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THE APPALACHIAN TheAppalachianOnline.com
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Students on academic suspension decrease
Dorm larcenies increase, burglaries do not by ANDREW CLAUSEN
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by KELLI STRAKA News Reporter
The number of students on academic suspension based on their grade-point average has decreased since fall 2009, said Heather Langdon, associate director for Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning. At the end of fall 2009, 212 students were on academic suspension. At the end of spring 2012, 155 students were on academic suspension. “ASU has a strong desire to retain students and have them succeed,” said Martha Wilson, senior associate registrar with Student Services. The university has committees on campus that are geared toward retention and academic success, Wilson said. Mapworks is one of the reasons he thinks fewer students have been on academic suspension, said Bob Gibbard, an academic adviser for the university. Mapworks, which was implemented this semester, has helped academic advisers identify students who are having issues academically before they become larger problems, Gibbard said. According to the university’s academic regulations, to continue at Appalachian in good academic standing, undergraduate students must earn a minimum GPA of 1.75 after 1 to 15 attempted hours, 1.90 after completing 16 to 30 attempted hours and 2.00 after 31 attempted hours. If a student does not earn the minimum GPA, they are placed on academic probation during the fall or spring semester that follows. If the student uses the two semesters of academic probation but fails to earn a cumulative GPA to place them on good academic standing, the student will be academically suspended. At that point, the student’s only recourse is to enroll during the university’s summer terms until they are in good academic standing. While on academic probation, students can appeal to the Appeals Board, comprised of advisers, to have an extra semester to get on good academic standing. Academic probation is a “red flag,” not a punishment, Gibbard said. Students can voluntarily take an academic probation workshop. At the academic probation workshop, students are shown options on how to “get back on track,” Gibbard said. “ASU wants to see you succeed,” he said. While the workshop is not mandatory, students who have taken the workshop have shown an increase in academic success, Gibbard said. Students have multiple options to get off academic probation. “All hope is not lost,” Gibbard said.
Vol. 87, No. 13
Amy Birner | The Appalachian
Dorm larcenies have increased this year on Appalachian's campus.
News Reporter
here have already been three reports of burglary and 21 reports of larceny this year, according to university police’s crime statistics. In 2010 and 2011, there were 33 and 19 reported larceny crimes in residence halls respectively. “Burglary is when somebody enters a building illegally with the purpose of either stealing something or to commit a crime,” Chief of ASU Police Gunther Doerr said. “Larceny is when you’re in a place where you are allowed to be, such as a party, and commit a crime.” Appalachian’s residence halls, in contrast, experienced five burglaries in 2010, and one in 2011. Burglary doesn’t even have to be forced entry. Doerr said incidences tend to happen when students don’t lock their dorm room.
Director of University Housing Tom Kane said students were willing to “sacrifice a level of safety” by not locking their room doors. “They leave doors unlocked whether they are in the room, down the hall or even out of the building,” he said. “This creates an environment for crimes of opportunity, specifically people entering empty and unlocked rooms to take property which is not their’s.” Coordinator for University Housing Jason Timpson said he thought the reason students don’t lock their door was because they are caught up in the “App Family.” “That leads everyone to believe that everybody here or everybody who comes here has your best interest at and that’s just not the reality,” Timpson said. Timpson said students are caught up in the community on their floor and not who is in the
building, which isn’t safe. “I try to explain to them that you feel like where you grew up was safe but you didn’t leave your house and car unlocked when you’re not there,” Timpson said. University Housing does a lockout campaign from year to year, Timpson said. “We work with the police and go around a test door knobs and see if it is locked or unlocked,” Timpson said. “Then with the one’s we find unlocked, we lock them and leave them a note that says that you could have been robbed at this point.” He said a lockout campaign should happen in the coming weeks for Coltrane Hall residences. “I don’t think it’s a large issue,” Timpson said. “But if people are not aware than it can become an issue because things are getting smaller and electronics are getting more expensive and are easier to sell.”
Students reflect on second presidential debate
“I think Obama won the debate. I think he called Mitt Romney out on a bunch of stuff that he was saying and Mitt Romney didn’t really answer any of the questions that were asked to him.” Joshua Joyner, sophomore appropriate technology major
“Romney won the debate because basically, like the first debate, he had more facts than Obama did. Obama was just rambling on... he never was actually answering any of the questions, he was kind of going around the boat based on everything and Romney was actually answering them.” Edward Olstrom, sophomore biology major
Professor to join Alaskan drilling project by KELLI STRAKA News Reporter
After about 10 years of waiting, Ellen Cowan, a professor in the geology department will join 31 scientists from around the world May 30, 2013 to study climate and tectonic changes in southern Alaska. The team will drill in the abyssal plain, the fan and the continental shelf in Alaska. Cowan said she will observe the sedimentary record in the core as it is drilled, identify the sediment and make a graphic image, she said. The project was proposed around 10 years ago. Since Cowan has worked her whole career in Alaska, she was part of the original team. “I’m really excited that I get to participate,” Cowan said. “It’s worth waiting for, I just know, but it’s been a long time to get our project to be picked.” Of the 31 scientists working with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, 12 are from the United States. The expedition will leave from Victoria, British Columbia on the JOIDES Resolution and stay in the southern gulf of Alaska, near the Saint Elias Mountains, for two months, where the team will work 24-hours a day, taking turns of 12-hour shifts.
In 1971, a team drilled into the southern Alaska’s ocean, but only revealed 40 percent of the record, Cowan said. “We think we can 100 percent,” she said. “So we’re pretty optimistic.” Before leaving the ship, the team must compile a book of their findings, Cowan said. Then, every scientist will do follow-up research, from which they’ll form their conclusions. Cowan said she plans to write a research proposal grant and work with students on analyzing the data that’s collected. Junior theater arts major Pami Cuevas took an oceanography class with Cowan. Cuevas said the class was “very intriguing and interesting,” and she thinks it’s a “wonderful opportunity” that Cowan gets to go to Alaska. Sophomore accounting major Kyle Brown had Cowan for a class, as well. Brown said Cowan’s experiences “added another layer of depth” to the class’ discussion. “I think it’s a great opportunity for her to get out there and learn her craft, so to speak,” Brown said. “There’s no better way to learn about something that getting out there and doing it and I see that that’s exactly what she is doing.”
“Well I don’t really think anyone won it because it’s a debate. But mainly, I think Obama did a better job this time than last time. He was just generally more assertive and generally more on the attack you could say. ” Tucker Galloway, freshman music industry studies major
“I mean, I would definitely say Obama. I might be a little bit biased, but I would not say Romney at all. But I don’t really claim a winner to debates because they both make good points on their own sides, but I feel like Obama came out looking more confident.”
“I kind of felt like the debate was evenly matched. I didn’t feel like either candidate had answered the questions fully and I felt like they were just undercutting each other instead of trying to answer the questions.”
Kathleen Eakes, freshman global studies and Spanish major.
compiled by KELLI STRAKA
Courtney Fish, freshman biology major News Reporter
Candlelight vigil held in memory of ASU student
Paul Heckert | The Appalachian
Tyler Blalock's close friends pause for a moment of reflection while Kathryn Kirkpatrick, English professor, reads the poem, "White Owl Flies into and Out of the Field" by Mary Oliver at Monday night’s candlelight vigil held for Blalock.
Animals bring ‘new energy’ to classes by LINDSAY BOOKOUT News Reporter
There is a positive physiological effect in the brain that occurs when humans interact with animals. This effect has prompted some faculty and staff at the university to bring pets to class and for the university to utilize therapy dogs, Sheri Clark, associate director of training for the university’s Counseling Center said. Clark works with the therapy dogs
at the counseling center but she said all animals can be therapeutic. Students are able to have an intimate connection with animals and it is a slightly different physiological reaction than when they have an intimate connection with humans, Clark said. Interacting with animals can also cause people’s blood pressure to go down as well as their heart rate, Clark see ANIMALS, pg. 2
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