March 10, 2010

LSC CHAMPIONS... AGAIN

Mustangs trounce Tarleton State to secure third LSC title in four years and secure home-court advantage for NCAA Division II South Central tournament npage 8

Wednesday n March 10, 2010

thewichitan

your university n your voice

Uncle Sam to fund student loans exclusively

Effective this summer, MSU students will borrow money directly from the federal government Brittany Norman Editor in Chief Beginning this summer, members of the MSU community who are eligible for financial aid will owe student loan debts directly to the federal government rather than banks and other private lenders.

The MSU Financial Aid office is in

the process of transitioning from the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.

According to the Financial Aid office, new and current students who wish to borrow Subsidized, Unsubsidized and PLUS loans will do so through the Direct Loan program, which is serviced through the U.S. Department of Edu-

cation rather than private banks and credit unions.

The switch is in response to several factors, including the increasing uncertainty in private loan markets and Congressional movement toward a new nationwide financial aid policy.

Kathy Pennartz, director of financial aid at MSU, said the move to direct loans is an effort to ensure that students’

loan money is guaranteed despite any market woes.

“The short term (benefit of switching to direct loans) for our office is that we can ensure our students will have money on time,” she said.

Pennartz said that currently a bill is floating around Congress called the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, or SAFRA. SAFRA would effec-

tively eliminate the FFELP program and make it mandatory for all universities to switch their loans over to a federal direct system.

“It will eliminate the FFELP program effective July 1 if it passes,” Sue Nelson, associate director of financial aid, said.

MSU has had the option to switch

See LOANS on page 5

Tobacco ban debate keeps smoldering Chris Collins Managing Editor

As Dr. Keith Williamson, Dr. Joey Greenwood, and SGA Senator Cameron Shaffer faced the audience in Shawnee Theatre Friday to discuss the current MSU tobacco policy, two of them were probably relieved.

One of them was probably disappointed.

It should have been apparent to Williamson, university physician, and Greenwood, director of the Wellness Center, both writers of the policy, that

See BAN on page 3

Jun tries to clarify concept of anarchy Chris Collins Managing Editor

Hard-hitting style of play pays off on the pitch Damien Atamenwan For the Wichitan

The MSU rugby team beat San Antonio Men’s Colleges (SAMC) with a 17-0 semifinal shutout at the MSU Intramural Fields Saturday.

MSU will now advance to the Texas Collegiate Rugby Division 3 finals against Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches March 27.

The team got an extra adrenaline rush as the entire MSU football team turned out to cheer on the rugby team at the kick-off.

MSU kicked off to SAMC and set the pace of the game with a big hit by Bo Williams and Luis Banda.

MSU quickly regained possession of the ball and moved 30 yards down the field with their big forwards.

Banda finished off the drive.

Aaron Alvarez kicked the conversion. With the

MSU football team still cheering from the sidelines, Banda scored again in similar fashion as MSU moved the ball outside to its backline then back inside where Luis scored his second try 15 minutes into the match.

SAMC adjusted and kept MSU from scoring again until half time, but MSU held onto 12-0 advantage.

The match remained scoreless until late in the second half as MSU finally opened up its back line play with a kick by Aaron Alvarez that was touched down for a try by Imonitie “Damian” Atamenwan.

MSU squandered many scoring opportunities during the match but it did not matter. MSU had its second shutout in a row (24-0 vs. St Edward’s University last week) winning it big 17-0.

Man of the match went to Matt Cobb, MSU’s 2nd MSU Rugby pulled out a 17-0 row player who has greatly contributed to the team in win against San Antonio Men’s Colleges on Saturday. (Photos only his second full game.

Quirky Carnage

by Kassie Bruton)

Crosley owns up to humorous everyday mistakes in personal essays, warns lecturegoers of the dangers inherent to baking one’s boss in cookie-effigy Brittany Norman Editor in Chief

Sloane Crosley once baked a cookie intended to resemble her neurotic, hypercritical boss… and gave the boss the cookie.

She didn’t ask for milk. In fact, Crosley told the audience at the final installment of this year’s Artist

Lecture Series that Ursula, her horrific bosslady reminiscent of the vitriol-spewing editor from The Devil Wears Prada, fed the sugary treat to her daughter, who promptly vomited.

As far as “worst job” stories go, The Ursula Cookie, an essay from Crosley’s first book I Was Told There’d Be Cake, might not be the worst ever. It

might not even be the most memorable. But just like the rest of the personal stories Crosley pens, the event doesn’t have to be particularly significant.

Crosley said she didn’t grow up in an environment marked by war, famine, alcoholism or horrific lawn ornaments (though she does own a Sloane Crosley (Photo by Brittany

See CROSLEY on page 5 Norman)

When Dr. Nathan Jun spoke as part of the Faculty Forum series on last Tuesday, he sought to clarify some misconceptions about what is possibly the most misunderstood philosophical movement: anarchism.

He began the presentation by quoting Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “The anarchist is the enemy of humanity, the enemy of all mankind. His is a deeper degree of criminality than any other. Most of these are criminals whose perverted instincts led them to prefer confusion and chaos to the most beneficent form of social order,” The anarchists were pursued mercilessly by the press, wantonly beaten by police and executed by the govern-

See JUN on page 4

Program aims to improve student writing skills Chris Collins Managing Editor

English Chair Dr. David Rankin wants you to be a better writer.

That’s why he’s spearheading a movement at MSU called Writing Across the Curriculum. But he isn’t educating students how to write better – he’s educating the educators.

Over the course of the semester, two faculty members from each department on campus (excluding English) will attend seminars hosted by Rankin that explain how to grade papers, what to assign and what’s really not a big deal.

This campus-wide process will increase the value of a degree from MSU, he said.

“We’re trying to set up a situation where the value

See WRITING on page 4

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The Wichitan

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Slammed by the Bell

So there you are, careening through the parking lot attempting to make it to your 10 a.m. class, searching frantically for a spot to open up in an otherwise jam-packed lot.

When you finally manage to squeeze past another driver who has obviously been stalking the spot you eventually steal for about ten minutes, ignoring the customary middle finger pointed in your general direction, you take a moment to thank God that your car didn’t get smashed in the mad dash for the already-claimed space.

Then, you look down at your phone to check the time (or watch, if you still have one of those archaic things).

It’s 10:05.

Already five minutes late.

Geez.

By the time you get in your building, through the door (which is now closed, if not locked), and plant your rear in a seat, it’s 10:10.

You walk into your class, ignoring your peers who are obnoxious enough to glare or remark at your tardiness.

Do they not know your alarm is broken? Do they not know the parking lot is crammed like a tin of sardines? Do

they not get how hard you partied last weekend?

The answer: yeah, they probably do.

Chances are they’ve been late before, too.

It’s something almost all of us have done at some point: showing up to class after the Hardin bell rings.

Walking into class late is disruptive and annoying to everyone who came on time, but most students probably don’t care that much.

It’s teachers that it really bothers.

As far as instructors go, they all have different methods for dealing with late attenders.

Some ignore it.

Some make an example of kids who are latently late.

Some take the passive-aggressive route and “forget” to mark you present on the role sheet.

Because whether you think your professor notices you’re late or not, he or she probably does.

They probably know that your life doesn’t revolve around historical geology.

They know that you care about you care about tectonic plates about as much

as you care about getting a root canal.

But you have to at least act like you care.

And nothing says, ‘I’d rather be sleeping in my bed,’ than showing up to class halfway through the period.

So have a little respect, huh?

You don’t have to apologize to your instructor if you’re a little late one day (although it might help your attendance grade).

But if you can never, ever, for the life of you make it to class on time, you had better hold a sidebar with the teach and plead your case.

Sometimes another professor is really to blame for your tardiness. We know that it happens – you have to ask your teacher something after class, and you had to wait for that person with a million questions to finally leave before you could get a word in edge-wise.

And then, you had to walk all the way from Dillard to Fain. In the rain!

It happens to the best of us. And teachers (since they’re usually pretty smart) know that stuff like that happens.

Just don’t do it all the time, k?

Some of are trying to learn here.

March 3, 2010

thewichitan 3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 n Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 News Desk: (940) 397-4704 n Ads: (940) 397-4705 Fax (940) 397-4025 n E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.edu n Editor’s E-mail EDITOR.WICHITAN@mwsu.edu

editorial board

nEditor in Chief: Brittany Norman nManaging Editor: Chris Collins nEntertainment Editor: Lauren Wood nOp-Ed Editor: Position open nSports Editor: Josh Hoggard nPhoto Editor: Julia Raymond nAdvertising manager: Jamie Monroe nCopy editor: Phoebe Kurmi and Amaka Oguchi nadviser: Randy Pruitt nReporters: Leah Roberts, Jaleesa Bealom, Ashley Nesbitt, Matt Ledesma, Loren Eggenschwiler nPhotographers: Loren Eggenschwiler, Patrick Johnston, Kassie Bruton

Copyright © 2007. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. 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. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

Writing skills: you’re on notice

Until I sat It seemed to me down to take the that students who Writing Profihave passed two ciency Exam last semesters of RhetSaturday, I held oric and Composifirmly to the belief tion, a course enthat the test was a tirely dedicated to stupid, pointless the development necessity of earnof writing skills, ing a degree from would be equipped MSU. It ranked with correspondup there with the ingly passable aptiexistence of Kitude in the area of nesiology Classes written communias part of the core cation.

Brittany Norman curriculum, or the My theory was Editor in Chief alcohol awareness soon stunningly program every proven wrong. new freshman has to at least preI overheard (read: eavesdropped tend to sit through to maintain due to boredom) a pre-exam conenrollment. It was, in my opinion, versation between two female waste of time (and money) with students I had never met. For the no real determinate purpose. purposes of this description, I will Sitting in the Bolin lecture hall refer to them as Gertrude and Pewaiting for the proctor to distrib- nelope. Their gab session went a ute the exams, a little bit of obser- little something like this: vation proved that maybe I had Gertrude: What’s this test for? passed judgment too hastily.

(Warning! Ending a sentence with I put off taking the dreaded a preposition could be punishable by WPE until the looming threat forced enrollment into Composition of being forced via registration Skills!) hold into ENGL 2113, otherwise Penelope: (Smacks gum known as Composition Skills (for thoughtfully – something she those who have none). continued to do throughout the Determined to avoid adding entire exam – before answering) yet another English class to my Dunno. Rhetoric and stuff. already Lit-heavy plan for 2010Gertrude: Oh. Yeah. (Pause, 2011, I bit the Writing Proficien- wherein I can clearly hear her cy bullet and obediently submit- friend’s smacking) What’s rhetoted the $25 fee necessary to have ric again? my rhetorical skills and punctuaPenelope: (Smack smack) tion aptitude judged by a faceless Dunno. I think something to do “secret grader” with an almighty with manipulation. pen capable of passing or failing Gertrude: Manipulation? students at the drop of a misused Penelope: (smackity smack) semicolon.

Yep. That’s what my professor said.

As requested, I arrived 15 min- Also I heard you should write this utes early, proved I wasn’t paying test thing like you’re an idiot, you off a graduate student to pass off know? Don’t do sentences that their impeccable syntax as my need commas and junk. Just write own by flashing my student ID as like… simple.

I signed in, and settled among the Gertrude: So… don’t use comhundreds of other unlucky Satur- mas? day morning testtakers.

Penelope: (smack smackity) Admittedly, I started out the Uh huh. Just don’t write anything day irritated, but mostly with that needs a comma and you’re myself. See, my procrastination good. when it came to proving profiMy nonexistent psychic powers ciency had necessitated my tak- told me that both of these girls ing the exam on Saturday, which had some run-ons in their future, preempted my previous test- but I politely kept my mouth ing plans for the morning. I was shut. But seriously, is writing at a signed up for the free(!) practice level most closely comparable to LSAT, which would have been middle school Intro to Spanish my last gratis benchmark before classes really the advised methtaking the real deal in June. In- od of ensuring a passing grade? stead, I was paying to prove I can Surely not, though I had heard write persuasively and utilize ba- that advice earlier in the week as sic functions required to compre- well. hensively express myself in the Then came the instructions.

English language.

The proctor explained that we

would be writing a persuasive (not necessarily manipulative) essay. We would have two hours to write between 300-500 words in a manner that was at least somewhat organized into these creatures known as paragraphs.

Upon pain of failure and a semesterlong sentence to Composition Skills, we were told to underline our thesis sentence, which she defined as a sentence that states the argument you will defend in the rest of your paper.

Penelope: (smack smack) I was wondering what a thesis thingie was.

The instructions were solid, and so were the definitions, but it all just seemed like a waste of time. Take underlining the thesis sentence for example. Is it to force us to prove we know what one is?

Perhaps composition prowess is directly related to an ability to follow directions of indeterminate purpose.

When the testing commenced, some of the students around me probably didn’t underline their thesis sentences. Others might have still had no idea what a thesis sentence even was, and opted instead to underline something at random in hopes that luck would point their pen to the correct phrase.

I’m worried, though, that there were a lot of students in there like dear Gertrude and Penelope.

There were probably several who tried to avoid commas at all costs because they never learned how to properly use one. Next fall, sitting in Composition Skills along with the people who fail due to technicalities, will be those who really didn’t have a clue to begin with.

And that shouldn’t happen. By the time MSU students reach 90 credit hours, regardless of what they’re majoring in or what their natural writing skill level is, they should have learned what a thesis sentence is. They should know what it means to write persuasively. They should be able to utilize basic grammatical functions without being prompted.

And if they can’t do those things, they should have never passed their freshman English classes.

Also, if it’s true that students fail the Writing Proficiency Exam for neglecting to underline their thesis sentence or circle their topic – really? Focus on the writing.

Apparently, that’s the part we’re having real trouble with.

Women still overcoming obstacles

The month International of March and women’s month spring is in the should do much air. The snowy of the same. It is a winter that time to come tomade a surprise gether to mark the visit to Wichita incredible strides Falls this year is that have been finally over and made all over the outside the sun world by women. is beginning to If you are celebratshine. Flowers ing the life and are blooming works of Marie (well, almost) Curie or you are Leah Roberts and clothes are planning to throw For the Wichitan being peeled a birthday bash for off, just yesterBarbie who turned day I witnessed 51 yesterday (she more than one person rocking looks good for her age, right?) the jean shorts! With the change International women’s month in weather comes a lighter mood, gives us all the opportunity to an air of hope that has been in not only celebrate but to look hiding since November. Coinci- deeper into the issues surrounddentally March is also national ing women world wide today. women’s month.

This year’s theme, as proposed Each day is dedicated to the by international women’s day orwomen that have suffered, in- ganization is equal rights, equal vented; dedicated they have en- opportunities: progress for all. It dured all things. These women follows a United Nation’s camare celebrated as the pioneers paign that seeks to end violence of our time, they are the lead- against women worldwide by ers who have ensured that we 2015, calling for all nations to move forward, together, as a sex- implement strong laws and preless nation. Gender is no longer ventetive measures. the main issue that determines With almost 1200 more fewhether we succeed. males enrolled on campus than February was black history males, the issue appears to be month and to some it was a one of importance to the stumonth to celebrate their culture, dents at MSU. Alyssa Archer, heritage and history. For others a sophomore from Dallas said it was a chance to learn about that it worries her that being feblack history and to recognize male will affect her career choice, that the people being celebrated she said, “being a girl definitely helped to change the world for doesn’t help me after college. I all of us regardless of our race, make higher grades than most religion, gender and sexuality. of the guys in my class but as a

business major I know that most of the companies are looking for men.” Sad, but true.

It has been a long time since women in the US have felt as oppressed as our counterparts in third world countries but prejudice DOES still happen and this week as we celebrate Katherine Bigelow’s oscar win I find myself asking the question: why did it take this long for a woman to win best director? And why is it such a big deal? Maybe it’s because women don’t necessarily demand the respect that men do in Hollywood, I imagine it’s hard to compete with the likes of Steven Spielberg. But it saddens me to think that just because we are not politically oppressed or encountering violence that we consider this to be enough. International women’s month is a gateway to exploration; it allows us to explore not only ourselves but the women around us. It gives us the opportunity to celebrate all the women around us that are making a difference daily.

With that in mind I believe that international women’s month is an important part of history for us all and the time has come for us to hail the women of the past and present that have helped us on our way. You may not identify with all of the women through history that are being celebrated, but if all else fails talk to the women around you, your sisters, friends, your Mom and tell them how thankful you are for the great women in your life.

news/op-ed

March 10, 2010

The Wichitan n 3

BAN...............................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 they wouldn’t have to anto get you educated,” Williamswer too many questions son said. “He doesn’t want to during the town hall distake up class time policing a cussion. policy.”

The bodies were there – “Is that disgusting to see a a few important faculty bottle full of spit? Yes,” Greenmembers, a whole row of wood said. “But if we can stop Pi Sigma Alphas right in the behavior, especially before front (they put the event it hits the social level, that’s the on, so they had to come), goal of this policy.” and a rag-tag group of stuWilliamson said one of his dents showed up to butt concerns with the policy is that heads over butts – but only students might want to use it a handful of them asked to single one another out. questions or voiced con“I didn’t want it to be a club cerns. with which students were Shaffer, whose own conbeating each other over the cerns about the ban culhead with,” he said. “It should minated in this discussion, be used ultimately to educate wasn’t too bummed out and help our own commuthat most of the student nity members improve their body did what it usually health.” does when there’s a forum Moderator Kathryn Wilson, on tobacco use (which is to teaching assistant, asked the not come). panel if it thought the current “More students are inpolicy could potentially result terested in the debate and in retaliation if a student was the administration is more turned in for smoking. open to talking since so “When we wrote the policy many objections were that was a grave concern,” Wilraised,” he said. liamson said. “And that’s part Another forum on smokof why we proposed several ing will probably be held different options when it came following Spring Break. to enforcement.”

Greenwood and WilliamHe said Purdue uses a sysson, who answered many tem of drop cards to tattle on questions similarly that evetobacco users. ning, said the policy hinges Dr. Keith Williamson, Dr. Joey Greenwood and SGA Senator Cam- The panel fielded questions about the legitimacy of the policy, its “I didn’t feel like that would on educating students about eron Shaffer acted as the panel in a town hall forum discussion effectiveness and Shaffer’s alternative plan. (Photo by: Julia Ray- be sustainable or a humane apabout the university-wide tobacco ban instated Jan.1. mond) tobacco use. proach to the whole problem,” “We’re all educated enough he said. “Right now the responally be detrimental to its reputation. every car wasn’t doing the speed limit. behavior is allowed to be.” to know tobacco use is not sibility of the honor principle “If I tell a family, ‘Yes, we have a That doesn’t undermine the authority of Greenwood posited that the univer- is up to people with the right amount healthy,” Greenwood said. “The negative effects are very apparent. Secondhand smoking-free campus,’ and they see the the state. They understand that. There’s sity’s tobacco cessation courses, coupled of tact and courage to say something.” smoke has negative effects on the body. people smoking in front of the building, always going to be people who try to with information about the negative ef“When we started with the policy fects of tobacco on the MSU Web site, there were people who wanted pubEven if you have the right to smoke, they say, ‘I thought you said this was a push the limits.”

One student raised concerns about fulfills the policy’s obligation to educa- lic hanging for people using tobacco,” what about the people who don’t smoke smoke-free campus,’” she said. “I don’t know what to tell them. When you why all tobacco products were banned tion. and have their rights infringed upon?”

Greenwood said. “There were others The same student noted that Budweis- who said, ‘let’s just see how the policy Greenwood said MSU would never see five or six people smoking outside and not just cigarettes, since only they have enough police to enforce Shaffer’s of Prothro-Yeager it gives families the reportedly harm others from second- er is a Homecoming sponsor for MSU. works for a year. If it’s not being enhand use.

Tobacco companies, under the current forced, let’s come back to it and find policy. “The police staff would be writ- wrong picture.”

“It is our goal to get the word out to “This is a two-fold policy,” Williamson policy, aren’t even allowed to advertise some other alternatives.’ ing tickets all day long. I think we could hire 10 or 15 more police officers and students so we can decrease it after time. said. “It’s aimed at both education and at MSU. Shaffer noted certain student “When people hear the word ‘peerthey would still be doing that all day It would be very naïve to think that after improving the health of the whole stu- groups are allowed to use alcohol during enforced’ they think ‘forceful,’ he conJan. 1 – and we’re well past it now – that dent body. We also wanted to produce certain events and activities. long.” tinued. “That was never our intent – to “There are safe and healthy levels of create a situation where one student is “It’s a drug that they’re addicted to we would never see another cigarette a fair policy. I wasn’t willing to put up a policy with the creeping question of alcohol consumption,” Williamson said. being combative towards another stuand we’re telling them they can’t use butt on campus,” Greenwood said.

“Actually,” Shaffer said, “since Jan. 1 ‘what is appropriate use of tobacco. The “It is not a class-A carcinogen like to- dent.” that drug on this campus anymore,” Greenwood said. “That’s pretty abrasive we’ve seen an increase in cigarette butts policy is very clear and there is no con- bacco, which has no safe level of con“We have gotten to the point where sumption.” already. But it’s our role in public educa- on campus because all the ashtrays have fusion.” smokers have started to retaliate against been removed and there’s no place to “There is a difference between educaOne student who smokes asked the non-smokers who are asking them to tion to teach about health topics.”

One of Greenwood’s points was that dispose of the discarded tobacco prod- tion and dictation,” Shaffer said. “There’s panel why some instructors turn a blind stop,” Shaffer said. “Fortunately nothparents visiting the campus for Family ucts. The integrity of the university is a difference between telling someone eye to students chewing tobacco during ing drastic or violent has occurred yet, Day are reassured by the fact that MSU being undermined when they say one that smoking is bad for you and telling class. and I’m grateful for that. But there is “If this is supposed to be a tobacco-fee lots of attention starting to build on is a “tobacco-free” campus. “Parents love thing is happening and another thing is them, ‘you’re not allowed to smoke.’

There’s a difference between teaching campus, why are our instructors – the campus about it. As far as the effecto talk about that because they know actually happening.”

“I think parents will realize that we’re someone about government and telling ones with the PhD’s – ignoring all the tiveness of it – that’s iffy. As far as the their student’s social smoking habit dealing with a new policy and that there them they need to participate and vote. chewing?” she said. “It’s disgusting to sit ostracization of certain student groups won’t turn into an addiction.”

One student who gives campus tours are people who will violate that policy,” This policy is not educational in nature there and look at a water bottle, or what – which is the definition of hazing, as to families of potential students said Williamson said. “Just as when those but dictatorial. It’s a policy that dictates used to be one, that’s now full of spit.” far as the State of Texas is concerned – “I think the professor’s role in class is is absolutely occurring.”

MSU’s tag as “tobacco-free” can actu- same parents drove up here, I bet you to students how healthy or well their

nGuest Column

Tobacco ban leaves grad assistant lacking outlet for frustrations Christian McPhate For the Wichitan

Mornings are always the worst time of the day for me—especially when I am out of coffee—but I suffer through the migraine and grumpiness and dress for work. For several months now, I have been teaching at Midwestern State University for several months as part of my graduate degree. I have really enjoyed the experience, but I was more than a little apprehensive about teaching and attending classes this spring term.

The new Non-smoking Ban was set to kick off this semester and since I was an on-again, off-again smoker, I was more than a little worried about working and attending classes without taking a break from my sanity with a couple of puffs from a cigarette.

No longer would I be able to hang around the ashtrays that resembled a contaminated, metallic bird bath and chat with colleagues about the mysteries of the alchemists while we burned away the precious cells of our lungs, removing ourselves one step further away from the philosopher’s stone.

Although I am still relatively

new to the teaching field, I still feel an angry swarm of butterflies buzzing through my stomach like a nest of provoked hornets at the beginning of each semester.

How would I silence their wings without my precious cigarette smoke? How would I survive grading mountains of students’ papers without my costly cancer sticks to help see me through my frustrations when students confuse the use of a colon with a semicolon?

I felt my world slowly collapsing as I followed a trail of cigarette butts toward the entrance of MSU. Do I dare share my feelings with the world? Do I dare speak out against the powers that be who have stripped away a simple freedom but still provide me with a paycheck?

What’s next? Will they ban students from parking their cars on campus because of oil stains, or will they ban students from eating food outside of the Clark Student Center because of trash littering the manicured laws of the new business building?

Doubtful, it is not PC enough.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

After all, smoking is bad.

Experts say that smoking cigarettes greatly increase the chance

for heart failure, low-birth weight and, of course, lung cancer. In fact, several advertisements stream across the television depicting a sickly old man with a breathing respirator strapped to his wrinkled mouth.

He looks at the viewer, slowly removes the breathing apparatus and explains in a growling voice that a person could look like him if he or she dares to smoke.

Sadly, though, we will all look as bad as the raspy old man when we reach his age. Our bodies decay everyday— it’s the natural process of life.

Granted, we may not be bald or thin or wearing breathing respirators, but we will have something wrong with us: Alzheimer’s, Leukemia, Arthritis, colon cancer, MS, breast cancer, testicular cancer, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, diabetes and Lymph...

Well, you get the picture.

So as I sneak around at night with my fellow ninjas, searching for a place to inhale our toxins, without littering or offending the common man, I begin to horde fast food, candy bars and Coke products, for I have feeling that obesity is next on prohibition’s rather long list of limited freedoms.

nletters to the editor Keep Maverick real Dear Editor,

As a costume character performer myself, I am offended by the article published in The Wichitan entitled Maverick Unmasked. When dealing with costume characters a person does not want to break the illusion that the character is real.

Having a picture on the front cover of the newspaper with a character with its head off is breaking the illusion that Maverick is real. It might be childish to think that Maverick is real but as a character at the games he is. Students don’t go up to Maverick and say “Hey Laura,” because they know that when they see the mustang he is Maverick, not a person inside a suit.

What if a small child was to see that article and see the picture of Maverick with his head off? The child would not look at costume characters the same any more.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thinking about keeping the illusion real of costume characters!

-Renee DuBois

He said/she said?

To Whom it May Concern: In Josh’ Hoggard’s article on Wednesday March 3, he attributed the “Our greatest fear” quotation to Nelson Mandela. This is a common misconception. It was not Mandela who originally said this but rather Marianne Williamson. I think Mandela was quoting Williamson when he said it. These things happen but lets double check these sort of things please.

-Tyler Shanick Editor’s Note: While you are right that Marianne Williamson first coined the quotation in her book “Return to Love,” the misconception is so common because Mandela did say it in his 1994 inagural address, and has since been widely quoted quoting Williamson’s words.

CORRECTION:

No screenings of the movie “Precious” with panel discussions sponsored by the University were cancelled as last week’s column Come together (again) infers. The program canceled was sponsored by the campus chapter of the NAACP, a campus organization. All Black History Month programming sponsored by the university proceeded as planned.

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The Wichitan

campus briefs n today:

Imagine Graduation in CSC Comache at 11 a.m.

Journey of Hope Grief Support Group in CSC Apache at 3:30 p.m.

Before Spring Break... in CSC Shawnee at 7 p.m.

n tHURSDAY:

Playoff Pep Rally and Picnic in Sunwatcher at 11 a.m.

Real Women, Real Beauty group in CSC Apache at 3:30 p.m.

Adviser Training Workshop in CSC Comache at 5 p.m.

TACT: Tenure and Promotion Panel in CSC Kiowa at 7:15 p.m.

n Friday:

Yule Ball in CSC Comanche at 7 p.m.

n Saturday:

SPRING BREAK!

JUN....................................continued from page 1 ment, Jun said.

When the Paris Commune fell in 1871, 10,000 anarchists were reportedly murdered in France. Thousands were rounded up by secret Russian police under the czars. Thousands more were captured under the Soviets and worked to death in Siberian mines.

“The anarchist movement was a worldwide movement that encompassed all races, all ethnicities, men and women,” Jun said.

“It continues to be that way to this day.”

Anarchism is a political and philosophical movement that encourages a stateless society, but not one of chaos and criminality, as many people perceive it to be. The different forms of anarchistic philosophy run the gamut from communistic and collective to individualistic to wholly pacifistic.

“Who were these people?”

Jun asked. “What did they say or think to merit such brutal treatment? As it turns out, most of these “so-called” enemies of mankind were already oppressed and marginalized groups – immigrants, exiles and refugees.

Vagrants, beggars and wanderers. Artists, dissidents and free t hinkers. Women, homosexuals, Jews and people of color.”

Jun said these people’s sole crime was criticizing the “most beneficent form of social order,” which was anything but.

“They struggled militantly against a system which, far from being beneficent, appeared fundamentally opposed to the goals of freedom, equality and peace,” Jun said.

In the U.S., anarchists campaigned for the eight-hour workday, the abolition of child labor, the enactment of safety regulations in the workplace, the minimum wage and the right to unionize, he said.

They opposed America’s incursions into Latin America and its involvement in the first World War. “They protested against ethnic and racial discrimination, championed the rights of women and promoted tolerance for gay people and other sexual non-conformists long before the Civil Rights movement, the Women’s

movement and the Gay Rights movement,” Jun said.

He said anarchists get a bad rap because a few have resorted to murder and execution to achieve their political goals.

“Then as now, the bad apples not only spoil the bunch, but inevitably receive the most attention,” Jun said. “As a result, the anarchist of popular imagination continues to be a fanatic, an extremist, a terrorist.”

Anarchism was historically been overlooked, understudied and misunderstood by historians, he said. Most have paid scant attention to the movement, insofar as legitimate vein of philosophy.

But anarchistic philosophy is here – and it’s here to stay.

“It’s simply a way of talking about life,” Jun said. “Not biological life, but rather the imminent process of change and becoming, in terms of which all of these people were inclined to describe existence.”

Jun paraphrased The Beatles: “All you need is life.”

“If somebody says, ‘such and such is wrong,’ if you have the audacity and cheekiness to ask, ‘why?’ first they’ll say ‘stop being an asshole,’” Jun said. “And then they’ll say, ‘wait, you really want to know? It’s against human nature!’ That’s kind of the textbook answer.”

The anarchists would say the idea of human nature is one of the most oppressive concepts ever cooked up by anyone, Jun said.

The anarchists have been a great influence on the world of art as well as the world of philosophy.

“Anarchism has the unique distinction of being handsdown the most musical of the radical movements that came and went in the late-19th and early 20th centuries,” Jun said.

The Industrial Workers World, an anarchist labor movement, was possibly the most musical. “Their victories in the labor movement were fairly minimal, but their victories in the creative arts were outstanding,” Jun said. Many songs made famous by Woody Guthrie were first popularized in the labor movement.

March 10, 2010

Job hunting: avoid common snafus Cassie Straub For the Wichitan

These past four years of your life have been filled with latenight cram sessions, mid-term exams, research papers, science labs, and those dreaded finals, just to name a few. And all for what?

Your future.

Now that you can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s time to get ready for your first job. But how?

The Career Management Center presented “From Sweats to Suits” Thursday night, to help tackle many questions for students who are about to embark on their adventure of finding that first job after graduation.

Bill Megason, Texoma District Manager of Sherwin-Williams, and Rosemary Nauman, Employment Coordinator for the City of Wichita Falls, informed students with the inside scoop on what employers are looking for in a potential employee.

Megason informed those in attendance how they should best prepare for their career, discussing how to ‘sell’ yourself, do’s and don’ts of the career fair, preparing your resume, and how to land that interview.

Although not everyone in search of their first job is looking to go into sales, “When you go to that interview, you’re in sales,” said Megason. You’re selling yourself.

To sell yourself, first impressions are key. Megason said that within three minutes of an interview, the interviewer decides whether or not they want to continue. You can’t re-do a first impression, so make your first your best.

Megason also discussed some do’s and don’ts at career fairs.

Do: Bring plenty of resumes, Smile, Show enthusiasm and interest, Maintain good eye contact, Keep your options open, Ask questions, and Relax and be yourself.

Don’t:

Bring cell phones, Say: “I’m just looking for a job,” Ask about pay, Chew gum, Wear too much perfume/cologne, or Just go for the freebies.

Resumes are also an important tool in the job-hunting process.

Megason recommended to keep it to one page, omit unnecessary information, show individual style, and be qualitative and quantitative with information.

Megason also informed the attendants to be sure to update their contact information as well. With the use of e-mails and cell phones so popular today, if your e-mail account is from high school, such as hshottie_06, coyote-qb or an unprofessional voicemail message could definitely give a prospective employer the wrong impression.

Nauman continued the presentation by speaking about interviewing skills and what employers look for in prospective job candidates.

Nauman discussed the top qualities employers look for, which include: Communication skills (verbal and written), Strong work ethic, Teamwork skills, Motivation and initiative, Interpersonal skills, Problem-solving skills, Analytical skills, Flexibility and adaptability, Computer skills, and Technical skills.

However, Nauman also discussed the skills that most graduate students seem to lack. These include proper writing skills when preparing e-mails, professional face-toface interaction, the ability to conduct oneself professionally, and relevant work experience.

All of these skills can be easily corrected with the proper education and practice, gained through course-work and internships said Nauman.

Another topic discussed by Nauman was where to search for jobs. Many jobs are posted

online, either on the employers’ website or in the classifieds. One way that most job openings are advertised is by word-of-mouth. Networking through your family, friends and professors can be a great resource when job hunting.

Many jobs are obtained these days, not based on what you know, but whom you know.

Dressing for success is another important factor in obtaining that first job. Nauman said that both men and women should keep it conservative. For women, a tailored suit, classic heel, neutral hose, simple jewelry and minimal perfume and make-up is a nice, professional look.

As for men, a dark suit, white shirt, solid tie, shoes and a belt that match, and dark socks complete a nice, pulled-together look. “I have seen Curious George and Darth Vader on socks,” said Nauman. “We attribute that to your maturity level.”

Nauman closed her presentation with what most job seekers are most worried about – the nerve-wrecking interview. Before the interview, she advised students that they should assess their skills, abilities, strengths and weaknesses.

“Determine how you can present your weaknesses positively,” said Nauman.

Before the interview, research the organization. Be informed about what they do, who they are, and what they’re involved in. Also, Nauman advised future job seekers to practice with a mock interview, arrive 15 minutes early, and get a good night’s rest.

Interview essentials should include a smile, positive attitude, firm handshake, and a professional folder or notebook with extra copies of your resume and a list of professional references said Nauman.

Nauman also shared some things not to do in an interview: Doze off during the interview, Refuse to sit down during the interview,

or

Bring a dog to the interview,

Call your therapist for advice on how to answer a question during the interview.

All of these unprofessional examples come from Nauman’s personal experience from interviewing prospective candidates throughout her career.

Needless to say, they didn’t get the job.

Senior mass communications major Derrius Burks is concerned that he won’t ask the right questions or possibly stutter during the interview.

However, Burks advises job seekers to “Be yourself and answer truthfully.”

Not only is the interview process just a time that the employer asks the job seeker questions, but vice versa.

When asking questions yourself, Nauman said that it is important to remember to concentrate on developing intelligent, probing questions that will help you get information that you want. Examples might be to ask: “What do you most enjoy about working here?” or “What qualities are you looking for in a candidate to fill this position?”

Questions not to ask include: “Does your health insurance cover pets?” or “Would it be a problem if I’m angry most of the time?” said Nauman.

Nauman lastly discussed the importance of closing the deal.

Determine when you will hear back, a firm handshake with eye contact, thank the interviewer for his or her time, and remember to send a thank you card or e-mail after the interview.

With the economy in the poor state it’s in, as well as the high-percentage of unemployment in the United States, the job outlook is quite grim.

However, for those students who attended “From Sweats to Suits,” hopefully the job seeking jitters became a little calmer, and with the knowledge and advice gained, will be successful in their job hunting and obtain their first job.

WRITING.................................................................................................................continued from page 1 a Midwestern degree goes up,” Rankin said. “If a student comes out of here a better writer and a better speaker, that student has a much better chance of landing a job.”

He said it’s common for a writing sample to be a required for a job application.

“If this catches on at Midwestern, I’m pretty sure the percentage of people passing the Writing Proficiency Exam will go up by quite a bit,” Rankin said.

He said the point of the project is to get teachers across campus to assign papers as part of their curriculum.

“The level of interest in this is rising,” Rankin said. “Writing can be incorporated into any discipline.”

Twelve faculty members have volunteered to attend workshops throughout the semester addressing the topic.

“The workshop deal with everything from creating good writing assignments, to how to evaluate writing effectively and how to teach certain aspects of writing,” Rankin said.

The point is to make students in every major more comfortable with writing.

Rankin contributes the high failure rate for the Writing Proficiency Exam at MSU to student unfamiliarity with writing – most students take English their freshmen year, then don’t pick up a pen and paper for the rest of their college careers.

“Writing shouldn’t end with rhetoric and composition,” he said. “A lot of students and faculty feel that we shouldn’t require writing after the freshman level. As a result, some people just give multiple choice tests and don’t expect their students to write.”

He said writing is a skill you have to keep sharpening and reinforcing. Therefore, students should write in at least one course every semester.

“Another problem is many students who have trouble writing did not take rhetoric and comp here,” he said. “They transferred in

from another school and didn’t get the background they might have gotten if they had taken the program here.”

Rankin said international students also might have difficulty with the exam because English is their second or third language.

“Midwestern has a high international population and they’re held to the same standard,” Rankin said.

He said Writing Across the Curriculum is an effort taking place at virtually every college in the country. In the last five years, many schools have been working hard to implement WAC policies on their campuses.

This isn’t a policy that’s centrally organized. It’s just an idea – that all students, regardless of their disciplines, should be comfortable with writing.

“We expect students to write well no matter what their major is,” Rankin said. “That means you should be able to write no matter if you’re a business major, or health sciences or engineering. Engineers need to be able to write clearly and effectively, too.”

He said that every student from every major will have to do some writing as part of their job duties. It’s part of being an educated person.

“What we’re hoping is that each semester we’ll get a dozen more faculty to participate,” he said. Hopefully two or three years from now we have 60 or 70 faculty members who are doing more with writing.”

At Rankin’s previous school, Winthrop University in South Carolina, he implemented a similar plan over seven years as the university’s writing director. The result: each semester 10 instructors participated in the program. Eventually, 140 teachers outside the English department had attended the workshops.

He said at Winthrop two intensive writing courses were required for every major.

Over time, each department had created its

own major-related writing classes for juniors and seniors.

“It worked beautifully,” Rankin said.

“Winthrop is a school exactly like Midwestern,” he said. The state school has about 5,000 students and 1,000 graduate students.

Rankin was hired as chair of the English department last semester. He said his plans at Winthrop, along with the school’s similarity to MSU, made him a shoe-in for the job.

“The key is having the administration behind it,” he said. “The provost and deans here are quite supportive. The problem is some faculty are just not as secure or comfortable about talking about writing. But I have had some say it’s improved their own writing.”

Part of what the seminars do is to clarify national grading guidelines: what to mark, what to ignore, and what’s just unforgiveable.

“The only punctuation errors that really matter are the ones that interfere with readability,” Rankin said. “You shouldn’t mark every little apostrophe and comma.”

He said punctuation and grammar are not being taught in the sessions. Rather, they’re discussing content, organization and structure. They aim to cut out wordiness and help students write logically.

“These are the bigger concerns in writing,” Rankin said. “Now, that doesn’t mean a student who graduates from MSU shouldn’t know how to punctuate and know grammar and things like that. But that shouldn’t take priority over wording and clear organization.”

He said the additional writing practice will primarily be constituted in out-of-class papers. Implementation will probably vary based on the subject.

“What somebody might do in a management course in the school of business might be different from what someone in the math department,” Rankin said.

news

March 10, 2010

The Wichitan n 5

CROSLEY......................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 lamp made from a lawn flamingo), but she has had her share of lapses in judgment.

“I would say my writing is about finding the humor in everyday minor tragedies,” Crosley said in an interview before she took the stage in Akin Auditorium Monday.

Growing up in a humorous family was the only true defining characteristic of Crosley’s childhood, and that sense of humor pays off now that she has put to paper foibles made by those close to her as well as the numerous missteps she has made in her lifetime.

Publishing I Was Told There’d Be Cake was not one of those mistakes. The book made the New York Times Bestseller List in 2008 and won a handful of awards. HBO also purchased the rights to the essay collection.

Some of the acclaim has made Crosley blush.

“Somebody once compared me to Dorothy

Parker, which isn’t a perfect compliment because she tried to kill herself by swallowing a bottle of shoe polish, but I assume that wasn’t the comparison,” Crosley said.

Crosley also wrote columns for various periodicals, including The Village Voice, in her native New York. Sometimes, she admits the criticism can cut deep.

“I wrote a column for awhile for The Village Voice and I did an article about white women with ample derrieres,” Crosley said. “It was a joke. Mostly it got really positive feedback, but this one woman wrote into The Voice and basically spent about two pages calling me a racist. That made me cry because I was raised to be almost psychotically liberal. The worst thing that somebody who’s crazy can be is articulate, because then you think they’re right.”

Crosley said that was the last time she shed tears over a reader’s response to her work.

“You realize once you start writing stuff that’s personal about yourself that you have to control the level at which you let stuff in.

The deal with that is you also cant let the good stuff in more than the bad stuff, because that’s cheating.”

Of course, there are the people who miss the point of her work.

Crosley said there have been people who have mistakenly pigeonholed her into the chick-lit, Carrie Bradshaw, ‘woman braving the dating world in the big city’ genre despite the fact she cannot recall a single instance of going on a date recorded in her first book.

She admits to having read her own Amazon reviews on occasions, and people who come to her work expecting a David Sedaris (to whom Crosley has been compared) book with “more laughs per square inch” tend to come away feeling unfulfilled.

“If people want (Sedaris-style writing), they come to it and they’re disappointed. They’re like ‘This isn’t funny. I was told there’d be cake There’s no cake,’” Crosley said with a laugh. “I’m like, I’m sorry, I’ll bake one for you.”

The best critical reviews Crosley considers herself to have gotten haven’t come from book critics at all, nor have they been published in newspapers and magazines.

They’ve come from strangers on

the subway.

Crosley said she has found herself sitting or standing across from strangers who happened to be reading her book several times during her public transportation commutes.

“It is the best thing ever. I don’t know what it’s like… I wish I knew if it made you giddy or if it was humbling or embarrassing, but your mind blanks out and it’s just the coolest thing,” Crosley said.

“Three of those times people have been either into it or laughing, which is great. It’s sort of icing on the cake, if you’ll pardon the wording.”

One was checking the spine of the book to see how many pages were left, but Crosley can look past that bad encounter and enjoy the good ones.

“I always get embarrassed, because I don’t want them to see me! But it’s still just… unadulteratedly wonderful.”

In I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Crosley said 12 of the 15 essays are completely and unabashedly selfdeprecating, and “two of them, maybe 1.5. kind of go for peoples’ respective jugulars. None of (the people portrayed) reacted particularly well.”

While Crosley said her family has not gotten angry at her depiction of them, there have been arguments stemming from the validity of her accounts.

“If there’s an objection, where my father says, ‘Oh my god I never said that,’ I have the checks and balances system of my mother to say, ‘yes you did. I was there.’”

The details in Crosley’s work are given sparingly.

Bits and pieces of incidences and cross-sections of personalities come together to form the stories.

That lack of specificity is what she believes separates essays from blogs or diaries and what makes a personal story relevant to an outsider.

“You have to figure out what makes it entertaining without compromising it beyond recognition,” she said.

Crosley’s specific interest in becoming a published writer was paralleled with various creative and artistic ambitions.

“I was never going to be pre-med,” she said. Her college math credit even had an artistic tint to it. “(My college math credit) was called ‘Math and the Arts,’” Crosley said, “and we had to keep a journal of our feelings about math.”

She always enjoyed writing, but said that being a writer is something you have to “stumble backwards into.”

“I think anyone who walks around saying ‘oh, I’m a writer­....’ I mean, I still hesitate to say it,” she said. “I think when you’re Phillip Roth you get to say that’s what you do for a living on the census.

But I knew I wanted to do something with humor and creativity.”

As a writer, she faces a unique dichotomy. She holds down a career as a publicist for Vintage Books, a division of Random House, for a day job.

She’s used to promoting other writers’ work, but when her first book was published she found herself on the other side of the desk.

“When the book comes out, in terms of promoting it and talking about it, you have years of telling other people how to do this,” she said. “You feel at once incredibly prepared but oddly lonely.”

The road to her current comfortable spot as a publicist/writer was a rocky one. During her time at Connecticut College, which she called a “tiny little school,” she held down internships at various magazines. The throwaway nature of the final product in the magazine industry was disconcerting for Crosley, who began searching for a niche in book publishing. A stint as an assistant to a literary agent inspired the tale of the Ursula Cookie, and a piece of sage advice to any employed persons who happen to moonlight as bakers.

“Never, ever bake a cookie intended to resemble your boss… and then give it to her,” she said after reading an excerpt from the essay during her lecture.

In the same story, she also learned the consequences of killing off family members, even those who had already passed away, to formulate a valid excuse for skipping work. Sometimes, the newly deceased catch wind of their unfortunate fates and ring you up for an explanation. In Crosleys’ case, the dead man was her father (she had intended to kill an already-deceased aunt), and in the process of getting in contact with her, her dad had called every college friend he could think of until he finally obtained the phone number of the pot dealer/ paralegal who was her boyfriend at the time.

A college creative writing professor once called Crosley into her office, gave back a story she had handed in that focused on a “bloodbath.”

The professor said: “Somebody up there gave you something and you have no idea what to do with it.” And then, Crosley said she slid the piece of gory fiction across the table and said: “This isn’t it.”

The advice inspired her to keep writing, but shift gears. She has found her niche in humor.

In the end, Crosley is willing to risk varying levels of mortification in the name of telling a humorous story.

“The best humor, no matter what form it takes, whether it’s in stand-up, movies, satire or personal essays, is where you’re observing something that’s been there all along but nobody has put their finger on it yet,” she said. “The humor of something being true is my favorite. When people see themselves in it, that’s the best.”

LOANS...........................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 a direct loan system in the past, but opted to stay with FFELP. “Direct loans have been in existence for a number of years,” Pennartz said. “We’ve just never participated because we had an option. We stayed with FFELP because of the competition factor.”

Michelle Wells, also an assistant director of financial aid, said MSU is effectively avoiding a messy switch by moving away from FFELP early.

“If this bill does get passed (and we hadn’t switched over), we would have to do some loans in summer as FFELP and anything (during the second summer semester) would have to be direct,” Wells said. “Instead of making students do two loans this summer, we decided to move to direct loans now. It will cut down on the confusion and the chance that loans won’t be ready in time for students.”

The government is also guaranteeing that loan money will be available if promised. Pennartz said private lenders don’t always offer such certainty.

“Just last week we were dealing with

a bank that pulled out (of the FFELP program),” Pennartz said. “The lender list (for MSU students) has gone from 12 or 13 down to five that are still in the program.”

Wells said if MSU had stayed with FFELP, there would have been a dearth of lender choices. She said 890 students would have been borrowing from the bank that pulled out.

“Lenders have been dwindling for the past two years,” Wells said. “At the beginning of the fall, we had 33 students (whose lenders) pulled out two weeks before loans would be dispersed.”

In that situation, the Financial Aid office had to call up each of the students, sit down with them and help them through the securing process a second time. Wells said securing loans directly through the federal government will ensure that the source of the money is reliable.

Students expressed concern that switching to government-only loans would result in higher interest rates due to a lack of competition. Wells said the

competition factor doesn’t really play in presently, either, because the government already regulates interest rates.

“Competition is more for customer service,” Wells said. “If a lender didn’t provide good customer service, we wouldn’t put them on our lender list.”

Also, Pennartz said it’s important for students to realize that whether they’re receiving FFELP or direct loans, they’re still utilizing a government loan program.

“With the FFELP using private lenders like Wells Fargo and American National, those banks serve as a middleman for the federal government. The government is still setting the rules for the program. Now, you won’t have a middleman.”

Wells said the Department of Education is launching a comprehensive student loan Web site on March 29, just in time for Midwestern’s official switch on March 30.

“It’ll be a one-stop shop for all student loans,” Wells said. “We will be e-mailing and mailing out links to that site (to students who are receiving financial aid).

Students were notified that MSU would be switching from FFELP to a direct loan program with a mailout/email sent by the

Financial Aid office on Feb. 26.

“We just wanted to make sure they were in the loop,” Pennartz said. “We gave them that Web site to do some research on direct loans.”

As for students who fear they might get ripped off by federal price gouging, Pennartz doesn’t see cause to worry.

“There are too many monitors in place.

Congress (which controls the interest rates for student loans) is not going to let something like that happen,” she said. “I think the government is going to be on their best behavior, especially this year. They know they’re launching this initiative and they have to make sure their stuff is in place so they can get the money here.”

Expecting perfection, however, is something to be wary of.

“Are we going to have problems? I’m sure we will,” Pennartz said. “We have problems now with the FFELP program. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure kids will have their money on graduation day.”

By beating the potential governmentmandated switch, the Financial Aid department hopes to have plenty of time to make the change carefully. There is also the added benefit of the program taking effect the first time in a summer semester.

“Initially we thought we’d wait until Fall 2010,” Pennartz said. “Several things prompted us to move it up to Summer 2010. The summer semester will be a good little testing ground for

the switch with a smaller population of kids.”

Pennartz stressed that the summer enrollees will not be “guinea pigs.”

“Summer kids are not going to have any grief,” she said. “It’ll be a smooth transition. Anybody new who comes in the fall will move right into (the direct loan program). Brand new kids aren’t even going to know the difference.”

Students expecting to use financial aid should be on the lookout for information packets related to their packages this year. Pennartz said that while they will have to fill out a new Master Promissory Note (which is normally not required on an annual basis), they will no longer be required to choose a bank to funnel their loans through.

Students with multiple lenders will also have the option to consolidate their debts into a single loan, cutting down on the number of payments they are responsible for.

Pennartz urges any students who have questions or concerns to contact the Financial Aid office.

“None of us (in Financial Aid) see this as a negative move,” Pennartz said.

“We want to make sure students perceive it as a positive thing for them. It’d be easy just to stay with FFELP and do what we’re doing. When it comes down to sitting on the fence and deciding do we (make the transition) or don’t we, we’re going to move forward because we don’t want to be without money in the summer.”

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The Wichitan

March 10, 2010

Beat Spring Break m o Make this vacation memorable d e r o B with these fun and new ideas Lauren Wood Entertainment Editor

Besides summer break, the best time of the year for most students is spring break. This is a weeklong vacation where we can get away from all the hustle and bustle of schoolwork as well as the cold weather.

Some of you have big plans to visit beaches or snow slopes.

Others may plan to buckle down and study for that midterm their teacher conveniently scheduled for the Monday after break.

Some of you, however, don’t have any big plans at all. Spring break is usually filled with parties and beaches, but there are many other things you can do.

Take a road trip. You’d be surprised just how many college students take this alternative route for spring break fun. Grab a group of friends, a reliable ride, a map, and you’re good to go. Best of all with road trips, you can stop and stay with friends or relatives, take detours at the last minute,

and pile all your friends into a hotel room. Take back roads whenever possible to capture the scenic moments of your trip.

Camping is another great idea for the outdoorsy type. It’s a nice alternative for a rustic, down-toearth time with your friends, and a campfire!

Pitch a tent, or for a little more money rent a log cabin and remember your fishing rods. Many sites have water and an electric hookup. Also, a lot of campsites have planned activities and things for visitors to do.

Visit a new city. There are a lot more things to do you than you might think. State and city websites have lists of local activities and annual events. You can even just stay in Texas if you want.

Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin are just a few cities with endless sites both modern and historic and all have a great nightlife.

Volunteer! This is probably the cheapest, but perhaps not the most relaxing alternative for spring break. There are many options if you venture down this road that will allow you to visit places in need all over the country. You may help rebuilding communities or working with individuals. Needless to say it’s a one of a kind, fulfilling experience.

But really, what is Spring Break all about?

The beach party may be lots of fun, but ultimately what you’re going to remember about Spring Break is memorable time spent with your friends (as opposed to strangers on the beach and memories too hazy to remember due to alcohol).

So be creative and think of some fun and memorable Spring Break ideas that don’t cost a fortune.

The beach party may be lots of fun, but ultimately what you’re going to remember about Spring Break is memorable time spent with your friends.

2010 Oscars: A night of many firsts Lauren Wood Entertainment Editor

This year’s Academy Awards marked many firsts. It was the first time a female was named Best Director. It was the first time since 1943 that 10 movies were nominated for Best Picture. And it was the first time for many to receive an Oscar.

It was a magical night for some, but just an extremely long journey for us viewers.

The evening began early with its usual red carpet special. We saw A-list actors donned in gowns and tuxedos, making their way to the Kodak Theater.

This year the hosts were comedic actors Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who tried to liven up the event sporadically throughout the show. But first they were introduced by Neil Patrick Harris.

And by introduced I mean Harris sang and danced his way across the stage singing No One Wants to Do it Alone.

I expected more from Martin and Baldwin.

They started off good with jokes about actors and directors in the audience, but throughout the night they became more of a nuisance than a pleasure.

During the show, the Academy paid a special tribute to John Hughes, who passed away in August 2009. Actors Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick and Anthony Michael Hall spoke about Hughes, commemorating him on all of his achievements.

The League of Extraordinary Dancers also performed, which was a bit random.

They danced a choreographed piece to bits of sound bites from all of the Best Score nominees. It was intriguing, but just unlikely for the Oscars.

Constant jokes were made on Meryl Streep’s behalf, this being her 16th nomination for an Oscar, but she laughed along with everyone, including when Sandra Bullock made reference to

Streep being a good kisser.

Many actors and actresses got to present at the Oscars, including Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks and Sean Penn. Younger and newer actors got to present as well.

Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus graced us with their presence that evening, both of the first-timers showing signs of nervousness.

But as far as the Oscar winners, they all accepted theirs statue with poise, gratitude and emotion.

Christoph Waltz accepted the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

Mo’Nique collected her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Precious.

A stunned Kathryn Bigelow collected her Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, presented by Barbra Streisand.

Jeff Bridges received his Best Actor Oscar for his role as an aging country music star in Crazy Heart. This was Bridges’s fifth nomination, but first win.

Michael Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley Tucci and Peter Sarsgaard paid tribute to the Best Actress nominees. However, Sandra Bullock took home the Oscar for her role in The Blind Side.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal accepted the Jeff Bridges holds up his Oscar for Best Actor. (Photo Best Picture Oscar for The Hurt Locker. by MCT) The film swept the evening with six of winners, visit the official Academy Awards wins.

Web site.

If you are interested in seeing the complete list

Adam Lambert competed in the last season of “American Idol.” (Photo Courtesy)

Lambert album: Not ‘For Your Entertainment’ Jamie Monroe Advertising Manager

Artist: Adam Lambert Album: For Your Entertainment Sounds like: Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Donny Osmond Recommended for: Hot Topic shoppers, 16-year old girls, fans of eyeliner.

Synopsis: I downloaded this album because I saw the video for Whatya Want From Me and was entranced by Lambert’s boyish good looks, perfect fauxhawk, and expert application of guyliner. Sure, there were handsome vocals behind his dewey cheekbones, but that’s not what drew me in.

Unfortunately, once you look past Lambert’s edgy, emo-rocker persona, there’s not a lot to the album. Lambert’s second single Whatya Want From Me is a lovely mid-tempo song that has a solid drive and nice pacing. It really shows off Lambert’s vocal talent and is by far my favorite song on the album. The title track, For Your Entertainment, is also quirky, a little kinky, and fun to listen to.

The rest of the album alternates between “meh” and “gross, turn it.” Beyond the two singles, there are probably one or two more songs worth a listen. The rest of the album is disjointed. Some songs have rock vibes that don’t quite cut it and others are painfully 80s.

Nothing seems to fit together, and the lyrics range from “I’m angsty and depressed” to “Let’s get naked and do weird stuff together.”

Verdict: The final product seems gimmicky and insincere. I don’t buy into the nonconformist alt-rock vibe Lambert is trying to sell - which is a shame, because he really does have talent.

Oscar Tally: The Hurt Locker: Avatar: Disney/Pixar’s Up:

Sandra Bullock took home an Oscar for Best Actress. (Photo

by MCT)

Precious: Crazy Heart: Inglourious Basterds: The Blind Side:

Above: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted the Oscars. Below: Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman director to win Best Director. (Photo by MCT)

sports

March 10, 2010

The Wichitan n 7

On Deck This Week

hot pitches, hotter bats lady mustangs softball Blaze winning trail after 8 straight victories

Lady Mustangs gather and encourage each other after a solid inning of defense in their first game against Southwestern Oklahoma Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by: Julia Raymond)

Chad Steele For The Wichitan

Matt Ledesma For The Wichitan

Midwestern State opened Lone Star Conference North Division play with a pair of wins over Southwestern Oklahoma yesterday at Mustangs Park.

MSU (19-2, 2-0) extended its win streak to 11 games with a 13-2 five inning victory in Game 1, followed by a 5-0 shutout win.

Brittany Tanner (6-1) threw a three-hitter to start the day off, striking out nine batters in the shortened game.

Teammate Kristina Gutierrez (5-0) went the distance in Game 2, striking out 11 batters without giving up a run.

The team showed off some offensive chops as well in the first matchup. Mallory Mooney, Lauren Craig, McKenzie Sickler and Natalie Rodriguez all hit home runs in a stellar day at the plate for MSU. Sickler finished the game with

two hits and five RBIs, Craig went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs and Mooney got a pair of hits and two RBIs. MSU led 4-2 after the first inning, but then took all the drama out of the game early with an eight-run outing in the bottom of the second.

Things slowed down a bit in Game 2, but the result was same as Sickler once again led the offense with two hits.

Alyson Reynolds racked up a pair of RBIs on 2-for-3 batting, while Craig also knocked in a run.

MSU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back, posting another run in the bottom of the fourth inning followed by two more in the next inning.

The Mustangs continue conference play with a game at Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday.

First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Mustangs dominate tournament

The Mustangs dominated the Teri Mathis Zenner Classic Tournament on Saturday and Sunday with a perfect 6-0 record.

The pitching trio of Brittney Tanner, Kristina Gutierrez and Katie Peterson dominated the competition on Saturday and each posted a shutout.

Tanner, a Burkburnett native, improved her record to 4-1 with a win over Pittsburg State and pitched her first shutout of the season. She had four strikeouts while only allowing four hits and one walk in the complete game victory.

Tanner also got the scoring started when she scored an unearned run in the fourth off a sacrifice bunt

by Elena Bennett.

Outfielder Nicki Duff ’s single to right field allowed Potysman and Mooney to score the only to two

runs in the fifth.

Junior Kristina Gutierrez continued the trend against Missouri Southern as she delivered three strikeouts and only allowed seven hits in her first shutout of the season.

The Mustangs jumped all over the Lions pitching with 14 hits.

Centerfielder Bennett and second baseman Reynolds each had three hits in the 7-0 win.

Senior Pitcher Katie Peterson closed Saturdays games in dominating fashion against Emporia State as she earned her second straight shutout and fourth of the season.

Peterson had an impressive nine strikeouts and only allowed four hits in the 4-0 victory. Third baseman, Mallory Mooney delivered the offense with a one out double to left center that scored two runs.

The Mustangs returned Sunday to continue their winning ways with

victories over Nebraska-Omaha, Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western.

Peterson had another impressive showing against Nebraska-Omaho as she only allowed two hits and had 12 strikeouts making her the alltime leader in strike outs at MSU. She claimed her 700 career strike out in the 2-1 victory.

Peterson also got the scoring started when she drove in the first run of the game as she singled to right field allowing centerfielder Courtney Bingham to score from second.

Tanner pinch hit in the sixth to drive in the winning run as Mooney scored off of Tanners single to left field.

Peterson got her second win of the day as she relieved Gutierrez in fourth inning as the Mustangs came from behind to win 7-4 against Northwest Missouri.

Peterson had 10 strikeouts in the final 10 outs of the game.

The bats came to life as the Mustangs rallied for four runs off of four hits in the bottom of the sixth.

Bingham got things started with a bases loaded single to left field that scored two runs then scored off and error.

Tanner delivered another strong performance to notch a 7-1 victory over Missouri Western in the final game. Tanner had 10 strikeouts while allowing eight hits and two walks.

Junior first baseman McKenzie Sickler put the nail in the coffin with a huge homerun to left center field that scored 3 runs.

The Mustangs supremacy over the tournament brings their record to 17-3 for the season. The Mustangs currently have won eight straight games and have won 15 of their last 16 games.

Midwestern cycling finds success in Aggieland Loren Eggenschwiler For The Wichitan

The MSU cycling team made it’s way down to College Station Friday afternoon.

The 20 racers that attended began the weekend with a very rouged course on the country roads of Tunis near College Station.

The men’s A category began at 12:05 with 6 from MSU. Quickly after at 12:10 the men’s B category and women A raced together.

The course began on a rough paved road and quickly turned onto a hard rocky road with a pot hole or well every 2 feet.

After that the road turned to lots of rock and gravel, followed

by a few miles of sand, then more rocks and back onto a rough paved road with scattered gravel patches.

Within the first few miles men’s B racers Roy Bracey, Tyler Matthies, women’s A racer Claire Routledge and men’s A Todd Elenz and Alexi Martinez all got a flat tire.

It was a great chance to see MSU work as a team as riders switched out wheels to those who could manipulate around the crashes and rouged terrain.

Elenz took first for the men’s A with Jason Short sprinting for 2nd against an A&M opponent.

Jen Purcell took first for the women, and finished 2nd for the combined field after she was taken out 1 kilometer before the

finish.

She was able to finish the race only with a large tire burn on her forearm.

Routledge took 2nd, followed

by Tiffany Stewart and Loren Eggenschwiler.

Bracey took 2nd for the men’s B category, right behind Purcell.

Matt Sauls finished 5th after trying to chase back to the lead group that Purcell was in.

The rough course and sunny weather changed for Sunday where there was a crit on a nicely paced road and scattered showers.

The women raced with the men B category again.

Bracey was quickly off the front in the beginning and stayed off the front for the win.

Sean Brown was in the chase group with two UT racers and one from A&M. Brown was able to take the sprint for 2nd place.

The Top three women, Purcell, Natalie Klemko and Marilyn Cullinane finished with the mens field for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

The MSU cycling team had another successful weekend at College Station.

They will be continuing conference races in the DFW area this weekend March 13 and 14 before Spring break and will be at Texas State March 27 and 28.

MSU will be hosting a race here at MSU April 17 and 18. So mark your calendars to attend or help out!

n

Saturday, march 13 BASKETBALL

Men @ NCAA Division ii South Central regionals D.L Ligon coliseum

6 PM - Incarnate word

TEnnis

Men and women vs. washburn

2 PM

Softball

@ Southwestern Oklahoma

1 PM & 3 PM n

Sunday, march 14

BASKETBALL

Men @ NCAA Division ii South Central regionals D.L Ligon coliseum

n

Monday, march 15

BASKETBALL

Men @ NCAA Division ii South Central regionals D.L Ligon coliseum

Golf

Women @ Texas A&M Commerce tournament

Softball

@ Central Oklahoma

1 PM & 3 PM

n

tuesday, march 16

BASKETBALL

Men @ NCAA Division ii South Central regionals D.L Ligon coliseum

Golf

Women @ Texas A&M Commerce tournament

Softball

vs. Central Oklahoma

1 PM & 3 PM

TEnnis

n

Men and women @ colorado

wednesday, march 17

TEnnis

Men and women @ colorado

bold denotes home game

$385

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8 n

The Wichitan

sports

march 10, 2010

SWEETER THE SECOND TIME MSU to host NCAA South Central tournament after clinching second-straight LSC title Matt Ledesma For The Wichitan For the first time in over a decade, D.L. Ligon Colisuem will host the NCAA Divison II South Central Regional Tournament.

MSU found out it would play host last Sunday night, after the No. 1 Mustangs (28-2) earned their second-straight LSC Championship with a 65-55 win over Tarleton State in the title game a day earlier.

The regional tournament tips off with a slate of four games beginning on Saturday when Fort Hays State takes on Central Oklahoma at noon. Central Missouri will play Missouri Western at 2:30 p.m., before MSU takes the court with an openinground game against Incarnate Word at 6 p.m.

Tarleton State and Nebraska-Omaha wrap up the night’s contests at 8:30 p.m.

The winners of those match ups will continue play on Sunday until the regional championship is held Tuesday night.

The Mustangs look to keep their sevengame win streak going and can earn a berth into the Div. II elite eight tournament by winning the regional.

“I’m very proud for our fans, the administration that has backed us and everyone who has supported Mustangs basketball this year,” MSU head coach Grant McCasland said after Saturday’s win.

“I’m very proud of this team, but our demeanor is that we have more to play for.”

MSU captured the LSC title in familiar style. Senior guard Jason Ebie continued to keep the offense running throughout the weekend, and for his efforts, was named tournament MVP. He came up especially big for the Mustangs in their second-round game against

Northeastern State.

MSU trailed by as much as 14 points in the second half, but went on a 18-3 run in the final three and half minutes to rally for a 74-64 victory.

Ebie was the catalyst for the offensive outburst, scoring a career-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers.

“Some games I’m called to score, and some games I’m called upon to distribute and play defense,” Ebie said after the win.

“I got some open looks and thank the Lord I made them.”

Junior guard Chris Hagan added another 19 points while senior guard Anthony Moore recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Moore and senior guard Craig Green were also selected to the all-tournament team. Junior forward Charlie Logan had a career night versus Tarleton the following day in the championship game, logging 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Behind that production, the Mustangs jumped out to lead by as much as 20 points after the first half.

But Tarleton still had some fight left in it, cutting the deficit to six with just a little less than a minute left in the game.

However, Hagan and Logan both hit a pair of free throws down the stretch as Tarleton was forced to foul to stop the clock, securing MSU’s third tournament title in the last four years.

A couple of days earlier it was Green’s time to shine. He poured in a game-high 25 points, connecting an impressive six times from behind the arc, to lead the Mustangs over Southwestern Oklahoma 77-65 in the first round of play.

Notes: South Central Regional Tournament all-session tickets are available for presale at the following rates: Reserved ($36), End Zone Reserved ($28) and Gen-

ABOVE: Charlie Logan goes against Angelo State this season. RIGHT: Jason Ebie goes up for a shot at D.L. Ligon Collesium. (Photos by: Patrick Johnston)

eral Admission ($20).

All tickets may be purchased at the MSU Athletics Offices in Ligon Coliseum and general admission passes are available purchase at Jerry’s Sporting Goods or at the Multi-Purpose Events Center’s Box Office.

Single-session student passes are available for $12 with a limited availability of 300 passes provided by MSU Student Affairs and University Advancement offices.

These tickets may be picked up at the information desk in the Clark Student Center with the presentation of an active Midwestern State student ID. As a reminder, the South Central Regional is an NCAA event, so Midwestern State parking and regular season passes will not be honored.