The Saint :: Issue 10

State of the College President Olivarez adressed faculty and staff on February 1 with updates on Aquinas. The Saint was there to hear what he had to say.

More to the Sturrus Center | 8 page 2

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Volume 31, Issue 10

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>>NEWS The Moose meal gap

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The Moose has food, but not all day. How much of an inconveniece is it for students, really? Read on to find out.

Celebrate Black History | 3 February is Black History Month. Check out our list of things to do during this month of celebration, both on and off campus.

>>A&E Chimes of Freedom

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Jacob VandenHombergh checks out the new collection of Dylan covers, with artists from Ke$ha to K’naan.

AQ Idol round one

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Missed AQ Idol? Fear not, our reporter was there to get you a recap, inside.

>>SPORTS Who’s hot, who’s not

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Reporter Brian Kalchik breaks down the best and worst in college basketball.

Men’s Basketball

Wake Up People 2012 preview | 6

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Staff Writer Sam Swartout reports on Aquinas’ shot for second place in the WHAC.

Aquinas revises student housing policies

By Laura Rico Staff Writer Talk about housing for next year has been a hot topic for the last couple of weeks and most likely will be for the remainder of the month. But with so many living options, application due dates, and slightly new living arrangements, it is essential for students to know what is available and what to expect for next year’s on-campus living options.

Incoming freshmen students will primarily be housed in St. Joseph and Regina Hall, as usual. One floor will be left open to accommodate upperclassmen in Regina.

Next year, sophomores will have the opportunity of residing in the Living Learning Communities (LLCs).

The houses available to students are: Fulton, Gate, Knape, Meijer, Woodcock (all houses) and Dominican Hall.

Freshmen were required to get together with a group of students and establish a theme for their house that is meant to connect and provide a greater sense of community.

Woodward Area and LLC program coordinator Matt Delaney said, “[The] theme will connect to some form of learning; whether it be related to a course they all take, to some academic field, or it could be as simple as a common interest that the group of students applying for the LLC share.”

Students will also seek to contact a faculty or staff member to become their house advisor, who will have a chance to interact and guide the members of each LLC. Together the resident assistant,

advisor, and Delaney will work alongside the students as partners to enhance the living and learning experience.

On February 9 and 10, students who applied to live in the LLCs will present their mission and theme to the Resident Life staff based on their scheduled appointment.

Delaney adds, “[I] hope that the LLC program makes the community better, encourages academic success, and sets students who participate up for success the rest of their time at Aquinas and beyond.”

For those sophomores who did not get in an LLC or would prefer other living arrangements, Hruby, Browne, and spaces left in Dominican are also available options. Applications will be due Wednesday, March 14.

“Sophomore applications will be prioritized with random lottery numbers. If the initial demand for housing is greater than we can accommodate, we will create a waiting list and work throughout the end of the semester and summer to accommodate as many people as possible,” said Julie Blaszak, Director of Residence Life.

Housing for juniors and seniors will primarily be in the Ravine apartments.

Apartment applications will be available during the second week of February and will be due on Wednesday, February 22.

The apartment room selection will then take place on Wednesday, February 29.

Blaszak said, “[Upperclassmen] applications will be prioritized on the basis of a “group housing score” which includes cumulative grade point average and student conduct record of each of the four roommates who would like to live together in the same apartment.”

New campus-wide smoking area maps released

ANDRIS VISOCKIS / AQUINAS

More options: Residence Life has changed their policies to open up on-campus housing opportunities for upperclassmen as well.

Residence Life staff continues to make it a primary goal to accommodate and meet student needs as best they can.

“The Residence Life Office feels that any changes we have made will allow us to meet student needs that have been voiced to our department and articulated in the retention survey,” said Blaszak.

“It is our goal to continue to provide high quality housing options to as many students as possible, implement a fair process for assigning housing, and enhance the programs and services we offer to residential students,” she added.

Mitt Romney continues to lead in GOP primaries

By Laura Farrell Staff Writer In what has proved to be a back and forth battle, the 2012 presidential race is finally starting to pan out.

The Florida GOP Presidential primaries were held on Saturday, January 30. With Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney all claiming a primary each so far, it seemed to be anyone’s game. The Florida primaries, always highly anticipated because of the leverage it gives with so many delegate votes behind it, were highly sought after

may be, Gingrich, Paul, and Santorum have proved their commitment and are unlikely to back out any time soon.

In the Nevada primary on February 4, Romney took over thirty eight percent of the vote, beating out Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. Santorum, who did not spend much time in Florida after a family crisis, only took about twelve percent of the votes.

Maine started its weeklong caucuses on February 4. Paul and Romney both have had a strong presence in Maine so far unlike Gingrich and Santorum.

On February 11, the nonbinding

>> THE OTHER CANDIDATES WILL HAVE TO START WINNING SOME MAJOR STATES TO KNOCK ROMNEY OFF THE TOP <<

COURTESY AQUINAS COLLEGE STUDENT SENATE

Where to go to smoke: There are eight areas scattered across the campus currently designated as smoking areas. These are marked with signs to make them easier to find.

By Laura Farrell signs and contain containers where significant portion of the Aquinas Staff Writer smokers can dispose of their ashes community does not know where Having a smoke on the way to and cigarette butts. they can smoke. Junior Marah class is a thing of the past on the Smoking is not allowed in any Klose, Student Senate Promotions other locations, and trash cans that Aquinas campus.

Director, and her committee have A n e w s m o k i n g p o l i c y f o r used to be placed in front of former made pamphlets that have all of the the Aquinas College campus was smoking locations have been removed designated smoking areas, which will implemented on Jan. 1, 2012. The to make it obvious and apparent to be available for students. policy outlines certain designated smokers that those are no longer s p o t s a r o u n d c a m p u s t h a t a r e smoking spots.

See SMOKING, approved for smoking. These There has been trouble with designated areas are marked with implementing this policy, since a page 3

by Gingrich and Romney.

After plenty of media coverage, it seemed to be a battle of words in the media between the two. Romney took the limelight after the South Carolina primary, releasing his tax records after being accused of not paying all the taxes on his personal fortune, including some off shore accounts. Both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul took a step back for the Florida primaries for both personal and practical reasons.

After the big win, Romney felt secured in the top spot and says to be looking forward to going head to head with President Obama for the 2012 election. However confident Romney

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straw polls will be released. With Romney seeming confident at the top, the eyes are on candidates like Santorum and Gingrich to see what move they will make next. It is clear that nothing is permanent and at this point, anything can still happen.

But with a few important wins for Romney, the other candidates will have to start winning some major states to knock Romney off the top.

Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri primaries will take place on February 7, with the Michigan and Arizona primaries taking place on February 28.

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THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Aquinas: Study abroad program deadlines extended

Grand Rapids: School approves $8 million in school repairs

Michigan: Kalamazoo family enjoys “super awesome” Superbowl

Nation: President Obama places stricter sanctions on Iranian bank

For all students interested in studying in Italy or Costa Rica during the 2012-13 academic year, there is still time to get your applications in. The Italy program (fall 2012) deadline is Feb. 22 and Costa Rica (spring 2013) is March 14. For questions about the programs and dates for info sessions contact Joelle Baldwin in lower AB.

The Grand Rapids School Board recently approved several million dollars in funding for repairs in a handful of schools in neighboring Aquinas College communities. Among these improvements include masonry at Central High School, heating and cooling systems at Creston, as well as projects at three elementary schools.

On Superbowl Sunday this past weekend, a mother and her three children opened up their new Habitat for Humanity home for public dedication, an event the youngest son told Mlive reporters was “super awesome.” The family is the 182nd in the Kalamazoo County to publically dedicate their Habitat home since 1983.

Under strong suspicions and growing evidence of development in nuclear weapons, President Obama joined forces with Israel to establish strict sanctions, freezing all Iranian government assests, including blocks on the Central Bank of Iran.

This is not the first set U.S. santions on Iran, more are expected in the next 4-6 months.

Finding my inner superhero (or lack thereof) monica rischiotto |news editor Have you ever had a class where your professor throws you a spontaneous assignment? The kind where you find yourself staring at your planner thinking something along the lines of, “How on God’s green earth am I going to get this done?” with a few “other words” potentially thrown in? Let me add one more level of irony. What about when it’s an assignment you know you won’t have time to give it 100%, but totally wish you could?

As I sat in a certain Superhero and Myth class, I had one of these experiences. Towards the end of class, the professor brought up the class’s Course Connect page. Low and behold was a picture of Spiderman, sitting contemplatively on top of a building by himself. The title across the top of the picture read “An Experiment in Solitude.”

To give a brief background, the night before, we read an essay identifying Aristotle’s three kinds of friendships.

It examined specifically whether or not Batman had a “perfect friendship,” one rooted in selflessness and virtue. Our conclusion in a nutshell was no. After all, who would you confide in if you were fighting an insane criminal like the Joker, bringing justice to a crime ridden city, and doing so under a secret identity (it’s no wonder he and Catwoman didn’t work out, despite their efforts).

Thus, our assignment is as follows: exercise our inner superhero powers by dedicating an entire 24 hours to complete and utter solitude. In other words, we are being asked to organize a personal retreat (not too shabby, right?).

It is to be entirely absent of all electronics, homework, and communication with others. The only exceptions allowed are bringing a notepad and we can talk if we are ordering something to eat or drink.

Now, here is where those “other words” spilling out under my breath come in. Number one, it is overwhelming to identify one day within the next two weeks that I could completely dedicate to essentially doing nothing, (granted, given that my plan is to go for an all-day bike ride, it didn’t take long to swallow the time commitment and convince myself to ditch my to-do list for a day).

As I sat in class, mapping out my route like a little kid strategically walking through a candy store, there came a second piece of instruction that caught me off guard. It’s not enough to have our phones on silent; they are to be left at home.

Now my problem had morphed from this being an overwhelming assignment time wise to one that I simply did not know what to do. Go on all day bike ride by myself with no cell phone? I feel like that is everything I was taught not to do.

I’m not sure what this says about solitude and our present day society.

There is something to be said for taking time to be with ourselves, but what about the connectedness, or rather, safety issue? That being said, when do we ever truly place ourselves in the mercy of those around us?

For example, if I didn’t bring my phone, and needed to make an emergency call, could I rely on a stranger to use their phone? Not to mention I would need to write down important numbers, the days of memorizing are no longer. I should also add this is all slightly embarrassing given that I can see my dad saying, “Monica, there was a time before cell phones, get over it.”

Here was our final instruction: we are challenged to not tell anyone when we are taking this special day for ourselves.

Can you imagine not having your phone for a day, and not telling anyone?

What if say your significant other texted you, and you didn’t text them back until the next day? Or if your mom left you a voicemail and you didn’t call her back that same day? For the majority of us, I would imagine that relationships would stay intact, no tears would be cried nor would any promise rings be thrown out the window.

It does leave me questioning how to truly experience solitude, and at what cost? Maybe a deep underlying beauty of truly experiencing solitude is knowing we have something to return too, something greater than ourselves.

If the weather holds I will be going for a bike ride, and while part of me feels ashamed to be bringing my cell phone, I admit it, I’m no Rorschasch.

President Olivarez discusses goals,vision for Aquinas During his first State of the College address, President Juan Olivarez praises success and identifies areas of improvement

By Yasmeen Ahmed The Saint Reporter On Wednesday, Feb.1, at 11 a.m in the Wege Ballroom, President Juan Olivarez made a “State of the College” address to faculty and staff. He kicked off his speech with interactive, personal questions to his audience, asking about New Year’s resolutions, who welcomed new children into the world this past year, as well as recent earnings of degrees, inviting staff to stand up and share.

After breaking the ice a bit, President Olivarez began announcements, the first being a 1 % raise for full-time and part time employees in February.

President Olivarez then recapped events from this past year such as: the first commencement at the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center, expanding resident housing in Browne and Willowbrook, the book Aquinas:The First 125 Years by Gary Eberle being published, many ahtletic championships, the theatre department’s knock-out year at the Grand Awards, and a successful recruitment for the freshman class this year, specifically in quality and size.

Other college achievements included: a successful new academic year, a large group of students graduating in December, the AQ LIGHT retreat group winning an exemplary program award from the National Catholic Campus Ministry Association (presented at the National US Bishops conference), Aquinas was selected for the Pillar Award through the Women’s Resource Center, and Sister Aquinas Weber received recognition from the Pope for her many years of leadership and contribution.

The next subject President Olivarez discussed was the many challenges and opportunities with the college.

He identified creating an outstanding presence and visibility in civic, religious, a n d a cade mic c o mmunitie s and implementing campus-wide strategic

YASMEEN AHMED/ THE SAINT

A bright future ahead: Aquinas College President Juan Olivarez spoke before faculty and staff last week at the annual State of the College. planning.

He stated that always wants to strive to continue to strengthen and articulate the Catholic Dominican values, increase fundraising among individuals with a growing endowment, improving faculty and staff compensations, leading with growth and enrollment, adding diversity, improving and sustaining transparency, and communication between board, faculty, staff, and students.

President Olivarez later highlighted the strengths of Aquinas, which included our history, the Catholic Dominican roots, dedicated faculty and staff our student body, academic programs, and partners.

He identified low staffing levels, policies, future focus, increasing diversity, a clear identity of the school and our mission, and revenue for growth as areas of weakness that need to be worked on.

President Olivarez stressed that we

have many opportunities with Aquinas, especially the room for growth of the school, the community, acquiring new donors, engaging alumni more, and increasing partnerships. President Olivarez emphasized a theme of moving forward, and put the importance on having a clear mission, and a direction to follow.

He went through steps and also accentuated devising a good process to make it all work. One of the last things President Olivarez touched on was his expectations from the staff, which was comprised of an understanding of Aquinas’ mission.

He stressed the importance of always being learners, efficiency, eliminating waste, keeping focus on the students, and using team work. To wrap things up, President Olivarez displayed a poem called “Working Together” by David Whyte.

Finding a healthy balance between coffee shop and deli

By Sam Swartout extending sales during this empty we?”

Staff Writer period. “The Moose is really missing During the breakfast hours from From breakfast to snacks to late night an opportunity to make some cash,” he 9-11a.m, The Moose provides a variety of pick me ups, The Moose is always there said. “They’re missing out on students, options including breakfast sandwiches for students… with the exception of the professors and possibly coaches who for $4.95, parfaits for $3 and yogurt. From hours between 5-9 p.m. want food. Overall, they’re creating a 11 a.m.-4 p.m., gourmet deli sandwiches “We simply don’t have the storage huge inconvenience for students.” are available, ranging from $4.95-$5.95. for it. We have one freezer, we fill it On the other hand however, there The Moose also provides late night food with as many calzones as Wege provides are some students who say it doesn’t on campus, serving four varieties of us with, and between 9 p.m. and 12 affect them. “It doesn’t really bother me, calzones and cheesy breadsticks from a.m. we still run out 9 p.m.-12 a.m. of them,” said Liza Also, The Zimmerman, senior Moose always student manager of has snacks The Moose. and salads “Food Services available for want to encourage students to students to eat at The buy.

Corner during that “During 5-9 p.m. break for The the downtime Moose. They have of 5-9 p.m. a ton more options The Moose is than we do and are a great place more equipped to for students serve students the to come and food that they are study or looking for,” said hang out, it’s Zimmerman. very quiet Senior Eddie and peaceful MIRIAM PRANSCHKE/ THE SAINT during those Seymour thinks t h i s i s a f f e c t i n g Are the bagels and muffins gone by 5 p.m.? Students have raised complaints about the hours,” said student satisfaction Moose Cafe not offering food during the hours of 5-9 p.m.

Zimmerman. at Aquinas. “The Mitchell Moose not serving food between I mean I go to Wege between 5-7 p.m. also feels that the Moose serves a specific those times makes it really difficult for to eat dinner. I can see how it would purpose on campus, which does not necstudents who don’t live on campus. I be a pester for students without meal essarily include food. “The Moose is a don’t want to go to Wege and pay $8 for plans though,” said sophomore Felipe coffee shop, not a freaking deli,” he said. dinner,” he said.

Trevino.

“My sophomore year there were tons Students who wish to comment on Moose employee Jake Mitchell thinks of food options at The Moose, all day it is actually beneficial for The Moose the situation at the moose should fill long,” Seymour said. “ I’d like to have to have that four hour break. “Having out a comment card for Food Services that back.” that break provides good down time. It online at the Aquinas College website, Aquinas junior Tom Olson feels allows us to recover, restock and clean or contact Marla Poterack, Director of that the Moose could benefit from up,” he said. “Wege has breaks between Campus Dining, map001@aquinas.edu. their meals to clean up, why shouldn’t

News Editor Monica Rischiotto E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu

Phone (616) 632-2975

Student Senate update

By Cassie LaMacchia The Saint Reporter

Passionate opinions were ignited in Wege Ballroom on Wednesday, February 1, during the month’s first Aquinas College Student Senate meeting.

Topics discussed included safety of our students, Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center updates, and the restructure of our very own Student Senate.

President Juan Olivarez began the meeting with his concern and compassion for our students here at Aquinas. After hearing the recent news of Grand Valley State University students being hospitalized for ingesting drugs, President Olivarez took the story under his wings in a proactive manner.

He wants each student to know there are resources right here at Aquinas to help them with any sort of struggles in life. He mentioned that students’ needs and wants for the future are to be heard because students represent both the present and future of the college. Also, President Olivarez presented an update on the development of the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center.

He informed the Student Senate that he is very thankful and excited to announce that a couple of donors have given a verbal commitment to aid effort for the completion of phase two.

Next on the agenda was the Dominican Republic service learning trip members announced the recent spaghetti dinner held at Willowbrook raised $824 towards their efforts of cutting students trip costs.

After presenting the need for an additional $200 for microscopes in their medical labs, the Student Senate gave the agreed motion for approval. Senate also voted for the DR group to receive $1500 to help reduce costs for participants. An increased request was proposed at $2000, but this was voted down.

Also, the Ad-Hoc Exploration Committee addressed the need for change in the structure of Student Senate. The committee presented two new alternatives which ultimately cut down the amount of members and need for the amount of club members in hopes of becoming more policy based.

“Being a club representative, I feel if this change passes, clubs on Aquinas’ campus will lose more options to achieve the goal of becoming a more policy based student senate. I know there is a way for everyone to feel they are equal and still achieve the same goal,” said VIBE representative Monee Hollins.

The changes are still being researched and will be address in future Senate meetings.

Chemistry Club competes in Detroit

By Laura Farrell Staff Writer Student clubs and organizations are the heart of student life at Aquinas College, offering infinite opportunities for students to get involved, and the Chemistry Club is no exception .

On Saturday, January 21, the student led group took their competitive spirit Flint, MI to compete in the 3rd annual Battle of the Chemistry Clubs, hosted

by University of Michigan at Flint.

The Aquinas team was made up of Chemistry Club president, Kayla Lewis, along with students George Van Den Driessche, Lauren Cichon, Marissa Saladin, Anastasia McRoberts, and Dr. Elizabeth Jensen, Aquinas professor and Chemistry Club advisor.

Competing against eleven other colleges, the Aquinas Chemistry Club took third place in a surprising turn around. The battle was set up into four stations that tested the chemists’ skills in different categories ranging from naming and drawing molecules to lab safety.

After coming in last place after the first round, the team shocked the other teams, completing the titration in mere minutes, coming in first place in the second round.

Sophomore Anastasia McRoberts thoroughly enjoyed the competition saying, “This was my first year and I have only had one semester of chemistry under my belt but it was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.” The Chemistry Club plans to compete again next year.

Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

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NEWS

THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Celebrate Black History Month

On Campus:

VIBE hosts Tase of Soul Sunday and weekly honorings of influential, lesser known, African Americans

By Alyssa Frese The Saint Reporter Black History Month is here, and in order to raise awareness to students as well as the rest of the Aquinas College community, Aquinas’ own VIBE (Voices Inspiring Black Students Everywhere) is putting on an event that they like to call Historical Tuesdays.

Every Tuesday during the month of February, there will be posters throughout the different buildings on campus with a significant, yet little known historical African American.

“Most people are aware of well-known people such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. “ We wa n t t o r e c o g n i z e o t h e r

individuals who have made great contributions to society, “said VIBE secretary and Aquinas junior Kelli Dokes.

The members of VIBE are asking students to pay attention to these posters every week. Each poster will contain the name and picture of the significant person along with five facts.

Each Monday night before the posters are switched out, VIBE will have a table set up in Wege Cafeteria where students fill in what they remember from the posters and leave their name with it.

At the end of the contest, they will tally up the forms from all the weeks and a first, second, and third place prize will be announced at VIBE’s biggest event of the year called Soul Food Sunday.

Soul Food Sunday will take place on Sunday, February 26 in Donnelly Center beginning at 7:00 PM. The menu includes fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens, dressing, cornbread, and desserts and beverages catered by Sandmann’s, located in Eastown.

“The evening will start off with a brief presentation on Soul Food and its history. Then, Bishop John Williams and his wife will present a chronological timeline through dramatic oratory. It will cover black history from Africa and the Slave Trade to Mid Twenty-First century when the Emancipation took place. It will be a good time and all are welcome to attend,” said Dokes.

Off Campus:

Grand Rapids Public Library’s annual Taste of Soul Sunday event returns at central library downtown

By Laura Rico The Saint Reporter In honor of Black History Month, the Main Grand Rapids Public Library branch is hosting several events and programs that will celebrate the history and rich culture of the African American community.

The seventh annual Taste of Soul Sunday will take place on February 19 from 1 to 4 pm.

Entertainment will be provided by the North American Choral Company which will feature choirs from Sherwood Academy, East Leonard Elementary, Pa l m e r E l e m e n t a r y, N o r t h Pa r k Montessori and William C. Abney Academy. Sunny Wilkinson will be the special guest vocalist.

Additionally, jazz, blues and pop singer Edye Evans Hyde will be

SMOKING, from page 3 There is also a section on the Aquinas webpage that addresses all of the smoking areas and explains the smoking policy in its entirety. There are many different viewpoints on this policy among Aquinas students.

“I think having designated smoking areas are a good idea because it helps influence safe smoking, said freshman student Steven Hartford, “and it is helping Aquinas take steps to becoming a smoke free campus, which is ideal to nonsmokers like myself.”

On the other hand, smokers feel that this policy is unclear and singling out the smokers on campus.

“I feel like none of the smokers are observing this since especially in Regina there is no longer a smoking spot, which is where a lot of people smoke,” said freshman student Cameron Thompson. “ I personally haven’t been observing the new policy because no one has told me otherwise and it hasn’t really been enforced. I feel that the new policy is useless,” Thompson continued.

Campus visitors and other pedestrians on Aquinas property are also subject to the new policy.

Smoking in vehicles when on Aquinas property is in violation of the new policy, as well.

There has not been much official discussion about enforcement of the policy with visitors and oncampus drivers.

Sophomore Nick Grady feels that the smoking policy creates more problems. “I think it’s going to be really hard for them to enforce this policy with surrounding visitors and people who are on campus walking their pets or just passing through. I think this is really bad publicity for Aquinas because it might draw people away,” he said.

Smoking area maps are also available on Student Senate’s Facebook page.

performing. Aquinas College student Serita Crowley will also perform with her band, Serita’s Black Rose and The Disciples of Funk. Carolyn QuinnAllen, a member of Debra Perry and Majestic Praise will conclude the night’s performances.

Family events will include the Dunuya Drum and Dance. The group is based in Kalamazoo and is known for their drumming that is inspired from traditions and music in Africa and many other cultures around the world.

All afternoon there will be a chance for younger participants to make an African mask inspired by African traditional styles and designs.

Speakers will include: author Ralph Richard Banks who will discuss his book, Is Marriage for White People? via Skype. Program Director of Sociology at Michigan State University, Dr. Steven

J. Gold, will talk about the different points of views on African American self-employment beginning in the era of Booker T. Washington and through present day.

Dr. Matthew Daley will present a multi-media presentation on African American musicians from Michigan who have influenced popular music. Stuart Johnson will speak about the Big Picture, a photograph that was taken back in Harlem, New York and features some of the most influential jazz musicians of all time.

No celebration would be complete without food. Local restaurants Jamaican Dave’s, Southern Fish Fry, and Chez Olga will be providing tasty samples.

For additional information on specific times and locations for events visit the Grand Rapids Public Library’s website and click on upcoming events.

Bill proposed for 4 year degrees at community college

By Yasmeen Ahmed The Saint Reporter

State higher education officials have put together a bill seeking to approve the opportunity for community colleges in Michigan to give out four-year degrees. This bill, HB 4496, would allow community colleges to grant a bachelor of science in a nursing, or any baccalaureate degree in cement technology, marine technology, energy production technology, or culinary arts.

The nursing degree would need approval from the Michigan Board of Nursing. This bill offers a more affordable way to obtain degrees in specific areas from community colleges.

Some state university leaders have argued the bill would open the door to more degrees, eventually adding the community colleges to the ranks of the

fifteen state four-year schools already operating.

Ferris State University president David Eisler thinks it would make more economic sense to encourage universities to strengthen partnerships with community colleges. If the bill is taken back, Eisler claims he will partner with a community college to make a nursing program with them work.

The big change if the bill goes through deals with the constitution. The constitution states that colleges offering two-year degrees have locally elected boards, collected property taxes, and they have an oversight from the Board of Educators.

In order to offer four-year degrees, community colleges would essentially have to become universities with boards appointed by governors, no set boundaries, and no property tax.

World News update

By Chuck Hyde The Saint Reporter

Egypt: Political upheaval is still rampant in Egypt, with more protests occurring every day. On Wednesday February 1, there was a massive riot after a soccer game in Port Said. At least 79 died, and more than 1000 were injured.

The next day, mass protests occurred in Cairo and Suez, leaving 2 dead and over 900 inured by violence with the police.

Two kidnapped American tourists, however, were released the following day.

United States and Britain : Hackers illegally obtained a recording of a phone call between the FBI and Britain’s Scotland Yard. It was released on Friday, February 3. According to CNN’s website, the call contained information about the two groups’ investigation into the internet groups Anonymous and LulzSec. Efforts are being made to find and apprehend the hackers responsible.

Sudan: Civil war is still raging in the country, with civilian complexes becoming the target of air strikes.

According to CNN, eight bombs were

News Editor Monica Rischiotto

dropped near a Bible School in a southern province. No one was hurt, but several buildings were destroyed.

Somalia: On January 25, two American charity workers were rescued from their captors in Somalia. Though their rescue mission was successful, another American citizen, writer Michael Scott Moore, is still being held for ransom. According to MSNBC, President Obama has pledged to protect American citizens from abduction, and the State department says there are efforts being made to rescue the writer.

In other parts of Somalia, relief is finally being brought to victims of a massive famine, though 10 million East Africans are still suffering.

Italy : the wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia is still under investigation. According to CNN, fifteen people are currently missing, with seventeen bodies having been found already. The remaining 4,200 passengers have been accounted for and are receiving settlements for their loss.

The captain of the ship, Franco Schettino, is being held under house arrest for manslaughter and various other charges.

E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu

Contemporary Writers Series: poet Richard Katrovas Filling in for poet Thylia Moss, poet and novelist Richard Katrovas will speak at Aquinas on Feb. 9

By Sarah Branz The Saint Reporter Thursday, Feb. 9 is a great day to be a writer, or at least to hear the insights of the well-traveled poet and author Richard Katrovas, who will be reading his work at the next installation of Aquinas College Contemporary Writers Series. There will be a lunchtime talk at 12:30 p.m. in the Loutit Room, located in upper Wege, and an evening reading at 7:30 p.m. in the Wege Ballroom.

Katrovas has written seven books of poetry, including his latest compilation book, “Scorpio Rising,” published in 2011. His early poems are a reflection of his youth, which was spent living on the highways as his conman father evaded the FBI. In his later poems, Katrovas focuses on his travels and where he has settled.

He has lived in Prague on a Fulbright Fellowship, and there witnessed the Velvet Revolution, which plays a role in some of his works, as well as his duties as a father and finding the balance between Americanism and global curiosity.

He has written two memoirs, a novel, and a collection of short stories.

He is also working on a collection of essays titled, “Raising Girls in Bohemia: Meditations of an American Father,” and a novel, Confessions of a Waiter.

Influenced by the importance of

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Destination Grand Rapids: Award winning poet and novelist Richard Katrovas has lived all over the world from Sasebo, Japan to Prague to New Orleans and southern California. The Western Michigan University English professor will be in Wege ballroom this Thursday at 7pm. global awareness, he founded the Prague Summer Program, which offers courses in creative writing, literature, yoga, photography, and Jewish studies.

Katrovas is currently a professor of English at Western Michigan University, after having taught at the University of New Orleans for twenty years.

Originally scheduled to read was Thylias Moss, who can not make it due to illness.

Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

opinion >>

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THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

FROM THE CROWD

APPLAUSE TO...

Non-traditional students that give our classes different perspectives; Jake Mitchell, for telling it like it is; Aquinas’ Student Senate, for supporting service learning and health services in the Dominican Republic; Bob Bradley, for standing up to police brutality in Egypt; Ron Paul, for hanging in there; Helena Lettinga, who turned 109 on Monday; Tom Brady. Even though you lost the Super Bowl, you still have a great life.

The “new” Cuban sandwiches: Get rid of the tomatoes, chicken and lettuce and we’ll talk; DC Comics, for rebooting too many franchises; M.I.A, for flipping America the bird; The Detroit Pistons; People who don’t know the difference between “affect” and “effect;” Pete Hoekstra. Stereotyping China as rice paddies and bicycles does not make for a good campaign ad.

from our view

For centuries, newspapers were the main source of news for concerned citizens. Local papers gave people a glimpse inside their communities far more comprehensive than TV news. More importantly, newspapers gave people a way to communicate with the entire community. Letters to the editor, opinion pieces by local personalities and public figures and a completely home-grown production team gave each newspaper its own local flavor.

It might seem that this is all a thing of the past and that newspapers are a dying art. The Grand Rapids Press, Kalamazoo Gazette and the Muskegon Chronicle all cut back their daily home delivery to three issues a week in the past few days. Between the three papers, 223 jobs have recently been cut.

Meanwhile, the MLive website has been redesigned and is becoming more user-friendly by the second, keeping up with the 24-hour news cycle.

At The Saint, we might be biased, but maybe instant news and maximum ad space isn’t the ideal that our Presses, Gazettes and Chronicles should be striving for.

Frankly, a newspaper is far more than a business. It provides extremely meaningful careers for locals, many which have been unceremoniously cut in the recent reductions in our local media. The community also suffers with them.

No more daily newspaper means falling out of touch with our neighbors. Newspapers provided a guide to the local world. Now, the truly important local stories and opinions simply will not reach beyond the people who are involved with them. Advertising for small businesses as well becomes a problem without a daily paper.

There might be a few lessons to be learned here, perhaps, about being active, interested citizens, attempting to stay informed, and participating in our communities. But for now, the reality is that soon, there might be no news on paper at all. And no news, in this case, is bad news for those employed, the readers and the community.

theSaint 2011-2012 E D I T O R I A L B O A R D Editor-in-Chief News Editor A & E Editor

Point Counterpoint

Please smoke here

The new policy is a good thing

HECKLES TO...

>>

DUSTIN COON / THE SAINT

Matt Kuczynski Monica Rischiotto Stephanie Giluk

Dan Meloy Sports Editor Miriam Pranschke Photo Editor Nick Signore Managing Editor

Adviser Dr. Dan Brooks

By George Van Den Dreissche Staff Writer The smoking debacle continues, only a few short years after the state of Michigan took the battle for non-smokers rights to a smoke free environment upon itself by banning all restaurant smoking (unless one steps unto the patio of course). After this giant step, the battle reached the home front; the Aquinas College smoking policies.

A policy that shifted from a campus that permitted smoking anywhere, but had designated tables that were recommended for smokers, quickly leaped into a smoke free campus.

And much like the bootleggers of the 1920s prohibition era (though with considerable less flash) the smoking population of Aquinas refused to conform to the policy. Thus, the smoke free policy soon vanished with the wind.

However, once again Aquinas must head back into the fray. Non-smokers are once again crying out for a change, a change that is fair to both parties. The new policy provides on-campus locations for student smokers to enjoy their cancer sticks, while allowing non-smokers the ability to avoid these hot spots.

The new policy faces similar criticism as previous policies, the strongest counterpoint being a lack of enforcement. However, the new policy will call upon an age old concept of community enforcement. The task of enforcement will no longer fall upon campus safety, students will be EXPECTED to follow regulations and to ask those found in violation to also follow guidelines.

Not only, will this idea of enforcement work, it will also bring the students of Aquinas together as a community. All for one, and one for all; as each student will have a personal responsibility to upholding a campus atmosphere that can be enjoyed by ALL, not simply a smoking or non-smoking student; but equally shared by ALL types of students.

Now, for the juicy stuff; students are no longer allowed to smoke in their vehicles. One might have to read in between the lines to understand why, but quite simply this is to crack down on the smoking of illegal substances (and yes I am referring to marijuana!) Personally, I believe this to be the most significant part of the policy, in a world that is be-

*** Please note that the views expressed on this page are those of their respective author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of The Saint as a whole.

MISSION The Saint has worked diligently for the past 30 years to produce an informative, entertaining and journalistically-correct student publication. The Saint is distributed by students at Aquinas College and in the surrounding community.

Our goal is to continue to provide an open forum for the ideas, views and concerns of the Aquinas community.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR All letters must include a signature, typed or handwritten, and include a phone number for the sole purpose of verification. The Saint reserves the right to edit letters to the editor based on content, punctuation, length and libel issues.

Letters should not exceed 300 words. We will not print anonymous letters to the editor and will not accept letters to the editor over the phone.

>> write us a letter!

e-mail — saint.editor@aquinas.edu, or use the form on our website.

physical copies – AB, Room 2

Managing Editor Nick Signore

By Laura Rico Staff Writer

they choose to wear, or other potentially aesthetically unappealing decisions that we tolerate on a daily basis.

Another aesthetic argument that gets brought up frequently is the issue of litter: cigarette butts and empty packs. On this, I’ll agree. But what strikes me as ironic is that in working to encourage people to move to the new smoking areas at Aquinas, trash cans were removed from campus, since smokers used to gather around the trash can ash trays.

Slightly counterproductive, no?

But besides the aesthetics, the biggest issue with the new smoking policy is that it is unenforceable and redundant.

Campus Safety officers cannot realistically stop every person that walks through campus with a burning cigarette, which still happens very frequently.

Students aren’t going to stop their friends too often, either.

And stopping those who smoke in their cars? Good luck.

MIRIAM PRANSCHKE / THE SAINT The enforcement problem coming increasing satisfied with a sowas brought forward multiple times in ciety that is ‘high’ (who cares if it is a Student Senate, and never adequately medicated high) the stereotypical ‘pot’ smoker is not the person I want repre- addressed. In reality, it would have been far easier to simply enforce the “ten feet senting Aquinas.

A new year, a new smoking policy; away from buildings” rules that have a policy that brings equality to all parties been in place, and ignored just like the and reduces illegal activities that occur current smoking areas.

Throw in buying a slew of new in student cars. An excellent start to the signs to post around campus and you’ve semester, bravo student senate, bravo! got a nice waste of cash as well. The money could have been used to help The new policy is enforce current smoking policies, or useless perhaps even to provide free quitting

By Matt Kuczynski supplies to current smokers, helping to Editor-In-Chief Aquinas is going smoke free, again. create a totally smoke-free environment.

People smoke, regardless of the Since my freshman year here, the smoking issue has been brought up over and health risk. It’s a part of the world we over again, with different solutions, live in. While a (mostly) smoke-free ranging from “Just sit at that bench” campus might be a definite selling point to proposals for an entirely smoke-free for some; for most, it’s just a neutral fact.

It might even turn away just as many campus.

It seems that the stricter and more students as it draws to come here: in regulated these solutions get, the more public debates over the tobacco ban last pointless they become. Let’s face it, what year, at least one non-smoker said she this policy deals with is convenience for wouldn’t have come to Aquinas had there been a ban in place. others at the expense of a few.

Aquinas doesn’t need policies like It’s illogical to think that walking this one that are unenforceable, redunpast a smoker on a sidewalk once in a dant, wastes of money and resources, while creates a huge health risk for nonsmokers, when we live in a world full of and frankly trivial regulations on peopollutant-producing vehicles, factories, ple’s personal choices. With a little more and garbage dumps. Usually, the great- reasoned discussion, open-mindedness and tolerance of people’s lifestyle deciest complaint is the noxious odor.

Here, we’re talking about aesthet- sions and scents, far more egalitarian ics. It would seem that how a person and effective solutions could have been chooses to smell is as much a matter of found. personal choice as how much spandex

The most important vote

It is easy to just choose not to deal with politics. It seems to just lead to never ending arguments and disappointments. With the media of today, every candidate apparently always has eight mistresses, millions of dollars, hidden agendas, or a lack of decent vocabulary. In my opinion, no matter what party you belong to or what candidate you support, there is always a war of tacky backstabbing taking a front seat to the things that really do matter.

I usually choose not to talk about politics because it inevitably leads to headaches all around. With the 2012 Presidential Race well under way, however, I could not help but think about

Management E-mail saint.business@aquinas.edu

where I was the last time this all happened. It seems like just yesterday I watched the Inauguration of President Obama and was so proud of the fact that we finally had a first lady who had something in her closet besides pearls and red, white and blue suits. It then hit me that I was only sixteen when the last election took place. Not that I know anything now, but I really didn’t know anything at the age of sixteen.

If I did, I would have paid more attention the candidates’ positions on things that affect me every day now: student loans, income taxes, and the job market.... the list could undoubtedly go on forever. So where do we find ourselves with this election? When this next term is up, we expect we will be “adults” in the real world, trying to make our major and minor combina-

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tions translate into a paycheck. It terrifies me that these next four years of our lives might be the most important, and our country seems to be lagging.

The truth is that it is too easy and comfortable to watch government from the sidelines. But we are the generation to speak out, the generation to actually tell the government not only what we want but what we need.

This is why it is crucial to be present and vote on we hold to be true.

Sure, you are one of many but, if everyone of us had that attitude, maybe it would not be nearly impossible to pay off loans and get a “real” job. The Michigan primaries are February 28 so, no matter where you find yourself on the political spectrum, be made known and use your voice. Vote.

Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

arts & entertainment Television: Time for a little Anger Management

Chuck Norris: You know who you’re voting for now

Books: Alan Moore is not going to be happy

In the latest news about Charlie Sheen’s new FX sitcom, entitled Anger Management, Selma Blair (Hellboy) has been cast in the lead female role. Blair will play Kate, who will be Charlie’s friend with benefits as well as a fellow therapist.

Anger Management is slated for 10 episodes but a release date has not been announced.

Chuck Norris will find you if you don’t vote for Newt Gingrich. On WND, Norris renounces the “trifecta of tyranny” Gingrich is facing (which is mainly Mitt Romney and his money) and announces his ginger-bearded support.

Norris uses phrases like “thorn of shame” and “ginormous” to get his point across. Forcefully.

DC Entertainment has revealed their plans to publish a collection of miniseries that will follow characters from Watchmen, the groundbreaking superhero saga penned by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons in the late 80s. The collections will feature stories about Rorschach, The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan, to name a few.

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THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

<<

IN THE SPOTLIGHT >> M.I.A

M.I.A. has been giving off mixed fingers lately. The singer has been getting good reviews for her “Bad Girls” music video. She also flipped the bird at the Super Bowl halftime show this past Sunday, and has been under fire for her actions.

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A hero’s chronicle

stephanie giluk | a&e editor In 2011, there were four superhero movies released in theaters. The world got to see adaptations of Thor, Green Lantern, X-Men: First Class and Captain America (the third Transformers and Green Hornet were released too, but I don’t feel like counting them in). The movies met with varying levels of success and some were better (Thor) than others (Green Lantern). This year, more superhero movies are coming out, including the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers.

For the past decade or so, superhero movies have become common summer blockbuster staples. It’s almost guaranteed that if any studio makes a superhero movie, they’ll make a lot of money, not because the movie is necessarily good, but that character’s large fan base will go see the movie. The fans of the comics the hero most likely originated from will rally behind the movie or go see how badly Hollywood butchered their favorite character. And then a bunch of teenage boys will also go see the movie because shit probably gets blown up.

The point is that everyone reading this has seen at least one superhero movie at some point. There are certain conventions that go along with this kind of story. Think tragic origin story (Batman, Superman, Spiderman), costumes (everybody), an arch-villain (Batman and the Joker, Magneto and Professor X), and, of course, a love interest (Mary Jane Watson, Lois Lane, and so on).

I’m very familiar with these conventions, and if they’re done well, they can be enjoyable, but they do get old after being repeated over and over again. That’s why, when I saw Chronicle this past weekend, I was so impressed.

Chronicle is, in a way, a superhero movie, but it is both like and unlike any superhero movie I’ve seen before.

The movie is shot like one of those “found footage” movies (think Blair Witch or Cloverfield). But unlike Cloverfield, where I knew I was watching a fairly big-budget movie with digital special effects shot using a jitter-cam, Chronicle’s handheld camera feel gives the movie a realism it wouldn’t have had otherwise. The camera work and effects are so low-key, it does really seem incredible when Pringles, shopping carts, and cars float and move on their own. The effects become believable, not distracting.

The camera also serves as a metaphor for the main character and camera handler, Andrew (Dane DeHaan), who uses the device as an excuse to hide from his depressing life. He’s still picked on because people are weirded out that this kid is walking around filming everything, but when Andrew’s more popular cousin Matt (Alex Russell), and school politician Steve (Michael B. Jordan) find an eerie sinkhole outside a rave, everything changes.

After stumbling upon a strangelooking extra-terrestrial crystal, the three gain telekinetic powers. Like normal people, the boys use their powers to mess with people. They play pranks on unsuspecting mall-goers and infect the audience with the wonder of what they can do. I was plenty impressed when Thor fought the Frost Giants or when Magneto stopped those nukes, but I knew what I was looking at was by no means real. Those fictional characters are superheroes and I am aware I’m watching them on a screen. I could never be like them.

But when I watched Chronicle and identified with Andrew, the quiet, bullied kid everyone knows from their high school, I felt like maybe this could happen to me. I could trip over a sinkhole over in Wilcox Park, gain telekinetic powers, and then use them to screw with people. I feel this way because none of the characters in Chronicle are heroes, really. They’re teenage boys who discover they are capable of frightening and wonderful things, and they have to decide what to do with such power. And when an abused and desperate Andrew goes down a path fans of Carrie would recognize, that seems real too. Chronicle is aware of every superhero trope before it, and it plays off those same tropes to make something darkly original.

The Grey is a chilling and tense survivalist thriller

By Katherine Mata Staff Writer

The Grey pushes spine-chilling thrillers to a whole new level. Filled with emotion and action, The Grey does not disappoint. The main characters’ fight for survival takes audiences on a wild adventure across the barren and bitter wintry Alaska in a taught, riveting tale.

Ottway, played by Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List), works for a petroleum company in Alaska. Forced to endure the harsh winters far from any major cities, Ottway and the other men look forward to leaving the hell-hole they had to call “home.” Unfortunately for the men, unseen problems bring their plane crashing down into a vast, snow-covered desert. Of the men who survived the crash, Ottway begins to guide the men toward survival.

Despite their best efforts, another challenge lies ahead of them that would be next to impossible to overcome, even with plentiful resources: they have intruded on a wolf pack’s territory. The men must learn to cooperate and fight for their lives as the wolves close in.

The wolves manage to observe and taunt the men for days. Once the wolves have an understanding of how the men work, they begin to attack and send warnings for the men to leave their territory. The men, taking

the hint, begin to leave and hope to remain alive long enough to find help. These wolves, however, outsmart the men every step of the way.

Much of the film focuses on O t t w a y ’s sense of despair and longing for his departed wife. His character is one that the audience It’s a wolf-eat-wolf world: can empathize with.

Neeson delivers a performance that will not be easily forgotten. The emotion, the anger and the sorrow Neeson portrays become very real.

The additions of Frank Grillo (Warrior) and Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma) help create a real and emotionally raw story that will tug anyone’s heartstrings.

Director Joe Carnahan successfully delivers a film that captures people’s

New Bob Dylan cover album worth a listen made me enjoy Miley Cyrus for once. Here are some of the notable (and not-so-notable) tracks: Rise Against’s cover of “Ballad of Hollis Brown” was – and pardon the technical term here – kickass. It was powerful enough to reinvigorate Dylan, as if he needed it, and it reinforced the timeless nature of Dylan’s work by being seamlessly translated into their punk rock style.

Ziggy Marley’s reworking of the classic peace anthem “Blowin’ in the Wind” is a soothing COURTESY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL cover guaranteed to please any Dylan fan. Expectedly, the song Tuned: This compilation is a success. elicits just as much eerie power as it always does, with little more than

By Jacob VandenHombergh Ziggy’s acoustic guitar.

The Saint Reporter RedOne and Nabil Khayat ofWhen it comes to music, I was fer an interesting, synth/rock mix of raised on American folk. My child- “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” which hood was steeped in the friendly features what can only be called a sounds of John Prine, the haunting vi- cool, almost bluesy guitar solo to boot. brato of Joan Baez, and, in later years, Other must-listens include Silversun the melancholy of Townes Van Zandt. Pickups’ melodic version of “Not Dark Of course, some artists stuck with me Yet,” Angelique Kidjo’s borderline for life (Prine sticks out among them), tribal rendition of “Lay Lady Lay,” while others fell flat or eventually lost and Kris Kristofferson’s folksy cover their flavor. None of them, however, of “Quinn the Eskimo.” I also have to held as esteemed a position in our mention Eric Burdon’s insanely catchy household as the veritable king of folk, cover of “Gotta Serve Somebody.”

“His Bobness,” Bob Dylan.

Don’t let the brevity of this list mislead Unsurprisingly, American folk you, however. There are plenty of fun has occupied a special place in my tracks on this album, and the artists heart – and Dylan is in there, some- tend to succeed when they don’t try to where, making very little sense and emulate Dylan – instead bringing their sounding a bit nasal. When I heard own unique styles to the table. about Chimes of Freedom: the Songs of To the not-so-notable list, I must Bob Dylan, my heart skipped a bit of a unfortunately add Lenny Kravitz’s beat. When I heard it featured a cover version of “Rainy Day Women #12 and of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by 35,” which seems to amount to nothKe$ha, it missed one too many. And ing more than a sped up version of not in a good way. the original, with Lenny as our karaMy contempt for Ke$ha aside, oke vocalist. My Chemical Romance the album’s concept is actually pretty delivers a catchy cover of “Desolation interesting. Dedicated to the 50th an- Row,” but the song eventually gets a niversary of Amnesty International, it little repetitive. This is nothing against features a ludicrous seventy-five song the band – perhaps only Dylan can track list from a massive number of captivate the listener for so long with artists, including Silversun Pickups, a tale like that. So what about Ke$ha’s Joan Baez, Pete Townshend, Ziggy bizarre cover of “Don’t Think Twice Marley, Sting, Queens of the Stone It’s Alright?” Honestly, I really wanted Age, Flogging Molly, Elvis Costello, to write a scathing review of it. I really Bad Religion, My Chemical Romance, wanted to. But I just can’t decide what the late, great Johnny Cash and many to think of it, so maybe you should just more (including, of course, the main check it out for yourself. man himself). Proceeds of the album The album is now available for go to Amnesty International USA. $19.99 on iTunes and $24.99 in CD I’ll be blunt: if you like Dylan, format. Alternatively, and if you hate even remotely, check this out. Now. charity, listen to it on Spotify for The occasionally unpleasant song does free. absolutely nothing to sully the impressive quality of this album. Hell, it even

A & E Editor Stephanie Giluk

E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu

COURTESY OPEN ROAD FILMS

Liam Neeson leads the pack through thick and thin in The Grey. survival instincts in terrible situations.

Unlike most survival films, Carnahan’s is not plagued with zombies or biochemical warfare. Instead, Carnahan took a situation that is plausible but overlooked and helps the audience understand the dangers of such a situation. What Carnahan does and what many other directors fail to do is to create an emotional link between the

characters and the audience.

The Grey is a must see for moviegoers this year. The move pushes emotional boundaries, physical strength and mental stamina as the audience lives through the disaster with the characters. Do not miss out on one of the greatest movies of the year!

AQ Idol’s first round a blast living room” regarding how at home he looked performing on stage with his outfit and presence. One of the judges also said that N o r d l u n d ’s performance gave them their first chills of the night. When asked about his performance, Nordlund said, MEGHAN GRAY/THE SAINT “I felt I did a good job. I just Belt it out: The contenders at AQ Idol made an impression. want to have

By Meghan Gray fun and I live for this; performing is The Saint Reporter my thing.”

Bredeweg sang “My Only Hope” Tuesday, Jan. 31, the first round of by Mandy Moore. She also had a folAQ Idol started off on the right foot. lowing of fans, many from the AquiThe event was sponsored by Aquinas nas College women’s volleyball team.

College Programming Board and was The judges said her song was beautiful hosted for the night was junior Chris but her nerves were showing a bit, so Skurka. There were 13 contestants that if she moves onto the next round in Round One: Rachel Martz, Chris to try to be a little bit more relaxed.

Vander Ark, Zander Atwood, GaCarroll sang “P.S. I Still Love You” briella Walker, Jessica Bredeweg, RJ by Rihanna. Carroll’s fans went crazy Nordlund, Dala Carroll, Taylor Nefcy, at the beginning of the performance Luke Strobel, Nubia Gomez, Macken- and as the song went on, the entire auzie Glaros, Kelsey Foxx, and Anthony dience also enjoyed her performance.

Emery.

Carroll also sang with a relaxed The first round was definitely en- feel since her song was about trying tertaining. AQPB’s decision to have to move on from a past love. UnfortuAQ Idol take place in the AMC Recital nately, the judges did not agree with Hall only made the atmosphere and the encouraging crowd and told Carperformances seem that much better. roll that she seemed like she was out of The hall was filled with eager and en- her comfort zone and her performance couraging spectators. When the pro- was not believable. spective idols were being introduced, The three contenders that made groups from every corner of the audi- it through to the second round of AQ ence would cheer for certain competi- Idol along with Nordlund, Bredeweg, tors. Some spectators even made signs and Carroll, were Vander Ark, who for those singers that they supported. was brave and sang a hard song for a Nordlund had a following of very male, “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, enthusiastic fans cheering him on in Nefcy, who sang “Don’t Know Why” the front row. He sang a song called by Norah Jones, and Emery, who sang “Nashville” by Noah Gunderson about an uncommon folk song but made the Nashville blues that had a great blend audience go crazy. of country and folk. The audience very With these six competitors much enjoyed and connected with moving on, the second round of Nordlund’s rendition of the song due AQ Idol is going to be tougher and to his comfortable demeanor on stage.

The aspiring idol sported the barefoot look with his acoustic guitar in hand. The judges said that Nordlund looked as if he were “playing in his page 6

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see AQ Idol,

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THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Back to the Batcave

By John Wofford Contributing Writer Old and busted: DC Comics. New and sexy: DC Comics reboot.

With the decision to restart the entire line-up of one of the best known comics publishing companies in history, speculation ran rampant as to whether or not a team of talented writers and artists could pull off the ultimate hat-trick. After all, this wasn’t merely an attempt to reboot a troubled continuity or inject fresh art into a stale market. No, this was fight for the very relevancy of comics as an industry—a claim staked on the future of the failing business.

The big question is, “Does the reboot work?” Not exactly. While some comics have successfully captured a creative spark that surprised comics veterans and noobs alike (Animal Man, Swamp Thing)—others fell shockingly short of the mark (Catwoman, Superman).

One of the most buzzed about titles in the reboot has been Scott Snyder’s run on Batman. Snyder was previously lauded for his work on Detective Comics (another Batman title) before the reboot. For anyone unfamiliar with that collection, now published in one volume as Batman: The Black Mirror, buy it immediately.

Snyder’s take on Dick Grayson (you might know him better as Robin) covering for Batman, while the original Caped Crusader is M.I.A, is dark, haunting and disgusting. Above all else, it is noir fiction at its finest.

So does Snyder work magic a sec-

ond time? Well, sort of. Make no mistake, Batman is an excellent title, probably the most popular of the current lineup. And it definitely deserves praise. It is a taut, well-balanced story arc that places the classic Batman character against a gaggle of menacing foes.

Heck, the violent intro of the first issue is worth the COURTESY USA TODAY cover price alone.

Still, it feels a bit Suit up: The DC reboot tackles the dark knight. familiar.

Snyder uses the same narrative arc (with eventual crossover issues framing devices again and again. into other comic brands) that sees BatUsually opening on a seemingly unman dealing with a cult-like crime orrelated narration by a central charganization that has had its—talons?— acter (sometimes Batman, sometimes into the heart of the city for decades. one of his cohorts), the words of each The narrative itself uses familiar elepanel eventually tie in to the action ments (secret societies, trained assaswe’re seeing. Sometimes this “tie-in” sins, hidden rooms), but the emotionis metaphorical, other times literal. al impact is undeniable. The plot is On the one hand, it is a great opportunowhere near the caliber of Snyder’s nity to get inside Batman’s head while own previous work, but the kinetic he’s in the heat of action. On the other energy makes up for the lag. hand, Snyder used the exact same deOf all the titles in the new DC vice during his Detective Comics run, reboot, Snyder is among a handful and while it is definitely an effective I would recommend without many blend of language and visuals, I can questions asked. It is not perfect, but not help but think it’s getting a bit old. it makes a solid case for the future of As for the story… well, the vercomics… err, graphic novels. dict’s still out on that. Snyder is currently completing a multi-issue story

Everyone’s invited to Wake Up People!

ANDRIS VISOCKIS/AQUINAS

Party time: Wake Up People will help shake those winter blues.

By Sam Swartout Staff Writer It is that time of year again, with Wake Up People just around the corner!

What is Wake Up People, you ask? Well, it is an annual event that is planned by Campus Life.

“It is designed to get people excited about being a student at Aquinas College and to hopefully clear up some of the winter blues students may be feeling,” said Tyler Kalahar, Aquinas senior and assistant at Campus Life.

There will be entertainment, food and, yes, prizes.

One of the changes for Wake Up People this year is that it will be held at the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center.

Previously the event has been held at The Cook Carriage House. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

This year the event will be catered by Pepsi Bottling Company (that means free pop!) as well as Creative Dining Services. In the past, Wake Up People has also been catered by Easttown’s favorite hotdog spot, Yesterdog, as well as Little Caesar’s Pizza.

Keep your eyes peeled for such companies, as they may make an appearance this year as well. The final list of caterers will not be finalized until just prior to the event.

Did someone mention prizes? Of course! As always, Wake Up People will feature prizes. Some will be donated by Pepsi, such as t-shirts and hats, while others will be provided by Campus Life funding. You will have to

attend the event to enter for your chance to win!

Food and prizes not enough to catch your interest? Perhaps the entertainment will tickle your fancy. Long running comedic powerhouse Second City Improv Troupe will grace Aquinas College with their presence and provide humor for the evening. Never heard of them? Their alumni include Tina Fey, Chris Farley and Stephen Colbert.

Check out their website at www.secondcity.com.

They will be performing FAFSA and the Furious act.

Following Second City Improv Troupe will be Aquinas’ own AQ Idol finale. Come find out who will be crowned the 2012 AQ Idol winner.

Another change to Wake Up People this year is that tickets are required for entrance. Do not let this deter you from attending, because the cost is still FREE. Students need only to take their student ID to the Campus Life office, located in the Moose, to pick up tickets.

Each student is allowed to pick up two tickets.

This will allow for the entrance of non-AQ community into the event.

Daniel Radcliffe delivers chills

By Alyssa Frese Staff Writer The Woman in Black is this year ’s best horror film. The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, as lawyer and widower Arthur Kipps living in twentieth century England. Though a successful lawyer, Kipps grieves over the loss of his wife Stella, who died four years ago while giving birth to their son Joseph.

AQ Idol

from page 5 moving on, the second round of AQ Idol is going to be tougher and the comptetition will be stiffer. Based on the amount of fans each of these performers had, the crowd at round two will also be more active, enthusiastic and opinionated. One can only wait and see. The next round of AQ Idol is Tuesday, February 7, in the AMC at 10:30 p.m.

The law firm for which Kipps works sends him on an assignment to the countryside to deal with a deceased woman’s estate.

When Kipps arrives in the village near the estate, the townspeople are rather unwelcoming and try to send him back to where he came from. Kipps is a dedicated worker, however, so he pays a man to drive him out to the estate. As Kipps is searching the house for important documents and paperwork, an eerie presence is felt.

Kipps comes across cards and paperwork revealing that there was a little boy that drowned in the marsh right by the house. The boy was adopted by the couple who lived in the house because the boy’s real mother could not take care of him.

After the adoption, the couple denied the woman the right to see her own son and there was a huge falling out. After the son drowns in the marsh, the boy’s mother is outraged at the parent’s irresponsibility. She promises she will never forgive them for her son’s death. It

A & E Editor Stephanie Giluk

By Paris Close The Saint Reporter

After the release of albums Take Off Your Colours (2008) and Hold Me Down (2010), the British rock band You Me At Six has garnered international success. With popular songs “Always Attract,” “Stay With COURTESY VIRGIN RECORDS Me” and “Underdog” in their arseDiscord: You Me at Six disappoints with their latest album. nal of hits, fans will be excited to see what they have in said that it is one of the rockiest store in their third studio album Sin- songs they have ever written and ners Never Sleep. The record intends that the raw emotion is what really to mix things up a bit with cameo completed the song. appearances by Bring Me the HoriTracks like “Jaws On the Floor” zon’s Oli Sykes and Parkway Drive’s and “Reckless” definitely bring a Winston McCall. This year the group summery sound to the album with plans to ring in the New Year with rigid drum patterns and an all-out a different sound, citing influences wave of electro-rhythm. While the from bands like Jimmy Eat World choruses are helplessly simple and and Blink-182. catchy, the songs do not bring anyListeners will be pleased with thing special when it involves lyrical songs “This Is the First Thing” and talent. Where these tracks thrive in “Little Bit of Truth,” most likely be- musical aptitude they lack in lyrical cause it reminds them of another ser- expression. enade of theirs, “Tigers and Sharks.”

“When We Were Younger” and These songs are the album’s best and “The Dilemma” are probably the really showcase what these guys can most unorganized and drowsiest accomplish when they work thought- songs on the album. It is painful to fully. witness such a talented band lose “Loverboy,” which is the album’s their credibility with lazy songwritlead single, starts with a playful ing. chant over a smooth bass line, givListeners will be curious to know ing the track a seductive touch. Do whether the band will continue down not be fooled by the soft melody. The this path or revert back to their origichorus is packed with intense gui- nal melodies that fascinated fans tar lines and lyrics that beg for ven- from the beginning. Let us hope for geance. Since we are discussing the that this is a one-time experiment. album’s more aggressive songs, it is While the bands’ efforts to make a essential to note “Bite My Tongue,” daring jump into new rhythmic terwhich features Sykes. When asked ritory are commendable, it’s best that about “Bite My Tongue,” the band they keep with their original sound.

Get Where You Want to Go Today’s market demands professionals who think

is after this that odd occurrences involving the children of the villages start happening, leading to the appearance of the mysterious Woman in Black This movie made the audience jump quite a bit. Although it started off a bit slow, the pace picked up considerably and tension built up steadily. The Woman in Black was one of the best horror movies that have been released in a long time. Daniel Radcliffe’s performance should be applauded; he stunningly morphed from nerdy wizard to a great father/lawyer. The movie is a must- see.

E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu

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Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

sports

page

Big Ten: MSU beats Michigan, remains one game behind Ohio State

Soccer: United States set to play Canada in a friendly match

Cycling: Contador stripped of title and banned two year from the Tour

The Michigan State Spartans defeated in-state rivals Michigan Wolverines 64-54 last Sunday.

Spartan forward Draymond Green led State with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Michigan State is now 7-3 in the Big Ten while Michigan fell to 7-4 in the conference. Ohio State still leads the league with an 8-2 record.

The United States men’s national soccer team will travel north of the border to play Canada on June 3 in Toronto. The last time the Yanks and the Canucks competed was in June last year when the United States defeated Canada 2-0 in Detroit. The United States’ next match will be Feb. 29 against Italy in Genoa.

Spannish cyclist Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title last Monday after he had been found guilty of doping.

Contador claimed that the positive tests were a result of eating contaminated meat. Cycling authorities have rejected this claim. Contador has been suspended from the Tour for the two years.

Super Bowl a success for the disenchanted fan

Giants win Super Bowl XLVI

dan meloy | sports editor

It seems that somewhere in my Sports Editor contract I am legally obligated to write my column about the Super Bowl. So to avoid getting into hot water with the Ed-In-Chief and my adviser, here’s a few hundred words about the event of a million words.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Super Bowl and I love football. But pro football has never been something I’ve been able to wrap my arms around.

I was raised in a household where the Green Bay Packers were put somewhere in the ranks of America and the Catholic Church, but being the black sheep of the family, I was always a fan of the “other” football. Seriously, did anyone catch the Man. U–Chelsea game?

So being about two degrees from caring about who won this year, I really had to stretch to find a team to root for.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, also owns the New England Revolution of the MLS. When in doubt, root for soccer people.

But besides supporting my halfhearted jump onto the Patriot bandwagon, one of the more interesting features of my Super Bowl viewing experience was watching two of my housemates, one a lifelong Giants fan, the other a lifelong Patriots fan, watch the game, all the while gauging their emotions throughout the contest.

The game itself, from a relatively neutral point of view, (seriously, you have to pick a team. Flip a coin if you must; it adds to the overall viewing experience) was overall pretty entertaining.

It was a back and forth contest, and watching Eli Manning make an impressive late game drive to win the Super Bowl was something special. Close and exciting contests are something that just about any fan no matter their interest level could enjoy (my sympathies, Patriots fans).

But I guess that is just part of the overall majesty that is the Super Bowl.

People who have no real rooting interest in the result of the game or no real interest in football, for that matter, can still find ways to enjoy the Super Bowl.

Be it the commercials, the parties or watching Madonna do whatever she was trying to do Sunday night, the Super Bowl has become a holiday onto itself.

The Super Bowl has become the great unifier in American sporting society. I use the term society loosely for some circles.

It has become a place for fans of different teams to come together and enjoy the capstone of the football season, a place where the football fanatic and the person who has no idea how there can be “unnecessary” roughness in football can sit side by side and discuss America’s game (sorry, baseball).

Maybe with the exceptions of the World Cup and the Olympics, the Super Bowl is one of the only sporting events that supersedes its competitive purpose.

A place where the event overpowers the outcome of the game and teams that take part.

I mean, really, when was the last time you heard of watching an event on television just for the commercials?

So as a non-profesional football fan, I get it. The glamour, the glitz, all the celebrities in attendance. It is easy to see why the Super Bowl has almost replaced the Fourth of July as our true national holiday. Throughout history, sports and Hollywood are the two mainstays in American pop-culture, and for one night we cram it all into a six hour broadcast in a supernova of entertainment.

The game was great, the commercials were okay–seriously people, stop being so critical of commercials. Their job is to make you buy products. If you spend more than a minute ranting about them then they did their job–and the halftime entertainment was lively.

So it is safe to say as someone who had no rooting interests in the year’s Super Bowl and no strong interest in the NFL in any given year, this Super Bowl was an entertainment success.

And Madonna, feel free not to be in the public sphere, ever again.

7

THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

<<

WHAT TO WATCH

>> WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Aquinas College women’s basketball team host Siena Heights University tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center. The Saints now sit sixth in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference with a 7-7.

Who’s hot and who’s not in college basketball

By Brian Kalchik The Saint Reporter

COURTESY NEWSONE.COM World champions: New York Giants players celebrate with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLVI 21-17.

By Sam Swartout Staff Writer Super Bowl XLVI had all the makings of being a fantastic rematch of Super Bowl XLII, with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots playing against Eli Manning and the New York Giants for the title world champions.

The game started out rough for the Patriots, as Brady was called for intentional grounding in the end zone giving the Giants a safety and a two point lead.

Manning led his team to an early start with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Victor Cruz, putting the Giants up 9-0.

A great defensive play by Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul held the Patriots to a field goal by kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

With eight seconds left in the first half, Brady completed a touchdown pass to running back Danny Woodhead giving the Patriots their first lead of the game and headed into the locker rooms up 10-9.

Brady and the Patriots came out in the second half fired-up and ready to play. Three minutes into the third quarter Brady threw a touchdown pass to

tight end Aaron Hernandez, extending the New England lead 17-9.

As the third quarter came to a close, the Giants had back-to-back field goals, closing their deficit to within two points.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Brady threw the first interception of the game to Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn. The Patriots almost caught a break on the next play as the Giants fumbled the ball, however, the Giants recovered to keep possession.

With four minutes remaining in the game, Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker dropped a pass on second down that would have given the Patriots a first down an plenty of yardage. However, New England had to settle by punting the football later in the drive.

Upon the Giants receiving the ball back, wide receiver Mario Manningham made a beautiful reception for 38 yards. The Giants eventually scored with a touchdown from running back Ahmad Bradshaw to put the Giants ahead 21-17.

The Patriots failed to score in the dying seconds and the Giants were crowned World Champions.

With no one consensus team that is the odds-on favorite to win the national championship, this year in college basketball is turning hectic.

Here is a rundown of who’s hot and who’s not in college basketball.

Who’s Hot

Kentucky Wildcats (23-1) Behind some stellar play from freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael KiddGilchrist, plus the coaching of John Calipari, the Wildcats are the number one team in the nation with their only loss coming in Bloomington against the Hoosiers on a last second buzzer beater.

Murray State Racers (23-0) Now it is time to give some respect to this mid-major team from the Ohio Valley Conference. They are the only Division I team that is still unbeaten and with players like Isaiah Cannan and Donte Pool, this could be the next Butler as far as Cinderella teams are concerned.

Florida State Seminoles (16-6) The Seminoles are the surprising team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, having beaten both traditional conference powers Duke and North Carolina. The Seminoles beat Duke with a buzzer beater and blew out Carolina in Tallahassee. Most people forget that the Seminoles were a Sweet 16 team last

In search of a good seed Women’s basketball team looking to close out the regular season strong

year, so their run should not be considered a fluke.

Who’s Not

Connecticut Huskies (15-8) This year’s version of the Huskies is the not the same as last year’s. Without their leader, Kemba Walker, and the suspension of star player Ryan Boatright, the Huskies have not played their normal brand of basketball. It is still early in the season, but players like Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier have to step it up if the Huskies hope for a repeat National Championship season Vanderbilt Commodores (16-7) With players like Jeffrey Taylor, John Jenkins and Festus Ezeli, the Commodores should be better than this.

Vanderbilt is under-achieving and has yet to play either Florida or Kentucky.

The Commodores better step it up with the talent they posses.

The entire Pac-12 Yes, I am singling out an entire conference because this conference is the NFC West of college basketball, with only two to three teams worthy of a shot at the tournament. California and Washington are both tied atop the standings, while powerhouses like Arizona and UCLA have crept towards the middle of the standings, nowhere near where they should be. Close to half of the teams in the conference have sub-par conference records.

Aquinas men win Calvin Invite,women place second

By Dale Domer The Saint Reporter

LYNN DAVIS / THE SAINT Huddle up: The women’s basketball team gathers around Head Coach Linda Nash as she give instruction to the team. The Saints are 7-7 in league play and are looking to host a conference tournament game.

With just four more games left in ers led the Saints with 17 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Chel- the regular season, the team is looking sea Matley put in eight points and ju- forward to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athnior center Lindsey Karpowicz had five letic Conference tournament.

“The WHAC tournament winner rebounds.

Right after the close loss, the Saints will get the second bid to the national took on Indiana Tech but had similar tournament,” said Head Coach Linda results to the Cornerstone match. The Nash. “Any team has the ability to win Saints fell 62-53 as Sanders was the it, so we are striving to put together leading scorer for the third game in a three strong games to represent the row while junior center Shelby Carter conference in the 32 team national tournament field in Sioux City, Iowa.” put up nine points.

Nash knows that the team will Flewelling looks forward to how the team plans to bounce back, for the have to step up their game come tourfinal games of the season. “We need nament time in order to advance to the to work on putting a whole game to- National Tournament.

“We know what it takes to get gether,” said Flewelling. “We start the game off slow and put ourselves in a there. Now we are competing for seedhole, then we have to dig ourselves out ing in the tournament. If we want to of it. We need to play 94 feet for all 40 host home games, we need to finish strong these last five games.” minutes.”

The Saints host Siena Heights UniThe team seemed to do just that, taking on UM-Dearborn on February 3, versity tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Sturwinning 78-52. Sanders scored eighteen rus Sports and Fitness Center. points and sophomore forward Carly Bardwell scored thirteen in the win.

E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu Phone (616) 632-2975 Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

By Laura Farrell Staff Writer After coming off two consecutive wins, the Aquinas College women’s basketball team struggled with a three game losing streak.

Starting with an away game against Northwestern Ohio on January 25, the Saints lost a close game 73-69.

Junior guard Taelor Sanders was the leading scorer of the game, scoring 22 points. Junior forward Liza Flewelling and freshman guard Allison Heberlein each had seven rebounds.

The Saints took on the Cornerstone Eagles for the second time year on January 28, after edging them out by one point earlier this season. As the stands were filled with Saints and junior Saints alike, the energy surged. The Saints put up a fight throughout the entire game, staying close to the Eagles and taking the lead many times. A few missed shots and turnovers lead to the Golden Eagles coming out on top 62-54. SandSports Editor Dan Meloy

The Aquinas College men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed at the Calvin College Invitational on Friday, January 27. The men’s team won the meet with 152 points, 22 points ahead of second place Calvin. The women’s team placed second at the meet, finishing 20 points behind Calvin.

Sweeping the men’s 200-meter dash, Aquinas sprinter senior Rumeal McKinney, freshman Ryan Parminter, freshman Ray Bordeaux and junior Jake Sanders displayed their athleticism and took the limelight.

McKinney explained how important it is to get centered and warm up correctly before each race.

“I warm up like it’s the National Championship,” said McKinney. “You can’t take any competition for granted, you’ve got to warm up like it’s your last race. I’ve got to think to myself I’m in my zone, it’s my race. I’m not running against anyone else, I’m running against myself and my best time.”

Running the 200 meter dash at 22.2 seconds, McKinney is only 0.4 seconds away from breaking the national record.

Parminter finished just after McKinney in the 200.

“Running with him is exciting and nerve racking just because he is so fast.

It’s exciting to know that I have someone to push myself. It definitely helps my time,” said Parminter. “It’s a good feeling to know that I’m really not that far behind him.”

Parminter took first place in the 60, just in front of Sanders. As a freshman, he is showing great potential for his future.

During the 800, sophomore middle distance runner Zack Potgeter kept his cool, and had his eye fixed on first place. He ran most of the race just steps behind the leader. In the last lap he exploded forward, taking the lead and winning first place in the event.

Both teams will compete at Grand Valley on Feb. 10-11.

8

SPORTS

THE SAINT |WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

strong Planning and preperation Finishing A pair of home wins give AQ men’s basAquinas College finalizing plans for phase two of the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center

ketball a shot at second in the WHAC

BECKY LATKA / THE SAINT DALE DOMER / THE SAINT It’s halftime, Aquinas: Construction of the second phase of the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center is set to begin Fall 2012.

By George Van Den Driessche Staff Writer The Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center phase two additions have been placed on hold until the Fall 2012 semester.

Students and faculty who were expecting to see the “dirt broken” on construction of the second stage of the Sturrus Center may have noticed a lack of building activity occurring. There is no need for alarm, as phase two has been temporarily delayed until the coming fall semester.

Gregory ‘Mac’ McAleenan, the Vice President of Advancement at Aquinas College, said, “The challenge with phase two has obviously been funding; it is just under a five million dollar project.”

Besides searching for donors, Aquinas has been hatching a new strategy for raising and utilizing funds.

This strategy is being called the Grand Saints Campaign. The Grand Saints is aimed primarily at Aquinas Alumni in the hopes of having a more active alumni relationship with the school.

Another goal of the Grand Saints is to use it as a test funding tactic and redirect it to other projects after the Sturrus Center renovation is complete. One such project would be the renovation of

Albertus Hall.

The second phase of the Sturrus Center additions will consist of multiple attributes, such as a 200-meter indoor track, new basketball courts in the center of the track space and space for baseball and softball workouts. There will be no turf section added in the current outline.

“We think it is about a six month project,” said McAleenan.

Phase two will also be built 10 feet below the ground.

Phase two will provide multiple opportunities to the school, one being to host a track meet for the first time in 20 years. Aquinas is also hoping to add junior varsity volleyball and women’s basketball to the school’s sporting roster. This year the school added a men’s junior varsity basketball team.

Phase II is a main priority for the college. President Juan Olivarez said, “I’m excited about completing the Sports and Fitness Center project. You, our students, need the space for practice, competitions and intramural activities.

You have my full commitment to make this campaign a priority.”

The entire renovation of the Field house into the Sturrus Center is about a 12 million dollar campaign. During the recertification process, construction on phase one was jump-started before the

full 12 million had been raised. McAleenan also expressed it was done to provide jobs for people when Aquinas possessed the finances for phase one.

President Olivarez did announce at a Student Senate meeting that a potential donor for phase two has been found, but the deal is not official yet.

However, though construction has been temporarily halted for Sturrus, plans to create a new entryway for the college are underway. The current entryway for Aquinas is located on Robinson Road, the new entryway will be located on Fulton and will emphasize the Sturrus Center.

“Our new entrance off of Fulton Street will make a statement,” said Olivarez. “We need to create an entrance that is inviting and sets the stage for our beautiful campus. A more prominent and visible entry way will increase our visibility along a busy street.”

The new entryway will have a plaza with a statue of St. Thomas Aquinas and will eliminate the drive connecting the Sturrus lot to Fulton. Construction on the new entryway is expected to cost $400,000 dollars and be completed

by June 25 as a punctuation mark to the 125th Anniversary.

Shooting from the stripe: Senior wing Joe Powers shoots free throws in Aquinas’ win against Indiana Tech last Wednesday. with 14 points.

By Sam Swartout “We were able to get offensive reStaff Writer bounds throughout the game which The Aquinas College men’s bas- really helped us to put up more points ketball team had a huge win on Jan. and to stay focused,” said Eddy.

25 against Northwestern Ohio, beating This past Saturday, the Saints them 85-65. hosted UM-Dearborn. The Saints were Leading the team in points was ju- able to add another notch to their belts, nior forward Zach Eddy with 19 points, winning 56-44. After taking a 20 point senior wing Joe Powers with 16 and se- lead in the first half, Aquinas was able nior forward Jason Shockey with 13. to give their starters a break for the first After their huge win against time in quite a few games.

Northwestern Ohio, the Saints traveled “We really wanted to be able to to crosstown rival Cornerstone Univer- get our guys out there who don’t get to sity Jan. 28. play a lot, I’m glad we were able to give “This was a tough game,” said them that chance,” said Shockey. men’s basketball head coach Dave Leading the team in points were Hammer. “It was close and went back sophomore guard Brett Pfahler with 17, and forth. In the end Cornerstone Shockey with 10 and Eddy, Gordon and pulled away with the win.”

Powers all had seven points.

Losing to rival Cornerstone lit a “There are still a few thing we need fire within the Saints as they prepared to work on to accomplish our goal of to face 20th ranked Indiana Tech just placing second in the league, winning four short days later. the conference tournament and getting “We knew this would be a tough a bid to Nationals,” said Hammer. “We game, we went out and played out need to focus on the fundamentals, hardest,” said Shockey. “We played ball handling and defense. These boys good defense and made our shots.” are determined, and realistically, can Aquinas came away with a 64-61 achieve their goals if they work hard.” win against their ranked opponent.

The Saints’ next game is tonight Leading the team in scoring was Pow- at 7:30 p.m. in Adrian against Siena ers with 20 points, junior guard Ken Heights University.

Gordon with 17 points and Shockey

Friends and family inspire senior Rumeal McKinney to succeed on the track

HURRY! APPLY BY FEBRUARY 15

Introducing the GVSU Full-Time Integrated M.B.A. (FIMBA) Program.

DALE DOMER / THE SAINT A blazzing career: Senior Rumeal McKinney is a National Champion and has the school record in the 60-meter dash.

By Alyssa Frese The Saint Reporter

GVSU’s accelerated 14-month M.B.A. program is now available to recent business grads. Students receive a well-paid fellowship and opportunities to study in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Apply by February 15. Call (616) 331-7400 or visit gvsu.edu/grad/fimba to learn more.

Sports Editor Dan Meloy

E-mail saint.editor@aquinas.edu

Many athletes stick with the sport they love the most when entering collegiate athletics. For Aquinas senior sprinter Rumeal McKinney, this was not the case. McKinney began running track his sophomore year of high school through the influence of his friends.

“I played a lot of basketball and really liked that but after trying track I decided to keep going and have fun with it. I wanted to play basketball but I liked track,” said McKinney.

McKinney participated in sprinting events such as the 100 and 200-meter dash and the 4 by 100 relay both in high school and his track career at Aquinas.

McKinney has had a very successful

Phone (616) 632-2975

Website www.aquinas.edu/thesaint

track career at Aquinas. “Rumeal has gotten stronger and faster over the last four years; it’s been attention to the mechanics and skill of sprinting that has allowed him to reach the national class level. He is very competitive and has great work ethic,” said Aquinas Track and Field Coach David Wood.

McKinney’s focus and hard work not only push him to do better but also inspire his teammates to work harder as well.

“Rumeal is a great runner because he is focused and sets reachable goals for himself,” said senior sprinter Samantha Destefano. “After he has reached his goal for the week he will set another for the following. This is what leads to a National Champion title. I have learned from Rumeal that if you combine hard work dedication and passion, you can achieve great things.

He is a great leader and always brings a positive attitude to our practices and meets.”

McKinney sets high goals for himself as well as the track team on a whole for this spring 2012 season. “As a team I hope to win the conference,” said McKinney. “As for myself, I would like to win Nationals in the 60-meter dash.”

McKinney has worked hard to get where he is today in his track career; his inspiration for working so hard is his grandfather. “I’ve seen my grandfather work hard every day. He is a lot other than me and he never takes a day off.

I take that attitude with me and apply it to track. I don’t take a day off,” said McKinney.

Along with being an outstanding runner at Aquinas, McKinney has managed to stay focused and involved with his academics. He is pursuing a major in Sports Administration and a minor in Coaching.

“I chose to come to Aquinas because I felt I would be able to focus more. I liked the small size of the school and I knew I would have some great opportunities,“ said McKinney.

With his sports administration and coaching degrees, McKinney plans to work in the sports field and would like to stay involved with the college scene.

“I plan to get a graduate assistant job somewhere. I hope to stay in Michigan but I’d be open to leaving the state for a few years. I would ideally want to coach basketball but I will probably end up coaching track since there are typically more job opportunities for track coaches.”