‘ae. sf<o • • • < ( C I • • Work-Study Program May Change ^ —Travis Dunn The current work-study program may hours per week (the current limit is 10 hours work-study students. change next school year if ideas proposed by per week). This proposed change would Chenoweth said that the student on-call President John Agresto, Dean Stephen Van also allow for more student supervisors, said team was implemented this current school Luchene and Placement Office director Jen­ the Dean. year as a “first step” in changing the current nifer Chenoweth can be fit into next year’s Chenoweth hopes both increased pay work-study program. Part of the aim of budget. These proposed changes would, and a few more hours per week would dis­ establishing the on-call team was “to see if according to Chenoweth, give students bet­ courage work-study students from seeking a students would take more responsibility if ter practical job experience by placing greater second, off-campus job. “Students who can more responsibility was given to them.” responsibility on certain positions, allow handle more [than 10] hours should be al­ Dean Van Luchene said he wants to see students who have assumed more responsi­ lowed to work more,” she said. “It’s a more teams of student workers next year— bility to earn more and to work more hours, tragedy to see students working 40 hours a particularly in Bulidings and Grounds. Dean and shorten the somewhat lengthy “transi­ week and try, not very successfully, to do the Van Luchene said that the work-study pro­ tion time” many Johnnies experience gram has already changed to some after graduating and before “[they] are extent over the last few years. Work- well on their way to a career path.” study positions aren’t “easy jobs any­ These projected changes are part of “To have learned a trade more,” he said; students that slack off the proposed budget for the 1995-96 and don’t perform well generally get fiscal year that begins this coming June. is good regardless of what fired. But he said that the proposed This budget will be presented to the changes will make a work-study posi­ Board of Visitors and Governors at its students do.” tion “even more like an off-campus next meeting and will be voted on in job.” April. - Dean Van Luchene In order for the school to pay for The first aim of the projected these proposed changes, the school changes would make the program “a would have to spend more money on little more like a training program,” said Program,” said Dean Van Luchene. work-study. The money provided by the Chenoweth. She hopes the changes would Johnnies generally have a longer gap federal government would be unchanged. test whether students could “translate com­ between graduating and starting a career, These suggestions are also part of the munication learned in school into business Cheoweth said (she estimates five to 10 Dean’s Educational Policy Statement. (The communication skills.” Dean Van Luchene years for Johnnies; other institutions claim deans of both SJC campuses alternate each wants students to have the opportunity to one to three years). She thinks that students, year in writing such a statement.) “The learn certain trades, like carpentry or cook­ if they are given more responsibility in their practical difficulties and their relation to the ing. “To have learned atrade is good regard­ work-study positions, will gain more practi­ Program,” is the focus of his statement this less of what students do,” he said. cal work experience and hence be better year, said the Dean. Included in the state­ The second aim would make the Santa suited to enter the job market. If the pro­ ment are some of the ideas presented above Fe work-study program more like the An­ posed changes are passed, Chenoweth hopes for changing the work-study program. One napolis program, in that students would be to collect statistics on a sample group of goal, he writes, is to “restore meaning to the paid on an incremental pay scale. For ex­ students in order to see if their “transition once sigificant but now empty phrase, ample, a student washing dishes in the An­ time” is decreased in relation to previous ‘working my way through college.’” napolis dining hall makes the basic wage, whereas a supervisor in the dining hall makes more per hour since he assumes more re­ sponsibility and has more experience. The CONTENTS proposed changes for the Santa Fe work- study program would allow students who LECTURE REVIEWS PP 4-5 occupy positions of increased responsibil­ ity, and who have worked in a position for SPOOKWATCH, ALL THIS JAZZ PP 6-7 longer than a year, to earn more money. (This is the only respect in which the Santa THE THIEF'S WIFE’S LOVER'S COOK Fe work-study program would become more OPENING QUESTIONS like the Annapolis program, Chenoweth says.) Also, the proposed changes may CARTOONS PP 8-9 allow students to work more hours per week. Dean Van Luchene says the number of hours LETTERS, ANNAPOLIS NEWS PPlOll would not be increased to more than 12 2 NOOMOON Interview: The Computer Lab’s Dilemma: A talk with Security Chief Need for Greater Financial Support —Brian Parkinson Ray Benavidez —^Jeremiah Dixon When I arrived at his office last November to interview Ray This school year, technology took St. John’s College by storm. Benavidez, he was taking a break with another officer. I sat around and Not only were phones introduced into the dorm rooms, but Internet joked with them for quite awhile before I actually started taping. They access became a reality in the computer lab. Now, in addition to also discussed the more serious problem of trying to find a new security e-mail, students have access to databases around the world through officer. Ray was disappointed with most of the appUcations that he had the World Wide Web (WWW). Despite these recent advancements, gotten, and he was tired of having problems with newly hired officers. such progress has been very slow. The financial strains under Ray likes to keep things light-hearted, and he can be very funny at which St. John’s currently suffers hinder such extra-curricular times. He was direct and to the point throughout the interview, and I was impressed with his honesty. I have never met a police officer with as funding as funding for the computer lab. The main problem is that, much respect for the people under his protection as Ray had, and as the even at St. John’s, keeping up with technology is becoming interview progressed I thought to myself, “Ray would make a horrible important, yet there are scarce funds to aid this endeavor. politician.” The lab is equipped with five Macintoshes and an IBM 486, having lost one IBM and a Macintosh Color Classic last year. J: What is your history and experience as a law enforcement official? There are plans, depending on the availability of funds, for acquiring R: r ve been a law enforcement official most of my life. I worked for a IBM 386 in the future. This would be a sufficient number of four years as a correctional officer for the state penitentiary, four years computers if it were not for essay writing periods. At these times as a deputy sheriff in Las Cruces, four years as a private investigator in of the year, at least eighty students are working on major papers. Las Cruces, two and a half years as a narcotic agent for the police While many students have their own computers, enough of them department in Las Cruces, and eleven years at St. John’s. must use the lab’s facilities so that there often are long waiting J: Could you tell me a little about your fife when you’re not on duty? R: I stay home. If I go somewhere I always carry my pager with me lines. in case I get a call. I’m on call 24 hours a day on my days off from St. According to the computer lab’s supervisor, Patrick Emerson, John’s. the school appropriates $200 for repairs and $1200 for supplies, J: Next I’d like to ask some questions concerning the recent surge of such as printing paper, each year. Maintaining the computers on assaults on campus. such a limited budget is becoming another problem. Since many R; Assaults? What kind of assaults on campus? of them are relatively old they are starting to become more prone J: The assaults up at the suites, the prowlers; I mean assaults in the to serious break downs. This past year the lab lost a Macintosh general sense of the word. Color Classic and one of two IBM’s due to prohibitive repair costs. R: We haven’t had any assaults at all. The rape that was reported to However, funds are sufficient to cover most repairs and there are Mr. Cook, it wasn’t really confirmed if it was a rape or not. In fact, the plans to convert an IBM 286 to a 386 that is windows compatible. girl took a long time to report it. Mostly victims do take some time, but Funds for new computers come mostly from gifts. In the past in this case I don’t know; there’s like a fifty-fifty chance to believe it or not. We carmot take it for granted. It is my feeUng that she knows who few years benefactors of the college and Student Polity have did it and is covering for somebody, if in fact the rape happened, because contributed generously to the purchase of new computers.