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Vol. XCV No. 3
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Thursday, September 17, 2015
A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1919
Hospital returns to the fold
Center, back in Catholic hands, fully operational By JACKIE STACHIW & SHRUTHIKA POCHAMPALLY Staff Writer & Contributor
As of Sept. 1, 2015, Saint Louis University, in partnership with SSM Health (formerly known as Sisters of St. Mary Health Care), will be constructing a new hospital that lies within the regime of SSM’s multi-state network of hospitals and health care services. In an email addressed to the SLU community, Saint Louis University president, Dr. Fred Pestello, claims SSM Health will be investing a budget of $500 million towards the new hospital. Located on South Grand Boulevard, the hospital is scheduled to be up and running in five years. “For some time, SLU had been exploring ways to strengthen the educational experiences of our students and the reach of our physician practice in the region,” Vice President of Medical Affairs and Dean of SLU School of Medicine, Philip Alderson, said. Similiar to SLU, SSM as a Catholic establishment, aligns itself to Catholic principles and standards. “In SSM we found [an] organization with a premier health care network that would position us better to meet the needs of the communities and the students we serve,” Alderson said. “[This partnership] will significantly strengthen our University by advancing our
By EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM Associate News Editor
Courtesy of SLU Law
SLU-SSM: The hospital, due in five years, will invest $500 million into SLU’s medical campus. ability to deliver high quality and compassionate medical care, which the SLU community has identified as a key initiative in our Strategic Plan.” Aside from the health care and medical advancements that this new partnership will bring, it will also provide invaluable advantages
Inaugural SGA meeting By PAUL BRUNKHORST Editor-In-Chief
The Saint Louis University Student Government Association (SGA) opened its legislative session of the 2015-2016 school year on Wednesday, Sept. 16, and the meeting – President Jay Bryant’s first as leader of the student body – featured notable presentations from SLU president Dr. Fred Pestello and Vice President of Student Development Dr. Kent Porterfield. After a prayer by Dan Kennedy, a Jesuit senator from the College of Philosophy and Letters, the meeting commenced with the senate’s standard parliamentary procedures – call to order, roll call and approval of the minutes and agenda. Pestello then addressed the body, gave a brief recap of his first year in office and presented some of the ongoing efforts of his administration. Though his second year begins with one of SLU’s brightest and largest freshman classes starting their time at the university, Pestello noted that the university’ enrollment is down – though, perhaps, for an unexpected reason. “Overall, our enrollment is actually down,” Pestello said. “…and part of the reason we’re down is because we’re getting better at what we do, so our four-year graduation rate and six-year graduation rate has improved.” This, he noted, is the phenomenon that has caused the decline in enrollment. Pestello also spoke at
Fast draws attention to adjuncts’ plight
length about what he said is a challenge for any university: fundraising. According to the president, one of the biggest ways SLU struggles in this regard is in alumni giving. Pestello lamented that among SLU’s approximately 120,000 alumni, only about 12-13% give to the university. But while SLU has had difficulty in reeling in alumni dollars, Pestello said the university has been successful in the opening stages of a capital campaign - one of the principal ways in which universities garner donations - which he says will be crucial for the funding of future scholarships. “One of the priorities for that campaign will clearly be for funding scholarship dollars,” he said. “We have been raising money very aggressively for scholarships to try to address the most critical issue facing private higher education, which is the issue of affordability.” A topic Pestello also touched on was the university’s recent purchase of its hospital from Tenet Health and the subsequent partnership with SSM Health, a Catholic organization – a move he said fits well with SLU’s mission. “We are really the only hospital here in the city serving…the sickest people in the region with the least ability to pay, and we see that as part of our mission,” Pestello iterated. See “SGA” on Page 3
for future SLU students. According to Alderson, it will bring “clinical training opportunities” and expose students and researchers alike to “clinical research trials of new medications and technologies”. The partnership has the potential to benefit undergraduate students in the pre-health, nursing and
physical therapy areas of study, among others. In addition, SLU School of Medicine students and employees in the health care industry, along with patients seeking passionate and efficient health care will benefit. “The SLU-SSM partnership is a great initiative for
SLU,” SLU School of Medicine freshman Aditi Bommireddy, said. “As medical students, we have pediatric clinical rotations at SSM Cardinal Glennon so now with SLU Hospital partner See “Hospital” on Page 3
On Thursday, Sept. 10, over 50 Saint Louis University students and faculty members took part in the ‘Fast for Faculty,’ which sought to bring awareness to the adjunct instructors’ efforts to better their working conditions. Demonstrators gathered at the clock tower from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. while also abstaining from food during that time. “We are trying to raise awareness that there are social injustices even for teachers at universities; for adjunct professors, specifically,” said Hillary Birdsong, an adjunct instructor in the languages, literatures and cultures department at SLU. Birdsong is one of approximately 500 adjunct instructors employed at SLU. The adjuncts are part-time instructors who teach about 40% of the courses at SLU and earn on average $4,000 per course. Since most adjuncts only teach a few courses a semester, they do not make enough money to qualify for benefits. “Adjuncts, because they are contracted class-byclass, have no job security,” said Sheri Anderson-Gutierrez, a visiting professor of Spanish. “Often their working conditions are much less See “Adjuncts” on Page 3
STL4Syria proclaims: ‘Bring them here’ Student group marches in support of refugees
Ryan Quinn / The University News
LOUD IN THE LOOP: Hundreds of marchers took to the streets, calling for local relief efforts in the refugee crisis. By ALEX HANEL Copy Editor
“We are people who were born to see the suffering of other people, and not just change the channel!” The words of Fazian Syed echoed across the parking lot of the Delmar Loop, as he addressed the hundreds gathered on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 13, for the “STL4Syria Bring Them Here” march. The march, according to Syed, executive director of the St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-
Islamic Relations and the march’s lead organizer, was created with the goal to give passionate and caring people an opportunity to get out and have their voices heard … to begin the discussion in St. Louis about bringing refugees here so it’s no longer a foreign crisis happening somewhere far away … [and] to register people to organize a continue to long term efforts of raising awareness, dialogue, and put pressure on our elected officials to do what they can in their power to bring Syrian
families here.” The evening began at 5:30 with speeches from Syed, a prayer from Pastor Greg Johnson of Memorial Presbyterian Church, asking for God to “Turn the hearts of this nation’s leaders towards compassion and justice for the refugees from Syria, for the protection of these lives,” and a short speech from an American Syrian woman named Mesa. At 6:00p.m., marchers, wielding signs and leaflets with the slogans “#STL4Syria” and “#BringTh-
emHere” emblazed across them, lined up the sidewalk and marched from Delmar Blvd. to Skinker Blvd., following Syed, chanting “Bring Them Here!” and “Syria, Syria, you’re not alone! Call St Louis your new home!” The march was in response to the recentlydeemed-urgent “European Migrant Crises” that has captured headline news across the world. With over 11 million Syrians displaced See “March” on Page 3