the
Signal
www.obusignal.com
09.18.14 Volume 123 Issue 2
Ouachita Baptist University
Days until Tunes:
14
IN THIS ISSUE:
Broadway Deput Senior Chad Burris performs in national tour of The Book of Mormon p.2 Tyler Rosenthal z The Signal
Graduate Fair Career Services to host graduate and professional school fair, p.3
Rite of Passage Why freshman English matters, p.4
A Calling Professor Dan Inouye answers the call to direct, p.5
Campus Safety Month promotes student awareness By SAM CUSHMAN Associate Editor
@SamuelCushman Ouachita is participating in National Campus Safety Awareness Month during September to promote awareness and to educate students on basic tenets of prevention and safety. The campaign on campus is spearheaded by the division of Student Services. “For us at Ouachita, it is an opportunity to have some conversations and bring some discussions to the surface regarding campus safety that often are not talked about,” said Scott Haynes, dean of students. “[Campus safety] is something that is addressed in WOW, it is addressed a lot with freshmen, but it is not something that is an ongoing conversation with much of the student body after freshman year.”
Ouachita’s efforts to promote campus safety coincide with the implementation of new provisions of federal law that are designed to prevent sexual assault on college campuses, which has become a widespread issue. According to a May report released by the Department of Education, one in five women will be sexually assaulted during their time at college. According to Haynes the Department of Higher Education and the Office of Civil Rights has set requirements to be fulfilled by all colleges for ongoing training and awareness prevention efforts for all students. “There are really two elements to [prevention] education that are set by the Department of Higher Education,” he said. “One of them is that all first time students receive training. Which we did through an online program through Moodle for all new students – that’s freshmen and
transfers. The second part of it is an ongoing awareness. And it seemed like participation in the nationwide campus safety awareness month was a good avenue to at least get that kick-started.” Haynes hopes that participation in Campus Safety Awareness Month will open up future avenues for education and awareness promotion. “There are a lot of options on the table,” he said. “These could range from student groups, town hall meetings, panel discussions, a poster campaign or even Chapel services. We could even partner with a course who is designing material for a campaign.” Students will have already received an email sent out by Dr. Wesley Kluck, the vice-president for Student Services, last week discussing fire safety and another on tornado response. There was also a see SAFETY z 2
New CORE curriculum means more flexibility
Delph Trio Hometown heroes join Tiger Football for 2014 season, p.6
By SUZANNA RIEVES Staff Writer
S News 1 n S Opinions 4 n S Features 5 n S S Sports 6 n
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Sodexo offers new services for students with dietary needs By RACHEL WICKER Staff Writer
Returning Ouachita students may have noticed a new serving line in the cafeteria, the Simple Servings line which opened this fall. Simple Servings offers food for students with special dietary needs, carefully excluding milk, eggs, wheat, soy, shellfish, peanuts and tree nuts. “This line is designed to help students with any of these allergies feel comfortable in knowing that the food they eat will not make them sick or have a reaction with them,”chef Chase Nowlin said. Simple Servings is a new concept created by Sodexo that won a national award
from Food Management Magazine as the “best wellness concept” in the country. Ouachita’s kitchen was the first in the district to add this concept to the cafeteria. “We wanted to address the needs of the students and make their time at OBU easier,” Nowlin said. “College is hard enough to go through without worrying about what you can and can’t eat.” Nowlin has been executive chef at Ouachita for the past 3 years and said that he has seen the number of students with special dietary needs increase each semester. The food from Simple Servings is prepared in a special part of the kitchen, with all utensils and storage in a separate, specially sanitized area away from the rest of the food
preparations. Even the utensils they serve the food with are separate, using purple serving utensils to visually distinguish the special type of food being served. “We also would like the students to understand that we don’t mind giving you one item from the line or all of it, but we have to put it on clean plates that we have at the station,” Nowlin said. This is to avoid cross-contamination and confusion with the food. Simple Servings is scheduled to be open lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday and at lunch on Fridays. “Staffing has been an issue, so it’s been hard to keep it open during these times right see SERVINGS z 3
After months of discussion and preparation, Ouachita has introduced a new CORE curriculum that includes new courses, revisions to courses that already exist and a reduction of the number of hours required for graduation. Dr. Deborah Root, a member of the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee and professor of communications, said the reason for the changes is to try to create a more flexible and creative liberal arts education, as well as reduce the number of hours to graduate in order to compete with Arkansas’ state schools. “I think the new CORE curriculum will be beneficial because it focuses on outcomes instead of specific courses,” Root said. “This allows students more flexibility in choosing the courses they take in the CORE, and with reduction of hours, it also helps in moving most of our degree programs to 120 hours.” Major changes to the CORE curriculum include see CORE z 3