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Vol. XCV No. 6
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CNN and C-SPAN engage students in politics
Ryan Quinn / The University News
Q & A: Students could record themselves asking a question for presidential candidates in CNN’s campaign camper on Tuesday. Some may be aired on TV.
The 2016 Presidential Campaign has landed quite literally on SLU’s campus this week. Two buses, or so-called “campaign campers”, parked on the quad, sponsored by media outlets in anticipation of both the approaching Democratic debate and the broader, longstanding political race. Parked just outside the West Pine entrance to Pius LIbrary on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the CNN/ Facebook bus offered students the chance to record video of questions they had for candidates. The star spangled bus, a revamped Airstream trailer, continued to attract curious glances from students entering and exiting the library. Upholstered and fitted with a flat screen TV broadcasting CNN programs, it boasted a wide awning that played pop music. The main
feature was a booth where students could record their questions on camera. Topher Gauk-Roger, a CNN producer, and Nick Santo, an affiliate working with CNN and Facebook, manned the camper throughout the day. Their goal was to get students to leave questions for this year’s candidates; some may be selected to air on CNN during the Democratic debate on Oct. 13. All videos were posted to CNN’s Facebook page. “I think we caught a lot of people by surprise,” said Gauk-Roger. “It’s the first time [CNN has] done an initiative like this where we’ve teamed up with a social media company and actually toured the country to really incorporate the social media aspect … engage viewers like this and get people excited about the election.” CNN’s campaign camper embarked on a four-week, 12-city tour beginning at the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, site of last month’s Republican debate. After visiting SLU, the camper will move on to Iowa and Indiana, before making its final stop in Las Vegas for the Democratic debate. “It seems like this election is going to be one where the millennial generation has a major impact,” said GaukRoger, “because … for the last election, many of them were just coming of age to vote, whereas now so many will be at an age where they can vote, and so I think a lot of them will more impact than they’ve ever had before. I think that’s something that everyone has to factor in, from the networks to the candidates.” This initiative explicitly targets the youngest generation of Americans eligible to vote, who exhibit significant trends of weak voter turnout. It represents an intersection of old-school politics
Sophie Lappe / The University News
Post-Grad: College graduates must always weigh the pros and cons of enrolling in grad school as opposed to getting a job. By EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM Associate News Editor
Every fall and spring semester, students facing graduation wrestle with one major question that will impact their future careers and the course of their lives: “Is graduate school right for me?” And from there, the
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Campus welcomes campaign campers:
By TIM WILHELM News Editor
Good luck on midterms and have a great fall break!
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question that is maybe even more important lies: “Is it worth it?” It’s a question met with anxiety, uncertainty and a lot of deliberation. It’s what Joshua Rothman called ‘the impossible decision’ in an essay he wrote for The New Yorker – the magazine for
which he is also the archive editor. He compared advising students about enrolling in a graduate program to telling individuals whether or not they should have kids or enlist in the Army. Research conducted at Saint Louis University showed a larger portion
and relatively new social media. “I don’t want it to seem like an outdated concept,” said Gauk-Roger. “I think in this world where you actually have to go out and physically write in your vote at a polling place or do it by mail, you can’t just tweet it or Instagram or Snapchat your vote. And so I think we need to find ways to incorporate what it is that young people are doing and active on and find ways to bring the election into that, to make that more relevant … for a new audience and a younger audience.” As the afternoon wore on, the two men saw an increase in student traffic. “Everyone seemed excited to record questions,” said Gauk-Roger. “They were excited to get engaged and have the opportunity to have their say. It seems that everyone was a little nervous at making sure See “2016” on Page 2
of graduates choosing the work force opposed to grad school. A survey sent to 2013-14 SLU graduates displayed that out of the 1,071 respondents, 505 were employed and 305 had opted to attend graduate school, while 131 said they were both employed and enrolled in a grad program. This smaller sum of those enrolling in graduate programs may be a sign that graduating students are not interested in gambling with the uncertainty of going through the arduous task of earning an advanced degree – only to find themselves at a dead end with a sign that reads ‘unemployment,’ – or perhaps a more accurate term would be, ‘underemployment.’ Instead, these students join the work force. One graduate in particular, Kim Reitter, the Director of Career Services, listed work experience, making money and gaining independence as See “Grad” on Page 2
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Agape Latte: Talks on life and love, with coffee By PAUL BRUNKHORST Editor-in-Chief
Dan Kennedy and Patrick Hyland are both Ohio natives. They both are graduates of Boston College (BC). And now, the two Jesuits-information – those who live in the Bellarmine House of Studies and attend classes at SLU – share another trait: They are starting the Agape Latte series at SLU. Agape Latte (“agape” is a Greek form of the word “love,” in this case, love as “self-gift”) commenced at Boston College and is a monthly event that features speakers from the university (faculty, staff, or administrators) who talk about their lives – the struggles, vocations, successes and failures – especially regarding their faith, while students listen and drink coffee. “The talk series started as a collaboration between Campus Ministry and the Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College,” Kennedy said, discussing the origins of Agape Latte. “… [Boston College] wanted to provide spaces for conversations about faith, vocations [and] larger, meaning-of-life questions in an informal setting.” In fact, Boston College has been supportive of spreading the Agape Latte brand. A number of other colleges – Holy Cross and Assumption College, for example – have started Agape Latte on their campuses. Kennedy and Hyland say that their alma mater has been instrumental and supportive in their endeavors at SLU, providing them with marketing materials and supplies to get started. The first Agape Latte talk at SLU is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 8:30 p.m. in the Billiken Club. Dr. Mona Hicks, SLU’s Dean of Students, will be the inaugural speaker for the SLU branch of Agape Latte. Though speaker events are certainly not uncommon at SLU – or other universities – Agape Latte, Kennedy and Hyland stressed, is different. “It’s akin to taking a Last Lecture and a retreat talk and combining the strongest elements of the two to be delivered to the wider school community,” Kennedy said. “With retreats, sometimes you only get people who are linked with Campus Ministry. With Last Lectures, sometimes maybe larger questions about faith, their spiritual formation,
larger lessons that they’ve learned about God and their relationship with God, might not come up. But Agape Latte is meant to be a … context creator to hear people [who] you might not usually get to hear from in a normal introduction at the university.” “It’s like a retreat talk thrown in the middle of a busy college week,” Hyland added, “inviting everyone who goes to ask some deeper questions, but also making whoever’s speaking [set] the example of being vulnerable in order to reach deeper.” Though the series has been going on at Boston College for a number of years – many of the talks from the past are available on YouTube – Hyland and Kennedy have fond memories of some of the notable speakers they heard during their years in Boston. One in particular was Mark Herzlich, a former Boston College football star whose bout with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a form of bone cancer – nearly ended his athletic career, and his life. Herzlich survived the disease and currently plays in the NFL, and though his participation in Agape Latte broke the traditional mold of the event (when he spoke, he was not a current member of the university community), his story, Kennedy iterated, was an inspiring one of struggle and survival. “It was like this big [BC] personality, but with this very human story that many people could relate to,” he said. “And maybe that’s the genius of Agape Latte talks, is the very relatable human story behind each of the big names they invite.” Hyland reinforced the idea of being relatable. “People appreciate honesty,” he said. “And that’s what it’s all about.” Agape Latte is in its infancy at SLU, but Kennedy and Hyland believe that it has great potential. They hope that it can continue and be managed in the future by the Mission and Ministry committee of SGA, of which they are members. “It can be a great event here on campus, and we have high hopes for it,” Kennedy said. “…One of the strengths [of SLU] is that there are many people who want to talk about the mission, or use the mission, in articulating the reasons why they came here, what they’re taking away from SLU – this will be a great way to continue to form them.”
Ryan Quinn / The University News
Agape: Hyland, left, and Kennedy, right, pose in the Billiken Club, the location of the series’ inaugural talk.