WHAT’S INSIDE
NEWS 1–2
SPORTS 4–5
OPINION 3
CULTURE 7–8 I SSU E
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The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E FEBRUARY 22, 2010
3
Broncos
struggle
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Was Kustra's speech a success?
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ARBITERONLINE.COM
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Video: The 'high fidelity' life To see the physical features and functions of the Norco Building medical mannequins, go to arbiteronline.com
Kustra
'Nothing is happening'
CHRIS BODOVINITZ Journalist
B
oise State University President Bob Kustra vented his continuing frustration during the Idaho State Board of Education meeting Feb. 18 in the Simplot Ballroom. The attendance was roughly 60 people, with most of the attendees being those scheduled to present. As Kustra took the microphone, everyone stopped looking at his or her laptops. “I’m not asking for more money,” Kustra said to the Idaho State Board of Education. “I’m asking for the ability to do our jobs.” The main reason for these annual meetings is for university presidents to present a progress report detailing the changes that have taken effect in his or her university. Kustra instead chose to discuss the issue of no changes happening where they have been requested. “(These) matters are all on the record. I gave those to you last year, but I’m really getting a little tired of talking about this stuff -- getting all upset and excited about it. I’d like somebody to do something. I’d like something to happen, and nothing’s happening,” Kustra said, pounding his fist on the table. The issues Kustra men-
NIK BJURSTROM/THE ARBITER
Boise State President Bob Kustra vents his frustrations at the State Board of Education during a session Thursday in the Simplot Ballroom.
tioned echoed his presentation to the State Board of Education in February 2009, which detailed Boise State’s current regulatory relationship with Idaho state government. Current regulation causes Boise State to face unnecessary bureaucratic roadblocks when dealing with university purchases, risk management, construction and human re-
Dozens rally for human rights BENJAMIN MACK News Editor
Dozens of students rallied Feb. 19 on the quad to support human rights, and to oppose hatred and those who promote it. The event, organized by BSU students Matt Weinberg and Mike Kirkpatrick, was organized in response to controversial fliers that appeared in the Student Union in late January. Several speakers spoke to the audience, including ASBSU Sen. Chase Johnson. “We will never be able to completely drive out hate, but rallies like this are proof that they will never be able to completely drive out love,” Johnson said.
In his speech, Johnson said that throughout history hate is often present before major social change is achieved. Other speakers included Lindsey Matson and Evan Meriwether. Weinberg and Kirkpatrick also spoke briefly. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” Kirkpatrick said, quoting Margaret Mead. “Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” According to Weinberg, the rally was “about hope, hope that there is good on this campus and there are people willing to stand up for it.” In December, an anti-hate rally on the quad drew hundreds of supporters.
PHOTO COURTESY MATT WEINBERG
Students rally Friday on the quad to oppose hate.
sources, Kustra said in 2009. The University of Idaho does not share the same regulatory relationship with Idaho state government as Boise State University. Kustra presented problems with these changes not being implemented in a quick enough manner. Issues with the inefficiency of purchasing instrumentation required for research and develop-
ment were given a specific highlight in his presentation. According to Kustra, it can take up to eight months to receive new equipment for research due to hold-ups with state government. Kustra pushed for the allowance of universities to be able to talk with each other and to collaborate with such issues regarding purchasing, human resources and insur-
ance policies on their own instead of working through Idaho state government. This approach would be different from the current ideology of a public university that is regulated under Idaho state government. Kustra warned that these past practices are in their final days, as they are not efficient enough in today’s standards to allow the growth that Boise
State University is hoping to achieve. “It simply is not going to happen, with the day-to-day interference of state government in the lives of faculty, in the lives of administrators, who are trying to use the best standards of entrepreneurial behavior (…) when they are right up against a 1950s approach to dealing with these challenges,” Kustra said. Members of the board then asked their questions regarding Kustra’s presentation. Concern was brought to attention over state legislators wondering if Boise State was no longer dependent on state appropriations. Kustra assured that state appropriations are needed; however, these funds are not applicable to be spent on areas such as creating new classes for growing enrollment, or new degree programs that are under demand. Kustra suggested that Boise State would have the freedom to move money where it is needed most with the changes he is requesting.
Visit arbiteronline.com To see a video of Kustra's speech
Life in the Simulation Center ZACH GANSCHOW Producer
This semester began with the opening of the Norco Building. The facility is the new home to the nursing program and University Health Services. A state-of-the-art machine new to campus calls this building home too; a high fidelity mannequin. “High fidelity means (the mannequins) are run by computers remotely. They have the capability to change their physiology,” said Becky Bunderson, the Simulation Center coordinator. The Simulation Center is a hallway within the Norco Building constructed in the likeness of a modern-day hospital, where the mannequins occupy patient rooms known as labs. The "physiology" of the mannequins refers to the variety of medical conditions that are remotely controlled by the staff using a computer pad. “If we want them have a specific breathing pattern or pulse rate, we can use the pad to simulate that,” said Dr. Marty Downey, associate chair of student affairs. In addition to creating vital signs, the mannequins can verbally express emotions and concerns through a list of scripted commands or become a speaker for faculty to speak through them. “We have a huge variety of choices,” Downey said. “(The mannequins) are really great to bridge that gap between real-life and practice,” said Amanda King, a
senior nursing student. The student can feel a heartbeat when they apply pressure to rubber skin of a mannequin's body. Internally, systems of tubes pump fluids that represent arterial flow in a human body. They can have seizures, their tongues can swell, and they can be administered shocks via electrical pads. “In the last simulation lab we had there was a lot more acting. These mannequins will actually do it, as opposed to pretending,” King said. The high fidelity family consists of two adult men, a pediatric toddler, a newborn baby and a woman. While each mannequin is designed to provide a vast array of medical conditions, the female mannequin has a special ability: birth. “There is a baby inside the mothers belly. She’s yelling, she’s screaming… it actually comes out, and you deliver the baby,” said Jane Classen, a student working on her second degree in nursing. “The belly moves, it ungulates, you can hear the baby’s heartbeat and you clip the cord. It’s very realistic,” Classen said. The mannequins can be given fluids with an IV representing the necessary medicine the scenario calls for, as well as receive various gases from the room, which closely represents a clinical setting. “(Our advisers) suggest we do three hours study time for every credit hour we have. Our labs are generally 5-8 hours, so that gives us a little idea of what we’re doing,”
ZACH GANSCHOW/THE ARBITER
Dr. Rosemary Macy, Associate Professor of Nursing and nursing student Amanda King perform inspections on the mannequin known as George Knight in the Norco Building Simulation Center said Jay Wood, a senior in the nursing program. The nursing program selected the mannequins produced by a company called Gaumard. The purchased ones range in price from $20,000 to $35,000. “In the world of high fidelity mannequins, that (price is) probably on the lower side. There are mannequins that go as high as $250,000,” Bunderson said.
The mannequin’s expected life span is 4-6 years, after which they will be replaced. The previous low fidelity dummies are still used for basic simulations with lower division students. “(Students) can practice the skills that they’ve learned in an environment that mimics, as close as we can, what they will experience in the real clinical setting,” Bunderson said.
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