No one is saying what happened at the disciplinary hearing for the campus radio’s station manager, but Students’ Association Vice President Doug Timm said the media council is accepting applications for a new station manager starting Nov. 9.

Timm is chairman of the media council, which is made up of senators, students and faculty. The council advises both the Collegian and KSDJ 90.7-FM.

Station Manager Ashley-Kenneth Allen was scheduled to face a disciplinary hearing in October for being in violation of the university’s sexual harassment policy.

Jacy Riedmann filed the sexual harassment complaint against Allen from incidents that occurred when she was creative services director spring semester. The investigation finding Allen in violation of the policy was completed Aug. 31.

Riedmann wouldn’t comment on the hearing for fear of getting in trouble.

Stephanie Erschens, program director for the station, also declined to comment for the same reason, but she did say, “things will be happening there in the next couple weeks.”

The KSDJ policy manual says the program director is supposed to take over in the station manager’s absence.

Radio station staff get scholarships to do their jobs, according to the KSDJ policy, and they can also receive academic credit for their work there.

The radio station has not had any live DJs on air since school started, and the music has been running on autopilot from a computer program.

Dean of Student Affairs Marysz Rames, who represented Riedmann in the hearing, said the Student Conduct Code requires all people involved to be under a cloak of confidentiality.

“Otherwise, why would someone come forward?” she said. “It’s not a court case where that information is available to everyone.”

Rames said she doesn’t know what would happen if someone leaked information to the public.

“We’ve never had that happen before,” she said.

The Student Conduct Code under the procedural standards for all disciplinary proceedings says, “Hearings shall be private unless and open hearing is requested by both the accused student and the complainant.”

The Board of Regents human rights complaint procedures policy says, “Reasonable effort shall be made to maintain the confidentiality of the complaints.”"

The university’s sexual harassment policy requires university officials to keep all complaints confidential, but it does not say those filing the complaint can’t discuss it.

The policy says, “Complainants, witnesses, and other persons who have assisted, testified, or participated in any manner in any phase of an investigation will be protected.”

Nothing in any of the relevant policies says anyone will get punished for talking about anything.

Two former SDSU athletes were sentenced Nov. 2 in Brookings County for separate crimes.

Anthony Robinson, a former football player, was sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary for marijuana distribution.

Robinson and his lawyer requested that he be allowed to serve his time in the Brookings County Jail with release time for classes.

Robinson originally faced three felony charges with the maximum penalty of 35 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for charges that included distribution of more than one pound of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute more than one pound of marijuana and possession of more than one ounce of marijuana.

Judge Rodney Steele said during the sentencing hearing that if Robinson exhibited good behavior Steele would consider letting him out on probation in a year.

Robinson, who is originally from Fontana, Calif., was a junior electrical engineering major.

Marquise Richardson, a former basketball player, was sentenced to three and a half years for the first-degree robbery of Jaime Giedd, a senior theatre major.

Richardson, who was a health, physical education and recreation major at SDSU, faced a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Richardson entered Giedd’s apartment May 17, put a pellet gun to her head and demanded jewelry and money, according to court documents.

Steele said he had taken into consideration letters of support from Richardson’s friends and SDSU basketball coach Scott Nagy when deciding on Richardson’s punishment.

“Usually when someone is in front of me with an armed burglary charge, they have a rap sheet a mile long,” Steele said. “But the victim is here and she wants to see you strung up.”

Richardson has been working with disadvantaged kids at the Robertson Charter School in Decatur, Ill., which is where he is originally from.

A year ago, Anthony Robinson came to SDSU with a scholarship in football and a bright future as an electrical engineer.

Tuesday, Nov. 2, he was sentenced to two years in prison for distributing marijuana. Wednesday he withdrew from all of his classes and Thursday he moved out of his apartment. Friday at 9 a.m. he left for the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

At his sentencing Robinson told the judge he had squandered away his love of football by selling drugs.

But with 30 or so of his friends behind him, the gavel dropped on the next two years of Robinson’s life.

With tears in their eyes, his friends filed out of the courtroom. They shook his hand, patted him on the back, hugged him and touched his arm. Their glances echoed what words couldn’t.

“I just wanted to show that I’m there for him, and to show the judge that too,” said Trevor Hohn who played football with Robinson.

Robinson, 23, grew up in California with his mom and his seven brothers and sisters. Though he moved around a lot, he graduated from high school in Fontana, Calif. He was recruited to play football at SDSU last year.

Robinson’s friends say they had no idea he was selling drugs until they read about it in the news. Robinson said he certainly wasn’t doing it for the glory.

“I felt all alone and I wasn’t going to keep asking my family,” he said. “I was just trying to eat. I wasn’t trying to have a fabulous house, I was just trying to survive.”

Former basketball player Marquise Richardson was also sentenced on the same day as Robinson.

Though the two crimes were unrelated, the court system and the media conveniently lumped together the trials of Richardson and Robinson. Rozyher Aware, program advisor for multicultural programs, is worried that people might stereotype the two black athletes.

“We don’t have a large minority population,” Aware said. “They’re both athletes, both from out of state. But they made mistakes, they aren’t bad individuals. The media made an example of these two students.”

Cory Koenig, who met Robinson in football, agrees. He said Robinson’s treatment in the press has forced him to defend Robinson to people at school.

“I have to tell them that he’s not like that, not what you think,” Koenig said.

Last fall, an SDSU football recruiter approached Robinson and gave him only a few hours to decide if he wanted to come here. When Robinson accepted the scholarship the only thing he knew about South Dakota was that blue and yellow were the colors of the Jackrabbits and that it got cold here in the winter.

“My family didn’t want me to go,” he said. “I didn’t even know where South Dakota was. I knew it would be a culture shock.”

He quickly discovered South Dakota was much different than California.

“It was very slow,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of traffic. No Taco Bells. No malls. Not crowded. Not that diverse. It’s just a bunch of little cities.”

When Hohn met him, he remembers Robinson asking what the winters were like in South Dakota.

“It was funny how he was this California kid and he would ask questions like, ‘Can I wear a short-sleeved shirt here in the winter?’ ” said Hohn, a sophomore health promotion major from Mitchell.

But Robinson says he’s learned to like it here. Besides playing football, he was vice president of the Black Student Alliance and was part of a focus group of students to offer suggestions about the new student union.

Aware, advisor to the Black Student Alliance, said Robinson ran for vice president at the very first meeting he attended.

“That day he just went for it. You know – people have this image of football players, but when Anthony made a speech you could see he wanted to make a difference and he cared about the purpose of the organization,” she said.

Koenig, who helped Robinson move out of his apartment this past week, said it was really tough not knowing when he might see Robinson again.

“He’s the type of person that is not going to let someone feel sorry for him,” said Koenig, a sophomore pre-med major. “But you could see it every once in a while on his face that it would hit him and he would realize where he was going to go.”

Koenig, who is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, said he understands what Robinson was going through not having his family close by.

“I don’t know how I’d make out in college without the support from my family,” he said. “They live three hours away. I don’t know what it would be like to have them live half a country away.”

Ashleigh Walton, a 19-year-old sophomore broadcast journalism major from Sioux Falls, said Robinson was like a big brother to her and her roommates.

“There’s five of us girls that all live in the dorms together. He was like our guardian. He used to cook us dinner a lot last year. He loves to cook,” she said.

The judge told Robinson he could get out in a year on good behavior. Robinson expects to come back to SDSU and finish his degree, though he knows it’s not going to be easy.

“My main objective is I want to come back to school, but I won’t be able to get financial aid, so I’ll have to start working. I’ll have to save my money, so I might not be able to jump right back into it,” he said.

Aware says she along with his friends will be with Robinson every step of the way.

#1.885700:455046027.jpg:atmeetand greet.jpg:Anthony Robinson poses with Black Student Alliance member James Covington and BSA President Darquie Taybior at the Multicultural Meet and Greet Sept. 30.:
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Officials are investigating SDSU student Ryan Brunner for allegedly notarizing two absentee ballot applications without witnessing the person fill out the form.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is looking into the matter, said Brookings County State’s Attorney Clyde Calhoon.

“At this point, I don’t know if there will be any criminal charges,” Calhoon said.

Calhoon said there are two applications in question.

The applications in question stem from a Sept. 18 SDSU football game against Western Oregon where Brunner along with three or four other notary public were notarizing ballot applications, Brunner said.

Brunner, a computer science and ag engineering major, said he was following a very specific and deliberate process when notarizing the applications.

“I was notarizing requests on the spot so no mix-up could have occurred,” he said.

All the absentee ballot applications from that day will be counted, Brunner said.

Brunner is a Students’ Association Senator for the College of Ag Engineering. He is also a member of the College Republicans.

The South Dakota Legislature changed the restrictions on absentee voting this year allowing voters to vote early without specifying a reason.

“The new controversies we are seeing is because of the new law encouraging more early voting and more absentee ballot requests,” said SDSU Political Science Department Head Bob Burns.

On Oct. 29, three former Republican campaign workers pleaded guilty to improper use of a notary commission in Sioux Falls.

Six workers were originally charged because they failed to watch some voters sign the absentee ballot applications, said Attorney General Larry Long.

Magistrate Peter Gregory levied $200 fines against Joseph Alick, 28; Todd Schlekeway, 27; and Rachel Hoff, 22; they also were told to pay $45 in court costs and were given 30-day suspended jail sentences. All three will also voluntarily give up their notary public commissions, their lawyers said.

Eric Fahrendorf’s hearing is set for Nov. 3 and Nathan Mertz’s lawyer rescheduled his first court appearance to Nov. 8. The charges are misdemeanors.

All five are from Sioux Falls.

Jennifer Giannonatti is to be charged in Rapid City, but no complaint has yet been filed, officials said Friday.

Most of the absentee ballot applications acquired by the Republican get-out-the-vote effort were legal and there’s no indication that any unqualified voter tried to cast an absentee ballot, Long said.

Campuses included in the investigation were South Dakota State University, University of South Dakota, Augustana College, Mount Marty College, Black Hills State, Dakota State, Northern State and the School of Mines & Technology.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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The $450,000 that is being used to renovate Woodbine Cottage came out of a fund normally reserved for repairs on academic buildings, said Executive Vice President Mike Reger.

Money to renovate Woodbine came from the Higher Education Facility Fund (HEFF).

After student tuition is paid at all six of the state universities, 20 percent is put into HEFF for building repairs and maintenance.

Buildings on the list to receive money from this fund often have to wait years before the repairs are completed. But Woodbine –

the home of university presidents since 1903 – was bumped to the top of the list, because it needed immediate repairs, Reger said.

“We’ve always tried to repair Woodbine by using other university funds. We don’t have any other choice,” Reger said. “The siding was rotting, it needed insulation and the windows wouldn’t open.”

The university’s backlog of maintenance and repair jobs would take up to 10 years and over $68 million to complete.In 2004 alone, the estimated cost for all repair projects on campus is $9.2 million, but SDSU only received $1.8 million this year for these repairs.

Since there isn’t funding for all of the repairs, Reger said the university has to move projects up on the list based on need.

“You have to make these adjustments all the time,” he said. “Sometimes if we have a crisis we even have to bump projects off the list.”

The cost to renovate Woodbine Cottage – an 1887 Queen Anne-style home – rose because of historical preservation standards.

Clark Drew Construction Company, which was hired to do the project, has had to have wood custom milled and molded from scratch; in addition, special tools were crafted to work on the wood, said James Drew, Woodbine’s project manager.

This is because the wood on the house has to be matched with its historical equivalent, Drew said.

“Unlike any other project, with a historical project you can’t simply go down to the local lumber yard,” Drew said.

Before any work could be done on the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, both the State Historical Society and the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission had to be consulted.

Joy Sears, a registration specialist with the state office, said the historical society has historical standards that are interpreted on a case-by-case basis, so not every property demands custom -made replacements.

“Some of the stuff is custom, some the property owner can do,

sometimes it just needs to be patched and something similar can be used to blend in,” Sears said.

The extent of the project is determined by how much work needs to be done to the property, Sears said.

“A lot of properties don’t use special cedar,” she said. “It depends on how much needs to be restored – if there is a lot of wood deteriorating.”

The university did try to look for historical grants for the renovation of Woodbine Cottage, but had no luck finding any to cover the costs, Reger said.

“Not anything we could see, but we did look,” Reger said.

The sexual harassment disciplinary hearing for the campus radio station manager was put on hold this week while Jacy Riedmann, who filed the original charge, considers an appeal.

Ashley-Kenneth Allen, who manages KSDJ 90.7-FM, was found guilty of sexual harassment Aug. 31. The Student Conduct Committee was supposed to have met Sept. 9 to decide his punishment, but Riedmann wanted more time to think about the appeal.

Riedmann said she has until Sept. 22 to decide if she wants to appeal the findings of the investigation, which found Allen guilty of a broader sexual harassment charge, but did not find him guilty of individually sexually harassing her.

“Ashley did individually sexually harass me,” Riedmann said. “He’ll never understand the severity of this until it’s made clear to him how serious it is.”

Riedmann worked as a DJ at the station during the 2004 fall semester and then was hired as creative services director spring semester. She has since transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she is majoring in radio.

In her original complaint, Riedmann said Allen asked her to dress provocatively when selling underwriting, made remarks about her sex life and forced her to use sexual innuendoes in station advertisements.

Carey Deaver, the equal opportunity officer, said in a letter to Riedmann that both sides were involved in inappropriate behavior and remarks, so she wasn’t able to prove that Riedmann was individually sexually harassed by Allen.

“However, it is my opinion that your allegations regarding sexual remarks and innuendo at KSDJ are true,” Deaver said. “Based on this, I believe that Mr. Allen has participated in the creation of a demeaning environment as defined by the SDSU’s harassment policy.”

The policy describes this type of harassment as, “Sexual harassment may also be established by showing participation in the creation of an intimidating, hostile or demeaning environment.”

When it comes to the appeal, the Student to Student Harassment Complaint Process says a complainant can only appeal the decision if the equal opportunity officer determines that there is not a reasonable basis for the complaint.

But Dean of Student Affairs Marysz Rames said the complainant can appeal no matter what the outcome.

“If there’s a disagreement over whether it is a reasonable basis,” she said. “If it’s not what they had hoped for, they can appeal. Harassment is not a black and white issue.”

If Riedmann does decide to appeal the conclusion of the investigation, SDSU President Peggy Gordon Miller would make the final decision on the case.

“The president can throw it out, uphold the decision or change it,” Rames said.

This is the part that makes Riedmann nervous.

“I’m not comfortable with the charge as it is, but if I appeal it, there’s a possibility it’ll get thrown out,” she said.

The campus radio station manager has been found guilty of sexual harassment and will face a disciplinary hearing Thursday, said Jacy Riedmann, who filed the original complaint.

Ashley-Kenneth Allen, station manager of 90.7 KSDJ-FM, was found guilty of the charges on Aug. 31 after a 20-day investigation, Riedmann said.

Riedmann filed an official sexual harassment complaint with the university against Allen in late July after she said he continually made sexually suggestive comments to her on-air and off-air while she was creative services director spring semester.

Riedmann, 19, has since transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and is majoring in radio.

The investigation, conducted by Carey Deaver, assistant director of human resources, concluded that Allen is guilty of a form of sexual harassment, in which he created a hostile working environment, Riedmann said.

Deaver said there are two forms of sexual harassment. This one is “where the behavior is so onerous that it isn’t comfortable any longer,” said Deaver, speaking in general terms since the university’s confidentiality policy prohibits her from commenting specifically on the complaint.

In her complaint, Riedmann said Allen called her a “whore” on the air. He asked her to dress in a more sexually revealing manner and to talk sexier on the air, and when she refused, he told her she didn’t understand the radio business, Riedman said.

“The accused cannot appeal the conclusion of the investigation,” said Dean of Student Affairs Marysz Rames, commenting on policy. Rames is handling the complaint now that the investigation is over.

Rames made the decision to send the matter to the Student Conduct Committee to decide what discplinary action should be taken against Allen. The other option was settling the matter informally.

At Thursday’s hearing, Allen will go before the Student Conduct Committee, which is made up of members of the adminstration, faculty and students.

“They’ll tell him what they found, that they found him guilty of it,” Riedmann said. “I sit as a witness, and Ashley gets to question me directly,”

The committee will make a decision based on a range of displinary actions outlined in the SDSU Student Code.

“It does not say what the options are for this particular violation, but in the code it gives what the Student Conduct Committee can do in general, which ranges from censure to expulsion,” Rames said.

The severity of the committee’s decision can be appealed by either Allen or Riedmann.

Riedmann is requesting that Allen be removed from his position as station manager.

“He shouldn’t be in the position where he has the power to degrade someone like that and get away with it,” Riedmann said.

Michelle Herrick

Collegian

Traveling to another country always involves an adventure in local cuisine.

This summer a group of faculty and students went to South Korea, and Loye Romereim-Holmes, an SDSU education professor, said the group had a way to test the spiciness of the food.

“We learned that if food is red, take a little bit and don’t put a large amount in your mouth,” she said.

The university usually chooses 11 to 12 people each year to go on the South Korean trip, which is hosted by Chungnam National University.

“Two students come here from Korea every year,” said Karl Schmidt, Director of International Programs. “Since it’s a reciprocal program and we don’t have students that can speak the language to go there, so they host us for a two-week cultural study.”

For two weeks, the six-member group traveled around South Korea visiting a green tea plantation, a ginseng farm and an island.

With the help of a translator, Romereim-Holmes helped teach an education psychology class at the university in South Korea. She’s planning on going back to do a teaching exchange at Chungnam from February to June.

“I wanted to see what they are doing differently in their classrooms, especially what they are doing technically,” Romereim-Holmes said. “We’d like to include the Internet in our classes, and the South Korean education system is really high ranked.”

The three students who went on the trip aptly referred to themselves as scientists-in-training. Abby Huehl, one of these scientists, said she went on the trip to learn more about another part of the world.

“We always hear about Europe and people are always going to Europe,” said Huehl, a senior biology major. “I wanted to go someplace different, like Asia.”

The other scientists-in-training were Julie Walter, a senior biology major, who is spending the semester at sea, and Carrie Werkmeister, who is majoring in agronomy.

Huehl was surprised at the beauty of the country both inland and at the island they visited called Cheju.

“They have a beautiful campus,” she said. “They have a little forest in the middle of campus and rolling hills.”

While the group traveled around South Korea, mostly by bus, Huehl describes the countryside as being a mixture of fields and apartment buildings.

“There were apartment buildings with fields right next to them,” she said. “There’s so many people in the country that buildings go up all over. Then they have fields wherever they can find land that’s workable. You could travel along the road, see different fields and then see the buildings in the background.”

Since much of the country is mountainous, the farmers have to experiment with different ways of growing products either through incline farming or using a shed-like covering.

At the ginseng root farms, the farmers grow the ginseng in part-shade and part-

sun using dark-colored sheds that are placed over the plant.

This was something that especially interested Kasiviswanath Muthukumarappan “Muthu,” a food engineering professor.

“Korea has more mountainous area than flat land area, and they have learned to survive with what they’ve got,” he said.

Particularly beneficial to Muthu’s research was learning the way South Koreans use the by-products of their crops. They produce ginseng candy from the root, and with their other major crop, they create green tea ice cream.

“They are very advanced in the techniques that they use,” Muthu said. “Not all plant products are able to do that with very high efficiency.”

Another trip to South Korea will be offered in May. If you are interested, please pick up an application before January from the International Programs office in the Administration building room 315.

A former SDSU student and basketball player goes on trial Sept. 22 for entering a woman’s apartment and attempting to rob her, said state’s attorney Clyde Calhoon.

Marquise Antoine Richardson, a 22-year-old Illinois native, pleaded innocent to attempted robbery, burglary and simple assault July 23 in a preliminary hearing.

Richardson, who is currently out on a $10,000 bond, is accused of entering the apartment of Jaime Giedd on May 17. He put a pellet gun to her head, demanded jewelry and money, and when she refused, he fled, court documents say.

Giedd, a senior theatre major, said she had known Richardson as an acquaintance.

Richardson, who was a health, physical education and recreation major at SDSU, faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted of burglary.

He could get a maximum of 12 and one-half years in prison and a $12, 500 fine if found guilty of attempted robbery.

The simple assault charge carries a one-year sentence in the county jail and a $1,000 fine.

An SDSU student was arrested this summer after police found a total of 14 pounds of marijuana in his apartment.

Anthony Quinn Robinson, 23, who was a back-up running back for the SDSU football team, pleaded not guilty to the three drug charges June 29, and will go before a jury trial Sept. 22, said State’s Attorney Clyde Calhoon.

If convicted of the three felony charges, Robinson could face a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Robinson, who is currently out on a $5,000 bond, transferred to SDSU from a California junior college, and is a junior electrical engineering major at SDSU.

Robinson didn’t show up for fall football camp, so he’s not on the roster, said Jason Hove, assistant sports information director for the SDSU athletic department.

Robinson faces three felony charges that include distribution of more than one pound of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute more than one pound of marijuana and possession of than one ounce of marijuana.

After the arraignment on June 29, Calhoon told local Depot Radio news the 14 pounds of marijuana is the most he has ever seen a single defendant possess in the 30 years he’s been a prosecutor.

Jason Evan, an officer with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, had been investigating Robinson from May until his arrest on June 28, according to court documents. The documents say Evan used a confidential informant twice to purchase marijuana from Robinson, also known as A-ROB. During the course of the investigation, Evan determined who Robinson was and on June 28, police searched Robinson’s apartment.

Among other items, police seized a computer tower with six bags of marijuana, a silver box with marijuana and another bag of marijuana from Robinson’s apartment, according to court documents.