THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM | VOL. 54 ISSUE 3
Making History
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THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
Community is the bones of USI BY SHELBY CLARK Editor-in-Chief
Photo courtesy of The Shield Archive ISUE officially changed its name to USI as the new sign for the university was unveiled April 1985.
Photo courtesy of The Shield Archive David L. Rice, first president of the university, walks onto campus as it is being constructed in 1969.
It was not the beautiful campus, programs or meal plan that made me choose USI. It was the people. The first time I stepped on campus, I was attending Mole Day to compete in a chemistry competition with my high school chemistry class. I had a bundle of nerves in my stomach. I had heard of how amazing this university was from a young age and was hoping this campus would become my home. Stepping off the bus at the Fuquay Welcome Center, I remember watching students flood around us smiling and talking with one another. I knew immediately, USI was special. Later in the day, we got to watch one of late professor Jeffery Seyler’s engaging chemistry demonstrations. I could tell he had a genuine friendship with his students and coworkers. I remember thinking, “If this is what all the people at USI are like, then I want to come here.” I was expecting to be blown away by the beautiful campus, and I was; however, I chose this university because of its community. From the humble roots of Indiana State University-Evansville, a twoyear institution started in 1965, to the University of Southern Indiana transitioning to Division I in 2022, community has been at the center of it all. “Community leaders, from the beginning, had a vision for this place to be more than [ISUE],” said Robert Reid, the university’s first provost. “Not only more than that, but it sort of inculcated a sense that one day the university
was going to become independent.” On April 23, 1985, around 1,500 people roared as Indiana Gov. Robert Orr arrived on campus to sign the independence bill in the Physical Activities Center making the University of Southern Indiana an independent university. “I think that the governor – if he ever had a second thought about this being the right thing to do, it was gone forever,” said Sherrianne Standley in 2018, vice president for university relations under the first president of USI, David L. Rice. “He realized the community spirit and the community support for this.” The goal of the first three presidents, David L. Rice from 1971 to 1994, Ray Hoops from 1994 to 2009 and Linda Bennett from 2009 to 2019, was to make sure the university was engaging the needs of the community. At the athletic facilities celebration Sept. 16, 2021, President Ronald Rochon said, “We are fortunate because we inherited great bones.” “We inherited a great vision, people who had great discipline and also people who were selfless,” Rochon said. “They wanted to serve this part of the state, and now, we’re serving the entire state, we’re serving the region, we’re serving the nation. We are a global influence now because of those individuals.” When introducing the Division I study to faculty on Oct. 8, 2021, Rochon said, “My goal that I’m asking everyone to participate with us is what will we leave for those who will be here 20 years from now? What kind of bones will they inherit?”
THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
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USI to go DI
BY SHELBY CLARK, CASEY CLARK AND FALLON HEADY
USI will apply to transition university athletics to NCAA Division I. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously Feb. 7 to transition athletics to DI. “We are making USI history on this day, Feb. 7, 2022,” said President Ronald Rochon. The Board of Trustees had a special session Feb. 7 in Carter Hall to discuss the possible transition of university athletics from NCAA Division II to Division I. W. Harold Calloway, trustee, said, “I’ve seen USI moving in this direction from a high school gym, to central, to the new facility. I’m so excited and pleased to see us moving in this direction.” Liam Collins, student trustee, made the motion to transition from Division II to Division I athletics. “We get to be a part of the Division I institution, go see games, play the big schools,” Collins said. “Just the overall pride to be a University of
Southern Indiana Screaming Eagle.” As each trustee began to vote, Rochon had a reflective moment “that they were making history.” “In our 56 plus year history, there have been many firsts at USI. Our founders envisioned public higher education for our area and brought it to light,” President Rochon said. “Today in 2022, USI envisions a future that includes competing at the highest level of athletic play, Division I.” “This is a day I will never forget,” said Ron Romain, chair of the Board of Trustees. “This is a day my family will never forget and certainly the campus family at USI will never forget. It’s time, it’s time, it’s time.” University athletics announced Feb. 9 they are joining the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). USI will apply for NCAA reclassification with OVC as its partner by June 1, 2022, beginning the university’s four-year reclassification process. University athletics will finish the 2021-2022 season in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Photo by Uday Lomada | The Shield President Ronald Rochon, Archie and the cheer team shout “Let’s go” after the announcement Feb. 9 that university athletics is joining the Ohio Valley Conference.
Graphic by Maliah White | The Shield
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THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
Meet the first Blac
By Sydney Lawson and Tegan Ruhl Photos courtesy of USI Photography and Multimedia Design by Uday Lomada and Maliah White
President Ronald Rochon sits with international students outside of residential housing June 20, 2020.
Do you think your experience as a Black man in this field has made you face any adversity or unique challenges? If so, how do you overcome such challenges? adversity without question like everybody else faces adversity, and sometimes, the adversity I “Ifacehaveis faced due to race. What I’ll tell you though is that I’m able to face adversity through the students. When I look at the students, it gives me strength. It gives me optimism. It gives me calm. It gives me patience and also gives me joy. You all bring that to me. Even when I don’t even know your names. When I’m dealing with something that upsets me or that I believe is unfair or just really unfortunate, you’ll be surprised how often I walk out of the office or walk across campus, and all of a sudden, I see this amazing optic of students doing something so productive and so healthy that will have an impact on the life of someone else. It helps you to understand that many of the trials that we deal with are temporary and as large as they may seem, and I’m not saying that they’re not large sometimes, we need to continue to find ways to push forward, to build collaboration and find ways in which we can build relationships with folks who have other answers, new answers, new ways of thinking and engaging and reconciling. I’m like you all and have trials and tribulations as well, and I find really amazing solace in responding to the presence of students at USI without question.
Pr
THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
ck president of USI:
resident Ronald Rochon February is Black History Month. Black History Month celebrates the accomplishments of Black Americans. President Ronald Rochon is making history as the first Black president of USI. Rochon was inaugurated as the fourth president of USI on April 5, 2019.
What does it mean to you to be the first Black president at USI? thing it means most I really believe, at this stage, is an understanding of the number of women and men who look like me who came “The before me. They weren’t given a chance, and I don’t mean that necessarily at USI, I mean, given a chance within our nation just because of the color of their skin. I am a proud man of African descent. I am a proud man who takes his ancestors seriously, who was humbled by the history of my ancestral struggle. Who was humbled by the resiliency, the strength, the courage, the brilliance of my ancestors, and also who was encouraged by their dreams, their hopes and their aspirations that one day a person like me could actually lead an institution like USI. Growing up, I lived in a predominantly Black community. White people left our community when my mother and father bought a home. I still think today, unfortunately, we still find ourselves in many ways segregated with our behavior. I’m hopeful that you seeing me gives you some kind of aspirational hope to build relationships across race, class, gender – all these defining lines that keep us from really understanding who the other is. My hope, dream, and aspirational goal as a president is to make sure that all the students who I represent understand that I serve you all with great pride and dignity, but my goal is that we all try to find a way in which we seek out the other, whoever the other is, and build relationships with the other and make this world a better place.
President Ronald Rochon smiles with students at the Dance Marathon in the Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center Nov. 17, 2018.
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THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
Former EICs taco about their love story BY SYDNEY LAWSON Lifestyle Editor
Megan Thorne, Opinion Editor, and Sarah Loesch, Editor-in-Chief, were at the gym when they realized Loesch was behind to interview an applicant for The Shield. Dripping wet from the gym showers, Thorne ran back with Loesch and accidentally ended up sitting in on Riley Guerzini’s interview. “She was sitting in the corner, her hair was all wet. We said hi and introduced ourselves but didn’t really see each other again until the first day of classes,” said Guerzini. In 2016, when Guerzini and Thorne’s paths crossed for the first time in The Shield newsroom, they were strangers. Now, four years and many taco nights later, they are engaged to be married in fall of 2023.
Megan Thorne, former Editor-inChief of The Shield, graduated in 2019 and now is a staff photographer for Shoe Carnival. Riley Guerzini, former Editor-in-Chief of The Shield, graduated in 2020 and writes for Tucker Publishing Group. In 2018, Thorne became Editor-inChief of The Shield and appointed Guerzini to Managing Editor. In 2019, they switched roles. After meeting at the interview, Thorne and Guerzini saw each other again in their journalism class. “Oh cool,” she said she thought, “the new guy is in my class. Maybe we’ll sit together in class and become friends.” Laughingly, Thorne said, “He didn’t sit next to me the whole semester.” They eventually became friends, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2017 the two began officially dating. The two
Photo courtesy of Guerzini and Thorne Riley Guerzini and Megan Thorne met at The Shield as coworkers in 2016 and are now engaged to be married in 2023.
happily remember the phase before their romantic relationship when Thorne would invite Guerzini over to help make and eat tacos because she knew Guerzini liked them. It was after a taco night, when Thorne was returning Guerzini home, that they kissed for the first time and propelled their relationship. Thorne said the relationship was a “relationship founded on tacos.” The couple quarantined together through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. By October 2021, they were ready to travel for the first time since the start of the pandemic. They planned a trip to Gatlinburg, TN, and Guerzini saw an opportunity. Guerzini had a ring hiding in his dresser since the spring and thought the scenic Smoky Mountains would be a great place to propose.
After a mile trek up the mountain, they reached a waterfall and set up a tripod for a scenic picture. “I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me…it was the perfect moment…and we got a nice round of applause for that too,” Guerzini said. The two of them look forward to their marriage in fall of 2023 as well as look forward to a future together. “There isn’t anybody else that I would want to make me laugh every day,” Thorne said. The couple is grateful to USI for bringing them together. “I sometimes do wonder if maybe we wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for The Shield,” Thorne said. “I don’t think I would trade any of that, even those stressful times, for anything else because I think that we got something truly, truly beautiful out of there.”
Photo courtesy of Guerzini and Thorne Riley Guerzini and Megan Thorne snuggle their Maine Coon cat, Moose. They look forward to owning more cats in the future.
THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
What do you love about USI? BY FALLON HEADY
Simran Singh
senior communications major
Braeden Senninger
freshman mechanical engineering major
Allison Underwood
senior mathematics major
SHIELD LEADERSHIP
Shelby Clark
Editor-in-Chief
Uday Lomada
Managing Editor “I love how we are a great size. Every day you see familiar faces and new faces. It really feels like a family.” Jaden Diaz
junior nursing and psychology major
“It’s the perfect size for a college. Everybody is friendly.”
Ashley Chambers
freshman computer science major
“I love the sense of community here at USI. I feel like everyone, students and staff, are so nice and helpful.” Juan Santillan
freshman mathematics education major
Linh Nguyen
Business Manager
Josh Meredith
Chief Photo Editor
Casey Clark
Chief Copy Editor
Maliah White
Design Editor
Sydney Lawson Lifestyle Editor
Maddy Wargel
Sales and Marketing Supervisor
“I love the community culture. Everyone, from the students to the professors, is always willing to lend a hand.”
“I love how beautiful the campus is. It just feels like home.”
“I love all the kind people here and how everyone just welcomes each other.”
The Shield is a designated public forum and the student publication of the University of Southern Indiana. Read more and subscribe to our digital newsletter at usishield.com.
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THE SHIELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | USISHIELD.COM
Life with Lawrence BY ELIZABETH HARRIS Cartoonist