Spatial and temporal aspects of alcohol-related crime in a college town

OBJECTIVE: The authors aimed to clarify crime "movement" through the city of Madison to focus efforts to address consequences of student drinking. The authors examined all crime reported by police during the 2003 year. METHODS: Using geographical information system (GIS) mapping and 2003 crime data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the city of Madison, the authors investigated the relationships among high-density alcohol outlets and various city neighborhoods. RESULTS: Different categories of crime showed different temporal and spatial patterns: Serious crimes peaked between 2 and 3AM, coinciding with bar closing time. Less serious crimes peaked between 11PM and midnight. Reports of vandalism peaked in the morning and afternoon. "Hotspots" for different crimes moved throughout the downtown. Results were consistent with problems associated with high-risk student drinking in college communities. CONCLUSION: These results and maps generated by GIS led directly to changes made by city and university officials to address high-risk drinking.     

Critical rhetoric’s truth-telling function

The relationship between rhetoric and philosophy reveals competing orientations that guide what a subject can say about a domain of things and how that saying is informed by discourses of truth. In this article, I consider Raymie E. McKerrow’s admirable rendering of a “critical rhetoric” alongside Michel Foucault’s examination of parrhēsia to locate in critical rhetoric a truth-telling function that is formed in the ethopoetic relationship between subjects immersed in public discourse.     

Measuring the Effectiveness of Experiential Date Nights: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines the experience of 13 couples who attended a relationship education date night in two metropolitan areas in a western state. The intent of these date nights was to reach audiences that may not attend traditional classroom relationship education. Reasons for, benefits of attending, and impacts were explored with participants. Findings indicate that most participants had fun and enjoyed spending time together, learned qualities and skills of healthy relationships, and had positive learning experiences with other couples. Additionally, although most individuals’ reason for attending was to have fun, most experienced a positive impact on their relationships after the event, such as improved communication, increase in affection and gratitude, or spending more time together. This finding may indicate that regardless of the reasons for attending, it is possible to create an environment for learning relationship skills that can, and most likely will, extend beyond the night of the event and could potentially lead to long-term positive impacts in relationships. Based on findings and existing research, activity-based relationship education, such as date nights, needs to be taken seriously as a model for couple education and considered as part of a well-rounded approach to relationship education.     

A piece of lost history: Max Weber and Lowell L. Bennion

This article discussesMax Weber’s Methodology, Lowell L. Bennion’s (1933) published doctoral dissertation from the University of Strasbourg, France. This book is important because it is the first systematic English language treatment of Weber’s work. It also suggests an early link between Weberian and Durkheimian scholarship and foreshadows later debates regarding Talcott Parsons’ interpretation of Weber. Additionally the book provides a unique contribution by applying Weber’s “Calvinism-Capitalism” thesis to the development of Mormonism. We explore the academic context in which the book was written and its reception by American sociologists at the time. After summarizing the text, we examine its perspective on the issues later raised about Parsons’ account of Weber. We conclude by looking at Lowell Bennion as a sociologist and a devout Mormon, and the unique connection that he forged between his religion and Max Weber’s ideas. Her field is organizational behavior and theory; her primary area of research is the relationship between organizational hierarchy and managerial leadership. He is currently investigating the modes of white collar resistance in public bureaucracies.     

Is There an Inherent Mismatch Between How Black and White Students Expect to Succeed in College and What Their Colleges Expect from Them?

Students enter college with expectations about how they will succeed; likewise, colleges configure their courses, resources, and activities according to implicit expectations of how their students will succeed. Data from 1079 students at 6 universities was used to explore whether college-success matches existed for Black students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and for White students attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) , and whether mismatches existed for Black students attending PWIs. Results confirmed these matches and mismatches, and suggested that Black students worked harder to persist at PWIs. So while Brown aimed to provide educational access across color lines, this study's implications are that once students enter college, they must be supported as individuals who succeed along many paths .     

Teaching E-journals: Building a Workshop for an Academic Health Sciences Library

Abstract

Prompted by survey results from users of the University at Buffalo Health Sciences Library, the Coordinator of Information Management Education created a workshop about electronic journals (e-journals). Common reference questions regarding accessing and using e-journals led to the development of specific course objectives. The workshop focused on the commonly held myths surrounding e-journals, and the recommended methods for accessing journals through the University at Buffalo Libraries. This article details the process of building the workshop and suggests reasons and methods for implementing similar instructional opportunities in other libraries. Serials Review 2002; 28:88–92.