TECHNICIAN
friday march
7
2014
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Obama calls for higher reading levels Brittany Bynum Staff Writer
President Barack Obama launched a $200 million, 5-year initiative called My Brother’s Keeper on Feb. 27 to try to reach and uplift young black men and other minorities within their communities, according to the New York Times. Obama began his call to action because of underlying problems revealed in data concerning boys and young men of color. According to whitehouse.gov, 86 percent of African-American boys and 82 percent of Hispanic boys are reading below fourth-grade proficiency levels compared to 58 percent of white boys reading below fourthgrade proficiency levels. African-American and Hispanic young men are more than six times as likely to be victims of murder than their white peers, and they account for almost half of the country’s murder victims each year,
JOHN JOYNER/TECHNICIAN
President Obama announces the Next Generation Power Electronics Institute in the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Complex Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2013.
according to whitehouse.gov. “That is something that needs to be addressed,” said Marshall Anthony, a senior in business administration and chair of the Afrikan-Amer-
ican Student Advisory Council. There are many reasons why a student might read at a poor proficiency level, such as socioeconomic status, resources provided
for schools, caliber of teachers, or home environment, Anthony said. According to Anthony, Obama is entitled to address the issue of reading proficiency because it is closely
related to the president’s own childhood and race. Anthony said, though Obama is launching the new initiative, the president can’t do it alone and there has to be a hands-on effort from everybody. “If we let young men of color fall by the wayside in school, then what options do they have coming out?” Anthony said. Shelia Smith McKoy, director of the African American Cultural Center and a professor in Africana studies, said initiatives like My Brother’s Keeper will make it easier for students of color to access the assistance and support they need. “I hope that N.C. State will take the challenge and interface with those in the community who are interested in My Brother’s Keeper and make the University a place where diversity is celebrated and show that in our graduation outcomes,” McKoy said.
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Student Conduct deals with Lecturer talks computer crime through rehabilitation science and humanities Katherine Kehoe
Sahsa Afanasieva
Assistant News Editor
Staff Writer
While news of students getting in trouble with the law for one reason or another is constantly heard around campus, the way the University deals with those students is spoken about much less. According to Paul Cousins, the director of the Office of Student Conduct, about 600 to 800 students are referred to the Office of Student Conduct every year for disciplinary action due to violations of the Code of Student Conduct. If the offense is illegal under Federal or North Carolina law, the student may also be charged by law enforcement. There are times when students are charged with crimes outside of N.C. State’s campus in which the University is notified by outside law enforcement. Whether or not the University chooses to enforce its own additional disciplinary action depends on the severity of the offense, Cousins said. “The primary reasons that we would get involved would be if there is a real potential impact to the safety of the N.C. State community,” Cousins said. According to Cousins, violence to other people, possession and distribution of felony-level drugs, DUIs on campus and repeated instances of plagiarism or falsified research are all examples of offenses that represent significant risk to the community and could result in a student being forced to leave the University
About 20 students and faculty members gathered Thursday evening in Caldwell Hall while David Rieder, an associate professor in English and co-director of the Circuit Research Studio from N.C. State, presented about how computer science combined with humanities can result in a new form of expression. Rieder spoke about his book, titled Suasive Iterations, as well as the emphasis of his work and its relation to rhetoric. Rieder is an associate professor in English and co-director of the Circuit Research Studio at N.C. State. Rieder worked on a project in which the Xbox Kinect gaming device was modified to display poetry in the shape of the person standing in front of it. “Rhetoric can be described as a way of moving people, as a way of changing the way they think and feel,” Rieder said. “Traditionally it is done with language. What I am trying to do with rhetoric here is change the experience someone has with an object or within an immersive environment, and when that happens, it’s rhetoric.” “It is the kind of work that will be supported in the new Circuit Research Studio, as well as among librarians on campus like Brendan O’Connell,” Reider said. On Tuesday, the Circuit Research Studio opened at the Ricks Hall
VICTORIA CROCKER/TECHNICIAN
The Student Conduct Office is located on the third floor of Clark Hall. Students are often referred to the Student Conduct Office for marijuana possession and other crimes.
for a certain period of time. However, in an effort to address the root of the problem and help students get back on track, they are
often given “homework” while away, Cousins said.
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Annex in celebration of the new research space designed to bring digital media, engineering and the humanities together. Some attendees from the grand opening also attended Rieder’s presentation. “It’s really interesting,” said Kate Maddalena, a graduate student in English who attended both events. “I think it’s important for students to know that the English department is doing stuff with computers and interpretative work with computer code. [Rieder] is at the edge of that and forging the ground that links computer science with studying language.” In order to make a great number of his projects a reality, Rieder said he had to learn to program as well as learn how to use an open source microcontroller called Arduino. “To do interesting work in what is now called the digital humanities, you really have to have numeracy and literacy, not one or the other,” Rieder said. Rieder talked about how using sensors can be used to create new experiences that form links between the physical world and a virtual world, using the example of a body monitor called Fitbit that tracks physical activities, interprets data from the sensor and uploads it to the cloud in order to be accessed by the user’s phone. “What we are dealing with are four techno-stases,” Rieder said. “Sensors and actuators, microcon-
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Triangle Muscular Distrophy Association aims for $98,000 Chelsey Winstead Correspondent
The Muscular Dystrophy Association of the Triangle Region in North Carolina will be holding the 2014 Triangle Muscle Walk at noon March 15 at Lowe’s Home Improvement in Durham, N.C. This will be the 11th walk held by the Triangle Region branch of the MDA. What started as a small event with 14 participants raising about $4,000 has grown to 600 participants fundraising for the goal
of $98,000. The Triangle Region of MDA covers 18 counties and has 1,200 registered participants who are diagnosed with one of the 43 muscular diseases the region covered. The MDA helps not only those with muscular dystrophy but also people who are diagnosed with autoimmune and motoneuron diseases. Major sponsors of this year’s walk include NuMotion, Genzyme, The Oak Foundation, BodyBu i ld i ng.c om, P r ide
Movement and Kohl’s. The Triangle Region also recognizes Lowe’s Home Improvement in Durham, N.C. as a sponsor for hosting the Muscle Walk. Health Care Service Coordinator and Walk Director Katharine Paulhamus has worked with the Triangle Region MDA for almost three years. This will be her third time directing the walk, and she said she has watched the number of participants double since her first year. Paulhamus attributes much of the walk’s
success to the great teams that fundraise and the sponsors who help make the event possible. Along with directing the Muscle Walk, Paulhamus also manages the MDA clinics at the Duke University Medical Center and UNC Health Care and acts as a personal liaison for all families registered in the Triangle Region of MDA. Paulhamus started as a volunteer for MDA but applied for a professional
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ELIZABETH DAVIS/TECHNICIAN
Katherine Paulhamus, director of the Triangle area Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), organizes an annual fundraiser that will take place March 15. The MDA Muscle Walk is a national event that raises money to research and help families in need.