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Parking and Transportation is enforcing the Pedestrian Priority Zones on campus.
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The fifth annual Ernest Hemmingway Symposium starts on Sept. 24.
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Boise State will begin offering discounted tickets for home football games.
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September 23, 2013 • Issue no. 10 Volume 26
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
technology:
Friend Foe? or
In the classroom and in their lives, students are either rejecting or embracing technology every day. Which side are you on?
Handling cyber harrassment
Students combat cyber harrasment Mallory Barker @Mal_a_Gal
“Megan b. you may know a lot of people but no one really likes you. It’s a surprise you got into ASBSU. You should hit the gym sometime.” This statement was posted on Bronco Confessions 2.0 on Thursday, Sept. 19. For some people, most people, this statement would be devastating. Megan Buxton however, is stronger than most. “The Bronco Confessions post was definitely a shock. I did not take it to heart, but I can easily see how posting something like this could cause some serious damage,” Buxton said. “I actually felt much better after reading the responses posted by my friends. I am really lucky to have such a strong support system. I could only think about what I had done to this person to cause such a post to be warranted. If I honestly wronged the person, then I would like to apologize for what I have done.” Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU) President, Ryan Gregg, commented on the site im-
mediately after the post in defense of Buxton. “Megan is one of the most compassionate people and the best friend that you could ask for. I’m ashamed that you are part of our Bronco community. You should be ashamed of yourself for how nasty your comments are,” Gregg said. “This is not the way that we treat people at Boise State, especially those who make the choice to serve.” Gregg then voiced his opinion on cyber harassment in general. “Cyber harassment is a serious issue. It’s an issue for kids who are high school age and now in college and life beyond. It’s unfortunate that we’re dealing with this because it’s a new way for people to be nasty to one another with no—or few—consequences,” Gregg said. The administrator of the site, who chose to remain anonymous, posted an apology a few days later and removed the post.
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Recognize the situation for what it is: Online harassment. It can also be referred to as cyberbullying, but regardless of the name, know that this is a sign of weakness for the perpetrator. As upsetting as it can be, recognize that it’s extremely important that you DO NOT respond to this person. Engaging with the bully often only makes matters worse. They feed off their victim’s misery and pain.
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Make a copy of the message, photo or video. The best way to do this is to copy the URL of the specific webpage where it’s happening. Then screenshot the webpage, just in case.
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Contact the website operators by phone, email and any contact submission forms that they have available on their site. Request that they take the content down immediately, and let them know that you’re filing a case with your local police department. Remain persistent. Continue calling and emailing the website operators until the content has been removed.
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File a report with your local police department. While some police departments have an “Internet crimes division,” many do not. So unfortunately, in many cases the police can only get involved if your life has been threatened.
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If necessary, file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 is a partnership between the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. They work together to track down serious cases of online criminal complaints.
See BULLYING I page 4
courtesy abc news
Students balance technology in the classroom Ryan Thorne @RyanThorne86
Every day, students at Boise State use their cell phones and laptops to send thousands of text messages and emails, or to check whether an assignment is due on the popular scholarly website Blackboard. As the internet and technology have be-
come integrated more into the education system, students are expected to keep up with the changing times, but for some professors like Rick Moore, chair of the Communication Department at Boise State, sometimes technology has no place in the classroom. “Typically with a lecture and discussion
class, I take a hard line against technology use,” Moore said. “It’s not that I don’t understand that learning can take place with those technologies, the difficulty is that they are a distraction for most students.” Moore allows technology use in the classroom when necessary to learn a concept or complete in class work, but he
Design Chris barfuss/THE ARBITER
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thinks excluding tech- and critical thinking nology from the class- doesn’t matter as much,” room is necessary to en- Moore said. gage students in focused For now however, thought. Moore requires his stu“Theoretically, in a dents to focus on the classroom setting, you task at hand, free of text are really trying to think messages and Facebook critically, and thinking posts. critically requires a sus“To me, critical thinktained train of thought ing requires great attenand those distractions tion and great focus,” (cell phones and lap- Moore said. tops) can be detrimenBoise State students tal,” Moore said. like sophomore kineMoore said there are a siology major Trevor number of things com- Summers think technolpeting for student at- ogy limits should not be tention online including imposed by professors email, Facebook, sports students should take scores, or the latest You- personal responsibility tube sensation. Moore when it comes to use in thinks society may even- the classroom. tually accept constant “You’re paying, so if distraction as an educa- you don’t want to pay tional norm. attention, that’s your “It might be that our fault,” Summers said. society is going to move to the point where logic doesn’t matter as much See Technology I page 4
Arts & Entertainment
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Sports
TALK NERDY TO ME
Why you should upgrade your phone “Talk Nerdy to Me” is a technology column written by Derek Deulus to provide technological advice to the Boise State community. If you’re due for a cell phone upgrade, then you owe it to yourself to upgrade. I’m not just saying this because it’s always great to get a new phone, but because if you don’t upgrade, then you’re just throwing away extra money to your cell phone carrier every month. And we all know, as students, every penny counts! Everyone knows when you buy a new Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, you are signing a contract for two years promising to pay something like $45 a month for service. What most people don’t know is the actual retail cost of these phones are around $500-$700, and part of that $45 a month payment is hidden phone payments. So let’s say that you purchase an iPhone for $100. For every $45 monthly payment you pay, $19 is going towards your phone. This means that 24 months later, when your contract is over, you have paid around $456. If you add to that your initial $100 you paid when you bought your phone, then your phone is officially paid off. So why is your monthly bill still the same? This is where U.S. carriers screw us over and profit off of us. This is also the reason why you owe it to yourself to upgrade your phone. U.S. carriers already charge way too much for phone service, so don’t give them more money if you don’t have to. If you want to save some money, as most students do, there is a better solution. Switch to T-Mobile. Not only are they one of the most affordable carriers in the U.S., but they also don’t pull any tricks. They don’t have twoyear contracts. Instead, you have a line of credit with them that you purchase your phone on. They create a phone payment plan for you that is added to your bill for a limited number of months, and once the phone is paid off your bill drops significantly. Now you’re only paying for cell service without any extra hidden costs and saving money each month.
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