SPORT THE entuc Cats' decorated double play duo anchors infield PAGE 4 ringing in his ears BACK PAGE ‘ ? if“ :3} U 3 Q“ Weekend concert leaves reviewerwith welcome it a) fuesday, February 21, 2006 Celebrating 35 years of independence ky Kernel www.kykernel.com Worley makes it three’ 5 company in 86 presidential race By Sean Rose THE KENTUCKY KERNEL The campaign slogan “new vision, real results” projected on the back wall of the small ballroom in the Student Center last night as history junior Pre- ston Worley announced his candidacy for Student Government president Worley, vice president of public re lations for the Interfraternity Council, along with running mate and account- ing sophomore Scott McIntosh, spoke about the importance of women’s safe- ty in the announcement in front of about 100 people. “The most important thing has to be women’ s safety,” Worley said last night adding that he only fully under- stood the importance of the issue after his little sister came to campus. Worley said most people’s recom- mendations for improving women’s safety included better lighting and few- er bushes, but that only affects the 5 percent of women who are victimized by strangers. Worley said 95 percent of victimized women were assaulted by acquaintances and that forming teams to educate and engage people on women’s campus safety issues were more valuable in the long run. “The more people involved (in the issue) on campus, the safer women are going to be,” Worley said. Women’s safety fell into Worley and McIntosh’s “ABC plan" to improve UK. That three- -part plan calls for standing for awareness, back to basics for SC and campus life. Worley also advocated a change in punishment for UK students from local police in regards to alcohol violations. He said it isn’t fair for student he stuck with “a criminal record just because they had a drink.” Worley instead proposed having any UK student caught breaking an al- cohol- related law to be referred to “Choices," UK’ 5 alcohol abuse class, in- stead of being arrested by police. “I think it’s terrible that we are criminalizing students,” Worley said. See Worley on page 2 One of the biggest criticisms of Student Government is how students say, ‘I don’t know what it does' for me.’ ” — Preston Worley, Student Government presidential candidate Student Govern- ment presidential candidate Preston Worley speaks at his candidacy . announcement last ; night in the Stu- dent Center. Worley, a history junior, and his run- ning mate, accounting sopho- more Scott McIn- tosh, represents the third ticket to announce its can- didacy for the top 56 office. The election will be held at the end of March. lamina!” sun New cheating rule changes find ‘balance’ University Senate efforts to tweak punishments take effect this fall By Dariush Shafa THE xmucxv KERNEL A new policy regarding cheating and pla- giarism will reduce the minimum penalty for those offenses and give faculty and administra- tors more leeway when it comes to deciding student’s punishment. Currently, UK 5 minimum punishment for an offense such as cheating or plagiarism is a failing grade for the course. The new policy, which goes into effect next semester gives fac- ulty more room to decide a student 5 punish ment and to factor in mitigating circum- stances, such as a student’s past record and the seriousness of the offense. “The feeling was, the present academic of- fenses policy in official use was far too puni- tive." said Ernie Yanarella, chairman of the University Senate, the faculty governmental body that spearheaded the effort to change the policies. As a result. many faculty members pre- ferred to handle matters in secret and outside UK regulations, he said. “I think that many fac- ulty in the past, under the old rules, felt the action w an automatic E v (was too serious) and were reluc- tant to drop the hammer on a student when they could appreciate other fac- tors." said Yanarella, a po- litical science professor. The new policy allows be treated for faculty to be more judi- . . ,, cious with their punish- fairly llqhtly. ment and to take other de- _ tails into consideration, Ernie Yanarella he said chairman. “There's more of a WWW” 59""9 sliding scale on offenses,” Yanarella said. “The first offense can be treated fairly lightly" Under the new system, there is no default penalty, and students who commit academic of- fenses out of ignorance or by mistake will not face as severe a penalty as if the cheating or plagiarism had occurred purposefully. “The faculty member, in concert with the (department) chair, will have the option of a variety of penalties rather than the student failing the course," Yanarella said. “The stu- dent will receive a penalty commensurate with the seriousness of their offense." But students who believe that they can take advantage of the new system’s lighter outlook should think again, he said. “My response to that is, if a student has a willful intent to breach academic standards and does so continuously, they will find the penalties will rise considerably and quickly and they will find themselves in hot water." he said. Record keeping of prior academic offenses will also be improved, Yanarella said, a change he believes will also “serve as an effective de- terrent.” If a student with an offense has no other run-ins, the record of their offense can be expunged upon graduation as well. Yanarella also said he sees both faculty and students benefiting under the new arrange- See Offenses on page 2 “There's more of a sliding scale on offenses. The first offense can [museum 1 sun Rosalind Welch president of UK's Black Student Union, takes a break from her production work on her play “For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" last night at the Fine Arts Building. Fulfilling an ‘obligation’ to future leaders Black Student Union president sees education as force for change By Wes Blevins THE xtmucxv KERNEl Rosalind Welch just took the GRE. Unlike most students who take the exam, Welch didn‘t spend much time studying. In fact. she didn’t study at all. “My dad has a philosophy on tests,“ she said. “If it's a standardized test. somebody should have taught the materi- al somewhere along the way." Education has always been stressed in the Welch household. Both of Welch‘s parents earned college degrees ~ her fa- ther. a bachelor‘s in political science; her mother. a master's in social work. "My parents have shown me what an education can do," she said. “They made sure I stayed focused." At Louisville Central High School, Welch always enrolled in advanced cours- es, and she earned scholarships to help fi- nance her academic career. High school also provided Welch with her first experience in predominately black classrooms. Before high school. she said her classes maybe had an average of three black students. Welch admits that she came to UK be» cause her parents “made her." Still. she doesn‘t seem disappointed with her choice. “This is the best educational institu- tion in the state." she said. “My parents told me. ‘Your degree from UK will all ways stand strong.‘ " But lately. the school's strength in di~ versity has been called into question by a 40 percent drop in black freshman enroll- ment this year as opposed to last year. That decrease. Welch said. can be attrib- uted to UK not “playing on the same field with other universities with scores for scholarships." See Welch on page 2 Association gives UK student clinic bill of good health By Shannon Mason mt ktutucn mm About a year ago at this time, Univer- sity Health Services faced such concerns as inadequate patient privacy, limited space and too few reception areas —- all adding up to the possibility that the clinic could lose its accreditation. But yesterday, UK announced that UHS , the primary health care facility for UK students ~ has been fully accred- ited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. Accreditation means that UHS passed an extensive survey of its facilities that proves it is running in accordance with national standards. said Dr. Gregory Moore, the clinic’s director. Moore said accreditation is significant because many outpatient health clinics like UHS do not bother to go through the accreditation process. “Most (outpatient health clinics) don‘t go through the hassle of being accredit- ed." Moore said. “We're the only one in Kentucky that has gone through the has- sle." Moore said the process is a hassle be- SeeCllnlconpageZ