Last semester, Pushpa Khanal was hit by a truck on Willett Drive, and Sonya Nana was involved in a car accident on her way back from Denver.

“The darkest days of my work career have been when my students have been in an accident or have been hurt or when I learn of things that have happened to them that are bad,” Jill Johnson, associate director of International Students and Scholars at UW, said. “There’s nothing that you can do to prepare for that. You just hope that your reserves will get you through it, so that you can be there for your students.”

Participants were encouraged to bring food from their home countries, and dishes ranged from Danish liver pâté to shrimp sushi with a side of peanut sauce.

The accident is still fresh in Nana’s memory. “It was crazy, because I was coming down from Denver…and I was driving normal and then out of nowhere, the car started like moving around, I lost all control of the car,” she said. “I was wondering ‘what is going on?’ And I’m like ‘you got to calm down and you got to control the car.’” Her car then spun out of control, hit a ramp and then hit two more obstacles before coming to a halt. 

“Everything flashes in my head. I was so scared, I had to control myself. It was so weird, I was like ‘you have to survive here, you cannot die here, because there is no way somebody is going to call your parents.’” 

In response to the accidents, the international student organizations on campus started an international emergency fund.

“We’ve been working on this since the accident,” Murtaza Hussain, vice president for ISA, said. The groups also worked on making the fund official by establishing it as a foundation account, Hussain said. Of the approximately $4,000 raised, Khanal and Nana received $1,500 each.

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For some international students, integration into student life is more difficult than for other students.

“Some students do really great jobs.  They have lots of confidence. We never hear from them,” director of the International Students and Scholars Jill Johnson said.

“For other students, it is pretty intimidating. Often times, it takes a little longer.”

In terms of classes, professors are extremely welcoming, and the International Students and Scholars office has special sections of core classes, such as English 1010, geared for international students.  These classes cover the same material but at a slower pace.

“The language barrier is the most visible barrier,” said Johnson. “But food is also a barrier. The culture can be completely different. It takes a while to gain confidence.”

Johnson said that integrating international students into UW life, along with better preparing American students, has been a hot topic this year. According to Johnson, some of the best-attended events are the international events, such as the upcoming Chinese New Year.

The International Students Center in the basement the Cheney Building is one place for welcome events for new students and different organizations use it to host small events.

These events allow international students to speak their native language and meet with students from their native countries. The center is open to all students, and they are encouraged to attend.

“We work with different organizations and clubs on campus to prepare events and let students know about campus resources,” Johnson said.

In addition, the International Students and Scholars office recruits students to come to UW from countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan, India and Nepal.  Many international students come from these countries, according to Johnson. There is also a big population from Saudi Arabia, India and Libya.

“Recruiting from these countries—it is not just the students who are involved, but the whole family,” Johnson said.

Most international students major in engineering and business because, according to Johnson, these are well paying jobs.

In terms of American students accepting this international presence, Johnson finds that most students are extremely welcoming.

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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But the Day of Service isn’t the only activity going on during Days of Dialogue, according to greek life coordinator Kate Steiner.

“There is such a huge variety of topics and events going on this week that there is something for everyone on campus and in the community,” said Steiner. “Diversity has been a longstanding mission on the UW campus and especially this year as we celebrate the tenth year of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Days of Dialogue and March,” Steiner continued.

Students must sign up in advance on the SLCE page of the UW website to participate in the Day of Service, as lunch will be provided. Activities that day will include painting, moving furniture, cleaning and much more.

After the restoration, the MLK March will take place starting at the Albany County Courthouse at 4 p.m. Coal Creek Coffee will provide coffee as participants march to the Union for a free soup supper. Anyone can attend the march or the Willena Stanford Supper in the Union Ballroom.

At the supper, there will be a reading of one of MLK’s speeches by Tracy Patton, the director/professor of African-American Diaspora Studies at UW, a performance by the ballet group 7220, a drum performance by the Wyoming African Students Association (WASA), an awards ceremony, a speech by Congressman Baird and a welcoming speech by UW President Buchanan. There are many other events scheduled for Days of Dialogue.

Some of the major events are the keynote speech by hip-hop artist Common at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Union Ballroom, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Civic Center, and a comedy titled “The Race Show” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the A&S Auditorium. Tickets need to be purchased in advance for “The Race Show.”

For more information, contact Kate Steiner at ksteiner@uwyo.edu or the SLCE office in the lower level of the Union.

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Free laser tag for all UW students will be held from 9 p.m. to midnight on Friday January 14 in the Union Ballroom. Also there will be three showings of “The Social Network” at 6:30, 9 and 11:30 p.m. in the Union Family Room.

“Students should attend FNF events because we put on free, quality entertainment every Friday night,” Lead Student Programmer for FNF Julianne Friesen said.

“We always show first-run movies, which are movies that are still in theaters and have not been released on DVD yet. We try to put on events that Laramie doesn’t have such as laser tag, concerts, comedy shows, and different, unusual activities.”

There is no other opportunity for laser tag in Laramie. Buisness major April Hughes is excited for Laser tag.

“Bring it on, I will go Rambo,” Hughes said. “If Chuck Noris played this Laser tag I think I could beat him.”

All FNF events are made possible by student fees and take place on campus.

“FNF is great if you are looking for something to do and don’t have a lot of money—which is most college students. We aren’t just something for freshmen students to do; FNF is for every full or part time fee-paying student. Every week is completely different and 2011 is packed full with awesome events,” Friesen said.

Some other events that FNF will be hosting this semester include a performance by Dead Prez, a hip hop duo, known for their underground, political, and conscious hip hop style at 9 p.m., Friday, Jan. 21 in the Union Ballroom as part of MLK Days of Dialogue.

UW Idol will have open call auditions on Friday, Jan. 28 in the A&S Auditorium, with the semifinals and finals to follow later in the semester. Students compete for the chance to win prizes. 1st place receives $1,000; 2nd place, $500; 3rd place, $300; and Audience choice Award, $100.

Battle of the Bands, Triple Feature Movie Night and other events will also take place throughout the semester.

Email the author: lkottens@uwyo.edu

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The group was founded three years ago by a group of women in Bernardo, California. It is an ecumenical ministry, meaning all faiths are open to join, where people come together and create quilts for people who are going through life-changing events, Pastor Marilyn Engstrom said.

These events range from a cancer diagnosis to surgery to the birth of a baby. The group designs a quilt for the individual while taking into consideration colors and interests that person may enjoy.

They then hand-tie the quilt. “With each knot a prayer is said,” Engstrom said.

12 to 20 people create the quilt, and many come from different church denominations.

A few years ago, a member of the ministry wanted to make a quilt for a soldier but knew that a quilt was too large for the soldier to take. Instead, Prayers and Squares made a single quilt square for the soldier, Engstrom said.

Members of his unit thought the square was a great idea and word got back to the group.

Since then, Prayers and Squares have made over 6,000 quilt squares for men and women in the military. Each has a special note on the square, such as, “We love and appreciate you. As you carry this prayer square, may you be reminded that you are never alone. We pray for your protection and that God gives you peace and brings you home safely.”

Many of the squares are carried in soldiers’ pockets and on helmets.

Groups like Engineers Without Borders and UW nursing students who have traveled to other countries have also received squares. These squares are brown and gold, while the soldier prayer squares are red, white and blue.

The popularity of Prayers and Squares has also grown to include a Junior Prayers and Square ministry.

It started when a group of grade school girls came in during the summer to volunteer.

“It’s become an after school program,” Engstrom said. This group includes students from late elementary to junior high. They have started designing their own quilts that are given to teachers and fellow classmates in need.

Recently, Prayers and Squares received a grant from the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming to continue growing the ministry. With the grant, five new sewing machines and other equipment was added.

Anyone interested in volunteering with Prayers and Squares can attend meetings that are held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Tuesdays in the Gild Room at Hunter Hall at 104 South Fourth Street.

Branding Iron

The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The Good Mule Project has a few slots left for its South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation trip. There are scholarships available for students who wish to apply.

The date for the trip is still being determined but will take place after finals.

Students will work on Geothermal Energy Projects, work to understand the culture of the Sioux nation, and will take a trip to the Wounded Knee Museum, among other projects during the trip.

 “Good Mule Project is an education-based, free speech organization that helps students at UW become better advocates for any cause they feel passionate about,” Alex Sullivan-Brink, Good Mule coordinator, said. “Good Mule focuses on three areas of need and development: Social justice, diversity, and sustainability.”

Good Mule allows any student with a cause or promotion to come in and receive help to achieve their goals. In November, they received $15,000 from ASUW’s special projects budget, and will use most of the money to improve recycling on campus.

“This will hopefully increase environmental awareness on campus as well as raise money from the recycling which could in-turn help lower student costs here at UW in the future.” 

Good Mule puts on events each semester, inviting guest speakers, putting on film series, and hosting other conferences and awareness events. 

This spring, Good Mule plans to bring guest speaker Leslie A. Newman, author of the book “Heather Has Two Mommies.” Newman last spoke at UW when she spoke on behalf of Matthew Shepherd after his death in 1998. The organization is also planning a presentation on “art as a form of activism” on and off campus during the Martin Luther King Days of Dialogue in January.

The annual Good Mule Conference is Feb. 12-13 and applications are available online at thegoodmule.org. For more information about The Good Mule Project, or about upcoming events, students are encouraged to contact Alex Sullivan-Brink at asulliv9@uwyo.edu. 

Students can also stop by the group’s office in the lower level of the Union.

Email: Cali Cravens 

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is more than just a way to keep up with friends. 

RSOs, UW offices and many other groups on campus are taking advantage of it and other social media sights to broaden their audiences.

Friday Night Fever is one of the RSOs on campus that uses Facebook as a way to expand their fan base. “We started our Facebook page a little over a year ago but only more recently have we started using Facebook ads,” Dillon Bennett of FNF said. 

“A lot of the advertising goes into actual ads on Facebook. We try to increase our friend numbers. After someone ‘likes’ us it becomes about the postings,” Bennett said. 

With the postings, FNF tries to post as much media about upcoming events as possible. Recently, FNF has been taking pictures and videos from past events to get students interested in similar events coming up. 

Since FNF has started buying ad space on Facebook, they have seen a definite increase in ‘likes’ on their page. FNF also uses WyoWeb to connect with students about events. 

“With WyoWeb we send out press releases a couple of weeks before hand so they appear in the calendar,” Bennett said. That way on the day of the event, when a student logs into WyoWeb, it is one of the first things they see.

Another part of campus using social media is the Admissions Office. Involved in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype, the Admissions Office connects to a number of new and prospective students across the globe. 

“I can’t think of a college I work with that doesn’t have a Facebook account, that includes this university and all of the U.S.” Associate Director of Admission Pepper Jo Six said. 

Having the different forums has really made a difference. The UW Facebook page has close to 1,300 fans and receives around a post per day regarding questions about transcripts or other topics. 

“It’s a nice, safe forum for students,” Six said. 

“We find that Facebook is a great way for perspective students to learn about the university. They might not pick up the phone and call, but if they’re already on Facebook they might just send a quick message,” Mary Aguayo Assistant Director of Admissions said. 

Members of Admissions, as well as students, work to keep the page updated and posts answered in a timely manner. 

The Facebook page has been around for about two years and has been very successful. The Twitter and YouTube accounts have not been utilized as much, but they are both emerging social media from the school, Aguayo said.

Many colleges inside UW also have Facebook pages including Arts and Sciences, Business and Engineering.

“Clearly people are fining these to be beneficial,” said Aguayo.

Email: Lauren Kottenstette 

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Summers in Laramie, and at the university, are unique. This is mostly because students have returned home to their families and summer jobs, but summer also constitutes the few months of the year when the weather allows for citizens and visitors alike to really enjoy the city, and Laramie becomes a hot spot for vacationers avoiding the summer heat and travelers wanting to experience the “Wild West.”

This summer alone, the Laramie Area Visitor’s Center recorded almost 2,200 visitors to its downtown location, and over 90,000 travelers visited the Summit Area Visitor’s center right off I-80 east headed into town. These tourists provide a much-needed boost to downtown businesses revenue, as well help to keep some of Laramie’s longest standing attractions in business, including the Laramie Plains Museum and the Wyoming Territorial Prison.

According to Friends of Albany County Tourism, “Visitors provided 13% of all sales tax collected in fiscal year 2009” and kept “1,720 people employed in the travel industry.”

These numbers represent the work effort by the Albany County Tourism Board to bring in tourists nationally and internationally. A website, visitor guide, Albany County brochures and comprehensive maps were created by the tourism board to better showcase Albany County as a tourist destination. Additionally, the tourist board mailed 7,235 visitor guides to people who requested them from the website, according to the Albany County Tourism Board. 

In addition to bringing in tourists who spend money in Albany County, The ACTB provides up to $40,000 for grants for some of the city’s most exciting events, such as the Downtown BrewFest, High School Football Championships, the Dead Dog Classic, and the Ghost Tours of Laramie City, among others. Citizens can also place their events on the Albany County Tourism Calendar, which offers free advertising to all county events. 

ACTB is also very active in UW Poke Pride on campus. The brown and gold steamboat flags around town are a direct result of ACTB, and these flags show incoming teams and out-of-town visitors the university pride felt by the community. 

The ACTB is a nonprofit joint powers board funded by the 4 percent Lodging Tax. The tax is renewed every four years, and it is up for renewal this year. Visitors to Albany County pay the Lodging Tax when they stay overnight at any lodging properties. This is one of the rare taxes that citizens do not pay, yet benefits Albany County.

Without this tax, the Albany County Visitor’s Center would not be able to circulate visitors’ guides, operate the Laramie Area Visitor Center, provide money for events, and promote many of the Laramie attractions. The city of Laramie needs to renew this tax to continue the services that the tourism board supplies.

According to Friends of Albany County, “during the first fiscal year, 98,962 dollars were generated by the lodging tax. During Fiscal Year 2009, 672,644 dollars were generated by the lodging tax.” This proves that the services of the Albany County Visitor Center bring in tourists who spend money. These services help invite tourists, not only in the summer months, but in the winter as well. The ACTB publishes literature on snowmobiling, skiing and snowshoeing in the winter in Medicine Bow Forest.

This tax needs to be renewed. Citizens do not pay for this tax, and yet they benefit from the grants given to city events by the ACTB, the revenue to the city generated by tourists, and the county jobs created because of the tourism industry. On Election Day, please vote to renew the 4 percent Lodging tax.

Email the author: amcguiga@uwyo.edu 

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Every two years, Wyoming citizens engage in their right to vote for their representatives.

At UW, while political involvement is strongly encouraged, there is a set of rules for what people can and cannot do while campaigning for office on campus.

The regulations for on-campus political activities come from two sources.

First, the State of Wyoming has legislation in place. This legislation clearly defines what activities are not appropriate for public employees to engage in while running for office.

Second, UW has its own set of policies that govern where, when and to what extent individuals running for public office are allowed to use campus as a venue for political campaigning.

The Wyoming state laws governing public employees who are running for office are very straightforward.

According to Wyoming election law, “No public employee, state legislators included, may use public resources for political campaign purposes.”

This includes office supplies, office work time and work-related emails including those issued to UW employees.

On campus, political campaign activities are not highly regulated and put the most emphasis on how candidates can use the space of the university.

According to the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs, “External users may use designated bulletin boards to advertise their events and may be assessed fees, charges and deposits for use of university facilities.”

This means that campaigns do have to go through some additional channels in order to conduct activities such as reserving a table in the breezeway or utilizing a Union conference room.

These regulations are however no different from any other external organizations that wish to use the University’s facilities.

The Office of Governmental and Community Affairs policy also states that “persons or groups who are university internal users [faculty, students, staff, recognized student organizations] are treated as external users when acting as private citizens or in a manner unrelated to university purposes, i.e. campaigning for a particular candidate, including hosting events at UW for an individual candidate.”

Email the author: rkubiche@uwyo.edu

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Singularity is a coalition of UW’s campus ministries to bring Christian speakers and events to the campus. According to Singularity’s Veritas Forum video, the forum was held to reach a wider audience of students.

According to their website, Veritas Forums are university events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.

Poplin discussed the declining state of Christianity in colleges today. 

She said that although colleges had originally been created as Christian institutions, citing Harvard and Yale as examples, more and more colleges no longer accept the religion as important to schooling. 

“Colleges cannot ignore the Judeo-Christian ideology. One must look at all world views,” Poplin said.

She said that being a Christian and a college professor has made life harder for her. When talking about first turning to Christianity, she said, “I knew that once my colleagues found out, they wouldn’t look at me in the same way.”

Poplin said that at first, she had trouble teaching different ideologies while her own was diminished but learned that she did not “mind teaching things I think are a lie, as long as I can teach things that I think are true.”

Poplin went on to discuss her time with Mother Teresa and her influence in Calcutta, India. 

She noted how her time with Mother Teresa had been crucial in her growth as a Christian. 

She said secular paths to self-knowledge were to be rejected, since “The only way to safely achieve self-knowledge is by knowing that God exists and forgives you.”

She finished the speech by submitting three propositions imperative to the audience: Secular pursuits diminish a college’s quest to search for truth, rejecting Judeo-Christian ideologies violates the idea of pluralism, and that such rejection, in fact, limits ideas. 

From there, she opened the forum to questions and answers from the audience.

Email: Rhanden Lind

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