The Daily Egyptian, July 02, 2008
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC July 2008 Daily Egyptian 2008 6-2-2008 The Daily Egyptian, July 02, 2008 Daily Egyptian Staff Follow this and additional works at: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/de_July2008 Volume 93, Issue 167 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Daily Egyptian 2008 at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in July 2008 by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PHOTO COLUMN, PAGE 6: Gus Bode says how many people would come to a DAILY EGYPTIAN camp? WE DNE SDAY JULY 2, 2008 DVOLUME 93, NO. 167 E 12 PAGES Welcome to Carbondale Y IT New city manager C posts up. Lori Merrill-Fink works in her | Page 3 office in Faner Hall Tuesday, her first day as director of University Honors. Merrill-Fink has also been an associate professor of theatre for 20 years. 50 cents too much JAKE LOCKARD DAILY EGYPTIAN G-Unit’s new album a dud. University Honors gets new leadership Provost: Program to become more rigorous Allen said he and Merrill-Fink must take an honors course every | Page 10 worked together to raise the program’s semester. At the end of four years, they Allison Petty the program. standards and make it more similar to complete a thesis or capstone project, DAILY EGYPTIAN ULSE “What we try to make plain to stu- other universities’ honors programs. The Allen said, and graduate with a degree P dents is this is not your high school hon- two worked on a variety of structural in honors. Transfer students who only The university’s honors program ors program,” Merill-Fink said. “It’s not changes during the past two years. take two years of honors courses receive is becoming more difficult — and about more (requirements). It’s about a Admission to the program now a certificate. that is a good thing, as far as its new different learning experience.” requires a 3.5 GPA instead of 3.25, In exchange for their hard work, director is concerned. The program has about 350 students Allen said. Allen said, honors students now receive Lori Merill-Fink, an associate pro- from all majors, she said, and she hopes The program’s director now reports first choice in housing, additional rec- fessor of theatre, took over the program’s to increase its enrollment. to interim Provost Don Rice, instead of ognition at graduation and on their top position Tuesday. Merrill-Fink She added that she wanted to estab- the dean of the College of Liberal Arts. transcripts and a special banquet in has served as the program’s associate lish a peer-mentoring program and After all, Allen said, honors students are their honor. Alkaline Trio director for two years, working with make students more visible on a national not confined to liberal arts majors. interim director Jim Allen to restructure level. Students involved in the program See DIRECTOR, Page 2 missing charge New record lacks energy. Center offers a little help for a big problem | Page 10 Sean McGahan The mission of the center is to DAILY EGYPTIAN provide crisis intervention, emer- gency shelter, counseling and other Some come from bustling suburbs; services for nearly 2,400 women and Breakin’ it down some from humble rural homes. children in Jackson County alone Several have esteemed education- in fiscal year 2007, according to the al pedigrees. A few may have less center. Check out preseason schooling than those they are trying It is a mission that hits close to to help. home for one volunteer. TS Regardless of their differences, Janie Hickam, 47, of Alto Pass, football conference roughly 20 women and one man have is a soon-to-be great-grandmother POR united nearly every day this summer who has cared for nine of her own S standings. to find a way to help women and chil- biological and foster children and Janie Hickam dren who have been victims of sexu- 12 grandchildren. Her first great- of Anna and al assault and domestic abuse. The grandchild, who her 15-year-old | Page 12 Erica Dodt, group is undergoing training to be granddaughter will give birth to, is a senior certified advocates for the Women’s due this month, she said. studying Center, a not-for-profit organization See WOMEN, Page 2 social justice, in Carbondale since 1972. review an exercise ������������������������������������������� during training ������������������� at the Women’s � ���������� Today Center June ���� Sunny 17. The two ����������������������������� ��� High: 90, Low: 69 volunteer to �� ��������������������� THER help women �� ������������ EA and children �� W who have been ����������������������������������� victims of ������������������ sexual abuse ���������� Thursday and violence. Scattered T-Storms JENNIFER JOHNSON ��������������������������������������� High: 87, Low: 68 DAILY EGYPTIAN ���������������������� ���������������������������� VISIT SIUDE.COM: NEWS, SPORTS, UPDATES, MULTIMEDIA AND FORUMS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE 2 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 DAILY EGYPTIAN News WOMEN find a safe, permanent home. She As a man, Asher said he feels CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 hopes to relate her past as a single- responsible to provide a counter- Though her granddaughter and mother on public aid to some of the example for any abusers the women great-granddaughter will take up women, as well as show off her skills and children have dealt with in the much of her time when they move in, as a puppeteer in shows the center past. He said it’s an opportunity too Hickam said, she is devoted to helping sponsors for the children. few men take advantage of. women and children of the county After more than 60 hours of train- “It’s the kind of stuff that we’re not who have no blood relation to her. ing, the volunteers will fill a variety of trained to talk about, because there’s “I want them to feel that they’ve roles in the center, from answering this phobia about talking about sexual got a sense of belonging, that someone phones for the 24-hour crisis line violence, especially for men,” Asher cares, because a lot of them don’t have to playing with children, said Cathy said. “We’re just not supposed to talk anybody,” Hickam said. “Like my dad McClanahan, the center’s new execu- about it for some reason. Getting over used to say, plant a seed and it’ll grow. tive director. those inhibitions will probably be a If you plant a seed and nurture it, it’ll Ever since it began as a grassroots good thing toward ending it.” grow into a healthy adult.” organization in 1972, the Women’s At first, he said, he assumed he’d Hickam said a love for service was Center has greatly relied on commu- take on paperwork and administrative a seed her father, the late Rev. Victor nity support, McClanahan said. As tasks. Instead, he will be able to work Cripps of the Ministry Alliance in federal and state aid decreases, she said, with children in the center. Asher said Murphysboro, planted in her from a the need for volunteer help is needed the training is good practice for help- young age. now more than ever. ing the young students he hopes to She vividly remembers her father “It’s very difficult work, but having teach in his classroom one day, many bringing her as he would visit the the university here — we’ve been very of which may face similar problems as Jackson County Jail, which used to be fortunate in getting dedicated volun- those in the center. on the second floor of the courthouse, teers,” McClanahan said. Barring an emergency, Asher and preach to inmates, Hickam said. For one volunteer, however, the said he hopes to finish the training She said her work with her foster chil- work at the center was more of a fluke in Carbondale and bring back the dren and those in the Women’s Center than fate. skills to some similar organizations in is in homage to her father. Greg Asher, an aspiring biology Evansville. He said he is excited about “I’m trying to fill my daddy’s shoes teacher finishing his bachelor’s degree at his ability to make a difference. because he’s been gone 14 years now, the University of Southern Indiana in “I think it would be a very unimag- and I miss him terribly,” she said. Evansville, Ind., said he took the train- inative person that would look at As a single mother who has been ing as an excuse to spend time with his the world and not see a way it can assaulted herself, Hickam said she girlfriend, who is also a volunteer. be improved. You just have to look could find some common ground with After a few sessions, though, it has for what you want to make better,” many of the victims as they work to become something more, he said. Asher said. DIRECTOR were recognized for being good stu- “(She will) give honors some rigor CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 dents, but also that they had a sense and make it purposeful in student careers of belonging, that they had a sense — purposeful in the sense of, you actu- Allen and Merrill-Fink also added of identity to a group that they were ally do honors work and there’s a product additional mentoring and advisement proud to be a part of, so we worked at the end,” Rice said. for honors students so they could on that.” He said the program could become receive more personal attention. Allen, who chaired the search com- a recruiting tool. If the honors program “Most of the people in the honors mittee, said the university had 30 appli- has sufficient substance and payback, program are nerds.