THE
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
M I S S O U R I
S T A T E
U N I V E R S I T Y More than 100 years in print
Volume 107, Issue 22 | the-standard.org The Standard/The Standard Sports
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Save money and the environment? MSU will drink to that
Reusable cup program coming soon to PSU restaurants near you By Sadie Welhoff The Standard
Most people would love to do more to help the environment, and MSU is giving students the opportunity. The Student Government Association will be selling reusable cups that students can use to get refills at restaurants in the PSU. SGA Director of Sustainability Max Wagner said he wanted to do something that would help reduce paper cup waste on campus. With all the paper cups for soda being sold in the PSU, Wagner said he thought reusable soda containers would appeal the most to students. After brainstorming ideas, he contacted Dining Services to get involved with the project. They had different ideas on how
to market the cups to students. Giving a discount every time a student used the cup might have been too logistically difficult for PSU workers. They settled on selling the cup to students for $29.99, which will give students free refills for one semester. The students who purchase the cups will get a sticker on their Bear Pass cards. The only drinks the students will not be able to get with the reusable cups are the tea and lemonade at Chick-fil-A. “My vision for this program is to revolutionize how you get your drinks on campus,” Wagner said. SGA is still deciding on the release date when students can buy the cups. Since it will be well into the semester, the fee for this semester will be pro-rated.
Punch cards will also be available for students participating in the programs. Once they fill up the punch cards, they will win a prize. Wagner said the punch cards would hopefully engage people and make them want to continuously use the cup. College students always have money on their minds, but Wagner said frequent soda consumers would make up the money easily in a semester. “I would argue you could look at the long term effects,” Wagner said. If you go to the PSU three times a week for lunch and get a soda for $1.59, with 18 weeks in a semester, you would spend $85.86 on soda for the semester. That price does not include all the times students go for a needed caffeine fix to stay up late to study. Photo courtesy of Max Wagner/THE STANDARD Students who get combo meals The proposed design of the reusable cup. can still use the cup and save money on the overall meal. a small way for students and still this week. The design is based on Wagner said a program like this have a positive impact. SGA has cups Dining Services used for their would incorporate sustainability in ordered the cups, which will be here staff.
Academic integrity guidelines can be confusing to decode Ambiguity, student assumptions, lack teacher explanations are common culprits for confusion By Trevor Mitchell The Standard
Evan Henningsen/THE STANDARD
Academic integrity violations such as plagarism can result in an XF for the student.
Understanding academic integrity can be a fine line to walk for both students and teachers. Sure, looking up answers on an iPhone during a test is clearly out of the question, and there’s no one arguing that writing a cheat sheet on your arm might be okay. But what happens when you get into a more gray area, one that isn’t covered by the class syllabus? Tom Tomasi, associate dean in the graduate college, wants these situations to be cleared up. “We probably get between 50-100 violations a semester,” Tomasi said. But those are only the ones that are reported by teachers, although the university’s policy states that all violations should be reported. “Sometimes it’s a matter of not understanding what our policy says. Some of them are afraid of some kind of retaliation by the students. Sometimes they’re afraid
it’ll get out. “There’s also a misperception in some teachers that if they report it that the student will appeal it, and just get off. So they don’t have to worry about that if they don’t report it.” However, student appeals are rare — as few as 10 percent even attempt to appeal, according to Tomasi, and maybe 1 percent will actually win. He believes the cause of this to be the confusion on the student side about academic integrity. “The form the teacher gives them that says ‘Here’s what I accused you of, here’s what my sanction is going to be,’ it says to go to the Academic Integrity website to find out what your appeal rights are. “That website is probably on every syllabus you’ve ever gotten. But who goes to read it?” Another considerable problem is the difference between the university policies and individual class policies, according to
Tomasi. “We don’t say anything in the university policy about whether you can use a calculator on a test. Class policies are more defined.” When this combines with student assumptions, misunderstandings occur. “Maybe a student took the same class the previous semester and didn’t do well in it, but the teacher allowed them to use a calculator, so they just assumed it’s okay.” Tomasi also mentioned collaboration on group assignments as one of the cases he’s seen before with a gray area, with students having different interpretations of how similar their answers can be. He said that in some of these cases, the council would likely see that the student’s thought process was logical, an appeal would be granted — and also that most successful appeals come from issues like this. Less successful are the students who use “creative studying,” as Tomasi referred to it. “We had a case where a textbook company had a website that the teachers could post quizzes on, and u See INTEGRITY, page 10
Sunvilla Tower shutting down for renovations, other residence halls staying open for remodeling By Annie Gooch The Standard
Sunvilla Tower has major plans for renovations and will be taken off the grid during the 2014-15 school year. Gary Stewart, director of Residence Life, Housing and Dining Services, said that Sunvilla Tower was built in 1963, the same year the zip
code system was introduced in the United States. “We’re really excited,” Stewart said. “It’s got great bones. It’ll be good to put new life into it.” Tenants currently living at Sunvilla will have to find different living accommodations for the following academic year while the outdated building gets improvements. But
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Stewart has assured the students they will have first right to apply to other buildings to stay on campus. He said among the proposed renovation plans, they hope to include a new roof, an installed sprinkler system, updated heating, ventilation and remodeled kitchens. u See RENOVATION, page 10
Raven Kohlenberger/THE STANDARD
Kentwood Hall, one of the buildings up for renovation.
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