The Breeze 3.30.2015

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Serving James Madison University Since 1922 BreezeJMU.org

Vol. 93, No. 46

breezejmu.org

Monday, March 30, 2015

Let’s talk money

University prepares to drop ‘G’ from GenEd Despite change, clusters and course content will remain the same By ALYSSA McBETH contributing writer

JMU is kissing the “G” goodbye. Starting this summer, the “G” prefix will no longer be listed in the titles of general education courses. No longer will students refer to their classes as GWRTC or GSOCI — now they’ll simply call them WRTC and SOCI. What most are wondering, however, is if this changes the overall aim of the GenEd program. Despite this change, the clusters will stay intact, as well as the content of each course. “We had a lot of negative comments about ‘G’ classes,” Georgia Polacek, cluster five coordinator

and one of the leaders of the project, said. “So to try to get to a more realistic view for the program, since removing the ‘G’ kept coming up, we were trying to make the program look more uniform with your other classes.” There was also a question as to what these GenEd classes would look like as students continue their post-college career with further schooling and jobs in the future. “We had a lot of students, as they move on to master’s degrees and etcetera, [where] those ‘G’s’ on their transcript[s] were confusing to those other schools,” Polacek said. The reason these “G’s” on the transcript might be questionable to other schools is because a “G”

in front of a course title may be viewed as easy. According to Polacek, there is a lack of uniformity when the “G” is present. Cluster one coordinator and GCOM professor Gretchen Hazard explained how she sees various advantages from this program transformation. “A huge benefit is the transferability of these courses,” Hazard said. “Oftentimes when letters are added to the beginning of a disciplinary identifier, such as the ‘G,’ they are viewed by other institutions as somehow remedial. And none of our general education coursework is remedial, and we want to prevent that perception from occurring.”

Faculty Senate discusses finances, light pollution

see GENED, page 4

INSIDE TODAY ASK YOUR PEERS

LOREN PROBISH / THE BREEZE

Johnathan Walker, an assistant professor in the interdisciplinary liberal studies program, participates in Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

A new resource at Rose Library offers guidance to students when the librarians are out

By JESSICA NEWMAN The Breeze

NEWS | 5

DAPPER DUDES

JMU senior is CEO of affordable bowtie company LIFE | 9

Dogfight

SO LONG, FAREWELL Breeze seniors say goodbye OPINION | 7

DUKES CONQUERED BY COUGARS

JMU suffers three straight losses to the College of Charleston

Madison Women’s Rugby enjoys success and growth SPORTS | 11

A line of support

New club raises awareness and support for diabetes

SPORTS | 11

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I fell in love with the campus, I really fell in love with the campus. And then I told my wife, we’re going to be here for four years while our son finishes but I lied, I’ve been here for 27 years.

NEWS | 3

TODAY WILL BE Partly cloudy

58° / 36° Chance of rain: 20%

SAM TAYLOR / THE BREEZE

ERIN WILLIAMS / THE BREEZE

Heather Miller, vicee president of Students with Diabetes and Secretary Melissa Gray hold their banner to spread awareness about diabetes. By YASMINE MAGGIO The Breeze

“SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS,” read the subject line of an email sent out to JMU students two weeks ago. But its reference was to insulin, not alcohol. With its first meeting Tuesday, the JMU chapter of Students With Diabetes (SWD) had a lot to say. Started by Heather Miller, Melissa Gray and Allison Zeppuhar, the club aims to provide a welcoming space for people with diabetes and those who want to learn more about it. “We just wanted to have a community where people could come together, talk and understand each other,” Miller, a sophomore nursing see DIABETES, page 10

With talk about salary, funding and budget and three of four motions deliberated, there was plenty to discuss at Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting. In recent years, market forces have caused JMU to offer higher starting salaries than it pays to its long-term faculty, in order to attract new faculty. As a result, the JMU faculty currently perceives salary inversion and compression to be a critical problem at the university. Salary inversion is when the starting salaries for an organizations new employees increases faster than those for existing workers. The motion, which was introduced by Val Larsen, the interim head of the College of Business and marketing professor, stated that the Faculty Senate would ask the university to identify shocking situations of salary compression and inversion among long-term faculty members. It was then suggested to keep the salaries of JMU’s highestperforming long-term faculty members ahead of the salaries offered to attract new faculty members. This started a debate, with many of the members of the senate asking what it meant to be one of the “highest-performing” faculty members, and that it was unfair to favor certain professors over others. see SENATE, page 4

Dukes stay red hot JMU’s win streak now at 18 games By BENNETT CONLIN The Breeze

The late football legend Al Davis famously coined the phrase “Just win, baby.” And with its recent success, the JMU softball team would make Davis proud. After a weekend series sweep of the College of Charleston (17-17, 2-4 Colonial Athletic Association), JMU (27-6, 6-0 CAA) has won 18 consecutive games. Led by juniors Hannah Hayes, Erica Field and Jailyn Ford, the Dukes won both games of a doubleheader on Sunday at Veterans Memorial Park to extend their win streak. JMU limited the Cougars to three runs in both games Sunday, while the Dukes scored six runs in the first game and eight in the second. “Eighteen is a big number,” Hayes, a leftfielder, said. “It puts a lot of pressure on us as a team, but we try not to think about that. We just go out and play every game the best that we can.” In the first game, JMU struck first with three runs in the fourth inning. After Charleston came back with three runs in the top of the sixth, the Dukes answered by adding three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

LOREN PROBISH / THE BREEZE

Junior pitcher Jailyn Ford pitches during a game against the College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon. Ford earned her ninth win of the season.

Ford gave up those threeruns to Charleston sophomore infielder Katie Padilla. But she responded nicely with a triple to lead off the bottom half of that inning and spark the comeback. In the second game, JMU fell behind early, but rallied with a fourth inning in which the team scored four runs. Hayes hit a two-run home run in that inning after she made a baserunning error in the second that infuriated head coach Mickey Dean. The resiliency of the players

played an integral part in the two victories. “I told them at the end of the day today that I got on a couple of them really hard,” Dean said. “I really like the way that they responded. I was extremely proud.” Dean gave an earful to Hayes after her baserunning blunder, but she thought nothing of it and responded with a key home run in the second game of the doubleheader. see SOFTBALL, page 12


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