Weber State College Comment, WSC October 1988. Page 4 deaf athlete sets heptathion Johnston The heptathlon is a series of seven track stared at the cross bar of the high jump, al- and field events which include the 100- Connie ternately meter hurdles, the high jump, throw, 200-meter run, the long jump, javelin throw and an 800-meter race. lifting first the right leg then the “The worst one is the 800-meter run,” said Connie. “I don’t like that one.” Competitors receive points for each left as she visualized herself clearing the six-foot mark. No stadium crowds event, and though Connie said she usually does not do well in the long run, she makes up for it in other events. At a track meet in Provo she broke NCAA records for the total number of points accumulated in the heptathlon and now owns the world deaf record in that event. In 1986 she became the first deaf woman watched as she leaped Connie Johnston into the air flipping backwards over the bar, but the set jaw and tightly closed lips portrayed a competitor's intensity. As she flew through the air a whisper of a touch vibrated the bar and it fell on top of her on the mat. “Tell him not to take a picture of that one,” she signed to an interpreter. Even if there had been a crowd in the shot put record She owns events she will look at the other runners three gold medals from the 1985 World Deaf Olympics, and recently was invited to Washington D.C. as the Outstanding Woman Deaf Athlete of the Year in the United States. She is a former two-time National High School Track All-American, two-time Gatorade National H.S. to see when to getready. Once the runners are set in their starting blocks she watches the starting gun for the powder flash. Girls Track Athlete of the Year, three times a state high jump champion, and I’m running I work for myself. I don’t have time to compare myself to others,” she said. to make the Junior Olympics. Occasionally she feels the vibration of the starting gun. Only twice has she had false starts in her track career, she said. “To me I feel like I’m normal. When USA Today’s Prep Female Athlete of the Year from Utah. But when she leaves the track field her — lack of hearing becomes a greater challenge. She was dropped last year from both the U.S. Junior Olympic Team and WSC’s track team because her English grades were not up to NCAA standards. “Most deaf have problems with English because American Sign Language is different than English,” Connie signed through an interpreter. The college appealed the rule in her case “T have got to be humble, but I love to win,” she said. Her deafness has not been much of a handicap on the field, she said. In track | Wildcat Stadium she wouldnothaveheard | their “oh” of disappointment. Connie has been deaf from birth and can neither hear | and recently the NCAA adapted its poli- nor speak. But that has not stopped her | from becoming one of the top women | athletes in the United States. Connie, a five-foot, ten-inch sophomore at Weber State, is the first female athlete in Utah to clear the six foot mark on the high jump, and is the only deaf | | cies to allow future deaf athletes to take an alternate test. But in the meantime Connie had to wait. “Tn high school and junior high most of the time I ran. Now that I’m not on the team I realize that education is important for my future. I have realized I was out of shape in my mind,” she said. She used the year to improve her academic standing and recently remade the Junior Olympic Team and will compete in games this year in New Zealand. | athlete in the nation with such a record. But itisn’t just the high jump that makes Connie a national standout and a con- tender for the Olympic Team. She is one of the best heptathlon competitors in the country. | | Connie Johnston holds the Utah female high jump record of 6 feet, and the U.S. deaf record forboth men and women. Connie spent the summer in Washington D.C. working for the Department of the Navy in the Office of Civil Personnel Management, and training for the Junior Olympic games. “But I’ll be back in the fall and run for Weber State,” she said. “I love torunand | — I love Weber State’s track team.” Taxes continued from page 1 If the cuts are approved by voters, higher education’s share of the budget cut would be equivalent to the total budgets of Snow, Dixie and Southern Utah State colleges, as well as the College of Eastern Utah and one of the two community colleges. The chances that the state would close those schools to cover the budget cut is unlikely, Pres. Nadauld said, but the comparison illustrates the severity of the cut. What is more likely is that the state will simply require a fair cut in all state agencies, but since public and higher education comprises 70 percent of the state’s budget they would have to take the larger share, he said. Weber State’s cut would amount to about $4 million, the equivalent of two schools within the college’s seven. But again Pres. Nadauld said the revenue loss would probably be distributed throughout the campus. “There would be a 30 percent increase in tuition, but that would only generate $1.5 to $1.8 million of the cuts. We would still have to cut $2.5 million in programs, and that would affect every area on campus,” Pres. Nadauld said. The cuts amount to 13 percent of the college’s budget and since most of Weber State’s budget goes for salaries, a number of jobs would be cut. Two years ago the tutions. Staff workers can get 30 percent more if they leave the college. That has already started a phenomenon known as “brain drain,” where top faculty take their expertise to other states, or leave education altogether. “We’re not going to have the luxury of choosing which programs to cut. We’re going to be left with swiss cheese, with holes all over the place, and those resignations will be from our best people, from the ones who are most mobile,” Pres. Nadauld said. Tax roll back proponents have labeled such responses as “typical crybaby stories,” but Pres. Nadauld disagrees. “The word is already out. We can’t find math teachers. People have turned us down for positions in technology, and dean searches are extremely difficult.” In a recent memo to the State Board of Regents the college outlined other faculty losses that point to a disturbing trend, Pres. Nadauld said. And he said the waste that protestors see in administration is simply not there. “If we got rid of all the vice presidents and the president and all the deans we and because of the closure of Kennecott. Jobs were lost, and revenues began to decline. Things weren’t very rosy in 1986. But the economy was only part of the problem. In two years we picked up 20,000 new children in public education and 4,000 to 5,000 in higher education. If we hadn’t had the tax increase of 1987 we could save $750,000 of the $4 million we education.” The system of government in the United States is representative, Pres. Nadauld said. Officials are chosen to represent the college had a budget shortfall of $1.6 million and had to cut 70 faculty and staff positions. The tax-initiatives would force the college to eliminate some 100 to 130 positions. “My biggest problem is that 60-90 days after the election (if tax limitation is approved) I’m going to have 30, 40 or 50 resignations on my desk. They will be those who interpret the vote as a signal of lack of support for education. If opportunities come up to leave the state they’re going to take them,” he said. Currently faculty salaries are already 20 percent behind those of comparable insti- wt would be cut.” He added, “The college has had a history of hard times, and we have a pretty gritty group up here. ButI don’tknow how much longer we can expect them to hang on. Their dedication is really being put to the test.” The initiatives call for a property tax rollback to the 1986 level, and proponents of the initiatives note that the college should be able to function on that budget without the extreme cuts WSC administrators outline, but Pres. Nadauld notes that the large tax increase in 1987 was designed to stave off the kinds of cuts now being contemplated. “In 1986 our economy began to erode seriously because of energy cost declines, Space continued from page 1 stable inside of the cylinder was more of would have had to cut a whole lot of services then,” he said. a challenge, he said. If the initiatives are approved the state’s system of higher education may not be able to educate an estimated 10,000 students who would otherwise go to college, he said. “The saddest thing of all this is that we’re more successful now than we’ve ever been. The indicators at Weber State—the undergraduate literature conferences, the satellites, the debaters and many others—say we’ve never done our said. “I got the three ingredients for the job better. We’re not being asked to cut because we’re not efficient. That’s the tough part. If we had done something wrong then it would be natural to have us tighten our belts, but it’s simply not true.| Utah provides a quality education for the least cost in both public and higher people and they spend their time gaining a knowledge of their responsibilities and an understanding of budgets. By debating a tax-limitation initiative the public is taking it on themselves to understand the workings of the budgets and the impact of reduced funding. “With this issue voters have a responsibility to find out all the facts. They have the responsibility to get educated, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “T’m not just saying this to save jobs at the college. I’m saying this because education is going to be poorer if the initiatives pass,” Pres. Nadauld said. “T ended up pouring in foam,” ~ Butler foam, blended them in my wife’s blender and poured it in.” They shook the padded container in a paint shaker and it worked fine, he said. “Talk about improvising,” Twiggs noted. . The students sent the finished product to E Prime and prepared for a launch that was originally scheduled for October 1987. But insurance problems forced a delay and the computer was returned to Weber State. “T was a little worried about the project until we got it back in the mail and found that everything was still working properly,” Mildenberger said. The students have made some minor modifications on the package. They found, for example, that the foam stuck to the wires, and while it did not interfere with the current it made for a real mess. This time before pouring in the foam Butler said he is considering spraying the wires with a common spray-on frying pan coating. “Tt should work because it’s a hydrocar- bon,” he said. The launch will demonstrate that commercial space flights are possible, and will reduce the costs of those flights. But for Weber State students the launch represents another chance to get into space. “Who knows, if this works, we may | even try building a rocket or two of our own and launch them in the west desert,” Twiggs said.