The_Rambler_1970-03-02

              March 2, 1970 rambler page 3
Develop Your
Talents
In today's complex world, a
need for trained young people
has been evident. Every work-ing
field Is or will be faced with
new problems as well as some
old ones. Some people take ad-vantage
of their skills and try
to make the most of their abil-ities.
However, there are some
others who have potential but do
not develop it. This is quite
common among us young people.
Rich, poor, black and white
alike. I'm surprised that some
people I know have not decided
what to do with their lives. It's
disheartening when you see po-tentially
productive people wast-ing
away.
Fear of Failure is one rea-son
why some people balk at
making a decision. However,
life is a gamble and sooner or
later one will have to make his
move. Self Confidence i s known
to be lacking in the young, also.
P a r e n t s , Administration, and
Faculty let the young knowthe^
are behind them all the way.
Hippies and militants lack self
confidence and fear failure the
most. To avoid making deci-sions,
they either drop out of
society or destroy themselves
through drugs and violence. In
a way, however, parents and the
schools are partly to blame.
Some of us young people are
not using our educational knowl-edge
the way we should. Being
medio'j'^e means an individual
is taking a nowhere road. Mo-tivation
is a key factor as far
as talents are concerned. Some
people don't get moving until
som^hing or someone suits their
Interests. The person may fall
on his face again or blossom
into a productive individual.
The only advice I can offer
is to find something that really
fascinates you, then work at it.
It will take time but the re-wards,
later on, will be well
deserved. Even a person ot
limited intelligence can become
very good at some skill. Use
your God-Given talents and then
maybe life won't be a drag.
by Emiie Tatum
Alumnus Lauds
Registration
The following excerpts wero
culled from an article by Frj
Elkins, which appeared in the
February issue of the ALUMNUS:
A record total enrollment of
close to 6700 students, 460 more
than a year ago, ranging in ages
from 18 to 65, made up the
Evening Ck)llege at Farmingdale
this Spring, Dr. Laffin announced.
To support this comment. Dr.
James F, Nihan, Dean of the
Evening College, was "most
excited" about the expeditious
manner in which registration took
place. This was more than true
opening night, pre-registration,
January 26, when the largest
turnout in "the college's history,
close to 3200," enrolled within
three hours.
What made Dr. Nihan's ex-citement
even more striking was
the orderly and speedy manner
in which his staff handled the
record enrollment. "The aver-age
student," said Dean Nihan,
"required only 45 minutes from
the time he entered Roosevelt
Hall for his application until
he was through processing and
paying." He also pointed out
that the longest it might have
taken an individual would be less
than ninety minutes...'fabulous'
is the way this observer saw it...
and we were most pleased in a
sampling of comments by the
students. True, many arrived
hours before opening of regis-tration,
but then that's like
waiting over-night at Shea Sta-dium
for the start of a game.,
it's the start that counts.
Processing more than 1,000
registrants per hour is a rec-ord
that no other college, we
can say safely, can even come
close to in the State University
or any other educational system.
Yes, you must be aware of the
Where Were YOU Prof. Wdkice Reports
Feb 19 at 1:15P.M. «>• F«"lty Meoiiiig
The President of the college meets with students once a month.
And this past month only 30 students showed their faces. With all
the complaints students have, or that I and everyone else hears,
there was no excuse more of you could not have been there. A nd
you wonder why many of your complaints do not have results.
President Laffin was very happy. to see some students whose
interest is for the benefit of others. I will say this, I did not recog-nize
a Student Senator or an IDC member there. The President is
concerned with matters affecting the student. He announced that
February 28, 1970 he will go on a sabbatical leave. This will be
for six months where he will tour the Orient and Europe, starting
off in Honolulu. Vice-President Piurcell will take his place. Um,
we'll have to get an interview with him.
Saturday at 10 a.m. the 21st
of the month the open dorm
policy was brought to the Board
of Trustees. TTiere it was
passed at this 3rd meeting.
The question of the Con-ference
was brought up and
the President quoted "I can not
react to what I haven't seen."
It was questioned by students
if more faculty and students could
get together at department meet-
President's answer was that
'*The administration has been
advocating student involvement,
in ^ aspects of the college for
longer than most of you have been
In college." He says '*they look tn
lege." He /ays V'they look in
favor of students and teachers
involving discussions of content
of courses, teaching and per-sonnel,
but It's up to the faculty
to agree upon this. The faculty
and committees will move to-wards
much more student in-volvement
in the future than they
have in the past."
A question was asked about
the Conference that took place
the day before. All he could say
is that "I cannot react to what
I haven't seen, but if any con-structive
or well thought out
recommendations were given
they will certainly be given very
serious consideration."
Next on the questions was why
is the drainage so poor on caih-pus?
President Laffin quoted,
"Without a doubt normal drain-age
has been seriously affected
by construction. We know about
it, Albany knows about it, and
the company knows. It was found
that the contractor was not living
up to, the requirements of the
contract by providing over-passes,
bridges, or appropriate
safeguards against excavations.
The only defense the contractor
.has had, is the impact of weather.
They have not been able to cor-rect
drains that have been broken
or blocked by construction or
sewage and underground facili-ties
because of the weather."
As far as security goes, it
has proved to Hae inadequate,
just look at the many defaced
buildings. President Laffin
quoted "Actually we don't have
enough security people for total
security. We have had appeals
for additional security for a long
time, but if you take a campus
like Stony Brook that has 3 times
the amount of security than us
and you'll see almost every
building has been defaced."
Question: "Don't you think
we should have more security?"
Answer: "Not to the extent
that we could have every build-ing
watched every night, but agree
we don't have adequate security.
Yesterday, 2 men came from
the Central Office in Albany to
discuss the situation. Adding alot
of new people to the security
staff is the problem of negotia-tions
with the State Public Em-ployment
Relations Board, civil
service classification and union
contracts, and all of that. They
cannot develop employment until
certain negotiations have been
complete. We have a plan of
17 men with 4 supervisors and
a director of security and we
can't bill it or employ them be-cause
of contractual negotiations
beyond our control. We can^t
get our positions cleared, it's
not our problem." It was then
suggested that we get students,
faculty and administrators to-gether
to devise a plan where-by
students can take on the
responsibility. The president
liked this suggestion.
As far as the Suffolk County
police go, they do have jurisdic-tion
on this campus and if you
need a police man (look in the
pig pen) you have to get one
of the security guards and he will
phone one. That is if a car is
available.
What about the Narcotic
Arrest? The President said he
is aware of the arrest, "The
police have just as much
jurisdiction to make arrest on
campus as well as in a bar
and grill or in your home as
long as they have the proper
warrant drawn ip. There is no
way of preventing Suffolk police
to come on campus, we are
£tware they do. The State cam-pus
police are not deputized to
make arrest."
According to President Laffin
"there is no police agent posing
as a student to our Knowledge.
It happens that we have 400 or
more Suffolk police officers as
legitimate students in the eve-ning
division that are on duty 24
hours a day whether Ihey are
taking courses or not. Asa mat-ter
of fact if the police want to
there is nothing to prevent them
from enrolling a member of their
department as a full time stu-dent
who is eligible, qualified and
admitted."
Other odds and ends brought
up were the writings on the build-ings.
It was assured to the Pres-ident
that club presidents would
attempt to wash off the writings.
The attempt was made and failed-so
I guess another one will be
made soon - otherwise this cam-pus
will remain looking like a
college campus.
You all want the administra-tion
to be snappy - well, the
writings are still there, so would
the person who put them on
please take them off. If you
want a say, say it either in
Rambler or Humpty Dumpty. It
hinders progress rather than
facilitates it. Most of the stu-dents
acted negatively and it
just isn't Farmingdales thing.
Everybody points to the
problem of apathy in the ad-ministration,
but they wouldn't
be io the business if they didn't
give a DAMN. President Laffin
quoted, "we will not milk feed
the apathetic students." It was
absolutely embarrassing that you
weren't there - all I can say is
be there next month and decide to
give a damn for yourself once-in-
awhile! by Monica Lohner
On Tuesday, February 24, the
professional staff of the college
met, exchanged caps and gowns
for fighting togs, and in strong
language (for academics) ex-pressed
their dissatisfaction with
the new budget proposed for
Farmingdale.
Among six ag-tech colleges in
the state Farmingdale is at the
bottom of the budget list. For
instance, Farmingdale is given
$200 for maintenance and opera-tion
cost per dormitory bed; the
five other ag-tech colleges aver-age
$352 per bed. Farmingdale
has 13 library holdings per full-time
student; the other ag-^techs
average 18. Farmingdale is given
$1273 as total budget si^portper
full-time student; the average for
our sister institutions is $1796.
Farmingdale student services,
which include counseling, admis-sions,
and placement, are
budgeted at $60 per student; the
other ag-techs average $148.
These facts and others like
them were presented to the fac-ulty
by Mauro Zulli and at his
urging the faculty voted to "cat-egorically
reject" the proposed
budget. Further the faculty asked
for a meeting with State Uni-versity
officials to develop an
emergency budget with adequate
support. Other resolutions called
for adequate funding for the Even-ing
College and the Full Oppor-tunity
Program.
Salvatore Barbasso then dis-cussed
a subject close to the
heart of every faculty member,
salary. Do students look on
instructors as wealthy? Do you
envy them when they glide into
Carl Schilling, speaking for the
professional a d m i n i s t r a t i ve
staff, presented the plight of his
constituents. The past few years
have not been kind to adminis-trators;
salary increases have
been meagre. Mr. Schilling's
resolution called for an im-mediate
25% increase for mem-tremendous
amount of prepara-tion
that goes into this massive
enrollment job and give fullest
credit to the legion of college
workers, who handle their chores
with a zeal and cooperation
characteristic of the fine atmos-phere
marking State University
at Farmingdale, Surely, our men
and women, by their understand-ing
and cheerfulness are the
college's best "Ambassadors'*
when helping the thousands of
students seeking to broaden their
education by continuing their
bers of the professional adminis-trative
staff.
That's the way the meeting
went. There was lots of infor-mation,
but there was strong
feeling too. The staff is angered
by a budget which does not pay
what it should for a good educa-tional
program and which does not
pay staff members a fair wage,
their reserved parking spaces in
their Porsches, Jaguars, and
Alpha Romeos? Forget it. Our
faculty is lagging behind Nassau
Community College in pay and
barely holding their own with
Suffolk. If you compare the pay
of a Farmingdale faculty member
with that of a local public school
teacher, the public schooler
comes out on top.
Here are average Farmingdale
salaries: professor, $15,480; {as-sociate
professor, $12,580; as-sistant
professor, $10,514; in-structor,
$8,880. The faculty
at Nassau average about $1,950
better than this at all ranks.
This information was followed
by a resolution terming the pro-posed
salary scale "inadequate
and unacceptable" and voicing
dismay at the ineffectiveness of
the Chancellor in improving sal-aries.
Carl Schilling, speaking for the
professional a d m i n i s t r a t i ve
staff, presented the plight of his
constituents. TTie past few years
have not been kind to adminis-trators;
salary increases have
been meagre. Mr. Schilling's
resolution called for an im-mediate
25% increase for mem-bers
of the professional adminis-trative
staff.
That's the way the meeting
went. There was lots of infor-mation,
but there was strong
feeling too. The staff is angered
by a budget which does not pay
what it should for a good educa-tional
program and which does not
pay staff members a fair wage.
schooling at night.
Classes in more than 30
courses are offered to the Eve-ning
College students; Besides
an expanding selection of credit
and non-credit courses, ten(lO)
new courses are being offered
for the Spring, In addition to
the new courses, many of the
enrollees will be coming to the
Evening College for thirteen
Degree Curriculums or nine-teen
one-year Certificate Pro-grams
- for those students who
do not seek a degree.
Save Our Earth by Charlene Plotkin
Man is dying. We are slowly killing ourselves. We breathe
poisoned air, swim in poisoned waters, and our children play on
lands scattered with garbage. We are not only destroying ourselves
but we are also killing our wildlife. Thousands of fish along with
other forms of seallfe are being killed by the elimination of wastes
in our lakes, seas, and streams. The Great Lakes, once a proud
American landmark, now lie in their own pollution.
On April 22 Farmingdale along
with other schools and colleges
across the nation, will recognize
"Earth Day." This i s a problem
that effects us all. We are
all witnesses to this crime that
we have inflicted upon our selves.
It can be viewed right here in
Bethpage State Park. The picnic
area is strelvn with garbage and
scattered debris lies along the
roadside. Those of you from the
city, Manhattan Beach water is
now said to be unsafe for swim-ming.
Beautiful Long Island
Sound now shows early stages of
polluticm.
After years of industry pump-ing
poison into the air and fac-tories
dumping their wastes into
our waters. Congress is now
passing bills concerning pollu-tion,
Many companies have
merged with anti-pollution in-dustries,
Ford Motor Co, is
working on Anti-smog devices
to be built in their cars. Auto-mobiles
are a major problem
in air pollution. In Southern
California a group of college
students held a protest staged
against the car, and went as far
as to bury an auto.
This is our Earth, We should
be guaranteed that the air w« are
breathing is clean and healthy.
The lakes we swim in should be
free of wastes, not gigantic cess-pools.
Our lands should be
purified, NO, the answer is not
leaving. The problem is here,
and we can help solve It,
JOIN IN APRIL 22 "EARTH
DAY"
For more Information check
the next issue of the Rambler.
Non-Credit
Courses Offered
Let's hear it for Mr. Con-fort,
of the English Department,
for introducing courses that are
impossible to fail. These courses
will be free of charge. The first
meeting will be on March 5 at
11:30 a.m., Roosevelt Hall, Room
109 A,
Each group will determine what
time would be convenient for the
majority of its people. After the
first meeting they will meet at
that agreed-upon time.
The classes will be held as
informal seminars or "rap ses-sions."
The courses available are:
"Witchcraft and Magic" Mod-erator
" Mr, Confort, "Group
Dynamics and Leadership Work-shop"
Moderator — Mr, Magie,
"The Novel of the '60s" Moder-ator
- - Mr, McAdorey, "Wom-en's
Liberation Movement" Mod-erator
- - Mrs. Silvera, "Amer-ican
Education Today - - Change
it or Chuck it?" Moderator - -
Mr, McLain, "Christianity and
the New Gospel Today" Moder-ator
-- Mr, Corriero.
Even though these are non-cre-dit
courses, don't you think its
about time we all got invcdved in
some great discussions about
things that interest us most?And
why not? If professors on cam-pus
are willing to take time out
to lecture at a seminar of non-credit
courses, don't you think
we should take time out to learn
something? Ginny Fohys