White coat ceremony pg. 4 T h u r s d a y, o c t o b e r 1 , 2 0 1 5 | U s i s h i e l d . c o m | v o l . 4 6 i s s u e 7
Students cross the quad
Community remembers ‘selfless’ student
Barr
by Gabi Wy news@usishield.com @ShieldsterGabi
Photo by alyssa smith | The Shield
Junior elementary education major Taylor Foster (right) and freshman psychology major Sarah Martin help place 897 pink crosses into styrofoam for the Students for Life display on the Quad to demonstrate their views on Planned Parenthood. The crosses represent the number of abortions that happen a day through Planned Parenthood. “I was a little creeped out about the crosses but I understand why they’re out there. It makes people more aware, especially about abortions,” said Miranda Coats, a freshman communications major. Coats observed the demonstration from the front lawn of Rice Library. Students for Life, established at the university in August and part of a greater national organization. Junior elementary education major Laura Schwindel said the crosses were donated by people who have had abortions. She said the donation of crosses, as well as naming aborted babies, gives women peace instead of silently suffering. “People need to realize that’s a lot of crosses,” Schwindel said. “We have a chance to go to college. Everyone should have that right to life.” The university group invited regional coordinator Anna Held to bring “The Planned Parenthood Project” to the Quad. Held said all statistics come from the public Planned Parenthood report, which reports 327,653 abortions in 2013.
SpringFest no longer includes concert
Barr, PAGE 3
Griffin Center disrupts nearby residents by zackAry willem zmwilliem@eagles.usi.edu
Photo by Blake stayrook | The Shield
Members of the band Smashmouth take on the stage at the 2014 SpringFest concert. Provost Ronald Rochon has announced that the SpringFest concert will not being going on this year as it has in the past three years.
by Gabi Wy news@usishield.com @ShieldsterGabi
Students must face the music and say goodbye to a SpringFest concert, said provost Ronald Rochon. Rochon shared his concerns about concert financing, safety and student satisfaction with the Student Government Association. For the past two years, the university partnered with University of Evansville to host a concert at the Ford Center. UE recently pulled out of the partnership because the concerts’ success doesn’t match up with the high cost, and Rochon said
USI would not continue the annual tradition. “What we have to do is be realistic,” he said. “There are limitations, like the kind of facility we have and getting acts that students want.” The university lacks the space to host a large concert on campus and simply doesn’t have the staff to ensure student safety, Rochon said. Rochon said he wants SGA to propose ideas to help keep SpringFest, a week of campus activities like inflatables, zip-lines and crafts, successful. “I want to give students an understanding of what we are facing,” he said.
“Students become the best ambassadors. They sell the ideas to other students.” SGA President Alexa Bueltel said she hopes for fresh activity ideas from members. “(Rochon) wants us to reestablish SpringFest and create new tradition,” she said. “It was good to hear him shed some light on the subject because I had heard various rumors (about the concert).” Bueltel said she’s heard several ideas for new activities from freshmen members, but SGA hasn’t had a whole lot of time to brainstorm or appoint members to the SpringFest Committee.
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Tyler Barr was a gogetter. He was a sophomore member of Lambda Chi Alpha, a volunteer firefighter, a son and a brother. He fought fires, and family and friends are now left to try to keep the flame of his legacy alive. “I would tell him that I love him,” said Tyler’s half-sister, Madison Barr, “and that I’m proud of him.” Madison, sophomore at Reitz High School said friends have been helping her after the car accident that took Tyler’s life Sept. 23. “He was extremely protective of who he loved,” Madison said. “He’s my role model.”
When Farmington Drive resident Bob Schiff’s children were young, he used to take them fishing in Reflection Lake. “Now you can hardly see the lake,” he said, “let alone get to it.” The construction of the university’s Griffin Center now blocks his neighborhood’s view of the lake. Schiff has lived on Farmington Drive for 25 years and said the university hasn’t been clear about what’s been going on with the building. “You know when you move to a dead end street and a forest and lake, you do kind of expect tranquility,” he said, “but all we got was a flyer in the mail telling us they were going to start construction in July.” The construction hasn’t been exactly what the university seemed to promise, said Schiff. “We were all told the tree line would be denser than what it is,” he said. “It’s obvious they cut down more than intended.” Schiff said he looks forward to the construction’s finish. “I hear hammers pound-
The story of the people who placed their bets doubled down and produced a winning hand
ing every once in awhile, but I mean that’s just progress,” Schiff said.“There is more noise, but it doesn’t bother me anymore— that traffic on McDowell Road.” Rick Robertson, a fiveyear residence of Farmington Drive, said he is concerned with the sudden increase in traffic the new building will bring. “Before construction it was quiet with little to no traffic. I haven’t noticed much of a difference but it’s early and it still concerns me,” Robertson said. The university had a fence erected to separate the residence from the construction zone, but the exponential loss of trees enraged some residents closest to the lake. “When the university first notified us, every one of us voiced our opinion, but the university basically said, ‘It’s going to happen,’” Robertson said. A petition in the neighborhood was started in opposition of construction, but it couldn’t gain any real traction. “It’s the university’s property. They can do whatever they want with it. I’m just thankful I don’t live that close to the construction,” Robertson said.
Without the addition of the fence only about twenty feet separate the construction zone from the closest residence home. Construction hours end at about 4-5 p.m. so residents haven’t found any problems with sleeping during the evening. “I can understand how the people down there feel about the construction, and honestly I would feel the same way if I were down there. But I’m so far removed it doesn’t affect me as much as it does the others,” Schiff said. Groundbreaking construction took place July 21, 2014, the start of a 24 month project. Bob Griffin, chair of the board at Escalade Sports Inc., donated a lump sum of $5 million to fund the university’s construction of the Griffin Center. “The Griffin Center will be a new addition to campus,” said Steve Bridges, the vice president for finance and administration. “The building will be used largely for alumni and committee groups as well as the Board of Trustees.”
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