February 14, 2018

Indiana Statesman For ISU students. About ISU students. By ISU students.

Indiana Statesman

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

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POLAR PLUNGE

Volume 125, Issue 52

Students set to bear the cold this weekend Jack Gregory Reporter As cold as it is outside, wouldn’t it be nice to shiver for a cause? To feel the icy sting of winter while also raising money for those who need it? This weekend, Indiana State will be hosting their 10th Annual Polar Plunge at the Student Recreation Center.

Members of the community are encouraged to come out this Saturday, February 17, and pledge money to benefit the Special Olympics. Registration lasts from 9 to 9:45 a.m. and the Plunge itself takes place at 10 a.m.

Registration for non-students requires a $75 minimum and includes a souvenir t-shirt. For students, a minimum of only $50 is required, although this price excludes the t-shirt.

Immediately following the event is the After Splash Bash, where participants can win prizes and warm up with complimentary food and beverages.

Terre Haute has been a proud supporter of the Special Olympics for a long time and Indiana State is the birthplace of the organization in Indiana. Indiana has hosted the Summer Games 41 out of 43

Kabrisha Bell | Indiana Statesman

Sycamores take the plunge to raise money for Special Olympics.

years, and 16 cities from South Bend to Boonville have had or will have Plunges throughout February. One more will be hosted at the beginning of March, in

Indianapolis, which means anyone who misses this event will have plenty of other opportunities if they wish to participate.

John Lentz, the committee chairman

for the Polar Plunge, said that while not the only fundraiser they do, the Polar Plunge is the largest fundraiser for the

POLAR CONT. ON PAGE 3

No concerns with the skull found near campus ISU receives Brittney Williams Reporter In a time of the year when many students are looking at places to live for the next semester, there are many options throughout Terre Haute and the surrounding area for off-campus living; even multiple new facilities coming to the Indiana State University area.

However, an unlikely find at a construction site near campus might have some spooked.

Early last month, workers at the Core Development construction site at the end of Sycamore Street near First Street uncovered a human skull.

Core Development of Indianapolis is currently remodeling the ICON building already located on the property into loft-

style apartments.

The former ICON building, which has also been home to numerous other businesses during its lifetime just two blocks west of campus, is the site of the first cemetery for the present day city of Terre Haute.

“The bones appear to be from a cemetery from the 1800s that was at the locations,” said John Plasse, chief of police for the City of Terre Haute.

In an article from The Tribune Star in June 2016, the Indian Orchard Cemetery that was at the location was the first burial site in the area that would become Terre Haute.

Later, when the Wabash and Erie Canal was built, the cemetery, which is on the banks of the Wabash, needed to be moved.

The Tribune Star went on to

say that most of the bodies were successfully transferred to the Woodlawn Cemetery. At the time the bodies were moved this was the main cemetery for the town.

While the cemetery is listed as a historic landmark on Google, it is only marked by a sign in the parking lot at the end of Sycamore Street.

Plasse also added that students should not be concerned about the finding and it is the only recent finding in the area.

Some students reflected on the thoughts of living so close to the cemetery after the discovery.

“I don’t really see it as an issue,” Isabella Finch, sophomore biology major said. “I can see where religious views, especially about changing body locations, could have an impact on how

someone felt about moving to the area.”

Jaylen Jemison, a junior sports management major, has had experience in similar situations throughout his life.

“I wouldn’t have a problem moving into the building,” Jemison said. “Because honestly, I grew up in an area where the middle school was built on top of a graveyard and that’s where I went to.”

Jemison also added, “My grandparents’ house growing up was also filled with, not ghosts, but afterlife of my family. So, not that anything would happen in that area but if it did I wouldn’t be freaked out.”

Moving forward there should be no student concerns about human skull being found near campus.

the lawsuit.

Vice Media, headquartered in Brooklyn, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Originating from the Montreal-based alternative magazine Vice, the company counts the Walt Disney Co., A&E Networks and 21st Century Fox as investors. It was valued at $5.7 billion last year, co-founder and Chief Executive Shane Smith said in a June interview.

The company was the subject of a Dec. 23 report by the New York Times that contained allegations of sexual misconduct at the company. Soon thereafter, Vice Media suspended two male executives — president Andrew Creighton and chief digital officer Mike Germano — who were accused of misconduct in the report.

On the same day the Times published its report, Smith and Vice Media co-founder Suroosh Alvi posted a message to Vice.com that acknowledged problems at the company. “Listening to our employees over the past year, the truth is inescapable: from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive,” the note said.

That statement, directed at Vice Media employees, also pledged that the company

Indiana State University has received a $200,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to enhance the education and training of school counselors.

The funding is part of Lilly Endowment’s Comprehensive Counseling Initiative for Indiana K-12 Students.

Launched in September 2016, the five-year initiative is designed to encourage the state’s schools to develop best-practice comprehensive counseling models that effectively address the academic, college, career and social and emotional counseling needs of students.

Through the initiative Lilly Endowment has made $26.4 million in grants to public school corporations and charter schools, and to universities, including Indiana State, that are working to strengthen counselor and principal preparation programs.

“It’s a huge, huge investment in Hoosiers,” said Tonya Christman Balch, associate professor in the department of communication disorders and counseling, school and educational psychology at Indiana State.

The grant to Indiana State provides funding to conduct a program assessment, program evaluation, professional development and “support the essential initiatives needed to do to improve your programs,” she said.

Balch and her team identified areas that need to be addressed, including: • skills to develop a comprehensive school counseling program; • knowledge and skills to work effectively with students in poverty; • knowledge and skills to meet K-12 students’ social/emotional needs; • effectively assist K-12 students with career exploration; • to help graduates from the

VICE CONT. ON PAGE 3

GRANT CONT. ON PAGE 3

Vice Media sued by former employee for alleged discrimination against women Daniel Miller Los Angeles Times TNS A former female employee of Vice Media has alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the company discriminates against female employees, systemically and intentionally paying them less than their male counterparts.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action certification, was filed by Elizabeth Rose, who worked at the millennial-focused media company in New York and Los Angeles from 2014 to 2016, serving as a channel manager and project manager. Vice Media operates the Viceland cable channel and produces two news programs for HBO, among other projects.

Filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the complaint alleges that Rose, as part of her job, received internal memos that showed the salaries of about 35 Vice media employees, revealing a pay disparity in which females “made far less than male employees for the same or substantially similar work.”

According to the lawsuit, Rose learned that a male subordinate — whom she hired — made about $25,000 more per year than her. The man was eventually promoted to be her supervisor. A male executive told Rose that her former subordinate was a “good personality fit” for male clients, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges Vice Media violated

Chris Hatcher | PicturePerfect | Imago | Zuma Press |TNS

Shane Smith at the 68th Emmy HBO after party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Sept. 18, 2016.

equal pay acts in New York and California, as well as the Federal Equal Pay Act. Depending on the circumstances, women who were employed by company within the last six years could be a member of one of three proposed classes, which in total could include more than 700 women, according to

$200K school counselors grant

NEWS

Page 2

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback Matt Day

The Seattle Times (TNS)

Amazon is laying off hundreds of corporate employees, a rare cutback for a company that has spent most of the last few years in a frantic growth spurt.

The layoffs, underway now, will fall on several hundred employees at the online retailer’s Seattle headquarters, along with hundreds more elsewhere in Amazon’s global operations, one person familiar with the cuts said. The layoffs are primarily focused on Amazon’s consumer retail businesses, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A few hundred layoffs are modest for a company that is now the second-largest U.S.-based corporate employer, and pales in comparison to adjustments in recent years that saw Microsoft and Boeing eliminate thousands of jobs in a single cutting drive.

But at Amazon, a company with a wide range of growing businesses that prides itself on frugality and efficient allocation of resources, broad layoffs of any kind are rare.

The cuts come after a hiring binge that took the company’s Seattle head count to more than 40,000 people, from just 5,000 in 2010.

According to several employees, the rapid growth of the last two years left some units over budget and some teams with too much staff for their work. Amazon had implemented hiring freez-

es in recent months across several groups, a move that reduced the company’s open job listings in Seattle to their lowest level in years.

In a statement, Amazon acknowledged the cuts.

“As part of our annual planning process, we are making head count adjustments across the company — small reductions in a couple of places and aggressive hiring in many others,” a spokesman said.

“For affected employees, we work to find roles in the areas where we are hiring.”

Some employees have already been informed of the elimination of their roles, and layoffs are expected to be completed in the next few weeks, one of the people said.

Recent layoffs at Amazon units outside Seattle suggest the company is consolidating established retail businesses.

Self-publishing unit Createspace is conducting its second round of layoffs in two years, cuts that eliminated 200 jobs from the South Carolina-based Amazon subsidiary. In Las Vegas, Amazon-owned footwear seller Zappos has laid off about 30 people.

And a year ago, Quidsi, the subsidiary behind Diapers.com and other sites, cut more than 250 jobs.

The company continues to hire plenty of workers, too. Amazon’s global workforce stood at 566,000 in December, up 66 percent from a year earlier, the company said when it reported quarterly earnings this month. Counting only

Dreamstime|TNS

Several hundred employees in Amazon’s consumer retail business will be laid off.

corporate roles outside of Amazon’s warehouses, the company had 12,500 open jobs on Monday.

Amazon’s job listings in its hometown have climbed in recent weeks, as executives approved plans for 2018, and granted teams — particularly those in the Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit and working on voice-activated Alexa software — permission to hire.

The company on Monday had more than 4,000 job listings posted for Seattle, up 23 percent from the multiyear low in January.

In comments earlier this month, Chief Executive

Senators open immigration debate in rarely used process Lisa Mascaro

Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

As the Senate opened a much-anticipated immigration debate Monday, lawmakers may be embarking on something rarely attempted anymore in Congress: openly and collaboratively legislating.

Not in several years has there been a freewheeling process to draft and vote on important legislation. In the increasingly partisan climate, bills are typically crafted behind doors and either accepted or rejected, as seen in the GOP’s recent taxcut plan or the ill-fated attempts to repeal Obamacare.

But that is not what is expected — at least not so far — when the Senate tries to strike a compromise to protect young “Dreamers” from deportation while beefing up border security and making other immigration changes.

The fair and open debate promised by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., may resemble the last big attempt at an immigration overhaul in 2013. That process lasted months.

“Now it is time to back up this talk with the hard work of finding a workable solution,” McConnell said Monday. “I hope this body can seize this opportunity and deliver real progress.”

Hanging in the balance are the livelihoods of nearly 700,000 young immigrants, who have been in the country illegally since childhood. President Donald Trump is ending the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offered them temporary permits to live and work in the U.S. McConnell was pressured to open the process as a concession to Democrats to end last month’s government shutdown.

But even as of Monday evening, some were worried the collaborative process might be short-lived. Republican leaders said they would try to limit debate to about a week.

And despite his assurances, McConnell quickly put his thumb on the scale by announcing his support for a Republican-backed bill that reflects Trump’s preferred approach. It would provide Dreamers a decadelong path to citizenship, but also include $25 billion for border security and limits to future legal immigration by capping family visas and ending the diversity lottery.

“It’s our best chance to produce a solution that can actually resolve these matters,” McConnell said, reminding senators that any bill would also need approval by the GOP-led House. “It has my support.”

Immigration advocates argue that the Republican limits on legal immigration are too high a price to pay.

Congressional leaders often promise open debates only to quickly run into the

political and procedural constraints that arise when lawmakers capitalize on the opportunity to force votes on particular issues, often designed to push their colleagues into politically difficult decisions.

Those poison pill-type amendments used to be rare, but the late Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican from North Carolina, popularized their use in the 1970s.

That led leaders to increasingly limit debate and restrict the ability to offer amendments.

McConnell faced the same dilemma when he became majority leader in 2015 and oversaw debate on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. He won praise for the unusually open process. After that, though, the Senate reverted to a more structured and partisan consideration of major bills.

“Open debates and regular order used to be run-of-the-mill,” former U.S. Senate historian Don Ritchie said in an email.

“It was the way everything got done on a normal basis. These days they are rare occurrences.”

Democrats see the proceeding as a chance for Congress to lead as Trump gives conflicting signals over what to do on immigration.

“The purpose here is not to make a point,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. “The purpose is to get something done.”

Though Republicans hold a 51-seat majority, most legislation requires 60 votes to avoid a Senate filibuster, meaning they’ll need Democratic support for passage.

Trump set the debate in motion when he announced last fall that he was ending the DACA program, giving Congress a March 5 deadline to devise a legislative fix. A court case has kept the program running for now.

As the debate unfolds, senators are expected to offer a range of proposals — from more sweeping measures, such as the Trump-designed plan that McConnell supports, to those that more narrowly seek to address the issue.

One from Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., seeks simply to extend DACA for three years, along with border security funding during that time, buying time while a more lasting solution can be negotiated.

“I still hold out hope for the mob of moderates in the middle who are working hard for compromise,” said Ali Noorani, executive director at the National Immigration Forum, referring to the bipartisan Common Sense Coalition, led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Coalition members were in talks all weekend to try to build a consensus bill.

“The process, as unconventional as it is, I would argue has a chance to get to the

DEBATE CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Jeff Bezos said the company was going to “double down” on Alexa following better-than-expected success from its voice-activated software.

Still, some Seattle-based employees describe an environment of belt-tightening.

A manager in one unit making cuts said his team was briefed that Bezos and the Amazon brass wanted to put more pressure on managers to weed out lower performers and enforce spending discipline after the rapid growth of recent years.

“People are in terrible shape,” he said. “There is so much stress on cam-

pus.”

The company has also recently instituted a mandate that managers who oversee other supervisors must have at least four people reporting to them.

The aim, the company says, is to reduce layers of redundant management and keep the company flexible and fast-moving.

“Amazon has a problem right now with overpopulation,” said one engineer at the company.

In addition to the company’s annual planning and budgeting process, the first few months of the year also bring Amazon’s employee performance

reviews and, for some, notices that they need to improve or face consequences.

Such performance improvement plans, dreaded among Amazon’s rank and file, come with a requirement that employees demonstrate improvement over a set period of time.

Last year, Amazon introduced a career coaching program, called Pivot, described as a tool to help lower performers make it through such programs.

Employees put on notice can also choose to contest their manager’s determination that led them into the improvement plan in the first place, or opt not to participate at all and take a severance package to leave the company.

Some current and former employees say that some managers wield improvement plans to trim the size of teams without resorting to layoffs.

“It’s a well-loved strategy” to cut employees, one former Amazonian said, adding that during his time at the company he saw several talented employees “managed out” that way.

Amazon says improvement plans are not used to achieve job cuts.

“We use our performance-management process to recognize talent, help employees develop their skills, and in some cases, make employees aware that they are underperforming,” a spokesman said. “We do not use our performance management process to achieve headcount goals.”

New blood test can detect early signs of 8 kinds of cancer Deborah Netburn

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Scientists have developed a noninvasive blood test that can detect signs of eight types of cancer long before any symptoms of the disease arise.

The test, which can also help doctors determine where in a person’s body the cancer is located, is called CancerSEEK. Its genesis is described in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science.

The authors said the new work represents the first noninvasive blood test that can screen for a range of cancers all at once: cancer of the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, colon, lung and breast.

Together, these eight forms of cancer are responsible for more than 60 percent of cancer deaths in the United States, the authors said.

In addition, five of them — ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic and esophageal cancers — currently have no screening tests.

“The goal is to look for as many cancer types as possible in one test, and to identify cancer as early as possible,” said Nickolas Papadopoulos, a professor of oncology and pathology at Johns Hopkins who led the work. “We know from the data that when you find cancer early, it is easier to kill it by surgery or chemotherapy.”

CancerSEEK, which builds on 30 years of research, relies on two signals that a person might be harboring cancer.

First, it looks for 16 telltale genetic mutations in bits of free-floating DNA that have been deposited in the bloodstream by cancerous cells. Because these are present in such trace amounts, they can be very hard to find, Papadopoulos said. For example, one blood sample might have thousands of pieces

of DNA that come from normal cells, and just two or five pieces from cancerous cells.

“We are dealing with a needle in a haystack,” he said.

To overcome this challenge, the team relied on recently developed digital technologies that allowed them to efficiently and cost-effectively sequence each individual piece of DNA one by one.

“If you take the hay in the haystack and go through it one by one, eventually you will find the needle,” Papadopoulos said.

In addition, CancerSEEK also screens for eight proteins that are frequently found in higher quantities in the blood samples of people who have cancer.

By measuring these two signals in tandem, CancerSEEK was able to detect cancer in 70 percent of blood samples pulled from 1,005 patients who had already been diagnosed with one of eight forms of the disease.

The test appeared to be more effective at finding some types of cancer than others, the authors noted.

For example, it was able to spot ovarian cancer 98 percent of the time, but was successful at detecting breast cancer only 33 percent of the time.

The authors also report that CancerSEEK was better at detecting later stage cancer compared to cancer in earlier stages. It was able to spot the disease 78 percent of the time in people who had been diagnosed with stage III cancer, 73 percent of the time in people with stage II cancer and 43 percent of the time in people diagnosed with stage I cancer.

“I know a lot of people will say this sensitivity is not good enough, but for the five tumor types that currently have no test, going from zero chances of detection to what we did

is a very good beginning,” Papadopoulos said.

It is also worth noting that when the researchers ran the test on 812 healthy control blood samples, they only saw seven false-positive results.

“Very high specificity was essential because false-positive results can subject patients to unnecessary invasive follow-up tests and procedures to confirm the presence of cancer,” said Kenneth Kinzler, a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins who also worked on the study.

Finally, the researchers used machine learning to determine how different combination of proteins and mutations could provide clues to where in the body the cancer might be.

The authors found they could narrow down the location of a tumor to just a few anatomic sites in 83 percent of patients.

CancerSEEK is not yet available to the public, and it probably won’t be for a year or longer, Papadopoulos said.

“We are still evaluating the test, and it hasn’t been commercialized yet,” he said. “I don’t want to guess when it will be available, but I hope it is soon.”

He said that eventually the test could cost less than $500 to run and could easily be administered by a primary care physician’s office.

In theory, a blood sample would be taken in a doctor’s office, and then sent to a lab that would look for the combination of mutations and proteins that would indicate that a patient has cancer. The data would then go into an algorithm that would determine whether or not the patient had the disease and where it might be.

“The idea is: You give blood, and you get results,” Papadopoulos said.

indianastatesman.com

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 • Page 3

VICE FROM PAGE 1 employees, also pledged that the company would have pay parity by the end of this year.

Rose’s complaint also alleges that after she viewed the internal document that revealed pay disparities between men and women, she spoke with other female colleagues and learned that they too were aware that they were being paid less than their male counterparts. Rose is seeking for herself—and the members of the potential classes—compensatory damages, adjusted wages to compensate for the allegedly discriminatory pay policy and an end to the company’s allegedly discriminatory practices.

Michael Morrison, Rose’s attorney, said that a focus on pay disparity could be “the

POLAR FROM PAGE 1 Special Olympics in Indiana, surpassing $40,000 in donations last year.

“We’re very proud of ISU. The Summer Games started here. It was actually started by two teachers [at ISU]…We’re very proud of the legacy ISU has provided,” Lentz said.

Each year, the committee has a goal they would like to reach and this year that goal is $50,000. As of now, $28,430 has been raised with 215 supporters, 21 teams, and 683 donations total. Their goal for attendance is 250 people.

In a press release from last Tuesday, Special Olympics Indiana’s senior director of development, Scott Furnish, said, “This is an opportunity for people who care about Special Olympics to make a difference by ensuring that we have the necessary funds to continue to grow and serve people with

DEBATE FROM PAGE 2 right outcomes,” he said.

On Monday, senators took a procedural step to begin debate, utilizing a shell bill that will carry various proposals being brought up as amendments.

Senators have not decided which amendments will be offered first, but some expect the more expansive proposals, such as the Republican effort proposed by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, which

next step in the #MeToo movement.”

“Not enough attention in the #MeToo movement has been drawn to pay disparities,” said Morrison of law firm Alexander Krakow + Glick LLP. “You can’t ignore that pay disparities based on gender have a profound effect on women. To not get the same amount of money as your male colleague, based on your sex, what is more discriminatory than that?”

Vice Media isn’t the only Hollywood company to be hit with a potential class-action case amid a wider reckoning in the entertainment and media industries over issues of discrimination and misconduct. In December, the disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and his namesake company were sued by six women who alleged that a massive scheme facilitated the disgraced mogul’s predatory behavior. intellectual disabilities in Indiana. Plus, it’s kind of fun to challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone and do some a little crazy, like jumping in a lake in the middle of winter.”

Participants can dive individually or as part of a group and many take this opportunity to really show their creative side by dressing up in matching uniforms or costumes.

The SRC has its own team called The Happy Recsters, which is still taking on both members and donations. For anyone who would like to support this team, another team or the cause in general, but cannot afford the minimum registration fee or simply doesn’t want to jump into freezing water, there is also a donation page for each member of a team. There is no minimum donation requirement, and any and all donations are welcome.

McConnell supports, will be among those considered earliest.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., may offer the so-called Dream Act, the latest version of the nearly 20-year-old proposal to provide the young immigrants a path to legal status and citizenship. Or he may offer the bipartisan bill that he and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., developed that included Trump’s border security funds but was rejected by the White House as insufficient.

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GRANT FROM PAGE 1 school counseling program, school administration and supervision program to demonstrate collaboration skills.

As for the last point, Balch said sometimes there’s a disconnect between a school counselor and a school administrator.

“As a building-level administrator or district-wide superintendent, it’s generally easier for that person to make teaching or learning decisions such as deciding what a math teacher is going to do - they’re going to teach math — or become an English teacher — they’re going to teach English. But they don’t receive training on specifically how to use a school counselor or other human service professional,” she said.

Additionally, Balch said part of the problem has been the changing roles of a school counselor. At the turn of the last century, a counselor would have more of a vocational-focused job, guiding a student to get some type of industry-based job.

“Over time, that morphed into a more mental health emphasis,” she said.

But since the 1990s, the role of school counselors has changed, and there’s not a lot of training for administrators about how to best engage counselors in their schools, Balch said. This grant will help to bridge that gap.

Another focus of the grant, Balch said, is to better prepare graduate students in working with K-12 students who are in poverty.

“We’ve had discussions among faculty and clinical partners that we don’t always see empathy among pre-service counselors concerning poverty,” Balch said.

Indiana State historically has had a focus providing a multi-cultural education.

“I don’t think many students view poverty as a measure of diversity,” Balch said. “I think sometimes pre-service counselors appropriately consider diversity as modes of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, but they aren’t seeing that poverty is an important component as well.”

She said the grant would give Indiana State the funds, in part, to better focus on strengthening graduate students’ knowledge, skills and awareness when it comes to poverty.

The timing of the grant is perfect, Balch said, because Indiana State currently has a 48-hour accredited counseling program. But the program is moving to 60 hours. The grant will give the program ample ideas to build curriculum for the additional 12 hours.

“As a faculty member, there’s absolutely nothing more rewarding than to see a pre-service counselor enroll in our program

and witness that incredible growth over a two-year period,” Balch said. “To see the passion, the empathy they have for students, and the difference they will make in our K-12 schools - it’s a very, very rewarding job.”

Balch describes her role as a faculty member as in her dream job: she helps support K-12 students across Indiana and beyond.

A native of Stafford, Ohio, located in southeastern Ohio near West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Balch earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana State in 1989 and a master’s degree in school counseling in 2001.

“I had not considered teaching, but I did want to help students, so school counseling was the perfect fit for me,” Balch said. “I loved working in the high school setting. Supporting students as freshmen or sophomores and then seeing them mature as they made those next steps was very rewarding.”

While working as a high school counselor, she came back to Indiana State to complete a doctor of philosophy degree. In 2005, Balch was hired as the coordinator for the school counseling program at Indiana State.

“When I became a professor at ISU, I had even more opportunity to impact students through the training and preparation of great school counselors,” Balch said.

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FEATURES

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

Page 4

Valentine’s Day events scheduled Sydnee Morgan Reporter

TNS

Ways to save on Valentine’s Day Kayla Rogan Reporter Valentine’s Day is a day to spread love for everyone, not just couples. However, many college students are on a budget and may want to find some of the best deals.

A good way to express love for someone is writing them a letter or poem. This typically shouldn’t cost anything because “The Best Things in Life are Free.” Speak from the heart and give your loved one the best gift of all.

Another thing is to check out how to do some good do it yourself projects. DIY’s have become really popular for many people, young and old.

This teaches people how to do things for themselves for a fraction of the cost. Whether it is making some snacks, a personalized coffee mug, baking some sweets, or customizing a shirt, they are simple projects. Go to the Dollar Tree or Five Below for some good arts and craft supplies to design a mug, shirt, shoes, or card for a gift for special person on this day.

In addition, there are some

SEE SAVE, PAGE 5

Valentine’s Day is here once again and if you think you have to be alone, think again! There are many opportunities today as you walk around campus and more specifically, in the HMSU building. Not only are there candy grams being sent out for friends and loved ones this holiday, but there is also “Build a Bear” event, rose sales, bake sales, and Stop and Serves.

Sigma Alpha Lambda’s is hosting a bake sale, which will be located at the Cunningham Library from noon to 4 p.m.

Stop in, say hi, and buy a couple of treats! Another organization hosting a bake sale is the Student Physical Therapy Association. They will also be selling baked goods and presenting candy grams at their table to have sent to your friends, or even a special someone! Their location will be in the Sycamore Center for Wellness and Applied Medicine Building from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

However, if you are on a tight

budget, and need to save as much as possible, think about giving back to our community in Terre Haute and people around the nation. Indiana State faculty will be hosting a Stop and Serve in the commons from noon to 2 p.m. If you don’t have much time on your hands, but want to put some good in someone else’s life this holiday, Stop and Serve!

Valentine’s Day isn’t only for people in love. Multicultural Services and Programs is hosting a free “Build a Bear” social event open to all ISU students!

They intend to focus on bringing students of different cultural backgrounds together and the hope of creating a university event that everyone can take part in on this day.

To promote and to explore the international environment ISU has, birth certificates that come with the bears are in different languages. When the bears are handed out at random, each student will receive a unique bear with a different script. Dr. Elonda Ervin, who is the executive director of MSP,

came up with this idea.

“She is great in identifying different ways to engage and understand multiculturalism we have at ISU,” Alyaa Malibari, a graduate assistant in MSP said. This event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in HMSU, on the 7th floor.

If you can’t make it to the Build a Bear, think about stopping by Alpha Omicron Pi’s Candy Sale! If you want something sweet, the sisters have you covered! All the proceeds that the Kappa Alpha chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi raise will be going towards The Panhellenic Association. Their table will be placed in the Commons from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There are plenty of activities to do this year on Valentine’s Day. Find the table that best suits your craving and spend a little time brightening someone else’s day, or maybe filling your stomach. Whether you are building a bear or sending someone a candy gram, Valentine’s Day is not just for the people in love, but also for everyone to promote self-love.

Obamas’ portraits unveiled in D.C. Katherine Skiba Chicago Tribune (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama were unveiled Monday at the prestigious National Portrait Gallery, showcasing works from the first African-Americans to create paintings for the collection of U.S. presidents and their wives.

In his portrait, the former president is without a tie and seated on an ornate wooden chair in front of a lush botanical backdrop featuring flowers: chrysanthemums referencing the official flower of Chicago, jasmine evoking his native Hawaii and African blue lilies in memory of his late father.

The former first lady is somber and barearmed in her portrait, wearing a flowing, mostly black-and-white dress with geometric shapes and flashes of color.

“It’s pretty nice, isn’t it?” She said.

The dress is by designer Michelle Smith’s label Milly. It’s an echo of “masterpiece” quilts made by the women of Gee’s Bend, the small, African-American community in Alabama, artist Amy Sherald said.

Hundreds were on hand for the hourlong ceremony, including some of the Obamas’ celebrity friends, former aides and the artists.

Sherald is from Baltimore and the “personification of resilience,” having undergone a heart transplant, according to a bio from the gallery. Kehinde Wiley of New York won the commission to paint the former president.

Wiley, like the former president, was

Olivier Douliery | Abaca Press | TNS

Former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama pose with artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald during the unveiling of their official portraits at the National Portrait Gallery on Monday, February 12, 2018 in Washington, D.C.

raised by an American mother and an African father, largely absent. But they have differences, Barack Obama said, since “I cannot paint.” He joked that he tried to negotiate with Wiley to show him with fewer gray hairs and smaller ears, to no avail.

The former president said he was moved

by Wiley’s earlier works of people who are often invisible, working as janitors or food servers.

“In my small way that’s part of what I believe politics should be about,” Obama said, “not simply celebrating the high and the mighty, expecting that the country is ruled

from the top down, but rather that it comes from the bottom up.”

He, like his wife, paid tribute to his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson. He said that in addition to providing the “hotness genes” that his wife inherited, Robinson was an “extraordinary rock … for our family.”

In her remarks, Michelle Obama heralded her late grandparents, Purnell “Southside” Shields, his wife, Rebecca, and Fraser and LaVaughn Robinson. She said they were intelligent, talented and hard-working “but their dreams and aspirations were lim

SEE OBAMA, PAGE 5

Video game review: Cyberpunk 2077 AJ Goelz Reporter

Rumors have been floating around for about a week and now things are looking more and more certain that CD Projekt Red will be attending E3 2018.

This news has sparked hopes that gamers will finally get a look at CD Projekt Red’s biggest project “Cyberpunk 2077”. CD Projekt Red is a studio that likes to keep its inner machinations close to the vest, telling GameSpot that “we’re on the list. But there is no additional comment on that from us.”

There has been no official news about “Cyberpunk 2077” in a few years, but there has been a lot of rumors and speculation. There has been no confirmation if “Cyberpunk 2077” will be at E3 this year. Even though CD Projekt Red is most likely going to be at the event in June, it would not be surprising to see the studio avoid talking about the game or just show a small CG trailer and say “it

will be ready when it’s ready.”

CD Projekt Red usually focuses on one large project at a time and that project is “Cyberpunk 2077”, but does have a few smaller projects going on. “Gwent: The Witcher Card Game”, for instance, is an ongoing project for the studio. First announced at E3 2016 during the Xbox conference, “Gwent” is a trading card game based off of a mini game from “The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt”. The game entered into public beta in early 2017 and is still set for full release sometime this year. So it would not be surprising to see CD Projekt Red focusing the majority of its time on “Gwent”, much to gamer’s chagrin.

It also has not yet been confirmed what capacity the studio will be attending the conference in. It can be assumed that they will not be having their own conference due to lack of content. The only third-party studios - development studio not owned by a platform developer - that have seen success with their own conferences are large studios with multiple projects, such as Ubisoft and

Bethesda. It would not be surprising to see CD Projekt Red be a part of either Sony’s or Microsoft’s conference.

CD Projekt Red is best known for their work with “The Witcher” franchise, a series based around Geralt the Witcher from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series is set in a high fantasy world based on Polish folk tales. The video games have each been highly regarded in their own right with many considering each game to push the boundaries of the role-playing game genre. In 2015 the final game in the series, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” earned perfect scores from multiple outlets and Game of the Year at the 2015 Game Awards. The studio also won Developer of the Year at the Game Awards in 2015. “The Witcher 3” expansion, “Blood and Wine”, won Best Role-playing Game at the 2016 Game Awards.

CD Projekt Red is a studio that is known for its quality and despite little information on “Cyberpunk 2077”, many are waiting with bated breath for information about the game.

indianastatesman.com SAVE FROM PAGE 4 great restaurants they have good deals on Valentine’s Day. For example, IHOP have all you can eat pancakes for just $4.

Also, Steak and Shake has 24 different meals for $3.99 each. Buffalo Wild Wings is great place to go to on Thursdays if you’re celebrating a day late. On Thursday’s they have 50-cent wings.

If you don’t want to go out, you can always cook a fine dinner for Valentine’s Day. Great places for good food for not low prices are

OBAMA FROM PAGE 4 ited because of the color of their skin.”

The former first lady said she felt a “sister-girl” connection to Sherald, saying she found the painter “fly,” “poised” and “cool” when they met for an interview in the Oval Office. She said she was honored that girls of color in the years ahead would see an “image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American institution.”

“I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because I was one of those girls,” she added.

The Obamas were joined by A-list friends including Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the latter of whom helped lead fundraising for the portraits. Singer John Legend and his wife, model Chrissy Teigen, were among

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 • Page 5 Aldi’s, which is right off of US 41 and Save A Lot on Harrison Avenue.

Lastly, make a playlist of someone’s favorite music. It seems like everyone seems to enjoy music, and what is a better way to listen to their favorite songs. Singing a song to someone can be a great present as well. Even if the person does not have the greatest voice, the person may appreciate the effort their loved one took to sing for them.

Treated yourself and your loved ones to some sweets and happiness this Valentines Day. more than 45 donors, gallery officials said.

Obama administration officials who turned out included former Vice President Joe Biden; former Attorney General Eric Holder; Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to Michelle Obama; and Sam Kass, who cooked in the White House and had leadership roles in the Obamas’ policy campaign for healthy eating.

“We miss you guys,” the former president said from the stage.

The event fell on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and during the same week Barack Obama launched his improbable race for the White House in 2007 in Springfield, Ill. The public may view the new portraits starting Tuesday. Other portraits of the Obamas that are bound for the White House have yet to be unveiled.

OPINION

Page 6

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

Look! Suddenly Republicans don’t hate the IRS Albert R. Hunt

Bloomberg View (TNS)

Big legislation passes Congress, creating new responsibilities for the Internal Revenue Service. Congressional conservatives have a simple answer: slash spending for the agency to cripple a new measure they couldn’t defeat.

That’s what happened seven years ago after enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Now those IRS bashers now are trying to undo the damage they caused in support of another piece of legislation: the Republican tax cut. That’s because the under-resourced IRS they helped create might imperil public confidence in their complicated and poorly drafted measure.

President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget, released on Monday, calls for $11.1 billion in base funding for the IRS, a slight decline. But it also calls for additional funding of as much as $15 billion over 10 years to strengthen enforcement of the tax law.

That’s a backdoor way of strengthening the agency without incurring the wrath of conservatives.

The right’s hatred of the IRS is longstanding and has even included calls for its abolition. Conservative hostility intensified with the success of the Tea Party after the bank bailouts enacted during the financial crisis. Then came the passage of Obamacare followed by a scandal involving the largely bogus charge that the agency targeted conservative groups under President Barack Obama.

Since 2010, Congress has cut the IRS budget by $900 million, or, after adjusting for inflation, 17

percent. The agency now has fewer than 80,000 employees, down from over 100,000 before the cutting began. Technology has deteriorated and there are thousands fewer investigators, auditors and information-services personnel.

Audits are down sharply, and at one stage as many as two-thirds of taxpayer inquires went unanswered due to limited resources.

The effect, according John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner from 2013 until last November, was to miss the intended target.

“They wanted to punish the IRS,” he said in an interview last week. “Instead they punished taxpayers and rewarded tax cheats.”

It’s been a budget loser, too. It’s estimated that for every dollar spent on audits and enforcement, the IRS returns from $5 to $10. “We’re leaving $6 billion to $8 billion on the table,” Koskinen said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had an undistinguished first year, is in charge of the IRS; its hollowing out is one problem he grasped, fending off even larger cutbacks proposed by others in the Trump administration.

The tax law has given him new ammunition. The IRS will be flooded with questions about the new law, and will be required to upgrade its aging technology and rewrite the Internal Revenue Code to reflect vast changes that go into effect this year under the tax overhaul signed in December.

“Despite the claims of simplification, the new law adds a myriad of complications,” said Mark Mazur, who runs the non-

IRS CONT. ON PAGE 7

Sheneman | Tribune Content Agency

Trump’s proposed budget is pretty bad Joe Lippard

Opinions Editor

On Monday, Republican President Donald Trump unveiled his budget for this year, and like last year’s proposal, it is a bit of a doozy. Obviously the president’s budget proposal doesn’t actually mean much; it’s more of a suggestion from the president to Congress. Congress makes the actual budget.

However, what a president’s budget does tell us is his priorities. For ex-

ample, in 2016, President Barack Obama proposed a 2017 budget that included increased infrastructure spending and decrease defense spending.

House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized Obama’s proposal, saying, “President Obama will leave office having never proposed a budget that balances — ever. This isn’t even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans.” Ryan criticized Obama for his “oil tax” that would have been used to pay for infrastructure spending. He then said, “We need to tackle our fiscal problems before they tackle us. House Republicans are working

on a balanced budget that grows our economy in order to secure a Confident America.”

Fox News decried Obama’s 2017 budget for proposing new taxes, including an oil tax to pay for infrastructure costs. The organization ran headlines like “Obama sends Congress record $4.1T budget plan,” making a huge deal about Obama spending $4.1 trillion while ignoring the fact that the budget as proposed would have shrunk the national deficit.

So now that Donald Trump has proposed his new budget for this next year, what’s in it? Well, lots of cuts, and not good ones. Sure, we all like the idea of the government spending less money, but

what Trump is proposing is, frankly, asinine. After promising during his campaign that he would touch neither Medicaid nor Medicare, he has proposed a budget that does exactly that. Trump is proposing that $250 billion be cut from Medicaid funding, while Medicare only gets $236 billion over the next ten years with instructions to “eliminate wasteful spending.”

But it gets worse. On top of reducing help to the elderly, Trump’s budget targets college students as well.

Trump’s budget would eliminate federal subsidized student loans completely. According to the Department of Education,

BUDGET CONT. ON PAGE 7

How to take back the Republican Party Jonathan Bernstein Bloomberg View (TNS)

A lot of voters who normally vote Republican, or at least consider voting Republican, have a strong aversion to the direction of the Republican Party under President Donald Trump. What should they do in the next few elections?

A lot of intriguing answers have recently emerged — some involving a boycott of the GOP, or commissions, or new laws.

But the correct answer is far less complicated: Only Republicans or those who lean that way can steer the party back from its radical path.

This discussion began with an argument from two nonpartisan and anti-Trump centrists, Jonathan Rauch and Benjamin Wittes. Folks like them have taken pride in voting for good candidates from both parties. Now, they argue, they must vote against Republicans up and down the ballot. Only by doing so can people contain the real threat to democracy posed by Trump and what they call “Trump’s Republican enablers.”

Ross Douthat responded by emphasizing the extent to which many Republicans — especially in the Senate — have in fact pushed back against Trump and Trumpism. Wouldn’t voting against all Republicans ignore the important distinctions between senators such as Richard Burr

and Jeff Flake on the one hand, and Representative Devin Nunes on the other?

Douthat isn’t wrong that individual senators (and others within the political system) have done quite a bit to constrain Trump’s worst instincts. But as Greg Sargent points out, even those Republicans who have been toughest on Trump have still picked their fights carefully, which means they’re looking the other way on many of his still-important, if perhaps less immediately urgent, norm violations.

I think the question between Douthat and Sargent can be resolved, at least to some extent, by thinking about the dangers to democracy raised by Trump in particular, compared to those raised by Trump as the leader of a radical Republican Party. The more one thinks it’s just him, the more it would be okay to strategically target those positions which matter most to constraining him, which basically means U.S. House and Senate elections.

If, however, one believes that something’s gone seriously wrong with the Republican Party since the 1990s, and that Trump is both a symptom of a dysfunctional party and a cause of further anti-democratic tendencies, then something more drastic is needed. Even more drastic, that is, than what Rauch and Wittes suggest. After all, as Brian Beutler points

out, dramatic losses for Republicans in 2006 and 2008 made them — if anything — more radical, not less. They attributed policy failures during the George W. Bush presidency to weakness and compromise.

Just as they did when George H.W. Bush was defeated in 1992.

So if boycotting Republicans won’t change anything, what will?

The same thing that made Republicans this way in the first place: Changing the party from the inside.

Look, there’s no reason that a party of social conservatives or fiscal conservatives or foreign policy hawks has to eschew compromise and spend half its energy hunting RINOs. But general elections are a poor venue for changing a party. Anyone who is strongly anti-abortion is going to find it awfully hard to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 even if she has severe hesitations about Donald Trump’s autocratic tendencies — just as anyone whose main political concern is opposing gun control is going to find it hard to support any Democrat for the House in 2018, even if he really does want the House to hold Trump accountable for conflicts of interest and other such scandals.

Nominations define parties. So anyone who wants to change the Republican Party — in particular, those in regular Republican groups and those with main-

stream Republican policy preferences — needs to get involved in nomination politics if they’re going to have any success.

And they’re going to have to find allies within the party who may hold different positions on issues, but agree on the need to banish radicalism, norm-breaking, and anti-democratic attitudes from the party.

I’m not especially optimistic that this can happen, but I do believe that it’s exactly the kind of unexpected action that’s always possible, even if unlikely, in politics. I do have some confidence in that Democrats have for the most part been successful at keeping their own radicals on the fringes where they belong, leading me to hope that Republicans could do the same thing. And I’m very skeptical that Republican rank-and-file voters are committed to radicalism in any deep sense. Voters usually just like the politicians from their party; that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t like some alternative group of politicians.

That doesn’t mean making the Republican Party safe for sane conservatives is easy, by any means. The incentives within the party now are strongly set in favor of craziness. Moreover, committing to norms means passing up some opportunities (or at least seeming opportunities) to hurt the other party, and it’s always

PARTY CONT. ON PAGE 7

Editorial Board

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 Indiana State University

www.indianastatesman.com

Volume 125 Issue 52

Grace Harrah Editor-in-Chief statesmaneditor@isustudentmedia.com Rileigh McCoy News Editor statesmannews@isustudentmedia.com Joe Lippard Opinions Editor statesmanopinions@isustudentmedia.com Claire Silcox Features Editor statesmanfeatures@isustudentmedia.com Andrew Doran Sports Editor statesmansports@isustudentmedia.com Danielle Guy Photo Editor statesmanphotos@isustudentmedia.com Ashley Sebastian Chief Copy Editor The Indiana Statesman is the student newspaper of Indiana State University. It is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the academic school year. Two special issues are published during the summer. The paper is printed by the Tribune Star in Terre Haute, Ind.

Opinions Policy The opinions page of the Indiana Statesman offers an opportunity for the Indiana State University community to express its views. The opinions, individual and collective, expressed in the Statesman and the student staff’s selection or arrangement of content do not necessarily reflect the attitudes of the university, its Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or student body. The Statesman editorial board writes staff editorials and makes final decisions about news content. This newspaper serves as a public forum for the ISU community.

Make your opinion heard by submitting letters to the editor at statesmanopinions@isustudentmedia.com.

Letters must be fewer than 500 words and include year in school, major and phone number for verification.

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indianastatesman.com BUDGET FROM PAGE 6 29.4 million people take out Stafford Subsidized loans. This is obviously a huge issue. In a day and age where a very large amount of careers can only be obtained with college degrees, this is intensely concerning.

People often come to college to make a better life for themselves, and paying your way through college is almost impossible with the entry-level careers most college students hold. We shouldn’t prevent someone from getting an education and improving their life just because their family might not be wealthy enough to get an alternative loan.

In addition to cutting aid to the elderly and loans to students, Trump’s new budget also reduces the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The cuts eliminate programs “that help low income families keep a roof over their head,” according to Will Fischer, senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy priorities. The budget proposal itself reads, “The Administration’s reforms require able-bodied individuals to shoulder more of their housing costs and provide an incentive to increase their earnings, while mitigating rent increases for the elderly and people with disabilities.”

Frankly, this is just ridiculous.

So instead of increasing taxes on the wealthy or corporations

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 • Page 7 (to whom Congress just gave billions of dollars in tax cuts), now people who can barely afford to live in an apartment will have to work more? That’s just absurd. I particularly take issue with the fact that the administration thinks this would “provide an incentive to increase their earnings.” People don’t need an incentive to make more money.

The incentive is that they get to make more money. These people, in general, make as much money as they can, but simply can’t make ends meet. What the budget is doing in this instance is dancing around the fact that Trump wants to take vital assistance from poor people to make them work harder for what little they get while giving the rich tax breaks.

And even if we got past all the terrible cuts that Trump makes in this proposal, we still can’t get past the fact that this budget is asking for $4.4 trillion.

That’s $300 billion more than what Obama asked for in 2016.

In addition, the proposed budget would add $7 trillion to the national deficit, unlike Obama’s proposal. On top of that, this new budget doesn’t even pretend to try to balance anything.

So what are the reactions from the “fiscal conservatives” like Paul Ryan and the folks at Fox News, who were so concerned that Obama dared to ask for $4.1 trillion?

“This budget lays out a

thoughtful, detailed, and responsible blueprint for achieving our shared agenda,” Ryan’s statement on Trump’s budget reads. He then praises Trump for trying to fund the exact same thing that Obama tried funding.

“The president is right to make improving America’s infrastructure a national priority, and last week’s budget agreement included a $20 billion down payment on this goal.”

So when Obama made a proposal that provided ways to pay for increased spending instead of just asking Congress to throw money at a problem (something he was criticized for in 2009 with his stimulus plan), it was a terrible thing and he deserved to be criticized, but when Trump releases his budget and just asks Congress to throw $20 billion at it to fund the same thing, suddenly it’s a “thoughtful, detailed” blueprint?

Also, I’d like to point out that Ryan made a big deal about Obama’s budget not being balanced, crying that Obama would “never” pass one. However, when Trump proposes a budget that adds $7 trillion to the national deficit, suddenly that doesn’t matter, and all Paul Ryan cares about is “achieving our shared agenda.” This reeks of hypocrisy. But of course, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by hypocrisy from Paul Ryan.

IRS FROM PAGE 6 partisan Tax Policy Center.

“There will be a lot of difficult stuff.”

For example, he said, the IRS will have to interpret imprecise legislative language that will encourage many individuals and businesses to claim tax breaks intended to benefit partnerships, sole proprietorships and limited-liability companies.

Republicans, who fear that chaos and confusion could make their tax overhaul politically unpopular, are working on rationalizations to support a beefed-up IRS. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, for example, is pairing

openness to more IRS resources with criticism of the agency for having been “more of an adversary than a help,” though he hasn’t said how. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, says boosting the IRS budget might be justified by the nomination of a new commissioner, a California tax lawyer named Charles Rettig who, unlike Koskinen, has no managerial experience.

For Democrats, it’s no doubt fun to watch Republicans squirm after all the problems they caused, and the Democrats will try to exact a price. But the IRS needs more money and manpower.

PARTY FROM PAGE 6 hard to explain to those who care about policy that a party won’t do something they could get away with just because, well, that’s not how politics is done.

If the Republican Party is to change, however, it’s going to take nomination battles for every office from president down to dog-catcher.

In the long run, that’s going to be more important than how anyone votes in November.

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SPORTS

Page 8

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

Athletic Media Relations

Junior distance runner Ryan Cash finished second overall in the mile with 4:11.69.

Track & field team takes on double header weekend Jay Adkins Reporter

The Indiana State University Sycamores Track & Field team will travel twice to compete in two different meets this upcoming weekend. The first invitation, EIU Friday Night Special, will take place at Eastern Illinois University’s track in Charleston, Illinois. Saturday’s meet, the Alex Wilson Invitational, will take place at Notre Dame’s track in South Bend, Indiana.

Last week, The Sycamores

traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to compete in the annual Music City Challenge. Junior distance runner Akis Medrano won his heat in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:13.39. Medrano’s time move him into fifth all-time in Indiana State University history and he currently owns the second-best time in the Missouri Valley Conference. Not to be outdone, junior distance runner Ryan Cash also had himself an impressive day. Cash won his heat and finished second overall in the mile with a time of

4:11.69. Cash’s impressive time places him at seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference.

On the women’s side of the track team, senior mid-distance runner Brittany Neeley finished second overall in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:07.25 and she is now in sole possession of first place in the conference. Sophomore mid-distance runner Imani Davis finished in 11th place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:10.00, good for sixth all-time in ISU history and places her at third place in the Missouri Val-

ley Conference. Senior Sprinter Oschtisha Jackson finished in 16th place in the 400-meter dash with a great time of 55.54. With that time, Jackson sprinted up to seventh all-time in school history and is now in sole possession of first place in the conference.

Redshirt junior thrower Erin Reese finished 10th overall in the shot put with a mark of 14.81m.

Reese now owns the eight best shot put mark in school history and moved up to second place in the conference. The versatile Daley Carter finished seventh in

the men’s 60-meter hurdles finals with a time of 8.13. Senior hurdler/jumper Patrycja Dziekonska finished eighth overall in the women’s 60-meter hurdles finals with a time of 8.69.

Although the track season just started a little over a month ago, these impressive times and marks should give the runners, throwers, jumpers, and coaches all the confidence in the world going into next week because the team seems to keep getting better each and every week.

Garrett Short

season has been sophomore Kendall Hansen who competes in numerous races. She has been particularly dominant in the backstroke events this year, crushing her opponents in both the 100 and 200 meter. Against a stellar Southern Illinois team, who is predicted to finish second at the conference championships for the second straight year, Hansen won both events just like she has at almost every meet this season.

Another standout swimmer this year has been sophomore Blanca Saez-Illobre. The Madrid, Spain native is coming off of a two-win performance where she bested her opponents in the 200 breaststroke and the 400 individual medley.

Hansen and Saez-Illobre are two individuals to keep an eye on when they hit the water at the conference championships.

As a unit, maybe the most intriguing thing to watch will be the diving events. ISU added a

diving team at the beginning of the year and chose Fengting Chen to lead the divers.

The growth from last year to this year for the swimmers has been crystal clear. The growth in year one for the divers will be put on a final display over the next few days.

The MVC championships mean the end of the season is near, but they also mean the end of a collegiate career for ISU’s only senior Laura Fulton. She was the first diver to join the program in its inaugural season.

Fulton is hoping to conclude her season and her ISU career by posting a personal best, which she has done many times throughout the season.

The entire season boils down to this for the ISU swimming and diving team. They will be competing at Northern Iowa for the conference meet beginning today and concluding on Saturday.

Sycamores finish season Sycamores looking to get with MVC Championships back on track against Drake Reporter

Jay Adkins Reporter

The Indiana State University Sycamores men’s basketball team will travel to Des Moines, Iowa tonight to face off against the Drake University Bulldogs.

The Sycamores are 11-15 on the season so far and currently on a two-game losing streak, with their last two losses coming from the hands of the Missouri State University Bears (81-62) and Loyola University Chicago Ramblers (75-71).

In their most recent matchup to Loyola, sophomore guard Jordan Barnes led the Sycamores in scoring with 17 points while also contributing three assists, four rebounds, and tying for a teamhigh with two steals in 34 minutes played.

Senior guard Brenton Scott led the team in total rebounds and assists with six and four, respectively. Scott also tied for a teamhigh with two steals while also finishing second on the team with 16 points in a game-high 36 minutes played.

Despite the loss, the Sycamores got significant contributions from all over the roster.

Some significant contributors include guard Qiydar Davis (10 points, four rebounds, and two assists), freshman guard Tyreke Key (nine points, four rebounds, and one assist), and senior center Brandon Murphy (seven points, five rebounds).

For the season, Jordan Barnes

leads the team in points per game (17.2), assists per game (3.7) and minutes per game (33.9). Brenton Scott leads the team in rebounds per game and steals per game with 5.7 and 1.8, respectively. Junior center Emondre Rickman leads the team in blocks per game with 0.8 blocks.

The Drake University Bulldogs men’s basketball team is currently 14-13 this season and have most recently won a matchup against the University of Northern Iowa with a final score of 71-64.

For the season, Senior guard Reed Timmer leads the Bulldogs in points per game (18.3), field goal attempts (11.5), field goal makes (5.2), 3-point field goal attempts (6.1), 3-point field goal makes (2.6), and minutes per game with 32.7. Senior guard C.J. Rivers leads the team in rebounds per game and assists per game with 5.9 and 3.2, respectively. Junior forward Nick McGlynn leads the team in blocks per game with 1.3 blocks. Senior guard De’Antae McMurray leads the team in steals per game with 1.1 steals.

The 11-15 Indiana State University Sycamores will take on the 14-13 Drake University Bulldogs at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa tonight at 8:00 p.m. The game can be watched on TV on ESPN3 and be heard on the radio on the Sycamore Basketball Radio Network.

After a successful second season, the Indiana State women’s swimming and diving team closes out their season at the Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championships over the next few days.

The squad enters the season finale with a record of 13-6, a gigantic leap from their 3-6 finish a year ago. While their last meet resulted in a loss to Southern Illinois, who snapped a streak of three straight wins, ISU is still hoping to make a splash at the championships. The team has had two and a half weeks to make their final preparations for the conference meet.

After winning three out of their five meets against MVC opponents this season, ISU was chosen to finish sixth in the conference championships over the next few days.

Leading the Sycamores this