BY SHANNON WILEY
Staff Writer Students presented scientific and professional research on topics of science, liberal arts, business, fine arts and more to SU students, staff and the community at the 13th annual Salisbury University Student Research Conference on Friday. The conference began at 11:30 a.m. and opened with a welcome reception in Perdue Hall lead by SU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Diane Allen. At the welcome reception the SU Squawkapellas also performed. At 1:30 p.m. presentations began in Henson Science Hall, where most other presentations were held. Sessions began at that time, 3 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. In the Behavior section, presenter Thomas Williams brought to light the influence of language in his presentation, “Fighting the Battle: The Impact of Queer Teen Suicide in the Media.” “In our culture, language matters,” Williams said as he began. “In our society, words have the ability to show love, compassion, concern and empathy. However, in our society words also have the ability to hurt and kill.” Williams explained that 30,000 people every year die due to suicide, and that in a 2011 study suicide was found to be the fourth leading cause of death for people aged five to 14 years old, and that both men and women are increasing in suicide rates from ages 10 to 19 years old. He also shared that from 2010 to 2011 there was a 1.5 percent increase in suicide, and that this is often caused be difficulties in school, bullying, balancing relationships, rejection and failure. Using a qualitative case study analysis, Williams studied the before and after affects of teen suicide and why some homosexual and bisexual teens chose to commit suicide. He found that much of this is because teens are not just being bullied in school anymore, but over the Internet as well. It is also because the media shows one person feeling alone and depressed while everyone else is fine, while in reality many people feel this way. Even further, in one study Williams said 16 percent of 339 reviewed websites were pro-suicide, holding links and tips for viewers on how to commit suicide. Williams also said that most people’s knowledge of suicide is taken from the media and the media can portray it as an heroic act, saying that maybe the person will save someone else’s life by taking his or her own. With hard helmets and shiny shovels, Salisbury University and its supporters broke ground on the Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons Thursday afternoon.
Opening in 2016, at 224,071 square feet dispersed on four floors, the $111.4 million facility will be the largest academic building in the history of SU. "The new Academic Commons represents bold and ambitious initiatives," said SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach. "The building has been designed to foster synergy, community and creativity in learning. It will be transformative for our campus." Eshbach believes that the highly anticipated Academic Commons represents the realization of a long-held dream; the SU academic community will now have a centrally located, state-of-the-art library, learning center and gathering space. "Given its location on Red Square, I predict it will become iconic; a 'hang-out' for members of our campus community and others," Dudley-Eshbach said. Pick up the April 29 issue of The Flyer for more information about the Academic commons and the expansion of SU over the years. Dew Tour returns to Ocean City
BY MITCHELL NORTHAM Staff Writer Skateboards, bikes and Mountain Dew will be back at the beach this summer as the Dew Tour returns to Ocean City, Maryland for a fourth consecutive year. The five-day event brought to Ocean City by Alli Sports, a division of NBC Sports Group, will kick off on June 25 with competitions, events and athlete meet and greets going into June 29. The complete schedule will be released in coming weeks but will feature park, vert and street session competitions for BMX and skateboards. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Dew Tour Beach Championships, and Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan is happy to have the event back in his town. “We are thrilled to once again play host to the Dew Tour and welcome the amazing athletes to our beach,” Meehan said. “Each year this event gets better and better and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2014 Dew Tour in Ocean City.” President of Alli Sports Eric Grilly is excited for the event to return to Ocean City too, as the event has typically drawn record crowds to the Eastern Shore. “The continued support of the city for the past three years sets us up for an exciting return to Ocean City during our 10th Anniversary season,” Grilly said. “Working with the Mayor’s office, city council and all of the city departments, we have seen record attendance year after year, and enjoy creating an event that is influenced both by the physical environment of the beach and the action sports culture in the area.” In addition to the event returning to Ocean City, Alli Sports also announced that the NBC Sports Group will air more than eight hours of coverage of the Dew Tour Beach Championships using NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC’s live streaming product to PC’s, mobile devices and tablets. The event will also air live for four hours on NBC and NBCSN. For more information visit DewTour.com. BY SHANNON WILEY
Staff Writer Maryland became the second state to raise its minimum wage standard to $10.10 an hour on Monday, April 7, to match President Obama’s campaign to raise minimum wages nationally. Although Gov. Martin O’Malley pushed for this standard to be raised by 2016, the Maryland legislature passed a bill that will be enacted by July 2018 with an 87 to 47 vote. After the bill passed, O’Malley thanked Maryland legislators “for giving so many families the raise they deserve.” Even though O’Malley is pleased, Maryland residents have mixed feelings. “It’s scary,” said Pam Ward, owner of the Twisted Pretzel Bakery, the only one of its kind in Salisbury. “As a business owner, the only way to compensate would be to raise prices or cut staff, and neither of them is a good thing.” The idea behind raising the minimum wage is that if workers get more money in their paychecks, the workers and their families will have more money to put back into the economy, and in turn the economy will be revitalized. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this raise would increase some families’ incomes enough for them to rise above the federal poverty line. However, some low-wage worker’s jobs will most likely be terminated as a result of the raise. Many Maryland workers share the view that this raise will stimulate the economy on the state and national level. “I think it will help the economy, slowly but surely,” said Hardee’s Shift Manager Tykira Osborne. Other local employees also think that the change will be beneficial to the economy in the future. BY JUSTIN MCCLURE
Staff Writer The existing tennis courts adjacent to TETC are set to be torn down and moved to East Campus this summer to make room for a new parking lot. The new lot will make up for the reduced number of parking spaces to come during the next few semesters as the construction materials for the new academic commons take up space around what used to be Caruthers Hall. A standout edition of the new courts is California cornering; slight inlets in the gate around the facilities hinder balls from rolling to neighboring courts, reducing game interruption and injury. With 12 new courts, the facilities will be upgraded with a walkway in between the courts for efficient spectating. Plans for a supply building equipped with gateways and bathrooms, as well as stadium lighting are also expected to be included, but funding is pending. By Shannon Wiley
Maryland became the second state to raise its minimum wage standard to $10.10 an hour on Monday, April 7 to match President Obama’s campaign to raise minimum wages nationally. Although Gov. Martin O’Malley pushed for this standard to be raised by 2016, Maryland legislatures passed the bill with an 87-47 vote to be enacted by July 2018. The raise will be reached by raising minimum wage in five increments, starting with a raise to $8 an hour by Jan.1, 2015, but individual counties can chose to raise the wage higher more quickly if they wish. O’Malley thanked Maryland legislation for giving so many families the raise they deserve. Some students at Salisbury University are indifferent about the new law. “It would help me a lot (if my paycheck rose),” said freshman Bryan Pisarra, a worker at Dairy Queen of Sykesville, Md. “but the thing is, the dollar value would probably drop. Prices will probably go up, so things might just stay the same… I’ll hopefully be making above minimum wage by 2018. The minimum wage raise won’t affect (me), but the decreased value of the American dollar will.” “I’m against the increase in minimum wage,” said freshman Rachael Reiter, who works at Mid-Atlantic Gymnastics of Eldersburg, Md, “because it will cause businesses to hire fewer people with higher qualifications. People our age will be impacted the most because it will be harder to get an entry level job due to our lack of experience.” BY JACOB TROXELL
News Editor Possessing small amounts of marijuana will no longer be a crime in Maryland following a law passed April 7, which will be sent to the desk of Gov. Martin O’Malley who publicly announced that he intends on signing the bill. The Maryland House of Delegates passed the proposal to lessen the penalty of marijuana possession on April 5, and two days later, the Senate voted 34-8 to accept the changes made by the house. Adults ages 21 and over found with less than 10 grams of marijuana will be given a citation similar to a traffic ticket, with fines of $100 for the first offense and $250 the second time. After a third offense, they would face a fine of $500, a court date and a possible required drug treatment program. Adults ages 18-20 would face a court date on their first violation and could be referred to a drug education course or a drug treatment program as well. Before this new law, those charged with possession of marijuana could have faced jail time and been put on probation. These citations will no longer show up on violator’s criminal records; however possession of more than 10 grams or drug paraphernalia such as bongs can still involve criminal penalties and jail time. While Maryland has not completely decriminalized marijuana for recreational use, such as Colorado and Washington (which are taxing the drug like alcohol) have, Maryland is following the trend across the nation of becoming more lenient about the sale of the drug. Many states are pushing the sale of the drug for medical and recreational use as over a dozen states in the U.S. have decriminalized the possession of small amounts. O’Malley, who has shown tough stances against crime in the past, and said in January that he strongly opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use, has opened up to this more mild reform. “As a young prosecutor, I once thought that decriminalizing the possession of marijuana might undermine the Public Will necessary to combat drug violence and improve public safety,” O’Malley said in a statement. “I now think that decriminalizing possession of marijuana is an acknowledgement of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our police and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this transgression of public order and public health. Such an acknowledgment in law might even lead to a greater focus on far more serious threats to public safety and the lives of our citizens.” This new law comes weeks after the state senate supported the ban on the sale of grain alcohol in Maryland, which is any alcohol above 190 proof, such as Everclear, in attempt to limit binge drinking in the U.S. Some members of the Maryland Senate believed that this product was specifically being abused by college students, who binge drink, and that it was causing many alcohol related deaths. “I think these two new laws send the right message, as Everclear can be very dangerous when used by high-schoolers and younger college students who don’t yet understand how how to control their drinking,” said one SU student who wished to remain anonymous because of the negative connatations that come with marijuana use. “Although making it illegal I don’t agree with, as liquor in general is still dangerous to inexperienced drinkers. With marijuana being decriminalized, I hope that it can one day be legalized and taxed and put the money to better society, so I also think it’s a step in the right direction.” The ban on the sale of grain alcohol would initially charge anyone who is selling it with a misdemeanor fine up to $1,000, and there would be no penalty for possession of the product. |
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