The University News 2011 Celebrating 90 Years as a Student Voice of Saint Louis University
unewsonline.com
Vol. XCI No. 14
Thursday, December 8, 2011
THE BEST AND WORST
The University News takes a look at the pop culture from this year >> ARTS
MITCHELL JOINS MILLENIUM CLUB
Billikens roll past Vermont >> SPORTS
Night shift: A new method for safety
Rankings urged for Whelan Security contract terminated, student employees to work overnight SLU Madrid By JONATHAN ERNST Editor-in-Chief
An improved swipe card system, 500 surveillance cameras and a new Communication Center for monitoring campus are not the only methods of campus security, as students are now being called to work the night shifts at residence halls next semester. The transition, announced in an email to students living on campus from Director of Housing and Residence Life Joshua Walehwa on Monday, Dec. 5, met the campus community with a mix of re-
sponses, as Whelan Security will be replaced by student workers, effective Jan. 14. Under this new staffing system, most residence halls, excluding Griesedieck and Reinert halls, will be without a desk attendant from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the student hours will be shifted to the evening. The decision was made at the senior leadership level at the University, according to Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield. “There is no reason why students can’t provide the same type of services as Whelan now that there are back up services for them–cameras
in the lobbies, cameras at the exterior–we have a system that I believe works very well,” Porterfield said. “If you traveled around, I think you would find that the most common way of staffing residence halls is from students. I am of the opinion that students can provide that service and do it very well.” Since 2007, Whelan Security, a private security service, has been contracted by the University to monitor the residence halls during the late-night shifts from 10 p.m. See “Security” on Page 3
By NOAH BERMAN Foreign Desk Chief
Curtis Wang / Multimedia Director
Freshman Xavier Turner passes RA and desk attendant, Junior Cat Costello, on his way into Griesedieck Hall.
Stress, stimulants may form a dangerous combo Caffeine consumption per student 35
Based on a survey conducted by The Univeristy News. 170 SLU students responded.
30
PERCENT
25 20 15 10 5 Kelly Hinderberger / Associate Photo Editor
Junior Mary Anderson uses caffeine to aid in her studying at Pius XII Memorial Library. By PATRICK OLDS Associate News Editor
As the semester races to an inescapable deadline, students of higher education will begin to feel the stress mounting. That stress will subsequently impact the way stimulants, such as caffeine and prescription medication, are used to deal with the problem of procrastination. “I cannot get through classes without the assistance of caffeine,” freshman Tim Cornelius, a business management and American studies major, said. The University News conducted a poll of 170 students from freshmen to graduate students. They were asked about their stress levels and how they dealt with stress on a daily basis, as well as during
exams. symptoms such as migraine According to the survey, headaches. 48 percent reported that their “It depends on the dose, stress is either overwhelming but the problem, currently, or is suffered daily. is that caffeine is taken in Though caffeine is a regularly used substance on college campuses to help treat sleepiness or general Caffeine is not clasifatigue, there are negative addictive, like side effects that hinge on cally the degree of usage. street drugs, but it gets The University News survey results showed 70 per- to the point where peocent of respondents report- ple feel like they have to ing that they use caffeine use it in order to funcfrom a few times a week up tion. to multiple times daily. Anthony J. Scalzo, profes- - Anthony J. Scalzo sor and Director of the Division of Toxicology at SLU and the medical director at such concentrated doses that the Missouri Poison Center, it makes it difficult to know said that excessive caffiene one’s limit,” Scalzo said. “Cafintake can produce depen- feine is not classically addicdency, and in turn, withdrawal tive, like street drugs, but it
“
”
0
2+ Times Per Day
Everyday Few times per week
gets to the point where people feel like they have to use it in order to function.” Scalzo said that in addition to migraines, caffeine can set off a number of other sideeffects, such as nausea, dehydration, feeling jittery and the inability to fall asleep or settle down. Scalzo said the other danger is that when students are high on caffeine, they are unable to fall asleep at bedtime. Students might turn to over-the-counter or prescription sedatives to calm them down or to fall asleep, which, oftentimes, can be unpredictable. Along with caffeine, a stimulant that has become more prevalent among college campuses is the use of prescription medication, such as Adderall and Ritalin,
When Necessary
Never
without a doctor’s approval. These drugs are known as amphetamines and methylphenidates. They are mainly used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The University News survey showed that 64 percent of respondents reported that they have never used prescription stimulants and never will. The rest of the respondents reported having at least tried using it semi-regularly, for tests and exams. According to Dr. Miggie Greenberg, assistant professor of psychiatry, about 5 percent of adults are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but the market is full of stimulants. She said that stimulants are over-prescribed in certain cases and under-prescribed See “Stimulants” on Page 3
Students speak out against CSO review process stumps senate speaker approval system Five-hour SGA meeting ends in vetoing of bills By EMILY CAVALIERE Enterprise Editor
and GABRIELLE GREER Staff Writer
A cross section of Saint Louis University student groups have criticized SLU’s policy regarding the invitation of outside speakers to campus, stating that the University’s guidelines can either prevent a worthwhile speaker from being invited, or, in some cases, they are not given specific reasons why such speakers were rejected. In addition, they said that SLU’s response time was often less than desirable, forcing them to scramble to put into place alternative plans when their original choices were deemed unsuitable. “Everything [about the policy] is confusing and hypocritical,” sophomore Eric Behna, vice president of education and public advocacy for a campus Chartered Student Organization, said. Behna, who requested that his CSO remain anonymous, said his group ran into difficulties with SLU administrators in early October when he was about to schedule an
event on campus. “The event was approved last year, and we submitted the speakers when school started,” Behna said. Behna said an executive with Kacie Starr Triplett, a housing group whose territory includes much of St. Louis, agreed to speak at the campus event. Behna said her primary topic was scheduled to be about the number of city residents who currently live in substandard housing, the ramifications of such circumstances and what role the SLU community can play in helping to alleviate the problem. Behna said he “resubmitted” her name to the Student Involvement Center about three weeks before the event. He said he had not received word from the SIC on the status of Triplett’s approval. “One and a half or two weeks before, the president [of the CSO] heard it through the grapevine that our speaker hadn’t been approved,” Behna said. While not directly addressing Behna’s assertions, SLU Manager of Operations of the Student Involvement Center See “Policy” on Page 3
By KRISTEN MIANO Associate News Editor
After five hours of debate and discussion, the Student Government Association meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 7 halted when all decisions regarding bills recommending dechartering for 19 Chartered Student Organizations was thrown out. According to SGA President Matt Ryan, the deliberations became too disorganized to continue. “I cannot say in good faith that we know what we are doing,” Ryan said to the senators. “I want to be able to get this right for all the groups.” After passing a bill to charter the Global Initiatives Club, the senate moved to discuss the possible dechartering of the Anthropology Club, Criminal Justice and Sociology Club, Artifex, Math and Computer Science Club, Political Science Club, Finance Society, Freshmen in Business, Society for Human Resources Management, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Alpha Sigma Nu, French Club/SLU Pi Delta Phi, Sigma Delta Pi Honors Spanish, SLU Ad Club, Capture: Photography Club, SLUraage Fusion Dance Team,
Camp Kesum, Social Work Association, Amnesty International, Public Relations Club, and Physician Assistant Association.These groups were recommended for dechartering because they failed to meet requirements set by the Committee for Student Organizations. The committee, commonly referred to among students as ComSo, had sent all CSOs several emails requesting that they provide senate with updated contact information. Of the 19 groups recommended for dechartering, 10 attended the Dec. 7 meeting. AED, MCSC, Political Science Club, ASN, French Club, Honors Spanish, Finance Society, Freshmen in Business, SHRM and Social Work Association were exempt from the dechartering option. Instead the groups faced either no action on the part of senate, or were to be placed on a threemonth probationary period. If senate subjected them to probation, the group would not have been eligiable for spot or annual funding. AED representatives stated at the meeting that they were unaware they had failed to meet the requirement, as
On the St. Louis-based Saint Louis University campus, the fact that professors have rankings goes entirely without comment. It is understood that your professor might be an associate, adjunct, full-time, tenured, or a number of other titles that go along with a job in academia. At Saint Louis University --Madrid, however, no such system currently exists. On Dec. 5, 2011, the campus’ Comité de Empresa, translated as “Workers Committee,” sent a “Statement on Ranks,” an emailed request to all faculty and staff calling for the development of a system of academic rank on the campus. A faculty senate does not exist on the Madrid campus, due in large part to its small size, according to SLU Madrid Academic Dean and Interim Director Paul Vita. Because of this, the Comité de Empresa, currently comprised of eight members, four faculty and four staff, represents the employees in labor issues. According to Renzo Llorente, a professor at SLU Madrid and a Comité member, there was widespread support among the faculty and staff at the Madrid Campus supporting a potential ranking system. “The sense was that it was time to make a public statement in support of ranks,” Llorente said. Llorente said that academic recognition through a ranking system is vital to the SLU Madrid faculty system. Brian Goss, also a professor at SLU Madrid, said ranks make it easier to recruit new employees, apply for funding, lend more weight to recommendations, boost morale, increase transparency and are “another aspect of demonstrating and manifesting professionalism.” Deanna Mason, a recently hired professor of nursing at SLU Madrid, said ranks were important to her decision to take a position at the campus. “If there was no hope of getting ranks, this wouldn’t have been a place for me,” Mason said. Mason said that it was disclosed at the time of hiring, the summer before the 20102011 school year, that a ranking system was still under development. Such ranking systems are nearly ubiquitous in the academic world. However, there do tend to be differences between the systems in different countries. According to Vita, this is part of the problem: reconciling two differing systems of academic rank. “Spanish titles are descriptive of job responsibilities, but not reflective in the same way as the U.S. ranking model. So which do you use? We are operating within a Spanish context, so what do we do?” Vita said. “At this point, we’re at a compromise.” Vita said that this has been a challenge for a very long time, developing “the best See “Madrid” on Page 3
Mark Campos / Staff Photographer
Professor Bryan Clair criticizes SGA on CSO policy.
they had provided updated contact information on SLU Connection. An amendment was made to take no action against AED, but it failed. While updated contact information was available for AED elsewhere, the group did not provide it through the channels mandated by SGA. A new amendment was proposed to put the group on probation, but senate See “SGA” on Page 2
Blue the Billiken Where’s the snow?
Read and Recycle The University News prints on partially recycled paper.