The Kirksville Socialite

Liveblogging Senate: December 13

It's Sunday, which means it's time to check in on our Student Government.  On tonight's agenda: Perimeter Access System stuff, Local Foods info and Educator of the Year shenaniganry.

6:00pm:  Speaker Tom Hogan calls the meeting to order.

6:04pm:  Brenda Higgins, the Director of the Health Center, is discussing the changes to the insurance plans accepted at the Student Health Center on campus. (All Truman students should have received an email about this on Friday.)  Beginning in the Spring 2010 semester the SHC will be accepting all health insurance plans; this means that they will now accept Truman-sponsored health insurance, private insurance or they can charge your student account.  Many students will now only pay their co-pay amount, and the Health Center will still continue to provide services to students with no health care.

6:09pm:  Starting sometime next semester you will also be able to make appointments from your own computer. (Perhaps by midterm.)  This has been a long time coming, and I'm excited to see this come to fruition.  

6:13pm:  The $25 Health Fee will still be in place as it covers both the SHC public functions and the Counseling Center.

6:15pm:  The SHC is going to try to become a revenue-generating entity.

6:17pm:  Good news: the SHC is going to try to bring back walk-in hours.  Take that, H1N1.

6:19pm:  Carly Rae Carr, the president of the Student Bike Co-Op has presented Senate with Bike Co-Op buttons as a token of the Co-Op's appreciation for Senate's support of it throughout the past couple years.

6:20pm:  Senator Sean Serroque has announced that he will be resigning his position effective at the end of the first meeting of this upcoming semester.  In his resignation letter he cites "anonymous reasons" as the purpose of his resignation. 

6:21pm:  His letter's closing paragraph reads: "Remember: when the emperor looks naked, the emperor IS naked; always ask questions, even if you feel stupid afterwards; never surrender a battle, even if it looks as if you are going to lose; and always look to the facts for guidance."  His resignation is accepted.

6:23pm:  Laura Lusk, the Parking Appeals Chair, has resigned.  Her resignation is accepted.

6:24pm:  Lauren Robinson has just been approved as a voting Senator.

6:28pm:  We have a slew of major appointments this evening so the gallery is going to be hopping in and out of the room for a while.  Lots of standing and sitting, good for the quads.

6:30pm:  Cassie Beard has been appointed as a voting Senator.

6:33pm:  Out in the hallway again.  Have you ever noticed that the Abraham Lincoln in the mural in the top floor of the hallway has freakishly large hands?  I think they're bigger than his head.  They're like bear paws.

6:33pm:  Patrick Zhang has been appointed as a voting Senator.

6:36pm:  Minh Ly Le has been appointed as the Assistant Communications Director.  Minor appointment, don't have to leave the room, woo!

6:40pm:  Out in the hallway again, this time for closed discussion on the appointment of Michael McGill to the Chair of the Parking Appeals Committee.  I swear to god, this is the last time I'm leaving this room.  I will find a way to invoke the Sunshine Law if they try to make me leave again.

6:44pm:  RHA President Katherine Tynan, Student Senator Michael McGill and I are having a very general discussion about Parking Appeals, which apparently used to be coordinated by the Res Hall Association.  We can't discuss the committee in-depth because, to steal a quote from Speaker Hogan/President JoEllen Flanagan, "What happens in Parking Appeals stays in Parking Appeals."

6:50pm:  Due to a "glitch" in the application process (The app wasn't online for the period of time it needed to be before closing acceptance of applications.) Senator McGill was not appointed as the new Chair of the Parking Appeals Committee.  Vice President Robinson will be serving as the Chair of the committee until a new one is selected at the next meeting.

6:51pm:  Devon Hire has been appointed to an Associate Senator, and will be shadowing Secretary Libby Piel to learn how she does her job to possibly take over after Secretary Piel leaves Senate.

6:54pm:  Senate will be cleaning their office this Wednesday.  Apparently it doesn't look so hot.

6:58pm:  Good god the internet is slow tonight.

6:59pm:  Student Rep. to the BoG Cody Sumter is giving what will likely be his final report to the Student Senate.  He says he talked to the UCM Student Rep. to see how they were planning on handling it; a big difference between the way those universities are able to handle it as opposed to the way our University is able to handle it pertains to the large amount of scholarships Truman hands out. (1,600 scholarship jobs, totaling 20,000 hours total.)

7:02pm:  Sumter says he expects on-campus interviews with new presidential candidates to happen on campus within the first weeks of school next semester.

7:03pm:  Sumter gets a well-deserved round of applause from the room at the end of his report.

7:05pm:  There will be a new procedure to submit agenda items for Senate meetings which will be announced along with new election dates over break.  There will also be no meeting the Sunday that students return.

7:06pm:  Finals Scream is tonight until midnight: purple pancakes and a showing of "Elf" in the SUB, free massages and games in the Rec Center.  Facebook event here.

7:08pm:  Truman at the Capitol will be held on February 9th.  Theoretically 48 people could go on this.  External Affairs will be working on the agenda with a new Legislative Director.

7:10pm:  Environmental Affairs Chair Yajie Yu has given a very apt description of the Recycling is Sexy initiative: "PG-13 posters that promote recycling."

7:11pm:  Diversity Chair Dan Heagney tells Student Senate that the MLK Challenge is a "day on, not a day off."

7:12pm:  Greg Goodwin, the nominee for the Legislative Director, has entered the gallery, which means I'll probably be making one more trip out to the hallway tonight.  Damn it.

7:13pm:  There has apparently been discussion of a student-initiated fee to support the Bike Co-Op in the long term, to occur at some point within the next two years.

7:16pm:  Treasurer Stephanie Kwon encourages all members to think about whether or not they support this fee.

7:17pm:  V.P. Robinson promises that there will be more information about this possible fee next semester.

7:17pm:  Speaker Hogan reads aloud a letter from RHA requesting that Senate postpone a vote approving their resolution about the PAS until the beginning of next semester due to RHA's not being able to vote upon the issue due to a lack of quorum (I believe.)

7:19pm:  Senator Molly Troop believes that Senate should vote upon this now.  Senator Christopher Graham suggests removing the word "should" from the resolution to make sure it reads as a motion Senate is confident in.

7:22pm:  Chair/Senator Heagney has asked BoG Rep. Sumter why the last two points in the WHEREAS clause of the resolution deal with topics he sees as being unrelated to the thrust of the main points Senate should be making this resolution.  The points are:

• ResLife states that individuals must check in at the hall desk to ensure their safety in the event they are visibly intoxicated or otherwise disruptive to the residence hall; and
• Of incidents known to the Office of Student Affairs, it was rare (2 instances) that hall monitors were involved in reporting episodes before 12 am.

7:24pm:  The rationale behind this, Speaker Hogan and BoG Rep. Sumter state, is that advocates for the doors have frequently cited the first point in talking about their necessity, and that if an arbitrary time is to be determined for the doors to be locked that the time at least try to be a logical time.

7:27pm:  Senator Sean Serroque has moved that lines 52 and 53, "The Student Government believes that convenience need not be sacrificed to accrue additional security," be struck.  His reasoning is that it makes the Student Government sound like it's more concerned with convenience than security.  It is voted upon and the motion fails; the line stays.

7:29pm:  Academic Affairs Chair Charles Tomlinson has made a motion to remove line 61 as it is, apparently, an impossible thing to do without dismantling the PAS system.  The line calls for "The manual unlocking of red doors during high-traffic periods of the day."

7:32pm:  Line 61 has been struck.

7:36pm:  We're discussing the necessity for Senate to wait on approving this.  BoG Rep. Sumter notes that RHA has been aware of this for ample time (A month, I believe, was mentioned.) and that this resolution calls for the input of students, which will likely be gathered over winter break.

7:37pm:  Chair Heagney asks why the resolution can't say just that.  Sumter responds by saying that, if student opinion is to be gathered over break, that students know exactly what Senate advocates.

7:39pm:  President Flanagan states that she wants to encourage everyone to vote on this resolution tonight, and that not doing so would be "stupid."

7:40pm:  Speaker Hogan notes that this is a joint resolution (Between Senate and RHA.) and that voting on this tonight doesn't rule out further cooperation between Senate and RHA, and that there would be opportunity for them to make a few changes here and there.  He says that as long as the "guts" behind them are the same then all minor changes should be just that, minor.

7:42pm:  By a vote of 16-3-0 the resolution has passed.  Heagney, Serroque and Ohs are the 3 dissenters.

7:43pm:  We've moved onto discussion the Local Foods Resolution from last week, which commends and encourages Sodexo's efforts to incorporate local foods into their menu.

7:45pm:  Chair Heagney has just successfully added a friendly amendment to distribute a copy of this resolution to the Kirksville Socialite in addition to President Darrell Krueger, Dean of Student Affairs Lou Ann Gilchrist, Sodexo General Manager Dennis Markeson, Environmental Campus Organization, The Index, and the Monitor.  Thanks Senator!

7:47pm:  By a vote of 18-0-1 the resolution passes.  Snaps all around.

7:48pm:  By a unanimous vote $400 will be spent on Educator of the Year Budget.

7:51pm:  Onto the final business: appointing Greg Goodwin as the new Senate Legislative Director.  He's a previous Jeff City Capitol Intern who still has connections to Capitol.

7:53pm:  Out in the hallway, one. last. time.  Thanks Greg.

7:55pm:  Snaps all around, Greg is approved.  Huzzah to the new LD!

7:56pm:  Aight homies, I'm done.  Final Senate Liveblog.

Cheers,
Casey

Wear Your Purple!

First, for all you Truman people out there, happy last day of classes!  

Next, don't forget to wear your purple on campus today as part of Purple Fridays to show some school spirit.

Cheers,
Casey

The New Socialite Bloggers

Hey, Socialites, hope you all have been having a great Monday!  It's my pleasure to announce that there will be two new voices joining the blog next semester, and I wanted to take a moment to introduce them to you.  Whitney Fay and Shannon Kelley will be taking over blogging duties for the site beginning January 4th, 2010, and I'm excited about the perspective and coverage they're going to be bringing to the site.  Later on this week you'll get the opportunity to read posts by them, but for now you'll have to make do with a few fun facts about these fantastic ladies.

Whitney Fay

Whitney is a Senior Communication major who hails from Columbia, Missouri.  A fan of pepperjack cheese, repelling, being odd and flying kites, she hopes to work in public relations, for a non-profit or teach once she graduates from Truman.  Blogs she enjoys are Jezebel.com and The Kirksville Socialite (naturally.)  She is deeply interested in time travel, regular travel, dancing to 70's music and giving excellent hugs.

Shannon Kelley

Shannon is a Junior Communication/English double major from St. Louis who can't get through the day without sarcasm, friends, and coffee. She's a lover of great conversation, analyzing everything, context clues, crayola crayons, quoting things, vegetable chopping, and crossing the line from acquaintances to friends.  Quote Shannon: "I love the tight knit atmosphere that Truman State and Kirksville have in comparison to a larger campus situated inside a major city. Not only because you are incapable of having a random drunken make out without the whole world knowing, but because of the sense of the comraderie and mutual understanding that this setting creates. I think everyone that goes to Truman has a reason. I wouldn't be here without Greek Life and the awesome group of friends I have, and I know each of you have a reason as well. I have pride in Truman and the Kirksville community, and because of it, put more simply, I care, and I'm pumped about having the opportunity to blog for KVS next semester and continue to make the Socialite readership care by spreading knowledge and awareness about what's up and creating food for thought."

A very warm welcome (Particularly in light of the winter weather.) to both Shannon and Whitney!  It's good to have them both on board.  Once again, look for their first posts later on in the week to get a teaser for what's in store for the 'Ville starting next semester.

Cheers,
Casey

Liveblogging Senate: December 6

It's Sunday night, which means it's time to check up on our Student Government.  On tonight's agenda we've got resolutions for local food usage by Sodexo, Purple Fridays and the Perimeter Access System, and we've also got discussion happening about the new BoG Student Rep. selections, the new vision document, and scholarship discussion.

5:55pm:  Senators are filtering into the room and grabbing cookies off of the table.  In addition to cookies I see barbecue chips, chips and salsa and Oreos up for grabs.  If you need dinner, and don't mind it being slightly less than nutritional, come to the Conference Room in the SUB.

5:58pm:  I believe that sitting behind me are some student athletes.  The gallery is pretty full this evening, I'm betting because of Purple Fridays and the Perimeter Access System resolutions.* 
(*This timestamp has been edited since the original post.  Any questions regarding the editing should be sent to the Socialite inbox.)

6:01pm:  With the tapping of his gavel Speaker Tom Hogan begins the meeting.  

6:04pm:  Secretary Piel is reading Student Affairs Chair Kristyn Potter's resignation letter.  Below is the full text of the letter.

To the members of Truman State University’s Student Government Association,

After much contemplation and careful deliberation I have decided to step down as Student Affairs Chairman. To some this may come as a shock, to others this may seem quite understandable. It must be noted and explicitly stated that my decision to resign is not deeply rooted in any inextricable conflict with any Senator or member of leadership. Despite the ties that lie between members of Student Senate, these associations are more counterproductive and self-destructive to the body than to my own personal well-being and success.

I imagine a large part of why I was initially appointed as Student Affairs Chair is due to the diversity of my involvement that has evolved substantially over these three years. This involvement has been my gift as well as my curse and, as such, in lieu of overextending myself as graduation approaches, my resignation is due in large part to the necessity to finish projects that I began last year in the journalism and PR field. The foundation of my being lies within the communication field and it is necessary that I indulge in this passion before I graduate and leave this institution.

I believe my role as Student Affairs Chair has been sufficient, if not, satisfactory. My committee and I worked very hard to resolve and explore issues related to sexual assault and the all-campus smoking ban, most notably. I am exceptionally proud of the evolution of characters that has occurred within my committee members and I have the utmost faith that upon reception of directed and motivated leadership they will do amazing things with the committee.

Finally, it is only appropriate that I offer suggestions on Senate for the future. Overall, Senate is doing an amazing job on a vast array of projects yet I believe the divide that exists between members of the group will lead to its demise. It’s imperative to understand, as it has taken me three years and a semester to understand, that you aren’t going to make everyone happy, that you can’t control people and/or their actions, and that you aren’t going to friends with everyone, so it is most important to be proud of the person that you are and your personal contributions to this outstanding university.

I wish you the very best in all of your endeavors, related to Senate as well as social and professional ventures. I am available for advice, networking and resources and I hope the Student Government Association can embark into the future positively and strongly with the utmost and deliberate effort of group cohesion.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Kristyn M. Potter

Student Affairs Chair

The resignation is approved without contention.

6:08pm:  Maggie Fisbeck is approved as the organizational representative for Tri Sigma.  

6:10pm:  Hillary Shoun is appointed as the Communications Director for Student Senate.

6:11pm:  Lauren Massey is appointed as the Deputy Communications Director.

6:13pm:  First up,  the Purple Fridays resolution.  Basically, it's supporting the Student Athlete Advisory Committee's efforts to increase school spirit by starting up "Purple Fridays," Fridays where as many people on campus as possible wear purple.  President JoEllen Flanagan notes that both Dean of Student Affairs Lou Ann Gilchrist and University President Darrell Krueger fully support this. 

6:19pm:  The standing rules have been suspended so that the resolution can be voted upon tonight, given that Purple Fridays are supposed to begin this Friday.  Otherwise this would just be considered a first reading.

6:21pm:  Right now we're making a few technical changes to the resolutions: punctuation, word choices, removing parts seen as unnecessary, redundant or incorrect.  

6:24pm:  Fun fact: did you know that there are about 400 student athletes on campus, in 21 sports?

6:25pm:  Reasonably certain that everyone is going to vote "Yes" on this, no real opposition is arising for any reason.

6:26pm:  The resolution passes 18-0-0.  Now we're having the first reading of the Perimeter Access System resolution.

6:27pm:  Senator Christopher Graham says that while he supports what the resolution says he thinks that by passing it Senate will be giving its approval to a system that most students he has spoken to do not approve of.

6:29pm:  The resolution is about Senate supporting modifications to the system that has been proposed, not supporting the system. Lines 28 and 29 read "Proper implementation can increase both the security and convenience for on-campus residents..." (Emphasis mine.)  Lines 58 and 59 read "The Student Government and the Residence Hall Association believes that convenience need not be sacrificed to accrue additional security."  

Modifications that Senate supports, contained within this resolution, are (Lines 64-67.):

• The use of yellow doors as card access entrances between 10:30pm and 12:00am.
• That green doors in Dobson Hall and the West Campus Suites remain unlocked until 12:00am, given the location of C-Stores.
• The manual unlocking of red doors during some period of the day.

The also are advocating for increased funds to complete the project (Line 69.), getting Student Affairs to involve students in future decisions about modifications to the PAS (Line 71.)

6:37pm:  Quote Senator Molly Stroup, who is bringing this resolution, about PAS: "This is definitely going to happen."

6:39pm:  RHA President Katherine Tynan notes that they are listed in the resolution as supporting the resolution, though they have not reached this consensus.  Apparently an email from someone in RHA sent to Senate incorrectly conveyed their support of the resolution.

6:43pm:  Senator Matthew Ohs, an SA, notes that ResLife is trying to take student concerns into account as best as they can, and that they are going to go ahead and implement the system and make changes one it has been implemented.

6:45pm:  Diversity Chair Dan Heagney notes that Senate's suggestion for ResLife to manually lock doors designated as "red doors" under the system (Those that are currently scheduled to be always locked from the outside.) would be an unnecessary duty for SA's.  There's also an issue with unlocking those doors, period, as apparently it sets off an alarm.

6:49pm:  Senator Hiroki Sato is making several points right now and I cannot hear what they are for the life of me.  I believe I'm hearing him make points about clarifying the system for students and how non-resident students entering the dorms under the influence would be the responsibility of those individuals swiping them in?

6:52pm:  The resolution is considered first read.  Moving onto the local foods resolution, which commends and encourages Sodexo's efforts to bring in local foods for student consumption. (Something they have been doing this semester.)

6:54pm:  The veggies that have been incorporated have apparently come from the University Farm.  That's nifty.

6:58pm:  A five minute recess has been moved and approved.

7:05pm:  And we're back!  Diversity Chair Heagney has made a money motion for $300 to bring the Freedom Writers and their film to campus.  Heagney is explaining that Freedom Writers were students from a troubled inner-city school whose teacher was able to help make a difference in their lives.  This money would be used to bring the former students, now adults, to campus to talk about their experiences.

7:09pm:  The money has been approved.

7:10pm:  V.P. Robinson is discussing the Board of Governor's selection report.  This report was formulated in response to what Robinson calls the "selection disaster."  That's a pretty accurate phrase for how things went this time around.

7:11pm:  We're discussing what the role of the Speaker should be during the selection process.  The Speaker's role is envisioned as being a neutral party.

7:14pm:  We're now discussing making changes to the Constitution and Standing rules pertaining to how the Student BoG Representative should be selected.

7:16pm:  Senator Charles Tomlinson suggests that a way to allow the Speaker to make a contentious opinion regarding the selection of a new BoG Student Rep. would be to allow him to not be a Speaker for that part of the meeting during which he wishes to make that opinion, removing the neutrality obstacle.

7:20pm:  The volume at which Senators are speaking seems to be steadily decreasing, and I'm really wishing that I could just go and sit in the center of the room.  Would Speaker Hogan find that to be out of order?

7:23pm:  Senator Philip Gilmor is now discussing the Student Senate Scholarships, 2 of which are given out per semester.  He notes that the distribution of the scholarship (Each of which is $500.) has not been executed satisfactorily, and that the consensus seems to be that Senate does not need to distribute these.  The recommendation is to abolish the scholarship.

7:26pm:  Senator Gilmor notes that there was a debate between whether Senate should figure out how to make the scholarships work out or just abolish them, and that a contributing factor to getting rid of the scholarships was that each scholarship was $500 of the student body's money given to one student and that that didn't seem fair.

7:30pm:  Senator Lizz Esfeld is presenting the first draft of the new Senate Vision Document, opening the floor up to discussion on the document that was emailed out to them earlier on today.

7:31pm:  Areas focused on in the Vision Document draft are University funding constraints, enrollment issues, Kirksville as a location in which to attend college, environmental sustainability and the University, academics, student affairs and improving Kirksville relations.

7:32pm:  Chair Heagney is making several strong and welcome recommendations to make this document as diversity-friendly as possible.

7:33pm:  Chair Tomlinson has just suggested that added under the Student Affairs section of the Vision Document that a provision be included for supporting on-campus pranks to lighten up campus every once in a while.  I like, who's up for dressing up the Joseph Baldwin statue tonight at midnight?  He also has questions about the section discussing Homecoming and how it could be made to be more inclusive when all organizations on campus (And all students.) are welcome to participate and attend all events.  He notes that the Greek-heaviness perception of it is due to the choice of Greek organizations to participate in it.

7:43pm:  Did you know that they're thinking of restructuring the entire library?  Potential cafe, moving the computers to all be by each other, study areas for people who want to talk with their friends while studying so that they don't interrupt people who actually want to go to the library to study...

7:45pm:  Under Student Affairs new sections that will be added are safety and food services.  These are not in the current draft of the document.

7:47pm:  Senate Faculty Advisor Dr. Scott Alberts has just commended the Vision Document Committee for their outline, which is, indeed, a very clear and straightforward outline.

7:52pm:  As we have less than 10 minutes left for the meeting we're going to focus on Executive Reports primarily.  V.P. Isaac Robinson will be heading up a Perimeter Access Task Force per the request of President Krueger. 

7:54pm:  Start thinking of educators you'd like to nominate for the Educator of the Year (Which Senate coordinates.), the nomination period will be coming up soon.

7:55pm:  Senate Party at Advisor Alberts' house this weekend!  For a sweet outfit idea, see this.

7:56pm:  Senator Hogan: "We WILL be meeting a week from today." 

7:57pm:  Diggity-done, yo.  I'm out.

Cheers,

Casey

For all you coffee addicts.

 

Like your coffee?  You might like this, then.  This Thursday, December 10th, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm, Java Co is having a 50% off all coffee drinks special.  I hear that you should also swing by Edna Campbell's for a holiday fête while you're in the area, and would like to suggest that you check out the downtown holiday window displays that the business owners have set up as part of an annual competition.

Cheers,
Casey

Liveblogging the BOG: December 5

Howdy do, boys and girls.  It's another beautiful Board of Governors meeting day here on Truman State University's campus in Kirksville, MO.  Yours truly is liveblogging the riveting discussion for your reading pleasure.

1:02pm:  Chair Cheryl Cozette begins the meeting.  In attendance are Chair Cheryl Cozette, Mike Greenwell, Vice Chair Matthew Potter, Kenneth Read, Secretary John Siscel, Mark Wasinger, Karen Haber, John Hilton, Peter Ewell (by phone), and Student Rep. to the BoG Cody Sumter.

Potter, Siscel, and Read, have been elected to serve in the roles of Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary, respectively, for the upcoming year.

1:05pm:  Andrew McCall has been presented with a Resolution of Commendation.  He recently received a Rhodes Scholarship, and is the first Truman student to have been awarded one.  Only 32 were selected from an applicant pool of 805.  Dr. Patricia Burton, a Professor of Philosophy, has also been presented with a Resolution of Commendation.  She was also a mentor to McCall.

The final lines of both resolutions reads: "Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to him as a tangible expression of appreciation and felicitation."  Felicitation.  What a great word, that's got to be worth at least triple points in Scrabble.

1:12pm:  President Krueger is issuing his report, calls the awards given out a "milestone for the University" and says that he is quite proud of both McCall and Burton.  It's his one-year anniversary of Board meetings (Congratulations...I think?) and he's quite impressed with the achievement of the faculty in this time.  He wants to thank the Board for their support for Governor Nixon's proposal to limit funding cuts in exchange for keeping tuition stagnant, and delivers an awesome line about "Nixon supporting your support."  

Discussing the budget issue, Krueger says that Truman has been looking at 30 "lines of business" within the University, identifying ways to lower the cost of each line.  He says it looks like we need about $1.4 million in revenue.  It appears that the gap between tuition and the increased institutional aid is decreasing rather than widening, as was previously discussed in the last Board meeting.  Assigned to monitor this gap is Regina Morin, the Associate Vice-President for Academic Enrollment, and Krueger jokes that her new title is "Czar of Institutional Aid."  Sweet deal.  It's also noted that applications for Fall 2010 enrollment in Truman have increased by 8%.  

1:21pm:  Dr. Candy Young, a Political Science (Represent!) professor and Dr. Maria Di Stefano, the Dean of Graduate Studies, are speaking about two upcoming graduate programs Truman will offer.

Dr. Young is speaking on the Masters in Leadership program.  It's going to "piggyback" on a lot of the other graduate programs that currently exist by incorporating a wide array of courses from the Social Sciences.  Ideal outcomes are that it will help make teachers more capable of teaching and provide students a good basis on which to enter the non-profit sector.  Timeline wise, they are looking for this to be available for next fall.  There is an internship component to this program as well.

Dr. Di Stefano is discussing the Professional Science Masters Degree.  This will incorporate advanced science courses which will aim to serve the needs of the science industry, like matching the development of technology.  The current program that has been developed, as an example, is one that would deal with bioinformatics.  There is an internship component for this degree as well.

(A note: Truman's Masters in Counseling is starting this fall.)

1:30pm:  T. Pain--or, as all the boring people refer to him as, Provost/VPAA Dr. Troy Paino--is in da house!  Accompanying him is Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Jeffry Vittengl, and both are issuing the Academic Report, specifically the 2009 Student Interview Project on Quality of Life.

1:37pm:  There's a difference between the Arts and Sciences report and the Student Interview Project pertaining to the quality of life of students at Truman.  Dr. Vittengl attributes to the difference in sample pools: the Arts in Sciences report interviewed prospective students and this report interviewed current students; this observation leads Governor Potter to mention that there is likely only a problem with how quality of life is perceived, rather than the quality of life.

1:41pm:  Czar Morin--who, for the record, is awesome--is giving an awesome and incredibly thorough report on enrollment differences between Truman and other Missouri schools.  We've got the highest graduation rate, higher retention rates, and the highest ACT scores in the state. (Booyah.) She singles out transfer students and graduate students as the most promising sources for enrollment growth, particularly graduate students.

1:50pm:  Dave Rector, the Vice President for Administration, Finance and Planning, is speaking on the topic of financial awards.  Most students coming to Truman, he says, are high quality who are also expecting a high rate of assistance.

1:52pm:  While we've raised tuition during the past decade, Rector says, we've also directed that increase into an increased amount of student aid.

1:53pm:  Today's word of the day is "pipeline."  A noun connoting a system in which a decision might be processed, it can be used in a myriad of ways: "These masters programs are going to be put into the pipeline...", "Once students enter the pipeline, their quality of life...", "The money enters into the pipeline..."

1:55pm:  Rector says we really need to be at about 6,200 students in order to cover cost and need projections.  He also says that the University needs to be talking about "refining" our scholarship system, and that we also need to do a better job of monitoring the institutional aid system as it's awarded from a number of different areas (Athletics, assorted academic departments, etc).

1:56pm:  Rector''s making an interesting analogy: Truman's Res Halls are financially similar to hotels.  Quick poll: standard hotel chain continental breakfast v. Sodexo breakfast?

2:01pm:  Morin notes that students are providing over 200,000 hours of service to the University each year as part of their scholarship renewal criteria.  We might be working at shifting merit-based scholarships to need-based scholarships in an effort to increase underrepresented students on campus, and we also are looking at transferring foundation scholarships to need-based and merit-based scholarships as well.

2:04pm:  Interesting: Morin says that Truman's status as a highly selective liberal arts university is it's only statewide distinction, so it's a high priority to maintain our high selective-ness.  

2:08pm:  Governor Potter expresses concerns about how other universities with whom we compete most heavily have increased their enrollment while our enrollment has actually decreased.  This is in relation to Morin's note that we must maintain our highly selective distinction.  Quote Governor Potter: "We've got to do whatever's necessary to get these numbers up."  (I mean, if we lowered accepted ACT scores to the 17-23 threshold we'd definitely get our numbers.  Let's do it, that should be a fun experiment.)

2:11pm:  Governor Wasinger notes that it's likely that other universities with whom we're competing closely are increasing their institutional aid, which is making our attracting more students more difficult.  Morin notes that, while she can't say so definitely without seeing the data, she concurs that this is happening.  Governor Potter notes that these other universities are "dispensing aid like candy in an effort to get a higher headcount."

2:15pm:  The activities of the Board's Presidential Evaluation Committee, which is reviewing the Presidential Review process, is being discussed by Chair Ewell via phone at the moment.  The first component is a set of University performance indicators (Admissions, enrollment, financial trends, etc.).  Some changes have been made in terms of what the indicators are and how they are presented to evaluators.  The second component is a self-evaluation completed by the President.  The third component is stakeholder input.  Stakeholders include members of the faculty, staff, students, Governor's staff, legislators and others.  

2:25pm: Mmm, housing charge discussion time.  Charges have increased, though not as much as last year, and there was discussion during a morning meeting about getting as much out of room and board as they can while keeping the rates competitive.  Rates in general will be increasing about 3.3% (About $107 per semester.).

2:27pm:  Governor Potter is discussing proposed funding for a cage and bottle washer for the animals in Magruder hall and the Microbiology and Cell Biology classes.  The Board is also considering purchasing a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotomer; Potter notes that they didn't particularly understand what it did but they understood there was a need for it.  A total of $130,000 is approved for both.

2:30pm:  Construction projects are moving along swimmingly, says Governor Wasinger.

2:34pm:  For any of you cool cats staying in tonight, page 54 of the Board Agenda begins the most recent university financial report.  Hot stuff.

2:36pm:  An amendment to the Fiscal Code of Policies has been approved, to streamline the process.

2:38pm:  Open meeting discussion items have been exhausted, as have my fingers.  I'm out. 

Cheers,
Casey

Something Interesting

I was scanning through the TSU Student Senate Minutes of sessions of yore and came across something that I thought was interesting, given the recent Perimeter Access System discussion and the strong level of support it received from ResLife.  From the February 24, 2008 Senate Minutes, during a discussion of the ResLife Roundtable hosted by then-Senator JoEllen Flanagan, then-Senator/Academic Affairs Chair (and former Student Body President) Lizz Esfeld is quoted as reporting attendees feelings on a PAS as the following:

"Most were not in favor of card swipes because they would make dorms less safe." (page 2)

In attendance at the roundtable were 22 members of ResLife/RHA and 3 Senators to moderate discussion.

Cheers,
Casey

Readworthy Comment

I read every comment on the blog and consider every one I've gotten to be readworthy in its own way.  I'd like to direct your attention to a particular one, the second comment on the PASpalooza post, left by Student BoG Rep. Cody Sumter.  It can be your "thing I learned today."

Cheers,
Casey

PASpalooza

 I was looking for a good time the week before Thanksgiving break so I hit up the Student Senate/ResLife/Student Affairs Perimeter Access System forum in the SUB that Wednesday evening. (Rawr!)  The forum was held to discuss the upcoming security changes to campus residential buildings that are being activated for the Spring 2010 Semester.  ResLife Director John Gardner and Dean of Student Affairs Lou Ann Gilchrist fielded the questions, comments and criticisms from students gathered to learn more and to talk more about the changes the system will be bringing to campus.  Below are brief summaries scribblings I gathered on the nature of and reaction to the PAS implementation, for your reading enjoyment.

Gimme Some History

During the forum Dean Gilchirst gave a brief history of the impetus for the PAS.  Back during January of 2008 a drunken lowlife (My words, not hers.) entered Dobson Hall, walked right past the hall monitor, entered a room which had its entrance door propped and attempted to sexually assault the residents inside.  Though DPS was on the scene one minute after the call they did not secure the situation until about 15 minutes later due to miscommunication.  The incident sparked anger, concern and ample discussion on campus, and it was Student Senate that first began serious discussions of implementing a Perimeter Access System on campus residential buildings.  The idea was proposed to the Board of Governors and $225,000* was approved for the project this past summer.

*Editor's note.  While I have the cost quoted as being $150,000 twice in my notes from the forum,  I have since been told that the actual money amount approved was $225,000.

Are People Upset By the Proposed PAS?

Oh yes.  Yes indeed.  Some have even started a Facebook Group.

Oh Snap.  What's Their Problem?

One of the biggest sources of frustration was regarding how horribly inconvenient the proposed system is.  (And the proposed system will be making life less convenient for on-campus dwellers.)  In large part the inconvenience seems to stem from the issue of red doors on campus buildings (Visit the ResLife PAS page to learn more about door classifications and such.), which are kind of like the redheaded stepchildren of the PAS system: you can never enter through them from the outside, and they will comprise the majority of doors on campus.  Why not make the doors partially accessible?  Well...that costs money, money we don't have.  

Red doors are 1/3 of the cost of yellow doors (Red doors just stay locked from the exterior all the time, while yellow doors incorporate swiping technology past a certain time.), and while all parties involved would like more yellow doors on campus there's just not enough money to cover the cost.  It's been determined that we need to get a PAS, and the only way we can implement one with our current financial capabilities is the method that's being proposed, with lots and lots of red doors. (I count 54 individual red doors on the ResHall maps provided on the site.) 

That idea that Truman "needs to get a PAS" was another big issue of contention.  Several students mentioned that they didn't see this as making campus any safer than it was already, and that might in fact make it more dangerous for students should an "unforeseen event" happen.  Major points made in favor of Truman's needing a PAS, delivered by Director Gardner and Dean Gilchrist, was that the system can serve as a deterrent should an "unforeseen event" occur, be it a school shooting (All the doors can be locked down at once.), a fire or something else, and that it's the standard at a lot of other schools so we need to meet that standard.  

From where I was sitting I was also able to hear a lot of angry murmurs about ResLife not consulting students on where to place the yellow doors, or consulting students in general on implementing the PAS system.  Director Gardner did make it very clear that as the money to add more accessible-by-swipe doors became available they would consult with students to determine optimal placement.

Overall Impressions

It seemed like the room was divided in half: about half of the left portion was rather vocally against the PAS, while the right portion (In which ResLife was representing.) was for the most part silently supportive of the system.  There was a lot of criticism, but a very small portion of it was constructive; when I broached this subject with one of the individuals who had spoken up against the PAS (Who wished to not have his name published.) he responded by saying, "That's because we can't do anything about it.  They've already decided that we're going to do this, so all we can do is make sure that we complain loud enough to let them know that this is a really, really bad idea that they should have talked to us about first."

There also seemed to be a significant number of people who came just to listen and learn about the system being proposed.  I did notice that vast, vast majority of the post-discussion survey slips Student Senate passed out were filled out, so I'm taking that as a sign that the vast, vast majority of attendees learned something about the system by attending this event.

Director Gardner and Dean Gilchrist were largely on the defensive for the duration of the program, and they did their best to provide responses to the questions and comments directed to them.  Their responses weren't always seen as satisfactory to the people proffering the questions and comments, but that's to be expected.

Notable Quotables From the Forum

"Does Truman have police?  I've never seen them on campus."
"There are fundamental flaws in this system, and there are no real advantages as opposed to the current system."
"If there's an inconvenience there should be a point."
"You're right.  You're absolutely right.  I wish there was a different explanation.  We're trying to get up to date with standards and expectations." (Dean Gilchrist in response to student criticism of the plan.)
"I really appreciate you standing here answering the same questions several times." (Directed to Gardner.)
"What if the unexpected happened?  How heated would the conversation be if we did nothing?  They're trying to do something." (Said by a supportive member of Student Senate.)
"So what if you have to walk an extra 30 feet?  You're in college, get over it.  Life is full of inconveniences.  I'd much rather have safety over inconvenience."

For more PAS fun you can visit the ResLife Perimeter Access System webpage here.

Cheers,
Casey

p.s.  Also, for what it's worth, I'd like to toss out my idea to divert the funding from the PAS system into a Campus Ballistic Missile Defense System.  We can make shirts calling ourselves the "NORAD of the Midwest"--"MORAD," if you will--and can probably secure federal funding, which should help us get a pretty sweet endowment that can stave off the upcoming budget cuts.  We'll probably be the first Liberal Arts College/Strategic Defense Center in the history of...well...everything.  Don't tell me that wouldn't look fabulous on a billboard.  Who's with me?

Liveblogging Senate: November 29

Heyo everyone, and welcome back from Thanksgiving Break.  Student Senate is meeting in Violette Hall this evening, which is where I'm at for the weekly liveblog that kicks off the end of the Socialite's Thanksgiving blogging abstinence.

6:04pm:  Senate's in a pretty small room for tonight's meeting.  22 of us are crammed in a smaller circle of desks.  We're doing gallery introductions right now, but, as Speaker Tom Hogan notes, there really isn't a gallery area tonight. 

6:07pm:  Sarah Seberger is approved the new Senate org rep for the Student Athletes Advisory Committee.

6:12pm:  Freshman Jonathon Jones is approved as a new Senator.  Web designer Claire Schueler enters the room with her fish, Garfield, in a Tupperware container.  Secretary Libby Piel enters to a round of applause after fighting through post-Thanksgiving holiday traffic to get here.

6:16pm:  It's decided that Senate will be decorating their office door for the holidays.  President JoEllen Flanagan will actually be a judge for the campus door decorating competition; if the Senate door just so happens to win the competition I'm crying foul.

6:18pm:  The new name for the annual "Storm the Capitol" student lobbying initiative is "Truman At the Capitol."  Senate is still looking for a Legislative Director, who plays a pretty crucial role in coordinating the lobbying initiative, so if you're a political beast with a little free time on your hands hit up the Senate Applications webpage.

6:19pm:  Board of Governor's meeting this Saturday at 1:30pm in the SUB Conference Room!  Woo!  Seriously, those things are a trip.  You should go, I'll be there.

6:22pm:  Faculty Advisor Scott Alberts asks student senators to think about what Senate can do for them, look to the future, etc.  He also reminds student senators that eating and sleeping during finals is generally a good thing.

6:23pm:  Sweet, I have been invited to the Senate Holiday Party by Advisor Alberts.  This means I must find a tacky Christmas sweater.  Ooh, and there's even going to be a hat circle.  (Things are going to get wild...)

6:26pm:  The first ever "Fireside Friday" will be in the SUB this Friday from 3-5:00pm in the Hub.  Free snacks, fun stuff, hot damn.

6:28pm:  Listening to all these Senators give their reports makes me wish I could give a report at these things.

6:29pm:  V.P. Isaac Robinson finally made it!  Traffic, I believe.  He's now sitting next to me, which means I'm not going to be able to blog smack about him.  Sigh.

6:30pm:  Want to see your Student Senate Lip Sync?  The webmaster just uploaded their Lip Sync routine from Freshman Week onto YouTube, which you can find here.

6:31pm:  Did you know that Senate's working on a new Vision Document?  The last one was put out in 2007, and was named "Arete."

6:34pm:  Alright, discussion items!  V.P. Robinson is talking about honorary degrees, specifically Faculty Senate's ideas for revamping the way honorary degrees are awarded.  This, of course, is in response to the John Ashcroft speaking debacle at last year's graduation.  Right now, they're looking to create a system where any member of the Truman community can nominate a candidate.  This candidate will be considered by a screening committee comprised of members of various campus entities: faculty, staff, BoG, etc.  This committee narrows the list down to 5 candidates and this goes to Faculty Senate who will vote support/no support regarding each candidate.  All of the candidates, not just the supported candidates, will be sent to the BoG for the final decision.

6:38pm:  Awarding honorary degrees isn't something Truman normally does, I believe Student BoG Rep. Sumter says we've only given 4 out so far.  He also makes a good point about the proposed process: it's got a lot of steps, which would significantly hamper keeping the candidates secret.  Advisor Alberts notes that the proposed system is vague on the things on which it should be specific, and specific on the things it could be vague.

6:40pm:  While the nomination process is becoming more open--students, faculty, staff, alumni can all nominate a candidate--this proposed system definitely comes off as being more for the faculty's benefit than the students'.  Not that teachers don't try to act in the best interest of students, of course.  And not that they're not entitled to determine who is deemed "honorable" by the institution whose prestige they work to maintain.

6:51pm:  Perimeter Access System Resoution discussion time.  Yee.  Ha.  Look for notes about the PAS discussion of about a week and a half ago.  Regarding that discussion, Student Senator Molly Troop has just said that a lot of the students in attendance "said stupid stuff like I thought they would, but at least it gave them an opportunity to speak their minds."  So.

6:52pm:  In brief, the resolution says, "Hey, we're getting a perimeter access system, the 2008 incident is why, we're out of money and can't have the system of our dreams, so here's the system that we're getting."

6:53pm:  I'd like to point out that as of right now line 40 of the resolution literally reads: "No one honestly comes back wasted before midnight."  This is a rough draft.

6:56pm:  The resolution also supports using additional funds to complete the PAS to make it one that is more ideal; modifying the currently proposed system to make yellow doors usable as entrances between 10:30pm and midnight; and (line 50) "Puppies for everyone!"  Again, rough draft.

6:57pm:  Also, line 38 reads: "ResLife states that individuals must check in at the hall desk to ensure their safety. (not wasted)"  Currently we're debating whether or not using the word "wasted" in a resolution makes the resolution seem unprofessional and whether including the point that the purpose of the desks is not to catch people violating the law makes the resolution seem antagonistic.  It could be stating the truth of the matter.  Just saying.

6:58pm:  I'm very much liking Line 54 of the resolution: "Students should be involved in future decision making processes and the selection of new doors."

7:00pm:  Quote Advisor Alberts and Senator Hiroki Sato: the system is only as good as the people who use it.

7:05pm:  Senator Dan Heagney says that, as they are an entity funded by the government, ResLife has the responsibility to enforce laws, including catching people who come back to the dorms drunk.  

7:08pm:  The new SAAC org rep Seberger just brought up line 40: "No one honestly comes back wasted before midnight."  How much would you love to see that in the final draft?

7:09pm:  Student BoG Rep. says that in conversations with Dean of Student Affairs Lou Ann Gilchrist and ResLife Director John Gardner, they've indicated that they view the role of the night monitor as being that of catching people coming in overly intoxicated, not checking people in.

7:11pm:  Senator Troop brings up a good point: if guests are allowed in the dorms all day every day, why should they suddenly not be allowed at 10:30pm?

7:17pm:  This meeting is officially over.

New Campus Org Blog Alert!

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to give a big, warm welcome to the new TSU PRISM Blog.  PRISM is Truman/Kirksville's GLBT-straight alliance; recently they've been working to revamp the ol' website into one fabulous local resource, and have opted to add a snazzy new blog to their repertoire.  I've already added it to my blogroll, and you should too.  Check out their Friday News post, a super cool weekly feature for those of you 'round these parts interested in knowing what happened in GLBT news during the week.

Cheers to local blogging,
Casey

p.s.  Teaser: expect to hear about more local blogs in the coming weeks...

Stuff White People Like--Tonight!

What sorts of things do white people like?  Bicycles, Banksy, gap years, Vespas...

The authority on this is Christian Lander, founder of the uberinsightful Stuff White People Like blog, who is speaking on campus tonight in Baldwin Auditorium at 7pm on this very subject.  It's free with a student ID and $2 for general admission.  Check out the blog and check him out.  He was hanging around my place of work today for a bit and seems like a pretty legit guy.

Cheers,
Casey

Hold Up: Gov. Nixon Announces Plan To Keep MO Tuition At The Same Level

Big news coming today on the future of your tuition, Truman U.  Straight from the mouth of MO Gov. Jay Nixon this morning came the news that he's proposing a deal to exchange moderate higher-ed budget cuts (To the tune of 5.2 percent, or $42 million.) for keeping state university tuition rates at their current levels for in-state undergrads.  Tuition hikes would likely be allowed on out-of-state and graduate students.

Nixon stopped at UMSL this morning to make the announcement in a press conference, and will be stopping at Missouri State University in Springfield earlier on this afternoon to discuss his new higher education budget deal proposal.  Sam Murphy, the Deputy Press Secretary for Governor Nixon's Office (And a Truman alumnus, actually.) could not confirm that the Governor will be stopping by Truman's campus, though more concrete information about a possible campus visit is expected to be released later on during the day. 

On today's announcement Nixon was quoted in the KC Star's Prime Buzz column as saying:

"To turn this economy around, Missourians must be trained, educated and ready to work, and that's why it was vital that we kept tuition flat for Missouri families."

This announcement comes on the tail of recent state budget cuts undertaken in response to declining state tax revenues, which are down by roughly 10 percent.  On October 27th he detailed a $204 million cut that affects the state work force, building projects, school transportation and virtual education, which brought the total amount of cutbacks that both he and state legislators have implemented since his arrival in office to $634 million, and 2,300 full- and part-time state employees.

Though university leaders have agreed to the plan it is far from a done deal and will have to go through the capitol appropriations process before it is approved.  During this time substantial changes could be made to the terms of the plan or it could be flat out rejected.  The Boards of the various state universities will also have to sign onto the deal. 

Cheers,
Casey

With A Name Like "College Prowler" You KNOW It's Legit!

Every so often I like to Google "Truman State University" to see what new and wondrous things are brought to my attention.  Sometimes I find a cool historical tidbit or factoid, other times I'll get a mildly artistic picture someone took of some random campus something during their time here.  The most recent Googling brought forward this dubious website's Truman Report Card, which is supposedly generated by a wide array of students.  The page also contains a somewhat hilarious guide to "Truman Slang."  ("Natty Light" is apparently one of our must-know terms.)

It should be noted that Truman is receiving a 2.7 for its GPA.  (In Mizzou terms that's like a solid 3.45, right?)  But we get an A+ in security, so see, this Perimeter Access System shenaniganry really isn't needed.  College Prowler says so.

Cheers,
Casey

Edit:  Just found this nugget of wisdom about our beloved university environment on the "Guys and Girls" page: "And it seems that anyone can find a willing make-out buddy on a Saturday night if they're looking for a meaningless good time."  Also, did you know that "Kirksville is home to some of the best packing snow"?  I smell a new billboard campaign.

An Open Letter to the Weather, On Behalf of Meteor-Lovers in Kirksville

Dear Mother Nature,

Stop it.  

Stop it now.  

The Leonid Meteor Shower is beginning tonight and you've decided that this is the ideal time to get hormonal on Kirksville.  This year's LMS could very well be one of the coolest meteor shower events of our lifetime and I really don't appreciate your sass.  Everything is not always about you.  Get it together.

Most sincerely,
Casey

ps.  Should Mama N. pull through you should be able to view them best between 11:00pm and 4:00am, particularly between 2:00am and 4:00am.  You can check out this excellent National Geographic article for more info.

Asian Food Week

 

This week is Asian Food Week on Truman's campus.  Translation?  Cheap, tasty snacks on the Quad every single day for your palate's pleasure from 11:00am-3:00pm, prepared for you by the awesome students in the Society for Sino-American Studies.  What's on the menu for this week?  

• Bubble Tea every day, $1.50
• Monday: Sushi Rolls, $1.00
• Tuesday:  Wontons/Dumplings on a Stick, $1.00
• Wednesday:  Red Bean Soup (Apparently it is sweet.), $1.00
• Thursday:  Dokbokki (Korean rice cake.), $1.00
• Friday: Vietnamese Spring Rolls, $1.00

"Wontons/Dumplings on a Stick"?  I'm so excited.  And don't even get me started on those Spring Rolls.  (Dibs on all of them, for the record.)

Cheers,

Casey

Giving Up the Blog (A Post of Import)

I'm just going to cut straight to the chase on this one, Socialites: I'm giving up the blog.

In a manner of speaking.

Come January 4th, 2010, I will no longer be writing daily content for the Kirksville Socialite.  To make a long, difficult and delightful story short I've been given an incredible opportunity to intern in a political office next semester, which will also be my final semester enrolled at Truman.  The nature of the internship dictates that I exercise as much responsible discretion as possible out of concern for the office.  By my estimation, this includes avoiding promoting opinions, articles, images and other media mediums that don't necessarily match the office's purpose or ideas.  

There's going to be plenty of interesting goings-on around this place next semester that I foresee needing to be covered. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, scary University budget stuff, selection of the new University President stuff, and City Council election/very interestingly timed court case stuff.  For this very reason, I would very much like to see the Socialite continued and evolved.

So here's what's up.  If you find yourself intrigued by this whole one-part-journalism-one-part-opinion-several-parts-cheeky-and-all-parts-proud-of-it blogging thing, and if you find yourself thinking, "I could give that a whirl," send me an email at kirksvillesocialite@gmail.com saying as much.  I'm in the process of securing internship credit (through Truman) for people who would like to blog for the site, and I'd love to give a few people the opportunity to flex their writing, observing, relaying and creative muscles.

The format of the internship would be something along the lines of what follows.  I'll be your managing editor, you'll get my contacts and the heads up on any rumblings I'm given the heads up on.  I'll help you figure out the whos, hows, whens, wheres, whys, whats, and hells yeahs of blogging, you'll be able to count the internship as an actual, professional, resume experience.  I will warn you in advance that I am pretty picky about what I want in a future Socialite blogger, but I can also tell you that I want to see this continued and take on the voices and attitudes of whomever ends up writing for it.  It can't be my baby forever, nor should it, so if you think you've got the drive and a pretty self-aware style of writing then you're my kind of guy/gal/non-gender conforming individual and I want to hear from you.

One other thing I wanted to mention, that I also consider to be quite important.  If you're interested in starting up your own Kirksville/Truman-specific blog (Or any other sort, really, but my most pressing concern at the moment is making sure the 'Ville has a blog that focuses on it after I've gone.) and would like to chit-chat about how I can help you get yours off the ground, on its feet and ready to tackle all this joint has to throw at you, email me.  I want to see more bloggers, I want to hear more voices, read about more things I didn't even know were happening, and I definitely want to help give you the chance to have the absolutely incredible experiences I've been able to have through my operation.

You might think that covering something the size of Truman/Kirksville is easy (Insert obligatory "there's more to this place than meets the eye" comment.*) but it's not.  There is so^googol much going on around this joint that I don't even have time to cover one tenth of what I feel like I should be doing.  I'm betting that having a few more bloggers around could reduce that fraction to...maybe one-sixth?  So be you wanting to blog for the Socialite or wanting to blog on your own, give me a holler.  I'd love to do whatever it is I can do to help you achieve that goal.

Well there you have it, Socialites, the ball's (or blog's) in your virtual court.  

Cheers,
Casey

Liveblogging Senate: November 15

5:57pm:  There appear to be Jello shots on the meeting table.  I've been assured they're non-alcoholic, but the group seems to be in particularly good spirits this evening.  I have my doubts.

5:59pm:  Senator Sean Serroque has made sure to point out Senator Zach Buckler's Mac to me.  It has been duly noted.

6:03pm:  Speaker Tom Hogan has begun the meeting.  It looks like the appointing the new Bike Co-Op CFO is going to be the first order of business.  They're still trying to decide whether the CFO should report to the Environmental Affairs Chair or the Treasurer of Senate.

6:06pm:  V.P. Isaac Robinson is making a pretty strong argument for the CFO to report to the Treasurer. 

6:10pm:  In the CFO resolution "reporting to" was changed to "meeting with," and then to "act as a liaison between."  Expect to see "chit chat with" and "grab coffee with" make appearances. 

6:16pm:  By decree of Senate the Bike Co-Op CFO shall meet with the Senate Treasurer.  Snaps all around.  Thank goodness we're done with that debate.

6:18pm:  Whoa.  A faculty member, Dr. Mike Ashcraft, came to the meeting just to check it out.  As in, of his own volition.  

6:20pm:  Student Matt Schelessman (I believe he's a junior) is getting interviewed by Senate for the position of the Bike Co-Op CFO.  Responding to a question proffered by Senator Lizz Esfeld, he states that he'd like to see the Co-Op become self-sustaining.  This is a big issue in Senate, and has been since I was on the body several years ago.  The Bike Co-Op was created with the idea that it would eventually become a self-sustaining entity but has struggled to find its independent financial feet.  Senate spent $1,400 on insurance for the Co-Op in this year's budget.  (You can find the complete Senate budget here.)

6:27pm:  After brief closed-session discussion, Schlessman is approved and sworn in.  Sniffle, the Bike Co-Op is growing up...

6:28pm:  President JoEllen Flanagan gives her report.  Most exciting bit from my perspective?  They're bringing back the "Recycling is Sexy" program.  For those of you who don't know what this is, I digress: 3 years ago Senate members created a "Recycling is Sexy" initiative, part of which incorporated a slightly scandalous calendar featuring various Senate members posing with strategically-placed recycling bins.  Never got distributed, unfortunately.

6:29pm:  Interesting.  As a response to last semester's controversial awarding of an honorary degree to John Ashcroft, a University Committee was been formed to discuss and explore how the giving of honorary degrees is determined.  V.P. Robinson will be on that committee.  Good move on the University's part.

6:32pm:  Some 15-odd ResLife ducklings, including MO Hall Director Zac Burden, just silently entered the meeting space to deliver Senator Matthew Ohs something edible and then silently filtered out.  (Edit: see the comments section for more info about this.)

6:35pm:  Woo!  Senate Holiday Party at Faculty Advisor Scott Albert's house!  He says it's to give Senators valuable experience with "real world" parties, which means they cannot show up drunk, must mingle with people they don't like and must wear a sweater with a reindeer on it.

6:38pm:  Not-so-fun University budget discussion time.  Be looking for an article about this very subject later on this week.  To quote Dr. Alberts, "the cliff is coming."  That pretty much sums it up.

6:41pm:  Scandal?  Academic Affairs Chair Charles Tomlinson wants to hear from you if you've heard about (or experienced) a less-than-stellar freshman registration experience, because apparently he's heard some notably negative feedback.

6:44pm:  Yeeeeahhhh!  Purple Fridays are comin' back!  (Wearing purple on Fridays to support school spirit, and possibly winning prizes for it.  What-what.)

6:45pm:  The SUB shall be getting a "pulse," so that students do not only use it as a study space.  I heard some discussion about that at a meeting this past week: think live music like jazz quartets and random free food.

6:48pm:  There's a Perimeter Access System/Worst-and-Least-Effective-Campus-Expenditure-I've-Seen-In-A-Long-Time Roundtable this Wednesday at 7:00pm in the SUB Georgian Rooms.  (Facebook Event here.)  Long story short, I think it's a good idea in theory and it makes sure to legally cover the University's butt in the event of some horrible scenario occurring in a Res Hall, but in terms of implementation I feel that it crosses the line between necessary inconvenience and ineffectively inconvenient.  Please feel free to make up your own mind about this by visiting the Facebook Event Page or the Res Life Perimeter Access System Info Page. 

6:56pm:  Diversity Chair Dan Heagney's Resolution to Fund the MLK Challenge (A day of service to celebrate diversity, where the Truman campus and Kirksville community join forces to do good.) passes unanimously.

6:58pm:  President Flanagan discusses the Recycling is Sexy initiative.  Good news for all you Senate-philes out there: they're very seriously discussing creating round two of the calendar.  President Flanagan has asked for suggestions for "positions" for the photos.  Cannot wait to see this.

7:03pm:  Feel free to post your suggestions for calendar photo positions, tag lines, or ideas in the comments section!  I'll be sure to pass them along.  Try to keep it somewhat acceptable, there are regulations on campus regarding what can be posted or distributed.

7:06pm:  A straw poll has revealed that the vast, vast majority of Senate is in favor of both producing and being in the calendar.  Get excited, Truman.  Get excited.

7:08pm:  Annnnd we're out!  Have a good one, guys, stay warm.

Oh Yeah--PRISM DANCE

Cannot believe I forgot that this was happening tonight, wow I feel lame...anyhoo, if you've never been to a PRISM Dance then you probably should change that tonight.  PRISM is Truman's gay-straight alliance, and their dances always have tons of fun, TONS of dancing, and tons of acceptance for whatever it is you wanna work.  It's always a good time, so if you wanna shake off this gray day by shaking your booty get on over to the NEMO Fairgrounds with your $7 and your 16-or-over I.D anytime between 10pm and 3am.

Cheers,
Casey

ps.  Saw my first drag show at a PRISM Dance.  It's definitely something everyone should experience at least once in life.

Don't Forget Regina

In addition, let's not forget that the lovely Regina Spektor will be playing a show in Pershing tonight at 8.  Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for General Admission.

 

Here's a link to a clip of her playing live.

Cheers,
Casey

Leo Premieres On Campus Tonight

Making its on-campus debut tonight at 6:30pm is "Leo," the film created and directed by former-student-body-president-turned-independent-filmmaker Matt Szewczyk and co-starring Truman Senior Dwane Riley.  The film tells the story of two butchers in small town America, their big dreams, and what happens when a grocery store customer piques one's curiosity.  I'm going to direct all further queries regarding the synopsis of the film and the idea and effort behind it to Anne Rebar's "All Eyes On" column about it that appeared in The Index this past week and the Facebook Event for tonight's premiere, except to say that the film is showing in Violette Hall 1000, is 35 minutes long and costs $2 to attend.  All proceeds raised will go towards promoting "Leo" at different film festivals around the country.  You can check out a trailer of the film (and some outtakes) on the Facebook Event page.

Cheers to students doing cool things,
Casey

Details and Pics of the New Pershing Addition Plans

Hidey-ho, Socialites.  Who wants to see some pretty pictures of the plans for Pershing?  (And alliterate!)

These pictures and corresponding information come from the October 27th Board of Governors Conference Call Meeting session.  You can look at the source documents here if you'd like.

During that Conference Call Meeting the TSU BoG approved exactly $14,850,000---$11,335,919 of which comes from State of Missouri and the remaining $3,514,081 of which comes from "local funds," which are comprised of portions of the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Fiscal Years Maintenance and Repair Budgets---for constructing new and remodeling current Pershing Building spaces.  Pershing is currently the stomping grounds of the Health and Exercise Science Department, but the new classrooms, labs and offices will incorporate facilities for the Departments of Nursing and Communications Disorders in addition to HES.

So what all specifically is going to happen to PB?  Let's start by looking at what they're going to do to the existing building.  For starters, they're remodeling the South wing of the building up through the area around the main staircase to make a nice new area for HES which will include two new classrooms.  They're also replacing the Natatorium's roof and the heating, venting and air conditioning (HVAC) system in this area as well.  Next, a new fitness and weight training area is going to go into the space between the Natatorium and Pershing Arena.  Finally, much-needed measures to prevent future flooding of Pershing Arena will also be implemented.  

In terms of what's new, how does a 35,000 square foot addition sound?  This three-level facility will be located to the east of the main building, which it will be connected to by a second-story enclosed walkway and an underground hallway.  (Sweet.  Can we also get them to put in a Batcave?)  Inside the new digs will be:

• 3 classrooms
• 5 labs
• 25 faculty offices
• 2 department offices
• The Speech and Hearing Clinic
• Rooms for Athletic Training
• Exercise Physiology labs

Below are a few pics of the upcoming addition to campus.  In general I like them, and I did want to make sure to point out that my favorite part might be the artist's fanciful depiction of there being ample available parking near an academic building in the first picture.  So silly.

"The Kennels," if you were unaware, is the nickname for the football player HQ, which is located on the immediate west side of Stokes Stadium.

Cheers,
Casey

ps. There's also mention of constructing a "chilled water loop" for the "new campus chilled water service" as part of the Pershing renovations on page 4 of the source documents (In the fourth paragraph down.). I was ready to write an angry post challenging the expenditure of funds upon something that could easily be accomplished with the purchase of a few new ice machines, but after some thoroughly interesting research I've discovered that the chilled water loop is not at all what I thought it was and is, in fact, a quite cool, kind of eco, and seemingly cost-effective A/C system.  If you, too, would like to engage in an offshootish intellectual foray about an incredibly specific subject I'd like to proffer a Wikipedia primer on chilling systems followed by a more in-depth article on chilled loop systems.

Ye Olde Socialite

Storing all the old stuff from the former site host has proven to be a bigger undertaking than was originally expected.  Apparently I blogged too much by Typepad's standards.  (?!)  However, if you're interested in sifting through the old articles and reminiscing of days gone by (Or if you're super bored, that works too.) you can totally do that by visiting the old Socialite website here.  I'll put up a link to it in one of the sidebars pretty soon.  In the meantime, and if you're finding yourself to be super bored right now or just super not into doing homework, below are some of the most trafficked posts from last year:

• Humans versus Zombies: It All Comes Down to Socks and a Nerf Gun
• A Bakery, Cupcakes and Storefronts, Oh My! (Downtown Secrets Revealed)
• Attention Whore(s?) Graffitis Campus
• The Rodgerson Anti-Gay Renting Debacle
• Truman Gets a Lump of Coal for Christmas
• Rocking the 'Ville Part 1: No Hands in Pockets
• It's Obama: Front Pages from Around the World
• A Bellweather Bailout Battle
• Dixon's Tenure Marked With Achievement, Criticism.
• Manhattan Cafe and Bakery: Eat There. Now.

Cheers,
Casey

You know you go to Truman when...

Got word through the book of Faces that Truman's Ad and PR Club is selling this on a t-shirt for any and all interested parties. 

Front

Back

What say you, Socialites: reflective of Truman? 

Also, I'm curious to know what other "You know you go to Truman when-isms" are out floating around there.  Feel free to abuse the comments section accordingly. 

Cheers,
Casey

ps. If you're interested in one you can make a post on the Facebook Event Wall or contact the members of the Ad and PR Club of Truman. (Names suggested include Josh Dunlop, Gina Cook, Eric Hughes, Jackie Hodapp, Kristyn Potter or faculty advisors Dr. Johnson and Dr. Yaquinto.)  They're $13 each or 2 for $24.

pps.  Speaking of awesome apparel-age, Truman sweatshirts are 25% off this week.  Winter's a-coming, so tap that discounted action.

It's Like Big Brother for Computer Availability

Truman ITS just made my day with this campus-wide email:

Students,

Have you ever needed to use a lab computer and couldn't find an unused system?  The computer labs can become very busy toward the end of the semester and finding an unused computer can be a challenge.

Now you can check the availability of lab computers from the web.  Simply go to http://its.truman.edu/labs/ and click on the Live Status links.  The real-time status of lab computers is available for Violette Hall, Pickler Library, and the Residence Halls.  Live Status will show you exactly where the lab computers are located and if they are in use or available.

The web page also includes information on checking your printer account balance, classroom and lab software, software available by request, Mathematica for home use, software downloads, purchasing software and more.  Check it out.

If you have any suggestions for improving information technology services on campus please let us know.

Thank you.

Information Technology Services

As of 9:40am this is what the Pickler third floor lab looked like:

 

Epic.  Can they do this for parking, too?

Cheers,
Casey

Unleash Your Inner Mini Commie

I'm all for showcasing what the media has to offer, especially when it's our very own Truman communications entities, so I'm particularly happy to present the roster of events for Mini Comm Week (this week) at Truman.  Mini Comm Week is hosted by the delightful Ad and PR Club of Truman and features several evening events sponsored by several different organizations under the Communications Department.  Think free food, practical knowledge and stimulating discussion.

On Wednesday, November 11th, Lamba Pi Eta will be hosting a potluck dinner at the University Club at 6:00pm.  All are welcome--Commies and non-Commies alike--for some free food (Do you need another reason to go?) and likely great conversation given that it's hosted by people who are interested in communicating.  That same evening at 6:30 in Barnett 1211, Ad and PR Club will host a Peer 2 Peer Networking Workshop to help you learn how to get a fabulous internship.  Truman students with internship experience at Target, the City of St. Peters, Fox 2 in St. Louis, PBS/KETC Channel 9 in St. Louis, the Kirksville Daily Express, Greek Life, the Career Center, the PR Office at Truman, and other places will dish about their tips for intern success, and you're probably going to hear a couple neat stories while you're there.

Finally, on Thursday, November 12th, the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as members of various organizations within the Truman Media Network, will meet up again in Barnett 1211 to chit chat about their experiences with the media.  A featured speaker that evening is student Tawanda Kanhema, who's going to talk about his experiences as an investigative journalist in Zimbabwe, which I'm quite intrigued to hear as both an African/African-American Studies minor and a journo-junkie.

Cheers to the Truman Commies for what looks like a smashing series of events,
Casey

Yo Quiero Mas Index Photoblogging

File this one under the "just a thought" category.

Last week's edition of The Index had an absolutely fantastic picture showing two anonymous students with umbrellas taking in the grossly swollen creek-turned-river in Red Barn Park.  I know I'm not alone in my admiration of the image: one of the first conversations I had that morning was with a friend who approached me saying, "Have you seen this picture?!"  I've since brought up the photo in conversations with other friends to find that there's usually that same reaction to it; they remember it, oftentimes moreso than the story it accompanied.

I hate to whip out the saying "a picture's worth a thousand words," but it does help to drive home the idea that hearing the story behind the icon being used to promote the story is sometimes just as interesting as the story itself, and in some cases can be more so.  One of my favorite publications, National Geographic, has been publishing the stories behind some of the images featured in their monthly magazines--from the photographers' perspective--for a while now.  There's almost always some little twist or quirk within the photographer's photo story that reveals a new dimension of the featured story that you wouldn't be able to pick up on otherwise.

Earlier on during this semester a photographer for The Index, Brian, had posted the stories behind some of the pictures he had taken for the paper's editions in the Index Snaps Blogspot that was created this semester.  (There's a particularly vivid one from inside the University Observatory showing Stargazers Club member Bandon Decker peering through a telescope towards the moon, with the room surrounding him lit up in a vibrant, glowing red that I recommend checking out.)  I have no idea if Brian was the individual who took the picture of the students in Red Barn, or why the photoblogging has fallen by the wayside (Though as a blogger who has not always updated as frequently as she should I suppose I do have a few ideas about that part...) but I for one would like to see the Index photoblogging resume, especially if they're going to keep on taking pictures like that one.  Yowza.

Cheers,
Casey

Truman's Sweet Nothings Are Social Media Darlings

Last night actress and musician Felicia Day--of the fabulous and very popular Joss Whedon Internet Musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"--posted the following tweet about Truman's own coed a cappella group Sweet Nothings:

 

At A Cappella Fest this past weekend

Sweet Nothings performed the song "Date My Avatar," which Day originally performed along with members of her own original--and also quite popular--web series "The Guild."  The people running "The Guild" Twitter account picked up on the Sweet Nothings a cappella YouTube video recorded and 'Tubed by a Truman student, Tweeted it accordingly (as did Ms. Day) and the video has gone viral, garnering mention on a few websites since. (If you click on the Sweet Nothings link above it will take you to a page with links to the sites.)

What's more, the Sweet Nothings a cappella version has officially become a Tweetmeme!  Sweet indeed.

Cheers,
Casey

Liveblogging Senate: November 8

Once again I'm liveblogging Senate.  On tonight's agenda: curriculum stuff, further discussion on the CFO for the Bike Co-Op, chit chat about the budget and a little digression into the results of the Senate Feedback Survey.

5:53pm:  Secretary Libby Piel and Senator Philip Gilmor appear to be involved in a shoving match.  This is promising.

6:01pm:  Speaker Hogan has begun the meeting.  Roll Call shall not be called tonight, apparently.  Index Assistant News Editor* Andrea Hewitt and I are sitting on opposite sides of the seating area.  Speaker Hogan wonders if it's due to bad blood.  (*corrected from "news reporter")

6:03pm:  Kelly Seitter has been appointed as an Associate Senator.

6:04pm:  President JoEllen Flanagan has just stated that she is about to "take out her goodies."  She has commenced to throw a loaf of bread across the room to Academic Affairs Chair Charles Tomlinson, and is now threatening to whip a candy bar across the room to the just-entering Student Affairs Chair Kristyn Potter.  Most interesting. 

6:06pm:  Is that Senator Sean Serroque I see sporting a Mac?  A black sheep among the Senate PC-ers

6:07pm:  President Flanagan has commended Student Affairs for having a very interesting page on the Senate Site.  Link here.

6:09pm:  Flanagan is still moving through her report.  In other news, I'm quite looking forward to the V.P. Isaac Robinson's discussion on the University Budget.  It's one of the main reasons I'm excited about the meeting tonight.

6:11pm:  Robinson's Veep Report now.  Next week, apparently, we're going to be discussing the student athletic fee committee.  Should be quite the interesting discussion; I personally would like to.

6:12pm:  The projector isn't working, so Student BOG Rep. Cody Sumter's presentation of Pershing Renovation stuff will have to wait for now.  He is, however, saying that he's working on typing up a BOG selection "how-to" process document as well as plowing through the oodles and oodles of applications for the position of the President of the University.  I do not envy him his job.

6:14pm:  There's a communal groan as the score of the TSU Men's Basketball game against Mizzou is discussed.  A fair percentage of Senate went to the game.

6:15pm:  Speaker Hogan says that he is "going to do his damndest" to make sure the meeting ends before the Tool Academy finale tonight.  He has also thrown down a challenge for anyone to beat his family in Family Feud.  Any takers?

6:16pm:  External Affairs is changing the name of the annual lobbying initiative, currently dubbed "Storm the Capitol."  The name is being changed due to the fact that it is not really the best strategy to send oodles and oodles of students to mob and clutter the capitol building.

6:17pm:  A note: Speaker Hogan reminds Senators that what happens in closed session stays in closed session.  I am now scanning the room to see whom I could persuade to violate this rule.

6:20pm:  Diversity Chair Dan Heagney notes that it was a bad week for the GLBT

6:21pm:  Communication Chair Hillary Shoun has just informed Senate that they will be visiting every organization on campus before Winter Break, asking them for their feedback on Senate.  Senator Lizz Esfeld asks how they are required to do this.  Discussion abounds before Speaker Hogan threatens to smack the hammer around as he reminds Senate that this is a report and not a discussion time.

6:24pm:  New rule for Senate people who are going to do an interview with an Index: they must call Comm. Chair Shoun before they do anything and tell her when they're meeting and what it's about.  She will be present at the meeting as well.  If they do not go through the Senate Comm. Chair they cannot do the interview.

6:27pm:  No rule for interviews that are conducted via this website, however.  Let the fun begin.

6:29pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson moves for a second reading of the Curriculum Commission resolution on new a new curriculum model.  Tomlinson is hesitant about moving forward with the resolution as students supported keeping Comm 170 (Public Speaking) and were lukewarm about getting rid of WACT courses.

6:31pm:  Senator Esfeld believes, due to her multiple-year experience in dealing with curriculum issues (3 years, I believe she said) that students likely would benefit from this, and support this.

6:33pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson says that 64% of students surveyed say WACT did not improve their writing, 52.5% said Comm 170 improved their public speaking.

6:35pm:  Senator Slok Gyawali gives an international student perspective on abolishing both as requirements.  He says asking intl. students to take courses in both writing and speaking in English during when they first arrive at Truman is a bit much to ask.  Senator Hiroki Sato concurs with Senaor Gyawali.

6:39pm:  Senator George Allen, Jr., elaborates on Senators' Gyawali and Sato's concerns about forcing students to take these English-incentive courses without an opt-out option for students who might not be able to handle the language demands they entail.

6:43pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson brings up the possibility of creating an ESL version of this proposed course.  He sounds less than enthusiastic about the idea.  He also notes that Senate as a sampling of opinion is a little bit skewed, as many people within it probably found both WACT and Comm 170 not as helpful.

6:46pm:  Senator Gyawali is talking about his experiences as an international student with taking "enhanced" courses at Truman (writing, in particular).  He notes that while he was able to speak English almost perfectly when he first arrived at Truman he probably wouldn't have been able to handle a writing-enhanced course.

6:48pm:  A question to ponder: would the creation of this writing-enhanced and speaking-enhanced course create a course different enough from the courses that are currently offered?

6:51pm:  Senator Sato wants to know if it's possible for the current courses to be improved?

6:52pm:  Senator Esfeld is discussing the concern of the international students.  She says that the benefits of creating this new class is that it would create more community, more Truman Spirit, and that it would really benefit the curriculum at large.  I have to say, I'm impressed with the concern Senate is showing for international students on this issue.

6:53pm:  The resolution passes 11-4-0, with Senators Gyawali, Sato, Serroque and Williams voting "No."

6:55pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson is discussing the results of the survey on Experiential Learning.  Students' biggest concern is how effectively it could be implemented.  

6:57pm:  The resolution on Experiential Learning passes unanimously, with one abstention from a Senator.  (Who didn't know what the vote was on.)

6:58pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson is discussing a resolution to keep the same number and types of Modes of Inquiry.  Senator Esfeld is concerned that the Senate body did not have enough time to read the resolution before today's discussion.  

7:00pm:  Quote Senator Esfeld: "I can't stand this resolution."  She doesn't think it keeps us cutting-edge as an institution.

7:02pm:  Senator Serroque notes that the admin is thinking about changing the model, and that he doesn't see the practicality in endorsing keeping the same model when there's current discussion of changing it.

7:03pm:  Voting time.  The resolution is voted down, 1-12-2.

7:05pm:  A New Business item has been added as a result of the resolution being voted down.  Discussion topic will be the core of the next curriculum, so that AcAff Chair Tomlinson will be prepared to speak on behalf of the body this Thursday.

7:06pm:  Per a question from Diversity Chair/Senator Heagney AcAff Chair Tomlinson discusses some models being considered.  The Community Discourse model combines pairs of modes that are centered on ways of thinking about the world, requiring 2 classes in 4 modes to be taken.  The idea behind this is that this would bring more depth into the LSP, more choice and less structure.  The 6 of 6  model condenses the current 7 of 8 model by combining the Art and Aesthetic Lit modes and the Physical and Life Sciences modes and requiring everyone to take a course from all modes.

7:09pm:  Senator Esfeld is encouraging the body to "make a bold statement about the modes we want" rather than simply vote on models that don't go far enough.

7:10pm:  Senator Buckler like the 7 or 8 mode system.

7:11pm:  Thursday's meeting is the big UGC meeting where they discuss the results of the survey.  In light of AcAff Chair Tomlinson's belief that there will not be a definitive action resulting on this topic of discussion Speaker Hogan would like to encourage everyone to work on creating a "bold statement," or at least help AcAff Chair Tomlinson craft one.  

7:13pm:  President Flanagan notes that Senate will be asked on Thursday that they will be asked which model they prefer.  BOG Rep. Sumter asks if "we hate all three" is a valid choice; President Flanagan says it is, but AcAff Chair Tomlinson notes that even if Senate shoots down all three UGC will still choose one they don't like.

7:15pm:  I've said it before but I'll say it again: AcAff Chair Tomlinson is very good for this position.  You can very clearly 

7:16pm:  Senator Kristen Marshall is in favor of the Community Discourse model as she believes it best represents the LSP mode at Truman.

7:18pm:  Senator/ExAff Chair Joey Shelton disagrees with Senator Marshall, and believes the 6 of 6 model is the best.

7:20pm:  V.P. Robinson is talking about the University Budget right now.  Currently, the Budget Committee is discussing what programs, offices, and services are vital to the University and should not be eliminated, and which ones should be eliminated.

7:21pm:  Diversity Chair/Senator Heagney says that he would support cutting funds from Athletics, as at the end of the day they aren't important to our education.  He says that cutting the entirety of Athletics would be "too much to hope for," but that cutting should happen.

7:22pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson disagrees with Heagney, noting that athletics at this school bring in minorities and a lot of out-of-staters.

7:23pm:  Senator Gilmor notes that cutting Athletics--even all of Athletics--wouldn't do much to help the budget situation, and that the resolution needs to be bigger than that.  Robinson notes that school construction and scholarships take up over half the budget.  Faculty, their retirement funds, and their benefits are also a large chunk..

7:24pm:  When asked what the Budget Committee is considering cutting, Robinson says that "everything is on the table."  Take note, Truman.

7:25pm:  Right now, Robinson says, we're looking to lose $4 million from the state for this upcoming academic year and that we're likely to lose more given enrollment is down.

7:26pm:  Senator Heagney brings up the idea of raising tuition by $500-$600 per student.  BOG Rep. Sumter notes that as this is going to be affecting institutions everywhere, other universities will likely be considering the same actions, so comparatively we'll probably stay competitive.

7:28pm:  Senator Gilmor notes that raising tuition is going to take some finagling.  Treasurer Stephanie Kwon discusses raising the standards of our competitive scholarships, even though giving out many is something this school is known for.

7:29pm:  President Flanagan brings the discussion away from solutions and back to actual tangible things that could or should be cut and could or should be kept.

7:31pm:  Senator Heagney states that any cuts made to the Sociology/Anthropology Department would be devastating, and asks to avoid cuts there.  Senator Gilmor says that the massive amount of scholarships we give out will "inevitably have to go."  

7:33pm:  Making class sizes bigger is a hot topic of discussion.  President Flanagan encourages Senate to keep on giving her feedback.

7:35pm:  President Flanagan is now discussing the formulation of a Senate Feedback Survey, which has not been conducted for quite some time.  My apologies for the initial indication that this discussion was going to be on actual results of a survey; the survey has not even been created.  Mea culpa.  (Bad blogger!)

7:36pm:  AcAff Chair Tomlinson suggests that a question be, "Why aren't you on Senate?"  Also, "Do you pay attention to what we [Senate] do?"  Also also, "Do you know how to pay attention to what we [Senate] do?  (Blog, website, etc.)"

7:37pm:  Senator Serroque proffers, "How informed are you on the issues?" and "How do you get your information?"  Comm. Chair Shoun: "Do you understand how Senate works?"  Senator Marshall: "Do you know someone on Senate?"

7:39pm:  Speaker Hogan notes that a lot of these questions are open-ended, which is "fascinating" but makes it hard to get tangible feedback.  He would encourage close-ended questions.

7:40pm:  President Flanagan suggests a scale of feedback along the lines of "Strongly Disagree...Indifferent...Strongly Agree."

7:41pm:  Student Affairs Chair Potter suggests using the phrasing "What is Student Senate not doing well?" and "What could Senate work on?"  Senator/Diversity Chair Heagney: "Would you come to a campus-wide forum/would you consider it beneficial?"  Senator Serroque: "How much do you think your voice matters."

7:43pm:  It would appear that there is nothing else.  The meeting is adjourned; Speaker Hogan has 15 minutes to get to a television showing Tool Academy.  Best of luck to him, I'm out.

Where to Look at 5:37pm (and 38 seconds) Tonight

I have the great fortune of being on one of the coolest mailing lists the University has to offer: the Stargazers Club email list.  Being on this magical list affords me all sorts of neato astronomical perks, like this little gem that arrived a few minutes ago:

There will be an extremely bright (-8 magnitude) iridium flare this evening at 5:37 p.m. (and 38 seconds). If you stand facing due north, turn 30 degrees to the right (east), and look up 60 degrees from the horizon, you should see a very bright point of light flash across the twilight sky at that time. Impress your friends with your amazing powers of prediction!

So, if you'd like to brag about that one time you saw an extremely bright iridium flare you now know what to do. 

Cheers,
Casey

Trash Survey Results In

Finally!  And apparently Kirksvillains like their totes. (The technical term for trash cans on wheels, apparently.)

It actually is a neat little survey, just due to the specificity of the subject.  Enjoy.

Cheers,

Casey

Would Anybody Care for a Ford F250 Bumper or a Metal Decorated Egg?

If your answer to that is a resounding "YES" (And why shouldn't it be?) then please get a move on to the Kirksville Bicycle and Surplus Property Auction this Saturday at City Hall.  Happening at 9am, the auction will see 150 bicycles, a Ford F250 Bumper, a metal decorated egg and oodles more phenomenal and oft-obscure goodies going to the highest bidder.  To see the full list of what's going to the block hit up this link, and to learn more about the processes via which you can get your hands on said bumper or metal egg check out this link.

Cheers to early Christmas shopping!
Casey

Sheep, Pajama Day and Lectures to Put You To Sleep: It's Sleep Awareness Week!

Good Morning, Socialites!  This week, from the 3rd (tomorrow) through the 5th (Thursday) is Sleep Awareness Week on campus, put on by University Counseling Services and the Student Public Health Association.

There are three rather awesome events planned for this week that I, for one, fully plan on attending and/or participating in, and that I'd like you all to consider attending and/or participating in as well.  Kicking things off on Tuesday, from 10:00am-3:00pm, is the uber-neato Sheep on the Quad Event (Facebook Event link here) from last year.  Fluffy, fuzzy, awesome, adorable sheep will be hanging out on the Quad, just waiting for you to come up and canoodle with them.  As if having sheep on the Quad wasn't awesome enough you'll also be able to register to win a few cool prizes, get some neat free giveaways and pick up a few tips on how to take better naps and how to get a better night's sleep.  Just look for the big tent with lots of sheep under it, they will be there regardless of the weather.

Following Tuesday's fluff-fest, on Wednesday Dr. Brian Krylowicz (the Director of UCS, though I'm sure you all know that by now) will give a lecture about sleep that is billed as being both educational and entertaining--it is also, apparently, "specifically designed to put you to sleep."  The lecture is at 7:00pm in the SUB Activities Room. (Up the stairs on the side by the fountain, first room on the left.)  Also, you should ask your teacher if you can get extra credit for attending. (Facebook Event here.)

Finally, this Thursday is Pajama Day at Truman!  UCS (and I) highly encourage all you students, faculty and staff to wear pajamas to work, classes, meetings...anything and everything.  If you're finding that you really do want to wear pajamas on Thursday but that you think you would feel...well, a little odd about doing so, know that UCS has some buttons that you can wear along with your PJs that have information letting people know that you're not lazy, you're just helping to raise sleep awareness.  Something else that's cool about this event?  If you take a picture of yourself and your friends in your pajamas and post (and tag) it on the Pajama Day Facebook Event Page you're eligible to win an awesome gift basket that's chock full of goodies to both help you sleep better and wake you up!  How fantastic is that?  (Those who don't want their picture posted can stop by the Sleep Awareness Week tables in the SUB in their PJs to register.)

The best way to celebrate Sleep Awareness Week, of course, is to make the extra effort to get as much sleep as possible.  My personal goal is eight hours each night this week.

Cheers to sleep,
Casey

p.s.  Visit http://sleep.truman.edu for more info!

Liveblogging Senate Concludes!

The formatting in my previous post locked up, but I did want to mention that the Senate meeting concluded with the advisors talking about Senators keeping in mind positions they might want to consider adopting.  My money's on V.P. Robinson running for President next year.  Actually, I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't: the guy's good.

Anyways, cheers to college politics and have a great Sunday night all, I'm off to do dinner with some Senateers.
Casey

Liveblogging Senate!

Edit: TSU Senator Sean Serroque was originally quoted at 6:16 and 6:18 without my having cited him as the source of the questions.  He was kind enough to point this out in the comments section, and both times have been amended accordingly.

Howdy do, boys and girls!  It's Sunday, November 1st, and Student Senate is just about to begin their weekly meeting.  On the agenda tonight: the third Board of Governors slate presentation, curriculum resolutions, Bike Co-Op whoseywhatsits and the usual roster of reports.

6:03pm: The meeting has begun!  Speaker Tom Hogan calls the meeting to order, with gallery introductions going first. 

6:04pm:  The BoG slate candidate discussion has begun.  Seated at the table are Adam Crews, Lucas Freeland and Alexandria Witt.

6:05pm:  Freeland makes his case.  He's from the area, says he's capable of communicating the student position to the Board and vice versa.

6:06pm: Crews now.  Talks about making the vision for Truman a reality.

6:06pm: Witt speaking.  She's a freshman, says she has an open mind and that this is an opportunity to serve the student body and give back to the community.

6:07pm: Senator Lizz Esfeld asks candidates to state their strong points.  Freeland says he's easy to talk to, easily approachable and always open to talking with people.  Witt says that he's an ideas person, who can bring a lot of ideas to the table.  Crews says that she'll be able to get a diverse range of opinions from the student body to present to the Board.

6:08pm:  Senator Joey Shelton asks them to explain what they think the Board does.  It's been my experience that more students than I'm comfortable with at this university would not be able to answer that question well, unfortunately.

6:11pm:  There's a question about Board members and how they deal with policies.  Witt says that as a freshman she might not know much about what happened in the past but she'll approach the position with an open mind and a willingness to learn.  Crews mentions that current student rep. Cody Sumter has done a fantastic job, as has former rep. Emily Kiddoo.  Freeland also mentions the work that Sumter has done, and the accolades he's gotten from Board members.

6:13pm:  A question about what current rep. Sumter has done that they do not agree with is ruled irrelevant.  Senator Dan Heagney challenges this, but Speaker Hogan's ruling stands. 

6:14pm:  Now the question is on the weaknesses of the candidates.  Freeland says that his difficulty would be the challenge of looking beyond what his immediate interests are.  Crews says that always keeping in mind the big picture while working on one portion of an issue would be his challenge. Witt says that she could see having information that students do not have and synthesizing that with the information that students do have.

6:16pm:  Question is what vision do the candidates have for the university? (Put forward by Senator Sean Serroque.)  Freeland mentions technology and moving the university forward, as does Crews.  Crews also mentions expanding graduate offerings, growing our endowment and spreading our reach into the community.  Witt mentions that she'd like to see the university place more of an emphasis on the non-academic portions of student life.

6:18pm:  The question is, what would they do if their opinion clashed in general with the student opinion?  (Put forward by Senator Sean Serroque.)  Witt says if it was due to a lack of communication she would do more to inform students about what's happening behind closed doors, but if it was due to a lack of knowledge she would do more to spread the word.  Crews mentions going to the Board with several opinions.  Freeland states that he would do more research about the causes of the differing opinions.

6:19pm:  Senator Heagney asks about political orientation and their student involvement.  Freeland is a Democrat, member of Alpha Kappa Lambda, and works in the Serve Center.  Crews says he is a conservative Democrat, is an associate senator on the Senate External Affairs Committee and is a student worker for a political science professor.  Witt is a Democrat, a moderate liberal, a member of Campus Christian Fellowship and a member of Alpha Sigma Gamma.

6:23pm:  Senator Slok Gyawali asks a question about making Truman a stronger university.  Freeland speaks about integrating the university working closer with the community.  Crews highlights most of the points he mentioned in the vision statement, as well as reaching out to the community.  Witt discusses "celebrating Truman" despite all of our differences.

6:25pm:  The question is, do they think the student representative to the BoG should have a vote?  Witt says she does, and that she was surprised to find out that the student rep does not currently have a vote, and that it seems like the position just seems to be paying "lip service" to the student opinion.  Crews says he does not, and that there's a difference in the job descriptions between the current voting members and the student representative.  Freeland concurs with Crews.

6:27pm:  Senator Heagney asks a question about diversity: what do they think it is and how would they promote it as the rep on the BoG?  Witt talks about the different ways diversity can be viewed, and that past experience in having been a part of different groups would aid her in representing diversity to the Board.  Crews seems to repeat what Witt says, but highlights utilizing the Study Abroad program as a way to promote it.  Freeland says that diversity means, simply put, "different interests," and would represent it on the Board by getting opinion from many different sources.

6:34pm:  We've moved into closed session now, which means anyone not on Senate has to get out of the room while Senate talks about the slate.  I'm hanging out with the candidates in the hallway, where general chatter is going on.  Charles Tomlinson, a former member of the slate and the current Senate Academic Affairs Chair, and George Allen, Jr., a Senator on Student Senate and also a former member of the slate have recused themselves from the closed session meeting and are speaking briefly with the current slate of candidates.  They've explained that they're former slate candidates and wish the new ones good luck, which I think is incredibly classy of both of them. 

6:38pm: Tomlinson is talking with Senate advisors Laura Bates (also the Director of the CSI) and Scott Alberts (a Math and Computer Science major) about past Senate sessions to approve the slate.  Tomlinson and Allen were both members of the original slate that was presented for approval to Senate on last Sunday and this past Thursday.  I imagine that this has to be a very uncomfortable situation for both of them to go through.

6:45pm:  No candidates have been brought in for further questioning by Senate, yet, which seems a little odd.  They must be fighting amongst themselves about internal issues...

6:47pm:  All three slate candidates seem to be getting along nicely--bonding through mutual suffering, I suppose.  For their sake I hope we don't have to wait long to find out if the slate has been accepted, they all look a little nervous.  

6:51pm:  Now we're talking about "Freshman Days," what used to be "Freshman Week."  

6:54pm:  SLATE APPROVED!  Apparently the third time was the charm.  Senate is now taking a 5 minute recess; smiles abound.

7:00pm:  I didn't notice before, but Senate President JoEllen Flanagan, Vice President Isaac Robinson III, current Student BoG rep. Cody Sumter and Speaker Tom Hogan are all looking quite spiffy this evening.

7:02pm:  The meeting is called back into session.  Business agenda items have been moved before reports agenda items.  Tomlinson moves to consider a resolution endorsing a teacher curriculum model.  The motion is seconded.

7:03pm:  Now Tomlinson is introducing a resolution to endorse the idea of a Freshman seminar, for which he says there is widespread support.  The big contention of the resolution is that this would remove the requirement for students to take Comm 170 and WACT.

7:05pm:  Senator Heagney wants to know who would teach the freshman seminar.  Tomlinson says that professors from all disciplines, though initially Communications and English professors would take the lead due to their being freed up from all their Comm 170 and WACT courses.  No graduate students would teach, only professors who have been rated well. 

7:10pm:  I'm impressed with the knowledge with which Tomlinson speaks about his resolutions.  He's very sharp, incredibly on point with all his comments and seems to have a very vested interest in the ideas he is promoting to the body.

7:12pm:  We're now considering a resolution endorsing service learning programs.  3 resolutions in one night for Tomlinson; I do believe that constitutes as "baller."

7:14pm:  Provost Troy Paino believes that implementing service learning is possible to accomplish in a "financially responsible manner."  One member of Senate says, by way of response, "What does that mean?"  Chuckles fill the room.

7:16pm:  Advisor Bates says that the university is already actively finding ways to promote service learning but that we're in the last year of receiving money from a grant that enables universities to promote service learning on campus.

7:18pm:  Advisor Alberts notes that this service learning is quite popular among teachers.  I wish snow days were popular among teachers.

7:19pm:  I wonder if Tomlinson would be interested in crafting a resolution in favor of snow days at Truman?  It does kind of fall into the realm of Academic Affairs...maybe Student Affairs Chair Kristyn Potter would be interested in crafting a joint Snow Day Resolution with AcAff Chair Tomlinson?  

7:22pm:  Senator Heagney thinks this could "provide the Study Abroad Office with the kick in the pants they need."  Snap.  Take note, Study Abroad, service learning is comin' to getcha...

7:23pm:  Heagney broadens his "kick in the pantst" to expand it to include everyone at this university.  Bigger snap.

7:24pm:  Survey nerds, take note!  A curriculum survey for the benefit of Student Senate will be available for taking this week! 

7:25pm:  Did I mention that this resolution would make service learning a requirement at Truman?  I'm not sure that I did.  Discussion closes on the resolution, and it has been considered first read.

7:27pm:  Time to discuss the Bike Co-Op!  More specifically, we're discussing the creation of a Bike Co-Op CFO position.  Senator Yajie Yu says that the CFO would report to the Environmental Affairs Chair rather than the Treasurer of Senate. 

7:29pm:  V.P. Robinson has a few issues with the wording in the resolution.  BoG rep. Sumter live-edits the resolution on the screen so the body can see the effects of the proposed changes.  The wonders of technology.

7:32pm:  Senator Heagney (a pretty active participant in Senate goings-on, I'm learning) would prefer if the candidate be more business-minded, non-evironment minded individual so that passion for the environment doesn't get in the way of discussing the Bike Co-Op finances.  Speaker Hogan disagrees with this, saying that he can't imagine meetings between the CFO and the Environ. Chair or the Treasurer proceeding much differently, and that it's an asset for the CFO candidate to be at least somewhat interested in the goings-on of the Co-Op.  

7:34pm:  Speaker Hogan managed to use the phrase "sunshine and rainbows" 3 times in one sentence.  If I was playing an "awesome phrases you don't expect to hear but thoroughly enjoy hearing in Senate" drinking game I'd be feeling pretty awesome right about now.

7:37pm:  Not that I'd ever play a drinking game during a Senate meeting.  I take the policies of this university very seriously.

7:39pm:  Except the course retake policy.  Quiz time: is the course retake policy a) nonsense, b) poppycock, c) tomfoolery or d) all of the above.  (If you answer "d" you win!  Sorry pro-current policy administrators, it totally is.)

7:43pm:  I count 11 laptops out around the table, and I don't think any of them are Macs.  Student Senate is a PC-lovin' bunch, apparently.  I also spy 2 netbooks.

7:45pm:

 

7:46pm:  Moving onto reports!  And there are 14 of them?  Whoa buddy.

7:47pm:  President Flanagan busts out a Star Wars quote during her report.  Nice.

7:50pm:  External Affairs Chair Joey Shelton slips the BoG slate group a bag of Doritos on his way out.  Also, BoG Rep. Cody Sumter reports that Pershing renovations are halfway funded!  (To the tune of $15 million, I believe.)  He also reports that applications for the position of the new President of TSU are all in and that he'll be spending the next several weeks reading through thousands of pages of applications.  The BoG slate candidates suddenly look a little nervous...

7:51pm:  Quote from Diversity Chair Heagney trying to get as many Senate members as possible to go to an oddly-titled diversity conference: "You don't have to be white to go to the Whites Cnly Conference."

Blogging Resumes Tonight With BoG WTF-ness

 At 6pm, in fact, for what I expect will be a rousing liveblog of the TSU Student Senate meeting.  Tonight will be the third time the Board of Governors student representative selection committee brings a slate (3 candidates for the position) to the Senate body for approval--it could also prove to be the third time Senators reject the slate, which puts our university in a tricky position, as the deadline to send BoG candidates for Governor Jay Nixon's final selection and approval is...today.

The Index had a very well-written OpEd piece (even if you don't agree with what it says the piece should be read as an example of how the Index should continue to write their OpEds) on Senate's rejection of the slate last Sunday that I'd encourage you all to read for some perspective before tonight's liveblog.  The opposite perspective, that of the Senate members rejecting the slate, is one that can't be fully stated due the fact that debate over members of the BoG slate happens in what's called "closed session."  This means that every non-Senate member leaves the room during the time that Senate debates the slate due to the (rightfully) perceived sensitive nature of them debating the merits of the individuals who have been brought in front of them.

As a former member of Student Senate who was a part of the closed session debates to approve the current BoG representative (Cody Sumter, who we really could just clone and keep as the students' BoG representative if all else fails.), I can tell you that the senators giving the "nay" votes probably aren't doing so just to see some cool legislative maneuvering.  Their rejection of the slate could be due to any number (or combination) of things: perhaps they have little confidence in the BoG selection committee members; perhaps they only find that one of the three candidates meets their standards; or, perhaps, they only have an issue with one particular candidate.

The fact that Senate members rejected last Sunday's slate of candidates again during an emergency BoG Student Representative approval meeting this past Thursday evening means that they feel the issue with the committee, this candidate or these candidates is deeply-rooted.  That, or it means they're incredibly prideful and just don't want to change their original opinion, but I would very much like to give the students sitting on the Senate body a little more credit for their mental faculties.  

This is going to be a very interesting meeting tonight.  If you've never been to a Senate meeting before and you're a political nerd like I am, I'd like to personally invite you to join me tonight for the shenanigans in the SUB Conference Room at 6:00pm. (Up the stairs on the side of the building by the fountain, first room on the right.)  College politics...love it.

Cheers,
Casey

I'm Harry Potter, Harry Harry Potter

Not really, but I will liberally distribute life points to anyone who knows what YouTube Video I took the title of this post from.

SAB is showing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on campus tonight and tomorrow fo' FREE, so if you're a Potterphile and are looking for something to do this weekend...well, there you go.  Both screenings happen in Violette Hall 1000; tonight's is at 7:00pm and tomorrow's is at 2:00pm.

Cheers,

Casey

ps.  Seriously, anybody know where I got the title from?

College-Friendly Costume Idea #1

Want to celebrate Halloween but don't want to spend a ton of money putting your costume together?  Totally understandable, which is why the Socialite is bringing back the College-Friendly Costume Idea series from last year.  This year the series kicks off with what may very well prove to be the most popular Halloween costume of 2009.

College-Friendly Costume Idea #1: Kate Gosselin

What's scarier than parents trying to make money off of their kids?  Kate Gosselin's haircut, you say?  Well you're in luck, because you can combine both of those deliciously horrifying things into one fabulous, easy to put together Halloween costume.

If you're feeling particularly ambitious you can buy the "Kate wig" online and have it rush-delivered to the 63501.  See the below image for additional outfit pointers.

How to get your friends involved

Go as the entire Gosselin clan, of course!  At some point the title of the TLC show was "Jon & Kate Plus Eight," which leaves ample opportunity for you to have a blast with at least 9 of your buddies. (10 if you count Jon's ladyfriend.)

Jon

First qualification: must be willing to stand there while you yell at him for not doing anything terribly wrong.
Second qualification: must try to get as many pictures with girls younger than him as possible.
Third qualificaiton: must try to network at every opportunity and occasionally "call his lawyer."
Fourth qualification: must meet up with a "hot young thing" at some point during the evening.
See image below for dress pointers.

The Children.

There's one set of twin girls and one set of sextuplets (3 of each gender), so you can get 8 people total for this part.  Two options for apparel on this one: 1) have the "twins" dress alike and have the "sextuplets" dress alike somehow, or 2) get t-shirts made with the names of all the kids on the back, with "Sponsored by TLC" on the front.  And let's be honest, if you're planning on going out to the bars or hitting up a round of parties it shouldn't be too hard to act like the wee ones; just let your good friends Jim, Jack and Jose do the heavy lifting.

Cheers,
Casey

Depression Screenings in El Sub Today

Happy, happy Friday, Socialites!  Granted, it's a colderish, gray and puddle-y day outside, but it's Friday.  Let the sound of jubilation ring all throughout the 'Ville.

Let's say that you haven't been finding many things to feel particularly jubilant about lately and that, for some strange reason, you just can't seem to shake off this little nagging feeling of sadness.  Things you we're all "'bout it 'bout it" about a month or two ago you now feel oddly "whatev, yo" about; nothing's really exciting you, you've got a routine and honestly, that's just about it.  

Perhaps it's time you figure out if this is something you need to start giving a little more attention to.  Experience with friends and friends of friends has led me to believe that that everyone gets depressed at some point (if not at multiple points) in their lives, so please don't feel like you're weird or like something's wrong with you if you're starting to think that your feelings might be something you need to address.  You're human, and it's the people who are "always happy" that are the most freakish, honestly.

Anyways, UCS' is holding Depression Screening in the SUB Alumni Room (the one you can only get into via the door in the wall of the SUB Hub) from now through 3:00pm today, so if you're thinking that this nagging feeling of something just not being quite right might not be going away for a reason then definitely drop on by and learn about what can be done to help you navigate through those troubled waters towards a happier lagoon.  

As a final note, if you can't attend or you're a shyer sort of individual there are free and anonymous online screenings online on their website that you can utilize to the same effect.

Cheers,
Casey

Quoteworthy

Ah, the random blurbs this day hath brought forth:

"us seizes 125lbs of meth from la familia, thus ending la fam's methodical stealing of thunder from kville http://bit.ly/1dEM1E @kvsocialite

--From Socialite Twitter follower @jessluther

(Zing!)

"Squirrels can even become addicted to nicotine from eating littered cigarette butts, she said." 

--From Senate to vote on smoking resolution, page 3.

Supporting quotes involving squirrels.  Gotta love it.

Cheers,

Casey

Of Earnest Importance

Hey Socialites, lovely day outside, no?  If you're looking to make the most of it check out the eHow guide on How To Play in the Rain.

If, however, you're looking to make the most of it indoors, the Curtain Call Theatre Company is staging a production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Kirksville Arts Center that starts tonight and concludes this Sunday.  To borrow from the CCTC's email about the production, the Oscar Wilde play focuses on "the ridiculousness of the English aristocracy and what happens when an innocent little lie gets out of hand."

If you've never heard of the Curtain Call Theatre Company before I suggest checking out this page on the Kirksville Arts Association website.  It provides a neat, concise history of the company and talks a little bit about its mission.  Plus, it gets you onto the KAA website, which is more than check-worthy.

Showtimes are as follows:

• Thursday, October 22 through Saturday, October 24: 7:00pm
• Sunday, October 25: 2:00pm

Ticket prices are $10 for General Admission and $7 for students and seniors.

Cheers,
Casey

Suicide Survivor To Speak On Campus Tonight

As part of Suicide Awareness Week Bacchus & Gamma has brought a suicide survivor to campus tonight at 8:00pm in Baldwin Hall Auditorium to talk about his experience of suicide and survival.

From the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign website:

In high school John Kevin Hines loved performing in plays and playing sports. Being around people and being active were things that came easily to him. That changed when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 17. He struggled to find a treatment. In 2000, during his freshman year of college, Kevin attempted to take his own life. He jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge and luckily he is one of 29 people to have survived that jump. Kevin has since learned to deal with mental illness in a healthy way, and through speaking out, he is providing a positive example to hundreds of thousands of young people dealing with all types of mental health issues. His story is one of amazing strength and compassion, and his presentation discusses bipolar disorder, depression, suicide and survival. Kevin's devotion to living every single day grounded to the things he loves comes though loud and clear; he is truly an inspiration

It's free and all are welcome to attend.  If you'd like a little preview snippet you can check out the "Meet John Kevin Hines" video on YouTube here.

Cheers,
Casey

Keep Your Eyes on the Sky

Tonight Earth will be passing through debris left by Halley's Comet, causing what we Earthlings call the Orionid Meteor Shower. If you've got the time check out the shower between midnight and dawn, though you might get to see a few good ones later on in the evening. Peak activity is expected to be at around 5:00am, and if the Orionids continue to put on the same kind of show that they have during years prior you could expect to see up to 60 meteors per hour. The meteors are created when bits of comet debris burn up upon their entry into Earth's atmosphere, most of them no bigger than a marble.

Check out the Meteor Showers Online site for more info about where to look for the Orionids.

Cheers, and enjoy the show,
Casey

Tonight = Debateorama

If you've had a long day and you're ready to stop thinking and let someone start doing it for you, know that you have the option to attend one of two debate forums, both happening around the same time, both exciting, and both free.

At 6:30pm current State Representative Rebecca McClanahan and former State Representative Judy Baker will be holding a Town Hall Healthcare Meeting, speaking on health care in Adair County and Missouri and the national health care system, respectively.  The event is held in the Baldwin Little Theater and is sponsored by the College Democrats.  Expect: ...honestly, I have no idea.  The one Town Hall I went to was held this past summer by Senator Claire McCaskill in Jefferson City and was a maddeningly hot mess of verbal abuse and rapid-fire information.

Onto the other debate!  In the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall this evening Britons Dan Bradley and Andrew Tuffin, both top tier members of the IONA Debating Circuit, will be going head-to-head against members of Truman's debate team on the subject of whether China is more of a threat than an opportunity.  Expect: witty British gentlemen and a thoroughly solid performance by our students.

Cheers to intellectual forays,
Casey

Keepin' the Kiddies Warm

Hot damn, it's been a beautiful day today.  (I even saw someone soaking up the sun on the Mall in a t-shirt and shorts.)  This lovely weather can't last forever, unfortunately, and thoroughly unenjoyable cold weather we had last week and the week before will be making a reappearance at some point.  Good news, for you North Face lovers, but bad news for people who don't have/can't afford winter weather wear.

Trying to mitigate the number of local children going without adequate winter wear is the University and Community Relations Committee of Truman's Staff Council.  Each year they host a "Head to Toe" winter apparel drive, which begins this year on this Wednesday, October 21st, and lasts through October 28th.  They're looking for warm hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, boots and any other winterage you think a kid might be able to use.  They'll have collection boxes located all over campus, in:

• the SUB, near the cafeteria;
• the Career Center reception area;
• the Library near the circulation desk;
• the Physical Plant office in Kirk Building;
• the lobby of Barnett Hall; and
• the lobby of McClain Hall.

The items are taken to the local schools after collection, and the Council has been able to transport boxes and bags of winter wear due to the awesome giving community here at Truman in the past, so let's see if we can't keep this tradition going strong.

Cheers,
Casey

ps.  As a reminder, they cannot accept monetary donations.  But do toss as many mittens their way as you see fit.

Bo Burnham Coming to TSU

Yup.  This November 7th one of the bigger successes to come out of YouTube in recent years will hitting up Truman's campus with his comedic piano (how often do those two go together?) stylings.  19 year-old Bo Burnham--he of the often delightfully politically-incorrect lyrics, the six song EP Bo Fo Sho and an upcoming anti-High School Musical style Judd Apatow flick--will be performing a two-hour set as part of his "Fake I.D." tour in our very own Baldwin Auditorium.  Tickets are free for students and cost $10 for General Admission, and can be purchased starting tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20th, at the SAB Ticket Window on the lower level of the SUB.

As a side note, I'd just like to point out how fabulous it is that is someone who found their fame on YouTube is now a sought-after performer.  Score one for the interwebs.

Cheers,
Casey

p.s.  If you'd like to check out some of his videos, hit up his YouTube Channel.

Gazers of Stars, Rejoice!

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to take some time away from school and meander out to the University Farm with a friend, where I was able peek into the telescope at the University Observatory and see cool astronomical wonders like Jupiter, the Andromeda Galaxy, a nebula and a some star cluster that resembled a one-eyed smiley face (which, I believe, we viewed solely because it resembled a one-eyed smiley face).  It was a little bit chilly, but the Stargazers Club members out there that evening more than made the drive and the bundling up worth it by giving away hot chocolate and by speaking about the heavens with an absolutely infectious enthusiasm.

If you've never been out to the Observatory for an Open House...well, get a move on.  The facilities are removed enough from campus and Kirksville to make you feel like you're successfully neglecting your commitments, yet close enough to make in a 5 to--at the very most--10 minute drive.  Their Open Houses are free to anyone from Truman or Kirksville (or beyond) and the company can't be beat.

Beginning today the Stargazers Club is holding a week-long series of events called "Galilean Nights," which is part of the International Year of Astronomy's 2009 Cornerstone Project, designed to get:

"amateur and professional astronomers, enthusiasts and the public taking to the streets all around the globe, pointing their telescopes to the wonders that Italian astronomer Galileo observed 400 years ago.

Spread over three nights, astronomers will share their knowledge and enthusiasm for space by encouraging as many people as possible to look through a telescope at our planetary neighbours. The focus for Galilean Nights is the objects that Galileo observed, including Jupiter and the Moon, which will be well-positioned in the night sky for observing."  (Galilean Nights)

Stargazers Club has a slew of fantastic events happening both on campus and out at the Observatory, each of which is designed to bring you closer to your friendly neighborhood universe.  What's more, all of these events are free.  Need I say more?  Here's the schedule of events:

Today, Monday (October 19)

Head on over to the southwest corner of the Quad from 2:00pm through 4:30pm to check out a scale model of the solar system, which will help give you a feel for the sizes of the planets and other objects in the system.  Members of Stargazers Club will be there to discuss the model or any other burning astronomy questions that might pop into your head.

Tuesday (October 20)

"Stargazing on the Quad!" (Exclamation point insertion mine.)  From 7:30pm through 10:00pm Stargazers Club will be bringing telescopes to the Quad and pointing them at bright objects, particularly Jupiter, and will also be pointing out interesting objects visible to the naked eye like constellations and bright stars.

Wednesday (October 21)

From 7:00pm through 10:00pm Stargazers Club will host an Open House at the Observatory (weather permitting).  Warm drinks will be served, the Orionid meteor shower will be close to its peak during this time, and it should be altogether delightful.

Thursday (October 22)

Miss out on Wednesday night's Open House awesomeness?  Or perhaps you just couldn't get enough the universe the first time around?  Regardless, the University Observatory will have an Open House for the second night in a row (weather permitting) from 7:00pm through 10:00pm.

Friday (October 23)

Moonwatch!  (Like Baywatch, but without David Hasselhoff.)  Officially, as a worldwide event, the Moonwatch begins the following evening, but the Stargazers Club is ahead of the game and will be bringing portable telescopes and binoculars to the Quad from 5:30pm through 8:30pm for your viewing pleasure.  They would like to encourage attendees to bring their own cameras to photograph the moon through the instruments. (Which is quite possible; if you look on the Facebook Event for Galilean Nights the image was taken with "an ordinary digital camera, a pair of binoculars and a chair to keep everything steady.")

Cheers to astronomy,
Casey

Ladies, Get W.I.S.E.

I'd be willing to venture that almost every woman on this campus knows someone who has an eating disorder or body image issue, whether it's anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, some newish thing I've been hearing about called "drunkorexia" or a combination of the above.

College-aged women make up a disconcertingly large portion of those in the United States suffering through the hell of an eating disorder. The first nationally representative study of eating disorders in the United States that appeared in the February 2007 edition of Biological Psychiatry estimated that up to 4.5% of all individuals in the United States (about 14 million people) develop an eating disorder at some point in their life.  Of these, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration estimates, more than 90% are females between the ages of 12 and 25, with college-aged women making up the core of that group.

Why college?  Well, eating disorders are a sort of coping mechanism (albeit very destructive ones) and anyone in college can tell you that there's a lot to cope with.  Busy schedules, not enough sleep, not enough time to do the things you really enjoy, "big kid" life issues, not feeling like you're doing things good enough...  Sometimes people see their bodies as the one thing in their lives that they can control.  Minimizing their food intake and overcoming mental and physical impulses to eat makes them feel powerful; binging and purging provides them with an intensely powerful release, giving them some sense of control over the chaos.

The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reports that:

• 30% of people report the duration of their eating disorder from 1 to 5 years;
• 31% of people report the duration of their eating disorder from 6 to 10 years;
• 16% of people report the duration of their eating disorder from 11 to 15 years; and
• Only 50% of people report being cured.

It's a less than cheery outlook for people suffering through the nightmare of an E.D., and with these kinds of statistics it's incredibly important that there exist opportunities for people to confront and cope with their E.D. in an honest, positive and supportive environment.  On Truman's campus, University Counseling Services has worked to create one such environment.

UCS has put together a women's body image support group called W.I.S.E., which stands for Women, Image, and Self-Esteem.  The group, as is implied by its name, is for female students struggling with body image, self-esteem and self acceptance.  It's a small, confidential support group that meets once a week on Tuesdays from 4:00 to 5:30pm, during which time women talk about the influence of the media, family pressures, size standards, peer pressure, self-defeating behaviors and thoughts, and plenty of other issues that affect their lives and their bodies with others who have similar issues.  The goal of the group is for all members to learn to feel better about themselves and less controlled by appearance and what others think.

If you're interested, give the fabulous staff over at UCS a call at 660-785-4184.

Cheers to a healthier you,
Casey

Homecoming at Truman: A Call for Perspectives

...and we're back!  Thanks for being so patient while the blog was on hiatus due to the twin factors of Homecoming Committee-related time suckage and my computer having fallen 4 feet off of a countertop.  The former is actually the subject of this post; the latter has, thankfully, proven itself remediable.

Let's chit-chat about Homecoming Week at Truman.  The current structure is set up in a team competition format, wherein campus organizations are placed on teams with other campus organizations and compete with the other teams for points to win Homecoming Week.  Events they compete in range from a Lip Sync competition to powderpuff football tournaments, and they also get points for doing other, non-event things like having a certain percentage of their team purchase apparel.

I've now experienced Homecoming from three different perspectives: as a student not involved in any organizations on the Homecoming Teams, as a student involved in an organization on a Homecoming Team, and as a student helping to run the show.  I have a lot of thoughts about the current structure of Homecoming, what the experience of Homecoming is for the Truman and Kirksville communities, things that work and things that don't.  What I think, however, is nowhere near as important as what you (members of the Truman and Kirksville communities) think about it, and that's what I'm interested in hearing.

Be honest: what's your take on Homecoming at Truman?  Does it work?  Does it not work?  What do you see it as currently, and what do you think it should be?  What do you like about it and what would you change about it?  Finally, why?

Leave me a comment or, if you prefer a more anonymous method of providing feedback, throw an email over to the Socialite inbox (kirksvillesocialite@gmail.com), whichever you prefer.

Cheers to unimpeded blogging (and to feedback),
Casey

The Lowdown on the Dobson Lockdown

Hey Socialites, no doubt you've already heard about Dobson Hall going on lockdown last night, but in case you haven't here's a brief overview of what went down: an S.A. in Dobson saw a gun in the back of a student's pants, they made eye contact and he ran away, prompting her to alert the proper authorities and the building to go on lockdown.  The weapon turned out to be an airsoft gun and was confiscated.

Contrary to what the Index reported (and what DPS Director Tom Johnson was quoted as saying in their write-up about it this morning) the text messaging system was not entirely successful.  Many students with AT&T have just been receiving the text messages about it this morning.  (Some received the messages at around 4:30 this morning; I received the first message at 7:48am and the second at 8:03am.)  By all accounts the message was successfully spread among to students who did not receive the text messages, though, which is comforting.

Cheers to a false alarm,

Casey