Proficiency exams are a mandatory yet dreaded part of every SDSU student’s life.

The CAAP exam is a four-part proficiency exam that was adopted by the South Dakota Board of Regents in 1998. Students are required to take the exam in their sophomore year of school, and those who refuse to take the exam cannot register for classes for at least two semesters.

Board of Regents Senior Administrator Lest Turchen said that about 500 to 600 university systems use the CAAP exam and at least 130,000 students take the tests every year.

Turchen said the Regents use the exam to meet national standards to keep the university accredited.

“The North Central Association Higher Learning Commission requires that each university must have multiple measures of academic performance, and this exam is just one aspect of our assessment,” she said. Turchen said that while grades are a course assessment, the proficiency is used as a program assessment.

Some students and faculty have voiced their opposition to the tests, though, saying they are a waste of the university’s money and the students’ time.

SA President Amanda Mattingly said she thinks the exams are “redundant and serve no purpose. When you come into the university you already have to be proficient ,” she said referring to ACT college entrance exams.

Student Regent Tony Venhuizen disagrees and said he thinks the exams are an important tool for accountability measures, comparing it to the No Child Left Behind Act for k-12 schools.

“The movement of education in this country is towards accountability,” he said.

Mattingly said the rate of people that pass the exam the first time around being in the 90th percentile range serves as proof that they are not needed.

Venhuizen said the tests are important regardless of the success rate, though.

“The vast majority of students pass and that’s good. There are four sections, and if you don’t pass one, you get remedial help. That’s important before people start taking upper-level courses,” he said. He added that the tests are a way to encourage students to take their general education courses early in their college career, rather than leaving them for their last few semesters.

Clint Powell, an S.A. ex-officio for greek council and a former S.A. senator, recently ran for the S.A. presidency with getting rid of the exams as one of his platform issues. Powell said he still believes in the issue and will continue to fight for the termination of the test despite.

Powell also said he would like to see money saved from getting rid of the test go toward something like a university email system for students.

Turchen said the CAAP exam is one of the most reasonably-priced exams she’s seen, reporting that the exam costs about $15 or $16 per student.

If there’s one thing the two sides of the issues can agree on, it’s that the tests will be around for at least a while longer.

“I would be very surprised to see the test done away with in the future. I just don’t see that happening,” Venhuizen said.

Mattingly also said that despite the fact that she would like to see the test disappear in a few years, it will take an enormous amount of time and energy and changes will not be immediate.

“Students should expect that they’re going to have to take them next year,” she said.

The Conference on American Indian History and Culture was held last Thursday and Friday in the University Student Union.

The topic for this year’s conference was tribal sovereignty, and the keynote speech was presented by Tim Giago, editor of the Lakota Journal, on Thursday evening.

Giago began his discussion of the conference’s theme with a definition of sovereignty.

“If you look in any dictionary, you find sovereignty defined as supreme power over body politics, and that isn’t the state of most Indian nations.”

Giago discussed the history of Native Americans and their struggles to free themselves from the U.S. government’s control, including the death of more than 300 Indians at Wounded Knee after the Constitution gave them their freedom 103 years earlier. Giago said in the 19th and 20th centuries, Indians were placed on reservations with no economic base and “paid in promises, commodities and cattle.”

He went on to describe the struggles, up to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in the 1980s. This was also the time tribal colleges started turning over a whole new generation.

Giago also credited the ability of American Indian newspapers to spread information and ideas to other native people.

“We need to be able to tell our story ourselves,” he said. “We have to take the lead as Indian newspapers and dispel some of these erroneous assumptions.

Other presentations continued on Friday with Native American writers, authors, political figures and educators.

Not many people have access to thousands of dollar worth of jewels and other luxuries, let alone when they are only 14 years old.

That’s when Jerry Miller began working in a field that would eventually become a life-long career choice that he has never regretted.

Miller, who is now the owner of Wink’s Fine Jewelry in downtown Brookings, got his first job working in a jewelry store in Sturgis as a high schooler because he said he was just tired of mowing lawns for extra money.

Now three kids and 15 grandkids later, Miller said there is nothing he doesn’t like about his job. No one who comes into a jewelry store rarely come in mad.

“It’s a fun business because people who come in here are usually in love. I sell magic. I sell things that make women feel beautiful, gorgeous, adored cherished, loved and wanted. That’s diamonds.”

Miller went to college here at SDSU, and he was again looking for a job in a jewelry store when he ran out of money.

After he was finished with school, he moved back to Sturgis for four and a half years and worked in the same store he did a few years earlier.

Miller said he went to Wink’s looking for a job because he asked around for recommendations on a quality jeweler, and that was the one mentioned the most.

The store was opened in 1963 by V. H. Winkelman. Miller became part owner of the local business in 1978 and then became the full owner in 1981. He is now a registered jeweler with the American Gems Society, which Miller calls the “elite of the elite” in terms of quality and service in the jewelry industry.

Since the doors to the store opened over 40 years ago, Miller said he knows that quality merchandise and prices, and good customer service are the things that keep people coming back to the store. “I’m selling engagement rings to the kids of parents I sold engagement rings to years ago,” he said.

While Miller said the store does not necessarily cater to young people, his customers range in age from as old as 80 years to as young as high school.

He has also given classes and speeches on campus to students and in residence halls about jewelry and gems. Miller said one of the basic parts of Wink’s customer service include a complete education program for prospective buyers, like how to judge the quality of a piece of jewelry.

Wink’s also has a full repair shop in back. Miller said even though the store has a huge inventory for a business their size, if the store does not have what you are looking for, they would be glad to order it for you. Wink’s Jewelry is online at www.winksjewelry.com.

For the last 26 years, Tom and Gwen Yseth have owned and operated one of Brookings’ oldest and most successful businesses.

The Yseth’s said that before they bought the Ram they had no idea this was where they would be over a quarter century later, but they have not regretted the decision.

“I never regret anything,” Tom Yseth said. “I don’t dwell on stuff like that because it’s mostly negative thinking.”

Yseth said before moving to Brookings, he worked on Tom Daschle’s first political campaign. He knew he didn’t want to go into a full-time career of politics and was looking for a business oportunity in the area.

The Ram, which was previously owned by the Ram Corporation, was for sale and losing business, so Yseth took the opportunity to buy it at a price he could afford.

Before the building was a restuarant, it was a bank. Built in 1920, it first housed the First National Bank of Brookings. Under new ownership, the bank became the Northwestern National Bank.

In 1938, the bank was the victim of one of Brookings’ most notorious events to date. That year the bank was robbed in broad daylight on Halloween. Ben Dickinson and his wife Stella Mae held up the bank just as it opened for business on that Monday. The couple escaped with more than $17,000 and were not caught until nearly six months later.

The robbery has been re-enacted on several different occasions using a script that was written by Joe Edeburn.

The bank moved to the corner of 6th Street and Main Ave. and is now Wells Fargo. The building became a restuarant in 1972 and the Yseth’s bought it six years later.

The Ram’s Stroganoff burger was honored by the National Livestock and Meat Board in 1996 as being one of the best burgers in the country. Yseth said he makes every attempt to serve locally-produced food.

Yseth also said he is grateful he owns a business is a college town and has employed many SDSU students over the years.

“Most college students are motivated people, and while this isn’t thier profession of choice, that motivation shows in the work they do,” he said.

He said he also gets business ideas from his employees and consults many people when he is thinking of changing the resturant’s menu. Ideas also come from friends that go to other restuarants and request items to go on the menu.

“I don’t steal ideas from any place within 100 miles of here,” he joked, saying he doesn’t want people to come to the Ram tasting someting they had at a business down the street.

Yseth said his main goal at the Ram is to provide good food and good service, which is a simple idea but not always simple to produce. “It’s all about motivating employees and meeting the demands of the ever-changing marketplace.”

Online shopping is becoming so commonplace today you would probably have a hard time finding someone who hasn’t done it at least once.

While the convenience of finding a new CD or cheap used textbooks from the comfort of the ir own homes often tempt people to turn to the World Wide Web for purchases, it can also be dangerous.

Delane Smith, the Director of Operations of the Office of the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Protection said online shoppers should always be aware of the risk of online shopping.

One of the first things to look for is how much information a company is presenting to consumers on its website.

“If you cannot find a phone number or a physical address [on the website], then they probably don’t want to deal with customers,” Smith said.

Smith also said it is a good idea to look for the padlock symbol at the bottom of the toolbox, and to make sure you are reading the site’s privacy policy. “If you cannot find those things on the site, then they probably don’t have them.”

Another scam on the Internet that Smith said she sees a lot of is something called phishing. This is where a company contacts consumers saying they already have an account set up with you. They then take advantage of you by soliciting personal and financial information.

Other tips to practice while shopping online include:

*Have a credit card to use for only Internet purchases. Keep the purchase limit low to limit the amount of damage that can be done if the number gets in the wrong hands.

*When making purchases, print off screens as you go.

*Use a credit card rather than money orders because card companies have dispute processes for unauthorized purchases.

*Only buy from companies you know and trust.

*Beware of sending money or information to blind P.O. boxes.

Ryan Brunner is a Computer Science and Ag Engineering major at SDSU. The 20 year old from Nisland, S.D. is running for a one-year term for city council in the April 13 election.

Brunner is being challenged by one other candidate, current councilman Mike McClemans.

Why did you decide to run for city council?

I got interested in running for city council when I lived here last summer. I’ve been involved in local politics back home, just as an activist, and involved in what was going on with my home community.

I lived here last summer and I have been going to school here for two years. There are 10,000 students here at SDSU and 18,000 people here in the city and we don’t have any voice of representation on the council right now.

We’re a great deal of the tax revenue and everything that supports this city, so we should have some level of representation and know what is going on.

Why do you think it’s important for young people to be on city council?

City council controls a great deal of what goes on in Brookings, like things from utilities to licenses, everything that goes on in the city of Brookings and all of the things that students use. Obviously all your sales tax goes to the city.

A lot of students aren’t even registered to vote here and don’t list their residency as Brookings when they live here for nine months out of the year and provide a great deal of that tax revenue that supports the city.

The unemployment rate for Brookings was rated at under 2 percent two city council meetings ago, but what those numbers don’t include are the discouraged wokers in the workforce, like students who have just stopped looking for jobs.

With the labor market here you would think that businesses would be attracted to Brookings. They can find workers pretty easily.

What are some other issues you want to address if elected?

The economy and housing are the two main goals I want to focus on. There are a lot of college students that live in sub-par housing in Brookings, because that’s what’s available.

Because the college keeps growing, there needs to be open communication between the college and the city so all of the issues are addressed.

Economically, I want to address business and job growth for the college students and the community we have here. SDSU’s motto is “You Can Go Anywhere from Here,” but it would be kind of nice to have some students stay here. You can go anywhere from here, and, unfortunately, a lot of students do. If there were more job opportunities, more would stay.

I was just elected to the SA senate. Being able to work with full organizations and facilitate between the two, by serving on both will be a huge asset for the university and the city of Brookings.

What kind of experience will you bring to a job like this?

In terms of economic development, when I was a junior in high school, a friend and I started a rope-making business. It was small-scale, just a few thousand dollars in revenue, but my major experience came from working with the SD Department of Agriculture.

In high school I worked with three other students and we got a $20,000 grant to start our own business to install vending machines in schools with extended shelf life milk that lasts 65 days.

We started at the local high school, and the school still runs that and gets those profits. We basically started our own business, wrote our business plan, got grant money and now the high school still runs the business.

My dad is also a small-town mechanic and has regularly employed two or three people for 30 years, so I have a lot of small business experience from that.

I’ve held almost any leadership position you can think of on the high school and college level.

[Many other leadership positions were discussed, but they were omitted due to space constraints.]

Are you worried about the low percentage of SDSU students who are registered to vote locally and the low number of young people who turnout to vote?

It’s always an issue. Our own S.A. elections only had a 20 percent turnout. You didn’t even have to register and could vote online. To get those students to actually take the time to register and take the time to go cast a vote is difficult. The deadline to register’s this Friday.

Amanda Mattingly and Doug Timm, the new Student Association President and Vice President, were inducted into their new positions last night at the weekly SA meeting in the Campanile room. All the new S.A. senators were also inducted at the meeting.

Former S.A. President Eric Erickson also discussed the decisions made at the Board of Regents meeting last week on campus. As a result of th meeting, there was a 5.5% increase in tuition at all state universities in South Dakota.

Erickson said percentages of tuition increases for surrounding states were into double digits.

The technology fee is also set to increase this year from $1 per credit hour to $3 per credit hour.

The extra $2 per credit hour are now slated to go directly back to the Board of Regents office to upgrade technology there.

S.A. advisor Marysz Rames reported at the meeting that the bid for the Union expansion project came in at $9.6 million dollars, which was much higher than expected, but the expansion will continue and should finish on time.

The Residence Hall Association will host the Mr. SDSU pageant on April 26. There is a $10 entry fee per person, and all of the proceeds will go to the winner’s choice of local charity.

With Spring Break less than a week away, students have more important things on their minds than studying. No, it’s time to kick back and relax and get the much needed R&R we all deserve. Some of those students will be kicking back at much more exotic and luxurious locations, though.

Phyllis Swiden, President and Certified Travel Counselor at Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Brookings, said the hot spot for spring break trips this year is Cancun.

While Swiden said she has seen people coming into the travel agency to plan trips since October, the time when students return from Winter break in January is when she sees a surge in planning for trips.

Swiden said the key to saving money when you are planning a big trip is to plan ahead. Airfare is almost always cheaper when is it reserved in advance. The only exception here would be empty seats left on charter flights, but ticket prices for empty seats on scheduled flights can cost flyers thousands of dollars.

Swiden said travel agents are also a good resource for saving money because they can check up on ticket prices daily to get you the best deal. Hotel rates can also be much cheaper through a travel agent because companies can have negotiated rates with hotels the agency uses frequently.

Take advantage of your time off, and be sure to plan ahead. Here are some other tips for inexperienced travelers:

*Make sure the spelling of your name is exactly the same on your ticket and your driver’s license. You may not be allowed to board if there are differences.

*Try regional trips, like skiing in the Black Hills or seeing plays in Minneapolis if Cancun isn’t in your budget.

*Be careful that anything you pack can’t be confiscated because it could be used as a weapon.

*You can’t get group rates with airlines or hotels until you have at least 20 travelers.

*Most car rentals businesses won’t rent to anyone under 25, or they’ll charge an extra fee to cover the insurance liability.

It’s not an unusual sight for SDSU students to see as they walk to and from classes everyday. A UPD officer walks up and down the rows of parking lots checking for parking permits and sticks a ticket under the windshield of every car that doesn’t have one.

Kelli Anawski, Office manager of the University Police Department, said that if students feel their tickets are not fair, they can do something about it. And many students are.

Since September, 180 parking and traffic violation appeals have been filed with the Appeals Committee to determine whether or not to uphold the fines given by the UPD.

That number will soon surpass the number of appeals during the fall and spring semesters of last year, when 198 tickets were scheduled for the committee.

The Appeals Committee is made up of two SDSU students and one faculty member. A UPD officer is also on hand to answer questions about parking and traffic regulations. The Committee meets about once a month, and the scheduled March 19 meeting already has 43 appeals on the agenda.

Anawski said the fees can be as low as $10 for parking in a lot that has been declared as an emergency snow removal lot, or as high as $120 for reckless driving. Most tickets that are written by UPD officers are for $20, though.

In order to appeal a ticket, the recipient must file it with the UPD within 96 hours of getting it. Appeals are at their highest during the first month of the school year when students are still trying to figure out campus parking, and again with winter weather related problems.

Anawski said that most appeals the committee hears are about parking outside marked boundaries, or getting multiple tickets for a single offense. “One we see a lot is when it snows in the morning and people park over marked lines. Then it melts in the afternoon and they’re off and our officers ticket them,” she said.

“There’s nothing we can do about that. The officers are doing their jobs. That’s why they need to be appealed [if there's a problem.]“

Just because a student is appealing a ticket does not mean that it will be approved, though. Anawski said the recipients of tickets should also be aware that “there is a $10 fee per ticket if your appeal is denied.”

She said the fee is used to make the defendants ask themselves, “Do I really feel I have a valid complaint?”