The Stetson Reporter

STETSON UNIVERSITY life 11980s video series offer a retrospective look at life through the weird years of being a teenager up to the experience of coUege life. Movies being reviewed in the series are 'Real Genius,' 'Animal House,' 'Revenge of the Nerds,' 'Gotcha!' and 'How I Got Into College.' [ cover, section B ] r°"C! sept'99 issue 03 volume 112 by jeff hidek | "I'm never going to forget that color. J'm never going to forget ^the way his eyes looked." Liz Thompson will always remember the face of the man that she and Ryan Padnuk pulled out of the water at Blue Springs State Park. Stuart Sloan, an Orlando-area "resident, was unconscious and not breathing when he was rescued. He was revived by the two juniors and has recovered fully. Padnuk and Thompson are frequent visitors to Blue Springs, often traveling there with two other friends;. They have been traveling to the springs, usually for snor- keling excursions, once a week since last fall. "Over the summer we had a pass, so we'd go all the time," Thompson said. Consequently, they were quite fa- miliar with the springs' terrain. On August 24, Thompson and Padnuk arrived at the park around 5:30 HEROES: Thompson and Padnuk saved a man from drowning at Blue Springs in Orange City. PHOTO COURTESY LIZ THOMPSON p.m. When they arrived, they noticed a few other people, and one man in particular. "One guy had a light—a diving light," Thompson said. "We noticed because we thought we might be able to borrow his light later." And that is what they did. After snorkeling on their own, they asked to borrow Sloan's light. "Ryan offered to hold the light, and the guy could follow him down," Thompson said. All three dove into the boil together. The boil is the point at which the springs are fed from an underground river. "It's basically a 110-foot hole in the earth," said Padnuk. The boil's terrain closely resembles a funnel. According to Padnuk, there is a three- foot ledge underwater around the boil. It then drops to around eight feet, then 15 feet. There is a light 35 feet down in the boil and a sign at 60 feet. Sloan, a 25-year-old amateur diver, gave Padnuk a "thumbs-up" at the sign, and Padnuk assumed he was doing fine. "It's difficult to notice other people down there," said Thompson. Thompson returned to the surface first and Paduk broke the surface immediately afterwards. "I looked up and I saw Ryan. "And immediately Ryan didn't see this guy and I didn't see this guy, so I looked under the water. Ryan and I saw him at the same time." Sloan was lying on the 15 foot shelf, dangerously close to sliding into the boil. At first, Padnuk and Thompson thought he might just have been swimming along the bottom, but they noticed something wasn't right. "His hands were kind of curled behind him in this awkward position, which immediately sent alarm bells off," Thompson said. Together, Padnuk and Thompson dove under the water and pulled Sloan to the surface. When they emerged from the wa- 3 Z Q < a. ter, they shouted for help and everyone at the boil left to call the paramedics and park rangers. Sloan had a pulse, but was not breathing. "His face was blue, his tongue was pushed up into his mouth, and his lips were purple," Padnuk said. "His eyes were wide open," Thompson said. "I used to be a lifeguard, so I was trying to get through my head what I needed to do." Thompson gave the man five Heimlich thrusts and Padnuk gave [ see SAVED, page 2a ] "I literally saw all the life come back into his eyes. Time was nonexistent. [Afterwards] I felt drained. Liz was crying and I was right there with her." by jeff hamrick | Students learned last week that a professor of music has been suspended and placed on administrative leave pending an official university investigation. Dr. Alvaro Gomez, an associate professor of music, was placed on administrative leave by Dr. Jim Woodward, dean of the School of Music and chair of the Council of Deans. Gomez told The Reporter last week that he had been placed on leave on June 21,1999, pending "an investigation into some allegations." When The Reporter pressed Gomez for further detail, he insisted that he would not speak without the presence of his attorneys. At the time The Reporter went to press last Monday, The Reporter was unable to confirm officially that Gomez had been suspended because of any specific type of allegation. - Using unofficial and off-the-record sources at the School of Music, The Reporter contacted a student who allegedly made the allegations against Gomez. This student declined to participate in an interview with The Reporter. Dr. Jim Beasley, vice president for administration and chief operating officer, said that Gomez was suspended by the dean of the School of Music. "This is a personnel issue that the university has a practice of not commenting about," said Beasley. "I will not comment on the suspension or the conditions leading to the suspension until some time in the future, perhaps when this matter has been concluded," said Beasley. "[Gomez's suspension] does not represent a danger or threat to the university community." Beasley said he did not know when the investigation would be concluded. Beasley said that he was involved with the situation as a designee of the Office of the President. Woodward declined to comment to The Reporter about the investigation or Dr. Gomez's situation. Dr. Kari H. Juusela, associate dean of the School of Music, also declined to comment. Juusela said that he did not want to hurt any of the individuals involved with this situation. Gomez's wife, Dr. A. Routa Kroumovitch, is an assistant professor of music. The Reporter will communicate additional details about this matter to the university community as they become available. Jeff Hamrick is editor-in-chief of The Reporter. Faculty call Sage Hall a relic of the Cold Wa by julie gowan | Built in 1967 in response to the race to get to space, Sage Hall has outlived its term for a science building — 30 years. Members of the biology, chemistry, computer sciences, geography, environmental sciences, and the department of sport and exercise science are calling for a new building to house each division to improve the inadequate situation students and faculty go through every day. • When Sage Hall was- built, the United States was undergoing a major expansion in science education facilities. There was a strong encouragement for students to major in science, the Natural Science Foundation was established and more money was going into science research. "All this was happening because the Russians had sent up Sputnik and were were trying to play catch-up to them. Supposedly, their science education program was better than ours," said Dr. Kenneth Everett, chair of the chemistry department. '• Hence, money was pouring into science programs all around the country. Funding from the federal government was being given to universities; and colleges to build science buildings on various campuses. "And Stetson more or less jumped on that bandwagon so to say. Most'of this was happening through the late '50s and early '60s. Most schools, like Stetson,'were increasing dramatically in the number of students majoring in science. Stetson cashed in on the offer from the federal government," said Everett. At that time the cost to'build Sage Hall was 1.5 million dollars. The; federal government paid about half of the. cost, and Sage donated the rest. Sputnik-era science buildings are outdated. The experts in science'education claim that in this modern era the average expected lifetime of a science building is about 30 years. Sage Hall was built in 1967. Add 30 years to that and it was outdated in '9:7. "One can say the English department or sociology department don't need to replace a building every 30 years, but that's a different situation; all they need is a classroom," said Everett. "Science buildings are used in a way other academic buildings are'not. Fumes are going through the building,[we spill acid, [ see SPUTNIK, page 2a ] ON THE BRINK: Dr. Terrence Farrell examines damage to the outer second floor of Sage Hall. PHOTO BY JEFF HAMRICK ^J»MiBJv»li»«S'«MJiHB Students question use of styrofoam in CUB by Brian Campbell | Last week, many noticed that trash cans in the Commons were filled with styrofoam cups and plastic forks and knives. While normal dishes were still used, problems with the gear drive belt on the tray conveyor, prevented the use of metal silverware and glasses. While this was originally thought by many to be a problem with one of the main dishwashers, Paul Marcaurelle, director of Dining Services, explained that because of the worn gear drive "When china or heavy objects were placed on the conveyor, it would buckle and stop." While sytrofoam and plastic utensils were necessary for over a week until specialty parts for the gear were received, Marcaurelle was happy to say that the problem is fixed and things are back on track. "Luckily, this was not a prolonged problem; all the gears and chains were replaced" Marcaurelle explained. [ read this story in News, page 2a j sssss sssssssssssss apier promoter, reopens search for new director by jeff hamrick | The search for a new director of student financial planning has been reopened, the associate vice president for enrollment management reported last week. Mary Worland Napier, the former dean of admissions, said last week that there will be no major changes to the administrative structure of the Offices of Admissions and Student Financial Planning following her recent promotion. "I don't think that students will see any change in the way that things are run over at financial planning," said Napier. "We will still be providing the same kind of bottom line answers to students as we were before." Jim Beasley, vice president for administration and chief operating officer, said that Napier's promotion and the recent changes to the structure of the university's enrollment sectors were "precipi-. tated by" the departure of Doug Minter, the former director of student financial planning. "Almost any transition provides the opportunity to reexamine, to prompt some sort of thinking about the organizational structure," said Beasley. Napier said that she wants to "make sure that we get the right person" for the position. "We are restructuring the timeline of the search," said Napier. " Napier said that she feels "challenged" by her new position. "I've really been trying to bring myself up to speed to that I can promote the efforts of the team in Student Financial Planning, Napier. Napier said that the structural transition would not be especially difficult "because of the strength of the people here." "These people are veterans at their jobs," said Napier. "Over the past two years, Mary became more and more involved with strategic financial aid issues," said Beasley. Napier, Beasley noted, is a member of the university's enrollment management committee. "She has become increasingly knowledgeable about financial aid strategies, and her responsibilities expanded accordingly," said Beasley. Beasley also said that Napier promotion was prompted partially by the recent expansion of his own duties. Beasley was promoted to vice president of administration and chief operating officer at the close of the past academic year, although he is still directly involved with the Division of Campus Life, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and the university's enrollment management sector. "When my responsibilities expanded, I needed some additional relief," said Beasley. "I decided to give more responsibilities to Mary." Beasley said that the new director of Student [ see PROMOTION, page 3a ] UJ M a. < z said "^ Scott Henry is a barrel Men beat tl of laughs in Night Lites by teresa schwarz | Thursday night at 9 p.m., a new tradition was born. CSA will be hosting comedians once a month for this semester. Scott Henry started the series at Night Lites with an audience of almost a hundred people. Most stayed until the end of the night. Henry's career has taken off recently. He was selected to go to the Montreal Comedy Festival to perform in the 'New Faces' category. Many comedians are discovered at the Montreal Festival. Henry has talked to several network presidents about a sitcom based on his act. If that does not work he wants to get into a different comedy that is in the same vein as his act. "HH ■A "4 -<3 [ read this story in Life, page 1 b ] DRIBBLING: Sean Finn tries to dribble past a Flagler guard last week. The Hatters defeated Flagler 4-0. photo by paul davis [ catch the UCF Invitational results in Sports, page 4b ] '•Y&f M%?' 35T' iti#;.^^iiI^Mi®M3l^WS j! (Mlf^l^Mi#^lls^%M0V*f%k m^ ^Jl*f iMfi^^^