The Times-Delphic

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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER FOR DRAKE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884

THE TIMES-DELPHIC DES MOINES, IOWA | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | VOL. 129, NO. 36 | WWW.TIMESDELPHIC.COM

Adult Literacy Center seeks tutors Interested volunteers must attend training sessions tomorrow and Saturday by Jackie Wallentin

Staff Writer jaclyn.wallentin@drake.edu

The majority of classes at Drake University focus the curriculum around textbooks, journals or outside readings. Students may spend three or even six hours each week with their noses in a book. Professors expect students to understand the texts and apply them. That expectation is not always reality. Anne Murr understands that the ability to read is not a skill everyone has. Murr is the coordinator of the Drake University Adult Literacy Center, a resource for community members to gain easy and free access to learning tools. ALC is looking for students who desire to help others advance their reading and comprehension skills–abilities students often take for granted. “We want volunteers to have a willingness to learn within a given structure,” Murr said. Student volunteers will be working oneon-one with an adult for one to two hours a week. Murr asks volunteers to commit for at least an academic year, which allows for a relationship to form between the volunteer and the adult. She said students can understand better how their adult’s learning process can be improved. Murr said many of the adults can sound out and recognize words by sight but that the adults need someone to develop deeper cognition skills. “You really get to know and see a person’s life that is so different from your own,” she said. “You’re privileged enough to read. You see adversity in a different way.” Interested volunteers must contact Murr to sign up for training sessions this weekend. Students must attend both sessions, held on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the School of Education building. The sessions will educate tutors on the causes of reading difficulties and provide instructional methods and materials tutors can use when volunteering. ALC will offer training sessions in July and October for students interested in volunteering next academic year. Also, Murr added that the ALC is starting a new computer training program that will offer basic lessons like how to set up an email account or navigate the Internet. Students can contact Murr about that opportunity, as well. “You’re adding value to a person’s life and to your own life, too,” Murr said.

All about by Andi Summers

Staff Writer andrea.summers@drake.edu

The student car rental program is likely to begin operations on Drake’s campus next fall and a presentation by its representative received positive feedback from student senators at last week’s meeting. But what exactly is it, and what would it mean for students’abilities to get around? What is WeCar? WeCar is a car-sharing program that works off a membership basis. It is for people who want an alternative method of transportation; it offers lower costs and reduced hassles of traditional transportation.

How can one become a WeCar member? To become a WeCar member, go to the application page of the website link provided by your WeCar administrator and sign up. After being approved, WeCar will contact you to schedule an orientation and provide you with a welcome kit that will have your membership card and number.

When did WeCar begin? Car sharing by Enterprise Holdings Incorporated started July 2007. How does WeCar Work? WeCar is a membership car-sharing program that works with members to reserve and use a car for a 24-hour period. WeCar is for members who will be making a round-trip and plan on returning the WeCar to the same location in the 24-hour time period.. How can someone use a WeCar? You have a reservation to use it. The reservations can be made electronically from any computer or device that is connected to the Internet. After a reservation is made, a WeCar member is able to access, drive and return the vehicle without any paper transactions or help from personnel. It is all dependent on the use of the membership card (the card comes in the welcome kit). The keys for the cars are located inside the glove boxes of the cars. The membership card held over a sensor is what unlocks the car for the initial opening.

Is it possible to be a WeCar member if you are under 21 years old? It is. This would work for a student at one of the WeCar university programs who is between the ages of 18 and 20. There is a parent/guardian consent form that must be filled out with your application. The application can be found online. What are some of the benefits of WeCar? Not only would WeCar be able to provide students who have a valid driver’s license and car insurance the ability to use cars on an hourly basis, but it is also trying to prevent the number of cars that are on the road. The cars from WeCar are mainly hybrids and are all very fuel-efficient. WeCar also provides 24-hour, in-house roadside assistance and 24-hour in-house customer care. WeCar members are also supported by Enterprise Rent-A-Car rental branches. What are other benefits to Drake Students? WeCar would also be working with a WeCar intern. The intern would gain experience and be able to see how this program would work firsthand at Drake University. How accessible are WeCars? WeCar vehicles are available any time of day. WeCars work with an Enterprise Rent-ACar network of over 5,000 branches, all within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population.

NPR rock critic’s speech takes on tough issues Hawley Lecture speaker Tim Riley discussed censorship and Mark Twain, net neutrality, WikiLeaks by Kristen Smith

Copy Editor kristen.smith@drake.edu

Tim Riley, a rock critic, an author and a journalist-in-residence at Emerson College, began his lecture in Sheslow Auditorium on Monday night with a joke. “Since I’m a rock critic, I get to start my presentations like this,” Riley said. “How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Oh, it’s a really obscure number you don’t know, you wouldn’t even understand.” Throughout the lecture, “Let Freedom Leak,” which was sponsored by the Drake Honors Program, Riley talked about other obscure subjects. He addressed issues of free speech and how the Internet complicates these issues. One of the first questions Riley wanted the audience to consider was how is the nation going to effectively take care of speech issues in America? He then asked how this would affect not only communication in America, but also, what he called, “global speech.” Riley talked about the importance of the First Amendment and read it to the audience. He spoke about government involvement in Internet censorship and how national security concerns mixed with the freedoms in the First Amendment can be problematic.

“Because of how we communicate through the Internet, issues are suddenly global and the law is evaded,” he said. “We are in one of the most intense news seasons since I can remember as a journalist, and we are encountering free speech issues.”

Because of how we communicate through the Internet, issues are suddenly global and the law is evaded. We are in one of the most intense news seasons since I can remember as a journalist, and we are encountering free speech issues. -Tim Riley

Hannah Fordyce, a sophomore law, politics and society and English double major, said she heard about the lecture in one of her LPS classes that specifically focuses on the First Amendment. She said she was glad she attended because the presentation was relevant to what she learning about in the class.

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“I think that national security is always an issue, and the way he tied that into tonight was interesting,” Fordyce said. “Thinking about how the U.S. has varied greatly on the issue, especially between the McCarthy era to now, we’ve just had a wide variety of policies on it, and he brought up some good points.” Riley said there are three types of censorship: government, commercial and self. But there are things that all three have in common, such as claiming that they are not censors, having glaring omissions and contradictions and lacking a sense of humor. He focused on three issues dealing with censorship. The first was about Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and how there is a new version that replace the N-word, which is used over 200 times in the novel, with the word “slave.” “Why do people want to go after this particular book?” Riley asked. “Nobody wants to do it with William Faulkner’s work. ‘Light in August’ uses a lot of racial slurs as well.” Riley said one argument for not creating new versions of the book is because it won’t get rid of racism now or make up for racism of the past. “If we censored Playboy, there would still be sexism,” he said. “You just can’t stamp the word out from American history, that’s

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