VMI Cadet. March 10, 1978

              VOLUMELXVIII Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia March 10,1978 NUMBER20
News Briefs
The Publications Board will
meet on Tuesday, 14 March, to
interview candidates for Editor
and Business Manager of the
1978-79 Cadet.
Anyone interested in one of
those positions should contact
Frank Fountain (room 121)
prior to Taps, Sunday, 12
March.
Cadets interested in the posi-tion
of Managing Editor or
Editorial Editor should also
speak with Cadet Fountain.
Scholarships
NROTC Marine Option
Scholarship Cadets John A.
Kailey 79, Fred D. Winkler '80,
Charles S. Falls '81, Joseph D.
Provenzano '81, and Chet D.
Thompson '81 are primary
scholarship winners in national
competition. Cadet Kevin C.
O'Neil '81 is an alternate
scholarship winner. All NROTC
scholarships will begin in the
Fall of 1978 and will continue for
the balance of each winner's
cadetship. All scholarship win-ners
will receive a commission
into the United States Marine
Corps upon graduation.
Warfare Lecture
The naval science depart-ment
of the Virginia Military
Institute has announced that the
lecture entitled . "Amphibious
Warfare Study XXII" will be
presented by the Amphibious
Warfare Presentation Team of
the United States Marine Corps
Development and Educational
Command at Quantico, Va.
Scheduled for Monday, March
13, at 7:15 p.m. in Lejeune Hall,
the lecture will highlight the
organizational and-employment
capabilities of Navy and Marine
Corps forces in support of na-tional
strategy. The floor will
then be opened for questions.
Lievsay Speaks
The last of a series of lectures
being offered this season by
Virginia Military Institute's
Northen Professor in the Arts
and Social Sciences has been
scheduled for Tuesday, March
14, at 8 p.m. in Lejeune Hall.
Dr. John L. Lievsay, visiting
p r o f ^ ^ r of English, will speak
on^^Spenser as Poet of Love" in
" ^ I k open to the public.
'78 SC Tourney
Photos, page 4
Bloodmobile To Visit VMI
byWaltKreiUer
The Appalachian region of the
American Red Cross will have
its bloodmobile at VMI, 28-30
March. The VMI bloodmobile
program is capable of collec-ting
two hundred pints a day.
Since the inception of the
scheduling phase, in which
donors sign up for appoint-ments,
the blood bank has
reached the maximum amount
possible set by equipment
limitations. Lt. Col. George
Piegari, the program director,
stressed the scheduling of
donors to eliminate waiting
lines and to avoid over straining
the professional staff. The
regional bloodmobile travels
over southwest Virginia to sup-ply
blood to over forty hospitals,
including Stonewall Jackson
Hospital in Lexington.
Due to the high cost of pro-cessing
blood, VMI is an
especially popular stop with the
Red Cross. There are $25 of
handling and testing costs bet-ween
the donor and the patient.
The high volume at VMI makes
it possible for the bloodmobile
to visit areas with smaller turn
outs.
Lt. C. Piegari pointed out that
blood taken in an unpaid donor
situation was 4_to 5 times better
than that taken in a paid donor
situation. This keeps overall
costs down and infections
minimal.
F i r s t Classman Scot
Singletary, cadet in charge, will
submit a permit to have all the
usual good deals, to include hay
down and all duty through BRC
during exams and an extra hour
of GP/Hop privileges during
Easters. Sin^etary noted that
the Corps helped carry the state
and that too many donors was
really the only problem. Better
scheduling will smooth this pro-blem
out for the bloodmobile.
The blood mobile will be open
1000 to 1600 and all cadets over
18 years of age (or 17 with
parents' permission) may give.
VMI Theater Holds Auditions
by Will Tiedemann
On Mon., Tues., and Thurs.,
13,14, and 16 March, from 7:30
to 9:30 p.m., the VMI Theater
will hold auditions for its spring
production, and adaptation of
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in
room 318 Scott Shipp Hall. The
production is schediUed for per-formance
in the latter part of
April.
Directing and designing the
show will be Mr. Hugh Sisson,
who has also produced the
Theater's performances of Zoo
Story, American Dream,
Marat/sade and The Real In-spector
Hound.The idea, says
Sisson, is to capture the mood of
Chaucer through his unfinished
master work. The director also
hopes to display Chaucer's rich
comic, dramatic and literary
skills.
The show will be modeled
after the performances of
medieval troubadours before
their patrons. However, to in-sure
the production's ac-cessibility
a modern verse
adaption of Chaucer will be us-ed
instead of the original Middle
EngUsh.
Any and all interested cadets,
faculty and staff are strongly
urged to audition or contact Bill
Tiedman in Room 366 for more
information. Positions are
open, in addition to actors, for
crew and publicity positions.
Come one, come all, if you are
interested in having fun while
working on a novel project.
HEW Enacts New
Financial Aid Regulations
by Will Tiedemann
The Department of Health,
Education and Welfare has
enacted new regulations on the
kinds of consumer information
education institutions must pro-vide
to students. Nearly half of
the VMI Corps of Cadets
receives some type of financial
assistance. Twenty-five percent
receive aid through VMI's
financial aid office. However,
the new regulations, will cause
little change here. VMI's finan-cial
aid policy already complies
with the new regulations.
Institutions must now provide
information in one or more
documents describing available
assistance, the school and its
administration, and the rights
and responsibilities of the stu-dent.
All of this information is
contained in the VMI catalog.
The given information must
list all available federal pro-grams,
state grants and loans
and VMI awarded scholarships.
A description of the steps in ap-plying
for aid, including all the
necessary forms, must be
given.
The information must also
detail the cost of attendance,
the refund policy, the academic
degrees offered and the percen-tage
of students completing
each, and student retention
rates. A complete listing and
description of the school's
facilities and its faculty
members and their qualifica-tions
must be included.
In stating the rights and
responsibilities of the students,
the institution must describe
how the aid is supplied and the
means and terms for the repay-ment
of any loans. The criteria
for eligibility and for continuing
eligibility must be explained. At
VMI a student is given tentative
aid. If he is put on academic
probation, he might receive aid
for one more semester.
However, if he continues on pro-bation,
he forfeits all aid.
VMI currently attempts to
provide as much aid to those
who need it as it can. Generally,
all Virginia cadets and out-of-state
upperclassmen can be
provided for. As much is done
as possible for out-of-state rats ,
with the limited funds remain-ing.
Capt. Vernon Beitzel, VMI's
Financial Aid Officer, said that
VMI has always provided as
much information as it possibly
could. A cadet who seeks help
from the financial aid office can
usually be assisted in finding a
way to fund his education here.
However, while the cadet has
all this information available to
him, the Financial Aid Office
has no knowledge of a cadet's
need unless he applies for aid.
Capt. Beitzel stated that it is the
responsibility of the cadet to
seek out needed aid.
West Point
Cracks Down
on Dating
by Thomas R.Kelly
The U.S. Military Academy
has been attracting con-siderable
public attention
recently, concerning the ac-tivities
of Cadet 1st classmen
Kevin Downey, who last year
violated West Point's military,
cadet, and possibly honor codes
by "fraternizing" with a
woman plebe.
Last spring he received at
least 100 demerits for "walking,
talking, eating," and possibly
having a "romantic relation-ship"
with 4th classmen Cyn-thia
Bianca, who left for
unknown reasons at the end of
last year. His case is now being
reconsidered by the Depart-ment
of the Army, and the con-duct
Review Board at West
Point.
According to military regula-tions,
no upper classmen will
date, have "emotional" rela-tionships
or have relationships
that will hinder the existing
subordinate position of plebes to
upper classmen. In additions,
Cadet Restrictions state that no
4th classmen will be "recogniz-ed"
by an upper classman,
unless their existed friendship
prior to enrollment, or the plebe
has been on a team with the up-per
classmen for at least two
months.
More importantly, however,
the press has released news
that Cadet Downey is presently
being prosecuted by the Honor
Court for making a false official
statement concerning his rela
tionship with the girl according
to Major Miguel Monte Verde,
public relations officer, and
VMI Class of '66, "Cadet
Downey stated that he had
known the plebe prior to her
coming to West Point, and that
apparently, he did not. Mr.
Downey's case has been tem-porarily
halted by his Brooklyn
lawyer in the trial state and
West Point will present its case
to the Federal Court some time
next week."
"Unfortunately, because this
case involves a male-female
relationship it has received con-siderable
attention by the press,
including the disclosing of the
honor courts case by Downey's
lawyer." Since this case
originated last spring, in which
Cadet Downey received first 8.
then 40, and finally 70 demerits,
no decision has been reached by
either the Review Board or the
Honor Court. "Unfortunately,
unlike VMI," stated Major
Monte Vende, "the Honor C^e
(cont'd p. 7, col. 1)