Wednesday, December 6, 2017
99th year • Issue 15
THE INDEPENDENT Good luck on finals and
COLLEGIAN
happy holidays!
www.IndependentCollegian.com
Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919
INSIDE
FILM
MUSIC
‘Lady Bird’ soars high Toledo jazz icon A conversation with Greta Gerwig By Sam Williams Sports Editor
UT graduate Jeremy Holloway paves way to success COMMUNITY / 6 »
MAC Champions
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SPORTS / 5 »
“If we change the way we teach, we can change the way students think—and that can change the world.”
JESSICA HARKER Destroy the idea of subjects in the school system OPINION / 3 »
Documentary filmmaker returns to UT as dean
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COMMUNITY / 6 »
“There are always going to be finals, and it’s up to you to find the best way to deal with them.”
EDITORIAL Finals stress
OPINION / 3 »
“Lady Bird,” the directorial debut from writer and actress Greta Gerwig, opens with a quote from Sacramento native and world-renowned writer Joan Didion: “Anybody who talks about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento.” Didion’s quote serves as an epigraph to “Lady Bird,” but it signifies more than just its themes. “Well, reading Joan Didion for me was transformative because it was the first time I had the experience of reading a great writer and a true artist turned her eye on a place that I was from,” Gerwig told The Independent Collegian. “And in a way, it was both that she was a woman and that she was from Sacramento. Those things were something that felt different to me.” She said she knew there were women writ-
ers that were people from her part of the world, but it didn’t quite click for her until she read Didion’s works. “I think I can trace back wanting to be a writer and an artist and a creator to reading Joan’s work about California and about Sacramento specifically,” Gerwig said. “Lady Bird” feels like a culmination of the feelings Gerwig had while reading Didion. The movie highlights the beauty and depth of a city like Sacramento but is told through the eyes of a main character that can’t realize its importance until she leaves.
See Debut / 4 »
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLIED INTEGRATED MARKETING
Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig on the set of “Lady Bird”.
dies at 96 By Samantha Gerlach Staff Reporter
A Toledo legend has left his mark on the University of Toledo. Jon Hendricks, worldrenowned jazz lyricist and vocalist and previous professor at UT, died Nov. 22. He was 96. Hendricks was born Sept. 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio and had 14 brothers and sisters. His father was Alexander Brookes Hendricks, and his mother was Willie Carrington Hendricks. When Hendricks was four years old, his father became the pastor at the Warren African Methodist Episcopal Church in Toledo. Hendricks’ family followed his father and moved to Toledo shortly after. Hendricks lived on City Park Avenue, just five houses down from the home of another famous Toledo jazz pianist, Art Tatum. Hendricks would often visit Tatum to hear him play and received personal music lessons from him.
JON HENDRICKS Former UT Professor and Jazz Vocalist
At a very early age, music became very important to Hendricks. When he was seven years old, his mother encouraged him to sing in the church choir with her at the Warren AME Episcopal Church. When Hendricks began singing, Tatum accompanied him on the radio; by the time Hendricks was nine years old, Tatum was calling him for gigs. By age 14, Hendricks performed twice a week with Tatum at the popular Waiter’s and Bellman’s Club in Toledo on Indiana Avenue. See Vocalist / 4 »
TEACHING
ACCREDITATION
Professors earn science fellowship
UT appeals accreditation status of its PA program
By Olivia Rodriguez Staff Reporter
Three University of Toledo professors were recently elected as fellows to a nonprofit organization that strives to make advancements in science. American Association of the Advancement of Science elected Heidi Appel, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College and professor in the department of environmental sciences, Karen Bjorkman, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Steven Federman, a professor of astronomy. According to the AAAS website, to become a fellow one must be a continuous four-year member of the organization who has scientifically or socially distinguished work. “It is great to see three people from UT become fellows, especially two from the same department since only seven were selected from the astronomy section,” Federman said. Bjorkman is currently researching the discs of gas and dust that form around stars, she said. Appel said she is currently studying the defense mechanisms plants have against insects. These defenses include chemical ones like spices, hearing when they are being attacked and sensing vibrations, she said. She is also studying the chemical properties of mustard, red wine,
By Gabrielle Huff Staff Reporter
fruits, vegetables and chocolate, HEIDI APPEL Appel said. Dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College The goal of this research is to better understand the medicinal and health benefits of these foods, which can help everyone, she said. Federman studies the interstellar matter between stars and the Earth. Utilizing specKAREN BJORKMAN troscopy, FederDean of the College of Natural man uses “the Sciences and Mathematics star as a light bulb to observe the [chemical] signatures in interstellar matter between the star and us [Earth],” he said. He also studies the different isotopes of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen and how they are produced inside STEVEN FEDERMAN of stars. Specifically, he studies Professor of Astronomy the formation of lithium, boron faculty members for and rubidium, Feearning this honor. derman said. “This recognition “It’s a nice acby AAAS is an exterknowledgement nal validation of the that we have some talented experts on really good people our campus,” Gaber here, and I think it’s said in a press release. good for the univer“UT faculty make sity that people are important contriburecognizing that,” tions to their fields Bjorkman said. of study and actively UT President Shaengage our students ron Gaber said she is in research projects proud of these three in the process.”
“UT faculty make important contributions to their fields of study and actively engage our students in research projects in the process.” SHARON GABER UT President
The University of Toledo submitted an official letter of appeal to the Accreditation Review Commission for Physician Assistants Nov. 3 to return the Physician Assistant program to probationary accreditation status. This comes after UT was notified by ARC-PA in a letter received Oct. 6 that the program’s accreditation was being withdrawn. This letter cited many reasons for the withdrawal, including an insufficient amount of faculty, an inability of the program to conduct a meaningful self-assessment and inadequate resources to educate students. The PA program department chair, Patricia Hogue, and interim program director Linda Dill were both replaced in the wake of the withdrawal, wrote University of Toledo President Sharon Gaber in a statement. The notice of appeal letter sent to the commission states that the review panel should reverse the decision because “the program believes it has demonstrated that the program was in compliance with the majority of the cited standards at the time of the site visit.” PA program administrators say this statement is supported by the program’s application for continuing accreditation, the self-study report completed by the program, and sufficient documentation that was given to the inspectors during the June visit. The letter also claims that the reasons ARC-PA cited as areas of the program’s non-compliance are “erroneous, inaccurate and incomplete.” The university argues that there were a sufficient number of employees within the program, including four full-time PA employees, a hand-
“The program disagrees with the conclusion that it is unable to conduct meaningful program self-assessment and prepare a self-study report.”
ful of administrators, and professors from other departments who aided in PA instruction in subjects such as anatomy and physiology at the time of inspection, according to the letter. According to the appeal letter, “The program disagrees with the conclusion that it is unable to conduct meaningful program self-assessment and prepare a self-study report.” The letter goes on to state that the commission’s claims against the PA program were inappropriate and misleading, stating that the university and program directors were given adequate oversight and analysis throughout the entire process. In ARC-PA’s notice, they stated that PA students are not given an adequate education and that the program lacks resources to carry that out. UT rejected this claim in the appeals letter, stating that the program’s students had a 100-percent passing rate for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination over the past decade. However, according to the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination Five Year First Time Taker Summary Report on UT’s website, the 2012 graduating class was the See Letter / 4 »
MEAGAN O’HARA / IC
UT’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies is located on the Health Science Campus in the Collier Building. UT is appealing the withdrawal of the program’s accreditation.