GEORGIA REGENTS UNIVERSITY
www.grubellringer.com
VOLUME 56, ISSUE 14
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014
Sheriff calls for backup By Richard Adams editor-in-chief
mon while surrounded by the new tools of the trade: bicycles and golf carts flanked by the newly formed contingency of civilian officers tasked with providing a point-of-contact with law enforcement downtown. “Downtown has been a great topic of conversation since I’ve been in office,” Roundtree said. “And, again, we feel that downtown is safe – but the problem is the perception of safety. And that’s what we wanted to
A new kind of law enforcement officer will be patrolling downtown Augusta beginning this summer. Augusta-Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree announced the addition of S.M.A.R.T. (Safety Management and Response Team) officers to the department at a press conference at the Augusta Com-
erase from people’s mind: the perception.” City commissioner and mayoral candidate Alvin Mason said he was present at the press conference to represent the commission and show its support of Roundtree’s strides in protecting the city and its people’s investment in downtown. “We talk on a routine basis in terms of how we can better keep the perception of Augusta (and change the idea) that it is
Patrons get down country style
unsafe,” Mason said. “On a consistent basis we are having that kind of dialogue.” Mason said Roundtree’s innovative approach to the issue of crime prevention downtown was commendable for several reasons, but especially because of its financially responsible solution to the matter. “One of the great things about this particular initiative is that he did this without asking for additional funds,” Mason
AMY THORNE | STAFF
see SHERIFF on PAGE 3
SAAM aims to educate
By Jessica Sager copy editor
Darius Rucker rocks the Lady A Pavillion in Evans at the 10th annual Drive for Show, Rock Fore! Dough concert April 8, also featuring Randy Houser and Will Hoge. See RUCKER ROCKS OUT on PAGE 6 for more details.
said. “I think that’s a great thing when you’re cash-strapped.” Roundtree said the patrols will cover the area from Riverwalk to Green Street and from Fourth to 15th streets. While the officers will not have guns, they will carry radios and non-lethal weapons. “The only thing they won’t be able to do is carry firearms and to physically make arrests,
Georgia Regents University is hosting events throughout April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The purpose of SAAM is to raise awareness on campus and in the community about sexual assault, said Shannon Nix, counselor and interpersonal violence outreach coordinator at Georgia Regents University. “Rape is something people don’t like to talk about,” Nix said. “I happen to be someone who actually likes to talk about it, raise awareness about it. It’s
one of those things that we need to be talking about really more than one month a year, but we at least have April to recognize it and so we try to really maximize that here at GRU.” Julianna Johnston, president of the Women’s Studies Student Association, said the association has been involved with SAAM since it started. “I think that it helps to educate the community and the campus,” she said. “I think it’s important that these events are held on campus because of the fact that the highest rate of victims are college-age. It’s usually see SAAM on PAGE 3
Student center offers more dining options By Haley Harris news editor
brought back Chick-fil-a and we’re doing food trucks outside.” Students decided the choices of restaurants, Evans said. “Basically what we (did) is distribute a survey, a quality of life survey, about a year ago and chose different concepts that they wanted,” Evans said. Hannah Ryan, a freshman nursing major at Georgia Regents, is excited about the additions. “I eat the sandwiches on the Summerville campus all the time, and since I take classes here it’s definitely convenient to
The Heatlh Sciences campus of Georgia Regents University reopened its new student center April 17. The new center now offers Chick-fil-a, Mein Bowl, Starbucks, Simply To Go and AFC Sushi, said Earl Evans, the senior area general manager of Sodexo. “We have new concepts first of all,” Evans said. “Like with Starbucks, that’s new. We have Mein Bowl and AFC Sushi, that’s a national brand. We
have those awesome sandwiches in the cafe,” Ryan said. Evans said that he expects difficulty in drawing in students. “I think it’ll be just as popular (as Summerville campus’ s student center),” Evans said. “The difference here, though, is that this campus here is a whole lot different than the other campus. When you go to class here, you kind of stay in one building. You don’t move around. So what we have to do is figure out how to get people to come into the building.” Students were welcome to visit the center Thursday and
HALEY HARRIS | STAFF
Students gather in the re-opened student center on the downtown campus.
take samples, according to a flyer emailed to Georgia Regents students. Lana Hanker, a senior nursing major who came to visit the center between classes, said the food was great.
“The sushi is actually really good,” Hanker said. “I’ll probably eat here more often because I’m a big sushi fan and, of course, I’ll hit up Starbucks daily.” hharris011@yahoo.com
SGA proposes outdoor lights for campus By Ashley Trawick and Rebecca Perbetsky news editor, production assistant
Let there be light. The Student Government Association conducted a flag poll Tuesday on the Summerville campus. The issue that was brought to SGA’s attention was the installation of lights where the old warehouses are on the back of the Summerville campus located by Allgood Hall. This area is where art students conduct their work after campus hours, the senators said. The survey was conducted to ask students if they think the problem should be solved. Daniel Porter, a senior history major
and a senator for the Katherine Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, got involved with SGA and did some research and found out why there are no lights in that area. “There was an agreement made between the university and (the Summerville Neighborhood Association) because the backyards of the houses over there have no fences,” Porter said. “The lights back there would be shining into the backyards and the windows so the university had them removed, but since we think this is a public safety issue we want lights back there.” Porter said he also talked to the staff at Facilities Operations about current
light fixtures located throughout campus. “They were telling me about the light pole(s) in the parking lot that have blinders on one side of the pole that prevent the light from shining into the Summerville area,” he said. “So if we could also put blinders on the lights to where the lights aren’t shining into the backyards but shining down on the ground.” Amanda Bryant, the outgoing president of SGA, said ideas for campus issues come directly from students. “If we hear a student saying something or not, then we can kind of gauge that as an idea and kind of talk to students,” Bryant said. “And then if we see that (and think), ‘Yeah, it is a good idea,’
then we will bring it out to the poll.” Lindsey Tampling, a senior art major and another senator for the Pamplin College, became involved with the flag poll idea while working late at night in the Ceramics lab. “Last semester, I had to use the warehouses and was there after midnight the majority of nights and just walking to my car in the pitch black, and I couldn’t see,” Tampling said. “It is not safe at all, so I am personally connected to this issue and want lights back there but it’s just like it is just a safety issue and it needs to happen.” atrawick@gru.edu rperbets@gru.edu
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