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You go, girl!
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Jane Petty, 86, Provo, performs during the men’s
basketball halftime show. Petty is the oldest member
of the dancing group, Jean’s Golden Girls,
and performed at the Centrum for the second time.
The group is made of women ages 45 to 86. Valparaiso
beat the T-Birds 69-61.
ANNE McCONNELL / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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Unmarked cars
confuse drivers
By JACKIE ANDRUS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
A bill that allows the Utah Highway Patrol to use an unlimited
number of unmarked patrol cars is part of a campaign to
catch aggressive drivers, although unmarked cars make
some drivers wary about who is actually pulling them over.
S.B. 106, which is still being considered by the Utah
State Legislature, amends the previous law that limits
unmarked car use to one car per operation, a stipulation
that has limited officers’ abilities to catch aggressive
drivers, said Neil W. Porter, Utah Highway Patrol major.
“Marked cars are good,” Porter said. “But
to get the worst drivers, those people who repeatedly
speed, make erratic lane changes, and may follow too closely,
it’s nice to have the ability to use unmarked cars.
Our intention isn’t just to write citations.”
There are some drivers who have a concern about being
pulled over by an officer in an unmarked car, said Kevin
Olson, Utah Highway Patrol sergeant. However, he said
he has never experienced any problems with pulling people
over and said he
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does not anticipate a problem should the
bill be approved.
“This bill won’t be anything drastic,”
Olson said. “If anything it will help us improve the
little things like patrolling behind school buses and catching
people who illegally pass up Cedar Canyon.”
The concern some drivers may have about being pulled over
by unmarked cars stems from an incident Feb. 9 near Monticello
where authorities in Colorado arrested three men accused
of posing as police officers.
The three men reportedly robbed a van with undocumented
Mexican aliens, an incident that is the latest of three
separate but similar incidents in the past three months.
The men were driving a dark colored Chevrolet Suburban with
red and blue lights on the
See CARS, front grille, an act that could definitely be
construed as impersonating a police officer, said Mark Gower,
a detective with the Iron County Sheriff’s Office.
In addition to the highway patrol, Cedar City Police Department
and the sheriff’s office have unmarked patrol cars
within their fleets.
While detectives at the police department and the sheriff’s
office do not recall incidents where people have impersonated
police officers, there have been instances where people
have been unsure whether or not to pull over for an unmarked
car.
“Safety is always a concern,” Gower said. “When
something like someone impersonating a police officer comes
up, it makes our job a lot harder because people are afraid
it’s a bad guy.”
Officers within the police department have experienced minor
problems trying to pull people over while the officer was
in an unmarked car, said David Holm, Cedar City Police sergeant.
“There were problems sometimes with getting people
to pull over at a time when cars had only identifying decals
and spotlights,” Holm said. “There have been
instances when people pull into garages and call someone.”
Holm and Gower both agree that in instances where a driver
is unsure who is trying to pull them over, it is best to
pull into a lighted area and call police.
“We don’t have a problem with people doing that,”
Holm said.
“When we do catch up to the person we ask them why
they didn’t pull over,” Gower added. “If
it’s because they were unsure about who was pulling
them over, then that’s a legitimate excuse.”
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Summer classes require 15
By JACKIE ANDRUS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
While there will be 25 percent more classes offered during the
Summer 2003 semester, a 15 student minimum per undergraduate
class may mean some courses could be canceled.
While Summer 2003, beginning with pre-session classes, will
be the first semester the tuition increase goes into effect,
administrators are making an effort to make summer school more
attractive to students by adding 25 percent more classes to
the curriculum, Cashier’s Office employees said.
However, administrators are also banking on a 20 student class
average to make the Summer semester fiscally responsible and
that could mean canceling a class that has only 14 students,
said Rod Decker, dean of the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences.
“In the past we’ve allowed for a considerable amount
of wiggle room,” Decker said. “The minimum has been
15 in recent years, but we’ve allowed 14 and sometimes
even 13 students in a class to go, and that’s been left
up to the deans to determine the student need. We haven’t
followed the guideline in its entirety, but now summer school
needs to pay for itself.”
While 17 students in a class is a fiscal break-even point, 15
students is the bare minimum the course can survive and pay
for itself. Usually 20 students in the class is the average
where the class can begin to make money, Decker added.
“In the past we’ve allowed for averaging in of other
classes to help pay for the class that may not have met the
15 student minimum,”
Decker said. “Now there is no wiggle room. We’ve
urged faculty to push and advertise for the offerings.”
Provost Abe Harraf also indicated in a Deans’ Council
meeting Jan. 30 that part of the reason the university had not
offered more summer classes was that faculty compensation had
not been enough.
However, with a different funding mechanism in place that puts
a ceiling of $3,500 and a floor of $2,200 on faculty salary
for three credit hour courses, the university is still in the
process
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of refining that funding mechanism, Decker said.
“The funds have not been determined yet,” Decker
said. “We’ll still need to look at the effect of
the tuition increase and the number of students there will be.”
College deans were given the discretion, along with faculty
members, to decide what classes they believed would be attractive
to students and meet student needs, said Michael Richards, associate
provost.
“There will be a lot of general education, teacher in-service,
and graduate courses in education,” Richards said. “We’re
offering more classes as a commitment made from the tuition
increase that money would be reinvested into the curriculum
as a way to speed students toward graduation.”
Decker also said he relied largely on input from departmental
chairs and faculty to indicate what classes they believed would
be successful in addition to taking into consideration records
of summer course enrollment numbers.
“We felt there needed to be some balance between general
education and classes required for majors,” Decker said.
“Almost all our faculty were able to get the classes they
wanted placed. Our attempt in offering these classes is so students
will stay in summer school. We’re trying to meet the requests
of the students.”
In addition, classes that have traditionally had enrollment
caps under 15 students will be canceled, Decker said.
A jewelry-making class offered through the division of family
and consumer sciences, for example, will not be offered this
summer because it is not a class required for any particular
major and in the past it has not generally met the 15 student
minimum, said Cindy Wright, dean of the School of Applied Science
& Technology.
“Had it been a class that met a major requirement or had
we been able to put more than 15 in the class we may have offered
it,” Wright said. “But those two factors combined
did not make it feasible to offer.”
Decker said he does not believe the policy will hurt many students,
but it is unfortunate for the few students it will affect.
“It’s unfortunate, but in budget times you need
to consider everything,” Decker said.
While the 15 student minimum applies only to the summer school
sessions, Decker said he would like to see the same student
minimum year-round.
“I would like to have that number throughout the year,”
Decker said. “But it’s just used for summer as a
guideline.”
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