PHOTO
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Beat the heat
Lady Toppers earn highest ranking ever
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OPINION Situation in Syria PAGE 4
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THURSDAY , SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 • WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY • WKUHERALD.COM • VOLUME 89 NO. 4
BGPD investigating murder of WKU student BY CAMERON KOCH, KAELY HOLLOWAY AND JACOB PARKER NEWS@WKUHERALD.COM The murder of a 20-year-old WKU student off Morgantown Road on the night of Sept. 2 is currently under investigation. Freshman Larry W. Thomas, of Bowling Green, was shot at Greenhaven Apartments, 2001 Rock Creek Road. Thomas
was airlifted to VanderThomas was enbilt Medical Center in rolled for fall classes at Nashville for mediWKU, but was prevical attention where he ously banned by the later died, according to university in the spring a Bowling Green Police semester after he was Department press rearrested in Pearce-Ford lease. Tower in Nov. 2012 for The incident report Larry Thomas trafficking a controlled is still being compiled substance and possesby Bowling Green Police De- sion of drug paraphernalia, partment, Ronnie Ward, pub- according to information relic information officer for ported in the Bowling Green BGPD, said. Daily News.
Howard Bailey, vice president for student affairs, said the university can’t do anything until it makes contact with the family. “It would not be proper for us to get out in front of the family,” Bailey said. So far, Bailey said, the university has been unable to get in touch with Thomas’s family members. Thomas’s aunt, Kimberly Eddie, took to Facebook to
speak about her nephew’s murder. “My heart is broken ... from the lost of my nephew Larry Thomas,” Eddie said in a Facebook post on Sept. 3. “Please keep my family in Prayer.” Comments from friends and family members poured in, many of them telling Eddie that she and her family will be in their prayers. One Facebook comment from Shermain SEE THOMAS PAGE 2
WKU trying to improve retention BY TREY CRUMBIE NEWS@WKUHERALD.COM
An employee cleans the new food court in South Campus after closing time on Wednesday, Aug. 28. DEMETRIUS FREEMAN/HERALD
Food for
THOUGHT
South Campus Food Court gets second chance Peggy Bates goes over lastminute details for the new food court at South Campus. "We hope to open it by this week," Bates said on Aug. 27.
BY JACKSON FRENCH NEWS@WKUHERALD.COM The food court on South Campus that closed last year is getting a second chance this semester. SMARTS Think Tank, the company that provides food services to students on WKU’s Glasgow campus, opened on Wednesday on South Campus where the previous food court used to be. Peggy Bates, owner of the SMARTS Think Tank Café on WKU’s Glasgow campus and the new South Campus location, said the new menu will SEE FOOD PAGE 2
TYLER ESSARY/ HERALD
ENTERPRISE
CHINESE
STATUES
WKU PARTNERS WITH ENTERPRISE FOR NEW RENT-A-CAR PROGRAM PAGE 3
WKU'S CHINESE FLAGSHIP PROGRAM ENGAGES STUDENTS IN CULTURE PAGE 3
WKU TO GET TWO LIFE-SIZED BIG RED STATUES PAGE 9
WKUHERALD.com VOLLEYBALL GALLERY SEE PHOTOS FROM WKU'S HOME OPENER AT DIDDLE ARENA TUESDAY NIGHT AGAINST BELMONT
Fewer students this year means fewer tuition dollars, making WKU’s efforts in retaining students even more important as WKU loses out on valuable money every time a student drops out before graduating. Joelle Davis Carter, assistant vice president for Retention and Student Services, said the current firstyear retention rate for WKU students is at 71 percent. Carter said the retention rate is measured from a student’s freshman year to their sophomore year. Carter said when she assumed her position a year ago, she was told to improve the retention rate by 5 percent within five to seven years. “That really gets us competitive nationally with our peer institutions in other places,” Carter said. Carter said the current four-year graduation rates for WKU are at 50.3 percent, a rate that hasn’t been that high in the past 10 years. President Gary Ransdell said the graduation rates and retention rates are correlated. “If we had 80, 85 percent retention, we’d have 60 or 70 percent graduation rate,” Ransdell said. “Just pure numbers.” Ransdell said he was dissatisfied with both rates. “We got our work cut out for us,” Ransdell said. “We’ve got pretty big challenges in raising our persistence in retention rates.” Carter said there are multiple ways WKU tries to help students who are projected to not likely be retained. One of those ways is the MAPWorks survey. Carter said MAP-Works is a retention software package that contains a survey that is sent to all WKU SEE RETENTION PAGE 2
THU 86°/63° FRI 88°/61° SAT 91°/66° SUN 90°/66°