The Standard's 2.26.19 issue

Room to grow

Diversity in art

Skating success

New greenhouse in progress behind Temple Hall

GLO Center hosts first Queer Artist Showcase

Ice Bears follow lead of top goal scorer

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THE STANDARD M I S S O U R I S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

VOLUME 112, ISSUE 21 | THE-STANDARD.ORG The Standard/The Standard Sports

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

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Bike sharing program moves forward SINJIN SANDERS Staff Reporter @SandersSinjin Bike sharing programs are a step closer to coming to Springfield. Springfield City Council passed an ordinance on Feb. 11 to allow bike sharing docks to use public property at the approval of the director of Public Works.

The ordinance passed with every council member in favor of the ordinance.

According to the ordinance, a bike sharing

program would need to apply for a special license in order to put a bicycle dock on public property.

This is the same process for putting seating on the sidewalk or other types of public property usages by businesses.

According to the ordinance, it proposed after Springfield Bike Share, a nonprofit corporation trying to bring bike sharing to Springfield, reached out to city staff in order to bring a bike sharing program to Springfield.

“That was the most significant hurdle toward bringing a bike sharing program,” said Cody

Stringer, board chair of Springfield Bike Share.

However, the last hurdle, Stringer said, is raising the funds for this program.

“Right now we’re at a small deficit with our fundraising, so we only have a small way to go,” Stringer said.

The initial amount raised to get the program started is $40,000 and after the first two years the upkeep cost is $5,000 to $6,000 per year, according to Stringer.

Stringer said he also has a goal in mind for when the program will launch.

“Our goal for this program is this coming

spring, so early to mid-May,” Stringer said.

However, Stringer said it all depends on Gotcha Bikes’ ability to produce the bicycles and docks necessary for this program.

Gotcha Bikes is also the company that Missouri State University is working with to bring a bike share program to campus.

Stringer said this will make it possible to have a bike sharing program across the downtown and campus areas.

The idea for a bike sharing program on campus was voted on in late 2018 during an SGA vote, according to previous reporting.

‘Move forward together’ Wahl named dean of College of Arts and Letters CORTLYNN STARK Editor-in-Chief @Cortlynn_Stark Shawn Wahl, the newly named permanent dean of the College of Arts and Letters, uses the theme “move forward together” when he thinks about his position.

Wahl has been the interim dean since July 2017 when former dean Gloria Galanes retired, according to an April 2017 news release from Missouri State University. He was previously the head of the communication department starting when he came GRETA CROSS/ to MSU in 2012. After THE STANDARD a national search, he was named dean, according to a Feb. 19 news release.

“The theme I’ve been using when I think about the position is move forward together, and when I say move forward together I’m talking about our entire campus community,” Wahl said.

He officially begins his role on March 1.

Wahl said he was grateful to be able to continue to work for COAL and with university leaders like President Clif Smart. More information on several big picture goals tied to MSU’s campaign will be released in the fall, Wahl said.

Recruitment is a challenge the university continues to face, Wahl said.

“I think one challenge is that we want to continue to recruit highly qualified and diverse students from all across the state of Missouri and beyond,” Wahl said. “We really want to continue to share our message of the university that we are a destination campus, not only for the college of arts and letters but for all the colleges at the university.”

Wahl mentioned the All-Steinway Commissioning Ceremony, the return of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy in the summer and the 57th season of Tent Theater as projects the college is working on.

“I’m looking forward to continue to work on raising the profile of the entire institution, but particularly within the seven academic programs housed in the College of Arts and Letters,” Wahl said.

THREE-PEAT Missouri State’s women’s swimming and diving team won the Missouri Valley Conference Championships for the third year in a row. See Page 6 for more.

AMANDA SULLIVAN/THE STANDARD

Missouri ranked in lowest category for LGBTQ protections, nondiscrimination LAUREN SAIKO Staff Reporter @laurensaiko The Human Rights Campaign recently released their fifth annual State Equality Index — a state-by-state report detailing statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ people, assessing how well states are doing to protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination.

This year, Missouri received the lowest rating, “High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality.”

This rating is given to states that focus on raising suport for basic LGBTQ equality laws, such as non-discrimination laws, and for states focusing on municipal protections for LGBTQ people including opposing negative legislation.

Twenty-eight states earned this rating. Seventeen states earned the highest rating, “Working Toward Innovative Equality,” while the remaining five earned “Solidifying Equality” or “Building Equality.”

Karis Agnew, field director for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, explained that they expected this rating for Missouri.

“It does not surprise me because there are

basic protections that LGBTQ people lack in Missouri and those include protection of employment, housing and public accommodations,” Agnew said.

Missouri has a total of six laws that benefit LGBTQ people — hate crime laws, a college and universities non-discrimination law, a sexual orientation non-discrimination policy for state employees, an anti-bullying law specifically for cyberbullying, transgender inclusion in sports, and name and gender updates on identification documents for drivers licenses.

Missouri has five laws that the HRC categorizes as “bad” laws including HIV/AIDS criminalization laws, a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and transgender exclusions in state Medicaid coverage.

Missouri lacks all parenting laws such as parental presumption for same-sex couples, second parent adoption, and foster care non-discrimination. Missouri also lacks basic non-discrimination laws for employment, housing, public accommodation, education, adoption, foster care, insurance, credit, and jury selection.

The absence of youth laws in Missouri include anti-bullying laws, protection from con-

version therapy, and laws to address LGBTQ youth homelessness. In the health and safety category, Missouri lacks laws including LGBTQ nondiscrimantion protections in Affordable Care Act exchanges, transgender healthcare coverage, and name and gender updates on identification documents for birth certificates.

Alex Padilla, co-president of Spectrum, an LGBTQ group at Missouri State Univerity, explained his fear regarding how few laws Missouri has protecting LGBTQ individuals like himself.

“Whenever I first came out, I was working at a fast food job and I was worried that I could be fired for who I was,” Padilla said.

He explained that he did a quick search online and found that there were no laws protecting him from being harassed or fired because of who he was.

Agnew, who prefers using gender-neutral pronouns, explained that although this rating is low, organizations like PROMO are working hard behind the scenes to make sure Missouri’s laws are progressing. u See LGBTQ, page 10

2 THE-STANDARD.ORG

THE STANDARD

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Woods House goes co-ed community in 2020 JESSICA FLANIGAN Staff Reporter @jessicaf161 Submitted photo by Laszlo Kovacs

Architecture plans for the College of Natural and Applied Sciences’ new greenhouse show the new space, which will contain three separate sections that allow faculty and students to alter environmental controls.

New greenhouse in the works to grow opportunity for students, faculty New space is larger, environmentally controlled GRETA CROSS Staff Reporter @gretacross Missouri State’s College of Applied and Natural Sciences is constructing a new greenhouse for enhanced student learning and more in-depth research. The greenhouse is being built behind Temple Hall, taking the place of the previous single-room facility.

According to biology professor Laszlo Kovacs, the entire project for the new greenhouse costs approximately $500,000.

“For this particular project, (the budget) came from the Provost Office and it came from the college and it came from the biology department,” said Tammy Jahnke, dean of the College of Applied and Natural Sciences. “We kinda just all pooled money together to make this happen.”

Kovacs said the new facility will be three times larger than the old greenhouse, featuring three separate environmentally-controlled sections. Faculty and students conducting research will be able to regulate specific conditions within each section, such as light, temperature and humidity.

The greenhouse will also feature its own irrigation system, so plants can be automatically watered throughout the day and night. These upgrades give faculty and students the opportunity to work with new and different types of

Woods House will become Missouri State’s first co-ed community style residence hall after renovations to the current community style bathrooms are completed.

Built in 1971, this campus residence hall had bedroom furniture mounted to the walls, as well as sinks inside each room. Gary Stewart, the director of Residence Life, said that students had concerns pertaining to issues of mold, heating and cooling, and flexibility of room arrangements. This sparked the need for an initial remodel last summer.

Separated into two phases, the renovation process began last summer. The contractors were able to design a new heating and cooling system for every room. The renovations included a completely new cosmetic design.

Costing the university nearly $11 million, according to Residence Life, phase one was completed in 90 days, ready for students to move in at the start of the 2018 school year.

Extensive plans have been arranged by Residence Life for this upcoming summer’s renovations. Phase two will ensure a thorough remodel of the bathrooms on each floor, turning them into co-ed spaces.

Keeping with the co-ed lifestyle, there will remain a centralized community bathroom on each floor, with an individualized shower, toilet, sink, and mirror in a locked stall to secure privacy. A row of sinks will remain in a common area.

In an effort to comply with privacy needs of transgender and gender non-conforming students, these modifications to the restrooms are a way for these students to feel at ease when it comes to simple daily tasks. Stewart said

Submitted photo by Laszlo Kovacs

The old, single-room greenhouse made it difficult for even two research projects to be conducted at once. plants they did not have access to before.

“It will give us the opportunity to see plants we wouldn’t normally be able to see alive, like certain ferns and other seedless plants we just don’t have growing in the wild here,” said Michelle Bowe, head of the biology department. “In the past, I’ve had several different tropical species growing in the greenhouse and because of the greenhouse being old, it failed and windows froze open... so all those plants died.”

Along with the ability to analyze new plant

species, multiple research projects can now be conducted at once. Kovacs said he knows of seven different faculty members within the College of Applied and Natural Sciences who have an interest in utilizing a greenhouse for research. The old greenhouse’s size, however, could not fulfill the need.

“It was only enough for two of us,” Kovacs said. “So, out of seven people who would use the greenhouse, only two of us had u See GREEN, page 10

u See WOODS, page 10

Corrections:

A Feb. 19 article about the cutting of the Latin major incorrectly stated that the Foreign Language Institute offered ESL and ASL courses. Those courses will be featured at an open-house event, along with all other languages taught at MSU. A Feb. 19 article about the new Springfield NAACP president incorrectly stated there was no faculty adviser leading the NAACP chapter at MSU. Rabekah Stewart currently serves as faculty adviser.

THE STANDARD

opinion

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

3

Two years to serve NATHAN BUNCH Columnist @NathanRBunch

Illustration by ALYSSA VANDEGRIFT/THE STANDARD

Wait for it...

JAY SAXTON Columnist @jayasaxton

A few weeks ago I received an email that was forwarded to all students in the College of Arts and Letters. It was from Cortlynn Stark, the editor-in-chief of The Standard.

The message asked if there would be anyone interested in writing some opinion pieces for the paper. This piqued my interest, since I had written a few articles in the past for local newspapers. I responded. A few days later, I met with Cortlynn. We chatted about my background and my writing experience, and it was decided that I would contribute an article every two weeks.

Since an issue had just dropped, I knew I had 10 days or so to make the deadline. Ten days. That’s almost two weeks. No problem, I thought. I figured that I would probably write down a few ideas in the next couple of days, pen a rough draft one or two days af-

ter that, and then finalize the piece by the deadline. This is how most people would approach the task. Not me.

As many as 20 percent of the population are chronic procrastinators according to studies by Joseph Ferrari of DePaul University, a pioneer in the research. The American Psychological Association has even considered labeling procrastination as “intentional delay.” It probably won’t be long before there is an entry for “intentional delay” in the DSM-5 — the book that lists all mental disorders. You say I may need cognitive behavior therapy?

Are you kidding? I’m not buying it.

I had the best intentions of starting work on the article early. About a week had passed, which was three days before the deadline. I did have a title, or should I say a “topic.” I was ready to start, but I Face Timed my daughter to discuss this week's episode of “Solve” on Snapchat.

After our call, I went online to do a

little research for my piece. What was once research spiraled into me looking at my house on Google Earth, seeing the number of pools in my neighborhood and then watching an hour and a half documentary on Irish castles. I was tired. I needed to go to bed.

I think most procrastinators would agree that we’re not lazy or irresponsible. It’s that we like to do things that are fun and easy. Feeding my dog, doing laundry or having my car serviced is not fun, but I do it. I don’t wait until my dog’s ribs are showing to give him food. I don’t wait until my car won’t run anymore before I change the oil. I just have a problem with things that have a deadline. I know the precise time I have to complete a task and when it’s due. So, don’t tell me I have a problem with time management. And if you’re a procrastinator, don’t use the excuse that you work better under pressure, unless you consider “under pressure” to mean “panic mode.”

Two hours before the deadline, and I sit down at the computer to write. Panic mode? Sort of. But it’s something I always do. A familiar feeling. Like an old friend. He helps me through, and I pen the article just in time. Was it my best writing? I don’t know, but it was finished.

Here’s a truth. We are all procrastinators. Some of us put off things that have a deadline, but the effects are constrained to the present. But, what about things that don’t have deadlines. Maybe it’s exercising, starting a venture, taking a trip, or building a strong relationship. We don’t panic. And without that panic, most of us will not act. I can live with the fact that I may not have done the best writing I could have in that article. What I can’t live with, is the regret that I didn’t do something I always wanted to do.

Right now, think about what you want in your life and act.

Well, maybe sometime today … or tomorrow … or next week.

“Elder Bunch: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission.

It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.”

The anticipation for those three small sentences had built over three years of membership to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Having been taught by the missionaries, I had a special connection to those who served the church and I desired to one day get to the point of being able to serve.

Being the only member of the church in my family, my service is deeply personal. My choice to serve was one that I deliberated for a while, deciding if I wanted to take two years to serve the Lord and what I believe to be his church is a big commitment and a life-changing decision. Not only will I be taking two years off of school and focusing on only church, but I will also be away from my family and friends, only allowed to call home once a week.

The church has missions all over the world, from their church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Russia, there is a plethora of options that a potential missionary can be called to. When you put in your papers, an application to serve the church as a missionary, general authorities of the church pray about, and then choose which mission you will be sent to. Then the president of the church will review your assignment and decide whether or not you have the correct mission, and if you do he will sign it and you will receive your call.

To be a missionary means a lot of things. In short, two years of serving the Lord, Jesus Christ, and sharing his message to those who wish to learn it. But you also serve those in the area with acts of service that can range from mowing yards to volunteering at establishments like the Red Cross.

Being able to serve the Lord with all my heart for two years will be one of the best experiences of my life.

There is nothing in those two years that will be able to prepare me better for my future life than to fully dedicate myself to the work of the Savior.

The choice of the a mission isn’t for everyone but for those that can, it is a life-changing event. I am so blessed to be able to serve the people of Pennsylvania and bring the light of Christ to those that have not heard it.

While I will will miss Missouri State University, my friends and especially my family, I know for a fact that the Lord will strengthen me and guide me in the things I need to do in not only my mission, but in my life after it. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve and for everything that Missouri State, The Standard and everything else in my life has given me to get me to this point.

Dear Donald Trump Jr.: Those ‘loser teachers’ are better than you ever will be JORDAN PHILLIPS Columnist @jrdnphillips Imagine that you are a teacher working in a public school district. You work long hours and you spend your free time writing lesson plans and grading papers. Over the course of your day, you have to manage upwards of over 100 kids and be a positive role model to them. You are underpaid, underappreciated and overworked. Yet, you keep soldiering on, knowing that what you are doing is making a difference in kids’ lives.

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Then, you see a video on Facebook of Donald Trump Jr., at a rally for his father, our current president. In his speech, he calls you — and every other teacher in this country — “loser teachers.” And your heart sinks as thousands of people, decked out in pro-Trump gear, are chanting and cheering behind him as finishes his sentence. This is something that you would not normally see in the United States. Instead, it looks like a rally straight out of an authoritarian regime.

In a country where teaching has been struggling to stay relevant and respected for years,

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this is another blow to the hard work that teachers do every single day. In addition, the fact that he claimed that teachers promote socialism in the classroom and claimed that teachers cannot think for themselves, is a cheap shot. However, it is also chilling to hear because similar claims are starting to gain a foothold in our modern age.

According to the Washington Post, countries ranging from the Netherlands to the Philippines are starting to engage in practices that are attacking teachers.

We have seen multiple instances in history where teachers are the first to be attacked by

authoritarians and extremists.

When I think of this, I think of Nazi Germany. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website, one of the first laws they passed was called the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.” In addition to getting rid of Jewish and politically dissident civil servants, they also used this law and other laws included under the regulation called the “Aryan Paragraph” to get rid of other professionals — including teachers — that were Jewish or members of other political parties. This had been perpetrated by a government that

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had been democratically elected not too long before that.

I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we do not want to go down that route again.

In spite of the name-calling and the attacks, teachers keep moving forward. Teachers are some of the toughest, most resilient people that our society has to offer because they have to put up with a lot. They must be able to handle all different types of kids, deal with parents who think teachers are glorified babysitters, and must be able to handle the scrutiny of politicians who do not think

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that teachers are worthy of being paid a decent salary. The amount of teachers’ strikes that have happened across the country in the past year, from West Virginia to California, just shows to what ends teachers must go to even get a sliver of attention from lawmakers, much less get a raise in their salaries.

This is an open letter to Donald Trump Jr., and the people who blindly support his statement. Without teachers, where would you be today? If you try to get rid of us, you better be prepared for one heck of a fight.

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THE STANDARD

life

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

Banquet brings Langston Hughes Project to campus LAYNE STRACENER Senior Reporter @LayneStracener People of all ages sat at tables decorated in poetry and tea lights. They clapped, snapped and sang along to a jazz and poetry performance inspired by Langston Hughes.

The third annual Black History Month Banquet, the “Hughes of Blackness” Sankofa show and dinner, was held on Saturday, Feb. 23. Due to a power outage, the location changed from the Plaster Student Union Theater and Ballroom to the PSU food court.

Souls laid ‘bare’ in musical’s discussion of homosexuality, religion, pregnancy

In the past, the banquet included student dances, singing and poetry performances.

Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, the Multicultural Programs executive director, said the planning committee wanted this year’s banquet to be different, so the committee brought the Langston Hughes Project to perform.

The Langston Hughes Project is a multimedia presentation involving music, videography and the poem “Ask your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz” by Langston Hughes. Because of the power outage, the light show and videography that complement the music and poetry could not be shown.

“We thought this would be a really good opportunity to showcase black culture and art, music and poetry,” Garcia-Pusateri said.

Written in 1960, the poem was Langston Hughes’ social commentary on the struggle for freedom and equality among African Americans.

In the 12-part poem, Hughes writes “dreaming that the negroes of the south have taken over — voted all the dixiecrats right out of power — comes the colored hour: Martin Luther King is governor of Georgia, Dr. Rufus Clement his chief advisor, Zelma Watson George the high grand worthy.”

Nia Morgan, the Black History Month head

programmer and Multicultural Programs graduate assistant, said she liked that the Langston Hughes Project was different from performances in the past.

“The performance was everything I had hoped,” Morgan said. “Even with an abridged version for tonight, it was still beautiful.”

Student volunteers and committee members cooked the food, and Chartwells purchased it.

Morgan said the committee wanted to include more traditional food this year, so instead of banana pudding, they included navy bean pies,

u See BANQUET, page 5

FEATURE: NIKKI LOVE-ADKINS

CONNOR WILSON Staff Reporter @Connor4Wilson As both actors and audience members wipe tears from their eyes, a member of the play, senior musical theatre major Brendon Dalton, reminds everyone that this production is in memory of a student who died by suicide last semester.

“Despite his absence, we choose to share his story and spread suicide awareness through this production’s message of the struggle for acceptance,” the playbill for “bare” says. “Remember to spread love and kindness; no matter the circumstances, there are a multitude of people who love and care about you. You are not alone.”

The musical “bare,” put together by the Missouri State University Theatre Department, opened on Thursday, Feb. 21 to a sold-out theater. Directed by associate professor Sarah Wiggin, the musical is about a group of Catholic students, primarily two young men who are in a relationship together.

“It has very adult themes in it,” Wiggin said. “It deals with hetero and homosexual love and sex, it deals with body dysmorphia, it deals with teen pregnancy, it deals with suicide, and of course there are religious themes in it too, so it’s not a light, fluffy musical. It’s a difficult story to tell every night.”

The two main characters, Jason and Peter, are played by freshman musical theatre major Jared Berlin and sophomore musical theatre major Jeremy Coca, respectively.

When “bare” had it’s first run in 2000, gay marriage had yet to be legalized anywhere in the United States.

Missouri is a hub for various religions, whether it be in Springfield or the surrounding areas. Because of this, the issues the play confronts are so much more prominent, Berlin said.

“We still struggle as a society today with how we view homosexuality,” Berlin said.

“Though I’m personally heterosexual, I have a lot of friends who I’ve helped through their experience of coming out.”

Berlin said he connected with his character in that being in college, there’s a lack of guidance and sometimes students don’t know where to go and feel like there’s nobody to talk to when dealing with issues.

Berlin said he has to be fully immersed in his character on stage.

“It’s so weird to describe, but on stage, I feel those romantic feelings,” Berlin said. “On stage I’m in love with Peter. So, it has definitely been very interesting to experience, and it gives me a whole new sense of understanding.”

Berlin said his character primarily battles confronting his homosexuality.

“He’s battling this issue because he doesn’t know where to go,” Berlin said. “He feels like anywhere he goes he’s just going to be shamed for it or told it’s just a phase, and it ups the battle of finding yourself.”

The musical “bare” is being put on in the Balcony Theatre at MSU, a thrust type stage that has audience on three sides of the stage and is much smaller than the Coger Theatre.

Coca said being in the Balcony Theatre allows for a much greater level of intimacy, along u See BARE, page 5

GRETA CROSS/THE STANDARD

Sumits Hot Yoga co-owner and Missouri State University cheerleading coach Nikki Love-Adkins passes through the motions of a yoga sequence.

Balancing roles MSU’s cheer coach first stepped away to pursue yoga hobby, but found new love in doing both

A

CARISSA ALFORD Staff Reporter @carissabalford

s if owning a local business isn’t hard enough, Nikki Love-Adkins is the head cheerleading coach at Missouri State and takes care of her family at home.

From 2000-2004, Love-Adkins attended MSU and was a cheerleader for the school. She’s been a part of the MSU family for as long as she can remember.

“I’m so glad that I was a cheerleader because I think I would have been too shy to get involved in anything else,” Love-Adkins said. “I had people that had my back all those years.”

She cheered for the university at the same time the Lady Bears went to the Final Four with Jackie Stiles on the team.

While cheering was a strong force in Love-Adkins’ life, she picked up another hobby in college: yoga — which would determine her future career.

Shaping her future

“When I started, I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Love-Adkins said. “I was just kind of showing up to my mat because I felt drawn to it. It wasn’t until after I had my daughter that I felt like a big relief from being on my mat.”

Love-Adkins’ daughter has life-threatening food allergies, which she said can cause a lot of stress.

“I noticed that after I went to my mat, I felt more calm,” Love-Adkins said. “I felt like I could manage her environment better. And I wanted to share that with people.”

After this revelation, Love-Adkins became focused on teaching yoga. During this time, her now business partner began hot yoga.

“I like instructing yoga because I like showing people that there’s another way to stay calm,” Love-Adkins said. “There’s another way to get through the chaos and the problems. You have to take care of yourself first and you have to teach yourself how to prioritize.”

Love-Adkins said her friend suggested they start their own hot yoga studio in Springfield.

Love-Adkins now co-owns Sumits Hot Yoga with Stephanie Lewis, who graduated from MSU in 2005, when it was still called Southern Missouri State University.

When Sumits Hot Yoga opened in Springfield, Lewis and Love-Adkins began attending classes there and then worked their way up to become instructors. One day, the owner at the time asked if they would like to buy the studio from him. It’s been nine years since.

“It was kind of a dream we had,” Lewis said.

Lewis said she enjoys yoga because she can listen to her own body, instead of someone else telling her what to do. She also said yoga gives her a fulfilling way to stay healthy since she isn’t “a fan of working out.”

“When I leave, I feel like I did get a workout, but I was able to gain something from it that was more than physical,” Lewis said.

When Lewis moved out of Springfield to Kansas City in 2017, the pair had to find a way to continue running the business together.

“Basically, I do all the back end stuff from here,” Lewis said.

“Like the marketing and payroll, things that can be done remotely u See LOVE-ADKINS, page 9

GLO Center hosts inaugural Queer Artist Showcase, exhibits diversity VANNA GUZMÁN-SLATER Staff Reporter @vannaslater The Springfield GLO Center held its inaugural Queer Artist Showcase on Feb. 22 with help from the Springfield Regional Arts Council and volunteer board members.

The GLO Center, in the 500 block of Commercial Street, is a safe haven for LGBTQ individuals to express themselves within the community.

The GLO Center comes across as a large living room where you might expect many lively games of Uno to have been played — which, according to local sculptor James Hulsey, is the case.

When he moved to Springfield ten years ago, he attended Uno nights held by the GLO Center where he met people he is still friends with today.

“The GLO Center is a strong part of the gay community here, so many cities could benefit from having a venue such as GLO,” Hulsey said. “We have always been out there. It’s part of the human experience, and it’s who we are.”

Hulsey has been welding for decades and has a large sculpture titled “Coryphee” in the Jordan Valley Park.

“Things just happen,” Hulsey said. “Random thoughts happen, and I build them.”

Set up across from Hulsey was Luke Blevins, a multimedia artist showcasing digital photography.

One of his photos shows a child fading away, reaching out for a teddy bear surrounded by broken glass. Blevins said his photo series is based around memories and experiences of

GRETA CROSS/THE STANDARD

Local artist Felix Belk (left) chats with a friend at the Queer Artist u See SHOWCASE, page 9 Showcase. The showcase was hosted at the GLO Center on Feb. 22.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

THE STANDARD

THE-STANDARD.ORG 5

At MSU, women get more degrees BARE than men, but men still occupy highest-ranking faculty positions Continued from page 4

ZOE BROWN Staff Reporter @zoe_zoebrown At Missouri State University, 49.9 percent of faculty are women. Men make up 50.1 percent, according to the annual diversity report released by MSU for the 2017-18 fiscal year. This statistic includes professor, associate professor, assistant professor and full-time instructor positions.

Female students make up 58.8 percent of the student population, while male students make up 41.2 percent.

Similarly, MSU awards more degrees to women than men. At MSU, more women enroll, graduate, and pursue their masters and professional degrees than men.

According to the American Enterprise Institute, women across the U.S. earn more doctoral degrees than men. Women outnumber men in graduate school 137-100.

Rabekah Stewart is the executive director of TRIO Programs at MSU. She is part of the 2.5 percent of female African American faculty members at MSU. Stewart said she thinks women keep pursuing more advanced degrees in order to participate and receive representation in leadership.

“We’re trying to get a seat at the table, and the only way we know how to compete is to keep educating ourselves,” Stewart said.

Stewart said it is very important for women to be represented in leadership, specifically women of color.

“If we want to bring other women of color into higher education, they have to see us,” Stewart said. “Decisions will continuously be made leaving out some things that could have been considered if there were women at the table and women of color.”

Stewart said lack of representation is a challenge she has had to overcome.

She said it is important for women of color to have high-quality mentors and a support network in order to deal with the unique challenges they face.

Despite the almost completely equal gender distribution of faculty and the outnumbering of women to men receiving degrees, there is a disconnect between the overall faculty makeup and the representation of women in the highest ranking faculty positions.

Men hold the majority of professor

Graphic by BILL SIOHOLM/THE STANDARD

Data compiled from the 2018 MSU Diversity Report shows the breakdown of men and women, including faculty positions and graduate degree completion, at MSU. and associate professor positions while women make up the majority of assistant professor and full-time instructor positions, according to MSU’s annual diversity report.

Leticia White Minnis, interim dean of the College of Health and Human Services, said that the disconnect may be attributed to the historical demographics of upper administration over the past 20-30 years.

“A lot of our upper management positions, like our full professors and our administrative positions, are people who have been in the workforce for 2030 years,” White Minnis said. “If you roll back to who was entering the workforce 20-30 years ago, it probably was more men.”

Tamera Janke is the dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. She is one of the three female deans at MSU out of the seven total. As a faculty member, her field of study was chemistry.

She said at the undergraduate level, chemistry majors are split about 50-50 among men and women. However, the

percentage of women gets smaller as they pursue master’s and doctorate degrees, which makes it harder to hire women in STEM fields.

“It’s the biological clock for many of them,” Janke said. “It’s, ‘How do I figure out how to get tenure and have a family,’ and how to do all of those things at the same time. Because it’s not easy. It’s possible, but it’s not easy.”

The university has a policy that can assist female professors who want to get tenure and also have children.

“We can stop the tenure clock for a year for someone who really needs to have that stop for a little while to regroup and figure out how to get that next paper out or whatever it might be,” Janke said.

“Because having a child is an awesome thing. It’s a great thing, and they come with no manual.”

Julie Masterson is the associate provost and dean of the Graduate College.

She said this policy encourages deans to u See WOMEN, page 9

with the singing being much more up-close than Coger Theatre would allow. This gave way to a much more powerful message.

Coca said he didn’t anticipate how receptive Springfield would be of this story.

An early scene in “bare” has the two main male characters kiss, a scene which Coca said caused some discomfort in the crowd.

“We did it in front of the audiences, and I could hear a pin drop,” Coca said. “But by the end of the show, the audience just has this overwhelming sense of love.”

With other productions, Coca said he’s experienced audience members getting up and walking out of shows, but opening night of “bare” did not see anybody leave early.

Coca said he has a history with “bare.” He first started listening to “bare” around the time that he first came out as gay.

When he was dealing with getting turned down by his first crush, a friend of his showed him a song from the musical that he was able to connect with.

“I started listening to it over and over and over again, and I realized this is something I want to do,” Coca said. “This is a character I want to play. This is something I want to tell.”

Coca said he even started going to Starbucks and telling the barista his name was Peter, the name of his character in “bare,” far before MSU announced they’d be putting on the production.

Coca said something he has tried to remember since getting the role is to be the light because of how heavy the material is.

“Everyone is going to have their own opinions and everyone is going to feel how they feel,” Coca said. “I hope everyone walks out with ‘Wow, that was a really great piece of theater.’”

Throughout MSU’s run of “bare,” donations will be collected for a suicide prevention foundation founded by the student’s parents.

The Missouri State Counseling Center provides resources on weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Magers Health and Wellness Center, and their website provides a list of local crisis hotlines.

The number for the center is 417-836-5116.

If you are experiencing mental health issues or suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or visit their website for help.

BANQUET Continued from page 4

a traditional African-American Muslim dessert.

“The bean pies became a part of the Islamic culture and religion due to their beliefs of freeing themselves from slave diets, so the navy bean pies replaced what most traditional black families eat which is sweet potato pie,” Morgan said. “We added that to give it a different cultural spin.”

Garcia-Pusateri said her goal for the banquet every year is to showcase black culture and bring the Springfield community together.

“Something we want to continue to do with the banquet is showcase and celebrate the beauty of blackness and what it means on a local and global level, especially given what this political climate looks like,” Garcia-Pusateri said.

Garcia-Pusateri said this banquet is important because it teaches people to see past negative stereotypes.

“In 2019, the idea of race and identity and all that entails is still kind of complicated and hard to talk about,” Garcia-Pusateri said. “Events like this that are celebratory, but also showcase the beauty of identity and showcase blackness as a global identity, really show that blackness is not an asymmetrical identity — it’s intersectional.”

6

THE STANDARD

sports

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

Swim and dive repeats as champion AMANDA SULLIVAN Sports Editor @mandasullivan14 For the 15th time in program history, the Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team brought home the trophy from the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

In the past 12 years, MSU has won 11 titles.

“These girls have put in a lot of time and effort to put themselves in this position to hold that trophy,” head coach Dave Collins said in a statement.

Sophomore Libby Howell left with a sore neck, bringing home three individual gold medals in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle.

She also competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay.

Sophomore Leticia Rodrigues finished behind Howell in the 500 free.

Alex Thorson, winner of the MVC Swimmer of the Year accolade, placed third in the 200 free.

The Bears swept the freestyle relay events.

The 800 relay of Thorson, senior Brianna McCullough, senior Loretta Stelnicki and Howell clocked in at 7:23.78 for a gold medal. Howell, Stelnicki, McCullough and sophomore Anna Miller defeated Northern Iowa’s relay team by .03 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle relay for another relay gold.

Thorson, Miller, Howell and Stelnicki secured the final freestyle relay

Photos by AMANDA SULLIVAN/ THE STANDARD

(Above) Josie Pearson holds in her emotions after winning the 400-yard IM. (Left) Lily van Biljon swimsthe 100-yard butterfly.

See a full photo gallery online at the-standard.org. gold for the Bears in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Senior Josie Pearson left with two individual golds in the 200-meter butterfly and 400-yard individual medley.

Pearson came from behind in the 400 IM to defeat reigning champion Katie Taylor from Northern Iowa. She

also won a silver medal in the 200 IM. “It was awesome to end my Missouri State career with another individual title,” Pearson said in a statement. “I was proud to go out on top surrounded by my teammates.”

Miller placed second in the 50yard freestyle with a time of 23.12.

Junior Sarah Allegri, Pearson, Miller and Stelnicki finished in second of the 200-yard medley relay.

Junior Haley Allen took over the third leg of the 400-yard medley relay, but Allegri, Pearson and Stelnicki stayed in their spots to nab a silver.

Stelnicki not only took home five

relay medals, she also placed first in the 100-yard backstroke and second in the 100-yard freestyle.

Diving coach James Huelskamp won MVC Diving Coach of the Year.

The NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships are set for March 20-23 in Austin, Texas.

Fighting for regular season title Lady Bears still tied with Drake

The Bears are tied for first … again.

AMANDA SULLIVAN Sports Editor @mandasullivan14

DEREK SHORE Sports Reporter @D_Shore23

With two games left for every team in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Missouri State men’s basketball team is tied for first with Drake and Loyola. Again.

After the Bears defeated Loyola for the second time this season on Feb. 17, the Bears moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Valley.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, the Bulldogs defeated Bradley 77-68. As it was the only game on Tuesday, the Bulldogs pulled ahead to a 9-5 record and held first place alone. The Bulldogs had sole possession of first place for about a day.

On Wednesday, the Loyola Ramblers defeated Evansville 70-58 and moved into a tie for first place with Drake. The Bears dropped down to third place after losing to Northern Iowa 63-43. It was an ugly game, and head coach Dana Ford was ejected.

Missouri State bounced back three days later, though, against Indiana State. The Sycamores, who were 6-9 going into the Saturday matchup, gave the Bears a run for their money in the first portion of the game.

The Bears didn’t play as well as they have in the past, and it showed. Indiana State trailed by three at halftime. When Indiana State and MSU first faced off earlier this season, Missouri State took a nine-point lead into half.

The Bears picked up their pace in the second half and capitalized on strong defensive plays.

The Bears pulled out a 67-61 win.

The next day, Sunday, Feb. 24, Drake and Loyola lost to their opponents on the road. It brought the league back into a three-way tie for

The Missouri State Lady Bears have just four games left in the 2018-19 season and remain in first place of the Missouri Valley Conference, tied with conference rival and No. 24 Drake.

Both teams are 13-1 in conference play.

“Anytime you are vying for a conference championship, every game is big,” head coach Kellie Harper said after last week’s win over Bradley. “I think you have to be pretty clean to win conference championships.

“You just have to be consistent. I don’t look at this as pressure. If you look at it from the big picture, this is just part of what you got to do if you are going to be that team. We have earned everybody’s best shot and we have got to be able to handle it.”

Missouri State continued its quest for its first MVC title since 2012 over the weekend, staying perfect on the road in conference play with a 77-58 victory at Valparaiso and 85-58 win over Loyola on Feb. 22 and Feb. 24, respectively.

The Lady Bears became the first squad in program history to start 7-0 in MVC road games.

After the Lady Bears 13-game winning streak was snapped by Illinois State on Feb. 15, Harper said the team made some tweaks offensively to combat some of the defensive styles opposing teams threw at them. “(We also spent some time in practice) shoring up defensive rebounding situations,” Harper said. “We thought we didn’t rebound the ball as well as we could have, and we are trying to stay sharp offensively.”

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Junior Keandre Cook looks for an open shot.

File Photo by BILL SIOHOLM/THE STANDARD

u See BASKETBALL, page 10

u See LADY BEARS, page 10

Freshman Mya Bhinhar passes to an open teammate.

Softball season in full swing DEREK SHORE Sports Reporter @D_Shore23 The Missouri State softball team is off to an 8-7 start with one invitational left to play before opening up its home schedule against Arkansas on March 6.

The Bears started the 2019 season at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with five games against Western Kentucky, South Alabama, No. 16 Auburn, Florida A&M and Louisiana Tech.

After a 20-hour travel day on Feb. 7, MSU lost its first game of the event to Western Kentucky, 8-0 in five innings on Feb. 8. They rebounded to shut out South Alabama, 4-0, later that evening.

“It really shows the character of our team,” head coach Holly Hesse said in a statement. “We played tight and tired this morning, but we had a big-time effort. After our first game, we talked about being a whole new team, and they really bought into it. Everybody contributed.”

The Bears followed that up with arguably their biggest win so far to date this season, knocking off No. 16 Auburn to improve to 3-1 on the young season. This was MSU’s first win over a ranked team since defeating No. 11 Oklahoma in 2008.

“This was a big-time win early in the season for our team,” Hesse said in a press release after the Auburn game. “Our pitching was phenomenal. This team really runs to the roar — they’re not afraid of anything.”

Shortly after upsetting the Tigers, the Bears dispatched Florida A&M to end the evening with a sweep.

MSU finished the tournament 3-2 after four errors led to as many unearned runs in a 8-4 loss against unbeaten Louisiana Tech.

The Bears returned to action on Feb. 15-17, in Hammond, Louisiana, for the Southeastern Louisiana Classic II and went 3-2.

MSU started with a Friday doubleheader against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Southeastern Louisiana. They took both

contests 4-1 and 5-3, respectively.

“We made some stellar defensive plays in pressure situations and our team showed a lot of heart and grit under some tough conditions,” Hesse said.

The Bears split Day 2, defeating Prairie View A&M 6-2 and losing to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 3-1.

MSU also lost the final game on Sunday 2-1 to Texas-San Antonio.

It was a close game, and the Bears had the bats going, getting 10 hits but leaving nine on base.

This past week, MSU went on the road again Feb. 22-24 to play in the Easton Bama Bash in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The Bears spit Day 1, beating Louisiana Monroe 4-3 before falling to No. 6 Alabama, 11-1 in five innings.

“In the first game, Erin Griesbauer had a great start and got us into the later innings with a lead,” Hesse said. “Steff (Dickerson) got a double play and then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. And she also had the game-win-

ning hit, so she was certainly great.

“In the second game, we definitely learned a lot by watching a team like Alabama. They are on a whole different level with their hitting.”

On Day 2, MSU once again earned a split with a 4-1 win over Louisiana Monroe before falling to Alabama, 7-5, in a game that included a dramatic finish. Freshman catcher Alex Boze smashed a threerun homer in the top of the fifth to bring the Bears back from an early deficit.

Sophomore second baseman Kelly Metter almost hit her own home run, but it was snagged by an Alabama outfielder and made SportsCenter’s No. 3 play on Sunday. The Crimson Tide ultimately prevailed in the game, but MSU certainly gained the respect of its SEC foe.

“We are so excited for Alex,” Hesse said. “To hit a clutch home run against a team that has a chance to compete for a national title is u See SOFTBALL, page 10

Track Bears finish sixth AMANDA SULLIVAN Sports Editor @mandasullivan14

The Missouri State women’s track and field team finished sixth at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships.

Junior Jamilah James led the way with a gold in the triple jump and silver in the long jump.

Senior Olivia Ott also brought home a bronze medal in the pentathlon scoring a career best 3,477 points.

Junior Grace Breiten, senior Kayla Fallis, freshman Edna Dar and junior Paityn Howat finished fifth in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:20.52.

Senior Taryn Smiley qualified for the finals in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash, finishing fifth and seventh respectively. Freshman Namibia Clavier finished fourth in the 400-meter dash.

u See TRACK, page 10

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

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Between two countries Ice Bears leading scorer travels between America and Russia for sport, family MONICA BLAKE Sports Reporter @monicablak3

SAM GRUS Sports Reporter @SCGRUS_6

u See SALNIKOV, page 10

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ing to junior defender Chris Brown.

“We’re a pretty close team, so once he was on the team, we welcomed him pretty quick,” Brown said.

Nikita has brought more to the team than goals.

“He’s probably the funniest guy on our team,” Brown said.

“He keeps the locker room loose.

He’s good to have around. He’s a breath of fresh air.”

Being thousands of miles away from home, Nikita appreciates the Ice Bear family he has gained in Springfield. He still keeps in touch

U

SI

Nikita has enjoyed the change from junior hockey to college hockey with the Ice Bears.

“College hockey is a lot faster because the guys are older and more mature,” Nikita said.

In addition to the new style of play, Nikita has loved the traveling that comes with being an Ice Bear and the relationship with his new teammates.

“We’re like a family; we have a really strong brotherhood,” Nikita said.

Nikita’s personality meshed with the team immediately accord-

RI

ER

BAILEY VASSALLI/THE STANDARD

Nikita Salnikov moved to Dallas, Texas, when he was 17 years old to play hockey under Jeremy Law. His teammates say he brings a lot of energy to the Ice Bears when he is on the ice. Nikita is the leading goal scorer for the Ice Bears.

E

with his family back home, though. He said he calls his parents twice a day and his grandparents at least once a week.

“Since we’re in contact all the time, it’s not too hard being away,” Nikita said.

He travels home to Russia once a year. In December, he almost missed his flight due to the campus squirrels.

“I was supposed to drive to Knoxville and fly from there to Russia,” Nikita said. “I found out

The Missouri State Ice Bears need to start playing their best hockey. During a big weekend, up in North Dakota, the Ice Bears needed to do just that.

With two games against the University of Jamestown and one against Minot State University, this road trip was the final one the Ice Bears made before the national tournament.

Dropping all three games over the weekend was not what head coach Jeremy Law had in mind.

“There weren’t a lot of positives to take from the trip,” Law said. “Our guys battled really hard. We were playing with a short bench. We had guys staying home with injuries and classes taking priority.”

There were some positives on the scorecards, though. Outshooting their opponents every night doesn’t always mean a lot, but when you are getting pucks on net it can mean good things. The Ice Bears outshot Jamestown and Minot State by a combined total of 123-103.

“We had a lot of perimeter shots,” Law said. “There weren’t too many second chance opportunities or high-percentage shots taken.”

The Ice Bears’ power play found their groove during the road trip, connecting on four of 12 power-play chances during the weekend. Missouri State forward Josh Bell added three goals on the man-advantage during the trip. Overall the Ice Bears played well, despite dropping all three games.

“We were the best team on the ice in the first period of every game,” Law said. “We didn’t trail at all in the first period of either of the games … the second period of the first game against Jamestown was a big momentum swing for the weekend.”

The Ice Bears allowed four unanswered goals in the second period of game one. Law would pull his goaltender Bailey Stephens midway through the period and replace him with Brady Griffin. Stephens allowed four goals on 16 shots faced on Thursday night, then Griffin came in and faced 15 shots, allowing just one goal.

When asked about his goaltenders going into the final two games of the regular season and into the national tournament, Law said he is going to ride the hot hand.

“If our goalie wins the night before, he is going to start the next night,” Law said, adding that Brendan Shuck is going to start the first game against Oklahoma on Friday night.

Law said he thought Stephens rebounded well in the second game of the Jamestown series. He stopped 31-of-34 shots faced on Friday night. Griffin got the start against Minot State on Saturday and stopped 33 of 37. With the national tournament just a few weeks away, Law will need both Stephens and Griffin to be at the top of their games if the Ice Bears want to make a deep run.

TH

The Ice Bears’ leading scorer, with 26 goals and 25 assists so far this season, has been influential to the team on and off the ice. With no knowledge of Springfield, Missouri, or the Bears, Nikita Salnikov moved from his home in Benza, Russia, to Dallas, Texas, at 17 years old. In Dallas, Nikita played on a junior hockey team called the Texas Brahams under now-Missouri State head hockey coach Jeremy Law. After playing for the Brahams for a year, Nikita traveled back home. He was there for two years and played for the Kuznetskie Medvedi for a year and the Sakhalin Sharks for the other year.

“I was still in contact with Jeremy Law, and he wanted me to play for Springfield Express,” Nikita said.

In 2014, Springfield Express was the first club hockey team in Springfield since 2005. Springfield Express is no longer functioning, as the owners were unable to negotiate lower fees for an arena lease.

Nikita played his final year of junior team eligibility with Springfield Express.

“I really wanted to go to the professional team, and I got invited by two teams in ECHL, which is like NHL farm teams,” Nikita said.

After receiving tryout invitations from the Wichita Thunder and the Tulsa Oilers, Nikita began to train by himself and occasionally with Springfield Express during their extra ice time.

“Unfortunately, the month before tryouts I dislocated my AC joint — it was completely out of place,” Nikita said. “We were scrimmaging in one of Springfield Express’ practices, and I got hit by another player.”

The AC joint connects the clavicle with the shoulder blade. The injury put Nikita out for an entire year, only practicing a few times.

“I had to be in a sling for five weeks, and then I had to go to physical therapy,” Nikita said.

During that time, Law approached Nikita about another opportunity: the Ice Bears.

“Jeremy knew I could play for MSU, so he said to get an education first, and then I could try to go pro again after school,” Nikita said.

Nikita started classes at MSU in the fall of 2018. He received an electrical engineering degree in Russia, allowing him to skip most of the general education requirements, so as a 22-year-old, he is currently a junior studying marketing management.

Bears to finish season on home ice

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Club lacrosse wins first with new head coach CLAIRE NIEBRUGGE Senior Sports Reporter @claireniebrugge Missouri State’s club lacrosse team picked up its first win of the season, defeating Metropolitan State Denver 12-5 on Feb. 24.

In the Bears’ first two games of the season, they lost on the road by a combined 21 points.

In their third road game, they lost to North Florida by one goal.

The Bears hosted Dayton in their home opener on Friday and fell 8-7 in a close match.

Senior captain and long stick midfielder Jacob Weber chalked up the team’s 0-4 record to jitters and inexperience. This season’s team consists of 11 freshmen, 10 sophomores, two juniors, three seniors and one graduate student.

“We didn’t really click at first,” Weber said.

“But I think now we’ve got the chemistry down.”

Donnie Curran, first year head coach and former assistant coach, said this might be the hardest schedule Missouri State has ever seen.

“Right off the gate, we had some tough opponents which was really good because it showed us what we needed to work on,” Curran said.

Curran stressed it’s really important for the Bears to play for each other and to fight for each other. He said with a group of incoming freshmen as large as this class, it takes time to gel and buy into the system.

In Sunday’s contest, the first six minutes of the game went scoreless until Missouri State’s Jonathon Wishnask scored the first goal of the day with 9:07 to go in the first quarter. The Roadrunners had the ball near their goal, but Wishnask intercepted the pass and threw it in for the goal to put the Bears up 1-0. One minute later, the Roadrunners got on the board to tie the game up with 8:01 to go in the first.

Freshman attackman Kyle Hunter put the Bears back on top with two back to back goals.

It didn’t take long for MSU-Denver to strike back with another goal. At the end of the first quarter, Missouri State led 3-2.

Hunter had this third goal of the game two and a half minutes into the second quarter. At the 10:30 mark, senior attackman David Beermann scored his first goal of the day, but it was negated due to a crease penalty.

Hunter was on fire and scored another goal with an assist from Beermann, putting the Bears up 5-2 with 8:38 to go in the second.

Sophomore midfielder Jake Parker put himself on the board with a goal after spinning through three defenders.

With less than a minute to go until halftime, junior Jordan Jones intercepted a pass at midfield and quickly passed it off. Missouri State had quick ball movement through defenders for the goal by Hunter, which would be his fifth and final goal of the game. The Bears led 7-2 at the half.

“Kyle Hunter has a nose for the goal,” Curran said. “He is an outstanding young man. He adds a different dynamic to the team.”

Photos by KAITLYN STRATMAN/ THE STANDARD

(Above) Sophomore Colton Daniel passes the ball.

(Left) Senior David Beermann pushes past his Metropolitan State University-Denver opponent.

The Missouri State lacrosse team is now coached by Donnie Curran after Dustin Rich stepped down as head coach earlier this year. The Bears earned their first win of the season at home over MSU-Denver after starting the season 0-3 on the road.

They are now 1-4.

See a full photo gallery online at the-standard.org.

MSU-Denver scored first in the second half, cutting the Bears’ lead to four. Parker scored three minutes later to put the Bears back up by five. It was a very back-and-forth third period as the Roadrunners scored again after five scoreless minutes, still trailing 8-4.

Graduate midfielder Jerrad Davis scored his first goal of the day just before the end of the third quarter to give the Bears a 9-4 lead going into the final 15 minutes.

Brian Serota, who has taken over administrative duties for the team this season, stood in front of the home crowd and got 92 fans to begin chanting, “Bear up!” and “Go Bears!”

The fired-up crowd seemed to give the Bears momentum as they scored three goals in the first three minutes of the final period.

The next eight minutes of the game went scoreless as junior goalie Scott Thomas put in work to get a lot of key stops for the Bears, not allowing the Roadrunners to score.

“One player that always sticks out to me is our goalie, Scott,” Curran said. “That kid is a phenom. He doesn’t let many by him. He’s a quiet kind of leader, one that leads by example.”

Another noteworthy player of the game was senior faceoff specialist Justice Greenberger.

While he only had one goal, he won a vast

majority of the faceoffs, giving his team much needed possession time.

MSU-Denver scored with 2:32 remaining the game in a last-ditch effort to close the gap.

But Davis scored his second goal of the game just 30 seconds later to go up 13-5.

Even up by eight, the Bears didn’t let up. With 26 seconds left in the game, freshman midfielder Chad Parker scored his first goal of the game.

The lacrosse Bears will be on the road for the next three games, traveling to Kansas State, Kansas and Arkansas before they bring it back home on March 22 for the remaining four regular season games.

Weekly Crossword © 2018 King Features Syndicate

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LOVE-ADKINS Continued from page 4

I do from here. (Love-Adkins) takes care of the day-to-day stuff at the studio.”

Lewis does come and visit the studio often, however. Since her family lives in Springfield, she comes back about once a month.

But being new business owners came with added responsibilities. At the time, Love-Adkins was the head cheerleading coach at MSU, with Lewis as the assistant coach. Both women then decided to quit coaching at MSU. “It was a little too much to be doing both,” Love-Adkins said.

Building a lifelong friendship

For three years at MSU, Lewis and Love-Adkins shared the same mats, wore the same maroon and white spirit colors and chanted the same “G-O B-E-A-R-S!” When preparing for Nationals in Orlando, Florida, the team had to practice twice a day.

“It was probably the highlight for everybody, to go to Florida,” Lewis said. “It was really fun.”

Love-Adkins said the traveling and the number of practices bonded the teammates together.

“You’re basically doing trust falls with people multiple times a day, every day, so you get super connected,” Love-Adkins said.

Even though Lewis moved in October 2017, Love-Adkins and Lewis still talk on the phone almost everyday.

“We’ve stayed in touch over the years,” Lewis said. “We were both in each other’s weddings.”

Lewis said their husbands are friends, as well as their daughters. The pair most likely know more about each other than “anyone else in the world,” she said. “(Love-Adkins has) always been someone I look up to and try to be like,” Lewis said.

While Lewis said she wants to be more like Love-Adkins, she admits the reason they work so well together is because they are complete opposites.

“We really balance each other out,” Lewis said. “Her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa.”

Lewis used the words caring, kind, honest, passionate and authentic when describing Love-Adkins. Love-Adkins, Lewis said, practices what she preaches.

“She is super real,” Lewis said. “She’s a great person. You can trust her with anything, and I love her to death.”

Returning to her alma mater

Due to a “bit of a turnover” with new coaches, Love-Adkins was asked to come back to coach the cheerleading squad in 2017.

Kilee LaChance, junior elementary education major, has been cheering under Love-Adkins’ guidance since the second semester of her freshman year.

LaChance said there was a disconnect between the teams before Love-Adkins came to coach.

“We just didn’t have as much organization,” LaChance said.

“Now that she is there, we are all more put together and we are more of a family, which is really nice.”

LaChance said Love-Adkins pushes the squad to work hard and instills a strong work ethic — a drive that doesn’t stop when cheer practice ends.

She said Love-Adkins wants the team to be good people as well as good athletes.

“I think she’s really good at pushing us to do better,”

GRETA CROSS/THE STANDARD

Missouri State cheerleading coach and Sumits Hot Yoga co-owner Nikki Love-Adkins observes a prep stunt completed by members of the cheer squad in the Hammons Student Center.

LaChance said. “Even when we say that we can’t do something, she knows that we can. She believes in us.”

LaChance said Love-Adkins is personable and easy to talk to.

“I just think it’s awesome that she came back to help us because she really brought our team together,” LaChance said.

“We have had so much more improvement because of her coaching style and the person she is.”

Not only does Love-Adkins push the team to do better, but she also has an understanding side.

LaChance said Love-Adkins will talk with her athletes so they feel they can perform the skill to the best of their ability.

Love-Adkins has also made practicing hot yoga a mandatory event for the cheer squad. She does this to help minimize injuries and protect the muscles while stretching.

In making this practice a requirement, Love-Adkins said a lot of cheerleaders have become yoga instructors or gone through the process of becoming one.

“One (former cheerleader) is teaching in Kansas City,” Love-Adkins said. “And one is finishing up his certification now.”

Love-Adkins said hot yoga is very intense and forces a person to truly focus on themselves.

LaChance said Love-Adkins is very passionate about the team attending yoga classes.

“A big thing with her is just refocusing our minds,” LaChance

said. “It’s just a time where we can put everything back together.”

For Love-Adkins, hot yoga has proven to help with injury prevention, and it also shows athletes how to manage their stress.

“Yoga teaches them to stay calm in stressful situations,” Love-Adkins said. “A two and a half minute routine in front of a crowd is a very stressful situation.”

On top of stress management, Love-Adkins said hot yoga teaches cheerleaders to prioritize and breathe, as well as keep muscles strong so there are fewer injuries.

“It’s the most dangerous sport that there is,” Love-Adkins said.

“So keeping that injury prevention top of mind is important too.”

Outside of cheer and yoga, Love-Adkins focuses on health and wellness due to her daughter’s food allergies.

“We are super proactive about what goes into our mouths and what goes into our bodies,” Love-Adkins said.

She spends a lot of time in the grocery store reading labels.

Love-Adkins’ love for cheer and yoga is paying off. Now, her cheer legacy is being carried on through her daughter, who just started cheerleading at 12 years old.

Love-Adkins said her husband is very supportive of both of her professions. If it wasn’t for him, she said she would not have come back to coach.

Now, she’s a coach, instructor, wife and mother, balancing all of these roles easier than a bakasana.

WOMEN

MSU in undergraduate enrollment. MSU has a more equal ratio of men to women faculty than MU when accounting for professors, associate professors and assistant professors.

The faculty makeup at MU is 39.7 percent women, 60.3 percent men for 2017, according to the 2018 Fall Employee Census. At MSU, women make up 44.8 percent of professor, associate professor and assistant professor positions — excluding full-time instructors — while men make up 55.2 percent.

When factoring in full-time instructor positions, there are almost exactly the same amount of men and women at MSU. The total number of men to women faculty at MSU is 375-374 — just one faculty member away from complete gender equality.

The ratio of female faculty to male faculty members has steadily risen since the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to the 2014-2015 Diversity Report and the 2018 MSU Diversity Report prepared by the Office of Institutional Research. Over the 6-year span, the percentage has increased approximately 2.64 percent.

Masterson said University President Clif Smart has told faculty and administration that he is dedicated to having diversity on campus.

“A few years ago, he said one in five hires needs to be diverse — that’s our goal,” Masterson said. “He’s been really helpful in increasing various kinds of diversity.”

It is important for all levels of diversity to be represented — racial, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation, Masterson said.

“It sends a subtle message that this is what you can and should and could aspire to,” Masterson said. “If you look around, and you don’t see anybody who looks like you, even if they don’t overtly say you can be this, it sends a message.”

SHOWCASE

out over six weeks to create.

“I said to myself, if I’m going to finish a piece this size, I’m going to fall in love,” Powers said. “Other people call their paintings their Continued from page 4 children — but not me. My paintings are my lovers. growing up gay in southwest Missouri.

“Art is the greatest relationship I’ve ever “I think that being queer in the art commu- had. We fight, we makeup, we love, we take nity is nothing odd,” Blevins said. “We’ve had each other back.”

Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Jasper Johns — the list goes on. While being queer may have not been the advertising factor We are beginning to of these artists, the art community has usually challenge why we’ve been aware of who we are.

“It is due to the work of artists and activexcluded so many ists that public opinion has changed, and we minorities from the are beginning to challenge why we’ve exspotlight for so long. cluded so many minorities from the spotlight for so long.”

The GLO Center has been part of the Springfield community for over 20 years, powHowever, Powers wasn’t always an artist. ered by volunteer board members like Collins Powers has an undergraduate degree in physChetwin, who worked with the SRAC to bor- ics from Rockhurst University and is capable row easels for the event in order to have a way of extremely complex math. They were almost to display art. a grad student, searching for a universal truth In the future, Chetwin said the GLO Center in the world. hopes to be able to host an interchangeable Powers said they left no stone unturned in display and showcase more artists. their search, cycling through religion, philosThose easels lined the perimeter of the ophy, science, poetry and art with no concrete room, holding up such a vast array of art. Each findings. piece and its creator varied in their message And then, Powers said they discovered they and how it was expressed. had to make their own truth — a truth they For Jeanette Powers, an artist-in-residence now find through creating art. in a town two hours away, their message relates “Art is a world where curiosity, flipping to gender expression and takes up the major- paradigms, uniqueness, irreverence and unity of a wall, with contrasting lights, darks and conventional thinking are not only tolerated colors. Powers identifies with non binary pro- or accepted, but demanded,” Powers said. nouns: they, them, and theirs.

“This makes art terrifying for people dediTheir painting, titled “Wish I Might,” is cated to tradition and medicine to those who nearly 8 feet tall and took over 120 hours spread find themselves somehow different.”

“

Continued from page 5

work with female faculty members with infants, but that it isn’t just women who have young families.

“We need to make sure we’re supporting our young fathers,” Masterson said. “They deserve the same support and expectation of wanting to be with their family as young women do. It’s the right thing to do.”

White Minnis had a baby in between finishing her master’s degree and pursuing her doctorate. Then, she and the father of her oldest son got divorced while she was finishing her doctorate.

“It was always a challenge and a juggling act trying to maintain the work-life balance,” White Minnis said. “Maintaining that and making sure I was doing all the right things for my newborn — that was challenging.”

White Minnis said she has never been one to back down from a challenge, even as a kid.

“Don’t challenge me or give me a dare,” she said. “If you told me there was anything I couldn’t do because I’m a woman, or because I live in Missouri or because I’m a Christian, that would really make me want to prove you wrong.”

She said women belong wherever they’re well-qualified to be.

“Why not be a leader?” White Minnis said.

“If you want to be a leader, what should hold you back?”

MSU is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes female leadership. The University of Missouri is comparable in population to

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10 THE-STANDARD.ORG

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GREEN

LGBTQ

enough room. It was small.”

Although two researchers could use the facility at one time, the single-room greenhouse did not even allow each researcher to regulate their experiment’s conditions without affecting the other’s work. The new facility’s three compartments will give researchers the opportunity to isolate their plants from other conditions within the greenhouse.

Kovacs said the old greenhouse was built in the 1970’s as a teaching facility for botany. Over time, the teaching component inside the greenhouse was removed from curriculum, as the old facility was not large enough for both teaching and research.

The increase in the new greenhouse’s size will allow the faculty to teach in the greenhouse once more. Kovacs said approximately one-third of the greenhouse will be utilized for teaching purposes.

In the past, students needing after-hours access to the greenhouse were given a key, allowing them to check on their research during the evenings or weekends. Currently, official plans for how students will enter the new greenhouse on their own has not been decided. However, both Kovacs and Bowe expressed an interest in a BearPass card-reading system.

Kovacs said the construction of the new facility began on Feb. 11 and is scheduled for completion on May 23.

“When it comes to passing laws that are pro-equality, the thing that we really need the most to be able to do that is make sure that we don’t have bills that are anti-LGBTQ,” Agnew said.

Agnew explained that in 2018 five anti-LGBTQ laws were filed but PROMO worked to ensure zero made it to the governor’s desk to be signed.

“When those are filed, that is our priority, so it is really hard for us to file proactive legislation and pass proactive legislation when we have legislation that is harmful to LGBTQ people that we work so hard to prevent from passing,” Agnew said.

Agnew said a big reason why Missouri is far behind other states in passing pro-LGBTQ

Continued from page 2

WOODS

Continued from page 1

legislation is that Missouri legislators are not aware of what it is like to live as an LGBTQ individual.

“I think a lot of our legislators in Missouri honestly don’t know what it’s like to be LGBTQ — the majority of our legislators are not LGBTQ themselves,” Agnew said. “And because of that, I think a lot of them have a lot to learn from their constituents that are.”

Agnew said this year is the 21st year that PROMO has worked to file the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, which would add protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in places of employment, housing and public accommodations.

“When their constituents aren’t bringing it up they assume it’s not important and not needed,” Agnew said. “The number one thing people can do is engage their elected officials and talk to them about why something like the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act is so important to them.”

BASKETBALL Continued from page 6

first place between Missouri State, Drake and Loyola.

What does that mean for the Bears?

If the Bears were to win their next two games — Illinois State and Drake — and if the Ramblers won their next two games — Northern Iowa and Bradley — the Bears would win the conference in a tiebreaker.

Both teams would have 12-6 records, and Missouri State defeated Loyola twice, giving them the advantage for rankings.

Now, if all three teams split their final two matches, things get tricky. All teams would be 11-7, but it would depend on who won the Drake-Missouri State matchup on March 2.

If Drake wins, the Bulldogs would take the championship. If the Bears win, MSU would win the tiebreaker through a mini-round robin of the records between the three teams.

The biggest key for the Bears — besides trying to win their last two games — is staying ahead of UNI. The Panthers are one game behind the league leaders, and if MSU ends in a tie with Northern Iowa, UNI would win because of the two victories over the Bears.

Missouri State hits the road for the last time in the regular season to face Illinois State on Wednesday, Feb. 27, and then will return to JQH Arena for a season finale against Drake.

Continued from page 2

these changes can have positive effects these additions can have for transgender students.

“For several years, we’ve successfully worked with people on an individual basis to come up with a solution that they are comfortable with,” Stewart said. “But this will greatly enhance our ability to work with different individuals.”

Students who may have endured anxiety from a lack of privacy in the past will have the opportunity to feel safe and comfortable within their own space with less fear of judgment from others.

“This is almost like living at home when it comes to things that you consider to be private, but it will still provide the opportunity for them to have a community experience and live in a group of like-minded students that are here,” Stewart said. “Go to school, develop as individuals — I think it will be great.”

Gender-neutral bathrooms have been implemented on campuses along the east and west coasts for years, with more midwestern universities recently jumping on the bandwagon.

A University of Missouri residence hall, Gateway Hall, has offered gender-neutral housing for those who prefer it. Other nearby schools, such as Missouri S&T and the University of Central Missouri, have also implemented this feature.

“I think we will be able to improve upon what they did,” said Stewart.

In addition to bathroom improvements, the front part of the residence hall will be demolished, expanding the grand lounge toward Bear Boulevard.

Up on the 10th floor, cement block walls will become open glass windows with panoramic views. With a computer lab, updated laundry room and new student kitchen, the space will offer students many updated amenities.

This second phase of remodeling will cost the university a projected $5 million.

LADY BEARS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019

SOFTBALL Continued from page 6

something she will always remember. She really exemplifies the way our freshmen are competing and getting better each day.”

The Bears wrapped up the tournament on Feb. 24 against No. 24 Minnesota, losing in a 7-0 shutout.

Over 14 games so far this season, sophomore first baseman Madison Hunsaker leads all Bears players with a .447 batting average, .574 slugging percentage, 21 hits, six doubles and 27 total bases.

On the mound, Dickerson leads the way with four wins and a 2.05 ERA over a teamhigh 41 innings pitched. Dickerson has also struck out a team-best 34 batters on the season as well.

MSU will resume play in the Central Arkansas Invitational against Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Coppin State, Southeastern Missouri State and Central Arkansas from Feb. 28 to March 2.

TRACK Continued from page 6

Junior Chicago Bains recorded a personal best 8.66 in the 60-meter hurdles to place fourth.

Breiten finished sixth in the mile and seventh in the 3,000-meter run with a career best 10:05.16.

Sophomore Erica Wollmering also ran in the mile and 3,000 to place 10th and 13th.

Clavier, sophomore Amalie Gunn, senior Sidne’ Williamson and freshman Tomi Bamigbade put together a 4x400-meter relay time of 4:00.48 to place sixth.

The Bears are scheduled to compete at the NCAA Championship on March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Continued from page 6

That paid dividends.

A key part of the Lady Bears’s success against Valparaiso and Loyola was their shooting and rebounding.

They shot 45 percent overall and finished 11-for-30 on 3-pointers between both games.

Missouri State dominated both the Crusaders and Ramblers on the boards by a combined 101-58. The Lady Bears defense also stepped up in both games, holding Valparaiso and Loyola to 38 percent shooting and 14-for-52 from long range.

The Lady Bears will return home to battle Northern Iowa and Drake on March 1 and 3.

Northern Iowa currently sits in third behind Drake and Missouri State.

The Panthers nearly beat Missouri State on Feb. 3, but a 23-29 performance from the free-throw line allowed the Lady Bears

to pull out the win.

The Lady Bears will finish out the regular season on the road against Evansville and Indiana State on March 7 and 9.

After that, Missouri State will head out to Moline, Illinois, for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in hopes of a championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selection show is set for March 18. The first games start on March 22.

“In the amount of fun they are having now, it is awesome where in November they had no idea what was going on,” Harper said. “We had a lot of people doubting things. They still practiced hard, but I think they still believed.

“It is so much easier now. When you are winning, a lot of things get cured.”

SALNIKOV

“To be honest, Russia is a pretty serious country. We don’t really smile a lot,” Nikita said. “You guys are more friendly. When you walk by someone, you usually smile at each other. We don’t do that in Russia.”

Nikita has really enjoyed that change — he said it makes him happy all the time.

Fortunately for the Ice Bears, the squirrels haven’t shied him away from Springfield.

Nikita said during the 18 years he has played the sport, he’s never lost his passion for the game. He said his favorite part about hockey is scoring goals and getting fans.

After his time at MSU, he hopes to continue his long career by playing in the NHL. The Ice Bears will wrap up their season at Mediacom Ice Park on March 1-2 against University of Oklahoma.

Continued from page 7

that squirrels had eaten the wires in my car.”

He took his car to get it fixed, and the next morning, the wires were chewed again.

“The last day before I left, I found out they had tried to chew them again, but they did not chew them all the way through,” Nikita said. “I was able to start my car and make it to Knoxville on time.”

Nikita’s parents will be traveling to the United States for the first time ever next summer. They should expect a much more friendly environment than they’re used to, Nikita said.

File Photo by BAILEY VASSALLI/THE STANDARD

The Ice Bears celebrate a goal.

ICE BEARS Continued from page 7

Offensively, the club will need forward Nikita Salnikov to continue tallying points on the top line. His linemate Travis Barrett, who is second on the team in goals behind Salnikov, will rejoin him for the Oklahoma series. Salnikov and Barrett have combined for 49 goals this season.

Also returning to the lineup for the season’s final series will be forward Hunter Cooley. He is fourth on the team in goals scored with 15.

Both he and Bell will help the Ice Bears power play build on the success in North Dakota.

This weekend series against the University of Oklahoma will be a final tune-up for the national tournament.

“We are going to need to play really well,” Law said. “We will get a lot of guys back from injury and that should help shake things out.”

The Ice Bears’ final games against Oklahoma will be on home ice at Mediacom Ice Park on March 1-2. Missouri State beat the Sooners just a little over two weeks ago for the first time in club history on home ice.