ASLS out of Africa
Service trips to Ghana, India suspended
Katie Rosenbaum
Campus News Editor
Xavier University
Xavier University, the only Jesuit university in the country with multiple international service learning semesters, is reexamining and restructuring the Academic Service Learning Semester programs.
In previous years, there has been one international trip a semester to either Nicaragua, India or Ghana, in addition to the Over-the-Rhine service learning semester.
Next year, however, there will only be a trip to Nicaragua and the urban Over-the-Rhine program.
Nicaragua and Over-the-Rhine were chosen because they are well-established programs with strong infrastructures, says Dr. Kandi Stinson, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs.
Interim Director of Academic Service Learning Semesters Dr. Irene Hodgson is unsure about the budget for next year’s trips.
Stinson says that there “are no plans to cut the budget for ASLS.” However, with rising expenses including travel, faculty member’s salaries and other costs for the trip, the budget cannot fund as much as it has in the past.
The decision to forego the Ghana trip, the trip scheduled for next year, “has
nothing to do with money, but was a strategic decision,” says Stinson.
Sophomore John Taravella is “I am frustrated that the Ghana trip is cancelled.
I had my heart set on going there.”
Currently, he is looking into alternate opportunities outside of the ASLS program to travel to Africa.
Next year, Xavier is going to “step back to see what we are doing well and what needs work and what hopes, challenges, successes and failures we want to address regarding ASLS,” says Stinson.
Stinson says that now is a perfect time to “take inventory of what we have,” and look at the ASLS as the university begins to “strengthen and expand international education.” She says that Xavier is soon going to hire an Executive Director for International Education, expected to be hired by early June. The director will oversee the ASLS and other study abroad programs, as well as strengthen programs that support international students on campus.
Under the direction of an executive, programs will increase communication and help Xavier become a more international campus with increased number of students studying abroad.
“One of the director’s primary goals is going to be convening faculty, students and administration to work together to decide the direction of the ASLS,” says Stinson.
This group will evaluate all the trips and decide if they should be strengthened or expanded. They may also examine possible alternatives.
Dr. Hodgson believes that a goal on campus should be to allow more students the opportunity to attend an ASLS through increasing the amount of trips and working with schools and departments within the university.
Neither Hodgson or Stinson were clear if enrollment in these programs is increasing, but Hodgson did say that they had to turn away people for Ghana last semester.
Hodgson also says that staffing issues need to be further addressed by administrators. Currently, professors do not receive extra compensation besides their regular salary when they lead a service learning trip, which may influence professors willingness or ability to lead them.
Xavier uses the ASLS as a marketing tool for the university and to recruit prospective students.
“I don’t think the marketing of these programs is a problem given that reexamining and revisiting certainly leaves open the possibility that the programs will not only be offered again, but that they could be strengthened, expanded,” says Stinson.
Paychange affects student workers
Matthew Finger
Managing Editor
Student worker Kristin Strehle.
Erika Breese
Ohio has implemented a new system for determining the statewide minimum wage, raising base pay for Xavier student employees to a minimum of $7 an hour.
But as a result of the new system, the minimum wage for Ohio has the potential to shift annually, leaving employers like Xavier uncertain as to where base-wages will be, according to Judy Brown, the student employment opportunities coordinator.
The new minimum wage in Ohio will be based annually on the consumer price index, or CPI. The CPI measures the average price of purchased consumer goods, and is also a measure for inflation.
Because the CPI changes annually, Ohio will be re-evaluating the minimum wage in November of each year with the new wage effective on Jan. 1 of the following year. With only a two-month period for wage changes, the new wage determining system has the potential to leave employers, like Xavier, crunched for time.
“It will have an effect for Xavier as well as other organizations in the state of Ohio,” said Sheila Spisak, the director of the Career Services Center. She added that employers can now only do projections on wages and pay scales.
To compound the possible problems that the CPI-based wage system presents, the Federal Government announced a raise in the federal minimum wage, bringing the minimum from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, effective July 24, 2009.
Xavier will abide by all state and federal wage laws, said Brown. But the increasing wages and unpredictability of the CPI have created a situation for Xavier that prevents the establishment of a set pay scale for adjustments in salary.
“It is hard to project what student compensation will be,” said Brown.
According to Spisak, the university will continue to follow both the state and federal laws as it makes decisions regarding pay adjustments for student employees who continue in their positions from one academic year to another.
Xavier employs students for approximately 1,000 positions. This does not include student positions for Blue Gibbon, the Bookstore, Subway and Coffee Emporium, as well as Sodexho employees, who manage Ryan’s Pub, Tony’s Little Italy and the cafeteria.
Kathryn Rosenbaum
Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Peters
Ann Tassone
Darren LaCour
Senior News Editors
The Xavier Newswire 3800 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45207-2129 On-campus location: The Publications House, 3739 Ledgewood Dr. Telephone: 513.745.3607 Advertising: 513.745.3561 Fax: 513.745.2898 Email: Kathryn Rosenbaum
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