Friday, Feb. 6, 2015 | Volume 210 | Number 94 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Jonathan North/Iowa State Daily
GSB Senator Megan Sweere polls students Ayeesha Ali and Ariana Mora at the GSB booth at Parks Library.
GSB listens to students through new booth in library By Michaela.Ramm @iowastatedaily.com Students have the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about issues around campus directly to those who can do something about it, thanks to the Government of the Student Body’s new method of outreach. GSB has set up a booth in Parks Library, which is manned by senators from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., daily. The booth began the first week of the semester. The booth was created by Dan Breitbarth, GSB vice-speaker, in order to gather student feedback and for senators to better reach out to their constituents. “The main reason why I want to outreach [is] because it’s not necessarily about us being known, but it’s the fact that we’re a big resource and people need to understand they have the opportunity to use,” Breitbarth said. Breitbarth said GSB holds negotiating power within the university and gathering student feedback is important. “Typically, we have all the information we need to make all the smart choices for students, but we just want to make sure their voices are heard,” Breitbarth said. “So this is one of those ways we can outreach and make sure we’re not just making decisions based off of what we think.” David Moore, GSB senator, said the function of the booth is getting the GSB name out for the students to see. “I think this is a way for us to show our presence a little bit more, which was not there in the past,” Moore said. Breitbarth said GSB can use their resources to act upon any problems students may see on campus, whether it is regarding academics or overall campus life. The booth is also meant to give GSB and its senators more visibility to the student population. “It gives students the opportunity to come up to us in a relaxed setting to simply have a conversation or fill out a sheet with comments or questions,” Breitbarth said. The library booth is helping senators actively represent GSB, Breitbarth said, because it helps them become more outgoing with students. Moore said he believes it’s been a success so far, not only because people see GSB representatives reaching out, but because they are starting to answer questions that people hold onto. “At first, it was really slow but I think as people see it a little more, they’ve been willing to come up to us,” Moore said. “It’s definitely been picking up because there’s been a lot of interest in helping out with projects.” The library was chosen for the booth setup because it is in a centralized location that almost all students visit during the week. Breitbarth said as vicespeaker, it’s his duty to make sure senators are performing their outreach duties. The previous system wasn’t working in everyone’s best interest. Last year, GSB senators were required to participate in in-office hours and out-of-office hours. Breitbarth said the system wasn’t working and wanted to change it. Setting up the library booth was his solution. Breitbarth said the booth is a better alternative because it gives the students a visual of GSB. Moore said students see the booth and wonder what GSB is. “A lot of people look at GSB and they won’t be sure what it
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Hair color stereotypes to dye for
B
londes have more fun, or so they say. For years, people have dyed their hair different colors. But by changing their hair color, they may also be changing their societal stereotype, as well.
Photo illustration: Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily
By Sarah.Muller @iowastatedaily.com “Any time you take a stereotype and apply it to a group of people, it’s not going to be accurate at all. There is hardly going to be any truth to it,” said Kevin Blankenship, associate professor in psychology and communication studies. “There is the idea of a kernel of truth that maybe there was something there initially.” Stereotypes are summary beliefs or character-
istics we have about people generally, Blankenship said. “We tend to have stereotypes about people we have never met and probably never will encounter,” said Kristi Costabile, assistant professor in psychology and communications studies. “It’s probably not from interacting with people that we learn these stereotypes. [Instead], it’s from getting information from others.” Different things can contribute to stereotypes. Blankenship explains that
one way is direct experiences, which means having an experience with someone with some type of characteristic and associating that with a quality that stands out in that person. People can indirectly see rewards or punishments for particular behaviors or appearances. For example, Penny, a blonde character in the show “The Big Bang Theory,” is depicted as ditzy or not as intelligent as the other females in the show, who are brunette.
Regents approve business program, Forker renovation By Danielle.Ferguson @iowastatedaily.com The new master of business analytics program and a request to proceed with planning renovations to Forker Hall were both approved Thursday by the Iowa Board of Regents. The board met this week in Cedar Falls and unanimously approved both items and received updates on each regent university’s maintenance, the efficiency study and an admissions index study that standardized the way Iowa students can apply to all of Iowa’s public universities. The University of Iowa and Iowa State University both proposed new business analytics programs, both of which were approved, and shared a collaborative effort. Students can take up to nine credits in either program to count toward the other. The program deals with “big data” and provides training in business process analysis, predictive modeling, fraud detection, risk management and more. “I’ve gotten ... an enthusiastic perception from business people from across the state [because of] a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 workers with the skills in the big data area,” said David Spalding, dean of the College of Business, at the Education and Student affairs. The program is anticipated to have 20 students enrolled in the first year — planned to be fall 2015 — and up to 70 in the seventh year. The expected program cost for the first year at Iowa state is about $301,000. The College of Human Sciences identified about 6,250 square feet of poor-quality and underused space in the Forker Building to be renovated. The improvements would create additional faculty offices, rest-
“It does make sense that there are certain stereotypes that hold to certain aspects of people,” Costabile said. “Hair color could be the sort of thing that men and women are treated differently. You might notice that hair color might have an interaction with race.” Blankenship said he thinks there are conscious cues that men may pick up on in a social atmosphere with women, making them more or less approachable. HAIR p8
Fraternity will hold candle light vigil for survivors of sexual assault By Danielle.Ferguson, Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com
Jenna Reeves/Iowa State Daily
President Leath speaks at an open forum in October. At the most recent Board of Regents meeting, regents approved the new master of business analytics program.
rooms and provide a fully automatic fire sprinkler system throughout the original 1940 portion of the building. The building, which is now the home to the Department of Kinesiology, was originally used as a women’s physical education center, said Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance. The project will cost about $5 million. The board also approved the plan for a revised standard Regents Admissions Index, based off of a recommendation Deloitte Consulting provided in a business case as part of the efficiency study. The original admission requirement included a four-part equation, including high school GPA, performance on the ACT or SAT, the number of core subject areas taken in high school and a class ranking. More high schools around Iowa are turning away from providing a class rank, said regent Diana Gonzalez, and anyone who receives a 245 automatically gains admission. Deloitte’s recommendation was to create an online portal where students could apply to all three regent universities in one application. The new admissions index equation combines students’
ACT score multiplied by three, high school GPA multiplied by 30 and the amount of core courses taken multiplied by five to equal 245. The new balance, Gonzalez said, is to put more weight on the amount of core courses taken to balance not using the high school ranking. The new calculation will be implemented for the entering freshman class of summer and fall 2016. ISU President Steven Leath gave updates on Iowa State’s new initiatives — such as the ISU4U agreement — and methods on dealing with the enrollment growth. The ISU4U agreement, a deal made between Iowa State and King and Moulton elementary schools in inner city Des Moines, allows students at the schools the chance to earn free tuition at Iowa State if they meet certain requirements. “It’s aimed at making a college education more affordable, but it’s really more than that,” Leath said. “These two schools represent some of the most diverse student bodies in the entire state. Students there face some very difficult socio-
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The men of Theta Chi fraternity and other ISU students will convene to hold a candle light reflection in honor of sexual assault victims. The silent vigil is scheduled from 7 to 7:45 p.m. Sunday, at the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center at the Sloss House. Brennan Goodman, senior in environmental science, helped organize the reflection in an effort to “spark community-wide action.” Goodman said attendees at the event will write positive messages and words of encouragement to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence on blank canvases with teal and purple markers — the awareness colors for sexual assault and domestic violence. The canvases will be displayed in the Memorial Union and other areas around the campus. Attendees can bring candles, but they must be covered or battery-powered. The event will be silent and a time for personal reflection for attendees who have experienced or know someone who has experienced sexual assault or domestic violence. Goodman said he thinks everyone on campus should be talking about how to prevent sexual assault. “We could all do something,” he said. Another event that will promote sexual assault awareness and prevention is scheduled for Feb. 18.