Front page of The Delta Statament

1. DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY
THE DELTA STATEMENT
Think Pink: Delta State Soccer:
Statesmen and Lady Statesmen
defeat Tornadoes
DSU in the fi ght against
breast cancer
Serving the Delta State community since 1931
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Volume 83 Issue 6
A3 B1 thedeltastatement.com or @StatementOnline
Sen. Parker speaks at Delta State University
Laura Orsborn
Staff Writer
Sen. David Parker spoke to
Parker talked about the main topics on the political agenda, such as education and health care, and topics such as the legalization of marijuana. Photo by Najawon Wilson
After one year at DSU, Dr. Lelek was appointed as the Quality Enhancement Plan Coordinator.
a group of students Oct.
2 at the Capps Archives
to answer some students’
questions as well as some from
the community.
One of the fi rst topics
broached regarded education,
specifi cally the Common Core
Standards and teacher pay.
Mississippi “teacher pay has
been at the lowest in the United
States—[it has] been at the 50th
level, but our administration pay
has been jockeying between eight
and nine. Some funding issues
that we see come up sometimes,”
Parker said. The funding issues
were if raises were given, money
would come out of another “Big
Three” budget.
The “Big Three” are
education, medical programs,
and correctional facilities.
Parker said “whatever you
do, look at the lowest common
denominator fi rst. What’s best
for the children? If [it’s] good
for the kids, [it’s] good for the
teachers, which is in turn good
for administration.” Parker also
said that “education is one of the
biggest political issues that no
one realizes is a political issue …
that I’ve ever seen on the K-12
level.”
Common Core Standards
were another hot topic at the
talk. “The problem that I see
with Common Core is that it’s
forcing, in certain situations,
kids to think in a way they’re not
wired to think. We don’t all think
the same,” Parker said.
He also said, “I think the
primary job of a teacher is to
identify [the] class and to pick
out the way where [the teacher]
gets the information imparted
to them in a way they can do
their best…The problem I have
with Common Core is that the
standards I see, are teaching a
mode of education that is not
necessarily good for all of them.
I think it’s taking the decision
making of how to teach away
from the teachers, and it’s putting
it more into a curriculum-driven
situation.”
To emphasize his point,
Parker shared the story of the
Gulfport School District, one of
the fi rst Mississippi schools to
adopt Common Core Standards.
The school always tested in the
90th percentile, but after they
changed, their scores have fallen
to the 57th percentile.
Parker also said if grades
were poor in a school, the federal
government would take over.
He also said that the curriculum
is being more globalized, not
nationalized. “I do not think what
I’m seeing is in the best interest
of the kids,” Parker said.
Legalization of marijuana
was another hot topic. Parker said
that all smoking is bad. Smoking
anything uses healthcare dollars
because of the new electronic
medical records system. If a
patient uses any type of tobacco,
doctors are required by law to
counsel patients to quit smoking.
“Smoking is not good for us,
period. Marijuana smoking is not
better for us than tobacco smoke.
I’m not in favor of smoking and
I don’t want to become someone
who encourages our country or
kids to smoke more, so I spend a
lot of my time trying to do that,”
Parker said.
He shared the anecdote of
being at a legislative session
when someone came up and
asked for his support of legalizing
marijuana. This person came up
to him, showed him studies done
and said, “People with glaucoma
are going blind. They need this!”
Parker is an optometrist, and he
knew that the prescription drops
he gives patients lower the eye
pressure much greater than a
marijuana cigarette.
Parker talked about the
Voting Act of ’72 as well. The
Act basically stated that there
were no limits on how many
times a proxy could assist voters.
Parker tried to limit the number
of times one person could help
other voters who could not see to
vote. He said that a record needs
to be kept of how many times a
proxy helped because their intent
could be to cast their own vote
and not assist.
A participant in the crowd
asked Parker why Mississippi
did not vote to expand Medicaid.
His answer was simple, if the
money was not there later, they
would have to come up with
the money by taxing business
growth. He also said that the
Federal Government should not
dictate healthcare. His example
showed that in the year 2000,
seniors had no prescription
drug coverage. Now, they have
Medicare Part D. However, the
same medication he prescribed
in 2000 was $30, now it is $200,
because the care was moved to
the federal government.
Parker said that private
healthcare will go away
because it will get too
expensive. As a business
owner, he paid for his
Enrollment decline ends at DSU
Conor Bell
Copy Editor
Delta State University saw
a 2.6 percent increase
in enrollment, or 91
students, marking an end
to an eight-year decline.
Preliminary fi gures show
DSU’s current enrollment at
3,614 students. The Mississippi
Institute of Higher Learning
reported an overall 1.1 percent
increase in students for the whole
state’s eight public universities.
Calling the increase “good
news,” Provost Dr. Charles
McAdams said getting more
students to come to the college
has been a priority of President
William LaForge, who has
visited close to 50 high schools
this past year.
“There’s a lot of work being
done by recruiters, but not just
recruiters,” McAdams said. “A
lot of work has been done by
faculty and staff as well. They
work hard in responding to
potential student inquiries and
work to meet with students and
parents.”
McAdams said all of these
efforts by the college have “paid
off.”
“Clearly, we have stopped
the downward trend. Now we
want to continue to move in
this direction,” he said. “People
see good things are happening
at Delta State, and an attitude
to wanting to serve students to
provide the best education for
them.”
Despite the increase, the
transfer retention rate is down.
The provost said the college
is not sure why the transfer
retention rate is down, but are
currently, investigating into it.
“We are working on
retention as much as recruitment.
We want to make sure students
are supported and can succeed
here at Delta State,” McAdams
said. “I think transfers face
different challenges than
freshmen do, and typically,
schools primarily focus their
efforts on freshmen. We also
need to look and investigate into
those issues that our transfers are
facing.”
Celebrating National Newspaper Week
Conor Bell
Copy Editor
In light of this week’s
National Newspaper Week,
President William LaForge
believes The Delta Statement
is “vital” for the university.
This week, Oct. 5-11, the
country is celebrating National
Newspaper Week. It marks the
74th anniversary of such and
emphasizes the importance of
print journalism.
DSU’s president said
The Delta Statement keeps the
university community informed.
“The paper gives the whole
DSU community a journal of
events and happenings from
around our campus,” LaForge
said. “It gives us that voice from
the Fourth Estate.”
The newspaper is also
important to “our First
Amendment rights where it
says ‘freedom of the press,’” he
continued.
Elisabetta Zengaro, editor-in-
chief of The Delta Statement,
said National Newspaper
Week is a great way of “raising
awareness of the importance of
newspapers.”
“With technology, we have
instant access to news right at
our fi ngertips, and as a result,
people often overlook the value
of newspapers,” Zengaro said.
“Newspaper Week reminds
people that although the news
industry has evolved over the
years, newspapers are still a vital
part of journalism. As someone
who studied broadcasting, I can
say that newspapers provide that
concrete source of news that’s
often missing in television, radio
and online news.”
She called the campus
newspaper a “recruiting tool”
for the university and a “training
ground” for journalism majors.
“I actually had the privilege
to attend a college recruitment
fair at a high school in Southaven
last year, and a lot of the students
that spoke to me were very
interested in committing to Delta
State because of the activities we
offer as depicted in The Delta
Statement,” Zengaro said.
“But more importantly,
The Delta Statement, like all
student newspapers, serves as
a training ground for student
journalists. It provides them
an outlet in which they can
learn vital reporting skills by
learning how to cover events
and conduct interviews, in
addition to learning editing and
layout skills that are necessary
for seeking a job in journalism.
“I hope that during
National Newspaper Week,
students take the time to realize
that special link newspapers
provide to a community,” she
said.
Each week, LaForge
said he is proud of The Delta
Statement as he wrote for the
same paper (though it was
called the Miss Delta) when he
was at Delta State.
“I have a keen sense of
support for student journalism
and applaud our students on
the great job that they do on the
paper,” he said. “I look forward
to reading The Delta Statement
each week”
The Delta Statement is
a student-run publication.
Newspapers are available each
Thursday and can be found all
across campus buildings and at
local businesses in Cleveland.
employees’ healthcare, and
saw a 19.2 percent increase
after the Affordable Care Act
(Obamacare). He wants to
encourage insurance agencies
to be more competitive so
they won’t disappear in the
future.
Parker lives in Olive
Branch, Miss., with his wife,
Ashleigh, and children—
Allie, Jack, Luke, Jude. A
graduate of Christian Brothers
University and Southern
College of Optometry, he
practices at Olive Branch Eye
Care.
Lelek named QEP Coordinator
Whitney Carter
News Editor
Dr. Noah Lelek,
assistant professor
of communication
studies and theatre arts,
coordinator of Communication
Studies and Theatre Arts, and co-director
of The Delta Players was
recently appointed the position
as the Quality Enhancement Plan
Coordinator (QEP).
QEP looks at general
education courses, classes
in specifi c majors, classes in
more majors, and activities that
look at diversity and cultural
competence. QEP is focused on
increasing cultural competence
at Delta State University. This
is a part of Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
accreditation. Lelek and the QEP
team have to develop a fi ve-year
plan to increase cultural
competency at Delta State.
QEP will sponsor and hold
several events throughout this
academic year—events such
as, Diversity in Performance
Series, Winning the Race, Native
American History, etc.
Lelek has only been
employed at DSU for one
academic year, but he seems
passionate and confi dant in his
new role as QEP coordinator.
“I’m excited,” Lelek said.
“I think it’s great that cultural
competency was chosen. I think
it is important for students to
be able to communicate across
cultures.
“Students should learn
about different cultures, not
just in terms of race, but in
terms of gender, sexuality,
all the things that makes us
different.”
According to Lelek,
QEP gave First Year Seminar
students a global perspective
inventory to track where they
are now and possibly in four
or five years. They will track
them in their senior year to see
if what they have done in their
classes actually increased
their cultural competency.
The first QEP event
was held in September when
British Parliamentarian
David Lammy came to speak
at DSU. QEP is planning
to work closely with other
committees, such as the
Diversity Committee, which
Lelek is also apart of.
Students should be on the
lookout for QEP events and
know what QEP is about, but
for more information contact
Lelek at nlelek@deltastate.
edu .