The student voice of Midwestern State University
The Wichitan page 4 Twilight falling
page 7 California!!!
Film based on best-selling books to premiere Friday, blockbuster turnout expected.
No. 3 Midwestern State heads to California to compete in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals.
WEDNESDAY, november 19, 2008
Puck Farking
Parking woes lead to protest Jamie Monroe Chris Collins For the Wichitan
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Kaysi Provence For the Wichitan
The “Wall of Shame” is a way of discouraging the sneaking of girls into Pierce Hall, an all-male residence hall. For the boys of Pierce Hall, the “Wall of Shame” is more like a “Wall of Fame,” but for girls who are added to it, it is simply embarrassing. However, before this “Wall” was created, the fact that you had been caught and the RAs knew who you were was embarrassing for girls. MSU junior Brittney Ostermann admits being mortified when she was caught on video sneaking into Pierce Hall to visit her boyfriend. In her situation, her boyfriend had to speak to the hall director and was punished. He was forced to watch the door to Pierce Hall to catch others attempting to sneak in.
“I think my case was different. I didn’t go to school here yet,” Ostermann said. The “Wall of Shame,” located to the left of the dorm entrance, was created by Wayne Schields last year when he became hall director of the residence hall. “I found out that people were propping open doors,” Schields said. Schields, who is also a resident of Pierce Hall along with his family, felt that the doors being propped open were a threat to his family and the university community. Schields’ first attempt to stop the girls from sneaking into the residence hall was to post pictures on the doors of Jeanne Clery, a student of Lehigh University who was raped and killed April 5, 1986, after a man entered her residence hall through a propped open door. As a result
of her murder, the Clery Act was passed. It states that propping doors is a violation of the residence life handbook and could result in disciplinary action and/ or criminal charges. When this did not work Schields came up with the “Wall of Shame.” “I believe in shame. It is a valuable trait,” Shields said. Yet, the objective of the wall is not to embarrass the students, but to teach them a lesson. In order to become a member of the “Wall of Shame” a person must sneak into Pierce Hall. The majority are girls. A surveillance camera takes a video still of about four pictures. Those pictures are given to other residence halls to put up if they wish and are also See WALL page 3
Exhibit conveys trials of life with mental illness Russ Lawrenz For the Wichitan
World renowned photographer Michael Nye’s captivating exhibit “Fine Line, Mental Health/Mental Illness” opened last Friday at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU. “Fine Line” is a compilation of portraits and stories that convey the difficulties and experiences of those living with mental illness. Nye, who lives in San Antonio, traveled the country for four years, personally visiting with more than 50 people to share their stories with a world often unacquainted with the issue of mental illness. “I’m driven by sharing these stories. It is less about me and more about the people and what they have to say,” Nye said. Nye practiced law for 10 years before he decided to take up photography.
“My partner in my law firm committed suicide and I have never truly gotten over it,” Nye said. “He (the partner) suffered from severe depression. I felt that if I had just known more
that I could’ve helped.” That experience drove him from practicing law to look for something more meaningful. Nye began studying photography to get in touch with a differ-
ent side of himself. “I was amazed at what I discovered while photographing images, just the story I could tell,” Nye said. In the exhibit, photographs align the wall along with headphones so those in attendance can listen to excerpts of the subjects describing what it is like to suffer from mental illness. “What I’m really curious about is what we do and know as humans, simply what it is to be human,” Nye said. “When I went into the project and when I came out I am two very different people.” One out of every six people suffer from some sort of mental illness, mild to severe. The topic is deep, yet enlightening. “The urgency of helping people with mental issues important. I learned that listening is healing,” Nye said. See EXHIBIT page 3
Puck farking. That’s the motto many MSU students have adopted in response to a common campus problem: parking. The slogan, which is part of an assignment in a Mass Communication Law class, was designed to test the public’s tolerance of First Amendment rights. The class project quickly blossomed into a campus protest, however, and now the students plan to make their voices heard. They’ll gather Thursday on the lawn of the Quadrangle to ask some questions and, if they succeed, get some answers. “When I passed out the assignment they started talking,” said Dr. Jim Sernoe, instructor of the Mass Communication Law class. “I don’t remember who started it, but they all just kind of wanted to do that.” Sernoe had initially thought students would work on the
project individually or in small groups. A full-blown parking protest isn’t at all what he expected. “It just started to snowball,” he said. Twenty-two of the 29 students in the law class opted to work on the protest. They split up into several committees to research university protest rules, design T-shirts and organize a petition. The protesters, trying to rally support for their cause online, created a Facebook group. More than 330 people had joined two weeks after its launch. “I feel like the administration knows it’s a problem, but since no one is putting up a fuss, it’s not being resolved,” said Jenny Gaylor, a junior in the law class. Gaylor said she hopes the protest will raise awareness of an important issue that hasn’t been sufficiently addressed by the university. “I don’t expect them to build a parking garage tomorrow, but See PROTEST page 3
Engineering dept finds new home Chris Collins Managing Editor
MSU engineering and physics students will have a new building to call home this spring. The McCoy Engineering Hall, a $7.7 million project, will be completed in December, according to Alan Goldapp, associate vice president for facilities services. Architectural planning for the building began about two years ago, Goldapp said. Construction on the former Fowler building, located in between Louis J. Rodriguez Drive and Martin Hall, started in October 2007. The mechanical engineering department is currently in McCoy Hall. The physics department is in Bolin. Dallas-based ICI Construction was contracted for the project. “The building has been completely redesigned for engineering and physics,” Goldapp said. “Just about the only same thing is the brick on the outside.” The building’s interior has been gutted to the frame structure. Most of the first floor has been removed. The new engineering hall will feature seven labs altogether, Goldapp said. One is a “high bay” lab, a transparent, two-story workroom made with a material called Kalwall. While the engineering department stands to gain about
40 percent more square footage from the move, the physics department probably won’t gain any. Richard Fleming, chair of the physics department, has doubts that moving is the right decision. “It’s probably not good, but I guess I can accept it,” Fleming said. The physics chair complained that while the new building might have nicer labs, it doesn’t have as much space. The department might even have to restrict enrollment in some freshman classes because of the move. Currently, the physics department has about 10 majors, two of whom will graduate this semester. The mechanical engineering department has 152 majors. Ten manufacturing engineering majors will have to switch fields of study because the major will be phased out, said Jenny Gattis, administrative assistant at the McCoy School of Engineering. The first mechanical engineering majors will graduate in May 2008, according to Janus Buss, director of public information and marketing. The first class started in spring 2004. “You only get a program like this at a large university,” Buss said. There are currently only 15 public schools in Texas that offer a mechanical engineering major.