The Franklin: April 24, 2015

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franklin

2015–2016 Student Congress Executive Officers President: sophomore Erika Brock Vice President: junior Paige Reisinger Treasurer: freshman Megan Helterbrand Secretary: junior Chelsea Platt

“We need to regulate and allocate student activity fees, and we need to be the voice of student concerns.”

Erika Brock,

sophomore and 2015–2016 president of Student Congress

Friday, April 24, 2015 • TheFranklinNews.com

Student Congress elections for executive officers canceled

By Caitlin Soard and Kaitlyn Short caitlin.soard@franklincollege.edu, kaitlyn.short@franklincollege.edu

Student Congress elections were supposed to be held on Thursday, but instead, sophomore Erika Brock is the new president after an uncontested application process.

Brock said her biggest goal for next fall is to increase the level of communication between Student Congress and the student body.

“I know sometimes Student Congress can have a negative look,” Brock said. “And some people don’t really think that we do a lot. I think that a lot of what we do is so behind the scenes that people don’t know, and I think that needs to come more to light. “ A debate between candidates was scheduled to happen Tuesday. But because there weren’t enough candidates to facilitate a debate, it was canceled via an email sent to students.

In order to apply to be a member of Student Congress, a prospective candidate must meet a 2.5 GPA requirement and have other students sign a sheet backing them as a candidate. Deadlines were extended due to a lack of applicants, but all four officer positions went unchallenged.

Brock said she did not have a specific campaign platform because she ran uncontested, but in addition to making communication more transparent, she said she would like

to bring Student Congress together.

“I know this year we’ve had some issues with people leaving,” Brock said. “It’s been Gary Qi: The Franklin kind of chaotic.

The 2014–2015 Student Congress executive officers – seniors Julie Bazan and Shelby Pierson, sophomore Jessica Ayer and I think that I want to get back junior Matt Haggard – listen during a meeting. None of them will return in an executive position next school year. to the center issues – get back They discuss how the budget was so she could make the campus more to the reason why we started it and used last year and how it will be aware of what goes on in meetings. why we’re here. We’re here because used in the upcoming year.

Brock said all Student Conof our mission statements. We want “If you provide the documengress meeting minutes are to be that liaison with administration. tation to show how you spent the on myFC and included in an We need to regulate and allocate money last year and it supports e-newsletter to students. student activity fees, and we do need what you want to spend next year “I know sending it out as an email to be the voice of student concerns.” and you’ve documented what seems like a good way, because Student Congress is responsible your plans are for that, then that everybody gets it, but sometimes for allocating budgets for the 51 dollar amount is put into the Excel we don’t open those emails and just student organizations on campus. document,” Ellington said. delete them,” Brock said. “I think Keri Ellington, director of student Each organization has a numwe need to find a better way about activities and organizations, said ber assigned into that document it than just a newsletter like that. I roughly each student, as a part of that allows them to look up their think there are so many things we their tuition, pays $185 for an activity budget. Ellington said the budgets could continue to expand on.” fee. This adds up to a total of about “are not a secret” and students can $185,000 — $105,000 of which gets go to open readings of the budget allocated to student organizations. as well as ask individual organiOrganizations complete a packet Page 2 zations what their budget is. requesting funding and Congress Junior Chelsea Platt, who will be reviews them and holds individthe secretary of Student Congress ual meetings with organizations. next year, said she chose the position Page 5

Sodexo wrapped fruit

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Squirrels

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news Sodexo Behind the Glass: Company required to wrap fruit

By Laura Olivo

maria.olivo@franklincollege.edu

Sodexo now requires fresh fruit and vegetables to be wrapped in cellophane.

During spring break, Sodexo’s corporate office sent Les Petroff an email about a new mandatory corporate policy about food safety guidelines for fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Fruits with edible skins – apples, peaches, pears – that are intended for immediate consumption (are) to be protected from contamination,” said Les Petroff, food services director.

Petroff said Sodexo requires either the fruit to be behind the counter and students to ask a worker for the fruit or, if openly served, it must be individually wrapped with cellophane. He said the first option was not a possibility because it gets too busy at certain times, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“It keeps the fruit flies off of it, that’s for sure,” freshman Jordan Brown said. “I don’t know if that was the main purpose or not, seems to be working for that reason.”

Petroff said students complained to him about other students touching numerous apples for sanitary reasons.

He said it was a great coincidence

that the company policy came out right after students requested it.

Junior Erin Moll said she does not like that the fruit is wrapped. She said they never wrapped it in the past and thinks it’s “weird” that they just started wrapping the fruit.

Petroff said they implemented the corporate policy when everyone came back from spring break.

“Probably helps it stay a little fresher, prevents it from being bruised,” sophomore Mitchel Lewis said. “I’m okay with it. I imagine it’s more costly, but I guess it beats them throwing away a whole bruised fruit at the end of the day.”

Brown said the plastic wrap doesn’t bother him too much.

However, the employees aren’t thrilled, Petroff said, because it takes a lot of time to wrap. A case of apples includes 113, and they all have to be washed and then individually wrapped.

“I think it’s bad for the environment using all that plastic wrap,” Moll said.

“It’s not a good use of materials, and I don’t think it’s necessary. If people want to bring their apple or banana to class, just wrap it in a napkin or

something like that, which is paper so not using the plastic would be better.”

It is for the consumer’s protection, Petroff said. He said he understands

students’ concerns about not knowing where people’s hands have been.

Anastasia Gentry: The Franklin

Sodexo wraps apples to protect the edible skin from contamination. The corporate office does not require Sodexo to wrap oranges because they must be peeled.

Students Speak “I like it because it just makes it seem that the actual fruit will stay more preserved longer, and they’re not just left out for days and not going to get bad.”

“I think it’s an interesting solution to a problem I didn’t know existed. I’m pretty much indifferent to my fruit being wrapped in plastic or not.”

Lauren Kinneer, freshman

Emma Peavey, senior

“I think the wrapped fruit is kind of dumb to be honest.

It’s a waste of plastic. I think it’s going to make it go bad quicker because they’re still wet when you put them in Wanda Gaines, the plastic. I don’t like it.” sophomore

Sodexo Behind the Scenes examines an issue in the cafeteria.

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franklin Issue 19, Volume 111

The Franklin aims for accuracy and clarity in all articles.

We take errors seriously and regret any mistakes. If you find an error, please send an email to thefranklin@franklincollege.edu.

Ellie Price Executive Editor Ann Gilly Opinion Editor Caitlin Soard News Editor Ben Brown Sports Editor Leigh Durphey Copy Chief Kiley Lipps Photo Editor

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news

Greek organizations schedule three formals on one date

By Leigh Durphey

leigh.durphey@franklincollege.edu

Although three Greek life organizations scheduled their formals on the same date, no adjustments will be made to the scheduling process in the future.

Fraternity Kappa Delta Rho and sororities Zeta Tau Alpha and Pi Beta Phi all scheduled their formal dates for April 18, leaving some students stuck between choosing which one they would attend.

“I wasn’t upset, but I know some of my friends were really upset because they wanted to go to the other formals with their friends,” said Kassy Smith, a freshman and ZTA. “So I know that a lot of people were bothered by it.”

Greek Life Coordinator Natalie Brewster said there are no plans in effect to change the system, but the Greek life community briefly discussed options for changing the

system, including implementing a GPA-based date pick system.

This system, which Brewster said many other schools use, is centered around the academic standards of each Greek organization.

Typically each chapter would be allowed two date picks, and the chapter with the highest average GPA would choose a date first for either its formal, a big philanthropy event or an annual party.

After that chapter’s pick, the chapter with the second-highest average GPA would choose, and this would continue until all fraternities and sororities had one date set.

For the second date, picks would start at the bottom of the list and work its way up. The dates that each organization chose would no longer be a day that another Greek organization could program on.

“That was a two-second idea at an (Interfraternity Council) exec. meeting where we were brainstorming something,” Brewster said. “There’s nothing planned. There’s nothing going forward that is set in stone.”

The way Franklin College Greek organizations schedule large events now is on a first-come, firstserve basis, Brewster said. There is also no policy that disallows Greek organizations from scheduling events on the same days.

“I encourage them to communicate with one another to do that,” Brewster said. “We also have a calendar online that the Greek leadership can access that has all of the internal dates – formal dates, party dates, those types of things. But it’s really up to the chapters to communicate with each other and make sure that they’re not and if they do, that it’s not an issue.”

Brewster said she has not received any complaints as a result of the scheduling, but Smith said she knows of students who were invited to multiple formals and had to choose which one they would go to.

No other organizations on campus use GPA as an incentive for perks throughout the year, said Keri Ellington, director of student activities and organizations. Certain GPAs are a requirement only for officer or member status for some organizations.

“For lots of organizations, in order to be an effective leader, you need to make sure that you are handling your academics and your classroom assignments well enough before you take on any other sorts of responsibilities on campus,” Ellington said.

Software learning program receives little use by students

By Allison Groves

allison.groves@franklincollege.edu

Even though the college has had a contract with the website Atomic Learning for the past four years, many students are not aware of the academic tool or choose not to take advantage of it.

This causes frustration for Technology Integration Facilitator Vicki Mast, who said she has tried to make students aware of the benefits of using the program.

Freshman Emily Stayer said she had not heard of Atomic Learning.

But she said she thought it would help her with Microsoft Excel.

The website offers tutorials, usually no longer than five minutes, on all of the latest software for Mac and PC users.

If a student needs to know how to make a chart in Excel, Atomic Learning has multiple videos that can show

students how to do so step-by-step.

Atomic Learning is not only about software training. The website offers students career training, tips on writing, ideas for teaching in the classroom and much more.

Business and education majors especially will find the website very useful, Mast said.

Atomic Learning has tutorials on how to create proper spreadsheets and how to do calculations in Excel – skills especially useful for any business major.

Education majors can find information on how to teach special needs children and information on technology in the classroom, such as Smart Boards.

Mast said another benefit of Atomic Learning is a feature that can keep track of all the training sessions a

student has done. This is useful when needing to provide proof of training in certain software programs.

Compared to a similar website, Lynda, Atomic Learning is one-fourth of what Lynda costs. Franklin College pays less than $4,000 for the entire campus to have access to this website.

Lynda tutorials usually run about 40 minutes and are extremely in depth. With Atomic Learning, a student only has to sit through a five-minute long video to get the information they need.

While there are YouTube tutorials for different programs, Atomic Learning can be specific to almost any software. YouTube and other websites don’t always give the option of picking the software.

Any student with a Franklin College username and password has

access to the benefits of Atomic Learning. Professors can even assign tutorials through Moodle.

Once a student is logged onto Moodle, they can be linked directly to the Atomic Learning website. MyFC also offers access to the website.

“Why kill yourself when all you have to do is watch a five-minute tutorial for the answer?” Mast said.

In the event that there isn’t something on the website a student needs, students can let Mast know what they need and she can put in a sandbox request.

Mast said she wants to encourage more students to use Atomic Learning and spread the word.

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news FC in History: ‘90s campus newspaper provided alternative voice

By Ashley Shuler

ashley.shuler@franklincollege.edu

Although The Franklin has been around for years, it hasn’t always been the only source for campus news.

In February 1993, a few Franklin College students put out the first issue of The Cline Pravda, a weekly independent student newspaper modeled after Nuvo in Indianapolis.

According to campus archives, the paper ran for a little over a year, printing sassy headlines like “I got a letter to the editor!” and “‘The Country Wife’ is long, but good.”

The Cline Pravda was based out of Cline Hall – although careful to say it did state the opinion of all Cline residents – and was named after the propaganda newspaper of the Russian Communist Party.

In its pages and policy, the paper describes itself as an “advocate to the students” that gives an “alternative view of what is going on.”

And by covering the stories it claimed The Franklin wouldn’t cover, it hoped to reveal that “Franklin isn’t quite as one-sided as people may believe.”

The Cline Pravda worked partially as any student newspaper would – publishing news stories, running press releases, printing ads and writing play reviews.

But what made the publication interesting, and in turn, controversial, were the opinion articles and humorous headlines.

Some of the most amusing headlines – like “Have any complaints

for President Martin?” and “Smell my smoke!” – commented on some of the campus’ most pressing issues, like student unrest with administration and smoking bans.

The editor for the life of the publication and 1995 graduate Tom Wray wrote a series of joking editorials about the smoking bans, which included lines like “Like what is probably most smokers on campus, I am not a living smokestack....

Despite what it sounds like from a lot of non-smokers, smokers are not out to kill everyone else with secondhand smoke. An AK-47 would be much more efficient for that.”

“It’s time to fight back! Go to the centers of power! Take hostages and threaten to smoke a Marlboro! March down the center of campus while smoking Camels! That’ll get them moving! Nonsmokers are scared to death of secondhand smoke.”

One of his most memorable articles from the archives, “Editor dies of boredom,” comments on the lack of notable and controversial campus news.

“I have nothing to write about,” Wray said in his article. “I didn’t get a good letter to the editor. Hell, I didn’t even get a bad letter to the editor.”

In the article, Wray comments that the second-page article itself is a waste of time, ink and paper.

“I could go off on Saga,” Wray said. “The chicken and dumplings from Monday’s supper look a lot like the chicken lo mien at

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317-560-5021 43 N. Main St. Franklin, IN www.SimplyStylishSalon.com

Photos provided by Campus Archives

This ad, featured in The Cline Pravda, a former alternative Franklin College news source, is representative of the paper’s sassy nature. lunch Tuesday. Not that you could identify either without a sign.”

For no related reason, the article ends with a quote by Catwoman in Batman Returns: “Life’s a bitch and so am I. “ But The Cline Pravda seemed to get serious widespread campus attention after The Franklin ran a column by a student named Chad Sievers.

In the column, Sievers announced he was gay. And in The Franklin’s next issue, the opinion page was covered in negative letters from conservative students.

The column kicked off a battle between conservative and liberal students, and The Cline Pravda positioned itself at the forefront of support for Sievers and the liberal community.

In the following weeks, the publication published multiple opinion articles about conservative student opinion.

One article, written by editor, stated that the entire Franklin College liberal community (“all 50 of us”) urged the other 850 conservative students

to make some noise and start their own competitive newspaper.

Another opinion article written by one of The Cline Pravda’s handful of writers cracked back, begging liberal students to discourage conservative publications.

“If you want to hear conservative opinions, go to church or the locker room, or watch Rush Limbaugh.

Read Mein Kampf,” the opinion article said. “Just please, please, please don’t encourage the vocalization of opinions that, by definition, are redundant and overstated.”

It seems the ultimate, underlying goal of The Cline Pravda was to get students talking and encourage a sense of humor.

“Whenever anyone makes a joke these days, there are all sorts of groups boycotting or something against it,” an article commenting on controversy surrounding a cartoon in The Franklin said. “Say one wrong thing and you have the Gay Christian Orphan Spotted Owl Coalition picketing outside your door!”

news

Squirrels make their homes on tree-friendly campus

By Seth Morin

seth.morin@franklincollege.edu

They are all over campus, sitting there watching you and then abruptly scurrying away for no apparent reason.

They are the squirrels.

And Franklin’s campus appears to have an endless amount of them.

Ben O’Neal, a biology professor, said when there is an adequate place to den, nest and get food – along with minimal disturbance – animals are bound to come.

“Squirrels have a very reliable source of food,” said Tom Patz, director of physical facilities at Franklin College. “We have acorns and walnuts on campus, and trees are their natural habitat. We have over a thousand trees on campus when you include Grizzly Park.”

These squirrels are not afraid of humans for the most part. Sometimes students can walk within a few feet of a squirrel and it will not move whatsoever.

O’Neal attributes that to the fact that squirrels are used to a human presence and many students feed them.

“Most wild animals, if they get fed, will start to habituate to humans,” O’Neal said.

He said he has seen instances where dolphins – and even grizzly bears – have been tamed.

“Feeding them and harassing them is not a good idea,” O’Neal said.

Squirrels can carry diseases, with the most common one being ticks, which can carry diseases that are transferrable between animals and humans.

Although he has not heard of anyone being attacked by squirrels on campus, O’Neal said his 90-year-old grandmother once was.

She was not hurt but pretty horrified, as the squirrel ran up her leg, he said.

Senior Brandy Ramaj also claimed to have been attacked by a squirrel.

“There was one time when I was sitting on a bench on Dame Mall and I heard the little ‘crunch-crunch’ sound that squirrels make when they eat nuts,” she said. “Next

Zoie Richey: The Franklin

Franklin College’s campus is home to many fox and gray squirrels. The campus’ reliable food sources and high number of trees keep the squirrels coming back. thing I know, a nut has fallen on my head. I look up, and there is a squirrel looking down at me as if he was saying, ‘Ha! Got you!’”

Ramaj, the proud owner of two sugar gliders, said she has heard of other students claiming to have been victims of “this type of squirrel-led violence.”

Patz said the squirrels have not caused any physical harm to the campus.

“We haven’t noticed any building damage specifically attributed to squirrels,” Patz said. “Occasionally, we might have a flower pot or a flower bed that has been

disturbed. In those cases, the damage is fairly minimal.”

Students may notice that some of the squirrels appear to be hairless, and that can be attributed to a couple of factors.

“One, is that during breeding season they get really aggressive with each other when competing for mates,” O’Neal said. “They will actually rip the hair off each other.”

The other is that some squirrels have mange – just like some dogs. Mange is a type of skin disease that causes mammals to lose hair, according to WebMD.

Franklin College also has two types of squirrels on its campus, with one being noticeably larger than the other.

One is the fox squirrel, the most common on campus, and the other is a gray squirrel.

“A fox squirrel is about twice the mass of a gray squirrel,” O’Neal said.

But the squirrel population has had an ebb and flow throughout the years, Patz said.

He said there have been times when a predator – like a red tail hawk, for example – has nested on campus and the squirrel population appeared to decrease.

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Change of

Pace

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Jayne Marek spent the past 20 years teaching English, but next year will be much different for her.

Marek is retiring at the end of the spring semester and plans to move to Washington after graduation.

Her decision to retire was enabled by careful planning and saving.

“It wouldn’t work if we hadn’t always been saving as much as we could toward retirement,” Marek said.

The reason for her retirement now rather than later down the road had to do with “some personal and some structural” changes being made in her life as well as at the college, Marek said.

“This year I can have fun with my students even though I’m working my butt off,” Marek said.

Marek also said she’d “probably be crabbier and really sick of it,” if she stuck around for much longer.

“The game has changed,” Marek said. But she still has something to offer.

After the semester ends, Marek said she wants to focus more on her writing projects, including poetry and another academic book to follow up the last one she wrote.

Part of what made Marek want to move to Washington was a change in weather, as well as the ability to hike more types of places.

Marek has run two marathons, 32 half-marathons and several 5ks and 10ks with an Indiana organization called Team and Training that benefits the Lukiemia and Lymphoma Society.

Before joining Team and Training, Marek didn’t have much experience running.

“They give you pretty good training,” Marek said, “Plus you have a good time with your group, so that keeps you going.”

Story by Caitlin Soard, photo provided by Jayne Marek, and photo and design by Kiley TheFranklinNews.com

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opinion Senior farewell

Notice life before it passes by Kenny Chesney’s song “Don’t Blink” perfectly describes how fast these past four years have been.

“Life’s like a bullet – it goes too fast,” says the elderly gentleman at the beginning of the music video for the song.

Right now, graduation – even though it is just over a month away – still seems like it is a while down the road.

It’s like driving down a long two-lane highway and seeing a car way off in the distance coming your way. It keeps getting closer and closer until – before you know it – it drives right on by.

These four years have been the best of my life, by far. I have made friends that I consider family and am looking forward to keeping in touch for years down the road.

I still talk to some friends of mine from high school on a regular basis, and it makes me happy just hearing about how happy they are and where they are at in life.

I am sure looking forward to doing that with the family of students and professors that I have been blessed to be apart of here at Franklin.

It has been cool to look back and see how much I – and we – have grown over these four short years.

I used to be this shy, skinny kid and now I am helping plan and schedule events at my internship that will hopefully turn into a job.

So with the closing ceremonies of my college career approaching, I will do my absolute best to not blink when that car drives by and I continue on.

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editorial Surviving the end of the semester is possible if a conscious effort is made The end of the semester looms near. With it comes unmeasurable stress and a noticeable lack in free time. But there may be ways to come out at the end alive.

There are so many articles about “how to beat stress” at the end of the semester, and this, admittedly, is another one. But hopefully you are able to modify it to meet your needs and prepare for the impending doom that is end-of-semester madness.

Use Sundays to plan your week Obvious, right? But until you make the conscious decision and effort to actually do it, you might overlook making a schedule. Doing it on Sundays is great for a few reasons.

For one, you likely don’t have much going on. For two, it’s before your week starts, so you’re not stuck on Tuesday night trying to figure out what’s due the next day. Instead, you get time to breathe and think. Take advantage of the freedom that sometimes exists on Sundays to do something proactive. It won’t kill you.

Make time to eat chocolate Feel free to replace “eat chocolate” with any other food or activity that you enjoy. This is basically a metaphor for making time to decompress.

Studies have shown that taking regular breaks while studying actually makes your studying more effective.

Taking breaks from “mental tasks” improves both your productivity and creativity while saving you from stress and exhaustion, according to The New York Times article, “To Stay on Schedule, Take a Break.” And this doesn’t just apply to studying. The idea of stopping to eat some choco-

late can be applied to doing homework, reading or working on group projects. Now, these breaks should be relatively short; maybe as long as it takes you to eat a chocolate bar.

You’ll be less productive after your break if you have to stop long enough to drive to Wal-Mart to get one, so make sure you have some on hand.

You might read the rest of the article and just think, “okay, whatever.” But this part is giving you permission to not only take time away from work, but also to eat candy. Just saying.

Use social media sparingly and effectively Use social media sparingly, okay, that makes sense. But effectively, you say? How does one use social media effectively? Well, friend, you go in with a plan. Know what you are going to check (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and the like) and know what you’re looking for.

Social media is a time sucker, and it sucks hardest when you need to be doing something else. If you tell yourself that you’re going to check Instagram and stay on only as long as it takes to look at the new posts in your feed, you’ll be good. This kind of ties in with that “eat chocolate” thing, but this is something that you’ll inevitably end up doing. Limit it.

Make it worthwhile. You can do it.

Make to-do lists You’ve heard this a million times, but here’s a new approach: Make to-do lists. But you don’t have to follow them. Sometimes just making these lists can be therapeutic.

The possibly huge list of things you realize you have to do may not

Our Position:

The Franklin editorial board believes students should be proactive in reducing the stress that comes with the end of the semester.

make you feel very good, but there can be some peace in writing it all down and organizing it. Maybe not.

You can make the call on this one.

Force yourself to work ahead No fairy godmother is going to swoop down and inspire you to write that paper any earlier than the night before. Be your own fairy godmother and make yourself do it anyway. So much of our stress comes from putting things off until the last minute. Assume that you’re going to procrastinate. But once you consciously acknowledge that, you can stop yourself from following through. It won’t kill you.

Students of Franklin College, you may not be able to eliminate stress entirely, but you can proactively reduce it. We’re rooting for you.

Maybe some of these tips can help.

The editorial board represents the opinion of The Franklin and its staff members. The board meets once a week to discuss pressing issues relevant to Franklin College students.

Meetings are moderated by Ann Gilly, the opinion editor.

Board members are seniors Emily Metheny and Olivia Covington and juniors Paige Clark and Caitlin Soard. Ellie Price, the executive editor, sits on the editorial board. If you have an issue you would like the editorial board to consider, please feel free to email Ann Gilly at ann.gilly@franklincollege.edu.

opinion

provs. con FCʼs school year ends late

Olivia Covington

Votes should be earned, not deserved

Screenshot from Franklin College website

This year, classes end on May 15, and finals end on May 21.

Winter Term benefits outweigh late summer start

Late school year takes time away from friends

Who loves Winter Term?

Majority rules.

During January, people love Winter Term.

In January, you could be at an internship developing your professional skills. Or taking an easy class and developing your Netflix-watching skills. Or, if you’re lucky, you’re overseas emerging yourself in a study abroad opportunity, and you’re not paying an arm and a leg (potentially just elbow down) because it’s Winter Term.

But people don’t love Winter Term when May comes around. In May, Franklin College students are reminded of the consequences of Winter Term when all their high school friends that didn’t choose a liberal arts education are out of school and already making money at their summer job or doing nothing and laying by the family pool, posting hella pics on Instagram.

But in the end, I think the pros of Winter Term outweigh the extra week or two we are in class.

So many students from other colleges complain that they don’t have as many internship opportunities or chances to study abroad like Franklin College students do.

Also, because Winter Term is so short, it gives you just a taste of what each workplace is like. And if you don’t like it, you only have to survive three weeks, as opposed to other schools where students can only can do semester or summer internships and have to survive about 10-12 weeks.

And, yes, we get out a bit later than most colleges. But we live in the Midwest. There’s no summer weather until the end of May anyway, so what are you really missing out on?

This week alone, I’ve gotten multiple texts asking me when I’m coming home for the summer.

All of my friends from other colleges are taking their finals this week, and they’ll be home for the summer by the end of April, more likely than not.

Meanwhile, we have a little less than a month of classes to suffer through. Kill me now, please.

The fact that we don’t get out of college until mid-May is enough to drive anyone off the deep end – especially when you consider that we haven’t gotten a break since spring break. That doesn’t sound like very long to go without a break, but by that point in the semester, everyone is so burnt out by the endless – mostly sleepless – cycle of classes and homework.

I know the reason we get out later than other colleges is because of our Winter Term, but honestly, I’d rather get out in April and not get a Winter Term. I’ve never really done anything with a Winter Term that wasn’t something I could’ve done another time. I got denied when I tried to travel abroad, and that’s the only thing that brought any appeal to Winter Term.

The end of spring semester is always a struggle, but it’s particularly a struggle when all of your friends are posting selfies by the pool or hanging out together at your favorite bar.

To everyone else who’s feeling my pain, just be comforted by the fact that one: It’s almost over, and two: We don’t have to come back until almost September.

Paige Clark

Caitlin Soard

It’s official: Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2016.

Not that this comes as a surprise to anyone. The former First Lady has had her eye on the oval office for years. And this year, she’s out for blood.

But with her campaign comes a certain danger. It’s entirely likely that a good portion of the votes she’ll get will be cast for two superficial reasons: her gender and her past.

Hillary Clinton has long been the poster-child for women in politics.

I’ve always admired the strides she’s made for gender equality, especially at the political level.

But you can’t vote for someone just because she has two X chromosomes. Gender has nothing to do with a person’s ability to lead.

Similarly, many people will give Hillary a pity vote because of her inability to completely break through the glass ceiling.

Sure, she won New York and was Secretary of State, but she’s still always been “Bill’s wife.” For some people, putting her in the White House would be throwing her a bone. “You’ve been trying for so long,” they might say. “So I guess you deserve this now.”

But no one deserves anything. Is Hillary an intelligent and driven politician? Yes. But a lot of people are intelligent and driven, and only a few make it all the way to the top.

If you truly believe Hillary is the best candidate for president, then vote for her. But don’t give her your vote just because you think she “deserves” it.

TheFranklinNews.com

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sports Men’s golf prepares for HCAC Tournament

By Jay Siskin

kevin.siskin@franklincollege.edu

Ben Brown

NBA MVP Race This NBA season has been one of the best seasons in terms of the Most Valuable Player race.

LeBron James, for instance, is still consistently putting up identical numbers that won him his four MVP trophies. James also went to a team this season that has had three of the past four number one picks in the draft. The addition of James transformed the team into a number-two seed in the playoffs.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russel Westbrook has also made a huge case for his name to be mentioned.

Westbrook won the scoring title this season, but the Thunder just barely missed the playoffs. If Westbrook were able to lead them in it would have been without reigning MVP, Kevin Durant.

Many would suggest the real MVP race is down to just two, James Harden and Stephen Curry.

Harden led the Houston Rockets to the number-two seed in the playoffs while the team suffered from multiple injuries. He has truly been an MVP for the Rockets.

According to a poll in the beginning of April on ESPN.com, 80 percent of people believed that Curry would win while only 18 percent voted for Harden.

Curry is by far the best player on the best team in the league this season. He shows he is one of the best shooters on a consistent basis, having broken his own record for most three-point field goals this season.

According to ESPN, Curry also led the league in attempts. He doesn’t just hoist them up, as he was also third in three-point field goal percentage. He is also topfive in steals and sixth in assists.

In my eyes, Curry is one of the most exciting players to watch, and I believe that when it’s all said and done he will be the 2015 NBA MVP.

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The men’s golf team opens the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Grizzlies are coming off a second-place finish in the Manchester Invitational at the Honeywell Golf Course this past weekend.

Senior Chris Arnold led the team by shooting a 72 in the one-day tournament. Arnold is focused on winning a conference championship in the near future.

“There will be a lot of talented teams there,” Arnold said. “My goal is the same as always: for the team to win conference and play for a national championship.”

Teammates said that Arnold has a serious chance to win the HCAC this spring.

Sophomores Sam Pollock and Jack Knue also helped the Grizzlies this past weekend with a score of 77 and 78, respectively.

Pollock has high hopes for the team this weekend at the HCAC championships.

“I am super excited to get conference underway,” Pollock said. “I have seen that our team is capable of doing great things. Everyone has gotten better each time we have played, which is a great sign.”

He also said the past tournaments have just been practice for him and the team.

“The real tournament starts this weekend,” Pollock said.

Knue, who won HCAC Player of Week earlier this year, said the team is at its highest point and wants to go out with a bang for the senior class.

“As a team I think we are starting to peak at the right time,” Knue said.

“I think, going into conference we are looking to draw on our past experiences from this season to put something special together for the seniors.”

The Grizzlies tee off at 12:00 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday in Lexington.

Conference tournament in reach for the track and field team

By Seth Morin

seth.morin@franklincollege.edu

The outdoor track and field team is finishing one of its best season’s yet.

“We are seeing things fall together that we like,” said Paul Sargent, head coach. “Our women’s team is having some great success, and our men’s team is a pretty good team, where we are just missing one or two athletes.”

The men’s team just needs a few more athletes that could fill some spots, and Sargent said he believes that would propel them to compete with the best in the conference.

Both teams competed in the Indiana Division III Championships on April 11, with the women finishing in first and the men sixth out of seven teams.

The women’s team dominated with victories by seniors Anna Murdock, Rachel Lucas and Natavia Howell.

Junior Kasey King took home gold in the javelin, while senior Rachel Lucas edged out a DePauw runner in the 400-meter dash by just a half-second for the number one spot.

Junior Emily Young came home with a third-place and two fourthplace finishes in her events.

She said everything the team had done up until that point is what won them the championship.

“Each meet, we break school or meet records,” Young said. “And it is nice to see all of us come together and support each other as a team.”

And with the all-important Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament coming up next weekend, the women are projected to win and they believe they can do just that.

“We are all just trying to stay focused and trust the training,” Young said. “We’ve put the work in up until this and have shown everyone what we can do, now we just have to remain focused.”

Howell said she thinks all of her teammates bring something different to the table.

“Many of us can score in so many events, whether it be running or field events, which helps the team out tremendously,” she said.

Even though the men’s team came home sixth in the division championship, positions third through sixth were tight in terms of points.

Fourth place was only 12 points ahead of sixth, with third only 26 points out.

Sargent believes that if they had one more athlete on the team, they

could have finished fourth and potentially competed for third.

“We had some big performances,” Sargent said. “We’re just missing that one piece.”

The men’s team came home with seven top-five finishes out of the 17 events.

Sargent said both the men’s and women’s teams started off great, but as the day went on they became more fatigued.

“It’s a good test for the conference meet because it will be a lot like that,” he said.

Senior Blake Albrecht broke the original meet record in the 10,000-meter run, but came home second.

The previous meet record was held by 2014 Franklin College graduate Kris Sandlin, and Albrecht’s performance placed him as the number one seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

“There are going to be some really good runners, but it is right there,” Sargent said.

sports Softball finishes regular season, hopes for tournament spot

By Ben Brown

April 17

benjamin.brown@franklincollege.edu

The softball team will wrap up its regular season this Saturday, traveling to Defiance for a doubleheader.

The Grizzlies are currently at 19-13 on the season and 6-8 in conference play. The team sits in sixth place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with the top four teams making it to the conference tournament.

Defiance is currently in last place with a 1-13 conference record.

“We want to have the same game mentality as we did during the Transy games and to be able to carry that into our games this weekend and have fun,” junior Katie Struewing said.

Even if the Grizzlies are able to pick up two more wins this season, their fate will be decided by the other teams.

“We are currently on the bubble,” sophomore Savannah Blevins said.

“There are a lot of conference games that need to be played out in the next several days. Depending on those outcomes will make the difference on when our season ends.”

Sophomore Sara Thom said this season has not gone how any of them expected it to go.

Men’s Baseball

Franklin vs. Transylvania W, 15-6

Men’s Tennis

Franklin vs. Anderson (Ind.) W, 9-0

Track and Field

Rose-Hulman Twilight Women finished 4th of 10 teams Men finished 5th of 9 teams

Women’s Tennis Sophomore Baylea Suiters slides into home against Transylvania Tuesday night.

“We expected to do a lot better than we have, but sometimes unexpected things happen and we just have to build up from here,” Thom said.

Blevins said the team struggled in finding their rhythm at times, but the team had a lot of talent. She also said next season the team will be more mature, having a total of eight seniors.

“Softball is a game of picking each other up, and we need to improve on that next year,” Blevins said. “Also, with Jess Ayers graduating, we will need to fill her big shoes at short stop.”

Kiley Lipps: The Franklin

Struewing said the team needs to improve their focus for next season.

“One thing we can improve on is staying focused and not coasting when we’re leading,” Struewing said. “Also being able to bounce back from a loss and wanting to beat whoever we’re playing.”

Until next season the Grizzlies are still clinging onto the hopes of making the HCAC Tournament.

“Some things definitely have to happen, but we put ourselves in the spot we are in,” Thom said. “As Coach Zike would say, the softball gods have to be in our favor.”

Men’s tennis looks to keep streak going for final two matches

By Jay Siskin

Franklin vs. Anderson (Ind.) W, 6-3

April 18 Men’s Baseball

Franklin vs. Transylvania L, 9-1 Franklin vs. Transylvania W, 4-2

Women’s Softball Franklin vs. Bluffton L, 6-0 Franklin vs. Bluffton L, 7-2

Men’s Golf

Manchester Invitational Franklin finished 2nd of 8 teams

Women’s Lacrosse Franklin vs. Thiel L, 16-14

April 19 Men’s Tennis

Franklin vs. Hanover W, 9-0

kevin.siskin@franklincollege.edu

The men’s tennis team is heading into its weekend matches against Defiance and Mount St. Joseph’s on a six match winning streak.

The team, currently at 7-5 on the season and 5-1 in conference play, defeated Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Hanover with a 9-0 win this past Sunday at the West Indy Racquet Club.

The Grizzlies started the season 1-5 before its recent streak.

“I am proud of all of my teammates,” senior Robby Woehrle said.

Earlier in the year, the senior said to not count the team out and that they can rebound. The team has bounced back several times this season, including a win over Earlham that ended the Quakers 34-match HCAC winning streak.

Weekly Recap

“The entire team has worked hard and it is paying off,” said Woehrle, who is finishing his last tennis season. “We are currently tied for second place in our conference, and we will decide our own fate when we face Defiance later this season.”

Senior Ryan Hammer said despite a couple injuries, he had a strong performance this season.

“My season has been pretty solid,” Hammer said. “I wasn’t sure how I would do coming back from my back and leg injuries, but I’ve played pretty well.”

Hammer had one goal in mind before the season started: to win the conference championship.

“My goal was to make the finals of the tournament because we have lost in the semi-finals for at

least the last three years, so I want to get over that hump,” he said.

The senior also said he enjoyed playing with his younger brother, freshman Alex Hammer.

“Playing with my brother is awesome,” Ryan Hammer said.

“We have played plenty of tournaments and leagues together, but playing college doubles together tops everything else.”

Alex Hammer said he liked having the opportunity to compete with his older brother.

“I enjoy playing with my brother, and we play well as a doubles team,” Alex Hammer said. “The senior class is awesome to play with. I hope we can win conference for them.”

April 20 Women’s Lacrosse Franklin vs. Waynesburg L, 9-8

April 21 Women’s Softball

Franklin vs. Transylvania W, 10-2 Franklin vs. Transylvania W, 9-1

Men’s Baseball

Franklin vs. Hanover L, 7-4

TheFranklinNews.com

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friends of franklin

Why do you go to so many campus and student events?

“We love seeing what our students are doing or if we have a speaker, we love seeing and hearing their responses to whatever the speaker is presenting.”

Candace Moseley, wife of Jay Moseley “I think for two reasons: Obviously, one is to be supportive. But art and so many things just expand our lives.”

Jay Moseley, president of Franklin College

Emily Metheny: The Franklin

Why did you decide to participate in the Vagina Monologues?

“The first time I heard about the Vagina Monologues, I was in, like, eighth grade and I just thought it was so interesting. And I just love like talking about taboo subjects. I think in society nobody talks about vaginas. All these guys, it’s their goal to get in there, but they don’t know anything about it. They think like, ‘oh, no, that’s gross.’ And I think it’s really important to talk about it, and I think theater is a really good medium for talking about touchy subjects.”

Abby Morris, freshman

Ann Gilly: The Franklin

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Photo from left to right: freshman Alaina May, sophomore Moda Nyema, freshman Kiera Shackelford, freshman Abby Morris, sophomore Kayla Walker and senior Natavia Howell