Caribbean jamboree rocks MSU
Matt Terrell | Editor-In-Chief

There were red shirts, white flags, spicy meals, Jason masks, steel drums, whistles, bare chests, big bellies, over-eaters, little kids and a lot of dancing. Everything smelled like a pina colada. MSU students lost themselves in the rocking jamboree that was Caribfest 2003. Over 1,000 people attended the event, which took place last Friday in Sunwatcher Plaza. This year’s theme was “Lose Yourself in This Jamboree,” and Kelvin Collins, president of the Caribbean Students Organization, believes Caribfest was a tremendous success. “Every year we try to come up with a theme to capture the Caribbean spirit, and we wanted people to be very free and joyous, and as you can see, it was.” Collins said the purpose of Caribfest is to share the Caribbean heritage with Wichita Falls while raising funds for community causes. Caribfest features a parade of festively dressed street revelers, music from the Caribbean Pan Ensemble and a load of authentic Caribbean food. This year’s featured dishes included barbecue chicken, rice with peas, green fig salad and coconut cakes. “Feeding over 1,000 people is a tedious undertaking that takes months of planning,” Caris Superville, food preparation coordinator said. “Our members do everything- the shopping, preparing the seasonings, marinating the meat and cooking every last item on the menu.” This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Rosewood Boys and Girls Club, Collins said. “We try to give the money to people who would feel the direct effect of the contribution,” Collins said. According to Collins, last year’s Caribfest brought in around $3000, and this year’s event should make a similar amount. Caribfest is modeled after Carnival, which is an internationally known festival held in the Caribbean every year. Collins said the two are similar, bringing together food, music, and a joyous atmosphere.

 

Senate gives nod to new ID cards
Paige Dickerson | News Editor

The student senate passed a resolution to implement new ID cards at their meeting Tuesday night. The ID cards are designed to look more professional than current cards and provide more features for students, faculty, staff and alumni. One feature allows the ID to be used as a debit card for campus related businesses, including possibly on-campus soda machines. The cards can also be used for voting, entrance to events such as Artist Lecture Series and athletic events. The new card should be in place by fall of 2004. “It was much less expensive for a partial implementation, but the money is there for a full implementation, so we are going to go ahead with it,” Keith Lamb, associate vice president for student affairs, said at the student senate meeting. The cards will not cost students anything since funds have been set aside from government grants. “This is something the administration would like to do. We had these kind of cards 15 years ago when I was at grad school at a different university,” Lamb said. Nyian Ferrell, president of student senate, proposed forming the Wellness Center Subcommittee, which will explore the possibility of a new wellness center on campus. “We want to see if students are interested in having a wellness center on campus, not just a part of the coliseum, but another place on campus,” Ferrell said. “Maybe even with indoor and outdoor pools, racket ball, a walking track and sauna. “This is not my decision or the administration’s decision. This is something that has to come from the students and be funded by the students,” Lamb said. “I’ve seen some universities that have charges that are $80 and some are $10. It just depends on what you want in it.” During the student issues portion of the meeting, some of the concerns expressed by senators were: the broken lights at the tennis courts, the lack of student parking near the band hall, students that have to cross Taft without a crosswalk and possible new plans regarding the cafeteria food. The senate announced the online book swap should be ready for student use before the spring semester. This will allow students to exchange books rather than selling them back and then purchasing new ones at the beginning of the semester.

 

Four-day school week pondered
Camron Rushin | Managing Editor

Have you ever wished that you didn’t have to go to school on Fridays? Your wishes may soon come true as the faculty senate has been informally discussing this idea. As soon as next year the schedule may change to four days a week with one hour 20 minute classes. Fridays would be reserved for labs, professor research and advising. “There will not be classes on Friday, but there would still be work,” said faculty senate chair and professor of math David Tucker. President Jesse Rogers believes that going to a four-day week has strengths and weaknesses. Faculty would have a full day for conference, research and office hours to help students, he said. Also, students with jobs would have an extra day for work. “For students working part-time, it would be a good idea,” said Lookman Ajaga, BAAS major. Some problems with a four-day week are that some faculty like 50-minute classes and it would be difficult to schedule four-hour credit classes like calculus. “Particularly in the sciences, the faculty think three classes times a week is a little bit better for students,” Tucker said. Another problem is scheduling because classes would have to be crammed into four days. “We’d offer as many classes, but the days would be longer,” Rogers said. The schedule could cause problems with finding open classrooms on campus, Tucker said. Also many faculty don’t believe that students would use their free day beneficially. “More than likely I’d be playing my guitar all day,” said mass communication major Wyatt Norman. “The only benefit is having a long weekend,” said graduate student Lia Akhvlediani. The idea to change the schedule was brought up after the administration decided to change summer school to a four-day week to conserve energy. The successful plan saved the school around $50,000 and will be implemented next summer as well, Rogers said. Even though the four-day week is used in some other schools in Texas, Rogers is not sure if MSU will be able to make transition so easily. “Anytime you make a dramatic change, there are unforeseen consequences,” Rogers said. “I want the faculty, staff and students to think about this. “It’s something we shouldn’t do impulsively and let each college think about how they can implement the schedule,” Tucker said. The faculty senate may also discuss different alterations to this schedule. “It makes more sense to have Wednesdays off to schedule meetings,” Tucker said. The idea will more than likely be brought to the forefront of the faculty and student senates, so Rogers is asking students to let their senators know how they feel about the change.

 

Crime on campus drops for 2002
Matt Terrell | Editor-In-Chief

Reported crimes at MSU are down. A forcible rape on public property was the only sexual offense reported to police during the 2002 calendar year, according to MSU crime statistics released last week. Reported sexual offenses dropped from seven to one from 2001 to 2002, but MSU Police Chief Michael Hagy explained that “sexual offenses are the most underreported offenses across the board.” The one reported rape occurred in a location unknown to MSU police. The case was turned over to the Wichita Falls Police Department after campus police were notified by the MSU Counseling Center. “The Counseling Center is not required to report because of doctor/patient confidentiality,” Hagy said. “However, they will provide us with the information that somebody reported being sexually assaulted. We will then try to verify the information so we don’t have a double report in the event the victim reported with us also.” Hagy said sexual offenses might be down, but students must learn how to protect themselves. “We hold seminars and talk about sexual awareness and what people need to do to decrease their chances of being a victim,” Hagy said. “One of the things we talk about is the date rape drugs. A comment made was, ‘If a guy wants to buy me a drink, I’d let him.’ They don’t see all the chances a guy would have to put something in their drink. We’re trying to tell them the situations in which things actually happen.” Reported burglaries on campus property went up from four to six in 2002, with each incident occurring in residence housing. Hagy said four of the incidents occurred in Pierce Hall, one in Killingsworth and one in the Bridwell Courts apartments. Items such as mini disc players, Playstation 2, wallets, cordless phones and textbooks were stolen. Burglaries on off-campus property dropped from 17 to two from 2001 to 2002. Hagy attributes this to tightening jurisdiction over the Colony Apartments. “Since we lease these apartments out to students, we are only required to report the ones we’re in control over,” Hagy said. “Last year, we reported for the whole apartment complex.” Arrests for alcohol violations went up from one to three in 2002, but alcohol referrals went down from 56 to 35, which were all reported from residence housing. “I hope the lowered referrals show we did a better job of educating, or students did a better job of being discreet with their alcohol,” Hagy said. Drug violations followed a similar pattern with an increase from two to three arrests from 2001 and 2002, while drug referrals dropped from 14 to ten. “Word gets out the police do take a strong stance on drugs,” Hagy said. “There are alternative places for people to use them now. This campus is too small for people to use drugs and not be seen.” Hate crimes are outlined on the campus crime statistics, but none have been reported in three years. Hagy said it’s hard to tie the alleged hate to the crime. “If someone says, “I’m kicking your ass because you’re a white guy and I hate white guys,’ bingo, that’s a hate crime. It was obvious in the case of those people dragging a black man in a pickup truck.” “Most crimes on campus, there’s no connection. The crimes would have occurred regardless of race,” Hagy said. MSU had one incident that was almost reported as a hate crime. “We had two Japanese students in the fountain area and two knuckle-headed guys from Sheppard ended up assaulting them,” Hagy said. “They had no idea they were Japanese students though. It was a robbery that went bad, not a hate crime. Even then, we couldn’t make the connection.”