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Page 4 Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013 | Volume 107, Issue 5 | the-standard.org
Briefs
B.E.A.R. Fee student open forum
An open forum for the discussion of the B.E.A.R. Fee will be held in Craig Hall’s Coger Theatre on Sept. 18. There will be three sessions, from 1-2 p.m., 5-6 p.m. and 8:30-9:30 p.m. Matthaus Klute, director of university advancement with the Student Government Association, will host the forum. SGA President David Schneider, project architects, President Clif Smart and other university officials will be in attendance to answer questions. Students are invited to view the official unveiling of plans for the new facilities and to have any questions they may have answered by the panel.
Brick City ribboncutting ceremony
Brick City’s official opening will be commemorated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Tuesday, Sept. 17. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will make remarks at the event, as will President Clif Smart and Dr. Gloria Galanes. The ceremony will be followed by an open house and guided tours of the new facilities.
Textbooks serve important role — for professors Professors say money is not the main reason they write textbooks By Sadie Welhoff The Standard
Students might not give much thought to what it takes to make the book they have to haul to class everyday, but even if they did, they probably wouldn’t guess the whole story. The professors who write textbooks do not usually make a fortune from them, but there are other benefits in their work. Associate professor of religious studies Leslie Baynes has written an academic book on Judeo-Christian Apocalypses. Publishing work was necessary for her to keep her position as a professor. “In religious studies, writing a book is needed to get tenure,” Baynes said.
Each area of study has different requirements in bulk. for professors, whether it’s writing articles or College of Humanities and Public Affairs conducting research, but they all involve making Dean Victor Matthews has written and cocontributions to the field. authored several textbooks and supplement works for religious studies courses. Part of his interest in writing textbooks began because he wanted to provide better resources for his religious studies students. “A lot of times you write a textbook because I needed to write for you’re frustrated with what’s out there,” my own mental Matthews said. Being a dean involves a great deal of work health. besides academia, and Matthews appreciates that — Victor Matthews, dean of the writing gets him back into his original line of College of Humanities and Public work. Affairs “I needed to write for my own mental health,” Matthews said. Matthews learned that diving back into the research of writing a book kept him updated on what was going on in religious studies and his Baynes said academic books are typically learning carried into his teaching. written for a narrow audience, although they can Baynes and Matthews both wanted to write be used in undergraduate classrooms. Textbooks are usually made specifically for a class and sold u See TEXTBOOKS, page 2
Homegrown on the range
State of the University address
President Clif Smart and Provost Frank Einhellig will give the annual State of the University address, titled “Thinking Bigger and Bolder: The 8 Major Goals for 2013-14.” on Thursday, Sept. 19 in the Plaster Student Union Theater. The speech will also be streaming live online at http://new.livestream.com/mostat e/2013stateoftheuniversityaddress.
Water back on in Craig Hall
Craig Hall’s water has been turned back on after being turned off Thursday to remove a clog in the sewer lines. Workers removed root balls from the pipes and replaced the sewer lines, and water was restored for classes on Monday.
Calendar Tuesday, Sept. 17
Brick City Ribbon Cutting and Open House, 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Brick City Gallery
Gideon v. Wainwright: Legal Issues and the Right to Counsel — A Global Perspective, 3-4 p.m., PSU Theater Student Activities Council Meeting, 4-5 p.m. at PSU 313
Wednesday, Sept. 18
Photo courtesy of Missouri State University Photographic Services
Around 500 cattle are part of the locally raised beef program on Missouri State University’s Journagan Ranch, which spans 3,200 acres.
MSU students raise and sell cattle in agriculture program By Andrew Shields The Standard
What if, when you walked into your regular grocery store, you could go to the meat section and ask for beef cuts that were raised, marketed and sold by Missouri State students? According to Anson Elliott, head of the Darr School of Agriculture, in the next couple of years
Spectrum Meeting, 7-9 p.m. at PSU 3rd floor
State of the University Address, noon-1 p.m. at PSU Theater
By Taylor Burns The Standard
Thursday, Sept. 19
Graduate Student Senate Meeting, 3:30-5 p.m. at PSU 309 Anthropology Club Meeting, 5-6 p.m. at Strong Hall Room 301
Friday, Sept. 20
Farm Safety Workshop, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at Bond Learning Center Room 100
Bear Boulevard Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, 5:30-6 p.m. at Monroe Apartments
Minorities in Business Talk, 6:308:30 p.m. at PSU Room 313
Saturday, Sept. 21
Citizen Safety Concealed Carry Course, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at Jim D. Morris Center Room 410
Monday, Sept. 23 Fall Equinox, all day
Student Nurse Organization meeting, noon-1 p.m. at PSU 246
home to around 500 cattle, 350 of which are purebred Hereford cattle. Marty Lueck, who has managed the ranch since 1981, oversees the cattle and the students who come from Missouri State to work with them. “We take students in and give them a handson experience in the business,” said Lueck. “Many of them have never worked with cattle before, so when we bring them out to work at the ranch, they get the full experience.” Students are given the opportunity to go to the ranch during the weekends throughout the u See CATTLE, page 2
Unionizing Missouri State faculty still a contentious issue Proponents argue unionizing good for students, university
B.E.A.R. Fee Student Open Forum, 1-2 p.m., 5-6 p.m., and 8:30-9:30 p.m. at Craig Hall Coger Theatre
this could be more than just speculation. The Missouri State School of Agriculture began a program last spring that allowed students to not only be involved in raising cattle, but also help in the process of selling and marketing to local consumers. “We’ve tried to develop a program in which our students can have a hand in running the business no matter what their emphasis in agriculture is,” said Elliott. “We want them to feel like this isn’t just our program; it runs because they’re involved.” The process for students begins at Journagan Ranch, a 3,200-acre ranch south of Mountain Grove where the cattle are raised. The ranch is
Unionizing the teaching staff has been the goal of the MSU Faculty Association since September 2011, but there are still obstacles between the union proponents and legal certification. The group of teachers, affiliated with the Missouri National Education Association (MNEA), hopes to gain power to represent the university’s academic staff to the administration, negotiating an employment contract for all faculty. Before a 2007 Missouri Supreme Court decision, such power did not exist for Missouri public school employees. Reed Olsen, president of the Faculty Association and professor of economics at MSU, said the ultimate goal of unionizing is to increase the quality of education for students. “We’re in the serious business of teaching students and making sure they’re successful in their lives,” said Olsen. Olsen said a big problem at Missouri State, and other colleges and universities, is the misallocation of campus resources. A 2011 Faculty Senate study from the
Additional information
To learn more about the MSU Faculty Association: http://www.msufacultyassociation.blogspot.com. Read the Budget and Priorities Committee study: http://www.http://courses.missouristate.edu/ReedOlsen/ms ufa/2010BPreport.pdf. Budget and Priorities Committee shows that from 2004 to 2010, professional, non-academic staff on campus increased 51.1 percent, while ranked faculty members declined 5.7 percent. “We’ve had an explosion in administrators, administrative budgets and in professional staff,” said Olsen. “The research shows that unionizing re-allocates those resources back toward academics. More faculty, better faculty, smaller class sizes. It would directly impact the
quality of education on campus in a positive way.” In order to become a certified union under the MNEA, the Faculty Association must hold a card campaign to gather anonymous support from the majority of faculty members. According to Olsen, the group is planning to launch the campaign some time during the academic year. “The planning for it is ongoing, but I’m not sure yet when the actual campaign will get started,” Olsen said in a later email. If the campaign is successful, an election would decide the final certification of the union. However, because collective bargaining rights have never been voted on for MSU faculty, the group would need to collaborate with university administration and agree on an election process, according to Olsen. “There’s no legal process in place to do it,” he said. “If the secretaries on campus wanted to unionize, there’s a legal process and a state agency that does it for everyone except teachers, police and fire.” Several professors said they would be in favor of a union, but aren’t familiar enough with the current plan to form an opinion. David Claborn, an assistant professor in the political science department, said he would support unionization, but would not join the union under the proposed conditions. “I am not opposed to unions at all,” said Claborn in an email. “However, I am not a fan u See UNION, page 2