Daily Egyptian

Page 1

Daily Egyptian WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER, 18, 2015

DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM

VOL. 100 ISSUE 17

SINCE 1916

New peer program seeks to raise grades and retention ANNA SPOERRE | @ASpoerre_DE

This semester, University Housing started a new student leadership position — Academic Peer Advocates — to student housing in addition to the traditional resident assistants. APAs are responsible for planning programs to help residents with academics. They include study sessions and performing interventions for students with academic problems. The advocates receive room and board, along with a stipend. The university hired 32 advocates this semester. One more will be added in Wall and Grand next semester. Elizabeth Scally, associate director of housing, said students were selected based on academic performance, problem solving and communication skills. “The APA position is a very important part of a larger movement towards focusing on retention,” said Ethan Johnson, a graduate assistant for academic initiatives. Johnson is responsible for supervising the advocates and assigning help for struggling students. Johnson said the advocates do not have access to students’ grades or attendance records, but they are sent a list of ‘students of concern.’ There have been more than 1,000 interventions so far this semester, Johnson said. However, students do not have to be in need of an intervention to meet with their advocates. Abbott Hall APA Jesse Galaway, a sophomore from Monticello studying mechanical engineering, said students approach him more often than he expected. Galaway said he likes sharing his own experiences and advice with new students. “This has helped me relate to people more positively when it comes to different conversations,” he said.

Yenitza Melgoza | D AILY E GYPTIAN Jesse Galaway, APA at Abbott Hall and sophomore from Monticello studying mechanical engineering poses in front of his bedroom on Tuesday. “It’s interesting being a part of the start up program for the first time,” he said.

He works between 10 and 35 hours a week, depending on how many interventions he has. Cecelia Cox, a freshman from Rockford studying business management, said when she was struggling with a math class, her APA helped her find study sessions

and a tutor. Jamie Gustafson, the APA for Brown and Steagall Halls said, “Sometimes students can be shy and hesitant to go to resources to get help with their classes. Having an APA brings resources to students and encourages them to use them.”

Gustafson, a sophomore from Oak Forest studying human nutrition and dietetics, said the job has benefited her own studies. “It keeps me on track and it keeps me accountable for my own things,” she said. It is still difficult to directly measure

the success of the program, Johnson said. Scally said housing will continue assessment and changes of the program as the year goes on. Anna Spoerre can be reached at 618-536-3325 or aspoerre@ dailyegyptian.com.

US officials defend decades-old refugee resettlement program HANNAH ALLAM MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

Obama administration officials pushed back Tuesday at an effort by more than half the nation’s governors to block entry for Syrian refugees, saying the campaign has no legal grounding and threatens a decadesold tradition of bipartisan support for giving sanctuary to the world’s most vulnerable. U.S. officials gave several briefings throughout the day to counter a Republican-led movement to bar resettlement for Syrian refugees based on fears that extremists will infiltrate the program and carry out attacks like the ones in France and Lebanon last week. Resettlement personnel have stressed that stringent security vetting already is in place — each case takes around two years to process and only about half the applicants are accepted

in the end. The explanations so far haven’t satisfied at least 30 Republican and one Democratic governor — who have adopted stances ranging from demands for a federal review of the program to vows to “suspend” resettlement of Syrians in their states. Meanwhile, Republican congressional leaders, feeling pressure from constituents and eager to put political heat on President Barack Obama, moved Tuesday to restrict and even bar Syrian refugees from entering the United States. They began crafting legislation and spoke of attaching it to a bill to keep the government running after Dec. 11. If no spending bill is approved by that date, parts of the government could shut down. While that’s highly unlikely, the prospect at least created a deadline for acting on the refugee issue.

@DAILYEGYPTIAN

Many Republicans embraced calls by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to temporarily suspend the refugee program. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, using language similar to other Republican governors, wrote in a letter Monday to Obama that it makes no sense for the United States “to allow people into our country who have the avowed desire to harm our communities, our institutions and our people.” The announcements were prompted by reports that at least one suspect in the massacre Friday in Paris landed in Europe by using an assumed Syrian identity and entering Greece alongside refugees in October. The man’s real identity has yet to be confirmed. Authorities have identified five of the eight suspected militants behind the Paris attack as French nationals.

States that plan to accept Syrian refugees Here’s a look at where state governors stand, and the number of Syrian refugees who have arrived in each state since Jan. 1, according to the U.S. State Department’s Refugee Processing Center: Allowing refugees

Not allowing

Not sure/ No statement

22 7

8 218

7

5

131 29

8

194

13 23

99 30

3 14

3

62 R.I. 195 119 75 Conn. 42 Del. 18 78 48

1

27

D.C. MA. 31

57 104

Source: AP Graphic: Staff, Tribune News Service


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