UVSC College Times, 2007-09-17

              Opinions Sports News Get away from the mechanical day-to-day routine; get out and join a club. UVSC, through Utah Valley Clubs, offers a total of 75 clubs, each unique in their own way. Find out how these clubs can help you to connect with other students on A4 The balance between national security and civil liberties is a topic always on the minds of the public and always present in the mainstream media. Yet, critical thinking on this issue seems to be remarkably absent from the minds of UVSC students. Read about it on A5 The Utah Valley women's volleyball team won the Butler Invitational in its first tournament of the year but did the team have the same success in its own tournament? Read about the UVULa Quinta Inn and Suites Invitational on BIO. the YIY1 . A O I . H The Independent Student Voice of Utah Valley State MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1 7 2007 NETXNEWS.NET VOLUME XXXVII NO. 5 Student ideas encouraged Martin Luther King jr. commemoration offers prizes for ideas Justin Ritter News writer For the first time in its 14-year history, UVSC's Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration is offering cash prizes, opportunity and recognition in return for students' ideas. Students are encouraged to write proposals for the celebration, including ideas for papers, posters, art, and dance, and submit them by Nov. 12. The accepted proposals will be displayed or performed during the celebration, which will be held Jan. 15-16, 2008. Students with winning submissions will receive $250 for a first-place entry, $150 for second place and $75 for third place. Submissions should be about one page and should briefly describe the idea, what kind of a presentation it will be or what format it will be in, and how the idea relates to civil rights. "Civil rights, broadly defined, is human rights," commemoration coordinator Kathy French said. She also said that in addition to opposing racism, King also advocated anti-violence andanti-poverty. French said these topics would also be appropriate for submissions. French noted that while dances have been performed during previous SeeMLK- A3 J Story A'C.hottS T Ut. pa5 editor Recycling. Conservation. OrganicFoods. Campuses around the world are transitioning to "greener" methods USVC is going green. Students are frequently reminded of this phrase every time they log into UVLink, visit the school Web site or even walk onto campus. Going green may be the theme for the school's transition to becoming a university, but to most of the world, going green has become the motto for environmentalism. Considering how often the phrase "go green" has filtered its way around the campus lately, The College Times has come up with the question, how "green," "environmentally speaking, is the school? Because this topic is on the forefront of governmental concern, it is surprising that UVSC has no set program in action to help solve the growing problem. In comparison to other universities in the state, UVSC's environmental program is approaching the standard. BYU's Web site boasts its recycling program, calling it "one of the most suc- See GREEN A4 UVSC professor establishes Ghana's first dental hygiene program Britnee Nguyen News writer In Ghana, the severity of periodontal(gum)diseasehas raised awareness of the importance for dental hygiene. UVSC's dental hygiene professor, KristenKinated-er-Mecham, knows of this issue and went to Ghana this summer to continue establishing its first quality dental hygiene program. Since 2005, she has made four trips to Accra, Ghana. Kinateder-Mecham first got involved when she was attending BYU and was looking for a master's project that involved interna tional health education. She was able to find an opportunity to work in Ghana by teaching periodontal issues. The dean of the school, as well as other health professionals, noticed the need for dental hygiene. "In Ghana, they have beautiful teeth and not a lot of decay, but they do have severe gum disease," said Kinateder-Mecham. The focus of her trips has been creating the dental hygiene curriculum in Ghana. "Usually in Ghana they are very oriented towards music and dancing so we make up songs in their local dialects and perform skits for the kids." In the beginning, there were four dental hygiene students, no textbooks and little curriculum. Now, there are eight students; and when she goes over to teach them, she brings textbooks that her UVSC students have donated. Besides teaching, she also provides dental hygiene to locals in their clinic. "Once every two weeks we go out into villages and communities, and we'll do screen ing on the school kids and check for periodontal disease," Kinateder-Mecham said. "Usually, in Ghana, they are very oriented towards music and dancing so we make up songs in their local dialects and perform skits for the kids." She has also created relationships between hersecond-year UVSC students and Ghanaian students by having them correspond with one another through e-mail. "In class at UVSC, we discuss some areas that we want to assess the students in. We'll come up with short-answer questions and See GHANA A3 Billboard draws attention to post-Mormon web forum Post-mormon.org billboard create intrigue Kevin Whitaker News writer Observant college students may have noticed a peculiar billboard bordering 1-15 southbound around 1500 North in the Provo area: It simply read Postmormon.org Surrounded by a plain white background with two yellow squares (clearly meant to be Post-it notes). Those who noticed it, like UVSC student Blake Longmore, merely disregard what seems to be another advertisement capitalizing on the dominant religion in the area. "I thought it was some missionary mail site or something," Longmore said. The site actually has no official connections to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is, however, a forum provided for those who have left Mormonism "post-Mormons," to be exact. From the political landscape to religion, the Internet is rapidly altering the way contemporary society interacts. According to the organization's Web site, Jeff Ricks, a previous LDS member, began the idea as a post-Mormon support group in the Logan area in 2002. He launched postmor-mon.org in 2004 and received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in 2006. The official mission of the post-Mormon community is "to provide and maintain systems that facilitate the growth and development of a safe and supportive community for those who leave or are considering learning about the Mormon Church." This mission is car-See POST-MORMON A3 UVSC student deemed competent to stand trial Robert Hayden ' Assistant news editor Less than three months after his arrest in June, UVSC student Kidus Chane Yohannes, 20, has been declared mentally competent to stand criminal trial. A 4th District judge made the decision in a brief meeting held on Thursday, Sept. 6. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept 20. Yohannes is charged with two felony counts of providing false information for a gun background check and a third felony of unlawful possession of a roommate's credit card. Yohannes was taken into custody on June 1 1 . Roommates of Yohannes had notified police of his behavior, claiming that he had been stockpiling weapons and talking about mass murder. The Ethiopian immigrant's arrest fell only weeks after Sueng-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, court documents describe Kidus Yohannes as being "consumed with violent depictions of the death of United States military servicemen, as well i - -. - A w Utah County Jail as human execution by gunfire," prompting prosecutors to request the competency examination. Yohannes has maintained throughout that he is competent, according to the Daily Herald. A KSL report indicates that "Orern police found an imported Russian rifle, several AK-47 magazines and a large quantity of ammunition, weapon parts and drawings of weapons" inside Yohannes' vehicle. Police have, so far, been unable to locate the two AK-47 semi-automatic rifles believed to be in his possession before he was apprehended. Yohannes had been arrested prior to these recent charges. In August 2005, he was taken into custody for possession of a weapon on school grounds. Again, in March 2007, he was taken into custody for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. Both charges were dismissed. Seniors begin to feel the burn(out) "Senioritis" strikes as seniors begin to count the days until graduation Heather Brown News writer College can be one of the most stressful times in a person's life. There is so much to be done and so little time or money to do it. The National Mental Health Association found that 30 percent of college freshmen report feeling stressed. And that is only their first year in college. In a student stress survey, those questioned reported that the things that stressed them the most were increased workload, new responsibilities, changes in sleep habits, interpersonal relationships and finances. While studies tend to focus on college freshmen, considering leaving home and being self-reliant are two major life stressors. But let's not forget the senior who is about to graduate. UVSC senior Melissa Allied is about to graduate with her bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and is feeling burned out. "I feel like I'm going crazy," she said. "I don't really even See SENIORS A3