11 28 2012

Page 1

VOLUME 102, ISSUE 39

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012

Phoenix Saxophone Quartet The Phoenix Saxophone Quartet is a group of students in the School of Music raising funds to perform at the 36th annual Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium in Virginia. To learn more, go to UniversityStar.com.

of a 3-part serie s Part 2

LINKING LANGUAGES

Faculty members respond to plans for custodial outsourcing By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor Though the complete outsourcing of custodial positions at Texas State may take 10 to 15 years, some faculty and staff are already beginning to consider its effects. Texas State contracted McLemore Building Maintenance, Inc. to fill the vacancies as university custodians retire or quit over time, effective June 1. Some buildings, such as the LBJ Student Center, Student Health Center and Student Recreation Center, were already outsourced. While some faculty and staff in those facilities have subsequently seen no change in the custodial services provided, others say they expect to see a difference. The outsourcing will spread to Jowers and Strahan Coliseum starting in December. It began as an effort to consolidate the individual contracts held by the three buildings already outsourced. Bill Nance, vice president of Finance and Support Services, estimates all custodial positions at Texas State will be outsourced by 2030. Some faculty are concerned because of the close relationships they hold with Texas State-employed custodians. Rebecca Montgomery, associate professor in the Department of History, said the same Texas State custodian has cleaned the Taylor Murphy History building for years. “We just do not want her to be replaced with outsourced employees because we value the relationship we have with (the custodian),” Montgomery said. Montgomery said because outsourced custodians are not employees of the university, they will have “no real loyalty or commitment” to Texas State and “no real connection” to the faculty. She said having an unfamiliar custodian around confidential information in faculty offices is a concern. However, not all faculty members say they foresee negative effects from the outsourcing. Jacqueline Slaughter, manager at the University Bookstore, said she will see no change in custodial staff at the facility. The bookstore hires its own custodian, so the outsourcing does not affect her staff. Kristy Caldwell, associate director of Campus Recreation, said the recreation center has had an outsourced custodial staff through McLemore since it opened in 1994. However, under the new contract, additional facilities such as the outdoor center, golf course and university camp were added to the custodial rounds. “We have been pleased with (McLemore’s) services,” Caldwell said. “The (new contract) has allowed us to get more spaces cleaned and save a little bit of money.” Associate Provost Cynthia Opheim said McLemore officials and faculty will meet to discuss issues pertinent to the individual buildings as they become outsourced. Special needs and issues will be addressed during these meetings.

Madelynne Scales, Staff Photographer

Blake Petrea, German and philosophy junior, works on German homework in the Honors Building. The foreign language department will be consolidating German and French majors due to the lack of students graduating.

French, German degrees to be consolidated cal year 2008. The board requires low-producing majors to request a temporary exemption, consolidate Blake Petrea’s grandmother emi- with similar programs or be phased grated from Germany to Texas in out. The German and French prothe 1960s knowing her native lan- grams will follow the middle option. guage is important to his family, Robert Fischer, chair of the Deacademic life and career. partment of Modern Languages, However, Petrea, German junior, said the French and German mais one of few students studying the jors will be consolidated into a sinlanguage at Texas State, prompting gle degree with specific tracks since changes to the future of the degree. the two aren’t producing enough The Texas Higher Education graduates on their own. The change Coordinating Board designated will take effect in fall 2013. both German and French as “lowThe consolidation will change producing” undergraduate majors, the names of the majors to Modern defined as one that does not gradu- Languages with a German conate more than 25 students in five centration and Modern Languages years. There have been 17 German with a French concentration, with and 25 French graduates since fis- all-level teaching certification still offered for both. The degree requirements Degrees awarded to French and and curriculum will not change, but the German majors by fiscal year consolidation will serve as a “reporting 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 mechanism” showing higher enrollFrench 8 5 4 4 4 ment numbers to the coordinating board. German 3 3 4 “This approach 5 3 By Adrian Omar Ramirez News Reporter

Investigation underway after Aquarena Center vandalism By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor The Aquarena Center is recovering from a recent surge of vandalism that has left glass bottom boats and other property damaged. The center has experienced five cases of vandalism dating back to August, the most recent occuring the morning of Nov. 19, said Johnny Johnston, University Police Department officer. The others occurred Aug. 14 and 22 as well as Oct. 24 and 26. No buildings of the center have been broken into, but acts of vandalism have caused damages to property, and graffiti has occurred in most of the incidences. “Although (graffiti) hasn’t been done on every single (incident), it seems to tie in together with the vandalism of the boats, in relation to the area

(the incidents are) occurring in and the time it occurs,” Johnston said. Deborah Lane, assistant director of the center, said damage was done to Plexiglas windows, fire extinguishers and emergency blow horns on the boats. Vandals set off fire extinguishers and threw them off the damaged boats, releasing chemicals into Spring Lake, Lane said. Some of the removed Plexiglas was recovered, but other damages cannot be repaired as easily. Lane does not have an estimate for the damages accrued from the five incidents. Johnston said at this point of the investigation, it is likely the incidents are linked and the vandalism was done by a group of people, not just a single culprit.

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Star File Photo

The Aquarena Center has experienced several acts of vandalism since August. University Police officials believe a group of people vandalized the center’s glass bottom boats and released chemicals into Spring Lake.

will take care of the problem for some time, maybe forever,” Fischer said. “If not, then we’ll talk about something else in the future, but I don’t see that as a problem.” However, Carole Martin, professor of modern languages, still worries about the possibility of Texas State losing these programs in the future. A growing number of students are choosing to study Spanish as a foreign language at Texas State. Martin said each year there are fewer students electing to study other languages like German and French. She estimates nearly 80 percent of modern language majors choose to study Spanish. “It’s not an issue specific to Texas State, or specific to Texas for that matter, but in terms of foreign language, students do favor Spanish,” Martin said. “Year after year, (the board) does eliminate low-producing programs. We are talking about the possible elimination of German and French as majors.” Petrea said he could see the ap-

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Health center notifies inactive students of care ineligibility By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor Bobcats attempting to receive services from the Student Health Center more than one semester after leaving Texas State can now expect a notice signaling their ineligibility. The Student Health Center provides a grace period that allows students to continue receiving medical services for one semester after their last enrolled term at Texas State. Emilio Carranco, director of the Student Health Center, said he has recently seen students who had not been enrolled at Texas State for up to two years requesting services. Carranco said health center staff have found it necessary to begin formal notifications to grace semester patients so they are aware of when eligibility for services ends. Beginning this fall, the health center staff has begun emailing non-enrolled patients notifying that they will no longer be eligible for medical services after their four-month grace period. The email will let patients know if they re-enroll at Texas State eligibility will be regained for full services. Carranco said about 1,950 students who are not currently enrolled are able to access its services this fall based on their grace-semester status. These students have to pay an officevisit charge of $35 because they have not contributed the Medical Service Fee included in tuition. Students who are enrolled and have contributed the Medical Service Fee pay only a $10 office-visit charge.. Non-enrolled students who took classes at Texas State last semester can receive care during time between

academic terms without the $35 office-visit fee. There are no limits to how many grace semesters students can have, as long as they were enrolled during the previous term, Carranco said. “The university typically provides services only to enrolled students,” Carranco said. “The reason we got an exception is because you cannot just stop providing health care because the semester ends. We need time to work with the patient so that the patient can transfer care to another doctor if they are not going to be enrolling again.” The grace semester period and the lower office-visit fee offered by the Student Health Center are not offered at several other Texas universities. Courtney Waggoner, patient services manager for Texas A&M University, said students who aren’t enrolled in summer classes at her institution can use the health center there. However, they have to pay the fee that would be included in that semester’s tuition. The policy only covers the summer semester, not the spring or the fall. According to its website, the University of Texas requires students who were registered for the previous semester but do not attend UT to subscribe. The subscription allows them to get care for one additional semester. During the summer, Texas Tech University attendees may be eligible for Student Health Services care, according to the institution’s website. “Students without insurance find it very, very difficult to find affordable

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11 28 2012 by The University Star - Issuu