By KATHY JORDAN,
EDITOR, CUB EDITION

Due to the recent Student Council elections the idea of an Open Campus at Maine West has been brought out into the open. In the school improvement seminars, forums, in lunch, anywhere that students gather, Open Campus is being discussed. But what actually is Open Campus?

I see Open Campus as involving three main issues: freedom to leave the building and/or campus during lunch, abolishment of the hall pass system, and the replacement of non-mandatory study halls with PAR or the freedom to leave the campus. Students must attend all classes but before, after, or in between they are on their own. Some say that this would encourage individuality and ensure responsibility. People could more easily find jobs that fit into their class schedules. Others say that it would kill the already dwindling school spirit at Maine West and be harmful to the extracurricular clubs, forums, and student government.

Many students are seeking this change through the Student Council. Council has already taken a step toward this goal in their outside lunch plan. This is not a feeble attempt at Open Campus, as man

people believe, but rather a necessary prerequisite to it. The students are the only ones who can assure the administration that they are responsible enough to handle the freedom of an outside lunch. Then if this privilege is not abused, it may lead to an open lunch where students can leave the campus. This presents a problem in that more than one lunch period is needed to leave the campus, eat, and get back in time for your next class.

Change usually comes slowly and is many times reversed after it has been tried. Other schools in our area are now attempting the change over to Open Campus. By waiting to see the results of their experiment, maybe Maine West can avoid the same mistakes and pick up a few good points, too. If this change of Open Campus is well thought out and not hastily enforced, it has a much better chance of succeeding. No matter how much a student is in favor of an Open Campus he must realize the problems it entails. It is a complete change of thought and curriculum.

I hope that this article has given an approximate view of Open Campus and impressed upon you the idea of slow, but determined progress rather than the irrational and unorganized idea of Open Campus NOW