KICKING IT
Sophomore center back Carrie Caplin brings her communication skills to the women’s soccer team.
IDEAS & ISSUES
The University Board showed a documentary about gendercide in China and India as part of a series.
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THE
D aily E astern N ews
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015
VOL. 100 | NO. 14
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
C E L E B RATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE
19 15- 201 5
W W W . D A I L Y E A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Enrollment count continues downward trend FALL ENROLLMENT 2010 - 2015
By Cassie Buchman Administration Editor | @cjbuchman Eastern’s enrollment decreased this semester by 393 students from the previous fall semester. A total of 8,520 students are enrolled, including 1,673 freshmen,1,295 sophomores, 1,791 juniors and 2,385 seniors. The number of transfer students on campus decreased by 90 students from the fall 2014 semester. While the total enrollment is down, the number of graduate students, minority students and incoming freshmen are up from this time last year. Minority students now make up more than a quarter of the enrollment at Eastern. This year, the university has 20 American Indian/Alaskan Native students, 92 Asian students, 1,441 black students, 471 Hispanic students, four Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students, and 181 who identify with two or more races. First-time freshman enrollment has increased by 2 percent to 1,085. The fall 2014 semester saw 1,129 incoming freshmen. Director of Admissions Chris Dearth said admissions took an aggressive approach for recruiting new students to improve enrollment. “It started with the use of data and the planning process, trying to be more strategic and making sure we’re using all of our resources in all of our areas,” Dearth said. “The other part was being aggressive in marketing and promoting EIU.” The admissions office tried campus visits and saw a larger amount of prospective students on campus, and they communicated with students through the admissions process. “A lot of hard work from a lot of areas helped us get to those numbers,” he said. “Admissions has had a large response from the (Chicago) area, and are working on reaching out to local schools.” Dearth just completed his first year as admissions director, and he said he had great expectations for his job. “EIU is a very good institution,” he said. “A press release came out that talked about the U.S. News and World Report, and we are the No. 1 public regional university in Illinois, No. 5 public regional in the Midwest. This is a very good school.” Dearth said he thinks more students, parents
11,630
11,178 10,417 9,775 8,913
8,520
GR APHIC BY JASON HOWELL | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Eastern’s fall 2015 enrollment has decreased by 393 students from last fall, and by 3,110 from fall 2010. The total number of graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled equals 8,520.
and counselors need to know about Eastern. “I just think more students and counselors and parents need to know about us; I think we need to do a better job of communicating earlier in the process to students and become a first choice for more students,” Dearth said. “That’s only going to happen if we are aggressive and we are in the right places.” Dearth said he was hoping for this kind of success, and the challenge is to build on it in 2016. “What we’re looking for in 2016 is more visitors on campus, a better relationship in the local area,” he said. “We’re utilizing data more and
just letting people know how good we are.” Some challenges admissions will face is competitions from other schools, including schools outside of Illinois recruiting students, state support and the struggling economy. “Families haven’t properly saved for college so they are looking for financial aid and scholarships,” Dearth said. “The budget hasn’t been released yet but we know there is probably a cut coming, but like I said EIU is a good school we just have to continue to let people know about it.” Dearth said having happy current students
will make prospective students want to come to Eastern more. Because of the drop in transfer students, admissions is looking at ways to recruit them to Eastern’s campus. “What we’ve realized is part of the demographic shift over the last couple years there’s been less students overall to go to college,” Dearth said. “So that affects the two year schools as well, so there’s not as many transfer students to recruit, and that plays into it.”
ENROLLMENT, page 5
International student numbers see increase
ROTC to train members by firing off live cannon
By T’Nerra Butler Multicultural Editor | @DEN_News
By Mackenzie Freund City Editor | @mgfreund_news
Among budgets cuts and a declining enrollment, Eastern has seen the international student population increase by 7 percent this fall semester. Enrollment has gone down with 8,520 currently enrolled, 291 of which are international students. Eastern saw 273 international students on its campus last fall. The number is up 39 percent from fall 2013, and only 141 international students attended the university 10 years ago. Kevin Vicker, the director of international students and scholars, said tuition is one of the reasons Eastern is seeing an increase of the International students. “We recruited more outside of the English center here, like in Chicago (and) Indianapolis,” Vicker said. “So those partnerships are where we offer admission. They’re through language cen-
ters.” Those neighboring centers assist students from different countries in either learning or improving on their English skills. Vicker said different countries have agents who bring in students from countries like Nepal, Nigeria, Korea and Saudi Arabia. He said China is slowly sending students to Eastern and building from the campus’ current number. He said more students from different countries are likely to come next semester. “It’s a lot easier for students in the fall because the weather is better, and there’s a lot more activity going on outside and that’s helpful,” Vicker said. The highest number in the international student population is 113, which is in India. The fifth highest comes from China, which is 21. Overall, the department represents 40 countries.
INTERNATIONAL, page 6
The ROTC Cannon Crew will be firing its canons for a safety inspection at 5:30 p.m. Thursday between Klehm Hall and the Health Services Building. Cadet Shane Zobrist, a senior psychology major, has been planning the safety inspection with Safety Officer II Dan Deeken of the Environmental Health and Safety department. Zobrist said the safety inspections are also a certification for the new members of the cannon crew. “We usually do the certification once a year so all the new members can get c e r t i f i e d a t o n e t i m e ,” Z o b r i s t s a i d . Zobrist said a total of 30 cadets are on the cannon crew, and 20 of them are new members. “Usually two to three cannons are fired off during the inspections,” Zobrist said. “They are the cannons we fire off during the football
games.” Zobrist said the cannon crew will start the inspection by doing a couple of dry runs before they fire the cannon so the new crew members can get a feel for how the process works. Zobrist said after the crew members do their dry runs they will begin the firings. Zobrist said the crew will be firing a couple of 10 gage shotgun shell blanks to make sure the crew knows how the firing works. Zobrist said both sides of the sidewalk will be closed off when it is time to fire the cannons. “The sidewalks will be closed off for 10 second intervals when it is time to fire the cannons,” Zobrist said. “We need to make sure nobody is standing in front of them before we fire.” Zobrist said the cannons are modified 10 gage shotguns that were built by the engineering and technology department. ROTC, page 6