The DA 12-01-2015

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”

da

Tuesday December 1, 2015

Volume 128, Issue 66

www.THEDAONLINE.com

Student Health offers free HIV testing By Madeleine Hall Staff Writer @DailyAthenaeum

One in six people infected with HIV are unaware they have contracted the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Dec. 1, West Virginia University’s Student Health Services will help lower those numbers, providing free HIV testing in solidarity with World AIDS Day, a campaign that raises aware-

ness and breaks down stereotypes about HIV. Free rapid HIV tests will be administered from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. in the Health and Education Building, with confidential results available within 20 minutes. Walk-ins and appointments are welcome. “I think that understanding your risk and knowing there are places to get tested is incredibly important,” said Alison Tartaglia, a health education specialist for WellWVU.

“Giving (free HIV tests) is phenomenal.” The CDC found 46 percent of sexually active adolescents in West Virginia did not use a condom during their last sexual encounter, a major risk factor for the spread of HIV. Over the last 20 years, medical breakthroughs have drastically improved treatment for HIV positive individuals and increased life expectancy, Tartaglia said, illustrating a night and day difference between

Teacher shortages and inadequate resources fail special needs students in W.Va By Robert Devitt, Logan Helfferich and Kayla Kesselman Mountaineer News Service

Roy Stevens, a 17-yearold with Down syndrome, wasn’t receiving adequate special education services at his high school in Hundred, West Virginia, so the local school board required him to attend another school about an hour away from his home. Because the Wetzel County Board of Education also said they couldn’t provide transportation for Stevens, his parents have to drive him an hour each way every day. Stevens is among many special education students in West Virginia’s public school system who aren’t receiving proper services, in large because the state does not have sufficient funding for public education. In 2013, only 10.5 percent of the state budget went toward education, compared to 15.1 percent in Virginia and 17 percent in Ohio, according to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit encyclopedia of American politics. West Virginia spent less on secondary public education than any other state that year nationwide. As a result, special education teachers say they have to deal with both low pay and inadequate resources for helping students with special needs. Such difficult working conditions have contributed to a shortage of special education teachers in many of West Virginia’s counties, observers say. “People are just not willing to deal with the pay that you get, the lack of respect out there for public school teachers and the challenges of working in a special education classroom,” said Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association. Education officials worry that Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s decision to cut an additional one percent in state aid to public schools will only make matters worse. The recently announced budget cut for 2016 will shave $16 million from the statewide education budget. Even before the cut, special education in West Virginia had been starved for resources. “You’re kind of beating

your head against the wall sometimes trying to get things that you know the kids need, but we either don’t have the resources or don’t have the money to get it,” said Cyndi Shaver, a special education teacher in the Harrison County public schools. While state officials say they don’t have the means to raise more money for public education, others beg to differ. Policy analysts with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said the state should boost the severance tax on natural gas, a booming industry in West Virginia with all the drilling in the Marcellus shale. Sean O’Leary, a fiscal policy analyst at the West Virginia Center on Budget Policy, recommends boosting the rate to 10 or 15 percent. Currently, the state collects a five percent severance tax on natural gas. “When you’re looking at what our bordering states have done, and how the severance tax works, it is possible for our state to raise the severance tax a percentage point or two. We could raise additional money and not see any negative effect on the natural gas industry,” O’Leary said. However, others believe convincing the West Virginia state legislature to increase the severance tax on oil and gas production would be difficult given the power of fossil fuel lobby and the amount of money they contribute to politicians in the state. “Raising the severance tax in West Virginia is about the most politically difficult thing to do,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of West Virginia Health Kids and Families Coalition. Instead, Smith suggested the state could generate additional revenue for special education by raising the tobacco tax. “That is a way more likely and buyable political strategy,” he said. Whatever strategy is used, additional funding would sincerely help children with special needs, according to Shaver. “There are kids who are sitting in regular classrooms that really shouldn’t be,” he said. “They’re not

see students on PAGE 2

62°/48°

FINAL SURVIVAL GUIDE

INSIDE

Tips for acing your finals A&E PAGE 4

RAIN

News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 7, 8 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 9

the height of the AIDS epidemic and today. AIDS is the result of a significant breakdown in the body’s immune system due to an HIV infection, which makes suffering individuals prone to rare infections. In 1981, 159 people in the United States were diagnosed with what would become known as HIV/ AIDS, after falling ill with extremely rare strands of pneumonia and cancer, according to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS

Research. The number of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS jumped to more than 200,000 in just 10 years, with more than 150,000 having succumbed to the disease. “HIV is completely preventable,” Tartaglia said. “But there are a lot of misconceptions still out there.” This year, the World AIDS Day campaign is focused on combating dated stereotypes about HIV/AIDS and promoting accurate

information and positivity through the social media hashtag #rethinkHIV. A kissing booth will be set up in Soho Square, London, in unity with the campaign, featuring the tagline, “Kissing doesn’t spread HIV. Ignorance does.” The campaign encourages people to spread information on HIV that challenges stereotypes, such as the World AIDS Day statistic that only 2 percent

see hiv on PAGE 2

#WVWELCOMES

Madison Fleck/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Roughly 250 people gathered in Charleston, West Virginia for the #WVWelcomes demonstration on Nov. 23. The event served to show Syrian refugees that West Virginians will welcome them with love and compassion, not hate and ridicule.

Kappa Sigma fraternity answers Burch lawsuit by caity coyne city editor @caitycoyne

The national chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity is claiming no responsibility in the death of Nolan Burch, according to a response filed by the organization in the Monongalia County Circuit Court earlier this month. The response was an answer to a lawsuit filed by the Burch family in October, where they named several parties for negligence concerning their son’s death in November, 2014. “Because Kappa Sigma owed no duty of care to the decedent on the date of November 12, 2014, there can be no negligence as

a matter of the law, and Kappa Sigma should be dismissed from the action, with prejudice, or, in the alternative, should be granted judgement as a matter of law,” the answer read. Burch was found unresponsive in the GammaPhi chapter of Kappa Sigma’s fraternity house on Nov. 13, 2014, with a blood alcohol level of 0.493, more than six times the legal limit to drive in West Virginia. On Nov. 8, 2014, the Kappa Sigma national chapter unanimously voted to remove GammaPhi’s charter, and on Nov. 10, Aaron Plitt, the district representative who overlooks Kappa Sigma fraternities in West Virginia, ar-

rived at the Gamma-Phi’s house to physically remove their current charter, past charters and fraternity memorabilia like their robes, effectively ending Gamma-Phi’s relationship with the national organization, according to its response. “The termination and withdrawal of GammaPhi’s charter effectively halted any further duty owed to the then Chapter members or pledges,” the answer read. “Therefore, any perceived duty of care owed to the (Burch family) by Kappa Sigma that may have existed at one time was wholly and completely extinguished upon the revocation of the Chapter’s charter.” With the revocation of

the chapter’s charter, all pledges, including Burch, were “de-pledged” and held no relationship with the fraternity. The Burch family’s lawsuit was filed against the Kappa Sigma national fraternity, the Gamma-Phi chapter and West Virginia University, among others. Kappa Sigma, according to the lawsuit, acted negligently by failing to enforce rules that prohibit drinking and hazing within the Gamma-Phi chapter of the fraternity, not providing adequate supervision of fraternity events and not punishing the fraternity and its officers for drinking and hazing activities. These claims are un-

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CONTACT US Newsroom 304-293-5092 or DAnewsroom@mail.wvu.edu Advertising 304-293-4141 or DA-Ads@mail.wvu.edu Classifieds 304-293-4141 or DA-Classifieds@mail.wvu.edu Fax 304-293-6857

WVU seniors come up big on special day SPORTS PAGE 7

REASON FOR THE SEASON Starbucks’ coffee cup diverts attention from goodnatured spirit of the holidays OPINION PAGE 3

see burch on PAGE 2

wvusports.com


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