Tuesday, April 19, 2016 | Volume 211 | Number 139 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Former Cyclone sues Bill Fennelly, ISU Nikki Moody claims racial discrimination By Luke.Manderfeld @iowastatedaily.com Former ISU women’s basketball star Nikki Moody filed a lawsuit against ISU coach Bill Fennelly, Iowa State and the state of Iowa for racial discrimination that created a “hostile environment” during her time at Iowa State. The lawsuit, which was filed
Friday in the state district court in Polk County, claims Moody, along with other African-American players, were treated differently than white players. Moody claims in the suit that Fennelly “called her names, criticized her, made negative comments about her and her family, and alienated her from fans, teammates, staff, and her own parents.” Lyndsey (Medders) Fennelly, a former player and Fennelly’s daughter-in-law, said she saw “zero” of what Moody is claiming. “I know that the consistency and the character of him is displayed through the many, many,
Student exchange offers eye-opening adventures across the world By Erin.Gruba @iowastatedaily.com With the changing seasons, students may desire to travel to study, but not necessarily across seas. National Student Exchange gives students the opportunity to spend a semester or a full academic year in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Chrissy Rewerts, junior in history, said she wanted to get away from Iowa. She heard about NSE through a seminar class and thought it was a good stepping-stone toward studying abroad. She chose to spend a spring semester at the University of Alaska Southeast because it was different and unique, and she wanted to see the Northern Lights. “Alaska sounded so foreign and so adventurous and somewhere I probably won’t get the chance to go many other times,” Rewerts said. She took 13 credits while there and said it was the perfect amount. She
many former players who can’t wait to give him a big hug the next time they see him,” Lyndsey said. The lawsuit also says that Moody repeatedly expressed her issues with Fennelly’s behavior with other members of the women’s basketball staff, but nothing was done. Moody filed a complaint with the Iowa State University Office of Equal Opportunity against Fennelly in April 2015, according to the lawsuit. Iowa State responded by stating Moody’s complaint was “thoroughly reviewed” by Iowa State’s Office of Equal Opportunity and found no signs of racial
also got a job working at the cafeteria. Rewerts said the outdoor studies major is popular in Alaska, and as a non-outdoor studies major student, she still got to take physical education classes that gave her the opportunity to do outdoor things with the other students. She took a winter backpacking class, where she hiked to different places and slept in igloos for a weekend. Rewerts said she was surprised a steady mist of rain fell most days, which affected her mood. “When those one days of sunlight came, it was like the greatest day ever, and you know, a great mood lifter,” Rewarts said. She said she would have liked the school to be bigger and make it easier for her to find classes that could transfer back to Iowa State. The experience was eye-opening for Rewerts because she learned lot about herself, and the independence was rewarding. “Going somewhere completely unknown and figuring things out for yourself was so liberating, and the independence was just so great and exciting,” Rewerts said. She advises anyone interested in traveling to a different region to go through with it. “After you leave your comfort zone, there’s so much more learning that can be gained, so I advise people to choose
discrimination. “The university takes very seriously complaints of discrimination and harassment,” the school said in the statement. “Iowa State takes issue with the allegations and looks forward to responding in full to the lawsuit as the legal process proceeds.” Moody claims in the lawsuit that Fennelly called her a “thug” multiple times in her four-year career at Iowa State and that he told other players to stay away from her because she was “a bad influence.” Moody said she realized shortly after arriving at Iowa State in
LAWSUIT p4
a place and stick with it and have the time of their life” Rewerts said. Dylan Thomas, junior in political science, plans on going to Johnson State College in Vermont during the fall semester. He chose to use the program when he heard about it in a seminar class, but started seriously considering it when he started working in the NSE office. He knew he wanted to go somewhere in the New England region and ended up choosing Vermont because it was more central and seemed like a good fit. “It’s a unique spot,” Thomas said. He said he’s excited for the smaller school size of 1,900 students, where he can meet a lot of people and get that closeness. Thomas wishes he would have studied elsewhere a little earlier, but said that either way, it can work out either way and that no one is ever too old to do it. Jade Coulter, senior in psychology, had always wanted to study abroad, and when she heard about NSE, it sparked her interest. It was also a cheap and closer alternative than studying abroad. She decided to spend her fall se-
Iowa State Daily
ISU coach Bill Fennelly talks to Nikki Moody as she jogs toward the bench during a women’s basketball game March 8, 2014.
mester at the University of Virgin Islands St. Thomas for the different culture and warm climate. She took 12 credits and switched some classes around so they could transfer back to Iowa State. Coulter found it particularly interesting to be surrounded by such a diverse population. “Going to Iowa State, it was a lot of diversity, but then going down there, it was just so much more and just getting a different culture was just really rewarding, you know,” Coulter said. “You can learn that the world is a much bigger place than you think it is.” Coulter said she was often offered rides on her way to her job at the surf shop because people thought she was a tourist. “People look at you, they see that you’re white, and they’re like, ‘Oh, hey, you will give me money if I tell you that I’ll give you a ride somewhere,’” Coulter said. “So it was different to be the one that people are looking at differently.” Coulter visited the beach in between classes during her stay in the Virgin Islands. She also snorkeled and hung
STUDENT EXCHANGE p4
Student seeks support for goal Regents’ website design Sam Schulte hopes students become integrated in Ames By Christie.Smith @iowastatedaily.com The Ames community is aiming to integrate college students as permanent residents. As the ex-officio representative on Ames City Council, Sam Schulte, senior in biochemistry, represents the student perspective as a non-voting member. Schulte cannot vote on city matters, but he can weigh in on issues relevant to the student demographic. When interviewed by the Daily last semester, Schulte said he had
one major goal before his term as ex-officio was over — he wanted to form a commission made up of student, university and community representatives to focus on the integration of ISU students in the Ames community. Schulte has made good on his promise to commit to a joint commission and has earned himself another year to iron out the details after being reselected by the incoming Student Government president to continue serving as ex-officio. A joint commission was established in 2008 as the Student Affairs Commission, according to city documents. The Student Affairs Commission was made up of 15 members from various constituencies. Over time, the commission lost its effectiveness. College towns face the unique
challenge of integrating university students into the community of permanent residents who stick around for more than four years. “It was too large,” Schulte said. “The membership was too specific, and that led to difficulties in retaining members, in finding interested members as well as finding times at which everyone was available.” In spring 2013, Sawyer Baker, the ex-officio representative at the time, presented a letter to the council with her concerns about the Student Affairs Commission and possible solutions to reinvigorate the group. One of the issues she addressed was the lack of specific goals for the commission — it had often felt that it didn’t serve a specific purpose.
INTEGRATION p8
in pre-production stage By Jake.Dalbey @iowastatedaily.com Starting this week, work will begin on the future Board of Regents website in the first design meeting. Funded out of a necessity to keep the site modern and easy to use, the Board will spend roughly $20,000 on the improvements. The design will be headed by Global Reach, a web design firm located within in Ames. Celebrating its 20th year in Iowa in 2015, the company has worked with site design for major businesses including the Blank Park Zoo, Casey’s and Court Avenue Brewing Co. After deliberation the Board chose Global
Reach over five other website design firms. Josh Lehman, senior communications director for the Iowa Board of Regents, sees the website overhaul as a need to create a site that excels in ease of use for visitors. “We are just getting started with the design, we want to have a website that is clean and attractive while also easy to navigate,” Lehman said. “We also want to make sure that the website is fully responsive, accessible and is easy to find information.” Responsive website design is a trend that is in direct response to the increased use of small media devices such as tablets and
WEBSITE p4