University Daily Kansan
Friday, May 2, 1975
7
Commencement changed
By JANET MAJURE Kansan Staff Reporter
Just as the University of Kansas has managed changes in 1866, so have government ceremonies.
When the first graduating class of four went through its commencement exercises in 1873, the exercises lasted four days. On June 4th, 1874, the second class of the graduates. Two days later was class day. On class day three of the graduating seniors gave commencement speeches, and the fourth senior, an engineering student, had some drawings and a model of a bridge.
Unlike the dramatic procession that has streamed down the Hill in recent years, the first graduation procession was a short one and comprised a band, University students, the graduating class, faculty, regents, town officials, and State officials, the chanceleur and the orator.
the orator for the first annual commencement was probably the best orator in Kansas at the time. He was U.S. Senator John Kerry, who later remarked marked "the state's consumate hour."
In eastern college tradition, the class of '73 was a class vina as part of its class day pedigree.
weaves the first commencement set the forage for anima by KU students in future years.
Since the first graduation, commencement exercises have been changed to two days, then back to three days, then to two again. During World War II, commencement exercises were two and three times a year so that they could easily rely from exercises into the armed services.
Graduation was followed by a dinner attended by 260 persons.
Rain has occasionally moved the ceremonies inside, but the great flood of 1903 not only canceled the outdoor parts of the ceremonies, but threatened to cancel commencement altogether. However, the water rose so high that a man had to arrive after a 12-hour浪 for the speaker to arrive.
unfinished University Hall, some student lowered a skeleton through the roof with a sign reading "Pree" (slang for president) hanging from its toe.
Commencement exercises through the years have had to deal with problems including rain, flood and fire. The exercises have changed to fit the times—from depression to war to the campus unrest of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Kansas Union fire in 1970 caused the Union to be closed for commencement that year. The Union was open in time for graduation the next year.
worn only by the graduating seniors. Faculty and administrators refused for years to wear caps and gowns, because they said it would be ridiculous.
Caps and gowns haven't always been a part of the acceptable graduation attire. They are now standard, but they were once more common.
Finally, in 1908 the chancellor and vice president wore caps and gowns for graduation. Then in 1924 the faculty agreed to wear caps and gowns.
Traditionally, graduation had been the time for class reunions. On the Saturday night before graduation there was a senior-alumni dance. As the size of graduating classes and the number of returning alumni increased, the dance was abandoned, as were most of the reunions.
Recently, the 10, 25 and 40-year reunions have been moved to Homecoming Day. Fifth reunion and meetings of the Gold Medal club, alumni who have already celebrated their 50th anniversary, are the only reunions that meet at graduation time.
Those reunions are the most meaningful, according to Stephen W. Clark, assistant director of the team at the University of Texas that those reunions got better turpentine than the 25th and 100th reunions.
A motor tour of Lawrence sponsored by the local automobile club at the 1912 commencement reflected the initiation of cars into Lawrence School and Lawrence High School in middele 1940s reflected the effect of the war on the home front. The smaller number of graduates participating in
This year hundreds of faculty members and graduating seniors will stream down the hill from the Campanile into the stadium as they have in other years, weather permitting, to watch.
commencement exercises during the Viet-
nam era reflected some students' attitudes of
a different kind.
Graduation candidates for the 103rd annual commencement will have until May 2 to order and make payments for their caps and gowns at the business office on the first floor of the
The School of Medicine's hooding ceremony will be at 9:30 a.m. in Battleton Auditorium at the KU Medical Center on May 19.
The School of Law will have its hooding ceremony at 1 p.m. in Woodruff Auditorium. The Graduate School hooding will be at 2 p.m. in University Theatre.
The chancellor's reception for graduates and their guests will be from 3 to 14 p.m. at the chancellor's residence. The senior-patient supper at 5 p.m. in the Kansas Union Hospital is being held at 8 p.m. in Memorial Stadium, or in Allen Field House in case of bad weather.
Spring semester grades will be available at the Office of Admissions and Records on graduation day. Diplomas can be obtained in connection with the fourth floor of Wescole Hall.
Grad school applications up
By GLENN MEYER Kansan Staff Reporter
Applications to post-baccalureate programs at the University of Kansas have clearly increased over last year. The reasons for the increase, however, aren't so clear.
According to Robert Ellermeier, associate dean of the Graduate School, the number of applications to the graduate programs in the school was up above 50 percent for the same last year,
About 3,000 have applied to graduate programs so far, he said, and more than 4,000 are expected to apply by the beginning of the fall semester.
The figures, he said, didn't include applications to post-baccalaureate programs in the schools of law, medicine or social welfare.
Students probably are applying to more graduate schools than ever before, Ellermeir said, which could account for some of the increase in applications.
Evelyn Senecal, director of admissions for the School of Law, said that by mid-April, the school had received 926 applications for the 1975-76 academic year. The school had received 983 applications by the same time last year.
The law school has a formula, she said, that determines, by an applicant's undergraduate GPA and the Law School Admissions Test score, which applicants will be considered for admission. The university applicants being considered for admission this year is greater than last year, she said.
Ruth McRoy, director of admissions for the School of Social Welfare, said that as of April
1. the school had received 450 applications for all graduate programs on the Lawrence and Kansas City campus. At the same time last week, the school said, she said. That's an increase of 22 per cent.
"We have had more applications from persons who have been out working for a couple of years after graduating from a BSW (bachelor of social welfare) program, 'ailee
Douglas Poorman, assistant dean for admissions at the KU Medical Center, said that 1,067 persons, the final figure, had applied for admission to the School of Medicine for the 1975-76 academic year. Nine hundred ninety eight applied for the year before.
Poorman said the number of applications had increased because of the attractiveness of a career in medicine, students' growing awareness of career opportunities in medicine and related fields, increasing interest in medicine from people in other countries in the number of people in one medical field who wanted training in another.
Wiley Mitchell, director of the master's degree program of the School of Business, said people were coming to business graduate programs from liberal arts and sciences, engineering and education. Applicants for more than 135 students increased by 135. That is an 11 per cent increase over the 122 who had applied by the same time last year.
In March 1972 the School of Education received 80 applications to its graduate programs; this March, it received 155 applications, according to Paul Haack,
associate dean for the undergraduate division of the school.
According to Basil Honkman, director of the graduate program for the School of Architecture and Urban Design, the school had received 45 graduate applications as of March 19. Twenty-five applications had been submitted by April 1 of last year.
Honkkan said he thought more people were applying to graduate programs because of his experience.
As of April 1, 2,787 applied to graduate programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, according to Howard Baugartmatter, associate dean for graduate studies in the College. Two thousand six hundred and sixty-five had applied the year before.
There were 246 applications to School of Engineering graduate programs for the 1974-75 academic year. That is 6 per cent fewer applicants than the previous records according to records.
By April 1, the School of Fine Arts had received 96 applications to graduate programs, said Thomas Gorton, dean of the school, who said he had been submitted by the same time last year.
B John Bremmen, director of graduate studies for the School of Journalism, said that there were more applicants to the graduate program this year than last, and that inquiries about the journalism graduate program were way up.
Bremner said that most of those who applied to the graduate program came from outside journalism, and that the number of applicants had increased in the past few years.
The School of Religion has seven applications this year to its graduate program, according to Richard Jeske, director of the program.
Robert Hanzik, director of graduate studies for the School of Pharmacy, said applications to the graduate program this year were about the same as last year.
Alan Thompson, associate dean of the Graduate School at the Med Center, said applications to graduate programs based entirely at the Med Center had dropped by more than 50 per cent over the past year. Thompson said he didn't account for the drop.
Ellermeier said that regular admission to a local school required a 3.9 GPA and a better test score.
Each school, and some departments within schools, have other criteria they use to determine admission.
Forenard said the objective requirements for admission to the School of Medicine, such as percentile scores on the Medical College Admissions Test, were raised or lowered according to the available pool of applicants. Forenard also reported that he resumed to the school last year, he said, was 3.55.
Llenze said that many potential engineering graduate students were screened out by the amount of research money available.
More students opt for BGS
Kansan Staff Reporter
BY SHANNON GREENE
Korean Staff Reporter
As students of the 103rd graduating class at the University of Kansas take the traditional walk down the Hill to receive their diplomas, Bachelor of General Studies (B.G.S.) degree.
In its second year as an option to KU students, the B.G.S. degree has gained recognition and popularity. That is manifest in a rather phenomenal jump. Only about 15 per cent of about 15 per cent of the graduating students, received B.G.S diplomas last spring.
The B.G.S. degree at KU was approved by the College Assembly in 1973 to provide a more flexible curriculum. Howard A. Garnett, president of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said recently.
"Some students and faculty were unhappy with the detailed requirements necessary for a B.A. or B.S." Baumgartel said. "The B.G.S. offered both the traditional and
nontraditional student more freedom to plan his own curriculum.
Baumgartel said that there were basically two types of students who worked for the B.G.S. degree. Some are students who want to avoid the College's foreign language or Western Civilization requirements. Other students have spoken English at school and NO. is not on limit on the number of junior-senior hours they may apply toward graduation, he said.
specific educational needs for the student in the B.G.S. a student must have earned at least 60 credit hours, have at least a 1.8 cumulative GPA, and have completed 60 credit hours after becoming a B.G.S. candidate.
A student who chooses a B.G.S. is encouraged to design a program meeting his goals.
To allow the greatest flexibility, the requirements for the B.G.S. have been kept to a minimum. A student must take a minimum of three courses in each of three areas:
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences and mathematics. At least two departments must be represented in each area.
A student may choose to work for a par- major or he may declare himself a nominal.
Students deciding to complete a regular College major must complete all the departmental requirements for the major. There are ten required courses for the major and maintaining a 2.0 GPA in the junior-senior course in the major. A student taking a B.G.S. may receive credit for more than 40 hours within one year and more than 65 in two departments.
A student who doesn't wish to complete the regular requirements for a major, or a student who wishes to propose a course of study combining courses in two or more departments, will be considered a nonnumerical Advisers for the college by the college office. The advisers approve both the course of study and the student's statement of educational goals.
repaying NDSL loans
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, an additional $8,728 had been lost through bankruptcies. He said that three to five more people could declare bankruptcy before this fiscal year ended.
"The outlook of the student's individual attitude has had some impact on the bankruptcies, in that," Hamilton said. "The institution is such a bus operation that it won't miss their loan."
Jerry Rogers, director of the student financial aid office, said some steps had been taken to restrain students from declaring bankruptcy until they had been out of school five years. He said some students took out longs with no intention of paying them back.
He said the financial aid office had run into one student who declared bankruptcy before he graduated. In another case, Rogers said, the office helped an older student get through college. But when he graduated he immediately declared bankruptcy.
Rogers said that after defaulting his loan, the student later decided to go to graduate school and returned to the office seeking more aid.
was no way he was going to get any more aid from us."
Rogers said his office also had problems with students who picked up their checks, then didn't pay their enrolment fees with them. According to Rogers, students have to sign an affidavit saying they promise to use the money for educational purposes only.
When students don't use the money for their education, the matter is turned over to the University attorney for possible violations. We have been taken to court this year, he said.
"We knew that we way we were going to get our money back from him," he said.
Because of the increased amount of defaulted loans, Rogers said banks were more reluctant to give loans to students than they were in the past.
Kurt Watson, a loan officer at the Douglas County State Bank, said the bank no longer issued loans under the government program. He said the bank had developed some problems in the early days of the program and had since made credit harder to get
"If we get an indication that the person doesn't have a job or some sort of monthly income," Watson said, "he's probably not going to get the loan."
Bank, said he has his success with student loans. He also banks give a small amount of student loans.
Victor Johnson, a University State Bank loan officer, said there were more bankruptcies than in the past year greater with students than with other customers.
Bill Tarry, loan officer at the First National
Some action is being taken to halt the rapidly increasing default rate. According to Rogers, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which administers the bank loan program, was hiring more staff to investigate and collect delinquent loans.
"most of the time we get our money"
"and then we have 100 per cent of the
time. We have."
In March, Terrell Bell, U.S. commissioner for education, asked Congress for an additional $6 million for banks insured under the Bank of America plan to help back banks' defaulted accounts.
Rogers said that although the banks were insured, they still had to make collection efforts before the courts could accept them. Rogers beamed a student's address often is different from the one given when he
took out a loan, Rogers said, there often is a problem in trying to collect the loan.
Watson said there was always the problem of people's skipping town without attempting to repay their loans. There are ways to find out how much money a bank has as the bank a lot of time, work and money.
There's a lot of detective work involved in trying to collect on skips," he said. "We just have to try the best ways we can to find thesec people."
The problem of defaults and bankruptcies isn't causing local administrators to panic. But Hamilton is concerned that if the problem persists both locally and nationally it could mean trouble for the federal loan programs.
for medical school. I knew I needed a heavy emphasis in science, but I didn't want a chemistry or biology major. I saw this as my one change to diversify my studies.
"A doctor is a person with many different things acting upon him or her. A broad education can lead to a better understanding of human beings."
"With any loan program you customarily have a small percentage of defaults," he said. "But if this problem continues to increase, then we would extend the loan program to deterate.
"This is not a giveaway program. If there are losses, in the end it is the taxpayers who pay."
If these loan programs collaps, many KU students will have to find another way to meet their financial needs.
"With the regular B.A. or B.S. there are more built-in guidelines," Baumgarte said. "Therefore, B.G.S. students need more reflection and thought about their whole program of study in order to end up with a coherent educational program. Because of the open curriculum, students will also need better than average counseling."
Jill Benson, El Dorado junior, is applying to the B.G.S. program. She decided on the B.G.S. when she found she wasn't satisfied with the recreation program she was enrolled in. She also couldn't decide what other area of study to concentrate on.
Stephen Goldman, assistant professor of English and a B.G.S. adviser, said that although the B.G.S. was new and different, he could get a very respectable degree from it.
"The B.G.S. takes more planning and care on the part of the student and his advisers," Goldman said. "Ideally, it takes a student with knowledge who can work out his own program."
Robert A. Burton, chairman of the department of oriental languages and literature and a B.G.S. adviser, said the students he had advised gave him the impression that they weren't avoiding certain required subjects. B.G.S. students want a more tailored program for their envisioned careers. Burton said.
`i wanted a broad exposure to a lot of people.` Ullig said he decided B.G.S. for B.G.S. was applying
Students in the B.G.S. program all have their own reasons for choosing the program. Paul Uhlg, Wichita senior, said he chose the program because he wanted a diversified education.
Benson is planning to enroll in the en-
terprise summer program offered under the
B.G.S. degree.
"I enjoy outdoor work so I would like to study land management or wildlife control," Benson said. "I eventually want to work for VISTA."
Caty Corum, Kansas City, Mo. senior, said she was planning to enter the B.G.S. program so that she would be able to contend with a lot of acting and drama; and radio, TV and film.
"I also wanted to take more hours than was allowed in my speech and drama major." Corum said. "In theater and acting they don't look to see whether you have a degree. A student gets more experience by taking more classes."
When Corum graduates, she will have 60 to 65 hours in the speech and drama department and more than 20 hours in radio, TV and film.
The B.G.S. degree can also prove to be beneficial to transfer students.
Bob McKeenstock, Hays junior, said he had transferred from Fort Hays State College in the fall. He chose the B.G.S. to avoid the foreign language requirement and to work for a double major in political science and economics.
Joel Goldman, Shawnee Mission first year law student, said he didn't think the B.G.S. should be used to avoid requirements. He got his B.G.S. degree from KU last spring with a double major in economics and speech communication and human relations.
some skeptics say students with a B.G.S. will have a hardier time entering graduation.
Goldman said he was accepted to KU's law school after some deliberation. The Kansas State Bar Association wasn't sure at first whether B.G.S. graduated in 1980 or later. In the exam, Goldman said. Now, however, the law school will accept students with a B.G.S., he said.