|
R.I.P.: Virginia M. (Marston) DouglasCEDAR FALLS, Iowa, Aug. 23, 2005 -- Community activist Virginia Douglas, who once taught at Winona State University, died at a nursing home. She was 78. Douglas held degrees from the University of Northern Iowa in business and the University of Wisconsin.
WSU frosh move-in snarls trafficWINONA, Minn., Aug. 23, 2005 -- Police issued an advisory for motorists to avoid the =Winona State University area because of congestion from freshmen moving into the dorms. Traffic at times was backed up on the Huff Street causeway as far as Highway 61.
Background: WSU readies for 1,600 frosh
R.I.P.: Elizabeth Bertha (Selck) WidenhoeferYUMA, Ariz., Aug. 22, 2005 -- A Winona State Teachers College alum, Elizabeth Windenhoefer, died in a nursing home at 91. In college she worked at the family grocery store.
Flynn: Not any means to an endWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2003 -- Students like every other Winona State constituency need to listen and to be listened to -- or the university will be less than a community, student President Ryan Flynn told administrators and faculty at a meeting to start the new academic year. Flynn called for a "culture of community" where "no one stands alone." Flynn made no explicit reference to the tuition surcharge and New University reform debates that last year divided administrators and some faculty into one group and students into another, but audience members made connections. Said Flynn: "We may disagree about issues, we may even dislike someone personally, but never should an individual, group or organization be held off to the side, nor their opinions be deemed less important than others." Students felt excluded from the tuition-New U decision-making -- and eventually prevailed to derail the plan before the state board of college trustees.
In a not-too-transparent reflection on what he earlier called administrative ramrodding, Flynn called on administators and faculty not to assume they have all the answsers: "The second you start believing that you are 100 percent right, you look 100 percent wrong. That is a hierarchy, not a community." Students, he said, cannot be assumed to be puppets. Also, he said, students aren't always right. "All of us made mistakes," he said.
Sharing the podium were academic Vice President Steve Richardson and faculty President Mary Kesler, both of whom alienated the Student Senate last year with their aggressive push for a tuition surcharge to finance the New University reforms. Neither Richardson nor Kesler visited the issue in their upbeat comments before 300 assembled profs and staff. Flynn, who has just completed his sophomore year, said he had been warned "to keep a distance from issues that may be too controversial for our first meeting of the year." He then proceeded to say he couldn't resist sharing his thoughts about the nature of a university and of community to "hopefully plant the seeds for some future conversations."
Flynn said the model for a university community should not be "political battlefield TV shows" with "two overly confident people giving half-truths about complicated subjects, then proceding to declare the other an idiot."
Instead, university people must examine and re-axmine their hypotheses and philosophies and use scientific process to determine truth. "We most certainly do not need to be in agreement as to the means toward improvement," he said, adding, though, there can be unanimity about improvement as a goal."Last year's division," he said, "was because we refused to stand up for other groups or individuals, creating an atmosphere similar to those on the political battleground TV shows." |
|
| 
RYAN FLYNN
WSU student president |
Verbatim: Complete text of Flynn's speech
Rochester U plan on Chamber agendaWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- The Winona Chamber of Commerce has arranged an informational exchange with Rochester business and community leaders on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's plan to establish a new four-year university in Rochester.
Date: Wednesday, Aug. 24
Time: 10 a.m.
Place: Tandeski Center
Cost: Free |
Background: UM proposes huge Rochester growth
Dog's vet bills on college accountGOODMAN, Miss., Aug. 22, 2005 -- The president of Holmes Community College, Starkey A. Morgan Sr., was charged with embezzlement after an audit concluded he spent $10,000 in college funds for personal expenses like dog food, veterinary bills, and car tires. Morgan, president since 1989, was was placed on paid administrative leave. In the criminal complaint, District Attorney James Powell said Morgan routinely directed college employees to order personal items for him, asked college-grounds workers to prepare his home for personal parties, and had his veterinarian send invoices to the college. About the vet bills, the prosector quoted Morgan that he intended to dondate the golden retriever to the college.
Ramaley nemesis loses Vermont caseMONTPELIER, Vt., Aug. 22, 2005 -- The University of Vermont did not break any rules when it decided against reappointing a prof who helped organize the university's first faculty union, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled. From 1995 to 2003, Dawn Saunders played a prominent role in unionizing the university's faculty and in negotiating the union's first collective-bargaining agreement. Campus officials, including former President Judith Ramaley, who now is president at Winona State University in Minnesota, had opposed the creation of the union. Ramaley was at Vermont for three years beginning in 1997.
Although Saunders was controversial as a campus activist since 1995, the issue before the state Supreme Court was a fall 2003 sabbatical. University officials granted the sabbatical, then declined to renew Saunders' contract for the following spring. Saunders argued that she was terminated for her labor activism. The new faculty union brought a grievance to the Vermont Labor Relations Board. The board dismissed the case, saying there was no evidence that the termination was related to her union activities. Saunders then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Court's decision, announced Friday, made no mention of whether the dismissal of Saunders was retaliatory. The court simply affirmed the labor board's ruling that the University of Vermont collective-bargaining agreement did not affect Saunders' individual contract for the sabbatical because the new union-negotiated master contract had not come into effect at the time that the sabbatical contract was negotiated.
A campus union leader, English prof Nancy Ellen Welch, said she was "sorry but not surprised" at the Supreme Court decision. The process through which Saunders' contract was not renewed "raises a lot of questions," Welch said. She called Saunders, an economist, an excellent teacher. She did not know if Saunders could take further action against the university.
Background: Ramaley record on unionism
VERBATIM
THE CYBERINDEE IS YOUR NEWS SOURCE OF RECORD |
|
Student leader assesses "community"WINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- Ryan Flynn, student president at Winona State University, offered these comments at the university's first faculty and staff meeting of the new academic year:
Hello. Welcome to a new year at Winona State. And thank you for allowing me to hold your ears hostage for a few minutes while I introduce myself. I was asked to speak to you to both introduce myself but to also explain to you some of the things that I believe in. I was also warned to try to keep a distance from issues that may be too controversial for our first meeting of the year. However, being an opinioned idealist, I find that I simply cannot find any joy in giving a speech that lacks in substance in which the audience walks away without taking away some general philosophy or new perspective. I also find that it seems to be a waste of the audience's time. So I ask that you all bear with me while I dive into the realm of words and hopefully plant the seeds for some future conversations.
First off, it must be understood that in their lives students have many things going on. This is a time when students face problems with their family, as they adjust to our absence. Issues with our friends, as they deal with other issues. But also it is a time when there is a great deal of pressure for us each to make decisions that will affect the rest of our lives. If we will end up changing our career about five times, then imagine what we must be thinking when told to pick the first one. These are, of course, among multiple other problems. So basically, every student has a long detailed story behind them, one that unless you have a spare four hours you will never fully hear. It is important to keep that in mind as it will help you to better understand the students in your classes as you attempt to guess what it is that we're thinking. It will also help you connect to them on a different level. And this bond is deeply important.
In today's culture, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold an honest discussion. For the pendulum is swinging toward an atmosphere of confrontation and oversimplification. This is apparent in the political battlefield TV shows that pretend to have the mission of informing people but instead have two overly confident people giving half-truths about complicated subjects, then preceding to declare the other an idiot. This is due to the spike in the importance of individual worth and influence. For if the ideas of one person and of that person's group must true, and others simply are the poor fools who do not understand it yet.
A university must resist this temptation. For this route is too easy for it to be the righteous road that we often wish it to be. A university, especially a university that prides itself in the idea of it being a community, is, in fact, the opposite of such belief. For just as the chemist Louis Pasteur said after discovering that disease is spread by germs, we must "worship the spirit of criticism." He was not speaking about the criticizing of others but criticizing ourselves. For examining our hypotheses and philosophies and determining if they are based in truth and in fact exist. And it is in that spirit, in that faith of scientific process and belief in higher education, that I now examine the philosophy, the culture of Winona State.
"A Community of Learners Dedicated to Improving Our World." The phrase implies multiple things, but the two primary implications are that we are all dedicated to the same goal, the same end -- improvement. Another is that we are in fact a community. Yes, there are many more; however for the purpose of this speech I ask that we focus on these two messages. The first, being our goal of improvement is, in fact, fairly vague and for good reason. For in order to be dedicated to Improvement we most certainly do not need to be in agreement as to the means toward improvement. For no one believes that they are, in fact, pro-de-evolution of this institution. The second implies that we are a community. You hear many politicians speak about community and family values, but the truth is that no politician can create a community or family. It is inconceivable for a senator to openly suggest a law requiring a family to sit down to dinner every night and to honor and love thy mother and father.
In truth, the group as a whole must develop a culture of community -- a culture where no one stands alone. We may disagree about issues, we may even dislike someone personally, but never should an individual, group or organization be held off to the side, nor their opinions be deemed less important than others. The second you start believing that you are 100 percent right, you look 100 percent wrong. That is a hierarchy, not a community. As faculty, surely you know that you must strive not to be puppeteers of students but their foundation, their support, their place in which they better their arguments by modification not by trying to tear apart another's. For a community knows that groups within it, the staff, the administration, the faculty, the students, can build off of each other. We learn from you, but you can also learn so much from us. A community is where no one stands alone, a place where we are each other's foundations, and through it, build upon ourselves.
Most of us understand that in that sense we failed in the past. And surely, in that failure, all of us made mistakes. For that is the burden of being a community. We must strive to stand with each other. And therefore, all are to blame when this is not the case. Last year's division was because we refused to stand up for other groups or individuals, creating an atmosphere similar to those on the political battleground TV shows.
However, just as spring is to nature, fall is to a University. A time of renewal, a time when life again begins to flow through every area. A time, an opportunity to rediscover the goals that compel us into our current levels of involvement.
The groups of this campus must come together to begin to renew its dream of a being a Community of Learners Dedicated to Improving our World. From the staff to the administration, from the faculty to the students, we must declare that in order to reach a greater level of efficiency in the use of our knowledge and intellect, in order to provide for the students of Winona State a more stable and open environment for them to enable themselves to help improve the lives of millions after graduation, we will become each others foundation and will welcome any discussion. We will learn from each other, as well as from our mistakes. It is certain that mistakes will be made, but I would rather fail than, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, Ōlive in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.Ķ We will become the truest form of a community, a place where no one stands alone, and a place where everyone is guaranteed input, and in the faith of higher education, we will constantly be willing to criticize our work, to discover if it is in fact truth. And then we shall have achieved the most difficult goal of all, improving ourselves.
Thank you for allowing me to hold the attention of your ears for such a time. Let me end by saying that if you question anything from this speech, which I have just declared as something I strongly believe in, I deeply encourage you come by and see me. So that we may discuss it.
Welcome to fall semester 2005. And thank you. |
OAK PARK HEIGHTS PRISON
At Stillwater | 
GORDON
Accused |
| NEXT STOP?
If convicted of triple first-degree murder, Gordon could spend the rest of his life at the Oak Park Heights prison.
|
|
His life expectancy chances behind bars?WINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- The mother and grandmother of the Sugar Loaf murder victims hopes that Paul Allen Gordon, who is charged with murdering Stacy Smith, her unborn child, and her 10-year-old daughter Taylor, will pay for his crimes with his life. Cheryl Hodge wants Gordon to suffer a fate similar to the brutal deaths he afflicted upon her daughter and granddaughter: "I wish Minnesota had the death penalty."
"Anyone who murders a child should automatically get the death penalty," she said. Minnesota, which abolished capital punishment in 1911, carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole for first-degree murder.
Hodge said that the state is not the only power capable of executing Gordon, and that she believes a different route to "justice" may be served upon Gordon, once he is in prison. "He wonÕt last long. I give him two years tops," said Hodge. She expects inmates to perform the justice she seeks. People who rape and murder children "don't make it" in prison, she said.
Winona State University criminal justice prof Helen Dachelet, however, doubts that Gordon would be at risk of an inmate-inmate homicide. Dachelet acknowledged that prisons have a pecking order with Number One on the list being people who kill children. However, Dachelet noted that Gordon, if convicted, would go to to a Minnesota prison and that Minnesota has never had a case of inmate-inmate homicide. "He is going to survive," she said.
Dachelet, who said she "can't see him not getting convicted," said Gordon would serve his sentence at Minnesota's maximum-security prison, Oak Park Heights near Stillwater. Could Gordon be Minnesotas first victim of inmate homicide? Dachelet said she is "100 percent confident" that Gordon would not be murdered at Oak Park Heights: "Minnesota knows how to do prisons. They simply wonÕt let it happen."
Minnesota's "philosophy of humanity" is what makes it safer for inmates than most other prisons in the country, said Dachelet. "Other prisons have a 'we treat them as they treat us' philosophy, but Minnesota has a 'we treat them as we would like to be treated' philosophy," said Dachelet.
At Oak Park Heights, she said, inmates are referred to as "Mr. So-and-So," and that the warden, Jessica Symmes, feels safe walking among the inmates. Another aspect of the prison that contributes to inmate safety, said Dachelet, is that each inmate has his own cell. "They have keys to their own cells, and can lock themselves in their cells," said Dachelet.
She said that Gordon's previous trouble with the law and his drug-dealing background would earn him status among his fellow inmates. However, Dachelet said she is not sure if the status Gordon gains as a drug dealer will be enough to negate the rape and murder of a child and pregnant woman, which would earn him ill repute.
If he is convicted of first-degree murder, Gordon will have the opportunity to appeal his sentence, said Dachelet. "Minnesota has an automatic sentencing appeal if convicted of first-degree murder," she said.
Another possibility, Dachelet said, is a plea bargain. "His atorneys probably would try to have the "heinous" classification of the crime removed removed, which would give Gordon the opportunity for parole, said Dachelet. |
|
|
| 
CHERYL HODGE
She wants him dead
SLAYING
VICTIMS
STACY SMITH
WSU student
DAUGHTER TAYLOR
Third-grader
ABOUT
OAK PARK
HEIGHTS:
The Level 5, maximum-security prison, opened in 1982, receives offenders transferred primarily from other adult male institutions who are classified as maximum custody or extreme risks to the public.
Inmate population: 430.
The facility has nine self-contained complexes that can operate independently. Six are designed to house 52 inmates each.
Inmates participate in highly structured programming including industry, education and institutional housekeeping.
Three complexes contain the mental health, transitional health care and administrative control units for adult male offenders from throughout the 10-institution state prison system.
Typical single-
inmate cells in Minnesota prisons are 6 by 9 feet.
Due to the small size and safety and security concerns, offenders are permitted to keep only two small footlockers of personal belongings. |
|
Reporter: Mollee Smith
Background: Mother's pained question: "Why live?"
State employee contract vote this weekWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- Winona members of the AFSCME state employee union, including clerical and janitorial employees at Winona State and Southeast Tech, will vote Thursday on a proposed contract negotiated with the state. The voting place, at Room 214 at Tech, will be open 11 am. to 7 p.m. Voting statewide began Monday and continues to Friday.
Background: Profs told that health coverage intact
Background: Union, state in contract accord
Background: State employee deal: 4% pay hike
WSU focusing foreign recruiting on AsiaWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- Globe-wandering Winona State University recruiter C.K. Kwai is back from two weeks in Asia but won't have any measure of his success for a few months. "The success of these trips is difficult to speculate until the next semesters enrollment figures are available," said Kwai. Kwai, assistant director of the international services at Winona State, recruited in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, visiting more than a dozen colleges. Many of the colleges were the same where Kwai and his supervisor, Terri Markos, pay calls once or twice a year.
"Face-to-face recruitment became a priority after enrollment dropped due to the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center," said Markos. Mailing pamphlets isn't enough anymore, she said. Recently retired Winona State President Darrell Krueger beefed up foreign recruitment in the past three years, which, Marcos said, is starting to reflect in the foreign freshman enrollment. There are 137 foreign students have been accepted this fall, compared to 68 last fall.
"Typically the schools we visit have provided the students with literature on Winona State, making the visits very successful for recruiting," said Kwai. Along with visiting schools, Kwai also coordinates with the U.S. embassies in these countries to assure visa requirements are understood by everyone involved in assisting students with visas.
Besides Marcos and Kwai, Winona State acadenmic Vice President Steve Richardson has made multiple trips to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore to encourage foreign enrollment.
Study: Parents affect student boozingUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 22, 205 -- By expressing their concern about college boozing, drugs and sex, moms and dads can have a profound effect on their children's behavior when they start college, according to biobehavioral health prof Rob Turrisi of Pennsylvania State University. In a paper presented at thee American Psychological Association, Turrisi said he experimental evidence suggests that parental conversations can have powerful effects on students' drinking behavior if parents use certain communication strategies. Parents cannot sound like nags, he said: "Parents must respond constructively when their teen says something they don't like."
Turrisi and his colleagues have written a 30-page pamphlet intended to motivate parents to talk about alcohol abuse as part of project, now six years old. "When I first started this, some of my colleagues said I was going astray," said Turrisi. " They said, 'Parents don't have any effect here. It's all peers, peers, peers." Now, in followup studies, Turrisi has surveyed the students whose parents used his materials and found that they are significantly more temperate in their drinking, smoking and sexual habits than students in a control group, whose parents did not receive the pamphlets.
WSU plans four Guthrie theater visitsWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- Four bus trips to Saturday matinees at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, including a performance of "Intimate Apparel" by Lynn Nottage, aree planned by Winona State University theater prof Davwe Bratt this coming school year.
Bratt announced this schedule, with thumbnail diescriptions:
Oct. 1: "Intimate Apparel." A 35-year old single black seamstress' search for love in turn-of-the-century New York weaves a collection of close relationships bound by romance and disappointment.Oct. 29. "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare, a tale of forbidden love and a search for justice.Feb. 4. "The People's Temple" by Leigh Fondakowski, a tale of faith, community and survival spanning 25 years, examining the roots, rise and tragic demise of the Jonestown redligious settlement in Guyana.April 22. 'Hamlet" by Shakespeare will be the Guthrie's final play on Vineland Place before moving to its new riverfront location.
Date: First trip Saturday, Oct. 1
Time: Departure 10 a.m.
Place: Performing Arts Center
Cost: $20 to $30 per trip
Contact: Dave Bratt |
Legal case: Disabilities accommodation SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 22, 2005 -- A former Capella University student sued the online institution for, he says, not accommodating his learning disabilities. Jeffry La Marca, whose disablities include short-term memory loss, said a new software setup confused him: "It was just a navigational nightmare," he says. "It made it impossible for me to study." La Marca had completed one quarter at Capella in 2004, then found the new software system, WebCT, for managing online courses, when he resumed work. The case may hinge on undefined areas of the law on the assistive technologies that colleges are supposed to provide to students with learning disabilities.
WSU volleyball record cleanWINONA, Minn., Aug. 22, 2005 -- None of the 15 women on Winona State University varsity volleyball team have a criminal record in Winona County, court records show. The records were checked in a continuing project begun when defenders of the 2003 football team claimed football players, 44 with rap sheets, had been unfairly singled out and were not heavier partiers than other collegians. Most of the football convictions were for underage boozing.
Reporter: Teri Root
Background: WSU football team betters crime record
Background: Reports: Peer-norms info curbs binging
Winona State University enrollment from last academic year:
Total students
Full-time enrollment
Women
Men
Students of color: |
|
|
|
| 9,111
7,583
63.8%
36.2%
4.2% |
Texas grants Iraq vet in-state tutionAUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 22, 2005 -- Austin Community College has changed its mind about denying in-state tuition to an Iraq veteran. Officials said that a review of documents found that Carl Basham had changed his residency to Texas last year while serving in Iraq. The college had been bombarded by criticism after declaring Basham was a Louisianan and ineligible for lower tuition for Texans. Basham, 27, had enlisted in the Marines while living in Louisiana but while in Iraq hwe changed his residency to pursue studies as a paramedic in Austin.
Background: Iraq vet denied Texas in-state tuition
WSU football 13th in preseason pollKANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 22, 2005 -- D2football.com has come out with its 2005 Top 25 preseason poll with Winona State University ranked No. 13. Senior strong safety Luke Lokanc was selected to the by D2football.com second team defensive preseason All-American team.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MOLLEE SMITH
 |
|
| CHERYL
HODGE
She holds tight to her memories of daughter Stacy Smith and granddaughter Taylor, both murdered in December.. Still now, Cheryl Hodge has "bad days." |
A mother's pained question: "Why live?"WINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Eight months after Stacy Smith and her 10-year-old daughter Taylor were strangled to death and their apartment set ablaze, Cheryl Hodge struggles to live her life. Cheryl Hodge, Stacy's mother and Taylor's grandmother, has good days and bad. "Good days are when I can laugh and enjoy memories of the girls,Ķ she said. On bad days, Hodge battles thoughts of suicide.
"I just miss them so much," she said in a lengthy, tearful interview in her home. "I want to be with them so bad. It would be so easy to drive my car into the gap between a semi's wheels. And that would be it." She also thinks of overdosing. "I have Ativan for my anxiety and I've got my medication for my hives and IÕve got Tylenol and Aleve. It would be so easy to do myself in. But I wouldn't want my husband to come home to the mess. So IÕd probably just drive my car into the semi, so he wouldnÕt have to clean up the mess."
|
|
|
| STACY SMITH
DAUGHTER TAYLOR
Slaying victims |
|
There are two reasons Hodge said she doesn't follow through with her suicide plans. For one, she says she hears Taylor's voice saying, "It's all right, grandma." Also she needs to Ōsee justice served": "I canÕt rest until there's justice." Charged in the case is Paul Allen Gordon, now 22, who has acknowledged to the police that he fathered an unborn child that Smith was carrying. The fetus died in the murder.
Hodge said that the most difficult moment for her was when Winona County prosecutor Chuck MacLean explained the details of the murders. "Oh, God, I thought I was going to die that day,Ķ she said as she propped her eyeglasses atop her forehead and proceeded to sob for several minutes while holding her face with both hands.
Hodge declined to discuss what was said during that meeting with MacLean. Although MacLean has refused to release the autopsy, sources familiar with the case say there was mutilation after Swanson was strangled, apparently to make the death appear a suicide. Ten-year-old Taylor was bizarrely assaulted as well as strangled. "It completely destroys you," said Cheryl Hodge about the grotesque deails. "It tears apart more than your heart. It tears apart your brains and your limbs. One by one everything gets torn apart until there's nothing left."
Hodge has checked into the hospital emergency room many times because she has the nervous habit of digging her fingernails into her own skin until sores appear. he also gets severe hives outbreaks. She said her anti-anxiety medication, Ativan, helps calm her.
Hodge cut her waist-length hair a month after the slayings because, she said, she couldnÕt take care of herself. She has replaced the long hairdo with a low-maintenance shoulder-length cut.
Hodge first returned to work as a nursing assistant at a La Crescent, Minn.,
nursing home in early January, a month after the slayings. That, she said, was too soon. She could not concentrate on the residents. She took an extended leave. Since, she has gradually worked herself back to full-time: "I function. IÕm still not myself. I used to always make the residents laugh. I've lost my sense of humor." Hodge said that it "doesnÕt help to be working with old people" because she sees a lot of death on the job. "Every time someone dies, it takes me back to where Stacy and Taylor are." Sobbing, she said: "I see these people who are old and ready to go. It reminds me that my girls were taken before they shouldÕve been. It wasnÕt their time to go."
Reporter: Mollee Smith
Background: Balloons a liberating remembrance
WSU SECURITY REPORT
WEEK ENDING AUG. 21, 2005
Aug. 16: Police arrested a non-student near 10th and Huff streets for an alcohol violation at 7:12 p.m.
Aug. 18: At 9:35 a.m. tools were reported stolen from Lourdes Hall sometime between Aug. 10 and Aug. 15. Police were notified.
|
Tuition guarantee floated in MissouriSPRINGFIELD, Mo., Aug. 21, 2005 -- On a statewide tour the president of the University of Missouri System, Elson Floyd, is pushing his plan to guarantee to freshmen that their tuition will remain the same for five years. Floyd said families need predictability. A five-year limit on the guarantee would encourage students to graduate on time, he said.
NEWS AND COMMENT
WINONA MEDIA WATCH |
A LOT OF GROCERY SHOPPERS,
IT SEEMS
The Daily News has tapped into market research from a survey company hired by its parent corporation, Lee Enterprises, for a promotional campaign thet touts its leadership as a local advertising medium. A promotional ad offers these data on where Winonans turn for information on grocery prices:
Winona Daily News
Weeklies/shoppers
Other daily, Sunday newspapers
Direct mail 2.4%
Internet
Radio
Television
Yellow pages
Other / None / Don't know |
|
|
| 57.5%
14.1%
6.0%
2.4%
1.8%
1.6%
0.5%
0.1%
Remainder |
The data, as presented, must be disturbing to the Post, which, like the Daily News, issues an edition every week aimed at providing grocers with an audience for pre-weekend shopping trips. The data claim the Daily News is used by 57.5 percent of 49,000 Winona-area adults in planning grocery shopping. Although unnamed, it appears the Post shares 14.1 percent with weeklies in St. Charles, Houston, Lewiston, Rushford other other outlying towns. Dailies from elsewhere whose border circulations lap into the Winona area, like La Crosse and Rochester, claim 6.0 percent.
The respected polling firm Belden Research conducted the survey, but the data extracted by the Daily News for its promo is insufficiently explained. The suggestion is that 85 percent of Winona-area adults are disciplined grocery shoppers who check ads before heading out. This seems high. Also, if 57.5 percent of these 49,000 adults go the Daily News, that would suggest 28,175 readers. The Daily News circulation is less than 11,000. Although pass-around circulation in multiple-person households might give the Daily News a readership of 35,000 on a good day, it's almost always just one person in a household who handles grocery shopping. Then, too, the data is old, from 2003.
The promo leaves too much unsaid.
It's unlikely the Daily News data are falsified. To protect its reputation. Belden's contracts with clients, including Lee, have a clause that allows it to correct misrepresentations publicly. A client would risk the peril of a terrible embarrassment if caught misusing poll data. Even so, the Daily News promo provides insufficient information for an intelligent evaluation of the poll results that have been extracted. All the promo says in the fine print is that 49,000 Winona-area adults were surveyed in 2003.
Missing is key information that experts on polling would insist on knowing to assess claims: What was the sample? 49,000 Winona-ares adults is vague. Winona County? All seven counties in which the News circulates? How were interviewees selected? For sure, Belden didn't track down 49,000 people. How the sample was chosen makes a difference. What was the sampling error? Margins of error exist in all surveys. Considering the Daily News huge slice of the pie, 57.5 percent, it's unlikely the margin of error would alter the ranking that's claimed, but a 5 percent margin, common in polling, could erode the Daily News advantage over weeklies and shoppers from 52.5 percent to 19.1 percent. Although such 2:1-plus advantage is impressive, it hardly would be the 4:1 that's claimed. How was the poll conducted? Whether a survey is conducted by telephone or face to face in homes makes a difference. Polls conducted on street corners or in malls aren't worth much statsitically. Mail surveys are flawed unless surveyors follow up on people who didn't answer original questionnaires. How were questions worded? Anyone assessing a surveys needs to be alert for sloppily worded questions, leading questions and loaded questions. The Daily News promo is silent on the questions. In which order were questions asked? Sequencing can skew results.
By sparing readers the small print, the Daily News promo is vulnerable to doubts. These are doubts that surely will be exploited by the competition in quiet one-on-one pitches to grocers.
|
|
RECENT DAYS IN THE CITY
POSTED AUG. 22, 2005
PARADE DISRUPTION. An 86-year-old Goodview woman driving a red Cadillac zoomed head-on into the Goodview Days parade Sunday at 51st Street and plowed into a girls gymnastics team and sent other parade units and spectators scrambling. She turned off seven blocks later. Nobody was injured. Police tracked Pauline Lillian Meyerhoff to her home and issued a reckless driving ticket. The state has been asked to review Meyerhoff's competency to drive.
STRAY BALLS? A man whose house abuts the Westfield Golf Club pointed a BB gun at three golfers who hit a ball into his yard Sunday evening, police were told. John Harold Buege, 40, was charged with second-degree assault making terroristic threats. The golfers said he accused them of breaking a window, but police found no evidence of a broken window. While investigating police said, Buege drove up. His blood-alcohol was 0.20 percent, 2-1/2 times the legal max, police said. He was charged also with drunken driving.
|
Study rejects textbook rentals as costlyNEW ORLEANS, Aug. 21, 2005 -- The possibility of converting to textbook rentals was rejected by a University of New Orleans task force that explored ways to reduce textbook expenses for students. The all-campus task force, headed by Bobby Eason, a university executive, found that startup costs would be prohibitive -- as much as $15 million for medium to large universities. The task force could document only four national universities that lease books, none of them major research institutions. The task force recommended continuing with a traditional university bookstore rather than adopt a textbook rental program.
The task force report, a landmark compilation of data on textbook pricing issues, recommended increasing the ratio of used to new books sold by the campus bookstore. How to do this? Profs must decide on textbooks for the coming semester before the campus store buys back used books. The task force cited a national study that campus stores typically receive only 25 percent of faculty adoption information by the requested deadline and only between 45 to 55 percent before buy-back. The result is that stores cannot offer as much to students selling their books during buy-back nor order as many low-cost copies from used-book vendors as would otherwise be possible. To fill gaps in its inventory as late orders come in, stores order more expensive new copies from publishers.
|
|
| Some nearby Wisconsin univerity system campuses, including Eau Claire and La Crosse, rent textbooks to students rather than sell them, which periodically gives rise to a student call for rentals at Winona State.
Former university President Darrell Krueger rejected the idea, saying practicality spoke against the proposal for Winona State. Financing the initial inventory would be be too much of a stretch for the university budget, he said.
Also, going to rentals would send the wrong message by trivializing he role of books and reading in education, he said.
The Wisconsin campuses date their rental system to the Depression. In recent years the only college to move to rentals was a small evangelical Bible Belt school. |
|
The task force, commissioned by the university chancellor, was issued after a six-month exploration of issues.
The report underscored the importance of used books in store management by noting that the mark-up for used books is 34 percent at the University of New Orleans store versus 22 percent for new. The national average for used-book markup varies between 23 and 28 percent.
The University of News Orleans task force suggested that the bookstore seek to increase the number of used books it sells from 30 percent to 40 percent. This will require a change in "the culture of how textbooks are ordered," the task force said. This means encouraging profs to make adoption decisions earlier, not to change their minds later, and to keep the same textbook three years or longer "if pedagogically feasible." The national turnover rate in textbook adoptions 61 percent, according to a Georgia State University system study cited in the report. It would also reduce student costs if profs stayed with standard texts rather than custom-published editions that have value only in their courses and nil resale value.
These changes would help the bookstore offer higher buyback rates to students for returned books, the task force said.
"Much of the behavior that leads to higher than necessary cost is the result of poor understanding of the implications of textbook adoption practices," the task force said. "Many faculty are unaware of the cost of a single textbook, the costs of late, dropped or changed adoptions, and the costs of bundling and customization." In presenting its report to univerity Chancellor Timothy Ryan, the task force called for "a systematic top-down strategy" to assist faculty reduce the cost of textbooks "without compromising academic freedom."
The task force listed these as "best practices" for reducing costs:
Encourage faculty teaching core curriculum courses to standardize the required textbook for a minimum of three years or longer "if pedagogically feasible."Encourage faculty to submit their textbook adoption information to the bookstore within the established deadline.Grant students the option of acquiring bundled textbooks or acquiring the textbook alone.Require departments to assure the bookstore that the same textbook will be used the next fall semester for fall-only courses and the same for spring-only courses.Utilize the same textbook when possible for courses with multiple sections.Stay with a current edition rather than adopt a new edition when pedagogically feasible and availability is assured.Take advantage of publisher options that feature less expensive e-texts and editions with fewer pages, two-color formatting, and fewer boxed features.Use a third-party review process for faculty authors that require their own textbook or textbook-like materials.
An ongoing campaign to educate the faculty to understand that they are key to providing reasonably priced textbooks should include a unit at faculty orientation. Another possiblity was listed as forums with bookstore managers, publishing representatives, students and faculty members. The task force mentioned formal "compacts" between the bookstore and individual departments, as at the University of Utah, to prevent unnecessary dropped adoptions. Noted too was the University of Texas offered a direct financial incentive to core-curriculum department for dropping customized texts tailored to courses.
COMMENT:
INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY
CAMPUS CONSERVATIVES
NOT IN HIDING
Lots of nonsense gets said about colleges as hotbeds of liberalism where innocent and open-minded frosh have their values perverted by devilishly leftist profs. It just isn't so. Ask any Winona State University senior if there was a political slant back in basic algebra. Or frosh composition. Or bowling. Most classes don't come close to lending themselves to a political perspective.
What about classes that almost have to be taught from a perspective? It's not as if Winona State students aren't exposed to a diversity. Leftists and rightists both abound. For years econ prof Don Salyards has required students in his mega-section introductory course to read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." She was Ronald Reagan's favorite author, if that tells you anything about Salyards' righter than right politics. In masscom, right-winger John Weis teaches the university's biggest class, 450 students, mostly frosh, every semester.
Political conservatives are everywhere -- Paul Grawe in English, Barry Peratt in math, Linda Seppanen in nursing. Liberals are everywhere too. Such diversity is what a university should be about. It's not about brain-washing frosh, who aren't the blank slates they sometimes are made out to be. It's about the pursuit of information, knowledge and eventually wisdom through exploration of all the ideas from all the premises and perspectives that a university can marshal.
At Winona State the intellectual cauldron is in a healthy boil, although not in frosh math, frosh comp or bowling and the great majority of courses where politics just isn't a neat fit. |
Background: Study on academe as leftist challenged
Background: Study: Rightists need not apply
Study: Men run women's tennisUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 21, 2005 -- The percentage of women's teams that have women as head coaches has declined since 1972 and in 2002 reached its lowest point, according to researchers at Pennsylvania State University. In 2002, 44 percent of the teams had women as head coaches, down from 52.4 percent in 1982. In 2004, the most recent year with data available, that number had increased only marginally to 44.1 percent. The report also said that less than 2 percent of men's teams have a woman at the helm as of 2004. Why is this so? Penn State researcher Robert Drago, a professor of labor studies and women's studies said that many women athletes prefer male coaches. Most of 41 female athletes interviewed in three different focus groups thought male coaches were better at commanding respect and that female coaches tended to create more "drama." One of the athletes was quoted that "there's just something more credible about male coaches."
 |
|  | ERICKSON
TREK
In radio interview on last sojourn
Winona stops to be Sept. 20 and 21 this time
|
Cycling trustee hits road fourth timeST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Clad in lime green biking gear emblazoned with "Minnesota State Colleges and Universities," Bob Erickson is embarking on a 2,300-mile state bicycle tour to raise money for part-time students. Erickson, chair of the MnSCU Foundation, will depart at 8:15 a.m., Monday, from Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids. On the trek, expected to take 30 days, Erickson will tour all 53 campuses, including Winona State and Southeast Tech. Erickson, 59, of Bloomington, has raised more than $228,000 for part-time student scholarships in his past campus-to-campus treks. "Part-time adult students are not treated fairly by Minnesota's current financial aid program," he said. "The state needs to change its formula to give part-time students an equal opportunity."
New Mexico regents: Sorry 'bout thatALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Aug. 21, 2005 -- University of New Mexico regents canceled bonuses of up to 20 percent for top administrators, for which they received a hailstorm of criticism. Faculty, whose average salaries lag behind those at peer institutions, had complained about the bonus plan. So had students, who face a 10 percent increase in tuition and fees.
COMMENT: POLITICS
GIL? GIL? GIL WHO?
Our member of Congress, Gil Gutknecht, issued his mid-year report as a supplement inside southern Minensota newspapers. It was mostly hollow puff. Among acomplishments he highlighted was personally presenting a government check for $50,000 for the Jasper, Minn., community ambulance. Big deal. And, yes, he noted with pride that he nominated candidates to the military academies. Another big deal. Every member of Congress does that. The fact is thay Gutknecht does the ceremonial and the routine and not much more.
For having been in Washington going on 12 years now, we expect more. What we have is a go-with-the flow kind of guy with a record distinguished on major issues only as a yes-man for the White House, the only exception being CAFTRA this summer. Gutknecht's a dependable party foot-soldier, a hack -- not a leader. When's the last time you had a reason to mention Gil Gutknect in conversation with an out-of-state friend? We bet the response was "Gil who?" A six-term Congressman should be making a name for himself by now. Not Gutknecht.
Have you ever seen the guy in "Meet the Press" or "Wolf Blitzer Reports"? Gutknecht's invisibility speaks volumes.
Yes, Gutknecht does tend to constituent concerns -- the easy stuff. His staff facilitates grants here and there for the home district, including pork-barrel paybacks for party loyalty. He comes back home occasionally, although not often, for ribbon-cuttings and the like. On tough issues he's either silent or stands in the back row lost in big groups. Even on agriculture, which he touts as his forte, he supports other people's common-sense legislation.
On the few cutting-edge issues on which Gutknecht has taken positions, he's lock-step with the White House -- and, in our view, mostly wrong. This includes embryonic stem cell research, which he opposes. He still favors George Bush's Iraq war, although he no long discusses the wacky WMD rationale for starting the war. On energy, he favors jeopardizing the Alaska wilderness. |
Background: Races campus people are watching
Publishers put upbeat spin on GAO studyNEW YORK Aug. 21, 2005 -- WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2005 -- The Association of American Publishers endorsed parts of a federal study on college textbooks that concluded that textbook prices have been largely driven by publisher investments in additional instructional materials and new technologies. The publishers' group, however, said that the investments, which have turned many textbooks into packages that include text, colorful supplements and software, came in response to faculty needs and to enhance student success -- not to bloat prices and profits. "Publishers strive to continually develop materials that meet the ever-evolving needs of faculty and students," said Patricia Schroeder, the publishers' association president. "Our colleges are being asked to serve students with diverse learning styles and a wider range of preparedness and skill sets. The publishers' response has been to work with educators to produce new, advanced materials and integrated teaching tools that faculty use to tailor their materials for their students."
The study, by the Government Accountability Office, said that add-ons like CD-ROMS and bundled ancillaries have been a major contributor to increases in textbook prices.
Schroeder expressed concern that the study's pricing analysis failed to provide a balanced picture of the actual costs of textbooks to students, the range of materials available to students, or the added value those materials offer to faculty and students.
Schroeder took exception to a GAO conclusion that students typically spend $900 a year on textbooks. The figure is way high, she said. "Our key concern with GAOÕs report is that they relied on data that do not reflect the true cost of books to students," he said. "Two independently derived estimates -- based on actual sales data from the National Association of College Stores and the Association of American Publishers -- confirmed that the average full-time equivalent student actually spends about $580 per year on textbooks, far less than the $898 figure used repeatedly in GAO's report." She said that GAO included the cost of course supplies with books and that the numbers were drawn from unconfirmed estimates of student spending by college administrators in a survey.
"By combining textbooks and supplies, GAO created an inaccurate picture of the actual cost of textbooks to students," Schroeder said. "Supplies are not just pencils and notebooks. They may include computers, calculators, lab equipment, and other materials that represent at least 27 percent of total student spending on books and supplies." Course supplies are not textbooks, she said.
Schroeder faulted GAO for dismissing what she called reliable survey data from Student Monitor showing that average student spending on textbooks increased only about two percent annually between 1999 and 2004. "They did not factor in the amounts of money students receive when they sell their used textbooks," she said. "And when computing the overall cost of textbooks, the GAO did not factor in the increasing use of lower-cost alternatives -- a trend that the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted it did not track before 2001 and still may not be accurately reflected in its data."
Still, Schroeder said, the report has a publisher-friendly theme. "As you read through the report, you will find time and again the publishers' primary focus is on meeting the needs of students." Publishers, she said, have responded to price concerns by greatly expanding the number of low-cost texts, including split editions, electronic books, black-and-white editions, custom books, abbreviated editions and complete learning packages. Also, she said, publishers are providing a wider range of instructional supplements, including course-management tools for faculty. "Together, these supplements and management tools enable faculty to teach more students and achieve better results," she said. |
|
| 
PAT
SCHROEDER
Publisher association executive
|
Background: Charge: Study messed up textbook data
Hawaii keeps Native tuition discountsHONOLULU, Hawaii, Aug. 21, 2005 -- The University of Hawaii said it will continue to set aside a share of its need-based tuition waivers and tuition discounts for Native Hawaiian students. The announcement came after a federal appeals court decided 2-1 to strike down a Native Hawaiian-only admissions policy at three private schools, raising questions about the university's preference for Native Hawaiians on tuition. The university said it might reconsider after the private schools exhaust their appeals.
Downtown porn shop vandalized| WINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Somebody shattered a sidewalk display window at Downtown Book & Video, the Third Street porn shop, and pulled a mannequin out, police said. There appeared to be no other damage. Police, who responded to a 5:30 a.m. alarm, traced a trail of blood for three blocks but it petered out. The investigation will move on to surveillance videos, which police said probably captured the incident. |
|
| 
72 E. THIRD ST.
Mannequin suffered run in hosiery |
Background: Federal judge: Let smut shop expand
VERBATIM
THE CYBERINDEE IS YOUR NEWS SOURCE OF RECORD |
|
Winona Democrats praise brother Alex| WINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- This tribute to Alex Yard, a Winona State University history prof and county Democrat chair, appeared in the Winona online Democrat newsletter: |
|
| REMEMBERING
ALEX YARD
1951-2005 |
|
It was with great sadness that Winona County Democrats learned that our Chair, Alex Yard, passed away at his home on Friday, August 5th. Politics was one of AlexÕs passions, and whether issues were international, federal or local in scope, he was always interested and engaged.
Alex was a welcoming face for the Democratic Party. At its core, politics is about serious issues, and as such political passions can run high. For this reason, AlexÕs easygoing and lighthearted manner was much-appreciated.
Though his involvement in the 2004 campaign season was limited by the progress of his disease, Alex was able to help develop the full-page anti-Bush ad the County DFL ran in the Winona Post in late October. A first for the DFL, this ad sent a message to our area that the DFL was organizing, and intended to fight for the Presidency. And donÕt forget -- George Bush was defeated in Winona County.
Our thoughts and prayers are with AlexÕs wife Vicki, and son Chris, in this most difficult time. Alex left us, and the rest of the Winona community, far too soon. We will miss him. The Winona County DFL has made a substantial contribution in AlexÕs name to the charities of their choosing. |
Background: WSU colleague recalls "co-conspiracies"
Background: The last word she saw on his lips: "river"
Background: A void in WSU's Mississippi project
Background: Cancer claims WSU faculty leader
Charge: Study messed up textbook dataNEW YORK Aug. 21, 2005 -- A government study purporting that college students spend $900 a year on textbooks is "greatly exaggerated," according to Bruce Hildebrand of the Association of American Publishers. Hildebrand said the Government Accountability Office came up with the $898 by lumping textbooks with supplies, like computers, that students purchase for college. Students average more like $580 for textbooks, he said. Hildebrand cited data from the College Board. He called the GAO figure "an apples-to-oranges comparison."
Hildebrand found fault too with the GAO report's implication that software and other educational tools often bundled with textbooks have jacked up the price of textbooks needlessly. Bundled items can help students learn, he said. The real issue should be less cost than how textbooks factor into the overall value of college , he said. He called the report disappointing.
|
|
| 
Association
of American
Publishers
|
Background: Wu triumphant in sidewalk news conference
Nevadans: Let us choose regentsCARSON CITY, Nev., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Fifty-five percent of Nevadans oppose allowing the governor to appoint regents for the state's public college system, as done in Minnesota. Nevada regents are now elected. The finding was in a poll. A 2006 ballot is whether the state should allow six regents to be selected by the governor and three by election.
NEWS AND COMMENT
WINONA MEDIA WATCH |
POLICING AS IT'S CONVENIENT
Sheriff Dave Brand's job is public safety beyond the city limits. That includes keeping the public apprised of what's going on so. Without information, Winona County people can't know what steps they should be taking for their own safety.
In appalling arrogance of his responsibility to keep the public up-to-speed, Brand says he has time to brief news reporters only once a day during business hours. What about weekends, when police law enforcement activity peaks? In effect, Brand says that doesn't fit his schedule. His message: "Trust me. If something big comes up I'll call the press."
If history has taught us anything, it's that the government and its agents cannot be trusted to deliver the information that the people need. At all levels of government, from the White House on down to county sheriffs, there have been too many lapses, some for convenience, some to faciitate a political agenda, some diabolically self-serving. That's why we have legions of laws the explicitly forbid government officials from brokering the release information about their duties. The bottom line: The public's business is the public's business. This includes Winona County law enforcement. The public's agents, including Dave Brand, can't have a monopoly on law enforcement information. This information isn't theirs but the people's.
With police agencies, to be sure, a common-sense exception is information that might jeopardize an investigation. Even that, however, is subject to judicial review with the predisposition being toward releasing, not withholding.
Brand defends his policy against weekend news briefings by saying his staff and budget are stretched too thin to handle seven-day-a-week briefings. In other words, he claims he lacks the resources to keep the public promptly informed. Granted that county budgets are tight, but the issue is not the budget. It's Brand's priorities. He's got them wrong.
Brand's derilection in his duty to inform the public was the centerpiece of an important examination of the issue by Brady Averill, a University of Minnesota journalism student finishing her summer internship at the Daily News. What next? Averill quoted southeast Minnesota newspaper editors and the legal counsel for the Minnesota Newspaper Association that the news media, as a surrogate for the people, need to press law-enforcement officials, Brand included, to come off their pedestals and recognize their responsibilities for prompt release of information.
In the meantime, news reporters must work harder to track police activities and pursue alternative sources for police news. This includes stronger newsroom staffing at the Daily News on weekends, thorough monitoring of scanners for police communication, and getting reporters to the scene. Otherwise, readers will continue to wait until the Tuesday morning edition of the Daily News for Winona County law enforcement news from Friday evening.
The dereliction to keep the people informed is not Brand's alone.
|
|
WSU hires eight new staffWINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Winona State University staffing for fall includes 40 new employees, according to list published for orientation this week. Included are 32 new faculty, eight administrative faculty, and eight staff members. The new s:taff:
Conference Center
Grants
Information Technology
Library
Rochester
|
|
|
|
| Karleen Mullen (temp)
Marilyn Klinkner
Brian Kugel
Janet Hines (temp)
Brian Ohm (temp)
Trisha Babcock
Jennifer Nisbit
Brenda Phillips |
Background: 32 new faculty
Background: Eight new admin faculty
Latino college aid at recordWASHINGTON, Aug.21, 2005 --The percentage of Latino college students receiving financial assistance is at an all-time high, according to Excelencia in Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Latino students averaged $6,250 in 2003-2004, compared with an average award of $6,890 for all students. Latinos, however, received the lowest average student-aid awards of any racial or ethnic group, the report said. Asians received the largest awards, an average of $7,260.
Blind Sudanese back at WSU on visaWINONA, Minn., July 14, 2005 -- A blind Winona State University student from Sudan secured his work and school visa to continue studying this school year. Mohemed Abdem-Magid stayed in the United States for the summer in fear that if he returned to Sudan he wouldn't be able to return after the summer. Abdem-Marid spent the summer taking classes at Blind Incorporated, a private school in Minneapolis that provides supplementary education for blind students. In July he received word thatvthe visa had been extended.
l/Abdem-Marid came to Winona State last year to pursue a degree in computer science, using experimental software. Abdem-Marid's course work is with experimental software being developed at the university for blind student in the future. Abdem-Marid's uncle, Beckry Abdem-Marid, an engineering prof at Winona State, informed him about the program and helped him obtain a visa for his first year. A work visa must be updated yearly, which left Abdem Amrid uncertain of his status to continue until early July when his renewal was granted.
In a recent interview about his Winona State experience, Abdem-Marid said learning how to use a computer created more difficulties than he anticipated. In Sudan all his education was in Braile. Even though Abdem-Marid lived in Khartoum, the capital, few computers were available. At Winona State most of Abdem-Marid's schoolwork is on a computer. Because he's blind, much of the work is with special software programs. He has to teach himself how to use the technology that fellow students take for granted. Registering for his first Winona State classes Abdem-Marid used a computer for the first time.
In Sundam, Abdem-Marid said, the burden of educating students with disabilities falls on the family members. For the lack of infrastrcuture to help the blind in Sudan, Abdem-Magid is thankful for the help he gets from profs and from the Disability Resource Center at Winona State.
Besides overcoming technology difficulties, Abdem-Marid is learning English as he goes along. Prior to moving to Winona, Abdem-Magid had limited English. His native languages are Arabic and Nubian. Although Abdem-Marid said Winona State has been the hardest experience of his life, he is glad to be here. In Sudan, he said, blind students cannot study computer science due to the lack of technology. Most blind students in college are limited to literature or art because those are the only programs available.
Reporter: Dustin Sharstrom
Paper: Rankings hurt business programsLOS ANGELES, Aug. 21, 2005 -- Business schools have shifted resources to looking good and away from research and academics because of rankings in Business Week and other magazines, according to a study reported at the Social Science Research Network convention. Harry and Linda DeAngelo of the University of Southern California and Jerold Zimmerman of the University of Rochester said business schools have diverted resources in favor of quick fixes for M.B.A programs. "Although now threatened by rankings myopia," the scholars wrote, "knowledge creation is how U.S. business schools earned their current global pre-eminence." Rankings threaten the role of business schools by causing administrators to constantly modify the curriculum, diverting resources from student learning and faculty research. The authors of the study liken what they see to a "speed-dating event." An overrreliance on rankings also distorts the M.B.A. curriculum, they write, and leads to poorer quality in programs for undergraduates, other graduate students, and Ph.D. candidates.
The paper was seen as a direct response to a recent Harvard Business Review articlea by Warren Bennis and James O'Toole, who contended that business schools focus too heavily on scientific research at the expense of teaching real-world experience.
,br />
Profs give Internet mixed reviewsCHAMPAIGN, Ill., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Conventional wisdom aside, many professors say the Internet has hampered students' academic performance, according to a nationwide survey. Of 2,316 profs surveyed, 42 percent report a decline. Only 22 percent eported an improvement. The survey, by Steve Jones of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Camille Johnson-Yale of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said reported that the Internet had improved professor communication with students but that doesn't "necessarily translate into increases or improvements in learning." There was concern that tools might be dumbing down student writing, with grammar-check software emphasizing models and forms and suggesting bland alternatives to creative and aesthetic expression.
Even so, most professors reported that the Internet had had a positive effect on their teaching. Forty percent said they spend 20-plus hours a week online. Ninety-eight percent use e-mail to communicate with students. Seventy-three percent said that their communication with students had increased because of e-mail.
Visits to the library have been affected, the survey found. Eighty-three percent of the profs said they spend less time in the library now than they did before they had Internet access. But professors said that online journals, e-mail lists, and other Internet tools had become critical for keeping up with news and research in their disciplines. Ninety-four percent said they allowed their students to cite Internet sources in their papers.
Oregon ups need-based college aidSALEM, Ore., Aug. 21, 2005 -- The Oregon Legislasture increased spending on need-based college student aid for the coming two years by 76 percent to $77.6 million. The goal is provide aid to 11,000 more full-time students, all of those eligible. Aid will also be available for the first time to 4,000 part-time students.
Full degrees OK'd for Florida collegesTALLAHASSEE, Fla., Aug. 21, 2005-- The state Board of Education invited community colleges to sujbmit plans to offer bachelor's degree programs. The colleges will be reqjuired to show that the four-year programs they want to offer meet state needs.
Wu triumphant in sidewalk photo-opPORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 17, 2005 -- Congressman David Wu, long a critic of textbook pricing, called a news conference in front of the campus bookstore at Portland State University to release the findings of a Government Accountability Office report on textbook prices.Ę"The GAO report confirms what students have shared with me over the past few years: Textbook prices are increasing and are a growing financial burden as they pursue higher education," Wu said. "At a time when families and students are struggling with the soaring costs of tuition and the declining buying power of financial aid, it is important that Congress continues to build on my efforts of the past year and look at ways to ease this burden." The report follows Wu's request in March 2004 for a federal investigation into the cost of college textbooks and the textbook publishing industry.
Wu, a Democrat, has found a campus following since 2003 when he latched on to news reports that U.S. students sometimes pay much more than overseas students for identical textbooks published in the United States. Although those reports were misleading, which he didn't mention, Wu nonetheless told his Portland gathering that he has pursued legislation and requested the Government Accountability Office investigation. At a July hearing on the College Access and Opportunity Act, Wu said, he offered an amendment that lists specific steps for publishers, faculty, bookstores and colleges to make textbooks more affordable.ĘThe amendment was accepted, he reported.
Also, Wu said he recently persuaded the House Education Committee to ask the U.S. Department of Education's Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to investigate rising textbook prices. Wu called the committee an appropriate vehicle to make further recommendations to make textbooks more affordable. |
|
| 
DAVID
WU
Tackles textbook publishers
|
Background: PIRG crusader lauds textbook study
| | 
TESS
BECKMAN | 
ALISON
PATNAUDE | 
DUSTIN
SHAR-
STROM | 
MOLLEE
SHEEHAN | 
TERI
ROOT | 
RYAN
RICHARD-
SON
|  |
|---|
|
TOMORROW'S GREATEST BYLINES TODAY |
|
Lab animal deaths lead to crackdownMADISON, Wis., Aug. 21, 2005 - A University of Wisconsin prof was suspended from doing animal research after deaths and illnesses among rhesus monkeys in her lab. Ei Terasawa, a pediatrics researcher, was accused of violating protocols. In one case a rhesus monkey died in an experiment chair while a lab employee was at lunch, investigators reported. Researchers are not allowed to leave animals unattended during experiments. Also, investigators reported that animals were given unauthorized drugs any unusually high doses.
PIRG crusader lauds textbook study| LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug. 21, 2005 -- A leader in the campaign to cut textbook prices, Merriah Fairchild, applauded a new federal study that attributed pricing increases to bundling and other textbook add-ons. "The findings of this report support what we've been saying for two years," Fairchild said. She called the report "hard-hitting and conclusive." Her organization, the California Public Interest Group, has argued that most professors don't make use of the supplementary items and that such add-ons are simply a way for publishers to justify higher prices. "In our surveying of faculty, 65 percent said they rarely or never used the bundled materials in their courses," she said. Fairchild concurred with the Goverment Accountability Office report that students are averaging $900 a year on textbooks, representing 26 percent of tuition and fees at four-year public colleges. The report confirms, said Fairchild, "one, that textbook prices are a significant college cost; two, that textbook prices are skyrocketing; and three, that publishers' practices contribute to the high costs of textbooks." |
|
| 
GOVERNMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY
OFFICE |
Background: Textbook price study blames add-ons
Modesty still reigns but less soLYNCHBURG, Va., Aug.21, 2005 -- The evangelical Christian Liberty University, long ridiculed for a strict dress code, has loosened up. This fall students may wear flip-flops, sandals, capri pants and "neat" jeans to class. Shorts will be allowed, if "modest," in the cafeteria and after 4:30 p.m. in academic and administrative buildings. Students had been pressing for a relaxed dress code. Announcing the change, student affairs Vice President Mark Hine said that "scriptural principles" still underlie Liberty's modesty requirement but that the campus has grown by nearly a million square feet this and "a more reasonable, more comfortable dress code" made sense for students walking great distances to class. Hine said the code still makes Liberty distincive. Until 2001 code required men to wear ties to class and women to wear dresses.
VERBATIM
THE CYBERINDEE IS YOUR NEWS SOURCE OF RECORD |
|
WSU colleague recalls "co-conspiracies"| WINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Political science prof Darrell Downs offered these recollections in the online Winona County Democrats newsletter on the death of historian and activist Alex Yard, who had been the party's county chair: |
|
| REMEMBERING
ALEX YARD
1951-2005 |
|
As Alex's friend, colleague, and co-conspirator on many political adventures over the past thirteen years itÕs been difficult for me to frame it all up into one concise story. He had such varied interests and talents, as well as personal connections around the state, that stories about his contributions to the DFL and to politics generally will probably unfold slowly for years to come. But here's a try.
Alex, aka "Bud" or in recent years "Spike," Yard and I met in 1992 on a Saturday morning at Gene PelowskiÕs house to post yard signs. Jim Eddy, another active DFLer at the time, recruited us to help out with Gene's race. Like with most people who met Alex for the first time, it was his quirky sense of humor and energy, combined with historical anecdotes of political campaigns of the 1890s and a sprinkling of insights from his knowledge of ancient China that showed me he had a special appreciation for political life.
Alex had a clear understanding of the fact that most political campaigns are lost, and if you don't have a sense of humor or the perseverance to keep your bearings on larger political goals the smaller races are empty contests. He taught by example that it was worthwhile and even fun to volunteer for state legislative races and even city council and school board races, even if the race was a lost cause from the start. This is not to say that Alex didn't place a high value on winning elections, in fact, he knew that the strength of the DFL and its ability to shape public policy in Minnesota comes from winning elections, but also knew that DFL voters needed to gain an appreciation for the competition and learn from their losses. On that point, Alex was probably underappreciated for his expertise ... he was a very serious student of campaign strategy, and could replay from memory the tactical errors and successes of a seemingly endless list of campaigns within and outside of Minnesota.
Putting the "L" back into the DFL was very important for Alex. Having witnessed the divisions within the DFL over pro-life/pro-choice and other social issues, he was committed to refocusing DFL attention to basic questions of economic justice and educational opportunity. Alex believed that people that work hard for a living deserve fair rewards for their labor and a chance to further their prosperity through education. So it should come as no surprise that Alex became a volunteer, advisor, and irrepressible advocate for DFL candidates with similar goals. As long as I've been tagging along with Alex, these campaigns included but ranged far beyond Winona and other Southeast Minnesota towns. Alex also left his mark in Bemidji, Marshall, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Brooklyn Center, Woodbury, Rochester, St. Paul, and Marshall. These are just a few examples of the towns he traveled to campaign for DFL candidates, and of course there were many more trips to fundraisers, DFL meetings, and conventions. As Gene Pelowski has noted, Alex did it all -- he was the whole package -- when it came to political work.
In his years as chair of the Winona County DFL and on the executive committee, Alex helped greatly expand the local membership and activity of the party. True to his commitment to working people, he spent an incredible amount of time recruiting party support by delivering donuts and words of support to striking union workers throughout the state, visiting union meetings in such odd places as the basement of "Dan's Dugout," and even at the infamous Nodine truck stop cafe. Alex's hilarious observations of the many ironies of politics and his unique way of probing political questions set him apart from most people. Frankly, there are some who have been scratching their heads for years trying to figure out his jokes ...but for those of us who knew and understood Alex, I know that we'll be laughing for years to come over something that he would have said if he'd been here to see it. |
Background: The last word she saw on his lips: "river"
Background: A void in WSU's Mississippi project
Background: Cancer claims WSU faculty leader
Colleges targeted for database breachesSAN DIEGO, Calif., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Nearly half of the publicized incidents of data breach since January occurred at universities, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. ID theft as a campus issue may be even more series than the data show because states are only now beginning to apply laws that require breaches to be disclosed. The vulnerability of universities should be no surprise considering that huge campus databases that rival those of financial institution, the center said.
SMU junior in digital imaging researchBATAVIA, Ill., Aug. 21, 2005 -- A St. Mary's University junior, Amanda Weinmann, will spend fall semester in a neutron therapy program at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Ar Fermilab, which specializes in high-energy particle physics, Weinmann will model different geometries to digitally replicate a patient's anatomy. "We're modeling the patient by taking CT scans and using those densities to determine what is bone or muscle or other tissues," she said. "Then we can superimpose the image from the Geant4 simulation onto a CT scan and see where the neutron beam's energy will be deposited before doing any work on the patient." Accurately targeting a tumor is essential for neutron therapy to direct the maximum amount of energy possible at the tumor without damaghing adjacent tissue, she said. At St. Mary's, Weinmann is majoring in bio-physics and engineering physics.
Iraq vet denied Texas in-state tuitionAUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 21, 2005 -- Whether former U.S. Marine Carl Basham, 27, an Iraq war veteran, is entitled to in-state tuition at Austin Community College has erupted as a political issue. The state has a one-year residency requirement, but Basham was on active duty in that period. He had enlisted while living in Louisiana. The case has given bloggers a field day. One site asked: "Why does Bush's home state hate our troops?" Gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said the denial of in-state tuiton was a "travesty." "Mr. Basham has gone to war for us, serving two tours of duty in Iraq, and I intend to go to war for him," Strayhorn said.
Sculptures, etchings in SMU exhibitWINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- An exhibit, "Lines and Edges," featuring etchings by Larry Welo of Blue Mounds, Wis., and sculpture by Peter Ringheim of Hayward, Wis., is on display Aug. 25 through Sept. 21 at St. Mary's University's. Ringheim, who sculpts with bronze and steel, draws on Native American symbols, objects, mythology and animals to reflect his respect for nature and the spiritual world. Welo's etchings avoid predictability in using everyday subjects with two-dimensional beauty.
Date: Thursday, Sept. 21
Time: 4 to 6 p.m.
Place: Hogan Galleries, Toner Student Center
Cost: Free
Contact: (507) 457-1652 |
WSU sports boosters seek auction itemsWINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- The annual Warrior Club auction and dinner to raise Winona State University sports scholarship money will be during homecoming weekend. The club is seeking donations to be auctioned, said Joe O'Keefe of the organizing committee. Last year, more than $40,000 was raised. The auction will be at the old College of St. Teresa campus for the third consecutive year.
Date: Saturday, Oct. 1
Time: 5 p.m. silent auction, 7 p.m. live auction
Place: Hiawatha Room, 360 Vila St.
Cost: $20
Contact: (507) 457-5210 |
SMU sets presidential inaugurationWINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Inauguration of the new St. Mary's University president, Craig Franz, will be the be the weekend beginning Thursday, Sept. 29, the university announced. The inauguration ceremony will be Friday, coinciding with the annual Family Weekend.
For his inauguration, Brother Craig has chosen the theme "Graced by the Past, Embracing the Future," illusttated by a fluid stream of water that, like a river, "begins confidently and flows ever-forward, gaining momentum on its never-ending journey, Franz said. The graphic was created by Katherine Sula, the university's director of design. Franz's background in marine biology and the Mississippi River that connects the university's Winona and Twin Cities campuses make water a natural, symbolic choice for this joyous event, Franz said. |
|
| 
BROTHER
CRAIG
FRANZ
New SMU president
RIVER
THEME
Inaugural logo |
Catholic group: Fire "death culture" profsMANASSAS, Va., Aug. 21, 2005 -- The Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative Roman Catholic organization, wants 18 prominent professors fired for promoting a "culture of death." The 18 have supported physician-assisted suicide and also the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in a widely Florida followed righty-to-die case. The profs targeted by the Newman society are all at prominent Catholioc universities. None are at St. Mary's University in Winona.
Targeted are:
Charles Baron (law) Boston CollegeCarol Bayley (nursing), University of San FranciscoTom Beauchamp (philosophy), Georgetown UniversityMaxwell Bloche (law), GeorgetownMilton Heifetz (law), BostonHoward Freed (medicine), GeorgetownLawrence O. Gostin (law), GeorgetownLauro Halstead (medicine), GeorgetownJohn Collins Harvey (medicine), GeorgetownDaniel Maguire (theology), Marquette UniversityRichard McBrien (theology), Notre Dame UniversityCurtis Naser (philosophy), Fairfield UniversityLawrence Nelson (philosophy), Santa Clara UniversityJames Walter (bioethics), Loyola Marymount UniversityKevin O'Rourke (ethics), Loyola University of Chicago Peter Rubin (law), GeorgetownKenneth Wing (law), Seattle University
In a fund-raising letter that referred to the Schiavo case, the society said: "It's nothing short of a disgrace that the pro-death movement which led to the deliberate killing of includes so many representatives of Catholic higher education in the United States." Eugene Diamond, the former president of the Catholic Medical Association. who signed the letter, warned that Catholic colleges that don't remove professors who publicly undermine church doctrine risk being "stripped of its Catholic identity by the bishop who has authority over that college."
SMU band casts net for musiciansWINONA, Minn., Aug. 21, 2005 -- Bandmeister Janet Heukeshoven issued a call for volunteers for the St, Mary's University Concert Band, especially for horn players, trombonists, clarinetists, and double reed players. Advanced high school musicians and adult community performers are welcome to join, said Heukeshoven. This fall a new band fanfare, composed by music prof Eric Heukeshoven, will performed at the inauguration of new St. Mary's President Craig Franz, she said.
Date: First class Wednesday, Aug. 31
Time: First rehearsal 6:30 p.m.
Contact: (507) 457-1675 |
|
