Crescent Magazine February 2015

crescent MAGAZINE

SKYROCKETING COSTS It’s easy to complain about high tuition, but the cost of school pays for more than you might think. | pg 20

MORE THAN A FEELING What does it mean to fall in love? Some say it’s biological, but others still find magic in it. | pg 22

ON THE MATTER OF RACE Despite what many may say, a racial divide still exists today. Find out what it’s like to be a black college student at a predominantly white small school. | pg 24

February 2015 | University of Evansville | College Culture Upfront | issuu.com/uecrescent | $2.50

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SPONSORED BY THE CENTER FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

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Contents

EDITORIAL Writing Directors

THIS MONTH

CHRIS NORRIS ANNA SHEFFER

Senior Writer MARISA PATWA

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Writers HALEY ALBERS GRAHAM CHATTIN MCKENZIE ELLIS MILLIE HARLOW IAN HESLINGER SARAH JOEST DEJA JOHNSON RACHAEL MCGILL CHELSEA MODGLIN RYAN MURPHY PAULA NOWACZYK ANDREW SHERMAN

EDITING

18

20

22

CREATIVE Creative Director TRAVIS HASENOUR

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURE | Haley Albers & Graham Chattin

3 OUR VIEWPOINT

The Internet allows us to share ideas and creations easier than ever before. Are digital advancements helping or hurting our creativity?

4 THE POSTSCRIPT

FEATURE | R. McGill, R. Murphy & A. Sherman

8 WITHIN FAITH

FEATURE | M. Ellis, D. Johnson & C. Modglin Some say love has no reason, but there is a scientific explanation to all the madness. What is love, and why does it rule our lives?

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ASHLEY MATTHEWS EMILY KRIEBLE PAIGE WATTS

Senior Craig Schlemmer and sophomore Kendra Chastain have a bond that has kept them together, even through a long-distance relationship.

The cost of a college education gets higher every year. Why are costs so high, and how can students get the most out of their money?

Editing Director Copy Editors

QUITE A PAIR | Anna Sheffer

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10 FIRST TIME 12 SEXUAL TENSION 15 THROUGH THE LENS 36 Q&A

COVER | Anna Sheffer & Chris Norris

38 BRAIN BOMB

Even in 2015, discrimination is still an issue. Crescent Magazine spoke with five black students who shared their thoughts and discussed their experiences dealing with racism in their everyday lives.

39 WHO KNEW?

OVERTIME | Ian Heslinger & Paula Nowaczyk Balance and hard work come naturally to sophomore Danielle Freeman, who is both a swimmer and a softball player.

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6 INNOVATION

A CLOSER LOOK | Sarah Joest

40 FULL-COURT PRESS 41 ATHLETES IN ACTION 44 CAMPUS CRIME 46 OFF THE WALL 48 MOTLEY CREW

Todsapon Thananatthanachon, assistant professor of chemistry, finds colorful ways to connect with his students and difficult material.

Photo Editor KATE SARBER

Photographers MAKAYLA SEIFERT WILLIAN MALLMANN

Designers TROY BURGER KAYLA SEIFERT CORINNE WERNER

MARKETING & SALES Circulation Assistant PATRICK ROQUE

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facebook.com/uecrescent | twitter.com/uestudpub | issuu.com/uecrescent | crescentmagazine@evansville.edu

Find out what’s happening with Student Congress each Friday on the magazine’s Facebook page.

HOW TO CONTACT US Ridgway University Center, University of Evansville, 1800 Lincoln Ave., Evansville, Ind. 47722 Editorial e-mail: crescentmagazine@evansville.edu • Phone: (812) 488–2846 • FAX: (812) 488–2224 Marketing & Sales: (812) 488–2221 & 488–2223 • crescentadvertising@evansville.edu

Crescent Magazine is the University of Evansville’s student magazine. It is written, edited and designed by and for UE students and published six times during the academic year. Circulation is 1,700, and it is distributed to 18 campus locations and housed online at www.issuu.com. It is funded through advertising sales and a subscription fee paid on behalf of students by the UE Student Government Association. Printed by Mar-Kel Printing, Newburgh, Ind. © 2015 Student Publications, University of Evansville. z editorial policy: Commentary expressed in unsigned editorials represents a consensus opinion of the magazine’s Editorial Board. Other columns, reviews, essays, articles and advertising are not necessarily the opinion of the CMEB or other members of staff. z letter submissions: Crescent Magazine welcomes letters from UE students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni, but material the CMEB regards as libelous, malicious and/or obscene will not be published. Letters should not exceed 250 words. For verification, letters must include the author’s name, class standing or title and email address. Crescent Magazine does not print anonymous letters or those that cannot be verified. Letters will be edited as needed. Email letters to crescentmagazine@evansville.edu, with “letter” written in the subject line.

February 2015 • Crescent Magazine

Crescent Magazine • February 2015

Religion can often be used to protect a group’s speech, even in extreme cases. The Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for protesting during the funerals of soldiers and public figures who oppose their beliefs. Although the things they say are considered hate speech, the WBC has been allowed to express these opinions because they are considered part of their religion.

This is an unfortunate side effect of free speech, but the reaction to WBC protests shows why there do not need to be limits set by the government. WBC protests are met with counterprotests by people who disagree with them, and the group was ultimately classified as a hate group, which stripped them of some rights given to religious groups. The free market of ideas has determined without government intervention that their messages are of no value.

Freedom of expression is often taken for granted or misused. It is more often used as protection for offensive comments than a conduit for expressing actual political opinions. Abusing this freedom dilutes the good it can do. And failing to use the freedoms given to us prevents our society from changing when something is wrong.

The government should not interfere with freedom of expression in order to protect people’s feelings. Publications are vehicles for ideas, and censoring those ideas, regardless of whether they offend someone, is wrong. Readers can choose what they want to read, so newspapers, magazines and other media are not responsible if someone finds their content objectionable.

That being said, publications have a responsibility to publish only material with which they wish to be associated. Articles printed affect the public’s view of a publication, and it is up to us as journalists to present ethical content that upholds our standards as a magazine.

If something needs to be printed, we have to be confident that we will be able to print it. It’s not just a matter of expressing our views. It’s a matter of informing the public, of keeping information a free and abundant resource.

This campus allows us to express ourselves more than many other private universities do. That’s something students take for granted at times. As students, we need to exercise our freedom of speech, and we need to do it wisely.

Our Viewpoint

F

ree speech is under attack. That was the message in January when terrorists attacked the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing an offensive cartoon about the Prophet Muhammad. Even though the attacks happened in Paris, they led many Americans to debate what can and cannot be printed or said.

Under the Constitution, we are granted freedom of speech and press to allow free ideas to influence political administrations.

The framers of the Constitution believed these rights were essential to the building of a democracy, and their importance is still relevant today.

The right to free expression protects American publications like The Onion — whose satire has offended a number of groups just as Charlie Hebdo’s did — because the content of the magazine, though offensive, is not harmful.

That distinction should be the only line drawn. Unless something is threatening to others, it should be allowed. Publications should be able to choose what they publish, and readers should be able to choose what they read.

This idea goes back to what the framers had in mind. There are limits to free expression, such as hate speech and threats, but those limits exist to allow political dialogue to happen without obscenity or malice getting in the way. The framers decided never to censor the people’s opinions. If the limit were simply what offended someone, nothing would be printed.

This is not to say everything should be published. The legal limit to what can be printed should be broad so people can speak without fear, but there should be social limits in place. Sometimes people need to be offended to start conversations, but being offensive for the sake of being offensive is not what the framers had in mind.

So what should be the guideline for what can and cannot be expressed? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Something that may be offensive or obscene may have political value, but obscenity can also be excessive and unnecessary. The key is balancing other peoples’ rights with your own. When free speech cases are decided, it often comes down to whether someone else’s rights were violated by what was said or published.

DEFENDING

OUR FREEDOM

TO SPEAK

Just because something is offensive, does not mean it should be banned. The First Amendment gives us important freedoms we should not ignore.

ON THE COVER: Crescent Magazine thanks junior Jalen Stepp, sophomores Titianna Folson, Brittany McFadden and David Poindexter and freshmen Marks Cannon and Gabriel James for posing for photos for the cover photo illustration. | Travis Hasenour

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The Postscript

GRAHAM CHATTIN

THE RULES OF

SPEAKING OUT

Knowing when to speak and when not to can make the difference in getting heard.

A

mericans are afforded free speech by the First Amendment. This privilege allows us to express ourselves without fear of repercussion from the government, but the law has caveats, including reserving the right for private colleges to interpret what free speech is for students. UE is no exception.

Debbie Howard, professor of law, politics and society, said there is a simple explanation for why the Constitution’s framers made the First Amendment first.

“It’s No. 1 because it was No. 1 on [the framers’] minds,” she said.

The First Amendment protects free speech, press, assembly and religion, but the language is broad, and there are limits, and the Supreme Court decides these restrictions.

Some forms of speech not protected by the Constitution include obscenity, promoting illegal activity and speech that may cause a breach of peace. Protected speech depends on location and includes words and actions that communicate a message, no matter how offensive some people may find them.

Howard said the framers’ focus was on political speech. It is crucial to be able to discuss politics without fear of retribution.

“You cannot have a free people without having a free press,” she said.

Junior Nathan Weisling, College Republicans president, also emphasized the importance of free speech.

“I think it is one of the cornerstones of democracy,” he said. “If people couldn’t voice their opinions, we wouldn’t have a government by the people, for the people.”

School is one place where protection of freedom of speech can vary. Geoff Edwards, Center for Student Engagement director, said it varies from college to college. Public colleges, which are paid for by taxpayers, have to abide by the Constitution. Private colleges like UE are allowed to make their own decisions, and some restrict freedom of speech. But many schools give rights to students, knowing they would not have as many students otherwise.

Edwards said SGA has the power to protect students’ right to freedom of speech in two ways. First, they make sure students are allowed representation and due process. Second, SGA can facilitate communication by lobbying administration

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to change policy in the student handbook.

The handbook also promotes freedom of speech by letting campus organizations use campus facilities, such as TVs and printers. There is also a space south of Olmsted Hall where students are allowed to assemble unless they are disrupting other students. Groups can conduct a wide variety of events with permission from campus authorities.

The handbook considers freedom of speech important to students’ development and allows students “to engage in discussion, to exchange thought and opinion and to speak, write or print freely on any subject whatever in accordance with the guarantees of our state and national constitutions.”

But there are limits. Anything that could be considered lewd, obscene or otherwise illegal and immoral is not allowed.

Usually, students are not punished for what they say. But sometimes speech is forbidden regardless of content.

“I think ultimately that all institutions are allowed to restrict speech on time, place and manner,” Edwards said.

This means while speech content may not be an issue, it becomes an issue if it interferes with conduct on campus.

Location of messages is important for students living in residence halls. If a student has an offensive sign posted on his or her door, administrators can have it removed since UE owns the room, but if it is inside the room, no one can make the student remove the sign.

Music is also a special case. Students cannot request someone to turn off a song because it is offensive, but they can if it is a noise violation. The handbook also states that teachers are not allowed to change a student’s grade based on personal beliefs or disagreements. Of course, it is hard to prevent that entirely, but Weisling believes the rule is usually followed.

He also said that even though he thinks Republicans are a minority at UE, the school has been welcoming to his group.

He said he has liberal friends at other schools who have been singled out by professors because of their beliefs.

“I think [UE] has worked very hard at being unbiased,” Weisling said. “I feel very secure.”

Rules controlling speech may be complicated, but they are designed to protect speech, not limit it. By knowing the rules, you can express yourself without intruding on others’ rights.

February 2015 • Crescent Magazine

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Crescent Magazine • February 2015

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Innovation & Science

IN BALANCE WITH photo by Kate Sarber

BARRE THERAPY RYAN MURPHY

B

allet is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think about improving their balance and physical health. But dancing can go a long way toward doing just that.

A team of students, led by graduate student Sara Johnson and Tzurei Chen, assistant professor of physical therapy, spent two years conducting a study to determine if ballet is an effective way to improve balance in geriatric patients. The researchers also wanted to see if learning ballet positions and steps would improve memory.

The hope was to see results similar to those exhibited with traditional physical therapy practices. And if the students could prove it, then ballet might be an effective alternative to providing an inexpensive and community-oriented physical therapy venue.

The test focused on 14 participants, all 65 years old or older, who were able to walk at least 32 feet without assistance. Participants were split into four groups. One was the control group, which did nothing, while a second group, led by Johnson, used traditional physical therapy techniques.

The other two groups, led by sophomore

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“

Hannah Carter, used ballet focusing on using a barre, a horizontal pole used by ballet dancers for warming up and training. One of these groups simply followed along, while the other tried to memorize the steps.

The groups met three times a week for six weeks, with the researchers using motion-capture equipment to track progress. Once the testing was complete, the researchers used the Berg Balance Scale, a 14-item scale designed to measure balance in the older adult, to rank improved balance. The students found that the traditional physical therapy group and the ballet groups showed equal progress compared to the control group, although participants who memorized dance steps fell more often.

But falling was not the only challenge.

There was a large time commitment. Johnson alone put more than 120 hours into her research. On top of that, there were inconsistencies in the team’s practices and problems with the equipment.

“There was one week where we worked 12 hours or so,” Johnson said. “It was just a lot to pay attention to all at once.”

The team is now working on the biomechanical portion of their data, which will pro-

vide detailed descriptions of how movements changed. The team hoped to have its results accepted by the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting, one of the largest PT conferences in the U.S., but Chen said their data is too preliminary.

“To be really valid we need to have more people,” Johnson said.

While the students hope to publish their data and attend other conferences in the future, they were happy to study the elderly and collect data. Johnson and Carter agreed that the best part was interacting with the subjects.

Johnson said she has always enjoyed spending time and working with the elderly, which is why she wanted to take part in this study.

“It was fun to get experience and see them improve and get to know them,” she said. “I really like working with older people.”

Chen said this research helped broaden Johnson’s options for the future, noting that there is a growing need for research physical therapists. Although Johnson is not sure what she will do after she completes her coursework, her goal is to work with geriatric clients.

This project showed her how valuable physical therapy techniques can be with the elderly.

It was fun to get experience and see them improve and get to know them.

”

February 2015 • Crescent Magazine

SUPERHEROES WILL UNITE.............

Musical

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Friday, Feb. 20 & Saturday, Feb. 21 Eykamp Hall

TICKETS: $5

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Advance ticket sales Feb. 18–20 in Ridgway 11 a.m–2 p.m. and 5–7 p.m.

PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE EVSC ALL-STAR MARCHING BAND

MISS PICKING UP YOUR 2014 YEARBOOK?

The LinC staff will be passing out books at the following times in Ridgway Center lobby:

Feb. 11 & 24 from 5–6 p.m.

Crescent Magazine • February 2015

UE C nnect

Connections for a Lifetime

I PACKED A YEAR’S WORTH OF experiences into three great months during my 2013 summer internship with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn.

There are so many things I learned — to be self-supporting and how important it is to remain balanced and not let work take over your life. I also learned teamwork, how to connect with people and that no work is beneath me.

I owe getting the internship to the connections I made through UE Connect and with working with the Center for Career Development.

Working hard now will ensure that your future doesn’t have to be any harder. UE Connect is a great program and the Career Development staff is so professional. They never asked anything of me that I couldn’t deliver. I was lucky to get a great internship opportunity, but don’t wait like I did. Jump in early. Trust the program and the Career Development staff to lead you to where you want to be.

Mallet Reid, ‘14 Communication Hobbs, N.M.

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ehgf ime, guidance and support. That’s what it takes to get a jump on your career, and it’s never too early to start checking into options. UE Connect can help you network and gain access to people and other things that can make a difference in your quest for the ideal career. Let UE Connect help you as you navigate your future.

• Provides a professional development network.

• Increases involvement and positive relationships.

• Encourages connections across the UE alumni network.

• Many, many more benefits!

For more information, visit www.evansville.edu/ueconnect

UE Connect is a partnership between the Office of Alumni & Parent Relations and the Center for Career Development 7

Within Faith

RACHAEL MCGILL

THE FRANCIS EFFECT:

A FRESH APPROACH

Pope Francis captivates the world by shifting how he spreads Catholic doctrine.

T

ime Magazine named him its 2013 “Person of the Year.” Fortune selected him as the world’s most influential leader. And ever since he became pope in March 2013, Pope Francis has shaken the world with his spontaneous actions and uplifting messages. He is changing the way the world views the Roman Catholic Church and has won fans among Catholics and non-Catholics with his simplicity, his sincerity and his message of mercy and inclusiveness.

A February 2014 Pew Research poll reported that 26 percent of American Catholics said they were more excited about their faith in the year following Pope Francis’ induction, even though the number of Americans who identify as Catholic did not change much. Without changing any doctrine, the pope is shifting the approach to some of the church’s teachings, which is enough to send shockwaves around the world.

The Most Rev. Charles Thompson, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville, said this new approach to doctrine is a healthy step in the growth and development of the church.

“If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” he said. “Though doctrine doesn’t change, what changes is how we proclaim, how we evangelize, how we teach.”

Thompson emphasized the tone of messages being just as important as the content. He said a condescending tone runs the risk of polarization between Catholics and those they should be trying to reach.

“People are saying, ‘If I got truth, we don’t need dialogue,’” he said. “If we don’t have dialogue, we start demonizing each other. Pope Francis says, ‘Let’s come back to each other.’”

Although the first Latin American and Jesuit pope affirms the church’s belief in traditional marriage, the pope demonstrated the importance of showing mercy by saying, “Who am I to judge?” at a press conference in 2013. He also wrote to the Italian newspaper la Repubblica in September 2013 to address a letter that journalist Eugenio Scalfari wrote to him about atheism and other related topics. In the letter, Pope Francis said atheists can receive God’s mercy if they sincerely follow their consciences.

These are examples of how Pope Francis changes the approach to doctrine. The pope was concerned with church officials’ obssession with following doctrine. So he altered the

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focus from the content of the doctrine to the delivery by showing mercy to sinners.

But some of the pope’s media coverage has been less objective. Some outlets apply “Who am I to judge?” to other topics than the original context. And after he said, “God is not a magician with a magic wand,” in October 2014, MSNBC said the pope made a significant rhetorical break with Catholic tradition by declaring that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real. But Pope Francis was not the first Catholic to integrate science with faith, and those who do not understand his inclusive approach may evaluate his messages incorrectly.

“If you don’t have a good grounding in theology, you will misunderstand what the pope is saying,” said Steve Dabrowski, the diocese’s director of youth and young adult ministry.

While the media may misinterpret his actions on occassion, enthusiasm for the pope worldwide is undeniable.

“People are more excited about him,” Dabrowski said. “You could see yourself having coffee with Pope Francis.”

Sophomore Brittany Sullivan said she appreciates the pope’s efforts to make doctrine more relatable and understandable.

“He’s reaffirming doctrine and not changing it,” she said.

“He’s putting it into terms we can understand. I think he’s done a great job at being a pope for all generations.”

Others are noticing his impact, too. A 2014 Pew Research poll reports that 51 percent of non-Catholics believe Pope Francis is a change for the better. Angela Reisetter, assistant professor of physics and a follower of the Baha’i Faith, said she recognizes the effect he can have on the world.

“He can draw attention to an issue and make people care about it,” she said. “That’s incredible. He affects people’s perception of religion in general.”

There is no doubt that Pope Francis has inspired people with his optimistic and fresh approach as he tries to preach the gospel in a new and very exciting way and change how the world views the Catholic Church. Without altering doctrine, the pope has gained supporters with his approach, and many agree this could mean a change for the better.

“He’s really being a witness to the reality of the entire human family as the family of God,” Thompson said. “No one is to be excluded from a life with God.”

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

The patrol will be stopping by random classes.

Will they stop by yours? the

“Making Known the Love of Our Redeemer”

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Crescent Magazine

•

February 2015

9

First Time

If you’ve had it with exercising on stable ground, try bouncing back from this workout.

PUT A SPRING IN YOUR

ROUTINE MCKENZIE ELLIS

I

had a trampoline when I was young. I loved it like you’d love a childhood best friend. One day it ripped underneath me, and I fell straight through. Still, no hard feelings. Only fond memories. So when I signed up for SkyRobics at Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park, I felt cautious joy mixed in with my usual trepidation.

Evansville’s Sky Zone, 49 N. Green River Road, opened in June 2014. I didn’t know what this place was supposed to look like, but when I walked in I discovered it was extremely orange and blue. Children and their parents ran around wearing bright orange socks.

A caution sign warned me to flip at my own risk. That was OK. The most intense move I’ve got is half a somersault if I’m feeling bold. I went to a waiver kiosk and signed away Sky Zone’s responsibility for any injuries.

At the front desk, I traded my waiver and $10 for an orange SkyRobics sticker and my own set of socks. The soles had treads that stuck to the floor and made tiny slapping sounds as I walked.

Some women in exercise clothes came in about 15 minutes before the class started. I wasn’t sure where it was held, so I subtly followed them like the awkward creep I am.

They led me to the second dodgeball court, marked by a “Sky Zone Fitness” banner.

A Sky Zone trampoline court is basically a series of black trampoline squares with blue and orange mats covering the springs. The mats are softer than my bed. The walls also had trampolines, but set at an angle.

Some people did warm-up exercises while we waited for the instructor. A woman did

10

a flip. Another bounced off a wall trampoline, landing perfectly. Most just jumped idly.

I stepped onto the court. After a few jumps, I felt a lightness in my soul. Like divine joy. Or maybe just the sensation of weightlessness.

Instructor Marlon Shamell arrived wearing a black hoodie with hacked-off sleeves, revealing his intensely muscular arms. He asked who was here for the first time. Besides me, there was one other newbie. But she was the one who did the flip.

We started by holding heavy black exercise balls while jumping, trying to hold them farther and farther away from our bodies. I thought my arms might fall off when we held them above our heads, so I decided not to go all the way. I wasn’t really feeling skull-crushing arm loss that day. We stretched next. They were just your average stretches, but inherently cooler because we were on a trampoline.

We then divided into pairs. Looping two resistance bands together, we tried to pull and jump in tandem with each other. I soon found that my partner was stronger than I am. The exercise worked best when we were together, but it took a lot not to get yanked around.

We took breaks every once in a while.

Breaks lasted about a minute. I saw children in the party rooms across the hall. They had cake and pizza on blue and orange plates. Delicious junk food was tempting, but I was here for fitness, not to crash children’s parties.

Shamell said an hour of SkyRobics can burn 600 calories, but burning up to 1,000 isn’t unusual. He said he doesn’t even burn that much in his regular workouts. I know I don’t. Not that I have regular workouts.

“I hate cardio with a passion,” he said.

Shamell sees SkyRobics as a fun alternative to typical cardio exercise. Like-minded regulars attend the class every week.

“SkyRobics takes your mind off the fitness part and lets you focus on fun,” he said. “You think about your heartbeat less.”

Basically a miracle exercise, SkyRobics is low impact and high intensity, working most muscles. Fighting with gravity boosts health in all body systems, helping with digestion, sleep, balance, arthritis pain and more.

We did pushups next. I can’t really do pushups, and they’re even harder on a trampoline. I didn’t realize this was still partner work, so when Shamell called out for us to high-five each other mid pushup, I had no one. He laughed good-naturedly at my struggling, un-high-fived hand. He hopped around, correcting and praising everyone in turn.

“Anybody can get a workout here,” Shamell said. “It doesn’t matter what level you are.”

SkyRobics is intense, but ultimately you decide how intense to get. After the hour was up, I felt sore enough to justify eating whatever I wanted for the rest of the week.

Classes are at 9 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and at 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. If structured exercise isn’t your thing, Sky Zone offers open jump sessions starting at $12. For more information, call 812–730–4759 or visit their website at skyzone.com/evansville.

“I would give it a chance at least once,” Shamell said. “Just 30 minutes. Everyone comes in as a skeptic. And then you see grown men and women. Their faces light up.”

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

Being in a relationship is not consent.

daily lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

SPECIALS

“We’ve had sex before” is not consent.

Consent to one act is not consent to all acts.

If they aren’t sober, they can’t consent.

The absence of “no” is not consent.

Flirting is not consent.

Silence is not consent.

If you have to convince them, it’s not consent.

If they don’t feel free to say “No,” it’s not consent.

Only an informed, sober, freely-given, ongoing, enthusiastic “Yes!” is consent.

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11

Sexual Tension

MARISA PATWA

AIMING TO TEASE

NOT PLEASE

Erotica is different from the pornography most people think it is.

A

nastasia Steele and Christian Grey, the main characters in E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey,” have become one of the most popular erotica couples of all time. So much so that the first novel of the trilogy is being released as a movie this month. The success of “Fifty Shades” has put erotica in the cultural spotlight, but how is erotica defined?

People usually see erotica as 300 pages of campy pornography bound by two covers, but erotica and porn are two entirely different things. The purpose of erotica is to highlight the aesthetic sense of romance and sex, whereas the purpose of porn is to sexually arouse. It is possible for someone to become aroused by reading erotica, but that is not the main intention of the work.

“I don’t think what I write is porn,” said erotica author Jenika Snow, “although many people consider that genre of romance to be just that, some of my family included.”

Tiffany Griffith, assistant professor of First-Year Seminars, taught four sections of FYS 111, “Sex, Love and Lust,” last semester and lectured on literature about sex.

She said she believes erotica receives bad reviews because most people are basically close-minded, but she thinks it still has literary merit.

“Many things that we now consider literature weren’t at the time they were published,” Griffith said. “They were just as much popular or pulp fiction as anything else. Perhaps erotic works are less likely to be Oprah picks or the darlings of book clubs, but that absolutely doesn’t preclude their being literature.”

Erotica has exploded in popularity in the past few years. The romance genre generated $1.08 billion in sales in 2013. And of the 74.8 million people who read erotica, 90 percent were women. Women are generally more likely to read erotica than watch porn.

Romance Writers of America reports the main reason women read erotica is for the story. It emphasizes the emotions of the characters, whereas porn is all about sex and the elusive orgasm.

“A woman wants to know what the character is feeling, to self-insert,” erotica author Cassandra Zara said.

“And I don’t think porn provides an experience anything like that.”

Finding the exact differences between porn and erot-

12

ica is a difficult task. Griffith said she thinks of Justice Potter Stewart’s famous quote about obscenity: “I know it when I see it.”

“It’s tempting to say that pornography is more explicit,” she said. “But to some people, works that aren’t widely considered to be erotica or porn are overly explicit.”

Griffith said erotica is universally considered trashy and badly written because of social taboos and prudish thinking. Her students are not always open to the material she teaches, which has made for some interesting class discussions.

“Some of the readings made them uncomfortable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” she said, “and there have been some very lively and thoughtful discussions.”

Erotica used to be called sandwich books because people would buy the novels by sticking them in between two other works of seemingly less embarrassing fiction. But “Fifty Shades” changed that mindset. James made an estimated $95 million off the trilogy in 2013 alone, and the first book has sold 100 million copies as of February 2014.

The dominant and submissive aspects of “Fifty Shades” intrigued people. A study by the Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2014 surveyed more than 1,500 adults, and of the women who said they had fantasized about being dominated, only half said they would want to be dominated in real life. Reading “Fifty Shades” is an outlet for people to fantasize without actually indulging.

“Women like to be able to create the world they are reading in their mind,” Snow said. “They can actually shape the world they are reading about into what turns them on. A book allows a woman to create her wild fantasies, maybe even picture herself as the heroine.”

While the authors may say that the goal of erotica is not to arouse, more often than not it does. But even though Anastasia and Christian engage in a variety of highly charged sex acts, the novels focus on the growth of their tumultuous – but highly erotic — relationship.

In porn, the relationship — if you want to call it that — is just based on sex. That’s the only purpose. Erotica and porn are truly different mediums, and while erotica is also about sex, it focuses on the relationship and the emotions behind it. Simply put, porn does not.

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

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Through the Lens

KATE SARBER

REMEMBER

Two events that paved the way.

Students, faculty and community members gathered Jan. 19 to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in an exceptional way — with two symbolic re-enactments.

The day’s events began with the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. Leaving from the School of Business Administration, the march made its way through campus, down Walnut and then returned to campus via Lincoln. Promoting fairness and respect, the march reminded all who participated of the sacrifices made by many in order for all men and women to receive equal rights, regardless of race, and of how much further there is to go. After the march, Black Student Union and other volunteers re-enacted the events surrounding Rosa Parks’ refusing to give up her bus seat in 1955 to a white man.

Her act of defiance and the Montgomery (Ala.) Bus Boycott became important symbols of the Civil Rights Movement. In light of the inequalities occurring around the world, these historic events set examples for society today on the road to justice and equality.

Volunteering during one of the bus reenactments, senior Hope Mills reinforces its importance with a message to end injustice. | Kate Sarber

Crescent Magazine

•

February 2015

Also serving as a volunteer, freshman Elizabeth Collier holds a sign reinforcing one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s strongest beliefs. | Willian Mallmann

The men’s basketball team, including senior Jaylon Moore and junior Taylor Stafford, take part in the reenactment of the Civil Rights March, passing back and forth one of the day’s informative signs. | MaKayla Seifert

As she portrays Rosa Parks on that fateful day, junior Brookelle Bailey sits in the portion of the bus reserved for black people. | Willian Mallmann

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February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

Quite a Pair

Craig Schlemmer & Kendra Chastain

AN IDEAL

MATCH ANNA SHEFFER

photo by Kate Sarber

L

ove is in the air. But senior Craig Schlemmer and sophomore Kendra Chastain are not your average lovebirds. These two bicker and joke like best friends, poking fun at each other at every chance. And although this couple is known for teasing each other, their chemistry has kept them together for more than three years, two of which they spent apart.

“They’re very goofy,” junior Karly Lieske said. “They’re not like your typical couple that’s always serious.”

Chastain and Schlemmer are simply fun to be around. Lieske said if the two have plans for a date night and they run across a friend with no plans, the date quickly becomes a friend outing.

“When you hang out with them, you’re never the third wheel,” she said.

Chastain first met Schlemmer when she was in middle school and he was in high school. She played on the girl’s basketball team, and he would mispronounce her name when he called the games. She said she always felt the need to correct him.

The pair became friends, and Schlemmer finally asked Chastain out during his senior year by hanging a sign from a bridge they both often passed.

Crescent Magazine

•

February 2015

“I’ve been stuck ever since,” he joked.

For the first two years of their relationship, Schlemmer was at UE and Chastain was back home in Bright, Ind., finishing high school at North Central, where they both graduated from. Being apart was not easy, but looking back on it, they realize it only made their relationship stronger.

“The distance was good for us,” Schlemmer said. “It tested our chemistry, in a way.”

To make the time go faster, Schlemmer surprised Chastain quite a bit by visiting whenever he could. When Chastain was in her school’s production of “Grease,” Schlemmer made it to every performance.

Despite these displays of fun-loving affection, Chastain and Schlemmer make a pretty low-key couple. Lieske said they watch Kentucky basketball games together and go on dates to Chipotle. Sometimes, they even drive around just to honk at the squirrels on campus. And when they interact, they would rather joke with each other than be affectionate.

“What’s your favorite part about me, Kendra?” Schlemmer joked. “My body?”

Chastain said she likes Schlemmer’s kind and genuine nature, but admitted that expressing affection for each other is rare for them.

“This is awkward for us because we don’t

normally say those things to each other,” she said.

The two are family-oriented. Rather than go to a fancy restaurant for their third anniversary, they happily stayed home and played a board game. Schlemmer is close to Chastain’s stepfather, and the two families even had Thanksgiving together last year.

“Our families are weird,” Chastain said.

“His is definitely weirder though.”

The two also do not spend all of their free time together since they have other obligations and interests. Schlemmer likes to go dove hunting and fishing and is president of Sigma Phi Epsilon and an Orientation Leader.

Chastain is a member of Chi Omega.

“A lot of the things we do together, we can actually do separately,” Schlemmer said. “We have a lot of interests.”

Schlemmer used to joke to friends that his girlfriend’s name was Lucy, short for Lucifer. Chastain tenderly — but firmly — smacks Schlemmer when he repeatedly bounces his leg. But despite all of the teasing, it is apparent Chastain and Schlemmer are a perfect match.

“This is gonna sound really cheesy and stupid, but (I like) his personality,” Chastain said. “Craig has a unique personality that not a lot of people have.”

17

Feature

A CREATIVE

CATA P

eople are doing more online now than ever before. The Internet plays a part in every aspect of life — from school to socializing, even art. But what influence does it have on creativity? Pixels are replacing paint, computers are the new canvas and the Internet has ousted inspiration — or has it?

Technology is changing the way people view and produce art, but creativity can still have a place in the digital age.

Melissa Weisman, a 2010 alumna and graphic design specialist at Stens Corp. in Jasper, Ind., believes the Internet has had a huge impact on creativity. The onset of the digital age has triggered a shift in the way people interact with art, making it more accessible. Because of this, art is being appreciated by a wider segment of the public.

“I think it might increase the value of art,” she said. “More people can see it, and you can be more aware of it and seek it out in real life.”

But the web’s abundance of art is not always a good thing. Amazon sells gallery-worthy

18

artwork through its Amazon Art website. But Danielle Rahm, director of New York Fine Art Appraisers, said in a 2013 Forbes article that because of the lack of transparency on websites such as this, there is no way for buyers to know for sure what they are buying.

On the other hand, the online marketplace is a way for emerging and lesser-known artists to get their artwork out there alongside the work of famous artists.

In addition to changing how art is viewed and sold, the web has also affected how individual artists work. Some use the Internet for promoting themselves. Ralph Larmann, professor of art, said this especially applies to nonprofit artists who focus on issues society often overlooks, such as homelessness.

This kind of art — and exposure — would have been unheard of 20 years ago, but the Internet lets those artists raise their own funds and spread their names. Sometimes all it takes is one piece being shared on the Internet.

“Across the board, all artists use the Internet to communicate with each other and their audi-

ence,” Weisman said, adding that getting a job in art can depend on how well you market yourself online.

Art can also be shared informally through websites such as Flickr, Tumblr and Pinterest.

“They’re helpful,” junior Brogan Lozano said. “I think it’s important to use the tools you’re given, and the Internet is one of those tools.”

Flickr is a photo and video hosting website that encourages amateur photography where some of the images can be shared with others. It is also widely used by photo researchers and bloggers to store images that they embed in blogs and social media.

Tumblr, though mainly a blog site, is a platform many artists use to share their work. And while sites such as Flickr limit the type of work that is shared, Tumblr and Pinterest users can share many different types of work.

Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, said in a 2012 speech that he discovered the site’s vague concept allowed it to be used by anyone for anything. With New York

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

The Internet is full of great — and not so great — ideas. But what does this mean for artists and the creative process in a world where nothing seems original anymore?

GRAHAM CHATTIN & HALEY ALBERS

A LYST Magazine reporting an estimated 40 million active monthly users, Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media sites. Its simple layout allows users to easily organize images in an aesthetically pleasing way. Artists have turned to Pinterest and similar websites as a way of gathering inspiration and bookmarking ideas for later reference.

As a theatre performance major, Lozano uses the web to research roles and better understand the worlds her characters lived in. For her role in last semester’s May Studio production of Caryl Churchill’s “Vinegar Tom,” she visited an online support group to explore the psychological effects of miscarriage on women. Other times she uses Pinterest to find art and other accurate themes for a play’s time period.

Junior Patilyn Lowery also uses Pinterest to find inspiration for her art, but realizes that the Internet can only take her so far.

“The stuff around you is truly beautiful in ways that a picture on the Internet can’t be,” she said.

The pre-art therapy major believes the best

Crescent Magazine

•

February 2015

artistic inspirations come from mundane observations of everyday life, like stepping on leaves during autumn or doodling whimsical images in a notebook while in class. “[The Internet] shouldn’t be the only thing that influences your creativity,” she said.

Larmann said creativity and originality have not been lost, just redefined. He said if you wanted an image of a bicycle in the 19th century, you had to make it yourself. The bicycle was real, but the image was yours because you created it. Now people can use existing images instead. He said that while something may not be original, it can still be produced in a creative way.

“I don’t think you can do anything without the influence of other people,” Lozano said.

“There are no original ideas.”

Modern technology allows people to find and place existing images with the click of a mouse. While this has made jobs easier, Weisman believes the free-sharing and impersonal atmosphere of the Internet encourages duplication and plagiarism.

She said she looks at Pinterest every day and collects everything from tattoo ideas to graphic designs, but she is careful not to let it encroach upon her personal work too much.

“I put it in my memory bank like, ‘That’s a really cool thing,’ but I don’t look back at it,” she said. “The concept stays with me, but it comes out not as a replication but as an influence. I want it to be my idea when I’m designing something.”

The question about how to use technology creatively is still open, and the answer really depends on the preference of the artist.

“I think that’s like asking if there’s a correct way to use a paintbrush,” Weisman said.

One thing is certain — the Internet will continue to grow and artists will have to decide how to utilize the opportunities it offers to meet their own needs.

“The Internet is a very powerful thing,” Lozano said. “If used in moderation, it can take your work further. That gives you a jumping-off point. But if you’re just copying and pasting, you’re missing the whole point of art.

19

Feature

SKYROCKETING COSTS Going to college is expensive, but taking advantage of other opportunities may help alleviate the financial pain.

P

icture this. A college student who eats nothing but cheap pizza and ramen noodles while trying to complete a degree that will push him into a career that will let him reap the rewards he was told would come from his hard work.

While this scenario is nothing new, what is different is that the cost to attend college has grown by leaps and bounds. A college education has become increasingly hard to afford, leaving many students questioning whether it will pay off in the end and contending with hefty debt after graduation.

The Department of Labor reports college tuition grew by almost 80 percent between 2003 and 2013, a rate almost three times as much as the overall consumer price index change and twice as much as growing medical costs. While the College Board reported that the cost of tuition has recently been growing at a slower rate, it is still increasing faster than most families can afford. As a result, the price is playing a larger role in determining which school to attend.

Senior Alex Dryer remembers feeling relieved when she learned

that Washington University in St. Louis had not accepted her.

“It was my No. 1 school,” she said, “but at $50,000 a year, it just wasn’t going to happen.”

That kind of thinking has become fairly common. A 2013 study

by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute showed that while more than 75 percent of freshmen were accepted by their first-choice colleges, only about 57 percent of them enrolled at those schools.

While few students pay the full sticker price to attend UE, its cost for tuition, fees and room and board is $42,656 a year, an amount that increases annually. This price varies depending on your housing choice and what kind of meal plan you select.

While schools will be quick to tell you that the sticker price is not the price most students actually pay, Jeff Wolf, vice president for Fiscal Affairs, said prices at UE have risen about 30 percent since 2008.

He said when the economy took a turn in the late 2000s, schools lost money just like individuals did. When financial investments did not pay out as they formerly had, tuition and other costs to attend

ANDREW SHERMAN, RACHAEL MCGILL & RYAN MURPHY

20

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

school increased. He said students now typically pay about $18,000 a year in tuition to attend UE once financial aid is included.

But college tuition was not always so pricey. While a college education was originally something only the wealthy could afford, the GI Bill, introduced after World War II, paid for servicemen to go to college, and about 8 million veterans took advantage of it.

The sudden demand for higher education could have increased tuition costs, but instead, the postwar economy allowed states to invest even more in college education. The National Defense Student Loans program, now the Federal Perkins Loan Program, was introduced to help civilians get low interest loans for other school-related costs. With this, higher education in America continued to grow at an unprecedented rate.

But this boom could not last forever. As the economy declined in the 1970s, states had to make cuts to their higher education spending, and schools were forced to compensate through tuition increases, a trend that has continued today.

While a college education is now seen as a necessity if a person wants to move forward in life, dealing with the costs has left many students feeling that education is more of a luxury than something they can afford. While looking at the future can be daunting, students have accepted that growing debt and an unstable post-graduation job market are a part of the college experience.

“We’ve just accepted that there’s really no way to go to college [without debt] without full grades and a full ride,” senior Alex Benites said. “Most of us don’t fit that bill.”

But graduating into a world where so many recent graduates are unemployed or underemployed makes debt hard to swallow for many seniors.

“As a senior, you just try not to think about it,” Dryer said. “You have to take it as it comes. You can only plan for it so much.”

Crescent Magazine

•

February 2015

Students also have to contend with the fact that it can take anywhere from six months to a year to become gainfully employed once they graduate.

Paying off loans and other debts can be a major financial hurdle.

This financial insecurity can be discouraging, but Chair Paul Parkison, professor of education, said it is important for students to look at the long term. Higher education helps with career trajectory, not just initial job placement after graduation, and Parkison said this is reflected in the price.

“You can look at college education as something you purchase, or you can look at it as an experience that allows you to grow and has an impact for the rest of your life,” he said. “If you take that description, it’s easy to justify.”

Gene Wells, Career Development senior director, echoes this sentiment. He said higher education allows students to improve their abilities to think and adapt while developing problem-solving skills, which are highly valued by employers.

Development of professional skills is one of the most prominent ways universities help students prepare for the debt they will face in the future.

Wells said UE currently offers 75 stipends of up —senior Alex Dryer to $500 for students completing unpaid internship experiences. There is also a fund that helps reimburse student travel expenses in order to help them apply for jobs within Indiana.

“The university is keenly aware of the cost and debt and works to mitigate it by having a comprehensive career development process,” Wells said. “It’s not going to free you from the debt, but it will leave you ready to apply and find work in your field.”

While the initial debt may be tough for students, Institutional Research’s 2014 postgraduation report shows that about 90 percent of UE’s 2013 alumni are currently employed or enrolled in a graduate program, and those with full-time positions are earning a median salary of about $42,500.

While students are taking on a significant amount of debt in order to afford an education, the benefits of having a degree make it worth the cost. The easiest way for students to get the most out of their investment is to utilize all of the services and opportunities their tuition costs provide.

You have to take it as it comes. you can only plan for it so much.

21

Feature

More than a

Feeling Everyone feels love.

Some say it is just a hormonal response we can’t control, but others say love is only as lasting as the commitment to keep it going.

22

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

W

hat is love? This question has been asked more times than anyone can imagine. But while the question is simple, the answer is not. Fairy tales and romantic comedies show us the happily-ever-after version, while real-life love stories are harder to come by and much more complex. Even after a connection with someone is made, holding on to that connection can be tricky and a lot of work.

While everyone experiences love in some way, it may be hard to define. Not only that, but one may wonder what causes love, how couples can make it last and why people even need it.

Lora Becker, associate professor of psychology, said when we feel love, the hormones oxytocin and dopamine are released into the pleasure center of the brain. This pleasure center is located in our limbic system, which ensures that the bare necessities of life — including eating, sleeping and reproducing — happen, and often. This is why addictions, love and other pleasures are so hard to resist and even harder to quit.

Whether it’s love at first sight, admiration from afar or a budding interest, the mere sight or sound of a special someone triggers the release of dopamine, which causes the feeling of pleasure. Then, when physical contact is made, oxytocin is released, which promotes bonding and trust. Together, these hormones cause the pounding heart and sweaty hands that come with the feelings of lust and infatuation people experience early in a relationship.

“I was nervous around him, but excited at the same time,” said junior Rachel Davidson, who has been dating junior Brian Grant for about two

years. “The excitement of starting a new relationship, and just him being fun to be around.”

The BBC reports that during the first phase of falling in love, partners become “love-struck,” which affects their perception of their significant other. Although this idealistic view is not realistic, it is the root of many romantic relationships.

Two things can then happen in the brain, depending on the relationship. It can either fall apart or grow into attachment, the next phase of love, where all the aspects of lasting commitment come into play.

“The most important part of a relationship is trust and communication,” said senior Tom Grady, who has been dating junior Maddie Ralph for almost a year. “If you don’t have those two things, you don’t have a relationship.”

Although these and other deeper aspects of a relationship develop, some of the feelings of that initial attraction still remain.

“I still get butterflies, but on a deeper level,” Davidson said. “It’s exciting being with each other, but I don’t get that nervous feeling.”

She said the deepness comes from getting to know each other better and being open and honest with each other. And Becker said if the relationship continues to grow, neurons in the lovers’ brains will forge connections among themselves.

In this process, lovers are literally learning about each other, as one would a new subject, and the brain changes shape.

“Usually, by trying new things you learn new things about that person — how they deal with certain things, what excites them, whether it’s adventure or whatever, and share important memories,” said junior Brooke Ridenour, who has been dating senior James Harper Burns for almost three years.

Becker said once a relationship reaches a certain level, partners become so familiar with each other that they can even sense particular changes

in such things like appearance or manner.

“There’s a lot of situations when I know what Josh is going to do,” said senior Mallory Mooney, who became engaged to senior Josh Hood last summer after dating for almost three years. “It’s like second nature.”

In order to sustain a healthy relationship, interdependence is key, according to Psychology Today. In this type of relationship, partners are able to maintain their commitment to each other while still being true to themselves. Really listening to and understanding your partner goes a long way in strengthening the connection between the couple.

“Communication helps a lot, especially when we get really busy,” Davidson said. “We both have this mutual understanding of what it means to be busy. I have a lot of respect for the things he’s involved in, and I think he feels the same way.”

It is important for partners to evaluate where each is in life and to understand that both have commitments outside of the relationship. But healthy couples still find time for each other, not because they have to, but because they want to.

“When we do go on dates, I don’t think, ‘I’m taking her out because she’s my girlfriend,’” Harper Burns said. “I’m taking her out because I have time and it’d be a fun thing to do.”

But why must we love at all? Becker said the answer to this question started when we were infants and continued into childhood. Like most mammals, humans depend on their parents for survival early in life, resulting in a deep-rooted need for a loving bond.

So whether one understands it or not, love is a key part of the human experience that none of us can live without. Oxytocin and dopamine may urge us on in the beginning, but commitment is needed to make love worthwhile.

“Love isn’t a subconscious thing,” Grady said.

“Saying, ‘I love you,’ to someone and meaning it shows it is more than a chemical reaction. It shows courage to ask someone out. If you’re putting yourself out there for someone, that’s a conscious effort.”

MCKENZIE ELLIS, DEJA JOHNSON & CHELSEA MODGLIN Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

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Cover Story

“Race doesn’t really exist for you because it has never been a barrier.

Black folks don’t have that choice.”

—award-winning writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

junior Keziah Colleton

M

any colleges and universities say they are diverse. Marketing materials show students of different races interacting easily and are used to draw students of color and others looking for diversity to their campuses.

But are these promotional pieces telling the real story?

The Department of Education reports that in 2011 about 15 percent of all college students were black. This percentage has increased only 5 percent since 1976, so when it comes to diversity in higher education, there is still a long way to go.

Black students attending UE are undeniably in the minority.

Institutional Research reports that only about 3 percent of today’s UE undergraduates classify themselves as black or African American. And of those, 53 percent graduate, compared to 64 percent of all UE students.

Those who are African American and of college-age make up a significant portion of the U.S. population, yet they are highly underrepresented in higher education. While efforts have been made

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junior Ashley Leroy

junior Adam Anthony

to balance the representation of black students on college campuses, there is still a huge gap.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2013 only 20.5 percent of blacks aged 25–29 had a bachelor’s degree or higher, as compared to 40.4 percent of whites in the same age group. And it is alarming to learn that white high school dropouts are almost as likely to get hired for jobs as blacks with some college education, according to Forbes.com.

And the statistics don’t end there. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 50.4 percent of blacks aged 20–24 were employed in 2013, compared to 65.2 percent of whites of the same age group. Of those employed in management or professional positions, 81.8 percent were white and 8.5 percent were black.

While minorities make up a smaller percentage of those pursuing degrees, the issue of understanding black students attending college today is an important one. Because it is such an important topic, Crescent Magazine wanted to explore the experiences of

February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

ON THE MATTER OF RACE

BY ANNA SHEFFER & CHRIS NORRIS ••• PHOTOS BY KATE SARBER ••• ADDITIONAL COPY BY CHELSEA MODGLIN, MARISA PATWA & PAULA NOWACZYK

senior Violet Barrs

UE’s black students — in life and on campus. This article is the result of those efforts and centers on those who participated in a conversation that dealt with various topics centering on race in late October 2014, with a few subsequent follow-up interviews.

This conversation was the culmination of weeks of planning and attempts to find students willing to participate in a discussion of this kind. While more than 20 black students were invited to participate, only five students stepped forward. Whether the meeting was at an inconvenient time, the subject was one they didn’t want to discuss or it was just a scary proposition, we don’t know.

Crescent Magazine’s editorial board met with senior Violet Barrs and juniors Adam Anthony, Cherese Butler, Keziah Colleton and Ashley Leroy — who volunteered to talk about their life experiences and those they have had at UE. This group’s collective opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of all UE’s black students, of Crescent Magazine or even of all the students who were present that Sunday afternoon. Regardless, the conversation

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junior Cherese Butler

was serious, enlightening, poignant, even lighthearted and funny at points, but above all candid. Crescent Magazine would also like to thank LaNeeca Williams, diversity and equity officer, for her suggestions and guidance. Her advice was invaluable.

Along with explanatory information, the following are excerpts from the transcript of the recorded conversation. It has been edited for space, but the ideas have been kept intact. What was identified from the conversation were common themes, and it became clear that three topics were most prevalent — white privilege, black versus white culture, and stereotypes and prejudice. Comments on other topics have also been included.

In doing this, we hope to better inform readers on diversity and these students’ experiences. We wanted to add to the ongoing campus dialogue dealing with race relations and provide insight into how and why these issues are relevant. It is our hope that we can help correct misconceptions and encourage readers to learn more about those who are different from themselves.

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ON WHITE PRIVILEGE

W

hite people rarely think about their skin color. It is a transparent privilege, one that serves them well.

It gives them perks they have not necessarily earned and ones people of color do not enjoy. It also gives them advantages since they are immune to a lot of challenges others face because of their skin color. And white privilege shapes the world in which we all live, in the way people interact with one another and with the world.

The Southern Poverty Law Center through its Teaching Tolerance project suggests a number of perks whites receive, simply because they are white.

While it may seem trivial to some, products are manufactured and marketed mostly to whites. Band-Aids match white skin, complimentary hotel shampoo is meant for Caucasian hair, pantyhose shades are conceived with white women in mind and other products whites use aren’t found in the “ethnic aisle.”

When writing about advantages in an article on racism and white privilege for the Teaching Tolerance project, Jennifer Holladay reminded readers that “a white person’s skin color does not work against them in terms of how people perceive their financial responsibility, style of dress, public speaking skills or job performance.”

White privilege exists in many cases because whites have something of value that is denied to others simply because of their skin color, rather than because of anything they have done or failed to do.

“The thing about white privilege is the same as that of male privilege,” Huffington Post blogger Melanie Curtain wrote in a December 2014 opinion piece. “When you’re privileged, the other world is invisible to you. You literally can’t see it. You aren’t pulled over and harassed by cops, so you think no one is. You don’t worry about how your name sounds on a resume, so you think it doesn’t matter.

But just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.”

Holladay also discussed how white privilege has shaped the way most people, especially whites, view the world in general, from the history lessons taught in our nation’s schools to the country’s collective national heritage. She used things that are known to most of us to make her point.

“When I look at the national currency or see photographs of monuments on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., I see people of my race widely represented and celebrated,” she said.

What most whites lack is an awareness — or the willingness to be aware. Since white privilege is a hidden, transparent preference, it is difficult to address and for many to recognize. By becoming aware of it, people can see how it creates a sense of entitlement, generates perks and advantages for white people and elevates their status in the world, whether they’ve done anything to deserve it or not.

“It’s not a refund check,” senior Violet Barrs said. “It’s a lack of a tax. Nothing comes off of you for being a white male, but there’s a tax for being an African American female.”

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I’m not here to say that black racism is worse than any other kind of racism or worse than anything else. i’m not going to segregate myself even more by saying my struggle is more than someone else’s struggle when it’s all a struggle. that wouldn’t be fair for me to say.

Assumptions many whites frequently make about the economic status of black people is also a fairly common white-privilege way of thinking.

“I think it’s more that people assume because you’re a black person that you belong to a certain economical group, and they try to box you in,” junior Cherese Butler said. “Whereas Caucasian people, they probably wouldn’t even think to ask the question [of another white person] concerning what economic status they come from.”

Targeting, or profiling, especially by law enforcement, is something whites do not have to be concerned with either, another example of white privilege.

Junior Ashley Leroy remembers not too long ago having to remind her teenage brother about being careful about what he wears and how he acts around white authority figures for fear he would be a victim of profiling. She added that even she has been targeted by police.

“I got pulled over because my [car’s window] tint was too dark,” she said, “‘[and then I was asked], ‘Do you have drugs or weapons in your car?’ How do I even answer that?”

White privilege is not easy for many whites to accept and has been referred to by some as the other side of racism. Blacks see white privilege pretty clearly, but understandably from a different perspective than whites.

“Blacks know it exists,” junior Keziah Colleton said, “but I think

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KEZIAH COLLETON

whites get offended because they feel that ‘Oh my gosh, if I say that I have white privilege then people will think I’m racist.’ No, that doesn’t mean you’re racist, it’s just the truth. It exists. It’s not OK that it exists, but it’s not your fault that there’s white privilege.”

Recognizing white privilege also does not mean that white people do not get to express their opinions on controversial topics or run the risk of being labeled racist if they don’t defer to whatever a person of color might say.

What it does mean is that it is the responsibility of whites to acknowledge that advantages exist and to admit that by recognizing white privilege, there is an opportunity to change things.

“Just accept the fact that it’s real, but let’s just try to work on it not being there anymore instead of being afraid to admit that it’s there,” Colleton said. “Admitting that it’s there is that you’re accepting your reality and working to change that reality.”

And admitting that it exists is an important first step to understanding the advantages many blacks will never get to experience because of their skin color.

“The most annoying thing about white privilege, in my opinion, is the lack of acknowledgement that it exists,” Barrs said, “because white privilege is literally the privilege to ignore something, ignore certain things. When you don’t acknowledge it, it makes it almost more offensive because it’s like you are saying [to me], ‘No it doesn’t exist, and it’s all in [your] head.’”

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February 2015

Junior KEZIAH COLLETON was born in Washington, D.C., but moved to Puerto Rico as a toddler and lived there until she was 9. Then her family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she said she had her first experiences with racism.

“I wouldn’t say that I had a lot of [racial experiences],” she said, “but I would say that I had enough. My parents had to sit us down and tell us, ‘When we move back, things are not going to be the same.’ I grew up in a predominantly white community. I was always either the only [person of mixed race] or one of a handful.”

Keziah’s family moved to Newburgh, Ind., in 2008. Her education was different from others since she was homeschooled from first grade on, taking a college preparatory program via correspondence from the University of Nebraska for high school. She describes her high school experience as unique and enjoyed not having the same schedule or classwork as her peers. She was also able to travel with her father on business trips.

Her father’s family is primarily from Barbados, and her mother’s ethnicity is a mixture of Irish, Native American, Creole and Caucasian. Many people just assume that she is black.

“In my dream world, it’d be, ‘I’m Keziah,’” she said. “But when I came [back to the U.S.], I had to choose, so I just say ‘I’m Puerto Rican.’ When I go to apply for things, I look for that ‘check all that apply’ option.”

A legal studies and forensic psychology double major, she chose UE because of its legal studies program since she wants to someday become a corporate lawyer. She is president of Phi Alpha Delta and stays involved in Spanish Club, Black Student Union and Psychology Club.

Colleton said she took part in the magazine’s conversation on race to satisfy her curiosity about what questions would be asked and from a desire to help provide some answers to a controversial subject. She felt the conversation went well and covered many important issues.

“The thing I want people to take away,” she said, “is that it’s very easy when you get a group of minorities together to talk about race and diversity to sound like we’re blaming white people for the problem of discrimination. It’s not every white person that’s a racist. That’s not fair for a minority to say. Let’s, as the minority and the majority, be aware of what’s going on because when we’re all aware, we can all join together to fix the problem.”

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Cover Story

ON CULTURE

P

eople think of culture in various ways, and how it is defined varies. Many only recognize cultural differences when discussing the differences between Americans and those from other countries.

But it is important to remember that it is also the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of particular ethnic groups. Culture is a concept where people acknowledge the distinct ways other people — those who live differently from them — classify and characterize their experiences. It is central to the way individuals view, experience and engage in all aspects of their lives and the world around them.

When discussing culture with the panel, the conversation centered on things that related to their ethnic interests, backgrounds and those things passed down and celebrated from one generation to another. The group also examined regional differences, something they all could definitely relate to.

The city of Evansville was a hurdle for most of the panel, finding it culturally backward and somewhat segregated. Evansville definitely struck Butler as less welcoming than her hometown of San Diego.

“There aren’t really too many interracial relationships that I have seen,” she said, “and it isn’t as inviting as it is back home. There isn’t separation in San Diego. Everybody just talks to everybody, and that’s how it is, and I do miss that at times.”

Colleton, who now lives in Newburgh, Ind., spent her early formative years in Puerto Rico and said race was not an issue there.

“It wasn’t about the color of your skin,” she said, “and when I came here, it was painstakingly obvious that if you were not white, you were automatically black, and there was no in between. There are different shades of people, but it’s just really who you are as a person.”

Although originally from Georgia, Leroy came to Indiana by way of Tennessee. After being told that UE had activities that would be of interest to her and supportive of her background, imagine Leroy’s surprise when she arrived on campus to find very few things that she could relate to.

“I did a lot of different clubs and things in high school, so coming here, I felt like I got tricked,” she said. “‘Oh, we have black sororities, we have this, we have black outreach clubs, we have so and so.’ Then the first weekend on campus, I barely saw anyone that looked like me.”

Butler also had to get used to being around people who had rarely interacted with black people.

“Some of the comments I got from people who weren’t used to being around diversity were frustrating,” she said. “But I just had to deal with them because it was a kind of ignorance. They hadn’t really been exposed to black people. [What they knew went] along with the stereotypes that are presented in the media.”

Since Evansville is the way it is, Leroy feels, as a black student, it is hard to find things to enjoy.

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Just because you put a black, a hispanic and a white person at a school doesn’t mean it’s a diverse college. they still will clique off into their own groups, and that’s the biggest problem at ue. you have all these different races, but that doesn’t make the school diverse. you have to get people to actually interact with each other.

“I feel like there’s nothing, as far as what we want to join, the culture we want to partake in, the differences in the things we want to do, even with finding mates,” she said. “There’s just nothing here.”

Campus is often not seen as much better than the city. With such a small black population, activities are not organized with minority students in mind, leaving black students with little to do.

Something as simple as participating in a campus philanthropy is difficult for black students because they are organized by white students who do not take black culture into consideration.

Barrs used last year’s Sigma Alpha Iota “’80s Air Band Competition” to make the point. She said she would have loved to take part in it, but the portion where groups are assigned a song to perform on the spot made her nervous because she is not familiar with the music white students are familiar with.

“I wanted to participate,” she said, “but I was not interested in it because the music I grew up with was soul, jazz, ‘90s R&B, gospel.

That’s what I grew up with. But y’all were going to choose a song that I didn’t know. Every time.”

There seems to be a disconnect between campus ethnic groups, one that is often ignored. And since there are these different cultures and interests at UE, interaction is lacking.

“I don’t think there’s a perfect venue for people,” junior Adam Anthony said. “Probably the biggest thing is that you have all these different people and what are you going to do with them?”

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ADAM ANTHONY

Leroy pointed out that it might be helpful if event organizers, especially if they are white, learn to recognize the differences between ethnicities and become more culturally aware as they plan events so that there are more diverse offerings.

“I just feel like black youth and white youth are so different in how they socialize,” she said. “I think that people at colleges communicate differently.”

Another concern was the difference between white and black perspectives. A common misconception is that American culture is the same for blacks as it is for whites. History prevents the two groups from truly having the same perspective on life in general.

“It’s not [the same] because of slavery, plain and simple,” Barrs said. “I’m saying it because it’s a significant difference. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, well, I’m black so this needs to be said.’ It’s ignorant to assume I’m just like you when my reason for being in this country is completely different from yours.”

For most people, being American is a point of pride. But a lot of black people did not have a choice. Barrs said she is afraid to try to trace her family history because of slavery.

“I identify with being an American,” she said. “I don’t have any problems with that. But for you to equate your struggle with mine, it’s like your family chose to come over here and simply had a hard time. My family did not have a choice. The foundation of where black people come from and where nonblack people come from is completely different.”

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February 2015

Junior ADAM ANTHONY is a native of Knoxville, Tenn., but grew up in Cincinnati where he attended Winton Woods High School. While Winton Woods was a predominately black high school, he said his neighborhood appeared diverse, but the different groups never really interacted with one another. His family currently lives in Mount Juliet, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville.

Anthony’s father is originally from Sierra Leone, Africa. His mother’s heritage is black, Native American and Irish. Growing up, his parents made him aware of race, but they never discussed it as a matter of one race being better or worse than another. They stressed cultural acceptance.

“We identify with who we are,” he said, “but we don’t have the right to tell someone else what they are.”

Anthony came to UE on an Eagle Scout scholarship. He said the scholarship was helpful, but what drew him to UE was the opportunity to meet other Eagle Scouts and attend a school that appreciated his achievements.

The advertising and public relations major is a member of Black Student Union and tutors international students as part of the English as a New Language Fellowship. He interns with Alumni & Parent Relations, where he oversees the office’s social media, and is also the student manager for the women’s basketball team.

Anthony will travel to London this summer for a public relations internship. He enjoys building relationships with people and companies using social media. After graduating, he would like to either manage social media for a nonprofit group or earn a master’s degree in culture education or sociology.

Anthony said he participated in the magazine’s conversation on race because he believes it’s important to recognize the different voices in the black community instead of presenting it as one unified opinion.

“There may be one view that people have about us,” he said, “but there are many different views that people in our society have.”

Anthony stressed the aspect of being an individual and not allowing labels to define anyone.

He said there are stereotypes, but this discussion allowed a group of black students to share their individual voices.

“There is diversity in the black student population that not a lot of people realize, but it’s there,” he said.

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ON STEREOTYPES & PREJUDICE

E

veryone has been pigeonholed in some way at some point in time. Social psychologist Claude Steele wrote in The Atlantic magazine that people are all members of some group about which negative stereotypes exist, from white males and Methodists to women and the elderly. And in a situation where one of those stereotypes applies, we all know we will probably be judged by it.

This happens more frequently where race is concerned. Nadra Kareem Nittle, who writes on race relations, reported that racial prejudice is mostly formed from race-based stereotypes, where it is believed that all members of the same race share the same characteristics. These stereotypes are oversimplifications, usually created from a modicum of truth and then distorted beyond reality.

Black Enterprise magazine listed in its March 2013 issue what it believed were the top 10 most unbelievable myths that exist about black people today. The list included such myths as: all blacks are athletic, all black women are angry and promiscuous, all black men are violent and into drugs, all blacks are unintelligent because they have smaller brains, all blacks are lazy, all blacks look alike, and all blacks make everything about race.

Prejudices are formed from most of those stereotypes. But it is preposterous to think that the more than 39 million African Americans living in the U.S. today fall into one or more of those categories. It’s impossible to say which stereotype is most prevalent, but they all still persist.

“Many people have come up to me and asked if I am on the women’s basketball team,” Butler said. “But I’m not an athlete.

I’m here on academics. It’s things like that you have to deal with.”

Being watched was something all five panelists could relate to.

Leroy acknowledged this happening to her when she first arrived at UE and said it continues to happen in Evansville. “[Being watched,] that’s nothing new, but I’ve never had it to the multitude where I felt as bad as that [first] time,” she said.

“And then coming to campus, people just looking at you, acting like you’re not supposed to be here, that you don’t belong. I dealt with that a lot my freshman year, too.”

Colleton admited that people in Southern Indiana still exhibit prejudices that she and the others don’t necessarily see in other parts of the country.

“I don’t get those dirty looks all the time,” she said. “I think they mostly come from older white individuals. And I also think they give you those looks because there’s an expectation for you to act a certain way. I think the darker [your skin is], the more they expect you to act like a complete fool, hoodlum, ratchet. They expect your name to be Shawnqueda or something like that. So they’re shocked when you don’t act like that, when you do have a father who’s not on death row.”

Anthony said he has gotten similar treatment while participat-

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I’m an eccentric person. i now realize that. i’m myself, i’m me. as human beings, we tend to adapt to our surroundings, but i had two sides. i would act one way here, one way there. it’s been hard to adapt because who am i today? who do they want me to be? having to bring those sides together was definitely a challenge. ing in events for his internship with Alumni & Parent Relations.

“I work with people in the Alumni Association, and they’re older, and they give me the side-eye for a lot of stuff,” he said.

“You can’t really predict how people are going to act, and I think that’s the hardest part about being in Evansville. It’s not everyone. It’s just different generations can give you that side-eye thing, thinking, ‘Oh well, you dress nice, and you come prepared and everything, but I’m not used to you.’ Well, what are you used to?”

Leroy said another student once asked her whether her admittance to UE was an affirmative action decision.

“I got asked that in front of a class,” she said. “How do you react to that? I just couldn’t say anything because that’s not my nature, but I’m not going to let anybody talk to me like that. I was just dumbfounded. What makes you think you can say that to me?”

Anthony has also been asked how he came to attend UE. “I’m here on a scouting scholarship, so I don’t know what pretext you thought was going on, but let me correct it,” he said. “It’s a hard thing, people wondering how you got here.”

Colleton recalled a time when one of her classmates complained about the U.S. celebrating Black History Month while the country doesn’t officially recognize whites in the same way.

“She was like, ‘You know, I don’t understand why black people get a whole month. We don’t have anything,’” Colleton said. “[But the truth is whites] have the whole rest of the year.”

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ASHLEY LEROY

Barrs acknowledged that some people mean well, but do not necessarily think before they speak, and what they say can be offensive. She said some white friends warned her to be careful when she went on the west side of U.S. Highway 41.

“They’ll say, ‘Don’t go on the other side of 41. It’s really sketch over there,’” she said. “I’ve been to the other side of 41 before, and I don’t really feel like its sketch over there. What’s sketch anyway? Because there’s black people over there? It’s just small things like that. Think about what you’re saying because maybe you’re jumping to conclusions.”

Since some students have not had close relationships with African Americans, satisfying their inquisitive sides sometimes gets the better of them. Leroy said people often try to touch her hair or ask her if she can twerk. These questions are offensive and play into stereotypes.

“I feel like a lot of the times it’s more about curiosity,” she said. “They don’t know how to approach black people, but they do it in the most ignorant ways.”

The panel also addressed the portrayal of black people by the news media, which they felt also played into stereotypes.

“When it’s a white person who commits a crime, like all those school shootings, it’s, ‘Oh this kid was bullied, or this guy had all these mental issues, or she’s had a history of depression,’” Barrs said. “Automatically, with white people who commit crimes, it’s, ‘Well, what is wrong with them that they committed these crimes?’

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Junior ASHLEY LEROY was born in Albany, Ga., but since her father was in the military, her family moved quite often. She has called Clarksville, Tenn., home since 2003 and graduated from Kenwood High School. She describes Kenwood as a fairly diverse school with a mostly black and Hispanic student population. She said she never thought too much about race until her father explained to her that people expected her to act and look a certain way because of her skin color.

“I couldn’t dress in urban hip-hop clothes with Apple Bottom jeans,” she said. “My dad made me aware of, ‘Hey, this is how society sees you, so either go with it or do you.’ But I was always encouraged to be myself.”

Leroy does not know much about her heritage other than she has Native American ancestry on her paternal side. To her, she is a black American.

Leroy decided on UE because of the small class sizes, personal attention from professors and the opportunities in the Communication Department. But during her freshman year, she considered transferring.

“I hated it,” she said. “I felt like there was no culture, and no one understood where I was coming from.”

She had planned to transfer to a historically black college. Her parents were supportive of her decision, but she decided to stay at UE after she was chosen to be an Orientation Leader and began working at WUEV. “I started to get involved,” she said, “and I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I do have a life here at UE.’” A communication major with focuses in multimedia production and organizational communication, Leroy is Black Student Union’s social coordinator and a producer for WUEV’s “PartyLights,” a weekly hip-hop and R&B show. After graduating, she hopes to attend Howard University to earn a master’s degree in radio journalism.

Leroy said she participated in the magazine’s conversation on race because she wanted to share her opinion on race, diversity and herself.

“People see me involved,” she said. “They see Ashley the black girl, the OL, but they don’t see me.”

Leroy said the most important thing readers can take away from the article is to never be colorblind to minority students and their needs.

“I’m a nice person,” she said. “Get to know me. Don’t expect me to act a certain way. Know Ashley.”

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Cover Story

However, with black people, it’s, ‘Oh, they committed a crime, they’re just bad people.’”

Butler added that positive depictions of black people on television programs do not seem to stick around for long.

“When we do have positive shows that represent a black person or a black family, they never last because people want to see the stereotypes and the things that sell on TV,” she said. “People don’t have access to anything positive, so that’s the only thing they see.”

While the panel believed filmmakers like Spike Lee portray blacks realistically, many movies popular with white audiences do the opposite.

“Those movies, like Tyler Perry’s movies, they’re not representative of all black people,” Colleton said. “It’s the [filmmaker’s] interpretation, and people look at characters like ‘Madea’ and expect all black grandmothers and mothers to act like her, and that is not even the case. Not a lot of black people act like that, so the movies are sending the wrong message.”

While many whites and others have learned stereotypes and prejudices over time, frequently as a part of their upbringing or their geographic location, the group noted the importance of using opportunities to educate others.

“It’s changed over time,” Leroy said. “You learn how to deal with it without acting [up]. When I first got here, I was pissing everybody off because I didn’t know how to take it. They didn’t understand. But I can’t just jump down their throats because they’ll never want to [interact] with a black person again. You have to educate them; you treat every moment like it’s educational.”

BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN?

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ne often debated issue is how black people wish to be labeled, if at all. Since the politically correct term has definitely changed over time, does one say black or African American these days? We asked which the panelists preferred.

Barrs said she prefers the term black because she does not have a strong connection to African culture, and she feels African American implies close African ties.

“I feel black,” she said, “or straight up American.”

Even some of the students’ preferences have changed over time.

Butler said she used to prefer African American, but now it does not bother her if people call her black.

Leroy said she prefers black because she does not know her roots or her connections to African culture. She also said growing up in the South, she was never referred to as an African American, but she mentioned a Nigerian friend of hers who preferred African American.

Colleton, who is of mixed race, identifies as Puerto Rican, but she said she does not like to make the distinction for anyone, even whites.

“We’re not all just one thing,” she said.

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I feel like this school is not very communityoriented. people are maybe loyal to their organizations, but the whole school as a whole? people don’t identify with aces. they just say, ‘i go to ue.’

Anthony said other people have always referred to him as black. He also said he accepts either term, but oftens use black himself.

AFRICAN VERSUS BLACK

J

ust as there are cultural differences between black Americans and white Americans, there are cultural differences between black Americans and Africans.

Barrs said she believes African students sometimes have a hard time identifying with black American students, and vice versa. She believes they do not attend Black Student Union because they don’t identify with the group, and they are left out during Black History Month because the focus is heavily centered on American black history.

“It’s like they’re almost excluded because they don’t fall into the group of white, but they don’t fall into the group of black because they don’t identify with it culturally,” she said.

Leroy said this dynamic works the other way as well; it is hard for black students to identify with UE’s African students.

“Internationally, we are very diverse,” she said. “But what a lot of people don’t realize is that a lot of black students that are at UE aren’t even domestic black students. They’re either African or from somewhere else, so I can’t relate to them. I have no idea what their experience is, and they have no idea what mine is.”

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VIOLET BARRS

“WHITE-WASHED”

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he term “white-washed” is often used to cast affluent black people in a negative light since it means someone who is looked at as leaving behind or neglecting their own culture and assimilating to the white culture.

“It’s not just white people that use that term,” Butler said.

“It’s black people that use that term too, and they also call you not only white-washed but an Uncle Tom, meaning that you’re a sellout if you get an education, if you live in a certain neighborhood, if you have goals and different things like that.”

She said the term is harmful because it makes people feel isolated from others. Anthony said he hates the term.

“Everybody wants to say, ‘Oh you’re so white,’” he said. “I don’t want to change my race because I speak properly. I don’t understand it. I will never understand it. I mean, black people say that. White people say that. Everyone says that. I hate when people say that.”

Leroy said she doesn’t see the point of using a term like white-washed, since she comes from an all-American family like other families. She doesn’t like the distinction of what is “white” or “black” and questioned where the line should be drawn.

“We are different, we have our quirkiness and our mannerisms, but we’re an all-American family,” she said. “Am I whitewashed because I have a nice home and I wasn’t raised in the

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

Senior VIOLET BARRS was born in Texas but grew up in Lawrenceville, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. She attended two high schools: Mill Creek and Mountain View, with Mill Creek being a much larger school with many different student cliques. Mountain View, being much smaller, was less cliquish, and the mix of people with different heritages was more integrated.

Barrs does not know much about her own heritage and said race was not explicitly discussed in her home growing up, but she added that her family would sometimes poke fun at the stereotypical differences between black and white families.

She decided on UE after meeting with one of the Spanish professors, plus she felt the school was a good fit with a more varied demographic than other schools she had applied to.

She also wanted to go to school out of state, but leaving Atlanta for Evansville was difficult, mainly because of the adjustment to living in a smaller city. Her parents expressed concern that she would be so far from home and about the state’s storied past on race relations.

“One of the things my parents told me was, ‘Don’t go up to Indiana. The KKK headquarters is there,’” she said.

The Spanish major is a Morton Hall resident assistant and the student manager for the volleyball team.

She is a member of the NO MORE Task Force student advisory and is president of Black Student Union.

She has organized Martin Luther King Day events for the past two years in addition to a number of panel discussions and other activities for the group and the annual remembrance day. She said the organization’s goal is to open the black community to others.

“We’re not just for black people,” she said. “Our goal is to serve the interests of the black community, but we’re not just for black people.”

Barrs studied abroad last summer in Granada, Spain.

She also traveled to Morocco and visited other cities in Spain. Her dream is to eventually teach elementary school Spanish.

“I like the idea of teaching a foreign language because when you’re not in college, it’s your fun class,” she said.

Barrs said she enjoyed participating in the magazine’s conversation on race and appreciated the opportunity to discuss issues central to the topic.

“I would prefer you to ask me so you don’t look ignorant,” she said.

She said she wants readers to know a lot of what is considered racist is unintentional.

“Everybody is against everybody, but they shouldn’t be,” she said. “It’s not cut and dry, white versus black.

It’s color against color.”

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Cover Story

I pretty much grew up in a white neighborhood, and i’m pretty comfortable around white people. but when i got here i did kind of sense that maybe i was a little bit different from everybody else. it’s not really something that you can describe. it’s just a feeling that you get when you walk into a room. it’s like you don’t feel the same. you know you’re different.

hood? What is acting white? What is acting black? Do you associate education or do you associate being upbeat and positive with being white and anything that’s dark or negative as being associated with being black?”

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

T

he simplest definition of cultural appropriation is that it occurs when members of a dominant culture set claim to something from the culture of a minority group without its input. Typically those doing the “borrowing” lack an understanding of what makes the minority group’s symbols, art forms and modes of expression significant. And members of the majority frequently profit from cultural exploitation.

Colleton drew the distinction between emulating black culture out of genuine interest versus imitating it so that it becomes offensive. Twerking and the Harlem shake were used as examples.

Twerking originated in Africa, was adopted by the African American culture in the 1990s and found its popularity with the hiphop scene in the early 2000s. It is a trend the panel agreed some whites have adopted in a stereotypical way.

“There’s a fine line between being racist and just kind of being respectful [to the culture] because you think it’s interesting and cool,” Colleton said. “[Someone like Miley Cyrus] is perpetuating this negative stereotype by the exaggeration of black culture.”

Barrs said some white students often exploit many cultures, not just black culture, by adopting only what they think they know about the culture versus what is the truth.

“People will throw a Cinco de Mayo party or a black people party,” she said. “I don’t even know what they would be called, but then it’s like they try to justify it [by saying] ‘Oh, we threw a white trash party, so it’s OK. We’re being racist toward everybody.’ Nope, it’s really not OK in any situation.”

Anthony said he has even had white friends exaggerate their speech to make themselves sound more “black.”

“Let’s say I said something offhandedly like, ‘Oh yo. I ain’t got time for that,’” he said. “Even if I said it normal, they would try to say it like they were black. How does that make sense?”

SKIN TONE

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any of the negative stereotypes about black people are worse for those with darker skin color. Light skin is seen as a beauty standard to which black people should aspire, and darker skin carries negative conno-

Job applicants with WHITE-SOUNDING NAMES are 50 percent more likely to receive a callback for a job interview than applicants with black-sounding names, even when all job-related qualifications and credentials are the same.

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tations. Butler said she has been negatively targeted in this way.

“The are perceptions of if you happen to be darker, maybe you’re not going to be as prepared, or you aren’t going to speak proper English, and maybe you’re just here as an athlete, you’re not smart,” she said.

Biracial or multiracial students are often forced to choose which race to associate with. Colleton said this distinction is highlighted more in the U.S. than it was in Puerto Rico.

“In America you’re forced to choose white or black, and by golly George you are not allowed to be who you are,” she said.

“You’re several different things, and you want to be able to represent all of those different cultures that you’re a part of. I don’t really like to be categorized, and that’s something I’m forced to do in the United States.”

Colleton noted even white people are more diverse than just being “white,” but they often have to choose one label for themselves, too.

Anthony talked about the difficulty lighter-skinned people experience by being perceived by others as being “less black.”

White men with criminal records are more likely to get a callback for a job interview than black male job applicants who DO NOT HAVE A CRIMINAL RECORD, even when all qualifications, demeanor and communication styles are the same.

The number of Americans WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES MULTIRACIAL grew faster from 2000 to 2010 than those who identify as a single race, with the largest gains coming in the South and among those who identify as both white and black.

February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

CHERESE BUTLER

“I mean we’re all different shades of black in this room,” he said. “I come from two parents, one who is almost white and the other as dark as night, but I’ve always felt the issue where people are like, ‘You aren’t fully black.’ That’s not even close to being correct, and they’re not even sure how they should act around me.”

Colleton also shared how she deals with the issue of skin tone.

“My dad is as dark as night, and my mom is nearly white, so I’ve had to deal with being mixed my whole life,” she said. “It’s just one of those things you get used to.”

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he conversation with these five students, from different backgrounds, different heritages and with different viewpoints, was informative and eye-opening. It was a comment Barrs made that summed it up for her and the rest.

“I don’t want to seem like I’m answering for all black people,” she said.

While this article was based on the opinions of just five principled students, you don’t have to agree with everything they said, but their perspectives are at least worth listening to and learning from.

White Americans use drugs more than black Americans, but blacks are arrested for drug possession MORE THAN THREE TIMES as often as whites.

A recent survey found that 91 percent of the aver-

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

Junior CHERESE BUTLER was born and raised in San Diego. She attended Patrick Henry High School, a school of about 2,000, which she said was predominantly white but still diverse, even though there were a lot of different cliques among students.

While in high school, Butler founded the African American Student Union. As president, she invited black community members to guest speak and helped provide her peers with positive role models, educated professionals who actually looked like them.

Although Butler would like to learn more about her ancestry, she believes it is rooted in slavery, and information can be nearly impossible to access since it depends on whether her ancestor’s slave owners kept detailed recorded information.

Butler said she knew from a young age that she lived in a world full of people who were different from her.

Her parents taught her that to be accepted, she had to learn to accept others. They also warned her to expect times in her life when she would have to work harder than others because of the color of her skin.

UE’s size and small student-faculty ratio appealed to Butler, and since her interests center on pop culture and related events, she decided to major in communication with an emphasis in multimedia production.

“When I came here, I felt like it was where I really wanted to be,” she said. “I’ve had opportunities I wouldn’t have had with a big school.”

Butler is a member of Black Student Union and is involved with AcesTV and WUEV. She hosts a weekly radio news segment that highlights campus, local and national news. After graduating, she hopes to become an entertainment news reporter.

Butler said she was happy to take part in the magazine’s conversation on race as a way to hopefully help eliminate common misconceptions that are often caused by ignorance.

“It was a way to informally inform people about differences,” she said. “We’re a lot more similar than we think.”

Butler also hopes the article helps readers re-evaluate and eliminate the stereotypes that come from misinformation and a lack of diversity on campus.

“We have our own experiences,” she said, “and growing up in different parts of the U.S., we’re different and don’t all fit one prototype.”

age white American’s closest friends and family are white, WITH JUST 1 PERCENT BLACK. When asked to name their closest friends and family, 75 percent of white Americans did not name a single person who was not white.

White women are far more likely than black women to be hired for work through temporary agencies, even when the black women have MORE EXPERIENCE AND ARE MORE QUALIFIED. —Huffington Post

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Q&A

Questions UE is creating the nation’s first student-run anti-bias team to combat hate and encourage diversity both on campus and in the community.

LANEECA WILLIAMS

photo by Kate Sarber

Diversity & Equity Officer

Q: What is Diversity Initiatives?

A: Diversity Initiatives makes sure UE has programs, events and plans in place so students and campus members feel welcome and included in anything we do. One example is making sure we have speakers and presenters who represent our student body so students have an opportunity to listen to speakers and presenters who look like them and share similar experiences.

Q: How would you define diversity?

A: Diversity is not just about the color of someone’s skin. It has to do with experiences and where people come from geographically.

It is not just the way you physically see someone. It is those things we bring from our own cultures that make us different.

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Q: Why is diversity so important to a col-

Q: UE is advertised as being diverse. Do

lege campus?

A: Adding diversity adds to your experiences. It takes you from your community into a much bigger world so you can see there are people who have experiences and cultures different from yours that you can learn from.

But at the same time, you’re gaining an understanding that while you’re different and they’re different, you can still have a lot in common.

Without coming to a school and having opportunities like that, you’ll never see anything different from the community you came from.

you think we have a diverse campus?

A: We have a very large international student population, which brings its own type of diversity. But we could still do more to bring more domestic student diversity to campus.

UE is doing a good job of wanting to bring diversity to campus, but we still have a lot to do to actually see and experience that. It’s great that we advertise it, but we could do a better job. The ads truly have to look like the diversity of campus. It can’t just be using the words, “Oh, we’re a diverse campus.”

Q: What is the anti-bias team, and what

Q: How does UE reach out to minority and

are its goals?

A: There are a lot of things UE could do better as far as being more open to students who are different, people who are different. I think there’s always an opportunity to learn more about differences. I saw the need to develop a program where we could provide education to students so they wouldn’t become victims of hate crimes, wouldn’t become victims of bullying, and also education for those students who are the perpetrators of those types of things. Students on the anti-bias team had a semester of learning about anti-bias education, with how to deal with their own biases and how to communicate with other people who make biased comments. The team will be able to do anti-bias training on campus as well as at other Southern Indiana schools.

underrepresented students?

A: Diversity Initiatives is partnering with Admission and some minority students to make sure we’re sending the correct message to prospective students — that we have an environment that welcomes and wants them here. Admission and Diversity Initiatives are training some of our students of color so they can reach out to prospective students to answer questions in an effort to make them feel comfortable. Another goal is to have some of our Latino students be able to call Latino prospective students and have those same conversations in Spanish with parents or with the students so they feel they have a resource as well. We accept a lot of minority and Latino students every year, but we don’t necessarily get those students to attend UE.

February 2015 • Crescent Magazine

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Brain Bomb

YOU GOTTA LOVE LOVE Valentine’s Day is a time for cards, boxes of chocolate, flowers and jewelry.

It is a day of romance. Whether you enjoy spending the day alone, cuddling with your sweetheart or exchanging gifts with friends, it is the perfect time to pamper loved ones and yourself. So go out to dinner, gorge yourself on candy or spend the evening watching all those Katherine Heigl movies you’re secretly glad you finally have an excuse to watch.

National Condom Day also falls on Feb. 14, and companies like Durex report seeing a 20–30 percent increase in sales during this time.

This is either good planning or a huge coincidence.

All the single ladies put your hands up. For every 100 single women in their 20s, there are an estimated 119 single men of the same age.

If you’re single, no need to despair. People have started celebrating nonromantic holidays such as Galentine’s Day and Singles Awareness Day as ways to commend friendship and single life.

The average U.S. consumer spends about $130 on Valentine’s Day gifts, meals and entertainment.

But don’t feel bad about that $5 plastic rose you bought last minute at CVS.

The typical heart symbol may have originated from ancient artists failing to draw an anatomically correct heart.

About 15 percent of women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day. Sometimes you need to love yourself before you can love others.

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If you thought trading pun-filled valentines was embarrassing, try living in the Middle Ages. Young boys and girls drew names for their valentine and pinned that name to their sleeve for one week.

Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote the oldest known valentine still in existence in 1415 to his wife, while he was imprisoned after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

Who Knew?

HAIRY FROG: THE REAL WOLVERINE? It’s the best there is at what it does, but what it does isn’t very nice. Scientists have discovered a species of African frog with powers remarkably similar to those of everyone’s favorite “X-Men” character. The hairy frog, often called the horror frog — but we’ll call it Hugh Jackman — breaks a bone in its hind toe when threatened and forces it through the skin to form a type of claw. The bone has a barbed tip for attacking predators, but lacks the keratin coating that real claws have. Ouch.

DO PETS ACTUALLY DREAM? Our pets are more like us than we think.

While pet owners have long taken the stirrings of their sleeping pets as proof that they dream too, now there is research to back it up. Tests have shown that the hippocampus — the part of the brain involved in memory and dreaming — is set up similarly in all mammals, so during sleep, the

A NEW SPECIES OF COPYCAT? There’s a wildcat in Brazil that mimics the sounds of its prey. So next time you’re in the Amazon, those might not be monkeys you’re hearing.

ARE THEY REALLY

BIRDBRAINED?

No, turkeys aren’t trying to drown themselves by looking up with open beaks when it rains. They pause and look up at the sky because of an inherited condition, not a death wish.

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

brain patterns of cats and dogs mimic the patterns of sleeping human brains. Generally dreams consist of memories, past events and anticipated future actions, so more likely than not your pet is dreaming of walking, eating or maybe pouncing on prey. No word on if he had that dream where he went to school in his underwear.

STOMACHS OF STEEL? It’s nearly impossible for horses to throw up.

The valve that stops food from coming back up is so strong, it’s more likely a horse’s stomach will burst than that it will vomit.

CAN THAT BE BLOODY HAPPENING? The short-horned lizard, found in the desert areas of Central and North America, can shoot blood from its eyes to shock and confuse predators up to a meter away. The blood is even toxic to some animals, such as coyotes.

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Full-Court Press

Despite safety concerns, hockey players want fighting to remain part of the game they love.

THE GLOVES SHOULD

STAY OFF IAN HESLINGER

F

lying down the ice, the player expertly handles the puck as he manuvers down the rink toward the opposing goal. As he pulls back to shoot, he is body-slammed by an opposing player, who hits him high and throws him into the boards.

They immediately throw off their gloves and go after each other.

Hockey is a dangerous game. Between airborne pucks and wayward sticks, players are at risk of sustaining injuries, even death. Fighting on the ice adds even more risk, and it is a hot debate topic.

There is no doubt that fighting is a hockey staple. No one is sure when it started, but the NHL instituted rules for fighting in 1922.

Bill Fitsell, who serves on the board of directors of the International Hockey Hall of Fame, said hockey was not always associated with violence. History actually shows that it was a more gentlemanly game with a lot of sportsmanship in its early years.

But it is definitely part of the game now.

Many hockey fans love fighting because of the emotion it evokes, but is it too dangerous? The answers differ depending on who is asked, and there is no shortage of opinions.

A 2011 poll by the NHL Players Association and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports 98 percent of NHL players do not want fighting banned. It is a valued part of the game, just like line changes or power plays. It is ingrained in hockey culture and cannot be removed.

“Will it be around in five to 10 years?”

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brad Stuart asked ESPN journalist Pierre LeBrun. “May-

40

be not. But I think there’s a use for it. It can be something that would be hard to take out of the game. Just the nature of the game, the emotion, things happen. So to completely eliminate it would be tough.”

But fans may have a different opinion. A 2013 Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found that 68 percent of hockey fans believe fighting should be banned. Opinions about fighting even vary among NHL executives. Hall of Famer and Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman believes it should be banned and players should suffer severe penalties if they fight. He does not understand why fighting is still allowed, even though a check to the head is now penalized.

“We’re stuck in the middle and need to decide what kind of sport do we want to be,” he told NBC Sports. “Either anything goes and we accept the consequences, or take the next step and eliminate fighting.”

While other executives share his opinion, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman does not believe fighting should be a concern. Bettman told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the issue is overblown due to its small role in each game.

He also said there has not been a consensus in the league, so no changes will be made.

But fighting is dangerous, and with safety a major concern now in the NFL, especially concerning concussions, many, including medical experts, believe it is time for a change.

Dr. Charles H. Tator, a neurosurgeon and researcher at Toronto Western Hospital, believes fighting causes 10 percent of all concussions in hockey, and he is an advocate of eliminating it from the game.

“We in science can dot the line between blows to the head, brain degeneration and all of these other issues,” he told the New York Times. “So in my view, it’s time for the league to acknowledge this serious issue and take steps to reduce blows to the brain.”

But not all experts agree. Dr. Ruben Echemendia, former president of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, said no decisions should be made yet. He acknowledges all the studies being conducted, but said it is premature to rush to conclusions.

Even with all the medical information available today, one fact may trump all others — the players want fighting to stay. Players’ teeth are punched out, their bones broken and blood is shed. But players do not want that to change and their wants may speak louder than any medical test ever could.

And though many may find the tradition outdated or even barbaric, some look at it in another way. ESPN’s John Buccigross may have summed it up best.

“And of all the difficult things in hockey, dropping one’s mitts and looking at another man with fists and a face is the most difficult,” he said. “An act of love for the teammate who can’t readily fight for himself. Despite the negatives from hockey fights, for some this act of love is what gives the NHL much of its heart.”

Not all hockey players fight, but there is a unique beauty in the blood players shed for teammates. No one knows how much longer fighting will be around, but what is known is that hockey players want it to stay. And they will definitely fight for it.

February 2015

•

Crescent Magazine

Athletes in Action

KATE SARBER

SERIOUSLY? Being a fan can be exhausting.

The Aces beat nationally ranked Northern Iowa 52–49 at Ford Center to welcome in the new year, but they couldn’t keep up with No. 14 Wichita State, who beat the Aces on Jan. 17 by 20 at home. WSU and UNI lead the MVC, but the Aces hold the fourth spot with a 15–5 record, 5–3 in the MVC (as of Jan. 26). With the second half of the season well underway, the Aces aren’t out of it yet. Guard D.J. Balentine is averaging 19.8 points per game and center Egidijus Mockevicius is nabbing 10.7 rebounds per game. About 440 students, the highest number since November 2011, turned out to watch as UE took on the Shockers — and they took every questionable call to heart. Fill the stadium again when the Aces return home for a 1:05 p.m. tipoff Feb. 7 against Bradley before facing Missouri State at 7:05 p.m. Feb. 10 at the center.

“It was two steps, ref! Two!” Senior Trevor Mullen makes his point as seniors Sage Tuell and Paul Klein watch the action. | Kate Sarber

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

After another foul on the Aces, senior Kim Carter painfully watches as the referees send Wichita State back to the foul line. | MaKayla Seifert

Sometimes the call just doesn’t go your way. Not happy with the referee’s decision, sophomores Nick Baker, Carl Minnette, Mark Murillo and Michael Armstrong show their frustration. | MaKayla Seifert

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Overtime

photo by Kate Sarber

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February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

IAN HESLINGER & PAULA NOWACZYK

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Pursuing two sports was too difficult an offer to pass up for this accomplished athlete.

M

any students find time every day to take a nap. But not sophomore Danielle Freeman. As a member of two NCAA Division I athletic teams, a daily nap just doesn’t fit into her schedule. Considering she has to be in the pool before dawn on weekdays for practice during season, coach Rickey Perkins jokes that her only time to rest is on the bus when they travel.

In addition to swimming, Freeman also plays softball. The two sports briefly overlap, so for Freeman the entire school year feels like one continuous season. She starts softball practice after the season has started and has to scramble to secure a position, but is willing to play wherever needed because of her love of the game.

“Sports just keep me going,” she said. “If I didn’t have sports, I don’t know what I would do. It just makes you go through life and helps you succeed.”

Sports have always been a way of life for Freeman.

Her grandfather taught her how to swim when she was a youngster, and when her best friend joined Little League, she did too. She eventually lettered seven times in swimming and softball as a student at Hudsonville (Mich.) High School.

While on a recruiting trip to UE for softball, the staff introduced her to Perkins, and he started scouting her too. It was her communication with teammates and coaches, as well as her skill, that struck him. When she was given the opportunity to play both sports at UE, she took it.

“It’s hard to pull away from something that you automatically love,” she said. “That’s why I chose two.”

Freeman’s two-sport life is strenuous, but she thrives on it. And with each meet or game, her desire for success increases. She ranked third last season in the MVC in the 50-yard freestyle and in the top 10 in the 100yard butterfly.

“She wants to win,” Perkins said. “That is the first thing. You find enjoyment and fun and challenge in competition. You have to want to win.”

Freeman wants to finish first this season in the MVC in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and is still pushing for her time to be less than 23 seconds in the 50. Setting goals keeps her moving forward.

“If you don’t have a goal, what are you aiming for?” she said.

Although she has thought about training for the Olympic Trials, she is focusing on other priorities, such as finding a major. She is leaning toward elementary or special education because she likes children.

And some forget that most athletes are students first. Staying orga-

nized is a priority for Freeman. She takes advantage of tutoring sessions and her coaches’ willingness to help her when needed.

“I hand Rickey my flashcards sometimes and ask him to quiz me,” Freeman said.

While time management is important to most students, playing two sports makes it crucial for Freeman.

“I think it was a bit overwhelming at first,” said senior Samantha Horton, who swims freestyle and backstroke for UE. “Since, she’s learned how to balance everything, which is awesome. She’s found out how to blend it together.”

Perkins believes Freeman’s attitude is what makes her not only humble, but a good teammate.

“I don’t think who you are as an athlete is any different than who you are as a person,” he said.

While Freeman works hard to improve, what is perhaps equally important is that she finds time for her teammates. She rallies them when needed, returning the favor for the many ways they support her.

“She encourages us, whomever is about to race,” Horton said. “She definitely has a dynamic and positive attitude.”

Freeman considers her teammates family, and since all softball players have nicknames, it is not surprising that coach Mat Mundell calls her “Fish.” Horton said the two teams are closer because of Freeman’s involvement, creating an uncommon dynamic in UE’s athletic community.

“I feel very comfortable around them,” said sophomore Susan Norris, who plays first and third base for the Aces and is Freeman’s roommate.

“I’ll hang out with her and her friends when swimming is in season.”

When she doesn’t have an obligation to a sport, Freeman is just like any other student. She spends her downtime watching movies and hanging out with friends from one or both teams.

“When you train with those people, you have a special connection,” Horton said.

Being a dual-sport athlete is not easy, but it has become second nature for Freeman, even a way to get her mind off things.

“When I hit the water or I’m on the field, everything goes away,” she said. “It’s relaxing.”

Freeman believes her positive attitude and competitive nature are keys to her motivation, with sports making a difference in all walks of her life.

“I hate to fail,” she said, “but everybody fails every once in a while.

Nobody’s perfect, but I try to be.”

When i hit the water or i’m on the field, everything goes away. it’s relaxing.

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

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campus crime Jan. 18 – Student found intoxicated in a Moore Hall second floor stairwell. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Jan. 17 – Two students found intoxicated in separate Schroeder Hall third floor rooms. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

— Student found intoxicated in a Schroeder Hall third floor restroom. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Jan. 15 – Student found intoxicated in a Morton Hall stairwell. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Jan. 14 – Student reported purse and other items stolen from Ridgway Center dining hall.

Loss reported at $170.

Jan. 9 – Bicycle stolen from the garage of a UEowned house on Weinbach. Loss reported at $150.

Dec. 27 – Carson Center small gym door broken and deodorant smeared on the doors and gym floor. Loss not reported.

Dec. 13 – Two students found intoxicated outside Hughes Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Students fighting on Brentano Hall second floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Students found in possession of marijuana on Hale Hall second floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Students found in possession of alcohol in their Hale Hall second floor room. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Dec. 10 – Student found in possession of marijuana in Moore Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Dec. 9 – Student reported bike stolen from the Hale Hall bike rack. Loss reported at $300.

Dec. 7 – Student found intoxicated on Powell Hall third floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Dec. 6 – Student found intoxicated on Brentano Hall second floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Dec. 4 – Student accused of drawing graffiti on several walls in Krannert Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Dec. 2 — An iPhone charger stolen from a vehicle parked in F-lot. Loss reported at $4.

Dec. 1 – Student found smoking marijuana near Hyde Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

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The following information was compiled from criminal offense reports filed Oct. 19, 2014, through Jan. 20, 2015, in Safety & Security.

Nov. 24 – Student reported she was sexually assaulted in a Schroeder Hall room. Investigation ongoing.

— A previously stolen table found in a student’s Hughes Hall second floor room. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 23 – Intoxicated student transported from the Sigma Phi Epsilon house to St. Mary’s Hospital. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

— Student found intoxicated outside the Phi Kappa Tau house. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 16 – Intoxicated student transported to St. Mary’s Hospital from an off-campus house.

Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 14 – Residents in Brentano Hall harassing each another. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 12 – A check reported missing from mail delivered to the School of Business Administration. Loss reported at $1,000.

— Students placed numerous cups filled with ice outside of the door leading into the men’s basketball offices in Carson Center. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 11 – Student stole a sign from Memoral High School. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 9 – Benches, trash cans and other items upturned on campus. Investigation cleared.

— Student found intoxicated outside of a UEowned house on Weinbach. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

— Student had an open beer can in vehicle parked in G-lot. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 6 – Three drinking glasses stolen from Ridgway Center. Loss not reported.

WHAT HAPPENS AT

UE STAYS ON

BE SMART. BE NICE. BE SAFE.

Nov. 2 – Student found intoxicated on Powell Hall third floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Student found intoxicated in F-lot. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Nov. 1 – Student found intoxicated on Morton Hall third floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Student found intoxicated between Koch Center and Powell Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Student found intoxicated on Hale Hall fourth floor. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Student found intoxicated outside Hughes Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

—Student found intoxicated outside North Hall. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Oct. 31 – Student reported antenna broken off of vehicle parked near Hale Hall. Loss reported at $25.

Oct. 28 – Student reported money stolen from Hale Hall third floor room. Loss reported at $700.

Oct. 25 – Student found intoxicated at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house. Referred to the vice president for Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Oct. 23 – Student reported bike stolen from the Hale Hall bike rack. Loss reported at $250.

—Student reported necklace and gas card stolen from Moore Hall second floor room. Loss reported at $125.

Oct. 19 – Student reported wallet stolen from the Fitness Center. Loss reported at $55.

WE’LL KEEP YOU

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Find out what’s happening on campus with things you might be interested in and with Crescent Magazine.

facebook.com/uecrescent twitter.com/uestudpub To advertise, call 812.488.2221 or email us at crescentadvertising @evansville.edu February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

photo by Kate Sarber

SIMPLE SOLUTION SARAH JOEST

S

ometimes all it takes for a professor to explain something complex is a simple burst of color. With a little bit of zinc, and some heat, voila, a penny turns a goldish hue and appears more valuable.

One thing Todsapon Thananatthanachon, assistant professor of chemistry, has found over the years is that for his teaching to be valued by today’s students, it has to be entertaining.

“Not only does he explain, he keeps you engaged,” freshman Derek Hammelman said.

“Not once have I nodded off.”

Entertaining students includes demonstrations like the penny transformation, a favorite of Thananatthanachon’s — who insists his students call him Dr. Tod instead of trying to pronounce his long and often difficult-to-say (“ta-NA-nat-ta-NA-chon”) last name.

Many of Thananatthanachon’s demonstrations involve chemical color changes, which visually draw students into the material. Since one of the courses he teaches is Chemistry 118, “Principles of Chemistry,” a general education course, he works hard to keep both majors and non-majors interested.

“He isn’t just focused on chemistry stu-

Crescent Magazine

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“

February 2015

dents, but all students he comes into contact with,” sophomore Matt Abele said.

Thananatthanachon is aware that the course has a reputation for being challenging and somewhat difficult.

“I think I can at least make it bearable by offering help,” he said.

Like most teachers, Thananatthanachon wants his students to succeed. He gave Abele a research position last summer, and while Abele initially called the research nerve-racking, Thananatthanachon’s reassuring nature made it easier for Abele and the other research assistants to concentrate on the work.

“We knew he wasn’t going to let us fail,” Abele said.

Growing up, Thananatthanachon always liked science, but chemistry was what drew his attention. It fascinated him to change one object into another and to explain the process scientifically to others.

While demonstrating the wonders of chemistry is one way to reach students, Thananatthanachon also makes a point of leading students to the answers.

“He’ll ask a question, and we’ll give him an

answer, and he’ll always be like, ‘Are you sure?

Are you sure?’” Hammelman said.

Thananatthanachon welcomes questions from students, and they say he quickly answers emails. He also records his office hours and where he will be at any given time on a board game-like spinner kept on his office door. And he also keeps a candy bowl on his desk.

“He gets on a different level with you,” Hammelman said. “He’ll try to relate to you as a person.”

A native of Chiang Mai, Thailand, Thananatthanachon said he misses his family, friends and the Thai lifestyle, especially going to fresh food markets with his family. He always enjoys discussing chemistry, but he has other interests too. He enjoys movies, gardening, biking along the Newburgh riverfront and playing tennis. He also likes to travel and is a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

It is evident he has students in mind as he weaves through the difficult course material in his courses. But it is how Thananatthanachon teaches the information that sets him apart.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Hammelman said, “and you usually don’t say that about a course.”

Not only does he explain, he keeps you engaged.

”

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Off the Wall

DOTM

GOTTA GET IT keil hill estate plot — a wee bit of land When it comes to having a title, most students don’t rise above “Master of Internalized Stress” or “Scourge of the Dorm Kitchen.”

But if you’re looking to add a bit of regality to your name, HIGHLANDTITLES.COM has your back. Starting at about $47, anybody can buy a one-square-foot plot of land in Glencoe Wood, Duror, Scotland. While that may not be enough land to stand on, owning it is enough to bestow upon yourself the title of Laird, Lord or Lady of Glencoe.

The land makes up the KEIL HILL ESTATE, a Highland Titles Nature Reserve. The estate

is dedicated to preserving wildlife in the area and promoting conservation and reforestation in Scotland.

If you’re looking to get more out of your grand bestowal, you’re in luck. The website offers packages up to 1,000 square feet, which include membership in their VIP club, trees planted on your land in your honor, DVD tours of the area and lifetime camping access on your very own plot. So grab your claymore, put on your blue face paint and kilt, and be ready to take your land and have your freedom, too.

Mornings are hard. The CARROT ALARM makes them easier by making you do tasks like shake your phone to shut off your alarm. It also gives you incentives to wake up, such as new alarm music, app upgrades or bedtime stories.

TIDBIT

Calculators have too many buttons these days. MYSCRIPT CALCULATOR simplifies things by letting you handwrite equations that the app solves for you. It can’t do calculus, but it’s a fun way to calculate your grocery bill.

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Not a winter goes by where students don’t get sick. Luckily, THE ANTIOXIDANT is here to help. With alcohol and a few fruity mixes, it is the perfect drink for keeping you healthy and full of Vitamin C. Loveandoliveoil.com says all you have to do is add the ingredients together and strain them into a cocktail glass. If you’re feeling fancy, you can warm up an orange peel for a few seconds and squeeze out some of its oil over the glass, resulting in a small flame. Whether you’re happy or feeling blue, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

ingredients: 2 oz. vodka | 1 oz.

orange juice | ¾ oz. tangerine syrup | ½ oz.

Aperol | ½ oz. lime juice | an orange peel

THERE’S an APP for THAT

Modern matches were invented after the first lighter. The lighter was created in 1823, three years before John Walker made the first friction matches.

the antioxidant

heard it here “Accept who you are. Unless you’re a serial killer.”

The renowned Harlem Globetrotters, known for its cool stunts and silly antics, made former Pope John Paul II an honorary member in 2000.

— comedian Ellen DeGeneres

The human body, excluding those with iron deficiency, contains enough iron to make at least a 1.5-inch nail. Most of this iron is found in your blood.

February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

people tweet the damndest things My ex said she left me because of my short attention span. Unbeknownst to her I actually...damn. That’s a cool ass word, right?

@Mikecanrant I dragged myself to the gym today and noticed a girl standing on a nonmoving treadmill texting for 45 min.

She is living my dream.

@RoseLaughman Dude, he wouldn’t have sex with me during halftime ‘cause we were rooting for different teams and that would be bad juju.

@TextsFromLastNight Just to be safe when I get home to my dark apartment at night, I walk in the door, pause and ask, “How did you find me?”

@KayJayShee My mom taught me it’s always OK to ask questions. She’s proving her point now by asking me thousands each day.

@BoweKnows I’m trying to be sexual and you’re sending me Smash Mouth lyrics.

Things that make us Crazy NO RESOLVE

“ORIGINALITY” REPORT

Whoops. We know we said we would eat less junk food, watch less bad TV and get more exercise this year, but let’s be honest: our willpower is nowhere near strong enough for that kind of commitment. It’s so hard to try to be a better person when the draw of cookies, “19 Kids and Counting” and soft blankets is so enticing. There’s always next year.

We’re not trying to plagiarize our papers; we promise! We just want to turn them in without so much hassle. We know that section matches this obscure document — it’s the document we quoted, and we correctly attributed the quote. Must there be so much struggle?

We’d love to turn in assignments without going through the Spanish Inquisition first.

IS IT SPRING YET?

TWITTERTISING

There’s nothing quite as soul-crushing as watching the gorgeous sunset that takes place about noon each day. It’s bad enough that we cannot walk to class without losing all feeling in our noses, but nothing feels worse than walking out of class and into the pitch-black night of 3 p.m. We just can’t wait until sunshine feels like sunshine again.

Remember when Twitter was fun? It used to be great for getting funny little thoughts from your favorite actors and comedians, but the times, they are a-changing. Now you’re lucky if you can go three tweets between the intern pretending to be Morgan Freeman telling you to see his latest movie. It’s become a 140-character shell of its former self.

@TextsFromLastNight

REMEMBER WHEN... …the best way to settle disputes was to fire laser beams from your hands? “DRAGON BALL Z” ran on Cartoon Network from 1996 to 2003 and featured heroes like Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta fighting strange alien foes across the galaxy. The show remains one of the most influential anime to ever air. …squeezing was the best way get your drink out of the bottle? Working to drink your Betty Crocker SQUEEZIT made it taste that much better. Though the drink was discontinued in 2001, petitions to bring back Chucklin’ Cherry, Berry B. Wild and the other flavors have gotten more than 6,000 online signatures. …CLIPPY was the most annoying part of writing a paper? No matter what you were trying to write, Microsoft’s little paper clip mascot would always pop up and try to offer advice. In a world dominated by theses, lesson plans and final drafts, it’s good to be rid of the little annoyances so we can focus on the big ones. …the best quarter you ever spent was on a STICKY HAND from a vending machine? While your parents would complain that they stained wallpaper, you knew the best way to slap your brother or try to grab paper from across the room was with a slimy, sticky hand. The fun ended once it was covered with fuzz and dust, but it was 25 cents well spent. …Cory and Topanga from “BOY MEETS WORLD” were the greatest couple on TV from 1993 to 2000? Sure, Ross and Rachel, Pam and Jim and Penny and Leonard are great relationships, but nothing stands up to the joy of seeing this couple grow from children to adults and find love along the way. Screw Romeo and Juliet — we’ll take this romance any day.

Two men stole Charlie Chaplin’s coffin from its grave and held it for ransom in 1978. It was found buried in a field near his home.

Crescent Magazine

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February 2015

Viagra doesn’t only work on humans.

When it’s dissolved in water, the drug has been known to make flowers stand on end for up to a week.

When you get a kidney transplant, the doctors don’t usually remove the bad kidney. It’s safer to add a new one than to replace the old.

If a male tiger mates with a female lion, the offspring is known as a tigon, but if a male lion and a female tiger mate, the baby is a liger.

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Motley Crew

It’s not you — it’s me. I’m the one who has never been able to understand men and their intentions.

FLATTERY WILL GET YOU

NOWHERE MILLIE HARLOW

N

o men were harmed in the writing of this essay. At least I hope not. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t know whether or not any men were hurt — feelings-wise. I’d know if I punched a guy.

I’m just bad at the whole pre-relationship thing. The middle bits I’m great at. Not the beginnings. It’s a minor miracle I’ve ever been in any romantic relationships at all. When my first boyfriend told me he liked me, I promptly said, “No thank you,” even though I liked him. I put him through that torment for a month until he tried again. I temporarily broke his little high school heart because he caught me off guard.

See, there is one thing about me I can count on: I’m as oblivious as a sitcom character when it comes to realizing when guys are trying to make moves. I’m not saying I’ve never noticed, but when I do it’s usually from guys I’ve only talked to once.

You know, like I help him put his things into residence hall storage, and I make awkward small talk to be nice. And then he adds me on Facebook, and I accept to be nice.

Then I’m stuck thwarting his advances by avoiding him whenever possible — even unnecessarily walking around a building so I don’t have to pass him on the sidewalk — because I’m socially awkward. And then we never speak or make eye contact again.

Granted, sometimes there is no opportunity for such a subtle exit from a man’s affections. Once I was at a bar and a guy came up next to me and started talking. He asked my name, talked for a minute or two and then asked for my number, just like it was no big

48

deal. I didn’t know what to do, but I wasn’t giving him anything.

Luckily one of my guy friends came up to get a drink, so I grabbed his arm, stared at the random dude and slid away. Bar Guy probably thought my friend and I were dating, but I didn’t care.

As hapless as I am when I know someone likes me, you’d think I wouldn’t have any problems when I don’t notice. Ignorance is bliss, and nothing’s more blissful than mindlessly breaking the hearts of men. You’d think I could just blunder my way through being the subject of a crush. You’d be wrong.

This one time, I was playing cards with friends, and I made several comments that I really missed cuddling and would like someone to cuddle with. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just bemoaning my cold bed and the fact my arms never lose circulation as a sacrifice to the snuggling gods. A friend volunteered to help me. Raised his hand and everything. I didn’t notice.

Another friend made me promise not to kiss him. I didn’t know why it was suddenly an issue, and I had absolutely no intentions of doing so, but what did I have to lose? Let’s just say I’ve made mistakes in my life — as in he kissed me. He just went for it, and I was too shocked to make an escape plan. When my girl friend broke it up, I was not upset.

The worst part is, I never notice when a guy I actually like likes me back. I have to be pretty good friends with a guy before I start to like him even a little bit.

Then when I hit that moment of, “Hey, you’re cute. And I’m cute. We could be cute

together,” I figure I’m just a friend to him.

A cute guy sends me a lot of texts? Obviously it’s because I’m awesome, and he wants to be really good friends with me. Because let’s be real, who wouldn’t? I get a text from said cute guy saying, “Hey, do you want to hang out?” and I’m like, “Sure! Just let me invite three other friends to come along.” Because what makes a friend hangout better?

More friends.

When the question of “Does he like me?

Does he like me not?” comes up, I just assume all the daisy petals say, “No,” and I have no chance. And so I end up unwittingly cockblocking myself. Thus, when any declarations of love come from the guys I’d daydream about in class — us doing gross things like holding hands in public or cute things like playing tonsil hockey not in public — I meet them with a bit of shock and horror. I don’t know how to respond, and so I torture the poor guys.

When I found out a friend of mine liked me, I didn’t let him down easy — as in the aforementioned avoiding him — or say, “Sure, why not?” and give him a chance. Instead I interrogated him on the “why” and “how” of him liking me until the subject was beaten to a bloody pulp and he realized the mistake he had made. So there tend to be casualties.

It’s not going to change, but I’m cool with it. Or at least I’ve stopped caring. I’m too busy worrying about what I’ll be doing next year to worry about who I’ll be doing. So I’ll just continue perfecting my future crazy-cat-lady life.

Cats will always cuddle with and love me. At least as long as I keep feeding them.

February 2015

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Crescent Magazine

don’t ever think you’re not significant enough to be happy in life.

TRI-STATE

ALLIANCE

Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities of the region since 1980

TSAGL.org | For more information, email wallypaynter@aol.com or call 812.480.0204

Youth group for LGBT students under age 21 and their straight-supportive friends meets at 7 p.m. each Saturday at the TSA office, 501 John St. Suite 5, Evansville.

COLLEGIATE CAREER EXPO Gain access to more than 100 top employers from Indiana and beyond.

Thursday, Feb. 19 10 a.m.–3 p.m. EST Marriott Hotel, Downtown Indianapolis

• Bus transportation provided from UE. Contact the Center for Career Development to reserve your seat.

• Register for the Collegiate Career Expo through UE JobLink (search for posting 722253 on the Jobs tab)

Open to all students and alumni.

For more information visit evansville.edu/careercenter/stCfintrocfm

CAREER

DAY 2015

Tuesday, Feb. 24

11 a.m.– 2 p.m.

Meeks Family Court, Carson Center CAREER OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE:

Full-time professional, Co-op, Internships, Part-time, Summer jobs and camps.

Seasonal positions.

PAST PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:

Take advantage of this opportunity to interact with more than 90+ employers from Evansville and beyond.

WEHT-TV Jasper Engines & Transmissions WFIE-TV March of Dimes Accuride Mead Johnson Nutrition Northwestern Mutual Berry Plastics Corp.

Bowen Engineering Corp.

Peace Corps Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center Target Toyota Boshoku Indiana Evansville ARC Fifth Third Bank Toyota Motor Mfg. Indiana U.S. Marine Corps.

Evansville Police Department Indiana State Police Walmart Vectren Indianapolis Metro Police Dept.

Need assistance with your job, internship, co-op or graduate school search?

Contact the Center for Career Development • career@evansville.edu • 812–488–1083