The News Record 09.16.13

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VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE I • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1

THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / MONDAY, SEPT. 16, 2013

RIDDICK BRAND NEW RIDICULOUS

SCORES OF STUDENTS FEAST AT ANNUAL CECHS COOKOUT

BEARCAT BEATDOWN

BAND STOPS IN CINCINNATI, ONE OF FOUR TOUR DATES

GOT RIBS?

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Heart attack survivor reunites with first responders UC Air Care paramedics, county firefighters meet with recovered patient they rescued months ago JAMIE MAIER CHIEF REPORTER

LAUREN KREMER CONTRIBUTOR

Sharon Wegford, stands with the crew that aided in her transportation to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in May, at a reunion Sunday.

Partnership to address lack of nursing instructors

After suffering from a severe heart attack May 26, Sharon Wegford was reunited with the medics and firefighters who saved her life Sunday. Wegford and her husband, Mark, got the chance to meet Wegford’s first responders from the University of Cincinnati Health Air Care and the Southern Campbell Country Fire Department who saved her life at a reunion Sunday, organized by Katy Cosse from UC Medical Clinic. “We’re just very thankful. Everybody was great. UC was great. The air care was great. The fire department was great. We’re just very grateful,” Mark Wegford said. Sharon Wegford, a Campbell County resident, was diagnosed with heartburn and acid reflux in May, and

had just received a normal test on her electrocardiogram earlier that week when she started feeling discomfort in her chest. Wegford explained that her symptoms were very common, but as they worsened she and her husband decided to drive to the hospital. “About two minutes from [the fire department] she just grabbed her chest, her head went down, and I knew that something really serious had happened,” Mark Wegford said. After calling 911, he remembered he was near the fire department and told the operator he would be there soon. The entire squad was at the department that day for their Memorial Day picnic, but the 911 operator had called ahead to let the fire department know someone was coming. “It was all very miraculous. It was almost like God said we’re going to give you to people who are going to take care of you,” Mark Wegford said. “Either it happened all by SEE REUNION PG 2

DISSECTING SITUATION IN SYRIA

EMILY WITT CONTRIBUTOR

To address the growing shortage in clinical nursing instructors, the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the College of Nursing are teaming up to offer a new, more personalized program for nursing students. The new one-on-one program places junior nursing students into a dedicated education unit, where staff nurses at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center will train them for one term. The program offers a more personal environment compared to previous years in which students were trained in groups of eight to ten with one faculty member. With the new program, students will care for patients in a 24-bed surgical unit. The post-operative bed unit is currently staffed with eight nurses during the day and seven nurses at night. College of Nursing Dean Greer Glazer is hopeful the program will not only have a positive impact on the students, but the entire UC medical community. “The short-term goal is to develop a partnership with the medical center through which we cultivate an interest among staff nurses to consider expanding their role to include clinical teaching,” Glazer said. “The long-term impact of this project is to generate a pool of qualified clinical teachers to address the national nursing faculty shortage.” The college received a grant by the Ohio Board of Nursing for $198,330 to assist in funding the program. Similar to the intent of UC, the board is seeking to increase the program’s enrollment capacity at the clinical instructor level — a growing problem among nursing programs in the United States. In 2011, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that nursing schools turned away almost 80,000 qualified students due to an insufficient number of faculty, classroom space, SEE NURSING PG 2

DAN SULLIVAN CONTRIBUTOR

As the international community watches the war in Syria unfold, UC professors brought the conversation to Swift hall to let students ask experts questions to gain perspective.

Professors break down the crisis in Syria, students pack Swift Hall SAM MORREN STAFF REPORTER

In an effort to have informed and comprehensive discourse about the Syrian crisis, the University of Cincinnati hosted a panel discussion titled “Syria and the United States: Politics of Crisis and Intervention”Thursday. Scholars from a broad range of backgrounds provided insights into the origins of the conflict and the ramifications of the United States’ action or inaction on the international stage. “It’s important as a university to educate the community,” said Robert Haug, assistant professor of history. “So that when situations like [Syria] or others arise, the community is able to utilize the expertise within the university to tackle and explore the tough questions.” Stephen Porter, assistant professor of history and director of the international

human rights certificate program at UC, opened the dialogue with a presentation about the human rights crisis that the world is facing in Syria. “There is a human crisis in Syria today, and it does not matter what action or inaction the US takes; the conflict and its participants, especially the Assad regime, have violated the human dignity with the chemical attacks,” Porter said. The conversation shifted towards questions over international law and the use of force, which Rebecca Sanders, assistant professor of political science at UC, delved into for her part of the discussion. “The situation in Syria is about the people against the regime,” Sanders said. “The Syrian regime punishes the civilian population for supporting the revolution and the international community has been passive about the human crisis.” Sanders discussed possible ramifications of limited military strikes and the United States political-military strategy towards the Middle East.

Andrew Lewis, assistant professor of political science at UC, focused on constitutionality and executive powers. He said the present administration’s actions illustrated how the democratic process ought to be followed compared to other administrations in the past. “The President’s action to go to congress for approval was a way to seek the approval of the American public,” Lewis said. “It’s important to discuss when and how should the international community best take action in this humanitarian crisis.” Elizabeth Frierson, associate professor of Middle Eastern history at UC, concluded the panel’s presentations with a historic synopsis of how the armed conflict escalated its present state. “The Syrian conflict began as a peaceful movement that escalated to the atrocious armed conflict we face today,” said Frierson in her presentation. “Today’s human crisis not only affects those who protested, but all Syrian people from every social status and every religious affiliation.”

‘Ground’ breaking research taps into coffee’s energy for bio-fuel Celebrating backgrounds, interests goes beyond enrollment, shifts to required literature NATHALIA BACKELJAUW CONTRIBUTOR

University of Cincinnati researchers discovered that caffeine might not be the only useful source of energy found in coffee. Qingshi Tu, a doctoral student in environmental engineering at UC, came up with the idea of using coffee grounds as an alternative energy source after learning about Starbucks’ initiative to become more environmentally friendly. “I started to think how I can mingle together the two

things that I am intrigued with — coffee and biofuel — to provide a solution for people to live a sustainable life,”Tu said. Along with the help of Yang Liu, a graduate student in environmental engineering, and Mingming Lu, an associate professor in environmental engineering, Tu is researching three different ways in which coffee grounds can be used as alternative energy sources. Currently, major sources for biodiesel production — a substitute for petroleum diesel fuel —are vegetable oils and animal fats. Replacing these sources with waste coffee grounds would improve the sustainability of biodiesel production. One main area of focus involves developing a method to extract oil from the waste coffee grounds to produce the

biodiesel. Waste coffee grounds remaining after the initial extraction can be used to purify the crude biodiesel derived from the coffee oils. After the biodiesel is purified, coffee grounds can be used again as additional fuel for burners. Tu said he is confident the technologies for production, purification and combustion could be completed in the next two years. WCG’s are an ideal source for biodiesel production, Tu said, because they eliminate usage of edible oils — oils from foods in high demand — reduce costs of feedstock, increase competitiveness between biodiesel producers, and create more biodiesel production. SEE COFFEE PG 2

Non-incumbent council candidates weigh in on political climate in Cincinnati Hot city issues will likely decide who makes it to City Hall November BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR

PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR

Cincinnati City Council candidate Amy Murray speaks with UC students about her campaign in 527 Old Chem.

The deciding factor for the success of two non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates will not likely be party lines, but their stances on the year’s top issues. Council candidates Amy Murray and Greg Landsman took a break from the campaign trail to talk to University of Cincinnati students about how they plan to win seats on council in November. The two visited a politics class Thursday commonly referred to as Win, which is aimed at teaching students how to accomplish a political agenda. “Behind every campaign there is a theory,” said Terry Grundy, a planning professor who teaches the class. “Election

day is an experiment where we test these theories.” Both candidates won the endorsement of their political party — the Hamilton County Republican Party endorsed Murray and the Hamilton County Democratic Party endorsed Landsman — and both are running with an endorsement from the Charter Committee of Greater Cincinnati. The Charter Committee is a nonpartisan, “good government” group that endorses individuals it believes to be the best candidates regardless of party affiliation, Grundy said. Though both find themselves on opposite political sides, it’s not unlikely both will win a seat, as the political climate for each candidate looks positive, Grundy said. Murray was appointed to city council in 2011 and ran to keep her seat that November. She attributed her loss to her SEE CANDIDATES PG 2

CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM / 513.556.5908

PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR

City council candidate Greg Landsman speaks with UC students about his stance on the streetcar Thursday.


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