Alexandria Acord – The Hilltop Monitor

Trump vs. North Korea

Alexandria Acord — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:00:49 +0000

Years of tension between the United States and North Korea are culminating in a series of attacks and agreements with rival countries. While North Korea has had a fully functioning nuclear program since the Clinton administration, presidential opinions have differed on how to handle it. Over the years, many U.S. leaders have chosen to rely on relations with China to leverage North Korea into giving up this program, but over the past few months, the Trump administration has indicated that it will take a much more direct approach.

“The policy of strategic patience has ended,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a speech in South Korea.

Tillerson’s message, which was given on Easter Sunday, stated that military tactics would be used only if U.S. or South Korean forces were directly threatened. However, many have seen veiled threats in his ideology that a “new approach” needs to be taken to North Korean politics, and a Navy strike group was already ordered into the area in early April.

Currently, though, the main source of strategy with North Korea continues to hinge on Chinese forces, who have been known to cooperate with both sides of the issue. This supposed conflict of interest has led many, such as President Donald Trump and Tillerson himself, to decry the country’s inaction. Therefore, even as military action still appears to be a last resort, 300,000 U.S. and South Korean forces continue to participate in military drills that have become ever more accommodating to the possibility of North Korean attack. Additionally, the United States has also used economic sanctions and cyber-attacks to combat North Korean missile efforts.

As relations grow ever more unpredictable by the day, new options continue to be developed within Washington. However, figures such as Trump and Tillerson have made it clear that, whatever the course may be, it will be a direct battle between the United States and North Korea, with little intermediary assistance from other countries such as China.

Photo courtesy of Fox News.

Ely Hall to close for renovations

Alexandria Acord — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:54:44 +0000

As of this summer, Ely Hall will close for renovations, leaving the First-Year Triangle without one of its cornerstones. While the exact date of Ely’s reopening has not yet been solidified with Student Life, it is expected to last the entire 2017-18 school year. However, this is only the latest in a series of alterations made to the dormitory building throughout the years.

According to Ernie Stufflebean, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life at William Jewell College, Ely has been in a consistent process of renovation for several years. Most notably, the shower and restroom facilities were renovated this past summer, and new lighting systems were recently installed in the first and second floors. Therefore, this latest set of improvements will largely focus on the third floor, but all sleeping rooms will still be impacted.

Most renovations at the College take place in the summertime, making the year-long changes to Ely Hall especially visible for students. Rumors have abounded about the circumstances behind Ely’s closing, and many students have wondered if it is a sign of financial trouble for Jewell. However, even though Jewell’s first-year class will be smaller than usual, Stufflebean sees no potential threats to the College’s standing.

“This is an opportunity to make changes without impacting students,” Stufflebean says.

The smaller class sizes are, in part, what will make the year-long change possible, as Browning and Eaton are currently large enough to accommodate all incoming first-years on their own. In addition, the Ely lobby will still be open to the public and used for first-year events, much like sororities and fraternities are already using it to spread awareness to new students.

Like the summer projects in the past, renovations will be handled in-house by the trained Facilities Management staff at Jewell. However, spreading it out into a year-long process will ensure maximum care, according to Stufflebean. Without the rush to get the residence hall open before students return, multiple changes can be made in a single step rather than spread out over several years. Jones Hall will still be undergoing the normal summer renovations, but improving Ely will be the main focus for the College.

While Ely’s health center, fitness room and offices will stay open throughout the reconstruction, other members of the Ely staff will be relocated to other parts of the College, says Kelley Huff, Ely’s current Resident Director. Their new positions are currently unknown, but they will continue to be a part of the campus community.

The floor, ceiling and lighting in each room will be redone and in some cases completely replaced. Perhaps the largest proposed change to Ely Hall is its flooring, which is currently covered by carpeting. Stufflebean has suggested switching to a laminate-type floor made out of linoleum, similar to the dorms in Semple Hall. Semple’s floors tend to have a positive reception with students, who find them to be relatively low-maintenance since they do not require much upkeep. Students can choose to customize the room with rugs, and the laminate floor reduces the risk of allergens entering the room. While Stufflebean says switching to this variety of flooring will be more expensive, he asserts that it will serve the College better in the long run, since it has a longer life expectancy than carpeting.

In addition, Ely’s interior will be completely repainted, but one of the features that makes it a student favorite will not be changed. The residence hall’s walls, which are covered in a burlap-like material, allow for easy customization of the room—thumbtacks and tape can be used without damaging the wallpaper like in other Jewell dorms. Student Life understands that this is one of the major reasons for Ely’s popularity among first-years, and no plans for switching wall materials have been announced.

“Students appreciate the freedom,” Stufflebean says.

While the Ely project has been on slate for longer than Jewell’s branding operation, it could be likely that these changes will further back Dr. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls’ course of improving the school. Though no huge changes will be coming to Ely—as Stufflebean has dismissed the commonly-spread rumor of a Jacuzzi being installed within the residence hall—it will nevertheless serve as the cornerstone of Jewell’s constant cycle of improvement.

New Harriman-Jewell Series season announced

Alexandria Acord — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 14:00:47 +0000

The performances for the 2017-18 season of the Harriman-Jewell Series have been announced recently and will begin Sept. 16. Parsons Dance, who has performed with the Series 12 times so far, will be this year’s season opener.

This year will mark the 53rd season of the Harriman-Jewell Series. Along with the five free Discovery Concerts interspersed throughout the year, the Series is divided into two portions: “Great Music and Dance” and “Great Masters: The Ingram Events.” Each portion will have six events showcasing a wide variety of talents, ranging from orchestras and recitals to ballet and spiritual choirs.

“We try to be an arbiter of culture to shape the cultural experience,” says Clark Morris, William Jewell College’s Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director and Artistic Director of the Harriman-Jewell Series.

Morris, alongside other members of the Harriman-Jewell Office, has a hand in picking performances every season. The process is very much in-house for the College. Harriman-Jewell employees study potential new acts and travel to cultural centers, such as New York City, to see their performances live. In addition, the Series’ founder, Richard L. Harriman, was an English professor at Jewell, and his quest to bring a wide variety of acts to young and old alike lives on at WJC.

“We absolutely want students to go,” Morris says.

WJC provides both complimentary tickets for current students for every performance and a special alumni night is set aside every year that allows former students to attend performances at greatly reduced prices. This serves not only to continue the original spirit of the Series, but also as a part of its renewed initiative to bring in younger guests. Another part of this initiative are the Discovery Concerts Series, which were created to cater to a new generation of performing arts aficionados by removing price barriers and giving up-and-coming acts a chance to perform on stages like the Kauffman Center.

With both new and returning acts, this year’s Harriman-Jewell Series promises the same diversity of talent shown throughout previous seasons. Performers come from all across the globe in a unique opportunity for both students and the metropolitan community to witness great works of art right in Kansas City’s backyard.

Liberty’s smoking age raised to 21

Alexandria Acord — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:00:21 +0000

On Sept. 26, the Liberty City Council approved an ordinance that increased the smoking age to 21 within city limits. With a 5-3 vote in favor of the ordinance, Liberty now joins over a dozen other cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area that have also raised their smoking ages and follows up on a precedent set by William Jewell College’s recent campus-wide ban on smoking. This continues a trend that extends even past Kansas City borders to other parts of Missouri, with cities such as Springfield, Branson and Jefferson City considering similar legislation.

The Missouri-wide push for higher smoking ages, known as Tobacco 21, is built off numerous statistics—primarily that Missouri possesses “an above average rate of high school smoking and adult smoking.” According to Tobacco 21, Missouri also has the lowest cigarette tax rate in the nation at $0.17 a pack compared to $1.29 in Kansas. Additionally, the state spends only 3.2 percent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended amount on smoking prevention. The movement claimed its first victory in Dec. 2014, when Columbia became the first city in Missouri to pass the smoking age proposal. Only weeks before Liberty passed a similar ordinance, St. Louis County raised its smoking age to 21.

These ordinances operate on top of state law, which still establishes that the smoking age is 18. However, these local laws are constitutional by state standards and are legitimate as additions to state and federal levels.

Opponents of the ordinance claim it oversteps boundaries, citing the fact that at age 18, one has the right to vote and join the military, making a person of that age an adult who is not in need of government intervention. However, Tobacco 21 insists that this is the age at which people are the most vulnerable to becoming addicted. In addition, the decision-making parts of the human brain do not develop until age 25, criteria researchers often use to justify restricting drug sales to minors.

While some cities take the ban only as far as selling cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors, Liberty also applies it tobacco paraphernalia, limiting its sale to approved retail tobacco stores. In addition, underage citizens found with any of these products will be subject to a minimum fine of 100 dollars for the first offense, and the preexisting smoking ban in public places still stands. The ordinance will go into effect in Liberty immediately and Dec. 1 in St. Louis County.

Photo by Kristen Agar