An inside look at 5800 City Ave. - Pg. 5
THE HAWK THE HAWK September 24, 2014 September 24, 2014
The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University | Volume XCIII | Est. 1929 | www.hawkhillnews.com
St. Joe's community standards unwavering amidst pending changes in Philadelphia marijuana law
M
ERIN RAFTERY ’15 News Editor
ayor Michael Nutter’s decision to sign into law a bill that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in Philadelphia will affect Saint Joseph’s University students, whose campus extends into both the city of Philadelphia and Lower Merion Township, divided by City Avenue. Councilman-At-Large James Kenney introduced the bill in May, which stated that anyone possessing under an ounce of marijuana would be charged with a $25 fine and a citation. But harsher penalties were added by the Nutter administration, resulting in a compromise on the bill, these changes stated that a person caught smoking in public would be charged with a noncriminal summary offense and a $100 fine, which can be substituted for nine hours of community service. In either situation, a person possessing less than an ounce of marijuana would not be charged criminally or be arrested. The Philadelphia City Council voted 13-3 to pass this bill decriminalizing marijuana in June, and Nutter officially agreed to sign it into law on Sept. 8.
Preventing plagiarism Possible online education program for incoming freshmen
ANTHONY PANVINI ’16 Assistant Sports Editor Recently, the Saint Joseph’s University Academic Honesty Board (AHB) and Academic Integrity Council (AIC) have been working on a solution to further educate students on how to avoid committing acts of plagiarism. One solution includes requiring freshmen to take an online e-learning tutorial before entering St. Joe’s. David Steingard, Ph.D., associate professor of management and the chair of the AIC, hopes that this will be taken seriously by students and educate them so that they
Although Nutter agreed to sign the bill, it most likely will not be signed for another two weeks. “...I didn’t get one negative phone call about this issue from anyone after it passed, and I think people understand it’s 2014, the country is moving toward legalization, there is no reason for Philadelphia to be so backwards that it arrests people for this kind of behavior,” said Kenney. Due to students living or attending classes on the Overbrook side of campus, which is in Philadelphia, one would assume that St. Joe’s must change its drug policy to adjust to the new bill. However, according to John Gallagher, director of public safety and retired Philadelphia Police Commander, Mark Lemon, public safety investigator and retired Detective Sergeant of Wilmington, and William Bordak, director of Community Standards, the St. Joe’s drug policy will not be changing at this time. Continued MARIJUANA, Pg. 6
can avoid plagiarism at the university. “We would like to have a two-prong approach to that. One is we would like to have more involvement in orientation up front. And two, as far as the actual effectiveness of the tutorial, there are ways to construct and deliver e-learning where there is a higher level of content absorption and application,” said Steingard. “We would like the tutorial to be effective in communicating not just the proper way to do citations and how to avoid plagiarism, but also the consequences as well.” William McDevitt, Ph.D., associate professor of management and the chair of the AHB, believes that the reason for pla-
giarism in 80 percent of the cases that are filed with the AHB is because of the students’ lack of awareness. The AHB consists of 17 members that are nominated by their respective deans. According to the Academic Honestly Policy, “An accused student may appeal to the Board in order to contest a determination of guilt if he or she believes the decision to have been unsubstantiated or procedurally unfair.” McDevitt believes that students specifically run into problems as to how to cite properly—more specifically, when and how to cite. Continued PLAGIARISM, Pg. 3