Cracking The Code to Costumes Page 5 Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012
“About You, For You”
University of Arkansas Student-Run Newspaper Since 1906
Vol. 107, No. 39
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Beauty And Music
Kayli Farris Senior Staff Writer Unemployment rates are dropping across the nation, and are significantly lower in Arkansas and the northwest Arkansas region, suggesting that the job outlook for students is better locally. For the first time since January 2009, the national unemployment rate fell below 8 percent in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the month of September, the national unemployment rate was 7.8 percent. Arkansas’ unemployment rate for September 2012 was 7.1 percent, while northwest Arkansas’ preliminary figures for August 2012 were 5.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state has had an unemployment rate below the national average for a while, remaining below 8 percent since October 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The northwest Arkansas region fares much better than the rest of the state, as well as the nation, based on the most recent data.
Crystal Bridges Acquires Mark Rothko Painting
Crystal Bridges added Mark Rothko’s “No. 210/ No. 211” to its already vast repertoire of artists. The painting has only been exhibited to the public twice since Rothko painted it in 1960. Full Story, Page 5
Shawn James: A Product of Fayetteville Folk
Shawn James, local Fayetteville folk musician, recently released his first full-length music video “The Shadow” on YouTube. Full Story, Page 5
Mary McKay Staff Photographer A Miss University of Arkansas Scholarship Pageant contestant performs Sunday Oct. 21.
Drug, Sexual Assault and Aggravated Assault Violations Increase at UA
Kayli Farris Senior Staff Writer
The Razorbacks Seek Redemption in the Rock
The Razorbacks return to Little Rock, the site of an overtime defeat by ULM, to face the Ole Miss Rebels Saturday. Full Story, Page 7
Today’s Forecast
79 / 58° Tomorrow Partly Cloudy 81 / 61°
Drug violations increased at the UA in 2011, but liquor violations declined, according to the Clery Report, the annual federally mandated account of campus crime. UAPD released the report, which is drawn from data gathered by campus security policy, campus crime statistics report and the annual fire safety report. The report provides information about calendar years 2009, 2010 and 2011, UAPD spokesman Lt. Gary Crain said. The report contains data from previous years for comparison purposes. Drug law violations have increased in residence halls on campus, Crain said. These offenses are detected by housing staff and reported to the judicial board through a specific chain of command. The rise in drug violations could be attributed to a bettertrained housing staff, allowing them to efficiently detect drug use in residence halls, Crain said. “It could be, in fact, more people were doing it, committing that offense and got caught, and so the number of reports went up on that,” Crain said. The repercussions for drug violation arrests can be devastating, Crain said. A student has to endure an extensive legal process after being arrested, which often includes going to jail, posting bond, attending court and being arraigned, he said. A student also must endure university sanctions if a violation happened on campus,
Crain said. That could mean getting kicked out of the residence hall, or even out of school for the offense. “It’s a serious offense,” Crain said. “Not to mention some occupations — a person may be in a program studying because they want to do a certain job — some of those jobs they won’t be able to do because of that drug arrest and conviction.” Any type of arrest is damaging, Crain said, but students need to understand the rules. “There’s a no-tolerance policy,” Crain said. “Sometimes people just don’t avail themselves to the information that’s out there, and then they get caught and caught up in that, and then it’s a little late.” While drug violations in residence halls rose last year, alcohol violations decreased, according to the Clery Report. A group on campus specializes in bystander intervention in difficult situations involving alcohol and drug abuse. Step Up informs students about how to intervene when a peer might be in trouble, said Mary Alice Serafini, Pat Walker Health Center director. “It also works on the prevention side of not getting in those situations — how to help a friend not get in a situation where they might be at risk for overuse of alcohol, for making a terrible decision because of alcohol or drugs, for exposing themselves to, perhaps, a situation where they might be harmed physically,” Serafini said. A new group, the Substance Education and Alcohol Resource program, involves peer
see INCREASE page 2
After graduating from the UA, many students have been able to find jobs in the current market, though one in five have not. “The latest report we have was for 2010-2011,” said Angela Seawood Williams, director of University Career Development Center. “Fifty-two percent of UA graduates responded to post-graduate placement surveys, and the placement rate for those who responded was 81 percent.” With the lower unemployment rate in the area, more students have jobs while they are in school, because they said it is not difficult to find one. “I have two jobs, actually, an internship and an on-campus job while still taking 15 hours of coursework,” said Sherri Higgins, a senior in agricultural business. “I’ve worked since I was 16, so it’s nothing new to me. Gaining experience in the real world while taking coursework is beneficial for me, personally.” It is an obligation, but one she doesn’t mind having, Higgins said. “How do you expect to get
see JOBS page 3
For Another Story about Employment, See Page 3
Foreign Ambassadors to Experience NWA Hunter Hawk Staff Writer
The State Department will conduct international business meetings in northwest Arkansas this week and in December as a part of their international business program, Experience America. The State Department’s Protocol Chief Capricia Penavic Marshall will be leading the events, the first of a series of trips where the State Department brings ambassadors to experience different parts of the country, according to officials with the State Department. Experience America is organized by the Diplomatic Partnerships Division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol, whose mission is to foster international goodwill and cultivate the relationship between the Diplomatic Corps and the people and institutions of the United States through an exchange of ideas, cultures, and traditions, said Marshall. For three days, as part of its Experience America program, they will take the 45 ambassadors all around Arkansas to meet with local political leaders in Little Rock, Fayetteville and Bentonville to explore the state’s historical and cultural landmarks. The meetings started Sunday and continue through Wednesday. After the meeting in Little Rock Monday, today, they will travel to Fayetteville to visit the UA campus and later that night travel to Bentonville to tour Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,
according to the DemocratGazette. Former President Bill Clinton, whose meetings will not take place until December, is set to meet with about 40 heads of state in Little Rock for a gathering of the Club de Madrid, an international organization of former heads of state. President Clinton’s event will be Dec. 16-19 and will include events at the Clinton Presidential Center.
MARSHALL Details for both trips in December are still being worked out and itineraries are uncertain, said officials with the William J. Clinton Foundation, the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the state Economic Development Commission. “While not bringing huge amounts of dollars to the state’s hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions, the benefits to Arkansas are bountiful,” said Jordan Johnson, spokesman for the Clinton Foundation. The Oct. 21-24 event will be hosted by the State Department and includes about 45 ambassadors accompanied
with their spouses and staff members, said Gretchen Hall, president and chief executive of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. The “magnitude” of the events will focus national and international attention on Little Rock and Arkansas, Hall said. “It will absolutely help our profile. It’s tremendous,” she said. With so many power brokers from around the world descending on the state, the moment to impress is now, said Grant Tennille, executive director of the state’s Economic Development Commission. “Arkansas always exceeds expectations,” Tennille said. “You take every opportunity you can to spread the word about Arkansas as far and wide as we’re able to.” Some of the former leaders in Club de Madrid are businessmen. Representatives from the agency will have table discussions for both meetings to promote the state of Arkansas as an international business destination. “We look at an opportunity to showcase our state and our people and what we do here, particularly the things we do very well.” Tennille acknowledged that the Clinton’s connection to Arkansas influenced and made both international business meetings possible. When Gov. Mike Beebe traveled to China this summer he noted that: “Everybody in China knows two things about Arkansas: the president and the secretary and they know Walmart. It’s an enormous calling card for us.”