UVSC College Times, 2001-11-26

              EL BUEN PANO EN EL ARCA SE VENDE QUOTE OF THE DAY j VOLUME 30 ISSUE 29 Tin h k Q "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John F. Kennedy if : BY AND FOR I HI SU'DIS'IS 01 UTAH VAI I F Y STATE. COI I f C.i: Opinions: We jost keep on grow ing. The good news is 1$ nJwe have the room. Pg 5 ! j b2Sk8tb2!l 8am Pg 9 Sports: Elliott continues to make an impact on the NETXNEWS For more in-depth reports and all the latest news, dick on to netxnews.net. VALLEY WEATHER TODAY: Partly Cloudy "i! !:'' .' High 48 Low 28 -". i-"? V Tuesday: ' f Sunny fV? High 50 Low 29 Wednesday: Sunnv High 40 Low 30 " ns. n in n n n n n nuege peons By Stacey Bullock OF THE NETXNEWS STAFF UVSC's Mountain Land Applied Technology Center has now officially become a member of Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT), and has changed its name from Mountainland Applied Technology Center to Mountainland Applied Technology College. The launch of the new school was held November 13 at the MATC, 987 S. Geneva Rd. in Orem. The ceremony was open to the public and had many guest speakers including UVSC's Kerry Romesberg. UVSC's MATC is now a part of 10 other campuses under UCAT and will serve the community through business and industry partnerships. The programs are open to High School students, community members, and company employees for hands on training for productive careers within regional business. The former director of the MATC, Royanne Boyer, has accepted a position as regional president of the new addition to UCAT. Boyer said "I am very pleased to have been named MATC regional president, however, it will be a team effort that will make us successful. Our team has a twelve-year track record, we are well prepared for the transition and remain committed to serving our students effectively." The MATC exists to support the training needs of people and businesses within the Moutainland region. The region includes 7 school districts; Alpine, Provo, Nebo, Park City, Wasatch, South Summit, and North Summit. Through partner ships with businesses and leaders in the industry, the MATC will determine workforce demands and needed skills in order to provide the best training for current careers in the industry. Boyer said "We will foster economic growth through business and industry training partnerships, preparing high L school students, community members, and company employees for productive work in regional businesses." At the MATC, learning interaction is scheduled to accoma-date the needs of students. The class schedules are flexible and cater to the student's demands. Courses are offered nights, days, and weekends.Students are able and encouraged to work at a pace that is comfortable to them and specialized professors assist them. tr?rat o ,1 i Courtesy Photo Mountain Land Technology Center became a college on Sept. 1, 2001. The MATC joined with the Utah College of Applied Technology to become the 10th satellite campus In Utah. The classes are small and hands-on. The average size of a MATC class is about 15 students but classes with 6-8 people are common. MATC instruction is offered through a variety of means, including certificate programs, individual specialized courses, seminars, and programs, as well as short-term intensive competency based training, computer based training, distance learning courses, demonstrations and on site needs assessments. Learning is measured against national and international standards and is tied to state of the art knowledge, technologies, and applications, both in the community and the workplace. UCAT's overriding purposes is to bring together education and economic development for the enhancement of regional communities, companies and their customers. Another service that the MATC provides for its graduates is placement assistance to meet personal and company employment needs. They also provide career guidance and remediation as identified through assessments. Their mission statement is "Learning is integral to economic growth and prosperity." The "Shut Down" continued on pg. 4 Montis will fflouG out of Olympic mmm Geneva Steel shutdown will reverberate throughout tlio IVcst By Associated Press AP Writer Students in Heritage Commons housing at the University of Utah have it on their calendars: Dec. 14, finals. Dec. 15, collectively pack up and make way for Olympic athletes. Approximately 1,200 students of the 1,500 now housed in the Olympic Village area will be relocated through the Olympics in February and the Paralympics in March, said Daniel Adams, assistant vice president for student affairs. The students will move 15,000 boxes - an estimated 263 tons' worth of "just student stuff" and move to the older Austin, Ballif and Van Cott halls on campus. Adams told members of the university board of trustees Friday that fences already are being built to seclude the Olympic Village. The temporary relocation of the students has required weeks of planning, he said. "We almost need a shoehorn to make it happen," but it's happening, he said. "They're being moved from the Taj Mahal to small cubicles. There'll be some shock element." The shift in quarters is expected to occur over about four days. Several hundred of the students who usually live on campus have opted to stay at home or make other arrangements rather than make the move. The move has required upgrading wiring in some areas of the older buildings to accommodate computers, since the students won't have access to the media center in the village housing. "Their modems will crawl," Adams said. The housing complex was built under the direction of the state Division of Facilities Construction & Management on property once owned by the Army. Construction was fast-tracked so the university students could occupy the buildings at least a year before the Games, giving developers time to find and correct any faults in the buildings prior to the athletes' arrival. The state floated more than $90 million in bonds that will be repaid with student rental fees. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee agreed to contribute about $30 million and helped design the facilities to ensure bedroom sizes, bathroom numbers and other features met Olympic host-city requirements. Contractors have complained the project was poorly designed and plagued with problems. 'j is. I- If Courtesy Photo The day after finals, Unlveslty of Utah students will be asked to pack up and move. The Herrltage Commons will be the new home of many Olympic athletics. They will be relocated to the older Austin, Ballif and Van Cott halls on campus. By the Associated Press AP Writer Geneva Steel's shutdown will not only affect local steel manufacturers, but eventually all western state users, area businessmen say. "It is definitely affecting the marketplace," said Patrick Ongman, owner of Schaeffer Industries in Lindon. "We've already had a lot of people applying for jobs." Geneva Steel's coke plant and steel mill were placed on 'hot idle' and temporarily shut down late Friday. Company officials announced the immediate layoff of 950 employees. The shutdown was unexpected even though the steel industry is "as depressed as I've seen it in 20 years," Ongman said. "Geneva makes a few products no one else in the western U.S. can produce," he said. "The shutdown will immediately affect prices on those items, if not within the next 30 to 60 days." Ongman's company, which did some business with Geneva, has been forced to look for other suppliers. "Geneva was about a 20 percent vendor for us," he said. "That means we will have to buy about 3,000 tons of steel product from other vendors." The effect on the local economy will be harder to gauge, he said. "It's too early to tell," he said. "We'll have to wait three to six months down the line before we begin to see the full effect." Gov. Mike Leavitt has said the shutdown could further hurt the state's faltering economy. More than 100 local steel manufacturers and fabricators are being affected by the shutdown, said Al Giffin, general manager of Steel in Lindon. "Anytime you take out supply, it lets the other mills raise prices, and fluctuating prices never help anyone," he said. Several companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, have also experienced financial difficulty recently, and the problems are likely to worsen before getting better, Giffin said. "There were a lot of people that depended on Geneva for their steel," he said. "There are more than 100 local fabricators that get steel from them, and they are going to feel it." "Geneva" continued on pg. 4 - - -- - - - COUflTlST PHOTO More than 100 local steel manufacturers and fabricators are being affected by Geneva Steel's recent shutdown. Net Spot 'THE HOTTEST SPOTS IN: 'NewsPoTitks usatoday.com youthvwe20W.orjnewv' cnn.comAllPOIJ- TICSJ msn.com neunews.net msnbc.comnews defaulusp Entertainment: utahvalleymall.com music.utah.edupagessc hedules utahvalleymusic.com moviefone.com 'Music Online: emusic.com liquidaudio.com mtv.com Student helps makingcollegecount.com edu.com fastweb.com firetalk.com lycos.com Sports: uvsc.eduathletics majorleaguebaseball.com nfltalk.com nhl.com espn.go.com Washington County law cnfoi cemeni agencies deny racial profiling By Associated Press AP Wruer A civil rights advisory board concerned about allegations of racial profiling questioned Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith over his department's practice of arresting people on immigration violations. The Utah Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights interviewed Smith Friday during a conference on treatment of ethnic minorities in Washington County. The conference was held in the county- which has seen a burgeoning Latino population- in part because of complaints to the commission about discrimination. Concerns also included whether local law enforcement is assuming power normally reserved for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Xochitil Cuara, 25, said if the police picked her husband up in a quiet parking lot in St. George, he could be asked to present documents, drivers license or even a birth certificate to prove citizenship, she said. If he couldn't show the legal papers he could be presumed to be a gang member, as has already happened to several men in his family aged between 23 and 35, Cuara said. Both the county Sheriff's Office and the city Police Department denied the accusations. "We are confident that racial profiling is not happening in our department," said Sheriff Kirk Smith, adding that he hasn't received any official complaint letters about discrimination. If there were discrimination, he said, it would be 'hard to hide.' Smith said he has allowed his deputies to determine a person's status if that person has been stopped for another violation and if there is reasonable suspicion to warrant asking. "We don't want to go out and be the INS," Smith said, "but we are partners." Although the practice has been ongoing for years, Smith said there have only been "three or four" instances of deputies arresting people on immigration charges. "We're not doing it all the time," he said. Advisory committee chairman Mike Martinez, a Salt Lake City attorney, said the chain of authority needs to be cleared up before someone's civil rights are infringed upon. John Dulles, the regional director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said he is unsure if "local olficers have the right" to arrest lor immi gration violations. Dulles said he is concerned that the sheriff's actions may cause illegal aliens to be afraid to call police if they are the victim of a crime. Washington County's Hispanic population grew to 4,727 in 2000, up nearly 4,000 from a . decade ago. Statewide, the number has increased by 20 percent, two thirds of whom come from Mexico. In the city of St. George, more than 3,300 residents identified themselves as Hispanics in the 2000 Census. The percentage of Hispanic representation in the city and county's representation is minimal. One of St. Georges 69 police sworn police officers is Hispanic. Police Chief Marlon Stratum said he welcomes Hispanic members, but no one has applied.