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THE BIRDS’ NEST
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SUU men’s basketball coach Bill Evans
gives direction to the T-Birds during a timeout
March 10 in the Mid Continent Conference tournament
opener at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. The ’Birds
went on to beat Oakland, only to fall to IUPUI the
following night.
KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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Survey reflects
growth options
Results of an SUU student survey suggests ways to entice
businesses that cater to the college crowd
By ALISON DAY
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
The SUU student population proves to be an appealing incentive
for prospective businesses looking at relocating to Cedar
City, said Brent Drew, vice president of business development
for Quantum Construction.
Drew has been using the results of a survey administered
to SUU students last semester by the Mayor’s Student
Task Force to entice certain businesses to come to Cedar
City.
The survey assessed student opinions on the quality of
entertainment available to college students in Cedar City,
said Eric Kirby, a member of the task force.
After tallying the survey results, Kirby said, the task
force found the numbers to be legitimate and convincing.
Of the nearly 500 students surveyed, only 1 percent believed
entertainment options in Cedar City were excellent.
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Nearly 3 percent believed they were above
average; 22.6 percent believed they were average.
About 39 percent believed they were fair; and 33.8 percent
believed they were poor.
“The purpose of the survey was to give support to
the developers to entice businesses to come here,”
Mayor Gerald R. Sherratt said.
“I think students are an appealing incentive for businesses,
but I don’t think we’ve done a very good job
at promoting it,” Sherratt said.
Drew said SUU and its student body is among the factors
companies consider when looking at Cedar City as a possible
site.
“If it is not the main reason, it definitely is one
of the factors that can tip the scale to whether or not
a business comes here,” he said.
Drew said the student population helps in recruiting certain
types of businesses, namely those that appeal to a younger
market, like fast food and clothing.
He said it is often a challenge to get businesses to see
the opportunity that is available to them in Iron County,
which only has a population of 34,000.
“Quite often a company will look at Cedar City and
say it’s a great town but it’s too small,”
Drew said.
However, the population of the total shopping area, which
includes cities like Panguitch, Fillmore, and Panaca, Nev.,
increases the number to 100,000, Drew said.
Drew has been working on the development of the Providence
Center for four years and said interest in the center has
been “far greater” this year than in past years.
Unable to give the specific names of prospective businesses
until they announce their decision to come to Cedar City,
Drew did give insight into what types of businesses students
can expect to see in the next couple of years.
“I can say that there will be different types of sit-down
restaurants, one with a sports grill concept and one fast
food, Chinese concept,” he said.
He said students can also expect to see a large clothing
department store, a home improvement center, and a performance
theater that will focus on music and film entertainment.
“We don’t want to compete with things like the
(Utah Shakespearean) Festival,” he said.
Drew also said they are working on securing a large entertainment
center that will have several rooms offering different activities.
“When we sign on it, that will be the first one we’ll
tell you about,” he said.
The Mayor’s Student Task Force is now considering
doing a letter campaign to try to get other businesses to
consider the area, Kirby said.
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Pornography
debate heats up
By ALISON DAY
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Pornography continues to grow in both popularity and opposition
as SUU students and professors take varying approaches to understanding
the multi-billion dollar industry.
“In order to examine pornography in any kind of significant
way, students have to see it,” said Kenny Laundra, assistant
professor of sociology who teaches about the issue in four different
sociology classes.
“I show pornography in my classes at various times,”
he said.
Although Laundra is the only professor at SUU who actually shows
pornography in class, other professors agree there is value
to looking at the material when learning about the issue.
Dennis Waskul, assistant professor of sociology and author of
the book Self Games and Body Play published this month, teaches
about the issue in his human sexuality course.
“Sometimes we don’t know how we feel about something
until we experience it,” he said.
Although Waskul does not require his students to view pornography,
he said he provides optional assignments that involve viewing
pornography if the students chooses to do so.
Stephen Roberds, assistant professor of political science, also
teaches about pornography in both his current political issues
and civil liberties classes.
Roberds said he doesn’t show any pornography in class.
“I would look at a class on pornography as no different
than a history class looking at historical documentations,”
he said.
Roberds said he tries to get his students to think about why
pornography is even an issue.
“What is it that is necessarily so bad about pornography?”
he said.
Most students who have a more open view of tolerance still say,
“I don’t look at it, but I think it should be legal,”
Roberds said.
He said the interesting thing about pornography is that it is
the only thing that unites the left and the right.
“Politics can make for strange coalitions,” he said.
“Two groups that have nothing in common whatsoever agree
on this one issue.”
Laundra said rather than hammer out the cultural notions that
pornography is always bad, he toys with the pros and cons of
the issue.
“When it comes to the issue of pornography, I take opposing
feminist stances on the matter and I coach (students’)
positions against one another,” he said. “On the
one hand, you have feminists who believe pornography objectifies
women and degrades them, that it should be censored.
“On the other hand, the problem is not that we have too
much pornography; it is that we don’t have enough,”
he added. “Since some 90 percent of pornography is produced
by males specifically for male fantasy, it is not representative
of women.
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID PAYSTRUP / UNIVERSITY
JOURNAL |
What we need is more pornography produced by women for women’s
fantasy.”
Waskul agreed and said the subject is far too dominated by one
point of view and that the voices of women are absent.“Pornography
really wants to be about sex and what it ends up being is really
more about gender,” he said.
Waskul said he knows his course on human sexuality is by far
the most controversial class at SUU.
“My sole objective is to provide an atmosphere where students
can discover truths for themselves,” he said.
By having his students do a variety of readings, he said he
seeks to associate meaning and value to the issue.
“What we need to ask is what that value is, whether or
not we want to adhere to those values personally,” he
said.
Joe Keate, a junior sociology and psychology major from Cedar
City, said he has taken various courses from both Laundra and
Waskul.
“I think a lot of what is taught doesn’t need to
be taught,” he said. “There are a couple days that
I don’t go (to class) because I know what the content
is.”
Keate said Laundra encourages attendance, but that it’s
ultimately the student’s choice if he or she attends class
or not.
He said other students also have been uncomfortable and have
been offended by certain video content and reading material.
Although Laundra’s classes are not required, he said even
if they were required, he would still show pornography.
“It’s like requiring students to do a mathematical
equation, if they are offended by it, that doesn’t mean
they don’t have to do it,” he said.
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