CARDINAL CHORAL GETS ‘GLORIOUS’
NEWS NIC drops Higher One | Page 2 PERSPECTIVE Flight attendants need love too| Page 4 FEATURES Hypnotist comes to NIC | Page 7
Students perform Vilvadi classics | Page 6
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE Volume 68 | Issue 8
W W W. N IC S EN TIN EL . C O M
MONDAY | MARCH 23, 2015
CAMPUS
‘Doctor Who’ up for discussion Rachel Anderson Staff Writer
Cardinals start season NIC Women’s softball team prepare for upcoming season Sports Page 9
Obama addresses students Tyson Juarez Managing Editor White House officials invited journalism students from across the countr y to listen and join in on a conference call regarding the recently announced Student Aid Bill of Rights (SABR) on March 11. President Barack Obama, U.S Secretar y of Education Arne Duncan and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council James Kvaal gave statements over phone regarding the SABR and the Presidential memorandum that the president had signed a day before on March 10. The memorandum was
signed as an effort to get the Department of Education and other federal agencies to do more to help loan borrowers and help on previous actions the president has taken to make college more affordable. “We’re continuing to just chip away at this problem; there’s no silver bullet,” President Obama said. “We’re going to have to do things at the federal level, state level, at the university level to really mobilize the entire countr y around this issue of college affordability.” According to the president, the executive action is intended to improve the way the federal government interacts with
students when it comes to student loans, cutting out the bureaucracy. The president is urging citizens as well as Congress to sign their names supporting the SABR and reformation of college costs. President Obama stated that the main principles of the SABR are to make affordable college available for all students, for resources that pay for college to be easily accessed by all students, for ever y borrower to have the right to a fair repayment plan and for ever y borrower to have the right to quality customer ser vice, reliable information and fair treatment,
even if the student is struggling to repay their loans. The president got the ball rolling on college cost reformation earlier this year when he announced a plan to reduce the cost of community college to zero. “We want to mobilize the energy and focus the attention of ever ybody nationally around the basic principles that can make it easier for young people to get the education they need,” said President Obama. For information on the Student Aid Bill of Rights and to sign your name to support the bill, visit WhiteHouse.gov/ CollegeOpportunity.
English club talks Chaucer Maddie Chapman Staff Writer
T
he Todd lecture hall was filled with the histor y and literar y contributions of Geof frey Chaucer presented by English teacher, dual credit mentor, and assistant chair Molly Michaud on March 18. The lecture included a histor y of Chaucer’s home, London, and what it was like during Chaucer’s time, a time-line of Chaucer’s life and Chaucer’s accomplishments and literar y contributions.
QUOTABLE
See DOCTORWHO | Page 7
President Barack Obama signs the presidential memorandum for the Student Aid Bill of Rights on March 10. The president addressed college students directly on the issue the day after. Photo courtesy of Reuters.
Chaucer was well known for his militar y ser vice and eventually worked as a customs agent and later directed all royal constr uction work during his time which were ver y highly ranked jobs. Chaucer also ser ved as a “secret agent” for the king. Chaucer is credited for coining over 2000 words of the English language (more than Shakespeare) that we use today and was the first to write English literature. Chaucer wrote many works and among those was the “Canterbur y Tales.” This was a comical
“Is Better Call Saul better than Breaking Bad? Of course.”
Perspectives Page 4
Chaucer illistration by Leo Schnepf
The small room is brimming with people–tic tic–ever yone is young: one is a child. It smells lightly of bubble gum and B.O.–tic tic–a wall is broken down to allow more people in–tic tic–the speaker is late–tic tic. He’s here. He brings with him a small plastic TARDIS and a Dalek toy, well-known symbols in the ‘Doctor Who’ world. A fan of the show since the early ’80s, Professor Kevin Decker gave a lecture about the philosophy of ‘Doctor Who’ to the Philosophy Club Friday afternoon in the Echo Bay Room of the SUB. As a philosophy professor at Eastern Washington University, he uses his in-depth knowledge of philosophy to analyze pop culture– more specifically Doctor Who. The show itself was not created by one person, which leads Decker to conclude this is why it has been so intriguing throughout the years. It is also the longest-running science fantasy show, titled as such because the writers don’t worr y about real science, unlike in the science fiction genre. Decker began analyzing the philosophy of ‘Doctor Who’ while writing a chapter of an anthology called “‘Doctor Who’ and Philosophy: It’s Bigger on the Inside.” He then went on to write his own book “Who is Who? The Philosophy of’ Doctor Who,’” which much of the lecture was based on. Philosophy Club Treasurer Jeremiah Serrell, 20, philosophy, CDA learned of the “Whovian” professor after meeting a recruiter from EWU in the SUB. Officers of the club had been discussing the application of philosophy to popular culture for a while so he knew Decker was the perfect choice. “If anyone is considering transferring to Eastern, they should definitely take his class,” said Maddie Nilges, 20, Gen Educatio, Hayden. “Just this one lecture added another dimension to one of my favorite shows, so taking a whole semester would be amazing.” Showing clips of the show from its beginning to the 15 anniversar y special, Decker explained that the Doctor himself is a Romantic philosopher. Like those who lived in the era of European Romanticism, he proves that the characteristics of the show’s lead character are similar to Romantic scientists and philosophers. Both the 900-and-something Doctor and the 200-and-something Romantics are guided by emotion, mood swings, self doubt and an altered view of reality. “I’m more of a philosopher than a Doctor Who fan,” said Serrell. “I’ve never seen the show, but I could see the recurring Romantic themes popping up in the scenes he showed us.” As a pacifist with a desire to
n in “middle stor y written d is about peoEnglish” and ple going on a pilgrimage, or medieval road trip. Miared it to the chaud compared “fun bus to Vegas.” “The Canterbur y Tales” are unause Chaucer finished because passed away before he could complete ete them. Michaud will be teaching intro to literature terature 175 in the fall and Chaucer haucer will be introduced in that course. NIC also of fers rs a British literature class ss which also includes works by Chaucer for or those interested ted in learning more.
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