INSIDE: GRIDIRON Iowa State vs. Kansas State
Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | Volume 210 | Number 9 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
PERSON OF INTEREST
CAMPUS
An Imperfect Inspiration
Iowa State violates Clery Act By Danielle.Ferguson @iowastatedaily.com
Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily
Learning how to play chess from his brother in 1963, David Skaar now spends a few hours around Carver Hall, inviting students to play chess with him and listen to his stories. Skaar seems to be well-versed in philosophy and has nothing but words of wisdom to any willing to hear what he has to say.
Chess player talks about life, philosophy at Carver By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com
“E
xcuse me,” David Skaar yelled to two students crossing the sidewalk near his bench. “I’ve got a handkerchief. How do you make that handkerchief dance?” The two men paused on the sidewalk. “You put a boogie in it!” He yelled, finishing with a shimmy. They laughed a little nervously, smiled and left. “Time to burn and time to choose” From his shaded spot on the sidewalk between Carver and Beardshear halls, Skaar waits with his canvas board, wood chess set and boom box to snatch students off the sidewalk so they’ll sit with him and learn a little about chess. The 58-year-old man has camped outside of Carver for a little while every couple of days since last fall, rattling off chess rules and history to any lucky student willing to spend a little time to hear his personal philosophies. “I have a lot of people come up who have played before, and some people come up and say ‘I’d like to learn.’ I say, ‘Let’s learn.’” The former motorcycle mechanic comes to campus “where a whole city pass-
es by in a few hours” to pass along some perspective to students, keeping them from getting lost in their social media and schedules. “Coming on campus, there’s a culture going by here. It’s nice to say hi to people. I don’t want to get into a cold culture. I like the safety,” Skaar said of Iowa State. “I like that women can go jogging. I lived in [Los Angeles] for 18 years, and there are areas you wouldn’t want to be at night.” The whistling tones of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” filtered through the speakers of his boom box from a CD he found at Goodwill while Skaar detailed the way he spreads his own good will. He plays chess and disc golf and he keeps people guessing. “I live over on Campus Avenue, kind of over in the mecca of the youth culture of Saturday night,” Skaar said. “One night I took glow sticks, broke them in half, taped them on the end and tried drumming to the drumming beat. You get the guys and the girls going by going to their parties. They say, ‘What’s up with this guy?’ I’m not there to take away their fun. You’re only young once, and I want to yell out, ‘Remember being young. Remember!’” After more than two decades in California, Skaar moved back to Story City to take care of his father who suffered from a stroke. After seven and a half years, Skaar’s father passed away from the flu in 2010. “Then I had to get back to the real world, but yet I couldn’t find a job as a motorcycle mechanic. The economy you know? So I went to Hubbard and trained to
CARVER p8
Iowa State was found out of compliance because of the way students and employees were informed about sexual assaults or other crimes, according to an internal audit. The June 17 report showed that Iowa State wasn’t following current interpretations of the Clery Act. Under the Clery Act, colleges and universities that are part of the federal aid program are to share information about crimes that happen on or around campus that may pose a continuing threat to students and employees. With Iowa State’s process, some crimes would be reported and posted to the ISU Police Department’s page but not sent out in a mass message. “The auditors felt like that was inappropriate and that we should push out the information to students and employees any time we have that kind of information,” said Keith Bystrom, ISU associate counsel. The current interpretation of the Clery Act says the university should communicate with individuals so they don’t have to take the extra step to go to the website, said Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance. “This has not been about whether we are providing notice,” Madden said. “It’s a question about how we do it and in essence how do we communicate with the 40,000 individuals that are on the emergency notification lists.” The Clery Act requires that universities must issue timely warnings that spread information quickly by email, voicemail or text message, according to the Handbook of Campus Safety and Security from the Department of Education. Timely warnings may not be posted in a way that requires the campus community to search for them, according to the handbook. Timely warnings are issued to inform students and employees of potential risks so they can take the necessary actions to stay safe. Madden said each crime is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There are a few people allowed to issue a timely warning, he said, including the Department of Public Safety and University Relations. “I don’t know that we’re in agreement that we have not been in compliance historically,” Madden said. “We clearly want to be in compliance with the Clery Act.” The internal auditors made recommendations to the university, and Iowa State will discuss the audit at the Tuesday and Wednesday Board of Regents meeting. Madden predicts the recommendations will mean more notifications to the campus community and increased discussion about how the information is communicated.
AMES
Cy statues celebrate Ames By Kelly.Schiro @iowastatedaily.com Starting Sunday, Ames residents might have been wondering from where the 30 6-foot tall Cy statues all around the city came. The statues came about through an initiative called CyclONE City. CyClone City was created by Leadership Ames 27 class, which was developed to make informed, involved and concerned community leaders in the Ames area, according to
the Ames Chamber of Commerce website. The Cy statues are placed all around Ames on streets, in front of businesses and on campus. They will be displayed until Dec. 5, after which some will be auctioned off. Makenzie Heddens, a chairwoman of the project, said the class was approached about organizing the initiative by Dan Culhane, president of the Ames Chamber of Commerce; Jeff Johnson, president of the Alumni Association, and Carole Custer, director of marketing.
“CyclONE City is a showcase of the town and grown relationship between Iowa State University and the city of Ames,” Heddens said. Similar tours have been successful in other cities such as Chicago, Omaha and Iowa City, but Ames has the only tour that will donate all the proceeds from the auction to charity. The leadership class chose to donate to Mainstream Living, a non-profit that provides services to people with disabili-
STATUES p8
Kelby Wingert/ Iowa State Daily
Super Cy, sponsored by Hy-Vee, stands outside Hilton Coliseum. The artist is Hugo Kenemer from Ames. Super Cy is one of 30 statues placed all over campus and the Ames area.