“Knowing, because of my efforts, that maybe someday others or myself will benefit toward the research of finding a cure for cancer feels good. If I take a stand for a good cause, maybe others will do the same,” he said. This is also the guiding principle behind St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation began March 17, 2000, in New York City when John Bender, Tim Kenny and Enda McDonnell turned a St. Patrick’s Day party into a head-shaving event to benefit children with cancer. They hoped to raise $17,000, but surpassed that goal to raise a total of $104,000 — over six times as much as they originally anticipated. This also explains where the foundation gets its name, substituting ‘Bald’ for ‘Pat’ in St. Patrick’s to come up with St. Baldrick’s.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation has since become the second-largest volunteer-driven organization providing research grants for childhood cancer. The foundation raised more than $28 million in 2011 and $26,441,926 so far in 2012. Donors, shavees and supporters of this cause will gather at the event to collect funds and promote a cure for childhood cancer. The St. Baldrick’s event coming to SDSU was organized by Sigma Lambda Chi, which has a fraternity mission of giving back to the community.

Jessica Weiss, a junior construction management major from Sonda, N.Y., is a member of SLC and one of the event organizers. She said this event is especially important to her as a mother.

“I would do everything in my power to ensure my daughter’s safety, so being a part of a charity that will help families stay together and help find a cure is very dear to me,” she said.

Norma Nunsz-Chandler is also in the construction management program and is shaving her head in honor of her daughter-in-law, Teresa Boettcher, who is a seven-year survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“This cause is important because children should not have to deal with cancer and the challenges that come with treatment. I dealt with cancer as an adult and have some comprehension of the challenges associated with cancer treatment,” she said. “It is just something a child should not have to endure. If this money raised by shaving my head will help find a cure or reduce the trauma of treatment for one child, it is well worth it.”

She also said that shaving your head is a liberating experience.

“It easier for me since I was bald once due to chemo but it is liberating to not have think about what my hair looks like or deal with fixing it every day. Our spirit is what makes us who we are not our hair or physical features,” she said. “The SLC is hosting this event because we would like to give back and be a part of something life-changing. We would also like the community to know that we are involved and here to help in any way that we can,”Weiss said.

SLC hopes to raise $30,000 through this event — so far they have reached $5,000. They are also looking to recruit between 50 and 75 shavees and have so far enlisted 31.

Rave has raised $500 of that total so far and donated $50 of his own money. He said this event is an opportunity to connect with the Brookings and SDSU community to raise awareness of childhood cancer and funds for a cure. “I believe it is also important for the community to understand that the students at SDSU do serve a purpose and do enjoy giving back to community,” he said. Registration and check in will begin at 2:30 p.m. on April 27.

At this time, shavees will get the chance to sign up for a time to have their head shaven and t-shirts will be given to shavees who raise $50 or more. Walk-ins will be welcome with a $10 minimum donation required for a shave. The shaves will occur approximately every 10 minutes and photo-taking opportunities will be available. For more information, call 688-4143 or 1-888-899-BALD..

“I believe it is also important for the community to understand that the students at SDSU do serve a purpose and do enjoy giving back to community,” he said. Registration and check in will begin at 2:30 p.m. on April 27. At this time, shavees will get the chance to sign up for a time to have their head shaven and t-shirts will be given to shavees who raise $50 or more. Walk-ins will be welcome with a $10 minimum donation required for a shave. The shaves will occur approximately every 10 minutes and photo-taking opportunities will be available. For more information, call 688-4143 or 1-888-899-BALD.sed $500 of that total so far and donated $50 of his own money. He said this event is an opportunity to connect with the Brookings and SDSU community to raise awareness of childhood cancer and funds for a cure.

“I believe it is also important for the community to understand that the students at SDSU do serve a purpose and do enjoy giving back to community,” he said. Registration and check in will begin at 2:30 p.m. on April 27. At this time, shavees will get the chance to sign up for a time to have their head shaven and t-shirts will be given to shavees who raise $50 or more. Walk-ins will be welcome with a $10 minimum donation required for a shave. The shaves will occur approximately every 10 minutes and photo-taking opportunities will be available. For more information, call 688-4143 or 1-888-899-BALD.

The current and future students who don the Jack mascot uniform may be breathing sighs of relief as the push for two new uniforms continues.

Former Students’ Association president Mark York was alerted to the need for the new uniforms and brought forward the idea of providing partial funding from SA to aid the process of acquiring them.

The current mascot uniform was made 15 years ago and is in deteriorating condition. York, a friend of the current student who wears the mascot uniform, had firsthand accounts of how badly the uniform needs to be updated.

“It wasn’t made out of a material that it should have been made out of. It wasn’t as breathable as it should be,” York said. “At that point it needs to be replaced.”

Another concern for the mascot uniform is there is only one uniform for sporting events. This especially becomes a challenge when there are multiple teams playing at the same time, but only one mascot to go around. This problem was highlighted especially during the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, when Jack was unable to make it to the women’s game because it was in New Mexico where the men’s team was playing.

York proposed the idea to SA in one of his last meetings as SA president, including the idea that SA would then offer up part of the money in hopes of convincing alumni to match their donation. York proposed donating $2,000 of SA’s funds toward the new uniforms.

Other senators disagreed with donating money to the Athletic Department, like senator Hassan Ali. The College of Arts and Sciences representative disagreed over whetherw SA should offer any money for uniforms generally covered by the Athletics Department and that, although it may help open up the mascot for wider use, they had yet to get that opportunity in writing.

“My main objection was that we were cutting student groups money but we’re willing to give money to a mascot that students are not going to be able to have access to that easily,” Ali said.

It was former SA senator Rebecca Powell who was able to spearhead the compromise by bringing the original allocation of $2,000 down to $1,000. Looking at the wide variety of groups and programs that use the mascot uniform, Powell felt new uniforms would benefit all of SDSU and give those who use the uniform easier access.

“If just Athletics purchased it, who knows, that would be up to Athletics,” Powell said. “If the students took a part of it, we could all share it.”

York also emphasized this idea, adding there was a discrepancy on how the Jack mascot uniform was rented out to student groups on campus. If SA was going to offer some money toward the uniform, they hoped, in turn, access to the uniform would be given at less of a cost.

“We’re putting forth money for the mascot and we’re going to have to pay more money to use it. We as students thought ‘That’s not the best deal,’” York said.

Also, despite SA passing the allocation, it was done the meeting before seats were changed and Jameson Berreth and Wyatt DeJong took over leadership. York realizes this will take close interaction with Berreth and DeJong because “they’re the ones who really have a say.” Although SA has decided to offer up $1,000, they still have yet to agree on the specifics of the deal.

“We’re still working with the other people on campus to see what we can do — [to see] if we can get this free for student groups,” York said. “The (SA) senate has authorized the leadership to put $1,000 forward, but we as a leadership are still not sure if we want to because we don’t know what we’re going to get out of it.”

The SDSU Wellness Center is looking to expand as the student body grows.

The Wellness Center Advisory Committee created a subcommittee last fall to do research on what an expansion to the facility should include. The subcommittee conducted a survey of SDSU students and held a series of focus groups. The members of the subcommittee also visited a number of SDSU’s peer institutions in the effort to gather information.

Members of the subcommittee presented the results of their research at the April 9 Students’ Association meeting. They detailed some of their ideas for what could be included in a 58,300 sq. ft. expansion, likely to be built on the north side of the existing Wellness Center. The subcommittee’s work has been done as part of the first step in the process of building the expansion.

“We’re just getting our ducks in a row,” said Evan Robb, a former SA senator and member of the Wellness Center Advisory Committee subcommittee. “All the stuff we’re doing is so that we can go in front of the Board of Regents for a request for proposal.”

Before any construction can begin it must first be approved by the BOR, which is a three-step process. The first step is gaining approval to issue a request for proposal to construction firms on the cost and design of the expansion. There is no firm time line yet for the construction of the expansion to be started, much less completed.

“It could be next year, it could be two years, and it could be three years. It really depends on what (SA) does,” said Marysz Rames, vice president for Student Affairs.

BOR priorities will play a big role in determining when the Wellness Center will be expanded, according to Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Doug Wermedal. Right now the BOR is focused on the construction of new residence halls and academic facilities.

“Where (the Wellness Center) fits into BOR priorities, I don’t know,” Wermedal said. He went on to say that he hopes to establish more concrete dates next fall.

Members of SA are looking forward to moving forward on the Wellness Center expansion project. Robb explained that because of the extended timetable involved, the subcommittee will likely have to present their findings again in the fall.

“It will eventually happen, we just don’t know when,” Robb said.

The subcommittee’s survey found that the top priority for students in the expansion was aquatic facilities, which are now shared with the HPER. The second priority students listed was extended hours. Students also shared some of their top complaints and the first was that the Wellness Center was too crowded — a problem likely to get worse as the student body continues to grow.

“Once we have 802 more beds on campus we’re really going to need (the expansion),” said SA President Jameson Berreth.

The expansion that was presented on April 9 would include office space, a pharmacy, an area for children and a new heated pool. It is projected to cost more than $13.5 million and would require a raise in the General Activity Fee of around $4. The Wellness Center is funded in large part by student fee dollars.

“That fee raise wouldn’t happen without student consent,” Robb said.

Before this school year, residence halls’ main doors were open to students, passers-through and anyone else who needed or wanted to get in and out of the buildings. This year that changed and residence halls are now locked during all hours of the day and night. Even residents only have access to their own halls.

“There are three real factors that were included in the decision to change the lockdown policy. These include embracing increasing security, the technology that allows for stronger building protection and real attacks that point at creating unforeseen risk,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Doug Wermedal.

However, students, like former Students’ Association President Mark York, do not feel that safety is an issue on campus.

“I feel that by keeping the dorms locked it is tougher to interact and build community,” he said. “It also creates problems with retention and student connection on campus.”

Another argument York had for why the lockdown policy should be removed, is because he believes it does not hinder others from opening the door for someone. Doors are often opened for people who stand and knock at the doors if they have forgotten their ID or are not a resident of the building.

“I am a 23-year-old man with a beard, and I can still easily get into the dorms,” he said. “It’s not making it more difficult for anyone who wants to get in to be able to do so.”

He is not alone in his beliefs. Jay Wright, a sophomore political science major from Brandon, S.D., said the policy is more or less an irritant because he feels “more than safe” on campus.

“I guarantee I’m not the only student who is annoyed by it,” Wright said. “Maybe it would be nice to change it so I don’t have to set down what I’m holding and swipe my card to get in. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but two to four times a day gets old, especially since we live in South Dakota and not New York.”

Although Wermedal said this policy may not be the most convenient for students, it is in place to help bring higher safety to the residence halls.

“There has to be a balance between convenience and security. It cannot be so secure that it is utterly inconvenient but convenience can’t be put ahead of security,” Wermedal said. “Each year, 4,000 sons and daughters from South Dakota and the upper Midwest are entrusted to our care. Policies that protect students are critical.”

There are some students, though, who feel safer due to the 24-hour lockdown policy.

“I am in favor of keeping the 24-hour lockdown policy,” said former SA Senator Rebecca Powell. “It is a way for students to feel safe and a good precaution because you never know what’s going to happen. It is about trying to find common ground for safety. It is, above all, a safety issue.”

New SA President Jameson Berreth said he will try to make the policy more convenient for students next year, while taking both points of view into account.

“We will work with student groups to see what groups are affected,” he said. “Then we will work to make it more convenient but also keep in mind the safety concerns.”

Even if students don’t feel the policy affects them personally, the policy may affect a group they belong to. Nickollette Larson, a medical lab science major from Groton, S.D, and a member of Sigma Alpha, said the group had to find a new place to meet after the policy was enacted.

“The sorority that I am in used to meet in the basement of Hansen. Since most of us don’t live on campus we had to move the meetings to a different location,” she said.

The change in policy is in response to incidents that happened in places other than the residence halls and downtown, York explained. Because the issues have not been attributed to SDSU, he sees no need for a policy of this nature in the residence halls.

“There are many other solutions, such as allowing everyone with an SDSU ID to get into the residence halls between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. and then only students who reside in each hall could get in from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m.,” York said.

Wermedal said SDSU is too deep into the semester to change the policy now.

“The extra traffic from construction also makes a poor time to change the policy now,” Wermedal said. “I know [SA president] Jameson [Berreth] and [vice president] Wyatt [DeJong] well and will work closely with them during the summer and next school year. Now they and everyone else are focused on finals. We have to let them be students first.”

Another point made by administration and residential life is that most schools already have a 24-hour lockdown policy in place.

“In general, campuses across the United States have not just their residence halls, but all other public buildings, locked,” Wermedal said. “The potential for large-scale events such as an active shooter is reality.”

Before any changes are recommended, Berreth said SA would look at the issue from the standpoint of both students and Student Affairs and come up with a plausible compromise.

“Many of the conversations will begin outside of the (SA) senate and later may be brought up in SA meetings either as a resolution or a discussion topic,” Berreth said.

Eight words went through Jill’s head again and again as she drove back to Brookings.

“Do you want to know if it’s twins?”

That was four years ago, in the second semester of Jill’s freshman year, when she had an abortion. Her husband David is still the only one who knows.

“I got pregnant, and I got scared,” she said.

At the time she and David were dating, and neither wanted to have an abortion. But it was the only way Jill could hide the pregnancy.

“I considered adoption,” she said. “But then I thought, ‘I’m going to get big. I’m going to show. People are going to know that I’m pregnant.’”

Despite what she chose, Jill has always been against abortion.

“I thought growing up, ‘How could someone do that? How could they kill their baby?’” she said.

But she couldn’t bear the shame.

“I come from a very conservative family,” she said. “Looking back, they would have accepted it eventually. It would have been fine, but immediately I was just struck with fear.”

In the United States there are two main types of abortion: in-clinic and a pill form. Jill decided to take the pill because it seemed like the easiest option.

David was “just as confused” about abortion as Jill was, she said. He didn’t want her to do it, but he said he would support her in whatever she chose. She called Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, the only abortion center in South Dakota, and asked about the pill.

“They said, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s not a problem,’” she said. “Like really nice. There was not a tone of somberness.”

One weekend when David was gone, Jill drove to Planned Parenthood by herself.

“They make you fill out so many forms beforehand just to make sure you’re absolutely sure,” she said. “I remember just going through the motions filling it out — just no emotion.”

After paying $330 with cash, she sat in the waiting room.

“No one looked at each other,” she said. “No one tried to talk to each other or anything.”

Eventually a nurse called Jill into a room for an ultrasound.

“‘Do you want to know if it’s twins?’” the nurse asked.

Jill said yes, and the nurse told her it wasn’t. Then the nurse asked if Jill wanted to know the sex of the baby. Jill said no.

She was then taken into another room where the nurse gave her the pills.

“It was very — it was really strange,” she said. “They treated it almost like you were going in for a headache.”

First, she had to take a pill that stopped all development of the baby. It was her last chance to back out.

“And I did it,” Jill said. “I took it.”

Then she was asked to put four smaller pills on the inside of her mouth, which caused her uterus to contract so her body would expel the baby. All Jill felt were cramps.

Then came the 59-mile drive back to Brookings.

“I just remember I drove home and sobbed,” she said. “I just lost it.”

Jill called her husband that night, who had been looking at baby pictures online that day. He “just sat at his computer, and he sobbed,” she said.

“I remember laying on the couch for two days,” she said. “I had done something that every part of me knew was wrong.”

Now, four years later, Jill is still “haunted” every day.

“After I had done [the abortion] I started researching it,” she said. “It has a heartbeat. It has fingernails. It has all that stuff. It is a human that I murdered.”

Jill was raised going to church and has always called herself a Christian. She has been involved in churches in Brookings, as well as different campus ministries. After the abortion, she can clearly remember a turning point.

“After a while God met me, and I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I just remember sobbing one day, screaming for forgiveness — crying out to God for forgiveness,” she said. “And I just felt peace.”

But she is still weighed down by guilt and the pressure of keeping a secret.

When she was pregnant, she thought telling her family was impossible. Now, hiding the abortion is worse.

“I’ve prayed for courage to tell them,” she said. “And I’m still praying for that. I’m just not ready for my mom to see me like that.”

She’s worried about what her friends would think, too.

“Whenever the topic comes up I get really uneasy,” she said. “But I don’t try to play the victim card because I know exactly what I did.”

Jill wants other women to make a different choice than she did.

“You’ll never regret letting your baby live,” she said. “… You will regret [aborting it]. I’m a strong a person. I don’t cry easily. But I regret it every day.”

Mark Dawson uses a group of volunteers from the audience to illustrate some of his points. (Collegian photo by Nick Lowrey)April 18.

Dawson was brought in as the keynote speaker for the The Week to End Violence now taking place at SDSU. The presentation entitled “Hookin’ Up and Gettin’ Some”, was not exactly about what the name evokes. It was in fact a discussion of how to date safely, get consent when needed and the facts about sexual assault.

The presentation began with an explanation of communication and a dispelling of myths surrounding gender roles in dating. Specifically Dawson addressed popular culture’s affect on how people act in intimate situations.

“We live in a gullible society,” he said, explaining that people often do things only because family, friends and the larger society tell them to. Dawson’s point was that people should communicate more clearly about their feelings toward potential partners.

“The main message is consent and getting consent and the people giving consent need to be clear too.” he said.

Dawson has spent the last 12 years becoming an expert on the issues revolving around dating, communication and sexual assault. His interest in the topic was sparked when his girlfriend at the time told him that she had been raped. Dawson was already a professional speaker, when he decided to take on the issues surrounding sexual assault.

SDSU student Jared Timmerman who was in the audience for extra credit said he was exposed to a few new ideas.

“In the beginning it was a lot of new stuff, the communication thing was a big one,” he said.

Libby Trammel the president of the SDSU Campus Women’s Coalition said that Bringing Dawson to campus was an effort to attract more men to the event.

“We thought by bringing (Dawson) to campus we would attract a different audience,” she said, “I think a lot of men, when it comes to this topic feel accused we didn’t want that.”

The Week to End Violence is sponsored by the SDSU Women’s Coalition and will continue through the end of the week. Thursday evening will feature  the Take Back the Night  event at 7:30 p.m. in the old fire hall downtown.

One of the roles of the media is to keep public officials accountable. In the article “Too many absences for two SA senators,” we did just that.

The Students’ Association bylaws clearly state, “more than three unexcused absences shall be grounds for removal.” Former Sens. Cole Breuer and Jared Ellefson exceeded that limit — Breuer with seven and Ellefson with four.

Those are the facts, and we chose to publish them for two reasons:

1. Attending Senate meetings and voting on the issues is one of the main responsibilities of a senator. SA has its unexcused absence policy for a reason. Breuer and Ellefson were not representing students when they missed those meetings.

2. Ellefson was one of the three candidates running for SA President. If a candidate has four unexcused absences, students should know.

Nothing in the article is incorrect. The letter to the editor in this week’s issue states, “the article itself blatantly calls Ellefson a liar.” We want to respond by saying simply and respectfully, “No, it doesn’t.”

Our reasons for running the article are stated above. We have nothing against Ellefson personally, and there was certainly no intent to attack him.

Our facts about Ellefson were not based on hunches, personal feelings or assumptions. They were based on attendance records and word-for-word accounts from the former SA president and vice president and Ellefson himself.

We understand that the article did not put Ellefson in a positive light. For that, we do sympathize with him, as well as with his close friends who are also upset. But in the end, we printed the truth and sometimes that hurts.

We stand by the article as it was published.

Stance: Journalists play an important role in keeping public officials accountable.

Editorial Board:

Emma DeJong, Editor-in-Chief

Hannah Baker, Managing Editor

Jamison Lamp, Opinion Editor

The editorial board meets and agrees on the issue of the editorial. The editorial represents the opinion of The Collegian.

At least 100 students were evacuated from The Union around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The exact cause is still unknown, but Union Director Jennifer Novotny said six to 10 buildings lost power, and The Union was out the longest.

David Law, project manager engineer with Facilities and Services, said “it’s construction-related,” but the workers didn’t do anything that caused the outage. He said it probably happened when university workers were switching the wires.

In the past Novotny said construction caused power outages were a somewhat regular occurrence.

“I’m guessing this will probably not be the first of its kind,” she said. “It’s probably going to happen again, but we’ll try to keep it to a minimum.”

Along with losing power, two of the buildings — The Union and Larson Commons — had to evacuate due to a fire alarm.

In The Union, smoke was detected in Weary Wil’s Sports Grill, said Keith Skogstad, assistant director of The Union. When the power went out, the exhaust fan stopped working, and there was still smoke and steam in the air.

“With nothing pulling it out, the room filled up with smoke,” Skogstad said. He said Larson’s situation was probably similar.

Novotny said a difficult aspect of the process was evacuating students from The Union.

“You have to evacuate,” Novotny said. “It’s not optional.”

Everyone was let back into The Union at around 4:26 p.m.

In a press release for the approval of the rising costs, the BOR outlines the increase to be $463.97 per year, or a raise of 6.5 percent. This increase is only for the three research universities within the system — SDSU, USD and South Dakota School of Mine and Technology.

The BOR said, in the press release, that the change will “allow these universities to generate and retain more tuition income in support of their broader research mission, as well as better align costs with the tuition charged.”

“We sought to keep this cost to students as low as possible, while still addressing enrollment growth, service to students, and delivering the highest quality education possible,” said Regents President Kathryn Johnson in the release.

Janelle Toman, the director of communications for the BOR, echoes the statement of the Regents president, as well as adding that faculty salaries were also a deciding factor in the increase.

“There are several cost drivers that impact our tuition and fees schedule, and one of the biggest ones this year was that the legislature did agree to provide a salary package to state employees including faculty and staff members at the university,” Toman said.

Tuition and fees are often affected by salary raises. According to Toman, 41 percent of the costs for salaries are covered by the state, with the remaining 59 percent having to be covered by the BOR. Despite the raise, Toman insists that the BOR has the students in mind when meddling with tuition rates.

“The Board is very careful to never raise tuition and fees unless there’s a reason for it,” said Toman.

An increase in health insurance for employees and inflation, which Toman says is always a big part of what drives costs, are also linked to the tuition increase for the three universities.

The costs for students at these three facilities will be $129.90 per credit hour, an average in-state undergraduate taking 30 credits a year will be paying $7,563.67. This estimate also includes the University Support Fee and the General Activity Fee. The new rates will be applied during the 2012- 2013 school year, beginning in the summer semester.

South Dakota is currently ranked fourth among lowest tuition rates for instate undergraduate students at a total cost of $13,124. This number is judged on the cost of an undergraduate resident student taking 32 credit hours, living in a double resident hall room and purchasing a full meal plan. Idaho ranks lowest at $11,708.

The BOR also called attention to the fact that the amount of credits required to graduate from most bachelor degree programs have been decreased from 128 to 120 possibly saving money for those on a tight four-year degree path.

Despite the decrease in the amount of credits needed to graduate, some SDSU students are not excited about the increase. Hassan Ali, a junior political science and international relations major, was unimpressed with how little he has heard about the increase in tuition, as well as the silence of the Students Association.

“I think everything is grassroots. If Students Association would have lead the effort for students to talk to their elected leaders, to call the governors office… [to have] an opportunity to let them know how we feel, as our elected officials they [would] have a responsibility to fight for education and make sure that tuition isn’t jacked up by 6.5 percent in a single year,” he said.

Although students may not be aware of the increase, Ali is positive that they will be aware when the increase goes into effect for the summer session.

“Students are going to notice it when it hits them, and it’s going to be too late for us to do anything about it when it does go into effect,” Ali said. “I think it’s ridiculous for tuition to raise 6.5 percent and for the student body to just act like nothing has happened, like it’s just another day.”

Director of TRIO and Multicultural Affairs, C.D. Douglas said there will be a space located in the Multicultural office to serve the roughly 300 veteran students at SDSU. There, veterans can access information and resources ranging from tutoring to benefits and build a sense of community. Douglas said the Veteran’s Resource Center is part of a University effort to increase veteran outreach.

“We want to make sure veterans get the service they need,” he said. “We’re trying to create a space where veterans feel comfortable and know they can always go for help.”

Reaching veterans has proved to be a challenge on campus because veterans are self-identified and have not had a dedicated space. Previously, veterans had an office to process GI Bill paperwork and used the disability services office when they needed help with disability-related issues. Douglas said the new resource center would be better equipped to serve the veteran community on campus.

The SDSU Armed Forces Association estimates there may be as many as 500 to 700 veterans and others on campus that qualify for veteran benefits under the GI bill. This would make people receiving veteran’s benefits one of the largest student groups on campus.

Danny Mclaughlin, who serves as the president of the AFA, said having a dedicated space for such a large community is vital.

“We thought, the Greeks have an office, the Multicultural Center has an office and the Native American Club has an office, why don’t veterans?” he said.

Mclaughlin said having no real space for veterans on campus hurts efforts to build community.

“A lot of service members come to school and feel alone,” he said. “We want veterans to know that we’re here for them and that they have a space they can go to be with people like them who they have a shared background with.”

Douglas said the veteran’s resource position has already been advertised; he hopes to have it filled by June. The position will be shared with disability services and dedicate 75 percent of its time to veterans affairs. One of the position’s major responsibilities is planning a special orientation session for veterans either returning to school or just beginning.

“Not having a veteran’s orientation has been one of our main complaints from the veteran community in the past few years. They have a different set of needs than the average freshman, and this is something we need to do to help ease their transition into college life,” Douglas said.

The veteran’s resource center is a start, Douglas said, but in the future he hopes to provide more services for veterans, including a counselor trained to deal specifically with post traumatic stress disorder and a full-time financial aid administrator specializing in the GI bill.