The student voice of Midwestern State University
The Wichitan page 6 Box-office rumpus
page 8 Underdog victory
Spike Jonze’s adaptation of “Where the WIld Things Are” is more than just a kids movie.
Mustangs overcome 7th ranked Javelinas in an unexpected victory.
WEDNESDAY, October 21, 2009
Nothing is taboo
Photo by Julia Raymond
Keeping memories in modern fashion Wai-Kun yearbook transitions from paper to online version Chris Collins Managing Editor
Photo by Julia Raymond
Professor encourages students to think freely and express openly Chris Collins Managing Editor Ever since he was a kid, Dr. Nathan Jun has been very curious. He wanted to know how the world worked, if there was a God and what it all meant. Now the MSU philosophy professor is still questioning everything, but not necessarily arriving at many conclusions. But that’s okay with him – his students, who seem to multiply every semester, have picked up on his interrogative personality. As the sole philosophy instructor at MSU, Jun is enjoying himself, although he said he’s overworked. He said he hopes his success spurs MSU administration into expanding his de-
partment. “When kids are little they constantly ask, ‘Why?’ Jun said. “And I guess I’m just one of those people who never stopped asking why. I never settled on a comfortable dogma or truth, the way some people do. They’re like okay, I found my thing. I never did that, so I guess that’s why I’m doing what I do. I’m still just searching around – the only difference being that now I get paid to do that and I teach other people to do that.” This semester Jun is teaching four classes: primary concerns of philosophy, ethics, 19th century philosophy, and Eastern philosophy. He said he uses a problem-based approach to teach his ‘primary concerns’ course, while some of his other cours-
es focus on the history of philosophy. He also said some of the main points brought up in his classes are what he refers to as ‘perennial philosophical issues:’ the meaning of life, the existence of God, the nature of reality. Jun tries to keep a maximum of 30 students enrolled in his ‘primary concerns’ class, but only allows about 20 to attend his upper-level classes. Altogether he is teaching about 100 students this semester. “Last year, when I was a little less savvy about such things, I didn’t have any caps on my enrollment,” Jun said. “They would come into my office and ask for an override and I would let them in. That got rather ungainly very See JUN page 4
MSU’s yearbook, The Wai-Kun is going digital next year. The decision, which was discussed at Student Government Association and Student Allocations meetings last semester, was finally made this semester. The reason, Director of Student Development and Orientation Matthew Park said, was because the Wai-Kun was making almost no money. He said the yearbook sold about 250 copies in one of its most profitable year of the decade. One of the most expensive aspects of the project, Park said, is printing. “Production spending was a large part of the fees,” Park said. “The costs were hefty.” A digital yearbook will incur no production cost, Park said. The savings won’t start right away, he said, since the staff still has to produce this year’s book. The savings will begin in two years, he said. The Wai-Kun will be accessible to students from the MSU
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Web site, and should be downloadable onto disc or jump drive, he said. “It’ll be much more modern,” Park said. “Digitizing yearbooks is a trend being seen across the nation, especially in Lone Star schools.” Wai-Kun Editor-in-Chief Loren Eggenschwiler said going digital is probably a good idea. “I like having the physical paper, but it’s a lot different than it was in high school,” she said. “We have a much smaller staff than I had in high school, too.” Eggenschwiler said that her minimal staff of three people makes working on the book difficult at times. Relying on photos from academic departments instead of taking most of their own complicates things as well, she said. This year’s annual will be 106 pages, she said. New books will cost about $20. “Everything is going digital these days,” Eggenschwiler said. “Everybody has a Facebook and a Twitter. It’ll be easier since everybody’s online now.”
Everything is going digital these days. Everybody has a Facebook and a Twitter. It’ll be easier since everybody is online. -Loren Eggenschwiler