South Texas College of Law, The Annotation (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 1, Summer, 1985 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2
-THE ANNOTATION -
Summer, 1985
Darts and Laurels
Before we begin, the new staff of The Annotation and myself
would like to welcome you to the Summer Edition of your
newspaper.
That's right. . . YOUR newspaper. We write and print it for
your information. And it is here for you to use; we invite you to do
so. We look forward in the next year to bringing you stories and
reporting events in as timely a fashion as is possible. Now on to the
column.
DARTS AND LAURELS is a column which will, from time to
time, resurface on this page. Its purpose is to bring to your attention
items of interest that deserve recognition, be it positive or negative
recognition.
DARTS, obviously, are thrown at poor decisions, poor conduct,
poor judgement, miscalculations, mischief, mismanagement . . .
you get the drift.
LAURELS, on the other hand, are given for commendation,
commemoration, competence and, well, you understand.
LAURELS, to Dean Ensle and the Faculty/Student Committee
for going straight to the students to see what they think about the
new scheduling situation. Over 300 surveys were completed by stu-
dents expressing their views and giving their input.
DART, to the administration for, again, raising tuition. Our legal
education will now cost the equivalent of $154.00 an hour. They say
it's because of inflation.
DART, to some members of the faculty, for, semester after
semester, putting off what they are being paid to do. An important
stage of the educational process is crippled by needless procrastina-
tion in grading exams. Of course, why should they hurry. It's not
their ulcer in an uproar.
LAURELS, to the newly elected SBA for taking their positions
seriously. Long hours have already been spent blueprinting the up-
coming year. Expect a change in your student government.
DART, to the Election Committee in the recent spring SBA elec-
tions for allowing a three-person runoff which subsequently threw
the entire election into a quagmire of Honor Court litigation. When
confronted with an explicit constitutional provision allowing only
the top two vote-getters into a runoff, SBA President and Election
Committee representative Joe Luce said, "We just missed it."
DART, to the presidential candidates for dragging themselves,
each other, the Honor Court, and the entire school through, most of
which, was a needless and seemingly endless series of hearings.
LAURELS, to the Honor Court for painstakingly muddling
through each and every cause of action that surfaced as a result of
the election. Often faced with mediocrity and absurdity, they main-
tained a professional and very judicial presence.
DART, to Mr. Wayne Thomas, special assistant to the Dean, and
the man in charge of the school's copying machines, for insisting on
charging ten cents for copies in the library when the going rate most
everywhere else is nearly half that much.
LAURELS, to the Law Journal for finally making the sweat pay-
off with what is by all accounts a remarkable issue containing works
of several eminent authors. Look for more good things from this
dedicated bunch.
LAURELS, to the Advocacy program, for bringing home yet
another state championship. This one is especially sweet, for with
them came the championship cup — to stay. For the first time in the
history of the Texas Young Lawyers Association Moot Court
Competition a new cup will have to be purchased. Congratulations.
Prof. Beverly Charles, Caroline
Shell and Prof. Pam George attend
the Law Journal A wards Reception.
comment
Dear Editor:
I cannot refrain from comment-
ing on the recent issue of "Amuta-
tion", some of which was mildly
amusing and some of which can only
be called sick. An example of the lat-
ter is the quote attributed to Dean
Treece that students from Ethopia
are "dying to win".
There are some issues that are so
serious i.e. hunger/starvation, that
they cannot be satirized. Therefore,
I would like to suggest that Anno-
tations' staff be selected for their
maturity among other qualifica-
tions. Perhaps then they will not
resort to making a mockery of the
slow, agonizing death of others.
Dianna M. Porter
2L
Letters to the editor are
welcome. The Annotation re-
serves the right to edit letters
submitted. All letters must be
signed and contain the ad-
dress and telephone number
of the writer.
Faculty Student Forum
By Pamela Zylstra
The STCL administration experimented with a new class schedule for the
Summer 1985 Session. STCL students had lots of questions. Why do we
need to revise the "old" schedule? (Monday-Thursday and Tuesday-Friday)
Has the administration permanently adopted the "new" schedule?
(Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday-Thursday) Is anyone interested in our
(student) comments and suggestions?
The good news is that students directed their questions to student
members of the Faculty-Student Advisory Committee. After consulting with
Dean Ensle, the committee was able to take action. A survey on class schedul-
ing was available at the front door from June 21st through June 26th. Dean
Ensle used the results of the survey in scheduling classes for the Fall 1985
Semester. Actually, I am predicting the future from my seat at the typewriter
on June 20th. So, here are some answers to your questions.
We need to revise the class schedule to eliminate late (7:40 p.m.) classes on
Friday nights. Students avoid Friday classes altogether and late Friday classes
are akin to the plague. As a result, the number of students in Monday-
Thursday classes is disproportionately larger than Tuesday-Friday classes. In
addition, classrooms are not being used efficiently. If we continue the "old"
schedule, we will have to build three new classrooms even though most of the
week many classrooms are empty. These are pragmatic reasons. However,
student preferences were also a motivating factor.
The administration had not permamently adopted the "new" schedule
but as of June 20th, only three students had expressed their opinions to the
administration. When I contacted Dean Ensle he was very interested in feed-
back from students. He raised several issues about class scheduling which
were included in the survey. Do students want more Saturday classes? Do
students want two summer sessions of six weeks each? Are students con-
cerned about the "new" schedule because the summer session is more con-
centrated or because they want an extra day (Wednesday) to prepare for
classes later in the week?
Dean Ensle's enthusiastic responses to my inquiries really answers the last
question. The administration is interested in student feedback. One effective
channel for this type of communication is through the Faculty-Student Ad-
visory Committee. We know the fall schedule will be a positive response by
the administration to the information in the June survey. We hope this is just
the first of many opportunities we will have to promote student interests in
our capacity as a laison between the student body and the faculty.
Faculty-Student Advisory Committee Student Members: Pamela Zylstra, Skip
Ireson, Melinda Wesner, Suzanne Novisky, Jamie Elacqua and Kim Ogg.
HAVE A GREAT FOURTH!
The Annotation
EDITOR
William L. Yanger
Assistant Editors Gordon Brooks
Maria Rago
Staff Writers Anita Ponder
Lee Shirley
Vicki Bailey
Sondra Kaighen
Mary Carouthers Bray
Photographer Maria Chapa
Columnists Prof. R.J. Graving
Edgar Goldberg
Pam Zylstra
Faculty Advisor R. Randall Kelso
BUSINESS MANAGER
Amy R. Stout
The Annotation is published in September, October, November, February, March, April, June and
July by the students at South Texas College of Law. Typed contributions are solicited. Subscriptions are $10
annually postpaid. 1303 San Jacinto, Suite 324, Houston, TX 77002. (713) 759-9142.
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Yanger, William L. South Texas College of Law, The Annotation (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 1, Summer, 1985, newspaper, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144434/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.