THE SOCHI 2014 WINTER OLYMPICS Germany
Gold The medal standings for the 2014 8 Winter Olympics place Germany, Norway and Netherlands as the top Norway 3 countries so far. The standings are 7 determined by the total amount of gold medals the country has earned, Netherlands according to Google.com. 6
Silver
Bronze
Total
3
4
15
4
7
18
2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES: U.S. MEDAL COUNT
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ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Volume 93, Issue 67
WWW.BGNEWS.COM
Clean air policy receives mixed response
molding an education
FACES OF THE FACULTY 3 OF 3 The BG News features a few faculty members and their contributions to the University in a three-part series that will come out each Wednesday.
Effectiveness of community enforcement for smoking debated among students By Seth Weber Web Editor
ANTHONY KAPPLER | THE BG NEWS
Zimra Beiner, ceramics instructor, teaches a group of students during a ceramics class on Tuesday afternoon.
Ceramics instructor inspires students through artwork By William Channell Assistant Pulse Editor
While most teachers work with pencils and paper, University instructor Zimra Beiner works with his hands and clay. “He definitely has a different style to his work,” said freshman Hunter Wehrle, a student in Beiner’s introductory ceramics class. “It’s not so perfect, and it’s more expressionalistic, and I like that.” Beiner is a ceramics instructor in the Fine Arts Department, teaching under a one-year contract. Faculty on one-year contracts can be rehired on another contract for the next year or have their contracts expire. During his time here, Beiner has had a chance to work on his own art and pass his experience on to students. Originally from Toronto, Beiner’s artistic journey began with an interest in architecture, and he’s had experience in other mediums, including paper mache and drawing. He eventually ended up studying ceramics at Sheridan College in Wyoming, NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada and Alfred University in New York. Beiner said he chose ceramics because of the unique way it replicates the physical world. “I’m interested in it as a material that records your body,”
ANTHONY KAPPLER | THE BG NEWS
Beiner says he likes pottery because it’s “material that records your body.”
See FACULTY | Page 3
Sheri WellsJensen
By Amber Petkosek Social Media Editor
RON ZEISLOFT | THE BG NEWS
Rebecca Mabile, a graduate assistant, demonstrates on Sophomore Zach Grohowski the proper way to apply bandages.
The women’s basketball team will host Central Michigan Wednesday at 7 p.m. Central Michigan is the only MAC team to beat the Falcons this season. Read more in SPORTS | PAGE 6
See SMOKING | Page 2
Low enrollment leads to fewer courses
FIRST AID FIX
FIRST PLACE BATTLE
The clean air policy was instituted at the beginning of the semester, bringing with it a large amount of support, as well as skepticism. While the policy has been well received, it will still take some time for everyone to accept it, said Faith Yingling, director of Wellness. “I think it’s a culture change. Anything like this takes time for anyone,” Yingling said. Yingling said the feedback she has seen has been positive. She said people with comments about the policy can email cleanair@bgsu.edu. Freshman Liz Tiemeyer said she supports t he polic y, but doesn’t t hin k smokers a re responding well. “I like it, but people still smoke, and nobody’s going to do anything about it,” she said. Junior Aaron Wells also likes the policy, and said he doesn’t like being exposed to cigarette smoke. “No one wants to walk through campus and walk through a cloud of smoke,” he said. Freshman Michael Sanchez is a smoker and feels the clean air policy is harming the campus. Sanchez said smoking is about more than getting a nicotine fix; it’s about making friends. “[Smoking is] a social thing. It’s how it is,” he said. Sanchez said he’s met many of his friends through smoking and feels the University is making it harder for freshmen to make friends that way. As an adult, Sanchez feels it is his right to smoke and thinks the University shouldn’t take it away. “We’re all adults here and when you become 18 years old you have the right to use tobacco products,” he said. If students or faculty do smoke on campus, the policy will be enforced by their peers, meaning it is the responsibility of the faculty and students to report offenses to the University, which will then take action against the offender. Although this is how the University is enforcing the policy, some students aren’t sure they would
Fewer classes being offered by the University may seem like an inconvenience for some students, but there is reasoning behind which classes are available and which ones are not. The main reason some classes are not being offered can be attributed to low enrollment at the University. “That obviously influences the number of courses offered,” said Sue Houston, the vice provost for Academic Affairs. Enrollment at the University has been decreasing over the last couple of years. In the fall of 2012, the number of students enrolled was 19,697. The
Faculty Senate chair
15-day enrollment numbers for fall 2014 was 19,408. This academic year, there are approximately 32 fewer courses being offered. In fall 2012, there were 1,500 courses offered and in fall 2013 there were 1468, which is about a 2 percent decrease, Houston said. For some, it may seem like the University offers fewer and fewer classes each semester, but that is not the case. Compared to other universities,
COUNTRY RELATIONS
Columnist Derek Sutter talks about American - Chinese relations and how these relations were shaped in the past couple decades and how Americans can keep the ties going. | PAGE 4
the offerings here are much more extensive. “There were about 145 new courses offered in the fall that had never been offered before,” Houston said. Sheri Wells-Jensen, an associate professor in the English department and the Faculty Senate chair, said she is not surprised that, despite the different classes cut, there are new classes being offered each semester. “You can’t suppress the urge to offer new things,” she said. “I don’t think anyone is going to say reduction of faculty is a good thing or reduction of classes is a good thing, but we may be able to redeem some of that by being clever.” Students may feel like more
See CUTS | Page 2
DO YOU THINK THE COMMUNITY ENFORCEMENT POLICY FOR THE SMOKING BAN IS EFFECTIVE? WHY?
“No because no one listens to it and it’s too cold to walk to the designative areas.” Jamel Mallory Freshman, Criminal Justice