northwest missourian
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011 | V87 | N7
nwmissourinews.com
HOMECOMING
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS SUNDAY OCTOBER 16
9:30 a.m. until noon
12 p.m.
Homecoming 5K Run/Walk ($10 registration at College Park Pavilion)
Hanging of the Banners (Student Union)
MONDAY OCTOBER 17
7:30 a.m. UNTIL NOON
Homecoming Archives Display (Library) SUBMITTED PHOTO | NW MISSOURIAN
ALL DAY
Canned Art Competition (Student Union)
SEEING RED
Department Decoration Contest
TUESDAY OCTOBER 18
7:30 a.m. UNTIL NOON
Northwest students band together in an effort to raise awareness of a situation that affects millions across the world
Homecoming Archives Display (Library)
DARLEEN DENNO
D
News Editor
ozens of little red flags are sprinkled over the lawn in front of the J.W. Jones Student Union. These red flags have a purpose. They hold weight. Collectively, these flags symbolize a war against suicide and depression. Individually, each one represents a person in the world who has taken his or her own life. One of those red flags is for Bill Kinde. Carolyn Kinde, Brett Mayekawa and his girlfriend were wasting time at a bowling alley in Des Moines, Iowa before a concert in August 2010. One text message stopped them from ever attending that concert. The text was from a concerned neighbor, asking if everything was OK because she could see police cars crowded in front of Carolyn’s house. Alarmed, Carolyn immediately called her mother. No response. She called her father. Again, no response. Everything was not OK. Her mother called her back a few minutes later. At a bowling alley in Des Moines, on the eve of her birthday, Carolyn found out her brother shot himself in their basement. “My parents weren’t going to tell me on the phone,” Carolyn said. “They were going to pick me up after the show and take me home.” Brett picked Carolyn up off of the bowling alley floor, and his girlfriend drove them back to Maryville. The three-hour drive felt like days. The car was silent. Her parents met them in Maryville to take Carolyn the rest of the way home to Overland Park, Ks. “It was the first time I couldn’t even piece together a phrase,” Brett said. His speechlessness didn’t stem from an inability to console a dear friend who was hurting, but from his own pain. Brett knew Bill from high school. They ran cross-country together. Brett met Carolyn two years later in marching band. His mother was a close friend to Carolyn and Bill’s mother. “I felt like I was apart of that family,” Brett
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19
7:30 a.m. UNTIL NOON
Homecoming Archives Display (Library)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 20
7:30 a.m. UNTIL NOON
5 p.m. 7 p.m. 9 p.m.
Homecoming Archives Display (Library)
Homecoming Buffet ($7.09 per person, Student Union)
Variety Show (Ron Houston Center)
Royalty Crowning (Ron Houston Center)
FRIDAY OCTOBER 21
7:30 a.m. UNTIL NOON
8 a.m. 9 a.m. 11 a.m. UNTIL THREE
11:30 a.m. 12 p.m. 2 p.m.
Homecoming Archives Display (Library)
Bell Ringing (Bell of ‘48, south of Administration Building)
Golden Years Class Reunion: Honoring the Class of 1961 (Alumni House)
Walk Out Day Celebration (Colden Pond)
Homecoming Golf Classic (Mozingo Lake Golf Course)
Flag Raising Ceremony (International Plaza)
32,439 PEOPLE DIED BY
SUICIDE
SEE RED FLAG | A5
Faculty, staff pleased with new health care plan MARY CONNORS Chief Reporter
Golden Years luncheon (Student Union, Tower View Room)
said. He struggled to pull himself together for Carolyn during that drive; but he wanted to be a rock, for her. “There is nothing you can say to make the situation better,” he said. So he didn’t speak. He acted. Brett started Northwest’s chapter of To Write Love on Her Arms in September of 2010. Though the organization materialized mere weeks after his friend’s suicide, Brett said that his interest in TWLOHA preceded Bill’s death. His initial intention for starting a chapter at Northwest was to make his mark on campus, but his passion grew after he heard the stories of three people during a TWLOHA conference in Omaha earlier that summer. He heard a story from a boy who cut himself in high school. He heard a story from a girl who developed a drinking problem. He heard a story from a girl whose mother had committed suicide. These stories gave him something to fight for. Bill’s death gave him something to fight for. And that’s what the TWHOLA’s Red Flag event is. It’s Brett fighting back. It’s Carolyn fighting back. It’s Northwest fighting back. The event on Oct. 13 is meant to shock students. Handfuls of little red flags are placed in the ground in front of the J.W. Student Union. And every time Brett’s stopwatch reads 40 seconds, another little red flag is placed in the ground. Though the number of flags is meant to shock, it is not intended to overwhelm. TWLOHA wants to put a positive spin on the event by allowing students to write on these flags. Each person who writes on a flag is taking a stand against depression and suicide. Those people could know someone who is depressed, someone who has committed suicide. If not directly
IN 2004
2 p.m.
Red flags occupy the lawn in front of the J.W. Jones Student Union during last year’s Red Flag Event. To Write Love On Her Arms and Project Hope sponsor the event.
Did you know that it costs more to have health insurance for your family than it does to buy a car? According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average cost of coverage for employerprovided family coverage hit a high of $15,000 this year. The foundation’s employer health benefit’s survey revealed that the average cost of employer provided health insurance rose by nine percent. Fortunately for Northwest faculty, this is one burden that they won’t have to carry; in fact they face the opposite. Northwest’s health care plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City has decreased individual premiums by 5.5 percent and dependent/family premiums up to 29.5 percent. Earlier this year, the Northwest Board of Regents requested that a Health care TaskForce committee be formed to find and compare more affordable premiums for its Northwest employees. The force was comprised of www.nwmissourinews.com
representatives from the Board of Regents, Northwest Leadership Team, Faculty-Senate, Administrative/Professional Council, Support Staff Council, Human Resources and benefit consultant CBIZ. “Providers submit different proposals each renewal year and Northwest gets to pick which proposal they wish to accept,” Sarah Freemyer, assistant director of Human Resources said. “Our lowered premium is a result of that bid and it actually exceeded the expectations of our health care task-force.” On Sept. 9, the task force’s recommendation to go forward with Blue Cross Blue Shield was approved by the Board and the plans will be renewed on Jan. 1, 2012. In addition to the decreased premium costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield also offered to set a rate cap of 12 percent for the 2013 renewal, ensuring that their rates will not increase more than that percentage but possibly less. While the dramatic decrease puts other’s worry to rest, other faculty who don’t have many dependents still remain unaffected. “If you have a family of four or more this is
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a great plan,” Daniel Smith, assistant professor of the political science department. said “With that many dependents or more you just about break even, me and my wife are both employed through the university but our private insurance is still cheaper.” The past premium was almost double the amount than this year, but this year’s base plans for families start at $824.89 a month and individuals at $458.87. “Covering our kids before would have been four times as much without the decrease, now it’s twice as much,” Smith said. “It is a much better deal but its set up to help larger families.” The open enrollment meetings are in the Student Union Ballroom on Tues. Oct. 25 and Wed. Oct. 26. Blue Cross Blue Shield, Delta Dental, Ameritas, The Standard Insurance Company and AFLAC will all be there to present and answer any questions and concerns that faculty may have. “It will definitely keep costs down, “said Smith. “They are doing what they can under these circumstances.”
Northwest Missourian