The Edinboro Administration Council has announced that as of April 1, they will allow students to have an unlimited amount of excused absences for the rest of the semester.
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The Edinboro Administration Council has announced that as of April 1, they will allow students to have an unlimited amount of excused absences for the rest of the semester.
“We’ve learned from past semesters that when the weather is nice and the sun is out, students tend to skip class anyway,” said Robert McCluder, head of the council.
“We discussed different options and came to the conclusion that it’s unfair to force students to stay in class when they’d rather be enjoying the outdoors,” McCluder explained.
However, in order to give students credit for the class, the council couldn’t say that they weren’t required to show up for class, said Michael Munchie, the secretary for the council.
After weeks of meetings, discussions, debates, and compromises, the council decided that the only way that this could be made possible was through eliminating the limit of excused absences, said McCluder.
The coucil based its decision on a number of points, according to Wendy Wright, a member of the council and professor of sociology at Edinboro.
“Not every student learns the same way,” she explained. “Some learn best by taking notes, while others prefer to just listen to a lecture. Then there’s the group that doesn’t get anything from the class and learns everything on their own.”
The council also sees the benefit of allowing students to have more free time in their day, Wright pointed out.
“Students seem to be more relaxed if they don’t have to be in class every day,” she said. “If we don’t require them to be in class, except for tests, then that gives them more time to work at their own pace, improve their grade, and actually learn something from the class.”
Mark McKenzie, a psychology professor at the university, said that he sees the benefits that this will have on the students, professors, and the overall grading system of the university.
“Everyone is wired differently and no one learns the same way,” he said. “But, in taking away the limits on excused absences, professors and students alike will find learning to be enjoyable for all.”
Students won’t have to worry about getting up too early for classes, McKenzie stated.
They’ll most likely become less stressed when they don’t have the extra burden of trying to get to class on time when they’re in the middle of working on an assignment,.
Then there are the professors. McKenzie says that he has noticed that several of his students seem to use his class as a napping period. “I’m hoping that when we give students an unlimited amount of excused absences, there will be less of a problem of sleeping in class.”
Clarice Lee, a senior majoring in speech and hearing, said she was surprised about the new policy, “I can’t believe they’re actually giving us an opportunity to skip class without getting in trouble for it,” she said.
But it’s no joke according to secretary for Student Affairs, Margaret Jones. “It’s a legitimate rule now,” she said. “The council has listened to students complaints and reasons behind skipping classes once spring weather hits. This goes to show that when enough students speak up and present their case well, they can make a change that is beneficial to all.”
(Disclaimer – None of the information in this article is factual)
–Anna Tielmann (Taken from The Spectator Vol. 3, Issue 21)
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Sightings of a massive, black creature with a long neck and a large, humped back was reported in Edinboro Lake last Monday at 7:30 a.m.
“It certainly wasn’t any type of fish that I’ve ever seen,” said Stanley Yelnats, a 56-year-old local fisherman who was out in his boat early that morning.
Yelnats said that he had been fishing for about an hour, when a disturbance in the water caught his attention.
“Directly in the center of the lake, a large bubble appears, then another, then another. Just as I was reaching to start my motor up, I saw this large, reptile-like head come right up out of the bubbles,” Yelnats described.
“Then, at least 50 feet behind it, a huge lump of what must’ve been its back appeared above the water,” Yelnats said. “This thing was huge.”
Yelnats said that he grew up in Edinboro and has been fishing on Edinboro Lake for as long as he can remember and nothing this big has ever been spotted.
“I didn’t think the lake was deep enough to contain something of that size,” Yelnats said. “I’m just glad my boat wasn’t right on top of it when it decided to surface.”
Lavender Brown, a junior sociology major at Edinboro University, said she was walking her German Shepherd, Duke, along the lake when she noticed something strange.
“One minute the water was calm and peaceful, and then the next thing I know, large bubbles appear out in the middle and this long black thing stuck straight up out of the water,” she said.
She didn’t get a second look because Duke started barking and yanking on the leash.
“Duke hardly ever barks,” Brown said. “So, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t hallucinating whatever I saw out there.”
Bob Cratchit, a 30-year-old mechanic from Edinboro, and his seven-year-old son, Tim Cratchit say that they too saw something big out in the lake when they were fishing there sometime early Monday morning.
“I was baiting my son’s hook when he started jumping up and down and tugging on my arm, shouting, ‘Dad! Look!’” Cratchit said. “I looked out at the lake and there was what looked to be a long neck and, behind it, a huge lump of a back just floating on top of the water.”
Cratchit shook his head and laughed, “I want to say that it looked like a long-neck dinosaur, but then you’d think I was crazy. But I really can’t explain it any other way.”
Amy Price, a 36-year-old local marine biologist, said that there have been similar sightings reported over at Loch Ness, Scotland, which could add to the truth of the possible sightings in Edinboro Lake. “There have been reports of either three black humps or a long dinosaur neck rising above the water surface, or both in some instances,” she said.
“The only explanation that I can think of is that there could be a smaller version of the Loch Ness Monster located here in Edinboro,” Price said. “There has been evidence that some dinosaurs do still exist, so there could be a good possibility that what these people have seen could be a surviving giant from the past.”
(Disclaimer – None of the information is this article is factual)
–Anna Tielmann (Taken from The Spectator Vol 3, Issue 21)
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QUEENS COUNTY, NY – Harry Houdini has done it again.
A small crowd of people quickly gathered as the 137-year-old escape artist slowly dug himself out of his grave in Machpelah Cemetery in Queens County, N.Y. on March 24.
Toby Bayside, one of the young men who helped in digging Houdini out, said he just stood in one spot for several minutes after Houdini had emerged.
“I thought it was one of those Halloween hands that people use for decorations,” he said. “But after I grabbed it, it was very obvious that there was someone attached to that hand.”
Questions buzzed through the air as hundreds of onlookers saw Houdini standing before them, a little pale and weak, but very much alive.
“It went according to plan,” chuckled Houdini as he dusted himself off and took several deep breaths.
“Now, I don’t want to give away all the details,” Houdini said with a smile when asked about how he had planned this escape. He did say that he had a bronze casket made for a new death-defying act that he was going to perform sometime in 1927.
Houdini was going to be placed in a strait jacket, sealed in the casket and then buried in a tank full of sand. But he said that he was unable to perform this act because, in 1967, Houdini supposedly died of peritonitis, a result of a ruptured appendix.
This death-defying escape act was very similar to his first “buried alive” stunt, noted Longfellow Hana, a Houdini expert from New York City.
In Santa Ana, Calif., in 1917, Houdini was buried six feet underground, without a casket, and nearly died from the effort of digging himself out, Hana said.
But, Houdini said that it was his second “buried alive” stunt that helped him the most.
On August 5, 1926, Houdini was placed in a sealed casket under water in a swimming pool for an hour and a half. Just by controlling his breathing he was able to endure and complete that feat.
“It has everything to do with controlled breathing,” Houdini explained. Refusing to discuss anymore details about how he pulled off this feat, the magician smiled, “This is what I’ve been looking forward to all these years: the expressions on people’s faces when I rise again out of my grave,” he said.
—April Fools 🙂
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