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Vol. 43 No. I
Serving the
CLAYTON STATE UNIVERSITY
Community
January 10, 2012
Inside
Departments:
Across the Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Life’s Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Trivia Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
In This Issue:
MLK Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Students Recognize Diversity . . . . .2
Changes Affecting Financial Aid 3
“Dirt” Retires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Parkerson Meets
Hungarian President . . . . . . . . . . .4
Reichert Meets Governor . . . . . . . .4
Why are Textbook Deadlines
So Early? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Alternative Winter Break . . . . . . .12
Clayton State Commencement;
Honors and Exhortations
University Commencement ceremonies
are typically about honoring students who
have just completed their degrees, along
with a few exhortations to those students.
That’s what happened at Clayton State
University on Saturday, Dec. 10.
However, the day also brought special
recognition to one of the Southern
Crescent’s outstanding public servants. In
addition to awarding some 475 under-
graduate and graduate degrees, Clayton
State also presented just the seventh hon-
orary doctorate in the University’s 42-
year history.
In recognition of his years of service to
the metro Atlanta community and the
State of Georgia, M. Allan Vigil, president
and owner of Allan Vigil Ford Lincoln
Mercury in Morrow and Allan Vigil Ford
in Fayetteville, received an Honorary
Doctorate in Public Service from Clayton
State President Dr. Thomas J. Hynes” at
the second of the two ceremonies held in
the Clayton State Athletics & Fitness
Center on Dec. 10.
The exhortation part of graduation came
from the keynote speakers, Georgia
Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham in
the first ceremony, and former Atlanta
Allan Vigil and family. Photo Credit: Tara Adcock
A New Loch for Clayton State?
by John Shiffert, University Relations
Every university has its legends. At
Clayton State University, the most famous
is the Legend of Loch.
It all started in the winter of 1969, when
the construction crews were digging to
make room for the dam at the far end of
what would become the Clayton State
campus’ Swan Lake. Deep below the sur-
face they discovered what was initially
thought to be a large piece of rock. But, it
wasn’t, it was actually a large chunk of
ice.
Work resumed, and the huge ice block
was left lying off to the side. However,
returning to the dam after their lunch
break, the workers were astonished to find
the ice had split in two, exposing a large
hollow within the ice, as if something had
hatched from within. Although questions
like, “what had been let loose?” began to
surface, nothing more was heard or seen
for some 20 years.
Then, in 1990, the Office of Public Safety
was doing some filming on campus and
saw on tape a large, shadowy creature
walking amongst the trees and disappear-
ing into the lake. This generated a while
new series of questions, notably, what ani-
mal could walk upright and then live
underwater as well?
The answer, of course, turned out to be
Loch, who has been a legend on campus,
in several different iterations and genera-
tion, ever since. Most of Loch’s many
sightings have been at soccer and basket-
ball games, as well as other official uni-
versity student functions.
Commencement, cont’d., p. 6
Loch, cont’d., p. 11