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THE BG NEWS Thursday
GROWING IT
October 15, 2009 Volume 104, Issue 37
IN THE
CAMPUS
WWW.BGVIEWS.COM
GREEN HOUSE.
Intramurals offer fun, opportunity Intramural Sports Department offers students another chance to get involved | Page 3
FORUM
Tips for not acting like a creep
University greenhouse provides tours, classes, and escape from autumn chill
Columnist Sarah Folmar provides common courtesy tips for partying at local bars | Page 4
Poverty in industrialized nations
NATION
Columnist Hama Bbela argues that perceptions of poverty and the resulting inaction are society’s most ignored problems | Page 4
GOP support grows for health care bill Following Olympia Snowe’s lead, another GOP female senator is supporting President Obama’s health care bill | Page 5
SPORTS
Volleyball player breaks out Falcons volleyball player Emily Kauth dominates on the court | Page 6
By Megan Woodward Reporter
With the winter months ahead, the University Greenhouse gives students a chance to keep warm. “Since 1968, the Greenhouse has kept a collection of plants from the dry desert and tropical areas, to show diversity of plants two different habitats,” said Greenhouse keeper and horticulturist, Frank Schemenauer said. Open to students, faculty and the community, the Greenhouse is open to many tours and class projects. “We give weekly tours to schools and groups who visit campus,” said Schmenauer. “The Greenhouse is used for botany experiments and class projects for students and we like people to come in and ask about growing plants. We even
give the community and st udents cuttings [a piece or a root of a plant to grow].” Senior intern Corey Reasonover explains his first experience at the Greenhouse. “I came there first to see about growing Ginkgo biloba from seed and eventually bonsai,” said Reasonover. Reasonover said Joe Baker, who retired in 2008, gave him direction on how to care for plants and essentially how to take care of the Greenhouse. He said his love for plants made him stick around. “As an intern, I do a lot, keep the facilities clean, prepare spaces for classes a n d water
plants,” said Reasonover. From banana and orange trees, hibiscus flowers, cacti, Venus fly traps, wilting weeds and others Reasonover also has to catalog the plants. “My favorite duty is cataloging the plants in our collection by species. So we know what we have and what we need,” said Reasonover. “There is a lot of meticulous taxonomy going behind the scenes.” Other students who have taken science classes have also been to the Greenhouse for class projects. Senior Sausha Parham took two biol-
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www.bgnewssports.com The sports staff podcast, Filleting the Falcons, takes an in-depth look at the BG-Ball State football game
ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Demonstration questions Columbus’ hero status By Sarah Bailey Reporter
Christopher Columbus should not be a national hero, according to a group demonstrating yesterday, despite the rainy weather. The demonstration, held at the Union Oval at noon by a group of students, community members and retired faculty, was against the celebration of Christopher Columbus, calling him a “cruel and brutal man by contributing to the slave trade and first mass genocide.” Senior Keith Kovacs said that while some schools are still getting this holiday off, people just aren’t facing the facts. “Columbus was worse than Hitler,” he said, explaining, “While Hitler was responsible for the deaths of six million people, Columbus was responsible for eight million.” Fawn Crawfoot, a community member who attended the University when there was an elementary school in Hanna Hall, said she is against the celebration of Christopher Columbus for personal reasons. “I speak for Native Americans when I say Columbus was a monster,” she said. She said she remembers her grandmother’s house being burned down, facing prejudices and nasty names as she grew up as a Native American. The demonstration included what Crawfoot explained as a prayer circle, as she and another member of the group traced the shape of the oval, starting at the left and going to the right. “This is a prayer for everybody of all colors, to show that everyone should be respected,” she said. “I won’t let others bring my people down.”
PEOPLE ON THE STREET
What do you want to protest?
BOBBY CARR Junior, Supply Chain Management
“I want to protest the charging for little things like condiments.” | Page 4
This year, students will be provided with a plethora of healthy food choices from the Balanced Choices program. Balanced Choices is a health and wellness program started four years ago with Chartwells, the food provider for the University. Patrick Hannan, the Executive Chef of University Dining, said the program is being developed for the University. Balanced Choices is a program that will provide new recipes for students to try, and each food item will have icons that describe to students what is in the food. The plan is to place a Balanced Choices banner at the beginning of each line at all dining locations on-campus. The banner
will explain what the program is and the significance of the icons. The dining locations will list the definition of each icon and there will be pocket guides for students to grab. The chefs are building up their culinary skill sets for the recipes before putting the entire program into action. The culinary chefs are also planning on doing demonstrations once they are prepared. “We want to start it because it’s a part of the profile that we think fits in higher education and universities,” Hannan said. Daria Blachowski-Dreyer, the Associate Director of Nutrition Initiatives, said that food service is meant to be an
See BALANCE | Page 2
See COLUMBUS | Page 2
GREENHOUSE HOURS Open Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Open Friday 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. CHRISTINA MCGINNIS | THE BG NEWS
FREE SPEECH: Freshmen Dylan Terry and Chloe Beard with community members Errol Lam, Faye Lam, and Fawn Crawfoot during yesterday’s Columbus Day demonstration.
See GREEN | Page 2
Healthy food options for students in Balanced Choices By Emily Tucker Reporter
Many such as Crawfoot suggest something like a “Heritage Day” instead, to celebrate everyone, including Native Americans, and the history of their own specific heritages. Celebrating Columbus Day encourages people to ignore and support racist practices that are embedded in social, economic, political and judicial systems, according to the demonstration group’s event Web site on Facebook. S ophomore Da n n i McConnell said how students face the difficulty of thinking of Columbus in a different way. “When we go through our education, we learned Columbus was a great person and character,” she said, “We have problems thinking otherwise of Columbus because this is what we’ve always been taught.” The ethnically diverse demonstration group, McConnell said she hopes, will help people be aware of the correct history of Columbus. Errol Lam, a retired faculty librarian at the University, explained how Columbus accidentally found the Americas, and that he didn’t discover them. “We’d like to make students a little more aware of the founding facts,” he said, “When Columbus found people in the Americas, he called them Indians, when in fact they were really just natives, people who had been there for years. He was an explorer sailing the seas, but people shouldn’t be honoring Columbus because he didn’t know where he was, thinking he had found India.” States such as Alaska, Oklahoma, and Arkansas now celebrate “Discoverer’s day”
Bowling Green receives honor for preservation By Anthony Phillips Reporter
RACHEL RADWANSKI | THE BG NEWS
DINNER CHAT: Founders Keepers Food Court is located in the sub-basement level of Founders Residence Hall.
George Bush’s plans to preserve American hometowns comes home to Bowling Green. Recognized by the White House, the Preserve America honor informs tourists that Bowling Green is a community that preserves its cultural and historical aspects. Tina Bradley, city grants administrator, worked in 2008 to gather all the information for the recognition in a binder, which was all condensed down
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See PRESERVE | Page 2