Issue 23 - Nov. 5, 2012 - Grand Valley Lanthorn

‘WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES’ raises awareness, education

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS

LAKER LIFE, B1

SPORTS, B1

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M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 5 , 2 01 2

DECISION

TIME ELECTION 2012

Latest likely voter polls show that this presidential election race is close, with just one percent standing in between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. On Nov. 6, it’s time to make a decision.

Make yours matter.

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GV plans for $78.2 M in construction in 2013

BY ANYA ZENTMEYER GVL EDITOR IN CHIEF

Grand Valley State University is gaining more ground in Grand Rapids with the approval of $1.2 million purchase for seven remaining properties on the Lafayette-Hastings block near the downtown CookDeVos Health Sciences building on the Medical Mile to make room for expansion of the university’s health care programs.

“This means we now

own all of the parcels in the Hastings-Lafayette block which we believe will be a positive development for the neighborhood and will enable us to have more flexibility when we plan for an additional health sciences building in the coming years,” said Matt McLogan, vice president of public relations.

Opened in 2003, GVSU’s Center for Health Sciences is at capacity, with about SEE CONSTRUCTION, A2

BO ANDERSON | GVL

Cutting costs: GVSU Facilities Engineer and energy manager Terry Pahl has worked to cut energy costs across the campus.

Utilities services save on energy projects

By Lizzy Balboa GVL News Editor

B

eginning in November and running through January, students living on the Grand Valley State University campuses will participate in the annual energysavings contest to get in the habit of cutting down on electricity use.

Every year, GVSU hosts the energy contests between housing centers and has them compete against the three-year electrical averages of the same building. While the competition may seem relaxed, the university relies on students to cut back on energy costs.

After all, the school spends $95,000 each month on electricity in residence buildings, according to Terry Pahl, GVSU energy manager.

But electricity is not the only expense. The living centers on all four campuses use about $46,000 worth of gas and $50,000 worth of water per month.

As campus officials encourage

students to cut energy costs, they also work to do so in other areas of the university.

This November, GVSU will pay about $26,000 for electricity, $102,000 for gas and $33,000 for water in the academic buildings on its four campuses. It also shells out to buy steam for the downtown campus, which cost about $177,714 last year.

Lesser-recognized expenses also add up, like replacing $95 worth of batteries and $5,300 worth of toilet paper each month, said Steve Leeser, operations supervisor of Facilities Services.

For Internet services, Director of Information Technology Sue Korzinek said the university pays an annual fee of $250,000 as a governing member of a Michigan university consortium. Korzinek said the housing department also pays $7.58 per room with cable per month, providing for 5,579 connections in housing and dining facilities and 227 connections in academic, athletic and student service buildings.

The university does not rest content with its utilities spending, though - especially when it comes to energy.

Pahl said for the last three years the energy budget has steadily dropped from $7.3 million to $7.1 million. Most of the money—about $4.2 million—goes to electric costs.

Gas makes up about $1.8 million and water is about $1 million. Steam costs the least at about $178,000.

The university has a lot of meters on campus to measure how much of the resources are used, Pahl said. “You have to measure and know where you’re at before you can reduce.”

And GVSU is dedicated to reducing.

It works to be sustainable and cost-effective through seven different projects and methods.

First is through its purchase of resources. Pahl looks for the utility companies with the best rates, monitors bills, aggregates pipelines and chooses the cheapest fuel source SEE UTILITIES, A2

ERIC COULTER | GVL

Fall cleaning: Collin DeHaan and Josh Shroedter work a seasonal job by clean up yard waste in front of the Connection.

Seasonal jobs offer income for students

By Rachel Cross GVL Assistant News

Many college students are urged to find more income on holiday breaks, giving them a chance to gain some extra cash when they’re not taking a full class load.

Grand Valley State University’s student employment office assists students in the process of finding these seasonal jobs. The

main resource the office offers to students is the job board on GVSU’s website, which is an online database where students can search for on and off-campus jobs.

Luis Lozano, assistant director at the student employment office, said the job board covers part-time jobs within the Grand Rapids perimeter which students can drive to in 45 minutes or less.

SEE SEASONAL, A2

A2 Rapid updates bus safety measures at GVSU NEWS

Easy Rider: The Rapid bus system has made changes to the “Please remain seated“ warning in every bus to ensure safety for riders.

AMY HAMMOND | GVL

By Rachel Cross GVL Assistant News

M

easures are being taken to better ensure that Grand Valley State University students who ride the Rapid have a successful trip to their destinations.

If you were attending classes this summer at GVSU, you may have noticed a new safety feature that has been added to the bus system. The voiceover now encourages riders to “Please remain seated.” said Jennifer Kalczuk, external relations manager at the Rapid, she said this was a system-wide change.

“When reviewing slip and fall incidents, we noticed that our customers were pulling the stop request cord and

UTILITIES

CONTINUED FROM A1

(gas or fuel) each year. The aggregation of property means many buildings operate using the same pipelines instead of separate ones; limiting the number of lines allows GVSU to operate with better utility rates.

Pahl and the Energy Committee also control building temperatures to prevent wasting heating or cooling on uninhabited buildings. Another savings effort is implementing control systems like sensors that direct specific utilities to turn on when necessary so energy is not constantly or needlessly used.

They are also working on installing efficient lighting, and updating infrastructure - for example, providing boiler tune-ups to save power.

The sixth method involves renovation of buildings to add things like insulation or windows to cut down on annual costs, and the final method is doing things like promoting energy savings among students and monitoring sustainability efforts.

Pahl said most energy projects will help save money the year they are initiated, but some, like installation of energy-conserving lights, continue to save money throughout the following years.

For example, the university has dropped its annual power usage in Pew parking ramps by 60 percent by switching from metal halide lights to

then getting out of their seats by the exit when the bus stopped,” said Steve Luther, safety and training officer at the Rapid. “We felt that an announcement would allow our customers to be involved in their own safety and it was a way to let them know that it was okay to remain seated.”

Luther added that the training for bus operators is quite involved and interactive to ensure that bus drivers are prepared to drive efficiently for students around the city of Grand Rapids.

“Our bus operators receive approximately eight weeks of training and it includes both bus safety and customer service awareness training,” Luther said.

LED lights.

“We were paying out $61,000 to $65,000 throughout a year,” Pahl said. “I’m expecting we’re going to pay out $24,000 a year (now). That’s a significant drop.”

GVSU won an award in 2011 for an energy-savings project that will continue to pay out for years. The Association of Energy Engineers recognized the university as the first Michigan institution to install “aircuity” systems, which conserve energy in science labs. Prior to the installation, the labs experienced eight to 12 air changes per hour to bring in fresh air. The new system samples the lab air to see if the room even requires a change. If not, only two to four changes are given.

Pahl said the first system in the Padnos Hall of Science a few years ago cost $38,000, but its estimated annual savings is $30,000, leading to payback in slightly over one year.

The university will spend $234,500 in fiscal year 13 to install aircuity systems in the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences. Pahl estimated an annual savings of about $78,000, allowing for a three-year payback.

Other initiatives taking place throughout the year are a boiler replacement and lighting projects in parking lots and the sports arena.

Some lighting projects are not only meant to conserve energy, but conserve the lights, themselves. “We purchase about $5,800 of light bulbs

“We include courses and training material from the National Safety Council, the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration.”

Mark Rambo, manager of operations at GVSU, said the Rapid is directly responsible for providing the driver training safety improvements to the vehicles, as well as operating under very strict federal guidelines for passenger safety.

“As a partner of the Rapid, our shared goal is to ensure that our students, faculty and staff are provided safe and efficient service,” Rambo said.

GVSU annually surveys riders about quality and safety, and Rambo said the response rate last year was excellent. Last year, 53 percent of riders, including faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students said they thought the bus drivers’ driving skills and safety were good. In addition, 75 percent said they owned a vehicle but still chose to ride the bus. Overall, the GVSU population agreed that, for the most part, the GVSU bus schedule met their needs.

The Rapid busses run regularly, Monday through Sunday. On weekdays, the busses at GVSU run every seven minutes and on weekends it runs every hour. For a detailed list of bus stops and schedules, visit www.gvsu.edu/bus/busroutes-and-schedules-52.htm. assistantnews@lanthorn.com

per month,” Leeser said. “As technology advances, we are able to switch to light bulbs that use less electricity and last longer.”

GVSU is also bringing in a design firm to perform an energy audit on Padnos to look for areas where money can be saved.

In yet another initiative, the university will go - and has gone through one building every year to change out lights, install motion sensors and program air systems to act more cost-effectively.

Even if GVSU stopped looking for ways to improve utility costs, Pahl said it would continue to save money that it had been spending for years.

“We could stop doing energy projects, and $1.7 million is what we’re not paying utility companies (because of past projects),” Pahl said.

The university doesn’t just save money on projects, though, it earns money back from the energy companies. Pahl said utility companies offer rebates for energy projects, and GVSU has increased its earnings over the years.

During the first few years of the program, the university earned only about $15,000 back, but last year it earned $145,000, and Pahl expects about $165,000 this year.

But he won’t take time to celebrate.

“We don’t do a good job of patting ourselves on the back,” Pahl said. “We’re busy doing projects.” news@lanthorn.com

NOVEMBER 5, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

SEASONAL JOBS CONTINUED FROM A1

“The student employment office is very successful in terms of finding seasonal jobs, especially during the summer months,” Lozano said.

Lozano said that during the school year, students with on-campus jobs are limited to work only 25 hours a week when enrolled in classes, but during breaks students can work up to 40 hours per week.

“We advertise the community itself, as well as Grandville, Muskegon and Holland,” Lozano said. “In midMarch, we host a summer job fair on campus with an average of 35 organizations.”

Samuel Schulz, GVSU senior, is a driver helper at the United Parcel Service in Grand Rapids in the winter from Thanksgiving until Christmas, where he rides along with the UPS driver and helps make deliveries to households.

Schulz said his seasonal job starts before the semester ends, and during this time, he picks up another 20 to 30 hours per week on top of school.

“I would definitely recommend (seasonal jobs) to college students because it can open up different opportunities,” Schulz said. “Also, a seasonal job is only just a month or so, and that’s it. It’s a way for earning some extra money for the holiday time.”

Lozano offered a few pieces of advice for students seeking seasonal employment.

“Advice I have to students looking for a seasonal job to make them more marketable is to first access the job board,” Lozano said. “In addition, follow the application instructions very closely, if one mistake is made an employer won’t take a second look. Also, do follow up calls and send them your resume, this is an extra proactive approach to employers.”

For more information on obtaining a seasonal job, call the Student Employment Office at (616) 331-3238. assistantnews@lanthorn.com

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED FROM A1

5,000 students enrolled in nursing, physician assistant studies and occupational and physical therapy programs.

The motion was passed at the Nov. 2 Board of Trustees meeting, where trustees also selected the construction manager and project architect and engineer for a new $55 million, 144,000-square-foot biology building to be built west of Padnos Hall and Henry Hall.

This project still needs state approval, but will be funded by $30 million in state funds, and the rest through university bonds, and campus development funds.

The lab will provide space for new classrooms, teaching and research labs and faculty offices for the biology curriculum.

Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber, Inc. was chosen to be the project architect and engineer, along with Pioneer Construction as the construction manager.

“Planning for the Lab building was authorized by the Legislature in 2010, and construction was authorized last summer when Governor Snyder signed the capital outlay appropriations act,” McLogan said. “We expect to start construction in the Spring of 2013 and com-

plete it in 2015.”

With the competition of the new Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons, scheduled for spring of this year, the university will also embark on a $22 million expansion and renovation of the Zumberge Library, funded by university-issued bonds and Campus Development Funds.

At the Nov. 2 meeting, trustees approved the selection of VIA Design as the project’s architect and engineer, and Wolverine Building Group as the construction manager for Zumberge, which will be called the James H. Zumberge Hall when it reopens in 2014.

The renovation includes a 24,000-square-foot expansion to help house GVSU’s provost, human resources, finance and news and information departments into the facility in an effort to help open up classroom space in other campus buildings that were previously faculty and staff offices.

“We expect to move a number of administrative units out of classoom buildings and into Zumberge, thus recapturing space for additional classrooms and faculty offices,” McLogan said. editorial@lanthorn.com

At the Lanthorn we strive to bring you the most accurate news possible. If we make a mistake, we want to make it right. If you find any errors in fact in the Lanthorn, let us know by calling 616-331-2464 or by emailing editorial@lanthorn.com.

Lanthorn Volume 47, Number 23 The Grand Valley Lanthorn is published twice-weekly by Grand Valley State University students 62 times a year.

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NEWS

Grand Valley Lanthorn

N E W S

Senate hosts Run with Love 5K

Kids get in free at last football game Kids under the age of 12 were admitted free to the Grand Valley State University game Nov. 3 against Wayne State University. Two children were let into the football game per each adult ticket. “Kids Free Day” had free activities in the Fieldhouse Arena before the game from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Accountability report shows improvement Recently, Grand Valley State University’s annual Accountability Report indicated that the university is significantly excelling in specific areas. The report was revealed Nov. 2 at the Board of Trustees meeting and presents facts from outside sources that demonstrate that GVSU received a strong return on investment for students as well as their families that live in Michigan. Some of the highlights of this report are that GVSU receives the lowest state funding per student compared to any other Michigan public university, and 84 percent of recent graduates who are employed are working and giving back to the community in Michigan.

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BALLOT BREAKDOWN

BRIEFS The Grand Valley State University Student Senate hosted a 5K run Run with Love on Nov. 3 on the Allendale campus. All the proceeds from the race are going to the Battle of the Valleys’ charity this year: The Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan. The foundation was also present at the race to provide students with more information about itself and its cause. Student Senate encourages students to donate to the charity through any of their fundraisers, which includes buying a t-shirt when available or donating a debit dollar.

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

With only one day left until the polls open, here’s the latest on where each candidate stands on issues that matter to Millennials.

BY LIZZY BALBOA GVL NEWS EDITOR

OBAMA

ROMNEY

Supports moving overseas jobs back to the U.S. His “Bring Jobs Back Home Act” offered a 20 percent tax break for American companies who move back to the states. He also supports increasing American manufacturing and construction jobs, decreasing dependence on foreign oil to increase domestic jobs, and expanding the number of American math and science teachers.

Supports insuring and providing health care to more Americans with the Affordable Care law. His plan allows dependents to remain insured under their parents’ health care policy until the age of 26, rather than 19.

Supports innovative state plans to improve teaching quality and academic achievement. He developed the Race to the Top program offering $4.35 billion worth of competitive grants to encourage state efforts to implement reforms cutting college tuition. He also more than doubled federal spending on college Pell Grants for low-income students.

Obama encourages Congress to cut federal aid to colleges that raise tuition too high.

Supports; repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy

Supports

JOBS

HEALTH CARE EDUCATION

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ABORTION

Supports raising visa caps for skilled workers to keep domestic jobs in American hands. He also plans to continue the Bush tax cuts and drop corporate tax rates from 35 to 25 percent. His plan is to increase jobs by reforming the tax code, stimulating trade and decreasing the economy’s energy dependence.

Opposes and will work to repeal the Affordable Care law.

He considers health care plans not in the realm of national power and favors state-level health care laws. However, he has said his plan would allow dependents under the age of 26 to remain on their parents’ health care policy.

Supports offering students school of choice and providing them only qualified teachers. For college students, he argues for less government financial aid and more private lenders to get involved, which he said will discourage colleges from increasing tuition rates. He intends to restrict eligibility for Pell Grants to provide for only the students who need it the most.

Opposes, but supports domestic partnerships

Opposes

Women’s Center accepting applications The Women’s Center is currently accepting director applications as well as story ideas for the second annual production of “That Takes Ovaries! Bold Women, Brazen Acts.” The Grand Valley State University community can turn in stories by submitting an email to ThatTa k e s O v a r i e s G V S U @ gmail.com. Submissions are allowed to be anonymous and shouldn’t exceed 750 words, and the deadline is Nov. 8. Auditions will be on Jan. 25 and 27, and performances of “That Takes Ovaries!” will be from Mar. 22-23.

GR businesses trend upwards In a monthly survey done by GVSU’s Brian Long, it showed that the greater Grand Rapids industrial economy has shown some improvement over the last two weeks of October. Long contributed the business gains to the improvements in the office furniture business. Also involved in the gains was a 32 percent gain in housing in the past year.

“With the housing market now nicely recovering from an apparent bottom, potential buyers are taking advantage of the record low interest rates to buy homes,” Long said in a press release.

Long also said that many business owners are waiting until after the election to begin committing new resources.

Along with that, many local business owners won’t expand or hire new people during a time of such uncertianty.

BO ANDERSON | GVL

Voting rights: Student Senator Sarah Hay shares some thoughts during a recent Student Senate meeting. State Senator Arlan Meekhof spoke to the Student Senate this past Thursday about the proposals that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot and included his opinion on how voters should vote on each individual one.

Senator talks proposals with Student Senate

BY SARAH HILLENBRAND GVL STAFF WRITER

Michigan State Senator Arlan Meekhof came to speak to the Grand Valley State University Student Senate on Thursday about the proposals that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot and discussed his feelings about each.

Meekhof opened by telling the senators that he hoped they would be informed about all the proposals and issues and what each one is about.

He also encouraged every senator to cast their vote for the candidates and proposals on the ballot.

“The least that we expect from you as a citizen is that you vote, but I hope you do more than that,” Meekhof said.

Meekhof explained what a proposal really is and how it gets on the ballot. There will be six proposals on this year’s ballot, five of which are constitutional amendments and one is a referendum. For both types

of proposal, those who create them need to get signatures for support to get them onto the ballot.

Proposal 1 is to have emergency managers that are able to come and take over a city, township or school system that is going bankrupt or needs financial help, Meekhof said, adding that he was in support of this proposal because, if a city goes bankrupt, it is the citizens who have to pay. “This proposal keeps Michigan recovering,” he said.

Collective bargaining is the focus of Proposal 2. Meekhof said he supports collective bargaining, but not the ambiguity of the law. He said by passing this proposal, other laws will be repealed, but it hasn’t been revealed to him which ones.

“I don’t think we should pass a law so we know what’s in it,” Meekhof said.

Proposal 3 is about clean energy requirements, which Meekhof said “sounds enticing” but isn’t a good plan. He said he doesn’t think

Michigan energy plans should be a part of the constitution. “No state, no matter how aggressive (for renewable energy), has put their energy policies in their constitution,” Meekhof said. His argument is that newer – and possibly better – technologies are always being discovered.

“If we find better technology, we’d have to go back and change the constitution which is hard to do,” Meekhof said.

He said there are a lot of other technologies, like storing renewable energy in battery technology, that are being discovered so the benefits of future technology would be better than implementing other renewable energy sources now.

Proposal 4 talks about establishing better quality home health care workers. Meekhof stood against this proposal because the workers have “never requested to be a part of collective bargaining at all.”

To pass Proposal 5 would mean

that any projected tax increase would have to be passed by voters.

Meekhof said tax policy doesn’t belong in the constitution and that there are many more things that need to be discussed with this issue; once it’s locked into the constitution it becomes much harder to do.

Finally, Proposal 6 reads that any new international bridge or tunnel cannot be built without asking the people first. Passing this proposal might require citizens to have to vote on every proposed bridge or tunnel to be built, Meekhof said.

The main message the state senator wanted to deliver was to be sure to be informed on the proposals before voting. Most of the student senators said they hadn’t researched the proposals but only knew of the proposals because of commercials they had seen on television.

Meekhof encouraged the students not only to vote, but to be an informed voter. shillenbrand@lanthorn.com

A4

OPINION

NOVEMBER 5, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

READ THE BLOG:

VALLEY VOTE:

LAST ISSUE’S QUESTION:

“GRADUATE STUDENT VOICE”

BY L AY N A E D I N G TO N

Who do you think will win the election?

Do you know who you are voting for in this election?

www.lanthorn.com/blog

Vote online at lanthorn.com

Y E S 88% N O 12%

EDITORIAL

GET OUT THE VOTE By the time you pick up Thursday’s edition of the Lanthorn, votes will have been cast and counted, and results on who won the 2012 election will have been announced.

This year, we won’t endorse a candidate (though we think the answer should be obvious.) Instead, we’ll endorse the youth vote, and we’ll tell you again how very real the impact will be of the outcome of this election.

Much like 2008, it has been an election for the books. Much differently from 2008, this election season has offered us neither substance nor answers, and now we’re to make one of our single most important

decisions as American citizens with the backdrop of a still-struggling economy, insane levels of student debt, a weak job market and a polarized electorate.

Aside from any accusations of apathy, it’s pretty clear that many of us are disillusioned with our government, our job market and sometimes our degree.

Us youth voters (ages 18-29) are facing an unemployment rate that’s over twice as much as our parents – 12.6 percent versus 6.7 percent of those over 30 are unemployed. Those youth voters without a degree have an even bleaker prospect, with a 20.1 percent unemployment rate.

Times are tough, GVSU, but that’s

QUESTION OF THE ISSUE

It’s about that time, GVSU. Time for the youth of America to rock the vote.

where we come in.

Currently, the Pew Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reports 46 million registered youth voters – that’s 21 percent of the population, and 17 million more than were registered in 2008. By 2015, it’s projected that Millennials will make up one-third of the electorate. Those are real (powerful) numbers – like the 66 percent of youth voters in 2008 that put our first African American president in office, and now hold a significant portion of the power to either keep him there or kick him out.

In today’s issue on A3 we did a little bit of break-down on the candidate plat-

forms, but there’s national-level, statelevel and local-level proposals that each voter has the responsibility to take the time to hash out.

If you’re still unclear, organizations like Rock the Vote or Project Vote Smart have web sites with resources that make knowing your vote easier than buying alcohol when you’re under 21. So when you’re laying in bed Tuesday morning, thinking about whether or not it’s worth it to put on your pants and get to the polls, remember that this decision isn’t between two different candidates – it’s two very different visions of what this country should look like.

GVL EDITORIAL CARTOON I BY ANDREW SMITH

What do you think will be the deciding factor in Tuesday’s election?

“I think it will come down to what seems to offer the best options for health care, employment and education.”

KELLY WILBUR

Senior, advertising & PR Grand Haven, Mich.

“Health care reform plans along with plans for future taxation.”

JAKE SEILER

Junior, Allied Health Sciences Holland, Mich.

“I feel Obama’s plan/response to hurricane Sandy may have a significant impact on the final results of the election.”

asmith@lanthorn.com

Facebook gets (even more) political

Brooke Shelton Senior, Nursing Brighton, Mich.

“I think being an informed voter will be a deciding factor in the in election – making your decision based on your values and not necessarily what is considered ‘cool’.”

LAUREN HOEHN Senior, English Bridgeman, Mich.

“One of the major factors that will influence the outcome is how informed voters are. This impacts people on a local and national level.”

Kayla Cooper Senior, English Durand, Mich.

Lanthorn

BY STEPHANIE SCHOCH GVL COLUMNIST

Statuses? Stati? What’s the plural of status? Whatever the case, political opinions are spilling over onto Facebook, infiltrating News Feeds and walls alike. So why are opinions no longer being expressed through little bubbles on ballots first, but rather, put on the Internet for the world to see?

You got me. Although in a way politically informed friends can point out newfound perspectives on certain issues, how many of your Facebook friends are actually qualified as “informed”? But let’s just

play with the idea that you found one: There’s a pretty low chance that they are not biased. So most people are really spewing out the halfchewed story when they ought to be digesting information, either way, the opinions are plentiful and my tolerance, like that of many others, is wearing thin.

Admittedly, a halfbaked idea is better than no idea at all: Facebook is a wonderful way to express ideas and thoughts. It’s the fighting that gets me.

Sometimes, people have to come to an understanding that there won’t be an understanding, but people often skip that step, closed off to any idea that may reshape their own.

Politics can be a tricky subject, meaning different things for different people, being shaped by unique experiences and various

influences. I’ve heard from many a college student that they will simply not vote because they “don’t like both candidates.” And hey, that’s a legitimate idea! But with this action comes a host of tiny little disclaimers and side effects, the main one being that you may not complain when someone, inevitably, is elected. Not only that, but there are other things on the ballot to consider – proposals, and other presidential candidates who are not Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Voting is not like it is often portrayed in the heads of citizens: Two boxes with names above them with a only a checkmark needed.

Going back to the now correlating topics of social media and politics, there are ways around it, if you choose not to be informed.

Press the “Skip Ad” button on Youtube, or exit out of the political campaign popups. There is even a download for Google Chrome that blocks all political statuses on Facebook, showing instead cat pictures.

And who doesn’t want to see cat pictures? (Maybe I’m alone in that, but hopefully not). Whatever confusing route you decide to take, the date of November sixth should be important in one way or another.

On that day, Jacob Schick was granted a patent for the electric shaver, perfectly ironic for No-Shave November, and Mark Messier scored his 500th National Hockey League goal.

Also, in a cheesy and overstated kind of way, you could change history with your vote. sschoch@lanthorn.com

The student-run newspapers at Grand Valley State University

EDITORIAL PAGE BOARD ANYA ZENTMEYER AUSTIN METZ BRIANA DOOLAN ANGELA COROLLA

Editor in Chief Associate Editor Community Engagement Advertising Manager

Why being childlike in adulthood does not make you childish

GVL OPINION POLICY The ultimate goal of the Grand Valley Lanthorn opinion page is to stimulate discussion and action on topics of interest to the Grand Valley Community. Student opinions do not reflect those of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.

The Grand Valley Lanthorn welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three vehicles of expression for reader opinions: letters to the editor, guest columns and phone responses.

Letters must include the author’s name and be accompanied by current picture identification if dropped off in person. Letters will be checked by an employee of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.

Letters appear as space permits each issue. The limit for letter length is one page, single spaced.

The editor reserves the right to edit and condense letters and columns for length restrictions and clarity.

All letters must be typed.

The Grand Valley Lanthorn will not be held responsible for errors that appear in print as a result of transcribing handwritten letters or e-mail typographic errors.

The name of the author may be withheld for compelling reasons.

The content, information and views expressed are not approved by nor necessarily represent those of the university, its Board of Trustees, officers, faculty and staff.

BY NATE SMITH GVL COLUMNIST

I’m getting really tired of people calling me childish. Yeah, I hangout in fullbody pajamas while watching Adventure Time, so what? Just because I wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch the 90s XMen in the aforementioned pajamas while eating Count Chocula (which is in season just in case you were wondering) doesn’t mean that I’m childish. I’m childlike, there’s a difference.

Yeah, I play Pokémon and Street Fighter … Still not childish. I realized a long time ago that my interests are very similar to the average nine-yearold, and you know what?

I’m okay with that.

I feel like people who care that much about what others think are childish.

As an adult (technically speaking), I feel like if I were to actually care about people judging me for collecting comics, my life needs some serious re-evaluation. If people can justify ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ then I can justify my obsession with 25-cent capsule-toy machines.

My biggest contention

with being called childish is the word itself.

Childish has very negative connotations that don’t fit me. People who argue over the smallest differences are childish.

People who can’t help but be raveled in some sort of drama at all times are childish. Honestly, I think that people who believe something without looking for some kind of proof or facts to back it up are childish. The fact that I may or may not have a collection of Japanese Transformer toys doesn’t have anything to do with being childish.

I consider myself childlike because I’m naturally curious about everything

and I’m not afraid to ask about anything. I’m childlike because all it takes is a sincere apology to get back on my good side (ice cream doesn’t hurt either … Just throwing that out there). None of these traits deserve the negative feelings that childish brings along with it. I’m not afraid to laugh whenever I think something is funny. I’m not afraid to admit that I think that there are few things better than a nap preceded by ‘ants on a log’.

If being an adult means not being able to do, wear or say silly things from fear of ridicule; you can keep it. nsmith@lanthorn.com

NEWS

Grand Valley Lanthorn

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

A5

GV faculty wins Fulbright awards

BY KARA HAIGHT GVL STAFF WRITER

T

hree Grand Valley State University faculty members within colleges offering Master’s programs were awarded the universally competitive Ful-

bright Scholarship. The list of all the scholars was composed by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and GVSU tied with five other Master’s institutions for having the second most award recipients in the country.

Ashok Kumar, professor of

management in the Seidman College of Business; John Bender, associate professor of chemistry; and Erik Nordman, assistant professor of natural resources management, were the recipients for the 20112012 Fulbright Scholarships.

The Fulbright Scholarships

give faculty members the chance to teach abroad at a different university. Kumar will teach in Delhi, India, during the fall semester, Bender will be at Babes-Bolanyi University in Cluj, Romania, and Nordman will spend an academic year with Kenyatta University in

Nairobi, Kenya.

The competitive program started the U.S. International Educational Exchange Program, offering various grants to both individual faculty and institutions to give educators the chance to research, study and teach overseas.

Mark Schaub of GVSU’s Padnos International Center, is the campus representative for the Fulbright organization and was a previous recipient of the scholarship in 2006. Schaub said teaching classes of non-Americans in a non-American setting challenges the instructor.

“The instructor (has) to think far more broadly than he or she otherwise might,” Schaub said.

“In my case, I taught a course about the U.S. and its business communication and culture for a class of students from 12 different countries, none of them American.

I had to stretch my thinking.”

Since the beginning of the program, over 85,000 U.S. scholars have become Fulbright scholars and traveled abroad to participate in university lecturing, research and various other educational activities.

“It is a chance for them to gain experience in teaching and researching in a new environment, learn about higher education in a new cultural context, and provide them an opportunity to be a representative of the USA in a positive way - through education,” Schaub said. khaight@lanthorn.com

GVSU.EDU | COURTESY

Going out the country: Erik Nordman, assistant professor of natural resources management, will teach for a full academic year at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Nordman is one of three faculty from Grand Valley State University who will be teaching in a foreign nation in the coming year.

Hispanic conference makes history

BY DEREK WOLFF GVL STAFF WRITER

Grand Valley State University will play host to the 22nd International Association of Feminine Hispanic Literature and Culture conference next week, making history in the process.

The Eberhard Center on the GVSU Pew campus will have the distinction of being the first university or institution in the Midwest to host the event, which will run from Nov. 7-10. The annual conference alternates its location yearly between the U.S. and the rest of the world, with previous conferences held in Florida and Nevada domestically and abroad in the Dominican Republic, Spain and Ecuador, among others.

Professor Zulema Moret of the Modern Languages Department is part of a small committee of colleagues that have been working since July of 2011 on the proposal and subsequent preparations for the conference.

“For me, it was really important to be able to have the opportunity to do the conference here because it’s never been done in the Midwest,” Moret said. “This is the first time a state or university in the Midwest is presenting as a host.”

This year’s conference

will feature 140 scholars from Sweden, Norway, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala, as well as 38 states. Michigan will be well represented with delegations coming from Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University and Central Michigan University.

Each day of the conference will provide guests with a multitude of mediums for observing and learning, including panels, workshops, and literary and cultural productions. Topics such as memory and history, political violence and activism, art and sexuality will be explored, and panel presentations will be available in both Spanish and English.

The conference will kick off Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Loosemore Auditorium in DeVos Hall with a film titled “La Mosca En La Ceniza,” an Argentine drama about the horrors of sex-trafficking.

Spanish novelist Lola López Mondéjar, Argentinian cyber poet Belen Gaché, Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña, and Regina José Galindo, a Guatemalan performance artist who specializes in body art, will serve as the four keynote speakers for the conference.

Committee member and Spanish professor Mayra

Fortes González said she hopes the keynote speakers will offer a unique perspective and receive one by learning about Hispanic culture in Michigan.

“We have four writers who are coming from different countries, so it’s also an opportunity to see somebody from a different country and to talk to them about Michigan,” González said. “They can talk to the students about Chile or Spain or Argentina, so I think it can be a really enriching exchange for students in terms of learning and getting to know women’s experiences and researching what professors and scholars do.”

Senior Carla Landhuis, a double major in English and Spanish, sees the conference as an opportunity to continue learning about relevant issues, and she plans to view the movie on Wednesday.

“I have watched many Spanish films through my classes,” Landhuis said. “All of them have been powerful, stunning and opened my eyes to historical situations I would not have otherwise learned about. I anticipate that this movie will be the same.”

GVSU students can take in the conference for free, while admission is $100 dollars for the four-day event for everyone else.

That includes faculty

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BSU seeks donations for hurricaine victims

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Mondéjar

members like Moret and Fortes, who were unfazed by the cost due to the magnitude of the conference and the needed awareness of issues like sex-trafficking.

“It’s a big event, an opportunity to know what other professors and other people are researching about as well as new trends and issues on women,” Fortes said. “I think it’s very important to raise awareness of these things that are not commonly discussed sometimes, and if young women come I think it can be empowering for them to see the other young professors and writers.”

The conference will conclude Saturday night after a performance from the Grand Rapids Women’s Chorus.

For more information, call the Department of Modern Languages or visit www. gvsu.edu/congreso_lit_fem. dwolff@lanthorn.com

The Black Student Union at Grand Valley State University are asking students to do their part in helping with relief for hurricane Sandy victims.

“As a student organization we strive on helping those in our community and those outside of our community,” said Cecil Johnson, vice president of BSU. “We would like those families to know the students at Grand Valley State University care.”

On Nov. 7, from 5-7 p.m., BSU will host a table in the lobby of Kirkhof to collect shoes, coats, clothing and nonperishable goods

“We would like those families to know the students at Grand Valley State University care.”

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as well as other donations to help soften the blow for the thousands of families on the East Coast without shelter or food.

Johnson said BSU is extending an invitation to all of the student organizations on campus to “take initiative and help those affected

by Hurricane Sandy.”

“This storm has opened the eyes to many students on campus, making us realize that we are very fortunate to have received the small amount of rain,” Johnson said. “Many us do not realize that we are not exempt from natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. This is why we are taking initiative to help those in a situation we could possibly be in.” editorial@lanthorn.com

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A6

MONEY MATTERS

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Grand Valley Lanthorn

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

MONEY MATTERS

IMPORTANCE OF BUDGETING

BY AUSTIN METZ GVL ASSOCIATE EDITOR

W

hether you are driving a beater or your parents Audi, eating Ramen

noodles or eating at the cafeteria everyday, as students, money matters.

Luis Lozano is the assistant director of student employment and financial aid at Grand Valley State University, and part of his job is helping students when it comes to issues

“It really starts with understanding income and expenses, right away especially,” Lozano said. “I know students sometimes, the first time they get a job is when they come to Grand Valley and obviously now they have income and they need to figure out what to do with it. There are lots of expenses, some may be paying for college, some may need book money, some may need money for pizza on the weekends.”

From there, students need to learn to create a budget.

“Understanding things coming in and how that money is going to be

spent, it really encompasses creating a first things because then they can budget,” Lozano said. “Definitely one understand wants versus needs and of the most imporif they have extra tant things to really cash, that’s when keep (students) on a “It really starts with they can start savgood financial track ing and investing is creating a budget. understanding income it. Things like that Whether it works for and expenses...” can happen down them on a semester the road, but they basis, a monthly, or a really need that LUIS LOZANO weekly basis and reas a good foundaASSISTANT DIRECTOR ally knowing where tion to really do the money is coming something with from and where it needs to come out. the things that will allow them to be “I think budgeting is one of the more financially free and savvy.”

with money. To him, the first place to start is understanding what money is coming in and how to spend it.

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WANTS VERSUS NEEDS The last concept students need to consider while in college when it comes to money is realizing what students truly need compared to what they just want.

“One of the most challenging things to really overcome is understanding a want versus a need,” Lozano said. “A lot of students come in here saying they really need to buy these clothes or I really need to go on this spring break trip or I really

need to buy this new phone or the iPad mini.”

Lozano used the example of buying coffee on GVSU’s campus or at McDonalds.

He said students may spend $4 on something like coffee and a bagel, which doesn’t seem like a lot.

If students do that every day during the academic year, they would spend $1,460 in one year.

“This is where, going back to the

budgeting, understanding, ‘how can I be a better manager of the money I have,’” Lozano said. “Instead of buying a $4 cup of coffee, because that is a need for a lot of students that they perceive it, ‘I need a cup of coffee in the morning,’ go out and buy yourself a coffee maker for $20 and a big tub of Folgers for $10, you have invested $30, but now you have enough to make 120 cups of coffee.”

KEEPING UP WITH CREDIT SCORES AND REPORTS Along with setting up a solid budget, Lozano said students need to educate themselves on student

loans. He said understand- the idea to keep in mind bad credit can affect ing how they work and is that when using a credit students down the road how much you really need card, it is important to by looking at buying a to take out can be very im- make sure you have the $15,000 car. portant. money to pay it back.

For a student with good Another concept Lozano “Once you start using it credit, they could receive explained was the concept and developing that histo- a four-year loan with a of credit and 1.99 percent inspecifically a terest rate. student’s credIf this is the it report and case, the stucredit score. dent’s monthly Once you start using it and Lozano ex- “ payment would developing that history of good plained that a be $325.36, credit report which means payment, then that is definitely is essentially after the four going to impact your credit rating a student’s fiyears, the stuand score.” nancial trandent would script while a have paid a total credit score is of $15,617.28. like a student’s Compare LUIS LOZANO financial GPA. that to a student ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF “A credit STUDENT EMPLOYMENT AND with bad credit score is going FINANICAL AID who could reto have a great ceive a loan rate impact on how of 16 percent much interover four years. est is going to be charged, ry of good payment, then In this case, their their ability to take out that is definitely going to monthly payment would be loans, quite a bit of differ- positively impact your $425.10 which means that ent things, but those are the credit rating and score,” over the four years, that two things that beginning Lozano said. Lozano said student would have spent to understand can impact along with using a credit $20,404.80. So over four them for a long time down card, paying off student years, a person with good the road,” Lozano said. For loans on time can help credit would save about students, building credit is build a credit score. $100 a month or $4,787 then the next step.

“The biggest things over the four-year loan.

In the past, students that are going to impact Good or bad credit afcould sign up for a credit (your credit score) real- fects students in a large way, card and begin to build istically are your credit but another thing students credit by paying it off on payment history, so how can do is begin to save, no time. Now, students would many payments you have matter how little it is. need to have a co-signer made on time,” Lozano “That is one of the in order to sign up for a said. “If things are late, smartest things students credit card or they have to that is obviously a nega- can do right now, is even be able to prove that they tive impact there. The put away five, ten, twenty have a steady income to amount of credit you have dollars a month,” Lozano pay off the card. used, so if you are maxing said. “It doesn’t have to be Lozano did warn stu- out your credit card, that that big, but if they start dents that although having is actually going to hurt earlier, it will really have a credit card can help build you. You really only want them get a larger amount credit, it can also harm to use about 20 percent of just because it has a loncredit if not used properly. your actual limit.” ger period of time for it to “They just have to know Lozano showed how compound on its own.” the basics of how credit cards work,” he said. “I think one of the first things they have to realize is that credit cards are not extra income. So having a $1,000 credit limit does not mean you have an extra $1,000 a month or year or whatever it is going to be because you have to pay that back.”

For students,

MONEY MATTERS

Grand Valley Lanthorn

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

A7

Two important traits of a smart investor be worth $1,459.33 in 2023. out of college with a full-time By starting your investment job, and able to save $6,000 a 5 years earlier you earned an year ($500 a month). You have extra $689.90, and did nothing been slowly saving up money except watch it grow. through college in your bank Most investors will add to account and have $10,000, their investments each year, and now realize you should which is the scenario we will begin to invest it. If you invest do next. If you invest $1,000 that $10,000 on January 1st, on January 1st, 2013 and 2013 and make $6,000 payexpect to return 8% on your ments each year for 30 years, investment each year, after your money will be worth 10 years $780,325.84 your investby 2043. If ment will you were “ The key to investing is to be worth to wait unstart early and be patient.” $16,645.49. til 2028 to If you wait start, your 5 years investment before you would only make your TURNER NOVAK be worth investment, PRESIDENT $194,634.37 it will only GVSU INVESTMENT CLUB in 2043. By be worth beginning $7,335.93 in to invest 15 2023. In this years earlier, scenario, you can see that the you end up with $585,691.46 amount of returns you earn more than if you wait 15 years, each year, as well as the total and you only pay an extra value of your investment at $90,000 over the course of the end of 10 years, is much those extra 15 years. higher when you begin investThese past examples do not ing early. Comparing these take in to account that you last two examples, you can may receive raises, or make see that the amount of returns additional contributions to you earn increases greatly your investment. Last, let’s when you continue to contrib- do a scenario exactly like the ute to your investments durprevious, except we assume ing each year. you increase the amount Let’s try one of these scenar- you contribute by $100 each ios again, however this time year. The total value of your we will use a situation where money after 30 years will be you are 25 years old, 3 years $884,529.85. By increasing the

By Turner Novak GVL Blogger

T

he key to investing is to start early and be patient.

Some years your investments will perform poorly, and some years they will perform very well. If you are investing for retirement, it is very likely you will be saving for at least 30 years. As an investor, your main defense against the volatility of the stock market is to start saving early. This is because every year, the money you have saved will give you a return, whether it is through interest or capital gains.

When saving, time is your best friend. With most investments the return is compounded, which means that instead of getting a percentage of your initial investment every year, you get a percentage of what the investment is currently worth.

Let’s say you start with $1,000, and earn 8% in returns every year. This return is compounded, which means that each year you are gaining 8% of what your investment is currently worth, not 8% of what it was worth in the first year. When your return is compounded, you earn more than if it was not compounded. If you invest $1,000 on January 1st, 2013, it will be worth $2,158.92 in 2023. If you wait 5 years and invest $1,000, it will Lanthorn first issue 8.29.11.pdf 1 8/22/2011 2:53:08 PM

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amount you add to your investment by $100 a month (an extra $43,500 over the course of 30 years) you increase the final value of your investment by $104,104.01.

One thing to remember is that the amount of return you get on your investment will change each year. Some years you may gain 1%, and another you may gain 25%. There is no way to predict what the market will do, and the best defense against that is to start early and be patient. The earlier you invest, the more you will gain from interest and have your money do the work for you. You don’t need to pick the best investments that give the highest return, because over time your investments will grow much more than someone who only invested for a few years. By being patient and continually adding to your investment, your payments will contribute to the total value and increase your returns.

To start getting involved in investing with other students at Grand Valley, check out the Seidman Investment Portfolio Organization, Grand Valley’s investment club that manages a real portfolio of 20 different stocks that is valued at over $40,000. For more information, email invest@mail.gvsu.edu or visit our website at http:// www.gvsu.edu/invest.

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A8

Grand Valley Lanthorn

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Professors Support Clean Energy

Learn More: ELPC ActionFund.org/25x25

What Is Prop 3?

It requires Michigan utilities to obtain 25% of their electricity supplies from renewable resources, such as wind and solar energy, by 2025.

Why Do I Care?

More renewable energy will ren reduce pollution, thus protecting public health and the environment, spurring innovation and $10 billion in new investment, and creating thousands of jobs that can’t be outsourced, outsou according to a recent university study.

Who Supports Prop 3?

Professors in Michigan support the 25% by ’25 standard because it will reduce carbon and mercury pollution; reduce aerosol, soot and other particulates in the air we breathe; and protect our Great Lakes pr resources.

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B1

SPORTS

SHORTS GVSU dominates GLIAC awards After winning their sixth-consecutive GLIAC championship on Sunday, the Grand Valley State University soccer team took home some regular season honors as well. Headlined by goalkeeper Chelsea Parise being named the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year, the Lakers also had six All-GLIAC first team members, three second teamers and one honorable mention.

Parise led the way as the first-team keeper, but was joined by forward Ashley Botts, midfielders Erin Hilbert and Alyssa Mira and defenders Kayla Kimble and Juane Odendaal. The Lakers saw Kayla Addison, Charlie Socia and Tayler Ward on the second team with Tayler Callen recognized as an honorable mention.

The GVSU leader in shutouts, Parise was honored not only as the top goalkeeper in the conference, but also as the top defensive player in the conference.

Parise joins Sue Christenson (2007), Natalja Stanski (2008), Megan Brown (2009), Jenna Wenglinski (2010), Alyssa Mira (2011) as Lakers to be honored as the defensive player of the year in this current six-year run of GVSU players winning the award.

G L I A C

STANDINGS FOOTBALL GLIAC North Standings 7-2 6-3 6-3 6-3 5-4 5-4 4-5 3-6

GLIAC South Standings Ashland Ohio Dominican Findlay Lake Erie Notre Dame (OH) Walsh Tiffin Malone

9-0 6-3 6-3 3-6 2-7 2-7 1-8 1-8

VOLLEYBALL Northwood Ferris State GVSU Ashland Hillsdale Northern Mich.

Wayne State Malone Findlay Walsh Ohio Dominican Saginaw Valley Michigan Tech Tiffin Laker Superior St. Lake Erie

SOCCER GVSU Michigan Tech Saginaw Valley Findlay Ferris State Ohio Dominican Tiffin Ashland Northwood Walsh Northern Mich.

Notre Dame (OH) Lake Erie Malone

GLIAC Glory S O C C E R

S P O R T S

GVSU Saginaw Valley Michigan Tech Hillsdale Ferris State Wayne State Northwood Northern Mich.

NOVEMBER 5, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

16-0 14-2 12-4 11-5 11-5 10-6 10-6 9-6 8-8 6-9 6-10 6-10 5-11 2-14 1-15 0-16

11-1-1 11-1-1 8-2-3 8-4-1 7-4-2 6-4-3 6-5-2 6-6-1 6-6-1 5-6-2 6-6-1 3-10 2-10-1 0-12-1

ERIC COULTER | GVL

Champions: The Grand Valley State University is shown with the trophy after Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Saginaw Valley State. It was the sixth-straight GLIAC title.

Soccer comes away with GLIAC title, moves on to regionals

BY KYLE ROSKAMP GVL STAFF WRITER

A

lot of words can describe the Grand Valley State University soccer team’s history in the GLIAC tournament, but the one most appropriate is the one spoken by Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges.

All they do is win.

On Friday, on a chilly evening at the Laker Soccer Complex, GVSU faced off against Ferris State University in the semifinal of the GLIAC Women’s Soccer Tournament.

“Those have always been our two goals.” said coach Dave DiIanni. “To win a GLIAC regular season championship and a GLIAC tournament championship.”

The Lakers started off, like so many games this season, heavily on the front foot. In the 9th minute, the Ferris State goalkeeper saved a Kayla Addison shot from close range to temporarily keep GVSU off the board.

After dominating possession for the first 15 minutes of play, GVSU finally found the net in the 15th minute in unusual fashion. After some clever play on the wing, a Laker cross found its way into the box, where a mis-timed punch from the Ferris State goalkeeper put the ball in the net for an own goal

and an early 1-0 lead for GVSU. Eight minutes later, sophomore midfielder Charlie Socia slotted one home to put the Lakers two goals up going into halftime.

Grand Valley continued to pick apart the Ferris State defense in the second half, and walked away from the contest with a 4-0 win after Addison and senior Alyssa Mira netted goals for the Lakers to ensure their advancement into Sunday’s GLIAC final vs. Saginaw Valley State University.

GVSU picked up their goalscoring pace right where they left off in Sunday’s final. Saginaw Valley State defended diligently in the teams last matchup on a rainy night in September, holding the Lakers to a 0-0 tie, but this game was a different story.

It was a familiar sight in the 12th minute as forward Ashley Botts found the net, after a quick rebound found it’s way to the pragmatic feet of the senior giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead and making Saginaw Valley State change their defensive approach to the game.

“We wanted to score early to open them up,” Botts said. “When we did, they had to change their formation, you could hear their coach yelling ‘4-3-3’ to get them to change, and thats what we wanted to do.”

It didn’t take long for the Lakers to

capitalize. Juane Odendaal picked out senior Erin Hilbert with a cross in the 19th minute, Hilbert headed the cross home to put the Lakers up 2-0.

“I saw Juane with the ball and I saw that nobody was on me,” Hilbert said.

“So I just wanted to take the opportunity, and I did.”

A goal from senior Maria Brown after a nice ball from Botts gave the Lakers a 3-0 lead just four minutes later, and a goal from Autumn Jacobs effectively sealed the deal on the Laker’s fifth consecutive GLIAC Championship ten minutes before half time.

“Suprisingly, I wasn’t completely happy with the first half besides the goals.” DiIanni said. “In the second half, we did a better job, we milked the game, and at the end they were defeated.”

The Lakers didn’t score in the second half, but controlled possession to cruise to victory for their 48th straight unbeaten game at home and bring home the GLIAC championship trophy as they have every year since the GLIAC tournament began in 2008.

The Lakers being their run at an NCAA Championship in a regional game on Friday, with their opponent and location being announced in a draw on Monday.

overview It was over when... Maria Brown took an Ashley Botts pass inside box from right side and scored on the left side of the goal, putting GVSU up 3-0 in the 23rd minute of the first half.

Game ball goes to...

Chelsea Parise. The senior goalkeeper put up her second shutout in three GLIAC Tournament games in the 4-0 finals win — Parise stopped seven shots.

Stat of the game... 12.

The Lakers out-shot Saginaw Valley State 16-9 in the game, but GVSU doubled up the Cardinals shots in the first half, 12-6.

C R O S S C O U N T R Y

Cross-country teams win regional titles

BY TATE BAKER GVL STAFF WRITER

Grand Valley State University’s cross-country programs showed why they own the Midwest region this past weekend as both the men’s and women’s teams cruised to their 11th and 12th consecutive regional championships.

“This results from all of our kids buying into the program,” said head coach Jerry Baltes. “This really says a lot about our program.”

Allyson Winchester led all women in the 6k event, finishing with the meet’s best time of 20 minutes, 57 seconds — 14 seconds ahead of the entire field.

“She’s a true competitor, and a great leader,” said redshirt freshman Jessica Janecke. “(Allison) pushes the team, it was great to see her do so well.”

The Lakers showed consistency, finishing with five girls in the top 15. Hannah Osborn came and Courtney Brewis closed out the top 10 coming in right after one

another at a time of 21:40.

Madie Rodts and Molly Slavens finished No. 12 and No. 13, with times of 21:44, and 21:45, respectively.

“Our kids really executed the race plan,” Baltes said.

“They stuck together, and finished strong as a group.”

The Lakers women’s team torched the competition with a total score of 45.

Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State finished behind the Lakers with total scores of 110, and 134, respectively.

“Finishing so strong within a pack just goes to show how deep our team is,” Janecke said. “We don’t pride ourselves on having one person that’s above everyone else. Its really a team effort.”

On the men’s side, it was a pack of Lakers that led to their 11th-consecutive regional title. Brent Showerman came in first for the Lakers with a time of 31:26, No. eight overall. Followed immediately was Allan Peterson in ninth (31:27), Spencer Pageau at No. 10

(31:28), and Jake Isaacson at No. 11 (31:29).

“It’s really a testament to our team, and how we work together,” said junior Brent Showerman. “Our strength is within a group, not individually. It showed at regionals.”

The men’s team took the title with a total score of 62.

Ashland (92), and Ferris State (103), came in at second and third place within the region.

“This is the time of the year where our focus and determination really comes into effect,” Showerman said. “Hopefully we can carry on the momentum from regionals into the National Championships.”

Both men’s and women’s teams will now be preparing for the NCAA Division II Championships, something that is on top of their wish list year in and year out.

“Hopefully the momentum from this race will carry over to the National Championships,” Baltes said.

If we execute the way we did this past weekend, we

Still need a place to live next year?

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should be in good shape.”

The Lakers will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Division II cham-

pionships, which will take place in Joplin, Mo. on Saturday, Nov. 17. tbaker@lanthorn.com

DEAN BREEST | COURTESY

Like the wind: Sophomore runner Allyson Winchester won the Midwest Regional meet with a first-place time of 20:57.

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LIL’ WAYNE STATE ERIC COULTER | GVL

Running free: Kirk Spencer carries the ball during Friday’s game against Wayne State University. Spencer finished with the fourth-most yards ever by a GVSU player with 228 yards and 1 touchdown.

Spencer’s career day leads Lakers to senior day win over Wayne State

By Brady Fredericksen GVL Sports Editor

K

irk Spencer had no idea what he’d done following Saturday’s 38-13 win over Wayne State University.

The redshirt freshman sat relaxed, smiling after the Grand Valley State University football team (8-2, 7-2 GLIAC) took out its eastside rivals on senior night and sat in sole possession of first place in the GLIAC North division.

“I thought I had probably like 120 (yards), I didn’t really think I had that many yards — had no clue until we got back into the locker room,” Spencer said.

That might have been an understatement.

Going up against one of the conference’s better defenses in Wayne State (5-4, 5-4 GLIAC)

didn’t slow Spencer. Big run after big run helped the freshman to a career-high 228 yards and a touchdown, the fourth-most yards ever for a GVSU player.

“Kirk’s a great back, we always look forward to him to break a big run,” said senior receiver Charles Johnson. “Even when I’m not in the game, I’m watching when they give him the ball. I mean, his nickname is breakaway and he likes to break away from the line.”

The player they call “Breakaway” did just that on Saturday.

Spencer out-played his betterknown Wayne State counterpart, Toney Davis, and keyed a GVSU offense that had its eyes on the ground game all week long.

Spencer and sophomore tailback Mike Ratay — who ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns — have each produced 100-yard games in

OVERVIEW

the last two weeks, but it’s been Spencer who has gained experience and led the way on the ground.

“He’s been getting better and better every week of the season,” said GVSU head coach Matt Mitchell. “I think, again, that has to come with experience and him getting more comfortable within our runs and how we’re running the ball.”

Just a few weeks ago, Spencer was suffering from ball control problems and fumbles. Saturday, the only problem he had was coming up 28 yards short of the school rushing record.

“Give a lot of credit to him because it wasn’t too long ago against Northwood, we have a few fumble issues, and he went to Hillsdale — over 100 (yards) — and today over 200 and ball security was not an issue,” Mitchell said.

It wasn’t just Spencer on Satur-

day for the GVSU offense. Quarterback Isiah Grimes struggled at times, throwing his first two interceptions since the Ferris State game on Oct. 6. The sophomore did, however, connect with Johnson 10 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns.

The game marked the sixth time Johnson had gone over 100 yards receiving in a game this season.

While the GVSU offense was clicking on all cylanders, the defense was quietly putting together a game of its own. Arguably the top performance of the defense this season, the Lakers held the Warriors to just 251 yards of total offense — the lowest total of any GVSU opponent this season.

“We’ve had a lot guys that have been banged up and when they come back, they’re excited and ready to play football,” said ju-

nior linebacker Charles Hill, who finished with 10 tackles. “We’re kind of getting to that mindset that we’re getting guys back (and) we can do this — we can go out and execute everything that’s drawn up on the board and that’s just what we’ve been doing.”

With all that has occurred during the season, the Lakers are at a point where they can decide their own fate; starting with Saturday’s season finale at second place Saginaw Valley State University.

“We just kept working, coaches and players,” Mitchell said of his team since dropping two-straight games. “I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet; we’ve gotten better though. Being this late in the year and where we’re at with the injuries, everything is still right in front of us.” sports@lanthorn.com

WORTH NOTING

It was over when... Quarterback Isiah Grimes hit se-

While the GVSU defense has struggled throughout the season, the defense stepped

nior receiver Charles Johnson with a 10-yard touch-

up in a big way on Saturday. Not only did it hold Wayne State’s leading rusher, Toney

down early in the third quarter, putting GVSU up 28-6.

Davis, to just 57 yards, it also held quarterback Mickey Mohner to just 133 yards, sacking him and backup Carl Roscoe five times in the game.

Game ball goes to... Kirk Spencer. The redshirt freshman gashed the Wayne State defense to the tune of 228

“Luckily, we did a good job at the line of scrimmage stopping the run and we ha-

yards and a touchdown. Spencer’s speed combined with

rassed Mickey Mohner enough,” Mitchell said. “We harassed him enough and made

the GVSU offensive line creating holes, something he

him uncomfortable and were able to play some zone coverage.”

complimented following the game, led to his career-day.

Injuries have depleted the GVSU secondary, and with junior safety Erik Thompson Stat of the game... 319. With Spencer going over 200

out with an injury, sophomore wide receiver Keontre’ Miskel was forced into action

yards and Michael Ratay topping 100, the Lakers ran

at cornerback. He played the majority of the first half, and considering the circum-

for a season-high in rushing yardage. The 319 yards

stances, Mitchell complimented his play.

topped 292 against Notre Dame College.

SCORING SUMMARY

1

10:06 WS Stefan Terleckyj 51 yd field goal, 3 - 0 07:06 GV Michael Ratay 3 yd run, 3 - 7 2:02 WS Stefan Terleckyj 46 yd field goal, 6 - 7

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Rolling into the Season

GVSU looks to grow after season opener against Michigan State

By Bryce Derouin GVL Staff Writer

H

ARCHIVE | GVL

Slayed: BriaunaTaylor dribbles up the court.Taylor finished with seven points.

ead coach Janel Burgess made it a point to challenge her players for the upcoming season opener against Michigan State University.

The Grand Valley State head coach came away from the game satisfied, even after falling 83-36 against the Big Ten conference foe.

“We challenge our kids on really becoming better on the court and giving their best effort,” Burgess said. “We can look back and say that our effort was extremely solid from top to bottom. I think we tried to do the right things. In a game like this against a team this caliber, that’s all you can ask for.”

Michigan State jumped on the Lakers early, scoring the first 13 points of the game. Freshman Jammie Botruff put the Lakers on the board with a 3-pointer, and senior Briauna Taylor added a layup to cap off a 5-0 run. Botruff managed to add another three to make it 17-8, but that would be the last time the game would be in single digits as the Spartans continued to add to their margin and went into halftime with a 43-16 lead.

“I thought early on we took care of the ball really well,” Burgess said. “I really thought we had some nice open looks and some nice extra passes that we just didn’t nail and those things come from confidence, continuity, and with time.”

GVSU was limited to 27 percent shooting from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line.

Michigan State managed to own the boards, holding a 45-23 advantage over the Lakers.

Taylor led the Lakers with nine points, while junior Breanna Kellog and sophomore Kat LePrairie chipped in with seven points.

For the Lakers, they were not only excited to start their season, but also excited for the opportunity to play against a Big Ten opponent.

“We were all just really excited,” Kellog said. “It was our first game of the year and we’ve been playing against each the other the past three, four weeks, so we were just excited to get on the court and see how we panned out against someone else besides ourselves and with that being Michigan State, we all grew up watching them and stuff, so it was just a cool environment to play in and a cool opponent to play against.”

GVSU’s next game will be their

home opener against Olivet College on Nov. 12. Until then, GVSU will look at the tape and use the Michigan State game as a valuable learning tool.

“It was just a good reality check and we know what we need to work on in practice,” said junior Kellie Watson. “Offensively we did some good things. We got some of the looks we were trying to get, so that’s always good film wise to get a look at that and see what works for us.

More importantly, defensively we know we have a lot of little things to work out.”

Burgess is optimistic that this team will continue to develop throughout the season. She hopes that GVSU will be able to use this valuable experience throughout the rest of the season.

“If think you look at all of them, I think they did extremely well,” Burgess said. “We had young ladies come in and hit some shots. Some other ladies took good opportunities when given them. I think it’s all good things for us for the experience. We’re gonna understand that patience is always going to be a virtue in this sport, offensively and defensivley.” bderouin@lanthorn.com

V O L L E Y B A L L

Final regular season road trip preps young Lakers for playoffs

BY ZACH SEPANIK GVL STAFF WRITER

At a time of the year when most teams are battling the injury bug and sickness, the Grand Valley State University volleyball team just keeps winning. That didn’t change over the weekend in their final regular season road matches at Saginaw Valley State University and Lake Superior State University.

“We had a long bus ride and we had Ferris on Tuesday, so it was good to get two more wins,” said sophomore setter Clair Ruhenkamp. “Three wins on the week isn’t an easy thing to do, so that was definitely good to accomplish that. We are to that point in the season where a lot of teams are fighting through little things and

it was good to see that we can overcame that stuff.”

On Friday, the Lakers (22-5, 12-4 GLIAC) held on to defeat SVSU in a five-set thriller, 25-17, 26-24, 23-25, 20-25 and 15-9.

The Lakers trailed 7-5 in the fifth set and then scored five-straight points, four of which came from errors by the Cardinals. Ahead 108, GVSU used four more SVSU errors and a kill by sophomore middle blocker Ally Simmons to end the set and the match.

GVSU outblocked the Cardinals, 11-8, and senior middle blocker Eno Umoh had a hand in nearly all of them, recording 10 block assists, two shy of her career-high.

“Having your teammates behind you gets you so fired up,” Umoh said. “Especially block assists, I

think that is one thing that makes us play better because we have so much momentum and are so hyped from the block. It is a game stopper for them and changer for us.”

Ruhenkamp and freshman outside hitter Betsy Ronda each led the Lakers with strong performances against SVSU. Ruhenkamp dished out 48 assists and chipped in 10 digs, four block assists and three aces, while Ronda had a team-high 16 kills, also contributing 13 digs, five blocks (one solo) and two aces.

Following the five-set win over the Cardinals, GVSU took to the road for a long bus ride to Sault St. Marie, Mich. However, the little sleep and long travel didn’t affect GVSU on Saturday, as they swept Lake Superior State with scores of

28-26, 25-14 and 25-16.

The defense stood tall in the win, limiting LSSU to a negative .017 hitting percentage. The strong play on that side of the ball propelled the Laker offense to a 43-20 advantage in kills.

“I am so proud of our defense and for our success, it is key,” Umoh said. “It frustrates hitters and leaves us with much more opportunities hitting offensively. We usually beat teams because of our transition game which is also off the great defense.”

Ronda led the Lakers with a match-high 13 kills and added 12 digs for her team-high 16th double-double of the season.

With two wins over the weekend, combined with last Tuesday’s victory at Ferris State University, GVSU

has now won 13 of their last 14 matches. The momentum produced by the streak, as well as the experiences from the heavy travel, has prepared the team for postseason play.

“When we get to Regionals, it’s three nights in a row that they are going to play,” said GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon. “We are able to do some things really well to get some wins - maybe our serving and our passing - and another night it is our blocking and our defense. But we still have some things that we need to fine-tune.”

The Lakers now head home to finish out the regular season against Northwood University on Nov. 9 and Hillsdale University on Nov. 10, before the postseason begins with the GLIAC Tournament on Nov. 15. zsepanik@lanthorn.com

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ARCHIVE | GVL

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NOVEMBER 5, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

A&E

BRIEFS GVSU Celebrates Double Reed Day Grand Valley State University’s 7th annual Double Reed Day will be fun and educational for doublereed musicians, students, and enthusiasts. The day’s events will include master classes and concerts in which high school students as well as college students and band directors can choose to listen, learn and even participate in. The workshops and master classes will include GVSU faculty members Marlen Vavrikova and John Clapp, as well as special guests from the Cleveland Orchestra. Double Reed Day is on Nov. 10 beginning at 9 a.m. For more information including registration, visit www.gvsu.edu/music/ double-reed-day-136.htm or contact the Music Department at 616- 331-3484.

“That Takes Ovaries!” director apps due Nov. 8 Do you have any interest in being a director and being a part of a courageous performance full of real-life experiences of women and girls? Grand Valley State University’s Women Center is accepting director applications for its play, “That Takes Ovaries!” Applications can be found in the Women’s Center located in Kirkhof Center, room 1201 or online and are due by Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. For more information or the online application, check http:// gvsu.edu/women_cen/ that-takes-ovaries--62.htm

ELIZABETH BROWN | COURTESY

Future leaders: The women of the ATHENA conference participate in a group activity meant to empower the women to be leaders in their student organizations.

ATHENA conference empowers GV women

By Paige Platte GVL Laker Life Editor

A

THENA International presented a leadership conference to more than 80 women at Grand Valley State University on Oct. 27. The conference was a day-long event, meant to empower women to be leaders in their student organizations.

Most of the day was spent with smaller groups, each led by a facilitator.

These small groups got the chance to know one another on a more personal level.

“It was amazing,” said Margie Munoz, a GVSU sophomore conference attendee. “It was the combination between the people I met, the thoughts I thought, and the motivation and support I received that re-energized me and gave value to what guides my heart.”

ATHENA International was founded in 1982 as a nonprofit organization with the purpose to support

and develop women leaders. ATHENA International names eight pillars that make up great leadership: Live authentically, learn constantly, advocate fiercely, act courageously, foster collaboration, build relationships, give back, and celebrate.

Different pillars resonated strongly with each woman in attendance. Sophomore attendee Megan Williams was most passionate about the “advocate fiercely” pillar.

“Perhaps it’s because of my career goal to be an attorney after law school, but I believe it’s important to fight for what you believe in and to help others do the same,” Williams said.

In the smaller groups, the women participated in several activities that led to conversation about each member’s leadership style and passion.

One of the activities required each member to choose a photograph from a table of many photographs.

Members then had to de-

scribe something about society that they are passionate about changing and how they would go about making the change happen.

“They meant completely different things to everyone, and it was definitely a window to their minds,” Munoz said.

Women who attended the conference were able to pick each other’s brains and view things from perspectives that were very different from their own.

“I enjoyed getting to know the girls in my group,” said sophomore attendee Cara Kovall. “It is very cool to get together with people from different organizations and realize how much you have in common.”

After engaging with different perspectives and people all day, the conference attendees were asked to create a legacy statement. This legacy statement was up for personal interpretation and women could use long or short-term goals to express the legacy they want to leave

IN THEIR SHOES

in college or in life.

Munoz chose to create a life-long legacy statement: “Find your passion and live without boundaries. Don’t settle for ignorance. Realize that nothing is defined.

Our lives are intertwined, and together we combine to create a positive universe.

Spread the Love. What gives my life meaning is love and exploration, and I encourage everyone to do so. Love leads to harmony, and with this, complete universal connection, and I believe if all we focused on was love and learning about everyone, everything, and what has not been discovered, the world would be a much more peaceful, awakened place.”

After being completed, the statements were all hung on posters in the larger meeting room for all attendees to read one another’s statements and leave comments.

“I enjoyed the legacy statement viewing the most,” Williams said. “I loved seeing what the other women want-

ed to accomplish and giving them notes encouraging them to push forward with that goal to help leave their legacy.”

The conference concluded with a toast of sparkling fruit juice among the smaller groups. Each women received a certificate of completion. Many women exchanged contact information to keep the connection they had made.

“You get to know people very deeply when you hear about their passions and what gives their life meaning,” Munoz said. “I got to know women that I had always seen around campus at a much deeper level, and realize that I am not completely alone.”

ATHENA International will host ATHENA Connections 2012 with keynote speaker Kathy Crosby, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries, Wednesday Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Contact the Women’s Center to reserve a seat to this event. lakerlife@lanthorn.com

Community energy conservation comes to Holland campus Rachel McLaughlin GVL Staff Writer

EMILY MURRAY | GVL

Fighting the good fight: Derek Verbruggen answers a question about what it is like to attend Grand Valley State Univeristy while dealing with a disability. Members of the panel had disabilities ranging from dyslexia, to Retinitis Pigmentosa, to being deaf.

Students speak out about disabilities and awareness

By Megan Braxmaier GVL Staff Writer

Students and faculty met in the Pere Marquette room in Kirkhof Tuesday to participate in a Q&A with four Grand Valley State University students who identify and live with a disability.

The Disability Support Resources office at GVSU reached out through a network of advisers to invite the students to provide a better insight about what it is like to live with a disability.

The students, Ashley Maloff who lives with a chronic health condition; Derek Verbruggen who lives with dyslexia; Juanita Lillie who has Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease; and Molly Arnold who is deaf, answered questions about their experiences inside and outside of the classroom.

Maloff, who is a first-year

graduate student at GVSU after studying at MSU, said she was diagnosed with her health condition when she was a junior in high school, and finds it most frustrating to explain her condition when she is still learning more about it herself. She knew she always wanted to become a teacher, and after she was diagnosed, she came to the conclusion that she wanted to be a special needs teacher and go into student affairs. Because of her disability, Maloff has been told that she should change her major and that obtaining her degree would be difficult, advice that she refused to follow.

“You can’t just tell a student to change their major because of a disability,” Maloff said.

Verbruggen, who was diagnosed his freshman year of high school, said there were many resources avail-

able to him to allow him to learn at the pace that was right for his level of learning. Due to his dyslexia, he finds that he is more of an auditory learner and has access to audio versions of his textbooks so he can listen to the chapters at a faster pace than if he were to read them.

Lillie has been living with RP ever since she was a young girl. She was initially nervous upon coming to GVSU because she didn’t know if she would have the proper accommodations available to her, but she said her experience at GVSU has been great and that the professors were very accommodating as long as you are willing to take the initiative and have good communication with them.

Disability Student Resources helped provide Arnold with accommodations to help with her hearing

impairment in class. DSR can provide professors who share videos in class the option of captions with the videos for Arnold and other students with hearing impairments to read.

Arnold is also a member of the American Sign language and culture club and had become fluent enough in ASL by the end of her freshman year to use an interpreter in her classes.

“It’s about advocating for yourself,” Lillie said. “I talk to my teachers before the semester to let them know about my disability so that we are both better prepared.”

According to their website and brochure, the mission statement of DSR is “to provide support services and accommodations that enhance the environment for persons with disabilities and to help educate the university community on dis-

On Nov. 15 at 3 p.m., Grand Valley State University’s Meijer Campus in Holland will play host to a community energy conservation conversation meeting in room 104.

The meeting will feature speaker Don Triezenberg from The Community Energy Advisory Group. The CEAG’s goal is to educate Holland on the energy choices their City Council is facing and is devoted to informing participants of the decisions and options available to meet the city’s energy needs. The energy decisions made today and tomorrow will have a long-range and semipermanent effect on families, businesses, and city budget in terms of economic development, and the health and environment of the community.

College students, community members, and local businesses are invited to learn about sustainability to the community and conserving energy. There will be a “call to action” segment where individuals can bring what they’ve learned to their work, school, or community along with a question and answer portion.

“This is your community and it needs to be your decision,” said graduate assistant Emily DeLano. “We need a robust community conversation to comprehensively address Holland’s energy future, rather than focusing solely on specific fuel types and individual power plants. Good solutions for complex issues require broad interaction among well-informed people of good will.”

Refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing DeLano at delanoem@gvsu.edu or call (616) 394-4848.

For more information visit: http://yourcityyourdecision.com/community-action/. rmclaughlin@lanthorn.com ability issues.”

The DSR provides many services and accommodations to students who are living with all types of disabilities. They provide academic advising where students are assisted with course scheduling, provide alternate textbook formats and assistive technology, options for alternative test-taking, notetaking assistance, resource agents, tutoring, transportation services and provide documentation for students to disclose to their professors that lists the accommodations necessary for the

students to learn.

Students can contact DSR at dsrgvsu@gvsu.edu or visit their website at gvsu.edu/ dsr for more information.

Verbruggen said if any students needed or wanted advice from a GVSU student, or just someone to talk to, he would even offer his own contact information.

“It’s better when you can talk to someone who is actually going through it themselves,” Verbruggen said. mbraxmaier@lanthorn.com

LAKER LIFE

Grand Valley Lanthorn

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

B5

WALK A MILE

IN HER SHOES Event aims to raise awareness, empathy of sexual assault Rachel McLaughlin GVL Staff Writer

O

JESSICA HOLLENBECK | GVL

A walk to remember: Junior Parker Nugent and sophomore Logan Wyatt participate in the march to stop rape, sexual assault and gender violence.

n a chilly and somewhat rainy Oct. 29, Grand Valley State University’s Inter Fraternity Counsel hosted the second annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes keynote exhibition and march to raise awareness of gender-based violence such as rape and sexual assault.

In their lifetime, 1 in 4-6 women will be sexually assaulted, with 95 percent of those cases not being reported. At GVSU, 1 in 5 women reported experiencing sexual assault in their lifetime while only 1 in 15 men said the same.

The Walk a Mile in Her Shoes men’s march, founded in 2001, takes place internationally and men are invited to wear high heels in order to symbolize the oppression and sexual violence women face.

Wearing the high heels, men experienced the uncomfortable and constraining gender norms that women are placed under by society.

At 6:30 p.m., participants left the Grand River room at Kirkhof with picket signs in tow with phrases such as “Men can stop rape” and “Ask. Listen. Respect.”

In socks and patent-leather high heels the men struggled to maintain their stability walking through north campus over Little Mac Bridge and around the Zumberge Library.

They started out strong but as the group marched by Copeland Living Center, ankles started to tremble.

The men, laughing and stumbling, held onto each other for balance and were relieved whenever a railing was in sight. Many of them walked on the grass as much as possible in order to make it easier.

While the men’s march was to promote a serious cause, the men and women couldn’t help but create a light-hearted atmosphere.

Outbursts of “This is my exercise for the week,” “It’s just a little parkour,” “The heels are so pretty but they hurt so much” and “It’s hard to be pretty” could be heard throughout the substantially sized group as bystanders laughed and shook their heads.

“I wasn’t really afraid of who would see,” said Kyle Bratt, member of IFC. “The shoes were just uncomfortable and kind of hurt.”

Fellow IFC member Darryl Jessup started out slightly self-conscious.

“After putting on the shoes, seeing everyone else doing it, I realized it was no big deal,” Jessup said. “Plus it’s for a good cause.”

After returning their high heels, the men were welcomed back with a presentation by Theresa Rowland from the Women’s Center. Rowland spent the first few minutes going over terminology, mostly the word “consent” which is defined by GVSU as being a clear and voluntary agreement between participants.

“The absence of a ‘no’ doesn’t mean a ‘yes’,” said Rowland, who then showed a public service announcement entitled “Lakers Ask For Consent,” which was made by

students at the university. Faculty member MarcQus Wright took over, presenting the topic of male privilege and sexism. It was shown that in our culture and in our society, violence and sexism are normalcies.

Music videos sexually objectify women, video games bestow the idea that hitting women is okay, and commercials advocate sexism and the separation of gender interests’ - for example how the magazines are sorted at the grocery store with sports next to “men’s interests” and lifestyle next to “women’s interests.” A few sexist advertisements were shown, mostly attempting to sell beer and other things advertised as “just for men.”

The exposition helped participants redefine stages of change, how to improve as an individual and collective, and their goals, one of the largest being to combat violence against women and raise awareness of the negative stereotypes of both men and women.

Every attendee was given a call to action: “Every word you speak or don’t speak, every action or inaction has consequences.”

Participants were encouraged to donate $5 to benefit the Rape Aggression Defense program designed to teach self-defense mechanisms and issues surrounding sexual violence and gender socialization.

“It was good to learn what sexual assault actually is and how prevalent gender roles are in pop culture,” Jessup said. rmclaughlin@lanthorn.com

Trunk or Treat sweetens up Meijer Campus

By Hannah Matro GVL Staff Writer

On Oct. 29, Holland’s Meijer Campus got a little sweeter, as Phi Mu and Delta Sigma Alpha hosted “Trunk or Treat”. From 6-8 p.m., volunteers passed out candy to the kids of staff, faculty, alumni and students from the trunks of their cars. Kids also got the chance to get inside and away from the chilly weather to decorate pumpkins and watch Halloween movies.

“Everyone was delighted to see the little ones come up and tell us what they were for Halloween and you could tell how excited they were to be able to get to,” said John Gezon, a member of Delta Sigma Phi. The ‘trunk or treat’ fad has popped up as an alternative to trick-or-treating in the last few years. Instead of walking around city blocks on a cold Autumn evening, collecting candy from strangers, parents can accompany their kids to a one-stop-shop event that is not only safer, but more convenient.

Usually held in parking lots of college campuses, churches, or grocery stores, trunkor-treating is becoming the norm, especially for families with small children who can’t go trick or treating alone. Kids still get the joy of dressing up as little ghosts, mini bumblebees, and fairies, and get just as much, if not more, candy - and parents can feel good about see-

ing the people the kids are receiving the candy from. Trunk-or-treating encourages community involvement and allows participants an environment more conducive to mingling than trick or treating does.

Not only is the Trunk or Treat event great for the Holland community at large, but, specifically, GVSU students or alumni with kids reap benefits.

“It is a great opportunity for students who have kids to ‘bring them to the place where dad or mom goes to school,’ so that these parent students can explain to their kids about college,” said Emily DeLano, GVSU student and graduate assistant at the Holland Campus.

“Trunk or treat is also a community building time where you can meet families, GVSU staff members, and new friends.”

This year’s Trunk or Treat in Holland was by far the largest the campus has seen. Approximately 70 kids attended and $200 worth of candy (around 27 bags), was distributed.

“There were 35 Greek community members (Phi Mu and Delta Sigma Phi) in attendance and all were dressed in costumes to pass out the candy,” Lindy Barnes said. “Once the kids went trunk-or-treating, they were able to go inside to decorate their own pumpkin and watch a Halloween movie as well.”

Halloween music was played and the students involved from Phi Mu and Delta Sigma Alpha entertained the kids and although

EMILY DELANO | COURTESY

The love of candy: A girl dressed as Sulley from Monsters, Inc., receives candy while participating in the Trunk or Treat event. The event allowed children to get candy in a safe environment.

it was cold, the volunteers still came dressed as cats, devils, cowgirls, and princesses; they manned cars full of candy and handed it out gladly to all who came.

“This was my first time attending Trunk or Treat, so I was not sure what to expect, especially with the dreary October weather,” said Kelsey Williams, philanthropy chair of Phi Mu. “I was surprised to see so many kids bundled up just to come trunk-or-treating with us...I can safely say that their smiles made everything we did in preparation, as well as braving the cold, more than worthwhile. I must say that my favorite costumes

included a little girl dressed up as Merida, from Pixar’s newest movie Brave, (wig and all) and her younger brother dressed as a fully decked out pirate.”

The Holland Campus Trunk or Treat proved to be a wild success, one that will be sure to be carried on in the future.

“This is what community service is all about, going out into a community in need and lending a hand or even a smile,” Gezon said. “Trick or Treating was one of my fondest activities as a child and I’m glad we got to bring the joy of it to the families that came.” hmatro@lanthorn.com

B6

Grand Valley Lanthorn

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

MARKETPLACE Announcements

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