Page 62 - Phoenix2003

Tuesday November 25,2003 - Page 2 " NEWS Animals aided by Circle K "..a,....,w.'.~~~..,Mdlanid'.~{>wmu.s" Katie Martin tions were displayed as well. .N..,_ and We>dd~. "5-"1'-'00 J!ikud.11>d4~' "The drive was very very successful," McDaniel students, whether pet owners, said SophomoreBeth Appleton, a Circle K Many thanks to Robbie Saville for his bit as good--even better-than many of the pet lovers, or those who do not like pets at member. "We got a lot of student support, gutsy article on McDaniel College's omis- schools in the list. Spinning may persuade all, were all recently encouraged to help out which we don?t alway get...and we filled up sion from the top 100 liberal arts colleges in some people, but it does not alter the reality the Carroll County Humane Society by do- the whole back of a van, so that was goodl," the U.S. News and World Report rankings. on the ground, and that reality is that, de- nating various items to Circle K's Wish she added. He discusses issues that are important to all spite presidential proclamations, we are not List drive. Circle K is currently organizing students ofus. better than many of the top 100 schools. A collection box and a display board with who will be volunteering at the Humane So- In fairness, one might note that U.S. News A more beneficial approach, 1 think, lists of needed products were set up in Ensor clety, with duties that include walking and and World Report did not suddenly drop would be to grapple seriously with the pos- Lounge fromNovember 3rd to November playing with the dogs and cats. A training McDaniel College from the list. The col- sibility that there may be good reasons why 15th. Requested products included dog and program will be held at the Humane Society lege has never ranked that high. For years McDaniel College is the least academically cat food, treats, windex, detergent,towels, pet in December for anyone who is interested the college was a fourth-tier institution. In respectable institution in the Centennial Con- collars, bedding, and toys. Photographs and More information and a downloadable ap- the last several years it has been a third-tier lone, and it still is. So progress has been ference. should actively seek to iden- HinufOm,,::aetionon various dogs and cats a the plication is available online at http:// www.petfinder.com!shelters/cchspets.html. .... The college made. tify what those reasons might be. We should Society that would be benefiting from dona- It is also hard to know precisely what to pay less attention to how well we jump ,------_....:.. _ do with the rankings. One only expects the through bureaucratic hoops-a-cur ability to I director of admissions to dismiss potentially write a self-study that meets the formal re- damaging assessments. Her job requires it, quirements of a Middle States review-and just as one would expect a person selling a seek to identify what steps we could take to brand of cars that has received bad reviews improve the academic respectability of the I from Consumer Reports to tell potential cus- institution. tomers that the reviews didn't really matter. In doing so, we should be clear about our But if the people at U.S. News and World ultimate goals. We should not pursue aca- Report have done their surveys properly, the demic respectability for its own sake. We peer assessment of the college's academic should pursue it because doing so carries the quality-the lowest of any Centennial con- "promise of improving the life of the mind ference school-is at least a fair indication on the Hill. of the social capital associated with a It might turn out, as we explore why McDaniel College degree. people don't respect us more, that we will What kind of impact does that low social decide that the outside assessments are capital have on students as they search for wrong and that we are just fine the way we CARROLL COUNTY HUMANE SCOIETY jobs and seek admission to graduate and pro- are. But we should also remember that hu- Brandy, an energetic 7 munth old female Sharpei/Boxer mix with the ability to climb and 8 fessional programs, on the college as it seeks man beings have a bias to overconfidence; foot fence and Tigget; a good natured litter trained 8 week old male kitten are just a twO of to recruit new students and faculty, and on they tend to think that they are better than the numerous anirMl's helped by Circle K's drive for the Carroll County Humane Society. current faculty members as they seek to fur- they actually are. ther their careers? Clearly, it can't be good, h would be prudent, then, to consider but it is hard to judge just how bad it is. seriously the possibility that administrators ENROLLMENT, During the construction of the first North I take it, however, that the real point of and faculty at other institutions are seeing , Village apartments there were both expected the article was not that McDaniel College something about us that we either do not see from page 1. and unexpected delays Which, according to. needs to get itself ranked in the top 100 na- or do not have the courage to admit. Learn- According to O'Connell, another prob- Elizabeth Towle, the Associate Dean of Stu- tional liberal arts colleges by u.S. News and ing why McDaniel College does not garner [em with predicting enrollment is some stu- dent Affairs, is the reason about 60 students World Report. It was that the college could more respect and acting on that knowledge dents pay housing deposits at two or three were housed in the Best Western since last and should be doing a better job at higher can only help the college grow into the rc- schools so it gives them longer 10 decide education. For that reason Ifound the quote spected and recognized institution that many where they want to go. This makes it tough year. Students were aware the North Village would not be completed buildings until the in the article from President Coley, if it is of us think it can and should be. to predict how many admitted students will accurate, to be unfortunate. Gregory D. Alles actually enroll, but the numbers must be cal- second semester, so they chose to live in the un- Best western for the entire fall semester This is not a task that can be addressed Professor of Religious Studies culated and predicted as accurate as possible. apartments new by better public relations, by getting the President, North American Association "We don't want to have any empty beds, til their was a shuttle service were complete. There 24-hours a day message out that McDaniel College is every for the Study of Religion we have to try to be as close to capacity as to and from the college, although most s.tu- possible without knowing how dents chose to drive themselves, according many students we are losing each to-Towle. year," said O'Connell. This year • This year when classes began, more the number of freshmen admitted North Village apartments were supposed. to to McDaniel was [767, but 523 be completed. However, the substantte! actually enrolled, illustrating the amount of rain during the spring and sum- difficulty in predicting the num- mer delayed construction. So some students ber. were again forced to live in the Best West- To accommodate the in- ern for a month, but with the same accom- crease in the number of students, modations as those from last year, accord- coHee • espresso • tea the committee plan, such as increaa, in ing to Towle. was not as bad of an set other goals the 5-year The Best Western pastries • lite fare ing the number of dorms guaran- and option for these students after all. They were apartments. The college tees four years of on-campus were given a lower room and board fee for the first six weeks of their stay there, only housing for all students and it being charged the standard double room rate ·410.751.9171 voice plans to keep it that way. Most stu- of before paying their North Village room and d~nts do not take advantage this, however, because, as they be- board fee forthe remainder of the year. Towle probably said each student saved about $300 midhousellc@qis.net e-mail come upperclassmen . they tend to to $400. live off campus. Although McDaniel has its 5_year plan . But maintaining the prom- "and is moving toward its goal to increase en- Open Daily 7 AM - 10 PM rse of hOUSing, there are three to rollment, there may be alterations to the plan, Village North apart- Friday & Saturday Open Till 11 PM five m~re 1D the plans, which would so the strategic 5-year plan is not set in sto n :. ments hold up to 132 students. There is Connell described it best saying, "we don t 233 East Main Street • Westminster, MD also a possibility of bUilding and want a wish list...we are after more ofa work- an- ing document." oth~r donn between Blanche the school seems With all this in mind, LIVE MUSIC: FRI & SAT 8:30 P -1 0:30 P Whiteford that Would be suite- to be well on its way to achieving its goal of SUN10A-1P style like that of DMC, accordin a modest increase in enrollment by 2008. to th! t~ Sayre. This is in addition OPEN 'MIC' SONG CIRCLE: WED 8 P -10 P SIX North Village units built Over With the construction of new buildings, bar- the last two years, which house a ring any delays in consrrucnon, McDaniel total of 1.20 students. should be able to accommodate its new un- dergraduate population.