THE BG NEWS
CONCERT AT GROUNDS Grounds For Thought hosts music in addition to being a coffee shop and bookstore. The shop will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a concert Nov 15th. | Page 3
ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Friday, November 7, 2014
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 33
WWW.BGNEWS.COM
Rock salt prices for winter rise Cost for city three times as much as past year By Melissa Belcher Reporter
SHEILA HOEGLER | THE BG NEWS
THE BLACK Student Union invited students to discuss ideas concerning separatism and privilege in the Union Thursday night.
Starting a conversation Students gather Thursday to discuss the idea of the Black Student Union being separatists
By Cameron Teague Robinson Editor-in-Chief
On a Thursday evening in room 316 of the Union, approximately 56 students met to discuss an issue that was going around campus about their organization. The event held by the Black Student Union addressed the issue of their organization as a separatists organization. A student leader within the University brought this issue to them and according to Political Action Chair Christina Steward other leaders thought that as well.
“We were under the impression that, that person was the spokesperson for a lot of other student leaders on campus who all thought we were separatists,” Steward said. “We were all kind of freaking out, wondering how many people thought that.” That is what led to this week’s “Talk to me Thursday,” question: Are the Black Student Union separatists and why is it important to have minority groups at universities? “It’s always been a discussion on whether or not BSU is relevant. As of late it has become more of a topic of discussion on campus,” said Vice President of BSU Sydney Howell. “We fig-
ured instead of letting people draw their own conclusion, we should just address it and give people a place to discuss this openly.” Behind the closed doors of room 316, students and faculty of different ethnicities, genders and classifications discussed these issues. At times discussion became intense with students expressing their different views on the issues. “It was a nice amount of white students and black students,” said President of BSU Greg Harrison. “We got to hear both sides of the conversation. I think it was really productive because people really took the opportunity to
See BSU | Page 2
With the winter season approaching, the demand for rock salt in Northwest Ohio is forcing cities to purchase it despite the increase in price. The price of rock salt has gone up by almost three times of what it was last year, but cities including Bowling Green are biting the bullet and purchasing it due to how much of an important factor it is in terms of safety. Heather Pollauf, meteorologist at BG24 News, said “salt is extremely necessary in order for roadways to be cleared easier and for drivers to drive safely.” Each year, The Ohio Department of Transportation makes the Cooperative Purchasing Program Participation Agreement with the cities in each district. The purchasing agreement allows Ohio cities to go through ODOT to get their rock salt and gives them the choice to either accept the contract or opt out of it and worry about purchasing salt independently. Upon the cities making their decision, ODOT issues a quote of the price for the rock salt and the cities who agreed to join are expected to pay that price per ton for however many tons the city needs. Director of Bowling Green Public Works Department Brian Craft said “the final bid for rock salt came in at $105.25 per ton and ODOT was able to secure 171,000 tons from Indiana for the cities of Ohio.” While the price could be a lot more, last year’s price of $32.50 per ton was much less of a blow to city
See SALT | Page 2
University, student group adopts White House campaign SHARPEN INTERVIEW SKILLS ‘It’s On Us’ created to educate students about sexual assault, awareness By Cassie Sullivan Assistant Managing Editor
A nation-wide campaign started by the White House that aims to raise awareness about sexual assaults on campuses has reached the University. The campaign called “It’s On Us” is a student initiative meant to educate students on sexual assault and awareness. Jackie Wells, a doctoral graduate student within the Office of Equity and Diversity, said the campaign is a new initiative on college campuses. “At Bowling Green, it’s a pretty new initiative, so our work group has been meeting for three weeks at this point,” Wells said. “We are working to implement the national campaign on Bowling Green’s campus.” From the White House, the “It’s On Us” campaign is from a taskforce meant to protect children from sexual assault, looking at how col-
lege campuses can be made safer for students, along with possibly changing how people think about sexual assault, Wells said. “Our goal is to change the culture around [sexual assault] and ideas around consent,” Wells said. “And oftentimes, students have misconstrued ideas around both of those topics because of experience or because of the media. This program is meant to give students new ways of thinking.” Brian Kochhesier, the president of the Undergraduate Student Government [USG], said “I hope we can spread more awareness to the issue of sexual assault; really work to shift the culture. We want more awareness for the topic in general; more to do with the impact of bystander intervention, more advocacy for victims.” Junior Cyndi Hill thinks a campaign like “It’s On Us” is a good idea. “I’m on Tumblr a lot and there’s
a lot of talk about [sexual assault awareness] all of the time and a lot of articles saying, ‘this is consent and this isn’t consent,’” Hill said. “It’s definitely something that needs to be widely done.” With a campaign like “It’s On Us,” the understanding of consent can be made clearer to help end any confusion between what is and isn’t consent. Along with consent, the campaign will help students understand what bystander intervention is and how they can participate through a program that is run by students. “And also, the autonomy to take ownership over their actions and so thinking about what they can do as a bystander, what they can do as a community member, as an individual who maybe be in the position to help keep other students safe,” Wells said. “On our campus, we’re doing
BASKETBALL SEASON BEGINS
DEMOCRATIC LEADERS
IF YOU WERE TO CREATE AN ORGANIZATION ON CAMPUS, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “An organization that promotes vegetarian food because I used to be a vegetarian and it would be for health reasons and animal cruelty.” Devansh Shah, 2nd Year Masters Student, Kinesiology
Columnist Ian Zulick talks about the lack of strong leadership in the Democratic Party which contributed to its loss in the midterm elections. He says that, for the party to remain prominent, there needs to be leadership reformation. | Page 4
The Falcon basketball seasons are set to begin. With a new group of players, the two teams will look to put their offseason work into a game. | Page 6
S P R I N G
PAIGE APKARIAN | THE BG NEWS
JEFF GILL talks to University students about how to successfully get hired for a job.
See CAMPAIGN | Page 2
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