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Volume LXXXV Number VI
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Chancellor Joel E. Anderson will receive this year’s Leadership Award during the Institute for Interfaith Dialog’s eighth annual Friendship and Dialog Dinner. The event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Clinton Presidential Library. Tickets are $50 per person. For more information or to RSVP, call 501-223-3443 or email iidarkansas@gmail.com. Crista Gray, a Ph.D. candidate from Syracuse University, was recently hired as the director of the TRiO Student Support Services and Ronald McNair Scholars programs at UALR’s Academic Success Center. The position Gray will fill has been vacant since June due to the retirement of Valerie Brown. The League of United Latin American Citizens honored five students at its annual Scholarship Banquet Oct. 26. Gov. Mike Beebe was the keynote speaker at the event in the Grand Hall of the Governor’s Mansion Friday.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Student Newspaper
Safety, security of campus community still a top priority, administrators say Crime statistics show similarities across the state Cameron Moix News Editor
A recent report of crime statistics shows a decline in violent crime as the campus community commemorates the one-year anniversary of a student’s death. Members of the campus community recently joined the family of Patricia Guardado during a candlelight vigil to remember the slain student on the one-year anniversary of her death. On Oct. 16, 2011, Guardado’s body was found in Sweet Home, just four days after her disappearance from a parking lot near campus on Oct. 12. “I think it made us aware that we’re not immune to anything,” said University Police Chief Regina Wade-Carter. “It showed us that evil things can happen outside of our control, and that made people be more aware of their surroundings.” Since Guardado’s murder, university administration has been active in ensuring the safety of its population, but statistics show
Friends and supporters of the Guardado family came together for a candlelight vigil outside the Donaghey Student Center Oct. 16, one year after the body of slain student Patricia Guardado was found. Photo by Cameron Moix that the rate of violent or forcible crimes was already on a downturn when the incident occurred. After the incident, UALR bolstered its security measures by developing new awareness programs and initiating the use of a contracted trolley service to transport students on and around campus. But statistics show that
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the rate of violent crimes was already experiencing a downturn. According to crime statistics released by the Department of Public Safety in early October, UALR’s violent or forcible crime rates have decreased 56 percent from October 2009 to October 2011. Among these data are four violent crimes reported to have
occurred in 2011, compared to nine listed in 2009. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville reported 15 crimes of a similar nature to have occurred in 2011, which is up 20 percent since 2009. Arkansas State University reported two such crimes
SAFETY, continued on page 3
Institutional research data shows decreased freshman enrollment
UALR will celebrate National Non-Traditional Student Week from Nov. 5- 9, with events such as an open house, Toys for Tots drive kickoff and a screening and panel discussion of the documentary “First Generation.” There are currently more than 3,000 students who are the first in their families to attend college. The Trojan men’s and women’s basketball programs will both be opening their seasons in early November. The first game for the men’s team is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 9 at the Jack Stephens Center, and the women will open the season in Tulsa on Monday, Nov. 12.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Liz Fox
Entertainment Editor
Attendees of “Food for Thought: A Symposium Devoted to Food, Policy, and Community in Arkansas” ordered food from Southern Gourmasian Oct. 26 outside the UALR Bowen School of Law. Foodtruck owner Justin Patterson was one of more than 20 speakers at the inaugural event. Photo by Cameron Moix
Law school hosts symposium on food-related issues in state Jacob Ellerbee
Asst. Entertainment Editor
The UALR William H. Bowen School of Law hosted the Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Publication Service’s first public symposium, Food For Thought: A Symposium Devoted to Food, Policy, and Community in Arkansas on Oct. 26. The symposium consisted of six different topics that were discussed among a revolving group of panelists that are experts in their respective fields. The topics, which ranged from the history of street vending to food insecurities on the local level, lasted approximately 45
minutes per topic. The first topic of the day, “The History of Street Vending in America,” informed the crowd of how street vending was used in the earliest days of entrepreneurship in the United States to the current state of street vending. This segued into the second topic of the day, “Food Trucks in the Little Rock Landscape.” Panelists for this topic included mobile food vendors and brick-and-mortar restaurant owners. The two sides discussed and debated the difficulties of competing with one
FOOD, continued on page 3
After two months of compiling data, the UALR Office of Institutional Research released statistics on Oct. 12 indicating an unexpected decline in freshman enrollment and a slight increase in overall retention. Data for the entering freshman class of 2016, which was expected to be the second-largest in the school’s history, indicated a decline of 76 students (923 to 847) from fall 2011 to the current semester. The sophomore, junior and senior classes remained in the same range as the previous year and did not reflect any substantial changes. Interim Provost Sandra Robertson did not respond to questions concerning the size of the freshman class. The university’s retention rate, which indicates the number of students who decide to continue at the same institution throughout their college careers, jumped from 62 to 67 percent from 2011 to 2012. This is comparatively lower than other Arkansas colleges, as U.S. News and World Report disclosed rates of 83 percent and 70 percent for University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Arkansas State University, respectively.
But Sonia Hazelwood, interim director of the Office of Institutional Research, notes that some students are not incorporated into the retention rate when data is calculated. “Transfer, international and non-traditional students who did not start here as entering freshmen are excluded from the retention rate calculation,” she said. “This retention rate is calculated for first-time, entering and degree-seeking students only as this is a cohort that state and federal agencies use to calculate traditional rates.” Of the 12,872 students that were enrolled this fall, over 80 percent are pursuing degrees in undergraduate programs. Fiftyfive percent of undergraduates are full-time students, outnumbering part-time scholars by 1187 students and reflecting a slight decrease from the fall 2011 semester. Other available data included the number of students living in and out of state. Ninety-two percent of UALR students reside in Arkansas while the remaining number have permanent addresses elsewhere. Hazelwood said these numbers do not fluctuate much, and both numbers only experienced changes by 1 percent.