The Echo | September 28, 2016

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The Echo

SINGLE COPY PAID FOR BY STUDENT PUBLICATION FEE

THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS’ STUDENT NEWSPAPER

WEDNESDAY

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 Volume 111 — Issue 6

ucaecho.net TODAY’S FORECAST

Campus Life:

CONWAY

Greek: Fraternities accept new bids into their organizations

Entertainment:

Sports:

Music: Mac Miller experiments with neo-soul, jazz

Football: Bears beat Arkansas State 28-23 in Jonesboro

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Sunny

SGA discusses diversity, changes bylaw wording

86/55 THE NEWSDESK

by Brent Wilson Assistant News Editor

FROM THE EDITOR

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Kerry meets with Russia over cease-fire issue After a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday, Sept. 22 that there were ideas on how to rebuild the cease-fire agreement but no agreement on what would “restore credibility” to the diplomatic process. Kerry suggested that Syrian and Russian aircraft be grounded.

N AT I O N A L

Shooting reported at North Carolina protest On Wednesday Sept. 21, police responded to a call about a shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina. When they arrived, officers found a man at the scene with an apparent gunshot wound, and the man was moved to the Carolina Medical Center for treatment. This incident comes after a Black Lives Matter protesting in the city following a publicized altercation in which a black man was shot by police.

LOCAL

Bodies found in Pope junk yard identified

photo courtesy of uca.edu

The Hardings pose for a photo in front of the fountain that they helped finance. The couple donated $500,000 to the Schedler Honors College campaign to raise $3 million for Travel Abroad Grants and Undergraduate Research Grants for Education.

Alumni couple gives $500,000 donation to Schedler Honors College campaign by John Anderson Staff Writer

After an investigation by the Arkansas State Crime Lab, the bodies of two men found in a junk yard have now been identified as Aaron Brock and Beau DeWitt of Yell County. The two bodies were found Tuesday, Sept. 20 at the U-Pull-It Auto Salvage Yard in Pope County. Police said that Brock had left his home with DeWitt without a wallet, according to his mother, but did take his cell phone.

Challenge to medical marijuana rejected The Arkansas Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the medical marijuana ballot proposal by the group Arkansas Against Legalized Marijuana. Another challenge to the proposed measure’s language and signatures is currently pending in court.

UCA alumni Rush and Linda Harding donated $500,000 to the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College at UCA. The couple gave the money to the Honors College as an unrestricted gift. Therefore, the Honors College can use the money for anything it sees fit. The Hardings gave the gift in honor of Dr. Norbert O. Schedler. “Our actions are to ask Dr. Schedler on how he wants us to use the gift that has been given to us by the Hardings,” Assistant Dean of the Honors College Patricia Smith said. “We have a campaign to try

to raise $3 million and the Hardings found out about it and gave us $500,000.” Smith said Schedler always loved how the Honors College gave students a chance to see themselves in a larger world, whether that means studying abroad, researching or interning. Smith said Schedler also hopes the money will allow them to bring in more guest speakers. “The best part about the guest speakers is that it is not just for the Honors College, but for the entire university,” Smith said. Smith said the faculty and staff are supportive of the activities to bring in guest speakers that relate to classroom discussions. “It gives the students more

by Payton Turner Staff Writer

WHAT’S AHEAD

IN OUR NEXT ISSUE The Office of International Engagement has faced a number of problems in recent semesters

On Tuesday, Sept. 13, UCA was listed on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 list of the Top 25 Public Universities in the South. UCA was rated 24th of 25, a large leap from their 2016 ranking of 29. According to the U.S. News and World Report website, this ranking is determined by a formula that turns qualitative data. This data includes the availability of financial aid, cost, academic offerings and sports and activities, into quantitative data that is used to determine the exact score of the college or university being judged.

According to U.S. News’ website, the ranking process first begins with the schools being divided into regional and national categories. Regional colleges are colleges and universities that focus mostly on undergraduate programs and offer a few graduate and very few, if any, doctoral programs. National colleges are those that focus heavily on graduate, doctoral and master’s programs — in addition to their widespread variety of undergraduate programs. After the colleges and universities are sorted into regional and national, the regional schools are further categorized into geographic location: North, South, Midwest and West.

Contact Us:

Index: 4

Students Say

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See Honors - page 2

FINANCIAL AID

photo courtesy of uca.edu

(Left to right) Carolina Baldera, Javier Hernandez, Roberto Ramirez and Daniela Infante pose for a photo. The students were awardede a scholarship from LULAC.

Scholarships from LULAC UCA rated 24 of 25 colleges in South awarded to four students

Arkansas towns White Hall and Pine Bluff have reported sightings of clowns recently, similar to past reports in other states such as North Carolina. According to reports, the clown sightings occurred on the border between the two towns, and it was reported that one of the clowns was carrying something like a machete in his hand.

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experience with things we talk about in class. When we talk about things in class that relate to our guest speakers, it gives the students more worldly results and makes the classroom decisions richer,” Smith said. Smith said the money will not be used to enlarge the Honors College, and there are no plans to enlarge it. “The facilities that we have are enough,” Smith said. Rush Harding said he donated the money because he has been a contributor to UCA for a long time, and he was personal friends with Jefferson D. Farris, who was the former president of UCA.

RANKING

Sightings of threatening clowns increase

Police Beat People of UCA

The Student Government Association discussed diversity and voted on motions regarding the SGA constitution on Monday. Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Darshon Anderson presented on the behalf of the Office of Institutional Diversity spoke to the SGA, discussing a Campus Climate survey which had been previously sent via mass email to students, but with little feedback. “Sky Factor is the host of the survey, we did not create the questions,” Anderson said, beginning the discussion with a note as to the nature of the questions involved. Anderson did say that of the questions, “we use 95 percent.” Anderson reported to the SGA that each of the questions that they would cover were questions which did not reach the ideal positive reaction that is expected, earning a rating less than 5.5 out of 7. Anderson specifically used questions which had not recieved this rating at UCA with the hope of the student senators shedding light as to why the questions were responded to in that way. The questions asked

covered subjects such as diversity, perceptions of faculty by the students, and campus safety. After a question on campus policies, and why the response in the survey was negative, Senator Dierre Littleton, graduate student, said, “the residence halls, a lot of them are not equipped for students with disabilities.” Littleton spoke again after a question on diversity, calling for more education on the subject and more open conversations on it in the community. During the meeting, SGA also voted on motions concerning the wording of bylaw B, Article 2, Section 1, Letters A and B of the SGA Constitution. The new wordings of these sections were proposed by SGA members to lessen bias in appropriation of funds. Littleton opposed the first motion and abstained from voting in the second, his argument being that bias can be present regardless as to whether or not members in a organization are also voting on the funding. Both motions passed, the first with only one senator in opposition, and the other with one senator in opposition and one in abstention.

Columns Entertainment Sports

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Phone: 501-499-9822 E-mail: ucaechoeditor@gmail.com

Once the schools are compartmentalized, U.S. News begins to collect information and data from each of the colleges on up to 15 possible indicators of academic excellence. Each of these 15 factors is assigned a certain weight that indicates how much it matters. Finally, all of the colleges and universities in all of the categories are ranked against their fellows. Their ranking is determined by their weighted composite score. “[We] are honored to once again be listed in the top tier of regional public institutions in the South,”

See South - page 2

by Brittany Breeding Contributor

Four UCA students, Carolina Balderas, Javier Hernandez, Roberto Ramirez and Daniela Infante, recently received scholarships from the League of United Latin American Citizens. According to LULAC State Director Rey Hernandez, Arkansas’ LULAC chapter is very focused on supporting scholarships and higher education for Latinos. “It’s important that we are getting money into the hands of students who would like to go to college and are smart enough to, but can’t handle it financially,” Hernandez said. To receive a scholarship from LULAC, you have to turn

Social:

in an application by March, which includes financial information, academic information and an essay on why you should get the scholarship and what you will do with your education to help the community. The scholarships are funded through local fundraising efforts. For every dollar that is earned, the national chapter will give six cents. LULAC also has corporate donors that help fund the scholarships. Manny Sepulveda, the Hispanic Initiatives coordinator at UCA, has been a member of LULAC for

See Awarded - page 2

Inside: Oil spills destroying Earth

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We must take immediate measures to stop disaster

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