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Show 3 INSIDE WSU womens soccer team loses to University of Utah, see Page 10. Volume 64 Issue 26 www.weber.edusignpost Monday, October 8, 2001 -7""vi oThe Airline nixes three campus call centers By Jill Halbasch & Casey Cummings staff The Signpost The employees of Delta Air Lines showed up for their 7:30 a.m. shifts Friday not knowing that in three hours they would be unemployed. The day began taking the regular reservations and confirmation calls. Then around 1 0:30 a.m. all employees were asked to end all calls and to log off computers. Norm Andrews, district manager of reservation sales from Salt Lake City, a face not seen often at the Weber State University call center, walked into the office. At that point the usual noise and conversation of the bustling office between employees came to a halt. "When they told us to get off the phones, I knew it was over," said Kara Loomis, an employee for more than two years. "Everyone just stood there staring in amazement of what was going on." As Friday progressed and as each shift showed up, they were all greeted with the same message delivered by Delta Air Lines executives: Because of the Sept. 1 1 terrorist attacks and the consequential decrease in travel, the WSU call center, along with call centers at Northern Kentucky University and Clayton State in Atlantai At the end of the meeting, employees lined up with stunned faces and tears to turn in their employee identification badges. The WSU Delta call center employed 1 62 students out of 332 campus representatives at all the three loca tions. "Bad things are happening to good people," Andrews said. Toni Weight, associate vice president of student affairs, was contacted at 4 p.m. on Thursday by Delta Air Lines executives to set up a 10 a.m. ft i t - . : i - i . ' : '- ' -v, ' : l f X 4 T f - ' f- - V S ' t: : i ' " " - . i - i- h 3 -"CD :': ! - - 1 I V' f ' f Three former Delta employees console each other after finding out that the Delta call center on campus will be closed. Delta is closing two other faciliites at campuses in Alanta and Cincinati because of the decrease in people flying the air lines. meeting. "When they called to set up the appointment, I was afraid of what they were going to say, Weight said. "But I was trying to be optimistic about the upcoming meeting and was hoping it was about something else." Executives told Weight they had to pull the call center out of WSU and discontinue their lease. Delta announced two weeks ago it would have to lay off up to 13,000 employees because of the effect on the airline industry since Sept. 1 1 . Delta has always been on a one-year lease and has continued every year to renew it. The lease was scheduled to end this November. Delta will pay until 'November, even though the space will be vacant. The first floor of Promontory Tower has housed the Delta Call Center since 1995. See Delta page 3 Some offended by R-rated movies shown in film class By Casey Cummings campus affairs editor The Signpost Weber State University students who do not want to watch R-rated movies should not take the theater department's "Introduction to Film Study" class, according to professor Scott Jensen. "This is an elective course, and people who object to the material may choose not to take it," said Jensen, who teaches the Theater 1023 class. At last Monday's student senate meeting, arts and humanities student Sen. Nicole Bybee brought the issue before the senate that some students want alternative movies to those required for the class. Some students, either for personal or religious purposes, avoid watching R-rated movies. "I understand that there may be value in an R-rated movie, especially from a film perspective in a college-level class," Bybee said. "However, any student willing to stand up for what he or she believes in should be respected. I feel that an alternative, other than 'no credit,' should be offered." Doug Rose, WSU Student Association executive vice president, enrolled in the class last year and mentioned that the professor, Jensen, almost makes fun of those students who have a religious concern. . "Any class that goes against a student's specific religious belief is wrong," Rose said. He said that some sort of alternative should be given to any student who has a moral objection to any aspect of a class. "We are here to defend the students." "To allow students to pick and choose what they study in any class seems unrealistic and of limited educational value," Jensen said. The class studies film as a body of work and requires students to watch a variety of movies, See Movies page 3 LCH banquet ends week of diversity By Nathan Woodbury correspondent The Signpost It was an evening of dancing and food for more than 450 people who came to this year's Latino Chicano Hispanic banquet Friday night. "I'm all excited about diversity. That's what everything is geared towards." said John Paul Curletto, the LCI I senator. Fuego Tropical, a Salt Lake City band, played a wide variety of Latin music, including Salsa, Merenge and Cumbia. The banquet, which had been in planning for nearly three months, sought to expand the cultural horions of all who attended and to help diversify the understandinc of others. Curletto explained that his personal goal is to teach others about the LCH community. "There are still a lot of misconceptions. Ignorance causes problems," Curletto said. His adviser, AnnaJane Arroyo, agrees with Curletto about the LCH population, which makes up only 3 percent of the student body at Weber State University. "One of the greatest challenges is helping others to appreciate our culture," said Arroyo, who is also the co-ordinatorof the Multicultural Center. Nallely Ruiz, a native of Mexico and the entertainment chair for the banquet, has seen the misconceptions concerning cultures applied the general LCI 1 culture. "I think a lot of people have a misconception that there is little va riety withirl the Latin culture," she said. There is great variety, especially between the South American countries and the Central American countries, Ruiz concluded after her experience with other members of the LCH community. Ruiz believes that some of the misconceptions surrounding the LCH culture can be traced to the media. "Latin culture is definitely not portrayed correctly." she said. She said the media usually portrays Latinos as gardeners, housekeepers or nannies. But Ruiz believes there is hope concerning the media. "There are many new stars coming out in movies that are helping fair representation of the Latino See Banquet page 3 i ''. '. " V. .;' " ..v ' Dancing was just part of the festivities at the annual LCH Banquet Friday night. People of all ages and nationalities attended the event. |