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Image provided by: Elmira College
Chm \14\ THE OCTAGON; THURSDAY,JMAY 19, 1988 Frortunittes Ford Taps College Grad Market: Pre-Approved Credit for Seniors Ford Motor Credit Company and the Ford and Lincoln-Mercury Divisions of Ford Motor Company have announced a special pur- chase program - for college graduates. Under the 1988 Ford , Mercury College Graduate Pur- chase Program, eligible graduates can obtain both pre-approved credit and a $400 cash allowance. In addition, the $400 allowance may be used in combination with other Ford rebate offers. Students receiving a bachelor's or a graduate degree between October 1, 1987, and January 31, 1989, are eligible for the program. \Graduation is an achievement that often is followed closely by the need for reliable transpor- tation,\ says Donald S. Cook, Jr., executive vice president of Ford Credit's North American Automotive Financing Operations. \Ford Motor Company developed this program - to help _ the graduating student fulfill that need.\ Letters containing program cer- tificates are being mailed to ap- proximately _ 600,000 eligible Graduation Pledge Alliance Kicks Concerned students are alive, well, and active in the 1980's. At Humboldt State University in nor- thern California, they are facing and discussing issues of social and environmental responsibility in + __ employment choices. HSU students, who last year successfully campaigned for a voluntary pledge of responsibility in job decisions to be included in their commencement ceremonies, have formed the Graduation Pledge Alliance (GPA) and are carrying their idea to schools around the world. The pledge handed to HSU graduates states \| pledge to thoroughly investigate and take in- to account the social and en- vironmental consequences of any jobopportunity | consider.\ It is in- tended to \help create an at- mosphere where social and en- vironmental _ responsibility _ is openly discussed and plays a more central role in our life decisions,\ according to pledge co-author Matt Nicodemun. \The pledgestatement is kind of what education is all about,\ said Mark Murray, former HSU student- body president. \We become educated men and women so we can goon and act in a responsible manner.\ L Nicodemus believes the pledge gives local activists a powerful tool. \Now we can focus public discussion directly on questions seniors. Graduates. who do not receive the offer by mail should contact their local Ford or Lincoln- Mercury dealer for information on how to qualify, or call Program Headquarters toll free at 1:800-321- 1536. (In Michigan, they can call - collect 313-540-9890.) Eligible vehicles include those appealing most to new graduates. Available amounts range from $7,000 for the Festiva to $15,000 for a Thunderbird or Cougar. Nodown payment is required if the amount financed is within the credit amount available for the vehicle chosen. Students can take advantage of this offer by taking the program certificates to participating Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealers, where the $400 allowance can be applied toward the car purchase price or may be taken as a cash payment direct from Ford. Eligible vehicles can be selected from dealer inven- tories until December 31, 1988, but production orders must be placed by October 1, 1988. To qualify for pre-approved credit, eligible participants must , of what it actually means to be responsible and which employers are being more or less so.\ Already, students at eleven U.S. universities and colleges are ac- tively campaigning for similar pledges to be an official part of their 1988 graduation ceremonies. These schools include Stanford University (Standford, CA), Univer- sity of California (Berkeley, CA),\ University of California (Santa Cruz, CA) San Francisco State University (San Francisco, CA), University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT), and Evergreen State Univer- sity (Olympia, WA). In addition, students at nearly 40 other schools across the country, including several high schools, have expressed interest in offering students responsibility piedges at graduation time. GPA recently published a pledge organizing manual and has publicized it to over 3000 U.S. university student governments. The group will hold a national press conference in San Francisco on April 11 to announce further developments in its campaign. The organizing manual is available for a $2.00 donation from GPA at PO Box 4439, Arcata, CA 95521. _ The pledge has had enough of a positive impact at Humboldt that on February 8 the student gover- * nment resolved to encourage that the voluntary pledge be offered to i% - ALMAMATER | All sons and daughters, have pfoof of employment begin- l ning within 120 days of purchase at a salary sufficient to cover or- dinary living expenses and the vehicle payment. A previous credit record is not required, - but graduates with prior credit history must have made payments as agreed. Ford .was the first auto maker ever to offer a college graduate program,\ says Cook, \and the fir- st to offer cash rebates and pre- approved credit terms that are this favorable.\ Over 38,000 graduates have chosen to purchase cars through the program since it was first offered in 1984. This year the program runs from March 1 through December 31. [ AAU all - of graduates: During last year's campaign, pledge organizers received the school's future unanimous support for their effor- ts from HSU's faculty senate and the Arcata city council. The project has also been the subject of widespread media attention, ap- pearing in numerous newspaper, wire service, radio, and television reports. A variety of activities stemming from the pledge drive have evolved at HSU. Students from HSU's art dept. are organizing a spring art show that will draw upon the themes embodied in the pledge statement. - An April 16 forum on military- related occupations will bring together a Pentagon official, a nuciear weapons designer, a psycicist who quit making nuclear weapons out of conscience, and an outspoken antiwar activist professor for a discussion of careers and conscience. |_ Classes in \Critical Thinking\ have been - assigned essay questions that ask how students - might obtain and assess infor- mation about social and environ- mental impacts of jobs. - At the instigation of a concer- ned student, the chemistry depar- tment has taken steps to better . educate students about proper means of disposing of laboratory f ~ ins hail to thee our \Aime Mater. Sing loud her praises, ever laud her name. e , _ In thankfulness to her, oh what can we give! i __ Keep her before us; by her example live. Here then, f Elmira, mem'ties that inspire a lasting and royal love and ¢ > devotion to you. we -f When we leave your fair halls, untried paths to know. As de you have taught us, be it ever so. Nic hall Fellowships in The June 1 deadline for ap- plications for the Academy of - Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships _ in Screenwriting is now less than - _ one month away. The Annual Nicholl Fellowship - competition, open to graduating | college students and all full-time - graduate students from four-year - colleges and universities in all 50 - states, ' was designed by the Academy to provide new screen- _ writers with the opportunity to work at their craft for one year without the need to support them- selves with other work. This year, - the fellowships will provide $20,000 to as many as five recipients; the winners will be an- nounced on September 1, 1988. Nicholl Fellows are expected to complete a full-length feature - screenplay during the course of the fellowship year. The Academy acquires no right to the works of Nicholl Fellows and does not in- 9 volve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts. Off International Campaign wastes. An essay contest which will ad- dress pledge-related issues is being planned for this coming fall. Some schools may choose not to coordinate campaigns to call for a formal inclusion of the pledge in this year's . commencement ceremonies, but will instead find other times to hand out pledges to graduating students. Last year, for example, a coalition of students at University of Vermont made em- ployment information available to fellow students outside of thier commencement exercises. ''We can find appropriate em- ployment - alternatives through constructive questioninmg and research,\ emphasizes GPA mem- ber Bill Ihne. \That is what the pledge is about: taking an initiative to find employment that is meaningfully helping our com- munities and society to maintain a healthy environment for all in- volved.\ The questions students face as they step down from the graduation platform are difficult, to say the least. Standing alone in silence with our questions can result in apathy, say pledge organizers. \\Maybe it (the pledge) will remind us that we're in this together,\ said Rich, an HSU fisheries graduate interviewed at last year's pledge signing.
