The Murray State News May 1, 2015
TheNews.org
Zachary Orr
Assistant News Editor zorr@murraystate.edu
In the fall of 2016, Murray State will offer its first University scholarship for veterans: Operation Graduation. The scholarship was made because of a growing demand for financial assistance that veterans have when pursuing higher education today, said Chris Jeter, assistant registrar for Veteran Affairs. Jeter said although veterans benefit financially from the G.I. Bill, which provides financial assistance to veterans for education as thanks for their service and can cover both tuition and some living expenses, the bill doesn’t cover all the costs attending a four-year university entails. “When you take into consideration that there are other things they’re paying for – everything from books to putting food in your stomach and gas in the tank – no, it’s not going to pay for everything,” he said. Returning to civilian life is a difficult transition for many veterans, Jeter said. Many veterans return from service with families, so higher education may not be their first priority financially. Jeter said he hopes Operation Graduation will help veterans afford higher education despite their financial obligations. Abby Hensley, director of development for the Hutson School of Agriculture and Special Projects, helped develop the scholarship, alongside Renae Duncan, associate provost for Undergraduate Educa-
tion. Duncan has been out of the country and was unavailable to comment. Hensley said she was surprised to hear Murray State didn’t already have a veteran’s scholarship. “We wanted to start this so that we as Murray State can support our student veterans,” she said. “Because in our eyes they’ve made the biggest commitment to their country and it’s our job to support them.” Hensley said there is a great need for a veteran’s scholarship. No veteran should ever have to choose between buying a textbook and supporting their family, she said. Operation Graduation will be available to any veteran student enrolled in a minimum of nine credit hours per semester pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree. Recipients are required to maintain at least a 2.0 GPA, according to the University scholarship agreement. The scholarship will be funded by Murray State alumni, both veteran and non-veteran. Per the agreement, the award amount and number of recipients will vary from year to year based on availability of funds. Jeter said anyone can donate to the scholarship and he hopes the community will see the importance of this scholarship and contribute. “By donating to this scholarship, members of the community are helping ease the financial burden during a somewhat difficult transition from military culture and service to that of civilian life,” he
Vol. 89, No. 30
OPERATION:
GRADUATION Murray State offers first scholarship for veterans beginning in fall 2016.
Emily Harris/The News
Chris Jeter, assistant registrar for Veteran Affairs, said he hopes Murray State’s first scholarship for veterans will reach $25,000 in funding, making it an endowed scholarship. said. It’s often more than just veterans themselves who struggle with the transition. Jeter said their families play a huge role in this as well. “In many ways the entire family serves,” he said. “Not just the individual.” Student veterans have strengths in leadership and community awareness, Jeter said. This and a global mindset make them great students.
Jeter said he hopes the scholarship reaches the $25,000 benchmark in funding, which will make it an endowed scholarship at the University. This will allow for more stable funding for the scholarship, the number of recipients and the awards received will be more predictable from year to year. Murray State considers itself a veteran-friendly University, Jeter said.
The University placed sixth in the USNews.com Best Colleges for Veterans rankings for 2015 for the South region. This places Murray State at the highest ranking for all Kentucky public universities. Western Kentucky is ranked eighth, Morehead State ranked 19th and Eastern Kentucky ranked 25th. The other five public universities in the state did not rank. David Vowel, president
of the Student Veteran Organization and student from Mayfield, Ky., said he hopes Operation Graduation attracts more veterans to Murray State and that it encourages more veterans at Murray State to be more involved. Vowel said many veteran students like him return to universities with families to care for and are unable to work
see OPERATION, 2A
Murray State Cofer Randall shares story of fills role as transition, finding herself emergency center Ben Manhanke Staff writer
bmanhanke@murraystate.edu
Zachary Orr
Assistant News Editor zorr@murraystate.edu
Julia Mazzuca Staff writer
jmazzuca@murraystate.edu
Murray State not only impacts the community through providing higher education and acting as one of the area’s largest employers, but also is the Emergency Operations Center. This role, said Jeff Steen, assistant director of Public Safety and Emergency Management, is unusual for a university to play. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines an Emergency Operations Center, or EOC, as “A location from which centralized emergency management can be performed. EOC facilities are established by an agency or jurisdiction to coordinate the overall agency or jurisdictional response and support to an emergency.” The University’s role as the community’s chief EOC was established in 2009, when a severe ice storm placed both Calloway County and Kentucky in a state of Emergency, said Roy Dunaway, director of Public Safety and Emergency Management. During the storm, when the Calloway County EOC’s generator failed, the county asked to join Murray State’s
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EOC. Steen said the city’s EOC quickly expended all its resources and asked to join Murray State’s EOC as well. Dunaway said Murray State had the resources and was better prepared for this scale of emergency, that left much of the area without power, water or phone service. “Due largely to that success, we’re still the Emergency Operations Center of the county,” Dunaway said. Steen said Murray State not only acted as the EOC for the city and county, but also used Lovett Auditorium as a shelter for the community when the Red Cross was unable to provide power to their shelter area. “It wasn’t as comfortable as you would have liked to have hoped, but nobody got hypothermia and nobody starved,” he said. The University also served meals out of Winslow Dining Hall. Steen said he was unsure of exactly how many were fed during the storm, but he knew there were many. “Anyone who was hungry who showed up at Winslow, anyone in the community got fed,” he said. After the storm hit, communication throughout the state was disrupted, Steen said. Frankfort contacted the Murray State EOC and asked
see EOC, 2A
She. He. Her. Him. Jody Cofer Randall, director of LGBT Programming, said every day she is asked what pronoun she prefers to be referred to by, sometimes two to three times a day. “I’ve accepted that, in many ways, I’ll be coming out for the rest of my life,” Cofer Randall said. “People ask me either why I’m doing this or how they should address me and I say ‘well, let’s sit down, let’s have that conversation.’” Cofer Randall is a transsexual, someone who not only identifies as the opposite sex as they were born, but someone who has begun taking the medical steps necessary to reverse their gender. Cofer Randall is a she. For Cofer Randall, this journey began one and a half years ago when she began taking hormone replacement supplements and seeing a doctor in Chicago who specializes in this type of gender transition. Yet ever since she was a child, she has wanted to be a woman. “When you’re a boy you’re taught you need to like HeMan, you need to like masculine toys,” Cofer Randall said. “But when I was little, running around in the yard playing, I always wanted to be She-Ra. It wasn’t an attraction to women. I think I was born in the wrong body.” For almost 33 years, Cofer Randall lived as a man: a bi-sexual man, self-described as being “gender ambiguous.” For the past 14 years she has worked at Murray State, counseling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and helping them to come to terms with their own identity.
Hannah Fowl/The News
Jody Cofer Randall, director of LGBT Programming, began her journey from male to female about a year and a half ago. Cofer Randall said it was a graduating transgender student she had counseled who inspired her to begin her own transition after coming to her office one day to thank her for her support. “It was all very sweet, very warm, very heartfelt and then she said, ‘but you’ve really let me down,’” Cofer Randall said. “‘What are you doing, Jody? What are you doing with your identity?’ That hit me in a way like I’d just gotten slapped.” After that, Cofer Randall and her partner, Morgan Randall, began to discuss when they’d like to move forward with her gender transition, strategically planning it so that even if the community response to her decision was negative that they’d be OK. Cofer Randall said they wanted to have a house, be married and for her to have a
cemented position in her career before making any move. Fortunately, she said, the response she has received from those she chose to tell both before the physical changes in her body became noticeable and after has been overwhelmingly positive. But not everyone in the Murray community has been accepting. “I’ve gotten threats, death threats, over the years and that was before I was even doing this,” Cofer Randall said. “A lot of cisgender individuals never even think ‘Don’t sit with your back to the door at McDonald’s.’ Well, I do. I think about that. I would be naive if I said I didn’t have an awareness of my own personal safety when I’m out and about.”
see COFER RANDALL, 2A
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