Seaver, professor of history and director of Western Civilization, PHP does not allow students the freedom of choice.
"I find myself in very strong
philosophical opposition to the program;" he said at a summary meeting of the College.
"Advocacy teaching is a form of indecision, or if you want to call it much, better."
According to Don Brownstein, professor of philosophy, advocacy teaching does have its virtues.
"Advocacy teaching is not necessarily all bad," he said. "Juniors and seniors who have already received other points of feedback should be subject to advocacy teaching."
ACCORDING TO Walter Crockett, professor of psychology and chairman of the Educational Policies and Procedures Committee (EPPC) which investigated the effects of different training and mentions for the program are difficult to make because of the program's single view
of truth, a view unchallenged within the program.
There is a danger, he said, "that such an emphasis for so many contact hours on one view, to the near exclusion of its contrary, will be more liberally educated men and women."
According to Senior, the attacks about indoctrination and narrowness are false. "We do not teach a narrow, sectarian view; it is not ideological or political," he said.
"But I have decided to vote in favor of the program," he said, "because I think it provides freshmen and sophomores at the University of Kansas with their only means of access to anything like an intellectual community."
"Just as professors have the right to teach the truth as they see it, so does the student have the right to learn the truth as he sees it."
STUDENTS IN PHIP deny that they have been indoctrinated. Of 368 students in the program, 205 recently signed a petition in support of the program.
"PHIP has shown as much respect for personal freedom and intellectual independence as any course I have taken," the petition states.
The petition also states, "Efforts to protect freshmen against brainwashing are needed."
"They are, in effect, a form of censorship that shows contempt for underclassmen."
Some faculty members say they question the possible implications of censoring a professor because of his view of truth. Such accusations have also been academic freedom at the University, they say.
According to Delbert Shankel, acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and chairman of the assembly, all members of the senior faculty have the
freedom to choose their own teaching methods and texts.
"It has always been the prerogative of the individual senior faculty member to decide what his own program will be." Chancellor Thomas A. Sullivan said criticism goes along with that freedom. "
IN RESPONSE to attacks, Quinn said,
"The ideological argument, whether used to
hire or fire faculty or to retain, reject or
not be eligible for the degree, is not
illegitimate; it is reprehensible.
"This argument declares that the desirability of academic programs is to be decided on the approval or disapproval of a teacher's philosophy and beliefs of the teachers involved.
"We are happy to debate publicly the value of our approach. We are delighted to consider with peers the relative merits of educational ideas of pragmatists or tran-
See PEARSON Page 10
CLOUDY
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
83rd Year, No. 106
Thursday, March 8, 1973
Officer Candidates For Junior Class Interviewed
See Story Page 5
Employees of the Casson Construction Company were attempting to pull down a tree in front of Wescoe Hall, when it felt the wrong
Kansan Photo by JIM THOMAS
direction onto the boardwalk. No one was injured, but Traffic and Security officers kept people off the boardwalk to prevent further damage. The accident occurred about 2 p.m. Wednesday. The damage was repaired by evening.
Mathematics Chairman Resigns Over Affirmative Action Adoption
By ERIC MEYER Kansan Staff Writer
Paul S. Mostert, professor of mathematics, has resigned as chairman of the mathematics department because, he said, he could "under no circumstances adhere to some of the policies established in the Affirmative Action Plan."
"I consider the publication of the so-called Affirmative Action Plan as 'accepted' by you to also be my resignation as chairman of the department of mathematics." Mostest wrote Chancellor Raymond Nichols in a letter dated March 1.
Second, Mostert said, the plan was "reverse discriminatory."
First, he said, the plan should have been submitted to the Faculty Senate for approval because it dealt with academic affairs.
Copies of Moster's letter to Nichols were sent to the Kanan and other Lawrence families.
"I don't believe a person's sex or race has anything to do with his selection for faculty or committee positions. I'm against discrimination either for or against a person, especially in academies where race could have no possible importance."
Mostert said that his convictions about discrimination forced him to resign rather than enforce what he regarded as discriminatory regulations.
"1OBJECT to singling out any group on a non-academic basis," he said. "The A-affirmative Action Plan singles out four or four priority groups for preferential treatment."
"I've fought for non-discrimination all of my life," he said. "I'm not going to turn around and see it initiated in favor of the groups I've been fighting for."
Mostert said he would never write to
people applying for a job and ask them what their sex and race were.
"The plan has been officially adopted by the University," Nichols said Wednesday night. "I expect all faculty members to submit their disagreements with the plan.
However, Nichols said Mostert's letter of resignation was the only criticant or of support for the king.
MOSTERT SAID there were “a great many other faculty members who feel the
"He (Mester) is entitled to his statement. Anyone who cannot accept the plan should not be involved in the administration. I admit the plan isn't perfect and doesn't work with everyone's approval, but were all withholding to do what we can for civil rights."
Mostert had submitted a list of objections to the proposed Affirmative Action Plan last October and had drafted an alternative "Equal Opportunity Policy Statement."
Mostert's resignation became effective March 1.
Enrollment Fee Loss Cuts Budget Outlays
BY CAROLYN OLSON Kansan Staff Writer
A deficit of $39,552 in anticipated student enrollment fees collected for the 1972-73 school year will result in a decrease in expenditures from the general University budget, Keith Nitcher, vice chairwoman of business affairs, said Wednesday.
In budget revisions made last October because of a decrease in the projected enrollment at KU, Nitcher estimated that $8,909,994 would be collected for the fall and $7,265,134 would be fees. He said that $8,887,903 was collected, however, creating an excess of $7,109,994.
Nichler said a deficiency was created when $3,603,863 instead of the estimated $3,661,324 was collected for the spring and left a deficit of $57,461 in the spring total.
Nicher said the totals for the fall and spring semesters were combined to create the $35,525 deficit from the amount of fees expected for the academic year.
"The deficit won't affect the budget operation substantially" "Nitcher said." But it does.
Nitcher said the financial severity of the decrease in anticipated enrollment might be lessened by the payment of approximately $20,000 in June from a reciprocity agreement established in 1965 at universities and the University of Missouri.
UNDER THE RECIPROCITY agreement, some Missouri residents aren't charged out-of-state tuition if they pursue a certain field of study at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University or Wichita State University.
Some Kansas residents aren't charged out-of-state tuition if they pursue a certain degree.
Nitcher said that in the past more Missourians than Kansans had used the reciprocity agreement and, therefore, he did not feel it was a difference between the two enrollments.
Nitcher said he "wam't too concerned" about the deficit because the $20,000 could be absorbed somewhere in the budget to make it balance by the end of the fiscal
He said the major budget cuts would be
made in supply orders for various departments.
"IF A DEPARTMENT already had orderment, then we will go ahead and accept it, but some future orders will have to be cancelled." Nitcher said.
He said other savings could be made in the area of replacement of classified or civil buildings.
"Many times a position will go unfulfil for a few days, then a week and finally a month," Nichter said. "So we just won't hire someone to take the position or we will hire someone for a smaller salary and we will make up some money that way."
Nitcher said that if substantial savings couldn't be made by decreasing supply orders or cutting back on salaries, he would send funds from the travel or hospitality accounts.
He said the travel account was used by faculty and staff members to attend national meetings or conferences and was used in the fields of application and availability of funds.
Under the reciprocity agreement, Missouri residents can waive payout-of-state tuition if they pursue an architecture degree at KU, according to Nitcher. Kansans can attend University of Missouri in Forestry, forestry wildlife management and mining engineering courses and will be charmed resident fees. Nitcher said.
Nichter said the hospitality fund was used by University personnel when taking off of clothes or preparing to go out.
The KU registrar's office reported that 174 Missouri residents attended KU last fall under the reciprocity agreements and 163 were enrolled this semester.
The MU registrar's office refused to release statistics on the total number of Kansas residents attending that university under the reciprocity agreement until next week. In the fall of 1971, a total of 173 Kansas residents attended MU, and 171 attended MU in the spring semester, according to the MU registrar's office.
Rv The Associated Press
80 Returning POWs Grateful for Release
Eighty more freed prisoners of war arrived in the United States Wednesday, this time taking an express route that connected New York to Texas and country and reunions with their loved ones.
Four huge Operation Homecoming jets travelled up to 11,000 miles from Clark Air Base in the Philippines to carry their passengers, still savoring the taste of freedom, to bases in Maryland, Texas, California and Illinois.
CROW EXPRESSED thanks to "our God, our commander-in-chief, our families and all the people of this wonderful, wonderful world," he wrote. "We have worked so hard to bring us home."
At each of the bases, the former POWs expressed thanks at being once again on American soil and gratitude to President Nixon for having engineered the peace.
"my motto was 'Unity Before Self,'" said Air Force Cold. Frederick A. Crow Jr. at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside of Washington D.C. "our objective to
return with honor. We have accomplished our task."
Crow, of Gloucester, Mass., acted as spokesman for the 21 POWs to arrive at Andrews. Following the pattern at the other bases, some men were checked into a bunker at the base, and others were flown to military hospitals elsewhere in the region.
"Through our long years of imprisonment our faith in God, our country, our President and our families now remains," said Air Force Col. Gordon "Swede" Larsen at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas. Larsen, of San Antonio, would not down over North Vietnam in May of 1967.
Buckley Strives to Revive Senate
By DWIGHT DEAY
Kansan Staff Writer
Although there is only one team of candidates running for president and vice president of the student body, in many ways it has become a crucial in the history of the Student Senate.
Running unopposed, presidential candidate Mert Buckley, Wichita junior, and vice president candidate Nancy Archer, Anamossa, Iowa, junior, are confronting the fundamental issue of whether or not the presidential candidate can be revived from its apathetic state.
Neil Shortlidge, Chicago senior and Buckley's campaign manager, said Tuesday the purpose of the campaign was to make students aware of government by making students aware of the important and beneficial services the senate provided for the University com-
One goal is to educate and promote student understanding, interest and participation in the Student Senate, Shortledge said.
BUCKLEY AND ARCHER have
repeated the need for such
literary governance, the responsibility
of senate committees and changes they propose to revive the senate.
The candidates also intend to accomplish a university-wide educational goal by
Mert Bucklev
continuing a vigorous schedule of speeches and discussions with all living groups on
By providing a short history of the senate and informing groups of $400,000 the senate annually allots student organizations, which respond to a large response to their discussions.
Specific instructions to each of the six senate committees are a part of the program Buckley and Archer are describing to living groups.
"THE SENATE committees are the core of the Student Senate and in the past they have not adequately done their job," Buckley said.
To insure execution of the recommendations by the respective committees, Buckley and Archer plan to initially keep in place the personnel and armies and to scrutinize their activities.
"Once we give the committee members concrete activities to participate in, everyone will see that the groups can function effectively and they will be em-
Buckley said that he was confident the new programs would be successful and that
See BUCKLEY Story Next Page
"There are a number of groups such as the Kansas, sports and the concert series."
couraged to continue their efforts," Buckley said.
Although he says he favors reducing the activity fee, Buckley is definitely opposed to it.
"Many people were upset last year when the activity fee was temporarily raised to $28," Buckley said. "But now I sense that some individuals feel that this level should be increased." She continued upward spiral of activity fees the budget must be reduced now."
BUCKLEY SAID he planned to eradicate this waste by directing the Finance and Auditing Committee to prepare a budget for it, and the student's activity fee from $28 to $4.
Buckley and Archer have devoted special attention to the Finance and Auditing Departments. They said he thought that in the past large amounts of money had been spent needlessly for activities and groups which required government expenditures to senate bylaws governing expenditures.
At Scott Air Force Base in central Illinois, Air Force Col. James H. Kasler, of Indianapolis, said the POWs had received "the greatest show of affection and love known to any returning serviceman" and were proud of their support of President尼克·unswerwingly."
Navy Capt. Ernest M. Moore, who spoke for the 20 men arriving at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco, pronounced "Mr. Moore" after down six years ago next Sunday, and the
See 80 Page 5
Questionnaires Due Today
Student Senate candidates are requested to return completed candidate questionnaires to the University Daily Kansan newsroom in 112 Flint Hall on noon today.
All 192 candidates have been asked to answer a set of questions concerning issues involving the Student Senate. The answers are available in the Kansas pewpedia.
The Kansan will compile a table indicating each candidate's position on issues in the questionnaire for publication before senate elections March 14 and 15.