VOL. 121, ISSUE 36
INSIDE
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© 2015 collegian media group
T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 3 , 2 0 1 5
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR KANSAS STATE UNIVERSIT Y
this issue
Alumni create petition over journalism school’s direction
>> Cultural
PAGE 4:
richness, language may be entertwined
5: >> PAGE K-State football after five games: A process
Emily Starkey | THE COLLEGIAN
Christian Clark, freshman in journalism and mass communications, interviews lead singer Gabe Traknyak of Sky Orchid at the Union Program Council’s 29th Annual OPUS Battle of the Bands competition sponsored by Wildcat Watch on Oct. 2, 2015 in Bosco Plaza.
Tuesday News Briefs
JESSIE PEARSON the collegian
compiled by
F
DANIELLE COOK
or some students and alumni of the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, finding out over the summer that digital media professor Steve Harvey chose to leave K-State was what it took to decide action needed to be taken about the direction of the Miller School. “He was the final straw, because if Steve was there, we always knew that there would be somebody that could be fighting in the corner for all digital media
FORT RILEY HOLDS RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY FOR NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Fort Riley celebrated the opening of its new elementary school with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning, and Gov. Sam Brownback attended, according to KMAN. The new $22 million school was funded partially by the federal government, which contributed $17.6 million; the rest of the funding came from the state government’s contribution of $3.4 million and USD 475’s contribution of $1 million. The new school building serves as a replacement for the former 60-year-old facility, according to WIBW. It is 76,000 square feet and large enough to house 500 students, KMAN reported. The building includes a media center and gym, which is capable of doubling as a safe room in the case of a tornado. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was attended by Fort Riley Elementary School students and members of the community, Brownback thanked the federal government for its contribution.
K-STATE STUDENTS RECEIVE $1,000 GRANTS AS RESULT OF SPARK WEEK
Two K-State undergraduates will receive $1,000 grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry as a result of the Student Promoting the Advancement of Research at K-State Week’s event, SPARK Tank. see page
5, “BRIEFS”
sequence students,” Maile Widman, 2015 K-State broadcast journalism alum, said. Harvey taught at K-State for four years and also served as the adviser of Wildcat Watch. He said he loved teaching at K-State because of the students, and he enjoyed “giving the students permission to go be creative.” Harvey said the students who worked for Wildcat Watch were becoming wellknown throughout the university, and he had employers calling him about those students because they were able to create incredible projects. “When I left, there was like 70 kids on the payroll,
and I think I started with like seven or eight,” Harvey said. Widman, who served as the president of Wildcat Watch during her senior year, said it seemed to her like Harvey was beginning to run into a lot of walls with administration when he tried to introduce new ideas. After Harvey left, the administration of Wildcat Watch was moved from the Miller School to Dole Hall. “JMC is also in the middle of a curriculum review discussion but we have not made any changes yet,” Samuel Mwangi, associate professor of journalism and mass communications, said in an email response. “We are still talking. At this point
there is really no story.” The journalism school has taken a new direction within the guidelines of the K-State 2025 plan. “It was clear to me that I didn’t fit that new direction very well,” Harvey said. “I don’t come from an academic background. I come from a professional journalism background, and they wanted to take the department a different way, perhaps. And it’s their right and prerogative to do so.” Harvey said leaving was “an extremely difficult choice that I really didn’t want to have to make,” but he was no longer able to do what he was hired to do in the first place. Anthony Williams, senior in journalism and digital media and physics, said the outcry from alumni happened because Harvey left at the same time Sara Quinn, instructor in journalism and mass communications, was hired. To some students and alumni, this initially looked like Harvey had been fired and Quinn had been hired in his place. “I think that’s where this originally came from, is the idea that the broadcast students were getting slighted in some way,” Williams said. As a result, a group of alumni and students created a petition calling for a committee to be created of current students, alumni and faculty to discuss problems within the journalism programs and active solutions to these problems. “We’re told it’s our department and our major, but a lot of the stuff happens to us rather than coming from us,” Williams said. see page
5, “JMC”
LGBT and Allies hosts Coming Out Day event COLLIN WEAVER the collegian
K-State LGBT and Allies hosted a National Coming Out Day event in Bosco Student Plaza Monday. Students gathered around a rainbow-colored door and a table covered in LGBT buttons, keychains and pamphlets. National Coming Out Day, an annual civil awareness day, celebrated those who have come out as LGBT individuals, and it supported and encouraged people who may be considering coming out. Attendees could talk to members of the LGBT community, share coming out stories, take a picture with the rainbow-colored “Coming Out” door and write words of en-
THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today in 1972, the cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the executive mansion, which soon became known as the “White House” because its whitegray Virginia freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings.
history.com
couragement and support on the door. One such individual was Emelia, a sophomore in education in her first year at K-State. Emelia is questioning her sexuality, and due to the private nature of such matters, requested that her last name be withheld from publishing. “I’ve been questioning for awhile, and was considering looking into the LGBT community on campus trying to find somewhere to fit in,” Emelia said. “So, when I walked out of the Union and saw the rainbow door, it was kind of a nice surprise.” Emelia talked to some of the students putting on the event and posed for a picture in front of the door with another student. see page
3, “OUT”
George Walker | THE COLLEGIAN
Goutham Neravetla, freshman in computer science and biology, writes a message on a rainbow-painted door in Bosco Plaza Monday. The door stood as a place for students to share their coming out stories in celebration of National Coming Out Day,
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Zits | By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
THE BLOTTER ARREST REPORTS SUNDAY, OCT. 11 Eugene Milton, of the 200 block of North Ninth Street, was booked for driving while suspended. Bond was set at $3,000. Cherie Lynn Katz, of Leonardville, Kansas, was booked for failure to appear. Bond was set at $1,000.
MONDAY, OCT. 12 Dan Marcus Harris Jr., of the 1600 block of McCain Lane, was booked for failure to appear. Bond was set at $500. Alexander Benton Crouch, of the 1800 block of Anderson Avenue, was booked for driving while suspended. Bond was set at $750.
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3
Odd jobs: working at Biosecurity Research Institute JUAN CISNEROS the collegian
B
ehind the large black gates outside Pat Roberts Hall stands the Biosecurity Research Institute, host to more than 100 researchers from all over the country. The institute also houses about 35 employees, divided into several different departments, who are responsible for maintaining the facility, according to the institute’s Education Officer John Webster. One such employee is Stephen Higgs, research director, who is in charge of developing research opportunities at the institute. Current research includes foodborne pathogens and diseases of plants, animals and humans. The building was constructed to sustain biosafety level 3 and biosafety level 3 agriculture standards, according to Higgs. Biosafety level 3 agriculture (BSL-3-Ag) is specific to agriculture because it is designed to contain high-risk pathogens from the environment when dealing with large agricultural animals. The high level of containment requires Higgs to oversee projects and training, interact with the Department of Homeland Security
and provide presentations to help expand research and tell the community about what the institute is doing. Higgs, having worked with infectious diseases his entire working life, said he has held positions in the field from various institutes in the United Kingdom and in other parts of the U.S. “(The institute) is the most fantastic lab I’ve basically seen in my life,” Higgs said. “It was a new opportunity for me to work with new people, working on a new range of diseases.” Higgs said he sees working at the institute as both complicated and rewarding. His calendar is always full, but he prefers it that way. “I am very optimistic,” Higgs said. “I always come to work with the feeling that something can come out of the BRI, you know research on diagnostics and vaccines, that can have a global impact. This is the day we could accomplish something great.” Webster is in charge of coordinating workshops and training for incoming researchers. He also helps with new staff tracking and maintaining the online learning management system. Although not an instructor, Webster said he does work with experts when coordinating incoming researcher workshops
and training. His background in healthcare allowed him to apply for the job posting he saw online. “I’ve always been interested in this field,” Webster said. “But there is no degree program to be the education officer at the BRI.” The training that Webster coordinates allows for high-consequence agricultural and high-containment research to be held in the facility. Julie Johnson, biosafety officer, is in charge of training the incoming researchers in a safe way. She said she also makes certain that all research within the departments is conducted in compliance with regulations to ensure everything is working in a safe manner. Johnson said she has a Ph.D. in microbiology and uses her research and lab experience to help the researchers as much as possible. This may include helping organize regulatory writing so the researchers can focus on their research. “I look at it as, we are cutting the red tape for researchers,” Johnson said. Johnson said there is no typical day working at the institute. “I love the challenge of finding creative solutions to help the researchers do their research,” Johnson said. “It changes every day, which can be frustrating but never boring.”
Giving students a safe haven
Photo Courtesy of | K-STATE PHOTO SERVICES
Two Biosecurity Research Institute researchers test samples.
OUT | National Coming Out Day gives students safe place to ask questions continued from page
Jessica Robbins | THE COLLEGIAN
Jerry Sextro, treasurer of LGBT and Allies and sophomore in open option, speaks to students at the LGBT and Allies booth during the National Coming Out Day event Monday in Bosco Plaza.
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According to Jerry Sextro, sophomore in open option and one of the organizers for the event, students may have found it difficult to stumble upon these festivities prior to 2015. This is the first year the K-State LGBT and Allies celebrated Coming Out Day in a public space. “We wanted it to be more public,” Sextro said. “We wanted to try to build more of a presence here on campus.” Multiple campus tours passed through Bosco Student Plaza during the event, which was something Sextro said he looked at positively. “I hope it gives them a good impression,” Sextro said. “Many students coming to K-State might be more on the conservative side, and if they’re an LGBTQ individual they might have difficulty
coming out and being themselves. I hope that events like this let them know that they’ll have a place to be loved.” Kevin Stilley, K-State alum, also attended the event. He said these events and the community on campus have grown. “When I was a student in the 70s, we didn’t even have an LGBT group on campus,” Stilley said. “But now, it’s like a snowball. These events draw in more people who help make it bigger each year.” Response to the event was “surprisingly positive,” according to Sextro. “Some people can be sensitive about stuff like this, but so far, no one’s complained or reacted negatively to what we’re doing here today,” Sextro said. Mariya Vaughan, K-State LGBT and Allies adviser, also said there was a
“very positive” response. “It can sometimes be difficult to get people to stop by (at the event),” Vaughan said. “They’re trying to get lunch or they have busy schedules, but the main purpose of this is to engage with people.” The Coming Out Day celebration, Vaughan said, “shows that we’re here, and that we’re welcoming.” Vaughan said that the Coming Out Day event served as a reminder of the LGBT and Allies’ presence on campus. “It’s good to show students that there’s an LGBT presence on campus, for the students that have come out, are thinking about coming out, or even straight students who have come out or might want to come out as LGBT allies,” Vaughan said. “Students looking for a safe place will know that K-State has it.”
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OPINION tuesday, october 13, 2015
Student selection: effects of Manifest Destiny
case of the Cherokee, words exist for every last berry, stem and toadstool in the Southern Appalachians, including their uses. This language developed with thousands of years of Cherokees making a living in the forested Appalachian slopes. Different languages are not quirks, they are refinements. They are finely tuned reflections of the landscapes in which they formed for millenniums. Languages allow humans to make livings within those landscapes. When you take away a land, you take away language, and you destroy knowledge of how to make a living.
JORDAN THOMAS the collegian
“We’re living the American Dream.” Daniel Martinez, 25, bent over the irrigation ditch that ran across his property, pressing seeds of corn into the mud. A solar-powered adobe house built by his family sat on a knoll behind us, with a backdrop of soaring mountains. Martinez is a Pueblo Indian in Taos, New Mexico, and his ancestors have worked the land in this place for thousands of years. The Taos Pueblo are one of the only Native American tribes that were never moved off their land, and both the landscape and culture reflects this. Martinez, with his jet-black ponytail and narrow face, led me across the land, pointing out fruit trees, herbs and plants that are unique to this valley. These plants have been bred selectively for this high-desert landscape for as much as 15,000 years, which is debatably the oldest evidence of human activity in the Southwest. By 2,000 years ago, Martinez’s ancestors had built cities with enormous farms covering the mesa-tops, and vast trade networks stretched from California to the Gulf of Mexico. Martinez and the Taos Pueblo continue this legacy of working the land. Personal farms sown by inherited native seeds dot the fields outside of homes built by the community. The native language, Tiwa, has formed around this plant-focused lifestyle and continues to be passed on orally from elder to child. The Taos Pueblo were never removed from their land, have an abundance of healthy food and a vibrant native culture. This is not the norm in most modern indigenous communities. Language and culture are intertwined with the land and the ways people make livings off of the land. Most native communities in the present have been moved off of ancestral land, disconnected from native language and lost the knowledge of self-subsistence included in both. The result tends to be either obesity in reservations without access to healthy food or malnourishment on the fringes of society. There are three types of national policy we should be aware of: policy dealing with the welfare of
MANIFEST DESTINY
Photo Courtesy | JORDAN THOMAS
The ancient home of the Taos Pueblo Native Americans. other humans, those which involve the spending of our money and those which deal with the ripples of a history which is beyond our control. Around the globe, but particularly in the U.S., a general understanding of these topics could dispel many misconceptions surrounding continued involvement with Native Americans. This article should dispel some popular myths surrounding Native American government funding, while also granting a fresh lens to some of the sources and causes of native poverty.
LANGUAGE AND ECOLOGY
A year prior to my time in New Mexico, I sat in a thatched hut with an indigenous family in the Panamanian jungle. Local lore stated that my recent dreams of my girlfriend had made me susceptible to snake bites, so I had trodden carefully along the sunbathed mountain ridges and through dense muddy thickets as I entered Ngäbe land. A bowl of rice and yucca was placed in my hands as a monsoon swept the wooden hut. An older man brandished a machete as he
described a boa constrictor that had attacked his chicken. He spoke in Spanish, for only about 1,000 words survive of his native tongue. The language began dying when the Ngäbe fled from Spanish swords and missionaries hundreds of years ago, leaving their fertile valleys for sanctuary in the mountains. Entire swaths of botanical terminology relevant to feeding themselves in their former home were forgotten in this new context. Evangelists later penetrated the mountains, intent on destroying the religious beliefs which had acted as a final repertoire of natural knowledge. Now the language has become as elusive as the tangled cobwebs of a waking dream. The simple diet of the region reflects the loss of the language. Along with the language died knowledge of herb identification, use and location. As Spanish words filled in the language vacuum, rice and yucca filled in the space of lost botanical knowledge. These plants, rich in starch, are enough to fill an empty belly, but lack the protein and nutrients necessary for sustained health. This same loss of land and language can help us understand
modern Native American situations of poverty and diabetes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than one in four Native Americans live in poverty. In some native communities, unemployment reaches as high as 85 percent, and diabetes rates are soaring over 60 percent. Imagine knowing that over half of the people who are important to you would die of the same disease. Why? Language is many things, but here it can be best understood as functional. Language can function to allow people to make livings in their landscapes. In class, I have my students close their eyes and picture themselves dropped into the midst of the Amazon Rainforest. Immersed in the canopy, they describe what they see. The vocabulary used is remarkably simple: “green,” plant,” tree,” none of which would be conducive to surviving in that place. If you were to ask a Shuar native what he sees, the vocabulary expands from several words to thousands. Each separate leaf would have a name that also informs the speaker of its medicinal uses, edibility and historical mythology. Likewise, in the
A national history that many Americans prefer to forget is one in which native languages and lifestyles were systematically destroyed with the belief that Native American culture could be squeezed into the mold of an English speaking cash economy. Perhaps intentions were not malicious. In 1830, when the Indian Removal Act was passed to banish all Natives from their homelands east of the Mississippi, the popular national sentiment was one of inevitable progress. In many minds, European society represented the pinnacle of progress towards which all other types of global societies were inevitably moving. Ironically, many native societies at the time would have been considered wildly successful by current standards, with complete social equality, plentiful food, relaxed working hours, vibrant nightly entertainment and zero carbon footprint. Without scarcity, there was little need for change. In the name of progress, however, Native Americans were banished from their lands and placed in small barren reservations. Soon, government workers began forcibly removing native children from their families and placing them into Indian Schools. “They couldn’t speak their language,” explained a Native American woman who prefers to remain anonymous, speaking of the Indian Schools. “Even the art they did wouldn’t be allowed because it reminded them of who they are.” These Indian Schools continued from the late 19th century until the 1950s and 1960s. see page
5, “NATIVE”
Media coverage of mass shootings creates copycat problem
COURTNEY BURKE the collegian
I I was on the phone the other day talking about what happened at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon when reports started coming out about two more shootings, one at Northern Arizona University and a second at Texas Southern University. The sad thing was that I wasn’t shocked. Not even a little bit. I’ve been desensitized to mass shootings and I don’t think I’m the only one. I can remember watching every news report after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007,
but when reports of the UCC shooting were released I didn’t even turn on the television. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t just as horrified, but I didn’t want to flip through two dozen channels with nonstop coverage of the same faces of traumatized students, worried families and shocked community members. “Somehow this has become routine,” President Obama said in his statement about the Umpqua shootings. “The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this. We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston.” And he’s right. Mass shootings used to throw newsrooms into chaos, but now it seems like reporters know exactly how to cover them. Everything is covered exactly the same, from where to be and what to say, to
how to act and what to release. Something that is new, however, is the fear of a “copycat killer.” In July, researchers presented evidence that, based on a mathematical contagion model usually applied to the spread of diseases, mass killings and school shootings may be “contagious,” according to a Newsweek article titled “Mass Shootings and News Media: A Connection?” This means that similar acts of violence are inspired by recent events. Lead author Sherry Towers said to Newsweek that what the researchers found was that “in (incidents) that didn’t get a lot of media attention there was no contagion, and in the ones where we did see a lot of media attention, that’s where we saw the contagion.” The study found that in 30 percent of mass killings and 22 percent of school shootings, there seemed to be some sort of “inspiration,” and a copycat
Street Talk compiled by Miranda Snyder
KATHRYN HAFFNER
killer would usually strike within 13 days of seeing the event that “inspired” them. “Not only is this copycat problem far more serious than is generally understood, there are now clear indications that some individuals who plan and carry out these crimes are influenced by sensational news coverage of prior attacks,” Mark Follman, national affairs editor for Mother Jones, said in an Oct. 9 New York Times “Room for Debate” article. “Their desire for notoriety traces from as far back as the 1999 Columbine massacre to the recent shooting of two TV journalists in Virginia.” So, what can the media start doing differently? Some argue that media outlets should refrain from releasing the identity of shooting suspects altogether, ending the unintentional glorifying of their actions. This isn’t realistic, in my opinion. People will demand to know who is responsible, but that does
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not mean that media needs to publish video rants filmed by the suspect or graphic photos and posts from their personal social media pages. “Most of us are disturbed or repulsed by images of a killer posing with a gun or sporting a maniacal grin,” Follman said, “but aspiring copycats see an antihero who’s gone from being a miserable nobody to a world-famous somebody with a few pulls of a trigger.” Something else that media needs to do is end the race to be the first news outlet to tweet, broadcast or report unconfirmed information. Too often do I see an already traumatized student, still shaking from what has happened, already on television giving an interview. Reporters want to be the first with the scoop, and in their attempt to accomplish this, they forget that victims and witnesses are just that: victims and witnesses. “Nothing the news media
does will end the scourge of mass shootings ... ,” Follman said. “But if there are steps journalists can take to help reduce the frequency of these slaughters — while still reporting aggressively and robustly — we should seriously consider them.” The media cannot, and should not, be blamed for the actions of unstable killers, but they can be held accountable for being accurate before being first and being empathetic before interviewing. It is important to get information out to the public, but it is more important to be mindful of those tragically and unwillingly involved. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Collegian.
Courtney Burke is a senior in mass communications. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
IF YOU COULD BE FAMOUS FOR ANY REASON WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE FAMOUS FOR AND WHY?
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sophomore,
FRANK SANDOVAL
STERLING MUSE
FRANK EVANS
ELEANOR ENGLISH
music education
junior, construction science and management
“I would like to be an opera singer because that’s been my dream since I was a little girl.”
“Stopping world hunger because it’s really sad to see people starving when I can help.”
“Funding organizations for children and the elderly because giving back to the community is important.”
“I would like to be famous for being excessively wealthy because if you have to be famous for something then you might as well be rich too.”
“Marrying Liam Hemsworth.”
junior, marketing
junior, economics
junior, biology
5
tuesday, october 13, 2015
Football team working through some kinks
TIMOTHY EVERSON the collegian
fun.
So... Saturday was not
One could compare it to a roller coaster that was fun throughout the first half; you hit some twists and turns, and you go up and down big hills. Then, suddenly, about halfway through, your harness comes undone and now you’re clinging for your life, praying not to be thrown from the metal behemoth. Right when you think you’ve made it safely back to the docking station without falling out, Trevone Boykin throws a 55-yard touchdown pass to Josh Doctson, and you fall, lying spread eagle
next to a lost flip-flop and five-day-old vomit. To paraphrase Alec Baldwin in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Coffee is for closers and wins are for closers,” and right now, after falling to two currently top-20 teams (one of which was on the road) by a combined nine points, the Wildcats are 0-2 in Big 12 play and have a caffeine deficiency. Even with how the events of Saturday shook out, however, there are plenty of silver linings that weary K-State fans can ponder as they await another matchup with a top-20 team. First of all, the injuries this K-State team has endured are nothing short of a biblical plague. Except, while swarming locusts or frogs might actually help K-State close out a conference game, a never-ending list of injuries will not. Last weekend, with the exception of sophomore safety Kaleb Prewett, the Wildcats were working with
almost an entirely new secondary team from what they started with in August. Needless to say, it was easy pickings for two Heisman candidates to exploit. The secondary is still not where it needs to be, and schools like Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Baylor will abuse them more than Boykin and company did. The point is that while the maturation of a young cornerback or safety is rough to watch, it will be worth it in the end. If the progression of Dante Barnett has shown us anything, it’s that Duke Shelley, Sean Newlan and Prewett’s maturation processes might be painful at times, but the results will be overwhelmingly positive. Switching to the offensive end, quarterback Joe Hubener is improving game by game, and while Bill Snyder has once again tailored his offense to Hubener, in that first half they were rolling.
The wide receivers are getting more confident, running backs are starting to help carry the load, and the offensive line (now that senior Boston Stiverson is back) is getting a great push up front, giving Hubener room and time to operate. Eventually this team will fully turn the corner. Before the injuries even happened, the start of the Big 12 schedule was still incredibly daunting. Don’t be surprised if K-State falls to 3-3 after befalling an angry Oklahoma team, but at the same time, don’t be surprised if they pull off the win. This team has arrived and come hell or high water, or Baylor, they might be here to stay. They just have to find a way to stay in their roller coaster. Timothy Everson is a junior in mass communications. Please send comments to sports@ kstatecollegian.com.
File Photo by George Walker | THE COLLEGIAN
Junior quarterback Joe Hubener takes the ball downfield during the football game between K-State and Texas Christian University Saturday in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Marquee match-ups are featured this week in college football
CHRIS ROBINSON the collegian
UCLA (18) AT STANFORD (15)
UCLA is coming off a bye week after a disappointing home loss to Arizona State on Oct. 3. They travel to Stanford who is also coming off a
bye week. Stanford has won four straight after losing their first game of the season. This game can be seen at 9:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.
winner Johnny Manziel at the helm in 2012. Catch kickoff for this SEC showdown at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
ALABAMA (10) AT TEXAS A&M (9)
FLORIDA (8) AT LSU (6)
The battle for SEC West supremacy stops in College Station, Texas. Alabama is coming off a 27-14 win against Arkansas. They have won three straight after losing to Ole Miss. Texas A&M is coming off a bye week. They are looking to beat Alabama for the second time since joining the SEC, with the last time coming with Heisman
Florida is proving to be a contender in the SEC East this year, winning week after week. Last weekend the Gators beat Missouri 21-3. Florida, however, will be without starting quarterback Will Grier for the rest of the season after he was suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. This is a huge advantage for LSU.
The Tigers defeated South Carolina 45-24 at home; the game was originally scheduled to be held in South Carolina, but due to the floods, the game was moved to Baton Rouge. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.
USC AT NOTRE DAME (14)
USC vs. Notre Dame has always been a staple nonconference game that fans are accustomed to watching every year. This year’s game will be interesting after head coach Steve Sarkisian was fired Monday after previously
showing up to a team meeting drunk. On top of this, USC lost its last game to Washington 17-12. Notre Dame is coming off a victory against Navy by a score of 41-24. The absence of their head coach can either help propel USC or be their downfall. It will be interesting to see what happens. This game is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC.
MICHIGAN STATE (7) AT MICHIGAN (12) This is a huge rivalry in the Big 10, and College GameDay will travel to Ann Arbor for the game. Michigan
NATIVE | American legacy
JMC | Students, alumni of material, spiritual poverty speak up about concerns continued from page
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“They showed up with a bus and took what kids they found. If you tried to keep your kid they would beat you. It was traumatizing. A lot of people don’t talk about it.”
IMPACT ON NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE
Cultures do not suddenly blossom into cash economies. Cultures and languages acutely refined to different lands and economies develop for thousands of years, and are not easily supplanted, even under policies of ethnic cleansing. Native American rates of astounding poverty may be reflections of a people refusing to be forcibly assimilated into a language and economy that have been imposed. In dealing with the ripples of a past, looming as recently as one or two generations, in which the U.S. government removed natives from their land and crippled their economies, it stands to reason that the government allocates money for basic services on reservations. Contrary to what many Americans believe, however, the U.S. government does not simply mail checks to people just because they are Native Americans. Rather, some government allocations are dispersed among more than 560 tribes for housing, social programs, health care and other basic
needs; just as they are for the rest of the U.S. citizens. Native Americans, comprising roughly 2 percent of the U.S. population, receive just over 2 percent as much funding for these services as is allocated by the government for the general population. In Martinez’s field on native land in New Mexico, I was drawn to reflect upon his internalization of the American Dream. In a race for material possessions, the latest iPhone or diesel truck, many Americans seem to have lost sight of what the American dream once meant. A place to call home, healthy food on the table and a warm community of family and friends who know you and love you; this is the American dream that Martinez spoke of as he planted his corn. When you are happy you don’t always need more, but can be content with enough. The Taos Pueblo have not been uprooted from their land, language and economy, and this is the American dream that Martinez is able to live. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Collegian.
Jordan Thomas is a senior in anthropology. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
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Widman said her classes alone did not prepare her for the digital media jobs she has applied for because students are not being taught the new software many of her potential employers expect her to understand. She said she learned these skills through her experiences outside of the classroom, primarily working for Wildcat Watch. “If we’re going to be a journalism program and a school that can compete in terms of new grads looking for jobs and things like that, we have to be able to say that we’re prepared for this modern and ever-changing society,” Widman said. Williams also said that students have to get involved in order to learn all of the skills necessary to be a successful journalist. “We’ve got the base curriculum, and you can come out of that with a pretty good knowledge, but you’re not really going to learn anything unless you go out and get your hands dirty,” Williams said. A few of the alumni who created the petition and the JMC advisory board met with Peter Dorhout, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, over the summer to discuss the petition and issues surrounding it. “We still felt like we weren’t nec-
essarily being taken seriously,” Widman said. Widman said she felt their concerns still weren’t being heard, and nothing seemed to come of the meeting. However, Williams said he thinks one result of that meeting was the creation of a student position on the hiring committee for the news director and instructor who will replace Harvey. “There is a student on the hiring committee, which is something that I think came from all of this anger and knee-jerk reactions that happened over the summer,” Williams said. When asked for an interview about the situation, Birgit Wassmuth, director of the Miller School, said via email that the school had no position on the matter. “Regarding your inquiry, you need to know that I have not received a petition,” Wassmuth said in the email. “Nobody asked me for a meeting regarding any issues that may have come up over the summer.” Williams said changes tend to happen when there is outrage, and he’s not hearing a lot of outrage about this situation at the moment. “So it may stay right where it’s at right now because there aren’t a lot of people talking about it,” Williams said.
State is coming off a close 31-24 victory at Rutgers, whose quarterback helped the Spartans win by spiking the ball on fourth down. Michigan, however, looked great in all aspects while defeating Northwestern 38-0. Michigan returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and never looked back. Kickoff for this rivalry game is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. Chris Robinson is a junior in mass communications. Please send comments to sports@kstatecollegian.com.
BRIEFS | Two grants awarded continued from page
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According to K-State Today, Youwei Yang, senior in agricultural economics, will receive the Research Grant; Ted Schroeder, university distinguished professor of agricultural economics, is Yang’s mentor. Stephanie Troyer, junior in music education, will receive the Travel Grant; Troyer’s research mentor is Ruth Gurgel, assistant professor of music. Each semester, Travel and Research grants are awarded by Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry. Undergraduates in any major or field are eligible to apply for the grants.
ACCIDENT ON TUTTLE CREEK BOULEVARD SENDS ONE TO HOSPITAL
Authorities and emergency teams responded to a two-vehicle accident that occurred at the intersection of Tuttle Creek Boulevard and East Poyntz on Friday at approximately 7:10 a.m. According to the report filed by the Riley County Police Department, police and emergency crews responded after a 2007 Pontiac G6, driven by Montana Adams, 16, of Manhattan, collided with a 2012 Ford Fusion driven by Alice Snowberg, 28, also of Manhattan. Adams was issued a citation for following too close and was taken to Via Christi Hospital for her injuries.
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