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Show University Journal Thursday, January 13, 2005 Continued from Page 1 Bennion was not in his office and the students waited until he arrived to present him with their requirements. The demands were officially written by the group to represent their collective views. Preceding Roberds' termination, students began a organization called Only In Utah. It is through this organizations Web site, onlyinutah. org, that students started arranging protests, which began upon Roberds unofficial dismissal notification. One of the initial protests inyolved blindfolding the statues in the Centurium. Students said the administration was blinding them from the truth. A similar blindfolding appeared Monday. This time, the statues had signs around their necks as well. A statue of Einstein was gagged with a maroon cloth. The sign read, The ideal professor? A sign on a similarly gagged statue read, Students are being gagged." Other signs stated: Until you tell us why Dr. Roberds was fired, we are blind and in fear, Lift this Pall of Fear! Give us representation and If our founding fathers were academic fieedom, heie, would they be silenced too?" Censorship is not education and Will all our teachers be silenced? This protest was not officially sanctioned by the Only In Utah organization. Only In Utah has no leader, but rather a few official spokespeople. Even without one leader, the group is organized. It uses the Web site to distribute meeting times and discuss progress made. The group let its presence be known Monday by sporting white armbands made of cloth and boasting a cartoon by SUU alumnus and cartoonist Chris Bodily. Only In Utah has used several of Bodilys cartoons on fliers and on the Web site to illustrate some of its points. The organizations primaiy points focus on more than Roberds situation. That situation appears to be only the icing for a bigger concern students have. The group is concerned with faculty retention. Jennifer Booth, a freshman communication major from Tooele, made an official statement for the organization in an Why are our professors leaving? is one of the questions the group wishes to have answered, she wrote in the Only In Utah w'ants to know w'hy SUU continues to lack a campus womens center. Were one of the few campuses in the nation without one, Booth wrote. Additionally, the organization unofficially makes complaints about: the forensics teams funding; diversion of scholarship money to new incoming freshman, including the administrations focus on recruitment rather than retention; and concerns voiced from the Black Student Alliance and islators non-prof- it Stipsswls Continued from Page Page 3 1 ambassadors, cheerleaders and members of the forensics program also had reductions in their scholarships. Allen said this decision was made to avoid giving multiple scholarships to the same people. Originally in spring of 2004, Miller said he told the newdy elected student government members they would not receive scholarships like some officials had in the past, and they would only receive a $100 stipend each for the year. He warned them to plan accordingly but said he would work on getting them more compensation from wherever he could. Miller said the suggestion was made that each branch could contribute to the stipend fund to increase SUUSA officials compensation. The branches of SUUSA each addressed the lack of scholarships from slightly different perspectives. Miller said Ashlee Nelson, activities vice president, wanted to compensate the members of STAB with more than the $100 and the suggested $200 stipend. She decided to give STAB an additional stipend amounting to $400. STAB is the student activities board that plans d most of the student government-sponsoreactivities such as dances, tailgate parties, concerts and the Howl. After Nelson decided to give STAB more compensation, other members of SUUSA thought all members of SUUSA should receive the same. Miller said. However, not all of the vice presidents had the funds available to do so. Lobbying persisted through various avenues until an offering was made in Georgia Beth Thompsons name, although other administrators made contributions. Thompson is the vice president of student services and works closely with SUUSA, along with others who contributed. The bonus offerings went toward stipends for Clubs & Student Involvement, senate and cabinet members, but not STAB because Nelson had already provided the supplemental funds from her own budget. The other three branches took the funds from Thompson and also allocated more out of their own budgets in order to match the stipends STAB was receiving, Miller said. The Clubs & Student Involvement branch wrote up a bill and allocated $1,500 in student fees toward their own stipends. The amount was split between the 15 senators who seived in the Fall 2004 semester, adding approximately $100 for each delegates stipend, according to a SUUSA stipend report from Miller. Like CSI, the senate passed a bill allocating themselves $3,800 from student fees, according to Miller stipend report. The senate bill passed on Dec. 14 with a majority vote. There were no negative votes for the bill; however, there were a few abstentions. Former Sen. Doris Prescott. College of Education, and Sen. Bret Nelson, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, originally sponsored the bill. Later, all senators decided to add their names as sponsors, although eventually not all voted in favor of the bill. Most of the senators said they thought the bill was a good use of student fees. The bill ciled one of the reasons tor the allocation was that the members of the SUUSA Senate give much of their time to serve the school. Prescott said she thought the bill was worthwhile because SUUSA members work hard for students. The second reason listed on the senate bill for the allocation was that this service often causes an inability to work and earn necessary money for the bill. Prescott was one of the few who said this was true in her case, although other senators recognized the difficulties senate service presents I was very frustrated with the lack of stipends because I had to quit my job just because I was voted into office, Prescott said in an The third justification for the bills allocation was that this money will be used to enrich the lives of the members of the senate and therefore make he said. Weve had more people come down this summer than weve ever had. Key policy makers, suujournal.com decision makers, and members from DFCM, from After a process, administrators and the building board, have come down to walk through students are hoping that this is the year SUU will our facilities and specifically posed questions about receive the funding needed for a new teacher the need for a teacher education building. Weve had education building. more interest than weve ever seen from those key Bruce Barker, College of Education dean, said the players. He said he has observed people recognizing the original plan was to remodel the old middle school owned by the Iron County School District into a need for improvement in the facilities for teacher teacher education building. The building was across education at SUU. However, that need has to be from the Auditorium, attached to the city swimming balanced against the needs of other universities in the state. pool. However, when the 35 year-ol- d building was determined to be not worth fixing, Tiffany Burt, a junior physical education major from Brigham the building was razed and turned into the parking lot. City, said not having a teacher education building is chaotic. At which time we went through You have to go back and forth the notion of a new building, between buildings, she said. Its Barker said. (The building) would have been east of the Sorenson P.E. frustrating. f" She said a building that would Building. V hold all the education classes would President Steven D. Bennion be less stressful for students. and key administrators then came You could stay in the same up with the idea to refurbish Old Main and use it as a new teacher spot, Burt said. Taking stress off i x i is number one for me. education building and to keep administrators in the existing Kortny Hall, a junior physical I education major from Phoenix, administration building, Barker Ariz., said if a new facility were said. He said the state has already available, students would benefit from having their teachers in the allotted $3 million to update the Bruce Barker same area. building. All the education teachers Old Main has become an icon on would be in the same area at one this campus because it was the first time, she said. So if you needed help from them, building, Barker said. Old Main is kind of sacred, so we dont want to tear it down. they would be there. One of the benefits of attaching the teacher until The building will remain unoccupied education building onto the west side of Old Main refurbishments can be made, he said. would be saving money. The request for the building For life safety reasons weve moved out of Old is between $12 and $14 million. Barker said. Main, he said. Based on a seismic study, if there An additional $1.5 million would be given from were a heavy earthquake, Old Main would be in private donations and foundation predicated on state danger. He said lobbying has already begun for the approval for funding of the new facility, he said. Another key benefit is a reaffirmation of the initial The Department of Facilities & remodeling. Construction Management and the Board of Regents founding and purpose of this university, Barker said. A reaffirmation of the importance of teacher do rankings to determine which schools are in the education to SUU. most need. However, the ultimate decision will come He said the institution was initially founded as from the state legislators. The real decision makers on who is funded and a teacher training college to prepare teachers for the state of Utah. Although it was first established who is not are the legislators, Barker said. The for teachers for southern Utah, the school now state legislature will begin its sessions this month. has trained teachers that work all over the state of They will make decisions based on the input that comes in fiom the other entities. They will make a Utah, throughout the Western region and scattered decision on who gets funded and who does not. throughout the United States. He said the true lobbying would now be with the Currently 1,100 to 1,500 students are in the Capital Facilities Committee. Bennion and some of elementary and secondary education programs at his key aids or other administrators will be working SUU, Barker said. SUU is second only to Utah State University in on that. Barker said he was unsure what the next step would producing teachers for schools in Utah. In half of be if funding was not granted this year. the 40 school districts in Utah, 20 percent of the I think we have a very good chance this year, teachers are SUU graduates, he said. By RACHEL GLIDDEN rglidden t six-ye- i BHIAN TINDALL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL Approximately 40 student protesters march through campus into President Steven D. Bennions office. The rally for student rights started at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Multicultuial Alliance. After a Jan. 9 meeting, the group grew from the dozen organizers to about 40 members. Since that meeting, the group has done apartment walks and has generated at least another 100 students to join their cause, Booth said before Wednesdays rally. She said she expects moie student support as the word spreads. A Jan. 10 press release on the Web site reported there are many reasons to become involved in the organization. Wed really like to see anyone who has (a reason) to stand behind us," Levi Cazier, Only In Utah spokesperson and a freshman political science major front Koosharem, said in the pi ess release. Booth said more protests would be announced at a later date. Anyone interested in becoming involved in such protests can receive information from the Web site. everyone much happier, and meetings and activities will be more enjoyable." Sen. Cadie Bull, College of Science, did not vote in favor of the bill but agreed with the general intent behind the bill. We just wanted to do our job the best we can, she said. Annie Draper, academic vice president and chair of the senate, supported the senatois decision to allocate the $3,800 for stipends. She said it would help senators continue to serve the student body. She said if students understood everything that student government does and knew all the hours of work student government officials do, then the student body wouldn't mind the leaders' compensation for their work. Its not a greedy reason, she said. Look at all the great activities that are put on. Look at all the and that needs to be great work that happens compensated. Most of the senators agreed that if there would have been another way to receive the compensation, they would have used it instead of allocating the stipends from student fees. n I wish that instead of giving stipends, scholarships would be given to student government leaders like in previous years, said Sen. Caleb Miller, School of Business. Its sad that the SUU administration feels like they no longer should help those students who wish to help this school succeed the most. These stipends simply help those in student government keep their heads above water with all the responsibility that comes with their job. Keep in mind that these stipends amount to about $2 to $3 an hour for most members of student government. For the most part, senators think the allocation of student fees lor stipends was a wise use of the funds. Bret Nelson was an initial sponsor of the bill but changed his mind after the debate in the Tuesday senate meeting. He was the only senaor who expressed a definite negative regard for the bill to the Journal. I did not feel that that the way we allocated extra money was ethical," he said in an e mail. It came down to what blanch was most important and we DESERVE this money. This had nothing to do with whether this was a good use of student fees or whether this was helping the student body. Nelson said he thought it was a .shame that SUUSA was not receiving some compensation, for those in SUUSA who actually merited it. I think that stipend money is wai ranted There aie no REAL job he wrote in the requirements for being a senatordelegatectc. They have their bylaw's, but LUEY ate in charge of their bylaws, so they can change w'hat they will or wont . . think we have a very good chance this year. . half-tuitio- . Ilnuo Hm. Eloliovo Stpoee. r . do. Bret Nelson gave his stipend back Tuesday, saying he couldnt keep it and feel good about himself. I dont think its I gave mine back," he said. right. I dont see how people can justify that. Theres no job description for senators. STAB actually has something you can measuie. Plus, if (STAB) weren't doing their job, they could get fired. Annie can't fire a senator. They don't lur.e job descriptions. I volunteered. I don't feci just tied getting this $400. The truth is. senatois didnt deserve what they got, he added. What did student government do as a whole Ibis senicstei ? Nothing. We dont have anything to hold ourselves accountable to." After STAB. C'Sl and senate all made stipend increases. Millet matched what the other branches were divvying out and gave his cabinet apptoximately the same yruly amount. Even though Miller suppoited the stipend increases and declined to veto both the CSI and Senate bills, he did admonish motivational SUUSA members in a to remember why they weie really theie. If you are here just lor a check or couldn't do your job without a check, then move on and do something else; there is no shame in that, lie wrote in the Theie is shame in doing something you don't cate about: put your heait into what you care about. He likened stipends to Chiistmas piesents and told SUUSA members that they should just he grateful to get them, and happy just to serve and never demanding lor more." stipend-allocatio- Outdoors offers fun and educational trips and activities every week. The Outdoor Education Series is a great way to learn about taking on the extreme elements of the outdoors. We also rent equipment for ail your excursions into the outdoors. When you need a break from school or if SUU 4 you just like to get outside and have fun, come by and let us help you relax in our wonderful landscape. n Contact us via (435) 865-870- 4 www.suu.edussoutdoors outdoorrecsuu.edu Or come by and see us in the student center across from the living room . |