THE VANDAL VOICE SINCE 1898
uiargonaut.com
Friday, April 12, 2013
In brief Students reach out to community The University of Idaho’s annual Saturday of Service event will take place this weekend where more than 30 different projects will help improve the Moscow community. Tony Ive, outreach and recruitment student coordinator for the ASUI Center for Volunteerism and Social Action, said there will be an estimated 450-500 students participating in this year’s event. “It’s one of the best ways for students to plug in and realize the work that can be done in our society,” Ive said. Ive said students will split into teams. Each team will be assigned a different project and each team will differ in size depending on the scale of the project. Ive said smaller projects will
Steven Devine | Argonaut
Campus security patrols campus Thursday near the Idaho Commons. Before 2010 the University of Idaho relied on the Moscow Police Department to patrol the campus, but a deal with AlliedBarton allowed for additional security in order to help keep the students and the campus community safe.
team while the large ones will have up to 80. He said each team is designated at least one team leader and can have up to four. “A lot of students don’t know exactly how they can get involved in community services like this, and we provide a way for them to
Securing their place Dylan Brown Argonaut
regularly circling the University of Idaho campus have changed their shirts and the dynamic of campus security since arriving in Moscow in 2010. Instead of sticking out like a sore thumb in highlighter green, the employees of private security company AlliedBarton now wear Vandal gold, a symbol of their integration into the campus community. “It took them a year or so to get acquainted with campus, get acquainted with our needs and build relationships, principally with Moscow PD but also with other stakeholders on campus,” Dean of Students Bruce Pitman said. “I think
that the relationship has become positive and useful.” When AlliedBarton was brought in three years ago to supplement the security efforts of the Moscow Police Department, Pitman said many in the community wondered if unarmed security personnel with no law enforcement powers were necessary. Prior to Oct. 1, 2010, MPD had been the primary security force on campus since 1966, but a new $1.3 million contract created an MPD-AlliedBarton security hybrid. For $937,715 a year, MPD continues to investigate criminal activity, Commons. AlliedBarton’s $385,291annual contract focuses on a 24/7 presence to deter crime and property
damage through patrols of the 300 acres and 250 buildings at UI. While the largest private American-owned security firm provides security to campuses nationwide, including Stanford, Yale and the University of Chicago, UI acclimated slowly to the folks in fluorescent shirts. However, by identifying themselves as “campus security” and not AlliedBarton, reaching out to community members and responding to university instruction, they’re now a campus fixture. “Our relationship with them has matured in a positive way,” Pitman said. “AlliedBarton provides another important layer of safety, another layer of information we might not otherwise have.“
Allied Barton’s role For UI Executive Director of Public Safety and Security Matt Dorschel, who acts as the primary liaison between Allied Barton and UI, campus security is more a wagging finger than Billy club. “We don’t want them to be enforcers of policy. Their goal is to make a safe, secure campus,” he said. “I get a lot of positive feedback.” MPD continues to handle criminal activities and roughly the same number of calls, but the perception of an increased presence has made campus more secure, Lieutenant Dave Lehmitz, who oversees the campus division
Ive said students who participate are usually there because they legitimately want to help out their community. Ive said a few of the projects will include doing yard work for retirement homes, recycling trash at the recycling center and a project called Orphan Acres where students work with disabled animals, mainly horses. He said one of the bigger projects is a tree planting project that will take place in multiple places around Moscow.
SEE SECURING, PAGE 5
Family Promise day center secured
ATHENA SpRINg SOcIAl
Alycia Rock Argonaut
Homeless, povertystricken families with children will soon have a daily address, thanks to an agreement between Family Promise of the Palouse and Gritman Medical Center. Family Promise is a
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Julie Clarkson, Manager of Administrative Services for University Advancement, converses with co-workers at the Athena Spring Social. Athena is a University of Idaho association of staff and faculty for promoting inclusive and equitable climate for women. The society started in 1987 when a group of UI women met to plan a new organization for professional women. “Athena membership is open to all faculty and staff and it is a great opportunity to be a part of a community focused on equity and inclusion,” said Heather Shea Gasser, director of the Women’s Center.
that aims to end homelessness on the Palouse one family at a time, said Bruce Pitman, University of Idaho dean of students and president of the Board of Directors for Family Promise. “There are 12 to 14 families a week that ask for some form of assistance,” Pitman said. “On the Palouse, we have Sojourners’ Alliance and now Family Promise.” Sojurners’ Alliance is offers long-term housing assistance to at-risk and homeless people in the area. It and Family each other’s services, said Steve Bonnar, executive director of Sojourn-
ers’ Alliance. “Twenty-nine percent of people who reside in Moscow live in poverty,” Bonnar said. “Latah County is third in the state of Idaho for poverty ridden families.” Partnered with 25 churches between Moscow and Pullman, Family Promise currently provides immediate shelter to homeless families. Now, the Day Center will give these families an address, a shower and a comnancial footing, Pitman said. The churches that host Family Promise guests are only able to house them between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily. The lease agreement with Gritman for the Wellness Center will give these families a place to spend their days until they have a more permanent option, Pitman said. “Families who will participate in the program do have to go through an application process,” Pitman said. “It simply deals with a few basic questions. To qualify, you have to be an adult with a child.” Though there is no income
caste, the family must prove that they are homeless and demonstrate a willingness to work with a caseworker to address some issues that may have contributed to this homelessness, Pitman said. Despite homelessness, many Family Promise guests are employed and go to work during the day, Pitman said. But this program allows them to have a safe place to sleep for seven to eight weeks — last month’s rent on a more stable home. Family Promise is funded completely by grants, fundraisers and personal donations. Most importantly, the heart of the program is volunteers, Pitman said. In fact, Family Promise would not be sustainable were it not for the volunteer work and generosity of citizens on the Palouse, Pitman said. This generosity is exemCenter and the churches who are participating. Gritman will only charge Family Promise $500 per month for SEE FAMILY, PAGE 5
IN THIS ISSUE
New linebacker coach Mike Anderson returns to the Palouse to teach one of Idaho’s most inexperienced groups. SPORTS, 6 News, 1
Sports, 6
Opinion, 10
In rawr: Hempfest Twelfth Night Study Abroad
Idaho should improve rape laws to make prosecution possible — Read Our View.
RAWR — INSIDE University of Idaho
OPINION, 10 Volume 114, Issue no. 53
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