The Arbiter 2.26.19 Vol. 31 Issue 23

February 26, 2019

Vol. 31 Issue 23

IN D EP EN D E NT

ST U D E NT

V O I CE

O F

B O I SE

STAT E

S I N C E

1 9 3 3

The stigma surrounding men facing a “women’s issue”

NEWS

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Boise has the seventh highest income inequality of any metropolitan area in the country

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OPINION

09

President Donald Trump’s border wall is a symbol of division and encourages white supremacy arbiteronline.com

CULTURE

12

Students, staff and recruiters discuss whether grades are really that important in the hunt for jobs @arbiteronline

SPORTS & REC

16

Student-athlete profile: junior guard Alex Hobbs of the men’s basketball team

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@boisestatearbiter

Editor-In-Chief Jordan Erb editor@stumedia.boisestate.edu

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Online Editor Ximena Bustillo onlineeditor@stumedia.boisestate.edu News Editor Jordan Erb and Ximena Bustillo news@stumedia.boisestate.edu News Reporter Taylor Rico-Pekerol and Jack Briggs news@stumedia.boisestate.edu Culture Editor Logan Potter culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu Culture Reporter David Collie culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu Sports Editor Delaney Brassil sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu Sports Reporter Autum Robertson sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu Copy Editors Christopher Duggan Digital Content Manager Taylor Humby digitalcontent@stumedia.boisestate.edu Digital Content Producer Bailey Nellesen Graphic Design Manager Maddie Ceglecki design@stumedia.boisestate.edu Graphic Designer Isabel Sarhad Illustrator Wyatt Wurtenberger

Distributed Tuesdays during the academic school year The Arbiter is the official independent student newspaper of Boise State University, where student editors make all content decisions and bear responsibility for those decisions. The Arbiter’s budget consists of fees paid by the student body and advertising sales. The first copy is free.

Additional copies can be purchased for $1 a piece at The Arbiter offices.

Dance Marathon took place this weekend and raised $208,000 for St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital. Bailey Nellesen | The Arbiter

ON THE COVER:

Though of ten considered a “women’s issue,” eating disorders can af fect men, as well. This week’s feature looks at how men cope with eating disorders and body dysmorphia.

Illustration by Wyatt Wur tenberger.

HOW TO REACH US: CONTACT US: editor@stumedia.boisestate.edu 208.426.6302 PHYSICAL LOCATION: Located on first floor of Lincoln Avenue Garage Suites MAILING ADDRESS: Student Media MS 1340 1910 W Universit y Dr. Boise, ID 83725 -1340

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Š JOHN WEBSTER

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NEWS

FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | ARBITERONLINE.COM

AN UPDATE ON THE HEALTH PRODUCT VENDING MACHINE

ASBSU has provided funding and campus partners are expected to supply products, but Plan B likely won’t be available Jack Briggs | News Reporter | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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he purchase of a health and wellness vending machine, an initiative started by senior economics major Haydn Bryan nearly two years ago, was authorized on Jan. 23 by the Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU). The ASBSU Student Assembly and Executive council passed a bill allocating $4,500 from the student-fee funded sponsored projects account to the purchase of the vending machine.

“It’s been a little slower going than I would have hoped but getting funding is a big step in the right direction,” Bryan said. “It gives a sense of concreteness and authenticity for the project. It is not just an idea anymore; it is going to happen.”

The majority of the funds, $4,200, will go towards the purchase of the vending machine itself and $300 will go towards branding the machine using vinyl. Bryan also worked with Brent Delong, director of the Student Union Building, to secure a discrete and accessible location on the second floor of the SUB for the machine.

However, the bill does not allocate any funds for stocking the products which will go into the machine.

“The hope is to have that money be all that is needed because these are already products offered on Boise State’s campus,” Bryan said.

These products include acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Tums, allergy medicine, contraceptives, lubricant, pads, tampons, pregnancy tests, sore throat drops, first aid supplies, lotion, water bottles, nasal decongestant, artificial tears, hand sanitizer, lip balm, Vaseline, wet wipes, tissues, deodorant and nasal spray, which can currently be purchased from University Health Services, the Provisions on Demand (POD)

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Senior economics major Haydn Bryan stores and the bookstore.

While the availability of these products on campus would make it easy to transfer them into a vending machine, some of the products currently carried may not be designed for vending machine distribution.

“The difference is that you have to get different packaging options of the same items. So if we have Ibuprofen on campus we can’t just sell it, it has to be in a dispensable format that can be used in a vending machine. If I were to get that secondary funding it would go towards covering that transition, restocking fees and maintenance fees that are not covered by the product from the machine,” Bryan said.

To get this secondary funding, Bryan is considering launching a PonyUp campaign. And to increase the machine’s

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Bailey Nellesen | The Arbiter

profitability he is getting data for the Bronco Shop from the health and wellness machines at UC Davis. Bryan has been in contact with UC Davis students who advocated for a machine since Bryan started the project at Boise State.

While the machines at UC Davis offer emergency contraceptives, there are no such plans to do the same at Boise State due to red flags raised by campus partners.

“Not the campus partners raising red flags, but raising red flags on other people’s behalf saying ‘this is something we would need to look into more,’” Bryan said.

Director of Campus Services Nicole Nimmons oversees the administration of the Bronco Shop and the Student Union and directed Bryan to take up the Plan B issue with Student Affairs. Nimmons said while she didn’t have an issue with Plan B,

it may have been a president or vice president within Student Affairs who raised concerns.

While Bryan wants to see Plan B in the machines, he would rather have a machine without Plan B than no machine at all. In addition to this he would like the university to take some ownership in the project to ensure it can be sustained well into the future. At the moment, however, there are no plans in place for this.

“I know the Bronco Shop is willing to order products in but I haven’t heard from Haydn on who is going to manage it, who is going to stock it, who is going to do inventory, remove expired products, and keep it all working,” Nimmons said.

These discussions are still ongoing between Bryan, Nimmons and Bronco Shop Director Steve Barclay.

“We had a number of questions for him and he is going to do some more fact finding. At this point, we are not committed to anything with the proposed health and wellness machine,” Barclay wrote in an email to The Arbiter.

For Bryan, buy-in from the university is necessary to get the project going and would exemplify Boise State’s claim to having a culture of innovation.

“This is a really good opportunity to cheaply and efficiently expand coverage of health services on Boise State’s campus in a way that is reactive to student needs and student voices,” Bryan said. “Boise State prides itself on being an innovation-focused university but this is something that is happening around the country and we are still on the bleeding edge of this wave of access to health services. If we wait five, 10, 15, or 20 years we won’t be innovators anymore, we will be followers. I don’t think that’s what Boise State wants to be.”

NEWS

FOR THE KIDS

Boise State’s 2019 Dance Marathon raised $208,000 for St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital Dakota Nunez | Staff Writer | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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very year, Boise State hosts the 17-hour charity event known as Dance Marathon. The goal of the event is to raise money for the sick and injured children of St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital. The entire event gains its funds from attendees, sororities and fraternities. The goal for the charity event was to raise $208,000, which was broken just before the 17th hour closed in.

“This is our seventh year of Dance Marathon at Boise State,” said Hannah Fitzpatrick, the head of this year’s event.

“We started in 2012. We go from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next morning (when) our executives team will stand up on stage and will reveal how much we’ve raised.

Our goal this year is $208,000 for the great 208 that we live in.”

When entering the event, guests were greeted with a hallway displaying posters of some of the children who have been battling their disabilities and diseases.

Each poster displayed a picture of a child and a description explaining their background and giving attendees more insight into what they’ve been struggling with.

One of the children on the posters was Beckham Macgillivray, who also attended the event that night.

“I really enjoy the loud music here; it’s awesome,” Macgillivray said. “It’s just a really cool time that I get to have here.

This is my fourth year here at Dance Marathon.”

According to Hannah Fitzpatrick, just as the event had kicked off, the 1,000th member had registered for the event,

which was quite an impressive feat for the team that had organized the Dance Marathon this year. There was an expected number of roughly 850 attendees that would be within Boise State’s Recreation Center for the next 17 hours.

Among those who attended the event was Kristin Sheard, the national manager for Children’s Miracle Hospital. She also manages the Dance Marathons on a national scale.

“I started out doing Dance Marathon in college while I was attending University of Texas,” Sheard said. “I saw an application for it one day and thought it was a cool thing to join and I ended up doing Dance Marathon for all four years of being in college. By my senior year, I was the vice president of University of

Texas’ Dance Marathon organization.

I knew that it was definitely a love and passion that I had and decided to follow it into my professional career, so now I’m a part of a team of 11 managers, and we manage over 300 collegiate Dance Marathon programs across the country.”

Dance Marathon has been around for 27 years, and originally started at the University of Indiana. The event has raised around $4.1 million this year, with a continuously growing number in donations raised as the year progresses. The charity event serves all 170 children’s hospitals across the United States.

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NEWS

INCOME INEQUALITY IS ON THE RISE

Inequality and high rent prices cause problems for Boise, which ranks seventh highest for income inequality

Scott Herrick | Staff Writer | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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he issue of income inequality has become a rallying cry for national politicians for several years. Hearing about income inequality frequently from national politicians and rarely from local and state politicians, it is easy to think that the issue is a national one, one that is a problem for the federal government to deal with, or even an issue that doesn’t affect Boise.

However, Boise, Idaho has the seventh highest income inequality of any metropolitan area in the country, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Income inequality is the difference in yearly wages between high earners and low earners in any given community, and it has a myriad of effects on that community, according to Bloomberg. However, it predominantly serves to exclude those at the bottom from progress.

The issue of income inequality is frequently portrayed as the often nebulous villain of the one percent against the rest of the 99 percent, and while the richest 1 percent have accumulated massive, almost absurd wealth, the problem goes deeper than a simple “us vs them” issue, and can be something ingrained in or endemic to a community.

It is exactly for that reason that Bloomberg took a more balanced approach and measured the difference in average incomes from the top 20 percent of earners and the bottom 20 percent of earners for all metro areas in the United States. Since 2011, the difference in earnings between the top and bottom 20 percent of Boise residents has jumped by $44,400 to $170,000.

Important to note in these statistics is that Boise has the lowest average of the upper 20 percent at $182,000 per year.

However, that leaves the bottom 20 percent of earners making barely over $12,000 per year — right at the federal poverty line for a single earner, and far below it for a household of two or more, making it very difficult to get by. $12,000 per year is also

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Boise has the nation’s seventh highest income inequality of any metropolitan area, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Wyatt Wurtenberger | The Arbiter the take-home pay for a minimum wage any fair market rent for a single-bedroom “Income inequality is a concern and worker. apartment. To make a fair market rate of should be addressed by state government.

The current housing market is a good $700 and keep rent at a healthy 30 percent The first thing state government should example of how income inequality affects of income, those in the bottom 20 percent do is address minimum wage,” said state a community. For those with money, it’s a of Boise earners would have to work over representative Matt Erpelding. “Raising wonderful time to buy investment proper65 hours per week. the minimum wage is critical to closing the ties, flip houses, or own rental houses. But Those in low-income groups in Boise are income gap and to helping lift workers out for many, especially those at the bottom, also those most affected by a perfect storm of poverty.” home ownership is out of reach and rising of real estate market conditions driving According to representative Maryanne rental costs are creating increasing pressure prices upwards. Boise is growing so fast Jordan, the state government has consison their stagnant wages. that construction companies — still behind tently voted against bills to address income “What is affordable to a person at a from the 2008 recession — are struggling inequality and raise minimum wage. That particular income level, the HUD (Housto keep pace with the growing population; same state government has passed a law ing and Urban Development) defines as 30 in short, demand for housing is increasing preventing cities or counties from changing percent of your income. You shouldn’t be faster than supply can keep up. their minimum wage. paying more than that,” said Ada County “We are on year five of record low vacanIncome inequality is in full swing in Commissioner Diana Lachiondo. “Once cy rates, around 2 to 3 percent,” Lachiondo Boise, and the only entity in the state that you get beyond 30 percent then the feds, said. can create change is the state government you become housing burdened. You are Low vacancy rates (the percent of rentals itself. Given recent history, any change is a paying too much for housing.” or apartments that are vacant) create an en- tall order for the nearly 45,000 people in According to the National Low Income vironment where landlords can safely raise town who are at or below the poverty line Housing Coalition, 30 percent of income rents without risk of losing out renters, as and struggling to make rent. for the lowest 20 percent of earners is $348 there is simply no other place for them to dollars per month towards rent, well below go.

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NEWS

BOISE VA JOINS THE FIGHT AGAINST VETERAN SUICIDE

The Boise Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) works to support veterans’ mental health Celina Van Hyning | Staff Writer | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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eth Sabrowsky is the Boise State Veteran Services’ outreach coordinator. She is a current MBA student, and graduated with a bachelor’s in health sciences from Boise State in 2017. Before she started her career, she was a member of the United States Navy.

Sabrowsky served her country working as an intelligence officer, monitoring and analyzing activities that pose a threat to national security. She described the experience as rewarding, but also very stressful. Her position began to take a toll on her mental health, and she did not realize it on her

“People don’t realize how much help they need until someone else is able to point it out.”

Beth Sabrowsky, Veteran Services outreach coordinator

own.

“I struggled with mental health because I had a very high-stress job,” Sabrowsky said.

“There was a point where my chief physically walked me over to the mental health department to get help because I didn’t realize it in myself.”

Sabrowsky realized that she was so invested in her career that she had neglected to take care of her mental well-being, and she believes that many veterans struggle with this issue.

“People don’t realize how much help they need until someone else is able to point it out,” Sabrowsky said.

Experiencing the things veterans do while serving inevitably leads to mental health implications, some more serious than others. Because of this, many veterans feel that

Because of the stress of the job, veterans can be susceptible to mental health implications. they will never recover from their trauma, and feel that the only solution is to end their own life. Idaho is consistently among the states with the highest suicide rate. In 2018, Idaho had the fifth highest suicide rate in the nation. However, this is not a result of lack of resources within the state.

Sean Burlile, the VetSuccess counselor for Boise State and the VA, works very closely with student-veterans who are struggling with mental health issues. Burlile said the resources are available, but the hardest part is veterans accepting that they need help.

“I think the VA (in Idaho) is really well-funded,” Burlile said. “We have a lot of resources and major mental health initiatives going on, (but) I would like to see the state do more.”

Burlile explained that the transition from life overseas to civilian life can be extremely difficult for veterans, but the VA medical center ensures that veterans are prepared to take the first step back into reality.

“I reach out to student-veterans, and (we also) have staff at the VA medical center

that are continually doing outreach for mental health treatment,” Burlile said.

Part of a service member’s transition back to civilian life includes a detailed mental assessment to find out if there are any current needs and to prepare for any future needs. Once relocated, the local VA reaches out. In addition, routine medical checkups are always accompanied by a mental health assessment for every veteran that visits the VA medical center.

“We look for things other than just (answers to) questions. Their demeanor, their attitude, how they answer their questions related to other healthcare, (and) changes in behavior,” Burlile said. “We’ve had professors and university staff reach out to us with concerns for students.”

B.J. Lewis, licensed clinical social worker and fellowship program coordinator, is no stranger to these examinations. As a former member of the armed forces and a current counselor, Lewis said the stigma surrounding mental health in the military may be the main reason veterans do not reach out.

Bailey Nellesen | The Arbiter

“I think there (is) a lot of support for those folks, particularly the veteran population,” Lewis said. “I think it’s very hard to reach out and to know how to start those processes.”

Lewis also attributed the apprehension from veterans to the social and cultural stigma about mental health from people serving.

“Being strong, tough, (or) whatever that is valued in those communities. Because of that value, it would be hard to be seen as not those things (by the community),” Burlile said. “But it seems there is a bigger push in those communities to reach out for help.”

Burlile, Lewis and Sabrowsky all said that the one piece of advice they would give to veterans who are struggling is to reach out.

“I feel like the people in Boise are more generous than most,” Lewis said. “People want to help the ones who protect us.”

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OPINION FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | ARBITERONLINE.COM

CORPORATIONS SHOULDN’T MISREPRESENT THE ADVENT OF A.I.

Why the Pringles’ “Sad Device” ad kind of sucks Chris Duggan | Guest Writer | opinion@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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long with several million other viewers, I spent the evening of February the third struggling through one of the more monotonous Super Bowls in recent memory.

The offensive performances predicted for both teams never materialized, and the team that always wins made it happen again. On top of this, the halftime show had little to offer besides a somewhat odd pairing of artists and Adam Levine’s perfect torso.

Fortunately, these are only two dimensions of the trinity that is Super Bowl entertainment: even if the game is a drag, it’s at least broken up by two-minute segments of the most highly produced advertisements we’ll see all year. As bored as I was, I soon began paying more attention to the ads than the game, and before long I noticed an interesting trend emerging. It was hard to get through a break without running into some form of artificial intelligence. There was the Pringles ad, and the Michelob Ultra ad, the Turbotax ad.

Not only did so many companies decide to feature some kind of robot or device, but so many involved them in the same way.

The set-ups varied, but the punchline was the same: artificial intelligence is inferior to its organic counterpart.

For those who skipped the game, a good example went something like this: the commercial begins with two dudebros mixing and matching Pringles flavors, and wondering how many different combinations they could create. The Alexa-like device sitting on the table between them gives them the figure (it’s a lot), then begins to lament its own inability to ever try any Pringles. The two men listen as it begins to explain its sense of loss, before one cuts it off with an order to play

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“Funky Town.”

Watching ads like this one, something became clear. We’re growing anxious about the ever-improving intelligence and capability of our technology, or at least advertisers think we are. With each passing year, we become more surrounded by devices that, while not technically artificial intelli-

it here, there are some pretty well-funded researchers who are interested in creating consciousness in a machine, regardless of the perils some foresee accompanying such an event.

So perhaps these advertisers saw an opportunity to sell chips and accounting software by catering to the fears of those less enthusiastic

Wyatt Wurtenberger | The Arbiter

gence, are still capable of learning and improving. These machines can make life more efficient, but they can also seem like harbingers of the robot apocalypse we’ve been making movies about for decades.

And while we don’t have time to get into

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about innovations in artificial intelligence.

Their ads highlight the behavior and experiences unique to being human, by showing robots wishing they could enjoy these same behaviors and experiences. Most of this didn’t immediately occur to me as I

watched the Pringles ad, however.

What most struck me about the commercial was its mean-spiritedness. I’m not saying I got misty-eyed at the thought of a device’s existential dilemma, but something about the ad still seemed tasteless.

The story we see compressed there, of an artificial intelligence facing a painful reckoning with its own being, has been told through numerous books, movies and TV shows, in a nuanced and thoughtful way, and to see it treated so callously in the ad felt kind of gross.

Pringles wasn’t the only company that approached artificial intelligence with a belittling attitude during the Super Bowl, and with each kindred commercial I grew a little more concerned. Even in the supposedly playful context of an advertisement, the message sent was one that’s both familiar and unsettling: difference will be received with fear, contempt and a desire to ridicule. It’s a spirit millions have battled and been victimized by, and its influence is still readily apparent in our culture. And, if we understand science fiction to be capable of predicting the future as well as imagining it, there may come a day when humans actually are faced with the reality of integrating artificial intelligence into society. Our world will be given another opportunity to encounter difference, and another opportunity to decide how to respond. Are there enough painful and shameful passages in human history to prove what a bad option fear is? Is this really the foot we want to start off on?

OPINION

TRUMP’S WALL IS A SYMBOL OF WHITE SUPREMACY Trump’s wall isn’t just a physical barrier — it represents a larger cultural problem Zach Hill | Opinion Editor | opinion@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Trump’s proposed wall is less about national security and more about advancing white supremacy.

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resident Donald Trump’s efforts to finish his border wall have been moving along quite well, he would say. Trump declared a national emergency to acquire $3.6 billion in funding for the wall. Following the declaration, Trump made a comment that resonated with a lot of people: “I didn’t need to do this.”

The White House later claimed that the comments were made in reference to Congress’ unwillingness to pass a budget that would allocate funding for the wall. The blame however, shouldn’t be on Congress.

They did their job by blocking a meaningless and ineffective policy. Fundamentally, the wall isn’t about keeping people out of the United States or immigration policy.

Trump wants the wall built as a monument to white supremacy.

Whether he’s explicitly said it or not, he doesn’t have to. Trump’s rhetoric has vastly increased hate crimes and groups in the United States. There’s numerous pieces of evidence showing that Trump makes hate groups feel more comfortable with their actions. Allowing this dangerous rhetoric

to exist threatens the livelihoods of anyone who doesn’t subscribe to Trump’s ideologies.

Last week, The Arbiter ran an article concerning racism on campus; specifically, a set of notes that had been written with racial slurs and death threats on them. It’s these kinds of events that rhetoric surrounding the wall intensifies. Monuments like the wall are symbolic of the motivations behind their construction. One popular example comes in the form of the Confederate flag, which is often cited as a symbol of southern heritage.

No matter what people try to tell you, the Confederate flag has inherently racist roots. It was the battle flag for the side of the Civil War defending their right to own slaves. Flying it now is confirmation that monuments are symbolic. The flag was later used in opposition to President Harry Truman’s anti-segregation policies, cementing its status as an artifact used to represent racist ideologies.

The wall meets the same criteria as the Confederate flag. There is no crisis at the border. Most of Trump’s “evidence”

claiming that there is a crisis is based on cherry-picked data.

The full story is that immigration to the United States fell in 2018. Statistics (ironically, released by the Department of Homeland Security) show that immigration was down from 2017. Not only that, but the claim that immigrants come to America to commit crimes is empirically false. With no crisis at the southern border, why waste money on a border wall? Why entertain the notion that there’s a crisis?

Simply put, because Trump is manufacturing a crisis to justify his racist and xenophobic policies. The border wall is just a physical manifestation of Trump’s unwillingness to examine himself and his beliefs. It’s a monument to his base, who so vehemently and blindly support his white supremacist policies that they’ll kickstart GoFundMe’s dedicated to paying for a problematic wall.

Last week’s Arbiter feature shows just how far this problem of erecting monuments to white supremacy has led. It’s time to stop letting fake crises and false assumptions threaten the safety of real people.

Isabel Sarhad | The Arbiter

This isn’t an issue of free speech (speech meant to incite harm against others isn’t protected by the First Amendment).

If there is a crisis, it’s the one currently making policies in the White House. If there is a national emergency, it’s because damaging rhetoric is spreading like wildfire with the help of ignorance. It’s time for us to stop entertaining the notion that the border wall is anything other than a racist monument built to white supremacy.

HAVE A COMMENT OR REBUTTAL? EMAIL US AT: OPINION@STUMEDIA.BOISESTATE.EDU

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F E AT U R E

BREAKING BREAKING the silence silence the how stigma prevents males from acknowledging and treating eating disorders

DAVID COLLIE | CULTURE EDITOR | CULTURE@STUMEDIA.BOISESTATE.EDU

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hris Phillips, a freshman health studies major, was a wrestler in high school. As a wrestler, he got into the habit of cutting weight for competitions. But near the end of his junior year, those habits began to transform into something more, remaining even after the competitions ended.

“When you’re in that stage, you almost lose all self-control, like you almost turn into a different person,” Phillips said.

“There were many times where you would think you wish you could stop, and you just keep eating.”

Although Phillips began to notice a problem, he hid his behaviors from friends and family, feeling that he could recover on his own. Phillips would enter cycles — sometimes up to three days long — of binging and purging.

The relationship an individual has with their own body can be complicated. It’s a relationship that will face changes, and it is one that will last forever. Within that relationship lies a spectrum of healthy and harmful behaviors. As National Eating

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Disorder Awareness Week takes place from Feb. 25 to March 3, there is no better time to explore body dissatisfaction and eating disorders and, more specifically, a population that faces a disproportionate set of societal obstacles when coping with them: men.

According to the National Association for Males with Eating Disorders, 25 to 40 percent of people with eating disorders are males. Unfortunately, this is suspected to be lower than the true number, largely due to the stigma surrounding men who face these issues and the common perception that eating disorders are only an issue for women.

OBSTACLES There’s a lot that stands in the way of men struggling with eating disorders, and

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meeting the societal standard of what a male should be is no small obstacle. Alyee Willets is a third-year graduate student studying counseling, and is currently a counseling trainee with University Health Services. Willets has worked with individuals experiencing eating disorders and explained some of the social climate that men face.

“There’s definitely a stigma,” Willets said. “Culturally and socially, there (are) a lot of messages that males get that they have to be very macho, that feelings are more of a feminine trait (and) that you’re supposed to pull up your bootstraps, not ask for help, not show weakness (or) anything like that.”

These expectations can be limiting enough by themselves, but they become even more powerful in situations with added difficulties, such as when mental health is involved. And while there is stigma surrounding mental health issues broadly, there is something unique to eating disorders. For many years, eating disorders have been a “female issue.”

Psychology professor Mary Pritchard, who studies and teaches the psychology of eating, illuminated the prevalence of this misconception.

“What we see with men is that they (often) don’t think they have a problem because, for so long, eating disorders have been thought of as a female thing,” Pritchard said. “And then men, because of the shame and the blame and the guilt and the stigma in society, are very, very unlikely to come forward and admit they have a problem, even if they realize they have a problem.”

This belief comes from many places, and likely has deep roots in societal expectations surrounding gender and masculinity. Another influence, however, has been the medical and psychological fields.

Pritchard explained that it wasn’t until around the year 2000 that the perception of eating disorders began shifting to include men. One study in particular looked at body dissatisfaction of boys and girls in middle school, and rather than asking the students if they wanted to be thinner, the researchers asked if students wanted to put on muscle mass. Taking on this angle showed that men and women experience body dissatisfaction at nearly the same rate.

However, the old perception that eating disorders were a women’s issue was firmly planted, and it continues to be perpetuated by the medical and psychological fields in some ways. Pritchard said that some of these barriers are diagnostic tests which remain biased towards diagnosing women, as well as the lingering perceptions of experts who were educated during a time before this new information. This was also supported by Willets, who explained that most treatment centers cater to women, making it difficult for any men who may require a higher level of care.

F E AT U R E BODY DISSATISFACTION VS. EATING DISORDER Broadly speaking, most people will have something about their body that they do not like, whether it’s weight, height, skin type or anything else. There’s room for this dissatisfaction to be a motivating push to self-improvement, but when taken too far, it can become destructive. So, where is the line drawn?

According to Pritchard, this is a difficult question for individuals experiencing eating disorders, because they don’t tend to realize that there is something wrong.

It can take a great effort of self-awareness and the attention of friends and family to identify a problem.

As difficult as it can be, though, there are some ways that individuals can be more conscious of their own behaviors or the behaviors of those around them. MarLee Harris, registered dietitian nutritionist with University Health Services, explained that that line can be drawn when those behaviors start to become a predominant thought.

“One of the markers we use when we’re assessing eating disorder behavior is how much preoccupation we have with food and exercise and our bodies,” Harris said.

Harris explained that “tensing up” about food or exercise might be a sign, and that these should be relaxing or appealing rather than anxiety-inducing. Additional behaviors that might be red flags are when individuals are unable to go out to eat with friends, when they are missing school or work to attend the gym or when they are exercising despite an illness, like the flu.

Unfortunately, these red flags are another area where men tend to face a disproportionate obstacle. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, muscle dysmorphia is a kind of body dysmorphic disorder that mostly affects male bodybuilders, and involves individuals obsessing about muscularity, compulsively

Body dissatisfaction has become normative in today’s society, WITH OVER 90 PERCENT OF U.S. COLLEGIATE WOMEN

and 80 PERCENT of U.S. college-aged men reporting body and weight dissatisfaction

spending hours in the gym and purchasing excessive amounts of supplements, diets or steroids.

Though it’s not always the case, Pritchard explained that these behaviors can sometimes be encouraged by society.

“I think that in some ways society has actually promoted unhealthy exercise and eating habits, because when we see somebody going to the gym all the time we’re like, ‘Good for you. Way to go. You’re awesome. I wish we could be more like you,’ and so people then become encouraged,” Pritchard said.

This behavior has not been helped by social media or fitness apps where people can more easily receive praise and affirmation for these behaviors, thus creating a vicious cycle where individuals push themselves to a greater degree in order to receive that same level of affirmation.

ASKING FOR HELP Although time will be an important

factor in breaking the stigma of male eating disorders, that does not alleviate the problem now, and there are still ways to fight it. Silence is an ally to stigma, and breaking that silence can be a powerful step in changing things. Not only will this step help in the larger scale, it is also important on an individual level.

In this journey, there are a number of resources that individuals may look to. There are websites such as the National Association for Males with Eating Disorders, the National Eating Disorder Association or Eating Disorder Hope. On campus, there are programs like Project HEAL, University Health Services and BroncoFit. There can also be help found from physicians, friends and family. According to Harris, treatment tends to involve a combined effort of several individuals, but beginning where one feels comfortable is a great place to start.

Although many of these services offer online resources that provide information and stories, asking for help is still an important step.

“It’s okay to ask for help,” Willets said.

“A lot of the reasons that (people) don’t ask for help is because they feel ashamed,

and they think they are the only ones. But the only way to overcome shame is to talk about what’s going on and be vulnerable with somebody.”

Males, of course, are not the only ones who face eating disorders. However, the firmly established perception that they never do is currently a harmful barrier preventing males from acknowledging the problem and receiving care for it. Battling an eating disorder is a difficult task on its own, and it is only made harder when males are taught that they can’t have them, or that they shouldn’t talk about them.

Philips has since recovered from his eating disorder, and said that the support he received from others was the most helpful thing during his recovery.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about,” Phillips said. “Everybody struggles with things, whether it’s drugs, alcohol, eating disorders (or) mental health. There’s so much, and it’s nothing to be ashamed about, and once you come to that realization that people are just there to support you, there’s nowhere to go but up from there.”

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C U LT U R E FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | ARBITERONLINE.COM

DO GRADES REALLY MATTER IN THE JOB MARKET?

Students, faculty and recruiters weigh the importance of GPA beyond the classroom Cicely Caruso | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

T

hroughout high school, the importance of grades is ingrained into the minds of students.

Students are warned of the consequences, such as rejection from their dream colleges, if their grades fall below a high standard. When reaching college, the talk about grades doesn’t stop and, for many, grades can cause insurmountable amounts of stress.

While not every student feels this same pressure — especially those following the “C’s get degrees” mantra — many on Boise State’s campus may find themselves struggling to keep up. Jax Conklin, a junior communication major, explained her personal pressure to keep her GPA high.

“Grades have caused a lot of stress in my everyday life,” Conklin said. “I have a few scholarships that have high minimum GPAs, and I need those scholarships to stay in college.”

For Doug Zischke, a senior accounting major, the academic stress is also a central part of his overall college experience, and he explained that grades affect more than just one part of a student’s life.

“Even if I don’t realize that I’m stressed out a lot of the time, I am,” Zischke said. “(Grades are) definitely important. There are many aspects of your life, believe it or not, that grades can impact. One of the biggest is what the stress does to your well-being.”

The stress that comes from a desire to do well in school may cause students to wonder if it’s all “worth it,” or if grades even hold any importance outside of college.

Lisa Southorn, a recruiter at Clearwater Analytics, a company that provides entry-level jobs to several College of Business and Economics graduates, provided some insight to those students who hope to see something come from their hard-earned grades.

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While grades do matter in the job hunt, so do things like personality and leadership.

Taylor Humby | The Arbiter “Grade point average is a huge chunk of what you have to offer, especially right out of college,” Southorn said. “People want to see your successes. There should be a healthy amount of stress. Grades are one piece of the puzzle, (and) we also look for involvement in an organization, leadership programs and holding a job. Those things show dedication. It’s all about balance.”

Lisa isn’t alone in sharing the belief in a healthy amount of stress. Having some stressors can motivate students to push themselves and progress their life skills, and Zischke explained how the importance of grades has helped him in his day-to-day life.

“Being motivated to get good grades

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has caused me to become more motivated toward little things in my life that I never liked doing,” Zischke said. “This includes washing and putting away dishes, folding laundry and cleaning my room. I’m also more organized. Every little assignment or thing that I have to do often gets documented on a homework schedule, which really helps me stay organized. The process reciprocates.”

The balance between life skill and grades is a fine line, but one of Boise State’s general communication professors, Kevin Skidmore, shared a story that aims to give that line more definition.

Skidmore said he had a guest lecturer

named Vincent Kituku come into his UF 200 class. Kituku shared with the class some insight from his experience in college, saying that the two things students get out of the college experience that will help them more than any others are critical thinking and networking.

While Kituku’s sentiment may be true in the beginning stages of career development, Southorn argued that resume-building skills are more important in the long-term, as networking can only get someone in front of a recruiter – not necessarily a job.

Southorn explained that, if given the hiring option between a student with little personality appeal but a solid GPA and another with a desire to learn, mediocre grades but an impressive personality, the choice is a simple one.

“Personal skills over grade point average,” Southorn said. “You can teach someone and help them where they may have been lacking in the academics.”

Beyond that, showing dedication, hard work and how serious they are about their future to their professors is a sure way to almost guarantee a student’s success. Conklin explained this in her own terms.

“To me, my grades are extremely important for my future,” Conklin said. “My major is very dependent on networking and professors are the best opportunity for that.

Let’s be honest: are our professors more likely to assist those who try hard in their classes, or those who just skate by?”

As a last piece of advice, Skidmore added his two cents on the same matter.

“I will say this; students don’t realize until it’s too late,” Skidmore said. “Often, the very ones that they are making the most impressions on and are going to open or close doors for them in the future are their instructors in their college classes.”

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MAKING PROFESSIONAL ENDS MEET

The opportunities and struggles of internships Ben Harris | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

“While the increase in opportunities is great, this type of internship may require more oversight from the faculty internship coordinator to ensure that the learning objectives for the internship for credit are being met,” Evans said.

Along with internet opportunities, being involved on campus can be a helpful resource for finding an internship. By working alongside students with similar interests, it can be easier to make real-world connections both on campus and in the

Though students can benefit from internships, they can also pose some barriers.

A

t Boise State University, there are plenty of student experiences to be had. Students can take classes that pique their curiosity, participate in recreational events during every season of the year and join clubs that provide learning opportunities for a diverse selection of interests.

While all of these experiences lend themselves to growth and learning, they are all inside the university bubble. Plenty of activities involve professors, organizers and fellow students, but an essential aspect of the college experience is missing from this equation: real-world opportunity.

Emily Rembert is a senior finance major and vice president of the Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU). Along with these roles, she’s been a product management intern at St. Luke’s Health Systems since January 2019.

“So far, it is a great experience,” Rembert said. “I love to learn new things and work on projects that benefit the company.”

Internships provide an opportunity for students to have a fair perspective of the career they want to pursue. Rembert believes that internships can always be beneficial and provide an experience like no other.

“College doesn’t prepare you for the real world,” Rembert said. “The best way to gain experience in a field is to learn and grow in the field.”

While interning can be an excellent opportunity for growth, there are some serious struggles that students can face.

While some students fear that an internship might not take them anywhere or not look good on a resume, other students just don’t have the opportunity to work an internship. According to Anne Evans, assistant director of internships and student employment, this is the biggest struggle that students face across campus.

“Many internships are unpaid, and many of our students have to work as well as go to school,” Evans said. “Participating

Wyatt Wurtenberger | The Arbiter in an unpaid internship to gain valuable experience may not be an option.”

From Evan’s perspective, paid internships can sometimes be troublesome for students as well. If a student has to give up a full-time job in order to have a part-time internship, that may not be a financially sustainable choice.

While working an internship can have its challenges, it can provide students with a better chance of getting a full-time job in the career they’re pursuing. According to the Boise State Career Center, graduates who interned have a full-time job offer rate 44 percent higher than those who don’t, and their starting salaries are 27 percent higher.

In today’s age of constant internet connection, access to “virtual internships” has given students the ability to connect with organizations remotely. While this has its benefits, Evans said it has its problems as well.

“College doesn’t prepare you for the real world.

The best way to gain experience in a field is to learn and grow in the field.”

Emily Rembert, senior finance major community.

Matias Wowro, sophomore marketing major and president of the American Marketing Association, is applying for an internship with the Idaho Golf Association this summer. Wowro believes that student organizations are an important aspect of student involvement.

“Boise State should continue to encourage students to join on-campus organizations,” Wowro said. “This helps people meet like-minded students for not only class help, but fostering connections and opportunities within their major.”

Students interested in learning more about internship and career opportunities should be directed to Boise State’s Career Center, which offers virtual workshops and in-person mock interviews to prepare students for the hiring process.

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C U LT U R E

“IN THE MIX” ADDRESSES ISSUES OF RACIAL IDENTITY Boise State art exhibition sparks dialogue surrounding race and identity

Taylor Humby | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

The exhibit will be displayed until March 26 in the Visual Arts Gallery of the Liberal Arts Building.

T

he “In the Mix” exhibition, currently displayed in the Liberal Arts building on Boise State’s campus, attempts to spark dialogue surrounding racial identity with a show consisting of 13 artists from across the country, contributing art that comments on the cultural construct of race. The diverse cast of artists hails from cities across the United States and works with various artistic media and approaches to tackling this important topic.

The theme was conceived by Visual Arts Center gallery director Kirsten Furlong, who curated all the artists involved.

“My interest in showing the work here at Boise State is to open up a dialogue about this topic,” Furlong said. “I think race is a hard topic for people to talk about sometimes, but it’s really important for understanding students of color, (and) students who are in classes and (making) new relationships with different kinds of people.”

Furlong attempted to find artists who

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contributed completely different takes on the topic, but were still able to open up a discussion surrounding race and identity within their audiences. Citing a recent article surrounding race on campus, she illustrated the importance of exhibitions like this one being available to students.

“There was a recent article that was really disturbing to me about some things that are going on in the dorms, around students of color not feeling comfortable and welcome,” Furlong said. “Obviously, this show wasn’t in relation to the (article) specifically, but I think it raises the importance of an exhibition like this and being able to have these types of discussions in a place that’s safe.”

Although Furlong has organized over 100 exhibitions for the Visual Arts Center, the importance of this particular show involved more of a personal commitment to the discussion, originating from her own experiences as a biracial person.

“I hope that there (are) students and faculty and people in the community that relate to

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Taylor Humby | The Arbiter

some of the work personally, or (that) it can open and teach somebody something new about racial identity,” Furlong said.

Alongside education, the hope of bringing outside artists to Boise State is to offer future work opportunities and outside perspectives to our campus.

“To connect these diverse artists to Boise State opens the door to future collaborations with faculty and students, which is so important, as our campus does not boast a super diverse faculty,” Furlong said. “Even though it’s just a temporary situation, one of the artists visited to teach a workshop and lecture.

Even just having that temporary energy of an outside voice that’s bringing this different perspective, I think is really important” Multimedia specialist Jade Hoyer, one of 13 artists, contributed a letterpress book to the exhibition titled “How Asian are you?,” depicting a tongue-in-cheek guideline for helping a biracial person identify what race they would fit into based on their skin tone, otherwise known as colorism.

“Obviously, it has no applicable real-life use because it shows hues of color that don’t exist in skin tones,” Hoyer said. “The personal inspiration connected to it was my lived experience as a biracial individual. As light-skinned and white-passing, whose sort of visual presentation to the world wouldn’t necessarily read as a person of color, I have struggled with self-identifying the Filipino aspects of myself.”

Hoyer hopes to provoke thought surrounding education of social inequality and race through her work, in order to provide a moment of recognition for artists and individuals.

“I think that it’s really easy to be reductive on how we think about diverse artists, (and) it’s really tempting to think of diversity as people of color or not people of color,” Hoyer said. “To actually be part of an exhibition of people who proudly identify as multiracial, but who are probably often codified into more essential groupings, whether that’s diverse artists or, like in my situation, white-passing, is really special and a unique curation.”

Boise State alumnus and painter, Jared Andreas, echoed this idea of commenting on racial identity. Often describing his paintings as figurative or narrative, Andreas attempts to confront ideas about identity, otherness and representation.

“In addition to surrealistic qualities that continually show up in my work, I enjoy combining historical references with contemporary imagery to create scenes that are simultaneously familiar and ambiguous,” Andreas said. “I hope that my paintings possess qualities that challenge the audience to question the construction of identity and the stereotypes that are often connected to it. I feel honored to be a part of the exhibition. The variety and strength of the work is impressive. It’s really exciting to see how other artists tackle ideas about biracial and multiracial identities.”

The “In the Mix” exhibition will be on display through March 26, closed during spring break, but otherwise open Monday through Thursday from 10-5 p.m., and Friday from 10-2 p.m. in the Liberal Arts Building.

HOW FICTION CAN LEAD TO EMPATHY

Authors discuss the connection between fiction and empathy David Collie | Culture Reporter | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

W

hile there is much that goes into the craft of writing fiction, there is something perceived to be particularly special about character.

Fiction can have the power to place readers not only in the shoes of another person, but the head. On Feb. 20, the National Book Foundation hosted an event in the SUB where National Book Award nominated authors Rebecca Makkai and Nafissa Thompson-Spires explored the connection between fiction and empathy.

The National Book Foundation’s Director of Public Programs, Whitney Hu, talked about the theme of the event, and how empathy can be especially important today.

“I think we often get a lot of requests for these sort of hard-hitting political panels, and I think right now, the state of where we are as a nation is kind of in question marks,” Hu said. “When you are reading someone’s point of view, it’s really hard to argue with them, and I think literature can really expand the way that we view and see the world. I think in those ways, we can have these interesting and intense conversations without being so headstrong.”

In addition to those conversations, the event offered free copies of the authors’ books. Thompson-Spires, whose first published short story collection, “Heads of the Colored People,” explores race and identity, talked about the excitement surrounding the experience.

“It’s been better than I could have imagined or prayed for,” Thompson-Spires said. “It’s all been kind of surreal and wonderful.”

In discussing some of the inspiration for her stories, Thompson-Spires talked about the importance of representation, and how she attempted to write what she wanted to read.

“For me, it was sort of a gap,” Thompson-Spires said. “I didn’t see the kind of representation of contemporary, living,

black middle-class people that I wanted to see, and so I was interested in dealing with black nerds, black subcultures and things like that. All of the stories are kind of taking that on.”

Representation was also an important factor for Makkai in her third published novel, “The Great Believers,” which examines, among other things, a group of gay men during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Makkai said this story required a great deal of research, and was not one she could simply empathize her way into.

Although she wasn’t directly a part of the epidemic, it was still an important influence for her.

“The AIDS epidemic was the background to my childhood in the same way that, say, the Vietnam war might have been to someone a generation older,” Makkai said. “(It) wasn’t my life… but it was very much a part of the world in which my empathy and my consciousness were formed.”

In addition to these diverse works of fiction, the message of the night offered something real to take away. Makkai shared her thoughts on the value of reading fiction as a means to gaining greater empathy.

“As a human, you’re really only allowed to live the one life,” Makkai said. “Fiction gets you into other people’s lives in a way that nothing else does. Fiction is one of the only ways we can get into the head of someone who is not you, is not living your life. You could choose to live your life and live one life, or you could be a reader and you could live hundreds of lives, and I think that makes you a better person to live hundreds of lives.”

C U LT U R E

JUST A THOUGHT Why are significant films left sequelless and alone?

Logan Potter | Culture Editor | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

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t has been just two years since Jordan Peele created a cultural phenomenon with “Get Out,” and people haven’t stopped talking about it. The literal culture shock created discourse surrounding topics of race and prejudice, and Peele made history as, arguably, one of the most influential social commentary filmmakers of all time. While Spike Lee garnered a similar result with films like “Do the Right Thing,” these films are few and far between, and they practically never get a sequel to continue the hard-hitting story.

Some would argue that films like these can standalone without necessity for story continuation, but others, like myself, would beg to differ. Basic romantic comedies, like “Mamma Mia,” are awarded additional storylines and more screen time over more complex films like “If Beale Street Could Talk,” leaving historical information out of history books and the big screen for an extended period of time in place of cliched love plots. While “Mamma Mia” is certainly a crowd pleaser, a Cher appearance doesn’t make a film socially

significant.

Recently, The Guardian published an opinion piece outlining why we don’t need sequels to romantic comedies, but it’s equally as arguable that it isn’t the genre that matters; rather, it’s the content, complexity and diversity that make a film worthy of a second part. Take “Crazy Rich Asians,” for example: the film came out to critical acclaim, a surprising amount for a romantic comedy, and the film was praised for its diversity and representation of Asian-American actors on the big screen.

The film managed to follow all of the traditional rom-com tropes while still being socially significant, so it should come as no surprise that audiences want a sequel. This desire is a reasonable one, and it can also be applied to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” on Netflix. (It should also be noted that both films were adapted from books with multiple sequels in each series.)

This common desire is the reason why it’s so shocking that genre crossovers like social thriller “Get Out” are left high and dry in the world of part twos, although director preference is an important feature of the business to mention. Maybe audiences didn’t want the sequel, or maybe Peele opted out; whatever the cause, it’s time to stop assuming that soul-crushing or brain-twisting films don’t deserve sequels simply because they aren’t blockbusters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (no offense, “Black Panther”). Let’s start treating indie hits and socially significant movies like they belong in the box office lineup, rather than lining the pockets of big studio moguls with a multitude of generic romantic comedy scripts under their belts — just a thought.

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SPORTS & REC FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | ARBITERONLINE.COM

DESPITE MULTIPLE OFFERS, ALEX HOBBS FOUND HOME AT BOISE STATE

The Texas native has become a leader for the Broncos Gabe Serrano | Staff Writer | sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Alex Hobbs was recruited in 2015 as a guard for the men’s basketball team.

B

oise State University is known to many as a prominent football school. Often, when people think of the school, they may think about Kellen Moore, Jared Zabransky and the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. Recently, however, Boise State basketball has become more relevant under head coach Leon Rice. Rice was able to recruit players like Derrick Marks, who was the 2015 Mountain West player of the year, and Chandler Hutchison, who is now a staple in Boise State basketball history as the first Bronco to be drafted to the NBA. Few players, however, have chosen Boise State over top-notch basketball programs that are across the nation. Enter junior guard Alex Hobbs, who was recruited to Boise State in the summer of 2015. Hobbs was raised in the town of La Porte, Texas.

The town’s population is well over 35,000 and is just a short drive away from Houston. His father is a basketball coach at La

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Porte high school, where Hobbs attended.

Basketball wasn’t Hobbs’ first love however. It was a much different sport that he believed he was better at: baseball. However, basketball became a sport that Hobbs fell in love with.

“I was actually probably better at baseball but I ended up quitting in the fourth grade,” Hobbs said. “They were pretty even. I would give the nudge to baseball, but I just love basketball more and that’s just where I wanted to develop my time too.”

Hobbs was a four-year starter in high school under head coach Barry Gibson. His accolades racked up during his time there.

He was a three-time all district selection and set a school record of 2,800 career points. Nine hundred and eight of those points came as a senior. Hobbs averaged 27 points per game as a junior and 30 points per game as a senior.

Hobbs began to pick up some interest

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Mackenzie Hudson | The Arbiter from small schools during his sophomore year in high school. This is when he began his AAU career, traveling as part of an allstar basketball team that consisted of the top players from his district.

“That’s when I ended up playing with the Houston Linx that summer going into my junior year,” Hobbs said. “That was the first time where I actually went out of the Houston area to play basketball.”

AAU ball was the beginning of Hobbs’ audition for college. His team traveled to Costa Rica to play in a foreign tour, which is where he learned what college basketball would be like. He played amongst many foreign teams, and even scored 12 points in a win against the Costa Rica national team.

“Costa Rica was crazy. It was eye opening. It was a great experience, you know, I had never been out of the country, which was really cool. It was my first taste of college basketball, so it’s something I’ll always remember,” Hobbs said. “It was just a great

experience being out there. It taught me a lot of things that I needed to work on and how hard I needed to work.”

With that experience, Hobbs began to gain more interest from much bigger schools. This included programs like Butler, Oklahoma, Baylor and the University of Houston. Boise State, however, was one of the first schools to recruit Hobbs.

“The first live period where the coaches come watch you, Boise State was my first scholarship offer,” Hobbs said. “I had Boise State, Kansas State and from then on, I kind of blew up. I finished (high school) with about 16 offers.”

Hobbs wanted to play right away and Boise State was the school that could give him that.

Leon Rice was able to give Hobbs that opportunity and he committed to Boise State in 2015.

“A lot of those other schools, you gotta sometimes come in and redshirt and you have guards ahead of you. I wanted a better opportunity to play right away. Loyalty is a big thing for me,” Hobbs said.

Since committing, Hobbs has grown to become a leader for the Broncos. “(Hobbs) is definitely a go-to guy. Hobbs can get it going whenever he wants to. I feel like he’s a leader,” said senior center Zach Haney.

Coaches have also seen Hobbs grow, especially this year.

“Hobbs has always been a scorer first and foremost. I think he is compiling that with trying to be better at the other end of the floor,” said assistant coach Chris Acker.

Hobbs has grown to love Boise. Only a junior, he has an opportunity to prove one more time what kind of player head coach Leon Rice recruited and that he is one of the Mountain West’s best.

SPORTS & REC

NEW FOOTBALL SCHEDULE RELEASED

What to expect this upcoming football season

FEB. 18 FEB. 23

Cami Pepin | Staff Writer | sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Autum Robertson | Sports Reporter | sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu

MOUNTAIN WEST 2

Nevada (25-2) The Wolf Pack started their week off with only their second loss of the season, to the Aztecs (57-65). The Aztecs held guard Caleb Martin to a season-low of 20 points. Nevada bounced back and took down the Bulldogs in a close 74-68 victory.

Air Force (12-15) The Falcons pulled off a close victory over the Bulldogs (64-61). This victory was an upset and beating the Bulldogs in Fresno was impressive in itself. The Falcons easily defeated the Spartans 82-68. The Falcons finished that game with 10 different scorers.

Utah State (22-6) The Aggies are riding a four-game win streak after a week of success. The Aggies had no problem defeating the Lobos 71-55, but the Broncos did force them into overtime in the Aggies 78-71 win. Guard Sam Merrill had himself a game in Boise, scoring 32 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Colorado State (11-16) Now on a two-game win streak, the Rams toppled the Spartans 91-70 and the Cowboys 83-48. The Cowboys’ guard Justin James was the only Cowboy to hit double digits with 29 points. This was the Cowboys’ worst loss in series history.

San Diego State (17-9) The Aztecs move up in the rankings after stunning the Wolf Pack 65-57 and beating the Rebels 60-59. The Aztecs didn’t do much on offense when they beat Nevada, but they held forward Jordan Caroline to eight points and Martin to a season low.

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et ready Boise State football fans, it looks like there will be a jam-packed home field schedule to start out the 2019

season.

Boise State’s football department has already released their official 2019 football schedule. After their season opener against Florida State on Saturday, Aug. 31, the Broncos will have three home games against Marshall, Portland State and Air Force, all in September. This will be the first time Boise State has been scheduled for three consecutive home games since 2007.

“It’s exciting to start the season off that way because it’s back-to-back-to-back weeks of packing the stadium and getting people on board with cheering the Broncos on,” said sophomore Keaton Davis, a team manager for the Boise State football

team. “It’s nice because it will set expectations early for the year. I can see it being an issue late in the season because (if ) it comes down to the conference being close, we’ll be on the road. But to start off the season it will be good for the team and the community.”

Boise State will also have two consecutive road games, set up for Oct. 19 at BYU and Nov. 2 at San Jose State. Then they will have to face a challenging finish to their season with two more consecutive away games on Nov. 23 at Utah State and Nov. 30 at Colorado State.

“Having the team home for a whole month will bring the students and fans of Boise State closer together to create a bond for when they are playing their two consecutive away games,” said freshman Chloe Holzer, who has been a Boise State fan her whole life.

Fresno State (19-8) The Bulldogs lost twice this week, but hold a better conference record than the remaining teams so they come in at fourth place. They lost to the Falcons 61-64 and then Nevada 68-74. The Bulldogs’ Nate Grimes finished with a double-double (11 rebounds and 16 points).

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UNLV (15-12) The Rebels took down the Cowboys 66-56 in Wyoming, but couldn’t win at home against the Aztecs in a 59-60 loss. The Rebels came back against the Aztecs after going into the half down 23-31, but coming within a point then losing at the buzzer isn’t something worth celebrating.

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Boise State (11-16) The Broncos lost at home to the Aggies in a 71-78 nail-biter. The Broncos came back and scored 38 points in the second half and forced the game into overtime. But the momentum the Broncos had at the end of regulation didn’t transfer into overtime. Guards Derrick Alston and Justinian Jessup combined for over half of the Broncos’ total points.

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New Mexico (11-15) The Lobos didn’t stand a chance against the Aggies in their 71-55 loss.

The Lobos’ highest scorer was Anthony Mathis who finished with 20 points, and their next highest scorer was Vance Jackson with eight.

Not a good look, Lobos.

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Wyoming (6-21) The Cowboys are bad and that became even more apparent this week. They were blown out by the Rams 48-83. Behind Cowboys’ James 29 points was guard Jake Hendricks with six points. Yikes!

San Jose State (3-23) The Spartans lost to the Rams 70-91 and the Falcons 68-82. Now on a 17-game losing streak, the Spartans only have four more opportunities to snap it.

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SPORTS & REC

MEN’S TENNIS HAS STRONG SHOWING IN VICTORY AGAINST WHITMAN

The doubles play showed improvement while the singles carried the team to victory Skyler Moses | Staff Writer | sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu

The men’s tennis team took on Whitman University and won 6-1 on Feb. 16.

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he vastly improved Boise State men’s tennis team took on the 0-2 Whitman University Blues on Saturday, Feb. 16 in the BOAS Tennis/Soccer Complex. The team won 6-1 in dominant fashion, moving to 5-2 on the year.

The overall match consisted of three doubles matches and six singles matches.

The Broncos had a nearly perfect showing as they took the doubles point early on and then won all but one of their singles matchups.

The star of the day was Jack Heslin, a junior from New Zealand. Heslin, a threetime All Mountain West player, continued his decorated career at Boise State against Whitman taking the victories in his doubles and singles match, without dropping a single set all day.

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Heslin talked about the team’s struggles in doubles over the last couple of weeks, in which the team lost the doubles points, putting them behind before the singles matches began.

“It was good to get an early lead and get 1-0 on the board,” Heslin said. “(Saturday’s doubles performance was) an improvement from the last couple weeks.”

Another bright spot from the day came in the form of Wyatt Demulling, a senior transfer student from Irvine Valley College. Demulling’s doubles match was cut short at a score of 4-4 due to the Broncos clinching the doubles point early on, but he then went on to win his singles matchup handedly, 6-1, 6-2.

“We were able to come together as a team today. We played really well,” Demulling said. “We were all focused and

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The team’s next match is against Weber State on Saturday, March. 2.

“We’re just going to be focusing on ourselves and trying to get our bodies and minds ready for the rest of the season,” Demulling said.

In his first year as the men’s head coach, Kristian Widen has led the Broncos to a 5-2 record this spring and was happy with how the team performed on Saturday against Whitman.

“I felt like my guys came out with good energy right away in doubles,” Widen said.

“I feel like the guys are really taking on the challenge of competing, it doesn’t matter who we play. (Whether) we play a top 25 team in Oregon or we play a division III Whitman, they’re all coming out there and competing. We talk about that because it

doesn’t really matter how talented you are unless you’re willing to compete, and that’s something I’ve been really impressed with.”

Weber State may not be having the best season thus far, but that does not mean the team is going to take it any easier in their preparation for the upcoming match.

“Two weeks off from matches means extra hard work in practice. We’ll take a couple days off right now; the guys have a lot of schoolwork to do,” Widen said.

“Then we’ll rev it up starting Tuesday and go pretty heavy for seven or eight days and then lighten it up before the Weber State match.”

Boise State men’s tennis resumes play on Saturday, March 2 against 2-7 Weber State at the Appleton Tennis Center as they head into the rest of the spring season.

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