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Tuesday, April 5, 2016
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Volume 109, Issue 27 | the-standard.org The Standard/The Standard Sports
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MSU students are questioning rules for co-ed intramurals
More than 100 years in print @TheStandard_MSU/@Standard_Sports
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‘A night in Africa’ banquet
By Emily Joshu @EmilyJoshu Staff Reporter
For the many students who come from athletic backgrounds or are looking for a stress-relieving activity, coed recreational sports provide an outlet of teamwork, athletics and exercise. However, the rules for co-ed recreational sports have been criticized by some students as being sexist and outdated. “All of them are kind of demeaning to women,” Sam Buchanan, sophomore athletic training major, said.
Bailey Vassalli/THE STANDARD
Entertainers performed traditional dances for audience at the annual banquet.
S W E Renovations coming to Ellis Hall, page 13
After helping the club get on its feet two years ago, Omoloja was elected president, then stepped down the following year. Since moving from Nigeria 10 years ago, she was looking for a little piece of her culture on campus. “I wanted a sense of community,” Omoloja said. “I know that campus is sometimes really hard, and if I had other people in my culture that I can relate to, then I would like it more.” Although experiencing the clash of cultures has proven to be difficult, Odun-Ayo said that she would ask for nothing more. “I think it’s a privilege that we can call two places home,” Odun-Ayo said. I absolutely call (Springfield) my home now, and I also do think that Africa is my home, so I count myself privileged to be accepted by two places.” With the help of the African Student Association, African students can readjust to a new culture without giving up their own. The club meets every other Wednesday night at 5 p.m. During meetings, the 10 members usually discuss planning for ongoing projects and current events. “We have something called Nyu-Nyu News, and in that segment of our meeting we essentially talk about articles or recent postings that would be trending somewhere in Africa,” Omoloja said. “After the discussion we talk to the general body and see what they think about this issue.” u See BANQUET, page 9
Selling course materials: NOT ALLOWED Materials given in class are intellectual property of the faculty, selling for profit against rules By Ryan Day Staff Reporter
On March 21, MSU students received an email in their inboxes from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs entitled “Message regarding Course Notes.” The substance of this email regarded recent emails from various companies offering money for class notes. “Course materials such as PowerPoint outlines, examples, practice problems, etc., are created by faculty members and selling these resources may violate the law,” the email said. It added, “Current MSU policy prohibits the use of university resources for personal commercial activities. Consequently, using MSU email to advertise the availability of these notes and encouraging classmates to access them on commercial websites is not allowed.” However, this email did not offer any specifics on what the consequences might be for students who might, for example, sell a PowerPoint
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Roberts: Fear and studying abroad, page 3
outline from class to an outside company or use their school email to tell their fellow classmates to use an outside, commercial website to get class notes. Luckily, there was a second email sent to MSU faculty that cleared some of these questions up. “Course materials that are created and disseminated to students in a specific course are the intellectual property of the faculty member,” the faculty email said. In other words, it is the faculty’s responsibility to enforce students from selling their course materials. This is not to say that the university wouldn’t help them out since in the same section of the email, it reads “Faculty are welcome to contact University Counsel for assistance with a cease-and-desist letter.” However, even this faculty email did not offer nearly enough specifics as to what would happen if a student “encouraged classmates to access (notes or other class materials) on commercial websites.”
E IF Public Affairs Week preview, page 5
On this point, The Standard talked to Dr. Julie Masterson, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College, who chaired the group that looked into Intellectual Property implications. While Masterson admitted that someone would have to report a violation of this kind, who used MSU email for “commercial personal gain,” then the next step would be for the university to write a cease and desist letter. If this did not work, however, Masterson was not sure what the next step would be. Masterson was also quick to reiterate that the University’s focus was not on this, but rather on the different methods that could be used by faculty to render sites that purchase course materials or notes needless. Dr. Thomas Lane, Dean of Students who sent out the email to students, as well as a representative from one of the commercial websites, Collegepages.com, did not respond for comment.
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u See INTRAMURALS page 12
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Many of these rules involve giving advantages to female athletes on co-ed teams. For example, in basketball females are awarded three points for making a shot outside of the three-point line, while men are awarded two. In soccer, a person taking a penalty kick must be the same gender as the person who was originally fouled. In addition, flag football awards females nine points for a touchdown and men six points. “As a female, I don’t find any pleasure in being compensated for equal amount of work,” Shelby Philbrook, junior market research major, said. “It only reinforced the idea that women are far less superior to men when it comes to sports.” According to Buchanan, rules such as these can be frustrating because players are not likely to think of these rules as they actively participate. Co-ed intramurals at Missouri State University are mainly based on rules from the National Federation of High School or the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. However, the rules with Missouri State’s program vary from other schools because there is not a set of national guidelines. “Co-recreational sports were created in intramural sports to start an initiative to get different gendered people to participate in competition together,” Lauren Easter, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation- Recreational Sports, said. “The ideology behind the co-rec rules was to help engage females with their counterparts by giving them an advantage to the game.” In fall 2014, Easter’s department surveyed 124 participants about these rules. Thirty nine percent of participants did not like the goal differential rule in co-ed soccer leagues that gave females two points for a goal while men received one point. “This data was enough for us to change the rule for the start of spring 2016,” Easter said. On the other hand, not all students disagree with the current rules. “It makes an attempt to make sure that boys don’t dominate the game,” Hanna Wilson, senior marketing management major, said. “It’s all for fun, so it’s not that crazy.” These rules are the same for the two types of intramural leagues offered: Just-for-Fun and Top-Gun. Top-Gun is meant for participants with previous athletic experience who are looking for intensity with the competition. “The Top-Gun teams are going to go really hard and not focus as much on giving the girls the shot,” Buchanan said. “I can almost understand why it’s in TopGun, but there’s no reason for it to be in Just-for-Fun. If they could change that, that would be a huge step.” A few recent changes have made the rules seem less advantageous to women. For example, the previous point differential in soccer has been changed to one point per goal, regardless of gender. In addition, rules such as who can touch the ball in soccer and volleyball have adopted more gender inclusive wording by specifying that a
A student organization dedicated to its African roots spread awareness about its culture on Friday, April 1, by hosting a banquet called “A Night in Africa”. The African Student Association provided a night rich in its heritage, offering native cuisine, entertaining guests with live performances, and a fashion show of the traditional pieces worn in their home countries. The night was in support of African students in Springfield, according to vice president Adekemi Omoloja. “The event was just to showcase Africa, and not all of Africa because that’s a lot of countries, but to just to showcase all of the people that we do have here on campus,” Omoloja said. When the club first originated, adviser Theresa Odun-Ayo said the African Student Association was important because it interlocked a variety of cultures that would only benefit the campus atmosphere. “I’ve had experience working with African students and I just saw the need to have that kind of interaction on campus, not just amongst the African students, but also it helps network between the cultures,” Oden-Ayo said. “It gives that support structure and the ability to showcase the culture of where all of these individuals are from.”
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Sam Buchanan.
By Jenna deJong @Ima_Jen Staff Reporter
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West Plains to receive sanctions, page 8
2 | the-standard.org
The Standard
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
One year later:
The SOGI ordinance repeal, what has happened since then By Nicole Roberts News Editor @NReneeRoberts
The numbers were close for a majority of election night, 50 percent to 50 percent. Everybody held their breath, waiting for the last of the votes to come in. And with those final votes, the percentages shifted, giving the “Yes Repeal” side a slim 51-percent lead. Springfield had repealed the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ordinance. This week will be the one-year anniversary since the SOGI ordinance was repealed on April 7, 2015. After a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task Force surveyed several businesses and churches, the Springfield City Council proposed two bills on Sept. 8, 2014. The main bill, City Coun-
File photo
The Springfield City Council passes the sexual orientation and gender identity bill 6-3 on Oct. 14, 2014.
cil Bill 2014-189, made it illegal for someone to discriminate against an individual based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity in either housing, employment or public accommodations. The second bill, City Council Bill 2014-189 Substitute 1, also made it illegal for an individual to be discriminated against because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, but only in housing. City Council approved City Council Bill 2014-189 on Oct. 13, 2014. Less than a month later, a referendum containing 2,000 signatures was turned into the City Clerk’s office, calling for the repeal of the new ordinance. After tabling the referendum and ordinance, the ordinance was sent to a public vote, which eventually led to its repeal. Following the SOGI ordinance repeal, a peaceful protest was held by Springfield citizens, which Krista Moncado, the executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center for the Ozarks, said surprised her. She said the SOGI ordinance repeal showed her that the LGBTQ community has a bigger support base than she originally thought. “It was amazing to see in, one space, people connecting and being able to support each other and kind of release some of that pain and connect with people on a very real level,” Moncado said. Since the repeal, some changes have been made to help with inclusion of the LGBTQ community, specifically on Missouri State’s campus. In March 2015, the Missouri State University Campus Community Climate Study Report showed that about 57 percent of u See SOGI, page 10
Correction
Last week in “Stories of War series: Meet Hana Smail,” Smail was misquoted saying, “More than 5,200 (fighters) have died from my hometown fighting ISIS.” The actual number was between 50 and 100 people. In the same story, it was incorrectly stated that Erbil was one of the cities U.S.-led forces bombarded in 2003.
Meet Pastor Samuel Asani Asani fled Congo, lived in a refugee camp for years before seeking refuge in Missouri By Sarah Teague Staff Reporter @SarahTeague96
Footsteps pad through the dirt and grass, running towards flames curling into the pitch black of the night. Embers of heat fall into the soil, sparks threatening those who dare to creep closer. Those inside the building have passed from suffocation and red-orange curtains of fire, unfurling hate onto innocent lives. The structure sways, unbearable heat radiating towards those viewing the massacre. Another family has died. Samuel Asani lived in Nyarugusu, a refugee camp in Kigoma, Tanzania, for 20 years. This camp is where Asani rebuilt his life, after his family was murdered by Mai Mai militants in Congo in 1996. “We are originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Asani. “When the war broke out in our country, I was 20 years old. That means I fled the war…to Tanzania, where I spent almost 20 years in a refugee camp. So, I met my wife there and all the children I have were born in the refugee camp.”
A Restless Past The mid-1960s was a time of change for the Congolese people. President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Tshombe, ousted by radical Secretary of Defense Joseph Mobutu, faded into the past. Mobutu had already supported the dismissal of Prime Minister Lumumba five years before. After his riddance of the two top leaders of the nation in 1965, he seized the position of president and changed the Democratic Republic of Congo to Zaire, and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko. A reason for the change in names was Mobutu’s desire to create a distinctiveness in his country. According to BBC, “Promoting (Congolese) identity involved pro-
Nina Todea/THE STANDARD
Samuel Asani met his wife Malenga Mseke while at the Tanzanian refugee camp. Asani, Mseke and their children sought refuge in Springfield after several years in the camp. moting the country’s rich music culture, and Mobutu personally funded bands like TPOK Jazz to give the nation a unique sound of its own. But for all his success in instilling a national identity, Mobutu completely mismanaged the economy. In a country where the vast mineral wealth should have secured riches for its people, corruption on a massive scale meant the majority remained poor.” Rwandan Genocide To the east, tension between the Hutu and Tutsi people-groups of Rwanda were building for years, until in 1994 the Hutus completed a complete massacre. Within three months, 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed, sparking violence and unrest throughout this region of Africa. Thousands of Rwandan refugees fled into Congo, bringing their stories. By October of 1996, eastern Congolese Banyamulenge (Tutsi) led a rebellion to force the Rwandans out of Zaire. In response to this uprising, Rwandan and Ugandan forces backed Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who overthrew Mobutu. Kabila renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo, and became president. Despite new leadership, eastern
Congo remained a restless war zone. Today, past violence in this region is often called the “African World War” with millions of Congolese killed and others displaced.
Asani’s Journey “In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was living in Fizi Territory, and this is South Kivu province, which is the eastern part of Congo,” said Asani. “At that time I was living with my dad, my mom, my close relatives, my brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, they were exterminated in 1996. Without guessing, (I know) these were members of an uncontrolled armed group known as Mai Mai.” A few days before the murders, a warning was given to his mother. Men of this group believed Asani’s father was involved in political activities and was spying for a rebel group. The warning told his mother that anyone related to Asani’s father would be killed. He explained his family was reluctant to leave their home after the warning, because they did not understand the possibility of a family member spying. The militant group didn’t waste any time, burning down the home a u See ASANI, page 14
STANDARD
OPINION // 3
THE
Tuesday, April 5, 2016 | the-standard.org
Why I Relay
Invest Early and Diversify Yo Assets
Cancer survivor Andrew Webster talks about Relay for Life
By Spencer Martin Columnist @Spencer_XC
The early bird gets the compound interest. Or maybe it’s the worm. I don’t know. It's been a really long semester. The days are starting to blend together. At any rate, it’s important to realize that our days of college and youth are limited. I say this not to exacerbate college-induced anxiety, but to help you realize that your late 20s and early 30s will be here quicker than you expect it. And with old age rapidly approaching, it’s critical to understand the importance of wise investing. The first thing you have to ask yourself is why you’re investing. What’s your end goal? Are you saving for retirement? Maybe a college fund for your future child or children? Or perhaps you just want a super dope sports car for when you finally hit 50. Whatever your reason might be, it’s vital to your future dividends to realize that investing early and consistently is the key — for DJ Khaled, this is a major key. And investing right now isn’t a bad idea at all. Before I continue though, let me preface this by saying I’m not an economics guru or stock market swami. There’s always risk involved when investing. Now, let's
By Andrew Webster @anjrew12 Guest Columnist
Hopefully in your life, nobody ever tells you that you have cancer. It sucks. A lot. In November 2010, I was diagnosed with an intracranial germinoma, or in layman’s terms, a brain tumor. The doctors decided to wait and see if I required treatment. About a month later, I was scheduled for a summertime brain surgery. The rest of my junior year of high school was accompanied by headaches and nausea. When July came around, I was actually excited for brain surgery (which is just absurd). On July 15, 2011, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to do the home preparation for surgery. That part is pretty gross, so I’ll leave it out. When you have surgery performed on you, you have to show up to the hospital a few hours beforehand to fill out copious amounts of paper work, have a million needles go into every part of your body and talk to pretty nurses. After watching Jerry Springer for a few hours and fielding questions from everybody in the entire hospital, the surgeon came out to greet me while the staff charted me off to the operating room. Within a minute, it’s lights out. Anesthetists are quick workers. To keep a long story short, everything worked out. Three surgeries and six weeks of radiation therapy did the trick. In 2016, we are medically capable of so much, and treatment options continue to improve. I’ve had three operations performed on my brain, and I’m a senior in college. I wake up every day with an understanding that my life could be considerably different. That’s #WhyIRelay The first time I ever fought back against cancer was my freshmen year at Plaster Stadium. I didn’t even know what Relay was. A friend of mine just told me to show up. At the event there was a ceremony that celebrated survivors, and a ceremony that remembered those who are no longer with us. It is a very emotional experience. Early in the evening, I was introduced to a representative from the American Cancer Society, who I am still friends with today. For the following three years, I have captained a Relay team, appeared in commercials, spoke to high school Relay for Lifers, joined the Cancer Action Network, and worked alongside the Relay for Life planning committee. (Side note, everybody else on the planning committee is three times as competent as me, and I want to thank them for everything. Now in my senior year, I am preparing for my last MSU Relay for Life. Over the past few weeks I’ve been drafting a speech for the event. Relay for Life is always my favorite night of the school year, and I’ve been so lucky to have the experience of working with such a fabulous committee while I’ve been at Missouri State. Finally, I believe that Generation Y has the opportunity to be the generation that finally cures cancer. I want you to join me in doing so.
Q
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WEEK:
When my bracket went bad By Mike Ursery Columnist @MikeUrsery
So, about that March Madness prediction I made before the start of the NCAA Tournament, I know I said Michigan State would win the whole thing. I know I said they would beat Kansas in the championship game. I know I said there would be three no. 1 seeds in the Final Four. I know I said all of those things. None of these things happened. Only one no. 1 seed, North Carolina, made it to the Final Four. Kansas lost to Villanova in the Elite Eight. Michigan State lost in the second round to no. 15 seed Middle Tennessee State. By a show of hands, who knew about a university by that name before March Madness? (Put your hands down. You’re not being honest.) Once again, I find myself writing about the unpredictability of this spectacle we call March Madness. This is the one tournament where a person can make predictions that, on paper, make little to no sense, and still feel confident there could be a more-than-slim chance of it actually happening. (See: George Mason in 2006) Here is what actually happened: • Kansas lost to Villanova in the Elite Eight • I picked Texas A&M to go to the Final Four, but they lost to Oklahoma in the Elite Eight • Michigan State lost to Middle Tennessee State in the second round • North Carolina survived and advanced all the way to the national championship game As for what actually happened, North Carolina cruised to a victory over Syracuse. Villanova embarrassed Oklahoma, beating them 95-51. Oklahoma star Buddy Hield, who will be in the NBA soon, had better get used to losses like that one. He likely will be a Laker or a 76er next season. Of all the bold predictions I made, the only one that came to fruition was that UALR upset Purdue in the second round. Meanwhile, Yale, who had never won a tournament game before this year, won their first against Baylor. I never saw that coming. This year must have been the worst as far as predicting a bracket for me. My bracket was busted the first day with Michigan State losing. Then, there was Syracuse. One national expert said Syracuse had no reason to be invited to the Tournament. Two weeks later, Syracuse defeats Virginia in the Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four. It was just that kind of Tournament. By a show of hands, who saw that one happening? (Unless you’re a diehard Orange fan, put your hands down.) Of course, this certainly won’t discourage me from continuing to predict brackets. I’m the best at it in my own mind, and myself will tell you that any day of the year. This is my last March Madness column for The Standard. I hope all of you have enjoyed reading these since I started doing it in 2013. Thank you for reading all of my contributions to this fine publication, as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you. Thank you.
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make some money. As I mentioned above, it’s vitally important to start investing sooner rather than later. Why you ask? Because compound interest is your friend. In layman’s terms, compound interest is earning interest on your interest — like interest-ception. It's the addition of earned interest to the initial investment, or principal, to earn interest on your earned interest. This means exponential growth, which is amazing and powerful. It also means committing to reinvesting earned funds, which can seem painful when all you want to do is spend that hard-earned dividend. In a Forbes article focusing on compound interest, they provide two instances of investing in which two very divergent outcomes arose from investing the same amount. In one case, a worker invested $240,000 — about $1000 per month — over the course of 20 years and then stopped investing and allowed to money to grow on its own. The second worker waited 20 years and then invested the same amount over the following 20 years. In all over the total 40 years, the first worker accrued more than $4.5 million while the second accrued just under $470,000. Seems like a bit of a gap right? This shows the importance of investing early. And there’s no better time than the
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present. According to the March jobs report, the U.S. Experienced its 73rd-straight month of job growth. Which is fantastic. Companies are doing well and there’s plenty of success to go around for smaller ventures looking to break onto the scene. Though things are great now, it doesn’t mean they will be forever. This brings me to my next point, which is always diversify yo’ assets. Always. Companies fail and others experience great success. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket; spread your investments wisely. Finally, remember this simple concept when considering investing or what to invest in: CREAMEWOACPHRA, cash Rules Everything Around Me Except When Other Asset Classes Provide Higher Risk Adjusted Yields. If your investments don’t have enough return to justify your time and money, stick to cash and invest more strategically at a later date. Even if it's just $50 per month since we’re poor college kids, it’s better than nothing and can yield exceptional return values in the future. Be disciplined and prepared for your future by investing early and wisely. It could mean the difference between $470,000 and $4.5 million.
Why new fear of studying abroad is not stopping me By Nicole Roberts News Editor @NReneeRoberts
What does November 13, 2015 and March 22, 2016 have in common? They were the days two cities in Europe experienced terrorist attacks. In less than two months, I’ll be leaving for Europe (London specifically) to study abroad for a couple of weeks as part of a short-term faculty led study away program. A year ago, most people would not have considered Europe “unsafe.” Now, the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels have instilled fear in so many people. Since the attacks, I’ve noticed that people have become more hesitant to travel abroad, and rightly so. However, over the last five months, and especially in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked when I was going to cancel my London trip. Not if I was canceling the trip, but specifically when I was. People have assumed that because of the terrorist attacks, I will give up this chance to go abroad. Yes, the Paris and Brussel terrorist attacks were terrifying, and yes, I have questioned going abroad because of the attacks. I had to make a decision: either go and risk another terrorist attack, or stay in the United States. For some of you, staying in the United States might seem like the obvious choice. I did not choose that option. Why? Because I don’t want to live my life in fear. Fear is meant to keep us safe, and I’m not saying everybody should just ignore fear all together. In my mind, there is a middle ground that everybody is trying to find when it comes to fear. One side is letting fear dictate every single decision of my life, while the complete opposite side is ignoring fear and blindly going into dangerous situations. Then there is a middle ground that I can rely on to not only keep me safe and hypervigilant, but also allow me to experience life without a safety shield around me at all times. How many times have we made a choice solely based on fear, and in the end regretted letting fear dictate our decisions? Too many. I know that if I cancelled my London trip right now because I was scared of terrorist attacks, I would later regret my decision. Instead of letting fear rule our decisions, maybe we should start relying on that middle ground. Use that fear to keep us safe and be hypervigilant. By hypervigilant, I mean being aware of your surroundings and knowing what to do in case of emergencies or dangerous situations (i.e. terrorist attack, theft, assault, etc.). Along with this hypervigilance, let fear turn into determination, excitement and curiosity. Be determined to face your fears and exceed expectations. Be excited to try something new. Let curiosity take you to difference places and have different experiences. Like President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Ad Designer Zach LaMarre Ad Representatives Lindsay Daggett Tyler Krtek Mark phillips Copy Editors Taylor Balleau Courtney Smith Distributors Matt Appelbaum nick Sulzer Kyle Whanger
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4 // LIFE Tuesday, April 5, 2016 | the-standard.org
Campus fraternity, Phi Delta Theta hosts philanthropy competiBy Sydni Moore Staff Reporter @sydnimmoore
More than one million meals are provided each month to those in need in the Ozarks, according to the website for the Ozarks Food Harvest, a food bank in Southwest Missouri. Last month, MSU fraternity Phi Delta Theta teamed up with the Ozarks Food Harvest, as well as the MSU Bears Baseball Team, in order to create a canned food competition on Greek Row. “I volunteer at the Ozarks Food Harvest, and when I brought up the idea they were totally for it,” Steven May, junior cellular molecular biology major. May also oversees Phi Delta Theta’s philanthropy work as the philanthropy chairman. The competition amongst MSU’s fraternities and sororities was a success. “We didn’t have a specific number in mind,” Jared Kurth, senior public relations major, as well as the public relations chairman of Phi Delta Theta. “The ultimate goal was getting everyone involved,” Kurth said. The baseball team helped get the word out on the canned food competition. Game attendees were encouraged to bring donations. Free tickets to a baseball game were provided for fraternities and sororities that participated in the competition. Once the competition was over, Greek members caravanned to the game together. Over 800 non-perishable goods were collected, resulting in almost 700 pounds of food. Those 700 pounds of food will account for about 575 meals fed to hungry families in the Ozarks. “When you actually hear the numbers of Bailey Vassalli/ THE STANDARD how much food we raised and how many families that helps, it feels good,” Kurth said. Jared Kurth, senior public relations major and Steven May, junior cellular molecular biology major of Phi Delta Theta. Phi Delta Sorority Delta Zeta won the competition, Theta hosted a canned food drive between fraternity and sororities on campus on March 3. having donated approximately 600 non-perMay and Kurth both hope to hold similar volunteer engagement manager at Ozarks the main goals—getting our name out there ishable items. competitions in the future. The Ozarks Food Food Harvest. and helping the community, obviously,” May “I would say that we ranked in the top Harvest staff hopes that they will too. Phi Delta Theta is proud of its efforts. said. “That’s part of being a successful chapfive,” May said on Phi Delta Theta’s place“We’re thrilled with our partnership with “Phi Delta Theta hasn’t done much lately, ter.” ment in the competition. Missouri State,” said Jolene Thompson, the community service-wise, so that was one of
Special birthday shirts fly off rack
R.E.A.L. Bears sell special shirts for birthday By Hanna Sumpter Staff Reporter @hannasumpter
Emily McTavish/ THE STANDARD
Hannah Green shows off one of the special edition, “Be a Bear,” shirts designed and produced by R.E.A.L. Bears.
The “Be a Bear” t-shirt project started by the R.E.A.L. Bears student organization to raise money for the Emergency Scholarship Fund has seen a lot of success since the shirts’ release on MSU’s birthday, March 17. Over 200 shirts have already been sold within the last three weeks, including an initial sell out of over 70 shirts on the first day of their release. R.E.A.L. Bears, or the Recruiting Emerging Alumni Leaders Bears organization, along with the Alumni Association came up with the t-shirts as a philanthropic community service project. “The Be a Bear shirt project grew out of a desire by the R.E.A.L. Bears and the MSU Alumni Association to showcase our pride in the university and its public affairs mission, as well
as the importance and impact of supporting MSU students,” said Lori Fan, the executive director of Alumni Relations. The Be a Bear shirt project will occur annually, with a new design each year to give the shirts a collectible quality. This year’s design was created by Kimberly Kennedy, a senior studying graphic design. For all future releases of the Be a Bear shirts, R.E.A.L. Bears plans to hold a design contest. Kennedy described creating the shirt design as a “really cool opportunity to see the shirt around campus and to see my peers wear it.” President of R.E.A.L. Bears, Caitlin Harris, junior biology major, said that the organization wanted to come up with something that would appeal to everyone, including students, alumni and faculty. The shirts are not only promoting a message themselves, but all aspects of the shirt project seem to have sub-
“Batman v. Superman” is no hero Superhero film features little action and poor script By Nathan Momper Movie Reviewer @mompermagic
Throughout his career, Zack Snyder has been a divisive director. His debut effort was a remake of the George A. Romero classic “Dawn of the Dead”-a formidable undertaking that was well received by critics and fans. But since, Snyder has received diminishing positive reception. “300” was seen as an overly macho-jingoist action flick (I enjoyed the movie a lot just for its captivatingly gory visual style alone.) “Watchmen” was seen as underdeveloped compared to one of the greatest comic books ever written. (You have to watch the extended cut instead of the theatrical. Vastly improves the entire experience.) Snyder’s passion project “Sucker Punch” got absolutely raked over the coals for being a poorly written, misogynistic mess. (I could write an essay about how much I disagree. Sure, maybe “Sucker Punch” was a mess, but it was one of the most entertaining and aesthetically striking messes I’ve ever laid eyes on.) So I’m obviously a fan of Snyder’s previous work. Even though his films tend to be juvenile, he is a master of visual flair. But, my admirable disposition toward Snyder changed with “Man of Steel”. He and his team made Superman feel devoid of a spirit. The movie was gloomy, poorly paced, and simply was not fun. It was a morose disappointment. When Snyder was attached to direct “Batman v Superman,” I was nervous. And that anxiety was justi-
fied, because there is a reason why Affleck was so sad. (In case you live under a rock, look up Sad Affleck.) If someone asked me to describe “Batman v Superman” in three words I would reply, “Meh... bleh…. Eh.” Yes, the horrible critical ratings this comic book flick is getting are well deserved. In fact, I’m not sure what left the worst impression on me: the CGI’d to oblivion action, or the fact that said action predominantly takes place in the last half hour of the movie. This forces the poor audience to sit through two hours of contrived exposition accented by Amy Adams continuing to be miscast as Lois Lane, Henry Cavill’s jawline having more acting chops than him, Ben Affleck doing his best, “my dog just died impression.” and Jesse Eisenberg going for what resembles Willy Wonka. There are so many misfires here I could write a tome. Even the action in the finale didn’t do anything for me. Just like in “Man of Steel,” the majority of the combat played out like a game of superhuman pinball. One opponent would knock into the other, sending him crashing through a building (presumably full of small, blind orphans), then rinse and repeat for 15 minutes. Batman is the only character that actually utilized brutal melee combat. But these scenes were few and far between compared to the extreme ugh that is the rest of this movie. See what you’ve done to me, Zack? I’ve resorted to using onomatopoeias to describe how subpar your movie was. Honestly, the most impressive aspect of my “Dawn of Justice” movie experience was that I was able to stave off a restroom visit for the entire movie. Great job, bladder!
tle meanings connected to them, including the price of each shirt. Harris said that the price of the shirts, $19.05, has a two specific purposes. The price is to commemorate the founding of the university and it ensures that a decent portion of the cost goes to support the scholarship fund. Raymond Presnell, the director of the MSU bookstore, said that the amount per shirt that will go to the scholarship fund can depend on the amount of bookstore discounts that are used to purchase the shirts, but he expects that around $10 of the regular price for a shirt will go toward the fund. The shirts will be available until the end of homecoming week in October. The shirts are available in the bookstore and, according to Presnell, could be sold at special events throughout the spring and fall semesters. Shirts can also be ordered online through the Alumni Association.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
The Standard
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World Languages Showcase comes to campus High school students present media of different cultures for new event
By Cortlynn Stark Staff Reporter @Cortlynn_Stark
Missouri State University’s motto was “follow your passion, find your place.” The old slogan was the goal of the World Languages Showcase held on Wednesday in the Plaster Student Union. About 400 high school students competed in the first ever World Languages Showcase, presenting posters and videos they created about different cultures across the world. One student, Emily Raney, a senior at Willard High School presented on Colombian clothing. “I got to do it on anything I wanted, which I think is kind of a unique opportunity to get to do something outside of class,” Raney said. Raney wore a brightly colored traditional Colombian dress to add to her presentation and demonstrated how the fabric flows with Colombian women when they dance. After her presentation, Raney and her partner set their poster up in the back of the theater and laid out Barbie dolls, along with several containers of modeling dough, to provide audience members the opportunity to interact with their project and dress the dolls
in a Colombian fashion. Raney’s teacher said it was a new opportunity for her. “She’s had some great opportunities,” Nancy Ipock, Raney’s teacher and foreign language club sponsor, said. “This is just another great opportunity for her to express herself in front of an audience.” Raney went on to win first place in the life exhibit competition. “I started listening to music in Spanish, and I really started to gravitate towards Colombian music,” Raney said. “And it just evolved into me falling in love with Columbia and its culture and the people and all the celebrations.” Two Central High School seniors born in Peru also presented. Nicole Millan moved to America four years ago, and her partner Roxanna Fernandez is currently a foreign exchange student. “We are representing our country, Peru, and we want people to know about our country,” Millan said. The duo showed several aspects of Peruvian culture like Peru’s national pepper, Aji Amarillo, and another pepper, Aji Limo. “Representing central high school it’s a very good feeling,” Millan said. “Because
everyone is going to know more about our country and our diversity.” In order for the students to have this opportunity, it took over a year of planning. Professors Tonia Tinsley and Vanessa Rodriguez de la Vega wanted to provide high school students an opportunity to get involved at the university level. “It was really great to be able to let them see that they can find those languages here,” Tinsley said. “That what they’re doing in high school they don’t have to move away from it just because they’re moving to college.” According to Tinsley, they held a meeting last June with kindergarten through 12grade teachers, as well as curriculum coordinators from local schools to plan the day’s structure. They wanted to plan a day that would have interesting activities for students but also a day that wasn’t just full of games. “We wanted it to be something more and the teachers wanted it to be something more,” Tinsley said. “But we also know that students really respond to the idea of competing for something.” That’s where the idea for a competition blossomed. Over the next year, they reserved areas in the PSU, organized guest speakers and planned what Tinsley calls a day of
“organized chaos.” They also asked all of the MCL faculty to cancel class on Wednesday during the time of the showcase. There were several student volunteers from the MCL department who helped put on activities and clean up after. The goal of the showcase was to recruit students to come to MSU and show them they can continue to study languages in college. “Hopefully this will be a good recruitment activity,” MCL Department Head Jason Jolley said. “These are students who are looking at other schools and if they see that Missouri State really has a strong language program that’s supported by administrators and other departments in addition to MCL, they might want to come here and study languages.” Students like Raney see the value of putting in work in an event like this. “It’s given me an opportunity to do something where I taught myself as opposed to being taught about something,” Raney said. “I think that things like this really are more effective tools for learning language, because they’re entirely based on your want to do something.”
Spoken word poet visits MSU for Women’s History Month By Sarah Teague Staff Reporter @SarahTeague96
Throughout the month of March, Missouri State University has hosted a variety of events for Women’s History Month. On March 29, poet, Katie Wirsing visited and shared her poems in the Plaster Student Union. Her work has been featured on NPR, BBC and college campuses across the nation. Her poems range from speaking issues: love, gender, sexuality and spirituality, to her experiences with her close family, dating and fun experiences she’s had, like when she organized a Jell-O wrestling contest. “I write mostly about my family. It’s so interesting because I don’t intend to. Anytime I start writing a different poem, or a poem I think isn’t about them, then all of the sudden I’m like, ‘Oh wait, there you are family, you always show
up.’” Leaders from the Student Activities Council saw Wirsing perform at the National Association for Campus Activities Conference about a year ago, and put her on a list of promising future performers. “I started writing when I was 15-16 in high school,”Wirsing said. “High school was really hard and I was headed down a path of superdepression and I really needed to find something else. I found out about poetry slam in the newspaper. I went, not having any idea what it was and (thought), ‘These are my people,’ and I started writing (around that time). It’s been my full-time job now for almost six years.” Sam Siebert, the Cultural Affairs Chair for SAC, a junior mass media major, shared about similar events Missouri State has hosted in the past. “Last semester we had a Button Poetry event that featured about three or four spoken word artists,”
Siebert said. “Some students who attended that event told us that they really enjoyed spoken word and would love if we brought more of it to campus, so we did. We also have had open mic nights in the past where students are welcome to come perform their own poetry.” Siebert explained that positive feedback from students who attend events means possibly more similar events in the future. “Because SAC events are funded by the student activities fee, we try to make sure that our events are both fun and enjoyable, but also lend themselves in some way to Missouri State's Public Affairs mission,” said Siebert. “Every event that we plan has to meet some kind of learning outcome. It could be something as simple as establishing mutually rewarding relationships between students to something as serious as teaching about systemic Nina Todea/ THE STANDARD power imbalances and how to address and discuss those imbal- Katie Wirsing, visiting poet, performs spoken word poetry in the ances in a safe, open environment.” Plaster Student Union on March 29.
6 // SPORTS
Baseball back on track Tuesday, April 5, 2016 | the-standard.org
Bears snap losing streak with series sweep of Central Michigan By Trevor Martin Staff Reporter @trevorsaur
A three-game losing skid followed the MSU Bears baseball team into their home series against the Central Michigan Chippewas. The Bears (20-5) had been struggling to find their bats through their three-game stretch, and it was looking like a series against a dismal Central Michigan team could provide the spark they needed. Plus, with Valley play coming up, the Bears are going to need to be at peak performance to compete for another conference championship. The pitching matchup in game one seemed to work in the Bears’ favor, at least on paper. Pitcher Sean Renzi of the Chippewas carried a 7.17 ERA into Thursday’s game, but seemed to be giving the Bears a difficult time at the plate. Sluggers Jake Burger and Spencer Johnson couldn’t seem to find their stride, collecting a single hit between them, and leadoff hitter Hunter Steinmetz mustered a mere 1-for-5 against the struggling pitcher. For the Bears, Thursday’s game was kept
Miranda Roller/THE STANDARD
Teammates surround freshman shortstop Jeremy Eierman after his grandslam against Central Michigan on April 2. It was Eierman’s first career home run. in check in part by a stellar outing from ace starter Jordan Knutson. Knutson went 7.2 shutout innings, allowing only four hits and striking out a career-high 10 batters. The shutout of the Chippewas would be completed by a solo out from relief pitcher Sam Perez and a ninth inning decimation from AllAmerican closer Bryan Young.
The Bears, after being shutout for seven innings in the game, were finally able to break the mold and put two runs on the board in the eighth inning. The runs came from a pinch-hit triple from freshman infielder Jordan Hovey, scoring pinch runner Landan Ruff and a single from second baseman Aaron Meyer to score
Hovey. The Bears would win 2-0 with the win being attributed to Perez. In game two of the series, the Bears seemed to get their mojo back at the plate. The damage came early in the form of a grand slam from freshman shortstop Jeremy Eierman to deep left field. Steinmetz had a good day at the plate, going two-for-four with a walk, and right fielder Alex Jefferson continued his good weekend at the plate, going three-for-four and scoring three runs. The Bears didn’t just have it going at the plate, though. Starting pitcher Dylan Coleman had a career day on the mound for the Bears to keep the game out of reach, finishing with a final line of seven innings pitched, four hits, zero runs, zero walks and a Bears season-high 11 strikeouts. The Bears rolled through the Chippewas in game three to an easy 7-1 win and a threegame sweep. Sophomore starting pitcher Austin Knight had a great day on the mound, going seven innings pitched, giving up only one hit and striking out five batters. At the plate, senior catcher Matt Fultz and junior outfielder Blake Graham each collected a pair of RBIs to put the game out of reach and complete the sweep. The Bears have a couple of individual games this week before starting Valley play on April 5 and 6 at 6:35 p.m. One of the games will be played against cross-state rival Saint Louis University, and they look for revenge against a Kansas team that silenced the Bears’ bats the first time around. The Bears are sitting nice with a 22-5 record as they march on to face the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference in the second half of the season.
Missouri State University-West Plains self-reports NJCAA violations By Cortlynn Stark Staff Reporter @Cortlynn_Stark
The National Junior College Athletic Association placed the men’s basketball program and women’s volleyball program on probation at Missouri State UniversityWest Plains after they self-reported numerous NJCAA violations, according to Ozark Area Network. Yancey Walker resigned as head coach of the basketball program after the discovery, effective April 30, but is under administrative leave until then. Initial sanctions suspended Walker for the first five games of the upcoming basketball season, but because he resigned, the suspension will not hurt the new coach, according to the Ozark Area Network. Chad Van Riessen, assistant basketball coach, will take over as interim head coach until the head coach position is filled. Head volleyball coach Paula Wiedemann will not face job consequences, according to West Plains Daily Quill. The volleyball program had fewer violations, consisting of “transportation benefits, meals, housing, and laundry services provided to student athletes in excess of those
allowed by the NJCAA,” according to the Ozark Area Network. The Daily Quill said the programs will be ineligible for post-season competition, honors and awards for the 20162017 academic year. Both programs will also be required to do eligibility audits for NJCAA. “At Missouri State-West Plains, we are committed to following all of the NJCAA rules and regulations,” Chancellor Drew Bennett said. “Our coaches know that this is a requirement. When we discovered there were issues, we requested an internal audit. We reported all findings and are now working with the NJCAA to assure them we will adhere to all regulations in the future.” Missouri State University-West Plains self-reported violations to NCJAA at the end of November 2015. The initial discovery occurred during the summer of 2015 by Dean of Student Services and Athletic Director Angela Totty. “As part of my oversight of the athletic program, I noticed several inconsistencies in time sheets and overages in the men’s basketball budget and requested a full audit of the program by Missouri State University’s internal audit office,” Totty said. “The audit revealed additional issues in both programs. Once the audit was completed, we fulfilled our obligation as members of the NJCAA and self-reported all of the violations noted in the audit to
NJCAA officials.” According to the Ozark Area Network, these are the violations self-reported by Missouri State UniversityWest Plains. • There were 23 instances of providing benefits to student-athletes prior to their signatures and submissions of an NJCAA Letter of Intent. •11 student-athletes received travel benefits outside of the one allowable round trip transportation benefit each season. •There were multiple instances of meals provided in excess of those allowed by the NJCAA. •Documentation showed improper funding of the team’s participation in an off-season league in Springfield over a three-year period, which is in direct violation of NJCAA rules. •A member of the athletics department staff provided two basketball student-athletes with cell phones, which is not allowed by the NJCAA. •Athletics staff, under direction from Walker, provided transportation for a student-athlete to the Howell County Courthouse, which is in excess of that allowed by NJCAA. •A member of the athletics department staff transported players to and from airports and fed some players in exchange for occasional cash payments from Walker.
Struemph earns 400th career strikeout in win over Arkansas By Cortlynn Stark Staff Reporter @Cortlynn_Stark
After playing perfect defense all three games, the Bears fall twice to Loyola but defeat Central Arkansas. Struemph led the Bears to victory, earning her 400th career strikeout. Missouri State University dominated Arkansas 11-1 in a five inning game. Struemph only allowed four hits and one walk while striking out three, pushing her to 400 strikeouts. She is the sixth pitcher in MSU history to reach the 400 mark. Arkansas got a quick two outs in the top of the first inning but MSU rallied. Junior first baseman Mary Stephens hit a single and sophomore pitcher Kaitlin Beason followed with a walk to put two Bears on base. Senior shortstop Erin Duewel hit her sixth home run, a team high, to bring in a three-run home run and put the Bears up 3-0 at the end of the first. The Bears dominated the rest of the game. “Defense was perfect, great plays behind (Struemph),” Head Coach Holly Hesse said. “It was one of those days where anyone could take it and Duewel had that three-run homer in the first inning and so we scored almost every inning after that.” In the third inning, Beason hit a single to bring home sophomore second baseman Madison Jones, making
it 4-0. The offense exploded in the fourth inning with a triple by sophomore outfielder Hailee Vigneaux. She was followed by a double to right by freshman outfielder Hannah Heinrichs who earned her first run batted in of the game, bringing in Vigneaux. Sophomore outfielder Erika Velasquez Zimmer then singled to right to bring Heinrichs home. After an error by Arkansas, Jones advanced to first and Beason earned her second RBI of the game. The Bears scored four more runs in the fifth and final inning started by back to back singles by junior shortstop Elena Gambill and freshman catcher Darian Frost. Vigneaux reached first after Arkansas got Frost out. Pinch hitter Bethany Sullinger brought in Gambill. Then Velasquez Zimmer drew a walk. With the bases loaded, Stephens hit a single to left to bring in two runs. After the second Arkansas error, the Bears scored again. In the bottom of the fifth, Arkansas tried to rally but only scored one run, resulting in a run-rule win for the Bears. The Bears then traveled to Chicago for the weekend to take on Loyola. The opening game of the series was cancelled due to cold weather and snow. Struemph pitched a career-high 13 strikeouts in the Bears’ 4-0 loss to
Loyola. This beats her previous record of 11 strikeouts, is the highest total by an MSU pitcher since 2011 and ties her with other MVC pitchers for season high strikeouts. “Struemph is just a very good pitcher who’s given us a chance to win every time out,” Hesse said. “And she doesn’t take a lot of pride in her personal milestones, whether it’s 400 or 13 strikeouts in a game, she goes out there and gives her best effort for the team.” Despite Struemph’s controlling defense, the Bears were unable to do anything on offense. In the first inning, Velasquez Zimmer singled but only reached second before the inning ended. The Bears loaded the bases in the second with a singles by Duewel, Frost and Gambill drawing a hit by pitch but they were unable to capitalize. Junior second baseman Olivia Roark and Duewel earned hits in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, but were unable to score. “I felt Loyola’s pitchers just did a really nice job keeping our hitters offbalance,” Hesse said. “We just struggled at the plate all day.” Loyola scored two runs off a tworun homer in the fourth and followed with a two-run double to end the sixth. “Well you think if your pitcher has 13 strikeouts and you play perfect defense you should have a good chance to win that game,” Hesse said.
Photo from Athletic Communications
Junior pitcher Erin Struemph unwinds for a pitch.
“And unfortunately things just aren’t going our way right now, even when we are playing well.” The Bears fell again to Loyola with a 9-1 loss. Loyola scored a threerun home run early in the first to put the Bears down and they never dug themselves out of the hole. Duewel scored in the fourth inning after a single by sophomore catcher Molly Fields. Struemph started the game for the Bears but after the threerun home run Hesse put in senior pitcher Jessie Van Es. After Loyola hit four straight singles and scored, Beason came on in relief and got the Bears out of a bases loaded situation to hold the score. In
the sixth inning, Loyola scored five times to take the game 9-1. Hesse said the inning “got away from us.” However, Missouri State is currently third in the country in fielding percentage with .983, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. “Certainly we have some bright spots and some things to build on,” Hesse said. “We still have a lot of games to play and we’ll just keep working on getting better.” The Bears will play Central Arkansas at Killian Stadium at 6 p.m. on April 6 starting off a five-game home stretch.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
The Standard
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Lacrosse loses to Missouri Valley College By Parker Padgett Staff Reporter @PadgettParker
Playing the champs is never easy, especially when the champs are the Division II Great Rivers Lake Conference two-time defending champion, the Missouri Valley College Vikings. Hoping to bounce off their first loss in over a month, the Bears (4-3, 0-1) hosted the 15th ranked Vikings (5-2) in game featuring multiple goals and weather that couldn’t make up its mind between horrendous downpour and sunny skies. Despite a strong first half, turnovers started taking their toll and Valley won, 116. After an hour-long rain delay, action was underway at the Betty and Bobby Allison North Stadium. Three minutes in, junior midfielder Austin Todd scored the 30th goal of his career and seventh this season, giving the Bears and early lead. After Todd gave the team the lead, the Vikings went on a three-goal run, when senior defender Matt Hanes took matters into his hands and found the back of the net for the third time this year. “We do a great job pushing breaks and that’s where I get my goals,” Hanes said. “Valley, they were late (on defense) and that’s why I went for it.” Riding the momentum, Todd scored his second goal of the game with four minutes and some change left in the first. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Todd claimed. “That’s a really big part of it.” The rest of the first half was both teams exchanging goals and sophomore midfielders Burke Smith and Cooper Kelley entered the scoring column. At the half, Valley was in the driver’s seat with the Bears hanging around, only down one goal, 6-5. After a strong first half, coach Dustin Rich felt good about his team. “I told them to be patient, finding matchups on offense,” coach Rich said. “I
Ryan Welch/THE STANDARD
Midfielder Burke Smith fights off a Missouri Valley College defender during the Bears 11-6 loss to the Vikings on March 30. told them to keep it up, and let’s finish this game” But it was a tale of two halves. In the third quarter, Valley opened up an offensive floodgate, netting four-straight goals until sophomore attacker Tim Harvatin stopped the bleeding, scoring his seventh on the year so far. The damage was done though and Valley handed the Bears their third loss this year,
making their record 4-3. But despite the back to back losses, coach Rich knows what he needs to do for the future. “You got to put it all together,” he said. “There are things we are doing well, and there are mistakes that we consistently make, and as a staff we look at how we correct those mistakes, how we help our guys play mistake-free lacrosse, and continue to
do what we do well, and that’s share the ball and play defense.” And speaking of defense, the game ball went to senior goalkeeper Mason Goodwin, who had excellent saves all evening. The Bear’s next match is against the Creighton Blue Jays (0-5-1), who have been outscored 78-10 this season. The match will be April 16 at the Betty and Bobby Allison North Stadium at 4 p.m.
Track Bears outrace the Racers Bears break six meet records at Margaret Simmons Invitational By Wyatt Wheeler Staff Reporter @realYitWheeler
The Missouri State women’s track and field team outraced the Racers at the Margaret Simmons Invitational on Friday. The Bears won 13 individual competitions and also won a relay while breaking six different meet records to give them the meet victory over Murray State. Among the record breakers was junior thrower Melanie Raterman, who broke her own school record in the hammer throw with a throw of 52.47 meters. Raterman set the Missouri State school record during her freshman year with a throw of 49.82 meters.
Other meet records broken by Bears included senior sprinter Shavonne Husbands’ performance in the 100meter dash and sophomore sprinter Marissa Kurtimah’s time in the 200-meter dash. Husbands had a winning time of 11.97 seconds in her first attempt of the season. Kurtimah ran the 200-meter dash in 24.69 seconds. Sophomore sprinter Kadisha Francois topped her personal best for the second-straight week by winning the 400-meter dash in 56.38 seconds. Junior Holly Pattie-Belleli finished in the top-three in two events, including a victory in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.97 seconds. The win gave the MSU women’s track and field team their first win of the season. “We had fun Friday and were able to win many events, but we did not take the competition lightly,” head coach Ronald Boyce said in a press release. “Our team was able to use this meet to get some extra work in which is important for us as we head into the better part of our season, but there is still a lot of work to be done.” The MSU women’s track and field team will look to build off their win beginning on April 7 in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the Gibson Invitational.
Last Week’s Sudoku Answers
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8 | the-standard.org
The Standard
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Volleyball team in first action since NCAA Tournament
Photo spread by Bailey Vassalli
Top left: Lynsey Wright. Top right: Lily Johnson. Bottom left: Lauren Boone sets up Caroline Finnell. Bottom right: Bears huddle after a score.
By Parker Padgett @PadgettParker Staff Reporter
The volleyball Bears returned to the Hammons Student Center for their first match since the 2015 season-ending loss to the University of Missouri with a spring exhibition tournament Saturday April 2. The Bears finished the day 1-1-2. The tournament included teams from the University of Arkansas, Oral Roberts University, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The Bear’s first match was against Oral Roberts, which MSU lost 2-1. They would go on to draw their next two
matches 1-1, with Arkansas and SIUE. The only win for the Bears would be the last match of the day, a rematch with SIUE, which Missouri State won 2-1. Despite losing All-American and Missouri Valley Conference Setter of the Year, Kinsey Batten, the team still boasts a triad of All-Missouri Valley Conference talent consisting of sophomore Emily Butters, senior Simone House and current Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and first Missouri State volleyball player to be a twotime All-American junior Lily Johnson. Johnson also recently was selected for the United State Collegiate National Team for their Europe tour. She was one of 12 players selected for the squad.
Weekly Crossword © 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Perry of pop Hot tub Director Spike Allow -- Baba
Along with them, the Bears return senior Tatum Marshall, juniors Brianne Dixon, Lynsey Wright and Lauren Boone. In addition, a little less than half of the team is the returning sophomores, made up of Cambree Villarreal, MacKenzie Irwin, Mikaela Mosquera, Caroline Finnell and Ashley Ophoven. And to top it off, the team boasts incoming impactful freshmen players. Next for the Bears is a trip to Kansas City for the Kansas State Tournament. The tournament features Kansas State, Arkansas, Nebraska-Omaha and Rockhurst University on April 9. The rest of their Spring Exhibition schedule includes road trips to Ole Miss and Arkansas before the month ends.
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Omoloja said that the banquet on Friday took roughly two months to plan. Tickets were sold online and at the Plaster Student Union. Regardless of all the success the club has made in the community, Omoloja said that for her, the African Student Association kept her tied to her home roots. “It’s kept me up-to-date and kept me on my feet in trying to actually keep updated on what is going on back home,” Omoloja said. “It encourages me to look back at my place and to keep having these conversations, because they are important, and there are always people that are willing to learn.”
Bailey Vassalli/THE STANDARD
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LGBTQ students thought MSU did not have enough diversity on campus in regards to gender identity and gender expression. In February, MSU added gender identity and gender expression to the university’s non-discrimination policy. “We had students applying here that are transgender, and they had legitimate questions of, ‘Am I going to be discriminated against in some way if I come to Missouri State, because that’s not protected in Springfield?’” MSU President Clif Smart said. “And the answer was no, and we would tell them that we don’t discriminate on any basis against students that are here or against our employees, but by making it clear in the policy, if someone wants to go look at the policy, they will see, ‘Oh, that’s the group I’m in, and the university is committed to treating everyone the same.’” Smart also said the university has tried to help with diversity and inclusion by creating a new Multicultural Resource Center Annex, which is set to be completed in March. The MRC Annex will house the LGBT Resource Center. Dominiece Hoelyfield, the assistant director-coordinator of LGBT student services, said she did not see this as an improvement to the LGBT community, though. The LGBT Resource Center is currently on the lower level of University Hall. Hoelyfield said when the center is moved to the MRC Annex, the LGBT Resource Center will lose its identity. “In the MRC Annex, it’s going to be a multitude of different communities,” Hoelyfield said. “So when you have the LGBT Resource Center inside of the MRC Annex, the identity kind of gets flushed away, because the image is of the MRC Annex and not the LGBT Resource Center.” Hoelyfield said MSU could help the LGBT community by creating a students’ support services building, so that the different centers within the Multicultural Resource Center could have their own stand-alone places. Brianna Duda, director of academic affairs for MSU’s Student Government Association, said she was glad the university was working to become more inclusive, such as allowing more gender neutral bathrooms on campus. She said the Office of Registrar is also working on a preferred name policy, which would allow someone who identifies by a different name, because he or she identifies as a different gender, to enter their preferred name in their My Missouri State account.
February: Mayor’s Commission of Human Rights propose to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Springfield’s nondiscrimination policy
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Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Changes to the LGBT Resource Center, and the addition of the MRC Annex and preferred name policy, came shortly after the climate study showed that about 52 percent of LGBTQ students thought people at MSU were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, and 65 percent of LGBTQ students said MSU individuals were discriminated against because of their gender identities and gender expressions. While MSU has made changes to become more inclusive, Duda said the university could offer more Safe Zone training to the faculty and staff. MSU employees can go through specific training to make sure they are using the right terminology and are offering a safe space for LGBTQ students. Duda said the Springfield community has tried to be supportive of the LGBTQ community since the SOGI ordinance repeal. The Gay and Lesbian Community Center for the Ozarks hosted events to help the community. Also, churches that supported the ordinance have held socials and changed their signs to say they welcome everyone, including the LGBTQ community. Even though the Springfield community has done some things to show support of the LGBTQ community, the climate study showed that 66 percent of LGBTQ students view MSU as a “safe haven” compared to the Springfield community. “When putting up a good fight to have this support there and to put out to the community that without this (ordinance), this is how this could negatively impact me or someone I love or a friend or an employee, and it’s voted against, you can see the resistance there,” Hoelyfield said. “Anyone would be disheartened by that or defeated, and those feelings don’t go away with just one institution implementing the addition of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation to their non-discrimination ordinance, because that’s just one institution. Most of your time is spent at work, but outside of that, you’re not on campus. You venture out…and that’s where the actions take place, and if you don’t have that support or that protection, then you feel vulnerable, exposed.” Springfield Mayor Robert Stephens said he thinks the reason students feel that Springfield is unsafe is because colleges tell students that they are safest on-campus and not safe if they venture offcampus. With these kind of thoughts in mind, he said the students might be trying to find unwelcoming behaviors in the com-
munity. “You’re more likely to trigger the unwanted behavior if you’re looking for it,” Stephens said. Moncado said she thinks the Springfield community learned a valuable lesson about voting because of how close the vote was for the ordinance repeal. There was less than a 1,000 vote difference between “No Repeal” and “Yes Repeal.” She said she wants the community to realize how valuable voting is and to use that lesson for the upcoming presidential, state and local elections. “Your vote is your voice in every single election, because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “The most important thing you can do as an American is to use your voice, because this is your community. This is where you live, and you can make a difference.” Lindsey Kolb, an MSU alumnus who graduated with a degree in socio-political communication, said after her experience with the SOGI ordinance repeal, she learned a valuable lesson about intolerance. Kolb, former SGA director of administrative and information services, spoke in favor of the repeal and was met with backlash from some students. A “#TakeLindseyOffCarrington” petition was started, asking Smart to take down a banner of Kolb in front of Carrington Hall because of her support for the repeal. In response, Kolb’s supporters created a “#StandWithLindsey” counter-petition. “The SOGI ordinance repeal influenced me by reminding me that there is a diverse group of people everywhere I go even if I don't realize it,” Kolb said. “I also became very aware of the intolerance of certain groups to respect the views of others, whether that was the LGBT community not respecting the religious community for wanting religious protections for businesses, or religious groups being intolerant of the LGBT community and their desire to be treated fairly.” Hoelyfield said she hopes people on both sides of the issue learned that talking to people who have differing opinions is important because discussions can help understand each other. “Get to know me as a person,” she said. “Don’t see me as a sexual perversion, because I am not. I am just a human being like you.”
SOGI Ordinance Timeline
February: The task force meets for the first time and surveyed businesses and churches
2013
August: City Council proposes and tables bill so the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task force can look into the issue
June: City Council’s Community Involvement Committee creates an ordinance based on task force recommendations
2014
November: The task force provides two recommendations for adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the non-discrimination policy
October: City Council passes Council Bill 2014189, known as the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ordinance
September: City Council proposes Council Bill 2014-189 and Council Bill 2014189 Substitute 1
November 24: City Council tables the SOGI ordinance and referendum
February: MSU’s Faculty Senate unanimously passes a resolution supporting the ordinance
2015
November 5: A referendum containing over 2,000 signatures is turned into the city clerk’s office. City Council has 30 days to respond to the referendum
April 10: Over 2,000 people attend a protest on the Springfield downtown square
April 7: The SOGI ordinance is repealed by 51 percent of voters in the April election
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Let your voice be heard, vote in the Student Body election
According to an email sent out by senior political science major Ashley Crisafulli, SGA student body The MSU Student Body Election starts this week, president, a list of information about the candidates and students have several items to vote on. and ballot issues will be available on the SGA webThe Student Body Election will go from April 6 at site. midnight to April 8 at 4 p.m. The items students will Students who have questions about the candivote on are: dates or ballot items can either tweet at • Student Body President and Vice President @MOStateSGA or contact the SGA office. • Senior Class President • Readership fee reallocation to student initiative fund SGA Contact Information • Naming of the Multicultural Resource Center Office: PSU 123 Annex • The Outdoor Seating and Plaza Wyrick Project Phone: 417-836-5500 File photo/THE STANDARD • Student Government Association Constitution Juniors Adam Coffman and Brianna Duda are the only candidates runupdate ning for student body president and vice president this year.
By The Standard Staff
Women’s golf finishes third at Little Rock/Arkansas State
Wyatt Wheeler Staff Reporter @realYitWheeler
Sophomore Verena Gimmy took first place at the Little Rock/Arkansas State Invitational by two strokes while the Missouri State women’s golf team finished in third place. Gimmy was able to hold onto first after taking the lead on the second day of the competition. Gimmy would then extend her lead on the last day to win the event by two strokes over Central Arkansas’ freshman Emma Svensson.
Gimmy’s tournament-leading eight birdies helped pave the way for her first-place finish with a final score of 219. MSU also posted a top-10 finish with sophomore Stine Pettersen as she posted a 226 while tying for seventh place of 54 golfers. Gimmy and Pettersen’s efforts helped give the Bears team a third-place finish. The sophomore pair carried the MSU women’s team while no other MSU golfer would place higher than 24th, where junior Caroline Boone placed with a score of 234. The Central Arkansas team won the tournament while
posting an overall score of 902. Missouri Valley Conferencerival Wichita State finished right behind them with a final score of 906 to end as the runner-ups. Missouri State finished at 916. Missouri State finishes their regular season this week at the Gary Crossley Ford Kansas City Shootout. The Bears will then travel to the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Chicago beginning April 17.
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What to expect during Public Affairs Week Intramurals
By Trevor Martin Staff Reporter @trevorsaur
Building Healthy Communities: Body, Mind and Spirit. By now, most all of our students know our public affairs mission statement and I’m sure there are plenty who are tired of hearing it. However, there are many who may not know exactly what “body, mind and spirit,” entails. From April 5-8, our campus is holding the Public Affairs Conference where each day there will be speakers, discussions and exhibits all relating to important topics that apply to us, the students. Highlighted by guest speaker Jillian Michaels, who is most known for her role in the show “The Biggest Loser,” the conference will talk about some of the most difficult topics and problems facing not only the students, but the public. Each day will have its own unique speakers and discussions tailored toward our public affairs
statement. On Tuesday, April 5, the conference will start off with the opening of an exhibit called “The f Word: Stories of Forgiveness.” The exhibit will tell stories of people whose lives have been destroyed by violence and hatred and how those people chose to forgive instead of hate. The exhibit will be accessible every day during the conference. Later that day, Cox Health has sponsored a “Walk and Rally,” where they will have exhibits and displays. At this event they will also have a guest appearance from Marie Pearl, who appeared on “The Biggest Loser,” as well as the woman of the hour, Michaels. Michaels will also give a presentation entitled “How to Build an Exceptional Life,” where she will talk about life’s ups and downs and bringing the right attitude. Beginning Wednesday morning, there will be multiple presentations spanning from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., where there will be a break in the action. These presentations will cover a variety of top-
ics, some of which include social media’s role in obstructing conflict resolution, body image and self-esteem in America, social justice, the Affordable Care Act and the effects that aging has on healthcare and its cost to senior citizens. Later that night there will be a presentation from Zack Exley, senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders campaign, about how information sharing affects community health. Mental illness seems to be the recurring theme of Thursday’s events. A panel of speakers will be talking about some of the topics surrounding mental illness, especially on college campuses. There will also be presentations throughout the afternoon on some of the most relevant topics to today’s society, such as extreme wealth and poverty in America’s public schools, race relations in today’s society and the “true cost” of fast food. Friday, April 8, wraps up the Public Affairs Conference with a morning strewn with salient top-
ics that college students should be aware of. One of these presentations covers sexual assault, which has been a topic of much concern on our own campus in recent semesters. Robert Putnam, author of “Bowling Alone,” will also be giving a presentation about the expanding gap for lack of opportunity among today’s youth, and he will voice his concern about the American dream becoming less tangible. The Public Affairs Conference, from April 5-8, is something that I encourage all students to attend. There is a fantastic panel of speakers coming to our campus, and they will be talking about the most pertinent topics to our society, our families and our own campus. You may get to meet someone famous, and you might just learn something important along the way.
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different gender must touch the ball rather than stating male or female. However, Easter admits that there are still improvements that can be made. “As a woman and current participant in the MSU Intramural Sports Program, I do believe these rules were put in place with good intentions 20 years ago, but throughout our entire nation, a spark has started a new thought, a new mind set, that maybe these rules are outdated and no longer needed,” Easter said. According to Buchanan, it is a matter of equality and being qualified to play, regardless of gender. “As a girl you always feel like you have to prove yourself, even with other girls,” Buchanan said.
For more information about intramural sports, visit https://www.missouristate.edu/r ecreation/Intramurals/
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Students are excited for upcoming renovations at Ellis Hall
Bailey Vassalic/THE STANDARD
Ellis Hall lacks many modern features that students look forward to having.
By Parker Padget Staff Reporter @PadgettParker
In 1959, Ellis Hall was built on the campus of what was Southwest Missouri State College. According to Missouri State’s website, it was the first building on campus to be named after a president, Dr. Roy Ellis. The building is the central hub of the music department, headed by a 30 member full-time faculty and features thousands of student. And after 57 years and two name changes of the university, Ellis is getting a makeover. The upcoming improvement have some students excited. Alex Henke, a senior music education and composition, mentioned that it’s about time with Ellis’ renovations. “You can tell the place’s age,” he said. “Even the floors have been redone multiple times, but the music program is the best in the state, and it deserves a better place to house its faculty, class and practice rooms.”
Adiana Williams, sophomore vocal music education major, is looking forward to the changes as well. “I’m excited,” Williams said. “We are going to have Steinway pianos. It’s like Christmas for us music majors.” According to the website of Missouri State’s Planning, Design, & Construction, the renovation of Ellis will include a new mechanical system. The choral room will also be improved so it can accommodate piano recitals, a new curtain wall and re-roofing the building. But while this is all happening, where will the students go? The temporary Ellis Hall will be on Gladstone, where students will have to drive to class or ride a shuttle from campus. That in itself could be troubling for some students. “Shuttles may not come fast enough, especially for music majors who usually have a tight, packed schedule,” Williams said. “I’m not looking forward to driving to a different location for some music classes next year, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the end.” Henke agreed, but has a problem lingering in the short-term. “A problem I’m having is finding a place for my (senior)
recital next semester with the recital hall unavailable,” he said. He is not the only one. All seniors in the music major program have to perform a senior recital and with Ellis being under renovation, those seniors have to now find a new place. But that doesn’t wave neither student’s love for the music department, whether it’s the students they learn with or the teachers. “Everyone is basically one big crazy family,” Williams said. “We all hang out and talk about lessons, theory, homework and eta cetera. The faculty are amazing. They really push you in the right direction and encourage every student to stay passionate and work hard.” Henke agreed. “They are some of the hardest working students on campus,” Henke said. “With practice, classes, rehearsals and homework, it’s a lot of responsibility.” The renovations of Ellis Hall will begin in May.
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few days later. He was sleeping at a friend’s house the night of the fire. “In the middle of the night, we heard people cry and yell for help,” Asani said. “Later on, we realized that (my) house was set on fire and everybody was trying to volunteer and devote (time) to see how they could…rescue people who were crying for help. It was very, very painful because I witnessed what happened. That’s life…it was not just in my area or in my village, but (this violence was) everywhere.” Asani fled immediately. “After the fire, I left immediately that night,” he continued. “I remembered the warning that everyone who is related to that family would be exterminated, so I decided to escape. The (family member) that survived was my sister…she died naturally some years later. My niece was an infant hospitalized (before the fire). Everything happened while they were away from home.” After leaving his village, Asani walked more than 300 km (186 miles) on foot. He arrived in a town called Baraka, where he met a pastor willing to pay for his transportation across Lake Tanganyika. Before he could reach the other side of the lake, he was stopped on Ubwari Peninsula, where he was again helped by an organization known as Curators International. “They helped me, so I boarded the boat for free, from that (peninsula) to Tanzania, where after arriving there, I was welcomed and received by the United Nations,” Asani said.
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In the middle of the night, we heard people cry and yell for help. Later on, we realized that (my) house was set on fire and everybody was trying to volunteer and devote (time) to see how they could...rescue people who were crying. describe life in a refugee camp, because it’s so tough,” Asani said. “Just in a word, living in the camp is very, very difficult and it needs patience, endurance. Just something like that in a word, it’s…indescribable.” Nyarugusu refugee camp opened in 1996, responding to the Congolese crisis. From the beginning, the camp has hosted over 60,000 refugees. Today, it is a home for Congolese who have remained there since the Great War of Africa, and recently to Burundi refugees. Asani lived there alone before meeting his wife in the camp. Malenga Mseke was living there with her parents and had a similar story to Asani. “(Mseke) had to flee Congo with her parents, who escaped almost the same situation,” said Asani. “Her relatives were also exterminated in Congo, so her parents had to flee to Tanzania for their safety.” Asani and Mseke have been married for 16 years and had four children in the camp.
Asani’s ministry Asani acted as a missionary to his fellow countrymen, teaching the gospel message throughout the camp. “(My) ministry was an apostolic revival ministry, committed and focusing much Life in a refugee camp more on the restoration of the five-fold gift “Describing life (in a refugee camp)…a ministries in the church,” said Asani. “That newspaper would not be enough to means we still believe biblically speaking
Photo from CWS
Nyarugusu has hosted over 60,000 refugees and expects more refugees to arive at the camp, according to CWS.
Mohammed Jubary
that there should be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers functioning in the church today.” The five-fold ministry concept comes from Ephesians 4:11-13: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
New life in Springfield Asani applied to come to America through United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement. “I came to Missouri as a legal refugee… I (know) a pastor who is in the state of Missouri, not in Springfield,” said Asani. “We were communicating through Facebook and email. He was interested in my ministry, what I was doing in the refugee camp. We continued communicating for almost three years.” The pastor helped Asani when he was applying for resettlement. “When I asked him whether I could use his contact information for UNHCR (as) one of the people who knew me in Missouri, the man was so open and he accepted,” Asani said. “He sent his contact information to me, which I shared with UNHCR and U.S. Immigration. That is how I came to Springfield, which is not so far from where he is.” Now, Asani and his family have lived in Springfield for two months and have been helped by Life360 Intercultural Church, pastored by Damon and Saehee Duran. “We start our gathering with at least an hour of food and fellowship,” according to the church’s website. Each meal usually has an ethnic focus, but food from many nationalities may be presented each week. Our leadership team consists of people who speak Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Hindi and other dialects. We also pray for a specific country each week. Our meeting is more like a family reunion and potluck than a traditional church service.” The intercultural community is open to anyone from any background that are at any point in their life. The intercultural family of this church wants to reach across cultural borders to unite people together. “The Pastors (of Life 360 Intercultural)
have been to us, and particularly to me, very nice people and wonderful people,” Asani said. “They have welcomed us with generosity, and are so open to us. Once one has arrived to a new place it is difficult… to get used to people, but the pastors are very interested and committed in helping and supporting our family.” Pastor Duran was waiting at the airport when Asani’s family arrived, and in the time since has facilitated donations and invited them into the Life360 church family. Kari Hoggard, the site director for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, spoke to the Durans and told them Asani and his family were coming to Springfield. “(She) said there’s a family coming from the Congo…and something in my heart leapt,” Pastor Duran said. “I said, ‘I want to help this family.’ Saehee is sitting next to me and in her mind she’s thinking, ‘I want to help this family’ without even talking to each other.” Hoggard told the Duran family about Asani’s past and his ministry in the camp. “We knew then and there this is definitely from the Lord,” Duran said. “So, we went to our church and announced this family was coming, and we wanted to adopt them, and help them, so we raised offerings for them…and also gave pots and pans, and all the necessities.” Asani’s family has not been in America long, but they are working to find employment and plant seeds in the community so that they may flourish here in the states. Asani encourages people to travel to war zones such as his homeland and help. “I just want people to go and see and bear witness to what is happening in the refugee camp,” said Asani. “(Reading about it is) like a history course. ‘Once upon a time there was a lion…,’ just a story.” Asani said once people see what happens at a refugee camp, they can grasp some of the unimaginable things that go on there. “Sometimes if you are a refugee, you have no expectation of your right as a human being, being respected,” he continued. “I would appreciate (if people went to the camps), because just reading…is not enough to reveal the whole picture of what is happening on the ground.”