The Reporter

Wednesday, August 27, 1997 FQRUM; 24/7 visitation: time for change? Debate, 4b Volume 110, Issue 1 ■ - News \ •■"'t-.:' V. :'J2?r 3a1 ., Forum ^.^ _ 4^ J5a| .. JttJta6wJ^CiI&^^*KSU«ixJ ; Life_^_.v_;>„1^3b| SportsvvV ' ''TAXfrn** http://the-reporter.home.ml.org Freshman class is 519 strong Enrollment ™ With 139 transfer students, the incoming group totals 658. By ANDY DEHNART Editor-in-Chief The class of 2001 is the largest freshman class "in recent memory" according to Dean of Admissions Mary Napier. As of last week, 519 freshmen and 139 transfers were committed to enrolling—a toll tal of 658 new students on campus. I Last year, the freshman class consisted ! of only 427 students. A "stronger financial commitment than in the past" and a "willingnewss to say our students are a resource..." contributed to the large class. Napier attributed the large class to the "hustle of the admissions staff' among other things, including student efforts like telecounseling and the student ambassadors. "The students have been outstanding," she said. "On average, [incoming] students feel very connected with the admissions office," Napier said. "Our [past] admissions efforts didn't always reflect the Stetson experience when they got here." Additionally, a "stronger financial commitment than in the past" and a "willingness to say our students are a resource that we are going to invest in more" contributed to the increase, Napier said. Scholarships were given earlier this year —as early as February, Napier said. That "commitment from Stetson" was followed up by a complete financial aid package, she said. Effects of the larger class are "not going to be noticeable," Napier said. Some extra sections have been added by the deans of the three schools to accommodate the extra students, she said. Michelle Espinosa, director of Residential Life, said the increase should have ontya minimal affect on housing. "A few [RAs] will probably get roommates" for the first few weeks of school, Espinosa said. Those assignments will be tem- CONSTRUCTION: As the large freshman class descends on campus, construction continues on the Wilson Center. porary, however. Six returning students who requested housing late in the summer have been assigned to the Phi Sigma Kappa house. They will be moved out between now and room change week, she said. All the "doubles as singles" in Smith and Nemec Halls have stayed singles. Stetson President H. Douglas Lee said that the freshman class numbers well exceeded. goals. Additionally, Lee said that, statistically, the incoming class has higher academic credentials. From an admissions standpoint, Napier said, there is never a maximum number used when accepting students. Enrollment Summary Year First Transfers Total year [i997~ms.-"' "mf^m 658 \ 1996-1997 427 136 563 Fi»iri9wV'-*',SSFr;5S7" 63i:: 1994-1995 484 138 622 Source: Admissions Office photo by Andy Dehnart The all-new Reporter is on the Internet at http://the-reporter.home.ml.org Stetson University, DeLand, Florida A summer of change New administrators- I— Continuing construction Residence hall improvements By ANDY DEHNART Editor-in-Chief Along hot summer equaled a number of changes and im provements at Stetson. From administrative changes to ever-present construction on two major donor-funded buildings, the changes are definitely noticeable. Since a number of projects and initiatives will come to completion this year—like the Hollis Center and technology improvements — "students will feel like it is Christmas* all year round," Stetson President H. Douglas Lee said. Highlights of the changes and improvements: ► The Victory Bell (right) at the Hollis Center is designated to be rung after victories on campus. Construction continues on the Hollis Center is slated to be open by spring semester. ► All dorm rooms now have "door viewers" or peep holes for safety, according to Michelle Espinosa, director of Residential Life. ► Sixty-seven new washers and dryers are now in place in the residence halls. Web Service has taken over the laundry facilities in each dorm. Within a few months, card readers will be installed so that the debit part of the new Stetson ID cards will work with the washers and dryers. Web Services will sponsor a free wash day in September. ► Four "add value" stations for the Stetson ED one-cards will be installed in some residence halls. ► The single desks in Gordis Hall were replaced with new desks. Gordis also received three new sets of lounge furniture. ► "Every dorm room was hit" over the summer by a painting and Satching team, Espinosa said. ► All rooms are now fitted with automatic door closers. The fixtures are required "by law," Espinosa said. ► Kelly Kannon, assistant VP for information technology, said all the old Pentium 120 computers were removed from the labs and replaced with Compaq Pentium 166s that have sound cards arid headphones. There are how 102 computers available for general student use, she said. P- A hew computer lab in Elizabeth Hall now joins the labs in Davis Hall and the Lynn Business Center. ► A help desk run by and for students will open this week in the LBClab. ► Changes in Student Life: Wendy E. Donna is the new associate director for student life, and serves as the adviser for The Reporter, among other groups like CS A. Chris Goodwin has been appointed for one year as assistant director of Student Life for intramurals. Lynne Gentile is the new director of student judicial affairs. ► Student Telephone Service, a division of TeleSoft, has taken over the long distance service previously provided by AT&T College and University Solutions. ► Melissa Vitori and Kristin LeGendre have joined the admissions staff from the University of Pittsburgh and Stetson respectively. Mike Lynch was promoted to Assistant Dean of Admissions. Pat Patterson left the admissions staff to enter the business community, and admissions counselor Serita Duhart left for law school, according to Dean of Admissions Mary Napier. Fhoto by A.nd> Dehnart CONSTRUCTION: Projects continue on campus, including the new Hollis Center. The Victory Bell, above, is a focal .point, .of- the new structure. The donor-funded complex should be complete by January. wwawmiMJiimi Throughout the semester, The ReportervAW. focus on individual projects and initiatives across campus. Other stories in this issue focus on changes: ► Editorial, page 4a ► All I needed to ki ow, page 1 b. Stetson ties for third place U.S. News m The news magazines annual rankings place Stetson third, up from fourth last year By JEFF HAMRICK News Editor Stetson moved from fourth to third place in the latest U.S. News ranking of Southeast- em colleges. Winter Park's Rollins College remains the number two school in the region. This year marks the twelfth year that Stetson has been ranked in the top 15 in the region. Stetson tied James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, VA, for third. Dr. James Beasley, vice president for campus life and enrollment management, said that the announcement from "a national survey is very welcome, but not surprising." Beasley was quick, however, to caution students not to place too much emphasis on the new ranking. "It's important to note, however, that the choice of a school requires careful research and consideration of many factors before an tool in the process." Beasley said that other more important factors should take precedence, including national accreditation from recognized, scholarly organizations, like Phi Beta Kappa, and student evaluation of Stetson's level of excellence. While Stetson has experienced many recent improvements, Beasley said, none of them are particularly responsible for Stetson's new ranking. Instead, it's likely that bureaucratic changes in the way that U.S. News & World Report evaluates schools caused the change in rank, he said. Stetson has consistently stayed around third place, dropping, however, to fourth in last year's survey. According to U.S. News & World Report, the ranking model now places less emphasis on input measures, such as the average high school class rank of a college's entering freshmen and the range of their standardized test scores. The model now puts more emphasis on outcome measures, such as "the percentage of a college's entering class that returns for a second year..." U.S. News & WorldReportbases its evaluation on a study of four-y^ar accredited colleges and universities. The survey mixes subjective "reputation surveys" from college presidents and deans of admission with collected data. The surveys measured retention (graduation rates and freshman retention), faculty resources (class size, faculty salaries, faculty degrees, student-faculty ratio, and the proportion of full-time faculty), student selectivity (ratio of accepted to applying students, test scores, high school class standing), financial resources (educational and other expenditure) and the alumni giving rate. U.SNews St World Report Rankings Top Fifteen Schools in the South 1. University of Richmond 2. Rollins College. 3. James Madison University 3; Stetson University 5. Mary Washington College 6. Centenary College of Louisiana 7. Samford University 8. The Citadel 8. Loyola University New Orleans 10. Appalachian State University 10. Converse College 12. Harding College 12. Mercer U niversity 14. Spring Hill College 15. Meredith College 15. Wheeling Jesuit College Source: U.S. News, Aug. 25, 1997 Stetson's academic reputation and faculty resource ratings are quite strong, according to the report. However, Stetson's level of selectivity (ranked 28th) and alumni giving rates (ranked 22nd) are significantly weaker. The selection weakness is due tothe fact that Stetson primarily serves a limited market area, Beasley said. He also said that Stetson ~ See U.S. NEWS, page 2a Letter to our readers One giant step... With this issue of the Reporter—the first of its 110th year of publication—we are taking a giant step forward. As you've already probably noticed, The Reporter no longer looks its age. We've got four sparkling sections: News, Forum, Life and Sports. The News; section, lead off by this page, is edited by Jeff Hamrick. There, we bring you news—in-your-face, hard-core, straight- up news-—from our campus, the state, and nation. Forum, edited by Julie Siefkas, now brings you a diverse array of opinions from across campus and across the country, on subjects that affect you. More than ever, we want your submissions: write a letter to the editor, or submit a commentary. Our pages are open to everyone. We've now got a Life: our features section. It's edited by Stacey Bassett, along with Assistant Life Editor Jill Pritch. Each week, Life will have everything from in-depth features (like Shout!, on page 2C a new, anonymous forum for your gripes) to lighthearted reviews. We've also got balls—every week in Sports. From baseball to basketball, golf to volleyball, you'll find first-row coverage of Stetson athletics, plus, for the. first time ever, coverage of college teams from across the country. Jeff Casali edits our Sports section, which starts on page 4b (inside the second section.) After you are done with the paper version, stop by our brand new, shiny online edi- ne§> tion on the Internet (http://the- reporter.home.ml.org). There, you'll find The Reporter gone digital, including late-breaking stories, reprints and archives of pastissues, and other features like interactive polls, brought to you by Online Editor Sara Cotner (see story, page 3b). Our team of students is "^ rounded out by three others: Business Manager Shannon MacLaughlan shows us the money each week. Managing Editor Stacy Gum keeps us in line, and Circulation and Marketing Manager Nicky Dodro delivers the paper every week to your waiting hands. The Reporter is your newspaper, and we need your contributions. We rely on you, our readers, to keep us informed about upcoming events and activities that you're involved with. Contact us and let us know! Plus, we are always looking for writers, photographers, and artists who want to contribute to The Reporter. If you have information or are interested in contributing, let us know at x7224, or, by e.mail: [email protected]. Last, stop by our office, give us a call, or send us an e.mail—and let us know what you think about the all-new Reporter.. . Enough drivel. Let's get on with the paper. Andy Dehnart Editor inside mm.mtmmm.afm FORUM: Skewed statistics lead to Rape Myth, 5a ^_ ■ \ \ LIFE: All you need to know about every little thing here at Stetson, 1b SPORTS: Baseball shortstop Nicholson goes pro, 4b