THE STANDARD M I S S O U R I S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
VOLUME 112, ISSUE 8 | THE-STANDARD.ORG The Standard/The Standard Sports
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
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MSU student charged with rape, sodomy on campus HANNA SUMPTER | EMILY COLE Deputy News Editor | News Editor A rape was reported at Hammons House on Oct. 7, according to Missouri State University’s daily crime log. The incident was reported around 1 p.m. on Oct. 7 and allegedly occurred between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. According to police documents, a female student reported being assaulted by Zachary Alperin, 22, in her room at the residence hall. The woman reported attending the Me Too Springfield Rally for sexual assault survivors that afternoon, before meeting with Alperin, who is also a Missouri State student. The statement says the woman met up with Alperin shortly after 8 p.m., and they went downtown together to get drinks at Finnegan’s Wake. According to his statement, Alperin had already had between eight and 10 beers before they went out. Throughout the night, both the woman and Alperin had several drinks. After leaving Finnegan’s, they went together to Boogie and stopped at Qdoba for food. Early in the morning, they returned to the woman’s dorm. She gave Alperin permission to spend the night, but, according to both of their statements, told Alperin not to touch her because she was intoxicated. She then fell asleep. The woman reported waking up to Alperin naked on top of her, attempting to perform sex acts on her. “I guess I tried to force myself on her, and I feel like such a terrible person for it,” Alperin said, according to the statement. Suzanne Shaw, vice president for marketing and communications for MSU, said the university has offered the female student Title IX and counseling services to support her. “We are concerned about her welfare, but at this time because of the Springfield Police Department investigation we can’t comment,” Shaw said, Alperin is on interim suspension as a student at the university, which includes a ban from campus. Alperin is being charged with two Class D felonies for rape and sodomy. In the state of Missouri, Class D felonies can be punished with up to four years in prison or a $5,000 fine.
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Sarah Bargo, an event organizer for the Oct. 6 Me Too Springfield Rally in Park Central Square, speaks to the crowd.
Me Too rally held downtown CARISSA ALFORD Staff Reporter @carissabalford Women and men came together for the Me Too Springfield Rally in Park Central Square on Saturday, Oct. 6. The rally lasted from noon to 5 p.m. with the itinerary filled to the brim with speakers, musical entertainment and even a self-defense demonstration. “We did an event in April that was really small scale, and we tried to build a community and it was really exciting,” Kelsey Nichol, co-founder of Me Too Springfield said. “We got a little taste of what this community needs and what we have to offer, so then we started planning this event.” While there were no protesters at the rally, several people brought homemade signs, advocating for women or voicing their political views. Tessa McCoy, Bailey Pantleo and Savannah Kent said they came to the rally to show that sexual assault is not uncommon. “I think it is important to help people like this and to represent that this happens,” Kent said. All three girls were standing in the rain, displaying their signs that said, “Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted,” “Me Too” and “Each Time A Woman Stands Up For Herself, She Stands Up For All Women - Maya Angelou.” Along with signs showing support for women, multiple booths and vendors were set up in and around the square, one of them bearing the
name “What Were You Wearing?” “It fights the myth that what you’re wearing affects sexual assault,” Jordan Harris, one of the organizers of the event, said. Articles of clothing were pinned on the walls, each with a small paragraph from the girls they were donated from, telling part of their story. “Almost all of this (clothing) is very modest. We even have a children’s dress,” Harris said. “It’s just to show what you're wearing absolutely has no difference on sexual assault.” Another booth set up inside the square was Erin Ashcraft’s, where she sold handmade original paintings. Ashcraft is close friends with Nichol and Harris, who asked her to do a live painting. “I have the live painting on silent auction, so if you bid for the painting I am doing currently, then half the proceeds go to Me Too Springfield,” Ashcraft said. Ashcraft said it is super important to support survivors. She feels art can bring healing to a lot of people, hopefully bringing light to a situation and giving people hope. Ashcraft said when a person is hurting, art is a way for them to get through the pain. Near Ashcraft’s booth were the Victim Center and Moms Demand Action, a grassroots organization. A new organization called Project Shatterproof also set up a booth, working to shed light on the stigma surrounding rape culture and sexual assault. u See ME TOO, page 2
School of anesthesia offers new nursing certificate MONICA BLAKE Sports Reporter @monicablak3 The Missouri State University biomedical sciences department is offering a new nursing certification to students. The Registered Nurse First Assistant is a graduate certificate that helps nurses reach the next level in their career by increasing their breadth of knowledge from registered nurse or advanced-practice nurse to RNFA. According to the MSU website, an RNFA earns more than an RN. The most recent survey by the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses shows that RNFAs make 12.9 percent more than nurses without the certif-
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icate. “It’s for registered nurses who want to expand their role in the operating room by obtaining a certificate in first assisting,” said Cindi Aurentz, an assistant professor involved with the new program. Aurentz said before this year the nursing programs at MSU were limited to bachelor’s for care, master’s for care and doctoral for care. The university has never had a certificate program such as the RNFA certificate. The program takes one year to complete Aurentz explained students will not earn a degree, just the RNFA certificate. In addition to the certificate, they will earn nine credit hours that they can put toward a degree of their choice if they would like.
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“The students will work with a surgeon while they are here on site,” Aurentz said. “We have a medical director who will help them learn the specifics, such as providing exposure and suturing techniques.” Other techniques listed on the website include handling tissue, using instruments and providing hemostasis. The program is very flexible and is aimed at practicing nurses. “The courses will be online, and they will find their own surgeon to do their practicum time with,” Aurentz said. There are 200 required practicum hours that come with the program. These hours must be in a clinical study but can be with a surgeon of their choice.
Aurentz said MSU had planned to get the program started in the fall of 2018. However, they did not finalize everything until late September, so they did not receive any applications. They will start the program in the spring and are expecting enrollment to increase throughout the whole nursing program because of the addition of the RNFA certificate. “We were taking applications until Oct. 1,” Aurentz said. “If we could get a few students in the next few weeks, we would still hold the course for the fall. Otherwise it will start in the spring.” After finishing the program, students will be eligible to take national exams to become certified as an RNFA.
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