The Reporter

Wednesday, September 3,1997 f> FORUMl Should business majors do senior research? Debate, 4a Volume 110, issue 2 :--Ne^^vV;;i5;- > 2-\3a~.- I Forum 4 - 5a 6 -K€et&ra^!;x- -6a ' ;% Life 1 - 3bp |>; Sgoptsy ,^-; * {:--- 4 -\6b = http: //the-reporter.home.ml.org Summer movies sank and soared. Two critics look at the best and worst. Life, page 1b Stetson University, DeLand, Florida Administration The dean of Stetsons oldest college will \ step down in order to return to teaching. <j ANDY DEHNART litor-in-Chief I Gary Maris, dean of the college of arts ^Vd sciences for the last 12 years, announced ^t Tuesday at the faculty meeting that he ;/ili step down from the post. ; A national search will be conducted to ill the position. Maris said he. is stepping down in order > return to the classroom. "When I became dean, I assumed that ?out ten years out I'd start deciding when I . ould go back into the classroom." It was not a question of if, but when, it "would be a good time for the college and for me to go back to the classroom," Maris said. "Next fall, I will take a sabbatical, and then begin teaching in the spring of '99," Maris said. "As dean, you don't have a whole lot of time to keep up with professional literature and the like." Prior to becoming dean, Maris taught in Stetson's department of political science. He plans to stay at Stetson and return to that ' department. "I like Stetson. My intent was to serve a good term in an administrative capacity and go back into teaching and finish out my career teaching." "At some point, it's really good institutionally to have a change in leadership," Maris said. "We have a lot of new faculty that we didn't have ten years ago. It's a good opportunity to revisit a lot of questions and to raise new questions." "At the dean level, at ten years, that's a good time to begin thinking about when," Maris said. Maris said he waited until now to step down because there were two "critical features" he wanted to look at. Foremost was enrollment. "If enrollments were still in bad shape, I really didn't think it was a good time to try to go out on the market looking for a new dean," he said. "When you go out to recruit for a dean, you want to be in the best position possible. So a good time to do it is when your enrolments are going up, and when you've got a good, strong faculty," Maris said. Maris also wanted to "gauge the impact" of moving away from the office of the provost to a council of deans structure, which he thinks "is really going to work quite well." "This is a very good time for me to move back into he classroom. The university is in a very strong position right now. It's an exciting time for someone to come into leadership in the college," Maris said. "From the perspective of hiring a new dean, a person who is looking around will see Stetson as a very vibrant and attractive place," he said. President H. Douglas Lee, who appointed Maris to the dean position when Lee was president-elect, said in a statement that Maris "has distinguished himself as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. His experiences at Stetson as a student, faculty ember and dean give him a comprehensive and unique perspective on the university's mission and goals. "He has been an invaluable colleague on the president's staff, and we are grateful for his outstanding leadership. Stetson University is a far better place because of his service," Lee said. The national search will be conducted under Lee's direction. It generally allows for candidates to emerge from both within and outside the university, Maris said. Maris, a graduate of Stetson, received the McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1984. He also served as chair of the faculty senate three times. V^Oi Some less-than-honest companies prey on financially desperate students. What to do about it t> FTC is investigating, page 2a > Reliable Internet resources, page 2a By JEFF HAMRiCK News Editor Students and parents are often in desperate need for financial resources to help pay for school, making them likely targets of scholarship scams, according to the Financial Aid Information Page on the world wide web. Each year, thousands of college students vie for millions of dollars of scholarship money made available by legitimate organizations. Studies indicate that the majority of students receive some form of financial aid from either their respective state, the federal government, or a philanthropic organization. "Every year tens of thousands of famines fall prey to fraudulent scholarship opportunities," said Mark Kantrowitz, author of a book about financial aid. "If you must pay money to get money, it miehtbeascam." Scholarship scams typically operate by imitating legitimate foundations, scholarship sponsors, lenders, and scholarship search services. Some may try to allow students to purchase insurance policies so that students can then take out loans against these same policies. Scam organizations mask their true intentions by using official sounding names like "Federal," "Administration," and "National," said Kantrowitz. Kantrowitz warns students about scholarships that require application fees, even if the fees seem fairly reasonable. Guaranteed winnings and loose eligibility requirements are also warning signs of a fraudulent scholarship. "Scholarship sponsors do not hand out awards to students simply for breathing," Kantrowitz said. 'The Federal Trade Commission encourages students to use caution," Dana Lesemann, a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission said. "It's important to remember one cardinal rale: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." •Lesemann also noted the difference between scholarship organizations and scholarship search programs. Scholarship search services do not offer scholarships. They do not provide awards directly to applicants, nor do they help students apply for the awards. The success rates reported by scholarship search databases usually refer to successful consumer matches within the database, not money received. "Very few students receive money as a result of using a scholarship search service," noted Kantrowitz. "Less than 1% of the financial aid awarded each year comes from the private sector. Don't believe claims that $6.6 billion in student aid goes unclaimed every year." Doug Minter, Stetson's newly appointed director of Student Financial Planning, is not aware of any Stetson students who have been scammed. "I do know that where I came from previously this was a problem," Minter said. "I have worked with students that have had a lot of this information come in the mail and we have generally advised them that they are potential scams." Minter says he doesn't think he knows anyone who has ever received money from these types of organizations. Minter recommends that students use FastWeb, a free scholarship service on the Internet located at http://www.fastweb.com/ money. He suspects that despite the lack of reported scams, Stetson students might be more likely to subscribe to a scam service due to the higher relative cost of attending Stetson. One of the goals of the Office of Student Financial Aid and Planning is to remove any and all posters and flyers around school which advertise illicit scholarship organizations, Minter said. He adds that students should not worry about reputable organizations or corporate scholarships from companies like IBM, Tylenol, or Lucent Technologies. "If [an organization] charges you a fee to send the application in for a scholarship, you should be suspicious," Minter said. "I haven't heard of anyone winning any legitiniate scholarship from an agency which charges a fee to apply or a processing fee. A reputable scholarship agency wouldn't charge a fee for a scholarship." Students desiring loans are not immune to scams either. According to Minter, some organizations will try to sell students a life insurance policy. Students can then take out a loan against the insurance policy for, which theyhave already paid. In the~meantime, the scam organization pockets the difference between the insurance policy and the student loan. Minter said that organizations can sometimes illicitly obtain mailing lists from colleges themselves, but that it is not the policy of Stetson to release mailing lists to anyone. Like Lesemann, Minter warns, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Minter asks that students suspicious of fraudulent summer employment opportunities or suspicious of a scholarship scam should come to the office of Financial Planning in Griffith Hall and talk to him or one of the other counselors. Mllife^^^3tt>«.Miis^FI8=^' According to the Federal Trade Commssion, scam organizations use several catch phrases designed to entice you into sending some sort of fee to the organization, like: P- 'The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back." No onecan guarantee that they will get you a grant or a scholarship. Refund guarantees often have conditions or strings attached. Get refund policies in writing—before you pay. ► "You can't get this information anywhere else." There are many free lists of scholarships. Check with the Office of Student Financial Aid and Planning or use the Internet before you decide to pay someone to do the work for you. ► "May I have your credit card or bank account num ber to hold this scholarship?" Do not give out your credit card or bank account number on the phone without getting information in writing first. It may be a set-up foran unauthorized withdrawal. > "We'll do all the work for you." Don't be fooled. There's no way around it. You must apply for scholarships and grants yourself. >• 'The.scholarship will cost some money." Don't pay anyone who claims to be "holding" a scholarship or grant for you. Free money shouldn't cost a thing. P- "You've been, selected" by a 'national foundation' to receive a scholarship, or "You're a finalist" in a contest you never entered. Before you send money to apply for a scholarship, check it out. Make sure the foundation or program is legitimate. Jimi Hendrix on campus? J^VWimiiHWjCijjWJlllliiMr DOUBLE TAKE: Michael Winslow, noisemaking star of the Police Academy films, begins his act last Monday as Jimi Hendrix, complete with guitar sounds supplied by Winslow. Photo by Stephen Vail Duisiara drioWima By JEFF HAMRICK News Editor After the death last Tuesday of a fraternity pledge due to binge drinking, U.S. colleges everywhere vowed to tighten drinking policies and increase counseling available for college students. Louisiana State University is still reeling from the death of Benjamin Wynne, 20. who was celebrating a bid to join Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Sigma Alpha Epsilon does not have a chapter on Stetson's campus. USA Today quotes John Hammang of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, as saying that "Drinking has long been a problem on college campuses, and there have been many efforts developed to try and deal with it." . Hammang notes, though, that "there comes a point where you are trying to help these kids grow up and you don't want to play big brother or big sister and you try to balance all that out." LSU spokesman Jim Grain said "Alcohol has been banned at most campus functions in the past several years. Workshops have been held and flyers distributed about the dangers of alcohol abuse. It's frustrating that all of this has happened in the face of that." This incident comes at a time when most national fraternities and sororities are revising their drinking policies in the face of declining membership. According to U.S.News & World Report, the average fraternity chapter shrank from 51 members in 1989 to 38 in 1996. The "fraternity drinking culture" has fallen, out of favor with career-minded and "Alcohol has been banned at most campus functions in the past several years. Workshops have been held and flyers distributed about the dangers of alcohol abuse. It's frustrating that all of this has happened in the face of that. serious students who are bent on making good grades, according to U.S. News & World Report. Jonathan Brant, executive vice president of the National Interfraternity Conference, said that "People think we are drinking clubs. We don't want to be perceived that way. The only way we will accomplish that is to substantively change our behavior." Two national fraternities decided recendy to ban alcohol nationwide for fraternity members, even for those who are over the age of twenty-one. Both Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta decided in March to phase out all drinking from their fraternities by the year 2000. A 1995 study by the Harvard School of Public Health, which surveyed 17,000 students at 140 colleges, revealed that 86 percent of frat-house residents engaged in binge drinking—five or more drinks in a row during a two-week period—45 percent of non-Greek men. U.S. News & World Report also stated that 80 percent of sorority-house residents binged compared with only 35 percent of non- Greek women. In the wake of Wynne's death, it is likely that more fraternities will follow the lead of Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta, according to MSNBC. inside FORUM: A big school is not necessarily a better school, 5a 1 LIFE: NBC's fall line-up: from must-She I TV to Seinfeld Thursdays, 1b I SPORTS: The crew team begins its I season with a new coach, 4b