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5 Rights | staff writer
June was a productive month for the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA championship against the much-hyped Miami Heat and most recently the NBA Draft with Kyrie Irving going 1st overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But July looks like it will be the complete opposite.
This downward spiral will began on the first of the month as the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires. The NBA players association and the team owners will try to negotiate a new deal. But that will not be an easy feat.
Currently the players are receiving 57% of the league’s income and the owners are hoping to reduce that to 50%. The owners are also pushing towards a reduction to the cap years on an NBA contract to four years. Needless to say, players are not happy about this at all.
Jeff Smulyan, the chairman of the board at Emmis Communications and an NBA insider. Smulyan owned an all sports radio network in New York and now owns an all sports network an Indianapolis. He is knowledgeable of the economics in the NBA. “The owners want too much money back”, said Smulyan about the suggested income split. Connor Wilder, a member of the Roy Hibbert’s, center for the Indiana Pacers, Area 55 has been a Pacers fan for most of his life. “I’ve been a fan since Reggie Miller was on the Pacers and I was fortunate to be a fan and watch him in the playoffs for years.” Says Wilder. He agreed with Smulyan about the income split by saying “I think it’s fine as it is.”
The talks to renew the agreement are expected to be heated. On this Smulyan added, “On a scale of 1-10, it’s a 10.”
Without a new agreement, the NBA will install a lockout similar to the NFL. How would this effect free agency and the newly drafted rookies? Smulyan said, “Everything will be frozen.” If the lockout prevents the NBA from having a season, Wilder said, “I will still be a huge fan of the Pacers.”
The owners’ lust for money may keep basketball out for a long time. The owners will eventually get what they want but they should not expect to have any big standout players unless they are willing won’t pay big money.
By Leah Johnson
5 Rights | staff writer
The issue of security is at the forefront of many universities. In recent years, some college campuses have become prone to crimes. For most prospective college students, though, the emergency call boxes on campus provide an important sense of security.
Incoming Huntington University –located in Huntington, Indiana- freshman Paris Williams knows that the safety of her school influenced her college application process.
“Not only does Huntington have the emergency call boxes, but they also have regular patrol at all times,“ said Williams. “Since it’s a small campus, that means there is more coverage of all of the time.”
“It really depends on other factors, whether or not I would attend the university based on security. If it was especially impressive I would have to make other allowances like carrying a rape whistle or mace.”
Safety of students and staff are the first priority of Butler University. Director of public safety and Chief of Butler Police Benjamin Hunter knows that being located in a larger city poses more criminal dangers.
“Butler University is located in the 12th largest city in the country, so for us it is about the awareness and mitigating the risks,” said Hunter. “With college students it is about being proactive.”
During the summer months, Butler University Police Department is undergoing both construction and instructional changes. Butler police will be in training sessions to adequately gear up their forces for the fall. They are also building a new operation system, to prevent operating their department in a vacuum.
Although Butler is not planning on removing their emergency call boxes, other universities have begun to eliminate the system.
University of California Davis will begin taking out all 107 of their safety phones at the end of the summer.
“However, new generations of students, cellular technology and wireless 9-1-1 have made most land-line emergency phones all but obsolete,” Jill Parker, vice chancellor for safety services of the university released in a memo to the school’s executive policy team.
The university receives mostly prank calls about flats tires, instead of the intended emergency phone calls. With the increased usage of cell phones, the need for the boxes is less now than it once was. Parker also added that the call boxes weren’t in locations that provided the necessary coverage, because they weren’t guided by the campus-wide plan.
The call boxes are among the reasons students still feel safe, despite the recent Lauren Spierer missing person case said incoming Indiana University freshman Nadia Lovko.
“The emergency call boxes definitely make me feel safer. Otherwise I wouldn’t walk around campus at night,” said Lovko. “I just got back form orientation and couldn’t go five minutes without seeing a flyer or something asking for information related to the [Lauren Spierer] incident. It certainly will make me more cautious.”
Despite the cost, call boxes still offer reassurance on many campuses.