"191EICIE December 8, 1983
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Vol. 82, No. 26
East Hall official says:
Vandalism on rise in dorms By Matthew Driskill Associate Editor
Vista photo by Mary Gay Franklin
Arson resulted a fire in this stairwell on the south side of East Hall Monday night. East Hall officials say the potential for damage was great, but no injuries were reported.
Vandalism always increases in the dormitories toward the end of the semester, according to Don Jaeger, assistant head resident at East Hall. Jaeger says pent-up frustrations during finals are the main cause. Vandals leave their calling cards in the different forms, ranging from broken bottles in the halls to firecrackers wrapped in toilet paper that acts like a fuse allowing the vandal to escape before the tiny bomb goes off. Another and more serious form of vandalism is arson. A small fire was set Monday night in an East Hall stairwell, causing little damage, but a great deal of smoke that could have injured someone, Jaeger said. "There's a difference between the fires and the vandalism," Jaeger said. "The vandalism gets done by a guy who gets mad because he had a fight with his girlfriend, got drunk, or something like that. That's when they take a sink out of the wall and stuff like that. That's the kind of stuff that you don't want to be seen doing." Jaeger said. "But a fire—what good does a fire do if someone doesn't see it? That's the kind of thing that someone does to impress somebody. Either that or you crazy." Jaeger said the main danger from the fire was not the flames, but the smoke. He said the design of the building will cut the flame danger, but the risk of someone dying from smoke inhalation is increased. "When that fire alarm goes off, guys don't where the fire is. If it's in the stairwell and you're trying to get away and you open the door, there it is." "We just absorb the damage as a loss for the housing department." Jaeger said another problem centered aiound the fact that some of the dorm residents wouldn't leave when the fire alarms went off. "We had a problem with the fire the other night
because some of the residents wouldn't leave, I think it was mainly some of the football players. In fact Chief (Jim) Dunn called in the Edmond police to roust some of them out." Dunn head CSU Campus Security. Jaeger said that most of the fires and vandalism didn't physically injure many people, but the cost to the student body over the long run could have serious consequences. "It's not like all this is going to kill a lot of people, but at a time when we're facing budget cuts and we're trying to finish building the building and we're busy putting stuff back together these fools are tearing up," Jaeger said. Jaeger said the main perpetrators are students that will not be returning to the campus and ones that have been removed from the dorm for different violations of the rules. "We had a group of four that were removed and the next night we had several fires in the trash cans. Now you can't prove they did it, but it doesn't take much to figure it out, does it?" Jaeger said. "The thing that's wild about all this, is that the residents don't care. They don't pay a security deposit or anything like that. And on nights when there's a big party somewhere, a bunch of guys go out and get drunk and get in a fight or something. Then they come back in the dorm and that's when we lose a sink or two," Jaeger said. "Basically, the rest of the year we just get a firecracker or two by an resident assistant's door and things like that. But when you light a bundle of papers, that's something that's just not going to go out by itself." "Other than the fact that all this gets expensive, it's kind of demoralizing when you're walking down the stairways and you see that big, burned spot and the trash all around it. We have to be on guard 24 hours a day and that gets frustrating," Jaeger said. Jaeger said,"I think the thing that bothers me most is that fact that the guys just don't care."
Student input sought
Lillard to mull ceremony chan es By MaryGaye Franklin Staff Reporter CSU President Bill Lillard said he is open to consideration of any changes concerning procedures in the commencement exercises held here. However, Lillard said, in an interview Tuesday, that he has no views pro or con about proposed changes made by Student Senate President Joe McCourry. "I'm open-minded to any changes proposed by the students and faculty concerning commencement," Lillard said. "Whether or not the proposals would be accepted would depend
on imput from the students and faculty. It is important to get their reaction to such changes." McCourry presented a proposal concerning the graduation ceremony to Lillard on Nov. 28. In his proposal McCourry outlined a plan whereby baccalaureate candidates would be recognized individually during the ceremony. The way the ceremony is conducted now only the masters degree candidates are recognized individually. Baccalaureate candidates within each school have their degrees conferred upon them as a group. McCourry said he
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In this issue. .
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Perry working on ways to cut...page 3 Final examination schedule...page 5 Baker draws parallels in Reagan policy...page 6 Cagers split with Oklahoma Chrisitian...page 7 A
thinks this is discrimination against the undergraduates. Lillard pointed out that the president's office is not the office that would be handling the actual approval of such a recommendation. Such a proposal would go through the office of academic affairs with the vice president of academic affairs in charge. Lillard said he gave a copy of McCourry's proposal to Dr. James Perry, vice president of academic affairs for consideration by that office. "McCourry's proposal has some very interesting points and it definitely warrants further study," Perry said "We would like to get feed-back from other members of the graduating class to see how they feel about such changes." According to Perry, his office plans to take a survey of the students that will be graduating this spring in order to get their views on the proposed changes. "Graduation day is an important day for both the students and their families. It is a day of great significance and is the apex of a students academic effort. I would
be willing to consider anything that would make the day more significant. Yet at the same time I think we should try to maintain some tradition and the solemnity of the occassion," Perry said. Lillard said in the past the baccalaureates themselves voted to discontinue individual recognition when the class size got over 1,000. They maintained that they would rather do without the recognition than extend the time required for the ceremony. "We are concerned with observing the students reaction to the proposal," Lillard said. "I am certain during consideration of this proposal there will be an organized effort by administration to do some formal research on the opinions of the students concerning the matter. "We want to evaluate the situation to see if any meaningful changes can be made in the way the ceremony is conducted. Commencement is a little more complex than most people realize and there is some history and tradition involved that we need to try and observe. We can not be changing the ceremony format every year," Lillard said.
Perry said that there are a number of options that could be considered in changing the ceremony. "I am enthused about sitting down with the student senate executive committee and getting a better explanation of their plans and working with them to come up with some other options," Perry said. See COMMENCEMENT, page 3