96th year • Issue 24
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Things keep breaking at UT OPINION / 4 » www.IndependentCollegian.com
Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919 STUDENT GOVERNMENT
INSIDE
Divestment passes Resolution gains majority vote, campaign continues By Colleen Anderson Associate News Editor
Students give back to the community during BIG Event The largest student community service event on campus will take place March 21. COMMUNITY / 5 »
Freshman guard has become major player for UT late in season Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott transferred from Europe and is making a name for herself in basketball.
“ “
SPORTS / 7 »
“We have done our research and have made our choice.”
EDITORIAL Who does the IC support? OPINION / 4 »
Science lectures to be held throughout spring semester Saturday Morning Science combines interesting lectures with interactive activities. NEWS / 3 »
“If students wanted information on this campus-wide crisis, they had to go digging, relying mainly on information from outside sources and each other, which is always a dangerous game to play.”
COLUMN
UT Alerts fail at communicating
OPINION / 4 »
Back in black Toledo locals explain why vinyl records are regaining popularity in today’s digital age. COMMUNITY / 5 »
Shouts of joy and excitement erupted from the supporters of the divestment resolution as it passed in an overwhelming majority vote of 21-4 during the weekly University of Toledo Student Government meeting. At the start of the meeting, 94 attendees were present, not including the 27 senators and 7 SJC members in attendance. Five uniformed officers were also present throughout the room. The senate heard speakers from numerous organizations. Representatives from Students for Justice in Palestine, UT Hillel, Community Solidarity Response Network, Christians United for Israel, and Jewish Voices for Peace, among several others, gave their opinions on the renewed divestment resolution being proposed at the meeting. The speakers talked from a few seconds to several minutes over almost two hours. Two speakers, Rob Vincent and Sam Aburaad, were asked to sit down after overstepping the boundaries of open floor. SG President Clayton Notestine encouraged senators to vote yes or no rather than abstaining. “Vote yes or vote no. You can choose which one you believe in, but stand by your choice.
ABIGAIL SULLIVAN / IC
Shahrizad Hamdah, SJP steering committee member, raises her hand for a chance to speak during open floor. The weekly SG meeting was moved to the Student Union Auditorium and lasted about three hours. During that time, both senators and committee members were given the chance to speak on the divestment resolution.
You can choose to go and abstain and not vote at all, but I am imploring that you go ahead and make a decision to stand up for what you believe in, and vote yes or vote no,” Notestine said. Those in support of the resolution spoke
on the human rights violations against Palestinians by Israel, and were supported by members of numerous outside student See Divestment / 3 »
CANDIDATE
HOUSING
Facebook Housing discount offered to returning on-campus students page
questions Howard
By Colleen Anderson Associate News Editor
Students returning to live on the University of Toledo campus next year will be saving 25 percent of the cost of living in a dorm room. The Office of Residence Life is working with the Office for Student Affairs to offer returning students a discount on the cost of living; however, some requirements do apply. To qualify for the discount, a student must be returning from last year, must be in good financial standing and must have a minimum 2.0 GPA. “Any student that’s in good academic standing that lived in a residence hall this year can come back next year at a 25 percent discount. One thing’s important: first come, first serve basis,” said Kaye Patten Wallace, senior vice president for student affairs. The discount applies to both semesters, both fall 2015 and spring 2016. While the discount covers the room rate, students will still have to purchase a meal plan and pay the $100 housing deposit as well. Patten Wallace said the idea is to increase the number of students housed on campus. “We also want to recognize students and student needs, in terms of financial aspects, financial benefits to students,” she said. “We think it’s a win win. It helps us fill our housing, at the same time, helping students meet their needs.” Michelle Lettman, a first-year majoring in business, said the
By Trevor Stearns Associate News Editor
SAVANNAH JOSLIN / IC
Presidents Hall will be included in the 25 percent discount offered to students who choose to live in on-campus dorms next year. Students must have a minimum of a 2.0 GPA.
initiative is a good idea, although she personally lives at home.
“Any student that’s in good academic standing that lived in a residence hall this year can come back next year at a 25 percent discount.” KAYE PATTEN WALLACE Senior vice president for student affairs
“I think that [the discount] would make it so students come back,” Lettman said. “Because a lot of students, for them, a big game-changer is living on
campus, because I know after the first semester people can’t afford to live on campus after that, and they live far away, so I think it would be worth it.” The exact cost of the housing initiative has not yet been determined; Virginia Speight, director of residence life, said they will not know how much money each student saved and how much it will cost UT until fall 2016. “We’re not looking at it as being a financial burden. We really are looking at the benefits that our students are going to gain from it,” Speight said. Patten Wallace said every year there is a certain budgeted percentage for students in residence life, but no definite numbers as of now. She said the flat rate of rooms See Housing / 9 »
Chorale performance held March 1
RAJ THOMAS / IC
Concert Chorale, a choir class directed by Stephen Hodge, gave its first performance of the semester March 1 at 2 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts recital hall. The group sang in multiple languages, including Latin, English and French. The first piece was directed by third-year music education student Janaye Ashman. To conclude the performance, chorale sang the first movement of Carmina Burana as a teaser for a later performance.
An anonymously run Facebook page entitled “HSC Alumni and Friends for a New President” currently has about 380 likes and is calling for an end to Hampden-Sydney College’s current president and University of Toledo presidential candidate, Chris Howard. When asked about the page, Howard said, “I have no addiHOWARD tional comments about the Facebook page other than what I communicated to the Toledo Blade.” Clayton Notestine, Student Government president, said during Howard’s visit to the UT campus, Howard explained why the page could have been created. “His argument was that the college that he is the president at, Hampden-Sydney, was currently undergoing a lot of major changes and decisions,” Notestine said. “His explanation was that some of the decisions he had to make upset a few of the more vocal faculty and that small vocal few created the page.” Saranna Thornton, professor of business and economics at HSC, said she doesn’t think “you can go anywhere where 100 percent of the people like the college president.” “I did some math and if you look at the number of the people who are on the Facebook page versus the number of people who are associated with Hampden-Sydney, the Facebook page ends up being less than one percent of people who have some relationship with the college,” Thornton said. Thornton said she didn’t want to comment about whether or not everything on the page is accurate. See Howard / 9 »