Maroon

              The Loyola Maroon Volume 71 No. 16 Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 February 5, 1993 Board of Trustees approves tuition increase By Chris Bonura Assistant News Editor The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept a University Budget Committee proposal to raise tuition for the 1993-94 academic year 8.7 percent, boosting undergraduate tuition from $9,570 to $10,400. The increase will help to accommodate the added expenses of a salary and benefits increase, computerized phone registration, and new classroom and laboratory equipment. Loyola City College tuition will risefromsl6l t05175 per hour. Law school tuition will rise from $435 to $473 per credit, and graduate school classes will rise from $365 to $397 per hour. The cost of double rooms in Biever, Buddig, and Cabra Hall will be increased to $1,445 a semester. Other increases include an added $5 to the University Center fee (from $75 to $80 for full-time students, $40 to $45 for part time students). This tuition increase is projected to generate $3.2 million in new funds; $ 1.2 million will go to salary increases and $1.1 million will go to financial aid increases. At Tuesday's Student Government Association meeting, Jim Dug an, first year law student and student delegate to the Board of Trustees, said, "There was never any question of if there would be a tuition increase, only how much." Dugan cited faculty discontent over salaries as the leading factor in the tuition increase. "They have been bombarded by one thing and one thing only; faculty salaries want an increase, and they better get it," said Dugan. According to Antonio Lopez, associate professor of math sciences and U.B.C. member, all salaries, faculty and staff, could be raised with the new budget revenue. IftheU.B.C. passes a resolution that has been passed in a U.B.C. subcommittee, the $1.2 million allocated for salary increases will go into an "unrewarded merit pool." The University's five vice presidents will divide the pool and use it to negotiate salary increases with their employees. TheßoardofTmstees also approved the U.B.C's $12.4 million financial aid budget for the 1993-94 academic year. The financial aid budget contains an improved Middle Income Assistance Program, which will provide grants, scholarships, and loans to students from middle-income families.A letter from John Eckholdt, vice president for business and finance, to Loyola University parents, stated that the added financial aid is needed to "make certain that these educational opportunities do not become financially accessible to only the few." Dugan said that his main concern about the tuition increase was the student retention rate. Last year, 330 non-graduating, eligible Loyola stu- Computer registration: Bigger budget may result in smaller hassles By Durcn Barbee Contributing Writer A recent University Budget Committee proposal to upgrade administrative computer systems may allow Loyola students to register for classes by phone as early as next January, following approval by the Loyola Board of Trustees. Computer registration is one component of a five-part phase to overhaul existing computer systems. Of the New Orleans-area colleges, only Loyola is without computerphone registration. Kristy Wallish, an employee in the Tulane University registrar's office, said that students who call to register for a class are informed immediately of the availability of a class. "You can call from anywhere to adjust your courses, provided you have a touch-tone phone," she added. ThepadofasLandard touch-tone phone essentially becomes a computer "keyboard" that can access and input information related to a class. Frank Resignola, another Tulane registrar's office employee, said there are significant advantages in the phone registration system. Resignola remarked that the time involved in registering for a class is reduced from two hours to only 15 minutes. Loyola, however, has been reluctant to acquire the same type of computer registration system until now. "We've looked at it for seven or eight years," said Kenßeasely, director of the Management Information Service. "The proposal [to upgrade the computer system] was approved by the Administrative Council in 1988 and again in 1991, but with no funding," Beasely said. Beasely speculated that the new system would cost approximately $1 million total, broken down into $200,000 payments over five years. Beasely said that tuition may not have to be raised to pay for the new system. However, the administration recently approved anew budget which included an 8.7 percent tuition increase. Included in this budget is the first of the $200,000 payments that will make phone registration a reality. Students seem to favor the computer registration format over the current system. "There is a lot of standing in lines [in the current registration process]," said Harlon Hawthorne, chemistry sophomore. Hawthorne is in favor of computer registration at Loyola. I ——!TW :  Feeling lucky—Ted Duncan, business freshman, and Carl Turco, communications junior, reach out and touch Lucky, a baby rabbit, In the Peace Quad Friday ./Photo by Bruce Hyman, S.J. New military policy gets mixed reviews By Jenny Johnson Staff Writer •The Clinton Administration* Barely two weeks into the Clinton administration, the nation has already seen majorchanges. Clinton has lifted the gag rule on abortion for federallyfunded clinics and granted the right to use fetal tissue for medical experimentation. He has vowed to keep the promises he made to his constituents during the campaign season, including to gay and lesbian rights supporters.And they say it's about time — time to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice handed down by the Department of Defense, sodomy is prohibited and is grounds for discharge. The issue is not something taken lightly by the United States military. In fact, the U.S. government spends nearly $27 million every year attempting to hunt down suspected homosexuals, according loNewsweek. Being such a costly and time-consuming process, why the bother? For a number of reasons, according to Brian Payne, music freshman, who is also a member of the Naval ROTC. "Admitting homosexuals into the military can cause many problems, including violence among the troops." Payne went on to refer to the numerous eases where heterosexual servicepeople have allegedly physically assaulted their homosexual counterparts. "Heterosexual males may not want to live with or shower with homosexuals. That would mean you would have to have four separate quarters for gay and straightmen, and lesbian and straight women," he added. John Lawson, English junior at Tulane and member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, said reasoning like Payne's is a flashback to the past. "That's the same kind of excuses they used to keep blacks out the military and are still using against women. It's a standard excuse against change." Some gay and lesbian rights activists, such as Leo Watermeier, a worker at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in New Orleans, feel that it is up to the heterosexual community to change their attitudes. "The fact that heterosexuals have a problem with it is their problem. Why should the penalty for that fall on the shoulder of gays and lesbians?" he said. The reasoning behind the military's banning of homosexuals is not an easy thing to grasp. Ltc. Carl Timmerberg, who works for Tulane's ROTC program which works in conjunction with Loyola said it is a question of standards. "Homosexuality is incompatible with the military's standard for good order and discipline." Payne explained it a little differently."Homosexuals could create a hindrance upon the other people in the platoon and cause a mental block for others," he said. "If this makes everything erupt into disorganization, it defeats the military's purpose to fulfill the job set forth by the president and congress. Any hindrance of that is wrong," Payne added. There seems to be a difference between the acceptance of sexual orien- See TuMon, pg. 4 See Registration, pg. 3 See Clinton, pg. 4 M : Harassment case leads to f I I new policies I |ffl See page 3|j| I I I howl into the playoffs? I I I See page 5 pi DSSEaESI: students make Christmas merry for Nicaraguans See page 9 if