Oktoberfest in the Ozarks
The Detectives to perform ‘50s and ‘60s covers.
P a ge 4
Tuesday • October 4, 2011 • Vol. 105 Issue 7
Briefs SGA will support civility project
The Student Government Association of Missouri State University recently moved to support The Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Good Community Committee by adopting a resolution that promotes the Foundation’s Civility Project on campus. The project is founded on 10 tenets of civility, which focus on issues such as attentiveness, inclusiveness, respect, compassion and accountability. The Springfield-Greene County Civility Project was launched on April 13, 2011 and aims to increase civic engagement and foster a welcoming and respectful environment for all opinions. On September 27, 2011 Student Government Association passed GB Fall 2011-03, which supports the Springfield-Greene County Civility Project and the inclusion of its 10 tenets across campus.
SGA seeks student commissioners
MSU’s Election Commission is seeking student commissioners interested in working with elections on campus. The commission spends fall semester reviewing the Elections Manual and determining a timeline for elections. During the spring semester the commission reviews petitions for candidacy and validates election results. Student commissioners cannot be a part of SGA or serving as the president or vice president of any student organization. For more details, contact Tara Hammer, Chief Elections Commissioner at Hammer636@live.missouristate.edu before Oct. 7.
Police receive grant to hire new officers
The Springfield Police Department was awarded the 2011 COPS Hiring Program (CHP) grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing. Springfield will receive $739,235 in funding from the grant to hire and pay the base salaries for five new uniformed officers. CHP grants cover all the costs of the five entry-level salaries and benefits for over three years.
Calendar October 4 to October 10
Tuesday
Transgender 101, noon to 1 p.m. at Plaster Student Union 317 Student Government Association Meeting, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at PSU 313 Up ‘til Dawn Dinner and a Movement, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at PSU Club
Wednesday
Explore PSU, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Plaster Student Union Food Court Disney College Program Info Session, 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Glass Hall MSU Symphony Orchestra Concert, 7:30 p.m. at Hammons Hall, free
Thursday
National Depression Screening Day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at PSU 312 Drug-Related Violence and the Future of Mexico, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at PSU 313 Douglas Rushkoff Speaking on the “Impact of Technology and Digital Media on Society,” 7 p.m. at PSU Theater
Friday
Grammar Fridays at the Writing Center, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Meyer Library Bear CLAW Biology Seminar-Salamander, 4 to 5 p.m. at Temple 001
Smart delivers State of the University Address By Damien DiPlacido The Standard
Interim President Clif Smart delivered his State of the University Address Sept. 28, highlighting the university’s overall progress and the reality of the school’s budget. “I encourage all of us to remember that we’re in this together for our students,” Smart said. “It’s not about any of us, and it’s certainly not about me. All of us in this room believe in higher education. We want more students to have degrees. Philosophically that has to be, and is, at our core.” Smart said enrollment at Missouri State University is down this semester with 226 fewer students on the Springfield and West Plains campuses combined. “If this fall’s decrease holds
throughout the year the loss in tuition and fees compared to the amount budgeted amounts to $1.2 million,” Smart said. “The Smart only real way to increase revenue is through enrollment growth.” On a positive note, Missouri State’s enrollment has increased in 14 of the last 15 years, Smart said. MSU is still the second largest university in the state and it remains attractive to students because of its outstanding programs and services. “There were some bright spots in this fall’s enrollment,” Smart said. “We’re up in domestic transfer students, we had an increase in first-time degree seeking graduate students and
the number of online and evening course students is up.” The university has reconstituted its Enrollment Management Committee in order to examine the numbers and help guide the school toward improvement, Smart said. It is up to Missouri State to do a better job recruiting high school students, adapting to the increasing number of transfer students and to build stronger relationships with community colleges. “This is a call to action for all of us,” Smart said. “We can’t complain about budget cuts and low salary and inadequate funding for our priorities on the one hand and refuse to take responsibility for enrollment decreases on the other.” Interim Provost Frank Einhellig continued the address, citing the university’s long-range plan and its revi-
Enrollment drops
Graphic by Megan Gates
Community colleges, such as Ozarks Technical Community College, have steadily gained more students while fouryear colleges like MSU have become stagnant.
More students choose two-year schools By Brandon Corrigan The Standard
Missouri State University officials are downplaying a slight decrease in enrollment for this academic year, but have admitted that any decline in student numbers is a situation that bears watching. “The drop is very slight and I don’t think it’s something that we need to panic over, but it’s something that we don’t want to continue on into the future,” MSU Interim President Clif Smart said. Fall enrollment at MSU has decreased for the first time since 2005. A total of 22,866 students are enrolled this fall in the Missouri State University system, which includes the Springfield Campus, West Plains Campus and international education programs. This compares to 23,092 students enrolled last fall. The Springfield MSU campus saw an enrollment of 20,802 students this year, a loss of 147 students compared to the beginning
of the 2010-2011 year. Official MSU system enrollment had increased 14 out of 15 years from 1995 to 2010. Smart said that if this fall’s decrease holds throughout the year, the loss in tuition and fees would amount to about $1.2 million. This is at odds with the original numbers budgeted to meet the university’s needs in the 20112012 academic year. Even with the enrollment downturn, MSU remains the second largest university in the state. The largest, University of Missouri-Columbia, set a record in total student enrollment with 33,318 students on the first day of classes, a 4.1 percent increase from last year. MU’s freshman retention rate stands at 84.4 percent compared with MSU’s 73.48 percent. Don Simpson, associate vice president for enrollment management, said that a number of factors contributed to MSU’s decrease in enrollment. “When we record enrollment,
we record it for all the students taking courses through the Springfield campus, even if they are not here. For example, the China campus, we count those in our enrollment because they take courses through us in China,” Simpson said. “The China campus is down 70 students, so that’s half the decrease right there. “We also have an executive MBA program in China. Typically we have about 40 more students in that program than we do now, so there’s another 40 students.” Graduate student losses have also hurt the enrollment rate. “We are down in graduate students even though we are up 11 percent in new graduate students,” Simpson said. “The reason we are down overall is largely because we had a whole bunch graduate last year. We had 160 more students graduate with master’s degrees or higher this past year than the year before.” See ENROLL page 2
sion of the general education program. MSU aims to increase retention of first-time, full-time freshmen and increase the 6-year, undergraduate graduation rate which currently stands at 55 percent, Einhellig said. Student learning outcomes will also be improved by applying creative design and delivery across the curriculum. Shane Franklin, a Student Government Association senator, was in attendance for the president’s address. He talked about the importance of students’ awareness of what is going on with the university. “I’m a student, so it’s obviously important for me to be here to represent the students at large,” Franklin said. “If you’re a member of the student community, it’s definitely important to hear what our leader has to say.”
Synthetic drugs become illegal due to public safety By Dayle Duggins The Standard
Missouri deemed all forms of synthetic marijuana and synthetic cocaine illegal on Aug. 28. These synthetic drugs, better known as K2 and “bath salts” respectively, can no longer be sold, distributed or possessed. Rep. Ward Franz, the sponsor of the bill, said the legislation was enacted due to the synthetic drugs being a public safety issue. “I was frustrated at these business owners that were putting people’s lives in danger, in my opinion, by selling these drugs to make a quick buck,” Franz said. “I had numerous reports of individuals going to the emergency room for elevated heart rate and concern that they were dying.” Many problems in Missouri stemmed from the absence of an age requirement to purchase the synthetic drugs because there was no law to regulate the substances. A recent example was when a young man from Greene County, not old enough to purchase cigarettes or alcohol, bit off his own tongue after smoking K2 he purchased at a gas station, said Rep. Eric Burlison, cosponsor of the bill. “There’s no consistency with the products. They’re not FDA approved, so the behaviors seen in our emergency rooms were completely erratic,” Burlison said. Stephanie Hale, a freshman mathematics major, said she would rather see marijuana legalized instead of synthetic versions that contain a number of unlisted chemicals. “I honestly don’t think marijuana See DRUGS page 2
Habitat for Humanity grabs students’ attention at Bear Paw By Jon Poorman The Standard
Sophomore Alie Kowelman was walking back home from class Friday afternoon when she noticed something unusual happening on the Bear Paw — the walls of a house were being built. The construction immediately struck her interest, so she stopped and decided to find out what was going on. Kowelman quickly found out the purpose of the project was to promote the Missouri State chapter of Habitat for Humanity and the house they will begin building in November. After finding out about the cause, Kowelman decided to join in. “We live here, so we might as well give back,” she said. “There are people that are a lot less fortunate.” The chapter is building a house for Springfield resident Angie Pippin and her grandson, Jordan. Tyler Hendrix, the president of the chapter, said the
construction of the walls on the Bear Paw was a way to get more students involved in Habitat for Humanity. “In the past we’ve built houses for families, but we’ve had a hard time gaining student support and student attention,” Hendrix said. “We were thinking of new ideas to get the campus involved, and what better way than to build walls right on the Bear Paw.” Hendrix said the strategy worked and that many students were donating their time and learning more about Habitat for Humanity. “We’ve had about four or five student organizations donate some money to help with the event,” he said. “In our own organization, I’d say we’ve had about 60 or 70 people throughout the day here.” Hendrix said the chapter needs $20,000 to build the house. He said they are currently at about $12,000 and that the Bear Paw event raised well over $1,000.
“We’re going to claw our way there,” Hendrix said. Sophomore Alissa Eagen was one of the students that came out to help with the project. She also plans to help with the construction of the house in November. “I’ve always seen good things that Habitat for Humanity has done, and I thought it would be something I would want to get involved with,” Eagen said. “They definitely help a lot of families and do a lot of good things for the community.” Also in attendance was MSU Interim President Clif Smart. Smart spoke briefly to the participants and thanked them for their service to the community. He even got involved with the project, pounding a ceremonial nail into one of the wooden beams. “I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “There’s nothing better than seeing a hands-on project on campus. (Students) see what’s going on, and they wanted to get
Steph Anderson/THE STANDARD
Students help construct walls at the Bear Paw. involved. I think it’s a fabulous thing.” Smart said it is important for students to become involved in helping others because it represents the university’s public affairs mission. “One of the core principles of that is community engagement,” he said. “And to me, community engagement means making a differ-
ence in your community primarily through volunteerism.” To find out more about the MSU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, go to http://studentorganizations.m issouristate.edu/habitat/. Also, to find out more about Springfield Habitat for Humanity visit http://www.habitatspringfieldmo.org/.