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El Centro plans for new home
Group drafts multi-cultural center
By Darren Leon
Staff Writer
A new location for El Centro Chicano may mean a new home for all of the minority offices on campus.
The university agreed to furnish El Centro with a new location within the next five years, said Abel Amaya, director of El Centro Chicano. The group will move into either a new structure or into an existing campus building.
The El Centro building was recently demolished to make way for new construction and the group is now temporarily located on the third floor of the United University Church.
El Centro is now discussing what wiil be needed in the new building and trying to decide whether it will become a multicultural center.
"We're thinking of a multicultural center right now. We are trying to decide whether to plan for the multi-cultural center or for just a new El Centro building. The former is more comprehensive and more sophisticated/' said Amaya.
A coalition of minority students, which included the Black Student Union, Asian Pacific Student Outreach and El Centro, asked President James H. Zumberge Monday to create a multi-cultural center which would house campus minority organizations.
"(Building a center just for El
Centro) would not be the best approach for us right now. The coalition has worked well. It's a strong coalition. We are making the multi-ctiltural center our top priority," Amaya said.
El Centro will determine what facilities and offices the building will contain. The plans will then be submitted to the administration so that a budget may be assessed.
El Centro will not announce definite plans for the facility until sometime in 1981.
"If a cultural center is decided upon, that's o.k. It will not be restricted, it could be a bigger project than anticipated. I don't think the university would restrict it," said James Massey, director of Faculty Planning.
El Centro will work with the university to raise funds for the center, and James Appleton, vice president of Student Affairs, will help El Centro and the student coalition develop the concept of the center.
Amaya does not know where the new center will be built if the plans are approved but is confident a location will be found within five years.
"The center will not only benefit the minorities, it will also benefit the university. Something good will come out of it. The arguments for the center are more persuasive than those against it," Amaya said.
Amaya considers the facilities at the United University Church adequate and is not bothered by the location now that the university has guaranteed a new location for El Centro.
Committee’s choice for journalism head rejected
By Jerrold Dale
Staff Writer
A search committee's choice for director of the School of Journalism has been rejected.
After an eight-month search the committee recommended that Joe Saltzman be named director. Saltzman, a faculty member since 1974, is chairman of the broadcasting sequence.
But at a Nov. 24 meeting with journalism faculty members, John Schutz, dean of Social Science and Communication, said he felt the search was not broad enough. He later called the committee's decision "premature."
J. Wesley Robb, religion professor and chairman of the search committee, said the search for a director is now in a "holding pattern."
Schutz said a new committee will probably be appointed but he could not say when.
He said it will be "quite a while" before a director is finally named.
One reason for the delay is Schutz's decision to have a group of professional journalists from outside the university evaluate the journalism program. The journalists will then make recommendations on what direction the program should take.
Schutz hopes the group will visit campus no later than March. "The committee made a survey that unearthed some talent," Schutz said. "The basic problem is that the school's direction hasn't been considered. We were faced with a problem of a lack of understanding of what we could say to the candidates."
Schutz said a number of candidates turned down the directorship because of the program's lack of direction. Once that direction is determined, he is confident a more extensive list of candidates will be available.
The search for a director began last March when Edward P. Bassett resigned to take a position with an Oregon newspaper The 10-member committee received more than 50 resumes from all over the country. The top four candidates selected were Nancy Wood, interim director of the university's School »of Journalism; Robert Blanchard, director of the Penn State School of Journalism; Kenneth Devol, chairman of the Journalism Department at California State University at Northridge; and Saltzman.
Devol withdrew his candidacy before the committee's final vote. "There appeared to be a number of uncertainties in the university and the journalism school which made it difficult to ascertain the direction either would want to take," said Devol.
He was not the only one to withdraw his name from contention. In a letter dated Nov. 26, almost two weeks after the committee had endorsed Saltzman, Blanchard said he did not wint to be considered for the position He later said he was not aware the committee had already taken action when he wrote the letter.
When reached in Pennsylvania, Blanchard said he withdrew his name, "mostly foi personal reasons."
When informed that the search for a director will continue in the spring, neither Devol nor Blanchard would say whether they will apply for the job again.
Saltzman said he was disappointed by Schutz's decision.
"We waited so long and the professional journalism community waited so long for the decision," he said. "And then all of a sudden the decision was made, we got all excited and boom, we’re told it's going to start all over again.,k
Schutz had told Saltzman of his decision and urged him to remain a candidate. Saltzman agreed not to withdraw his name.
The question is whether Saltzman has a chance of being named director the second time around.
Schutz said "because the search wasn't complete isn't a reflection on anybody. I didn't reject the committee, 1 just said we should do the most sensible thing first."
Schutz thinks Saltzman is doing a great job in his present position and said if the new committee selects Saltzman after a search of journalism schools around the country, he will be selected.
(Continued on page 5)
Student loan processing halts until at least first of January
By Eric Vincent
Staff Writer
California lending institutions have stopped processing student loan applications at least until the first of the year.
The processing was halted because Congress recently passed new regulations for the loans, and until the Department of Education determines how to implement these changes, lending institutions will not take on new customers.
These changes include an increase from seven to nine percent in the interest rate charged on loans and a shortening of the grace period for repayment from nine to six months.
In addition, the total amount a student mav borrow has been raised from 57,500 to $12,000 for undergraduates and from $15,000 to $25,000 for graduate students. These changes will affect only new borrowers.
Those students already involved in the program will be subject to the old regulations. As such, these students will continue to pay the seven percent interest rate if they reapply for a loan.
Students who apply for a loan for the first time after Jan. 1 may still be eligible for the seven percent interest rate if the loan is to cover the
1980-81 academic year, said Kim Rosenburg, vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank in charge of student loans.
"We are not taking any more appointments on student loans at this time and, as far as I know, all other banks are doing the same," said Laura Davidson, loan officer at Bank of America.
Representatives from Security Pacific National Bank and Crocker Bank confirmed Davidson's statement.
Mary Ventress, system manager at Security Pacific, said the bank will not take student loan applications until Jan. 1. Crocker Bank is also not accepting applications and has not set a date when it will resume accepting and processing them.
Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, which handles many student loans, stopped processing loan applications after the end of November, said Carol Todd in the California Student Loan Department of Chase Manhattan Bank.
Todd said those applications received in the last two weeks will be processed once the regulations are implemented, which should be in the next few weeks.
(Continued on page 3)