Chase Daniel named Heisman Trophy finalist

themaneater
The student voice of MU since 1955
Vol. 74, No. 28
Columbia, Missouri • Friday, December 7, 2007
themaneater.com
Alert system tested Chase Daniel named
A test of the new campus alert
system among MU Division of
Information Technology staff was
a success, IT Director Terry Robb
said.
In the Dec. 3 test, the division
sent a message to 267 members of
its staff. Of those, 199 confirmed
within an hour that they had
received the alert.
Many people who didn’t confirm were off campus or away
from their communication devices, Robb said.
At least one message was
erroneously sent to a university
employee who wasn’t a member
of the DoIT staff, Robb said.
“We think it was as some bad
data entry,” he said.
Robb said the misdirected call
might have been the result of a
typo that occurred one of two
ways. The intended recipient of the
see ALERT, page 10
missouri students association
$100K not
used this
semester
MU TESTS
ALERT SYSTEM
The Division of Information Technology
tested the a new campus alert system by
attempting to use it to contact its
employees. The system issues alerts by
phone, text message and e-mail.
267 called,
199 confirmed within an hour
35%
confirmed on
business phone
33%
confirmed on
cell phone
28%
confirmed
by e-mail
4%
confirmed by text message
Source: IT Director Terry Robb
LINDA WATERBORG/PRODUCTION MANAGER
Heisman Trophy finalist
The winner of the
Heisman Trophy
will be announced
Saturday.
Junior quarterback Chase
Daniel needs to get the extra-special hair gel out for this weekend.
On Wednesday, he was named
as one of the four finalists for the
Heisman Trophy, which will be
awarded Saturday in New York.
The other nominees are
Florida’s sophomore quarterback
Tim Tebow, junior running back
Darren McFadden of Arkansas
and senior quarterback Colt
Brennan of Hawaii. McFadden
see CHASE, page 10
ANDREW WORRALL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Missouri junior quarterback Chase Daniel calls the play during the Dr
Pepper Big 12 Football Championship game in San Antonio on Dec. 1.
Daniel was named one of the four finalists for the Heisman Trophy, whose
winner will be announced Saturday.
Sledding on Stankowski
GWEN DANIELS
Staff Writer
STEPHANIE LEVY
Senior Staff Writer
The Missouri Students
Association has just under
$100,000 sitting idly in its contingency and reserve fund.
MSA Vice President Andrew
Cafourek said he’s known where
the money was supposed to go all
semester, but did not know the
specific amount of money in the
fund itself.
The money has been there
since the beginning of the fiscal
year, July 2007.
Cafourek cannot officially
allocate any of the money before
the end of his term, because the
last MSA Senate meeting of the
semester was Wednesday.
“Since we already had a meeting, there’s no more chance to do
that this semester,” MSA Senate
Speaker Jonathan Mays said. “The
time is up. It’s not that rules are
meant to be suspended, we just
have no more meetings.”
“There’s really no immediate need to address this money,”
Cafourek said. “It will be there
until the end of the fiscal year,
so all of next semester. I’d much
rather deal with this as one whole
chunk than divide up the money
into little pieces.”
Cafourek said MSA budgets
for a certain amount of rollover
money to go into the contingency
and reserve fund, but typically
that amount is no greater than
$20,000. One of the reasons for the
unusually high rollover from this
fiscal year is the result of salary
see FUND, page 10
Students
condemn
gossip blog
ANDREW WORRALL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Freshmen Anand Manivannan and Clayton Lucas sled down a slope near Stankowski Field late Thursday.
“That sled was the best investment I ever made,” Lucas said after crashing the sled at the bottom of the hill.
Students united to condemn
a gossip Web log targeting MU
students.
The Black Leadership Alliance
released a joint news release
against the blog “Blast Your Azz,”
which posted gossip about the
black student community at MU.
The Black Leadership Alliance
operates through the Legion of
Black Collegians and is composed
of many of the black organizations on campus.
Groups such as the National
Pan-Hellenic Council, National
Association of the Advancement
of Colored People and LBC, along
with several sororities, fraternities and professional groups such
as the National Society of Black
Engineers, signed the release.
In the statement, the Black
Leadership Alliance declared it
see BLOG, page 10
MU Students might not see birth control discount
RYAN MARTIN
Staff Writer
Two similar bills in the U.S.
House of Representatives and
Senate would restore a discount to
student health centers by adding
them to the list of providers that
could obtain and sell birth control
prescriptions at reduced rates.
But MU students might not see
the discount, University Hospital
and Clinics officials said.
The Prevention Through
Affordable Access Act was intro-
duced to the Senate on Nov. 13 by
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. There are
26 cosponsors on the bill, including
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
It aims to fix an oversight in
the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
that excluded student health
centers from the list of providers
with access to the reduced prices,
McCaskill spokeswoman Maria
Speiser said.
Related legislation was introduced to the House on Nov. 1 by Rep.
Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y. Missouri
Representatives Russ Carnahan,
William Clay and Emanuel Cleaver,
all Democrats, are among the bill’s
135 cosponsors.
Planned Parenthood, a family
planning clinic that offers reproductive health services, is working to provide assistance on this
legislation, said Michelle Trupiano,
spokeswoman
for
Planned
Parenthood of Kansas and MidMissouri.
“College students don’t have a
lot of money, and if it comes down
to eating or birth control, there’s
a high risk of unintended preg-
nancy,” Trupiano said.
The prices for birth control at MU
range from $18 to $55. According
to University Hospital and Clinics
spokesman Jeff Hoelscher, these
prices are likely to stay the same.
In 1990, in the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act, Congress
made revisions to the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services by
including Medicaid’s nominal price
exemption.
With the NPE, drug manufacsee ACT, page 10
10 the maneater
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007
NEWS
CHASE: Daniel a finalist ACT: Discounts won't apply to MU
Continued from page 1
finished in second place in the
Heisman voting last season, when
Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith
took home the award.
Daniel is expected to at least tie
the highest finish in the voting for
a Missouri player ever. Running
back Paul Christman finished
third in 1939 and, before Daniel
this year, no Tiger has finished in
the top 10 of voting since Danny
LaRose in 1960.
1960 was also the last season
that the Tigers won an outright
conference championship, when
they were in the Big Eight.
Daniel has thrown for 4,170
yards and 33 touchdowns this
season. He has completed nearly
70 percent of his passes and has
also rushed for four touchdowns.
In his final five games, he has
thrown 16 touchdowns to just
two interceptions.
The Heisman, undisputedly
the most prestigious award in college football, has been awarded 70
times. And 70 times, the winner
has been either a junior or a senior.
But Florida’s Tebow could change
that.
Tebow has thrown for 3,132
yards and 29 touchdowns, and has
rushed for 22 more. He has thrown
and rushed for a touchdown in
every game this season as his
Gators have gone 9-3 in the brutally tough Southeastern Conference.
HEISMAN
FINALISTS
Chase Daniel, Jr., QB, Missouri
Hometown: Southlake, Texas
4,170 yards,
33 touchdowns passing
Colt Brennan, Sr., QB, Hawaii
Hometown: Laguna Beach, Calif.
4,174 yards,
38 touchdowns passing
Darren McFadden, Jr., QB, Arkansas
Hometown: Little Rock, Ark.
304 carries, 1,725 yards,
15 touchdowns rushing
Tim Tebow, Sr., QB, Florida
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
3,132 yards,
29 touchdowns passing
194 carries, 838 yards,
22 touchdowns rushing
Source: ESPN.com
AMY OSLICA/GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Brennan has thrown for 4,174
yards and 38 touchdowns in
Hawaii’s pass-happy offense. He
did this despite missing games
against Charleston Southern and
Nevada with injuries. The Warriors
were the only team in the country
to finish the regular season 12-0.
If McFadden wins, he would
become the fifth player in Heisman
history to win the award the year
after finishing second.
— Mike Bushnell,
sports editor
ALERT: 267 contacted
Continued from page 1
message could have entered incorrect contact information into the
employee information database,
or the typo could have occurred
when the National Notification
Network, the company contracted
to provide the alert service, put the
number into its database. But, he
said, he was only speculating on
the mistake.
“We’re still looking into it,” he
said.
The message was sent to the
employees via cell phone call, then
text message, then e-mail and then
their business phone. When the
employee received the alert, they
were asked to confirm reception
of the message by pressing one on
their cell or business phone, clicking on a link in an e-mail or reply-
ing to a text message.
“Once started, the average
elapsed time to confirmation was
seven minutes,” Robb said.
Robb said other departments
with the authority to initiate the
system are conducting smaller
tests among their employees. He
said other departments are planning tests and the Division of IT is
assembling a list of Residential Life
hall coordinators to try issuing an
alert to them.
Robb said in the event of an
actual emergency, the responsibility of activating the alert system
will fall on senior campus officials.
“At some point, the campus will
control the broadcast,” Robb said.
“It will not initiate it.”
— Elliot Njus,
news editor
BLOG: Orgs. condemn
Continued from page 1
neither condones nor supports the
blog. The release pledged to correct any problems created by the
blog and to take “proactive measures” to prevent similar situations
in the future.
“As Black Leaders on this campus, we strive for the university’s
values; Respect, Responsibility,
Discovery and Excellence,” the
release stated. “We would like to
promote these values within the
minority population.”
The release also asked people to
ignore the blog.
Instead, people should “focus
on things that uplift the community,” the release stated.
The site was a topic of discussion
at last week’s Black Man’s Think
Tank forum, a meeting sponsored
by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
for black men and women to talk
about current issues at MU.
Alpha Phi Alpha president
Branden Gregory likened the blog
to a gossip column about the black
community at MU.
“Blast Your Azz” is no longer
accessible. The posts were deleted
from the blog after readers left
hundreds of negative comments in
response. In the comment’s place,
the blog’s anonymous author wrote
an unapologetic letter defending
the blog.
Soon after, the site was shut
down completely.
Continued from page 1
turers who sold their products at
less than 10 percent of the average price to charitable organizations and other safety net providers
were rewarded by not having to
pay increases in Medicaid rebates
to the states.
This act originally allowed university health centers and pharmacies to purchase and sell birth
control at a reduced cost.
Missouri State University’s
Taylor Health and Wellness Center
pharmacy sold brand name prescriptions for less than $12, Senior
Technician Jennifer Weter said.
Congress made provisions
to the act when they passed the
Deficit Reduction Act. The provisions, enacted in January, created a
new list of safety net providers who
were eligible for the nominal price.
University health centers were
excluded, causing the price of
birth control to increase in student
health centers.
Today, Weter said, the price
of birth control at her pharmacy
ranges from $14 to $65.
The cost of birth control at
many universities increased by $50
overall, Trupiano said.
The price of birth control at
MU’s pharmacy was not affected
by the new legislation because
the pharmacy never sold the
drugs at the reduced rate originally, Hoelscher said in an Aug. 24
Maneater report.
The pharmacy is not directly
affiliated with the Student Health
Center. The pharmacy is open
to students, faculty, staff and
patients.
The pharmacy was able to
purchase birth control at a
nominal price, but other factors prevented the pharmacy
from providing similar prices that were found at other
university health centers that
work strictly with students,
said Steve Calloway, University
Hospital pharmacy services
manager.
“When prescriptions are dispensed from a pharmacy, there are
specific requirements for dispensing, including labeling,” Calloway
said.
The university does not plan
to provide a pharmacy strictly for
students, Student Health Center
Director Susan Even said.
Planned Parenthood sells birth
control for half the price of MU’s
pharmacy. Their prices work on a
sliding scale from free to the $25,
depending on the patient’s income.
The center is open to students of all
income levels.
Planned Parenthood is still able
to buy at the nominal price, but
will be ineligible by the year’s end
if the new legislation does not pass,
Trupiano said.
FUND: Many options for MSA money
Continued from page 1
rollover for unfilled paid positions
in MSA.
“We have to budget for all
position salaries, paid or unpaid,”
Cafourek said. “Since we had these
positions vacant for most of the
year, we can’t just delete those salaries. So they’ll go into the C and
R (contingency and reserve) fund
until we find someone to fill that
position.”
One of the salaries that rolled
over into the contingency and
reserve fund is the Student Life
Web programmer, who resigned
last April.
Cafourek said the money is also
intended to support the initiative to
put condoms in the residence halls
and to save funds for the construction of the new student union.
“The Brady project will easily
cost upward of $1 million and that’s
all revenue we have to generate
internally,” Cafourek said. “We’ve
been saving pretty extensively for
this project.”
Cafourek said he has drafted
proposals for where the unused
money should be spent, and has
presented them to Vice Presidentelect Chelsea Johnson. Johnson
said she plans to examine all budgets and auxiliaries over winter
break, but that the large amount of
rollover might be a good thing.
Johnson proposed letting the
money stay idle until the new student center project begins in 2009.
“It may look bad that it’s just
sitting there but if we have to save
it, we have to save it,” Johnson said.
“We have to be able to pull money
from somewhere to pay for Brady.
I’m sure it won’t be $100,000 completely unused.”
In the past, money from the contingency and reserve fund has gone
toward funding Big Free, a spring
music festival sponsored by the
Department of Student Activities
Concert Committee. In the past,
the committee has planned most
of its high-profile shows for the fall
semester and devoted nearly all of
spring semester to Big Free.
“What we decided to do instead
is have quality programming
throughout the entire year and
make it a little Big Free,” Cafourek
said.
Cafourek said it’s impossible
to determine how much of the
unused money is in the contingency and reserve fund. Cafourek said
about 60 percent of the MSA budget comes from student fees and
the other 40 percent from expected
revenue. Once MSA drafts its budget, money from both sources is
pooled and allocated.
The actual amount in the fund
is just under $100,000.
Stop Day moved back to Friday
ETTIE BERNEKING
Staff Writer
As the week before finals comes
to a close, students pulling allnighters and stressing over a final
exam can rest easier today.
The Faculty Council Academic
Affairs Committee moved Stop
Day, officially known as Reading
Day, from Saturday to Friday this
year. No classes are scheduled on
Stop Day so that students can prepare for finals. For three years, Stop
Day was scheduled on a Saturday.
Faculty Council Academic
Affairs Chairman Tom Phillips said
moving Stop Day to Friday was a
direct response to a request from
the students.
“Having Stop Day on Saturday
didn’t make any real sense,” he
said.
He said scheduling the Saturday
Stop Day prevented students from
having to take finals on Saturday.
When the campus-wide Stop
Day was moved to Saturday, MU’s
School of Law created it’s own
reading day for its students.
“Students want it and it’s really
that simple,” Associate Dean James
Devine said.
Several other schools offer
breaks for students before final
exams.
Baylor University, Texas A&M
University, University of Kansas
and University of Texas at Austin
have reading days as well.
Other universities, including
Kansas State University, Oklahoma
State University and the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln hold what
they call a dead week. During dead
week, professors still hold class
but offer no new assignments or
exams.
Phillips said MU only has one
reading day to meet the UM system’s requirements.
“The number of days in each
semester is based on a formula
which requires 43 MondayWednesday-Friday class sessions
and 29 Tuesday-Thursday class
sessions each semester,” Phillips
said.
He said that adding more days
off would limit regular recesses.
“Although there are advantages
to having a dead week, it often
means that Thanksgiving break is
shorter or that the semester runs
longer,” Phillips said.
Students
attending
the
University of Oklahoma had five
dead days this year but only had
three days off for Thanksgiving
break.
Phillips said there’s a balance
that needs to be reached in deciding whether to have a dead week or
a stop day.
“You have to make a judgment
of what’s best for the students
and for the campus,” he said.
“We can give you a dead week,
but you would be getting out
right before Christmas. I think
our students would be unhappy
if we did that.”
For those students who will be
glued to their books tomorrow,
the Academic Retention Services
will hold a study break event
from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Gaines/
Oldham Black Culture Center.
“Stop Day is an annual event
hosted by Academic Retention
Services designed to increase
community and foster a positive climate,” Student Services
Coordinator Andrea Simmons
said in an e-mail. “The event is
important for students to have
an avenue to de-stress, relax, and
relieve feelings of anxiety before
final exams.”
She said the event would feature games, food and a quiet
room for studying.