Although Hurricane Lili did not make landfall near the Clear Lake area, UH-Clear Lake President William Staples said he felt the possibility of a level four or five hurricane hitting the greater Houston area was just too great a risk.

"While each of us has to make our own decisions about our personal safety and that of our families, I decided that we would cancel the 7 p.m. Wednesday classes to enable our employees and students to make the decisions they would have to make regarding protection of their homes or other property and leaving the immediate area," Staples said. "I regret the decision in light of what eventually happened, or didn't happen, the following day. However, it was the right decision to make with the information available at the time."

One factor Staples and other board members took into consideration before closing the school was how quickly Hurricane Lili was upgraded from a level two hurricane to a level four. Lili moved from level two to level four in just a matter of hours and it was predicted the hurricane could even reach level five, the most severe type, before reaching land.

One of the board members who met with Staples about making the decision was Darlene Biggers, associate vice president of student services. Biggers, like many other faculty members at the meeting said the closing was very necessary at the time.

"In my point of view the stakes were too high not to close," Biggers said. "If it had been a level one hurricane, I think it would have not been that costly to have taken the chance of waiting. But, with a level four hurricane breathing down our neck, we thought it was just prudent to be overly cautious."

Biggers added that the closing sent a strong message that Staples and other administrators are going to protect the university community as much as possible. She also said the consideration for human life was the utmost concern.

"I think it was very necessary," said Daniel Waits, legal studies student and member of the Student Government Association. "It was nice of the school to be sincere about letting us make our own decision about whether we should take our families or not, and leave. If the school had been open here, all the students that came to class on Wednesday night wouldn't have had the option of knowing what to do. I was very appreciative of it."

Although UH-Clear Lake was closed for safety precautions, not all students agreed that the school should have been shut down. For some students the closing of UH-Clear Lake meant missing important classes and tests. " I believe that the school looks for the students' best interest, but I think that they took it too far when it came to the hurricane. There was no exact path for it and no direct threat."
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH:
T-shirts representing the pain and suffering of victims
of domestic violence are displayed in Atrium I. The shirts
are designed by family, friends or the victims
themselves to serve as part of
their healing process.

Financial aid office begins to integrate changes to improve processing time
by Lynelle Ward
UHCLIDIAN STAFF
The Office of Financial Aid and Veterans Affairs recently started implementing a series of department changes in an effort to speed up the financial aid process time.

"I have a lot of changes planned but they have not all been implemented yet," said Lynda McKendree, director of Financial Aid and Veterans Affairs Office. "The primary goal at this time is to make the process quicker."
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