Big 12 Championships The Conference’s finest athletes converge on Ames for the Indoor Track and Field Championships see SPORTS on PAGE 5
FRIDAY
February 26, 2010, Volume 204 >> Number 109 >> 40 cents >> iowastatedaily.com >> An independent newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2010
Tragedy brings awareness Alumna falls victim to anorexia; family hopes to help students with similar struggles, illnesses By Jody Korthaus Daily Staff Writer She described herself as a salesperson, a computer program and database manager. Others described her as beautiful, talented, smart, having everything going for her. Her parents described her as athletic, humorous, organized and dependable. But on the inside, Emily Fischer was sensitive, a perfectionist, whose feelings were hurt easily, who put a lot of pressure on herself. Emily was perfect to the outside world. She gave the impression that everything was always fine. But the tendency to hold things in and the inner battle to overcome her fear of failure that drove Emily Fischer to a life no one ever imagined she would live. Marcia and Arnie Fischer grew up in Ankeny, raising Emily and her older brothers. Emily graduated from Ankeny High School with many accomplishments and was involved in sports. “She was a bright little girl,” recalled Marcia Fischer, Emily’s mother, as she showed photos of Emily, trying to give me some sense of who she was Her mother said she had “that perfectionist personality” and a sensitive spirit allowed her feelings to be hurt easily. Arnie recalled when Emily was in high school and her team made it to the state basketball tournaments. “Her dad was always semi-coaching her from the stands,” Arnie said, referring to himself in third person as he grinned. “She hated for me to do that. It really bothered her and drove her crazy.” He said instances that would be minor to most would bother her a lot. Shoes in a row and car always clean, Emily was very organized. “If you wanted something done, you went to Emily and she would have it done before you could turn around,”
Emily Fischer sits with her mother, Marcia, left, who said she wasn’t able to visit as often as she would have liked but attended therapy sessions with Emily to understand what she was going through. Courtesy photo: Marcia and Arnie Fischer
Marcia said. Emily decided to attend Iowa State’s College of Business. Her father, Arnie, is an ISU alumnus, and her brother also attended Iowa State, where he belonged to a fraternity. With her brother’s encouragement, Emily joined a sorority and found Kappa Kappa Gamma. It wasn’t until Emily’s sophomore year that Marcia Fischer got a phone call from Emily stating she believed she had an eating disorder, and that she was going to attend a program of Story County Hospitals in Nevada that treated addictions and eating disorders. “A sorority sister who also had an eating disorder encouraged Emily to go
to the program,” Marcia said. Unlike today, there was no Web site with information about eating disorders to help them understand exactly what their daughter was going through, or how to handle the situation. “I didn’t know much about it, so I started learning right along with her,” Marcia said. “I went to treatment with her at Story County, and I tried to read books and what people had written about eating disorders.” After about two and a half months of therapy, Emily completed the 12 step program and seemed healthy again. “After she went through that first program and felt pretty good, we didn’t
really think about it too much. She really said she spent a good five to six years feeling healthy, so we thought it went away to a certain degree.” Arnie and Marcia weren’t always around Emily those next couple years of college. Her senior year, she roomed with a friend, Kimberly Westerfield. Kimberly and Emily became friends through classes together. The two shared running, Christianity and their goal-oriented attitudes. Kimberly described Emily as beautiful and athletic, and said Emily appeared healthy and normal. Kimberly knew Emily had struggled with an eating disorder prior to their senior year, but she never re-
called noticing Emily practicing bad eating behaviors, and said she and Emily never talked about eating disorders. “I guess you always wonder in the back of your mind,” Kimberly recalled. “I can picture her with an apple and eating healthy a lot, but she didn’t pig out and she was always a runner.” After graduating in 1992, Emily got a job, and she traveled so much that her parents didn’t see her regularly. “I don’t think it never completely left her. I know she was still playing around with it,” Marcia said. Kimberly and Emily kept in contact. Emily even moved to Kansas City to work for the YMCA of Greater Kansas City, where Kimberly also moved. While in Kansas City, Kimberly got engaged. Then she and Emily went their separate ways. “Because she traveled around so much, it was hard to keep track of where she was and how she was doing,” Kimberly said. After working for the YMCA of Greater Kansas City, Emily returned to Des Moines to work for a Christian book store. “She became a Christian her sophomore year of college when she went through that first treatment program in Story County,” Marcia said proudly, sitting straight and nodding approval. The program that was supposed to answer the Fischer family’s prayers, and a phase that was supposed to pass in Emily’s life. The job in West Des Moines led her to the job that would, in the end, have bad consequences for Emily’s health. She became a sales representative for Bob Siemon Designs, selling retail merchandise to Christian book stores, and Emily’s job entitled her to cover vast territory, from Atlanta to South
see EMILY on PAGE 3
Going Green
Black Student Alliance
‘Engage the population’
Group focuses on leadership, empowerment
By Angela Christianson Daily Staff Writer “It’s an honor to be here; it’s good for the soul. I see how well you work together,” said Leith Sharp to an audience Wednesday in the Great Hall. Sharp is a pioneer in the field of green campuses. She worked at Harvard for 10 years, and is currently studying community college sustainability in Illinois. Higher education is one the most significant sectors in sustainability — with more than 4,000 schools, 15 million students and $300 billion spent every year, post-secondary schools are in a position to make a big impact. Sharper explained that, while working at Harvard, not only did she see the institution change, but the city of Boston followed suit. After Harvard began building green structure, architects in the area all began going green as well. Sharp used the analogy of being “rudders on rudders to move the ship of sustainability,” to express the importance of small steps. By changing the light bulbs in residence halls at Harvard, $20,000 was saved in one year. Sharp explained that the task was not easy, as she showed a chart displaying “how many people it takes to change a light bulb at Harvard.” She said it was well worth it in the end. “It took me 17 years to figure out that the assumption that people are adverse to change is not true,” Sharp said. “People actually thrive on it. What they are afraid of is risk and instability. When we think of social change, we think of these great heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. — but, really, social change is the sum of regular people doing little things. You don’t know what you might trigger and make possible down the line.” None of the changes Sharp helped to
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By Ayesha Massaquoi Daily Staff Writer
Artist David Williamson points out some of the features of his found-art display to Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and ISU President Gregory Geoffroy on Tuesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Williamson and Merry Rankin, sustainability director at Iowa State, collaborated on the pieces. Photo: Rashah McChesney/Iowa State Daily
happen started as big things. When they started using biodiesel fuel in buses, they only used it in one bus for two months. Peer to Peer programs were very successful at Harvard, Sharp said. Students were paid to be green ambassadors. They encouraged green behavior with their peers and ended up helping decrease food waste by one-third and reducing natural gas use by 26 percent. There was also a competition in the kitchen for the food service employees to see who could do their job in the greenest way. The winner was awarded a green [colored] frying pan. Sharp also supports a Green Office Rating Program, in which offices are rated with 1–4 green leaves based on how sustainable they are.
“We have to change our behaviors,” Sharp said. “Information is not enough. Only 5 percent of what we do in a day is consciously decided — the rest is habit. We need to turn sustainability into a habit.” To do this, Sharp gave a few pointers. She said you must make a commitment and make a pledge to be green. At Harvard, posters were distributed that portrayed faculty and students doing quirky green things, such as riding tandem bikes and engaging in green shower habits. Convenience is also important, she said. Sharp helped institute single stream recycling, with just one bin. Finally, she said persuasive communication is crucial to change. “I can’t emphasize how important it is to engage the population,” Sharp said.
This Wednesday, 25 Black Student Alliance members piled onto a charter bus and endured a 17-hour trip to Austin, Texas, to attend the 33rd annual Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government. This year’s conference is held at the University of Texas at Austin with about 622 participants. “My first thoughts when I came through the door were just ‘wow,’ because I’ve been to Big 12 before, but this is the first year it’s in Texas and I just know it’s going to be great,” said Bryan Woodson, president of the Black Student Alliance. “It was a long and tiring trip, but I know it’s going to be worth it.” After checking into hotel rooms in the AT&T Conference Center, members participated in a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership March and a Barbara Jordan Leadership Processional March. Holding batteryoperated candles, Iowa State’s alliance members marched across campus to stand before the statues of Martin Luther King Jr. and Barbara Jordan, alongside black student government members from the University of Missouri, the Uni-
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For further coverage of the Conference on Black Student Government, check online at iowastatedaily.com versity of Oklahoma, Kansas State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Nebraska, Oklahoma State University, the University of Kansas, Baylor University, the University of Texas, Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University. Student leaders performed written word, sang and spoke on the power of community and leadership. “The University of Texas is a very large campus, and it’s our job to help people find things,” said Eboni Roberts, student volunteer from the University of Texas. “But it’s cool, because as a volunteer you also get a chance to meet a lot of ambitious black students from all over the nation.” In the next few days, alliance members will participate in a variety of workshops designed to promote leadership, professionalism and empowerment.