February 10 *$m College Cancels Winter Weekend By Mary Jo Allen Winter Weekend, the three day weekend scheduled for February 10, 11 and 12 to allow students a break in an otherwise solid ten- week term, has been cancelled ac- cording to Academic Dean David D. Palmer. * t \ The probl em* was approac hed last: November when read- justments were consid ered on the handling of a fe w problems due to the acquisition of St. Mark's. \Dean Palmer»explains, "Since the beginnings of September we have had to deal with the reality of St. Mark's. St. Mark's is a lot of positive thi ngs but it is a distant place." I Due to this distance, ext ra time was J needed between classes!to allow studen ts? ample time 't o reach the Grandview Boulevard center. W • . It was decided that IS minutes was needed between classes. L 3 This time adjustment a made it necessary ; to cut classes which meet on M onday, Wednesday and Fri day to 80 minute periods. I "We ended up with* a? pro- blem," Dean Palmer said. 9 As a result we had to get the time in because we were going to lose con- tact minutes." ~~ Contact minutes are the total amount of time? af teacher a nd class are together. The state re- quire s a minimum stand ard for a program to be academically sound. When the classes were shortened, Mercyhurst went below this requirement. . ^ "We needed that particular day (February 10) in order to keep our schedule," Palmer explained. . $ When it was found that an extra day was needed,"Palmer decided to cancel the break rather than lengthening the term, according to Sr. Marcia McDonald, Assistant to the Dean, j w The final decision was made in December, by Dean Palmer to canc el the three day we eken d,p^ Dr. William P. Garvey, Presi- dent of the College, supports the decision. "It is the dean's respon- sibility to be sure the college has 1982-1983 Yearbook S till Not On Ca mpus Recently, The Merciad discovered that the 1982-83 Year- book which was scheduledjto be distributed during the fall term this year wil l be delaye d due to a number of mishaps in the transportation of the book to the printers. % Jfc Brooke Buzzard, yearbook editor, explained that she and a local Herff-Jones, Inc. represen- tative, Tom Chaffee, will be working together over the next few weeks to put together a new proof copy for the printe rs. Last year, the May 2, 72-page deadline was met with only a total of 62 pages. Then, both the June 6, 48-page deadline and the June 22, 32-page deadlines were * missed. 1 | Buzzard said that she mailed some of the final pages in June, an the remainder in * July, but Chaffee never received them. Chaffee apparently attempted to contact Buzzard after failing to recieve the copies, but was not able to get in touch with her until September. He suggested to Buz- zard, that since the pages were not sent through registered mail, that they place a post office trac er on both packages. Nonetheless, the packages wer e not found, and now, the only way a new book can be completed is by making new prints from the negatives, and using the final "dummy boo k." However, another delay was caused when the "dummy boo k" and the negatives were in Florida until January 17. Buzzard ha d placed them in the trunk of her car, which she subse quently sold. Since the new owner trave led ex- tensively ^h e was not located until January 9, at which time he sent the packages to Buzzard . * No specific date has yet been set for the delivery J of the book, which was the last of its kind at Mercyhurst due to the discon- tinued funding' from Mercyhurst student government. T f "Crazy Dave" Armstrong and other enthusiastic students cheer the LAKER basketball team to victory over Cheyney State. <g£m * ^$JK3friSBSsagafe •, ^y ; S&feteta #4ut sufficient (contact) minutes. I ap- proved what he did, and respect his decision," Garvey said. I 5 The Winter Weekend did not appears in the W inte r* te rm* schedule, and this is where many learned of the cancellation. ? "I probably should have been more |public," admits! Dean Palmer. £ M &$ J The Students Activities Chairperson was notified, accor- ding to the Dcan.'HJnfortunatelyy their calendar of events went to print' before they heard of the change, according to James Sher- rod, vice-president of SAC. Both Palmer and|Garvey are sorry the jfree day t had to be cancelled. *"We really had Jn o choice,-f*rPalmer said,~ but- the state requirements have? to be adhered to in order for the college to be academically sound. Mercyhurst Invited To Unit ed Nati ons Confer ence g p y Ja ck Holland The. Mercyhurs t Student Government delegation is busily finaliz ng* preparations for?the upcoming Cleveland ^National Model United Nations* Con- ference set ffbr January 25 through the 29,? at Clevel and State University. Dave Robinson, president of MSG, joins *Pat Reud, sophomore History major, and freshmen Dennis Dunn and Judy Brown, both English ma- jors with a Political Science minor in the forum to represent Guatemala. > f :• Robinson I and Reed Iwill be working together on ;the Political and Security Commit- tee and Brown will sit in on the Committee on D isarmament. The Political and Security Committee is responsible fo r ad- • dressing issues such as the- con- flict in Central America, the Middle East Question, the situa- tion in Southeast Asia, and In- ternational Terrorism. The Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee considers such problem areas as the Inter- national Refugee Crisis, Apar- thied and Racial Discrimnation, the Death Penalty, and Ne w In- formation Order. The Commit- tee on Disarmament concerns itself with Nuclear Arms Freeze an Reduction, Chemical and Biological weapons, Conven- tional weapons, and Peaceful uses of Outer Space. & The conference will * feature three highly acclaimed experts in international relations to speak on issues of immediate world- wide concern, according» to Robinson. The speakers include Young-Tsien Chin: Counselor, Permanent Mission of the Peo- ple's Republic of China to the United Nations, Alexander R. Vershbow: Officer of Soviet Union Affairs 5 in Multi-lateral Political'Relations, U.S. State Department, and U.S. Con- gressman Louis C. Stokes: Chairperson of the House Ethics Committee. SS J **§• Robinson feels that the Mer- cyhurst delegation will make a § "fine showing" at the Model United Nations Conference. He concluded by saying, "the delegates representing Guatemala are prepared and feel confident in successfully defen- ding : the political views • • of Guatemala in the upcoming 'forum." * Guate mala Delegation: Dennis Dunn, Judy Brown and Dave Robin son. Pat Reed was absent when the photo was taken.
