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March 6, 2019
Volume 145, Issue 21
washburnreview.org Established 1885
History of US immigration Yash Chitrakar
Washburn Review yash.chitrakar@washburn.edu
The members of a MS-13, or the Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational gang, start young. Most of the members are recruited, usually forcefully, from high schools, middle schools and juvenile detention centers, and the rite of passage involves getting beaten up by older gang members; women have the choice, if one can call it a choice, or dilemma of picking between in-
tercourse and a beating. The gang comprises primarily Salvadorian people, but it had its origins in the context of 1970s and 1980s U.S. immigration laws, at a time when civil wars were erupting in Central America. Hordes of citizens of Central American countries saw the U.S. as a place for refuge. When the U.S. rejected Salvadorian claims for asylum and instead labeled the desperate migrants as undocumented, the Salvadorians had to come in illegally, which meant that they weren’t privy to
the legal advantages that legal residents had. This, with the piling cultural and economic pressures and the pre-existence of gangs in Los Angeles, where most of the migrants settled, was the perfect environment a group of youths to collectivize and form one of the most vicious gangs of the time and even of today. “The undocumented Salvadorian gangs became increasingly violent to distinguish themselves from the other gangs,” said Kim Morse, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
photo courtesy of pixabay.com
Pursuit of happiness: America has a long history of immigration. Many immigrants saw America as a place of refuge.
WSGA aims to reduce cost of books
photo courtesy of pixabay.com
Buying books: Textbooks can be costly. WSGA has been looking for solutions.
Matt Self
Washburn Review matt.self@washburn.edu
As many on campus have noted, everyone has received textbook survey emails from the Washburn Student Government Association and the Kansas Board of Regents Students Advisory Committee. These surveys are meant to gather information related to college students’ experiences with textbook affordability. This is an issue that affects many on campus at Washburn and other colleges across the country as buying textbooks can be an added expense that costs students hundreds of dollars every year. The survey’s results, which will be presented March 20 to the Kansas Board of Regents, will help the board determine if a state-wide
photo by Kraig Dafoe
Prestige: Holly O’Neill stands in front of a big machine that helps see the smallest of particles. O’Neill teaches forensic chemistry in the K.B.I building.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
HLC impacts Washburn staff DeyJa Cardenas
Washburn Review deyja.cardenas@washburn.edu
A decade of excellence. Washburn will be undergoing a thorough evaluation regarding the overall education system on March 25. The HLC, which stands for Higher Learning Commission, is a company that oversees a university’s growth and student success. Essentially, the Higher Learning Commission evaluates and then visits college campuses across the state of Kansas to evaluate and access the universities for accreditation. The process for the evaluation starts when Washburn, or the designated university, sends over an assurance argument which entails all of the records of the student, faculty and staff growth and decline, as well as other supporting and confidential charts throughout the ten year milemark. Within the course of 30 days, the Higher Learning Commission evaluates all of the records that Washburn, or the chosen campus, had submitted. The accreditation CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
A Washburn Success Story: Holly O’Neill Matt Self
Washburn Review matt.self@washburn.edu
This week Washburn University congratulates faculty member Holly O’Neill, who has been accepted as a member of the prestigious American Academy of Forensic Sciences. O’Neill is an assistant professor of chemistry at Washburn who has been a member of the university for three years now. She teaches several classes including Introduction to Forensics Chemistry, an advanced forensics chemistry lab, a Forensics Science Seminar and a Fundamentals of Chemistry lab class as well. She graduated from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and went to graduate school in the University of Tulsa to finish earning her masters degree in analytical chemistry. After graduation she would serve in the Kansas Department of Defense for 10 years and analyze
everything from explosives to illegal drugs. O’Neill’s previous experience with the Department of Defense also involved going overseas to examine the explosives being used in improvised explosive devices. The AAFS is an international multidisciplinary professional organization that provides leadership to advance science and its application to the legal system. The objectives of the academy are to promote professionalism, integrity, competency, education, foster research, improve practice and encourage collaboration in the forensic sciences. In order to be accepted into the organization O’Neill had to be recommended by a colleague who comes from the same field of forensics that she works with and meet extensive criteria requirements. O’Neill
“She is well qualified and a real asset to Washburn University.” spoke of how she felt when she received the news that she would be accepted into the organization after a meeting Feb.
15. “I was very pleased because it requires more of a time commitment to apply for membership and you also have to attend the meetings and it’s not just one of those organizations that you pay membership dues and you’re in,” O’Neill said. “So I was very pleased to be accepted into the organization.” As part of the AAFS, O’Neill will have to attend regular meetings and keep up with new trends that may arise in the field of forensic science. She expressed the importance of keeping her lab skills fresh as she deals with students in forensics on a daily basis who need a guiding hand as they progress toward their
degrees. A colleague of O’Neill, Cait Porterfield, said that there were few more deserving of being accepted into the AAFS than O’Neill herself. “I was absolutely excited when I heard she had been accepted. It was well deserved,” Porterfield said. “She is well qualified and a real asset to Washburn University.” It is exciting to see Washburn faculty such as O’Neill gain such accolades as being accepted into international organizations like the AAFS. A career as a student and a teacher is required along with no small amount of hard work to gain such prestige. O’Neill’s success is a guiding light to other students at Washburn who can use her story as inspiration to shoot for the stars in their respective fields, not just in the forensic sciences but in every field at our university.