UVCC College Times, 1992-01-15

              A Quayle in every Bush for '92? Editorial and student views answer See page 3 CI?!5 March speaks at Lara Gifford & JoAnn Bratcher Area Editors Utah Senator Orrin Hatch spoke to a full ballroom of students and faculty Mon.,Jan. 13,on issues such as the recession, Judge Clarence Thomas, and the country's health care system. President Romesburg introduced Hatch, who immediately opened up to questions from the audience. The first person to question Hatch wanted to know if Bush could have done anything to avoid the recession. Hatch answered, "The president has sent in more than eleven budgets, all of them have been declared unacceptable by the congress, or 'dead on arrival.'" The senator said that the president can't get the recession under control without the support of Congress. When asked his views on ending the recession, Hatch said that cutting capital gains tax is one thing that he feels should be implemented. "If the president cut capital two years ago we would not be in this mess today," he said. When asked his feelings on the treatment of Clarence Thomas during his judicial hearings, Hatch said that the poor treatment was, fortunately, an "isolated case. Jurisdiction has worked well over the years. In only one or two cases in the 200 year history of this country have we allowed a simple issue like abortion or quotas to stop someone from serving on the supreme court." Hatch said special interest groups d id n't want Judge Thomas serving because, "he's the wrong kind of black. They did not want State list jeopardizes events center Utah Legislature may not fund UVCC Special Events Center Lara Cifford StateCommunity Editor Plans forUVCC's special event center could be put on hold if the Utah Legislature doesn't come through with funding. The center is ranked 22, close to the bottom of the State Building Board's priority list. The Board of Regents placed the facility near the top of their recommendation list, ranking it the highest priority after the construction on-going projects are funded. But the worries started when Governor Norm Bangerter came out with his list of priorities, and Women remain undefeated Weekend basketball action See page 1 1 volume Thomas Epllng77 College Timet Utah Senator Orrin Hatch-R spoke to a full ballroom of students and faculty Mon., Jan. 13, on issues such as the recession, Judge Thomas, and the county's health care system. that kind of rolemodel on the court Thomas is a very, very great guy." When asked about the troubled American health care system. Hatch warned against socialized medicine saying that the time that people wait for surgery in countries with socialized medicine is the project didn't even show up. Analysts for the legislature will unveil their list on Wed. or Fri. of this week, which should give a better idea of the final outcome. UVCC's vice-president for administration and institutional advancement, Dick Chappell, is hopeful. "I'm optimistic about it," said Chappell. "We're righton the edge, but I'm optimistic that the legislature will jump in and give us the funds. Maybe I'm overly optimistic." In April of last year Utah County residents voted 2 to 1 to approve a 1 percent restaurant tax to pay for 7.7 million of the $17 million facility. Since then construction costs have gone up, and the bill will be aproximatly $23.3 million. .isr 20 issue 23 January UVCC "something we take for granted." "We are going to spend over 736 billion in health care in this country next year. The problem isn't that we're not spending enough. The problem is that we're not doing the right things with it," Hatch said. UVCC wasexpecting the other part of the funding to come from the state, but it appears now that the money's just not there. The legislature's construction bond for 1992 would have to exceed 101.2 million to reach UVCC on its list of priorities. If UVCC does not gefcthe funding, administrators are at least hoping for partial funding that will help the project through this year. The actual construction of the building won't happen until next year anyway, when the school can petition for funds once again. If the school recieves no funding this year Chappell said, "We'll postpone plans for a year and try again. We have finished preliminary plans already, so we're not going to quit." t- t - t i i - i i iWIIW;: m' 1992 Utah valley community colleqe Raises for president s council questioned Thomas Epting Editor in Chief Last semester, Student Body President Kenneth C. Patey and three other president's council members voted themselves raises totalling $1,075 in a closed meeting of that four-member body. This semester, Academic senator Chris Brereton wishes to block payment of the raises, he told the College Times. Brereton believes the raises were unconstitutional and shouldn't ha ve been implemented without informing other student council members. "I feel the constitution was violated when the president's council voted on their raises because the constitution gives power to the entire student council to establishthefinancialpoliciesand procedures. Four people do not make the student council. The student council consists of at least the executive council and the president" s council together," said Brereton. He continued, "We don't feel that someone can give themselves a raise without letting the students, who are paying the stipends, know." Both Brereton'saccusation and Patey's defense rest on defini Hons. ASUVCC's constitution states Public watchdog to get help from 'granma' Susan Ostergaard Guest Writer A newspaper reporter's role as public watchdog over government affairs could become easier with the help of "granma." GRMA is an acronym for Government Records and Meetings Act. GRMA, if passed, will explain what conditions government entities can deny access of information to the public, according to Todd Utzinger, Utah's assistant attorney general of the criminal appeals division. GRMA will also clarify how reporters, who represent the public, can obtain government information. "Your role is like a watchdog in the sense that you're the organized corps of people that can act on behalf of the public," said Utzinger, addressing the press. "Not everybody in society can go up to the state legislature on a regular basis and watch what's happening. Not everybody can get into the mayor's office or the governor's office and talk to them." Pianist's music compares to early Billy Joel Review of Club Etc. performance See page 9 tha t the executive council will vote on all financial policies, stipends included. It also states that the executive council consists of all 10 voting members of student council. Patey said in an interview with the College Times that he thought executive council meant the four-member president's council. "There was a semantics problem that we didn't understand," said Patey. Further, he said that when he came into office there were no written precedents for stipend amounts. "No one is really sure and that is the problem.. ..We couldn't find anywhere in writing what it was," said Patey. However, when the College Times asked Di rector of StudentLife Tom Hover for a written copy of last year's stipend amounts, his secretary Barbara Bridge readily produced a detailed accounting of last year's stipend payments. Former Student Body President Kelly Bitters received a yearly stipend of $1,525. Patey will receive $2,000 for the same period if the stipends are approved. Similarly, vice-presidents David Nielson, Brian Kelly, and Taffy Lovell will each receive $1,600 for both semesters; up a collective $600 over last year. See RAISES, page 4 In the past, the law has been vague concerning which government meetings and records a government entity can keep closed to the public, said Utzinger. As a result, a two-year conflict over the act has developed between the media and government. The Attorney General's Office, acting for the state legislature, is trying to "clamp down" on access to information, saying too much is given out already. But members of the media want greater access to governmental information. Government meetings and records "ought to be open with very rare exception," said Utzinger. "Representatives of media organizations come in and say, 'How can we do our job, how can we serve the public, if every time you do something important, you shut down the meetings and say, sorry, no cameras, no private parties in here, government officials only.'" GRMA could possibly provide See GRMA , page 4