The Alestle Vol. 74 No. 23

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NUTRITIONISTS DISCUSS HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS WITH FOOD page 5

thursday, 03.18.21

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ALESTLE

WOMEN’S SOCCER WINS SHUTOUT GAME IN RAINY WEATHER page 7

vol. 74 no. 23

The Student Voice Since 1960

New Ph.D. program coming fall semester for pharmacy students KRISTINA JOHNSON reporter

“Having planned it all out and having gotten so far along the process not once, but twice, I figure next summer surely,” Vongsathorn said. Kevin Cannon, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice Studies, heads trips alternating between Ireland and Amsterdam. Cannon said he believes the cancellation was necessary. “A lot of countries are still having quarantine once you arrive, so the idea that we’re going to go on a two-week trip, and then we arrive and have to quarantine for two weeks, there’s no point to the

SIUE’s School of Pharmacy and SIUC’s School of Medicine will collaborate to create a doctoral program within pharmacology and neuroscience for the coming Fall 2021 semester. Within the co-op program, the two schools will each participate in teaching the required courses. Students enrolled in the program will have to attend in-person courses in Edwardsville and take the courses offered through SIUC online. The two fields of chemistry are cross-sectional and work together to assure any new drug will be up to par. The field of medicinal chemistry involves the creation of new pharmaceutical drugs that will later be tested by computational chemistry professionals, according to ACS Chemistry for Life. Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Joseph Schober said the introduction of this program between the schools will further solidify the connection between them. “The School of Medicine and the Department of Pharmacology did not have a medicinal chemistry specialization,” Schober said. “Then this idea emerged of, ‘How [can] we be more involved with [SIUC]?’ If they can bring in Ph.D. students, they would come to us and specialize in med chem.” Schober, who is currently the program director of the master’s program for pharmaceutical

see TRAVEL on page 2

see PHARMACY on page 2

Freshman psychology major R’Eyanna Moore, of Belleville, Illinois, paints a person in shades of grey at the Campus Activities Board’s first in-person event of the semester. I Khoi Pham / The Alestle

Pandemic cancels study abroad program again NICOLE BOYD copy editor

Although many students hoped otherwise, the study abroad program has been canceled once again due to COVID-19. Ryan Donald, study abroad specialist, said the decision was based on the projected future of the pandemic. “These variant virus strains really created a big impact on travel around the world. We saw an increase of travel restrictions, and so that was something we [had] to weigh because currently, many of these destinations, as a traveler

from the U.S., you would not be able to go if you wanted to leave today,” Donald said. Donald said the decision was made early to give students time to adjust their plans. He also said the office is willing to work with students weighing virtual options to get the credit they need. “We didn’t want to make this decision in May and it [be] a scramble [for students] to try to figure out their lives, and especially students that need a course to either graduate or keep on track. This gives them time to examine other options,” Donald said. Kathleen Vongsathorn, assistant professor of history, was

planning to head a trip to London oriented toward STEM and prehealth students in Summer 2020. She rescheduled the trip for Summer 2021, but the trip was canceled again. “The effects of the cancellation were a lot more drastic last year because it was so unexpected. Everybody had already made all their payments and they had set aside classes … this year, right from the get-go, we were very clear that there was definitely a possibility that it would be canceled,” Vongsathorn said. Vongsathorn said she is absolutely planning to head the trip next year.

Bill to allow students with special needs to stay in school past age 21 EMILY STERZINGER online editor

The Illinois House Human Services Committee voted recently on a bill that would allow students with special needs who turn 22 during the school year to stay in school programs until the term ends. The bill, introduced by Rep. Frances Hurley (D-Chicago) would prevent students with special needs from being removed during the school year, a scenario that can put pressure on the student and their family in the process of transitioning to adult special needs services. Hurley said to Tim Kirsininkas of Capitol News Illinois,

“I don’t think they should be punished for their birthdate.” ACCESS Director Dominic Dorsey said post-secondary support for adults with various disabilities is often overlooked. “I feel like a lot of times we leave these students twisting in the wind, regardless of what their ability level is, simply because we’re not providing enough information to help them through these next steps,” Dorsey said. The bill passed the committee by vote on March 2, with only one vote in opposition from Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon). Professor of Political Science Andrew Theising said it was easy to see how the bill gained bipartisan support.

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“Really, the bill strikes me as sort of being a common sense bill,” Theising said. “It’s really what I’d almost call a friendly amendment of the law. In fact, I would say that this bill helps clarify it, so that the spirit of the law gets enacted rather than the letter of the law.” Some viewed the bill as requiring more state funding to work as intended. Associate Professor of Special Education Phillip Weishaar said there is a need for funding from the state either towards school-based or adult special needs programs in order for the bill to run smoothly. “One solution would be for the state of Illinois to go ahead and pass the law, and then pro-

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vide reimbursement to school districts for those students that they will be educating until the end of the school year after their 22nd birthday,” Weishaar said. “The other option is for them to put the money into the adult services, because not only are there people that are leaving the public school system, there are lots of people as adults with disabilities out there who are waiting in lines to get services.” Hurley said she originally became aware of the issue by talking with her neighbor, Katie Kettering, whose son was removed from his school’s special needs program the day he turned 22. The bill aims to help families like Kettering’s with transition of services.

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Theising said the interaction which sparked the bill follows a worrying precedent of how humanitarian bills are handled. “I’m not trying to disparage her, but [Hurley] came up with this improvement in state law because it affected her neighbor. And I’m always bothered, at a level, by political leaders of both parties that have to experience something, or see it first hand, in order to say ‘Oh, we need to change that,’” Theising said. “I think it’s a really high bar to say that we can’t pass something through the legislature unless a legislator experiences the problem.” The bill in its entirety can be found on the Illinois General Assembly website.

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