THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Serving KU for 76 of its 100 Years
76th Year, No.136
LAWRENCE. KANSAS
Monday, May 16, 1986
VIET NAM UNREST
Civil War threatens
SAIGON — (UPI) — Students in the Buddhist stronghold of Hue called on the United States to oust South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, whose lightning seizure of Da Nang threatened to touch off civil war between anti-Communist political factions.
Buddhist leaders in Saigon called their followers to a mass meeting which could lead to a showdown with the Ky government but only 600 to 700 were on
hand as the rally opened. In the North the anti-Ky military leaders were reported to have urged their followers to "rise up and fight."
SAIGON suburbs were rocked by at least three terrorist grenade explosions which sent shrapnel ripping through crowded streets. U.S. military police in flak jackets raced to the scene of the explosions in Gia Dinh.
Troops in Da Nang loyal to Ky
'Underdog' Ryun sets 2-mile mark
KU's miler supreme, Jim Ryun, isn't often rated an underdog going into a race. However, it isn't often that the 19-year-old Wichita ace faces the type of competition that was lined up against him in last Friday's Coliseum two-mile run at Los Angeles.
Heading the list was Kenya star Kipchoge Keino, owner of the second fastest two-mile time in history. Others in the race included American mile stars Jim Grelle and Dyrol Burleson and UCLA ace Bob Day.
BUT JIM RYUN HATES losing races almost as much as he likes breaking records. And despite the stiff competition, and the fact that Ryun has run only one other two-mile race, Friday night's race proved no exception.
The Jayhawk frosh streaked to the finish line to win the race and set an American record of 8:25.2.
8.2.22
Ryun's time, 2.6 seconds off Michel Jazy's world record, bettered Bob Schul's 8:26 run of 1984, the old American standard.
It gave him his second national record. He also owns the American time in the mile with a 3:55.3, and it started talk that the young star might become the greatest distance runner in history.
KEINO, THE FAVORITE, took the early lead as Ryun joined the back of the pack. The time for the first mile was a slow 4:15 in a race predicted to be one of the fast-paced of the year.
The next unexpected happening occurred when Keino tossed his orange hat aside, a habit the African has to show that he is beginning his kick, with 500 yards remaining. His early kick proved he was aware of the competition running with him on the course.
were alerted for possible attacks by anti-government forces in Hue, the ancient imperial capital. The loyalist forces seized the city Sunday with machine guns, tanks and fighter planes.
TOP CONTENDERS Keino, Burleson and Californian Tracy Smith were mysteriously missing at the front in the final stretch, as Ryun and Grelle beat it for the wire. UCLA's Day had dropped out after six laps.
Unofficial sources said 11 persons were killed and 21 wounded in the fighting Sunday.
Saigon Buddhists led by Thich Reverent Thien Minh offered Ky a last-ditch chance to repent his "betrayal" of the people in taking over Da Nang, 380 miles northeast of the capital.
WHILE KY'S FORCES were crushing anti-government elements in Da Nang, U.S. Marines fought a number of minor engagements not far from the coastal city. In other action, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces reported killing scores of Communist troops in fighting Sunday and today.
U. S. planes flew 33 missions over Communist North Viet Nam Sunday, again hitting supply and communications targets, including the vital Mu Gia Pass which connects with the Ho Chi Minh Trail, supply artery for the Viet Cong.
In Washington, President Johnson discussed the new political crisis with Democratic congressional leaders at the White House. The President spent the weekend
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WEATHER
The U.S. Weather Bureau predicts mostly fair weather and cooler temperatures today, with high 75 to 80. East to northeast winds 10 to 15 miles an hour today. Increasing cloudiness with scattered thunderstorms and showers likely tonight, with temperatures in the lower 50%. Tuesday forecast is for partly cloudy skies with scattered showers and thunderstorms.
Regents look to trimester
Kansas will take a look at the possibility of trisemester academic years, the Kansas Board of Regents decided in its meeting Friday. The regents also approved a $99.1 million budget starting July 1 and delayed until July any consideration for raising fees and tuition at state colleges and universities.
The regents decided that presidents of the state colleges and universities should give further study to the possibility of yearround operation to help meet increasing enrollment demands.
Board member Henry Bubb of Topeka called the trimester system "the coming thing," although in September 1964 the regents issued a statement saying "the adoption of a trimester, quarter or similar system is not practical for Kansas institutions at this time."
CONSIDERATION OF FEE hikes was delayed until July because the regents were not in complete agreement with the Kansas legislative council's report recommending an increase. Arthur Cromb, Shawnee Mission, chairman of the regents, said institutions' budgets would have to be examined before any decision could be reached.
The Legislative Council budget committee's report, adopted Wednesday by the full council, recommended the regents increase fees and tuitions at the state's higher education institutions this fall to an average of 25 per cent of educational costs. Fees and tuitions are now based on between 20 and 23 per cent of costs.
Included in the new budget, an $11.5 million increase over last year, was $8.3 million in salary hikes.
KU will receive $26,484,702 for the Lawrence campus and $18,-048,275 for the Medical School.
THE BOARD ALSO established an agreement between KU and Washington University at St. Louis to provide for an exchange of students in Oriental languages.
In further action the board approved an Institute of Environmental Research at K-State. The regents' action will permit the expansion and coordinating of existing facilities.
The regents also agreed to have Eldon Sloan, chairman of the board building committee, check into reports that an overload in the state architect's office was delaying college construction projects.
Yells,cheers hail end of draft test
Amid yells and sprints, the some 2,000 men who took the Selective Service College Qualification Test Saturday, left the six testing centers happy and relieved.
"It was real easy," the students replied in unison, when asked for comment. The examinees felt the test was very fair and agreed the test was not weighted in the areas of math and science.
ON THE DIRT FLOORS at Allen Field House students spent up to five and one-half hours at the tables. The students major gripe was that the directions for
the only three hour test took nearly one and one-half hours.
Typical of morale in the test was the student who lifted a pencil to his mouth and said, "Open channel 'D'" and the student who asked, "Is this an application for OCS?"
Entering the center some student carried literature passed out by members of the Students for Democratic Society (SDS) in one hand, and their blackened thumb from fingerprinting in the other.
The second in the series of four tests will be given this Saturday.
MAKING THE GRADE-XI
'Almighty A' obsession challenged
(Editor's note: This is one of a series of articles about grades and grading systems at KU and the problems they create.)
By Kathy Vaughan
With finals approaching, the majority of students across the country are more concerned than ever with the "almighty A." set as a standard of excellence.
However, not all schools abide by the traditional letter or number grades. Within KU's system there is a defiance concerning rating students at the Medical Center in Kansas City. The students are rated as superior, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. Unsatisfactory students fail.
Associate Dean John Chapman says the school reviewed its policy of evaluating students in 1950 and found grades do not adequately reflect the natural ability to perform.
THE ABILITY and progress of the students at the center cannot be reduced to a number, however, by rating the students numerically.
"To rank a student as 75th out of 100 in his class is to rank him
between 74 and 76 without knowing the basis of the ranking," said Dr. Chapman.
The chief objection by educators and students to the A-F grading system is that it hinders teaching and learning. With testing as a means to measure what the student has learned, grading becomes a punishment and not a measure.
"A MISERABLE EFFECT OF grading is to nullify this excellent use of testing," said Paul Goodman in the June 12, 1964 issue of "The Commonwealth."
Goodman favors testing with only a pass or fail given instead of grades. He believes that relying on grades during college retards a student so that, when he has graduated and is working, he will "always be making an A or B for some overseer or boss."
No doubt Goodman was pleased at the decision in late December by California Institute of Technology to eliminate grades for freshmen. Freshmen take exams and do graded homework assignments but, at the end of the term they either pass or fail.
FACULTY CHAIRMAN Ernest H. Swift sees this plan as a way in which freshmen may "find it easier to concentrate on the content of their course," and hopefully plan their time and energy better. Cal Tech is the first major school to adopt this plan, but although educators may favor it, they insist that grades are needed as a measure to decide whom to accept for jobs, graduate school, foundations and corporations.
"Unlike Socrates, our teachers rely on power-drives rather than shame and ingenuous idealism," Goodman said. Coming to grips with lazy students is a problem teachers often shun, he believes. "It is one thing to courageously fire a do-nothing from your class; it is another to evaluate him with an F."
St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., several years ago switched to this method of teaching and evaluating students by abolishing report cards. The program emphasizes "100 great books," small tutored discussions, and oral examinations.
St. John's brings the student
before his tutors twice a year for a "don rag". Don is the Oxford term for "tutoring" and rag is the Anglican equivalent of "to scold."
SOME OF THE COEDS, who comprise a third of the student body, leave the half hour session crying. However, most of the students approve of the don rag, which includes a rebuttal by the student.
After each session a summation is sent to parents and letter grades are assigned for the convenience of students planning to enter graduate school. Most students, although allowed to see their grades, never look them up.
A student is put on probation by the Committee on Student's Scholastic Standing if he does not
Among the colleges that favor the grade-point or letter system, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N.J., gives grades ranging from five to one, with one as the highest grade. Warning reports and fall term grades are mailed to the student at his campus address. This is meant to "encourage his development as a mature and responsible individual."
have a 3.6 grade average for that semester or a 3.8 overall grade average. This excludes him from extra curricular activities (those registered in the Dean of Men's office) and subjects him to compulsory attendance and dismissal for unexcused absences. The student is ordinarily dropped at the end of the term unless marked improvement is shown.
The University of Iowa, which operates on a four-point system, sets a minimum grade-point average for each year of class standing. Freshmen are required to maintain a 1.5 (D plus) average and the standard rises until, as seniors, students must have a 1.9 overall G.P.A.
McCOOK JUNIOR COLLEGE McCook, Neb., the oldest community college in that state, grades with numbers from two through nine which correspond to test percentages. The highest rating, nine, corresponds with 95 to 99 per cent, with the lowest grade, two, rated as 60 to 64 per cent.
Students at Grinnell College,
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