Monday, March 16, 2015
Volume 99 Issue 43
www.studentprintz.com PAGE THREE
PAGE FIVE
NEWS
Dead Week policy
Student government dead set on protecting study time.
PAGE NINE
PAGE EIGHT
F E AT U R E
OPINION
S P O RT S
George reflects on first term after re-election.
Company’s food not the best option for non-meatlovers.
Mean Green soar past the Eagles in weekend sweep.
SGA president
McDonald’s
BUKU for music
Softball
Student arrested for drug possession Kathryn Miller
Executive Editor University of Southern Mississippi student John Franklin, 19, was arrested for various drug and alcohol charges on March 11 in Destin, Florida, during the university’s spring break. Fox 10 TV reported that Franklin was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol, cocaine possession, two counts of drug possession and four counts for possession of narcotic equipment. Theincidentoccurredwhenanearby deputy officer pulled the vehicle over on Scenic Gulf Drive, after he noticed the driver was not wearing his seat belt
John Franklin
Zella Day performs in the Ballroom on Saturday during the BUKU Music+Art Festival at the Port of New Orleans.
Mary Sergeant/Printz
ON CAMPUS
ResLife cuts RAs’ hours, limits employment Alan Rawls
Managing Editor The Department of Residence Life recently changed its policies regarding resident assistants’ pay, limiting them to a maximum of 11 hours per week and forbidding other employment, whether on or off campus. In an email dated Feb. 20, Danlana Brooks, the assistant manager of applications and assignments in ResLife, said resident assistants who worked over 11 hours each week would have their hours cut due to university policies. Additionally, resident assistants may only work desk shifts at their respective halls
and are not allowed to have outside employment. “In an effort to hire new desk assistants and comply to the rule of no hall change, I will determine the hours that need to be eliminated from your individual schedules in order to be able to offer the new desk assistants a stable schedule in one hall,” Brooks said in the email. Scott Blackwell, director of the Department of Residence Life, said the policy changes are unfortunate and that he regrets they must be implemented mid-year. “The university has had a policy to limit the hours each week student workers work, but we did not enforce the policy and need to
in order to protect student workers as students,” Blackwell said. “Too many hours spent working a job on campus can negatively affect academic work.” According to Blackwell, the policy change is intended to protect the department’s student workers. “We ask our student workers to attempt balance in their lives,” he said. Denman Mims, a junior political science major and resident assistant at Hattiesburg Hall, offered another reason for the policy change. Mims said the issue is a provision in the Affordable Care Act, which requires employers provide a certain bundle of benefits to workers who work past a certain
amount of hours. Twenty hours per week qualifies an individual for fulltime benefits. “The university is strapped for cash, so it’s trying to cut back hours so that no student worker gets to 20 to qualify for the benefits,” Mims said. But to make the situation worse, Mims said, ResLife calculates unpaid work, such as staff meetings, programs and duty nights, counting toward the 20-hour mark. This is why desk assistants can still work a considerable number of hours and why ResLife seeks to hire more desk assistants. “The argument is that our meal plan and housing constitute
see RESLIFE, page 3
and that a female passenger was also seen sitting on a male passenger’s lap in the front passenger seat. Three other people accompanied Franklin in the vehicle. According to a press release from the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, after the officer pulled them over, he then detected alcoholic beverages were present inside the vehicle. According to the Walton Sun, the officer confirmed that all four passengers were under the age of 21 and that they attempted to conceal bottles of alcohol. The three other passengers were placed under arrest for minor in possession of alcohol. The Walton Sun also reported that the officer was given consent by Franklin, who was the driver at the time, to search a bag found in the vehicle. The officer discovered a set of throwing knives, a digital scale, a small empty plastic baggy and a small bag containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine. Franklin admitted to the officer and other deputies that he purchased $150 worth of cocaine while in town for spring break and that there was a container underneath the front seat that contained marijuana paraphernalia, including a marijuana pipe and grinder, according to the Walton Sun. All four were transported to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office Jail.