Eight months ago, Bart Burris died in Cache County Jail. His family still doesn’t know what happened.
The Criminal Law and Policy for Change club, which was started by Chris Fairbanks at Utah State University this semester, plans to raise awareness about the criminal justice system in Cache Valley and let people know what their rights are.
“They wouldn’t release an autopsy and they still haven’t,” Fairbanks said about the Burris issue. “We have two attorneys that are working on it and are trying to get an autopsy right now. I think it’s a negligence case.”
“We just want the family to be able to get answers,” said Jeff Hastings, vice president of CLAP for Change. “They do have rights and we just want to make sure they are receiving them.”
This is not the only issue CLAP for Change has been working on.
“Currently, Cache County has only two public defenders for the local office,” Fairbanks said. “Last year they saw 9,000 cases and only 1,200 were opened at trial level.”
Fairbanks finds this unacceptable and he wants to bring more awareness to the issue.
“They averaged about 56 minutes on each of these cases and they’re not properly able to represent anybody with that time,” he said. “They can’t pay attention to details that may lead to the innocence of the client. Prosecutors are dismissing a lot of cases because there are so many and guilty people are walking free.”
“They work an incredible load of cases and there’s a low incentive to research these cases because they don’t get paid much,” said Jeff Hastings, vice president of CLAP. “The quality of legal care is really low because of such a low budget.”
Fairbanks hopes to create enough awareness to help bring in more funding to the court systems in Cache Valley.
“The court system needs to be funded up here and it’s the state that needs to step in,” Fairbanks said. “They have excessive caseloads for the local system in Cache Valley.”
The CLAP for Change club hopes to bring awareness to college students about their legal rights.
“We just want to find places where things can be reformed,” Hastings said. “We just want to make sure citizens are aware of their rights because they are so easily trampled on.”
“I think the more people are aware of laws and the process of the criminal justice system, the better off they are,” said Jason Leiker, a criminal law and justice professor at USU. “We don’t see a lot of students get active with politics or go and vote, so it’s nice to see people get involved.”
Utah State University
USU Campus
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
I am LDSSA
The LDSSA presidency will be attempting to bring awareness to students to let them know that they are indeed a part of this group.
“When you are enrolled in institute, you’re automatically made a member of the LDSSA,” said Danny Noall, the LDSSA president. “Nobody knows this though.”
The LDSSA’s effort to bring more students to the institute came from an idea that has already been implemented in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Next year we really want to do more campaigning outside of the institute to reach out to people who are on campus,” said Janice Terry, the LDSSA president for next year. “We made the ‘I am LDSSA’ campaign that kind of mimics the ‘I’m a Mormon’ campaign that’s really popular with the church.”
According to Mormon.org, The “I’m a Mormon” campaign was designed for people to get a closer look into Latter-day Saints’ lives. Members can make a profile that briefly talks about their life followed by, “...and i’m a Mormon.”
The “I am LDSSA” will follow the same lines.
“Just as Mormon.org has done a great job to personalize the church across the country; we hope to also personalize the institute here on our campus,” said Isaac Allred, the LDSSA campus relations vice president.
Allred came up with the idea to use the ‘I’m a Mormon’ campaign on USU’s campus.
“One day I was just looking at it and realized that it would be really effective in our area,” he said. “We’re just asking people to enroll in institute and make it a priority and really live their religion. It will be implemented next semester.”
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
National FFA Organization at Utah State University
High school students involved in the National FFA Organization from all over the state of Utah were at Utah State University this week. The FFA State Career Development Events are what brought them.
More than 50 high school FFA chapters were in attendance Tuesday and Wednesday. Teams from each of these schools participated in a variety of competitions from agriculture business sales, to dairy science and forestry.
“What these CDEs do for the kids is it helps them learn about a particular area that they are interested in,” said Becki Lawver, a collegiate FFA advisor at USU. “Sometimes it helps give these high school students a career direction.”
“If they win, they become the state representatives that go on to the national convention in October in Indianapolis, Ind. for the National FFA Convention,” said Jake Rudd, the collegiate FFA fundraising and banquet chair. “There are usually teams of four to five and they compete for both personal highs and team highs. Teams that get the highest combined score move on to the national competition.”
Both days were reserved for the different competitions within the agriculture department. Tuesday night, the collegiate FFA held a dance for the high school students in the Nelson Fieldhouse.
“These students pay $5 to get in and we usually get about 300 to 400 of them,” Rudd said. “This is one of our major fundraisers for the year. It brings in money so we can hold these events for them.”
“It was pretty easy and all the kids were pretty good,” said Jimmy Lotspeich, a member of USUs collegiate FFA. “I think the kids really enjoy coming up here for that.”
USUs collegiate FFA helps the high school students with the timing and judging of the events, according to Rudd.
“We are like the backbone to the high school students,” he said. “The Utah FFA Association mainly runs the show. They plan it and we help accomplish it.”
The CDEs are a great resource for high school students to learn hands on what it is like to work as teams.
“The high school kids learn leadership and learn how to be on a team and how to present,” said Ashley Buhler, a collegiate FFA member at USU. “They learn communication, verbal skills, writing and a lot of different things that will apply in their future careers.”
“What they are learning here can be applied to other aspects of whatever they decide to do after school,” Lotspeich said. “The communication skills are huge and the leadership and teamwork aspects are what really are going to help them.”
The USU collegiate FFA members use the CDEs as a way to recruit high school students to come to the university.
“Bringing them to campus is a great thing for us at Utah State,” Lawver said. “They get to see what we do here and we get to promote our campus and the things that we do.”
More than 50 high school FFA chapters were in attendance Tuesday and Wednesday. Teams from each of these schools participated in a variety of competitions from agriculture business sales, to dairy science and forestry.
“What these CDEs do for the kids is it helps them learn about a particular area that they are interested in,” said Becki Lawver, a collegiate FFA advisor at USU. “Sometimes it helps give these high school students a career direction.”
“If they win, they become the state representatives that go on to the national convention in October in Indianapolis, Ind. for the National FFA Convention,” said Jake Rudd, the collegiate FFA fundraising and banquet chair. “There are usually teams of four to five and they compete for both personal highs and team highs. Teams that get the highest combined score move on to the national competition.”
Both days were reserved for the different competitions within the agriculture department. Tuesday night, the collegiate FFA held a dance for the high school students in the Nelson Fieldhouse.
“These students pay $5 to get in and we usually get about 300 to 400 of them,” Rudd said. “This is one of our major fundraisers for the year. It brings in money so we can hold these events for them.”
“It was pretty easy and all the kids were pretty good,” said Jimmy Lotspeich, a member of USUs collegiate FFA. “I think the kids really enjoy coming up here for that.”
USUs collegiate FFA helps the high school students with the timing and judging of the events, according to Rudd.
“We are like the backbone to the high school students,” he said. “The Utah FFA Association mainly runs the show. They plan it and we help accomplish it.”
The CDEs are a great resource for high school students to learn hands on what it is like to work as teams.
“The high school kids learn leadership and learn how to be on a team and how to present,” said Ashley Buhler, a collegiate FFA member at USU. “They learn communication, verbal skills, writing and a lot of different things that will apply in their future careers.”
“What they are learning here can be applied to other aspects of whatever they decide to do after school,” Lotspeich said. “The communication skills are huge and the leadership and teamwork aspects are what really are going to help them.”
The USU collegiate FFA members use the CDEs as a way to recruit high school students to come to the university.
“Bringing them to campus is a great thing for us at Utah State,” Lawver said. “They get to see what we do here and we get to promote our campus and the things that we do.”
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Kappa Delta 75th Anniversary
The Beta Delta chapter of the Kappa Delta sorority at Utah State University will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding on May 8.
Alumni from all over the country gathered at the Kappa Delta house in Logan on April 13 and 14 for the anniversary party. Women came from as far as Alaska and Florida to reunite with those with whom they were in the sorority.
“Some women haven’t seen each other in five years; some haven’t seen each other in 30,” said Judy Lawton, the chapter advisor for Kappa Delta who planned the event. “We have women who are in their 80s all the way down to the freshmen in college.”
April 13 was a day of bonding where the alumni visited the sorority house to see the changes and visit with current Kappa Delts. On the following day, a Saturday, former Kappa Delta national president Julie Johnson delivered a keynote address on the sorority’s history. That evening, the women had a banquet together.
“The celebration of the 75th was a wonderful opportunity to meet sisters and share an experience of a lifetime with each other,” said Brooke Lawley, a Kappa Delta member. “Kappa Delta will continue to grow and flourish and before we know it, we'll be celebrating 100 years.”
About 200 women were in attendance throughout the two days. Some who came attended college as far back as 1945 when they were first initiated as Kappa Deltas, according to Lawton.
“We have an unfinished room downstairs and when people are initiated, they write their names on the walls,” Lawton said. “When the women came back, they were finding their names and it was really neat.”
Kappa Delta is a service-based sorority and the young women are proud of the things they are accomplishing.
“We help four national philanthropies,” said Kayleigh Shaughnessy, the president of the Beta Delta chapter. “Prevent Child Abuse America is one and we work with the Girl Scouts of the USA. We do fundraisers and donate to the Orthopedic Research Awards and also to the Children’s Hospital in Richmond, Va.”
Lawton said the Kappa Delts have a lot to be proud of.
“I just think that if you have 75 years of history on a campus, then you are doing something right,” she said.
And Lawton agreed. “It's great to know that not only are we making our nationals proud but also our alumni who came before us and started so many great traditions,” she said.
Alumni from all over the country gathered at the Kappa Delta house in Logan on April 13 and 14 for the anniversary party. Women came from as far as Alaska and Florida to reunite with those with whom they were in the sorority.
“Some women haven’t seen each other in five years; some haven’t seen each other in 30,” said Judy Lawton, the chapter advisor for Kappa Delta who planned the event. “We have women who are in their 80s all the way down to the freshmen in college.”
April 13 was a day of bonding where the alumni visited the sorority house to see the changes and visit with current Kappa Delts. On the following day, a Saturday, former Kappa Delta national president Julie Johnson delivered a keynote address on the sorority’s history. That evening, the women had a banquet together.
“The celebration of the 75th was a wonderful opportunity to meet sisters and share an experience of a lifetime with each other,” said Brooke Lawley, a Kappa Delta member. “Kappa Delta will continue to grow and flourish and before we know it, we'll be celebrating 100 years.”
About 200 women were in attendance throughout the two days. Some who came attended college as far back as 1945 when they were first initiated as Kappa Deltas, according to Lawton.
“We have an unfinished room downstairs and when people are initiated, they write their names on the walls,” Lawton said. “When the women came back, they were finding their names and it was really neat.”
Kappa Delta is a service-based sorority and the young women are proud of the things they are accomplishing.
“We help four national philanthropies,” said Kayleigh Shaughnessy, the president of the Beta Delta chapter. “Prevent Child Abuse America is one and we work with the Girl Scouts of the USA. We do fundraisers and donate to the Orthopedic Research Awards and also to the Children’s Hospital in Richmond, Va.”
Lawton said the Kappa Delts have a lot to be proud of.
“I just think that if you have 75 years of history on a campus, then you are doing something right,” she said.
And Lawton agreed. “It's great to know that not only are we making our nationals proud but also our alumni who came before us and started so many great traditions,” she said.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Raising the Barn
The USU Museum of Anthropology has been around since 1963, when Dr. Gordon Keller, the first USU anthropology professor, arranged the first exhibit displays in the basement of Old Main.
Since then, plans have been made to move the museum from the second floor of Old Main, into the Old Art Barn. Right next to the barn is planned to be a new welcome center for USU.
“The building itself is a historical landmark, so that means they can’t tear it down,” said Holly Andrew, staff assistant in the anthropology program. “The alternative solution that our program director proposed, was to make museum space and a visitor center for our school because we don’t have one.”
Anita Gamez, a member on the executive board of the anthropology club, is hopeful and excited for student involvement.
“We do a lot of outreach to the community but it’s really hard when the museum is on the second floor of Old Main,” Gamez said. “We have a lot of exhibits but they are just jammed together. If we had more room we could do a lot more.”
The anthropology department and the club interact with the museum quite often, according to Andrew.
“We have a very active museum-studies program,” she said. “It is so hands-on and having a bigger space will let these guys do some more really cool stuff.”
The anthropology club helps the museum with activities throughout the year.
“The biggest thing we help out with is homecoming,” said Josh Clementz, a member on the executive board of the anthropology club. “The museum always has a parade float and usually about 50 to 60 percent of the students helping with that are a part of the anthropology club.”
“These guys help out a lot with our major fair, which helps get people aware of what you can do as an anthropology major,” Andrew said. “It’s just ways of getting the students be active which will be really helpful when it comes to getting jobs to show that you’re really active and supportive of your major.”
The anthropology club likes to enhance the academics of anthropology with fun activities to make things more interesting.
“We made a murder mystery dinner called ‘Who Killed the Last Neanderthal,’” Clementz said. “It was about someone killing a neanderthal and we interwove actual theories about the neanderthal and their life history in genetics so it would be both fun and educational.”
“It’s fun to network with your peers,” Andrew said. “If you actually participate in a club, you get to know more of what you can do with your field.”
Friday, April 20, 2012
Dawn Breakers
A new dawn will begin for the Dawn Breakers club at Utah State University.
A club dedicated to waking up early in the mornings will be starting up again after it took a short break.
Nathan Ruben, the founder and president of the Dawn Breakers, held a meeting to go over the newly reinstated constitution.
“It was an idea I had when I first got here to Utah State,” Ruben said. “The Dawn Breakers is designed for people to have a place and time to meet and do something active.”
When the Dawn Breakers first started, it was not an official USU club. It began as a few friends getting up early in the morning just to be healthier.
“I’d wake up between 5 and 5:30 in the morning and I felt really good—especially if I did something active,” Ruben said. “There were four or five of us that would get up to the Field House no matter how cold it was.”
Ruben had applied for the Dawn Breakers to be an official club to be sponsored by USU in February, but never heard back. Recently he has heard otherwise.
“We didn’t even know we were a club,” he said. “A couple of months ago I got a phone call saying that I haven’t been attending my mandatory meetings. I had no idea.”
Since then, Ruben has taken off with putting the organization together.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Ruben’s wife, Sarah. “Iv’e been there and done that--you study till three in the morning and then you get up and you feel like crap,”
The next step for the Dawn Breakers is to incorporate more service projects. One activity that Ruben would like to start is shoveling sidewalks on campus that aren’t maintained by the city or the school.
“I think there is a lot of people who would like to have the mentality to wake up early,” Ruben said. “They don’t think that they are a morning person, but they’d like to say they did something good with their morning.”
“It will be worth trying,” said Evan Thacker, a prospective member. “Some friends and I were talking about doing an early morning hike before and now we can.”
“Here’s my theology—everyone inside is actually a morning person, but your body is not a morning person,” Ruben said. “When your body is tired, even if you’ve gotten enough sleep you’re still tired. We need some people who are really gung ho about it to really bulk up the membership.”
Ruben wants to keep the club going during the summer.
“It’s not for the faint of heart, the Dawn Breakers,” Ruben said. “It’s sort of a daunting task. You really try it and you’ll realize the benefits immediately.”
A club dedicated to waking up early in the mornings will be starting up again after it took a short break.
Nathan Ruben, the founder and president of the Dawn Breakers, held a meeting to go over the newly reinstated constitution.
“It was an idea I had when I first got here to Utah State,” Ruben said. “The Dawn Breakers is designed for people to have a place and time to meet and do something active.”
When the Dawn Breakers first started, it was not an official USU club. It began as a few friends getting up early in the morning just to be healthier.
“I’d wake up between 5 and 5:30 in the morning and I felt really good—especially if I did something active,” Ruben said. “There were four or five of us that would get up to the Field House no matter how cold it was.”
Ruben had applied for the Dawn Breakers to be an official club to be sponsored by USU in February, but never heard back. Recently he has heard otherwise.
“We didn’t even know we were a club,” he said. “A couple of months ago I got a phone call saying that I haven’t been attending my mandatory meetings. I had no idea.”
Since then, Ruben has taken off with putting the organization together.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Ruben’s wife, Sarah. “Iv’e been there and done that--you study till three in the morning and then you get up and you feel like crap,”
The next step for the Dawn Breakers is to incorporate more service projects. One activity that Ruben would like to start is shoveling sidewalks on campus that aren’t maintained by the city or the school.
“I think there is a lot of people who would like to have the mentality to wake up early,” Ruben said. “They don’t think that they are a morning person, but they’d like to say they did something good with their morning.”
“It will be worth trying,” said Evan Thacker, a prospective member. “Some friends and I were talking about doing an early morning hike before and now we can.”
“Here’s my theology—everyone inside is actually a morning person, but your body is not a morning person,” Ruben said. “When your body is tired, even if you’ve gotten enough sleep you’re still tired. We need some people who are really gung ho about it to really bulk up the membership.”
Ruben wants to keep the club going during the summer.
“It’s not for the faint of heart, the Dawn Breakers,” Ruben said. “It’s sort of a daunting task. You really try it and you’ll realize the benefits immediately.”
A Week of Service
At the end of every year, Utah State University holds its traditional A-Week.
The week combined the customary activities of A-Week with service opportunities and it was dubbed “A Week of Service.”
“We tried to get them combined because originally A-Week was a week of service,” said Mandy Morgan, the service week programmer in the service center. “A-Week is a 102-year-tradition. They’ve done it almost since the University began.”
In past years, A-Week and Service Week were held in the same week, but they were separate in the fact that activity times would conflict.
“They had an A-Week schedule as well as a Service Week schedule and it didn’t mesh well,” Morgan said. “A lot of the activities were clashing times as well. You could either go do service or you could go to the activity.”
This semester, the A-Week activities were mostly service based. Some projects were—contests for picking up litter around campus, putting together humanitarian kits and a project to repair the steps by the LLC parking terrace.
On Saturday there will be a service highway clean-up project hosted by USU alumni.
“I’m excited for the opportunity for students to get involved,” said student Cher Sten. “You don’t have to take that much time out of your day to just drop by and make a toy for a kid or something else to put in time.”
“I think it’s great that they have this so that other students can get involved,” said Lindi Andreasen, a student. “I think it’s important for students to get out and meet new people as well as serving others.”
Friday night there will be a True Aggie Night and a dance party on the Quad. All will be hosted by Kisstixx, a product seen on the hit ABC series “Shark Tank.”
“It’s going to be the traditional True Aggie Night where you can come and kiss anybody and become a true Aggie,” Morgan said.
Other activities that were held during the week included chariot races, a glow-in-the-dark “undies” 5k race and a Hawaiian luau hosted by the Polynesian club.
Many students hope that A-Week will continue to be service oriented in years to come.
“A-Week is all about being proud to go to Utah State,” Andreasen said. “Doing service is something to be proud of and it says something about Utah State as a school.”
The week combined the customary activities of A-Week with service opportunities and it was dubbed “A Week of Service.”
“We tried to get them combined because originally A-Week was a week of service,” said Mandy Morgan, the service week programmer in the service center. “A-Week is a 102-year-tradition. They’ve done it almost since the University began.”
In past years, A-Week and Service Week were held in the same week, but they were separate in the fact that activity times would conflict.
“They had an A-Week schedule as well as a Service Week schedule and it didn’t mesh well,” Morgan said. “A lot of the activities were clashing times as well. You could either go do service or you could go to the activity.”
This semester, the A-Week activities were mostly service based. Some projects were—contests for picking up litter around campus, putting together humanitarian kits and a project to repair the steps by the LLC parking terrace.
On Saturday there will be a service highway clean-up project hosted by USU alumni.
“I’m excited for the opportunity for students to get involved,” said student Cher Sten. “You don’t have to take that much time out of your day to just drop by and make a toy for a kid or something else to put in time.”
“I think it’s great that they have this so that other students can get involved,” said Lindi Andreasen, a student. “I think it’s important for students to get out and meet new people as well as serving others.”
Friday night there will be a True Aggie Night and a dance party on the Quad. All will be hosted by Kisstixx, a product seen on the hit ABC series “Shark Tank.”
“It’s going to be the traditional True Aggie Night where you can come and kiss anybody and become a true Aggie,” Morgan said.
Other activities that were held during the week included chariot races, a glow-in-the-dark “undies” 5k race and a Hawaiian luau hosted by the Polynesian club.
Many students hope that A-Week will continue to be service oriented in years to come.
“A-Week is all about being proud to go to Utah State,” Andreasen said. “Doing service is something to be proud of and it says something about Utah State as a school.”
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