A2 Record enrollment
A7 Seeing the signs
A12 Pushing the envelope
Enrollment at Northwest breaks 7,000 for the fourth time in 114 years.
A self-taught Northwest senior highlights the growing reliance on unspoken language.
Now riding a four-game win streak, Northwest football is still focused on improvement.
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
Thursday
October 3, 2019 @TheMissourian
VOL. 108, NO. 7
The
HOUSE
B.D.
OWENS built
RACHEL ADAMSON | NW MISSOURIAN
B.D. Owens, the eighth president of Northwest, visits campus Sept. 27 to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the Administration Building fire and unveil the Sue Wright Owens collection.
Former University president visits Northwest for Admin fire commemoration SAMANTHA COLLISON Campus News Editor | @SammieCollison
W
hen B.D. Owens arrived on campus in 1977, the University was on probation with the accreditation board, funding was lacking, and the winter prior, the high rises nearly froze because the heating system couldn’t keep up under extreme temperatures. A few years into his presidency, the most historic building on campus was nearly destroyed in a fire. Within eight years, B.D. Owens oversaw the construction of two new buildings, rebuilt the University’s reputation with the state legislature and accreditation board and
established some of the most wellknown pieces of Northwest’s campus and culture University President John Jasinski hosted a Celebration of B.D. and Sue Owens as part of Family Weekend Sept. 27 on the third floor of B.D. Owens Library to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Administration Building fire and commemorate all of his contributions to Northwest. B.D. Owens, the eighth president of Northwest, graduated from Northwest in 1959, according to the Northwest presidential archive, and is the only president who is also an alumnus. He served as an air force pilot before coming to Northwest.
He said student life at Northwest looked much different during his time, with 1,200 to 1,500 students, many of which were veterans and their families. “There was a lot of student activity,” B.D. Owens said. “People were doing things all the time and studying hard. It was an era, I guess, because of so many veterans coming back and being on campus. That probably had some impact on the level of study that was going on.” B.D. Owens said he and Sue Wright Owens met on campus, but it took some time before they started dating. “I always had an idea that if I
asked a girl for a date three times and I got turned down three times, that was it,” B.D. Owens said. “So the third time I asked her for a date … I said how about a cup of coffee at King’s, so we went out for a cup of coffee and the rest is history.” Sue Wright Owens read a selection of her poems during the latter half of the event, including one which compared the joy of their youth with the continued joy in retirement. “I knew one day we’d both turn gray, inevitability does have its way,” Sue Wright Owens said. “We had great fun at 21, and now retire when day is done. We’re thankful we can think and do; we’ll look back with envy at 82.”
After serving as president at the University of Tampa from 1971 to 1977, B.D. Owens had renewed his contract and wasn’t planning on leaving, but when the offer came for the president’s position at Northwest, the thought kept eating away at him. “We had no intention of coming back here, but there was the old water torture thing starting — drip, drip, drip,” B.D. Owens said. “The thing that kept coming up on the good side was that Northwest has done a lot for us, both of us, and we felt that Maryville would be a better place to raise two boys.”
SEE B.D. OWENS | A4
Ladies event helps fund Pocket Park
KEJI AKINMOLADUN News Reporter | @OluwatoyinKeji
The Downtown Maryville Improvement Organization hosted its fourth annual Glitz and Glam ladies-only fundraising event to fund the Pocket Park. The Pocket Park is a project Downtown Maryville Improvement Organization is working on with the Maryville Public Arts Committee,and will be located at Third and Main Street expected to be completed spring 2020. Women from the community dressed in cheetah print clothing as they attended the “walk on the wild side” themed event at Mozingo Lake Conference Center Sept. 27. The annual fundraising event raises money for a different project each year. This year the event raised over $20,000. The cost was $75 per person or $800 for a table of eight women. Both options included the allin auction paddle, which allowed women to have access to all the items that were auctioned off. Upon their arrival, Maryville Mayor Rachael Martin gave them an auction paddle with the corresponding number, which Martin said she anticipates the Glitz and Glam fundraiser doing every year. “This is one of my very favorite events that Maryville has every year, and it’s because everyone
GABI BROOKS | NW MISSOURIAN
Around 160 women attended the fourth annual Glitz and Glam fundraising event at the Mozingo Lake Conference Center Sept. 27.
just comes out and has a great time and all of our businesses show up for the cause,” Martin said. “For Downtown Organization, this is their biggest fundraiser of the year,
so this is critical to their ongoing success and specifically to the plans for the Pocket Park.” Senior Graphic Designer Ashlee Hendrix helps plan the event every
year and said this year there was a slight change. “In the years past, you would pay for your ticket and you could buy the all-in auction paddle,” Hendrix said. “We wanted to have everybody participate in the auction.” Hendrix said last year, tickets were $50 and the auction paddle was an additional $50. The auction items were donated by sponsors. Bank Midwest, Nodaway Valley Bank, Brown Shoe and other companies in Maryville helped sponsor the event. Bank Midwest Assistant Banking Manager Suzanne Vonbehren said Bank Midwest was pleased to be one of the sponsors for this event. “We’ve sponsored it for several years in different capacities,” Vonbehren said. “We are very community-minded and really believe in the community and giving back. We look for lots of different ways to do that, this is one way.” President of Downtown Improvement Organization Stephanie Campbell said since the event reaches capacity every year, the organization may expand its seating. “It grows every year; we have a cap on it, and it sells out consistently every year, and it keeps growing, so we’re pretty pleased with that,” Campbell said. “We had 160 available this year, and we were there. Next year, we’ll probably grow it a little bit more, maybe closer to 200.”
Any Any SINGLE $5 chinese $6 Kitchen SALAD $6 SUSHI $ meal 6 BAR
JOHN COFFEY
NPR station names ‘82 alumnus manager SAMANTHA COLLISON Campus News Editor | @SammieCollison
Northwest named John Coffey the station manager of its National Public Radio affiliate KXCV-KRNW. The station manager position opened in June after previous station manager Rodney Harris died from health complications, according to a news release from the University.
SEE COFFEY | A4
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