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Costly penalities doom the Rockets in Columbus
Remember, remember the 11th of September
Independent Collegian IC The
Monday, September 12, 2011
Serving the University of Toledo since 1919
www.IndependentCollegian.com 92nd year Issue 6
Stories of 9/11: Gone but not forgotten Faculty discuss incorporating
UT Community share memories of 9/11
9/11 history into the classroom
By Vincent D. Scebbi IC Managing Editor
cloud of smoke and what remained of the fallen buildings. It started as a normal day The only word he could in the life for then 13 year- use to describe it was old Adam Burgman. He was “terrifying.” running late that morning He remembers finding as he rode the train toward out his aunt worked in the Brooklyn Technical High South Tower and was luckSchool. ily scheduled to come into The train suddenly halted work later in the day. and he saw black smoke in The next day, classes the distance. were cancelled and BurgBurgman didn’t know man said he spent the day what was playing basgoing on. ketball with Then the Luckily, I didn’t friends. train reHe recalls lose anyone to it. started watching his My dad lost a job and and he friends becontinued my aunt lost a job, but come more on his way they still have their racist and bitto school. in the lives. ter Brookweeks after. lyn TechTo Burgnical was Adam Burgman man, Sept. 11 Second year Graduate in lockshowed him down and student this country Higher education the school wasn’t invincitried to ble and the hide the events occuring on event brought a strong Sept. 11, 2001 from the sense of unity among students. Americans. Burgman said despite Burgman said last year this, he and some friends was the first time he was found a way up a staircase not in New York City on and continued watching the Sept. 11. Twin Towers from the disHe said he felt as though tance in shock. not many people in Toledo Burgman was eventually cared about remembering released from class early the attacks. and went down to the HudEven though Burgman son River that evening where he saw debris, a — Remembering, Page A2
By Vincent D. Scebbi IC Managing Editor
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Jim Watson /MCT
A New York City fire fighter looks up at what remains of the World Trade Center after its collapse on September 11, 2001.
Although Sept. 11 occurred a decade ago, the issue of where the attacks fit into the classrooms and history textbooks is still being debated. “These events are, at the time, partial to be landmark crises,” said Mark Denham, associate professor and chair of the Political Science Department. “We begin to say, ‘this will change our perspective forever.” Larry Connin, administration coordinator for the Honors College, teaches a readings conference course to freshman honors students; he said although Sept. 11 was irrelevant to the course, he had anticipated some talk about it in his discussionbased class. “In my class today, I raised the issue of 9/11,” Connin said in an email. “They seemed to be very distant from the issue, giving it very little thought. Or as one student put it, ‘That is all behind us now with the recent death of [Osama bin Laden].’ In short, it was a non-issue
with them... They know the anniversary is coming up, but they are focused on many other things, especially their classes.” Part of the issue is whether Sept. 11 is considered a cur— Teaching 9/11, Page A2
Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News/MCT
Wilford Matias sits on a curb quietly as he contemplates the loss of his friends during ceremonies at the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York yesterday.
Smoking zones unenforced Adjustments to be made to Students continue to smoke outside deisignated areas By Fran Barror and Vincent D. Scebbi IC Staff Writer and IC Managing Editor
In the month since UT’s stricter smoking zone policy has gone into effect, there have been questions asked by the community as to whether it’s being enforced adequately. Markie Miller, a senior double-majoring in German and anthropology, has been walking around Main Campus in her spare time picking up cigarette butts left by those who smoke outside of the zones. In the last two weeks, she has collected enough butts to pack a small Folgers coffee can and half of a half-gallon sized bag. “It’s exhausting that I’m trying to do all of this alone,” she said. — Smoking, Page A2
Online and Active Nick Kneer / IC
Cigarette butts remain in an ashtray outside the Center for Performing Arts. There are seven smoking zones on campus.
Have thoughts about the new smoking policy? Leave them on our website.
core curriculum requirements By Sura Khuder and Allison Seney IC Features Editor and IC Copy Editor
By the end of this month, the university core curriculum will be revised to center around five areas of competencies. Instead of enrolling in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics and multicultural studies courses, students will now take courses which satisfy a particular skill they are expected to be competent with upon graduating from the university. These five areas of competency include communication, science and quantitative reasoning, global responsibility, information literacy and critical thinking. The way a course would assess a particular competency may be through multiple choice questions, a paper, small group activity or an oral presentation. Faculty Senate President Lawrence Anderson-Huang, professor of physics, said the exact details of how
competency will be tested have not been entirely worked out. The changes to the core curriculum come as the university faces accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission next February. The university’s curriculum is evaluated every 10 years and in order to meet the requirements set by the HLC, the core curriculum was re-evaluated. Anderson-Huang said the university’s current curriculum does not satisfy HLC guidelines. “What we don’t do up to their standards is assess whether students are really learning what we say they’re learning,” he said. “We’ve been kind of lax in our assessment process.” Colleges have been asked to submit courses to include into the new core curriculum or newly coined ‘general education’ by the tentative date of Sept. 20 when the Faculty Senate will approve which courses it will include. The current university core contains approximately 240 courses.
According to AndersonHuang, the revised general education is expected to include 75 courses. He said these courses will only be at the 1,000 to 2,000 levels, but upper level courses will be modified to meet a competency the next two years. Anderson-Huang said course fees may increase with the new curriculum. This will occur if a department or college offering a course decides current resources are insufficient in satisfying a competency. The new curriculum will affect all incoming freshman who enter with the revised university catalog. Students currently enrolled may choose to follow the new catalog rather than the one they entered with. Furthermore, there are — Curriculum, Page A2
Online and Active Have thoughts about the core curriculum changes? Leave them on our website.