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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
#ThrowbackThursday with The Kent Stater
Liberty and justice for all (at a price)
Kent State volleyball hosts Golden Flashes Classic this weekend
Each Thursday, The Kent Stater will be participating in #ThrowbackThursday by publishing clips from old issues of the newspaper.
As the 2016 presidental election approaches, questions surrounding immigration, the economy and social issues will arise.
The Kent State women’s volleyball team hosts the Golden Flashes Classic — a four-team, sixgame tournament — beginning Friday versus Indiana State University at the M.A.C. Center.
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE 16-HOUR CREDIT CAP
Credit-hour cap change elicits positive student and faculty reaction Bruce Walton Senior Reporter
Illustration by Samantha Nold
Jimmy Miller Senior Editor President Beverly Warren and the university’s Board of Trustees officially eliminated the 16-hour fee in June, but the process didn't come painlessly. In her freshman campaign as head of the university, Warren embarked on what she called the “Listening Tour,” meeting with students, faculty, staff and alumni to try to decide what’s best for Kent State moving forward. What she found was a nearly unanimous call for adjusting the credit hour plateau, which, up until June’s Board of Trustees meeting, was set at 16 credit hours. The board voted to push that cap to 18 credit hours at that meeting, which turned out to be a highly popular decision amongst students. “Many of the deans, and of course, many of the students said this is counter-productive to really pushing the student experience and graduating on time,” Warren said. “That was my stance, is [that] I don’t want anything to interfere with your ability to take the classes you need and you want to take.” But eliminating the 16-hour credit fee wasn’t really a simple process. Instead, it was one that cost the university a large chunk of time, effort and money, leaving Warren and her administration with a deficit of $3.1 million. The birth and golden age of the 16-credit hour cap The original policy was introduced in 2012 under now-retired president, Lester Lefton, who held the lofty goal of financing big changes to update the university and connecting it with downtown Kent. A university press release attributes the establishment of the 16-hour policy to capital improvements, something Lefton seemingly knew well. Since the credit cap was established, the university splurged on $250 million worth of new buildings and facilities, some of which are still being constructed on campus. Although the credit cap was established
to help finance some of these capital improvements, the university conducted extensive private and public fundraising. This was also done in part to improve downtown and its connection to campus. The policy seemed to be paying off on the outside, but as Warren’s research found upon her arrival, there were unintended consequences the university needed to resolve. Credit cap discussions arise Externally, the university was reaping the benefits of the policy; however, internally, officials started to acknowledge a growing student call for the elimination of the fee. From her inception as president, Warren and Provost Todd Diacon went on record to say they didn't like the cap, but it took her about 11 months to push for its elimination. "Almost no one in America has that credit plateau," Diacon said in an interview in February. "(However), that overload fee was implemented for a very good reason and that was to help us pay for these construction projects. Until we figure out an alternative to pay for that, we'll stick to the credit cap." Diacon said at that time he wasn't sure when they would be able to make a decision. It could have been months, or even another year, before everybody was convinced the university could cover lost ground. “A part of that was collecting data that at least demonstrated that, with the implementation of the credit hour plateau, students were taking fewer hours,” Warren said. “As I said, many times over [the] last year, if I could have just said, ‘I’m eliminating it,’ I would have, but we had a three-million-dollar dependency on the dollars raised through that [credit] cap. So then you have to find ways...
so that the university isn’t disadvantaged.” The problem lay within the steps to eliminate the fee. Warren said the process was, in simple terms, a two-step one: demonstrating why it was counterproductive to student success, and then finding a way to cover the financial gap caused by removing the policy. In February, Warren announced her primary goals for the future at the Listening Tour’s finale, the “Sharing the Heart of Kent State” speech. Eliminating the 16-hour credit cap was one of those goals. The death — sort of — of the credit cap It was officially no longer a matter of if, but when, the 16-hour policy would be changed. Warren said the discussions went all the way to May, when the administration prepared to finalize its plans at the June board meeting with an official vote. It's also important to note the cap isn't totally dead either. The full-time student credit plateau now sits between 12 and 18 credit hours, and any additional credit hour past 18 induced a $456 fee. The other question remained how, and it’s a question Warren thinks they’ve found a good soluBEVERLY WARREN tion to. Rather than putting more PRESIDENT, KSU pressure on students to pay for the gap, she said the administration absorbed the cost within their own efforts. “From a financial point of view, the stance was, ‘Well, students are gaining. Student tuition should pay a part of that.’ Well, I disagreed,” Warren said. “I could have increased your tuition, I could’ve added another fee, to try and offset that [cost]. I could have added some sort of facility fee that would’ve been less than the credit hour cap costing you, but it’s still a cost, so I said let’s try to absorb it, and we did, not without some pain. We’re going to be making some decisions about what we do.”
From a financial point of view, the stance was, ‘Well, students are gaining. Student tuition should pay a part of that.’
SEE CREDIT CAP / PAGE 2
Students beat the heat during CCI water balloon toss Alexis Wohler CCI Reporter Residence hall director, Marianne Warzinski, was sitting at her desk on Wednesday wondering what she could do to help her residents beat the heat. She then came up with the idea to host a water balloon toss in the back of the Quad between Olson, Lake, Johnson and Stopher halls. About 30 students attended. “It’s been so hot lately," Warzinski said. "I was trying to think of a way to get everyone to cool off and I thought, 'I have balloons that haven’t been used,' so I filled those up and had people who were interested in the water balloon toss meet me on the Quad. It was all spontaneous and wasn’t even close to being planned.” Nate Manley / The Kent Stater Warzinski said she had 300 balloons but only Freshman journalism major Alexander Wadley celebrates his team’s filled up close to 100 so the event wouldn’t get victory during a water balloon contest on Wednesday Sept. 2, 2015.
out of hand. She told the students that it wasn’t a water balloon fight, and no one could just grab the water balloons and start throwing them at random. Her system was to have everyone grab a partner, line up across from one another and toss the balloon back and forth. One partner then took a step back each time the two people tossed the balloon back and forth. The two partners left standing were the winners. Junior journalism major Pearline Young acted as a spectator to the event. “It was fun to watch and was a hot competition that cooled everyone down," Young said. Warzinski told the students that she didn’t want to get her hair wet, but she got drenched with balloons anyway.
SEE BALLOON TOSS / PAGE 2
After the Board of Trustees voted to extend the credit-hour cap from 16-credit hours to 18 at its June meeting, many students and faculty have reacted positively to the change. Courtney O’Donnell, a senior integrated science major, said she feels relieved because the credit-hour cap was forcing her to pay extra to graduate on time. O’Donnell’s program takes five years to finish, but with credits added from her postsecondary classes before enrolling at Kent State, she said she hoped to finish in four years to save money. O’Donnell was given no other choice but to pay more than $1,400 because of the credit-hour cap. “For me, it made more sense to pay the extra fee,” she said. “It sucks, but it is what it is. Because otherwise, I figure I’m going to be paying it if I’m staying an extra semester, because if I’m staying an extra semester, I’m staying an extra year pretty much.” Many students, like O’Donnell, find themselves in unique programs or double majors requiring more time and, in some cases, more money. In the past, these students had to decide if paying for extra credit hours each semester would be less than enrolling in another semester. Since the cap’s inception, the campus has had a very low opinion of the fee, as there were protests and petitions to remove it from Kent State, including protests from the Ohio Student Association. Daniel Kreap, a recent Kent State graduate and Kent Chapter OSA co-founder and former chair, said he disliked the credithour cap from its inception. “When I first heard about the credit cap, I thought it was harmful to students because it kind of discourages learning, and the more and more I learned about the credit cap, the more and more disheartening it became,” he said. With his leadership, the OSA began protesting and petitioning to stop the credit-hour cap. Working with many organizations, primarily the Kent Socialist Collective and United Students Against Sweatshops, Kreap said the students kept the pressure on the administration to change the cap, something he said contributed to real change. “I do think there was a lot of public outrage, but I also think that if there wasn’t consistent pressure to change it, I don’t think they would have changed it,” Kreap said. In addition to the OSA and other organizations who helped, an unlikely partnership came among political organizations. This included the Kent State College Republicans and College Democrats. Christian Pancake, a junior political science major and former president of the College Republicans, said he was glad the cap was lifted. “I think it helps kids graduate on time, which is very important,” Pancake said. “You see a lot of fifth-year seniors that’s costing them a lot of money, and I think that there’s not a solution yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.” Hana Barkowitz, a freshman public relations major and president of the College Democrats, had a similar reaction toward the credit cap’s change. Though the College Republicans and College Democrats don’t agree on a lot, Barkowitz said, lifting the credit hour cap has been something they have not only agreed on but worked together on in different meetings and dialogues in the past year.
SEE REACTION / PAGE 2