The Murray State News October 30, 2015
TheNews.org
Vol. 90, No. 10
Humanities and Fine Arts dean search starts up Teddy Martin
Contributing writer emartin11@murraystate.edu
The College of Humanities and Fine Arts is beginning a national search for a new dean. With several separate categories to watch over, there needs to be someone who can help keep the process of aiding students and functioning as a department going. Staci Stone, assistant dean to the English and Philosophy Department, said there is a chair of each department in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. “I was chair of the English and Philosophy Department for a little over seven years before being appointed assistant dean of the college in October 2014,” she said. She is currently interim dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, and her term ends June 30, 2016. “The College of Humanities and Fine Arts will be conducting a search for a permanent dean,” she said. “I am chairing that search committee, and the committee will likely be announced later this week.” The search firm conducting the provost’s search will also conduct the dean’s search. The English and Philosophy Department is a source of many different facilities. The English as a Second Language Program is there as well as other language programs. They offer help in creative writing, technical writing, business, publishing, teaching, law and journalism degrees. In addition to this, they offer degree programs to educate students in literary and phil-
osophical knowledge, critical thinking, and communication skills, thereby preparing them to become teachers, writers and other professionals and to pursue further academic studies, according to their mission statement. Kyle Schenck, junior from Boston, Kentucky, said a dean of the English and Philosophy Department needed to talk to students on a friendly level, while at the same time maintaining an air of authority in the college’s multiple facets. He said through this, students can respect the office while still being able to approach them, should they need help. Schenck also said student-faculty interactions are crucial to the university as a whole, and should be one of the top priorities. “If they need a new one, then they need a new one,” he said. “That’s how that goes. Businesses need to replace and supplement officials or fill new positions altogether.” Schenck said the dean will need to be experienced in the department. “If not, then there’s going to be a lot more problems than not having a dean,” Schenck said. “They need to know how to teach what they know.” Victoria Hosman, sophomore from Grand Rivers, Kentucky, said she has been very pleased with the professors of the English and Philosophy Department. Most of her professors, she said, were approachable and wanted to interact with students. “My interactions with the department are kind of limited,” she said, “I never had a whole lot of interaction with the dean, so I’m not sure.”
Loading error Hart Residential College’s Wi-Fi loses reliability likely because of Netflix and similar streaming websites Zachary Maley/The News
Bailey Bohannan Staff writer
bbohannan@murraystate.edu
Students who are residents of Hart Residential College are complaining about the lack of Internet stability for social, personal and academic reasons, but the problem lies in their own overuse, university officials say. The college head of Hart, Greg Gierhart, reached out to IT to get the connection problem fixed, and IT officials have guessed at what is overwhelming the system. Using Netflix and other movie streaming sites is likely causing the unreliable Wi-Fi, said Tommy Phillips, the director of Network and Telecommunications Services. “The challenge we are currently facing is not the number of users but the nature of what those users are doing,” said Phillips, who has been working at Murray State for 18 years.
Autumn Moffitt, freshman from Alpharetta, Georgia, said her Internet isn’t exactly slow, but it will randomly go in and out. She said she has noticed this trend of unreliability on Mondays and Sundays, and each time her computer won’t connect, she has to restart her computer and reconnect to the Internet. This simple task only takes about five minutes, but she said it can be very frustrating. Cassie Breiten, freshman from St. Louis, said this has affected every aspect of how she uses the Internet. Breiten said she is in Introduction to Probability and Statistics, which uses MyStatLab to complete and submit math homework. Each assignment can have a time limit set, where, once started, students only have that specific amount of time to complete the assignment and submit it. “I was just trying to do my math homework, on MyStatLab; halfway through it, it just
blanks out and says ‘network disconnected,’” Breiten said. “You have to get [MyStatLab homework] done in under an hour and that just made me mad.” Breiten said she has had trouble with the Internet, not only academically, but also when using Skype to talk with her mom. The screen will get fuzzy, she said. Moffitt and Breiten both said they rarely can count on a reliable connection when they want to watch Netflix. This popular Internet activity of using Netflix might just be the problem with the Hart Wi-Fi. “There has been an explosion in the popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and others,” Phillips said. “These streaming services use an enormous amount of data as compared to regular Internet browsing.” Especially during peak bandwidth utilization, which
is when the most amount of people are using the Internet, the Internet is more likely to cut out and cause students to have to reconnect to the Internet, Phillips said. Peak bandwidth utilization is estimated by IT to be around noon to 4 p.m., then again from 6 p.m. to midnight each day. To fix this problem, Phillips said IT is trying to make adjustments for more efficient connections and IT is working to try and add another Internet circuit that would hopefully help with the Internet during peak bandwidth utilization. “We are constantly improving the Wi-Fi on campus,” Phillips said. “We just finished an 18-month project to upgrade the Wi-Fi in ResNet, and while we are still making minor adjustments in isolated areas, we have resolved most of the signal coverage and capacity problems.”
LGBT office assists universities in providing support Kayla Harrell || Staff writer kharrell@murraystate.edu
Murray State is part of a group of four Kentucky universities that are helping other campuses start LGBT offices that provide support and awareness programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. The Kentucky Association of LGBTQ Higher Education started by Murray State, Northern Kentucky, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky in 2015, created a safety net for universities that don’t have LGBT offices. Jody Cofer Randall, director of Murray State’s LGBT Programming, said the four di-
rectors would be a consulting group for these other institutions. “Other universities can use our experiences to figure out how they create this at their school,” she said. “The Cofer Randall issues being dealt with at other universities are most likely what we and the three other institutions have already dealt with.” The association comprises the paid directors of the LGBT offices at the four campuses.
The goal is to include others who are interested. “There was a vision that one day that association could possibly grow out beyond just the people paid to do this work,” Cofer Randall said. “Right now, it is just if it is your position to until it gets a little bigger.” The Kentucky Association of LGBTQ Higher Education will spread awareness of the LGBT community to local businesses surrounding the colleges. Its goal is that every LGBTQ person on a Kentucky campus will be welcomed and included to fully participate in the life of their college or university, according to the association’s website. Cofer Randall said she visits
businesses around Murray to talk about being more supportive of LGBT people. “Murray State is a social driver,” she said. “We have to lead by example.” Murray State was the second public university to create the LGBT Programming office in 2012. The University of Louisville was first in Kentucky to create such a program in 2007. Northern Kentucky followed Murray State, and the University of Kentucky added the office earlier this year. Emma Lewis, senior from Louisville, Kentucky, said she was glad Murray State provided this service to LGBT students and included them among the campus.
“I am proud that we are one of the four,” she said. Cofer Randall said before the LGBT office, the student organization Alliance was putting on 30 volunteer-led programs by itself each year. “We are seeing more equitable, fairer treatment of this population on our public university campuses across Kentucky, but there is always a list of things we could be doing in addition,” she said.
THE NEED
Universities without LGBT programming are “doing a disservice in demonstrating their commitment by not recognizing the needs of this community,” Cofer Randall said.
Bonnie Meyer, director of Northern Kentucky’s LGBT Programs and Services, said there is a need for an increase in these offices on college campuses. “It is not as controversial as it used to be,” she said. “We are seeing a large population of this group on campus, and we need to value supporting this group.” About 20 percent of college students fear for their physical safety because of their gender identity or their perceived sexual orientation, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. For instance, John Kelly, sophomore at Tufts, was sexually assaulted in 2012 but
see LGBT, 2A
Student athlete’s emergency response helps other Alicia Steele || Staff writer asteele5@murraystate.edu
In a woodworking shop class last week, Kenneth Thomas, an 85-year-old student, accidentally cut his hand on a table saw while building a coffin. Rebecca Morris, senior cross-country runner from Fort Wright, Kentucky, ran to his aid. Morris said when the accident happened it was second nature to her to help. “The type of person I am is that I am always there for people, that’s how I am in crosscounty and track,” Morris said.
WHAT’S
INSIDE
Morris said before using the machines, the class is taught how to use the machines properly. She said there is a table saw called a stop saw that will shut off as soon as skin touches the blade. However, Morris said the table saw Thomas was using did not do that. “To me it sounded like he had a kickback where the wood shoots back at you, which is very common,” Morris said. Morris then saw Thomas leave his work station and walk over to the sink, leaving his machine still turned on. “I walked over to where he
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was at the sink and I was like, ‘Are you OK?’ and he was like, ‘No, I’m not,’” Morris said. She said Thomas told her he needed to go to the hospital, so she got his car keys and drove Morris him to the emergency room where she sat with him for hours. Morris said she later delivered his car to his house so
it would be waiting for him when he got home that night. “Most of the time if something happens, we’re supposed to get the professor and keep them calm,” Morris said. However, the instructor was sick the day of the accident and did not attend class. Thomas said he had built his coffin outside of the class and later bent the wood, so he spoke with the instructor and she allowed him to take the class to fix it. “I’ve never had a problem with a machine,” Thomas said. “So I knew what to do and how to be careful.”
OUR VIEW
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Thomas said he was in a state of shock when Morris came to his aid. “This does happen; I know this happens,” Thomas said. He said there were many students in the class and none were as responsive or quick to be of service as Morris was. “She made it almost pleasant for me,” Thomas said. Thomas said within 15 minutes of the accident happening, Morris had him to the hospital and he was being “dealt with” by doctors. “She was terrific,” Thomas said. “And I really did benefit from it.”
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