Living the Dream Alternative Art Eastern’s Peel ties for 65th of 312 Student vet shows reality of in the 111th U.S. Amateur -B6 war through art therapy -B1 Eastern Kentucky University THE EASTERN PROGRESS www.easternprogress.com © 20112011 Richmond,Ricichhmond, KYKY Student publication of Eastern Kentucky University since 1922 12 pages, Thursday, September 8, 2011 New policy changes RSO-Eastern affiliation By DANA COLE til the current semester. It is now being fully [email protected] enforced. Requirements/Benefits of Mike Reagle, associate vice president for In the past, student groups on campus student aff airs, said to come up with this were known as Registered Student Organi- three-tier model, all RSOs were classifi ed Registered Student Organizations zations or RSOs. RSOs are student-run and based on their ties and closeness to the uni- student-led. Examples of these groups are versity and placed in one of three categories. •Covered by University insurance fraternities, sororities, groups such as Femi- “Th is will clearly help students under- •Require Eastern faculty/staff adviser nists for Change and club sports. stand what the relationship is,” Reagle said. •Can accept tax-deductible contributions In the past, the relationship between SSOs, or Sponsored Student Organiza- SSO •Allowed to reserve university space these student groups and the university has tions, have the closest ties with the univer- not been clearly defi ned in terms of liabili- sity and therefore receive more university ty and responsibility on the university’s part. support and benefi ts than the other two cat- •Not covered by university insurance A new policy adopted by the RSO risk egories. In return, an SSO must abide by all •Do not require faculty/staff adviser management committee and the division of university rules, must have a faculty adviser •Cannot accept tax-deductible student aff airs, which was approved by the and be directly linked to a university depart- VSO contributions board of regents, more clearly defi nes the ment. •Allowed to reserve university space role of the university concerning student Currently, there are no SSOs on campus. groups. Th e Student Government Association was Th ese student-run organizations have placed in this category to begin with, but has •Do not receive any benefits from now been put into a three-tier classifi cation since been removed after evaluating its va- the university system based on their assessed risk to the lidity as a student organization, Reagle said. •Required to carry event-specific university. “Because SGA was dispersing funds to RSO insurance to use universtiy facilities Th e legislation, which passed last Sep- tember, had been in place on a trial basis un- › SEE RSO, PAGE A6 Part one in a series IN MEMORIAM on campus life Student remembered for art, drive Lessons taught through community By TAYLOR PETTIT [email protected] By DANA COLE [email protected] Alex Williams was, simply, “giving.” As friends and family described her life, she was Adjusting to campus life as a freshman can be challeng- giving of love, support and friendship. ing. Th is is not a new phenomenon. To counteract this di- On Aug. 30, Williams died of complications due to lemma that plagues fi rst year students, University Housing progressive pneumonia, a battle she had been fi ghting at Eastern developed ConneXtions, the pioneer in a series of for about a month. living learning communities onn cam-c pus. April “Alex” Williams, 24, was known for always Housed in Palmer and being able to brighten a mood or even an entire room Commonwealth Halls, with just her smile. ConneXtions is geared At her life celebration on Sept. 3 at the Clark Leg- toward getting new acy Center, this was clear as people commemorat- students involved and ed her life by laughing and reminiscing at the warm coaching them to be suc- memories they shared of Williams. cessful, said Kenna Middleton,eton, “She could make anybody laugh,” said Elise Pezzi, director of university housing. who met Williams in elementary school. “She could “Th is is real, real diff erent than make the best situation out of the worst situation…I high school,” Middleton said. “We tried to have so many good memories with her.” develop a program model to give them [freshmen] social and Williams, an art major with a concentration in art academic success tools.” history, was involved in the Art Student Association University housing created a curriculum for the program (ASA) and slated to be vice president this semester. that includes teaching students things such as how to do She also made the dean’s list. laundry, budgeting and eating healthy while using a micro- “Th ere are not many people on this campus who wave. plan a future in art history, so we clicked,” said Gay Along with acquiring life skills, students in the program Sweely, professor and mentor to William’s indepen- are required to participate in at least four on-campus pro- dent study. “She was somebody that wanted to know grams each semester, log three study hours per week and about everything and everybody.” have two one-on-one meetings with the Resident Adviser Williams had plans of going to graduate school to on their fl oor. Th ese requirements are listed in a community pursue a degree in curatorial studies, and her overall agreement that students sign. goal was to open her own museum. PHOTO SUBMITTED Studies show students who are more engaged on their “[She had] her drive and determination,” said Saun- tiful jewel.” campus contribute to better retention rates and higher dra Williams, Alex’s mother. “She had a plan for her Williams was known for not only her circle of GPAs, Middleton said. life. She was going to U of L [to get] her joint masters friends at Eastern, but the friends she kept through- She added that when the idea of establishing living learn- in curatorial studies and master in public administra- out her life. ing communities on campus was born, the goal was to create tion…She wanted to own a museum and teach art his- a safe-haven for freshmen and provide them a ready-made › tory too…[She was] a jewel, a perfect polished beau- SEE GIVING, PAGE A6 › SEE CONNEXTIONS, PAGE A6 SGA plans initiatives to improve student-government relationship By KRISTIE HAMON will report to each of the other branches [email protected] twice a semester. “We really wanted to work on internal Student Government Associa- structure as well as external struc- tion (SGA) began working on new ture,” Mollozi said. “One of the is- projects over the summer with the sues last year was lack of commu- goal of improving SGA overall. nication.” Student Government President Mollozzi said one of the SGA’s Rachel Mollozzi said SGA spent main goals is to restore credibility $5,000 on surveillance cameras for back to SGA. the Lancaster parking lot as one of Mollozzi said another goal they the starting projects. have is to improve communication Mollozzi added that SGA Rachel Mollozzi between the students and SGA. To bought the cameras to cut back do this, SGA members have updat- on crime. ed its website and created a tem- “What can be more important plate for a newsletter they plan on than allowing students to be safe?” distributing bi-monthly. she said. Improving the ticketing system Th is summer, as well as going for parking was also on the list of MARLA MARRS/PROGRESS to leadership retreats, painting the improvements to make for the up- SGA offi ce and developing goals coming year. In addition to improving the ticketing system, installing cameras in Lancaster lot and for the year, SGA focused on com- Matt White Student Court Chief Justice Ally pushing for a card-swipe student involvment program, members have also redone the office munication. Sipes said they were getting lots of Mollozzi said SGA is working appeals from people who got tickets to ensure its members are aware of because their parking permit was Sipes added that she has worked with ple tickets for the same off ense and are un- their duties and are given a prop- turned the wrong way. To fi x this, Mollozzi, who came up with a way to no- aware about the tickets that began mount- er orientation. SGA is planning on they now print parking pass num- tify drivers when they get a ticket on cam- ing. improving communication with- bers on both sides of the pass. pus. Sipes said they noticed a trend in park- “Instead of those tickets just piling up in the organization by having joint “Just another way to make it eas- ing tickets for residents who park far away branch meetings twice a semester ier so students won’t get tickets,” from their dorm and don’t go back until the › SEE SGA, PAGE A6 and having branch liaisons who Ally Sipes Sipes said. end of the week, and end up getting multi- A 2 The Eastern Progress, Thursday, September 8, 2011 the lights regularly go off on the fi eld at POLICE 11:30 p.m. Air condi oner caused smoke in Wallace By KYLE WOOSLEY A male student’s wallet was stolen when [email protected] he was playing basketball in the Fitness and Wellness Center between 4:30 p.m. and 6 Students and faculty were evacuated four fl oors. BEAT p.m. Stolen from the wallet was $15, a Peo- from the Wallace Building last Wednes- “Whenever we have an emergency of ples Bank debit card, a Kentucky driver’s day afternoon when smoke began fi lling the this nature, it takes much cooperation of All information is taken from license, an EKU Colonel Card, a Walmart Eastern Police reports.