October 16, 2013

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Pageant is a real drag Men and women channel the opposite sex and bend gender roles in Indiana State University’s annual Mister and Miss Gay ISU pageant DIJONNAE MORGAN Reporter Ten minutes before the annual Mister and Miss Gay ISU Pageant, students were greeted by their host Beuleh Bak-dat-azzWednesday October 16, 2013 upp, portrayed by Charles Martinez. His jokes and stories were designed to Indiana State University loosen the crowd that attended the drag www.indianastatesman.com show in the Tilson Auditorium Saturday. Volume 121 Issue 23 Spectrum Public Relations Director Allen Zielinski said the show is the group’s contribution to ISU’s Lesbian, Gay, BiSexual, Transexual and Questioning community. Spectrum, an ISU student organization, strives to raise awareness and host events geared toward alternative lifestyles, he said. Sodexo and ISU Student Health Promotion also sponsored the event. “This year we worked hard to have the competitors only be ISU students so that we Dying could properly represent the school, very similar to ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’” Zielinski trends: Is said. “They have a queen every season and the digital age they kind of became the top dog and they killing books represent LGBTQ organizations.” Zielinski said the Terre Haute community and radio? donated flowers to show support. As the show began, four contestants, Jerry Curl, Nikki Saint Queer, Anita Greencard PAGE 6 and Ande Rogenous, were introduced to

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Nick Penington, as his alter ego Nikki Saint Queer, serenades the crowd at the Mister and Miss Gay ISU Pageant. Penington, a junior social work major, was crowned Miss Gay ISU while Tabitha Barham, a sophomore predentistry major, won the Mister Gay ISU title (Photo by Corine Johnson).

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Honors program changes policies to meet growth NKENGIE HUMPHRIES Reporter Indiana State University Honors Program leaders are working to improve the honor students’ experiences on campus. “The size of the student body in our program has grown,” University Honors Program Executive Director Greg Bierly said. “We have more than 300 students.” As a result, Bierly said he saw a need for change in the policies “that have been renewed and stayed the same since the fall of 2009.” “The seniors who were freshmen at [that] time just graduated during the 2013 year,” he said, so the time was right to implement new policies.

Those changes offer new opportunities to enhance the honors community, Bierly said, and new policies focus more on meeting the standards of honors classes. New policies also provide for a greater number of peer advisors for freshmen honor students. Bierly said an important part of the Honors Program is keeping students connected. Student advisors are key in helping younger students track of their academic progress. Cecilia Van Wijk, a sophomore honors advisor, applied last winter to be a part of the Big Help for incoming freshmen. “As an honors advisor, I am one of the first people that incoming freshmen come in contact

with because I email all my honors students during the summer,” Van Wijk said. “It’s a good way to get connected and better acquainted with the students. In addition to the student advisors, the Honors Program uses MySam to monitor students’ progress in classes. It highlights students’ improvement and also assists advisors in scheduling students’ classes. Bierly has also introduced into the program more opportunities for socializing. During an Honors Welcome Session at the beginning of the school year, Bierly introduced CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

On the street: How does America’s treatment of the homeless stack up?

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Happy in Hollywood: An ISU

alumna gets her shot on a hit television show PAGE 8


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