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| Vol. 86 No. 12 | February 25, 2011 | thelink.harding.edu |
Snow, Valentine’s Day cause postal blues by HEIDI TABOR student writer Leading up to Valentine’s Day, the Postal Services Center dealt with three consecutive snow days that caused a major delay in the distribution of cards, flowers and notes celebrating the holiday. Because of the heavy snow during the three weekdays leading up to Valentine’s Day, there was a delay of all postal, UPS and FedEx mail. In fact, none at all could make it onto campus throughout the three days, so the bulk of the snow day mail was delivered on Monday, pushing special Valentine’s Day deliveries to Tuesday. “Because of the inclement weather, carriers weren’t able to get the mail into the facilities here in Searcy, so they brought a lot of it on Monday, which was Valentine’s Day,” said Jason White, assistant director of postal services. “Then a lot of it came the following day: the things that were supposed to be here on Valentine’s Day, which is why it was a problem.” Once the packages arrived on campus, they arrived in such a large quantity that it took all day to put them into student and faculty mailboxes, White said. Typically, all mail is distributed by 1 p.m., but even with student workers putting in extra hours, it was 4:30 p.m. before their work was done. White said that some parents called to ask about boxes of flowers that had not been delivered, many of which were delayed until the following day. Senior Heather Semmelmann said her fi-
We know that it can be frustrating when you’re expecting something and you don’t receive it. We are thankful to all the students, faculty and staff because everyone seemed to be very understanding that day. -Jason White assistant director of postal services ance had mailed her flowers for Valentine’s day. Unaware of what was in the package, she had been given a tracking number to know when it had arrived. While the package arrived on Valentine’s Day, Semmelmann said that she was unable to pick it up due to the backup with providing yellow pic- up slips to students. When Semmelmann received her yellow slip at lunch the next day, she said the flowers her fiance sent her were wilted, and the papers that came with them were damaged. “While I understand that Valentine’s Day is probably one of the busiest days for the post office, it makes me upset to know that they would hand out packages while more time-sensitive items are sitting in the back of their office,” Semmelmann said. “I feel the logistics could have been more efficient
Average Day 400 packages 4 - 8 feet
(670-1,300 letters)
of first class mail letters
800 pieces on-campus mail less than 100 cards with candy ("bumpies")
x x x x x
and a better plan needs to be made for next year so that someone else does not receive wilted flowers the day after Valentine’s Day.” Director of Postal Services Randy Smith has been on staff since March 2004 and said that while Valentine’s Day is typically the busiest day of the entire year, beating out both Christmas and Club Week, this year’s holiday was the single busiest day he had ever experienced at Harding. On an average day in the Harding Postal Services Center, anywhere from 400 packages, 4 to 8 feet (about 670 to 1,300 letters) of first class mail letters and 800 pieces of on-campus mail arrive to be distributed to student and faculty mailboxes. Comparatively, the Valentine’s Day deliveries for this year included 1,935 packages, 36 feet (or about 6,000 letters), 4,500 pieces of campus mail
The sights of spring
Feb.14, 2011 1,935 packages 36 feet
(16,000 letters)
of first class mail letters
4,000 pieces on-campus mail 1,800 cards with candy ("bumpies")
and 1,800 “bumpies,” or cards with pieces of candy attached to them. Despite the delay, White said students and faculty were very understanding about not receiving their Valentine’s Day treats in time. “Basically we just wanted to thank everyone because there was a large influx of mail that didn’t go up in the boxes, including Valentine’s Day candies and cards that students send to one another,” White said. “We wanted to thank everyone for their patience. We know that it can be frustrating when you’re expecting something and you don’t receive it. We are thankful to all the students, faculty and staff because everyone seemed to be very understanding that day.” White said Wednesday that the postal service has now caught up with all mail and should experience no further problems.
Obama to increase Pell Grants in 2012 by J.M. ADKISON sports editor
photo by KYLIE AKINS | The Bison Freshman nursing major Alison Daud (center with headress) and friends get serious at Zheta Rho and TNT’s Spring Sing practice on Tuesday, themed “Cowboys and Indians” for the evening.
‘Students for Life’ makes campus debut with Holocaust documentary by KYLIE AKINS news editor Harding’s newest student organization, Harding Students for Life, made its debut Tuesday, Feb. 15, by highlighting the group’s dedication to the value of life with the screening of “Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers,” a film documenting the little-known story of a Polish social worker’s efforts in rescuing 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II, as a benefit to the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Searcy. Harding Students for Life’s chartering this semester was actually a resurrection of a group that existed until a few years ago. Reusing the Facebook page of the former group, organization president sophomore Erin Grant said there is already interest in the group’s mission. “I’ve always had a passion for prolife issues, but also, I really wanted to
As for me, it was simple. When someone is drowning, you give them your hand. I tried to extend my hand to the Jewish people. -Irena Sendler, as voiced in the documentary “Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers” provide a way for students to be politically active and to integrate that into the pro-life movement as well as making students a little more aware of pro-life issues,” Grant said. Even on a predominantly pro-life campus, Grant said there is opportunity for expanding the knowledge base on all of the issues involved in the pro-life movement, including abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and embryonic stem cell research. “One of the really interesting things we found about pro-life campuses is that a lot of students have grown up being
pro-life, so they don’t understand a lot of the issues just because they’ve been around it,” Grant said. “We’re hoping to explore the area a little bit more to know what they believe in and why they believe in it, instead of having a vague grasp of the issue.” The documentary shown Tuesday night stressed the group’s commitment to furthering the value of human life by featuring a film on Sendler, a woman who saw value in the most discriminated-against racial group in Poland during World War II. -SEE LIFE PG. 2A
President Barack Obama recently released his budget plan for the year 2012, and according to an article recently released in the Washington Post, it shows a plan to increase funding for Federal Pell Grants, as well as financing for his elementary and secondary school reform agendas. In the fiscal 2012 budget plan released on Monday, Feb. 14, overall spending on education would rise to more than $77 billion, increasing by 11 percent. This large amount of spending would go mostly toward keeping Federal Pell Grants at their maximum level, $5,550 a year per eligible student. The Pell Grant, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s website, “provides need-based grants to lowincome undergraduate and certain post baccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education.” Obama also proposed trimming certain aspects of the Pell program, such as eliminating the ability for students to apply for two grants within one calendar year and getting rid of the in-school interest subsidy for graduate students, according to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget’s website. According to the Washington Post, Obama plans to put $900 million into a new Race to the Top school reform contest to inspire reformation within state and local district K-12 education. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget’s Department of Education website proposed providing $1.4 billion for new competitions such as “a new ‘First in the World’ competition to test, validate and scale up effective approaches to
improving college access and completion and generating better outcomes for every dollar of investment.” But this new proposal already faces many challenges. According to insidehighered.com, “Given the enormous growth of the Pell Grant Program in the last two years, for instance, the program now faces a $20 billion deficit by the end of 2012, and the administration had to make ‘tough choices’ to sustain the maximum grant at $5,550, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a call with reporters Monday.”
Overall spending on education would rise to more than $77 billion, increasing by 11 percent. According to the Washington Post, the House Republicans are set against Obama’s plan since they want “deep, immediate cuts” in both the Pell Grants and elementary and secondary school reform agendas. “House Republicans would lower the maximum Pell grant to $4,705 and cut other education spending by $4.9 billion, according to their spending proposal for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30,” the Washington Post reported. “The GOP proposal is likely to face opposition from Senate Democrats.” Due to opposition from the House Republicans, it is unlikely that Obama will have his budget plan passed, as the House Republicans will significantly trim it down to reduce spending.