Founder's Day, Multnomah's anniversary celebration, is canceled this year. "Founder's Day was going to be an annual celebration, but a few things got in the way," alumni director, Chris Repsold explained.

The first obstacle was timing. Most alumni had their reunions in the middle of the summer and there wasn't enough time or money to schedule any more events, he said.

Conflicting schedules also were a problem. The inauguration of Multnomah's new president, Dr. Dan Lockwood, was Sept. 28, the Sunday before the anniversary, and the school didn't want to take attention away from that, Repsold said. Also, the auction was scheduled for the same weekend as Founder's Day, so the gym was unavailable.

Oct. 5, 1996, marked the 60th anniversary of Multnomah Bible College and the first Founder's Day. More than 100 alumni attended the festivities.

From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. alumni enjoyed devotion and praise led by David Needham and Miriam Gibby. Class reunions were held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by a presentation of music, magic and other talents by the staff and students.

Also scheduled were a soccer game against George Fox, a memoribila display in the library, and a barbecue picnic. The day ended with a praise celebration from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Founder's Day hasn't been canceled altogether, but is now planned to be held every five years, Repsold said. "This way more people can attend, and we can spend more money on it," he said. The next Founder's Day will be in 2001.

--by Suzy Baruth

Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary will implement a new grading system that replaces the five letter-grade categories with 12 smaller plus-and-minus grade increments.

The college and seminary faculties approved the new grade scale last year, and the registrar's office expects it to be in place for this semester's final grades.

"It's a customary grading scale that many colleges and universities are using," registrar Joyce Kehoe said. "This standard is pretty uniform in the West, and it seemed best to stay with one that matches our state and Washington."

Both "A" and "F" grades will maintain their current value (4.0 and 0, respectively). There will be no "A+," "F+" or "F-." There will be "A-." Grades "B," "C" and "D" will each be divided into base, plus and minus categories, with three-tenths of a point between increments. The new scale will be figured into a student's previous grades, and there will be no change in past work.

Miss Kehoe said Multnomah faculty voted to adopt the new grading system because it gives them greater precision in evaluating student performance.

"For me, it's a good change," said Daniel Scalberg, history professor. "I've designed the course requirements so there's a significant percentage difference between, for example, a "C+" and a "C-"; it can be as much as 10 percentage points in an overall grade. Someone who earns a 10 percent higher score should receive some recognition for it."

--by Beth McNeil