NEWS

Page 2 Feb. 4-17, 2015

NEWS BRIEFS

January 22, 2015

Commencement speaker named

According to Webster
Today, Jenifer Lewis has been
named the commencement
speaker for Webster Universitys 96th annual graduation ceremony. Lewis is a St.
Louis-born singer, actress and
community activist who began her career after graduating from Webster Universitys
Conservatory of Theatre Arts
in 1979.
Lewis is a main character
on ABCs Black-ish, which
was ranked the number-two
comedy in America. Her most
recent movie, The Wedding Ringer, starring Kevin
Hart, is currently showing
in theaters. She can also be
recognized as the voice of
Flo in Disney-Pixars Cars
and Cars 2. According to
Webster Today, Lewis also
received two NAACP Theatre
Awards for The Diva is
Dismissed, her one-woman
show.

Webster University Statement

Lewis was born and raised

in Kinloch, a St. Louis County
suburb. Lewis has appeared
in over 200 TV episodes,
60 films and four Broadway
shows during her career.
According to Webster
Today, Lewis will be receiving the Doctor of Humane
Letters for her professional
accomplishments, including
her work as an AIDS activist,
a mentor to children and for
her Human Rights Campaign
Ally for Equality.
Lewis will speak to an
estimated 12,000 Webster
graduates and guests. The
commencement ceremony
will be held May 9 at The
Muny in Forest Park.

Webster University takes sexual assault, harassment, and other sexual offenses seriously and has had
strong programs in place for many years. The University continually reviews and revises programs to
provide a safe environment and ensure compliance with changing federal laws. Webster University
focuses on prevention, education, reporting, adjudication and support.
When complaints are filed at Webster, the University institutes procedures that assure due process and
privacy of individuals. Sexual Offense Hearing Boards are comprised of trained students, faculty and
staff who judiciously study the cases, hold hearings, and decide on appropriate sanctions, in compliance with policy and law. Websters policy provides for a range of sanctions based on the nature and
seriousness of the act.
Occasionally, individuals who may or may not be aware of the facts of a case, or the FERPA requirement regarding confidentiality, will challenge the findings. In accordance with University policy, cases
are assigned to a Title IX Coordinator or a Sexual Offense Hearing Board (dependent on choice of the
complainant) which listens to all accounts and carefully applies due process for all individuals involved.
Not all policy violations are classified as criminal violations, but students who file the initial accounts
are also advised on how to report the incident to local law enforcement, if they wish to take those steps.
Webster University is committed to promptly and effectively responding to reports of sexual offenses and harassment and take appropriate actions to prevent, correct, and if necessary apply sanctions
should the policy be violated. The University also is committed to on-going programming to promote
prevention and education related to eliminating incidents of violations of this policy, including mandatory training for faculty and staff and continual educational programs for students. This semester,
President Elizabeth (Beth) J. Stroble launched a Presidential Task Force on the Prevention, Education,
Awareness and Programs for Sexual Assault and Other Sexual Offenses. This Task Force is pursuing
ways to strengthen the institutions role in information, training and education on sexual offenses and
related issues. It will report back to the President in February, 2015.

Reporting by Kevin Smith

Campus Blotter
Jan. 26
Loretto-Hilton Center
Verbal threat
Closed

websterjournal.com

Resources:
You can find contact information for our Title IX coordinators online at http://www.webster.edu/student-handbook/title_ix_coor.html, as well as read our Student Code of Conduct, which includes numerous references to how Webster University fulfills Title IX requirements.

Jan. 31
Visual Arts Studio
Stealing under $500
Closed

Our Clery reports are online at www.webster.edu/public-safety/reports.html.

WU-Kent State collaborate to offer a new study abroad location

By Emily presnell
Staff Writer

Webster University collaborated with Kent State University

to open a study-abroad site for
Webster students in Florence,
Italy. The campus will be open in
Fall 2015 semester.
Prerequisites to participate
in the Webster-Florence at KSUFlorence program include having
earned 15 credit hours at Webster,
being in good financial and disciplinary standing and holding a
minimum 2.5 GPA. This differs
from other study abroad programs, which require only a 2.0.
Italy is the second most

important destination (behind

England) for students from the
U.S. going abroad, Webster Study
Abroad Director Guillermo Rodriguez said.
Kent Universitys Florence
campus is located in the Palazzo
dei Cerchi, a 13th-Century palace renovated in 2004. A single
classroom in the Palazzo Bartolini Baldelli overlooks the Basilica
of Santa Croce, a historic church
renowned as the burial place of
Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.
The campus is just right in
the center of Florence. You can
be in city hall in a one minute
walk, and in less than two min-

You can walk and find some historical place

everywhere in Italy. It will be pretty shocking,
but worth it.
Laura Centritto

Webster Student

utes youre over (at the Florence

Cathedral), Rodriguez said.
Webster students will take
classes side-by-side with Kent
State students, similar to the Webster Geneva campus. Kent State
University partnered with Webster in 2012 to open up the Geneva campus to Kent State students.
Kent State offers a wide vari-

ety of courses, varying by semester and all taught in English. Italian language courses are the most
popular of the courses available.
There is much more than
the typical stereotype. We have so
much history and culture to explore, Laura Centritto, a Webster
freshman from Rome, said.
Campus faculty provides out-

of-classroom services in the form

of city walks, museum visits and
field trips throughout Florence.
Study tours of other cities nearby
are offered with additional payment.
You can walk and find some
historical place everywhere in Italy. It will be pretty shocking, but
worth it, Centritto said.
Jessica Doerr is a senior art
major who studied abroad in Florence for one week over the summer of 2014. A course took her
through museums and churches
filled with art. The course, titled
Florence in the Renaissance, continues to take students to Florence
every other year.

Florence is small enough

for you to go see everything and
walk around. It was my favorite
trip that I have ever taken, Doerr
said.
Other activities open for students include rafting down the
Arno River, volunteer opportunities, opera in St. Marks Church
and soccer matches on the Fiorentina. Application deadline for
the 2015 fall semester is March
15.

Contact the writer:

websterjournal@gmail.com

City removes lease cap

NOW ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS!

2015

WILLIAM T.
AMIE BOGGEMAN/ The Journal
Councilmember Greg Mueller (left) and City Attorney Helmut Starr clarify items listed in Ordinance 8854.

Although no immediate impact can be seen by the university, Webster

says the ordinances language is still not as clear as it could be.
By Tim Godfrey
News Editor

A proposed ordinance
by the Webster Groves City
Council will no longer require
a cap on the amount of space
institutions can lease out for
accessory uses. Item J of the
original draft of Ordinance
8854 stated institutions in all
Webster Groves districts could
not lease out more than 35
percent of a structures gross
floor area or 35 percent of an
institutions property.
At a city council meeting
on Jan. 20, Eden and Websters
lawyers expressed disapproval
of the regulation the council
wanted to implement. During that public hearing, Gary
Feder, Edens lawyer, said the
regulation was both unnatural
and illegal.
At the Feb. 2 public hearing, the council announced
the clause would be stricken
from the ordinance.
Patrick Giblin, director of
public relations for Webster,
said at this time the university
does not see any immediate
impacts the ordinance has on
the institution. However, Giblin said there remains concern
over how the ordinance could

affect Webster in the long

term.
Exactly how is this (ordinance) going to be interpreted,
especially as members of the
city change? Giblin said.
Webster lawyer Traci Pupillo added that the effects of
an ordinance are only realized
at the time when the statutes
apply to an institution.
Giblin said Webster is still
concerned that some of the
language in the ordinance is
not as clear as it could be.
Pupillo said although the
university is pleased that Item
J has been removed from the
ordinance, the language in the
ordinance is still not precise.
These codes are written
generally, and when it comes
time to apply the code to specific circumstances, I always
think of how they are going to
be applied. That is just the reality of a zoning code, Pupillo
said. At the end of the day, it
is going to come down to how
these provisions are implemented and enforced.
Pupillo said it is typical
to encounter two issues when
looking at ordinances: how
they are written and how they
are enforced.

City Manager Mara Perry

said since the prior public
hearing, Webster, Eden and
the city have collaborated to
find a solution to the problems
the institutions had with the
lease cap.
We have had multiple
meetings with both Webster
University and Eden, both
phone calls and emails back
and forth with feedback on
any proposed changes, Perry
said.
The city council also removed language that mandated institutions draft master
plans and site plans when leasing out any property or structures.
After the first and second
reading of the ordinance, with
Item J stricken, the city council unanimously voted to close
the public hearing.

Contact the writer:

websterjournal@gmail.com

KEMPER
AWARD
FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
Nominations Due: Monday, Feb. 9, 2015
provost@webster.edu

Webster University is proud to be the home of the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching.
This award, generously funded by the William T. Kemper Foundation, recognizes faculty members who
demonstrate teaching at its finest. Submit your nominations electronically, briefly stating why you
think he/she is an outstanding teacher, by Monday, Feb. 9, at 5 p.m. to the Award Committee at
provost@webster.edu please use Kemper Award in the subject line. Thank you for your support
in recognizing teaching excellence.
For additional information, please contact the Office of the Provost,
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at 314-246-8242.

EC-2763 Kemper Ad.indd 1

1/29/15 9:41 AM