FIJI PREPARES FOR BG’S LARGEST WATER BALLOON FIGHT
HOT AND FRESH OUT THE KITCHEN: INDIA OVEN REVIEW
LIFE, PAGE B1
OPINION, PAGE A4
TTUESDAY, UESDAY, SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 112, 2, 22017 017 > W WESTERN ESTERN KKENTUCKY ENTUCKY UUNIVERSITY NIVERSITY > VVOLUME OLUME 993, 3, IISSUE SSUE 0077
OUt of lines
Federal comments signal Title IX change BY REBEKAH ALVEY
HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU In an address at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced adjustments to rules on Title IX regulations. In her address, DeVos said that the current Title IX regulations have resulted in a failed system. “The era of ‘rule by letter’ is over,” DeVos said. “Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach.” “Every survivor of sexual misconduct BETSY must be taken seriousDEVOS ly,” DeVos later conSecretary of tinued. “Every student Education accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined.” Patricia Minter, WKU history professor, said that at this point the comments are very vague and do not reflect any direct policy change. One issue Minter had with the comments was DeVos’ use of the term “kangaroo courts” for sexual misconduct hearings. Minter explained the term means someone is presumed guilty and doesn’t have due process of law. “She’s charging that these university systems are pre-judging people, and innocent people are getting railroaded,” Minter said. “But that term is so pejorative and so inflammatory.” The use of this term, Minter said, is significant because it signals DeVos is planning an overhaul of federal directives on Title IX, which dictates how universities are legally bound to enforce and report sexual assault cases. After the comments, Minter said many sexual assault victims’ advocacy groups were upset and saw it as the Department of Education taking back a commitment to ending rape culture. Minter said the current federal administration has been rightfully criticized for being “openly hostile,” towards ideas about certain civil rights. “It’s a tone establishment,” Minter said while referring to comments made by President Donald Trump during the campaign about grabbing women. Minter said there has been a continued sense of fear of sexual assault after the election. She said certain groups felt targeted by the administration, while others were emboldened to commit acts of violence or openly talk
SEE TITLE IX PAGE A2
Parking Problems worsen with permit oversell BY EMMA COLLINS
Both Lester and Sawyer said there have been times when they have tried to park in their designated zones, but they have been unable to find empty parking spaces. “I feel like it’s impossible,” Lester said describing her experience of looking for parking. Cain said all students who have on-campus housing permits should be able to find a parking spot. He said commuters, faculty and staff may have a more difficult time finding parking spots, although all commuters should be able to park. However, he said faculty and staff who purchase FS3 or non-premium permits are not guaranteed to be able
HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
N
ashville sophomore Reilly Cordell said she once spent 25 minutes looking for an on-campus parking spot. Louisville junior Katie Sawyer said she has had to drive around campus multiple times just to find an empty parking space. Jeffersonville, Indiana, junior Christy Lester said she has parked her car at a friend’s apartment when she couldn’t find a place to park on campus. “Honestly, I think the last time I couldn’t find a parking spot I just left and did something else,” Lester said. Cordell, Sawyer and Lester are just three of over 9,700 parking permit holders vying for one of just over 7,000 parking spots on campus. Parking on campus has been an ongoing battle with students, faculty and staff competing for parking spots on campus, but with over 1,500 more parking permits than spaces, finding an empty space can be a challenge. The struggle for parking spots began this semester when students with Housing 6 permits complained that there were not enough parking spaces. During the first few weeks of the
FS3 PERMIT 1,423 permits | 875 spaces to find an available parking space on campus. The number of permits sold for the on-campus commuter lots and the non-premium faculty and staff lots greatly exceeds the number of available spaces. There are at least 500 more parking permits than parking spots for faculty and staff with FS3 permits and over 1,900 more C1 permits than parking spaces. Cain said PTS works to ensure all C1 permit holders are able to find an available space even though there are more permits than spaces. He said PTS has collected over a decade’s worth of data to ensure that overselling C1 parking permits will not prevent commuter students from being able to park. Cain said there used to be no limits on the number of commuter passes sold, and commuter students often arrived on campus and were unable
C1 COMMUTER PERMIT 3,327 permits | 1,416 spaces semester, some students complained they could not find an available spot in the Adams Street Lot or at the Kentucky Street Apartments. Dennis Cain, a transportation analyst with Parking and Transportation Services, said H6 parking had been full during the first two weeks of the semester due to an administrative error. He said PTS set the target sales for H6 permits too high, resulting in too many H6 permit holders. The problem, he said, was recently fixed by relocating some students to other parking lots. Despite changing some permits, there are still 37 more H6 permits than parking spots. Out of all the parking lots on WKU’s Main and South Campuses, less than five have more parking spaces than parking permits. Cain said PTS intentionally oversells parking permits because there are consistently empty spaces in some of the lots. “We don’t limit it to just one permit per space because we know, if we have a big lot like Pearce Ford Lot that has like 450 spaces in it ... there’s some kids that are always gone; either they’ve gone home or they’re hanging out off campus with somebody else,” Cain said. Cain said he inspects the campus parking lots every day Monday through Thursday to count the number of empty parking spots. He said if he sees a parking lot consistently has open spaces, then PTS will sell more permits.
H6 PERMIT 523 permits | 486 spaces
TOTAL 9,763 permits 7,026 spaces
to park. He said PTS began limiting the number of permits, but they limited them too much, and the commuter parking lots consistently had empty spaces. Cain said PTS started collecting data to figure out the number of commuter permits that could be sold while ensuring all commuter students could park on campus. Four times a day, someone would go to the lots and record what car was in each parking spot. Cain said the results showed that a commuter parking space had an average of 2.4 cars in it everyday. He said the data helped PTS determine how many commuter passes to sell. Cain said the main reason students complain about not being able to find a parking spot is because they only go to the parking lots where they want to park. He said many commuters want to park in the Chestnut Street North
SEE PARKING PAGE A2
WKU prepares for potential changes to pension system BY MONICA KAST
HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU In the midst of a state-wide pension crisis, WKU is looking at how potential changes to the pension system may affect employees, according to university administrators. In an email sent to all faculty and staff, President Timothy Caboni said “we must recognize that some change is likely inevitable, and it is better for us to engage proactively in a conversation with policy-makers as they wrestle with these very complex issues rather than waiting for them to make their decisions. “To that end, representatives from the six public universities and the KCTCS system whose employees are impacted by changes to the pension systems have been working on a set of principles that we agree are in the best interests of our institutions and our employees,” Caboni said. “The collective position advocates for no change for current employees.” According to the email, this may mean that all new hires will be using a “403(b) type defined contribution plan, which is consistent with what many public universities ... currently
offer.” According to Time Money, 403(b) retirement plans are typically offered to “employees of public education entities and most other nonprofit organizations. For the most part, they work the same as 401(k)s.” Ann Mead, senior vice president of finance and administration, said moving to a 403(b) plan will set WKU’s contributions to individual’s retirements plans “as a percentage of salary.” “It allows us to fix a contribution rate that we will know is sustainable,” Mead said. Mead said that university contribution rates could double in the next year, but that not much information has been available yet about what may actually occur. Mead said, under a 403(b) plan, the “employee chooses how it will be invested,” and added “It’s very employee directed.” Caboni also said “our highest priority is protecting those employees who are close to retirement from changes for which they have insufficient time to plan,” and WKU “will be steadfast in this position on behalf of our employees.” Caboni also wrote about the Kentucky Employees Retirement System
Illustration by JENIFFER KING /HERALD and Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, saying “the current situation ... is unsustainable.” Caboni said because of rising percentages universities contribute to retirement programs, other areas on campus, including “tuition revenue and state appropriations,” are going toward contributions to pension.
“Without substantive reform, we soon may find ourselves in the untenable position of cutting campus budgets to cover our pension obligations,” Caboni said. “Further, we should not balance the state pension systems on the backs of parents and students who
SEE PENSION PAGE A2