SALLIE OWEN
Assistant Campus Editor

Scanning student IDs at the gate for football games may seem like a radical change, but that's nothing compared to next year, when students won't get tickets at all.

Next year, instead of a paper ticket that has to be torn or punched, student football tickets will be on the student IDs, Tim Jackson, ticket manager, said.

"In the future, they're going to be calling on the phone from their apartment (to order a ticket), and then the next thing they have to do is go to the game with a good ID," Jackson said.

Scanning IDs this year is just the beginning, and it's working well.

"It's working. It's getting the results we wanted," Jackson said.

There were two goals of the new system. First, "we're trying to ensure that the only students getting in with student tickets are enrolled students," Jackson said.

"A second reason we went to this was convenience for the students," he said. Tickets on the IDs will be even more convenient, he said.

Now the office is working out problems with the scanners to speed up the process.

"The first game we had some problems. The read-heads in the readers kept popping out of place, partly because of bad design and partly because there are so many cards that are really frayed, really dog-eared," Stephen Ensminger, manager of the ID center, said.

The scanners were repaired for the Fresno State University game and were replaced for the Louisiana State University game, Jackson said.

"It's going to take several games to get rid of all the cards that just don't read," Ensminger said.

Ensminger and Jackson advised students to get their IDs checked to be sure the ID works. This can be done at the ID Center in War Eagle Cafeteria or at any food service register.

If an ID won't scan at the gate of Jordan-Hare, then the student is sent to the problem center at the stadium, where there is a computer terminal on the University mainframe, Ensminger said.

CLIFF WILLIAMS/Photo Staff

At the problem center, they will check to see if the student is enrolled, and if so, they are allowed in, Jackson said.

"What we do then is we punch a hole in their ID and tell them 'You have got to get a new ID before the next game.' So if you come back up there with a hole in your ID, we're not going to go through the process of letting you come through the line again because we don't want to take the time of other students," Jackson said.

"Most of these cards, you can look at them, and you know they're not going to work," Ensminger said. There is no charge to replace a worn out ID, he said.

Scanning is keeping former students from using student tickets, Ensminger said.

"We turned away about 50 people who weren't eligible at this last game (Fresno State)," he said.

Jackson said this system will be faster than the old punch tickets.

"All we're doing is coming up there, scan an ID, green light, tear a ticketÐboomÐyou're in. Where before you had to stop, make sure you were the person on the ID, then take the ticket, find the right game and hole punch," he said.

"What we're hoping is once students really get used to it and we get rid of all the bad cards, the students will just be able to swipe their cards themselves," Ensminger said.

A smaller change in procedure is that entrances to the spirit point blocks, held mostly by fraternities, will be restricted until kickoff, Jackson said.

Students with seats in spirit point blocks have an extra ticket with the group name and the section and rows of their block. Only students with those tickets will be allowed into the blocks until after kickoff, he said.

CHAD BARWICK
State/Local Editor

Pop quiz: You hear the whine of the sirens and know a possible twister is barreling toward the trailer park you call home. What do you do?

For the students that decide to stay within the confines of an aluminum- reinforced temporary shelter, severe weather poses some unique threats.

Bill Jones, chief codes inspector for the city of Auburn, said tornados, high winds and hurricanes can wreak havoc on trailers due to damage from flying debris, high winds and falling trees.

Jones suggested that when a severe weather situation arrives, a student should "leave the trailer. It is better to get in another structure with a permanent foundation."

In tornado weather, Jones said people can leave their Wire Road trailers and seek shelter at the University's veterinary school. Those not able to leave their trailers should take cover in the center of the trailer, a bathroom or a closet and wrap mattresses or blankets around themselves when they hear the warning sirens.

Brian Hoyt, property manager of University Park trailer park, said although sirens work well to warn people, "we don't have any type of warning system here."

Hoyt said early warning devices are not always heard from the trailers.

"We are right on the edge of being able to hear the University's warning on a clear day; it doesn't do much good during a storm," he said.

Many images come to mind when the words Auburn, trailers and severe weather are mentioned, but trailer residents and workers said the only real test of trailer safety was Hurricane Opal.

Steve Puckett, 04PS, said Opal was ferocious enough to drive him and his roommate from their trailer in University Park.

After Opal's wrath passed through, Puckett returned home to find a dead pine tree resting on his trailer.

Two weeks later the tree was cut away, but for months the other damage went unrepaired.

Puckett said wind, cold air and rain seeped into the crushed roof of the warped trailer.

Hoyt countered all the stories of damage and mayhem and said the only damage came from the campus trees that border the trailer park.

He said nobody got hurt during the storm and little other damage was found. Trailers, Hoyt said, are safe from even the strongest of storms because "now they are tied down very securely."

Preparation for storms is the key to this safety, Jones said. "Get bottled water, a flashlight, a battery radio and food that doesn't need cooking and won't spoil," he said.

STEPHANIE DAVIS
Assistant Campus Editor

Those who are interested in making recreation a part of their college life are invited to use the Student Activities Center facilities.

The Student Act opened Sunday and can be used by Auburn students, faculty and staff. It is open from 11:45 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

"The facility has been open since April 1984, and the number of visits is about one quarter of a million each year,"Susan Nunnelly, director of recreational services, said.

The Student Act offers facilities for basketball, racquetball, weightlifting and aerobics.

"I like the enthusiastic aerobics instructors, and I like that the use of the facilities is free," Laini McGilvary, 03FCD, said.

On Friday it is open from 11:45 a.m. - 5 p.m, and on weekends it is open from 2 - 5 p.m.

"We feel confident that our hours accommodate everyone," Nunnelly said.

"I find the hours the Student Act is open to be very convenient. I can go before or after my classes to get a quick workout," Bess Senter, 03NS, said.

The Student Act is closed during University holidays and between quarters. "We use this time to do repairs and preventive maintenance," Nunnelly said.

DJ BONDS/Photo Editor

Those who are interested in taking part in organized sports can do so through the Student Act.

Roster forms are available the first day of class and can be picked up at the Student Act.

"A total of 12,569 students participated in intramural sports last year," Nunnelly said.

The Recreational Services handbook, which lists the rules and gives information about the Student Act and intramural sports, can be picked up at Foy Union or room 204 in the Student Act.

"We invite everyone to make recreation a part of their life.

It is a great way to meet people and to stay in good shape," Nunnelly said.

SALLIE OWEN
Assistant Campus Editor

Thousands of Auburn students have lived, studied, slept, laughed and cried within the red brick walls of campus housing through the years.

Director of Housing Gail McCullers knows. She met her husband of 36 years when she worked the desk at Teague Hall as a student years ago. She also knows living on campus is as popular as ever.

"We are full and working on our waiting list," McCullers said. About 3,200 students make their home on campus, she said.

"We generally have more people that want to live on campus than we are able to accommodate," she said. McCullers has directed housing at Auburn for 16 years.

As students have been moving in, "everything's gone fairly smoothly," McCullers said. "Sept. 10 was a big move-in day. That's always big on the Hill, when the sorority members come back," she said.

"Friday before rush starts is always the big day in the Quad because of most of your young ladies who are going to go through rush," she said.

Both male and female students seem to prefer residence halls over the campus apartments, she said.

Two Quad halls, Teague and Little, are closed for renovation and should re-open in fall 1997, McCullers said.

"Keller and Owen, because they don't have air conditioning, will probably be the next two (to be renovated)," she said.

SCOTT BUTLER/Photo Staff

Once all the Quad dorms are renovated, Caroline Draughon Village will be housing's next project.

"We really need to work there," McCullers said.

Students can also choose to live on new non-smoking floors in Lane and Sasnett halls, she said.

Sixty percent of housing residents are freshmen, she said. Keller and Owen have traditionally been open to freshmen only, and this year Dowdell is also, McCullers said.

"We have a lot of freshmen everywhere," she said.

Housing upgraded Glenn and Dowdell halls this year by adding a microfridge in each room, she said. A microfridge is a small refrigerator with a microwave oven attached on top.

"Eventually, we're going to try and do that everywhere," McCullers said.

"Housing is an auxiliary enterprise. We generate our own money to operate," she said. Because housing is self-supporting, funding determines the pace of renovations, she said.

JENNIFER ELLIOTT
News Staff

As fall quarter gets into full swing, students grow accustomed to their housing decisions. With a wide variety of both on and off-campus housing facilities, students express diverse opinions.

According to Kim Trupp, associate director of housing and residence life, about 84 percent of students live off-campus.

One of the major advantages of on-campus living is convenience and cost, but it is also possible for students to find less expensive housing off-campus, Trupp said.

"A disadvantage (of off-campus housing) is that we have to pay all of our utilities," Will Stegall, 02PB, said.

Marcy Rudger, property manager of Scarborough Square apartments, said the pressures of residents paying their bills gives them a taste of real-life consequences.

Caren Thee, office manager at the Commons, said students living off-campus are given more freedom.

"An advantage is that it gives students more opportunity to experience real life," Thee said.

Colter Bean, 02PB, said a downfall of living off-campus is the distance from his house to classes.

Being alienated is an inconvenience of living off-campus, Thee said. "I liked living on campus my freshman year because I made a lot of friends," Tracey Wagnor, 03IB, said.

Aside from bills and the alienation of off-campus housing, numerous students enjoy the excess freedoms given to them.

"After living in Lane Hall my first year, there is definitely more freedom when you live off-campus since there are no visitation rules," David Large, 03CLA, said.

"An advantage of living off-campus is that you are not controlled by the college bureaucracy," Kevin Stacker, 02PB said.

DJ BONDS/Photo Editor

Trupp said the majority of on-campus residents are females; therefore, these visitation regulations are helpful in protecting students.

A big difference between living on and off-campus is the residence life programs.

Each of the on-campus halls employs a staff of both graduate and undergraduate students who spend time training to be managers and counselors to the students, Trupp said.

Yet unlike the on-campus staff, Rudger said the staff at Scarborough Square doesn't assist residents with roommate turmoil.

Off-campus residents get to meet an interesting cross section of friends, Rudger said.

Living on or off-campus, students meet a variety of people. On-campus housing provides a closer-quartered style of living, which may eliminate the difficulty of meeting other students.

Another priority to consider when looking for housing is the food service.

Unlike the cafeteria food served on a schedule that may not comply with the residents, cooking can be both an advantage and a hassle.

Rudger said, "Off-campus residents like having their own kitchens."

Eating at War Eagle Cafeteria was an everyday thing when she lived on campus, Wagnor said.

"It is kind of expensive to eat on campus," Wagnor said.

Whether living on or off-campus, there are many things to consider. With either choice of housing, students seem to develop a personal preference through their own experiences.