The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 50, Issue 12 - February 20, 1973

LOS ANGELES LOYOLAN Vol. 50 — No. 12 A LOYOLA-MARYMOUNT PUBLICATION Feb. 20, 1973 Result of merger? Suzanne Thompson fired, conflicting reasons given Sacred Heart Chapel improvements will bring about a greater sense of community worship is hoped. Changes include removal of the communion rail and transfer of the tabernacle to a side altar. No railings in chapel ,000 spent for renovation The sanctuary of Sacred Heart Chapel has undergone some remo¬ deling, according to Rev. Donald Foree, SJ, University chaplain. The tabernacle has been moved to a side altar* the communion rail removed, arid a partition has been installed in front of the high altar, he said. Plans call for the con¬ struction of a new altar to be de¬ signed by Foree. The changes, financed by the Jesuit community, will cost about $2,000. Foree felt that the changes were needed “to get a greater sense of the whole community worshiping around the altar.” The altar rail, he said, “was not only a physical barrier but a psy¬ chological barrier between the celebrant and the community.” A mural, designed by Sr. Gen- Overloads may cost extra Tuition charges to change with semester system Loyola now. This sets a single tui- evieve Underwood, RSHM, assist¬ ant professor of art, will be paint¬ ed by a group of students and placed behind the tabernacle. Foree emphasizes that all this is not /“change for change sake but rather a pastoral concern to better worship in the new litur¬ gy.” - ’ While conceding that the san- tuary is “visually quite differ¬ ent,” Foree insists that the present changes are not neces- s a r i 1 у permanent. Further changes such as rearranging the pews and moving the altar to the central part of the Church are p o s s i b 1 e if the current ex¬ perimentation proves successful. The University says she has to leave. Suzanne Thompson, chil¬ dren’s theatre specialist, in the Marymount Theatre Arts depart¬ ment, says she .doesn’t want to. The, administration offers vari- 4 ous official reasons for failing to renew Thompson’s contract. S i ste r "Renee Harrangue, RSHM, academic vice president of Marymount, in a letter dis¬ cussing. Thompson’s termination dated / January 31, 1972, wrote that “We are sorry that we can¬ not afford to maintain Miss Thompson’s area of expertise in the* theatre department.” Harrangue concluded by noting the problems in funding private education and saying “we are forced to give up many of our most valued programs and teach¬ ers.” But Emmett Jacobs, chairman of the Theatre Arts Department in a memorandum regarding Thompson, dated December 7, 1972, said, “it is our intention to continue to build this area (chil¬ dren’s theatre) and bring it into even greater contact with the community around us.” Not only will the emphasis in children’s theatre continue, but the Theatre Arts department is seeking a replacement for Thomp¬ son, it was learned by the Loyo- lan. In the memorandum cited ear¬ lier, Jacobs outlined the rationale behind the decision to let Thomp¬ son go and hire a new instructor. “In Miss Thompson’s position, teaching children’s theatre and creative dramatics, we will have probably four courses a year on the semester system . . . That, though, will amount to only half a teaching load and it is the possi¬ bility of adding another dimension to our department with the other half of that position . . . that has prompted the decision not to re¬ tain Miss Thompson. “Although she is certainly ca¬ pable of teaching in other general theatre areas, that is not an added strength to the majors in Theatre. It does not increase Ei¬ ther our breadth or our depth,” Jacobs wrote. A Theatre Arts student, offered an alternative to Jacobs’ ex¬ planation. А с с о r d i n g to the student, T h o mps on ’ s non-speciality classes, the general and in¬ troductory courses, will be taught next year by Virginia Barnette. ВагпеИе is both a tenured facul¬ ty member in the Theatre Arts department and an assistant to the president of Marymount. The student maintains that the merger caused an overcrowding in the department which caused Thompson’s contract termination. There are others that also feel the merger contributed sig¬ nificantly to Thompson’s problem. One of these is a well known Loyola instructor, According to this professor, “There is no ques¬ tion in my mind that Thompson has been fired because of the merger.” “Virtually all the termination and non-renewable contracts have gone to Marymount instructors,” he noted. Thompson received her termin¬ al notice late in December. She (Continued on Page 5) by John Wildermuth .. Although the final decision has not yet been made, tuition next year will most likely be charged on a variable flat rate basis, ac¬ cording to John Pfaffinger, vice president for business affairs. The means that a tuition rate will be charged to those taking from 15-18 units’ with 15 units rep¬ resenting an ordinary semester load, Pfaffinger said. Students taking fewer than 15 units will be charged less than the standard tuition while those with more than 18 will pay for each excess unit. The charge is a direct result of the University’s upcoming return to the semester system, he said. Instead of requiring a set number of classes for graduation, as in the quarter System, graduation next year will be based on com¬ pleting a certain amount of units, tentatively set at 120. “We are investigating three possible ways to charge,” said Pfaffinger. “The first is pure credit hour, in > which students would be charged so much for each unit he took. The second is the flat rate, which we have at Peer counselors to staff referral center tion cost, regardless of how few or how maiiy units a student takes. The third is the variable flat rate.” Щ Pfaffinger believes the flat rate offers the widest range, of vari¬ ables. The student who took 15 units every semester would grad¬ uate in four years. But he would have the option of taking an extra three unit ( course each semester at no extra cost. This could allow i n t e r e s t e d students to take courses outside their main area of concentration without slowing their progress toward graduation. “When we started work on this last year, our main consideration was fairness toward the entire in¬ stitution,” said Pfaffinger. “This includes the students, the differ¬ ent departments and the adminis¬ tration. We hope that whatever method we choose will reflect the fairness.” Pfaffinger said that the final list of costs for the ШЗ-74 academic year will be released “inside a month.” This will include tuition, room and board and all Univer¬ sity fees: • Q p* Щ by Dave Devereaux A new facet has been added to Loyola/Maiymount counseling in the form of an Information and Referral Center to be staffed by student counselors. The peer counseling program, according to its director, Peggy Mathison, is designed to assist the many students who have prob¬ lems but are reluctant to seek help from professional counselors. The center, located on the first floor of Malone, is staffed by stu¬ dents well acquainted with the services offered by the Univer¬ sity. The counselors are trained to give accurate information con¬ cerning such areas as ' Study Skills, the Learning Center, voca¬ tional counseling, financial aids, health and psychological services, and others. While this program is an experi¬ mental one, the concept of peer counseling is not entirely new to this campus. According to Math¬ ison, this program grew out of the Exam Week Clinic of a few years ago, a clinic intended to lend a concerned ear to students feeling the pressures of final exams. Neither is this program the first for a college campus. The concept originated at the University of Michigan several years ago. Mathison explained that, when she was appointed Assistant Di¬ rector of Psychological Services, she was given the assignment of organizing and administering a. peer counseling program. (Continued on Page 3) Harrangue named provost by boards of trustees Sr. Renee Harrangue, RSHM, has been appointed provost of L о у о 1 a Marymount University, according to Rev. Donald P. Mer- rifield, S J, president of Loyola. ; Harrangue’s duties include tak¬ ing over the position of executive assistant to the president. The as¬ sistant’s position was last held by Joaquin Acosta. The post has been vacant for a year. According to Merrifield, “The emphasis will now be more on internal affairs than external in the assistant’s position.” According to the job descrip¬ tion, followed by the Search Com¬ mittee on the Provost, Har¬ rangue’s job will include advising the president and staff on proper position and education of women, assist the president in all areas of planning and in evaluation of pro¬ posals from others, and assist the president in the cultivation of prospective donors. Harrangue was the sole person recommended by the Search Com mittee; her appointment was con¬ firmed by the Boards qf .Trustees during the week of February 5.