The Murray State News TheNews.org
September 1, 2016
“It takes one friend...” One student’s journey through bullying, contemplating suicide and healing
Editor’s Note: The Murray State News changed the name of the student involved, per his request.
Abby Siegel || News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu
Lindsey Coleman Contributing writer lcoleman7@murraystate.edu
“I was a little 5-foot, 200pound freshman – just a little round thing – in high school,” said Cole, senior from Central Kentucky. Cole said he got picked on often in high school -- the classic seniors picking on freshmen -- and he felt like he didn’t have many friends. “What started as harmless fun
became really harmful and really hurt me,” he said. He said the bullying eventually went too far. “In the football locker room, one day, I got put in a locker,” he said. “I was in there for six hours and I had to catch one of the coaches coming out or I would have been there overnight.” Cole said he went home that night feeling belittled, worthless and alone. “I chose the knife,” he said. “I started to press it against my neck and I got a call from a friend – like, as I was doing it – at like, 12:30 at night.” September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. The goal is to promote resources and awareness around the issues
Graduation woes
A shift in graduation policy raises student concern
Graduation Invites
Mom Dad Sister Brother Grandma Grandpa Uncle Aunt Cousin Roommate Ashley Traylor Staff writer
atraylor@murraystate.edu
With the growing number of students walking at graduation every semester and not enough capacity at the CFSB Center, Murray State will now require tickets to enter commencement. Wendy Tudor, director of graduation requirements, said she is excited more students are choosing to walk. She said there were commencement ceremonies in the past where only 600-700 students walked, and now that number has increased to 1,000 or more. “It is a good problem to have
because it shows that the students care more about just getting that piece of paper,” Tudor said. “They want to put on that cap and gown; they want to show everyone what they’ve accomplished.” Shelley Todd, director of the CFSB Center, said the venue can hold 9,638 people total. She said 8,378 of the available tickets are reserved for friends and families of the graduates and faculty and staff who want to watch the ceremony. Todd said recent graduations were pushing capacity in the CFSB Center, so she knew the next graduating class would hit capacity. Therefore, ticketing was the best option to keep ev-
eryone safe and comfortable. Students who apply for graduation online will receive an email with a participation link survey, through which they can select whether they are participating in the ceremony and can indicate how many tickets they need. Through the survey, students can select up to six guaranteed tickets, at no charge. Two additional tickets can be requested but are not guaranteed. Once all the surveys have been completed, the university will know how many students are walking, how many guests they are bringing and how many tickets are available. Students who are requesting
mparks6@murraystate.edu
Graphic courtesy of Austin Gordon
additional tickets will be given a randomly-generated number from the lottery. Additional tickets will be filled beginning with number one. Megan Gibson, senior from Paducah, Kentucky, said the downfall of the lottery is that some students may not receive extra tickets, and she said it is important to have all friends and family there for support at graduation. Emmy Meinschein, senior from Fayetteville, Georgia, said she is concerned with the new system because she has a large family, and she is afraid her siblings won’t be able to come,
see GRADUATION, page 2
Contributing writer mparks6@murraystate.edu
INSIDE
Vol. 91, No. 2
He said she called out of nowhere, despite having a fallout days before. “I don’t even know why I answered, but I answered,” he said. “I was still angry, still hurt, but I’m not really sure why I stopped and why I didn’t do it.” Cole said his friend had just felt like she needed to talk to him at that moment. He told her he was going to commit suicide and she talked him down from the attempt. “Call it what you want, but I call it God,” Cole said. “God gave me a friend when I most needed it.” He said his friend told his parents about his suicide attempt.
see PREVENTION, page 2
Carr Health policy changes creates obstacles Contributing writer
Matthew Parks
WHAT’S
FINDING HEALING, FINDING HOPE
“Suicide attempts are a cry for help, a cry for a friend,” Cole said.
Matthew Parks
University receives land donation Jimmy Don Robinson, a retired Ballard County judge, donated his 534-acre farm and two homes to the MSU Foundation. The estate is known as Eagle Rest Plantation and is located in Ballard County, where Robinson has lived for most of his life. Brian Parr, department head of agricultural science, said the land has been donated as a life estate gift, which means Robinson will continue to live in the home and manage the land in the immediate future, and Murray State will not have control of the full plot until Robinson’s death or until an allotted period of time has expired. Robinson donated the farm to Murray State in memory of his late wife, Charlene Robinson. Both Robinson and his wife were graduates
of suicide prevention, how to help others who may be suicidal and how to talk about suicide without increasing risk of harm, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24, according to 2013 data from the American Association of Suicidology. According to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP), 42,773 Americans commit suicide each year. For every committed suicide, there are 25 attempts.
Students attempting to reserve facilities in the Carr Health Building this semester will soon learn there are some new restrictions to keep in mind. Amanda Hagan, co-president of the Murray State Dance Company, said the new policy changes are due to the statewide education budget cuts implemented by Gov. Matt Bevin this year. According to an open letter from the Murray State Faculty Senate, those budget cuts have removed 9 percent of the budget for the fiscal year effective July 2016, totaling $4.3 million in cuts for Murray State. Those cuts led to a variety of changes on campus including tuition raises, faculty cuts, program cuts and housing rate increases. Carr Health houses classrooms and recreational space that can be rented out by student organizations, such as a swimming pool, gymnasiums and a dance studio. Previously, renting out those facilities was free to all student organizations. However, there are now fees associated with renting out facilities for longer than one hour, according to the Murray State Carr Health webpage. Those fees differ depending on the event, length of time and other factors. A full list can be found on Murray State’s website. For most organizations, the facility is free to rent for the first hour and each after that is considered an “event”, for which the group is charged $15 per hour.
The Murray State Dance Company is one group that has been affected by the new policies. The group, which consists of roughly 25 members, is an on-campus organization that helps dancers develop their skills and puts on an annual show in April. Hagan said the group has always held their rehearsals at Carr Health at the beginning of each semester and continued to rehearse there throughout the semester for an average of 16 hours a week. Hagan said the group is selffunded and has a very limited budget for each semester. For a group with little funding, these changes were initially devastating. “It put us in jeopardy for a while,” Hagan said. “I was worried we wouldn’t exist anymore with nowhere to rehearse.” Emily Rohrer, co-president of the Murray State Dance Company, agreed with Hagan’s worries. Rohrer said the group would have had to pay more than $2,000 in rental fees for the semester due to the new policies, which is almost the group’s entire budget for the season. After a long search process for a place to practice, the dance company ended up back at Carr Health. However, their practice will be held for much shorter periods of time and for a much higher price. Rohrer said she is hopeful the organization can offset some of their costs through fundraisers to help pay for costumes, shows and, now, studio time in Carr Health. “We are very grateful to have the time in Carr Health that we do,” Rohrer said. “And we are very optimistic for our season given the situation.”
THE NEWS LOGO CONTEST
The Murray State News is due for a redesign, and we want the student body to help us! If you have design skills and a big idea, send us your submission. Save all of your drafts and document how you came to the final product, because the winner will get a spotlight in our annual Gateway magazine!
McKenna Dosier/The News
The historic Eagle Rest Plantation will not be placed in university control immediately, but will be bequeathed in the future. from the University of Kentucky, but long-time relationships with Murray State, especially the school of agriculture, resulted in the dona-
DUI CHECKPOINTS
tion being given to Murray State. “It really is a testament to just how widespread Murray State’s reach is in the re-
RULES
gion,” Parr said. For the time being, Murray State is caring for 70 acres of
see EAGLE REST, page 2
OUR VIEW
“Drive sober or get pulled over” Real art, surreal opportunity, checkpoints to come, page 3 page 4
Must be a student Submit by 5:00 p.m. Sept. 17 to murraystatenews@icloud.com Submit in .jpg or .jpeg format
COACH GROVES
RECRUITMENT WEEK
Get to know Murray State’s head soccer coach, page 6
Fraternities welcome new members to family, page 10