Kent state student and photojournalist travels to japan to document the destruction of the tsunami. PAGE 6
DAILY KENT STATER
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 • The independent student newspaper of Kent State University • Weather: Mostly sunny, HI 42, LO 26
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Geno to leave KSU Men’s basketball team in state of shock after Ford’s unexpected move
Remembering, missing Enrollment doubles in Computer and Kent State student killed Information Systems in spring break accident Department must It’s OK to be sad for now, but she would want us to be happy. We should just live the way she lived and treat people the way she treated people.
Rachel Jones
rjones62@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater The Kent State athletic department named associate head coach Rob Senderoff the interim head coach of the men’s basketball team until a replacement for former head coach Geno Ford is found. “I’ve seen firsthand the relationships Rob has built with these young men,” said Joel Nielsen, the director of athletics at Kent State, during a press conference Monday. “It’s genuine. They’re not purely acting out of emotion saying, ‘We just want somebody who’s here right now.’” While it was critical to name Senderoff as soon as possible, Nielsen said the nation-wide search to permanently replace Ford will not be c o n c l u d e d a s FORD quickly. The athletic department is taking a few days to absorb the sudden change before narrowing down the dozens of candidates it is already considering to avoid any rash decisions. Although Ford’s decision to leave could be considered just that. After several conversations in the past few days, Ford made an indication to Nielsen on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. that he would be leaving the Flashes after serving as head coach for three years. Nielsen was “alerted to the Bradley University website” at 9:30 p.m. to see Ford accepted a head coach position there. “I would have hoped for better communication because there was excellent communication (earlier),” Nielsen said. “I would’ve liked to sit down and hear his thoughts and ideas.” And the players agreed. “I’m in a state of shock,” junior guard Carlton Guyton said. “It was very unexpected.” Guyton said he found out when a former coach called him Sunday at 9:55 p.m. and said he heard Ford was leaving. After an online search confirmed what Guyton thought was “a joke or something,” he attended a meeting with his teammates and several staff members at 10:15 p.m. Everyone there had mixed emotions, from surprise to sadness to anger. See FORD, Page 2
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CHELSEY ELLIS | ROOMMATE
Dawn Einsel
deinsel@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater Some knew her as Rachael. Most people called her Carli. But to her father, Rachael Carlina Woodruff was just his energetic 19-year-old girl and best friend. “To me, it was just her,” Donald Woodruff said. “It was my daughter either way.” According to Delaware State Highway Patrol, on March 22, Rachael was headed home to Loveland, Ohio, to see friends and family for spring break. Around 2:30 p.m. she stopped at a rest area off of Interstate 71 in Delaware County. As she was leaving, Joshua Morris, 32, of Streetsboro, became distracted by his cell phone and lost control of his vehicle. He crossed the median, all three lanes of southbound traffic and the rest area exit ramp before striking Rachael’s car. She was taken by EMS to Grant Hospital where she died from her injuries. Friends and family gathered Monday in her hometown for funeral services. Those closest to her remember her for her sense of humor, her ability to connect with others and her spirit. Caitlin Parker, junior history and pre-law major, and Katie Thomas, junior speech pathology major, heard the news together. Both met Rachael at the beginning of the fall semester through mutual friends. “It was something that we didn’t realize could be real,” Parker said. “She was just such a vivacious, fun-loving girl, and this would be the last person that something like this could ever happen to.” Chelsey Ellis, junior nursing major, met Rachael two years ago when she was a sophomore and Rachael was a freshman. They became roommates this summer. “The most important thing that I want people to know is just that she always made people feel comfortable and welcome,” Ellis said. “She would go to a party with a few friends and leave with 20.” Her father said that Rachael came to Kent State looking for a big school without being in a big city. She was a sophomore intervention specialist major
and was recently hired at Hattie Larlham, which provides services for the developmentally disabled. She was scheduled to start next week. Donald Woodruff said that it was her big heart and love for people that made her perfect for her field. “I think that she understood that beauty is really something that comes from the inside,” he said. Rachael was also very athletic and a little competitive, involved in many sports throughout the years. Her father recalled her placing fifth in state for diving at a very young age. She went to the Junior Olympics twice for track and played soccer in high school. But he said that when she came to Kent State she wanted to focus on her studies. He said that what Rachael really enjoyed was the camaraderie that came along with being a part of a group. Pallbearers at her funeral were mostly former teammates. “She was the one that kept people laughing, and she had that really contagious personality that made you want to get to know her more,” Parker said. “She just really let you in.” The driver of the vehicle that struck Rachael was not injured and no charges have been filed as the accident remains under investigation. Since the incident, many friends have vowed to never use their cell phones while driving again and are telling Rachael’s story to others to inspire them to do the same. “There’s just nothing that important that it can’t wait a few minutes,” Parker said. “People don’t realize that a little distraction can have big consequences,” added Thomas. Even though she is gone, her smile remains in the memories of those who knew her. It will be a reminder to stay positive, just as Rachael always was. “It’s OK to be sad for now, but she would want us to be happy,” Ellis said. “We should just live the way she lived and treat people the way she treated people.” Dawn Einsel is a city reporter.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
On left, Kent State student Rachael Carlina Woodruff poses with her roommate, Chelsey Ellis. Woodruff died from injuries sustained in a car accident Tuesday, March 22.
accommodate growth
Enrollment in CIS major
Leighann McGivern
n FALL
2006:
62
lmcgive2@kent.edu
n FALL
2007:
63
Daily Kent Stater
n FALL
2008:
48
Enrollment in the computer and information systems program has nearly doubled in the last five years, from 62 students in Fall 2006 to 113 students this year. Computer information systems are “the software systems that are essential to the daily operation of organizations,” according to the CIS website. Examples include airline reservation systems, bank automated teller systems, trade systems for stock exchanges and accounting and auditing systems. The CIS major, which falls under the management and information systems department in the College of Business Administration, teaches students how to “design and manage such computer systems for a company and how to help people use the computer system effectively and efficiently,” according to the CIS website. Pratim Datta, a management and information systems assistant professor, said the increased enrollment is the result of teamwork between CIS industry members, students and faculty.
n FALL
2009:
44
n FALL
2010:
101
n CURRENT: 113
“It is this engaged teamwork that is a recipe for higher enrollments,” Datta said. “Our CIS students are the worthiest ambassadors of our program and deserve the most credit. They manifest and promote Kent State’s ‘Excellence in Action.’” Felix Offodile, chairperson for management and information systems, said he attributes the recent growth to professional involvement in the program through the Center for Information Systems. “It’s a method for professionals in the industry who come here and actually help provide internships for our majors, and some of them are interested in hiring our majors,” Offodile said. “They help us with the curriculum, tell us what is current, what the average See CIS, Page 2
Kent State administration announces social event moratorium continuance A discussion between administrative staff and representatives from student organizations was not enough to lift the ban on social events. “When the final decision was recommended to Vice President (Greg) Jarvie, we took everything into consideration,” said Timeka Rashid, assistant dean of students and director of the Center for Student Involvement. “We took what we discussed in November, the feedback from our staff and student organizations and what other surrounding universities were moving to.” The Social Events Moratorium is an unwritten ban for on-campus parties. A letter sent to student organizations before spring break announced the moratorium’s continuance. A social event is defined as a gathering of on-campus and offcampus students, accompanied by a DJ, to have a party. The ban was a response to behavioral incidents in Fall 2009. Rashid said CSI is working with students to eliminate any
confusion about the policy. “Some people had ques tions like, ‘Well, does that mean we can’t have a reception after our event?’” Rashid said. “No, because a social event is when the main purpose of getting together is to have a party.” Rashid said the administration considered how other universities, like the University of Akron and Bowling Green State University, are moving away from allowing on-campus parties because of liability issues. Rashid said the shooting at Youngstown State University, which resulted in the death of a student, coincidently occurred around the same time of the January discussion. She said the incident was a factor in the decision. “We want to make sure students are safe,” Rashid said. “It may seem like an all or nothing, but for us, we are looking at the long-term well-being of students.” — Christine Morgan, student affairs reporter
Obama on Libya: ‘We have a responsibility to act’ WASHINGTON (AP) — Vigorously defending the first war launched on his watch, President Barack Obama declared Monday night that the United States intervened in Libya to prevent a slaughter of civilians that would have stained the world’s conscience and “been a betrayal of who we are” as Americans. Yet he ruled out targeting Moammar Gadhafi, warning that trying to oust him militarily would be a mistake as costly as the war in Iraq. Obama announced that NATO would take command over the entire Libya operation Wednesday, keeping his pledge to get the U.S. out of the lead fast — but offering no estimate on when the conflict might end and no details about its costs despite demands for those answers from
lawmakers. He declined to label the U.S.-led military campaign as a “war,” but made an expansive case for why he believed it was in the national interest of the United States and allies to use force. In blunt terms, Obama said the U.S.-led response had stopped Gadhafi’s advances and halted a slaughter that could have shaken the stability of an entire region. Obama cast the intervention in Libya as imperative to keep Gadhafi from killing those rebelling against him and to prevent a refugee crisis that would drive Libyans into Egypt and Tunisia, two countries emerging from their own uprisings. “To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and —
more profoundly — our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are,” Obama said. He spoke in a televised address to the nation, delivered in front of a respectful audience of military members and diplomats. Obama spoke as, in Libya, rebel forces bore down Monday on Gadhafi with the help of airstrikes by the U.S.-led forces. His speech was his most aggressive attempt to answer the questions mounting from Republican critics, his own party and war-weary Americans — chiefly, why the U.S. was immersed in war in another Muslim nation. Amid protests and crackdowns across the Middle East and North Africa, Obama stated his case that Libya stands alone.
Obama said the United States had a unique ability to stop the violence, an international mandate and broad coalition, and the ability to stop Gadhafi’s forces without sending in American ground troops. The message to his country and the world: Libya is not a precedent for intervention anywhere else. Reaction to the speech in Congress tended to break along partisan lines, with Republicans faulting the president for what they said was his failure to define the mission clearly. “When our men and women in uniform are sent into harm’s way, Americans and troops deserve a clear mission from our commander in chief, not a speech nine days late,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Armed Services Com-
mittee and head of the Senate Republicans’ political arm. “President Obama failed to explain why he unilaterally took our nation to war without bothering to make the case to the U.S. Congress.” T h e p re s i d e n t s o u g h t t o address critics who have said the U.S. mission remains muddled. Indeed, he reiterated the White House position that Gadhafi should not remain in power, but the U.N. resolution that authorized power does not go that far. That gap in directives has left the White House to deal with the prospect that Gadhafi will remain indefinitely. Obama said the U.S. would try to isolate him other ways. He said that the tasks U.S. forces were carrying out — to protect Libyan civilians and establish a
no-fly zone — had international support. If the U.S. were to seek to overthrow Gadhafi by force, “our coalition would splinter,” the president said. Left unclear is what happens if Gadhafi stays. Domestic politics got a nod, too, in a nation saddled in debt and embroiled over how to cut spending. “The risk and cost of this operation — to our military and to American taxpayers — will be reduced significantly,” Obama said. The president said transferring the mission to NATO would leave the United States in a supporting role, providing intelligence, logistical support and search and rescue assistance. He said the U.S. would also use its capabilities to jam Gadhafi’s means of communication.