Higher Education

Political involvement at Columbia College is a lot like the summer Olympic Games — it only occurs every four years.

“Every four years, everyone gets fired up about the issues, but the party-affiliated clubs die down between elections,” said Anthony Claypool, director of student activities at Columbia College. “It is not that we are not politically active on campus; we just have a lot of trouble keeping people involved.”

Putting together puzzles, playing Scrabble and discussing current events may seem like simple activities, but when done in an unfamiliar language, they can be much more challenging. At MU, foreign students are using these activities to practice language skills.

Students in the Intensive English Program visit Lenoir Retirement Community every other week to socialize with residents and practice English.

The need for employment is the reason Janet Howard drives 100 miles from Hannibal to Columbia every day.

Howard has worked at MU for two years. She is the administrative assistant for the Black Studies program, handling all fiscal work necessary to keep the program going.

The case of the missing bras has been solved. Here’s what happened:

On Monday morning, Stephens College students and faculty strung up a banner adorned with 40 decorated bras at College Avenue and Broadway.

In the face of allegations of academic dishonesty, MU teachers and students now have the opportunity to determine a grade sanction without involving disciplinary action by the Provost’s Office.

Jim Devine, who oversees academic integrity issues on campus, said he thinksthe value of the new MU Honor Code lies in protecting students’ futures.

Higher education and music are family affairs for Richard Hocks, professor emeritus at MU’s Honors College, and his family.

Hocks has taught English at MU since 1965 and at the Honors College since 1969. He, his wife, Elaine, and two of their four children have doctorate degrees in English and teach at the university level. They are also accomplished musicians.

Eric Troolin’s 29th birthday was a surprise party one year in the making.

But the surprise wasn’t for him but for his guests, a couple of hundred students who went to Francis Quadrangle at MU at noon Monday.

The Stephens College Playhouse Company will open a two-week run of the dramatic comedy “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” or “Dangerous Liaisons,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Macklanburg Playhouse.

Set before the French Revolution, it is a tale of seduction among French aristocrats, according to the college theater

A nationally known speaker on homosexuality and morality told an MU audience last week that how people think and talk about gays and lesbians leads to false assumptions about homosexual relationships.

“Heterosexual people have relationships while homosexual people have sex. Heterosexual people have lives while homosexual people have lifestyles,” said John Corvino, a professor of philosophy and ethics at Wayne State University in Detroit. Corvino’s speech Thursday night in Allen Auditorium ended Coming Out Week activities on campus.

A change in rules designed to reduce competition in donating blood did nothing to reduce community support of the 19th annual Homecoming Blood Drive held last week at the Hearnes Center. This year’s event, which exceeded Red Cross’ expectations, generated 3,783 blood donations, said Jim Williams, communications manager of the Missouri-Illinois Red Cross.

“The students were as anxious to give as they ever have been,” Williams said of the event, which received a national award Tuesday for being the most successful blood drive during the Red Cross’ Save a Life tour last year.

For 16 years, National Coming Out Day has been celebrated throughout the country on Oct. 11.

The date commemorates the 1987 march on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. MU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center extended the celebration with a week’s worth of activities to celebrate and support members of the LGBT community.

On race days, Justin Wilson can be found either navigating a course for MU’s solar car or monitoring the car’s performance and analyzing data.

Wilson, president of the Mizzou Solar Car Project, is in charge of communication with the College of Engineering, race officials and others involved. He is in management for a reason.

Since January, Bill Benoit has been quoted more than 800 times in newspapers and on radio and TV broadcasts. His expertise on political communication is sought in Columbia and nationally, and most of the time, it is respected.

When it is not, it’s probably a Rush Limbaugh-like incident. The conservative radio talk-show host attacked an article in 2001 that quoted Benoit as saying some Americans might have thought the president wasn’t doing his job, given the long vacation President Bush was taking at the time.

A new study says hundreds of thousands of college students who might be eligible for federal financial aid don’t get it for a simple reason — they don’t apply.

The study released Monday by the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities, says that half of the 8 million undergraduates enrolled in 1999-2000 at institutions participating in federal student-aid programs did not complete the main federal-aid application form.

Faculty, students and alumni of Columbia College gathered Saturday to dedicate the Atkins-Holman Student Commons. The dedication was a part of Family Day and Homecoming events.

College President Gerald Brouder said the new structure is a huge achievement that shows the bright future of the college.

Mel George is heavily involved in MU life, despite his official retirement five years ago.

George arrived at MU in 1960 and has held an assortment of positions, including assistant professor of mathematics and vice president of academic affairs. He is also a two-time interim president of the university system. Although he also taught at the University of Nebraska and St. Olaf College, he always returned to Columbia.

Tucked away behind towering Memorial Union, the A.P. Green Chapel has stood on the MU campus since 1959. The chapel celebrated its 45th anniversary Oct. 11, with its original purpose and design in mind —a quiet retreat for those at MU.

The nondenominational chapel is open to anyone on campus for personal use and can be reserved for weddings, funerals, initiation ceremonies or other events. Last year, 87 events were hosted in the chapel.

Royce Russell is a bit of a perfectionist; he says his imperfect body and feet have made him that way.

“My foot doesn’t arch naturally the way a really good dancer’s should,” Russell, 18, says. “It never will, and that’s the type of thing that can set you back years.”

Amy Moeller is learning more than how to create art this semester.

Moeller, a junior art major at Columbia College, is taking a special problems course that allows her to be the student curator for the Larson Gallery on the Columbia College campus. art professor and supervisor Ben Cameron set goals, objectives and expectations for her curator experience.