Legislative Story

Engineering Programs No Longer Restricted

Washington State University (WSU) and the University of Washington (UW) will no longer have exclusive authority over engineering degrees and programs in the state of Washington.

On April 24, 2009, Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire signed Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5276. Its companion bill, House Bill (HB) 1312, was reintroduced and retained in present status on Jan. 11, 2010, for further consideration of the 2009 readings.

“Currently, state laws stipulate that only the University of Washington or Washington State University may offer degrees in particular lines of study including civil, mechanical, chemical, aeronautic, and astronautic engineering,” said Debbie Driver, staff to the House Committee on Education Appropriations, in a recording by TVW, Mar. 26, 2009.

These fields of engineering were considered "major lines" at WSU and UW, and no other public institution could offer them, according to the final bill report.

SSB 5276 and HB 1312 state that undergraduate and graduate degrees in those fields of study may now be offered at any institution of higher education in the state of Washington.

“From my standpoint, when you look at the infrastructure of the engineering departments at WSU and UW, it seems like it would be a huge investment for other institutions,” said Glenn A. Johnson, mayor of Pullman and professor at WSU.

Looking at the many engineering classrooms, testing rooms, and equipment on the WSU campus, it makes no practical sense to offer the degrees at other institutions, especially with a limited amount of money in the state, Johnson said.

“There needs to be a cost-benefit analysis to see how much it would cost to set up programs at other schools.”

With a small amount of students in the state wishing to pursue the degree, and enough space at both UW and WSU to house the students, it doesn’t seem worth it, he said.

“If the demand was big, it might make sense.”

No fiscal note is reported for SSB 5276, and the companion bill, HB 1312, states no fiscal impact will occur.

Sen. Mark Schoesler, 9th Legislative District, said the bill has no fiscal note because it can be handled with existing funds, according to a recording by TVW, Mar. 26, 2009.

While this may not interest students in fields other than engineering, current engineering students at WSU feel the bill might be useless for future universities who try to compete with WSU and UW.

“I don’t think that [engineering] programs will get established at other universities because it takes a few years to start a good program,” said Eric Holland, about the already established reputation of engineering at WSU.

Holland, a junior chemical engineering student, came to WSU from Anchorage, Alaska, primarily for the chemical engineering program at WSU.

“Just because they have the ability to have the engineering programs, doesn’t mean they have the capabilities,” said Rhyan Russell, a junior mechanical engineering student at WSU.

“Once they do have the program, it brings up the question of its quality.”

Russell came to WSU because it provided the highest education for a relatively good cost. It is better to pay a little more for a higher quality education, he said.

Although Holland and Russell, along with other students, feel it might be impossible to establish a quality engineering program at other institutions, they don’t disagree with the bill.

“I don’t think it should be required by law that UW and WSU be the only ones to have these programs, I think it should be up to the school to decide if they want to hold the program,” Holland said.

Russell also agrees that offering certain fields of study should be up to the school. It will attract more students to other schools, he said, but it will take time and money to establish the quality curriculum, and by doing so it might sacrifice the budgets and programs of other fields.

“If someone can get the same degree closer to home, people would do it,” said Johnson, “It would be cheaper, but you also have to look at the reputation of the school.”

###

Outline:

Lede: What is the issue? WSU and UW no longer have exclusive rights to engineering degrees.
Intro: What bill? When did it pass? Companion bill? What is its status?
Nut Graf: What is SSB 5276 and HB 1312? Why is the bill important to WSU? Quote Debbie Driver
Quote: Glenn Johnson--It would be a huge investment.
TVW: Fiscal note, Sen. Mark Schoesler, 9th district
How are students responding? Do they think it will be affective?
Quote: Eric Holland, junior chemical engineer student
Quote: Rhyan Russell, junior mechanical engineer student
Wrap-up: Glenn Johnson--look at the reputation

Sources:

• Substitute Senate Bill 5276
• http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5276&year=2009
• House Bill 1312
• http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1312&year=2009
• Final Bill Report
• http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2009-10/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate%20Final/5276-S%20SBR%20FBR%2009.pdf
• TVW.org (17:45)
• Debbie Driver, staff to the House Committee on Education Appropriations
• Sen. Mark Schoesler, 9th legislative district
• http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=2009030201&TYPE=V&CFID=5420201&CFTOKEN=36211813&bhcp=1
• Glenn A. Johnson
• Mayor of Pullman, Professor at WSU
• Phone:509-335-3068
• Mechanical Engineering student
• Rhyan Russell, junior
• Phone:360-927-2604
• Chemical Engineering student
• Eric Holland, junior
• Phone: 509-592-8170

Help your peers

Help your peers with their grammar and style. (Note: These are your sentences, but I’ve also inserted some errors.)

1. Washington State provided a subsidy of over $2,000 for in-state students.

2. “The 13.5 million is the tip of a larger iceberg,” said Jerry McCollum, coordinator of arts and culture.

3. “What I know if the system is broken right now," said President Floyd, "We can’t live in a world with 14 percent tuition increases.”

4. The co-presidents announced a club to meet more people who are interested in hiking.

5. Floyd announced his support for Senate Bill 6562, which is sponsored by Sen. Derek Kilmer.

6. The Legislature has made no verdicts on budget cuts.

7. The bill would give Washington State University the authority to set its own tuition.

8. Sen. Jessica Smith presented the proposal at the committee's meeting, which was held in the auditorium on Feb. 4.


Floyd and budget

Key questions

1. How much has tuition increased in the past few years?

2. What do ASWSU leaders think of the bill that would give tuition-setting authority to the Board of Regents? Why is it that some ASWSU members oppose the bill
would change from legislature (elected officials currently sets it) to the Board of Regents

3. Who currently sets your tuition?

4. Why would the Board of Regents be more accountable than elected officials?

5. Bernardo said WSU may lose $27 million in research money – that’s twice as much the budget cut facing WSU. Should we mention that in our story?

Legislative Party

E2SSB 6562 Higher Education Access

1. Name and phone number of two sponsors

Senator Derek Kilmer
Olympia Office:
(360) 786-7650
District Office:
(253) 858-6716

Senator Jerome Delvin
Olympia Office:
(360) 786-7614

Senator Curtis King
Olympia Office:
(360) 786-7626

2. One sentence explaining what each bill would do
Allow Washington State University to set its own tuition

3. A link to televised debate on the bill at tvw.org
http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=2010020115D&TYPE=V&CFID=5420201&CFTOKEN=36211813&bhcp=1

4. A list of three sources (non-legislative) that may be interested in the bill
Sam Shaddox ASWSU director of legislative affairs
President Floyd
Students affected by the tuition increases

Speech Story

Girls Get Advice at Girls' Night Out

Our culture today has cheapened sex and made women believe that one-night stands and hook-ups are okay, said Marian Jordan at Girls’ Night Out Thursday, Feb. 4, in the CUB Auditorium.

“When you’re in college, you’re almost in this bubble where some of these activities seem okay and normal because everyone’s doing it, so you feel foolish to go against the grain,” Jordan said.

Marian Jordan, founder and president of Redeemed Girl Ministries, and author of Sex and the City Uncovered, Wilderness Skills for Women and The List, spoke to about 200 women of the WSU Greek community about relationships, alcohol and religion.

Jordan is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and received her master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She resides in Houston, Texas, where she serves at Second Baptist Church of Houston.

Jordan travels the world telling women at universities about her life story and of the fallacy that society shapes who we are supposed to be. She encourages women around the world to know their true identity, aside from what others define them as.

In undergraduate school, Jordan was in a sorority and made many mistakes along the way of finding her true identity.

“My whole hope and identity as a women was being put on who this guy says I am, being seen with him and being known as his girlfriend,” she explained about dating a guy her freshman year of college. The relationship became sexual, she lost her virginity, and two weeks later he moved on to someone new.

“I’m dealing now with hurt, regret and shame, but all around me everyone’s acting like this is no big deal, it’s just sex,” she explained. If she was a “cool” girl, she felt like she wasn’t supposed to care that he moved on. Jordan used alcohol to get through the pain and emotions while continuing to hook-up with others.

“My college years became a downward spiral, which almost killed me,” she said. It took more and more substances to convince herself that she was okay and that she was happy.

“But something in my soul told me that it wasn’t supposed to be this way,” said Jordan. She finally hit a point where she couldn’t feel anymore. She broke down and asked God to help transform her. She now considers herself a “redeemed” girl and hopes others will follow in her footsteps.

Jourdan Burks, singer and song-writer, accompanied Marian Jordan by singing inspirational songs to the women, while CUB Catering served beverages and cookies. Resonate Church hosted the entire event.

A woman from Resonate planned and proposed the event to Dominique Mesick, vice president of programming and development for the Panhellenic Association at WSU. Mesick promoted the event and got the women of the Greek community to attend.

“A new focus on becoming a wholesome person has emerged and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to begin this new tradition,” said Mesick.

Mesick said educational programs are hosted each year for the benefit of community members. She believes this is the first time that the Greek community partnered with Resonate.

“I would love to see something like this happen each semester as the feedback we received was extremely positive,” she said.

“I liked how Marian gave examples on the things girls go through,” said Nicole Corwin, a student who attended the speech.

Corwin, as well as other audience members, thought Jordan was very inspirational. Jordan offered a short break where students could leave if they didn’t hold the same opinions as her, or for those who just didn’t want to stay, but no one left the room.

“I thought she had a good viewpoint and solution to everything,” said Corwin.

Mesick also enjoyed both presentations by Jordan and Burks.

“They shed light from their own personal experiences on issues that many college women face and brought an air of humor to the serious discussions, as to lighten the mood without taking away from the sincerity of the issues at hand,” said Mesick.

In 2006, after writing Sex and the City Uncovered, Jordan felt a calling to speak to women about her life story, in hopes to prevent some of the things she went through. In 2009, Jordan traveled to about 30 different places to speak of her story; however she lost track of how many it really was.

Jordan felt more vulnerable to tell about her life because she lived through her mistakes. She hopes others will learn from her.

“I am passionate about what I believe in,” said Jordan, “so I wanted to share my story.”


Outline:
I. Lede: Most important thing said? Sex is cheapened by society, girls think hookups are the norm, girls believe they shouldn’t mix feelings with sex
II. Quote: “If you don’t respect yourself, how do you expect others to respect you?” –Marian Jordan
III. Nut Graf: Who is she? What is she here for? How many attended? Who hosted? Marian Jordan, founder/ president of RGM and author of three books, Feb. 4, 2010, 200 sorority girls attended, here to teach women about their true identity
IV. Background: All about her life growing up, joined a sorority, “down-ward spiral” of college, now a redeemed Christian trying to teach women not to make the same mistakes she made
V. Who brought her here? And why? Connection between Resonate and Greek community
VI. Quote: Reactions? Nicole Corwin, student, liked how Marian gave examples of her own life, and how she gave solutions about how to fix ourselves, Mesick also enjoyed

Sources:
1. Marian Jordan (speaker, founder and president of Redeemed Girl Ministries and author of three books)
• Phone: 832.230.0998
• Email: info@marianjordan.com or info@redeemedgirl.org
• Website: www.redeemedgirl.org and www.marianjordan.com
2. Dominique Mesick (organizer) Vice President of Programming and Development for the Panhellenic Association
• Phone: 206.850.1698
• Email: Dominique.Mesick@email.wsu.edu or panprogramming@wsu.edu
3. Nicole Corwin (student)
• Email: Nicole_corwin@hotmail.com

Questions for the speaker:
• Where do you give speeches? Around the world? Or just U.S.? To who?
• What makes you a good candidate to tell these girls how to respect themselves?
• What made you decide to give speeches about your life? Why do you do these speeches?
• How many have you done?
• What do you hope these girls will take away from your speech?
• What have you learned from other girls at different universities while doing these speeches? Are all girls the same?

5 Tips

Eye contact
Posture
Tone
Background preparation
How did you feel?

Quotes

1. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” Janice said.
2. Lisa said she planned to attend the rally.
3. Jones said he will be there Wednesday.
4. He asked “Are all your flights full?”
5. Jones said he made a “freshman mistake": throwing the ball into a crowd of defenders.
6. Did Bennett say, "It will be a long season"?
7. Did Bennett say, “Will it be a long season?”
8. “Wulff's statement that he would 'beat the Huskies in Seattle' has outraged our fans,” Sarkisian said.
9. “We think it’s a great situation for our band,” Kurt said. “We’re ecstatic."
“Can you get us backstage passes?” Kurt asked Dave, who was standing next to him.
10. “How can we not succeed?” he asked.

Shorter lede

More organizations at WSU help Haiti.

Edit your peers

Edit your peers
1. He died from a massive heart attack on Feb. 1.
2. These lights would be especially important on one-way streets, he said.
3. The play will be Feb. 4 to 7, 2010.
4. For more information, contact John E. Williamson, committee co-chair.
5. Dennis Alexander, adopted composer for the Pedagogy Piano Lab School, will be lecturing on Saturday.
6. En'Wezoh hopes to recruit people who best complement and execute the intended vision.
7. The Interfraternity Council President Benjamin Highsmith, will attend. “GLA is a beneficial experience for all who attend," Highsmith said. "It is time dedicated to fostering relationships between Greek chapters, while identifying commonalities and determining a direction for our community.”
8. The drug-related film will be featured in a special showcase that will air as the final show.
9. “There are still new things to say with art music," said Kyle Winter, the club's president. "It’s hard to stop and listen, but when you do, it can be an extremely pleasant surprise.”

Jess Walter Speech

Going into an industry that is dying can be scary to some, but if writing is your passion then the market will be there and the pay will come, said Jess Walter Thursday evening in CADD Room 21.

“It never occurred to me that a newspaper could die” read Walter from his newest novel The Financial Lives of the Poets.
“It felt like I was dying,” he read.

Jess Walter, a former journalist and finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, spoke to about 75 WSU creative writing and journalism students and staff members about pursuing a career in the dying writing industry.

Walter told students that phases come and go, so students should keep their head up during this low economy and continue to pursue what they desire. Walter is the author of five novels and one non-fiction book.

“As an English major, that is the best thing you can hear,” said Jillian Clark, a junior creative writing student at WSU.
“It is reassuring to hear, when everyone else tells you you’re crazy for wanting to pursue this career.”

Chopped story-- Tragedy on Ice

This excerpted story, part of a package of stories that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, has been chopped, scrambled, altered, doctored and otherwise messed up by me.


In the process, I broke it.

Please put it back together in the order you would choose. Then discuss with your table the questions that you would take back to your reporters. What’s missing? Are there individual sentences that you would rewrite? Can you make the best even better?

Tragedy on ice
By O'Ryan Johnson and Chris Markuns
Staff Writers
December 15, 2002

When: Yesterday or Tuesday

Paragraphs

Four boys age 7 to 11 drowned when a group of seven boys plunged through thin ice.

Dead are William Rodriguez, 11, of 292 Howard St.; Christopher Casado, 7, of 18 Jasper Court; Mackendy Constant, 8, of 7 Clinton St.; and Victor Baez, 9, 46 Bernard Ave.

Police said the four dead boys were trapped under the ice at least 10 minutes.

The ice was one to two inches thick where they ventured off the river bank. Four inches is considered the minimum to support more than one person, and river ice may not be safe even at that thickness because of currents and other factors.

As seven boys finished their snack run from the Lawrence Boys & Girls Club to Hanson's Market yesterday afternoon, a sudden urge to slide around prompted 11-year-old William Rodriguez to dash for the serene expanse of river ice.

It was a playful impulse that ended with his plunge through the ice, setting off an ill-fated rescue attempt that deteriorated into a mass of desperate children clinging to each other in 35-degree water.


"Willie said he wanted to go down to the river, to slide on the Ice," Ivan said. “We tried to stop him.”


Surviving the incident were Francis Spraus, 9, 14 School St.; Christopher's brother Ivan Casado, 9, 18 Jasper Court; Jaycob Morales, 10, 4 Winslow Place.
Ivan and Francis were released from the hospital last night, and recalled the story from its quiet start.

The catastrophe left four boys dead, their families crushed and rescue workers shaken following an afternoon of fighting a river of broken ice, the steep mud-covered bank and driving rain.






Lawrence and Andover firefighters equipped with ice rescue suits arrived and after a search of the area where the boys went in, found the four remaining boys under the ice, 25 feet from shore in 15-20 feet of water.

Because of the steep embankment, rescuers were forced to use ladders to bring the children up off the river to the waiting ambulances.

Members of the state police, Lawrence Police and Merrimack Valley dive teams entered the 38-degree water and conducted an area search to be sure no one was left behind.

It was the worst local Merrimack River tragedy in nearly a century.

Quotes

"I threw the rope out once and it landed too far away, so I threw it out again, and again it was too far for them to reach," said Jacques Fournier, a retired maintenance worker.


"He was in the middle of the river," Francis said, Ivan finishing the sentence: "Then the ice broke and he fell down in the water."

"Then we all fell in," said Francis. "I thought I was going to drown."

"My legs started to get stiff, and I had a freezing headache," Francis said. "I was hanging on to Christopher, but he started to slip under. I tried holding on to his hand, but it was like he let go.

Commas. Ugh.

Correct the following sentences. If the sentence is already correct, write “correct.”

1. We looked through the church door, but we did not see anyone.
2. We could wait to see if anyone else came, or we could go back home. Correct
3. This will end up having an effect on consumers, she said.
4. Britney paid $80 for her editing text, but she received only $4 at the resale desk.
5. According to Washington state law, bars will become smoke free on Feb. 15.
6. I saw Karen and we had coffee.
7. The home was bright and cheery; however it made me uncomfortable.
8. It was raining so we stayed home.
9. Later he phoned again.

Underline the subject and verb of the following sentences:

Another impact that increases the purchasing of alcohol is the premises that sell alcohol on and off the WSU campus.
The best advice the CACD can give is, do not post things that you would not want people to see.