ROADTRIP WOES
GREEKING OUT
Greeks compete for fame Coyote football falls and glory. VERVE B4 to Western Illinois. SPORTS B1
The Volante
2,400 W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5
STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
VOLANTEONLINE.COM
Up to 2,400 lives are saved annually by USD blood drives Students give ‘gift of life,’ 800 units of blood
B
By Mason Dockter
Mason.Dockter@coyotes.usd.edu
y making a quick stop at a bus, USD students were potentially saving lives last week. Sponsored by the Sioux Falls-based Community Blood Bank, the Oct. 5-6 blood drive saw a total of 90 participating students, which is “fairly average,” said Ken Versteeg, the executive director of the Community Blood Bank. Community Blood Bank, which has been operating blood drives throughout the region since 1976, administers about 14 blood drives each year at USD. The blood drives at USD collect roughly 800 units of blood per year. Versteeg said the 70 units of blood donated during last week’s blood drive saved as many as 210 lives. “An individual donation could save up to three patients,” he said. He also said the majority of donations by USD students will be kept local, destined for Sanford Vermillion. “We try to keep the blood as local as possible,” he said. As a joint cooperative organization run by Sanford and Avera Health, the blood collected by the group
“
I encourage everybody to give the gift of life. They are going to be saving lives within the community.
Ken Versteeg, executive director of the Community Blood Bank
3
The number of patients one student’s donation could save.
90
The number of participating students from the Oct. 5-6 blood drive.
210
The number of lives potentially saved by last week’s donations.
Mason Dockter I The Volante
First-year Charlee Riker gives blood with the help of Community Blood Bank worker Travis Anderson on Oct. 5 during the Community Blood Bank blood drive at USD.
See BLOOD, Page A6
USD boxing club revived, hopes to compete By Trent Opstedahl
Trent.Opstedahl@coyotes.usd.edu
Jody Harnois has learned a lot of lessons throughout his life. Many of those lessons stem from his time spent in the boxing ring. Now, he’s hoping his 35 years worth of experience will impact the lives of USD students and provide them with similar life lessons through the revival of a campus boxing club. “It’s a great sport,” Harnois said. “A lot of good life lessons come with it.” Harnois is a boxing coach at Coyote Combat Sports in Vermillion. He’s also worked with students from Kappa Tau Epsilon to help put on the annual TKE Fight Night charity event in the past. Senior Joel Springman was one of the main organizers of last year’s TKE Fight Night, and decided to reach out to Harnois about the possibility of organizing a more permanent boxing club at USD. To gauge student interest, Springman organized an informational meeting last week. Nearly 30 students, a mix of men and women, attended the meeting. “There’s enough interest and dedication. I thought now was a good time to start it up again,” Springman said, who is in the process of creating bylaws so that the club can receive funding from the Student Government Association. Springman and Harnois explained to the crowd of interested students how the club might operate in the future, along with their expectations of boxers.
Active shooter policy still unclear at state colleges Associated Press
license and register with USA Boxing in order to start sparring. Registration is around $65, Harnois said. “... we’ll help you guys out until you know this is something you want to do,” Harnois told students at the Oct. 8 meeting. While no punches were thrown at the Oct. 8 gathering, students got the chance to step into the ring for the first time Tuesday night. Around 20 students gathered at
Eight years after the Virginia Tech massacre led to tighter security at colleges across the U.S., some schools make “active shooter” training mandatory for incoming students, while others offer little more than brief online guidance on what to do if there’s a gunman on the loose, a review by The Associated Press finds. The AP looked at public colleges and universities in more than 40 states after yet another shooting rampage, where nine people were killed at an Oregon community college Oct. 1. On Friday, there was more bloodshed, with one person killed and three wounded at an Arizona university. The South Dakota Board of Regents said it has left many security decisions to the colleges it oversees, but it’s unclear whether each school has a plan for “active shooter” scenarios. The Board said schools have done extensive planning for all emergency situations, but that’s not dictated by policy. At least two schools have held emergency drills. The University of South Dakota has made its plans public online.
See BOXING, Page A6
See PLAN, Page A6
Trent Opstedahl I The Volante
Members of the USD boxing club practice their jabbing techniques at their first workout session Tuesday
night. Their next meeting is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Coyote Combat Sports in Vermillion. “Boxing is about (the most) physically demanding sport you’ll find,” Harnois said. “It’s a tough one to stick with.” Harnois emphasized that no experience is necessary and that he wants to train whoever is interested, but that a certain amount of commitment is necessary to be part of the club. “As coaches, we expect a certain amount of commitment. You have to learn commitment first,” he said. “We typically shoot for the four-day workout week. Friday is
kind of open gym. It’s a great gym, we’ve got a ring set up.” Located on Cherry Street across from Pizza Hut, Coyote Combat Sports will become the main hub of all activity for the newly founded club. Most of the equipment, such as boxing gloves, are provided by the facility. But Harnois said members who plan to be heavily involved in the club should invest in hand wraps, a mouthpiece and eventually gloves. Additionally, boxing club members need to apply for a