10:17:16

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Indiana Statesman For ISU students. About ISU students. By ISU students.

Monday, Oct. 17, 2016

Indiana Statesman

@ISUstatesman

isustatesman

Volume 124, Issue 22

Sycamores Care program created solely for students Brittney Williams Reporter

While heading to college can be a new and exciting time for many students, it can also lead to many unanswered questions and feelings. Homesickness, academic issues, financial concerns and overwhelming feelings can keep students from making the most of their college experience. The Dean of Students Office recently recognized this and collaborated with Indiana State departments, faculty, staff, students and their families to create the Sycamores Care program. This new program is open to all ISU undergraduate, graduate and online students. “Sycamores Care was created this past summer to help students get the care, referrals, and answers they need to ensure they are successful. Sycamores Care is a campus-wide program that cares for students in distress,” Dean of Students Andy Morgan said. Students may have a wide variety of concerns but may not know where to go to get help or

how to solve the problem. “Once a referral is made, the Care Team will address the student’s concern and the solution may be as simple as directing the student to the right department and person so their problem can be solved,” Morgan said. “Some are more complex and require many departments to solve.” Referrals to the program can be made anonymously by fellow students, faculty, staff, parents or by the student themselves. “For example, faculty may see a change in a student’s behavior – such as a drop of attendance – faculty can choose to refer the student to Sycamores Care where we can reach out to the student to listen, possibly find out what is going on, and/or refer them to other departments, such as the Student Counseling Center,” Morgan said. Morgan is the chair for the Sycamores Care team weekly care meeting where issues and trends regarding students are discussed. The Dean of Students’ team is comprised of Associate Dean of Students Al Perone, Assistant Dean of Students Amanda Hob-

son and Craig Enyeart, along with Morgan. Together, the referrals that come through their office via email, phone or the online form are referred to the other Care team members. “We’ve addressed a variety of issues that students are facing,” Morgan said. “Some are homesick and are unsure if college is for them. Just meeting with a Care Team member, someone who listens and reassures them that they can be successful here, and that they have an ally here is all they need.” At the halfway mark of this semester, the Sycamores Care team has already seen 140 cases and they are hoping through more awareness of the program will encourage students to seek the team’s help. As a faculty, staff, or peer it is important to know signs of when to refer someone in need. If there is a change in behavior or talk of quitting school, depression or suicide, the student might need to get with the Sycamores Care

SEE CARE, PAGE 3

ISU Communications and Marketing

Sycamores Care includes Amanda Hobson (top left), Craig Enyeart (top right), Andy Morgan (bottom left) and Al Perone (bottom right).

Florida will put young voters to the test Marl Z. Barabak Los Angeles Times

ORLANDO, Fla. — Walter Velasquez stood outside the Student Union near the center of campus, beaded with sweat under a blazing sun, as he cheerily called out to passing students, “Have you updated your voter registration?” Five hours a day, three times a week, the 19-year-old volunteer wields his clipboard at the University of Central Florida, trying to sign up as many young voters as he can in hopes of electing Hillary Clinton president. Four years ago, Velasquez knocked on doors for Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, but he can’t abide Donald Trump and his showman’s style of campaigning. “I’ve never taken him seriously,” said Velasquez, the son of Honduran immigrants, who takes politics and political involvement very seriously. Contrary to the stereotype, Florida is no longer a wheezy haven of shuffleboard, blue rinse and early-bird specials (with a bit of Latin spice). Millennials now outnumber residents older than 65, and the sentiments of young voters could make the difference in this perennial swing state. They also represent a huge question mark for Clinton as she seeks to rebuild the coalition that twice ushered Barack Obama into the White House. When Velasquez brings up the presidential election with

friends and peers, he finds them either uninterested or disgusted. “They’ve been turned off,” said the history and political science major, pausing in the shade of the hulking Mathematical Sciences Building. “They’re not really interested in any of the candidates, so they’re not paying attention.” Polls show the Democratic nominee easily outdistancing Trump in support among younger voters, who are more apt to be nonwhite and politically moderate to liberal; here in Florida, nearly half the voters under age 30 are either Latino or African-American. It is far from certain, however, that millennials nationwide will turn out in sufficient number for Clinton to offset Trump’s advantage among older white voters, especially men; their mobility makes young voters harder to register and millennials participate at much lower rates than their elders. There also is the letdown after the barricade-storming enthusiasm of Bernie Sanders’ insurgent campaign, though for some the presence of Trump atop the Republican ticket has been enough to bring them around to the more conventional Clinton. “He’s probably the worst candidate in my lifetime,” said Brandon Kozlowski, 35, a political independent and health care student here at the nation’s second-largest university, a palm tree-lined complex with the feel of a suburban office park. He backs Clinton “mainly just to not have Trump as president.”

Belief Zone covers Judaism Cal Hart Reporter

Mark Z. Barabak | Los Angeles Times | TNS

Samon Hazrati says he sometimes gets grief for wearing a Trump t-shirt but he sees it as a chance to promote his candidate for president.

The millennial generation — those born between the dawn of the Reagan administration and the deadlocked 2000 presidential contest — now match baby boomers as the biggest share of the American electorate, each accounting for about a third. Fretting over the youth vote is nothing new for Democrats; in 2012 Obama barnstormed college campuses into late October as polls suggested a significant drop in support and enthusiasm from his history-making 2008 campaign. He ended up winning 60 percent of the vote among

those 30 and under, down from about two-thirds in his first run for president. The difference this election is the presence of two high-profile third-party candidates, the Green Party’s Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson. Their support among young voters adds a new layer of worry to Democrats’ perennial concern. The closeness of the contest could be determined, as Harvard pollster John Della Volpe put it, by whether millennials “vote for Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson or for sitting home on the couch.”

Judaism was the topic of conversation at the recently held Belief Zone event, which took place in the Hulman Student Memorial Union at Indiana State University. Belief Zone events usually consist of local ISU community members who openly represent their religion. These members are invited to sit on a panel in order to engage in open discussion with students and faculty about their faith. Susan Kray, department of communications faculty member, and Alexa Mayer, president of Spectrum, opened the discussion with brief background information on their faith, mainly explaining where they really started with the religion. Mary Fisher, junior elementary education major, is the coordinator for Belief Zone events. Fisher said that the purpose of the program is to “bridge the gap between the different religions here on campus; this program is meant to eliminate discrimination from not knowing,” There were multiple students and faculty members that attended the discussion such as Molli Keller, a student affairs and higher education graduate student, who was there to evaluate the program. Kellar has hopes of observing the next Belief Zone discussion to create assessments of student learning

SEE JUDAISM, PAGE 3

Indiana State graduation rates at an all time high Rileigh McCoy Reporter

In the last few years, Indiana State University has seen graduation rates rise for four-year students, Pell grant recipients and 21st Century Scholars. ISU’s four-year graduation rate has reached a new record high and is up to 25.7 percent from last year, a 2.4 percent increase. ISU has put in place several programs to help students graduate in a timely manner, focusing on student success. “For roughly 25 years our graduation rate metric in four-years has been more or less pretty steady. Even though the size of our student body has changed a lot, the economy has gone up and down and had an impact on students’ ability to pay, we had this consistent graduation rate,” Associate Vice President for Student Success Joshua Powers said. “So when we bumped it up the last two years as high as it is, that was pretty extraordinary.” ISU is also seeing an increased graduation rate for four-year Pell grant recipients. Powers explained that four-year Pell Grant rate is also at a record high in measured history for the second year in a row; up 1.3 percent, a 3.7 percent increase in

two years. Powers mentioned that the 21st Century Scholars graduation rate is at its highest level since 2001, at 1.4 percent, a 3.3 percent increase in the last two years. ISU doubled its amount of 21st Century Scholar students currently enrolled. “What’s particularly exciting about what we are seeing is that we are seeing places where we are closing those achievement gaps,” Powers said. “So for students where money is more of a challenge, we’ve been able to, either through our aid programs or wrap around support systems that we have, allow them to accelerate their completion rates as well.” Five-year students are graduating at a slight increase as well, as a result of ISU’s support systems. The five-year graduation rate is up by 2.1 percent and is at its highest level since 2002, as explained by Powers. “This is among the toughest metrics to move for a college or university because obviously it takes initiatives that take time to realize benefits down the line, so we were extraordinarily gratified to see that four-year metric take a big step last year then a step again this year,” Powers said. “Most institutions if they have a one percent increase, at least for a reasonably sized

institution like ours, that’s pretty good. A two percent is pretty solid. Beyond two percent that’s pretty unusual, and the levels we’ve seen in the last few years are among the few in the country, I think, that have seen that kind of a strength.” ISU has many programs that have benefitted students and encouraged them to graduate at an increased rate. A reduction in degree certification hours was specifically put in place. Previously, ISU required students to complete 124 credit hours to graduate, and now it only requires 120 credit hours. ISU put in place a graduation guarantee program allowing students to follow a particular pathway, thus guaranteeing them to graduate in four years. Degree maps were put in place, so students could see their pathway to completion, and model in real time what it takes to graduate in only four years. The state of Indiana also enforced policy changes that ISU had to uphold. “One unique thing at ISU that we did was we put in an ‘on-track’ summer scholarship program which allowed any state aid student to receive up to 6 credit hours of free student tuition in the summer time to stay on track and graduate in four years,” Powers said.

As explained by Powers, ISU is constantly looking for new ways to innovate and strengthen. ISU is always looking at the curriculum and working on ways to strengthen communication with faculty to provide a strong informational basis for students. “We have more work to do,” Powers said. “This a journey, not an endpoint, but it’s positive.” Freshman Samuel Grant did not know that ISU’s graduation rate has been increasing, but does intend on graduating in four years despite going for a master’s. “Staying on target, doing all my work, and not getting distracted by all the other college things,” said Grant when asked about what would help him to graduate on time. “I would have to say working with my advisors and meeting with professors to make sure I’m doing all the work I can be doing along with some resources at the library.” Freshman Kayla Cohen also didn’t know about the increasing graduation rate, but had good thoughts on it. “I think ISU’s graduation rate increasing is really great because Indiana State is working really hard to actually get their students to graduate,” Cohen said.


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