Thursday, April 16, 2015 | Volume 210 | Number 138 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Students want
Answers Attendees at open forum question university’s handling of sexual assaults By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com
“W
hat is the punishment for a student
who rapes?” “Why hasn’t there been an apology to victims for not doing better?” Iowa State students — some of whom were sexually assaulted or have a close relationship with someone who has — had many questions for a panel of administrators at an open forum in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union Wednesday night about how the university will improve the handling of sexual assault cases. The panel came after the showing of “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary that explores university administrators’ mishandling and perpetuation of sexual assault on college campuses across the nation. Iowa State is currently under investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for their handling of a sexual assault case. Administrators taking questions including Dean of Students Pamela Anthony, Director of Judicial Affairs Sara Kellogg, Director of the Department of Public Safety Jerry Stewart and Story County Sexual Assault Response Team coordinator Steffani Simbric. Also in attendance were President Steven Leath, Vice President of Student Affairs Tom Hill and Title IX coordinator Robin Kelley. Chelsea Schmidt, senior in linguistics who requested
The Office of Civil Rights will conduct a site visit, which comes after announcing earlier this year that Iowa State is under investigation after a complaint about the university’s handling of a sexual assault allegation made by an ISU student against another student. Open office times to discuss the university's handling of sexual assault will be available on Tuesday and Wednesday for all other students, faculty, and staff is available if they schedule a 15-minute meeting with Office of Civil Rights representatives. To schedule an individual meeting, contact Sharon Zenor at 294-3577.
and helped organize an open forum with administrators, had three areas of concern. Students lack information about the medical policy for survivors, there is no clear method for mandatory reporting and Iowa State’s sexual assault policy is hard to navigate, Schimdt said. She wants a plan of action. Schmidt said Access Assault Care Center is the best mandatory reporting and advocacy center she knew of for students, and the university does not fund the organization that partners with Iowa State to help victims. Anthony said the university is looking to update policy, it “is not changed over night.” She said university officials have a difficult time getting feedback from students on how policies serve them. Above all, Anthony said administrators need to hear from students on how Iowa State policy treated them and what students would like to see be changed. Kellogg said policy was updated in 2008. “We changed our policy for the first time to be an affirmative consent policy. It was a very broad group of individuals that got together to discuss what our policy should look like and how it should better represent students,” Kellogg
said. “Those conversations have been ongoing and we have made changes and engaged students in conversations since those initial policy changes.” Another student took issue with the the vagueness of the university’s policy and wanted to know the exact punishment students receive if they sexually assault. Schmidt mentioned the number of students expelled in the last five years for sexually assaulting was “dismally low.” Both Anthony and Kellogg said every case is different and must be investigated by the university and decided by a board. “The outcome we are always seeking is supension or expulsion,” Kellogg said of Judicial Affairs. “That is what we’re seeking from the boards. A board ultimately is going to make a decision about what that sanction is.” Meredith Cook, junior in political science and a sexual assault survivor, said she believes the university does not acknowledge some sexual assaults that occur because timely warnings are not sent out to students after every sexual assault is reported. “I just find it very troubling that the university doesn’t acknowledge sexual
assaults are happening here,” Cook said. “People come to me with their stories all the time, and everyone is discouraged from reporting and I think that’s wrong.” Kierstyn Feld, sophomore in architecture, wanted to know if the university would disaffiliate a fraternity that is associated with sexual assault. “I’m curious about the regulations that apply to the students on university affiliated grounds when those rules — if they don’t exist — could be developed,” Feld said. Feld, also a member of Alpha Phi sorority, said there are stereotypes on campus about the greek community. They’re not necessarily true for every member, but “there is a potential for rape in any fraternity or any place where you’ve got a whole bunch of people consuming alcohol,” and wanted to know if a fraternity consistently involved in sexual assault would be disaffiliated. “Absolutely. I would say fraternities and sororities would be held responsible for any violation of the Student Code of Conduct. If there is a reason to expel a fraternity, we would do that if we found enough information to substantiate that sanction,” Anthony said. Feld said she is happy the university is working to establish “a more open relationship” than what was shown in the documentary, but gave the university an overall “C” letter grade on a sexual assault handling report cord. “I don’t see us being exceptionally better than anyone else,” Feld said. “I’m an “A” student. I’d like to see us raise that “C” average to an “A,” Anthony said.
Actually, it is rocket science NASA recognizes ISU aerospace team for achievements in technology competition By Mariah.Griffith @iowastatedaily.com It’s not every day you get congratulated by NASA. The Cyclone Student Launch Initiative Team just finished competing against approximately 20 other university teams in a NASA competition for rocket technologies. The intent is that these technologies could be used by NASA to collect and transport samples from planet Mars back to Earth, and the ISU team performed well enough to receive kudos from the aerospace icon. “They definitely liked our design and it caught a lot of eyes and attention while we were there,” said team leader Jordan Mathews. The annual challenge requires student teams to plan for and build an actual rocket from scratch that is able to perform a specified task. This year, the goal was to load a payload into the rocket, launch the rocket to a zenith of exactly 3,000 feet from a launch pad teams were required to build, eject the payload during the descent at exactly 1,000 feet and land the rocket safely below a certain impact energy. The CySLI team consisted of 19 members, mostly from the aerospace engineering program, who divided the work for building all the rocket and launch
GSB rejects bill requiring Senate time qualifications By Michaela.Ramm @iowastatedaily.com The Government of the Student Body Senate rejected a bill that would have limited students who could serve as senators. The bill failed to pass 24-9 against the measure. The bill required a senator to have been a student at Iowa State for at least a semester before earning a seat on the senate. Several senators were opposed to passing the bill because it would limit experiences brought to the Senate, such as freshmen, transfer and graduate students. Sen. Robert Dunn said passing this bill would basically be giving a giant middle finger to the students. Sen. Zackary Reece said the bill is not an attack on students. “It’s looking at their ability to reach out to their constituents to represent them effectively,” Reece said. “That’s why we’re all here.” Sen. David Moore said students should get experience at Iowa State before serving. “This would still limit freshmen, transfer and graduate students but I don’t think that’s a horrible thing,” Moore said. “Having people represent your constituents who don’t know important things, that’s just irresponsible.” Moore said he believes freshmen are not able to represent their constituents well. “Freshmen are not the best people to represent our constituents,” Moore said. “I’m not here to get people résumé points, I’m here to serve the students.” Sen. Danielle Nygard was elected the first semester of her freshman year. She said she was not knowledgeable about everything, but still learned. “All members of the student body are members of the student government,” Nygard said. “Why are we trying to limit that?” Sen. Cole Button also pointed out he was seated during his first semester of his freshman year. “Being a freshmen has not kept me from being a good representative of my constituents,” Button said. “I don’t see how having one more semester here would change that.” Sen. Adam Guenther pointed out that other Big 12 schools have requirements for their student government senators. Guenther said he ran because he wanted to make a difference with certain problems on campus. “When you have freshmen running, what are they running for?” Guenther said. “They have
GSB p10
Regents open forum to take place Friday By Eric.Wirth @iowastatedaily.com
Courtesy of Mengyu Wang
The Cyclone Student Launch Initiative Team competed against about 20 other universities in the annual NASA competition for rocket technologies. The competition requires students to build a rocket from scratch.
pad components among four sub-teams. The autonomous ground support equipment team built the launch pad, avionics managed the computer components, payload built the payload bay and mechanics as well as an innovative air-brake system and the rocket team built the physical rocket. Due to some mechanical malfunctions with the launch pad and a faulty pre-fabricated component called an altimeter, the 10-foot-tall CySLI rocket did not complete all of the challenge components successfully, making them ineligible for the $25,000 challenge grand prize. However, the majority of the design components worked
flawlessly and can be incorporated into rockets for future challenges. This was the first time the Iowa State team competed in a NASA challenge, and thanks in part to the coveted air-brake system CySLI built, their rocket reached the third best altitude despite mechanical setbacks. The rocket came within 70 feet of the target height, and was bested only by the two teams that completed all of the challenge components. The CySLI team also received an award for making the best looking rocket due to a sleek design and paintjob done by club sponsor Maaco Collision Repair.
CySLI had significant help from club mentor Gary Stroick, owner of Off We Go Rocketry, who has helped guide the club for the last couple years. “He’s had a lot of experience, so a lot of the team would end up calling him whenever we needed help,” said payload team leader Bryan Sullivan. “Trying to apply classroom knowledge to actually building something takes a little bit of work. It’s always nice to have someone help guide you along the way.” Overall, the CySLI rocket performed very well and outperformed most teams in flight and payload delivery.
ROCKET p10
An open forum on the Board of Regents April agenda, where citizens can voice their opinions and concerns, is scheduled for Friday. The forum will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union. Some agenda items that could affect Iowa State include a review of the 2014 Fiscal Year reports for Iowa State, a report of recommendations to the university in regard to the financial aid system after a review conducted from April 22 to May 17, 2013, and a decision on the sale of $30 million in dormitory revenue bonds in order to construct the new dormitory next to Buchanan. Also on the agenda is the request for a decision to be made regarding a name change from the Jack Trice Stadium end zone club to the Sukup End Zone Club. The purpose of the name change is to honor the Sukup family from Sheffield, Iowa. The full Board of Regents meeting will take place April 22 and 23 at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs, Iowa.