The Alestle Vol. 75 No. 6

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Fitness Center reopens Climbing Gym to students

Hispanic Heritage Month provides games and education

Men’s soccer takes sudden loss in Homecoming game

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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

the student voice since 1960

Thursday, September 30, 2021 Vol. 75 No. 6

Busey closes campus branch, replacement search underway FRANCESCA BOSTON reporter

Busey Bank is closing its on-campus location. The university has started a search for a new bank to fill the place. Students currently banking with Busey Bank will feel the impacts of the closure set to occur on Nov. 19. According to an email the university sent, SIUE is putting out a Request for Information in hopes to find a new banking partner. They hope to find a new banking service soon to provide students with the convenience that Busey offered. A Request for Information is a business process where the purpose is to collect information from businesses about a certain business’s capabilities and is filled out only by bidding businesses. According to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jeffrey Waple, the university administration met to decide if an on-campus bank was a priority and the Chancellor’s Council decided that it was. “The general consensus is that we needed a branch for a lot of reasons. One, to support our faculty, students and staff and their banking needs. It’s a big support for international students who have to establish accounts, student organizations also have their accounts [here]. So it was decided to have the banking service,” Waple said. The Request for Information went

out on Sept. 27 to all the local banks in Edwardsville and Glen Carbon. The school had already seen eight or nine banks reach out prior to the RFI being sent out, which is a good sign according to Waple. “The bank can ask questions [until] [Oct.]1, then the submissions must be here by [Oct.] 15. Then the team will review them. [I] think we’re gonna have double-digit submissions this time,” Waple said. Waple said that the ideal bank would not only provide students, staff and faculty with banking services but would also support students with financial literacy or similar skills. He said the university was very direct in the RFI that the bank must have a face-to-face business model, not a virtual office. “Our campus is student-centered, face-to-face interactions [and] engaged in campus life and that’s what we want and that’s right on the main page of the RFI,” Waple said. Freshman pre-med major, Sylvia Lopshire from Arrowsmith, Illinois, said that she’s a little upset about the bank closing as she had transferred all her money here when she first moved to SIUE. She still plans on banking with Busey, but wouldn’t be opposed to switching to a new bank if one opens in the MUC. “I think I’ll still bank with Busey, their student checking account has good benefits, but if there is a new one that they

Busey Bank’s SIUE on-campus location is set to close on Nov. 19. The university is working to find a new banking partner in order to provide students with the same convenience Busey offered. | Damian Morris / The Alestle

find, I would definitely switch again,” Lopshire said. Busey Bank declined to be interviewed but issued a statement via email. “After careful review and analysis, Busey made the decision to consolidate its local branch footprint to maintain a balance in our service center network and broad digital banking services. Busey is committed to maintaining a strong presence in the Metro East. With 12 remaining service centers throughout communities in the area, extensive ATM network

and robust digital banking tools, customers will have many local, convenient options when the SIUE location closes in late November 2021,” Rob Schwartz, senior vice president and commercial market president said. Waple said that he hopes to announce the new bank around December or January and that the new bank is in place before the end of the spring semester. The deadline is set to be before summer begins so the bank can provide students with support during Springboard.

New dental clinic on Edwardsville campus offers student and faculty discounts ALEX AULTMAN editor-in-chief

Students and faculty now have an option for discounted dental care on campus through SIU Dental associates. The newly opened faculty practice has a rotating staff of two School of Dental Medicine faculty members each weekday. There are currently two general dentists on staff and the rest have specialties ranging from periodontics to dental radiology. The clinic accepts most insurance plans and offers a 25 percent discount for enrolled students and a 10 percent discount for faculty. Costs of treatment will be discussed with patients before they begin. There are also financing options available through the SIUE Credit Union. Dr. Robert Blackwell is the chair of graduate education at the dental school and a dentist at the clinic. He said the on-campus clinic will save time and money for students and faculty due to the location. “All the faculty that are participating are all very talented clinicians who are leaders in their particular field of interest. So [students and faculty are] going to be able to get high quality care in a location that’s conve-

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nient,” Blackwell said. The clinic has been in the making for a while, but there was a delay in getting the faculty practice incorporated due to the IRS taking two years to approve the application. In the meantime, the building served as a training ground for some of the dental students before the Advanced Care Clinic in Alton, Illinois, was created. Clinical Associate Professor of Periodontology Dr. Robert Bitter said being at the clinic one day a week has the added benefit of keeping the faculty up to date with the field of dentistry. “One of the reasons that we have a day like this that we’re given, is that this is what helps us to stay current,” Bitter said. “Because especially today, things are changing so rapidly that if we can’t stay current, we can’t really teach our students what they need.” Bitter said they offer a little bit of everything. There are open and private operatories that patients can sit in depending on what they are comfortable with or the procedure they are getting done. There is also a supply of nitrous and oxygen in house due to them becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain from nearby hospitals. The clinic also

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This operatory at the newly opened SIU Dental Associates provides patients with the option of a more private environment than the main room. | Alex Aultman / The Alestle

has a laboratory in case any biopsies need to be done. A cone beam computed tomography machine that takes a 3D image of the patient’s mouth is also available to aid in planning things like implants. Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Bret Gruender said the prac-

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tice is still growing because some dental school faculty members feel more comfortable staying where they have been practicing outside of the university. “I think where we’re really going to see this [growth] is the newer hires that we have,” Gruender said. “And we’ve had

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a few of those people who have moved within the last few years that really didn’t have that place to practice.” SIU Dental Associates is located at 195 University Park Drive and appointments can be made Monday through Friday by calling 650-5781.

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