Previous Colorado law stated that the freshman class had to consist of 55 percent in-state students and 45 percent out-of-state students. This ratio was over a three year rolling average, therefore if the ratio was slightly higher one year, it would need to be corrected the next.

However, this law included international students as out-of-state students, which would limit the amount of international students accepted at CU.

A new law may allow more international students at CU. (Courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Kevin MacLennan, director of admissions, said that this new addition to Colorado law no longer includes international students in the out-of-state ratio, leaving more room for them.

“That provided us more flexibility to work on globalizing the campus a little bit more because we could then start to work with international students more than we have previously in the past,” MacLennan said.

There are currently 129 international freshmen enrolled at CU, not including the foreign exchange students. In order to be accepted as an international student, a student must complete the required amount of classes and receive a certain score on a wide variety of international tests. Also, students must receive at least a score of 537 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Engineering majors must score at least a 560 on the TOEFL.

With this new amendment, CU has been able to send counselors overseas to recruit new students.

“For the first time this spring, we sent one counselor internationally,” MacLennan said. “They did a circuit in China and one in the Middle East, and then this fall 2011, we actually sent two people and we did a total of three trips.”

While overseas, the counselors participate in a two-and-a-half to three week intensive recruitment as part of a college fair. There are other universities that also attend these trips with CU.

Counselors are sent to locations that mirror the student population and demographics of international students wanting to come to the United States for their higher education.

“We took a look at where a lot of our students were already coming from and we examined where the largest number of students across the world were in terms of wanting to come to the US for a higher education experience,” MacLennan stated.

International students come to CU for a variety of different reasons.

Daniel Van Lanschot,  an 18-year-old freshman psychology major, is a student from Holland studying at CU and who wanted to experience a new culture.

“I came to America because I had always wanted to experience another culture and the American culture seemed like such a dominate culture in the world that I felt like I should experience it,” Van Lanschot said.

John Hines, an 18-year-old freshman open-option major, is an international student from Peru.

“I chose CU because I love to be outside and I love the campus,” Hines said.

Van Lanschot feels that not only does this campus promote internationalism well, but also aids international students while they are here.

“Their international students services has everything,” Van Lanschot said. “The instructions are clear, they encourage you to come to their office hours, if you need anything you can come to them. They make it as easy as possible for us, for us internationals.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Reporter Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu. 

During the event, two plaques honoring fallen soldiers were unveiled. One listed all the names of Colorado soldiers who died in combat while in Afghanistan, 27, and the other was names of those fallen in Iraq, 75, since 2001.

The audience consisted of veterans who served as early as World War I and those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were also families of fallen soldiers and ROTC members, as well as community members.

Major David M. Rozelle was the featured guest speaker. Rozelle has served as an officer in the US army in various places around the world such as South Korea, Kuwait, Iraq and Washington DC. After being injured during combat and losing his right foot, Rozelle

ROTC students take the oath of enlistment in honor of Veteran's Day during a 2010 football game against the Iowa State Cyclones. (CU Independent file/Lauren Walter)

became the first amputee to return to active command on the same battlefield. 

He currently serves as the professor of Military Science for Army ROTC at CU. 

Rozelle thanked all the Veterans in the audience that have served and expressed the heart that it takes to be a US soldier.

“Missing holidays and special days is part of the sacrifice in serving the nation,” Rozelle said. “One thing remains the same, the heart of the American soldier.”

Kyle Sanchez, 22-year-old freshman international affairs, is in the ROTC at CU. He came to the event as a veteran who was stationed in Texas through the Air Force. 

“I was a veteran for this; it was good to feel the gratitude from all these people and from the university,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez’s favorite part of the ceremony was Major Rozelle’s speech.

“Just knowing that he was an amputee and knowing that he chose to go back to combat shows his commitment to this country,” Sanchez said.

John-Ryan Dobbs, 29-year-old sophomore geology major, has also served for his country. He was stationed in Virginia and came to CU after he was released. His was also moved by Major Rozelle’s speech. 

“I had no idea someone so noble such as himself was part of the university,” Dobbs said. “It’s pretty humbling when you think of that man’s achievements in the grand scheme of things.”

The plaques that were presented at the ceremony will be kept at the Veterans lounge at the UMC and will remain there on display.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.

The first annual Diverse Buffs Mixer was held on Nov. 9 at the UMC. About 40 employers from various companies around Denver and the Front Range came to find students who could fill up their internships and their entry-level positions for alumni in attendance.

Several companies were present at the mixer, including Progressive Insurance, Northwestern Mutual and Wal-Mart.

Ann Herrmann, the assistant director for student programs at Career Services, said the event was held as part of the 17^th annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit. The Diverse Buffs mixer is separate from the larger career fair held in early October

“We wanted to help support the diversity and have an event specific to the diversity population on campus,” Herrmann said. “A lot of companies are looking to diversify their work force.”

Herrmann said she estimated that 50 to 60 students came to the event.

Thirty minutes of the event were dedicated to students and employers mingling with each other. For the next portion of the event, the keynote speaker and former CU quarterback Charles “CJ” Johnson spoke to attendees.

“We thought [Charles Johnson] would connect well with students and have a good message,” Herrmann said.

Johnson not only spoke about his life as a CU quarterback, but also how he was able to maximize himself in order to receive more opportunities than he normally would. He advised students that taking chances often pays off.

“Breaking out of that box, finding that my comfort zone wasn’t all that comforting—it only slowed my growth and reduced the opportunities I could have,” Johnson said in his speech.

After the Johnson’s speech, students and employers were able to network and talk to possible employers who had many internship positions to fill.

Bruce Hartmann, a Progressive liability claims representative, said that the students he encountered seemed to be both professional and prepared.

“I am impressed,” Hartmann said. “I would say to be a little bit more courageous in coming and chatting with employers, but I can equally understand the fear.”

Alex Gearhart, a 21-year-old senior Spanish major, said that he came to the diversity event to find companies with a global focus.

“There’s this guy from Nielson here and they do international market research,” Gearhart said. “I’m here for really specific reasons. I just want to get it and get out as opposed to people who are trying to practice meeting people.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.

The referendums will give Boulder County control over its own electricity generators. The 2B issue will pay for research that determines whether Boulder County has the money and technical skill to create its own electric company. Research for 2B would cost each Boulder resident a dollar a month.

The passing of 2C will allow the creation of a Boulder Light and Power municipal utility without exceeding the rates of Xcel, according to renewablesyes.org.

A preliminary count showed that 2B won by 141 votes, and 2C won by 933 votes.

(CU Independent illustration/Greg O'Brien)

Junior economics major Yazan Fattaleh, 20, worked for the Boulder Smart Energy Coalition, a group opposed 2B and 2C.

“The margins were very, very slim, and that represents how divided the community really is on this issue,” Fattaleh said.

Despite additional research being only one dollar per Boulder resident, some students still feel this is too much with their limited budget.

“Even though it’s around a dollar per month, energy is expensive here, and I’m living on a college budget,” said junior Barbara Bowden, 22, a chemical and biological engineering student. “It sounds like the city is wasting taxpayers’ money to prove a point.”

CU has decided not to take any opinion on this matter at the moment, said CU Spokesperson Malinda Miller-Huey.

“The university didn’t take a position and still is not taking one because we can’t yet determine how it will impact CU,” Miller-Huey said.

Moe Tabrizi, an energy conservation officer, said CU has already begun the shift toward renewable energy. The campus is dotted with eight solar panels installations, not including the hot solar water panels at Will Vill North.

Tabrizi said he doesn’t see a change in the renewable energy process occurring at CU with these new mandates.

“Xcel is administering these programs,” Tabrizi said. “In the future, I would assume the city would have just as good incentive rebate for renewable energy because it’s really Amendment 37 and I think it will be less of a concern for the city or Xcel since everyone has to meet Amendment 37 mandates.”

The goal is to have these solar panels on every flat roof on campus, according to the CU Sustainability website.

Miller-Huey said the university will be upgrading some old facilities and adding new capacities for energy within them.

“We are still at the university committed to our own energy conservation efforts,” Miller-Huey said. “We are committed to lowering our carbon footprints, and lowering our energy cost remains a priority.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.

On Oct. 5, more than 125 different companies came to CU’s career fair and more than 30 organizations that were wait listed due to lack of space.

According to a press release, the level of success comes from the fact that the career fair was only for one day, instead of over the course of two days like last year.

“I think the different format was helpful because we had everyone come on one day and students were able to work it within their one day schedule instead of two days,” Suzann Shotts, event coordinator for Career Services, said. “There were different employers each day and I think all employers one day really helped.”

Shefali Shah, a senior business major, learns about career opportunities with Teach America from senior political science and economics major Liz Thurston in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. Future graduates and alumni took advantage of the dozens of networking and career connections made available at the career fair in 2010. (CU Independent file/Amy Moore-Shipley)Tanner Hannam, a 20-year-old junior electrical engineering major, said he went to the career fair for the experience.

“I thought it was a good experience to get out there and start looking for internships,” Tanner Hannam, a junior electrical engineering major, said.

According to the press release, last year, there were 3000 students that came over the course of two days with different employers each day. This year, 3150 students and alumni came to the fair in one day.

“Employers said students were really well prepared and they were really worn out,” Shotts said.

Shotts said many of the employers do informational presentations at the career fair, then they have meetings at night and finally they do interviews on campus.

“We have at least one student here [at the Career Service Center] offered a job after an on campus interview,” Shotts said.

The companies that attend the career fair are chosen simply based on their own interests.

“What we do is we send main invitation to all employers and tell them when registration is open and they can start signing up,” Shotts said.

The companies represented at the fair were mostly engineering companies; however, there were a higher number of new companies that represented arts and science as well as business.

“I was going through the list of all the companies that were going to be there and there were definitely a lot of opportunities for engineers, specifically for what I’m doing,” Hannam said. “There wasn’t a shortage of potential companies there.”

According to the press release, off the 3150 students and alumni in attendance this year, 50 percent were Arts & Science majors. 9 percent of attendees were alumni and 35 percent were CU freshmen, up from the mere 5-9 percent of freshmen attendees last year.

All Arts and Science freshmen had to participate in the buff essentials. The career fair was a buff essentials activity.

Hannam spoke to three companies and gave them his resume during the career fair.

“I was interviewed by one of them, but I haven’t had any other contact with any of them,” Hannam said.

There will be two more career fairs next year, one in the last week of January, and the other in the first week of April. The alumni career fair will take place in June.

Contact CU Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.

On Oct.11, during the State of the Campus address, DiStefano said that he would eventually like to see a campus without cars and populated by pedestrians.

One issue raised by those in attendance was pedestrian safety. This topics is especially relevant following a recent incident where a skateboarder was hit by a vehicle on Regent Drive.

DiStefano said he wants to figure out a way to get students from east campus to main campus without the use of so many cars. As part of this, he would like to

Chancelor Phil DiStefano enjoys the homecoming parade on Friday Oct. 21, 2011 on Pearl Street. (CU Independent/James Bradbury)

see campus have zero cars, becoming a completely pedestrian campus.

Some students who currently drive their cars to main campus say they aren’t sure how this new plan would work.

Alexander Gresh, 18-year-old freshman architecture major, brought his car with him to campus since he lives off of main campus in Williams Village.

“I feel like [students] might be a little angry at first, but if we are offered a shuttle or something it would help,” Gresh said. “It depends on if it comes quick enough then they will be fine because most people live pretty close to campus to begin with.”

Nathan Adams, 20-year-old junior international affairs major, said having cars on campus isn’t a big deal and wonders what that means for professors who drive to campus.

“I think that cars are okay on campus,” Adams said. “It would make it a lot harder for teachers to get to campus.”

In an attempt to decrease the amount of cars on campus, the Environmental Center offers a program called Zimride. This allows students to talk to other students online and see if they can carpool to the same place rather than taking multiple cars to the same place.

According to the website, Zimride is a simple way to find friends, classmates and coworkers going the same way you are.

Adams said he sees this as a possibility but wonders if it comes with a cost.

“I think they would have to raise student fees in order to pay for it, which I don’t know that I’m on board with,” Adams said.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.

According to a news release sent out to the student body, a 21-year-old female junior was confirmed on Friday to have meningococcal meningitis by Boulder Community Hospital and is now resting at Boulder Community Hospital. The student lived off campus.

“Meningococcal meningitis is a serious bacterial infection that causes infection of the tissue surrounding the brain and the spinal cord,” the release stated.

Donald Misch, the assistant vice chancellor for health and wellness and the director of Wardenburg, commented on the uncommonness of this infection and the causes of it.

(Courtesy of Andres Rueda on flickr.com)

“It’s not that common,” Misch said. “The reason you hear about it so much is that it rapidly progresses and people can die.”

He said that the best way to protect yourself from this infection is to have good personal hygiene and not share utensils, cigarettes, lip balm or anything of that sort.

There hasn’t been a case of meningococcal meningitis at CU Boulder since 2006. A 19-year-old male was confirmed then to have the meningococcal meningitis but was able to recover from the infection, according to the CU Independent archives.

Students are encouraged to get vaccinated to help prevent the infection.

“It doesn’t protect against all meningitis but it does against meningococcal meningitis,” Misch said..

The release said that everyone who has had contact with this female student have been informed.

“Last we heard, they got almost everyone,” Misch said. “They will keep working until they are sure they have gotten everyone and the danger of it is gone.”

The student is expected to recover from this infection.

Student interested the vaccination can go to Wardenburg Heath Center from 8:30-11 a.m. and from 1:30-4 p.m. during all weekdays. The vaccine costs between $14-$18.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu. 

CU has said not to worry about any cantaloupe on campus as they have removed any recalled fruit from circulation. Pictured here, cantaloupe served at the UMC on Monday, Oct. 10. (CU Independent/Robert R. Denton)

The FDA has confirmed that 100 percent of businesses to receive cantaloupes from the contaminated farm are being contacted and they are continuing to review the distribution records of cantaloupe from the farm, according to their website.

The University of Colorado Housing and Dining staff said students shouldn’t worry about contaminated cantaloupes on campus since all melons delivered from the contaminated farm were promptly removed at the time of recall.

Lauren Heising, a sustainable dining coordinator for Housing and Dining services, said that all cantaloupe was removed from campus dining halls four days before the recall went public.

“Early Monday morning we pulled all our cantaloupe at that time,” Heising said. “All whole cantaloupes and our product called mixed fruit, which includes cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon.”

Dining service knew of the recall early due to strong relationships with vendors of all food products supplied to campus, Heising said.

“We have very strong relationships with all vendors that will alert us of any potential or voluntary [recalls] that will be suspects in any food outbreak,” Heising said. “We know which products we serve and which ones we don’t. We depend on our vendors to get emails on any voluntary and mandatory FDA recalls.”

Heising said cantaloupe was pulled from campus dining halls on Monday, and was replaced with a new shipment of cantaloupe from California.

Despite the fact that the cantaloupe at the dining halls is now coming from California, some students are still nervous as to whether they should eat it or not.

Jade Scales, an 18-year-old freshman international affairs major, has decided to put off from eating cantaloupe for a while.

“I used to eat it every day for breakfast,” Scales said. “I had a scare. I had a stomach ache and I thought it was because of the cantaloupe and it has put me off it.”

Students are not the only ones who have been worrying about the cantaloupe in the dining halls. CU parent Mary Jaccodine e-mailed her son warning him about the potential Listeria threat.

“I wanted him to stay alive,” Jaccodine said.

Cantaloupe from Jensen Farms has been completely taken off of the market, as stated on the FDA’s website.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu

According to a news release from Boulder County Coroner, on Sept. 30 around 3:15 p.m., a woman, now identified as Yelizaveta Gorstko, fell or jumped off the U.S. 36 overpass onto Baseline. She experienced life-threatening injuries and was confirmed dead on Oct. 3.

“The 32-year-old woman of Aurora, died [Oct. 3] at Boulder Community Hospital,” the release stated.

“We received several calls from witnesses saying that a women had fallen from the Highway 36 overpass onto Baseline into traffic lanes of Baseline, but she was not hit by any cars when she fell,” Kim Kobel, Boulder Police Department spokesperson, said.

Boulder Police investigate the scene where a female jumped from the Highway 36 overpass onto Baseline Road, Friday, Sept. 30, 2011. (CU Independent/Robert R. Denton)

It is still unknown by officials if the woman jumped onto the overpass or had fallen onto it. 

“No one witnessed any cause when she fell. People didn’t witness what happened to her to cause her to fall,” Kobel said.

The coroner’s office said they will perform a biopsy on Gorstko.

Hali Kolkind, a 19-year-old sophomore political science major, said the event is a gentle reminder of always being aware of your surroundings.

“It’s a tragedy and it makes you realize how simple situations could be a tragedy,” Kolkind said. “Even walking down the road is a dangerous event. It makes me take precautions in life that I may not have thought of before.”

This incident happened during CU’s annual family weekend when many parents were driving to campus during the time of the accident.

Paige Martin, an 18 year-old freshman integrated physiology major, saw the aftermath of the accident while in her dorm in Williams Village. 

“I saw parts of the accident, like the ambulance,” Martin said. “I was really confused at first because I didn’t know what happened.”

Kolkind said she was in the car with her parents who were visiting from Minnesota that Friday afternoon.

“I was sitting in my car when it happened and it made me frustrated that traffic was moving so slow,” Kolkind said. “I didn’t know what was happening but when I found out, it made me realize that my frustration wasn’t the answer.”Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.