Annual crime reports released

By Sarah Wilson
Editor-In-Chief

In a tally of campus crime so far this year, vandalism and damage to property ranked at the top of the list, at 22 incidents.  This type of crime edged out last year’s winner, lost or stolen property, which dropped by almost half.  

Meanwhile, police say they believe they’ve caught the perpetrator of a recent string of car burglaries. A male juvenile has been arrested and charged on several counts, according to Lamar Peacock, interim chief of campus police.

Out of the 129 incidents reported from January through October, about a third took place in parking areas, involved a vehicle or both. According to the report, incidents are concentrated at four locations on campus: Kincannon Hall and its parking lot, Callaway Hall and its lot, Hogarth Student Center/ and the cafeteria, and Goen Hall and its lot, all at nine incidents each. Chief Peacock said that the majority of car thefts resulted after students left their car doors unlocked.

Other figures in this year’s crime report for January through October 2008 showed that 
reports of harassment and stalking at the W had risen from three to 10 incidents. Seventeen reports of car accidents were filed. There were nine reports of auto burglary, followed by eight reports each of trespassing. One death (in the faculty apartments) and two suicides were reported.

Among classroom buildings, Cromwell alone logged five incidents; Painter, Parkinson and Martin together accounted for another five.

MUW has also recently released the 2007 crime report required by the Cleary Act, which requires all public and private educational institutions to disclose security policy and crime statistics annually. The act requires universities to make pubic certain offenses including murder, negligent and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible and non-forcible sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, vehicle theft, arson and hate crimes involving bodily injury. The Cleary Act also requires reporting arrests for illegal weapons possession, and arrests for both drug and liquor law violations. According to this report, MUW had few major crimes on campus in 2007 – one motor vehicle theft and 26 home and auto burglaries.

“I consider MUW to be a very safe campus, considering the economy, and crime is the way it is today,” said Lamar Peacock, interim chief of police. “The students, faculty and staff are all working together and looking out for each other. To me, I think that this is one of the safest places in Columbus – right here on this campus.”

Increasing diversity, both in the student population and in their perspectives, was the focus of Dr. Sandra Jordan’s recent trip to China.

This trip was the first in a series to set up agreements with universities abroad. These agreements will make it easier for those students to receive a visa to come to MUW and for MUW students to gain visas to study abroad.

Jordan, the vice president of Academic Affairs, worked with Chinese universities to develop programs in which students at the W and students in China can use technology to exchange ideas in certain classes. Jordan also worked to develop joint degree programs and dual degree programs.

“President Limbert and the faculty understand that we live in a pluralistic nation and that our graduates will be working and living with diverse people. Assuming that our curriculum and educational aims include preparing students intellectually and practically for the world they will live in, then it is important for our students to understand people who are different from themselves,” Jordan said.

The main way that the W is trying to increase this understanding is by internationalizing the W campus. This includes encouraging students to take a foreign language, making sure that appropriate courses have a global focus, providing opportunities for students to travel abroad, and recruiting international students to MUW.

Jordan emphasized the importance of U.S. students’ understanding the languages and cultures of others around the world. “For individuals to make a difference in this world...they must first understand it.  Many educators across the U.S. believe that the key to building greater national security and a more peaceful and respectful world is to increase global knowledge and engagement among this nations young adults.

We need to do all we can to prepare students to compete and contribute globally. In order to lead, our students must demonstrate an appreciation of diverse cultures, understand global perspectives, and develop anti-isolationist attitudes.”

In years past the W had a much larger international student population than it does not. After Sept. 11 however, it became much more difficult for international students to receive U.S. visas. Countries such as Canada and Australia have seen an increase in international students since the U.S. instituted new visa requirements. Setting up agreements with foreign universities will make it easier for international students to obtain their visas.

While many W students often wonder why international students cometo their school, Jordan gave several reasons: MUW has high rankings in magazines such as the U.S. News & World Report, is in a smaller town, and-despite how expensive tuition may seem to local students-offers education at an affordable price. That small-town atmosphere, she said, provides international students a safe atmosphere to improve their English skills while learning more about American culture.

“The students I met in China are eager to understand American culture and meet U.S. students. They speak English, follow world news, watch U.S. programs on TV, and they desire to learn more about our history, culture, political structure, and society. I was impressed by the fact that they are very sophisticated in their understanding of how important it will be to their futures to be multilingual and to integrate global perspectives into their education,” said Jordan.

With this increased focus on internationalizing the W campus, it remains to be seen what the student’s lives will be like once they get to the W. The W currently has 40 international students from 24 countries. However, their living situation has not always been a pleasant one.

When the campus closes for holidays, these students are left to fend for themselves at meal time. They pay a fee for each day they stay in their dorm room.

Jordan acknowledged that there have been some problems, saying, “We are looking critically at all our support systems for international students to determine how we can do a better job of meeting their needs-for example, providing more options during holidays. We hope to implement improvements to those support systems very soon.”

These changes will be necessary if the W wants to keep international students coming to the W.

Students are not the only ones being affected by this move to internationalize. This move will continue to bring international faculty to campus, encourage collaborative research, and give faculty opportunities to work abroad. During her trip, Jordan worked to initiate faculty exchange programs, set up opportunities for international professional development, and stimulate international faculty research collaborations.

New W dispatcher honored

Janet Pickard, MUW dispatcher, recently received two awards from the university police department for her service to the school.

Pickard, originally from Louisiana, started working at the W in August of this year. She was previously a corrections officer at the second largest maximum security male prison in Louisiana. While Pickard was there she was selected for the Mounted Tactical Force Team, which was like a search team that had to be ready at a moment’s notice if someone escaped a jail or prison. “Kind of like minute men,” she said.

Also while Pickard was there she received the “Officer of the Month” award. She had the least seniority of anyone who had ever received that award. She left there a sergeant. “Working at the prison was one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done,” said Pickard.

While at the W she has received two awards from the W Police Department for her “Outstanding Performance.” Interim Chief of Police, Lamar Peacock said, “She [Pickard] really goes above and beyond her job description. She does her best to keep this campus as safe as possible by checking IDs and really getting to know the students so she can turn away anyone who could be a potential threat.”

Pickard said, “Being at this front gate is an important post, because if I can prevent something from happening that’s my goal. I love the W and enjoy working here. I like getting to know the students, faculty, and staff, and if we all work together we can make this a safer campus.”

Culinary Arts prepares for two Finals Dinners

The MUW Department of Culinary Arts will be holding its two Finals Dinners on Nov. 13 and 20 in the Pope Banquet Hall. The dinners will start at 6:30 with a brief cocktail hour, followed by the main dinner.

These student-run dinners, a regular occurrence for the Culinary Department’s Food Preparation III class, take the place of both a Capstone course and final exams.

At first, one may think that a dinner, even the eight-course meal MUW’s students are creating, involves nothing more than simply preparing a few standard dishes.  However, much more goes into creating a successful service.

The Prep III class must, over the course of several weeks, secure a suitable space, rent and/or buy any necessary missing tools and service vessels, determine the total cost of all used recipes, distribute invitations to notable members of local society, select wines, construct an efficient, assembly line-style “hot kitchen” staff, and coordinate the service of the food.  All of this must be done before even a single dish can be prepared.

Throughout the course of this dinner, Culinary Arts majors take in lessons in budgeting, logistics, public relations, time management, and of course, cooking.

“This is a wake-up call for anyone that wants to cook, both in business and cooking,” said senior Culinary Arts major Scott Davis. “After all, it doesn’t matter if you know how to use caviar if nobody orders it.”

The actual work has been divided into several smaller groups. The head chef, regardless of the implications of his title, is actually more in charge of the business side of cooking.  The budgeting, the equipment rentals, the organization of the remaining workers, all these are the head chef’s responsibility.

The sous chef takes on the role of active kitchen leader. He or she is the true front line commander. The sous chef finishes all partially cooked dishes, leads the hot kitchen team in fully cooking all unprepared dishes and in assembling the finished plates quickly and uniformly. 

The Maître d’ acts as head of all service. The confirmation and seating of guests, taking of orders and delivery of dishes are all overseen by this individual. In the case of MUW’s Finals Dinner, the wait staff services are provided by another Prep III course.  Each of the two courses will serve for the other.
Also, to make sure that the delicate tasks of selecting appropriate wines and creating delicate and delicious breads and sweets are handled correctly, each Finals Dinner has on its staff a sommelier, or trained wine guide, and patissier, or pastry chef.

The final part of the Finals Dinner team is the core of the whole operation.  This final part, the team of recipe testers, is responsible for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each dish to be served and to test various ways to prepare it.  This is crucial for the smooth operation of the dinner as a whole. Without the recipe testers examining all the potential problems in preparing a dish, culinary disasters could occur.

The MUW Culinary Arts Finals Dinners are invitiation-only, but for those who are lucky enough to receive an invitation, the cost of a ticket is $60.