While reading through (last) week’s Collegian, I was shocked with how the election was handled.

I realize there wasn’t much lead time and the president won the election, but the article was incredibly one-sided.

I look at the front page of the newspaper as the “News” section.

Only the first three paragraphs were news; the rest was opinion.

If a particular columnist who wanted to explain why he or she voted for the president and use quotes from fellow students who also voted for him, that’s fine.

I found it inappropriate that, in a “news” article, only one person was interviewed who voted for Governor Romney, and the writer made the assumption that students only voted for Romney because they didn’t like the president.

If you want to write a news article, make it unbiased. If it’s opinion, label it as such.

Opinion should be kept off of the front page.

                    —Matt Siler
        Senior

In any community, the free flow of information plays a vital role in people being able to do their jobs.

Butler University needs to take ownership of and interact with the newspaper and all other forms of media in a constructive and collaborative manner.

The Butler Collegian—among other media outlets connected to the university—belongs to the entire community.

This is true of every newspaper but particularly at colleges like Butler.

In such a small population, each individual’s voice matters more than it does at bigger schools.

When people participate in the discussion, whether they love or hate an issue, the community is strengthened.

In other words, voice your opinions to campus media about how you feel about important issues.

Participate.

Even a single opinion can redirect the media’s focus.

In this nation, journalism is valued because it comforts the afflicted and holds public officials accountable for their actions.

That includes issues that happen out of sight or that may go unnoticed.

Like any part of democracy, newspapers function only as well as their community.

If anyone feels that issues are being ignored, they owe it to the newspaper to say so.

The same is true when readers feel that issues are getting too much attention.

Without input or interaction, Butler grows weaker.

If no one offers criticism, those in power may not see their shortcomings.

That goes for journalists, too.

Everyone in the Butler community can and should demand nothing less than the best from both the administration and student media.

Participate in readership surveys. Attend open forums and town hall-style meetings. Write letters to the editor.

Discuss important issues with anyone who will listen.

If students, faculty and staff feel that power is being abused—it is not simply a right to challenge it.

It is a sacred duty.

If someone feels he or she is going unheard, he or she must speak up.

Every perspective in the community has value and should be given a chance.

So do your part: Voice your perspective.

Butler University students returned from the semester break to find a newly appointed interim provost who could serve in that position for as long as three semesters.

Even an interim appointment has the authority to change the focus or goals of his or her department, and this can change the experience of hundreds if not thousands of students.

Top administrators should recognize that the choices they make about higher faculty and staff positions affect large portions of the Butler community, and these effects are more than political.

We at The Butler Collegian believe that at the very least, the administration should give  students a chance to meet and voice concerns to all perspective members of the university’s leadership,  particularly provosts, since students are members of the affected community.

Recently, President Jim Danko appointed psychology professor Kathryn Morris as interim provost after Jamie Comstock announced she was stepping down from her position.

The university sent out an email naming Morris as the interim provost and detailing the reasons for the decision on Dec. 21 of last year.

In making that decision, it was a mere few weeks before most students would have much of a chance to interact with their new provost.
This is not to say that students should have had any real authority to make the decision, but it is reasonable to suggest that, as members of the community, they would at least bear witness to this change.

The president has the authority to make these appointments, and we are not doubting his choice.

Still, there is room and even cause for a change in precendent; students deserve at least an observational role in the process.

The administration made its decision and consulted faculty in the form of forums.

At Faculty Senate on Dec. 6, Danko also asked for input from the Butler faculty.

Instead of questioning the decision,  this is a matter of principle.

The provost has immense authority to shape the future of the university.

Students should at least be able to observe and meet with appointees who have as much authority as a dean, provost or president.

If the interim provost was only going to be serving for a short time, the matter might be a different story.Danko told Faculty Senate on Dec. 6 that the appointment could last from six to 18 months.

That means that for most  juniors and seniors, Morris may be functionally the same as a permanent provost.

Frustration also stems from the idea that announcements are not released to inform the most students, staff and faculty possible but to maximize smooth transitions.

The university has the right to release or withhold information as it sees fit, but Butler’s administration should not operate solely as a private business entity even if it can.

This is a new idea; students having opportunities to formally meet new provosts has not typically characterized Butler’s past.
It’s also in keeping with the idea of a liberal arts college in such a small community. Even on the personal, non-professional level, little changes can have big ripples.

The administration should definitely try to keep the university running smoothly, but they should also keep members of the community informed.

Knowledge should move freely in a place of higher learning.

We at the Butler Collegian believe it is the right of all active student organizations to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech and to act as the independent organizations they are.

We are outraged that members of the Butler University faculty and staff would take it upon themselves to regulate the planned activities of a recognized student organization.

Recently, the student advertising organization, ADrenaline, put up posters around the Fairbanks Center promoting a guest speaker for their Oct. 6 meeting. All of the posters that were placed around the building were stamped and approved by the Programs for Leadership and Service Education office and therefore the university.

The speaker, from the Miami Ad School, spoke to the organization about a variety of topics, including the current state of the advertising industry, as well as a postgraduate summer “boot camp” and workshops offered through the school’s programs.

ADrenaline president Jonathan Spear said he noticed the posters were missing on Oct. 5.

College of Communication Interim Dean Bill Neher said the posters were removed because they were hung in inappropriate locations around the Fairbanks Center, though he said he does not know who removed the posters.

According to the 2010-11 Student Organization Handbook, “Notices and signs must clearly state the official name of the sponsoring organization or individual, and may be posted only on bulletin boards. Signs posted on departmental bulletin boards should be approved by the appropriate academic department.”

The handbook continues to state that, “Signs may not be posted on the small corkboard space outside of classrooms.”

In addition, “Signs posted on interior and exterior walls, windows, doors, elevators, floors, sidewalks and on any wood or painted surfaces, will be removed.”

Many of the posters were inappropriately posted on interior windows, walls and doors inside the Fairbanks Center however, other posters were left in these locations. There was a legally placed ADrenaline poster on the bulletin board outside of the Collegian office that was removed as well.

Though CCOM Interim Associate Dean Ann Savage said she removed one of the posters to look it over, she said she has no idea who took down the rest of the posters.

But recent interviews conducted by the Butler Collegian reveal that the motive for removal may have gone beyond the posters being inappropriately placed.

Both Savage and Mark Rademacher, strategic communication program director, said they were concerned about the guest speaker from the Miami Ad School due to a possible conflict of interest.

Even though we don’t see this as a conflict of interest because Butler offers no undergraduate nor graduate degrees in advertising, this is not the issue at hand.

What infuriates us is that faculty members within our own CCOM felt they had any right to intervene with the situation. The fact is, student organizations are independent and run by student leaders. They earn money by fundraising and applying for grants through the Student Government Association. They do not receive money from specific colleges.

The Student Organization Handbook says that faculty advisers are there to “Serve as a sounding board off of which students can bounce new ideas; Intervene in conflicts between group members and/or officers if necessary; Be knowledgeable of policies that may impact the organization’s decisions, programs, etc.; Help students navigate administrative ‘red tape’; Provide an outside view or perspective; Provide student groups with University and community connections.”

Other than this, there is no reason why any outside faculty or staff should involve themselves with the ongoings of a student run organization.

This should not apply only to ADrenaline, but to all other student organizations.

One thing that Butler prides itself on is the large number of student organization and the high involvement of Butler students within these organizations.

They facilitate socialization, service and a sense of learning outside the classroom. We think that the colleges and Butler as a whole should be supportive of these organizations and their efforts to bring students together and to bring students a diversity of learning and information.

We at the Butler Collegian see Butler as an institution that prides itself on honest and open discussion. University President Bobby Fong embodies that through his weekly “President’s Open Forum” in Starbucks.

By trying to suppress ADrenaline’s right to act independently and its freedom of speech, we see this as a grave contradiction to what we feel Butler stands for as an institution of higher education.

Between Butler, its six colleges and its student organizations, it is imperative that all act with integrity and professionalism, and we feel that those two factors were missing in the way some faculty within CCOM handled the ADrenaline and Miami Ad School situation.

This issue demands our attention so that students will not feel their programming ideas and projects could be suppressed. That includes student organization’s activities.

We must stand up for the students’ First Amendment privileges so that students do not fear losing these rights.

Who does not like a good vacation? I know I do. It’s a time to get away from your career and put the stress of the world behind you.

But what if you are the President of the United States? I’ve got a feeling it might be a little more difficult to escape the stress of that career choice.

Since taking office in January 2009, President Obama has taken 48 vacation days.  Obama, along with his wife and daughters, frequents Martha’s Vineyard and its Blue Heron Farm, a 28.5-acre getaway that the President rents for weeks at a time.

I get that Obama is a fan of heading up east every now and then with his family, but what about his predecessors? Were they actually taking the week off from being president and delegating their tasks? I don’t think so.

While in office, President George W. Bush spent roughly 487 days at Camp David, the presidential retreat.  He was also known to head down South to Crawford, Texas—490 days to be exact. Then there is the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine where he spent 43 days.

That’s 1020 vacation days, more than one-third of his presidency.

But, Bush and Obama are not the first commanders in chief known to take long siestas.

President Bill Clinton, when he left office, had only taken 152 vacation days and was described by staffers as a “workaholic.”

His predecessor, George H.W. Bush spent roughly 543 days shuttling between Washington, D.C., Camp David and Kennebunkport, Maine.

Ronald Reagan loved to head back to his native California to spend time at his famous Santa Barbara ranch—335 days in eight years.  Before him, Jimmy Carter spent only 79 days vacationing away from Washington, usually in South Plains, Ga.

President John F. Kennedy and his family would spend long summers at the Kennedy Compound on the coast in Hyannis Port, Mass.

So with all these vacation days racked up by presidents over the years, it begs the question,  are they really on vacation?

According to White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, not really.

“Whenever you talk about a presidential vacation you ought to put the word vacation in quotes because you can bet that there will still be work that he’s doing every day,” Burton said in a recent press conference.

Sure you can go up to Martha’s Vineyard for a week or head down to Texas for a month but there’s one thing you can’t escape and that’s running a country.

For years, presidents have been known to have secondary residences that they “vacation” at for long periods of time. These residences become known as the “western White House” by the public, media and Secret Service.

These homes are fitted by the Secret Service for security and manned by staffers so it becomes about as secure as the White House.

Lyndon Johnson spent most of his time at the “LBJ Ranch”, in Blanco County, Texas. Nixon had “La Casa Pacifica”, in San Clemente, Calif.  Reagan had his “Rancho del Cielo”, in Santa Barbara, Calif. George W. Bush’s Crawford Ranch was his “western White House.”

While all these men spent great portions of their Presidencies at these retreats, they always had their staff in tow.  All hosted royalty and heads of state from around the world, conducting business away from Washington.

Throughout his eight years in office, President Bush hosted 18 heads of state on his estate in Crawford. It is even rumored this is where the decision was made by the President to go into Iraq.

To give President Obama, or any other president, grief for escaping the stress of the Beltway every now and then is a pretty baseless argument.

To say that nothing is accomplished while out of the nations capital is an even larger farce.

Lately there has been a lot of fuss about a “war on poverty.” I often find myself wondering about this so-called war.

I see homeless people all the time when I drive down Meridian Street, so obviously we aren’t faring too well.

However, the government’s fight against soaring poverty rates is something that we should all be concerned with.

Close 44 million Americans were living in poverty in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This number does not include the Americans that purchased lavish houses on a string of credit that would barely support a studio apartment. These people were adversely affected but not driven into poverty.

I’m talking about Americans, who in this economy, have been robbed of their jobs. Americans whose jobs have been outsourced to India, Americans who worked at automotive plants that were shut down after a failed government bailout.

I’m talking about neighbors, friends and family that are now living paycheck to paycheck, trying to get the most out of their money while simultaneously being crushed by the weight of this recession.

Many of those directly responsible are still living substantially better than the 44 million in poverty-—many of whom worked hard for what they eventually lost.

The government is doing what it can, but, regrettably, it is not enough.

Since the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson, we have been fighting this “War on Poverty” and losing miserably.

The Census Bureau found that an increasing number of Americans, across all family types are falling into the pit of poverty and that 14.3 percent is the highest it has been since 1994. This is the most people living in poverty in American since data was first collected in 1959.

Not only do we have a substantial amount of poverty, we are exceeding the previous poverty records that have been set for our nation. There is nothing to be proud of here.

This fight is a tricky one. There is no clear solution to eliminating, or even reducing, poverty.

I do think there are a series of steps to help repair our poverty-related problems.

The first step is to find those Americans who are simply living off of welfare or unemployment.

We need to implement motivational programs that inspire these people to get their foot in the door of the work force.

These programs could be as simple as training  seminars, sessions on  how to present oneself in an interview or free resume´ critiques. Services like these are commonly offered on college campuses, including here at Butler.

The biggest issue in the unemployed sector isn’t so much laziness as it is a lack of knowledge of the skills it takes to successfully attain a job, even if it is an entry-level position.

If the government provided American citizens with these tools and then the encouragement to implement them in the work force, there could be less poverty and an increase in jobs, which therefore creates an increase in revenue that in turn boosts our economy.

The second step is more of a direct result of the first step rather than a completely separate suggestion.

Once we seek out the people who are living off of welfare and other government-supported benefit programs, there will be more money available to help those citizens who are having a more difficult time locating available jobs in their area.

My misgiving with this “War on Poverty” is that there are things that Americans can do that will make it easier for them to attain a job in today’s struggling market.

However, the public cannot fix everything on its own.

Some of these problems need to be addressed by those who have the most influence and power-—the government.

In a recent article for USA Today, Bob Beckel, columnist and democratic strategist, said, “The fact is most poverty is concentrated in areas with fewer well-paying jobs. We can’t expect the government to supply all those jobs, but there is still a role for government to play to encourage the private sector to create jobs in these poverty zones.”

We are not the only ones who can solve this poverty crisis.

We desperately need the help of the government to boost available jobs in the areas most affected by poverty.

Without government assistance, I’m afraid the poverty rate will only continue to grow, as will the income gap between the upper, middle and lower classes.

It is imperative for us as a nation to band together and help the government fight the “war on poverty.”

We need more widely available jobs, as well as less outsourcing.

The main key to fighting poverty begins with the youth.

What we need to be focusing on is showing children how important school is for their future. If more children complete high school and continue on to college, they will be able to choose a career path and create new jobs, as well as make the existing ones more of a necessity.

Perhaps, one day, this “war on poverty” will come to a close and American’s can walk away the victor.

Good news: the pay gap between women and men in today’s workforce is the lowest on record.

Wait, there is a pay gap? Within the first half of 2010, women earned roughly 81 percent of what men earned, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is the smallest pay gap recorded. Yet, this pay gap is still causing women to earn almost 20 cents less per dollar than men. It’s ridiculous.

Although I have to applaud the fact that the pay gap is getting smaller, it still is not equal pay between the sexes.

Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University, told The Cleveland Plain Dealer “big progress has been made, but a 20 percent pay gap remains significant.”

This decrease of the pay gap is caused by many factors, one of which is women making up 65 percent of liberal arts schools’ students and majors. Until recently, this area of study was dominated by men.

In recent years, women have begun a slow takeover in the workforce, however, they are still hindered by unequal pay.

According to Heidi Hartmann, president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “No progress on the wage ratio
has been made since 2001, and women actually lost ground this year. Falling real wages for women indicate a decline in the quality of their jobs. The economic recovery continues to disadvantage women by failing to provide strong job growth at all wage levels.”

The current state of the economy is not helping women either.

With job availability going downhill, the opportunity for women to become involved in desired job fields is decreasing.

While some job fields may be steadily growing as the economy works to get back on its feet, other job fields are remaining idle and offering no potential for women entering the workforce. Due to a lack of jobs, women are forced into
poverty or living without health insurance.

Over 17 million women have no health insurance. Our systems for ensuring health care and economic security are
failing America’s women. The workplace is becoming less female-friendly.

With men dominating a large portion of available jobs, women are forced to stay at home or accept minimum wage
jobs.

This is causing female-headed household poverty rates to soar. “The poverty rate for female-headed households increased to 28 percent in 2003, and poverty among adult women rose to 12.4 percent,” according to the insitute’s study director Vicky Lovell.

Even if women are lucky enough to find jobs, they are not guaranteed equal pay to their male counterparts. They are guaranteed a measly 81 cents on every dollar that men earn.

But men are not to blame for the pay gap.

Warren Farrell, author of the book “Why Men Earn More: the Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap and What Women Can Do About It,” argues that women make less than men due to the jobs that they choose based on their responsibilities
at home.

The higher paying jobs generally require long hours at the office, frequent travel and longer commuting times.

Women are less likely to choose these more time consuming options than men are, Farrell said.

Another reason a pay gap exists is because women are better at balancing the work life and the home life.

I feel that men generally just work nonstop and count on their wives to take care of issues within the home. Why is this the normal stereotype though? Why are women expected to choose between a career and motherhood?

This pay gap is an atrocity considering the fact that in 2010, women only make a fraction of what men earn. More men should be staying at home so that women are afforded the opportunity to chase after their dreams.

The Equal Pay Act, signed into law June 10, 1963, by President John F. Kennedy, says that there is to be no discrimination within the workplace. It is supposed to keep situations such as this, from occuring.

Although there is no outward discrimination towards women, there are more subtle forms, such as the difference in
earnings between men and women. It is speculated that during a lifetime worth of work, that women suffer a wage loss equivalent to $2 million for a professional school graduate.

Women can work for 47 years and still lose $2 million worth of their earnings.

How is it that 47 years have passed since the Equal Pay Act went into effect, yet there is a pay gap substantial enough to rob women of their earnings, up to $2 million?

The only way to truly solve this problem is for not only women, but people everywhere to be proactive about abolishing the pay gap so that everyone in the working class has the right to the pay that they deserve.

Although the pay gap between men and women may not be an issue at the forefront for most Americans, it needs to be.

After 47 years of injustice, knowledge and action are the only weapons that can dismantle this machine of inequality.

The Humane Society of Indianapolis and other close affiliates are experiencing increased overcrowding of homeless animals in their facilities.

In light of this, Butler should actively give back to our community organizations that help our four-legged friends.

“We are actually budgeted for 300 animals and we have 550 in the system right now,” Christine Jeschke, director of shelter operations at the Indianapolis location, said.

According to Indy.com, the Noblesville location is overcrowded by nearly 100 pets.

The overcrowding is due to our struggling economy.  In an article from the Indianapolis Star, Jeschke explains this.

“[People} are downsizing into smaller [living spaces] that don’t have yards and are moving into apartment complexes where they can’t take their pets,” she said. “They literally have no choice but to turn their animal in to a shelter.”

Some people just can’t afford to feed their pets anymore.

In any case, people’s lives have been turned upside down by the economy. They have to change everything, give up so much, and find their pets a new home in area shelters.

The Humane Society of Indianapolis is just 15 minutes from Butler’s campus, located on Michigan Road. Being a nonprofit, the organization relies heavily on volunteers. They have openings every day of the week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., so there is a time slot for any schedule.

The Humane Society also relies on foster parents for animals. Fostering lessens the overcrowding in the Humane Society buildings and provides a better environment for animals that need close care.

If you don’t have the time to volunteer or room to foster a pet, consider donating a percentage of your income to the Humane Society.

The Humane Society puts $600 into each animal that they take care of.  With so many overcrowded facilities it becomes increasingly expensive for organizations to house pets, but it costs under $150 to adopt a pet.

Instead of continually breeding animals, people should be looking to help those that already need a home.

This past May I chose to adopt my dog Willow, from a rescue organization called P.A.W.S.  Similar to the Human Society, P.A.W.S. is a great organization that helps animals find a home and people find their best friend.

Want to get class credit for helping out? Butler offers a physical fitness course called “Walking, Wagging and Wellness”.  In this class you go to the Humane Society twice a week and spend time with the animals as well as help the people that work there.

“The other day we helped clean the cages and did laundry to take time off the hands of the employees,” senior Stephanie Tutterow said. “The number of animals is always fluctuating and they always seem stressed out about it.”

This is a serious problem around the county that needs to be identified and accepted.  The treatment of or pets is a reflection on our society and we are currently overlooking this facet.

With our community involvement, the Humane Society’s overcrowding could be drastically lessened, if not eliminated completely.

On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig burst into flames due to a methane leak. Two days after the explosion, the oil rig sank into the sea, and thus began the story of the now legendary “BP oil spill.” Recently, the federal joint investigative panel is reviewing communications between Halliburton and BP in the days before the oil spill. According to C-SPAN.org, the Halliburton “technical adviser who warneed BP that the company’s well design posed a risk of gas flow will testify Tuesday.” Another Halliburton official has reserved his right to the Fifth Amendment, therefore his attorney will be testifying in his place.

After 85 days of constant news feed and heart-breaking coverage of the rig furiously spewing oil from the bed of the ocean, and picture after picture of oil-soaked wildlife, the leak is contained. From August 3 to 12 the well was pressure tested and ultimately sealed to confirm that the leak had been stopped. The damage, according to federal estimates, is hovering somewhere between 93.5 million and 184.3 million gallons of oil clumping and spreading over the ocean, killing every living organism in its path.

After this trauma to the public, the economy of the Gulf and most importantly, the affected wildlife, it is hard for me to feel confident in the cap they’ve tossed onto this heap of disaster settled comfortably at the bottom of the Gulf. The leak had to be contained to preserve the ocean and wildlife. That much, I know with all certainty. According to the Huffington Post, “Pressure from the oil gushing out of the ground could fracture the well and make the leak even worse.”

So now, the American public sits, fingers crossed, hoping this cap can withstand the enormous pressure being placed upon it. I sincerely hope the cap stays on the well and that slowly but surely, we can put this disaster behind us.

However, after this catastrophe, I’ve learned to disregard absolutely everything BP says. They dragged their feet coming up with a plan to fix a leak that they should have already been prepared for.

This is one situation where BP should have heeded the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” Instead of spending billions on ad campaigns assuring the public that they were exercising every option in their power, while gallon after gallon of oil spread over the ocean’s surface like a death sentence, they should have been avidly, and silently, working to plug the leak.

Everyone is so focused on the oil spill, wondering how the cap will hold, when the oil will run out and how much wildlife was actually damaged in this chaotic disaster. But what about the dwindling economy of the Gulf?

When this disaster happened, I know I was not the first person lining up to purchase seafood. But there are so many other businesses that were ruined by the BP oil spill.

Restaurants and fishermen have been put in a perilous position, unable to make enough revenue to sustain their businesses or even feed their families. Florida is the “spot” when it comes to summer vacations, and although I’ve never been, I know several of my friends visit annually.

Unfortunately, this year I also know several friends who cancelled their summer Florida vacations due to the oil spill. I would imagine that a good portion of the Gulf states’ revenue pours in during the months of June, July and August, and with next-to-no vacationing, the economy is definitely feeling the pain of BP’s carelessness.

We can help prevent disasters of this kind by reducing our dependence on oil. I know we have E85, but the ethanol fuel is not really reducing our oil addiction; it’s just adding corn to the mix.

What we need is serious research that moves us to a point where we are not relying on an energy source that is so dangerous to retrieve and poses such a threat to both wildlife and our still-fragile economy.

If we could come up with a new source of energy that would eliminate the need for natural oil, we would be saving the Earth and increasing our self-sufficiency, but also, we would be establishing a standard for clean energy and showing other countries that we care about finding these cleaner sources  immediately.

After 85 days of horrid photos of dying wildlife and 85 days of watching my mother pace the living room floor wringing her hands, hoping the leak would stop, it has finally been halted. For now. Hopefully this cap can contain the oil and we can try to reverse the damage BP has caused to the Gulf’s oceanic wildlife.

Remember, the answer is not “How do we improve our oil rigs?” The answer is research for clean energy sources and more regulation on deep-well drilling. After BP’s disastrous performance in the Gulf, I’m not so sure that the public will be comfortable with traditional drilling methods.