I SSU E
10
The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E
SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
ARBITERONLINE.COM
SEX
t nex s ’ U C r BS vs. U o f e s le et am Tick ball g on sa o t foo avis g . 28. D Sept
BRONCOS WIN
D-TOUR 3
Hooking up:
4
Does abstinence message need an update? BY HALEY ROBINSON
California run off Boise State takes it to the Bulldogs in Fresno pg 3
Boise State junior Lindsey Matson disagrees. “It was censorship on adults,” Matson said. “People hear about [sex] everywhere. Hooking up. Scoring. Getting busy. Giving them access doesn’t make it more Knocking boots. Or just plain having sex. likely for them to engage in sexual activity.” It doesn’t matter what you call it, sex is a As a previous Social Night Coordinator of major part of every person’s life. Whether Youth in the Know - a program designed to or not you are having it, sex is everywhere. teach teens about comprehensive sex eduNow, an old controversy about “doing the cation - Matson taught students about the deed,” has come back into light with Presi- different options when it came to sexual dent Obama’s 2010 budget changes. activity. She explained how abstinence was In the early 2000s the Bush administra- not a neglected topic but how it is impractition pumped money into programs that cal to teach only that when many students preached abstinence instead of introducing will choose not to opt out of sex. contraceptives to teens. The entire idea of Travis Skodak, a BSU sophomore, agrees. abstinence is to convince adolescents at a “Poor college students need to save young age that sex should be saved for mar- money, and condoms are just a necessity,” riage. Without premarital sex, there was a Skodak said. “BSU should be more involved hope that the number of teen pregnancies in supplying students with free birth conwould decrease as well as the spread of trol.” STDs. Supporters of the program also beOften, even students who believe in ablieved that supplying contraceptives would stinence for themselves think both opencourage kids to use them. tions should be discussed. Chance Requa, It seemed that there was an immedi- a sophomore at BSU, will wait until after ate resistance to these programs. Accord- marriage to have sex, but thinks that it’s not ing to an article by the Wall practical to assume everyStreet Journal, about half of one will have as strong of a the states declined the fundwill as he does. ing for these programs be“The idea of abstinence cause they didn’t approve of even though I agree with it the restrictions. Abstinence - is not going to get across to programs were instated into a lot of people,” Requa said. schools, with no mention of “If people are going to have contraception except to tell sex, I would rather it be safe them how they could fail. sex.” The major premise of the abSome students, such as Travis Skodak BSU sophomore Tyler Bedell, president and stinence argument centered around the philosophy that member of the student “not having sex is the only 100% effective Christian club on campus, Alpha Omega, way to prevent pregnancy.” support the idea of acts such as the removal Now, the Obama administration is of the coupons. changing things. According to ABC news, “I don’t think people should be treated studies have shown that teens who took a special so they can sin,” Bedell said. “Mar“virginity pledge” to stay abstinent until riage should be honored by all, and the marriage were no less likely to engage in marriage bed kept pure.” pre-marital sex, but were less likely to use The Boise State Health and Wellness birth control. Center’s Web site has a large variety of inObama is seeking to reduce the number formation accessible to students. There of teen pregnancies by killing Bush’s pre- are instructions on how to use a condom, vious plan and using $164 million toward links to health facilities that do screenings, pregnancy prevention programs. Of this, information on choosing abstinence, and only 25 percent will be open to abstinence much more. The Health and Wellness Cenonly programs. Obama’s new plans will ter along with the Women’s Center offer “stress the importance of abstinence while free condoms and information to students. providing medically accurate and age-ap- All of the residence halls have condom mapropriate information to youth who have chines available at any hour. Boise State already become sexually active.” seems to be taking more of a middle ground Last fall there was a conflict over the re- on the debate. The supplying of all types of moval of coupons to the condom store information is somewhat contradictory to O!Zone in the BSU coupon book. They were the action of tearing out condom coupons. taken out as a result of parent complaints But regardless, the material is on hand to and claims that supplying these discounts any student that seeks it. Hopefully those would encourage students to become sexu- who are sexually active will utilize this really active. course as needed. Journalist
“Poor college students need to save money, and condoms are just a necessity,”
BSU popular campus Enrollment numbers highest in Boise State history pg 2
Boise State becoming worldwide name BY TONY ROGERS Journalist
Organ D’onor Healthcare and a organ donation provide interesting discussion pg 4
and we never would have seen what Boise has to offer,” senior Anders Kristensen said. And yet, the population of international students is still rising. “Between Fall 2007 and Fall 2008, there was a 25 percent rise in new international admissions,” director of admissions Jenny Cardenas said, “It’s a small number, only about 14, but it shows that word of mouth advertising is still going strong.” Also, between Fall 2008 and Fall 2009, international student admission jumped another 6.6 percent, with the addition of 23 more international students to Boise State. “With the introduction of the recruitment program this fall, we are optomistic that (next fall) will bring a further increase in
student enrollment,” Cardenas said. The new enrollment information, released two weeks ago, showed an overall dip in student enrollment. The Recruitment Program looks to bring even more students to the Treasure Valley. With this program in motion, one must wonder what kind of message is being sent to prospective students. For Affre, it’s a message of quality. “I hope international Students see Boise State University as a distinguished metropolitan university that can offer them experiences that other universities cannot,” Affre said. According to Kristensen, it’s a message of overall experience and adventure.
In the process of becoming a metropolitan university of distinction, Boise State is making its move toward the world community with a brand new international recruitment program. The program, which focuses on attracting students from across the globe, has been in the works for almost a decade. It started simple enough, as a plan to get the reputation of Boise State into the open. The plan was broken into three distinct parts. The first and foremost priority was to establish Boise State as a distinguished university in the state of Idaho. “Then, once we have that footing, we moved to a wider platform, in this case the western United States,” executive director of enrollment services Mara Affre said. After a strong reputation is built in the west, it will come time to take the message of Boise State overseas. Before the recruitment program started this year, many international students at Boise State heard of the university through word of mouth. In many cases, if it were not for someone recommending the university, many potential students would not have heard about Boise State. Three such students are Danish exchange students Anders Kristensen, Anders Nielsen and Nanna Praestbrogaard. They learned about BSU in an exchange fair in their native Denmark. “If it not been for that one person, we glenn landberg /THE ARBITER probably would have gone somewhere else, Danish student Anders Kristensen is a senior studying business and economics at BSU.
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