The Stetson Reporter

n u ^TloridaS \Jlde&t Colieaiate Ifewspaper April 12, 1994 Stetson University DeLand, Florida Inside TV Show Filmed on 2 SGA Wins Honor . . 3 Get a "HeadStart" . . 6 A Tribute to Graves Edmondson. . . . 8 Volume 106, Number 22 Castor slated to be commencement speaker Kathy Natella The Stetson Reporter. You might have heard a rumor that Hillary Rodham Clinton may be a possible commencement speaker for the Spring 1994 graduating class here at Stetson University, Do not be-misled. Although Rodham Clinton was extended an invitation to be the commencement speaker by Gayle LMeton, who believes the First Lady to be "an excellent role model for college women," Clinton will be unable to accept the honor. When Littleton extended the invitation, she did not realize that the University president usually gives such invitations. She had mentioned the idea to President Doug Lee, but he didn't realize she meant to follow through and was surprised to learn the invitation had been extended. He rallied to her cause, however, and wrote to the First Lady to back up the invitation once he knew about it Littleton says that the reason for Hillary Rodham Clinton's declining the invitation is still uncertain. Nonetheless, another successful woman has been invited to be the commencement speaker and has accepted the invitation, Betty Castor, the former Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida and current president of the University of South Florida, will be the 1994 speaker. Betty Castor was selected, as are all commencement speakers, through suggestions to the President and recommendations from the Honorary Degree Committee. Castor is slated to receive an honorary degree in recognition of her service to Florida education. But how do the students see the commencement speaker decision? A selection of seniors polled were generally pleased with the selection of Betty Castor. Littleton is "pleased to have her as our speaker," because she has always been "a friend to Stetson, especially as Commissioner of Education.,., She supported maintaining and Increasing the Florida Tuition Voucher, the only state subsidized educational grant/private univer sities can receive." Luis Parra also had a positive reaction to the choice of Castor. Parra said of Castor: "She stands as a role model for success in the field of education." Erin Carmichael was happy to see a female figure as fhe speaker and she felt that it was important to place education as an issue of priority. However, Ansley Yeager, while she believes that a speaker in the field of education is important, thinks that perhaps "there could be other speakers that would be more informative and motivational about post-education experiences." While Hillary Rodham Clinton's status and accomplishments as a First Lady have been commendable, Castor's contributions have also been quite impressive. Most students see the choice as a wise one on the President's part and look forward to being enlightened by Betty Castor on May 15, You might want to mark that date on your calendar, even ifyou are not graduating this May. Close election means no winners yet, run-off voting on Wednesday Tessa Crowley The Stetson Reporter. The Student Government Association held Its annual elections for the executive offices of president and vice president this past Wednesday in the Carlton Union Building. Three "tickets." pairings of presidential and vice presidential candidates, ran in the election: Kelli Donaghy and John Durrant; Dan Herron and Jeff Pointe; and Michael Holbein and Andy Whittaker. The candidates began their campaigns on March 30. The climax of the campaign occurred when an open forum featuring the candidates was held Monday, April 4, a few days prior to the election. The open forum gave candidates a chance to express their ideas and views, and it also gave the student body an opportunity to ask them questions. When it came time to vote, the student body did not overwhelmingly sup port any of the tickets, and thus Wednesday's election did not bring a final answer to the question of who next year's SGA leaders will be. According to the official election results, 591 students cast their ballots. The Holbein- Whittaker ticket received 244 votes; the Donaghy-Durrant ticket, 210 votes; and the Herron-Pointe ticket, 137. According to the SGA election rules, a candidate must receive a majority (51%) of the total votes. This would have required a ticket to have received 301 votes in order to claim victory. Since a winner could not be determined after the April 6 election, the two tickets receiving, the most votes, Donaghy- Durrant and Holbein-Whittaker, will be voted on in a run-off election to be held Wednesday, April 13 from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. in the CUB. This will finally determine who will lead Stetson's SGA for the 1994-95 year. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bush visits Stetson, shares his vision for reform 'Diane Heritage The Stetson Reporter. Jeb Bush, a Republican candidate for Florida Governor, came to Stetson on Wednesday, April 6, to share Ms plans for education reform and answer questions from Stetson students and faculty. His visit to the campus was initiated and sponsored by the Stetson College Republicans. College Republicans sponsored a recep- . tion for club members and select administrators and faculty prior to Bush's speech and question- and-answertime. Traveling along with the Bush campaign entourage to this event was Bush's son, George, named of course for his grandfather, the former President. When Bush spoke to potential supporters at both of the Stetson events his focus was mainly on his vision for education reform. Bush has major plans for the reform of the Florida education system. Statistics indicate that only a third of Florida's students receive the knowledge they need to be successful in life. Another third receive what Bush calls a "depreciated piece of paper," a diploma for the completion of a high school program with lowered standards and no core competencies. The final third don't even make it to high school graduation. Bush believes that Florida schools are failing to provide a good education for children, a failure that keeps entrepreneurs out of Florida and which leads to problems of crime and unemployment Bush said, "Imagine what the state will be like If we fix education." Bush takes a market-driven approach to education. According to Bush, "markets work." He sees market competition combined with a moral basis as the answer for education, health care, wel fare, and other issues facing the state. The first step in Bush's education reformation Includes getting rid of the. Department of Education. In Bush's estimation, the DOE includes some 2,000 employees that make thousands of rales that take away from the initiative and creativity of Florida educators, rules that mandate such things as how high ceilings must be in school buildings and how big chalkboards must be. Bush intends to reduce the DOE to a body of approximately fifty employees who would be responsible for research and development, dispersal of money, and the auditing of measurable goals. It would then- be the responsibility of the DOE to "get out of the way" and let the schools do their jobs. ; The next step in Bush's education plan would be the development of charter schools. This innovation would give charters to universities, teacher or parent groups, businesses, and others the opportunity to establish schools within pre-existing boundaries. School boards would establish measurable goals and standards for their schools. The chartered organi- zations would then be responsible to . achieve those goals or they would lose ; their charters. Suchschools would not be ; allowed to discriminate against students ; based on religion; creed, race, color, or national origin; would have to accept students on a first-come, first-served basis, and would be required to teach a certain core curriculum. \ - The third element of educational re- ' form is putting trust in the parents, ac- ' coiding to Bush. He says parents are the, "core of free and civil society." Parental participation in setting standards and giv- " ing ideas for improvement would be encouraged and considered rather than ignored by the "powers that be." In short, Bush believes in putting the resources into education and taking government out He believes that this sys- - tem will provide better education and encourage out-of-state business-people to come to Florida. "If you build it,' they will come," he reminded the audience.. Crime and welfare are two other issues that are very Important to Bush. Florida is one of the most violent states in the country. It is also one of the most regulatory states. During the governorship of Lawton Chiles, Florida's welfare rolls have doubled. Bush wants to move away from the welfare state. In his announcement for candidacy Bush said, "Our welfare system, with the best of intentions, rewards the wrong things....Welfare is trapping people into poverty, destroying families, aggravat-' ingourcrime,... We must fundamentally change our old welfare system and replace it with temporary assistance that rewards work, education, self-reliance, and individual responsibility." Bush also believes that public safety must be one of our .highest concerns. He believes' that it is -.the responsibility of the people of Florida to get their state to be stricter with criminals. He encourages people to ;petition for the Stop Turning Out Prisoners campaign which is fighting to force criminals to fulfill 85% of their sentences .rather than being released early. Bush advocates changing prison stays from soft time to hard time and getting the prisoners out to clean roads, build more prisons, and grow their own crops, while taking away the creature comforts such as weight rooms and headset radios. He wants to see that the money that is currently spent on creature comforts is directed instead to a yictims' compensation fund. Finally, Bush wants to revamp the juvenile justice system. He wants to take the system out of the hands of the social workers and HRS and give the responsibility to law enforcers. He advocates boot camps and boot camp follow-up to teach juvenile offenders the consequences of their actions so that they will think twice before they act. The primary elections will be held in September, ample time for Republican-registered voters to study the issues and vote for the gubernatorial candidate of their choice. Donaghy-Durrant Ticket Kelli Donaghy Candidate for President Sophomore/Off-campus Activities: SGA Senator, 1992-93 SGA Secretary/Treasurer, 1993-94 Intern for a political campaign, 1992 John Durrant Candidate for SGA Vice President Sophomore/Sigma Phi Epsilon House Activities: SGA Senator, 1993-94 Sigma Phi Epsilon, Vice President, 1993- 94 Holbein-Whittaker Ticket Michael Holbein Candidate for SGA President Sophomore/Alpha Tau Omega House Activities: SGA Senator, 1992-93,1993-94 SGA Academic Affairs Chairperson Circle K Alpha Tau Omega, Pledge Class Vice President, Secretary Forensics Team Andy Whittaker Candidate for SGA Vice President Freshman/Phi Sigma Kappa House Activities: SGA Senator, 1993-94 SGA Community Affairs Chairperson SAFAC Member University Campus Life Committee Phi Sigma Kappa, Fund Raising Chairperson, Alumni Relations Chairperson Crew Team, 1993 VOTE: Run-off election ' Wednesday, April 13 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. in the CUB