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March 01, 2005
News Briefs
Spanish students send petition to university administration calling for smaller class sizes
In a petition sent to the administration last week, 170 Spanish students call on the university to find a way to reduce class sizes in Spanish, a section of the modern languages department that frequently has class sizes over 30 and hasn’t seen a new full-time position in 20 years.
Organized by students Celina Martina and Nathan Lee, the petition calls for the college to make Spanish more of a priority.
“In this petition that we sent to the administration, we were trying to get to the bottom of our concerns č what mattered most to us and really not go about it in a manner that is just complaining,” Lee said. “We tried to look at it as objectively as we could.”
Lee says his classes are simply too large and class selections are limited.
An independent review of the department’s staff and resources completed two years ago this month by Elvira E. Garcia, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, concluded that “the resources dedicated to the Spanish program are seriously inadequate.” Further, she wrote in the report, “The current level of staffing in Spanish at Hamline is barely adequate for the current course offerings.”
The report suggested that Hamline provide two additional full-time professors for the Spanish department, but those have yet to materialize.
The Oracle has previously reported on the issue of understaffing in the Spanish program in the Dec. 7, 2004, available for viewing on the Oracle website at http://www.hamline.edu/oracle.
College bowl seeks new members
Always looking for new members, the newly founded Hamline University College Bowl team is searching for participants in anticipation of their upcoming meet at Carleton.
“We’re always actively recruiting,” president Carly Schaps said.
The group, conceptualized by first-year Byll Grant, now boasts around 14 members, most of whom come to practices, Schaps said.
During practice, the team draws on questions from past meets, preparing team members for what to expect at a tournament.
“It’s not really hard or as challenging, and people are surprised at how well they do,” Schaps said.
HUCB recently competed in the International Region 10 tournament, where they ended 3-5, defeating St. Cloud State University, Southwest State and the University of Minnesota-Crookston. Two players, Schaps and sophomore Patrick Myers, placed tenth and thirteenth, respectively. HUCB practices Thursdays in GLC 104E during convo hour. More information is available on the team’s website, http://www.geocities.com/hucollegebowl.
White supremacy label goes belly up
South St. Pauląbased record label Panzerfaust, the country’s largest distributor of white supremacy music, is now defunct, thanks to illegal drug use and one of the co-owners’ ethnicity.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Anthony Pierpont, co-owner of Panzerfaust records, was arrested and charged with fifth-degree cocaine possession. After his arrest, his birth certificate surfaced, and members of the record label learned that his mother was born in Mexico.
Byron Calvert, the other co-owner of Panzerfaust, made the following statement on the label’s website:
“We do not agree with any deals that may be made with Anthony. We feel that he has taken advantage of the good-hearted people that have sent in their hard-earned money to purchase his products.”
The label, which is now controlled by Calvert, has been renamed Free Your Mind Records. Calvert has left the Twin Cities, and the new label now has its base of operations in Valdosta, Georgia.
Panzerfaust first made the news when it started distributing hate CDs at high schools for free in what they called “Project Schoolyard USA.” There are no reports of any CDs being distributed at Minnesota high schools.
Posted by msveum at March 1, 2005 07:23 AM
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