Indiana Statesman For ISU students. About ISU students. By ISU students.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Volume 123, Issue 69
indianastatesman.com
SGA elections in full swing Megan Tucker Reporter
The Student Government Association is hosting their annual elections for President, Vice President, and Senators of Indiana State University. Elections started at 6 a.m. Tuesday through 6 p.m. Wednesday. Voting takes place online under the OrgSync tab on your MyISU Portal. After searching “SGA Elections” on the Treehouse Tab, one can select their candidates and submit their votes. This year’s candidates are Jordan Marvel for president and Bo Turner for vice president or their competition Andy Velazquez for president and Josh Grady for vice president. Andy Velazquez, presidential candidate is a mechanical engineering and
technology major and has been involved in Greek Life as Sigma Phi Epsilon’s president. He has been a part of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is the founder of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Josh Grady is an athletic training major and has been involved in Greek Life as a New Member Educator and Alumni Relations Chair. He is the Director of Campus Life in the Student Government Association and is a Residential Adviser through Residential Life at Indiana State. Their Statements of Agenda are to increase organization funding and applications received and also to help multi-cultural organizations grow. They would also like to revamp our community service activities. Jordan Marvel, presi-
dential candidate, is a political science major and has been involved with Greek Life as a Risk Management and Standards Chairman for Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He also is
Obama tackles heroin and prescription drugs addiction in new initiative Tony Pugh
President Barack Obama will announce a series of new public and private sector initiatives Tuesday designed to expand treatment, funding and education to combat the nation’s prescription opioid and heroin abuse problem. Opioids are a class of narcotic pain medications that include prescription drugs like OxyContin, Percocet and morphine, along with the illegal drug heroin. From 2000 to 2014, the rate of opioid overdose deaths has increased 200 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in 2014, 61 percent of U.S. drug overdose deaths involved opioids. The epidemic has led to a similar increase in heroin usage and overdoses since prescription opioids are often a gateway to heroin abuse. Speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta on Tuesday, the president will discuss the problem with
an Executive Assistant in SGA, and is the president/ co-founder of College Democrats. Bo Turner is a marketing major and has been involved with the Panhellen-
Marissa Schmitter | Indiana Statesman
Left: Andy Velazquez Right: Josh Grady
McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)
Marissa Schmitter | Indiana Statesman
Left: Jordan Marvel Right: Bo Turner
medical experts, community leaders and people struggling to overcome their addiction. “They will talk about the challenges we face with prescription drug abuse and heroin use, and they will also talk about the actions we are taking and need to take to prevent more people from developing opioid use disorders and making sure those who want treatment can get it,” said Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy at the White House. During his appearance, Obama will announce plans to require Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to provide mental health and substance abuse services for clients on par with both programs’ medical and surgical benefits. If the Department of Health and Human Services adopts the proposal, it would improve access to counseling and drug services for more than 23 million people enrolled in Medicaid, the national health plan for lowincome Americans, and
SEE OBAMA, PAGE 3
ic Association as the Vice President of Public Relations. He is the treasurer of the American Marketing Association and is the Director of Student Engagement in SGA . Their Statements of Agenda are to increase diversity awareness and promote inclusion; they also want to make international students feel more like Sycamores. They would also like to promote the Counseling Center for stress and mental health among students. Velazquez and Grady became involved with SGA after they saw changes they wanted to make on campus. “I really saw changes I wanted to make on campus, and the role presented itself to where I could become the director of Campus Life. I applied for the job and ended up taking the position. I basically just ran with that and tried to improve campus
life, however I see it better the university. Also being an RA helped translate problems my residents were having into solutions through SGA,” Grady said. Velazquez responded, “Upon transforming an organization from 28 men to 70 men, winning sophomore and junior Male of the Year Award in the Greek community, to starting an organization on this campus, I wanted to find out what the next step was on this campus. That’s when I found out about SGA. So I thought what better way to make an impact than to impact the student body through my successes.” The two said they feel nervous but excited for the Election Day and results. After the debate both felt as if there weren’t any undecided voters. They felt as though there were Velazquez and Grady
SEE SGA, PAGE 3
Help needed: More minority college grads Teresa Wiltz
Stateline.org (TNS)
In 15 years, California expects to be about 1.1 million college graduates short of the number needed to fill jobs that require at least a bachelor’s degree. Already, the nation’s most populous state is a minority-majority state — one in which racial and ethnic minorities comprise more than half the population. Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians not only are less likely to go to college, but their graduation rates are also lower than that of whites. California is a bellwether for a nation that is becoming more diverse, whose economy is demanding a better educated workforce, and whose state colleges and universities are increasingly pressured to deliver it — which means making sure minorities, especially African-Americans, finish school and get degrees. College graduation rates among African-American students have lagged behind the national average for a variety of reasons, including poor preparation at the K-12 level, family issues, feeling alienated at school and financial pres-
sure from rising tuition costs. (Latino and American Indian students also lag, but not as much.) In response, major state universities — such as the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, as well as the University of California system — have been making concerted efforts to attract and retain disadvantaged students by using programs tailored to boost academic performance and improve assimilation to college life. They are showing some results. Among 255 four-year state colleges and universities with a large enrollment of minority students, combined graduation rates for African-American, Hispanic and American Indian students rose from 43.8 percent to just over 50 percent from 2003 to 2013, according to the Education Trust. Many educators, such as Kumea Shorter-Gooden, chief diversity officer at the University of Maryland, say that because public universities receive state funding, they have an obligation to educate the citizenry. Admitting students and
not helping them succeed doesn’t make financial sense, she said. Other educators, such as Angela Dillard, associate dean for undergraduate education at the University of Michigan, agree. “At the end of the day, it’s just the right thing to do,” Dillard said. “And it’s the smart thing to do for our future workforce.” University of California President Janet Napolitano plans to increase enrollment, adding 10,000 more undergraduates over the next three years at its 10 campuses. The university system is sending administrators, including Napolitano, to high schools to encourage low-income minority students, who reflect the state’s shifting demographics, to enroll. It is stepping up efforts to get students to graduate on time. Like nearly every major state university, the University of Nebraska has been focusing on increasing the graduation rates of all students, said Amy Goodburn, the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. But the school also put in place programs, such as the William H. Thompson Scholars Learning Com-
munity, to help disadvantaged students, many of whom are minorities. (By law, the university cannot award scholarships based on race, but it can issue scholarships to students who’ve faced challenges in their lives.) The program, which started in 2008 and is funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, gives a full ride to promising students from low-income families. Thompson scholars live together and receive academic support and intensive mentoring. The program’s success inspired the university to add programs that pair students with academic coaches and financial aid counselors, like First Husker, for students who are the first in their family to attend college, and Emerging Leaders, for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The school’s most recent retention rates — the rate of students who enrolled in 2014 and returned for the 2015 academic year — were 68 percent for black men and 80 percent for black women, Goodburn said. This year, applications
SEE HELP, PAGE 3
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