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Some work in the current BFA exhibition pays tribute to loved ones.
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Check out part 4 of the relationship series and learn about how student life and married life come together.
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November 21, 2013 • Issue no. 27 Volume 26
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
Students stay for the break Dani Allsop @Danibananii
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many students will be heading home to spend time with their families, eating massive amounts of delicious homemade food and catching up on muchneeded sleep. But what about students who cannot make it home or decide to stay behind and spend their break on campus? Dean Kennedy, director of Housing and Residence Life at Boise State, urges students who plan on staying over both Thanksgiving and Christmas break to notify housing ASAP. “We will provide housing for free, as long as they let us know in advance because we have to allocate space for them,” Kennedy said. Specifically, students who are living in Chaffee, Driscoll, Keiser, Morrison and Taylor halls, which close for break, must fill out an online application (available on the university housing website), notifying university housing of their plans to stay on campus. Although the deadline for Thanksgiving break has passed, housing will take applications up until break begins. According to the University Housing website, students who live in other universityrun housing units can stay in their personal rooms during breaks. Students who decide to stay over break must relocate to either Towers Hall or University Suites (depending on the number of students) for the duration of the break. “It’s better for the students to be in a location where we have staff and know where those students are,” Kennedy said. “We want to provide a safe and secure environment for students.” However, if a student needs to stay in their dorm a few extra days, or arrives a few days early, they will be charged. “We charge (for these days) because the buildings are closed,” Kennedy said. “It is designed to be more of an inconvenience for students, because we have to provide and pay for staff to be on duty.” However, if an event comes up where housing is needed, University Housing will find a solution. “We will work with students if their flight is delayed or something comes up; com-
BAD ROOMATES Students navigate the challenges of living with their peers Devin Ferrell Staff Writer
Dirty dishes are all over the kitchen. The trash is overflowing. Laundry is piling up on the washing machine. Food is missing from the fridge. People are partying in the living room while someone is trying to sleep. The bathroom is disgusting. Students live with roommates all across campus. Handling conflicts with roommates can be a tricky situation. Students may not know how to approach someone they have a problem with or curb the activities that are aggravating their living situation. Freshman Hali Danna, an accounting and finance major, lives in a suite with three other students and is waiting for when she can change rooms. “I’m looking forward to not living with them; we don’t really have anything in common.” Danna said Danna has not confronted her roommates about
any of the issues she has with them but says there have been problems with alcohol in the suite, which goes against the roommate agreement they’ve signed. “So much of the roommate conflict comes down to communication,” said Dean Kennedy, director of Housing and Residence Life. According to Kennedy, the strategy to counter this lack of communication for incoming students is to have them complete a roommate agreement or community agreement. Agreements set the guidelines for quiet sleep times, guests that are allowed over, the cleaning of the suite and the quality of the environment students live in (whether there is explicit material displayed or swearing allowed). For some, living with another person is a new experience. “Most of them (students) have never lived with anybody before,” said Catherine Uphoff, resident director of Driscoll, Kaiser,
Morrison and Taylor halls. “We’re kind of in that generation where everybody has their own room and bathroom.” According to Uphoff, conflicts between roommates more often occur in double rooms than in suites, said Uphoff. “Towers and Chaffee tend to have more conflict because they are living within a close space,” Uphoff said. Suites like those in Taylor and Keiser have fewer conflicts because of their larger size and ability for students to walk away when they need to cool off. When conflict does occur in the housing halls, students are encouraged to speak with their floor resident assistant (RA). According to university policy, said Kennedy, when a student comes forward to housing staff like RA’s with an incident report, the university is obligated to investigate. Issues are escalated to residence directors (RD)
who meet with the conflicting students to try to work out the conflict favorably. Sanctions can be issued against students not complying with their agreement or causing problems in their housing space. The final outcome of an unresolved conflict can be relocation of students to different housing halls. “In my experience, it totally depends on people’s ability and willingness to work with each other and communicate,” Kennedy said. For students like Danna, this may be the first step to resolving issues they have with their roommates. “We haven’t brought it up (to the RA) because it hasn’t gotten really bad to a point where we think we have to,” Danna said. For those students who live off campus and are experiencing problems with their living conditions, Kennedy encourages them to speak with the office of the Dean of Students or with the Housing Department for advice.
municate with us and we’ll work with you,” Kennedy said. “The sooner we know, the better.” One concern many students may have is the lack of amenities that will be available to them, because most campus-run subsidiaries will either be closed or have limited hours. “A lot of it comes down to having to justify having the services open, because there are so few students on campus,” Kennedy said. Students who may be worried about not having sufficient tools, like pots and pans, need not worry. “We can get students pots and pans and dishes if needed,” Kennedy said. “Our staff is awesome.” University Housing encourages students to communicate with them any issues they may have regarding their housing during break. Resident Assistants (RAs) will be available 24/7 during break, with two RAs on shift at all times. Students with questions or concerns can contact a RA by calling the front desk of the dorm they are staying in. What’s Open During Break? -The Boise Rive Café (BRC) will have limited hours Nov. 24-27: Brunch 11am-1pm, Dinner 5pm6:30p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day Nov. 29-30: Brunch 11am-1pm, Dinner 5pm6:30p.m. Regular hours resume Dec. 1 -Student Union Info Desk will have limited hours Nov. 24: 9am-6p.m. Nov. 25-27: 8a.m.-6p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day Nov. 29: 8a.m.-6p.m. Regular hours resume Nov. 30 -Rec Center will have limited hours Beginning Nov. 22, hours will be 6a.m.-8p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day The Aquatic Center will close at 7p.m.. Recreation pool will not be available. -Albertsons Library will have limited hours Nov. 24: 10a.m.-6p.m. Nov. 25-26: 8a.m.-6p.m. Nov. 27: 8a.m.-5p.m. November 28-30: CLOSED
page Design Megan Nanna/THE ARBITER
@LanceMoore07
The staple of friendly sports matches for charity has carried over to the Boise State campus. On Nov. 17, the two fraternities, Sigma Chi and Pi Kappa Phi, participated in their first annual football match for charity. On a brisk Sunday afternoon, a medium crowd consisting of mostly
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members for the Boise State Greek community came out to show their support for the fraternities. The fraternities sold Tshirts the week leading up to the game as well as at the event itself. All proceeds are to be donated to their charities. Lauren Pearce, senior elementary education major, gave a bit of insight about the charities and what pur-
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Lance Moore
Sigma Chi’s philanthropy is children’s miracle network and they do events for different cancers as well. News
The Arbiter
—Lauren Pearce
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poses they both served. "Pi kappa Phi's philanthropy is Push America; it works with people with disabilities. Sigma Chi's philanthropy is Children's Miracle Network and they do events for different cancers as well," Pearce said. There is a stigma around the perception of the Greek community. Many of those not involved with the Greek community at a university think that it is a part of college that encapsulates predominately partying. However, Greek organizations are required by their national headquarters to "give back" by supporting selected charities. Pearce expressed some of her
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views on this stigma. "I love how involved our Greek community is with all our philanthropic events. It's a major reason why I joined and that I am still involved," Pearce said. "Whenever I hear people bash on Greeks I just brush it off cause I know that we do so much for our school and community that they can't see cause it's volunteering." Although the Battle of the Roses was a well-hyped and positively looked upon event, the turnout was small in comparison to the size of the Greek community on campus. Scheduling seems to be a recurring issue for all aspects of college life; the
Megan Riley/THE ARBITER
Fraternities play for charity
Greek community plays in charity match. course of planning events such as this is no different for the Greek community. "The game was very successful! It was a blast to go watch and it was a close game. There were a decent amount of people who came to watch but Sundays are hard days for Greeks because we have so many
Arts & Entertainment
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Sports
meetings to go to so not a huge turn out," Pearce said. With around 80 people showing up to Battle of the Roses, attendance was stellar. With T-shirts being sold campus wide, the charity purpose of Battle of the Roses was met and both philanthropies we served.
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