Find the elf — Burnie — at the Fantasy of Lights
Nov. 28, 2018 | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 83 No. 12
PHOTOS BY CLARA UKWITEYETSE AND NATHAN MARTINEZ| THE WICHITAN
Music performance sophomore Jaci Robinson amd music education sohpmore Felix Castillo prepare for the MSU Wind Ensemble performance. | Rodrigo Quezada, general business freshman, Hailey Coyac, nursing freshman and Alicia Rubio, spanish freshman at Fantasy of Lights opening ceremony. | Story and Sterling Gustafson pose for a photo with Santa.
MSU-BURNS FANTASY OF LIGHTS continues 44-year tradition ALANA EARLE REPORTER
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he MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights originally began in the 1920’s as a collection of decorations on a newlywed’s lawn, became a way to spread holiday cheer to thousands of people who visit the showcase. Dirk Welch, MSU-Burns FOL coordinator, said, “Its [Fantasy Of Lights] purpose is to provide a festive holiday atmosphere on campus, to serve as an outreach to the community, and to be a focal point for the holiday activities in North Texas.” This is the 44th year that Midwestern State University has hosted the MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights displays on the Hardin building front lawn, along Taft Blvd. Officially, there are 42 displays as of this year with the addition of three displays this year alone. Be sure to check out the newest additions - The Rock of FOL, Toy Soldiers and Santa’s chair (which will feature a real-life Santa). Along with the displays, there are also areas with strings of lights and Christmas tress that can be “adopted,” funded by various donors. There are 20,000 lights and 100 trees, that light up the buildings along Taft Blvd.
The lights and displays turn on every evening at dusk (each evening will be different), the lights will also turn on during the day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays for touring primary school children. This year, a new part of the showcase will be introduced, Burnie the Elf, who received 51 percent of votes for naming the character via the FOL Facebook page and a play on the Burns family name, will appear in a new location each night throughout the showcase season in order to further boost interactivity with the showcase. Frosty’s Friends and Christmas Village are both photo op points along the showcase trail.
THE HISTORY
“In the late 1920’s, the recently married Mr. and Mrs. L.T. Burns celebrated their first Christmas together in their modest home on 10th Street in Wichita Falls by setting a small Christmas tree on their front porch and decorating it with a single, blue bulb. It was a small gesture, but an extremely meaningful one for the young couple, especially Mr. Burns, who grew up in a family unable to afford such luxuries as Christmas trees.
As the years passed and Mr. Burns became more successful in the oil industry, the couple continued the tradition they began that first Christmas. Each year they set up a display of some kind, and each year the display became a little more elaborate than the year before. In May 1971 Mrs. Burns, who had brought joy to so many people, died and the display was discontinued. In her will she stipulated that her son could keep the display or leave it to the care of Archer City, where many employees of the Burns estate lived and worked. The display remained in storage for the next three years. Following the death of Mrs. Burns’ son in 1974, Archer City offered the display to Midwestern State University on the condition that the display be operated free to the public as a memorial to Mrs. Burns. Because MSU did not have the funds necessary to operate and maintain such an enormous project, a nonprofit Fantasy of Lights Committee was formed to raise the thousands of dollars needed to buy paint, equipment and materials needed to restore the display and prepare for its exhibition during the 1974 Christmas season. A volunteer force of local townspeople, MSU students, faculty and staff, and airmen from Sheppard Air Force
Base, spent many long hours repairing and restoring each scene. On Dec. 4, 1974, the master switch was thrown and the MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights became a reality.
THE MISSION The MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights is one of the largest holidays displays of its kind. Its purpose is to provide a festive holiday atmosphere on campus, to serve as an outreach to the community, and to be a focal point for the holiday activities in North Texas. The displays are owned and operated by Midwestern State University for the benefit and enjoyment of the Wichita Falls community and surrounding area.” (Welch, Story of MSU-Burns FOL) With this large of a showcase, all the displays need a safe place to rest for the other 324 days of the year; the displays are held in the Jan Thacker Fantasy of Lights Workshop. The warehouse underwent a expansion to comfortably accommodate the displays during the year. The expansion added an extra 4,000 sq. ft. and was finished in January 2018. Welch said, “We were excited to expand
FANTAS Y OF LIGHTS 5K • DEC. 1 • FOL.MSUT E X A S . E DU
see FANTASY pg. 2
2 | Nov. 28, 2018| the Jan Thacker warehouse through donations, we needed...[the] additional 4,000 [sq. ft] has allowed us to store the displays comfortably and has given us the opportunity to expand the collection of displays in the future.” An annual work day is held to freshen up the displays for the showcase, assess any damages from use or weather and occasionally add a fresh from FANTASY pg. 1 layer of paint if need be. Welch said, “Merry Christmas to All is an original display from the 1970s showcases that needed serious repairs and repainting.” This year’s work day was held on Sept. 29, around 200 community members, including some MSU students, painted and repaired displays to get them ready for the opening ceremony. Overall, approximately 2,000 hours go into the repair and painting of the displays as well as setting up and taking down of the displays. “Typically, the displays are positioned in the same location each season. As new displays are added, a few will be moved around to accommodate the new additions. Much forethought is put into the location of each display,” said Welch. The MSU Facilities Services Team (grounds, electrical and carpentry) headed by Armando Muniz, grounds maintenance superintendent, set up, maintain and take down the displays as well as control the electrical set-up each year. The Elf Band, Humpty Dumpty and the Guard Shack are sound hubs that also house electrical wires so the wires are not visible or in the way. Welch said, “I’ve seen everything, from wedding proposals to magical moments where peoples faces light up, I’ve even met people who came from Taiwan to see the showcase.”
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FUNDING
Leslie Alvarado, bilingual education, junior, “I love the Fantasy of Lights. It’s the best time of the year. Everyone is so cheerful and festive during this time of year.” Steven Elhert, criminal justice, senior, “It’s a great experience. I love the tradition, how it brings the community and school together.” Oneida Mireles, business management, junior “I had one of my first dates there and it was a magical as any freshman girl would hope.” Reese Crosby, sociology, sophomore “Just a magical place to be at. You walk around and it feels like you’re walking through your childhood again.”
Carlie Hughes, alumni, “I really enjoyed being able to look at the displays that have been there from the beginning to the newest ones. It’s nice to be able to see the history of the event and be able to see how far we’ve come...The experience is just beautiful in general. “ Taryn Beauchamp, alumni, “Fantasy of Lights is always something I look forward to. It’s part of my ritual for starting the Christmas season.” Julie Gaffney, alumni, “I go every year with my parents, my mom remembers going to the Burns house as a girl scout. For me it’s been really neat seeing it [the showcase] grow over the years, my favorite display is the Robot.”
Although the displays, lights and choirs of people singing are located on MSU’s front lawn, MSU does not actually sponsor the annual showcase. Numerous donors fund the showcase. “Expenses vary from year to year. All expenses are paid for by the donations received each season. It takes virtually every penny raised to refurbish, maintain and showcase the displays [each year],” said Welch. “For the last two years...expenses have totaled in the low 90k’s with donations support totaling in the low 90k’s.” Other funding sources include online or in person donations, the annual Boot Collection, most displays are adopted by a person or group and the 5k & 1 Mile Fun Run. Along with the lights and display showcase, through out the season there will be performances from elementary school choirs and bands, as well as the MSU choir and band. Welch said, “Over the past two years, Fain Elementary has adopted the MSU-Burns FOL as project based learning, they hosted a spirit night at Chik-fil-A, fundraisers and last year first graders even got to meet Becky BurnsJohnson, the granddaughter of the original Burns Family.” The Polar Express which is located in the parking lot of the Hardin building, takes visitors around the showcase. Students get in free Sunday through Thursday with a valid student ID. Otherwise it is $5/person. The Polar Express runs Nov. 22 through Dec. 25. A new animatronic display, by the Toys Christmas creator Paul Ernst, will make its debut during the MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights 2019 season. Special hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the season the lights are on from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. for community school age groups to tour.
lights
trees
thousand estimated number of annual visitors.
PHOTO BY NATHAN MARTINEZ | THE WICHITAN
Annabell Bukowski stands in front of “The Rock of FOL” while her mom and sister, Ella, smile at the display sponsored by Boulder Design which was new this year. FROM STUDENTS
displays
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Vol. 83 | No. 12
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| Nov. 28, 2018 | 3
PHOTOS BY YERASLY DURAN | THE WICHITAN
Whitney Atkinson and Lane Riggs, both English seniors, and Cody Peterson, English junior, and David Milks, ELAR junior, discuss Voices journal in the Voices office. | Cody Peterson, English junior, unpacks last years Voices magazine for distribution. | Lane Riggs, English senior, working on the next years Voices journal.
Can you hear the voices? YERASLY DURAN REPORTER
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ights! Camera! Action! To allow students creativity to flow, share their writing, art and to express themselves, Voices art and literary journal is accepting submissions from students until Dec. 7. Giving the opportunity for aspiring writers and artists to get their work published. Voices accepts submissions from high schools, undergraduate and graduate students in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. “It is one thing to celebrate the creative work of MSU students and there’s nothing wrong with that. But for MSU visibility in the region to expand, I thought the journal needed to expand so students who are graduating from high school from Austin for instance, have they ever heard of Midwestern State? So how can we as the only public liberal university in the state, get on these people’s radar? So this was an opportunity to reach out and expand our profile, or increase our profile across the state, across the region,” John Schulze, assistant professor of English and Voices adviser, said. The journal allows students to submit poems, short stories, prose passages, art and photography and are given opportunities to win money based on their submissions. Schulze said he hopes that the journal may one day even go national and that next year the budget can include an award for students who submit art. The editors who work on the journal are able to represent their school at award competitions. “I [feel] like I’ve done something for MSU, we’ve been entering competitions and stuff like that. It feels good to be able to represent MSU like that, to be able to win awards,” Lane
Riggs, English senior, said. Despite the journal not being published in 2015, it won first place in Division 3 in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association award for the 2016-2017 issue. “We put so many hours in creating that first, new edition and to be able to see something for our work was immediately validating and satisfying,” Whitney Atkinson, English senior, said. “We had readership on campus and people were complimenting us and we could see the journal in the building and in people’s hand, but also getting that title behind it was really validating. This is something that we should keep doing and working to perfect, make it more diverse each semester.”
THE BENEFITS OF BEING A STUDENT EDITOR Journal editors are students and being an editor counts as an independent study, making it possible for editors to gain an advanced class credit. Student editors are also able to interact with computer programs, furthering their technological skills. Riggs who is an aspiring magazine editor or newspaper reporter said she enjoys being able to experience working with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. “[I’ve learned] mechanical and technical errors and things like this [journal] benefit me in my own personal writing. In Dr. Schulze intermediate creative writing class, [I’m able] to take in what I’m learning in class and apply it to Voices and also vice versa,” Lexi Murphy, English senior, said. Editors benefit in more ways than just academically, they also get to work with other students with similar interests. “I’ve met a great group of people, you get
to read all this stuff and see what everyone’s thinking or going through. Our last issue was pretty political, and it was good to think that I’m around like minded people, so I would think that is a huge benefit,” Riggs said. Student editors don’t have to be English majors to become an editor. “I don’t get a huge chance to socialize with other English majors, because I’m in Dillard [building] so often, but now that I’m in Voices, I get to talk with English majors and relate to them and just see their different backgrounds. Plus it is fun editing papers and stuff for me,” Morgan Lowe, general business senior, said. Annually, new editors and past editors join the Voices team, making each journal unique. Usually they are scouted by Schulze after taking his creative writing courses. “Every year there is a new group of editors and [they] have a new mission of where the magazine should go. It is interesting to see that there’s not one right way to do it. It’s never going to be the same,” Atkinson said.
VOICES JOURNAL IS OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS, NOT JUST ENGLISH MAJORS Students are able to submit any work to the journal, as long as it meets the submission guidelines. “Voices shows that you don’t have to be good [writer] per say, you just have to take the chance,” Riggs said. Since the magazine is open to students of all ages in the tri-state area, a diverse set of art and literature is able to be showcased in the magazine. “[Voices is] all sorts of things, it is art it is poetry, true and fiction. In one way, it is a reflection of what MSU is and it is peer shar-
ing stories and a reflection of the country,” Schulze said. First-time writers are able to submit their work because no prior writing experience is needed, giving students an opportunity to show their creative side.
HOW TO BE A STUDENT EDITOR Not exclusive to English students but generally are English majors. Have an interest in creative writing. Be good readers and be well read. Adviser usually scouts from his creative writing classes, oftentimes looking for people that discuss stories in class well. “You don’t even have to have any prior writing experience to even submit. You can write a little blurb of a three stanza poem and if you think it is the greatest thing, submit it. Or if you took a picture of a bird and you think it is very aesthetically pleasing, submit it,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of people are withholding submissions because they feel it isn’t good enough or whatever, but come on you can put this on your resume.”
FUNDING FOR THE JOURNAL Annually the adviser and student leaders request funds as part of the student allocation process. For the 2018-2019 journal, a budget of $6000 was requested. This money is used for advertising, promotion and printing of the actual journal. The money given out for the awards also come from the requested budget. Editors do not get paid for working on the journal. Source - John Schulze
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Jamilah Kangudja
‘I feel lke I’m living up to an image ’ JERI MOORE REPORTER
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s a Black Student Union parliamentarian, senator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a member of the Student Government Association and lover of Chic-fil-A fries; Jamilah Kangudja is known for her outgoing, can-do attitude, quirky personality and willingness to participate in campus life. “I make sure that we are following the rules of our bylaws, I’m like a mediator within the Black Student Union,” Kangudja, exercise physiology junior, said. Taylor Dinkins, marketing senior, recommended Kangudja for her position with SGA and has even asked Kangudja to attend a black leadership conference in February. Kangudja worked with the SGA for since late September. “Jamilah is just a very capable person,” Dinkins said. “She doubts herself a lot, but if she just believes in herself a little bit more,
she’ll be able to do anything she wants to.” Treston Lacy, mass communication senior, met Kangudja through a fraternity brother during a new member presentation event and said she’s has always been a great supporter of the fraternity’s events. Kangudja caught Lacy’s eye when she was taking turns passing the camera with his fraternity brother. “Jamilah is fun and she’s very outgoing. I love that she speaks her mind,” Lacy said. “I always respect someone who says what’s on their mind.” After class, Kangudja has a 10-minute window to make it to her job at SGA until 3 p.m. then starts her job in the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Multicultural Affairs where she is a student ambassador specialist helping with campus outreach. “The office is about allowing the diverse groups on campus to have a safe spot to come discuss [topics] and study or whatever the case may be,” Kangudja said. “What I’m supposed to do is to go out and find out what the campus climate is like for them [the groups],
what the campus culture is like and to provide resources.” With little time between classes, work, and campus involvement, Kangudja said she somehow finds the time to sit down and focus on her studies. “When I do study, I’ll buckle down and study for like eight hours straight,” Kangudja said. “I’ll isolate myself because my time does consist of being around people almost 24/7. I have to find, typically on a Sunday, a quiet place to study. I don’t know how that eight hours every two weeks helps me, but it helps me to pass.” Every event or organization Kangudja attends, she meets new friends. “I just admire how she got involved, especially this semester,” Kari Bell, management senior, said. “She was also our coach for lip-sync. She just does a great job with everything that she does.” Kangudja was also a resident advisor for McCullough-Trigg Hall last semester where she was the third RA within a week.
“When they told me that [she was the third RA in a week] I was like, ‘Is it haunted?’ ‘Do I need to quit too?,” Kangudja said laughing. Kyla Budgewater, accounting sophomore, met Kangudja during her stint as an RA her freshman year. “She stuck with us,” Budgewater, said. “She stayed positive and always had events for us to go to. Even when people didn’t show up she still made events and tried to keep the hall fun for us.” Kangudja said she cannot live an unchaotic life and that she needs to always be busy. After her classes, her work and her volunteering, she makes time for her organizations such as the BSU and the Echoes of Gospel. Her typical Wednesday has her on a tight schedule from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Though she sometimes worries about an image, she doesn’t always feel it’s accurate. “I feel like I’m living up to an image that I may have possibly created,” Kangudja said. “However, at the end of the day I want people to realize that I’m still human.”
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MSU student discounts $2 off any service USE CODE: 20221
Always hiring great stylists
| Nov. 28, 2018 | 5
Red dress helps brings awareness tradition.” The organization of such an event, Williams said, is very rewarding. “It has been eye opening and humbling to get to put together this big event,” Williams said. “Heart disease is one of the biggest killers of women around the world and it gets far too little attention. I am so glad that we are bringing Red Dress Gala to Midwestern, and I hope it becomes a chapter and university tradition.” Alpha Phi members are thoroughly looking forward to the event. “I am looking forward to seeing the different alumni and community members that come out and support,” Ecevido said. Hernandez said she was excited for the gala, but for more personal reasons. “One of the main reasons I joined Alpha Phi was because of their philanthropy events,” Hernandez said. “For someone who is going into the medical field and has family members with heart problems, this event really hits home and means a lot to me. I am looking forward to educating people who attend about women’s heart health and overall hopefully seeing the success of hosting our first gala ever.”
NICK LANIER REPORTER
“I
remember sitting in class when my phone rang, and it was my step dad,” Courtney Hoover recalled. “I already knew something was wrong at this point but I never expected for him to tell me my mom was in the hospital for a heart attack. I was in shock and confused and quite literally had no idea what to think or say.” Hoover, business management junior and Alpha Phi president, said her sorority’s upcoming event in support of women’s heart health means so much more to her than just a simple philanthropy event. “Women’s heart health has impacted my life in multiple ways,” Hoover said, noting that it wasn’t only her mom who had a heart attack. Her grandmother did too. “I was a kid then but I still remember the panic.” Alpha Phi will host the first Red Dress Gala in support of women’s heart health on campus Nov. 30, 6-10 p.m. The event will be held in CSC Comanche and to raise awareness of the leading cause of death in women. “Our foundation funds research projects for heart health, scholarships for members, as well as emergency help for sisters in need,” Hoover said. “The significance of the Red Dress Gala is to raise both awareness and money for the heart health charity. We want to stop the panic, shock and pain of heart disease.” Proceeds from the gala will go toward research and raising awareness of women’s heart health via the Alpha Phi Foundation. Red Dress Gala is one event Alpha Phi chapters nationwide put on, aiming to raise money for a great charity. The fundraising goal for the gala is $3,000. “It’s a very popular event at other chapters, [it includes] alumni, plus it’s a fairly simple and fun event to put on,” Madelyn Williams, sports and leisure studies sophomore and vice president of community relations and president-elect, said. “People who attend will be contributing to a fantastic cause, and we hope to raise money for women’s heart health, as well as host a very memorable event.” The planning process for the event took time, organization, and dedication, Jessica Hernandez, respiratory care junior and vice president of risk management, said. “2019 will be my second year in the VP of risk management role. It’s my job to make sure everything that we plan is appropriate
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WOMEN’S HEART HEALTH
Flyer for Alpha Phi Red Dress Gala. and safe,” Hernandez said. “When planning an event like Red Dress, I have to look into things like the venue and how much it costs as well as the safety aspect of things.” Hernandez and Williams teamed up to plan the aesthetics and events of the gala to support the families of the 1-in-5 women in the U.S. who have died of heart disease. “Mady [Williams] and I looked into decorations and whether it should be fancy or casual,” Hernandez said. “We also looked into the awards that would be given out and had to decide if they should be funny or be more meaningful, or a combination of the two.” It is set to be a fun filled night of games, awards, presentations and more. “We will be holding silent auctions, 50/50 raffles and we will be doing a ceremony about women’s heart health,” Williams said. “Dinner and one raffle ticket will be included
in ticket purchase, and we will be giving out awards for our chapter too. It is all about creating balance between fun and raising awareness of heart health.” Hoover agreed. “I am particularly excited for the silent auction as well as the other fun games and raffles that we will be doing to raise money,” Hoover said. “People who attend should get a lot out of the event, including a little more insight as to what Alpha Phi is all about and what the foundation does to help women.” The event could be a turning point for the chapter, biology junior Amelia Ecevido said. “We don’t put on a whole lot of extravagant events that the whole campus community is invited to, minus ‘Phifa’ [a soccer tournament], that raise money for good causes,” Ecevido said. “This will be an amazing start for us to continue a wonderful
“Over 44 million women are affected by heart health and they have a higher risk than men. It’s important that we educate about heart health when we can,” Jessica Hernandez, respiratory care junior and vice president of risk management, said. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women — one death every minute annually. Up to 1.3 million Americans alive today have some kind of heart defect. 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease. Of African American women aged 20 and older, 49 percent have some kind of cardiovascular disease. Hispanic women are 38 percent more likely than other racial groups to take action for their families regarding heart health, but in the process are more likely to ignore their own health. Hispanic women are more likely to develop heart disease 10 years earlier than non-Hispanics. A study has shown that only 1-in-5 women believe heart disease to be her biggest threat to her health.
6 | Nov. 28, 2018|
Jospeh Oben Okrah (nursing senior) at the Sikes lake clean up.
FILE PHOTO BY IZZIEL LATOUR | THE WICHITAN
After 16 years, lake needs dredging JAKE CLANCY REPORTER
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he water glows with a golden hue as the Texas sun sets on Sikes Lake. The soft wind pushes the water along, the waves creating an image that looks like a painting. The wildlife goes to rest while the stars begin to shine. Moonlight is the only light allowing the joggers to see. MSU established Sikes lake in 1960. The lake sits behind the Redwine Wellness Center and has about a 1-mile perimeter. The lake is home to different annual events such as the homecoming boat race and the Turkey Trot. “Sikes is a good area to just get away,” Teri Higgins, general business freshman, said. “It’s not too far from campus and its really nice out here. But there is a lot of geese poop.” According to Higgins, many runners had to dodge the geese poop during the Turkey Trot. “We did a cleanup of the lake at the beginning of the year with the golf team,” Anna Kittelson, undecided freshman, said. “There should be more cleanups of the lake, either by sports teams or student organizations. It would be really nice if someone came out
$15
million dollars was given to the school for funding.
here before events tend not only to Sikes and power washed lake, but also to the the walkways.” Wellness Center and According to Kyle Sikes House. The lake Owen, facilities serhasn’t been dredged vices associate vice since 2001 when the president, since the state, city and univergeese are protected, sity contributed to the it is difficult to get $1.8 million project. them to leave the “We looked into area. dredging the lake “The only thing during the drought,” you can do to break Owen said. “There was their habits is to stay less water in the lake about two weeks out and the north end there, going around looked pretty bad. We FILE PHOTO BY IZZIEL LATOUR and every time they checked and realized Brooks Rock (nursing senior) , Kassandra Alonso land you’d have to there weren’t any (nursing senior) and Kenadee Williams (nursing shoo them off.” said senior) at theSikes lake clean up. funds available. We Owen. “You could were hoping maybe do that with a dog on the perimeter, but then there was a grant available but there was not.” they go in the water. So then you need probIf the lake is not dredged, it is possible that ably more than one boat in the water at all it could collect so much salt that the lake times, including at night. Then it becomes a would then be classified as a wetland. If that 24/7 operation.” happens, then under the rules of the Federal Owen said, three groundskeepers maintain Wetland Program, the public would be rethe lake on a daily basis. The groundskeepers stricted from using the lake.
24/7
operation to keep the geese out of the lake.
$1.8 million dollar project.
“Every year we put in requests for funding,” Owen said. “Particularly when the legislature’s in session every two years. We put a wish list together and sometimes they fund that. Last time they did it, they gave us $15 million and we built all these buildings, but we first tried to get that funding 10 years prior, so it’s not like it happens every two years. If, by chance, the legislature were to fund it, in theory we would have it but I’m not overly optimistic it will happen this session because they awarded tuition revenue bonds in 2015. Dredging the lake is at the top of our list but who knows, something may come up within the next two years that’s a bigger issue.” If the lake were to be dredged again, 90,000 cubic yards of silt would be taken to a 77.42 acre property that the university owns. The project would cost $1.8 million and would raise the average depth of the lake from 2 feet to 5 feet. “The lake should be dredged,” Conner Chamberlain, math sophomore, said. “It would be a shame if we lost our own lake because we couldn’t afford to keep it clean.”
90,000
cubic yards of silt would be taken if it were to be dredged again.
| Nov. 28, 2018 | 7 C AL E NDAR WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28 Safe Zone Training | 1 p.m. Legacy Multipurpose Room Last Lecture Series: Dr. Ronald Young | 7 p.m. Legacy Multipurpose Room - The Last Lecture Series will present Dr. Ronald Young, A Letter to Me. Young joined the faculty at MSUTexas in Fall 2015 as the Sam Rugeley Distinguished Professor of Energy Accounting. NAACP: Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable | 7 p.m. Bolin 127
THURSDAY, NOV. 29 Safe Zone Training | 3 p.m. Legacy Multipurpose Room Women’s Basketball at Eastern New Mexico | 6:30 p.m. Portales, N.M.
List of the top three professors on campus and the overall quality rating of the campus.
Moffett Movie Madness: Mr. Holmes | 7 p.m. Leisure Reading Area - Drs. Todd Giles and Charles Matthew
To rate or not to rate SHAILA BOTELLO REPORTER
T
he first semester of college can bring an abundance of different emotions to first-time students. They can experience fear, happiness, relief, and stress. The stress a student may experience can also be heightened when choosing what courses to take and which professors to teach them. That’s where rating websites such as Rate My Professors come in. Rate My Professors is a website started in May 1991 by three software developers named John Swapceinski, Michael Hussey, and Patrick Nagle. The website was originally called TeacherRatings. com, but changed to RateMyProfessors.com in 2001. Rate My Professors gives students an anonymous platform for giving out their opinions on teachers, their teaching styles, and the courses overall. The features that Rate My Professors provide are quality rankings from 1-5, level of difficulty rankings, anonymous commenting, an option for the commenter to say whether they would take that course again, and an option to select up to three tags that describe the professor such as “Tough Grader,” “Skip Class? You Won’t Pass,” and “Lecture Heavy.” “I do see the benefits to websites like this,” English sophomore Dallas Wabbington said. “It’s true that everything [on Rate My Professors] might not be accurate, but it’s the closest thing to accuracy we can get from one student to another.” By providing a grounds for anonymous ratings, websites like Rate My Professors have also been the center for criticism. For example, earlier this year the chili pepper rating that was used to rate a professor’s looks has been taken down. A tweet sent out by Twitter user @McLNeuro, an assistant professor of neurology and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, called out the website’s feature for encouraging the objectification of women. After the tweet had garnered more than 2,900 retweets and 15,000 likes, the official twitter account for Rate My Professors announced that the chili pepper feature would no longer be available and claimed that the feature was only “meant to reflect a dynamic/exciting teaching style.” Another criticism that Rate My Professor has faced is whether
the website is reliable enough or if the students will make a negative assumption about their professors before they even take the course. “People make assumptions about professors when they read [reviews],” assistant theater professor Sally Story said. “When I was first starting out teaching I had some students that were unusually cruel.” These negative reviews also included comments that were mainly focused on the teacher’s looks and personality. “It went from comments about how I looked, to how I talked, to just everything. Some of these comments are just completely inappropriate,” Story said. Although Story received a “fairly well” rating on Rate My Professors with comments and tags describing her as “Hilarious” and saying she “Gives Good Feedback,” Story believes that students should be cautious about what they read. “You have to take it with a grain of salt with these websites. Ultimately you usually don’t know the person who is posting it and I think it’s best to talk to a multitude of people in person and be like ‘what was your experience, or why do you feel that way?’” Story said. Sandra Belcher, assistant mathematics professor, received the highest score of all professors on campus. Belcher also believes that caution should be taken with these websites. “The students that look at [the reviews] always have to keep in mind that students who do take the time to log onto that website and post something probably feel strongly one way or the other,” Belcher said. “They have to just think about the motivation of anybody that leaves a rating on one of those websites.” Even though there have been numerous attacks against Rate My Professors, there are also some benefits for students who choose to use this website. “It gives [students] expectations going in of what to expect from that professor,” Belcher said. “Studying habits, how much homework is expected, what the grading may be of the professor, just things like that. Things to know so that they’re not walking into this strange person’s [room] that they’ve never seen before and have no clue what to expect. It gives them some expectations.”
Watson will introduce the film Mr. Holmes (2015). Praise Night | 7:30 p.m. Burns Chapel Men’s Basketball at Eastern New Mexico | 8:30 p.m. Portales, N.M.
FRIDAY, NOV. 30 P.R.I.D.E. Variety Show | 8:30 p.m. CSC Kiowa
SATURDAY, DEC. 1 Application Deadline for Spring Admission MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights 5K & 1-Mile Fun Run | 10 a.m. Hardin Lawn - Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Fee is $25 for the 5K run or $15 for the 1-mile fun run. Free for MSU students. The first 100 paid registrants will recieve a commemorative ornament. Women’s Basketball at West Texas A&M | 2 p.m. Canyon, Texas Men’s Basketball at West Texas A&M | 4 p.m. Canyon, Texas
SUNDAY, DEC. 2 Midwestern Singers | 2 p.m. Burns Chapel Comfort Dogs | 6 p.m. Moffett Library - The Obedience Training Club of Wichita Falls will visit from 6-8 p.m. Visit the library to pet these trained therapy dogs.
TUESDAY, DEC. 4 Cookies and Condoms | 12:30 p.m. CSC Food Court Comfort Dogs | 6 p.m. Moffett Library
8 | Nov. 28, 2018|
PHOTO BY TOMMY CHHE| THE WICHITAN
Steve Garrison, political science chair and associate professor, working in his office.
How media effects politics TOMMY CHHE REPORTER
The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas drew a lot of attention and it lead the ballot in the Nov. 6 election. But there were more ballots to cast on the Wichita County ballot from state representatives to local representatives to school board members. For the people who voted in Wichita County, getting unbiased and accurate information on the candidates can be a challenge. Students that voted, receive information about candidates from social media and television. Natty Cervantes, general business junior, said she was initially informed about the candidates with the platform of social media. “A lot of it started on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. You never get the full story, however, on social media. I went off on my own and did my own research, upon articles I came across Google. I did listen to speeches on television and going to their rallies. I tried to give each news broadcast such as FOX their time just so I can stay informed,” Cervantes said. Paige Cantrell, education sophomore, said she got infomation from television and new sources. “Television and news articles are where I get my sources from. Just like articles that are unbiased, an unbiased source. I don’t watch one specific TV source. I switched around various channels to get my information,” Cantrell said. Ellie Gunderson, political science senior, said she would not change any of the media coverage as it was instantaneous. “The media coverage was great. The election was on the news, 24/7. I wouldn’t
change any media coverage,” Gunderson said. According to a Columbia Journalism Review’s article, an American magazine for professional journalists, people have no faith in the media’s reliability due to potential misinformation such as bias and inaccuracies being an occurrence throughout news outlets on the internet. To minimize misinformation Jeremy Duff, associate professor of political science, said he recommends two sources of information for politics. “The quickest way is to go to the candidates’ website. These days, most candidates even at the local level have a website or a Facebook where the candidates stand at things. Now, you have to take a grain of salt in that, it is published by a candidate themselves to be put in the most favorable light of a candidate,” Duff said. Duff recommends another way of getting information: the League of Women Voters. “They cover not just the statewide election, but also the local candidates too. They send a questionnaire to each of the candidates that are running for a particular office. The candidates fill it out, send it back to the League of Women, and the League of Women publish it to their voters guide. Because it’s questions asked by the League of Women, it’s not just here I am, I am awesome. It’s them answering specific questions asked by the League of Women, it’s straightforward,” Duff said. In a topic such as politics, click-bait titles on social media have become more of a prevalent occurrence that provides misinformation about a candidate as a means of enticing potential viewers to read a post on social media. Steve Garrison, associate professor of political science, argues that
there needs to be regulations of click-bait titles to minimize misinformation. “One, you have to as an individual is follow up and do that stuff. In the grander bigger scheme of things is that our society needs to find a way of regulation on social media. I think it’s too irresponsible. There’s need to be some form of check on people, posting random wrong things. A good analogy is that, if you have ever driven, everyone has seen a car wreck, everyone slows down because they’re looking at a car wreck but the police stands at the wreck to make you continue to drive, we need some form of regulation on the internet for that,” Garrison said. Duff said that it is hard to avoid clickbait titles that could mislead information about a candidate. “It’s tough. In this day of age, I don’t think you could avoid it [misinformation]. The fact is, that even websites and organizations that are respected as far as providing decent political information falls trap to clickbait stuff because they got to make money,” Duff said. An approach according to Duff is to read the article as opposed to the headline. “Read the article, not just the headline. When you read the article, it’s much more nuance than the headline, which could be outrageous,” Duff said. Duff recommended two sources for voters to get information about politics. “One I would recommend that is pretty helpful is RealClearPolitics. That is a news aggregation website. They’re [RealClearPolitics] going to provide you with tons of different links to different websites and articles. They also keep track of public opinion polling’s very well. Not just theirs,
but lots of different polls such as presidential approval and election polls. Another one is POLITICO. They tend to be non-partisan,” Duff said. Garrison said he would recommend sources that have minimal analysis. “As far as sources go, I would go for a writers report because it’s more factual, things like the Associated Press writers where they don’t put as much as analysis on their stories,” Garrison said. Duff said students could trend toward the direction of participating in future elections due to the enthusiasm of the 2018 election. “I have seen some more of that in my classes where, it seem like I had more students this semester that was more energized about going to the polls and voting. I saw social media posts where they [the students] were more energized of going to O’Rourke and Cruz’s rallies. We could very well be moving toward in that direction,” Duff said.
COMMENTS
“I got my information a little bit from television and social media. FOX, CNN and NBC were my main information from television. In regards to websites, I got my sources from Beto’s and Ted Cruz’s websites.” | Carlos Gonzalez, kinesiology freshman “I got a lot from the news, I researched myself about them and my dad was a lot passionate. I watched FOX news.” | Valerie Martin, radiology sophomore “I watched CNN, FOX and MSNBC. You have to get a bit of everything to be informed. I get my social media information from Twitter. I sent in my vote because I am from San Antonio.” | Leia de la Garza, criminal justice senior