NEWS ASNIC welcomes new senators| Page 2 PERSPECTIVE Hillary Clinton our only hope?| Page 4 FEATURES Misanthrope brings big laughs | Page 7
Check out this week’s issue for an intergalactic twist.
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE Volume 68 | Issue 10
W W W. N IC S EN TIN EL . C O M
MONDAY | MAY 4, 2015
CAMPUS
Bekken pleads not-guilty Annie Stonebreaker News Editor
Cardinals for the win Rugby team wins division III championship. To be presented trophy. Sports Page 13
The new recreational center is planned to be built next to the Residence Hall. The plans are awaiting approval from the Dormitory Housing Commision. Photo Courtesy of nic.edu
New recreation center approved Lizeth Meinguer Assistant Editor
A
fter a decade and a half of pushing back the proposal of the construction for a new recreational center at NIC, the board of trustees approved it on April 22. “I am proud to announce that we got the approval for the student recreation center at the board of trustees,” ASNIC President Richard For tman said. “The project has finally come to pass as far as the board of trustees go.” For tman said there are still numbers to consider, but the first and largest step has
been accepted and now the project is waiting for the approval of the Dorm Housing Commission. Some changes were made due to the discontent of students who will be paying for a rec center that they would not be utilizing. The major change, For tman said, was to decrease the student fee from $100 to $37 each semester for the first year, star ting this coming fall, and $87 the subsequent semesters until 2022. Coordinator for Outdoor Pursuits Jon Totten said he would not be terribly concerned about the approval from the Dorm Housing Commission because it is going to happen.
“I think we have nailed the location, it is going to be great,” Totten said. “It really excites someone like me to potentially get the oppor tunity to use a facility like this.” The board of trustees has approved the proper ty and the Dorm Housing Commission, who does the actual bond and payment, will be meeting next Wednesday to look at the numbers and make a decision. Totten said after the numbers are approved they will be looking for architects, engineers and contractors to hire. Then they will star t the planning and design process. The new rec center will
be a 30,000 square-foot facility located in south of River Avenue behind Winton Hall, where the tennis cour ts are. The total project cost is estimated at $7.7 million, which would be sustained with student fees and staf f members’ memberships. The bond total with a thir ty-year maturity is estimated at $14.5 million. The possible amenities would be free weights, jogging track, a rock climbing wall, cardio equipment, locker rooms, and basketball and volleyball cour ts. “I think this would be good for students,” Robin Schaum, 18, histor y major, said. “I would use it even if I have to pay for it.”
Students attend last common read of semester Maddie Chapman Staff Writer NIC faculty and students gathered in the SUB Tuesday, April 21, to discuss pover ty and ways to address the issue inspired by the common read “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehnreich. Sponsored by Diversity Events and the Diversity Steering Committee to promote ef for ts related to diversity at the college, this was the first common theme symposium at NIC, but won’t be the last. It is planned to have a discussion like this each year re-
QUOTABLE
Joseph Bekken plead not guilty this past Tuesday in his hearing at the Kootenai County courthouse. His trial is set to begin in September of this year. He was let go from 6 years as NIC’s Financial Aid Director after an investigation revealed him to be the suspect in a scheme soliciting sex acts in return for scholarship funds. Initially an ad was posted in the personal section on Craigslist offering a deal for NIC students with a description that read, ““I have some grant money that I can get applied to your account. I just look for some fun in return.” The FBI and NIC’s resource officer Gus Wessel conducted a Joseph Bekken joint investigation and Wessel lured In Bekken by responding to the Craigslist ad with an undercover identity of a female student. After about two weeks of messaging back and forth Wessel set up an undercover sting, where he provided an address for Bekken to come meet for the exchange. Bekken procured 587$ of financial aid funds and deposited it into the fake account Wessel set up, and then arrived at the address to be apprehended by Wessel and the FBI. He admitted during questioning to using Craigslist since 1999 for casual sexual encounters mostly with adult men. “I as a student to some extent feel cheated about this because I have applied for financial aid and I didn’t get it and a lot of people don’t. What a situation like this does is it gives people the impression that there should be a lack of trust in the financial aid department,” NIC student Jeremiah Serrell said, 20, philosophy, Coeur d’Alene “And I don’t think that’s any kind of outlook students should have towards those giving out financial aid, it should be based on merit absolutely.” A month later a female student came forward and debunked Bekken’s honesty by admitting to accepting a handsome sum of financial for nude pictures she sent to him. So far no one else has come forward. Bekken posted bail after it was reduced from $100,000 to $25,000 and he currently faces five felony charges, including burglary and attempted procurement of a prostitute, attempting to misuse public money, bribery, using a computer in a scheme to defraud and burglary. NIC’s President Joe Dunlap said “I am grateful for the knowledge and training of our staff, which resulted in a swift and decisive response to this incident.” His wife has filed for divorce and seeks to cut all ties. Most recently, NIC hired a new financial aid advisor, Stephanie House, who has worked for NIC as a technician for about 11 years.
lating to the common theme and common read. There were six NIC faculty speakers presenting ideas on what pover ty is, ways to go about fixing it and inexpensive medical assistance options for those living in pover ty and unable to af ford medical care or needed medications. “I judge pover ty and inequality to be the most cr ucial issue of our age,” said speaker and philosophy instr uctor Pat Lipper t. Lipper t gave a presentation on individualism and inequality, inspired by the book “Habits of the Hear t” by Rober t Bellah. Lipper t
“I honestly really didn’t care for the movie that much. It was boring, too long and outdated.”
explained four understandings of what it is to be an individual and how these could help with pover ty. Sociology instr uctor Dr. James Love spoke about the issue in terms of race. Love presented data about what pover ty is and how it has af fected dif ferent races. A single person making $11,670 a year which is about $5.61 an hour is considered to be in pover ty. $8.50 an hour is the calculated living wage for this county. In the U.S. ever y 1-in-4 black and Hispanic people are in pover ty. The definition of pover ty is a condition of deprivation in
which a person cannot live with dignity in society. The U.S. is not the only countr y af fected by pover ty. Student Ladd Ser wat gave a presentation on the exploitation of sub-Saharan Africa in the age of globalization. Ser wat spoke about his own experiences while doing foreign studies in Africa. Ser wat witnessed what living in pover ty does to people in Africa and student Michael Holloman experienced it in the U.S. Holloman gave his background
See COMMON READ | Page 3
WHERE TO START News...........................2
Sports.........................13
Perspectives............4 Games................. 15 Features..............7
Perspectives Page 5
Anthrax....................8
class days left
5
UNTIL SUMM
Choose love.........16
BREAK
ER