One year down, one underway
Photo by Mike Shafer
Sophomore Grace Stoebner does homework on the bus bus during year two of free AU student rides.
Ridership program shows growing ride numbers
SARAH KOCHER
sakocher12@ole.augie.edu
According to Sioux Area
Metro (SAM) general man­ager
Eric Meyerson and
Augustana Student Associa­tion
(ASA) President Paige
Schwitters, the Augustana­SAM
partnership is headed
in the right direction.
"It's been a great partner­ship
thus far, and I don't see
that changing;' Schwitters
said.
As the 2014-2015 school
year began, ASA introduced a rid­ership
program with SAM that al­lows
Augustana students to ride the
Sioux Falls buses for free. Accord­ing
to Schwitters, the cost of the
program is split three ways between
ASA, the Dean of Students office
and the International Programs of­fice.
SAM and Augustana have been
tracking the numbers to gauge how
Students use
talents at 1local
church
PAGE6
well the program is doing, and ac­cording
to the most recent count,
ridership was up in September
and October. The 2014-2015 peaks
were in January and March, both of
which saw 445 rides taken on the
SAM buses. This September's ride
numbers came in at 453, with Octo­ber's
total reaching 364 rides.
Some of these rides are taken
by sophomore Rachel Wisner, who
takes the bus to and from her job at
the Empire Mall around three times
a week. While she said the times
aren't great and she has to sched­ule
very carefully to get to work on
time, she also said she is grateful
that she can ride for free.
"To have to pay for the bus can
be even more expensive:' she said.
See BUS RIDES, page 9
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES:
Syria crisis at root of
Paris attacks
PAGE4
PARIS IS PERSONAL:
Campus holds candle vig.il,
responds to Nov. 13 attack
SARAH KOCHER
sakocher 12@ole.augie.edu
Eight coordinated at­tacks
brought Paris to the
main stage of world con­versation
Friday, Nov. 13,
and it is a conversation in
which Augustana commu­nity
members have already
engaged.
As of Wednesday, there
were 129 reported deaths at
sites spread throughout the
city, carried out over a three
hour time span and caused
by four suicide bombs, four
shootings and one hostage
situation involving b.oth ex­plosives
and assault rifles at -
"As a university,
we wanted to
depict that we ...
will-maintain the
connectedness
and love that is
needed moving
sites.
forward:'
Tia McKillip
The global response has
been one of fear, outrage
and support for Paris. One
See PARIS VIGIL, page 3
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Parternship offers.
online class.ac::ce.ss-
KAYLYN DEITER
kkdeiter13@ole.augie.edu
Beginning this spring Augustana will find itself among a
group of 20 other colleges w,orking in partnership to offer
upper level humanities courses to juniors and seniors. The
draw: all classes will be online, allowing students from vari­ous
colleges and universities to collaborate and learn in the
same "classroom:'
Sharon Gray, director of instructional technology, has
spearheaded Augustana's participation in the nationwide
group of institutions, called the Council of Independent
Colleges (CIC). The CIC has been around for more than
two years, but this is the first time Augustana students will
have the chance to take the more than 40 courses offered
online as part of the spring 2016 pilot program.
"One of the beautiful things about this program is we're
in league with like-minded schools:' Gray said. "We're very
privileged to be a part of it, and I think students can draw a
great deal of benefit from taking one of these classes:'
Two of Augustana's own professors, Richard Bowman
and Peg Preston, will be teaching classes online as part of
the pilot. Bowman's course, titled "Jeremiah: Justice and
See ONLINE CLASSES, page 9
Men's basketball
begins NSIC title
defense
PAGE12
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