Arts and Life, B4
Sports, B1
One night, one crew, one play; ‘Alive and thriving.’
Rockets to face FIU in the Little Caesers Pizza Bowl.
Independent Collegian IC The
Monday, December 6, 2010
Serving the University of Toledo since 1919
www.IndependentCollegian.com 91st year Issue 27
Business school Change in Ohio trafficking laws grants 10K award Venture capitalists back best business plans from community By Vincent J. Curkov IC Staff Writer
The University of Toledo’s College of Business and Innovation awarded $22,000 in the first Innovation Enterprises Challenge Business Plan Competition on Thursday. Business plans were pitched by 49 teams from the colleges of business, engineering and medicine to eight judges from Toledo’s business community for a chance to win $10,000 to fund their business. The prize money is not just spending money for these participants: In order to use it, they must start their business in Northwest Ohio. The prize money awarded to recipients is raised through UTIE as well as the College of Business Administration, according to Kalicharan Kuppuswamy Parthasarathy, a graduate student majoring in information systems. “[The] university [is] playing its part as an engine for economic development,” said Sonny Ariss, chair of the management department. Kuppuswamy Parthasarthy said the winning business plans have “the most potential to succeed.” “These are companies that have the ability to generate a lot of jobs,” he said. Minal Bhadane, a
PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, took first place with her company Smart Orthosis. Her advisor Mohammed Elahinia, associate professor of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, accepted the award on her behalf since Bhadane is vacationing in India. Smart Orthosis created a “Hybrid Active Ankle Foot Orthosis” that is used to correct drop foot. Drop foot is a condition caused most commonly by a stroke where the patient’s muscles do not pull the foot back up. “The science was so welldeveloped,” said Greg Knudson, director and vice president of Rocket Ventures. What impressed Knudson the most was that Bhadane knew how to market the device. “Science by itself means nothing, but how it connects to the market is what matters,” Knudson said. Knudson was not only a judge for the competition, but his firm may be looking to invest in some of the companies. Rocket Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm, responsible for helping companies such as Xunlight Corporation, a UT startup solar company, find their footing. — Awards, Page A7
Photo Illustration by Nick Kneer / IC
Ohio Senate Bill 235 will allow the state to punish offenders who exploit children and illegal immigrants. In the past, the children who were trafficked would be punished, but the new law has protections for them as victims.
Ohio State Senate passes legislation to make human trafficking a standalone felony and protect victims of child prostitution By Sura Khuder IC Staff Writer
Before the Ohio Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 235 on Wednesday, a child seeking help from authorities after being involved in human sex trafficking in Toledo would be prosecuted for prostitution. Senate Bill 235 has changed that, making human sex trafficking a
standalone felony in Ohio. This new legislation allows prosecutors to have a clear-cut punishment for offenders who exploit children and illegal immigrants, while protecting the victims involved. “Now we can begin to provide prosecutors with the tools they need to go after traffickers,” said Celia Williamson, professor of social
services at the University of Toledo who worked with State Senator Teresa Fedor in composing the legislation. “This is a way for the state to start to recognize that children are not responsible for having sex with adults. That’s child abuse, but they continue to prosecute the child.” Before this legislation, penalties for human
traffickers were based on an accumulation of various federal offenses. Bill supporters describe human trafficking as “modern-day slavery,” a problem well-recognized in Toledo, which ranks fourth in the nation in the number of human trafficking arrests each year. Previous attempts to push — Trafficking, Page A7
President and DHS determined to pass DREAM Act Nepolitano holds teleconference with national media, urging Congress to pass immigration bill By Vincent D. Scebbi Features Editor
If Congress passes the DREAM Act, undocumented minors who were brought into the United States by their parents without a choice will be able to gain residency as U.S. citizens by serving in the military or going to college. United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urged Congress to pass the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act Thursday afternoon in a teleconference with national media. In the conference, Napolitano said the DREAM Act is part of President Barack Obama’s administration’s push to update and reform the nation’s immi-
Eric Paul Zamora/Fresno Bee/MCT
Grisanti Valencia, right of center, holds a sign along with others during a rally in support of the DREAM Act at Fresno State in Fresno, California, Friday, November 19, 2010.
gration laws. “I know that Congress is going to be considering the DREAM Act soon, and I wanted to reemphasize my support for it because the act will actually improve enforcement of immigration,” Napolitano said. Napolitano said the DREAM Act “fits into a larger strategy of immigration enforcement” and compliments efforts made by the DHS to prioritize enforcement resources. There are two parts to the immigration laws reformation, according to Napolitano. The first is a continuation of prioritizing the deportation of “dangerous criminal aliens from the country.” Napolitano said, in the past two years, the U.S. has removed a record number of
undocumented persons convicted of a criminal offense, including 195,000 in the 2010 fiscal year, a 70 percent increase from last year. The second half of the process is allowing minors who have been brought into the country against their will — whether by parents, relatives or through human traffickers — to gain residency into the U.S. if they pass a rigorous selection process, Napolitano said. Applicants would have to go through detailed background checks and have no offenses that hold grounds for removal. Aside from the checks, those seeking residency are required to attend college or serve in the — DREAM, Page A2
What do you think is the most important event of the decade?
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Barack Obama winning the Democratic Election in 2008.
Erica Sparks
Senior., healthcare admin.
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Lee McMair
Soph., finance and accounting
September 11th, 2001. Our country changed after that. thousands of people lost their lives.
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I would definitely have to say 9/11 because it changed the course of american history.
Nathaniel Westphal
Junior., bio-engineering
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The rise of Facebook. It has completely altered the way the country communicates with each other. Rhylie Thompson Cameron Roth Senior, poli. sci.
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Soph., psychology
Check out our list of the top ten most important events of the past decade in our Arts & Life section on Thursday.
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The president of the United States is an AfricanAmerican.
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