April 19, 2010

Page 1

Vanguard The

Board OKs New Dorms

Matthew Peterson

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF mwp601@jaguar1.usouthal.edu

The USA Board of Trustees Executive Committee met April 15 to approve two resolutions for a new 300-room residential hall to be located in the space between Delta 4 and the Sigma Chi fraternity house. Administrators believe this new housing will help accommodate the rising number of students who want to live on campus. The facility is expected to be ready in time for the fall 2011 semester. “Our housing applications are considerably beyond what we anticipated to the point that we feel relatively sure that we’re going to be short of housing this fall,” USA President Gordon Moulton said. According to documents from Student Affairs, housing has received 618 applications for rooms as of April 12, up from 387 that time last year. Beyond housing 300 more students, the new dormitory will also feature a new style of housing: living-learning communities. According to the plan, one or two faculty members will live in the dormitory, and there will be a classroom located in the building, too. Administrators plan to leave sections of this dormitory for students with specialized interests, like their academic major or community service. By grouping these students together, Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. John Smith hopes they will feel more connected to the campus. “Living-learning communities significantly impact the retention of students,” Smith said at the Board meeting. “If we can get them connected to campus life, we have a much better chance of keeping them enrolled in the University.” Moulton said administrators have not decided if they will add more parking with the building but pointed out that there was room to do so if needed. Moulton also said he does not expect to have to close any roads for the construction. The administration has also not yet decided on a name for the new dormitory.

Inside

Police Blotter p.2

Condoms Are (Still) Your Best Friend See Etc., p. 6

Serving USA Since 1965

April 19, 2010

VOLUME 47, NUMBER 31

New SGA Leaders Share Goals Brendan Davis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR thater@gmail.com

With each new member of next year’s Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Council (EC) receiving more than 65 percent of the votes for their respective offices, President-Elect Kimberly Proctor, Vice President-Elect Colin AlGreene, and Treasurer Michael Baldwin have all proved popular with students and will likely face great expectations in the coming year. The Vanguard sat down with the new EC members to discuss their hopes for next academic year’s administration. “I’m really excited. I think we’re going to be productive,” Proctor said. “We’re all experienced; we’ve had experience being officers, and we really know how SGA works.” Proctor is currently serving as vice president, Al-Greene is chief justice, and Baldwin is treasurer. Courtesy of Kimberly Proctor One of Proctor’s goals in the coming SGA President-Elect Kim Proctor, pictured year will be to provide more transparency above, and the rest of the new SGA leaders for the office of president by posting

minutes of her meetings outside the Senate on the SGA website when possible. “I think that that would be really beneficial for students and the senators,” Proctor said. Proctor also said she would like to do a monthly video update for students about the state of the campus. “I really want to use technology. We have a great Web [committee] chair this year who will hopefully be coming back next year,” she said. Proctor’s main campaign goal was making SGA the voice of students, rather than simply a bank funding student organizations and projects over the year. The rest of the EC is on board. Al-Greene said that he would like to improve student involvement on campus. “You have a set block of students that get involved with things,” Al-Greene said. “Like people who are Greek, or in honors or whatever, and they’re the people who get involved. … It’s just like this neverending loop. It’s like the only people who get involved in SGA are the people who

discuss how they will change SGA next year.

see SGA, page 4

Hospital Expansion Planned

Courtesy of USA Public Relations

Pictured is an artist’s rendering of the proposed new look of the University of South Alabama Children’s and Women’s Hospital. USA’s Board of Trustees has approved the expansion project, which will improve the hospital’s interior facilities, the exterior’s aesthetics, and the parking lot.

Etc. p.6

Arts & Entertainment p.8

Drink and Draw A Successful First At Serda’s Coffee Co. See Arts & Entertainment, p. 8

Sports p.11

Opinion p.14

Hank Aaron Brings Baseball Legends to Mobile See Sports, p. 11

Distractions p.17

Should Your Online Purchases Be Taxed? See Opinion, p.15


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