Wednesday, March 29, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT
COLLEGIAN
98th year • Issue 27
UT students HEAT up in competition COMMUNITY / 7 » www.IndependentCollegian.com
Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919
INSIDE
Three tickets campaign to lead Student Government By Morgan Kovacs News Editor
UT baseball struggles against NIU Huskies SPORTS / 8 »
A night at the Oscars
“
COMMUNITY / 6 »
“We cannot deny that the people that these severe budget cuts will affect are the young, especially lowincome people for whom these type of support systems have been made.”
GENDER EQUALITY
ELECTIONS
As the school-year starts to unwind, Student Government elections ramp up. Voting for student body president takes place from April 10-13 via OrgSync. This year, there are three tickets for president: Jared Enoch, Cameron Forsythe and James “Jimmy” Russell.
ENOCH
Enoch, fifth-year mechanical engineering and political science major and chemistry minor, has served on SG since spring 2015. He currently serves as the chair of the student affairs committee. Enoch’s running partner is Brayton Conley. “Brayton and I are both extremely passionate about UT and want to do as much as we can to help improve the university and make it an institution students are proud to attend,” Enoch wrote in an email. The major categories of Enoch and Conley’s campaign are inclusion, communication and im-
“We plan to include all types of student voices in the decisions we are making and talks we have with administration.” JARED ENOCH Candidate for SG President
provement. “We plan to include all types of student voices in the decisions we are making and talks we have with administration,” Enoch wrote. “We plan to use social media to more effectively communicate with the student body and pledge to attend a new student org meeting once a week.” To get in touch with Enoch and Conley or to learn more about their platform, they can be reached on their Facebook page “Jared and Brayton for Student Body President
and VP,” or on Twitter, @ JaredBrayton17.
FORSYTHE
Forsythe, second-year mechanical engineering major and business administration minor, currently serves as student body vice president and has been a member of SG since September 2015. His running partner is Andrew Montry. “Our campaign is aimed to improve the students’ time at the university,” Forsythe wrote in an email. “Through our platform of “Your UT,” we want to emphasize that if we are elected, we will value your opinions, gather your feedback and continually work to properly reflect your opinions.” Forsythe added that he and Montry separate their platform into four main categories: “Your Student Experience,” “Your Health and Safety,” “Your Student Organizations,” and “Your Student Government.” See Candidates / 3 »
RANKINGS
Rough weekend for Rocket tennis
“
SPORTS / 9 »
“Why are we chasing after all these milestones in the first place? Is this life worth living? Is it really considered living?”
ALEXIS NIESZCZUR “What fills the dash between your birth and death dates?”
Empowering women in STEMM fields By Bryce Buyakie Associate News Editor
Tonya Matthews, president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Science Center in Detroit, shared her story of empowerment in the white, male-dominated fields of science, technology, engineering, math and medicine in Nitschke Hall Monday. As part of the University of Toledo’s celebration of Women’s History Month, Matthews spoke about how she overcame these obstacles and how students of every age, race and gender can thrive in the face of difficulty. The metaphor Mat-
thews used for empowerment was an editorial cartoon depicting a teacher telling a raven, a monkey, an elephant, a fish in a bowl, a seal and a dog to take the same “fair” exam: to climb a tree. This exam seems fair at first, but there is something wrong in telling these students who have shown up every day to take this test which gives an unfair advantage to the monkey, Matthews said. “Who would judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree?” Matthews said. “I don’t know, perhaps the type of folks who would See Careers / 3 »
PROGRAM
EDITORIAL “PELL Grants matter to students” OPINION / 4 »
HIMANSH BHATNAGAR / IC
Tonya Matthews speaks to a crowd of students March 27 in Nitschke Hall.
SAVANNAH JOSLIN / IC
Bailey Horn (left) and Lesleigh Beale (right), both third-year early-childhood education majors, work on computers in the Carver Center in Gillham Hall. The center is a computer lab only available to education students.
UT College of Law and Judith Herb College of Education move up in rankings By Benjamin Morse Staff Reporter
When it comes time to decide upon a university, many students turn to national rankings, such as the one by U.S. News and World Report, a credited website that ranks colleges, to make a good choice. Visitors of the credited site will now find that the University of Toledo’s Judith Herb College of Education ranks No. 172 out of 256 schools as part of its 2018 Best Graduate Schools. Last year, it was ranked 190. “As we looked at the future and read the tea leaves, we thought that, for this college, because of the strength of our faculty, it would make sense to focus on graduate education,” said Virginia Keil, interim dean of the Judith Herb College of Education. “As a result of that, I think, when you pay attention to things, good things start to happen. As stated in U.S. News and World Report’s methodology of calculation, the Best
Graduate School rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students.
“...we thought that, for this college, because of the strength of our faculty, it would make sense to focus on graduate education.” VIRGINIA KEIL Interim Dean of the Judith Herb College of Education
Associate Dean of the College of Education, Richard Welsh, alongside Keil, observed the significance of the recent statistical improvement. “I think we’re are all competitive by nature.
We all want to have good feedback and good reports,” Welsh said. “But I also think it’s this element about being proud of what we’re doing. This validates we are on the right track.” Alongside the College of Education’s improvement, UT’s College of Law also recently rose in the ranks, jumping from No. 144 to No. 132 out of 196 schools. Dean of the College of Law, Benjamin Barros, used a set of definitive factors to explain the recent jump. “There are three main things that contributed to our rise,” Barros said, “One is an increase in our entry and our LSAT standards, another is an increase in our entry and undergraduate GPA and a third was an improvement in the job placement numbers.” With numbers creating a competitive push for programs throughout the university, UT President Sharon Gaber set a reminder on what the figures mean. “It is not about chasing rankings,” said Gaber. “It is about enhancing quality.”
UT receives funds to support human trafficking victims By Maryam Jawaid Staff Reporter
The issue of human trafficking remains prominent in the area, as Ohio ranks fifth-highest among the states in total reported human trafficking cases, per the U.S. Federal Bureau of Information Crime Reports. Additionally, Toledo has been identified as the fourth-highest ranking city in the nation for recruiting victims into the illegal trade. Recently, to help battle this issue, the Toledo Community Foundation awarded $75,000 to the University of Toledo to support the Partners Against Trafficking in Humans project. “In our PATH project, we are connecting victims of human trafficking with care coordinators to provide them with systems of care,” said Fanell Williams, lead project coordinator in the UT College of Social Justice & Human Service. Williams said that the project aims to assist victims of human trafficking and is being coordinated by the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at UT. The PATH project is a modified replica of the
“In our PATH project, we are connecting victims of human trafficking with care coordinators to provide them with systems of care.” FANELL WILLIAMS Lead Project Coordinator
Pathways model used by the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio to address low birth outcomes in Ohio, according to Williams. Adapted in August 2016, PATH is the first of its kind. “Our end goal is for it to be an evidence-based model so that other cities, counties, states and places can use the model to assist their victims in human trafficking,” Williams said. The victims of human trafficking are diverse and include men and women, both adults and children, as well as foreign nationals and citizens in the See Assistance / 3 »