The Murray State News March 31, 2016
TheNews.org
Vol. 90, No. 24
Evaluation bias
Alicia Steele Staff writer
asteele5@murraystate.edu
Last month, Robert Donnelly, professor of mathematics, sent an email to faculty, staff and student leaders to bring attention to claims of racial bias professors have found on student’s evaluations in the Mathematics and Statistics Department “I am deeply concerned about the serious implications of this claim for our university,” Donnelly wrote in the Feb. 18 message. “I believe the seriousness of this issue demands the attention of the university community.” Donnelly wrote that any recipient of his email likely knows that student evaluations of instructors are “a major component of the performance reviews of Murray State University faculty members,” and he wrote that he didn’t believe these claims could be handled within a “low-level” committee such as his department’s tenure committee. “I put this issue before the university community in general and before the [Institutional Diversity, Equity and Access] Director in particular,” Donnelly wrote. Donnelly’s message comes as groups across campus are debating bias within student evaluations. The Faculty Development
Racial bias questions in student evaluations of faculty in the Mathematics and Statistics Department
see BIAS, 2A
Photo illustration by Chalice Keith/The News
Take Back The Night reinforces assault awareness
Ashley Traylor
Staff writer
atraylor@murraystate.edu
Monday’s Take Back the Night consisted of personal testimonies from assault victims, a pledge to take action against these crimes and a call to action by President Bob Davies. Take Back the Night has a “purpose of uniting campus community and taking a stand against sexual assault and promoting active participation of each campus and community member in creating a culture of respect,” said Clint Combs, Student Government Association president and emcee of Take Back the Night. Most sexual assaults – 90 percent – are not committed by strangers, but by someone the victim knows, and it can happen in relationships,
Sign language classes ‘a dream come true’
friendships and marriages. Davies said these victims are students we see in class, on campus and our friends. The rally opened with a personal account of a Murray State sexual assault survivor, read by the Wellness Center’s Fitness Coordinator Brittney Stinnett. The survivor wrote of how her relationship with a man and later husband turned from romantic to threatening and that she was completely controlled by him. “I slowly realized I was living my life in fear,” Stinnett read. “This was not the kind of life I wanted for my daughter but felt powerless to change.” The survivor’s perpetrator was her husband and father to her two children. She said she felt scared to call the cops, and she did not know why “no” did not mean “no” to him.
After she escaped her relationship, she moved to Tennessee and her husband was charged with rape and sentenced to six years in prison. “I want others to know they can do it too,” read Stinnett. “I took my journey alone. You don’t have to.” Hannah Barney, a survivor of sexual assault and the residence director of Clark Residential College, said she questioned whether she caused it, but she said everyone should understand these doubts are lies because she did nothing to imply she wanted it. She said she is not a “slut,” “damaged” or “unlovable” and she did not want it. “Going through sexual violence can take you to a deep, dark place that’s hard to get
Bailey Bohannan
“MSU is the only university to offer these classes in western Kentucky,” Strong said. “The parent Signed English classes that I attended years ago are no longer offered in western Kentucky. Parents of a deaf child need local classes to learn their child’s language.” Murray State offers first and second-level American Sign Language classes, and beginning in the Fall 2016 semester, a third-level class will be offered, according to a press release from Murray State Public Relations. The program will expand to offer ASL 104 in the Fall 2016 semester if enough students show interest in expanding their education of American Sign Language. The classes will be taught by deaf educators via Skype or in-class lectures.
Staff writer
bbohannan@murraystate.edu
Forty years ago, a family adopted a baby girl with hopes for the future, but when the girl was 3 years old, medical tests showed discouraging results confirming the child was deaf. Nancy Strong, administrative assistant in the College of Education and Human Services, was a life-long friend of this family who adopted the little girl. Strong said she took parent American Sign Language classes with the deaf 3-yearold’s parents to learn the language and said this event from 40 years ago motivated her to encourage Murray State to offer American Sign Language classes.
see NIGHT, 2A
Emily Harris/The News
Take Back The Night was held Monday in the CFSB Center and included speakers including survivors and university leaders. Strong said that although the courses do not teach students to be an interpreter, they provide enough education for students to communicate with the deaf to tell them an interpreter has been contacted. She said all students can take the American Sign Language classes as an elective, but many students majoring in communication disorders, special education or nursing have taken the classes. Madison Stallings, freshman from Owensboro, Kentucky, said she would be willing and interested in taking an American Sign Language class even though it is not required for her major. “I’m an elementary education major so it would be awesome if I could incorporate sign language in my future classroom,” she said. “Sign language
is something I would love to learn.” Strong is a leader in this movement to expand the American Sign Language program at Murray State, along with other professors, including Max Williamson, according to a press release from Murray State Public Relations. Strong said she encourages any student to take the firstlevel American Sign Language class to see if American Sign Language is for them, but she encourages students not to wait because the classes fill up quick and there is normally a waiting list for these classes. Strong said a dream of hers is to bring deaf awareness to western Kentucky. Another dream of hers is to have students in American Sign Language
classes go further and get their education to become an interpreter and then come back to the area to help other students. “There are very few certified interpreters in the area, which makes it difficult for the deaf in the area, including deaf students who are enrolled at MSU,” Strong said. The program is just beginning to pick up speed, but Strong said Murray State’s contribution to American Sign Language education is a dream come true. “Communicating with the deaf and assisting families and the community to communicate with the deaf is my passion,” Strong said. “It has been my dream to offer ASL classes in western Kentucky ... ASL classes at MSU are a dream come true.”
New Franklin to house Honors College students Abby Siegel
Assistant News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu
New Franklin Residential College will have designated wings exclusively for Honors College members designed to create a Living Learning Community (LLC) for these students. In an email to all Honors College members, Warren Edminster, Honors College director, said that the new LLC would consist of three of eight wings
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exclusively for Honors College students. All residents voluntarily living in these wings will be Honors College members, and there will be Honors programs and a number of Honors seminars held within the residential college for them. A concern expressed by current Franklin Residential College residents is that the LLC could potentially create an “usagainst-them” divide in the terrapin community. Samantha Wright, sophomore from Owensboro, Ken-
tucky and Franklin College Head assistant, said she sees the transition as an exciting challenge. “The challenge is going to be keeping Honors events open enough that Franklin College residents don’t feel uninvited, but not losing that Honors College feel and environment,” Wright said. Wright said she believes good communication, an active Residential College Council and active resident advisers are key to making a smooth transi-
tion. “I hope we all can work together and stay united,” Wright said. “It is a big challenge, but I think we are up for it.” New Franklin may also become the meeting place of the Honors Student Council, rather than their current location in the Lowry Center. “Although we are uncertain about all the arrangements, at this time, the council meetings would benefit by being closer to students, students’ community and students’ concerns,”
said Paige Drew, junior from Murray and Honors Student Council president. Drew doesn’t plan to live in New Franklin her senior year. She said she believes the LLC will “serve as a unifier of Honors students” and will be a great option for incoming freshmen. “Although the freshmen will not know each other yet, they will be in a welcoming environment and an atmosphere of
see HONORS, 2A
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