Final Project Progress Report

For my final project, I am investigating the Campus Activities Board budget over the past five years. With all of the extravagant activities that CAB plans, I want to know where the organization is  receiving all of the money from.

Within the past couple weeks I have conducted interviews with the public relations chair of CAB, Sarah Dyke and the director of CAB, Lee Tabor.

During this final week, I am working on retrieving the documents needed for this investigation such as the past budget plans and expenses made by the Campus Activities Board within the past five years.

The Rolling Stone Rape Controversy

Last November, Rolling Stone Magazine published a story titled “A Rape on Campus,” that took place at the University of Virginia where a student described her devastating account of a gang rape that happened at a campus fraternity house. The reporter’s main goal was to write an article on rape culture on college campuses, and to gain a new perspective on sexual assault.

After the article was published, Rolling Stone received several questions and concerns that their story was not entirely truthful. The Washington Post uncovered particular details of the story proving the article was not fully genuine.

The first thing that went wrong with the story, was that the reporter became too emotionally attached to the main source. Also, the story was passed around through too many other sources, and certain details of the article lost its validity. The reporter did not check certain facts with sources, and did not completely follow through with the investigation. The magazine set aside essential practices of reporting that could have caught the editor’s eye and retracted the story earlier. They also failed to put all of the missing details of the story together, some of the statements made toward the story didn’t make any sense.

After the story was published, The Washington Post uncovered numerous details suggesting that the alleged assault could have taken place the way it was described in the Rolling Stone Magazine article. Once The Washington Post released its concerns with the article, the story rose to a national controversy.

To fix the problem the editors and publishers at Rolling Stone asked Steve Coll, dean of the Colombia School of Journalism, to investigate any lapses in reporting, editing, and fact-checking in the article.

In their investigation, the Colombia University investigators researched other rape victim stories, and listened to interviews from the sources from the “A Rape On Campus” and they found that nothing matched up. The investigators searched for sources mentioned in the story and asked them certain question about details mentioned by the main source.

When the report came back from the investigators, I thought Rolling Stone Magazine accepted gracefully. The magazine wanted to gain some of their credibility by doing an investigation. The credibility of Rolling Stone has definitely been damaged.  

Scamming and Solving

Three years ago, my best friend and I were planning to go to the beach and we decided we should get a base tan before we go. We were new to Huntington, and wasn't sure of the best places with the best prices. We looked up tanning salons online and found one that seemed decent with good prices.

My friend and I went to Sun Tan City, and we both got tanning packages, but my friend spent a little more money than I did. I paid $35 for a month of tanning, but my friend spent almost over $400 on a tanning package.

I am not easy to fool, but my friend is. The problem was caused by both sides, my friend should have had more common sense, and the Sun Tan City employees should have never overcharged a college student that much money. But the main problem was after my friend asked to get the package cancelled, they kept putting it off, and she never got any of her money back.

The first thing I would do would be to contact the Attorney General, as well as the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. Then I would call Sun Tan City's corporate office and file a complaint. These steps would be my first course of action.

SGA Debate

 Before the elections had ended, I attended the final debate between the Student Body President candidates. The presidential and vice presidential had the opportunity to share their opinions on topics such as campaign strategies, personal platforms, and funding.

The candidates consisted of David Oye for president and Luke Cooley for Vice President, Duncan Waugaman for president and Isabelle Rogner, and Alex Parlock for president and Hayley Breeden for vice president.

One of the most important subjects discussed at the debate was SGA funding, and how within the past year SGA has not been consistent with their funding to club sports, with money to spare at the end of the year. Parlock argued how important it was to have SGA use all of the funding money so they would in return, be receiving more money, but on the other side of the argument Waugaman disagreed with the statement by saying SGA would not spend funding money carelessly.

Another topic of the debate as was the location of campaigning from the candidates. Oye and Waugaman both decided that campaigning at the local Huntington bars was a good idea, but Parlock expressed how he felt it wasn't a good campaigning strategy.

When the time came for the debate to open to the audience, the candidates received very interesting questions. An audience member asked Oye why his vice president, Cooley was answering majority of the questions and more effectively. Oye responded to the question by saying that he wanted to be short, to the point, and easy to understand.

All of the candidates discussed their platforms, and they all had good ideas and visions for the future of Marshall University.

SGA Meeting 3/24/15

I attended a Student Government Association meeting on March 24th. This meeting was a bit longer than the last meeting, and a lot was discussed and a lot of new ideas were made known.

One of the main things SGA focused on were the activities and benefits of Assessment Day which is to be held on April 15th. For everyone who takes the assessments given by their professors will be able to attend a small party held by the Campus Activities Board with fun, food, and music. The council wants this to be a fun thing for students to do so more students will participate in their class assessments.

Another major issue on the agenda was the announcement that St. Mary's medical students are able to use the recreation center.

A funding bill was also up for motion for Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and the motion was passed.

Further details for Assessment Day was brought up in the meeting again as well. One of the main speakers for the event will be Tim Melvin.

Then there was a motion to move certain acts and laws to judiciary adsoradum. These acts and laws included SGA Financial Accountability Act, Resolution to Create New Law, and certain rules on voting for new members.

All of the executive members and advisors had particular messages for the council as well.

SGA Meeting 3/10/15

                On March 10th, I attended a Student Government meeting to gain insight on issues that were being discussed within Marshall University. The meetings are always held by the Student Body Vice President Lila Mangus.

                The Student Government council talked about a particular funding bill for the Surgery Interest Group, which was held for discussion and later was approved.

                Each executive member of SGA including the Student Body President, Pro Tempore, Parliamentarian, Treasurer, and the Campus Life and Service Committee.

                The Senate Banquet was announced to be on April 21st at 6:30, and Kick Butts day was announced to be on April 22nd.

                This meeting was particularly short, and not much was discussed, but nonetheless it was interesting to hear what was going on within the university.

Huntington State of the City Aftermath

In the 2015 Huntington State of the City Address Mayor Steve William elaborated on the future developments, budget plans, and hopes for the city. In my latest prediction, I said that Williams would discuss new developments for the city of Huntington, and in result link all parts of Huntington together. Williams also touched on the budget for this year as well, as I predicted.

Williams described Huntington as a “vibrant, teeming with optimism, fiscally sound and is at the beginning of a renaissance.” As I predicted, a major topic of the address was the three new additions that I previously discussed. These new developments is a major part of the renaissance that Mayor Williams hopes for the city.

The first project that Williams sees in the future takes place on Hal Greer Blvd. corridor, which also includes Northcott Court. The second project is on the west end of Huntington, focusing on the River to Rail area. The third project includes the ACI plant property located just east of Marshall University, and west of the Highlawn neighborhood. Williams said “with these three projects combined, with a proposal to deploy high-speed broadband, will provide our city with the greatest opportunity for consistent expansion since the 1940’s.”

These three new developments will consist of retail and commercial businesses. As Williams previously discussed, high-speed broadband will be a major part of these additions to the city. He also stressed that high-speed broadband will act as a “virtual ribbon” between the three developments.

I predicted that the budget would be a major point and a high concern addressed in Williams’s speech. The 2015 budget for the city will be down 5% from last year’s budget. Williams stated the revenue for the city is projected to be $1,613,455 less than what was originally projected for the current fiscal year.

The new developments and the budget for the city were a major part of my prediction for the State of the City Address, but I also missed a lot of things that Mayor Williams discoursed. Mayor Williams highly stressed his concern with struggle of addiction in the city. He took quite a bit of time on the topic of addiction, and said that it was the largest issue that Huntington was currently facing. “We need to move our focus from the dealers, to the dealers and addicts,” Williams said. He also proposed the idea to establish a comprehensive plan that is all-inclusive of government agencies, recovery houses, recovery programs, hospitals, medical centers, and medical schools.

Lastly, Williams discussed his vison to embrace diversity and celebrate our differences. Williams not only wants to focus on diversity when it comes to race, but sexuality as well. He has formed a LGBT Advisory Council to act as a liaison between his office and the community.

I predicted that Williams would discuss three new major additions to the city as well as the new budget, which were correct, but I overlooked some his most important points regarding the LGBT community and the addition in Huntington. With all of these ideas combined there is no doubt that Huntington, West Virginia will continue to grow and develop.