CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, February 5, 1985
Page (
Hans-Peter Benohr, professor of law at the University of Vienna, says he is enjoying life at the University. Benohr arrived in America last week as part of an exchange program in which he and France Heller, KU law and political science professor, traded jobs for one semester.
Viennese visitor teaches law class
By ANN PETERSON Staff Reporter
This semester, students will have an opportunity to learn law from a European perspective from Hans-Peter Benohr, a professor from the University of Vienna, who arrived Jan. 28.
The law faculties at Vienna and at the University of Kansas last semester agreed to exchange professors for one semester, Al Johnson, associate dean of the school of law, said yesterday.
"It provides a cross-pollination of ideas and therefore broadens the student's education." Johnson said.
Francis Heller, KU law and political science professor, left for Vienna on Thursday. He will teach a class called Constitution and Politics in the United States, and will lecture in German.
Benohr is teaching Law 922: Comparative Law, and will concentrate on modern European law. James Rowles, professor of law, will teach the course with Benohr, focusing on Latin American law.
WHEN BENOHR ARRIVED at
KU, he and his family moved into Heller's home. Meanwhile, Heller and his wife are living in Benohr's flat in Vienna.
"Living in each other's homes is an extraordinary formula that saved us money and trouble." Benohr said. "Their things, including his car and dog,
"Up to now the exchange has
come perfectly. I hope Heller is
as happy as you are."
Benoir said he saw differences between the university of Vienna and at KU.
"In Vienna, there are thousands more law students and I taught a course with 600 students attending." "I was so much smaller and more personal."
Benohr said he also enjoyed teaching at KU because he could learn his student's names. In Vienna, he said, there are no class rosters.
THE EXCHANGE PROGRAM, Benohr said, lets him see how the U.S. legal system works. The program also provides him with an opportunity to observe the teaching methods of KU law professors.
Benohr said he was impressed with all the services offered at KU.
Credit option popular with students
By PATRICIA SKALLA
Students who don't want to worry about how a grade will affect their grade point averages have the next two weeks to choose to take the class for credit/no credit.
Staff Reporter
Students who opt to take classes for credit/no credit receive credit for letter grades of A. B or C and do not receive credit for letter grades of D
Gary Thompson, director of student records, said students could change their enrollment to credit/no credit in the third and fourth weeks of the semester, from now until Feb. 14. After that period, students cannot choose to receive credit/no credit or change again to receive a letter
Students who want to want to change their enrollment to credit/no credit for a class must fill out a card and go to the school in which the student is enrolled.
THE PURPOSE OF having credit/no credit enrollment three weeks into the semester is to allow students to get exposure to their classes, Thompson said. However, after the two-week enrollment period, the students "have to stand up to their decisions," he said.
Students are not allowed to alter their decisions because they had
Students can choose the credit/ no credit option for one class a semester that is not within their area of study. Students must also declare any number of credit hours, he said.
made "a contract with the University, in a sense," Thompson said.
TEACHERS TURN IN letter grades and the computer automatically changes them to either credit or no credit.
nrompson said teachers didn't know which students in their classes had elected to receive credit/no credit unless the students volunteered the information. Teachers are not told which students have enrolled for credit/no credit to avoid possible prejudice towards the students.
William Conboy, professor of communication studies, said he was impressed by the work of Ralph McGraw.
"It doesn't imping on how I teach the course or how I relate to the students."
Robert E. Anderson, associate professor of French, said he didn't oppose letting students choose whether to take classes credit/no didn't appreciate having students use it as an excuse to plead for a C.
Mark Dugan, Olathe junior, he took English 351, fiction writing, for credit/no credit because he was taking the class for fun.
but didn't regret taking the class for credit/ no credit.
"It's poor tactics," he said.
"IT NEVER PRESSURED me to do anything." Dugan said.
He said, "At the beginning of the semester, it seemed time- consuming and I didn't need it for my major. It seemed tough to get an A
He said he would have gotten a B.
The original idea for the credit/no credit system was to encourage students to become well-more rounded, Thompson said. If students excel in one field, they are not likely to take courses in another area of study, he said. The credit/no credit option allows students to take courses without having the grades affect their GPAs.
Thompson warned that although students might think taking a class for credit/no credit was an easy way to breeze through a class and keep up with GTAs, credit/no credit had its disadvantages as well as advantages.
"While the University recognizes credit as an honorable grade, there is more to real life than the University," he said.
He said some graduate schools, scholarship committees and honor societies decided that a credit was
equal to a C letter grade instead of an A or B, and a no credit was determined as failing one of a D.
"We can tell them how we interpret it, but that does not mean they have to." Thompson said.
Thompson also recalled the time that a senior chose to take a class for credit/no credit in his last semester. The student received a D in the class, and didn't get the credit he needed to graduate.
If the student had not elected to receive credit/no credit, he would have passed the course with a D and had have graduated, Thompson said.
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