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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Students give dining feedback
S O C A T O CHOC
95th year • Issue 16
Wasteful
l u f t h g u o h T
Hullaballo
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OPINION / 8 » www.IndependentCollegian.com
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INSIDE
Remembering a UT legend The University of Toledo community lost a legendary figure from its football history on Nov. 20. Those who personally knew former head coach and athletic director Frank Lauterbur lost much more. SPORTS / 4 »
STUDENT INVOLVMENT
UT works to fix fractured relations with student groups By Samuel Derkin Associate News Editor
After the loss of three major Office of Student Involvement (OSI) staff members this summer, administrators in that office are attempting to strengthen what have been described as “shaky” relations with student group leaders through the recent hiring of a new program manager. OSI, a subgroup of Student Affairs, acts as the university’s link to student organizations. Jacob Torres, President of the Latino
Student Union, said the transitions within OSI over the summer and at the beginning of the semester made him feel “pushed away” at the time. “I do notice that we stopped going to them a lot more,” said Torres. Three OSI employees left UT over the summer, said Sammy Spann, assistant provost. He said they left their jobs for a variety of reasons, including maternity leave and recruitment to another employment opportunity. See OSI relations / 6 »
“We should be a service to the student organizations and not just another hoop to jump through.” RUDY TAYLOR New program manager for the Office of Student Involvment
ON-CAMPUS HOLIDAY AFFAIR
A MAGICAL NIGHT
UT’s foreign language sing-a-long Students, faculty, staff and families are invited on Friday, Dec. 6, to sing classic holiday tunes in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin and Spanish. COMMUNITY / 10 »
Students write a play in 24 hours A variety of short plays from the minds of students — written and directed — in a 24-hour period will be performed Saturday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m. in the center theatre of the Center for Performing Arts. COMMUNITY / 10 »
Have a great Winter Break!
UT students to dance at 4th Yule Ball By Veralucia Mendoza and Alexandria Saba Staff Reporter and Associate Community Editor
Students will be “spell-bound” in the Student Union Auditorium as they dance the night away at the fourth annual Yule Ball. The Yule Ball will be held on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Event chairman Sean Coyle, a senior and chemical engineering major, has been involved in the planning of the dance since the ball’s third year. “You can expect ‘normal’ dancing,” he said during a phone interview. “But you will see ballroom dancing.” Attendants are encouraged to wear formal attire, which can include their high school prom or homecoming attire. The Yule Ball mimics a dance described in the Harry Potter series, in the fourth book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” Following J.K. Rowling’s books, attendants are separated into four houses just as the students of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Alyssa Mohler, secretary of the event, said there will be games and trivia, also inspired by the Harry Potter book series. If an attendant wins one of the games, they earn points for their house, Mohler said. “There are actually games every half an hour and they are usually dancing games,” she said. The Yule Ball also features a “House Cup Tournament,” with a House Cup awarded to the group with the most points at the end of the night. Coyle said the first year he went to the dance, he felt like he was finally a part of UT.
TOBACCO BAN
LINDSAY MAHANEY / IC
Faculty Senate passed a resolution Tuesday calling for a university-wide ban on tobacco, including smokless varieties.
Faculty calls for no tobacco on campus By Lindsay Mahaney Staff Reporter
Tobacco use of all types should be banned on University of Toledo campuses, Faculty Senate said Tuesday. While it did not pass unanimously, faculty passed a resolution Dec. 3 stating that Main Campus should join UT’s Health Science campus in becoming tobacco-free, which includes the banning of smokeless tobacco, snus and electronic cigarettes. It also asked the administration to take “necessary steps to ensure that the sale and marketing of tobacco products” be prohibited on campus, and that a task force be established to enforce tobacco-free rules by the beginning of the next academic year. Senator Amy Thompson, rehabilitation services professor, spoke on the topic of smokingrelated health hazards and the potential effects they would have on UT students. See Tobacco / 6 »
ADMINISTRATIVE VACANCY IC FILE PHOTO
Matt Sauter and Joanne Beckwith dance at last year’s Yule Ball, a Harry Potter-themed formal dance held annually on UT’s campus. This year’s Yule Ball will be held on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the Student Union Auditorium.
“I really connected with the university,” he said. “It gave me a reason to be around than just school.” Similarly, Joanne Beckwith, a senior majoring in chemical engineering and the advertisement chair, said the dance offers a sense of camaraderie. “There’s groups with different views and goals, but this is about bringing everyone together.” She said the ball was originally organized by a group of four members from the UT Ballroom Dance Society and the group asked, “We’re a dance society, why don’t we have a dance?” The goal was to have fun during the last few days of the semester. “That first year we drew in about 120 people,” Beckwith said. “Last year we drew in 200. Now we’re expecting to break the 200 mark.” Coyle said that originally the dance was also a fundraiser for UT Ballroom Dance Society but in its second year it became a charity event. “We couldn’t believe we raised so much money,” he said. Last year, the Yule Ball raised over $1,300 which all went to Toledo Public Schools.
This year all proceeds will go to the charity Reading is Leading, the national philanthropy of Mortar Board, which benefits Toledo Children’s Hospital Library. The goal is to aid in the purchasing of young adult books for patients, Coyle said. The Reading is Leading charity was chosen in part because the dance is themed after a book, Coyle said. “It made sense to support literacy,” Coyle said. The event is sponsored by the Ballroom Dance Society, Campus Activities and Programming, Student Government, Student Activities Committee, Resident Student Association, WXUT radio station and Mortar Board Honor Society. Tickets are $8 for singles and $12 for couples. Tickets will be sold in the Student Union from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. until Friday, Dec. 6. “I know it’s close to finals but it’s important to take some time to support your community, your school and different organizations,” Coyle said. “There’s something here for everybody, so come ready to have a blast.”
UTMC head set to leave in February
By Danielle Gamble Editor-in-Chief
Chancellor Jeff Gold, head of the University of Toledo Medical Center, is set to leave in a little over two months to assume a similar position in Nebraska. Gold, who has been a part of UT since 2005, was publicly named the sole candidate Nov. 22 for the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s chancellor position, and was approved by UN’s Board of Trustees Nov. 29. With his initial three-year appointment, Gold’s starting annual salary at UNMC will be $775,000 plus standard university employee benefits. In Gold’s UT position, he received about $463,000 in 2012, according to The Blade’s public employee salaries database. In a phone interview Monday, Gold said he began considering the position in mid-fall of this year when he was approached by a national search firm. “I thought that this was a unique opportunity in a different community that seemed to be very warm and receptive, and an See Gold / 6 »