Fort Lewis College News Magazine
Issue 36
The RISKY BUSINESS Issue DO COURSE EVALUATIONS WORK? STATE FUNDING CUTS & THE STRATEGIC PLAN LOW ALTITUDE TECHNICAL NAVIGATION EXTREME RECREATION IMMORTALITY STUDENT PROFILES HOROSCOPES
DUI CONS EQUE NCES
April 2012 FREE
theindyonline.com
Indy Editors & Staff
BUSINESS Amanda Penington Courtney Ragle Troy Sliter
Kaitie Martinez
Haley Pruitt
Emily Fagerberg Assistant Financial Manager
“If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.” -Albert Einstein
“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” -Agnes Repplier
Bre Pascuzzo Assistant Events Coordinator
Editor in Chief
Business Director
COPY EDITING
Ali Bryson
Jordan Alexander
Associate Editor in Chief
Marketing/PR Director
“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection.” -Simon Pegg
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” -David Brinkley
Meagan Cunha
Lacey Kae Shuster
Creative Director
Events Coordinator
“Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
Julian Martinez
JR Starns
“I dress to kill, but tastefully.” -Freddie Mercury
“No amount of money is worth your word and your integrity.” -Dana White
Art Director
Financial Manager
Ali Bryson Chief Copy Editor Emily Griffin Copy Editor DESIGN Graeme Johnston Jennessa Pitka Erica Saurey Zoey Sturm ONLINE/BROADCAST Morgan Boaman Chris Braun Tawney Summers PHOTOGRAPHY Allie Johnson Adam Mohsin Hana Mohsin REPORTING Mitchell Fraser Jimi Giles Ayla Quinn Reid Tulley
Steph Cook
News Editor “The dude abides.” -The Big Lebowski
Visit us at Lucas Hess
Online/Broadcast Manager “You can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes.” -Charles Bukowski
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Cover Photo by Julian Martinez © The Independent 2012
from the editor’s desk Dear Readers,
CONTENTS Do Course Evaluations Work? Story by Ayla Quinn and Mitchell Fraser
State Funding Cuts & the Strategic Plan
4 7
Story by Reid Tulley and Jimi Giles
DUI Consequences Story by Kayla Watkins, special to The Independent
Low Altitude Technical Navigation
10 12
Story by Chan Smith-Stetson, special to The Independent
Extreme Recreation Immortality
14
Story by Troy Sliter, special to The Independent
Student Profiles Profiles by Ayla Quinn, Mitchell Fraser, and Jimi Giles
Horoscopes
Lacey Schuster
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I would like to take this moment to share the hard work, the creativity, the teamwork, and the dedication of the students who put their hearts and souls into making the Indy and theindyonline. com available to you. As most of you know, The Independent is a student-run organization, which means that the participating FLC students create everything you see in this magazine and online. I want to use this space to recognize each and every student who has come together to produce a great publication. It has been such a joy to work with this amazing group of my peers. As I prepare myself for graduation, it seems that my time as an Indy editor has come and gone in the blink of an eye. So, Indy staff members, I have to say, it has been an honor working with all of you. Kaitie, you are an exceptional Editor in Chief and a great friend. The devotion you have to this publication and the strides you have taken to make the Indy what it is today is a true reflection of your drive, spirit, and leadership. I am proud to have worked with an organization lead by such a compassionate, dedicated person. Steph, you are ever inspiring. With your guidance as News Editor, the Indy has a heightened level of professional and newsworthy content that makes the Indy so great! Lucas, the same goes for you. You have a knack for thinking outside the box, which really shines through in your creativity with theindyonline.com and the steps you have taken to launch our video presence. You were always there to lend a hand with promoting The Indy, and I know your ambition will get you far in wherever life takes you. To both of you, thanks for sharing laughs, advice, and…the business office. Meagan and Julian, you have taken the design elements of our publication to a whole new level of visual appeal. You two make such a good team, and it really shows in each issue. You have taken the critiques, the criticisms, and the censures in stride and transformed them into something beautiful. This is something to be truly proud of. I sincerely appreciate your commitment, your veracity, and the passion you both have for this publication. Haley and JR, you are perfect examples of professional and loyal editors. With your organization, drive, and positive attitudes, the Indy has seen exceptional progress within the business department. I’m glad to have been a part of your team. Ali, it is clear that you have natural leadership ability. It has been a pleasure getting to know you, and an even greater pleasure seeing your work shine through in the magazine. Jordan, or should I call you Bob, it has been a really fun semester! Our hard work really did pay off, and I am looking forward to seeing the organization grow with your guidance and marketing abilities. I will definitely be there to support next year’s Ski and Board Film Festival! You all have truly inspired me to do what I love. Thank you for all of the fun adventures and great memories. You have helped me see my passion for public relations and event coordinating, so I thank you from the deepest place in my heart. It has been a fun ride, but now I join our readers. It is my turn to sit back, relax, and enjoy an issue of We encourage reader participation through our perspectives The Independent.
Got something to say? We want to hear from you!
section. Submit letters, cartoons, or anything else you’d like to see in print to Editor in Chief Kaitie Martinez at Much love, kmmartinez@fortlewis.edu or News Editor Steph Cook at sscook@fortlewis.edu. Note: The Independent reserves the right to edit submissions as necessary or deny publication. Lacey Schuster
News tip? Contact Steph Cook at sscook@fortlewis.edu For any other inquiries, contact Kaitie Martinez at kmmartinez@fortlewis.edu
Independent News Organization Events Coordinator
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Do Course Evaluations Work? How effective are evals and what changes might occur in the future? Story by Ayla Quinn and Mitchell Fraser Before everyone goes running full speed ahead toward summer, there’s one last order of business for students and faculty members to take care of. It’s course evaluation time, people. What role do evaluations play in faculty review? Course evaluations take place anonymously, with no instructor present, and during the last few minutes of one of the last days of class. One might wonder, considering these circumstances, how much time and thought students actually put into evaluations, and how much weight they carry for faculty members. “The faculty takes evaluations very seriously,” said Nancy Cardona, the chair of the English department and a professor in the department. The questions are designed to understand how the professors are teaching and to see how the course is working as a whole, Cardona said. Departments want to understand the overall curriculum, teaching style, and how the class is put together, she said. “Departments are looking specifically at what can be done to serve the needs of students better,” she said. And while most students seem to take the evaluations fairly seriously, some don’t, leaving only brief comments about the shortcomings of a course, Cardona said. Whether or not they are taken seriously, evaluations are still factored into a teacher’s overall review, she said. When faculty members are evaluated for tenure or promotions after tenure, reviewers look closely at student evaluations, said Linda Schott, dean of the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Evaluations are taken very seriously if a professor is on tenure track, said Brian Burke, an associate professor of psychology.
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Burke is currently working to become a full professor, he said. “And my teacher evaluations weigh heavily on that,” he said. “If my teaching evaluations go down, then I would not expect a favorable decision.” They are also important for professors who are not tenured or not on the tenure track and who are on a year-to-year contract, Burke said. These could be visiting, adjunct, or assistant professors. Evaluations may not weigh as heavily on full professors, but they can still have an impact, Burke said. “Once you are tenured, it is a little less important, but it would still avffect things such as promotions,” he said. Do instructors really care what students have to say? Evaluations reflect how students perceive a teacher, which is something that can’t be taken lightly, said John Gadbois, the interim assistant dean of the School of Business Administration. “Professors do take them seriously,” said Christine Smith, an assistant professor of chemistry. “I will make changes for the next term based on what I see that majority saying.” Evaluations are extremely helpful to keep the classes as relevant and useful as possible, Smith said. “It gives the professor perspective from the students, and we want to know because times are (continued on next page)
Evaluations are taken very seriously if a professor is on tenure track, Burke said.
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Photo Illustration by Hana Mohsin
always changing,” she said. Especially in new or returning courses, evaluations are a resource for professors to see parts of the class that are working and parts that need to be changed, Burke said. After teaching a course, professors look at the class with the mindset of what worked well, what did not work well and what needs to be changed for upcoming semesters, he said. “Telling professors specific things students like in the class is really helpful,” he said. Letting professors know what didn’t work is equally useful, he said. Professors spend a lot of time evaluating students and need feedback themselves to keep improving, said Andrew Gulliford, a professor of Southwest studies and history. “Generally, I look at the individual comments, perhaps more so than the statistical mean,” Gulliford said. “I think it is more personal.” Burke uses the overall mean as a meter for how well the class is doing in relation to what students are looking for, he said. “If you were getting 4.5 out of five in a class for 10 years and all of a sudden it goes down to a 3.5, you must have brought something different to the class,” he said. One will get the most accurate evaluations if students really connect with the material, Gulliford said. Students’ reasons for taking the course often influence the comments on the teacher evaluations, he said. “Every once in a while you get students who are clearly not taking it seriously,” Burke said. Gulliford has seen a range of comments on evaluations, including one telling him to trim his mustache, he said. “If students don’t take the evaluations seriously, it is hard for the faculty member to improve,” Schott said. “I think in general students seem to take the process seriously,” Burke said. What do students have to say? Evaluations do not really seem like they matter because of the lack of follow-up on comments that are presented, said FLC sophomore Hannah Neumann. It does not seem that students’ voices are heard as much as they should be from the evaluations process, Neumann said.
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“I do not see how they are used to improve classes,” said sophomore Marissa Molina. After taking the same professors multiple times, Molina noticed little improvement regarding the constructive comments she made on evaluations, she said. The effectiveness of evaluations depends on the teacher and the course, said freshman Dylan Simons. Students can do all the evaluations in the world, but ultimately it depends on the professor to make the change, he said. “I like the idea of it being online, said Matt Mazarei, an FLC junior. “It seems more and more, all of our assignments and stuff are going on there, so why not the evaluations?” In addition, evaluations should be shorter, Mazarei said. “I think if there were fewer questions it would make them more reasonable to do,” he said. “Evaluations take too long usually.” Sophomore Allison Knewitz said that she thinks evaluations would be more effective if they were published. Evaluations are not fun, but they do seem effective, Knewitz said. Freshman Cassie Seaney found evaluations to be very beneficial she said. After taking the same professor for her calculus one and two cours es, Seaney noticed a major improvement in the way her professor taught the course, she said. Professors generally seem to improve in the areas that they need to, she said. What are college officials doing to make evaluations more effective? There are some professors who generally feel that teacher evaluations need to be changed, Gadbois said. “A lot of teachers are not happy about evaluations,” he said. Faculty members and administrators are looking into possible changes to the evaluation process. “The provost appointed a task force to review our current system for student evaluations of classes,” Schott said. The representatives on the task force from the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Science are Susan Moss, a professor of art, and Gordon Cheesewright, a professor of English, Schott said.
If student don’t take the evaluations seriously, it is hard for the faculty members to improve, Schott said.
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Photo Illustration by Hana Mohsin
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The task force has done extensive research on different evaluation systems, but no recommendations have been made yet, she said. “I’m hopeful that the task force currently working on this issue will forward recommendations for an improved system based on current research,” Schott said. The School of Business Administration is experimenting with different options that can give professors the best results, Gadbois said. “We’re online right now beta testing a new system for the school, where every student would do their evaluations online,” he said. This system would be run through Moodle, similar to when students go online to do their schoolwork. It’s just in the trial stages now but it could be a good option, he said. The school has also created focus groups to consider the type of questions that appear on evaluations, he said. “We have focus groups that are trying to see what questions we should ask, and what the questions we’re asking really mean,” Gadbois said. The groups look for questions that students may not be equipped to answer, as well as questions that seem similar to one another, he said. The English department evaluation questions are focused on having students help professors understand the strengths and weaknesses of the classes, Cardona said. There is some disagreement on how evaluations should work across campus. The evaluation process is under scrutiny as to whether or not there should be a universal form across campus, Gulliford said. “I think that each department can have and should have their own evaluations,” Gulliford said. Departments should have the right and responsibility to give specific evaluations, he said. “Right now we have every department using different
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forms,” Burke said. Barbara Morris, the provost of FLC, wants to streamline the process of teacher evaluations, she said. If every department used one common teacher evaluation form, it would provide faculty members with feedback for their classes about organization, preparation, fairness, accessibility, and enthusiasm for the subject, Schott said. This could provide a better system for students to give a more accurate evaluation, she said. Another issue regarding evaluation changes is whether or not evaluations should be made public. People throughout the evaluation process have access to evaluations at FLC, but they are not made fully public. It would be valuable if evaluations were transparent, because the alternatives to school-conducted evaluations are independent web sites that don’t represent every student, Burke said. “My thoughts about those sites are you get the outliers,” Burke said. Trends show that those who speak on those websites are often students who thoroughly enjoyed the professor or students who really had some difficulties, he said. “I am in favor of transparency,” Burke said. “I think it would be even more valuable if all of our evaluations were there for people to see.” Smith was a professor at the University of Puget Sound before she worked at FLC and there was a big difference with how evaluations worked there, she said. Since the evaluations were open she could learn by what other professors’ teaching strategies were in the classroom, Smith said. “It helped me learn,” she said. Evaluations are an imperfect process, but if students take them seriously it can be a good meter for how a class is working, Smith said. If students have a general attitude of taking evaluations seriously, then courses will continue to run well, she said.
...each department can have and should have their own evaluations, Gulliford said.
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Photo Illustration by Hana Mohsin
STATE FUNDING
&
CUTS
THE STRATEGIC PLAN
T
he state of Colorado and Fort Lewis College will see a slight break from the extensive budget cuts that have been prevalent in the last few years, according to the FLC administration and State Sen. Ellen Roberts. “Definitely things are looking better than they have been the last couple of years,” Roberts said. “We’re not flush, but we are not having to make the kinds of cuts that we have recently.” More money was generated last year by the state of Colorado than was forecasted, which means governmental department cuts this year are not going to be as severe as those in the past couple of years, Roberts said. “We have some pretty serious holes to climb out of, and we are starting to make some progress,” she said. While higher education will still see some reduction in state funding, the cut will not be as severe as it was originally thought, she said. “The cut this year isn’t anywhere near what we thought,” said Michele Peterson, the director of budgets at FLC. “We planned for a $2 million cut that is going to end up being $300,000.” The college is preparing budgets for five and 10 years from now, which include reductions in state funding, Peterson said. “Right now we are anticipating a 10 percent budget cut per year for 10 years until it goes away,” she said. “We need to make plans so that we can remain a healthy and
Photo Illustration by Hana Mohsin and Sarah Zoey Sturm
Story by Reid Tulley and Jimi Giles
functioning institution, and those plans really rely on, as we get less money from the state, we will need to increase tuition,” FLC President Dene Kay Thomas said. “If we didn’t increase tuition, we would be cutting programs and people,” Peterson said. Foreign languages are a traditional aspect of a liberal arts education. “We just lost two languages,” said Mark Seis, chair and associate professor of sociology. “We no longer are going to teach French, German, and does that mean we’re no longer a liberal arts college?” Seis was referring to recent cuts in the department of Modern Languages. Because two adjunct professors’ contracts will not be renewed next year, German and Japanese courses will not be taught next year and will not be available for student registration. They will remain in the course catalogue, but courses are eliminated if they are not taught within three years. Assistant Professor Nathan Guss’s contract will end after next year. Guss taught French courses and was on track to become tenured. Changes in the Modern Languages department might affect the identity of FLC as a liberal arts college, Seis said. (continued on next page)
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“The only way a tax increase can go into effect is through a vote by the people,” Schwartz said. “If things do not change there will be no money for higher education.”
“When we start to take away the quality of what liberal arts means, this is something that needs to be addressed by faculty, because this is changing the nature and character of our curriculum and changing the nature and character of our identity of our institution,” he said. While changes to programs are being made, students are forced to pay more for tuition. This year in-state students at FLC paid nine percent more in tuition than they did the year before. The college’s Board of Trustees voted for another nine percent increase for in-state students next year. Nine percent next year will cost students more than it did this year, as it will be nine percent of a larger overall tuition amount. Out-of-state tuition will remain the same next year. Roberts attended law school at the University of Colorado as a Colorado resident and paid in-state tuition rates, she said. “I would have never been able to afford to go to law school if it hadn’t been for in-state tuition,” Roberts said. “There was a study done by the Daniel School of Business from Denver University during the summer that essentially says by 2024 the only three areas of government the state will be able to fund will be Medicare and Medicade, K-12, and corrections,” said Steve Schwartz, FLC Vice President of Finance and Administration. “There will be no money for anything else, unless there are significant tax policy changes.” Schwartz said that Colorado voters are very reluctant when it comes to tax increases. “The only way a tax increase can go into effect is through a vote by the people,” he said. “If things do not change there will be no money for higher education.” “So what we are doing right now is we’re starting to look at how we model the institution so that we can be ‘quasi-private’ within 10 years,” Schwartz said. Becoming “quasi-private” would entail higher tuition prices for
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in-state students, he said. Resident tuition is lower than non-resident tuition because the state subsidizes it, Peterson said. Without these subsidies, the college would have to charge resident and non-resident students the same tuition, she said. Students can rest assured that FLC will never become a private institution. “We will never become a completely private institution because the state owns our land and our buildings,” Thomas said. “Let’s say we received no general fund appropriation,” she said. “We would be moving toward the point where we didn’t get annual support from the state, but we still have the support of the land and buildings.” “That’s a major asset private institutions don’t occupy,” she said. Thus, FLC would be called “statesupported,” or “quasi-private,” but never “private,” she said. The college’s budget and tuition prices play a role in the strategic plan. Every five years, select members of the student body, faculty, and administration come together to articulate a strategic plan, which contains goals for the college over the next five years. The first goal of the 2012-2016 strategic plan is to increase student success. Part of increasing student success, as outlined in the plan, is making faculty members create four-year graduation plans for each of their programs. Seis took issue with this aspect of the plan, as well as with the plan’s implementation, he said. “What’s somewhat disturbing, for some of us, I’m speaking mostly for myself, what’s been happening is that we’ve been engaged in a process with a lot of gimmicks,” he said. The four-year graduation plan is a gimmick, said Seis, who will complete his 16th year at FLC after this semester. (continued on next page)
Photos by Allie Johnson
Mark Seis, chair and associate professor of sociology.
Many students are working multiple jobs due to Durango’s high cost of living, which correlates with students’ need to stay in school for longer than four years, he said. While most teachers already create a four-year graduation plan when advising students, each student has a different context when entering advising appointments, and the four-year graduation plans don’t take every student’s individual context into consideration, he said. “We’re trying to streamline the process for you in such a way that doesn’t take into account all of the other factors--the social, the economic factors--that are a part of all of our lives,” Seis said. Seis’s concerns with the plan’s implementation seem to be based on what he saw as a lack of faculty consideration and involvement. Faculty members were involved in framing the skeleton of the strategic plan, but details of its implementation were not discussed with faculty, he said. Further, the faculty senate usually votes to approve the existing strategic plan, but this time, they didn’t vote, he said. In many ways the new strategic plan represents a conflict of visions, he said. “You know, the administration sees their role as trying to maintain a set of numbers and look good in front of State, and I understand that, that’s what their role is, but we have a different role here as faculty, and that’s to provide a quality, liberal arts education,” he said. The administration’s attempts to quantify things that are not
necessarily quantifiable can sometimes conflict with efforts to be orderly and efficient, he said. It denies the larger, social circumstances that surround students and education. “…that’s a discussion that needs to be happening, and I don’t think that’s adequately addressed in the strategic plan,” he said. The administration pushed for student involvement during the creation of the strategic plan, said former student body president Natalie Janes. Janes was allowed to place four students on the Strategic Planning Committee in addition to herself, she said. Students apart from the committee were allowed to voice their opinions in the Student Senate’s production of the annual Student Opportunity Summit, Janes said. Since the strategic plan has been finished, Janes has not received any complaints from students about the final product, she said. The administration wants to increase FLC enrollment, and the college plans to take one day at a time working within the limitations imposed by what the state has allocated for FLC, she said. “It appears we are pulling up out of the recession, and if we can make Colorado a good place for people to have their jobs and grow their businesses, that will increase revenues that will then, hopefully help higher education,” Roberts said. “I think right at the moment we’re busy building a reputation as a quality liberal arts college,” Thomas said.
“We’re trying to streamline the process for you in such a way that doesn’t take into account all of the other factors--the social, the economic factors--that are a part of all of our lives,” Seis said.
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DUI CONS
Story by Kayla Watkins, special to The Independent
Lori Hall Newby was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver on Sept. 14, 1984. Newby died instantly of a transected brain stem and a severed aorta, said Newby’s mother Marilyn Hall, a former member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Newby was accompanied by her cousin, Fey Likes, who also died of injuries related to the crash, Hall said. “I never thought I’d be a victim because I didn’t drink and drive,” Hall said. Drunk driver related crashes are a case of out of sight, out of mind, she said. People don’t think about joining organizations like MADD if they don’t drink and drive, Hall said. Hall started the Cortez chapter of MADD and ran it for three years, she said. She dropped the organization because hers was the only family still participating at the end of that time, she said. In larger cities like Colorado Springs, community businesses make donations that allow MADD to hold raffles to get funds, but the organization has difficulty staying afloat in a smaller town because of a lack of funds and participation, Hall said. Hall is still an activist against drunk driving, even though she’s not an active member of MADD, she said. As Newby’s story proves, drunk drivers aren’t always pulled over and arrested, said Stephen Wells, attorney at law. A police officer must have probable cause in order to undertake a traffic stop, but once stopped, an officer must also have probable cause to request a chemical Blood Alcohol Content test, he said. Probable cause is defined as any reasonable grounds or suspicion to suspect a crime, said Lt. Andy Brock of the Cortez Police Department.
In the past, drivers would refuse to take the chemical BAC tests and there were far fewer Driving Under the Influence convictions because the police officers couldn’t gather enough evidence against the defendant to prove that he or she was driving under the influence, Wells said. The state of Colorado changed its laws, and now Colorado’s express consent law presumes that anyone who carries a valid driver’s license has consented to taking a chemical test, Brock said. If one refuses the chemical test anyway, he or she would get an administrative hearing conducted through the Department of Motor Vehicles, which serves the purpose only to determine if a driver’s license can be taken from the driver, Wells said. Regardless of the outcome of the DMV hearing, the driver still may then have to face punitive action from the criminal courts, he said. A chemical test is different from a roadside test, and is considered to be either a breathalyzer or a blood test, Brock said. Police officers undergo two special trainings specifically for DUI chemical and roadside tests, Brock said. Officers take an eight-hour class on the “intoxilyzer” and another sixteen-hour class for roadside testing, he said. Each year, the officers take a two-hour recertification class on each subject, he said. To give a person a breath test, the officer would bring that person in and give him or her the test on the police department’s Breathalyzer, Brock said. To have a blood test taken, an officer would take a person to the hospital, where there would be two vials of blood drawn that would then be shaken, sealed, and sent to a lab for testing, he said.
“I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE A VICTIM BECAUSE I DIDN’T DRINK AND DRIVE,” HALL SAID.
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EQUENCES Unlike the chemical test, a person may refuse the roadside test, Wells said. Upon refusing the roadside test, the driver may very well be arrested, but he or she wouldn’t give the police officer any evidence to use when attempting the DUI conviction, he said. If a roadside test is refused, there may also be a better argument that they didn’t have probable cause to arrest the driver, Wells said. Once someone has been arrested for drunk driving he or she will face criminal court, where cases can end in plea bargains, conviction, or dismissal, he said. “The number of cases they get dismissed on isn’t very great,” Wells said. A majority of the cases not ending in conviction end in plea agreements, where the charges are usually dropped from DUI to Driving While Ability Impaired, Wells said. Colorado and New York are the only states with DWAI laws on the books, Wells said. Plea agreements come about as a result of a credible threat that evidence admitted in the court will not be sufficient enough to convict the defendant of a DUI, Wells said. If a case doesn’t end in a plea agreement, a person convicted will face fines and fees that add up to a minimum of $10,270, Brock said. “You could have never done anything wrong before, and then once you’re arrested for DUI I’ll have to arrest you four more times for driving while your license was revoked,” Brock said. “It can really add up until it’s something you’ll never get out from under,” Brock Said.
Each subsequent arrest would be another set of fines and fees to pay, he said. Brock’s first DUI arrest as a police officer was a drunk driving accident where a third-time DUI offender hit a van, he said. A mother and two young children were killed and the father and another child were in critical condition, he said. As the police arrested the drunk driver, he was screaming at them that they were ruining his life, Brock said. “That changed my entire view of DUI offenders,” he said. However, the high number of people driving drunk seems to be dropping in more recent years, Wells said. Brock has also noticed a drop in numbers in recent years, he said. “Things are a little bit tougher,” Brock said. The average number of DUIs per mont changes based on weather conditions, seasons, times of the year, holidays, and other things, Brock said. Possible reasons for this are harsher punishments and the economy, among others, he said. Instead of finding a drunk driver just driving down the street, police need to be looking now to find them, he said. If a person is driving during the high enforcement periods, he or she will be followed by a police officer at least once, he said.
“IT CAN REALLY ADD UP UNTIL IT’S SOMETHING YOU’LL NEVER GET OUT FROM UNDER,” BROCK SAID.
Photos by Julian Martinez and Hana Mohsin
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Low Altitude
Technical Navigation
Story by Chan Smith-Stetson, special to The Independent The United States Air Force is currently in the process of proposing a plan to create a new zone for Low Altitude Tactical Navigation over much of Western Colorado and Eastern New Mexico, an area that includes all of La Plata County. Low Altitude Tactical Navigation is a type of flight training that involves aircraft flying as low as 300 feet above the ground at speeds of up to 220 mph, said Air Force Col. Laurence Munz in a public meeting held in Durango. The possible environmental effects on the proposed Low Altitude Tactical Navigation zone are outlined in an Environmental Assessment draft, contracted by the Air Force to a company named Science Applications International Corporation, which can be found on the Cannon Air Force Base website. The effects that these flights may have on airspace safety, noise, and other issues (1) are analyzed in the Environmental Assessment draft. The Environmental Assessment process, which includes publishing an Environmental Assessment draft and holding a public comment period, is guided by the National Environmental Policy Act and will result in one of three possible outcomes, Munz said. A finding of No Significant Impact is one of these three options. If this is the conclusion of the Environmental Assessment, the new zone will be established, he said. If the process determines that a more in depth study needs to be performed, then the Air Force will be required to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement, he said. Finally, if there is evidence that the environment will be negatively affected by the proposed zone, then the project
could be terminated leading to the no action alternative. The no action alternative means that the new zone would not be established and the training flights would be flown over existing LATN zones, he said. Dan Randolph, executive director of the San Juan Citizen’s Alliance, and Andrew Gulliford, professor of history and affiliated faculty member in the environmental studies program at Fort Lewis College, believe that the Environmental Assessment draft contracted by the Air Force is not enough. “I am concerned about the lack of environmental review,” Gulliford said. Randolph and Gulliford said that an Environmental Impact Statement is warranted in this situation. The Environmental Assessment draft reviews the possible impacts of flight training on the proposed zone and assess whether these impacts meet the legal criteria to be considered significant, Randolph said. The Environmental Impact Statement would then take a good hard look at these impacts, he said. “Give yourself and the public a good analysis,” he said. The Environmental Assessment draft addresses the issue of air space safety primarily by looking at the class A mishap rates of the aircrafts, the C-130 and CV-22, that will be using the proposed LATN zone. The CV-22 is the Air Force’s version of the Osprey, an aircraft that can act as either a helicopter or an airplane. According to the draft, a class A mishap is defined as an accident that causes the death or permanent total disability of a crew member, over $2 million worth of damage to the aircraft, or destruction of the aircraft involved in the
“I am concerned about the lack of environmental review,” Gulliford said.
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mishap. The monetary threshold for a class A mishap was raised from $1 million to $2 million in 2010. The draft acknowledges the potential for fire and environmental contamination if a class A mishap were to occur over the proposed zone. According to the Finding of No Significant Impact draft, a summary attached to the Environmental Assessment draft, the class A mishap rate for the CV-22 is approximately 2.0 per 100,000 flight hours. According to the draft, the mishap rate for the CV-22 was calculated using data from Fiscal Year 2006 to Fiscal Year 2010. Using the class A mishap rate of 2.0 per 100,000 flight hours, and the total annual flight time over the proposed zone of 2,208 hours, the projected class A mishap recurrence for the aircraft over the proposed zone is once every 22 years, the draft said. Class A mishaps are made public by the Claims and Tort Litigation department of the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corp via a website (2) after the mishap has been reviewed by an Accident Investigation Board. From Fiscal Year 2006 to Fiscal Year 2010, the time period that the Environmental Assessment draft used in the class A mishap calculations, the CV-22 experienced two class A mishaps, the Claims and Tort Litigation department said. According to the draft, during the same time period, Fiscal Year 2006 to Fiscal Year 2010, the aircraft logged 11831.4 flight hours. This means that the class A mishap rate for the aircraft, from Fiscal Year 2006 to Fiscal Year 2010, is actually 16.9 class A mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, Erich McAlister,
associate professor of mathematics at FLC, said. When the actual rate of 16.9 class A mishaps per 100,000 flight hours is used to project Class A mishap recurrence the rate increases from once approximately every 22 years to once every 2.63 years, McAlister said. Randolph believes these statistics are very significant, not only because the potential for fire that class A mishaps represent, but also because it shows that the draft is not completely truthful, he said. “Their data on their planes, again, I was willing to take at face value,” Randolph said. “But this shows that even there they are not being totally forthright with the public.”
“Give yourself and the public a good analysis,” Randolph said.
Photos by Allie Johnson
(1) Airspace management, noise, airspace safety, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, land use and recreation, socioeconomics, and environmental justice are all analyzed in the Environmental Assessment draft. (2) http://usaf.aib.law.af.mil/ Editor’s Note: Chan Smith-Stetson finished this story in early December, 2011. Shortly after, in late December, U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Colorado Democrats, wrote a letter to Terry A. Yonkers, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, and Logistics, encouraging the Air Force to complete a full Environmental Impact Statement if the drafted Environmental Assessment is accepted. While public hearings on the Air Force’s proposal closed on Nov. 5, 2011, the senators argued that some communities were not made aware of the LATN proposal until after hearings closed and that further considerations should be made. It does not seem clear at this time that any decision on the LATN proposal has been made. The full letter written by Bennet and Udall is available at: http://bennet.senate.gove/newsroom/press
theindyonline.com
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Extreme Recreation Immortality
Photos by Adam and Hana Mohsin
Story by Troy Sliter, special to The Independent
The exhilaration that comes from jumping off of cliffs and doing dangerous things may stem from the urge that many people have to feel alive. People handle this urge in different ways from cliff diving to running a marathon. “Everyone has their own motivation,” said Aaron Ball, an adjunct professor of adventure education at Fort Lewis College. It is likely that the adrenaline rush comes from the thrill of life, and the feeling of increased aggression makes one feel alive, he said. Exhilarating activities that take a person to the edge are thrilling, no doubt, but inspecting the depth of the water is important in being sure that he or she will not get hurt, Ball said. Part of it is about knowing limits, he said. “For adolescents particularly as a group, or college students, they tend to be overconfident,” said Brian Burke, an associate professor of psychology at FLC. “Just in terms of how their brains develop, their frontal lobes aren’t fully developed until usually in their 20s, so they might not be thinking as far into the future as adults might.” The urge to seize life, especially in the late teens and early 20s leads those wanting to push the limits to pursue extreme experiences, he said. People that are in this age group put themselves at a higher risk than they might actually want to because of this stage in judgment and risk development, he said.
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the independent news magazine
Cliff diving is something that others see as being brave, which gives it value in this culture because the diver might get hurt, he said. People in this age group won’t be thinking about what could happen or go wrong, he said. A particular event that happened at Trimble Hot Springs in 2008 resulted in one person drowning, even though the college students said they were just trying to have fun, Burke said. With preparation and careful assessment of each adventure, the adrenaline rush that it produces is worth the risk, Ball said. “Each adventure is up to the individual,” he said. Although cliff jumping and dangerous activity may be fun, there are many theories behind why people pursue these types of activities, Burke said. One theory behind the activity is that it is a coping mechanism for the reality of life coming to an end. This is known as terror management theory, he said. “It’s about how we deal every day with the inevitable and unconscious terror that we’re going to die,” Burke said. Terror management theory has been in over 200 studies beginning in the ‘80s and describes what motivates these desires, he said. There are two responses in managing this anxiety of being aware of death: either invest in their culture, or defend it more, he said. To invest in culture, people act to prove core cultural values to the public by doing extraordinary physical activities in front of
others. They do this so that they feel good by doing something amazing, he said. People will do certain activities according to the way their culture will perceive them. If cultural value is associated with the act, then people will do it because they are investing in culture. If society says the act is pointless, people will more than likely not complete the act, he said. When you invest in something that is culturally valued as physically difficult or uncommon, the result is a sense of immortality that pushes that anxiety of death away temporarily, Burke said. This adrenaline rush can be physically addicting, he said. Some people just get addicted to the adrenaline rush that is going on inside their body, and the dopamine in the brain, he said. Gambling, watching porn, or watching a football game can cause the same reaction of adrenaline as jumping off a cliff, which is why it can become physiologically addictive, Burke said. “Once you get that brain rush it’s hard to be content with things that don’t give it to you,” he said. However, jumping off of cliffs isn’t for everyone. Some people find cliff diving energizing while others would say it provokes anxiety, Burke said. The anxiety response is the opposite of the adrenaline rush that occurs in some people, which creates a feeling of fear, he said. This fear may cause a panic attack to some that don’t like the anxiety response, he said. Defining a point where an extreme activity changes from fun to dangerous is not only important, but potentially lifesaving, he said. “When the water hurts you when you hit, and it gets shoved up your nose, then you know that you’re too high,” Ball said. When a cliff is over 100 feet above the water, the chance of injury is great, he said. “Just don’t do it at extreme heights,” Ball said. When injuries happen, natural instincts take control of the situation. “The first thing that will happen is to scream, writhe in pain, then survival swim to get out of the water,” Ball said. The nervousness of doing something dangerous is fun, but people have to be absolutely positive that they are up for it, and make sure that it is something that is exciting but won’t kill them, he said. For Brian Marcum, a flight paramedic for Flight for Life Colorado, extreme dangerous activities for the thrill of the experience are ultimately not worth the risk. “You could get paralyzed from jumping from the edge into the water, just depending on what is below the surface,” Marcum said. “After everything I’ve seen, it’s just not worth it.” Drinking alcohol before participating in a dangerous activity like cliff jumping allows for mistakes to happen more easily, which could potentially be fatal, he said. Drinking alcohol in a setting with many unpredictable variables can cause crucial spinal or head injuries, paralysis, and even death, Marcum said. A Wilderness First Responder is the first person on the scene when an injured person needs help, and the most important thing to do is get the injured jumper out of the water, he said.
“Once you get that brain rush it’s hard to be content with things that don’t give it to you,” Ball said.
Joe Casey, right, at Bakers Bridge Photos Illustrations by Adam Mohsin and Hana Mohsin
theindyonline.com
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STUDENT PROFILES Jaymus Lee
SENIOR EDITION
School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, Cellular and Molecular Biology Profile by Jimi Giles
Jaymus Lee, 24, is a senior Fort Lewis College student from Farmington, N.M. studying cellular and molecular biology. Lee provided the innovative project from the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences where he is studying the effects of Juniper extract as a medicinal treatment for Native Americans with Type II diabetes. As a member of the Navajo tribe, Lee is testing whether or not the Juniper extract will serve the same function as insulin, the Western medicinal treatment for diabetics, he said. “So what I’m doing is using traditional Navajo medicine, which is Juniper extract, because in the Navajo tradition they use a lot of Juniper, a lot of Cedar, a lot of different plants,” Lee said. Lee’s vision for this project is derived from an article that stated that the majority of the Native Americans that seek medicinal help use Western medicine in addition to their traditional healing medicine, he said. “So I’m just using the extract on different types of cells, on muscle and fat cells, to see if they express a certain protein, and that protein is indicative of being able to absorb glucose and sugar,” Lee said. The execution of the project occurs next semester, he said. So far, Lee has finished his grant proposal--which is for less than $800--as well as his introduction and method sections, he said. His experiment will take less than two weeks, he said. Lee’s project advisor, Sherell Byrd, a professor of biology, has studied insulin resistance among Native American students as a part of her myriad of diabetes-related projects, Lee said. “I was really interested in what she was doing when I first got here,” Lee said. “And so I kind of sought her out and kind of talked to her and participated in her study, and then that’s why I decided that I wanted to have her as my mentor and do something as far as diabetes related.” This summer Lee plans to apply for medical school, he said. His ultimate goal is to become a family practitioner for the Indian Health Service, the medical care provided by the government for Native Americans, he said. Lee attributes FLC and the science department to his quality education. “I love this school,” he said. “I love this science department. They have an awesome science department. They have teachers like Shere Byrd who are amazing.” Lee appreciates the diversity at FLC and said that having other Native Americans to interact with in his field is beneficial to his education. “Especially for the Native American students, it’s really awesome to be able to come here, to be in classes with three or four other Native Americans,” Lee said. “Because where I went to high school, there was maybe five out of a population of 2,000 students, so I never really got to interact with other Native American students. And it’s so awesome to be here, to be with Indians that are in the science field and then to have mentors who really look out for Native American students and provide a lot of opportunities for them.”
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the independent news magazine
Photos by Adam Mohsin
Anna Jany
Matt Morris
School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
School of Business Administration
Originally from Cologne, Germany, Anna Jany moved to Cortez when she was 16 years old. During her senior year in high school she attended Fort Lewis College as part of the fast- track program, Jany said. Although she originally planned to go to Los Angeles for film school, after her senior year of high school she decided to stay at FLC, she said. While getting more involved on campus, Jany fell in love with the theater, she said. “I felt like if I wanted to do film I might as well learn about the theater because it came first,” Jany said. During her first year at FLC Jany was the assistant director and Dramaturgic in “Speak Truth to Power,” she said. Being the Dramaturgic in most every theater performance she was involved in, Jany did the research regarding the plays, she said. Jany’s major in theater and minor in history allow her to focus on trying to experiment with the idea of telling history accurately through a play, she said. “I wanted to explore how to tell stories and how to affect change in the world through theater,” she said. By using the idea that history can teach so many things and give so many people hope, Jany formed a senior seminar project after taking the class Medieval Life in Modern Film and Literature. Jany was interested in the idea of having a play that told history, so she wrote a play about the history of Saint Augustine, a Bishop of the Catholic Church in the 4th Century for her project, she said. “One book he wrote was called The Confessions, which talked about his conversion experience to the Catholic faith,” Jany said. This was interesting because it was a very human expression of what Saint Augustine went through, she said. “It is very applicable today,” she said. With the use of Joseph Campbell’s idea of a hero’s journey and three actors who read the play, Jany presented her play in a public reading Wednesday April 11, she said. “I hope that I wrote it well enough that people will talk about having learned something about history,” Jany said. After becoming more confident throughout her years at FLC, Jany understands that whatever she wants to do she can do, she said. “Having gone to a small liberal arts college, I appreciate learning that I not only can do whatever I want, but I can do all these different things and then connect them into doing one great thing,” Jany said.
Matt Morris is currently enjoying the short time he has before he graduates at the end of this winter semester. His final semester at Fort Lewis College was a unique one that has prepared him for the working world very well. “Currently I’m running between two internships simultaneously,” Morris said. Morris was a senior basketball player this year. He could have graduated at the end of the fall semester, but because he had overlapping time to finish his heralded hoops career as a Skyhawk athlete in winter semester, it left him with time to look into other options, he said. As a business major, Morris found a program within his department that allowed him to work a couple of real world internships while earning school credit at the same time. “Throughout this semester I’ve been working for Allen & Associates and The Wells Group,” Morris said. “They both are in Durango. I work within the world of real estate and I’m learning a lot.” Allen & Associates is a commercial real estate and appraisal consulting company, where he has been helping them with research by gathering regional data, Morris Said. The Wells Group, where Morris is currently working many hours throughout the week, is a real estate company where he gathers, analyzes and reinterprets data for the company, he said. “For Wells I have done multiple presentations for them, and a lot for events that are hosted through the company,” he said. Morris’ biggest project during his internship has been working with his boss at the Wells Group, Bob Allen, on a real estate forecast, Morris said. “We’ve been gathering all different types of information to try and lay out the red carpet for potential property buyers in Durango,” he said. Patricia Dommer, a career services coordinator at FLC has been running this program for the school, and is who Morris corresponds with once a week, bringing updates in a journal. Dommer helps the interns out, Morris said. “I love this program, I’d recommend it to anyone who has it as an option,” Morris said. “It went really well. You learn how to function on a full day’s work, business etiquette, how to interact with your boss. You just learn so many valuable things about life after college,” Morris said.
Profile by Ayla Quinn
Photos by Adam Mohsin
Profile by Mitchell Fraser
theindyonline.com
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HOROSCOPES AQUARIUS
PISCES
ARIES
(January 20 - February 18)
(February 19 - March 20)
(March 21 - April 19)
Next time you whip something delicious up for dinner try making an extra serving and serving it to someone who doesn’t have dinner that night. A random act of kindness can brighten someone’s day.
You will have a heightened sense of smell this month. Use it for good, and try solving crimes or find your lost car keys! Always take advantage of your personal blessings.
Beware of bees this month, especially while enjoying the springtime flowers. It may be because you’re extra sweet, or because of your love for Hawaiian shirts, but they will be extraordinarily drawn to you. Try to forego the perfume or cologne this month in hopes that they’ll leave you alone.
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
(April 20 - May 20)
(May 21 - June 20)
(June 21 - July 22)
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side! Sometimes it’s full of thorns, pinecones, or angry deer. Watch where you step and make sure to wear shoes wherever you go this month!
Owls are usually a sign of wisdom, but for you this month, they could mean that you need to spend some extra time studying for finals. You should either keep a close watch on the trees, or be safe and study anyway. Extra reading never hurt anyone.
Have you ever seen a fire-breathing dragon? The stars say that there’s a slight chance you might see one this month. Keep a strong shield by your side just in case.
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
(July 23 - August 22)
(August 23 - September 22)
(September 23 - October 22)
This month will speed by leaving you with many decisions for the summer. Take control, sit back, relax and enjoy the life you are living now. Trust that you will be led in the right direction.
Take a reflection back on this year. Weigh out your success, your failures, and reminisce on the good times you had with great people. Take all of these memories, and take notice of what you can change in your life to make it better.
Live life by the spur of the moment. Go take a hike, learn to bake like a professional chef, or learn a new language! You’ll never know what you’re good at until you attempt it.
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
(October 23 - November 21)
(November 22 - December 21)
(December 22 - January 19)
With all of these awesome summer line ups coming up, it’s hard to choose just what music festival you may want to see. With so many options, try to reconsider and budget yourself, prioritize what ones are best, but go for the gold and hit at least one this summer, or the fall will bring regret when you hear how awesome everyone else’s experiences were.
Are you envious of your dog because she gets to lie around all day or go on crazy adventures in the mountains? That can be you too. Enjoy this summer and embrace this beautiful land we are lucky to live in. Take your dog, too.
Something you take for granted is something someone else is envious of and wishes for everyday. Remember the small things and the people in your life and acknowledge them everyday.
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the independent news magazine
Editor’s Note: Indy horoscopes are for entertainment purposes only and are done by students on the Indy staff. No professional astrologist contributed to this piece.
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