September 6, 2011 | The Miami Student

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The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

VOLUME 139 NO. 5

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY

In 1960, The Miami Student reported that Bill Mulliken, a Miami University student who had just turned 21, won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Mulliken, a senior, was introduced at convocation by President John D. Millett and was given a four-minute ovation by his fellow students.

Course evaluations may make move to Internet By Jessica Tedrick For The Miami Student

Evaluation day usually marks the end of a semester. Soon though, this tradition will change. At the end of this fall semester, 10 departments will be the test group for online teacher evaluations. Ann Frymier, executive vice president for academic affairs, said that a committee headed by Michael Curme, associate dean and associate professor in the Farmer School of Business, discussed the move with deans and department chairs. But why move the evaluations online? “It’s cheaper and greener,” Frymier said. She said that time is another factor. Professors will be able to see their evaluations “as soon as grades are posted.” According to Frymier, professors do not receive the results of their evaluations in time to take students’ feedback into account before their next term. Seeing the results online would give professors

the chance to utilize student feedback sooner. Students will receive an email when their course evaluation is ready to be completed. Frymier said students log in using their unique ID, find the course evaluation and complete it when they want. If a student forgets to complete the evaluation then a series of reminder emails will be sent out. There are some concerns with moving the teacher evaluations online. “One of the big [concerns] is student response rate,” Frymier said. “Research shows that response rate will go down,” Curme said. “It isn’t perfect with the paper ones either.” Junior Alex Scales said that he doesn’t feel like it is a bad idea, “but if this is anything like the surveys cashiers ask me to fill out every single time they hand me a receipt, I’ll be just as motivated to forget about it,” Scales said. Both Curme and Frymier stressed their belief that once students know how

important the evaluations are they will want to participate. “Professors want to improve their classes,” Curme said. He said his goal is to make students motivated when it comes to evaluating classes. “We will be working with any student organization that is interested in working with us,” he said.

Despite concerns about participation rates, there are also benefits to moving the teacher evaluations online. Frymier said that the evaluations will be more flexible, easier to update and that questions can be added or changed quickly. Students who were absent on the day of evaluation would still be able to give input.

Research shows that response rate will go down. It isn’t perfect with the paper [evaluations] either.” Michael CurmE

CHAIR OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ASSESSING TEACHER EVALUATIONS

The committee will soon begin working with the organization PR Vision, according to Curme. PR Vision is a student organization made up mainly of communication majors. They will aid the committee by getting the message out to students about just how important the evaluations are.

It won’t be a sudden change, Frymier reassured. After the pilot group this fall, results will be looked at and then a second, larger group will be chosen to go online. Frymier said that depending on how these test groups go, all teacher evaluations may be online by the 2012-2013 school year.

Geology, IES programs undergo restructuring By Andy Martin

For The Miami Student

Restructuring within the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (IES) as well as the Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science has been an ongoing process, but recently, changes have been made to broaden the topic of environmental studies and garner more interest among Miami University students. According to Tom Crist, director of IES, the Masters program of Environmental Science was created in 1969, but by 2010, the name had been changed to the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. Along with this name change, the program gained the Environmental Science co-major and the Environmental Principles and Practice co-major for undergraduates. In the spring of 2011, the Environmental Principles and Practice co-major was changed to the Sustainability co-major. This co-major is said to help students learn the importance of “meeting the needs of the present, while ensuring the future use of resources,” Crist said. This semester is the first time new students will be enrolled in the co-major. Crist described co-majors as not exactly a double major, but an interdisciplinary compliment to a disciplinary major. “The idea of these

MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO

THOMAS CALDWELL THE MIAMI STUDENT

Geology and Sustainability majors attending class in Shideler Hall are greeted by this large globe, a gift of Andrew Sidding.

co-majors is to offer students with different career goals the ability to communicate and learn together,” Crist said. The communication between other majors becomes possible because while Natural Science majors would be part of the Environmental Science co-major, and the Sustainability co-major provides an interest toward majors in the Humanities, the two co-majors overlap a great deal, thus allowing a mutual learning environment. Along with the changes within IES, the Department of Geology has recently changed their name to the Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, and now offers three majors within the department. Crist explained these changes as a chance to broaden the scope within the discipline to provide a wider interest and also focus more on environmental issues. He also said that these three majors, Geology, Earth Science and Environmental Earth Science, all bring in elements of IES’s two co-majors. Hays Cummins, an Affiliate of the Department of Geology, and an Affiliate

ENVIRONMENT, SEE PAGE 8

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SPECIAL REPORTS

Editor Amanda Seitz specialreports@miamistudent.net

Illegal immigrants struggle to afford higher education By Allison McGillvary Staff Writer

Miami University has had several students in the past who have no actual documentation of their resident status. They have no social security to show Miami when they apply for an on-campus job and no birth certificate or driver’s license to prove their residency. Undocumented young adults, many of which were brought over to the United States as children, often find themselves unable to attend and graduate from universities of their choosing, though they have attended primary and secondary school in the US. There are roughly 65,000 illegal immigrant students who graduate high school every year, and only about 7,000 to 13,000 of those students actually go on to attend a university. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and Finaid.com, financial aid assistance websites, claims that since illegal immigrant students cannot receive federal aid, this inconsistency is the result of there being a lack of uniformity in the tuition policy of public state universities. “The difference between instate and out-of-state tuition may mean the difference of going to college or not,” Kantrowitz said. Since there is no overarching policy on illegal immigrant students public and private universities must decide on their own whether they want to offer students in-state or out-of-state tuition.

Currently, 13 states, with the recent addition of Connecticut, allow illegal immigrant students to attend public universities at an instate rate. Ohio is not one of these states. Other universities admit illegal immigrant students at the international student or out-of-state tuition rate or not at all.

Miami’s policy on the issue Miami, however, does admit illegal immigrant students the same way they admit an out-of-state student. This means illegal immigrant students must pay the out-of-state rate, but because of their typically low income many are unable to graduate, according to Archie Nelson, regional director of admissions. “We have had some students in the past, but currently I don’t believe we have any in attendance,” Nelson said. Nelson claims the reason for the dropouts come from the significant difference between in-state and out-of state fees. “Currently they would have to pay out-of-state fees, which would make their fees like anyone being out of state, which are significantly different than in-state fees,” Nelson said. Miami’s policy does not prove to be as controversial as other public university policies regarding illegal immigrants. “The general argument

iMMIGRANTS, SEE PAGE 8

Miami female reports rape near Central Quad Saturday morning A Miami University female reported that she was raped around 12:30 a.m. Saturday near the southwest corner of Central Quad. The female told police a white male had been following her and she somehow ended up on the ground in an area of bushes with that same male subject. She told police she had blacked out at some point during the attack. The female was taken to the hospital where an examination revealed recent sexual activity. The assailant is described as a white male approximately 6’0” tall with an athletic build, dark shortly trimmed hair and wearing khaki shorts. Anyone with information should call Miami University Police at (513) 529-2222 or Crime Stoppers at (513) 352-3040.


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