Clarion 1988-04-29 Vol. 63 No. 14

              LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER
BETHEL COLLEGE
3900 Bethel Drive
St Paul, Minnesota 55112
CLARION
29, April 1988
Bethel College
St Paul, MN
Students upset about next year's housing
by Susan Resch
Home sweet home. And sometimes not
so sweet. After the housing selection
process, some students are upset after
not being able to live where they want to
during the coming year. "My first choice
was a townhouse," said Ann Ecklund,
freshman. "I didn't have enough roommates so I tried for a dorm, but ended up
at Foundation Terrace Apartments," she
said.
Changes in the housing selection process
may have lessened the number of unhappy students. One change is that all
freshmen will live in dormitories nextyear
rather than placing some freshmen
women live in townhouses as in previous
years, according to Rod Long, director of
housing. To do this, one men's floor in
Edgren, Bodien, and Getsch dorms will be
made women's floors.
Because of the increase of freshmen in
the dorm rooms, squatters' rights also
saw changes with a rippling effect of less
upperclassmen living in dorms. "Moving
the last freshmen into dorms makes more
townhouses available to upperclassmen,"
Long said. Another reason for the change
is so that freshmen have a chance of
meeting more people in the traditional
dorm to meet their developmental
needs, Long explained. Kathy Cleveland,
freshman, agrees with this change. "I
think it's fairer that the freshmen are in
dorms, not townhouses," she said.
However, the change in squatters' rights
may have caused some of the disappointment students faced. Some were
rejected from their original choice of
housing even after squatting. Approximately 150 students who applied to
townhouses did not get one, according
to Long. The breaking point for a town-
house was a four sophomore/two junior
or five sophomore/one senior combination and there was no chance for two
sophomores applying for a dorm unless
they used squatters' rights. Long explained that quite a few sophomores
were accepted into townhouses or qualified for squatters' rights, and more
women could have squatted at Edgren,
Bodien, and Getsch.
This still left some students applying for
housing next year without a choice of
where to live. Some of these students
were next year's sophomores. "Next
year's sophomores have less priority,"
Michelle Doran, freshman, said. "Upperclassmen get what they want and freshmen automatically get a dorm."
In applying for squatters' rights at Nelson,
there were too many applications, so a
drawing had to be used, Long explained.
Doran tried to squat at Nelson dorm, but
was rejected. "I thought it was the best
thing I could get, but 1 was rejected since
so many people were squatting at Nelson—I ended up at Fountain Terrace,"
Internships benefit students
by Jimmy LaCrobt
Although students throughout Bethel
College have their own reasons for seeking higher education, their main goal
seems to be to attain a career they would
not have been able to gain withoutgoing
to college. There is little doubt that a college education gives a person an edge
over a person without a degree when
trying to secure a position. Another
added advantage that some college students gain, even over other college students, is having internships under their
belts.
An intership program places students in
the career setting of their choice, to learn
by first-hand experience what duties their
perferred occupation entails. Students
not only gain academic credits in this
program, but also a feel for what they
really want to do with their lives.
Amy Bragg, Executive Director of the
Bethesda Foundation and a Bethel graduate, is a strong supporter of such a program. She said, "My internship got me
my first career position. An internship
shows initiative, which impresses potential employers. I try to always have an
intern working for me."
Currently at Bethel there are a number of
students taking advantage of this excellent program. All of the students involved
believe that the program has benefited
them a great deal.
Senior Melody Measells said, "I love it! It
has given me so much, from experience
to contacts in New York for a job."
Dave Stilwell, who is also a senior, has
learned more than just what his preferred
occupation entails. "I have learned so
much about myself. Not only my capabilities, but my true interests and goals," he
said.
Cyndi Larson, another senior, learned
what she didn't want to do. "I'm glad I
found out that I don't like being a news
reporter before 1 actually got a job as
one."
Cyndi was placed at KARE television station. Dave is working with a church as a
youth counselor, and Melody is working
with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. These are only three examples of
the wide variety of opportunities available. The way to get involved with this
program is simple. See your academic
advisor or the Placement Office. Not only
is this a great chance to possibly pick up a
little extra spending money while earning
college credits.you can learn aboutyour-
self and your field of interest.
she said.
Other students also ended up at Fountain
Terrace without any other choices, and
this poses problems for some. "Living on
campus, I feel more a part of the school,"
Ecklund said. "Even though Fountain Terrace is Bethel housing I won't feel as
much a part of the community—especially for it only being my second year."
Transportation can also be an inconvenience. "I'll be working on campus without
a car so I won't have much transportation
to get back and forth," Doran said. "It's
just not as convenient."
There are also some good things about
living at Fountain Terrace that may help
the situation. Restrictions will be lessened
and there will be a little more freedom,
Ecklund said. Deb Mowry, freshman,
agrees. "There will be more independence and also flexibility on meal plans,"
she said. "I won't have to be on a Bethel
meal plan."
Long explained that the apartment complex has been improved over the last few
years as heating, water garages, roofs,
and exterior paint have been added or
repaired. "It will be nice to get off campus
and get away. I think Fountain Terrace is
really nice," Cleveland said. "Besides get
ting back and forth, I don't think there will
be any problems."
For students who want to live on campus
but cannot because of the amount of on-
campus housing, what can be done?
Ecklund feels that seniors should be
allowed to live anywhere, but maybe juniors should have lower priority than
sophomores since they have been here
for two years and could adjust to living off
campus easier than younger students.
Building more on-campus housing also
comes up. "They should make every
effort to build another dorm and make it
an all upperclassmen dorm or build more
townhouses," Ecklund said. Mowry
agrees that sophomores should be given
more pirority but said, "There is not a
whole lot Bethel can do to change the
on-off campus housing situation without
spending a lot of money on a new dorm."
According to Long, the housing advisory
committee has been meeting every week
for several months to make these
changes and decisions for the housing
selection. The student senate also looks
at it and they all try to produce the best
possible solution for all. "The bad part
about our system is that there's no way to
meet everyone's expectations," Long
said. "We have a housing system allowing
a large variety of options, complicated
with various numbers of roommates and
it's hard to administrate."
Delayed winter-kill threatens bullhead population in Lake Valentine.
Photo by Paul Gunnarson.
Bullhead fish population in Valentine
drops by estimated 1,000
by Marvin Moore
A delayed winter kill has seriously endangered the black bullhead fish population
in Lake Valentine. Bob Kistler, biology professor at Bethel, called the recent deaths
of an estimated 1,000 bullheads a unique
situation.
"It's a rare occurrence that only one species was affected, but apparently the
drastic temperature change in the
weather stressed the bullhead population," said Kistler. "We hope that some of
the bullheads survived, but it is a possibility that they are all dead."
Steve Engers of the Department of Natural Resources believes that the recent fish
kill might be good for Lake Valentine.
"Periodic winter kills are generally beneficial to lakes because they increase the
forage, and help the lake prevent overpopulation. I would suspect that quite a
few survived, and I am sure they will do all
right."
The Department of Natural Resources'
examination of Lake Valentine found no
indication that the lake was contaminated
with any type of toxic chemicals. "There is
nothing dangerous about Lake Valentine," Kistler said. "There were two pathogenic organisms in the fish that were
examined. One was a bacteria that is a
disease-causing agent, and the other is
still unidentified."
Because many of the bullheads that died
were mainly the younger fish, it could be
quite some time before the bullhead
population is abundant once again in
Lake Valentine. While Kistler remains
optimistic about the return of the bullheads, he commented, "It is going to
take a while for the bullhead population
to come back."