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                Auburn University - University Relations
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8/23/95                                   Sam Hendrix (334/844-3698)

SALANDY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF AU GRADUATE STUDENT GROUP

      AUBURN -- Anthony Salandy of New York, a graduate of  
historically black Rust College in Mississippi, has been elected 
president of  Auburn University's Graduate Student Organization.
      Salandy, who was president of the student body at Rust, came to 
Auburn via a President's Graduate Opportunity Program scholarship to 
enter AU's graduate program in molecular biology.
      Salandy says his goals as GSO president are to improve the 
enrollment and retention rate of minority students at AU, enhance 
communication among graduate students and interest undergraduates in 
graduate education.
      He said he will also explore the possibility of creating a new 
organization that would be comparable to the larger and better financed 
Student Government Association.
       "We have a goal of becoming the Graduate Student Government 
Association and of creating an avenue through which our constitution can 
be changed or amended as we need," Salandy said.
      By leaving the oversight of the SGA, which largely serves 
Auburn's 18,000 undergraduates, the GSO could allot funds for 
professional activities to benefit the university's 3,100 graduate 
students, said Salandy.
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