The Volante W E D N E S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 8
THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
Women in leadership: Business at USD
Rachel Newville
Rachel.Newville@coyotes.usd.edu
This is the third part of an ongoing series about female leaders in South Dakota. The Pew Research Center reports that seven in ten women, versus about half of men, say the
reason why women are underrepresented in top positions in politics and business is that they have to do more to prove themselves. The Beacom School of Business at USD is led by both male and female staff. Two female faculty members and a female student leader shared their thoughts on
women in leadership.
Searching for role models
Sophia Lima, Junior accounting major holds many leadership positions across campus. Serving as the Coyote Capital Management President and the Business Manager of the Student Govern-
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ment Association, she is known as a female business leader at USD. Lima said seeing women in other leadership positions is important. “It is nice to see people out in the workforce that you can relate See WOMEN, Page A3
INACCESSIBLE: PROVIDING SERVICES TO THOSE WITH DISABILITIES
Disability Services strives to provide accessibility on campus Kelli Susemihl
Kelli.Susemihl@coyotes.usd.edu
This is the first part of a story about mobility and accessibility on USD’s campus. Disability Services assists students who have mobility issues and use a wheelchair, cane or walker. Ernetta Fox, director of Disability Services, said USD complies with standards in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “The Americans with Disabilities Act states that individuals with disabilities need to have access to the programs and services of an institution or a business,” Fox said. “Access to
programs and services, not access to buildings.” This means not all buildings on campus must be physically accessible, but that programs and services must be available for all students. Fox said this means Disability Services will work with individual students to have a class or meeting moved to an accessible location. “A good example is, if a student needs to meet with a faculty member or has a class that is on the third floor of East Hall, which does not have an elevator, we move the class to an accessible location or the instructor meets with the student in an accessible location,” she said. “We’re still providing the students with
access to the programs and services, to the class and to the instructor. There’s nothing in the ADA that says we have to give them access to the building where those programs and services are located.” The situation depends on the student’s individual needs, Fox said. “It really depends on the individual students and that student’s individual disability and how that disability impacts that student,” she said. “I have some students who use wheelchairs, I have some students who use canes, I have some students who may use a walker, so it would depend on where their classes are located if we need to
move the classes, and what other activities at the university they’re involved in.”
Choosing USD
Hannah Hernes, a sophomore strategic communication major and an opinion columnist for The Volante, uses a chair to help her travel long distances across campus. She said accessibility was the main reason why she chose to come to USD. “In March of 2016, I went to Catch the Wave, it’s basically a college visit for people with disabilities. It doesn’t always highlight USD, but that year it was here,” Hernes said. See ACCESS, Page A3
USD’s School of Law ranked among nation’s best law schools Kelli Susemihl
Kelli.Susemihl@coyotes.usd.edu
USD’s School of Law was listed among the nation’s best law schools in the Princeton Review’s annual “Best Law School” list, according to a university press release. The list is comprised of 165 law schools, listed alphabetically, which are selected based on a “combination of institutional and student survey data, with factors including career outcomes, admissions selectivity, and academic rigor,” according to the Princeton Review website. The Princeton Review used student surveys collected from 2017-18, 2016-17 and 2015-16 academic years, which asked students about their school’s academics, student body, campus life and personal goals and career plans. In addition, USD’s law school was ranked 9th in the “Most Chosen by Older
Students” category. Liz Taggart, director of law school admissions, said USD prides itself on being one of the most affordable law schools in the country. “USD School of Law has an excellent tradition placing students in prestigious clerkships in South Dakota while continuing to be one of the most affordable law schools in the country,” Taggart said. “The law school also enjoys a close relationship with the state’s bar membership, which provides our students with scholarships and many learning and networking opportunities.” Tom Geu, dean of the law school, said USD’s inclusion in this ranking is a testament to the recent changes in the law school’s goals. “Being included in the ‘Best Law School’ list, and to one of the top ten categories, acknowledges the historical strength of USD Law and its recent initiates,” Geu said.
Submitted Photo I The Volante
Ghofrane Baaziz, an exchange student from Tunisia, North Africa, explains the Hult Prize, a competition she brought to USD.
International student brings Hult Prize to USD Lexi Kerzman
Lexi.Kerzman@coyotes.usd.edu
A USD student will have the chance to participate in the Hult Prize competition, an international social entrepreneurship competition, for the first time this year. The Bill Clinton Initiative and the United Nations have partnered up for the last 10 years to put on the Hult Prize. Each year, Clinton chooses a current social issue as a theme for the competition. This
year the theme is youth unemployment. Ghofrane Baaziz, an exchange student from Tunisia, North Africa, has competed and made it to the regional stage for the past two years and this year is the campus director for the competition at USD. Baaziz, a business major at her home university and a media and journalism major at USD, said she is taking a gap year this year and is at USD on a scholarship See HULT, Page A3