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THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
EXCELLENCE SINCE 1909
THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT-PRODUCED NEWSPAPER
National Resources -LGBTQ Student Resource -Human Rights Campaign -The Advocate -Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation -The Trevor Project -It Gets Better Project -AfterEllen -We Give a Damn -Genderfork -Autostraddle -Queerty -Orientation FAQs
State Resources -Pride STL -LGBT Center of STL -Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays KC -Pride KC
Local Resources -Truman Safe Zone Program -Women’s Resource Center -University Counseling Services Source: prism.truman.edu
Students discuss frustrations with stagnation of LGBTQ Resource Center By Kira Hintz Staff Writer
Editors Note: This is part one of a two-part series showcasing various perspectives on the issues surrounding the stagnation of the LGBTQ resource center. Part two will contain the administrative and faculty perspective. After numerous attempts to introduce an LGBTQ resource center to Truman State University’s campus, members of Prism and other LGBTQ students are frustrated because the University continues to postpone the project. In addition, they are concerned as to how Truman’s reputation is possibly affected by the lack of an official and professional space for the LGBTQ community. Prism president Shawn White said Prism started its first LGBTQ resource center proposal during 2014. White said at the beginning of this school year he wanted Prism to help with the LGBTQ resource center. After finding out committees for the proposal hadn’t been formed yet, White said he emailed student government again but never received an email back. White said some members of Prism have been upset about the proposal being at a standstill with no new information. White said more people would probably be upset if they knew about the potential presence of an LGBTQ resource center. Although the resource center has been discussed at Prism meetings, White said not every LGBTQ student can come to every meeting, which affects knowledge about the project. “I felt like I didn’t have enough information to share, and I didn’t want to frustrate people,” White said. Despite the proposal’s fate being unknown, White said Prism has had good experiences working with the University on addressing LGBTQ issues and most people are supportive. White said he thinks an LGBTQ resource center would be a wonderful way to provide support for LGBTQ people at Truman. White said it could help bring an option of comfort to people who might feel uncomfortable or shy about a community environment like Prism. Senior Christy Crouse, vice president of Student Senate, said there have been efforts from Student Government to start a resource center for the past few years. Crouse said Truman’s administration wanted to see a plan for the LGBTQ resource center, and with that they could potentially move the project forward and agreed to let Student Government take over the project. Crouse said after conducting camVOLUME 108
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pus-wide surveys and putting in a resolution through Student Government, it seemed like there were no people pushing hard enough to find a space and make the center. Included in that resolution, Crouse said, was Student Government’s hope of pursuing the implementation of it by spring 2016. Crouse said Student Government kept having discussions with people on campus, but it seemed like no one could find a space. Crouse said the Women’s Resource Center was spoken with as well but they preferred to not be in the same space, although they would love to work and do programming with an LGBTQ resource center. It was this lack of available space, Crouse said, that ended up being the biggest roadblock in making the project tangible.
“It just felt like we were working on this project but it was really difficult to put all the pieces together without a group who knew that they wanted to be sustaining that resource center.” -Senior Chirsty Crouse, vice president of Student Senate
“In the end, I found, as I was ending my year as Diversity Chair, if we can’t find a space, what do we do?” Crouse said. “And it didn’t seem like anyone that we could find was stepping up to give us a space to put it. And I think a lot of that was they were like, ‘We want more details about all the programming provided’ and all those kind of things. And it was almost out of our league as Student Senate since we knew we weren’t going to be the ones staffing it. It just felt like we were working on this project but it was really difficult to put all the pieces together without a group who knew that they wanted to be sustaining that resource center. So I think it was really difficult for us [the Student Senate] to feel like we could bring the entire project to an end as just us.” Having become vice president of Student Government this year, Crouse said she decided at the beginning of this year they had passed the resolution at the end of last year with all the data but it had to be a stopping point for their involvement. “And then we realized ... that is as tmn.truman.edu
far as we could do.” Crouse said. “We made the student voice heard but we can’t fix all these logistic things when we have no power to do so,” Crouse said. “It was disheartening in the end that we couldn’t get it done, but then the Implementation Committee came about. We put [the LGBTQ resource center] into their hands and trusted that eventually that would get implemented, but haven’t kept, you know, super tabs on all of the things that the Implementation Committee is doing.” Being a member of Student Government who’s very invested in the LGBTQ resource center, Crouse said she can see reasons why Truman might not have pushed it forward yet. Crouse said Truman is facing budget cuts, and resources are slim. When looking at the current situation, Crouse said, the Truman administration doesn’t want to be adding an extra center. Another reason, Crouse said, is finding out whose jurisdiction it falls under to say the center can happen and finding people at Truman who will make it a lasting fixture. Crouse said a huge selling point when Student Government was putting its resolution for the project forward was Prism adviser Sherri Palmer and Prism’s offer to self-fund it. Crouse said the University might be reluctant about a self-funded resource center because in years to come people might not be as enthusiastic about funding it. “I can see [Truman] being kind of wary of just leaving it up to people and people like [Palmer] who are very generous but, you know, maybe won’t want to be dedicating a lot of time and funds forever,” Crouse said. “It’s just those kind of like longevity, logistical things that [Truman] could still have a problem with. But I will definitely say that Truman should have done [the LGBTQ resource center] a long time ago... I do think a group of students, in my perception, the entire student body, since we have taken a survey of everyone and have gotten the data from everyone, want this.” Crouse said she thinks the idea of an LGBTQ resource center is feasible, and she continues to support the project, although Student Government might have to stay on the sidelines for now.
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Police chief takes over as interim fire chief By Spencer Foust Staff Writer
After firing former fire chief Tom Collins at the end of March, Kirksville seeks a replacement to lead its fire department. City manager Mari Macomber is in charge of the search, and when an interim fire chief was needed in the meantime, Macomber was also responsible for hiring Kirksville Police Chief Jim Hughes. When asked if the city had planned to bring Hughes in before they had officially fired Collins, Macomber declined to comment. Macomber said the city already has an eye on a replacement candidate — Jon Cook, the fire department’s deputy chief. Macomber said the city wants to promote from within the department. Macomber said for now, Cook is still a relatively young member of the department. Before he would be ready to take on the role of chief, Macomber said Cook would need to learn some of the leadership skills Hughes is there to provide. Macomber said this is one of Hughes biggest roles — pruning the fire department’s staff for leadership. Hughes said he was approached with the offer to take over as interim fire chief a few days prior to Collins’ firing. Hughes has served as a police officer for more than 39 years. After serving in Boulder, Colorado, for 25 years and retiring as a deputy chief, Hughes came to Kirksville to serve as chief in 2003 and has been here ever since. This is his second full week as the interim fire chief. “As an interim manager of the department, Hughes’ role is to organize the department and leave it in a state that’s easily manageable for whoever takes charge — whenever that might be. See INTERIM FIRE CHIEF on page 4
Appeals court rules in favor of Neighbors United By Nicolas Telep ‘Staff Writer
In what is being called a victory for local landowners, a Missouri appeals court ruled against Ameren Illinois in a decision regarding the proposed Mark Twain Transmission Project. The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District handed down the decision March 28. The court sided with the nonprofit organization Neighbors United, which is comprised of people who live or own land in the path of the proposed powerline. Ameren, an Illinois-based utilities corporation, had been given a conditional certificate of convenience and necessity from the Missouri Public Service Commission to build the transmission line from Palmyra, Missouri, to a substation near Kirksville by way of Marion, Shelby, Knox and Adair counties. The transmission line would continue from Kirksville through Schuyler County to the Iowa border. Neighbors United claimed the transmission line would be unconstitutional under Missouri’s “Right to Farm” Amendment because the structures and the 100-foot right-of-way would interfere with farming and ranching along the route, according to the court’s written decision. The initial PSC hearing, held January 2016, ended with the PSC approving the construction project under the condition that the project was approved by all the counties it was to be built in. Both parties applied for a rehearing, with Ameren Illinois saying the county approval condition was unnecessary and Neighbors United claiming that county approval was a mandatory prerequisite for the project. Both rehearing requests were denied, but Neighbors United appealed to the Western District. The Western District sided with Neighbors United, saying in the decision that the PSC should never have granted the certificate to Ameren Illinois without evidence of approval from all the affected counties. This means the Adair County Board of Commissioners would need to vote to approve the line’s current proposed route through Kirksville. @TrumanMediaNet
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