The News Record 09.12.13

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VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE I • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1

THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / THURSDAY, SEPT. 12, 2013

AKWAABA VERNON SOLO WELCOMES

REVIEW OF NEW MOVIE ‘JOBS’ STARING ASHTON KUTCHER

READY TO RECOVER

BON IVER STAR WORKS WITH INDUSTRY GIANTS

SPOILED APPLE?

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Student government funds three student initiatives SG seeks to promote community, funds Friday tailgates, Nearly Naked Mile, women’s conference ALEXIS O’BRIEN CHIEF REPORTER

PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR

Student Government vice president Jaclyn Hyde, president Joe Blizzard, and Rudy Saunders at the senate meeting in Tangeman Wednesday Sept. 11.

Professor wins recognition for philanthropy

To promote a sense of community on campus, the University of Cincinnati student government voted to fund three student group initiatives Wednesday. “It’s important that student government supports other student groups and other student events,” said speaker of the senate Kathleen Hurley. “A lot of these groups that come to ask for money can’t get money any other way. We’re a huge funding source in that way.” SG voted to allocate some of its $6,000 of yearly cosponsorship funds to Bearcat Friday Tailgates, the Nearly Naked Mile and CONNECT 2013 after representatives of each group presented their goals and monetary needs to

student government members. Bearcat Friday Tailgates is a RallyCat led event that encourages UC students to wear university colors each Friday of the fall semester and received $1,400. The Nearly Naked Mile is a Cincinnatus Honorary Society led event that supports local charities and student fitness, and received $485. “We’re hoping to reach more non-traditional and traditional students at the university, Greek life or nonGreek life, involved or not involved,” said senator at-large Andrew Naab. “We believe the nearly naked mile will contribute to that.” CONNECT 2013 is a young women’s conference led by The Lambda Society, Sigma Phi and Cincinnati Women in Excellence and Spirit Together and received $562. “It’s all about the student experience, getting involved and participating in what UC has to offer,” Hurley said. “Our goal is to be here for students and to be their voice, in whatever way that might mean.”

Poor turnout for fire safety event

MONROE TROMBLY CONTRIBUTOR

A University of Cincinnati Clermont College professor has broken the myth that one person cannot make a difference. Future Without Poverty, an internationally run anti-poverty nonprofit, awarded Michael Preston, assistant professor, this year’s “Breaking the Myth of No Effect” Award. Preston established a chapter of FWOP at UC Clermont in 2012 and received the award specifically for organizing a recent trip to the Yucatan in Mexico where faculty and students helped teach Spanish to indigenous people. Throughout his life, Preston continually and explicitly stressed the importance of helping people out in whatever way possible. “If you have the ability to do something you should be doing it,” Preston said. Before becoming a professor of biology at UC Clermont, Preston was a coal miner. He later helped his native area of eastern Kentucky by establishing his own dental practice, focusing on helping the coal miners of the region. “What we’re trying to do is to provide opportunities for students,” Preston said. “Not just at Clermont, [but at] main campus, wherever.” The UC Clermont FWOP chapter proved to be highly popular and accessible to students and faculty, and more trips to the Mexican regions of Zacatecas and the Yucatan are in the preliminary stages of planning, Preston said. Preston hopes to establish a spring break course in the Yucatan, where students would travel to learn about the ecology of the region and the medicinal pharmacology of native plants. He wants the Clermont FWOP chapter to evolve into a more student-driven organization with faculty guidance where needed. In order for the organization to continue to grow as a whole, the group should be joined by and represented by students from all UC campuses, Preston said.

MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sean Simons (left) and Alvaro Lianos (right) speak to a lower than expected amount of students in the University of Cincinnati’s Tangeman University Center Monday. The two men survived a deadly fire that claimed three students lives at Seton Hall in January 2000. Simons and Lianos travel the country telling their story and advocating fire safety.

Attendance discouraging, officials to continue pushing fire safety measures RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR

Tangeman University Center at the University of Cincinnati played host to an emotional and informative session on fire safety Monday, but there was one problem: very few people showed up. Attendance was sparse at both the 3 p.m. and the 8 p.m. sessions, titled “After the Fire,” and most of the 800 seats in the Great Hall were empty. “We’re disappointed that it didn’t draw the crowd we had anticipated,” said Daniel Cummins, assistant dean in the office of student life. The event — intended to educate students about fire safety and available resources — was in response to an off-campus house fire that left two UC students dead in January. Both students’ parents talked briefly about what they wanted to see happen.

“My goal is to change the culture of thinking, and that’s a long-term goal,” said Ron Garner, father of Ellen Garner, one of the two students who died from smoke inhalation after the house fire. Anne Kohles, mother of Chad Kohles who also died after the fire, warned students to be vigilant. “Be smart, wise, be alert and make good

“This is a problem that exists in campuses around the nation and it’s just not talked about enough.” Ron Garner, father of UC student who died after Digby house fire

choices. That’s the thing we really want to help kids understand — all of us, as adults too, that applies to everyone,” Kohles said. “We all have to be vigilant, not fearful, but careful.” The parents were a little disappointed by the turnout, but that will not stop them from continuing to advocate for fire safety. “My expectation is that it’s just going to take a lot of time, and I’m patient,” Garner

said. “This is a problem that exists in campuses around the nation and it’s just not talked about enough. We think it’s very important to begin here and start talking about it.” Cummins said he didn’t know why the turnout was poor. “I wish I knew why we didn’t draw and audience. We really put the word out,” Cummins said. He said his office promoted the event extensively on social media, hung up posters all over campus and promoted it in the dorms. The collaboration between the office of student life and the residence halls is what led second-year dietetics student Ashley Coram to attend the event. “We heard about it in RA training and they showed us a documentary clip about people and why it’s important to follow procedures whenever there is a fire, to keep yourself safe and not necessarily worry about everybody else,” Coram said. Student body president Joe Blizzard said SEE FIRE PG 2

Diversity initiatives take inclusion from classroom to curriculum Celebrating backgrounds, interests goes beyond enrollment, shifts to required literature MOLLY COHEN CONTRIBUTOR

Diversity is assuming a new role in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, one that includes a multicultural curriculum and classroom. “It’s not just numbers, it’s inclusivity,” said Marilyn Kershaw, director of Diversity and Access of A&S. “You can’t just add people on campus that look different and do things the same way.” Kershaw is at work with liaisons from each department in the college to create a strategic diversity plan.

By fall 2014, every department in A&S should have its own strategic diversity plan. The plan’s aim is to increase student and faculty retention and recruitment, student graduation, collaboration on training and professional development on diversity issues. For some, increasing diversity relates directly to the student body and faculty members having a diverse range of people on campus in regards to race, gender and sexuality. However, Dean Ronald Jackson said the curriculum also plays a role. To add diversity, he suggests that literature in English classes should be from every country. “Right now we look for a certain kind of canon when we choose the classics,” Jackson said. “[The goal is to] create a kind of inclusive environment that celebrates peoples

backgrounds and interests.” Looking at diversity in terms of numbers, there is a large jump in representation. In a 2012 study of the undergraduate students in A&S — the largest and most diverse college at the University of Cincinnati — the most represented races are students who are white with 5,084 students and black with 721 students. The races least represented include American Indian and Alaska Native. “We are diverse in the sense that there are different backgrounds, but multiculturalism means embracing difference,” Jackson said. “We are striding towards multiculturalism.” Despite the differences in number, Kershaw believes SEE DIVERSITY PG 2

Local girl, DAAP students use talents, help Tsunami stricken village in Japan Elementary student helps design symbolic playground for Japan town HEATHER KING STAFF REPORTER

PROVIDED

Miya Moore, a Lebanon Elementary School student, pictured beside a mountain-like playground designed by DAAP.

A local elementary school student teamed up with University of Cincinnati students to help rebuild a part of earthquake and tsunami-devastated Japan. Miya Moore, a Lebanon Elementary student, helped design a playground for the city of Ishinomaki, which was badly affected by the natural disaster in March 2011. Moore and UC Design, Art, Architecture and Planning students created the Matsunami Mountain playground design during the summer semester. “Mountains in the time of a tsunami are considered safe ground, and mountains have a lot of significant meaning in Japanese culture,” said Emiko Moore,

CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM / 513.556.5908

Miya Moore’s mother. “The people in the neighborhood really liked the students using that symbolism of safety in the design.” When Miya Moore learned that the disaster affected her mother’s hometown she went to her and said she wanted to raise money and give it to Japan. So the two made wristbands to raise money for the relief effort. The wristband displays a special and personal phrase, “Gaman,” meaning patience and perseverance. It is a saying Emiko Moore uses often. “We sold, probably, in the first year several thousand, probably five thousand or so, and we sent the money to the relief effort,” Moore said. When wristband sales started winding down, the Moore family decided that building a playground for the residents of SEE DAAP PG 2


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