Campus briefs

Journalists to speak on Mexican drug war

A group of journalists who have reported on the drug cartels and killings near the Mexican-United States border will be on campus tomorrow night to share their experiences with students.

The discussion, titled, "Journalism on the Border," will cover topics such as the war on drugs, its effects on border communities and the implications of violence for border journalism and U.S. national security.

The group includes reporters from Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Belo TV, El Norte de Ciudad Juarez and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The event is sponsored by the communication department, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Office of Multicultural Learning, among others.

The event starts at 6 p.m. with a reception, and the talk will follow at 7 p.m. in the Wiegand Room in Art and Sciences.

Course evaluations go electronic

Course evaluations can be added to the long list of things students use their eCampus account for, Provost Lucia Gilbert announced in an e-mail to the campus community earlier this week.

In the e-mail, Gilbert explained that students will no longer be given paper versions of course evaluations.

Instead, they will need to log onto eCampus during the last week of classes in order to give feedback.

Students that fill out the evaluation before the beginning of finals week will receive their grades as they're posted.

Those who do not complete all evaluations will not be able to see their grades until after the final grading period ends.

"We believe you'll find this new process more convenient and more effective," Gilbert wrote in the e-mail. "Other institutions that have moved to online evaluations report high levels of student satisfaction with the process."

Students will receive one e-mail for each class they are enrolled in. The e-mail will contain a link to the course evaluation page on eCampus.

Gilbert assured students that complete confidentiality will be maintained.

Like before, professors will not have access to the forms until after the final deadline for submitting grades.

From staff reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.