The Utah Statesman, March 5, 2012

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Monday, March S, 2012

Utll

"Campus Voice Since 1902" •

Today's Issue: Campus News

Common Ground puts on weekly benefits and events to help people with disabilities experience the outdoors. Page2

Native American Student Council held USU's 39th annual powwow. Page6

Sports

USU men's basketball team ended their season with a win over Hawaii. Page 7

Opinion ''More than anything, we are sad to see the nontraditional presidential candidate receive the least votes. He had a realistic view on what his position could accomplish. He had unique ideas while some of the other candidates spat out the typical line, "I want to help you be heard."

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Interact Now! Today: This weekend's Powwow event was a big deal. Check it out.

Added Value! The Renter's Guide is now found on our website. Or if you missed yours, come into TSC 105 for your very own personal copy. You're welcome!

Online exlusives, biogs, a place to comment on stories, videos and more. Free Classfieds, too. ~ j 11I:ITi}('i'.0jj)

Utah State University • Logan, Utah

USU celebrates land-grant legislation BY STEVE KENT news editor USU celebrated the democratization of knowledge through land-grant universities Friday at the 2012 Founders Day banquet. The Morrill Act, which will turn 150 in July, established the landgrant program, which would give federally controlled land to states for the development of low-cost universities. "In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law, and the lives of people in America changed forever," said Mary Sias, the president of Kentucky State University and Founders Day's featured guest. "The act was really about access." At the time of the Morrill Act, higher education was only an elite enterprise, Sias said, and most of the students were white, wealthy males. In 1870, of the 63,000 students enrolled in college, women made 21 percent. Only l percent of the entire college-age population was getting higher education, she said. "The Morrill Act knocked

wasn't big enough for students to all attend a full day. The schools were lacking in other areas, as well, she said. The books used were leftovers from the white schools, she said, and often par... were missing. Sias attended college because at a time of intense racial seg- .. regation, her parents wanted a better life for their children, said. "J remember going with thent to try to vote. And they had poll taxes, and they had literacy tes1t Sias said. "I remember the ma.iir. times they were turned away, I remember the discussions in tli car about how important it wa~ 1 them to have a right vote, becaus • they wanted a better life for the· three children." :: THE OUT OF THE BLUE performance ensemble provided entertainHer parents weren't college "' ment at the 2012 Founders Day banquet Saturday. The event was the pergraduates themselves, and only formers' debut as ensemble members. STEVE KENT photo had an eighth-grade education. down those barriers," Sias said. school in Jackson, Miss., in the she said. Sias spoke to a sold-out crowd early 1950s. For the first three "It wasn't because they weren't of students, staff, faculty and years of her public education, she smart enough," Sias said. "In alumni of the impact land-grant was only able to attend a half-day fact, they were very smart. But i™ schools have had in her life. of school, because the school for Mississippi, your public educaSias attended elementary African-Americans in Jackson

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USU, Page 2

Election winners explain next step BY JULIA STOCK staff writer Although elections week is over, the work for the recently elected ASUSU officials isn't. They now must become acquainted with their duties and the people that they will be working with this next year. For Christian Thrapp, recently elected ASUSU president, that means working alongside the current president, Erik Mikkebon, attending several meetings so the people who will be working with him can get to know him and they can address important issues for the 2012-13 school year. "They basically just threw me into the fire," Thrapp said. "The day after I was elected, I had a meeting about the ARC with the vice president of Student Services. Then I had a meeting with the Board of Trustees and that night I had the opportunity to go to the Fou?,der's Day Celebration. I learned a lot that day. -Since the Aggie Recreation Center proposal was approved by a 134-vote margin, planning for the center has become a part of Thrapp's duties for next year. Thrapp said his duties on various committees will include ensuring students provide input on the ARC, as well as soliciting private ADAM VAIL AND CHRISTIAN THRAPP participate in theASUSU primary debates Feb. 28. donations to help pay for the building. Thrapp was elected as the 2012-13 student body president. Though he did not win the presidency this year.Vail said he plans to run again next February. DEi.AYN£ LOCKE photo In the upcoming weeks the biggest thing he has to do is to appoint the Public Relations positions. said, "so I haven't done anything. We've Director and the Administrative Assistant, Hunt said since he's only been elected as organized training, interviews for appointed Thrapp said. positions and other administrative tasks." : Academic Senate president and hasn't been Jordan Hunt, the new Academic Senate inaugurated yet, he hasn't done very much as All of the recently elected officials will be president, said he will be working with an officer. • Thrapp to interview candidates and fill the ►) See ASUSU, Page 3 "Inauguration happens in April," Hunt

NASA reaches out to future scientists BY MARISSA SHIELDS staff writer Kids from Cache Valley middle schools built catapults, viewed meteorites through telescopes and ran through the snow Saturday parading their model comets at NASA Space Science Day. The event, hosted by NASA and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, was held in the Engineering Building. Susan Lederer, a scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and the event's keynote speaker, said she enjoyed speaking at the event and liked working with the Hispanic engineering society's USU chapter. "I love that they're getting kids excited about science," Lederer said. For Space Science Day, college students and scientists invited children from fifth through eighth grades to get involved in science through an array of educational workshops. One exhibit displayed extraterrestrial samples collected on NASA missions. The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers hosted the event to promote science, technology, engineering and math(STEM) education to young students, said Indhira Has bun, president of SHPE's USU chapter. "The main goal is to teach them the fun

side of STEM while they're young, so that later on they'll say, 'Oh, yes, I learned about this back at the NASA Space Science Day. I want to do that, and I want to become an engineer. I want to become a scientist,"' Hasbun said. "Our society will be in great

need of students that major in science, technology, engineering and math in the future - even right now." • Lederer's keynote speech was about the :: different planets in the solar system and •

NASA SCIENTIST CHARLES GALINDO explains an exhibit about extraterrestrial samples to~ local middle school students at Space Science Day on Saturday. Students examined meteorites and m& , samples under the microscope. Galindo started the nationwide Space Science Day program as -\ way t¢ encourage children to study science. mathematics, technology and engineering. CODY GOCHNOUR ph~


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