Marshall University Faculty Meeting: 3/14 (Meeting 3 of 3)

The Marshall University Faculty Senate meeting discussed the annual budget report, courtesy of university President Stephen Kopp, Thursday, featuring information on employee salaries and compensation, how those payments relate to the university budget and state education reform.

Kopp’s presentation, which was in the form of a PowerPoint, mentioned university expenditures of how much it takes to keep the university operating, as well as how much of the universities money goes solely toward employee salaries each year. A majority of university funds, 62 percent, go toward salaries.

Kopp mentioned during his presentation that more professors at Marshall have a full professor rank than any other Southern Regional Education Board accounted universities. The other professors at Marshall have the ranks of associate or assistant professors.

Switching gears to the much discussed budget cuts, Kopp said the state-wide cuts would affect 4-year educational institutions by forcing a 8.94 percent budget cut, in term affecting scholarships and grants for future students. Because of these cuts, students will face a $730 tuition increase for the upcoming school year. Kopp said the university strives to keep tuition costs as low as possible, even if prices must be raised due to the budget cuts.

The presentation ended with Kopp calling senate members to help in the efforts to stop the raise in student tuition and to help find a solution to the cuts.

After conclusion of Kopp’s presentation, he answered questions about the budget report from audience members and members of the senate. The next faculty senate meeting will be Thursday, April 25.

I will be attending the Marshall Faculty Senate meeting on March 14, 2013 as my third and final government meeting requirement for the semester.

Government meeting 2/3. Marshall Faculty Senate

The Marshall University faculty senate discussed several issues during their most recent meeting, Thursday, including the much debated smoking ban as well as campus wide parking issues. The senate, which is made up of faculty members from each department, discussed and voted on issues relevant to the well being of everyone on the Huntington campus.

The first issue discussed at the monthly meeting was the tobacco free policy, which has been discussed multiple times by several groups for more than a year. Some debate did occur from faculty members who are former smokers, and the vote came down to a resounding 60 to 3 vote in favor of the ban. The ban has already been voted on by The Student Government Association, and now faces a final vote with the Board of Governors before the policy becomes officially approved.

Board of Governors representative, Marty Amerikaner addressed the senate to update the group on the board's action items, including the renovations of East Hall for the new INTO program and the budget cuts. According to Amerikaner, for each institution, the budget cut will be closer to 9 percent, versus the previously believed 7.5 percent. This is because financial aid needs to be kept whole, and not be affected by the cuts.

The Legislative Affairs committee took to the microphone after one meeting this semester to discuss the need to increase funding for higher education. Speakers said almost 80 percent of Marshall students are from West Virginia, and an attempt must be increased to recruit students from elsewhere. It was also announced that 11 percent of Marshall freshmen for the 2012-2013 school year came to college with ACT scores between 12-17, and those students require remedial courses, which cost extra money the university does not have, especially during the fast approaching budget cuts. The subject of non-traditional students was brought up as well, suggesting a need for more evening, online and weekend classes to accommodate those students, which also costs extra money. These statistics were all written in a letter to the West Virginia Legislature.
Another widely discussed topic of the meeting was the on-going parking and crosswalk issues going on around campus. Due to the construction of the new engineering building on Third Avenue, faculty and staff members have lost 150 parking spaces, causing drivers to find alternate parking. The construction has also caused a loss of sidewalks, which is dangerous to the blind students on campus. The city of Huntington refuses to assist with this problem due to it being "dangerous" to their city employees.

After 35 minutes of meeting publicly, the senate broke into executive session to discuss suggestions for spring commencement address speakers. The Faculty Senate will meet again on Thursday, March 14.

I will be attending the Faculty Senate meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28 as one of my three meeting requirements for the semester.

Meeting 1/3: State of the City address

New Huntington Mayor, Steve Williams, presented the annual State of the City address Friday afternoon to Huntington residents and city council members.

Williams used The State of the City address as a way to establish his plans to make the city of Huntington better and to no longer be the “butt of the joke.”

Williams addressed several subjects during his 45 minute speech, including the city budget, beautification, increasing the arts in the city by creating a council for the arts and bringing more business to the area.

Williams strayed from his prepared speech due to nerves, but managed to speak more openly about the subjects he finds important to make the city a better place for all those who live in and visit it.

The mayor said Huntington’s government is the most efficient in this part of the country, saying the residents of Huntington “get more with less.”

He made no hesitation to thank the city employees for the work they do and the long hours they put in, and said they deserve a pay raise, which has not been seen since 2007.

He also mentioned beautification of the city and will begin to crack down on residents who leave "junk" on their property visible to other residents. Williams said property owners must take responsibility for the area they own, and that means keep it looking nice and not like a junk yard.

Williams continued to say he plans to meet with area landlords because everyone in Huntington deserves a safe place to live. He said nearly half of Huntington residents are renters.

The mayor also discussed increasing the arts in the city by creating a council for the arts, which Williams said is "long overdue." He said he has a goal of bringing more film business to the area, because there have been filmmakers coming to the area to produce projects. He said hopefully one day producers and actors will come to "Hollerwood" instead of "Hollywood."

Williams will be creating the mayor's office of film, theater and broadcasting with the goal of anyone coming into the office knowing every step that has to be done in order to conduct business in Huntington.

He also wants to create an office for physical fitness, due to Huntington being one of the unhealthiest communities in the United States. He is going to have "mayor's walks," inviting members of neighborhoods to walk and talk about the community, encouraging refreshing exercise to make Huntington a healthier place.

The $43 million budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year is $1 million more than the 2012-2013 fiscal year budget, with no tax or fee increases for Huntington residents. 

***This will be run as a brief in the 2/18 version of The Parthenon.

2013 State of the City address- EXTRA CREDIT

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams
presents the State of the City address
Friday at a city council meeting.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams addressed City Hall Friday to give the annual State of the City address.

The speech lasted about 45 minutes and touched on several topics including the city budget, a beautification plan and the art community bringing more business to the area.

Williams strayed from his speech and seemed nervous presenting it. The State if the City address was the first time community members had heard Williams speak as mayor of Huntington since his inauguration last month.

Assignment #9 - State of the Union address

Watching the State of the Union, Tuesday.

Obama began his fourth State of the Union address Tuesday night by quoting President John F. Kennedy – “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…it is my task to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.”

A number of topics were discussed throughout the speech including jobs, immigration reform, education reform and gun control, as well as a few surprise topics such as raising the federal minimum wage and cyber threats.

The topics I anticipated being discussed during the speech included gun control, gay rights, women’s rights and immigration. He touched on all of these subjects at least once, but he also discussed some topics which could have been considered unexpected, such as climate change and raising the federal minimum wage. 

According to a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 35 percent of Americans wanted the economy to be discussed, and 15 percent of Americans said gun control was a top priority. The survey also said 12 percent of Americans were concerned about healthcare. These three topics were all heavily discussed during Obama’s speech.

The president announced a “fix-it-first” plan, which is a program to be used to put people to work when repairs are urgent. He also mentioned a Partnership to Rebuild America plan, which will make sure taxpayers do not have to have the whole burden of paying for these repairs.

Budget was the third thing Obama discussed during his speech, saying the deficit has been reduced by more than $2.5 trillion, mostly due to spending cuts and raising taxes on wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

Health care is a topic that took up several minutes of the address. He said his Affordable Heath Care Act is already slowing the growth of the cost of health care. Obama urged Congress to support him and make his plans a reality to ensure all Americans can afford health care, no matter their financial standings.

Obama shifted his discussion and mentioned the addition of more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the past three years, after cutting jobs for the past 10 years. The addition of three manufacturing hubs in America was announced, and also included Apple bringing jobs to America for the production of Mac computers. These additions will bring many more jobs to America, lowering the overall unemployment rate in the country. 

Climate change is a topic he discussed, mentioning 12 of the hottest years on record have occurred in the past 15 years. The president said it is important for the future of our children to find a solution to climate change and the rising temperatures and terrible storms wreaking havoc on different parts of the United States. Step one will be reducing pollution, and then to find more sustainable sources of energy.

A surprising topic of discussion was education, specifically preschool education. In most places, preschool is not a necessary form of education, possibly causing children who do not attend to be behind before they even start kindergarten. Obama also mentioned American high schools lacking in educational success, compared to high schools in Germany, where graduates leave with an educated equivalent to an American community college education, and prepared to enter the workforce. He said a high quality preschool will help children from falling behind in the “race of life,” and no child should be behind academically due to a poor education system.

Immigration reform took up another several minutes of the State of the Union address, and it was a topic expected to be discussed. Obama mentioned stronger border security and more boots on southern border in order to reduce entrance illegal immigrants to the lowest numbers in 40 years. He also suggested background checks, requiring immigrants to pay taxes and also learning English to become a citizen. He said real reform means fixing the legal immigration system.

Obama plans to finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year, so men and women will finally make the same wages for the same work. Along with that, he plans to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.

“Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living,” is an idea Obama agreed with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on. There is no reason anyone who works full time should live under the poverty line. Although inflation would cause prices of goods and services to go up with the rise of minimum wage, it will still likely help a lot of people in their day-to-day lives.

America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and over the course of 2013, 34,000 military troops will return home to their families.

“By this time next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over,” Obama said, giving hope to Americans with family members overseas fighting for their country.

Gun control was the last topic discussed Tuesday night. Obama said many supporters of the second Amendment have come together for common sense reform, including background checks prior to the purchase of guns and senators working together on laws to prevent selling guns to criminals.

Obama said each person and family who has lost someone or been injured due to gun violence, especially in the last two months, deserves a vote in Congress.

The president told a story hitting close to home for him, of a 15-year-old girl named Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed one mile from his Chicago home, one week after his inauguration, where she performed.

There have been more than 1,000 deaths since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., because of bullets, which is 1,000 too many.

 “They deserve a simple vote,” Obama said in support for stronger gun control laws for former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Pendleton, the families of Newtown, Aurora and Blacksburg victims, as well as the other communities across America who have experienced gun violence recently.

It was made clear that not every act of violence can be stopped, but we can help shrink the number of violent attacks occurring in the United States.

I predicted a surprise during the speech, and Obama gave me several. Overall, I think my predictions were about 75% accurate, with some topics being simply overlooked or just not thought of at all.

The president gave Americans a lot to anticipate for in the coming year – of course, Rome was not built in a day, and all of these changes will not happen overnight, but if American citizens can stick together, things can change for the better. United we stand, divided we fall.