the merciad, april 6, 1989

8/6/2019 The Merciad, April 6, 1989

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VOL. 62 NO. 21 MERCYHURST COLLEGE, GLENWOOD HILLS, ERIE, PA 16546 THURSDAY, APRIL 6,1989

Mayor of Dublin praises students w>S-r O r h mmBy Kevin McHughMerciad staff reporter

On a tour of 19 major U.S. and Canadiancities that included Beverly H ills, Los Ange-les, Denver, Colo, and Dallas, Texas, the LordMayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe visited Mer-cyhurst college in Erie, Penn. because of itscommitment to the Irish American Partner-ship, vBriscoe'said it was "marvelous*' thaiIrish students have the chance to study atMercyhurst. "They are getting first handknowledge of Am erica, they are learning theAmerican way of doing things," he said,"Ireland\ has so much in common!withAmerica, there isn't a person in Ireland thatdoesn * t have a relation somewhere in Amer-ica. t

Mercyhurstdedicatedto LA.P.By Kevin McHughMerciad staff reporter

The Irish American Partnership, con-ceived in Ireland, sa nonprofit fund led anddirected by Irish and American cooperativeexecutives to organize American supportfor "Ireland's passage through these vitalyears/9 according to the president of theI AP . Joseph Leary.Formed in 1986, the Partnership's mottois "Ireland, i t's part of your past; be partofit 's future ."^ \* Americans are being asked to supportthe Partnership's mission including hightechnology education entrepreneurial loanprojects, and business training programs forIrish youths in the United States, Leary said."The LAP. intends to a make a differenceboth in the north and south of Ireland," headded, * The Lord Mayor of D ublin Ben Briscoesaid he was happy with the way the Partner-ship is progressing. ' The Irish AmericanPartnership is progressing very well, in thefirst three months they have exceeded lastyear's total income of $450,000 by over$50,000," he said. :Mercyhurst President Dr. William P.Garvey said thatmore progress is needed tomake a difference in Ireland. ' For an or-ganization that is only in it's second year, itis making very good progress," he said. "I twill meet its $1 million target this year, butwe need to move at a faster rate." >"I t hasn't made as big an impact as itwould like to make ," Garvey, who is aboard member of the Partnership, said.' Thereare high expectations in Ireland andthey would like to see faster progress."I The Partnership has its American head-quarters at Philadelphia and Boston.

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It is a great experience for them, even ifthey return to Ireland they will be in a betterposition to get obs in American comp anies,''he said.Briscoe said the college itself is very im-pressive. "I t is a magnificent campus andwhen you realize that there are only 2000students, they are very fortunate to have sucha marvelous facility,'' h e said.The objective of the tour is to promotetourism, investment in Ireland, to encourageAmericans to buy Irish goods, and to raisefunds for the LAP ., he said. - tThe benefit dinner on March 29, whereBriscoe was the guest ofhonor, is expected toraise; around $10,000, according to Mer-cyhurst President Dr. William P. Garvey. fEach of the 105 guests paid $100 perplate, while those at the head table donated$500-$ 1000each. The 17 Irish students wentas Garvey's guests.The money will go to the LA.P and willbereturned to the college to help fundmore Irishstudents, Garvey said.' The LAP has helpedthe college by supporting students that other-wise couldn't be here," he said."It has enriched our already existingprogram by enabling us to widen the pool ofIrish students and to bring in a wider varietyof stude nts," Garvey said, i * Briscoe said he was very proud of the 17Irish students (six of whom are on LAP.scholarships) at Mercyhurst and said thatwhen Americans see them, they know thattheir subscriptions and membership of theLAP. are well spent 1He also praised the students in the HotelRestaurant Institutional Management pro-gram for "the wonderful job they did" withthe dinner.He praised the musicians [from theD* Angelo school of music who performedthat night, and said that Mercyhurst is truly agreat institution whose famespread "far and wid


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PAGE 2 The Merciad APRIL 6,1989NewsHolzhaeusser not running for ire-electionBy Karen SampsonMerciad staff editor

S AC Chairperson JanetHolzhaeusser said she will not seekre-election in 1989 so she can con-centrateon her studies, improve hertennis game and avoid the stressinvolved with the position.Next year Holzhaeusser, a so-phomore sports medicine majorplans to get involved in her major."When I took the SAC job, mygrade point went down a little,"Holzhaeusser said. "Also withtennis, I felt that I couldn't putenough into it and I've set somegoals for those two areas of mylife." ^She also said the position takesa lot of time and is stressful. "It'sreally hard toget things done on thiscampus, you have to really push,''said Holzhaeusser. According toHolzhaeusser lack of communica-tion between members of the col-lege administration and the SACcaused problems. She cited findin ga place to have theSt Patrick's Daydance as an example. She saiddifferent administration memberstold her conflicting places to holdthe dance which cut planning time.. According to Holzhaeusser shewanted to hold the dance in thecafeteria, Sullivan H all,orthe tenniscourts. The tennis courts could notbeused because ofpoor lighting andlackof electrical outlets. There w asthen some confusion as to whichfacility could be used.Holzhaeusser also said that severaladministration members have dif-

itinerary of events for the schoolyear which must be planned duringthe summer for the following year.Holzhaeusser described thismethod of planning as " kind of ahassle." "You don't know what isgoing to be a good activity, or whatis going to go over well," she said.More communication and inter-action between MSG is necessary,according to Holzhaeusser. Thiswould help to keep policy straightand form a checks and balance sys-tem between the organizations. Shealso said the MSG members shouldsupport SAC activities, j "If they(MSG) were supporting us, we'dhave a better turnout because itwould belike they were backing ourorganization," Holzhaeusser said.She would like to see at least SOpercent of the representatives atSAC activities and the MSG offi-cers at the majority of events.

feringo ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^The SAC chairperson mustplanthe year's activities, and a rough

She said the chairperson mustplan events for freshm an orienta-tion, attend MSG m eetingsand holdweekly SAC meetings. The chair-person also must help with checkcashing and must hire the commit-tee staff and distribute $2000 inscholarship funds. Anyone inter-ested in a position should submit aletter of intent to the SAC chairper-son when positions are advertised.The staff can be any size, but thereare four$500 scholarships given forSAC vice president, secretary,treasurer, and public relations per-son. The chairperson is given$1500. All scholarships must bereviewed by William Kennedy andSAC advisor Larry Kozlowski, andcan be revoked at any time, accord-ing to Holzhaeusser. Holzhaeusser

Hammermill Librarycelebrates NationalLibrary Week

Hammermill Library is joiningacademic libraries throughoutPennsylvania and the United Statesin celebrating National LibraryWeek, April 9-1S. The 1989 theme"Ask A Professional. [Ask YourLibrarian" encourages people totake advantage of the professionalexpertise an assistance providedbylibrarians.Librarians on the \MercyhurstCollege campus have a variety ofbackgrounds and educational expe-rienc es that enable them to providevaluable services to the academiccommunity. I"It seems appropriate that dur-ing National Library Week we re-flect on the role the library plays inour-lives," said David Pinto, Li-brary Director. " A library is funda-mental to our work as students,teachers and scholars, and it is vitalto our success as citizens and ourjoy as readers. Celebrate NationalLibrary Week, and check us o u t"

GetAnswetsTbAttYnirlMeQjestionslbaAskA Professional.Ask\burlibrarian. t National Library WeekApril 9-15/1989;? 1988 Ajnorcan UMtf y Asaoculon

said the money is not enough incen-tive to run for the pos ition.' If youbreak it down to every week you'redoing this, I don' t feel it'sworth it,''she said. If you want the job be-cause you enjoy working with otherpeople, it's a very, goodlearning experience.". In the future Holzhaeusser saidthat the position of SAC chairper-son should be well defined and allduties'outlined for the incomingSAC personnel. Supposedly, thereis a SAC constitution written whenthe organization was formed in1980, according to Holhaeusser. Ithas never been? .revised.Holzhaeusser said that she does nothave a copy of the constitution andonly received single paragraph jobdescriptions of the officer positionswhich were "not very in depth,"according to Holzhaeusser.,

"The I leaving SAC officersshould be of more assistance to thenew SAC chairperson," she said.The current committee was unsureofcertain policies and Holzhaeussersaid the group is still learning."There were a lot of-things thathappened that we didn't find outuntil the end of the year, or untilno w,'' said Holzhaeusser. For in-stance, she said the SAC had somequestions about the budgeting pro-cedures and how their budget re-lates to the MSG budget "You canget more done when you knowexactly what you are d oing ."

SAC Chairperson, Janet Ho lzhaeusserHolzhaeusser \ cites monthlydances as an event she would like tosee planned for next year. "W e'vetried everything that w e've wantedto do ," she said. She said herplanning is winding down since theSpring Activities Weekend isplanned by MSG. She also said thatshe would like to thank her commit-

tee, iShesaid the new SAC chairper-son should hire a reliable commit-tee, delegate well, and listen to theneeds of the students, i i

Though she is not running forre-election, Holzhaeusser said shewould consider serving as chairper-son in the future and probablywould serve on the committee nextyear. Holzhaeusser said she is will-ing to help the new SAC chairper-son and has faith in the organiza-tion. "There's a lotof good thingsand a lot of bad things. I think thebad things really .wear you down,"Holzhaeusser said. She added, '*Idon 't want to be cynical because Idid have a good yea r."

Default!on loans causes concernBy Michelle BushMerciad staff editor

Instead of ignoring their debts,Mercyhurst graduates who can'tmake Guaranteed! Student Loanpayments should contact the bankimmediately, according to AssistantDirector of Financial Aid SisterMichele Leehan. *Banks will help graduates hav-ing financial difficulty when noti-fied in advance, Leehan said, but ifstudents don 't contact them beforethe 180-day grace period isover, theloan is listed a s defaulted. - |Defaulted loans are a growingconcern to the Pennsylvania HigherEducation Assistance Agency(PHEAA) and the lending institu-tions in the [United States. Thedefaults may affect future studentsapplying for the Guaranteed Stu-dent Loans (GSL's). "I t wouldaffect the ability of future studentsto borrow," Leehan said, "whenthe default rates are high at aschool." |At a school where the defaulthigh, such as a two-yearLeehan said it is harder fors to get loans because; theis carefully monitored,lough Leehan didn't haveact figures, she said thatlurstdefaults aren't increas-1 Mercyhurst do esn't have an with loans because theirrate is low.

Students get loans through thebank, butif they default on the loansPHEAA reimburses the bank for theloan. The Department of Educationdoesn't want to reimburse many ofthese loans, however, because itsays the banks did a bad job ofattempting to collect the \ money,according to i the Chronicle ofHigher Education.4 The ?federal government isdemanding that the banks takemeasures to prevent defaults,"Leehan said.The banks with a stake in thematter include Citibank and theBank of America, according to theChronicle. These banks are amongthe largest in the United States.Despite political pressure, Edu-cation Department officials told theChronicle that the departmentdoesn't want to use federal m oneyto clear up the problem. * WThe financial institutions in-volved said if h e Education Depart-ment doesn't reimburse them for atleast some of the defaulted loans,banks w ill be reluctant to participatein the student loan programs.Students are probably the oneshurt most by this situation. Augus-tus F. Hawkins, who chairs theHouse education committee, toldthe Chronicle, "Individualsthroughout the student loan com-munity have contacted us withalarm that the department's positioncould have an ad verse affect on the

very students we are trying toserve."Within the last two years, Mer-cyhurst has stepped up attempts tostop loan defaults. "Mo re meas-ures are being taken to prevent de-faults ," Leehan said. '"There is aconcerted effort to prevent defaults,both in the^school and;with thelenders." J- "The school's obligation is tolet the students know that they havea loan," Leehan said. That is doneby making students sign a form inthe business office, which says theyknow the GSL is a loan and theyhave to pay it back, according toLeehan.In'addition, the financial aidoffice gets in touch with graduatingseniors, reminding them of theirobligations. and! helping them toplan debt management "Ou r re-sponsibility with loan default isprior to graduation," Leehanadded.The maximum loan amount peryear for reshm enor sophomores in1988 and 1989 was $2625 at aneight percent interest rate. Forjun*]iors and seniors it was increased to$4000 at the same interest rate.Before the present interest rate,which has been in effect for fouryears, the interest rates were nineand seven percent respectively. *The majority of people who

See Loan* pg3


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APRIL 6,1989 The Merciad PAGE 3

Art ShowW O R K S B Y T W O art faculty members are being shown at a B uffalo,NY gallery until April 23.*Shelle Lichtenwalter Barron and DanielBurke are showing mixed media paintings and eight large-scale narra-tive drawings done in collaboration. The show also features:sixindividual works by Barron andfive ndividual works by Burke. Theshow can be viewed at T he ArtistGallery, 30 Essex Street. The galleryis open Tuesdays through Saturdaysfrom1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

iMayor9frompg.iThe Lord Mayor told me thathe particularly liked Erie because ofits small town warmth," Garveysaid. "He said he felt more athomehere than in any other place.'%'The President of the LAP , Jo-seph F. Leary, was also at the dinnerand spoke of the problems that thepeople of Ireland face. j."When youngI Irish men andwomen reach the equivalent of theirjunior orsenior year incollege, theyfrequently must decide what coun-try to emigrate to rather than whatjob they will seek," he jsaid."Those who stay must suffer a 20percent unemployment rate as there

are simply not enough jobs to goaround, and that is where the LAP.is directing its efforts.''Close to 50 percent of the popu-lation in Ireland is under 25 yearsold, and these young people are"desperate for opportunity andeducation," he said.The college will recruit five orsix more Irish students next year,bringing the number of Irish stu-dents to 22 , Garvey said. He addedthat 25 is the maximum number thatthe college could support for now.Briscoe said he hopes that a lotof Mercyhurst students will visitIreland. " If you don't enjoy your-self in Ireland it's your fault and not

ours," he said. "The Irish peopleare very hospitable, as they are inAmerica."' 'A visit to Europe without vis*iting Ireland is like a visit to Indiawithout visiting the Taj Mahal,'' hesaid. I' 'Besides the good food and thescenery, our people and I think theAmericans always enjoy the Irish,''he said. "We are great conversa-tionalists and are a very educatedpeople."I 'We know what is going on inthe outside world much more sothan people in other countries,'' hesaid. "I think it's important thatAmericans travel more than theyhave. Only 10 percent of Ameri-

cans hold passports."One way to cut costs when tak-ing a visit to Ireland, he said, is tostay in bed and breakfast establish-ments. "That's what I do when Itravel around Ireland,'' he said.' 'Itcosts around $20 a night, whichincludes a good Irish breakfast, asmuch as you can eat"The benefit was hosted byBishop Michael J. Murphy, Mer-cyhurst President Dr. William P.Garvey, Dr. Gertrude A. Barber,and Mr. and Mrs. Michael A.McCormick.It began with Irish dancers, thena champagne reception was fol-lowed by the dinner.

< -

. i r Wfffl FR OM LEFT T O R IGHT, Dr. William P. Garvey, a guest, andDublin' smayor Ben Briscoe enjoy the evening ofIrish revelry. Photo by Kevin McHugh4ThefV fromlpg.i

MSG says 'no ' to Toga PartyBy Karen SampsonMerciad staff editor

At the MSG meeting on April 2,President Chris Mohr announcedthe spring formal will not bechanged to a toga party, and that thelawn damage problem fromWinterActivities Weekend had Jbeen re-solved.F. The Spring Formal will remainin the traditional format and the togaparty will be reserved for the fol-lowing evening. Mohr commentedon the decision by sayin g,' 'On therecord I just want to say I thinkwe're a bunch of wimps.*'The costs for the damage doneto the sideof Baldwin Hall due to the

tug-o- war event are to be split intothree with the school administra*tion, MSG, and SAC each paying$250. ] *lNear the end of the IS minutemeeting, Mohr said that he was tomeet with Mercyhurst President Dr.William P. Garvey this week to dis-cuss an idea for the MSG SpecialProject initiated by the administra-tion. Mohr would not disclose anyinformation about the project, butsaid it could be very "bi g."Questions raised the last meet-ing about costs submittedfrom hemen's volleyball team were leftunanswered and several representa-tives said they were told that theteam no longer needed MSG funds.

what to expect when we got to theapartment," Laidlaw said. WThey brought the man outof thekitchen and questioned him aboutwhy he was there, Laidlaw said. Hestarted saying that he was lookingfor D ebbie' Sampson, but hechanged his story, Laidlaw said.He told Laidlaw that he was adetective. When Laidlaw asked forhis badge, he told them thathe didn'thave to carry one. "He said that hewas not that kind of cop," Laidlawsaid. ?fHe also said the man told him,"I'm carrying a gun so I don't seewhat good that bat will do." Laid-

law said he never saw a gun andthought it wasprobably a bluff.They told the man thatthe policewere on the way so he had betterleave, Laidlaw said. But since hewasn't violent, they decided not tocause anymore trouble and just lethim go, Laidlaw said.' 'This guy hasa reputation forwalking into apartments and steal-ing things," Erie police said. Theyadded that a man matching the de-scription of the intruder was re-cently seen loitering in the areaaround Mercyhurst |The intruder was described as a25-year-old black male, standing 6

4Loan frompg.2default on their loans, have bor-rowed the maximum amount anddon't obtain employment within ayear of graduation, Leehan said.Or when they do get a job, it isoften a low paying one that won'tcover their loan payments, Leehanexplained. If the student gets intouch with the loan institution, |Leehan added that die loan paymentcould be lowered.

According toa pamphlet putoutby PHEAA, students having fina n-cial difficulty can arrange to defermonthly payments for a period oftime.? $fReasons for deferment other

than financial hardship are going tograduate school or active duty in theU.S. Armed Services. A studentmay also be eligible, according tothe pamphlet, to consolidate hisGSL's, SLS loans, Perkins Loans,and Health Professions StudentLoans."If you have two loans you aregetting two loan payments to makeevery month," Leehan said. Byconsolidating these loans, a studentwould pay only one interest rateinstead of twoor three, making theirfinancial burden lighter.Leehan said if students get intoa bind, they should go to the lenderand tell of the imminent default

feet 1 inch, weighing about 17Spounds, Dever said.Dever said he is checking to seeif this case may have some connec-tion with the man recently arrestedby Erie police for burglaries thattook place at Gannon."W e want all students to be onthe lookout for non-students whoare in or around the campus livingareas," Dever said. H e added thatstudents should alert security jifthere is a stranger who does not looklike a student loitering near theapartments.

When this happens, there are meas-ures used by the bank to get some ofthe money backfrom he state.Forfederal em ployees, Leehansaid that the state can garnish astudent's income tax since all de-faults are reported to the IRS.To keep from running into fi-nancial difficulty with studentloans, Leehan said, "A studentshould look into all possibilities forobtaining aid rather than borrowingthe maximum am ount""Paying back the loan is verydifficult especially when graduatesusually incur other debts that re-quire monthly payments,' * she said.


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Graduates defaulting on loansdiscourage further lendingIf all the students who haveGuaranteed Student Loans on Mer-cyhurst campus were removed,there w ouldn't be many left to at-tend classes.Guaranteed Student Loans(GSL's) are an important part of acollege education, and now theiravailability is threatened due to theconflict between the EducationDepartment and the banks.The federal government hasalways backed GSL's, reimbursing

the banks if students defaulted onthe loans. Since die banks know thateither way they get their money,they seem to be lazy about collect-ing moneyfromgraduates.In return, the angry federalgovernment is now refusing to re-imburse the loan money becausebanks are doing a lousy job of get-ting the money. %Isn't the education departmentbeing too harsh on the financialinstitutions? After all, the bankswere nice enough to cooperate withthe government to begin with. It

isn't mandatory that they participatein the GSL program. tThe overused cliche "moneymakes the world go around," ap-plies here. Financial institutions arein business to make a profit, andthey do make moneyfromguaran-teed student loans.The banks knew what they werewgetting into when they participatedin the GSL program. According tothe Chronicle of Higher Educa-tion, the Education Department

described in detail thejsteps thatlenders and collecting companiesshould take on collecting studentloans. Banks have clearly violatedthese rules in some states and shouldbe accountable for their mistakes.The federal governmentshouldn't reimburse defaultedloans when the banks didn't cor-rectly attempt to obtain the moneythemselves, tEven if the Education Depart-ment isright n this matter, they aregetting pressured from manyprominent parties to ease up on the

The MerciadMercyhurst College's First-Class newspaperas rated by the Associated Collegiate Press

Vol. 62 No. 21 April 6,1989Christopher J. KovskiMichelle BushKaren SampsonMatthew J.ClarkKevin McHughPatty ConeglioLiz RichardsAlexa PotterPatSteckmanKerry RimdziusSteve RushMara SweterlitschJohnKupetz

EditorEditorial Board

Sports EditorAssistant Sports Editor

Business ManagerPhoto Editor

Circulation ManagerPhotographer

Cartoonists

Faculty AdviserReporters

Amy Lynn AustinChris Cade-MeadeJill ChiccarinoMargaret CoffeyBill DarlingBrian DiPlacidoMaryDuntonTina FieldingHolly Fulmer

BillHoganMaria KellyTheresa KloeckerSaraLinehanBrian MaidenJennifer MontaniAndy PenhollowRobi TaylorAndrea Tipton

The M erciad if die student-producednewspaperof MercyhurstCollege, Box 161, SOI E. 38th St., Erie, PA 16546. Phone: 825- v0376. Material for publication must be sutypiltted bv noon on theblfratlonT ZThe Merciad welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed,but the writer's nine can be withheld by request

banks.The reason is because the stu-dents will be hurt more than anyoneelse. When the government won'treimburse the loans, banks are morecautious about giving GSL's. Evenstudents who qualify for a GSL thenmay be turned down.Despite the good sense of thisargument, j the Education Depart-ment can't back down on this issue.Who is supposed to run the UnitedStates, the government or thebanks?By remaining tough in this situ-ation, the< government can forcefinancial institutions to collect themoney they should have alreadycollected.Operating on the fprinciple ofmaking money, banks will probablyfind a way to collect money fromdefaulters whom they couldn't col-lectfrombefore.It isn't feasible that banks cancollect all the money rom defaultedloans by following ordinary proce-dures, but all die department wantsis for the banks to make an honesteffort After the banksshow thishasbeen done, the government willreimburse them.

During all this discussion, how-ever, the best and easiest solution totheproblem has never comeup. Thestudents are the ones responsible fordefaulting on loans, so let the stu-dents take the responsibility.The entire conflict with theEducation Department versus thebanks wouldn't have originated ifstudents weren't defaulting onloans.And loan default is somethingeach person on Mercyhurst campuscan do something about Thisyear's seniors should make sure torepay their loans.No , this isn't easy. | Work isoften hard to find in a person'smajor, but that shouldn't stop him/herfrom rying to repay a studentloan. Until a student finds thatperfect job, maybe he/she shouldsettle for a job that at least pay s thebills . i * > 1Partof maturing and graduatingfrom college is learning how to takeresponsibility. This responsibilityincludes contacting a inancial nsti-tution if a student is experiencing afinancial strain.Running away or ignoring theproblem doesn't make financialdebt go away. Banks understanddial it isn't always easy to find agood-payingjob,sothey are willingto take legitimate inancial difficul-ties into consideration.Students must realize that bycalling the bank and making ar-rangements with them, they canlesson the burden of their studentloans. |In addition, it lets the bankknowthat the student is really interested inpaying back the loan, and isn't justtrying to get away with something.The bank will see that the student ismaking an honest attempt to takeresponsibility and will be muchmore cooperative as a result

Kovski5

KornerSAC chairpersonfaces challengesBy Christopher J. KovskiMerciad Editor

With MSG elections comingsoon, The Merciad will be runningquite a few stories about the candi-dates and the election process in gen-eral But one office that usually getsoverlooked is SAC chairperson. *p The reason thatthis office is over-looked i s that it seems to be such aninconsequential position. This person just gets some activities togetheronce in a while, and is down in the SAC office during the week.This general description just scratches thet surface of thechairperson's responsibility. The chairperson is responsible for plan-ning events for reshmanorientation, holding weekly meetings, andreporting to MSG weekly.| In return, this person receives a $1,500 scholarship. This person isalso responsible for appointing a vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer,and public relations person. | ICurrent SAC Chairperson Janet.Holzhaeusser said that the jobdescriptions for these people are not very in depth.Holzhaeusser also stated that she does not have a copy of the SACConstitution. How can an elected official run an organization with noguidelines for handling situations? What are thefprocedures forupdating the constitution? | IThis constitution should be available notonly for the SAC chairper-son, but for the students as well. They elect these people, and interestedstudents should be able to readthis document to see if they are interestedin working for this organization. -The appointing of the four other SAC officers is also questionable.If the SAC chairperson has the ability to appoint these people, it isobvious that the person will choose his or her friends.Larry Kozlowski, the adviser toSAC,apparendy has the righttovetoachoice. But this right to veto is suspect in itself. It is difficult for theadviser to veto when there is ostensibly one candidate, as the process toreplace this person would be time-consuming.It is easy to see why there would be only one candidate for a position.In the same manner as the submission of letters of intent for MSG thisyear, if the positions are announced right before the choice has to bemade, very few people willfindout about them.This can be justified in this case, as the lack of a constitution meansthat there are no guidelines to follow in the election process. How dothese people even know how to elect the four officers? Theyhaveonlya word of mouth progression of procedure.Since these people are paid from studentmoney, the students shouldbe able to elect them. Therearefiveother positions being decided atthetime, so four more won't be too bad.Also, the four need job descriptions so they will know what to do.The vice chairperson should be dieparliamentarian, the person whomakes sure meetings follow proper order and procedures. This personshould also assist the chairperson in the arrangement of activities forstudents. * .; T \ lThe secretary should be responsible for the keeping of meetingminutes and reporting them, in conjunction with the chairperson, toM S G . 1 |The treasurer should b e responsible for handling thefinancesofSAC, keeping the books and reporting the inancialstatus to MSG. The public relations person should have one of the most importantroles. For people to attend events, they must know about them. Thisperson should make sure signs are put up around campus. In addition,this person should write press releases for The Merciad and WMCE.These organizations should not have to work to get this information topublicize an event; it should be readily available.The S AC chairperson has also beenfillinga role in thecheck cashingprocedures of MSG. MSG should have learnedfrom ast year's theftLarge amounts of cash should not be kept on campus for severalreasons.The primary reason is the risk of theft Mercyhurst security officersdo not carry weapons. Someone can rob these people with a minimumof effortAnother reason is that none of the MSG officers are bonded. Theyshould not be working with cash amounts ranging into the thousandsofdollars. r, W

see ' K o r n e r / pg. 5

i i


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APRIL 6,1989 The Merciad PAGE 5

Korner% frompg. 4SENIOR RECEPTION 1The Senior Wine and CheeseReception will be taking place inSullivan Hall on Wed., Apr. 12 at8:30p.m. The Senior Project will beunveiled at that time. Any seniorsinterested in attending should con-tact Bonnie Clark, director ofAlumni Relations, at ext 538.

PRE-LAW SOCIETYAttorney Rich Lanzillo, a 1983graduate of Mercyhurst College,will be speaking at the April 12presentation of the Mercy hurst Pre-Law Society. Lanzillo will speak onpreparation for law school, surviv-ing law school, and life as a lawyer.The presentation is open to all stu-dents, and will be held in Main 206at 8 p.m.

NO AMNESTY DAYS |ij# There will beno amnesty days atthe Mercyhurst library this year. Allbooks andfinesare due.

SCHOLARSHIPSABLE


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PAGE 6 T h e Merciad APRIL 6,1989

Movie review:

Don't listen to the critics ~Say Farewell to the King,Hello to the sleeper hit of '89By Robi TaylorMerciad staff movie critic

Farewell To The K ing is mostlikely going to be the sleeper hit of1989.1 am not saying that becauseit puts the audience to sleep, butbecause the reviews that it has re-ceived from newspaper critics willkeep peoplefromseeing this movie.I usually do not listen to critics.Very few of them know what thepublic likes other than the foreignart films that they cram down ourthroats every time we turn around.% I was glad that I did n't listen thistime. Farewell To The King is agood film to watch. It isa movie thatentertains, yet makes you thinkabout the way awar affects the livesof people that tare caught in themiddle of i t . isThe story takes place on theisland of Borneo just before the endof World War II. It centers on a tribeof headhunters called the Coman-ches who live in a valley that isalmost cut off from the outside

W O r l d . & a n A 4 ' - ,

violence of the outside.* I left yourwar. These people don't knowabout your war. I am their king andI don't want them to know about

U .'Nick Nolte plays King Learoyd,an American sailor w ho lives withthe tribe and eventually .becomestheir king. This has to be Nolte'sbest role since Weeds. This movieshowed that his talent is more to-wards the serious rather than com-edy. He is goodat doing funny partsbut he is much! more convincingwhen he is doing straight roles.:.Learoyd is a deserter from thewar and his main objective in life isto protect -his children from the

it, he tells a British captain.Eventually, the British armydoes show up and teaches the na-tives how to fight with guns androckets instead ofspears and rocks.This causes the Comanches to enterthe war against the Japanese, ruin-ing the lifestyle that they had forcenturies. I iDirector John Milius" did anexcellent job with this script Al-though it was slow at some points,the details of the lives of the head-hunters was more than enough tofillin the gaps. \In a lot of ways most of themovie was more of a documentarythan a piece of fiction. Miliusshowed some of the ceremonies andritua ls that tribal people live with.For example, if the mother of anewborn child dies suddenly, it isthe custom for the child to be killedbecause it is considered evil.

, This is not a feel good movie.The thought of a culture beingde-stroyed is bad enough, butthe waythat things work outat the endof hemovie should be enough to put youin tears. .;. ... 4I Farewell To The King is agood movie* If you are thinkingabout going to see a movie, ignorethe crjtics and give this movie achance. You won't bedisappointed.

My rating 90/100 ~ f 1Violence, Gore

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P E T E R W E L L E R (Robocop) goeshuntingfor the creaturewith a flamethrower in Leviathan.Photo rom MGM/UA

Leviathan copies Alien, lacks originality * * >

By Robi Taylor j vMerciad staff movie criticAccording to Webster'sDictionary, Leviathan means ei-ther a sea jmonster or somethinghuge or formidable. Well, I haveanother meaning for it the ex-treme boredom connectedIwith amovie. That meaning is theonly onethat I can put with this film.There is one good thing aboutthis movie,,that is the director can 'tbe put in jail forstealing somebodyelse's ideas. If it were a crime thenGeorge Cosmatos [Rambo 2]would most likely be serving a lifesentence. ICosmatos d idn'thaveone origi-nal thought in this movie. Every-thing in Lev iathan was stolen from

other horror films of. the last tenyears. Alien, The Fly, and'DeepStar Six are the most noticeable.The plot of Levia than is a car-

bon copy of Alien with one excep-tion the story takes place under16,000 feet of water instead of in aspacecraft. But even that is notenough to add any new dimensionsto this formula plotThe creature is almost an exacttwin to the creature used in Alien.Then again, that monster has beenused in almost every space-horrorfilm since the original came out ofJohn Hurt's chest , 4This creature invades the lab as avirus that is hidden in a flask ofvodka taken from a sunken Sovietresearch ship. Some of the crewdrink the vodka and develop' skinrashes and a strange blackening ofthe skin.Then the usual happens, a slimylittle creature comes out of thechests of two of the crew people.Yes people, there is anew twist hereawoman gets infectedrightalongwith a man.

Peter Weller [Robocop] andRichard Crenna [Ram bo 2] star inthis disaster. All the actors did anadequate job in their roles. Theycould have been better but the storyline would not permit it Leviathanis a bomb and no star on earth coulddo anything to make it any better. The problem w ithLeviathanistheplo t It is slow, predictable, andboring. Even thebest scenes lookedlike they camefromIa 1950's B-movie. * IIfyou want to see this movie, goto the video store and rent theoriginal. Alien was a bell of a lotbetter than Leviathan; and, therental cost is cheaper than theatreadmission, too.

My rating 52/100Violence, Gore, Some Language

Ballet,star comes to MercyhurstBy Theresa KloeckerMerciad staff rep orter

An international ballet star iscoming to Mercyhurstfto instructdance students in character dance.


7/8

APRIL 6,1989 The Merciad

T HE 1 9 8 9 LAKER men's baseball team. Fromfront row left:Keith Parry, To m Morawski, PatLiebler, ToddMcTighe, KurtAltman, JeffNicholson, Jim Russ, JoelDombkowski,Doug Orr, BillJ ones, JeffCrosta, Tim Kirst,George Baran, AlRush, Steve Hall, Matt Gama, trainorClint Huffman, Steve Williams, Mark Williams, JohnRitz, John Kibbie, Sean Hennessy, John Rupp, head coach Joe Jordano, assistant coach Ra y Hennessy.

1989 MercyhurstGaseball Schedule

April 8 Home Gannon University 1 p.m. DHApril 11| Away SUNY-Fredonia 11p.m. DHApril 13 AwaylClarion University 1 p.m. DHApril 15 Hom e! W. V. Wesleyan 1 p.m. DHApril 16 Home SUNY-Fredonia 1 p.m. DHApril 20 Away Allegheny College 3 p.m. SINApril 22 Away Penn State-Erie ljp.m. DHApril 23 Away Edinboro University^ 1 p.m. DHApril 25 Home Slippery Rock Univ. 1 p.m. DHApril 26 Away Pitt-Johnstown 2 p.m. DHApril 27 Away Gannon, University 1p.m. DHApril 29 fHome Brockport State 1p.m. DHApril 30 Away Point Park 1 p.m. DHMay 1May 3May 4May 6May 9May 11May 14

Home Indiana Univ. of PA 1 p.m. DHHome Niagara University 1 p.m. DHHome Allegheny College 3 p.m. SBN|Away Geneva College lfp.m. DHAway Cleveland State 1 p.m. DHHome IPitt-Johnstown lp.m$ DHAway Canisius College 1p .m. DHMay 19,20,21 NCAA pIV. IIREGIONAL PLAYOFFSMay 27 - June 2 NCAABIV. IEWORLDSERIES

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Shortstop: ,4*

Jordano excited about '89

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By M atthew J. C larkMerciad Sports Editor

44

Last season, the Meicyhurstmen's baseball team surprised manypeople, including \ head coach JoeJordano, by winning 27 gam es.On paper, it looked as if the teamwould have been lucky to win 20games. So this year, with a lot of off-season recruiting by Jordano and hisstaff, expectations were high cominginto camp.; INow, after the team's successful spring season in Florida, thoseexpectations are even greater.

' 'TheFlorida trip was very successful,'' Jordano says.' 'Weplayedsome very goo d competition and we were pleased with the results.looking forward to our northern schedule." \>With a 4-4 record in Florida against some of the better teams in thecountry, it's easy to see why Jordano would be anxious to begin the meatof the team's schedule. ; *Jordano says that the schedule is m uch tougher this season.| "We've improved upon the schedule itself to insure a post-seasonplayoff," he says. |Baseball works on a point system in the NCAA. A team is awardedthree points for defeating a Div. I school, two points for Div. II orNAIAand one point for Div. Ill - therefore, Jordano says, the Lakers scheduleaccording to that scale. ;"If w e win the number of games we need to win, we'll build upenough points and respectability within the region to insure a post-season bid," he explains. J"We're playing teams now that Mercyhurst - in the past - did notplay. W e're playing these teams in an effort to bolster our schedule andto play the quality schedule that will get us into theplayoffs.' *If the Lakers are to get into the playoffs, they'll have to do it with ateam that features only one senior and only fiv e juniors."We have a young team," Jordano says.Indeed. On a roster of23 players, 16 are sophomores and freshmen.However, Jordano is confident the team can win despite its inexperience.\ Because the Lakers are a young team, you'd think Jordano would bethrilled, but he says he's sorry they're not even younger. i"I'm veryoptimistic, he says. "It' s a constant cycle where I look twoto three years ahead. I say to myself,'boy it's great to have those fourjuniors coming back next year/ but conversely,I feel badly that I won'thave them for two more seasons." * *eMercyhurst to b e successful, Jordano says the team:hing, good defense and must generate some \n : : Inordneeds ioffense. To this point, despite some offensive problems, the Lakers are 5-5."We haven't scored as many runs ai I would like, but I'm realpleased with the play of our baseball team," hesays. "It's a 100 percentdifference from his year's team to last year's te am."Jordano says the team is playing well and he expects to iron out thefew problems that they are having. Jordano feels that if that happens,the Lakers will be very successful this year. * ."The weaknessrightnoW is offense," he says. "The bottom partof our order has not been generating the runs that we need to win the 2-1 and 3-2 ball games. The first four hitters have beenjhaving a. tremendous year. *'' I feel good about our defense, pitching and our top four hitters andI'm optimistic that our bottom five hitters are going to come through."We're playing good baseball," he says. "We'v e got solid*pitching. Steve Hall, Bill Jones, Tom M orawski, Steve Williams, Al|Rush, and John Rupp are all pitching well." f"All the pitchers have already contributed," he says. "We like touse a lot of people early to see what we 've got The positive aspect isthe fact that all have contributed in a positive sense. I m ecstatic about

thaL" I r .The Laker bench could be a soft spot this year due to lack of depth."We don't have a lot of depth on our bench," he admits. "Ourstarting third baseman, Kurt Altman, tore so me ligaments in a gamedown in Florida and he's going to be out for themqorityoftheseason,

Jordano explains. "W e knock onwood everyday to make sure wedon'itget any more injuries." * *#Because of this, the Lakers have made conditioning a top priority asa means of preventing future injuries. *; ,"W e concentrate a lot on the physical conditioning aspect of thecame in order to prevent injuries," Jordano say s.If they get the right breaks and stay healthy, this year's Lakerbaseball squad could bring national recognition to Mercyhurst and thatwould be amazing for a program that was really hurting two years ago."It's a team that I feel the college can be proud of," Jordano say s.


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PAGE 8 The Merciad APRIL 6,1989

Q u i n t o n f i n d s t h e r i g h t d i r e c t i o n a t M e r c y h u r s t

G O R D O N Q U I N T O N , the Lakers' No. 1 tennisplayer, says tha t oncehe found direction in life,' 'everything elsefell into place.''

Photo by Kevin McHughBy Kevin McHughMerciad A sst Sports Editor

When he ranked 19th in theDiv.ILnational tennis finals last year,Gordon Quinton decided that hecouldn't go through life "half-as-sed." ;.r' I }* 'After I reached the nationals atthe end of my sophomore year Irealized that the quality of tennis atthatlevelwasn't above me," the 22-year-old junior says. "So this yearI came back with the attitude that Icould achieve a high level of ten*nis. 4 'I partied too much in my firs ttwo years and so my grades suf-fered, but once I found directioneverything fell into place," saysQuinton, Mercy hurst's No. 1 tennisplayer. At the end of his sophomoreyear he chose accounting as hismajor and began working on hisgame, he said."I realized that you can't gothrough life half-assed," Quintonsays. "You gotta have some direc-tion." jj ,

One of the majorflawshe findswith the tennis program is its lackoffacilities, he says. "It is imperative

that we nave some sort of facilitythat has stands for spectators," hesays.^ 14 'Itwould do a lot to boo st teammorale and would add a lot to thecollege."It would attract better players,he says. "Why wou ld good playerscome to Mercyhurst when theycould go to Florida for the samescholarship money and play tennisall year round?"He recommended a plan similarto one that was put into effect inConcordia in New York City inwhich a public five court complexwas built.1 *We coulduse the incentive o fcoaching lessons by the top Mer-cyhurst players to draw members,''he says.The team currently plays mostof its home games at the PennbriarAthletic Club, which is not withinwalking distance, he says, iAlso , Quinton thinks the tennisteam should be given more public-ity. ?

I'm sure only a handful ofpeople know that we made the na-tionals last year and were ranked20th in the nation in Div, II. And

MYt.

SCOREBOARDBaseball (5-5)'L - Bloomsburg 7-2W - Wesley 4-3W-Hobart 10-91L - California (PA) 11-7W - North Dakota 4-3I4-Wesley 8.6 \W-UW-Platteville3-l |Ur Slippery Rock 9-4W^O0ifoniia(PA)6-l,L - California (PA) 2*1

I'm sure that few know that I wasranked 19th individually in the na-tion." I IBut he find s no problems withthe team, he says. "There is greatcommunication between coachFrank Clark and the players. Wecallhim coach and we have tremendousrespect for hm yet he seems likejustanother player, like an olderbrother. f IOne of the first things he evertold me was that I was here to playtennis but he wants me to have funand work on my academics."Quinton added that the coachhelped him a lot in improving hisgame. "He always told me I hadpotential and so helped me believein myself/' he says.Quinton say s he uses his leisuretime as a reward for time spent onthe tennis court or at^study. Heenjoys talking to his friends, watch-ing movies, playing pool and goingto night clubs, he says. fI He particularly en joys goin g tothe Plymouth bar for the Mondaynight beer and wing special, whichhe says is his favorite food anddrink. | ,4 'Hike to go to bars mainly to getoff the campus. Also , as I'm fromToronto, where the drinking age is19, I'mused togoing to bars torelaxand meet peopk

His brotherj Rick, a radiosportscaster in Canada was one ofthe people who influenced him intaking up tennis, he says. Quintonplayed hockey inhis nativeTorontofor 10 years before taking up tennisat the age of 16."When it came to decide be-tween the tw o, I picked tennis be-cause it has greater opportunities,''he says. "With hockey, unless youget drafted when you're; 19 thenthat's it but you can play and coachtennis when you're 60 ."Despite losing senior TomConrad and n a vine a toucher

schedule, Quinton believes the teamhas a strong chance of a w inningseason. The team's current record is5-5. 1 |pJQuinton, who was ranked thirdin his Freshman year and second inhis sophomore year on the 'Hurstteam, says his serve and volley arethe strong points of his game."However since I came back thisfall after making the nationals, Ihave developed the other areas andam now a morewell rounded player.

I always play aggressively, Inever stand back and let my oppo-nent come to me I always give 100percent on the court"The main incen tive that Quintonhad in coming to Mercyhurst was atennis scholarship, he says. "It isclose to home and has what I wan t tostudy." * ^Quinton has received offersfrom colleges in Florida but he sayshe "hasn't heard too many goodthings about education in Florida."

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T H E L A K E R S ' R A U L Raymundo at a recent practice session.Raymundo is Mercyhurst's No. 2 player. Photo by Kevin McHugh

Altaian!atihome with LakersBy Chris CadeMerciad sports reporter

The student personality for theweek is Kurt Altman of Erie.I Kurt recently transferred toMercyhurst from he University ofMichigan. He decided to (attendMercyhurst after being recruited bythe Laker baseball team.$j A graduate of M cDowell HighSchool* Kurt is a double-major inFinance and Political Science. The21 year-old junior plans on graduat-ing in 1990.; After graduation, heplans on relocating and ultimatelywould like to work on "WallStreet." * *Kurt is happy to be home afterbeing away in Michigan for twoyears, especially since it's "saving(him) money!"Kurt has been playing baseballsince he was about eight years-old.He started playing in Little Leagueand played all the way through highschool

While in high school, Kurt alsoplayed golf and basketball How-ever, baseball remains his favoritesportt Kurt prefers colle ge ball to highschool because "there is morecompetition" and he likes competi-tion. He feels the team will do quitewell this year inj spite of havingmany new players."As long as we play to.ourpotential, we're sure to have a greatseason,'' he says.Although he can't say whichteam willb e their greatestchallenge,he feels it is the local teams such asGannon,* Behrend and? Edinborothat they must beatDon Mattingly and Dave Win-field are two of Kurt's favoritebaseball players. Oneof the reasonsthey are his favorites is because hethinks they are "hard nosed" play-ers which makes them interesting towatch. 'He says another reason isbecause they play for the New YorkYankees, which is Kurt's favorite

K U R T A L T M A Npro baseball team.This summer,; Kurt' plan s! onplaying baseball for the Glenw)League and getting some golfing inon the side. He also plans on work-ing for Erie Coffee Products as a

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member of their sales departmentThe M erciad wishes Kurt luckin the future both on the baseballfield and "on Wall Street"

the merciad, april 6, 1989

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