Campus master plan to be completed later than expected
By Rachel Podnar / March 3, 2014The campus master plan will not be complete until next year, and one consultant said there is “still a lot to be done.”
The campus master plan will not be complete until next year, and one consultant said there is “still a lot to be done.”
A freshman who died in an apartment off campus Saturday, will be remembered for his bear hug, which friends say made any person feel like they were doing something right. Muncie Police and the University Police Department have not yet released the cause of death. Swager’s hall director, Alexander Trout, sent an email later that day to residents on the sixth floor of Studebaker West Complex to say Elija Swager had died. University spokesperson Tony Proudfoot confirmed that Swager was found dead Saturday.
Despite the recent Indiana University security breach, Ball State students shouldn’t have to worry about their information falling into the wrong hands. The Associated Press reported that 146,000 IU students’ information was accessible to the public last week. The university said there was no evidence that anyone had seen the student data while it was public.
The Student Government Association elections board voted Wednesday night that Cardinal Connection committed no additional violations. The slate remains the 2014-15 executive board of SGA. Additional possible campaign violations were brought to the elections board Wednesday afternoon.
TODAY ‘A New Approach to the Cosmic Lithium Problem’ physics colloquium J. Christopher Howk will offer a colloquium discussing his approach to the “cosmic lithium problem.” This event is sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy and will at 3:30 p.m.
A plan for an environmentally green water treatment plant at Ball State is still on hold, two years after its introduction. The proposal looks to build a BlueHouse — an alternative to traditional sewage plants that uses organic life to clean and recycle waste water. The university’s primary reason for holding the project is to focus on renovations to residence halls and the campus master plan. The plan also proposes that Ball State would save money it currently uses on sewage treatment.
The Student Government Association passed a resolution recommending the university include at least one single-stall, gender-neutral restroom in any buildings built or remodeled in the future. Gender-neutral restrooms, also called family restrooms, are helpful for people who are gender non-conforming, for caretakers of the opposite sex and for nursing mothers.
Ball State receives less public funding than its larger state cousins and so has to spend substantially less — as much as 23 percent less per graduate — than Indiana and Purdue universities. “We’re good stewards of student tuition money and taxpayer money,” said Bernie Hannon, associate vice president of business affairs. “We spend more of our money on instruction and educational costs as opposed to administrative or other costs.”
Tensions were high after two and a half hours of waiting for election results, when Cardinal Connection finally got the call saying they won the Student Government Association election.
More than 60 million people use the classified advertisement website Craigslist each month to get rid of old items and make a little cash on the side, but this public exchange leaves itself open for exploitation, according to the website. Jennifer Pierce, a senior hospitality management major, said she hoped to earn some money on Craigslist by selling a ring her ex-boyfriend had given her. A person from Oregon contacted her and told her to use PayPal to receive payment. She shipped the ring and two weeks later, she still had not received the money.
With cold weather, more students are opting to ignore the on-campus smoking ban instead of braving the cold and snow to get off campus. Officials have issued total of 11 smoking citations since the ban was put in place in August, according to the Office of Students Affairs. During the warmer weather up until October, the university had issued two warnings, but no citations.
A student government investigation into a campaign wrongdoing has cleared Cardinal Connection, a Student Government Association official said Monday. The primary allegations under investigation stated Alyssa France, current SGA vice president, had leaked questions to the Cardinal Connection slate ahead of the debates. The elections board found no evidence of France or Cardinal Connection committing any violations, said Alex Sventeckis, elections board chairman. Sventeckis acknowledged the difficulty of finding evidence during the investigation that lasted about two weeks. “We’re looking at it like a puzzle,” he said hours prior to the announcement.
This year’s Student Government Association election season has been noticeably different from the previous campaign.
When the final amount raised for Dance Marathon was announced, the entire room bursted into cheers and tears. The event raised $344,801.21 for the Riley Hospital, almost $100,000 more than the goal of $250,000. Last year, almost $200,000 was raised.
With a little more than two hours to go, the dancers at Dance Marathon are staying strong for the kids. Junior professional sales major Andrew Sharp said he wanted to do Dance Marathon because he wanted to give back to a great organization. “This is a great organization and a lot of the stories are really motivational,” Sharp said.
Even before the annual Dance Marathon kicked off at 2 p.m., the energy was surging. Every time new students joined the group in the Field Sports Building, they were greeted with cheers and high-fives.
Chaos in the Atrium is fairly normal for Ball State students, but today student activists made it even more chaotic.
Platform points took center stage in the final debate of the Student Government Association election season with voting to start Monday. Presidential candidates for Cardinal Connection, Nick Wilkey, and Empower, Jes Wade, went back and forth during the debate, challenging each other’s platform points. Debate moderator Payne Horning said voting decisions will come down to platforms and not personalities. “When you look at these two slates it’s rather stark,” Horning said.
A report that The Village Promenade has announced its first business for the 22,000-square-foot first floor are false, said Marc Fortney, president and CEO of Brothers Bar and Grill. “We are looking at the viability of the Ball State and Muncie area at this time,” Fortney said.
Last year, Ball State University Dance Marathon raised almost $200,000 for Riley Children’s Foundation. For the BSUDM president, raising this much money and awareness has become her life. Emily Probst, a junior child life specialist major, said she has spent around 140 hours in meetings this school year. The meetings plan various fundraising events the group sponsors, including the annual dance that starts at 2 p.m. Saturday and lasts for 12 hours.
