WEDNESDAY
September 21, 2011
Vol. 94 • No. 16
www.therambler.org
T�� R������ The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
Staff at local churches request help from Wesleyan students.
Lycanthrope debuts with Theatre Wesleyan Sept. 29.
Community, page 6
Arts & Entertainment, page 4
Parking tickets dominate appeals process Shauna Banks sbbanks@mail.txwes.edu
Illustration by Shauna Banks & Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler Staff The majority of on-campus tickets appealed last semester were for parking violations. Students who appealed their tickets were given the choice of going before a student hearing board, made up of Student Government Association members, or a faculty hearing board. Any denied appeals result in the ticket being placed on the students RamLink university account for payment.
There is not a single student parking space as far as the eye can see. A visitor spot and at least 10 faculty spots are looking lonely though, and it is not long before the desperacy to get to class on time takes over and that visitor parking space is no longer unoccupied. After class, a bright orange ticket decorates the windshield, pinned down by a flimsy wiper. Last spring, the executive board of the Student Government Association executed a complete overhaul of the ticket appeals process. Instead of the appeal being examined by a few faculty members, now when students submit an appeal form, they also have the option of going before a student hearing board. Chris Windsor, assistant dean of students, oversees hearings for ticket appeals. Windsor said the majority of ticket appeals have been for parking violations, in which students are parked in faculty or visitor parking spaces, or no parking zones. Any student wanting to appeal a ticket must do so within 10 days of receiving the ticket, by picking up an appeals form outside the SGA offices on the second floor of O.C. Armstrong Hall and then submitting it to Windsor. Students can also submit ticket appeals online through the campus life link on the home page of www.txwes.edu, and then click on the campus security and parking link. Windsor said once he receives an appeal form, if the student has opted for the student hearing board, he sends the appeal to the SGA offices. From there, SGA representatives contact the student and set up a hearing date. “When the hearing date comes, I present the violation to the hearing board,” Windsor said. “You can imagine me as the prosecutor—though I definitely don’t get paid like one!”
Bradden Van Noy, president of SGA, said during the hearing, the student who submitted the appeal and Windsor each give an opening statement, and then witnesses are brought in if they exist for the particular case being heard. Each side gives closing statements, and then the hearing board deliberates. The hearing board then gives its decision on the appeal’s approval or denial, and depending on the violation being appealed, deliberates again to decide punishment. Van Noy said since the majority of appeals are parking violations, a denial of an appeal means that the student must simply pay the ticket, which is then immediately put in as a charge on the student’s account. “In one case last year, we required students to do community service because of some of the things involved,” Van Noy said. Van Noy said there are two levels of punishment for denied appeals. He said no one has reached level two yet, but reaching that level would result in a student being banned from participating in any university-sanctioned event. Most denied appeals are considered level one, and the offender is required to pay the ticket, with some exceptions in non-parking related violations. “Just saying that you didn’t know is not an excuse,” Van Noy said. “When you’re driving down the road and going 10 miles over the speed limit, just saying you didn’t know is not going to get you out of a speeding ticket.” To avoid unnecessary parking sticker tickets, Van Noy said when students are driving a different car for a single day or two, they should obtain a visitors pass in the library. During the first week of classes this semester, campus security officers gave students
APPEAL, page 3
Hartman develops new movement theory for classroom Emma Fradette
ekfradette@mail.txwes.edu
Dr. Michael Hartman, assistant professor of kinesiology and education, theorizes that staying active is not only good for a person’s health, but an even better stimulator for the brains of students in a classroom setting. At 12:15 p.m. Sept.27, Hartman will host a spotlight lunch in the orientation room of the Eunice and James L. West Library, to speak about the cognitive benefits of teaching with movement. Hartman said one part of the brain controls movement and another controls learning. If a student is in class and hears something, he or she may not learn it fully. If a student hears it and reads it, the information is retained more thoroughly. Hartman also said if a student hears something, reads it, writes it and does it, the theory is that a student will have retained the information and understood it more thoroughly. Also at the lunch, Hartman will describe how this method can help in the classroom.
In a classroom setting, there may not be an immediate need to get up and be active. Hartman said research shows, however, that if a student goes and works out for 30-40 minutes before a class, the blood flow and oxygen levels stimulate the brain, and the student can pay attention and retain information at a more efficient level. Hartman said studies have shown that those who are more in shape and work out, are better students and perform better on standardized tests. He said this idea is not to say students must have running and intense movement in their classrooms, but that keeping the brain stimulated with body movements can help the learning process. This teaching method came about when Hartman and a colleague of his, Dr. Karen Wallace, exercise and sports studies assistant professor, put together an idea for the ClassroomNEXT contest held last year. Their idea for the classroom was called interACTIVE. One idea Hartman had was to have stability balls instead of chairs. The stability balls would not allow stu-
dents to slump and require a small amount of movement. Brittany White, senior exercise major, supports Hartman’s ideas. “Sometimes sitting in class just makes me tired, and I lose focus on what is going on,” White said. “I believe movement in the classroom would help. If I am staying active, but controlled, my level of focus will be maintained.” Exercise science major Courtney Turner agrees. “I love when I move around in the classroom. I feel like I concentrate better,” Turner said. “After a workout, I seem to study the best.” Before Hartman came to Wesleyan he was a part of the U.S. Weightlifting Sports Science Committee. He is an alumni at the University of Oklahoma and considers himself a big Sooners fan. “These active ideas can be implemented into any classroom,” Hartman said. “When the heart rate is up and blood and oxygen are flowing to the brain, the brain is more stimulated.”
Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler Staff Dr. Michael Hartman, assistant professor of kinesiology and education, developed a learning through movement theory, which he said could benefit a classroom setting for today’s students.
Stop in at the Morton Fitness Center to sign up for group fitness classes! For more information, call 817-531-7589.