March 15, 2018

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Minnesota State University Mankato

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The effects of bullying—a lifetime of scars MNSU student shares her story of being bullied by others on campus

AMIRA ABDULKADIR Staff Writer Sometimes people only like to see you go down because they cannot go higher than you. Zara would like her story to be shared because she wants the bullies to know that the things they do affect the victim deeply and it can become very serious.

It all started when Zara came to study at MNSU in fall 2013. The main reason— other than higher studies— was to explore the diverse culture she had always heard about and because her sister was here as a transfer student at the time.

She was so excited to

Photo courtesy of Zara

be here. She had heard a lot of good things about the university, the different diverse communities here and had seen such colorful and happy pictures of the life in Mankato.

“I couldn’t wait to blend BULLYING IN COLLEGE in and explore the diverse culture and experience all • 15 percent of college the ‘fun’ things at MSU” students report said Zara. At last, she was being bullied able to come here and was introduced to her • 22 percent reported sister’s friends and some being cyber-bullied in students she already knew college from back home who were • 42 percent of seniors. She was just a students said they had regular student and known as her sister’s sister. As seen someone being time passed, she got to bullied by another know more people, mostly student from her own country, and • 8 percent reported everything was fine at the bullying another beginning.

Hatred and jealousy student started when her sister • Nearly 15 percent decided to be the president had seen a professor of the community. bully a student and “The hatred was a 4 percent said they shocker to me because it was the first time I have had been bullied by a seen someone hate my professor sister,” Zara said.

From the very * According to a study done beginning, day one for her by the Health Day News in at MNSU, Zara had seen 2012 people crash at her sister’s

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place anytime they want to.

People were always welcome at her place. She would host everybody’s birthday party, and would welcome anybody at any time, even when she had to study. She would make food for every occasion, like Eid and Thanksgiving, and invite everybody. Zara’s sister would even bake everybody’s birthday cake. She helped people financially and let people stay in her couch month after month if some people didn’t have money for rent or didn’t have a place.

“I thought everyone loved my sister!” said Zara.

But soon people started having issues with her sister being president of this club, claiming that she is a girl and cannot handle all those responsibilities, that she is not strong and doesn’t do enough, doesn’t deserve it at all. Soon they started talking about her character, the way she dressed up and how she partied a lot.

“Well of course she had to party if she had to host a party for someone!” said Zara.

Zara was here when the election for president of the club was going on and soon

things became nasty. This is such a simple issue, but people from her own country made it disrespectful. Things got out of hand when people started spreading rumors for no reason. And there were no boundaries for what they had to say.

“So what the people in the community did was try to get to her sister through me,” said Zara. They used her as a weapon to affect her sister.

“This was a huge cultural shock to me, I have never experienced such hate from people in my life before.”

Zara came from the city, whereas most of the people from her community came from another state. This was an issue to the bullies. They used to say, “She is from the city, she knows a lot.”

There isn’t a problem with a person being called “know-itall,” but the problem is they were being sarcastic about it and trying to get to her in a way that is embarrassing. The sisters came from a reputed family, a good background, and a very well-known private high school. Apparently, this became a reason to hate them!

“They started threatening

MSU student charged with murder

Are professor evaluations worth the time?

NSU knocks MSU out of basketball tourney

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my sister saying, ‘No one is going to vote for you,’ as if her sister did not care and kept tried trying just ‘cause she wanted to see who her real friends were,” Zara said.

Zara was even being called and told to vote for another person and not her sister, claiming girls are not good and qualified enough to be a president.

Zara’s sister presidency became a very big issue that sparked multiple meetings and fights.

“To me, it never made sense,” said Zara. “Why is this such a big issue? The people of the community should be proud of my sister, especially after everything she did for everybody.”

This was a completely different world for Zara, as she has never been exposed to such a thing. She came from a polite family and an elite society, so all these politics are very new and shocking to her.

In spite of what they went through, her sister still managed to become the president. This time the problem doubled, if not tripled. Now the bullies have started connecting everything that Zara gains is due to her sister being president. Their focus now has changed from her sister to Zara.

“Even if I achieved a thing because of her own hard work, they used to say that it is because of my sister’s presidency,” said Zara.

This wasn’t necessarily true because she has her own mindset and she can achieve and do things on her own.

“As time passed, people are hating me for no reason.”

They started calling her “fat.” That was really disturbing and depressing to Zara. This was the time when

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Thursday, March 15, 2018

ZARA

Continued from page 1 her sister said, “You know what, go out and diversify.

Focus on your studies and ignore what they are saying.”

Since then, Zara has started getting out and diversifying, joining a sorority and other clubs, which has helped her to balance the situation she was in.

Zara was passing by to get some lunch and she saw a group laughing and making fun of her saying, “She is fat, not even good looking. We don’t know why she wants to dance and perform in front of crowds.”

“That really affected me and killed my self-esteem,” said Zara. “I tried very hard to ignore all this. But this became a daily thing and I couldn’t take it no more. Every day I had to listen to things like [that] and eventually this made me become scared and self-conscious wherever I went. They used to make fun of me in my rehearsals.

Everyone used to point fingers and laugh at me.

Gradually they started not to let me participate in anything.

And for them, the best way to let me out was to spread rumors about me.”

Things got worse when a guy spread a rumor that Zara sleeps with different guys for money. This was the ultimate shock and hurt her the most.

Zara had never heard anything like this before. The rumor was all over and this really tore her apart. Zara lost it all, she lost all her redeeming

qualities, her confidence, her identity and this left a huge scar in her.

As things got more public, the guy who spread the rumor came and apologized to her. He was a friend of Zara’s, or at least she thought he was. To make matters worse, some guys in the same community took advantage of the situation and started spreading more rumors such as, “I did this with her,” and “ I did that with her,” simply to be seen as “cool.”

The most shocking and strange thing to Zara was she thought that boys would be less dramatic and were less inclined to gossip than the girls. But surprisingly, the boys were worse. She grew up with male friends and male cousins and never had she seen or met such dramatic boys as these.

“Soon I found out these bullies also had a group on Facebook where they had personal picture of me, where they talked about me and said all those bad words and called me names. They would even talk about my body parts and physical appearance,” Zara said. “Even worse, I realized these are people that I considered big brothers and sisters and some were actually good friends.”

This was really disappointing and embarrassing to Zara.

“I stopped performing from that time on and I still am not. They broke down all

Verizon Wireless closing onethird of U.S. call centers Ver izo n W irele s s announced plans last month to close six call center locations across the country, which will result in elimination of approximately 3,000 customer service jobs. Only half of the 6,500 positions currently at the affected call centers in Huntsville, Ala., Little Rock, Ark., Mankato, Minn., Albuquerque, N.M., Hilliard, Ohio and North Charleston, S.C. will remain as the company transitions to a home-based customer service representative model over the next year.

Verizon is characterizing these closures as a necessary part of its transition to a home-based workforce at six of its 18 existing call centers.

But this “transition” masks the employment loss that will result.

“Workers deserve real job security,” said Dennis

Trainor, CWA District 1 Vice President and chair of CWA’s Wireless Workers United, a network of union and nonunion workers organizing to protect good jobs and quality customer service. “If this is not a layoff, as Verizon Wireless claims, all workers at the six affected centers should get to keep their jobs. If workers don’t qualify for home-based positions, Verizon should provide nearby office space and not force workers to relocate hundreds or thousands of miles away from their current jobs.”

The new home-based jobs require workers to be able to work split shifts, weekends and holidays, have high-speed internet at home and an extra room with total quiet -- conditions that many working families cannot meet.

my passions and dreams. Not only did I stop performing, I also could not focus on my studies,” Zara said.

Zara’s GPA went down drastically and she lost some of her scholarships.

“This was such as disaster in my life. I felt lonely and not worth anything. I was depressed and unhappy with my life in MNSU,” she said.

All this happened in her freshman year and this was overwhelmingly painful for Zara. She reported the bullies and some measures were taken against them

to revive and recooperate.

It is really hard when people get made fun of because of their physical appearance.

Zara started gaining weight because of the medicine she has been taking for her allergies and her illness. She also has a tumor inside her head called an ICH (inter cerebral hemorrhage). With all this going on in her life, there was a point when she contemplated suicide. She put a suicidal status on her Facebook page. A school community, the International Student Association, found

“This was such as disaster in my life. I felt lonely and not worth anything. I was depressed and unhappy with my life in MSU.”

and the guy who created the Facebook page was punished for what he did. But the damage had been done.

After a while, Zara stopped making friends and became quiet and less confident. She stopped trusting people, especially at MNSU. She was depressed and homesick as this was her first time away from her family. This was too much for her, so she needed some time away from this hellish world she was in. She went back home to her family

out about her status and called her to discuss what was going on. They told her that they, as well as her family, were concerned, which made Zara feel good, as she realized that there are people who care about her wellness. That meant a lot to Zara. It was the people of ISA, her family and her friends from home who helped her stand on her feet again.

The family friendship program also really helped her stay busy and keep her

mind off the mess she was in. The Counseling Center on campus was also a resource that helped her to recover from all the things she had been through. She has been working on taking care of herself and improving her self-esteem. The fact that she realized that there are people that cared about her and have her back made her feel a little bit better.

All in all, the message of Zara’s story to all the students who can relate to her story is do not let people get to you and destroy your future.

Some people do not want you to accomplish things in life. Do not give any space to those kind of people as they are nothing more than haters.

Zara also expands on the advice that her sister gave her: “Diversify yourself as you are here to learn and explore other cultures too.”

Do not get stuck and stay in one specific community only. Try to be friends with and get involved in different communities, not only one.

Try to get involved in different activities and events since your mind needs space and some new stimulation every once and a while.

This is only half of the story.

A lot more has happened to Zara because she finally caught up. but so far. this part of the story is good enough to get the message to you all.

There are always many sides to a story.

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Thursday, March 15, 2018

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MSU Reporter • 3

3 common health myths that are doing more harm than good Opinion

TAEHUI PARK Staff Writer My roommates and I recently started going to a gym, dreaming of taking nice group photos on a beach this summer.

As all of us are keen on losing weight and getting into shape. We like to talk a lot about health such as what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, and how many workouts we need to be healthy. It is really beneficial to have roommates who have similar interests because we can share not only healthrelated tips but also diet and nutrition information.

T hro ug h s har ing knowledge and workout advice with each other, however, I found that there are conflicting opinions floating around about nutrition and exercise. Here are three common “health”

myths that I was able bust.

This information may help you make progress in your eating and exercise habits so as to reach your workout goals.

1. Because you can burn it off, you can eat junk food It is true that there are some times when we crave greasy fast food in our fitness journey. We don’t need to give up all our favorite foods but the quality of your food actually matters to your health and workout goals. Some people might

“Enjoying foods you like in moderation is way more important than just eating junk food.” have a question like, what about incorporating a cheat day? It is a well-known fact that it’s good to make wise use of cheat day since it can help in boosting the workout mood as well as maintaining the desire to get into shape.

However, according to

MSU student charged

with first degree murder Student allegedly fatally stabbed father over break GABE HEWITT Editor-in-Chief An MSU student was arrested on a charge of first degree murder on March 12 and is currently in the Blue Earth County Jail.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TIB), Joshua Jordi fatally stabbed his father Timothy Jordi on March 8. His body was found on the floor with multiple stab wounds by deputies in his Sparta, Tennessee home after he failed to show up to work. An autopsy ruled the cause of death as a homicide.

A joint investigation by special agents with the TIB, Tennessee’s White County Sheriff’s Department and the office of the 13th District Attorney General developed information that indicated Joshua Jordi was responsible for his father’s death.

Jordi, 21, lived in Crawford Residence Hall. Authorities searched his dorm room and found a notebook that included a diagram of his father’s home. An extradition

SportMedBC Nutritionist, Melissa Kazan MSc, cheating meals does not mean you can eat any food you like as it can easily lead you to a binge, leaving you feeling guilty afterward. Kazan emphasized that taking a stab at enjoying foods you like in moderation is way more important than just eating junk food. She defined moderation as being mindful of your hunger and fullness levels.

2. No pain, no gain We constantly hear the typical motto “no pain, no

Photo courtesy of Pexels

gain” at the gym. However, it is not always good to be in pain during a workout.

“There is a difference bet ween discomfor t and pain,” said David H. Williams, Cooper Fitness Center professional fitness trainer. “Long-lasting pain or soreness for days after a workout is unnecessary and can lead to overtraining and injury. There is a form of pain that is acceptable and necessary.”

Williams also said it is unhealthy to expect your

workouts to end in soreness, as this is likely to result in injuries if you keep pushing yourself too hard.

3. Protein reins over carbs and fat I believe this is the most well-known myth.

Unfortunately, none of them outweighs anything. The unity of all three allows for a balanced approach to your goals. Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for the body and mind. It may be a good idea to go “low-carb” but it is not good to entirely cut out all carbs.

Fat also plays a huge role

in helping your body, mind and taste buds. It is the main element for producing hormones and managing brain health.

“Each person has a different lifestyle, and each element has their own pros and cons. Therefore, it is important to know what element you need to improve your health and which diet you need to keep yourself on track,” said Pam Bede, registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in Abbott’s EAS Sports Nutrition.

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document stated that the notebook also contained a “list of assorted items commonly associated with the concealment of a crime” such as latex gloves, plastic bags and a change of clothing and shoes.

According to an MSU representative, Jordi enrolled at MSU in 2014 with a major in computer information technology and a minor in psychology.

Jordi is currently in the Blue Earth County Jail in Mankato awaiting extradition. His bond is set at $1.5 million.

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Thursday, March 15, 2018 EMAIL THE EDITOR IN CHIEF:

Should students be allowed to evaluate their professors?

Is the feedback taken into consideration or is it just a waste of time?

GABE HEWITT

gabriel.hewitt@mnsu.edu OR AT reporter-editor@mnsu.edu

Opinion

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OLUWATOMIKE BALI Staff Writer It is a common practice in most universities, Minnesota State University, Mankato included, for students to assess their professors, usually towards the end of a semester.

This brings up the question of if students should be allowed to grade their professors. Is it a true test of their ability?

Personally, I believe students should be allowed to evaluate their professor as that helps to keep them in check and also to enables the students to exercise their rights. However, I am more concerned, if anything, about what is being done with the feedback sheets because I have come to realize that some of the professors still go ahead and do the same things that students complained about previously.

Going around to ask some students about their opinion on this topic, the majority of the students I spoke to agreed that teachers should be evaluated by students because it’s easier for the students to give better,

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unbiased judgement of the professor’s performance.

According to Grace Akinsanya, a student in film and media studies, she believes that “evaluating

“It also helps them understands the students’ growth levels and how to relate with them well,” Akinsanya said. She further stated that evaluations help

“Evaluating the professor also helps the teacher to grow and understand the students’ strengths and weaknesses.” the professor also helps the teacher to grow and understand the students’ strengths and weaknesses.”

Pulse

professors “see things from the student’s perspective.”

Speaking with another student, Nzallah Whong, a

student in aviation, she said it could or could not be helpful, depending on how it is utilized.

“It is not a true test of the teacher’s ability, as some students will judge according to how well they do in class,” said Whong. “If I am doing well in class, I am more likely to ignore the teacher’s mistakes, but If I am doing poorly in class, I will be more inclined to use the teacher mistakes as an excuse for failing.”

In conclusion, students evaluating their professors can be a tool for the administration to monitor how effective the professors are at their job.

“What is something you do to stay healthy?”

SULLI QUACH, FINANCE

AMAZING KIRBY, MASS MEDIA

JUAN DAVID, ECONOMICS

“Eat fruits and vegetables.”

“Don’t have a bad hobby (drinking, doing drugs).”

“I workout.”

BROCK FORBES, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT “I go to the gym.”

POLICIES & INFO

• If you have a complaint, suggestion or would or would likelike to point to point outout an an error error made made in the in the Reporter, Reporter, callcall Editor Editor in Chief in Chief Gabe Rae Hewitt Frame at at 507-389-5454.

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• The Minnesota State University Mankato Reporter is a student-run newspaper published twice a week, coming out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Reporter generates 78 percent of its own income through advertising and receives approximately 22 percent from Student Activities fees. The Reporter is free to all students and faculty, but to start a subscription, please call us at 507-389-1776.

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THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE MSU REPORTER ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OR STUDENT BODY.

Compiled by Yohanes CassidyAshenafi Dahl

ESTEFANIA LUJAN, ANTHROPOLOGY “I like to meditate before bed to rest easy for the night.”

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Thursday, March 15, 2018

Feature Photo: #Enough MNSU student walkout

Gabe Hewitt | MSU Reporter

The campus community took part in the national #enough walkout Wednesday to honor those killed in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. “Hopefully we see some change with the NRA and gun control,” said student and organizer Mikaela Ayim. A gong was sounded once a minute for 17 minutes to honor the 17 victims that died in the shooting. “17 students and faculty went to school where they were supposed to be protected and they were supposed to be insured safety for their education and they ended up being murdered in cold blood—that could have been prevented by the state of Florida, by the United States government in protecting students and preventing guns in schools and in the hands of people who don’t need them,” said student Alissa Shape.

US students stage massive walkout to protest gun violence ASSOCIATED PRESS - They bowed their heads in honor of the dead. They carried signs with messages like “Never again” and “Am I next?” They railed against the National Rifle Association and the politicians who support it.

And over and over, they repeated the message: Enough is enough.

In a wave of protests one historian called the largest of its kind in American history, tens of thousands of students walked out of their classrooms Wednesday to demand action on gun violence and school safety.

The demonstrations extended from Maine to Hawaii as students joined the youth-led surge of activism set off by the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“We’re sick of it,” said Maxwell Nardi, a senior at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico, Virginia, just outside Richmond.

“We’re going to keep fighting, and we’re not going to stop until Congress finally makes resolute changes.”

Students around the nation left class at 10 a.m. local time

for at least 17 minutes — one minute for each of the dead in the Florida shooting. Some led marches or rallied on football fields, while others gathered in school gyms or took a knee in the hallway.

At some schools, hundreds of students poured out.

At others, just one or two walked out in defiance of administrators.

They lamented that too many young people have died and that they’re tired of going to school afraid they will be killed.

“Enough is enough.

People are done with being shot,” said Iris Fosse-Ober, 18, a senior at Washburn High School in Minneapolis.

Some issued specific demands for lawmakers, including mandatory background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons like the one used in the Florida bloodbath.

While administrators and teachers at some schools applauded students for taking a stand — and some joined them — others threatened punishment for missing class.

As the demonstrations unfolded, the NRA responded by posting a photo on Twitter

of a black rifle emblazoned with an American flag. The caption: “I’ll control my own guns, thank you.”

The protests took place at schools from the elementary level through college, including some that have witnessed their own mass shootings: About 300 students gathered on a soccer field at Colorado’s Columbine High, while students who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in 2012 marched out of Newtown High School in Connecticut.

In the nation’s capital, more than 2,000 high-school age protesters observed 17 minutes of silence while sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White House.

President Donald Trump was out of town.

The students carried signs with messages such as “Our Blood/Your Hands” and “Never Again” and chanted slogans against the NRA. In New York City, they chanted, “Enough is enough!” In Salt Lake City, the signs read, “Protect kids not guns,” ‘’Fear has no place in school” and “Am I next?”

At Eagle Rock High in Los Angeles, teenagers took a

moment of silence as they gathered around a circle of 17 chairs labeled with the names of the Florida victims.

Stoneman Douglas High senior David Hogg, who has emerged as one of the leading student activists, livestreamed the walkout at the tragedy-stricken school on his YouTube channel. He said students couldn’t be expected to stay in class while there was work to do to prevent gun violence.

“Every one of these individuals could have died that day. I could have died that day,” he said.

In joining the protests, the students followed the example set by many of the survivors of the Florida shooting, who have become gun-control activists, leading rallies, lobbying legislators

and giving TV interviews.

Their efforts helped spur passage last week of a Florida law curbing access to assault rifles by young people.

Another protest against gun violence is scheduled in Washington on March 24, with organizers saying it is expected to draw hundreds of thousands.

But whether the students can make a difference on Capitol Hill remains to be seen.

Congress has shown little inclination to defy the powerful NRA and tighten gun laws, and Trump backed away from his initial support for raising the minimum age for buying an assault rifle to 21.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

News

MSU Reporter • 7

Stephen Hawking: ‘His laboratory was the universe’ WASHINGTON (AP) — Everyone knew of Stephen Hawking’s cosmic brilliance, but few could comprehend it. Not even top-notch astronomers.

Hawking, who died at his home in Cambridge, England, on Wednesday at age 76, became the public face of science genius. He appeared on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Big Bang Theory,” voiced himself in “The Simpsons” cartoon series and wrote the best-seller “A Brief History of Time.” He sold 9 million copies of that book, though many readers didn’t finish it.

It’s been called “the least-read best-seller ever.” Hollywood celebrated his life in the 2014 Oscar-winning biopic “The Theory of Everything.”

In some ways, Hawking was the inheritor of Albert Einstein’s mantle of the genius-as-celebrity, and he died on the 139th anniversary of Einstein’s birth.

“His contribution is to engage the public in a way that maybe hasn’t happened since Einstein,” said prominent astronomer Wendy Freedman, former director of the Carnegie Observatories.

“He’s become an icon for a mind that is beyond ordinary mortals. People don’t exactly understand what he’s saying, but they know he’s brilliant.

There’s perhaps a human element of his struggle that makes people stop and pay attention.”

With Einstein, most people are familiar with e=mc2, but they don’t know what it means. With Hawking, his work was too complicated for most people, but they understood that what he was trying to figure out was basic, even primal.

“He was asking and trying to address the very biggest questions we were trying to ask: the birth of the universe, black holes, the direction of time,” said University of Chicago cosmologist Michael Turner. “I think that caught people’s attention.”

And he did so in an impish way, showing humanity despite being in a wheelchair with ALS, the degenerative nerve disorder known in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

He flew in a zero-gravity plane. He made public bets with other scientists about the existence of black holes and radiation that emanates from them — losing both bets and buying a subscription to Penthouse for one scientist and a baseball encyclopedia for the other.

“The first thing that

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press

catches you is the debilitating disease and his wheelchair,” Turner said. But then his mind and the “joy that he took in science” dominated. And while the public may not have understood what he said,

as an astrophysicist because his laboratory was the universe.”

And Hawking’s black hole work in the mid-1970s made a crucial connection in physics. Until Hawking

“Hawking’s black hole work in the mid-1970s made a crucial connection in physics.”

they got his quest for big ideas, Turner said.

Andy Fabian, an astronomer at Hawking’s University of Cambridge and president of the Royal Astronomical Society, said Hawking would start his layman’s lectures on black holes with the joke: “I assume you all have read ‘A Brief History of Time’ and understood it.” It always got a big laugh.

“You’d find the average astronomer such as myself doesn’t even try to follow the more esoteric theories that (Hawking) pursued the last 20 years,” Fabian said. “I’ve been to talks Hawking has given and cannot follow them myself.”

Hawking, who was born 300 years to the day after Galileo died, was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. It was the same post that Isaac Newton held. Both physicists and astrophysicists claimed him as their own. And much of Hawking’s work was in the field of cosmology, a deepthinking branch of astronomy that tries to explain the totality of the universe.

Hawking’s title “is not relevant here; what matters is what his brain did,” said Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium. “We claim him

discovered radiation coming from black holes — named “Hawking radiation” after him — the two giant theories in physics, Einstein’s general relativity and quantum

mechanics, often conflicted.

Hawking was the first to show they connected, which Turner and others described as breakthrough at the time.

The concept that stuff, radiation, comes out of black holes may have upset science fiction authors, but it inspired young scientists such as Tyson, who described it as “spooky profound.”

The idea behind this was also novel because it said “black holes aren’t forever,” Turner said.

Hawking also pioneered a “no hair” theory of black holes that they were simple, with just spin, mass and charge and nothing else.

Both of those concepts are cornerstones of current black hole theory.

Hawking’s other work went beyond black holes

into the more cosmic, the origins of the universe.

Initially he theorized about the “singularity” of the baby universe in thick but elegant mathematical equations comparing early time to wave functions. Later, his own work contradicted some of that and he was instrumental to theories about inflationary cosmology, where the universe’s beginning is more of a half ball. That theory got its kick-start at a conference Hawking hosted in 1982 with a dinner party and croquet match, Turner said.

The high-concept theorymaking didn’t quite match the personality behind it.

Colleagues often mention his off-the-wall humor, his big grin, his stubbornness.

And even the public picked up on his cheeky attitude instantly, Turner and Freedman said.

“He added a human face to science,” Turner said.

“It goes well beyond the wheelchair.”

The bigger story was how the public became fascinated with this small man, stuck in a wheelchair with a worsening disease, and an intellect that few could fathom. They related to the man, Stephen Hawking, and his story, Freedman said.

The insight he gave on the mysteries of the cosmos was just a bonus.

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8 • MSU Reporter

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Minnesota State University, Mankato

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A&E

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Mother nature is very unforgiving in The Birch

A terrifying monster with a surprising attitude for its victims

MARIO ESCOTO Staff Writer

In the middle of the forest, human beings are always surrounded by tall trees, grass, animals and so on. But, what if the forest can protect you from bullying?

Well, if you have a good heart, the Birch will protect you and get rid of those nasty bullies.

The birch is a humanoid creature with a female like a body, horizontal like hair filled with tree roots and leaves. Also, the creature’s body is entirely made of wood including its teeth.

But the scary part about this creature has to do with its height and fingers. Taller than an average human being and nails made of hard brown vines. Whoever designed the creature made it a beautiful, yet a terrifying creature to

Image courtesy of The Associated Press

watch.

“For he who makest me, I shall come. He who breaks me shall come undone,” Birch said. In the film, the Birch, a young man is wandering in the forest looking for the symbol of the Birch.

The reason why he is doing this, because his dying grandmother explains to him a story of the Birch and why she will protect him.

While he is doing this, a bully he deals with daily is looking for him and wants

to hurt him. In one scary scene, the victim pulls out the symbol of the Birch.

When the victim did this the bully was confused, but grabbed the symbol and broke it. This part of the film was getting intense

and scary. I was hoping for the victim to achieve justice from this aggressive bully; I was right in a fearful way.

Now, that the bully broke the symbol of the Birch, leaves began to blow towards the bully and victim.

Then, all sudden the Birch appears and intimidates the bully, causing the bully to run in fear. We are not shown how the bully was killed. On the next scene, we’re shown the bully’s face cut all over, body impaled by tree branches and torn in half. This scene right here was a “WTF” moment. At the end of the scene, we as the audiences are shown the victim and Birch holding hands together. However, as things

BIRCH

PAGE 11

Givenchy legacy, Hepburn’s little black dress French couturier redifined fashion during World War II

PARIS (AP) — In her sleeveless black gown, with rows of pearl at the neck and oversized sunglasses, Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly defined understated elegance. Hers was the iconic little black dress.

It was the work of Hubert de Givenchy, the French couturier who, along with Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga, redefined fashion in the wake of World War II. Givenchy was the epitome of Paris chic.

His death at age 91 was announced Monday.

A towering man of elegance and impeccable manners, Givenchy forged close friendships with his famous clients, including Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Grace of Monaco.

But none were as close

to him or the fashion house that bore his name as Hepburn, whose simple chic became a kind of shorthand for the label. Besides the little black dress from the 1961 hit “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Hepburn wore Givenchy’s designs in nearly a dozen other movies, as well on the red carpet and also in real life.

Born Feb. 21, 1927, in the provincial city of Beauvais, north of Paris, Givenchy was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents after his father, a business executive and amateur pilot, died when he was a toddler.

His grandfather, an administrator of a tapestry workshop in Beauvais, cultivated the young Givenchy’s appreciation of the arts and honed his aesthetic sensibility.

Early on, Givenchy set

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press

French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy poses with mannequins in his shop in Paris.

his sights on fashion — a career choice that left his family cold. After high school, he acceded to family pressure and joined a

notary firm in Beauvais, but it didn’t last long.

Givenchy struck out for Paris in his late teens, in the wake of World War II.

GIVENCHY

PAGE 12

Thursday, March 15, 2018

MSU Reporter • 11

A&E

Debate erupts over memoir by Fransisco Cantu Former Border Patrol agent opens up about past occupation

PHOENIX (AP) — Francisco Cantu said he joined the Border Patrol at age 23 to get an on-the-ground education in international relations.

Now 32, he says he didn’t expect his new memoir examining some of the agency’s uglier aspects would spark protests by far-left groups denouncing him for the enforcement work and forcing him to cancel some talks promoting “The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border.”

He said he agrees with much of the criticism from the left — even though it caught him off guard — and had expected most of the backlash to come from the right.

Cantu told his detractors on Twitter: “To be clear: during my years as a BP agent, I was complicit in perpetuating institutional violence and flawed, deadly policy. My

book is about acknowledging that, it’s about thinking through the ways we normalize violence and dehumanize migrants as individuals and as a society.”

Cantu said he wrote the book to make sense of his time with the patrol.

“Writing the book was a way to come to terms with what I had participated in, a job that made me normalize a certain amount of violence,” Cantu said. “I tried not to draw conclusions, but offer descriptions of what happened and a reflection of my state of mind.”

Released last month

by Riverhead Books, the memoir has collected positive reviews for its elegant prose about issues at the forefront of the nation’s conversation on immigration and other border issues.It braids together the history of the U.S.-Mexico boundary, Cantu’s experiences

with the migrants encountered by day and the dreams that haunted him at night.

Raised in Arizona’s borderlands as the only child of a Mexican-American woman, Cantu thought several years in the agency would provide real-world experience for a diplomatic or legal career after graduation from American University. He joined the Border Patrol even though his mother warned of possible consequences. “’You can’t exist within a system for that long without being implicated,’” he recalled her saying.

Cantu worked for the agency from 2008-2012 trekking through the Arizona, New Mexico and Texas deserts. He encountered desperate migrants abandoned by traffickers in the desert, moved to bandage a woman’s blistered feet and buy a man

Cantu was a U.S. Border Patrol agent from 2008 to 2012 and is the author of “The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border.”

BIRCH Continued from page 10 were getting calm we are shown a jumpscare of the birch face with a loud music effect. I had to close my eyes when I saw the Birch’s face; it was scary and disgusting.

In conclusion, I felt like the director was aiming

for a moral lesson in the film. Throughout, the film the victim was punched, harassed and even had a small bruise in his eye. The birch is supposed to represent justices in the forest, however, she can become karma if you break one of

her kinds. When you view this film, it is scary at first, but once you see multiple times. It changes the film from a scary film to a heartwarming film for anyone to

Photos courtesy of The Associated Press

dinner at McDonald’s.

He also spent countless, monotonous hours gathering intelligence at a listening post about sinister figures who lurked in the shadows and closely monitored the movements of Border Patrol agents.

When Cantu joined the force, he had “an idea about changing the system from the inside or bringing some good to it” but found the system “designed to break you down and rebuild you into an enforcement agent.”

He wrote that agents’ behavior depended “on what kind of agent you are” when fleeing migrants leave supplies behind.

“It’s true that we slash their bottles and drain their water into the dry earth, that we dump their backpacks and pile their food and clothes to be crushed and pissed on and stepped over, strewn across the desert and set ablaze,” he wrote.

That passage was cited by some of his Hispanic detractors when they pro-

tested his book and recounted their own stories about relatives immigrating to the U.S. Cantu acknowledged that resentment — even though many agents are Mexican-Americans who grew up near the border.

Latinos were among activists who disrupted his reading at BookPeople in Austin, Texas’ largest independent bookstore.

Protest organizer Defend Our Hoodz called Cantu a “vendido,” meaning sellout. The group did not respond to written questions.

Insults by another group of immigrant rights activists calling Cantu a “hipster Border-Pig” prompted him to cancel talks at San Francisco and Oakland bookstores a week later. He signed books instead.

He’s scheduled to appear this weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books.

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PAGE 12

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12 • MSU Reporter

A&E

CANTU Continued from page 11

Customs Enforcement officials haven’t said anything about the book.

“It’s just one person’s opinion,” Border Patrol

spokesman Chris Sullivan said.

After leaving the patrol, Cantu was a Fulbright scholar for a year docu-

Thursday, March 15, 2018

menting the lives of refugees who were refused asylum in the Netherlands.

With his memoir as a

proposed project, Cantu was accepted into the nonfiction master of fine arts program at the University of Arizona in Tuc-

son in 2014. The winner of a 2017 Whiting Award for emerging writers, he has also published essays and translations.

Daily in 2007. “There’s Balenciaga and the good lord.”

“Le Grand Hubert,” as he was often called for his 6-foot, 5-inch (1.96 meters) frame, became popular with privileged haute couture customers, among them Gloria Guinness, Wallis Simpson and Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran.

But the client whose name would become almost synonymous with the house was Hepburn, whom he met in 1953, when he dressed her for the romantic comedy “Sabrina.” Legend has it that Givenchy — told only that Mademoiselle Hepburn would be coming in for a fitting — was expecting the grand Katharine Hepburn. Instead the diminutive Audrey showed up, dressed in cigarette pants, a T-shirt and sandals.

That encounter marked the start of a decades-long friendship that saw Givenchy dress the star in nearly a dozen films, making her the brand’s de-facto ambassador.

“His clothes for me have always not only thrilled me but also given me so much confidence. I’ve worked in them, I’ve played in them, I’ve borrowed them, I’ve bought them,” Hepburn once gushed in a television interview.

Aiming to reach a wider market, Givenchy launched a line of upscale ready-towear and accessories in the 1960s, and its commercial success soon enabled him to buy out his backers, making him one of a handful of Paris couturiers to own their own label outright.

In 1988, he sold the house to French luxury

conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the parent company of a stable of top fashion labels that now includes Dior, Celine, Marc Jacobs, Pucci and Kenzo.

Givenchy retired in 1995, and was succeeded

by John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald, Italy’s Riccardo Tisci and current chief designer Claire Waight Keller, the first woman to hold the post. Just last week she showed her latest collection in Paris, revealing a brooding and gritty side with razor shoulders and hulking coats.

Givenchy will be remembered as a pioneer of pure lines and flattering elegance — an aesthetic summed up in the motto he shared with Balenciaga: “Make it simple, make it pure.”

GIVENCHY Continued from page 10 Couturier Jacques Fath hired Givenchy on the strength of his sketches and he spent two years learning the basics of fashion design, from sketching to cutting and fitting haute couture styles.

After a brief stint at the house of Piguet, he joined celebrated Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli in 1949, leaving her to found his own house in 1952.

Headquartered in a small room off the Parc Monceau, well off Paris’ famed Golden Triangle, the house of Givenchy proved an instant success.

His debut collection ushered in the concept of separates — tops and bottoms that could be mixed and matched, as opposed to head-to-toe looks that were the norm among Paris couture purveyors.

Working on a tight bud-

get, Givenchy served up the floor-length skirts and country chic blouses in raw cotton materials normally reserved for fittings.

The collection’s body-conscious shapes created a sensation among the fashion press and buyers used to the wasp-waisted, full-skirted “New Look” pioneered by Dior. Givenchy’s “Bettina blouse” — a concoction of white broadcloth with tiers of eyelet ruffles at the sleeves, which was named for his favorite model and publicist, Bettina Graziani — would go down in fashion history.

In 1955, Givenchy relocated to the tony Avenue George V, across the street from his idol, Spanish-born designer Balenciaga.

“Balenciaga was my religion,” he told fashion trade publication Women’s Wear

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MSU Reporter • 13

Thursday, March 15, 2018

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Northern State defeat Mavs in Sweet 16 After finishing with a 24-10 record, the basketball team will be watching the rest of the tournament on the couch

Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter Suffering a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the Northern State Wolves, the Mavericks will now have to watch the rest of the games at home, and contemplate what went right, and what went wrong for the Mavs.

JAKE RINEHART Staff Writer The Maverick basketball season has come to an end, as the Northern State Wolves defeated the Mavericks in the NCAA Sweet 16 by a final score of 90-83.

The No. 8 Mavericks made their first trip to the Sweet 16 since the 2013-2014 season.

Prior to the start of the game, news broke that Cameron Kirksey would not be playing for the Mavericks as he would be ruled out with a knee injury.

The game was back and forth from the opening tip. To make things even more frustrating, both teams struggled with foul trouble in the first half. Minnesota State committed 10 personal fouls in the first half, while Northern State committed 13.

The Mavericks would not let the game get out of their grasp early, as they would come back and take the lead

late in the half. The Mavericks would have their largest lead of the game with two minutes before halftime as they held a three-point lead.

The teams would fight it out leading into halftime with Northern State leading by a score of 43-42.

Carlos Anderson had an incredible first half for the Mavericks, as he would come off the bench to score 14 points for them in the first half alone.

Chris Kendrix was also

Carlos Anderson

making his presence known in the first half, as he entered the locker room with six points and five rebounds.

The Wolves were led by Ian Smith, who scored 13 points in the first half.

The second half would

mimic the first in that it would be a close game with lots of whistles being blown. The Mavericks would commit 16 fouls in the second half, while Northern State would only commit six.

The demise of the Mavericks would primarily come from missed shots. With 12 minutes remaining, the Mavericks began going cold.

Minnesota State would start to miss about every other shot, which prevented them from keeping pace with NSU. With only 4 minutes to play, the Mavericks found themselves down five points without any fouls to give and the momentum against them.

This would be an uphill battle if the Mavericks were to win.

Minnesota State would pull within two-points thanks in part from a Chris Kendrix free throw, as the clocked ticked down to the 3-minute mark.

Northern State would control the clock in the final minutes, as they would get consecutive offensive rebounds, forcing the Mavericks to foul to stop the clock.

The lead would only grow as the game clock dwindled down to zero, as Northern

Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter

State would get the 90-83 victory.

Carlos Anderson ended the night with 21 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Kevin Krieger added an additional 13 points for the Mavs.

Charlie Brown, Chris Kendrix, and Isaac Kreuer played their final game for the Mavericks as well. Charlie Brown finished his final game for the Mavericks with 14 points, two rebounds and one assist.

Chris Kendrix would end with 11 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. Isaac Kreuer added an additional eight points and three rebounds for Min-

nesota State.

Brown has been the leader for the Mavericks for the past two seasons. In his final postgame interview with head coach Matt Margenthaler and teammate Carlos Anderson, Brown said that he is most proud of the foundation that the team has built.

“We have built something really special over the last few years,” said Brown. “We have completely reshaped this program and I am proud to be a part of it. These guys have something really great in place and will have a lot of success in the future with this great coaching staff.”

14 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Thursday, March 15, 2018

BOLD predictions for March Madness Staff writer Aaron Young makes his predictions for this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament challenge

AARON YOUNG Staff Writer Today marks the official first round of the March Madness tournament. 64 teams will be facing off, hoping to be in the Championship game in San Antonio come April.

Upsets may happen and Cinderella stories will be in the making. Here are my bold predictions for this year’s March Madness tournament.

Stephen F. Austin and Georgia State upsets Georgia St. can repeat what they did to Baylor yet again. They are facing a tougher and more aggressive opponent in Cincinnati, but the Bulldogs don’t back

down from a fight. R.J Hunter is long gone but the coach does a great job with his players and knows their strengths.

Stephen F. Austin over Texas Tech could also become a reality as well. Just like the Bulldogs in times past, they have gotten through to the next round. Also, Texas Tech has former Gophers head coach Tubby Smith who could very well face the same fate as the Gophers did.

Charleston, Rhode Island, and Providence in the Sweet 16 Charleston comes from the Colonial Athletic Conference. If you recall VCU a few years back, they made a run to the Final Four after beating Kansas. The Cougars looked impressive in conference run and could very well show the nation why they are overlooked. Rhode Island faces Oklahoma in the first round, a team many thought didn’t deserve to be in the tournament to begin with.

The Rams do face Duke in

Sports

Photos courtesy of The Associated Press Virginia forward Isaiah Wilkins (21) pulls down a rebound between North Carolina forward Theo Pinson (1), guard Kenny Williams (24) and forward Luke Maye (32) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game for the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s tournament title Saturday, March 10, 2018, in New York.

the next round which will be a challenge but they may very well pull off the upset. Providence, also in the same position as the Rams, take on Texas A&M. Of course, the Friars would then take on UNC but I wouldn’t be so sure counting

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them out of that one.

The Big Ten will have two teams from Michigan in the Final Four Michigan came out of the conference as Big Ten champions knocking off Purdue most noticeably. Given Prov-

“Who will win the NCAA March Madness tournament?”

idence moves into the sweet 16, Michigan would face a challenge, but the Wolverines could advance. Michigan State also could be in the Final Four as well. Tom Izzo doesn’t mess around and he is more than determined to get to the championship.

Virginia wins the ‘ship I have Virginia winning it all. I am skeptical about the Cavaliers, but I think they have a good chance of doing so. Kentucky, if they make it, would be a tough challenger, who could take them down, but Calipari’s team seems to have lost their mojo from years past. Take Cincinnati out of the equation in the first round, and it makes Virginia’s path that much more easier.

Get the brackets filled out.

Be ready for the upsets and be on the lookout for what teams will make a splash in the tournament. We will see how this year’s dance turns out and who will be cutting down the nets in San Antonio as champions.

Compiled by Jeremiah Ayodele

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MOHAMMED ALFARHAN ACCOUNTING

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“Oklahoma.”

Thursday, March 15, 2018

MSU Reporter • 15

Sports

MSU Baseball ready to slide into the weekend The team will have a long weekend of playing games Saturday and Sunday, in Omaha, NE

AARON YOUNG Staff Writer This weekend, the Maverick baseball team faces off in back-to-back doubleheaders against the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs. The games will be held in Omaha, Nebraska, with the first games happening at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, following it up with another doubleheader on Sunday to finish off the weekend at noon and 2 p.m.

Coming off a 19-7 victory over the Lewis Flyers last Thursday, the squad is look-

ing to continue their momentum going into the weekend.

Many players contributed to that win, but there was one man who swung the ball and ran with it, literally.

Senior Jordan Hart came up a single short of the cycle, after hammering the ball into the outfield and driving in eight RBI’s, scoring three of his own. There is no question he is hungry to get back at the plate and finish what he started.

Other players who have been lighting it up at the plate so far are infielders Luke Waldek and Ty Buck, along with outfielder Tyler Berg.

Waldek, the only player on the team to start every game this season, boasts a BA of .517, having 8 runs on 15 hits and 4 RBI’s. No wonder he gets walked every six times he is at the plate; the Maverick is always ready to pounce

on the ball any chance he gets.

Ty Buck and Tyler Berg have above .300 BA’s and eight runs with Berg having two more runs.

On the mound, Aaron Rozek was named the NSIC pitcher of the week after helping the Mavericks to a 4-1 victory. He also pitched career high 8 innings as well as striking out a whopping 15 batters. This is Rozek’s first time being named the pitcher of the week.

Another pitcher who has made the most of his opportunity is Quinn Ahern. In one start Ahern put up a 0.75 ERA and 12 strikeouts.

Recipient of the Tomko Award, Dalton Roach is backing up his reputation with 2 wins and 18 strikeouts.

Both teams head into the weekend with almost the same record. The Maver-

Jordan Hart

Aaron Rozek

icks are 5-4 and have won 4 of their last five games. After getting out to a sluggish start, the boys put the pedal to the medal and haven’t looked back. The Mustangs, despite having lost their last game, won the previous three and maintain a .500 record at 5-5. With these two teams in similar positions, this game could be the fire in the torch that lights the way for the rest of the season.

With the Mavericks taking

on one team in four consecutive games, coming out of it 9-4 would definitely help them. The odds of them being in the top 3 are good if other teams fall down. Tune in this weekend for what should hopefully be a Maverick beatdown against the Mustangs.

The Timberwolves and the final rose

Derrick Rose signed a contract early last week with the team. Will this be his last stop in the NBA?

COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer The former Chicago Bulls native and MVP winner, Derrick Rose, signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 8.

The signing was on the heels of the Jimmy Butler injury two weeks before, and followed the release of Rose from the Utah Jazz almost immediately after the team received him and draft picks in the three-team trade with both the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers.

While the signing did seem reactionary to the Butler injury, it was far from a surprise that the former Bulls coach (Tom Thibodeau) would add his former star point guard.

Setting aside that he’s bounced around two teams over the past two seasons and that fact that he disappeared from team activities on both those teams, there are still some obstacles to Rose’s success.

The most glaring problem is Tyus Jones is still on the team and better than Rose.

The Chicago native joins a crowded group at the point guard position on the Tim-

berwolves, with Jeff Teague grabbing the bulk of the minutes. Classic to a Thibodeau team, Jones has seen a distinct lack of minutes, despite his solid play off the bench.

Jones ranks sixth in the NBA with a 3.96 assist/turnover ratio (stat is players that average at least 15 minutes per game). Jones has brushed off the low minute count of 17.9 per game, managing to shoot 46 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line.

Even more tantalizing than Jones receiving more floor time, is the idea of the defensive specialist taking the court with the offensive-minded Teague. It is a duo that has only shared the hardwood for a grand total of 8 minutes.

Not only is it disturbing that Rose has already played more time with Jones (17 minutes) than Teague, but the hope of more Teague/ Jones basketball also grows slimmer. This also has Rose eating into the already sparse minute situation on the Minnesota pine.

Not only does this clutter the point guard position, it also has been hard to find an upside for the situation.

The gap in the talent on the

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press

Timberwolves roster is their 3-point shooting, an area Rose is shooting 19.7 percent from this season. A pretty grim signing from the makes of it.

It would be a foul way to go about covering the events of such an exciting young team by leaving the reader with the idea that this is a dead-end signing. It might be, but because success in sports involves environment just as much as anything else, there could be an out.

Rose has always been a very aggressive, ball-centric point guard. The offense runs

through him and he likes to push the tempo of the game by transition buckets and slashing to the basket. This seems not only trapped in the very distant past but also an unobtainable goal when so many other players need the offense run through them on the Timberwolves. Since ACL surgeries are not conducive to bouncing back as a supreme NBA athlete and the Timberwolves do not have a spot for another ball needy player, the best case scenario is Rose takes a cue from Ray Allen and works on his outside shooting.

If Rose’s knees can hold up he can cut to the basket to create space for teammates like Karl-Anthony Towns or become an option for a Teague feed. He can also contribute by working on spot-up shooting from the corner to become an open man for the swing pass and three.

His peak in a Minnesota jersey will involve a lot of offball movement and scoring.

Rose needs to adapt if he is going to be a real contributor this playoff team.

16 • MSU Reporter

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Thursday, March 15, 2018