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Show Tuesday, February 17, 1987 Weber State College Vol. 47 No. 31 V-"1 i T r 4 5 1 I 1 1 vrtv- 't.im.h 1, 1-' n I: i - L I - f GETTING IN SHAPE Weber State Army R.O.T.C. members jog together southeast of the college. Signpost photo: Jeff Bybee) Space race Bills consider higher education Emilie Bean News Editor Besides setting the budget for higher education for the upcoming year, the Utah State Legislature has several bills before it concerning Utah's colleges and universities. Three of the six bills deal with the problems of the Utah Technical Colleges. They are proposed by the House of Representatives. First, Rep. Walker proposed a bill that would allow technical colleges to confer terminal certificates and associate degrees. Also proposed by Rep. Walker is a curriculum change at the technical colleges to better accommodate entrance requirements for transfer students to other institutions. The other change of the technical colleges would ; be that of name. Utah Technical College at Provo would be renamed Utah Valley Community College. Utah Technical College at Salt Lake would change to Salt Lake Community College. Another House bill would authorize the Board of Regents to "prepare an impact statement on any proposed legislation that would increase higher education requirements for a professional certificate." The Senate has proposed two bills concerning higher education. One of the bills would provide that armed forces personnel assigned active duty in Utah, and members of their immediate families, are entitled to resident status for tuition at state colleges and universities. The final higher education bill is a revision of Title 53. This bill would repeal old and repetitive higher education provisions while restructuring and reforming the statutes. Campus fire? Sue Hiatt Staff Reporter While 150 people stood out in the cold, a fire truck with siren screaming pulled in front of the Val A. Browning Center at 9 p.m. last Saturday evening. Only a few minutes before, everyone had been seated in the warmth of the Allred Theatre, listening to Mozart's "Sinfonia Concerante," when house manager Jeff Sturgis came onstage and interrupted the music. "Ladies and gentlemen, we would like you to exit the building in an orderly manner," he said, "the Tire alarm has gone off." The audience complied with his request. While the firemen checked out the building (only to discover it was a false alarm), Mark Henderson, director of the Valentine Concert, moved the audience over to the Union Building. After a quick appraisal of the situation inside, the group was directed to the Wildcat Theatre to listen to the concert there. U.S. lags behind Yun Hui Pak Staff Reporter "The Russians could beat us hands down in the space program," said former astronaut Dr. Don Lind, during a questionanswer period at his convocation address. In the race for space technology, the US is the hare and Russia is the tortoise. The Russians have always given a steady, loyal support to their space program while the US has undergone spurts of "feast and famine" periods, said Lind. The Russian space programs does not have to deal with the whims of politics and the public as does NASA. Right now the Russians have elevated into productive levels, while the US is still in the testing stage. Lind said that "despite these setbacks, NASA has great possibilities and the capability of achieving much." The space shuttle was a great leap in progress. Also, the development of the satellite has been used for many scientific purposes and still holds great potential."Despite the tragedy of the space flight Challenger, in which the lives of several passengers were taken, much was to be gained," said Lind. "Every astronaut knows the risks which are involved in traveling through space. ..there must be much respect given to the tremendous power and energy involved in the processes of space flight." The development of sending a man to the moon was purely for political reasons; there was no scientific involvement. During the Kennedy administration, America was suffering from national unrest with race riots, trouble abroad and the American spirit dying out. Kennedy wanted to unify the Americans by lifting their hopes and patriotism towards the American government. He promised the people that the U.S. would send a man on Lhe moon. It was a tight race to the moon against the Russians in which the Americans won. With the statement, "the Eagle has landed," the Americans regained its national spirit. "We cannot afford another decade of losing funds and support of the government and the people... we owe it to our children," said Lind. As a young boy, Lind said that he had always dreamed of flying spaceships and zapping laser guns. His favorite comic strips were Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. "I've been fortunate enough to have seen my fantasies turn into reality," he said. In 1985, on April 29, Lind was the mission specialist in the space flight Challenger I the first operational mission of Spacelab, which conducted a scientific investigation in space. "I'm very enthusiastic about the tremendous potential of the space program and have much hope in it." Lind now teaches at Utah State University where he is currently a professor of physics. Inside ... Do cartoons offer fZl tf.V Ti West Side Story tension therapy? -g gtzC opens Feb. 28 (see page 4) YyW InJS-- (see page 8) |