The Murray State News NO MO’ FLOMO?
Sophomore guard Kedrick Flomo is weighing options about whether to stay at Murray State after conflicting medical decisions.
DEATH OF A LEGEND See 6B
For a full story, see 1B TheNews.org
April 28, 2016
Vol. 90, No. 28
Murray State tuition model approved Abby Siegel || News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu
Alicia Steele Assistant News Editor asteele5@murraystate.edu
Murray State will no longer be the second most affordable public university in Kentucky – after Kentucky State – now that the Council on Postsecondary Education approved a new tuition model for incom-
ing students that will raise the cost of attending Murray State. “It is important to note too that while it is a big difference for us, with this new rate we are still below Eastern (Kentucky University), well below Northern Kentucky, well below Western Kentucky and well below all the private schools,” President Bob Davies told The News Wednesday. “When you shop the commonwealth, we are extremely af-
fordable.” Current students won’t know for sure how much their tuition will increase until the Board of Regents meets May 13. The Council on Postsecondary Education set a maximum increase of 5.7 percent. Davies said university officials also haven’t decided if Murray State will raise the $65 fee for online classes. Incoming students this fall will take the brunt of the in-
creases, as Murray State will bump in-state tuition to $4,200 per semester from the current rate of $3,804. New students from surrounding states who pay regional tuition will be charged $8,400 per semester. Out-of-state students starting this fall will pay $11,340, which is 9.5 percent more than outof-state students pay each semester this year.
University Town Hall Meeting President Bob Davies will address student, faculty and staff concerns Thursday at the University Hall Meeting.
2 p.m. Thursday, April 28 Alexander Hall, Room 240 Live stream at murraystate.edu/streaming
see TUITION, 2A
The culture of a continent Racers look for the distinction between fact and fiction
Performance raises questions about cultural stereotypes, see 2A
‘A Night in Africa’ comes to campus Gisselle Hernandez Features Editor
ghernandez1@murraystate.edu
Africa has often been a victim of blind ignorance – for example, the assumption that it’s a country and not a continent. Because of misconceptions like these, the African Student Association decided to host “A Night in Africa” – an event showcasing traditional African food, cultural dances, poetry and a fashion show on Friday – in hopes of educating the masses about the “real Africa.” Bellarmine Ezumah,
assistant professor of journalism and mass communications and adviser of the association, described the event’s purpose as changing the mentality of how the mainstream media portrays Africa. “[In the media, Africa] is usually full of crisis, full of disease, full of poverty and full of corruption,” she said. “An event like this actually showcases Africa for what it really is.” And what Africa really is is beautiful metropolitan cities with talented people, Ezumah said. She said it surprises her that the mis-
conception of Africa being a country and not a continent with many countries still persists today. Events the association puts on, such as “Taste of Africa” or the Miss MSU International pageant, are all efforts to relinquish the concept of Africa being a “wild” wasteland. David Pizzo, professor of history, said this idea was reflected in Sigma Phi Epsilon’s theme in All Campus Sing, “Welcome to the Jungle.” Serah Waweru, senior
see AFRICA, 2A
McKenna Dosier/The News
Murray State student published in U.S. News Alicia Steele Assistant News Editor asteele5@murraystate.edu
Cathy Jane Van Lit, international graduate student in the Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business, began writing for the national publication, U.S. News and World Report, to offer advice to international students interested in attending college in the United States. Van Lit said the international adviser asked her if she would be interested in writing for the publication after U.S. News tweeted that they were looking for writ-
WHAT’S
INSIDE
ers. She said the international adviser first tried to find an international student who already kept a blog, to see if they would be interested in the job and then give the writer a topic to write about. “It came down to me and I ran with it, basically,” Van Lit said. As a result, Van Lit said she emailed U.S. News a sample of a blog she kept while she was traveling. Shortly after, they responded by asking her what kind of topics she would be interested in writing and told her if they liked her ideas they would get
back to her. Since the blog must be objective, she could not write specifically about Murray State, but she said her ideas included things like: • Choosing a state university or a small town for higher education; • How to talk to recruiters and how to prepare yourself for fairs; • Once you are admitted, what do you do next? “So it was all focused on before you get to the U.S.,” Van Lit said. She said two or three weeks later she was asked to
Van Lit’s U.S. News articles to date • 6 Factors for Prospective International MBA Students to Weigh – March 16 • Do’s, Dont’s for Talking to a U.S. College Recruiter – March 1
CORRECTION On Thursday, April 21, The Murray State News incorrectly referred to Paula Waddill as professor and chair of physiology, rather than her correct position, professor and chair of the psychology department, in the article “Women’s STEM grant brings opportunities.” Also, Dr. Echo Wu and Dr. Steven Cobb were not given proper reference as official members of the project team. The News regrets the error.
see BLOGGER, 2A
ASSAULT AWARENESS
SCHOLARS WEEK
OUR VIEW
KEDRICK FLOMO
Academic opportunity highlights student research, 3A
Paying for change: new currency, old issue, 4A
A look back at Sexual Assault Discrepancy between medical clearance may lead to transfer, 1B Awareness Month on campus, 5B
The News
News
2A
April 28, 2016
Sig Ep draws criticism at All Campus Sing Brianna Willis
Assistant Features Editor bwillis2@murraystate.edu
McKenna Dosier/The News
The champions of the fraternity division in full “jungle” garb.
The United States has struggled in the past with generalizing places abroad, and with the majority of the population being undereducated and uninformed about it, Africa is no exception. The issue was brought to the attention of faculty and students after an All Campus Sing performance was said to show stereotypes of Africa by history professor David Pizzo. The performance was “Welcome to the Jungle” by Sigma Phi Epsilon, who won the fraternity division. The show included songs like “Africa” by Toto and garnered the attention of Pizzo, who teaches Modern Africa. He said he knows the group did not intend for their performance to come off this way, but that their show was a symptom of a much larger problem. “This is not me saying they are full of hate or that they were meaning to hurt anyone,” Pizzo said. “I think in many ways it was a graphic representation of a whole range of stereotypes, misconceptions and problematic notions of not just Africa, but India was also in the mix.” Pizzo said that while he thinks that the show was fun and clever, it still ended up being a manifestation of a lot
TUITION
AFRICA From Page 1
From Page 1
from Kenya and president of the African Student Association, said it means a lot when people want to learn about African culture. “After events, people will come up to us and tell us ‘we didn’t know that about Africa, I want to go visit Africa,’” she said. “It gives people another perspective.” Ezumah agrees, saying American students ought to get to know African students and learn about their culture. “Students will then realize that there is not much difference between you, or an American or a German and someone from Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana,” she said. “A Night in Africa” is not only for educating others about the “real Africa,” but also helpful in bringing a little taste of home to African students at Murray State, Ezumah said. She said African students could have their self-esteem suffer from culture shock. “Events like these make them even prouder about who they are and where they come from,” she said. “When you get an opportunity like this to talk about you, to tell your story, to share with people, it makes you even prouder and I think it raises their self-esteem as well.” Despite the event being hosted by the African stu-
Another key change to the structure is that those rates apply to students taking between 12 and 15 hours each semester. Starting with the next crop of students in Fall 2016, the university will change extra for each credit above 15. At the same time, Davies said Murray State also is revamping its scholarships and adding several new ones aimed at attracting “high-caliber” students. For instance, students who earn a 3.7 GPA during their first year at Murray State would qualify for a new “Academic Achievement” scholarship for their second year,
BLOGGER
From Page 1
Photo courtesy of Emma Franklin
Students and faculty members were welcome to embrace both traditional and modern dance. dents, there were many instances throughout the night where the audience was in the limelight. Dance contests – from African tunes to Africa’s “whip” and “nae nae” – involved volunteers from the audience who were taught a couple of signature African dance moves. A fashion show, three poems, two dance performances and an African din-
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ner later, “A Night in Africa” ended with Ezumah thanking the attendees and reminding students what Africa actually is. Don Robertson, vice president of Student Affairs, said events like these reflect what Murray State is all about. “[These] events allow us to explore the world without ever leaving campus,” he said.
write a sample post, but never heard anything back about it. “A week later, I was grocery shopping and my dad calls me or sends me a text and said, ‘Yeah, your blog is posted,’’’ Van Lit said. “I was like, ‘Excuse me?’” Van Lit said she sent U.S. News an email and asked what would happen next and she was assigned to write about international students who may want to attend graduate school in the United States. She said the last blog U.S.
of ideas that people have about Africa being backward and primitive, even when it wasn’t consciously done. Sig Ep’s All Campus Sing show designer Alex Hopewell said their show wasn’t meant to portray any particular place. “The entire performance was based around the jungle, it was based around ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Tarzan,’” Hopewell said. “No more assumptions were made about it; that was about the extent of our thought process on the theme.” But Sigma Phi Epsilon President Jacob Baird said that it is possible for these classic children’s movies to also make the same mistake when it comes to portraying Africa and India. “I think that they can [portray Africa badly], I think that there’s definitely a possibility that some people can connect the two,” Baird said. “These were just movies that we grew up in our childhood that we thought would make for an entertaining show.” There is even a large divide in the West when it comes to people constantly referring to Africa as one country or place, even though the continent holds 54 countries, making it the continent with the most countries in the world. The article by The Guardian, “Africa is not a country”, highlighted that there were
5,443 articles between 2012 and 2013 that only used “Africa” to describe the place they were talking about on the continent, instead of using the country’s real name. Pizzo said making the West aware of African stereotypes comes down to one thing: education. “Some Americans don’t even know that it’s not a country, and I don’t blame them for this,” Pizzo said. “They don’t talk about Africa in schools, it’s not a core curriculum.” An event hosted by the African Student Association, “A Night in Africa,” was held last weekend. Bellarmine Ezumah, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications and the adviser of the association, said the event was done precisely to eliminate the ideas about Africa the mainstream media portrays. She also said it is not uncommon for people to still think of Africa as a country and not a continent. “Africa is not a jungle,” Ezumah said. “It is so much more.” And when it comes to helping people realize that, Hopewell said a better education is the key. “Knowledge is power in any circumstance,” Hopewell said. “I think that there is probably a lesser chance of things like this coming to the light if there was a deeper understanding of what true African culture is.”
according to the plan. “I actually think that it’s going to enhance the retention and graduation rates,” Davies said. “It is designed to increase the academic preparedness of students coming in.” The new tuition and scholarship model, which Davies announced last fall, has been approved and will take effect beginning Summer 2016. While Murray State will collect more money from students, the university is bracing for cuts in state funding. Gov. Matt Bevin signed the budget bill Wednesday with several vetoes that don’t affect Murray State. The state budget that takes effect July 1 cuts 4.5 percent in state funding. In addition, Murray State must
cut about 2 percent from the current fiscal year that ends June 30. This has caused administrators, deans and department heads to trim costs and recommend classes and programs to cut. “I have received the programs today, and they are extensive and wide ranging,” Davies said. “I am not in a position at this point in time to talk about the specific ones, but there will be some reductions.” Davies will face students, faculty and staff at a town hall meeting Thursday at Alexander Hall, Room 240.
News asked her to write was about MBA students, and it was her favorite topic so far because she is an MBA student, making it an easy topic for her to write about. “It kind of gave me the chance to think about the things that I came across that I probably didn’t realize,” Van Lit said. For example, she said back home, in the Netherlands, extracurricular activities are not as big of a deal as they are in the U.S. “If you were in a sorority, it was ‘O.K., cool, good for you,’” Van Lit said. “And here it’s like a super important stage you go through when you’re applying for schools.”
She said she came to the U.S. to work for Hilton Hotels and Resorts for a year in 2009, but after that year, her visa ended and she went home. “Then I got married, and my husband lives here [in the United States],” Van Lit said. Van Lit said if she could give international students one piece of advice about studying abroad in the U.S., it would be to look into state universities and smaller universities. “I think one of the best things about Murray State is that you know the professors, and the professors know who you are,” Van Lit said. “You don’t get that at a big university.”
– Bailey Bohannan contributed to this report.
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The News
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April 28, 2016 News Editor: Abby Siegel Assistant Editor: Alicia Steele Phone: 270-809-4468 Twitter: MurrayStateNews
POLICE BEAT April 20
9:07 a.m. An Patrol officeradvised conducted 6:51 a.m. Racer Mura traffic in of Alexander Hall ray State stop Police an abandoned parking lot andthe issued a verbal golf cart outside Lowry Center. warningwere for disregarding a stop Officers notified and an inforsign. report was taken. mation 4:39 p.m. 11:42 p.m An officer officer conducted conducted traffic stop Stewart aa traffic stopinatthe 121Roy North and Stadium parking issuedwas a Coldwater Streets.lotAand citation verbalto warning for disregarding issued the driver for failure to a stopasign and speeding through wear seatbelt. The passenger a parking lot. on an outstanding was arrested warrant and was taken to Callo-
April 21
3:12 a.m. A caller reported an way Countycar Jail. activated alarm at College 8:20 a.m.Officers A caller were reported a resCourts. notified idential college citation flag missing. The and a parking was isHousing sued. Office was notified. 11:22 A caller conducted reported a 7:12 p.m. Officers motor vehicle accident with parking enforcement in the 15thno injuries at White Residential Coland Olive parking lot. Seven lege. Officers werewere notified and a parking citations issued. report was taken. 7:17 p.m. An officer conducted a
April 22
8:09 stop a.m.at Officers served a traffic the Business Building warrant and arrested a person parking lot. A citation was issued ondriving Miller on Avenue for theft by for a suspended license. unlawful under $500 and 8:51 p.m. taking A caller reported the fourth assault. smell of degree gas at Hart Residential Col1:32Officers, p.m. AMurray caller Fire reported lege. DepartbeingCentral stuck Heating on an elevator in ment, and Cooling Mason Hall. Gas Officers and CenPlant, Murray and the State Fire tral Heating Cooling Marshall wereand notified. A were report notified. was taken. 12:01 p.m. A caller reported a
April 23
3:02 p.m. A caller reported a medical outlet emergency theblock Insparking in theat300 Public Safety, oftramural CollegeFields. Courts. Officers, the Murray Ambulance Service and Murray Fire Department, CenStudent Affairs notified. tral Heating andwere Cooling Plant Patient refused transport and a and the State Fire Marshal were medical report was taken. notified. A report was taken. 3:24p.m. p.m. A Murray caller reported 4:57 The Police Deunauthorized people of ina Carr partment was notified mediHealth Building. were cal emergency at Officers the Volleyball notifiedOfficers and requested they Courts. and Murray Amleave the building andnotified. they bulance Services were complied. The patient was transported and a report was taken. 3:46 a.m. Officers conducted a
April 24
12:44 a.m. The Calloway check of aSheriff’s person onOffice North re12th County Street. The person was arrested and quested assistance for a possible transported to Calloway Countyin Jail domestic violence altercation for alcohol intoxication in a public progress on Coleman Trail. Ofplace. report was taken. ficersAwere notified. 9:09 caller reported reported 10:41 p.m. p.m. A A caller a smoke detector activated at people stuck on an elevator in Springer Residential College due to DoyleOfficers Fine Arts Building. aPrice hair dryer. were notified Officers and Central Plant Heatand no threat of fire was found. An ing and Cooling and the Murray information report was taken. Police Department were noti4:42 p.m. A caller reported a theft offied. property from a vehicle from Alexander Hall. Officers were notified and a report was taken for
April 25
11:19 a.m. A caller reported theft $500 by unlawful theft of of under property. Officers were taking from notified anda avehicle. report was taken 6:12 reported the for p.m. theft A by caller unlawful taking, smell marijuana at Hart. fromof vehicle, under $500. Officers were notified and an information 11:52 p.m. A caller reported the report was taken. smell of marijuana at Hart Residential College. Officers were notified and information 2:47 p.m. A an caller reportedre-an port was taken.company selling unauthorized products on campus at Winslow Dining Hall. The caller was re-
April 26
1:35 p.m. A caller reported a medical emergency ferred to Student Affairs. at the 6:12 p.m. A caller reported the Lowry Center. Officers, Murray smell of natural gas atand theStudent Old Fine Ambulance Service Arts Building. Officers, Person Central Affairs were notified. Heating and Cooling Plant, Murray was transported to Murray CalFire department, Murray Gas and loway County Hospital. the State FirePublic Marshall wereand noti6:59 p.m. Safety fied and a report was taken. Emergency Management received a fax from the office of Institutional Equity Motorists assistsDiversity, –8 and Access reporting a physical Racer escorts – 1 assault–not Arrests 2 previously reported. Officers were notified. Mary Bradley, Assistant News Editor, Racer assist – 0Beat with materials compiles Police Motoristby assist – 1Safety and Emerprovided Public Arrests -1 gency Management.
Alicia Steele, Assistant News Editor, compiles Police Beat with materials provided by Public Safety and Emergency Management.
Not all dispatched calls are listed.
Not all dispatched calls are listed.
Love Police Beat? You can check it out every week online, too, on TheNews.org.
3A
Waterfield and Regents face flooding Bailey Bohannan Staff writer bbohannan@murraystate.edu
Throughout the semester, plumbing problems have flooded the Waterfield Library basement and the third and fourth floor of Regents Residential College because of the heating and cooling systems. As Facilities Management transitioned buildings on campus from the winter heating systems to the spring cooling systems, the basement of Waterfield flooded as the drainage pipes overflowed from the mechanical room, said Ashley Ireland, dean of university libraries. As well, Regents has had leaks due to valve failures in the cooling system pipes, said David Burdette, interim chief facilities officer. Two of these events happened back to back, Regents flooding on April 14 and Waterfield on April 15, but Burdette said they are not related. “We had two very individual actions,” Burdette said.
WATERFIELD LIBRARY
Burdette said the Waterfield flooding on April 15 was due to drainage pipes overflowing. During the annual transi-
tion from heating to cooling, Facilities Management fills individual building coils, cooling towers and the Central heating and cooling plant chillers with water in order to bring cooling systems online. It was during this process that the drainage pipes in the mechanical room flooded the basement of Waterfield. This isn’t a common occurrence, Burdette said, and he said he couldn’t remember it ever happening before. Facilities Management easily dealt with it and began cleanup immediately after addressing the problem. “I have worked here for eight years, and this is the first time something like this has occurred in that time,” Ireland said. Ireland said a library employee noticed it and about 15 library employees responded to the situation immediately. Facilities Management was there within minutes of being notified. Ireland said the plumbing flood in the basement of Waterfield resulted in no damages and was taken care of efficiently enough that the library did not have to be closed. Additionally, Burdette said students stayed away from the standing water
Nahiomy Gallardo/The News
Waterfield Library staff clean up water after pipes overflow in the basement. without having to be told.
REGENTS RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE
The third pipe leak in Regents this semester happened on April 14, and Burdette said it was because a valve failed in the piping system installed last summer. Burdette said the entire Regents building underwent a piping project last June to help with the transition from heating to cooling. This project replaced all the pipes involved in the
heating and cooling system. Burdette said the pipes were replaced with a new system to help individual rooms heat the space better and faster. Burdette said since there have been three flooding incidents in Regents during Spring 2016, all of the pipes that were changed during the project last summer would be replaced again on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23. Burdette said the housing staff of Regents did the right
thing to turn off the water when the leak was noticed and because of that, the failed valve inconvenienced fewer people. Tyler Presson, senior from Camden, Tennessee, lives in Regents and said he was not directly affected by the flooding. He also said he did not know of any damage because of the flooding. “The only thing the flooding did to me directly was causing me to dodge the occasional wet floor sign in the halls,” Presson said.
Students give presentations at Scholars Week Cody Hall
Contributing writer chall22@murraystate.edu
Students and faculty gathered April 18-21 for Murray State’s annual Scholars Week, dedicated to students presenting the research they have conducted. Scholars Week has been going on at Murray State for 15 years. Most of the research presented at the event is personal research that is not affiliated with classes but is affiliated with scholarships or program requirements. Chalice Keith/The News David Pizzo, history profesPresentations are given about scholarships and programs. sor and faculty coordinator for the office of research and creative activity, and A.J. Boston, scholarly communication librarian, coordinated the event. The main event at Scholars Week is the poster competition. Both undergraduate and graduate students present their research through posters that are judged. The research for the posters can be from almost any field of study. “It changes the way that you do your research,” Boston said. “It’s not canvas, it’s real life.” Boston set up the event and Chalice Keith/The News the application process for stuFaculty members discuss the presentations. dents interested in being part of
Scholars Week through Digital Commons. This program was used to organize most of the event, Boston said. “It used to be a huge deal on campus,” Pizzo said. “The provost actually made chairs and faculty go. There was food and all kinds of other things, and all that just disappeared.” In the past, the event would
Whether you are science majors or not, learning how to do research develops better critical-thinking skills.
“
”
- Leah Good, graduate student have up to 1,200 people participating, Pizzo said. However, this year there were around 160 registered for the event, which was nothing like last year. “Over the course of my undergraduate career, I’ve been to two big sociological conferences and given presentations four different times,” said Darcy Sullivan, junior from Muhlenberg, Kentucky. “It’s really good to come
back to my school here at Murray and see everyone with posters to present.” Pizzo said larger universities have events like this come to them, but with Murray State we bring chances to do events like this ourselves. He and Boston are both working toward making Scholars Week a bigger event than it has been in recent years and hope to get more of the campus community involved. “It’s really important for students to have a culminating experience to their research projects,” said Maeve McCarthy, mathematics professor. “It’s very rewarding for students and their professors.” McCarthy was the chairwoman for the Sigma Xi poster competition. She tallied up the scores for the different posters in that division. “Whether you are science majors or not, learning how to do research develops better critical- thinking skills,” said Leah Good, graduate student from Martin, Tennessee. “It gets you more confident in the knowledge that you have. Whether you are graduate or undergraduate, it’s a great opportunity.”
OSH students awarded national scholarships Alisha Kempher
Contributing writer akempher@murraystate.edu
The American Society of Safety Engineers Foundation (ASSE) awarded 106 occupational safety and health students across the United States scholarships this month. Eleven of those students are from Murray State, which is the highest amount of scholarships given to one university this year. Murray State has an ASSE student chapter that encourages members to apply, which is how many of the recipients heard about the scholarship opportunities. Kelly Mehner, senior from Waterloo, Illinois, received a scholarship from the ASSE Foundation for the second consecutive year. She is the secretary for the ASSE student chapter and leads the community service committee. “We always mention it to the students to apply,” Mehner said. “We highly encourage it because it is so much money.” Both Mehner and Luke Whitmore, senior from Shepherdsville, Kentucky, said the scholarship money
was going toward their student loans. Students must have a transcript from every college they have attended, an academic letter of recommendation, a GPA of 3.0 during their undergraduate studies and have attained 60 credit hours to be considered for the ASSE scholarships, according to the requirements outlined on the ASSE website. “I think we are producing well-involved safety professionals,” Mehner said. “Other schools match our academics, but I feel like our students are more involved.” Whitmore said OSH students need to see what they enjoy because ASSE has so many different committees like research and community service. He said the best way to get involved is “just going to meetings, signing up for committees and seeing what their interests are.” Mehner said the ASSE chapter worked on raising money this year to create a scholarship for OSH majors. “We raised money, and we are actually giving it back to the foundation,”
Emily Harris/The News
OSH students receive a national American Society of Safety Engineers foundation scholarship. said Mehner. Last year, the Murray State chapter won the Outstanding Student Section Award and received $6,000 to help fund research and scholarships. A student accepted the award on behalf of the group in Dallas at the 2015 Safety Conference. Companies come to Murray State to recruit prospective OSH students for jobs and various intern-
ship opportunities. Mehner said. “They are asking questions like, ‘What leadership roles have you stepped into’ and ‘What have you done,’” she said. Kristen Spicer, associate professor in the Occupational Safety and Health Department, said the program has become more competitive since 2014 because students have to apply to get into the OSH
program and go through a review process. Students must have a GPA of at least 2.5, completed 30 credit hours towards an OSH degree and have an average grade of a C or above in all attempted OSH courses. “It is competitive because we are producing top professionals” Mehner said. “If you don’t step up and get involved, it’s going to be hard and you will get lost in the crowd.”
4A
April 28, 2016
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Facing it: new currency a troubling issue The staff editorial is the majority opinion of The Murray State News Editorial Board. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew announced April 20 that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. There’s just one small catch: Jackson won’t actually be removed. Jackson – a slave owner infamous for his involvement in the Trail of Tears and, ironically, his opposition to a national bank system – will be bumped to the back of the bill alongside an image of the White House. The image of Tubman, who led hundreds of slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, will rest on the face of the bill. Former slave and abolitionist on one side, slave owner on the other – what could be a more troubling representation of American history? It seems as if the bill is the perfect reflection of how the American government has dealt with appeasing minorities. Consider the complex way that slaves came to freedom in the U.S., through state-specific laws,
caveats and conditions leading up to the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. Jackson’s presence on the bill is a material symbol of the lasting bonds of oppression – a haunting reminder that, though our wrongdoings can be written over or covered up, they cannot be erased. But is it justified? Is the dichotomy of master and slave, man and woman, oppressor and oppressed supposed to dress or reopen wounds? These are questions that may be answered only through public reaction when the bills go into circulation. The new designs, which include revisions of the $5 and $10 bills as well, won’t be released until 2020, with circulation to begin later in the decade. The $5 and $10 will feature multiple women and civil rights leaders. The former will display Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the back with Abraham Lincoln remaining on the front. The latter will spot-
light five leaders of the women’s suffrage movement: Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul. While the new additions are certainly a token of progress for women and people of color, they’ve raised a frightening concern that some citizens won’t know the figures in their wallets. We conducted a poll to see how many Murray State students learned about Sojourner Truth in school. While 50 percent said they learned about the abolitionist in high school, 2 percent said they learned about her in college. Twenty-five percent didn’t cover Truth in either high school or college, and 22 percent answered, “I don’t know who this is.” If that data is any indication of how American citizens are absorbing our history, hopefully the new bills will serve as educational tools, not sources of conflict or distress. Unfortunately, we’ve already
seen ignorance seep into arguments against the new designs; some have protested Tubman’s image because she isn’t a president. Cue: Ben Franklin. It’s understandable for citizens to oppose the bills because of ideological conflicts with the figures represented – after all, that’s precisely why Jackson is taking a back seat. But if we don’t know the figures at all or have any context for the causes they fought for, the blood they shed or the hate they suffered, that’s deeper than a change of aesthetics. More than new currency, we need new conversations. The people printed on our currency shouldn’t be ghosts of history to be passed off and crumpled absentmindedly. They shouldn’t be one-dimensional. When the new bills are printed, don’t let those faces and names become loose change in your pocket – learn the names. Know their stories. Consider the cost of those faces. Do you know who paid your bill?
Guest column:
Unity from grieving The world came together in mourning last Thursday when the legendary musician Prince died. For me, it’s deaths like Prince’s that really put into perspective the strong parasocial relationships we, as Aaron Peck ordinary peoChief Videographer ple, form with celebrities. A parasocial relationship is when a member of one party has a strong emotional connection with another, while the second party has no idea of the existence of the first. In the days following Prince’s death, you couldn’t check your social media without seeing people who have never met the singer expressing the utter pain they felt, knowing they would never get to experience his physical presence again. People expressed their admiration in different forms, from sharing their favorite Prince moments, their favorite Prince song or pin-pointing a personal memory based on one of his songs. Music has such a strong power over people, and just hearing an opening guitar riff or a chorus of a song can instantly snap you back
to a moment of time in your life. I can’t claim to be the biggest Prince fan because I honestly only know maybe five of his songs off the top of my head. However, I do remember thinking it was super baller that it was raining during his Super Bowl halftime show – it made for one epic performance of “Purple Rain.”
While I’m not the biggest Prince fan, I can respect the mourning his fans are going through because I went through a similar grieving process when comedic legend Robin Williams tragically took his own life just a year and a half ago. Robin Williams gave me thousands of laughs throughout my life, and watching his movies has allowed the laughs to continue even after his death. He was so inspiring to me because I could watch him in every perfor-
mance and see that he genuinely cared about his audience. He could bring me pure joy while also hitting me in the feels. I have probably cried 20 times from watching the movie “Flubber.” I know what you’re thinking – yes, I watched “Flubber” more than 20 times growing up. That scene when the evil henchmen broke into Robin Williams’ house and broke his flying robot got me every time. In all seriousness, these one-sided relationships we share with musicians, actors and athletes are mostly good-natured and harmless. But they can also lead to extreme passion in a negative way. For example, this is what drives Trump fanatics to physically and verbally attack protesters at his rallies. They feel such a strong attachment to his views and politics that they might harm another person in his name and honor. Parasocial relationships can extend beyond just celebrity infatuation, though. For example, after the horrific attacks in Paris in November, the world came together in mourning. Suddenly, everyone was adding a red, white and blue French flag filter to their Facebook profile pictures. “My thoughts and prayers are with those families of the victims” was a common status update or tweet. The world is a rough place, and that’s never going to change. But when we come together in the midst of adversity in an event as big as the attacks on Paris or the death of a widely-loved celebrity, it’s refreshing. It’s important for us to come together in support and show love, respect and admiration for those we love, even if we didn’t have a direct relationship with them.
The News
Opinion
April 28, 2016
Poll
5A Some Things Considered Can’t write? Build a house
We asked our Twitter followers if they learned about Sojourner Truth in school. Here are the responses of 103 people.
100
Like our polls?
80 Yes, in high school
60
50% No
40
26% 20
Yes, in college
I don’t know who this is
22%
We want to hear from you! To participate in future polls, follow us on Twitter, @MurrayStateNews.
2% Rational Animal
Your major is not the same as your job Recently Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton said that students should choose degrees that will land a job after graduating and not focus on majors such as history. This follows Gov. Matt Bevin’s comment that we should fund more engineering John Muenzberg majors and fewer Lecturer of philosophy in majors such as French literature. Last week, Brianna Willis wrote a fitting defense of majoring in history. Her list of the advantages is not only accurate, but it could be applied to all liberal arts degrees. One can also counter Hampton’s comments with employment information. First, and most basically, when people dismiss academically-oriented majors, they are usually only thinking of their first job. It is true that some majors, such as engineering, have high starting salaries. A college degree, however,
should not be about your first job, but the ability to move to your second, third or fourth job. Historically, the focus of a college degree has not been “job training” but educating the students in a wide range of areas. This, studies have shown, leads to promotions and raises later in life. Second, surveys show that majors in the arts and sciences have employment rates as high as professional programs. One (non-rigorous) survey reports that history majors have an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, while computer engineering is at 6.0 percent. Chemical engineering majors have 2.2 percent unemployment, while civil engineering is 12.3 percent. Communications is at 7.1 percent, but animal science has an 11 percent unemployment rate. The point is not to see who has the lowest unemployment, but to recognize that employment is not reserved for “practical” majors. Besides, an employment rate of 94.2 percent for history majors is a far cry from the assumption, actually voiced by some university professors, that liberal arts majors will be starving and without work. On the contrary, they will be earning a living, having studied what they love. Third, numerous professions require graduate degrees, and the best undergraduate major may not be one in that field. For example, the top scores on the GMAT, the exam used for MBA programs, belong to physics, mathematics, en-
Cheers to ... Lemonade
Cheers & Jeers Cheers & Jeers is written by the Opinion Editor. Questions, comments or concerns should be addressed to hbeard2@murraystate.edu
Comic
gineering and philosophy majors. If you want to get an MBA, you may be better off studying history, English literature or chemistry, as those majors all have higher average scores than finance, accounting or international business. Again, the point is not to brag about which majors have the highest scores. The point is that the title of your major does not determine what career you will have. This is why calling some majors “practical” is inaccurate. What is important is how you prepare for your future careers, and there are many ways to do that. Let me close by using a good friend of mine as an example. He is an entrepreneur who owns his own business. Did he major in business? No, he majored in engineering. He worked as an engineer, and after 15 years, he recognized a need in his field and opened his own engineering firm in the hopes of meeting that need and succeeding at it. The reason he was able to do this was because his university taught him critical thinking, writing and analysis skills along with the engineering training. All of those skills enabled him to evaluate the field and learn, on his own, issues in starting and running a business. If you think this example is unusual, then note this: Matt Bevin’s major was East Asian studies, and Jenean Hampton’s was industrial engineering. Your major is not the same as your job.
Jeers to ... Job searches
Beyoncé hit us again with another surprise visual album, and it’s just what the doctor ordered. Emotional, passionate and fearless, it’s the perfect boost we needed as finals approach.
The struggle is too real. To all the graduating seniors interviewing for entry-level jobs that require three years experience: we stand with you. We believe in you. Go forth and conquer. You can do this!
Jeers to ... A legend lost
Cheers to ... Joining forces
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” Farewell, sweet Prince. Your music, enthusiasm and purpleness inspired so many. Rest in peace.
Republican nominees Ted Cruz and John Kasich are finally banding together to block Trump’s nomination. Way to go, guys. We need all hands on deck to keep The Orange One out of office.
I’ve recently uncovered the holy grail of writing tips. Faced with an ungodly number of papers to write and needing motiHallie Beard vation, I Opinion Editor consulted a blog called “The Thesis Whisperer” for tips on how to churn out a lot of pages or words at once, and found a method that is now my new obsession. Let me summarize the blog post for you: Ph.D. candidates facing the grueling hell of writing dissertations and journal articles went through a bootcamp where each student had a goal of writing 20,000 words over the weekend. I don’t know the specifics of what the daily schedule was like, but the leaders of the bootcamp used a reward system to motivate the students. For every 5,000 words the student wrote, they’d receive a large Lego block. Yes, Legos – the plastic chunks we stacked together as children. Each student would use the blocks to build a small wall at their desk – one that could only be completed by reaching the next word-count goal and “unlocking” the next piece. If you have an affinity for things that fit together, you can imagine how satisfying it would be to complete a colorful little wall while also completing a huge writing assignment. It’s a genius idea for visual learners. Hammering out a bunch of paragraphs can often feel like meandering without making a dent, but turning your progress into a visual display allows a fresh way to view accomplishment. After reading the post, I knew I had to try it. As a creative writing major and opinion columnist, I constantly have writing assignments looming over me. At this point in the semester, I’m drowning in enough paper to summon the pages back into tree form. The problem was, I didn’t have Legos or anything remotely similar. So, I took a much simpler route that would still capture the purpose of the reward: I decided to build a beautiful house. By that I mean: I would draw the most basic of stick-figure houses on a sheet of paper. Since I had thousands of words to write, I decided to break down my goals into chunks of 100. For every 100 words I wrote, I could draw one line on the house. This means it took about 900 words before my drawing really resembled a house. You could make the increments as large or small as you wish, but 100 words starts to feel like nothing when using this method. Before you know it, you’ve got a few pages and a cute little house. It was incredibly satisfying. If I started getting tired or lost, I’d look at the half-finished house that begged for a connector line. With each connection I made on the drawing, it reiterated whatever connection I’d made in my writing. Another helpful aspect of this method was that I wrote down on a separate sheet of paper my increments of 100. That way, I could cross off each one, once completed, and keep track of my progress. I have to say, this is the most valuable nugget of wisdom I’ve encountered in a long time, and I’ll be sticking with this method on what I call “grind days” for a long time. Try it out, Murray State students. You don’t have to build a house, but it certainly helps to have a simple structure. Whatever it is, build a good one. Write on. hbeard2@murraystate.edu
Seriously? By Selena McPherson
The News
News
6A
April 28, 2016
Honors society collects pencils for Belizean students Stella Childress Contributing writer schildress4@murraystate.edu
Nicole Ely/The News
The condition of the stage in Wrather West Kentucky Museum has caused organizations to find new locations for events.
Wrather’s poor stage conditions require precautionary measures
Cody Hall || Contributing writer
chall22@murraystate.edu
Student groups and organizations that use the stage in Wrather West Kentucky Museum have been advised to take their events elsewhere as a precautionary measure due to the condition of the stage. Wrather’s stage has shown signs of its age and in some parts has begun to sag. Although there is no clear damage to the stage, for the sake of safety, officials are advising groups and organizations to find another venue. Named after M.O. Wrather, an administrator for Murray State, in 1982, Wrather is the oldest building on campus and was built in 1924. Initially, it was the administrative building. The building has had multiple uses and in 1975 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Murray State’s website. “There is nothing structurally wrong with the stage,” said Jason Youngblood, assistant director for facilities design and construction.
“There are some sag spots in it, but nothing to be fearful of.” They are currently evaluating the entire auditorium in Wrather to potentially redo much of the interior and make it more modern, Youngblood said. This would not be the first time that work has been done on Wrather. Last year, the roofing was replaced to keep it intact. Youngblood hopes that the auditorium can be updated in a way that it will be more beneficial to the academics of Murray State. Wrather stage is a host to various organizations, including multiple Greek organizations, recognition ceremonies and multiple classes each week. Any renovations done to the auditorium will not interfere with the historic aspects of the building, Youngblood said. Any renovations done will not begin for another year or two, if at all. “The only thing we are recommending at this time is that they limit the amount of people that are on the stage,” said Shawn Touney,
director of communications. “It’s a 90-year-old facility and is still being used. It’s just a precautionary measure.” Renovations to the stage might be possible if the university is able to find the budget to do it. The amount that will be needed is still unknown, and the team of designers that are investigating the stage are working on determining the cost. If there are not enough funds to redo the entire auditorium, their focus will just be on getting the stage back to good condition, Touney said. With these renovations, facilities management hopes to add curtains to the stage, new lighting and better sound systems and improve the integrity of the stage to remove the sagging spots, Youngblood said. With the growing size of the university, there is a need for larger classrooms around campus. Having a new, modern Wrather will help by providing a whole auditorium for classes that need the space, Youngblood said.
Not all students around the world have enough pencils, so Murray State students and faculty are doing something to meet that need. Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) – a collaborative honors society that focuses on serving the community and includes all academic fields – is hosting a pencil drive. These pencils will be taken to Belize when Murray State students study abroad each year. Bonnie Higginson, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, and Don Robertson, vice president of Student Affairs, traveled to Belize in 2007 with the College of Education and Human Services and noticed a lack of pencils among the Belizean students. Higginson said she decided to do something about the need by initiating the drive. For the last eight years, education students have been passing out the collected pencils on their own study abroad trips to Belize. Higginson and the members of ODK have collected thousands of pencils, said Lucas Prather, senior from Mahomet, Illinois, and honors society president. “For some, it is the first time they have had a new pencil.” Robertson said. “Though it seems like a small thing, it can have a very positive impact.” Prather said he believes that the pencil drive is a great way for Murray State students to get involved outside the “walls” of the campus. This year, he said they have also added colored pencils as a donation option for Belizean students so that not only can they write, but also draw and color.
The pencil drive also benefits students at Murray State by giving them a chance to give back beyond the university community. “Our students benefit by being able to help others in need and to once again see how fortunate they are with all they have and often take for granted,” Robertson said. Higginson just came back from a three-week trip to Corozal, Belize, and a group of education students are still there student-teaching. They give the pencils to the district manager of 16 schools, and he distributes them to various villages. The learning environment in Belize is very different from what the student-teachers are used to. There is no air conditioning and the students do not have the same school supplies. Despite that, the children still attend school with excitement. “The children are eager to learn,” Higginson said. Holly Bloodworth is a teacher on leave from Murray Elementary who is conducting literacy workshops for more than 200 teachers in Belize to expand the impact of the work that Murray is having on the community. She works for the Kentucky Department of Education and has taught for 28 years. Robertson said in the future, ODK plans to continue doing the pencil drive to benefit Belizean students, and through the years hundreds of students have participated in the drive. ODK is still accepting donations of regular and colored pencils. You can drop them off at the office of Student Affairs, 425 Wells, until April 30. Simple pencils can mean a lot to someone, Higginson said. “It's an amazing, challenging and powerful experience,” Higginson said.
Evans presents at Amnesty International conference Abby Siegel || News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu
Human rights activist and Murray State alumna Jessica Evans presented at the 51st Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International in Miami, on board recruitment strategies and ways to engage members to take on leadership roles. The conference, themed “Change Our World,” typically has more than a thousand activists, human rights supporters and educators from across the U n i t e d States and globally. Discussions at the conference featured Evans i s s u e s
such as racial justice, uncovering human rights abuses through journalism, migrant and refugee rights, the death penalty and recent terrorist attacks, among other topics. Evans serves as a member of the Board of Directors and International Nominating Committee for Amnesty International and is the vice chairwoman of the City of Murray Human Rights Commission. “Leadership is not just about the position you have, but the values you exhibit and how you represent yourself,” Evans said. “I have come up with the resolution to just stay happy and do what I love.” In 2011, Evans applied to be the Kentucky Area Coordinator for Amnesty International, working to “revitalize” groups in Kentucky. Through her work, nine new regis-
tered Amnesty International groups were created in Kentucky. According to the City of Murray’s official website, “the commission's purpose is to promote and secure mutual understanding and respect among all economic, social, religious, age, ethnic, sexual and racial groups in the city, and shall act as conciliator in controversies involving intergroup and interracial relations.” The commission has been involved in numerous initiatives in its effort to promote social issues awareness related to Murray, including an anti-bullying campaign, conversations on race relations, individuals with disabilities, aging populations, LGBT inclusion and poverty, among other areas of human rights and social equality. “When one group suc-
ceeds, we all succeed,” Evans said.
MURRAY STATE BEGINNINGS
Evans’ initial involvement with Amnesty International began when she was a student at Murray State. She said there was a student organization that met on campus to work to free a prisoner of conscience – someone who had been wrongfully imprisoned because of his or her beliefs. The Amnesty International student organization is still on campus and puts on different educational events to spread awareness about human rights issues like the Syrian refugee crisis and the Armenian genocide. Other topics the organization plans to cover are transgender rights and mandatory prison stay rights. “We try to spread aware-
ness about what these different crimes against humanity are,” said Jon Dunning, senior from Metropolis, Illinois, and vice president of the student organization. Dunning said they are “just supporting our fellow humans.” Evans supports the Murray State chapter of Amnesty International by providing Amnesty International gear and being a source of ideas for the organization. “She has always been supportive,” said Tracey Newport, senior from Mayfield, Kentucky. “She has been really great to work with.” Evans said she encourages people to start small by going to Amnesty International meetings on campus, joining other social justice organizations or attending a Human Rights Commission meeting. Evans grew up in Memphis,
Tennessee, and said she had the advantage of being raised by a family with five generations of “courageous women in a city with a history rooted in the civil rights movement and struggles for equality.” She said she has stories of her personal experiences with sexism, racism and discrimination and that others have them too. However, their stories often go untold and that is why she advocates for all people to be treated with dignity and respect. “I advocate for human rights so that eventually the stories about pain, isolation and endangerment become ones of triumph, encouragement and civility,” Evans said. “Human rights are important to me for the same, incredibly-simple reason that human rights should be important to everyone; we are human.”
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April 28, 2016
Section B
The News
Sports
Sports Editor: Mark McFarland Assistant Sports Editor: Sarah Combs Phone: 270-809-4481 Twitter: MSUSportsNews
Flomo considers transfer Murray State medical team doesn’t clear sophomore to play Mark McFarland Sports Editor
mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
Despite being cleared by his doctors, sophomore guard Kedrick Flomo was not cleared by the Murray State medical team to take the court for the Racers for the 2016-17 season. Doctors at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center cleared Flomo April 11 to resume his collegiate basketball career. However, in order to play for the Racers in the upcoming season, the medical team at Murray State had to clear him. “I wasn’t cleared by the Murray State medical staff; I was cleared by the doctor that did my surgery at the Vander-
bilt hospital to play basketball again,” Flomo said. “Murray State just refused everything, and they felt like the safest thing for me to do was not to play basketball.” He said the university thought it was a risky situation. Flomo said he asked for his full release and permission to transfer on Tuesday, and later that day, he was informed he would be granted his full release and ability to leave the university should he choose to. Murray State Athletics released a press release April 21, stating Flomo would be unable to play for the Racers, but the university would honor his
see FLOMO, 2B Jenny Rohl/The News
Men’s golf collects awards off the course at OVC Tournament Sarah Combs Assistant Sports Editor scombs8@murraystate.edu
Mark McFarland Sports Editor mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
Men’s golf finished tied for fifth with Belmont in the OVC Tournament but came away with multiple All-OVC Honors. Murray State had not won an OVC title since 2010, but the team was feeling confident as it was coming off a second place finish the week before.
ALL-OVC
The Racers earned multiple awards at the annual awards dinner that was held after the first round of the conference championship in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Three seniors were honored on the All-OVC Team and one was recognized on the All-OVC Newcomer Team. Preston French, senior from Lexington, Kentucky, Jared Gosser, senior from Russell Springs, Kentucky, and Brock Simmons, senior from Murray, were awarded the All-OVC Honor followed by Gabe Wheeler, freshman from Sikeston, Missouri, who snagged a place on the All-OVC Newcomer Team. OVC PLAY Following the first round, Murray State sat in third place with a score of 297. The Racers were led by UT Martin with 293 and Jacksonville State with 290. During the second day of the tournament the Racers shared the lead . French finished the day
with a 1-over-par, score 73 on the day and had Murray State sitting in position to make a run. Duncan McCormick, senior from Morganfield, Kentucky, finished the day 3-over-par on the second day after carding a 1-under-par the day before. The final round of the tournament started with the Racers tied for fourth place just five strokes behind first place UT Martin. Murray State was in the second to last group on the day behind UT Martin and the two second place teams Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State. French finished the third round with a 3-over-par, score 75. His final round brought him to a total tour-
see MEN’S GOLF, 2B
Contributed by David Winder – Murray State Athletics
Duncan McCormick, senior from Morganfield, Kentucky, shot a 1-under-par on the first day of the OVC Tournament.
Men’s tennis is an Women’s tennis served up international affair a loss in first round of OVC
Clara Firtos
Contributing writer cfirtos@murraystate.edu
Men’s tennis does not just recruit homegrown players; they recruit players from around the world. There are currently five players on the roster who are international students. They are: Lucas Braga, freshman from Niteroi, Brazil; David Schrott, freshman from Mannheim, Germany; Srdjan Trosic, sophomore from Novi Sad, Serbia; Marcel Ueltzhoeffer, sophomore from Oftersheim, Germany; and freshman Javier Villar from Madrid. “It was a dream come true to get the opportunity to play college tennis in a different country,” Ueltzhoeffer said. Schrott said coming to Amer-
WHAT’S
INSIDE
ica to play tennis for Murray State was an exciting experience for him as well. “At first, I didn’t know what to expect,” Schrott said. “It is very different from tennis in Europe.” Schrott said there are different rules for scoring in the United States, but he prefers the rules here. He said there are more matches in a short amount of time than in Europe. “Here, it’s an all-team competition, unlike in Germany,” Schrott said. “In Germany, you play for clubs and go to tournaments all by yourself without a coach.” Ueltzhoeffer said in Germany, they have club tennis teams where the level of difficulty is fairly high. He said their system is similar to United States’, but it was never affili-
GET TO KNOW FOLKE
ated with education. He was recruited by former men’s coach and now women’s tennis coach Jorge Caetano via email. “It was a great decision choosing Murray,” Ueltzhoeffer said. “I have great teammates with good team spirit and a coach with a lot of experience.” Schrott said his favorite things about Murray State include the size, the campus and how nice everyone is. He said he would recommend Murray State to anybody who wants to play college tennis. While playing tennis for Murray State, Ueltzhoeffer said he grew to appreciate his teammates. “I have made friends with men who come from all over
see MEN’S TENNIS, 2A
Sarah Combs
Assistant Sports Editor scombs8@murraystate.edu
The Murray State women’s tennis team fell 4-1 to Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the OVC Tournament, finishing with an 11-10 overall record and 6-4 in the conference. The Racers’ attempt for a three-time championship came to an end after Eastern clinched the early doubles point 1-0 and singles 6-1. Partners Erin Patton, senior from Memphis, Tennessee, and Haily Morgan, sophomore from Anthem, Arizona, defeated Eastern’s Laura Escamilla and Montalro Perez 6-4 in doubles. Alina Schibol, junior from Hamburg, Germany, and
TRACK DOES ACS
Moa Folke answers questions one The track team competed in All week after championship, 3B Campus Sing for first time, 4B
Jeanne Masson from Dinard, France, fell in doubles 6-4 followed by Megan Blue, senior from Ontario, Canada, and Amina Hadzic, sophomore from Esbjerg, Denmark, who fell to Eastern 7-5 and earned the 1-0 lead to enter singles. An injury from EastCaetano ern on the No. 6 court gave Masson and the Racers the only singles point Murray State earned for the day. On Court No. 4, Patton fell to her opponent 6-2, 6-2. No. 1 Blue fell in her match 6-0, 6-4 followed by a
double-fault on match point on court No. 2 by Hadzic 6-2, 6-4. No. 5 Schibol and No. 3 Morgan didn’t finish their matches. “We did what we were supposed to do so we have no regrets,” Head Coach Jorge Caetano said. “I’m feeling good about what they did [this season].” Blue received her third all conference award and was named All-OVC Second Team at the OVC tennis banquet and played the No. 1 spot for the Racers for the season. Caetano said Blue’s performance at the top spot helped lead the team throughout the season, she stepped up and played a tough position.
see OVC, 2A
SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS POLITICS IN CLASSROOM Prevention efforts continue to slash statistics, 5B
Professor’s freedom in voicing their political opinions, 5B
The News
Sports
2B
April 28, 2016
Moulder trying to lead alma mater to success
Mark McFarland
Sports Editor
mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
Baseball is a game that many young kids dreamed of playing professionally when they grew up. Playing Wiffle Ball with friends and Little League for competition, a variation of the sport has always been available for kids to play. Murray State’s H e a d C o a c h K e v i n Moulder was no different. He grew up in St. L o u i s , Moulder a baseball-loving city, with a dad who shared his love for the game. Baseball was always
FLOMO
From Page 1
scholarship opening another athletic scholarship available for Head Coach Matt McMahon to use for his program. Flomo said he is weighing his options on whether he will transfer and go play somewhere else or stay at Murray State and focus solely on academics. “Whatever I feel like is best for me, then that’s what I am going to do,” Flomo said. Flomo said basketball has always been with him but wants to make the best decision for himself and his health. “Basketball is a Flomo big part of
there for him and he was hooked on playing. Every job Moulder had except for one was baseball related. He said he can’t remember a time he hasn’t loved the game. “I don’t remember not loving baseball,” Moulder said. “I just kind of grew up around it.” Moulder said baseball was his dad’s favorite sport and he grew up having his dad coach his Little League team. After helping out with the junior college team, he was hired by St. Louis University as an assistant coach. The Bilikens hired Moulder in 2007, where he was an assistant head coach and the recruiting coordinator for the program. Moulder said he was always a fan of St. Louis and was happy he was able to spend some of his coaching career there. Moulder also said his
dad played basketball for the Bilikens and his mom graduated from St. Louis. “I have a tight family history with them,” Moulder said. “It was neat to be a part of that. It was a good time.” Moulder coached for St. Louis until 2014 when he was hired to coach his alma mater Murray State starting in the 2015 season. Moulder said he was really excited when he got the call from Murray State. “I was excited because Murray State is a really special place to me,” Moulder said. “And then to put in a lot of hard work to finally get an opportunity to be a head coach was an exciting moment for me.” Earlier this month, Murray State traveled to St. Louis to play the Bilikens. It was the first time Moulder had gone back to face his old team.
my life,” Flomo said. “I’ve met most of the people closest to me through basketball, and it has taught me a lot of life’s values.” With it being only a couple weeks after he was cleared, Flomo said he is going to continue to work out as he has been to be ready for the upcoming season if he decides to transfer. “I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing, running everyday and staying in the gym,” Flomo said. “Regardless if I’m playing basketball or not, I’m always going to be in the gym, it’s just something I have been doing my whole life.” Flomo said he expects himself to be fully ready for the season and says there are examples of athletes who keep him going. “It’s being done right now,” Flomo said. “I know some people that have had open heart surgery, and they are playing basketball as we speak, professionally and collegiate.” “I’ve been thinking about it over the period of time, if I don’t
play I’m going to be wondering what if – but at the same time, I know the ball is going to stop bouncing,” Flomo said. Flomo only played one full season at Murray State, where he played in 29 games and averaged one point per game. He said Murray State was a fun place to play every time he got the chance. “It was great,” Flomo said. “It’s a great basketball place and the tradition here is real good. Just the atmosphere in the Bank, the home games are always something I’ll remember, and I will take that experience with me wherever I go.” Although Flomo is still trying to decide what he and his family think is best for him, he said other schools haven’t contacted him yet to try to convince him to move on and continue to play basketball. “I haven’t been talking to anybody right now,” Flomo said. “Personally, I haven’t talked too much, so I don’t know.”
Murray State beat St. Louis 9-1. Moulder said it was a fun time. Many of the players are from St. Louis or the surrounding areas, so Murray State had a good crowd. “It was a neat night for me, and it was a good night for our team,” Moulder said. “We played really well, and it really isn’t about me that night. It was great, I enjoyed it and everything, but I’m happy that our team played so well.” Moulder said it was good for the guys to have a big crowd at the game as he said the attendees of the game were about 75 percent Murray State fans. Moulder is in the second year of his contract, which expires June 30 of this year. The Racers are in sixth place in the OVC and are 21-21 overall on the season.
Contributed by Christiana Anderson – Murray State Athletics
Megan Blue, senior from Ontario, Canada, serves during a match at the OVC Tournament. The Racers lost to Eastern Kentucky.
OVC From Page 1 “She stepped up for us and played No. 1. I knew it was not going to be an easy year playing No. 1; she did what she was supposed to,” Caetano said. “She was fighting for every single match and
MEN’S GOLF From Page 1
Nicole Ely/The News
This is the second year Head Coach Kevin Moulder has coached the Racers.
every single point.” With the transitioning freshmen gaining OVC Championship experience, Caetano expects big things from his team next year. All eight players will be from Caetano’s recruiting class. The team has an opportunity to begin a journey of three years to learn together without losing any players. The Racers will lose three seniors
and return four sophomores and a transfer student. “The seniors did a great job for us building the path for these girls now,” Caetano said. “They know what it takes to be successful and this group wants to do it again.” Caetano plans on focusing on conditioning and making minor changes to the program for next year.
nament score of 221 which helped him tie for ninth place. McCormick’s final round of 75 gave him a share of 17th place with a final score of 223. He is the second Racer to finish in the top 20. Just behind McCormick and French, Simmons finished tied for 19th place after carding 73 in the seco nd and third rounds. The Racers finished the third round with a score of 296 and a final score of 884 placing them tied for fifth place with Belmont for the tournament. Murray State fell behind
UT Martin shooting a 879, Morehead State shooting a 880, Jacksonville State with a 881 and Eastern with a 883. Hunter Richardson, sophomore from UT Martin won the individual championship with a final score of 211.
Emily Harris/The News
Junior first baseman Ramsey Scott, is batting .299 with nine home runs and 49 RBIs for the season.
Baseball inside cut for OVC Tournament Contributed by David WInder – Murray State Athletics
Jared Gosser, senior from Russell Springs Kentucky, finished 27th in the OVC Tournament.
Place
Team
Day 1
1
UT Martin
2
Morehead
3
Jacksonville State 290
297
294
881
4
Eastern
298
289
296
883
Murray State
297
291
296
884
T5
Day 2
Day 3
Total
293
290
296
879
308
287
285
880
Mark McFarland Sports Editor
mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
The Murray State baseball has won five out of its last six games. The wins include a threegame sweep of Tennessee Tech in an OVC conference series,
MEN’S TENNIS From Page 1 the world,” Ueltzhoeffer said. “They mean so much to me and they give me insight on their cultures and routines.” Ueltzhoeffer said being a part of men’s tennis has been a great experience for him. He said he loves to travel, discover new things and enjoys being around people from different places. Schrott said he traveled to
a win against St. Louis University and a win against Alabama A&M in a rain shortened six inning game. The Racer hitters have combined for a total of 50 hits and 43 total runs in the last six games. The pitchers for Murray State
have given up a total of 29 runs on 65 hits in this span. Murray State will travel to Southeast Missouri State University this weekend for a threegame series. The Racers sit in sixth place in the OVC and in the final spot for the tournament.
the United States almost every year of his life for a couple of weeks at a time, and this made adjusting to a new environment easier. “You could almost say I grew up learning about the American culture, so it’s nothing new to me,” Schrott said. Both men said they are happy to be supported by their families even though they are so far away. “My family is so important to me, they support me in saying how proud they are,” Uelt-
zhoeffer said. “They are always encouraging me to chase after my dreams and stick to my goals in life.” Schrott said his family encourages him as well. “My family is very happy for me. Of course we miss each other, but it’s such a good opportunity for me to be here,” Schrott said. Both men are planning on playing tennis for Murray State next year. They are looking forward to next season and the OVC.
The News
Sports
April 28, 2016
3B
A glimpse inside the world of a champion: Moa Folke
jgaston2@murraystate.edu
Vallery K o r i r , s o p h o m o r e from Iten, Kenya, is a major part of the Racer track and field team. Korir She is currently the school record holder in the 10,000-meter run, breaking the original record earlier this season and again last weekend in the Virginia Challenge with a time of 34 minutes, 27 seconds, which gives her the second fastest time in the OVC. Korir also finished third in the indoor OVC Championship this year in the 5,000meter run. In 2014, Korir broke the school record in the 5,000meter run in the indoor season and also finished second at the outdoor OVC Championship in the 5,000-meter
McKenna Dosier/The News
run. Korir took some time to answer a few questions about some of the things she is interested in inside and outside of track and field. Q. When and how did you become a distance runner? I became a distance runner after graduating from high school, but it became better after joining Murray State track and field. Q. Your brother is a twotime NCAA champion, how much of an influence has he been for you? My brother is my role model, I wish to be like him or better. Q. What has this season been like personally, with the school records and constant improvement? I feel happy being able to reach this stage, and I plan on being better; also, I still think there is room for more improvement. Q. What has it been like coming all the way from
Iten, Kenya to Murray, Kentucky? At first, it was really challenging adjusting to the weather and environment, but with the help of my best friend Felizitas Muller, who really helped me as a freshman to cope with life easily ,and also my precious teammates with our caring coach, I have been able to gain the speed and endurance that I have. Also, my thanks goes to everyone who has been helping and encouraging me. Above all, I thank God for his protection and guidance. Q. What are some hobbies you have besides track? I love shopping, cooking and listening to music. Q. Do you have any kind of ritual or routine you go through before you race? If so, what is it? I visualize myself running good on the field before the race. I also keep a positive mind about the race just to calm me down by believing in ‘All is Well.’ ”
Racers sprint past program records Justin Gaston
Contributing writer jgaston2@murraystate.edu
Murray State traveled to Missouri State and University of Virginia Friday, with many Racers achieving new personal bests, as well as a new school record. At the Virginia Challenge, sophomore distance runner Vallery Korir set a new 10,000-meter record for the Racers, topping her original record-breaking time of 35 minutes, 8 seconds. Her new school record, with a time of 34 minutes, 27 seconds, finished fifth. Emma Gilmore, senior from Locks Heath, England, also ran a personal best in the 800-meter dash, running a time of 2 minutes, 13 seconds. Sophomore distance runner Rebekah Priddy raced in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing near her personal best in 11 minutes, 2 seconds. Sophomore distance runner Caroline Grogan ran in the 5,000-meter race, running her best time this season with 17 minutes, 54 seconds. The Racers also went to Missouri State’s invitational Friday to compete against other OVC teams. Freshman hurdler Jabreuna Brimlett ran with a time of 13.96 seconds in the 100meter hurdles, moving her to fifth fastest time in the OVC and a personal best. Brimlett also had a personal best
scombs8@murraystate.edu
Q. At what age did you notice that you were more advanced than other kids your age? I have always been able to hit it really far, but when I was younger, I could not hit it straight. I was always in the trees and in the water so I never really posted good scores but people could see that I had that talent and if I worked hard I could be really good.
Moa Folke, sophomore from Tranas, Sweden, is an up and coming force in the OVC. Folke improved eight spots in just a year, finishing eighth her freshman year and recently snagging the OVC Champion title this 2015-16 season. Folke had the opportunity to sit down with The Murray State News a week after her win and offered a glimpse inside the world of a champion - what makes her tick, where she developed her love for the game and her plans for future OVC Championships.
Getting to know Korir Contributing writer
lot, too.
Assistant Sports Editor
Moa Folke, sophomore from Tranas, Sweden, finished first in the OVC Championship last week in Owen’s Crossing, Alabama.
Justin Gaston
Sarah Combs
in the long jump with 5.75 meters as well as a personal best in the triple jump with 11.97 meters. Freshman sprinter Tamdra Lawrence ran her personal best in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.72 seconds, which is currently the second fastest time in the OVC. Freshman sprinter Jocelyn Payne ran her personal best in the 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 1 minute, 5 seconds. Payne also ran a personal best of 12.46 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Sophomore mid-distance runner Emani Griffin took two first place finishes in the 800-meter dash and the 1,500-meter run. Griffin ran a time of 2 minutes, 15 seconds in the 800-meter dash, a new personal best, and in the 1,500 meters ran a time of 4 minutes, 41 seconds. Head Coach Jenny Swieton says she is very pleased with her team’s results and is happy their hard work is showing this season. “Things are starting to really come together for our team,” Swieton said. “For the most part, people are getting a lot better at just competing,” Swieton says her team’s desire to be better and compete is a major factor in the team’s success. “I think it is that and the fact that they are really ready to do well. They have been working hard for this,” Swieton said. Freshman high jumper Aubrey Main finished third in
the high jump with a jump of 1.61 meters, setting a personal best. Freshman thrower Christina Meinhardt set two personal bests in the shot put and hammer throw. Meinhardt threw 12.96 meters in the shot put and 44.61 meters in the hammer throw. Her mark in the hammer throw ranks third in Murray State history. The 4x400 meter relay team of junior sprinter Victoria Yocum, sophomore sprinter Anna Curlin, Payne and Lawrence ran a personal best, finishing seventh with a time of 3 minutes, 57 seconds. The 4x100 meter relay, consisting of the same team as the 4x400 meter relay team, placed first with a time of 48.01 seconds. Swieton says she wants her team to stay focused and work on the little things with three weeks left until the OVC Championship. She believes they can compete with any of the schools they face. “They have worked very hard and now is the time to really buckle down and do the little things,” Swieton said. “We have three weeks to really get the most out the season and now is the time to do that. Keep working hard, stay confident and compete,” The Racers will be competing again this weekend in Hillsdale, Michigan, as part of the 50th Annual Hillsdale College Relays.
Q. Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started golfing? I was about eight years old and my dad took me to the golf course because he played, and I just thought it was fun. I was spending a lot of time with my dad and we always had these fights when he would try to teach me something, you know – you never want to listen to your parents. I’m really grateful that he took me out there. Q. Did your dad work with you a lot growing up? When I was really young, he did. I’ve always practiced a lot, but then I had coaches at my local club, too. When I got older and they saw I was better, they started helping a
Q. Is there any coach that really impacted your game? Yeah, both of my coaches at home. I went to golf high school and he really helped me there but also my coach that I have back home that’s on the golf club in my hometown. Q. You said you went to a golf high school, can you explain what that is? We don’t have any high school teams, but they have some high schools who have different sports that they offer, but only a few. They didn’t have a golf team, we don’t compete as a team, we just practice together. Q. Do you have anything else about your golf journey that you would like to share? I feel like I’ve always had a lot of support from my parents and family. They are the
reason I could go here. It’s a big step, moving away from home to come to the U.S. just to play golf. Then also coaches at home have always believed in me that I could do big things.
Q. Do you have any brothers or sisters? Do they play golf? I have two older sisters. They don’t play golf. One of my older sisters always ran track, so my parents tried to make me do track and field. I hated it. I went like twice and I left crying so I never did that. I think that’s why my dad was like ‘OK, she doesn’t like track and field so maybe she should do golf.’
Q. Is there any certain brand of equipment you prefer to use? All I play is Titleist, all of my golf clubs [...] are Titleist. I’m not sponsored, it’s just what I play.
Q. What are you hoping to accomplish during your last two years of Murray State golf? Win some more tournaments - I’ve already won two. This spring has been fantastic for me so I just hope to continue that and then hopefully next spring we can win the OVC as a team. We came in as a really young team this year. Hopefully next year we will be more experienced.
Softball hosts Tennessee Tech and undefeated Jacksonville State Mark McFarland Sports Editor
mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
Despite sitting in eighth place and two spots out of the OVC Tournament, softball Head Coach Kara Amundson said that she is confident her team can make the tournament, even after having a tough weekend. The Racers welcomed Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State last weekend in two of the last four conferences series of the season. Jacksonville State came into the weekend undefeated in conference play. Amundson said despite the loss, she was proud of her team for playing tough. “We always compete when we are playing ‘better’ competition,” Amundson said. The first game against Jacksonville State Sunday started with a walk, an error and three runs, which Amundson said is something the team doesn’t do. “We came out and had an error right away, a walk and a base hit,” Amundson said. “That kind of stuff can start to boil over if you don’t step up a
little bit.” Amundson also said she was proud of her offense, even though they struggled all weekend. She said she was happy to see them try and get runners across to score. The Racers struggled to get runs across in the two doubleheaders, and they could only score 13 runs in the span of the four games. Murray State left a combined 36 runners on base during the weekend. “We leave so many runners on base it’s almost sickening,” Amundson said. “Even this past weekend, I think we left double digit runners on in three of our four games, which just can’t happen.” The team has four seniors on the team who Amundson said deserve the chance to play in the OVC Tournament in their final season. “They’ve been incredible,” Amundson said. “I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I want to say they are probably one of, if not the, winningest class to come through here, which is kind of a big deal and they can all hang their hats on.”
Amundson said they played different roles during their time at Murray State. “They were all huge contributors in their own way,” Amundson said. “Any time you have a group of kids that want to fight until the end, it’s kind of a big deal. They are all in it, fighting tooth and nail, to make sure we get in the conference tournament their last year, and I really hope we can pull it out for them.” With the conference tournament coming up May 11-14, the team is two spots out of the final position in the field. Amundson said the team needs to make sure they control their own destiny when it comes to getting into the tournament. “If we can come out and win some games in these next couple conference series, we need to make sure the fate is in our hands, not in somebody else’s,” Amundson said. “The only way we can really do that is to go win.” The Racers host UT Martin this weekend and will travel to Austin Peay State for the final conference series of the year.
Murray State Intramurals Spring 2016
Men’s Fraternity
Sigma Phi Epsilon
4-1
Lambda Chi
4-1
Alpha Sigma Phi
4-1
Independent
AL-NASSR
7-0
Residential
Hart A
7-0
Women’s Sorority
AOII A
5-0
Independent
Ball Crushers
5-0
Residential
Springer-Franklin A
6-0
The News
Sports
4B
April 28, 2016
Track team slows down for All Campus Sing Clara Firtos Contributing writer cfirtos@murraystate.edu When you think of track, hurdles and running shoes normally come to mind, not pliés or dancing shoes. That’s not the case for Murray State’s women’s track team in All Campus Sing. All Campus Sing is a well known form of entertainment among the surrounding community. The Murray State tradition is high in attendance and breeds competition on campus. The track team has never had the opportunity to compete in All Campus Sing before, and Head Coach Jenny Swieton said she was happy when her team was able to come together and compete. “It was always something they wanted to do, and they have been talking about it for years,” Swieton said. “I
am so happy they finally did it.” Women’s track holds a special competition during their team week called The Sing Off. They get separated into teams and their objective is to take a song and change the words to make it about track and field. They then perform the songs and select a winner at the end of all performances. “The songs they used were made in the past from old Sing Off competitions,” Swieton said. “Everyone helped make the songs; even some alumni [SIC] returned to help.” Swieton said she was excited to see the women perform and she was proud of them. “I think they were nervous, but they are used to performing in front of people athletically,” Swieton
said. “So I think that helped.” Madison Jones, freshman from LaGrange, Indiana, said she thinks she and her teammates performed well. “The week before we didn’t think we were going to continue to do it,” Jones said. “Because we had to change a lot of things, but then three days before the actual competition, we nailed it.” Jones said what kept them going was excitement, dedication and the support they were showing one another. “Our coaches, Hannah Burton, Kennedy Berkley and Lauren Miller were very helpful and communicative with us throughout the whole process,” said Jones. “We even had a fun pizza party with them.” Jones said Burton helped her a lot on choreography and vocal range. “Most of us aren’t used to our singing vocals and
ranges,” Jones said, “Hannah helped us find our ranges from either alto or soprano.” Jones’ favorite cover they performed was Katy Perry’s “Roar.” “Track going vocal, now that’s interesting,” Jones said. Swieton said the women are currently already planning for their performance in next year’s All Campus Sing and are preparing for the upcoming OVC Championship. “We are having a good year, and I am really excited to see what they will do out at championships in a few weeks,” said Swieton. “We are definitely in a good place.” Despite all of the stresses of the season, the women’s track and field team came out with an award for Most Creative Performance at All Campus Sing.
Nicole Ely/The News
Murray State track team rallies to compete in All Campus Sing
Upcoming Athletic Events Baseball
Softball
Track and Field
April 29
Southeast Missouri 6 p.m. Cape Girardeau, Missouri
April 30 UT Martin Racer Field
1 & 3 p.m.
April 30
Southeast Missouri 2 p.m. Cape Girardeau, Missouri
May 1 UT Martin Racer Field
1 p.m.
May 1
Southeast Missouri 1 p.m. Cape Girardeau, Missouri
May 7 Austin Peay 12 & 2 p.m. Clarksville, Tennessee
May 6 Belmont Reagan Field
6 p.m.
April 28 50th Annual Hillsdale College Gina Relays Hillsdale, Mississippi May 13 OVC Outdoor Championships Nashville, Tennessee May 26 NCAA East Preliminary Jacksonville, Florida June 8 NCAA Championships Indianapolis
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April 28, 2016
5B
The News
Features
Features Editor: Gisselle Hernandez Assistant Features Editor: Brianna Willis Phone: 270-809-5871 Twitter: MSUNewsFeatures
Sexual assault awareness month ends, prevention Sexual assault efforts won’t college campuses on
has increased
1,000% from 2009-2014 Source: U.S. News
1 in 5 women will be assaulted in their college career
Implementing steps to slash sexual assault statistics
1 in 16 men will be assaulted in their college career Ashley Traylor
Source: National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Staff writer
atraylor@murraystate.edu
Three Murray State students have reported being sexually assaulted this semester. Last fall, there were four reported sexual assaults, according to police records. Murray State works to raise awareness about sexual assaults – and bystander intervention – especially during April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, with different programs. These include Great Beginnings, mandatory Title IX training, hosting the Vagina Monologue production
and the annual Take Back the Night rally. “Raising awareness is largely focused on how to support survivors, how to intervene as a bystander to prevent sexual assault from happening, and how to work proactively to create a culture of respect,” Abigail French, director of the Women’s Center, said. The number of reported sexual assaults that occur on college campuses has increased 1,000 percent
from 2009 to 2014, according to a report by U.S. News. One in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted during their college career, and less than 10 percent of victims will report their assault, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. This is a tragic but solvable problem, Jessica Ladd, a TED Talk fellow, said. During Ladd’s TED Talk speech, she spoke
about a website, Callisto, victims can access to electronically report their assault without going to the authorities. The website has a match feature, in which, if the same assailant is reported twice, authorities will receive notice and start an investigation. T h e m a t c h s y s t e m prevents 59 percent of perpetrators from committing the crime again because repeat offenders commit 90 percent of assaults, Ladd said. This year, Murray State
see ASSAULT, 6B Chalice Keith/The News
Armenian Genocide: What students need to know Brianna Willis Assistant Features Editor bwillis2@murraystate.edu A crowd of students, faculty and staff gathered in Faculty Hall to listen to David Pizzo, associate professor of history, give a presentation on the Armenian Genocide. As the desks filled, people began sitting on the floor or standing against the wall. Tracey Newport, senior from Mayfield, Kentucky, represented Amnesty International club, which advocates for human rights on campus. This club sponsored the event. “We did one last year that did really well, and since this year is the 100th anniversary [of the Armenian Genocide],
we decided to do it again,” Newport said. “We had a significantly higher turnout this year.” Pizzo said he was shocked when he walked into the room and saw how many people had gathered. A combination of extra credit being offered and the 100th anniversary drew a large crowd. Newport said he wanted to get more people involved on campus and bring information to people outside of the history department. “Having events like this allows us to bring more awareness to situations like that,” he said. The Armenian Genocide is a controversial subject to
Politics, professors, classroom pressures
discuss, as Turkey, where it occurred, has not officially recognized it as genocide and neither has the United States. Pizzo said this is because the U.S. is allied with Turkey. He presented some facts and a brief history of the Armenian Genocide and how it transpired and some of the outcomes. What began on April 24, 1915 – escalated in 1916 and ultimately ended in 1917 – was the first act of genocide committed by Ottoman (Turkish) authorities. They gathered 250 Armenian intellectuals and leaders, arrested them and deported them from Istanbul to Ankara. Eventually, they were murdered, along with an
Da’sha Tuck || Staff writer dtuck@murraystate.edu
Professors all around campus have different strategies when it comes to approaching political discussions in the classroom. Some approach the topic head-on, and others do all they can to avoid it. David Pizzo, professor of history, said it is impossible to avoid these discussions, but it is important to be careful not to impose views on the students. “Politics is everything,” Pizzo said. “I would challenge you to tell me something that isn’t political.”
APPROACHING POLITICS IN THE CLASSROOM
“In order to stimulate growth,
estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenian citizens. The government enacted death marches through the Syrian desert, as well as using gruesome tactics to eradicate the Armenian population. What makes this so controversial, Pizzo said, is that Turkey states this was an act of war and not genocide. Pizzo said that once when he was teaching the Armenian Genocide in one of his courses, a Turkish roommate of one of his students came to class and argued with Pizzo. “I basically wore him down over the period by using history and quotes from his own
see GENOCIDE, 6B
students must be exposed to a wide range of thoughts, ideas and concepts,” according to the Murray State Faculty Handbook. This statement covers a wide range of topics, but political discussions fall into it as well. Some professors, like Duane Bolin, professor of history, agree that students should be informed, but does not agree that politics have a place in classroom discussions. “I found myself leaning over backwards to avoid discussing my political views,” said Bolin. “In any classroom, a professor is in a position of power over students, and students might think they need to mirror my views in order to curry favor in class.” Bolin said he does allow free
Jenny Rohl/The News
David Pizzo, associate professor of history, enlightens students on the Armenian Genocide.
discussion in his courses as long as the students remain respectful of others’ views and the conversation is productive. Cindy Barnett, senior lecturer of Spanish, also allows productive discussion in her classroom, but the conversation is often about immigration. “We don’t specifically talk about political campaigns, but we do discuss immigration because a lot of the candidates have strong opinions about immigration and that can be controversial,” Barnett said. Winfield Rose, professor of political science, said part of getting an education is confronting that which we find uncomfortable or offensive and realizing that others may have views different from our
own.
IMPLEMENTING CRITICAL THINKING ABOUT POLITICS
There are some professors who take politics further than just a discussion while in the classroom. Barnett invites guest speakers who have experience with migrant workers and representatives of the immigrant community to her class so they can confront the misconceptions about immigration directly. She said after these guest speakers, the students write reflection papers on what they have learned and whether the new information has changed their views. Barnett said she does not wish
see POLITICS, 6B
The News
Features
6B FRIDAY
THURSDAY
SATURDAY
April 28, 2016
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
28
29
30
1
2
3
4
6:00 p.m. Senior Recital, Farrell Recital Hall
8:00 p.m. Avenue Q, Playhouse in the Park
8:00 a.m. Pancake Breakfast, Applebee’s
1:00 p.m. Bikes on the Greenway, Noble Park
All Day Annual Dog Day, Waterfield Library South Portico
9:30 a.m. Coffee with Bob and the President’s Council, Curris Center Rocking Chair Lounge
12:00 p.m. Pet Therapy, Curris Center Rocking Chair Lounge
Movie Review Criminal-y Misguided Adam Winn|| Staff writer awinn@murraystate.edu
While the new film “Criminal” does contain its fair share of commendable aspects, it takes an idea that’s been done several times and gives it a face-lift and a new name. The problem isn’t that the story is terrible because, with some script polishing, it had the potential to be a memorable addition to the action genre. Instead, it became a typical mediocre film that theatergoers wouldn’t give a second glance. The plot tells the story of From Pageagent 5B named Bill Pope a CIA (Ryan Reynolds) on a covert mission in London to track down a mysterious computer hacker nicknamed “The Dutchman.” After Pope is ambushed and murdered by a group of extremists also searching for the missing hacker, the CIA, led by agent Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman), hires Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones). Franks claims that he knows how to transfer the memories of a deceased person into the brain another living human. The intelligence agency selects a man on death row, Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner),
Politics
to be the guinea pig for the opolence, a lot of the action is eration. Stewart suffers from an extremely cliché and foreseeextremely rare frontal lobe conable. Police chases, missiles dition that prevents him from exploding, car wrecks, etc. It’s feeling any type of emotion. nearly impossible to watch a After the experiment proves film in the action genre withsuccessful at transferring all of out seeing these repeated plot Pope’s memories and secrets devices, but it would have been into Stewart’s head, he sets out nice to see the scriptwriters try. to complete the original mis With a cast full of popular, sion, while still maintaining a veteran actors, it’s easy to hidden agenda of his own. guess that the acting was the After viewing the film, the best part about this flick. Costaudience may have a strong ner gave a fantastic perforfeeling of déjà vu. This story mance in the dual role of the has plot points that are easily convict-turned-agent. Even recognizable in past movies, though their characters were such as “Face/Off” and “Self/ underutilized, Oldman and less,” which also, coincidenJones From Page 5B both gave exceptional tally, star Reynolds. performances. It is not uncommon for di Reynolds has a much smaller rectors to borrow ideas from part than the rest of the cast. However, it was still enjoyable a past film, but they should at least make it more entertaining to see him act in a more serious role, compared to the comedic so the audience doesn’t feel like they’re being cheated out of characters he typically portheir money. trays. The first half-hour, the film What’s encouraging is that is thoroughly engaging, with if the viewer leaves their brain the plot introducing all of the outside the theater, “Crimiprimary characters and their nal” can be an entertaining motivations. Then, after the experience, with scenes of inexperiment takes place, the tense savagery and solid actfilm starts to wane and never ing. Just don’t go in expecting fully regains its momentum. a thought-provoking experience or prepare to leave disap Despite having scenes jampacked with brutality and vipointed.
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Genocide
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POLITICS From Page 5B to influence her students or impose her views on them in any way, but she does want them to have all the facts so they can make their own informed decisions. Therese Saint Paul, associate professor of French, said she also gives her students assignments in order to think critically about politics. “I see it as part of my role as a teacher to foster critical
thinking through awareness of facts and comparison and analysis, which opens minds to appreciation of the shades of gray in human affairs – avoiding black and white thinking,” Saint Paul said. “As an international faculty from Belgium, I have a perspective that is anchored in facts and experience and it is essential to share that knowledge.” Barnett said she would like to encourage young people to educate themselves well, to vote in this election and to think very long and hard about how they want to vote.
PREDICTING THE PRESIDENTIAL OUTCOME
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Although Murray State professors have differing opinions on politics, they agree on one thing: that the 2016 election is far from typical. The consensus was clear when The News asked professors what their opinions were on Republican Candidate Donald Trump because the professors revealed their standings. There were a few in support, but most were baffled
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- Winfield Rose, professor of political science. that a man who defies most qualifications of a legitimate presidential candidate is still in the running. “I think he is a nut, I think he is a complete crackpot,”
ASSAULT
GENOCIDE
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From Page 5B government officials,” Pizzo said. “The next time we met he brought three of his Turkish friends and students went back and forth with them.” Pizzo said part of what makes the denial easier than for some of the other genocides is that many of the documents that clearly illustrate intent to remove Armenians through genocidal tactics are not available to Turkish citizens. Pizzo said that World War I was a critical moment in the formation of Turkey. He said it would be a damaging blow to Turkey’s national identity if the genocide was accepted as such. He said by presenting information those Turkish students had not heard before, he wore them down to the point of convincing the students that it ultimately did happen, but it was militarily
Jenny Rohl/The News
Tracey Newport representing the Amnesty International, who sponsored the event. necessary. “That [militarily necessary] mindset is what the perpetrators believed,” Pizzo said. The discussion portion veered away from strictly discussing the Armenian Genocide into questions about current events. Pizzo even discussed current drone strikes and modern warfare tactics with one of the students in the audience.
Barnett said. “I think if Trump wins the presidency we are headed for major trouble. I think it would be devastating to the country.” Barnett said it is really scary to watch what is happening in this election. She also said she does not think Trump is real istic and she is completely against his views on immigration. Rose said he can remember every U.S. presidential election going back to 1952 and this is his 48th year
History is littered with the debris of societies that have failed and governments that have collapsed. Ours are not immune to those forces.
Pizzo said “this took a weird turn,” but ultimately said he enjoyed talking about current events because they matter. “I think universities in general are supposed to foster critical inquiry,” he said. “I am pretty blatant about saying you need to engage in reality and the present of what’s happening, otherwise what are we doing here?”
has encouraged students to use the LiveSafe app to report sexual assaults, as well as other crimes to ensure security for students. The app became available on Aug. 13, 2015. Public Safety and Emergency Management issued an email notice about a sexual assault that happened on campus on Jan. 11, according to a Jan. 12 email sent to students. Another sexual assault that took place on campus was reported Feb. 10 and Public Safety issued an email to students about the assault on Feb. 11. Public Safety issued an email notice March 15 about a sexual assault that happened on campus March 14, the most recent assault. The March 14 assault was the last reported assault, totaling three reported sexual assaults this semester.
teaching as a political science professor. “Over this span of time, I have seen some progress in certain areas, but I have also seen much more regression and deterioration,” Rose said. Most professors kept their predictions for November to themselves, but Barnett said she hopes the American people make the right decision. “History is littered with the debris of societies that have failed and governments that have collapsed,” Rose said. “Ours are not immune to those forces.”
Number of Sexual Assaults Recorded at Murray State
Fall 2015 Spring 2016
4 3
Source: Public Safety and Emergency Management The number of sexual assaults at Murray State are comparative to universities in the area. Morehead State University reported three sexual assaults this semester, according to the Morehead Police Department crime log. Murray State seeks to prevent sexual assault through b y stander interv ention, teaching students “how to identify potentially harmful situations, to encourage a personal responsibility in
each campus community member to act when they see those situations, and to teach each campus member how to intervene in a positive and safe manner,” French said. Ladd said we do not have to live in a world where 99 percent of rapists get away with it, but we must hold those who do wrong accountable so survivors receive justice, authorities receive information they need and there is a consequence for violating the rights of another person.
The News
Features
April 28, 2016
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Pop Culture Corner
Music Tribute Purple Reign Pop icon and music legend, Prince, died April 21 at 57. Nick Erickson || Staff writer
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Beyoncé releases emotionally raw album Beyoncé Knowles, modern day pop icon, released her second visual album “LEMONADE” April 24. On the surface level, the album is about the alleged cheating of her rapper and business mogul husband, Jay-Z. With lyrics such as “what a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you,” Beyoncé lets her emotions guide her story from the suspicions she felt to full-blown anger. The second to last song on the album “All Night” paints a hopeful picture for the couple, seeming to suggest they are on the road to patching things up. However, the visual component accompanying the lyrics leaves listeners with a deeper understanding. Beyoncé is not only lamenting the infidelity of her husband, but she also depicts the experience of black women in America. She includes a sound bite from Malcolm X in the film, as well as shots of Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner’s mothers holding photos of their sons. This comes as no surprise as she released “Formation” earlier this year with a controversial music video, leaving some listeners wondering if this is the future of the pop genre. As more pop artists begin to incorporate their personal and political lives into their music and videos, we are sure to see more “LEMONADES” in the future. Beyoncé has paved the way for other musicians of color in the pop community to infuse their realities into their music. The album and feature film are available on Tidal as well as iTunes.
nerickson@murraystate.edu
In the summer of 2009, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, left the world. Barely three years later, the life of the Queen of rhythm and blues, Whitney Houston, came to a tragic end. Fast forward to April 21 of this year, and the world was swept with the devastating news of the passing of one of the biggest music icons of all time, the one and only Prince. Loved by just about everyone (not to mention all of the ladies he wooed), he is regarded as one of the largest innovators of the pop genre and left behind an immense legacy. Among a littered crowd of musicians, Prince stood out like a shining star in the black of night. Not conforming to one particular genre, he integrated a diverse variety of styles including funk, rock, R&B and even psychedelia. His stage presence was almost as impressive as his vocal range. He managed to master an array of instruments, most prominently the electric guitar, which he used as his paintbrush to create some of his most notable moments (cue the colorful solo of “Purple Rain”). With a pianist as a father and a jazz singer as a mother, Prince took an interest in music from a very young age. By the time he was 19 years old, he had demos he’d self-produced. It was his 1978 debut album, “For You,” that set the stage for the start of his success. This album, released by Warner Bros. Records, was nine tracks of pure R&B,
funk and touches of ever-prevalent disco. His first single, “Soft and Wet,” was a thick concoction of synthesizers, bass and drums, which impressed many, as Prince recorded everything himself. Word caught on about the young artist, and he soon became renowned as the new face of talent. A year later, his follow-up self-titled album “Prince” was released. Prince achieved platinum status with this record thanks to the enormous success of his single, “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” which to this day still remains one of his most popular tracks. Prince’s tender falsetto voice, coupled with a driving disco beat, became the nation’s newest earworm. Prince never let up on the release of new music, pumping out three albums the next three consecutive years, “Dirty Mind,” “Controversy” and “1999.” His lyricism more often than not contained fun and sensuous motives. “Little Red Corvette,” one of his biggest hits from “1999,” was beloved for its edge. “A body like yours ought to be in jail, cause it’s on the verge of being obscene.” It’s no doubt Prince made sure his music was always fun to sing along with. In 1984, he also incorporated his own live band, named The Revolution, to back him up and fill out his performances. That same year, he released his magnum opus, “Purple Rain.” The title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and his single “When Doves Cry” continues to be one of his most beloved numbers, capturing his lyric-writing
virtuoso. The album even became the soundtrack to Prince’s own movie, also titled “Purple Rain.” He was virtually running the music game. Prince went on to write, record and produce more than 30 albums after the success of “Purple Rain.” His last musical endeavors, “Hit n Run Phase One” and “Hit n Run Phase Two” were both released in 2015. By this point, the artist was 56 years old, a long way from where he had begun. One thing is for certain: he made a lasting impact on music. Prince did so many things most musicians cannot say about themselves. He put out a jaw-dropping 38 records, influenced music and injected his own doses into the genres he played. Never sticking to one particular sound, he always had fans on their toes anticipating his next move. Touring the globe extensively for decades, Prince never let any of his energy go. The flamboyant presence he portrayed on stage for millions of fans remained persistent over the years. Times changed, but Prince sure didn’t. It’s hard to believe anyone could match his charisma. Future generations will never have a chance to experience the legend in the flesh, but as the world mourns the loss of the pop icon, there is a positive light shed onto his end: his legacy has not truly ended. Though Prince may be gone, his music is here to stay. When the world is sad, it can pop “Purple Rain” into the CD player and let the nostalgia of Prince’s voice spread joy, even if just for a song or two.
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Family above all As the season of i n t e r n ships and job hunting commences in about 18 days, many people’s anxiety levels sky Gisselle Hernandez rocket as Features Editor the unfortunate, but sometimes inevitable, rejection letters start rolling in. The pressure to wear a crisp name tag following the graduation cap makes bad news almost unbearable to some. Failure is inevitable, but we already know this. Supportive advisers and encouraging parents have been preaching to us about the obstacles that somehow make our path to an ideal job or internship seem nearly impossible. Still, some of us wallow in the disappointment. The thought of not being “good enough” creeps into the mind like poison, overshadowing the fact that one “no” doesn’t define the rest of your life. I’ve had my fair share of failures, which usually result in me moping around my apartment munching on Cheetos while Michael Scott’s idiocy comforts me. But I try my best to pick myself up after a few days of throwing a pity party and get back out there – which, to be honest, is difficult sometimes. However, I’ve seen too many friends become discouraged after receiving news they were not excited about. I’m here to back up your supportive advisers and encouraging parents by spewing some cliché facts you probably have heard people mutter in hopes of comforting you. Nine publishers rejected J.K. Rowling before “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was ever deemed worthy of being printed and distributed to the world. A film school rejected Steven Spielberg thrice. Oprah was told she was not fit for TV. These might just be a string of letters in a sentence that means nothing to you, but they are just a few of the countless people who are described as successful and who faced rejection many times before “making it.” Give yourself credit and know that if that one company or one person didn’t recognize your greatness, someone else will. Job hunting and scouring for internships to beef up your resumé can be quite the ordeal, especially when employers make you play the dreaded waiting game. But don’t let that discourage you. I wrote a column earlier in the semester about not sticking to one major, one interest, one career. This is not that different. A job that you truly wanted perhaps wasn’t a job that would’ve helped you grow and sharpen your skills as a person. After all, that’s what jobs and internships should be about: growing and learning, not about the paycheck. Of course, being a college student with gargantuan student loans makes any job that pays appealing. But in reference to not getting a specific job you wanted, there will be plenty of opportunities – both rejection letters and acceptance letters – to help you grow. It shouldn’t keep you back. Imagine the world without the charming Ron Weasley or the lack of Oprah memes floating around the Internet. Does the world deserve the absence of your greatness simply because of one bad break?
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Prince performs during the halftime show at the 2007 Super Bowl in the pouring rain.
ghernandez1@murraystate.edu
Out this week
Read It
“Bloodline” by Claudia Gray
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“Mother’s Day”
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“Views From The 6” by Drake
Rent It
“Jane Got a Gun”
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“Battleborn”
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The News
April 28, 2016