Empath, 1978 March 20

              E a r ly M o r n in g F ir e D a m a g e s D o rm
S e r v o m a t i o n C o n t r a c t
u p f o r R e v i e w
by Carolyn Alkire
The contract for food service at St.
Mary’s, now being handled by Ser­vomation,
is being reviewed by the
Department of Budget and Fisal.Planning.
The move was prompted by general
student dissent with the quality of the food
and Servomation’s inability to live up to
the contract within the pricing structure,
according to college Fiscal Officer Bob
Lococo.
The Food Committee of the Student
Government Association initiated action
by distributing a food service survey to
resident students late in February. Dale
Murray, Chairman of the committee,
stated that although the number of
returned surveys was not high, of the
students who did respond to the
questionnaire 20 per cent were satisfied
with the quality of the food being served in
the cafeteria, 78 per cent were not and two
per cent did not express any opinion.
In response to whether the students
would be willing to pay more money for the
board fee if the food contract was changed
(See Servomation, Pg. 5, Col. 1)
IN S ID E
Searching fo r th e ERA . . . see pg. 3
Saints v ic to rio u s ....................see pg. 4
L e tte r from S a d a t ................. see pg. 7
Prine C o n c e r t S ch ed u led . see pg. 7
U n c la s s ifie d s ............................ see pg. 8
THE ST. MARY’S COLLEGE BI-WEEKLY
by Carolyn Alkire
An early morning fire on Sunday, March
12, has caused extensive damage to the
third floor of Prince George Hall and in­definitely
displaced some seventy
students. No one was injured in the three-alarm
fire which, according to The En­terprise,
caused $90,000 damage to the
building and personal property of student
residents.
Charles Donaldson, state fire in­vestigator,
reported that the fire was
started by a hair dryer left plugged in and
turned on in a closet in room 347. The room
was unoccupied at the time as the two
students usually residing there had gone
home for the weekend.
Philip DeFranco, a student in an ad-
. jacent room, noticed smoke coming from
under the door of tne room. He and another
student, Chris Schilling, banged on doors
to wake students and warn them that the
building was really on fire as false alarms
are common and generally ignored. Ac­cording
to Gene Applegate, an unidentified
female student notified the college
security office of the fire at 3:40 a.m. and
the first firefighting units arrived on the
scene within ten minutes.
The fire burned through the door of the
room and spread into the hallway causing
serious damage to twenty-five feet of the
hallway as well as heavy smoke damage to
the entire floor. Firefighting efforts also
caused some water damage to other areas
of the building.
Nine firefighting units and two rescue
squads responded to the alarm. These
included units from La Plata,
Mechanicsville, Ridge, Lexington Park,
Avenue, Valley Lee, Calvert County,
Leonardtown, and Hollywood. The
Lexington Park and Ridge rescue squads
were also present. The blaze was deter­mined
by the firefighters to be under
control at 5:48 a.m.
All Prince George residents were in­formed
by Beth A. Steinway, Director of
(See Fire, Pg. 6, Col. 4)
Prince George room where fire started.
VOL. 5, NO. 7 ST. MARY'S CITY, MARYLAND MARCH 20,1978
F u t u r e o f W i n t e r T e r m U n c e r t a i n
by Rick Pike
*
The Faculty Senate, at their meeting on
March 6, expressed the faculty’s support
of the policies relating to Winter Term.
The faculty supports the continuation of a
“short term”, preferably to be held in
January, and some sort of compensation
for the faculty participating in the mini­semester.
They also resolved that In­dependent
Studies should not be allowed
during this period. The Senate
unanimously accepted the above proposal
at their March 13 meeting.
At the Student Government Association
meeting held on February 20, a resolution
was passed recommending that January
mini-semester be continued next year. It
was also recommended that some sort of
compensation for the faculty be provided
to encourage improvement in the overall
quality of the January term. SGA
President John McGrath said that he
would like to recommend that the Ad­ministration
keep mini-semester at least
for next winter in order that more time be
given for discussion of the matter.
At a meeting of the Student Culture
Committee of the Board of Trustees held
on March 14, it was recommended that a
mini-semester be continued for one more
year to allow juniors who are counting on
the additional credits for January
graduation to finish their requirements. It
was also proposed that after next year the
mini-semester would be subject to two
options; either continue mini-semester
with compensation for faculty members
involved or discontinue mini-semester
entirely.
(See Fiscal officer Bob Lococo. Winter Term, Pg. 4, Col. t)
The future of Winter Term as an integral
part of the college’s curriculum is very
uncertain at this time. Subject to much
controversy and debate, all factors and
parties will be considered when the entire
matter is brought before the Board of
Trustees for a discussion session at the
April 8, 1978 meeting.
There is much controversy surrounding
the matter due to the many factors in­volved.
A few of the major items include
low student-faculty interest, the high
number of incompleted classes, and the
lack of compensation for Winter in­structors.
Many parties which represent various
segments of the college community are
now proposing resolutions concerning
Winter Term which reflect the views of
their constituents.