1. Moratorium
At a regular montly joint council meeting between Interfraternity Council and National Panhellenic Council in February, the administration announced a temporary moratorium of all fraternity social events. Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Nathan Thomas and Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Jesse Koch said no social events, specifically where alcohol is consumed, could be coordinated at any fraternity chapter houses or organized at off-campus residences. Thomas said the reason for the moratorium was a combination of underage drinking, high-risk drinking and communal sources of alcohol.
About a week later, a new policy was unanimously passed at an emergency IFC gavel meeting. The moratorium was lifted shortly after that. The current policy is very similar to the old policy, but the emphasis was to better enforce it.
“The new policy flushed out a lot of the gray areas of the old policy,” said IFC president Alex Kapustka. “It now explains how the policy will be enforced as opposed to the old policy that just said it should be.”
2. Concerts
Bradley students faced some changes with this year’s concert series.
After “Borderline: A Music Festival” (BAMF) at the beginning of the year, the Special Event Reserve Fund (SERF) coordinators decided against a fall concert.
While BAMF was not hosted by or paid for in full by the SERF budget, some money was allocated to the clubs that hosted the outdoor concert.
SERF and the Activities Council for Bradley University (ACBU) then used the extra money to bring a “higher quality artist” to Bradley this spring, choosing to go country with The Band Perry and opener Kari Lynch Band.
With more than 3,500 tickets purchased by students, staff and faculty, and community members, the concert sold the most tickets in the three year history of the Renaissance Colisseum.
3. Fall Robberies
The beginning of the 2012-2013 school year opened with several armed robberies on or near campus, and some of the incidents involved Bradley students.
On Sept. 10, a student was held at gunpoint and robbed in an alleyway between Maplewood Avenue and Cooper Avenue.
A week after the first event, the McDonald’s on Main Street was robbed by three or four males
with handguns. No students were involved or harmed.
In the next week, three more students were involved in armed robberies on the same night. Two students were robbed outside an apartment building in the St. James complex. Shortly after this incident, an attempted robbery took place at the intersection of Bradley Avenue and Cooper Avenue.
The four armed robberies in four weeks created a much higher police presence around campus, BUPD Chief of Police Brian Joschko said.
4. Remember “JB”
The Bradley campus suffered a devastating blow right before finals with John “JB” Battistoni’s death on Dec. 2. Battistoni was a senior construction major in the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction and a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.
Following Battistoni’s death, the fraternity organized a candlelight vigil on Olin Quad where hundreds of students united to remember JB.
“The turnout was so much more than I expected,” said Phi Kappa Tau member Mike Tednes. “It was a more than perfect way to remember him.”
5. Safety Cruiser
At the end of November, the Bradley University Police Department joined the Bradley administration to launch the Hilltop Safety Cruiser, a free shuttle service for students. The cruiser was a student-driven idea to improve campus safety. It provides transportation for up to six passengers at a time from Moss Avenue to Columbia Terrace and Western Avenue to Sheridan. It has been operating from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. every day that school is in session for nearly five months now.
6. Olympics Interns
Ten communications students interned for NBC during the summer of 2012 to cover the London Olympics. Students were assigned positions as runners, production assistants or loggers at 30 Rockefeller in New York City or in London, itself. They worked for three to four weeks in their respective cities. Chairperson for the Department of Communications Paul Gullifor said he had talks with NBC prior to the Olympics to try and get Bradley students involved. Potential interns were interviewed and selected by NBC in April 2011, more than a year before the games took place. Bradley students will be back for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Communications students interviewed with NBC once again this semester.
7. Turner School
During fall semester, the Robert and Carolyn Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation opened as the first entrepreneurship program in the nation.
The Turner School offers a campus wide minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and an Entrepreneurship Scholar Program similar to Bradley’s existing Global Scholars Program, where students gain credit for classes and activities focused on experimental learning.
“Our mission is to change the lives of students and to better prepare them for the future,” said Gerard Hills, Turner chait of Entrepreneurship and executive director of the Turner school. “At the same time, we can earn national distinction, and help position Bradley nationally for many years to come.”
8. Bradley Speech Team
The Bradley University Speech Team dominated in various tournaments this year, and gathered national attention along the way.
In April, the Speech Team won the American Forensics Association Tournament, as well as the National Forensics Association Championship Tournament. One student in particular won three individual awards at the AFA tournament, junior Kaybee Brown.
Shortly after both tournaments, the speech Team took to the airwaves on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition. The team was the feature of a story titled “Forget NCAA Titles, This School Dominates Spoken Word.” The three-minute story included interviews from Director of Forensics and Coach Ken Young and senior Jacoby Cochran.
Cochran competed in another tournament, the Interstate Oratorical Association, where he took home the National Championship. Senior Brooke Stevenson also competed in the two-day event, and was a semi- finalist in the top 12.
9. Galsky Steps Down
After the fall semester concluded, Vice President of Student Affairs Alan Galsky stepped down from his position. A campus-wide email from University President Joanne Glasser was sent in December, explaining Galsky’s requested leave of absence to “attend to a serious family illness.”
The email stated Galsky is expected to return to campus in the fall and will work in the biology department as a tenured faculty member. Nathan Thomas, former executive director of Residential Living and Leadership, became interim vice president of Student Affairs in Galsky’s place.
“I have been fortunate enough to serve Bradley in several important positions for a long period of time,” Galsky said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these positions and my entire Bradley career.”
10. Westlake
Westlake Hall reopened its doors at the beginning of the year, offering students preserved historical architecture, new technology resources and more.
The Westlake renovation was one of the projects generated from the Campaign for a Bradley Renaissance, and after two years, an estimated cost of $24 million and six times the square footage, the College of Education and Health Sciences was able to come back home.
