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Show OPINIONS A8 Call them Deaf: Opressed,not impaired Why Deaf students are vital to university's purpose By Celeste Rosenlof Asst Opinions Editor Randy Nell$on/uVU Review Deaf students are fundamental to the Deaf Studies program. T~*\eaf Studies is an integral -L/part of the university and the Deaf students within that program, as with any other cultural group, are an asset to the school. UVU's Deaf Studies Department is internationally acclaimed, is home to the Deaf Studies Today! Conference and produces skilled interpreters and educators. But with only 52 Deaf students, the university should be appealing more to them rather than resting on the laurels of the program to bring them to campus. "If it wasn't for the Deaf students," said Deaf Studies Associate Professor William Garrow, "we wouldn't have this program." The passion ignited within the program is partly due to these Deaf students. Having daily face-to-face interaction with them and access to their stories brings the material to life in a way that ASL classes without Deaf students lack. "Deaf people bring to the classroom a social experience and understanding that most people do not have and will never be able to access," said Flavia Fleischer, assistant Deaf Studies professor and linguist. "Having Deaf students [in the classroom] provides an opportunity for people to gain a better understanding of what it means to be human and of the human variation." The history of Deaf people is one of oppression. Deaf people have consistently been limited by the "hearing" majority. Forced into oral schools that don't allow full use of language through signing, they have instead been imposed with limited expression of orality or perverse forms of sign language. This language-deprivation and attitude toward them has inherently placed the Deaf under a weighty oppression. They argue that for them, the civil rights movement is a contemporary battle. "Having Deaf students [in the classroom] provides an opportunity for people to gain a better understanding of what it means to be human and of the human variation." Flavia Fleischer "The more 1 am involved with the program, the more I see how oppressed the Deaf community is. ... They are the ones who experience the oppression. As hearing students, we just take a lot for granted," said Reah Goodrich, a Deaf Studies major. Deaf Studies students are encouraged to become allies and use their skills and passion to be activists for the Deaf community. It's important that hearing students have the opportunity to meet, interact with and build friendships with Deaf students if this goal is to be obtained. "We want to make sure that everybody is involved and feels welcome to the ASL Club," said ASL Club Treasurer LauraKay Hunt, "but we also want to do activism work. We're here to make a change and we're here to impact the school." Deaf, as well as hearing, students know what it is to be engaged in the school and in the community. They are members of clubs, presenting at conferences and part of other extracurricular activities. Some hearing students even take the initiative of attending an LDS Deaf ward each Sunday. Many of these additional activities are not for class or to fulfill program requirements; students are just passionate about the cause with which they have aligned themselves. "We are a very good example of what it means to be actively resisting the oppression of the Deaf," said Garrow. The essence of Deaf Studies is to resist oppression and break the barriers of physical differences within a society still learning to be tolerant. "Ultimately, many of our Deaf Studies majors become allies for the Deaf community and this empowers our deaf students, who become leaders within their community groups, and allies to other minorities as well," said Fleischer. "To be an ally, one must understand the minority experience and this, in essence, also translates into the importance of becoming allies for all minority groups." As Deaf people are able to overcome whatever barriers are set before them, the university and community in turn ,will become more desirable to other minority groups. WE THE STUDENTS from A7 influence in the university, the fact that students are uneasy with voicing their disproval is tragic and unreasonable. "Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not helpful," said Julian Smit an associate professor of college success studies. Julian also added that the ethics of too much power within student government "is dependent upon the school." "Let your voice be heard," says the mission banner that appears on the student government website, "and help make a difference on UVU's campus." But what happens when every voice isn't permitted to speak? The situation with the BSU is a good example. Although the statement reflects good intentions, the fact that some, even if it's a few, are concerned with how student government can influence their academic career for the worse is a frightening and an unjust concept. More information on what exactly happened with the Haiti Fundraiser and BSU is hard to come by as students hope to avoid any trouble with student government, but that says something. "Students have no reason to be afraid of us," says Nephi Acosta, a member of student government. "We don't have any means of coercion against any student" If such is the case, then we insist student government tells the student population that here, our voice is heard with no personal academic consequence regardless of whom it puts down. Letter to the Editor I read your recent article, "Jaywalking Costs," about pedestrian safety at UVU. I was glad to see the university taking steps to promote the safety of its students. Imagine my surprise, however, when I was confronted earlier today by a presumably wellmeaning driver of a rattling clunker with a megaphone mounted on the hood, loudly informuig me that I was crossing the street illegally. Were I to follow UVU's strict "crosswalk only" policy, the street where this incident occurred would become Uncross-able. Un-traversable. There are no interior crosswalks traversing this road. Not even at the access road intersections. Can you imagine? Here, at UVU, emerges a veritable Great Wall of a street barring access to vast swathes of student parking spaces. If the sidewalk indicates access, but there is no crosswalk to reach it, where do our students access this sidewalk? They don't. Unfortunately, it looks as though UVU would prefer students to walk in the street rather than cross to the wide and much safer sidewalk. The school has taken to educating jaywalking offenders with a vengeance - offenders that they have created. Until the situation is corrected, 1 conclude that I will forever be illegally crossing streets at UVU. I'm no expert, but maybe we could use fewer megaphones, and more attention to safe access of student parking lots. » Shersta Gatica UVU Student t Letter to the Editor Requirements • Letters must be turned in on Wednesday by noon in order to be printed in the next issue. • We make no guarantee that letters will be printed. • Letters 300 words or less have a greater chance of being published - anything longer will be edited for content. • All letters become the property of UVU Review as soon as they are submitted. • Anonymous letters are only publishable when the safety or professional status of the author is in jeopardy ^ • Please submit to uvu.review.opinions@gmail.com J Shuttle bus lacks structure and schedules, rendering it ineffective By Ryan Murrell Opinions Writer T he shuttle bus that travels campus is ineffective and not studentfriendly because it lacks set rules and scheduled pickup times. Students can wait for over twenty minutes for it to get from one place to another. The shuttle bus is a free service to students, which makes moving around campus easier. But with no scheduled pick-up times, walking around campus is easier than waiting for the shuttle. "I believe it is [efficient] because there are never enough students at each stop to have a scheduled stop," said Tena Medina, office manager of Parking Services. Even with two buses running throughout the day, the drivers are not set to a certain schedule. "Each shuttle driver is different. Sometimes, the shuttle driver will make extra stops," Medina said. "It's to the drivers' discretion. If they think that students will get on the bus, they will wait and if the students don't get on, they will drive to the next stop." Without a set schedule for stops, students are dependent on the drivers' discretion, which can leave patrons sitting at the bus stop for longer than expected. Even with two buses running Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., a lack of scheduled stops creates a window of uncertainty for any waiting student. "We have to account for shift changes during the day. This is why there Randy Neilson/uw flovfew The shuttle bus is supposed to be a convenience, but long waits sometime defeat its purpose. are no scheduled stops. We don't want a delay in the shuttle service," Medina said. "It might be helpful to the students to have a scheduled stop, but since there are only six or seven stops that they make throughout campus, it doesn't take a long amount of time - it takes maybe 15 or 20 minutes." Again, the timing is up to the discretion of the driver. The shuttle bus has made improvements. When it was first started, there were only two stops on the route. "The shuttle originally just went from Y lot to the Student Center," said Medina. "Student government decided because it is a free shuttle, all the students should be able to use it ... It is a free shuttle service for all campus, not just for those who park in the free lot or the economy lot." The changes that were made have been beneficial, but until structured and scheduled stops are added to the route, the shuttle bus will continue to be ineffective. The bus is supposed to be convenient and assist students getting across campus. Students are able to walk across campus faster than the bus can pick them up and drop them off. "Sometimes, it is faster to walk," said student Jared Fager. "I sometimes use the shuttle," said student Jordan Makin, "but I am not sure if it will be there when I need it to be." All the shuttle bus offers with no structure or scheduled pick-ups is uncertainty for students who rely on t^e shuttle service to get around campus. |