Soon a number of hand sanitizing stations will be installed at Wege Cafeteria. Aquinas College nursing student Chris Olsen mentioned the idea to Creative Dining Services, and with little hassle the stations were purchased currently wait for installation.

The simple luxury of hand washing, according to the Center for Disease Control, is commonly known to be the single most effective way to prevent the transmission of disease. To prevent disease, the CDC recommends washing hands vigorously for fifteen seconds with warm soapy water. The CDC estimates that 76 million Americans get a food-borne illness each year that could have possibly been prevented by adequate hand washing.

Relating the practice of hand washing to health care cases the CDC noted, “Studies also have shown that the prevalence of health care-associated infections decreased as hand hygiene measures improved.”

“Less spread of viruses and bacteria,” Olsen noted, “means healthier students and staff.” “Research has shown that hand washing is the best protection from the spread of infection and that alcohol sanitizers are very effective, if used.”

Some studies have shown that alcohol-based hand sanitizers are more effective in killing disease causing bacteria and viruses.

Similar stations were installed in the residence hall weight rooms last year when other Aquinas College nursing students working on projects in community health found cultures of MRSA on the equipment.

MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a type of staph infection most common in hospital patients who undergo invasive medical procedures but also can be transmitted in a community setting by simple skin contact or shared surface contact.

The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research encourages washing hands:
-After using the toilet
-After changing a diaper - wash the diaper-wearer’s hands, too
-After touching animals or animal waste
-Before and after preparing food, especially before and immediately after handling raw meat, poultry or fish
-Before eating
-After blowing your nose
-After coughing or sneezing into your hands
-Before and after treating wounds or cuts
-Before and after touching a sick or injured person
-After handling garbage
-Before inserting or removing contact lenses
-When using public restrooms, such as those in airports, train stations, bus stations and restaurants.

Well, some people were angry.

But, I don’t think it would be fair to everyone to continue without telling the story.

Some time ago, some people invited a guest speaker to Aquinas College. Upon securing his presentation date, the world continued spinning and No one gave it a second thought.

As Saturn’s winter again conceded to Jupiter, the date grew near. Suddenly signs grew up from the ground like weeds in a prim English garden proclaiming the visitor, “John Corvino: Gay Moralist.”

Some said, this could be exciting.

A gay moralist giving a presentation on a Catholic campus, that could be taking a step, could be “reaching outside our boundaries,” could be nothing to worry about. I mean, should the right hand know what the left hand is doing?

Some questioned.

The days passed approaching the day that the gay moralist would step onto campus, and the same “No one,” which didn’t give it a second thought to begin with, refused to think a second time about the thought of a second thought.

Suddenly, people known as The College decided that this was an issue. And, the event was postponed.

Then it was cancelled, and well, some people were angry.
To be fair, though, the gay moralist did come to Aquinas to meet and greet The College. I heard it was pleasant.

Also, he spoke in Grand Rapids.

Some were angrier than others and everyone thought that it was an uncomfortable experience.

In the moments before the school year ended, The College made an effort to ensure that this calamity would never be repeated.

The College formed an Ad Hoc Committee of students, faculty, staff and administrators to address the problem of the, then infamous, “policy gap.” The rag-tag ad hoc group said that the policy would be “more about establishing clear channels of communication and review and less about coming up with a formal list of prohibitions.”

Notwithstanding the dedication of the ad hoc committee, the task proved too ambitious to complete in such little time before the end of the term.

Then there was silence, and it wasn’t a silence you could hear. To hear this silence you had to listen closely and remember how loud things were. It continued through the summer and into the fall term.

On the day that No one heard the silence anymore, the day in October, the 280th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (in leap years), the ad hoc committee delivered. The day will be remembered for the promulgation of the Communis Aquino, the document that reminded people to talk to each other about important things.

The policy reaffirms its goal not to be “a list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts,’” and also assures people that most campus events shouldn’t need any such “formal review process.” The policy gives the responsibility of recognizing the relative controversiality of an event to the planner.

Once recognized, such a controversy should be reported to the respective Dean/Director. The Dean/Director can send the issue to the Provost, the Provost to the President, and finally, if the President cannot work out an agreement with the event planners, then the President can call for an ad hoc advisory committee for a recommendation.

To grossly oversimplify the worth or goal of the new Campus Events policy, it simply says, If it seems like your event will bother people, then you might have a responsibility to tell someone about it. Was it this easy all along?

At least we can continue our goal to be inclusive and open, but before worrying about being an inclusive campus that values openness by bringing all sorts of events to campus, perhaps we should practice our inclusivity and openness on each other, by talking.

With the collapse of the financial markets, Americans are watching as, quite literally, the narrative of the rest of their lives unfolds before them. On Oct. 3, and after much partisan wrangling, President Bush signed the roughly $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to invest taxpayer money in failing business on Wall Street and increase government oversight in an effort to stem already catastrophic losses.

Despite its complexity, observers generally agree the crisis was precipitated by the so-called era of easy credit, when American companies lent investment capital freely, particularly in the sub-prime mortgage markets. As the economy slowed, banks began to suffer as individuals defaulted on mortgages they could no longer afford. 15 banks have failed in 2008 alone and the past several weeks have seen the collapse and/or bailout of financial giants Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia. Multi-billion dollar losses, coupled with rising fear on Wall Street resulted in panic on the floors of stock exchanges in New York and across the world.

The bill signed into law by the President on Oct. 3 is frequently described as a “bailout.” The bill is designed specifically to support banks burdened by the collapse of the mortgage markets. The $700 billion figure remains an estimate and, as Secretary Paulson says, the bailout could end up costing significantly more.

In an effort to stabilize the markets, the president and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced this week that the U.S. government will begin injecting capital directly into struggling financial institutions.

According to CNBC, Paulson said such an unprecedented move was “necessary,” “more efficient” and would let “taxpayer money go further.”

“This is a plan I am quite confident will work,” he said.

Responding to the varying national circumstances and situations that establish the tenor of any serious election season, the American youth is voicing its concerns about the future leadership, and hence direction, of the United States of America.In the past few months, Aquinas College hosted numerous politically oriented programs aimed at registering, informing and exciting college voters. Campus Ministry organized a two-part reflection on the United States Catholic Bishops’ document, “Faithful Citizenship.” Also, events like “Barack the Vote” and the visit of Will.i.am and Tatyana Ali overall encourage participation in the election.

Past elections have shown that the youth vote has been relatively small in comparison to other age groups. In 2000, only 36.1 percent of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds voted,
and in 2004 only 47 percent of eligible voters in the same category voted. Though these statistics attest to non-participation, they also show the largest increase in voting among other age groups. In addition to an increase of voting, the amount of registered 18- to 24-year-old voters increased seven percent.

There is a high expectation for these previous trends to continue and dramatically effect this election.

Though Democrats have an obvious lead with the youth vote and did also in the last election (nine-percent in 2004), polling shows that young Republicans are more loyal and more intensely Republican than their older counterparts, according to a George Washington University study. Regardless of loyalty, Republicans could gain much electoral ground by attracting a characteristically democratic age group.

Both major candidates are utilizing youth-directed efforts to sway the youth vote in their direction. Senator Barack Obama’s website, BarackObama.com, features a “Students for Obama” page which has Obama Mobile, the Action Center and numerous articles of interest for students supporting Senator Barack Obama. Similarly Senator John McCain’s website, JohnMcCain.com, though lacking a specifically student or youth page, has “McCainSpace” which hearkening to MySpace seeks to serve as an information portal for youth supporters.

Amanda Chatel, an Aquinas Student and Deputy Youth Vote Director for Minnesota’s Campaign for Change, works with the Obama campaign to register and inform voting age students in high schools and colleges across Minnesota. “In high schools,” Chatel says, “We register voters and work through community volunteering programs to encourage political involvement.”

“In colleges, we help students register or re-register through voter registration drives,” Chatel explained. The college program also helps students equip themselves with the proper documents to vote on election day.

The McCain-Palin Campaign did not return messages left by The Saint.

Beyond the major party campaigns, there is a clear movement within American culture toward a greater rate of youth participation in the election. Websites directed to youth particiaption like Rock the Vote, Youth Noise, A Million Reasons to Vote, Generation Engage, and Do Something.org enable visitors to register to vote and research the candidates.

Of the numerous issues that may concern 18- to 24-year-olds, the economy ranks primary importance according to a study conducted by Harvard University Institute of Politics in April. After the economic situation (30 percent), 18- to 24-year-olds are concerned about the Iraq War (20 percent), health care (nine percent), social issues (six percent), the environment (five percent) and foreign policy (three percent).

As effects of increased youth particapation appear in the various polls, questions have been raised about the methodology of polls that use only landlines. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, in polling surveys limited to landlines, 18- to 29-year-olds are 14 percent of respondents, whereas in cell phone surveys, 18- to 29-year-olds are 48 percent of respondents. In addition significant statistics show that 18- to 29-year olds generally favor liberal policies and clearly support Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain. Hence, some researchers imply that strictly landline polls are skewed toward a sample that is not representative of the current political body.

These trends will hopefully continue and concrete a concerned and educated American body politic that is oriented to a better world and a better government. Regardless of the participation of the youth demographic, or lack thereof, the future of the United States of America will eventually be passed into the hands of this 18- to 20-some group of citizens.

For Catholics, the process of voting should not be simple, and it’s even worse if you’re voting absentee. Casting a vote is simple-just punching a card. Leading up to the card, however, the voting process asks much of the Catholic. (Although this is ideally both, this term means more broadly “catholically minded,” instead of sacramentally formed.)It would be easier if the Church or the Pope would tell everyone which candidate gets the “Catholic vote.” Thankfully, this is not how the Church works.

The process would be simpler if Catholics were able to be simple-issue voters. Perhaps, a single issue could consume the whole of their political and ethical decision, irrespective of the totality of their choice. On this subject, the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith writes, “a political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the Church’s social doctrine does not exhaust one’s responsibility towards the common good.”

An even easier situation would be if Catholics could simply give the finger to the whole political establishment, saying, “You have done nothing for us; your game is not fair, and we want out.”

Catholics can do none of the above. They are “bound to promote the true common good” through “civil authority and laws that uphold moral precepts for the common good,” which should constitute an autonomous decision informed by rational scrutiny applied to possible choices. In other words, Catholics can neither hide in political idleness nor in ideaological closures to the reality of affairs.

From their point of view, no candidate seems good enough. In the Bush-Gore election, Gore was ahead by three percent with Catholics. Then in 2004, Bush led among Catholics by seven percent to Catholic John Kerry. Currently, McCain leads among white non-Hispanic Catholics 48 to 41 percent.

Simply put, the Church’s teaching does not line up with either party. On one hand, the Church cherishes the right to life, especially unborn life. But also, the Church respects the dignity of the human person, the social implications to avoid war, the responsibility to help the poor and the regulation of working conditions, whether on a personal scale or to the economy as a whole. The Catholic should work for all these things and, when necessary, must seemingly choose one or the other.

Catholic morality says quite candidly, it is wrong to support a candidate or law which entail an intrinsic evil “opposed to the authentic good of persons” such as abortion, euthanasia, torture, racism and ignoring the “moral imperative to respond to the needs of our neighbors.”

When both candidates support such a policy the Catholic “may decide to vote for the candidate deemed less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods.” Whether Catholic voters realize it or not, most recent presidential elections fall into this category.

This is what makes Catholics want to write in their dog’s name on the ballot. This is why politics seems like a badly formed game. To have to choose the rights of an unborn child over the rights of an innocent victim of an unjust war, is unfair, to say the least.

Not only does the power to participate in the formation of government implicate the Catholic in the direct effects of his or her choice, whether war or peace, prosperity or hardship, but the choice should come from an authentically formed auto-nomy (self-law) and should be an expression of a certain amount of wrestling with issues, candidates and God.

Catholics who vote should go to sleep on the Third of November with some sense of peace, knowing that their decision is neither uninformed nor narrowly informed by one issue. That peace, however, should not overshadow the clear dissonance which is evident when the idealist hope of faith enter the realm of politics.

Aquinas College continues its healthy presence among other institutions of higher learning on the annual college rankings done by U.S. News & World Report. For this year’s 2009 rankings Aquinas College landed 13 out of 15 Best Values Colleges in Top Tier Midwest schools. Also, Aquinas was ranked 55 out of # schools for Best Colleges offering Masters Degrees.

USN&WR yearly ranks colleges and universities that participate in its “ranking system” and has been doing so since 1983. The ranking methodology first categorizes each college or university into its appropriate group – National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Masters Universities, Baccalaureate Universities. Next, USN&WR ranks each college or university according to “15 weighted factors relating to academic excellence”. Though the methodology changes year to year, for improvements, a longitudinal look at the history of Aquinas’ rankings can give a look at the strength of the institutional advancement.

Aquinas College press records show that Aquinas made its debut in these notable national rankings in 2002, as third in Best Value among Tier One Colleges that offer Masters Programs. The next two years Aquinas qualified as a Tier Two College and places 12 and 14, for 2003 and 2004 respectively. In 2005 rankings, USN&WR consolidated Tier One and Tier Two Colleges into a new category, Top Tier Colleges. From 2005 on Aquinas ranked seventh, second in 2006, no ranking in 2007, twelfth in 2008 and thirteenth in 2009.

From 2005 rankings to present, Aquinas has also ranked in the “Best Universities – Masters” in the Midwest. Beginning in 2005 at 48, Aquinas continued to rank as 46 in 2006, 47 in 2007, 56 in 2008 and 55 in 2009.
These rankings supplement college visits and personal research for countless high school seniors across the country.

Aquinas College continues its healthy presence among other institutions of higher learning on the annual college rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. For this year’s 2009 rankings Aquinas College landed 13 out of 15 Best Values Colleges in Top Tier Midwest Colleges offering Masters Degrees. Also, Aquinas was ranked 55 out of 67 schools for Best Colleges offering Masters Degrees.

USN&WR yearly ranks colleges and universities that participate in its “ranking system” and has been doing so since 1983. The ranking methodology first categorizes each college or university into its appropriate group – National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Masters Universities, and Baccalaureate Universities. Next, USN&WR ranks each college or university according to “15 weighted factors relating to academic excellence”. Though the methodology changes year to year, for improvements, a longitudinal look at the history of Aquinas’ rankings can give a look at the strength of the institutional advancement.

Aquinas College press records show that Aquinas made its debut in these notable national rankings in 2002, as third in Best Value among Tier One Colleges that offer Masters Degrees. The next two years Aquinas qualified as a Tier Two College and placed 12 and 14, for 2003 and 2004 respectively. In 2005 rankings, USN&WR consolidated Tier One and Tier Two Colleges into a new category, Top Tier Colleges. From 2005 on Aquinas ranked seventh, second in 2006, no ranking in 2007, twelfth in 2008 and thirteenth in 2009.

From 2005 rankings to present, Aquinas has also ranked in the “Best Universities – Masters” in the Midwest. Beginning in 2005 at 48, Aquinas continued to rank as 46 in 2006, 47 in 2007, 56 in 2008 and 55 in 2009.

These rankings supplement college visits and personal research for countless high school seniors across the country. The value in such an objective ranking is not found in an exhaustive view of all aspects of a given college or university. Rather, these ranking form a strong foundation or jump-off point for any college search.

Aquinas’s thirteen of fifteen Best Value ranking among Colleges with Masters Programs for this year’s rankings shows some interesting statistics in relation to the others ranked. Aquinas discounts 51% from the total cost and gives need-based grants to 76% of students. The top ranked university in this category discounts 46% from total cost and gives need-based grants to 47%. Only one university ranked above Aquinas College had a higher average discount from total cost. Three universities ranked above Aquinas gave a higher percent of need-based grants.

These rankings are determined by three variables – ratio of academic excellence ranking to discounted price (60%), percent of undergraduate students receiving need-based grants (25%), and average discount (15%).

These facts suggest that Aquinas’ Best Value ranking among Colleges with Masters Programs may be caused by generously discounted costs and a high percent of need-based grants rather than an exceptional ranking in areas of academic excellence.

Ranking 55 out of 67 Midwest Universities with Masters Programs, Aquinas shares its ranking with Lawrence Technological University, Eastern Illinois University, and Alverno College.

Notwithstanding the lack of a clear trend in either direction within the rankings through the past eight years, Aquinas College’s consistent presence in the popular publication in the very least attests to its strong orientation towards the future.

During the deluge of rain September 4 people gathered under a grand tent in the parking lot outside of Brown Center to honor Stella and Charles Royce with the Aquinas College Reflection Award.Each year Aquinas College chooses a person or couple that clearly reflects the values of commitment, vision, service, loyalty and integrity.

Though the rains came up, the group gathered to honor the Royces stuck out the weather, even when a small river of water began to run under the sheltering tent making all in attendance thankful for both the tent and thick shoes.

The Royces are clearly community leaders serving on numerous boards and foundations, namely Grand Rapids Rotary Club, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Opera Grand Rapids and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, to name a few.

Going on a short stroll through the city, one is bound to notice the Royce name on some building or appended to a dedicatory plaque. When in 2001, the Royces received the Donald J. Porter Humanitarian Award the YMCA said, “Their generosity and involvement is evident in every major visual and performing arts institution in [Grand Rapids].”

Patrick Miles, the night’s Master of Ceremonies and Chair of the Aquinas College Board of Trustees, opened the night and introduced the evening’s speakers. Dylana Jenson, wife of Grand Rapids Symphony conductor David Lockington, spoke first congratulating the Royces and recalling when “Chuck” would tell David, “you have a green light” on various projects.

The second anecdotal speaker was Laura Berman of the grand Rapids Ballet, and finally Charlie Royce, son of Charles and Stella, spoke about growing up as a child of such driven and principled people.

Through the night, the rain never stopped, and jokes were leveled thanking the Dominican Sisters for the wonderful weather.

The story of Stella and Charles Royce proves again that dedicated people can effectively change the lives of so many, and as so many were thankful for the protective tent, the people gathered clearly recognized the immense gift of philanthropy which surrounds them.

Few who have seen it would forget the scene, which so dramatically allegorizes the tension between the entrepreneurial ethos and the religiously motivated manifest destiny and which musters such a clear interpretation of the beginning chapter of our country’s story. In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Planview explains to Eli Sunday, “I drink your milkshake”, and symbolically stamps out the deeply emotive desire to create and expand in both purely geographic and profoundly human endeavors.

As these themes seem to reflect aptly to the founding and expansion of the United States, I wonder if we have truly departed from that exact tension between the useful and the true, between capital and idea.

While navigating the recent waters of political turmoil, I cannot but expect to find this tension whether substantially or as remnants of an obliterated predicament. For most voters, talking heads and thus candidates as well, the issue of energy appears to be in the grade of questions that warrants a sincere assessment.

Both of the major candidates seem to agree that the country (if not the entire world) is on the verge of some kind of revolution. It seems that, as a New York Times columnist mentioned, for the first time we have two green candidates. I rested content with that apparent verity, for a while.

When George Bush lifted the White House ban on offshore drilling to support oiling in Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) regions and this action seemingly kindled John McCain’s interest in offshore drilling, I wondered if the seemingly double green ticket was shaded differently than before.

Although the White House ban was lifted, if Congress followed suite then the decision would be placed into the discriminating laps of the individual states. Those facts aside, whether or not the ground is ever pierced, according to some the prospect of domestic oil exploration has been leveled with the contemporary obsession of security. Republican candidate, John McCain writes, “There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our [oil] production capabilities.” Ergo, according to the McCain plan for international independence, we need to “drill here and drill now”, especially in OCS and ANWR regions.

Unfortunately, however, paradise is buried neither in OCS nor ANWR drilling. The U.S. Energy Information Administration studied in 2007 of the likelihood of OCS drilling affecting the economic circumstances for oil. This study indicated that OCS drilling “would not have a significant impact on production until 2030.” Further, the study indicates that whatever production impact in 2030 would have an “insignificant impact on wellhead prices.”

Though this is unfortunate, it begs the question, why does it matter at all? Why do we care so much about a dying resource? If we are, as Thomas Friedman and others agree, on the verge of an “energy technology revolution”, why are we staring back onto the antiquated forms of living?

Myself along with others have a right to be insulted by such a backward stance given the vastness of the future for energy technology. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times said on MSNBC, America isn’t chanting “invent, invent invent”, they are chanting, “drill, drill, drill”. Further, Friedman mentioned that such vigor towards offshore drilling is, “as if on the eve of the revolution of PCs and the Internet, someone was up there standing and demanding, ‘IBM Selectric typewriters, IBM Selectric typewriters.’”

Those who are familiar with the wolf in sheep’s clothing probably are quite comfortable with a strong hermeneutic of suspicion when dealing with politics. I have one too.

With or without that governing perspective, no one should feed another a stone when they truly hunger for bread.

Aquinas College continues its healthy presence among other institutions of higher learning on the annual college rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. For this year’s 2009 rankings Aquinas College landed 13 out of 15 Best Values Colleges in Top Tier Midwest Colleges offering Masters Degrees. Also, Aquinas was ranked 55 out of 67 schools for Best Colleges offering Masters Degrees.

USN&WR yearly ranks colleges and universities that participate in its “ranking system” and has been doing so since 1983. The ranking methodology first categorizes each college or university into its appropriate group - National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Masters Universities, and Baccalaureate Universities. Next, USN&WR ranks each college or university according to “15 weighted factors relating to academic excellence”. Though the methodology changes year to year, for improvements, a longitudinal look at the history of Aquinas’ rankings can give a look at the strength of the institutional advancement.

Aquinas College press records show that Aquinas made its debut in these notable national rankings in 2002, as third in Best Value among Tier One Colleges that offer Masters Degrees. The next two years Aquinas qualified as a Tier Two College and placed 12 and 14, for 2003 and 2004 respectively. In 2005 rankings, USN&WR consolidated Tier One and Tier Two Colleges into a new category, Top Tier Colleges. From 2005 on Aquinas ranked seventh, second in 2006, no ranking in 2007, twelfth in 2008 and thirteenth in 2009.

From 2005 rankings to present, Aquinas has also ranked in the “Best Universities - Masters” in the Midwest. Beginning in 2005 at 48, Aquinas continued to rank as 46 in 2006, 47 in 2007, 56 in 2008 and 55 in 2009.

These rankings supplement college visits and personal research for countless high school seniors across the country. The value in such an objective ranking is not found in an exhaustive view of all aspects of a given college or university. Rather, these ranking form a strong foundation or jump-off point for any college search.

Aquinas’s thirteen of fifteen Best Value ranking among Colleges with Masters Programs for this year’s rankings shows some interesting statistics in relation to the others ranked. Aquinas discounts 51% from the total cost and gives need-based grants to 76% of students. The top ranked university in this category discounts 46% from total cost and gives need-based grants to 47%. Only one university ranked above Aquinas College had a higher average discount from total cost. Three universities ranked above Aquinas gave a higher percent of need-based grants.

These rankings are determined by three variables - ratio of academic excellence ranking to discounted price (60%), percent of undergraduate students receiving need-based grants (25%), and average discount (15%).

These facts suggest that Aquinas’ Best Value ranking among Colleges with Masters Programs may be caused by generously discounted costs and a high percent of need-based grants rather than an exceptional ranking in areas of academic excellence.

Ranking 55 out of 67 Midwest Universities with Masters Programs, Aquinas shares its ranking with Lawrence Technological University, Eastern Illinois University, and Alverno College.

Notwithstanding the lack of a clear trend in either direction within the rankings through the past eight years, Aquinas College’s consistent presence in the popular publication in the very least attests to its strong orientation towards the future.