NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PA I DPERMIT NO. 32St. JOSEPH, MO

Vol 95 | Issue 12 griffonnews.com January 17, 2013

Coach Tom Smith’s lega-cy will always be that he’s part of a rare group to win over 600 games, but that’s only part of the reason why his tenure lasted 25 years at Western in a profession as cutthroat as coaching college basketball.

It’s a game where even the legends are often forced out early. According to Smith the reason for being able to sur-vive at one place while most others can’t all boils down to his ability to get along with people.

“I haven’t had more than two or three meetings with an athletic director or a president,” Smith said. “So I’ve never been in their of-fice asking for anything or fought with them. I think that has made it possible to survive six athletic directors and three presidents.

“That’s the most difficult thing to do is can you get along with six different per-sonalities that come in here and are the boss and three different presidents that all may have dif-ferent ideas,” Smith

said.That’s a luxury that he

didn’t have when coaching at his alma matter Division I Valparaiso, a place where he played basketball and was elected into the Hall of Fame last season.

The school was D-I in clas-sification only as the team traveled by van and had very little money to spend on trips recruiting the type of talent that it takes to build a winner.

Smith’s passion was coach-ing basketball and he was tired of fighting for so many things that didn’t have to do with playing the game to get the program up to the standards that would allow it to be successful at the D-I level.

“When I came here one of the things I made my mind up about is I was not going to fight those things,” Smith said.

SEE SMITH PAGE 8

The Vice President for Fi-nancial Planning believes his position is more than a job; it’s an impact on his life.

Cale Fessler, the new vice president for financial plan-ning at Missouri Western said he has spent most of his professional career up to this point in private higher education, but has always recognized the value and strong academic quality of public higher education. He said the Vice President for Financial Planning and Administration position at Missouri Western offered an opportunity to take on new challenges.

“Missouri Western has had such a positive impact on my family as both my mother and oldest brother graduat-ed from Missouri Western,” Fessler said.

Fessler said his back-ground in private higher education at William Woods helped shape his profession-al character in what he be-lieves is very positive. He’s proud of he and his office at William Woods for refi-nancing its 1999 Bond Issue.bonds by four years.

Beyond a legend: Kyle Inman | Sports Editorkinman@missouriwestern.edu

Matt Hunt | News Editormhunt8@missouriwestern.edu

SEE FESSLER PAGE 2

New VP takes over

Tobacco-Freesubcommitteeforms at MissouriWestern

Senator AmandaJohnsen and Senator Travis Hartbring forth tobacco-freepolicy to studentsenate

Dr. Chris Bond,chairperson,tobacco-free subcommitteegives insight tosenate(Faculty Senateendorses policy)

Dr. Vartabedianapprovestobacco policyapproved by student GovernmentFaculty Senateand Board ofGovernors

MWSU tobaccopolicy will beimplemented

Coach Smith leaves lasting legacy, 38 years of coaching

Bond, Committee still working out kinks with tobacco policy enforcement

Registered Nurse Marti Burri received an opportu-nity that doesn’t happen ev-ery day. She was able to hang up her scrubs for an evening, pull out a formal gown and walk a red carpet as she was honored as the March of Dimes’ state Nurse of the Year.

“It was nice to get away and get dressed up and get an award,” Burri said, recap-ping the ceremony. “It was overwhelming.”

Burri was first nominated by Western’s health cen-ter administrative assistant Angie Beck, who felt that Burri would be a good can-didate for the award. Burri, along with hundreds of oth-

er hopeful candidates, was judged by a committee that reviewed nursing credentials such as how long they have been in the practice and what they have done for people within their communities.

Beck explained that she nominated Burri simply because she knew how far Burri goes to help people and based on that alone, she would win the award.

“She’s just that good,” Beck said. “Marti is a very caring nurse. She is very in-volved in patients’ lives. She goes very out of the way to help everyone. Students feel comfortable talking to her.”

After a few months of judging, the March of Dimes’ committee selected 17 nurs-es for 16 award categories. Burri’s category was public

health and ambulatory care, which is something that Bur-ri said she is very passionate about. In addition to being an RN for Western, Burri is also a nurse at Heartland Regional Medical Center, a volunteer for the March of Dimes and she serves on the agency’s board of directors.

Burri explained that the March of Dimes’ ceremony was more than just an aver-age banquet, and was a for-mal black-tie affair held at the Park Plaza in St. Louis. The banquet featured a cock-tail hour and a celebrity-style red carpet. Burri, who hardly ever gets an opportunity to dress up, was very excited and felt famous for a night.

“My husband and I got our pictures taken and I got a corsage,” Burri said.

“It was nice see-ing my husband dressed up. We are more casual. It made it seem more special and it felt like a cel-ebration. It was really elegant.”

Though Burri has many health and nursing ac-colades, she es-pecially enjoys helping the stu-dents at Western, as she feels that it is her priority to keep the campus healthy, one stu-dent at a time.

Eboni Lacey | Editor-in-Chiefelacey@missouriwestern.edu

Western RN Marti Burri was recently hon-ored as the March of Dimes’ state Nurse of the Year. *Submitted photo SEE BURRI PAGE 2

Western RN wins ‘Nurse of the Year’ award

(Left) Coach Tom Smith began his coaching career at Western in 1988. Smith pulls his players (who now are in their 40’s) over for a quick time out. (Right) Smith calls a play for the team at a recent home game. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

The haze of smoke will soon disappear as Missouri Western forges past other universities’ failed smoke-free policies.

Dr. Christopher Bond, Western’s tobacco imple-mentation committee chair, said he is reviewing every step before the policy goes into affect July 1 to ensure all issues are worked out. He said all universities that im-plement a smoke-free policy are going to have issues.

“This is why we have a task force in place. We have a plan to deal with the ‘what if’s’ if someone abuses the policy,” Bond said.

Matt Hunt | News Editormhunt8@missouriwestern.edu

SEE TOBACCO PAGE 2

Men’s basketball upsets rival No. 24 Northwest to improve to 3-3 in MIAA play.

See Page 8

The Griffon News questions the tobacco implementationcommittee on how they will enforce the tobacco ban.

See Page 6

New dance classes and a new dance minor are offered this semester at Western.See page 5

*Submitted photo

NEWS January 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 2

�N�E�W�S� �N�O�T�E�S

Interim of Finacial Planning and Ad-ministration an-

nounces retirement

Richard Gilmore has an-nounced plans to retire from the VP for Financial Planning and Adminis-tration position effective Jan. 18. During his time at Western, Gilmore has also served as the director of ac-counting services, control-ler and associate vice presi-dent for financial planning and administration. Under Gilmore’s leadership, the university had 26 years of clean audit reports with minimal management let-ter recommendations. In addition, he coordinated the issuance of eight rev-enue bonds generating ap-proximately $100 million.

Two students preformed at

Governor Nixon’s inauguration

Adrienne Collins and Donovan Jones sang at a reception following Gov. Jay Nixon’s inauguration in Jefferson City on Mon-day. The duo chose classic show tunes from “West Side Story,” “Hello Dol-ly” and “My Fair Lady” among other selections to preform at the event.

If your organization would like to announce an event, e-mail the information to

stories@thegriffonnews.com

Monday, Jan. 21• MartinLutherKingJr.Day(no

classes/campusclosed)• MLKJr.Luncheon,SprattHall,

11:20a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 30• GriffonWomen’sBasketballvs

PittsburgState5:30p.m.• GriffonMen’sBasketballvs

PittsburgState7:30p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 2• GriffonWomen’sBasketballvs

NortheasternState1:30p.m.• GriffonMen’sBasketballvs

NortheasternState3:30p.m.

CALENDAR OF EVENTSCAMPUS CRIME REPORTS

CAMPUS INFORMATION

1. Stealing 1:34 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 13, Residence Hall

2. Stealing 1:34 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 13, Residence Hall

3. Disturbance 12:38 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 13, Leaverton & Vaselakos Hall

4.Stealing 11:02 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 14, Potter Hall

Nursing Department Prepares for

Accreditation Visit

The Department of Nursing and Allied Health at Missouri Western State University is preparing for national re-accreditation by the Commission of Col-legiate Nursing Education for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and initial accreditation for the Master of Science in Nurs-ing program.

An accreditation review has been scheduled for March 6-8, 2013.

1.

4.2. 3.

Ban enforcement deadline in six months

“We will know what to do if someone is hiding, and smoking behind the dump-sters like they do at North-west Missouri State Univer-sity,” Bond said.

There are numerous uni-versities throughout the state of Missouri that have imple-mented tobacco-free policies and even more are prepar-ing to jump on board. Each university approaches the policy differently with en-forcement regulations, some offering cessation courses and nicotine packages.

President Dr. Robert Var-tabedian said he thinks the cessation courses Missouri Southern offers students, faculty and staff are a posi-tive aspect to consider. His

main concerns about the pol-icy when implemented are the two e’s: enforcement and education.

“Enforcing a policy like this can get complicated; I think most people approach it and say ‘Let’s see how it works out’,” Vartabedian said. “Education is a big one. Anytime you deal with an addiction substance, you need to help it go away.”

Missouri Southern has an eight week program in place for students to take online for tobacco cessation. “There are students who pass and fail the course,” Missouri Southern health center di-rector Julie Stamps said. “Its success depends on how bad the individual wants to quit their addiction to tobacco products.”

The way in which the pol-icy will be enforced is still

unknown at this point. Bond said the enforcement com-mittee will meet next week to look at ways to control this issue. Universities such as Northwest Missouri State enforce their policy volun-tarily. They leave its students in charge of reporting the abuse of the policy on cam-pus grounds.

“Nothing is written in stone. We will most likely do training such as was done with the Green Dot Pro-gram,” Bond said. “Students will most likely go through Student Affairs if constantly caught smoking.”

The University of Central Missouri and Western will have their policies go into effect by next school year with the same problems they must address. Jeff Murphy, UCM assistant director of university relations said at

this time they don’t charge for nicotine replacement therapy, which includes patches, gum and lozenges. Western will go through the same process and will have to find a new method for paying for the cessation re-sources after grant money from the MO Foundation for Health (through Heartland) runs out.

“We are able to do this be-cause we are part of a grant through CASE (Campus Community Coalitions Ad-vocating Smoke Free Envi-ronments) from the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse,” Murphy said. “If that grant goes away, we would have to consider a small charge for the nicotine replacement while we look for other grant funding.”

Bond has been working on smoke-free research for

the past 12 years. He says he knows what works and what doesn’t. Western’s policy strategy is being used by uni-versities such as the Univer-sity of Missouri- Kansas City and universities in Nebraska and Washington State. Other universities have warned Bond, along with others, of the signs to look for when the policy goes into effect.

“You just can’t implement a policy overnight like oth-er universities have done,” Bond said. “We’ve been warned about the loop-holes and how smoking areas are not effective.

Western’s leaders will meet within the next couple of weeks to discuss enforce-ment, education and ways to continue the cessation pack-ages for students, faculty and staff.

TOBACCO CONTINUED FROM FRONT

“I always promote a healthy lifestyle,” Burri said. “I think it’s very important for students to be feeling well and healthy.”

Burri also feels that more students should use the Esry Health Center because it is more convenient for students than other alternatives.

“It’s great that we are ac-cessible to the students,” Burri said. “I think they should be able to utilize us here. We are cheaper than most places. They will get good care.”

In addition to helping stu-dents, Burri also serves as a preceptor, which is a pro-

f e s s i o n a l mentor for many stu-dents in the nursing p r o g r a m . N u r s i n g p ro f e s s o r and fellow RN, Evelyn B r o o k s , was ex-t r e m e l y proud of Burri and her nurs-ing award, as she expressed how greatly the nursing stu-dents appreciate all of Burri’s advice and help.

“She is one of the best preceptors we have,” Brooks said. “Students re-quest to work with Marti

each and every semester. She treats them as a colleague and professional each and every day. She is passionate about nursing and passion-ate about the students.”

“My work at William Woods has helped me to understand and appreciate the varied contributions of faculty, staff, students, and administrators, as well as the importance of honesty and transparency, the value of collaborative budget de-velopment, and the need for fiscal responsibility,” Fessler said.

Rick Gilmore, Associate Vice President for Financial Planning said Fessler is a likeable person and appears to be very intelligent. How-ever, he believes that there is a clear difference between Cale Fessler and Mel Klinker, former vice president for financial planning. He be-lieves that Klinker has more in depth experience, and a broader scope of experience than Mr. Fessler.

“The search committee rec-ommended that Mr. Fessler be brought to campus for an interview, which turned into a full day of in-terviews with various groups, including Presi-dent Vartabe-dian,” Gilmore said. “As a re-sult, President Vartabedian of-fered him the position based on his qualifica-tions.”

A colleague of Fessler,

Scott Gallagher, university vice president for Williams Woods says Fessler has a wealth of experiences and was part of a successful ad-ministration that will serve Missouri Western very well. Gallagher describes him as hard worker, who is ex-tremely loyal and honest.

“First of all, Cale has a proven record of accom-plishments,” Gallagher said. “I worked very closely with him and found his counsel very helpful.”

Though Fessler may have had success at Williams Woods, here at Western he believes it’s too early to ex-pect changes from his office. He said being new to the Vice President position at Missouri Western, it is diffi-cult to state at this time what potential changes may or may not occur in the office.

“However, I believe the previous Vice President in-stilled an atmosphere of col-laboration and transparency and that is something I hope to continue as the new Vice President,” Fessler said.

“Missouri Western has had such a positive impact on my family as both my mother and oldest brother graduated from Mis-souri Western,”

- Cale Fessler, VP of Financial Planing

FESSLER CONTINUED FROM FRONT

New VP brings years of experience to Western RN chosen over hundreds of nurses

in the Missouri, Illinois area BURRICONTINUED FROM FRONT

www.griffonnews.com

Angie Beck Administrative

Assistant

Marti Burri Registered

Nurse

The Student Government Association met for their first meeting of the semester on Jan. 14.

After a month of recess, SGA is preparing for the spring semester. With the Student Success Act under negotiations, SGA President Jacob Scott is prepared to ad-vocate for students.

“Certainly all options are on the table, but I think that as we get back into the semester we will be looking harder at our budget situation and the needs of our students and re-ally trying to come to a con-sensus as to what to do with this fee,” Scott said. “It’s go-ing to be taken a lot more se-riously as we progress more towards an internal deadline on when we will have this whole thing figured out.”

Governmental Relations

Committee Chair Travis Hart doesn’t foresee any changes to the fee happening in the coming semes-ter.

“We talked more in-depth about the Save Our School Act. We had a good dis-cussion with the ad-ministration,” Hart said. “Currently there is no policy put forth by the students or the administra-tion. It seems to my knowledge that there may be no other work to be done on that policy.”

Hart also said that SGA is committed to working on projects that began before the end of the fall semester.

“Right now, in the Govern-mental Relations Committee we are looking at working on the drug policy,” Hart said. “I’m also personally working

on an honor chords proposal, where graduates can wear their honor chords from National Honors Society be-cause currently the policy by the university is that they cannot wear honors chords. We as a committee are also looking at changing library hours, in particular the hours during finals week.”

Mary Beth Rosenauer,

campus advance-ment chair, wants to see the community and students be-come more involved in student govern-ment.

“I would like to, once a month, get more involved with the community and have the community more importantly get involved with us so I think that that will be good,” Rosenauer said. “We are looking to maybe

reach out to students. A lot of the times we sit back and wait for students to come to us with ideas but we are go-ing to reach out to students and get some ideas just to see what they have in mind.”

Scott agrees with Rosenau-er, and would like to encour-age students to come to sena-tors with their concerns.

“We are certainly open to any suggestions or issues the students may have,” Scott said. “We’re going to be com-mitted to assuring that every student dollar is spent wisely and insuring that every stu-dent voice that would like to be heard has a fair chance to get their fair say in all of the processes.”

This coming semester, SGA is also planning several events.

Rosenauer said SGA is hoping to partner with Col-leges Against Cancer to host a Relay for Life on campus.

“We are looking to maybe help host a run with them. They are looking to host a run and we are looking to help. We are just here to help organizations that need help.”

In conjunction with SGA cosponsoring events, Scott is anticipating three events this spring.

“We have our annual com-munity service project,” Scott said. “We also do a Heart Your Union Event where we try and bring out a lot of students upstairs so they can take a look at all of that and of course we will have the election.”

Campaigning for the elec-tion will begin in Febru-ary, and dates for the other events will be announced later this semester.

NEWSJanuary 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 3

Brig. Gen. Gregory Ma-son and Alfred Purcell have been appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon to become the next Board of Governors for Mis-souri Western. President Dr. Robert Vartabedian said the appointments were very competitive and the two men appointed have different backgrounds of knowledge to bring to the board. “Alfred is kind of a legend within the community, serv-ing on many boards and the MWSU Foundation,” Vart-abedian said. “Mason, I’ve seen in action, he’s a former graduate of Missouri West-ern and is a passionate advo-cate for Missouri Western.” Vartabedian describes both men as roles models not only to the student body, but to the entire community. Pur-cell has held executive posi-tions with Xerox Corpora-tion and Mason serves as an Assistant Adjutant General-Army in the Missouri Na-tional Guard. “My military background with my leadership and managerial skills with a large organization has served me well,” Mason said. “Also, my civilian background in

law enforcement and work-ing with people from all walks of life is a personal as-set.” The Board of Governors will soon meet with one an-other. Kylee Strough, chair of the Board of Governors, said she was looking forward to learning about both of the governor’s backgrounds and how they will contribute to the board in the future. “We are excited to meet our fellow members and hear their perspective on issues that we discuss,” Strough said. “Each man has substan-tial qualifications.”The call for Mason was one that he said he will never for-get. He was notified by Gov.

Nixon’s office on Dec. 12. Based on his knowledge of the board he doesn’t see a need for any-thing differ-ent or chang-es yet. “I was very happy to be selected to serve on the board,” Ma-

son said. “I do not have any concerns now, but I’ll wait to get on board fully to dis-cuss the future with the other members.” Strough said the presi-dent’s office should be in touch with each governor to schedule an orientation prior to their first Board meet-ing. Both gentlemen will be sworn in at the January meeting. “I know Mr. Purcell as we have worked together on the MWSU Foundation and oth-er community committees and boards. I think highly of him and am excited to work with him in the future,” Strough said. “I have not had the opportunity to meet Mr. Mason yet, but hope to in the next couple of weeks.”

Matthew Hunt | News Editormhunt8@missouriwestern.edu

Board of Governors adds two new members

Brig. Gen. Gregory Mason

Assistant Adjutant General- Army for

Missouri National Guard

Alfred PurcellPresident of

Purcell Consulting

A chance to venture out on a true entrepreneurship is what three Western alumni students were awarded in a business contest hosted by the Craig School of Business. Erica Ricker, Cassandra Schuster and Erik Garcia were awarded the opportu-nity to manage and conduct their own Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory or the As-pen Leaf Yogurt store. Carol Roever is the Interim Dean for the Craig School of Business and she noted that Steve Craig, the man behind the business, really values entrepreneurship. He feels that students should be giv-ing the opportunity to grow and manage their own busi-nesses. “Steve Craig created this program for the business school that bears his name, because he believes in the value of entrepreneurial ac-tivity,” Roever said. “To sus-tain and grow our economy. He had faith in our students and a long history of work-ing with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which had stores in several of the malls that his company owns.”

Craig set up the program so that each student would have five years to repay their loans, at that point they would be sole owners of their new found businesses.Students who become inter-ested in the program, enroll in an Applied Entrepreneur-ship Class and write out their own business plan for a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in any location. The students’ plans are read by a panel of judges and then they are giving time to do a presentation of the plans before the winners are selected. Erica Ricker is a business management major who graduated in 09’. She was one of the Western students that were awarded the busi-ness opportunity. Ricker grew interest to the program when she heard they had an alumni program. She along with friends took some classes and made a business plan. Eventually be-ing the winners of the award coming in first place. “We enrolled in the classes, participated in the sessions, and we made a business plan,” Ricker said. “We com-peted with 15 other classes, and then it condensed down to five students. We won first

place.” There are three stores to pick from, which includes the Rocky Mountain Choco-late Factory and two Aspen Leaf yogurt stores in two dif-ferent locations.Ricker admitted that writing a business plan for a particu-lar store can get a little tricky. She feels that not knowing exactly what you’re going to own can be a problem when going through how you will run your business. “Writing a business plan is a stressful situation because you don’t really know where you are going to go,” Ricker said. “You spend so much time working on it, and you don’t even know if you’re going to win. So it definitely takes a certain personality and mindset to do this com-petition.” Erik Garcia, considered a non-traditional student, is a Finance major and also a winner of the competition. Garcia met his wife at West-ern and after starting a fam-ily and a couple businesses, Garcia decided to go back to school. “We had jobs and we did college part time,” Garcia said. “10 years later I was finishing up my financing degree at Missouri Western.”

Garcia started to notice that there was no money coming from his small businesses located in Kansas City. He jumped to the opportunity that the Craig School of Busi-ness was offering students at Western. “I was introduced to Steve Craig,” Garcia said. “We started talking about some of the ventures that I had start-ed. I asked him if Missouri Western could be at any as-sistance. And that’s when they told me about the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory program.” Garcia saw the program as a way to help him with his entrepreneurship skills. He enrolled in the classes and took it seriously. He was the second Western alumni win-ner. Carol Roever feels that this program brings some-thing new to the university. It brings something to the table that is not common in colleges over the country. “Many schools are focus-ing on entrepreneurship,” Roever said. “But we don't know of another school with a program that actually re-sults in college graduates be-coming business owners so quickly after graduation.”

(Right) Erik Garcia, Vanessa Garcia and Cassandra Schuster were awarded the opportunity to manage and conduct their own Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory or Aspen Leaf Yogurt store. *Courtesy of Craig School of Business

Tyson Minnick is pictured with Erica Ricker, another Business school alumni who also was given the opportunity to manage one of the businesses. *Courtesy of Craig School of Business

Albert Shelby | Asst. News Editorashelby1@missouriwestern.edu

Business school alumni receive ‘sweet’ deal

SGA prepares for another semester

Got News?

We’ve got you covered!

Griffonnews.com

Katelyn Canon | Managing Editorkcanon@missouriwestern.edu

SGA Meeting Updates

-Lauren Prywitch resigns after serving as a senator for 2 years.-$100,000 of rollover money will be used for special projects before the end of the year.-Meeting for the spring semester will be held at 5:30p.m. in Blum 220.

FEATURESJanuary 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 4

It's that time of year again. Western students are pack-ing up their backpacks, pinching pennies to buy all of their textbooks and filling up paper cups at their favor-ite local coffee shops. When a student's course load in-creases, so does their coffee consumption.

According to foxbusiness.com, one of the five biggest money traps that college students fall into is spend-ing a fortune on caffeinated pick-me-ups. Unfortunately, when the stress of a semester hits, the price of liquid fuel can cease to matter.

“It's quicker to get coffee on the go for people who are running late to class or meet-ings,” sophomore Holly Gri-er said. “I live in the dorms, so when it gets noisy, I can't concentrate. So I usually go to the coffee shop to study with friends or just to hang out.”

For college students at Western, there are plenty of places to quiet that caffeine craving. There's Hazel's on Frederick, Dunkin Donuts on the Belt Highway, Java City on campus, Pony Espresso downtown, and of course, Starbucks Coffee.

With all this temptation around town, it's easy for students to rely on coffee drinks to get through their piles of schoolwork.

“I never drank coffee until I had trouble staying awake for classes because I'd been up all night doing home-work, projects and

studying,” Grier said.The average American

coffee drinker consumes 3.1 cups of coffee per day. By 2012, there were over 50,000 coffee establishments nation-wide.

The average price of an espresso-based drink is $2.45, and due to the frustra-tions that come with the col-legiate lifestyle, students will pay the price for some tem-porary energy, especially if it tastes good.

“A good cup of coffee de-pends on the entire process,” former Hazel's barista Holly Rudolph said. “Good coffee is made from great raw beans and it's roasted and brewed by someone who knows their stuff. Also, freshness is a huge factor. That's why I like Hazel's.”

Rudolph worked at Ha-zel's for five years, and in her time there, she said that finals week was always a crazy time for the shop.

Entire study groups would gather together to study for tests or prepare for speeches or projects.

Downtown lies a diamond in the rough, Pony Espresso, a place that many Western students may have never even heard of. This hole in the wall shop has rich coffee, kind employees and an artis-tic atmosphere.

“We actually have almost no students come in, which is a bummer because it's the perfect place for students to hang out. It's really calm and mellow but it's the kind of place that you'd typically find somewhere like Kan-sas City or Lawrence,” Pony

Espresso barista Ali Dalsing said. “We have artists show-ing their work and we're al-ways looking for more artists to show. And we do events like trivia and poetry nights. We're always playing music, but we keep the volume at study level.”

If you're worried about the expense that comes with buying coffee, you should know that a lot of coffee shops in town offer incentive

programs. Starbucks offers gold cards

to its most loyal customers. After a customer registers a gift card to their email ad-dress online, they can store money on the card and use it to purchase drinks and food items at Starbucks.

Once they have swiped their activated gift card 30 times, they reach 30 stars. At this point, the customer will receive a gold card in the

mail, which allows them to receive even more bonuses in the store. Java City, which is located in the library at

Missouri Western gives out punch cards to its customers.

After every tenth punch on the card, a customer re-ceives a free drink of their choice.

Pony Espresso offers a similar program, called the frequent coffee card, which allows customers to receive a

free eleventh drink. The free drinks aren't the

only perks to hanging out in coffee shops though. Their cozy aesthetic sets the per-fect scene for some serious studying.

“I drink coffee absolutely every day,” Rudolph said. “I like to study in coffee shops because they are usually qui-et, there is free wi-fi and they always smell good.”

Jourdan Ryan | Features Editorjhuffman10@missouriwestern.edu

Step 1:Place cream cheese in shallow bowl. Microwave on 50% power until cheese is softened (about 2 minutes).

Step 2:Stir in drained chicken, ranch dressing, and pepper sauce and ½ cup of cheese. Sprinkle top with remaining cheese. Microwave on 100% power 2-4 minutes until hot & bubbly.

Step 3:Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or celery sticks.

Things you will need:1 can (10 oz) of Premium Chunk Chicken Breast, drained1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese1/2 cup ranch dressing1/8 cup Tabasco sauce3/4 cup cheddar cheese

Drink it p: Best brew spots around town

HOW TO:

Josh Ferge enjoys company, news and a good ole’ frappuccino at the local Starbucks located on Faraon street, just a few quick minutes from campus. Tevin Harris | Photo Editor

Creative Expansions

It’s early in the semester, but within a few weeks the possibility of all nighters can be daunting, not to mention draining. Take a mental break and make a late night snack. With five ingredients and a microwave, you can prepare this dip in less than 10 minutes.

Sculptor Brent Collins unveiled a new addition to Missouri Western’s outdoor artwork with his “Music of the Spheres” bronze masterpiece. The piece sits in front of Remington hall and is a representation of visual mathematics in three dimensions.

“My ambition for the works commis-sioned by MWSU for their new Science an-nex is twofold. First, to bring to the Univer-sity science and mathematics community sculptures which will be especially inspi-rational in the organic complexity of their mathematical content, while at the same time equally engaging the innate visual in-telligence of children. Secondly, to bring to the larger St. Joseph community bragging rights in having public art objects which will stand well in comparison with any to be seen in any city anywhere on our one and only blue, green and tan planet as it appears from space.” Collins said in his media release.

Sculptor Brent Collins (bottom) and bronze foundry owner Steve Reinmuth (top) worked together to complete the new installation of ‘Music of the Spheres’ in front of Remington Hall. Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

Western adds new aesthetic artwork

Make BlaznBuffalo Dip

Joe Snapp | Graphics Editor

OPINIONS The Griffon NewsPage 6

The Griffon News is written and published by students of Missouri Western State University during the fall and spring semesters. The first copy of each issue is free; addi-tional copies are 50 cents. Content of this paper is developed independently of the facul-ty and administration, or other campus organizations or offices. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas, information and advertising to The Griffon News office, Eder 221, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, Mo. 64507, or by phoning (816) 271-4412 (advertising and news room). You may also e-mail thegriffonnews@gmail.com. Copy and advertising must be received by noon Friday, the week prior to publication.

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Katelyn CanonJoe SnappMatthew HuntAlbert ShelbyEvan Roberts Tevin Harris Gilbert ImbiriKyle InmanChristian MengelJourdan RyanAndy GarrisonBrian DuskeyLauren DillonHanna Greenwell Mika Cummins Dave HonBob Bergland

The Griffon News Staff

Most students probably fail to realize how some of the current happenings in Washington may cause us to take a sucker-punch to the wallet; those issues are sometimes overshadowed by the tug-of-war across the aisle and other issues that target larger publics.

One such event was the recent “fiscal cliff” debate. Simply put, this “cliff” involved a series of Bush era tax cuts that were set to

expire on January 1st. If that deadline were to be reached without some sort of com-promise to keep some cuts in place, or for there to be a system-wide reform, it could be devastating to the middle and lower class, given the current economy.

The debate was between President Barrack Obama and Congress and due to what appeared to be a down-right childish refusal to even meet for discussion, no com-

promise was found until literally a few short hours before the deadline.

Wrapped up in all of this political drama was some-thing that could be easily overlooked but would affect college students across America.

Even with the compro-mise over the fiscal cliff, stu-dents aren’t in the clear yet. According to an article in The Huffington Post, written by Tyler Kingkade, changes

may be coming that could drastically change who qualifies for help with tuition.

“The federal govern-ment’s continuing bud-get resolution comes due at the end of March, and Republicans in Congress are demanding budget cuts in exchange for any raise in the debt ceiling,” Kingkade

said. “Federal research money would be the most likely casualty of future bud-get cuts, along with changes in who is eligible for finan-cial aid programs.”

That means that some stu-dents who may be on the edge financially for tuition may not receive the aid they need, depending on what kind of deal is reached, and thus they wouldn’t be able to afford classes.

These officials that are

making all of these decisions that are so crucial to some of us are supposed to be work-ing for us.

They are civil servants and we write their paychecks. They need to stop letting things come down to the final hour; these things they debate are far too important, balanced and complicated to be decided at the very last second.

We pay these people to work, not to sit on a beach in Hawaii for months on end or refuse to come back from break on time for dis-cussions. Collectively, we are these individuals’ bosses and they need to know that they will be held accountable for their actions, just like any employee should.

Like a puff of smoke in a summer breeze, Western’s policy makers are wander-ing aimless when it comes to how they will enforce the new smoke-free legislation slated to begin this summer, and the clock is ticking.

To pass such a restrictive policy without any solid pro-posal of how to enforce it seems like an unwieldy way to handle business.

There is no shortage of ideas spinning on how to tackle this issue; howev-er, the efforts come off as unorganized and somewhat casual without much dedica-tion to follow any of them through to fruition, and almost all of them contain some sort of flaw.

One possible solution would be to have campus security handle it. The obvi-ous problem with that is they would probably have to add to the existing force, costing the school more money and resources.

The other possibility being discussed is to have the honor system in place. That would mean relying on students to rat one another

out when they see someone abusing the policy.

The problem with that is people won’t be smoking out in the open where the students are likely to be; fur-thermore the students, for the most part, don’t really have a vested interest in tell-ing on one another.

There isn’t going to be any reward systems going into place for letting people know about possible abuse, so all a student would be left with is feeling like a tattle-tale.

This system has been used in other smoke-free campus-es and from all reports seems to work about as well as a two legged chair.

When rushing to create restrictive policy it would be much more prudent to figure out how it will work, not to mention if it will work, long before everyone pushes it through.

As it stands, it comes off as some sort of posturing than any actual constructive move forward.

There are a ton of “good” ideas out there that would benefit the school, students and faculty; but there are an

equal number of “bad” ways to implement them.

This policy is already going to be a massive incon-venience to a lot of students and staff at Western. There is no reason to make it even harder by implementing it with weak effort. Western deserves a clear and well thought out plan on every level to transition smoothly into a policy that has already proven to be a non-starter at many other campuses.

As Western’s leaders come together to discuss this pro-posal, there will need to be a lot of research on how other campuses have tackled enforcement policies regard-ing smoking because many have failed to do so efficient-ly if at all. This policy is not something that can be done half way, it is going to take a lot of work and thought and there is not a lot of time to pull it off. If not, students will probably ignore the policy and simply hide in unseen areas and light up their cigarettes.

CAMPUS VOICE

I’ve been stuck in Aleks for three semesters.

That being said, I know that developmental math is an important class. It pre-pares students to be success-ful in general education math courses, but Aleks is failing students. And it sucks.

The thing that peeves me, and a lot of students enrolled, about Aleks is that it can take up to three semesters to complete. That’s a year and a half that students are dedi-cating to working their way

through a class that doesn’t even count towards their degree.

While not every student takes three semesters to complete the Aleks program, the developmental math program should only take a semester. I would much rather suffer through a 16 week course that moved at a scheduled pace than aim-lessly work on objectives. Aleks lacks structure which in turn makes students lack

direction.Aleks also fails students

because it has almost no interpersonal interaction. Instead of being taught by a teacher, students spend much of their class time sit-ting behind the screen of a computer. There is a teacher in the room but the student to teacher ratio it too high.

While there is always an instructor in the room, the professor typically has to rotate around the room to

answer questions.The teacher isn’t the only

teaching aid in the room though. Student teachers can be found, in a cluster, at the front of the room. To get their attention I simply have to raise my hand, and wait for them to finish helping anoth-er student. Like the profes-sors, the student teachers are spread too thin. They also rotate around the room try-ing to help as many students as possible. The developmen-tal math program should be

structured more like English 100. Instead of the computer based monotony, students have a regular class meeting time, and then they also have a small lab group that is lead by a student teacher - the same student teacher. I know I would learn better if the teacher knew my name and was focused on teaching, not facilitating, and I think other students would too.

Aleks is impersonal and unfocused. And it sucks.

Developmental math program is a waste of student’s time and moneyWITH KATELYN CANON

Citizens should keep politicians accountablewith Andy Garrison

Aleks sucks!Patrick Larsen

Junior

Tony Redmond Sophmore

Shane WallerSophmore

Dalene YoungSophmore

“I would buy tools.”

“I will probably buy art supplies.”

“I would pay bills and get art

supplies.”

“Bills or art supplies.”

If books were free, where would your money go?

Check out the full responses at GriffonNews.com

Editorial: Enforce, or expect students to ignoreJanuary 17, 2013

Joe Snapp | Graphics Editor

SPORTS January 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 7

MWSU BookstoreBlum Student Union

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The only source for MWSU testbooks where a portion of every dollar spent goes directly to Missouri Western State University.

Great selection of school supplies

The Bookstore Staff Thanks You For Your Patronage!

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Women basketball score 68-66 victory against Northwest

It was a rival game, Sat-urday Jan. 12 in the MWSU Fieldhouse, and both teams played like it.

The intensity was high from the beginning to the end as the Griffon women pulled off a 68-66 victory over the relentless North-west Missouri State women Bearcats.

Both teams started out the game with high energy and they both showed displays of good defense early.

The Griffons found them-selves down 23-28 going in at halftime, and the Bearcats appeared to have an answer for the Griffons.

Heather Howard scored the first five points for West-ern in the beginning, but the Bearcats defense started to make it difficult for many of the Griffons to score. Bearcats went into the half with the momentum.

“We push the ball a lot more in the second half,” Howard said. “At halftime we said that we needed to get the pace of the game up, we did and that’s when we went on our run.”

Howard led the team with 16 points and 12 rebounds,

and credited it to calming down and playing her game.

“There were a couple of shots that I just had to slow down on,” Howard said. “I slowed it down, and then I started knocking down shots. We just needed to get rebounds and sprint the floor.”

The pressure and speed of the Griffons caught up with the Bearcats and eventually Western was able to take the lead.

Sharniece Lewis led the team in steals for the game with four.

JaQuitta Dever and Lani-cia Lawrence speed made it tough for the Bearcats and it caused turnovers that led to quick points.

The Griffons recorded 13 steals as a team and seemed to be on cruise control, but the Bearcats would not go away.

Northwest player Ash-leigh Nelson kept her team in the game as she knocked down a multitude of 3’s.

Nelson had a game high with 26 points, while going 6-8 from behind the arc. She also led the team in minutes with 36.

Coach Rob Edmisson felt that the Griffons played just as relentless as the Bearcats.

He noted that even though Nelson kept going, his team stayed in the game until the clock read double zero.

“Obviously that big play from JaQuitta Dever when she made that steal and put us back up by four helped,” Edmisson said. “It gave us a little breathing room be-cause that Nelson kid from Northwest was unbelievable tonight.”

The griffons were able to hold off Nelson for the Vic-tory. Edmisson felt that the speed of his players was the remaining factor in the game and it changed the momen-tum.

“Right of the bat, you can tell that we had a plan, and we broke their zone down,” Edmisson said. “The game is too slow when the score is 28 to 23 at half. We talked at halftime and we changed our press a little bit. We try to wear people down.”

The Griffons improve to 11-3 and 4-2 in MIAA play. Next up for the women is Lindenwood University on Jan. 16th for another home game at the fieldhouse.

The lady Griffons are on a two game winning streak and hope that the rival win over northwest sparks a even bigger run as they get pass

the mid part of the season.

Former Griffons to compete in all-star games

JaQuitta Dever, drives in for a lay-up after stealing the ball to seal up the close victory. Dever had one of the 13 steals recorded by Western.

Albert Shelby | Asst. News Editor ashelby1@missouriwestern.edu

Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

Expectations are for the upcoming baseball seasonGriffons baseball held its first practice of the highly anticipated season. The Griffons start

the season with high expectations as Collegiate Baseball Lineup ranked them No. 25 in their preseason poll.

Western guard Adarius Fulton is currently fourth in the conference for steals. Fulton had a season high with seven steals against Nebraska-Kearney and has a total of 35 in the season.

Men’s basketball guard steps it up on the court

Defensive end and sack specialist David Bass will play in the annual East-West Shrine Game on Saturday, January 19, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game will be played at Tropicana Field home of the Tampa Bay Rays and is considered a way to showcase your talent to NFL scouts before the draft. Bass is the second Griffon to play in the game as kicker Greg Zuerlein was invited last year.

Western’s all-time leading rusher Michael Hill will play in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic in Montgomery, Ala. on Saturday, January 19. His team will be coached by ex-NFL head coach Dan Reeves. The practices are open to the public.

Travis Partridge, Michael Hill, Macon Allen and David Bass were selected to the first team Don Hanson All Super Region 3 team. Ben Pister and Shane Simpson were honored by being selected to the third-team all defense.

D-1 transfer leads the team in 197 points The women’s basketball team, led by Heather Howard who leads the team with 197 points, plan to improve their conference record Jan. 16th against Lindenwood University.

SPORTS January 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 8

Andy Inman and Chad Hammontree | Design Artist and Graphics Editorr

of the WEEKAdarius Fulton

Adarius Fulton led the Griffons to a 75-64 road win against Nebraska-Kearney with 23 points on 9-for-13 from the field and added 7 steals and 3 assists. He followed that up with 11 points, 6 assists and 2 steals as the Griffons statement win over No. 24 ranked Northwest at the MWSU Fieldhouse. Fulton is averaging 10.1 points per game and leads the Griffons in assists with 3.7 per game and steals with 2.5 per game. He is currently fourth in the MIAA in steals.

ATHLETE#12 - Guard

ADARIUS FULTON

Andy Inman and Chad Hammontree | Design Artist and Graphics Editor

“I wanted to coach my players. I wanted to have the relationship with my players that I think I’ve had over the last 25 years. I didn’t want to fight administration. I took what I had and didn’t get into the other things.”

Smith became the third ever head coach at Western in 1988 when the school was in its last season in the NAIA. The success started immediately as the Griffons made it all the way to the finals of the District 16 play-offs.

The very next season in the school’s first year as a mem-ber of Division II, Smith led the Griffons to the MIAA reg-ular season and tournament championship and a birth in the NCAA tournament. He has coached the Griffons to 11 NCAA tournaments, five MIAA regular season titles and four MIAA postseason championships as well as being named MIAA Coach of the Year three times. 12 times he coached Western to a 20 plus win season.

Besides a few exceptions, Smith always went to the junior college ranks to find his players. He credits his three assistant coaches for recruiting the players over the years.

He built a reputation for being able to lose key play-ers off of good teams while finding a way to keep win-ning with new talent who had no prior experience on

the court together.“I think most coaches and

people would say the abil-ity to change my team and bring in four or five new guys every year and still be successful,” Smith said. “I think that was probably my biggest attribute.”

He had athletic players and gave them the freedom to do what they could do as opposed to always running a set offense. Something that he thinks most people have a bit of a misperception about.

“Its kind of funny because

I’ve read so many things that we are a real uptempo team and we’re not,” Smith said. “Freedom is one thing and I’ve been successful here many years giving a lot of freedom.”

“We aren’t really a great fast break team even in the good years,” Smith said. “The thing that surprises most people is that we are a lot more disciplined than fans think we are. Some of that is stereotyped into the type of players we have.

This is something that

Smith admits hasn’t brought the same type of success the last six or seven years as it once did even though his teams have still been com-petitive. Senior guard James Harris wants to do every-thing he can to send Smith off on a winning note in his season coaching the game that’s been a part of his life since day one.

“We are trying to get him a ring before he leaves and we want one just as bad as he does,” Harris said. “He’s a real cool guy. He gets on

you, but all he’s doing is trying to challenge you as a man. I respect him as an individual and as a coach.”

When Smith came to Western, he never imagined that it would be the last job he would take in his career. He thought that he would bounce back up to D-I. He was offered head coaching jobs there quickly after win-ning right away at Western.

But each time he thought about leaving and mak-ing the jump, he started to see all the same red flags

that he saw while running the Valparaiso program for eight years. That and he had a good thing going.

“I enjoy the quality of life that goes along with Division II,” Smith said. “Just the freedom to be able to do what I wanted to do – to coach -- and I didn’t have to teach a lot or do a lot of fund raising. There were not a lot of other demands on me other than my coaching.”

Athletic Direct Kurt McGuffin believes that Smith has made the job an attractive one for whoever takes over and expects there to be plenty of candidates to choose from.

“You may see it at the very top levels, but you don’t see it this level much and to do that is pretty special,” McGuffin said. “He’s won a lot of games and has a lot of players that come back and he’s a neat guy. He’s done everything I’ve ever asked and that anybody before me has asked.”

As for his retirement, Smith doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to do yet. Basketball has always been his thing and he doesn’t hunt, fish, play much golf or have any hobbies. His love for the game won’t change and he will enjoy watching MIAA games more than the stress of coaching them.

“I would really like to be able to watch games without a dog in the hunt,” Smith said. “I think it will be more fun with some popcorn and a coke and just watch the game and enjoy it.”

Men’s basketball head coach Tom Smith gets interviewed by Ryan Menley at the annual basketball Tip Off Party. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

SMITHCONTINUED FROM FRONT

Western men’s basketball (7-7, 3-3) protected its home court by defeating rival No. 24 Northwest Missouri 71-58. The Bearcats came into the game as the only undefeated team in MIAA conference play.

“We just came out know-ing that they were the top dogs in the league,” Kalvin Balque said. “We just wanted to come and show every-body that we can be one of those teams too and that we are just underrated.”

Balque provided a spark off the bench for the Griffons with 13 points including two big makes from 3-point dis-tance when the game was close. Coach Tom Smith gave him credit for raising his level of play against a tough team despite inconsis-tent playing time earlier in the season.

“Not only did he have a good performance, but he has taken a lot of criticism from me for stepping up and being the type of player that we know he’s capable of being,” Smith said. “There’s been games where he didn’t get to play much and some where he didn’t get to play at all. To come back from that to stand up and play like that against the toughest team of the year is pretty good.”

The Griffons got off to a fast start by taking a 6-0 lead before the Bearcats got on the scoreboard. Smith said he stressed that the team play on an even keel as he has seen even some of his great-est teams use up their energy early in the intense rivalry game against Northwest.

Northwest battled back and went into the halftime break with a 33-31 lead, but the Griffons locked down

defensively and only allowed 25 points in the second half while scoring 40.

“We just played hard,” James Harris said. “Our con-fidence level is high right now. They are just another team in the MIAA, we don’t look at anyone different just because of their record. We just come in and play every game as one.”

The Griffons had five play-ers score in double-figures, something that has been missing during the losses and that Smith would love to continue to see. Harris led the team with 14 points while Balque added 13. Dzenan Mrkaljevic scored 11 points, including 3-for-4 from 3-point distance and added 10 rebounds and Adarius Fulton scored 11 points with six assists. Cedric Clinkscales scored

seven points and pulled down 10 boards.

Alfreeman Flowers scored 10 points includ-ing a huge dunk where he jumped up and flushed a lob pass from Harris, which was the undisput-ed most exciting play of the night and possibly the season sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Smith thought that Northwest would be more prepared to play in the zone after having no games last week, but the defense forced the Bearcats to shoot just 7-for-29 from 3-point distance and 4-for-20 from deep in the second half.

After a slow start to the conference season, the Griffons have now won three out of their last four games to get back to .500 in

the win-loss column. Smith is seeing the improvement that comes with a new team starting to gel after a rocky start.

“There’s no question that this team is getting better,” Smith said. “Are we out of the woods? Certainly not by a long shot, but that’s the whole thing is to keep get-ting better as the season goes along, especially when you have two or three new start-ers.”

Harris, one of the few impact players on the team that also played a major role last season, is encour-aged by the improvement in team chemistry with his new teammates.

“We started out shaky but we are playing more as a team,” Harris said. “We know where our spots are at, where guys sweet spots are at on the court so we are coming together as a team.”

The Griffons return to action against Lindenwood University on Jan. 16 at the MWSU Fieldhouse.

James Harris goes for a lay-up. Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

Improving Griffons upset BearcatsKyle Inman | Sports Editorkinman@missouriwestern.edu

Smith known for winning with new faces

MIAA STANDINGS NO. 1 NORTHWEST  (4-1)NO. 2 CENTRAL MISSOURI (4-1) NO. 3 WASHBURN (3-1) NO. 4 PITTSBURG STATE  NO. 5 CENTRAL OKLAHOMA (4-2) NO. 6 FORT HAYS STATE (3-2) NO. 7 MISSOURI SOUTHERN (3-2)NO. 8 NORTH EASTERN STATE (3-3) NO. 9 MISSOURI WESTERN (3-3) NO. 10 SOUTHWEST BAPTIST (3-3) NO. 11 LINDENWOOD (2-3) NO. 12 TRUMAN (2-4) NO. 13 EMPORIA STATE (1-4) NO. 14 NEBRASKA KEARNEY (1-5) NO. 15 LINCOLN (1-5) 

When it came to tap shoes, leotards, and pirouettes, Western didn’t have a lot to offer. But all of that has changed. Starting this spring, Western is offering three brand new dance courses, Jazz Dance Technique 1, Be-ginning Dance, and Begin-ning Tap Dance. Each course is worth two credit hours and counts toward the dance minor. Before these cours-es, Beginning Social Dance was the only dance-related course offered at Western.

“The dance minor pro-vides a variety of courses that will enable those work-ing in future artistic fields to communicate with danc-ers and choreographers, to choreograph dances, and to have a broader educa-tion on dance, dance history and international cultures,” Western dance instructor Su-zanne Ryan Strati said. “Ad-ditionally, students who took dance at any age and miss it or students who have never had the opportunity to take concert dance classes have an opportunity to do so.”

Ryan Strati started danc-ing professionally when she was 19 years old. Later, she directed a dance company in Kansas City. She has a Mas-ter’s of Fine Arts in Dance Choreography from the Uni-versity of Iowa. Before she came to Western, she taught for three years at the Univer-sity of Iowa in Iowa City and for four years at the Kansas

City Ballet School. Her past in dance and academics makes her a real asset to Mis-souri Western, because she brings both academic studies and professional dance knowledge.

“Dance brings me great joy from an artistic, creative, and physical aspect. I love seeing the individual development of the artists and the aha mo-ment when a student discov-ers something for the first time, be it a way to move or a new creative approach,” Ryan Strati said.

One of the best things that Ryan Strati brings to the ta-ble is her constant passion for dance. Even though she is now a dance teacher at Western, she has not stopped pursuing her own personal dance goals. Currently, Ryan Strati is working closely with the Parkinson’s Founda-tion. The foundation invited her to go through a training program out of New York in partnership with the Mark

Morris Dance Company. Af-ter she completes this train-ing, she will be able to teach dance classes to people that are diagnosed with Parkin-son’s disease.

“What keeps me passion-ate about dance is continu-ing to grow as an artist. I love learning new techniques, do-ing research on dance around the world, and continuing to work as an artist in the field of choreography,” Ryan Stra-ti said. “I tried to quit twice and after the second time, I was so happy that I never looked back.”

Ryan Strati is not the only one who had a deep enough passion to make dance classes a reality at Western. A survey was conducted at Western and in Saint Jo-seph to determine if there was enough of a city-wide interest in Western offering a dance minor. The survey yielded an overwhelming amount of positive feedback toward the idea of college credit for new dance courses and the addition of a dance minor at Western.

“The specific courses se-lected in the minor program were the result of two things, areas of interest indicated by the community and on the university survey and the re-search of other schools, col-leges, and universities that offer a dance minor degree,” music professor Susan Carter said.

The dance courses could be beneficial for students pursuing a number of degree programs. Theatre majors, music majors, and physical education majors might look more desirable to employers with a dance minor on their resumes.

“[The new dance courses] offer a balance to a wide range of degrees. Many of our music majors are plan-ning on careers as high school choral directors,” Carter said. “Social work majors are looking for areas in which to specialize. Dance therapy has a strong future. Physical education majors would add yet another level to their resume by adding a dance minor.”

This spring, students in-terested in dance can sashay their way into a dance minor. This minor gives students the chance to choreograph their own dance routines, to network with other people who are also pursuing dance, and to harness their dance skills to prepare them for the real world.

“Dance is movement and that within itself pro-vides health benefits. In an academic setting, students perform in front of people, get ongoing feedback, and learn personal responsibil-ity,” Ryan Strati said. “Come dance with us!”

FEATURES January 17, 2013

The Griffon NewsPage 5

Jourdan Ryan | Features Editorjhuffman@missouriwestern.edu

Everyone and their mother knows the ending, we are all just along for the ride.

When you make a film about the investigation and the execution of assassinat-ing Osama Bin Ladin, that is the basic idea.

In “Zero Dark Thirty,” we all know what the ending is going to be and are hoping

the adventure that the film-makers take us through is at least moderately entertain-ing. It was beyond that.

Kathryn Bigelow returns to a Middle-Eastern war setting with her latest film, and her return is rather triumphant. With a political premise, this film was already easy Oscar-bait, but when you take into consideration the execution, there is no doubt about its potential for a Best Picture win.

Not to say that “Zero Dark Thirty” is easily the best film of the year, because it isn’t, but it is one of the most well-made films of the year and fits the category of what one would call an “Oscar film”

One of the most impres-sive feats of the film is that the hard work put into it shows. As I was sitting in the theater, I could easily tell that there was a lot of effort put into this piece and couldn’t really find any spots of lazi-ness or missed opportunities.

The film mainly focuses around Jessica Chastain’s character, Maya, who is a young woman with the CIA. Maya leads the charge in try-ing to find Bin Ladin. She puts on one of the best per-formances of the year and one of she has one of the most commanding presences I’ve seen in a while. There is no doubt that she is the odds on favorite for Best Actress.

While her character had depth to it and her perfor-

mance was fantastic, she was really the main focus so there was some ground lost on other characters. This doesn’t downgrade the film much, but it was something that could have improved it even more.

Another small issue was the run time. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, the film is rather long. Sometimes this works as an advantage when the film calls for an “epic” style of narrative, but there were several instances within the film where some scenes be-gan to drag.

The dragging did help be-cause when the “hunt” oc-curred near the end of the film, it was such a jump in pacing that it caused a lot of excitement. The run time could have been cut down by about 10 minutes or so.

Be warned because this is not your typical “war film.” While there are a lot of excit-ing parts, a majority of the film does take place in an of-

fice setting and involves a lot of research and “behind the glory” analysis, so it may not be for everyone.

Another worry some au-diences may have has to do with the subject matter. It would be easy to assume that Bigelow might try to push a political view on the audience. That isn’t the case with this film though. She presents material that will be debated, but there isn’t a specific stance taken.

There are several spots in the film that highlight intense interrogation and torture and

it may be uncomfortable for some. Others may not agree with the ethics of the charac-ters, but those ethics do pro-vide an interesting view and some viewers may actually begin to understand why torture in war-times can be necessary.

Ultimately, the acting and directing are stellar in “Zero Dark Thirty” and I urge any audience member to go see it in a theater as quick as possible.

Joe Snapp | Graphics Editor

Easy Oscar favorite

www.GriffonNews.comView our video movie review at 

We give this movie 4 out of 5 stars

MOVIE TRIVIA:Rooney Mara was originally cast but had to drop out as was replaced by Jessica Chastain. 

Three new dance classes shake up Western

Brian Duskey | Multimedia Editorbduskey@missouriwestern.edu

Suzanne Ryan Strati Adjunct Instructor of Dance

In addition to the three courses offered, students can now mi-nor in dance. “Dance is movement and that within itself pro-vides health benefits,” Suzanne Ryan Strati, adjunct instructor of dance said. *Submitted Photo

Western now offers new dance classes that include Tap, Dance and Beginning Jazz. All these courses are offered for two credit hours. *Submitted Photo

Let Loose:

Joel Edgerton and Chris Pratt pair up in this epic adventure film. *Courtesy of imdb.com