The Reporter

wed u l1 feb-04 WHAT'S it;siDB News 2a Opinions 4a Life ib Classifieds 2A Sports 5 s Etcetera 6a I N S I D E http ://repo?v;s?.stetson.edu SPORTS: Softball team wins tournament title page 5b || ©PINIONS; Depilatory obligations faced by all page Organizations receive money from SAFAC By Jamie Kinsley ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR SAFAC, the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee, functions to serve the campus organizations and to disperse the students' activities fees in the manner most beneficial to the students. This semester SAFAC caused a great deal of controversy over the amount of time that it took to decide these matters. Whereas in the past a SAFAC meeting has taken never much more than one Saturday afternoon, the meeting that was held on Jan. 31st lasted until approximately 12:30 the next morning. It has been stipulated that this was the longest SAFAC meeting in the history of Stetson. When questioned, SGA replied that the reason the meeting lasted so long was in most part due to the committee's efforts to be thorough, honest, and fair. SAFAC funding comes from AFAC, which comes from the student activities fees that every Stetson student pays to the school. Included in the AFAC funding distribution is SAFAC. The SAFAC monies are then given to the Student Government Association to be distributed among the campus organizations as they see fit. SGA creates a SAFAC committee, whose job it is to hear each organization present how much funding they wish to receive and their reasons for their requests. After every organization has been heard, the committee sets guidelines to how they will dispense the money. These guidelines will determine which activities will be most assessable to the entire campus, will be most feasible, and will offer s'omething to the campus. "It was really hard to decide how to dispense the funding," said Michael Davis, SGA president, "because we liked all the programs." Some students said that the SAFAC meeting was handled differently this year than in the past. For example, Chris Harris, a sophomore political science major and the treasurer of the Russian Club, said, "Last year they were very critical of every point, asked lots of questions and analyzed each item, this year I was only asked one question and dismissed." The committee looked closely at the merit of each organization and dispensed the money how they felt would most please the students. The commit- see SAFAC, page 2a ^Reporter C O RRE CTION S 1. "Thurman guest speaker attacks greedy system," LIFE, Issue 14. The article was written by associate life editor John Mills, not Jason Stone. 2. "Stetson's students are often overly critical," LIFE, Issue 14. The town of Cassadaga was formed by members of the Spiritualist religion, not a coven of witches. Contact Us 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, Ft 32720-3751 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 reporter's, stetson, edu reporter_news(f. stetson.edu opinions {«. stetson.edu lifers tetson.edu etceteraS; stetson, edu sports(5)s tetson.edu [email protected] advertisers tetson.edu LIBRARY hours II ©""T By Liz Chaille ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR i hortly after students arrived back on campus W from winter break, they received a university e-mail notice that the DuPont-Ball Library had changed its hours. Exactly what that change was wasn't clear to most students, as word around campus was that the hours looked the same as they were before. Library director and professor, Betty Johnson, said, "For about 30 years, the weekend hours have been 9:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturday and 1:00 pm - midnight on Sunday. After some study and discussions with SGA member Anita Misir, we looked at how we could better serve students when we had no funding for additional weekend hours." According to Johnson, the gate counts for Saturday mornings before 11:00 am were low, and thus the decision was made to alter the hours. So far, the numbers indicate that the move was wise to meet students' needs and schedules." Related to this, Anita Misir, SGA senator for Chaudoin Hall and member of the academic affairs committee, mentioned that "There had been requests from students and from within the academic affairs cornrnit- tee itself for there to be a place with 24/7 hours to go and study... Since funding was a problem, we needed to think of a way to restructure the „ .. ..,,,. ,„ hours to fit students' needs... Rearranging the library's hours is the first step towards the goal [of a 24/7 study area]." She also mentioned that the count for Saturdays before 11:00 am was at most about three students, while on Sundays there would Be about fifteen or so student waiting outside for the library to open. This was a reason why the committee thought of restructuring the hours. So far, Misir said that there have been no complaints from students about the swapping of the two hours. "There will always be some students who feel they need more hours available to meet their own schedules." An example of a student who would like having the 24/7 availability, would be first-year mathematics major, Ian Wasser. When asked how long he felt the library should be open in order to benefit students, he responded with, "They should be open 24/7." The library is also in support of a 24/7 study space, as Johnson said, "Our long-range plan calls for 24/7 study areas, but an addition to the building in the near future is not likely. We have suggested to the university administrators that the University look at some other secure areas, which might be easily converted to after-hours study areas, such as the basement of Emily Hall or selected classroom buildings. This would provide the additional study area needed." While the library responded to student demand to open earlier on Sunday, there are still students who would like to see some more changes made. These changes include both opening earlier and closing later on certain days. Sophomore physics major, Daniel Clark said, "When I used to have class at eight, I wished they opened at seven." Several other students said that they don't like being "brushed" out of the library at closing time and would like to see the library open until 1:00am on Sunday through Thursday and possibly until 6:00pm on Friday and Saturday. When asked if the library would consider changing their hours again or adding hours, if there was a high demand from students, Johnson replied, "We have had requests over the years for the library to stay open until 1:00 am rather than midnight. However, additional staff costs would need to be covered." ; .,. Adding to this, assistant library director and library public services supervisor, Susan Ryan said that by being open from 8:00 am to midnight the library has two full shifts, and opening earlier or closing later, .would only add to these shifts and it would be difficult to find the staff to cover the hours. "The library is currently open 7 days (92 hours) per week and is open 19 hours during the weekend," Johnson pointed out. When asked if she felt the library was open adequate hours to accommodate students' research and study CLOSED: Cathy Ervin, circulation services coordinator of the DuPont-Ball Library, locks the door of the library just before closing time, photo by liz erlenbach needs, she said, "Short of being open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, there will always be some students who feel they need more hours available to meet their own schedules. We are open our regular hours during fall break (computer labs close) to meet student needs, as many students stay on campus and want to work on their assignments." The library has extended hours before due to student requests, but it was unsuccessful, as students did not utilize this extra time. Johnson mentioned, "Several years ago, in response to student requests, we added 5 extra hours on Fridays - closing at 10:00 pm instead of 5:00 pm. And almost no one came! We reverted back to the 5:00 pm closing. We review the hours periodically, and the new weekend hours are one result of such review." The library has listened to student requests in the past, but due to the university's budget stabilization plan, Johnson said that the library doesn't have the'funding to do something to this extent again and that the major issues stopping the library from listening to student requests and extending and/or adding to its hours are staffing costs, finding staff willing to work until 1:00 am on Sunday, and additional security and see rJOURS, page 2a By Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR When the Florida Legislature begins its next session on March 2, one item on the agenda that will greatly impact ' the university is the Florida Resident Access Grant (FRAG). Approximately 70 percent of the university's students receive the FRAG, a scholarship given to Florida residents attending private universities. This year, each student receiving the FRAG received $2,251 from the state of Florida to assist with tuition. However, that number could go down significantly next year. "The governor has put the Florida Resident Access Grant in next year's budget at the amount equal to this year's budget, but we know that the number of Floridians going to private schools is going to increase," said Dr. Doug Lee, president of the university. The FRAG was started in 1979 to encourage Florida residents to attend private institutions and to help defray the cost of tuition at such institutions. According to Lee, by offering this grant, the state of Florida actually saves money. "The point that taxpayers aren't generally aware of is that the state subsidizes every Florida resident that goes to a public institution to the tune of some nine or ten thousand dollars, because tuition is so low... If you were to go to a public institution it would cost the state 6000 or 7000 dollars more for you to go there than for you to go here," he said. The FRAG also helps increase enrollment of Florida residents in private institutions. "The private sector educates about 31,000 students a year, which is the equivalent of the average public institution. So if you look at all the assets put together by the private institutions, we are making a significant contribution to the strength of higher education in the state of Florida. So this program is working. We've probably got 40% more Florida residents in private institutions now than when the Florida Resident Access Grant was started," said Lee. The private institutions in Florida receive a miniscule amount of money from the state of Florida, only 3 percent of the total budget for higher education. However, in contrast, they award 27 percent of the bachelors de- S3000 per student. In exchange, the grees in Florida and 33 percent of all Independent Colleges and Universities higher education degrees. of Florida (ICUF), an organization of In the mid-nineties, the state legislature agreed to increase the FRAG to see FRAG, page 2a ygBMBjrat&W^yr*' ^^^y^^rr.^y-'j': 2S&&£&££ri^£Mb&s£ »fti3P«v..-y;.,- *• ;,"*.'aa.w«ajj.~i" . ••-'■ :-^r- "■• < t • ;?.-s.;!?c™ii___i________S jhl.^^.Jum^niifli <AA^ai..A^.A..-rfiAA**. These are the amounts received by individual students from the FRAG over the past several years. $2,843- 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 SOURCE: ICUF