THE
SHIELD
Election guide pg. B1
T h u r s d a y, O c t o b e r 6 , 2 0 1 6 | U s i s h i e l d . c o m | v o l . 4 7 i s s u e 8
CLERY REPORT SHOWS DISCIPLINE INCREASE 200
Liquor Law Violation Discipline and Arrests DISCIPLINE ARRESTS
150
100
50
0
2013
2014
2015
Infographic by sarah loesch | The Shield
In 2014 the university had 109 disciplinary actions regarding liquor law violations and this year there were 167, a 53 percent increase.
by Sarah Loesch editor@usishield.com @seloesch
The annual Fire and Safety Report released by the university shows an increase in discipline regarding liquor law violations. In 2014 the university had 109 disciplinary actions regarding liquor law violations and this year there were 167, a 53 percent increase. Assistant Director of Public Safety Steve Bequette said there is no definite answer for why that
increase occurred, but he thinks it has to do with reporting. “We feel the housing staff is better trained to recognize things and to alert us,” Bequette said. He said students are becoming more informed as well through the university’s attempts to educate them. The Public Safety officers are well trained for the different situations they might encounter as well, Bequette said. “Even though they are not sworn they have that knowledge (of law enforcement protocol),”
he said. Not every incident on campus is reported in the Clery Report. “The Clery Act wants us to report violations of law. Simple and sweet there,” Bequette said. “Not university policy or code of conduct issues.” In terms of the liquor law violations those can include underage drinking or consumption. Bequette said the report wants to know whether it was handled in house or if an arrest or citation was issued. He said it can depend the circumstance whether it reaches a
‘Human decisions’ Gender neutral bathrooms proposed by Riley Guerzini news@usishield.com @Guerswinski
When Evan Phillips heard about the proposal to eliminate gender specific bathrooms on campus, he questioned whether it would actually solve the problem of uncomfortability. “I don’t feel like for the safety of people that making all bathrooms gender neutral is a good idea,” Evan Phillips said. “You can’t just say ‘hey bathrooms are gender neutral now and everything will be OK.’” Phillips said he normally uses a third, non-gender specific bathroom if it exists. They also said the separate third bathroom would be a better idea in order to protect transgender people. “It’s more of a comfort and safety issue,” they said. “Transgender people are murdered at a much higher rate than cisgender people and a lot
of times it’s for using the wrong facility.” The author of the proposition, economics professor Perry Burnett, said he recognizes the safety issue, but realizes a third option would only be a temporary solution. “Violence happens because people believe that somebody is out of place,” he said. “This is specified as a group of individuals and that individual is not part of the group and therefore violence happens because you’re not seen as part of a group.” Burnett said if the group-defined gender-specific bathrooms are eliminated, then individual privacy will prevail, leading to less violence against transgender people. Phillips said he appreciates Burnett’s proposal taking a progressive stance, but feels the lack of trans people’s input has hurt the proposal. “I talked to some of my other friends and they would much rather have one gender neutral bathroom
and not have all bathrooms be gender neutral,” they said. “Maybe in the future it would be good, but as a society we’re not there yet.” Burnett believes gender has nothing to do with going to the bathroom and said his idea has actually been carried out for decades through the use of Porta Potties. “My wife, she was basically a nanny over her neighbor’s kids and had to raise them from birth and one of them is transgender,” he said. “I have a personal relationship with that individual, but not here at USI.” He said while his policy only intends to remodel the bathrooms, he is willing to alter it going forward “Economics is dealing with human relationships and human decisions,” Burnett said. “My expertise doesn’t allow me to understand maybe some of the psychological effects at a deep level. It would be nice to get some feedback from that expertise.”
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level in which law enforcement is involved. “There are times when there are alcohol issues and public safety isn’t even called and it’s handled by the housing staff,” Bequette said. “That would be referred internally because law enforcement was not involved.” Bequette said the numbers mentioned for arrests and discipline are not repeated in either. There is a hierarchy rule for reporting to the Clery Report.
Clery, PAGE 3
New scheduler aims to ease class registration by Riley Guerzini news@usishield.com @Guerswinski
The university registrar’s office launched the Student Schedule Planner, a device that helps students construct a schedule that works best for them, Monday. The planner, which is available on myUSI, allows students to select their preferred classes and pick times of the day that work better with any personal conflicts. “When you put in the classes and it shows you all the possible combinations, you can click on the class and on the options menu you can deselect certain sections,” registrar director Sandy Frank said. “If you don’t want Monday, Wednesday, Fri-
day classes or sections of a class, you can go unclick all those sections and then it wouldn’t include those.” Frank said there are several different ways to pick classes through the planner. One way is from the Degree Works four-year plan; another way is to choose classes by subject and course number and the third option is through attributes. Students can select attributes by core classes and they can view the number of credit hours scheduled on the planner. The planner incorporates Degree Works, a program that shows students what classes they have taken and how it meets their degree requirements.
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A guide to usi athletics
Schedule, PAGE 3