UWRF Campus Honors, Celebrates Diversity

Check out the all new uwrfvoice.com SPORTS, PAGE 6 BLAKE, PAGE 5 CULTURE, PAGE 8 Check out a recap of Columnist advises people Students celebrate, Falcon athletics this to take advantage of highlight diversity on season credit cards campus TUDENT OICE NovemberS 13, 2009 www.uwrfvoice.com V Volume 97, Issue 9 New campus org encourages students to become active Leila Hirsch zations who serve elderly populations in River Falls/ St. Croix [email protected] communities,” according to the Falcon Fellows brochure. “AmeriCorps is the national service movement that engages With its 2009-2010 motto, “Students, Service, and Suc- Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to address cess,” the Falcon Fellows is one of the newest organizations the most critical problems in our nation’s communities in the on campus that is striving to help students become active in areas of education, public safety, the environment, and other their community. human needs,” according to the Falcon Fellows Web site. “The program was fi rst developed on the UWRF campus The 40 students that participate in the Falcon Fellows pro- in 2005 and its purpose is to provide fi rst generation and/or gram include a group of freshman and sophomores that are low income college students the opportunity to develop a peer guided by a small group of upperclassmen who act as mentors network and provide support that enables students to serve as for the group. agents of civic change to respond effectively to local commu- The program is centered on the idea of community service, nity issues,” Gina Sevick, Falcon Fellows coordinator, said. and that is one of the main requirements for those enrolling in the program. Each member must work with senior citizens for This program is a collaboration of non-profi t services with Sally King/Student Voice a minimum of 8-10 hours a week, and must have completed the help of Student Support Services on campus. Gina Sevick is the UWRF Falcon Fellows coordinator. Fal- 300 hours of community service and training at the end of the “The Falcon Fellows Program is a partnership between con Fellows is a new organization on campus that joins the national program, AmeriCorps, Student Support Services See Falcon Fellows page 3 other non-profi t services to make a difference. (SSS) at UW-River Falls along with various non-profi t organi- UWRF plans to offer UWRF campus honors, new LGBTQ course Cristy Brusoe [email protected] celebrates diversity A course addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) issues is currently being developed by the Coordinator of women’s studies, Mi- chelle Parkinson, and UW-River Falls psychology professor Todd Savage. A listening session was held Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, in which students, faculty and other interested parties were invited to come and assist in the process of developing the LGBTQ course. “The session was sparsely attended. However, concerns were brought up about what would be included on the sylla- bus,” Parkinson said. Ashley Olson, sociocultural coordinator of Student Affairs, helped at the listening session and believes this course offers a unique opportunity for LGBT students and heterosexual students. “Not only will it allow for LGBTI identifi ed students to explore their own identity, but also provide straight identifi ed students with an opportunity to learn more about LGBTI history, theory and much Todd Savage more,” Olson said. According to Parkinson, the course would cover a missing part of the curriculum of women’s studies. It would include information about social issues that the LGBTQ population faces and what they face every day. It would also include “We do need to make this a psychology per- campus a better spective in which sexual identity and a safer place for would be discussed everyone and that and literature would be read addressing includes the LGBT LGBTQ related top- population.” ics. Michelle Parkinson “We would look Coordinator of women’s studies to bring in panel- ists, activists and members of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) on campus to come and speak with the class,” Parkin- son said. The recent hate graffi ti displayed on campus makes Par- kinson believe that there remains a lack of awareness of these types of issues on campus, she said. “We do need to make this campus a better and safer place for everyone and that includes the LGBT population. This course Sarah Schneider/Student Voice is built to not only inform people but also to create a place Nkauj Hmoob, a group within UWRFʼs Asian-American Student Association, performs during the 8th Annual academically for LGBT students to feel safe, speak openly and Culture Fest Wednesday. The event featured skits, a comedian, singing, dancing and poetry for the audience. For additional coverage about the Culture Fest, see page 8. See LGBTQ page 3 Res Life implements policy for students staying in dorms during break Christina Lindstrom dorms over break will pay the fee. fi cient staffi ng based on the number so students will feel more safe and we can make good decisions in the [email protected] According to Sandra Scott-Deux, of students who sign up to stay. A secure,” Scott-Deux said. future about ways we may be able to director of Residence Life, there are couple of years ago, roughly 900 The second reason for the new conserve energy by putting students This year, students planning on two main reasons for the change in students indicated that they would policy is sustainability. As part of who need to stay for J-term in clus- staying in the dorms over winter policy. be staying in the dorms over break, the University’s mission to continue tered locations,” Scott-Deux said. break will need to sign up electroni- The fi rst is safety. Scott-Deux while only a couple hundred actu- its “green” efforts, returning to a Condensing the students in the cally and agree to pay a weekly fee, said Residence Life received con- ally stayed over break. contract for occupancy model with dorms over break would also al- regardless of the number of nights cerns and complaints last year from Scott-Deux said last year students J-term helps to determine whether low repairs to be made to buildings spent in the dorm. students and parents regarding the could only stay if they signed up. or not it is necessary to consider while students are not occupying In the past, all students paid extra number of individuals residing in The new student identifi cation cards condensing buildings during J-term them. Scott-Deux stated that work- in their housing contract to cover the the dorms over break and having no are another effort to raise the safety to conserve energy. ing on something such as tiling the cost of a few students that stayed in way of knowing who was supposed level of the dorms. “This year students are allowed basements is hard when students are to be there and when. This plan al- “We [Residence Life] will have a to stay in their own rooms, but we the dorms over J-term. This year, See Residence Life page 3 only students who are staying in the lows better monitoring and more ef- much better handle on the situation, will monitor numbers carefully so S tudent Voice 2 NEWS November 13, 2009 VOICE SHORTS International Education Week is approaching DoTS to open lab in South Hall International Education Week (IEW) will be held Nov. 16 to 19 at UWRF. It is designed to showcase international activities Kimi-Chaia Lindberg of the faculty, staff and students. [email protected] UWRF will be hosting various IEW events throughout As students enter the last campus during this week, including keynote speakers, a mini- third of the semester, the faire, a photo contest, international themed meals and the crunch for the computer lab award winning short film, “Ana’s Playground.” increases, according to CTS Technician and sophomore IEW will present discussion on climate change Colin Janilla. Two journalists from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis reporting According to previous will be discussing climate change beginning at 4 p.m. on Nov. years’ schedules, the Green 18 at the University Center Ballroom. lab has always been open The Pulitzer Center on Crisis reporting nonprofit organization to students with no classes based in Washington, D.C. that funds independent reporting being held there. This year, with the intent of raising the standard of media coverage on however, almost everyday global affairs. has two or more classes in For more information on this free event, contact Brent that lab. Greene at [email protected]. “All the labs have classes and that’s caused problems Forum on healthcare to be held in coming weeks with the students,” Janilla The Student Economic Society will be hosting a forum said. centered on health care and health care reform on Nov. 17 in “The classes in labs have the Falcon’s Nest of the University Center. The program will caused a lot of the general begin at 3:30 p.m. with a showing of the Frontline piece “Sick frustration we’ve heard around the world,” followed immediately by a discussion of about,” CTS Technician and the feature. freshmen Jon Borst said. Borst and Janilla said they Christie Lauer/Student Voice work about five hours a week Deanna Knutson works on homework in the computer lab in South Hall. UWRF helps students in the library ITS computer lab. Five hours a week is all Mead said he does not think the computer labs on campus relax, deal with stress the budget allots for student employees.

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