Undergrads strut stuff at scholars day

Jaimie Smith, a senior nursing major presented her project “Opinions of the Mount Mercy Community Regarding Euthanasia” as a part of the seventh panel “Studies in Social Science.” In her project, Smith surveyed 60 Mount Mercy students on various topics including abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia.

“I found that those students who supported the death penalty and were pro-choice, were more likely to be for euthanasia,” said Smith. “On the other hand, those who thought of themselves as more religious, tended to be against euthanasia.”

Bradley Ciha, a senior sociology major was also part of the same panel. His presentation, “Without Thought, Obstacles to Accessibility: A Comparison of Three Iowa Cities,” compared the handicap accessibility of Marion to that of Muscatine and Burlington. He presented his findings to the Marion City Council, suggesting several changes to curbs, parking and crosswalks.

“People don’t realize how difficult it is to get certain places in a wheel chair,” said Ciha. “Even when parking or the sidewalks meet code, they still can be very difficult for a handicapped person to access.”

The final presentation of the panel was by Rachel Hampsher, a senior sociology major, and Jedediah Jones a senior sociology, criminal justice major. Entitled “Panopticon,” the presentation dealt with public attitudes about the increase of surveillance in public places. They defined panopticon as a metaphor for a state of constant surveillance. As a part of their study, they surveyed Mount Mercy students in order to gauge attitudes about surveillance.

“The scary thing was that most people we surveyed seemed apathetic about being monitored by the government,” said Hampsher. “People tended to be desensitized to surveillance.”