Central Florida Future, Vol. 24 No. 04, September 3, 1991

              COLLAGE p. 13
Explore underground
music scene in Orlando
OPINION p. 8
SPORTS a. 24
Snakes frighten Dave Willie English romps
while ants eat his motor      through Trojan's 'D5
Central Florida Future
Serving The University of Central Florida Since 1968
Vol. 24, No. 4
TUESDAY September 3,1991
24 Pages
University sinks funds to
Florida Sinkhole Institute
Only sinkhole institute in nation falls victim to budget ax
by Cindy Barth
CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE
UCFs Florida Sinkhole Research Institute, the only one in
the United States, is the latest
victim of budget cutbacks.
Dr. Barry Beck, former director of the institute, said the
institute's yearly budget was
$250,000, half of which came
from UCF. The remainder came
from grants, research contracts,
and private studies.
"It was a tough situation.
The university simply needed
the money to teach classes," Beck
said.
According to Beck, several
hundred new sinkholes occur in
Florida each year.
Dr. Frank Juge, associate vice
president of Academic Affairs,
said although the institute is
closing, operations concerning
sinkholes will continue in the
College of Engineering.
Beck said a copy of the
institute's data base will go on
file in the library and another
copy will probably go to the
Florida Geological Survey in
Tallahassee.
Juge said the budget cutbacks
forced several programs to be
cut.
"We made some staff reductions in areas such as graduate
studies and extended studies.
Programs had to be.cut as well,"
Juge said. "The Legislature cut
$2 million, yet we had to teach
the same things as before but
with less money."
Beck said the institute's data
base has information on more
than 1,700 sinkhole collapses
that have occurred in Florida
over the last 20 to 30 years.
"I think we've had a significant impact. The work we've
done and the articles we've published have been disseminated
nationally and internationally.
They've made an impact on how
well people understand the sinkhole process," Beck said.
Although activities are wind-
SINKHOLE continued page 4
NO — NOT ME!
Comedian Jordan Brady pulls Laura DiGise from the audience during his Tuesday night perform nee. <jim Ferguson/rcFF)
130 students pick up
petitions for senate
by Rebecca Falcon
STAFF REPORTER
SG senate elections have
sparked an interest in students
this year.
Monday, Aug. 26, was the
first day for students to pick up
petitionsfor senatorial positions.
By Wednesday, SGhad distributed 116 petitions to hopeful
student senators. By Friday, the
number was 130.
ChrisMarlin, SGpublic relations director, described the interest as unreal. He said "no
one should go unopposed."
Jason DiBona, student body
president, saidheispleased with
the increased number of petitions. During his first term of
presidency he was faced with
having to appoint a number of
people to senate seats.
SENATE continued page 5
ZIP-LOCK
Free safety Penn Holsapple and strong safety Eric Buckley wrap up Troy State fullback
David McCombs. See game story on page 24 (awies k. MorrowArcFF)
SG scoffs at price tag, results of PSE student survey of opinions
by Bill Cushing
CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE
The results and price tag of a Pi Sigma Epsilon poll
kicked off a controversy in Student Government.
When Kimberly Chase, PSE's co-director of the
survey, presented the results to members of SG, the
biggest item on everyone's mind seemed to be the
price tag.
The project, a "Survey of Student Opinions and
Attitudes at the University of Central Florida," was
requested by former student body president Jeff
Laing to measure the extent to which SG served the
needs and interests of the student body.
A similar survey had been conducted in 1988.
However, SG felt it should conduct a new survey
because of the major changes in growth at UCF since
then. Also, the survey had been done over the summer term, a time when the campus has fewer students present.
The idea was executed late January of 1990, when
the project was turned over to PSE.
The resulting questionnaire was presented to a
random sampling of students during the Spring term
ofl991.
Final results were submitted to SG on May 24.
Chase spoke to senate members during their final
session, Aug. 25.
Sen. Carl Scussel, college of engineering, raised
objections to the "mimicking" of the new survey in
comparison to the one of 1988.
Chase, calling it a re-evaluative survey, said that
the repetition of the questions was necessary.
"The hope of this was to see where you'd gone," said
Gail Zank, a professor of marketing and advisor to
UCF's PSE chapter.
'This survey didn't tell me something I didn't
already know," said Jason DiBona, student body
president. He said that he first thought the sample of
300 respondents was low, although he added, "It does
help to see (things) in a statistical format."
Zank sees this as a case of blaming the messenger
for the message. She said that outside research firms
SG continued page 4
CLASSIFIEDS page 11