Clarion 1976-11-12 Vol 52 No 10 Page 1 |
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Breaks — an important part of maintenance men's day Clarion Bethel College St. Paul, MN November 12, 1976 Dean Brushaber met with students last week to discuss campus issues Grounds. From his leadership the maintenance men have gleaned a simple perspective of their job. "Anything goes wrong, we fix it," said Reuben Johnson, resi-dent locksmith and all-around mechanic. Fellow shop workers with Reuben are George Olson and Morris Sanborn, heating engi-neers. Lighthearted Morrie says of his work among the boilers and air conditioning system, "I don't need the money — I'm just here to wear old clothes!" Camaraderie reigns as maintenance men labor for Bethel by Kathleen Asselin At the designated coffee break time of 9:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. on weekdays, most students are in class, studying in the library, or passing a free hour in the coffee shop. However, down in the depths of Bethel's basement and in the far reaches of the maintenance shop, a friendly crew gathers to share their fifteen minute breaks. Reminiscient of King Arthur's knights, as many as sixteen maintenance personnel assemble about the break room table (rectangular, not round). A large black and white television resides over the gathering, a multi-colored weaving from Guatemala announcing "The Bethel mainte-nance department" hangs on the wall, and the general mood is festive. Charlie Backlund, Bethel's plumber, and Harold Watkins, the electrician, and Stan Gunderson, mechanical engineer, round out the shop crew. (Harold is notori-ous as the local flirt.) Custodians Keith Tekautz and Carl Macke are well-known faces around the school buildings. Keith, the human whirlwind, always has a friendly comment or joke for everybody. His cohort, Carl, enjoys the "liberty to go ahead and work hard" in a Christian institution like Bethel. Jim Woods, the Custodial Supervisor, handles the adminis-trative work, according to secre-tary Jane Carns. His range of responsibilities includes super-vising student maintenance workers, lining up helpers for special events, and keeping faculty, staff, and houseparents happy when offices and dorms aren't as clean as they should be. While the Seminary buildings Clearing the grounds — another task for maintenance crew have their own custodian, Bill Carlson, and Old Campus enjoys the special attention of custodi-ans Eric Kammuyer and Ernie Bliss, and carpenter Charles Peterman, the other maintenance men cover the three campuses. Eric Borgeson, who claims 50 years of service for the Baptist General Conference, retired this past summer. However, the smil-ing Swede still visits the Old Campus "just out of habit," according to Jane Carns. Out on the grounds, Cliff Erickson, Roger Staven, and Don DeJung insist that they are "making the New Campus more beautiful every day." Festival of Christmas is the next big event for the groundskeepers as well as the choirs, according to Don DeJung. "We have Christmas trees to cut down in the nursery back of the East Townhouses," he said, "and wood to chop for the fireplaces in the rec rooms." Don graduated last year from Bethel, majoring in social work. Says Cliff: "Now he's being social to the grass." Security personnel Jim Wal-cott, Dick Barany, Tom Steller, and Hideo Nishihata along with Night Crew Supervisor John Peterson missed out on the gallon of peppermint bon-bon ice cream shared at last Friday's afternoon coffee break. One of the merry maintenance men said that the grounds people found money for the treat. ("They raked up 'green lettuce' this morning.") After sampling the dessert, I think it's just further evidence of the camaraderie of the mainte-nance crew. The TV reigns during their noon lunch break, according to Verne Anderson, Bethel's carpenter and painter ("depends on which hat I'm wearing"). "I Dream of Jeannie" is the noontime show of shows. "Great therapy," commented Verne. Groundskeeper Cliff Erickson agreed, "Sometimes we even forget to eat." Head honcho for the depart-ment is Glen Hayne, Superin-tendent of Buildings and Student questioners grill Dean Brushaber in open forum by Bill Trollinger Wednesday, Nov. 3 was the first in a possible series of Student Administration forums. Students had a chance to ask Dean Brushaber questions about problems here on campus. In a lively 90-minute give-and-take session, Brushaber inter-acted with a fluctuating group of 50-75 students about faculty salaries, enrollment, housing, and interim (to mention a few of the areas covered). 'Acknowledging that we cannot reprint a transcript of the forum, the following are representative excerpts from that session. Student: Have teacher salaries gone up in proportion to tuition hikes and cost-of-living increas-es? Brushaber: Our first goal is to try and match inflation. In this we have been successful over the past five years, because salaries have gone up 0.1 per cent in respect to inflation rises. Yet, I think that in terms of the quality of the faculty that we have here at Bethel, teachers should be get-ting paid more. I am concerned that we do better in this area. Student: What about the seem-ing prevalence of part-time teach-ers? Brushaber: We have increased the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty since I have been here. Also, I do feel that sometimes a part-time teacher who is a practitioner of what he teaches is good. Still, I realize that we need to consolidate our faculty situa-tion here. Student: What is the student-faculty ratio here? Brushaber: It is 18 to 1 here at Bethel. This compares favorably to 23 to 1 at Gordon College and 17 to 1 at Wheaton College. But this really is a bogus statistic. Other areas are much more important to examine. One is the faculty-advisee ratio, which is much more important. Also, we need to look at individual departments. For instance, we realize that both the business and economics departments are un-derstaffed, and we are working to correct this. Student: Where is the cutoff point? Where is the point at which the quality of education and community drops so much that the enrollment must be halted? Brushaber: I'm not prepared to say that the quality has gone down. In fact, I feel it has gone up. But your question is still a good one. The problem is that is is a different point for different students in different areas. There is no hard and fast rule that a certain point in enrollment is good or bad for everyone. But there are certain barome-ters that we must watch in terms of enrollment limits. One is retention rate. Another is in terms of student morale. We must watch these closely and not be flippant about the problem. About the morale here at Bethel. Last year we gave a certain percentage of the stu-dents a standardized test, called the CUES test, which measures the campus environment. In terms of student morale, in terms of students' opinions of faculty and the quality of education, Bethel rates higher than 80 per cent of the colleges in the nation. And this is one side of the issue that should have been mentioned in the Clarion. Student: Still, isn't there a point at which the actual facilities are so crowded that we have to stop enrollment increases? Brushaber: Yes, I'm sure there is, but I don't know where that point is. I wish I knew where that magic number was. Student: With the addition of this new annex can the present facilities hold 2000? Brushaber: Not really. The annex should have been built when we had 1600 students. But we're caught in that trap where you never fully catch up, where you are always behind. Student: What about the serious housing shortage? Brushaber: We have plans for residence halls by the tennis courts to be done by Sept. 1. It will take a miracle for them to get done, but we've got to try. Student: How did the housing situation get to the point where it is now? Brushaber: That is a tough question. We are still paying for the years of huge enrollment increases: 1972, 1973, 1974. We had a choice: whether to commit to Nob Hill or to bring students together in "three in a room" at Old Campus. We decided that the crowded situa-tion was better than the isolation of Nob Hill. Student: What about the married students' housing situation? Brushaber: We are working toward Constructing apartments here on campus or purchasing apartments to rent to married students. Dr. Nettleton is work-ing very hard in this area. (Note: A question was raised about Interim fees, but this is covered on page 6 of the Clarion).
Object Description
Description
Title | Clarion 1976-11-12 Vol 52 No 10 Page 1 |
Edition (Vol. No.) | Vol. 52 No. 10 |
Date Published | November 12 1976 |
Decade | 1970 |
Academic Year | 1976 - 1977 |
Frequency | Weekly |
Digital Publisher | Bethel University |
Transcript | Breaks — an important part of maintenance men's day Clarion Bethel College St. Paul, MN November 12, 1976 Dean Brushaber met with students last week to discuss campus issues Grounds. From his leadership the maintenance men have gleaned a simple perspective of their job. "Anything goes wrong, we fix it," said Reuben Johnson, resi-dent locksmith and all-around mechanic. Fellow shop workers with Reuben are George Olson and Morris Sanborn, heating engi-neers. Lighthearted Morrie says of his work among the boilers and air conditioning system, "I don't need the money — I'm just here to wear old clothes!" Camaraderie reigns as maintenance men labor for Bethel by Kathleen Asselin At the designated coffee break time of 9:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. on weekdays, most students are in class, studying in the library, or passing a free hour in the coffee shop. However, down in the depths of Bethel's basement and in the far reaches of the maintenance shop, a friendly crew gathers to share their fifteen minute breaks. Reminiscient of King Arthur's knights, as many as sixteen maintenance personnel assemble about the break room table (rectangular, not round). A large black and white television resides over the gathering, a multi-colored weaving from Guatemala announcing "The Bethel mainte-nance department" hangs on the wall, and the general mood is festive. Charlie Backlund, Bethel's plumber, and Harold Watkins, the electrician, and Stan Gunderson, mechanical engineer, round out the shop crew. (Harold is notori-ous as the local flirt.) Custodians Keith Tekautz and Carl Macke are well-known faces around the school buildings. Keith, the human whirlwind, always has a friendly comment or joke for everybody. His cohort, Carl, enjoys the "liberty to go ahead and work hard" in a Christian institution like Bethel. Jim Woods, the Custodial Supervisor, handles the adminis-trative work, according to secre-tary Jane Carns. His range of responsibilities includes super-vising student maintenance workers, lining up helpers for special events, and keeping faculty, staff, and houseparents happy when offices and dorms aren't as clean as they should be. While the Seminary buildings Clearing the grounds — another task for maintenance crew have their own custodian, Bill Carlson, and Old Campus enjoys the special attention of custodi-ans Eric Kammuyer and Ernie Bliss, and carpenter Charles Peterman, the other maintenance men cover the three campuses. Eric Borgeson, who claims 50 years of service for the Baptist General Conference, retired this past summer. However, the smil-ing Swede still visits the Old Campus "just out of habit," according to Jane Carns. Out on the grounds, Cliff Erickson, Roger Staven, and Don DeJung insist that they are "making the New Campus more beautiful every day." Festival of Christmas is the next big event for the groundskeepers as well as the choirs, according to Don DeJung. "We have Christmas trees to cut down in the nursery back of the East Townhouses," he said, "and wood to chop for the fireplaces in the rec rooms." Don graduated last year from Bethel, majoring in social work. Says Cliff: "Now he's being social to the grass." Security personnel Jim Wal-cott, Dick Barany, Tom Steller, and Hideo Nishihata along with Night Crew Supervisor John Peterson missed out on the gallon of peppermint bon-bon ice cream shared at last Friday's afternoon coffee break. One of the merry maintenance men said that the grounds people found money for the treat. ("They raked up 'green lettuce' this morning.") After sampling the dessert, I think it's just further evidence of the camaraderie of the mainte-nance crew. The TV reigns during their noon lunch break, according to Verne Anderson, Bethel's carpenter and painter ("depends on which hat I'm wearing"). "I Dream of Jeannie" is the noontime show of shows. "Great therapy," commented Verne. Groundskeeper Cliff Erickson agreed, "Sometimes we even forget to eat." Head honcho for the depart-ment is Glen Hayne, Superin-tendent of Buildings and Student questioners grill Dean Brushaber in open forum by Bill Trollinger Wednesday, Nov. 3 was the first in a possible series of Student Administration forums. Students had a chance to ask Dean Brushaber questions about problems here on campus. In a lively 90-minute give-and-take session, Brushaber inter-acted with a fluctuating group of 50-75 students about faculty salaries, enrollment, housing, and interim (to mention a few of the areas covered). 'Acknowledging that we cannot reprint a transcript of the forum, the following are representative excerpts from that session. Student: Have teacher salaries gone up in proportion to tuition hikes and cost-of-living increas-es? Brushaber: Our first goal is to try and match inflation. In this we have been successful over the past five years, because salaries have gone up 0.1 per cent in respect to inflation rises. Yet, I think that in terms of the quality of the faculty that we have here at Bethel, teachers should be get-ting paid more. I am concerned that we do better in this area. Student: What about the seem-ing prevalence of part-time teach-ers? Brushaber: We have increased the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty since I have been here. Also, I do feel that sometimes a part-time teacher who is a practitioner of what he teaches is good. Still, I realize that we need to consolidate our faculty situa-tion here. Student: What is the student-faculty ratio here? Brushaber: It is 18 to 1 here at Bethel. This compares favorably to 23 to 1 at Gordon College and 17 to 1 at Wheaton College. But this really is a bogus statistic. Other areas are much more important to examine. One is the faculty-advisee ratio, which is much more important. Also, we need to look at individual departments. For instance, we realize that both the business and economics departments are un-derstaffed, and we are working to correct this. Student: Where is the cutoff point? Where is the point at which the quality of education and community drops so much that the enrollment must be halted? Brushaber: I'm not prepared to say that the quality has gone down. In fact, I feel it has gone up. But your question is still a good one. The problem is that is is a different point for different students in different areas. There is no hard and fast rule that a certain point in enrollment is good or bad for everyone. But there are certain barome-ters that we must watch in terms of enrollment limits. One is retention rate. Another is in terms of student morale. We must watch these closely and not be flippant about the problem. About the morale here at Bethel. Last year we gave a certain percentage of the stu-dents a standardized test, called the CUES test, which measures the campus environment. In terms of student morale, in terms of students' opinions of faculty and the quality of education, Bethel rates higher than 80 per cent of the colleges in the nation. And this is one side of the issue that should have been mentioned in the Clarion. Student: Still, isn't there a point at which the actual facilities are so crowded that we have to stop enrollment increases? Brushaber: Yes, I'm sure there is, but I don't know where that point is. I wish I knew where that magic number was. Student: With the addition of this new annex can the present facilities hold 2000? Brushaber: Not really. The annex should have been built when we had 1600 students. But we're caught in that trap where you never fully catch up, where you are always behind. Student: What about the serious housing shortage? Brushaber: We have plans for residence halls by the tennis courts to be done by Sept. 1. It will take a miracle for them to get done, but we've got to try. Student: How did the housing situation get to the point where it is now? Brushaber: That is a tough question. We are still paying for the years of huge enrollment increases: 1972, 1973, 1974. We had a choice: whether to commit to Nob Hill or to bring students together in "three in a room" at Old Campus. We decided that the crowded situa-tion was better than the isolation of Nob Hill. Student: What about the married students' housing situation? Brushaber: We are working toward Constructing apartments here on campus or purchasing apartments to rent to married students. Dr. Nettleton is work-ing very hard in this area. (Note: A question was raised about Interim fees, but this is covered on page 6 of the Clarion). |
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