09-13-2013

Page 1

Starbucks Unplugged An open mic night featured students' musical and literary talents Tuesday night.

Page D-1

Friday, September 13, 2013 • Volume 97, Issue Number 3 • Slippery Rock University's Student Newspaper

the rocket

www.theonlinerocket.com

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Rock Football marches in remembrance

Clay Target Club

Shoots for Funds The National Shooting Sports Federation gives a $10,000 grant to the club. What will they use it for? NEWS A-2

40% College Students

Binge Drinkers A recent study reveals over 40% of college students aged 18 - 22. But what percentage of that is underage? OPINION B-1

Men's Soccer Earns Shutout SRU earns first shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory over Shepherd University.

SPORTS C-2

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTEN CAPPATT

Seniors Anthony Saunders and Tony Papley lead the Slippery Rock football team into Hantz Stadium to face Northwood University last Saturday with former teammate Zach Sheridan's jersey in hand. Slippery Rock will hold a moment of silence at Saturday's game against Shippensburg University in memory of Sheridan.

Students Explore Greek Life Options Fraternities and sororities presented to students at 'Meet the Greeks' Monday evening.

SRU President forecasts Family sues school 'perfect financial storm' for student's death By Jonathan Janasik News Editor

CAMPUS LIFE D-2

Workaholics Find out how comedian and Workaholics star Erick Griffin spent his evening after performing at Slippery Rock last Friday. Page D-1

At the State of the University address Thursday, it was announced by President Cheryl J. Norton that if no changes are made to the budget within the next three years, SRU is predicted to have a deficit of $28,901,329. According to Norton, most of the money earned by SRU goes towards paying faculty salaries. SRU has $37,780,426 in reserve, but that money is already allocated for specific uses. “It’s reserve money, it’s one time only money,” Norton explained. “It’s not being replaced and it’s being used for annual costs that are not being litigated. It’s like using you’re savings account to cover your rent.” Faculty cuts are being utilized at other PASSHE universities, and Norton stated that it is not out of the question for SRU. No cuts have been announced yet. Norton explained that as state funding has decreased, SRU’s dependence on tuition has increased. This is a problem because the number of students enrolled at SRU has been decreasing. Each 100 students lost costs the university approximately $765,220, explained Norton. Other universities are considering lowering requirements for students to enroll in order to increase the amount of revenue coming from tuition. “We do not want to bring into this institution students just to be

paychecks,” Norton explained. “We will always want quality students who can take advantage of our institutions excellent educational opportunities.” Norton said that even if tuition increased by 10%, that would still not be enough to keep SRU from going into deficit. She added that SRU would never increase tuition by that much. “We’re consistently being told, ‘do not anticipate any tuition increase at all,’” explained Norton.` SRU plans to employ new strategies to attract new students, including the use of more online classes and more year-round classes. Attracting nontraditional students is another strategy that SRU is planning on using. Norton stated that she is open to any ideas that faculty or staff could provide to help with the financial situation. “Folks, we’ve looked, we’ve measured, we’ve added, we’ve subtracted,” Norton said. “There’s no golden bullet. There’s no pot of money out there that can satisfy this need when you’re in this perfect financial storm. It doesn’t exist.” Norton remains optimistic for the future of the university. “Will we get through this?” Norton asked. “Absolutely. I’m just not saying that it will be easy. But we will get through it. Next year is this institution’s 125 birthday. We’ve been through many challenges Maybe not all of us at the same time, but we are in this boat together. We will grow together and make it work.”

By Jonathan Janasik News Editor

The family of an SRU student who died in 2011 during a basketball practice filed a lawsuit against SRU, former SRU nurse practitioner L aura B ateman, and the National Collegiate At h l e t i c Ass o c i at i on (NCAA) on Sept 6. Ac c ord i n g t o t h e lawsuit, the diseased s t u d e n t , Ja c k H i l l c omp l e t e d h i s Pre Participation Physical Examination with Nurse Bateman. Hill was asked to fill out a checklist that asked if he had any medical conditions that could affect his ability to play sports. On that list were conditions known as Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA), and Sickle Cell Trait (SCT). Because Hill had never been tested before, he stated that he did not have SCA or SCT. His autopsy reviled that he was SCT positive. The lawsuit s t at e d ,” S C T- r e l a t e d complications were the number one cause of student-athlete deaths during the first decade

of the 21st century.” With that being said, SCT can be detected in a blood test. The NCAA required testing for all Division I students beginning August 2010. Because SRU is a Division II school, testing was not required when Hill was got his physical. The NCAA did not mandate SCT testing until August 2012. According to the lawsuit, the NCAA has known about the risk of SCT in athletes since at least 1975. The lawsuit stated that on Sept 9, 2011 Hill was participating in a high intensity conditioning “insanity workout” which was intended to be a punishment for the whole team. This was reported as being the third workout that the team participated in that day. In those earlier practices Hill asked to be excused from certain portion of the workouts. “Upon information and belief, Jack’s request to be excused from certain SEE LAWSUIT, PAGE A-2


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.