UVSC College Times, 1996-06-05

              Essentials WEDNESDAY June 5, 1996 Volume XXV No. 1 to check al the great new deskms in thh of The College Times. Serving Utah Valley State College for 25 years News on the Net Chris Boylan News Editor Tired of filling out Financial Aid papers? Sick of the hassles you have to go through to see if youqualify for Financial Aid? Check out these sites on the Internet: http:home.sprynet.comint erservlbontintgOOOO l .htm A Comprehensive Financial Aid Consulting Service. ..:www. yahoo.comEdu cationFinancialAid Yahoo! -Education: Financial Aid http:www.atlantic.edustud infofin-menu.html Financial Aid Information Utah's Highway Death Toll As of May 24, 1996 January thru May 1996 January thru May 1995 96 Total Fatalities in 1995 326 Driving Tip: Driving, especially in the summer, can be stressful. Remember, all motorists are facing the same problems. Be extra courteous and aware of other's situations. Adjust your driving to make travel easier for everyone. To determine a safe following distance, notice when the car in front of you passes an object. Count one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three. If you pass the object before you finish counting, you are following too close. On wet roads, double the distance - snowy, quadruple it. "The safest way to drive on campus is to obey the rules and regulations of UVSC," said UVSC Police Chief Ron Greenleaf. "Posted parking lot speeds arc different thai the College Drive speed limits. The main cause of accidents at UVSC is when people back out withoutlooking." Right! Gov. Leavitt and Marlon Snow received honorary degrees at UVSC's Graduation Activities. Above! A UVSC graduate passes on the marker for the next generation. Commencement Exercises include speech from Gov.. Chris Boylan News Editor The 55th annual commencement exercises were held on April 26, 1996 at 10:30 a.m. in the David O. McKay Events Center. The 1,871 students represented 12 different countries and 24 states. Over 1,200 of the graduates were from Utah County. "Graduation is an important time in the lives of students because it gives them a chance to be recognized for their educational achievements," said Kerry D. Romesburg, President of UVSC. Graduation also allows students to set educational goals for the future. For some, graduating will be the beginning of a new career, and for others, it is a hard earned step toward further education and training. About 61 percent of this years graduates responded to a survey conducted by the schools office of Institutional Research and Strategic Planning. Of the students surveyed, approximately 90 percent of UVSC graduates had no regrets about their educational experience at UVSC Concerning the caliber of faculty, 89 percent of students cither strongly agreed or agreed that their classes at UVSC were well taught; 8 percent were neutral on the question; 2 percent did not respond and 1 percent disagreed. About 40 percent of the graduates have been accepted into four year institutions of higher learning and 28 percent of graduates were employed well before they earned their diploma. Michael Leavitt, Governor of the State of Utah, was this years commencement speaker. Leavitt was recently named the recipient of 1 the annual Governors Medal for Science and Technology. He challenged graduates to become a part of societies ongoing technological changes and warned them to hold onto the enduring values of self-reliance, hard work and h u m a n kindness inherited from the Utah's For our society to individual hearts and people must be good." pioneer past. Gov. "For our society to be good, the individual hearts and minds of the people must be good," Leavitt said. He also mentioned that the day is now here that education will come to where the people are rather than students having to attend campus to receive instruction. "We as a state, a nation and world are about to cross a juncture that comes only once every thousand years." the governor said. "We are ushering an entirely new era. We are moving from an industrial age to an information and knowledge age." Leavitt was awarded an honorary doctorate of commerce and government. Marlon O. Snow, chairman of the Utah State Board of Education, received an honorary doctorate of business and industry for his contributions to education and the community.Snow served as chairman of the UVSC Foundation board of directors and is currently a member of the Public Education Foundation board of directors, the Alpine School District Foundation board of directors, and UVSC's National Leadership Council. Four valedictorians were honored. They were John B. Dean for the School of Humanities; Cynthia Bulkley for the School of Science at UVSC Leavitt and Health; Jeffrey Harris for the School of Business; and Ruth Knapp for the School of Technology. Trades and Industry. UVSC's Commencement Extravaganza was held on April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ragan Theater. The extravagan be good, the za featured UVSC's most popular performing groups including Encore, UVSC's minds of the Mike Leavitt musical ambassadors; the UVSC Ballroom Dance Company, ranked second nationally in the U.S. Formation Championships; Synergy, UVSC's modern dance group; and the Utah Regional Ballet, recognized as a premier dance company nationwide. OPINION: pp. 2-3 Gripes & Groans Letter to the Editor Voices NEWS: pp. 4-5, 1 2 News on the 'Net Make it second Nature Across Campus CLASSIFIEDS: p. 6 NATION & WORLD: p. 7 LIFE!: pp. 8-9 Entertainment Connection SPORTS: pp. 10-11 World of Sports Upcoming Events FEATURE: will not be in the issue but please look for it in the issues to come. Student boycotts Graduation Chris Boylan News Editor Mark Johnson, a UVSC senior, and his family did not attend graduation ceremonies held at the David O. McKay Events center on April 26th. Johnson was angry that he was not chosen to be valedictorian. He said he was unfairly denied the right to be the valedictorian of the School of Business even though he maintained a perfect GPA of 4.0 in the Department of Business Management during the last four years and is a presidential scholar. Even though Johnson's grades were the highest, he was not chosen as valedictorian due to a policy at UVSC. According to the dictionary, valedictorian is the student with the highest scholastic rank in a graduating class. UVSC, however, rotates the selection of valedictorian among departments within a school so the top grade earner is not necessarily valedictorian. Last year the valedictorian was chosen from the Department of Business Management. Johnson met with Ian Wilson, dean of the business school, last fall to learn what it would take to become valedictorian. Wilson said he told Johnson he had to achieve the highest grade point average but made a mistake when he inadvertently failed to tell Johnson that the departments rotate every year. Wilson led Johnson to believe that he was eligible to become valedictorian.Johnson said that the rotation policy was just an excuse. He further alligates that a business department official admitted they hadn't even checked to see if Johnson had a 4.0. He accused the school of providing misinformation and then UNFAIR, Page 4