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MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1989
Burke cancelled for
library hours
Mercer’s “couples" showed how much they knew about each other last Thursday during Heartland
Fair’s "The Dating Game.” The fair was sponsored by the Mercer Peer Advocates.
I — — —
Debt paves way for commission
By SARAH CAMBRIDGE
One of the scheduled lectures for
the Insight Lecture Series came to
a grinding halt when the contract
for' James Burke, a renowned
British speaker on science and
technology, was rejected by Presi
dent Godsey in favor of more
library hours.
Burke's lecture here would have
been his last on a college campus
before he returned to England for
his BBC series. However, the fee
of $10,000 which was needed to
finalize the agreement was even
tually allocated to another area.
SUAB works with restricted
funds which come from fees paid
by the students at the beginning of
the school year. This money can
only be used for student activities,
which could have included the
Burke lecture had SUAB’s money
not already been promised to other
obligations.
Hoping to gain the use of
unrestricted funds (funds acquired
directly from tuition payments).
SUAB sent the contract for Burke's
lecture to President Godsey, since
Tracy Vaughn and other
members of the Campus Security
Committee such as Noteen White
and Paul O'Shea started a Student
Committee System available for
any person who does not want to
walk alone at night throughout the
various parts of the campus.
The shooting incident last spring
activated this program because
"everyone was real scared and I
think that this will add protection."
says Vaughn, who is the main per
son in charge. Gary Collins of
Mercer Police approved this pro
gram aid said that he was "glad to
see it happen." This helps the
Mercer Police because they have
the lime to patrol the cars and the
campus more often.
This service is offered to students
free of charge Sunday through
he is in charge of signing any con
tracts for the school. In the end,
Godsey decided to give the propos
ed amount of $10,000 to the library
due to student requests for longer
hours.
In a letter to Tom Cipollo. presi
dent of SUAB, Godsey explained
that he “found it difficult to ap
prove $10,000 for a one hour lec
ture when the same amount would
assist in providing essential library
service."
Ron Light, chairman of the In
sight Lecture Series Committee,
was very disappointed by the turn
of events. "1 understand that it is
necessary that the money be turn
ed to other areas of the university.
and I can appreciate that, but given
administrative rhetoric that there is
no financial crisis. 1 see this deci
sion as somewhat hypocritical."
Despite this setback, the
February 10 lecture by Donald
Woods, a part of the Insight Lec
ture Series proved to be very suc
cessful, drawing a crowd of over
200.
Thursday from 8 p.m.-l2 mid
night. The escorts are provided by
several campus organizations, but
It primarily consists of the pledges
from the different fraternities. One
can call 744-2970 to receive this
service. Vaughan states that "no
one is using this security system:
the groups are getting discourag
ed." It is co-sponsored with the
Student Government Association.
They are still trying to-get the
system's feet off the ground by get
ting "people aware, and they are
encouraged to use it." says
Vaughn.
Another possible safety measure
that the committee is planning is in
stalling safety boxes around cam
pus so if one is in danger all that
person needs to do is pick up the
phone, and it will directly contact
the Mercer Police
By JIM COOK
Associate Editor
While Mercer Univeristy's
economic woes have placed undue
constraints on every department,
including athletics, at least one
man, David Jones. M.D., hasn't
been standing still.
Jones, who has been ootfie board
of Trustees for one-and-a-halfyekrs
and the athletic commission for
eight months, was recently ap
pointed to head up the commission.
Although he has several goals in
mind for Mercer athletics, his first
\ is to establish an alhcletic associa
tion. Jones said the responsibility
of this association would be to raise
money to help support Mercer's
various aihcletic programs.
The first and most pressing pro
blem the association would be deal
ing with is the Board of Trustees'
decision to drop Mercer's inter
collegiate athektic program from
NCAA Divsion I to Division 11.
According to Jones, the newly
formed association will be trying to
raise money which would be used
to help keep Mercer in Division I.
If successful, the association would
continue to operate and supply
funds to the athletic program.
“The issue now is money,"
Jones said, "it's not a matter of
Division I or U. The Univerisiy had
to look at the athletic program and
set aside what it could. They had
'X' amount of money for alheletics.
and since Division II doesn’t re
quire as much, they decided to drop
to that division."
Jones went on to say that by for
ming the athletic association, he
hopes to prevent this problem from
recurring, which he felt certain it
would unless something was done
The association, which would be
made up of alumni and other in
terested backers, would continue to
supply the athletic program much
like similar associations are doing
at other universities, including
Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Surprisingly enough. Jones said
that Mercer's current financial pro
blem is the best thing that could
have happened to the athletic pro
gram. “Prior t« this, athletics at
Mercer had never been threaten
ed.”
Jones explained that under the
current program, it hat been dif
ficult to make plans concerning
athletics: they have needed some
sort of system to know how much
money they have, and the financial
problem has provided the
"perfect" catalyst. ,
Jones anticipates little friction
concerning his plan to keep
athletics in Division 1. "In the past
few months 1 have received calls
from people all over the state and
no one has said that they want to
move to Division II."
Another long-term goal Jones ex
presses an interest in is the con-
struction of a new gymnasium on
campus. *‘We need a facility
suitable for intercollegiate and in
tramural athletics. We can run our
wagons in a circle, or we can build
a new building that will increase
enrollcmnt.
Jones said that when a perspec
tive student comet to ihe campus
and sees that Mercer has a nice,
new facility, that will only increase
the chances that the student will
decide to attend Mercer
In order to ease any fears that
they would be taking money from
acslemic departments, Jones said.
"We're talking about new money
for the athletics: Mercer's primary
goal should continue to be
academics, but we want to do
Continued on page 2
Escort service is
provided by students
By ELAINE FLORO
SUIT Writer