The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University
Volume XCVII | Est. 1929 | www.sjuhawknews.com
Feb. 28, 2018
Gender inclusive Hawk Hill SAM HENRY ’19 Editor Emeritus
From left to right: Natasha Cloud ’15, point guard for the Washington Mystics of the WNBA; Stephanie Tryce, J.D., assistant professor of sports marketing; Angela Rye, attorney and political commentator, and Adashia Franklyn ’18 pose for a photo after Rye’s discussion at a St. Joe’s Black History Month event on Feb. 22 (Photo by Luke Malanga ’20). SEE PG. 4
Working full-time in undergrad St. Joe’s co-op program for business students
ALEX MARK ’20 Assistant News Editor Employers value experience in potential employees, which many students gain through internships. The Haub School of Business offers another option: the Cooperative Education (co-op) Program. Todd Krug, Ph.D., director of the co-op program, said that the program is essentially a year of full-time work experience, separated into two six-month periods, which is completed within the four years that a student is enrolled at St. Joe’s. While a standard internship might require a student to work between 10 and 20 hours a week, a co-op would require 35 to 40 hours a week, allowing the student to more
fully explore career choices. At the moment, the co-op program is only available to students enrolled in the Haub School of Business, although this may change in the future, Krug said. There are two co-op programs in the business school: Krug’s program, which lasts for four years and is available to every business major except food marketing, and a food marketing-specific program, which lasts for five years. Normally, students with business majors are recruited during the fall semester of their freshman year, Krug said. Sometimes, however, the enrollment process can extend into the spring semester if necessary. Interested students will then fill out an application for the program. The biggest determining factor in their acceptance is their GPA, which at minimum must be a 2.75 or
above. Once students have applied, Krug sends their resumes to a roster of 50 to 60 potential employers, who will grant the students interviews, if the students fit the employer’s search requirements. The students’ employment status is ultimately decided on this interview rather than their application, as no student in the program is guaranteed a job at any specific company. “Co-op is very real-world,” Krug said. “It’s not like student teaching, where we place students. The students have to interview and compete for their jobs, and the companies make independent hiring decisions.” One of the major advantages of a co-op is the opportunity to network and develop important skills and experience that could be added to a resume, Krug said. CONTINUED ON PG. 3
Information courtesy of Todd Krug (Graphic by Kaitlyn Patterson ’20).
Following advocacy from the student body, especially with work from SJU Pride, St. Joe’s implemented 36 gender inclusive restrooms throughout campus in 2015. SJU Pride is a student organization that works to create inclusive spaces for the LGBT community and allies on campus. A map listing all of the locations of the gender inclusive restrooms can be found through the Office of Inclusion and Diversity website. Despite the implementation of these restrooms, there is still a lot of work being done by both students and faculty in order to increase access to these facilities at St. Joe’s. Kerry Dowd ’19, one of three leaders in the campus advocacy and education section of SJU Pride, said that a sign is really the only thing needed to make an restroom gender inclusive. “There’s not much else as long as all people can go into that restroom, it’s an all gender restroom,” Dowd said. Mary-Elaine Perry, Ph.D., assistant vice president for student development and Title IX coordinator, explained that the gender inclusive restrooms on campus are currently single restrooms. “Some places that you go they just have gender inclusive bathrooms,” Perry said. “We as an institution are not there yet I don’t think. We’ll get there, I am confident of that, but as of right now it is just the single bathrooms.” Will Marsh, ’18, the first interim Chair of Inclusion and Diversity for Student Senate, began working on the gender inclusive bathroom initiative in spring 2015 after a student, now an alum, who identifies as gender non-conforming, expressed their experience of what it was like using the restrooms on campus. “The Student Senate decided that was a situation in which no member of our campus should be put it,” Marsh said. “In researching how other colleges campuses, 200+ at this point today, approach a change, the solution was a simple yet impactful solution. Plus, its required by Philadelphia statute that any new or renovated city owned building must include a gender inclusive restroom. While it may not apply to us, it was still a factor in our research.” Student Senate and Perry worked with facilities to identify all of the single restrooms that could be all gender restrooms. “The impact of seeing that sign is something that could change a prospective student’s mind or make a new faculty member comfortable, so yes it [the original initiative] met the goal but there’s still some work that needs to be done as we strive to be a inclusive and diverse community,” Marsh said. CONTINUED ON PG. 3