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February 2, 2012

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Volume 95, No. 15

theCOLLEGIO

Strike a pose

‘Jeron’imo!

On-campus yoga class reflects growing trend

(pg. 9)

Freshman Lizzy Jeronimus leads the Gorilla charge to another victory(pg. 10)

THREEDAY OUTLOOK

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IFy ossaICollegio Reporter

John Edmond says one of the reasons he doesn’t use the school e-mail account is that most of the things that come from the university into his ac-count are not of vital importance to him.

“I feel like e-mail is a waste,” said Edmond, un-declared freshman. “The free .edu account to com-municate with the school is a thing of the past. With the social networking sites in full bloom, why would a college student need an e-mail address when friends, classmates and professors are online?”

Edmond says if the school really wants to get the attention of students and make sure important updates reach students, they should make social sites their primary mode of communication, and rely less on mass e-mails.

“Because, let’s be honest, how many of us col-

lege kids check their e-mail every day,” Edmond said. “But all of us go to Facebook almost every hour. We even have it hooked up to our phones.”

Debbie Greve, PSU registrar, says she would like students to use their Gus mail more often than they do now.

“The Gus e-mail is our primary mode of getting out the information we have to students,” Greve said. “The least they could do is check it.”

Greve says that any and all important school messages are relayed to students via Gus mail. Students who do not check their e-mail frequently miss out on a lot of opportunities that the university has to offer.

“We feel we’ve made a good-faith effort to get the info out there,” Greve said. “Students should therefore try as much as they can to check out the

Jay beNedIctManaging editor

Delia Lister and Meagan Duf-fee believe they can turn a shy 10-month-old into an educational extrovert.

That’s their goal for the new-est addition to Pittsburg State’s Nature Reach program. A young bald eagle named Apollo arrived at the program’s facility outside of Pittsburg about a week and a half ago, and he’s already started his training.

Apollo became available for placement because he was found injured several months ago, and even after rehab, the injury to his wing was too serious for him to be returned to the wild. Apollo’s placement with Nature

Reach would normally

be a complex process, but the program previously had another bald eagle which meant it al-ready possessed the necessary permits and was in compli-ance with state and federal guidelines.

“There were metal fragments in his wing, so we think he was shot,” said Lister, Nature Reach program coordinator. “The ultimate goal of rehab is to return the bird to the wild, but sometimes that’s not possible and then the remaining choices are to place the bird with an educational facility or put it to sleep. When it comes to that, we obviously prefer that the bird be placed somewhere.”

Lister and her assistant Duffee traveled to the Eagle Valley Raptor Center outside Wichita to retrieve Apollo. Lister says the Physical Plant helped by building something called a giant hood to transport the eagle.

“It’s like a big pet carrier,” Lister said “But for birds.”

Duffee has borne most of the responsibility for training Apollo. Duffee has been with the program since 2007 and helped train several of the other 11 raptors under the program’s care. Duffee says she’s using food motivation to train

Apollo. He must perch in a certain place to get his food, and then he’ll have to eat from the glove he’ll eventually stand on.

“I can get within about a foot and a half now,” said Duffee, graduate student in biology. “It should be about another week and a half before I can get him to eat from the glove.”

The training will continue after Apollo learns to trust Duffee. She says she’ll start walking him around the enclosure, and then around the facility’s property. Eventually, he’ll be introduced to more and more people until he’s comfortable in front of a crowd.

“The process could take two months or

a year,” Duffee said.

“Raptors are very stubborn birds,

and bald eagles are the most stubborn, but it

depends on the bird.”Lister says Apollo could

be a valuable teaching tool for Nature Reach for a long time.

Bald eagles in captivity can live up to 50 years. Nature

Reach’s other bald eagle, named Aurora, was 31 when

she died. Lister estimates Apol-lo’s age to be about 10 months. Nature Reach presents educational programs about nature and conser-vation to an assortment of audienc-es, ranging from elementary school children to senior citizens.

“People are fascinated by such an animal, especially with it being a national symbol,” Lister said. “Their numbers are increasing, so people will be seeing them more and we want to be able to answer any questions they have.”

Hunters are one of the main groups Nature Reach hopes to edu-cate because their hobby can have unintended consequences. Duffee says bald eagles are scavengers and can ingest lead from the bullets and shot that hunters use to kill their game. She says fishermen who use lead sinkers can also harm the birds. Ammunition that remains in carcasses that hunters leave behind or can’t find and fishing weights can be ingested by bald eagles. Duffee says one bullet or weight is enough to do a bird in.

“It’s a great honor to have been with Apollo from day one, and to educate people about ways they can help protect our national sym-bol,” Duffee said.

Gusmail getting old?

Apollo has landed:PSU’s Nature Reach welcomes new eagle

textbooks to techbooks:

Photo Illustration/Zach Waggoner

sam clausen/Collegio

Graphics and Imaging professor, Chris Huitt, demonstrates the features of the new ibooks program on the iPad, Mon-day, Jan 30.

see e-maIl page 7

see IPad page 7

madIsoN deNNIsCollegio editor-in-chief

When Graphics and Imaging Technology professor Chris Huitt was in college, textbooks were printed, bound, shipped and republished every few years. Last week, his class of 24 used Apple’s iBooks 2 to create a 12-page instructive document complete with links to slideshows and charts. It took them an hour and a half.

“We downloaded it and put it on all the computers to see how easy it was to put in the copy and bring in the links,” Huitt said.

Huitt had been anticipating the software’s release for a long time and integrated it into the classroom as soon as it was available.

“We found that it was pretty simple, pretty slick,” Huitt said.

The premiere of iBooks 2 has created a stir in both the education and publishing commu-nity, as the free software gives users the ability to create e-textbooks quickly and cheaply while also offering quality interactive textbooks for less than $15.

The software, which became available for download on Jan. 19, features a new level of in-teraction such as diagrams, photos, video clips, and 3D objects that can be rotated and viewed from any angle.

Huitt believes that this software has the po-tential to completely change how the education system operates. McGraw-Hill and Pearson, two publishing giants, have already begun to sell titles through the iBookstore, and Hough-ton Mifflin Harcourt will begin to make titles available soon.

“You can highlight text with your finger, put it into a ‘Test’ folder, and with a touch of a button you can have flash cards to study with the notes you just got,” Huitt said. “And any glossary terms are immediately defined.”

The software will undoubtedly make its mark on the educational publishing system. However, Huitt wonders whether it will explode the way some predict, even if only for financial reasons.

“If you buy an iPad, and you download your textbooks for a total of $75 instead of

$350, the iPad pays for itself in two semesters,” he said. “But I don’t know that you can assume that people can do that. When there’s a savings there, you have to think beyond just the up front cost.”

Although the cost may be significant, Emily Anderson says that she would be willing to suf-fer the initial financial setback to have access to the iBooks app.

“I think that really, Apple already has the market tied up for tablets,” said Anderson, sophomore in business. “If I can literally save hundreds of dollars a year on textbooks, have them forever, and be able to have all those study tools at my disposal, I would definitely think about buying an iPad.”

Huitt calls the software “pretty phenomenal” but also says it may not have the applicability that seems apparent at first glance.

“If you were to try to integrate this into a school system,” Huitt said. “You’d have to think about controlling the content, cost of administra-tion learning it, cost of IT, insurance, replace-ments. . . all those have to be built into the initial costs.”

Garrett Brock says that although the tech-nology sounds useful, he wouldn’t be ready to spend the money to buy an iPad.

Apple’s new softwarecould make a big difference

Students weigh in on low use of PSU e-mail

Superbowl showdown Why do you watch the big game?

(pg. 12)

US airstrikes kill 4 al-Qaida militants in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - U.S. airstrikes targeting leaders from Ye-men’s active al-Qaida branch killed four suspected militants, including a man suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, officials said Tuesday.

Yemeni security and military officials said missiles struck a school and a car late Monday in the southern Abyan province, which has seen large swaths fall under the influence of al-Qaida as the militants seek to exploit the security vacuum since an uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh began last year.

Tribal officials in the area said the strike hit the militants late Mon-day as they were holding an important meeting at the school. Yemeni security officials had originally put the death toll at 15 people but later lowered that figure. They also said 12 militants were wounded in the strikes.

They said one of the suspected militants killed was named Abdel-Monem al-Fathani, who was involved in the bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors and injured 39 others. The attack on the U.S. destroyer occurred while it was in the Yemeni port of Aden for refueling.

Probe: Air Force punished Dover whistleblowers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators have concluded that

Air Force officials at the military mortuary in Dover, Del., illegally pun-ished four civilian workers for blowing the whistle on the mishandling of war remains.

The Office of Special Counsel said in a report released Tuesday that they have recommended to the Air Force that it discipline the three officials who allegedly retaliated against the whistleblowers. The three were not identified by name. It said one is an active-duty military mem-ber and the other two are civilians.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said in a written statement that he has appointed a two-star general to review the findings and take “appropriate action.” Donley said reprisals against whistleblowers are unacceptable.

7th victim in deadly Florida highway crash identified

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Florida officials say a Gainesville

woman died in an interstate pileup over the weekend that was blamed on poor visibility.

The Florida Highway Patrol has now identified seven people killed in the crash. They’re still trying to identify three victims.

Patrol spokesman Lt. Pat Riordan said Tuesday that 27-year-old Christie Diana Nguyen was among the 10 deaths from the pileup on Interstate 75. She was a passenger in a car that crashed.

A dozen cars, six tractor-trailers and a motorhome collided early

Sunday shortly after authorities reopened I-75.It had been closed for more than three hours due to poor visibility

because of fog and smoke from a nearby fire.At least 18 survivors were taken to hospitals.

Online game theft earns real-world conviction

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The amulet and mask were a 13-year-old boy’s virtual possessions in an online fantasy game. In the real world, he was beaten and threatened with a knife to give them up.

The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy’s possessions in the popular online fantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to perform 144 hours of community service.

Only a handful of such cases have been heard in the world, and they have reached varying conclusions about the legal status of “virtual goods” - and whether stealing them is real-world theft.

The suspect’s lawyer had argued the amulet and mask “were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no eco-nomic value.”

But the Netherlands’ highest court said the virtual objects had an in-trinsic value to the 13-year-old gamer because of “the time and energy he invested” in winning them while playing the game.

One of the thieves, who was also playing the game, was then able to pick up the items, making them his virtual property. Both were convicted by a lower court in 2009, but only one of them had appealed to the Supreme Court.

NJ parents see hope after transplant denial outcry

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A 3-year-old girl whose parents claimed she was denied a kidney transplant at one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals because of her mental disability is now being considered for the procedure, her father said Tuesday.

Joseph Rivera said he and his wife, Chrissy, met with doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on Friday and were told they are now willing to consider a transplant for their daughter, Amelia. The Stratford, N.J., family said doctors initially told them their daughter wasn’t eligible for a transplant because of a mental disability.

“At this point, we’re moving forward,” Rivera said in an inter-view with The Associated Press. “They are allowing us at least to go through the process.”

Rivera said his daughter will now have to go through screenings to see if she’s a good transplant candidate. He and his wife will now be going in for tissue testing in March.

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Yemeni armed tribesmen stand guard in front of Ameriyah religious school, which was seized by al-Qaida militants in Radda town, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Jan. 25. A tribal leader involved in negotiating with the militants said al-Qaida militants had withdrawn from Radda, leaving the town in the control of two prominent sheiks.

Debris and wreckage lie along the highway after a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire.

Chrissy and Joseph Rivera pose with their 3-year-old daughter Amelia Rivera at their home in Stratford, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 19. The Riveras, who claim that Amelia is being denied a kidney transplant because of her mental disabilities, will meet with hospital officials next week.

3February 2, 2012

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February 11, 2012

Carl BaChusCollegio Reporter

It’s been a little more than a month since the new year started and this is usually the time that New Year’s resolutions are given up. But some Pitt State students are still working hard on sticking with them.

“Resolutions are kind of childish and whatnot,” said

Riley Farrent, freshman in computer information. “But if you can stick to something that you believe in, that’s a good accomplishment.”

Farrent says his resolution was to stay fit and active and be a better person. He says he is keeping to his resolution and visits the recreation center often.

“Yes, I’ve kept it up,” Farrent said. “I was really active in high school but when I got to college, it really hurt.”

The major stigma against New Year’s resolutions lies in will power. Some students, like Matt Oliver, don’t even make them because they believe that no one keeps them up.

“I think they’re a joke,” said Oliver, undeclared freshman. “If you’re going to change something, then just change it. Don’t wait till the New Year.”

Some students, like Ariana Domke, seem to already know the outcome of their resolution attempts.

“I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution,” said Domke, sophomore in biology. “And even if I did, I probably wouldn’t follow through with them.”

Domke says she doesn’t dismiss students who do make resolutions and thinks that it never hurts to try.

Students like Kelsey Jo DeVore say they dislike students who make resolutions but don’t follow through on them.

“There’s no point to them, if you’re realistic,” said DeVore, junior in music. “I hate those people who say, ‘I’m going to lose 50 pounds’ and then quit the gym.”

DeVore says she resolved to get a 3.5 GPA, pass her junior barrier and stay alive because those are realistic goals. She says she believes that you don’t need to start changing when a new year begins, but understands how the label might help motivate certain people.

Aaron Heidebrecht says he doesn’t make resolutions but believes that it’s never too late to start one.

“You can start one whenever you want,” said Heide-brecht, sophomore in history. “It’s just about bettering yourself.”

PSU keeps its resolutions

Kenzi Jordan/Collegio

Freshman Riley Farrant works out on the elliptical at the Student Rec Center on Monday, Jan. 30.

Freshman Riley Farrant continues to fulfill his New Year’s resolution at the Student Rec Center on Monday, Jan. 30.

Pitt State RGB Men spent Tuesday and Wednes-day giving positive messages to passersby on the oval.

srikanth Korlapati/Collegio

Silence, Spandex and secret identities

The RGB Men have been spotted on campus several times throughout the last two days. Although they’ve allegedly not spoken about their purpose while in costume, their mis-sion statement on their Facebook page states that they have no agenda besides handing out compliments and

creating positive energy on campus. They prefer to remain silent in order to generate symbolism. According to their Facebook page, they symbolize a smile, and hope to spread happiness throughout campus without using the spoken word by handing out Post-It’s to communicate.

February 2, 20124

Happy year of the dragon!

Srikanth Korlapati/Collegio

Qianwen Deng, far left, freshman in English, and Hung Ying Lin, far right, graduate student in ESOL, cel-ebrate the Chinese New Year with international students on Friday, Jan. 27.

Zach WagnerCollegio Reporter

Nick Boux won’t accept his parents’ friend requests on Face-book.

“I think up to age 14, parents do have a right to see what their kids are doing online,” Boux, freshman in business management, said. “Af-ter that, though, I think anyone is entitled to their privacy.”

The dramatic rise in the use of Facebook in recent years has led to personal information being posted by the minute for the public to see. With this easy access, students find themselves taking measures to filter out their Facebook posts.

A big issue among college students using the social media is controlling what their parents or other loved ones can or cannot see.

Others like Boux, though, have to go to greater lengths to keep their parents from prying into their lives.

“Frequently I’m having to put up blocks from my mom, such as deleting statuses and double-checking my wall posts, ” said

Moiz Syed, freshman in automo-tive technology. “Where I grew up in Pakistan, it’s very bad to be seen in a picture with any woman, that’s something I have to keep an eye out for, too.”

Along with parents monitoring what their kids are up to, some students find it more of an issue what anyone and everyone who has a Facebook account can see, including employers.

A 2009 CareerBuilder survey showed that 45 percent of employ-ers use Facebook and other social networking sites to screen potential employees, leaving college stu-dents fairly vulnerable during a time when finding a job is vital.

“When I was in high school, I tried to watch out for what my par-ents could see when they looked at my wall or through my photos,” said Logan Smith, freshman in physical therapy. “Now it’s more of a fear what employers could po-tentially see. I just make sure that I have settings for a restricted profile for those who aren’t my friends online. What random people can see is a big problem.”

What friends on Facebook can see is also an issue, according to Joel Ybarra, senior in communica-tion education. He finds himself worrying at times about what may be present on his Facebook.

“It concerns me that at any given time someone could write or post something up on my wall for all my friends to see and I won’t even know about it,” Ybarra said. “You don’t know who all you’re friends with, and everything ends up on the news feed. Sometimes it can be too late to hide the story.”

Although it may seem pru-dent to hide personal information through profile restrictions, other students just slightly alter their Fa-cebook to hide certain information.

“In the past, I’ve hidden my relationship status from being seen under my bio,” Jayson Williamson, sophomore in exercise science, said. “You’re advertising personal information plain and simple. I don’t mind what most people can see, but I think everyone has something minor that they fix to hide online.”

Students censor themselvesParents and employers make students wary of their online presence

Photo Illustration/Kenzi Jordan

be my turn to give them red envelopes.”Polo Peng says that fireworks are also

part of the Chinese New Year, but they have a special meaning to the holiday.

“The legend says that there was a monster that could appear on New Year’s Eve to eat the people,” said Peng, gradu-ate student in communication. “So the fireworks scare the monster away.”

Peng is also a dragon, but he says that this doesn’t mean this is his lucky year.

“It means I have to be careful,” Peng

said. “It is unlucky for me.”Yi Ting Chen says she cleaned her

house before the New Year, like her fam-ily does in Taiwan.

“After cleaning, people put up red decorations throughout the house, because the color is considered lucky in Chinese culture,” said Chen, freshman in English. “I just didn’t do this because there is no Chinese market near Pitts-burg.”

Some other students, like Aurora Lan,

traveled for the New Year. Lan says she went to Joplin, where a group held a party based on the Chinese culture and customs. Lan says she could remember the taste of Chinese food in Joplin. Lan says the funniest part was a game where the competitors had to eat peanuts using only chop sticks. She won and received a little golden fish in an aquarium as a prize.

“It was a tactful gift,” said Lan, an Intensive English Program student.

Val VItaCollegio Reporter

Something about the morning of Jan. 23 seemed different to Ya-Chu Gu. She knew that day wasn’t an ordinary day, like it is for people of Western cultures. You see, Jan. 23 was the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. And Gu is a dragon.

In the Chinese culture, every year is represented by one of 12 animals. The animal for this year is a dragon, as it was in 1988 when Gu was born.

China is not the only country celebrating, as many countries from Asia are also observ-ing the New

Year, also known as the Spring Festival. It started on Jan. 23 and will last 15 days. Pitt State has a large community of international students from Asia, and many of them celebrated the date in an attempt to keep the tradition alive.

“A friend of mine invited me to his house for lunch on Chinese New Year’s Eve and we had a reunion meal,” said Gu, senior in English education. “Of course, the atmosphere here is totally different from that in Taiwan, where I came from, but it was not bad because everyone was speaking Chinese.”

After dinner, the students played Mahjong, a traditional game that Gu

says is her favorite part of the Chinese New Year. Ac-

cording to Gu, Mahjong is a four-player

table game that the Chinese believe

brings good luck. Gu says that another tradition in-volves put-ting money inside red envelopes and giving them to kids.

“I still get these en-

velopes from my parents,

because I am still a student,” Gu

said. “But I’m not able to do that after I get

a job. By that time, it would

Kenzi Jordan/Collegio

Fisher Mosier and Melissa Dobson prepare to enter the water at the Jay-hawk Divers scuba lesson on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Weede pool.

Into the deep

February 2, 2012 5

thisweek’squestionWill you watch the Superbowl this year?

I will not be watching it. I’ll be watching it online for the commercials.

Jim WalkerMath EducationSenior

Commercials, my team didn’t make it this year.

Michael BruceChemistry Major Freshman

Superbowl is the one day I watch football and I’ll watch it with friends.

Miranda Evans Nursing Freshman

I’ll watch it, but I’ll hang out with my friends.

Jennifer Butler Mathematics Major

Watching the game, two players played at Fort Scott and one from Coffeyville. It is good to support players that were local.

Rachel Fisher CommunicationJunior

I’ll be delivering pizzas, so hopefully people are hungry!

Graham JohnsonBiology Senior

If student loan money can only be spent on education costs, such as textbooks, housing and tuition, then

the government would save hundreds of millions of dollars every year. This is not a good thing. Yes, it appears to be very good and could help lower the national deficit, but that would result in many peo-ple who could no longer afford to attend college.

Limiting the use of financial aid would elimi-nate the money students need for living costs, and students who are unable to find work during their college years would be the hardest hit.

The main reason loan money, grant money and scholarships should be used for noneducational costs is that there are several noneducational costs related to obtaining an education. Students require money for transportation to and from home occa-sionally throughout the semester. Even if students went home only at the end of semesters, they would still spend a couple hundred dollars on gas a year, minimum. For those without outside funding, this would become impossible if they had no job, and it is certain there will be thousands of students like that in the country.

I know, I have been there. I count on student loan money to hold me over until I start getting paychecks and if I didn’t have it I would not be able to attend PSU.

A second noneducational cost is food. There are some who would argue that the dining hall should

be enough for any student, and to set aside money for it from financial aid would be unnecessary.

However, the dining hall closes at 6 p.m. on Saturdays and doesn’t reopen again until 11 a.m. on Sundays. This means students who could eat only at the dining hall have to wait 17 hours between meals. Without outside funding for food, students would invariably find times throughout the week when they are forced to go without eating, some-thing that seems inhumane, to say the least.

There are additional living costs that would not be considered educational, such as doctors visits, prescriptions, clothing and emergencies. These could not be considered trivial, except maybe clothing, but even that can be a need when old shoes wear out. The most troubling cost would be doctors visits because residence halls help spread viruses quickly. If student financial aid could be used only on education, then students who experi-ence an emergency, such as a broken leg or a car breakdown, would be out of luck and be forced to ask friends or relatives for money. If they can’t find a way to get the money, they may be forced to drop out of school. I can’t see a legitimate excuse to cre-ate a situation where that could happen.

While I believe students should be able to spend financial aid on noneducational expenses, I also believe that common sense should prevail. I don’t think it is appropriate to spend financial aid on a keg party since that is most certainly not a neces-sity. Yes, there should be some money left over for discretionary spending, but that doesn’t mean students should go out and splurge at the beginning of the semester because by the end of the year, they are going to need that money.

Your paycheck just ar-rived in the mail and you can’t wait to spend

it on a new outfit, video game, and maybe put some away for the awesome spring break trip you’ve been planning. You’ve worked hard for that money. This is not the case when it comes to your financial aid refund. That’s why the same rules of spending your paycheck should not be applied to your government financial aid refund.

Financial aid is distributed by need and although the funds should be used to pay for tuition, housing, books, and other school expenses, refunds aren’t always spent on these items. Government refund money shouldn’t be spent on personal expenses when it was awarded for educational expenses.

Planning expenses can help you manage financial aid refund money. When you know your budget, you know expenses that will soon be coming up. If refund money is spent as soon as it is received, expenses that might come up later, like an unexpected book for class, rent, or a membership on a required online homework site might cause more stress than they should. Even if these expenses don’t pop up during

the semester, refund money at the end of the semester can come in handy in multiple ways. The first is that you can begin paying off the loan. Although the loan may not be collecting interest, graduation will be here before you know it and a smaller loan amount will take off some of the pressure of paying your own bills, starting a job, and being out in the real world. Another use for saved refund money is to use it to pay tuition for the next semester. If your financial situation changes and you aren’t awarded enough loan money, then having leftover loan money from the previous semester can help cover expenses when you really need it. A more fun, educational option of spending your refund money is to go on a study-abroad trip. Being thrifty and saving refund money can pay off with the experience of a lifetime in another country.

Although saving refund money for edu-cational expenses doesn’t allow for any fun purchases, a part-time job can help pay those extra expenses. Working just eight hours a week at minimum wage can provide almost $60 of spending money (minus taxes).

Regardless of good intentions, saving a financial aid refund check can be challenging. A separate bank account just for refunds can be used to resist the temptation for using it for non-school related purchases.

Receiving a financial aid refund check can be exciting and tempting, but by saving the money and planning out expenses, one check can pay off for a lot longer.

Relying on aid

JEFFREYTANGNEY

StaffWriter

SARAHPOLAND

StaffWriter

Students should spend at their own discretion

The money is there for a specific purpose

Average cost of living at area universities:

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Jen RaineyCollegio Reporter

The federal government’s approval rating is lower than it has been in years and students like Josh Packard have strong opinions as to why.

“I feel like Obama’s making decisions that are too rash and a bit too socialistic,” said Packard, sophomore in commercial graphics. “He wants to change things like the economy, but has made it worse with things like ‘ObamaCare’. We would be better off if the economy was privatized.”

Can’t argue with numbersAccording to a New York Times poll, 89 percent of Americans

say they don’t trust the government to do the right thing while 74 percent say they believe the country is on the wrong track. The majority of these people felt the same way about both parties. In addition, 84 percent of Americans disagree with decisions made by Congress.

Mike Kelly, chairman of the Department of History, Philoso-phy and Social Sciences, says a lack of activity and interest in politics is normal among college students. “Historically, young people aren’t interested in government [though] there are groups of students active and interested in politics. However, at a school like this where more students are establishing their lives, students are often more focused on work and family than politics,” Kelly said.

Back to basicsAndrew Benage says he keeps up on political issues but he

doesn’t trust the government. Benage says this is partly because of the influence that corporate businesses have in the decisions made by the government.

“I think the government needs to cut corporate ties,” said Benage, senior in communication. “They need to be indepen-dent.”

Benage says that to get back to a purer democracy, individu-als should have more voting control. Benage says he blames the problems on the ties some government officials and candidates for the Republican Party have to corporations.

“I think the system is broken when one person is able to have the same influence as thousands,” Benage said.

Both Benage and Packard agree that there is corruption in the government, a lot of it revolving around corporate ties. Benage says bureaucracies have been lenient on what certain businesses do, such as the Food and Drug Administration and federal banks, because the government owns them.

Media sourcesBenage says he not only doesn’t trust the government, he

doesn’t trust most media sources providing information on the government. He says he doesn’t get his news from mainstream, hard-core news media but relies on watching “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and keeping updated on Freedom Watch.

Other students like Kelsey Glover have simply lost interest in the government. Glover says she is ready for a new direction with the government and is an active member of the Pitt State College Republicans where she keeps updated on issues. However, she says doesn’t bother to seek issues out on her own time.

“Sometimes politics annoys me, because it’s too much,” said Glover, junior in justice studies. “I don’t think bad decisions are being made, but I don’t think they’ve handled things the right way.”

Glover suggests that getting younger voters interested in poli-tics would be easier if there were politically centered organiza-tions available to them, especially if they were available in high school.

Shoes to fill“The younger generation is our future. I think they need more

organizations that will talk about what’s actually going on in politics and show both sides,” Glover said.

Kelly says because students don’t vote often, their lack of interest or faith in the government doesn’t currently change a lot of what’s going on. He says that the government relies more on money and funding of things like campaigns. However, Kelly says he believes students can add to politics.

“Students’ enthusiasm can add to a campaign,” Kelly said. “When students aren’t involved in politics, we lose some energy and that’s discouraging.”

Students speak out

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The race for the GOP presidential nomination probably is far from over.

Front-runner Mitt Romney’s rivals – chief among them Newt Gingrich – are refusing to bow out despite his resounding Florida vic-tory. New rules for awarding delegates to this summer’s Republican nominating convention give even losing candidates little incentive to drop out. And so-called “super” political action committees have proven they can keep even the most cash-strapped campaigns alive by accepting unlimited donations from individuals to run ads on their behalf.

“All of them have earned the opportunity to keep going,” said David Azbell, an Alabama Republican consultant said of the candidates. “We’re only four primaries in, for goodness’ sake.”

Waiting on votesIndeed, some 46 states have yet to vote and

only 6 percent of the delegates have been won.“I understand that people are concerned

about how long the primary process is drag-ging out,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday. “I think everybody just needs to realize that this will resolve itself.”

Time to thinkHis assurances aside, the likelihood that

the primary will stretch into the spring or beyond has some Republicans fretting about their eventual nominee emerging battered and broke, only to have little time to prepare for what promises to be an intense fall campaign against President Barack Obama.

“Dealing with the residue of a very tough primary battle can be a difficult problem,” acknowledged former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu.

Political debateOthers, Romney included, are defend-

ing a protracted nominating fight as a test of strength, even though a long battle risks tearing an already fractured GOP even further apart.

“We are looking for a full-spectrum conser-vative, substantively and politically skilled – not possible to discern in a couple of contests,” said Mary Matalin, a veteran GOP presidential campaign operative.

But she added: “A possible concern of protraction is not duration but acrimony.” She recalled the fight between Republicans Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan in 1976, when Demo-crat Jimmy Carter won and said: “That one was ideological. This one is personal.”

AssuranceFormer Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas

said Romney’s Florida victory makes clear “that he’s going to be the likely nominee. Yet, Hutchinson also downplayed the notion that a protracted fight would aid Democrats, saying: “Only if (the Republican contest) is a negative campaign does it benefit them.”

Said Azbell: “We’re kind of in a Catch-22 situation. We don’t want to be hurt by a long primary but we also don’t want to be stuck with a nominee that the public cannot coalesce behind.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Democrats will hold onto an Oregon congressional seat left va-cant when David Wu resigned in a sex scandal.

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici defeated Republican Rob Cornilles Tuesday night. With 69 percent of the vote counted, Bonamici led Cornilles 54 percent to 39 percent.

National Democrats poured more than $1 million into the Portland-area district, deter-mined not to drop another safe seat after losing a New York district left vacant by Anthony Weiner, who acknowledged sending provoca-tive text messages and resigned.

ResignationWu stepped down from Congress in August

after a newspaper reported that the 18-year-old daughter of a campaign donor accused the seven-term Democrat of making an unwanted sexual advance at a Thanksgiving dinner. His resignation capped months of reports about Wu’s bizarre behavior that included widely-panned photos of the congressman wearing a tiger costume.

Bonamici, a former state senator who gave up her seat to run for Congress, emphasized her

experience in the legislature and as a lawyer working on consumer protection issues at the Federal Trade Commission. She talked about controlling the national debt, but stuck mostly to traditional Democratic themes like prevent-ing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Attacking with adsCornilles, owner of a consulting firm that

does business with sports franchises, promoted his business experience. He ran toward the cen-ter and downplayed his Republican affiliation, but he still faced an uphill climb in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans and President Barack Obama enjoyed significant support in the 2008 campaign.

Democrats and their allies pummeled him with television ads that attacked his business credentials and tried to align him with the tea party.

Competing for a seatLate in the race, Cornilles tried to tar

Bonamici with the scandal that took out Wu.Cornilles made his second bid for the seat.

He lost to Wu by 13 percentage points in 2010.

The district includes downtown Portland and the suburbs in Washington County, as well as smaller communities in Clatsup, Columbia and Yamhill counties.

In this Oct. 4, 2011, file photo, Republican presidential candidate former Mas-sachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a town hall meeting in The Villages, Fla.

Photo and story by aP

Democrat wins special congressional election

GOP race likely far from overTrust issues:

Photo and story by aP

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici receives a hug from her mother, Marie Wood-cock Smith, after winning the special election for Oregon's 1st Congressional District against Republican Rob Cor-nilles Tuesday, Jan. 31, in Portland, Ore.

info.”Kate Jonathan says she uses her Gus e-mail, but not as much

as she should. She says she has quite a few e-mail accounts and frequently receives a new one when she starts working at a new job.

“So the need to have extra e-mail account piled on top of an already crowded market seems inefficient,” said Jonathan, sopho-more in art.

She says students are also able to communicate through nu-merous networks and thus the need for students to communicate through e-mail becomes less and less essential.

Greve says students who check their school e-mail regularly are less likely to miss important school updates or deadlines regarding tuition information. They also receive messages from career services and other important school departments.

Greve says that the university has put signs all over the school reminding students to check their e-mail, but students still miss important updates because they don’t pay attention to these mes-sages.

“I mean, I can’t send students an e-mail to check their e-mail,” Greve said.

Jessica Carter says the reason she doesn’t use the Gus e-mail system is she already has several other e-mail accounts and finds it difficult to keep track of all that information.

“It will be better if the school can figure out another way of getting out information to students other than e-mail,” said Carter, sophomore in math. “Facebook, for example, will work perfectly.”

Carter says she thinks more students will pay attention to mes-sages from the school if they are delivered from a social website.

Greve says that they are taking steps to post notices to students outside of e-mailing them. She says one of the things they’ve done is to post important updates on the PSU Facebook wall.

“One of the best parts of using the Gus e-mail system is that students get to keep it when they graduate and that’s a big invest-ment for the school,” Greve said. “So I personally don’t under-stand why students don’t use their Gus mail.”

Greve says that with the efforts the university has taken to provide students with the information they need to succeed in college, the least students can do is meet the university halfway and check their e-mail.

But Adam Jacob says he doesn’t use the Gus mail because he was not used to checking e-mails when he was growing up.

“ It seems like an extra skill to learn,” said Jacob, undeclared freshman. “And to be frank, that will take major readjustments that many students aren’t ready for.”

Budget forum MondayPresident Steve Scott and Shawn Naccarato, director of governmen-

tal and community relations, will hold a budget forum at 3 p.m. Mon-day, Feb. 6, in 109 Grubbs Hall. The latest information on the state’s budget plans and insight into the legislative session will be provided.

Professor to speak on digital forensicsMaeve Cummings will give the first presentation in the Spring

Sabbatical Showcase put on by the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, the Faculty Senate and PSU KNEA. The first presentation will be at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in 332A Hartman Hall. The presenta-tion is titled “Digital Forensics: Sleuthing in Cyberspace.” If planning to attend, RSVP to Treva Sherman at tsherman@pittstate.edu or 235-4840 by Friday, Feb. 3.

Faculty reading slatedThe Distinguished Visiting Writers Series presents a faculty reading

featuring fiction writers Lizanne Minerva and Lori Baker Martin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Governors Room in the Overman Student Center. A reception will follow the reading in the Heritage Room in the student center. The reading is free and open to the public.

Choir to perform at Valentine’s dinner

Reservations are being accepted for the PSU Choir’s Valentine’s Day Dinner, which is scheduled for the evening of Sunday, Feb. 12, in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom in the Overman Student Center. The theme is “That’s Amore” with a blend that celebrates Valentine’s Day and the musical traditions of Italy. Dinner will start with seating at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for dinner are $28 per person. To make reservations, call Susan Marchant at 235-4476 or smarchan@pittstate.edu. Reservations must be received by Monday, Feb. 6.

Former astronaut to speak of shuttleThe 2012 Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering Lecture Series is

scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in 102 Yates Hall. Steven Alan Hawley, former NASA astronaut and current professor at the University of Kansas, will give a presentation titled “The Engineering, Scientific, and Cultural Legacy of the Space Shuttle.” For more information, call Tim Flood at 235-4401.

Study-abroad session on FridayThere will be a study-abroad information session on paying for

study abroad at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in 203 Grubbs Hall. For more information, call 235-4221.

Brazil Gathering scheduled FridayThere will be a Brazil International gathering at 6 p.m. Friday,

Feb. 3, in the basement level of Grubbs Hall. There will be a cultural presentation and snacks. For more information, call Cathy Lee Arcuino at 235- 4607.

Study-abroad meetings on Paraguay scheduled

Informational meetings for Pitt State Summer study abroad in Paraguay are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in the Sunflower Room in the Overman Student Center and 2:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in the Varsity Room in the student center. For more information, e-mail jtriplet@pittstate.edu.

Big Event registrationRegistration for the Big Event on Saturday, April 14, is now open.

To register, go to pittstate.edu/bigevent. Registration ends Friday, March 9. The first 700 students to register will receive a free T-shirt for registering and showing up. For more information, call Big Event direc-tor Emily Smith at 235-4801.

Karaoke night Thursday

Gorillas in Your Midst will be holding a karaoke night from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in the U-Club in the Overman Student Center. There will be free refreshments and giveaways.

U.S. Senate honors Gorillas

The U.S. Senate approved a resolution Tuesday congratulating Pittsburg State for winning the 2011 NCAA D-II Football Champion-ship.

The resolution was introduced by Kansas senators Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts.

“Coach (Tim) Beck and the Gorillas football team have accom-plished a great feat by capping off a 13-win season with the team’s fourth NCAA Division II football national championship,”

Sen. Moran said. “The Pitt State football program has a rich his-tory of success, and the team, fans and people of Southeast Kansas deserve recognition for carrying on a winning tradition.” Sen. Roberts added: “The Gorillas proved they were the best on the field, and now the Senate has officially recognized them as the best D-2 team in America.

Departmental academic honors due

The deadline for turning in applications for the Departmental Aca-demic Honors Program is 4:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3. To qualify for the program, students must maintain a cumulative 3.5 GPA. Students complete a minimum of nine semester hours of credit designated as taken for honors in the student’s major department. For more infor-mation, visit http://www.pittstate.edu/office/registrar/departmental-academic-honors.dot or contact your instructor, adviser or Jeanine VanBecelaere at 235-4206 or email jvanbece@pittstate.edu.

February 2, 20127

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“My books are pretty expensive, but the cost of electronics always goes down,” said Brock, junior in biology. “I think it might be worth it for me to buy in med school or something, but at this point I don’t see it paying off.”

Huitt says that not only will the landscape of buying textbooks change, the ease of creating textbooks will introduce new resourc-es into the market.

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Zach WagnerCollegio Reporter

As the bell chimes, the session begins. A mix of nearly 30 people, students and non-students alike, partake in an hour-long yoga session twice a week in the student center, taking a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Anne Wolgamott says she enjoys the activity and has been coming to the yoga sessions since last fall

“I play basketball quite a bit, and I get com-pletely different benefits from doing yoga,” said Wolgamott, sophomore in construction engineering. “It’s one of the most relaxing things I’ve known.”

While classical tunes fade in and out of the Bal-kans Room, students begin following the routine led Joy Brooker-Reed, who has been practicing yoga for 10 years. Each stretch is accompanied by the deep breathing, allowing students to enter a state of peace and tranquility.

“I sustained a back injury 10 years ago, and yoga was where I found physical and mental health is in its prime,” Brooker-Reed said. “It really is an escape. You’d be amazed how much simple stretch-ing and breathing can do.”

This is the first year that Brooker-Reed has led the yoga group on PSU’s campus, having substitut-ed a few times in the past for the previous instruc-tor, J.T. Knoll. She says she enjoys leading students through their breakaway hour.

“It really is an escape for me,” said Jill Min-neman, a PSU Box Office employee. “Each stretch is bringing you closer to relaxation. There really

isn’t anything I don’t like about it.”As the clock reaches the hour mark, the partici-

pants put their body and mind on cruise control by lying flat on their backs and holding their arms out for the remainder of the session.

“After all of the exercises, I even find myself feeling like I’m going to fall asleep at the end,” Brooker-Reed said. “It’s just that relaxing. Ev-erything comes to a standstill and it really is the perfect way to wrap it up.”

Jacob Hacker was participating in a yoga session for the first time. He says that the session was un-like any other fitness he’s experienced.

“On a scale of one to ten I’m at about an eight and a half after going through the whole session,” said Hacker, senior in communication. “It was very slow-paced, and I found the breathing most relax-ing. I’ll definitely come back here.”

Some students, like Brendan Young, learned of the program through e-mails sent to the student body.

“After reading an e-mail one day, I thought that’d be something fun to try,” said Young, senior in mechanical engineering. “It’s awesome, after these sessions I leave here and go off to soccer club.”

Currently, the yoga sessions on campus are held from 5 to 6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in the Balkans Room. They are open to all PSU students.

“I like seeing students new to yoga come in and try it out,” Brooker-Reed said. “We usually have the same turnout for every session, but we’re always open for more people to come in.”

Yoga gains interest around PSU campus

Tracey Fienen, senior in marketing, does yoga to relax and de-stress.chris Medved/Collegio

SGA, administration debate student safety

Jay BenedictManaging Editor

Questions about Pittsburg State’s crisis response strategies and policies overshadowed Student Gov-ernment Association’s regular business at last night’s meeting.

Academic affairs director Lara Ismert brought concerns about students’ safety after attending Tues-day’s Faculty Senate meeting. She said the senate discussed running campus intruder drill to be more prepared in the event a gunman would ever open fire on campus. Ismert proposed drafting a resolution asking university administration to run the campus-

wide simulation.“I think it’s important that the students and

faculty know what to do in the event of an intruder,” said Ismert, junior in math and English. “And we should show Faculty Senate that we support them running the drill.”

Steve Erwin, associate vice president of campus life and auxiliary services and the SGA adviser, says that running a drill for an intruder might not be beneficial.

“You’ve got two choices in that situation: bar-ricade yourself in if you feel safe or flee,” Erwin said. “Every situation is different, and you have to use common sense to decide what course of action

is best.”Erwin says that’s why the university doesn’t have

an umbrella policy for how students and faculty should react to a campus intruder. It’s easy to imple-ment a policy with younger people or on campuses that are all uniform. Also, it’s hard to gauge how people will react. College students will do what they want, regardless of policy or faculty instruction.

“All of our buildings are different. We would need a different plan for every square foot of our 400-acre campus,” Erwin said.

The university does have a policy with emergen-cy responders. They’ve run several tabletop simu-lations with law enforcement and crisis response personnel.

“We’ve learned a lot from the tragedies other institutions have faced,” Erwin said. “Now, our primary response is to eliminate the threat.”

Balancing students’ rightsIsmert also proposed drafting a resolution asking

the university to create policy regarding how much force campus police can use on students who are protesting on campus. She referenced the pepper spray incident at the University of California-Davis.

“Where is the line drawn for how physical cam-pus police can get with unarmed students?” Ismert said.

Erwin says Pitt State doesn’t have an umbrella policy in place because there are too many scenarios to script everything. He says student rights don’t stop on campus, but there is a difference between a peaceful protest and disrupting the educational environment.

“Our standard operating procedure is to balance free expression and keeping an educational environ-ment intact,” Erwin said. “And the courts back that up.”

SGA decided to start writing the legislation so it can be reviewed and voted on before sending it to the Faculty Senate.

SAC’s grand prizeAlso topping last night’s business was the Student

Activities Council asking for SGA’s support in fund-ing the grand prize at this year’s comedy night event. SAC wants to use student fees to fund the winner’s travel and hotel expenses on a trip to Los Angeles to see a taping of “Chelsea Lately.” The anticipated cost is about $900, and SAC hopes to offset most of the cost by charging community and faculty mem-bers $10 for tickets. The event is Feb. 24 at 8 pm. SGA voted to support the use of the fees.

Amending the constitutionThe group also voted to send three items to refer-

endum during the elections this spring. They are all small changes to the wording of the SGA constitu-tion. One changes Erwin’s title from vice president of campus life to what it currently is. Another removes a cabinet position that is no longer in use and adds a Big Event chair to the constitution. The last increases cabinet members’ minimum GPA from 2.25 to 2.75. All three will be on the ballot later this spring and it takes a 10 percent vote from the student body to ratify them.

Election board chair Tom Gregory, senior in com-munication, says there will be a big push to inform students about the three items previously mentioned and the tobacco-free campus initiative because they all require student ratification. He also said they will be holding more information sessions about running for office because as many as 14 more seats could be added to SGA to compensate for PSU’s growing enrollment. There must be one representative for every 200 students.

Srikanth Korlapati/Collegio

James Smith, at left, talks during the SGA meeting in the Governors Room on Wednes-day, Feb. 1, in Overman Student Center.

p i t t s b u r g s t a t e u n i v e r s i t y

theCOLLEGIO

SPORTS

Zach WagnerCollegio Reporter

The Pitt State men’s track team was inconsistent during its second meet of the year last Sat-urday at the Missouri Southern State Invitational in Joplin.

The throwing squad did fairly well during the meet. John Tal-bert had the best performance in the weight throw, placing second with a throw of 54 feet, 9 1/4 inches.

Head throwing coach Brian Mantooth says that though Tal-bert had a superior performance, he has yet to meet his potential.

“He’s not showing his best yet,” Mantooth said. “He’s per-formed better in past practices, so it’s all a matter of seeing that during competition.”

The Gorillas were less dominant in the shot put, though. Sophomore Cody Holland finished seventh with a throw of 48-9. Freshman Luke Wilson was right behind him, finishing in eighth place with a throw of 47-3 1/2.

“We’ve got a young group of guys there,” Mantooth said. “It’s really going to be a matter of them developing their strength and consistency for future meets.”

The spotlight shone on junior Colbie Snyder early in the meet. Snyder placed first in the pole vault with a provisional score of 16 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Head coach Russ Jewett says Snyder is shap-ing up to be a promising asset for the competition.

“He’s been somewhat incon-

sistent in the past, but lately he’s been working on forming new technique,” Jewett said. “His performance showed how much time and effort he’s been putting into the season this year. If he stays consistent, there’s a great chance that he’ll be at nationals by the end of the year.”

In the mile run Talon Thomp-son kept a solid pace for the Pitt State men, finishing 18th with a time of 4 minutes, 35 seconds.

“He’s definitely one of our more promising young guys on the team,” Jewett said. “We didn’t really know where his strengths were when he came to the team, but he’s showing his effort so far and that’s something we can build on.”

Zach WagnerCollegio Reporter

Last Saturday, the Pitt State women’s track team pushed through its second indoor meet of the season at the Missouri Southern State Invitational in Joplin. The Gorillas had success-ful performances on the track and in the field, particularly from the long-distance runners.

All-American senior Heidi Smith got the Pitt State throwers off to a strong start with a dis-tance of 54-6 feet in the weight throw, landing her in second place.

Smith’s dominance was short- lived, however. She placed sixth in the shot put with a distance of 44-6 1/4.

“She was only a few feet from her personal best in the weight throw,” said head throw-ing coach Brian Mantooth. “Plain and simple, she just had an off day with the shot put. It’s not something I expected, but you just have to work on it and move on.”

The Pitt State women went all out in the long-distance running events. Senior Kaley Temaat finished second and freshman Bridgette McCormick finished third in the mile run. Tamatt fin-ished with a time of 5 minutes, 12 seconds while McCormick finished in 5:25.

“Last week we really tried to amp up their stamina in practice,” said head coach Russ Jewett. “I knew in the back of my head that Kaley was going

to charge to the lead early on, but Bridgette really surprised me with the times she turned in.”

The women stayed connected throughout the other long dis-tance races as well. Senior Me-lissa Peden finished with a time of 10:41.31, seventh overall, and sophomore Erica Testa followed in eighth with a time of 10:49.39 in the 3000-meter run.

“They’re both in better shape than I expected,” Jewett said. “Melissa gave up a little earlier than expected. Erica gave up early on as well. There’s no doubt that they can compete at a higher level, it’s all about the mentality.”

Junior Jalexis Peterson led the Pitt State women in the triple

Gorilla men fare well at MSSU Invitational

Women’s distance runners reign supreme

Tyler SmiThCollegio Reporter

The Pitt State women’s basket-ball team notched another victory Wednesday in a game against the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats, but the Gorillas had to work harder than they expected against the 8-10 squad. A strong performance from freshman Lizzy Jeronimus and a pair of big threes from sophomore Alexa Bordewick helped earn the 63 -54 victory.

“Coach told me to put the team on my back,” Jeronimus said. “He said that I could drive it every time so that’s what I did.”

However, the Gorillas had a tough time in the first half before things started clicking.

“We just didn’t have the en-ergy in the first half,” Jeronimus said. “It’s kind of frustrating and stressful but we’re getting better. It’s all we can do.”

The first half saw the Bearcats get off to a hot start, going up 11-4 just four minutes into the game before a quick layup by senior Courtney Tate got the Go-rillas back into the game.

Jeronimus started the second half with an easy layup, bringing the Gorillas within six.

Jeronimus followed with a three-pointer, cutting the deficit to three, but SBU responded with four straight points, taking a 38-31 lead four minutes into the second half.

A big three-pointer from soph-omore Alexa Bordwick brought the Gorillas back to within three with 15 minutes to go. After Bor-dewick’s shot, the game was close heading into the last six minutes.

Once again, Bordewick came up big and knocked down another crucial three-pointer to finally tie the game at 48.

LaKendra Smith put the Bearcats back up by one with an easy free throw and followed it

with a quick jumper to make it 51-48.

Lauren Brown cut the lead to one with a jumper of her own, be-fore senior Brooke Conley nailed a big three-pointer to give the Gorillas the lead. Jeronimus and Conley extended the lead to six with some quick shots, making it 59-53 Pitt State with just under two minutes to play.

The Gorillas were able to hold on and extended their impressive record to 19-2.

The Gorillas also won this past Saturday against the Fighting Jennies of Central Missouri Uni-versity. PSU was led by Brooke Conley’s career-high 27 points en route to a 72-67 win.

The Gorillas snapped the Jen-nies’ six-game winning streak and are off to the best start in school history. Drew Roberts added 16 points while Alexa Bordewick chipped in 10 points of her own.

chris medved/Collegio

Zoned out:

Kenzi Jordan/Collegio

Lizzy Jeronimus takes the ball in for a layup to score against Southwest Baptist on Wednesday, Feb. 1, in John Lance Arena.

Gorillas surge to avictory in second half

Rico PierreVilus attempts a basket against Southwest Baptist University on Wednesday, Feb. 1 in the John Lance Arena.

see reign page 11

see fare page 11

see Surge page 11

Pitt struggles against Bearcats’ zone defense

garreT mcculloughSports editor

You would think after an 82-84 loss at Central Missouri last Satur-day, PSU already had its fill of close games. But the Gorillas suffered another tight one Wednesday night, losing to Southwest Baptist 65-73.

Fans knew the Pittsburg men were in for another nail biter after the first half, with SBU leading the home team 29-31. Spotty Gorilla shooting, 33.3 percent from the field, and quick Bearcat layups put Pitt State in a quick 13-point deficit al-most seven minutes into the second.

Offensive strugglesFollowing the loss, “frustration”

was the first word out of the mouth of Pitt State head coach Kevin Muff. Muff’s team knew how they were going to be played defensively, but still did not produce.

“We didn’t establish and do what we needed to do out of the gate,” Muff said. “We were good enough defensively, just not good enough offensively.”

PSU couldn’t get anything going consistently until a monster dunk by junior forward JaVon McGee, who led the team with 13 points. Guard Eric Ray would try to build on the momentum, making a three-point basket and cutting the Bearcat lead to eight.

But just when it seemed Pitt State was geared up to make a run, SBU was able to throw out a zone defense, which has been an issue for this Gorilla team recently.

“When you see a zone, you be-come hesitant,” Muff said. “You kind of pick and choose your times (to attack) as opposed to a man-to-man. You can’t just wait to get down to be aggressive.”

Losing their edgeThe game was filled with unchar-

acteristic play by the Gorillas. Ray and Wichita native Marky Nolan combined for nine points from the field in the entire game.

“(Ray) kind of struggled a little bit,” Muff said. “But we need him to take his shots when he gets them and be as aggressive as he needs to be.”

One bright spotIan Ponds tried his best to spark

the team down the stretch with the starting guards struggling. Ponds had six points in only 12 minutes of play on perfect shooting from the floor and from the line. Muff was impressed with Ponds’ play, but was even more impressed by Ponds reaction to the loss after the game. Ponds’ could have been satisfied with himself, but instead showed anguish about the loss.

PSU was able to keep it close near the end with turnovers by Baptist. With 1:56 remaining, SBU forward Jake Littrel was unable to handle a pass and the ball literally went between his legs and out of bounds. Courtney Ingram capitalized on the ensuing possession, laying it up and shrinking the Bearcat lead to four.

But with time running out, Pitt State was forced to foul, but commit-ted two turnovers late, which proved costly with the Bearcats hitting everything from the line. Southwest made its last eight free throws; the Gorillas were unable to get the vic-tory.

PSU is now 12-9 (8-6 MIAA) on the season heading into a Saturday showdown with the No. 1 MIAA-ranked Northwest Missouri State University.

February 2, 2012 11

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Larissa Richards prepares to block the shot of Missouri Southern's LaTice Jones during their game at the MIAA basketball tourna-ment on March 4, 2011, in the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

Hunter Peterson/Collegio

amelia mallattCollegio Reporter

Pitt State senior athlete Larissa Richards is a force to be reckoned with on the basketball court and in the discus ring. At 6’ 3”, Richards is an imposing athlete and has never let an injury keep her from competing.

Richards grew up in Great Bend, where she was a two-time state champ in discus in addition to helping her basketball team make it to the state playoffs.

When asked how she ended up at Pitt State, Richards was eager to tell.

“Head basketball coach Lane Lord actually coached at the Barton County Community Col-lege in my hometown so I’ve known him for a long time,” Richards said. “He started talking to me when I was a sophomore in high school. I was originally going there to play for him but then he got a job at Pitt and asked me to come and tour it. I did and I loved it. I love that the community is so involved with the school and sports. This adds a lot of fan support.”

Richards is a post player on the court and has the scars to prove she spends a lot of time battling for boards and points down in the paint.

“Being a post is a battle of who’s stronger,” Richards said. “You get banged up and pushed around. Last year against Fort Smith, Ark., I broke my nose. I had to have surgery and wear the mask for six weeks. It was awful. Altogether, I’ve had five knee surgeries: three ACL tears and two meniscus tears.”

Brian Mantooth, assistant track and field coach, says he has a great respect for Richards’ athletic prowess.

“She is one of the best female competitors I’ve ever coached,” Mantooth said. “There is a differ-ence between a competitor and an athlete. She’s a competitor. Last year she was a national runner-up in discus.”

Richards had nothing but positive words when asked about her teammates and coaches.

“We have such great chemistry,” Richards said. “We get along on and off the court. It plays a big key part in how well we’re doing this season. An-other great part is our open door policy. The coaches are always there for us.”

School and two sports aren’t just a part of Rich-ard’s life here at Pitt. Rather, they are nearly her entire life.

“I go practice track and then go to basketball practice,” Richards said. “Following that is home-

work. It gets stressful sometimes.”Richards will graduate in May with a degree in

early childhood development. She’ll be back next year to work on her master’s and to compete in her final track season.

“Eventually I want to be the owner of my own daycare,” Richards said. “I love little kids. I babysat growing up. I love teaching them new things.”

Richards has some advice she would share with her team-mates, based on what she has experienced here at Pitt.

“Always be ready to work hard,” Richards said. “Never let anyone or anything get in the way of accomplishing your goals.”

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Garret mccullouGHSports Editor

It has been four years since the New York Giants ended the New England Patriots’ bid for a perfect season with what is regarded as one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history.

Anyone who watched the 2008 Super Bowl will remember the 32-yard pass from Eli Manning to David Tyree with just over a minute left in the game for a critical third-down conversion as the defining moment of the game. It was the moment of realization that the seem-ingly immortal Patriots, who had won

21 games straight, dating back to the previous October, were about to be

defeated by a team who didn’t even have a first-round bye. This year

the Patriots again had a solid hold on the AFC with a record of 13-3 while the Giants snuck into the playoffs on the final

day of the season with a win over the Dallas Cowboys, with the worst record of any NFC playoff team at 9-7.

The Giants may not have Tyree, but they do have an explosive receiving corps, consisting of Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham, along with the emergence of wide out Vic-tor Cruz and tight end Jake Ballard. The Giants’ real strength comes on the defensive side, more specifically its

fearsome front four. Or, more accu-rately, the front seven, which include four productive defensive ends from all-pro Jason Pierre-Paul, who leads the team with 16 ½ sacks, to back-up Dave Tollefson, who racked up five off of the bench. The two defensive tackles Chris Canty and Linval Joseph each have two and linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, who rushes in passing situations, has 3 ½ sacks. However, the Patriots are built to counter such pressure.

Tom Brady has veteran receiver Wes Welker, who has had an impressive career as a Patriot by catching Brady’s hot routes. Welker is really an extension of the running game for the Patriots, running quick hitting routes to counter aggressive blitz schemes. He also has the quickness to make a man miss and

gain five or six yards after the catch. It will be interesting to see if the injury to Rob Gronkowski, depending on how severe it actually is, will affect each team’s game plan. Gronkowski was an unstop-pable force this season with 17 touchdowns and has the size that demands a line-backer and the speed that demands defensive back coverage. Without him on the field Welker can be press covered with safety help over the top and will force t he Patriots to create a new game plan.

These two teams love to pass the ball. Brady had over 5,200 yards passing and Manning had just under 5,000 himself. This represents the highest total of

combined passing yards by two quarterbacks in Super Bowl

history. The Giants are 29th in pass defense and the Patriots are 31st and neither team has an imposing run-ning game. This is an appropriate Super Bowl for a season in

which the single-season pass-ing record was passed by Drew

Brees and the single-season receiving yards total was broken not once, but twice in the same week. I am expect-ing a high-flying affair, but don’t be surprised if the defenses of this game take it upon themselves to step up and win the game.

Can any Giant fill Tyree’s legendary shoes and play hero?

jump, finishing in third place with a jump of 36-4 1/2 feet.

“She’s been on and off throughout the season. We need to work on her consistency,” Jewett said. “Once she starts to put out steady numbers, then I think she has potential for nationals.”

Overall, Jewett says he’s looking to bring a more balanced and well-rounded team to the

UCM Mules Relays in Warrensburg, Mo., this Friday.

“We’re pretty inconsistent as a team,” Jewett said. “I think we weren’t as balanced. The main thing is we need a full team and that’s what we work for. We’re trying to build a championship caliber team.“

n reiGn from page 10

Though Snyder and Thompson set a proficient tone for the Pitt State men, trouble spots could be seen elsewhere on the track. The men wrapped up a last-place finish in the 4X400, leaving the squad with a bitter taste in their mouth.

“We did not perform very well there. We got jostled and struggled with maintaining our posi-

tion,” Jewett said. “It’s definitely a place we need to work on. We’re looking to have better out-comes for the future.”

The Pitt State men will strive for another suc-cessful performance in their next meet on Satur-day, at the UCM Relays in Warrensburg, Mo.

n fare from page 10

Lizzy Jeronimus also added six points and had a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.

It was a tough game, however, and it wasn’t until the 9:36 mark in the second half that the Gorillas took the lead. Big threes kept the Gorillas in the game and Conley hit a free throw to tie the game at 67 with 1:44 remaining.

Pitt State was able to squeak by, thanks to some timely free throw shooting. Foul shots played a huge role in the game and kept the Jennies at bay

throughout the second half. Ultimately, UCM just couldn’t recover from being in the double-bonus and gave up 17 points on free throws.

Next up for the Gorillas are the Northwest Mis-souri Bearcats. The Bearcats always come ready to play and will provide a good matchup to see where PSU stands. As of now, Pitt State is all but guaran-teed to play in the MIAA tournament.

The Gorillas play NWMS at home on Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m. in John Lance Arena.

n surGe from page 10

thisweek’sathleteBrooke conleyConley followed up her career high 27-point performance in the win last Saturday with a 15 point, eight rebound effort in last night’s game, helping keep the four - game winning streak alive.

February 2, 201212

Todd MillerCollegio Reporter

I went into “Man on a Ledge” hoping it would be good. And it was. The movie did exactly what I expected it to do, plot-wise, but still managed to throw in a few good things in along with it. Although I enjoyed the movie, it didn’t offer a lot of surprises. Sure, it took a couple twists here and there, but overall it was too predictable to be consistently unpredict-able.

The movie doesn’t waste any time getting to its titular problem. Three minutes in, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is on a ledge of a large hotel in New York City. It doesn’t take long for a crowd to gather under him as police try to talk him down.

We get a flashback just after Cassidy steps onto the ledge showing him in prison. He makes an escape during the funeral for his father which he was allowed to attend.

Over time, we learn that Cassidy was a

police officer, but was arrested for stealing a large diamond from businessman David Englander (Ed Harris). Cassidy insists that he is innocent and was framed. He gives the officer trying to talk him down, Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), an ultimatum: either his innocence is proved, or he jumps.

We also soon learn, though, that his suicide attempt may be something more. To avoid too many spoilers, I’ll avoid saying more than that.

One thing I’ll give the film is that it kept me entertained. I actually enjoyed watching it, rather than getting bored halfway through. I was actually interested in seeing what the characters did next, or what the consequences of their actions held. The characters were engaging and I thought their actions seemed realistic and not dull.

Although Cassidy is shown in a bad light, being an escaped convict causing trouble, he’s also clearly highlighted as a sympathetic character. I was concerned with his guilt or

innocence. It also put the police force fighting against him in a negative light, which is a pretty good feat for characters that are actively trying to stop somebody from killing them-selves.

Although I enjoyed watching the movie, in retrospect, parts of it seemed to drag on and existed for the sake of building tension. I will admit, they did a good job of that, but there were a few scenes that just seemed to drag on to add so little. And there were a couple that did nothing. One example is a scene with a suspicious character burning some files that could be of importance, however it isn’t really revealed what the files contained or why it was important that they were being burned. It didn’t add much to the character; by the time his actions are revealed, it isn’t a very big reveal and it hardly resolves at all.

But in general, “Man on a Ledge” is a good film that I enjoyed watching. It doesn’t stand out very well, but it wasn’t bad. I’d recom-mend catching it. Summit Entertainment 2012

Todd MillerCollegio Reporter

Because the New York Times bestseller list last week was full of older books that are recently being made into movies, which seems a little biased, I decided to just grab a book off the “new releases” shelf of Hastings. After a bit of looking, I came across the book “Tempest” by Julie Cross, released Jan. 17.

“Tempest” is a sci-fi novel focused on time travel. In the year 2009, Jackson Meyer, a 19 year-old college student, has discovered he has the ability to jump backward in time. However, whenever he jumps back in time, nothing seems to change in the present. If he talks to a store clerk after jumping 30 minutes in the past, she doesn’t recognize him when he comes back to the present.

By the way, if you couldn’t follow the logic of that explanation, then I can already say the book will make it much worse. I have been fortunate enough to read time travel stories before this, so I’m primed to being able to wrap my mind around weird time shenanigans as I come across them. If you head at this story without think-ing about it, it can be easy to get lost (which I still did a couple times).

Anyway, after a night with his girl-friend, Holly Flynn, two mysterious men show up at her dorm and attack the two of them. One of the men shoots Holly, scaring Jackson into doing a time jump two years into the past, farther than he’s ever gone before. Jackson notes that the time jump feels unusual and eventually finds out that he is unable to return to the year 2009. He’s stranded in time in 2007.

Jackson eventually falls back into living in 2007 before the hornet’s nest is really kicked. Soon, Jackson finds himself caught in a battle between the CIA and the “Enemies of Time” and he has to decide who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and decide whose side to join, all the while trying to better understand who he is and his time-jumping power.

Although the book gets confusing in its second half, as I said, it did still manage to keep my attention throughout the reading. I know I had to read it all so I could properly review it, but even if I hadn’t, I would’ve wanted to continue reading anyway. The plot was rather compelling and was certainly interesting enough to make up for a couple of the other flaws.

One of which is the fact that, at times, a few of the main char-acters just annoyed me. There were times when Jackson would do things that didn’t seem to make sense or would have personal con-flicts that I could see easily resolved. He also seemed to too easily fall into the role of being overly powerful for the sake of plot, rather than sense. Part way through the story, he’s revealed to have more abilities beyond time travel. The addition of it seems for the sake of giving him the ability to do whatever he needs for plot conve-nience later. For example, he’s told he could have a photographic memory, and then just does soon after and memorizes the floor plan of a hotel. I’d buy it if the story wasn’t so revolved around the time traveling, but it just feels tossed-on.

The book also tends to drag on when it’s not focused on the time traveling plot. There’s a whole subplot involving Jackson finding his future-girlfriend in 2007 and trying to win her heart all over again. The book will spend some chapters focusing on this. While this is great character development and is believable for the characters to do, it just suddenly feels like I’m reading a different book about teen romance, which isn’t exactly something I care for.

But I will vouch that the relationship seemed real. The relation-ship between Jackson and Holly isn’t over-dramatic or saturated with sexual imagery. It’s actually somewhat plain and common-place, which is fantastic to read. It didn’t seem fake.

In fact, a lot of the characters felt real like that. There are some exceptions in the case of characters deep down in the genre of the book, but that’s to be expected.

I didn’t realize this book was the first of a new series until I got beyond the last page and saw a notice advertising the release of “book two” in 2013. So I’d say that this book is worth looking into if you’re interested in starting a brand new series about time travel. If this sort of fiction isn’t your taste, though, I’d avoid it. But it won me over, and I might just look for book two next year.

‘Man on a Ledge’ keeps you on edge

‘Tempest’ feels lukewarm, old

Suspense, plot twists create exciting experience

St. Martin’s Griffin 2012

What really makes the Superbowl so

SUPER?Carl J. BaChusCollegio Reporter

NFL fans would normally be gearing up for

this Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, but the matchup and the planned entertainment per-formances are making many decide to tune out.

“I don’t like either team,” said Austin Mas-ters, freshman in business. “It’s the same game as four years ago.”

This is the second time that the Giants and Patriots have faced each other in the Super Bowl. The rematch has drawn flak, but it won’t keep students like Bo Coy from watching the game.

“I just like football,” said Coy, sophomore in commercial art. “I don’t really like either of them, but if I had to pick one, it’d be the Gi-ants.”

The entertainment segments of the show have also received criticism. The halftime show featuring pop star Madonna and rumored guests Nicki Minaj and M.I.A has seen a lackluster reaction.

“I don’t really watch the halftime show, but that sounds terrible,” said Ryan Wittry, freshman in business. “I really don’t care about that stuff.”

Other students, like Emilia Gatapia, are stay-ing positive about the upcoming game.

“I don’t really follow football, but I’ll be watching the game with friends, so it should be fun,” said Gatapia, undeclared freshman. “I think the halftime show will be good, that com-bination is interesting.”

Even with the unpopular rematch and the questionable entertainment choices, one thing that supporters and detractors agree on is the commercials. Coy says that the Coca-Cola ads are his favorites while other students named Doritos, Budweiser and Pepsi as their favorites to watch.

“The commercials are the best part,” Coy

With the big game approaching, students weigh in on their favorite parts of the climax to the NFL season