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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015
Provost’s message gives insight to negotiations, fact-finder selected
Officer says he told boy to show hands before fatal shots John Seewer Associated Press
A white Cleveland patrolman who shot a 12-year-old black boy carrying a pellet gun told investigators that he and his partner continuously yelled "show me your hands" before he fired the fatal shots, according to the officer's statement released by prosecutors Tuesday. The rookie officer said that Tamir Rice didn't obey his commands and that he saw the boy pulling a weapon out of his waist band. "I knew it was a gun and I knew it was coming out," officer Timothy Loehmann said in the statement given to investigators. It turned out Tamir was carrying a nonlethal, Airsoft-type gun that shoots plastic pellets when Loehmann shot him twice outside a recreation center on Nov. 22, 2014. He died a day later. A grand jury will decide if Loehmann or his field training officer should be charged criminally for Tamir's death. Prosecutors in recent weeks released a frame-by-frame analysis of the surveillance camera footage from the shooting, along with expert reports that called the shooting justified. Attorneys for the Rice family have asked Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to step aside and allow a special prosecutor to take over the case. They called the prosecutor's presentation to the grand jury "biased" and "improper" after releasing the reports that found no fault with the officers' actions. TIMOTHY LOEHMANN They said CLEVELAND OFFICER Tu e s d a y t h a t allowing both officers to make unsworn statements that won't be subject to cross examination "further taints these proceedings." The statements from Loehmann and patrolman Frank Garmback describe in detail action that the surveillance video shows took about two seconds. They were responding after a 911 caller reported that a man was waving a gun and pointing it at people. The caller told the dispatcher that the gun might not be real. The call also said the man might be a juvenile, but that information wasn't passed on to the officers. Loehmann said he and his partner thought Tamir was going to run as they drove up to him, but Tamir turned toward the cruiser. "The suspect lifted his shirt, reached down into his waistband. We continued to yell 'show me your hands,'" Loehmann said in the statement. "I was focused on the suspect. Even when he was reaching into his waistband, I didn't fire. I still was yelling the command 'show me your hands.'" The rookie officer said he was getting out of the cruiser when he saw a weapon in the boy's hand coming out his waistband. "The threat to my partner and myself was real and active," Loehmann said.
The threat to my partner and myself was real and active.
Samantha Karam / The Kent Stater "If we want Kent State to be the best university it can be, we need to invest in the faculty," Patrick Coy (center), an applied conflict management professor of 2O years, said. "All administrators know that in their heart."
Matthew Merchant Senior Reporter Tension between the university negotiators became apparent on Monday after a memo to other administrators from provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Todd Diacon, was challenged by union representatives. In a Nov. 16 memo, obtained by the Stater through a public records request, Diacon told the university administrators that after the Nov. 16 negotiation meeting — the proposals from American Association of University Professors — Kent State University did not reflect “any
effort on the part of AAUPKSU to bridge the gap between the parties’ current positions.” The “Message from the Provost,” entitled, “Management Update on Collective Bargaining,” states “AAUP-KSU’s most recent proposal on medical benefits actually moved in the opposite direction and has increased the divide between the two parties on several key benefit issues.” AAUP-KSU and the university’s administrators are currently in negotiations to decide a new collective bargaining agreement. Sticking points between the two sides relate to increased salaries and medical
benefits. Both sides are barred from communicating directly with the media. Diacon states in the update that the reason for it was to “provide a clear and complete picture of the entire scope of the university’s current economic and medical benefits proposals that AAUP has rejected.” He also states that communications from union leadership to members, which have been reported on in the media, “fail to reflect the full scope” of the university’s proposals. In a communication update sent to members of AAUPKSU, Deb Smith, the chief negotiator for the tenure track
unit, criticized the provost’s message for being inaccurate. Smith’s update states that changes between the proposal made during the Nov. 3 mediated negotiation session and the previous meeting on Aug. 3 were to certain medical benefits. Those changes involved the salary tier model for employee contributions toward the premium for medical coverage. It further states the change was revenue neutral for the university compared with the previous proposal, maintaining the existing salary tier system.
SEE NEGOTIATIONS / PAGE 2
SEE SHOOTING / PAGE 2
Ashtabula campus adds degrees in wine Katie Rush Regionals Reporter Kent State’s Ashtabula campus offers two associate degrees in wine studies through the enology and viticulture tracks, both available as online classes. Danielle Weiser-Cline, an academic advisor at Ashtabula's campus, said enology is a science that follows the cultivation of a successfully grown vine, while viticulture is the process of growing grapes. The degree will concentrate on biology and horticulture, WeiserCline said, as well as how to prune a grapevine and care for vines throughout their lifespans. “Viticulture is really centered around the plant and bringing the plant to fruit,” Weiser-Cline said. “The intersection between viticulture and enology happens during the harvest.” In a 2014 article printed in The Plain Dealer, a report for the Ohio Grape Industries Committee found that there were 175 wineries in Ohio in 2012, a 41 percent increase from 2008, when the previous study was released.
According to the article, these wineries accounted for a significant chunk of the annual economic impact, with employee wages, sales of wine and tourism expenditures for the year estimated at nearly $330 million. “We wanted the degree to meet the needs of the Ohio industry,” Weiser-Cline said. This impact affected the Ashtabula community, with the Grand River Valley grape region in Ashtabula and Lake counties being ranked as the sixth best United States wine destinations in a 2007 survey by Orbitz Worldwide Travel Company. “Our local industry members were very passionate about educational opportunities for their workers,” Weiser-Cline said. "(Since then), we’ve partnered with a national consortium called Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA).” According to their site, VESTA is a National Science Foundationfunded partnership between the Missouri State University system and colleges, universities, vineyards and wineries across America.
The goal of VESTA is to establish programs of study in viticulture, enology and wine business entrepreneurship through collaborations with education institutions, government and industry. This partnership has helped the number and types of degrees offered at Kent State's Ashtabula campus grow. Since the programs were introduced in 2011, there has been a steady increase in enrollment. Continued growth is expected in the future. Professor Eric Cotton is teaching introduction to viticulture and wine and must analysis for the enology program during this semester. Cotton is a chemical controls engineer and has been growing his own grapes for winemaking for more than ten years. He emphasized the chemistry, planning and research incorporated into wine making. “It’s farming. It’s hard work,” he said. “It’s good to get exposed to the science before making the commitment (to grow).”
SEE WINE / PAGE 2
Photo courtesy of Tyler Hill Jenna Watson, senior photojournalism major, inspects her wine for oxidation for Wines of Northeast Ohio class at Silver Run Vineyard and Winery in Norton, Ohio.
Foreign languages up at Kent despite state, national trend Megan Hermensky Faculty/Academics Reporter Editor's note: A version of this story published Monday incorrectly described Kent State's foreign language enrollment, and the printed edition didn't include its conclusion. The corrected story appears below. While nationally students are taking fewer foreign language courses in recent years, Kent State's enrollment in those classes has increased by more than 25 percent over the last two years. According to the Modern Language Association of America’s 2015 survey report, there has been a recent overall decline in U.S. students taking foreign language classes in college. The MLA’s survey states that more than one million students were enrolled in a foreign language course in 1995, excluding Latin and Ancient Greek. That number continued to increase to its peak of 1.6 million students in 2009, and then suddenly declined to 1.5 million students in 2013. At Kent State, students enrolled in
foreign language courses jumped from very unique and wonderful skill,” she 2,528 in fall of 2013 to 3,178 in fall of 2015. said. “We would be harming our graduIn addition, Kent State's Department ates if we are unable to require of them of Modern and Classical Language that they graduate with comparable Studies, courses offered in foreign lan- skills when joining the workforce.” guages have increased to 189 in Fall Erin O’Leary, a senior fashion 2015 from 178 in Fall 2013. design major currently studying Kristin Stasiowski, director of inter- abroad in Italy, said she agrees that national programs and education abroad students should be required to take a for the College of Arts and Sciences, said foreign language after her own study she has seen an increase in the number of abroad experiences have made it hard students interested in education abroad to communicate with native Italians. opportunities this “The only Italsemester. ian I knew (when I “More and arrived) was grazie, more students are ciao and per favore, seeing just how so things were a important study little bit difficult,” abroad is to their she said. ERIN O’LEARY overall educaO’Leary did SENIOR FASHION DESIGN MAJOR tional and pronot take an Italfessional goals,” ian class before Stasiowski said. studying abroad because she “figured Although most of these study abroad we were supposed to (take an Italian students only speak English, Stasiowski class) here, which is stupid because believes that every student should be now we’re learning things that we required to take a foreign language. could’ve learned before coming here,” “Speaking a foreign language is a she said. “We’ve just figured it out by
Speaking a foreign language is a very unique and wonderful skill.
living here. It would’ve been a better idea to have us take a class before we left.” Laura Wester, a sophomore dance major who will be studying abroad in Thailand, disagrees that taking a foreign language course is necessary towards living in the culture. Thai is a completely new language to Wester, and although she believes it will be difficult to communicate with Thai speakers, she is confident that her professor will be able to assist her abroad. “I don’t believe that students should be required to take a class in the foreign language of the country they will be traveling to because I think that (traveling to Thailand) will be a rewarding and amazing experience even though my Thai communication skills are extremely limited,” she said. Although foreign language classes may not be required for all students, Fetne Mikati, a Kent State professor who teaches Arabic, said she believes that students who do take foreign language classes will be more aware and linked with the world around them.
“There is always this connection. It’s not like we are separated and isolated from the other continents,” she said. “Most other countries see the benefit and advantages of learning a second language and stress it at an earlier age because knowing a second language not only would help you communicate with the people there, but in my mind one of the most important things is being aware of the culture, being aware of the people, the history, the background. This will lead to a better understanding and eventually a better world.” However, when it comes back to foreign language classes in the U.S., Stasiowski still believes students should see the importance in speaking more than one language. “Everyone in the rest of the world speaks two languages or more,” Stasiowski said. “Americans are so far behind. We should make more of an effort to speak languages beyond English. It still makes a difference.” mhermen2@kent.edu