Social Security possesses connection to college students

Social Security serves more purposes than to create retirement plans, such as disability and trust funds. Dr. Jolyon Girard, history and political science chair, thinks college students should be more aware of Social Security because it will affect them.

by Nicholas Burch staff writer

Students have become oblivious to Social Security and the benefits it offers due to the exaggeration of reports that say it will not be there for them in the future, according to Joan Wainwright, deputy commissioner for communications.

There have been mixed viewpoints, ranging from Social Security being there forever to Social Security diminishing in the year 2032. The need for Social Security could occur before a student reaches retirement age.

According to Wainwright, if no changes are made to the current program, the Social Security Trust Fund reserves will be depleted in 2032 and payroll taxes will pay only about three-fourths of benefits.

One-third of all 20-year-olds will die or become disabled before they reach their 65th birthday, according to Kenneth Apfel, commissioner of Social Security.

Apfel says that Social Security is facing long-term financing challenges in the next century.

Social Security provides survivors insurance for widowed mothers and fathers up to $300,000. It provides disability payments worth $1,200 per month. Students think of Social Security as something for the fu- ture, unaware that the program pays survivor and disability benefits today. Social Security is structured to pay benefits in the short term and the long term under a vast amount of conditions, including becoming disabled or even dying. Social Security is more than a retirement plan. It is protection for families. The Social Security Trust Funds are managed by a six-member Board of Trustees.

Anne Thompson, telephone service representative for the Social Security Administration, says Social Security will be here as long as there are workers.

"It's like a car," Thompson said. "The car needs gas to run and social security needs workers."

Thompson is concerned about her children's Social Security but says that she is only concerned as a mother.

"I tell my children to keep working so Social Security will be there for them, if anything happens to them," Thompson said. "The more they work, the more their spouse will be paid if they become disabled."

Dr. Jolyon Girard, history and political science chair, said that students need to know more about Social Security.

"College students seem to have no awareness of it at all," Girard said. "Somewhere down the line it will affect them."

Students are not aware of Social

Security or the benefits it offers, according to first-year student John Ferrise.

"What does it do?" Ferrise said. "Most students, including myself, really don't know."

Social Security may change by the year 2032 but it will not completely disappear.

According to Girard the government has to consider more forms of equity on Social Security.

"Social Security as we know it may change, but too many people are now dependent on it," Girard said.

"You can't just do away with it," he said.

Gun found in Xavier Hall; students expressconcernsabout safety Craigie relays haunting experiences

,,,,.,. Klimas along with the other parapbemamanaglngedllor

A disassembled.32 caliber revolverwas found in a roomin XAvierHalllastwcq. Alongwith the revolver,a box of bullets that fit the '1Ul, a box of shotgunshells anda knife were also foundin the room.All the objectsbelongedto a first-yearfemale who went by the nickname "Princess."

According to Rich McEr1ean.. director of public safety, an anonymous sourcecameto public safetysaying that theyknewthat a gun was in the room. McErlean thenwent to Dr. RobertBonfiglio, vice president of studentdevelopment. Bonfiglio believed that there was enough evidence presentto warranta roomsearch.

According to Bonfiglio, the school has certain emergency procedures for behavioral incidents such as these. These procedures may be implementedif ··a student is a danger to himself or herselfor othersor engagesin any behavior whichthreatensor could causebodily bann to himself,herself or others," according to the student handbook.

During the room search. "Princess"en1eredthe roomto find public safety searching it. Afterpublic safetyfound tbe gun.

tia, Radnot-polic:ewae~

Radnorp<>licetoot the gin •into custody. along wi1blhe gun.The girl cooperated with questioning and b8 not bccm8lleskld as of yet.

Rumors also abound that "Princess"bad a hit list of.about 30 people whom shc wanted to kill. Public Safety, however,de· nies these rumors,yet allegations that she verl>al.lythreatenedpeople are still being investigated.

As of the present time, ''Princess., has been requiredto take a leave from campus and must undergoa psychiatric evaluation. After the evaluation,Bonfiglio will have the say on whetheror not "Princess" will be allowed to return.

The scare in Xavier, however, has raised someconcernsamong students, particularly those who live in XavierHall.

"I don't think she should be a). lowed back." said sophomore DonnaDiBlasio. "It leaves me wondering that anyonecan just walk in here with a gun."

Sophomore Frank P1wn also expm.sed tbe same concerns."I don't feel le§ safe, rve just becomemmeconcemed," be said.

by Anne Miller staff writer

Crowds gathered in Xavier Hall's great room as a single candle cut through the darkness. Seats were taken and a hush fell over the group on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m. as Dr. Carter Craigie, professor emeritus of English/ communication, assumed his place at the center of everyone's attention.

For his listeners, Craigie wove the ghostly tales that haunt Cabrini's campus.

Craigie, after collecting insights from students, gained interest in local legends and is now considered an expert on Cabrini's supernatural.

"Let me take you back in time," said Craigie, opening the evening by dictating the tale that we have all come to know so well.

The daughter of the wealthy landowner became lonely at the once-isolated estate. She adopted a playmate in the stable boy.

"Friendship became fondness and fondness became love," said Craigie. The young girl became pregnant. On the first snowfall of the winter that year, the father discovered his daughter's secret and stormed to the stable, which is now the site of Grace Hall. The confrontation between the young girl's father and her secret lover never occurred, for the stable boy was found hanging from the towering ceiling, dead.

The room in which the boy was reported to be found is the only vacant room in Grace Hall.

'The room is always cold and the rope is said to still be hanging there," Craigie said.

Craigie went on to explain the two possible endings to the story. One is that the girl threw herself over the balcony of the mansion, killing herself and her unborn child.

Craigie commented that at one particular dinner party that was held in the mansion, an oozing, red substance seeped from the floorboards. It was suggested that the girl had made her deadly landing at this mark. Later, a piano was placed on the spot as a cover up for the blemish that mysteriously appeared.

It is also said that the child was stillborn and buried near the site of McManus House, once an apple orchard. Noises are still said to be heard around from this area.

Several sightings of the girl, as well as her father, have been recorded.

On one occasion Craigie, with a group of several students, spotted the ghost of the girl's father. The group was walking across the commons when they spotted a tall man dressed in black. The figure was coming from the mansion and trav- eling towards Grace Hall.

"I said, 'Good evening sir, can I help you?"' said Craigie. The figure turned towards the group and disappeared. Craigie said that footprints were visible in the freshly fallen snow. The footprints, however, stopped at the point where the figure had turned to face the group and had, immediately after, disappeared.

Senior Kellie O'Neill and a group of friends were experimenting with an Ouija board one night. The group experienced the presence of a spirit, which referred to himself as Tate.

"He is the one who hanged himself," O'Neill said.

She went on to state that she experienced another unexplainable occurrence in the basement of the mansion during this summer's third new student orientation. One attraction held during the orientation was a hypnotist. O'Neill reported that the hypnotist saw a man dressed as coal miner in a distant comer of the basement of the mansion.

"The man was yelling, 'I didn't touch the daughter,"' O'Neill said.

Drawing conclusion to the evening, Craigie specifically warned the residents of Woodcrest's second floor facing the library to beware of things that go bump in the night.