TECHNICIAN
Wake County may aim to have a 95 percent high school graduate rate
School administrators of Wake County want to raise the high school graduation rate from 82.9 percent to 95 percent by 2020 in a new strategic planned named Vision 2020. The school board will vote for the plan on Jan. 20, but it has received backlash with one administrator calling it unrealistic. In order to reach that goal, some strategies would include providing resources to schools based on their needs, creating a more effective learning environment, and offering counseling to support the needs of the child. Wake’s 2014 graduation rate is lower than the state graduation rate of 83.9 percent. Jim Martin, a chemistry professor, said graduation rates are meaningless if given the number of students who need remediation when they come to college. SOURCE: News & Observer
Flu season peaks early this year in NC
The flu season hit North Carolina earlier for the past two years, a trend continuing on this season. Usually flu activity peaks in January or February, but this year it peaked late November and early January. 17 people died due to flu complications through Christmas week, according to the Division of Public Health. The CDC warns that the vaccination for the H3N2 strain is not as effective because of mutations in the strain but public health officials still encourage people to get vaccinated. Hospitals in the Triangle area have taken precautionary steps to avoid the spread of the disease, like restricting visitors under the age of 12, limiting the amount of visitors per patient to 2 adults at a time and asking visitors with flulike symptoms to leave. SOURCE: News & Observer
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Scheduling changes coming in Spring 2016
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Public colleges receive more revenue from students than state funds
College tuition now surpasses the funds that public colleges receive from state governments due to a 55 percent median increase in tuition and 12 percent average decrease in state funding, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Howwever, the main source of revenue to public colleges from 2003-2012 came from private sources such as private gifts, contracts and grants. The GAO reported that college affordability is on the decline, with college tuition rising over 70 percent in the past five years in several states. In order to fix the imbalance between college tuition and state funding, experts suggest that federal funds should match state funds or to create incentives for students to graduate on time. SOURCE: NPR
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Raleigh, North Carolina
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Ian Grice Staff Writer
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Graduate student fullback Tyler Purvis celebrates with graduate student outside tackle/ outside guard Andy Jomantas after a rushing touchdown. Purvis had three receptions, two of which were for touchdowns. The Wolfpack dominated the UNC Tar Heels 35-7 on November 29th at Kenan Stadium.
Forced from office PRO TEMPORE STEPS UP AFTER CONDUCT ISSUES PRECLUDED ALEX GRINDSTAFF FROM SERVING Katherine Kehoe News Editor
The NC State Student Senate swore in a new president Tuesday evening after former Student Senate President Alex Grindstaff was forced to step down due to a university rule that students found responsible for a student conduct violation are not eligible to participate in Student Government. The new president, Cody Long, the former president pro tempore and a sophomore studying history, reluctantly took office after the Office of Student Conduct found late last semester that Grindstaff was responsible for lying on a medical form submitted to allow him to retake an exam. “It says a lot about a leader if his successor doesn’t want to succeed him,” Long said. Grindstaff said he feels the university has treated him unfairly by vacating his position on the grounds of cheating, citing that he used false documentation to get an academic advantage. “I followed every procedure, and I got every signature to try and prove my case,” Grindstaff said. “I didn’t have any reason to
lie, but I was still found responsible in the end.” While he is excited about taking on his role this semester, Long said Grindstaff did great work during his time on Student Senate, and his absence will be harmful to the university, as Grindstaff was one of the most active and dedicated senators during his combined total of three and a half years on Student Senate. Long, who was a first-year senator last year, said he is excited to take on the position, but it is nerve-racking to have received such an inf luential position so early on into his senate career. “There is a lot to learn,” Long said. “In these kinds of situations where the ball is just dropped in your court, there is only so much preparation you can do.” Grindstaff said he thinks Long will do good work in the senate, but he is concerned about his lack of experience. “I know Cody would do a great job, but he’s a sophomore,” Grindstaff said. “He has a huge potential.” Regardless of his opinions of the situation, Long was obligated to fulfill the role of Student Senate President once the office was vacated due to statutes sur-
Beginning in the spring of 2016, students will not only have more options for 75-minute class periods, but Centennial and Main Campuses will operate on a unified timetable, eliminating differences between class start-times. The faculty senate, the associate deans and records calendar committee green-lit Registration and Records to institute a unified university timetable, according to Jim Hunt, vice provost of the office of enrollment and management services and university registrar. The new timetable will allow the university to schedule more 75 minute class-
“This simplifies the heck out of it. It’s kind of amazing.” Jim Hunt, vice provost of the office of enrollment and management services and university registrar
rounding his role as president pro tempore. “It’s a very sticky situation,” Long said. Grindstaff never officially submitted his resignation due to his disagreement with the conduct ruling. Long said if the Student Senate would have been allowed to vote on whether or not it wanted to accept Grindstaff ’s resignation, he would have stood by Grindstaff’s position as Student Senate President. The university’s decision, which was decided based on a conduct policy that states a conduct hearing board must find the student “more likely than not” to have committed the offense in question, eliminated his ability to participate in student government and automatically vacated the Office of Student Senate President. Grindstaff has been arguing his case to the university for months through the conduct process. He said the discrepancy in the medical form’s contents was the result of an unintended misprint from the hospital who wrote the medical note, and he did not intentionally submit an inaccurate medical form.
es throughout the week and will eliminate the 5-minute time differential for classes on Centennial campus. In 2005, a time differential, was added between Centennial campus and Main Campus classes to allow for travel time. However, according to Hunt, the time differential doesn’t actually work. Hunt said students don’t currently have enough time to wait for a bus, travel to main campus and get to another class during the allotted break time. The new schedule will eliminate the 8:05 a.m. start time, making the earliest offered classes start at 8:30 a.m. every day of the week. The schedule changes will have several advantages, as data suggests most faculty and students prefer the 8:30 start to the 8:05 start time, Hunt said. The new timetable also has the potential to alleviate traffic congestion in the mornings. “On the current schedule, many faculty and staff members arrive at 8 a.m. If students were to arrive later, there may be a staggering effect,” Hunt said. Certain subjects, such as foreign languages, mathematics or statistics might prefer the 50 minute class three or four days a week, whereas many of other disciplines prefer the 75 minutes two days a week, Hunt said. Hunt said that data collected by the Office of Registration and Records sug-
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Basketball player charged in pellet gun incident FEATURES WKNC fundraiser celebrates 11th anniversary
Staff Report
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NC State basketba ll player Terry Henderson was arrested Monday and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, shooting a f irearm within Raleigh city limits and causing injury to personal property. He and another man, Shawn Jerome Dunn, were firing an airpowered pellet gun at a vehicle
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early Monday morning at the 7700 block of Crocker Drive, according to the News & Observer. Henderson is a transfer student from West Virginia and is unable play in the 2014-2015 season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules, but he is expected to be an asset to the Wolfpack next year. Henderson averaged 11.7 points per game last season at West Virginia University.
Police said either Dunn or Henderson knew the victim who was in the vehicle involved in the shooting. Fred Demarest, the associated athletics director for communication and marketing at NC State, said in a press release that the university will wait until forthcoming court proceedings before making further comments about the incident.
SOURCE: RALEIGH/WAKE CCBI CRIMINAL ARREST RECORDS PORTAL
Terry Henderson
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