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The voice of Austin Peay State University since 1929
NOVEMBER 8, 2006
Volume 78, Number 10
Saundra Hale
pages 8-9
First copy free, additional copies 50 cents each
Twenty countries visit campus
SHANNA MOSS/STAFF
Dancers perform authentic Meixcan routines for the International Night attendees. The event was held last Wednesday in the University Center Ballroom.
SHANNA MOSS/STAFF
The table representing Mexico was filled with cookbooks and authentic cuisine for International Night attendees to sample.
SHANNA MOSS/STAFF
Yazarette Guzman, front and Omar Gutierrez, perform a dance native to Ecuador.
International Night brings food,culture, entertainment to campus community By TINEA PAYNE Staff Writer
Several anxious Austin Peay State University students waited outside the University Center Ballroom as visitors and representatives from 20 different countries prepared a night of food, dancing and traditions from around the world. Facutly and students at APSU celebrated a clash of culture last Tuesday at the annual International Night, sponsored by Student Affairs and coordinated by International Student Organization (ISO). The event is traditionally held during the week of Homecoming. Inga Fillipo, faculty advisor of the Study Abroad program, helped organize the annual event.
“We ask students and families of all cultures in the Clarksville community to come by every year,” Fillipo said. Fillipo describes the event as a way for students and faculty of APSU to intertwine cultures and learn about one another. “Nation borders are taken away, and it brings students together with food and music; there’s such camaraderie,” Fillipo said.“[The event] does a good job with bringing our international students and American students together, to see where they’re coming from.” Students not only enjoyed the blending of cultures, but seeing their own countries as well. The Puerto Rico display brought such excitement to
SHANNA MOSS/STAFF
Priyal Pandya performs an Indian folkdance at last week’s International Night.
vocal performance major Gregory Mercado, 18, who shares Puerto Rican roots. Mercado enjoyed the event and said he wishes all countries, like his own, were represented more often than well-known ones. “[Puerto Rico] is not usually represented. It’s always Mexican Food,” Mercado said.Although he enjoyed his country’s food, Mercado had a taste of other cultures as well.“I liked the food from Argentina, India, Greece and Japan the best,” Mercado said. Aside from the multicultural cuisine, an abundance of dancing and music flooded the ballroom floor. Dancers from Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Mexico and India awed the audience. Slovakian and Russian performers provided soothing music as surrounding attendees rotated from one table to the next. Each table also provided information for students interested in the Study Abroad program of that country. Ivan Joe Fillipo from the Corporate Center for Study Abroad mentioned the “wide array of
courses” the Study Abroad program provides.“There are eight to 10 different programs for students to choose from,” Fillipo said. APSU provides Study Abroad programs for Spain, Canada,Austria, China, Japan, Nigeria, Sweden and several others. President of ISO, Deanna Hensley, said that cultural events give students,“a great taste of the diverse culture that exists in Clarksville.” The event was the Student Government Association senator’s third year being involved in International Night. This year was Hensley’s first time actually being in charge of the event. A senior at APSU, Hensley enjoys the international studies program. “I got interested in [the program] because it involves talking with people. I started to appreciate other cultures.” Hensley also said the event helps students learn to respect and appreciate one another.“Respecting and learning to appreciate where we come from influences our values,” Hensley said. ✦
Biles: Campus safety not based on numbers alone By CYNTHIA BRYSON Staff Writer
If the numbers posted on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCRP) Web site are any indication,Austin Peay State University provides a safe and secure environment to foster the educational experience, especially for students living on campus. While APSU is no longer the safest university in Tennessee, it runs a close second. Despite those numbers,APSU’s Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police Lantz Biles, prefers to use a different measuring stick to judge campus safety. Even though many campuses may claim to be safer than others, their views are based on BILES numbers. Biles refered to this as a “numbers game.” “Our success is not judged by numbers, we can’t do that.We have a growing population, more people, we have more and more visitors, our numbers are going to increase—so if we look at numbers to judge success, we’re going to be in a losing battle from here on out,” Biles said. Biles prefers to gauge results a different way.“I would judge success by the perception of safety and the relationships we build with the university community. If you can walk from point A to point B in the evening
after hours, in the darkness and you feel safe, you don’t have the perception of threats, you see the campus is well-lit, you see that there are emergency phones that are available to you, and you can operate on the campus without fear, then we’re successful,” said Biles. “I’ve heard them say that Austin Peay is one of the safest campuses in the state; yes, I can agree with that, just based on our population, our numbers, we have low crime rates,” Biles added. One Resident Assistant (RA) would have to concur with Biles’assessment. Rebecca Forehand, a 20-year-old Spanish major, has been an RA for two semesters. Not only does she know of no one who has had safety issues, she personally feels a sense of security on campus. “Many times I’ved walled back to my room around one or two (a.m.) and I felt perfectly safe, and you can always call campus police for escort service,” she said. As Forehand knows from her own experience, housing staff and RAs receive some training at the beginning of each semester from campus police.“The campus police came by and gave us a run-down of all the issues and the things they do, like services they provide for students,” she said. Despite Biles’ preferred measure of judging success, the numbers on the UCRP Web site are hard to ignore; they speak for themselves. The site contains statistics by year for campuses from the state and university.While Vanderbilt Univeristy reported a student enrollment of
11,294, it also reported 661 property crimes and 541 larceny-thefts for 2005.APSU, with an enrollment of 8,650 that same year, reported only 73 property crimes and 63 larceny-thefts. The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 requires educational institutions to publish an annual report containing a breakdown of criminal offenses committed on their campuses. This act, also known as The Clery Act, was enacted after the rape and murder of Jeanne Clery while she slept in her residence hall room in 1986. Clery was a 19-year-old freshman at the time, attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Student involvement is vital to the success of the campus environment in terms of safety.“We’d love for them to be involved, it’s their community, it’s their campus...we need their assistance to be our eyes and ears.” Even so, during a rash of vehicle break-ins in the past, campus police later discovered that many students had seen vehicles rushing from the area and had heard activated car alarms. Student involvement is particularly important now. With only 12 officer positions, a minimum staffing requirement at any given time consists of one dispatcher, one security guard, and one police officer. This is due to scheduling difficulties that can arise from vacation days, sick days and regular days off.
Additionally, campus police are currently short on personnel, with two at the police academy, one vacant position and one person training in preparation for attendance at the academy. “We’re reactive.When somebody calls, we respond. We don’t have the capability right now, until we get up to full strength, to be pro-active,” Biles said. For more information, call campus police at 2217786.A dispatcher is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The on-campus emergency number is 4848. ✦
Safety tips • Be wary of numbers, judge safety for yourself. • Crime statistics for campuses are available on the internet. • RAs and housing staff receive training from campus police. • Student involvement is a must. LINKS: • FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/index.html. • APSU Campus Police: http://www.apsu.edu/police/