Issue 8, Volume 66

Elections 2014: Voter turnout and election results, PAGE 3

EasternerOnline.com

November 12, 2014

Est. 1916

“Let us march on ‘til victory is won.”

Volume 66, Issue 8

Photo contributed by Rahel Wondimu Members of EWU’s Black Student Union, Africana Studies Department and other Eastern students advocated race and diversity education on campus through a protest held on Nov. 3.

Black Student Union protest, educate university about African-American history, racism

By Sam Deal sports editor Chants of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” could be heard throughout campus Nov. 3, when members of the Black Student Union, dressed in all black, marched to the PUB steps holding photos of African-Americans who were abused by the police.

The BSU blackout was organized to educate the campus on the issues of police brutality and to make African-American voices heard on campus.

BSU President Satori Butler organized the event as a response to an opinion piece

published in The Easterner on Oct. 15 and as a way to announce an open forum being held on Nov. 14 at 11 a.m.

“We want to educate people that aren’t aware of what happens in the AfricanAmerican community,” said Butler. “The piece that was published in the paper lacked intelligence, lacked knowledge of AfricanAmerican history.”

With a large crowd watching, members of BSU took turns telling the stories behind the photos they held using a loudspeaker.

Joining students in the crowd was ASEWU President Dahir “D.J.” Jigre who said this was an unfortunate situation, but

he felt it was a learning experience the student body could use to grow together. “[BSU] took this as an opportunity to say, ‘This is our community, we are the Black Student Union, and we need to handle this matter in a way that is efficient,’” said Jigre. “Right now, things are calm, things are back to normal and at a point where we can talk about this and that is the effective way.”

Sergeant Bryan Dornbos from the EWU Police Department was at the demonstration to make sure it was a peaceful event.

Campus Police have a presence at most oncampus demonstrations.

“I made contact with the Black Student

Union, gave them my card and told them I would be there to make sure it was safe and successful,” said Dornbos.

Butler said she was glad Campus Police was present and allowed the event to take place.

After announcing the names and situations of the faces in their photos, BSU members came together to sing the Black National Anthem. Then Joshuena Williams invited the crowd to come to the BSU open forum.

“Seeing how many people came out is a step,” said Butler. “People are willing to support and they made the effort. That is key.”

EWU evokes veteran appreciation Women’s soccer comes to an end

By Nathan Peters managing editor

By Elohino Theodore senior reporter

With about 560 veterans attending Eastern fall quarter, the campus shut down Nov. 11 to honor those who served.

ASEWU Legislative Liaison Jordan Martin said Eastern is one of the most veteran-friendly campuses in the state.

As a part of ASEWU, Martin set up a flag display in the campus mall. Each military branch was present with its flag. He said, “There’s no way we can fully repay them for what they did, so … we support them the best we can.”

SAIL put up American flag-printed ribbons and veteran statistic signs around the campus mall.

Resources specifically for veterans can be found in the Veterans Resource Center on campus. The center has a lounge for veterans with computers, ability for printing and a small kitchen area.

In their first postseason appearance since 2009, the women’s soccer team fought in a match against Northern Arizona University in the Big Sky Championship quarterfinals where the Eagles lost to the Lumberjacks 3-2 on Nov. 6.

“We came out and I think we kind of had the wide-eye look and really didn’t play very well,” Hoekstra said head coach Chad Bodnar. “[The team] really didn’t play great until after we gave up the third goal. We were down 3-1 and then the kids decided to fight and they did and they got the second [goal] late.”

In the first half of the match, Northern Arizona’s junior midfielder Cierra Gamble scored the first goal in the 15th minute. Eastern answered back offensively in the 19th minute with a goal from senior forward Cassie Black to tie the game 1-1.

The Lumberjacks scored a second goal to meet the back of the net before halftime. NAU’s sophomore forward Torey Braly scored the third goal of the match in the 27th minute.

The first half ended with a score of 2-1 and NAU outshooting the Eagles 10-

Photo by Nathan Peters

VETERANS-PAGE 2

Flag ribbons tied to a pole on campus in remembrance.

5. Eastern had four saves in the first half, Northern Arizona had three saves. The Eagles also had three corner kicks while the Lumberjacks had two corner kicks.

“As a team we had a pretty slow start,” said senior defender Kayla Sutter. “Mentally we just weren’t really checked in.”

Sutter said the Eagles turned over a new leaf to try to respond to NAU’s offense.

“Then in the second half, we really went at them and I think it’s safe to say that we pretty much dominated the second half,” said Sutter. “But we just couldn’t find the back of the net; we had some close opportunities that didn’t quite transfer.”

In the 52nd minute in the second half, the fourth goal of the match was scored.

NAU’s sophomore forward Demi Schmieder scored the goal, putting the Lumberjacks up by two goals, 3-1.

Eastern stayed competitive throughout the entire second half but came up short at the end.

EWU freshman forward Savannah Hoekstra scored a goal in the 83rd minute to cut the deficit to only one goal.

Clinging to a slim lead, Northern Arizona managed to get the win moving on to a semifinal match against Portland State University.

SOCCER-PAGE 7

INSIDE: NEWS: Election results, PAGE 3 • EAGLE LIFE: Study Abroad, PAGE 4 • OPINION: #Gamergate, PAGE 6 • SPORTS: PAGE 7 Upcoming Events: November Nov. 13: EWU Young Professionals Network Holiday Social. Join fellow alumni and current Eastern students at this festive social event, sponsored by STCU. For more information, visit alumni.ewu.edu.

Nov. 13: CAPS Fall Workshop Series presents “Veteran Culture: A Better Understanding.”

12-1 p.m. PUB 261 Nov. 14: EWU Theatre presents Harper Lee's “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Opening night begins at 7:30 p.m.

Students can attend for free with their student I.D.

Nov. 19: Contemporary Issues in Feminist Research: Spiritual Distress & Resilience throughout the Life Course in Healing from Interpersonal Trauma. 12-12:50 p.m. 207 Monroe Hall.

Eagle Life: Paintball Intramural paintball shows spike into record turnouts due to campus awareness, page 4

View more upcoming events at easterneronline.com For the most up-to-date events in Cheney and Spokane, follow us: @EasternerOnline Photo by Samuel Sargeant

page

NEWS

2

November 12, 2014

Eastern wins national award for impact in community service efforts

By Katie Dunn staff writer In the 2010 United States Census, 38.8 percent of Cheney residents were below the poverty level.

Eastern’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE) and its student leaders contribute to programs like the Mobile Food Bank and Feed Cheney to ease the burden on struggling families. Because of their involvement in the community, Eastern was awarded the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll award.

Molly Ayers, director of OCE, said she applied for the award in April.

To apply, applicants had to describe how their efforts helped communities and students work together to solve community problems.

“I collect all of the service and engagement stats for the university and that data gets compiled and put into the application,” said Ayers. “So that would include sorority and fraternity life; they send me their service numbers, annually. I work with residence life and collected their service numbers, and our office does a lot of service and community engagement.”

Outlined on the Corporation for National and Community Service website are the four levels of the award. The Presidential Award is the highest honor and is only offered to four institutions.

Eastern received the lowest award, meeting the statutory seven percent minimum Federal Work-Study community service requirement.

“I think the award demonstrates that Eastern is an engaged campus,” said Ayers.

“My office was established in 2012, and in terms of co-curricular service, it’s grown exponentially. I think there has been about [a] 150 percent increase since the 2011 academic year until now, in terms of the amount of students involved.”

Ayers said in the past month, 500 students have received service hours for being involved in events like Eagle Up!, Harvest Fest, Service Saturday and the mobile food banks.

OCE pays for these events and programs with AmeriCorps VISTA grants. According to AmeriCorps VISTA, they are a national service program established to fight poverty.

Gabby Ryan, Eagle Volunteers program coordinator and member of AmeriCorps VISTA, said she believes in the community engagement Ayers is establishing at Eastern.

Ryan said every month the OCE gives away 700 pounds of food for the Feed Cheney program. In February, the OCE will establish another Feed Cheney distribution center in Brewster Hall.

“Hunger is a huge issue here on campus,” said Ryan. “We feel like there is a stigma attached to accessing the food, like students don’t want to be clients and wait in

line at a food distribution center. We want to eliminate that. We don’t want them to feel like they can’t access the food or that they are any less deserving. Having it on campus, we’ll hopefully see more students accessing it.”

The OCE’s next project is Nov. 16-22, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

The kickoff event is a showing of the “Storied Streets,” a documentary that covers the issues of homelessness in 13 cities across the U.S. The documentary will be shown in Patterson Hall 128 and in the Riverpoint auditorium at 4 p.m., Nov. 16. Other events include lunch at The House of Charity in Spokane as part of Food for Thought and a hunger banquet and sleep-in.

The sleep-in will take place on Nov. 21 from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. in Streeter Hall’s lounge. The sleep-in will simulate what it is

VETERANS:

CONTINUED FROM FRONT The Veterans Resource Center provides “GI Bill benefits, admissions and financial aid counseling, targeted recruitment, academic and personal advising, liaison with disability services, referrals to campus support services, specialized tutoring, support for veterans' student club, activities for veteran and military students and their families, public presentations and speakers and workshops for veteran and military students,” according to the Veterans Resource Center webpage.

David Millet, director of the Veterans Resource Center, said it would mean more if students would have conversations with veterans to get to know them more as people: “I think it’s good as a student on campus getting to know our veterans.”

“The main effort here is to help them get their benefits,” said Millet.

Student veteran Nathan Page said Eastern has a good veteran

Illustration by Lauren Campbell

center and veteran liaison; they are helpful in setting up the GI Bill benefits for veterans.

Page said, “Eastern is one of the schools in the state that has [a] level of veteran services that it does.” He said the Veterans Resource Center staff is trained in their jobs to meet the veteran students’ specific needs.

Tarlene Barfield, a student veteran, said she just happened to stumble upon the Veterans Resource Center. She said, “They told me what I qualified for and I got a tuition waiver.”

Barfield said her time at Eastern has been a positive experience.

She said she has found a support group and camaraderie with her fellow veterans at the center.

“I feel pampered sometimes,” said student veteran Ryan de Coup-Crank. He said he feels like there are adequate resources available for veterans on campus.

Coup-Crank said, “People appreciate veterans here.”

For more information about resources for veterans at EWU, visit access.ewu.edu/veterans-services.

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like sleeping on the streets, with scheduled events occurring over the night.

“It might not be as fun or connecting as working with kids, but I’m hoping we see a huge turnout for this,” said Ayers.

Hilary Beardslee, one of the 14 student leaders in the OCE, is helping coordinate the events.

Beardslee said participating in Food for Thought, and actually getting a chance to talk to people, is a rewarding experience.

Ayers said there are 30 spaces available for the Food for Thought event and she would love to see them all filled.

“There is an assumption that people who are struggling are sad, but they don’t always see themselves that way,” said Beardslee.

“It’s amazing how much you can learn from talking to them and how much your heart can grow.”

EasternerOnline.com

NCUR abstract deadline approaches

Graphic by Kayla Lee

By Alex Miller staff writer Time is running out for students who wish to submit abstracts for the National Conference for Undergraduate Research on April 16.

The NCUR is an annual conference that is “dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity in all fields of study,” according to the website for the Council of Undergraduate Research.

This year, the NCUR will be hosted at EWU. The Council has parameters for students’ presentations. They can be in poster form, an exhibit, an oral presentation or a performance session.

John Bladek, Ph.D., a Writer’s Center responder at EWU, explained what should be in an abstract: “You’re summing up what your research project is, how you did it, what your results were and what it means."

Bladek also said, “You’ve got the big question, and then you’ve got your avenue into that.”

Kristina Pfleegor, also a Writer’s Center responder, said, “It’s a summary of whatever research project you’re working on, so it’s really important that you’re able to talk concisely about your project and just give a really good overview of what you’re working on.”

Bladek said the abstract must be general and not specific to the writer’s discipline.

“There are all kinds of people from a lot of different disciplines who get a pile of these things,” said Bladek.

“They need to be written in a way that a general audience can understand.”

Additionally, Bladek said, “For NCUR, they have a 450-word limit. You don’t want to do too much.”

Ultimately, “The purpose of doing research is to add to the sum of knowledge.

That’s why these universities exist, not just to educate people, but to also create new knowledge. Universities don’t produce things like factories; they add to the sum total of knowledge of the human race,” said Bladek.

Students who wish to submit an abstract must do so by Dec. 2 on the NCUR website. A link is provided online.

NEWS

November 12, 2014

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Low turnout for Spokane County in midterm elections

By Aaron Bocook staff writer The day before the Nov. 4 general elections in Washington state, local media in Spokane predicted low voter turnout.

KXLY, KHQ and The Spokesman-Review all predicted this phenomenon, which is common in mid-term elections nationwide. The Spokane County Elections website reported that, of the 281,536 registered voters in the county, only 132,986 cast their ballots by the 8 p.m. deadline.

At just over 47 percent, the turnout for Spokane County was actually higher than the just over 42 percent turnout reported by the Washington Secretary of State website.

“It’s a nationwide phenomenon; it’s also a local phenomenon,” said associate government professor Thomas Hawley, Ph.D. “Voter turnout in midterm elections is always pretty low. Because there is no president on the ballot, people just tend to not be that into it.”

Hawley said midterm elections should be considered just as important as presidential elections.

Aside from the many initiatives, propositions and referendums on the ballot, he said all 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election, including at least one representative from the Spokane area.

“I would argue that the initiatives probably have more bearing on our lives as citizens in this state, in some cases, than do the people who represent us,” said Hawley. The class size initiative [I-1351], for example, would have required an amazing amount of money to be raised, somehow, somewhere, to fund it.

And that comes out of the pockets of ordinary citizens, and so they should, logically, be voting on that.”

According to Hawley, university-level students should pay close attention to initiatives like I-1351.

Although K-12 education funding levels are protected by the constitution, the funding of higher education is not. He said in the last five or six years, tuition has gone up while state investment in higher education has gone down.

This means if initiatives like I-1351 pass, EWU students could possibly end up with a part of that bill.

Aside from the technical wording of initiatives, and perhaps being uninterested due to the lack of a president on the ballot, EWU students gave a variety of reasons for not voting.

Casey Polmueller, a fifth-year student at Eastern, said she wanted to vote but lost her ballot.

Senior Colton Nowak said he feels that with the high numbers of voters, his vote does not count.

Matthew Shelly, EWU senior and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, said he

VOTER TURNOUT RESULTS 2014 House House of of Representatives Representatives Results Results

Voter Turnout Percentages

47% Spokane County

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R 82,899 58.96 %

42%

Joseph Pakootas, D 57,254 40.72 %

Washington State

281,536

Senate Senate Results Results

registered voters in Spokane county.

132,986

Michael Baumgartner, R 25,448 57.10 %

cast their ballots by the 8 p.m. deadline.

Rich Cowan, D 19,055 42.75 %

Graphic by Lauren Campbell

used to share this feeling of disillusionment in the voting process. He said, however, after leaving the military, he became more engaged in the political process and votes now because he feels his vote really does count.

“Before I was in the military, I didn’t have any

kind of attachment to the political process,” said Shelley. “I was young.

I joined when I was 22.

I pretty much felt ostracized and even alienated from it. It felt like my voice didn’t really matter. After departing the military, you tend to take sort of an ownership of the action

itself; you [start] to feel like you do have a voice, a direct effect.”

Hawley said he agrees that a sense of disillusionment, disempowerment and alienation from the system are seen as reasons not to vote, especially with the recent decision of the Supreme

Court to allow corporations to be seen as people and, subsequently, their big money donations to be seen as free speech, leaving average citizens with the feeling of being “outspent.”

Shelley said he, like many young people, felt that politics was like a

big mysterious machine, so he avoided it. Now age 35, married with a child, he said he has had time to think critically and be more involved in the process.

“I feel like if you haven’t voted, then you can’t complain,” said Shelley. “And I like to complain.”

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EAGLE LIFE

4

November 12, 2014

REVIEW

‘Interstellar’ is out of this world “Interstellar” was easily my most anticipated movie of the year. The theoretical physics fanboy within me really enjoyed the idea of combining black hole and gravitational physics with cinChris Mudd ema. It was an exceptionally complicated and huge undertaking, but I came out of the theater feeling satisfied.

While the concept was well executed, I can’t help but feel like the overall experience of the film was slightly bogged down by minor problems.

I don’t know what it is with Christopher Nolan movies, but

the man seems to always have a hard time getting dialogue to work. I found one child actor, Mackenzie Foy, difficult to follow at times just due to her lack of enunciation. Her acting wasn’t bad, but the words themselves didn’t quite register for me.

On the same note, the dialogue in the film is its biggest detriment. There was more cheese in this script than any other Nolan film. It really bothered me to see such an awesome story concept be plastered with on-the-nose expository dialogue through the first act of the film. It does improve as the film goes on, but it took a while for it to really take off.

Of course, the visual elements of the film are remarkable. Without spoiling anything, there are moments that

legitimately made my jaw drop.

That’s likely only due to my vast interest in space, but the visuals would be compelling to anyone nonetheless.

Nolan has always used a mixture of practical and computer generated effects in his films, opting for the practical whenever possible. This creates a really tangible and textured reality, even in the scenes that are completely CGI. The effects are used so sparingly that jumping between the two never really feels jarring.

The most prominent exterior shots of the film, usually taking place in the void of space, were the most exhilarating thing to watch in the entire film. I would have loved to have seen more of it, as every moment of it was breathtaking.

Hans Zimmer’s score was

excellent, although repetitive.

The use of an organ throughout the soundtrack was fitting in juxtaposition with the vacuum of space. That being said, it is more or less the same organ riff throughout the film, and I wish the score expanded to more than one melody.

Matthew McConaughey proves once again that when he’s not doing bad commercials, he’s actually a really talented actor. The most emotional scenes of the film required a lot of talent, and he is certainly capable of being the leading man. Anne Hathaway pulls her weight as well, delivering another powerful performance.

Overall, while the film doesn’t satisfy every expectation I had going into the theater, “Interstellar” is still one of my favorite movies of the year.

Eastern’s Study Abroad Association connects students’ travel interests

Photo contributed by IMDB.com

Intramural paintball offered on campus

By Ayanna Fernandez staff writer

Illustration by Lauren Campbell

By Shawntelle Moncy staff writer Experiencing education in another country is “a life changing experience, I highly recommend it,” said Jared Dineen, President of the Study Abroad Association.

The Study Abroad Association was founded in October 2014. The SAA’s goal is to connect students who have studied abroad with those who want to study abroad and help them through the process.

“I think getting a student’s perspective is helpful and comforting,” Shelby Shanstrom, vice president of the SAA, said about studying abroad.

According to Eastern’s Study Abroad Center, Study Abroad is a program through EWU, as well as other colleges, that gives students a chance to study or intern in other countries and

have the credits transfer over directly. your friends get tired of hearing it,” said All of which can be paid through finan- Shanstrom. cial aid.

Also, SAA would like to “You need to take genhelp returning students with “It’s great if eral education requirements the most effective way to add anyways,” said Dineen. we can connect that experience to their résu“When you study abroad, it someone who més, according to Shanstrom. enhances your well rounddates and times are wants to go to stillMeeting edness as a student because uncertain due to the newa certain city ness of SAA, but they do have it has a different culture’s perspective.” with someone social media accounts thatEach country has differbe used to contact them. who’s been to may ent major studies and inTheir Facebook is EWU Study that city.ˮ ternships. There are choices Abroad Association and their as to which classes you can Twitter account is @SAAEWU. take for some university’s “It’s great if we can conabroad, and some that renect someone who wants quire history and language to go to a certain city with classes for the country you someone who’s been to that SAA Vice President are in. city,” said Shanstrom.

According to Shanstrom, SAA’s goals will continue SAA wishes to let students to grow with what their club who have studied abroad connect with members find helpful in their journeys others who have also it as well “because studying abroad.

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EWU is unique among all other Washington universities in that paintballing is offered to all students as an intramural sport.

According to Michael Campitelli, director for Campus Recreation, paintballing has quickly become very popular.

“When we started out last spring, we had a turnout of 20, maybe 30, people,” said Campitelli. “Now we’re ... seeing a turnout of three times that.”

Paintball is free of charge and matches take place in the PUB MPR or in The PHASE and are offered throughout the entire spring quarter and three times during fall quarter.

Matthew Pipkin, a senior, has been working for the campus recreation center for a few years and has been in charge of running the paintballing activities since it came to campus.

In Pipkin’s opinion, paintballing is becoming popular due to awareness.

“Paintballing becomes more fun when more people are involved,” said Pipkin. “So it’s advertised by word of mouth versus the billboards that people don’t really stop to read.”

Campitelli said he believes it is the availability of paintball that is helping the sport take off so quickly.

“With it being available only a few times during the fall quarter and not again until spring, people want to seize the opportunity to play when it is offered,” said Campitelli.

Paintballing is usually only offered on Fridays and Sundays. Campitelli said Fridays are more popular and have a larger turnout than Sundays.

According to Pipkin, paintball matches are played like Capture the Flag and typically last no longer than five minutes. If a match does go longer than five minutes, officials are required to start a timer so each team knows how long they have left until the match is over.

“Typically [it is a] five–on–five game unless there are a lot of people, we might [bump] it up to seven–on–seven,” said Pipkin.

Pierre Borders, a junior, became involved in paintball his sophomore year of college.

He said it is fun and he is glad the sport was brought to Eastern.

“It adds a new dimension to the campus,” said Borders.

Borders said he recommends for everyone to do it and it should remain a sport available to the students.

“Everyone should do it,” said Borders. “It’s new and it’s fun. I think the advisement needs to be better, but it’s definitely worth it.”

EAGLE LIFE

November 12, 2014

Police Beat 2:18 p.m.

Vehicle Prowl

Items were stolen from a car parked in the Recreation Center garage. The police currently have no leads or suspects.

9:32 p.m.

Paraphernalia

Two students were caught with drug paraphernalia in Streeter Hall and referred to Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Nov. 3 12:56 a.m.

Alcohol

Two intoxicated students in snyamncut Hall were referred to Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Nov. 4 7:38 p.m.

Paraphernalia

A student in snyamncut Hall was referred to Student Rights and Responsibilities after drug paraphernalia was found.

Nov. 6 12:47 a.m.

Trespassing

A student was caught trespassing at Morrison Hall and arrested.

Nov. 7 8 p.m.

Paraphernalia

A student was caught with drug paraphernalia in snyamncut Hall.

10:21 p.m.

Paraphernalia

In Morrison Hall, a student caught with drug paraphernalia was arrested.

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rate for calorie burning.

The Fitbit watch can be used with the app, or the app can be used at the basic While health apps can offer a lot of level if users do not have the watch. The helpful information, it is important to watch offers more information and autoknow what your goals are before you matically syncs the data it tracks, stated download an app otherwise the informa- the Fitbit website.

“The thing that is nice about a fitness tion could overwhelm its users, said Tricia Hughes, director of Health, Wellness tracker is, as far as the activities side goes, you don’t have to do much. It kind of tracks and Prevention Services.

Health apps can be downloaded onto based on your heart rate, level activity. … a smartphone. These apps can help users It’s time management,” said Hughes.

Hughes said the most beneficial part track many things including sleep patterns, of Fitbit for a college campus is its sleep calories, exercise or nutritional facts.

Hughes said health apps have a lot of tracking feature.

“I think at this age group in college, one very useful information, but if one’s goals are not known before trying fitness apps, of the big issues is sleep. So those gadgets that track your sleep I think can provide a the information could scare them off.

“If people are starting with nothing student with a lot of really good informaand they're trying to do everything, the tion that they can use to improve their sleep research shows that they’re not going to cycle which benefits their overall health in a lot of different ways,” said Hughes. be very successful,” said Hughes.

Repovich said the sleep tracker is one Hughes said that if people download an app they should take small steps in of the best features. She said she used to improving their lifestyle. She said taking track her sleep a lot, but when she realized a small step in one category such as exer- she was consistent, she stopped.

Nudge is an app that connects users’ cise one week and then adding another small step from another category the next other fitness apps. When one downloads week would be easier.

Nudge, it asks to sync with existing apps.

“Otherwise [people will] try too Once the app is synced, users have all of many new things at once and their information from their other apps in one place. it just becomes overwhelm“If I take a After the information from ing,” said Hughes. week and I other apps has been synced Wendy Repovich, EWU enter all of with Nudge, the user receives program director for exercise a number from 1-110, accordscience, said, in an email, that my nutrition ing to the Nudge website. she uses her Fitbit watch and information This number is their healthy app to track her daily goals. into it for a living rate. Users with a highShe said her favorite part week, it really er number are living a healthabout the watch is that when ier lifestyle. she reaches her daily goals, allows me to app gives users the the watch “celebrates” with see if I am on easeThis of simplicity. This way if lights and vibration.

If someone knows their track for where users have one app for fitness I need to be.ˮ and one for nutrition, they do goals, Hughes said an app can not have to try to link them be a great resource for anyone themselves. Nudge sees both wanting to lose weight, mainthe fitness and the meals the tain a healthy lifestyle or train user has had and gives a score for a marathon. based on both.

“I have several health apDirector of EWU According to the Google plications on my phone. … Of Health, Wellness and Play Store, 10,000 people have those, the only one that I have Prevention Services downloaded Nudge, and 1 had any consistency with usmillion people have downing is Lose It!,” said Hughes. loaded Fitbit.

“For me, I don’t have to use Repovich said Fitbit is helpthem forever, but if I take a week and I enter all of my nutrition in- ing her be accountable for her daily goals. She formation into it for a week it really al- sets her goals and then wears the watch, and lows me to see if I am on track for where if she meets the goal her watch tells her by lighting up and vibrating.

I need to be.”

“You know by the end of the day One app that has a lot to offer is Fitbit, which can be used with or without a whether you met your goal or not. You Fitbit watch. According to the Fitbit web- can't ignore that it hasn't celebrated for site, users receive information on sleep you,” said Repovich.

Hughes said that while these apps can patterns, exercise intensity, distance walked in a day and nutritional facts. Fit- be helpful and have the added benefit of tracking nearly everything, people do bit’s newest product is the Surge.

According to the Fitbit website, the not need them to be successful with their Surge is the “ultimate fitness super goals if they are determined.

“A lot of people have shown success watch.” This watch monitors walking, running, sleeping patterns and can notify with just a pedometer. ... If you can get users when someone is calling or texting to 10,000 steps you’re getting about five them when connected to their phone. The miles in per day, and that’s been shown to built-in GPS monitors location to deter- have success in weight loss,” said Hughes. mine hills and elevation to be more accu-

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Joseph Weeden William Hayden Kayla Johnstone

Gary Graham

staff writers Alexander Mills Alla Drokina Ayanna Fernandez Chris Mudd Katie Dunn Mike Hantho Shawntelle Moncy Rebekah Frank

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Health apps contain pros and cons for student use

By Rebekah Frank staff writer

Nov. 1

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OPINION

6

November 12, 2014

@EasternerOnline - How do you feel about the incoming US Senate? • Share your opinion with us.

Freedom of speech pertinent

By Larry Ty Holmes opinion editor According to firstamendmentcenter.org, freedom of expression is the “ability of an individual or group of individuals to express their beliefs, thoughts, ideas and emotions about different issues free from government censorship” and the First Amendment “protects the rights of individuals to freedom of religion, speech, press, petition and assembly.”

The site addresses types of speech that the First Amendment doesn’t protect people from; one is defamation.

Any speech that is blatantly defamatory is not protected and can be addressed as a crime.

If the student population at EWU desires a prevalent acknowledgement of diversity, they need to make it known.

EWU’s students should desire acknowledgement by requesting a change in required general course credits. For greater effects on equality, there needs to be 15 mandatory credits that touch on culture, ethnicity, religion and women's studies; critical thinking should also be on this list for obvious reasons.

The college website, states that a diverse campus helps the learning environment of the student population. Without specificity, EWU recognizes that the student population of the 20132014 school year was 27 percent diverse. There is no detailed breakdown of the student population and there needs to be because an enriched student population needs to know all the ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds that support the college.

A school that promotes diversity and has a diverse population, but doesn’t take steps to propagate an outlook of considerate and thoughtful goodwill toward diversity isn’t doing enough.

EWU does host Diversity Week on campus to encourage understanding, which is fabulous, except the message isn’t getting through. In the wake of Tanner Streicher’s article about riot damage in Ferguson, there has been a serious commotion addressing the African-American community. There have been two different responses from students. One has been an outrage that a racially charged opinion was published. The other has been covert in places like Yik Yak, where the response has been horrendously painful toward the black community.

The eastern side of Washington isn’t known for being friendly toward minorities, but that shouldn’t be the case at a state university.

Eventually, there will be a social change for the better in eastern Washington. When this change comes, this side of the state will be on par with Seattle, having a vibrant and educated culture accepting of everyone.

The Black Student Union is holding an educational forum on Nov. 14 in the PUB MPR at 11 a.m.

Find a new hashtag, #GamerGaters: Let’s discuss misogyny

By Laura Lango photographer As someone whose college education is personally funded by video game sales, I’d like to say I’m greatly indebted to gamers everywhere.

However, I’d gladly take a cut in tuition payments if I could say that none of my tuition was ever paid Lango for, however indirectly, by supporters of #GamerGate. For the slightly less Twittersavy of you out there, GamerGate is an amorphous, online movement that claims to be petitioning for a higher standard of journalism ethics in the gaming industry. Their crusade becomes problematic, however, once you realize that GamerGate has also been implicated in horrific rape, death, and terrorist threats against female gamers, developers, critics, and journalists.

Student and gamer Kori Hough described Gamergate’s origin this way: “Gamergate was originally supposed to be a forum [for] people

to kind [of] get together and talk about video games kind [of] more as a critique... but it didn’t end up being that way, it kind [of] became an attack almost on the gaming community itself.”

Anita Sarkeesian, feminist public activist and creator of the Youtube series “Tropes vs. Women,” was forced to leave her home after having her home address splashed over the internet — a form of harassment known as “doxxing” — and receiving threats so appalling I hesitate to quote them. Female game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu have also been forced to leave their homes after similar threats. Even pop culture darling and actress Felicia Day was “doxxed” after she posted on her Tumblr account that she was frightened about the harassment she would receive if she spoke about GamerGate. Less than an hour later, her personal information was hacked and spread online.

While misogynistic trolls breeding hate on 4chan forums isn’t exactly a new occurrence, what moves GamerGate away from an unorganized, ugly online campaign and into a legitimate hate group is the terrorist threat against Anita Sarkeesian’s public event at Utah State University on Oct. 13. In response to

the understandable public outrage, “moderate” GamerGate supporters have recently protested on Twitter that they have been maligned by mainstream media as the bad guys simply because they’re protesting the media itself, and that their movement has been misrepresented by a handful of haters. Whatever the actual case may be, I am here to tell you: it truly does not matter at this point.

Once the roots of your movement are associated with threats of assault, murder and rape, you need to find a new hashtag, and you seriously need to reconsider who you’re willing to align yourself with online.

Once someone associated with your group decides to threaten “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if a feminist gamer is allowed to publicly exercise her First Amendment right, then your movement is effectively derailed — if it ever even had a rail to begin with — and you will become associated with misogynists and terrorists. Is it fair? Probably not, but neither is having your very life threatened by hate-spewing troglodytes.

EWU Professor of Psychology Dr. Amani El-Alayli explained the reactions of so many Gamergate supporters this way: “I’m thinking a

lot of people who are making video games or playing video games with these depictions of women, well, they want to feel like that’s the correct behavior.”

No one wants to think of themselves as unreasonable misogynists, and no one wants to feel complicit in a system of oppression, but that does not stop it from being true. Just because you’re unhappy that members of your movement are horrible misogynists, and that you’re uncomfortable at the possibility of being actively complicit in gaming’s oppressive sexism doesn’t stop it from being a reality.

If you really cared about the higher ethics in gaming journalism, then you would be horrified when those very same journalists and critics are threatened and harassed into silence. By protesting that GamerGate is really not about misogyny despite glaring evidence to the contrary, you are embarrassing yourself and your ethics by defending a losing battle.

In the ever appropriate words of Joss Whedon, “Many good people think #GamerGate is about journalism and artistic freedom. That's like working at #KlanDayKare.

The name means hate, guys.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell, D.C.’s pet turtle, is on the loose

By Eric Long chief copy editor There’s a turtle on the loose in the Senate, and his name is Mitch McConnell.

Turtles typically are not dangerous critters, but McConnell has a secret weapon when dealing with his enemies: his shell. This shell is made up of the new Republican majority in the Senate, and with it, McConnell is now considered the most powerful Republican in the country.

Long McConnell lives and breathes politics, and it shows. Though his passion is admirable, the way he goes about issues is not, and his extreme dislike of Obama is disappointing to say the least. Even his own party members are having a problem with him because of the way he wants to go about tackling issues such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. This problem facing McConnell was addressed in a recent Washington Post article titled, “Mitch McConnell’s mission: Degrade and destroy the Obama presidency.”

The title of that article says it all about McConnell. After the Republican sweep of the Senate on election night, Congress seemed to be finally willing to talk, Obama even called Republican winners to congratulate them. But that mindset was just smoke and mirrors. The day after elections, when the confetti settled and hangovers were taken care of, that sense of possible collaboration was crushed.

One of McConnell’s big goals is to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it has unfortunately become known. McConnell’s Senate website gives a nice, little quote from him stating, “… [Senate Republicans] intend to continue the fight to repeal and replace Obamacare with sensible reforms that would lower the cost of American health care ... . This fight isn’t over, so I hope you’ll stay in the fight with us.”

This is coming from a man whose own state, Kentucky, uses the Affordable Care Act, but under a different name, Kynect, that has actually been successful. McConnell cannot stand this, of course, and has vowed to stop it in Kentucky.

This is a problem because, in a news conference on April 22, Kentucky’s democratic governor Steve Beshear announced that 413,410 Kentuckians signed up for health care through Kynect during its first open enrollment period from Oct. 1, 2013 through March 31. Beshear also announced the act is working.

Illustration by William Hayden

If McConnell thinks the idea of repealing the Affordable Care Act is a good one, he’s wrong.

At this point in the game, repealing the act would take away health care coverage from millions of Americans who need it, myself included.

The Affordable Care Act is just one of the many issues Republicans will try to take into their own hands as they attempt to undermine Obama’s presidency once the new Congress starts their term in January.

McConnell will be the new Senate Majority Leader come January, but all I’ll see him as is a turtle in a flock of lame ducks.

letter to the editor Free Press Applies To Ideas That Are Not Pre-Approved Many people were upset by an article that appeared in The Easterner on Oct. 15 under the title, “Protests in Missouri Unfair to Local Businesses.” One letter writer said he was “appalled” that such an article “was allowed a platform in your campus newspaper.”

But look at the actual results. Precisely because the article in question was provocative, people across this campus have had an animated discussion over the fate of an unarmed black man who was shot to death by a white policeman in Missouri. The event was an unscheduled topic of discussion in many classrooms because of the article.

The controversial article brought responses from both the NAACP and the EWU Africana Studies Program. Dr. Scott Finnie of the Africana Studies Program was able to add this fact to the record: “About two African-Americans are shot by police weekly, and black males between 15 and 19 years of age are 21 times more likely to be shot by a white police officer than white males of the same age.”

Suppose the student writer had been worried enough about a reaction that he did not write the article. Worse, suppose he had been the type to intuit what he was expected to say and simply parroted that. He would still hold the same view and perhaps have been bitter at the thought he was not free to say what he really believed. Anyone else who took his point of view would remain safely unchallenged by the counter arguments and that came flooding forth in the wake of the article. And there would have been no campus-wide discussion of the matter. Would that have been a better outcome?

The role of free opinion is to serve up an idea so the rest of the community can

discuss it. Error is assumed in the process; no one has a perfect fix on the workings of the universe or any part of it. Opinion is for the purposes of discussion. That is the only way to deal successfully with provocative ideas. You cannot abolish wrong thinking by preventing it from being spoken.

The only mistake editors of the Easterner made, in my opinion, was in not making it even clearer that that the controversial opinion was in no way an expression of the whole editorial team. The page does carry the title “Opinion” and the article was signed. But given the fact that the writer was on the staff, editors probably should have emphasized this was merely another expression of personal opinion.

Otherwise, the paper did its job. Its job is not to guess what everyone wants to hear and to deliver that. The job of the newspaper is to provide news that is accurate and opinion that is genuine. An opinion is not a matter of accuracy. It is more like a hypothesis: a supposition to be stated for the purpose of moving discussion forward. I think Easterner editors did that.

From that point, it is up to others. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis pointed out almost a century ago, censorship is the biggest threat to the American political system because it disables the process. “Without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile,” and that discussion is indispensible because “the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.”

By Director Dr. William Stimson EWU Journalism Department

Serving the EWU community since 1916 letters to the editor

Larry Ty Holmes Opinion Editor easterner.opinion@gmail.com

Requirements: -Letters should be 300 words or less and typed, or legibly handwritten.

-Include your full name, signature, telephone number and email address for verification.

-We reserve the right not to publish letters; furthermore, all letters are subject to editing.

-Letters must be received no later than Monday at 10 a.m. in order to be considered for publication the following Wednesday.

-If your letter is in response to a specific article, please list the title and date of the article.

Editorial policy We encourage the EWU community to submit letters and opinion pieces that conform to the requirements listed above.

Opinion articles and letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The Easterner, its staff members or Eastern Washington University.

Editorial Policy: Opinion articles and letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The Easterner, its staff members or Eastern Washington University.

SPORTS

November 12, 2014 #GoEags

page

7

What EWU sport games will you be attending in the near future? • Tweet us your responses @EasternerSports.

Eastern men’s basketball wins exhibition game, 89-55

By Elohino Theodore senior reporter The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team defeated the University of Puget Sound, 8955 on Nov. 9 in an exhibition game.

“Hats off to Puget Sound, I thought they shot the ball really well,” said head coach Jim Hayford.

“They gave us a good game that will help make us a better team.”

The Eagles came out to an early lead in the opening minutes, 22-12.

Puget Sound stayed competitive in the first half by cutting the Eagles’ lead to only one point. With 5:16 remaining in the first half, Puget Sound cut another lead by Eastern to be down by six points.

Eastern outrebounded the Loggers in the first half, 23-15. The Eagles had seven offensive rebounds and 16 defensive rebounds. Puget Sound had three offensive rebounds and 12 defensive rebounds.

Junior guard Tyler Harvey led Eastern with 10 points for the first half. Junior forward Venky Jois had seven points. Freshman guard Cody Benzel finished with nine points for the first half.

At halftime, Eastern led 38-32 shooting 42.9 percent behind the three point line and 44.4 percent in field goals. Puget Sound outshot EWU behind the free throw line in the first half 71.4 percent to 57.1 percent.

Puget Sound also had a strong outing behind the three point line with 46.7 percent. The Loggers shot 37.0 percent in field goals despite being down by six points at the half.

“It was an interesting game there for a little bit in the first half,” said Hayford. “I was trying to play a lot of guys and do a lot of things early.”

In the second half, Eastern went on an 11-4 run to increase their halftime lead.

The Eagles would lead by as many as 36 points throughout the second half in a blowout victory.

EWU continued to outrebound Puget Sound. In the second half, the Eagles had a total of 47 rebounds.

Eastern had a game high of 35 defensive rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds.

Sophomore forward Felix Von Hofe said the team was looking for a few things in this exhibition game, and this game was supposed to prepare the Eagles for the regular season.

“I think we wanted to go into the game as we would a regular game,” said Von Hofe. “Credit Puget Sound, they made it exactly like that.”

“The main thing for us is getting in our zone,” said Von Hofe. “Both principles [offense and defense] we worked on at practice, a lot of just playing against each other.”

Eastern outshot the Loggers in almost all categories in the second half. Behind the three point line,

the Eagles shot 63.6 percent compared to Puget Sound’s 10 percent.

In field goal percentage, Eastern shot 60 percent in the second half and Puget Sound shot 28.6 percent.

For the game, Eastern had 34 points in the paint and as a team.

The Eagles dished out 19 assists, and also had help from their reserves with 44 bench points.

EWU’s top performers for the game were Harvey, who finished with 16 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals, Benzel, who finished with 15 points and three rebounds, and sophomore forward Ognjen Miljkovic, with 14 points for the game along with seven rebounds.

Jois finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Von Hofe also finished the game with double figure scoring with 11 points and a game high of four steals.

Hayford said there are things that the team needs to take care of before the regular season opener.

“We need to work on getting up early and getting used to being able to go play 100 percent early,” said Hayford. “We’re going to need to iron out just communication issues and just some more things on the mental side.”

The Eagles will play Texas Southern University on Nov. 14 at 8 a.m. in their regular season home opener.

Photo by Anna Mills Will Ferris, EWU basketball player, plays defense.

Schwery, Hamilton win ScholarAthletes award

By Mike Hantho staff writer

Photo contributed by GoEags.com Katie Cashman, EWU varsity soccer player, dribbles the ball for a play during a match against NAU on Nov. 6

SOCCER:

CONTINUED FROM FRONT In the second half, Eastern outshot Northern Arizona 7-6.

The Eagles had three corner kicks. NAU had three saves while Eastern had two saves in the second half.

“It was said from the beginning that this year would defi-

nitely be a building season with a new coach and a new team,” said Sutter. “With all this year’s success, I think we’re kind of setting a new foundation for where the program is going to go.”

Black was one of Eastern’s top players. She had a total of six shots in the game; four of the shots were on target.

Hoekstra was also one of the

top performers with two shots, all of them on target, and one assist. Senior goalkeeper Nathalie Schwery had a total of six saves in the match.

Bodnar said he views the Eagles’ trip to the Big Sky tournament as a positive experience despite the result.

“I think the exposure and the experience that the young kids

gained from it is going to be a positive,” said Bodnar. “I think as a stepping stone for the program, it’s a positive as well just because we did a lot of things this year that this program hasn’t done.”

Eastern finished their 2014 soccer season with an overall record 8-9 and the highest number of wins since 2009.

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EWU seniors Nathalie Schwery of the soccer team and Vince Hamilton of the cross-country team were recognized as Scholar-Athletes of the Month for November.

According to goeags.com, Schwery has a 3.96 GPA and contributed to three shutouts for EWU’s soccer team that have led to a chance to competing in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Hamilton has a 3.16 GPA, and placed third at the Montana cross-country invitational, leading to Schwery a victory for EWU men’s team. Hamilton also had an excellent performance at the Indiana State Pre-National Invitational, according to goeags.com.

“It’s a really good award to receive,” said Hamilton. “For an athlete, it’s a good reflection of being able to balance both school and sports.”

Hamilton also said winning this award is a good reflection on the cross-country team, and is good for athletes in the classroom and on the field.

Women’s soccer head coach Chad Bodnar said Schwery receiving the award is a positive reflecHamilton tion of her and the soccer team.

Bodnar said Schwery is doing extremely well in both the classroom and the field, reflecting her balanced personality.

“Our goals are the same,” said Bodnar. “Excel in the classroom and out on the field.”

page

SPORTS

8

November 12, 2014

#GoEags What are your best football memories from this season? • Tweet us your responses @EasternerSports.

Eagles defeat the Grizzlies on Senior Day

Photo by Anna Mills

Wide reciever Cooper Kupp runs the football downfield in the Nov. 8 game on the red turf against the University of Montana Grizzlies.

EWU football plays strong in final game of the season, Vernon returns with ‘electric’ moves

By Fetlew Gebreziabher online sports editor For the fourth time in five years, the EWU Eagles came out victorious on Senior Day over the University of Montana, defeating the Grizzlies, 36-26, on Nov. 8.

Junior quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. returned under center for EWU after missing the last four games because of a broken foot.

“Vernon brings something electric. He was able to make some huge plays. There will be stuff we can go back and look at, and there are still things we still

need to work on,” said head coach Beau Baldwin. “I am proud to have all the guys back, but great to have No. 3 back in the saddle.

It was really special for him to do the things he did, make the plays he made and get us in rhythm against one of the top defenses in the Big Sky. It was huge for him to play, even not at 100 percent.”

Despite not being 100 percent recovered, Adams finished 25-37, passing for 410 yards and four touchdowns in his return. He is now 3-0 against the Grizzlies.

The wide receiving core showed all their abilities versus

Montana when wideouts Nic Sblendorio and sophomore Kendrick Bourne both made one-handed touchdowns during the game.

“Honestly, it happened pretty fast. I was actually surprised [Adams] threw it because I was not open on that, but [Adams] just threw it up for me to make a play and I had to come down with it,” said Sblendorio.

The one-handed grab was Sblendorio’s first touchdown of the year.

Sophomore receiver Cooper Kupp had a complete game finishing with eight catches for

COLUMN

Jimbo Fisher is making some jumbo mistakes

By Brandon Cline contributing writer In his five seasons as the head football coach at Florida State, teams led by Jimbo Fisher have excelled immensely on the football field.

Only Nick Saban and Alabama have rivaled what Fisher and FSU have accomplished since the turn of the decade.

But the plethora Brandon Cline of off-field issues at FSU since Fisher was named Bobby Bowden’s successor in 2010 have clouded the on-field success of the team, and rightly so. In less than five years as head coach, Fisher’s players have been arrested, charged or cited on 14 separate occasions, including three repeat offenders.

According to arrestnation.com, there have been 830 arrests, charges and citations in college football since the 2010 season, meaning that FSU has accounted for 1.68 percent of all infractions.

If all 245 FBS and FCS teams in college football committed the same amount of infractions as FSU did in that span, the total number would eclipse 3,400.

No, Fisher is not the one who was arrested for grand theft auto, thirddegree grand theft, domestic assault, sexual assault, robbery, fraudulent use of a credit card, resisting arrest or petty theft, but he is the man who recruits, coaches and, supposedly, acts as a role model to these boys who should leave Florida State University as men.

Fisher is nauseatingly ignorant in public to anyone questioning the character and integrity of himself, his players or his program. In a postgame interview after Florida State’s thrill-

ing win over Notre Dame on Oct. 18, Fisher said his team “is a high character program that’s ran the right way: on class and on dignity.”

Yes, Jimbo, your team is most definitely being run the right way.

The same team whose starting running back, Karlos Williams, is being investigated for both domestic assault of his eight-month pregnant girlfriend, and for being an associate to a robbery of an FSU student.

The same team whose Heismanwinning quarterback, Jameis Winston, has been investigated for sexual assault, has an upcoming Florida State student conduct hearing on Nov. 17, has stolen $30 of seafood from a grocery store, was handcuffed for shooting at squirrels with a BB gun on campus, and has shouted sexual obscenities while standing on a table in the FSU student union, the latter earning him a one-game suspension.

Yes, that team. And yet, Fisher doesn’t believe those are the reasons why his team is being negatively portrayed. “Because one, ESPN has money in the SEC,” said Fisher in an interview with WABM Birmingham What? How is that even slightly relevant? How is it ESPN’s fault that Fisher’s backfield is being investigated for very serious crimes? How is ESPN to blame for FSU’s 14 infractions since Fisher took the reins five years ago?

ESPN held College GameDay on FSU’s campus just a couple of weeks ago. ESPN also pays the ACC $3.6 billion to air the conference’s events, from which FSU collects $17 million in TV revenue every year. But Fisher still swears that ESPN has it out for them.

They say winning cures all. Maybe we’re getting to the point where it shouldn’t. How a team produces on the field shouldn’t give them a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card off the field, whether they’ve won 25 straight games, or lost 25 straight.

134 yards and two total touchdowns. He also returned a 67yard punt for a touchdown. It was the first punt return score for EWU since 2006. “[They came out] competing.

They were going and making plays. There is a number of them.

So many different plays being made that it was a special day for that crew. They deserve to enjoy it because they went out and competed when their number was called,” said Baldwin.

Senior Ronnie Hamlin, who was one of 20 EWU seniors honored before the game, left his last

regular season game at Roos Field as the Eagles’ all-time leader in tackles, passing J.C. Sherritt on the list.

“It was just an awesome game,” said Hamlin. “Anytime you’re playing Montana, it’s always fun and it’s just good to be out here with the guys again playing on ‘the red.’ It’s just awesome, man.”

Hamlin finished the game with nine tackles, bringing his total career tackles to 433.

The fifth-ranked Eagles (92, 6-1) will finish regular season play on Nov. 21 against Portland State University (3-7, 2-4).

Men’s rugby battling UW on Nov. 15

Photo contributed by Carly Mackinnon Rugby squad prepares for their league play game against University of Washington on Nov. 15.

Coach David Ratcliff, team looking to play ‘tough style’

By Sam Deal sports editor Eastern’s men’s rugby team will play rival University of Washington at home on Nov. 15 to start league play.

The match will be the second time the teams have met in the last month, and the third time this year with Eastern winning both previous matches against the nationally-ranked Huskies.

“We are peaking at the right time,” said veteran player Wes Silvey. “We’ve been talking about this match since the first practice.”

UW is the reigning D1-AA Varsity Cup champion and has been a perennial power in the rapidly growing U.S. rugby community. The Eagles pride themselves on their bruising style, which head

coach David Ratcliff said he believes gives the Huskies fits.

“I don’t know what they have over there on the west side but over here, at Eastern, we have farm boys and former wrestlers,” said Ratcliff.

“We want to play physical and tough style.”

This match will be the first 15s game for EWU this season in the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Club, but they defeated UW in a 7s match in October for the NCRC championship.

The Eagles’ previous victories over Washington have only been by a combined seven points with each game being a tightly-contested battle. The same is expected of this match, but “player” Kyle Hoch said feels EWU has the Huskies number.

“It is going to be really

close, but with how physical this team is, I feel the game is in Eastern’s favor,” said Hoch.

Eastern’s team is looking to make a name for itself and define the future of the club with this match.

“It’s a developmental period for our team,” said Hoch.

“There are plenty of guys who have only played for a month and they will start for us against UW.” According to Hoch and Silvey, the Eagles feel they are not regarded as an elite squad and want to take this opportunity to prove they deserve to be considered top tier, especially with the added youth.

“The results will show we have a solid core here and it is only going to get better,” said Silvey. “This game will set the tone for the rest of the season and seasons to come.”