Wednesday, April 19, 2017| Volume 212 | Number 228 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Iowa State NROTC unit dismisses midshipman after accusations By Michael.Heckle and Alex.Connor @iowastatedaily.com An Iowa State student has been dismissed from the university’s Naval ROTC program after an altercation in July during which he said he was physically and sexually assaulted. The student, whose name has been redacted because of the Iowa State Daily’s policy to not reveal names of sexual
assault victims, said he was assaulted at a family celebration on July 4, 2016 by a high school acquaintance. His dismissal follows two Performance Review Board (PRB) sessions in which the board concluded that because of an integrity violation on the fault of the student – because he lied to his superior officers about the specificity of his injuries – he should be dismissed from the program. According to documents ob-
tained by the Iowa State Daily, the student “possessed many of the attributes” desired in a Marine Corps officer candidate and he is “reliable, disciplined, intelligent and physically fit,” Capt. Scott Curtis, commanding officer of the NROTC unit, wrote in a letter to the Commander of the Naval Science Training Command recommending the student’s disenrollment from the program. “If not for questions regarding his character and integrity
associated with the events that led him to this board, he would serve as a superb example to aspiring Marines in the Iowa State NROTC,” Curtis wrote. The student, because of his dismissal from the program, is required to pay back 2.5 years of out-of-state tuition and stipends. The university has launched an investigation into the incident. The student said he was sexually and physically assaulted
on July 4, 2016 after a family gathering in which alcohol was consumed underage. He said his high school acquaintance, 19, had been rubbing his genitals and inner legs with a beer bottle against his wishes. Pushing the acquaintance away, the student was then hit on the head with a glass bottle. According to a Nebraska police report after the incident oc-
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THE Lani Tons/Iowa State Daily
With Gov. Terry Branstad’s approval, texting while driving will become a primary offense in Iowa on July 1, 2017.
Branstad signs laws against texting, drinking while driving By Emily.Hammer @iowastatedaily.com Texting while driving will become a primary offense in Iowa on July 1, 2017, under one of two pieces of legislation Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law Monday, according to the Des Monies Register. Phone usage was previously considered a secondary offense, meaning officers needed another reason to stop a driver. Under the new law, officers will now be able to pull over drivers they suspect of using their phone while behind the wheel, including “writing, sending or viewing an electronic message,” according to Senate File 234. Included in offendable phone usage is using the internet, social media, a game and some email functions. The legislation allows for use of voice-operated and hands-free devices that can write, send and view electronic messages and only require hand usage to activate or deactivate the device. Branstand also signed Senate File 444, which, in the case of homicide-by-vehicle, would allow a person’s use of a cellphone while driving to be entered into evidence as reckless driving. This would allow offenders to be charged with a Class C felony and receive up to 10 years of jail time as well as a $10,000 fine. Maggy McGary, freshman in history, sees the new law in a positive light, and said she’s happy about it. McGary’s passion for the legislation comes from personal experience. One of her friends has been the victim of three hit-and-runs, with at least one resulting from texting and driving. The other legislation that Branstad signed into law Monday adds a new punishment for drivers arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated. Following a similar South Dakota program in 2005 that saw a decrease in alcohol-related fatalities, Iowa’s initiative will require arrested or convicted drivers to abstain from alcohol and controlled substances for a certain period of time and report for Breathalyzer tests twice a day. Tests will be administrated at a centralized location. For those who are geographically unable to make it or if testing creates a documented hardship, an approved alternative method will be applied. Those who fail may face up to 24 hours in jail. The new pieces of legislation, which are both supported across the political spectrum, come after Branstad mentioned in January the rising number of fatalities on Iowa roads due to driver impairment such as texting and drinking while driving. “Together, these two bills, which passed with strong bipartisan support, will make an impact on improving highway safety in our state,” he said Monday.
Ames •Boone• Stoy City
ISU Theatre production flips gender roles By Hollie.Schlesselman @iowastatedaily.com ISU Theatre’s version of The Tempest may be a bit different from the way Shakespeare intended his play to be told. Instead, Director Amanda Petefish-Schrag decided to tell the story of The Tempest through her own viewpoint – she cast women as major characters compared to Shakespeare’s, replacing roles previously played by men. The Tempest, which will debut Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and run periodically throughout the weekend at Fischer Theatre, is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610 or 1611. “The Tempest, from a plot perspective, is the story of a woman [Prospero],” Petefish-Schrag, assistant professor in the theatre department, said. [She] has had her title stolen from her in a plot set several years prior to the events of this play, during which her sister [Antonio] sort of conspired against her to take away her dukedom.” Prospero had been Duke of Milan, but her sisters and others had overthrown her and banished her to an island after she pursued to learn about magic. The play begins after Prospero, along with her magical servant Ariel, has formed the “perfect storm,” or tempest, to bring her sister to the island she was forced to when
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Art courtesy of Andrew Smith/ISU Theatre; photo by Kennedy DeRaedt/Iowa State Daily
Vivian Cook, senior in performing arts, rehearses for The Tempest. Cook plays Prospero’s magical servant Ariel in the play.
Student-athletes highlighted By Jake.Dalbey @iowastatedaily.com Athletics were featured prominently during Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting in order to report on the successes of the “student” within a student-athlete, specifically graduation trends. Tim Day, faculty athletics representative and presidentelect of the Faculty Senate, presented on the positive data trends that summarize student-athlete education statistics in 2016. When compared to standard university students, who on average held a 2.99 GPA in the fall and a 2.97 GPA in the spring, student-athletes were able to hold a higher average GPA of 3.04 in the fall and 2.99 in the spring.
Kennedy DeRaedt/Iowa State Daily
Tim Day, professor of biomedical sciences, spoke about the academic performance of student-athletes at Iowa State during Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
Success can also be seen when comparing studentathlete graduation rates over a six-year cohort, nearly 75 percent, to the 71 percent rate
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of normal university students. “With this data, we ask, ‘Does the student body and athletic body match up with this data?’ And these numbers
show this is the case,” Day said. When looking at the NCAA’s
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