Vol. 119, Issue 19 March 2, 2015
Kathryn Kellar, Editor-in-Chief
The Black & Magenta
Student safety is on thin ice
not walk on the ice.’” Anyone who is out on the ice or in the lake without permission could face serious consequences. This winter there have been a “We would document them few incidents where students at through the conduct process like Muskingum University walked we would do with other things out across the lake to carve we would do on campus,” said something in a mixture of snow Heeter-Bass. “Then, they would and ice. go through a conduct process “It makes me nervous, if [stuwhere they would have to talk dents] noticed the two ends of with someone on student life the lake never freeze,” said Janabout their behavior.” et Heeter-Bass, Vice President Anyone who is caught out on of Student Affairs and Dean of the ice would face some type of Students. charge. Charges could range from Heeter-Bass sees this as a education or a fine. potential threat to students who “I’m not saying that they can’t swim or panic if an accicouldn’t fall through the ice and dent would occur. still sue Muskingum University “At any point, if someone for some reason,” said Heeterwas to fall into the water and there is only a matter of time Kandee Ferrell/Black&Magenta Bass. There have not been many casif they get swept under the ice Frozen ice on the Muskingum University pond on Feb. 17. es of students reported for walkor they can’t get back up,” said ing on the ice in that past few in the corner where the ducks swim. “I am always concerned about stuHeeter-Bass. The two spots on the lake that never Muskingum University staff recogniz- dent safety,” said Heeter-Bass. “There years and Heeter-Bass is thankful that are always signs out there saying ‘Do there haven’t been any accidents. freeze are located under the gazebo and es student safety is a priority. Rachel Schlarb Orbit Media Reporter
Blue book prices on the rise Sarah Liston Orbit Media Reporter
As the price of blue books climb, the amount of complaints from both students and professors is growing. The current price of blue books is 55, 65 or 75 cents depending on page count. Currently, blue books contain 8, 16, or 24 pages. “I think my freshman year, I went to the bookstore, and I think they were around 10, 12 cents,” said Breeanna Poland, Muskingum University junior. “Then last year, my sophomore year, when I needed one, on my spring semester, I think they were at least a good 32 cents or more.” The amount of lines on a blue book page has also decreased as well. One side of a page now has just 18 lines. A standard college-ruled notebook has 32
T H E B L A C K & M A G E N TA
lines per page. Students are not the only ones who have noticed the change. Professors have also noted the resulting difficulties in their own classrooms. Some professors have taken to selling blue books to students themselves at a reduced rate. “The cost problem seems to be a sudden jump,” said Jane Varley, Associate Professor of English. “It was shocking to me to learn how much blue books were costing, and it made me ask myself, ‘if I really needed to be using them.’” Varley utilizes blue books for her literature classes. When Varley uses blue books with her students, she plans to have students return blue books after looking at their exam results.
Varley is doing this in place of requiring an individual blue book for each exam, so that only one blue book is needed through the semester. “If it’s that expensive to get a blue book, and say you have 25, 30 students a lot of them don’t carry change,” said Varley. “I don’t carry change. I don’t even bring my wallet with me to class.” Some suggestions to avoid paying the high blue book prices include leaving blue book purchases up to professors, extending advance notice of when blue books would be needed, and conserving the paper in blue books. “Honestly, I think that if instructors are going to make you use a blue book, then they should either provide them or tell you before,” said Sylvia Jackson, senior. “We were not told before our exam that we needed blue books. As soon as we walked in, that’s when
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we knew. Luckily, the professor had it available where you could buy them from him.” In classes such as Dr. Varley’s, which uses only one blue book a semester, there are different standards. The conservation provides different sorts of benefits. “Students are being overcharged for blue books, being overcharged for paper,” said Varley. “But in a way, I think it’s an opportunity to really think about how or why we’re using paper. For example, empty pages in a blue book, in my opinion, are a problem. I think students and professors, if they’re not already thinking about it, can think about the actual recycling of blue book pages, that is, maybe using them for different situations.” Classes that recycle unused book space cut down on costs.