Fort Lewis College News Magazine Issue 67
www.theindyonline.com
FREE February 2015
The Independent FLC
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The Independent FLC
Editors & Staff BUSINESS
Annamarie Glenn Rachael Padilla Elaine Severson COPY EDITING EDITOR IN CHIEF
Trevor Ogborn
BUSINESS DIRECTOR
Emma Vaughn
CHIEF COPY EDITOR
Carter Solomon
Megan Mooney Tirrell Thomas DESIGN Camden Smith Jaimee Souder
PHOTOGRAPHY
Anjelique Cato Lucy Schaefer Mariana Seserman Sean Summers
PRINT EDITOR
Deanna Atkins
ONLINE EDITOR
Lauren Hammond
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
Stephanie Pe単a
SOCIAL MEDIA
Mike Gertsen-Rogers REPORTING
LEAD PRINT DESIGN & PHOTO EDITOR
Hanna Maddera
ONLINE DESIGN EDITOR
Julia Volzke
VIDEO PRODUCTION EDITOR
Anthony Martin
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Cover photo by Mike GertsenRogers: A student climbs the rock wall at OP. Climbing is a aspect of outdoor education.
PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR
Lio Diaz
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Emilie von Fay
Jarred Green Soshina Harvey Andrew Hook Luke Perkins Daniel Riley Alison Uralli Catherine Wheeler BROADCAST
Lindley Gallegos Nicolas Hassinger Haylee Knippel Meryl Ramsey Mariah Suneson
From the Editor’s Desk
CONTENTS
Dear Reader,
Campus:
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New Events for Skyfest Story by Sheena Harvey
Well, maybe that is a little dramatic, but it is certainly not a picnic everyday, either. Working on The Independent is something else. We do not work to be paid, as nice as that would be.
McGurr Welcomed Back to FLC Story by Catherine Wheeler
Community:
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Half-Cent Sales Tax for Parks and Recreation Up for ReAuthorization Story by Alison Uralli
COVER STORY:
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Adventuare Education Students Gear Up for the Academic Finish Line Story by Daniel Riley
Finance:
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Indy on the Street and Horoscopes!
Since freshman year, I have added a marketing minor under my belt. I am pursuing internships with the help of The Independent’s faculty advisor, Dr. Leslie Blood. I have attended and presented at national collegiate journalism conferences. I do not think I would have had these sorts of opportunities elsewhere.
I ask you, dear Reader, to continue to support The Independent, simply by reading it.
11 J. Carter Solomon Copy Editor
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It Is Not the Book, It Is How You Read It Opinion by Andrew Hook
Entertainment:
There is no easy way to explain what The Independent means to me. I started here my freshman year, baby-faced and nervous, unsure of this whole newspaper thing. Honestly, I am still baby-faced and a touch bit nervous, but that is not the point. The Independent has challenged me to keep pushing myself.
Thank you,
DRO Plans To GRO(W) Story by Jarred Green
Staff Editorial:
We work to practice our craft. We work to provide readers such as yourself with pertinent news on campus and in the community. We work because we feel we have to.
I work with wonderful people here, sometimes mere words from strangling one another… but I would not trade it for anything else.
Budget Allocation: What are we paying for? Story by Luke Perkins
Travel:
What you hold in your hand is the product of two weeks worth of blood, sweat and tears…
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CAMPUS
New events for
Skyfest Story by Sheena Harvey
Photos by Lucy Schaefer
Design by Camden Smith
tudent Union Productions is working towards their annual hosting of Skyfest featuring a new genre of music, community involvement and game activities with awards. In the past, SUP has hosted national bands who have now become widely popular such as Brother Ali, Marty Party and Gramatik, which has become the most popular of these, Naomi Bigbee, the promotion chair of SUP, said. Skyfest is one of the biggest festivals held on campus, which involves presenting upand-coming artists to Fort Lewis College, Haleigh Macomb, SUP Skyfest director, said. The lineup includes three student bands who will open the festival: Consensual Sax, a funk band group; Liver Down the River, a funk-grass with a bit of groove and bluegrass style group; and Wild 100s, a rock band style group. Each band will be on stage for 30-45 minutes each, Macomb said. “I think people should be excited about these student bands because they won a battle of the bands competition to be performing in Skyfest,” Bigbee said. Skyfest includes the promotion of student musicians on campus who can perform live in front of their peers, she said. This also allows these musicians to get an actual feel of performing on professional sound systems. After the student bands play, the co-headliner Voodoo Glow Skulls are set to perform, she said. Closing the event and headlining Skyfest is the band The Motet, she said. SUP starts planning for Skyfest the day after the previous years’ event is over, Elizabeth Calagias, programming coordinator of SUP, said. The SUP creates a list of national bands to invite for Skyfest, Calagias said. From there they create and conduct a survey asking the student body who they wish to see. This helps them decide and determine cost and availabilities of these musicians, she said. It takes a lot to get national bands to come to the college, so the producers constantly send emails to band members, agen-
cies and managers, Macomb said. For student musicians, SUP hosted a ‘battle of the bands’ on Nov. 18 in the Vallecito room were anywhere from six to seven musical group competed, she said. The three student bands are chosen by a vote from the crowd and judges, giving them the opportunity to perform at Skyfest, Macomb said. Through the past years, Skyfest has always hosted electronic music, but this years genre will mostly focus on funk band melodies, Calagias said. To give the community more involvement, unannounced games will be held with prizes hosted in between each band's performance, Bigbee said. The benefit of hosting Skyfest towards the end of the year is to provide the students
on campus a big bash where they can come out with friends and enjoy local and popular music, she said. Skyfest accommodates everyone as it is a free event and provides student bands with a chance to gain a lot of experience, she said. The SUP members do not always keep in contact with the national bands from the past but still sees the band Jet West, a sub headliner for Skyfest in 2013, Bigbee said. “Skyfest brings entertainment and events to everyone in Durango to come and enjoy themselves on campus with live music,” Macomb said. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and starts at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the Whalen Gymnasium, Bigbee said.
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Wild 100’s
Jack Cloonan
Jack, Carl, and Charles practice for their upcoming Skyfest appearance.
Carl Magliocchetti
Charles Henry
McGurr Welcomed Back to FLC
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r. Paul McGurr returns to Fort Lewis College as the Interim Dean of the School of Business Administration. McGurr began his position at the beginning of this years’ spring semester. This is after former dean of SOBA, Dr. Doug Lyon, moved to his current position of Senior Corporate and Foundation Officer. “Dr. McGurr had many wonderful accomplishments during his previous time here,” Lyon said. “I welcome him back to Durango and Fort Lewis College.” McGurr returns after formerly holding the position of associate professor and assistant dean of the school of business before his sabbatical in 2011. In 2011, McGurr arranged for his sabbatical in Sweden at Jönköping International Business School, where he was brought in to assist with accreditation and teach classes, McGurr said. After three months of his time there, he was asked to become the accounting department chair. Two months following that advance, he was asked to serve as associate dean of education, he said. McGurr stayed there for two years, after
Photo by Sean Summers
winning a Pedagogical Prize as best teacher, he said. After his time at Jönköping, McGurr was asked to become the president of a new university, Bristol University, located in Anaheim, California, where he increased enrollment from 35 to 200 students during his time as president, he said. McGurr returns to FLC with a vast experience with accreditation and his personal knowledge of FLC SOBA’s curriculum. SOBA is facing curriculum changes, as is the entirety of FLC departments, he said. “We’re behind a bit, as compared to the rest of the school,” McGurr said. “But it isn’t anything we can’t catch up on.” SOBA is also coming up for re-accreditation, which is a part of the reason McGurr was asked to return to FLC. Dr. Barbara Morris, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, said in an email she is looking to forward to McGurr’s help with reaccreditation. “Dr. McGurr has a wide range of administrative experience both here at FLC and elsewhere,” Morris said via email. This is the final year before SOBA’s re-ac-
Design by Camden Smith & Hanna Maddera
creditation visit from Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, McGurr said. The AACSB re-accreditation review will take place in February and March of 2016, and SOBA will receive its decision later that semester, he said. McGurr said he looks forward to achieving the expectations set for him as his time as interim dean. “I have good ideas of what I want to do with it and how I want to get there,” he said. “Now it is just a matter now of working with faculty and achieving those goals.” McGurr previously assisted with AACSB accreditation and has knowledge of the process, which is going to greatly assist him, he said. “I am confident that I can get the specifics done,” he said. “It’s just a target that we have to hit.” The administration plans to begin the search for a permanent dean for SOBA in the fall of 2015, with the intent that the permanent dean will take his or her position in the fall of 2016, McGurr said.
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Story by Catherine Wheeler
COMMUNITY
Half-Cent Sales Tax for Parks and Recreation Up for Reauthorization
Photo Illustration by Lucy Schaefer. Edited by Camden Smith.
Story by Alison Uralli
Photo Illustration by Lucy Schaefer and Camden Smith
Design by Jaimee Souder
esidents of Durango will vote on whether to reauthorize the City’s half-cent sales tax on goods and services, created to fund parks and recreations in 1999, this April. Durango voters authorized the halfcent sales and use tax to fund the construction, operation and maintenance of the Durango Community Recreation Center and the development of the Animas River Trail in April of 1999. The 20-year tax sunsets in December of 2019, according to the “Reauthorization of the 1999 Recreation Center/Animas River Trail Tax February 2014” overview. The sales tax was brought to a vote through grassroots efforts by citizens who
sought to fund the creation of a recreational facility center as well as hiking trails for the town, Sweetie Marbury, the mayor of Durango, said. The sales tax is exactly one half of a cent and goes directly to parks and recreations and public works, Marbury said. In the last 16 years, the tax has been able to fund the creation of the recreation center, the creation and maintenance of the trails system and the Animas River Trail, Marbury said. It has also been able to fund the construction and refurbishing of neighborhood parks throughout Durango and the dog park, maintaining the urban forest and the creation of more amenities for cyclists
and pedestrians, she said. If the city did not have this tax, the funding for the any projects the parks department would want to pursue or maintaining our current resources would have to come out of the General Revenue fund. The General Revenue Fund is dedicated to financing street repair, the library and the police department. “We’ve been so blessed to have this extra bucket of money so that we haven’t had to cut back on any of these things,” Marbury said. “I think most of the improvement we’ve seen in Durango is the result of these dedicated funds,” Cathy Metz, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Duran-
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the virtual city hall website, Marbury said. The reason the tax is going to a vote now is for planning purposes because a master plan for the sales tax has already been put together, she said. The plan for future improvements and projects in parks and recreations through this tax can be found online at durangogov. org in the parks and recreation department, under “Future Parks and Recreations Expenditures.” One of the general projects discussed is potentially expanding the recreation center, Metz said. There are certain times a day that the recreation center is almost at capacity, and it is getting to the point in the facility’s life cycle that an expansion might be in order, she said. Another main area of focus in the master plan is trail system improvement, as this is one of the most desired and used resources, she said. In a survey last year, the parks and recreation department found that 88 percent of Durango residents had visited the Animas River Trail at least once in the past year, she said. Because it is highly used, Durango parks and recreations are continuing to improve the trail, update older sections of it, and starting the “Smart 160” project, which
expands the trail system North and South along highway 160 for more neighborhood connection, Metz said. In 2012, Durango was awarded a gold medal for excellence in the departments of parks and recreation for a city with a population under 25,000, she said. The tax has played a role in funding all manners of public infrastructure in Durango, including City Transit, Chase Gaumond, Fort Lewis College Representative of the Multi-Modal Advisory Board, said. “It allows Durango transit to have a dedicated, non-grant funding stream that will allow MMAB to be far more effective in deciding what projects to propose,” Gaumond said. The projected revenue from the halfcent tax for the year 2019 is $3,797,087, and if the tax is reauthorized for another 20-year term, it is estimated to generate approximately $107 million in revenues, according to the reauthorization overview. “Our parks and trails system are a great success story,” Marbury said. “Because of the 1999 money, we’ve been able to make these accomplishments.” Durango registered voters will be mailed ballots on March 15 for the election day on April 7.
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go, said. In the 19 years that Metz has been the director of Durango parks and recreation, the desire to do capital improvement projects was always strong, she said. However, until the tax was passed in 1999, their department did not have the funds to finance capital improvements unless the project was tied to a grant, she said. “When you think about the size of Durango, a city with less than 17,000 residents, the amenities we have for a town our size are really remarkable,” Metz said. The vote, to be held in April, is not proposing a new tax, but renewing or extending the current half-cent sales tax already in place until 2039, according to the reauthorization overview. “That half of one penny is what has made the difference in all of our lives, and it’s not a new tax, it’s just reauthorizing what I voted for in 1999, and now I’m voting for my grandchildren,” Marbury said. Aside from improving the quality of life in Durango, the economic reason that supports the sales tax is the fact that great trails and amenities improve tourism, she said. The members of city council are strong supporters of the tax, and many residents and community members appear to be as well after a poll was conducted last year on
COVER STORY
The Adventure Education department and its various classes typically meet in Pine Hall, a small, cenralized building on the North side of campus.
An in-class activity brings this group of students outside for an experimental lesson.
Two climbers assist one another while bouldering.
ADVENTURE EDUCATION STUDENTS GEAR UP FOR THE ACADEMIC FINISH LINE Story by Daniel Riley
Photos by Anjelique Cato
Design by Mike Gertsen-Rogers
dventure Education majors at Fort Lewis College have several opportunities to put their skills to the test as they progress through their college careers. All of the time spent in the classroom and outdoors culminates in three of the students’ final classes where they implement and orchestrate all of the material they have learned in the program. The three capstone courses for adven-
ture education majors are the Senior Research Seminar, Organization and Administration of Adventure Education, and an internship, Bob Stremba, a professor and the director of adventure education at FLC, said. The Senior Research Seminar, which is also taken by exercise science majors, is the ultimate capstone course for students in his department, Stremba said.
“It requires students to really apply and synthesize a lot of the materials they’ve had in previous courses about human development, leadership, working with different populations and outdoor skills and then they come up with something they can research for that,” he said. Lee Frazer, a professor in the Adventure Education department, said the thesis project in the Senior Research Seminar
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takes about a year for students to complete. internships with programs all over the outdoor-oriented youth camp in California “They write up a five chapter research country. in the summer of 2014. report that follows the traditional introducFrazer said before students begin their Martin said he was able to put a good tion, literature review methods, results and internships, the teachers in the Adventure amount of the teaching experience that he discussion and they do a poster presenta- Education department try to prepare them had gained while studying at FLC toward tion,” Frazer said. for different settings and scenarios. his work in his internship. The process for this class is more ex“We try to get them ready for what we “A lot of those internships lead into tensive than the Senior Seminar process for think of as three kinds of settings,” he said. jobs with the same program, so it’s a good most other departments in the school of These three are educational settings, capstone in that it’s literally the bridge bearts and sciences, he said. developmental settings and therapeutic set- tween the end of all the coursework and “We’re more like biology than we are tings, he said. graduation and then a job,” he said. like anthropology,” he said. “In anthropolA few students this semester are doing Stremba, whose graduate studies were ogy and psychology, for example, they have internships with the Adaptive Sports pro- about the integration of adventure activmore options.” gram at Purgatory and a wilderness therapy ities with personal development, said his Another class that is considered a cap- program in Durango called Open Sky Wil- ultimate hope for adventure education stustone experience is called Organization and derness, Stremba said. dents as they graduate is they become betAdministration of Adventure Education, a Some students also do internships ter people, because the nature of the field class students must take during their senior with progressive schools such as Outward gives students many opportunities to help year, Stremba said. Bound and Animas High School that en- others develop as well. The class is heavily focused on public courage the outdoor-oriented philosophy “If you stick with us as a major or a presentations, so students are placed into that Adventure Education students prefer minor, what you’re going to learn about is a more high-risk environment than in a as educators, Frazer said. how to develop and work with clients in edclassroom, he said. Chris Martin, a senior Adventure Edu- ucational and therapeutic settings through “It’s kind of like being outdoors be- cation major in his final semester of college this medium that we call the outdoors and cause there’s real consequences,” Stremba at FLC, said he did his internship with an adventure,” Frazer said. said. “When we’re outside, Martin said he believes A student the consequence for forget- participates in a nature is a great place for peoting your rain gear is that you hands-on activity ple to improve themselves beget wet. The consequence for with her fellow cause they are disconnected doing a bad job on a region- classmates. from the world that they usual conference is some profesally live in. sional setbacks.” It makes makes for a great Another part of the course teaching environment, he allows students to work with said. the real-world outdoor pro“It’s more than just the grams of the Hesperus Camp technical skills,” he said. “If all and the Be Frank Foundation, we’re doing is teaching people participating in the outdoor how to whitewater paddle and program for youth character climb, you don’t need a college development, he said. degree to do that, first of all.” Students must perform The emphasis of the proa needs assessment for one gram is teaching people how of the programs, he said. to teach others to get up to This means they must adthe top of the mountain by Adventure themselves and to apply what dress wants and needs which education majors gives them experience with often learn they have learned in everyday risk management plans, staff through group activities such as work, school training, action plans, marprojects and and in relationships with othactivities. ers, Stremba said. keting and fundraising. In the capstone courses, the third capstone experience requires adventure education majors to take an internship worth 6 to 12 credit hours, Stremba said. This means students participate in 300 to 600 hours of work to complete the course, he said. Students have also done The
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FINANCE
Budget Allocation: What are we paying for? 4.6%
school year
48.5 %
13-14
school year
38.9%
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05
16%
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Story by Luke Perkins
Graphic by Hanna Maddera
Design by Hanna Maddera
ater this spring, Fort Lewis College’s budget committee will face the task of allocating budget for the 2015-16 academic year. In this process the committee will have to make decisions regarding the future of FLC and what elements of the institution will receive additional funding. Some members of the faculty have misgivings and questions about how this process is performed, and the results of it. “A lot of our spending doesn’t translate into a better academic experience for our students,” Justin McBrayer, a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees and associate professor of philosophy, said. This leaves room to question how this funding is being spent. According to a report sent to the board of trustees by McBrayer in October of 2014, this spending is not done in ways that make FLC stronger as an academic institution, at least not if looked at from a teacher-scholar model point of view. This model is based on tenured and tenure-track faculty actively engaging in research and independent studies with students, McBrayer said. However, in his October 2014 report,
McBrayer highlights a decline in tenure and tenure-track faculty since 2002, while non-tenured-track adjuncts have been on the rise. The exact reason for this is unclear. According to the Education & General Expenditures fact sheet, available on the FLC Budget Committee website, the amount of budget available in the general fund for 2013-14, the most recent year for which data are available has increased roughly $20 million, since the 03-04 academic year when tenure and tenure-track professors began to decline. A comparison of budget allocated to instruction, which includes salaries and benefits of faculty along with department operating budgets (OCEs) of over this period shows an increase of just over $5.6 million, according to the FLC fact sheets and the 2013-14 budget. This has allowed FLC to maintain a student-to-faculty ratio that has increased from roughly 18-1 in 2003-2004 to 20-1 in 2013-2014, but the ratio of tenured and tenured-track faculty to students currently stands at closer to 30-1, according to McBrayer’s report. The report says this move towards
more non-tenured-track adjuncts has allowed FLC to maintain this ratio while using money to support other aspects of FLC not directly linked to instruction, such as academic and institutional support and student services. Based on the numbers on the fact sheet, these departments have seen an increase in total dollar amount budgeted since 03-04, but they also have seen a drop in percentage of the total budget allocated, from 34 percent to 32 percent. Meaning that while the total dollars allocated to these departments has grown, they are receiving a smaller portion of the total budget, although not as significant of one as instruction. The filling of faculty positions with adjuncts is financially cheaper, but it is not clear it is in the best interests of the students, McBrayer said. This sentiment was supported by the Associated Students of Fort Lewis College through the passing of Resolution 14-050 on Oct.15, 2014 to support the conclusion of McBrayer’s report, which called for an increase in tenure and tenure-track faculty. Scott Greenler, student body president and student representative on the budget
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INSTITUTIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS 03-04
03-04
INSTRUCTIONAL ITEMS
Data from the FLC Fact Sheet and 2013-2014 budget.
STUDENTS 03-04
03-04
FACULTY MEMBERS
3940.8
13-14
school year 181.3
0
150
100
150
# of faculty members
committee, said he values the quality of education that tenured faculty provide. “They provide research opportunities, they provide internships, and they provide connections for job placements,” Greenler said. While The ASFLC supports the finding of McBrayer’s report, there are other factors than what is acknowledged in the report that further complicate the picture, Greenler said. It takes money to grow and as FLC works to raise it enrollment rate, with a long-term goal of reaching 5,000 students, there needs to be an increase of infrastructure to accommodate, he said. “But we can’t be expanding infrastructure and cutting teachers,” he said. “That’s a non-sequitur.” There has also been an increase of unfunded mandates, such as Title IX, workplace safety and IRS compliance, said Michele Peterson, associate vice president of finance and administration and budget director for FLC budget committee. State funding requires compliance with these mandates, but there is no direct funding to maintain compliance, Peterson said. “We have a lot of unfunded mandates,” she said. To maintain compliance and eligi-
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bility for federal and state funding, which contributes roughly $5.7 million, there has been additional budget allocated to increase administrative staff, she said. “It does make it appear that we are adding staff in areas that are not academic,” she said. This “budget creep” is due to the way in which requests are submitted and chosen by the budget committee, McBrayer said. The budget committee is made up of 13 members, 11 of which can vote on budget allocation request, he said. Of these 13 members, 3 represent the faculty and students and only the vice presidents of administrative departments can make requests for budget increases, making it so that faculty and students cannot directly make requests. “It’s sort of inevitable that the budget creeps that way if they’re the only ones making proposals,” McBrayer said. “It’s not malicious, it’s just we’ve set up the system wrong,” he said. This shift of budget to non-instructional facets of FLC could continue to increase as new legislation comes out governing the allocation of federal funding based on performance, he said. If graduation rates are the chosen benchmarks upon which colleges are eval-
# of students
uated, this could lead the budget committee to allocate additional funding to support services to ensure students are finishing in four years, Peterson said. It is not set in stone what the benchmarks will be used for this evaluation, some possibilities include graduation rate, retention rate, minority enrollment and Pell grant eligibility, she said. “All the different performance measures have issues, I can see the value of them and I can see why if I were a state legislature I would want funding tied to performance,” McBrayer said, “But when you get down to the nitty-gritty it is very hard to define performance.” If graduation rate is chosen as the performance measure, this could have dire implications for students who come from demographics who have a lower graduation rate, he said. While a vocal proponent for increased instructional funding, McBrayer said, as a former college student, he realizes there is more to college than just the education that happens in the classroom. “I know that there is more to it than that,” he said. “There’s got to be more but there can’t be less of our core purpose, which is teaching students.”
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TRAVEL
DRO Plans to GRO(W) A plane moves along the taxiway at the Durango-La Plata County Airport.
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Story by Jarred Green
Photos by Mariana Sesserman
he Durango-La Plata County AirThere will not be a decision made on port is going through various up- how the airport will be expanded at this dates to increase its productivity. meeting, Julie Westendorf, La Plata County The airport will undergo structural updates commissioner of District Three, said. to increase the number of terminals, and There are three alternatives for the airhas recently received certification which port’s expansion that are able to meet the allows airport weather observers to relay needs of today and provide an opportunity information to pilots allowing them to fly for the airport to meet its needs 20 years in in unclear weather conditions. the future, Turner said. Currently, the airport is in need of exAlternative one is taking the existing pansion, Dave Nafie, the project manager at terminal and totally renovating the existing Jviation Inc. said. terminal from the ground up, he said. “The airport is half the size it needs to Alternative two is building a new terbe,” Nafie said. minal adjacent to the existing terminal, Jviation is the company fulfilling the then demolishing the old terminal to make expansion project. room for parking and other facilities, he There are about 200,000 enplanements said. into the airport but it is equipped to handle Alternative three is building another only about 100,000, Kip Turner, DRO air- terminal on the undeveloped land on the port manager, said. east side of the airport, he said. Airport productivity needs to be asJviation, the company in charge of the sessed during peak enplanement to better project said it has received input from the understand an airport’s needs, Turner said. public that favors alternative three, he said. During these peak times, the number Public input is received through a planof flight delays, the number of planes both ning advisory commission containing 50 coming in and flying out of the airport business and community leaders of La Plaand the number of people being processed ta County, chosen by city council members through the airport’s services are taken into and county commissioners, Turner said. account, Turner said. These people had a voice in their reThe level of service while planning expansion is centered specifically around the activity during these peak times, he said. If airports have a low productivity rate airlines will no longer provide flights to that airport causing harm to the overall activity in the airport, he said. On Tuesday, Feb. 10, a city council joint study session discussed the plans for the expansion of DRO to further identify how the airport is to be expanded. HowevThe Durango-La Plata County Airport is located at er, a decision was not made.
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1000 Airport Rd., 20 minutes from Durango.
Design by Jaimee Souder spective spot in the county and attended in-depth studies on the various expansion options as well as a nine member airport advisory commision, he said. Several surveys both online and in person were submitted, tabling sessions at the airport were held as well as open houses staffed with airport staff and consulting team members, he said. “Once an alternative has been chosen by those in power to officially accept a chosen alternative, the next step is to dive further into the financial analysis,” Turner said. The airport also received site certification from the FAA, Turner said. This allows the airport to provide backup weather observations to the automated surface observation system, ASOS, which relays weather information at the La Plata County airfield to the airlines dispatch centers. Before the airport had the site certification, flights were either cancelled or delayed when the ASOS failed, he said. Now, DRO can provide a backup mechanism when ASOS fails. “We got to use it for the first time just a few days ago,” Turner said. The ASOS equipment failed, causing the properly trained and certified staff to use the FAA approved backup equipment to provide the necessary information to aviation dispatch centers. In the past 10 years, the airport saw an addition of 100,000 more enplanements, Nafie said. DRO needs to operate and look like an airport that can accommodate this growth, and continue to grow, he said.
STAFF EDITORIAL
It Is Not The Book, It Is How You Read It Opinion by Andrew Hook
Photo by Mariana Sesserman
Design by Hanna Maddera
n the fall semester of 2014, FLC offered an economics topics class titled, “Economics Of Energy.” One of the required texts for the class was “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming,” by Bjørn Lomborg. Wayne Yandell, a career student who recently transferred to FLC, had enrolled in the class and read the book prior to the start of the semester. I did not agree with a lot of what Lomborg had to say, and when I did some fact checking, found that book contains a great deal of erroneous data and did not pass the peer review process, Yandell said. His concerns were confirmed through a YalePress publication titled, “The Lomborg Deception.” Yandell’s main argument was that a book on a scientific topic should be reviewed under the guidelines for scientific literature. In the case of scientific course material, peer-accreditation is necessary to use a text, John Gadbois, a senior lecturer in the economics department at FLC, said. However, using non peer-review literature is not a totally uncommon practice in fields outside of the hard sciences. A point that can be confirmed if you have read “To Kill a Mockingbird” for a class. Similarly, a myriad of non-peer reviewed texts, from novels to creative non-fiction, are often used in the classroom to make a point. Gadbois explained how professors can use material like “Cool It” to put up a “false straw-man argument,” prompting students to engage with the concepts, critically analyze them, and ultimately develop their own informed opinions on the matter. Stephanie Owings, a professor of business administration at FLC, was the instructor for the Economics of Energy class. “It is impossible to study energy economics without discussing global warming,” Owings said. “It was one of a variety of voices the students were exposed to on this topic.” The students also read “The Boom,”“Energy for Future Presidents,” 66 articles as well as viewing a variety of documentary films. This attests to the fact that regardless of
the views expressed in the Lomborg book, it was used in conjunction with other texts as part of an academic conversation on the topic. “It is thought-provoking and it challenges students’ preconceived notions,” Owings said. “We are in the business of providing a liberal arts education which means having students think critically and analytically.”
“Providing students with a variety of viewpoints helps us achieve our mission and is the basis of an excellent liberal arts education,” she said. This does not mean students should stop questioning the material classes subject them to, it is just a reminder to remain objective in the pursuit of the truth, and to look further into matters before making accusations.
“Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming” is the nonpeer-reviewed text required for the class “Economicas of Energy.”
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Indy on the Street What do you think about Jon Stewart’s retirement and who do you hope will replace him?
Nicole Lovato Junior Native American Indigenous Studies Answer: I think it sucks and I’m really sad he’s leaving because he does good stuff for a lot of people. No one can replace him. Scott Blout Junior Jazz Studies Answer: “I’m pretty bummed out about it, but he’s been around for a while so he deserves it. The John Oliver Show is doing pretty well and is similar, but that couldn’t replace him.“ Wesley Smith Freshman Exercise Science Anwer: “It’s sad because he brings such comedy to news and it makes people more interested. I don’t know who could really fill Jon Stewart’s shoes.” Lauren Watson Sophomore Political Science Answer: “I’m sad that he’s leaving, but I feel like it’s the best move for him politically and personally. Sarah Palin would be hilarious.” Kayla Jamerson Sophomore Geology Answer: “My parents watched him but I didn’t know he’s retiring. “
HOROSCOPES An unoffical statement written by an Indy staff member. ARIES (March 21 – April 19): Eat healthy this week. Ignore the fast food and your body will flourish.
c D E F G H I J K L A B
TAURUS (March 20 – May 20): Invest some time creative writing today. Fiction or nonfiction, it does not matter. Just get something down on paper. GEMINI (May 21 – June 20): Remember that online personality quizzes don’t mean anything. Everyone cheats to get the result they want, anyway. CANCER (June 21 – July 22): Go to bed early for once. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and thankful you took my advice. LEO (July 23 – August 22): Whisper sweet nothings to the deer on campus. Tell them how cute you think they are. VIRGO (August 23 – September 22): Consensually give a friend a small shoulder rub or a back scratch. They might be needing it! LIBRA (September 23 – October 22): Try your hardest to avoid the sickness going around. Wash your hands often and don’t share drinks. SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21): Learn some good, clean jokes and create a dorky comedy routine to whip out as your signature party trick. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21): Call home and ask how things are going over there today.
CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19): Feeling overwhelmed? Watch a live performance of your favorite band online to recollect yourself. AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18): Spontaneous decisions are great, but try not to leave anyone in the dust when you’re making big changes.
PISCES (February 19 – March 20): Spice up your day with a dance break every so often. Goofy dancing heals the soul.
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