Football inks 35 recruits BY BRYCE DEROUIN GVL SPORTS EDITOR
While the games may be won on the field, a major part of the battle came to an end on Wednesday, as 35 student athletes have decided to play football for Grand Valley State University on national signing day. Wednesday was the first day that recruits could sign national letters of intent and be announced to the public. “For us here at Grand Valley, this recruting process for a lot of these kids has been done for awhile,” said head coach Matt Mitchell. “A large majority of this class verbally committed early in the process. Today is just more about the formality, than necessarily some last minute recruiting decisions.” GVSU’s 2013 class consists of 26 players from Michigan, four from Indiana, four from illionios, and one from Ohio. 32 of the 35 athletes took part in the postseason, with some of them making it all the way to the state finals at Ford Field. “There’s a lot of players on this list that were apart of great teams that had postseason play experience and are very competitive,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we want at Grand Valley. We want competive kids that want to win and want to achieve on the field.” Many of the 35 incoming freshman will most likely be redshirted for their first year, letting them grow and adapt to GVSU’s system. During Mitchell’s nine years at GVSU, only four freshman have
build their defensive line with the 2013 class. GVSU managed to sign six defensive lineman. “Long term, we wanted to make sure we never got in a position where we were at a little bit this year, where we were lacking for bigger body kids, especially inside,” Mitchell said. “So we tried to actively address that and go out there and find some kids. Interior defensive lineman from Indiana, Ohio, and an offfensive tackle from Illinois. We branched outside the state of Michigan in an attempt to find some bigger bodied athletes, which I think you need to have in order to win in college football.” One of the most important factors for Mitchell and his staff during the recruiting process, was how the players would fit within the GVSU system. Both on-andoff the field. “In recruiting process anywhere, but specifically at Grand Valley, it’s all about fit,” Mitchell said. I think that’s the unique thing about this class. This class of 35 is a great fit for Grand Valley. In the recruiting process, we had to make sure that the prospects we were taking a look at could fit in from an academic standpoint. I definitely feel that this class fits that.” “In recruiting process anywhere, but specifically at Grand Valley, it’s all about fit,” Mitchell said. I think that’s the unique thing about this class. This class of 35 is a great fit for Grand Valley. In the recruiting process, we had to make sure that the prospects we were taking a look at
President Barack Obama was greeted warmly by his hometown of Chicago Tuesday night after news organizations began declaring his victory over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race around 11:20 p.m., carrying America’s first black president into his second term. “Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back,” Obama said. “We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.” Predictions of a close race came to fruition, with the New York Times most recent numbers at time of publication totaling Obama at 50.4 percent (60,506,653) of the popular vote while Romney trailed behind with 48.1 percent (57,706,874) of American’s votes. Republican and democrats nationwide watched nervously as electoral votes – most notably
GV plans $72 M in projects BY ANYA ZENTMEYER & LIZZY BALBOA
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 LafayetteHastings block near the downtown CookDeVos Health Sciences building on the Medical Mile to make room for expansion of the university’s health care programs. Opened in 2003, GVSU’s Center for Health Sciences is at capacity, with about 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
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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 with an anticipated completion date in time for the 2015-16 academic year. 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
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came in and played right away. One player who Mitchell did mention he could see helping this year’s team is place-kicker Joel Schipper from Grand Rapids Christian. Schipper converted all 72 extra points and made 14-of-17 field goals, including the field goal that sent the state championship into overtime, and the field goal that won the state championship. “I’m excited about him,” Mitchell said of Schipper. “He made a lot of high pressured kicks at Grand Rapids Christian. We need help with the extra point field goal thing. If there’s one kid possiibly on this list who can help right away in 2013, it might be him. Just from the standpoint of extra points and field goals.” Going into the recruiting season, Mitchell and his staff made it a point to
could fit in from an academic standpoint. I definitely feel that this class fits that.” Going into the recruiting season, Mitchell and his staff made it a point to build their defensive line with the 2013 class. GVSU managed to sign six defensive lineman. One player who Mitchell did mention he could see helping this year’s team is place-kicker Joel Schipper from Grand Rapids Christian. Schipper converted all 72 extra points and made 14-of-17 field goals, including the field goal that sent the state championship into overtime, and the field goal that won the state championship. goals, including the field goal that sent the state championship into overtime, championship.
called the James H. Zumberge Hall when it reopens in 2014. The renovation includes a 24,000-squarefoot 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. republican seats – something Moiles said might help Obama in the long run, though it may be a “very difficult and painful
Battlegroud states snag Barack Obama term two BY ANYA ZENTMEYER GVL EDITOR IN CHIEF
‘The Good Person of Setzuan’ BY STACY SABAITIS GVL STAFF WRITER
Theatre student Matt Fowler channeled his inner animal for inspiration in preparation for his role as Wang the Waterseller in the Grand Valley State University theatre department production of “The Good Person of Setzuan.” The play, which opens April 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, features an all-student cast directed by Kiara Pipino, GVSU visiting theatre professor. “The thing about Wang is he’s a lot like Kiara, where he’s zany, and sometimes what you can do with roles is take inspiration from animals,”
Fowler said. “The thing about Wang is that he lives in a sewer pipe, and he basically lives in the mud, but he loves it.” His character resembles the director in terms of personality, Fowler said. And to help him get into the role, he repeated a lot of dog sounds, such as barking and whimpering. “So I take inspiration from a dog, that Wang is very much like a dog and the way the show goes is that it’s very loose in terms of reality, that people can get away with certain things just because they live in this world where really drastic choices are OK,” Fowler said. “So I even go as far to make dog noises, like whimpering,
panting, howling, barking, growling, all of that, throughout the play.” Alongside Fowler is senior Bridgett Vanderhoof, who is ending her GVSU career with this performance. “I studied this play last semester in a class all about Brecht and decided then that I would like to participate,” Vanderhoof said. “I was also very excited to be directed by Kiara Pipino, who is new to R A N D here V A Land L E Ybrings theGfaculty a fresh perspective.” Along with her fresh perspective, Pipino used a different directing technique, which Fowler said helped him learn his lines. “But Kiara used this
process.” “What Obama and democrats want is some tax increase to go along with spending cuts, and that’s what more or less, the Tea Party has resisted,” he said. “With their particular power in the House and the republican majority, I think maybe with some support from some Senate republicans – not all of them, certainly senate republicans will still hold to their principles and positions – but, I do think he may be able to put together a little bit of
President Barack Obama was greeted warmly by his hometown of Chicago Tuesday night after news organizations began declaring his victory over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race around 11:20 p.m., carrying America’s first black president into his second term. “Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back,” Obama said. “We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.” Predictions of a close race came to fruition, with the New York Times most
recent numbers at time of publication totaling Obama at 50.4 percent (60,506,653) of the popular vote while Romney trailed behind with 48.1 percent (57,706,874) of American’s votes. Republican and democrats nationwide watched nervously as electoral votes – most notably in the battleground states – topped out at 303 for Obama, and 206 for Romney, leaving 29 currently undecided. Obama swept Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia and Wisconsin, also taking all 16 of Michigan’s electoral votes – Romney’s birth state – as well as his home state of Massachusetts. “This is an affirmation for the Obama presidency,” said Roger Moiles, affiliated professor of political science at Grand Valley State University. “It was a hardfought battle, of course, but
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it was an affirmation. I think it’s a good thing for the country that we had a clear popular vote winner and electoral vote winner; the fact that Governor Romney could concede within a few hours after the polls had closed, that we had a clear definition on that.” Whit Kilburn, also from GVSU’s political science department, said Obama’s victory was not a surprising one. However, much like 2008, his victory was much bigger than himself. “I think it’s also a victory for the kinds of politics we think America should have,” Kilburn said. “While there’s no doubt that the campaign was at times shrill and negative, this is really nothing new in American politics. But the election, the exit polls, and the preelection polls showed that ideas and demographics still mattered. It was not enough