VOLUME 15 ISSUE 27 | WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY| FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
10th Annual Academic Excellence event showcases students By Jenna Beresheim Staff Writer An entire day of classes was canceled for Western students in recognition of the 10th annual Academic Excellence Showcase. Students were heavily encouraged to participate in the event by their professors, including the canceling of class, or the requirement o f
Bridget Rogers’ Designing Woman Costume display reflected the body of work for the theatre/dance department. For the past two years, Rogers has designed costumes for productions such as “Spike Heels,” “Harmonic Fusion,” (in the Dance Concert 2014) and “None of the Above.” PHOTO BY SHANNEN BROUNER
Public Safety experiences temporary rise in on-campus alcohol violations University Housing to focus on education with new marijuana laws By Jack Armstrong News Editor
Campus Public Safety’s weekly crime reports have seen a rise in the number of alcohol-related violations reported over the past few weeks. For the past two weeks, over half of the reported contacts made by CPS on campus have been for alcohol-related incidents. Both CPS and the University Housing Program stated that the rise in contacts made by CPS is not indicative of a wide spread problem on campus, but simply more violations requiring the intervention of CPS. “In a year [the number of
small slips handed out during presentations to show attendance. Certain classes require that students see presentations related to the typical course material, while others encourage branching out to view whatever catches the student’s eye.
“I’m nervous and honored,” stated Caitlin Masterson, a fourth-year ASL studies major who presented “Battle of the Sexes: Gender’s effect on ASL learners.” Masterson said, “I became curious why there were so few men in ASL classes. I did a bunch of research to try and figure out if gender played a role in our ability to learn languages.” Both the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences hosted this year’s Showcase. The event is typically structured by areas of focus, such as music, computer science and philosophy. This allowed for students to pick areas of focus and attend many
violations] ebbs and flows, there are times where there are more incidents and times where there is less,” said Charisse Loughery, University Housing program coordinator. Loughery stated, “there might be more incidents being reported to CPS right now, but I wouldn’t say there has been an overall increase in alcohol issues.” Often, incidents that happen within the resident halls are dealt with directly by either the Resident Assistants or the Resident Director. “We try to use our RA and
presentations in a row without running around campus frantically between presentations. Presentations took shape in poster board productions, spoken presentations, and replicated performances of dance numbers and plays. Brenda Puhlman and Sarah Pettigrew presented one of the spoken presentations in tandem. Their presentation was titled “The Adventures of Two SSP’s: Seabeck to Oklahoma” and discussed their personal experiences working with Deafblind individuals in that area. “I had a phenomenal overall experience with Academic Excellence Showcase,” said Puhlman, a thirdyear in the ASL/English interpreting program. “It was an awesome opportunity to share my experiences and to share about a culture that not many people are familiar with.” There was even an entire showing of the play “Frankie’s Flights of Fancy” for students to partake in for free. After the production, the cast members stuck around to answer any questions or take comments from the crowd as feedback. Ultimately, it was another successful year for students to showcase the work that made them stand out from the rest.
RD resources rather than public safety,” said Tina Fuchs, dean of students and judicial affairs. “But sometimes the involvement of CPS is necessary, and perhaps that is what is being represented in the blotters.” With the end of the term approaching and the summer weather taking hold in the Pacific Northwest, more and more students are looking to spend their free time outdoors. This change in activity could be responsible for the increased CPS activity in on-campus housing. “Spring hits, and it’s a
little nicer out; people tend to be out and about, so we can experience more violations of housing policy in general,” said Fuchs. Director of Public Safety Rebecca Chiles offered a counter-point, suggesting that the number of incidents overall has remained fairly stable despite the weather. “In my experience, it’s not unusual this time of year versus any other time of year,” Chiles said. “This is my first year here, but I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary with the numbers.” In addition to the restless Continued on Page 2
WWW. W OU. EDU/ WES T ERNJOURN AL