OCTOBER 10 - OCTOBER 16, 2017
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UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
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‘I Am Inuit’ photographer hopes to expand impact
Homecoming week to feature new events, old favorites By Malia Barto
arts2@thenorthernlight.org
UAA’s homecoming week is Oct. 9 - 13. Join in on the festivities around campus, from debates and art shows to the annual homecoming dance. The annual shopping cart parade will not be happening this year. Student Activities coordinator, Corey Miller, said that the parade was canceled due to the event becoming overwhelming for staff with the low amount of interest. In lieu of the parade, there will be a photo scavenger hunt, which Miller hopes will be a little more laid back but still enjoyable. “I think it’ll be a fun group or team thing to do on Homecoming week,” Miller said. “We’ll see how it goes. If people after the week say, ‘We want the shopping cart parade again,’ then we’ll give it [another] try.” The homecoming photo scavenger hunt will be open from Saturday, Oct. 7 through Thursday, Oct. 12. Teams of at least two and no more than five can complete a list of challenges all week long. Each challenge will
PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN
Students gather to dance the night away at last year’s homecoming dance at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center.
be worth points. The group who ends up with the most points will win prizes. The varsity members of the Seawolf Debate team will go head-to-head with alumni of the Debate team at the Backbencher’s Bowl. The teams will debate whether hate speech should be criminalized or not, on Tues-
day, Oct. 10, in the Fine Arts Building, room 150, from 7 - 9 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at UAATix.com for $5 in advance or $10 at the door for UAA students and $10 advance or $15 at the door for the general public. UAA’s student government will host the annual homecoming dance in the Dena’ina Civic
and Convention Center ballroom from 8 p.m. - 1 a.m., Friday, Oct. 13. The theme is “World Traveler.” “[I’m] interested because it might be just a fun Friday night activity,” Ryanne Tyler, environmental and society major, said. Tyler has never attended a UAA homecoming dance before
but is looking forward to possibly going for the first time as a senior. This will be the first time, physical education major Jordyn Block will attend the dance as well. The student-athlete is interested in exploring social campus events. “I am really looking forward to being more involved in the UAA community and attending the dance this year. Additionally, the theme of ‘world traveler’ is really appealing to me,” Block said. Tickets for the dance are available at UAATix.com. $10 advance or $15 at the door for UAA students, and $15 advance or $20 at the door for guests. University shuttles will be picking students up from the Commons to the dance, every 30 minutes. Voting for homecoming royalty opened on Monday, Oct. 9, and will close Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. Voting can be done online at www.uaa.alaska.edu/ life. The crowning and coronation of homecoming royalty will
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RED ZONE: Without a trace
Drugs used to facilitate sexual assault are often undetectable and unreportable By Brenda Craig
features@thenorthernlight.org
In a bar or party setting, everyone is at risk when inhibitions are low. Drinks spiked with drugs used to facilitate sexual assault, or also known as being “roofied,” is a serious problem and is difficult to report because of the lack of evidence. Understanding the dangers of date rape drugs and taking proper caution before going out can help in case of a dangerous situation. Though there have been many instances in Anchorage about individuals being drugged, finding available statistics is challenging due to lack of reports. “It’s difficult to innumerate how many reports there are because it is generally under reported and when people do report that they feel that they have been drugged, it’s very difficult to find evidence of that. Having no recollection of what occurred
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can make it difficult to feel confident in making a report to law enforcement,” Keeley Olson, executive director at Standing Together Against Rape, said. If someone had slipped drugs into a friend’s drink, Olson recommends disposing the drink to prevent the friend or anyone from possibly sipping from the drink. “There are a variety of different things given the circumstances,” Olson said. “Whether I feel like I know for sure what I just saw happen I might confront the person directly, I might cover the drink and say, ‘I’m going to have this tested’ or I might be so concerned that it will end up in the wrong hands that I’m going to just dump the drink immediately. Even if have a question about whether or not it was drugged or not I might just dump that drink if I have a questions that it could have been.” There are numerous types of drugs to facilitate sexual assault including Rohypnol, gamma-
Hydroxybutyic acid (GHB), or Xanax, but the most common drug is alcohol. “If somebody is incapacitated by alcohol then they’re unable to fend off an attack, they may be unconscious, they may not be able to recall what happened, they may feel like they were sexually assaulted and may not know for sure, so alcohol is definitely the most common drug that we would see be used,” Olson said. These drugs pass through the body within 72 hours,. “The way they can find that is from the first urine after you’ve been drugged, often times that is missed because someone has been so incapacitated that they have wet themselves so that they aren’t able to test it,” Olson said. Any drug used to facilitate sexual assault can be a date rape drug and these drugs often have no color, smell or taste. Denise Valkyrie, Anchorage resident, described an incident that took place in the summer of
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2016 involving her friend. Valkyrie, along with another friend and the victim spent the night dancing at Koot’s. They were in the swing bar, where her friend might have been drugged. “Symptoms began presenting in the bar, but were not apparent as a drugging until after I had rushed her out to the car in the parking lot. She said something wasn’t right, and then began to lose the ability to communicate,” Valkyrie said.
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At first, Valkyrie was worried that her friend was dehydrated, due to over dancing, when she temperature has risen. Valkyrie decided to take her home, but once they arrived, her friend was unable to walk and speak. Valkyrie alerted Chilkoot Charlies to notify security and call 911.
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Faculty react to CTC to UTC transition By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org
In a Sept. 12 memo to the UAA community, Interim Chancellor Samuel Gingerich, announced that the Community Technical College would be transitioning into the University Technical College. The UTC will also become responsible for tier one general education requirements instead of the College of Arts and Sciences. On Oct. 6, the Faculty Senate met and discussed the CTC to UTC transition with a resolution that criticized how the decision was made. “It was a lot of concern around people saying, ‘How was this decision made?’ The chairs of the three departments in CAS who have these tier one GER courses said they were not consulted by — at least about this decision specifically — they were troubled by that,” Sharon Chamard, president of the Faculty Senate, said. “Mainly this has to do with principles of shared governance. I personally don’t know if this decision is a good decision or not.” The resolution concerning faculty governance and tier one GER courses stated, “Therefore, be it resolved that the Faculty Senate expresses its concern and dismay over principles of shared governance.” “It is a decision that affects curriculum. Curriculum is a faculty area of primary responsibility and we were not consulted in a satisfactory manner… we can’t unring the bell,” Chamard said at the Senate meeting. “Sometimes all you can do is protest and say, ‘Hey this a problem. Please don’t do this again in the future.’” Barbara Harville, journalism and communications professor, said she wonders why the Faculty Senate doesn’t try to reverse the decision. “I guess my next question is why do you think we can’t unring this particular bell? Why wouldn’t the faculty sen-
ate say, ‘This is not a good idea, this is not well considered, because it didn’t have faculty input.’ Why wouldn’t we do that?” Harville said. Harville is serving on the task force that is asked to implement the decision. “I teach the tier one GER courses, and I was surprised to hear the Chancellor say this at our last senate meeting,” Harville said. “That was the first thing I had heard about it. I am also serving on the task force and the charge to the task force is how to implement this change. The charge to the task force is not to examine the change or to consider options on how to implement the change, and so this decision — the decision itself to make these changes were made without as far as I can tell — as the resolution says — any faculty input.” Jackie Cason, composition coordinator and associate professor, said the impacts of this decision are unknown at this point, but that she is worried about consequences that had no faculty input. “What could be the unintended consequences of that and why are other faculty concerned, who I in turn represent to some extent? That would be all the people who teach writing and many of them are not tenure-line faculty. In fact, most of them are not… They get hired year by year as need is there… But this could have consequences for some of those,” Cason said. “If the curriculum moves and the hiring authority moves, everyone who’s currently teaching on a contingent contract would have to reapply for rehire.” Cason said contingent faculty — term instructors and adjuncts — currently teach, “In the vicinity of half our classes.” These faculty may be impacted, but Cason said graduate teaching assistant will be potentially hurt the most. “It’s going to have pretty strong consequences for our graduate teaching assistants. We have a graduate program in English and... students can earn teaching assistantships. Those are all going to end, because the curriculum will no longer be
PHOTO BY CHEYENNE MATHEWS
Interim Chancellor, Samuel Gingerich, responds to faculty concerns on Community Technical College transitions at Faculty Senate.
in our college,” Cason said. Cason is also on the committee tasked with implementing this decision, and she said it feels disruptive. “I think this could potentially be a good move even as we go forward, but it just feels potentially very disruptive to our working lives when we’re trying to be in the classroom with students and now we have these extracurricular actions to make sure that upper division 300 and 400 level courses don’t go with tier one just for that strange outlier reason that they were on that list to begin with.” Gingerich responded to concerns at the Faculty Senate meeting by saying UAA needs to do a better job considering the success of entering students. “There are structures in place that make it difficult to have meaningful conversation between the developmental education program and the general education program,” Gingerich said. When asked about why the faculty was not included in the decision, Gingerich said critical decisions can be overdebated. “The tendency is sometimes, when
critical decisions are faced to, if I may, deliberate things to death,” Gingerich said. Frank Jeffries, professor of management, said that this decision seems more like an administrative choice than a faculty decision. “I could see where this is an organizational move completely under the purview of administration and management to make it,” Jeffries said. “At the same time, because it involves which college is going to be in control of the curriculum for a particular class or program, I could see how people could think, ‘Well this is something that’s a shared governance issue.’” Jill Flanders-Crosby, professor in the dance and theatre department, said there needs to be better communication. “We’ve gone through so much these last few years with lack of communication so I think [communication’s] important,” Flanders-Crosby said. The final vote on the resolution showed a split in faculty opinions on the issue of shared governance with 15 for, 13 against and 4 abstentions.
2 out of 7 constitutional amendments passed by USUAA
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By Mariah DeJesus-Remaklus mremaklus@thenorthernlight.org
On Friday, Oct. 6, USUAA voted on seven proposed amendments to their constitution, but only two of them passed. It isn’t unusual for the constitution to be addressed and revised, Alec Burris, USUAA president, said, since the changes occur as assembly members come and go. “The process that occurs every single year is you have a new administration, new senators and delegates that come in and they want to change something with the organization,” Burris said. “That’s
generally where you see constitutional amendments occur with the USUAA bylaws.” Caleb Berry, chief financial officer, has been a part of USUAA for nearly a year and said that these changes are typically necessary. “They don’t occur every semester, just as needed,” Berry said. “We try not to change the constitution too much but when the situation arises, we’re definitely not afraid to do so.” The advisor for USUAA, Kim Morton, said that annual revisions are typically desired to ensure the constitution reflects their objectives. “Sometimes they get reviewed more often than that,” Morton said. “But generally speaking, you want to review them on an annual basis to make sure that the constitution, which is basically your policies and procedures for your organization, are continued to be in line with what your goals are for the organization.” The proposed amendments included adding and removing information in various articles, adding a position of special ombudsman to assist the deputy ombudsman, as well as consolidating the president, vice president and chief financial and government relations officers on one ballot for elections. Changes to the constitution are made for the student body, according to Bur-
ris, particularly since their role as student government is to serve and represent UAA’s student body. “None of them were directly referred from students that they wanted these amendments, but a lot of them are designed to serve students better,” Burris said. “Specifically, when we look at amendment number four... [it] adds the position of deputy ombudsman and special ombudsman. So that’s something where the student ombudsman, which helps students with academic disputes and conduct violations — that position has had such a large caseload in the past couple years that we’re needing to give them an assistant to help them so that they can serve more students.” This amendment, #18-04, passed along with amendment #18-03, which proposes to clarify the vice president’s duties and role within USUAA. It adds two clauses to section three of article four, stating that the vice president works with USUAA assembly members and committees to support programs and events. The other five amendments failed to pass, which means that they will not make it to the fall elections being held in November for students to vote on. Burris said that for the amendments that do pass, USUAA will have 30 days to advertise them and let the student
body be aware of the assembly-approved changes. “If an amendment passes in an assembly meeting within 30 days of a student body election... there’s 30 days given to ensure that USUAA, as an organization, advertises to students what these amendments are so they can understand them and vote how they see fit on them,” Burris said. Berry had hoped prior to the meeting that the seven amendments would pass and also be approved by UAA students. Despite the outcome, Morton said that it’s important for USUAA to continue to improve the organization, for themselves and their fellow students. “My ultimate goal for them is to leave the organization better than how they found it... but I certainly want them to feel like they are doing what they feel is the best thing for the organization and for the students at the university,” Morton said. Since the elections will be taking place in the latter half of this fall semester, the changes made will not be effective until spring. The general election will be held next month, November 7 and 8. Students will be able to vote on the two passed amendments, as well as delegates and board members.
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UA considers tuition increases for 2019 and 2020 Proposed tuition increase includes community campuses Kodiak College and Prince William Sound College By Mariah DeJesus-Remaklus mremaklus@thenorthernlight.org
The University of Alaska may be seeing a 5 percent tuition increase for academic years 2019 and 2020. During a full board meeting for the Board of Regents on Sept. 14, UA President Jim Johnsen discussed tuition rate increases for UA campuses as well as Kodiak College and Prince William Sound College. Unlike the other campuses, KC and PWSC are the exception, as their tuition is proposed to increase by 10 percent in AY2019 and 9.5 percent in AY2020. This move is an attempt to bring those two campuses to the same lower division rate of tuition, according to Saichi Oba, associate vice president of Student Enrollment and Strategy for UA. “The specific proposal is 5 percent for two years at the universities across the system except at Prince William Sound and Kodiak College. They have increases at a higher rate so that they can catch up to all the other lower division rates of tuition,” Oba said. Alaska has been experiencing economic difficulties and this continues to affect UA’s operating budget. State funding has gradually declined over the years and the budget was almost reduced by $22 million in June. Instead, the state Legislature cut $8 million, bringing Gov. Bill Walker’s proposed $325 million operating budget to $317 million for the 2018 fiscal year. Oba said that one of the first reactions to these cuts is to raise tuition. “When the state support is on the decline, often states turn to increasing the tuition as a way to offset that,” Oba said. “And that’s not exactly what has happened here. We’ve kept our tuition increases fairly moderate. What we ask for in an increase for capitol, a 5 percent increase, won’t make up the entire cut that the entire state has levied on the university.” USUAA President Alec Burris also said that tuition increas-
es cannot alone account for UA’s budget cuts. Many other changes have been made in order to compensate for the cuts, such as program eliminations and the shifting of both UAA and UAF’s College of Education administration to UAS. Earlier this year, the Board of Regents had decided to cut UAF’s economics degree program, which Burris said is one of the worst consequences of the budget crisis. “The biggest one… was that UAF had cut their economics degree which is, in my mind, fundamental to any university that you have an economics degree there,” Burris said. Joey Sweet is the student regent and serves as a member of the Board of Regents. He said that there are a number of external and internal factors contributing to the economic challenges and the cost of education that Alaska faces. “On the external front, it’s been a long-standing challenge to ensure that students entering college are ready for it,” Sweet said. “Additionally, we are also seeing the impact that the economy of Alaska is having on enrollment with the recession helping to push prospective students away. On the internal side, we see many of the same trends nationwide impacting our campuses as well, the rising tuition and expensive textbooks being the best two examples.” Getting those prospective students to attend college and retaining them until graduation has been a concern for Burris. A declining enrollment is a tradeoff when the University attempts to decrease costs; the cutting of programs and staff and other reduction methods can discourage interested students. On Sept. 29, Burris attended a meeting for the Coalition of Student Leaders, which is comprised of representatives from every main and community campus. President Johnsen was present and discussed the tuition increases, and Burris voiced his worry about UA’s efforts to increase retention and graduation rates. “What we see is that our
graduation rate is very low, so we don’t have as many students taking those upper-level courses which cost much more than the lower-level courses,” Burris said. “And if we’re able to retain those students, we’re able to get that investment back, we’re able to make up that deficit.” Oba said that among the efforts the University has made to accommodate the decline in state funding, the elimination of programs and employees has been one of the most impactful ways to save money. “But really the way the University has met the big budget cuts from the state is to reduce the number of employees, reduce the number of programs. Just cut back on how much money we spend — our travel budgets, for example,” Oba said. “We’re making up for the lack of resources.” Students’ feedback and opinions are still important regardless of the fiscal challenges the University is facing, according to Oba. UA does not request for the Board of Regents to vote on matters when school is out of session and students are encouraged to be open with any concerns. “The tuition setting here at the University of Alaska is very transparent. Students have as much a say as anyone in the process,” Oba said. Sweet said that in the Board’s upcoming agenda, the most important items are votes on the tuition as wells as Strategic Pathways, UA’s restructuring of their ways to meet Alaska’s need for higher education. He urges students to keep track of these issues and voice their opinions. Burris wants to see that the University can still give quality education to students, especially since they will be paying more in tuition and experiencing reductions on campuses. “It worries me that we’re going to have people choosing not to go to college because they’re going to know that it’s just going to get more expensive, and that’s not the message we want to send to our students,” Burris said. “They don’t want to see that their educational programs
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are cut. They want to see the beneficial parts of attending one of the University of Alaska colleges, and that’s what we need to be providing to them.”
The Board of Regents will meet again in November for a final vote on the tuition increase proposal.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Annual security report shows increase in motor vehicle theft
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By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org
On the morning of Oct. 4, Ian Ashley, health sciences major, woke up to several credit card alerts about unusual activity on his card, a credit card that he used to keep in the center console of his truck. He went outside to check on his 2006 GMC Sierra, and he realized it was happening again. This time his car was stolen, and not just broken into. “You know you’ve got a problem with the school you go to
when the amount of times your car has been broken into exceeds the number of years you’ve been going to that school,” Ashley said. Last fall semester, thieves broke into Ashley’s truck while it was parked at the Consortium Library. This semester, Ashley’s car was parked in the residential campus when it was stolen. “From the security footage I saw, my truck was probably that big,” Ashley said as he holds his fingers a centimeter apart. “And even if the truck was right on top of the camera, the quality is so bad you probably couldn’t even
tell who it was. It’s not preventing anyone from stealing cars, these cameras that we’ve got right now.” Around 3 p.m. on Wednesday — the day Ashley filed a police report — he got a call that the police had found his truck using his credit card statement. Ashley said the condition of the car was “borderline totaled.” His truck was covered in dirt and twigs, the front bumper was gone, the rear driver side window was smashed in, the ignition was missing, the fenders were busted and the damage goes on. “I love this truck, and I hate the idea of selling it out of fear because of the environment I live in,” Ashley said. “This school has to do something. They have to put up more preventative measures because we pay to park here. I give them money to park here and there’s no protection if it gets stolen.” Ashley said he feels he will have to go to more extreme measures to protect his truck like putting a lock on the steering wheel or selling the truck and buying one that is less likely to be stolen. Leaving his truck locked, the keys on his person and with a fully functioning alarm system hasn’t saved Ashley from getting his truck broken into or stolen. “I just hope that more people do that to prevent them from the stress that I’ve been involved
with this past couple of days,” Ashley said. Ashley is not the only UAA student to deal with stolen vehicles on campus property. Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Conduct and Ethical Development, Michael Votava, is responsible for compiling the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. Votava said motor vehicle thefts on campus have increased more than any other reportable crime or conduct violation. “The one that jumps out the most is going to be the motor vehicle thefts,” Votava said. “We went from one motor vehicle theft on the Anchorage campus in 2014-2015 to 12 in 2016.” Votava said the Clery Act — the legislation that mandates college campuses must report certain crimes — defines motor vehicle theft as all attempted or stolen vehicles. “There weren’t actually 12 motor vehicle thefts that occurred,” Votava said. “Motor vehicle theft category counts attempted motor vehicle thefts and motor vehicle thefts. But there were 12 vehicles that were stolen or attempted to be stolen, and several of these motor vehicle thefts occurred in the same night... So there weren’t 12 different dates that vehicles were stolen, but there were up to 12 vehicles that were affected over a smaller number of nights.”
University Police Department Lieutenant Michael Beckner said officers have increased patrols in parking lots around campus, but that there have already been five attempted or stolen vehicles this year. Beckner said GMC or Chevy vehicles, like Ashley has, are one of the most common targets of theft. “You’re going to see throughout the years on the Clery Report — the Annual Security Report — you’re going to see an increase and decrease throughout the years,” Beckner said. “It doesn’t mean that crime’s worse or that campus is more unsafe than it was the year before… We’re in the middle of a city and our crime trends are going to tend to follow the city. I think our police department does an outstanding job patrolling. We’re staying on the streets. We’re seen throughout housing and campus.” Beckner said thieves are not UAA students or UAA affiliated. “We’re in a bad neighborhood and they do nothing to prevent these cars from getting stolen,” Ashley said. “It happens all the time and I don’t think they care, honestly. Because I can understand it costs money to put up cameras. I get that, and they’ve got to get the money from somewhere, but they can’t keep letting resident’s cars get stolen.”
DRUGS: Police reports challenging to file with lack of evidence
Continued from cover Valkyrie then rode in the ambulance to Providence Alaska Medical Center with her friend. “They did a urine analysis for illicit street drugs like heroin or cocaine or meth and they tested her blood alcohol concentration to establish if she was
just drunk,” Valkyrie said. “Her BAC was 0.02 and her drug panel was completely clear. They then treated her symptoms, affirming she had been drugged at the bar, but refused to further test for what drug was used on her.” Valkyrie did research of her own and found that the drug that closely related to the symptoms were GHB. “[GHB] is deadly when mixed with alcohol. She could have gone into a coma,” Valkyrie said. Valkyrie asked the hospital why they didn’t test her friend for date rape drugs and told her it was hospital policy. Providence’s emergency room said via phone that there is no official policy, and drug inci-
dents are handled on a case-bycase basis. With no evidence of a drug used to facilitate sexual assault or evidence of sexual assault, they were told by the hospital to not file a report on the incident. “They discouraged filing a police report as there wouldn’t be any physical evidence to support our ‘claim,’ since the hospital didn’t test for known date rape drugs,” Valkyrie said. Due to this experience with Providence, Valkyrie believes there should be a new approach with handling drugged patients and the seriousness of being drugged. “There needs to be a better system in place to test for the common drugs used for this kind of crime, which are well known
already, as well as more compassion and support in reporting the crime,” Valkyrie said. Drugs used to facilitate sexual assault, however, do not always appear in alcoholic drinks. “I know of one case when a woman was the designated driver and she was just drinking water, but she [was] drugged and it was in her water. You may never be able to find evidence to find exactly what it was,” Olson said. “You don’t even have to be drinking alcohol for it to be something you can be drugged, or it can be in food as well.” Brittney Kupec, Alcohol, Drug and Wellness educator at UAA, said being alert when out drinking at a bar or party and watching the drink being made is a way of being proactive.
“Always make sure you are aware of your surroundings. When drinking, make sure you watched your drink being poured. Never take a drink from a stranger or someone you don’t trust. Remember that most sexual assaults occur from someone the victim knows, so be careful who you are trusting. It is always better to choose unopened drinks, avoid leaving a drink unattended or share drinks. Also, if something tastes funny, don’t drink it,” Kupec said. Symptoms of being drugged include feeling weak, confused, losing ability to speak and walk. It is advised to seek immediate medical attention and call 911.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
| 05
Open educational resources can be beneficial and cost-effective for students
USUAA vice president pushes for cheaper alternative to traditional textbooks By Mariah DeJesus-Remaklus mremaklus@thenorthernlight.org
Every semester, students can spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks and course materials alone, increasing their financial burden. In an effort to explore student perspectives and other options, the Vice President of USUAA, Geser Bat-Erdene, will be distributing a campus-wide survey and raising awareness about open educational resources. Unlike most textbooks by large publishing companies, open education allows the use of openly licensed materials that students and faculty can use at little to no cost. This can include various forms of textbooks, media, software and other content from multiple sources as long as they are permitted for free-use and re-purposing. Bat-Erdene first began the project in the spring semester of 2017 as a USUAA senator, investigating the prices of textbooks and how they affected students’ costs. He discovered that there is a small number of publishing companies who make efforts to promote the use of their textbooks. “What I’ve found out is that the textbook prices are in the hands of few main publishers, about four or five in the nation,” Bat-Erdene said. “They also know their work and they know how to advertise their services to faculty.” Representatives from these companies visit universities to speak with professors and Veronica Howard, associate professor of psychology, said that they come around during a time that is particularly stressful for faculty. Professors are typically expected to choose course materials six months to a year in advance and some of these marketing representatives showed up in September. “Publishers know that faculty are incredibly busy and it’s hard to go out and find those resources on your own. So they send ambassadors to come and market the textbooks,” Howard said. “They show us things like myPsychLab and they show us how these are going to be effortsaving, cost-saving, wonderful options for our students.” Faculty are usually allowed to decide on course materials, a concept referred to as “academic freedom” but there are still a number of influencing factors. According to Howard, sometimes committees within departments or the department chair will choose textbooks, especially for general courses that may have many sections with a large number of students. Yet Howard believes that OER can be just as beneficial and educational for students while saving them money. She has already implemented the use of OER in her general psychology courses and said that none of her students needed to pay for a textbook. “[That course] usually has between 110 and 140 people. So far there’s been about 700 students who’ve been in that course
and none of them have had to pay for a textbook. When you look at just the money involved... you’re talking about a cost savings of anywhere from the mid$30,000s up to almost $100,000 because some intro psych textbooks are $200 to $250,” Howard said. D’Arcy Hutchings, instructional design librarian at the Consortium Library, also said that OER can be advantageous for both students and faculty. “In general, the OER textbooks are just as high quality as the traditional textbooks and, in many ways, they’re better because your instructor can customize them in ways that you can’t with textbooks from traditional publishers,” Hutchings said. Hutchings partners with other faculty members, including Howard, to push for more implementation of OER in the classroom. “We’ve done a lot of trainings on campus for faculty, trying to encourage them to use OER and show them how to go about it,” Hutchings said. When students don’t have to pay high prices for textbooks, they are more likely to take more courses with the money they saved, Hutchings said. And if they avoid purchasing a traditional texbook because of the cost, it impacts their academic success. “There’s research that has shown that students who are in classes with exclusively OER — they end up taking more classes the semester that they’re in a OER textbook course, as well as after,” Hutchings said. “So it helps them to be able to afford more credits.” OER is still gaining traction in the market and Lorelei Sterling, distance education librarian at the Consortium Library, said that OER publishers are working to provide the same materials that large publishers do. “OER publishers are working on providing more test banks and lab space, but they are not yet as robust as some of the materials that the big publishing companies can provide,” Sterling said. Bat-Erdene also wants to see other faculty members take part. In April, USUAA passed a resolution to further research students’ views on textbook prices and finding ways to improve accessibility and affordability, and Bat-Erdene worked with Howard to put together a survey that will be distributed later this month. After getting student feedback and evaluating results, Bat-Erdene hopes to spread the word about OER so that it can be incorporated in more courses throughout the University of Alaska system, including other campuses. He said that transitioning to OER will take time for students and faculty, but it’s important that the options are there. “It’s definitely not an easy process. We just have to clarify what areas they can be implemented and maybe have a trial period or something like that,”
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
Bat-Erdene said. “Our work is to be sure that students are aware of alternatives.” Howard also thinks that asking faculty to change their methods might require a lot of work, but at the end of the day, they still want student success. “I’d like to see students standing up and asking for more reasonably priced textbooks, for open textbooks,” Howard said. “I do think that, regardless of the department, regardless of the class, faculty want what is best for students.” At the Consortium Library, Sterling is seeing an increase in
students’ use of the free service that offers course material provided by faculty due to rising textbook prices. “Textbook prices are rising faster than inflation and nearly as fast as tuition and fees,” Sterling said. “I hear from students all the time that they can’t afford their textbooks and without this critical learning tool, how can they succeed?” Although Hutchings and her colleagues are advocating for OER and providing assistance for professors that are interested, the biggest voice to be heard is that of students.
“The louder that students are about how important this is for them, the more likely we are to be successful in our efforts,” Hutchings said. “If students are asking for it and bringing it to the places where they have a voice, to the Board of Regents... it’s more likely to happen.” The survey, proposed by BatErdene and designed by Howard, is likely to be distributed to UAA students in the upcoming weeks. More information on OER and other additional tools can be found in the Consortium Library.
FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
| 07
Contemporary art space and bookstore opens downtown
Bivy specializes in independently published books from around Europe and North America
PHOTO BY AMMON SWENSON
Books sit on a shelf at Bivy, a new contemporary art space and bookstore specializing in independent publishers.
By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org
A new bookstore and contemporary art space opened for business in downtown Anchor-
age last week. Bivy’s grand opening for First Friday featured Germany-based anthropologist Alicja Kathchikian’s photos of a 2015 trip to Alaska in a show called “Denali Thai Food.” Kathchikian’s photos show a
The Academic Coaching Center eases the college transition By Jacob Holley-Kline Contributor
Jacob Holley-Kline is a writing consultant for Learning Resource Center. For traditional and non-traditional students alike, starting college is a difficult transition. Ways to ease that difficulty can be tough to find. The Academic Coaching Center, located in the Sally Monserud Hall room 114, offers resources for just that. Where the Writing Center helps with papers and assignments, the Academic Coaching Center focuses on broader skills like note-taking, studying, and time management. “Our mission is to make sure that UAA’s student community can walk out of our center with skills… that will help them succeed in any course they take here,” Aaron Via, Lead Academic Coach and psychology major, said. By design, freshman and sophomore students utilize the center more often than junior and senior students. “Third or fourth year college students, generally, are not going to get much out of a visit here unless they’re having difficulty in a new style of class or something,” Via said. Incoming students of all ages need help navigating Blackboard and UAOnline. Familiarizing them with both the college environment and UAA’s digital platforms is essential to future
success. Learning to navigate those resources is complicated on one’s own. Being guided by a peer who’s been in that position before is what academic coach Jessica Rice strives for. She’s quick, however, to differentiate between coaching and tutoring. “Our extent isn’t necessarily academic, it’s more about how to be a better student instead of a better learner,” Rice said. A student studies, manages their time, and works through assignments whereas a learner absorbs information. These skills are shaped outside of the classroom in places like the Academic Coaching Center. By her measure, students without access to extra resources often feel left behind. “They don’t get an opportunity to really prove to themselves how good of a student they can be. I think of where the can make their academic lives a lot better,” Rice said. Interested students can schedule one 45-minute session with a coach or a series of sessions depending on need. Dropin sessions are also available. Outside of those sessions, the Center’s employees lead workshops dedicated to study skills, time management, or reading strategies. The Academic Coaching Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday in the Sally Monserud Hall, Room 114.
first-time visitor’s impressions of the expansive wilderness of the state punctuated by traces of human influence and the conflicting emotions that arise. Owner of Bivy, Simonetta Mignano wanted the first show to have a softer concept than
what she might have in the future. She plans to have semi-regular shows in the space that sits between the Quilted Raven and Lepi de Paris on G Street. Mignano has a background in both contemporary art and independent publishing. Originally from Turin, Italy, she’s travelled all over Europe while working in the small print industry. “I love books and I love contemporary art, so that’s why in my past I approached those things,” Mignano said. She met her husband while in Eastern Europe and after a few years of living in Italy, they moved to Alaska, his home state. Bivy’s small bookstore specializes in independent publishers from Europe and North America. The publications range from photo books, essays on art and culture, to art books in the literal sense.
Mignano is drawn to the experimental aspect of independent publishing as there’s the freedom to take books deeper into the realm of art. Every year, she said, there are new artists and new publications trying to reinvent what is possible when creating a book. The books in Bivy contrast with mainstream publications in that they’re almost all first editions from limited runs and usually signed by the author. Granted, you might not know who any of the authors are, but Mignano finds independent publications more meaningful than massproduced ones. “That’s what I love, that’s what I like and they’re really interesting publications. They’re really special,” Mignano said. Bivy is located at 419 G St. and is open Tuesday through Friday from 12 - 6 p.m.
UAA culinary arts takes second place in professional dessert competition By Victoria Petersen copy@thenorthernlight.org
In their first year competing, UAA’s culinary and hospitality program placed second in the Sweet Rivalry edible centerpiece competition on Oct. 2. Continuing for a second year, Sweet Rivalry is a professional dessert competition and fundraising event for the Arc of Anchorage. Sweet Rivalry consists of three separate competitions: a plated dessert competition, an edible centerpiece competition and a dessert cocktail competition. The dessert cocktail competition is a new event added to this year’s Sweet Rivalry fundraiser. Local businesses and culinary teams all meet at the Hilton to create sweet masterpieces that are then judged by a panel. This year, Dipper Donuts took first place in the plated dessert competition with a salted brown butter glazed doughnut that featured chocolate ganache, a port poached pear and creme fraiche. Glacier Brewhouse placed in second and Kincaid Grill in third. Tequila 61 won best tasting cocktail for their homemade horchata cocktail. Rustic Goat and Phat Kid food truck, under the Kaladi Brother’s umbrella, took first place in the edible centerpiece competition with a mountainsized treat, complete with an edible lake and lights to illuminate the scene. In second place was UAA culinary arts with an over-sized heart-shaped chocolate box filled with chocolates garnished with gold flakes. Everyone participating in Sweet Rivalry for UAA was a student of Chef Vern Wolfram’s in the culinary department. The students were receiving a grade
for their participation in the competition. “I helped them with a lot of things, but yes, the students made [the centerpiece],” Wolfram said. Students were taking inspiration from the other culinary teams competing around them. “It’s been super fun. You get to see a lot of other businesses doing their thing and just see what you can aspire to be. It’s great to be students here, but also be at the top here,” Caroline Towne, restaurant management
and culinary arts student, said. For many of the students, this was their first time participating in a competition like this. “I’ve never been to an event like this, but I’m excited to be here and be with people who are passionate about what they’re doing here,” Matt Kudyba, who is working on his associates of culinary arts, said. From this event, the Arc of Anchorage raised over $30,000 to support Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
PHOTO BY VICTORIA PETERSEN
UAA’s edible centerpiece featuring a heart-shaped chocolate box decorated with edible flowers and filled with chocolates.
08 | FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Q & A with ‘I Am Inuit’ photographer Brian Adams Brian Adams talks photography, gear and current projects
PHOTO COURTESY OF ASH ADAMS
“I Am Inuit” photographer Brian Adams.
By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org
While his “I Am Inuit” exhibition just wrapped up at the Anchorage Museum, local photographer Brian Adams is staying busy. The accompanying book for “I Am Inuit,” where Adams collected environmental portraits and stories of northern people, will be released this December and plans are in the works for the exhibit to travel to other museums. Putting together the various aspects of “I Am Inuit” was extremely time consuming for the father of two, but it wasn’t something he could just gloss over. “It was a project that needed a lot of attention,” Adams said. He hopes to continue photographing Inuit in Alaska, but would like to expand to other northern countries like Canada, Russia and Greenland. Adams is also working with journalist Daysha Eaton on a website and multipart radio story for KNBA looking into Pebble Mine airing this December. Their work will include photos and interviews
with residents who might be affected by the mine living in places like Dillingham and Iliamna. Another project he’s working on is a database for North American indigenous photographers. When news breaks in the Arctic or indigenous populations elsewhere, large news organizations have a tendency to send in outside photographers, who can only “scratch the surface” of what the story might be. “Hiring locals is a super important thing,” Adams said. “Like, I’ve come across so often in my career, where national news organizations, they send up photographers [who] parachute in and they know nothing about Alaska.” While the outsider photographer might be able to shoot the exterior of the house, Adams said, it’s the local who gets inside. The Northern Light recently caught up with Adams and picked his brain about photography, gear and legacy. TNL: Why do you think your photos have made such a deep connection with people? Adams: Well, photo wise, that’s because they’re simple, direct photos. And I love simple, direct photos that tell as
much as they possibly can with the one image. I think that helps, but mostly the reason why “I Am Inuit” did so well is because it’s people getting to speak for themselves. It’s not somebody telling you how it is. It’s the Inuit getting to actually tell their own stories and I think that was one of the main reasons why that project was so successful. What are some of the challenges of shooting in the Arctic? The challenge is just getting to know someone well enough in a fast amount of time so that they trust you to be able to come into their home and take pictures. I think it’s getting harder now for photographers to either gain that trust or even do street photos now, because I think with like the smartphone-digital-age, where everyone is taking selfies and photos all the time, I think people have less tolerance for it and not as much patience for it. I think they’re getting a little tired of it. What about your photography are you most proud of? I think it’s just the stories I’ve been able to tell. I think it’s being able to document Alaska as it is now, so we can look back on the past and see where we came from. I love looking at old photos. I love looking at photos from the 1800s of Alaska, or any historical photos really. I just hope 100 years from now someone’s looking at my photos and just being like “Whoa, crazy. What a crazy time we lived in.” What gear do you use? I’ve always shot film and for a lot of commercial work I use digital, but primarily all I’ve been using is film. I use a Hasselblad 503CW, so medium format. I use that and I use a Mamiya 6 which is another 6x6 medium format camera, but it’s a rangefinder so it’s a little bit easier to throw up to your eye and take a quick photo. Why film in this day and age when it might be more of a challenge to work with? For me, I have a harder time shooting digital. With film I’ve been using the equipment so long — I started off with film. But realistically, for me, it’s the
workflow. I feel like I take better pictures when I’m shooting with film. I feel like I take a little bit more time, I slow down a little bit, I like the way the film looks. I feel like there’s more depth to the film than with digital. I feel like a lot of digital images, they come out very flat. I like the Hasselblad because it doesn’t take batteries and I never have to worry about batteries dying, which is awesome. It’s just an all mechanical camera that always works. Why medium format? I’ve always been drawn to medium format. I started off with a 35mm camera and it just never felt for me. And then when I was a teenager reading a skateboard magazine in high school, there was this interview between these two photographers and one of them was like “Dude, you gotta switch to the Hasselblad, you gotta switch to medium format, it’s just way higher quality.” I ended up borrowing one from my high school for like a year and I eventually bought my own. It just really worked with me. What about a scene makes you hit the shutter? It definitely is like a mental checklist. It’s something I’ve been working on for ten years now with the Hasselblad and looking through the square viewfinder. The sun’s gotta be in the right place. the light has to be right, the geometry and the symmetry has to be right for me to actually stop and take a photo for myself. I’m always aware of where the sun is, even on a cloudy day. I’m always chasing light. It’s something that I can’t turn off. It’s kind of like growing up as a street skateboarder, you’re always looking at things now as what’s possible on a skateboard. Even when I barely skate anymore, I’m like “That ledge looks cool. The runway’s good.” It’s something you can’t turn off when it’s been turned on for so long. What kind of legacy would you like your photos to leave behind? I want my kids to be proud of me. I just want those images to be like, “Yeah, I was here and this is what I saw” and hopefully we can all learn from what we did in the past.
College Cookbook: One-pot pasta and cheese
Managing editor Kathryn DuFresne takes over College Cookbook to share a favorite home-cooked meal Ingredients
By Kathryn DuFresne content@thenorthernlight.org
Sometimes a blue box of cheesy macaroni doesn’t quite cut the craving for a warm, home-cooked meal. This recipe still only uses one pot, but adds some veggies, chicken and real cheese to boost the nutritional value. Invite some friends to share, or rejoice in the joy of leftovers the next day.
• 8 ounces of pasta, medium shells or farfalle • 3 cups of broccoli, cut in pieces • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1 pound of chicken breast, cut in 1-inch cubes • Salt and pepper • 1 cup milk • 1 cup chicken broth • 1/4 cup flour • 1 tablespoon minced garlic • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, cheddar or four-cheese blend
Directions 1. 2. 3. 4.
PHOTO BY KATHRYN DUFRESNE
Cook pasta according to box directions in a large pot. In last two minutes of cooking, add broccoli. Strain pasta and broccoli, and set aside. Heat pot to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Wait until it shimmers, about a minute. Add chicken to heated oil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is brown and cooked through. Cooked chicken should not be pink, and reach a temperature of 165 degrees. 5. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, flour, chicken broth, garlic and chili powder. Stir in with chicken. 6. When the mixture thickens, add the pasta and broccoli back to the pot, along with the shredded cheese. Stir until cheese melts, and allow to set off of heat for 2 minutes before serving.
& AE
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
| 09
Fandoms showcased in Anchorage
The new exhibit at the Anchorage Museum will host a unique mix of fandoms for all ages By Malia Barto
arts2@thenorthernlight.org
A “fandom” can be cultivated from any interest — from Harry Potter to sports to designer shoes — a fandom is an interest that is taken to the next level. A new exhibit at the Anchorage Museum will host a unique mix of fandoms for all ages. The museum’s “Art of Fandom” exhibit will open Friday, Oct. 13 and will run until mid-March 2018. “We were interested in exploring subculture pop and how it gets expressed in fandoms,” Kirsten Anderson, the museum’s deputy director and chief curator, said. “[It can be] expressed through art, collectibles, a little bit of history and science as well.” The exhibit, which will showcase artists’ work from all over the world, is located on the museum’s third floor in the west wing. It is sectioned off into different “themes” and has a little bit of everything for fans of all aspects of pop culture to enjoy. An anime and manga section will explore the work of artists like Sebastian Masuda, and features characters like Pokemon and Hello Kitty. “Comicdom” will have all types of comic books on exhibit, with artwork by Marco D’Alfonso and more. Whether it’s Star Wars, Star Trek or another fantasy world that is preferred, there is something for most sci-fi geeks in the Science Fiction Fandom section. Artist Red Hong Yi will be holding a talk at the museum from 6 - 7 p.m. on the day of the exhibit’s opening. She is known for using common everyday materials to make shadow puppets of Star
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
Wars characters. The talk with Yi is included with admission. The Literary Fandom section will have art, film clips and books from popular written work. Most of these works have turned into blockbusters, such as “Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones.” Fans of literary works from
Jane Austen or Shakespeare are in luck, as those authors’ work will also be featured in the exhibit. “Bandom” will look at some American bands that have their own, large fan base. These bands include My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco. Memorabilia, autographed photos
and posters of the popular bands will be on display. For all the sports fans out there, a section dedicated to sports’ team memorabilia will be on display. Televisions at the museum will play different sports games to enjoy while visiting the exhibit. “We’re all kind of fans of something and how that gets expressed is different for everybody,” Anderson said. “I think sci-fi is really interesting. The fans of sci-fi have influenced what technology looks like and gets developed, and what science gets researched and explored. It can be pretty amazing how fans influence just the world we live in and what peaks people’s interest.” Another fandom loved by all ages is superheroes. With constant new movies and plenty of “good guys” to choose from. Anchorage resident, Keisha Best, is going to attend the opening night of the museum’s newest exhibit. Best says she “loves museums and anything cultural” but is also excited because of an interest in DC’s Justice League. “Anything pertaining to that, and especially Wonder Woman, I’m there. I love her,” Best said. A preview night, for those who are members of the Museum, will be held the night before the official opening, Oct. 12 from 6 - 7 p.m. Dressing up as your favorite pop culture character is encouraged, as the best costume will win a private tour of the museum’s animal-marine exhibit. Admission to the museum is halfprice on Friday nights, as part of the Polar Nights program. The exhibit opens this Friday, Oct. 13. from 7 - 8 p.m.
DANCE: Homecoming week is here Continued from cover take place at 10 p.m. The 32nd annual “No Big Heads” exhibit is a nationwide, self-portrait art show, which will be juried by Dartmouth College’s Christina Seely. The show, at the Hugh McPeck Gallery, will be open from 4 - 6 p.m.
The 24th annual A Cappella Festivella will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Wendy Williamson Auditorium, featuring The House Jacks. Tickets are available at UAATix.com or at the Student Union Information desk. Tickets are $5 for UAA students, $15 for faculty, staff, alumni and youth under 17 and $20 for the general
public. Tickets will cost an extra $5 each at the door. Students of the College of Business and Public Policy will have a mixer in the lobby of Rasmuson Hall from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The mixer will have free food, music and the opportunity to win a UAA Bookstore gift card.
Coordinating homecoming for the first time this year, Miller has high hopes for next year’s homecoming already. “[Homecoming is] not just a dance, it’s all these different departments [involved],” Miller said. “Alumni services, student government doing the dance — everybody is doing something,
everybody is part of the festivities.” Miller hopes that next year even more departments become interested and bring more homecoming spirit and activities to UAA.
10 | A&E
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Like its protagonist, ‘A Company Man’ is afraid of commitment “A Company Man” can’t figure out what kind of movie it wants to be By Jacob Holley-Kline Contributor
TITLE “A Company Man”
DIRECTOR Sang-yoon Lim
RELEASE DATE Oct. 11, 2012
COUNTRY Korea
GENRE Action
The aging hitman Ji Hyeongdo (Ji-seob So) in the slipshod Korean thriller “A Company Man” is pulled in two directions: to his work and his blossoming love for pop singer turned single mom Yoo Mi-yeon (Mi-yeon Lee). With years of contract killing at his back, Ji is a liability. His bosses Gwon Jong-tae (Dowon Kwak) and Chairman Jeon (Gook-hwan Jeon) try to send him into early retirement. Sadly, it’s not that simple for viewers. In fact, they’ll be pulled in at least six different directions. I won’t name all here, but by turns, “A Company Man” is an action thriller, a surreal mystery, and a romantic comedy. It does each genre well exactly once in its two hour running time. The opening is a breakneck bloodbath that ends with a
satisfying twist. Two hapless detectives on Ji’s tale talk to one of his subordinates while, behind them, a man driving a forklift chases another who’s pelting him with trash. Most of the romantic comedy falls flat, but the noodle shop scene is a tender, strange sequence that will make you wonder what could have been. On their own, each of these elements have their moment. Between those moments, on the other hand, borders on nonsensical. Director Sang-yoon Lim has this awful habit of breaking momentum wherever possible. For example, the best fight scene in the movie (involving a pairing knife and a rolled up calendar) shoots itself in the foot in the last 30 seconds. What’s frustrating is that it only took one misplaced cut to do that. The editing in general is where most of this stems from. Well, that and the music. The
horrible, generic blockbuster music. An intense, well-orchestrated action scene set to thrumming bass could, by “A Company Man’s” logic, follow a hoaky “prepping for a date” montage accented by Muzak. To call that willingness to pander jarring would be an understatement. At the end of the day, it can’t figure out what kind of movie it wants to be. Sometimes, though, it finds a unique identity somewhere between Quentin Tarantino and “I Saw the Devil” director Kim Jee-Woon. These glimpses of a half-baked crime thriller just make the whole thing sadder. When you get great scenes in a sea of bad ones, interesting plots surrounded by contrived ones, the bad stuff gets overwhelming. If “A Company Man” committed to its quirks and abandoned the excess, it could have been something special. As it is, all it deserves is a pink slip.
SPORTS
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
| 11
Seawolves running to success
Caroline Kurgat takes the win and paces the women’s team to a third-place finish in Conference Crossover By Karolin Anders
sports@thenorthernlight.org
Karolin Anders is a former member of the UAA track and field team. Returning to action nearly a month after their last competition, the Seawolves traveled across the United States to compete in the Div. II Conference Crossover in Romeoville, Illinois. Due to legislative changes, altering the qualification process for the NCAA Championships, it is now taken into account how programs perform against other teams outside their own region. The top three teams of each of the eight regions receive an automatic bid to the national meet. Additionally, another eight teams will be determined according to their performances throughout the season with weight given to the Conference Crossover. On Saturday, Oct. 7, the women lined up at 7 a.m., followed by the men at 7:45 a.m. Senior two-time All-American Caroline Kurgat of Eldoret, Kenya, returned to action after missing the last meet and ultimately collected her first victory of the season. She finished the
6K course in 21 minutes, 18.9 seconds, twelve seconds ahead of second place finisher Sarah Berger of Walsh University. Kurgat led the team to a strong third place finish in the competitive field. She was followed by her teammates Zennah Jepchumpa (15th, 22:12,0), Emmah Chelimo (26th, 22:30.4), Danielle McCormick of Soldotna (30th, 22:33.0) and Mariah Burroughs of Wasilla (57th, 23:00.0). According to team-captain Mariah Burroughs, the “S(h) eawolves,” as they refer to themselves, pursued a race strategy that led them to success. “We’re all very proud of how we competed together. We went out assertive, held good positioning in the middle and then tried to have strong finishes. Overall, we agreed our start was the best as we all went out fast,” Burroughs said. Assistant Coach T.J. Garlatz was satisfied with the women’s team and predicts continuing success after their performance at the Conference Crossover. “The women’s team as a whole really stood out and ran well. It was exciting to go in as underdogs and beat a whole slew of nationally ranked teams, including top 10 teams,” Garlatz said. “We know that we will be
doing better and better as we get into the championship season, but today was a great start. Caroline [Kurgat] beating a strong field was very impressive and shows she will be a contender in all of her races this fall.” On the men’s side, Edwin Kangogo produced the best result for UAA by placing 19th. He finished the 8K course in 25 minutes, 29.3 seconds, about 50 seconds behind overall winner Gatien Airiau of Academy of Arts (24:42.7). Kangogo led the team to an overall sixth-place finish. Kangogo was followed by Felix Kemboi (23rd, 25:31.7), Nickson Koech (42nd, 25:48.4), Jorge Sanchez (75th, 26:12.4) and Nathan Kipchumba (78th, 26:14.8). Following the women’s success, the men’s team was not able to present the strength that they have shown all season. Kaleb Korta of Galena is positive that the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship in two weeks will turn out differently. “Our team knows that we can race better and that we have the capability of racing better,” Korta said. “Our plan for the next two weeks is to narrow our focus, train hard, stay healthy, and
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOSEAWOLVES
Caroline Kurgat took the win at the Div. II Conference Crossover in 21 minutes, 18.9 seconds.
get ready to bring it at GNAC.” The Seawolves will look to defend both team titles at the GNAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 21 in Bellingham,
Washington. The men’s team has won seven consecutive team titles since 2009 and the women have won seven out of the last eight team titles.
12 | SPORTS
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Four hockey standouts to lead on the ice
Anholt, Mantha, Kozun and Nicholas skate into leadership roles for UAA hockey
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ADAM PHILLIPS
Tad Kozun steps out on the ice at the Sullivan Arena after now-captain Matt Anholt. Kozun is serving as one of three assistant captains for the 2017-18 hockey season.
By Lauren Cuddihy
sports2@thenorthernlight.org
As the UAA hockey team gears into season, head coach Matt Thomas made the official announcement that senior forward Matt Anholt will take the role as team captain for the 201718 season. In addition, senior goalie Olivier Mantha, senior forward Tad Kozun and sophomore Nolan Nicholas will be the assistant captains. Anholt and Mantha return as captains, after serving in the role last year, but Kozun and Nicholas are new to the leadership. Anholt originally started off as assistant captain during his sophomore season in 2015-16 and transitioned to captain during his junior season the following year “Matt [Anholt] is a consistent performer and an intense individual that demands a standard that we want to strive for. As a three-time captain he is more than ready to lead our team,” Thomas said. As a junior, Anholt dressed as captain in all 34 games and made combined impressive stats including leading the team in assists (17), points (22) and plus-
minus (+4). In addition, he tallied UAA season-high 3 assists at Lake Superior State, Feb. 10. Anholt not only made impressive athletic accomplishments, but academic ones as well. He was one of nine Seawolves named as WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award recipient and a member of WCHA All-Academic Team. Due to his achievements, Anholt was nominated for UAA’s Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year honor and also awarded the team’s McEnaney/ Kraft Most Inspirational Player Award. The first assistant captain is senior goalie Mantha, who impressively ranks in the top-five in program history in five career categories: first in save percentage (.910), second in saves (2,503), third in goals against average (2.87) and third in minutes played (5,188:56). “Olivier [Mantha] is a guy that our players respect. He competes hard and prepares diligently on a daily basis. He will continue to push our team to achieve new heights,” Thomas said. Now entering his senior year, Mantha spent the previous season dressed as assistant captain, starting in 29 games and seeing
Nolan Nicholas reaches out to defend the goal from Alabama Huntsville during a Nov. 2016 home game at the Sullivan Arena. Nicholas was awarded the Dean Larson Rookie of the Year Award in his freshman season.
action 30 times. During the season, he made 867 saves, tying former UAA and current NHL player Nathan Lawson (200405) for second-most on the single-season list. In addition, Mantha recorded 2.82 goals-against average, making it the ninth-best by an UAA player in the history of the program. By playing in 5,189 minutes over his career, Mantha finished his junior season with second-most saves (2,503) and games played (91) by any UAA goalie. Mantha also boasts academic achievements such as being one the nine Seawolves named as WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award recipient and a two-time member of WCHA All-Academic Team. These accomplishments gained Mantha a lot of respect, resulting in him winning the Craig Homan Most Valuable Player Award for third consecutive year at team awards and also being voted by fans as Leon Thompson Fan Favorite for second time. Mantha also made it on alltime UAA career goaltender list, No. 1 for save percentage (.908), tied for No. 13 for wins (17), No. 13 for minutes played (3,424.21),
No. 3 for goals-against average (2.89), No. 10 for saves (1,636) and tied for No. 5 for shutouts (2). Kozun is also on the list for assistant captains. He has appeared in 100 career games and also, impressively, leads the team in both career goals (24) and points (54). “Tad [Kozun] brings a dedicated and relentless pursuit to the leadership group. His intensity will show our young players what it takes to be a Division I athlete on a daily basis,” Thomas said. In the previous 2016-17 season, Kozun recorded 5-14-19 totals in 32 of 34 games. Throughout the 32 games he played, he fired 63 shots on target, recording 5 shots on three occasions and averaging 1.97 per game. This record moved Kozun into a tie for 56th on UAA’s all-time career goal list. Just like Mantha and Anholt, Kozun was also named as a WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award recipient and was a member of WCHA All-Academic Team for both his junior and sophomore year. During the 2015-16 season, Kozun also managed to make a record for accumulating the sec-
ond most penalties on team with 17, serving a team-high 64 minutes. Sophomore Nolan Nicholas picked up the role as assistant captain after completing his freshmen season playing in 30 of the 34 total games. “Nolan [Nicholas] was voted our rookie of the year because of his character and team first attitude,” Thomas said. “He is a player that knows how to lead and will be a great supporting leader for our underclassmen.” Nicholas’ collegiate debut with the Seawolves allowed him to accumulate a team-leading 57 blocked shots in 30 games. His impressive stats earned him the title of the team’s Dean Larson Rookie of the Year Award. Before coming to UAA, Nicholas played for USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and got leadership experience there while dressed as team captain. The four captains and the rest of their team just debuted their 2017-18 season, beating Simon Fraser in an exhibition on Sept. 30, and splitting a weekend with North Dakota on Oct. 6 and 7. They return to the Sullivan Arena on Oct. 20 for the first round of the Governor’s Cup versus Alaska Fairbanks.
UAA volleyball looks to get back on track after two historic seasons By Logan Harrison
lharrison@thenorthernlight.org
Following back-to-back seasons as GNAC champions, as well as making a run at the NCAA championship game last year, Seawolf volleyball was looking to build on that success. Even with nine returning players, there were bound to be growing pains after two of the program’s most decorated players ended their collegiate careers. Erin Braun and Morgan Hooe, the first two UAA teammates to play in four straight NCAA tournaments, were integral in the sustained success of the program. Braun earned First Team All-Conference recognition and ended the season as the new career leader in block assists while also leading the team in blocks per set. She is now working as an assistant coach
for the team. Hooe ended her Seawolf career by shattering the all-time assists record, while also taking home a plethora of end-ofseason awards. Besides earning AVCA First Team All-American honors, she also won the GNAC Player of the Year award, as well as UAA’s Bill McKay Athlete of the Year award, which recognizes excellence among all UAA athletes. With Braun and Hooe no longer donning green and gold, this season called for a new leader to emerge. Thursday’s game against Simon Fraser University was a more than welcome start to a two-game home stand following back-to-back losses on the road. With Simon Fraser struggling so far this season to a 6–8 record, this game looked like a perfect opportunity for UAA to get back on track. Prior to the start of the game, Chris Green, now in his tenth
year as the head coach of the Seawolf volleyball team, announced that two players had been dismissed from the team due to a violation of team rules, although he did not specify what rules were broken, simply saying that it was a “team matter.” The two players, sophomores Madison Fisher and Diana Fa’amausili, were both starters and had prominent roles on this year’s squad. Fa’amausili is the reigning GNAC freshman-ofthe-year and was on last year’s NCAA West Regional Championships All-Tournament Team. Keeping the issue in-house might mitigate potential drama, but this was still a distraction the team surely wished to avoid heading into their home stand. Distractions aside, the dismissals of the two Seawolves shook up the depth of the roster and gave Green an opportunity to tinker with his lineups. The Alaska Airlines Cen-
ter crowd of nearly 900 people were lively and excited as the Seawolves opened their first set against Simon Fraser. Just as quickly as it started, UAA found themselves down early after five straight points by SFU put the visitors up 8-2. Green called timeout and, immediately after, UAA began to get into a rhythm. UAA closed out the set looking fresh and dominant as they put away SFU 25-18. The second set of the night was close, but multiple defensive miscues allowed Simon Fraser to pull away, and the third set once again found the Seawolves down early, this time in a hole they could not dig their way out of. Green emulated the kind of controlled frustration reminiscent of Brad Stevens, coach of the Boston Celtics, as a promising start to the evening now felt like it might get away from them. As the coach kept his composure, so did the team,
and that resolve spoke volumes as the game continued into the fourth set. Like clockwork, UAA once again found themselves down early, but this time they stormed back. With some savvy play by veteran Leah Swiss and an equally impressive overall performance by fellow junior Chrisalyn Johnson, the Seawolves tied the set at eleven and never trailed by more than two the rest of the way as they won 25-21. The Alaska Airlines Center came back to life after disappearing into uninspired silence for large chunks of the previous two sets. After inconsistent play early in the game, the Seawolves volleyball team seemed to mesh in the fourth set and that momentum carried over into the night’s rubber match. UAA leveled Simon Fraser with a show of brutal dominance as they won the set 15-9, and started off their home stand with a win.
SPORTS
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
| 13
Radical Recreation: Go with the flow
Master’s student Sabre Hill wants to help preserve nature with her love of river rafting
PHOTO COURTESY OF SABRE HILL
Sabre Hill guides a tour group during her time working at Liquid Descent in Colorado.
By Brenda Craig
features@thenorthernlight.org
Before moving to Alaska, Sabre Hill, an interdisciplinary master’s student with a focus in geographic information system modeling for ecological applications, lived in Colorado where she was exposed to river rafting. “At the time, I worked at a coffee shop next door to a rafting outfitter and it always just looked like so much fun, I couldn’t resist. After getting the opportunity to go on a multiday trip in Westwater Canyon in Utah, I was hooked,” Hill said. With rafting being a major
industry in the summer time in Colorado, Hill was attracted to the adventure of rafting and became a guide at Liquid Decent for three seasons. “Raft guiding is one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had. I mean, I got paid to go play on a river all day, can’t really beat that. But truthfully, there was never a dull moment,” Hill said. Hill favors the experience of the water the most in river rafting. “Water itself is an amazing force, it’s strong and powerful, but so beautiful and peaceful at the same time. That’s why I love rafting, because it doesn’t matter how many times you raft the
same river, it’s a different experience every time,” Hill said. With each different experience rafting, some adventures become more difficult than others. “It didn’t matter how many times I ran the same route, I still got nervous right before some of the big rapids. The feeling you get when you make it through a tough rapid and you have a boat full of stoked people with huge smiles on their faces makes it all worth it,” Hill said. A challenge for Hill in the rafting industry as a female guide was physical strength compared to male guides. “For me, I would have to
problem solve faster and think of my next move sooner because if I got into a sticky situation, I often didn’t have the ability to just muscle us out of it. I was proud that I could guide just as well as the guys despite not being physically as strong,” Hill said. Hill made the trek to Alaska from Colorado four years ago after deciding she wanted to finish her schooling while experiencing a new place. With family in the Air Force stationed at Joint Base Elemndorf-Richardson, she was able to make that happen. “What kind of started as a joke between my cousin and I about me moving my life to Alaska and crashing at her house, turned into the reality of me packing my Subaru with everything I could and driving up here,” Hill said. Growing up in the mountains of Colorado established Hill’s love for outdoor adventures. Besides river rafting, Hill enjoys connecting with nature with friends. “Just a few weeks ago we went on a walk with our dogs down the street from her house and she was showing me all of these berries and flowers,” Anna Petersen, environment and society major and friend, said. “What made it so cool is that I’ve lived around her neighborhood all my life and she’s been there a few months and already had explored all these different parts and found all these berries
I didn’t even know existed in that area. She’s full of information about plants and birds.” Hill believes that connecting with nature is a form of meditation and her friends would agree. “Sabre [Hill]’s connection with the outdoors seems deeply rooted. I think she’s the sort of person who goes a little insane after a while if she doesn’t get outside for some Alaskan wilderness exploration, which is why she’s always on a hike or bike or some sort of fun, challenging outing,” Lindsay Hermanns, environment and society major and friend, said. Hill wants to enjoy the nature surrounding her and preserve it. “She cares about the environment she gets to enjoy. She is perusing an education in order to ensure these wild places still hold value, and are still around, for future generations,” Hermanns said. Hill received her bachelor’s degree at UAA in environment and society, then after traveling for a bit, she wanted to further her schooling. “I decided I really wanted to keep working toward an environmental scientist career. The Interdisciplinary Graduate program is a great fit for me, and I got my wish granted to continue my research in Alaska,” Hill said. Hill plans on staying in Alaska because of the similarities to Colorado’s weather and adventure opportunities.
Seawolves fall to No. 11 Vikings By Karolin Anders
sports@thenorthernlight.org
After recovering from their back-to-back losses on the road last week, the Seawolves celebrated a win over Simon Fraser at the Alaska Airlines Center on Thursday, Oct. 5. In a five-set match, the Seawolves were able to defeat the Clan in 18-25, 2521, 25,18, 21-25 and 9-15. Trying to keep that momentum going, the team faced Western Washington University with confidence. But in front of 1,177 cheering fans, the Seawolves recorded their third loss against a Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent this season on Saturday, Oct. 7. Several players delivered big nights against the GNAC’s finest. Outside hitter Leah Swiss of Anchorage recorded a doubledouble with 22 kills and 19 digs, while libero Keala Kaio-Perez got a career-high of 36 digs and setter Casey Davenport contributed 44 assists, 18 digs and six kills. Despite the impressive stats, the Seawolves lost to the former NCAA Div. II West Region champion.
“Western Washington is the elite in the league along with Northwest Nazarene,” Head Coach Chris Green said. During the first set, both teams were battling head on holding score of 21-21, but a couple attack and handling errors by UAA gave Western Washington the advantage and they took the win of the first set 22-25. The second set was another close game with UAA pulling away in the decisive moment. Swiss and Davenport showed great chemistry, collecting several points for the Seawolves. Outside hitter Chrisalyn Johnson (10 kills, 16 digs) and middle blocker Tara Melton (8 kills, 3 blocks) also provided necessary kills. Returning after half-time, the Seawolves were caught off guard. The Viking’s defense stood strong and blocked numerous attacks by Johnson, middle blocker Vanessa Hayes and their teammates. They pulled away to a lead of 7-19 before UAA could make adjustments that enabled them to close the gap to 21-22. Despite the impressive efforts, the Seawolves fell short of the set’s win at 21-25. “We want to win really bad,
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOSEAWOLVES
Outside hitter Anais Vargas and middle blocker Vanesa Hayes jump to block a spike at a home match.
but we are very inconsistent,” Hayes said. “We need figure out our team chemistry, so we can all come together and be as a team. Because right now we are kind of playing individually. I feel like our missing piece is just to come together as a team. We know what to do now.” After the great third set, which urged most Seawolf fans out of their seats at the Alaska Airlines Center, the fourth set presented a similar scenario with the Vikings pulling away 13-18 before the Seawolves responded with a strong offense.
Swiss and Anais Vargas (8 kills, 5 digs) delivered kills for their team and hope for the fans. The game was 22-23 before Joelee Buckner and Abby Phelps delivered for the Vikings to end the game. The Vikings eaked out a .174 to .159 advantage in hitting percentage and delivered a strong defense performance by outblocking the Seawolves 21-7. “It’s hard loosing, but at the same time it also teaches you how much you really want it [to win] and how much you are willing to put in,” Haines said.
“What Coach said, ‘We should hate losing more than we want to win.’ That really hit home for me, because it is true. Everybody hates to lose more than they love to win, so that feeling [of losing] stays with you more than a win does. That really motivates our team to keep pushing, so we can win some more matches.” On short rest, the Seawolves will travel to Portland, Oregon to face Concordia University on Oct. 13, before playing Western Oregon University in Monmouth on Oct. 14
14 | SPORTS
THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Crow Pass Crossing no longer a UAA event
University of Alaska Anchorage announced that the event will be taken over by Healthy Futures organization By Lauren Cuddihy
sports2@thenorthernlight.org
Lauren Cuddihy is a member of the UAA track and field team. After 33 years of directing the popular summer trail race, the University of Alaska Anchorage announced that it will no longer host the Crow Pass Crossing. Instead, the responsibility was handed over to the Healthy Futures organization. The 24-mile race that takes runners from Girdwood to Eagle River has drawn a vast amount of attraction every summer. “We have been blessed to oversee this event for so many years, and we are very supportive of Healthy Futures continuing the success of the Crow Pass Crossing,” Michael Friess, former race director and UAA track and cross-country head coach, said. Healthy Futures is a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy lifestyles and awareness to Alaskan youth. With two core elements in focus, including an activity log and event support, their main goal is to “empower Alaska’s youth to build the habit of daily physical activity.” “Directing the Crow Pass Crossing will help Healthy Futures raise valuable funds to further its mission,” Harlow Robinson, executive director of Healthy Futures and the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, said. “I feel
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAM WASSON / UAA ATHLETICS
Participants of last year’s Crow Pass Crossing race.
personally honored to be in a position to help carry the torch with Crow Pass.” Originally started in 2003 by Bonny Sosa Young and her husband Sam Young, the organization has reached over 20,000 Alaskan youth from over 200 elementary schools. After a summer without the event, Healthy Futures took over to help get the race back on track. Two bear maulings in June 2017 and a string of nearly half a dozen other incidents led to the cancellation of the Crow Pass Crossing, Friess ultimately making the final call. “The safety of runners and preserving the awesome beauty of the Crow Pass trail will continue to be our priorities in or-
ganizing this event,” Friess said. “This one-year pause will help ensure we can add the resources necessary to respond swiftly to incidents on the trail.” Friess and Healthy Futures’ officials are excited to begin the new chapter for the Crow Pass Crossing. “[We are] thrilled to assume leadership of the Crow Pass Crossing and thanks to the UAA and race director Michael Friess for all they’ve done to build Crow Pass into an iconic Alaskan running event,” Matias Saari, Healthy Futures event support coordinator, said. Robinson, who became involved with the program in 2006, is now the Executive Director of the organization after 15 years of work with at-risk youth. In
addition to his work with youth, Robinson’s interest in Crow Pass Crossing was sparked by his involvement on several boards and commissions, including the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation commission. “[The Crow Pass Crossing] is an event I’m passionate about personally, and we as an organization want to continue the culture that surrounds the race,” Robinson said. Robinson isn’t the only one from Healthy Futures that is excited and interested in the race. Saari is a dedicated runner, has ample history in trail races, which pushed his interest into directing the Crow Pass Crossing. After working at the Winter Olympics, the World Cup soccer championships and U.S. Cross-
Country Ski Championships, Saari has more than enough experience to prepare him for the responsibility of the event. According to Friess, there are three things of utmost importance regarding safety when taking the race into consideration, including medical aid, increased communication and race-day trail surveillance. Event participants are at risk of facing many different types of hazards on their 24-mile journey from Girdwood to Eagle River, some even being potentially liferisking. During the entire duration of the race, there aren’t any aid stations or trail markers. In addition, participants are required to sign a waiver before the race for the risk of encountering bears, bees, cow parsnip or a river crossing. The Crow Pass Crossing is one of the most prominent trail races held in Alaska that brings in excitement from, not only the participants but the new host organization as well. “I believe there’s a lot of spirit around this race, if an official organization hadn’t picked up the torch, there’d be a group of people who would still do it. We’re happy to keep it official,” Robinson said. The race will return with increased safety starting in July 2018. For more information about Healthy Futures or the Crow Pass Crossing, visit www. healthyfuturesak.com.
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THENORTHERNLIGHT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
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