UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1934-11-16_Page-028

1+. Proposed Sale of Part of College Campus: The action of the Trustees that, because of financial difficulties, a large slice of the active, working College campus should be sold rather than a slice of the idle suburban property, crowned the storm which had already brok-en on the unfortunate College. With the missionary enterprise in general in such dire straits, with philanthropic giving to causes abroad reduced, and in the light of our own scholt stic and financial predicament, it was a highly questionable policy to talk about retaining a suburban site and creating thereon a completely new College equipment and a student body within the next ten years. This decision to cut into the limited physical equipment of the College in its present hour of extremity makes any possible plans for recovery on the present site across the next ten years much more difficult. FACULTY'S ACTIONS TO SAVE THE SITUATION: In the face of such difficulties as outlined above, the College Faculty has worked energetically to save the breaking ship. Specifically the following things have been done: 1. The Faculty Members Carried Increased Loads: It has been necessary to load up some of the members of our staff with schedules which cannot be carried satisfactorily. When men must take such a large number of class periods that nothing but the minimum of routine preparation is possible for them, then the result is poor teaching. The damage done to the work of such an important department as English Language by this policy is clearly shown in Mr. Howard's report, with its list of English activities which have been abandoned. However, under the present stress there is nothing that can be done about the matter. "ext year will demand still further increases in loads, so that the routine program may be carried on. 2. The Faculty Adopted an Adviser System: Despite the increase of teaching loads the Faculty kept its mission-ary ideals high by heartily adopting an Adviser System to make more effective personal contacts between teachers and students. Every student was assigned to some member of the staff, both Americans and Egyptians cooperating in the plan. Office hours were posted, interviews held, and monthly report cards distributed personally by advisers rather than impersonally from the Registrar's office. As a result, hundreds of personal contacts that had not hitherto been possible came into existence. No longer was any student able to say that noone paid any personal attention to him. Even if nothing else had been done but distribute the monthly cards through the advisers, this foundition bond of per-sonal interest would have been created. But in addition to the hundreds of contacts resulting from this one feature of the system alone, the adviser's reports record a variety of other definite accomplishments such as discovering the need of and pressing until glasses were actually secured, helping in the settlement of a personal qu.rrel, discussing with the girl students their per-sonal problems, improving the study habits of a failing student, advising on the possibilities of foreign study, advising on the problem of masturbation, launching a student in a much needed athletic program, getting a student with very bad teeth into the hands of a dentist, correcting a bad attitude held by a student toward his teachers, helping a maladjusted, conservative student, 4