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Show THE THL'NDERBIRD MONDAY OCTOBER 10, PACE 7 1988 Reorganization prompts job switch Changes affect policy rates BY JAMES SPAINHOWER In an effort to streamline operations, administrators reorganized SUSC's student services department during the summer. Prominent among these changes is a job switch between SUSC's placement director and financial aid director. The shift in responsibilities comes at a time when SUSC students increasingly rely upon financial aid and support services to maintain enrollment. Placement Director Jack Cannon served as acting financial aid director continuously from 1967 to 1987. During this period, SUSC enrollment has doubled, bringing with it added responsibilities for an understaffed office, said Sterling R. Church, vice president for student services. This change of responsibilities moves Cannon from a high intensity position to a personal focus something Cannon does best, said Church. New Director of Financial Aid Rex Michie gained a great deal of experience through his employment with a Cedar City credit union. "To give both individuals a challenge, a move was made to benefit everyone concerned, students and the college alike," said Church. As director of financial aid, Michie's main job is to help as many students as possible. Church adds, "Considering congress has mandated 20-ye- ar changes through a reauthorization bill making regulations for sponsorship more stringent, it was important to move toward a more effective methodology in evaluating the guidelines for need." Michie repeats Church's sentiments, saying that interdepartmental changes were in order, including upgrading computer equipment and streamlining the evaluation proce-.- for incoming students Cannon's responsibilities as new director of placement and student employment include assistance to students in preparing them for the job market. "We're proud SUSC students represent an excellent product in education," said Cannon. His job, he said, is training students to be marketable by teaching them important skills, such as resume writing and interview techniques. Seminars, tailor-fi- t to meet the expanded needs of the individual, are in the planning stages. Cannon adds that His goal is to make services available to all students, the challenges being that SUSC must deal with its rural locale, a limited budget and finding employers willing to hire SUSC graduates. Sixty percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid, totalling $4 million per year. With such heavy dependency on financial aid services. Church felt reorganization was needed to maintain the operation's efficiency BY JEFF TEBBS A recent change has taken place in SUSC's student health insurance plan. The change is a result of The Civil Rights Restoration Act which enforces Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. Simply stated, all colleges recieving federal funds must, in their student insurance policies, include coverage for pregnancy as well as illness and injury. Kay Messerly, director of student health services, explained that the effects of this new ruling on SUSC students will be good and bad. For those students who are pregnant, the added coverage will come as good news; however, most students will only see a substantial premium increase. According to an article in the October 1988 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, consultants to the American college health association say institutions that have not offered maternity benefits in the past could see premiums increase an average of 16 to 25 percent. Messerly went on to say that the Title IX subject is of serious concern; when premiums go up some of the students may feel they cannot afford health insurance and drop their policies. It is not as if SUSC has not offered maternity coverage in the past; but those who desired the coverage paid for it. The Student Health Service is located in Manzanita C, room one, and is open Monday through Friday. The staff includes Kay Messerly, Trudy Jones, Marcus Kuypers, Mike Stults, Scott Frischknecht, Ian Kunz, and Jeff Reynolds. "I think we have a quality health service, and hope we can continue to provide it for the students," said Messerly. Officials promote Centrum lot to balance parking congestion lots frustrate both SUSC students and visitors in crowded Administration and Limited BY JODI REINARD urge students to park throughout the campus, not just in the congested Library and Administration parking lots. "Parking in the Administration parking lot is tight right now during the fall quarter, but other spaces are available within a block or two in the stadium and Centrum lots," said Sterling Church, vice president for SUSC administrators campus Library parking space student services. "Even though the lots are farther away, they are more accessible than lots on other major campuses like the University of Utah or BYU." Parking has become a problem for students at SUSC. Students generally as park as close to theirj-dassepossible, but the main lot is becoming too congested. "One suggestion to ease the crowding and open up about 10 to 20 more spaces for students is to s Court and Juniper Hall are also being move the motor pool or plant operations vehicles from the considered." Administration's parking lot to the Stadium and Centrum lots," said President Darin Bird. "My big priority to get the motor pool moved," he said. "Plans for additional parking by Dewey Avenue and 200 South are being looked into, as well as diagonal parking by the Theatre and Life Science Building," said Bird. "Plans for painting crosswalks by Manzanita Efforts have been made in the past to create more parking. "The expanding of the parking lot in front of South Hall, and the doubling in size of the lot by the Life Science Building were made to create more parking," said Church. "P.E. parking was made more accessible to campus by putting in walkways connecting the Centrum to the Student Center." Chief to emphasize crime prevention BY AMY HYDE Weighing his words carefully, Brent L. Chandler, the new security chief at SUSC, stated one of the guidelines for his job this year: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Chandler began his new position as security chief in June of this year. Starting his job as head of security for the Shakespearean Festival, Utah Summer Games, U.S. Olympic team visits and concerts, Chandler became orientated with the challenges of his job on SUSC campus. Chandler has a varied background in law enforcement that includes both public and private service since 1970. Most recently, he served three and a half years as chief of police for Washington, Utah. When the city disbanded its department a few years ago, Chandler e returned tn school at Dixie College to finish a degree. Chandler's responsibilities include more than just "door shaking and window closing," he said. The campus police force maintains state certification and will handle police and criminal functions on campus "We are the SUSC police. We can perform all of the same procedures and provide all of the same services that a citv or county police department p'ovides," said New SUSC Security Chief Brent Chandler meets with a state law en- Chandler. e forcement official. Chandler said he emphasizes crime prevention Rolland Nit hols is a paiking officer than rather Nichols has been at SUSC force on Chandler's punishment. programs full-tim- full-tim- for 10 years. To complete his staff, Chandler hopes to have two clerks and 10 student parking officers. In addition to campus law enforcement. Chandler looks forward to assisting students and developing awareness programs. These programs are designed to teach students to prevent crime and promote personal safety. He has already hosted one security program for high school students who attended the Upward Bound program at SUSC. More plans for protection programs include a personal awareness plan for women. This is intended to teach women what to do in various situations. A special drug orientation is planned for resident hall occupants. Also, since SUSC maintains an open after-hocampus, Chandler has plans for an an escort system. "Although open campus adds to the responsibility (of security officers) prefer an open campus," said Chandler. He explained that when students have need of an escort at night they will be able to call the dispatch center and request an escort. Helping students understand crime so that it can be more intelligently and effectively attacked is one of Chandler's major goals for this vear at SUSC. "Proactive enforcement rather than reactive enforcement" is what Chandler strongly believes in. He would like to spend the majority of his time, as security officer, in preventing crime rather than punishing for it. I |
