Wednesday, November 14, 2012
94th year • Issue 14
Women’s basketball wins season opener / 8 Serving the University of Toledo since 1919
Inside
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Administration
Tuition frozen for next year
Special discounts available on housing for transfer students as well By Danielle Gamble News Editor
Rockets travel to DeKalb with division title at stake / 7
Lecturer to discuss Miles Davis / 9
The University of Toledo will freeze tuition and fees for next year, as well as offer free housing next semester for some transfer
students and discounts for some current freshmen who agree to live on campus next year. The goals include retaining students at UT and getting more students to live
on campus. Transfer students for spring 2013 will receive free on-campus housing if they are enrolled full time and transfer in with 12 or more credit hours. Kaye Patten Wallace, vice
Community outreach
Sandwiches and service
Tuition freeze is welcomed; need to know more about housing plan /4
In Brief SG to host watch party for tonight’s football game The University of Toledo Student Government is sponsoring a watch party for the Rockets football team tonight. The big screens at Savage Arena will broadcast the matchup between Toledo and Northern Illinois on ESPN2. Open to all students, faculty and staff, the watch party starts at 7:30 p.m. There will be free pizza and raffle prizes auctioned off throughout the evening. Kickoff for the MidAmerican Conference West division rivalry is set for 9 p.m.
Faculty to present research tomorrow A group of five faculty members will present their research on sensors and advancements being made at the Nexus research program Thursday, Nov. 15 from 5:30- 8 p.m. in Libbey Hall. The event will introduce and examine research on sensors, which are classified in a wide range including mechanical devices such as smoke alarms and biological or chemical molecules that can detect different substances and signal their presence. Sponsored by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, the Nexus program occurs periodically during the academic year with brief presentations by faculty members in specific disciplines. For more information, call 419-530-5302.
Bob Taylor / IC
Courtney Rush, a sophomore pre-med student, volunteers and talks with a homeless person at the Food For Thought picnic Saturday morning.
Students make sandwiches to help homeless people in the community By Michael Gammo Staff Reporter
While the name may conjure images of old ladies playing cards, the UT Bridge Club doesn’t play around when it comes to helping others. Formed in the spring of 2012, the Bridge Club is a student-run organization that meets every other Friday to make bag lunches, which are then distributed to the hungry and homeless on Saturday morning. The lunches consist of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips and cookies; all supplies are donated by UT students. This semester alone has seen over 600 lunches prepared by between 80 and
160 volunteers per meeting. The club was founded by four juniors — Mitch Howard, Ryan Johnston, Drew O’Donnel and Jangus Whitner — who liked volunteering at Food for Thought, a local non-profit organization that provides food to the homeless on Saturday mornings in downtown Toledo. They enjoyed their experiences so much they wanted to give other students the opportunity to connect with the Toledo community outside of campus. “Making sandwiches on Friday is the first step, but the real goal and meaning of Bridge Club is handing out
the food Saturday morning downtown and talking with the people down there,” O’Donnel said. The Food for Thought picnic is held at 10 a.m. every Saturday across from the Toledo Lucas County Public Library downtown. O’Donnel said Saturday’s activities challenge students to let go of preconceived notions of homeless people, and to view them as the people they truly are. “Bridge Club invites students to show compassion and have conversation with people in the community,” he said. See Sandwiches / 6
president for the student experience, said the transfer student deal is a “one-semester initiative.” In another initiative, current freshmen can receive a 25 percent discount on
on-campus housing next year if they earn a 2.5 GPA or higher this year before becoming academic sophomores. See Tuition freeze / 3
Students protest
Feminist Alliance at odds with UT over clinic ads By Lindsay Mahaney Staff Reporter
Members of the UT Feminist Alliance were angered last week after administrators altered their display in the Student Union accusing a local pregnancy center of false advertising. The display, which was in a display case in the Student Union Building, included the words “This clinic lies to women” with an arrow pointing at an advertisement for free pregnancy tests offered by the Pregnancy Center of Greater Toledo. The Office of Student Involvement removed the arrow and the word “this.” The Feminist Alliance says its free speech rights were violated, while Dean of Students Michele Martinez says the case is meant for displays with a “positive educational purpose” rather than “negative” messages. The group is also arguing that the Pregnancy Center should not be allowed to advertise on campus, while the organization’s executive director called the Feminist Alliance’s allegations “completely false.” Co-president Hillary Gyuras said the group was protesting because the Pregnancy Center does not properly advertise that it is against abortion. She said this could cause pregnant students to be influenced into making uninformed decisions. “A student has the right to go to a clinic that will give them all their options and not pressure them into a decision they aren’t comfortable with,” she said.
Danielle Gamble / IC
The display that was in the Student Union.
Pregnancy Center Director Janet Bosserman said the assertions that the Pregnancy Center’s advertising is inaccurate are “completely false.” “We provide free pregnancy tests — that’s what the advertising says,” Bosserman said. “I don’t really know what’s not factual about that.” Bosserman declined to discuss the Feminist Alliance’s specific allegations about the center, saying nobody from the group has contacted the center with concerns. “We’re a big service to UT students,” Bosserman said. “They’re very happy that we offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, and that we care about them and that we talk to them and that we have a very welcoming place.” Martinez said the display was altered after a student voiced concern. See Clinic ads / 3
Religion
Muslim students ask administration for larger prayer room By Amanda Eggert Staff Reporter
The Muslim Student Association is asking for a larger prayer room on campus, saying the current space has trouble meeting students’ needs. The prayer space in Student Union Room 3516 can only hold four people at a time, said MSA President Ibtissam Gad, a sophomore majoring in biology. Gad said Muslims pray five times a day and a prayer takes about five minutes, meaning that many students who practice on campus
have to wait in line in order to fulfill daily worship. Dean of Students Michele Martinez said while space in the Student Union is tight, there may be options the university can look into for meeting the students’ request. Gad said there are two afternoon prayers between noon and 3 p.m. that cause many students to be late to class. “Those are the times we get the most traffic for the prayer room because it’s when most people have their classes, and stop in between them,” Gad said.
The nature of the prayers that take place in the room also makes the tight quarters hard to deal with, Gad said. “A huge part of the problem is we stand, we kneel and have our foreheads on the floor. It involves the whole body,” she said. “It’s uncomfortable for males and females to be in the same room because of the small space.” Gad said a larger prayer room in the Student Union would also help commuters because it is a central location on campus. Martinez said her office
supports the MSA and wants to help the organization. Last year, for example, a former custodial closet near the prayer room was converted into a foot-washing station that students use before prayer. An online petition asking for the larger space has about 100 signatures so far, Gad said. She stressed that the online petition was not meant to be confrontational toward the administration. Instead, Gad said, the signatures serve as a gauge of how many students use the prayer room and would like to see a larger space.
“We are trying to collect names to show them how many people need the room,” she said. “We are using the petition to get a numerical value.” Nathan Leroux, an executive board member of Students for Justice in Palestine and sophomore majoring in music education, said the prayer room is valuable. “The Muslim population on campus is large, and it is not only a symbol of belonging, but as a community it shows we have made a mark,” he said. “It is a place where we can sit quietly and make prayer.”