THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014
PAGE 9A
Students can add learning certificates to transcripts
HALEY REGAN
@haleygracen
The Research Experience Program, one of six certifications in experiential learning, is currently foreseeing changes to its requirements. John Augusto, assistant vice provost for experiential learning, said requirements will be expanding to encompass more options when applying for the certificate.
Experiential learning certifications were designed to help students by providing them with an official certificate on their transcript to notate their extracurricular involvement in their collegiate career.
Certifications began at the University in 2004, starting with the Global Awareness Program, which is one of the six certifications for experiential learning. The other certificates are Arts Engagement, Leadership Studies, Entrepreneurship Service Learning and the Research Experience Program.
In order to obtain one of these certificates, students must complete the requirements that vary depending on the type of certification.
"The requirements for REP are changing this year
to become more flexible for students and fully aligned with learning outcomes developed with our faculty advisory board - over the course of the last year", Augusto said. "Students should expect to see more flexible options when applying for REP"
According to the Certifications in Experimental Learning website, the benefits of earning a certification include: gaining experience, exploring options for potential majors and careers, networking, and official recognition for out-of-class activities.
Coordinator of the Global Awareness Program Cody Case said he believes the GAP certificate is beneficial because it encourages students to get involved and experience more diversity.
"The most beneficial aspect of GAP entails learning and engaging with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, which naturally enriches one's life, academic pursuits, and career goals." Case said. "The GAP certificate is official KU recognition for your international experience and cultural awareness in pursuing future job, fellowship and graduate school opportunities."
There are three components to the GAP certificate:
academic courses, co-curricular activities, and/or international experience. In order to earn the certification, one must complete two out of the three components. Each component has more detailed requirements that relate to global awareness, which can be found on the program's website, gap.ku.edu.
The six certificates have separate programs, where each of the program directors communicate among one another to improve the certification program as a whole.
While the requirements for each program vary, all of them include academic courses that relate to the category, experience outside of the classroom, and a reflection on their involvement. All of the requirements ensure that students get a well-rounded experience.
The application for the notation varies depending on the type, but all of the certifications can be applied for online.
If students are interested in experiential learning, the directors of the certification programs encourage them to visit certification.ku.edu to explore possibilities.
Edited by Kelsie Jennings
Kelley Harris, top left, and Kelly Barnard kiss as they apply for a marriage license accompanied by their two children, Mackenzie Harris, bottom left, and Cooper Harris, bottom right, Nov. 5 at City Hall in St. Louis. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison overturned Missouri's ban on gay marriage on Wednesday saying the law is unconstitutional.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Judge overturns Missouri ban on gay marriage
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — A state judge overturned Missouri's constitutional ban on gay marriage Wednesday in a ruling that immediately set off a rush among some same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison said in a written ruling that Missouri's measure recognizing marriage only between a man and woman violates the due process and equal protection rights of the U.S. Constitution. The decision mirrored ones handed down recently in several other states.
his office wouldn't seek a stay of the order, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant stays after same-sex marriage decisions in Idaho and Alaska.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster immediately appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, saying the constitutional challenge "must be presented to and resolved" at that level. But he said that
Koster previously chose not to appeal a ruling requiring Missouri to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
After hearing about Wednesday's ruling, Kelley Harris, 35, and Kelly Barnard, 36, drove to St. Louis City Hall to apply for a marriage license. They called a photographer to record the event and planned to invite friends to attend an impromptu ceremony at a local park. The couple had held an unofficial wedding ceremony in 2003.
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"We've already been living as a married couple — we have children, we have family — so it would be nice to have the legal backing," said Harris, accompanied by her mother and the couple's suit-clad 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
St. Louis City Counselor Winston Calvert countered in court that the existing law treats same-sex couples as "second-class citizens." He said an increasing number of states are allowing gay couples to wed, including most of the states surrounding Missouri.
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The city issued four marriage licenses to same-sex couples in June and then quit doing so, intentionally setting up a legal challenge to the state's 2004 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Assistant Attorney General Jeremiah Morgan argued during a September court hearing that 71 percent of Missourians had voted for the referendum and said that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed states to define marriage.
"Obviously this is a long time coming for so many gay and lesbian couples in the state of Missouri and the city of St. Louis in particular," Calvert said Wednesday as he and Mayor Francis Slay joined the four couples at the marriage license office.
By 5 p.m., the city had issued marriage licenses to four lesbian couples, including Harris and Barnard. April Breeden and Crystal Peairs, both 38, held a brief ceremony on the marble steps of the City Hall rotunda after obtaining their license.
"Time is of the essence," Pears said. "We wanted to make sure we got it taken care of today."
Terry Garrett-Yampolsky, an archivist in the St. Louis recorder of deeds office, was part of the initial group of same-sex couples to receive licenses a little more than three months ago. He watched the couples enter the city office Wednesday with a mixture of pride and exhilaration.
Halloween jail bookings double since last year
DEREK SKILLETT
@Derek_Skillett
Halloween is thought of as a time when people can go out on the town and celebrate the holiday with friends or family. Unfortunately, that also means arrests can happen.
According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap log, this year during the hours of 11 p.m. Halloween night to 3 a.m. Nov. 1, there were 11 bookings, almost doubling the amount of bookings on Halloween last year when there were five at the same time.
The nature of the bookings this year included crimin $ ^{a1} $
damage to property, possession of drug-related materials and several instances of driving under the influence of alcohol.
According to the log, eight of the 11 bookings this year on Halloween night were related to driving under the influence of alcohol. On Halloween night in 2013, none of the bookings during this time frame were related to driving under the influence.
Kim Murphree, the technical services director of the Lawrence Police Department, said she partly attributed this year's increased booking figures to the first DUI check lane on Halloween, which was set up on the 1100 block of Tennessee Street during the time of the bookings. The location of the DUI check lane was revealed in a press release from the LPD.
Murphree also said after perpetrators are taken into custody, they are taken into booking at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Edited by Alyssa Scott