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Show _·1_ ·ri_E_t·_~_1v_E_·RS_r_TY~J<_H_ :R_N_A_L_·_s_ ·o_t_ ' T_H_F_R,_N_t'_T_AH~l-~_1v_F_.~_s1_T_Y_·_M_o_N_D_A_,_',_~t-~P_1_·E~_1_0ER_·_2_8_,_19_9_s~~~~~~~~~~~1rilITJE <Ct,\TuiO:P>UJ§ ~ 0 ;5> Dead roommate legend lives on Use of numbers concerns some sore of made scn,;e So, with one movie ouL and another s,mllarly thcmcd mm , 'Dead tl/a11 's Curve,· on the way, i t is lime to state firmly the not so Note to college students· Do not wish your obviow,. You can !-.Carch your college handbook from roommate dead. Do not encourage him to kill table of contents 10 index and not flnd a dead man's clause himself Do not in any wa1 hasten his cnu. It will "not~ ge 1 you a perfect gradc-poinl average. ··we c heck all these things out and have found no That hapn,cns only in the movks-as in the summer school with such :t policy," said David Mikkelson, who runs an urban-legend Weh site (wv,'\\.snopes. rclea~e 'Dead Man on Campus,' 10 wb,ch two students "1th gr.ides in the tank 1,to l ooking for a com) and gaLhcrs such stories for the San Fernando suicidal roommate . I f he offs himself, che college will Valley (Cali f.) Folklor e Society. The most prevalent version is this: A student w hose compensate the pair for their presumed trauma with roommate commits suicide auLomatically receives a straight A's. The notion of a ~dead man's clause" in any college 4.0 for thecurrent term . According to policy would be too Mikkelson , however, absurd to bother there arc other mo rhid debunking-except tha 1 provisions: The death the l egend has been must occur in the dorm circulating on campuses nationwide for I 5 LO 20 room or during the l ast yc:Lrs and that, for just as six weeks o f the cermlong, otherwise hright when, under typical school p olicies, courses people have been buying cannot he dropped. it. William Fox, a folklorist According Lo Fox, the who has studied the folk lorist, the rumor speaks co an obsession myth , found that about with grades and the two-third of the students he questioned at 1wo feeling that they often New York state colleges arc arbitrary, a maner of luck ra ther than believed it. merit. Listen to \VI. Richa rd Ott, the provost of Al fred 13ut it also is a slap at University in western college administrnLor s, argues Simon Bronner, New York slate: " Last semester, :i young man a professor of American hanged himself in one of studies at our r esident suites, which CollfrC1r)' to the belief of many, th e death ofa roomate Pennsyl vania State housed five other University, Harrisburg, doesu 't m ean c, free ride to a 4.0, as was th e a,1se i11 the :md author of 'Piled students. The summertime m ouie 'Dead Mt,1n 0 11 Campus.' moLhcr of one of them 1/ig h and Deeper', a called me, the president of the school and the de:tn, hook aholll thc folklore of student life. insisting that her son was entitled tO a 4 .0 hased on " In student perccp11ons, administrators arc the w hat she thought w:1s common knowledge." ones who arc reall}' running things, not thc Hear It from Phillip Jones, the dean of students a1 professors," Bronner said. "They're seen as the l hll\'ersity of Iowa, where a fraterni t) pledge died impersonal and huslnellslikc, taking care of any of alcohol poisoning a few year· ago: MThe student psychological stress by giving a 4.0 . That 's not government office got numerous calls ahout the dealing with i t personally." poliC)' on Lhis. II got to he a discussion of who would Still , Ellis, the Penn Slate, llazdton, professor , secs get all A's, his roommate in the dorm where he lived some good in the legend. "A story doesn 't hccome or the other people 10 the fr.t ternity." popular unless it serves some kind of popular And this from David Sacker, ::1 l 997 Swarthmore fun ction," he said " I n this case, it 's a rel ease University grad: ''The siLUation came up with a friend of tensi on . It acknowledges the pr ohlcm of (st udcrn) of mine. I !is roommate had a heart attack. st resses and suicide w ishes. It brings those topics Immediatel y, the rumor started circulating that he Im o conversation. was going to get a 4.0. l remember peo ple saying it "And that, I think, is healthy." By RALPH VIGODA KN IGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Honors program in the works By VALER IE STUCKI JOURNAL STAFF WRITER money. For students Lhat qualify for chc honors p rogram , classes in several differ ent d isciplines will be. offered, along with seminars involving guest speakers A pr ogram which has long hcen a dream of many at and gro up discussions. The com mittee is also looking at providing interdisciplinary courses to give students SUU is on its way to the university next year. The honors progrnm, long in planning, in different backgrounds the Qpportunity requires no further approval and is now come toget her and discuss different One of the final ro issues. having the final to uches put o n it. One of Bennion and the rest of the faculty decisions to be the final decisions to he made arc the requiremenL'i, which "will not he invol ved feel that this program is made are the ridiculous but signiflcam," said Prcsidem important to SUU for several reasons. requirements, Steven D. Bennion, "We have a number of First, it has the potential to r ecruit top bright and h ighly motivated students who students from all over the country. The which 'will not would like to take part in an honors admini:,tration is al o hoping that IL will be ridiculous, program ." add to the learning environment here on This new progr:im Is estimated 10 cost but significant.' campus. $50,000, which will go toward the This year's mo u o for the administrat ion support of a part lime director, the here at SUU is "Foster Academic development of course!> and to hring in guest E.'<ccllence/ and llcnnion sa} s that it is through this lecturers For several years SUU has requested funds motto that the honors program 1s heing organized, from the legisl:,wrc, hlll with no luck. The committee refined :ind made availahle to all studenL!> that excel in is now looking l o pnva1c sources to bring 111 thi:, academics. (conti1111e,lfro m p age J) "Someone el. e's taxes can gt·1 reportt·d to you 11 someone w;cs your Social Security number In a worst case scenario. someone d,;e can use your card 10 cstahhsh credit. Then your credit gl·ts dc:-;troycd, • ,aid Tobin. Some hanks w ill give out account numbers over 1hc phone using one's name and Social Sccurit )' numher Though student 's social sccunt)' numbers appear o n countless internal documcnt5 throughout the university, Stolk sai<l that there arc m;iny cont rols LO guarantee that no em ployees or s1ude111!> wrongfully obtain or misuse the codes. "Everything we do internallr b guided by the r:unil>' Educational Rights and Privacy Act (fERPA), " said Stolk . "The numhcrs arc very protected . They' re givrn out intcrnally to Sllll on a necd-10-know h:1s1s only.· All SlJU employel'S, incl uding work-study student:., who have access to private student reconb which contain a Social Security number, arc requi red lO sign a Data Access Policy to promise that they will not misuse the informa t ion Lhey s1:c. Those employees arc then !-iubject LO Lermina1ion or expulsion if they violate the policy. Stolk said. The university doesn' t even allow, in thcory, professor!> and administrators 10 post gr:ldes ,u,d other cccords that cle.1rlr display students' identification numbers in puhlic places. SUU offi cials aucmpl to ensure that privileged informaLion such a:,; a Student's Social Securit y numher "doesn' t go outside the institution," S1olk said. · 11,e Rcgi ·trar·s Oflke will nol release any information such as grades, schedules, or Intern et PIN number over Lhc phone, even if callers can properly identify their Soci:11 Security numbers. Still , alternatives lO using the Socia l Securit y numher as student identification exist and those alternative:,; might dccrcasc the chance of fr:1ucl, according w Tobin Stolk said that 1hc state ho.1 rd i, currcntl } considering :tl tern:nivcs to w,ing entire S0<.:1al Sccllnt} numbers for student identific11ion. Ideas have been rand om number selection or cvcn the student's nn,t initfal followed h y 1hc last fo ur digits of their Social Security number. These mcasurcs arc under consideration to be1tcr protcc1 :,;tudcnts against Soci:11 Security fraud. As for SUU's foreign studems, random ilkmifica1ion numbers arc assigned. If a studem has lived in the l J.S. long enough to obtain a work permit, then that number is used. Student Services, r ecognizing the dangers involved in using Social Security numbers as account n umbers converted the format of student acti vity cards. Prior to this year, students' Social Security numbers were printed on the card, in addition to their name and photo. " I know I didn't want to have my Social Security number for the world LO get a ho ld of. We wanted to get away from the Social Securi ty w orld,· said Alex Herlog, director of student activities. "It has taken a lot of work to reorganize the system , hut this has been a great concern all over the state of Utah ," said Sterling Church, vice president for student services. " As a scate, the use of Social Security numbers on activity cards has been eliminated. We 're very glad we've done it, to heller protect Lhe rudems." In the end, it is a choke of judgement. The Registrar's Office w ill create a random I.D . number for any Mudcm w ho wishes not to use his or her Social Security number. There .m: many pn.·ventati\·c mea. urcs student!-. cm take to protect I hem,eh c!> l·or more information on ho\\ to protect ~,gam,t Social Security fr:1u<l, 'iludt·nts c:tn call 1hc ~oc:1:il \c<.·urity Administration :u t -800-T2- ll I 3 |