Newspaper Page Text
tiHE
UJESt SEDRSian
VOL. 45-NUMBER 21
Beginning summer quarter
Regents raise tuition rates
BY ROBIN STACY
The University System Board
of Regents approved a five
percent increase in tuition
Wednesday for ail residents of
Georgia attending units of the
System, including West
Georgia. Non-resident tuition
was hiked by 10 percent.
The increase, which will
become effective summer
Dean Lyon wheels his way
to greater understanding
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BY LISA WILEY
In order to “acquire a per
sonal insight into the ad
versities faced by West
Georgia’s disabled students,”
Dr. Bruce Lyon, dean of student
services recently took a
wheelchair tour of the campus.
Tony Boatright, senior
political science major from
Whitesburg, has attended West
Georgia for four years confined
to a wheelchair and he served
as Lyon’s guide.
“The purpose of this tour was
for Lyon to ‘walk a mile in my
shoes' so to speak,’’ Boatright
explained. “You can hear
people talk about the problems
of handicapped students but you
must experience them first
hand to fully understand.”
First-hand experience is one
thing Lyon now has under his
belt. Using a manual chair -
Boatright rode in his motorized
one- inspection began of the
bookstore, gymnasium,
classroom buildings, restroom
facilities, and general
maneuverability on campus.
“The physical strength in
volved in just getting around
when the surface is level is
amazing. Even without major
obstacles, it requires much
quarter, will raise resident
tuition rates from their current
$145 per quarter to $152.25. Per
quarter tuition for non
residents will be raised by
$38.30 to $421.30.
System Chancellor George L.
Simpson had recommended a
seven percent hike in tuition for
residents and 10 percent for
non-residents to make up the
physical exertion.’’ Lyon noted.
“Even the slant of a sidewalk,
not to mention the slope,
provides a hardship.”
Lyon recorded suggestions
from Boatright as the tour
progressed - the need for ad
ditional curb ramps, repairing
of cracks in sidewalks, in
stallation of elevators. Although
there is always room for im
provement, Boatright admitted
aids for handicapped students
had come a long way since he
arrived at West Georgia.
“When I first came here,
there were a few aids but not
many. I think one problem was
that people knew things could
be done but just weren’t sure
how to do them. The campus is
doing real well now,” he added.
Attention was focused on
disabled students resulting
from section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This
federal legislation stated that
all facilities (Hi campuses must
be accessible to handicapped
students.
The Board of Regents of the
university system of Georgia
conducted a system-wide
survey of each campus and
recommendations were made
for improvements in this area.
According to Lyon, no funds
difference between the General
Assembly’s calculation of what
the system would earn from
student fees and what system
officials felt would be earned.
The difference in the two
figures was $4.9 million.
The tuition hike will generate
around $3.9 million of the $4.9
million needed, according to
University System figures. The
were designated for this project
to accommodate the needs of
handicapped students.
Many of the recom
mendations Lyon will make as a
result of the tour will be easily
implemented, such as ad
ditional curb ramps and
parking, but others will be
placed on “the back burner”
awaiting funding. Installation
of elevators and restroom
conversions are among the
more costly renovations
needed.
“It is important that these
students are able to get direct
access without delay involved.
At West Georgia, if there is an
office which is not accessible,
then that office goes to the
student,” Lyon pointed out.
Lyon noted that requesting
special consideration for so
many things is a source of real
frustration and concern to
disabled students. This is not
limited to wheelchair-bound
students.
Ann Phillips is a counselor in
the student development center
and is responsible for the
campus program for the
disabled, including blind, deaf,
and epileptic students.
“This coordinating service
began last year and is really
beginning to take shape. We
have community volunteer
reading groups for the visually
impaired, a braille typewriter
for use by teachers and
students, and volunteers to
meet the special needs of deaf
students,” she stated.
Phillips desires a personal
contact with every disabled
student on campus so they will
be more willing to contact her
for assistance. Many people at
West Georgia are just standing
by waiting to be put into ser
vice, eager to help in any
manner.
Reflecting on his wheelchair
experiences, Lyon admits that
he is in no way an expert on
these matters after spending
only three hours in a wheelchair
when these students face
problems 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
additional $1 million will be cut
from the budgets of the 32 units
within the system.
The legislature voted
University system employees a
12 percent salary increase, one
percent of which was to be
funded by the University
System.
If Governor George Bus bee
vetoes the legislatively funded
statewide salary hike, staff pay
raises will be reduced to nine
percent, University System
officials said. Busbee’s veto
would add $1.3 million to the
system’s deficit.
The Regents voted not to
provide the additional money to
raise faculty and staff salaries
by 12 percent, saying they do
not want to “anger students.”
The board will meet next
month to decide where the
necessary $1 million in cuts will
come.
Regent Erwin Friedman of
Savannah led the fight to lower
the tuition hike from seven to
five percent. He said it would be
incongrous to raise student
costs by that amount when the
state has a budget surplus.
Regent Lamar Plunkett of
Bowdon broke the board’s six to
six tie to reduce the increase for
residents to five percent.
Regent James Maddox of
Rome said that the seven
Tuttle,
Hicks
converse
This is the first part of an
interview conducted with Chief
of Public Safety William Tuttle
and Detective Lieutenant Jody
Hicks by West Georgian News
Editor Scott Freeman.
West Georgian What is the
department’s policy on
marijuana?
Hicks Generally, one time
possession of marijuana for less
than an ounce is referred to the
dean of student services and the
director of residence life, or
both as applicable. If it’s a
repeated offense, they can be
prosecuted through the courts
in addition to disciplinary ac
tion here on campus.
WG— What about possession
of over an ounce?
H— Anything over an ounce is
a felony under Georgia law.
There are no questions asked -
they are prosecuted.
WG Do you handle many of
these kinds of cases?
H Very few, although
marijuana is plentiful on the
campus. We do not have the
staff to try any consertive
crackdown. More often the
cases we have are more
flagrant abuse cases where the
person is sitting out in the
See TUTTLE. HICKS pg. 3
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1979
percent hike would mean,
“Putting a considerable
financial burden on those
students going to school. To me
at a time when we’ve got the
largest appropriation the
University System has ever
seen, this is a pretty rough time
to tell students they’ve got to
come in and pay for this.”
Friedman said, “I think that
it is an unpleasant situation, we
have to have a tuition increase,
but I can see a tuition raise of
five percent instead of seven.”
West Georgia President
Maurice Townsend does not
expect the increase to have a
significant effect on college
enrollment. “Since this in
crease is to have effect at all
senior colleges, I don’t believe
we’U be hurt. Students will have
to pay as much at Georgia
Southern, for example, as they
will here,” he said. He added,
however, that he would have to
study proposals for increases in
other fees in relation to the
tuition hike.
“My initial reaction was
surprise,” said dean of student
services, Bruce Lyon. “As
recently as the beginning of this
quarter I read in the papers that
the Regents were not planning
to raise tuition.” Lyon said that
since the increase is “relatively
modest,” he would still
recommend raising the student
activity fee.
“Students are, or should be,
accustomed to inflation, and we
have to have more money in
student activities to maintain
adequate funding,” Lyon
concluded.
Wr
Registrar
resigns
Tim Thomas, registrar, has
resigned his position, effective
June 39. Thomas has served as
registrar since July, lf7. Dr.
Bruce Lyon, dean of student
services, said that “During his
three years here, I feel that we
have made significant progress
in improving our registration
process, especially early
registration. We will announce
plans for filling the vacated
position in the near future.”