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The Board of Regents approved a proposed $26
million Health, Wellness, and Lifelong Learning Center
The State University of West
Georgia’s proposal for a $26 mil
lion, 166,000 square foot Health,
Wellness and, Lifelong Learning
Center has been added to the Uni
versity System of Georgia’s capi
tal projects list by the Board of
Regents at their June 9 meeting.
It becomes the second major
construction project approved for
West Georgia since the 34 institu
tions were invited to submit their
proposals to the Board three years
ago. The 110,000 square foot Tech
nology-enhanced Learning Center,
approved in 1997, is now under
construction on the north side of the
campus with occupancy scheduled
next summer. It will become the
largest structure on campus, but
only until the latest approved build
ing goes up.
This building now become
the twenty-second facility on the
System’s list and will probably be
Two alumni recognized for their career achievements and community contributions
Fourteen individuals were
honored at the State University of
West Georgia annual Alumni
Award Luncheon, held on campus
recently. Fred O’Neal from
Carrollton was the recipient of
the Outstanding Achievement
Award.
O’Neal graduated from
West Georgia in 1982, and ob
tained his MBA in 1988 from
W’est Georgia. Since graduation,
he has been an active member of
West Georgia’s Alumni Associa
tion and serves on the University
Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
He has received numerous
awards for his career achieve
ments. Beginning in 1989 with
the Mike Esser Prospecting
Award, O’Neal has gone on to
receive the Edward Jones Junior
Partner’s Award for Sales and
Service, the Managing Partner’s
Award for Sales and Service, and
CAMPUS NEWS
Verdict reached for
bouncers accused of
killing student
College Press Exchange
URBANA, 111. (CPX) - A jury
delivered a split verdict Monday in
the trial of two bouncers accused
of beating to death a graduate stu
dent at the University of Illinois.
After deliberating four hours,
jurors emerged to convict Robert
Jurkacek, 32, of first-degree mur
der and to declare Rubin Navarette,
28, innocent of all charges.
The two men were charged in
connection with the death of Ernest
Seri, 31, a student from the Ivory
Coast who had just completed re
quirements for a doctorate in
French. Seri died of severe head
injuries June 27, two days after he
was beaten outside the Gypsy, a bar
where Navarette and Jurkacek
worked.
The trio fought after Seri en
tered the bar around 11 p.m. and ar
gued with Jurkacek about being po
lite to customers. Jurkacek testified
that Seri was a known troublemaker
at the bar who threw the first punch
when he tried to remove him from
the premises.
Jurkacek’s attorneys admitted
he delivered the final blow to Seri
-a kick in the face that witnesses
testified was strong enough to lift
Seri off the ground and send him
flying backwards. But they also ar
gued that the force was justified
because Jurkacek thought Seri was
picking up something with which
to hurt him.
Jurkacek testified that when
funded in 2004-5 and occupied in
2007-8, according to UWG Presi
dent Beheruz N. Sethna.
The actual timetable is deter
mined by legislative funding each
year. This timetable is based on ap
proximately the same level of state
funding that has been granted in re
cent years.
The process for approval of
such projects is the only one of its
kind in the country, according to
University System Chancellor
Stephen Portch. Universities and
colleges present written proposals
in the winter, after which there is a
comprehensive review by Board of
Regents staff.
They cut the list to 14 projects
from the original 26 proposed this
year. Presidents from those 14 in
stitutions made their presentations
to the Board on Tuesday and West
Georgia’s building was ranked sec
ond in terms of merit.
he was named Limited Partners
and Regional Leader, responsible
for office in northwest Georgia.
In this role, his duties in
clude serving as a sales leader
and role model for representa
tives and periodically visiting of
fices. In 1988, he was named Na
tional Director of Minority De
velopment for Edward Jones.
He has served as director for
the Carrollton Noon Lion’s Club,
and was named to Who’s Who of
Blacks in America in 1998. He was
also the keynote speaker at last
year’s successful African-American
Alumni Weekend at West Georgia.
Currently, O’Neal is a'
NAACP life member, serves on the
Downtown Carrollton Association,
is chairman of the Carroll County
Chamber of Commerce, and is a
member of the University’s Board
of Trustees. O’Neal is also a dea
con at First Baptist Church.
he kicked Seri, he was trying to
knock from Seri’s hand a shiny
object that he feared would be
thrown at him or the nearby
crowd.
Witnesses said that shiny
object appeared to be nothing
more than broken jewelry or a set
of keys.
Navarette, who was not on
duty that night, testified that he
got involved in the fight to save
the two men from each other. He
said he pushed Seri against a wall
only because he wanted him to
calm down.
Jurkacek cried after the ver
dict was announced. He faces be
tween 20 and 60 years in prison.
Gay students rally for hate
crimes laws in New York
College Press Exchange
ALBANY, N.Y. (CPX) - About
200 gay, lesbian and bisexual stu
dents at Albany State University wore
purple “Teletubbies” antennas on
their heads and rallied to support pro
posed state hate crimes legislation.
The April 18 demonstration
ended a weekend of workshops fo
cused on homosexuality at the 1999
Eastern United States Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Confer
ence. About 350 people attended the
conference, which featured work
shops such as “living as a legally
Merns
Housed in the new building
will be the Department of Physical
Education and the Department of
Nursing, which is presently located
in the College of Education annex.
The Physical Education department
is now in the HPE building.
Another major component in
the new facility will be the
University’s Department of Con
tinuing Education, which now oc
cupies leased space on Maple Street
across from the main campus and
offers classes in other locations
such as the Carrollton Parks, Rec
reation, and Cultural Arts Depart
ment.
Sethna said that the original
HPE Building was constructed in
1965 for an enrollment of 2,259 stu
dents. Today’s enrollment ap
proaches 9,000 and is projected to
exceed 10,000 within five years.
“We are obviously delighted
that the Board saw a real need for
He is married to the former
Lillian R. Wilson, also a West Geor
gia graduate, and they have two
children, Wilson and Maya.
Fred O'Neal (left) and Harold McWhorter (right) were both recognized at
the annual Alumni Award Luncheon this past spring.
School does not give credit for
Planned Parenthood internship
College Press Exchange
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CPX) - Of
ficials at the University of Saint Tho
mas refused to give academic credit
to a student who chose to do an in
ternship at Planned Parenthood, fu
eling a campus debate about whether
the Roman Catholic school’s values
are compromising academic free
dom.
The student, a senior who
wished to remain anonymous, was
required to complete an internship to
get a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
She said she chose the local Planned
Parenthood office because she
wanted to work with rape victims.
But the organization also per
forms abortions -a procedure the
Catholic church vehemently opposes.
The Rev. Dennis Deasc heard
married, same-sex couple in New
York state” and “anti-gay bias in
schools.”
Campus demonstrators at the
rally donned the purple antennas to
poke fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell,
who publishes a newspaper that de
nounced the “Teletubbies" children’s
television program in February. The
paper published an article stating that
one of the show’s characters, Tinky-
Winky, is a homosexual role model
because he carries a purse and wears
an antenna in the shape of an inverted
triangle on his head.
At the rally, conference orga
this facility on our campus,” said
Sethna. Regent Edgar Rhodes of
Bremen was extremely helpful in
our effort to get this project on
the capital list,” Sethna said.
Primary use of the facility
will be for physical education in
struction with eight 50-person in
structional spaces including a
computer lab, conference rooms,
aerobics classroom, human per
formance laboratory, weight
training/conditioning classroom,
and aerobics/tumbling room.
There will be six racquet
ball/handball/squash courts and
two indoor practice tennis courts.
The second floor level will in
clude a 200 meter, 3 lane running
track along the perimeter.
The Department of Nursing
will include student exam and
treatment areas and associated
laboratory space. Meeting rooms
included in the Center for Caring
Harold McWhorter from
Tallapoosa was the recipient of
the Achievement Award at the
UWG Alumni Awards Luncheon
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FROM AROUND THE NATION
about the internship and decided that
the student could continue her work
but wouldn’t receive academic credit
for it. His ruling sparked heated de
bate on campus, drawing criticism
from Campus Frecthought, an asso
ciation of secular student groups that
criticized what it called the school’s
lip service to respecting the views of
students, faculty and campus groups
who do not share its religious views.
Dease eventually waived the
internship requirement for the stu
dent, who will be allowed to gradu
ate on time. To prevent similar con
troversy in the future, he asked fac
ulty to draft a list of organizations
with values that aren’t in line with
the church’s beliefs. The idea was
abandoned after faculty said the list
would be too difficult to compile and
maintain.
nizers said they would present signed
petitions to Senate Majority Leader
Joseph Bruno of Brunswick, urging
him to bring the hate crimes legisla
tion to the Senate (loor. Bruno, who
has denounced such legislation in the
past, is reportedly reconsidering his
opposition.
New York’s Assembly ap
proved legislation enacting tougher
penalties against people convicted of
crimes targeting people on the basis
of race, creed, color, national origin,
sex, disability, age or sexual orienta
tion. Gov. George E. Pataki has come
out in support of it.
will be multi-purpose type spaces
that can be combined and config
ured for various types of group
sessions.
Continuing Education will
also be configured with large
multi-funcion classrooms that can
be expanded for various types of
events. A large distance-learning
classroom will be incorporated
within the complex to be shared
by all of the user groups.
There will be a gymnasium
area that will seat approximately
7,300 in bleachers and an addi
tional 800 movable seats on the
main’floor, bringing the total
seating capacity to 8,100.
The large instructional
space on the floor can be divided
to form six laboratory areas hold
ing simultaneous instructional
activities, but, when not so used,
this space may be used for Uni
versity graduation exercises, in
held recently.
McWhorter’s career as a
singer, musician, and composer
has been quite an achievement,
according to Frank Pritchett, as
sistant director of alumni services
at UWG. He is a Tallapoosa na
tive and taught in the Georgia
Public School System for 16
years. He has served as a high
school basketball coach, guid
ance counselor, teacher, and prin
cipal at Tallapoosa High School
and Mt. Zion High School.
Durin-g his time as teacher,
he has also servetFffStmJsiacdirec
tOr for
MethodiSACtkirch.
SincsG976, McWhorter has
been a full-tifne musician, ap
pearing regularly at Christian
supper clubs throughout the
South, and filling concert, ban
quet, revival, camp meeting, and
special occasion dates. He has
Swarm in dorm gets all bees
College Press Exchange
SAN JOSE, Calif. (CPX) -
Demand for employees with high
tech degrees is skyrocketing, but
fewer students are pursuing that kind
of education, anew study suggests.
The report, released Monday
by the American Electronics Associa
tion, found that degrees in high-tech
fields - including chemistry, com
puter science, engineering, math and
physics - dropped 5 percent between
1990 and 1996.
Preliminary findings from
1997 and 1998 indicate the trend is
continuing, the association said.
“Although there are some
bright spots in the CyberEducation
results, the bottom line is that the U.S.
educational system is not adequately
preparing our youth for today’s in
formation age economy,” AEA presi
dent William Archey said.
Of the decreasing number of
high-tech degrees offered this de
cade, the study found that a signifi
cant number went to foreign nation
als. Non-U.S. citizens earned almost
half, 45 percent, of high-tech degrees
awarded.
Nationwide the unemployment
rate for workers in high-tech indus
tries is very low - only 1.6 percent
for engineers and 1.2 percent for
math and computer scientists last
year.
Employers in high-tech fields
have long complained about ill
trained and ill-prepared workers and
spearheaded a successful lobbying
campaign that pressured Congress
last year to raise dramatically the
number of foreigners with high-tech
skills who can be hired by American
Thursday-July 1, 1999
tercollegiate athletics, and spe-!
cial programming such as cor-I
certs and convocations.
A 60’ x 120’ swimming pool
with depths ranging from 4-13
feet can be divided into two in-)
structional areas with a 40’ x 60*
deep area capable of accommo-*
dating diving from boards up tej
5 meters plus scuba diving in;
struction.
William Gauthier,
president for business and fi-'
nance, is pleased that the build-;
ing will meet multiple needs. '
“This new facility will allow
West Georgia to provide a quality
facility for academic programs, and
provide space for large gatherings
without the threat of rain outs,”
Gauthier noted. “It will be a high
tech facility, worthy of the new mil
lennium, and the total university
and Carrollton communities will
benefit.”
written over 350 songs and re
corded six albums.
His recording of "Murillo’s
Lesson” hit number one in At
lanta on WSB Radio’s hit parade.
The Cathedrals’ record of
Harold’s composition, “Sin Will
Take You Farther,” reached num
ber one in the nation in August,
1989.
McWhorter was recently
appointed to the 15-member
board of the recording industry
for the state of Georgia. He is of
ten asked to write commercials
for He ap
pears witfitheWarold McWhorter
Trio, . cj9&posedy>f his brother.
Buck McWhorter, and cousin,
Dianne Gray.
A 1957 graduate of West
Georgia, McWhorter also holds
degrees from Auburn University.
He and his wife live in
Tallapoosa.
companies. New laws will provide
for 142.500 more visas between 1999
and 2001.
Critics of the new measure say
the industry is overlooking qualified
domestic workers in favor of cheaper
labor.
Among the bright spots Archey
cited were discoveries that more stu
dents have been seeking degrees in
computer science over the last two
years and that U.S. high school stu
dents are taking more math and sci
ence. In recent years, the percentage'
of students completing Algebra II and
chemistry has doubled.
The
West
Georgian
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