APRIL 15, 2019 GRAND VALLEY LANTHORN @GVLNEWS
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EXECUTIVE ORDER SPARKS FREE SPEECH DISPLAYS After President Donald Trump’s recent executive order for universities to uphold all forms of free speech on campus or risk losing federal funding, a group of anti-abortion activists from Grand Rapid’s Inner City Church Planting Mission showed up on Grand Valley State University’s campus April 8 to see how officials would respond. Demonstrators initially set up near the Cook Carillon Tower (a designated free speech zone of GVSU), then later left the zone to see if campus police would respond. Police did not interfere. GVSU’s Pro-Life organization also had a display up near the Carillon Tower from April 8 to 11. Their display included “The Cemetery of Innocents,” which was marked by rows upon rows of pink flags, with each representing 927 aborted babies. The organization was unaware that the other group would be demonstrating and is unaffiliated with them. To view the full story, visit lanthorn.com.
STUDENT SENATE RESOLUTION PRESSES BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR STUDENT PARTICIPATION Student senate introduced a proposal to the Board of Trustees that seeks to improve and foster student participation within the board’s decision making. If accepted by the board, the proposal will seek more opportunities for student input and ideas on board decisions regarding students. The proposal includes several requests including subscribing to open meetings, adding public comment opportunities and holding meetings in closed sessions only when empowered by the Open Meetings Act of 1976. Student senate president Rachel Jenkin, who coauthored the proposal along with incoming president Eric-John Szczepaniak, explained that she sees the proposal to promote the inclusion of more student voices on changes being made at GVSU. “We want student representation on our board, both in a literal sense for real-time commenting on the issues that they are discussing, as well as in a symbolic sense so we can have it documented that students are present at every meeting,” Jenkin said. “There are people making decisions the impact us as students, however, this is no one in that space to represent us through the tough discussions and voting.” To view the full story, visit lanthorn.com.
GV NOTES SIX FULBRIGHT 2019-20 SEMIFINALISTS
“Truly one of the most loving and passionate people I have worked with at Grand Valley,” Nurmi said. “(Szczepaniak) has a lot of drives and and a lot of ideas to make really big changes at our university.” Many of these proposed changes were new solutions to issues many contesting senators hoped to address. This included being more transparent about senate proceedings, increasing campus collaboration and addressing the disconnect between student senate and its students. Senators agreed that improving relations with students would better assist the body in representing them. “We’re students like the rest of them and we want to hear
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According to Stoll, all GVPD recruits learn to conduct SFST tests to help understand and determine initial levels of impairment. From there, officers can also take part in Advanced Roadside Impairment Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) to learn a bit more about gauging driver impairment and knowing how certain substances affect users. Potentially, officers can train to be a drug recognition expert (DRE). This requires extensive training and advanced coursework to learn about the science of impairment and how to identify when a driver is under the influence
what they have to say,” Nurmi said. Joining President Szczepaniak and E-VP Nurmi are: Vice President of Senate Resources Hannah Benoit, Vice President of Finance Madeleine Samuels, Vice President of Camps Affairs Grace McMahon, Vice President of Educational Affairs Autumn Mueller, Vice President of Diversity Affairs Alex Murarescu and Vice President of Public Relations Ryan Fritz. The vice president seat for external relations was tabled for next week’s GA as both contenders withdrew and a later senator turned down a nomination. Each newly appointed vice president also had plenty of goals and campaign promises for their committees. Benoit and Samuels expressed a drive for more cross-committee col-
laborations, McMahon and Mueller posed ideas for outreach education with students and Fritz sided with Samuels on connecting with campus organizations. The elected 20192020 body has plenty of big ideas and passions gearing up for next school year, and Szczepaniak is leading the charge. He is especially focusing on reducing textbook costs, following a year-long senate task force that was assigned to look into a lowering this financial burden on students. The finalized recommendations from the task force include implementing a cheaper textbook requirement for each college’s highest enrollment course. “If this is implemented, they’ll have one year to figure out a plan to successfully convert to using affordable course materials,” Szczepa-
niak said. “That’s one thing I’d love to do. Then it will affect every student, even the smaller majors will benefit.” The new president’s impending goals will hopefully help him in filling the shoes of exiting senate president and first student commencement speaker Rachel Jenkin. Luckily, Szczepaniak has both the government experience and newly elected goal-minded executive board on his side. But the new era of leadership doesn’t stop at student senate; along with his new senate responsibilities, Szczepaniak will also assist in ushering in the new university president, Philomena Mantella. “I’m real excited to orient Dr. Mantella,” he said. “I look forward to creating a great partnership just like we’ve had with President (Thomas) Haas here at student senate.”
of alcohol, other drugs, or some kind of combination. What makes the IDSC report different from other legal states, is that six other states that offer legal cannabis consumption have set a blood level for impaired driving. Because of this, the commission’s recommendations have been less than satisfactory to marijuana proponents who pushed legalization on the premise it could be regulated like alcohol — and also for marijuana opponents who feared legalization would wreak public safety hazards on Michigan cities, including a rise in car accidents. “I think it’s important for students to know that driving while high is just as dangerous
as driving drunk,” Stoll said. “The amount of drunk driving we’ve dealt with has decreased in the last 10 years thanks to busing, ridesharing and friends keeping them accountable, but I think people are discrediting how dangerous it is to drive while high on marijuana. In Michigan, Colorado and other legal states, there has been a correlation between traffic fatalities or injuries and marijuana use… Depending on how the marijuana is consumed, it could take up to two hours for someone really feel it, so they could get on the road thinking they’re fine, then suddenly they’re not as sober as they thought they were 30 minutes ago.” While critics agree that
no laws should be set without supportive science and research, many also wonder if this is giving the police too much discretion. Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University Carl Taylor believes that the amount of subjectivity that would be utilized by officers in these cases would lead to abuse of power. So, how high is “too high?” Professor of Traffic Safety at University of Michigan Carol Flannagan makes it pretty simple: “The best advice that I’ve seen is if you feel different, you drive different,” Flannagan said. “If you are feeling affected by anything you’re ingesting… then it is presumably affecting the cognitive skills that you need to drive.”
Following the public announcement, Grand Valley State University was able to flaunt six of its students and alumni as semifinalists for the 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The program provides students with the opportunity to teach English or conduct research oversees. Bethany Mazurek, Anna Szalay, Kellie Corbett, Emily Heyburn, Melina Frantzeskakis and Dallas Davis were all named as semifinalists in the competition and will either complete a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship or conduct independent research.
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BLOCK THE WALK: Setting up barriers, Grand Valley Police Department works on a scene. In wake of the recent legalization of recreational marijuana, GVPD acknowledges the difficulties that law enforcement faces in determining unsafe levels of intoxication. COURTESY | GVSU
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“(Blue) is just a big inspiration,” Johnson said. “She really helped me and guides me through my studies and things like that.” Johnson noted she emails Blue with concerns about classes and meets her during office hours. By discussing with Johnson on situations, Blue directs her to on-campus resources for help. Given the connections the vice president establishes with students, Johnson said her mentor deserved to be honored at the naming ceremony. Enrollment development counselor V’Lecea Hunter said, “(Blue) pushes the students to go beyond their own limits or beyond what they think that they’re capable of doing.” Hunter said she once felt comfortable with obtaining a bachelor’s degree, but Blue encouraged her to strive higher. Even earning a master’s degree proved insufficient since Hunter experienced a nudge to pursue an additional degree. Overall, Blue taught her that education does not end with one goal. It continues through all goals students have. Hunter said
she hopes to become the next dean of students. Blue thought it was a good coincidence that her last name equals GVSU’s main school color. The vice president mentioned
some people want buildings named after black and white to match -- having all three colors present within facilities’ names would form a full cadre, Blue said. As for her future, she in-
tends on continuing her work beyond 50 years of service. “(I’ll continue) doing what I do everyday because I love what I do,” Blue said. “I absolutely love what I do. I meet new students. I help students.”
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