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The Student Voice of MSU Denver
Volume 38, Issue 29
April 13, 2016
Administration and students: partners in debt President Jordan and student leaders discuss financial issues eferna14@msudenver.edu
Steve Jordan, president of MSU Denver, met with student leaders and activists April 6 to discuss mounting student debt and the university’s plans to tackle the problem. Educating students about debt relief options is a top priority according to MSU Denver administration officials. “It seems like a lot of the rebuttals to what we’re talking about come through as, ‘we have a big bucket of fruit. We are the least moldy fruit,’” said MSU Denver senior Tom Gerhovsky. Student leaders called for the meeting with Jordan in order to better understand how administration officials were meeting students’ needs regarding the cost of higher education. “We are the lowest funded four year institution in the United States with 15,000 or
more students.” Jordan said. MSU Denver’s declining enrollment rates, as well as low state funding and cuts to higher education have lead to rising tuition costs for students. Despite that, MSU Denver belongs to the lowest quarter of the country when it comes to price of attendance. According to Steve Kreidler, vice president of administration, finance, and facilities, new faculty and staff are trained to counsel students in debt relief options, such as income based repayment and public service loan forgiveness. Raising campus wages to $15 an hour was one of many issues discussed during the meeting. Kelsey Smith, founder of the Student Labor Action Project, challenged the university to begin raising pay rates from minimum wage in
order to better reflect the the high cost of living in the Denver area. Jordan countered with the challenge of balancing the needs of staff and faculty with those of students. He acknowledged students face difficult financial choices by living in Denver. Also discussed was the rate of student participation in student government. According to Christian Solano, president of the Student Government Assembly, only 1,100 students voted out of an electorate of nearly 21,000. Administration officials lamented the lack of meaningful student political action on the steps of Capitol Hill. “I keep praying for the day when 1,000 students will show up on the doorsteps of the capital,” said Jordan, after pounding the discussion table. “You gotta do it. When we
were upset over the Vietnam era we showed up at the Capitol.” Jordan urged student leaders at the meeting to use their network of activist leaders at other universities to rally support for higher education at the state house. April 14, SLAP will hold a rally at civic center park with other advocacy groups, calling for the minimum wage to be raised to $15. However, Alie Hermanutz, SLAP’s vice president, said he’s seen the student body be generally disinterested in any form of political or social engagement. This leaves the will of the student body to be expressed by the few who do participate — an unrepresentative sample. Hermanutz said, “I think a lot of them just go by the wayside and the people who participate are the ones who want a new Starbucks.”
Artistic walkway springs up at Auraria
Opinion The Metropolitan chimes in on fate of the CU Denver Sentry PAGE 4 >>
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By Esteban Fernandez
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Features Discussing Denver’s continuously expanding and progressive art scene PAGE 7 >> Entertainment
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MSU Denver senior Philip Dennis has been studying dance for three years. He dances through an interactive art piece on April 12. The piece was created by UCD student Elena Jones, and can be used as an alternative pathway for students to walk through. The colors are inspired by the sunset. Photo by McKenzie Lange • mlange4@msudenver.edu
Sports
New Soccer coach, Jeremy Tittle receives support from Roadrunner family PAGE 12 >>