Roosevelt torch issue 21

BY DALY TONGRENSTAFF WRITER

The Roosevelt Univer-sity Presidential Search Committee held an open forum for students at 1 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Wa-bash Building, with the first of three presidential candidates who are in the running to take over the presidency of the universi-ty in the coming months.

Dr. Ali Malekzadeh, the first candidate to be introduced to Roosevelt students, answered ques-tions regarding student concerns and his plans for the presidency.

“The student forum was included so that the students have the oppor-tunity to ask questions, and the candidates can learn directly from the students about their expe-riences and vision for the university,” said Bridget Collier, assistant provost of Student Development.

Malekzadeh currently works at Kansas State University, where he serves as the Edgerley Family Dean and profes-sor of management.

Malekzadeh comes into Roosevelt with a background of mostly

business-related accom-plishments. His resume includes multiple pub-lished articles, awards and several academic po-sitions as both a professor and administrative.

Malekzadeh joked with students and made a point to shake hands and go through brief introduc-tions with each of them as they entered the room.

Students posed ques-tions about some of their concerns, including office communication, labor management, financial aid, student success and retention, among others.

Malekzadeh also men-tioned the idea of fund-raising in response to stu-dent concern regarding the financial instability that many Roosevelt stu-dents face.

“The one issue that makes me emotional is when a student has to drop due to lack of finan-cial aid,” he said. “What I pledge to do is significant fundraising, so that we have enough funds for those types of emergen-cies and long before that.”

Leann Revis, a social justice major, asked Male-kzadeh to define what social justice–Roosevelt

University’s mission–meant to him.

“The Roosevelt Uni-versity mission of social justice resonated with me, which is why I ap-plied. Honestly, I’m here because that mission is about the American dream. I’m a refugee from Iran. I came here because of a government that I disagreed with and was granted asylum and came here. I pursued my Amer-ican dream by going to a university,“ Malekzadeh said.

Malekzadeh discussed a student-mentor pro-gram accompanied with a professional career suc-cess map that was adapt-ed from KSU, which he passed around the audi-ence. He noted that the program, along with the more general issue of stu-dent success, was one of the issues he said is the most important in regard to student retention rates.

When asked what his greatest accomplishment in his career was so far, Malekzadeh said that out-side of his family, his time teaching meant the most to him.

“To me, being a teach-er is a calling. It’s much

Vol. lXXI ... No. 21 rooseVelttorch.commoNday, February 23, 2015

The Roosevelt TorchoFFIcIal studeNt Newspaper oF rooseVelt uNIVersIty • chIcago • schaumburg

Lakers lose on senior night to Saint Xavier PAGE 8

Imagine Dragons is all ‘Smoke + Mirrors’ PAGE 7

BSU hosts Zuzu Acrobats on campusPAGE 4

BY RACHEL POPASTAFF REPORTER

The Student Govern-ment Association met Feb. 18 to discuss various changes and upcoming

events on the agenda. SGA President Rachel

Pieczura started the meet-ing off by talking about the various committees that the various senators will be a part of.

Pieczura also outlined the responsibilities for such committees.

“As committees, you guys will have to report to the Executive Board dur-ing our executive meet-ings. It’s really important that you guys let us know about what your commit-tee is doing, and where you’re going,” Pieczura told the senators.

Another topic of discus-sion involved the recent visit of Roosevelt Univer-sity presidential candi-date Dr. Ali Malekzadeh, who according to Chris Mich–the student trustee of SGA–was “warmly re-ceived.”

An open forum took place where students and faculty could ask questions

to the candidate. There are going to be two more presi-dential candidates coming to the university. Dr. Gail Simmons will visit Feb. 26 through Feb. 27, and Dr. Isiaah Crawford plans to visit March 2 through March 3.

SGA is pushing to get the word out about these open forums so that the Roosevelt student body has the chance to have a say in who the next president is.

At the first forum, there wasn’t a large turnout, but SGA is predicting a larger turnout at the next forum because they plan to ad-vertise it more.

Mich elaborated on the process of planning these forums.

“They’re trying as best

as they can to put these fo-rums at a convenient time, but these presidential can-didates are from out of town, and they often have a lot of other meetings to go to in the same day,” Mich said.

Senator Phil Crawford asked Mich during the meeting if the input of the students matters, when the university is choosing a new president.

“It does,” Mich said. “We, on the committee, sent out a survey to the Roosevelt community to solicit feed-back on each candidate. All that feedback goes back to the Presidential Search Committee, and we dis-cuss how the presidential candidates’ visits went. If we see that a large portion

of people aren’t digging the candidate, we would defi-nitely factor that into the decision.”

SGA recommends that Roosevelt students partici-pate in these surveys and forums in order to have their voices heard. SGA will be posting fliers adver-tising the events as well.

SGA discussed its efforts to partner and collaborate with RISE as well.

Mich discussed the po-tential partnership with RISE.

“We got some clarifica-tion on how we want to possibly work with RISE. It would be in such a way that whatever relationship we form is going to be in a way that gets approved by

... cont. on page 2

SGA discusses committee changes and upcoming student forum

PHOTO BY NAOMI OBAHORSGA discusses the upcoming presidential candidate visits and plan upcoming events in its weekly meeting.

Inaugural Roosevelt presidential candidate meets with students in open forum

COURTESY OF NICK BRUENNINGPresidential candidate Dr. Ali Malekzadeh meets with students in an open forum Feb. 16.

...cont. on page 2

2 | The RoosevelT ToRch | FebRuaRy 23, 2015

News

BY JOSHUA M. HICKSSTAFF REPORTER

Groups Investigating God, a Roosevelt Univer-sity student organiza-tion, provided training Feb. 17 for Christians to strengthen their faith.

Group leader Rachael Eid-Ries discussed the program and how it got started.

“GIG is a four to six week Bible study series that allows people who are curious about Jesus, who have never stud-ied the bible before, or who have been hurt by the church to engage in scripture [and] ask questions,” Eid-Ries said. “It started a week ago. I invited students who wanted to partici-pate, and they said yes. There are two weekly training sessions, with a total of 7 students par-ticipating.”

Eid-Ries also went into detail about the sole purpose of the train-

ing, and its mission to strengthen Christian faith.

“The GIG training is to equip Christians to learn how to share their faith in an approach-able, relational way with their friends and colleagues. Each week, the students learn dif-ferent pieces of how to do this: prayer, writing and sharing their story of how they became a Jesus follower, learning how to have spiritual conversations and learn-ing how to lead a group investigating God,” Eid-Ries said. “The hope is that by the end of this training, students will be ready to invite their curious friends into a group that investigates God together.”

Eid-Ries also added that the program is con-nected to other student movements, and that they all want to make a positive influence on campus.

“This training is part of a larger student movement called Illume Arts Community. A few music and theater stu-dents and I founded it a year and a half ago, when I was attending [Roosevelt University] as a graduate music student,” Eid-Ries said. “Our mission is to be a community of artists who connect our art, life and faith as we pur-sue God’s dreams for us and the world. Since graduating, I’ve become the staff worker for this campus ministry and de-sire to continue to serve the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the greater student body at Roosevelt through men-torship and training.”

Chang Aoiu, a gradu-ate student in the Eng-lish language program at Roosevelt, discussed how he became a part of GIG.

“I heard it from my friend Sheena Qiu,

who also attended the meeting. We are in the same major playing the piano. She knows I am a Christian, so she in-vited me when she got the information. I think whatever can make me closer to God, it’s good. I try to have some good influence in that kind of meeting and to learn how to practice what I’ve learned and teach it,” Aoiu said.

Although this was his first week attending the training, Aoiu said that the training will be a good experience for him.

“It’s hard to say since I just attended this pro-gram one week ago, but I think it is [a] good experience for me. I think whenever I try to preach, those experi-ences will help me in a natural way,” Aoiu said.

GIG’s next meeting is Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. in Wa-bash 618.

Roosevelt organization of fers faith-based training for students

PLEASE SEND MAIL TO The Roosevelt Torch, 18 S. Michigan Ave., Room 515 or [email protected]. • Letters to the editor may be shortened to fit available space.

312.281.3242

@RUTorch/roosevelttorchnews

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shawn Gakhal MANAGING EDITORCourtney Clark LAYOUT EDITOR Emma Iglesias

PHOTO EDITORBreanna Walsh

COPY EDITORMegan Schuller

WEB EDITORAustin Slott

GRAPHIC EDITORPook Piyatida

STAFF REPORTERSKatherine GageLauren GrimaldiJoshua M. HicksRachel PopaDaly TongrenBUSINESS MANAGERTom CiceroASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Efe Iyare

TORCH CONSULTANTEric Hahn

FACULTY ADVISORBilly Montgomery

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERNaomi Obahor

PUBLICATION POLICYViews expressed are those of the authors and are not an expression of Roosevelt University policy. The Roosevelt Torch prides itself in its dedication to addressing news that affects the Roosevelt community while uncovering stories that both enlighten and entertain. All advertising is subject to acceptance.The business department can be reached at [email protected]

Roosevelt toRch staff CONTACT US

CRIME DOWN ON CTA IN 2014

The Chicago Transit Authority announced re-cently that the amount of serious crimes com-mitted on CTA buses and trains was down over 26 percent in 2014.

“By working closely with the Chicago Police Department and con-tinuing our investment in security technology, we have been able to increase arrests with the aid of state-of-the-art video and provide a more secure environ-ment for everyone,” CTA President For-rest Claypool said in a release.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel cited security cameras and the cooperation with the police depart-ment as major causes of the dip in crime.

“We are committed to the safety of every Chicagoan who takes public transportation, we are sending the message that we will not tolerate criminal ac-tivity, and we are seeing the results,” Emanuel said in a statement.

Around 23,000 cameras were installed in and around CTA stations across the city. Other contributing factors to the decrease in crime were more cops around the areas, as well as a decrease in ridership across the system.

MAN STEALS SIX IPHONES FROM LINCOLN PARK STORE

A 25-year-old man stole six iPhones from the Lincoln Park Apple store, according to DNAinfo.com.

Authorities say the man, Bilal Matarieh, had made an appointment for help with a broken phone at the Genius bar under a fake name. However, upon the appointment Matarieh showed his real ID. The

report says he showed his ID to the store manager as well as an Apple technician. Short-ly after showing his identification, the man went behind the coun-ter and took six iPhones valued at around $1400. The security cameras in the store were able to capture the entire inci-dent, and Matarieh was later arrested at work.

At press time, Ma-tarieh is being held on $75,000 bail.

CARS LEFT UNATTENDED TO WARM UP BEING STOLEN

Chicagoans that leave their cars unat-tended to warm them up during this cold weather may want to rethink their willingness to do so. According to DNAinfo.com, there have been a string of robberies in which the car owner had left their vehicle running to warm it up and have had their cars stolen.

A recent incident cu-mulated with a woman getting the attention of the police, when she saw her mother’s ve-hicle being driven down the street. The police then followed the car in which the suspect ran a red light and stop sign, as well as driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

CRIME BLOTTERThe Roosevelt Torch crime blotter serves to in-form students about recent crime activity in and around the Chicago area, with a specific focus on those that could closely affect college students.

— Lauren Grimaldi, Staff Reporter

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDA

‘Inaugural Roosevelt presidential candidate meets with students’cont. from page 1

more important than any-thing else I can imagine,” he said.

Student turnout for the open forum was very low. There were only a handful of students in attendance and members of the PSC, among other staff, occu-pied most of the chairs in the room.

The committee has sur-veys about each candidate available for students who attend the events and will take their input into ac-count when making their final decision after the con-clusion of the open forum series.

“Students have been sent the same survey link as the faculty and staff. All feedback from the commu-nity is valued and consid-

ered in this process,” Col-lier said.

Senior Nick Bruenning was one of the few students who did attend the forum and justified his decision to leave class early to attend.

“If I want to see chang-es happen, I can’t just sit around and wait for them to happen. I actually want to be there and have my voice heard and see what our future president would have to say on the issues that I’m concerned about,” Bruenning said.

The second presiden-tial candidate open forum with Dr. Gail Simmons will take place Thursday, Feb. 26 from 10:45 a.m. until noon in the Congress Lounge.

‘SGA discusses changes and forum’cont. from page 1

SGA,” he said.Mich said that what-

ever relationship that ex-ists between the SGA and RISE will be one that is fair and appropriate to both of the organizations’ agendas.

“We try to reach out to every student organi-zation, but if they do not wish to attend, we cannot force them to,” said Piec-zura.

Lastly, SGA talked about the upcoming town hall meeting taking place March 3. During the meeting, students will have the opportunity to ask questions about vari-ous university-related topics such as financial aid. The senators dis-cussed the various lo-cations that are up for consideration. As of now, the location is to be deter-

mined, but SGA is plan-ning to hold the meeting in Ganz Hall. If the or-ganization is not able to host the meeting in Ganz Hall, then the meeting will likely be in the Con-gress Lounge.

Senator Eric Chaney conducted a presenta-tion of his and Crawford’s ideas for the town hall meeting.

“Phil [Crawford] and I will be taking submis-sions for questions to ask during the forum,” he told the members.

Executive Board meet-ings are Thursdays at 3 p.m. The location is to be determined.

SGA meetings are held every Wednesday in the Spertus Lounge of the Auditorium Building at 5 p.m.

BY LAUREN GRIMALDISTAFF REPORTER

Chicago will hold an election for mayor Feb. 24. This will give Chi-cagoans the chance to elect someone new to the office of mayor, or of course, keep their trust in Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Of course, a runoff election is very possible. According to an article published on CBSChica-go.com, Emanuel is close to achieving the amount of votes needed–at least one vote over 50 percent–to avoid a runoff in April. Here’s a closer look at some of Emanuel’s opponents.

Willie Wilson is a successful businessman hopeful to be elected mayor. According to WGN.com, he spent the beginning of his life in poverty before eventually making his way to the top.

Wilson said the top issues that he’ll be focus-ing on in this election are education, public safety and job creation.

“We need to get our

officers back on the streets and into our neighbor-hoods. We need to in-corporate them into the communities and re-en-gage them. Hiring more officers is not the only answer—we need to work on management of the officers we already have on the payroll,” Wilson said in a Chicago Sun-Times candidate questionnaire.

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is another candidate in the 2015 mayoral race. He has his master’s and bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Garcia’s platform revolves around safety across the city.

“My main focus will be reducing gang and gun violence through im-proved police-community relations and by putting 1,000 additional appropri-ately trained police on the street. I will strengthen our local public schools and make them the center of neighborhood life and activity,” Garcia said in the questionnaire with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) is a lawyer, who is running on a platform that focuses on the issues of econom-ic opportunities, safety and better education.

“Good, well resourced public schools are the backbone of our communi-ties. By giving our teach-ers the resources they need and giving a voice to those whose opinion matters most–parents, students and teachers–we can truly make our educa-tion system world class,” Fioretti said in aforemen-tioned questionnaire.

The last candidate besides Emanuel is community activist William Walls, III. His campaign has focused on

the issues of job creation, education and saving money in the budget.

“The last of my three priorities is to implement several cost saving ini-tiatives and measures designed to increase cost effectiveness and energy efficiency without nega-tively impacting safety or service,” Walls said, per the questionnaire.

There are many can-didates in the running to oust Emanuel this year, but there’s no clear frontrunner for the mayoral office. Violence, education and budget-ing are very important topics in this election and will be decisive in deciding the next mayor.

The RoosevelT ToRch | FebRuaRy 23, 2015 | 3

FeaturesMayoral elections give voters a chance to make a change

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDA

BY KATHERINE GAGESTAFF REPORTER

Roosevelt University Hon-ors Adviser Megan Bernard headed up a workshop Feb. 13 offered to students that equipped them, with methods to earn additional scholarships.

Bernard presented the students with an information-al slideshow and a writing portion, where attendees evaluated their goals.

Students also filled out a questionnaire that Bernard provided, which allowed them to break through mental barriers and assess how they would work toward their goals and not be held back, even if they didn’t find the adequate amount of funding.

Then, students were paired up into small groups and dis-cussed how to accomplish the goals they have set out in front of them that would require scholarship funding, such as af-fording tuition, saving for grad-uate school, studying abroad, living off campus, or working at an unpaid internship.

Bernard told students how to convince employers that they are a good investment. Bernard did this by helping students go over three key points, defining and refining goals, preparing a kit and identifying opportunities.

Bernard defined a kit as a

flash drive one uses to hold reference information, letters of recommendation, updated resume, school transcripts and a personal statement template one can use to work with for each application submitted. By having a kit in advance, students will feel less pres-sure when they hear about an opportunity for funding, which will allow a head start in the application process.

In attendance was Honors student Sarah Lamparski, who said one of the highlight of the workshop was learning how to “make myself more marketable and really trying to incorporate real goals and reasons as to why I deserve a scholarship.”

“It was good to brainstorm ideas for asking for money that helped incorporate our goals into how we can get those extra scholarships and grants.” Lamparski said. “I would definitely recommend it to other honors students. It was really helpful to be given those extra resources and advice.”

Bernard closed the lecture stressing that money is not important compared to to other things in life. “Don’t love the cash more than the person you are working into [becoming],” Bernard said.

Bernard has plans to host another workshop for students, who were not able to attend in the future.

Scholarship workshop helps students understand additional aid

2/16/15

3/2/15


Features

BY DALY TONGRENSTAFF REPORTER

Black Student Union hosted the Zuzu Acro-bats in the Congress Lounge Feb. 16 in honor of Black History Month.

The group’s perfor-mance took place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Con-gress Lounge, accompa-nied by free popcorn. The acrobats performed for about 45 minutes, with a routine that involved lim-bo, chair balancing and audience participation.

The acrobat group, whose members are from Mombasa, Kenya, travel across the globe perform-ing what it considers to be traditional, East African acrobatic routines. The group sets its routines to a background of pop-ular African music and perform a wide variety of dance moves and stunts for all sorts of audiences.

The Zuzu Acrobats were exposed to a new sense of national rec-ognition in 2011, when they were contestants on “America’s Got Talent.”

“This isn’t typically what you think about when you think about Black History Month, but I feel like everything during Black History

Month doesn’t have to be so serious,” said Sean Tyler, president of BSU.

Ida Mwai, one of the students who at-tended the event, was pulled onstage by one

of the acrobats to par-ticipate in a jump rope and limbo contest.

“I really enjoyed the Zuzu Acrobats. I love the dance and acrobatics, so it was definitely the place to be. It was hype, and it was nice that there was a lot of audience partic-ipation,” Mwai said.

Attendance for the event exceeded the amount of open chairs available, and the music drew in a lot of foot traffic of students and faculty on their way to night classes.

“The acrobats were

super engaging with the crowd, and the program was really cool,” said sophomore Maya Maynard.

Tyler explained that the acrobat event wasn’t as easy to plan as some of the organization’s oth-er black history-related programs,due to room conflicts and contracts.

Since the acrobat group is considered high-risk for the university due to its physical style of performance, a lot of behind-the-scenes work with the Student Activity Fee Allocation Commit-tee and the Center for Student Involvement were involved in the preparation process.

“They [Zuzu Acrobats] reached out to us in an email and let us know they were going to be in the area, and this is a project that has been in the works since De-cember,” Tyler said.

The acrobats’ perfor-mance was one of the many events BSU is hosting in honor of Black History Month. The organization will tie up its celebration with its fifth annual Black His-tory Celebration Feb. 25 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Congress Lounge.

BSU hosts Zuzu Acrobats on campus for Black History Month

MEGAN SCHULLERCOPY EDITOR

Ignacy Gula, a German international student, performed a French horn recital in Ganz Hall Feb. 17, which was accompanied by Chicago College of Performing Arts professor of conducting, Steve Squires on piano.

Seven songs were chosen and performed by Gula including songs by Joseph Hayden, Ludwig Beethoven and a Roosevelt student.

Nicolás Gutiérrez, who also plays French horn, wrote a solo piece for Gula’s performance. Gula said he chose some of the pieces because he had played them for a long time and felt confident on them.

“The last piece [‘Fidelio’] I really wanted to make into something bigger, with an opera singer, piano and three French horns. Typically, it’s only been performed in an op-era with an orchestra,” Gula said. “Everyone had their own parts, but there was some interaction between them. When performing together, you feel you are communi-cating without saying some-thing through the music.”

The “Fidelio” piece, origi-nally composed by Ludwig Beethoven, also featured

freshman soprano vocal performance major Ange-line Petronijevic, professor of French horn Jonathan Boen and international student Roberto Rivera.

“He did a very special per-formance of the Arie of Bee-thoven’s ‘Fidelio.’ That was a stellar experience because the piece is so rarely done because of the odd instrumentation,” Squires said. “The first piece on this recital, [‘Bagatelle for Horn and Piano’], was very common with European auditions, and most Amer-icans haven’t heard of it.”

Gula’s solo piece, which was written by Gutiérrez, a graduate student in music composition, was titled “From the Ether for solo Horn in F.” Gutiérrez explained how he was inspired to write the song for Gula.

“I like poetry, so I wrote out

a couplet and wrote out what-ever feelings I could associate from that,” Gutiérrez said. “When he goes back, people in Germany, whom I’ve never met, will be hearing the song.”

Squires said the best part about performing alongside his students, is working one-on-one with them throughout the process.

“When making music one-on-one, you spend time re-hearsing, working out musical solutions, compromises and you learn how to work togeth-er as a team,” Squires said.

Gula plans to go back to Germany to get his master’s degree to play in orchestras and become a music teacher.

“Being in America opened my eyes that’s it’s possible to be a freelance musician...I took a lot of inspiration from here, but I’m happy to be going back to Europe,” Gula said.

Ignacy Gula performed a French horn recital in Ganz Hall, featur-ing other CCPA students and faculty.

F o r e i g n C C P A s t u d e n t wows at recital

THINK BUSINESS MINOR BE PREPARED FOR THE WORKPLACE

Advising Begins March 2

Please call to make an appointment: 312-281-3289 Chicago

847-619-4850 Schaumburg

PHOTO BY MEGAN SCHULLER

“I really enjoyed

the Zuzu Acrobats.

I love the dance and

acrobatics, so it was

definitely the place

to be.” – Ida Mwai


‘ORPHAN TRAIN’When Penobscot Indian orphan Molly Ayer is about to “grow” out of the foster care system, she meets Vivian, an elderly woman who needs help cleaning out her home. Molly soon learns that Vivian, an Irish immigrant, was also an orphan, resulting in a candid friendship form-ing between the two. After she was orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train with other orphans and shipped out to the Midwest. “Orphan Train” is about an unlikely friendship that forms between two people who are very much alike. “Orphan Train” was written by Chris-tina Baker Kline.

pop culture radarBY RACHEL POPA | STAFF REPORTER

‘THE NIGHTINGALE’The lives of two sisters are followed in this World War II epic. Vianne, the older of the two, is forced to live with the enemy after France is invaded by the Nazis, and her home is taken from her. Her rebellious 18-year-old sister Isabelle joins the French Resistance and risks her life to save oth-ers after her heart is broken by a partisan. The two take their own paths toward survival in war torn France. “The Nightingale” was written by Kristin Hannah.

Movies & TV

‘CRASH AND BURN’After Nicole Frank is in-volved in a nearly fatal car crash, she begins to suffer from a rare brain injury that results in the police not being able to trust anything she says. As it turns out, Frank is one of the only people who may know where a missing child is. However, someone wants her dead, making any investigation into the child’s disappearance very difficult. This New York Times best-seller by Lisa Gard-ner is a riveting page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

BOOKS

‘‘WILD TALES’ Stress more often than not is a common element in everyday life. “Wild Tales” explores what happens when one breaks under such stress. The movie walks the line between civilization and barbarism, as everyday encounters drive the characters to experience the undeniable pleasure of losing control. “Wild Tales” brings to light the vulnerability and unpredictability of those who crumble under stress. Variety Magazine hailed “Wild Tales” to be “wickedly delightful.” “Wild Tales” is scheduled for a limited release Feb. 20.

‘WHAT IF?’Randall Munroe, creator of the popular website “xkcd,” gives readers scientific answers to absurd questions. What would happen if you hit a baseball at 90 percent the speed of light? How long would humanity last during a robot apocalypse? Munroe answers all these questions, with clarity and hilarity through various scientific means.

‘141 THOUGHTS I HAD WHILE WATCHING “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY’”Buzzfeed writer Jarett Wieselman documents the thoughts he had while watching “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Having not read the book, Wieselman went into watching the movie ignorant to what it would be about. What resulted was a hilariously honest documentation of the movie’s content. One of the funnier lines is referring to the main character’s lax reaction to Christian Grey’s S&M “playroom.” He writes, “although, I guess it’s better than his playroom being filled with all his Broadway Playbills, framed, and hung in chronological order.”

‘FOCUS’Starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie, “Focus” is a crime comedy coming to theaters Feb. 27. Nicky (Will Smith) is a successful con-artist whose plans get thrown through a loop when Jess (Margot Robbie) comes back into his life.

‘MCFARLAND USA’Kevin Costner stars in this Disney film about an All-Star cross-country team from a struggling town. This sports drama is about more than run-ning. Themes of the importance and power of family, teamwork and community are central to the movie’s plot. The members of the cross-country team come together to defy the odds stacked against them in “McFarland USA.”

‘AMERICANS TRY THAI DESSERTS’This video chronicles what it’s like to try exotic Thai desserts for the first time. The people who had the pleasure of sampling the Thai delicacies came to the conclusion that anything that is in the shape of a taco is usually a good bet. Although, one of the desserts they tried was described as tasting like “mango mixed with vomit,” so perhaps

it’s best to take Thai sweets with a grain of salt.

‘25 WAYS TO AVOID EVER LEAVING YOUR COUCH AGAIN’Buzzfeed enlightens and enriches our lives with this guide about how to be the epitome of a couch potato. The list includes everything a couch-loving hermit would ever need including a remote-control tissue box, a couch that can turn into a bed, clap-on clap-off lights, a robotic pet, foot massager and much more.

‘TOGETHERNESS’When a bickering husband and wife take in some mutual friends as roommates, they find their lives becoming even more complicated. “Together-ness” is a witty and hilari-ous take on both friend-ships and relationships alike. The show premiered Jan. 11 on HBO.

internet

‘JOHN OLIVER SMOKES THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY ON ‘LAST WEEK TONIGHT”’In his latest current issues segment, comedian John Oliver highlighted the wrong-doings of the tobacco industry. More specifically, he attacked Marlboro, a cigarette brand previously known for their cowboy mascot. Ironically, Oliver pointed out that four of the actors that have played the Marlboro Man have died of tobacco-related

diseases. Furthermore, Oliver brought to light the various greedy lawsuits the tobacco industry has initiated, includ-ing the one they filed against Australia. Oliver also proposed a new mascot for Marlboro, “Jeff the Diseased Lung.” Jeff is a black spotted lung wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Oliver claims that ads featuring Jeff should be making its way to a city near you, so needless to say, all of us in Chicago are looking forward to seeing Jeff. All in all, Oliver always manages to deliver current news in a hysterical and informative manner, making Oliver’s newest

rant a must-see. FASHION FOCUS

Mona Niebuhr, junior, accounting major. “I like my blazer. I like the color and its something refreshing in the winter.”

Ignacio del Ray, gradu-ate student, trombone performance major. “My sweater is a pres-ent from my family, and I really love it.”

Charles Middleton, president of Roosevelt University. “The favorite part of my outfit today, because it varies from day to day, is my tie. That’s because I had to ponder this morning, which purple tie I would wear with this purple shirt.”

BREANNA WALSHPHOTO EDITOR


BY LAUREN GRIMALDISTAFF REPORTER

Over the years, NBC “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams had be-come synonymous with the words trustworthy, honest and fair. All of that was recently de-stroyed when Williams admitted to bending the truth to a story he’s been telling for years.

Williams had always stuck to the story that he was in a military plane taken down while he was covering the Iraq War. When the man that was flying that plane accused Williams of lying about being on board, the mili-tary newspaper Stars and Stripes dug into the story and proved that Williams was never aboard a plane that got shot down but was in the one behind it.

The most important rule of journalism is to tell the truth. When Williams lied about his involvement with this, he broke that rule and for that needs to be punished. Of course, NBC had to oblige with the outrage that Williams caused. He’s been suspended without pay from his posi-tion for six months and most likely will never return to that desk again.

That’s exactly what he deserves. His lies prove that he isn’t doing his job right. And when most people fail to perform exceptionally at their professions, their employ-ment ends with a firing.

I still like Williams as a person. He’s proven him-self to be funny, smart and easygoing through his many appearances on “The Daily Show” and

“The Late Show with Da-vid Letterman.” But his actions are inexcusable.

There’s no justifying his lies, and he broke the most important rule of his profession. His excuse behind his lies was that he misremembered what had actually happened. Such an excuse must be looked at with extreme scrutiny, as the events he lied about were extremely scary and gruesome. If you really witnessed these kind of harrowing events, you don’t forget it for the rest of your life.

After Williams’ admis-sion of bending the truth, more reports surfaced about lies he told and the times that he made things up when covering certain events. When covering Hurricane Katrina, Wil-liams told viewers that he had seen a body float-

ing in the water near his hotel, per the Washington Post. He also claimed that his hotel had been terror-ized by gangs. But there was no water in that area for that body to be floating in, and the owner of the hotel told the Washington Post that it was perfectly safe and never invaded by the very gangs that Wil-liams claimed to be true.

Williams doesn’t de-serve to get another job in journalism. Though, he’s not going to disappear from media all together. He’s established himself as a public figure by ap-pearing on shows like “30 Rock,” as well as many other late night talk shows. But his lies lost him his credibility and lost him much respect

from the people who once loved him. Once you lose that, continuing to be a journalist is something that’s impossible for you.

It’s a shame to see Wil-liams’ career end like this, but it’s deserved. It’s not hard to tell the truth. When Williams made the mistake of not doing it, he opened himself up for this the second he began to lie.

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDAThe accuracy of Brian Williams’ past history of reporting has been a subject of much debate.

Brian Williams deserves to be punished

BY RACHEL POPASTAFF REPORTER

In light of the recent measles outbreak, the debate about whether or not to vaccinate children has been a prominent one.

Leading up to the out-break, however, the de-bate was still a conten-tious one. There has al-ways been a stigma that vaccinating children increases the chance of autism even though the Center for Disease Control has confirmed that there is no concrete relation between vac-cines and autism. No matter how many times vaccines are deemed safe, people still seem to believe that they harm more than they help.

The way that I see it, not vaccinating children seems incredibly selfish. If a parent decides that they are not going to get their child vaccinated, they are subjecting them to various harm-ful diseases based upon groundless theories. Not to mention that not having their children vaccinated can put oth-ers’ children at risk.

If you think about it, most children are vac-cinated, as it’s often

a requirement to at-tend public schools and nothing comes of it. One thing that always perplexed me about the argument revolves around the fact that autism is something an individual is born with. It’s a disease caused, in part, by chromosome abnormalities. It seems highly unlikely to me that a shot could cause a disease like autism.

The contents of a vac-cine seem unlikely to cause autism as well. A vaccine contains dead bacteria or viruses that allows your body’s im-mune system to know how to fight off that particular disease. I don’t see how people can think that something that is designed to ward off a particular disease could cause a genetic disease like autism. It’s not fair to the children themselves to deny them the vaccines that they need to stay healthy.

I can understand the fear associated with getting your child injected, with a sub-stance that you may not fully understand. Many medical profes-sionals and companies haven’t always given people a lot of reasons

to trust them. When it comes to a child’s health, I think excep-tions should be made.

Is it really worth risking your child’s life based on a theory not backed by any real sci-ence? There’s a reason why people can live to be over 100 years old. Modern medical sci-ence has made it pos-sible to live healthy lives, and that’s partly because of vaccines.

I think that parents should be more con-cerned with the proven repercussions of not having their children vaccinated, rather than the things that suppos-edly and falsely will happen if they vac-cinate their children.

The desire to protect their children will end up doing them more harm. I’m pretty sure if a child could decide whether or not protect themselves from dis-ease, they would choose to get vaccinated.

It’s not fair to risk a child’s life to disease, when they don’t have the means to protect themselves. To me, that’s a pretty blatant example of irrespon-sible parenting.

Not vaccinating children is a selfish decision

edItorIal & opINIoN

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDANot getting children vaccinated puts both children and the rest of the population at risk.


BY DALY TONGRENSTAFF REPORTER

Still reeling from its large scale 2012 debut success, alternative rockers Imagine Drag-ons released its second album, “Smoke + Mir-rors,” Feb. 17 through Interscope Records.

If there was any doubt that Jason Mraz was being honest when he said the sophomore slump is an uphill bat-tle, Imagine Dragons proves that he was right with its newest release.

The band does not crumble under the pres-sure totally, but the al-bum doesn’t quite have the means to back up its apparent ambition. While it cradles some redeem-ing qualities, “Smoke + Mirrors,” as a whole unit, falls short from qualify-ing as some of the band’s more celebrated music.

The album is stun-ningly average. It’s predictable for the most part, but as journalist Allison Stewart wrote for the Washington Post, “Imagine Dragons is very good at what it does, even if what it does isn’t very good.”

Songs like the Octo-ber-released single ”I Bet My Life” and “Trouble,” while radio ready, are not much more than generic, pop ballads.

On the other hand,

more rocking tracks like “Gold” and “I’m So Sorry” highlight the band’s rougher side and prove they still have the ability to combine popular music genres to successfully create its own unique sound.

Imagine Dragons have embraced the electropop elements that made an appearance on “Night Visions” (2012) and stuck to its heavy reliance on percussion domination.

Dan Reynolds, vocalist and primary songwrit-er for the band, is his usual self-deprecating self on the album, citing his lifelong struggles with mental health in tracks like “It Comes Back to You,” where he sings, “All the things I thought I could be/I think I learned in therapy.”

And on the opening track, “Shots,” he focuses on the same elements of similar quandary. “From the second I was born it seems I had a loaded gun/And I shot, shot, shot a hole through everything I loved,” Reynolds croons.

Reynolds has been very public about his musical inspirations and recently released a heartfelt explanation of the creative process that went into making “Smoke + Mirrors.”

“We are no genre. We are a band that has a

message that we believe in. We create music that fills us with joy and helps us feel a little less lost in the world. It is honest. It is entirely real for us,” Reynolds posted to Twitter.

In all fairness, Imagine Dragons truly has never been a band to stick with a solid genre through-out its work, even on an album-by-album basis. While “Night Visions” was relatively accepted by fans, no one was lis-tening because they were drawn to any central me-lodic theme or concept.

The band has always seemed to throw its track listings togeth-er haphazardly, so it’s hard to hold this against them on the LP.

New listeners likely won’t be wowed by the album, but veteran Imag-ine Dragons’ fans will be able to live with the end result and may even find a few tracks off the al-bum that they can truly appreciate and add to its list of treasured singles.

“Smoke + Mirrors” falls short of any high critical expectations, but man-ages to, at the very least, sustain its audience.

The earnest Las Vegas rockers begin touring to promote its new release this month, with a June 15 show scheduled to take place in Rosemont at the Allstate Arena.

Imagine Dragons is all ‘Smoke + Mirrors’

arts & eNtertaINmeNt

COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIAImagine Dragons released its second album, “Smoke + Mirrors,” Feb. 17.

Come to the Roosevelt Torch meetingsand pitch us your ideas.

New writer meetings o�ered, no journalism experience required.

Meetings are every Monday at 5 p.m.

in the Gage Building, room 515.

Roosevelt Torch

GR

APH

IC B

Y PO

OK

PIY

ATID

A


sports


The Roosevelt Univer-sity Lakers’ men’s bas-ketball team celebrated senior night Feb. 18, as it

played its last home game at the Goodman Center against the Cougars of Saint Xavier University.

The Lakers lost to the Cougars to a score of 84-68. Cougars’ senior guard

Jack Krieger led all scor-ers with 28 points, with fellow teammate and ju-nior guard Stanley Moore chipping in 20 points of his own. Junior guard Kevin Priebe led the Lak-

ers with 17 points.The Lakers struggled

offensively and defensive-ly in the first half, allow-ing the Cougars to thrive in all aspects of the game. Due to the sharp shooting of Krieger and freshman guard Quinn Niergo, the Cougars shot 52 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range. The Lakers also struggled to score the ball, shooting 40 percent from the field and just 15 percent from three-point range.

The Cougars continued its hot streak in the sec-ond half, shooting 54 per-cent on its way to victory, while the Lakers failed to get going on the offensive end.

Senior guard Joe Harks said that the early deficit was a factor in the loss.

“There were not too many positives in this game. We got beat, and we

just had no rhythm offen-sively or defensively. We couldn’t stop them, and we didn’t have enough to come back from an early deficit,” Harks said.

Harks had a moment af-ter the game to reflect on his last game at the Good-man.

“It’s sad. Seemed like these four years went by too fast, and we haven’t accomplished what we need to do yet, and that’s get to the national tourna-ment,” Harks said.

While Harks was dis-appointed with the loss, Priebe expressed frus-tration that the Lakers weren’t able to send off the seniors with a last home win.

“I really wish we could’ve sent Joe, Tyree, JJ [Jeremiah Jackson] and Mike [Thompson] out with a win. We should have played better for them,” Priebe said.

Even though senior night meant something different for each player, the focus, for York, was on continual improvement.

“It really hasn’t hit me yet that this could be my last home game in a Roo-sevelt jersey. The main focus that I have is on my team and how we contin-ue to improve,” York said.

Each senior Laker–York, Jackson, Harks and Thompson–was honored in a ceremony before the game.

The Lakers’ (17-12) wrapped up the regular season Feb. 21 with a win against Robert Morris College.

With the conclusion of the regular season, the team will look toward its planned participation in the upcoming Chicago-land Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Lakers’ senior night spoiled with a loss to Saint Xavier

COURTESY OF ROOSEVELT LAKERSSenior guard Tyree York goes up for a layup against Saint Xavier University.


The Chicago Bulls cur-rently sit with the third best record in the Eastern Conference, according to the NBA website. As the season winds down to an end, the pressure continues to rise as the Bulls, pegged by many analysts as contenders, make its push toward the franchise’s seventh champi-onship.

Any hope of winning an NBA title starts and ends with Derrick Rose, and he’s slowly starting to gain his old form back. Rose has av-eraged about 22 point per game and seven assists over his last 10 games, per ESPN.

The former NBA MVP has played in over 15 con-secutive games, which he hasn’t done since the 2011-12 season.

The past few runs at a title was halted due to inju-

ries, as it always seems to be the case with the Bulls. The health of Joakim Noah, Jimmy Butler and Rose are major concerns for the Bulls. If the team wants to make a push for the title, the Bulls need its best players to stay healthy and upright, head-ing into the stretch run. Noah’s ankle, Butler’s shoul-der and Rose’s knees will be points of concern heading into the playoffs.

Another matter of conten-tion for the Bulls is consis-tency.

According to ESPN Chi-cago, the teams boasts the second-best road record in the Eastern Conference but the worst home record among the top 15 teams in the league. Most of those losses have also come from sub-par teams that are be-low .500.

But the enduring ques-tions continues to linger in the minds of Bulls’ fans ev-

erywhere: which Rose will we see?

The star is on pace to eclipse the 50-game mark of games played, which would be the most since the 2011-12 season.

Rose is the catalyst that the Bulls need in order for this ship to sail. Without him, the ship sinks. The Bulls have struggled getting the job done only making it to the first round of the play-offs each of the two years Rose has been out.

Each game, Rose shows flashes of the player who won the 2011 NBA MVP. But each spin move, cross-over, or dunk brings more expectation–more pressure.

Will Rose rise to the occa-sion? This upcoming stretch run is the only one way to find out.

The Bulls started a seven-game homestand Feb. 21, which runs through March 5.

Chicago Bulls looking to feel rosy going into stretch run

COURTESY OF NUCCIO DINUZZO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNSThe health of Derrick Rose figures to play a key factor in the Chicago Bulls’ quest for an NBA championship.

The Flats Student Housing; Studio, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments

All utilities included (Wi-Fi, cable, heat, A/C, electricity)

FREE laundry

Starting at $979 per monthly installment

Apply online at the�ats.eastwest.edu

829 S Wabash Ave Chicago, IL 60605 Phone: 312.939.0112 Email: the�[email protected]

Documents

Roosevelt torch issue 21