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Consciousness controlled Hypnotist wows at Welcome Week
Photo by Megan Thorne | The Shield
After being hypnotized to believe they were seeing the audience naked, students hid their eyes and roared with laughter in Carter Hall Sunday night. During Welcome Week, hypnotist Daniel James took the stage and made students believe anything from sunning themselves on the beach to being stuck together. He started the show by asking everyone in the audience to clasp their hands in front of them and focus on the index fingers. Seconds after James asked for volunteers, over 20 people rushed the stage and took a seat where they were then asked to stare at a blinking light and went into a state of hypnosis. As soon as the people onstage started falling asleep, people in the audience fell onto their neighbors and started participating in the show. James, who has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX is known for his comic hypnosis and is a certified hypnotherapist.
Welcome Center goes overbudget, PAC construction on schedule
by riley Guerzini
news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Photo by Megan Thorne | The Shield
The Physical Activity Center and the Fuquay Welcome Center construction are both in progress.
by riley Guerzini
news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Construction of the Fuquay Welcome Center is underway after bids ran more than $700,000 over budget. “Construction is good in our area,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Steve Bridges said. “When construction is good, the bids go up. There is a lot more demand for contractors and construction workers.” The contractor for the Welcome Center is Empire Contractors, which is also the contractor undergoing construction for the PAC. Ground broke for the Welcome Center in September of last year, when construction was expected to begin. However, bids for the project were overbudget and the university spent the remainder of the academic year working with the architects for the Welcome Center, DKGR Architects, to find ways to cut costs.
Convocation encourages exploration
Looking at finishes and things like that that could help in the cost but not detract from what we are trying to accomplish with the building, that’s important to us. -Steve Bridges Vice President for Finance and Administration After numerous rebids, a bid of $3,076,950 was finally accepted in July. The bid comes well over the $2.3 million budget for the project. Bridges said the extra money for the project will come from the Special Projects fund that is used to do im-
provements on campus. The rest of the budget comes from donations from the Fuquay family and Old National Bank. All the major features that were in the original plans for the building, including the green roof, will remain said Bridges.
Construction, PAGE 3
As freshman students filed into the Physical Activities Center Friday afternoon, they were immediately challenged to commit themselves. As part of the annual Convocation, the incoming freshman class grouped into their respective colleges in the PAC stands as Provost Ron Rochon and other administrative staff and student leaders officially welcomed them to the university. Rochon began the ceremony by noting that faculty commitment to the students is not “a one way street.” He said some professors describe their commitment as a “calling” and students should return that level of commitment. “With your commitment, your potential is more than what you even realize in this very moment,” he said. Rochon also said students should not only commit themselves to the curriculum, but also to diversity and civility. “Being able to trust each other, to honor each other even when our values may be different is necessary, and we must conduct ourselves in a way that brings honor to ourselves and to the community,” he said. “We ask that you be mindful of how you treat each and every individual on this campus.” Among the student leaders gathered on stage in the PAC was SGA president Katelyn Bueltel, who said she was excited to give the freshmen their first official welcome. “It’s always nice to
see the new faces here on campus, and it’s exciting for them to get involved to make USI better each year,” she said. Bueltel, who is also an AMIGO, said USI’s effort to strengthen diversity has opened doors not only for minority students, but also for others to get involved with a more diverse community and be more culturally aware. “Our creed says that students should be able to go out and be able to live in a culturally diverse world, and I think USI has hit the nail on the head with that, with our international programs, with our Multicultural Center and with all these new students getting involved in the Black Student Union and the Hispanic Student Union,” she said. Bueltel said her biggest advice to freshmen is to get involved and take advantage of all the opportunities the university has to offer. Freshman nursing major and Evansville native Ethan Dale said the university is like home for him. “I actually ran cross-country at Mater Dei,” he said. “We would always come out here and run on campus.” Dale said he hopes to get involved with several student organizations including Student Ambassadors, AMIGOS and SGA and is excited for the year. “I’m looking forward to getting out on my own and getting away from my parents and having more responsibility,” he said. “I’m looking forward to be able to study something and do something that I love and that I’m passionate about.”