The weekend agenda
Lady Raiders ransacked
Jesus Christ Superstar, music and comedians to perform this weekend in Ames
63 to 48
Bolte, Lacey lead Cylones past Texas Tech
see CALENDAR on PAGE 9
see SPORTS on PAGE 7
February 4, 2010, Volume 204 >> Number 93 >> 40 cents >> iowastatedaily.com >> An independent newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
THURSDAY
Missing
Support for Lacina search spans Web By Sarah Haas Daily Staff Writer In the case of Jon Lacina, the online presence dedicated to finding the missing ISU student has been strong since the day he was reported missing. Lacina was last seen Jan. 22 and was reported missing Jan. 30. By the next evening, the Facebook group “Help find Jon Lacina!” had more than 4,000 members, and in a matter of two days, that number jumped to around 17,000 members. Jerry Stewart, director of public safety, said the group’s wall is being monitored for new or useful
information. Posts on the group’s wall include expressions of thoughts and prayers for Lacina and his family and suggestions for finding him. Yet a recent string of posts address a theory involving Lacina two other missing young adult males. “We would caution people against assuming they’re connected,” Stewart said. “That said, we’re not discounting any possibility.” Sylvester McCurry, 18, of Duluth, Minn., was last seen at 10:45 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Stargate Night
Club in Superior, Wis. The 5-foot-11, 150-pound, light-skinned black male with short brown hair and brown eyes was wearing blue jeans and white Nike shoes on the night of his disappearance, according to the Duluth Police Department. Two days later, on Jan. 19, Eric Peterson, 24, of Lakeville, Minn., was last seen Jan. 19. Peterson’s car was found abandoned Jan. 21. The 6-foot-3 white male with brown hair and brown eyes left all his valuables in the car, which was parked near the Minnesota River. Stewart said investigators are looking into the possible connection between the missing men. “The [Department of Criminal Investigation]
has been asked to research other recent missing person reports. Detectives from the Ames Police Department will be following up with agencies in the Midwest that have [similar cases],” Stewart said. Stewart reemphasized that investigators have yet to find evidence of foul play, but he said law enforcement officials are not “discounting any possibility and will continue to follow up on any information received.” “However, it’s important for people to know that in any given week or month, there are a lot of people who go missing in this country,” Stewart said.
Football
Rhoads rallies 28 recruits By Jake Lovett Daily Staff Writer Iowa State signed 28 players to national letters of intent for the 2010 football season, coach Paul Rhoads announced Wednesday. The team received commitments from seven three-star recruits and eight junior college transfers, according to ESPN.com’s Scouts, Inc. Rivals.com showed Iowa State’s as the No. 59 recruiting class for 2010 — the best for Iowa State since 2005’s No. 58 class. “We signed 28 kids. And our impression is that we signed 28 five-star kids, because we wanted them,” Rhoads said. “We evaluated them, we recruited them to be Iowa State Cyclones, and we had 28 kids that decided to become Iowa State Cyclones. In my mind we put together one heck of a class.” Rhoads told the crowd of media, donors and members of the ISU athletic department that of the 32 players that came on official campus visits, 28 students signed — including 14 of the 15 students that came for visits on gamedays during the fall. “I’ve been doing this for 21 years,” Rhoads said. “I’ve never been around a class with that highly successful percentage rate.” Though this was Rhoads’ first time through a recruiting cycle as the coach at Iowa State, he has been a high-level recruiter at his stops in Pittsburgh and Auburn before arriving in Ames in December 2008. For this class, the coach wanted to address the overall athleticism, speed and depth of the team, starting with a defense that returns just five starters. Iowa State has begun to fill the vacated spots in the lineup by bringing in 12 players to the defense, including five defensive backs, four linebackers and three defensive linemen. “I think we have athleticism and speed at every position group,” Rhoads said. “We needed it in every
ISU football coach Paul Rhoads addresses media and members of the athletics department Wednesday in the atrium of the Jacobson Athletic Building. Rhoads announced that Iowa State had 28 junior college and high school players signed national letters of intent for the 2010 football season. Photo: Jay Bai /Iowa State Daily
see RHOADS on PAGE 7
Board of Regents
Legislature
Fate of tuition to be decided
Student leaders to visit Capitol
™
By Jessica Opoien Daily Staff Writer Iowa’s three regent universities will learn the fate of tuition for the 2010–2011 academic year at today’s Board of Regents meeting — a fate that could change based on the 2010 legislative session. The regents will vote Thursday on a proposed 6 percent tuition increase for resident undergraduate and graduate students to be implemented in the upcoming academic year. The vote affords the board the opportunity to approve the proposed increase, or to introduce an alternative number. Today’s decision can be revisited in the future based
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Interested in reading the rest? Take your time and read it all online at: iowastatedaily.com on funding decisions made by the legislature. “My main concern is, ‘What’s the student impact going to be?’” said Regent Greta Johnson, senior in political science. As a student, Johnson acknowledged the unique nature of her role on the Board of Regents. “I sit in class and I try to look at every single student, and I think ... what could their
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Ambassadors speak about college costs By Chelsea Davis Daily Staff Writer A group of 25 to 30 ISU Ambassadors will travel to Des Moines today for “Student Day at the Capitol” to lobby to promote higher education funding at the Capitol. “We’re a lobbying group that visits the Capitol every year during the second semester to talk about what the regents have proposed regarding funding for state institutions,” said Mallori Phillips, senior in biology. At noon Thursday the group will give speeches and provide a lunch for the legislators. Its goal is to keep the legislators aware of the cost of college for each student. “State appropriations
in the 1980s were nearly 80 percent of general education funding,” Phillips said. “Today they’re only 41 percent.” ISU Ambassadors invited many other groups from Iowa State to join them at the capitol, including Dance Marathon and Engineering Week. Phillips said if these groups are able to make it they will set up booths to talk about their respective groups. “The state has no funding,” Phillips said. “Our biggest challenge will be persuading legislators to understand we are a priority and to not forget about us when it comes time for appropriations.” The ambassadors will be making repeat trips to the Capitol all throughout the coming semester, with the continuing goal in mind of promoting higher education.
GSB to lobby against State Study Bill 3030 By Paige Godden Daily Staff Writer Representatives from the Government of the Student Body will travel to the Capitol Thursday to make students’ voices heard at the annual Day on the Hill event. The schedule is never set until the students arrive. Jon Turk, GSB president, said they arrived and the legislatures went into caucus last year. Turk said this year the plan is for students to speak with their hometown representatives after arrival, followed by a luncheon and a joint statement from Turk and student body presidents from the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. GSB members will be lobbying against State Study Bill 3030. The bill reads, “The state Board of Regents shall not be re-
quired to obtain any service for the state Board of Regents or any institution under the control of the state board of regents that is provided by the department pursuant to this chapter without the consent of the state board of regents.” This bill would create a centralized office for information technology for the Board of Regent schools, which is being considered as a cost-saving effort, Turk said. “We have three schools each with 15,000–20,000 students who pay for IT services,” Turk said. “This would prevent schools from choosing their own e-mail carriers.” Every time a student might have difficulties logging on to his or her school Web accounts, they would have to make a phone call to the central office in Des Moines, Turk said. “It’s a rare opportunity when we match up when we are there and when a specific piece of legis-
see GSB on PAGE 3