pg. 3 PHOTO COURTESY OF MWSU.EDU
Feb. 25, 2015 | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 79 No. 20
COLD SNAP B E L O W FR E E Z ING
“It was not my first snow day at MSU, and I spent most of the day sleeping.”
“On my day off I binge watched the TV show Avatar the Last Air Bender, and also painted a picture.”
DANNY WOODWARD COMPUTER FRESHMAN
RACHEL INNES THEATER SOPHOMORE
PHOTO BY RACHEL JOHNSON | THE WICHITAN
Alexis Carrizales, biology freshman, pushes her friends Norma Nieto, business sophomore, and Madison Brechbuhl, nursing freshman, down “The Hill’ on makeshift sleds on the first snow day, Feb. 23.
Closure keeps most students indoors COURTNEY GILDER REPORTER
University Officials issued two code-red weather alerts this week, on Monday and Tuesday, canceling classes and closing most of the campus. The dining hall, CSC, Wellness Center and Moffett Library remained open both days. On Tuesday, Feb. 24 the Mustangs Route ran from 1-5 p.m. After two days of temperatures in the mid to upper 70s, the Greater Wichita Falls Community woke up Monday morning to a solid sheet of ice, sleet and snow covering the ground and a high of
Potential President
pg. 3
Suzanne Shipley visited campus yesterday as the first of three candidate visits for the presidential search.
only 27 degrees. The surrounding independent school districts called school before 6 a.m. but University Officials delayed classes and then waited until 7:35 a.m. to cancel classes for Monday, Feb. 23 instead of delaying classes until 10 a.m. For Tuesday, Feb. 24 the surrounding school districts had closed well before the 6 a.m. deadline to the media, but University Officials waited until 9:15 a.m. to cancel rather than of delaying classes until 11 a.m. According to the Policies and Procedures manual, “if the university plans to close offices and/or
Redbox Review
pg. 5
A review of the romantic comedy ‘What If’ starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan.
suspend classes, all area television and radio stations will be notified the previous evening or no later than 6:00 a.m. of the day in question. The exact period of closing will be specified.” The decision to suspend classes both days were made before 6 in the morning and the decision to cancel classes was made later in the morning. Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said, “On both days, the community was notified of a delay before 6 a.m. We always reserve the right to subsequently cancel
see SNOW pg. 3
Game Canceled
pg. 7
The Softball team loses a chance to play against Oklahoma Christian University due to inclement weather.
2 | Feb. 25, 2015 |
Time expectations on students are unrealistic
As students, we take many steps to take our life into our own hands. We apply to a college, schedule ourselves as full-time, find a job in the area, and get to work. Eventually, however, with little free Matt Jobe time and with assignments stacking up, many students begin to wonder if everything being asked of them is really necessary, or if the expectations on students are out of line. Let’s take a look at the time expectations placed on students, and see if they measure up to a realistic standard. According to studies by Indiana University and Duke University, the amount of out-of-class work expected of the average full time freshman is 35+ hours a week. If that student has a part time job, we can add on another 25 hours to our weekly schedule, and including the minimum amount of weekly hours of class required to be a fulltime student, 12 hours, our total so far is 72 hour out of an available 168 hours a week. Right off the bat our personal time is cut in half, but that’s not really unexpected. These are full-time students after all. Let’s add in a couple more things: Students are advised to get at least eight hours of sleep a night, two full Rapid Eye Movement cycles, which are considered crucial to proper brain development in teenagers by any reputable science journal. If students get the full 56 hours of sleep a week that’s recommended to them, our weekly hour count has increased to 128. I believe it is fair to consider the time we need to maintain a healthy diet, which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Before anyone complains, breakfast is considered to be invaluable to college students, as the extra nutrients you gain in the morning will fuel you into the rest of the day and promote a healthy metabolism. A study by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health even claims that students who eat breakfast every day average two full points higher on their GPA than students who don’t, but I couldn’t find the full study, so take that one with a grain of salt.) These meals can take
the
around 30-45 minutes to eat, from about 14 hours a week. Those 168 hours are starting to dwindle. We’ll include the average ten hours of extracurricular activities concerning majors that colleges often advise students to partake in for the experience. Students in journalism may help with the school paper, law students will participate in debates, art majors will likely help set up galleries etc. Ten hours is by no means a stretch. (The actual number is closer to 25 according to a click-baiting article on Huffington Post’s site). These activities are all according to national advisements and averages and absolutely does not take into account the small immeasurable events that happen every day, such as speaking with your professor’s after class, phone calls with missed family members, walking to every class and meal, etc., which are not only common but almost reliably frequent, so as to become a normal part of a students life. The total amount of hours per week students are expected to spend on necessary impersonal activities amount to about 155 of 168 available hours in the week. On average a student who fills these expectations to the letter and attempts to hold a part time job will retain 2 full hours of free time a day, including weekends. That is not enough free time for students, especially for the weekends. Students who decide they need more time will inevitably be forced to give up time in either their social life, their student responsibilities, their sleep or their personal health. If these are the numbers we truly expect our students to go by, then something has to be changed. Students need more than two hours a day off, especially on the weekends. We are supposed to be able to pursue friendships, have personal time, keep up with interests outside of school, attend church, and keep in contact with loved ones on an hour a week. This is entirely unrealistic. We need to take steps to change the untimely expectations. We need time.
Midwestern State University Fain Fine Arts Bldg., Room B103 3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 (940) 397-4704 - wichitan@mwsu.edu
Officials made good call
Our view: When the weather worsened, the university officials handled the situation diligently and effectively to maintain the safety of everyone on campus. They maintained communication with everyone and sent out notifications immediately.
Many people thought that just because there was only an inch of ice and sleet on the roads we should have had school. But according to the Common Data set for fall 2012, 77 percent of undergraduate students are commuters. Some students and staff travel from Olney, Electra, Henrietta or further everyday. These people traverse the roads that aren’t traveled as often as the highways and streets in Wichita Falls. Chief of University Police Dan Williams drove the roads Tuesday morning and helped decide that these roads were not safe for commuters to travel to campus. Also the streets and parking lots on campus this morning were a solid sheet of ice and sleet making it impossible to see the lines for parking spots. These conditions are not safe for anyone to travel on. University Officials made the correct call. They maintained the safety of everyone that would be traveling today. They also made sure that they released the information in a timely manner. The timely and diligent manner that officials went about making the call was perfect.
Matt Jobe is a mass communication freshman.
wichitan Vo. 79 | No. 20
S TAF F EDITORIAL
EDITOR: Ethan Metcalf PHOTOGRAPHER: Rachel Johnson BUSINESS MANAGER: Courtney Gilder DESIGNER: Brianna Sheen ADVISER: Bradley Wilson
Copyright © 2015. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief (250 words or fewer) and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address. The editor retains the right to edit letters.
First presidential candidate visits, speaks at postponed public forum ETHAN METCALF EDITOR
T
he first of three finalists for the new university president claimed to be a local girl who grew up in Lubbock, but her localness was truly confirmed when Robert McBroom, a physician and attendee of yesterday’s forum, asked Suzanne Shipley, president of Shepherd University, if she had a brother named Wesley. “You probably remember me. My name is Robert McBroom,” he said before Shipley cut him off. “Oh no, you’re Bob McBroom,” Shipley said. “He’s my first boyfriend.” Shipley visited campus yesterday for an interview with the Board of Regents followed by the public forum, and despite wanting to see an old friend at the forum, McBroom also endorsed Shipley’s run for university president. “She was always a strong presence. Not in the bad way. She was always a definite leader, both in church and in a lot of high school,” McBroom said. “I haven’t seen her in 40 years. I was taking a little bit of a chance, but she looked very familiar to the young lady I recall.” Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said the public forums are an important part of the presidential search. “Any time you hire the leader of a public institution, you’re essentially setting a course for the institution. That individual needs to be thoroughly vetted by everyone who’s affected and it needs to be a transparent, open process,” Lamb said. “And that’s essentially what this represents. It allows the stakeholders to hear the candidate, meet the candidate and ask questions
Q: What traditions were you a part of at Shepherd, and how do you see tradition playing into the undergraduate experience? A: It’s fun for students to be able to see that when they graduate there will still be a Midwestern State life for them and an MSU for them, that it does go on. Being able to celebrate your connections to this place is really important. COLEMAN REIDLING, HISTORY SOPHOMORE
PHOTO BY RACHEL JOHNSON | THE WICHITAN
A candidate for the presidencey of MWSU, Suzanne Shipley, now president of Shephard University, speaks with her ‘first boyfriend’ Robert McBroom, a local physician, at a forum Feb. 24. of the candidate.” Shepherd University is member of the Council of Public
see FORUM pg. 7
Q: Do you think there is any spot or opportunity to pull ballet into the fine arts program? A: Dance within other programs would be easier than dance alone. I would look at musical theater or other theater connections or other recreational connections and then growing the interest in the programs.
Q: Do you think enhancing the Greek Life program would increase Midwestern State’s retention rate above 70 percent? A: I read about the interest in Greek housing or better placement for Greek Life, and if that’s a really strong interest in today’s student body, then student affairs can look at the programming and see how they respond to that interest.
MEREDITH GARRISON, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT JUNIOR
CLAYTON BROWN, HISTORY SOPHOMORE
T O D AY: FO R U MS WITH DR. ANDREW ROGERSON 10-11:30 A.M. STAFF FORUM | 12-1 P.M. FACULTY FORUM | 3-4 P.M. STUDENT FORUM | 5:30-6:30 P.M. COMMUNITY AND ALUMNI FORUM
MA RC H 2: FO RU MS WITH THIRD CANDIDATE NAME AND RESUME OF CANDIDATE WILL BE RELEASED MARCH 1 AT 8 A.M.
| Feb. 25, 2015 | 3 SNOW pg. 1 if we feel conditions are unsafe at the time the delay is to end.” Lamb said the university considers the safety of the students when traveling to and around campus. Before a recommendation is made, traveling safety is considered as well as the safety of everyone once on campus. “The last two days, in particular, the roads were hazardous and provided safety concerns accessing the campus,” Lamb said. “The parking lots were iced-over, especially this morning, and there were safety concerns with individuals walking on ice through parking lots where cars were also traveling. We do not want to put anyone at risk getting to, or traversing, campus.” The campus police are consulted in the process of making a closing or delay for inclement weather as well as public information, the Provost, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the City of Wichita Falls in order to update the Mustangs Route travel information. “The normal guideline is to make a decision by 6 in the morning,” Julie Gaynor, director of marketing and public information, said. “We stay in contact with the police chief and the president, and he has the final say.” Gaynor said they try to guage whether the roads and parking lots will be safe by the time classes start. “They were just trying to decide whether the sun would come out on time and melt the ice, but the parking lots were still almost completely frozen over,” Gaynor said. “We have a lot of stakeholders to consider, not just local students but also commuters and staff.” Some faculty and students had concerns that some people didn’t have Internet connection in their homes and the notification for the second day came in late at 9:15 p.m. Gaynor said, “As soon as the decision is made we send an e-mail to local TV stations and the local news, and they did a good job of immediately getting it on their screens and websites. I would just say to turn on your TV and make sure. We had a nice buffer, since there was already a delay till 11, and we had to make the right decision.” The campus police are a vital component in establishing a delay or closing campus. “Early in the morning we always drive around the streets on and around campus,” Chief of University Police Dan Williams said. “We try to get a feel for the safety of the parking lots and streets. The officers who are on duty during the night keep a close watch on road conditions on campus as well as roads in Wichita Falls. They drive the various major thoroughfares in Wichita Falls and they also check campus closely. They determine how safe the roads are to drive on and how safe the campus sidewalks and parking lots are for students to traverse. We also evaluate reports we get from the National Weather Service and we are in communication with the City of Wichita Falls and The Texas Department of Public Safety.” Williams said that he was out early Tuesday morning to check streets and assist in making the call to cancel schools. “This morning when I was out, you could drive through highways and major intersections, but every parking lot on campus was completely iced over, as well as our own streets and intersections,” Williams said “It would’ve been very dangerous for multiple cars to be on these roads. A lot of people don’t know how to drive on ice, and there are a lot of accidents. A call had to be made.” Additional reporting by Matt Jobe.
4 | Feb. 25, 2015 | U P C OMI N G EVENTS Teaching and Learning Resource Center Wine and Cheese Colloquium | Feb. 26 from 4:30-6 p.m. in Dillard 189 | Free UPB Poetry Night: ODD?ROD | Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. in Clark Student Center Atrium | Free Discover MSU: Dillard College of Business Administration | Feb. 27 at Dillard | Free Softball vs Eastern New Mexico | Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the MSU softball field | Free for students, staff, and faculty. Café Noir: Featuring Music Artist Lakin | Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. in Clark Student Center Comanche Suites | Free Art Workshop with Live Animals from WIld Bird Rescue and River Bend Nature Center | Feb. 28 from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU | Free
Women’s Basketball vs Cameron | Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. in D.L. Ligon Coliseum | Free for students, staff, and faculty. Men’s Basketball vs Cameron | Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. in D.L. Ligon Coliseum | Free for students, staff, and faculty. Counseling Center Academic Workshop: Time Management Skills | March 2 from 7-8 p.m. in Sundance Court apartments third floor meeting room | Free SGA Meeting | March 3 at 7 p.m. in Clark Student Center Comanche Suites | Free Music Series at Akin: Julie Albers & Orion Weiss | March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Akin Auditorium | General admission tickets are $25. Tickets for faculty and staff are $10 and tickets for students are free.
Softball vs Eastern New Mexico | Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at the MSU softball field | Free for students, staff, and faculty.
UPB poetry night to feature professional talent it be from peer to peer, father to daughter, or mother to son,” Lincoln said. According to his website, Odd?Rod is known tudents will have the opportunity this for his use of mental pictures Thursday at 8:30 p.m. to see and role as a social activist, Brett Lincoln, mass comtouring college campuses regmunication junior, and Florida’s ularly to spread words of enword smith Roderick Borisade, couragement and give deeper better known as Odd?Rod, permeaning to the value of educaform in the Atrium as one of the tion. University Programming Board’s “I think it’s important for last Black History Month events. college students to be exposed “I am very excited to have the to every aspect of art, not necopportunity to open up for this essarily what’s mainstream, but artist, whom I really admire,” Linin regard to the underground, coln said. BRETT LINCOLN [because] this is what’s real,” Lincoln expects to dictate two MASS COMMUNICATION Lincoln said. “These are the poems of his own before a crowd JUNIOR topics that, in some cases, peoof at least 50 people, hopefully ple don’t want to talk about— preparing them for the heavier topics to be adthat don’t sound pretty on a page. That’s life, dressed by Odd?Rod. “There is going to be a call to social con- and that’s what we’re trying to put across in our sciousness and for there to be more care, more poems.” loving kindness and more respect, whether
SERAH WELBORN REPORTER
S
“I think it’s important for college students to be exposed to every aspect of art.”
A lot of business gets done on the golf course and in other social settings … you can’t rely on an interpreter there.
96% of employers name “Intercultural Skills” as being one of the two most important considerations when making hires (tied with “Ethics”) 82% of alumni received a competitive edge from their foreign language abilities More than 63 million Americans work for multinational companies
Your employer comes to you wanting to market a product in another country in a way that appeals to local tastes, values and attitudes of non-English speakers … Would you be able to assist, or would that job go to someone else?
There are some things you just have to study!
Foreign Languages, Midwestern State University Bea Wood 116 jeffrey.oxford@mwsu.edu
1/3 of all corporations in the U.S. are either owned or based overseas 1/3 of American companies do business overseas
Credit is available, through proficiency exams, for language ability that you may already have.
| Feb. 25, 2015 | 5
REVIEW
IMAGE COURTESY OF CBS FILMS
Redbox Reviews: ‘What If’ is suck it up. In a lot of ways this character is more hat If” (released in most countries as relatable to a college student than any other type “The F Word”) is a romantic comedy of protagonist, because it is often the case in life starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan. where the best course of action to take is to simply Radcliffe plays Wallace, a depressed med school stu- put your head down and carry on. dent who recently got out of a serious relationship Kazan co-starred as Chantry, a wide-eyed girl with an extremely negative opinion of romance. with a unique way of looking at the world. As soon He meets Chantry (Kazan) and the two hit it off im- as she appears the traits that made her so attractive mediately and become close friends, until Wallace to Wallace was clear. She is cute, nice and intellilearns that Chantry already has a very serious boy- gent, expressing herself mainly through a series of friend, and he has been essentially “friend-zoned.” dry intelligent quips that would catch most people “What If” tells a charming story off guard. Wallace, however, fires of a young man who is completely right back, beginning the relationunsure on his own beliefs on subship that becomes driving force of jects such as friendship, life, and the movie. Dry humor is right up love. Radcliffe’s alley, and he and Kazan I am one of Radcliffe’s surest show a real chemistry that makes critics, as I have not truly enjoyed their scenes together both entera movie he has been in. I hated his taining and endearing. performance in the Harry Potter As I generally dislike Radcliffe’s films, he was in a horror film reperformances in film, I was surprised cently that I do NOT recommend to find his performance relatable and overall, and I think he is piggyand enjoyable. The movie as a whole backing off of his high expectations took me in and involved me in a way as a child actor in Harry Potter and most romantic comedies fail to do, the Sorcerer’s Stone (Oh if only the and the resolution of the cruel situMATT JOBE people that casted that movie knew ation placed on this couple quickly REPORTER that only two of the trio would debecame my only conscience hope. velop into truly talented actors). In my own opinOverall, while the dry humor and ill-handled ion, Radcliffe struggles with showing any kind of situations (many situations could have been rereal emotion, even simple ones like pain or fear are solved by one quick comment by either party, but simply expressed with the same sharp breaths and such is real life) may hurt some people’s opinions, wide eyes. The only emotion that I think he is le- I enjoyed those themes, and due to how invested gitimately capable of expressing is that of repressed I was in the plot, I didn’t realize how much I felt emotion, such as when his character attempts to towards that movie until it was over, and I walked hide his anger, or summon up his courage. away completely satisfied. I highly recommend the Luckily, that was his main emotion throughout movie to anybody, and it is well worth a dollar from the entirety of this movie. Wallace faces the unfair- Redbox. ness of life shoved into his face, and all he can do REVIEW BY MATT JOBE
“ PHOTO BY BRI SHEEN | THE WICHITAN
Two meat plate with brisket and turkey with macaroni, green beans, toasted bread, and a vanilla milkshake from Texas Best BBQ & Burgers
Barbecue joint has variety, nearly lives up to its name REVIEW BY BRI SHEEN
T
exas Best BBQ & Burgers, at the corner of Maplewood and Southwest Parkway, may not be the best, but it’s good. The restaurant is nothing special from the outside, but the interior is well decorated with a cowboy theme throughout. The front counter is situated so that visitors can watch the cooks prepare the food while they check out the menu and the side items are on a buffet set up by the cash register. Customers are greeted with the sights and smells of what they’ll eat. If I hadn’t craved barbecue when I first got there, I would have by the time I walked up to the cashier. I ordered a two meat plate with brisket and turkey, with macaroni and green beans as sides. I took advantage of the free toast by the buffet and also ordered a vanilla milkshake. The front entrance leads into a cozy dining space, but to the the side is an easily-missed walkway into an even bigger room full of tables where my group sat. This area is well decorated and I liked checking out the ‘Cowboy Hall of Fame’ display on the wall. The restaurant wasn’t too busy, but there were about three other tables beside my own. My group’s food took roughly ten
minutes to prepare. My milkshake came out first and was delicious. It was served in the cup they used to mix it, so it stayed ice cold and creamy enough that I didn’t have to struggle to drink it all. It surpassed my expectations of a milkshake from a barbecue restaurant and it was a good way to start out my meal. The restaurant serves a decent helping of meat and offers self-serve sides. The brisket was moist and tender, although it could’ve had more flavor. I didn’t get barbecue sauce, so maybe it would’ve been more flavorful if I had. The macaroni was really good and definitely homemade. My favorite part was the green beans. There were roasted red potatoes and sausage bits in with them and the mixture of flavors was perfect. I don’t know how I missed this restaurant before but I’ll be going back any time I want some barbecue. I don’t know about this restaurant being Texas’ best, but it’s definitely the best I’ve had in Wichita Falls.
TEXAS BEST BBQ & BURGERS 2708 SOUTHWEST PARKWAY #136B WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS 76308 (940) 687-9999 HHHHH
W
“The movie as a whole took me in and involved me in a way that most romantic comedies fail to do.”
70%
Score from Rotten Tomatoes
6.9/10 Average score from IMDB
3.5/4
Score from Roger Ebert Reviews
6 | Feb. 25, 2015 |
2014 FILE PHOTOS BY LAUREN ROBERTS | THE WICHITAN Beth Vealé, director of interdisciplinary education, and Charles Watson, biology asAlejandro Hernandez, mechanical engineering senior, adjusts his poster during the EU- sistant professor, listen to Gamal Francis, biology senior, explain his research at the RECA poster presentations April 25, 2014 in CSC Atrium. EURECA Poster Presentations in CSC Atrium.
EURECA peaks at 25 members SERAH WELBORN REPORTER
F
or 10 years, the university has boasted of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities and Summer Workshop and its other active-learning initiatives. Still, while the undergraduate student population exceeds 5,000, only 25 currently perform research for its newest edition, the Enhancing Undergraduate Research Endeavors and Creative Activities, or EURECA. This is the program’s highest participation rate since its beginning in the fall of 2013. At the start, EURECA’s director Magaly Rincon-Zachary, biology professor, hoped to see students filed outside her office—but that has yet to occur. Funded by donors, EURECA offers undergraduate students the opportunity to collaborate with their professors to produce articles of high academic merit, earning recognition within their desired fields and from $1,500 to $2,000. Such compensation would seem enough to entice students to join, and yet few do. “The problem is that not many students know about it, and I really don’t know what to do,” she said. “I want the students to help me to do the things that they think can promote EURECA better... [but] the word is not getting out.” EURECA advertises through Spirit Days, banners, flyers, t-shirts, and its webpage. Its office is located in the Clark Student Center Atrium—one of the busiest campus locations—where students can speak with Rincon-Zachary and other representatives and pick up a magazine review, which summarizes the accomplishments of recent participants. These resources are available regularly and are, most importantly, free. Rincon-Zachary explained that two or three students demonstrate interest in EURECA each time she presents it to her class. She feels that participation would increase if other faculty members were to do the same. “I think some are so busy that they don’t have time outside their classes to talk about it... Some of us have gotten too comfortable [with] what we do, and we think
JUNE 2014 FILE PHOTO BY EDDIE MILLER | THE WICHITAN
Adile Gendusa, sophomore in nursing, breaks down lizard feces as part of her UGROW research.
we cannot put another thing into our schedule,” RinconZachary said. Faculty mentors give the program direction. So far many have expressed support, including Kirsten Lodge, professor of English, who also advertises EURECA during class time. She is actively involved in her students’ projects, offering criticism and advice as necessary.
“We’re working together, we’re sharing information. We’re both doing the research,” she said. “It’s a great experience, especially if you want to go to graduate school. Even if you go on to do something else, it’s great to do research, to work on a project—to be acknowledged in a book, for example.” Jonathan Henderson, an advisee of Lodge and philosophy senior, was given the opportunity to do just that. He and Nathan Jun, associate professor of philosophy, produced Proletarian Days: A Hippolyte Havel Reader last semester. Experience, not money, was his biggest takeaway: “It was a big deal for me, having my name on the front cover of a book... The ability to do research is extremely important, [as is] learning how to put that research down on paper,” Henderson said. While EURECA’s emphasis on Spirit Days targets freshmen, Henderson and Rincon-Zachary said resources might be used elsewhere. Rincon-Zachary on the basis of the information overload associated with them, and Henderson on qualifications, saying that freshmen don’t necessarily possess the focus and background required to participate. He instead encourages second-semester sophomores and beginning juniors to join. “People know about it, but they either don’t think they have anything to present or they don’t talk to their professors,” Danielle Schwertner, English senior, said. “For me, I wanted to be a part of it, but [I didn’t] know what to do. I knew I wanted to do research, but I didn’t have really anything to do.” Along with mass communication senior Kelly Calame, Schwertner said she was recruited by associate professor Sally Henschel to address new Texas core curriculum standards last semester. She described her experience as positive, saying that others take programs like EURECA for granted. “I don’t think people realize that not many universities have this kind of thing,” Schwertner said. “When you’re at a smaller university, you have more options
see EURECA pg. 7
Last games before LCS play canceled due to weather JESSALYN CASTRO REPORTER
Feb. 19
Drugs: Possession of drug paraphernalia | 2:21 p.m. | Housing reported to MSU Police that drug paraphernalia had been found in a dorm room during maintenance checks.
Theft: misdemeanor | 12:55 p.m. | Fain Fine Arts Center | A student reported to MSU Police the theft of money from her wallet sometime Feb.12-14,while it was in the Fain Fine Arts Building.
Feb. 19
Public intoxication | 10:55 p.m. | Sundance Court Apartments | MSU Police responded to a report of possibly intoxicated subjects.
Feb. 17
Drugs: Possession of Penalty Group III Drugs | 10:24 a.m. | Pierce Hall | Housing reported to MSU Police that drugs and paraphernalia were found in a dorm room. SOURCE: http://www.mwsu.edu/police/crimelogs/
PHOTO BY RACHEL JOHNSON | THE WICHITAN
Demi Thompson, criminal justice sophomore, warms up her arm by practicing pitching outside the softball practie fields Feb. 10. As it is important for the team to practice in order to improve, Tigert said it’s important that they are successful in the classroom for them to even be able to play. The girls will enter conference play facing Eastern New Mexico Feb. 27 at Mustang Park at 5 and 7 p.m and again on Feb. 28 at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
from FORUM pg. 3 Liberal Arts Colleges like MSU, and Shipley is president of COPLAC. During the forum, Shipley said the university could increase its participation in the council. “Midwestern State could get a little more active in COPLAC in ways like always having good attendance at the winter meetings and summer meetings, which you have had some attendance, but also hosting a COPLAC meeting,” Shipley said. Shepherd University is only 18 percent funded by the state, and in a short press conference before the forum, Shipley compared the state funding Midwestern State receives to the state funding her own school receives. “They’re somewhat similar, but Texas provides capital funding as well, and we don’t have that type of capital opportunity, and I think you just have to get in and work with the legislature and help the state understand the needs that Midwestern State fills,” Shipley said. “Our legislature meets every year, so we get to know the legislature even a little
CRI M E LO G
Feb. 19
D
ue to weather conditions, the softball games scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Mustang Park against Oklahoma Christian University were cancelled and won’t be rescheduled, leaving the team with one less chance to prepare for Lone Star Conference play. The team was scheduled to play back-to-back games against OCU as their last opponents before their first conference game Feb. 27 against Eastern New Mexico University. Head coach Brady Tigert said there are no plans to make the games up. “They are out-of-conference games, so they don’t hurt us not playing them,” Tigert said. “However, they could help or hurt us by wins or losses if we did make them up for region ranking purposes.” Later down the road, an extra win could be helpful for the team’s place in the region as it is possible to see OCU again. Tigert said he expected the games to be tough. “They are a good team so we would have had to play well to beat them,” he said. The team moves forward and continues to work towards its’ next games to enter into conference play well-prepared. “Right now the main thing we are doing is trying to keep our strength and conditioning,” Tigert said. “We have played a lot and are doing well so we want to basically maintain.” On a ten-game winning streak the players have faced teams such as Lubbock Christian University, where they led 8-3. They have been taking wins on the road and will have a chance to win at home at their next game against ENMU. “We have been on the road a lot so I also want the girls to have time away from the field to catch up in studies,” Tigert said.
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bit better.” Shipley also spoke about expanding the marketing for MSU to increase enrollment. “I don’t know if it will be rebranding as much as reaffirming the identity of the public liberal arts and how we have a very individual focus and personal focus and small class size at a great price,” Shipley said. “I’m hoping to make it better by making it nationally and regionally better known. It’s a bit of a well-kept secret right now.” Shipley said if she were chosen, she would spend her first year observing the university and make sure she follows the recently implemented university master plan. “I would follow the strategic plan as it’s written now,” Shipley said. “They’re very interested in a more residential campus, so they have more students living on campus and increased retention and just make student life more viable and enhance athletics and raise money from donors and connect with the university.”
JUNE 2014 FILE PHOTO BY EDDIE MILLER | THE WICHITAN
Lance Henry, senior in mechanical engineering, works out a problem on the board in Bolin as part of his UGROW project. from EURECA pg. 6 to present and to go to conferences, which look really good on your resume and applications.” Rincon-Zachary and Lodge said students should remember that EURECA is not limited to mathematics and science. As a part of the Humanities, Schwertner said she was able to learn and appreciate the works of others outside of her field. She doesn’t believe the required 16-page application and high standards associated with the program should deter interested students from joining. “What I found is that, yes, it’s very intimidating; [but] if you have the backing of a professor, they’re more than willing to help,” Schwertner said. “They’ll make you do [the work], but they’re not going to leave you on your own.” According to Rincon-Zachary, intimidation might not come solely from EURECA itself. Evidently certain professors do not regard undergraduate students capable of conducting good research. She views such criticism as a challenge, agreeing that stu-
dents should prove them wrong. “Saying that undergraduate students aren’t equipped to do research is pretty insulting. It’s obvious that’s not the case, or else a lot of people wouldn’t take up undergraduate students as researchers,” Henderson said. “What makes a senior undergraduate less capable than a freshman graduate student? A degree, which does absolutely nothing. There are senior undergraduates who are more advanced than graduate students.” Schwertner said that, given the proper opportunities and resources, undergraduate students “can surprise you... I think completely labeling undergraduates as not being able to produce something of caliber really limits them and doesn’t give them practice for the future.” Rincon-Zachary said she expects the program to grow over time. “We require a little bit of creativity and [the will] to be open to new ideas,” Rincon-Zachary said. “I think at one point we’re going to get there, but it won’t be tomorrow.”