Dec. 14, 2016 | The Reflector

Page 1

CMYK

THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

VOL.

DECEMBER 14, 2016

I S S UE 6

reflector.uindy.edu http://www.uindy.edu/ https://www.butler.edu/ https://www.huntington.edu/ https://www.indwes.edu/ https://www.marian.edu/ https://vinu.edu/

TUITION COSTS

95

UIndy professor, students discover new spider species By Mercadees Hempel & Alexis Stella MANAGING EDITOR & EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Tuition cost increases Graphic by Darion Hutchinson and Jenna Krall

To improve food quality, technology, security, the physical plant and student services, cost of tuition increases by $940 By Josie Clark STAFF WRITER Undergraduate students will face a 3.9 percent increase in tuition for the 20172018 academic year. This announcement is normally made in January, according to a statement released by President Robert Manuel.The rates were announced earlier due to changes made to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid deadlines. The applications are now being accepted starting on Oct. 1 rather than Jan. 1. Increased tuition and room and board rates were released to the student body on Friday, Dec 2. The annual report details the rates reviewed and approved by the university’s board of trustees. These rates apply to undergraduates for the 2017-2018 academic year. The undergraduate full-time tuition will increase by $940 from $26,920 to $27,860, according to the statement. The standard residence room will increase by $198 from $4,928 to $5,126, and the 14 Meal Plan will increase by $142 from $4,720 to $4,862. Manuel said this money will improve things such as food quality, university

technology, security and the physical plant and will increase student services offered. The rate increases are relatively close to the increases over the last few years, but that’s not by design, according to Manuel. “We don’t look at last year and say, ‘Well, where do we want to be?’” Manuel said. “We look at the services we want to commit, the aspirations that everyone has; and we help to afford those kinds of things.” The increase may seem like a lot, but Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Mark Weigand said that while the straight tuition rate has steadily increased, the financial aid offered by the university has increased comparatively. According to Weigand, the net tuition price has actually decreased due to strong freshman enrollment with the increased tuition. Weigand said the university maintains two efforts to provide strong educational experiences for students: First, UIndy has made a long-term commitment to keep the published tuition rate as low as possible in comparison to other private colleges. Second, UIndy makes an effort to be conscious of financial aid for students, not only merit- and talent-based

aid but need-based aid as well, according to Weigand. “A lot of colleges across the country have shifted over the years away from need-based aid and put all their money in merit- or talent-aid,” Weigand said. “What that does is ... hurt students that are first-generation, and it hurts students that can’t afford college. So we’ve tried to balance both our costs, keeping that level on the low end compared to other private colleges, but also we keep putting more money on the financial aid side. So the two together, our net price, have been really stable. For four years in a row, our net price for full time students has actually gone down by $100 a year.” Compared to the tuition rates at other private universities, UIndy’s currently ranks lower than at many other universities, including Marian and Butler. Indianapolis Student Government President Jason Marshall said the increase is still relatively cheap for a private education. “As a student, I like seeing my money put to good use. I feel good knowing that financial aid has increased by $2 million. As student body president, I know that student government is working. Some residence halls, as well as Good Hall, are

being renovated, and we’re bringing in two new majors to the engineering program,” Marshall said. “What’s really exciting is the new vendor that’s coming.” Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli announced in a campus-wide email on Dec. 7 that Quest Food Management Services of Chicago was the new vendor.The email said Quest manages the food service of more than 60 locations and has three decades of experience. The announcement indicated that there will be several changes as the new vendor settles in, such as the labeling of food products including symbols. Quest will take over management of food service operations at UIndy effective Jan. 1, 2017. There will be opportunities when classes resume after break for campus feedback about the vendor change, according to the email. In an email sent by President Robert Manuel, he said that students concerned about the tuition increase have options available to assist with education funding. The President’s Office encourages students to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible. Students are also encouraged to contact the Office of Financial Aid to discuss any financial concerns.

UIndy gives back for holiday season By Jessica Mehrlich STAFF WRITER The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is nationally known as Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to giving back to communities in need. According to Director of Service Learning and Community Engagement Marianna Foulkrod, this Giving Tuesday served as a reminder to give time or financial support to help non-for-profits after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “Giving Tuesday is online. It is a web-based effort to raise awareness about different non-for-profits and to get donors to give funding to help support programs and non-for-profits,” Foulkrod said. “The University of Indianapolis was hosting Giving Tuesday to help support the University of Indianapolis, and it was a good opportunity for us to think of a way that as we receive money, that goes to awards or the general fund … we also give and support our communities.” The university’s Giving Tuesday effort was coordinated by the Office of Advancement and Alumni. “It is really an effort to give back to the university,” Foulkrod said. “They [the office] pulled us in when they had the idea to serve the community at the same time. The Center for Service-Learning and [Community] Engagement—our goal here is to always find ways to engage the

OPINION 2

Photo contributed by Todd Moore

Giving Tuesday is a web-based effort dedicated to giving back to communities. UIndy contributed to this event by donating socks to the children of Laurelwood. different entities of our campus with our communities.” After considering many options of service, Foulkrod selected Laurelwood, a housing community for low-income families. UIndy currently runs a number of programs there and has a large student volunteer base. “The programs that are run there are in collaboration with the Greater Y, specifically the Intercollegiate YMCA, and then

SPORTS 4

FEATURE 6

the Indianapolis Housing Agency and UIndy,” Foulkrod said. “Our programs run after school Monday through Friday, 4 [p.m.] to 6 [p.m.]. Most of the volunteers at Laurelwood are UIndy students…. We currently serve about 40 kids. On a typical day, we will have between 20 and 30 that show up.” Foulkrod said that the kids will relax for a little bit, eat a snack, do their homework, work on their reading, eat dinner

ENTERTAINMENT 8

and do a learning activity put together by UIndy students. “What we did for Giving Tuesday is, for every $25 donation that someone would give to the University of Indianapolis, they [the donor] could choose a pair of UIndy socks,” Foulkrod said. “Then for every pair sent back to the donors, we would donate a pair to the kids at Laurelwood…. President Robert

International Holidays

> See CHARITY on page 10

> See Pages 6 and 7

Assistant Professor of Biology Marc Milne and his past students Elizabeth Wells and Tyler Ploss have discovered a new species of spider in Johnson County. And while the spider will not make anyone Spider-Man, it is an important and exciting discovery according to Milne. Milne, who has been discovering and researching spiders for years, said that the 2.5 millimeter orange spider is an Oreonetides. Milne said that the spider was discovered on a trip to the Glacier’s End Nature Preserve, also known as the Hills of Gold, during the Central Indiana Land Trust and Indiana Academy of Science “bioblitz.” Glacier’s End is so named because it is one of the most northern areas in Indiana that has not been hit by glaciation. “When the glaciers came down from northern Canada, they swept through Indiana,” Milne said. “And they stopped around a little bit south of Indy, and so this is about 35 miles southeast of Indianapolis. So this is one of those areas that [is] just at the edge before the glaciers stopped. So it was never hit by glaciation. So that means … the habitat there is rather old. Therefore, the species out there, including the spiders, have been there for a while, and the community is a bit more stable and hasn’t been wiped out.” During the “bioblitz,”several researchers who study different taxonomic groups get together, explore the area and try to find as many new species as possible.

MILNE Along with Milne and his students, his wife and fellow University of Indianapolis professor in the English Department Leah Milne attended. According to Milne, he and the students were there to find new distribution records, or spiders that were from other areas, such as Illinois or Ohio, that had never been found in Indiana before. “The main goal of the bioblitz was to determine what species are there, whether they are common and uncommon … just whatever is there,” Milne said. “… But even better than that, we found an undescribed species, which is what all the buzz is about.” The Oreonetides was discovered after seven hours of searching, Milne said. The Oreonetides is a “small, sheet web-weaving spider” and most likely eats small, softbodied arthropods. It has venomous glands, like 99 percent of spiders, Milne said, but it is so small that it is not a danger, because it is not able to pierce human skin. “We don’t really know much about this species,” Milne said. “We know what it looks like, and we can infer other members of the genus, how it eats and how it reproduces and how it behaves. But since we haven’t really seen this specific spider, we don’t know exactly what this species does.” According to Milne, the next big step is to find the male spider, since only a female has been found. He said that he would like to go back to Glacier’s End to find a male and hopes that that will help with learning more about the Oreonetides. “We can’t really describe the species until we find a male,” Milne said. After a male is found, Milne said that a report will have to be written with a description and illustrations by hand. It will then be submitted for peer review as a publication and be evaluated and checked by other spider specialists.

> See SPIDER on page 10

Christmas Celebration

> See Page 8


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.