April 25, 2013
W W W. V S U S P E C TAT O R . C O M
Inside This Issue
VOLUME 84 ISSUE 28
Congrats, Grads!
- OPINIONS: “Mass murder brings us together” - FEATURES: “H.e.r.o.’s to bring the olympics to Magnolia”
Check out this semester’s grad tab inside!
- SPORTS: “Daly playing in South Ga. Classic”
On the Web Check out Quasha Ross’s preview for the South Ga. String project! w w w. v s u s p e c ta t o r. c o m
Today at VSU Literary & art CeLebration UC theater, 7 p.m. Join the staff and contributors of the the latest issue of the odradek, VSU’s literary and art magazine, as they present their work. Features include graphic storytelling, art, poetry, fiction and non-fiction. refreshments will be provided after. The event is free and open to the public.
informationaL SeSSionStudent employment office, 6:30 p.m. The Student employment advisory Committee will meet bi-weekly to plan events relevant to student workers, such as service, outreach and development programs. No membership fee is required. Stop by to learn more.
Learn to DeaL with DiffiCULt PeoPLe Counseling Center Conference room (Powell hall), 4 p.m. The counseling center staff will provide tips for dealing with people who are “impossible” to interact with.
tobaCCo-free CamPUS training Jennett hall 2211, 2:30 4:30 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. The first meeting will be tonight with a presentation provided by the BaCCHUS Network, which has worked with many colleges and universities on Tobacco Free campus initiatives. a collaborative effort between Sga, Campus wellness and other campus groups.
KaraoKeLibrary auditorium, 8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided. hosted by natural high.
Weather Today
Partly Cloudy 85 H 55 L
Friday
Sunny 86 H 58 L
Saturday Partly Cloudy 85 H 61 L
Today in History April 25, 1917: Ella Fitzgerald was born The jazz legend known as the “First Lady of Song” was born in Newport News, Va. Source: history.com
Faculty Senate:
Dead Day decision tabled Joe Adgie SoCiaL MeDia eDiTor jmadgie@valdosta.edu
Dead Day is not dead yet. it was saved on Thursday at the Faculty Senate meeting when the group voted to move a reconsideration of the scheduling of finals week back to the institutional Planning Committee.
Electrical issue leads to building evacuation
“The primary concern with this was to actually give students a full week for finals, as well as reducing the possibility of having multiple finals on the same day, and getting rid of the possibility of having a final at 7 p.m. on Friday night,” aubrey Fowler, assistant professor of marketing and Faculty Senate parliamentarian, said. Dr. Maren Clegg-Hyer,
english professor, expressed her support of this motion, but explained why this had not been done. “We have never done this because it is extremely unpopular with students,” Dr. Clegg-Hyer, said. “We have also not done this because of what the business office told us. if we extend the semester by one or two or three days, that’s additional days that the
faculty needs to be paid, additional days that utilities need to be paid.” another consideration that was moved back was the changing of deadline for final grades to be due. Currently, final grades are due at 9 a.m. on the Monday after finals week, but the Faculty Senate desired to change that deadline to 3 p.m. that same day.
Students ink the rainbow Korean classes offered for fall
Neil Frawley a S S T. S o C i a L MeDia eDiTor
CIP partners with MCL to widen foreign language course offerings.
ndfrawley@valdosta.edu
an electrical malfunction forced the evacuation of the Mass Media building on Monday afternoon. The incident took place near the journalism lab where a smell of burning rubber emanated from the ceiling tiles. Students became alarmed by the foul smell and quickly informed Dennis Conway, assistant professor of mass media, about it. “i went near the front door, and it indeed smelled like burning rubber,” Conway said. “at that point we figured we should probably call the police and fire [station] and eventually Plant operations.” according to VSU faculty members, the electrical problem began place sometime after Plant operations had done some work on the ceiling lights in the mass media building. “our lights had been out in the building for like a week,” Marie elliott, assistant professor of mass media, said. “[Plant operations] was coming over to fix that, and some of the drop ceiling had been left open. The smell was coming either from in the ceiling or the [journalism] lab.” Mass media faculty members, however, remain unsure as to the exact cause of the situation. “i don't know what they were working on, to tell the truth,” Conway said. Fortunately, the evacuation did not take long to resolve. “it was between 20 and 30 minutes,” elliott said. “everything was fine. it smelled electrical, but they said everything was fine.” Though the evacuation did not last long, it did cause a few classes to be canceled. Despite the brief commotion caused by the electrical wiring, nobody got hurt. “Safety was great, the fire people were great and Plant operations fixed it the next day," Conway said. eliott also felt that the situation was handled well. "The police were awesome and all the kids were great and everyone did their part to help out," she said.
according to Thursday’s meeting agenda, “So doing will provide enough time for faculty with a considerable number of papers and projects to grade the time to do so appropriately.” after some discussion regarding what kind of impact this change would have on students, it was decided to remand the recommendations back to the committee.
Jennifer Gleason MaNaGiNG eDiTor jlgleason@valdosta.edu
Ritsuki Miyazaki / THE SPECTATOR Marcolm Mayfield, junior biology and political science major, tie-dyes a T-shirt Wednesday during Hopper Hall Council’s event, “Eat the Rainbow.” Instead of featuring colorful foods as planned, students were invited to tie-dye T-shirts in preparation for a step show on Saturday. Check out pg. 7 for more photos.
LEAP to prepare students for ‘world of work, life’ Isaiah Smart S Ta F F W r i T e r itsmart@valdosta.edu
as the year winds down, students are still being regarded with importance as VSU joins the Liberal education and america’s Promise employer-educator Compact initiative. The LeaP initiative is sponsored by the association of american Colleges and Universities and aims to provide students with a higher quality education. The program’s purpose is to provide students with the ability to attain a valued education that prepares them for the world of work and life in general through liberal arts. The program provides students with intangible skills, such as critical thinking, which supporters feel are key to a higher quality education. a recent survey commissioned by the aaCU LeaP
initiative shows that nearly 90 percent of employers said that the skills they seek in their new hires are abilities of thinking and communication skills provided in a solid liberal education. employers look for skill sets that are not always particular to major requirements and Dr. Bill McKinney, VSU President, says that he intends to give Blazers the opportunity to compete. Critical thinking and effective communication will be the focus of the program. Dr. McKinney, who has been involved with LeaP since 2008, brought the idea upon beginning his presidency last July. With intentions of making VSU one of the premier universities in the nation, Dr. McKinney is passionate about the implementation of this program. Upon being invited to join the LeaP President’s trust in January, Dr. McKinney made
it possible for VSU to become the first public university in Georgia to participate in LeaP at this level. VSU has collaborated in this effort with azalea Health, South Georgia Medical Center and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce. “The LeaP program facilitates communication between regional community and business leaders and VSU, cultivating involvement with the university,” Kier Scrivenor, internet marketing strategist for azalea Health, said. azalea Health currently has five interns–three from the computer science department and two from the business department—that are part-time employees. These students serve as development team members and administrative assistants, respectively. See LEAP, Page 2
Students can expand their knowledge of foreign languages further during fall semester with the addition of Korean language courses. The Center for international Programs, in conjunction with Modern and Classical Languages, has offered Japanese, russian, arabic and Chinese for years, and they are available again for registration in the fall. With over 100 Korean exchange students at VSU, CiP is giving students an opportunity to better understand the culture and language of their fellow Korean classmates. “We’re hoping the newly offered Korean language will be popular with VSU students,” said irina McClellan, assistant director of study abroad for CiP. McClellan said that because international exchange students come a long way from home to learn american culture and become fluent in the english language, VSU students should take the time to learn about exchange students’ culture and language. “You could learn something new about your friends and maybe learn some phrases in their language,” McClellan said. roTC students take arabic so when they are sent to arabic-speaking countries they have the upper-hand, according to McClellan. The classes are smaller than the typical French or Spanish classes—sometimes no more than 10 people. “it’s like having a personal tutor, because of the close attention,” McClellan said. “Most of the teachers are native speakers.” CiP works to bring students into the department and expose students to the languages offered in MCL; the department also works with Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching assistant program to recruit instructors for language courses.