Up13 book

PICTURING JUSTICE

From January to March, the Ritter Art Gallery celebrated civil rights and the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Movement. | P.6

LET IT FLY

It doesn’t matter if Gerdarius Troutman is 0-for-5 or 5-for-5, he’s going to shoot. | P.10

POLLING WITH PURPOSE

The university’s nationally recognized polling initiative is conducted by FAU students. | P.18

A PLAYER, A FAN & A COACH

FAU men’s basketball’s biggest fan this season may have been one of its own. | P.21

THE SILENT BATTLE

Students in recovery like Bobby Qualters fight through addiction and schoolwork in a first-of-itskind program at FAU. | P.14

VOL.18 | #13 | 3.14.2017

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Sunday, March 19

And The Tony Goes To …

The South Florida Symphony Orchestra will pay homage to Tony award-winning Broadway musicals at 5 p.m. in the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium.

Eight vocal artists will sing alongside the orchestra to favorites from musicals such as “Kiss Me Kate,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Wiz” and more. Tickets start at $30 and are available at the FAU Box Office.

Friday, March 24

“Personal Shopper” Living Room Theaters will have a showing of “Personal Shopper,” a French psychological thriller with a ghost story thrown in. Directed by Olivier Assayas, the movie costs $6.50 for students.

The theater’s description reads, “Maureen (Kristen Stewart) has a job she hates: seeing to the wardrobe of a media celebrity. She couldn’t find anything better to pay for her stay in Paris. And wait. Wait for a sign from the spirit of her twin brother, who died a few months earlier. Until then, her life will stay on hold.”

Sunday, April 4

UP STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Lynch MANAGING EDITOR Brendan Feeney CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ivan Benavides ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Celeste Andrews WEB EDITOR Richard Finkel COPY DESK CHIEF Kerri-Marie Covington NEWS EDITOR Joe Pye SPORTS EDITOR Hans Belot Jr. FEATURES EDITOR Tucker Berardi CONTRIBUTORS Benjamin Paley, Kamilah Douglas, Alexander Rodriguez, Bella Riccitelli, Daesha Reid, Alexis Hayward, Johan Vazquez, Mohammed F. Emran, Timothy Becker, Charles Pratt ADVISERS Neil Santaniello, Ilene Prusher, Michael Koretzky COVER PHOTO BY Alexander Rodriguez

UNIVERSITY PRESS

March 14, 2017 | VOL.18 | #13 WANT TO JOIN THE UP? Email universitypress@gmail.com Staff meetings every Friday at 2 p.m.

Student Union, Room 214 WANT TO PLACE AN AD? For national/regional ads contact: Mike Anderson MediaMate, LLC. 1-888-897-7711 ext. 128 manderson@mymediamate.com For local ads contact: Von January BV Media Solutions, LLC. 954-495-1150 von@bvmediasolutionsllc.com PUBLISHER FAU Student Government The opinions expressed by the UP are not necessarily those of the student body, Student Government or FAU. ADDRESS 777 Glades Road Student Union, Room 214 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561.297.2960

South Florida Symphony Orchestra Untamed Spirit The South Florida Symphony Orchestra will attend FAU a second time to perform orchestral masterworks such as Felix Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture” and “Symphony No. 5”

by Tchaikovsky. Tickets start at $30 and are available at the FAU Box Office.

Davie campus

Thursday, March 16

Community Fair Visit the Davie Student Union from 3-5 p.m. for free fairthemed food and games.

Wednesday, March 22

Spa Day Come to the Davie Student Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to get an all-inclusive spa experience to help you de-stress after class. The last spa day included brunch, mini-manicures and hand and chair massages provided by Couture Mobile Spa.

Thursday, March 23

King Kong Ping Pong From 4:30-7 p.m., ping pong enthusiasts are invited to come together and show their skills in the Oasis Lounge. Wings and pizza will be available to fuel athletes as they fight for the title of King Kong of Ping Pong.

Tuesday, March 28

Tasty Tuesday The Oasis Lounge will have free chips and salsa from noon to 2 p.m.

Eyeing up Events

Thursday, March 16

“Deconstructing The Beatles’ White Album” Composer and producer Scott Freiman takes Beatles fans into the recording studio during the creation of the White Album.

Learn about the band’s creative process at the Living Room Theaters. Tickets are $6.50 with an Owl Card.

From ping pong to French thrillers, here are some events to look out for on FAU’s campuses. Tucker Berardi | Features Editor

Boca Raton campus

News Briefs Man Arrested After Urinating In Engineering Building

By Joe Pye

Brayden Simpkins claimed to be on the Boca campus to play basketball in the rec center, but was actually here to urinate on the floors and computer equipment of the Engineering East building, according to Florida Atlantic police.

The brother of an FAU student resident, Simpkins was arrested after urinating on a computer, computer desk, keyboards and floors in Room 101 of the building, FAU police said.

According to their records, FAU Police were contacted by building manager C. Perry Weinthal.

From Feb. 19-26, Simpkins was identified on camera five times in the room, also known as “The Cube.”

Simpkins lied to the reporting officer and claimed to be a commuter student.

FAU Police records state that he is not a registered student.

He has since been released on a $10,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on April 6.

4 3.14.2017 University Press

Angela Davis (center) waits to be introduced before her speech at the University Theatre on Feb. 23. Photo

by Charles Pratt

Civil Rights Activist Angela Davis Visited Boca Campus

By Johan Vazquez

On Feb. 23, the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters presented philosopher and political activist Angela Davis as the finale of its series of events relating to social justice.

Davis, who has a career in political activism dating back to the 1960s — with her groundwork for intersectional feminism, the Black Panthers and The Communist Party USA — was met with enthusiasm and a long line to the University Theatre on the Boca campus.

The critique of white supremacy, Marxist anti-

capitalism and the abolition of the prison system was a theme throughout the entire night.

Davis made the case to the audience that the university can be a place for political change and that it is the work of the educated person to ask questions from how we punish people, to the normalization of capitalism and even who we allow in our bathrooms.

She also complimented the work of local branches of organizations on FAU’s campus, including Black Lives Matter and Students for Justice in Palestine.

Governor-Elect Violated Student Government Statute

By Benjamin Paley

The results of the spring 2017 Student Government elections are now official since the Elections Board adjourned its contestation hearing on Feb. 27.

The hearing occurs at the end of every SG election cycle before the results are finalized in order to hear complaints brought by any member of the Florida Atlantic community.

Der’Resha Bastien, the winner of the Boca campus governor’s race, received three complaints. Two of those were dismissed by the Elections Board due to lack of evidence.

However, she will receive a written reprimand from the Elections Board for violating Statute 315.210. The rule states that campaign materials telling students where to vote must have a statement on who students should contact if they require an accommodation for a disability.

The official election results are:

SG student body president and vice president: • Emily Lawless and Kyle MacDonald Boca campus governor: • Der’Resha Bastien Broward campus governor: • Andres Villabona Jupiter campus governor: • Kahlil Ricketts

By Ryan Lynch Identity Evropa placed its posters around Florida Atlantic’s Boca campus on Feb. 17 as part of its national flyering campaign on college campuses.

The white nationalist group tweeted that it placed posters in several locations on campus, including the Wimberly Library and the College of Arts and Letters building.

The group advocates for deportation and immigration bans on non-white people.

Their Twitter account listed that they had previously put up posters with messages like “serve your people” and “own your destiny” at several other universities, including Baylor University in Texas, the University of Texas and Stony Brook University in New York. The signs were no longer campus as of Feb. 20.

FAU Student Injured In Hit-and-Run

Abortion Protest Held On Free Speech Lawn

By Joe Pye

By Timothy Becker

From Feb. 20-21, the Genocide Awareness Project protested abortion with graphic images of dead fetuses and pamphlets on the Free Speech Lawn on the Florida Atlantic Boca campus.

The project’s media consultant, Irene De Souza, claimed that the group aims to “expose the reality of abortion as a human rights issue.”

The FAU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, led by senior political science major Matthew Reed, printed and displayed 1,000 flyers around campus as trigger warnings regarding the images.

White Nationalist Group Posted Flyers On Boca Campus

Members of the Human Rights Project take their abortion protest signs off the Free Speech Lawn on Feb. 21. Photo by Alexis Hayward

Mitchell Reidy was walking down 2500 Military Trail at 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 25 when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

The 18-year-old Florida Atlantic freshman from Naples, Florida received a head injury and was taken to Delray Medical Center for treatment, according to WPTV Channel 5.

He was critically injured in the crash, the driver fled from the scene and no arrests have been made, according to CBS 12.

Marc Charles, a former teammate of Reidy at Naples High School, tweeted out that Reidy is in stable condition and showing brain activity.

A GoFundMe page was created by a family friend on Feb. 26. It has earned over $22,000 of its $40,000 goal as of March 12.

3.14.2017 University Press 5

Picturing

JUSTICE Photo by Tucker Berardi

Kamilah Douglas | Contributing Writer 6 3.14.2017 University Press

The Ritter Art Gallery featured an exhibition centered around the Black Panther Party and civil rights from January to March.

T

he Ritter Art Gallery, found just above the on-campus Chickfil-A, hosted an exhibit with a statement: Power to the

Photos by Alexander Rodriguez

People.

From Jan. 20 through March 4, pieces of art and history were on display at the Boca campus to celebrate the Civil Rights Movement — and more specifically the Black Panther Movement.

The exhibition was called “Community Justice: The Black Panther Party and Other Civil Rights Movements.”

According to the pamphlets available throughout the art exhibit, this collection was “developed to in part to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party in the fall of 1966, and numerous contemporary events in America that are spawning new waves of social activism.”

The exhibition explored and examined various social justice movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It featured documentation in the form of photography, film, video and vintage digital print materials.

Chris Robe, a Ph.D. film scholar and associate professor in FAU’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, contributed some of the content and helped plan the exhibit.

“The exhibition is a timely reminder of how activism and dissent can influence change in our society,” Robe said in a press release.

The dominating focus of the show was the Black 3.14.2017 University Press 7

Panther Party, founded in Oakland, California by activists Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966.

Many of the photographs of the Black Panthers were taken by husband and wife, Prickle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch. These images were originally displayed in The Norton Museum of Art’s 2015-16 exhibition “The Summer of ‘68: Photographing Black Panthers.”

According to a sign at the start of the exhibition,“The Black Panther Party sought to build a community through service to the people, providing free food and clothing. They gave purpose to disenfranchised black youth through education and community organizing.”

The exhibition was made up of materials from the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida and west coast photographer Ilka Hartman.

Oral histories from the Latino civil rights organization, the Young Lords, and other collections were also included.

“I was alive during this time,” Mike Budd, a retired faculty member from the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Communication and Multimedia Studies, said. “It’s very important to remember them now because we’re having the same kind of struggles.”

Photo by Kamilah Douglas

Photo by Alexander Rodriguez 8 3.14.2017 University Press

Arts and Lifestyle Celeste Andrews | Assistant Creative Director Tucker Berardi | Features Editor

Ask Luna 2

This week, Luna answers a student’s concern about police presence on campus. Student questions remain unedited.

Dear Luna, What do you plan to do about the severe lack of Police presence on campus. I cannot tell you how many hit-and-runs, near vehicular homicidal incidents, and people driving on the wrong side of the road; let alone all the drugs and violence on campus. Do you plan to raise awareness about the mass lawlessness and lack of enforcement at FAU? Ben Alfacture Dear Ben, I am Batman.

Just raise the signal and I will be there.

In all seriousness, though, thank you for your keen eye.

While it is not our job to enforce police presence on campus, we can still report on it. As of right now, I can’t say that there are any definitive plans to cover this.

However, we’re interested in making it a priority, so keep an eye out for your concern to be addressed in future stories.

Of course, don’t come to us if it is an emergency. Always contact the authorities first — 911 for emergencies or 561-297-3500 to reach Florida Atlantic Police for non-emergencies.

If you think something is story-worthy, hit up the University Press by calling 561297-2960 or emailing universitypress@ gmail.com.

Even better, you could visit the UP newsroom, located in Room 214 on the second floor of the Student Union.

I also recommend that you join our writing team. That way you can report on all the interesting “lawlessness” occurring on campus.

Sincerely, Luna If you are looking for advice or want to ask Luna a question, please email asklunaup@gmail.com.

Love in the Breezeway

The University Press spoke with two students that missed their chance to get the name of someone who caught their eye around Florida Atlantic’s Boca Raton campus. Think you could be one of those lucky people? Email us at lovenbreeezewayup@gmail.com and we’ll put you in touch with your secret admirer.

Blond guy in the library You: Tan, dirty blond in a white T-shirt and khakis Me: 5’2 brunette with brown eyes wearing a blue Vera Bradley backpack, blue Converse, a blue-striped Abercrombie T-shirt and blue shorts Message: Want to meet up?

When: Feb. 21 Where: First floor of the library Time: 2:50 p.m.

Metallica fan in the cafeteria You: Pulled back hair with green streaks, wearing a Metallica T-shirt and jeans Me: Blonde girl wearing a blue dress and sneakers sitting with a friend Message: Thought you were cute, want to take me to lunch?

When: March 1 Where: Atlantic Dining Hall (The Caf) Time: 1:30 p.m.

Can’t stop thinking about that cute someone? Email us a description of who you saw, what you looked like, where you saw them, what day/time it was and a message you want them to read.

Campus Find of the Week

Near General South

Favorite Flicks The University Press staff members have seen the movies, bought the popcorn and now they’re sharing their reviews with readers.

The LEGO Batman Movie Beginning with a grand scheme

plotted out by the Joker, Batman’s worst nemesis, the movie starts off with a bang. Given the choice to save Gotham or take his revenge upon the Joker, Batman chooses the former, telling Joker in the process that he has no arch enemy.

Heartbroken over losing his biggest enemy, Joker goes on a rampage to prove that he is Batman’s greatest foe. During this, Batman accidentally adopts Dick Grayson, an eager orphan who idolizes the caped crusader.

When the Joker brings other bad guys to stir up trouble, the movie becomes filled with far too many jokes about their rivalry, as well as references to every Batman movie created and nods to the long-running 1960s TV show. In all honesty, the movie should have been named “Not Another Batman Movie: the Story of Batman and Joker.”

In the end, Batman learns what it’s like to be part of a family and that having a nemesis isn’t always a bad thing. This movie is great for longtime fans of the series, casual fans and people with children alike.

Grade: AA Cure for Wellness Taking advantage of a deal for $6 movie

tickets on Tuesday, I decided to see “A Cure for Wellness.” I’m a fan of psychological thrillers and the trailers for the film were enough to pique my interest for what I thought would be an interesting movie.

Boy was I wrong. The movie starts out by giving us a minor backstory on Lockhart, a young businessman making his way up the ladder in modern-day New York. Not far into the film, the setting drastically changes to an eerily peaceful Victorian facility atop the Swedish Alps, giving the remainder of the movie a gorgeous backdrop of mountains that I much preferred watching over the action in the foreground.

This mad-scientist ghost story then tosses multiple film tropes together to make a two-hour long bucket of confusion. Suicidal stock brokers go to Sweden for a cure only to die off slowly and be mysteriously deposited into a creepy crypt by an even creepier groundskeeper. (Yes, there is the stereotypical groundskeeper.)

The movie goes from confusing to nonsensical, and man does it take its sweet time doing so. There is an abundance of overly gruesome scenes that serve no purpose other than to shock viewers out of their perpetual confusion.

To top it all off, the film rips a page (or the entire ending) from “The Phantom of the Opera.”

No spoilers, but I will say that there is a secret lair filled with candles and an ugly dude with a mask. I half expected them to end with a musical number.

The only thing keeping me from giving this an F is that the actors did a decent job of portraying their characters and were able to keep a straight face all the way through the ending credits.

Grade: D 3.14.2017 University Press 9

Gerdarius Troutman has made 43 percent of his 3-pointers this season, the third highest single-season mark in FAU history. Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Let It Fly...

From playing dirt ball and breaking into gyms back in his hometown to the bright lights at FAU Arena, Gerdarius Troutman is making his mark with his shooting.

Hans Belot Jr. | Sports Editor

10 3.14.2017 University Press

harder. legally in the high school basketball gym, he But after his subpar performance in the loss discovered a knack for shooting. He would knock versus North Texas, he knew he needed the extra down two, three, four in a row, and that’s what kept practice. He wanted to get back to the basics. him on the floor playing with the older guys. the court.

“It was just me going back to my roots,” said “I’ve been playing with older people since I was However, it was unusually quiet for the arena.

Troutman. “That night was just very frustrating and like eight,” the sharpshooter said. “Growing up, Most of the time, the red and blue seats are filled I needed to get my rhythm back. So I went out and playing with older people just made me better. So with students and fans yelling and cheering their shot right after the game.” when I started playing with kids my own age, it was team on.

In the three games following the loss to the Mean a lot easier.”

That night, there was was no sign of a human Green, Troutman has knocked down 15-of-25 Troutman said that a man named Barry Bazinsky being in the stands, no shot 3-pointers, averaging 14.6 — a shooting coach that has worked with NBA clock, no scoreboard and no points per game to lead FAU superstars like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony players on either bench. during the stretch.

— really helped him become the sniper he is today.

That’s because there “[Staying after the game] Bazinsky gave Troutman all the techniques he was only one player’s helped me out a lot,” needed to become a great shooter, such as staying shoes squeaking, one ball Troutman said. “In the next square on the shot, following through and learning bouncing and the lights three games I was able to how to adjust his shot after every attempt. were shining bright on get my rhythm just one person: Gerdarius back. I was Troutman. thinking way FAU men’s basketball too much. With had finished facing the shooting, you University of North Texas just have to do about a half an hour earlier. it.”

The Owls lost the game Weighing 70-64 and attempted 39 in at just 3-pointers, a record for 175 pounds, 3-point shots taken under Troutman has head coach Michael Curry. the smallest Of those 39, Troutman stature among took 11 and only knocked Conference down two of them. He USA rosters, was unhappy with his but he has performance in the game, no problem and he decided to remain in banging with the arena after it.

- GERDARIUS TROUTMAN, the big boys.

Troutman, still in his When he Junior uniform, started his postwas a kid, game solo practice with a Troutman’s layup, a jump shot and then his favorite, the deep cousins would take him to play “dirt ball. Aided by former Owl William Gibbons — ball” in his hometown of Butler, a city who grabbed every rebound and kicked it back about two hours north of Atlanta. to Troutman — the 6-foot-3-inch guard started “Dirt ball” refers to playing basketball getting hot, then hotter and hotter. wherever possible, whether on He knocked down four in a row, then five, then a regular basketball court, or on six and he continued until he reached his 10th. He unpaved, bumpy roads where truck missed it. drivers would yell at them to move.

“I’ve been around basketball enough to know They were rarely able to get into a everyone will have bad shooting nights,” Curry said. gym, and when they did, they’d usually “We have full confidence in [Troutman]. Staying break into it and play basketball until after the game versus North Texas just shows how sundown, or until they were spotted much he’s willing to work.” by someone.

Working on his shot and practicing following a Troutman was the youngest among game is not something the Butler, Georgia native his male cousins, who were all in high does very often. After a broken foot suffered at school when he was just in the sixth Junior Gerdarius Troutman (14) blocks North Texas sethe end of his sophomore season at Gordon State, grade. he’s learned to pace himself and work smarter, not When Troutman began playing nior J-Mychal Reese’s shot on Feb. 9. Photo by Alexander Rodriguez

I

t was about 10 p.m. inside the Florida Atlantic Arena. The court lights were still shining bright, a ball was bouncing and shoes could be heard squeaking on

“Growing up, playing with older people just made me better.

So when I started playing with kids my own age, it was a lot easier.”

3.14.2017 University Press 11

If the ball went wide-left the first attempt, Troutman learned how to fixed it. He did this by training with Bazinsky every year from sixth grade to his senior year of high school.

“He taught me everything that made me a good shooter,” Troutman said. “[The most important thing] was shooting is all about repetition and muscle memory. And I worked on that basically all and every summer until I got better.”

Troutman used all the advice given to him throughout high school and junior college. The guard averaged 22.4 points per game in his senior year at Taylor County High School, but was unable to receive scholarship offers from Division I colleges.

However, his two-year career at Gordon State was enough to earn some phone calls from Division I programs, specifically FAU and South Carolina State University. Troutman eventually chose FAU, after buying into the free-flowing offense that would would create opportunities for him on the court.

“I know coming into games I’m going to get a lot of open shots,” Troutman said. “I don’t have to press nor try to do too much. I know my teammates are going to look for me so I don’t have to stress and worry about not getting the ball.”

“I don’t have to press nor try to do too much. I know my teammates are going to look for me so I don’t have to stress and worry about not getting the ball.”

- GERDARIUS TROUTMAN, Junior

12 3.14.2017 University Press

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Gerdarius Troutman attempts a jumpshot over Miami’s Davon Reed in the Owls 76-56 loss on Dec. 16. Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Tracking Troutman’s threes

Most Made Three-Point Field Goals in a Season In FAU History 97 Ryan Hercek, 1999-00 88 Earnest Crumbley, 2002-03 85 Greg Gantt, 2009-10 84 Greg Gantt, 2012-13 82 Earnest Crumbley, 2003-04 76 Quinton Young, 2004-05 72 Gerdarius Troutman, 2016-17 68 DeAndre Rice, 2006-07 66 Paul Graham III, 2008-09 66 DeAndre Rice, 2005-06 66 Marquan Botley, 2013-14

Highest Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage in a Season in FAU History (min. 50 made)

47.9 DeAndre Rice, 2006-07 (68- for-142) 46.9 Quinton Young, 2005-06 (53- for-113) 42.6 Gerdarius Troutman, 2016-17 (72-for-169) 41.5 Quinton Young, 2004-05 (76-for-183) 40.8 Ryan Hercek, 1999-00 (97-for- 238) 40.2 Earnest Crumbley, 2003-04 (82-for-204)

Three-Point Field Goal Percentage in Conference USA in 2016-17 46.9 Egor Koulechov, Rice 44.1 Austin Loop, Marshall 42.6 Gerdarius Troutman, FAU 40.8 Jacobi Boykins, LA Tech 39.9 Andrien White, Charlotte

Most Three-Point Field Goals Made in Conference USA in 2016-17 112 Austin Loop, Marshall 89 Jacobi Boykins, LA Tech 83 Jon Elmore, Marshall 81 Marcus Evans, Rice 76 Pancake Thomas, Western Kentucky 76 Egor Koulechov, Rice 74 Giddy Potts, MTSU 72 Gerdarius Troutman, FAU

3.14.2017 University Press 13

Senior Bobby Qualters now works at Life of Purpose giving advice and guidance to students who are in the same situation he was a few years ago. Photo by Ryan Lynch

THE SILENT

BATTLE Local students fighting drug addiction are offered a second chance at the first ever on-campus rehab center.

Ryan Lynch | Editor in Chief obby Qualters was on the verge of pitching his first game for the Bentley University Eagles as a freshman on the Boston-area school’s baseball team. But he never took the mound.

Qualters was at an upperclassmen apartment party during his freshman year the night before playing drinking games. He does not remember much of what happened next, other than his friends carrying him back to his dorm and placing him in a chair with a garbage can nearby.

“It was the night before my first college baseball game, the first one I was pitching in and then I just got so absolutely hammered, mixing drugs and alcohol, that my heart stopped for a bit and I had to get shot up with adrenaline and pretty much was saved,” Qualters said.

Qualters woke up in the hospital several hours later.

“I woke up … and I was like, ‘What the fuck happened?’ and obviously my parents came to get me, they were super worried about me,” he said.

The now 23-year-old recovered from his near-death experience but remained addicted to alcohol and drugs, until a trip to Boca Raton provided him with a place that would later change his life and give him a job and stability.

B

14 3.14.2017 University Press

That place was Life of Purpose. Founded in 2013, it is located at 3848 FAU Boulevard in the research park on the Boca Raton campus.

Chad Koeller, the executive director of the organization’s sole Florida location, said the program offers something for college students living with addiction that no other place in the entire United States is doing: allowing them to continue their education while receiving treatment.

“Really what makes this program different from any other program in the country is that even in this primary level of care, they can be in school,” he said. “The thought behind most programs down here if you’re a college student and you’ve had your education disrupted by a substance abuse disorder, it’s like, ‘Hey man, take a year or two off, just focus on your recovery.’”

With its first location in Boca, Life of Purpose later expanded to Texas and Tennessee.

The program offers three separate levels of recovery for students to go through, starting with the partial hospitalization program and followed by an inpatient and outpatient program.

Students are assigned an academic case manager to help them manage their schoolwork and a therapist to work with. Both stay constant through each level of care.

Most of the students live either at local halfway houses or the organization’s Life in Progress house on 20th Street, which sits within walking distance of campus and has room for up to 40 people.

Students who live there have 24-hour supervision and participate in things like movie nights led by the on-staff behavioral health technicians.

“I want to say it’s like a fraternity for sober kids,” Qualters said. “ If you go there, no one even knows that it’s a sober-living house, because it doesn’t look like that at all. You’ll see kids out on their balconies playing guitar, messing around with each other, wrestling in the parking lot.”

According to the senior political science and business double major, one wouldn’t recognize that any of the students had a problem with drugs or alcohol by appearance alone.

“They all work, they all go to school. You wouldn’t know that because they’re legitimately happy,” he said.

According to Qualters, he grew up playing baseball and lived a mostly average home life in Winter Park, Florida. Around his freshman year of high school, he started drinking and smoking weed, which he said was mostly limited to the weekends.

“Once you kind of realize, ‘Hey, pot isn’t that bad,’ then you realize, ‘Oh, I wonder if they’re lying about everything else,’ and then you go down that road,” he said.

During his senior year, he became a merit scholar

Bobby Qualters (left) started drinking heavily while enrolled at Bentley University near Boston.

Photo courtesy of Bobby Qualters

“Once you kind of realize, ‘Hey, pot isn’t that bad,’ then you realize, ‘Oh, I wonder if they’re lying about everything else,’ and then you go down that road.”

while playing baseball for Lake Highland Preparatory School.

In 2012, Qualters rode his academic standing and athletic talent to a baseball scholarship at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Once there, his habits did not mesh with the program.

“That was when shit just got real,” he said.

“I went there to play ball, but it didn’t go well my first day. Got yelled at for having a beer, didn’t know that wasn’t allowed. I was like, ‘Goddamn, nobody told me this.’ I was already a little miffed about that then just kind of gravitated towards the other people that were partying right away.”

According to Qualters, it was that mindset that got him arrested two weeks into the school year for public intoxication.

“I was just being super ridiculous, swearing at cops,” Qualters said. “They tried to get me to the hospital because ‘This kid’s not OK’ and apparently I just refused. I said ‘I don’t need to go to the hospital.’ I was being super obstinate about it.”

Qualters said that he would drink and abuse drugs heavily at the time to ease his personal anxiety from being away from home.

“The only way I knew how to get outside of that social anxiety of being thousands of miles from

- BOBBY QUALTERS, senior, political science and business double major

home was to self-medicate to the point of not knowing where I was,” Qualters said.

After being pronounced dead and then brought back the night before his first game, Qualters went home to recover and work his way back into school.

He later went to Bentley for another year, where he joined the fraternity Sigma Gamma Delta and continued his partying lifestyle.

“Some people can handle it, I knew plenty of people who I assumed were going as hard as I was 3.14.2017 University Press 15

and are completely fine. Some have great jobs in the city of Boston and New York, they’re financial planners, getting hedge funds,” he said. “For me that did not end, I had no off button. There was no time in which I was like, ‘I need to bear down or I need to study.’”

Qualters transferred to Valencia College in Orlando, Florida and then the University of Central Florida for a year and a half, where several problems forced him into a deeper hole with his drinking and drug use.

“I had things go wrong with a girl, we were best friends from high school and I just had a bunch of things go wrong at once,” Qualters said. “Once you don’t have anything to feel good about, there it be a girl, school, life, how you’re doing with a job, selfesteem, anything, it makes it easy to go down that path.”

Without his former fraternity, his baseball career or his girlfriend, his drug use began to affect his health, which forced him to ask his parents for help addressing his addiction.

“For me I had to wait for it to get bad for me to ask for help, literally my health was declining, I was throwing up blood, just not doing OK in general,” he said. “I dropped out of all my classes and it was just miserable every single day.”

While doing his inpatient care at another center in South Florida, Qualters was attracted to Life of Purpose.

“The main thing that drew me there was the college experience. I knew I needed to finish college. I’m planning on going to law school after this and I knew there was no way I’d be able to do what I want with my life without going to college,” Qualters said.

Qualters eventually beat his addiction through treatment while staying at the Life in Progress house, going to school and working toward rebuilding his life.

“You can get sober, but if you’re still bored working a dead-end job at 23-years-old and not making any progress in your life, you’re not going to be happy,” he said. “But if you get a kid in school and get them case management services and they start getting good grades, they start to feel good about themselves and they start doing better. All [of a] sudden, they can take on more work the next semester, all of [a] sudden they have a job and then they’re going to school full time and doing both those things.”

While he was in the program, Qualters met Ben Jones, a former college baseball player from Tennessee.

“It’s guys like that [that] bring you into the program and get you working there … I wouldn’t have taken sobriety as seriously as I did. He was 16 3.14.2017 University Press

After his classes, Qualters usually reports to work at the Life in Progress house on 20th Street. Photo by Ryan Lynch

one of the people who taught me you can just be a normal dude, he was another college baseball player, chill guy,” Qualters said.

Jones was a former addict, one who had previously been at Motlow State Community College and Lambuth University, both in Tennessee, before addiction took over his life. Prior to becoming a patient, he went through three separate rehab facilities and wound up in a local crack hotel.

“That was right before [Life of Purpose founder] Andrew [Burki] picked me up, I had been homeless in my truck for a week or two and that was when I got into that crack hotel,” Jones said. “I wondered if I was going to ever complete my degree or get a job.

I thought this was going to be it.”

Jones became one of the first patients at Life of Purpose’s Boca location, working his way to a degree from Vanderbilt University and a spot on the staff as a therapist. Moving through the ranks, he later founded his own branch of Life of Purpose at Middle Tennessee State University.

“It can be a difficult field to work in but the coolest part is when you see someone who at some point you knew them and their life was in shambles and now they’re going on and they’re doing some cool stuff,” executive director Koeller said. “[Jones] went through here. He went on to get his master’s and is now the executive director at Middle Tennessee State University. So this is someone who

was on the verge of death because of drug and alcohol use and now has a master’s degree and is a respected professional in the field and is back at his alma matter opening up a treatment center.”

Starting with Law and American Society as his only class, Qualters eventually worked his way up to a full course load while working full-time as a behavioral health technician at Life of Purpose.

“Once they asked me to work there I was like, ‘I’m doing everything well enough that they’re asking me to show other people how to do it’ and that was another huge moment for me,” he said. “And then working there and going to school full time, like you get that initial one where you’re like, ‘Holy shit, this is incredible, I can handle all these things because of the help I’ve been given along the way and then you get a bunch more of those mini moments as you keep progressing forward.”

Working directly with students who are going through the program like Jones did with him, Qualters uses his experiences to help guide people who are in the same position he was in not long ago.

“What I can tell you the most is what it’s like to be a student in early recovery,” he said. “I have a year and a half sober. I’m not at the point where I have 10 years and feel like I know everything but it’s close enough in my rearview to me that I can turn around and pinpoint what exactly I was feeling.”

All of that experience comes as part of the network

The Life in Progress house, a sober living community where many male program members stay.

Photo by Ryan Lynch

Looking for Signs

Worried you may have a substance abuse problem?

Life of Purpose member Bobby Qualters has some questions that he thinks you should ask yourself.

“It can be a difficult field to work in but the coolest part is when you see someone who at some point you knew them and their life was in shambles and now they’re going on and they’re doing some cool stuff.”

that Qualters said you build to support yourself during and after recovery. When he needs support or vice versa, Qualters said that many of the guys who went through recovery with him are always there to talk.

“Everyone’s there to help everybody and it seems like a weird cliche, but it’s true,” he said.

“I’m the same way, like if one of my buddies from back home who got sober after me is living out in LA now and he was struggling with something and he called me at 3 in the morning, [I] had no problem answering my phone. It’s way better to call somebody than have someone do something stupid.”

Qualters, Koeller and Jones all believe that this is the way treatment should be given to addicts, seeing it as a doorway to education most kids in that situation don’t have.

“I think this is an innovative idea,” Koeller said. “When you look five or 10 years from now, I think we’ll be in every state and people will be thinking, ‘Oh man, why didn’t we do this sooner?’

I think substance abuse treatment has lagged behind many other medical treatments [because of a] lack of funding for research, the stigma around substance abuse and addiction so I think we’re on the tip of the spear.”

With a new facility at Middle Tennessee State University and the University of North Texas,

- CHAD KOELLERS, Life of Purpose executive director

Koeller believes this is a winning formula for recovery. As for Qualters, he is looking to finish his degrees and potentially apply to law school.

“I know if I didn’t hit that bottom, with that absolute and physical bottom I wouldn’t be here or be sober,” Qualters said. “You kind of have to lose everything to get it back. I’ve definitely earned all of that back and more.”

“My first thing I always do is check your motives. Why are you going out? Do you want to see your friends or are you going out to get so blasted you forget about all the shit that happened to you this week?”

“Think about how often you go out. Is it getting to the point where it is affecting your daily life? Is it affecting your relationships with other people? Your grades?”

“If either of those two things are happening, that’s obviously a huge red flag. If you keep going out constantly and you feel obligated to go out because everyone else is, that’s also another thing.”

“You should have control of your own destiny in that regard. If you don’t want to do something, there’s no reason to go out and do it. If you definitely start to realize you have a problem, which nobody does right off the bat, just talk to somebody.”

“If you ask for help early enough, you can avoid all the steps I had to go through.”

3.14.2017 University Press 17

POLLING BEPI Director Monica Escaleras speaks to the students that participate in her BEPI class.

withPURPOSE The students that are responsible for FAU’s Business and Economic Polling Initiative are garnering national attention for the university.

Bella Riccitelli | Contributing Writer Joe Pye | News Editor Photos by Joe Pye

18 3.14.2017 University Press

ext month, a handful of the students behind Florida Atlantic’s Business and Economics Polling Initiative will be able to attend the National Conference of Undergraduate Research, which will consist of thousands of other students from around the country.

For the past three years, FAU College of Business students have been polling the Hispanic community in Florida on their attitudes at local, state and national levels.

BEPI focuses on this specific demographic as about 20 percent of Florida’s population is Hispanic, according to the Pew Research Center.

These polls received national attention during the 2016 presidential election — by showing Trump pulling far ahead in the primary elections — from publications and news sources such as The Washington Post,

N

the Sun Sentinel and MSNBC. The initiative was created by Monica Escaleras, who has a Ph.D in economics.

“My goals for BEPI are to keep it growing and help the students beyond school,” she said.

The students who work on producing BEPI do so under Escaleras’ supervision while in class, which can be taken as a course for independent study.

“Some do it for the credits, but some do it for their love of research,” she said.

The polls include questions that revolve around social issues, business, the economy and now politics.

“BEPI is completely different than any other class that I’ve taken. The professors try to be that boss figure and friendship figure you can talk to like friends and then they push for you

to get the job done,” senior economics major Esteban Cardenas said. “It gives you experience and since it’s a small class, we get that working with coworker experience while working with groups. It’s similar to being in an office.”

Along with data analysis, students also prepare a visual aspect of the collected data. This involves different types of graphs, spreadsheets and presentations.

In 2016, 500 Hispanics living in Florida were polled by phone and email from January through August.

“Students come up with the questions to ask and then the data is formed. Questions and polling are done

through phones and computers,” Escaleras said. “It is against the law to call cell phones, so we can only call landlines.”

The students who take part in BEPI are given the chance to experience handson training when it comes to polling, gathering information, studying data and all that comes between.

“BEPI is preparing us for the future. It shows us how to use different programs and how to do research from the start to finish and create the questions to do the survey,” senior international business and

marketing major Laura Gomez said.

“We did cold calling in the beginning of the school year and putting it all together is just the perfect way to have real-world experience. This is stuff that could be published and used in business.”

To this day, Escaleras has stayed true to her word on helping students gain work experience, as she continues to receive phone calls from her former students

3.14.2017 University Press 19

accrediting their success to BEPI. Rachel Antonucci, who now works as an investment analyst at Boeing, watched her future fill up with opportunities post BEPI. “Being a part of BEPI expanded my mind to economics and politics that I never thought was possible,” said Antonucci, who participated in BEPI in 2014. “Thinking through how to phase questions to the

public opinion was extremely intriguing and difficult. It challenges you to think outside the box and analyze how the mind will perceive things.”

Even though polling from BEPI has been recognized by national news outlets, Escaleras still wants to focus on her students’ personal and professional growth.

“I see amazing transformations in the students. The students who were quiet and shy in the beginning are the first to stand up and present,” Escaleras said. “It helps them become better versions of themselves.”

Senior economics major Esteban Cardenas (left) and senior international business and marketing major Laura Gomez (middle) analyze polling numbers with a fellow classmate.

What the Polls Have Shown Us

The University Press has been covering BEPI’s research for over two years now. These are the dates and headlines of the studies we have written about.

Oct. 8, 2014 Florida Atlantic University Poll Finds Democrats Keep Edge with Hispanic Voters Despite Split on U.S. President Obama Aug. 6, 2015 Global warming is a serious issue for Hispanic voters, according to FAU Poll Sept. 29, 2015 Latest University poll puts Trump ahead Dec. 10, 2015 Polls conducted by the FAU College of Business show Trump in the lead for Republican Primaries in Florida.

March 4, 2016 FAU Polling Initiative receives national media attention after Donald Trump tweet June 2, 2016 Florida Atlantic poll says Hispanic voters favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump Oct. 16, 2016 October BEPI poll released has Hillary Clinton leading in Florida over Donald Trump Dec. 12, 2016 FAU national poll finds majority of Hispanics believe Trump will worsen economy Jan. 16, 2017 Latest national Florida Atlantic poll shows Hispanic Democrats, Republicans switch financial outlooks Feb. 7, 2017 BEPI poll shows majority of Floridians disagree with Trump’s immigrationrelated policies

20 3.14.2017 University Press

A Player, a Fan and a coach Hans Belot Jr. | Sports Editor

Junior Frank Booker (11) drives to the hoop against USF on Nov. 22. Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Frank Booker transferred from the University of Oklahoma to FAU because his three-point touch was needed, but his impact has gone beyond his shooting.

3.14.2017 University Press 21

F

lorida Atlantic men’s basketball trailed Middle Tennessee 73-51 with 5:11 left, and nobody could be heard inside FAU Arena — nobody except Frank Booker.

Junior William Pfister drove to the lane for an and-one layup, and the crowd let out a small round of applause. Booker on the other hand, was up from the bench, screaming, pumping his fist in the air and applauding louder than the 1,344 people in attendance that night.

“That’s one of the reasons why we nominated him to be a captain,” head coach Michael Curry said.

Booker, a redshirt junior, transferred from the University of Oklahoma before the 2015-16 season, hoping he would be able to get more playing time under Curry. However, after sitting out last year due to transfer rules, Booker has started just 10 games this season and his 16.7 minutes per game ranks seventh among the team.

Nonetheless, Booker has remained positive. He has embraced the role Curry assigned to him, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to earn more playing time.

When not on the court, Booker has played the role of several different people on the bench: the fan, the coach and the player.

The fan in Booker can’t help but get excited when one of his teammates makes a great play, like when junior Ronald Delph soared for an offensive rebound and dunked it over a Florida International University player back on Jan. 26. Booker was so excited and pumped up, his celebration almost caused him to bump into a referee at half court.

“I love my teammates,” Booker said. “If they are doing well, I am doing well. If they are not doing well, then I try to give them a spark in any ways possible. That’s just who I am.”

The coach in Booker is the one that brings the team together in a timeout to give a pep talk before head coach Michael Curry gets there.

“It’s always good to have someone right there that can push you,” said junior teammate Gerdarius Troutman. “In the games, even if I am [shooting] 0-for-5, he’s still going to pull me to the side and say, ‘Hey G, keep shooting and look for your shot here and there.’ Little stuff like that that will help me.”

The player is the one sitting on the bench, a little nervous as FAU and Rice were tied at 67 in the final 10 seconds of regulation. FAU had the ball on the final possession as senior Adonis Filer attempted the game winner, but his shot did not go in.

During that possession, the junior guard was on his toes, waiting to explode if Filer won the game.

He was watching closely, biting his nails, itching to get in the game and make a difference.

But he wasn’t going to, and he understood why.

22 3.14.2017 University Press

“That’s just a part of the game,” he said after the Rice game. “Everybody goes through their ups and downs. I was struggling shooting the ball and missed some defensive assignments.

Coach sat me down and talked to me about it.”

When he is on the court, Booker is a scorer. If he sees the defender sag off, he’ll take the three. If the defender plays him too close, he’ll attack the rim and finish with a ferocious dunk or a smooth layup.

When it’s not his night on the offensive end, Booker will try and do whatever it takes to stay on the floor.

He is willing to do the little stuff — diving for loose balls, drawing charges and contesting every single shot.

“I play my role,” Booker said. “I’ll do all the dirty stuff to stay on the floor. “ When Booker is off the floor, he exhausts every single ounce of energy left to push his teammates who are still in.

“Frank is always going to be the energetic guy,” Curry said. “He’s all in with his teammates. The biggest Junior Frank Booker (11) embraces senior Marcus Neely problem with Frank is he’s probably during a timeout. Photo by Alexander Rodriguez been harder on himself than anyone else.”

In his own eyes, Booker has not been happy with how his first season at FAU has gone. He hasn’t shot or passed the ball as well as he wanted to.

The redshirt junior is eighth on the team in scoring, averaging 6.1 points per game. He had a career-high 22 points versus Middle Tennessee on Jan. 21, and his 29 made 3-pointers are the second most on the team.

“The numbers haven’t been great, but he’s had some great games for us,” Curry said.

At Westside High School in Augusta, Georgia, Booker averaged 27.9 points and 4.1 assists per game as a senior.

University of Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger — a two-time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year from his time at the University of Florida from 1990-96 — recruited Booker to Oklahoma.

There, Booker never started a game and came off the bench behind 2016 Naismith College Player of the Year and current Sacramento King Buddy Hield, who led the Sooners to the Final Four.

However, Booker wanted to do more than just back up Hield, more than play for a two-time coach of the year. He wanted to get better.

So Booker went on a quest to find the right school, the right fit, to play the sport he loves. Enter Curry,

“I love my teammates. If they are doing well, I am doing well. If they are not doing well, then I try to give them a spark in any ways possible.

That’s just who I am.”

- Frank Booker, junior

a native of Booker’s hometown of Augusta, who called Booker following his sophomore season at Oklahoma and asked him about the chance to play for FAU. Booker enrolled to the university prior to ever stepping foot on campus. He had to sit out his first season — an NCAA transfer rules requirement — but started the first 10 games of 2016-17, averaging 7.8 points per game.

He hasn’t started a game since.

Although he takes pride in what he does, Booker wants to be more than the hustle guy. He wants to contribute more offensively, especially shooting the ball better and getting his teammates involved more.

No matter what it is or what it takes, Booker won’t back down or shy way. He’s consistently the first one up to the task.

He’ll also be the first one to put his personal objectives aside for the benefit of his team.

“If we keep winning, we’ll be fine and I’ll be happy,” Booker said. “But I know if I can contribute a little more, I know we can win even more games.”

Until he gets his opportunity, Booker will keep doing what he has been this season, which Curry said impacts the team in its own way.

“Cheering for each other as Frank does becomes contagious, and our guys kind of follow that lead,” Curry said.

Junior Frank Booker cheers on his teammates while standing on the sidelines.

Photo by Alexander Rodriguez

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24 3.14.2017 University Press Fort Lauderdale Pizza Festival.indd 1

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