Students all over campus are buckling down in an effort to prepare for upcoming tests. || Ben McGrath/The News

As finals week approaches it seems students lose all perspective and go into panic or survival mode.

The pressures of the week plague student minds. How much time should you dedicate to each final? What is the best way to prepare?

According to the Dartmouth Skills Center students should study in 20 to 50 minute increments and give themselves 5 to 10 minute breaks between each session. For the best results possible, study time should be spread out over one full week.

The New York Times explained that rather than sticking to one study spot, students should give themselves a change of scenery when reviewing for exams.

Leigh Johnson, assistant professor in the College of Business said it is more practical to look at the exams students will have last and make sure they consistently study for them, because by the time they take those exams it is more difficult to focus and study.

“A common mistake that students make is cramming,” Johnson said. “There are just too many tests during finals week”.

Johnson said students should spend adequate time preparing throughout the semester, this way it is a true review and it isn’t a ton of new material.

“A final should be a true test of what you have already learned,” she said.

According to The Huffington Post, certain music, like Mozart’s compositions, which follow a 60 beats per minute pattern, have been shown to activate both sides of the brain. Stimulation of both sides has been linked with increased recall. This means listening while studying can help increase the likelihood that studiers will retain the relevant information.

Another study tip from this source, study in groups. Explaining difficult concepts out loud will help students figure out what they understand and what they still need to allocate further attention. The group motivation to persevere is an added bonus.

Studying for finals is a process that is unique to each individual. Each student has his or her own preparation technique which helps them make it through the week.

“The only way I can eliminate stress during finals week is to be 100 percent prepared and that means studying every minute I can up until every test,” Sydney Robison White, senior from Henderson, Ky., said.

According to The Huffington Post, The best thing to remember is to take one test at a time and study the material in a sequential and productive manner. Students should start with studying the information and material they know and add more difficult or recent material as they proceed and tie it all together in the end.

This technique’s success may be boosted by just 20 minutes of cardio a day. This amount of cardio can help improve a student’s memory and retention rate.

Mike Quirk, senior from Louisville, Ky., Said: “Got to knock them out one by one, finals week isn’t as bad if you break it down and don’t take it on as a whole.”

Photo provided by Hancock Biological Station

Students, faculty and other scientists at the Hancock Biological Station are busy using real time sensors to study the waters of the Kentucky Lake to better understand the water supply.

The Hancock Biological Station is located on the shores of Kentucky Lake and is a year-round facility providing scientists with a base operation for a wide variety of field research and presenting students with opportunities for field-oriented classes, individualized instruction, independent research and close interactions with researchers and faulty.

There are some students who choose to live at the station and conduct research as a contribution to their graduation requirements.

David White, director of Hancock Biological Stations, said the study of Kentucky Lake has been going on for the last 24 years and is the biggest project going on right now at the station.

White said since 19 percent of the world’s population does not receive clean drinking water on a daily basis, it is important to understand the closest water supply and not take it for granted.

“We are sort of water rich here,” he said. “But we need to understand our water here. We don’t think of how much water we use.”

White said researchers receive data from the sensors every six minutes and it provides with them with information about what is going on in the lake. They receive oxygen levels, algae levels, carbon levels, temperatures, etc.

The team receives 32 measurements from six different sensor spots located in various locations in the lake.

White said the basic service is offered to the general public and is used by the Weather Channel, Fort Campbell Military Base and the Kentucky Wildlife Society, just to name a few.

Kirk Raper, graduate student from Cookeville Tenn., said for the last three years he has been processing water chemistry samples for the Kentucky Lake project.

Raper said he wanted to be apart of this long-term research to better understand the changes of Kentucky Lake.

“I wanted to be involved with this project because I believe in its ability to provide useful information about our water resources, including how land practices may affect the water, and how variations over time can affect the lake’s ecology,” he said.

Raper said since 1988 the biological station has been gathering a suit of information regarding the physical, chemical and biological parameters of 16 different sites on the lake.

“The purpose of retrieving this long-term data is to be able to go back and observe the limnological status of the reservoir at any given time and to determine if any long-term changes maybe occurring in the chemistry and biology,” he said.

Raper said one of the more astounding observations the researchers have found is the introduction of the invasive water flea, Daphnia Lumholtzi, and the ecological changes following this event.

“Since we collect zooplankton samples with every cruise, we can look back at our database and see exactly what date in 1991, when we first detected the species, which is native to lakes in Africa, Asia and Australia,” he said.

Raper said since the Kentucky Lake is not a natural reservoir there are many questions about how it affects the ecosystems.

“We do know that reservoirs affect the environment by increasing sedimentation, altering physicochemical conditions and causing conditionally dependent species to sometimes become endangered or extinct,” he said. “This ongoing research provides data which can help explain some changes we have seen over the past 20 years and will continue to see into the future.”

The research raises awareness of the conditions and trends of the water resource at Kentucky Lake.

“If we were to notice extreme changes in data from the sites we collect from, we could investigate the reason and potentially take action if there was an unwarranted practice which could be compromising water quality,” Raper said.

Mike Young, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, said students can use the Hancock Station as an opportunity for a co-op or internship to gain undergraduate experience.

“I know that the station affords the students a more hands on opportunity to be involved in the experimental things they do out there,” Young said.

A renowned glaciologist visited Murray State on Wednesday April 25, 2012, in the Freed Curd Auditorium of the Collins Industry and Technology Center.

Keith Mountain, professor in the department of geography and geosciences at the University of Louisville, got his start in 1974 when he ventured to work on a glacier in Greenland. Mountain said he has had a interest in glaciers, snow and ice from an early age.

His visit to Murray State was to ensure the community and the University was aware of how glaciers affected daily life.

“This is a worldwide issue,” he said. “I’ve seen the same situations happen in Peru as they do in Australia. Everyone needs to be aware of the option not only to speak for this issue but also to know about the kind of legacy we leave for future generations.”

Mountain’s research has taken him all over the world; he has participated and lead projects in the countries of Greenland, South America, and Tibet. Altogether, he has been a part of over 25 different international expeditions.

He said the glaciers he visited not only showed him the real truth that they hold but also reflect on the environmental changes as well.

“I do not like the phrase ‘global warming’,” Mountain said. “I prefer climate change. Global warming is simply another part of that.”

Mountain said he does not like to differentiate between weather and climate. He said the reason for this is either topic are studied at different scales and require different mathematical concepts to be determined.

According to Mountain, there are five basic forms of the proxy record, which is the means of recording environmental data before the age of actual record keeping- geological, botanical, soils, glaciological, marine and models.

Glaciological gives the scientists a more exact answer to their questions due to the “tree-ring” like feature.

“The way glaciers answer our questions about climate change and how the different weather system affected the world over time lie in the glacier itself,” he said. “The glacier rings, which typically accumulate 3 feet per year, show the dry seasons and the wet seasons of the region.”

Mountain said the secret to learning about how climate change is altered each year is embedded in the layers of snow. He said there is an enormous amount of information within these glaciers that can be used for good use.

The only problem with realizing this goal, Mountain said comes with realizing the rapid melting of the glaciers. He said the Southern Andes glaciers in Peru are retreating at a more accelerated rate every year. The north wall of the ice cap in Papua, Indonesia is also on this list as well.

Mountain said with the Arctic Pole also melting, a whole new different topic erupts, which could have a closer impact.

“With the Arctic Circle being rich in natural oil and other natural products, different countries are now debating which part belongs to whom,” he said. “The United States, for example, has two solo areas and has conjoined with Canada to share a piece between the two properties. Other nations, like Greenland and Russia, have already claimed their spots in the Arctic Circle.”

Mountain said he will be working in Alaska on the McCall Glacier, in which he will be reassuring the equipment set up to help read the glacier.

Rebecca Kilby, freshman from Murray, said with being a member of MESS and having a natural care for the environment, the lecture gave her a chance to discover new ways to help out even more.

Said Kilby: “It was a good chance to learn more about issues related to the environment and how to help out with the conservation of our world.”

The Presidents Commission on Sustainability had their last meeting of the semester on April 19 to discuss changes since their last meeting and what plans were being implemented for the future.

The commission is one of three created by President Randy Dunn, which also include improvements to campus sustainability and student retention. It was organized to help with the formation of a campus-wide plan for increasing ways to make Murray State more environmentally friendly.

Dunn’s Commission on Sustainability began in 2010 with the objective of improving campus sustainability and recycling efforts.

Members of the commission for sustainability include Dunn, Josh Jacobs, chief of staff, Wayne Harper, director of grounds and buildings services, students of the Murray Environmental Student Society and faculty members from the engineering and technology, biological sciences, agricultural sciences departments, along with other faculty and staff.

The participants identify major needs and topics of concern from various constituency groups engaged in campus sustainability efforts.

Propose policies, programs, practices and other responses to address identified needs and concerns and monitor implementation following adoption. They try to promote and retain issues of sustainability within the University while collaborating with campus organizations that have related goals and objectives.

Paula Amols, director of Dining Services, said new equipment, such as high-efficiency ovens will be installed in Winslow this summer.

“Hopefully as I get settled I can add to these contributions,” Amols said. “We are starting to replace some of the old equipment.

Winslow started trayless dining in the summer of 2010 and reduced food waste anywhere from 25-50 percent.

“It accomplishes a lot of things,” Amols said. “It’s good from the point of food waste and it helps from a health aspect. Students aren’t eating as much as much food since they don’t have room for it without the trays.”

She said the riddance of trays, which has reduced water usage, 5000 customers a day. Without washing thousands of trays, chemicals are being not being used as much which is better for the environment.

She said Dining Services is also working with the student operated Pullen Farm on the improvement of composting.

“They’ve been doing this for a while- collecting food scraps,” Amols said. “About 500-700 pounds of food a week goes to Pullen farm from dining services.

Amols said dining services is also re-training the staff on the separation of food in preparation to be turned into compost.

Tony Brannon, dean of the Hutson School of Agriculture, said some of the plans for the next two years are to establish a pilot on-farm demonstration unit of transferable equine waste and heat generation at the Hutson School of Agriculture.

“When you think of sustainability and agriculture and look at what he have you have to look at the macro version and the micro version,” Brannon said. “University sustainability efforts are many times very costly and part of planning.”

Other future plans include establishing a demonstration unit for various biomass energy crop densification and energy and heat generation at Hutson School of Agriculture.

Plans for a LGBT resource center are still being spoken of, months after the petition to jumpstart the facility was released.

The center comes as part of the president’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion’s Diversity Plan.

Jody Cofer, academic program specialist and Alliance adviser, said he thinks the institution is trying to figure the best way to respond to the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

“We clearly are in tight budget times and there are a lot of different factors that come into play at its core,” Cofer said. “We are talking about groups of students that are at risk in part because of their sex or heighten risk with different needs.”

While Cofer sat at his desk, he thought of questions he had about the University providing students with some type of resource center.

He addressed the fact of scarce resources and limited funds. Cofer questioned how the University would respond and give some relief to the needs.

Cofer said the idea is to have a room in which students could gather and network, as well as provide a safe place where they could work through issues as a LGBT community.

“We’re getting on the extreme what a center might look like,” Cofer said. “A little staffing, spacing and training to be that contact.”

He said the petition that was sent around said student’s resources and staffing. Truth is a lot of the people that have been talking about a LGBT center its not a grand as some people want to make it.

“This is a student issue, this is for a population of students,” Cofer said. “We have a good number of LGBT students, which add another layer to our institution.”

At the Board of Regents meeting on April 27 the LGBT center was not addressed on the list of expenditures.

President Randy Dunn said he thinks our LGBT community has its goal, that they would like to see the creation of a resource center such as we have for other groups on campus.

“I’m open to consideration of that, but clearly we’re not at a period of time that we can be adding on a lot of services,” Dunn said. “In fact, we’re going to coming into a year where instead of looking to add and expand services, we’re probably going to be looking to do some reallocation and find some increase in efficiencies in the system.”

He said he would like to talk looking at current staffing and figuring out if there may be a way to provide some support services from current staffing.

“I don’t see a center coming online for next year or expansion of student services generally, but I understand the needs they’re expressing and we’re going to look to see if within existing staffing, we can figure out a way to provide some assistance,” Dunn said.

Mike Young, assistant vice president of Student Affairs said the University is serious about its diversity plan, it is a major undertaking to develop a plan which has to be submitted to the CPE, and has been.

“If the resource center is in the plan then obviously it will happen, but they may be waiting for the budget to support it as well,” Young said. “I’m certain the diversity plan itself is a document the University feels very strongly about.”

Young said students feel the resource center would be a place they would be able to go to get help, services or whatever they need, so it would be a great benefit to students.

Tom Denton, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, said there were no funds set aside for the center that he was aware of. I

“If we had gift money from a third party source we could most likely use it for that purpose,” Denton said.

Shamike Stiles, freshman from Chicago, Ill., said the LGBT community at Murray State needs a safe place where personal and academic needs can be fostered and with a staff that is educated in LGBT services, they could provide students with the proper resources.

“I am from Chicago, Ill. when I came to small college town Murray, my mother was terrified for me because I was an out lesbian,” Stiles said. “I can honestly say the Murray State campus has been more LGBT friendly that I expected.”

Stiles who is the president of Alliance for the 2012-13 school year said she knows she will be faced with challenges that she can not handle.

“Murray State’s Alliance works hard to create a safe place for LGBT students on campus but we are students ourselves,” Stiles said. “A center would make Murray State safer, more aware of LGBT issues and give those who are in need of help a welcoming door to knock on.”

In today’s edition of The Murray State News’ Superfecta 2012, the photograph accompanying the My Reality Tattoos and Body Piercing’s article is incorrect. On page 16, under the headline “Best Tattoo Parlor: My Reality Tattoo,” the photograph is of another tattoo parlor and does not represent My Reality in any way.

We apologize to readers and My Reality for our error.

Murray Amnesty, a newly formed local chapter of the global organization Amnesty International, held their first meeting on Wednesday April 25, at Calloway County Public Library.

Jessica Evans, Kentucky Area Coordinator of Amnesty International, led the meeting. Evans, appointed to the position in January, has been involved with letter writing campaigns and petitions with Amnesty International for multiple years prior to her appointment. Evans said that she originally began her work with Amnesty International because she was eager to become involved with an organization that focused on equality and social justice.

“I have seen firsthand what discrimination, injustice and intolerance looks like and I wanted to be part of a group that works to (not only) end discrimination, but educate people as well,” said Evans. “One of the reasons I started my role as Area Coordinator is because I felt Amnesty’s presence in Kentucky could, and should, be more prominent.”

The first meeting’s purpose was to provide those in attendance with a brief overview of the goals and missions of Amnesty International and to provide background information on the now 50-year-old organization.

“Amnesty International aims to promote and protect human rights for every individual worldwide,” said Evans “Human rights are inherent to all and should not be denied to anyone regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or any other factor.”

Amnesty International has over 3 million members in 150 countries making it the largest grassroots human rights organization in the world. The organization is best known for its work freeing “prisoners of conscience”, people who have been wrongly imprisoned because of their political or religious beliefs, race, sex, economic status or sexual orientation. To date, the organization has freed more than 40,000 political prisoners.

Amnesty International has functioned as a group for 50 years, and now a chapter local to Murray has formed.

Amnesty Murray will be the first local Amnesty International group in Murray, and will be the only city group operating in Kentucky. Beside Amnesty Murray, there are 16 other Amnesty International student groups at various schools in Kentucky, including Amnesty International at MSU.

Amnesty International has conducted multiple programs in the community in preparation for the forming of Amnesty Murray. On December 8th and 9th they held a Write-a-Thon in the Curris Center to help free prisoners of conscience during which, they gathered 180 letters, exceeding their original goal of 150. On April 10th, Amnesty International along with Baha’is of Western Kentucky co-sponsored a screening of the movie The Truth That Wasn’t There in the Mason Hall Auditorium and then screened Education on Fire the following night.

To help raise awareness for Amnesty Murray, Evans said she hopes to have an Amnesty Murray section in the upcoming Freedom Fest Parade on July 3rd. Evans plans on recruiting members and raising awareness specifically at Murray State during summer orientation and during the fall semester.

Evans said she would like to team up with other local human rights groups such as the Human Rights Commission in Murray and Amnesty International at MSU.

“I tremendously enjoy networking and collaborating with other individuals and organizations that are also focused on humanitarian efforts,” said Evans. “It’s great being able to bring ideas back to groups and help them to grow and empower themselves.”

The Coordinator of Amnesty International at MSU, Mary Ann Hodge, was one of the six people in attendance at the meeting on Wednesday.

According to Hodge, who will be stepping down as Coordinator next year, the fate of Amnesty International at MSU is up in the air. Hodge said that recruitment has not been able to keep up with the growing number of members graduating. Currently, there are only two active members in the organization.

Evans said that it is possible Amnesty Murray and Amnesty International at MSU will join in order to consolidate members and resources.

Devin Griggs

Opinion Editor

Across the globe, the first of May brings demonstrations, parades and celebrations. Why is that, you might ask? May 1 is the traditional “Labor Day” for just about everywhere in the world outside of Canada, Japan and the United States, all three of which celebrate Labor Day in the fall. Known around the world as “International Labor Day”, “International Worker’s Day”, or simply “Labor Day”, May 1 commemorates the fight for the eight-hour workday and the killing of workers that protested for the eight-hour day (among other things) at Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886 (following arrests made of striking workers on May 1, 1886).

This year, the Occupy movement has called for a general strike on May 1st, a “day without the 99 percent” to send a message to the political elites in the United States and around the globe that the public stands in opposition to the austerity measures being pressed forward by just about every industrialized nation-state. Regardless of whether or not the Occupy movement’s protest is successful, if bringing “May Day” back into the political lexicon and reminding the public that the rights we have on the job were rights that our forefathers and foremothers fought and died for are successful.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. Even though the eight-hour day and the forty-hour workweek were not legally established until 1938, the protests of 1886 that pushed the political debate in the direction of reform made that reform inevitable – and it was all because people got involved, got organized and pushed the debate in the direction of reform. The Occupy movement might not be successful in the short-run, but the Knights of Labor did not succeed in getting the eight-hour day in 1886; those who came after it, however, in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) did. Occupy is building the base from which future movements will make their demands a reality. Rome was not built in a single day, and the battle for a more equal distribution of wealth will not come overnight.

While it is depressing to some extent that the reforms that Occupy wants to see happen might take some time (even as far in the future when the 20-somethings that lead the movement are old enough to run for office), they don’t have to if committed people get involved and get organized to push those reforms. The success of democracy lies in the people, and unless we the people get organized and get serious about pushing for reform, we’ll either have to wait it out or watch as a more organized (and possibly more sinister) counter organization gets its way in Washington.

Bill Zingrone
assistant professor of psychology

Steven Herr’s response to my reply stemming from my original editorial “Religion is not the answer” cites some research from psychology and psychiatry that religious belief may have some potential benefits for the life of the individual doing the believing. And that may well be true. But the focus of my editorial and my response to Professor Goggins was the not merely potential but very tangible negative effects of religious thought on our individual personal freedoms, as believers of all stripes mistakenly think, since they claim to understand what some god intends for all of our behavior, they get to impose it on the rest of us.

Whatever small and purely potential benefits religion may convey to a believing individual, it is the very large and very real detrimental effects of religious thought on our lives that are of importance in the modern world. Religion provides a foundation for misogyny, homophobia and divisiveness.

Take religion out of our modern life and see what’s left of those repressions. For starters, women all over the world would have little to no opposition to their full reproductive rights. No one like the Pope, his bishops and the likes of Rick Santorum would be telling women they must not use birth control and have no say in the matter regarding their having an abortion. No imams or ministers would be telling women that obeying their husbands and having multiple births is what their life is destined for.

No judges would be telling Moroccan girls to marry their rapists. No ministers would be telling us here in Murray whether we can drink or purchase alcohol and Pastor Dennis Terry from Louisiana wouldn’t be telling us all, women and men alike, to leave this country for not conforming to his conservative brand of belief or for being gay or lesbian, or worse to a strict Baptist, being a Catholic. It surely is a comfort to know such religiosity may make him feel good. These are not examples of fanatical belief or extremists hijacking moderate religious beliefs. These are mainstream examples, and not from the past but from today.

These displays of religious negativity are not enlightened in any sense, and are in fact barbaric and ignorant in today’s enlightened times. Rick Santorum and company gets to tell your daughter and mine to carry a dead fetus around because that faith of his may potentially enhance his well-being? Professor Herr additionally feels it detrimental to debate the shortcomings of the people he calls saints. Shortcomings? Having those who don’t agree with you on matters theological tortured or beheaded belies more than just a minor personality defect. Being burned at the stake? Bad day. Thankfully civilization has come a long way where modern day religionists only threaten you with breaking the law or deportation (at least in this country): how enlightened of them. Religion does not provide a foundation for finding the good in ourselves and others.

Most of us do that in spite of religious beliefs. My many wonderful good Christian and Muslim friends thankfully ignore most of what their religions tell them about people of differing faiths and unbelievers: If any fellow human were to accidentally suffer a severe burn, on one arm for example, they would immediately respond with aid, care and natural human empathy despite their respective religion’s insistence that should this same person then suddenly experience a heart-attack from the pain of the severe but localized burn and die, they would be transported immediately to a place of eternal, unimaginable suffering from unquenchable fire, burning excruciatingly all over their entire body for eternity in their religion’s particular perverse version of the afterlife reserved solely for unbelievers. But at least that belief might make somebody feel good, huh?

John Walker
senior from
Nicholasville, Ky.

The coming increases in tuition for students leaves the competency of higher education systems of this state in doubt. The students of this system are already stretched to their financial limits, so it is a wonder how they can afford to raise tuition once again.

Is there good reason for the increase? Yes. With rising energy prices and maintenance costs prices are inevitably going to go up. This is especially true for our University where many of the buildings are dated and not very energy efficient. This also doesn’t help when the University decides to keep the air-conditioning on throughout the entire summer in buildings only used for two weeks over a three month period. Maybe it’s time to tell some of those faculty who want to work over the summer to stay at home. If they really care about the plight of the students they will understand the needed sacrifice.

But even if the University tried to cut as many corners as possible, whether it’s by saving energy or stopping pay increases, the real problem will not be solved. The state will keep allowing these institutions to place another heavy burden on students every year and every year they will respond by sending a bus of students to lobby in Frankfort to grovel and beg and when the time comes the University will increase tuition. This has been the model for the five years I have been a student here and it needs to stop.

Many students may not see this as an important issue at the moment. But the increase in college loans and the decrease in federal support for students is going to have a long lasting effect on the education of young people in this country.

If we are going to recognize that a college education is an important part of our society’s growth and if we are going to advertise this University as an affordable, regional institution then we need to make a concentrated effort at stopping the state from taking this away. Their model is dated and needs to go. Lobbying and compromise is not working anymore. For every one step forward we are taking three steps back and it’s no longer acceptable. I propose a change.

We need an immediate summit of all public university presidents in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to convene on this systemic issue. A drastic battle plan needs to be drawn in the next year to bring a sudden halt to Kentucky’s war on higher education.

We need a second summit to bring together every public University’s student government to also plan a strategy on this issue for next year. With or without administrative support the students governing bodies need to see this as priority No. 1 starting in the fall of 2012.

All possible funds need to be used to organize and educate college students across the Commonwealth. And with that we need to make it issue number one in every classroom whether it’s freshman English or the senior capstone.

The only way students will stop the tuition increases is if they make a statewide collective effort to put pressure on their administrators and elected officials to stop this downward spiral.

And how exactly do we apply that pressure? We march, we sit-in, we petition and we make ourselves heard across every county in this state. We take hostage of every newspaper headline and when it’s all over we start again.

The effort spent on this will be a small price to pay when the next tuition increase rolls around. The road seems long and rough now, but that is how the men in Frankfort want us to see it,

The most important thing we can do is recognize our ability to be powerful if we act together. With students, administrators, staff and faculty linking arms across this state we can bring enough power to the table to make clear and effective change. It’s time we take our place at the table again.