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DAILYWILDCAT.COM
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013
VOLUME 107 • ISSUE 73
ASL program alters acceptance process BY ADRIANA ESPINOSA
The Daily Wildcat As the UA’s sign language interpreting program becomes more popular, lack of funding and faculty has led to a more rigorous admissions process. While more students have shown interest in the UA’s Educational Interpreting Program there have
been a steady 20 to 25 students enrolled each year because of limited faculty and funding for more classes, according to Cindy Volk, director of the educational interpreting program. To maintain the amount of students admitted, the program has become more competitive. Students who wish to take part in the program must complete an
application process that requires academic records, essays and an interview by a panel from the program to determine the student’s fluency in American Sign Language. After the student is admitted to the program, they must fulfill a series of three required practicums in order to graduate from the program, Volk said.
“We have had to get much stricter with our admissions process,” Volk said. “For example, we have implemented a live interview panel to determine the ASL skills of the applicants.” The interpreting program at the UA is designed to prepare students to work in the interpreting field
COMMUNITY CHATTER - 6
SEE WHAT POP CULTURE CLASSES STUDENTS WANT
SIGN LANGUAGE, 3
DOG DAYS NOT OVER YET
SPORTS - 8
2013 VOLLEYBALL SEASON HIGHS AND LOWS
ARTS & LIFE - 10
CLASS PROJECT CULMINATES AT CONGRESS SHOW
OPINIONS - 4
RYAN REVOCK/THE DAILY WILDCAT
MARISA LUNDE, AN ENVIRONMENTAL sciences junior, pets Jaxs, a cairn terrier corgi, at the Coffee and a Cuddle philanthropy event on the UA Mall on Monday. The event was put together by Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity.
UA remains uncertain about Unions director e-cigarette effects, regulations focuses on students
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BY GABRIELLE FERNETY
The Daily Wildcat
BY ALISON DORF The Daily Wildcat
Since he first began as director of the Arizona Student Unions last semester, Jason Tolliver has been working to utilize student thought and input in his decision making. Last summer, Tolliver began integrating a plan he refers to as “Arizona Student Unions Reimagined” that, along with dimensions such as rebranding, refocusing and refining, includes the opportunity for students to reach out and give feedback regarding the student unions around campus. The idea, Tolliver said, is that the student unions really act as living rooms for students on campus. “When you have students that are coming from all over the states,” Tolliver said, “really all over the world, [and] they’re coming to a university campus, it’s important that we provide places and spaces that they can connect, that they can meet other people, that they can engage.” By providing a place where students can just relax and hang out, it can also boost the university retention rate, Tolliver said, adding that students who feel more connected to their university are more likely to stay there. Denell Coon, a pre-business freshman, said she goes to the Student Union Memorial Center every day to get breakfast because she lives on campus. “I think it’s a good spot just because it’s somewhere everybody can come and everybody knows where it is,” Coon said, adding that she believes it’s important for people like Tolliver to
TOLLIVER, 3
A lack of research and knowledge has led some faculty and students to question whether electronic cigarettes should be banned from campus. Electronic cigarettes, commonly known as e-cigarettes, are batteryoperated devices that contain nicotine and are commonly used to replace traditional cigarettes. While the UA’s smoking policy doesn’t specifically address e-cigarettes, it prohibits smoking 25 feet from buildings in accordance with state law. The Arizona Student Unions smoking policy states that smoking, both e-cigarettes and tobacco, is only allowed in designated smoking areas at the Student Union Memorial Center and at Park Student Union. E-cigarette advertisements boast the gadgets’ ability to wean people off of real cigarettes, but Dr. Myra Muramoto, professor and senior vice head of family and community medicine, said she believes otherwise. “Studies say these are new products so there hasn’t been a lot of research,” Muramoto said. “But the research that there is actually says they [smokers] are less likely to quit smoking.” Though the popular idea is that e-cigarettes help addicted smokers change their ways, Muramoto said, it appears they merely lessen the urgency of peoples’ goals to quit. “It could be that the user starts thinking to themselves that they don’t need to quit because they are technically smoking less,” Muramoto said. “The problem with e-cigarettes is we don’t really know that they’re safer.” Stephanie Kha, director of the Student Health Advocacy
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN REVOCK/THE DAILY WILDCAT
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ALTHOUGH ECIGARETTES are allowed on campus students and staff say they are skeptical about its benefits due to a lack of research.
Committee, said she believes non-smokers who are around e-cigarette users won’t be affected by the vapors. “They’re not really a danger to other people, whereas other students smoking [tobacco products] is affecting other people surrounding the user,” Kha said. “With e-cigarettes containing nicotine, many people could also make the argument that they’re supposed to help people wean off cigarettes, so then they could actually be helpful in that way.” However, Chris Fuentes, a pre-pharmacy freshman, said he doesn’t think e-cigarettes help people quit and worries that they could potentially harm anyone breathing in the vapors. “I think we should ban them because they encourage other kids to smoke,” Fuentes said. Currently, banning e-cigarettes
is not a part of the SHAC’s push for a tobacco-free campus. Kha said SHAC will decide if the initiative needs modification only after the Food and Drug Administration discusses the matter further. The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products does not currently regulate e-cigarettes, but the administration has expressed its intent to extend its authorities to include regulation of e-cigarettes, according to a news release on the FDA website. “My personal opinion on e-cigarettes is neither for nor against at this point because I can see the pros and cons of them,” Kha said. “Until the FDA makes a statement on the conclusions that they have then I can’t actually say that they’re bad for your health.” — Follow Gabrielle Fernety @DailyWildcat
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Terrier, France 51 / 33 Shepherd,Texas 48 / 31 Labrador, Colombia 89 / 72
QUOTE TO NOTE
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Even if someone has come out a thousand times or in Goble’s case, to hundreds of people all at once, and is accepted by any or all of them, discrimination still exists in our laws, meaning that it can and must be changed.” Opinions-4