Second Amendment Gun Rights
A SRU history professor explains how the arguments from modern politicians often misrepresent the original meaning of the 2nd Amendment. Page A-2
Friday, September 27, 2013 • Volume 97, Issue Number 5 • Slippery Rock University's Student Newspaper
the rocket
www.theonlinerocket.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Pardon our mess:
We're building a better student experience
NEWS Co-Op Approves
Hockey Team Funds The Board of Co-operative Activities approved a $5,000 request from the In-Line Hockey Team with some stipulations. Page A-2
OPINION Students Tired
Of Construction The recent construction has been making it hard for students to get into some buildings such as the Health Center.
Page B-1
SPORTS
Men's Soccer Beats Cedarville The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team beat the Yellow Jackets 3-1. Page C-2
CAMPUS LIFE Networking 101 Job Fair Etiquette Students find out how to be job fair ready through Career Education and Development's campus event. Page D-3
RAD Training Rape Aggression Defense courses offered on campus to teach self-defense.
Page D-3
PHOTO COURTESY OF CASEY SQUIRES
Students and faculty adjust their usual walking patterns to accommodate for the detours created by the sidewalk construction outside of the Jack C. Dinger Building.
Summer construction projects carry into fall semester By Kevin Squires Assistant News Editor
Four weeks into the semester, Slippery Rock University students are now able to fully utilize Bailey Library’s renovated research services center. Featuring serpentine seating areas, a new media center, eight new quick print stations, two enclosed research rooms, 70 new computer workstations and four printers, the space began undergoing modifications at the end of last spring. President Norton formally dedicated the space as completed during a ribboncutting ceremony Wednesday. Jenna Molczan, 20, a junior exercise science major, noted that the space didn’t seem very efficient at the beginning of the semester, citing the ongoing construction taking place and lack of computers and printers. “I’m glad the construction is finally
done. It was very frustrating to come in and need to get work done only to find out that there were no computers free to get my work done. I like the new layout and how it’s more of like an open concept,” she said. Although this project has come to completion, there are still many more construction projects taking place around campus. “I think [the construction] makes everything really inconvenient. It seems like they start all these projects but they never really finish any of them. I think they should finish one project before starting a new one. It just makes our campus seem really messy,” Molczan said. Herbert Carlson, Assistant Vice President for Construction Design and Management, described in detail some of the projects currently going on at
Slippery Rock, including some never finalized components of the Robert M. Smith Student Center. “The Student Center, although it’s been open for over a year, it still has things that need to be done," he said, citing the parking area construction taking place. Other incidents of construction that students may have noticed include the updating of steam pipes between upper and lower campus near the McLachlan Health Center, various locations of repaving the cement for sidewalks, and the major work occurring in front of the Old University Union. Miller Auditorium is also closed for the asbestos hazard and for the expected renovations, now anticipated for the end SEE CONSTRUCTION, PAGE A-3
SRU begins international partnership with Vietnam By Conor Frameton Rocket Contributor
The groundwork is being laid for a partnership between SRU and various universities in Vietnam, with the hopes of establishing an international exchange program. Slippery Rock University is one of five schools in partnership with the Institute of International Education (IIE) as part of the 2013-14 International Academic Partnership Program. The program is designed to set up a relationship between universities in the US and universities in Vietnam with the goal of exchanging students and educational opportunities. Dr. Kurt Schimmel, the dean of SRU’s College of Business, Information and Social Sciences, is one of the members of the team in charge of creating the relationship. Schimmel said the objective of the partnership is setting up the optimal educational experience for students. He and several other members of the university’s administration, including the president, will embark on a trip to Vietnam on October 22 to experience the educational environment of Vietnam and to meet with members of the Vietnamese government’s education branch to get an understanding of the educational services each party can provide one another. The trip will entail selecting which Vietnamese universities best suited to SRU’s interests, as well as explaining what SRU has to offer to Vietnamese students.
The trip will be prefaced with a stop in Nanjing, China where SRU has already created a relationship similar to the one they seek to create with Vietnam. SRU and Nanjing University have exchanged several educational experiences within the past two years, including exchange students, faculty, and a trip to China comprised of SRU environmental science students. These kind of exchanges represent the possibilities Schimmel and the others hope to establish with Vietnam as well. “Having arrangements that allow students to experience the realities of other countries will ultimately make their experience richer,” Schimmel said. “As part of a well-rounded liberal studies education, these experiences make students better, worldly individuals.” If the trip is a success, the university hopes to be able to both send and receive students within the next year, for semester-long studies, short, discipline-specific trips as well as offer inter-cultural curriculum opportunities to students. The trip is slated to conclude in early November. Through this program, SRU hopes to add Vietnam as another country students can experience through studying abroad or participating in one of the many trips planned each semester. This relationship with Vietnam Universities could become the newest part of the international study opportunities SRU provides. The other four schools selected for this program were Ball State University, Marquette University, Northern Arizona University and Stetson University.