Month: December 2015

The Dixie State University student senate is on pace to break last years’ record of number of bills passed.

The student senate is a group of students that help other students reach their academic goals by using funding from student fees. They’ve allocated $10,670 for nine different bills and Legislation Day so far in this semester. 

Darren Stapleton, a senior biomedical major from Syracuse, wrote a bill to receive $6,000 for a new rotary evaporator for the physical science department in November. The senate allocated over $3,700 for the evaporator, which was the highest amount of money given out all semester, including all the prize money at Legislation Day combined.

“Our current rotary evaporator is really old, and it has been losing a lot of product, which is money,” Stapleton said. “It’s also really big and bulky, so it was harder for some of the smaller girls to work with.” 

Other bills passed included nearly $1,000 for students to attend a pre-med conference, $675 for an education student to teach in Switzerland, and $550 for music students to attend the Utah opera.    

Warren Anderson, a senior accounting major from Santa Clara, is the vice president of academics and head of the DSU student senate. Anderson said he thinks the senate will pass as many bills this year as it did last year, if not more.

“The biggest thing that we look for is how many students will the bill affect immediately,” Warren said. “Then we look for how it will affect the institution as a whole, and how will it affect future students.” 

Stapleton said students need to know about senate funding and take advantage of it. 

“Undergraduate research is a huge part of a lot of applications for graduate school, and in order to do that, you need capital equipment most times,” Stapleton said. 

A student can only write up one bill per semester. The senate funds up to 50 percent of each bill passed, and the department of study covers the remaining cost.

Students who contact the student senator for their departments are helped on a first come first serve basis. Senators can be contacted in the student government room on the second floor in the Gardner Student Center.

Dixie State University students, faculty and community members will soon identify themselves as either a raptor, marshal, rock hound, sun warrior, wrangler or blazer. 

DSU’s Identity Committee has created the survey along with Love Communications, a firm that helped gather research on the new mascot, where students can rank six mascot preliminary finalists. The results won’t determine the mascot, but it will help the committee make its ultimate decision. The finalists have been determined based off of 10 years of research. 

Jordon Sharp, chief marketing and communication officer, said the finalists are subject to be “tweaked,” and are being shown so the public can have a general idea of where the committee is headed. 

The choices will show up in different orders for each participant who takes the survey. The finalists are as follows and are listed in no particular order: 

• Raptors (Rocky the raptor)

• Marshals (Marshal the mustang)

• Rock Hounds (Red the rock hound)

• Sun Warriors (Apollo) 

• Wranglers (Red the cowboy)

• Blazers (Blaze the buffalo) 

Sharp said all six of these potential mascots and identities are unique to DSU in some way and either tie to DSU’s history, geography or its strategic plan. The committee aimed to create an identity that wouldn’t fit at any other university, Sharp said. 

“We have a unique opportunity here with our geography and our history that we can play on things that other places wouldn’t be able to do,” he said. 

One of the first criterion the committee searched for in a new mascot was its athletic appeal. Sharp said something that is tough and that students would want on a hat is a characteristic of a good athletic identity. Similarly, Athletic Director Jason Boothe said a tough mascot is important when battling an opponent. 

“If you just look at all the other [mascots], they have that toughness and strength to them,” Boothe said.

The survey is composed of “mood boards,” which include a summary of the identity, visuals, and its branding strengths. Those who participate in the survey will have the opportunity to make comments or other mascot suggestions at the end. 

Sharp and Boothe both said being on the Identity Committee has been a challenge because there are several publics the university needs to please. Sharp said finding an identity that no other institution has was a tall order because there are over 4,000 higher institutions in the nation. 

Coming up with an identity that doesn’t offend anyone and makes mostly everyone happy has been the most challenging part, Boothe said. 

“There’s always going to be someone who complains no matter what we do,” Boothe said. “It’s one of those things that we have to take our time with and make sure we do our due diligence.”

Sharp said coming up with a brand that’s authentic, clear and marketable will help distinguish DSU from other institutions.

“If you would have told me we would have had six identities that met all of our criteria, I would have said no way,” he said. “I feel like we’ve been able to do that.”

The survey is available online at dixiestate-nickname.com. 

Dirty dishes, not enough variety, and employees not wearing gloves are the complaints some are saying about the Dixie State University Dining Services, especially in the Red Rock Café. 

Wa’t Manor, a sophomore communication major from Las Vegas, eats at the food court daily and said the metal utensils are often so dirty he uses the plastic ones. Sarah Ladwig, a freshman early childhood education major from Fresno, California, said she is often concerned with servers not always wearing gloves and dishes that aren’t always clean. 

But despite the complaints of uncleanliness, “DSU is one of the cleanest establishments that employ teenagers and young adults in St. George that I’ve inspected,” said Klint Frei, health inspector with the Utah Public Health Department.

Most of the issues that arose in the health inspection for the Red Rock Café were common and relatively minor, Frei said. The Red Rock Café didn’t have clean floors behind equipment and sinks, part of the flooring was damaged, and the conveyer belt dishwasher in the kitchen was not hot enough during the last health inspection, Frei said.

Water in a conveyer belt dishwasher is required to be heated to 180 degrees, but Frei said the water in DSU’s kitchen was around 168 degrees, which is 8 degrees higher than the temperature usually required to kill salmonella, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website. 

“The floor [in the kitchen] was chipped in places, and I could see the concrete aggregate,” Frei said. “It’s not a health hazard right now, but it could be in the future if it’s not addressed.”

Celeste Whaley, a freshman English major from Magna, has worked for DSU Dining Services for four months. She said she has witnessed her coworkers not wearing gloves when they should have been, not always using timers to make sure food is completely cooked, and sneaking samples of the food being served. 

“I’ve told all the staff that the day I don’t find a dirty dish is the day I’ll take them all out for ice cream,” said Paul Blaser, production manager and chef for Dining Services. “They’re not perfect, but our staff really tries to be as clean as possible.”

Gloves are not the cure-all for cleanliness in the serving area, Blaser said while demonstrating wiping his nose on his pair of gloves.

According to Utah food handler code, gloves are required to be worn when serving to “eliminate bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food.” This does not apply for all of the tasks servers do in the kitchen like when using utensils or on the grill, said Martin Peterson, director of Dining Services.

A checklist for cleaning the serving area and kitchen is also revised each month to be as comprehensive as possible, Peterson said. 

“Dining Services held a focus group last week with four students for two hours to discuss the good and bad of [Dining Services],” Peterson said. “The cleanliness of the serving area never came up as an issue during the focus group. But if there are any complaints, we’d love the feedback to improve.”

Peterson said the most common feedback he’s received is for more variety with chain restaurants in the Red Rock Café after the success of Subway. 

“We are currently in the process of negotiations with two different chain restaurants for the [Red Rock Café] that will be announced in the spring,” Peterson said. “They’ll be open in August of next year.”

Those with feedback for ways Dining Services can improve can leave a note in the suggestion box in the Red Rock Café or email [email protected]. 

A Dixie State University Dining Services employee prepares a meal at the Red Rock Café. Despite some complaints that cleanliness codes are not always followed, health inspections reveal otherwise. Photos by Jake Brown.

Anyone walking through the Gardner Student Center Monday afternoon probably heard familiar Christmas tunes being sung but with less-than-familiar words.

Students from eight different Spanish classes gathered for the second annual Spanish department Christmas event to participate in competition-style caroling. Small groups treated the audience to Spanish renditions of English songs like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Little Drummer Boy,” but also performed Spanish originals “Feliz Navidad” and “Mi Burrito Sabanero.” The winning group received a basket of fruit and chocolate after the competition and will have a pizza party.

Quade Peterson, a senior communication major from Kaysville, was a part of the winning group who performed “Feliz Navidad.” He said events like this show there are “a lot of different people here taking the [Spanish] classes.”

“We do events like this once in a while as a department,” Peterson said. “It’s a great program. The professors try to make it fun and light.” He said his group’s preparation for their performance was not intensive.

Luis Arevalo, an assistant Spanish and Latin American Literature professor, organized the event to give students a way to practice speaking Spanish outside of the classroom.

“We are going to repeat this next year, and we would like to invite the community,” Arevalo said. “We’d like to make it an international event to encourage, for example, the Chinese students to come, and if they do Christmas carols in Chinese, I’d like to see that.”

The Spanish department hosts other annual events like the Day of the Dead celebration and Spanish poetry night. All students are invited to attend.

Video by: Ashley Thompson 

While many Dixie State University students are stressing out over finals, several are being celebrated for their hard work and artistic accomplishments.

Senior art students at DSU have one last chance to showcase their talents before they graduate and head toward the rigors of professional life.

The DSU Art Department Senior Show opening gala was held Nov. 20, and the exhibit is on display in the North Plaza Building through tonight. The show features multiple works of graphic design, drawing and painting, using several different mediums. Featured artists are Emma Schaub, Rachel Kjar, Scott Garrett, Lindsay Rose and Thomas Stirland.

Schaub, a senior art major from Gilbert, Arizona, said it’s awesome having her work on display.

“I think my exhibition shows how far I’ve come,” Schaub said. “I’m also fairly relieved that it is up, and nothing has fallen off the walls yet.”

Schaub has a passion for graphic design history, and she said layout design is by far her favorite form. She included invitations in her display because they showcase all she has learned at DSU. Her emphasis was in graphic design, and she hopes she can continue with it professionally when she moves to Arizona the day after finals.

McGarren Flack, an art department adviser and lecturer, said the exhibit is the pinnacle show for seniors and should be representative of all their work while at DSU. The shows provide an opportunity for the students and university to network with people in the industry and make contacts with possible future clientele.

Flack said it is difficult for students to gain exposure for their artwork, and campus shows are invaluable for gaining experience.

“It’s a relief to have it all done, but it is also very gratifying to be able to share some of my projects in more of a public setting,” said Rose, a senior graphic design major from Orderville. “It’s a bit of a new experience to have people approach me with questions about the things I have on display in the exhibition that they otherwise wouldn’t have seen.”

Rose started to draw at a very young age and is a self-taught artist. She likes to use a variety of mediums, but her specific interest is in modifying electric guitars with digital design. Her focus now is on learning about the limits of guitar customization and plans to pursue a career in graphic design in St. George after graduation. She said the most important thing she has learned while studying at DSU is persistence.

“The things I do are a constant process of refinement,” Rose said. “Some of my best projects have been the ones I’ve dedicated the most time to.”

Flack said the spring senior show will be divided in two separate exhibits with nine artists on display at each showing, including painters, graphic designers and ceramicists.