Grad group favors firearms opt-out
FAYETTEVILLE -- Graduate student leaders at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on Thursday approved a resolution supporting a provision in state law that lets universities decide whether to allow concealed handguns on campus.
Faculty and staff members who have concealed-carry licenses can carry their firearms on a public college campus unless the school's governing board disallows it, according to a 2013 law.
Every year since the law's passage, university leaders in the state, including the University of Arkansas System, have opted not to allow concealed weapons on campus.
Last month, state Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville -- an advocate for concealedcarry on campus -- told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he's "confident" that a new concealed-carry law will pass in the state legislative session. That session is to begin Jan. 9.
Alex Marino, an author of the resolution and a history doctoral student, expressed concern about student safety if the new concealed-carry law is passed.
"I would not have chosen the University of Arkansas if this law was in effect when I applied," Marino said.
UA's Associated Student Government graduate student congress approved the resolution.
1,800 to graduate at semester's end
FAYETTEVILLE -- More than 1,800 students have registered to graduate at the end of this semester at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, according to UA.
About 1,200 are expected to attend Saturday's commencement ceremony at Bud Walton Arena, where Chancellor Joe Steinmetz will address the graduates.
UA had 1,482 graduates in the fall of 2015, up from 1,310 graduates in the fall of 2014, according to Dave Dawson, UA's registrar.
Attendance has generally been increasing since UA resumed hosting fall ceremonies in 2011, but UA announced in advance of last year's ceremony that about 1,200 students were expected to participate.
Ecosystems study focus of network
FAYETTEVILLE -- A University of Arkansas at Fayetteville biologist is working on an effort to build ties between U.S. scientists and researchers from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Ruben Michael Ceballos is the principal investigator for a $500,000 federal grant to launch the Food, Energy, Water and Ecosystems Resources Research Coordination Network.
Ceballos also serves on the steering committee for the Minority Institution Research Collaborative, a professional association for faculty members and students who are members of minority groups.
The new network's areas of study will include the effects of climate change in the lower Mekong basin.
In a statement released by UA, Ceballos said there are similarities between the Mekong River Delta and the Mississippi River Delta.
Nuke-site cleanup on forum agenda
FAYETTEVILLE -- Leaders of a project to clean up a nuclear reactor test site will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Strickler Fire Department building.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has been awarded a $10.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to clean the site of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor located about 20 miles southwest of Fayetteville.
The 20-megawatt reactor stopped operating in 1972, and fuel and sodium coolant were removed after the plant was shut down.
UA took ownership of the site in 1975 to use as a research tool for graduate students, but it has been completely out of use since 1986.
At the Thursday meeting, project leaders from the university and Utah-based EnergySolutions plan to present information and take questions from the public. The cleanup is scheduled to begin in January.
Metro on 12/11/2016