The Stetson Reporter

S. -T. E ~T_S _Q N .. -U _N. I JV.JE R~S JLJL_Y Z © last issue | This is the final issue of The Reporter's 111th year of publication. The paper will resume publication next academic year, on Wednesday, Aug. 25 — the first day of classes. The paper will be headed by the next editor-in-chief, Jeff Hamrick, who will be leading the talented team of writers and artists that bring you The Reporter each week. Thanks for contributing and reading this year. wed 28 a p r ...9 9 issue 25 volume 111 BEEN by julie gowan | This spring, university administrators fundamentally changed the way that athletes and athlete-scholars are awarded their scholarships. Last year, three administrators proposed a change : in the'way athletic scholarships are dis- ■ tributed. The administrators — Director of Student Financial Planning Doug Minter, Dean of Admissions Mary Napier, and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeff Altier — wanted the coaches to have more involvement in the process. The Department of Student Financial Planning is still overseeing all the decisions, though. According to Altier, the new process is "bringing the coaches and Doug Minter closer." "There is a more developed relationship and the coaches don't have to go through so many loops to propose a package to an athlete who they think will excel and do well at Stetson," said Altier. Every scholarship issued still requires the signatures of the head coach, Minter, and Altier. "I still ultimately have responsibility in the end to manage the financial aid budget for the student athlete. The program...has changed the working relationship between my office and the coaches," said Minter. "We collaborate together more often and [we] get to know their budget inside and out." "The intent of the scholarship is [to encourage athletes to] strive for athletic excellence...that is what the award is for," said Altier. "The change we had proposed to the Enrollment Management Committee was to evaluate awards...and see if there was some way we could redefine the awards to allow us to be more competitive within the conference, to allow us to maintain the.distribution of funds and the number of athletes in the program, as well as...[maintain] the same academic quality that we have," said Altier. Altier originally wanted to include all- sports, but the committee agreed to have a three-year pilot program starting with the men's and women's tennis and soccer teams. One of the hardest things for the Athletic Department is finding and retaining good coaches, said Altier. Many coaches know that the scholarship level is well below the conference average. -' ' ' "For example in men and women's soccer, coaches have a limit of four and a half scholarships, whereas the conference average is just over eight. Coaches know walking into Stetson they have half of the resources of their competitors," said Altier. According to Altier, the new pilot program will boost the average number of scholarships to right below the conference average. The teams will still be required, though, to maintain a full roster. The soccer team, for example, must maintain a team of 26 players. During the pilot program "the Enrollment [Management] Committee will be evaluating the players to see if they are maintaining their academic excellence, and competitiveness within our conference," said Altier. "It [the program] will be evaluated annually ... My ultimate goal is to be highly competitive in our conference," said Altier. Altier looked at the two sports — excluding men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball — and focused on the sports that had been successful in the classroom and on the field. Men and women's soccer and tennis were the best choices; according to Altier. When asked about looking at smaller sports such as crew as a possibility for the pilot program, Altier said, "Crew is going to grow beyond everyone's expectations not only in participation, but in success as well. The girls team has already done that this year, by getting second while in Tennessee. Crew is not a conference sport, and a major focus of this pilot program is to be competitive within the conference." "Crew will be a sport that will be considered after the pilot program to be included in the funding." Currently there is only one award for a graduating senior that is involved in crew. Julie Gowan is the News editor of The Reporter. a* iu u. ti, III "The Enrollment [Management] committee will be evaluating the players to see if they are maintaining their academic excellence and competitiveness within our conference. ,9-9-a year by andy dehnart j Over the past eight months, we've been through a lot—from hotter-than- hell residence hall rooms to university-wide presentations on scholarly works. The 1998-1999 academic year started with 24/7 visitiation coming to life in Emily Hall, which we reported on in the first issue of the newspaper. Shortly after we arrived on campus, our phones were switched to a new digital system, bringing high-speed Internet access and a new prefix (740), but also a phone book's worth of problems. That week, we reported about overcrowding — for the first time in recent memory, some RAs were assigned roommates. The follwing week, a new computer lab opened in Sage Hall, and we reported on Sept. 9 about the trials and tribulations of Chaudoin Hall's air conditioning. That same day, a worker in the library's basement accidentally loosened some braces on the shelves, causing an avalanche of books and journals. A week later, we reported that Emily and Chaudoin Halls' air conditioning problems were over, as the systems had finally been fixed. In response to those problems, The Reporter and other groups sponsored a town hall meeting. The meeting brought 21 administrators from all areas of the unviersity together with the 25 students who attended. Students asked questions; officials answered them. As hurricane Georges approached the next week, oh Sept. 30, vandals damaged 14 vehicles on campus. Early in October, two associate deans were named at the College of Arts and Sciences. On Oct. 14, Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, D.C, launched the 1998-1999 Howard Thurman lecture series. That same week, Delta Sigma Phi had its charter revoked by the unviersity and the national fraternity. In late October, Senator John Glenn went into space aboard Discovery; the take-off was IN review 1999 clearly visible from campus, and some classes were cancelled to permit viewing of the historic launch. On Nov. 6, The Waterboy was released in theatres nationwide, and Stetson's quad and CUB steps had brief national exposure. On Dec. 9. we reported that seven December graduates still had cultural credits left to earn before graduation When students returned to campus after the winter break, the university's offices had all been converted to the new voice mail digital system. On Jan. 27, we wrote about the unviersity entering into the last 24 months of its $200 million fundraising campaign. Fire alarms in residence halls caused concern in early February, and later that month, the prohibition of alcohol related advertising was reaffirmed. In was one of our biggest news weeks on March 17, when we reported that seniors will be permitted to move Off campus next year, wrote about points being accepted for the first time at Domino's Pizza, and looked into the flap that occured surrounding "offensive" Women's History Month table tents that were placed in the commons. Earlier this month, Facilities Management worker Lance Westbay was killed while crossing a street in DeLand. On April 14, we reported on the biggest on-campus event of the year: the SHE 100.3- advertised, open-to-the-public concert featuring My Friend Steve, Virgos Merlot, and Von Ra. Also that week, Sal Mancini and Dave Gobeo were elected to SGA's highest posts (president and vice-president, respectively). And we also wrote about the consensual relations task force's proposed policy. Formed last fall, the task force developed a policy that strongly limits relationships that involve one person who in some way supervises the other. Finally, last week, the first annual Undegraduate Scholarship and Performance Day was held. And we reported on the Values Council's final meeting, during which its various task forces reported on their progress. Andy Dehnart is the editor-in-chiefoflhe Reporter. stories and events, from Stetson and beyond. 3£*JJLJJIE*^E££M±&^ Look for this logo throughout the paper for special retrospectives. In the Life and Sports sections, we examine significant events from this past year. 19 9 8- yearTN review 19 3 3 immtmmiimmmmw-mmiitmiime*vw& step Is not as s HEJPO. n 0Nnes 3® is s station by laura capitano \ Throughout my schooling, I've noticed that many teachers have exerted considerable effort to instill in me a sense of fear and doom for the future. It began in elementary school when I would perform some undesirable behavior and a teacher would pose the question, "Just what do you think is going to happen to you when you get to high school? They don't tolerate that sort of behavior in high school!" Indeed it was stressed to me time and time again that I should beware the fury of high school. It was a place where turning in a late paper, speaking without raising your hand, gum chewing, and not using a #2 pencil would inevitably earn you cruel and unusual punishments as well as the fate of failure. [ read this story in Opinions, page 4a ] by andy dehnart | This past weekend, some Central Floridians lost a close friend. Saturday night, SHE 100.3 died. Orlando's only adult contemporary station went off the air, replaced by the "new Cool 100," an oldies station. The change came on the heels of the recent death of Orlando's only oldies station, Cool 105.9. According to reports in the Orlando Sentihel, that station's revenues were nearly twice SHE's. Wanting to pull in more advertising dollars, the powers- that-be at Clear Channel — SHE's parent company — pulled the plug on SHE's ailult contemporary format. It was quite a shock: suddenly, around 11 p.m., the music just changed to oldies; the between-song taglines to, "the new Cool 100." [ read this story in Life, page 3b ] Lady Hatters upset rival Gators, 4-2 by chris tunno | Where were you at 8:36 p.m. last Wednesday? If you weren't at the Sperling Sports Complex, you just missed the Stetson softball team upset the Florida Gators 4-2. Home runs by Heather McCrimmon and Katie Harrigan led the Hatters to victory over our hated cross-state rivals in a game that could be described as a coming out party. Stetson (24-31) hasn't come together to play the way they did Wednesday night all season long. It looked like the ghost of Hatter softball past, or at least the ghost of the 1998 team, with more fireworks. Mariah Cobb hit an RBI single to left field to knock in Wendy Smith tying the game at 1-1 in the third inning. McCrimmon followed [ read this story in Sports, page 4b ]