Celebrating 100 Years
111E
The Student Voice Since 1903
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004
UCOSA proposes fee hike by Sherrod Wall Staff Writer
Photo Provided
The vista is proud to salute Stuart Jolly, commander of the Broncho Battalion, on his promotion to Lt. Col. Thank you for your outstanding service to both this country and this campus, Col. Jolly.
UCOSA is currently considering an increase of the student activity fee. If the proposal is adopted the fee will be increased from $5.15 per credit hour to $6.25 per credit hour. "I was tossing around the idea of an increase at the beginning of the semester, and discussed it at the Leadership Luncheon and nothing really came of it," said Nicholas Harrison, Broncho Battalion of the Senate. Harrison said that this changed once the athletics department said that they needed a large bulk of money ($305,000). "As we went through the
appropriations process it became apparent that a lot of student organizations could really use some additional funds," he said. 50 percent of the additional funding will be given to athletics. The dollar amount would be roughly $180,000. It would be used for additional athletics scholarships for the teams and for an athletic trainer. 25 percent of the fee, or about $70,000, will be given to campus wide programs for activities and scholarships, a special events coordinator and a campus speakers bureau. $40,000 to $50,000 will be allocated to the creation of the speaker's bureau so that UCO has the ability to bring various speak-
see UCAB page 5
Criminal Justice Department, U.S. Marshals to offer paid internship, field training by Lauren Pulsinelli Staff Writer Central will offer a paid internship, which generally completes with a job offer for an agent's position with the U.S. Marshals. The internship is part of a new cooperative venture between the U.S. Marshals agency and the Sociology, Criminal Justice and Substance Abuse Department which begins Feb. 26. Central has now joined 62 other universities in offering this specialized opportunity. David Ford, Chairperson of the department said, "This is
just part of our evolving commitment to our students and stake holders in the community." To qualify for the internship a student must be a Criminal Justice or sociology major with an overall GPA of 3.0 or 3.5 in their major, excellent physical condition and high moral character. The applicants must have no criminal behavior or arrests and successful completion of the selection process within the department. This process must be started approximately one year prior to graduation. Student interns will receive
paid training in a 160 -hour program, covering courtroom security, search and seizure laws and procedures and firearm familiarization. "It is our goal to fill the demands of future employers and society," Ford said. Interested students are invited to attend an inform.ational session, Feb. 26 in the Liberal Arts building from 11 to 2 p.m. Criminal Justice majors can contact Kathryn Williams at 974 - 5546, or Dr. Sid Brown at 974 - 5271 for more information.
Photo by Justin Avera
Deputy President Pro Tempore of the Senate Lane Perry and Secretary of the Senate Kim Smith discuss different amendments to be voted on at the UCOSA meeting Feb.23 in Constitution Hall. UCOSA voted to amend their appropriations bill.
UCOSA amends appropriations bill, redistributes funds by Sherrod Wall Staff Writer UCOSA amended resolution 04-209, an appropriations bill, with three amendments at their regular meeting Feb.23. The bill allocates money to all student organizations for next year. The first amendment deletes the third and fourth paragraphs of the resolution, entitled "Minus 32%" and "=Amount Awarded" and replaces them with the following: If the total awarded to student organizations exceeds the amount available to student organizations, all figures shall be reduced by an equal percentage- unless provided otherwise by this resolution. Any additional funds generated by an increased in the Student Activity Fee for student organizations will be included in these adjustments. Nicholas Harrison Broncho Battalion Senator, said that it is basically just a language
change. "So that if there is a Student Activity Fee increase the money would actually go to student organizations," he said. Harrison said at the end of the budget cycle all the budget requests were reasonable but there was not enough money to meet them. An equal percentage was subtracted from the money requested so that the organizations could be allocated the money that was available. The amendment will allow any student fee increases to be included in the allocated funds. "If we do get an increase the extra money that we get from that will be applied to this budget cycle," Harrison said. The second amendment adds the following clause to the end of the resolution: No further adjustments will be applied to the amounts awarded to any student organization once their budget is reduced to $750 or less.
Harrison said that some organizations asked for about $450 and after the budget was looked at and appropriated the $450 would become around $200. "They asked for $450, now they only get $200 something and they can't do anything with that amount of money." The amendment protects budget requests of $750 or less from being reduced. The third resolution enables hand written budget request to be considered by the General Conference Committee on Appropriations. "There were a bunch of hand written budget requests, the Appropriations Committee threw out those." Harrison said research was done to find our if it was a rule passed down by Dr. Gage and it turned our that the "typewritten rule" was more of a guideline. Since the amendment was approved handwritten budgets will now be considered.
Photo by Justin Avera
Jerel Cowan, Program Coordinator at the Wellness Center, walks thorough the blindness simulation Feb. 24 in the Wellness Center. Michelle Davis, Broncho Apartments Manager, guides him through the exercise, a part of Disability Awareness Week.