Central Florida Future, Vol. 21 No. 30, December 6, 1988

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he Central Florida Future
Volume 21, Number
o
University of Central Florida/Orlando
© 1988 The Central Florida Future
Tuesday December 6,1988
Battle waged over fee increase
Students protest fee
in the form of petitions
Special Report
The Athletic Fee Increase
by Lance Turner
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Student opposition to the athletic fee increase
takes the form of a petition.
Laura Brannan, a graduate student studying
Community Agency Counselling, does not agree
with the Athletic Fee Committee, Athletic Director and Football Coach Gene McDowell or Student
Body President Denver Stutler.
On Dec. 1, Brannan began distributing a petition which states:
"We, the undersigned, oppose the proposed
$6.15 per credit hour increase for the University of
Central Florida athletic fee. ...If passed, the increase will force undergraduate students taking
12 hours of classes to pay $73.80, replacing the
current fee."
The petition, with only limited exposure, has
acquired over 120 student signatures, as of Dec. 2.
"I'm not opposed to an increase, but I am opposed
to that big of an increase and so quickly,"says
Brannan.
SEE PETITIONS PAGE 12
McDowell defends per
credit hour proposal
by Leslie Jorgensen
EDITOR IN CHIEF
While students at UCF are taking arms against
the proposed athletic fee increase with petitions
and phone calls, Coach Gene McDowell and his
committee continue to defend it.
The Athletic Fees Committee's proposal would
raise the current fee of $16 plus $1.92 per credit
hour to $6.15 per credit hour if approved by the
Florida Board of Regents.
The increase is designed to accompany
McDowell's move to Division I-AA in football. The
move to I-AA would allow more scholarships be
given for the football team. The money generated
from the fee would fund additional scholarships
for other sports as well.
McDowell says the team will play much the
same schedule they did this year and wants to
compete on the same level as I-AA teams.
"We have to play a predominantly I-AA schedule anyway," he said. "Nobody is happy about
going to Tallahassee and playing Florida State
Phone poll: majority against fee
by Bill Foxworthy
CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE
While a majority of students are
against the proposed athletic fee
hike, many said they would accept a
more moderate increase, according
to an informal telephone poll conducted by The Central Florida Future.
In Thursday's edition, readers
were informed of the proposed hike
and were invited to call in to express
their opinions.  Phone lines were
open for six hours on Friday. During
thattime, 28 students spoke outfor the
raise, while 51 were against.
While this was not a scientific poll, it
did indicate how strongly students feel
about the issue.
A typical response came from Diane
Akers who said: "I understand they
need more money to move to I-AA. A
small increase is okay, but they are
increasing my tuition and cutting my
pell grant."
The increase was designed to accommodate students who were taking only
one or two classes per term, attending
area branches or commuting long distances—typically students who had
fewer opportunities to attend athletic
events.
Yet students like James Lyle said
that students taking heavy class loads
have less time to attend as well. "The
more hours you take, the less you're
going to be using athletic services," he
said. "The students paying the most
will be the ones using it the least."
Some students focused on football
and opposed an increase for a program
they feel has not proved itself ready for
a move to I-AA.
SEE MCDOWELL PAGE 7
Phone-in Poll
Do you agree with the Athletic Fee
Committee's decision to raise the
athletic fee to $6.1 $ per credit hour?
yyyy.-yyyyy. '   :■:■■■:■: •:•:■:■:■:•:•:•:*;■    ■ :•:■: :•:•:■:■:
YES: 28     NO: 51
This poll is not formal and is based
on phoned-in responses collected
on Friday, Dec. 2
 .	
"The idea is to get money for the
school, but people pay to see winners," Scott Fulton said. "If you can't
SEE POLL PAGE 9
Florida state lottery cuts the university a cool million
Most of the funds UCF will receive from the lottery will be used directly for research on electron lasers and airplane simulators
by Eric Dentel
CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE
UCF received almost $1
million of Florida lottery
money this year, most of which
was used to fund high-tech
research, as well as financial
aid.
The largest portion of this
money,   $572,000,   is   being
spent on research in areas
such as free electron lasers and
airplane simulators.
More than $300,000 was
spent on student financial aid.
The remaining money will
be used for faculty awards
($24,000) and maintenance
($29,000).
Lottery money accounts for
less than two percent of UCF's
$73 million budget.
UCF faculty and students
are concerned that the money
is being used to replace funds
the university would have received anyway.
Dr. John Bolte, UCFs vice
president of administration
and finance, said that there is
no way to tell for certain that
UCF would not have received
the money from other sources.
"The  optimists  think  the
lottery money is new money,"
Bolte said. "The pessimists
think that we would have gotten the money anyway. I believe we got a million dollars
more than we would have if
there hadn't been a lottery."
Bolte said UCF is getting a
"pretty fair shot" of the lottery
money, and the amount the
lottery supplied surprised
him.
"I would have estimated
that it would have been half of
what you're seeing now," he
said.
The amount of the lottery
money UCF will receive next
year won't be determined until
the state legislature approves
the '89-'90 budget. Bolte believes inflation and population
SPORTS
■ Find out the details
about former UCF soccer
coach Jim Rudy's move to
Massachusetts. Plus, everything you have ever
wanted to know about-
womens' volleyball.
OPINION
■ Coverage of the
athletic fee increase
continues with a special
two-page opinion section. Plus a letter from
Coach Gene McDowell
on page 19.
SEE LOTTERY PAGE 9
NEWS CLIPS
3
OPINION
18
COMICS
19
CLASSIFIED
20
SPORTS
24