9r]ElICIESlrik Jan. 26, 1982
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Vol. 80, No. 32
Cassens working to correct faults S
By Kim McConnell Second in a series One of the criticisms directed at CSU by the North Central Association (NCA) team when they visited in the spring of 1979 concerned the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. "There were some areas the academic office did not control that it normally would have," said Dr. Patrick Cassens, current vice president. Cassens assumed his duties as vice president in July of 1979, four months after the NCA visit. Since one criticism of the academic office was that it did not assume its share of campus responsibility, steps have been to gather more services back into its fold. These recaptured services have been numerous, according to Cassens. Thirteen services and programs have been reassigned to Cassens' office, including talkback television and offcampus courses, faculty research, certification and degree checks. The office has also taken a hand in faculty governmental affairs, including re-organizing the Graduation Council and its standards. "We have strengthened it. We have a greater control of the graduation area," he said. The office is also doing a "space study," according to Cassens, that is seeking to reassess the needs of various schools. He pointed to the plans underway for a new math building as administrative progress to meet the needs of a growing student population. Cassens is also proud of the progress being made in relations between the administration and the faculty. Promotions and merit stipends programs are now in gear and things seem to be more open between the two groups. "There have been several beneficial meetings with the Faculty Senate this year," he said. "We have had a freer dialogue in some respects. (Alvin) Alcorn sits on one committee, the fi-
nance committee, which we have reorganized." Cassens also pointed out that the School of Education has been reorganized as part of the NCA working orders. The program is fully in place and has narrowed the school from eight to four departments, including the recently added library science department. Cassens feels positive about the upcoming NCA visit and the results CSU has thus far achieved. "The progress has been positive," he said, "but you're not ever where you would like to be." A report made to President Bill Lillard by his special Blue Ribbon Committee, appointed in March, 1981 to investigate NCA criticisms, agreed with Cassens that good progress has been made in re-assigning services to the academic office. However, the committee did point out several areas that should be cause for concern. After polling the faculty, they noted that some members felt the office is experiencing a severe shortage of staff that could hamper "leadership cap Vista photos by Michael Keen abilities." The shortage of perFog seems to reach out and grasp anyone or anything in its path, seizing them and pulling them sonnel sometimes caused delays into oblivion. It also gives normal scenary the look that dreams are made of. The fog that shrouded in the most normal activities the the campus last week masked familiar landmarks and gave some areas the look of an old Scottish report said. moor or dusky London.
Reporter remembers Star tragedy Ed. Note The following story is a first-hand account of the Star Elementary tragedy by Mark Borchik, a beginning new writing student who also works for Channel 9 (KWTV) By Mark Borchik It was Tuesday, a usually ordinary day. But this Tuesday was not to be an ordinary day in the lives of thousands of Oklahoma City ans .
Inside this issue..
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Media covers Star Elementary. . .page 3 Distinguished Scholar honored. . .page 5 Library sets up computer. . .page5 Crosby plays well, but CSU loses. . .page 7 Stolen carpet recovered. . .page 8
My first clue came at 1:30 p.m. as I pulled into the KWTV parking lot and was dismayed not to find a parking space near the door. A full lot meant the morning crew was still at work and that meant something was probably going on
By 2 p.m. that Tuesday, all three Oklahoma City network television affiliates had broken on the air with live cut-ins, which sometimes included raw videotape of the rescue operation only moments after it had been shot.
At approximately 12:20 p . m . that afternoon, the Star Elementary School in Midwest City was rocked by an explosion that reduced the northwest corner of its cafeteria to rubble, leaving six dead and many injured. A malfunctioning ten-year old water heater has since been determined to be the cause of the tragedy. Public despair has evoked an emotional outcry of criticism aimed at various officials, agencies and the media for its coverage of the aftermath of the Star School disaster. The electronic media in particular has been lambasted for bringing home to its viewers the grief, terror and pain of a time that seemed as if a nightmare.
At 4 o'clock the crew began returning from the field to prepare packaged stories for the five o'clock news and with the arrival of an editor from the CBS Dallas bureau, the editing room was getting congested. Phil VanStavern poked his head around the corner, and motioned we are leaving, and yelled "live shot" over the whir of the tape machines and the half dozen or so individual conversations in the room. I obtained the keys to a news car from one of the returning photographers and met Van Stavern in the back lot. Our destination was the Midwest City Blood Institute. If there was a bright spot in the darkness of that tragedy, it was
the sight of over 200 people standing in lines that circled the six story building that housed the donation center as we drove up. The Midwest City Blood Institute s located just south of Midwest City Memorial Hospital where most of the victims had been taken earlier in the day . There was virtually no place to park, as a steady stream of cars kept arriving. The occupants somberly moved in to lines that formed outside the building and a mobile blood donation van that was called in to handle the everincreasing number of donors. As a result of live television reports originating from blood donation centers city-wide during the evening newscasts, people from as far away as a 100 miles made the trip to stand in the long, slow-moving lines, as darkness moved in and temperatures dipped into the 30s. Many of these people had never given blood before. Continued to page 3