December 1, 2016

THIS IS THE LAST PRINT EDITION OF THE COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD FOR THE FALL 2016 SEMESTER. WE’LL RETURN ON JANUARY 24. FOLLOW WKUHERALD.COM AND @WKUHERALD OVER WINTER BREAK FOR NEWS AND SPORTS COVERAGE!

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TTHURSDAY, HURSDAY, DDECEMBER ECEMBER 11,, 22016 016 > W WESTERN ESTERN KKENTUCKY ENTUCKY UUNIVERSITY NIVERSITY > VVOLUME OLUME 992, 2, IISSUE SSUE 2266

Some WKU donors kept confidential by foundations

BY MONICA KAST

HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU

T

wo memorandums of understanding between the WKU Foundation, College Heights Foundation and WKU could violate Kentucky law by keeping the names of donors confidential, according to Kentucky Open Records laws.

In October, the Herald requested a list of lifetime donors and the 2016 fiscal year annual donors and the amounts donated. Five lifetime donors were listed as “confidential” or “donor confidential,” and 30 annual donors were listed as “confidential” or “donor confidential.”

In September, the WKU Board of Regents Executive Committee approved two memorandums of understanding between the WKU Foundation, the College Heights Foundation and WKU.

Each MOU was created to “provide a framework … to examine how the Foundation can most effectively advance the mission of the institution,” and to “provide transparency and accountability regarding the use of both state and private resources,” according to the MOUs. Within the memorandums for each foundation, there is a section on confidentiality of donor records.

“The Institution [WKU] shall establish and enforce policies that support the Foundation’s ability to respect the privacy and confidentiality of donor records, subject to public inquiries related to revenue, expenditure policies, investment performance, and other information that is normally available to the public in the conduct of institutional affairs,” section III, part j reads.

President Gary Ransdell said these MOUs were presented to the Board of Regents to better inform

the Board of Regents about the roles and actions of both foundations.

Both MOUs were approved unanimously, with Regent John Ridley abstaining from the vote. At the meeting, Marc Archambault president of the WKU Foundation, said the confidentiality clause was included as an “effort to try to preserve the privacy of donors where legal.”

At the October Board of Regents meeting, the MOUs were to be approved by the Board of Regents. Archambault said the regents brought up a request for a minor change to each MOU, and they had not been approved with the newest change.

Archambault said the Foundations agreed to comply with the request for the change, and the MOUs would go back to the Board of Regents for its next meeting.

SEE FOUNDATION PAGE A2

Records denial appeal filed to Attorney General

BY NICOLE ARES

HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU After the second consecutive denial of WKU faculty and staff sexual misconduct records, the Herald has filed an appeal to the Commonwealth of Kentucky Office of the Attorney General.

These records include documents of six university employee resignations since 2013 after the results of Title IX investigations found violations of university policy, according to assistant general counsel Andrea Anderson.

WKU’s Office of the General Coun-

sel has denied the Herald’s open records request, citing multiple Kentucky Revised Statutes and the ongoing litigation between the University of Kentucky and its student newspaper the Kentucky Kernel.

“WKU is aware of the ongoing litigation between the Kentucky Kernel and the University of Kentucky (“UK”) over disclosure of the very records requested from WKU,”Anderson said in the first denial letter to the Herald. “Should this matter resolve with the court ordering production of UK’s Title IX investigative files, WKU will supplement this response.”

After receiving WKU’s first denial

letter, the Herald consulted with attorney Jon Fleischaker.

“Jon has more than 40 years of experience in media law and First Amendment cases, actively involved in representation of newspapers and broadcasters dealing with publication issues,” according to the Dinsmore law firm website where Fleischaker is a partner.

Fleischaker said WKU citing the Kentucky Revised Statute 61.878(j) as a reasoning for denial on the basis that it protects records that are “preliminary” in nature is invalid.

“Once it’s done it’s done,” Fleischaker said. “Since the initial com-

plaint resulted in the resignation of a university employee, those records are no longer preliminary.”

After consulting with Fleischaker, the Herald sent another open records request to WKU stating Fleischaker’s opinion. In a brief email, Anderson again denied the Herald’s request.

“When the Judge issues a decision in the University of Kentucky v. Kentucky Kernel litigation, we will immediately revisit your request,” she said in the second denial email.

In April, former Kentucky Kernel Editor-in-Chief Will Wright filed an open records request for all

SEE TITLE IX PAGE A2

DECEMBER 1, 2016

A2 FOUNDATION Continued from front

In 2008, the Louisville Courier-Journal requested donation information from the University of Louisville Foundation. The Foundation claimed it was not a public institution and was therefore not required to release donor information. However, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the University of Louisville Foundation was not a private institution and releasing the requested information would not be an “unwarranted invasion of privacy,” and the Courier-Journal had a right to access those records.

Both the WKU Foundation and College Heights Foundation, like the University of Louisville Foundation, are independent non-profit fundraising arms of the university.

Archambault said the names of donors withheld in the Herald’s information request were done so because they donated before the legislation was passed or because the donor was “wanting to do something nice for someone at the university, but they know they’ll be embarrassed if word gets out that they’re going to give this fund.”

Donations to the WKU and College Heights Foundations are categorized by level based on amounts donated.

Confidential annual donations were within the range of $0.01 to $25,000.

Confidential lifetime donations were within the range of $25,000 to $5,000,000.

TITLE IX

Continued from FRONT documents pertaining to the sexual misconduct investigation into a university employee. After UK denied the request, Wright wrote an appeal to the Attorney General’s Office, according to a Kernel article.

Attorney General Andy Beshear’s decision said UK should release all documents pertaining to a sexual assault and harassment investigation.

On Aug. 31, UK filed a lawsuit against the Kernel to appeal this decision.

The Herald sent similar open records requests to eight Kentucky public universities, including UK, after the Kernel shared it had been denied records by WKU pending the outcome of its lawsuit.

The Herald requested “all investigative records for all Title IX investigations into all sexual misconduct allegations including: sexual assault,

Archambault said there were several reasons a donor may want to remain confidential.

“Primarily people are going to want to be private if they can be, because they’re very humble,” Archambault said. “Not always, but that’s the overwhelming reason we see.”

Archambault added donors may be “shy” or “humble,” and not want to be put into the public.

“Most of the time, they’re just humble people and they just want to help, and they’re nervous as being perceived as caring a lot about the credit,” Archambault said.

However, Archambault said “true

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

Amendment and Media Practice Group and partner at Dinsmore and Shohl law firm in Louisville, said since the foundations are public agencies, “there’s no such thing as a confidential contribution.” Fleischaker was also a lawyer for Cape Publications in the Cape Publications v. University of Louisville case.

Fleischaker said donations to the two foundations serve as contracts between the donor and the foundation.

“All of these contributions are basically contracts,” Fleischaker said.

“These are deals made with the university.”

Primarily people are going to want to be private if they can be, because they’re very humble.”

President of the WKU Foundation Marc Archambault

anonymity is pretty much impossible at this point,” and the foundations try to set expectations with donors who request anonymity.

“We have to make sure that donors understand that,” Archambault said.

“If we receive a legitimate request for the information, we’re going to have to disclose that.”

Jon Fleischaker, chair of the First

Fleischaker said the ruling in Cape Publications v. University of Louisville clearly states that donations to public agencies are not private or confidential.

“The Supreme Court of Kentucky has spoken on whether you can maintain confidentiality of a contribution,” Fleischaker said. “There is a very strong statement that says it is

sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and/or stalking levied against university employees in the last five years.”

However, unlike the Kernel, the Herald was not denied its open records request to UK. The UK’s executive director for public relations and Marketing Jay Blanton said they anticipated gathering these documents and supplementing the Herald’s response during the week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.

“The University’s Open Records Office is still gathering documents in response to your request,” said UK Director of Open Records Amy Spagnuolo in an email. “Once we have received all the records, we will need to review them and make any appropriate redactions pursuant to the laws.”

The Herald received a variety of responses from the eight Kentucky public universities.

The University of Louisville, East-

ern Kentucky University, Murray State University and UK complied with the Herald’s open records request.

However, on the first occasion, UofL denied the Herald’s request.

UofL senior compliance officer Sherri Pawson said these records were protected under the Family Educations Rights and Privacy Act. Then, she stated the number of complaints alleging violations of Title IX against university employees in the last five years which were 13 in total.

Nearly three weeks later, Pawson sent another email stating she had identified the records responsive to the Herald’s request. She said upon receipt of payment for printing and shipping costs, she would mail the copies of the records including 136 pages of redacted information.

EKU asked for additional time to supplement the response due to short staffing, lack of their primary open records paralegal, five open records request responses pending and the length of the records the Herald requested.

Murray state sent the Herald documents of three university Title IX investigations. One complaint resulted in the professor having to participate in sexual harassment training sessions, among other sanctions.

The other two complaints did not have sufficient evidence to find the professors in violation of university policy or a finding of sexual harassment.

Morehead State University and Northern Kentucky University agreed to supplement the Herald’s response to an extent.

Morehead General Counsel Jane Fitzpatrick said in an email “there has been one sexual harassment investigation and hearing that resulted in a finding that the employee was indeed responsible to the violation.”

She requested a mailing address so she would not have to send documents containing names electronically.

Fitzpatrick said Morehead, similar to WKUs response, would not provide records that are still “preliminary” in nature. She also cited FERPA and the ongoing litigation between UK and the Kernel.

“If a final court decision deter-

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not confidential.”

According to the Cape Publications v. University of Louisville ruling, disclosure “of names of donors to fundraising arm of state university would not constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

“The public’s legitimate interest in the University’s operations then logically extends to the operations of the Foundation,” Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham said in the ruling.

The ruling also states donor’s “gifts are being made to a public institution and, therefore, are subject to disclosure regardless of any requests for anonymity.”

Despite the fact the foundations listed confidential donors, Archambault said the foundations would reveal those names if an information request was made.

“We’re always going to comply with requests that are made,” Archambault said. “Our main hope is that if we are approached, we’ll be given the opportunity to explain why the university might benefit from confidentiality, and why the risks of not making it transparent are minimal.”

Another request for donor names and amounts donated was sent to the university Wednesday.

Reporter Monica Kast can be reached at 270-745-6011 or monica.kast187@ topper.wku.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @monicakastwku. mines additional MSU records should be produced, MSU will supplement the response,” Fitzpatrick said in an email.

Similar to Morehead’s response, NKU did not provide any records that NKU Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Joan Gates classified as “preliminary in nature” or records that would disclose as student’s identity as protected under FERPA. However, it did provide two investigative records filed against a professor and staff member. In one case, the professor was required to take an online discrimination and sexual harassment training course.

In the second case, the staff member was required to have no further contact with the complainant. He retired four months after the formal meeting in which the complaint was discussed.

WKU and Kentucky State University were the only two public universities to completely deny the Herald’s request.

KSU General Counsel Gordon Rowe cited the Clery Act, the Violence Against Women Act, FERPA and victims’ fundamental rights to privacy,” as its reasoning. Also, Rowe said the issue is currently being litigated in the Kentucky Court System-- the University of Kentucky v. The Kernel Press Inc. case.

Similarly to the Kernel, the Herald sent an open records request appeal to the Attorney General’s Office on Nov. 21.

“The Attorney General shall review the request and denial and issue within twenty (20) days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, a written decision stating whether the agency violated provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884,” according to the Kentucky law.

WKU also has the opportunity to write to the Attorney General in response to the Herald’s appeal. However, WKU must send a copy of its response to the Herald and as of Nov. 29, it has not yet done so.

The Herald will update this story more information becomes available.

Reporter Nicole Ares can be reached at 270-745-2655 and nicole.ares@ wku.edu.

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COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

International students share WKU experience

BY BRYSON KELTNER

HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU

Ali Alessa sat on a bench in Cherry Hall and waited for his technical writing night class to begin.

It’s a class different from his field of study: manufacturing technology engineering. He said his English classes are sometimes challenging because of his language barrier, despite being in the U.S. for more than four years.

Alessa had a presentation to give, which meant he would have to speak in front of the whole class.

“It is hard sometimes to communicate,” Alessa said.

“Sometimes I feel like people don’t know what I’m saying.”

Alessa is a senior from eastern Saudi Arabia. He is one of 1,168 international students currently enrolled at WKU. Whatever the reason for being here, being an international resident in Bowling Green carries its victories, but also hardships.

“You want to commend them for taking the initiative to be here,” Stephanie Sieggreen, WKU executive director of International Enrollment Management, said.

Sieggreen has worked with international students for more than 10 years and oversees international relations.

She works directly with an “academic pathway,” which is for international students who may not rank as high as domestic students, but are academically sound.

“I think that’s quite courageous for someone to uproot themselves,” Sieggreen said. “You’re here to educate yourself, but you’re also here to educate the local community.”

***

Students hurried through Downing Student Union during a busy afternoon rush as Eunyoung “Hayley” Choi ordered her green tea Frappuccino from Starbucks. She spoke with the barista with a Korean accent and a smile.

As a junior exchange student from Changwon, South Korea, she recalled her first experience in the U.S. “My first day in the U.S. had heavy snow,” Hayley Choi said. “So, all the campus was closed. I thought campus was so big. My first impression of WKU was it was pretty, but it wasn’t open.

Orientation was cancelled due to the heavy snow. I was so embarrassed.”

Hayley Choi is an English major, which was a deciding factor that made her come to Ultimate Christmas Gift Basket

the U.S. “The purpose to come here was to improve my English,” she said. “I chose here because there are not many Korean students here.”

For many international students, the struggles don’t end once they reach WKU’s campus. Hayley Choi said one of her hardships is navigating Bowling Green without a car.

“I have to find a ride to places like the airport or to eat out or something,” Hayley Choi said. “It’s kind of troublesome for me.”

Dayeon “Joy” Choi, a senior and fellow student from South Korea, agreed transportation was her primary concern.

“In Korea, we have very nice transportation,” Joy Choi said. “We can live without a car, but here I cannot live without a car. Like, if I want to go to the mall, I have to find someone to give me a ride. It’s kind of difficult. I feel sorry for asking to ride with my friends.”

Wesley Anne Watkins, academic adviser for international students, said her advisees often come to her for both academic and personal issues they face.

“International students face the same basic concerns that all other WKU student’s face, both academic and personal because they are so intertwined,” Watkins said.

“This adjustment period is new, exciting and terrifying all rolled into one. Along with

Ali Alessa, an International student from Saudi Arabia, is a junior studying manufacturing technology engineering. Alessa has been in the U.S. for four and a half years. Tyger Williams/HERALD However, Alessa said it is getting harder for Saudi Arabians to seek an American education.

“It was easier to get a scholarship when I came here,” Alessa said. “You have to study at a more liberal arts English school, then they give you a scholarship. Now, you have to finish the English school and have thirty hours in college. So, it’s way harder than before. You have to spend about $50,000 to get a scholarship at least.”

Many international students have difficulty with miscommunication, which

Other friends I’ve made are kind, but sometimes classmates can be kind of cold.”

Changwon, South Korea junior Hayley Choi this new learning experience, I encourage all students I interact with to ask questions and to use campus and community resources to ensure success.”

***

WKU continues to grow with international students.

The international student body has almost doubled in the last five years and almost tripled in the last 15 years.

Alessa’s home country, Saudi Arabia, makes up the largest percentage of WKU international students with 501 Saudi Arabian students this fall. That number grew from 174 in 2011, 13 in 2006, and one student in 2001.

presents conflicts in not only everyday conversations, but in classes.

“Communicating is very hard sometimes,” Joy Choi said. “At first, I didn’t really understand what my professor was saying. So, I just pretended to understand. I should have asked, but I’m kind of shy.”

Coupled with these hardships is how people in the Bowling Green area view and treat students from other countries.

Rafey Wahlah, a senior from Pakistan, agrees with many international students that the majority of domestic

being cold on purpose, but were probably unfamiliar with how to communicate with someone from another culture. It took a little effort on her part, but Hayley Choi said she has met some really great friends in her classes this semester.

“This semester, I decided to get close with professors,” Hayley Choi said. “So, I almost gave up, but one of my classmates emailed me and said she could feel how difficult it can be and she could help study for my exam. So she was so sweet. She invited me this Thanksgiving to her Thanksgiving meal.”

***

Despite struggles, the Bowling Green community continues to grow with international diversity as students like Alessa consider making a life in the place they received their opportunity for education.

“I graduated from high school and I wasn’t excited at all to come to the U.S.,” Alessa said. “It was far away from my family, but I couldn’t find a job or any higher education. So, my dad had me go to the U.S. because ‘Your brother and sister are studying there. So you’re going to go there.’”

Alessa said he now loves being here with his young daughter who was born an American citizen. He said he looks forward to staying in the U.S. to find a job so that he may live as an American with Saudi Arabian flare.

Reporter Bryson Keltner can be reached at 270-745-6011 and philip.keltner856@topper.wku.edu.

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people treat him fairly.

“I really believe the system here is fair but there are instances where I’ve felt there is some hesitance,” Wahlah said. “People often stereotype me, but I guess that’s part of every society. I normally try to ignore and move on with my life.”

Wahlah said people often misinterpret where he is from and assume he is Indian. Joy Choi related to that.

“One day I was heading to class and one American guy told me ‘Nihao,’ which is Chinese for ‘hello,’” Joy Choi said. “I felt bad because it wasn’t my first time to hear it. I hope people don’t think ‘Asian’ is the same as ‘Chinese.’”

Alessa said his accent provides fuel for friction.

“Some people, when we go and speak with them with the accent, they understand but they say ‘What?

What?’ ‘What do you mean?’”

Wahlah said. “Then they pronounce words the same as you say. That’s just a little bit of people. I’m treated fair for the most part.”

While few of these mistreatments are intentional, some people from other countries feel neglected because some American students don’t know how to interact with them.

“I think the people I’ve met so far have been so kind, especially the international leaders and the exchange student mentors,” Hayley Choi said. “Other friends I’ve made are kind, but sometimes classmates can be kind of cold.”

Hayley Choi said she didn’t believe other students were

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 > WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

WKUHERALD.COM EDITORIAL

OPINION

Have an opinion? Tweet us @wkuherald or find us on Facebook at WKUHerald as well. Let us know your thoughts about the editorial, or write us with what is on your mind.

@wwpky: would love to see wku draw houston in a bowl. — 1:02 AM - 30 Nov 2016 @amarahdavina: I’m still at awe we had someone from the WKU basketball team start on a NFL team. — 11:30 AM - 30 Nov 2016 @WKUAlumni: Great giving comes from the heart. Thank you for supporting @wku on #GivingTuesday!

— 10:01 AM - 30 Nov 2016 Illustrated by Jennifer King

Ho ho herald the herald’s 2016 christmas gifts

That’s all she wrote, folks. The holiday season is arriving as the semester begins to pummel us in ways we didn’t know possible. As with every semester, we at the Herald have been given a lot to write about. As thanks for your generosity, we take this time to return the favor.

To the Medical Center, we’re giving you all a prescription for some pain relievers and ice. It must be hard to deal with the constant whiplash of lawsuits and questions.

See you soon?

For the presidential search committee, we’d like to give each of you your own personalized shot glass.

We know choosing the next president can be difficult. Plus, it’d be nice to have something transparent in the committee for once.

To our friends over on Twitter at WKU Greek Humor, we extend the gift of gag. You all, or at least one person, seem to be moving away from your self-proclaimed “humor.” At least try to stick with your brand name.

We’d like to give the newly elected Bowling Green City Commissioners the gift of empathy. Hopefully that will be enough for them to finally pass a fairness ordinance and the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Potter College of Arts and Letters gets a beautiful life preserver for all their remaining faculty. Are the

department heads seeing some icebergs we aren’t?

A new campus map is the perfect gift for students in the advertising and public relations majors. Follow the arrows to find your way to the Fine Arts Center.

We give Deborah Wilkins a 500 thread count pillow. She needs a good night’s sleep given all the lawsuits the university keeps finding itself in.

To Head Coach Rick Stansbury, we give a Colin Kaepernick jersey.

We know you’re a big fan of his.

To the Major Redz, we give a lifetime supply of season tickets to WKU football games so they can sit in the student section again.

Gov. Matt Bevin is the lucky recipient of a Donald Trump and Mike Pence stuffed animal. Even if the real ones won’t notice you, or follow you back on Twitter, we hope these little guys will give you the attention you’ve been gushing for.

To President-elect Donald Trump, we give you a framed photo of James Madison. Hopefully the grave look of the former president and architect of the Bill of Rights will have you thinking twice about unilaterally destroying the First Amendment. However, our hopes aren’t that high.

We’d like to give the WKU Police Department the 2003 album “In the Zone” by Britney Spears. The song “Toxic” is on there, and we think

you’d like it.

To Cheyenne Mitchell and Michelle Jones, we give you both the justice you deserve. Hopefully those with authority can actually deliver on our gift.

To President Gary Ransdell, we gift you with a number two pencil and notebook for all the research we know you’ll be gearing up for during your sabbatical next year.

The two should fit nicely next to the sunscreen and paycheck in your tote bag.

We give the Talisman some wind beneath their wings. They’re already soaring high and we’re excited to see them reach greater heights.

To our beloved Student Publications BSA Brenda, we give you all the cookies and baked goods you’ve provided us over the years.

We wish you nothing but love.

We give the Confucius Institute the key to their building. We’re starting to worry that you’ve either lost it or it’s been stolen.

To the students who saw fit to write some of the more negative chalk comments across campus we give you some free art classes. You could use some work.

We give Gordon Johnson a new fishing rod for all those phishing emails you and the IT department have had to deal with.

Until next year, everyone.

@Chase_Coffey: Honored to be a key part of creating a Jonesville community memorial scholarship.

They gave so much to us (@wku), now we give back to them. — 11:00 PM - 29 Nov 2016 @Hunter_Stuart98: WKU wifi is garbage — 11:48 PM - 29 Nov 2016

@lolab7667: What I wouldn’t give to go back to that one time I found myself in Big Red’s head #WKU #lifegoals — 10:47 PM - 29 Nov 2016 @kenzbby28: Why can’t WKU have a dead week before finals week like other schools? — 9:59 PM - 29 Nov 2016 @kendaaalhahn: Me and Leema just plotted about how to break into WKU’s football stadium and when we turned around the gates were wide open — 8:38 PM - 29 Nov 2016

@TheFredSpecial: *Walking to Mass to print a paper, sees guy w a cool dog” Me: “Hey man, what kind of dog is that?” Guy: “It’s a wolf” #WKU — 7:13 PM - 29 Nov 2016 @JordanAndre23: It’s Tuesday and I’ve made my mind that there’s no way around not blacking out Saturday at the WKU game.. — 3:04 PM 29 Nov 2016

HOROSCOPES

Look above to the stars for finals week woes

BY ANDREW HENDERSON HERALD.OPINION@WKU.EDU

Sweet deity above, this semester is almost over and it has been a wild ride.

If you’re out there freaking the heck out and currently in a mental state of defcon five, don’t spend your time worrying. Dedicate the rest of your being to worrying. If you slip for even a second, that’s how they get you.

“They” being everything you have to get done, learn or cram for over the course of the next week. The minute you slip into a comfortable pace is the minute it’s all over.

You’re worried, stressed, tired, hungry and everything else in between.

Oh, we’re all in the same boat, fellow reader. We’re all in the same slowly sinking boat.

But I come bearing good news. I’ve consulted the stars one last time this semester to help guide us through finals week.

Aries –– You probably think it’s a

good idea to cram the night before your big biology final. Well, I’m here to tell you that not only is it a good idea, but it’s likely the best idea you’ve ever had. Imagine all the fun you’ll have reading over that material with your bloodshot eyes.

Cancer –– Flashcards are so 2003, so don’t even bother using them to help you memorize those English terms.

A better way to study is to tattoo the terms on the inside of your eyelids so everytime you blink you learn something new. Make sure to remove them for the exam; we can’t have any cheaters.

Libra –– Libra, the stars are worried about your recent dietary choices. The stars are empathetic about how stressful of a time this is for you, but there are only so many days in a row you can eat Taco Bell and it not have some adverse effect. Buy some celery.

Capricorn –– Cut out the middleman, Capricorn. Instead of drinking your favorite Starbucks drink, just

pour that sweet, black tar of caffeine directly into an IV and hook yourself up. That’ll get the coffee into your system instantly.

Taurus –– Don’t let the temptation of dropping out of college get to you, Taurus. Minimize that Domino’s Pizza application tab right this minute and get back to studying. There’s plenty of time to work at Domino’s once you finish undergrad.

Leo –– The library is a quiet and revered place, Leo. Sure, it’s one you just now discovered, but don’t be rude and loud as people are trying to study. Librarians will be swift in their punishments against those who break the sacred law of silence.

Scorpio –– Double check what time your finals are, Scorpio. The stars can’t stress enough how unfortunate it would be in you sat if the middle of Fresh Foods eating chicken, unaware your final was happening. It has happened to people before, Scorpio.

Aquarius –– No one has time for

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your cheery disposition, Aquarius. We get it, you’re excited the holidays are coming around the corner, but you save that stuff for later, Aquarius. You pack those carols away until we’ve all made it out on the other side.

Gemini –– Gemini, you know the popular online phrase “Pain is temporary GPA is forever”? Well that’s a lie, Gemini. Both are forever. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can escape the pain of this world.

Virgo –– Just because future First Lady Melania Trump can plagiarize a speech doesn’t mean you can get away with it, Virgo. Properly cite your sources.

Sagittarius –– Don’t transform into a horse in an attempt to get out of your finals. The stars are very specific on how you should not, repeat, should not transform in a horse.

Pisces –– The stars have their own finals to study for, Pisces. So just make sure to drink plenty of water or something like that.

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COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

DECEMBER 01, 2016

A5

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COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

DECEMBER 01, 2016

Culture series attracts expensive speakers

BY CALLIE MILLER

HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU WKU’s Cultural Enhancement Series began as a way to creatively educate college students and the community through opportunities to see “renowned” speakers and performers for free.

However, currently no outside donations are made directly to the Cultural Enhancement Series.

The current chair of the series Lawrence Snyder, who is also dean of the Potter College of Arts and Letters, hopes to see some corporate underwriting in the future.

“That would help to phase some of those costs so they’re not all coming out of the central budget,” Snyder said.

Since its founding in 1997, the series has grown in popularity and expense reaching a current budget of approximately $179,500, which comes from the university’s central budget. This is the second fiscal year since the budget was decreased from $233,300.

Snyder said the cultural education of the campus and community is part of the Cultural Enhancement Series’ mission.

Students and community members have been offered free admission to the events since the series’ beginning.

The events are usually held in Van Meter Hall with seats taken on a firstcome, first-serve basis.

“The Cultural Enhancement Series committee has had discussions about charging for this, but there’s kind of a feeling that the tradition is that it’s free, that we want as few barriers as possible to folks having the opportunity to see and hear these visitors,” Provost David Lee and the first chair of the series said.

“I don’t know that the committee can stay with that commitment endlessly, but at least for the first 20 years, we’ve

remained committed to free events.”

While the students and community enjoy free admission, the speakers themselves are paid to give presentations at WKU. Bill Nye, “the Science Guy,” was paid $42,000 from the Cultural Enhancement Series budget to speak in Diddle Arena in October two years ago.

In perspective, the total university operating budget for the 2016 fiscal year was $402,252,000 with approximately 50 percent funding coming from tuition and fees. The budget for the series is a small part of the overall budget, but $162,850 of the roughly $179,500 is used each year on professional contracts for performers. These payments are technically connected to funding paid to the school by students.

“Do I think prices are high these days?” Snyder said. “Yeah probably so, but they’re not out of line in terms of the market, and so I think this is a good use of university money.”

Lee said the range of how much speakers and performers are paid even within the Cultural Enhancement Series can be extreme. Abigail Washburn and the Wu Force, an Appalachian-Chinese folk trio, were paid $9,000 for a performance in 2014. The Martha Graham Dance Company was paid $45,500 to perform in February this year.

“What it comes down to is that if you want to bring folks in with more name recognition that’s probably going to be a more expensive cost,” Lee said.

“One of the things the Cultural Enhancement Series gets prodded about is people want to occasionally have the opportunity to see and hear somebody who’s well-known.”

Nye’s speech had an attendance of 6,500 people. Lee said the tickets for Nye were gone in a couple hours after being made available online.

“The student demand, the public demand was enormous,” he said.

Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra came to WKU a month before Nye. The cost for that performance was $57,500 and 850 people attended. Lee said the orchestra performed in Nashville a few weeks later for at least $50 a ticket, but people were able to see them in Bowling Green for free.

“While these numbers seem high, and they are, they’re very standard,” Snyder said. He emphasized even when WKU turns speakers away because of the amount of money it asks for, it will get that amount from another school anyway. If WKU isn’t willing to pay, another university will.

Some of the other most popular speakers from the last five years in terms of attendance include Neil Gaiman, $45,000; Sam Bush, $15,400; Michio Kaku, $27,000; Cornel West, $22,000; and Garrison Keillor, $40,000.

Gaiman brought 700 people in attendance, Bush brought 850 and Keillor brought 800.

Some speakers can draw thousands of people, while others bring around three to four hundred. Snyder said it depends on the campus and community’s interest levels, but there are other factors as well.

A search committee for the series aims to bring a range of speakers each year, such as musicians, authors, political figures and scientists.

Kelly Scott, coordinator of the series, said she gets names from the committee of people of interest, then contacts those people to inquire about fees and availability. The speaker fees are all inclusive, so they include travel and housing accommodations.

“The committee decides who to bring and keep students at the forefront of their decision making in re-

gards to demographics,” Scott said.

“We work with agencies and sometime individuals, but mostly agencies that represent speakers or artists,” Scott said. “They provide the fee and any other expenses which we wrap into an all-inclusive fee. We do try to negotiate fees as best we can, but most speakers and artists will work with us because we are a university, which is really nice.”

Snyder said there isn’t a lot of negotiation that occurs with the speaker fees.

Usually the agency or individual will set the price for how much WKU has to pay to bring the person in.

Sometimes he said part of the negotiation involves asking whether the speaker will do something “extra” aside from their presentation. Snyder said it is preferred if a negotiation can be made for a book signing or a meeting with students before a lecture or a master class with string students.

Other times, WKU is able to save money on speakers when they will be in the area with an open date and need something to fill it.

“Occasionally you’ll catch a break like that,” Lee said.

Some potential speakers are turned away because they ask for more money than WKU can pay while staying within the budget or will have enough leftover to pay other speakers.

Lee said initial responses to the series in when it first began were “very positive.” Another similar series had been lost to budget cuts a few years before.

“I think the campus was very pleased to see a series like this come back,” Lee said.

Reporter Callie Miller can be reached at 270-745-6011 and caroline.miller528@topper.wku.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @callie_miller8.

Preston Center to close briefly for repairs

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Reporter Emma Collins can be reached at 270-745-6011 and emma. collins399@topper.wku.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @_emma_collins_.

Shyamrock

• bud light, budweiser •

The Preston Center will be closed for a three-week period over winter break while the facility undergoes two construction projects.

Chief facilities officer Bryan Russell said the two projects include renovating the deck and patio area of the Bill Powell Natatorium and repairing the hardwood floors on the first floor of the gym.

Debbie Pace, project manager, said the construction around the pool will involve replacing the pool deck and patio with a new non-slip floor. The process involves removing the current layer of paint, replacing caulk and repairing cracks in the concrete.

“Repairs will be made in such a way that they will blend in with existing texture and will not be noticeable,” Pace said in an email.

Pace said a sealant with an anti-slip component will also be added for safety purposes. The project is expected to cost $22,895.

Project manager Jed Peterson will oversee the first-floor repairs.

In an email, Peterson said every summer the department of intramural-recreational sports reseals the maple strip hardwood floors; however, the repairs this winter will be more extensive. The 36,500 square foot area that will be worked on includes the gym courts, racquetball courts and dance studio floor.

Peterson said the first step will be

to sand off the finish on the hardwood floor and clean and prepare the surface to be resealed. Before applying a sealer and finish, game lines and graphics will be reapplied.

“This is the first time since the original installation in 1992 that the floors have been sanded to bare natural wood and refinished,” Peterson said.

The total project is expected to cost $78,759.

Sean Sherwood, assistant director of intramural-recreational sports, said Preston will close when the projects start on Dec. 12. The gym will reopen on Jan. 3.

Sherwood said any WKU student who wishes to use a gym during that three-week period will have the option to visit Total Fitness Connection, a gym with locations on Russellville Road and Three Springs Road.

Eric Burnett, facilities manager at TFC, said WKU students will have access to all of TFC’s facilities. These include an Olympic-size swimming pool, weight room, cardio center, child care and physical therapy screenings.

To access the gym, students will need to present their WKU student I.D. at the front desk where they will be registered as new TFC members. They will be given a membership card which will allow them to receive all the benefits of TFC members.

Select 30 PaCKS

BY EMMA COLLINS

HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU

A7

DECEMBER 01, 2016

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

DECEMBER 1, 2016 > WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

From left to right, Hayley Hoback, Izzy Rager, Morgan Goetz and Rachel Shipp lean on one another at a vigil to memorialize the Alpha Gamma Delta sister Stephanie Campbell on Sept. 28, at the AGD sorority house. Campbell passed away on Sept.

25 as a result of a single-car accident on the Western Kentucky Parkway. “She has tattooed on her foot ‘You can breathe,’” remembered Hayley Hoback at the vigil.

“And that’s what I can say to her. ‘You can breathe now.’ She’s in a better place now.”

Gabriel Scarlett/HERALD

Senior Gianna Dowell of Evansville, Ind., kneels in protest as the national anthem is played before the start of the WKU vs. Vanderbilt football game Sept. 24 in Smith Stadium. During the protest coordinated by the MajorRedz, members of the crowd chanted “U.S.A.” and yelled “what the f*** are y’all doing?” while protestors yelled “Black Lives Matter.” A beer can was thrown in the direction of the protesters, but it didn’t hit anyone. Ebony Cox/HERALD

WKUHERALD.COM

PHOTO

A look back

Union, Ky. junior Hannah Mueller celebrates the arrival of the new Delta Zeta recruits during its first biannual Bid Day on Aug. 21, at Centennial Mall. Mhari Shaw/HERALD

This semester the Herald photo staff has had the pleasure of covering events big and small, on campus and in the wider Bowling Green community. There was no shortage of news with the 2016 election, President Gary Ransdell’s upcoming retirement and student activism on campus.

Thank you for allowing us to document your WKU experience during the happy times, the painful times and everything in between.

Sincerely, The College Heights Herald Photo Staff

Ezra Rodriguez, 2, of Bowling Green leans on his mother, Ana Rodriguez’s hip as she casts her vote on Nov. 8, at Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School. Ebony Cox/HERALD

Anti-Trump protesters confront Trump supporters Nov. 9 outside of Pearce-Ford Tower. The anti-Trump protest began around 8 p.m. and was joined by counter protesters before being dispersed by police. Jeff Brown/HERALD

Louisville senior Austin Perkins has purple powder thrown at him during The Purple Run, a 5K walk and run to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and to support the Alzheimer’s Association on Oct. 1, at Kereiakes Park. Evan Boggs/HERALD

DECEMBER 1, 2016 > WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

WKUHERALD.COM

LIFE

» School house: Turn to page B3 to read about a student raising her daughter while working toward her dream of becoming a teacher.

Kentucky Museum to host 10th annual holiday event

BY EMMA AUSTIN HERALD.FEATURES@WKU.EDU

Gingerbread samples, ornament-making activities, carolers, Mrs. Claus and Santa himself will all be at the Kentucky Museum this Saturday for the 10th annual Christmas in Kentucky family-oriented event to put Bowling Green families and WKU students in the holiday spirit.

“We call it controlled chaos the day of because there’s things going on all over the museum,” Christy Spurlock, associate professor and Kentucky Museum education curator, said.

The event began in 2006 and was named after the theme of Bowling Green’s Christmas parade that year, Christmas in Kentucky. The name stuck to what is now a tradition for several Bowling Green families.

About 450 people attended the first year, Spurlock said. In more recent years, crowds have reached as many as 1,200 people, she said.

“We get people of all ages,” Spurlock said. “We have an army of students that work for us here at the museum, and they’ll all be in historical costume.”

Glasgow sophomore Maggie Casteel, one of the student employees, said her favorite part of Christmas in Kentucky is the opportunity to dress in historical garb.

“Last year I was able to be in a Civil War costume, so that was really fun,” Casteel said. “That makes the whole day even better, especially when the kids ask you about your costume.”

Casteel said she’ll be wearing her costume again this year.

“It’s a pink ballgown, so I love it,” she said.

Along with several holiday-themed activities, a magician is scheduled to perform as well as the WKU women’s a cappella choir, the Treblemakers.

A clown will also be at the museum

SEE CHRISTMAS PAGE B2

Fort Hood, Texas, freshman Thai Bryant (left), Louisville, junior Shelby Campbell and Winchester, sophomore Emily Houston eat their meal during the Hunger Banquet hosted by Housing Residents Life on Tuesday, Nov. 29, in Downing Student Union.

The students were divided into upper, middle and lower class and their meals were based on their class status. This interactive event helped students better visualize the reality of world hunger. Michelle Hanks/HERALD

Humbling

Hunger

Schroader banquet raises awareness of worldwide hunger

BY MILES SHROADER

HERALD.FEATURE@WKU. EDU

A chattering group of more than 50 WKU students and faculty crowded a Hunger Banquet hosted Tuesday night by Housing and Residence Life for the event’s second year.

“We thought it would be a great thing to do to bring

hunger awareness around the world to students at WKU,” Minnette Ellis, assistant director of Housing and Residence Life, said.

As students arrived to the banquet, they were each randomly assigned an income class, which would determine their meal for the night. Lower income attendees received a small cup of rice and a

cup of water, to represent the meal of the average low income citizen of the world earning under just $986 per year.

“I wanted to learn more about being in someone else’s shoes on the hunger side,” Nashville sophomore Brittany Richardson said. “It was effective to learn about how other people don’t have as

much as I do, and a cup of rice could be what feeds my whole family.”

Middle income attendees received a bowl of beans and rice with a cup of water to represent the meal of 35 percent of the world’s population earning between $987 and $11,999 per year. High income attendees received

SEE BANQUET PAGE B2

Student returns after Peace Corps service

BY MADISON MARTIN

HERALD.FEATURES@WKU.EDU Imagine living alongside a river, in a suburb of a large city about a half hour away. Only this suburb is a village of around 50 people, and your primary transportation is done through biking and walking.

Lauren Van Sicklin, a graduate student from Long Island, New York, hadn’t guessed she’d be waking up in a bamboo hut covered by a palmleaved roof. But for more than two years, that’s precisely what she did during her Peace Corps service in a rural village in Madagascar.

“It was just like the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,” Van Sicklin said.

Van Sicklin is one of two WKU students that have participated in the WKU-Peace Corps Master’s International program, a way for students to volunteer while furthering their education. Partnered universities offer graduate students a format to study beforehand, serve in the realm of their discipline and come back to finish out their degree.

Van Sicklin finished her undergraduate degree in biology and was deciding her next steps when she came across this program opportunity. Serving in the Peace Corps had always been something in the back of her mind but finding a way to pursue a master’s degree at the same time led her to reach out to partnering universities across the U.S., eventually deciding to go through WKU’s.

The program as it stood at WKU offered opportunities within the fields of biology and organizational leadership. WKU is the only school that offered the program in Kentucky, something that was mainly spearheaded by Lawrence Alice, associate professor of biology and university coordinator for the program.

After one year of academics at WKU, Van Sicklin was able to apply and be accepted as a volunteer.

It was determined she would work with the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group. The organization works in conjunction with Madagascar’s government in order to preserve the country’s biodiversity by utilizing “sustainable conservation strategies for the fauna and flora of eastern Madagascar,” ac-

cording to its website.

For about three months while in the country’s capital, Van Sicklin went through an intensive training period with other Peace Corps volunteers, learning more about Madagascar’s culture and language before being dropped off in the village of Ambonivato, which she says translates to “on top of a rock”. The village was near the park that she would proceed to work on projects with relating to conservation.

As a part of her service, Van Sicklin acted as a liaison between the park and the surrounding villages, working to help bridge the gap in order to promote environmental education. She helped work with different outreach and educational programs that focused on things like reforestation and sustainable agriculture as well as how it relates to food security.

“It’s so connected,” she said. “You know you can’t protect the forest unless you help the people living there because they are so reliant on that forest.”

Living in the village enabled her to build trust with the local community. People operated on “Africa time”, where people were not rushed and you could randomly talk to anybody.

“Anywhere I walked in Madagascar,” Van Sicklin said. “Someone would always be like ‘Hey, what are you doing -- can I walk with you?’”

Before starting her service, Van Sicklin had been worried about the language barrier. The Peace Corps gave her several dictionaries and language training books. The official language of what was once French-colonized Madagascar is now French and Malagasy.

“When you’re thrown into it, you get used to it pretty quickly,” she said. “You kinda have no choice.”

She became friends with a Malagasy woman in the village who was learning English. The two would make lists of unknown foreign words and help teach each other.

Van Sicklin returned to the U.S. this summer, wherein she has taken this semester to finish her master’s degree.

The Master’s International partnership began

SEE PEACE CORPS PAGE B2

”My favorite part was being able to completely be a part of a different culture and really experience a way of life that is so different from my own,” Lauren Van Sicklin said. Van Sicklin is a graduate student from Long Island who for the past two years worked with the Peace Corps in Madagascar. Van Sicklin returned to finish her masters degree. Evan Boggs/HERALD

DECEMBER 1, 2016

B2

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

BANQUET Continued from LIFE

$11,999 per year. High income attendees received a full meal consisting of a salad, cake and both tea and water.

“I gained more of an understanding as to how prevalent hunger is, and just how many people live in poverty,” Owensboro freshman Mackenzie Duvall said. “I just became more informed on the whole situation.”

In her presentation during the banquet, Ellis spoke about the 2.5 billion people living in poverty around the world, encouraging people in attendance to consider how bad situations are in other parts of the world. She also brought up the fact that over 925 million people suffer from chronic hunger worldwide.

“I wanted people to learn about people outside of themselves, what

“My takeaway was that it’s humbling to see the situations that other people are in and realize that maybe I don’t have it as bad as the next person does.”

Senior Emily Spink happens internationally, what hunger can look and feel like,” Ellis explained.

Students received character cards that represented a person from the class they were assigned to. Middle income and lower income characters rarely owned any type of land and in some cases not even a home. Lower income character cards often re-

vealed that a member of their family had died.

“My takeaway was that students, in particular, have to think about where they come from,” Jackie Pillow, coordinator of retention initiatives, said. “They need to think about people that are less fortunate than them.

I think it was great to see the students realize the privilege they had, not

CHRISTMAS Continued from LIFE

making balloon animals, according to the schedule. Santa and Mrs. Claus plan to make an appearance in the Garden Gallery in the afternoon.

The museum’s exhibits will be open during the day for visitors to explore. Casteel said she and other student workers will be nearby to answer questions about the exhibits and elaborate on topics.

The museum came up with the event to give families something fun to do together for free, Spurlock said.

“Bowling Green’s a great town, but sometimes it seemed like there wasn’t a whole lot to do with little kids,” Spurlock said. “We have so many families that come back to us year after year. I think this is kind of a way that WKU can give back to the

PEACE CORPS Continued from LIFEr

at WKU in 2010, until Peace Corps made the decision to dissolve the program nationwide this fall and instead “focus on other strategic partnership opportunities,” according to their website.

With this in mind, Alice, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer himself, discussed the desire to propose bringing the Paul D. Coverdell Fel-

“We have so many families that come back to us year after year. I think this is kind of a way that WKU can give back to the community.”

Associate professor and Kentucky Museum education curator Christy Spurlock community.”

When guests arrive at the museum Saturday, they will be given a schedule and a red bag to put their ornament creations in.

“Then they just go where they want to go,” Spurlock said. “You

know, some people will stay here for an hour, some people stay the whole time.”

Spurlock said her favorite part is seeing the children’s faces light up when they see Santa and Mrs. Claus.

“Of course, I’m biased; I think it’s

lows Program to WKU. He said the program would incentivize RPCVs to pursue their graduate degree with a 50 to 100 percent tuition coverage granted by the university. The university, in exchange, would be bringing in more students with different international perspectives. He hopes that more departments would get on board if a program like this were to come to WKU. “You bring all those intangibles from the Peace Corps experience,”

Alice said. “With our motto of international reach, we get international reach day one on campus for the next two years.”

Following graduation, Van Sicklin no longer sees herself being an animal biologist as she had once thought before her service in Madagascar. She’d like to pursue holistic conservation instead. To her, working as a Peace Corps volunteer made the “whole world itself seem a lot smaller.”

even knowing that they had one.”

As the banquet wrapped up, everyone in attendance received a full meal consisting of pasta, chicken, salad, garlic bread, and cake. Some students felt humbled by the overall experience, including senior Emily Spink.

“My takeaway was that it’s humbling to see the situations that other people are in and realize that maybe I don’t have it as bad as the next person does,” Spink said. “It was humbling to see the different scenarios and realize I have what I have, and I’m thankful for that. I also realized I can bring awareness to the situation and get involved.”

Reporter Miles Schroader can be reached at 270-745-2655 and miles. schroader178@topper.wku.edu.

one of the best yearly events in Bowling Green,” Spurlock said. “I just think it’s really cool and it will get [participants] in the holiday spirit.”

“This is a great opportunity for families,” Casteel said. “Kids of all ages will enjoy it because there are different activities for everyone. You can make ornaments, you can learn some historical facts all while bonding with your family over Christmas traditions.”

Christmas in Kentucky will begin at 11 a.m. and go until 2 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free and parking will be available in the Kentucky Street Lot, which is reserved for the event.

Reporter Emma Austin can be reached at 270-745-2655 and emma. austin177@topper.wku.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @emmacaustin.

“Everyone has the same basic goals in life. You want to be successful, you want your children to have a better life than you have,” she said. “…everyone’s just trying to figure out how to do that the best way they can.”

Reporter Madison Martin can be reached at 270-745-2655 and madison.martin092@topper.wku.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @missmadielaine.

Breakfast

extravaganza

Monday DECEMBER 5th

B3

DECEMBER 1, 2016

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

WKU group fights to help spread solidarity

BY MILES SCHROADER

HERALD.FEATURE@WKU.EDU In response to present tensions between different cultures and social groups, one organization started a movement. WKU’s Intercultural Student Engagement Center started a campaign during November to promote solidarity among students.

ISEC’s mission is to assist WKU with the recruitment, retention and graduation of underrepresented students, according to the group’s website. Some events ISEC has hosted in the past include a ‘Unity Walk’ where speakers shared their views on coming together as people, a ‘Social Justice Painting’ session and a ‘Preparing for Finals’ session.

The campaign encouraged students, faculty and community members to wear red socks and/or red shoes in honor of the Hilltoppers’ prominent color for the remaining Tuesdays and Fridays of November.

The campaign is titled “Peace, Love and Sole,” with the goal being to demonstrate a common interest in connecting, practicing civility and treating those within the WKU community with a spirit of compassion and care, according to a Facebook post created by ISEC in early November.

Martha Sales, ISEC executive director, explained the idea began to bubble in late September, when she and her coworkers were challenged to bring forward an idea that would

bring unity among the community.

“I want us to be unified on something, even if it’s something as simple as socks and shoes,” Sales said.

“We spend so much time focusing on things that divide us, so I thought our office could do an initiative that would be something that would bring us together.”

Sales said the reason ISEC chose to spread its message through socks and shoes is to show people that “no matter what you have going on, we all are walking through something, but this is a time where we can all identify with one another.”

The movement garnered participants across campus, including President Gary Ransdell. On Nov. 18, Ransdell tweeted a photo with himself wearing red socks with a caption supporting his stance on solidarity.

“I personally felt like I needed to get involved because I am an international student and of a different race,” said Omolewa Oyekola, a junior from Lagos, Nigeria. “I wanted to get to know about other people’s cultures.”

Stone Mountain, Georgia junior Blake Bowden felt it was necessary to get involved with the campaign from the start.

“I joined just to show people that they’re not alone; solidarity is a pretty big thing,” Bowden said. “This is something small that we can do to show people ‘hey, we’re together.’”

Bowden addressed the election results protests at Pearce-Ford Tower as a time where he felt people weren’t addressing their concerns in a proper

Angie Link, the office coordinator for Intercultural Student Engagement Center, is one of many to participate in wearing red socks and shoes for The Peace Love and Sole Campaign. Faculty and students wore red socks every Tuesday and Friday of November to show solidarity for students during Student Activism month. Kathryn Ziesig/HERALD

manner.

“People have to learn that we agree and disagree,” Bowden said. “Too often, people take offense when you disagree with them, and that’s just life. Not everyone is going to see things the way you do.”

Bowden said he thinks the root of a lot of misunderstanding and hatred is simply ignorance.

“Take the time to actually research other cultures, so you can understand maybe why people feel the way they do,” Bowden said. “That way you can build empathy instead of tearing

something down that you just don’t see.”

To promote understanding, Sales recommended coming to the ISEC office and communicating with people and getting to know different cultures.

“There is no dumb question when it comes to cultural relationships if you want to grow,” Sales said.

Reporter Miles Schroader can be reached at 270-745-2655 and miles. schroader178@topper.wku.edu.

Single mom raises daughter, works for degree

BY SAVANNAH PENNINGTON

HERALD.FEATURES@WKU.EDU

Each time she walks into her apartment, WKU student Ashley Cummings passes a wide variety of photos of herself and her 3-year-old daughter Adalyn placed on the walls and on her refrigerator door. Now, with the holidays nearing, a Christmas tree stands near the wall and stockings hang over the fireplace.

When looking for an affordable place to live as a full-time student and single mom, Cummings found Bowling Green’s Scholar House, a low income housing community for fulltime college students who attend WKU, Bowling Green Technical College and Daymar College and have a child.

“It’s like a little community,” Cummings said.

A lot of the neighbors in Cummings’ building hang out or talk while the kids play on the playground. Two girls upstairs in her building even work with her at O’Charley’s, Cummings said.

The neighbors at Bowling Green Scholar House try to help each other out, like when they need someone to babysit. Cummings said she takes care of a boy, Gibson, for his mother while she’s at her night class on Mondays.

Angel Shoemake, a neighbor of Cummings, has a 13-month-old daughter. With being a new mother herself, Cummings has helped her with any problems she has had, she said.

“She’s been great at helping me out,” Shoemake said.

Shoemake said she and Cummings often get together with their

My family was the number one thing that kept everything together.”

WKU student Ashley Cummings daughters.

“Adalyn is her big sister,” Shoemake said.

Many undergraduate students today are raising children while earning their degree. In the U.S., 4.8 million undergraduate students are raising children; 2 million of those students are single mothers, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Cummings found out she was pregnant at age 23. Cummings said after finding out, she called her mother, saying she needed to talk with her. Together on their front porch, Cummings told her mother she was pregnant. Both sobbed together, realizing a lot was about to change in their lives.

With the biological father not in the picture, Cummings’ family as a whole tried to do their best to support her.

“My family was the number one thing that kept everything together,” Cummings said.

Her mother Kathy Garrison was a big help in her journey to becoming a mother.

“God doesn’t make mistakes; there is a purpose for this baby,” Garrison

said.

At Cummings’ first doctor’s appointment, with her mother by her side, the doctor noticed pre-cancer cells in her cervix, Garrison said.

The doctor told them if she had not come in, the cells would have gone unnoticed and she would have had cervical cancer. The doctor told the two women that the baby had saved Cummings’ life.

They couldn’t do surgery until she had the baby, but once Cummings had her child and was healed from giving birth, she underwent a successful surgery to remove the cancer cells.

“We call little Adalyn our miracle baby,” Garrison said.

Now, 3-years-old Adalyn has shown to be a kind, well-mannered and, energetic child, Garrison said.

While Adalyn goes to her daycare, Cummings spends her day either doing laundry and homework or going to her classes for her elementary education major.

Cummings found her love for teaching from her mother, who was also an elementary school teacher.

Growing up as a child, she would pretend she was a teacher and even-

tually found a passion in it, she said.

After switching schools from WKU to Bowling Green Technical College in 2012, then back to WKU in 2015, the 2016 Bowling Green Scholar House’s Patty Beasley Scholarship of $1,000 will help her complete the last year of classes she has to finish her degree, Cummings said.

With classes, being a server at O’Charley’s and taking care of Adalyn, Cummings hasn’t found a lot of time for anything outside of her usual tasks.

“I’m a home body; I used to party, but not anymore,” Cummings said.

On typical nights Cummings spends her time playing with her daughter, doing crafts, watching movies or playing Frozen. Playing Frozen is one of Adalyn’s favorite things to do. Adalyn will wear her light-up Elsa dress and run around mimicking Elsa’s movements in the music video played on Cummings’ phone while she sings the movie’s hit song, “Let it Go.” Although time to time the days can become more stressful to Cummings, she copes with it, Katan Parker, Cummings’ boyfriend, said.

“No matter what, she wakes up in the morning and gets the work she needs done, even if she clearly doesn’t want to do it,” Parker said.

Parker has two boys of his own, who come over a lot and play with Adalyn, Parker said.

With the end of the fall semester nearing, many students may find themselves under stress with the responsibilities of school, work and home life.

“It’s stressful, but at the end of the day you know you have to do it to make a better life,” Cummings said.

DECEMBER 01, 2016

B4

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 > WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

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SPORTS

» Basketball: Junior forward Justin Johnson was named a 2017 Allstate NABC Good Works Team nominee Wednesday morning.

chance at history Wku ready for another chance at championship

BY EVAN HEICHELBECH

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU

In early October, the WKU football team left Ruston, Louisiana, on the bitter end of a 55-52 score.

In a shootout that included 988 yards of total offense, Louisiana Tech handed the Hilltoppers their third loss of the season, leaving them sitting in the middle of the Conference USA East standings with a 3-3 record.

Now, eight weeks of football later, WKU (9-3, 7-1 C-USA) and La. Tech (8-4, 6-2 C-USA) are set for a rematch when the Bulldogs come to Bowling Green on Saturday with the conference championship on the line.

“This is a big game, and we enjoy playing in them,” WKU Head Coach Jeff Brohm said. “The great part of it for us is we got them at home with our crowd behind us. It should be a reward for the season that we had.”

The WKU offense has yet to cool off since the last time these two teams met, as the Toppers have reeled off six straight wins behind an offense that claims the fifth-best points per game average at 44 per contest.

“They’ve continued to do what they do,” La. Tech Head Coach Skip Holtz said in a teleconference on Tuesday. “With Western Kentucky, they have a system, they have a program and they execute it very well.

You just see them get better in all of the little things that they do.”

After the 107-point explosion between the two teams earlier this season, it only makes sense that the Bulldogs are tied with the Toppers at fifth in the country at 44 points per game too.

Redshirt junior quarterback Mike White put on a show with 340 yards and five touchdowns in the last meeting, only to be one-upped by La. Tech quarterback Ryan Higgins who threw

Senior wide receiver Taywan Taylor (2) runs into the endzone during WKU’ 45-7 victory over North Texas on Nov. 12, at Smith Stadium. WKU will take on LA Tech on Saturday in the Conference USA Championship game. Brendan O’Hern/HERALD for 114 more yards and five scores of his own.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to get better on a lot of things they defeated us on,” Brohm said. “They’ve got great speed. Last game they threw it over our head, we gave up too many big plays and they threw it on the perimeter too much. We’ve worked hard to try to take away those things over the course of the last five to six weeks. We have gotten better, but we haven’t faced a team like La. Tech since.”

Part of the reason Higgins was able

to have so much success passing the ball is because of the Bulldogs’ pair of receiving threats in Trent Taylor and Carlos Henderson, who rank fourth and 11th nationally in total receiving yards, respectively.

“One of them is extremely fast, can run and get open downfield and is about as versatile as they come in Henderson,” Brohm said. “He’s tough.”

“Their slot receiver [Trent Taylor] has produced every year,” Brohm continued. “He’s tough, physical, makes all the good catches and can

get open. Those are two great weapons to have, very similar to our guys on our team.”

Trent Taylor and Henderson accounted for 340 of the 561 yards gained on the Topper defense. Since then, the WKU defense has shored up some of those issues, allowing 65 less yards through the air and ranks eighth in the country in rush defense as well.

“Just all around, we didn’t play well on defense,” junior defensive tackle Chris Johnson said. “We weren’t tack-

SEE FOOTBALL PAGE C2

Players to watch in the conference championship

BY TYLER MANSFIELD

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU WKU and Louisiana Tech University will meet for the second time this season on Saturday afternoon in the Conference USA football championship at Smith Stadium.

While the visiting Bulldogs will be looking to knock off WKU for the second time this year, the Hilltoppers will have their minds set on getting payback and capturing a second-straight league title on their very own Feix Field.

With big games comes big names to keep an eye on. Here are three players from each respected club you might want to watch on this Saturday championship edition of college football:

1.) Mike White – WKU Quarterback Head Coach Jeff Brohm’s offensive pilot in redshirt junior quarterback White is who you’ll see making a majority of the big passes Saturday.

In 12 outings as the Toppers’ starter, the University of South Florida transfer has completed 239 out of 355 passes (67.3 percent) for 3,606 yards and 31 touchdowns with just five interceptions. White, who threw a total of 11 touchdown passes combined in his 2013 and 2014 outings, has easily surpassed that mark.

The quarterback currently ranks fifth nationally in passing efficiency (178.6), seventh in passing yards and passing yards per completion (15.1), ninth with 31 passing touchdowns, 10th in completion percentage (67.3 percent) and 12th with 300.5 passing

yards per game.

In the October meeting between the two clubs, White completed 36 out of 50 passes for 340 yards and five TDs.

while helping his team rank fourth in passing offense with 348.0 yards per contest.

3.) Taywan Taylor – WKU Wide Receiver The senior is one of WKU’s major scoring threats, as he’s caught 82 passes for 1,392 yards and 14 touchdowns this season.

In four years with the Toppers, the wideout has tallied 3,896 yards with 38 touchdowns off of 237 catches.

Currently, Taylor ranks fifth nationally in receiving yards and 16th in receptions per game with 6.8.

In the aforementioned contest against the Bulldogs this season, Taylor pulled down nine catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns. However,

2.) Ryan Higgins – Louisiana Tech Quarterback Senior Higgins is Head Coach Skip Holtz’s new starting quarterback this season.

On the year, the passer has completed 265 out of 399 passes for 3,706 yards and 34 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Higgins’ best outing of 2016 came on Oct. 15 when he tossed for 484 yards and five TDs in a 56-28 victory at the University of Massachusetts.

The Hutto, Texas native currently ranks fifth nationally in passing yards

SEE KEY PLAYERS PAGE C2

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DECEMBER 1, 2016

C2 FOOTBALL

Continued from sports

ling well, weren’t getting off our blocks. As a whole, we just needed to polish up and now we’ll be ready for Saturday.”

After thrashing Marshall 60-6 last week coming off a late bye week, Brohm’s offense couldn’t be much hotter coming into Saturday.

White and senior playmakers Taywan Taylor, Nicholas Norris and Anthony “Ace” Wales barely played into the second half with the Hilltoppers ahead 41-0 at halftime. White fired three touchdown passes to each of the aforementioned weapons, and Wales racked up 110 yards on the

ground to go along with two scores.

“That’s what Western is so good at with their explosive plays,” Holtz said. “We’ve got to be smart with what we do. If they know we’re in man coverage, they’re gonna take you oneon-one and take some very explosive players and put them in space. We’ve just gotta be smart when we pick when we’re gonna blitz, when we’re gonna pressure when we’re going to play zone and when we’re gonna play man.”

With both teams stacking up evenly on paper, Brohm said the difference in the game could come down to turnovers.

WKU fumbled four times in Ruston, losing two of those loose balls

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

which the Bulldogs went on to turn into seven points.

“At one point, we were 3-3 and in those six games we had 14 fumbles,” Brohm said. “In the last six games that we’ve had, we had two fumbles.

So those things matter, and that’s probably going to determine the outcome of the game is who can take care of the ball the most because possessions will be crucial.”

With the home team taking the last matchup, the Toppers are fortunate to play host in the championship game for a second consecutive season.

“It’s just a great feeling that we get to pack the Houch one more time and have a chance to win another

conference championship at home and be able to celebrate it with our fans,” Johnson said. “I think it’s very important that we start fast and jump on them and get our game going and make them play with us instead of us trying to play with them because it’s our home.”

Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Reporter Evan Heichelbech can be reached at 270-745-6291 and evan. heichelbech059@topper.wku.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @evanheich.

end against the Topper defense.

5.) Keith Brown – WKU Linebacker In order to win games, you have to score more points than the other team. Yes, the offense puts most of the points on the scoreboard, but the defense keeps the opponent from being able to do it.

Graduate Senior and Louisville transfer Keith Brown, the Toppers’ starting linebacker, has recorded 115 total tackles, with 52 of those being solo, on the year. In his last outing at Marshall University, the 6-foot-1, 240-pounder tallied 14 total tackles while adding a sack.

In order for WKU to escape with a win, Brown will need to do his part on the defensive side of things for defensive coordinator Nick Holt’s unit.

Redshirt junior quarterback Mike White (14) looks to pass during the game against Marshall University on Saturday, Nov. 26, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W. Va. Evan Boggs/HERALD

KEY PLAYERS Continued from sports

he may have to make even more plays this Saturday against the Bulldog defense.

4.) Trent Taylor – Louisiana Tech

Wide Receiver The Bulldogs’ leading receiver in senior Trent Taylor is who Higgins will be targeting most of Saturday’s game.

Trent Taylor has caught 113 passes for 1,462 yards and 10 touchdowns so far in 2016. The Shreveport, Louisi-

ana, native currently ranks just above Taywan Taylor in receiving yards at fourth and sixth in receiving yards per game with 121.8.

In the earlier meeting vs. La. Tech, the wideout caught 13 passes for 108 yards, but didn’t find the endzone.

He’ll be looking to do that this week-

6.) Jordan Harris – Louisiana Tech Linebacker Although Louisiana Tech is known for its powerful offense, one of its main forces on the opposite side of the ball is senior linebacker Jordan Harris.

The 6-foot, 225-pound linebacker leads his Bulldogs in tackles with 94 total, 53 of those being unassisted. In his last outing, Harris recorded three solo tackles in a loss at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Reporter Tyler Mansfield can be reached at 270-745-6291 and james. mansfield143@topper.wku.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @TylerWKUHerald.

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C3

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

Head Coach Jeff Brohm hoists the championship trophy above his head, following the Hilltoppers’ 49-48 win over Central Michigan in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl game in Nassau, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Nick Wagner /HERALD ARCHIVE

How C-USA bowl tie-ins will affect WKU

BY EVAN HEICHELBECH

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU

With one game left on WKU’s schedule, it’s time to look at where the Hilltoppers might end up when bowl season arrives.

There are five automatic bowl tie-ins for the conference, with the Conference USA champion choosing which bowl it wants to play in.

After Saturday’s C-USA championship game between the Toppers and

Louisiana Tech, the bowl outlook will be a lot clearer, but for now, a few options serve as possible landing spots for WKU’s postseason.

C-USA has no set order for its teams to go to certain bowls depending on records or finishes in the conference standings.

The two bowls that WKU is most likely and almost guaranteed to end up in are either the Heart of Dallas Bowl or the Boca Raton Bowl.

This season, the Heart of Dallas

Finals Week 2016 HOURS OF OPERATION Sunday, December 4 Starbucks....................................................................................................................10 am - 5 pm Java City Library ..................................................................................................... 5 pm - Midnight All other locations .....................................................................................................Regular Hours Monday, December 5 Complimentary Breakfast - Fresh Food Company ..................................................7 am - 9:30 am Fresh Food Company.......................................................................Closed 9:30 am - 10:30 am Fresh Food Company .............................................................................Re-open 10:30 am - 8 pm Starbucks......................................................................................................................7 am - 8 pm Java City Library ..................................................................................................... 7 am - Midnight All other locations .....................................................................................................Regular Hours Tuesday, December 6 All locations ..............................................................................................................Regular Hours Wednesday, December 7 Starbucks......................................................................................................................7 am - 8 pm Burrito Bowl ...........................................................................................................10:30 am - 4 pm POD @ Bates ............................................................................................................ Noon - 10 pm Pit Stop Convenience Store ..................................................................................... 11 am - 11 pm Einstein Bros. Bagels ...................................................................................................7 am - 3 pm Panda Express ......................................................................................................10:30 am - 5 pm Java City Library ..................................................................................................... 7 am - Midnight Garrett Food Court ...............................................................................................................Closed DaVinci’s ...............................................................................................................................Closed Topper Grill ...........................................................................................................................Closed All other locations .....................................................................................................Regular Hours Thursday, December 8 Starbucks......................................................................................................................7 am - 8 pm Burrito Bowl ...........................................................................................................10:30 am - 4 pm POD @ Bates .................................................................................................. 10:30 am - Midnight Pit Stop Convenience Store ..................................................................................... 11 am - 11 pm Einstein Bros. Bagels ...................................................................................................7 am - 3 pm Panda Express ......................................................................................................10:30 am - 4 pm Java City Library ..................................................................................................... 7 am - Midnight Garrett Food Court ..................................................................................................7:30 am - 2 pm SUBWAY @ Garrett...............................................................................................10:30 am - 4 pm DaVinci’s .......................................................................................................................7 am - 2 pm Topper Grill .................................................................................................................11 am - 4 pm Passport Bistro .....................................................................................................................Closed All other locations .....................................................................................................Regular Hours Friday, December 9 Fresh Food Company ...................................................................................................7 am - 8 pm DSU Food Court ....................................................................................................10:30 am - 4 pm Starbucks......................................................................................................................7 am - 6 pm SUBWAY @ Bates...................................................................................................8:30 am - 8 pm POD @ Bates .............................................................................................................10 am - 2 pm Einstein Bros. Bagels ...................................................................................................7 am - 1 pm Java City Library ...........................................................................................................7 am - 1 pm Panda Express .................................................................................................10:30 am - 1:30 pm SUBWAY @ Garrett...............................................................................................10:30 am - 2 pm DaVinci’s .......................................................................................................................7 am - 1 pm All other locations .................................................................................................................Closed *Meal Plans end @ 8pm Saturday, December 10 Starbucks......................................................................................................................7 am - 5 pm All other locations .................................................................................................................Closed Monday, December 12 - Tuesday, December 13 Fresh Food Company - Limited Menu ........................................................................11 am - 1 pm $6 Lunch at FFC Starbucks......................................................................................................................8 am - 1 pm All other locations .................................................................................................................Closed

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Complimentary fresh brewed coffee & cookies.

Other beverages available for purchase.

Sunday, Dec. 4, Monday, Dec. 5 Wednesday, Dec. 7, Thursday, Dec. 8

8 pm - Midnight

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Complimentary fresh brewed coffee & cookies.

Sunday, Dec. 4, Monday, Dec. 5 Wednesday, Dec. 7, Thursday, Dec. 8

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WKU Restaurant Group locations will reopen January 3 for Winter Term.

Bowl’s tie-ins make it more attractive for teams from non-Power 5 schools like the C-USA because the automatic tie-in partner for the C-USA is a Big Ten team.

But, the Big Ten was top-heavier than expected this season and failed to have enough bowl-eligible teams, so the tie-in changes from a Big Ten team in the Heart of Dallas Bowl to either a Group of Five team or possibly an SEC/Big 12 team.

The Boca Raton Bowl’s tie-ins include the C-USA and American Athletic Conference, and it will be played on Dec. 20 in Boca Raton, Florida.

While the AAC also does not have a true structure as to which bowls its eligible teams go, Memphis (8-4) is the team projected to go to the Boca Raton Bowl by most major networks.

Most networks also have La. Tech projected to play in Dallas on Dec. 27, but that’s assuming the Bulldogs win on Saturday.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy both have WKU projected to play in the Boca Raton Bowl against Memphis, as does Fox Sports’ Stewart Mandel.

Memphis has managed to put together a nice season together after star quarterback Paxton Lynch was chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft last year by the Denver Broncos.

The Tigers are currently third in the AAC with their best win coming

against the University of Houston this past weekend. The Cougars were just coming off a major victory over the previously top-ten ranked Cardinals of the University of Louisville.

Offensively, they are led by quarterback Riley Ferguson who, after transferring from the University of Tennessee, has thrown for 3,326 yards and 28 touchdowns with only nine interceptions on the year.

CBS Sports bowl expert Jerry Palm has the Toppers slated to take on Mississippi State (5-7) in Dallas, and SB Nation also projects WKU to meet a Power Five team in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

All of this is dependent upon the outcome of the C-USA championship on Saturday, and if WKU has the choice, it will likely choose to play the best opponent, although warm weather is always enticing.

“We always love going south if we can, but there’s a lot of good destinations for this conference, so we’re happy to go wherever we need to go,” Head Coach Jeff Brohm said on Monday. “South and warm is always good.”

Reporter Evan Heichelbech can be reached at 270-745-6291 and evan. heichelbech059@topper.wku.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @evanheich.

FINALS WEEK Extended Hours at Helm-Cravens Library Sunday, December 4

1pm-2am Monday-Thursday, December 5-8

7:45am-2am Complimentary coffee & pastries will be provided, courtesy of Aramark.

Extended hours are sponsored by WKU Libraries & Student Government Association.

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C4

DECEMBER 1, 2016

COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

REECER’S PIECE

Let the good times continue to roll at WKU

BY JOHN REECER

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU Well, it certainly has been one long, tiring year.

During 2016, I thankfully served as sports editor here at the College Heights Herald in the spring and fall semesters.

Next semester however, I will be turning the position over to one of my talented sports reporters as my last semester on the Hill will see me back as a sports reporter.

With a new sports editor comes a new weekly column, and my time as a columnist has officially come to an end.

I tried to make this admittedly oddnamed column John Reecer relevant and meaningful by writing about serious topics, such as Rick Stansbury’s National Anthem comments and the now infamous controversy which hit the WKU men’s basketball program in the spring.

But when I wasn’t writing about something serious, I tried my hardest

to be entertaining, whether it was my takedown of MTSU’s fan base or Nick Saban’s still hilarious tirade aimed at offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin in WKU’s matchup with Alabama.

So with this being the last ‘Reecer’s Piece’, I spent a long time thinking about what exactly to write about.

Then a particular moment came to my mind when I was a freshman in high school and I attended one of my first WKU football games.

I don’t particularly remember who the Hilltoppers were playing, but I do remember they lost by a landslide.

This game was in middle of the incredibly long losing streak the Tops suffered in their transition to the highest level of competition in NCAA Football.

However, what stood out to me wasn’t the blowout or the lack of fans that were in the stands.

Instead, the lasting memory of that game was when my friends and I were leaving the stadium, we got caught walking behind two obviously intoxicated WKU students.

How did I know they were intoxicated you might ask? It was because they were drunkenly screaming at every car passing by on University Boulevard about how bad of a football program WKU had.

Flash forward about seven years to the present, and look how far athletics as a whole has come at this uni-

versity.

No longer does the WKU football team make students drunkenly share how embarrassed they are to go this school. Now, students drunkenly share just how proud they are of athletics here.

All kidding aside, I’ve lived in this region all of my life, and I have never seen a time when it was better to be a student at this school or a fan of its athletic teams.

A big part of that is in thanks to some incredible head coaches like soccer head coach Jason Neidell, football head coach Jeff Brohm and Michelle Clark-Heard of the women’s basketball team just to name a few.

Having world-class athletes like senior wide receiver Taywan Taylor, junior forward Justin Johnson and senior guard Kendall Noble also helps things out as well.

But most importantly, what is making athletics here improve is the effort that is steadily being shown by the fans.

Fan support could be better for just about every sport here in my opinion. That’s just a harsh reality the city of Bowling Green and this campus need to prove false.

However, support has steadily increased over the years with overall morale around athletics gradually increasing. Events like last year’s national ranking in the AP football poll

and the recent signing of five-star basketball recruit Mitchell Robinson have been large boosts to overall morale.

The good times are a rolling right now if you are a Hilltopper fan, but this fan base needs a serious reality check.

Supporting athletics means more than just going to six home football games every year, then leaving at halftime because you are too intoxicated to stay longer than that.

Through the good times of championships and victories, and the bad times of coaches leaving and devastating losses, fans must continue to make an honest effort to support all of the teams on campus.

So come out this Saturday to watch the WKU football team at home one last time this season as they play for another conference championship.

But while you are there, remember how far athletics here has come and think about what you are going to do next to keep the good times rolling on the Hill.

Until next time, stay classy WKU.

Reporter John Reecer can be reached at 270-745-6291 and john.reecer104@ topper.wku.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @Reece_12_Falcon.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hilltoppers set to play Missouri on Saturday

BY MATTHEW STEWART

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU

After coming back from Las Vegas empty handed, Head Coach Rick Stansbury and the Hilltoppers (3-3 as of publication) are preparing for more road games.

First up is long time, in-state rival Eastern Kentucky (3-4). The Battle of the Bluegrass will be rekindled on Wednesday in Richmond.

The Toppers lead the all-time series 112-43 over their former Ohio Valley Conference foe. That is the most wins against a single opponent.

The Tops have won the last 13 meetings between the two dating back to 1987. This will be the first time WKU has played at Eastern since 2007. Stansbury is also 2-0 against Eastern in his time as a head coach.

As of time of publication, the matchup between EKU and WKU had not yet taken place with tipoff coming at 7 p.m.

“We know it’ll be a Super Bowl game for them [EKU], it’s a big game for us because it’s our next one,” Stansbury said. “Nothing’s easy on

the road. Eastern’s got a really good team. They led Auburn at Auburn the first 30 minutes of the game, they had Texas Tech down 14 at Texas Tech.”

The Colonels are led by Nick Mayo, a sophomore big man with talent.

Mayo is averaging 19.7 points a game and is someone Stansbury knows can give the team some problems.

“They’ve got that big kid in the middle, was the freshman of the year last year in the OVC. He shoots the three, plays off the bounce, can post up; he’s a mismatch problem for a lot of people,” Stansbury said.

One of the ways the Toppers could try to contain the physicality of Mayo is with the use of senior forward Anton Waters.

Waters has contributed valuable minutes off the bench for the Hilltoppers this season and has been an offensive threat down low. Not only can Waters score, but he has a knack for rebounding the basketball.

“Anton has given us some toughness off that bench, he brings some toughness and more physicalness around that paint area, a guy that seems to finish around that hole pretty good,” Stansbury said.

On Saturday at 2 p.m. the Tops will be taking on the Tigers of the University of Missouri (3-3), at Columbia, Missouri.

“I haven’t seen much about them [Missouri] yet,” Stansbury said. “Saw them, should have beat an Xavier team, thought they’re a whole lot better from last year just watching them.

I know they’ve got a Frankie Hughes kid that’s really been good for them, can shoot the ball. They’ve got a good team.”

Statistically, the Tigers are led by Hughes who is averaging 13.5 points per game through six contests. However, Hughes’ field goal percentage currently sits at just 36 percent overall.

The sharpest shooter on the Missouri team is actually guard Terrence Phillips who is shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc on the season.

While he is just averaging 8.5 points per game, the guard poses a threat to the WKU defense if he is having a good night shooting the long ball.

This week of road games will give the Toppers an opportunity to get their season back on track if they can

Junior forward Justin Johnson (23) drives to the basket during the Hilltoppers’ 79-66 win over Alabama State on Nov. 12, at Diddle Arena. Ebony Cox/

HERALD

come away with a pair of wins.

Reporter Matthew Stewart can be reached at 270-745-6281 and matthew.stewart015@topper.wku.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @MES_ WKU22.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Lady Tops look to get back on track at Austin Peay

BY SAM PORTER

HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU The WKU women’s basketball team will travel to Clarksville, Tennessee, this Saturday for a matchup against former Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay University.

The Lady Toppers (3-3 as of publication) will look to get back on track after losing two out of three games in the Gulf Coast Showcase last weekend.

Although the Lady Governors boast a 4-3 record (as of publication), they won’t be favored to win this

matchup.

Two out of the four teams Austin Peay has defeated compete at the Division II level with their lone wins against Division 1 teams coming against the University Arkansas PineBluff and Arkansas State University who are a combined 0-9 (as of publication) on the season.

Last season, the Lady Tops defeated Austin Peay 88-69 in Bowling Green.

The Lady Governors are led by senior center Tearra Banks.

Banks, a Louisville native and graduate of Ballard High School,

Redshirt senior guard Kendall Noble (12) drives to the basket while Indiana University’s guard Karlee McBride (21) and forward Kym Roster (11) guard her during the Lady Toppers’ 85-74 win Nov. 19, in Diddle Arena. Evan Boggs/HERALD

leads Austin Peay with 14.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

She is the lone player on the team averaging double figures this season.

Look for the Lady Governors to get the ball to their senior leader early and often in a game where she may be matched up against a true freshman.

Head Coach Michelle Clark-Heard has started freshman forward Sarah Price four out of six games this season when the other team’s strength tends to be underneath.

Despite being a true freshman, Price’s 6’2 frame makes her the tallest player on the Lady Topper squad and often the best matchup against an opponent’s tallest player.

She is currently averaging 3.2 points per game, 1.7 rebounds and 13.7 minutes per game in her inaugural season.

If Clark-Heard decides not to start Price, look for Banks to be matched up with junior forward Tashia Brown or junior forward Ivy Brown who both match up well in terms of size and experience.

Although the Lady Tops struggled in the Gulf Coast Showcase last weekend, Tashia Brown played well as she recorded a double-double in all three games. Look for her to continue her hot hand in this out of conference matchup.

Although the strength of the Lady Governors is underneath, expect the Lady Tops to try to expose the Austin Peay backcourt. Clark-Heard said before the season she wanted to be able to apply pressure to other team’s backcourts defensively because of the strength of her guards.

Austin Peay’s backcourt features junior guard Bri Williams(7.7 PPG)

and sophomore guard Keisha Gregory(4.3 PPG).

Gregory is making her debut year in the starting lineup while Williams is making her debut year in the starting lineup after transferring from Gulf State Community College.

The two inexperienced guards will be facing one of their toughest match ups of the season when they face the WKU backcourt.

Redshirt senior Kendall Noble leads the Lady Tops as the defending Conference USA player of the year and two time C-USA defensive player of the year.

In her fifth and final campaign as a Lady Topper, she’s currently second on the team in points (14.5 PPG), rebounds (7.0 RPG) assists (2.5 APG) and leads the team in steals.

Also joining Noble in the backcourt is redshirt senior guard Micah Jones who is slowly but surely getting back to 100 percent after sitting out last season with a torn ACL. The Lady Tops may even go to a full-court press right off the bat to try to expose an inexperienced backcourt that has struggled to put points on the board.

Doing this will primarily keep Lady Governor offense from setting up to feed the ball into Banks which appears to be the only major scoring threat on their roster.

WKU and Austin Peay will tip-off at 12 p.m. on Saturday in the Dunn Center in Clarksville.

Reporter Sam Porter can be reached at 270-745-6291 and samuel.porter841@topper.wku.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @SammyP14.