CON V ERGING CA MPUS & COMMUNIT Y
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 112, NO. 25
@THEMISSOURIAN
ELECTION 2024 COVERAGE | A4-A5
Uncertainty in funding brings on debate over raising tuition SIDNEY LOWRY Editor-in-Chief | @sidney_lowry
and Renewable Energy. To prevent events like fire spreading, along with filling the gap between the walls with insulation, there is also drywall placed on either side, Pine said. However, the walls in the University Point Apartments were not built with these precautionary methods. Within the structure of these apartments, there is an attic that goes overtop the entire building. Pine said due to the spread of fire through the walls, as well as a pipe that was likely not sealed, the fire had direct access to the entire attic. Pine said if the University Point Apartments had been built recently, it would have been done differently, and with more fire precautionary steps.
Problems with state and federal processes plague Northwest’s decision on tuition and fees increases for the 2024-25 school year. After debate, the Northwest Board of Regents ultimately approved a 4.2% increase in tuition and fees. Vice President of Finance and Administration Stacy Carrick proposed the tuition and fees increase and said there were two main factors that impact tuition that are still up in the air: state funding and the delays in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Just a week before, state spending plan cuts were proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith. His plan strips $2 billion from Gov. Mike Parson’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget. In higher education, his cuts take the 3% increase in state funding allocated by Parson and brings it down to 2%. Rather than the 2% being listed as a permanent increase, it would be considered as a one-time grant. Carrick said the University had hoped for a 5% increase in state funding, but based numbers on the 3% increase. With the funding now possibly being cut to 2%, higher education institutions across Missouri will have to wait for an answer about state allocations. “We try to find that balance, and we may have to come back and evaluate,” Carrick said. “At this point, I’m not panicked to that point. We’ll see what the legislature does that could prompt us to take a step back and reevaluate.” Carrick also said the FAFSA changes have been a “trainwreck,” and it has been impacting recruitment efforts. The application, which normally opens Oct. 1, didn’t allow applications until January this year. Universities in previous years would start getting student data just a few days after the application opened, but this year there was a significant delay where institutions didn’t get FAFSA information until the first half of March. On top of the delayed timeline, the changes to the form have been causing students issues with filling out the information. With these issues, students and universities are getting information about financial aid much later in the year.
SEE FIRE | A3
SEE TUITION | A3
SAVANNAH ATHY-SEDBROOK DESIGN EDITOR
A staircase in University Point Apartments is covered in debris following a fire March 23. Residents living in the complex have been temporarily relocated while the damage is being attended to by officials.
APARTMENT
ABLAZE 8 people rescued after 7-hour fire, tenants displaced
R
ANNA BAILEY News Reporter | @AmBailey16
esidents on the second floor of University Point Apartments were trapped inside the building as a fire was blocking the stairwell and traveling through the walls and attic. An electrical fire sparked the morning of Saturday, March 23. Multiple 911 calls were made reporting smoke showing from the roof of the building. The firefighters at the site worked for seven hours to completely extinguish the fire. Maryville Fire Department Fire Chief Jace Pine said due to outdated construction methods, the fire was able to spread throughout the entire building. These techniques allowed for the fire to spread through walls and up into the attic of the building after it started in one apartment. “The wall in the area of origin was double studded, there were two studs separated by about a quarter-inch gap, and so that was probably done to allow extra space to run piping and wires through,” Pine said. “But that quarter-inch gap allowed that fire to spread horizontally through that wall.” A double-studded wall is built by using two framed walls that have a gap between them, and this gap is used for further insulation, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency
SAVANNAH ATHY-SEDBROOK DESIGN EDITOR
People’s belongings litter the ground outside University Point Apartments. Clothes, furniture and trash still remain.
Colleagues, family talk impact that Clarence Green had on Northwest HANNAH CLAYWELL News Editor | @Hannah_9504
FILE
University Police Department Chief and Vice President of Culture Clarence Green stands with his wife, Michelle, and son, Elijah, on football senior day November 11, 2023. Green will be retiring from the University effective April 1.
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
University Police Department Chief and Vice President of Culture Clarence Green is almost at the end of his time here at Northwest. He will officially be retired by April 1. “I enjoy the people I work with, I enjoy the people I’m charged with serving every day, every team I’ve worked with, it’s been great,” Green said. “I’m really going to
miss a lot of the work with students. I think they have breathed life into me several times.” Many people at Northwest have expressed sadness about him leaving but are excited to see what he does next, like Lt. Amanda Cullin, who will be taking over as interim police chief, and Lt. Anthony Williams. “He’s had great opportunities, he’ll tell you that, but I think this time is a really good time for him to really go out and do things,”
Williams said. “Spend time with his grandkids, his family. They’ve given up so much of him for us.” Green said he will be spending more time with his family, especially his grandson. His wife Michelle Green said Clarence Green likes to make sure their grandson is experiencing things rather than receiving presents, so retiring will offer him more time to do so.
SEE GREEN | A3
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