Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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NEWS
place in January or May. If 4-1-4 is approved, this matter would be decided either at the end of this year or the beginning of next. I would hope the faculty and students would make the decision because the faculty and students are the ones that would live with it, Belfiore said. Departments were also asked to determine if switching to a 4-1-4 system would be fiscally feasible and whether the addition of new faculty would be required. So far, about 12 departments have responded to Belfiores request, and they have all said switching to 4-1-4 is feasible. Belfiore said that his recommendation to the board will be based on the findings from his study. If all the information comes back from faculty, departments and Jane (Kelsey) that this is feasible and we look forward to doing this, we will do it, he said. Once the necessary feasibility and fiscal information is collected, Belfiore and Michael Federici, Ph.D., president of the Faculty Senate, will present the findings to the Academic Affairs Committee. This committee will then present the information to the Board of Trustees at their May 5 meeting. Im hoping at that meeting theyll make a final decision, Belfiore said. Federici said the only reason he thinks the decision would be postponed would be if the trustees think more research needs to be conducted. Even so, much of the necessary information was collected prior to the February board meeting. Federici polled faculty in January and found that 73-25 were in favor of switching to a 4-14 or 4-4-1 calendar. A study of the number of classrooms on campus has been conducted as well. More classes would be offered at one time under the 4-1-4 calendar, but not all classrooms are occupied now. Therefore, there are enough classrooms available to make the change, Federici said. As of now, Federici has not come across any major issues or substantial costs that would prevent the change to the 4-1-4 calendar. Despite no known major issues with the calendar change, there have been rumors among faculty that an administrator at the university is not in favor of 4-1-4, and there-
Since transitioning to a university, Mercyhurst now has a new seal. The seal was released the day it was approved by the trustees and is reserved for presidential and other official documents. This rule has been in place since 2006. The colors were changed for the new seal to represent the schools colors, and it now can be more easily photo copied. The seal features the schools motto, Carpe Diem, location and the year 1926, when Mercyhurst was established.
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NEWS
have ratios in the 40s, and others like Allegheny College were found to have ratios in the 70s. Cuts will mostly be made in the Briggs and Lewis apartment buildings where RAs will be reduced from two to one for each building. Warde Hall will be reduced from three to two RAs per floor, the Wayne Street apartments will have one RA per building and the Duval apartment RAs will be reduced from two to one per building. McCauley and Baldwin halls will remain unchanged, according to Vice President of Student Life Gerry Tobin, Ph.D. This means there will be a reduction from 76 RA positions to 49. Were not sure what the effect will be; its more of a social experiment, said Tobin. I see the primary role for RAs as the safety aspect. The decision was made to make fewer freshman cuts in consideration of disturbing their new community environment. Im pretty upset about the cuts honestly. Next year will be my third year as an RA, and I cant imagine how everything will run smoothly, senior Ciara Wadding said. A meeting between Tobin and the RAs was held last week to discuss the changes that will be put into effect next year. A long question and answer session took place to answer the many concerns the current RAs had. As an RA, one receives free room and additional compensation for the position. The biggest concern was the additional workload that would be added since the amount of students they would be looking over would be almost doubled. While its unfortunate that the RAs will go down in number, its my feeling that as RAs are asked to take on more responsibilities, they will be forced to adapt and ultimately become better able to serve the students and the college, senior Andrew Kopcienski said. Several students expressed concern that since their workload was increasing, so too should their pay. If RAs are as important of a role as the school conveys, then we should be looked upon as employees, therefore if our work increases, our pay should too, Wadding said. The transition is still being
evaluated on how students will balance the work, but the job description change has been put on hold in order to obtain RA input from the students. Collaboration between the RAs and Student Life will take place to make the change easier. In reviewing the information, were looking at this as a one to two year experiment. We want to see how it goes. If it works, then great, and if not, then we are open to rethinking the decision, Tobin said. Current RAs should have few worries about losing their jobs, as they will have first priority for positions next year. As a result, few positions will be available to students who are applying to be an RA for next school year.
Driving under the influence Sunday, Feb. 19 Theft Sunday, Feb. 19 DUI, Public intoxication, underage consumption Sunday, Feb. 19 Public intoxication Sunday, Feb. 26 Possession of controlled substance Thursday, March 1 Sexual assault Thursday, March 8
East Main Drive Charges filed East Main Drive Lot #10 Referred for discipline Baldwin Drive Referred for discipline 3907 Briggs Ave. Referred for discipline 3807 Lewis Ave. Referred to Erie Police
FEATURES
Have fun, but stay safe...
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Tis the season for Irish fun this weekend, but Mercyhurst Chief of Police Robert Kuhn would like to remind students to make sure they also stay safe. He urges students to drink responsibly, stay together in groups and to not take advantage of others while in an intoxicated state. Most of all Kuhn stresses, Dont do anything that will embarrass your university, your family or yourself.
I want to try to put a specialty show together with smooth jazz and maybe some alternative stuff, Jakubson said. Geary wants students to be aware that there are more experiences the radio station can offer besides that of being an on-air host. Not everyone wants to be on the air, he said. Some people can write public service announcements, some can take care of the community bulletin boards and other people can help with the business end of it. Other plans the new station manager has for Jazz FM include integrating with the college community more by broadcasting sporting events that take place on campus. Id like to broadcast more sports, said Geary. There would be an audience for it in Erie, but I think the bigger audience would be the parents out of town who could listen to their kids competing online with streaming. Students interested in volunteering to be a part of Jazz FM can stop by the station and talk to Geary. They can also email him at dgeary@ mercyhurst.edu.
The Yearbook...
....needs students help with supplying photos. This year an online website yearbook will be available, and the yearbook staff is asking students to submit pictures by tagging their photos to the yearbooks Facebook page. Students can add their pictures and videos on the Facebook page called Mercyhurst Senior Pictures or on Twitter @muyearbook2012.
A photo booth will be set up in the Herrmann Student Union in the near future to record video messages for the website yearbook.
Contributed photo
Senior Lauren Verno and juniors Breda Knott and Alison Palmeri are all part of the study abroad program in Dungarvan, Ireland.
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FEATURES
unique form of meditation. Brittany Prischak, the sustainability coordinator, Earleen Glaser, reference librarian/college archivist, and Allison Elick from human resources are also creating an online resource for students, faculty and eventually the community to understand how to donate clothing to those in need. This initiative, called donation matcher, is about much more than clothing. This resource gives details about how to donate everything such as clothing, food and even household items. This site will help educate people on the proper ways to participate in the clothing drive, along with donations of other goods, and will simply be a great resource for anybody who wants to embrace giving. The donation matcher can be found on the Mercyhurst portal under services. If youre interested in attending one of the events and becoming involved with the celebration of mercy, like the Mercy Month Facebook page so you can receive more information about upcoming events. The Facebook site also has a March calendar available, so
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Skrillex, born Sonny John Moore, is known for producing popular dubstep remixes.
Freshtronic.com photo
The Langer Film Series: Poetry Wednesday, March 28, at 2:15 & 7:15 p.m.
A Documentary: A Man Named Pearl Wednesday, April 4, at 2:15 p.m. & 7:15 p.m. The MET: HD Live Massenets Manon Saturday, April 7, at 12 p.m.
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OPINION
The views expressed in the opinion section of The Merciad do not necessarily reflect the views of Mercyhurst University, the staff of The Merciad or the Catholic Church. Responses on any subject are always welcomed and can be emailed to opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu.
to a gunfight and expect to protect lives. This mindset is extremely inconsiderate and dangerous to the lives of students, faculty and campus police officers. The fact is you fight fire with fire- ask any firefighter who fights forest fires. The same holds true when a police officer is confronted by an armed assailant whose sole intent is to kill. Police officers should have the means of protecting themselves, students, faculty and others that they are sworn to protect and serve.
The Merciad is the official student-produced newspaper of Mercyhurst University. It is published throughout the school year, with the exception of finals weeks. Our office is in Hirt, Room 120B. Our telephone number is (814) 824-2376. The Merciad welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and names will be included with the letters. Although we will not edit the letters for content, we reserve the right to trim letters to fit. Letters are due Mondays. by noon and may not be more than 300 words. Submit letters to box PH 485 or via email at opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu.
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OPINION
The views expressed in the opinion section of The Merciad do not necessarily reflect the views of Mercyhurst University, the staff of The Merciad or the Catholic Church. Responses on any subject are always welcomed and can be emailed to opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu.
Gannon, Penn State Behrend and Edinboro got The Fray to headline their spring concert. We have Sean Kingston. What was that song he sang?
ciful, and the description says that, Mercy restores human dignity. I dont think I need to point out that calling an intelligent and outspoken woman a slut on the basis of her political beliefs is not in line with this value.
Online
With about two months until graduation, administration waited until now to limit the number of graduation tickets to four per student. Sorry gramps, you are not invited.
merciad.mercyhurst.edu/opinion
Sports
ern, 11-6, removing them from the national rankings. But with a strong win against Tiffin University, 21-8, on Saturday, the Lakers are looking to turn around their season. With a younger team, including 14 freshmen, the Lakers have high hopes for a strong season. Hoping to stand out this year as new additions to team are freshmen Rebecca Himes, Megan Hardy, Alexander Petrone and Rebecca Muscella. This is a very different season. Were a lot younger and more balanced, no go-to players. It is hard to say what the season will be like from two games, but spring break was definitely a great opportunity to get the freshmen involved, Coach Cecil Pilson said. With captains, seniors Ally Keirn and Lindsay Marafioti and sophomore Anna LeGrett, the Lakers are aiming to turn around the season. Florida was really good for us. We had a lot of outside practicing and playing time, and it was the first time we werent practicing in a small gym. The twice a day outside practices helped us as a team a lot, Keirn said. The Lakers need to replace graduated senior and leading scorer from last season Kimberly Masterton. The most likely candidate is Keirn, who had 77 points last season. The team has five of its top six scorers back despite the high number of freshmen. In the Lakers first victory, Keirn carried the scoring load with a career-high seven goals to go along with three assists. With that type of production, the season still has hope.
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Senior Ally Keirn will be leaned on heavily as the Lakers try to rebound from a tough start. She leads the team this season with nine goals and 12 total points.
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Sports
Goaltender Max Strang was outstanding in the Lakers quarterfinal series against Holy Cross. The senior stopped 113 of 117 shots in three games.
We would love to have more production on offense, but low scoring has become our M.O., said Gotkin. We try to play great defense and be opportunistic on offense. Great defense is an understatement of late. The Lakers defense is what keeps them in games, with Strang making save after save. The way we play team defense we give up a lot of shots, and thats by design, said Gotkin. We make them shoot from the perimeter where they arent really getting great shots. So far, the strategy is paying dividends. On the offensive end, the Lakers continue to get outstanding production from freshmen. Five of the six goals scored on the weekend were by freshmen. Freshman Daniel Bahntge scored both goals on Friday night, the second in acrobatic fashion. Defenseman Tyler Shiplo scored the lone goal on Saturday. And Zay was the hero Sunday with the game-winning goal and one more for good measure. The Lakers will need all the scoring they can get as they head into the final weekend of the AHA playoffs. This is the first time the team has been there since 2009. But its a oneand-done playoff the rest of the way. The team will face Air Force, which has dominated the AHA playoffs since joining the league in 2005. Air Force has owned this league, Gotkin said. But its a good feeling knowing we are 2-1 against them. Overall, the Lakers are excited to be this far into the postseason with a very real chance of winning the title. Its a great time of year with playoff hockey and our league is very tough, said Gotkin. We know that to continue to play we have to beat good teams, and thats what we are trying to do. Gotkin and the Lakers head to Rochester for the semifinal matchup against Air Force on Friday at 4:05 p.m.