The Reporter

wed oct-04 http:// .stetson.edu ■.iiiiijm<w»i~*i.>M!mm viuhi mu,11 ii,»■, ,j,m» ij WWhioti^tm«^«o ■»■ jbw.ii.jj»j*i»i»i^.w«»« vW-yf "-V"<-i ^*'- -- ■s^iSi«iflSSife--iti;;ffli'Mi'n i, rm rA'- ■':•- - ■■ ■■'■ ■■* "*- ' '*:.^A,A.*lfA.*-,' 'At-fit^C '.'-?"• ,£"*?>; issue-^ volume -'-- ID atterson, Rasch share views on education policy Candidates speak on issues involving amendments, health care Heather Adrian staff writer On Oct. 4, candidates for state representative Pat Patterson (Republican) and Dana Rasch (Democrat), participated in a debate in the Rinker Auditorium of the Lynn Business Center. The event lasted slightly over an hour and was moderated by Dr. Phillip Dalton. The majority of the questions came from the audience via index cards that each person in the audience received when they entered. While the bulk of the supporters in the audience tended to be on the side of Mr. Rasch, Mr. Patterson was given due respect in presenting his stance on issues which included homeland security, constitutional amendments, health care, and education. Pat Patterson holds the incumbent position, running for his third term in the Florida House of Representatives. He is a longtime resident of Volusia County, a Navy veteran, president of ActCorp, and a public school teacher. He was a Volusia County Council member and chair, and serves on several committees in the House, including ones concerning health care, education, and transportation. Dana Rasch is the Democratic challenger. He is an alumnus of this university, served in the Marines as a lieutenant, and holds a master's degree in criminal justice. He said he has based his campaign around "listening to the people I have met, and the stories I have heard." The debate offered the chance for attendees to hear the candidates' stances on several differ ent issues. Patterson said that he supports vouchers as an opportunity for a decent education and a "way out of consistently failing schools." It was pointed out that there was a 2.5 percent decrease in per- student-spending under the Democrats, and a 7 percent turnaround under the Republicans. Rasch said that he was opposed to vouchers. "They take away from the resources of our public schools," he said. Both candidates also spoke on the issue of teachers' salaries and the class size amendment. Both candidates support the idea of higher salaries for teachers. Rasch said, "We need to recruit and retain good teachers, and empower them for our children. ... If we don't pay now, we will pay later." Patterson said that while he supports higher salaries for teachers, he feels that "such a thing should not come from the legislature, but rather from the school board," who has more direct con trol. With regards to the class size amendment, Patterson said that he supports it, although he noted how expensive it is. "It is more than a small class size that is the problem... teachers must have the tools necessary to feel in control," said Patterson. Rasch also said that he was in favor of smaller class sizes. Both candidates spoke about the importance of funding for college scholarships. Patterson said he was in favor of increased funding to the Florida Resident Access Grant program, and Rasch said that he will fight for the Bright Futures scholarship and other programs. The candidates differed on the issue of amendments to Florida's constitution. Patterson said that he was not in favor of them, and said that he sees the Florida constitution as "too important of a document to keep allowing the often frivolous amendments which only serve to enrich See DEBATE, 2A > *V ."fc*«5Rk'' xC\ •*- J. — 1 *■ < <•*., i "■-' - A. " .;W"\-A>A. V- ^ ' * - *-At^«A _ Va* ""*-- , ft ***; w &A IV*. A ". - I j >.„_.-. , A\V I- 7? 'a.-*- « 4 >: •_ \ , u ft.*^ * _^"a STE\ F J JRESL=> THE REPORTER Sidney Jackson, a member of Alpha Tau Omega, helps the community clean up debris left over after three hurricanes hit the area. BeLand resident receives help in cleanup from. ATO ROSANNA YODER STAFF WRITER It has been over three weeks since hurricane Frances blew through the community of DeLand, and there is still obvious damage and debris yet to be cleaned up by the city and community members. This past weekend, off-campus fraternity Alpha Tau Omega spent Saturday cleaning up a local resident's ranch that had been damaged due to Francis. "Mrs. Mary Waller had a lot of damage to many acres of land and didn't have a lot of outside help besides her two daughters," said senior Sidney Jackson. "A lot of the guys knew Mrs.Waller personally and wanted to be helpful as a friendly gesture. We decided that we could just make a productive, and at the same time, a fun day out of it." "Mrs. Waller had a lot of hurricane damage," said sophomore finance major Stephen Infantino. "We all wanted to help out because a lot of us had hurricane damage of our own to deal with and we could all relate to what Mrs. Waller was going through." "I usually don't look forward to the early Saturday morning community service days, but we have really turned a negative situation into something that is a positive," said second-year psychol- See ATO, 3A ► Wellness Council intends to improve student nutrition Sophia Couzo staff writer The university's Health and Wellness Council held its second brainstorming meeting on Monday, Oct. 4 to discuss a possible focus for the council, which was established after the school decided to make health and wellness a core value of the institution, according to university president Doug Lee. "The question that we're trying to figure out this fall is, one, if we want to have a Health and Wellness Council, what would the charge be, and what would be the main focal point," said Lee. The Council discussed numerous issues pertaining to students, faculty, and staff at the meeting. Neal Long, chair of the economics department, provided a list of suggestions to provide assistance to faculty and staff with serious illnesses. Some of the suggestions included establishing and developing a support system See COUNCIL, 3A ► IAN WASSER / THE REPORTER Local bands perform for "Rock Against Cancer" Sigma Phi Epsilon sponsored the "Rock Against Cancer" on Saturday, October 9, with all proceeds from the event benefitted the American Cancer Society. orami Q □ ymwiirs! Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR The university's trustees discussed the branding of the institution during their fall meeting on Sept. 23 and 24, 2004, said president Doug Lee. Lee said that the trustees discussed marketing the university as one of their high priorities-. "A part of our planning process and one of the major goals is what we call mission marketing, or mission and vision, and so we've stepped up considerably our marketing and communications," Lee said. One of the ways that the university has marketed itself is through the "Stetson stories" posted on the university's website, according to Lee. "When we began to think differently about how we presented ourselves, we got into the notion of presenting our mission and vision through the stories of students, faculty and staff, what they were impassioned about. That caught on in such a strong way that we began to ask ourselves what else we might have been missing," he said. This led to the idea of branding, a marketing concept that seeks to define the essence and soul of an institution. "Last February the trustees appointed a brand task force, and the task force recommended that we hire a consultant to help us understand branding as part of the marketing initiative," said Lee. The university hired Patrick Davis, an alumnus who graduated in 1988. Last semester Davis taught a class with Dr. Michael Raymond called Marketplace Fiction, which examined brands in literature. To help determine the university's brand, surveys were sent out to students and faculty, asking questions about their feelings of what this university stands for. Davis said, "The purpose of the survey was to identify a few key sweet spots where the brand might be most relevant. We were looking to identify shared areas of interest among students, faculty, administration, and alumni. The surveys are one point of insight that will inform a much broader creative process." According to Lee, there were far more responses than expected to the first wave of surveys, which was sent out on Thursday, Sept. 16 and Friday, Sept. 17. "They were thinking that they could have an accurate database if they got about a thousand responses. In the first four days, they got in excess of 4000 responses. ... [Davis'] claim is that when you get that many responses, that you can, in fact, determine what is the Stetson brand and begin to draw conclusions," said Lee. Davis described the preliminary findings, say- See BRANDING. 3A > Wednesday's Forecast; Partly Cloudy, High 84, Low 66 CALENDAR 1A MAD CAMPUS 4A CROSSWORD 7A NEWS 2B CRYPTOGRAM 7A OPINIONS 3a HISTORY 7A RUMINATIONS 7a HOROSCOPE 7A REVIEWS 7A LIFE 6a WEATHER FORECAST 8a LETTERS TO EDITOR 4a Forecast on page 8A Midterm Blues Staff writer Alison Aragona provides helpful study suggestions. STORY 6A Metrosexuality Campus men come out about their fashion sense. STORY 6A