Bulldogs run away with eighth win
Leftist gun advocate visits campus, page 5 Inside the Kirk Building, page 7 Women’s soccer goes to GLVC quarterfinals, page 13
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Truman State University tmn.truman.edu THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019
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Faculty medical insurance to change Jan. 1 BRITTANY CONLEY Staff Writer
Truman State University’s faculty medical insurance plan changes will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020. Dave Rector, vice president for Administration, Finance and Planning, said the medical insurance covers faculty, staff and their dependents. Faculty Senate President Scott Alberts said Faculty Senate didn’t vote on the insurance change and that it was
done by the administration. “The staff is self-insured, meaning that the money they pay in stays within an account at Truman,” Alberts said. “They pay a company a fee to manage benefits. If the collective faculty and staff are particularly healthy in a particular year, their rates will go down or up but mostly it tends to even out.” Sally Herleth, executive director of Human Resources, said there will be minimal disruptions in terms of providers and pharmacy options.
Herleth said there was a push for change because Human Resources typically go out to bid every five years or so. This helps to ensure that they are providing the best benefits possible and employees are getting the best deal in terms of costs. “The fact that we will not be increasing premiums beginning 2020 has been well received. The impact of the change will not be fully realized until we make the switch,” Herleth said. “They recently did a bid to make
UNIVERSITY FARM EXPERIENCES POOR GROWING SEASON ORIELLE HEILICHER Contributing Writer
The Truman State University Farm had a worse growing season than usual, preventing the farm from providing its normal amount of food for the Kirksville community and Sodexo this season. The University Farm produces an average of 5,000 pounds of produce each year, University Farm Manager Bill Kuntz said. This season, however, was not as successful as past seasons because growing conditions were not ideal because of the wet spring and early summer, Kuntz said. Both Sheila Swafford, operations manager for the Pantry for Adair County, and John Stewart, Sodexo director of dining services, confirmed the lack of produce, especially sweet corn. Stewart said the University Farm only provided peppers and potatoes this year, as opposed to its usual high variety of vegetables. Kuntz said the University Farm is mostly used for education purposes, such as teaching students about farming and its intricacies, but it also produces fruits and vegetables that are given back to the community. Kirksville is the fourth most impoverished community in Missouri, with a large population of food insecure people. The Pantry for Adair County opened in July of last year with a mission to help the food insecure population of Kirksville by providing food for low-income households once a month, Lisa Ahrens, board president of the Pantry for Adair County, said. The pantry provided food for 425 residents in the month of October. With the help of Kuntz, the pantry was given a plot of land at the University Farm to grow food for the local community at no cost, Ahrens said. “This year, 2019, we had our first farm and Truman gave us the space to
The farm produces an average of 5,000 pounds of produce each year. The farm had a worse growing season than usual, preventing the farm from providing its normal amount of food. Photo by Orielle Heilicher
do that,” Ahrens said. “Bill was so helpful to help us, like some of the volunteers that don’t know a lot about gardening, he was like, ‘This is what you wanna do,’ so very helpful.” The farm provides varying amounts
of produce based on each season’s yield, Swafford said. She said a lot of the times she couldn’t weigh the produce because it was so heavy. See FARM page 3
Truman receives Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance Grant MATT FRANK Staff Writer
Truman State University was given a $10,000 Grant. The TRIM grant is given to several government entities and nonprofit groups for the care of publicly owned trees. Photo by Emily Johnson
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 9 © 2019
The Missouri Department of Conservation awarded Truman State University the $10,000 Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance Grant. The TRIM Grant is given to several government entities and nonprofit groups for the care of publicly owned trees. Truman will also need to match the amount of the grant, but this can be done through an in-kind match, which means the money put toward paying the grounds workers to implement the improvements can be counted as part of the match, University Comptroller Mike Garzaneli said. There are several improvements planned for the tree population on campus. “The grant money is primarily going to be focused on proper pruning and teaching people how to take care
of trees,” Campus Planner Lori Shook said. “There are also a few trees that will be removed due to health and age.” The TRIM Grant can be used for improvements on the current trees on campus, such as pruning them and making sure the trees’ limbs will not fall, improving the safety of those who walk under the trees, Shook said. Another application of the grant is the removal of dead trees, however, it is required to replace all removed trees with native species. A third use of the grant is to educate those who will be working on the trees. The third use of the money from the grant will be used to bring in a local arborist to teach the grounds crew how to properly trim and prune the trees on campus in a way that will keep the trees healthy, Shook said. See TRIM page 6
sure the current company, Aetna, was giving us the best price on the package,” Rector said. Rector said there were several proposals, but the best one was from Anthem. The coverage will be the same and there will be no increase in price. Had the school stayed with Aenta, the cost to the University and employees would have gone up.
Hong Kong protests spark debate RACHEL BECKER News, Photo Editor Ongoing protests in Hong Kong, China, have garnered attention in the U.S., and even students at Truman State University are taking a stand. The New York Times reported on Oct. 3, “The protests started as peaceful marches and rallies against an unpopular bill [that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China]. Then came dozens of rounds of tear gas and a government that refused to back down. In the following weeks and months, the city was roiled by protests and violent clashes as the demonstrations morphed into a broader movement about political reforms and holding the police accountable.” The Times reported that the protests escalated after the police shot a protestor with a live round the same day China was celebrating 70 years of Communist Party rule. Also on the same day, protesters collided with police officers in at least nine districts, turning Hong Kong into a “tear gas-engulfed battlefield.” Young Americans for Liberty set up a table in McClain Hall Friday, Nov. 1 and handed out “Free Hong Kong” buttons. “[Our intent was to] both bring awareness to the situation in Hong Kong and identify other students on campus who are passionate about spreading freedom,” Naomi Mathew, Missouri State chair for YAL, said. Mathew said YAL was concerned with the Chinese government oppressing Hong Kong protestors and taking away their autonomy. A problem people had with their table was that the YAL students were not from Hong Kong, Mathew said. “The people in Hong Kong want our help and our support,” Mathew said. “The protestors are out there waving American flags, saying that they want support from people in the United States.” Mathew said she did not expect the organization’s stance to be controversial, and that YAL didn’t expect to encounter an opposing side. “Whether you are Republican or Democrat, standing up for freedom and the right to free speech should be a non-controversial issue,” Mathew said. At one point there were six people crowding around the YAL table, arguing civilly, Mathew said, however, they were preventing YAL from talking to students. Eventually, a crowd of about 30 people was counter-protesting the free Hong Kong table, Mathew recalled. The counter-protestors set up an opposing table, displaying the Chinese flag. See HONG KONG page 6