May 4, 2016

Only the beginning

CAMPUS EVENTS

Marty Martin inaugurated after first year of presidency

imagine a better person to take on the role as our president. Even in the 10 months he has been here, he has instituted a culture shift on campus.”

On April 28, hundreds of Drake Universities faculty and students, and Des Moines community members officially welcomed president Earl F. Martin to the Bulldog family.

The inauguration was the 13th since 1881. All classes were canceled from 12:303:30 so everyone would have the opportunity to experience Martin’s official inauguration as president at the Knapp Center.

“This is one of those times where it is really surreal to be the Student Body President,” said Kevin Maisto, who currently holds the postion. “I could not imagine a better person to work with than Marty, and I could not

CAMPUS NEWS

Maisto sat on stage during the inauguration and gave the affirmation of commitment from the student body.

“To be able to participate in such a strong moment in Drake’s history gives me chills,” Maisto said.

Martin began at the university last July when former president David Maxwell ended his 16-yeartenure.

During his speech, Martin focused on his commitment to the university in three areas: commitment to each other, community and the universities mission statement.

“Last fall, we had our initial meeting to begin discussing the inauguration, and at that meeting a discussion occurred about

the theme,” Martin said. “John Smith, (vice president alumni and development), observed that when I use the word commitment in talking about our work and our mission, I tend to become animated.”

Martin said that if we all share commitment to a common purpose anything is possible, and that it is through commitment that we become engaged in our cause and how we turn hopes and beliefs into action.

Martin hopes that by improving the university’s commitment to one another, campus will be able to celebrate diversity and create relationships though a generosity of spirit.

“This generosity of spirit flows from the recognition that there is no them; there is only us,” Martin said. “We have to reject that most destructive force in the universe (which is) cynicism.”

Martin hopes to make this

university and the people within it have a stronger connection to the surrounding communities that they are now a part of.

Troy Bickham, a first-year who sang “Human Heart” at the inauguration, said Marty tries hard to involve the surrounding community and businesses with Drake.

“During the benefit concert, Martin brought friends and businessmen with him to help out and promote the choir,” Bickham said. “That was really meaningful to me and really shows his genuine love for this university.”

Martin’s third point, commitment to the mission statement, revolved mostly around the students and his hope that when they leave Drake, they wiil be masters of their discipline and “whole people”.

“Our students are not just aspiring to be a collection of skills — they are aspiring to be whole

people,” Martin said. “They are aspiring to turn information into knowledge that, over time can become wisdom.”

After Martin’s speech, and before the recessional, Martin’s mother and his son, first-year Cade Martin ran up to the stage and began doing a choreographed dance to “Mamma Mia” and “Hey Mickey,” along with the theater department.

They sang “Marty Martin” in substitute for Mamma Mia, and “Hey Marty” instead of “Hey Mickey.”

“It’s one of those stories that we will be able to tell for years now,” said junior theatre major, Matthew Greenbaum. “It was a great opportunity to show off the love we have for this school and the people who represent it.”

Senate denial of conservative group ignites backlash

full-time employee of TPUSA.

The discussion and debate surrounding TPUSA lasted 40 minutes.

Senate then voted 15-3, with one abstention, to deny the group. Senate said they denied the organization because of privacy concerns, stances on social media and receiving conflicting information from the group.

allegations in 2014 that TPUSA had obtained a membership list of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), another libertarian advocacy group, without YAL’s permission.

Herrin responded by reassuring Senators that this would not happen again, with the possible ramification of this being the loss of her own job with TPUSA.

However, Herrin did say in an email that she felt that Senate did not give her opportunity to speak on behalf of the allegations.

Matt Lamb, the heartland regional director for TPUSA, who was not present at the meeting, did comment on behalf of TPUSA in a telephone interview Wednesday.

organization before approving the Drake chapter of TPUSA.

“The difficult thing is that when it is an organization that is looking to be approved, tied with a national organization, we inherently have to look at how the national organization acts, to judge how they would be on our campus,” Maisto said.

Drake University Student Senate has received backlash after denying the group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) recognition as an official student organization on Drake’s campus.

The group came to Senate’s regular weekly meeting on April 21, asking to establish TPUSA as an organization at Drake in order to allow the group the full organizational privileges on campus, such as reserving rooms and having a table at the activities fair.

“I know lots of college campuses stress diversity and equality, and those are huge things you stress, unless it comes to conservative values,” said Christina Herrin, the Iowa field director of TPUSA, at the meeting. “ … There is a need for us here, and we just really want to give the opportunity to students to have their voice heard and talk about issues that they’re concerned with.”

Herrin, based in Iowa City, is a

According to TPUSA’s website, its mission is to educate “students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.”

Senate’s concerns

At the meeting, Sen. Olivia O’Hea took issue with the organization calling itself nonpartisan.

But Sen. Jon Lueth clarified at the meeting what non-partisan meant in this case.

“The non-partisan claim can stand because they’re not working with any particular party,” Lueth said.

Herrin also clarified that it is against TPUSA’s rules to be affiliated with a political party.

“Regardless of our political ideologies we might stem from, we are not affiliated with any political party or candidate, and if that were so, our national organization would actually take us off their list,” Herrin said at the meeting.

O’Hea and Sen. Kevin Kane also expressed concern over

“We actually are not allowed to give our information to anyone at all,” Herrin said at the Senate meeting. “I know the issue you’re talking about is with YAL at the University of Iowa, actually … There’s no soliciting of information. We can’t give your information to anyone else. ”

Even though Herrin clarified the allegation against TPUSA, Kane said in a later interview that he still felt uncomfortable approving the organization.

“That piece of information (YAL allegation) turns this from, ‘This is a group of liberals who don’t agree with conservative ideals’ to ‘This is an issue of student privacy’ and we don’t want a group on campus that has been accused of stealing student information,” Kane said. When asked for further comment on April 26, Herrin deferred all questions to the TPUSA website and declined a telephone interview unless questions were submitted in advance.

“The allegation is from two or three years ago. It is really just a non-issue, in our opinion. Nothing ever happened from it,” Lamb said. “I really think Student Senate bringing it up—it is really a non-issue – just personally they were looking for a reason to deny our chapter there and so they just went digging around for anything that they could throw at us.”

The next reason Senate gave behind its denial was “conflicting information,” Student Body president Kevin Maisto said in a later interview, regarding TPUSA’s position on addressing social issues.

“I know we didn’t mention, but we don’t touch on social issues at all, so we’re not going to talk about moral issues about abortion, legalizing weed, gay rights, we’re not going to try and argue with people on their moral issues,” Herrin said in the meeting.

However, Sen. Linley Sanders said TPUSA has weighed in on one social issue on its national Facebook page.

Senate looked at the national

Divided opinions

Although a majority of Senators shared concerns regarding TPUSA establishing at Drake, some Senators, including Vice President of Student Life Zach Blevins, felt the value of allowing an ideological minority voice on Drake’s campus to be heard equally outweighed the other concerns aired.

“Putting aside my own personal political beliefs, I would support this motion as well,” Blevins said during the meeting.

The advisor for Drake’s chapter of TPUSA, politics professor Rachel Paine Caufield, said last Wednesday that she is the advisor for organizations on campus that represent both major political parties.

Agreeing with a group’s message or ideology is “not a prerequisite for me,” Caufield said. “Any and all political groups should have the opportunity to come together.”

MARTY MARTIN’S inauguration was held last Thursday afternoon. Martin is in the first year of his Drake presidency, which began last July. PHOTO BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Anna Jensen Staff Writer anna.jensen@drake.edu

CAMPUS REFLECTIONS

A year in review: Drake presidents reflect on change

Beth LeValley Staff Writer beth.levalley@drake.edu @BethLeValley

“Enlightening … challenging … and engaging.” After almost a full minute of scrunched eyebrows and several pauses, Kevin Maisto gathered those words to describe the past year in his role as student body president.

With political events, new construction on campus, a new university president and a new continuous improvement plan, Drake has undergone changes in the past year, and both President Martin and Student Body President Kevin Maisto have played a role.

Martin speaks highly of these changes.

“This is one of the best deals in higher education in the country,” Martin said. “We’ve set the (accomplishment rate, the number of students employed , in graduate school or pursuing professional goals) goal at 100 percent because there’s nothing left to do except reach 100 percent.”

Maisto was ready for Drake’s changes and enjoyed working with the newly inaugurated President Martin.

“From the moment I met him last Relays … I was ecstatic,” Maisto said.

This year Martin’s main goal was to form relationships with the faculty, the administration, the community and the student body.

Maisto wanted to accomplish bigger initiatives, but found it was difficult after being asked to do many different things throughout the year.

“There’s a lot more that goes into this position that you don’t

CAMPUS NEWS

really understand until you’re in it,” Maisto said. “I thought that I’d be able to work on initiatives and improve student life in that way, work with my senators.

“I think the title ‘Student Body President’ is really telling. I’m not the ‘Student Senate President,’ necessarily,” Maisto said. “(The position) is a lot more about the student body and working with Drake as a whole.”

Both Maisto and Martin were handed one big initiative this year — the Iowa caucuses.

The night of the CBS Democratic Debate, Martin was up until 2:30 a.m. reviewing the event with colleagues.

“It was just so exciting. The debate, followed by the Spin Room over (at) the Law School, then I just walked around campus because students were everywhere, just having a good time,” Martin said.

Maisto reflected the same way.

“The thing I’m going to look back on and be most excited about is this caucus season,” Maisto said. “… I wanted to make sure that we, as Drake, and we, as this cohort of students, took it upon ourselves to really engage in that process.”

Maisto spoke specifically of the student-run mock caucus, where over 350 students and 50 media outlets gathered to learn how to caucus.

“You turn around and CNN is interviewing this student, and AP is interviewing another one,” Maisto said. “There were also a lot of students that I hadn’t seen involved in events like this before.”

After seeing 450 students in Olin for the actual Iowa caucus, Maisto was proud of the student body. He enjoyed sidproving the “figurative pundits” that believe

millennials aren’t engaged in the political process.

“At least here at Drake, I can’t imagine a group of students that is more involved,” Maisto said.

Martin was also pleased with the turnout of the caucus room in Olin.

“We had the five caucuses in Olin and Secretary Clinton in Olmsted, which caused great excitement and energy on campus,” Martin said. “That was a great way to end it … It was a great season, but I think we were all ready for it to be over.”

Both Martin and Maisto have ideas for Drake’s future and

continuing the growth for the institution.

“We’re going to become a powerhouse of change-makers, even more than we already are,” Maisto said.

With changes in majors and programs as well as physical spaces on campus, Maisto believes that Drake will be different but the culture will remain the same.

President Martin is looking into making physical changes along University Avenue , where several parking lots currently reside. He hopes to develop an area for food, entertainment and

leisure to enhance the campus experience and spur economic development.

“We want to create our own ecosystem around Drake that will become its own destination for the city,” Martin said.

With active community service and student engagement in the Des Moines community already, Martin wants to continue involvement around the Drake area by building these destination areas.

“We’re using our competency to help the area, and we want to find opportunities to do even more of that,” Martin said.

Senate vote leads to social media reaction from students

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Matt Wilkens, one of the TPUSA student representatives, said at the meeting that allowing the organization would be a way to encourage diversified dialogue.

“When she (Herrin) says we ‘aggressively pursue’ this, we’re not pursuing a conservative agenda; we aggressively pursue a conversation,” Wilkens said. “... And we are by no means trying to indoctrinate anyone on the principles that are conservative, we are simply trying to have a conversation, because we believe that sometimes the things we stand for are suppressed on a college campus.”

When contacted by the TimesDelphic, Wilkens said he had no comments he wished to make.

The other student representative present, sophomore Amy Samuel, declined to comment to the Times-Delphic as well.

Backlash

After denying the motion, Senate and specific Senators have received backlash on social media from Drake students and TPUSA representatives. A TPUSAaffiliated site, Hypeline, posted an article on April 25 in response to the meeting, that referenced the minutes from the meeting, which are available publicly online. Lamb wrote the article, which has been shared over a thousand times via Hypeline.

Lamb said he compiled his information by talking with Herrin, Wilkens and Samuel and then confirmed it with the Senate minutes.

The article quoted Senators making statements that two Times-Delphic reporters who attended the meeting did not hear.

Senate minutes only summarized the debate and did not include direct quotes.

A Times-Delphic audio recording of the meeting did not

capture the quotes the article attributed to Maisto and Kane. A quote attributed in the Hypeline article to Sanders is unintelligible in the recording because multiple people were speaking at once.

Lamb felt that the Senators brought their own beliefs to the Senate table.

“I think the Student Senators came in and they were ideologically driven and are big supporters of views we don’t necessarily agree with. Again, that is fine,” Lamb said. “The goal of our club is to talk to students about issues, and we hope that even if students disagree with us, that they would be open to a debate.”

National attention

The decision to deny the organization at Drake sparked outrage among TPUSA supporters and Drake students, many of whom shared the Hypeline article and sent hundreds of tweets directly and indirectly to the

Senators who voted against the organization. TPUSA’s official Twitter account and founder and executive director Charlie Kirk’s Twitter account criticized O’Hea and Maisto along with Student Senate and the University.

After Lamb’s article received considerable social media attention, Senate issued a statement regarding the meeting and how the process worked to deny this organization.

“It is within the discretion of the Student Senate to approve or deny prospective student organizations on campus,” Maisto said in the statement.

Meghan Blancas, a faculty advisor to Senate and the director of student leadership programs, cited Drake’s policies regarding political activity on campus in an email statement.

“Drake is committed to an open and productive exchange of ideas, allowing free and informed discussion of political affairs,” Blancas said. “As the advisor in

the room, I witnessed a respectful exchange amongst all groups that reflected that statement.”

Despite the backlash and article, Senators stand by their decision.

“I stand by everything that was said at the meeting and decided at the meeting,” Sanders said. “I think that it is unfortunate to see that some of this has been misconstrued by people who weren’t in attendance of the meeting … I’m glad that this was all directed at us as student representatives and not at students who disagree with them (TPUSA) on campus. ”

The April 21 meeting was the last of the year for this session of Senate. TPUSA would be able to return to Senate next academic year to reapply for organizational status at Drake. This is a condensed verison of the original story which ran online on April 28. Go to timesdelphic.com to read the full story.

MARTY MARTIN became president last July. (Left) Martin helps freshman move-in to dorms last August. FILE PHOTO

(Right) Martin is pictured at his recent inauguration April 28.

PHOTO BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

PHOTO BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

An inside look into one student’s internship

answer of “Yes!”

masters programs.

Humans of Drake

Each week, staff writer Rachel Wermager captures stories of students on Drake’s campus

HIlary Padavan Staff Writer hilary.padavan@drake.edu

When it comes to summer plans, mine were a no-brainer.

As a student aspiring to further my education at a graduate school for psychology, the importance of research experience is stressed at every meeting with my academic advisor. I wasn’t really sure how to start asking professors if I could be on their research team until my advisor, Dr. Valdovinos, offered to take me under her wing and bring me onto the project that she and her team has been working on. She originally said that I could wait a few days to give her my answer, but I was so excited that I emailed her the very next day with my resounding

Now, many weeks later, I am preparing to help code a lot of the data that Dr. Valdovinos and her team have collected over the course of the past year. It’ll be a long summer of staring into a computer screen going through heaps of data day in and day out with some of my colleagues, but I couldn’t be more excited. My summer experience and the continuation of this research into my junior year will help to give me real-world experience about what it’s like to do research in the field of psychology.

My fingers are crossed that I’ll actually enjoy and have fun with the work that I’m doing, but, really ,this experience will be invaluable for me moving forward. It gives me a leg up on other students applying for grad school who maybe don’t have the same experiences that I do. The whole point of researching or interning in your field of interest is to get your foot in the door, so to speak.

I highly recommend that if you’re reading this and you don’t already have some kind of research or internship or volunteering set up for the summer or for the fall semester that you get on it right away. These kinds of opportunities look great on resumes when applying for jobs or graduate schools or

Everyone always heard throughout high school how being involved was important for college applications and now we’re again hearing how being involved in your community is important for after college. But it’s actually worth taking to heart this time. If you’re applying for a job and you already have some experience performing the tasks required of the job, the employer may be more inclined to hire you instead of someone with no realworld experience because they won’t have to take as long training you to do what they want. If you’re kind of lost and confused on where to go for opportunities to intern, go to your academic advisor or a professor you really like and get along with and ask them. They are all more than willing to speak with you and go over your options

It is quite a bit of work, so some students may find it hard to balance school life and social life with their internship or another job, but if you have the time and have the resources to do it, I highly recommend finding something to do. It can only help you later on after the scary period during college.

Collin Miller • Sophomore Finance and Management Major

“The town I grew up in, poverty was not really an issue, so (the problems of hunger among lower income families) it never really hit home until we started adopting a family for Christmas. We had Christmas with them and the kids wouldn’t eat; they wanted to save the food for throughout the week so they could help their friends. So that’s when this issue really hit home for me and became something I am passionate about.”

Daly’s ‘Just What Kind of Mother Are You?’ deals with responsibility

mother, who then recommended it to my step-great-aunt.

This book deals a lot with responsibility and time management. Lisa is constantly jealous of Lucinda’s mom (Kate) for having her life put together, and she really blames herself for Lucinda’s disappearance.

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR. grab your copy today

Natalie Larimer Staff Writer natalie.larimer@drake.edu

Paula Daly’s “Just What Kind of Mother Are You?” is an incredible British novel about a town’s reaction and process in finding a little girl who went missing. I picked this book up in the Heathrow airport on my way back from France because I had just finished my other book and my phone battery wouldn’t last me the whole flight. I read it over the course of the nine-hour flight, seated between a large drunk Texan and a weird physicist who kept drawing cartoons in his notebook, but I was enthralled by the story and now it’s one of my favorite books.

One of the main characters is Lisa Kallisto, a mother of three who is constantly stressed out. Kallisto forgot she was supposed to look after her daughter (Sally) and her best friend (Lucinda), leading to Lucinda’s being kidnapped.

The other main character, Detective Constable Joanne Aspinall, takes the lead on Lucinda’s disappearance case.

The chapters switch between the two women, and they’re divided into the days of the investigation, as well. With each development comes a new twist, and with each twist comes a sense of doubt and confusion.

It’s a compelling read. I actually recommended it to my

Lisa runs an animal shelter, which is constantly busy and hectic, as well as managing her kids’ lives and making time for her husband and friends. The one time she looks away, she’s publically blamed for a child’s disappearance.

Over the course of the book, the town comes together to search for Lucinda. Lisa tries everything she can to find her and yet nothing is what it seems it should be. I won’t spoil anything, but the ending still has me thrown off.

It’s amazing to me that this is Daly’s debut novel. I would expect this kind of book to come from a well-known and experienced author. She has since written two more books, “Keep Your Friends Close” and “The Mistake I Made,” which I have yet to purchase. They’re on my list — I’m just poor.

There’s no mistaking that Daly is a talented author. She made me connect with Lisa in a way I never thought I’d connect to a mother of three and I was so engrossed by her story that I read it again the next week.

You may think that you wouldn’t like this story, but I promise you your heart will race as the search for Lucinda broadens. It’s intense, addicting and fascinating. I never saw the ending coming. Even in my reread, I was so caught up in the story that I forgot what happened and I was shocked all over again. I highly recommend this novel — and so does my mother.

BOOK NOOK

OPINIONS

Student reflects on her first year at Drake University

booth, the control centers and even let me man a camera. At the time, I had no idea that working the Relays was only one of the unbelievable opportunities I would be presented with.

Despite my inability to say so then, I did love this university and that feeling was all I needed.

Two weeks after my second visit, on April 28, 2015, I committed to Drake University.

Over the course of these 10 months, I have been the happiest I’ve ever been. Every day, this university gives me endless opportunities to further my academic career and broaden my horizon and beliefs. I have met my favorite people here who never fail to make me laugh. I have joined organizations that have allowed me to be a leader on campus.

Cruz and Kasich against Trump

Anna Jensen Staff Writer anna.jensen@drake.edu

I remember visiting Drake for the first time in March 2015 when I was a senior on the Chicago Bus Trip. I didn’t have that I-steppedonto-campus-and-knew-Ibelonged-there feeling, which is how most people describe their feelings towards the university they attend.

I liked it, but I was indecisive and fearful to fall head-over-heels for a university. My mom and I returned to campus during Relays week, and Professor Wright showed me the broadcasting

MUSIC REVIEW

Over the summer, I met up with my roommate for lunch and went to a few alumni-hosted events and met other students who would be first-years with me. My friends from home couldn’t wait for it to be August so they could leave for school. Although I was also excited, I was a bit fearful of the change.

For at least the first two months I was away at college, my mom was concerned that I wasn’t happy. I seemed sad and stressed over the phone, and she feared I was unhappy.

I can admit now that I was not as happy at the beginning of the school year as I am now. I had a rough transition moving so far away from home. I was six hours away from the people I depended on most. But this university has never for a second made me feel like I did not belong here.

Beyonce shows strength with new album ‘Lemonade’

earlier in her career for not being vocally pro-black enough.

There’s a Kendrick Lamar feature on the album, which is fitting because, in some ways, I view this album in the same vein as Lamar’s last album, “To Pimp A Butterfly.” That album was full of the same pride and empowerment of blackness, while maintaining a storyline the whole way through.

When I was on the bus trip, I remember looking at my host, Megan Rush, and thinking that there was no way she was only one year older than me. She seemed so much more mature, and she seemed to know everyone on campus. I thought that no matter what university I ended up at, there was no way I was going to seem that confident, happy or independent.

Here I am, just over one year later, looking back on that moment and seeing how far I have truly come. I leave my first year as a much more confident, independent and knowledgeable person than I was as a senior in high school. And I have this place to thank.

This school has given me so much to brag about — I have listened to each of the Democratic candidates speak, and caucused

for one of them. I watched world-class athletes compete against each other in the Drake Relays. I had a conversation with Josh Hutcherson. I have made a forever-best friend with the coolest bulldog in the world and, not to mention, I live in one of the most eclectic cities in the Midwest. I am really sad to see this year come to an end. Although I am so ready to just lay in my bed and hang out with my dog in Illinois, I am disheartened to know I will have to be away from Drake for almost three months. In such a short amount of time, this place has become my home. I will miss all the fun times I have had inside the walls of Stalnaker Hall, I will miss all the long sleepless nights I spent in Olmsted and I am thankful for every single memory I have made here. I have fallen completely headover-heels with this university, and I am not afraid to share that with the world. I know there is absolutely no university that would make me happier than this one.

MUSIC REVIEW Editor-in-chief’s

Mia Blondin Staff Writer maria.blondin@drake.edu @mjblondin

Have you ever played a board game with a group of friends and then everyone suddenly realized that one person was in the lead and so that person becomes the target for everyone else to sabotage?

That’s what has recently happened in the GOP race, except this isn’t a board game. This is potentially deciding who runs our country.

I’m going to put it out there that I’m not a Republican; I’m not even independent. I’m a Democrat and proud of it. But what I’m not proud of is the recent partnership between Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Jacob McKay Staff Writer jacob.mckay@drake.edu

When Beyoncé announced that she was debuting something on HBO called “LEMONADE” a few weeks ago, the buzz was incessant. The “Bey-Hive” as Beyoncé’s dedicated worldwide fan base is proudly known, began rabidly speculating.

There was talk of a music video or a documentary—but few expected the visual masterpiece that graced TV screens across the country on that fateful Saturday night (April 23). Beyoncé released a visual album called “LEMONADE” and shut down the entire Internet. The visual album is incredibly and unapologetically pro-black.

There’s no debate that the tones of pride and empowerment and the sonic evidence of Beyoncé reaching to her southern roots was purposeful. The Malcolm X direct quotes and appearances of young influential black women throughout the video make it clear that this album was for black women.

It’s presentation and packaging makes that clear, and Beyoncé is pretty unapologetic about it after receiving criticism

Beyoncé’s storyline is much more deeply personal and blatantly brings up marital infidelity, regret and heartache. People instantly went after Jay-Z on the Internet for cheating because Beyoncé basically says he did.

What’s incredible about the whole thing is, as truthful as Beyoncé was, we will never really know the whole story because she never really does interviews. She is a star and is untouchable as ever, but this album revealed such a personal struggle that people will naturally have questions.

Those questions, at least for the foreseeable future, will go unanswered because what responsibility does Beyoncé really have to tell us more? She set the new bar for getting things off your chest as a celebrity.

She reclaimed the top spot in an already packed year for music, and told her truth despite her celebrity status. That is what’s most inspiring about this album. It’s unapologetic in its blackness and in its soul-baring truth.

As a celebrity, with your every move scrutinized, it’s hard to do that, especially at this point in Beyoncé’s career. She once again showed us a blueprint for strength, and though she’s a hard act to follow, her status as a role model for so many is going to be maximized with this project.

THE TIMES-DELPHIC

The student newspaper for Drake University since 1884

TIM WEBBER, Editor-in-Chief timothy.webber@drake.edu

JILL VAN WYKE, Faculty Advisor jill.vanwyke@drake.edu

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JAKE BULLINGTON, Digital Editor jacob.bullington@drake.edu

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Tim Webber Editor-In-Chief timothy.webber@drake.edu @hellotimwebber

I can always appreciate a story that comes full circle.

It’s fitting, then, that we finish this year’s volume of the Times-Delphic the same way it began: with a picture of new Drake University president Marty Martin above the fold and a story about the first year of his adventure leading the way.

In between the two issues, however, Martin rarely made an appearance in the Times-Delphic, and when he did, his presence was far subtler. Part of this may be due to Martin’s tendency to work behind the scenes in his first year on the job. But we had no shortage of interesting stories to cover, even without the new president filling our pages.

A new president — just the 13th in Drake’s history — should not be relegated to an afterthought. But at times, that’s what it felt like. By now, it feels like Martin has been Drake’s president for three or four years — he’s certainly handled three or four years’ worth of events in his short time at the helm.

And if that’s the case, then we at the Times-Delphic have also covered three or four years’ worth of events in a year that feels as if

it just began yesterday. When reviewing this year, we must start, of course, with the Iowa caucuses. Drake University became a highly-influential political player during the fall semester. We hosted numerous presidential candidates and, of course, a Democratic debate. I couldn’t be happier with the Times-Delphic’s political coverage this year. In particular, news editor Jess Lynk, digital editor Jake Bullington and design editor Michael Lopez did a fantastic job bringing the politics to the page and screen in several late November issues.

Recently, the focus has shifted from national politics to campus politics, and meaningful debate and discussion has popped up around the Student Senate table in the past month. We’ve sought to cover these conversations as fairly and accurately as possible. I believe we’ve met that goal, and I hope you feel the same way.

And, of course, we published our 40-page Relays Edition last week. My sleep cycle still hasn’t completely recovered, but the end result and the positive feedback we’ve received have been more than enough to convince me that it’s all worth it.

It’s been a stressful but rewarding year. I won’t use the cliché that I wouldn’t change anything, because it’s not true — I learned a lot on the job.

I would not have been able to make it through the year without the wonderful staff that worked on the Times-Delphic. There is not enough space to list them all, but each and every one of them worked tirelessly on the paper each week. I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with.

The Times-Delphic will return next year with the capable Jess Lynk running the ship. I will look forward to reading each issue, and you should, too.

For the majority of this campaign season I’ve pretty much ignored the things the GOP has done, instead focusing on my party and my candidates (O’Malley, I miss you) but I can’t ignore this. The GOP created an orange monster and his name is Donald Trump. The only problem is instead of squashing him when he was a bug, the party has somehow allowed for him to grow into a Godzilla-sized monster tahtnearing the delegate count needed to automatically receive the GOP nomination.

Cruz and Kasich, the only other GOP candidates left out of the original bunch, have decided to target certain states in hopes of being victorious and snatching away delegates from Trump. While this plan is good in theory, the candidates would have to get their supporters in these states on board with the idea. That is just not going to happen.

As a voter in a wonderful democracy, I have the right to vote for the candidate of my choice. The candidates released statements outlining their plans, but if I were an avid supporter of Kasich, I wouldn’t want to vote for Cruz.

Trump responded to the plan by tweeting, “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!”

Just this one time, I agree with Donald Trump. It pains me to say that, but it’s true. This partnership is a last-ditch effort for one of them to end up in the White House — a long shot already because the GOP candidate will have to face Hillary Clinton.

Long story short: this plan is flawed, this system is flawed, and it is just embarrassing for the American people that the election season has reached this point. One word could sum this unfortunate situation up, and that word is “desperation.”

The Times-Delphic is a student newspaper published weekly during the regular academic year and is produced by undergraduate students at Drake University. The opinions of staff editorials reflect the institutional opinion of the newspaper based on current staff opinions and the newspaper’s traditions. These opinions do not necessarily reflect those of individual employees of the paper, Drake University or members of the student body. All other opinions appearing throughout the paper are those of the author or artist named within the column or cartoon. The newsroom and business office of The Times-Delphic are located in Meredith Hall, Room 124. The Times-Delphic is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The editor-in-chief sits on the Board of Student Communications.

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Crew Scholars program grows since founding in 2013

Jenny Devries Staff Writer jennifer.devries@drake.edu

In 2013, Drake University implemented the Crew Scholars Program, a scholarship offered to students of color. This was one of the university’s first steps to fulfill its mission of providing a learning environment where students are primed for responsible global citizenship.

The program recruits in cohorts called crews. Simply, a “crew” is a group of people with similar traits united together in shared interests or goals. Each year, 20 students are selected for the program and must fulfill various requirements to continue to receive the scholarship, including enrolling in a class specific to the scholarship.

Junior Nadia Valentine, who is a part of the first cohort, has been able to see the program grow in size, as well as awareness.

“In the first cohort, there are only 16 of us,” Valentine said. “Now, it’s grown to double that size. During my first year, whenever I mentioned Crew, I had to explain what it is and why it exists. Three years later, people know what I’m talking about, and they understand its importance in the lives of students of color.”

Over 50 students are now involved in the Crew Scholars Program (or just simply “Crew”), which is led by Professor Jennifer Harvey and Coordinator of Student Success Programs Bryan Thomas. Harvey and Thomas act as liaisons between students and any obstacles Crew scholars face, which Valentine considers very helpful.

“Academically, our advisors meet with us every quarter and talk about our grades, goals and professional life,” Valentine said. “Bryan and Professor Harvey have amazing connections to help us receive any academic assistance we may need. They proof-read papers, perfect resumes and set up interviews for us.”

Harvey and Thomas’s mentorship role is similarly reflected in Crew’s quad-

PROFESSORS

mentoring program, where two first-years and two sophomores meet every week to discuss academic progress and other goals set by the foursome through the program.

The connections made are helpful for first-years like Lauren Velasco.

“We create connections with people that are really meaningful,” Velasco said. “Especially since we’re on a predominantly white campus, it’s nice to know I can rely on students in the same boat as me.”

Thanks in part to the mentorship programs, Crew is seeing an increase in average GPA for scholars. The average GPA for Crew is a 3.0, which is an increase from last semester. According to Thomas, Crew has seen this continuing upward trend since the program started.

This is not the only proof of the program’s effectiveness. Crew’s success is directly observed in Drake’s admission and retention rates of minority students. Both applications for the program and retention for students of color have increased by at least 20 percent.

Efforts in retention have not gone unnoticed, particularly for first-years in the program like Velasco.

“The Crew Program is a big reason why I came to Drake, and it’s a big part of what’s keeping me here,” Velasco said.

“In the future, I hope people view Crew for what it really is,” Valentine said. “Currently, a lot of students think Crew is just for black kids. Really, it’s for incoming first-year students who identify as a person of color — whether that be Latina, Asian, African, etc.”

Thomas understands that Drake has more to go in the future and believes changes are possible, but the efforts towards retention begin now.

“Crew is a strong program, and it’s receiving amazing resources, but we have a lot of work to do with retention,” Thomas said. “We need to make sure we are proactive instead of reactive campus.”

Professor publishes book on celebrity pregnancy fascination

Ellen Koester Staff Writer ellen.koester@drake.edu

Many of the grocery stores in the U.S. strategically place tabloid and celebrity gossip magazines in front of the checkout lanes. Pictures of the hottest celebrities attract the consumer gaze, especially if the celebrities are sporting a baby bump.

Renée Cramer, a Drake law, politics and society professor, closely studied the American cultural obsession with celebrity pregnancy and its implications for feminism and new mothers. She recently published “Pregnant with the Stars,” a book about her research. She will be teaching the text in one of her classes.

Cramer said that American culture’s obsession with the celebrity bump can be “the equivalent of playing ‘Plants vs. Zombies’ or flipping through a magazine” for individual women. It can be more problematic when it causes women to compare their own pregnancy to that of celebrities.

“As a culture, it’s problematic because it refuses to acknowledge surveillance technology,” Cramer said.

Much of the surveillance of pregnant women is due to the media’s portrayal of different famous mothers.

“The media promotes the obsession often in binaries of good girl/bad girl, fat mom/ skinny mom and these kinds of really simplistic ways of

viewing women,” Cramer said. “Magazines publish pictures of celebrities because they sell magazines, so it’s purely profitmotivated.”

To research her book, Cramer told people about her book and her interests. She said many students brought her clippings of magazine photos of pregnant celebrities.

Not many classes on campus have the professors teaching their own materials, but “Pregnant with the Stars” is assigned reading for Cramer’s reproductive law class.

Cramer found the experience a little strange and difficult.

“It’s weird to teach my own book,” she said. “You don’t want to force people to think what you think. It’s weird to talk about yourself in the third person. The students who read it in class seemed to get where I was going, though.”

Cramer said her work has been “appreciated” by students, but, due to its subject, there have been preconceptions against the book, especially among academics.

“There’s a bias that it would be fluff and not worth their time, and then they’re surprised when it impresses them,” Cramer said.

“Who writes books on pregnant celebrities?”

Cramer encourages other writers to go with their ideas, no matter how unconventional they are.

“Every time you have an idea and don’t follow it, it either dies, or someone else takes it,” Cramer said. “Just write whenever you get an idea that says, ‘Oh my god, please work on me,’ or it will go

away forever.”

Monica Janssen is one of the students in Cramer’s reproductive law class and said Cramer is a “wonder woman” for teaching, writing and having a family at the same time.

“I don’t know how she does it, ‘cause there (are) times when she flies around the country for conferences and makes it back in time for class,” Janssen said.

She said she really enjoyed having a professor teach her own work and that the book made Janssen think twice.

“I’m more conscious of things I see in everyday life that relate to pregnancy and are also applicable to celebrities,” Janssen said. “If I see a pregnant woman getting coffee I’m like, ‘Should she get that coffee?’ We do the same thing to celebrities.”

Janssen encourages students to pick up Cramer’s newest book or take a class with the professor. While she said doing so can be a lot of work, the reproductive law class ended up being one of the most rewarding for Janssen.

Cramer’s next novel will probably deal with midwifery in the United States or perhaps a book on the coal industry.

Or maybe she will finally write a fiction novel, something she has wanted to do since she was eight years old. Cramer is definitely not short on ideas.

CREW SCHOLARS like Nadia Valentine, pictured above (middle), make connections with fellow scholars and students at Drake, maintain an average GPA of 3.0 and receive a scholarship to the university. PHOTOS COURTESY OF NADIA VALENTINE

Des Moines psychics breach divide between seen and unseen

Giuliana LaMantia Relays Editor giuliana.lamantia@drake.edu

In the center of the table sat a crystal ball. Ula Yule lit two bundles of herbs on fire.

“I like to do sage before reading,” Yule said. “It’s a protective herb. The smoke clears my energy out, so I can just be all about the client. It also spreads to the client and everyone in the room to make the energy positive.”

She continued to explain that the second bundle, sweet grass, is lit for blessings and guidance.

Unlike some other psychics, Yule and her co-owner of Vision Psychics in Des Moines, Vianne Higgins, never had an otherworldly epiphany that defined their powers they just always

ORIENTATION

knew.

“I want to stress that we’re just like everyone else,” Yule said. “So it’s not like we’ve got this superpower. There isn’t a moment in my life where I’m like, oh, I’m better than everyone else.”

Higgins and Yule found each other in 2012. They are unique in that they read together, which helps them see the truth more clearly and accurately.

Their gifts are all-purpose they read the truth in past, present and future, communicate with the dead and perform exorcisms.

As psychics, Higgins and Yule find themselves constantly between the worlds — the physical world, and the things in life that are unseen.

“A psychic is basically a spiritual helper that helps you as a client communicate with the divine or truth or the spiritual

Orientation changes scheduling for students and parents

down anxiety a little bit,” SturmSmith said. “We found that that was something that made people really nervous.”

Long lines, endless meetings and the first night in the dorm. Welcome to summer orientation, incoming students’ first true introduction to Drake University.

Full of meetings and activities designed to make the transition to Drake easier, the program undergoes minor changes each year to make that transition as smooth as possible, and this summer will see more changes than usual.

Melissa Sturm-Smith, the associate provost for academic excellence and student success, said the biggest change will be the start time.

In the past, students and parents checked in around 10:00 a.m., but now they will be checking in at 12:30. This will allow the families time to get lunch and relax before the services fair begins in Olmsted.

Sturm-Smith believes that the later start time will prevent people who are coming from out of town from staying overnight in Des Moines for two nights. With the new schedule, they will only have to stay one night.

The math placement test that students take online before orientation will also be undergoing some changes.

Now called the Math Readiness Questionnaire, the online test will be easier for students to navigate. Sturm-Smith said that a lot of students and parents call into the office expressing confusion about which test needs to be taken, so the changes are there to fix that.

“We’re hoping that will bring

A third change will involve the shortening of the healthy living and student services programs so that families will be able to attend both. Sturm-Smith and her colleagues found that parents and students were unhappy having to choose between the two.

“We got feedback from people saying it was hard to choose which session to go to because everything seemed so important,” Sturm-Smith said.

The session entitled “Money Matters” will be a bit longer to answer more questions.

The fourth and final change comes from orientation organizers working with the different colleges to make registration easier for the incoming students.

“We really want to listen to folks,” Sturm-Smith said, explaining these changes. “We need to make sure we’re paying attention to what the changing issues are for our incoming students. If we’re doing the same orientation program we were doing five years ago, it’s not going to be very relevant.”

By adapting the program every year, the orientation organizers ultimately hope to ensure that incoming students feel welcome and their parents feel comfortable at Drake.

“I don’t think we’d ever want to have a stagnant program,” Sturm-Smith said. “We want to make sure we pay attention because every student population is different.”

world,” Yule said. “The psychic takes your question and talks to God or whoever to relay back messages.”

Despite what they see for the future of a client, it is not set in

“We really focus on the best life. That end point, where they can leave here and feel that they’ve seen their most positive life.”

Ula Yule Vision Psychics co-owner

stone. People can always change their paths. Yule described it as 50 percent free-will and 50 percent fate.

“On some issues, people have

absolute free will,” Yule said. “We’re like, ‘you can just decide what you want to do.’”

“And then that freaks them out,” Higgins said.

Junior Maura Scott has never had a psychic reading, but she’s interested in their origin stories and calls to action.

“I would want to give it a go,” Scott said. “I think it’s an experience to have, and the fact that its so close here in Des Moines, I think it would be a fun opportunity.”

For Yule and Higgins, one of the hardest parts of being psychic is the misconceptions. People mistake them for fairy godmothers, overlooking the fact that they must own their own lives.

“They want us to tell them something fantastic is going happen, but they need to make it happen,” Higgins said. “They

want magic and fairy dust.”

Visions Psychics’ main goal is to guide their clients through deeper issues and reach the root of the problem. From there, they balance negative energy with positive energy. They strive for happiness and offer solutions to help their clients find the best course.

“We always try to give them baby steps that they can do to help their life get getter,” Higgins said.

“We really focus on the best life,” Yule said. “That end point, where they can leave here and feel that they’ve seen their most positive life.”

Students can check at www. visionspsychics.com for services and prices.

It’s been a sad turn of events for the Drake softball team. A team that was undefeated in Missouri Valley Conference play has now lost nine of their last 11 games, going back until April 16.

In a three-game series against Wichita State that took place April 23-24, the Bulldogs tacked three more losses onto their tarnished MVC record. The Bulldogs’ first two losses came in a three-game series against Missouri State the weekend prior, starting an eightgame losing streak.

The Bulldogs’ attempts at breaking the losing streak only culminated in more dissatisfaction against Wichita State. The first game ended 9-1, the second 9-0 and the final game 7-4. The struggles left fans to wonder: what happened?

The team excelled in MVC play well into the season, remaining undefeated until a mid-April series against Missouri State. To fall so hard seems more like a fallacy than reality. The Bulldogs now sit at 14-8 in MVC play after starting 12-0.

The best example of the Bulldogs current slide would be their matchup against Iowa State for the second time in a month on

MEN’S

Despite slide, Bulldogs still looking strong

Adam Rogan Sports Editor adam.rogan@drake.edu @Adam_Rogan

Drake Men’s Golf had a respectable finish in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, a par-70 course, on April 25-26.

The team placed seventh out of 10 teams. Sophomore Matt Lavery paced the Bulldogs with a three-day total of 221 to finish tied for seventh individually in his best performance of the season.

Bradley, Evansville and Drake all finished with four strokes of one another in fifth, through seventh place respectively. Both Bradley’s and Evansville’s top finishers had lower scores than Lavery, and Drake’s bottom two scorers – freshman Jack Kennedy and redshirt senior Blake Huser –struggled on day three.

Kennedy finished with a 79 after posting a 76 and 75 in the first two rounds. Huser struggled even more, shooting an 85 after averaging 76.5.

“We’re only as good as our third or fourth scorer,” head coach Matt Lewis said. “They realize that the depth is the key factor. Everyone buys all-in and does their part.”

Even if he struggled in his final round as a Bulldog, Huser has still been a leader for Drake throughout the season.

“I think we all learn a lot from our seniors,” said freshman Tommi Avant, who shot 228 (75-76-77) in the conference championship. “As freshmen and sophomores, we still have a lot of time rather than the juniors and

April 26. This time they met in Ames.

In their first matchup against ISU on April 5, the Bulldogs had a huge fifth inning rally that garnered seven runs, and ultimately gave them the victory. And this game seemed to be heading in the same direction, as the Bulldogs came out and scored three runs during the first. However, ISU was ready, and answered back with six of their own. Drake would get back on top in the second, but ISU tied it in the bottom of the frame and reclaimed a lead in the third that they would not relinquish.

My question is this: where did the fire go? Or is it just some bad breaks for the Bulldogs?

Let’s look at the evidence. It was virtually the same matchup: Kailee Smith and Mariah McKinnon took on pitching duties in both meetings.

As neither Smith nor McKinnon is a power pitcher, the two only recorded four strikeouts combined in both games. This time, ISU was only able to put one strikeout on the board. With three errors apiece on April 26, it’s hard to say that the difference came down to the fielders.

In the end, the answer seems relatively clear: hits. Getting them, making the most out of them and not giving so many up.

ISU had 17 hits to Drake’s 14. And we can trace that back to a sixth inning rally by ISU that saw two big doubles, each driving in runs, and ultimately the victory. This is a perfect display of the Bulldogs ability from the plate and that, coupled with some precise pitching, would bring the Bulldogs back on course.

The Bulldogs came home, licked their wounds and were finally able to taste the sweet nectar of victory once more against the University of Northern Iowa on April 27.

These two teams met the week prior in Cedar Falls for a doubleheader — in the middle of the Bulldogs losing streak — and the Bulldogs left that series with their tail between their legs.

But it was not so in their second meeting. Drake’s ace Nicole Newman was back on the mound after sitting out for the ISU game and was able to pitch all seven innings. She ended the game with eight strikeouts and kept UNI to only three hits.

UNI did manage to take a

2-0 lead into the fifth inning and it looked as though Drake may be saddled with another disappointing loss, but the Bulldogs clawed their way back with one swing of the bat: a threerun home run from sophomore Kelsey Wright, her first of the season. Drake had three runs on the scoreboard and a fierce desire to keep UNI right where they stood. And they did, with the game ending 3-2.

The Bulldogs then hit the road to take on Illinois State in a twogame series last weekend. (The third game was rained out.) The first game ended in a loss for the Bulldogs, 1-0. But they were able to snag a win in the second game, 7-4. And with the series ending on a good note. Drake may transition back into the winning team that we all know — so long as they continue to fight and get the hits they need.

The Bulldogs were averaging 7.5 hits per game in their first 39 games. In this dry spell, it’s dropped to 5.8 for the last 10 games. And it seems like bad timing. With only one series of regular season play left for the Bulldogs, there’s not a lot of time

to recover.

But, as a die-hard Cubs fan, I have seen my share of disappointing mid-season losses. And in 2015, the Cubbies were able to come back and clinch a wildcard victory then turn around and have one of the best teams in Major League Baseball in 2016. So am I counting the Bulldogs out? No. And nor should anyone else. The Bulldogs are still second in the conference with less than two weeks to go. They’re still in this.

Matthew Gogerty Beat Writer matthew.gogerty@drake.edu @matt_gogo

Women’s Golf finishes 10th in MVC, coach looks toward 2016-17

seniors. It’s good for us to learn from their practice formations, what they have done in the past. And it drives us to continue what they still want us to do.”

“We see what they’ve done over the last couple years, and then we just strive to be what they have accomplished and even greater,” sophomore Drew Ison added. “We just try to push ourselves to be even greater than what we have become.”

Lewis echoed this, noting the tangible lessons that the older players can teach the younger.

“The underclassmen learn from the upperclassmen,” Lewis said, “from how to practice, how to prepare, how to study, how to workout, how to train, there’s definitely valuable lessons no matter what you’re shooting or what you’re scoring to learn the practice habits and the preparation habits from the upperclassmen … We play six, seven deep out of eight, so everybody contributes at some level.”

The Bulldogs are surely one of the more consistent teams across the board in the MVC, as only 17 shots separated Lavery and Huser’s final scores in the conference championship, the second smallest gap of any team.

Individual consistency should improve next year as Drake’s three freshmen and two sophomores enter their next season of collegiate competition.

“They’ve been big factors for us, gaining wonderful experience,” Lewis said. “The guys have shown glimpses here and there of what they can do, but now it’s just a matter of taking that experience and being consistent.”

Glennie leads in Dunn’s absence, wins Elite 18

Rogan Sports Editor adam.rogan@drake.edu @Adam_Rogan

The Drake women’s golf team struggled at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on April 17-19 at the Harborside International course in Chicago, placing 10th out of 10 teams. The Bulldogs faced a number of struggles leading up to and within the tournament.

Tragically, freshman Grace Dunn’s father passed away in the days leading up to the tournament.

“She was in our thoughts the entire time,” head coach Rachael Pruett said.

With Dunn, a player who had the second-best scoring average throughout the season, the Bulldogs were shorthanded for the year’s biggest tournament.

“I think with her there, the results are probably a little bit different,” Pruett said. “That being said, the ladies who were there competed their hearts out and did everything they could to play to the best of their ability.”

At the tourney, sophomore Madison Glennie anchored the Bulldogs with back-to-back 75s in the first two rounds. However, the course toughened as winds picked up and the temperature dropped on the final day of the tournament.

“There were some outside circumstances that kind of got (Glennie) distracted,” Pruett said, mentioning that the sophomore was worried about some schoolwork. “She got off to

a rough start which then will amp up your emotions and anxiety about wanting to play well, wanting to finish well.”

Pruett’s advice to her player while on the course was to “Hit a fairway, hit a green, two putt, move on. Just make it really, really simple,” which helped Glennie finish strongly. Glennie shot an 80 in the third round, which was still the best Drake score on the day. She finished with a total score of 230 to place tied for 15th.

Glennie also received the MVC’s Elite 18 Award, an honor granted to the conference player with the highest cumulative GPA — Glennie has a 4.0 as an English major — who competed in the conference championship for each sport and were nominated by their school.

This was the first time a female golfer won the award for Drake, but Glennie is the 13th Bulldog to win the award since 2015.

In the tournament, Sophia Hill placed second for the Bulldogs with a score of 239, shooting 80-77-82 and tying for 36th place overall. Freshman Adrianna Elliot followed close behind, shooting 80-79-81 for a final score of 240. Elliot tied for 39th place.

The Bulldogs lineup was rounded out by sophomore Brooke Miller who placed 45th with a score of 248.

Overall, the Bulldogs collected a cumulative score of 955, 19 strokes away from ninth place in the conference and 71 away from first. There’s a lot of room for improvement, something that Pruett sees coming in the near future.

“In competition is where it counts and where we need to get better … That’s what the focus will be as the players head home this summer is what the message is going to be, is compete, compete, compete.”

Drake Women’s Golf is only graduating one senior, Katie Clauson, meaning that the team will feature a more experienced roster to go along with two incoming freshmen. That should pay off in next year’s championship.

Pruett also will have more experience as well, as this season was her first as Drake Women’s Golf’s head coach.

“I love being a Bulldog,” she said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be here at Drake and to start building this program and I look forward to really digging in this summer.”

Final Standings

SOPHOMORE (left) Tasha Alexander is batting .267 this year. Taryn Pena runs back to the plate after a mound visit with pitcher Kailee Smith. (Left) PHOTOS BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

GOLF

Lavery is the Bulldogs’ best at Conference, places 7th

MEN’S TENNIS

Men’s Tennis falls in conference championship match to Wichita State

Neither Drake nor Wichita State lost a point in the MVC Tournament leading up to their Championship meeting.

Disappointing doesn’t even begin to encompass the end of the Men’s Tennis season. After winning the Missouri Valley Conference two years in a row and advancing to the NCAA Tournament every year since 2011, the Bulldogs fell to the Wichita State Shockers in the conference championship match 4-3 on May 1.

Technically, the Bulldogs may stay have hope. The NCAA Tournament selection show took place last night after The TimesDelphic went to print, but the loss makes Drake’s chances look bleak.

Wichita State had the home-court advantage as hosts of this year’s conference tournament. The Shockers had a 15-10 overall record and was 2-1 in conference. Drake (entering the match ranked 51 in the nation) wasn’t far behind, 1-2 in conference and 15-11 overall.

The Bulldogs and Shockers had already met once this season when Wichita State came to Des Moines on April 9. The Bulldogs had dominated from end-to-end in that match, winning 4-1, which is why the loss in the conference championship came as such a surprise.

Again, it was Drake’s unpredictable doubles play that led to its downfall. Wichita’s nationally ranked pairing of sophomore Miroslav Herzan and freshman Haru Inoue cruised past Drake senior Ben Lott and sophomore Ben Stride by a score of 6-2 on court no. 2. Sophomores Bayo Phillips and Ben Wood went up against Jocelyn Devilliers and Tin Ostojic (ranked 83rd in the nation as an individual) on court no. 1, where they fell 7-5.

Similarly, Drake had lost the double points in the 2015 Conference Championship, but had come back with four wins in singles. This year’s team was unable to do that.

Wichita State added to their lead with wins on courts 4 and 5 as Inoue defeated Phillips 6-4, 6-2 and freshman Eddie Stoica took down Drake freshman Tom Hands 7-5, 6-2.

These wins put the Shockers up 3-0, just one point away from a conference championship, but Drake’s top three players were still on the court.

It was close, but sophomore Calum MacGeoch fought his way to a straight set 6-3, 7-6 win on court no. 3.

Drake 1, Wichita State 3.

Lott, playing in what would end up being his final collegiate match, battled back after getting swept in the first set by Ostojic on court no. 1. Lott fought for a 7-6 tiebreaker victory in the second set to force a third set, which he would win handily, 6-2.

Drake 2, Wichita State 3.

Freshman Vinny Gillespie found himself in another close match, this time on court no. 2, for his third three-setter in five matches. He’d narrowly lost the first set in a tiebreaker, but evened the match with a 7-5 win in a 12-game second set. Set three

would prove to not be quite so close, as Gillespie held on to a match clinching 6-3 victory.

The score: 3-all.

Drake had survived with wins coming on the top three courts, but now the attention turned to court no. 6 where Stride was fighting to hold on to a lead against Wichita State senior Sergio de Vilchez.

Stride had won the first set easily 6-0, but de Vilchez didn’t want his final college match to go down as a loss. He won the next set 6-4, pushing for a third set.

The third set would decide de Vilchez and Stride’s match, the team match and which team would win the 2016 MVC Championship.

Stride looked good in the first five games, springing out to a 4-1 lead. But then the Shockers’ home crowd got behind de Vilchez, helping turn the tide. He won the next game, and the next and the next to tie it up at four. The crowd energy elevated with the score tied, helping further de Vilchez’s comeback.

de Vilchez won the next two games to seal the championship,

sending the Bulldogs back home in defeat.

With Lott as Drake’s lone senior, the Bulldogs will have more experience next year though four rising juniors and three rising sophomores. The rivalry with Wichita State will remain tight, however, as the only graduating Shockers are de Vilchez and Ostojic.

Looking at the Wichita State match, Drake’s biggest weakness appears to be its depth. The Bulldogs won all three matches on the top courts and lost all three on the bottom.

The Bulldogs also haven’t shown consistency in doubles.

Near the beginning of the season, they had a stretch where they won six of seven doubles matches from February to mid-March. They lost the next four, then won five of the next six leading up to the championship match.

Only time will tell if they can improve over the summer to be ready for the fall 2016 season, where they will start seeking to reclaim the title of “conference champions.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Women’s Tennis falls in MVC semifinals to SIU

In a tumultuous season featuring injuries, lineup and roster changes, and a new coach, the Drake Women’s Tennis season ended on April 30 at the hands of the Southern Illinois Salukis in the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

After finishing the regular season with a record of 14-11 (4-3 in the MVC), the Bulldogs entered the conference tournament ranked third and face off with no. 6 Missouri State in the quarterfinal first round on April 29.

Maddie Johnson continued dominating down the stretch of her senior campaign, winning 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Tess Herder and freshman Joely Lomas won in straight sets as well, helping carry Drake to a 4-1 victory.

Second ranked Southern Illinois had swept Northern Iowa, advancing them to the second round where they met Drake for an early afternoon match.

The Bulldogs were set down quickly in doubles: Lomas and Brills went down 6-2 on court no. 2, and then Johnson and fellow senior Mariel Ante lost 6-3 on court no. 1. Johnson bounced back from the doubles loss in singles, again dominating. She nearly swept Southern Illinois’ Athena Chrysanthou with a 6-1, 6-1 victory to tie the match at one.

The win improves Johnson’s season record to 17-3. She went undefeated on courts 1 and 2, and

had a 13-match winning streak to close the year and her career. Eight of those matches were straight set wins. Her teammates weren’t able to back her up though, as Southern Illinois cruised past the Bulldogs on the way to victory.

The Salukis advanced to the championship match where they met a dominant, ranked Wichita State team that hasn’t lost since February 22 and was undefeated in conference. No MVC opponent has even put up a point against the Shockers this season and that continued in the tournament as Southern Illinois was blown out 5-0.

Next season, the Bulldogs will look significantly different than they have in the two years previous. Four seniors will be graduating and the team will be dominated by its three juniors: Brills, Herder and Mela Jaglarz.

Lomas will seek more consistency in her sophomore season. She started 2016 at 3-4, but finished the season at 12-8. Current freshman Kenya Williams should also see action next season after sitting throughout spring 2016.

After serving as an interim head coach in spring 2016, John Hollimon will also be departing the team, meaning that a new, full-time head coach will assuredly be brought in over the summer.

The Bulldogs may look quite different next year, but they will look to continue improving next season. After five consecutive losing seasons from 2006-10, Drake Women’s Tennis has posted winning records every year since and will look to continue that success in 2016-17.

Adam Rogan Sports Editor adam.rogan@drake.edu @Adam_Rogan

Adam Rogan Sports Editor adam.rogan@drake.edu @Adam_Rogan

THE SENIORS: Maddie Johnson (top) and Mariel Ante (bottom) led the Bulldogs on courts 1 and 2 throughout their final seasons. It’s still unclear who will fill those spots in 2016-17. PHOTOS BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SENIOR Ben Lott (left) tracks a ball in the backcourt at one of his final matches in the Roger Knapp Tennis Center this season. (Right) Lott and freshman Vinny Gillespie sit on the bench to get a drink and towel down during a break during one of their doubles matches. The duo finished the year 4-1 when paired together in doubles in 2016. PHOTOS BY MOHAMAD SUHAIMI | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER