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NEWS
April 19, 2013 Vol. 88 No. 17
OPINIONS . . . .
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SPORTS
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FEATURES
3B
CAMPUS LIFE
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thelink.harding.edu
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News:
Update on the construction of the
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new health sciences building.
Features:
Get to know Tyler Gentry, your new Student Association president.
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HU alum, Boston Marathon runner recalls bombings
celebrating 26 years of friendship and teamwork
by LEXI STUTZMAN news editor Three people were killed and more than 180 were injured on Monday when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Harding alumna Tish Pace was among the 23,000 runners who participated in the marathon. Pace had completed the race when the two devices detonated at 2:50 p.m. near the row of international flags leading up to the finish line. Pace said she was one block over, meeting up with friends and family when she heard the blasts. At first, Pace said she thought that maybe a car had backfired, but as the sound of sirens rang out through the city, she began to feel alarmed. “We just had a good day, and we were exchanging stories and laughing and taking pictures,” Pace said. “And then we just kept hearing all of these sirens and it was like, ‘something is wrong, let’s get out, let’s go.’” Pace first caught sight of something unusual as she and her friends made their way to the train station. Someone was lying in the back seat of a police car, she said, with his or her arm lying up by the window like they were hurt. Pace said she thought maybe someone had been injured at the finish, but after multiple police cars raced by, she realized something was seriously wrong. That’s when a woman told her it was a bomb. The first explosive was housed in a pressure cooker hidden in a backpack along the street, the Federal Bureau of Investigation determined Wednesday. The second bomb was reportedly also housed in a metal container, but as of Wednesday there was not enough evidence to conclude whether it was also placed inside of a pressure cooker. Soon after the devices detonated, videos of the explosions at the marathon began surfacing. Pace said she immediately began receiving messages and voice mails from people already aware of what had happened. “People knew in Searcy before we really knew,” Pace said. “I was getting texts from people that I am not really close to, like, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK? There’s blood and limbs everywhere at the finish, just tell me you’re not there.’” At the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said it is still unknown whether the attack was planned and executed by a foreign or domestic terrorist organization or by an individual. However, as of Thursday, two possible suspects have been identified based on surveillance footage from local businesses and news station according to the New York Times. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said on Wednesday that this attack will not intimidate Boston and he is hopeful the culprits will be brought to justice.
by ASHEL PARSONS | Student Publications President David B. Burks and Chancellor Clifton L. Ganus Jr. share a laugh during the front lawn luau on Tuesday evening. The luau honored the Burkses and Ganuses for their service to Harding. This fall, when Bruce McLarty takes office as president, Ganus will assume the title of chancellor emeritus and Burks will become chancellor of the university.
Bluffing or brink of war?
North Korea threatens; world weighs response by JARED DRYDEN editorial assistant On March 30, North Korea declared themselves to be in a state of war against South Korea. Additionally, North Korean officials have continued to voice various threats against South Korea and the United States. According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, North Korea has moved two missiles to the east coast. One missile has “considerable range,” according to South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, possibly capable of reaching Guam, a United States territory with a considerable United States military presence. South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok recently stated that North Korea was preparing a nuclear test, but on April 8 he retracted his statement, claiming that he had misspoken. On April 11, North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland stated that North Korea has “powerful striking means” and has entered target coordinates for a midrange missile test. On April 3, North Korea stopped allowing South Korean workers access to the Kaesong Industrial Region and on April 8 withdrew
more than 50,000 of their own workers. On April 17, North Korea restricted a South Korean delegation from delivering food and supplies to 200 South Korean workers left in the region. The validity of North Korea’s threats has been debated. North Korea’s missile range, as well as in their nuclear capabilities, have also been a source of doubt. White House spokesman Jay Carney stated that the recent string of threats “is a familiar pattern of behavior out of North Korea” but that the United States is taking “all necessary precautions.” Harding graduate Steven Denney, editor-in-chief of the Yonsei Journal of International Studies, managing editor of SinoNK.com and an M.A. candidate at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, agrees that North Korea’s actions fit into a recurring pattern. “They (North Korea) certainly know how to play the international community...” Denney said. “There is no small amount of historical continuity here; this is a tried-and-true strategy.” Denney said North Korea’s current goal is to put themselves in a better bargaining position for concessions from the United States. Denney said if the United States concedes anything,
North Korea “will go to work selling it domestically.” The North Korean government, according to Denney, does not want its citizens to realize they are living in “a fourth-rate South Korea.” As far as the United States is concerned, Denney said North Korea’s actions are not enough to warrant a response. “It would take much more than a small scale conflagration/provocation to warrant a strong response from the U.S.,” Denney said. “North Korea knows this, perhaps better than anyone.” Junior Jonathan Crews, American Studies Institute distinguished student president, pointed out that not only would North Korea need to have better missile capabilities, but would have to militarize a nuclear warhead before being able to launch an attack. Crews also mentioned that North Korean rockets run on liquid fuel and would take long enough to fuel that they could be preemptively attacked while still on the launch pad. “North Korea’s nuclear program is the biggest possible threat,” Crews said. “The biggest threat is to nations like South Korea or Japan. North Korea does not have the capability to hit the continental United States with an ICBM, although there is some debate on whether they could hit Hawaii.”
Police departments for private universities After new Arkansas legislation, campus administration is set to decide on implementing security changes with new presidency
by ALEXIS HOSTICKA sports editor
Private colleges and universities in Arkansas will soon be able to have their own police forces on campus after Gov. Mike Beebe and the Senate approved a new legislation. For the last few years, Harding University’s Department of Public Safety worked with Sen. Mark Biviano to push for a change in the law allowing schools such as Harding to have a police department on campus. The bill will go into effect nine weeks after the legislative session ends, sometime in late July or early August, but it will then be the decision of individual universities whether or not they want to use police on campus. Some of the benefits of having police on campus would be giving
Harding access to the Arkansas Police Training Academy and use of various criminal databases. According to Director of Public Safety Craig Russell, it would also give the university better control of traffic on campus. However, it will be up to future president Dr. Bruce McClarty if he wants to see these changes on campus. “We would still have non-police personnel and then a small number of sworn officers,” Russell said. “We could probably on-send one or two or maybe three people at a time to the 12-week program at the training academy.” According to Russell, there is no one event or incident that prompted Harding to push for this bill. In fact, the department has been discussing the potential of police on campus for the last 15 or so years. “Campus is not any less safe than it was last year or any time before,”
Russell said. “Part of my job is being attuned to what is happening on campus, in our community, across the nation and even globally that might affect the safety of those who are part of the Harding community.” Russell did note that what happens in the Searcy community can affect what happens on Harding’s campus. Once McLarty takes over the presidency, the topic will go into more discussion on whether this will be implemented on campus in the near future.
OUT OF
Searcy by crime rate
The darker the blue, the less the crime in that zone. Harding’s Campus
Searcy Crime by Type 2011 Assaults 14% Thefts 58% Burglaries 35%
Other 3%
Sources: city-data.com, neighborhoodscout.com