FOOTBALL WINS...PAGE 8 The students’ voice since 1901 • Vol. 111 No. 9 • Thursday, October 13, 2011 • Check us out online.
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‘Fictional’ sport enchants students S usan W elte welte@esubulletin.com Muggles beware. Witches and wizards could soon be on the loose, not only because October is here, but because Quidditch, as in the “Harry Potter” game, may be coming to Emporia State. The Gamer’s Guild is considering instituting the “fictional” sport as part of the club’s regular offerings. An interest meeting was held Monday night. “Quidditch is the wonderful mesh of geek and jock into awesome,” said Andrew von Seggern, junior secondary education speech and theater major. “It’s not your normal football or basketball– it’s Quidditch. There’s
nothing else like it. This is a new sport for people to dip their toes into.” According to the International Quidditch Association Rulebook, the magical sport was first adapted for real life use in 2005, when a college freshman from Vermont wanted to try something new. “College is a time where there should be lots of unique and interesting new things,” said Jon Leach, graduate TESOL major, “People are changing their personalities, and discovering themselves. This is just another adventure.” Quidditch is played generally the same way as J.K. Rowling intended it to be in her series, with a few exceptions.
Not every student is fortunate to have Madame Hooch to teach him or her how to fly, so participants must hold a broomstick between their legs, and virtually play the game onehanded. The Snitch, instead of a tiny, fluttering ball, is a teammate dressed in yellow who can run or hide wherever he or she wants, as long as it is within the perimeter of campus, according to the rulebook. “The snitch has so much freedom in what he or she gets to do inside of the game,” von Seggern said. “The snitch gets to decide when the game is done because it’s whenever they get caught.” There are now 100 teams and 2,000 participants in the Quidditch
Like a Rolling Stone
World Cup, which has occurred for four consecutive years. These teams include University of Kansas, who recently won the Midwest Quidditch Cup, according to Worldcupquidditch.com. Part of the reason the Gamer’s Guild wants to bring Quidditch to ESU is because it is a combination of sports and there is something for everyone, von Seggern said. Maggie Wilson, freshman undecided major, said she wants to participate because she loves sports and Harry Potter. “In high school, if you’re not good at a particular sport, you end up sitting on the bench,” Leach said. “This is something new, and all of the kids
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Hornets aim to ‘Can the Bods’ B rooke S chultz schultz@esubulletin.com
Physical Plant workers Bruce Love(right) and Dick Weatherholt(left) unload landscaping stones on the east side of the Memorial Union Tuesday afternoon. Weatherholt designed and is implementing the landscaping as part of their contribution to the Union remodel. The stones were trucked in from Pyramid Stones Quarry near Olpe and weigh a little over one ton. John Henningsen/The Bulletin
Students play Quidditch last Thursday evening. The snitch placed a plastic bag in their back pocket while their opponent schased after them. John Henningsen/The Bulletin
After getting “canned” by Washburn University last year, Emporia State is stepping up the competition for “Can the Bods” this year. “We get canned every year, but not this year because we’ve actually been making a lot of strides so far,” said Jennifer Cheray, senior marketing major and vice president of Associated Student Government. Each year, ESU takes on Washburn in a competition to see who can collect the most canned food items. Last year, ESU collected around 2,000 cans while Washburn collected about 20,000 cans. In order to win the competition, ASG has added some new tactics, Cheray said. “We’ve partnered with KVOE and their Pack the Pantry drive, and we’ve also partnered with the Residence Halls so every floor is competing for a pizza party and we’re also working with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee,” Cheray said. “So we’re trying to hit as many groups as we can to really up our 2,000 from last year.” A competition between the campus’ Recognized Student Organizations has also been imple-
mented. This year, the group that raises the most money will receive a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart, courtesy of ASG. “We want to reach out to as many people as we can and we know that RSOs touch a big group of students and a competition’s always a good way to get good results,” Cheray said, “and we think that a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart is a pretty good price for RSOs to use on anything they need for their events. So we’re kind of trying to help out both sides.” Cheray said that for students attending the Homecoming Bonfire, can donations will be accepted as admission. There are also multiple places that students can drop off their donations, including the Sauder Alumni Center, William Allen White Library and the Center for Student Involvement. Ashley Vogts, senior interdisciplinary studies major and president of ASG, said that the can collection began on Oct. 1 and will run through Nov. 1. “We’re already pretty much above what we were last year, so that’s good,” Vogts said. Vogts said that all of the cans that are collected will go to local
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Flu shots may help New meters, permits bring keep students in class revenue to police and safety B rooke S chultz schultz@esubulletin.com Every year thousands of people get the flu, and for some, it can be fatal. In order to reduce the number of flu instances that occur on campus this year, the Health and Wellness Center is offering flu shot clinics. “We normally do anywhere from 500 to 800 flu shots in a season,” said Mary McDaniel, director of health services. McDaniel said that each year varies on when shots are given, depending on when the virus is expected to manifest in the population. Typically, 300 to 400 students choose to get the shot at the Health Center every year. McDaniel said the health staff can tell when there was a low number of students receiving the shot because actual flu cases tend to increase and more students miss class. On average, 5 to 20 percent of people in the United States
get the flu each year. This then leads to around 200,000 people being hospitalized, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. But McDaniel said that there are actually few reasons why students should not get the vaccination, which includes certain medical conditions. “There’s a handful of reasons why you shouldn’t (get the flu shot) medically, and those are gone over at the time of the shot,” McDaniel said. Some students like Kate Churchill, sophomore communications major, choose not to receive the shot because it can cause flu-like symptoms. “I’ve had more friends get sick from getting the flu shot than not getting the flu shot, so I just won’t do it,” Churchill said. Churchill said that she has not received the vaccination since she was a very young
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R ocky R obinson robinson@esubulletin. Green parking permits are now available to off campus students. The permits – which go for $70 each – have traditionally been reserved for residents of student housing. But this year’s 4.6 percent enrollment drop created an unexpected parking surplus in some green permit zones, according to Capt. Chris Hoover, director of police and safety. It has also created congestion around the Towers complex, where most residents are incoming freshman. “The freshman parking lot is always full,” said Mason Teeter, a freshman majoring in business administration. “It makes me not want to leave so I don’t lose my spot. And when I do leave, I have to drive around for 15 minutes just to find another one.” The green permits are being offered to off campus students in
Photo Illustraion by John Henningsen/The Bulletin
order to relieve parking congestion in other areas, Hoover said, and to gain revenue. A few green permits had already been sold and there are also plans to add meters to the Morse parking lot. “If I am late to class in the morning, then I use the meters,”
said Carlos Urgiles, sophomore biochemistry and molecular biology major. “If I am not late or am going to take more than a couple hours, I just find free parking on the streets somewhere. I am already wasting money on gas so I have to bal-
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