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THE PANTHER
December 18, 1979
EDITORIAL COMMENT...
The First Amendment
Congress 8hall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom ofspeech or of the press or the rightof the people...
Facilities Needed at Clark j^e Other Side of FAO
BY MARCIA E. JONES
Panther Editor
Clark College — your school
and my school — has its
positive and negative aspects.
Many feel that the Panther
staff has been harsh with their
opinions concerning issues
that affect us as students. The
administration and the
systems that they have set up
to process various activities
are of a primitive nature. The
main system that I would like
to address a segment of this
editorial to is the financial aids
office.
To many, it may seem that
this is a stale subject, but the
views that I would like to
convey are of significant im
portance. It disturbs me as a
student to enter fall regis
tration and not be aware of my
financial status. By financial
status I am referring to
whether I am to receive the
funds that I had previously
received in past years.
I must admit that I have
been more fortunate than
many of my counterparts.
However, it is quite upseting to
enter registration without any
prior knowledge as to where or
how much financial aid will be
allocated to you. The rationale
for this lack of knowledge of
financial funds is often times
due to the primitive methods
of manual processing.
What’s the problem Clark? I
am sure the costis expensive to
install a computerized system
to process forms. However, the
investment towards such a
system would be beneficial for
the financial aids personnel as
well as the students. Proces
sing of applications and
correspondence to students
concerning financial awards
would be tremendously
quicker.
Often I have spoken to some
of my peers who attend larger,
white institutions. They speak
of a computerized system that
hastens procedures and
eliminates some of the con
fusion that occurs at Clark.
I could elaborate further
about the financial aids
situation, but it would only be
repetitious of what has already
been said. I would like to
expound, however, on another
situation that perplexes me. I
feel very perplexed at a
situation involving our own
school publication — The
Panther.
Clark installed their own
typesetting equipment last
semester and the Panther is
not permitted to use it. Why
not?
Continued on page 8
BY BERLAINE SMITH
The article “Students Dis
satisfied With Financial Aid
Office,” in the December 3 is
sue of the Panther, is not an
accurate report of the ef
ficiency of the Financial Aid
Office (FAO) of Clark College.
The writer poses the question
about the office’s daily hours.
The official office hours are 9
a.m.-5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and 9 a.m.-12:30
p.m. Friday, with an hour for
lunch and two fifteen (15)
minute breaks which are never
taken by the staff.
There is an extensive
amount of paper work which
must be done in FAO;
therefore, the office is closed
all day Wednesday and Friday
afternoons. It has been
brought to my attention, that
in the past, the FAO was open
on Wednesdays (a more
convenient day - for most
students), but very few
students came to the office on
this day.
In response to Ms. Ford’s
assessment of the FAO ability
to serve 2000 students, I want
to inform her about the in
sufficient number of four (4)
FAO staff members.
Ms. Ford states that the
“standards have not changed
any since my freshman year”;
consequently, Ms. Ford, the
FAO’s personnel number has
not changed either, even
though the enrollment has
shown a substantial growth in
population.
Before I became a student
worker in the FAO I expressed
some of these same grievances.
Since I have been employed in
the Office, I have observed
many mistakes made by
students,mistakeswhich result
in discrepancies in their finan
cial aid awards. Students fill
out forms improperly. Their
signatures and social security
numbers are illegible; wrong
addresses and/or no ad
dresses are given; and dates
are oftentimes missing.
There is an enormous lack of
responsibility on the part of
the student body. They do not
report to the FAO when they
are asked to do so, and they do
not provide the proper in
formation requested.
There are many students
who are dissatisfied with the
Work-Study Payroll system.
Instead of accusing the FAO of
poor organization, ask
yourself these questions: Is my
contract signed? Did I fill out
my time card properly? Are my
signature and social security
number present? Did my
supervisor submit my time
card by the 12 noon deadline?
If the FAO strictly abided by
the 12 noon deadline rule, how
many students do you think
would receive checks?
I am not trying to totally dis
credit the Clark College
student body, but am only giv
ing an inside viewpoint of the
FAO. I also want to tell the
students how hard the Finan
cial Aid Office staff works; for
your benefit some of the staff
are there until late evenings, 8
p.m. and after, and even on
Saturdays. Were it not for the
compassion and dedication of
these staff members, some
students wouldn’t have any
aid or work-study jobs.
Students, how many of you
remember the special efforts
put forth in order for you to
participate in the work-study
program? How many of you
remember the special con
sideration given you so that
you could participate in the
grant programs? No, the
Financial Aid Office is not
perfect, but consider some of
the facts pointed out here, and
let us all account for our own
inhibitions.
I invite Ms. Ford to work in
the FAO for one day and then
ask her to write a second
article. I should love to read
about her discoveries.
The PANTHER is published twice monthly by the students at Clark College.
Editors Marcia E. Jones
Lillie M. Lewis
News Editor Michael H. Cottman
Feature Editor Beniamin S. Lumpkin
Entertainment Editor Rozell Clark
Sports Editor Veverly Y. Byrd
Photography Editor Tyraun Patterson
Copy/layout Editor Charles D. Anderson
Business Manager - •. • Jack Jenkins
Faculty Advisors Denise Johnson
Osker Spicer
All articles, poetry, photographs and other contributions to the newspaper may be dropped
off at our offices in Thayer Hall.
Address all correspondence to: PANTHER Newspaper, Box 154, Clark'College. Atlanta.
Ga. 30314.
Driving on the Rocks
— ‘Dangerous’
BY LILLIE M. LEWIS
Panther Editor
As the holiday season ap-
praoches us many persons
exchange gifts, attend
Christmas festivities, hang
their wreaths, mistletoe, and
renew old acquaintances.
Some people plan to travel to
various cities to visit other
relatives and distant friends.
In addition, others want to get
away from the congestion of
city life to the warmth and
friendliness of a smaller town.
Many persons who venture
into various social at
mospheres where alcoholic
beverages are served,
sometimes have a tendency to
overindulge. As a result of this
situation, it may eventually
lead to uncontrollable mis
conduct and prolonged em
barrassment.
Did you know that one drink
can actually impair the
capacity of a person especially
if this person is inexperienced
both as a driver and a drinker?
In the state of Georgia there
are an estimated 265,000
alcoholics and persons with
serious drinking problems.
Based on national figures, an
estimated 100,000 of these
people are women, and about
13,000 are children and 45,000
are elderly.
In reference to a national
study of teenage drinking
behavior, the number of adult
alcoholics is estimated at
between five and nine million.
The annual societal cost of
alcohol is estimated at over 25
million dollars.
Continued on page 8