BSU 02-23-23

Teddi Freehill plays with foam blocks and legos Feb. 19 in the photojournalism studio in the Art and Journalism Building. ALEX BRACKEN, DN

Did you miss it? Catch up on the news from Feb. 18-21...

BallStateDailyNews.com

Ball State Men’s Volleyball sets program record Russia suspends START nuclear pact

Feb. 18: The No. 12 ranked team in the American Volleyball Coaches Association set a program record for total blocks with 26.5 and bounced back from a Feb. 16 loss to Loyola Chicago. They defeated their opponent from last year’s Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship game, Purdue Fort Wayne.

Feb. 21: The New START Treaty capped the number of long-range nuclear weapons and the use of missiles that carry atomic weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement came during a State of the Union address Tuesday. Three days before the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the war against Ukraine, Putin said Russia’s strategy would not change.

“Don’t Say Gay” bill advances in Indiana

4-DAY WEATHER FORECAST

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

PARTLY CLOUDY

Hi: 64º

Lo: 25º

PARTLY CLOUDY

Hi: 36º

Lo: 30º

CHANCE OF RAIN

Hi: 49º Lo: 35º

MOSTLY CLOUDY

Hi: 52º Lo: 26º

The Ball State Daily News (USPS144-360), the Ball State student newspaper, publishes Thursdays during the academic year, except during semester and summer breaks. The Daily News is supported in part by an allocation from the General Fund of the university and is available free to students at various campus locations.

CONTACT THE DN

Newsroom: 765-285-8245

Editor: 765-285-8249, editor@bsudailynews.com



Feb. 20: House Bill 1608 aims to prohibit Indiana educators from talking and teaching about “human sexuality” from kindergarten through third grade. This bill would prohibit school employees from using a different name or pronoun to refer to a student that is not in line with the student’s assigned sex without written consent from a guardian. After protesters who largely opposed the bill demonstrated at the Indiana Statehouse, the measure advanced 9-4 to the full House, where the chamber will vote on amendments.

VOL. 102 ISSUE: 23

EDITORIAL BOARD

Elissa Maudlin, Editor-in-chief

Evan Chandler, Print Managing Editor

Angelica Gonzalez Morales, Digital Managing Editor

Kyle Smedley, News Editor

Hannah Amos, Associate News Editor

Daniel Kehn, Sports Editor

Corbin Hubert, Associate Sports Editor

Lila Fierek, Lifestyle Editor and Copy Director

Mya Cataline, Associate Lifestyle Editor

Grayson Joslin, Opinion Editor

KwaTashea Marfo, Associate Opinion Editor

Amber Pietz, Photo Editor and Visual Editor

Jacy Bradley, Associate Photo Editor Jacob Boissy, Video Editor

Olivia Ground, Social Media Editor

Alex Bracken, Visual Editor

Josie Santiago, Visual Editor Lisa Renze-Rhodes, Adviser

The Daily News offices are in AJ 278, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306-0481. Periodicals postage paid in Muncie, Indiana.

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CORRECTION

In the Feb. 16, 2023, print edition of the Ball State Daily News, a source’s name was spelled incorrectly on a design element. Her name was Beatrice ‘Bea’ MotenFoster.

In the same edition, a word was misspelled on the sports cover page. The correct spelling is softball.

To submit a correction, email editor@bsudailynews.com.

THIS WEEK: Overnight showers early Thursday morning will make way for partly cloudy skies accompanied by gusty winds. Temperatures will drop dramatically Friday. Conditions will be mostly sunny through Saturday when our chance of rain returns.

START CHECKING, FROM DAY ONE.

Waking Up with Cardinal Weather is Ball State University’s first and only morning mobile show focused on getting your ready for the day through local news, weather and lifestyle trends. Waking Up with Cardinal Weather airs every Friday morning at 8 a.m. at @cardinalwx live on Facebook.

Rachel Sherfey, Weather forecaster, Benny Weather Group

OLIVIA GROUND, DN

Legislation on Learning

to second

SGA president and vice president elected

Feb. 21, the “Gassensmith & Lindstrand” ticket, comprised of presidential nominee Joseph Gassensmith and vice presidential nominee Monet Lindstrand, was elected as Ball State Student Government Association’s (SGA) 2023-24 president and vice president. They received 68 percent of the vote. The inauguration is April 19 at 3:15 p.m. in Cardinal Hall in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.

National EPA takes control of Ohio rail disaster

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require rail company Norfolk Southern to clean up the contamination and will take control of the response to the train crash, the agency’s head said Feb. 21. EPA administrator said Norfolk Southern will be required to clean the area using a plan approved by EPA instead of the voluntary cleanup its CEO had previously pledged.

International China mine collapse leaves at least two dead and 50 missing

An open pit mine collapsed Feb. 22 in China’s northern inner Mongolia region, state media reported. The official Xinhua News Agency said people were buried under debris at the mine in Alxa League. It said six people were rescued, and 53 are still marked as missing. Xinhua said more than 300 rescue workers operating 129 rescue vehicles were participating in the search.

As HB 1608 progresses

hearing, Hoosiers discuss the potential impacts of the bill and others like it.06

Protesters hold up signs in front of the House chamber at the Indiana Statehouse Feb. 20. They were protesting HB 1608 at its committee hearing. OLIVIA GROUND, DN

Alex Bracken Visual Editor

Walking into the Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center, visitors may notice a few things that are not typical of day cares. All the doors are propped open; walls and tables outside rooms are filled with art crafted from twigs, pinecones and rocks; children roam freely around the classroom; the playground is filled with logs and wooden spools.

Jennifer Young is an associate lecturer at Ball State University’s Department of Early Childhood, Youth and Family Studies and the campus liaison for the Mitchell Center. The center opened in 2019 at the former site of Mitchell Elementary School as a partnership between Ball State and the YMCA of Muncie.

The Mitchell Center’s unique approach to early learning, a style called the Reggio Emilia approach, is the source of many of those unique qualities.

“The Reggio Emilia style has an emphasis on respect for children,” Young said. “So children are really in charge of their own learning.”

Haley Butcher, fourth-year family and child major at Ball State, first learned about the Mitchell Center through an infant and toddler development course held at the center’s lab school. After the class ended, she decided to apply for a part-time job there. Through her experiences there, Butcher learned that even though working with young children can be rewarding, it can also be difficult.

of an emotional impact that it would have on me,” Butcher said. “Just knowing that with these kids, you’re teaching them everything from scratch.”

One of the challenges Young faces is keeping staff energized and connecting staff members. She said they regularly plan pitch-in dinners, hold celebrations for big life events and give staff their birthdays off.

“It’s very draining, and when people get drained, they need the opportunity to be filled back up again,” Young said. “So this type of work is really work that needs multiple supports on a lot of different levels.”

In Indiana, participating child care providers are rated on the Paths to QUALITY scale, which assigns levels from one to four. Level one providers meet basic health and safety requirements, while level four providers are nationally accredited.

The Mitchell Center is rated level four under Indiana’s Paths to QUALITY program and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. These advanced accreditations have stricter requirements, which can make finding qualified staff more difficult.

“There was a time period where we just really didn’t have people who are qualified to work in this field,” Young said.

Because the Mitchell Center is a lab school, Young said they rely on students like Butcher from Ball State, Ivy Tech and the Muncie Area Career Center to volunteer at the center as part of their course work. During the beginning of COVID-19, when classes went online, the Mitchell Center lost that help. Young also said the pandemic was difficult for those who worked through it.

“This is hard work to be in this field, and you need people that are physically able, mentally able, socially able and emotionally able to work with young children and their families,” she said. “The mental, emotional and social toll of COVID[-19] has really impacted us.”

Child care providers aren’t the only ones who have been affected by staff shortages. For parents, it can make an already daunting search even more difficult.

Isaiah Kimp, second-year social studies teaching major at Ball State, called the Mitchell Center in March 2022 to add himself to their waitlist, just a month after he found out his girlfriend, Marisela Rodriguez, was pregnant.

Kimp’s son, Khepri, is now 7 months old and is still on the waitlist for the Mitchell Center. When the fall semester started in August 2022, Kimp had to scramble to find an opening at another provider, so he and his girlfriend could start the semester.

“It became very frustrating when we both started class,” Kimp said. “What’s upsetting is that Muncie has day cares, but every day care has a waitlist, and my biggest challenge was trying to figure out how long each waitlist was.”

Chances and Services for Youth (CASY) is the child care resource and referral center that serves 24 counties in Central Indiana, including Delaware County. Kristi Burkhart is the director of CASY’s child care resource and referral center, and Jennifer Lee is a community engagement specialist. Lee said staff shortages are one factor currently challenging child care providers in the area.

“Child care providers are needing staff. And because they are lacking staff, they are not able to fill the seats that they normally would — so the licensed capacity numbers are not being met right now,” she said.

Licensed capacity is an estimate of the amount of children each provider can care for while staying compliant with licensing standards. For example, there must be one caregiver for every four infants and no more than eight infants per classroom. According to the Indiana Business Research Center, the number of child care workers still has not recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

4See CHILD CARE, 14

Typical Household Expenses in Delaware County by Type

Source: MIT Living Wage Calculator

On average, highquality child care in Delaware County costs more than Ball State’s annual in-state tuition. And that’s if you can find an open spot.

A child at the Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center plays with learning tools in a preschool classroom Feb. 21. JACY BRADLEY, DN

Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center Campus Liaison Jennifer Young poses for a portrait in a preschool classroom in the Mitchell Center Feb. 21. JACY BRADLEY, DN

It’s very draining, and when people get drained, they need the opportunity to be filled back up again. So this type of work is really work that needs multiple supports on a lot of different levels.”

- JENNIFER YOUNG, Campus liaison for the Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center

‘The Survivor’s

Solution’

Advocates for domestic violence survivors and forms of relationship abuse share resources at Ball State and in Muncie.

Zach Gonzalez Reporter

Screaming. Intimidating. Blaming. Threatening. These are all tactics an abuser can use on a survivor.

“If your partner keeps close tabs on you, they want to know where you’re going, they go through your phone without permission or they try to isolate you from friends and family. Those are all signs of an unhealthy relationship,” Anna McGee, Ball State University Center for Survivor Support victim advocate, said.

Furthermore, McGee said there are other forms of abuse such as minimizing, denying and blaming, which can be summarized into “gaslighting” someone. According to the Newport Institute, gaslighting is an abuse tactic, which occurs when someone manipulates an individual into doubting their own thoughts and perspectives.

“More of the way how it’s used is making you think of things that may not be true,” McGee said. “Making light of abuse or anything such as saying ‘You’re being emotional’ or ‘You’re taking this too seriously,’ they’re all signs of gaslighting.”

McGee also said abusers sway their partners into feeling at fault for the abuse and outright oppose any claims they abused their victims. The Power and Control Wheel created by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota, outlines similar abuse strategies as a tool providing context for the methods utilized by abusers to prevent their partner from leaving a toxic relationship.

As a victim advocate, McGee offers confidential advocacy and support in areas such as dating violence, stalking, sexual assault and similar areas. Her role mainly comes down to helping students receive the proper resources for their specific situation.

“If they want to report, I can help them report either to law enforcement or to the university through the Title IX policy,” McGee said. “If they don’t want to report, I can help them to further resources such as counseling or the Health Center if they have physical symptoms.”

For confidential support, the Ball State Counseling Center offers several therapeutic forms of treatment, ranging from self-direction interventions, group treatment and individual therapy, associate director of prevention and wellness Aubrey Driscoll said via email.

I think you have to really take the time to be understanding and empathetic and listen to their stories, where they came from and what they’ve experienced because they didn’t just wake up in a domestic violence relationship.”

- MERCEDES CARR, A Better Way case manager `

“It is our goal to work with our students to determine what form of treatment would best fit their needs and address their specific challenges or struggles,” Driscoll said via email.

As a licensed clinical social worker, Driscoll knows the severity of potential consequences abuse leaves on survivors, and thus, understands the importance of addressing such impacts with counseling-based treatment.

10 million Up to

Source: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

and physical safety when involved in a situation where interpersonal violence may be taking place,” Driscoll said via email. “Mental health treatment can assist students in creating safety plans and in managing mental health symptoms that are impacting the survivor.”

Ball State offers plenty of services and treatment for survivors of abusive relationships, and so does the Muncie community through the resource A Better Way, which extends support to survivors of abuse. A Better Way offers a 45-day shelter for both domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. The shelter contains a safe environment to transition clients into their regular lives peacefully.

“Generally, when they come, they are still in a crisis, so 45 days is not a long time, but it is a place where they are able to catch their breath and get some assistance,” Mercedes Carr, case manager at A Better Way, said. “They’re not responsible for taking care of any financial needs here. We provide everything, so it lifts the burden for a while for them to be able to focus on their goals and begin to get back on their feet.”

Carr works with survivors to provide stability upon leaving the shelter, which is based on their specific needs and goals.

“Mental health is generally a big thing, so making sure that they get connected with a counselor, making sure that when they leave shelter, they have stable housing to transition into upon leaving,” she said. “And then a lot of times, we get the opportunity to help clients get back on track with their physical health, whether that means getting a primary care doctor or meeting with a psychiatrist.”

Carr, as both a 2016 Ball State graduate from the social work program and a person who went through similar relationship experiences, found both the motivation and knowledge to provide to fellow survivors.

“I grew up around a lot of unhealthy family dynamics and ideologies, and so when I got to school and started my social work courses and saw the importance of creating healthy family dynamics and relationships, it was something I became very passionate about,” she said. “That’s why I went into this field because I wanted to teach other people those skills and empower them to make those healthy decisions for their lives and relationships.”

Non-confidential resources on campus

1. University Police Department

2. Housing and Residence Life Faculty

3. Office of Student Conduct

Confidential resources on campus

1. Health Center

2. Counseling Center

3. Center for Survivor Support

Off-campus confidential resources

1. A Better Way

2. IU Ball Memorial Hospital

3. Counselors, doctors and attorneys

Source: Ball State Health Promotion and Advocacy

Certain skills, such as listening, are ways Carr emphasizes and comforts the survivors she helps on a daily basis as a case manager.

“I think you have to really take the time to be understanding and empathetic and listen to their stories, where they came from and what they’ve experienced because they didn’t just wake up in a domestic violence relationship,” she said. “Everyone has a story and a background, so I think the first step is just being willing to listen, relate and care for them where they are and not focus so much on changing them that you lose empathy and compassion for where they are.”

For McGee, as a victim advocate, she always makes certain each survivor is in control of their situation.

“I point them in the right direction by whatever the student is comfortable with, whatever they want to do, what outcome they want, and we go from there, but I never pressure them into doing something they don’t want to do; it’s always the survivor’s solution,” McGee said.

Contact Zach Gonzalez with comments via email at zachary.gonzalez@bsu.edu or on Twitter @zachg25876998

children and teens witness family violence between parents and caregivers each year.

Elissa Maudlin Editor-in-chief

Jaimee Burris and Jenny Jones sat on the outside steps of the Indiana Statehouse around 8 a.m. with their two young children. Jones said it was important for their 4-year-old daughter, Eliza, to see people at the Statehouse supporting her family of two moms.

Little did Eliza know a bill was in committee that day that, despite being a human sexuality bill, has been discussed as an anti-LGBTQ+ bill which could directly affect her life.

HB 1608 states schools, employees, staff and third-party vendors used by schools in Indiana are not permitted to provide instruction on human sexuality. The bill was amended in committee to say human sexuality rather than “gender fluidity, gender roles, gender stereotypes, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation” from the original draft.

The bill also states parents must be notified by the school if a student wants to go by a different name, pronoun or title than given at birth, language added during a committee hearing. For a student

hasn’t been without a fight from some Indiana citizens.

The same day of the committee hearing, protesters backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Indianapolis turned out for a “Pack the Statehouse to Protect LGBTQ Rights’’ event. Approximately 200 people’s cheers and boos echoed through the Statehouse, and opponents of the bill far outweighed supporters within the chamber walls.

Some of the chants included, “No hate in our state,” “We say gay” and referred to HB 1608 as a “bill of hate.”

marginalizes LGBTQ+ students because all students have pronouns, gender and a sex. In order to eliminate all sexuality in a classroom, she said schools would have to stop using Mr. and Mrs., and fairy tales with princes, princesses and romance would have to change. She believes sexuality and gender seem to only become inappropriate when it breaks away from straight and cisgender dynamics. Cisgender refers to someone who identifies with the gender that corresponds with their sex at birth, according to Oxford Dictionary.

Keith Gambill, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said a child may feel shame from being redirected in conversations due to teachers not wanting to get in trouble with the law. Rachel Burke, president of the Indiana Parent Teacher Association, referred to this as the “chilling effect,” where teachers overcompensate their behavior to stay clear of being punished even if the law doesn’t completely limit their behavior.

One example Gambill discussed was storytime in a classroom when students talk about their lives. If a student has parents of the same sex, this can provide a challenge with teachers having to make decisions on how to approach the situation while

-

Gambill believes legislators don’t know what’s actually going on in the classroom, and in reference to HB 1608 and pronouns, he said there are not numerous students asking teachers to call them by a different pronoun.

When Haille-Berne was a teacher, she said she approached topics on sexual orientation and gender in everyday discussion by having stories with diverse characters and using accessible language in the classroom. It wasn’t making special lessons or direct conversations about it, she said.

One big misconception Burke said people have about school is that teachers try to “indoctrinate” children.

“Teachers want children to learn, to feel safe, teachers want to be able to teach in a safe environment and make [sure] … their students have the absolute best possible chance to learn,” she said. “There’s no big agenda to indoctrinate people or to have them turn out one way or another politically … They’re not in the teaching profession to indoctrinate kids.”

Burke clarified she believes parents should be able to take their children out of certain lessons in the classroom and be in control of what their child is exposed to. However, she doesn’t believe legislators should control what all children and all teachers do.

Gambill said he believes isolated cases of educators teaching things that are inappropriate should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

“I am simply puzzled and extremely troubled by this practice of making a wild allegation and then just placing that on the entirety of our school system,” he said.

Gambill said transparency is present in the classroom. He said standards are created at the state level with input from instructors across the state. Then, the school’s curriculum is created from those state standards.

However, not every Hoosier is against legislation barring human sexuality discussions and materials in the classroom. Some people welcome its adoption.

4See HB 1608, 14

People from Indiana weigh in on proposed legislation banning teachers educating on human sexuality in the classroom.

Blu Boss poses for a photo on the Oliver P. Morton monument during a protest of HB 1608 Feb. 20 at the Indiana Statehouse. OLIVIA GROUND, DN

Protesters gather outside the Indiana Statehouse Feb. 20. According to HB 1608, schools, employees, staff and third-party vendors used by schools in Indiana will not be permitted to provide instruction on human sexuality. OLIVIA GROUND, DN

Schools should be no place for these ideologies. [Teachers] need to stick to teaching reading, writing, math, science and leave sexual and social issues to parents.”

- RHONDA MILLER, President of Purple for Parents of Indiana

I am simply puzzled and extremely troubled by this practice of making a wild allegation and then just placing that on the entirety of our school system.”

KEITH GAMBILL, President of the Indiana State Teachers

Associaton

DNSports

NOT JUST A T-SHIRT

Softball

Kyle Smedley News Editor

Competitive. Hardworking. Accountable. Prideful. Tough. Invested. Selfless. The seven pillars of Ball State University Women’s Basketball. It is these seven words that head coach Brady Sallee built his program on when he took the reins in 2012.

“They’re in our locker room. They’re in our office hallway. They’re on every practice plan I make. They’re on kids’ T-shirts,” Sallee said. “That’s all fine and good. Every program prints the T-shirt, has the saying on the back and the whole thing, [but] ours has been the same for 11 years, and really, where it starts to take shape is you’ve got a group of kids that buy into it. Without buy-in, culture is just a poster. It’s just a T-shirt. It’s really, really shallow. But, man, when you get buy-in behind it, it can be special.”

Every program prints the T-shirt, has the saying on the back and the whole thing, [but] ours has been the same for 11 years, and really, where it starts to take shape is you’ve got a group of kids that buy into it. Without buy-in, culture is just a poster. It’s just a T-shirt”

- BRADY SALLEE, Ball State Women’s Basketball head

coach

Sallee said when he began his position at Ball State, the culture coaches and players now pride themselves on did not exist for Ball State Women’s Basketball. Sallee said he landed on these seven pillars through lessons he learned during his coaching experience prior to Ball State, as an assistant or head coach, and found things he liked and didn’t like and drew on those experiences.

“You have to be genuine,” Sallee said. “You have to be who you are because people see through fake. So if you put a bunch of words up there, and that’s not who you are, how in the world is anybody going to buy into that? ... I had to look myself in the mirror and say, ‘Can I walk this walk and talk this talk? Can I be about the same things?’”

Not only was it important for Sallee to buy into the culture but for players and assistant coaches to do the same. Assistant coach Jauwan Scaife, who is in his first year in the position, was able to notice the culture Sallee brought to the program from day one.

Following a no-hitter and 10-1 win Feb. 19 against Lindenwood University, sophomore pitcher Angelina Russo was named the Pridemark Construction Student Athlete of the Week. Russo pitched the 18th no-hitter for Ball State Softball since 1980 while only surrendering one walk and striking out three batters over the course of five innings.

Women’s Tennis

Russo named Pridemark Construction Student Athlete of the Week Cardinals split weekend matches, end weekend with a win over Oakland

Ball State Women’s Tennis completed a 7-0 sweep of Oakland Feb. 19 after a singles win from second-year Elena Malykh on the No. 4 singles court over the Golden Grizzlies’ second-year Tegan Heaton. Fourth-year Amy Kaplan and second-year Ella Hazelbaker clinched the doubles win for the Cardinals on the No. 1 court over the Oakland duo of fourth-year Nirva Patel and fifth-year Yasmin Glazbrook.

Gymnastics

Floor performances earn Cardinals 10th consecutive head-to-to-head victory

Third-year Suki Pfister and fourthyear Megan Teter tied for the team lead with a 9.875 and followed assisted by a 9.850 from third-year Victoria Henry, a 9.825 from first-year Zoe Middleton and a 9.800 from third-year Hannah Ruthberg on the floor en route to the fourth-best team score in program history and Ball State’s 10th-straight head-tohead win over Kent State Feb. 19.

For Ball State Women’s Basketball, the Cardinals’ culture is just as important to success as talent.

MEGHAN HOLT, DN ILLUSTRATION

CULTURE

Continued from Page 07

Scaife is not only a Muncie, Indiana, native, but from 2009-13, Scaife played for Ball State Men’s Basketball. He said even when he was a player in a different program, he could tell the women’s team had an identity. When he came back to his hometown to fill his current position, he realized the Cardinals’ identity remained true.

“The first thing that stood out was just the level of buy-in that they had with the coaching staff and with Brady. The level of respect and the command that he had with the group, you don’t see [that] too often,” Scaife said.

Scaife said he has never coached in a program with an established culture, as when he joined as an assistant at Murray State and Utah State, he was joining a new head coach. Scaife said he was impressed but not surprised by the Cardinals’ culture, saying the players’ maturity is a defining factor in what makes the culture successful. Although the team isn’t very old, he said they’re all mature for their age, allowing them to be selfmotivated and focused.

“When you got kids who are in the gym putting in work or you see kids in practice or diving on the floor playing extra hard, [and] you see your best players doing it, it naturally encourages the new kids, the freshmen [and] incoming kids to say, ‘Okay, that is what we’re doing here,’” Scaife said. “Then they kind of follow along, and I think that’s when you get in games. It’s not so much about talent, it’s more so about camaraderie [and] chemistry.”

While on scouting trips with Sallee, the Muncie native said he’s learned while Sallee tries to recruit

talented players, he focuses more on whether or not they fit the culture. Scaife said this allows for the new players, whether freshmen or transfers, to have a better idea of what’s expected of them and how they play the game at Ball State.

Sallee said this method of scouting means he’s picky, but that makes him more confident in his choices.

“I’m okay with this program not being for everybody,” Sallee said. “I don’t feel like I have to get all of them. I just gotta get the right ones …We try to be really, really specific on filling needs, and I think it’s helped just this whole process of making sure that the kids we’re bringing in the door have the capacity and the want to be a part of a program that is team first.”

One of those players was Sydney Shafer, a senior transfer from Western Michigan, a program that shares a conference with Ball State in the MidAmerican Conference (MAC). Like Scaife, Shafer said she could tell from outside the program that Ball State had a strong culture based on family and hard work.

Shafer said the things that attracted her to transfer to Ball State were the offensive system the Cardinals run, the way Sallee fights for his program on and off the court and, most of all, the culture.

“The expectations here are you’re going to work hard, or you don’t want to be here,” Shafer said. “... Either you’re gonna [work hard], or you’re gonna get left behind. Nobody wants to be left behind, so you might as well just get in the gym like everybody else.”

The Jackson, Michigan, native said she remembers players like senior Annie Rauch acting goofy and joking around during downtime on the court. However, that attitude changed when it was time to hone in during crunch time.

When your inner circle is all chugging along to the same belief tones, it makes for pretty sweet harmony. And I think that’s what we have in this group.”

- BRADY SALLEE, Ball State Women’s Basketball head coach

“I remember playing against them, and it was just like, they don’t go away,” Shafer said. “My highest-scoring games were always against Ball State, and it still wasn’t enough to beat them. [It] seems like whenever you play Ball State, yeah, you could go on a run, but they’re gonna come back anyways and just kill you in a sense.”

Rauch was recruited out of Hilliard Darby High School in Hilliard, Ohio, and joined the Cardinals in 2019. She remembers the emphasis put on culture and family, even during the recruiting process.

The senior said when anyone first joins the program, there’s a period of time where players have to get integrated into the culture by driving the core values home in the way they’re expected to talk, act and represent the Cardinals.

“It’s really intentional,” Rauch said. “At the beginning, it can be really uncomfortable … It’s awkward to use that language at the beginning, but you get more comfortable over time.”

Rauch said this process allows for everyone, top to bottom, to buy-in and become immersed in the culture. Becoming ingrained in this culture, she said, makes the Cardinals more comfortable when their backs are against the wall.

“You can just see it when we play,” Rauch said. “We don’t just talk about it, you can see it in action, and I think that’s the difference between us and other teams.”

Sallee said he not only recruits players who fit the system, but it’s the same process when he’s looking to hire an assistant coach. When talking about how assistant coaches like Audrey McDonald-Spencer and Moriah Monaco joined his coaching staff after their playing careers, Sallee said he feels it’s not just the program that draws them back but the university as a whole.

“I’m still blessed and half amazed that I’m still here, [and] I got to come back,” Monaco said. “[Sallee] talks a lot before games and always talks about representing Ball State. It’s always about what’s across the front of your chest and not the back. That always hits home.”

Monaco, who played for Sallee at Ball State from 2015-18, said culture is talked about within the program more now than when she played. She said when she was a player, the culture was more expected of them, and now Sallee is more vocal about it. The second-year assistant coach feels these are some reasons why the culture is so strong in 2023.

Additionally, Monaco and Rauch said experience is a big factor when it comes to cultivating culture, with 2022’s MAC Championship Tournament championship game appearance being most important for the current locker room.

“With the success that we had and going as far as we did in the [MAC] Tournament and just coming up a little bit short, I think that they saw it firsthand,”

Monaco said. “This is really what it’s about. This is how important all of this is. Sitting down and talking through some hard stuff [is important].”

After losing in the championship game of the MAC Championship Tournament 79-75, Sallee began to drive home the mantra “five points better” throughout the offseason. It’s been an added phrase to the culture the Cardinals’ core were already bought into.

For new players, like Shafer, this mantra and the culture it rides on were made equally important.

“It is very prevalent in every-single-day things,” Shafer said. “Everybody wants to win. There’s a standard here, and everybody’s gonna rise to that standard because everybody has the same goal in mind.”

In the 2022-23 season, the Cardinals have taken the “five points better” mantra to heart, already winning more games than they did last season and getting off to the best conference start in program history. As the MAC Tournament inches closer, the Cardinals are positioning themselves for a No. 1 seed.

Even though she hasn’t spent a full season ingrained in the culture of Ball State Women’s Basketball, Shafer said what she’s taken away from the program will last her a lifetime.

“It’s gonna carry on not only in the basketball world but after we’re all done,” Shafer said. “I think we’re gonna be pretty programmed into a winning mindset, and whatever we want to accomplish we can do based on the way that they mentally prepare us every day for something.”

Sallee said although there will be players who aren’t bought into the culture, and along with that comes losing seasons, as well as moral and physical challenges, he knows it’s important to stick to the foundation he built the culture on, otherwise, it won’t stick and won’t bear fruit. He feels the culture the Cardinals use to drive them on and off the court every day is the biggest reason for their success.

“I think we believe that, and that’s ultimately probably all that’s important,” Sallee said. “Whether we’re right in that belief or not, I think we’re full bore that that is the difference. When your inner circle is all chugging along to the same belief tones, it makes for pretty sweet harmony. And I think that’s what we have in this group.”

Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at kyle.smedley@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ KyleSmedley_.

Everybody wants to win. There’s a standard here, and everybody’s gonna rise to that standard because everybody has the same goal in mind.”

Senior Annie Rauch (left), redshirt senior Anna Clephane (middle) and graduate student Thelma Dís Ágústsdóttir (right) celebrate a made basket in a game against Akron Jan. 25 at Worthen Arena. The Cardinals defeated the Zips, winning 89-66. BRAYDEN GOINS, DN

Campus

‘Menopause The Musical’ to come to Emens

“Menopause The Musical” is coming to Emens Auditorium March 1 at 7:30 p.m. This musical parody is about four women at a lingerie sale who have nothing in common but a black bra, memory loss, hot flashes, night sweats, etc. The musical is set to classical tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s with around 25 parody songs.

Local All aboard at the Delaware County Fairgrounds

The 31st Annual Muncie Model Train Show will be held Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The train show will be held at the Delaware County Fairgrounds Memorial and Heartland buildings. The show is Indiana’s largest one-day train show, hosting over 200 vendors. Adult admission is $5, and people 12 and under get in free.

Campus

Planetarium show takes audience back to the beginning of time

The Charles W. Brown Planetarium’s “Birth of Planet Earth” show is taking place Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m. The show is about how Earth became a life-supporting planet, explores the ideas of other planets like Earth and the chances scientists have of finding another planet that is similar enough to support life.

Theatre professor Michael Rafter shares his journey to Ball State. 10

Ball State theatre professor and Emmyaward winning music director Micheal Rafter shares his journey.

Lila Fierek

Lifestyle Editor and Copy Director

Five children in a high stakes battle. Who can play piano the best and win the cookie?

When Michael Rafter is your brother, there is no chance.

“I always won the cookie,” he said, “but my brothers beat me up and ate the cookie.”

Rafter’s older sister would babysit and teach her siblings something on the piano, and whoever could play it best would win a sweet prize.

Though the rest of his brothers were athletic and could pick up a football and throw a “perfect spiral,” the keyboard is what made sense to Rafter.

Having both perfect pitch and perfect rhythm, music came naturally to the New Jersey native. Toward the end of his elementary years, Rafter found musical theatre.

After participating in theatre in middle school and high school, he became a bit burnt out from music, so he turned to math instead and ended up at Dartmouth College as a math major.

It wasn’t until Rafter unenthusiastically received the highest score in his senior-level math course that he realized his heart truly lies with music. He changed his major to music and never looked back.

Taking chances and saying yes to everything is what helped Rafter be successful.

At an AIDS benefit, Rafter played an arrangement of a song composed by Jule Styne, who wrote the score for “Gypsy,” “Funny Girl” and more Broadway shows. To his surprise, Styne was performing after.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, he just heard this arrangement of the song that he wrote,’” Rafter said. “I thought my career was over.”

Styne found Rafter after the show and invited him to help work on a new show with him. Rafter ended up being Styne’s assistant for the last eight years of Styne’s life.

“If it’s an opportunity, you never know how that door is going to open,’” Rafter said.

“Gypsy” was the first Broadway show Rafter conducted, and he ended up winning an Emmy for his participation in the movie adaptation.

On the set of “Gypsy,” Rafter met Dick

Scanlan, a writer, director and actor known for writing the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

Scanlan said Rafter is committed to the storytelling side of theatre. If the story behind a song doesn’t make sense, he can’t play.

“I’ve never worked with a music director that’s so attuned to story, and really every choice they’re making is trying to support that,” Scanlan said, “and trying to deepen the audience’s investment in the characters and understanding the narrative they’re watching, rather than music for music’s sake.”

While Rafter has many credits, he is famously known for being Sutton Foster’s music arranger. Rafter met the actress, singer and dancer through working on “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

Rafter and Foster have played many concerts together and even recorded a CD in Sursa Performance Hall at Ball State.

“I love playing the piano, which is why for [Foster], I love to get to do her arranging,” Rafter said. “... I also love standing up and conducting or playing and conducting, which I do in “Funny Girl.” I like mixing it up. I like coaching voice.”

While Rafter enjoys conducting, he said it isn’t all he wants to do.

Foster introduced him to Jo Ann Gora, president of Ball State at the time, and Gora invited Rafter to teach with Foster. Rafter started as an adjunct

They couldn’t get me away from the piano. It just felt so right for me. I don’t even know how to explain it. It was just so comfortable, and so I would sit and play for hours upon hours a day.”

professor but came on full time in 2019.

“By your pupils, you’ll be taught,” he said. “And it’s so true. You learn from your students. It’s a living organism back and forth, and you are constantly learning from them, so I love that idea. I love that I can pay it forward a little bit, that I have something to offer them.”

Johnna Tavianini, associate professor of musical theatre, met Rafter after working with him in the senior cabaret class.

Tavianini said she and Rafter collaborate on things constantly, and they joke she is his understudy, often stepping in for him when he is away.

“His level of dedication to what he does is really sort of astounding, so there are times when I don’t know if he sleeps,” Tavianini said.

Despite this, she said he is always 100 percent with what is going on in the room, that he never brings an attitude of wanting to be somewhere else.

“I think it just speaks to who he really is and how he does value the people who are there to make music with him,” she said.

Scanlan agreed.

Imani Brissett, fourth-year musical theatre major, said working with Rafter has helped him grow and learn more about theatre.

One time, Brissett went to Rafter, and in 10 minutes, Rafter was able to help Brissett further himself more in one song than he knew possible.

“Because of his expertise and his knowledge, he was just able to give me that wealth very quickly,” Brissett said. “And I loved him for that, and he’s been such a great role model and figure in my life … I can always strive to do well because I know that he thinks I can do well.”

While Rafter taught some of Brissett’s classes, he also worked with him on Ball State’s production of “Violet.” The musical was written

by Rafter’s ex-wife, and he was on the original creative team for the Broadway show.

Brissett said because of Rafter’s experience, he is anal and strict when it comes to shows, but it’s not in a bad way. Rafter is willing to be honest with the students to help them improve, something Brissett appreciates.

“I can clearly see how passionate and how much he cares about the work, and he holds us to a high standard,” he said.

Brissett said Rafter just knows songs off the top of his head and can transpose them on the spot.

“His brain though, that man, the way musical ideas work in his brain, seeing him play piano is so fascinating sometimes,” Brissett said. “Because he does stuff on the piano … he does it so casually. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I just did that.’”

Rafter spends his weeks at Ball State, then flies to New York on the weekends for “Funny Girl.”

In August, “Funny Girl” will go on tour, and Rafter is in charge of checking up on the show. The revival was something in the works for a long time. Rafter got the call for it in 2015, and it was a rocky start after Beanie Feldstien, who played the star Fanny Bryce, left the show after only three months.

“I never take it for granted, ever,” Rafter said. “I really don’t take anything for granted in that way. I’ve been on the other side.”

So if you give a kid a cookie, like Rafter, they might just find their dream.

Contact Lila Fierek with comments at lkfierek@bsu.edu.

- MICHAEL RAFTER, Broadway music director and professor at Ball State

Associate professor of musical theatre Michael Rafter poses at a piano April 20, 2021 in Muncie, Ind. BALL STATE UNIVERSITY CREATIVE SERVICES, PHOTO PROVIDED

Memory of an Inspiration

Troy Dobosiewicz is remembered for his dedication to his theatre education students.

Miguel Naranjo Reporter

When Halle Pederson graduated from Ball State in 2021 with a major in theatre education and a minor in technical theatre production, she immediately accepted a teaching position at Trimble Tech High School in Fort Worth, Texas.

Though she works far from her home state of Indiana, she said she finds her job rewarding, calling on the wisdom of her old theatre education professor Troy Dobosiewicz to help her through the tougher parts of her job.

“Moving to a new place, teaching kids with backgrounds I’m not familiar with — it really got to me one time,” Pederson said, “so I called [Dobosiewicz] and told him … ‘I don’t know if I can handle this.’ He told me, ‘There’s nothing you can’t handle.’”

On Feb. 4, Troy Dobosiewicz passed away unexpectedly at 51 in his home in Muncie, according to his obituary in the South Bend Tribune. Though the professor is no longer alive, his memory and his impact on the Department of Theatre and Dance and its students continue to serve theatre education students at Ball State.

When Pederson heard her professor had passed away, it “hit me hard, in a way I didn’t expect.” She called in and intended to take the day off to mourn but went back in the evening to continue directing the play her students were putting on in the spring.

“I thought [he] would tell me that those kids would have needed me there,” she said.

In Dobosiewicz’s youth, he was raised in the Catholic faith, Jim McNab, Dobosiewicz’s partner of 22 years, said. McNab said the late professor took the saying “love your neighbor as you love yourself” deeply to heart.

“Whether it be his students, his family, me, his friends — he was always very much focused outward on them,” McNab said.

He said Dobosiewicz once considered becoming a priest but felt a greater “vocation” to teaching, eventually getting his doctorate in theatre from Arizona State University in 2014 with emphasis on theatre education, theatre history and directing, according to his curriculum vitae.

“He felt like he could impact more people that way by teaching people how to be theatre teachers,” McNab said.

Dobosiewicz began as an associate professor at Ball State in 2014; he became the theatre education option coordinator two years later. He was responsible for connecting students to “field sites” like Burris Lab School, Northside Middle School and Muncie Civic Theatre, so they could gain experience with teaching and directing young casts, Andy Waldron, assistant professor and current option coordinator, said.

Waldron said he considers the role of option coordinator to be that of a “mini department chair” in that he also monitors the theatre education students’ progress through their degrees and

handles their curriculum, making sure they complete all of their practicums and guiding them through the process when necessary.

Waldron first joined the theatre education department in 2020, but he and Dobosiewicz first met at Arizona State University when Waldron was working toward his master’s degree. Dobosiewicz told him about an open position in the department and encouraged him to apply, Waldron said.

“It was both a friendship and a working relationship here,” he said. “Yeah, there were times where we would argue … about what to do in a given situation, but we never lost sight of what we were doing: trying to help students.”

The theatre education program is relatively small. There are two instructors for about 50 theatre education majors at any one time, Waldron said. During Dobosiewicz’s time as option coordinator, he often connected with his students personally, offering one-on-one mentorship and keeping his classes up to date on changing teaching regulations to fully prepare them for the field they were entering, Bill Jenkins, chairman of the Department of Theatre and Dance, said.

“He was always present and active in his classrooms; he believed in all of his students,” Jenkins said. “He helped them grow into the best teacher that they could possibly be.”

Though Dobosiewicz was the acting program director for theatre education, he often invited Waldron to his administrative meetings and showed him how to manage the program. The intention was for the two to be able to hand off and share those responsibilities, Waldron said.

“It’s weird not having him here to keep looping me in on meetings and being able to ask questions to [him],” he said. “But … he did a good job setting me up so that I could succeed.”

The Department of Theatre and Dance will search for another theatre education instructor through this spring semester with the intent of bringing on a new faculty member in the coming fall semester, Waldron said.

“We’re sad to lose someone as kind and as caring as [Dobosiewicz],” Jenkins said, “more tragically to lose him so young.”

In November 2019, Pederson was one of four student directors of Frozen Jr. at Muncie Civic Theatre. She said it was difficult trying to work with three other people whose ideas were clashing with one another, but Dobosiewicz taught them to compromise and work with each other instead of trying to direct one another.

“He was the voice of reason in the room, cooling us off when our discussions were getting too heated,” Pederson said.

All of the little things he said, all of the pieces of advice he gave me – it all became very important once I became the one doing it.”

- HALLE PEDERSON, Ball State

alumna and high school theatre

teacher

Troy Dobosiewicz (far right) poses for a picture with students Kayla Howard, Andrew Watkins, Lillia Nugent (top row), Sam Ruby and Alyssa Taylor (bottom row). PHOTO PROVIDED BY SAM RUBY

Troy Dobosiewicz’s theatre class THEA 150: Introduction to Theatre Education from the fall 2022 semester poses for a photo.CHAROLETTE BROWN, PHOTO PROVIDED

Students from Troy Dobosiewicz’s theatre class THEA 295: Teaching Methods from the fall 2022 semester pose for a photo. CHAROLETTE BROWN, PHOTO PROVIDED

Safeguarding Students’ Integrity

Lockdown browsers pose

Grayson Joslin Opinion Editor

Grayson Joslin is a second-year journalism major and writes “Soapbox” for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.

The most stressful time of each school year during my time in elementary school was when we had to take the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress, more commonly known as ISTEP.

Inside the confines of our classrooms, we would set aside our schedule to prepare for this test. We didn’t know why we had to take it; we only knew we had to do well.

When these lofty expectations were placed on my shoulders for the first time in third grade, it made me distressed. There were high stakes with this test; our teachers drilled in our heads how we weren’t allowed to talk or even go to the restroom until the designated breaks.

This was the first time I got test anxiety.

a threat to privacy and increase students’ anxiety.

JOSIE SANTIAGO, DN ILLUSTRATION

Before and after this, I never felt too nervous about normal tests we would take in class. I always considered myself a good test taker; however, once standardized tests enter the equation, I get nervous. Maybe it was the high stakes, or maybe it was the rigidity and the authoritativeness of the whole process. When I graduated from high school, after all the SATs, ISTEPs and AP exams I sat through, I figured the test anxiety was behind me.

It wasn’t.

In my first semester of my college, through my Introduction to Music class, I got introduced to test monitoring websites. The website used was Lockdown Browser, created by Respondus. This application will auto-lock the computer it is on, so the computer will not be able to access anything other than the browser.

This professor’s use of Lockdown Browser only did the bare minimum; as I would soon learn, professors can turn on more options for taking tests.

Last semester, one of my professors mandated our camera be on during our tests. This was another application created by Respondus called Monitor. A simple lockdown browser was okay by me, but the camera made me uncomfortable. I was being watched while I was taking my exam.

I place a high value on my privacy; I rarely post on my Facebook, and I don’t share my location on Snapchat. So when I have to use this software to take tests that determine my grade and if I pass a class, I feel like my protection has been ripped off me with no input of my own.

I usually take my proctored tests in the lounge in my dorm. However, the problem is people often pass through, take phone calls, have conversations and watch movies in this same space. This extra sound could be picked up by the fully-automated system Respondus uses, and it could be flagged as cheating. This can make me anxious about my environment and not knowing if I’ve been flagged because someone was talking to their friend a decibel too loud. Sometimes, I will take my exams in my dorm room as well. One of the various steps that must be followed before completing an exam with Respondus Monitor is to show the “testing environment.” A personal space, such as a dorm room or a bedroom, can be a private space for some people, and forcing a student to show the room can make them feel uncomfortable.

Equity and inclusiveness should be a cornerstone of every single college’s mission to give their students the best education and experience possible. Inclusivity is one value listed under Ball State’s “Our Enduring Values” section, according to the university’s current strategic plan. Respondus Monitor does not fit in the mold of our university’s model to be inclusive for all, so why are we still using it to the detriment of our students?

When asked if Ball State had alternatives for Respondus Monitor if students are uncomfortable using the software, Walker said “Faculty members have multiple options to administer quizzes and tests beyond utilizing the Lockdown Browser and Respondus Monitor. These options include, but are not limited to Canvas quizzes, in-class tests directly proctored by the faculty member and take-home tests.”

Americans are now more concerned than ever about their privacy. A 2019 Pew Research Center study found 28 percent of respondents believe privacy means “other people and organizations not being able to access their possessions or private life.” Naturally, there is a discussion if test proctoring software like Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor invade someone’s privacy. In August 2022, a federal judge in the Northern District of Ohio delivered a big blow to test proctoring; it was unconstitutional to scan a student’s room before taking a virtual test, citing the Fourth Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable search and seizures.”

What does Respondus do with the recordings? Per their terms of use, the recordings “are controlled by your institution … Respondus Monitor may analyze the recordings through automated processes to generate additional data derived from the recordings.” This data is not saved on the cloud and cleared from the server no later than two days after the test.

“Ball State has been using the Lockdown Browser since at least 2012,” Andrew Walker, media strategy manager for Ball State, said. “The university started testing [Respondus Monitor] as an alternative to physical testing labs in 2018.”

When the pandemic sent us all home to isolate and quarantine, test proctoring websites shot up in popularity as instructors looked for ways to protect test integrity.

Ball State said the program prevents “students from accessing external resources while taking quizzes in Canvas,” per their Division of Online and Strategic Learning website page. The use of Respondus and other test proctoring programs for online exams constitutes an unwelcome invasion of privacy and can cause test anxiety in students using the program.

Walker said 183 faculty members use Respondus Monitor for testing purposes. Using the common data set of 1,245 faculty members for the 2021-22 school year, this means 14.6 percent of faculty use the Monitor software.

Tests and exams in college classes can be stressful enough, but when a camera looking for any detection of cheating in a Draconian manner is introduced, it can ramp up the stress level even higher than before. However, it doesn’t just record a video of you taking your tests.

The Monitor feature also records the audio of the student taking the test. In the terms of use for Monitor, it reads, “The use of Respondus Monitor will require individual student activity to be recorded, both audibly and visually, during certain assessment sessions.” This means conversations can be heard by the system.

Take a second to think about the students who do not have any access to a quiet place to take these proctored exams. This places these students at an automatic disadvantage by having a higher chance of being flagged by the system. Some students prefer reading the questions out loud, and these students are in a perilous position as well.

Per the Respondus website, “flagged events and proctoring results are available to the instructor for further review.”

A professor could be understanding; if not, then a student’s academic standing could be in peril.

Taking an exam should not make people worry about their privacy and be anxious if one minor, insignificant thing they do gets flagged for cheating.

Walker said student concerns for Respondus systems have “mostly been limited to technical support issues.”

This anxiety could be worse for people with disabilities. Those with nystagmus, a condition of involuntary eye movements, and Tourette’s syndrome can be harmed by the system. The automated system Respondus uses could flag this as cheating, even if the person has no control over their actions and is not using any outside resources.

This brings up the question of equity in Respondus’ systems. Unfortunately, not everyone has the tools to be judged fairly in the eyes of Respondus Monitor. Not everyone has a stable and strong internet connection, not everyone has a quiet space to take a test and not everyone is able-bodied enough to take a proctored quiz without fear of an emotionless algorithm thinking they are cheating just because they cannot control their eyes.

I propose an open-note exam where students can use research such as their notes and their class textbooks. By making the switch to open-note exams, we can decrease students’ test anxiety and encourage them to take notes that engage the student with the class content instead of blindly writing down words. A preliminary study in the Journal of Effective Teaching in 2016 found that open-book testing could be more useful than closed-book testing and enhance student learning. The world is changing, and how we test students must change with the times as well.

I do not want to see a student be in a position where they could be considered to be cheating due to factors beyond their control. We must put test proctoring software in the past.

Contact Grayson Joslin with comments at Grayson.joslin@bsu. edu or on Twitter @GraysonMJoslin.

NINE STEPS OF VERIFICATION FOR RESPONDUS MONITOR

1. Terms of Use

2. Webcam Check

3. Additional Instructions

4. Guidelines and Tips

5. Student Photo

6. Show ID

7. Environment Check

8. Facial Detection Check

9. Begin Exam

Source: Respondus Monitor

Respondus Monitor does not fit in the mold of our university’s model to be inclusive for all, so why are we still using it to the detriment of our students?”

Equity and inclusiveness should be a cornerstone of every single college’s mission to give their students the best education and experience possible.”

CHILD CARE

Continued from Page 04

“Unlike your gas station or your retail store where you might be able to work a little short-handed, child care is not one of those places,” Burkhart said. When child care providers can’t meet capacity, Lee said parents are forced to search for other options. At CASY, Burkhart and Lee both help families deal with these situations on a daily basis. But it’s not just a job to them — it’s personal.

“We all have families, we’re all parents, we’ve all raised kids or have kids, and so we know the situation these families are in, and we know what it’s like looking for care,” Burkhart said. A large part of the work CASY and other agencies do is helping families find assistance with the cost of child care. According to Muncie’s BY5 Early Childhood Initiative, families in Delaware County pay an average of $10,731 each year to provide a child with high-quality childcare — more than Ball State’s annual in-state tuition, which is estimated to be $10,440 without room and board fees for the 2022-23 school year.

Prices vary widely based on the quality of care. According to Brighter Futures Indiana, the average cost of infant and toddler care from a level one provider is $8,727 annually and $12,245 for level three and four providers, which is considered “high-quality” child care.

For low-income families, assistance is available through Indiana’s Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). Eligibility varies, but generally families whose income is more than 27 percent below the federal poverty line are able to get help paying for child care while they are working, searching for a job or pursuing education. These vouchers are what help offset the cost of child care for Kimp and his son.

“Whatever the voucher doesn’t cover, me and his mom pay out of pocket for,” Kimp said. “And I never mind spending money on his child care because his child care is just as important as our needs.”

Burkhart said while finding care for children is a necessity, it can also be a difficult process for parents.

“In a lot of instances, families are looking for care for the first time, and they’re leaving their child with someone that they don’t know,” she said. “So our hearts go out to every one of these families we work with, and we just want to find the best

MEMORY

Continued from Page 11

The professor would often sit in on their rehearsals, she said, eager to provide positive affirmations of what she and her co-directors did well and offer “words of wisdom” to help them improve.

“All of the little things he said, all of the pieces of advice he gave me — it all became very important once I became the one doing it,” she said.

Pederson said Dobosiewicz was an “inspiration” to her not just as a director and professor but also as a person.

“He’s probably the greatest reason why I stuck with [theatre education] in college and as a profession,” she said.

HB 1608

Continued from Page 06

Rhonda Miller, president of Purple for Parents of Indiana, and supporter of HB 1608 and other, similar proposed legislation, said inappropriate discussions on sexuality are occurring in the classroom.

“We know lawmakers, as well as our attorney general , have been receiving massive amounts of complaints from parents from all corners of our state about the inappropriate material that teachers are indeed using in classrooms. We’ve had parents reach out to us telling us their children have even been forced to read inappropriate material … in class,” Miller said via email.

The Daily News verified with the attorney general, and the press secretary said they have received some complaints but could not provide an exact number.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ students being represented in stories and the classroom, she said one segment of children shouldn’t be prioritized over others, and it creates division.

“Schools should be no place for these ideologies,” she said via email. “[Teachers] need to stick to teaching reading, writing, math, science and leave sexual and social issues to parents.”

She also said those who claim this bill will hurt LGBTQ+ students are using a tactic to create an emotional reaction, rather than placing the blame on teachers and schools whom she believes are the ones actually harming students

Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, author of HB 1608, was unable to give a full interview by the time of publication but did provide some explanation for why she feels this legislation is necessary.

solutions we can for them.”

For students like Kimp who have children, highquality child care can give them the peace of mind to focus on their studies and their future.

“I’m going to do what I can to make sure … he’s taken care of by people who are trained and know what they’re doing, and as long as he’s safe and taken care of, I can go to class and focus on what I have to do to maintain what we have,” Kimp said.

Contact Alex Bracken with comments via email at ajbracken@bsu.edu or on Twitter @alexbracken_

McNab is currently working with the Ball State Foundation to fund an endowment in his partner’s name, an initiative he started in response to Dobosiewicz’s unexpected death, he said. The endowment will provide scholarship funds annually to qualifying students who are pursuing a career in theatre education.

Although this initiative is in its beginning stages, McNab said he wants the scholarship to be available for the next academic year, so Dobosiewicz’s current students may have a chance to benefit from the endowment, which will be funded by the late professor’s money as well as public donations.

“It’s a way to, in perpetuity, remember what he did … for theatre education and in the theatre department here,” McNab said. “I thought it would be a nice way of preserving his legacy.”

Contact Miguel Naranjo via email at miguel. naranjo@bsu.edu or on Twitter @naranjo678.

“Our children can’t even read at grade level and instead our schools are focusing on matters of sexual nature which should be left to parents. It’s not the school’s job to discuss these personal

“House Bill 1608 would empower Hoosier parents by promoting transparency between parents and schools and reinforcing that they’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to introducing sensitive topics to their children,” she said via text through her press secretary. “The bill would simply prohibit instruction on human sexuality in kindergarten through third grade. It would also ensure parents are involved in decisions to refer to their children by names that are inconsistent with their biological sex. This is common sense legislation to support parents’ fundamental rights.”

Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, said unless there is an outcry from the public, the bill will likely pass. She also said people are “smart to be worried” about this bill becoming a slippery slope for other legislation.

“There’s some kind of national effort going on to raise this as an issue too,” Errington said. “I mean, it’s very punitive, and transgender kids especially are vulnerable to this type of bullying because that’s what it is. It is state-sponsored bullying.”

When kids ask questions, Errington said, people can be sensitive, but people should give them honest answers.

matters with children,” Miller said.

Miller said she is a bigger proponent of SB 413, another bill sent to committee this legislative session. SB 413 prevents schools and outside vendors working with schools to discuss gender and sexual orientation in grades K-12. It also states schools must notify parents if a student at the school uses a bathroom opposite of their biological sex.

“Schools are no place for sexual discussions. [Schools] can’t even effectively teach the basics. Just look at our test scores. Taxpayers deserve better from the millions of dollars spent on education and schools need to leave sexual and social issues to parents,” Miller said.

“There are kids in the classroom that are not just like some of the other kids,” she said, “And if you’re a teacher, you are there for all your students, not just those that fit a mold that this legislation is designed to promote.”

The Daily News contacted the American Family Association for Indiana for this article but no response was received prior to publication.

For more information on specific bills and the legislative session, visit the Indiana General Assembly website.

Contact Elissa Maudlin with comments at editor@bsudailynews.com or on Twitter @ejmaudlin.

A protester holds up a sign in front of the House Chamber at the Indiana Statehouse Feb. 20. OLIVIA GROUND, DN

Teachers want children to learn to feel safe, teachers want to be able to teach in a safe environment and make [sure] … their students have the absolute best possible chance to learn.”

- RACHEL BURKE, President of Indiana Parent Teacher Association

Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center teacher Tiffany Hollihan holds a child in her classroom Feb. 21. The Mitchell Center has programs for children 6 weeks old to 5 years old. JACY BRADLEY, DN

A child at the Mitchell Early Childhood and Family Center plays with learning tools in a preschool classroom Feb. 21. JACY BRADLEY, DN

Crossword & Sudoku

to the answers to the starred clues

61 “Veep” actress Chlumsky

64 Latest craze

65 Tehran’s land

66 See 28-Down

67 Campaign button word

CROSSWORD EDITED BY KURT KRAUSS; SUDOKU BY MICHAEL MEPHAM