The Rocket 4/14/2011

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Kaleidoscope:

Celebrating ten years of art

April 15, 2011

Volume 93, Number 24

President Smith retiring in January 2012

By Courtney Nickle Rocket Assistant News Editor

Slippery Rock University President Robert Smith announced his plans to retire in January 2012 at the Academic Assembly Tuesday afternoon.

Smith said he wanted to make the announcement now to allow time to form a search committee for the next president of SRU. The committee should be appointed by the end of this semester.

“In order for them to begin work and have the summer, they need to be formed now,” he said.

There are several things Smith said he wants to accomplish before his retirement, the first of which is to stabilize the budget crisis.

Smith also said he wants to assist in reaching a contract agreement with the collective bargaining groups for the next four years.

“I want to help prepare the university to be an attractive place for the very best qualified candidates for this presidency,” he said.

Smith said he probably would have retired sooner, but he wanted to get through the Middle States Evaluations and handle the budget crisis and contract negotiations coming up.

“I want to make sure I’m here to deal with those issues and not hand them over to someone who doesn’t know the people involved,” he said.

One thing Smith would love to see before he leaves is the opening of the new student union, currently scheduled for Januar y 2012.

“I battled for six years on behalf of the students to get the union so it’d be nice to finally see it done,” he said.

Smith said many people have aske d if t here’s a s e r i ou s u n d e r ly i ng health issue that led to the announcement of his retirement.

“I have no serious health problems,” he said. “Part of doing this is so that I won’t have health problems. One of the challenges of this job is going seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. I rarely take vacation time and after a while you just

wear out.”

Smith was named interim president in 2002 and president in 2004.

The hardest part of retiring, according to Smith, will be leaving the students.

“Serving as your president has been an extraordinary personal privilege and the most rewarding experience of my life,” Smith said through tears.

Smith has a current annual salary of about $218,000.

Before the Academic Assembly began Tuesday, the members of APSCUF (Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties) stood and showed their unity against the proposed budget cuts.

Jace Condravy, president of the SRU chapter of APSCUF, walked near the front of the room and blew a whistle. Every APSCUF member in the room blew their own whistles with her, and then froze for two minutes in whatever position they happened to be in.

NATHANAEL HOOKS/THE ROCKET

Slippery Rock University President Robert Smith announces his retirement at the Academic Assembly in Swope Music Hall Tuesday afternoon.

Nine Green Fund grants approved

By Eric Busch

Rocket Staff Reporter

SRU President Robert Smith approved nine grants March SEE APSCUF, PAGE A-2 29 worth $34,622 to finance selected Green Fund projects.

The most expensive of the nine approved grants was for updating and improving the electrical monitoring system in four buildings on campus.

This grant was applied for

by Scott Albert, director of facilities and planning, and will cost $20,690.

Budget approved for art gallery

According to Albert, Old Main, Carruth Rizza and Patterson Halls and the Art Building are the four locations that will be improved with this money.

He said meters in these buildings would be integrated into the building automation system that tracks electrical consumption on campus.

Another grant Albert applied for, in conjunction with Greg Sferra, director of campus recreation, and Chris Cole, University Union director, will

be used to add two water bottle filling stations on campus.

This $4,000 grant was originally going to pay for one of these stations in the Aebersold Recreation Center and another in the union, Albert said.

“The committee didn’t feel that the money should be spent when the Student Union is going to be vacated next year,” Albert said in an e-mail.

He said the second station

Gallery this week when the Co-Operative Activities B o ard i n for m e d t h e department that its budget was under review.

Co-Op voted Thursday to continue funding, but those closest to the gallery believe there’s a need for more space.

Laura Dicey, a senior art education major, said the gallery, currently located in 102 Maltby Center, is used for senior presentations, among other things.

“We use it for gallery openings, visiting artists, art sales, juried shows,” she said.

“And to get a bachelor of fine arts certification, you have to exhibit a show.”

Nina Persi, a postbaccalaureate art education student, said there are 21 seniors presenting their shows this semester.

Scot Calvert, a senior art and creative writing major, said there isn’t enough space in the Martha Gault for all of the shows.

“We had to set up shows at the Butler Arts Center, where I do my internship, because there wasn’t enough room here,” he said.

Sean MacMillan, an assistant professor of art and director of Martha Gault, said SRU is currently accredited by NASAD (National Association of

SEE SGA, PAGE A-2

Art department petitions for galleries

By Courtney Nickle Rocket Assistant News Editor

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

The Art Department faced the threat of losing funding for the Martha Gault Art

A group of about 20 faculty and students from the Art Department attend the SGA Co-Operative Activities Board meeting to advocate for funding for the Martha Gault Gallery.

By Courtney Nickle Rocket Assistant News Editor

The SGA Co-Operative Activities Board voted to approve the 2011-12 budget request for the Martha Gault Art Gallery at its meeting Thursday.

About 20 faculty and students came to show their support for the gallery.

The budget request asked for $3,595 for the operation of the gallery.

SGA Vice President of Finance Adam Kennerdell said the board was concerned about the amount of student involvement with the gallery.

“During the budgeting process, we didn’t see any students involved in it and we couldn’t figure out to what extent the students were involved,” he said.

O r i g i n a l l y, Sean MacMillan, an assistant professor of art, was listed both as the director and the

president of the gallery.

MacMillan said in an interview earlier in the week that it’s difficult to determine the right level of student involvement with the gallery because students won’t have the networks necessary to bring a wide variety of professional artists.

“It’s a weird situation because there needs to be student involvement, but it’s a tough call where the student involvement should go,” he said.

A f t e r S G A v oi c e d their concerns to the art department, they created a student board for the Martha Gault Gallery.

Laura Dicey, a senior art education major, is listed as the president.

Dicey came to the meeting prepared with a petition to keep the gallery. The petition had over 600 signatures.

“We started this petition last week and asked students,

faculty and the community for signatures,” she said.

Dr. Andrew Colvin, assistant professor of philosophy and APSCUF representative at Co-Op, said he’s seen several instances of money not going to support the arts.

“I think we need to be more supportive of the arts on campus,” he said.

“Clearly the gallery is central to the students and the art department.”

T h e C o - O p b o a rd also voted to extend the vending contract with AVI FoodSystems, Inc. The contract includes a 25 cents increase for coffee drinks, a 15 cents increase for candy and crackers and a 10 cents increase for soft drinks, water and pastries.

Co-Op also voted to approve $1,000 for a juried exhibition at the Martha Gault gallery next semester.

SEE LACROSSE, PAGE A-3

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

Laura Dicey, senior art education major and student president of the Martha Gault Art Gallery, speaks on behalf of funding for the gallery.

SEE CAMPUS, PAGE A-3

News

Rock Notes A-2

SGA president's grant APSCUF members approved for $5,214 display solidarity Continued from Page a-1

Pi Kappa Alpha Golf Outing

Pi Kappa Alpha is sponsoring a golf outing on April 30 at Oakview Golf Club. Registration opens at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The event fee is $75, which includes 18 holes with a cart and dinner. Registration forms can be found in the CSIL Office or at srupikes.webs.com and are due by April 15. Anyone with questions can contact Corey Stebbins at 814-823-9726 or cds9013@ sru.edu.

University Union Room Reservations

The University Union will begin processing requests for recurring meetings for fall 2011 on April 1. Organizations may request meeting rooms on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or similar recurring pattern. Union Reservation Request Forms may be obtained at the Union Information Desk or online under Student Life. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Cole at 724-738-2718.

FAFSA Filing Help Session

Remember to file your 2011-12 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before May 1st! Students who need some assistance can attend a FAFSA Filing Help Session on Friday, April 8 between 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. in Room 213 of Bailey Library.

SRU Financial Aid Office staff will be available to answer questions and provide assistance.

Earth Day Symposium

SRU will host an Earth Day Symposium in the University Union on April 22 from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The main focus of the speakers and presentations will be about the Marcellus Shale gas industry.

The event is free and open to anyone

Publicize your group's event with a Rock Note.

To submit a Rock Note to be considered for publication, please send your announcement by 6 p.m. Wednesday to: News Editor Lauren Laing 220 Eisenberg Classroom Building Slippery Rock, PA 16057

Forecast from National Weather Service Saturday Friday Sunday Partly cloudy

High: 51; Low: 40

Chance of rain

would be placed in an academic building, though he doesn’t know which one at this time.

The goal of installing these new stations is to reduce the amount of plastic and aluminum waste created at the ARC from bottles and cans.

A $5,214 grant proposed

by SGA President Jeremiah Rosser was also accepted to aid in his “greener campus” project.

Rosser said money from this grant will go towards buying trees which will be planted on recent campus construction

Chance of showers

High: 62; Low: 40 High: 75; Low: 58

sites.

He said the original plan was to partner with the Green and White Society’s campus clean up, but the grant wasn’t approved in time.

Rosser said he met with John Cowan, assistant director of campus services to determine what types of trees should be planted and where they should go.

Rosser, who is graduating this spring, said the project would have to be carried through

by Jordan Bailley, who was recently elected SGA president for the 2011-12 academic year.

Rocket wins seven awards

By Rocket Staff The Rocket won seven awards from the Society of Collegiate Journalists which was announced Tuesday.

The paper was awarded a second place for Overall Excellence for a weekly or less publication. Former editor in chief Josh Rizzo and former news editor Jessica Moore won first place for a news series and former photography editor Chelsey Rovesti was awarded first place for editorial cartoons.

The Rocket re ceive d second place for editorials, which were staff editorials written by current editor in chief Kacie Peterson.

Current assistant news editor Courtney Nickle was awarded second place in the breaking and hard news category.

Current assistant focus editor Andy Treese was awarded an honorable mention in the features category and the “Spring Sp or ts Pre v ie w 2010” photo page also received an honorable mention.

Index

Weather

April 15, 2011

Rock Notes..........A-2 Blotter.................A-3 Opinion.......A-4 Classifieds..........A-6 Comics................A-7

Sports...................B-1 Focus..................C-1

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

APSCUF faculty and staff show their unity at the Academic Assembly Tuesday by freezing in place for two minutes.

Continued from Page a-1

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

From top: Kacie Peterson, Courtney Nickle and Andy Treese.

At the end of the two minutes, Condravy blew her whistle again, signaling the end of the demonstration and again every APSUF member blew their whistles in unison.

“We saw it as a fun way to show solidarity among union members,” Condravy said. “We were more likely to get more faculty members at this event and we were able to do it without disrupting anyone.”

C o n d r av y s a i d t h e original plan was to do a flash mob dance.

“That idea had more appeal but we didn’t think we could pull the faculty together in time,” she said.

“Maybe we couldn’t pull together a dance, but we could freeze.”

According to Condravy, planning for the demonstration st ar ted about a month ago.

At t h e Ac a d e m i c Assembly, President Smith and Provost Bill Williams recognized 52 faculty members that reached significant milestones in their SRU careers ranging from 10 to 40 years.

Contact us Newsroom: (724) 738-4438 Advertising: (724) 738-2643 Fax: (724) 738-4896

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Thirteen-time 2010 award-winning newspaper.

News

April 15, 2011

A-3

Police Blotter Borough April 8 – JoBeth L. Kuznicki, 23, was cited for disorderly conduct.

April 8 – Criminal mischief was reported.

April 9 – Martin Akers, 22, was cited for disorderly house.

April 9 – Christopher Messner, 19, was cited for disorderly house.

Apr i l 10 – Shaw yn Yeamans, 21, was cited for public drunkenness.

April 10 – Michael Ritchie, 21, was cited for disorderly conduct.

Ap r i l 1 1 – D av i d Rimoldi, 24, and Samantha Slawich, 24, were cited for theft of services from the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Department.

April 13 – Burglary was reported.

Lacrosse team gets $4,130 Continued from Page a-1

The show will be free and open to anyone and will exhibit contemporary works on a national and international level.

Scot Calvert, a senior art and creative writing major, said the show will expose students and the community to current international art.

Co-Op also approved up to $3,500 for the men’s lacrosse team’s transportation to national championships in Richmond, Va., April 29 to May 1.

Bradford Allen, the lacrosse team president, said the team is currently ranked number one in the nation.

The team was also approved for $630 to cover the referee costs from two lacrosse games that the team didn’t budget for.

The Co-Op board also approve d $ 2 , 600 for transportation for the Marching Pride.

The organization recently received more members, so the money will go to transporting it to each football game.

The Percussion Club requested $1,200 for African drums and $500 for a percussionist to give a master class.

Co-Op approved both of the requests.

Campus April 7 – Alcohol and nois e violations were reported in Building B. No alcohol was found. The CA is handling the incident.

April 7 – Sara McDonald, 19, and Christina Wojnarwsky, 19, were cited for underage consumption of alcohol after an alcohol violation was reported in Building B. April 8 – Jordan Crespi, 18, and Raquel Redman, 19, were cited for underage consumption of alcohol after a verbal fight was

reported outside Building B.

of

April 8 – Codi Berk, 20, and Walter Paskert, 19, were cited for underage consumption of alcohol after an alcohol violation was reported in North Hall.

Ap r i l 8 – Ma rc u s Gojkovich, 22, was cited for possession and unlawful use of electronic incapacitation.

April 10 – Eric Cannon, 20; Brianna Curtis, 18; Rebecca Goldsmith, 18;

and Amy Marrotte, 18, were cited for underage consumption of alcohol after a hang-up call came into the station from Building E. Officers responded to the call and observed the alcohol violation.

April 10 – Zachary Ejzak, 20, was cited for disorderly c on du c t a n d B ro o k e Goodman, 18, was cited for underage consumption of alcohol after student s ecurity in Eis enb erg observed them tripping over trashcans.

April 10 – An intruder alarm was activated in the University Union. The door was found wrenched open. Emergency contact was made and everything appeared fine.

April 11 – Report of property damage to a light fixture on Campus Drive. The cause and time frame of the damage are unknown. The case is under investigation.

Compiled by Courtney Nickle

Campus required to have three art galleries Continued from Page a-1

Schools Art and Design), which requires the campus to have three art galleries: a professional, a studentrun and a gallery to exhibit the school’s permanent collection.

According to MacMillan, many ot her PASSHE (Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education) schools have three art galleries.

Calvert said right now, the art department could only show its permanent collection for one or two weeks.

“We have tons of artwork in storage,” he said. “It’d be

great to be able to show it.”

Lauren Whitehead, a junior art education major, said a student-run gallery would give the students more experience.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t learn until you’re a senior,” she said. “So if you had the opportunity to put on a show before your senior show, it’d make things so much better.”

Calvert said they have been working on petitions to get a student-run gallery, but that was sidetracked because of the question of whether funding for the gallery would continue.

Even though he’ll have

graduated by the time another galler y would be built, Calvert thinks a second gallery would be beneficial for the future.

“I won’t even see one even if we get one, but it’s for the benefit of the university and the art program,” he said.

According to Calvert, all students benefit from the current gallery, not just art majors and minors.

“Anyone can submit something to the studentjuried shows and have it displayed in the gallery,” he said.

Whitehead said first place at the last student-juried exhibit was a non-art major.

All of the gallery shows are also open to anyone, including the community, and no admission is charged.

“This is one of the only spaces in the area that people can go in an intimate setting and interact with the work and the artists,” MacMillan said.

Persi said she thinks it would be wrong not to have a gallery available on campus.

“Not all students have transportation to get out of Slippery Rock so there should be a place for you to go to experience art,” she said. “It’s silly to think that it wouldn’t be offered.”

OPINION A-4 The Rocket

April 16, 2011

The Rocket

Our View

Volume 93, Number 24 220 Eisenberg Classroom Building Slippery Rock University Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania 16057 Phone: (724) 738-4438 Fax: (724) 738-4896 E-mail: rocket.letters@sru.edu

Editorial Board Kacie Peterson

Editor-in-Chief Lauren Laing

News Editor Stephanie Nicotra

Focus Editor Bill Kostkas

Sports Editor Jason Ellwanger

Photo Editor Melissa McFarland

Copy Editor Zack Tanner

Web Editor Courtney Nickle Assistant News Editor Andy Treese Assistant Focus Editor Tim Durr Assistant Sports Editor Jessica Gordon

Assistant Photo Editor Eric Busch

News Reporter Joseph Harry

Faculty Adviser

Advertising Staff Emily Hunter Advertising Manager Ashley Adams Advertising Asst. Manager

About Us The Rocket is published by the students of Slippery Rock University every Friday during the academic semester with the exception of holidays, exam periods and vacations. Total weekly circulation is 3,000.

No material appearing in The Rocket may be reprinted without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief.

The first copy of The Rocket is provided free of charge. Additional copies may be purchased for 50 cents each.

The Rocket receives approximately five percent of its funding from the SGA General Service fee paid each semester by students.

All other income is provided through the sale of advertising.

Advertising inquiries may be made by calling (724) 738-2643 or by e-mailing rocket.ads@sru.edu.

Corrections If we make a substantial error, we want to correct it. If you believe an error has been made, call The Rocket newsroom at (724) 738-4438. If a correction is warranted it will be printed in the opinion section.

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Subscriptions to The Rocket are available.

Subscriptions are $20 per academic semester and $35 for the full academic year.

Inquiries should be directed to the Editorin-Chief at the address listed here.

Editorial Policy

The Rocket strives to present a diverse range of opinions that are both fair and accurate in its editorials and columns appearing on the Opinion pages. “Our View” is the opinion of the Fall 2010 Editorial Board and is written by Rocket editorial board members. It reflects the majority opinion of The Rocket Editorial Board.

“Our View” does not necessarily reflect the views of Slippery Rock University, its employees or its student body. Columns and cartoons are drafted by various individuals and only reflect the opinions of the columnists.

GRAPHYC BY JASON ELLWANGER

Committee must look for president with Smith-like qualities Words travel fast through the grapevine and even faster through campus. University President Robert Smith will be retiring in January of 2012. This announcement comes as a shock to us, who have followed under his leadership since we started at SRU. Smith has endured a lot with this university. And we will be sad to see him go.

We respect his desire to remain at the university through tough times, especially in light of Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget.

Smith stuck with us through the Middle States Evaluations and will stay through contract negotiations this summer.

He’s served the university

as president since 2004, long before most of us even considered attending SRU. Smith will be dealing with some major issues before handing off his job to someone else. Which brings us to the big question: Who will lead the university in the years to come?

A committee will be appointed by the end of this semester in order to start the national search for a new president.

We would like to offer some criteria that the committee should keep in mind in order to pick a Smith-like candidate from the haystack of choices.

The new president must like snow, but not be afraid to cancel school due to

“It’s a great time to be at Slippery Rock University” is a trademark. There isn’t an orientation, university address or faculty meeting that doesn’t include those words. We’ve used them to get through the best and the worst of times.

The new president must have a calculator. Though Smith will see the university through the finalized Pennsylvania budget, there will certainly be deficits to endure. Do they make calculators with more than nine number places? We’re pretty sure the new president is going to need one.

The new president must be honest with students, faculty and staff at the

university, even with the most unpleasant news. We appreciate Smith’s lack of sugarcoating in times of trial.

We haven’t been led astray in terms of how devastating the budget cuts will be.

We think it would also help if the person filling Smith’s position had a sense of humor, but that’s not necessary. We just like to laugh in spite of the dark times ahead.

Come January, our university will be in the hands of someone else. We just hope that the committee picks someone qualified enough to fill the shoes of President Smith.

We know he’s left a big footprint behind.

Letters to the editor The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” section are those of the writer(s) alone.

The Rocket cannot verify all facts presented in a given letter, but if we are aware of an error or omission, we reserve the right to include an editorial note for accuracy’s sake.

Who will hand me my diploma?

Dear Editor, The buzz around campus

at 2 p.m. Tuesday was the retirement of our own President Robert Smith.

President Smith is known by most students around campus, which is why the news to most was shocking and, for me personally, sad.

I ‘m one of the students who’s been blessed and honored to have worked

with Smith on several occasions. This past homecoming I was even given the opportunity to drive him in the annual parade.

President Smith is known for driving his segway around campus and making you smile.

He’s not the president that

no one sees or knows. He’s one that gets to know you and your name. I’m sad that he will be retiring because he has put so much love and support into this university that many students don’t even realize he has done.

Thank you for everything you have done, President

Smith. You’ve forever changed how we see Slippery Rock University and what it means to have been a student there.

Marcie E. Johnson Junior, Communication Major, Spanish Minor President, University Program Board

Online Voices

Last issue's poll...

Have you donated money to help Japan recover?

Burning Question What quality would you like to see in SRU’s new president?

Has a sense of humor Cancels classes due to snow

Letters Policy

The Rocket welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication.

The Rocket retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes the property of The Rocket and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published.

Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Please limit letters to a maximum of 400 words.

Submit all material by noon Wednesday to: The Rocket, 220 ECB, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pa. 16057. Or send it via e-mail to: rocket.letters@sru.edu.

inclement weather. Students and faculty alike spend many winter days trekking through snowdrifts and ice fields in order to make it to class on time. We think now might be the time to change that.

The new president must have a signature mode of transportation, but one that is not a segway or golf cart. Smith is known for his alternative means of travel and we would like to see that replicated in a new president. Having a way of getting around campus, we think, ensures the student body will be aware of who the president is rather than just a name.

The new president must have a catch phrase. Smith’s

Gets around campus on a hover craft Has a catch phrase 11 respondents

Go to www.theonlinerocket.com to cast your vote!

Opinion

April 15, 2011

A-5

Is SRU’s president retiring for the right reasons or just in time?

Spencer Cadden The Silent Majority President Smith is retiring after next semester. Being my egotistical self, I initially assumed it was because of my article concerning the building of the new union.

Realistically though, that is probably not the case.

No, Robert Smith is retiring for personal reasons.

I want to be one of the first to congratulate the man on a job well done.

I never met President Smith and frankly, I don’t really know what he did. I heard something about him “fighting” the budget. But since they pay his salary, I’m still unclear just how he did that. Maybe he really was a selfless advocate for the students. I very honestly don’t know what he did. All the students ever got to hear was public relations garbage, but that is another issue.

Regardless, the PR e-mail sent to all the students sure did make it sound like President Smith, was a visionary leader. So I thank you, President Smith for your service and I hope that all of the good things I heard you were responsible for thrusting Slippery Rock into the pole position amongst the rest of the Pennsylvania

State System of Higher Education schools. I do have some unanswered questions though.

Just this week, members of APSCUF (the union fighting Gov. Tom Corbett) received an e-mail from the governor’s office telling them to be ready for retrenching.

Just so we are all on the same page, retrenching means to curtail, cut, delete and economize expenses.

Basically the e-mail told the faculty and students that Corbett did in fact not hear their voice and that he suggests we all start preparing for the worst. It seems that Corbett is ready for this budget battle to get ugly, and so is APSCUF. A quick rundown on the budget concerns if you are somehow unaware at this

point. Corbett’s proposed budget for Pennsylvania will surely save the state a vast amount of money.

So Corbett has made it clear that he is ready for a fight and everyone knows that Pennsylvania unions are some of the strongest in the country. My prediction: a media bloodbath and the students suffering needlessly. As students, what are we going to do?

First, I suggest writing Corbett yourself. It’s really easy (APSCUF made these cute little postcards— just ask around for them).

Frankly, I don’t care if you support Corbett or support our education but regardless, you should show your support.

Just recently in Philadelphia, two men

showed up at a union rally 2014, he has chosen to leave. shouting anti-union slogans Coincidentally, this fight and carrying anti-union looks like it is just about to signs. Heck, it’s that kind heat up.

The last time I remember of democratic participation that our country has been a president taking an early retirement was Nixon. What lacking.

Of course, that whole I’m saying is that I just idea of actual physical wonder if the coming budget democratic participation is crisis and union battle/ more like a pipe dream than strikes, etc., had anything a reality. In the here-and- at all to do with his leaving now students, faculty and early?

It’s something to think Pennsylvania universities are going to be hit hard and about. But right now I I suggest we fight Corbett at thank you for your service every turn, unless of course President Smith, and wish you really don’t care about you the best in Tennessee. As our education and are just for the rest of us, I suggest we gear up for a battle because waiting to be done.

My real question in all our futures are at stake. this goes out to President Smith. Despite his contract Spencer Cadden is a junior extension from the Board secondary education major of Trustees that would have and regular contributor for The extended his term until Rocket.

Grad speakers shouldn’t make profit McClatchy-Tribune News Service

There are few occasions in life more idyllic than college graduation. Steeped in ceremony, it is the moment of triumph after years of work, a time for parents to beam proudly and gowned students to receive their hard-earned diplomas.

However, graduates aren’t the only ones earning something on commencement day. Some colleges and universities are paying exorbitant fees - not just expenses - for graduation speakers. Public speaking has been big business for years, and finding a great speaker for commencement day is a competitive business, particularly for a school burnishing its image and trying to boost fundraising.

Rutgers University, which is planning a bigger ceremony this year, recently announced that it will pay Nobel Prizewinning author Toni Morrison $30,000 to be the commencement speaker. “An honorarium was required to attract a stellar speaker of Ms. Morrison’s caliber,” said Rutgers spokesman Ken Branson.

Morrison is only one to the Top Commencement example. In 2006, CBS news Challenge. Michelle Obama star Katie Couric got $115,000 will speak at Spelman College, to speak at the University the University of Northern of Oklahoma’s ceremony - Iowa and the high school that although she did donate it to a serves children of members cancer center at the University of the military on the Marine of Virginia in honor of her late Corps base in Quantico, Va. We know it’s a struggle sister. And Rudy Giuliani’s 2005 address at High Point for lesser-known schools to University in North Carolina find a speaker a cut above a reportedly cost the school dreary dean talking in cliches $75,000 in a contribution to a about the challenges to come.

But it’s disappointing to see foundation of his choice.

Some speakers who a tradition so wrapped in command astronomical idealism become yet another fees will discount them for vehicle for commercialism.

A commencement address commencement speeches _ it’s possible that Morrison usually is not a gig at a corporate gets much more than $30,000- retreat. Even though it takes time and effort to craft a good or waive them.

Bill Clinton, who was speech, it is honor enough scheduled to speak at UCLA in to be chosen to impart some 2008 before canceling because words of inspiration to newly of the university’s dispute with minted graduates. We’d like a union, did not request a to see influential figures go fee. Nor would UCLA have out of their way to speak at offered one. (It never pays.) smaller institutions for free.

Neither President Obama nor Commencement day is one the first lady are paid for their time when accomplished commencement addresses. people should share the wealth This year, the president will - not increase their own. deliver the address at Miami Dade College’s North Campus, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy The preceeding editorial and the public high school that appeared in the Los Angeles wins the White House’s Race Times on Monday, April 11.

Prostitution puts women in danger

By Daniel Akst Newsday MCT Campus

R e m e mb e r C h an d r a Levy? How about Natalee Holloway? Nothing is more effective at triggering a media frenzy than the d i s app e ar an c e of an attractive young white w om a n . T h at’s w h at happened when Levy, a Washington intern, vanished in 2001 and Holloway disappeared in Aruba four years later.

Sadly, things are different when the woman has accepted money for sex.

Police have so far found the bodies of four young white women, all prostitutes, in scrubby dunes on the beaches of New York’s Long Island (five and possibly six more sets of remains are unidentified). The women had been missing for months or even years.

None will ever be as famous as Levy or Holloway, who weren’t prostitutes.

It’s hard to see what change in law might save someone from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But some of the Gilgo Beach deaths might well have been averted if we could just get over the idea that laws against prostitution make the world a better place for women.

Prostitution is distasteful to many people, of course, but that is no justification for laws against it, since on that basis Brussels sprouts and loud neckties might also be banned. The difference is that prostitution is

supposedly harmful, and so the government bars people from trading sex for money.

Yet the worst thing about prostitution is the risk of violence and abuse to which prostitutes are subjected by the very laws that drive the trade underground. In our eagerness to legislate virtue, we are endangering the lives of women.

I suspect our laws in this arena have more to do with the desire to regulate sex than to protect anyone from violence. In many places, once upon a time, it was illegal to have sex with a member of a different race or a person of the same sex. These laws are seen as absurd and intrusive nowadays, and where they linger, they mostly go unenforced.

It’s time to extend this perspective to prostitution, which is not going away anytime soon no matter how many laws we adopt or how draconian the punishment. It is simply nobody else’s business if consenting adults decide to have sex, whatever their motivation.

It’s b e en s aid t hat pro st itut i on d e g r a d e s women. But it’s even more degrading to suggest women need society to make such choices for them_or to force prostitution into the shadows, where women are excluded from the protection of the law and subject to exploitation.

Many people take the illegality of prostitution for granted, but the United States (aside from Nevada)

is one of the few Western nations that make it a crime. And selling sex for money is safer in a regulated setting, as reported by women in legal brothels _ in Nevada, the Netherlands and Australia _ that have screening, surveillance and alarm systems.

“Sex workers can be victimized anywhere,” says Ronald Weitzer, a George Washington University sociologist who has studied the subject, “but in general they are less vulnerable where their work has been decriminalized and where they no longer operate in a clandestine manner.”

In studying a legal brothel in Mexico, the anthropologist Patty Kelly, also of GWU, found that the women had rationally chosen an occupation offering pay and working conditions superior to the alternatives. The women also made their own hours, set their own prices, and decided what they would do and with whom. Sexually transmitted disease and violence were less prevalent than on the streets, and there were virtually no pimps.

It’s too late for the women found in the dunes. But their deaths can inspire us to save others by decriminalizing what they did for money, no matter how much we may disapprove of it.

Daniel Akst, a columnist for Newsday, is the author of “We Have Met the Enemy: SelfControl in an Age of Excess” from Penguin Press.

SPORTS April 15, 2011

The Rocket

B-1

SRU sweeps Gannon with strong all-around play

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

SRU won its 19th game of the season in a sweep over Gannon University. The win for the Rock gave it the top spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.

By Debbie Hilton Rocket Contributor

As a result of Slippery Rock baseball’s doubleheader sweep, 19-1 and 5-2, of division rival Gannon University and because

of Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s victory over Mercyhurst, the Green and White is on top of the PSAC-West division with an overall record of (19-11, 8-4).

S enior right f ielder

and designated hitter Mitchell Monas credits the dominating pitchers to SRU’s rise to the top of the division.

“Now that we are about half way through the season, everyone is starting come together as a team and

do their part to get the job done,” Monas said. “It is no doubt that the pitching staff led by the four starters who have earned the name the Four Horsemen for their dominating performances (junior Zach Jeney, senior George Hebert, sophomore

Joby L apkow i c z an d freshman Lou Trivino) have been the driving force to get us to first place in the PSAC West.”

Senior shortstop Adam Jury went 4-6 on the day, including a first-game double, collected seven RBI’s and scored three runs.

The Rock collected 24 hits in both games, which included junior right fielder Derek Carr’s three hits and junior second baseman Lee Foxton’s three hits and three RBI’s.

Lapkowicz earned the victory in game one improving his season record to 4-2 and only a l lowe d four G olden Knights hits.

Freshman right-hander John Kovalik shutdown all three batters he faced in the top of the seventh to seal the Green and White victory.

Herbert made a solid five and one-third-inning start in the second game. He allowed two runs on five hits, struck out four and did not allow a walk. Freshman closer Ryan Oglesby earned the save.

The Rock scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning in game two to give it a comfortable 5-0 lead. It added eight more runs in the fourth to stretch to a 13-0 advantage and would add on five more runs to make it 18-0. The Rock’s

final run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth.

Jury’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning scored SRU’s first run in the second game. In the fifth inning, Foxton and Howard each had RBI’s to give the team a 3-0 lead. The Rock scored its final run from a leadoff walk to junior designated hitter Matt Kosik, a single by senior left fielder Haponski, a walk to Carr and a ground out by Foxton. The Rock came out victorious with a 5-2 win.

SRU split a doubleheader a g a i n s t Pe n n s y l v a n i a State Athletic Conference Western Division rival Gannon.

In the opening game of the day, Jeney had one of his best pitching performances on the season, pitching a two-hit complete game shutout and striking out 13 Gannon batters to improve his season record to 4-1.

Back-to-back singles by junior left fielder Carter Haponski and junior second baseman Lee Foxton and a run scoring ground out by senior center fielder Matt Howard in the top of the third inning put the Rock up 1-0. Sophomore third baseman Jamison Walck scored on a throwing error in the fourth inning to add a second run. The third and final run of the game resulted on another SEE BASEBALL PAGE B-4

Softball loses four of last six match ups

NATHANAEL HOOKS/THE ROCKET

Freshman goalkeeper Kat Elkins stops a ball from getting past her against Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania on March 29.

Lacrosse gets eighth win, most since 2007

By Tim Durr

Rocket Assisrant Sports Editor

An up and down week for Slippery Rock women’s lacrosse gave it the most wins since reinstatement in 2007, a 150 goal scorer, and a tough overtime loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

An 11-10 overtime loss Tuesday to IUP is the most recent of those to occur.

The Rock was down 5-1 at halftime to the Crimson Hawks and came back to

tie the game with eight seconds to play.

Junior midfielder Casey Quinn scored the tying goal for SRU and sent the game to overtime. Both teams traded chances in the overtime period and after the Rock turned the ball over in the final two minutes of play, Indiana drove down and scored a wrap around goal for the game winner with 19 seconds remaining.

SEE ROCK, PAGE B-4

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

Senior pitcher Shauna Walker is 6-5 on the season with a 2.62 ERA in 14 appearnaces. She is second on the team with 43 strikeouts.

By La'var Howell Rocket Contributorr

In a stretch of three doubleheaders against Gannon University, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and Mercyhurst College, the Slippery Rock softball team only managed to squeak away with two wins.

The first game against Gannon ended with a score of 4-1 in favor of the Knights and the second game ended with a score of 6-2 for the Rock.

In the first game, the Green and White finished out with only four hits. Sophomore third baseman Jenna Geibel was the only one to calculate a point for the Green and White.

In the beginning of the

second game, junior middle infielder Kirsten Brant and freshman first baseman Breanna Tongel put the Rock on the board first with their homeruns in each of the first two innings.

With the bases loaded and junior outfielder Natalie Atkinson up, she was able to hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Brant

Senior pitcher Shauna Walker would then close the game by striking out a Knight in the seventh inning.

Slippery Rock’s game against Edinboro resulted in a double loss for the Green and White.

Walker, who got the start, continued to prevent a score until Edinboro’s Jessica VanDamia hit a homerun.

After having a phenomenal performance on the mound, Walker was then relieved by junior Shaylee Ianno. Ianno pick up right where Walker left off and held the Fighting Scotts to one run.

The backbreaker came when the Fighting Scott got back on offensive in the seventh inning and scored three runs.

Game two verses the Fighting Scotts was a defensive game, which went into the ninth inning. During this game, Senior Lindsey Grace (1-1) pitched the entire game for The Green and White. Grace took the loss for the team by surrendering three runs and ten hits while only striking out two batters.

The Green and White put points on the board as senior shortstop Jordan Zeunges hit her second home run of the season making the score 1-0.

Junior Stephanie Collenette would be called in to pinch hit allowing her a run scoring single to right field that tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning.

Edinboro’s senior third baseman Stephanie Cassidy would take the win home for SEE CONFERENCE, PAGE B-4

Sports

B-2

April 15, 2011

Top of the

Second NHL Playoff Predictions EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Washington Capitals vs 8. New York Rangers - The Rangers took Washington to overtime in the first game but couldn't pull it off in the end.

Capitals in 5 games.

2. Philadelphia Flyers vs 7. Buffalo Sabres - Philly was the top seed for most of the season, and shouldn't have too much trouble with the Sabres. Flyers in 6 games.

3. Boston Bruins vs 6. Montreal Canadiens - It doesn't look like the Canadiens are going to have another Cinderella run this year because Tim Thomas and the Bruins are ready to make a World Series run. Bruins in 7 games.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs 5. Tampa Bay Lightning - The Penguins were in a close contest for the first half of game one against Tampa before pulling away. Pens shouldn't have too much trouble handling the Lightning.

Penguins in 6 games.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Vancouver Canucks vs 8. Chicago Blackhawks - The Blackhawks are the defending champs but barely snuck in the playoffs this season. The Canucks have been the best team all season. Canucks in 6 games.

2. San Jose Sharks vs 7. Los Angeles Kings - San Jose has been solid the past few seasons but haven't put together a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, we're not sure if this is the year but they'll beat the Kings. Sharks in 5 games.

3. Detroit Red Wings vs 6. Phoenix Coyotes - Detroit is the most seasoned team in the playoffs and should have no trouble with the Coyotes.

Red Wings in 4 games.

4. Anaheim Ducks vs 5. Nashville Predators - Nashville has played solid down the stretch in the season and handled the Ducks in the first game of the series. Predators in 5 games.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MCT CAMPUS

Lebron James fights through two Atlanta Hawk defenders on April 8. The Heat have had the most hype about being successful this season and now get to prove it in the NBA playoffs.

Will the Miami Heat win the NBA Championship?

Tim Durr

Assistant Sports Editor

Yes It's been a season of ups and downs for the Miami Heat but it has shown how much improvement has occurred over the past few weeks and have all the pieces falling in place to win an NBA championship. This team has playoff tested players on it. Dwyane Wade already has a ring, and Lebron has been to the finals. Many people argue that Lebron caves under pressure, but this year all of the pressure isn't on him. With the supporting cast that he has, the pressure is more spread out and that will help this play through high pressure situations. The Heat have the most talent, and can only hold themselves back from winning.

Bill Kostkas Sports Editor

No No way. This is the same Miami Heat team that couldn't hit a shot to save its life as the clock expired. Not only that, it has the one player that is notorious for shooting bricks on game-winning shot attempts in Lebron James. This is the same team that cried in the locker room after a loss. The Heat doesn't have anybody else beside Dwyane Wade that's been as successful in the playoffs.

Chris Bosh has never been to an NBA Finals and James chokes it away whenever he gets close to winning it. If James can't take being booed in Cleveland, he can't deal with the pressure of winning a title.

What's On Tap.....

A quick look at the week-to-be in sports -Fri., April 15, 7 p.m.

-Sat. April 16, 3:30 p.m.

-The Penguins, without Sidney Crosby, defeated Tampa

-Lebron James and Co. are now in the playoffs and

-NHL Playoffs: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Bay in the first game of the series and look to take a two game lead tonight in Pittsuburgh before taking the series down to Tampa.

-NBA Playoffs: Philadelphia 76ers vs Miami Heat

its time to prove that they are the team we hoped they would be all season. The road to the Finals start with the 76ers.

Sports

April 15, 2011

B-3

Halls' 150 goals sets record for most in history

NATHANAEL HOOKS/THE ROCKET

Junior attacker Amy Halls faces off against a Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania player on March 29.

Halls became the first player in SRU women's lacrosse history to score 150 goals in her career.

By Madeline Williams Rocket Contributor

Last Saturday, in the 1 9 - 5 v i c t or y a g a i n s t Ku t z t o w n Un i v e r s i t y of Pennsylvania, junior

Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse standout Amy Halls became the first player in SRU history to reach the 150-goal milestone.

She finished the game

against Kutztown with 153 total goals in her career and added one goal against Indiana University of Pennsylvania to bring her total to 154.

Halls' lacrosse career

started when she was in fifth grade back in her home state of New Jersey when her g ym teacher and other girls in her elementary school encouraged her to tr y lacrosse.

She said she didn't realize the great potential that she had until she got into seventh grade and that's when her true love for the sport was born.

Halls lettered all four years of high school in lacrosse and field hockey.

She also lettered two years as a varsity cheerleader.

During her freshman year of high school, her lacrosse team was the 2005 Ohio Division II High School State Champions.

She also received Honorable Mention AllAmerican honors in her junior and senior years of high school.

She has shown that her excellence in high school has carried over to the college level.

In her freshman year, she earned first-team AllPSAC West honors and was a finalist for PSAC Freshman of the Year.

In that season, she set the single-season scoring record with 57 goals and nine assists for 66 points.

Halls ranked in the top-ten in the PSAC in goals and goals per game, and she was also a PSAC Scholar Athlete.

During her sophomore year, she led the team with 51 goals and 11 assists for 62 points. The SRU team named her Most Valuable

Offensive Player for 2010 and she was named to second team All-PSAC West, too.

Halls was chosen as the 2011 PSAC Player of the Week and one of seven Division II players in the nation to be recognized

by Synapse Sports and womanslacrosse.com for her outstanding play.

Halls credits her parents and her sisters as being her biggest inspirations and motivators as an athlete.

"Athletics has always been a huge part of my family," she said. "It gives me the drive to perform and do well. My family has always pushed me to be the best I can be and I have to thank them for helping me reach all of my accomplishments."

Like any great player and leader, Halls has personal goals that she wants to reach herself, but also goals that she will strive to reach with her team.

"My main goals for the remainder of the year are to make it to PSAC tournament and have a winning record as a team," she said. "In my senior year I plan to play my heart out, take the team to PSAC tournament and just show an overall improvement from my junior year."

Freshman midfielder Lauren Laubach appreciates Halls' leadership qualities and recognizes her passion for the sport.

"Amy is a very skilled lacrosse player that has a lot of passion for the game," Laubach said. "She

has a lot of knowledge about the game and is helpful with constructive criticism. Her intensity on the field spreads to other players and motivates the team. Amy sets the bar high and is always striving to improve herself and her teammates."

Halls credits her coaches for being supportive of her through the season and is glad that she has been able to be with one coach in the same system since she came to Slippery Rock.

"We are a newer program and it's great that Coach Hopkins has been around for all three years I've been here," she said. "I think it really helps that we have had consistency with our coach."

This is also a banner season for the rest of the women's lacrosse team as well.

With an overall record of 8-5, and a 3-5 record in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play.

The team's eighth victory set a new school record for the most wins in a season since the program was reinstated in 2007.

The eight wins so far this season marks the second most wins in SRU history, only behind the 11-5-1 team of 1983.

Halls is a 21-ye arold business major from Columbus, Ohio. After graduation, Halls would like to move back to Columbus and find a job there that allows her to have a family and do a little traveling.

Sports

B-4

April 15, 2011

Conference record falls to 5-5

Continued from Page B-1

the Fighting Scotts. Cassidy hit a RBI single while the bases were loaded making the final score 3-2.

The lost dropped Slippery Rock’s record to 18-8 overall and 5-5 in the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference)-West and improved Edinboro’s record to 13-11 overall and 3-7 in the PSAC-West.

Slippery Rock’s game against the Lakers was a split as well. The first win went to the Lakers and the second to the Rock.

Shauna Walker fell to 6-5 on the season by Mercyhurst’s comeback for the first game.

Lindsey Grace went on the mound to relieve Walker.

During the second game, Ianno pitched for a seven hit shutout to lead the Green and White to a 4-0 win against Mercyhurst. Ianno (12-3) didn’t allow any runners past, and earned her 12th win of the season due to her performance during the second game.

Ianno has earned highaccredited status in her wins, innings pitched (80.2), strikeouts (89), complete

games (six) and shutouts (three). Ianno’s ERA is 1.30 and her opponent batting average of .172.

The Green and White scored two runs in two different innings in the second game. Kirsten Brant, Jordan Zeunges, and senior outfielder Shardea Croes put the points on the board for this victory.

Zeunges scored twice making the final score 4-0.

The Rock played yesterday against California University of Pennsylvania but results weren’t available at the time of publication.

Rock takes tough loss to Indiana Continued from Page B-1

JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET

Sophomore pitcher Joby Lapkowicz pitched a no-hitter against Clarion University of Pennsylvania April 3, and threw a one-hit shutout against Gannon University on April 9.

Baseball holds top spot in PSAC-West Continued from Page B-1

fielding error by the Golden Knights.

G a n n o n’s Michael Tom ko’s s a c r i f i c e f ly provided the winning run scored in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game to give Gannon the 4-3 victory.

The Rock got off to an early 1-0 advantage, but Gannon quickly answered i n t h e t h i rd i n n i ng collecting four hits off of Trivino to take a 2-1 lead.

Haponski’s RBI single in the top of the fifth tied the game at two.

Gannon answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead 3-2.

In the top of the seventh, Haponski smacked an RBI triple to right-center field that scored senior right fielder Mitchell Monas to retie the score 3-3, but Gannon scored the game’s winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning and earned the victory 4-3.

Haponski had a weekend of hitting as he came out with one of his best offensive performances of the season.

“I saw the ball really well

and I cut down on chasing bad pitches,” Haponski said. “I made sure I hit my pitch.”

Senior southpaw Jason Steen (1-3) was tagged with the loss after he allowed two earned runs on four hits and struck out three in one-third innings of relief.

The Green and White faces another division rival Indiana University of Pe n ns y lv an i a on Friday and Saturday and concludes the weekend with a doubleheader at Shippensburg University.

SRU finished the game with statistical advantages in most of the major categories, including a 29-13 lead in total shots, but the score ended in IUP’s favor.

Quinn said while the loss to rival IUP was a tough one to handle, it was an exciting game where the Crimson Hawks were able to capitalize on the Green and White's mistakes.

“It’s cliché to say, but our loss to IUP was a heartbreaker,” Quinn said. “This was the first game we played that went in to overtime since I’ve been with the team and it doesn’t get much more exciting than that. We played good, but they just used our mistakes against us and that’s what won them the game.”

Prior to the tough loss to IUP, the Rock watched junior attacker Amy Halls broke the 150 goal mark and became

the first player in SRU history to accomplish that feat.

Halls scored six goals in the game against Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, which gave her 153 goals for her career and 45 for the 2011 season.

The game against Kutztown gave the Rock an exciting accomplishment, as well as it received its eighth win of the season, which is the most in a season since reinstatement in 2007.

Halls said that she is glad to hit the 150-goal mark, but it is more important to see the team be successful.

“It is a great accomplishment and I am proud to have done it,” Halls said. “Although individual goals are great, it is much better to see the team be successful.

Casey and I reaching these great miles in the past week is a great morale booster for the team even though we’ve had

some ups and downs.”

Halls alone outscored Kutztown Saturday and the final score was a 19-5 win by the Rock. Junior midfielder Emma VanDenburg had a solid six-point game with two goals and four assists.

Freshman standout Lauren Laubach added three goals and two assists to the Green and White effort, and junior attacker Alexis Slutsky had three goals and an assist.

SRU has four remaining games this season, all are home games, and three of the games are Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games.

The Green and White are 8-5 this season with all five losses coming in PSAC play.

SRU plays tonight against East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania at 4 p.m. at Thompson Stadium, and the “Scream for Your Team” event will take place during the game.

FOCUS

The Rocket

April 15, 2011

C-1

Dark, serious play takes center stage

By Andy Treese

Rocket Assistant Focus Editor

The stage of Miller Auditorium has been transformed into many different settings for its various shows from year to year.

Having recently been transformed into military barracks, the auditorium’s stage is set for the theatre d e p a r t m e n t ’s latest production, “Streamers.”

Directed by theatre professor David Skeele, “Streamers” takes place at a Virginian military base in 1965 and focuses on a group of soldiers preparing to ship out to Vietnam to fight. Mainly taking place inside of a barracks, the story focuses on the tension that arises from the interaction and personal conflicts of the soldiers.

Playing the role of the overtly aggressive Sgt. Rooney, junior theatre acting major Ethan Rochow, 21, said because of the story’s nature and the way it is brought to life on the stage, “Streamers” is a very dark and controversial production.

“First off, this play really gets down to a lot of issues, a lot of issues that are honestly going on in America today,” Rochow said. “For ‘Streamers,’ it basically focuses on the 1960’s, right before Vietnam happens. It really focuses on the issues of racism, homosexuality and really trying to find out who you are as a person.”

Preparations for the play took course over the span of

several months earlier in the semester, beginning with the designers reading through the script of the play and coming up with design ideas for the stage, costumes and lighting.

While “Streamers” has been on the drawing board for months, sophomore emerging technology and multimedia and theatre design and technology major Danielle DePalma, 20, said the process of bringing the play to life on stage didn’t begin until March.

As the stage manager and the assistant lighting designer, DePalma said the setup of the stage for “Streamers” is similar to how the stage was set for “The Crucible” last fall.

“It’s very similar to how ‘The Crucible’ was set up because for ‘Streamers,’ the set is on the stage so the audience is also on the stage, so we’ve been building risers on the stage,” DePalma said.

“It’s kind of like a black box theater, which is where the audience is very closed in to where the actors are. So it’s all kind of taking place in one space. Everything for this is on the stage itself.”

DePalma said the set up for “Streamers” is unique because of the set’s simplistic design. The amount of props on stage is minimal, but detailed to replicate the interior of a 1960s military barracks.

She said one of the most unique aspects of the stage’s set up has to do with the

TOM PARKER /THE ROCKET

The "Pop Rocks" performed at the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival's opening celebration in Boozel Dining Hall Wednesday afternoon.

Arts festival's 10th year starts with a pop

By Stephanie Nicotra Rocket Focus Editor

Turning toward the people milling in the Boozel Dining Hall Wednesday afternoon, Colleen Reilly, shouted an introduction to the Opening Ceremony for the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival.

“It is amazing to me how willing and open the campus and community is to help with the arts festival,” Reilly, associate professor of theatre and festival director, said, smiling. “Along with the ten SEE ACTORS, PAGE C-3 committee members, campus

organizations like UPB, AVI and different departments are helping us as well as many, many student and community members.”

The goal of the festival is to raise the profile of the arts on campus and in the community, Reilly said.

The festival, which has been launching the end of the spring semester since 2001, wasn’t always like it is now. It started with the department heads of art, dance, theatre and music who wanted to showcase the arts on

campus for students and the surrounding community.

“We saw a need for the arts on campus and in the community,” Nora Ambrosio said, tapping her feet to the music. “It started within each department and then we began to expand and bring in nationally and internationally known artists.”

Ambrosio, professor of dance and dance department chair, was a part of the creation of the festival ten years ago and has watched it grow since.

She said that the major ups

of the festival every year has been watching as more and more people attend the events.

“When we first started the festival, it was hard to get people to come to the events,” Ambrosio said, waving to someone across the dining hall. “People weren’t used to there being an arts festival here. But now we have a much more organized public relations system and also Colleen Reilly will be a permanent director for the SEE ARTS, PAGE C-3

Dancing for the arts

JESSICA GORDON/ THE ROCKET

(From left) William DeMauri, Iraq veteran, Kelly Riazzi, Mobile Vet Center counselor came to SRU Wednesday to offer counseling to student veterans.

Student veterans adjust to college

By James Meyer Rocket Contributor

Adjusting to college life can be difficult no matter where you’re coming from, and adjusting to college after military service comes with its own unique set of challenges.

Benjamin Bergfelt, 26, a communication major and Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, said that when he enrolled in SRU he found the transition fairly easy, but found a challenge in adjusting from the regimented life

of the military to the selfmotivated life of a college student.

“I kind of went nuts with time management,” Bergfelt said.

Despite the challenges, Bergfelt said that the transition was fairly easy and that he found SRU to be a veteran-friendly campus.

“I actually got hugs on Veteran’s Day and got a shout-out from one of my professors,” Bergfelt said.

Bergfelt said that there is still room for improvement.

“They could have VA representatives on campus

instead of having the veterans drive to Butler,” Bergfelt said.

Erie’s Mobile Vet Center visited SRU on Tuesday.

Congress established the Vet Center Program in 1979 to address the readjustment issues of Vietnam-era veterans.

“The Mobile Vet Center is to outreach rural areas without a VA hospital,” Thomas Conroy of Pittsburgh, a clinical social worker with the MVC, said.

Any veteran who served SEE BETTER, PAGE C-3

Tom Parker /The Rocket

The dance group, Jam Rock, performed in the Boozel Dining Hall Wednesday afternoon for the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival. They danced to a variety of rap, pop and hip-hop songs.

Focus

C-2

April 15, 2011

Flawless editing is a source for beautiful science-fiction film Film pick of the week:“Source Code”

MICHAEL CHIAPPINI "To See or Not To See?"

5 Stars

The sidewalk between Spotts and the PT Building is spray painted a provocative message: “They want us to die in the system.” Usually I find these types of mysterious messages banal – they’ve become kitsch just like the peace sign. This one sticks though.

All the financial anxiety felt by the university, the anxiety felt by students for their loans, the anxiety felt by faculty and staff for their jobs – all are under the threat of dying in the system.

What has this got to do with moving pictures? The recent sci-fi/war/action/ thriller, “Source Code,” seems to me to embody this fear of dying in the system. A film about time travel, about the struggle to right past wrongs, about a refusal to accept the rationality of the status quo, seems to defy the current Hollywood cinema paradigm.

Here, we have a film that does something while it entertains.

The plot is complicated, and possibly unintelligible at points, so I will only give a brief synopsis. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Love and Other Drugs,” “Brokeback Mountain”) is suddenly conscious of being on a train, talking to a woman (Michelle Monaghan, “Due Date,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) he doesn’t know, inhabiting a body he doesn’t recognize.

This train is going to crash – a scene that will be revisited throughout the movie. The rest of the film revolves around jumping through time, reliving experiences and trying to stop a terrorist attack. Think “Groundhog Day” on steroids.

“Source Code” is practically perfect in every way. It is the answer to the challenge I posed two weeks ago to the science fiction genre – can a sci-fi film be made that doesn’t fall into the throes of paranoia and Panopticon-inspired drollery – with a forceful “Yes!” Here, the science fiction is secondary. In fact, it becomes irrelevant, as the film gives little to no explanation of how someone could go back and forth in time and change the course of events.

This is where sci-fi usually fails for me – instead of letting us become engaged in the story, it has to explain to a nauseating degree the implications such and such action in conjunction with such and such law of physics.

“Source Code” solves this science fiction problem by

Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

(From left) Jake Gyllenhaal, director Duncan Jones and Michelle Monaghan on the set of "Source Code," a suspenseful time-travel film.

combining genres. This postmodern pastiche of melodrama, thriller, action and sci-fi helps reinvent the tired and overdone.

As well, it makes primary character development and appeal, something often forgotten about in the genre. I felt for Gyllenhaal’s character.

I was emotionally invested in the film’s outcome. I haven’t felt for a character in a popular film for some time.

Stevens’ struggle to overcome the odds of science and rationality were so poignant. As he lives through the same disaster again and

Porn teaches boys unrealistic standards about women and sex

Chloe Finigan "Freshman Insider" I’ve watched one movie about the effects of porn and it wasn’t very good.

It was a Lifetime movie.

This boy starts to watch porn on the side, and then suddenly it becomes his life. He stops talking to his girlfriend, his friends and his family. Every waking moment of his life is now dedicated to porn.

I watched this movie and laughed. Ever yone was so overdramatic about the situation. The mother cried to the father, “Should we take away his phone!?”

I thought why would you take away his phone? So he can’t watch porn on the go?

But af te r atte nd i ng “Pornland” Wednesday n i g h t i n t h e AT S auditorium, I discovered that while this movie may be a little out of proportion, the idea that porn can have a major influence in someone’s life is very true.

In real life situations, being addicted to porn isn’t an action movie. There are no running sequences as he runs home to make his curfew after being at the library for three hours, watching porn is accessible to anyone at anytime.

During the presentation,

all the graphic images that displayed “gonzo” or “hardcore” porn were found when she googled “p o r n .” A ny o n e h a s access to these pictures and videos, and you’d be surprised what people today find.

Of course, I won’t sit here and tell you all the details.

But what is interesting is how the themes in porn are reflected in today’s society.

All of the extreme views that people write off as a small percentage turn out to run this image-based society.

The presentation starts off with a woman posing for Sports Illustrated. She leans forward dressed in only a bathing suit and her face gives the camera a look. The look says, “Take me.” Dr. Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Whe el o ck C ol l e ge i n Boston, goes on to explain that when she asked one of her male students to do this, he looked ridiculous.

Why is that? Because in today’s society men don’t say, “take me,” they say, “I’m going to take you.”

The p ower dynamic between men and women today creates a mindset that leads to the actions.

In porn, women are objects and they’re molded to fit what the customers want.

While there may be a small percentage of porn stars who put on a happy front, the idea of becoming an object is hard for any person to take, no matter how much attention you

get or how much you get paid for it.

Wh at I s t a r t e d t o question as I watched was the women who weren’t in porn. What percentage of the entire population of women were actresses in porn?

I found it hard to relate at first because I grew up with strong women in my life.

Everyone I’ve known has created their own path and refused to let the standards bring them down. But then Dines said something, a point that made me realize who this really affected beyond the obvious fact of women.

T he p or n e pi d e m i c affects boys and men in a huge way. They are taught, through porn, the standards for sex. They are shown what to expect when they turn 17. The young boys of our generation build up standards that only apply to women in porn.

These subliminal messages about the role of women are told everyday to young boys and that is the scariest part of all.

The young boys of today aren’t going to be running to the library every night or lock themselves in their room. They are going to expect porn to be real life.

That is why I believe this movement is as important as it is necessary.

Chloe Finigan is a freshman emerging technology and multimedia major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

again, he cares for those around him. He ultimately exercises something else absent from the sci-fi genre – freewill. This alone makes the film worth more than mere entertainment. It rails against paranoia, it rails against predestination, it rails against dying in the system. It is a testament to freedom, choice, and agency – things we seem to have forgotten about.

Director Duncan Jones has made a name for himself with “Source Code,” his second film, a nice follow up to 2009’s equally entertaining “Moon.”

His cinematography and

editing choices are flawless.

The film is quite beautiful for being action/sci-fi. The film is carefully written, suspenseful and well acted – all the things normally thrown out the window for popular cinema.

It’s astounding what can happen when a filmmaker puts a great deal of effort and art into something for the general public – not only bizzaro art-house films have to be well-made.

I absolutely recommend this film, not only for its riveting and suspenseful plot, but for the craft that went into making it. I also recommend

it on the basis of that message spray painted outside of Spotts – we don’t have to die in the system if we don’t want to.

All it takes is recognition of our own agency and free will and our own ability to change the projected events. “They” might want us to die in the system as much as “they” want us to keep consuming entertainment that keeps us stupid.

Michael Chiappini is a senior English literature and philosophy major, film and media studies minor and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

Focus

April 15, 2011

C-3

Arts connect SRU community Better vet services needed

JASON ELLWANGER /The rocket

The Kaleidoscope Arts Festival began in 2001 and has been growing ever since according to Nora Ambrosio, the department chair of dance and dance professor.

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festival so that should make a difference.”

As a dance group left the dining hall’s open floor to the sound of applause, Reilly grinned, thinking about planning for the festival as a first-time director.

“It’s been a very rewarding experience, knowing there is so much support for the

arts in this area,” Reilly said.

“Planning for this year’s festival started the day after last year’s festival ended and we are already planning for next year’s.”

She said that the festival takes a lot of coordination with artists’ schedules and venues. Which event can go where and when is a challenge, Reilly said, but it’s like a puzzle. According to

Reilly, the puzzle of planning is a positive thing.

The puzzles continued when the weather turned cold for Wednesday’s Opening Celebration. Reilly sighed at the thought of the weather.

“I’m a little disappointed with the weather,” Reilly said, shrugging slightly. “I think the weather should be as supportive as the administration is and it’s not.”

Over the years, Ambrosio has encountered other challenges. One such challenge came in the form of the budget.

“Budgetary issues are always a concern,” Ambrosio said, nodding her head. “We engage in a lot of grant writing, but I think there is a commitment on the part of the University to see [the festival] happen.

For the future, I hope that [the festival] can sustain, with the budget cuts and all, because it is important to the campus and community.”

With the words to ‘Heartbreaker’ almost drowning-out Ambrosio’s voice, she said that she hoped students would enjoy the festival.

“I just hope that the students will come out to enjoy it,” Ambrosio said.

The 11-day festival will offer theatre, dance and musical performances for all members of the university and community. Senior art exhibitions are displayed in the Martha Gault Gallery every day of the festival.

“This is really a chance to connect to the student body,” Reilly said.

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in combat, as well as their family members, are eligible for Vet Center services.

T he M VC prov i d e s c ou ns el i ng for p o st traumatic stress disorder, family therapy and individual therapy.

“It’s a wonderful program and really does provide a necessary service for rural communities,” Kelly Riazzi of Erie, a MVC counselor, said. “Today’s veterans are a busy generation with working, school and family.

They have so much going

on, it’s hard for them to come to us.”

Mike Crum, 32, a senior social work major, is a Marine Corps veteran who served overseas in Iwakuni, Japan. He said that when he arrived at SRU, he noticed that apart from Tiffany Aloi, the veteran’s coordinator in the financial aid office, there was no representation for veterans on SRU’s campus.

“There was a faculty board for veterans issues, but what they were missing was students,” Crum said.

Crum and fellow veterans

founded SRU’s chapter of Student Veterans of A m e r i c a , a n at i on a l organization dedicated to supporting veterans in higher education and beyond. Crum said that the group is receiving help and support from faculty members Associate Provost for Enrollment Services Dr. Amanda Yale and George McDowell of retention services.

“Now is the time that we can advocate for better services, not just at the university, but at the state level as well,” Crum said.

Actors practice military basics

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lighting onstage.

“Because the play takes place in the barracks, we only have a couple beds, but the lighting is very realistic,” DePalma said. “We actually have real lights on stage, which is something we have never done before, like the hanging lights in the barracks. We are actually using real ones like those, so they’re actually hanging from the ceiling.”

Rochow said in the course of preparation for the play, the actors were all required to use method acting for their roles by learning the proper ways to being a soldier. He said the cast learned how to do drills, march, properly stand at attention and were required to run through the

ROTC obstacle course.

“For a first time for all of us, we were really lost,” he said. “The more and more we did the drills and the more and more we did the certain parts of the obstacle course, we started to understand and started to make a better team effort of doing it, but when you dive right into it and they tell you what to do, you’re on your own.”

Freshman secondar y education and English major Aaron Mild, 19, said one of the most intense and difficult moments of the obstacle course also brought them together.

“There was one moment during the obstacle course, where we had to balance on this board for 30 seconds, and when everyone got on the board, we all froze but we

were all touching each other so we felt as one unit,” Mild said. “We came in there [as] 12 or 13 actors, who stick to a script and when we’re told to fend for ourselves, we’re kind of lost. But we went in there [as] 13 actors, and left there as one person.”

With “Streamers” being his acting debut in the theatre department, Mild said between the extensive method preparation done for the actors and the nature of the story itself, the production is not like any other play he has worked with before.

“This is one of the most controversial plays I have ever seen in my entire life or have ever been a part of,” he said.

“Streamers” opens tonight and runs through April 21.