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Show BY SPENCER RICKS SpencerRicks As much as you may think your recent Instagram selfie only between you and your friends, social media can often be viewed by anyone: including coaches, advisers and employers. Monitoring students is Sai social media, especially student athletes and those on scholarship and paid positions, has become a way for some advisers and officials on campus to judge character and make decisions. The consequences that can come from misusing social media are very real. A student athlete on the baseball team for Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania was recently kicked off the team A , I? ' ! V ' for posting an offensive tweet about Mone Davis, a Little League pitcher. Jordon Sharp, director of student involvement and leadership, said ones online reputation is more important now than ever. Sharp said while he does not personally choose new members of the Dixie State University Student Association, I do encourage the DSUSA leaders to check s y --- Stressed . bad-mouthi- - f t the digital footprint of each potential leader. In addition, we teach the DSUSA leaders how to properly brand and how to avoid brand destruction online in our leadership class. Those who monitor the social media of students often look for red flags, including provocative and inappropriate content; drug and alcohol use; of others; inconsistencies t ' - - i C Cx Smart self - fulfilled Educated o happy GO focused GO PQPfePGGDilCG-IbcOSGG- il GDHSCUFG SffBJjdGGDfl SGDCKGSS fl BY SPENCER RICKS SpencerRicks Ideas on how to improve the student experience of college and increase graduation rates are in Utah lawmakers minds. The Utah State Senate unanimously approved SB232, which would make funding for Utah System Higher Education institutions based more on the institutions performance rather than enrollment. The bill will allot $8 million of new funds that will be split among the institutions that meet their goals in improving efficiency. Money will be distributed based on the amount of degrees awarded, services provided for students, how applicable the degrees are in the workforce and graduate research. The point of SB232 is to improve student experience, said Sen. Stephen Urquhart, who sponsored the bill. My concern is that right now college is too much about the professors experience rather than what the students get out of their education. And right now, graduation rates are unacceptable. For Dixie State University, SB232 will push faculty to focus more on what they can provide for students instead of trying to solely increase admissions, said Frank Lojko, DSU vice president of student services. "SB232 is going to be beneficial for DSU bemuse it gives us a target of krfomg to reach for," Lojko said. "Everyone will be responsible for meeting the goals." Lojko said DSU has already been focused on how to increase performance before SB232 was passed. "Hopefully we already will be meeting the required metrics," Lojko said. "The tough question from here will be how much do we continue to move the needle and raise the standards." DSU faculty has been trying to ensure student success by increasing mentoring and tutoring services on campus, alerts for students with low grades, incentive for students to maintain at least 15 credits each semester, opportunities for students to get jobs and internships, and other student services on campus, Lojko said. Before, money was given based only on the amount of warm bodies and growth at the colleges, Urquhart said. But cancer is a growth. We want healthy growth for our institutions. Urquhart said this bill will also encourage high schools to offer more college credit classes, so incoming freshmen at the institutions will be able to skip more general education classes and decide on a major sooner. Time and money are the enemies of graduation rates, Urquhart said. This bill will give more money to the institutions that are able to graduate students sooner with applicable degrees and do it in resume qualifications; derogatory comments about race, gender, and religion; and personality traits, Sharp said. Football head coach Scott Brumfield said he monitors the social media of his players to make sure the athletes represent the football team positively. I usually dont use social media for background checks while recruiting, but I do look at it from time to time for current players, Brumfield said. We train them on how to be smart online. But sometimes I have to bring one of them into my office and question them on something they put on social media. Brumfield said what his players post on social media is important because anything they post online could reflect on the football team as a whole. The DSU student ambassadors are a group of students with scholarships who not only have their social media monitored, but are also expected to use social media to promote DSU and student life. Sutherland Wyatt, a freshman biology major from Paradise, California, is an ambassador who uses social media to network with other students and high school students. Advisers see whatever we post, and they limit us to what we can and cant post and what we should or shouldnt follow, Wyatt said. We just try to promote Dixie best we can through social media. Social media is also often monitored by employers. It has been used by school officials to research applicants applying for jobs at DSU, Dean of Students Del Beatty said. Before I hire people, I look at their social media to find out what kind of person they are, Beatty said. When hiring new faculty members, social media often comes up in discussions and it can definitely sway the hiring committees decision one way or another. Sharp said students especially need to learn how to properly develop their online reputation positively. The millennial generation in particular has a much attitude greater laissez-fair- e brandonline concerning a mindset ing, preventing them from getting hired, Sharp said. The Internet can provide an ideal canvas to market yourself and your personal brand in a positive light. Career professionals share tips for seniors for cheaper. Institutions will be expected to improve annually, Urquhart said. Each institution will be judged on a pass or fail basis based on how the institutions performance compared with the previ- POST GRAD JOBS Five Ways to Stand Out ous year. Lojko said that success of the institution will also be the responsibility of the students. "Students need to support their fellow student and not be afraid to ask for help," Lojko said. "We have so many services available for students on campus that will help them in the long run if they just seek them out. SB232 will be a reward to what students are achieving too." This is not the first time money has been awarded to institutions based on performance. SB232 is the result of a history of performance funding for institutions and requests to make the funds part of the annual budget. Gov. Gary Herbert allotted e a $1 million in 2013 to institutions, attemptof ing to have Utah's working population with either a technical certificate or a college degree by the year 2020. And last year, the Legislature approved another $1 .5 million for performance funding. Since then, the Utah System of Higher Education has asked to make the funds ongoing and to increase them to $5 million. The Legislature surpassed their requests by $3 million with Learn how to finish school. Talk to your adviser, because they can help you figure out the best path. 1. 2. Immerse yourself in at least two internships. 3. Stay up to date on technology and social networks. 4. Master writing mechanically & use critical thinking. 5. Take up a second language. y one-tim- two-thir- SB232. ds i ' 1 I N |