THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
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Wednesday April 22, 2015
Volume 127, Issue 132
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Students, groups continue pushing for veteran priority registration by corey mcdonald staff writer @dailyathenaeum
NCAA athletes, under federal stipulations, receive funding and several different benefits to help efficiently guide them through the process of receiving a college degree. One of the benefits included is priority registration, which allows them to register for classes earlier than the rest of the student body. Similarly, U.S. Veterans receive federal stipulations and funding through the Veterans Administration. West Virginia University, however, currently does not consider
veteran students eligible for priority registration. This creates a problem not only for veteran students, but ultimately for the University. A GI Bill was signed into law in July 2008, which created an education benefit program for members who have served for more than 90 days in the armed forces. Among the benefits included was priority registration for these students. However, the fine print of the law states universities may apply priority registration “where appropriate.” “The University just says that it’s never appropriate,” said Jason Keffer, WVU stu-
dent and president of the Veterans Club. “That’s their go-around.” Veteran Administration funding is based on degree-specific classes and full-time enrollment. Veterans are given two semesters before they must declare a major. If a veteran student is not able to register for a necessary class in a timely manner, they may lose funding and will thus have to pay out-of-pocket. Veterans are left picking from the last batch of the classes, which sometimes prevents them from getting into necessary classes. This quick turn-around makes it crucial to have general ed-
City Council discusses Home Rule status, non-student ex-officio addition by taylor jobin staff writer @Dailyathenaeum
The Morgantown City Council discussed an amendment to its application for Home Rule status and members of West Virginia University’s Student Government Association spoke to the Council about the importance of adding a non-voting, ex officio student to the Council membership. The Home Rule amendment proposed an amendment to the city’s fire code. If accepted, this would give Morgantown fire marshals and deputy fire marshals the power to arrest arsonists at the scene of the crime and those violating other areas of the fire prevention code. After the ordinance was announced, a public hearing was held on the issue. Jim Craig, a Morgantown resident who claimed to have lost thousands of dollars worth of items to unlawful fires, spoke in favor of the ordinance. He expressed his disappointment with the Council for neglecting to propose this earlier and said that if the fires had taken place in residential neighborhoods–not student neighborhoods–this issue would have been solved long ago. “Had this been happening in Suncrest, South Park… or what- not, where people vote, we would not be doing this here tonight 15 years after the fact,” Craig said. “But because it’s in a student neighborhood where nobody votes, then really, I’m not sure the Council or University really care.” Don Corwin, another
ucation classes available to veterans. “Once those two semesters go by, if you haven’t gotten the classes you needed, whether you got into them or not, they’re not going to pay GI benefits until you’re in your major,” Keffer said. The pressure of falling behind in course progression due to registration problems is also coupled with the fact that many veterans endure unsettling culture shock upon leaving the armed forces to the more relaxed nature of a university campus. “You’re already at a disadvantage when you start,” Keffer said. “Trying to get
back into the school mode, it’s tough, it’s a culture shock. Almost all of the vets I know have spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan. A lot of us have our own issues that we’re dealing with while we have to deal with school as well.” This has been a longstanding issue for the Veterans Club. Since 2012, members of the club have tried to bring this to the attention of various officials and offices of WVU, including the Registrar’s Office and even the University President’s Office. “We’ve made it known frequently, not only just this semester. It has been going
on since I was a sophomore here,” Keffer said. “The Veterans Club has been waving the priority registration flag at the University, and they continue to deny it.” “I know the club went and got signatures in 2012 of over 1,000 students themselves,” Keffer said. “They went to the Registrar and said ‘Hey, look, the students support this as well,’ and they still said no.” Members of the Student Government Association have taken notice and have set plans into motion to advocate for this policy change.
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DEBT-FREE DEGREES
Morgantown resident who spoke in favor of the new ordinance, said Morgantown has “a culture of arson.” He told the story of how a dumpster on one of the properties he owns has been burned six times already this year by what he suspects to be a repeat offender. He said after watching surveillance video that the offender shows no sense of urgency when they light the fire. “They calmly approach, they light, they watch, they fade away. I don’t believe they think they can get caught,” Corwin said. Corwin then implored the City Council to pass the amendment. During the next part of the public hearing, multiple elected and appointed SGA members spoke in favor of putting a non-voting, ex officio student member on the Council. Among those who spoke were Student Body President George Capel and Vice President Ashley Morgan. Capel, on the issue of the ex officio, said, “It is of vital importance to our institution to strengthen our collaborative relationship between ourselves and all of our surrounding communities. Hopefully years from now, they will look back on our times and say that together, we changed the course of Morgantown for the better.” “But today, we are at a turning point in our community,” Capel said. “We need to be sure beyond a shadow of doubt that we do everything we can to communicate and work together for our common good.” Morgan also stressed
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Local voters Nancy Jamison, left, John Lozier, back, and political science student Justin Click, right, bring awareness to the student body. “Students have the mindset that we can’t make a change, but as students, we are the future voters, and we make the decisions,” Click said.
Delegate Fleischauer and others bring awareness of college debt to WVU by emily leslie staff writer @dailyathenaeum
On Tuesday afternoon, Barbara Fleischauer D-Monongalia, and other supporters spoke in front of the Mountainlair to urge 2016 presidential candidates to support debt-free college becoming a reality in the upcoming years. “(Student debt) is a problem that we really need to solve, and it’s only one that we can solve with the help of the federal government. We hope that in the presidential campaign there will be a focus on making college education not just affordable, but to the greatest extent possible, debt-free,” Fleischauer said. West Virginia University was one of 10 college campuses around the
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country to call for protest this week in an effort to promote the idea that all students should be able to graduate from public universities and colleges with absolutely no debt. Local students, leaders and officials organized these nationwide protests with the support of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a nationwide grassroots organization. The PCCC intends to ensure debt-free college remains a priority in the national conversation through 2016, as one of the key issues in its “Ready For Boldness” campaign. As obtaining a degree from an institution of higher learning has become more important than ever in a competitive job market, the cost of attending colleges and universities has simultaneously risen. In the last three decades, the cost of attending
college increased by 250 percent, according to the PCCC, leaving many students with heavy loans to pay after graduation. Colin Shock, a WVU graduate and volunteer with the PCCC who is still paying off his student loans, commented on how higher education is expected out of high school graduates but is burdening students financially. “Right now, a four-year bachelor’s degree from a university or college is almost necessary to get ahead in life. The average student comes out of college with $29 thousand in debt—and that’s a huge yolk around students’ necks,” Shock said. Shock claims it is the government’s responsibility to ensure students do
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Gov. Fitzwater hosts search for gender-inclusive bathrooms at WVU by hollie greene correspondent @dailyathenaeum
For some students, finding a restroom they feel comfortable using can be a difficult experience. Today at 4 p.m., students can join West Virginia University Student Government Association Governor Sean Fitzwater to search for the solution to this problem in the form of gender-inclusive restrooms. For the Bathroom Hunt, students will search the Evansdale Campus, includ-
ing the Law School Campus and the Health Sciences Center, for gender-nonspecific, private restrooms. This project, started last year by the Program Coordinator for the new LGBTQ Center and former student body Vice President, Benjamin Seebaugh, is intended to provide students, faculty and community members with information on all of the private restrooms located across campus. One group of individuals expected to be impacted by the project is WVU’s transgender community.
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“The bathroom can be an intimidating place for a lot of people, especially someone who might be going through the process of transitioning or someone desiring going from one gender to another,” Seebaugh said. The Bathroom Hunt was designed to help students such as these find a place where they can feel comfortable and, more importantly, safe using the restroom without having to travel too far across campus. “What if a female who is transitioning into be-
coming a male goes into the male restroom?” Seebaugh said. “This could cause some amount of discontent among some of the other people in the restroom. Then, this could become a dangerous place for that person.” WVU Research Associate Alexandra Kadner spoke about her own experience transitioning. Though she stated she was fortunate enough to avoid any major issues, she spoke about the benefits she believes gender-inclusive restrooms can bring to students going
through a transition. “I can see the benefit of having a private bathroom. It takes away from thinking ‘What do I have to worry about this time?’” Kadner said. Fitzwater expressed hopes that this project will bring WVU one step closer to becoming a safer, more inclusive place for not just the transgender students on campus but all members of the LGBTQ community. “As the country moves closer to acceptance of all people, I believe that we as the flagship University for
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our state must help spearhead that change,” Fitzwater said. Though Seebaugh and Fitzwater hope the Hunt will have a serious impact on the LGBTQ community, they are also taking measures to help other groups of individuals on campus who could benefit from the project by searching for restrooms that are handicapaccessible and have breastfeeding facilities. “This isn’t necessarily just for trans people,” See-
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WVU tops Marshall Mountaineers win state rivalry, 3-2 SPORTS PAGE 7