DN MONDAY, FEB. 3, 2014
THE DAILY NEWS
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Studies indicate violence not rising
SUPER BOWL
Manning falls short in Super Bowl loss Seattle blows past Denver in team’s first franchise win SEE PAGE 3
$6,000 PARTY
Late Nite spends $355,952 yearly for program benefiting fraction of students
Researcher calls claims ‘hype,’ says campus shootings are rare RACHEL PODNAR CHIEF REPORTER | rmpodnar@bsu.edu In the wake of the death of one student at Purdue University Jan. 21, there were more incidents of violence on campus: one death at South Carolina State, a student non-fatally shot at Widener University in Philadelphia and a false alarm at the University of Oklahoma. The hashtag #PurdueShooting accompanied cries to end gun violence on school campuses, but one researcher argues that school shootings are not on the rise. Clinical psychologist and professor of education at University of Virginia Dewey Cornell, who has conducted extensive research on school violence, said claims that school shootings are on the rise are just “hype.” “I would be very reluctant to say that school shootings or any kind of shootings are on the rise based on a few months or a tally of a few dozen cases,” Cornell said. “I have heard these sorts of claims for years and they are almost always based on random variations and selective reporting.” There are 31,000 deaths and 78,000 nonfatal wounds from firearms every year in the US, according to The Center for Disease Control reports. That amounts to about 300 shootings every day, making the number of school shootings each year a very small fraction in comparison.
See SHOOTINGS, page 4
JANUARY 2014 SHOOTINGS Jan. 9 A 17-year-old high school student was shot and wounded outside Liberty Technology Magnet School in Jackson, Tenn. Jan. 13 A 14-year-old freshman was shot twice after a basketball game at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn. Jan. 17 A student was shot near Albany High School in Georgia. Jan. 20 A Widener University student was shot on campus while sitting in his car in Chester, Pa. Jan. 21 A Purdue University student was shot and killed in the university’s engineering building. Jan. 24 A South Carolina State University student was shot and killed. Jan. 28 A 17-year-old Honolulu, Hawaii student was shot in the wrist after allegedly attacking a school police officer with a knife.
DN PHOTO SAMANTHA BLANKENSHIP
Students show their moves at the dance party with DJ MJ during Late Nite Jan. 25. On average 1,000 students of the 21,000 students attend Late Nite each week.
L
KARA BERG STAFF REPORTER
|
knberg@bsu.edu
ate Nite, the campus entertainment series each Saturday night in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, receives $355,952 each year, almost entirely paid for by student fees. Each week the event sees an average of 1,000 of Ball State’s about 21,000 students. Bianca Polk, a student who is finance coordinator for Late Nite, said she thinks one of the main reasons few students attend is a lack of promotion. Polk said her group has gotten away from promoting those events because of the mistaken belief that people already know what Late Nite is. She said talking with students has convinced her that more promotion is needed. Late Nite is a weekly entertainment and activity event hosted each Saturday at the Student Center.
TOP 5 LATE NITE EXPENSES
$355,952
$74,000
total budget each year
spent on the endof-the-year carnival
$50,000 spent on staffing
$5,000
$10,000
$17,400
spent for staff retreat(s)
spent for marketing and apparel
spent on renting Cardinal Lanes
SOURCE: Bianca Polk, Late finance coordinator
DN PHOTO SAMANTHA BLANKENSHIP
Dorm style decoration Tips, tricks to makeover bedroom with tight budget SEE PAGE 6
See LATE NITE, page 4
Lack of LGBT dorm potential for issues Spectrum president bullied by neighbors living in residence hall KAITLIN LANGE CHIEF REPORTER | kllange@bsu.edu
MUNCIE, INDIANA
SO THE PUPPY BOWL WAS MORE COMPETITIVE THAN THE SUPER BOWL.
Eric Dewell, music media production and industry major, pops popcorn during the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” portion of Late Nite Jan. 25.
When the president of Spectrum, an LGBT ally group, used Ball State’s roommate match up, he made sure to mention he is gay to avoid an uncomfortable living situation. Ball State does not have a designated LGBT floor or dorm on campus, Jamie Goebel wanted to be sure there weren’t any potential issues between him and his roommate.
Goebel said most problems for LGBT students come from the roommate and not just other individuals on the floors, since typically those with opposing beliefs just stay away. He personally did not have any problems with his roommate, since he already knew he was gay beforehand. “The very fist thing he messaged me was, ‘Oh, are you a sassy gay boy? Because I’ve always wanted a sassy gay friend,’” Goebel said. But during his freshman year Goebel found a collage on the doorway of the shared bathroom, with one picture that said, “God wants you to stop being a faggot.” He told the resident assistant, who also shared the same bathroom, and
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the collage was taken down. Matt Kovach, assistant director of housing and residence life, said he thinks Ball State students are pretty mature about cultural differences today. He said housing and residence life handles complaints from LGBT students like they would for other students. “We want to be supportive and make sure they are successful, really living in a safe, comfortable environment,” Kovach said. “I wouldn’t say we do much that’s different from any other student.” Kovach said problems between LGBT and heterosexual students are rare because of how few people housing and residence life pairs up. He said about 6,500 people are
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living in the dorms, with only about 1,000 of those being paired up by the university. He also said the resident assistants have gone through training to help deal with any conflict that may arise. Some have gone through optional ally or transgender training. Goebel said he encourages any students with problems with their roommates to go talk to their resident assistant. If that doesn’t work, students could also use the multicultural advisors located across campus. He said transgender students especially have this problem in the dorms.
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THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
See LGBT, page 4
THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
VOL. 93, ISSUE 76
THE PULSE OF BALL STATE