Sept 18 (No. 3)

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UNEWS

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Wheelchair tennis inspires SLU athletes

OPINION PAGE 11 The Greek sneak peek

Scotland to stay a united kingdom? - Page 10

A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1919

Vol. XCIV No. 3

SPORTS PAGE 5

Bicentennial Strategic Planning: Preparing SLU for the next two centuries By PAUL BRUNKHORST News Editor

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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Job action: VERP revisited The program was launched due to concern over future budgets and was offered to certain SLU and In April, then-Interim SLUCare employees. VERP President of Saint Louis capped the number of SLUUniversity Bill Kauffman Care employees that could announced the Voluntary accept the lump sum at 30 Enhanced Retirement Proin order to keep SLUCare gram (VERP), which was functioning effectively, but offered to select faculty and there was no limit on the staff. The program consisted number of SLU employees of a lump sum retirement that could accept the deal. payment, along with the According to College of ability to stay on SLU’s medArts and ical plan for Sciences a limited A s s o c i ate amount of ...those people Dean Dontime and na LaVoie, a limited who took it 20 faculty reimburseseemed to believe members ment for it was a good deal. and 12 staff financial members planning. -Donna LaVoie, from the R e c e n t l y, Associate Dean, College college acthe numcepted the of Arts and Sciences ber of staff offer. and faculty A c members cording to that took LaVoie, “Anecdotally, those advantage of the VERP propeople I know who took it gram in the College of Arts seemed to believe it was a and Sciences was released. good deal.” However, even VERP was conceived by among staff and faculty that a committee consisting of didn’t take the offer, a reimmany stakeholders, includbursement for $2,000 was ing representatives of the offered for financial planStaff and Faculty Senate and ning, in order to determine recent retirees. This comwhether or not the plan was mittee, along with a human resources consulting firm, came up with and fineSee “Buyouts” on Page 3 tuned the idea. By VIVEK GORIJALA Associate News Editor

Courtesy of Michelle Peltier

SLU: Parts of the University’s strategic plan could include campus improvements encompasses many aspects of the university community, and the process will be run by the Strategic Planning Steering Committee composed of representatives from various facets of the university. This committee will be aided in an advisory capacity by a group of more than 70 university members, called the Strategic Planning Assembly. “The process is governed by a set of Guiding Princi-

A language by any other name... By HANNAH WILEY Staff Writer

For universities, including Saint Louis University, developing a name for an academic department that incorporates all the elements of the department can be difficult, especially if that department is home to all the language and cultural courses on a campus. The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at SLU showcased its new name this fall—a name it hopes is a good representation of all its programs and offerings. The department was previously known as the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. The new name, department members hope, will provide deeper clarity of the department’s mission and goals and

be a better representation of the language, literature and culture classes that expand beyond the modern and classical languages. While other campuses choose to divide the language aspect of their curriculum into different sections, SLU holds one department that is home to a variety of languages with different roots. Languages include Italian, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, German, French, Classics, and Chinese. The department hopes the new name covers the diversity of each language and the culture it is connected to, which is what the faculty cherishes most about its division of academics. Dr. Angela Smart, department chair, is proud to reveal the name change that See “Language” on Page 3

Javier Muro de Nadal / Staff Photographer

Language: With its name change, the department hopes for awareness of its academic opportunities

ples that promote transparency, broad participation, and innovation as the process proceeds,” Porterfield and Weixlmann said. “The Strategic Planning Steering Committee will implement a structure and process that emphasize participation at every step as the plan develops.” And while—as Porterfield and Weixlmann stress—participation in what goes into the plan is encouraged for

every member of the university, the Planning Steering Committee and Strategic Planning Assembly have the role of actually putting the plan together, a power that required careful consideration on the part of the administration as to who would be a member of both the Committee and the Assembly. See “Plan” on Page 3

In 2018, Saint Louis University will celebrate its bicentennial—200 years of Jesuit education in Missouri. And, as SLU moves closer to 2018 and its 200 year anniversary, administrative leaders, along with other members of the university community, are beginning to prepare SLU for not only this momentous occasion, but for the future as well. “The President has asked a representative of faculty, staff, and student representatives to lead an effort to examine the environment in which SLU operates, assess its impact on the University, and identify the most appropriate strategic responses as the institution moves forward,” said Kent Porterfield, Ed.D, Vice President for Student Development, and Dr. Joe Weixlmann, professor of English at SLU. The two are co-chairs of the university’s Strategic Planning Process. The Strategic Planning Process is a yearlong, university-wide strategy that University president Fred Pestello and the rest of the administration see as crucial to SLU’s continued legacy as a top Catholic research institution. The planning process

Fishy business: Micah’s tilapia By JESSICA WINTER Managing Editor

In its mission statement, Saint Louis University pledges dedication to the service of humanity and innovative studies required to transform society. Helping to carry out this aspect of the mission is SLU’s Urban Outreach Greenhouse project – a program that works to promote urban agricultural sustainability. The Greenhouse project is one of many efforts attached to SLU’s Urban Project endeavor, an effort that started in 2009 and is spearheaded by professors Donald Stump, Richard Colignon, and Robert Cropf. The Urban Project aims to make advances in education and efforts in facing present and future urban issues. One of these current problems concerns food deserts, or geographic areas that struggle to obtain nutritious and affordable food. “The people living there often...end up eating out of corner convenient stores, but they never get any fruits and vegetables,” said Stump. “In fact, a lot of the people we work with, the children, have never seen a raw carrot.” In an effort to change this situation and people’s perspectives on food, as well as to alter the face of future urban eatery, the SLU Urban Project and the Micah Program in Urban Poverty Studies initiated a greenhouse plan to start educating people on sustainable agriculture. This plan in-

John Schuler / Editor-in-Chief

Sustainability: Dr. Stump works with the tilapia and plants in SLU’s greenhouse. Stump sees the project as an important model of future food production. cludes hands-on education of at-risk children, upkeep of a year-round indoor growing climate, integration of fish, invertebrate and plant culture system, and food production for underserved populations. The Urban Outreach Greenhouse project was initiated about two years ago and is starting to see some of the fruits of its labor – especially in the greenhouse located at SLU. Within the greenhouse are carefully-calculated ecosystems – between plant life

and tilapia fish. In a nutshell, aquariums containing tilapia fish provide nutrients through the water to the plants above them, which in return filter the water and maintain a clean aquatic environment for the fish. The Greenhouse Project hopes to uses these ecosystems to promote education on urban agriculture. “We’re interested in teaching children science, and what better way than to show them than a functioning ecosystem?” said Stump.

With ecosystems such as these, healthier food options become available and year-round food production is possible despite the geographic location. Transportation is currently a large factor in food production/ distribution, and the project is looking at how this will affect the future. “Essentially we’re looking ahead 50 years and saying See “Tilapia” on Page 3


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