The Griffin: volume 57, issue 03 - Sept. 26, 1986

              Canisius Questions Validity of Buffalo Schools' Teacher Test by Kevin Saville However, Albert Thompson, deputy schools superintendent for the city, told The Griffin Wednesday that the Board has not had any problems with the information provided by the ap- Fr. Ryan's claim of inaccurate figures stems from the Board of Education's refusal to release the names or graduation dates of the teachers test applicants. Fr. Ryan said the figures are misleading because the Board did not verify the information on the test-takers' applications with the College. The state, said Fr. Ryan, does release this information. Rev. Edmund G. Ryan, S.J., executive vice president for academic affairs, also questioned the validity of the controversial test based on a sizable discrepancy in the pass/fail rates of the city test and the National Teacher Exam, which is administered by the state. All but one of the 27 Canisius graduates who took this year's state exam passed, according to Fr. Ryan. 'The national test is redone every year," said Fr. Ryan. "It has a great deal of validity and reliability." Figures released by the Buffalo Board of Education indicating that 37 percent of Canisius graduates who took last year's city teachers exam failed the test are "inaccurate," College officials said Monday. Despite some rumors concerning a pickpocket and someone with a concealed weapon, there were no other problems with security, nor were there demonstrations such as those at last year's visit by G. Gordon Liddy. nent address. In addition to uniformed public safety officers, Puma stated that two policemen from the Erie County Sheriff's Department helped with security. According to Puma, the man had a previous criminal record, but gave no perma- "He saw some people (an overflow crowd of about 900) in the building (Student Center) and was probably attracted by the action," Puma said. whereupon he was found to have one marijuana joint in his possession. by Dave Hibbard An unidentified black man was arrested and Drug Arrest at Shevchenko Lecture charged with trespassing and possession of a controlled substance last Wednesday just prior to the William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture, given by diplomatic defector Arkady Shevchenko in the Student Center Auditorium. According to Samuel G. Puma, director of public safety at Canisius, the man was stopped at the auditorium entrance by Public Safety officers because "he was dressed like a real dirtbag." When asked for identification, the man told the officers that he didn't have any. He then said he was "just jogging around the building." After discovering that he was not a student, the man was searched, Additionally, the station will be hosting a variety of programs on the air. As in previous years, Canisius basketball games can be heard on WCCG, and this year, for the first time, The larger staff will enable the station to better handle its extended programming an additional five hours per day. With this additional airtime, WCCG will be heard Sunday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the campus airwaves. The station will also be operating under extended hours this year, with a much larger staff than ever before. The staff includes almost 75 disc jockeys and a host of other personnel. The program is divided into various sections, such as news, sports, and music, with each section possessing its own supervising director. played is a direct attempt to satisfy more listeners and create a better image for itself in the process. The radio station, operating under general nanager Paul O'Grady '87 and program director Phil Martino '88, has made several changes that will enable it to serve the college community better than in previous years. The radio station's new format will be its most noticeable change. The station will be moving away from its characteristic "hard rock" format of recent years, and will be utilizing a new format that emphasizes the programming of a diversity of musical styles. The wider range of music that is an integral facet of WCCG's programming will include punk, reggae, classical, rock, country and local music The move to broaden the scope of music by Joseph Cane WCCG, Canisius' official radio station, is currently on the air and operating with a new format, new program director, and various new ideas this year. Senate Debates Allocation to CCTV agreed with Kohler and added that CCTV is just starting out and can look for more money next year. O'Connor replied, "If you want to see a club like CCTV start to function, we have to give them a start." In addition, he emphasized that the senate could afford the allocation if it removed funds from its contingency, a surplus of approximately $13,000 available to the senate if it runs overbudget.On the subject of contigency, Kohler responded, "I think we should be real careful (cont'd on page 2) by Molly McCarthy Tuesday's meeting of the Undergraduate Student Association Senate concentrated on the approval of further budget allocations toward student clubs. The senate's blanket approval of allocations was stalled when an amendment was raised to give CCTV an additional $2,000 in tax funds. CCTV, the College's television station, requested $8,980 from the finance committee. The club hoped to purchase a television camera, video recorder and batteries with the funds. Instead, the finance committee approved $1,000 for a tri-pod, video-tapes and operating expenses: CCTV would then be forced to borrow the video equipment from the television studio. After a motion was made to approve the finance committee's allocation, Sen. Bob O'Connor '87, requested an amendment be instituted to supply the additional funds to CCTV's allocation. Sen. Doug Kohler '88, began discussion of the amendment with the opinion that the senate cannot afford this expenditure at the moment. Jim Greco '88, USA treasurer, Campus Programming Board Chairman Keith O'Donnell '87, fields a question during Tuesday's senate hearing in the Frisch Conference Room. ph"'" by n,M flynn WCCG Returns to College Airwaves Under New Format Canisius hockey games can also be heard. WCCG will be sponsoring a political affairs callin talk show on Monday nights. This show will be hosted by George J. Lodick III '89, and will be held from 8-9 pm. Request shows will air on Tuesdays from 4-5:30 p.m. and 9-11 p.m. and on Thursdays from 4-5:30 p.m. The request shows will be an important part of the station's format and will enable them to, as Martino stated, "help pinpoint the kind of music the average college student wants to hear, so that we can try to meet everyone's needs." Requests will also be taken by the station at X632 anytime the station is on the air. News shows will also take up a notable portion of WCCG's airtime, running every hour, from 8:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. daily. News director Mary Jonotta noted that the shows, which (cont'd on page 3) ***** imH| •**—" HE vp T** 1 •* M (8) THE GRIFFIN Serving The College Community VOLUME LVII, NUMBER 3 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1986 Thompson added that if a situation occurred in which an applicant provided false information, the Board would not hire that individual. plicants. "On checking, we find that the applicants have accurately indicated where they attended college," Thompson said. "We have no reason to believe that the applicants falsely indicated that." "It's well known the city is struggling for good teachers'' — Dr. Jerome L. Neuner Thompson, however, says the exam is fair. "We believe the test is valid and serves the purpose for which we want." Both Fr. Ryan and his assistant, Dr. Jerome L. Neuner, claim that the controversy surrounding the city teacher test is due to bad administrative practices of the Board of Education. "It's well known that the city is struggling for good teachers," said Neuner. "They (Board of Education) were in a rush to justify their hiring procedures so they grabbed the quickest test they could find."