Sarah Trump: And the Duhawks jump out to a 2-0 record in the Iowa Conference
“Uno”: Green Day loses a step with latest album Pages 6-7
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October 4, 2012 — Vol. 91, Issue 4
Community
Student Life
A vote for democracy
SU
for you
Students can register all the way up to Election Day, but some students might need to update their residency
Thanks to a new open-door policy, the Student Union is welcoming all opinions
by NICK JOOS
executive editor
by HANNAH WAY copy editor
Free coffee is always a draw for students — especially on that always-dreaded middle day of the week, Wednesday. Thanks to this year’s Student Union, students are able to pour themselves a free cup of coffee and talk with the executive board. Students of every grade level are invited the Student Union office, hopefully enabling board members to meet new students, see new faces and to hear new ideas. The first Coffee Wednesday in September brought in almost 80 students to the office. “The Student Union office has not been fully utilized these past years, so we want people to learn where it is, and to know they are welcome and that we are always open for suggestions, ideas or criticism,” said senior Sara Castillo-Garcia, director of finance. This open-door policy has been aimed at bringing in students who might not otherwise believe they have an outlet to express their ideas or opinions. Giving students the opportunity to talk to the executive board members opens up communication on both levels.
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photo by ELIZABETH EVERSOLE
Student Union director of Finance, Sara Castillo, chats over a cup of coffee with junior Laura Wondra.
photo by KYLE SCHAFFER
Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan speaks to a capacity crowd in the Fieldhouse on Monday. Ryan spoke for nearly 20 minutes, touching on topics ranging from the economy to religion freedom.
Ryan rocks the Fieldhouse C
by HANNAH WAY AND MATT KOCH copy editors
ertainly, this was a pivotal moment for the Loras College Republicans as well as Romney-Ryan supporters, but moreover, it was a chance for Loras to host a high-profile politician on campus. Republican or Democrat, when a vice-presidential nominee yells “go Duhawks,” everyone gets chills. GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan attracted an overflowing crowd to the Fieldhouse on Monday, with hundreds of attendees being forced to watch the rally outside. The rally, which was organized as part of a Midwest bus tour, drew students and residents from around the tristate area. After 1,000 people entered the Fieldhouse, the local fire marshal stepped in, preventing several hundred ticketholders from being able to enter. Despite the initial disappointment for those supporters who were stuck outside, many remained to watch the congressman speak on a large screen outside. Esti-
mates place the number of people watching outside the Fieldhouse between 500 and 800. Those who remained outside long enough for the speech to begin were encouraged to stay by Ryan, who promised to make an appearance with the crowd after the rally inside. Inside, Republican nominee for U.S. Congress Ben Lange had the honor of introducing the nominee. Ryan’s wife and three young children joined him on stage as he explained to the supporters that this was very much a family affair. It was no coincidence that Ryan came to Loras; his own grandfather attended the college. Ryan’s half-hour speech focused on the
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In the dawn of America, the gift of choice was delegated to the few. White, male landowners held the power behind the ballot, as the decision on who became America’s leaders rested only with them. It was a time of segregation and dissonance. Unsettled debate ended not in the definition of civil liberties, but violence and the revocation of human rights. But it was an idea, the idea of individual choice that rested not in the tyranny and subjectivity of one person, but that of many; a consensus. The majority had the power. The right to choose is something Americans hold near and dear. Over history, fights have been waged, protests have been held, and lives have been sacrificed to defend and cement citizens’ voting rights. Four postCivil War ratifications to the U.S. Constitution delivered voting rights for various graphic by Marlon Torres groups of Americans. Again, the majority spoke up, and their ideas became law, pushing the U.S. further into a republic of freedom. In one month, millions of Americans U.S. will have the opportunity to touch their fingers to a screen or fill in a candidates’ name on a ballot. It’s the time for Americans to voice their opinion in a way billions around the world could only dream. And having this right is a cog in every American’s wheel of vitality. Apathy is not encouraged. “A democracy is only as vital as the participation of its citizens,” said David Cochran, professor of politics. “There are lots of ways to participate in politics, but the act of voting is both symbolically and substantively central to modern democracy.”
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Getting mean for the caffeine
Class experiment takes students by surprise when their favorite pick-me-up seems to disappear by NICK JOOS
executive editor
Some people were worried. The coffee in the library was gone. “I walked in and panicked. If there was no more coffee, I would have cried at the front desk,” said one student. “I walked in and I got really nervous. I almost had a nervous breakdown,” said another. Upon realizing the coffee was missing, the exasperation was obvious on perplexed faces. Others threw their arms up in anger. All of them were coffee-less, and all of them were subjects to an experiment. The behavioral science class taught by Professor Grinde conducted an experiment on Thursday,
Sept. 27, in the ARC. They came up with the idea to move the Thursday morning coffee from its normal location and record the reactions. Their goal was to determine gendered behavior while people searched for the coffee within the library. The gender behaviors were classified in as either masculine of feminine. Masculine behaviors include exaggerated gestures, loud yelling or talking and anger, whereas feminine behaviors include confused gestures, asking questions and getting confused. “We chose the coffee for our observational experiment largely because we were challenged to be creative by our professor, Dr. Grinde,” said sophomore Jessie Donels, a
member of the researching group. “We wanted to pick something near and dear to the students at Loras so that we could observe their true, stressed out and confused reactions. As we found out at 9:15 a.m., moving the coffee was the right choice for our experiment.” The group took away two behaviors from each subject. Some people exhibited both masculine and feminine activities, and thus, skewed the data. That is why, in the table on Page 3, the numbers do not equal 100 percent. The section labeled “other” was for the behaviors not anticipated by the group.
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illustrated by Ayush SubedI