THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS’ STUDENT NEWSPAPER
SINGLE COPY PAID FOR BY STUDENT PUBLICATION FEE
WEDNESDAY
APRIL 16, 2014 Volume 107 — Issue 12
ucaecho.net 4 TODAY’S FORECAST CONWAY
Opinion:
Campus Life:
Campus should inspire students to get involved with university affairs 4 page 3
Holocaust liberator speaks about experiences
Voice:
History:
Football:
Spring scrimmage shows hope for 2014 season 4 page 7
4 page 4
Courtway dismisses Baker questions at ‘Talk’ Coke fund allocation voted down FA C U LT Y S E N AT E
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4 THE ONLINE WIRE FROM UCAECHO.NET
Scroll release party date set for April 23 The UCA Scroll staff will host a release party for the Scroll yearbook at 11-4 p.m. April 23 in the amphitheater. In case of inclement weather, the event will move to the Student Center Ballroom. Yearbooks are free to all UCA students.
The Echo staff wins awards at conference The Echo received two awards at the 2014 Society of Professional Journalists Conference in Fayetteville on April 12. Senior Spencer Griffin won awards in news and sports writing for his work on UCA’ s “Scoreboard” broadcast. Three sessions were held throughout the event including “Monthly Media Goes Digital”, a discussion on online journalism given by National Geographic Digital News Director Dan Gilgoff, “Data Tools for Journalists”, a talk about making spreadsheets readable to audiences by Arkansas DemocratGazette reporter Chad Day and “Talking about Science and the Environment”, a panel discussion on science reporting. In total, The Echo had six SPJ nominations.
UCA receives $100,000 scholarship fund Bell & Company has established a $100,000 scholarship fund for graduate students earning an accounting degree in the UCA master of accountancy program. Bell & Company is a regional certified public accounting and business advisory firm located in Conway and North Little Rock. President and CEO Richard Bell started the Stephens Bell Endowed Scholarship to “give back to public education” according to a university press release.
College of Business holds BearCamp Conway The UCA College of Business and the Center for Community and Economic Development held Central Arkansas’ fourth BearCamp Conway at 8 a.m. April 12 in the College of Business degree. The event focused on information technology professionals, entrepreneurs and people interested in business startups in an effort to help in building a technology community in Central Arkansas.
by Brandon Riddle
WEEKDAYS AT 4:30 P.M.
Questions relating to former Executive Assistant to the President Gilbert Baker’s resignation went unanswered during the Campus Talk on April 13 in the Student Center Ballroom. President Tom Courtway declined to comment on the Baker questions provided prior to the event from anonymous submissions. Following the Campus Talk, Associate Vice President of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing Christina Madsen said Courtway was unable to address personnel issues and that he responded to a question about who is on executive staff. One questioner asked, “The [Little Rock] paper [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette] described Gilbert Baker as moving to become a professor of music. Did music have an open faculty line to pay for this? Where is his salary coming from?” Apart from the questions relating to Baker’s resignation
D E AT H
IN OUR NEXT ISSUE
University plans to purchase Papa John’s restaurant on Donaghey Avenue
Torreyson Library Academic Technician Addie Coleman Bailey, 46, died April 9 after a blood clot formed in her heart a little over a week after she was Addie Coleman Bailey released Addie Coleman Bailey from UAMS M e d i c a l Center. Bailey was being treated for a stroke she suffered March 20. Bailey’s funeral service will be at God’s House of Prayer in Newport at 11 a.m. April 19. Bailey graduated from UCA with a bachelor of business administration, coming back a few years later to become a Torreyson Library employee. A Facebook album published by the University of Northern Texas’s Department of Library and Information Services features a biography of Bailey in which she writes that she is “pursuing a [masters of library and information science] degree” and that she “can’t think of any other field of study [she] would rather be a part of than becoming a librarian.”
by Austin DuVall News Editor
went off campus to do highway cleanup and volunteer with the Community Action Program for Central Arkansas (CAPCA), a program emphasizing selfreliance and involvement. Despite the complications with volunteer turnout, Thompson said having more than 50 percent show up met her expectation, especially in the event’s first year. “I feel like April is a time that is really, really busy for students and for everybody that is winding down in the semester and getting stressed out about exams,” she said. “I feel we had a great turnout.” During the first day of work April 11, volunteers picked up trash, cleaned the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve, planted beds, weeded, swept trash and assisted university custodians. Thompson said an area was available at the amphitheater for the campus community to create
The UCA Faculty Senate declined a proposal April 8 using a $25,000 fund allocation from Coca-Cola for a $11,000, two-year subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education, matching grants totaling $10,000 for faculty through the Instructional Development Center (IDC), and a $4,000 fall senate retreat. According to the recommendation from the senate’s executive committee, the Chronicle of Education is “the leading source of news, information and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators.” Torreyson Library has access to print content through digital access, but does not have access to the web content, which is updated daily. The print content dates back to 1998. By spending $11,000 on a two-year site license, UCA faculty would have unrestricted access through university computers. According to the proposal, the benefits of this spending would include no need for passwords, logins or user names and the text from each print issue would be posted on Mondays without any delay. Daily web updates, new media extras and a searchable archive would also be included in the subscription. The matching funds given to the IDC would be awarded to faculty on a competitive basis, determined by the IDC using the center’s guidelines and timelines for proposal development, submission and reporting. Funds would be awarded through the next academic year. Any leftover funds would be rolled over into the 2015-16 year. The proposed fall retreat for senators would be held on campus either before or just after the beginning of the next school year with services provided by an external conference facilitator. If approved, senators would spend retreat time setting priorities, organizing standing committees and be updated by UCA administrators and other faculty members. After the executive recommendation was denied, several faculty senators requested that the next proposal include more specific information about how the money would be spent. Earlier in the meeting, during a comment session held by Provost Steven Runge, Assistant Tuba and Euphonium Professor and Faculty Senator Christian Carichner asked Runge about concerns brought to him by constituents involving former Executive Assistant to the President Gilbert Baker’s new position within the music department. Carichner asked what the justification was behind Baker’s $50,000 salary when “the last several assistant professor lines have been significantly lower than that,” where the money was coming from and if that would impact department positions in the future. Runge said he “conducted a review of the salaries in the department, looked at other
Student government reviews university fees Faculty and staff representatives from three important student fees – library fee, student health center fees and student publication fees – presented before the Student Government Association Student Fee Advisory Committee to discuss the budgeting for fiscal year
See Fees - page 2
See Event - page 2
See Coke - page 2
photo by Jared Holt
Junior Bryce Crabb digs up a mound of daffodils to be transplanted to the Conway bike trail during his group’s community service project during the SGA Big Event. His group managed to collect an estimated 2,000 daffodils while other groups participated in various community outreach programs in and around Conway.
SGA’s Big Event brings out generosity in campus community by Brandon Riddle Editor
The inaugural Big Event on April 11-12, a UCA Student Government Association project, sent members of the UCA community to participate in various acts of generosity and support in Conway. Sophomore Kaitlyn Thompson, Big Event coordinator, said the nationwide event, though new to UCA, acts as a community service project to create a meaningful impact on residents and the UCA campus. “We attended a conference on student government at Texas A&M university and we brought the event back from that conference that we attended and made it a goal of SGA for this year to have the event every year,” she said. The SGA Big Event committee worked throughout the semester to plan for the two-day event that featured volunteer efforts such as campus cleanup, yard work, renovations and cleaning.
Contact Us: 3 4
Senators argue over Baker’s new 50K salary
News Editor
Index: 2
$50,000 salary. The questioner added, “Tenure ensures academic freedom not unethical employees to continue at an institution.” Purchasing Director Cassandra McCuien-Smith answered a question about having to use Choice Promotions as a source for products and vendors. The submission states, “I know a certain percentage of our vendors have to be minority, but I don’t think they all have to be minority vendors.” The anonymous questioner added that Office Depot is more convenient and efficient than Choice Promotions. Faculty Senate member Amber Wilson spoke at the event about current senate goals. Media Relations Director Fredricka Sharkey said the event, traditionally filmed for social media, wasn’t recorded last week due to a smaller student staff at the end of the semester. Anyone can submit anonymous questions for Campus Talk, which is held throughout every semester on campus, to uca.edu/answers. An answer archive can also be found on the website.
by Austin DuVall
Assistant News Editor
4 WHAT’S AHEAD
a political career. Following his resignation, Baker became a tenured faculty member in the music department April 2. He was granted tenure status in 2012 in addition to his executive position in the President’s Office. “Every year [Tyson] gets offers to leave UCA,” the submission states. “Baker hasn’t taught in years. It isn’t like riding a bike. I would hate to lose Tyson and keep Baker. A tragedy for our students and our music program – which has already seen a black eye in [former music department chair Jeffery Jarvis]. I can’t believe you would try to censor student art and let a snake like Baker stay.” Another submission, also relating to his tenure status in the music department, stated, “Mr. Baker should not be allowed to continue at UCA. As a member of the campus community for almost 20 years (at a salary far less than $132,000), I and my colleagues work hard every day to make UCA the great educational institution it is.” In his executive position, Baker made $132,000. As a ninemonth music professor, he has a
PROJECTS
Staffer suffers fatal blood clot
by Laura Landers
Online at ucaecho.net/broadcast
and new title as music professor, a submission related to the time each Campus Talk is held throughout the semester was asked. “Why is a talk designed for faculty/staff input set at 10 a.m. on a [Wednesday]? This is prime teaching time, the submission states. “Don’t mistake likely low turnout on [April] 9 for apathy from the academics on campus. The real business of UCA is being carried out at 10 a.m. Why not an x-period or a late afternoon MWF [Monday, Wednesday or Friday] slot? “I am profoundly disappointed with the president, provost [Steve Runge], faculty and board of trustees for allowing Mr. Baker to stay at this institution,” another anonymous submission states. “It’s a slap in the face to the faculty and staff who come to work every day, work hard, and don’t create ‘distractions’.” The questioner added that percussion instructor Blake Tyson should have been included as a factor in the music department. Baker was a percussion instructor at UCA before he left to pursue
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“Big Event is an event where the University of Central Arkansas students, staff and faculty members along with the Conway community can unite in a campus-wide effort for two days to impact our community,” according to SGA’s website. Thompson serves as committee chair and said Big Event took an extra step in building a relationship with people outside of UCA’s campus. “We feel like it’s important for the community to accept UCA students as part of their community,” she said. Twenty-three community service jobs were completed Friday, April 11, and 17 jobs were completed Saturday, April 12, according to SGA. On Friday, 235 of 383 volunteers signed up participated while 176 of 359 worked in the community Saturday. Thompson said about 200 students were assigned to volunteer for projects on campus and other students
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More respect needed between students living in residence halls
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