ABLAZE! 
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As Auburn University begins its 141st academic year, I take this opportunity to welcome you to the campus for what I believe will be another outstanding year. You will find that some of the best years of your life will be spent at Auburn, where you will build lifelong friendships.
Students come to Auburn for a variety of reasons. You may be from a family of AU graduates or you may be the first person in your family to attend college. Whatever the reason, we're glad you chose Auburn to continue your education. Our pledge is to help you gain an excellent education, both inside the classroom and in other activities.
More of you are attending Auburn this year than can be found on any single campus in the state Ñ approximately 22,100 are attracted by the outstanding academic programs available here. Good programs, dedicated faculty and a caring environment make Auburn a special place, bringing quality students from all over the world.
Auburn University has gained widespread visibility and is highlighted in numerous national college guides, which have picked the University once again as a "best buy." For the second consecutive year, Auburn University is the only public university or college in the state ranked among Money Magazine's top 100 "elite values." AU is tenth among Money's 25 Best Buys in the Southeast.
Several other leading national college guides also have ranked Auburn among the country's best schools this year.
As you begin a new year, be ready for an academic challenge as well as many exciting social and cultural activities that make a college campus a special place. We believe that you will find at Auburn those ingredients important to your development, both professionally and personally.
We're glad you are here. Welcome and WAR EAGLE!
Sincerely,
William V. Muse
President
I am happy to have this opportunity to welcome you or welcome you back to the "loveliest village on the Plains." Everyone in Auburn looks forward to fall and the return of Auburn University students to our community. It's just too quiet without you!
Auburn, Ala., is a college town with energy, activities and a desirable environment encouraged by students and townspeople alike. We are a growing community where you will find more choices than ever for eating, shopping and leisure activities. You will also find increasing job opportunities for student employment. City-University cooperation is excellent and we are working together for an even better Auburn.
The Auburn City Council is pleased to have an ex-officio member of your Student Government Association on the City Council. There is an official SGA Communication on each City Council agenda. This makes possible an enhanced student-city relationship and offers greater communication for mutual benefit.
Each of you will be an important part of a great year for Auburn. Welcome and War Eagle!
Sincerely,
Jan M. Dempsey
Mayor
War Eagle and welcome back to the "loveliest village" for fall quarter 1996. As we begin this new year at Auburn, we will be welcomed by several changes. Two of the most notable changes will be Drake Student Health Center and student football tickets. I am confident that the changes affecting these two important aspects of Auburn will benefit our student body.
As you are probably aware, you must now have an activated student ID to use a student football ticket. This new policy does not mean that you cannot sell your ticket. It just simply means that to enter the stadium with a student ticket you must also have an activated student ID. Because of this policy, the large number of upperclassmen that ordered tickets for the sole purpose of illegally scalping them to lowerclassmen has greatly decreased. As a result, far more members of this year's freshman class were able to order football tickets than last year's freshmen.
As you may not be aware, Auburn University has outsourced Drake Student Health Center. In short, Auburn has been spending 2.1 million dollars of your tuition annually to fund health care, and Auburn didn't believe that we were getting our money's worth.
Now, Drake will be run by East Alabama College Health in a partnership with Auburn University. Improvements in quality will be abundant. Some of these improvements include remodeling, accreditation and board certified doctors.
The clinic will operate on a fee-for-service basis, meaning that students will be expected to pay for their office visits in a manner very similar to a walk-in clinic. I urge each student to examine their insurance situation with their family before they visit the newly remodeled health center. If you are currently uninsured, your SGA offers a great policy at a nice discount to students.
Again, I believe that the new health center will be one that better serves Auburn students and I am anxious to see the new improvements.
Because of Auburn's annual fall renewal and onset of another football season, there is indeed no better place to be but Auburn. The football season is one of the greatest times where Auburn people can gather and celebrate the Auburn Spirit.
Keeping with this tradition, I strongly encourage all Auburn people, especially students, to stay after each football game and sing our alma mater. We often say that the Auburn Spirit is something special and by singing our alma mater we can exemplify this.
I look forward to this new school year with much optimism and great enthusiasm. It is a tremendous honor to serve as your SGA president, and I assure you that I will do whatever it takes to make Auburn the best place that it can be. If you ever have any concerns or questions, please come by the SGA office; my door is always open.
War Eagle
Tom Bingham
SGA President
Hello and welcome back to the Plains! Allow me to take a few minutes of your time to introduce the Student Government Association to those of you who are unaware of what it is and remind those who are familiar.
The SGA truly is for all students; however, one of our problems is reaching all of you who want to be informed on issues and would like to voice your opinions. Maybe you have a good idea for improving Auburn, but you don't have time to address it, or you want to become involved in SGA but you don't know how. Whatever the case, SGA can now be easily contacted through a number of ways: by e-mail (sga@mail.auburn.edu), on the Internet (http://www.auburn.edu/~sga/), by phone (844-4240), on WEGL's radio talk show Thursdays at 8 p.m. or in our office at 321 Foy Union. Contacting us with your opinions and ideas will help ensure that we are representing you correctly.
To better understand our Web page, keep in mind that SGA is made up of two branches: cabinet and senate. Cabinet focuses on projects such as the Blood Drive, Organizations Day and Night and Hey Day. If you are interested in volunteering, look for us on the concourse Oct. 10 or come to our office. Anyone can volunteer.
Senate is the elected branch, over which I preside. We address student concerns through resolutions and bills on issues ranging from potholes on Wire Road and the first-day drop policy to football tickets.
Also, the Organizations Board is under senate and is currently trying to get the correct names and addresses of the organizations' presidents. Please contact us with any information you have, whether you are a new organization president updating your organization or you just want to make us aware of a problem or idea you have.
SGA will continue to update its Web page and publicize issues and events in The Plainsman. I ask you to keep us informed on what you think. Come see us! Have a great fall quarter and year!
War Eagle,
Laura Palmer
SGA Vice President
