Shuttle explodes; All 7 aboard die At one minute and 12 seconds into the space flight, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in midair at 10:38 a.m. (CST) today 7 nautical miles downrange at an altitude of nine nautical miles after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. killing all seven passengers aboard. The space shuttle was at maximum thrust and peak aerodynamic stress at the time of
the explosion. The shuttle was traveling at a speed of 2,250 feet per second when the explosion occurred. Cause of the explosion was unknown. However, videotape replay of the incident showed that a small explosion occurred on the right-hand side of one of the solid rocket boosters, followed by a main explosion a fraction of a second later.
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January
Vol. 84, No. 29
The Challenger was not equipped with any escape mechanism for the crew. The seven crewmates were: Dick Scobee, commander; Mike Smith, pilot; and Christa McAuliffe, schoolteacher. Other crew members were Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis.
McAuliffe, 37, a high school social studies teacher from Concord, N.H., was selected from 11,146 teacher applicants to be the first to make a shuttle trip in NASA's citizen-in-space program. McAuliffe was scheduled to broadcast lessons to students in hundreds of schools during the shuttle flight.
VISTA
Tuesday Edition
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Summer semester faces budget cuts University administrators have been forced to delay the printing of the summer class schedules after they found out that they would have to reduce their instructional salary budgets by 15 percent. Halting the printing of the summer schedule is but one of the many adjustments administrators have been forced to take to cope with reduced state funds. Last week, Dr. James Perry, vice president of academic affairs, asked all five of the University's deans to reduce their summer teaching work force by approximately 15 percent. Most of the teacher layoffs will be from the full time temporary
non-tenure track ranks, Perry said. Perry says he has had to reduce the 1986 instructional salaries budget by $130,000 — from $853,000 in summer 1985 to $723,000. What does it mean to the student? "The range of course offerings and therefore the selections that a student has will be reduced," Perry said. "I think in those instances that we had elective offerings obviously those will be the ones that will be cut. "We keep thumping our chest on the fact that we set record enrollments," Perry said. "But, there is good news, bad news. The
good news is numbers are up (in enrollment). The bad news is we're not here for quantity, we're here for quality. "Here we are with another record enrollment and the resources are dwindling." The result, Perry said is that class sizes have been going up. Perry said he will know on Friday what classes will be offered when the deans report back to him with their amended budgets. Other reductions Perry is calling for are: ■ Travel by faculty will be reduced "to matters pertaining to accreditation." ■ Sabbaticals will be suspended for the summer.
Senate bill calls for divestment
By Kim Voynar A student senator has submitted a resolution requesting that the CSU Foundation sell all of its stocks from those companies with holdings in South Africa. Rick Garcia, author of the resolution, charged that the South African government uses the assets from foreign investments to support the apartheid system. The apartheid system is a policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination. According to the resolution, the CSU Foundation holds stock from the following companies which do business in South Africa: —200 shares of of Borden Inc. —100 shares of General Motors Corp. —240 shares of Exxon —440 shares of Westinghouse —40 shares of Xerox Skip Wagnon, executive director of the CSU
Foundation, said the shares pointed out in the resolution have a total value of $50,250. Wagnon said he did not know if the stock in question did have ties to the South African government. Wagnon said that the board of trustees will decide at their April meeting whether or not to address the issue if the resolution passes. He said that all of the stocks were donated, not purchased. Normally, the Foundation doesn't sell stock without the permission of the people who donated it, according to Wagnon. However, since all of the stocks with the exception of General Motors were willed to the university by Vivian Sadler Field when she died, the board will have to make the final decision. The Senate postponed consideration of the resolution until next week. Garcia, a self-proclaimed cornmunist, has been absent at all three Senate meetings this year.
Photographic services: Dan Smith
Jenny Fowler displays her winning walk Saturday night in Mitchell Hall after capturing the 1986 Miss CSU of Edmond title.
Nigh says:
Oklahoma needs to improve its image By Melissa Mercer In a speech Thursday to a packed Liberal Arts auditorium audience, Gov. George Nigh urged students to take responsibility for a better future for Oklahoma. Nigh's speech was given as a part of CSU "Pride Week," a campaign sponsored by the Student Association to promote the university. "If you want this state to move forward, if you want more for education...we have to start with
ourselves," Nigh said. "The pride you have in Central State is important. First we have to work on our own pride, our own enthusiasm, our own attitude. Then we can worry about the rest." In a twenty-minute question and answer period, Nigh focused on Oklahoma's image problems and its comparative attributes. "One of the problems that we have in Oklahoma...is the image we have of ourselves. We have a lot of people who say 'Who would
want to come here?' When Hitachi announced the $45 million investment in Oklahoma...they came to Oklahoma because they liked us. And they said that. Had we never gone (to Japan), Hitachi wouldn't be here today. He also cited the distorted "Grapes of Wrath" image that the business community in the Far East has of Oklahoma, and the need to promote the state. "We need to be out hustling,"
he said. "When we opened an office in the Far East — you know what kind of flack I caught over that. That was where I was supposed to be. I'm supposed to be out there hustling jobs for you. "It's our responsibility to promote our image. Accept that Oklahoma has a bad image and work on it. But quit concentrating on the problems and concentrate on a solution. Nigh also addressed the issue of education and teachers' salaries.
The state has a commitment to education, he explained, but in the wake of a $191 billion shortfall in revenue for next year, teachers will have to "hang in there" until the economy improves.
Filing period opens Filing period for candidates for Student Association vice president and ombudsman will end Friday. Election will be held Feb. 5.