The University of Idaho Argonaut

Moscow goes slow during spring break

Spring break is infamous. It’s the break that holds no obligations. Family can wait until Easter, a serious job can wait until summer, and the clouds can wait until a good way into December. It’s a time to take that random road trip to California or fly to Mexico. It’s party time.

Just not in Moscow.

“It definitely dies off quite a bit,” said Allison Cerrillo, an employee at Moscow Bagel & Deli. “Everything is a lot quieter.”

Idaho legislators moved Tuesday to give the University of Idaho and other four-year public universities $32.1 million less next year.

The Joint-Finance Appropriations Committee voted to allocate $377.7 million on the universities.

“I think it really was very much on target with what we’ve been hearing earlier for the last at least three or four weeks,” said Keith Ickes, UI’s executive director of planning and budget.

Shoppers in the Palouse Mall this weekend will have an opportunity to save a leukemia patient’s life.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 13 and 14, there will be a bone marrow registry drive in the mall as one of the non-profit “Community Days” events. Any person between the ages of 18 and 55 with a good health history can register to be a bone marrow donor.

Oversharing can lead to consequences

As social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter keep rising in popularity, students can find themselves in awkward, even troublesome situations with “friends” and “followers.”

The scenario hit home when the second-leading scorer of Vandal men’s basketball, Kashif Watson, was suspended for comments he made on Twitter.

The Spokesman-Review reported last Friday that the comments were directed at coach Don Verlin, questioning his strive to win.

As International Women’s Day was celebrated around the world Monday, the University of Idaho brought the event to the Commons.
The event, held in the Clearwater Room, educated attendees on different campus resources.
“I thought the event went really well, and that our students did a good job of planning their first event,” said Heather Maib, an administrative assistant at UI’s Women’s Center and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Office. “In the future, we’ll be having them do more programming and we’re excited to see them grow in that role.”

Open forum

ASUI Sen. Garrett Holbrook, faculty senate representative, discussed the approval by the faculty senate to allow domestic partner benefits for people who come to work at the University of Idaho. Holbrook also said that the proposal is being reworded so it has a better chance of holding up in the Idaho Supreme Court.

Holbrook discussed consolidation plans in the College of Art and Architecture, which remain preliminary. Some students in the college don’t pay the professional fee other students pay, and the college’s administrators seek to ensure they do. Plans are also underway to reorganize the college by merging all of its departments into a single department.

“The fee will help pay the bills and make it equitable,” Holbrook said.
The proposal has been approved only by the College of Art and Architecture and not by legislative bodies of  UI.

Kelby Wilson, ASUI president, discussed the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee and their approval of the base budget. On March 2, JFAC approved 7.6 percent to the base budget. Wilson said this approval’s intent is to prevent mid-year holdbacks in 2011.

Unfinished business

Bill S10-18 was considered last week and passed. S10-18 updates the ASUI rules and regulations to better clarify communication from the ASUI lobbyist and delegation for advertising ASUI positions.

New business

Bill S10-20 seeks to amend the ASUI rules and regulations to change the professional dress requirements of the ASUI senate members. S10-20 will be considered at the next senate meeting.
Bill S10-21 seeks to amend the ASUI rules and regulations that give equal representation to the multi-cultural Greek community. S10-21 will be considered at the next senate meeting.

The future is already here: genetically-modified organisms are cultivated on about 330 million acres worldwide, according to Kevin Murphy, a plant breeder and assistant research professor at Washington State University.

Murphy spoke at the League of Women Voters’ lecture series Wednesday at the 1912 Center in Moscow.

Approximately 35 percent of fall University of Idaho undergraduates were first-generation college students, according to UI’s Institutional Research and Assessment office.

Those students are among the most helped by going on to a master’s or doctorate program.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, established in 1989, has served students at UI since 2003. Started by McNair’s family, the program gives low-income, first-generation college students the tools they need to continue on to graduate school and eventually obtain a doctorate.

The University of Idaho faculty senate approved a policy Tuesday to assist in hiring employee domestic partners.

The policy, now known as the “Dual Career Accommodation Policy,” is meant to enhance faculty and staff recruitment and retention by allowing UI to assist in the hiring of an employee’s partner.

Though it has been amended, the policy is essentially the same as it was when it was brought to the faculty senate a month ago.