BATTLE OF THE VALLEYS RECAP
GRAND VALLEY
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A L L E N D A L E & G R A N D R A P I DS , M I C H I G A N ST U D E N T- R U N P U B L I C A T I O N S // P R I N T · O N L I N E · M O B I L E // L A N T H O R N . C O M
M O N D A Y, O C TO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 7 // VO L . 52 N O. 1 2
RETIREMENT
GVPD chief says her final farewell at student senate meeting BY JOSHUA VISSERS JVISSERS@LANTHORN.COM
Director of Public Safety and Grand Valley State University Police Department Chief Renee Freeman gave her last public address to the student senate general assembly Thursday, Sept. 28. “It’s bittersweet that I’m leaving, but I was hired as a change agent,” she said of her four years at GVSU. “I’m going to try to embrace retirement.” While in front of the student senate, Freeman addressed several questions, including a couple about “Food 4 Fines,” an initiative that Parking Services and the Replenish food pantry have put together to accept donations instead of money for parking fines between Monday, Sept. 25, and Friday, Oct. 6. “Don’t just go and park where you want thinking you can bring some peanut butter in,” Freeman said. The program, detailed on the Parking Services website, has specific dollar values assigned to certain needed donation items. Maddie Rhoades, the student senate vice president for diversity affairs, reminded everyone that donations can’t be brought to Replenish for the program. “They’ll say, ‘Thanks for the donation,’ and you’ll still have a citation,” she said. For students to get credit toward citations, food needs to be brought to Parking Services on the Allendale Campus. Further, Rachel Jenkin of the student senate campus affairs committee heard back from the Laker Store regarding the planners sold with Columbus Day printed in them. “The ones with our logo, there’s a high possibility they’ll be changed,” she said, stipulating that it wouldn’t be until the fall 2018 semester. The unbranded planners, however, may not get changed. Jenkin is also working with Heather Alberda of the Ottawa County Department of Public Health to find funding for a vending machine that would contain things like condoms, pregnancy tests and Plan B pills to be placed somewhere “discreet but available.” SEE CHIEF | A2
Parking Services initiates new programs, policies to accommodate students BY CELIA HARMELINK CHARMELINK@LANTHORN.COM
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ith the fall semester already underway, there are some changes to parking at Grand Valley State University. Lisa Garringer, parking services manager at GVSU, said there are many new initiatives occurring within the department to accommodate students. There is now additional student parking available on the Pew Campus, with more than 250 new spots to accommodate students. The Walker Fire Station is also going to be expanded so that individuals
have access to free transportation with the transit system. The business hours for Parking Services have changed as well and can be found on the department’s website at www.gvsu.edu/parking/. “We’re no longer open in the evening because we weren’t getting the foot traffic to accommodate with staff, so what we’re doing is we’re getting a terminal up front that will be operational,” Garringer said. “People will be able to pay their parking citations and get an overnight permit when we’re after business hours.” Although that isn’t operational quite yet, Garringer expects it will be finished within the next month. “Everything we’re trying to do
is with convenience for the GVSU community in mind and for a positive parking experience,” she said. “This has kind of been the push over the last couple of years.” Another new program happening is “Food 4 Fines.” Parking Services is teaming up with the Replenish food pantry to give GVSU students a new way to pay their parking citations by letting them donate needed items to Replenish. “It’s a great way for people to save money when they’re paying their fine, as well as give back to Lakers,” said Olivia Caton, parking enforcement supervisor. “It really supports our Lakers-lookingout-for-Lakers mission.”
Caton said the Parking Services website, which has been updated to be more user-friendly, is a great resource to find more information about this program and answers to any other questions individuals might have about parking on campus. “That is the first place that anyone should go,” Caton said. Parking information on overnight parking and enforcement hours; meters; pay stations; motorcycles; permit placement and transferring permits; faculty and staff overnight parking; drive-up privileges for residence halls; disability parking; and SEE PARKING | A2
POSITIVE INITIATIVES: GVSU junior Chad Jackson gives out a parking citation to a student in Lot H Jan. 23, 2016. Parking Services has recently started a new program, “Food 4 Fines,” that allows students to pay toward their parking citations by donating needed items to the Replenish food pantry. GVL | EMILY FRYE
EXPANSION
VACCINATIONS
GV Family Health Center to hold flu shot clinics on campus BY SARAH HOLLIS NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
FOUNDATION: Construction on Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall, which began in November 2016, takes place in downtown Grand Rapids. The discussion of the development began several years ago, as existing health facilities couldn’t accommodate the increase of students going into health majors at GVSU. COURTESY | GVNOW
GV to accommodate growing health majors with construction of Finkelstein Hall BY THERESA MUELLER TMUELLER@LANTHORN.COM
Grand Valley State University’s health programs are constantly revolutionizing the experience of health sciences students, and given the enrollment growth in these programs, the university is expanding its health campus with the construction of Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall. Construction for the facility began in November 2016, but discussion of the development began several years
ago as existing health facilities could not accommodate the increase of students going into the health majors offered at GVSU. The university has more than 20 health-related majors, and the expansion of the health campus will enable GVSU to increase enrollment capacity, as well as add necessary programs. “The expansion will provide a synergistic health campus for Grand Valley that will fully support our 21 health sciences programs and the type of experiential and interdisciplinary learning that
Grand Valley is known for,” said Maria Cimitile, provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs, via email. Although the opening of the Cook-Devos Center for Health Sciences (CHS) in 2003 was a major advancement of the university healthprogram development, the size is not sufficient for the growing numbers of GVSU health students. “At the present time, the access to labs are limited due to the amount of time students need to spend in the labs and learning environments,” said
James Moyer, associate vice president for facilities planning, via email. “The students are standing at the door when CHS is opened in the morning and are leaving the building late at night. More space may not avoid the long hours, but better and more prolific equipment could enhance the learning experiences.” The building of Finkelstein Hall not only creates more space for students to learn, but it also enables the SEE FACILITY | A2
With the start of the fall season, many people are looking forward to the leaves changing color and the cool, crisp weather, but flu season follows closely behind. To lessen the stress of flu season, the Grand Valley State University Family Health Center is holding flu shot clinics on campus. These clinics will be open to students, faculty, staff and dependents, as well as retirees and members of the community. “People say, ‘I don’t get sick,’ or ‘I never get the flu, so I’m not going to worry about it,’ or whatever the reason is,” said Tricia Thomas, assistant dean for practice in the Kirkhof College of Nursing. “It’s always important to get a flu shot so that we have a lower occurrence rate of the flu in our area, not because we’re college students or college professors, but because it can bring great harm to those with chronic conditions, children and elders.” Some people may not want to get a flu shot because it could make them get sick, but Anne Markaity, nursing case manager for GVSU’s Family Health Center, said that is not a reason to not get the shot. “The reality is, if the flu shot is working, it stimulates the immune system to fight to create antibodies, so SEE CLINICS | A2