Oracle The
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2013
HENDERSON STATE UNIVERSITY
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 16
Reddie Rides roll out to reduce student fear A LA CART
Reddie Rides hit Henderson last week, a service that enables students to hitch a safe ride across campus in a club car. The escorts run from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, according to a flyer released by Dan Mabery, director of Residence Life. Randy Baker, a Reddie Ride escort, had his first night on the job last Thursday. “Thursday night there were four [callers],” Baker said. “Tonight there was one. Thursday I had three guys and one girl.” The program has received so much support, a phone line has been dedicated solely for the service, according to an email by Mabery. For a Reddie Ride, call 870403-3068.
Mysterious charge baffles and worries students Courtney Kemp Staff Writer Due to a recent change in a description, confusion has arisen at Henderson State University. Students at the beginning of the semester were worried about the rumor that they were paying much more than necessary. Most college students prefer to pay as little as possible. With tuition and fees going up every year, it is no wonder that students would be alarmed when something they do not recognize pops up on the Account Status under the ‘Courses I Take’. “Off campus and online are one in the same. We just changed the description”, said Scott Freeman, director of student accounts. Freeman explained that the school recently changed the description of off campus to the description of online. “The online class
tuition is not an additional fee. It is just tuition for the class”, said Lecia Franklin, controller for finance and administration. “The price is not on top of the regular tuition that the student sees” said Franklin. Both Freeman and Franklin are adamant about telling students there is no need to drop online classes. Years ago tuition was all connected. The tuition was all together under a student’s account. The description did not change even if the student was taking all the classes online from a different state. This meant that if a student lived in Missouri and was taking classes at Henderson, the student had to pay the fees of a regular student. That student would have to pay a garrison fee, band fee, and student recreation center fee. These fees are the fees that can be reduced by taking more online classes even if a student lives on campus. Any student would find this frustrat-
ing. Online that do not have access to these facilities normally are not required to pay for the use of them. Henderson decided to change the description to off campus tuition. This change raised eyebrows as well. If a student lived in the residence halls they would be charged off campus fees as well. With the most recent change, students have a cut on some of the fees that they will have to pay. Students who live on campus get some of the fees cut down a little. A student would not have to pay as much for the on campus fees. Many students were concerned about this charge to the accounts. Some students actually dropped classes because they thought they were paying for more than they bargained for. “I dropped online astronomy because I thought it was a ridiculous amount that I would have to pay and I just felt that it was just a lot of money to spend extra” said Justin Holz-
kecht, senior theatre major. “If another student would not have said anything then I would have never dropped the class in the first place.” He was shocked to find out that it was not an additional charge. Holzkecht is not the only student to have dropped and regret the drop. “I realized the day after I dropped that it was too late” said Sierra Ray, senior theatre major. Freeman wanted to also re-
mind students that they could pick up their refund checks from the money they save by taking an online class Feb. 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The checks will be located in the Womack Building on the first floor. Students should always check with financial aid or the business office to make sure to not drop a class by accident. “I don’t even like the class that I switched into and I should have just stayed in the online class”, said Ray.
Photo by Morgan Acuff
(FEE)R NOT The charges shown above caused
some concern when students checked their accounts, but the fee is not an increase in tuition.
WTC workers scrawl graffiti of defiance and hope Verena Dobnik Associated Press
Index
NEW YORK (AP) On most construction projects, workers are discouraged from signing or otherwise scrawling on the iron and concrete. At the skyscraper rising at ground zero, though, they’re being invited to leave messages for the ages. “Freedom Forever. WTC 9/11” is scrawled on a beam near the top of the gleaming, 104-story One World Trade Center. “Change is from within” is on a beam on the roof. Another reads: “God Bless the workers & inhabitants of this bldg.” One of the last pieces of steel hoisted up last year sits near a precarious edge. The message on it reads: “We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger!” It is signed by a visitor to the site last year, President Barack Obama. The words on beams, walls and
Features
2
Opinions
3
Diversions
4
Sports
5
Sports
6
stairwells of the skyscraper that replaces the twin towers lost on Sept. 11, 2001, form the graffiti of defiance and rebirth, what ironworker supervisor Kevin Murphy calls “things from the heart.” They’re remembrances of the 2,700 people who died, and testaments to the hope that rose from a shattered morning. “This is not just any construction site, this is a special place for these guys,” says Murphy of the 1,000 men and some women who work in the building at any given time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Everyone here wants to be here, they want to put this building up,” Murphy says. “They’re part of the redemption.” On a frigid, windy winter day, with the 9/11 memorial fountain straight below and the Statue of Liberty in the distance, Murphy supervised a crew of men guiding the first piece of the steel spire that will top out the building at a
71/48
Photo courtesy of Associated Press
dizzying 1,776 feet — the tallest in the Western Hemisphere. In the rooftop iron scaffolding for the spire, 105 floors up, a beam pays homage to Lillian Frederick, a 46-year-old administrative assistant who died on the 105th floor of the south tower,
55/34
pierced by a terrorist-hijacked airliner. A popular Spanish phrase is penned next to two names on one concrete pillar: “Te Amo Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo,” meaning, “I love you three steps above heaven.” Some beams are almost completely covered in a spaghettilike jumble of doodled hearts and flowers, loopy cursives and blaring capitals. Many want to simply mark their presence: “Henry Wynn/Plumbers Local (hash)1/ Sheepshead Bay/Never Forget!” Families of victims invited to go up left names and comments too, as did firefighters and police officers who were first responders. “R.I.P. Fanny Espinoza, 9-1101” reads a typical remembrance signed by several family members of a Cantor-Fitzgerald employee. Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote: “With you in spirit ‚Äî those who perished, those who fought, those
62/32
50/31
who build.” Time and daily routines have softened the communal grief as the workers carry on, trading jokes and gruff male banter. Some ends up in whimsical graffiti marking World Cup soccer matches, New York Giants Super Bowl victories and other lessweighty matters that have gone on since construction began six years ago. One crudely drawn map of the neighborhood down below shows the location of a popular strip club. People on the ground below will never see the spontaneous private thoughts high in the Manhattan sky. The graffiti will disappear as the raw basic structure is covered with drywall, ceiling panels and paint for tenants moving into the 3 million square feet of office space by 2014. Knowing this, workers and visitors often take photographs of special bits of graffiti, so the words will live on.