THE
Thursday, April 4, 2013 Vol. 43 Issue 27
Eagles start eleven game home stance pg. B1
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TWLOHA founder to come to USI By JESSICA STALLINGS Staff writer
of positions filled
of positions open
SGA elections leave seats empty By JESSIE HELLMANN News editor Student Government Association (SGA) elections, which wrapped up early Saturday morning, left 93 percent of positions open and had votes from 7 percent of the entire student population. Nine USI students ran for office and were elected, leaving 47 open positions, said newly elected SGA President Zack Mathis. He said a full administration would have 56 members, but that is with every college fully represented. “We definitely have a great opportunity to go out and get some new faces in our General Assembly,” Mathis said. “We will be talking to organizations on campus so that they have a stronger voice within SGA, reaching out to students that are interested in being involved in a great organization and are looking for something to develop their leadership skills, and we will have a strong outreach program to incoming freshmen this fall.” Adam Brothers, SGA chief justice, said he takes a
lot of the blame for the low voter turnout and lack of students running because he is in charge of elections. “This year was kind of chaotic in a sense because this is my first semester being chief justice, and we had a lot of computer problems,” Brothers said. “ All of the files from past elections, everything that I needed to use and go by was lost. So, I had to make everything from scratch.” Brothers, who will be SGA chief justice next year as well, said for the next election he will focus on more communication. “(We’ll focus) on communication and outreach and really engaging the students,” Brother said. “We do a lot of that now, but there’s definitely room for improvement.” He said the 7 percent voter turnout was probably because of the short election week, due to Good Friday and Easter. “It’s after spring break - people have spring fever,” Brothers said. “They’re not really involved.” ELECTIONS on Pg. A2
Julisa Gendren celebrated her one-year clean of selfinjury by getting a tattoo on her ankles that says, “Hope is real. Help is real.” “I never would have made it this far without TWLOHA,” said freshman French and German major and committee chair member of the USI group To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA). TWLOHA is a national, nonprofit organization which seeks to present hope to people with addiction, depression, self-injury and thoughts of suicide. TWLOHA’s founder, Jamie Tworkowski, will speak 8 p.m. April 11 in Jamie Tworkowski Carter Hall with a Q&A and an inWhen: April 11 troduction from musical quest Time: 8 p.m. SWIMM. Where: Carter Hall TWLOHA began in 2006 as Tworkowski’s attempt to help a friend and tell a story. He posted a blog on his website and began selling T-shirts as a way to pay for his friend’s treatment. Three years later, TWLOHA has the largest online audience of any nonprofit on Facebook, with over 700,000 followers. Gendren said she met with Tworkowski when USI’s chapter members took a trip to Nashville, Tenn., for “Heavy and Light,” an event sponsored by TWLOHA that included music and stories in an attempt to inspire people. “Hearing Jamie talk will change your life,” Gendren said. “It certainly changed mine.” Gendren said Tworkowski has so much love for every person that people can’t help but love themselves more after talking to him. “The best part about him is that he never meant to start something revolutionary, but he did,” Gendren said. “He just wanted to help a friend he barely even knew.” Erin Gillingham, junior social work major and founder and president of USI’s chapter, said the project to bring Tworkowski to campus officially started this past November. “We’ve wanted to bring Jamie to USI since our TWLOHA chapter was formed in 2011, but there have always been issues of funding, schedules, etc.,” Gillingham said. “This year we finally felt ready, as a group, to take on the responsibility.” Gillingham said the chapter reached out to various departments on campus. Marcia Kiessling and the Office of Student Affairs agreed to help fund the program. Once they had the funding available, TWLOHA reached out to Keppler Speakers, the group’s speaking agency, to start the process of filling out forms and planning. Gillingham said the Office of Student Affairs provided most of the funds, but they also received help from the Counseling Center and are still waiting to hear back from a Student Government Association (SGA) grant. “At the beginning of the semester, a close friend of our group passed away,” Gillingham said. “Her family asked for donations for TWLOHA, and we’ve put all of the money donated towards this program.” Gillingham said the chapter has held different fundraisers this semester, including a benefit called “Lyrics and Conversation.” TWLOHA on Pg. A2
Not ‘Getting the Edge’ campaign By JAMES VAUGHN Staff writer Some students are wondering why “Get the Edge” billboards are lingering close to home. Senior public relations major Paige Popham said students who go to high school in Evansville know what USI is. “If USI wants to lose the ‘West Side High’ title, they have to expand into other cities,” Popham said. There are billboards in Evansville for Indiana State University, Vincennes University and Indiana University. But for
now, USI’s billboards remain in the area. Popham said the university needed a new campaign that would bring in more students. As a public relations major, she said she feels like she should be able to see a campaign and feel engaged - but she’s just confused by it. “When I first saw it, I had questions - is this our new logo? What is ‘the Edge,’ and how does this brand USI?” Popham said. She said she’s heard a variety of explanations of what “Get the Edge” actually means.
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I don’t know if new students will understand how USI will bring them ‘the Edge. -Paige Popham Senior public relations major
“I’ve heard things like we are the ‘edge’ of Indiana or that we get extra ‘edge’-ucation,” Popham said. “I don’t know if new students will understand how USI will bring them
‘the Edge.’” Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Communications Kindra Strupp said “Get the Edge” can mean different things to everyone.
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Strupp has been with the university since January and within the past few months, she’s been walking around campus and asking people, “What does ‘Get the Edge’ mean to you?” “I don’t believe it’s meant to just be three words and it’s certainly not meant to be a pom-pom campaign slogan kind of thing,” she said. Her hope is that everyone will have a personal story to share about what their experiences while being at USI really mean to them, she said. “It should have some
sort of personal fulfillment,” Strupp said. “There should be something there that allows students to say, going forward, what about their college experience gave them ‘the Edge.’” As for the billboards, there are talks of branching out but the campaign is still in the early stages, having launched in November. She does not know how much money has gone into the campaign, considering that information predates her. “We’re feeling our way through this as we begin EDGE on Pg. A2
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