What's going on on campus? What's going on in Nacogdoches? What changes are being made that we don't know about? This is the place to find out.
We have a new layout for this page, thanks to feedback from our readers. Please send any comments to sfascoop@usa.net
Infojack Going Away?
Due to a few complaining students, Infojack may be gone for good. For those who don't know, Infojack is the news e-mail that the Dean of Student Development Dan Wallace sends to everyone. Even though a major percent of the student body either likes Infojack or doesn't care, there seem to be a few students who are bugging Dean Wallace about the infojack being "junk e-mail" in their e-mail accounts. It's only one message per week, and the delete button will get rid of the message in a matter of seconds, but these people refuse to take this suggestion. So once again, a few whiners decide the fate of something at SFA. All we have to say is, these people who are complaining need to get a life. Most normal students don't worry about petty stuff like "junk e-mail" from SFA.
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Apartment or House?
Looking at getting off campus can be a tough decision, and the mixed up Nacogdoches housing situations can be even worse. Even though Nacogdoches is a college town, it seems like the apartment owners/renters are hesitant to work around the SFA school year. Most of the time renters are stuck signing a six-month, nine-month, or even a yearlong contract. This forces them to try and push their lease on someone else or stay here for the summer.
There is a better way. There are an abundance of houses for rent just within or just outside of the city limits. The good thing is, in Nacogdoches, house rent actually averages cheaper than apartment rent! If you are going to sign a six, nine, or one-year lease, wouldn't you rather be in a place you can customize to your tastes? Lots of people get anywhere from three to six roommates together and pay $120 - $200 a piece in rent in a house; instead of the $250 - $400 rent in apartments. So if you are looking to get off campus, consider all the options.
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No one Notices the Little Guys
We have to take a moment to recognize some people who don't get much credit. They are the ground maintenance crew. Not only do they clean up behind us messy SFA students to help keep this campus clean; they also put up all the decorations for the holiday season on campus. It is easy to sit up in an office and order the decorations to be put up, but maintenance recognizes the people that actually wrap the all the light poles on campus in red felt to look like candy canes. So we take this moment to say, thank you.
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What's the Difference in E-mail?
You probably notice titan going up and down lately, starting with a couple of weeks ago when they put the new system in. It's all for a good cause, they are getting everything set up and all the bugs worked out now. The old system was a combination of about 4 -5 administrators work, and it would take a while to find and fix a bug. This system is fresh, and it can handle more users than the old one.
What's in it for me you ask? Well, the average amount of users is somewhere between 80 - 110, and the old system started noticeably slowing down at 90 - 100 users. So the speed will be a little different. Also, the way they allocate space in the e-mail accounts is different, so you will be able to save larger attachments, but the same amount of letters.
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Pine Log vs. The Scoop?
We have had several of our readers send us e-mail asking if The Scoop is trying to compete with or do better than The Pine Log. The answer is NO. We love The Pine Log; as a matter of fact it is one of the better college newspapers out there. The Scoop is just a
central place on the WWW where students can find the information they want and need without all of the advertisements and censorship. If we want to say something, we will say it. If we want to publish something, we will publish it. If SFA or anyone at SFA has a problem with what or how we are doing things, simply send an e-mail to sfascoop@usa.net and we will be more than happy to respond.
UPDATE
We were recently contacted by the editor of the Pine Log, who wanted to correct the above statment. She politely stated that the school does not sponsor the Pine Log, and that they get their money by raising it themselves. She also politely pointed out that they are not censored by the school. Sorry if we hit a nerve, but when we said all the censorship in the above article, we were not
specifically talking about the Pine Log. If you do a search on the www, most of the news sites for specific colleges on the Internet are edited and maintained by that college. Therefore, we are a "central place on the WWW where students can find the information they want and need without all of the advertisements and censorship," just like our original statement said.
As for the advertisements part of the statement, all we can say is we know that you have to pay for the newspaper through advertisements, but there is and will probably always be a lot
more ads in the Pine Log than there will be on The Scoop. Sorry for the mix-up and we hope this clears up any misconceptions.
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Doing What? Where?
Ok, here is the deal. A week or so ago there were two
people having sex in the fountain in the middle of campus. Yes, right there next
to Mr. Stephen F. Austin himself. We have gone to massive ends to try and find out info. about this, but it seems like everyone is VERY hush hush about it. There are several eyewitnesses, so SFA can't say it didn't happen. Whoever it was that was doing it, we give them much credit for being that bold, but give them little credit for not being able to withhold their urges........
UPDATE
WOW! We finally received word from friends of the people in the fountain. They were not having sex, they say they were "splashing around and proclaiming excitement for their upcoming graduation." Imagine that!
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PPP Always Busy
Even though it is free, if you call into SFA to check
your e-mail or get on to the Internet, the chances of connecting are slim to
none. SFA originally had their call in Internet access (or PPP connection as
it is technically called) made for the faculty, but last Fall they decided to
open it up to the students. The whole problem came when the response to the
PPP connection became overwhelming. SFA added a second dial-up number last
Spring, but that only seemed to clear up the on-line traffic jam temporarily.
If the students are looking to SFA to add more lines to the dial-up
connections, they should also look for an increase in the computer lab fee
on their bill. Some of the other colleges with the same type of service
charge a small monthly fee (small compared to off-campus internet providers),
while other colleges charge and optional $100 per semester for Internet access.
If SFA currently charges us a $50 "computer lab fee" for just e-mail, how much
will it be if they add the Internet?
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SFA Cares More About Faculty then Students
Despite the increase in enrollment in the past two
years, SFA has steadily decreased the student parking near the campus. Spring
of 1998 they made some of the parking on Vista Dr. that was student parking into
faculty parking, and this year they made the parking in front of the Forestry
Building on East College into faculty parking. It seems like since the students
pay to go here, and the faculty gets paid
to work here, SFA would cater more to the students needs than the faculty.
Wrong. A professor I talked to (who wishes to remain unnamed) said it best,
"The average professor stays at SFA for 5 - 10 years, whereas the average
student is only here for 4 - 5 years, not including the dropouts and
suspensions. SFA is looking at the long-term happiness of it's professors and
trying to keep them."
If it is not bad enough that SFA is reducing the parking for
students, they seem to forget to tell the students when they change it. SFA
"politely" dismissed several of the first tickets last spring when they changed the parking without
warning, but whenever several people complained about the Forestry building this
year it seemed like they didn't care.
With all these renovations being done for SFA's 75th
Anniversary, can't SFA do something about the student parking?
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