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This SLU student busts a move while remaining involved with various CSOs.

Landon Burris previews the upcoming summer film season.

Three departing ed-board members jump, jive and wail over their graduations.

See what sports moments made our “Top 10 Moments of the Year.”

Vol. LXXXIX No. 26 Thursday, April 29, 2010

The University Newswww.unewsonline.com

See Page 6 for senior farewell commentaries and Page 10 for this semester’s civic journalism questions!

College diplomas vs. the economyJob market is looking up, but still not what it was

Jon Michael Ryan gets in the zone while filming footage for his production company called Tangent Minds. Ryan graduated from Saint Louis University in 2008.

Noah Berman / Photo Editor

By JONATHAN ERNSTNews Editor

This year’s waiting list for on-campus housing currently stands at 126, according to Director of Housing and Residence Life Alvin Sturdivant. Sturdivant said he expects that all these students will be placed by the start of next school year, as Housing and Res. Life is receiving contract release requests and cancellations daily, due to transfers and students studying abroad in the fall.

Juniors and seniors on that list are also being offered places in the Lofts, where there are still vacancies—99 spaces remain open there, out of a total of 298.

As for the housing scholarship issues,

questions of squatting policies and any changes to the housing sign-up process for next year, Sturdivant said that they were still under discus-sion.

No final or large-scale decisions will be made until at least mid-summer, he said, and in the meantime, a large survey will soon be sent out to students about housing, including how students felt about the sign-up process. He said that this and other feedback would be taken into account in upcoming discussions.

“As always, we’re going to review everything; once we have an opportunity to cool down from the closing of the semester … we’ll really have an opportunity to look into the feedback we’ve received and make some decisions about how to move forward,” Sturdivant said.

By KAT PATKEEditor-in-Chief

We asked three graduating seniors: How are you feeling about your impending graduation in May?

By KELLEY DUNNNews Editor

Housing processes to undergo a review during the summer break

“Words are tough to come by. I’m nervous and a bit apprehen-sive.”

Michael SarmientoSenior, College of Arts and Sciences

“Mixed feelings. I’m getting excited, getting ready to be done with homework. But I loved my time at SLU.”

Michelle KizaurSenior, College of Arts and Sciences

“Bittersweet, excit-ing and sad to say goodbye to friends.”

Robin LundSenior, College of Arts and Sciences

Graduating senior Beth Wurtzler was “surprised” when she began searching for jobs relating to the biomedical engineering degree that she will receive from Saint Louis University at her graduation on May 15. After five months, Wurtzler never heard back from any of the companies she applied for, and without an employer, she has decided to continue her education at the University of Cincinnati’s graduate school.

“I am not really sure where I stand, and grad school gives me the opportunity to broad-en my horizons,” Wurtzler said. “It is kind of a reality check to hear that you are so great, and then these compa-nies don’t want you.”

Out of 2009’s graduating class, 54 percent are em-ployed and 39 percent are in graduate school, according to Career Services at SLU. Kimberly Reitter, director of Career Services, instructs her staff of career counselors to have the students focus on networking and how to navi-gate job possibilities. The staff at Career Services assist-ed more than 500 seniors last year with their career search-es, and she is optimistic about the job market for the class of 2010.

“The job market is look-ing better for now, and it should be an easier year for our graduates,” Reitter said. “The economy is a big part of it. I think that if they create a realistic job search plan, they should be able to find a job.”

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2010 Spring Update, the job market appears to be increasing; em-ployers expect to hire 5.3 per-cent more college graduates than last year. NACE moni-

tors the hiring outlook for new college graduates with a variety of surveys and polls to potential employers. The Job Outlook 2010 Spring Update survey was conducted from March 1 to April 9, with 177 employers participating. Of the participants, 28.3 percent were from the Midwest.

“I think it is just an employ-er’s market. Those compa-nies have so many applicants so they can be more selective and choose the more experi-enced applicants,” Wurtzler said. “Career Services was not particularity helpful for my job search.”

Dan Finucane, another graduating senior, has found Career Services an “extreme-ly helpful” resource on cam-pus. Finucane will be attend-ing graduate school at Boston College for his Master’s in Theological Studies. Earlier this semester, he was offered a teaching position in Theolo-gy and Philosophy. Finucane declined the offer, deciding instead to continue his educa-tion.

“I am optimistic about find-ing a job in the future,” Finu-cane said. “SLU has helped

See “Jobs” on Page 2

A beaker containing nitric acid exploded on a student last Thursday in Macelwane Hall. Director of the Depart-ment of Public Safety, Mike Lauer, said that pressure in the beaker built up, causing the container to explode. As a result, a small amount of the acid splashed onto a girl working at an adjacent sta-tion, causing minor burns on her left arm and the left side of her neck.

According to Lauer, the burns were not severe enough to require an ambulance. The individual was first taken to SLU Student Health Center, and eventually was taken to SLU ER. As a precaution, Macelwane was evacuated, but Lauer said the students were soon allowed to reenter.Lauer said that the evacuation was procedure, as was con-sulting with environmental health about the situation.

“We just wanted to make sure [of] exactly what we were dealing with,” he said.

July 1 is the official transi-tion date that the Graduate School Transition Team has set for the Saint Louis Univer-sity Graduate School to decen-tralize and run graduate pro-grams and associated assis-tantships out of the respective colleges and schools. Paaige Turner, chair of the Graduate School Transition Team, said that the team has formed a subcommittee comprised of business managers and facul-ty from across the University to make recommendations of how the money will be allocat-ed for the graduate programs without a central entity.

“The benefits of this reor-ganization are increased flexi-bility for the colleges, in terms of programming and budget-ing,” Turner said. “The transi-tion team is very committed to ensuring that we sustain and enhance the quality of all graduate education.”

Under the new structure, the marketing and enroll-ment functions of the gradu-ate school will move under Enrollment Management, ad-mission decisions will remain with the faculty of each gradu-ate program, administration of assistantships will move to the colleges and schools, and the current Graduate School staff will be retained. The Gradu-ate Academic Affairs Com-mittee, made up of represen-tatives from each college and school, will be responsible for overseeing the administration of graduate programs.

“The plan is to give indi-vidual colleges more flex-ibility that may filter down to the departments, depending upon the goals of that col-lege,” Turner said.

This decentralization was first mentioned in SLU Presi-dent Lawrence Biondi, S.J.’s October message to the SLU community, and with addition-al faculty review, the academ-ic restructuring was made of-ficial in his Jan. 27 message. In that message, Biondi com-mitted to increase funding for graduate programs and assis-tantships.

“I firmly believe these changes will enhance gradu-ate education at SLU by en-suring that our colleges and schools are even more invest-ed in our graduate and profes-sional programs,” Biondi said in his January message.

The transition team has asked each college to create a comprehensive needs plan to address the department’s needs during the transition, and to determine what is nec-essary to increase the com-petitiveness of their gradu-ate programs. The team has been charged with develop-ing a communication plan that informs relevant stakeholders and provides the opportunity for input, along with identify-ing the key tasks of graduate education, developing sub-committees based on specific tasks, and drafting proposals recommending that institu-tional structures and practic-

Grad school structure in flux

By JONATHAN ERNSTNews Editor

Nitric-acid incident injures student in lab

See “Grad School” on Page 3

SLU Post-Graduation Stats at a Glance

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

Class Unemployed Grad School Employed

6%

4%

4%

4%

4%

39%

35%

33%

32%

33%

54%

59%

61%

62%

61%Source: Career Services

News2 The University News Thursday, April 29, 2010

Alexander OcasioGraduate student spreads dance by teaching salsa, swims with sharks

Let Us Introduce You

Ocasio practices the Salsa with sophomore Stephanie Buena. Ocasio, a first year graduate student involved with multiple SLU organizations, is working toward multiple degrees, all while continuing his mission of spreading the art of dance.

Noah Berman/Photo Editor

By KRISTEN MIANOAssociate News Editor

Alexander Ocasio has a mission in life: to master the art of expression through motion and words. And with his experience as a dancer, and with an extensive list of studies, he’s well on his way to doing so.

Ocasio is perhaps best known at Saint Louis University as the salsa dance instructor at Simon Recreation Center. However, his dance experience extends very far beyond the class he teaches.

“I’ve been dancing for about seven or eight years, on and off,” Ocasio said. “My mother used to be a dancer, and she’s always encouraged me and supported me in the fine arts fields.”

As an exchange student in Brazil in high school, Ocasio first picked up samba, but he attested that his love of dance is something with which he was born.

“I’m a Puerto Rican American, and I’ve always had that natural rhythm. It’s sort of in my blood,” he said.

Ocasio trained in Madrid for four years, and since his teacher at the time saw a lot of potential for Ocasio to also become a dance teacher, she trained him to deal with students with varying skill levels.

“She trained me to teach students who don’t necessar-ily have a natural rhythm for dance, as well as those who can progress rather quickly,” he said.

As a graduate student at SLU, he has a long list of sub-jects he’s pursuing: a Master of Arts in English, a Women’s Studies Certificate and a Master’s Thesis in Queer Theory.

He also is studying for a Master of Cultural Studies and North American Literature, as a part of the dual degree with Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

When he’s not studying or dancing, Ocasio can be found working as a writing consul-tant in the Busch Student Center.

“I really have a strong pas-sion for writing consulting,” he said. “I know that’s not very common.”

When Ocasio returns to Spain in August, he said that he is aspiring to have some sort of internship in the same field.

Ocasio has also partici-pated in activities such as

skydiving, bungee jumping, scuba diving and swimming with sharks.

He is a choreographer, and chartered a fox-trot swing number for last semester’s Students United for Africa Dance-a-thon.

He is also highly involved in several charted student organizations at SLU, includ-ing the Hispanic-American Leadership Organization, SUFA, Rainbow Alliance and the Student Activities Board.

In addition, he even won an award for his involvement in SAB at its recent yearly banquet.

Ocasio also performed at this year’s Relay for Life, and has been a volunteer ball-room dancing instructor for the past year.

“But my biggest accom-

plishment this year was probably performing at the St. Louis Science Center for their Diversity Awareness Week,” Ocasio said. “I danced with a Washington University student in a fla-menco-based number and a Rumba, [which is] a tradi-tional, two-person dance.”

As for his future, Ocasio looks to finish his degrees by May 2011.

He said that, after grad-uation, he hopes to apply for a doctorate program in English, and Feminist, Gender or Women’s Studies.

“I would like to be on a tenure tract position at a higher education institution, a university similar to SLU,” Ocasio said. “While teach-ing dance on the side.”

me figure out what I wanted to do and how I could better serve others.”

The general services that Career Services provides include helping current stu-dents and alumni decide on the majors and careers that would benefit them, and how they could obtain those posi-tions. Some recent graduates have found success in the job market, crediting networking

Jobs: Seniors hunt for employmentContinued from Page 1 and career planning as the

keys to their success. Tyler Brownfield, a 2009 SLU grad-uate, is a management consul-tant for a marketing company. Brownfield credited a con-tact that he met three years ago with his current job, as that contact allowed him to explore his options.

“I utilized the services offered by Career Services, and I think the biggest thing is just to work the connections that you have,” Brownfield

said. “I absolutely love my job, and that job is a direct result of my experience at SLU and those connections I made.”

Reitter stressed the impor-tance of networking experi-ences.

“Internships can really help make a candidate more attractive, and knowing more people within a given field can really help open doors to a potential employer,” Reitter said.

News The University News 3Thursday, April 29, 2010

SGA reminisces at last meeting By BRIAN BOYD

Senior Staff Writer

After a long year filled with heated debates, 10-and-a-half hour funding meetings and new legislation, Student Government Association wrapped up its year with a final meeting in Busch Student Center’s Wool Ballrooms. The reason for the venue change was to accommodate the guests for the yearly SGA awards ceremony.

The meeting kicked off with the presentation of the Joseph F. Hodes Student of the Year Award. Presented by Hodes himself, the honor was awarded to senior Alexandra Chapman. Chapman, aside from her excellent scholar-ship, has contributed greatly to the Saint Louis University community through the Billikens After Dark program and SLU Students for Haiti, Hodes said.

Hodes reiterated SGA’s ability to have a lifelong impact on its senators.

“In addition to improving your campus, a lot of the tools you learn here will serve you well in future life, and some-day you will then use them in your careers and community,” Hodes said.

The next award given was

the George D. Wendel Civic Leadership Award, which was presented to Senator Jon Roper for his efforts in the SLU community and the greater St. Louis area.

After presenting the awards, Senate got down to business, passing unanimous-ly a bill that amended the association’s bylaws, revising the duties of the Diversity and Social Justice Committee and the Diversity and Social Justice Vice President.

The final bill of the year voted on requested fund-ing for SLU Urban Planning Association to purchase ham-mocks to put around campus. The bill passed unanimously, and SLUPA was awarded $698.56 for f hammocks.

“I think this is a really good thing for the Quad. We’ll be getting a lot of benefit from this amount of money,” Internal Vice President Andrew Miller said.

Hammocks have been on campuses such as Washington University in St. Louis, and have been well received. SLUPA hopes to put the ham-mocks near the library and other low-traffic areas in the Quad. After the final votes of the year had been cast, the E-Board extended its thanks to all the senators and fel-

low E-Board members, and President Michael Harriss presented his President’s Award. The award is given to someone Harriss described as “the MVP of the Senate this year.”

The award was given to Vice President for Diversity and Social Justice Jamie James.

Upon receiving the award, James received a standing ovation.

“This year, I had given it a lot of thought. My gut instinct told me who it should go to. [James] has an unwavering commitment to improvement, and responded to unexpected trials and tribulations [by] uti-lizing her unique skill set,” Harriss said.

After the final award had been presented, Senate wrapped up the meeting by “passing the gavel,” giving each senator an opportunity to speak about his or her experiences with other sena-tors and SGA in general.

The special moment was filled with thanks, well-wish-ing, humor, memories and friendship. Harriss person-ally thanked each senator and shared his feelings about each and every one, thanking everyone for loyalty and ser-vice to SGA.

CSOs prepare for new yearBy CARLY DOENGES

Senior Staff Writer

Student Activities BoardThis fall, senior Stephanie

Hart will be taking over as the president of Student Activities Board. Next year, Hart hopes to put on more co-sponsored events with other student organizations, draw more rec-ognition to SAB and hopefully increase membership in the group. Hart says her biggest goal for SAB next year is to try to “encompass the views of more people in the SLU community, so that we can truly understand and satisfy their wants and needs.”

KSLUStepping into the shoes of

KSLU General Manager for the 2010-2011 school year is senior David Wetzel.

Wetzel hopes that over the next year, the SLU com-munity comes to realize that “KSLU is as much an internal community of DJs as it is a

SLU community of music and opinions.”

His biggest goals for KSLU include getting the group more radio airtime with the station KDHX, and garner-ing more attention for KSLU both around campus and via Internet-streamed broad-casts.

GICIncoming Great Issues

Committee Chair Colin Shevlin said that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of last year’s committee.

“When it comes to atten-dance and student response, this has been the most suc-cessful year that Great Issues Committee has ever had.”

Shevlin said that the com-mittee is currently planning for next year, discussing pos-sible speakers.

SGAIncoming Student

Government Association President Courtney Anvender

said that she was hoping to change the student body’s faith in SGA, and the asso-ciation’s ability to represent students.

“We want people to know who SGA is, and to know what is going on in SGA,” she said.

Anvender said she hopes to get the senators more involved, making sure that they’re following up with their constituencies, representing them to the best of their abili-ties.

SLU-TVSLU-TV President David

Koeller said that he hoped next year would bring more student involvement, as well as student programming.

“We’d like to see students utilize our equipment more often,” he said.

Koeller said he was look-ing forward to next year.

Additional reporting by Kelley Dunn.

es submit recommendations to Biondi.

An issue that is currently being addressed by the tran-sition team is the application process for prospective stu-dents during this transition period.

Turner said that most graduate students have been admitted for fall, and their materials are being processed

Grad School: Restructuring set to commence during summer session

Continued from Page 1 through the current graduate school.

“As students begin to think about spring 2011 and fall 2011, we need to be prepared to address their questions and process their materials under the new structure,” Turner said.

The University is work-ing toward implementing an online application process for graduate students that would begin in July, to ease this

application transition into the individual departments.

Manoj Patankar, current interim vice president for Frost Campus, said that he believes that it has been a success thus far.

“I think the process is going really well,” Patankar said. “We have all the stake holders engaged in the pro-cess, and we are discussing details and guidelines for the future.”

OpinionThe University News

4ThursdayApril 29, 2010

Talk to us: call Roberta Singer 314.977.2812, or e-mail

oped.unews@gmail.com

UNEWSONLINE.COM

Rachel Mezinis/Illustrator

Editorials are opinion pieces written by the Editorial Board of The University News. The unsigned editorials printed in this space represent the opinion of The University News. Commentaries and Letters to the Editor represent the opinions of the signed authors but do not necessarily represent the opinions of The University News.

Congratulations, seniors. You’ve worked hard, and you have the power of a degree behind you now. That means a lot—that means you were competent and wealthy enough to pass through four years of strenu-ous classes, and hopefully you’ve learned a lot about the world in all the time you’ve spent with your books and your lecture tapes.

But don’t be depressed if all that work doesn’t pay off right away. The real world isn’t college, and mastering it involves differ-ent skills, ones that these four years might not necessarily have groomed you for.

But so what? So what if you don’t find immediate success? Rarely anybody will. It feels like for our generation, in graduating college, we are not necessarily moving on to bigger and more impressive things, at least not right after graduation.

Rather, we are entering another phase of our growing up, the phase where we begin to understand the basic tasks that it takes to make it out in the world; where we learn to suck it up and take a low-paying job to make ends meet lest we fall back into the hand-me-down sofas of our parents’ basements; where we have lousy roommates and lousy relationships before we figure out what we

Editorials

really want, if we ever figure it out.There is nothing wrong with this. Who are

we to be above common employment? Who are we to expect to be handed an exciting new job and professional life immediately along with our diplomas? Life is not so pat, especially now, when experienced people can’t even find these things. Our prospects look ever so bleak.

But it’s not so bad. We’ll grow up a lot more as we struggle to pay our rent while working a minimum-wage job than we ever did while we were coddled through four years of col-lege on the back of our parents’ checkbooks. We’ll meet more people that don’t have the privilege we do and who we must respect because they know a lot more about what it takes to survive poor in America.

For those of you who have your ideal career lined up, congratulations. For the rest of us, though, it’s okay. We might find our goals down the road, but for now we must just make it through these months while we learn how to be adults. It is even exciting, in a way, to be unleashed into the world with all our adolescent misery in tow and just … see what happens.

Fear not and venture on, ye brave humani-ties majors, into reality.

Saint Louis University began this year vom-iting and hacking with swine flu. That should have told us something; we should have seen that as an omen of the events to come. A dark cloud of pig sickness telling us it was indeed going to be a strange year.

Our provost was gone from the begin-ning. Joe Weixlmann’s leave, however justi-fied, was shrouded in mystery, and the administration’s hesi-tancy to comment on it only made the secret happenings in the pres-ident’s office seem all the more shady. It was soon after that, after all, that news came out about the dismantling of the graduate school into various under-graduate departments, as well the splitting up of the provost position.

The clouds were swelling. Faculty bristled against what they saw as a total lack of respect from the administrators whom they said didn’t properly consult them about the changes in advance, and in December they threatened to level a vote of no confidence against Father Lawrence Biondi. Although this didn’t go

Strange days at Saint Louis University

If the first part of the year was eerie, then the second semester was like a David Lynch film. Strangeness pervaded.

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through, it intensified the tremors of insta-bility that had been besetting the school all semester.

If the first part of the year was eerie, then the second semester was like a David Lynch film. Strangeness pervaded. Flocks

of crows descended on students and their cars. Then, right after winter break, a black student was threat-ened with lynching, and from then on SLU faced mounting racial tensions. These ten-sions only increased when just weeks ago, three student lead-ers resigned from their positions over a “joke” photo involving

a noose that was declared “only for white people.”

Days later, a girl was attacked in the Xavier Hall bathroom by a masked, maroon-robed man. Somewhere, the crows were cawing.

Administrative unrest. Hordes of sick students overflowing from the quarantine wards. Hate crimes. Wizard stranglers.

Let us use this summer to reflect, and maybe, just maybe, do a bit of healing.

Don’t abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Quotesof the week

I am not really sure where I stand. [Graduate] school gives me the opportunity to broaden my horizons. It is kind of a reality check to hear you are so great [but still] these companies don’t want you.

“

”-- Beth Wurtzler, graduating senior, about her prospects after graduation.

See Page 1.

[All the musicians] are well rounded in a cosmic way… They are tethered to stars.

“”-- Tanner Smith of the band

“Laminated Cat” on his experi-ence playing with “Apples in Stereo.”

See Page 7.

The University News reserves the right not to publish any letters that are deemed intentionally and/or inappropriately inflammatory, more than the 300-word limit or unsigned by the original author. The following are letters and/or website comments. Because the identities of website posters cannot be verified, all website comments should be treated as anonymous. Actual letters to the editor can be e-mailed to oped.unews@gmail.com. Please include your daytime telephone number.

Letters to the editor

Farrell’s removal angers graduate students

As stated in last week’s The University News, our [Communication Department] chairperson, Kathleen Farrell, was removed from her position. In light of the recent news that [interim vice president of Frost Campus] Manoj Patankar, who requested her resigna-tion, is being considered for the posi-tion of [Frost Campus] Vice President, we thought it was imperative to explain why we believe he is the wrong choice for the job.

Upon hearing of Farrell’s resigna-tion request, the graduate students scheduled a meeting with Patankar. A delegation of seven graduate students

explained to him the value of retaining Farrell as the Department Chair for the duration of her contract and the disruption we anticipated as a result of her forced departure from the posi-tion.

Unfortunately, Patankar’s response to our testimony was disappointing. He informed us, among other things, that we were being “emotional” and that we were “exaggerating” the impact Dr. Farrell has had during her time at Saint Louis University. He then asked that we tell him who had informed us of the resignation request. When we refused, he expressed disappointment that scholars would come to his office with unsubstantiated claims. However, Kathleen Farrell’s subsequent removal from her position shows that our con-cerns were valid.

Last week’s paper states that the hiring committee is searching for a candidate who has the “ability to work effectively with administrators, faculty, students, staff …” Patankar’s seeming unwillingness to indicate in writing the reasons for Farrell’s abrupt dismissal, coupled with his dismissive treatment of students, lead us to question his ability to communicate effectively in the position of Vice President. In light of these facts, the graduate students of the Communication Department respectfully request that SLU’s admin-istration look to other candidates to fill its permanent leadership positions.

David ChilenskiCharles Dunlap

Laura HinrichsenCaroline JackCharlotte NoeJason Peifer

Giuliangela RosatoBethany SirvioBrenda SmithEric Sucher,

Posted below are the results from the last web poll on The University News’ website. Be sure to check our website this week for our next poll: If Biondi steps down over the summer, who should take over the president’s position?

www.unewsonline.com

Web Poll:

There has been a recent slew of gun advocacy. What do you think about our second amendment rights?

percent of the vote

16 percent: We need those rights. I also think we need to bring back duels as a legitimate form of problem solving.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

20 percent: I be-lieve in the conceal and carry laws. After all, guns don’t kill people, cancer kills people.

28 percent: I don’t like guns, but I like to keep my cell phone in the holsters. It looks pretty cool.

36 percent: I’m against gun use. Instead, I think we should all have wands. Avada Kedavra!

Patankar’s unwilling-ness to indicate the rea-sons for Farrell’s dismiss-al [and] his dismissive treatment of students lead us to question his ability to communicate effectively in the position of Vice President.

“

”

[Eventually music] stops being a job and becomes something you do with your heart.

“”-- Giles Corey, lead vocalist for

the band Lubriphonic

See Page 8.

Department of Communication graduate students

Opinion The University News 5Thursday, April 29, 2010

A reporter in attendance at The Dead Weather’s first concert described the band as sounding

something simi-lar to a gunfight between heav-en and hell at the OK Corral. Having recently seen this band—another Jack White super-group—perform at The Pageant, I can wholeheart-edly agree. It was, in a word,

awesome. In a few words: It takes an incredibly talented group of people to play as well as The Dead Weather does.

How does someone manage to have that sort of skill? Practice makes perfect, but without learn-ing what needs to be practiced (in this case, the raw art of rock), Jack White would still be upholstering chairs in downtown Detroit. There is nothing more important than educa-tion when it comes to being talented at one’s career, or even hobby.

That is why it seems unthinkably counterintuitive to spend $739 bil-lion on defense and only $49 billion on education. Initially, this might not be too surprising: States provide the majority of funding for education, while the federal budget provides for defense. The problem is that the money the federal government does provide for education can often mean the difference between a not so very good school and a much better one, or between an affordable college experience and years of pay-ing off debt.

This should bother you. We’re buying more and more expensive weapons with fewer and fewer ene-mies, while we’re allowing schools nationwide to fall into disrepair. We’re spending billions of dollars on jet-fighter programs that, while admittedly cool, serve an increas-ingly smaller role in a world where our biggest threat hides in a brief-case. We’re letting kids fall by the wayside, while, instead we spend money on 1940s war tactics in a decidedly 2010 world.

This trend, incidentally, is consis-tent, according to a document that can be found at http://www.white-house.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/hist.pdf. Starting with World War II, education spending has rare-ly climbed above a tenth of defense spending.

I am not against spending money on defense. But we need to be smart-er when we do so. Billions of dollars on combat systems that sounded great when mid-Cold War strate-gists thought them up are nearly useless in a world in which we fight small groups of insurgents. If we can admit this, we can focus on new, counter-insurgency technologies, or on systems that could take the troops out of the war.

Never fight a land-war in Asia, the saying goes, but that’s what we’re cheerfully doing, spending more than $100 billion a year on some-thing not even Alexander the Great could accomplish. President Barack Obama needs to change his tactics and be aggressive about stripping the defense budget down to what it actually needs, not what it really wants. According to CDI.org, the amount we’re spending on defense

Commentary

noah Berman

Invest in books, not in bombs

During the past semester, I have had the good fortune to participate in a course on public sociology.

What has partic-ularly interested me about this course is the effort to take the analytical aspect of sociology and apply it to the world in a way that realistically addresses parts of our world that embody brokenness and

inequality.When examining statistics that

highlight the startling prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States, the six of us enrolled in the course compared them with the 2009 Annual Campus Security Report made available online by the Department of Public Safety. Page 19 of the report states that DPS received only five reports of forcible sexual offenses on Saint Louis University’s Frost Campus

from 2006 to 2008.This discrepancy has led us to ask

some questions. What social struc-tures encourage sexual assault on our campus? How can our commu-nity best respond to prevent these crimes? More pointedly, do people feel safe reporting these crimes? If not, what can our SLU community do to remedy this reality?

We all need to answer these questions. This is where Sociology comes in. We have analyzed exist-ing research to see how it applies to our campus, and then created a way to address the existence of sexual assault at SLU. Caitlin Cervenka and Kevin Seats have studied behaviors of males that allow and even encourage sexual assault. Cervenka has concluded that some males who belong to fraternal organizations and athletic teams may tend to reinforce sexu-ally violent behavior and attitudes that degrade women, while Seats expanded on this idea by noting the potential of new members of frater-nities to adopt these behaviors in an effort to fit in.

Commentary

Joseph WotaWa

Sexual assault remains a deep problem on campusesBoth Seats and Cervenka also

have noted that not all males who belong to these organizations per-petuate sexual assault. As a result, Caitlin has organized a presentation by RAVEN’s Christopher Watson about how men can prevent rape, and Seats has contacted different fraternities in the attempt to explain the harm that can come from vio-lent behavior.

While Cervenka and Seats have focused on how males can change the situation, Emily Grace is study-ing how females can overcome the image of the passive victim. Noting that the behavior of more than some males needs serious altering, Grace has concentrated on the importance of women speaking to women about violence, which creates strength in the community to confront these behaviors. Therefore, Grace is assembling a kit that RAs can use to speak with female freshman resi-dents about this very topic.

Jessica Reid also has analyzed the important role of community in preventing sexual assault. Instead of placing all of the responsibility

on victims to report, the community should be proactive in preventing sexual assault and reducing vic-tims’ reluctance to report forcible sexual offenses. Like Grace, Reid is attempting to create a program that ensures first-year students know where to go if they know of crimes.

Finally, Jessica Perez studied the role of alcohol in sexual assault, especially regarding the question of consent. In order to lessen the potential for alcohol-influenced assault, Reid has organized an alter-native to a social scene that requires alcohol to have a good time. Her event will take place on April 30 in The Billiken Club, beginning with a discussion of the issue at hand and followed by the party.

So why talk about all of this right now? Even though we will be gone during the summer months, these problems will still be present when we return, and we all need to think seriously about how to address them.

Joseph Wotawa is a junior in the College of Philosophy and Letters.

Jean-Dominique Bauby, the for-mer French editor of Elle who suf-fered a massive stroke leaving him in

a state referred to as “locked in,” composed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking only his left eye. “Locked in” his body, he was unable to c o m m u n i c a t e except through an alphabeti-cal system set

up by his speech therapist, Claude, and thereby could dictate his “mind scrapbook” to her.

The brevity of the work illustrates the inimitable concision of every sentence, word and letter. In the chapter “Tourists,” Bauby describes those who come to the hospital only long enough until they are “working again.” In contrast, patients like him are broken-winged birds, voiceless parrots, ravens of doom, who have made their nests in a dead-end cor-ridor of the neurology department. Of course, they spoil the view. I am all too conscious of the slight unease they cause as, rigid and mute, they make their way through a group of more fortunate patients.

Bauby died in 1996, but not after leaving us with a intimate glimpse into his mind and feelings as he dealt with physical paralysis that limited his movement to swinging his head and blinking only one eye (the other eye was sewn shut to heal).

His mind, of course, was not para-lyzed. So often we (and I include myself) see individuals with disabili-ties and see only their disability—if it is a physical one—and do not attempt to see past their external body or consider what their abilities are.

Similarly, but less discussed, I think, are internal disabilities. While a body may “look” typical or normal or whatever term you want to use, inside that person may be strug-gling with any of a host of internal disabilities. Some have both, but

doesn’t mean they are any less of a human being. I’m shocked and dis-mayed when I hear disparaging com-ments toward those with any kind of putative abnormality. Specifically, the word “crazy” when applied to someone with depression or bipolar disorder, raises my hackles.

Notice the next time you hear this word. It will often be applied to a woman.

The verb “craze” means to crack to break into pieces, and from that definition, “crazy” (noun) means “cracked” and unsound mentally, but in the sense of disease. Consider this definition of the adjective from the Oxford English Dictionary: “Having the bodily health or consti-tution impaired; indisposed, ailing; diseased, sickly; broken down, frail, infirm.” Of course, people are crazy

Regardless of circumstance, all humans must be respected

for the best fantasy baseball trade, the latest celebrity to be kicked off Dancing with Stars, the newest issue of Green Lantern or Shark Week.

But more often than not, this word and even more heinous ones are used pejoratively to belittle those with disabilities. Scholar Tobin Siebers discusses the idea of a disabled body that “changes the pro-cess of representation itself,” but he also remarks on the fusion of disabil-ity and gender studies as embrac-ing gender theories “because they provide a powerful alternative to the medical model of disability.” If you have never considered the fact that a Women’s Studies program supports all people, think again. Working for the social justice of those individuals who may feel “isolated,” “diseased” or “defective” is as much a part of

Women’s Studies as working with women’s shelters such as Karen House.

Although Bauby saw life through “a glass, darkly,” he wrote about the joys and pains of life, the heartbreak-ing reality of not being able to talk to his children and the delight he found in the sea. Women’s Studies, like Bauby, speaks for the voiceless, the underprivileged, the classless, the transgendered individual, the conservative, the liberal and anyone of any religion. And, yes, even men. Now more than ever we need men who understand how to be good stewards and citizens, and how to treat others with equality and jus-tice.

Sheri McCord is part-time faculty in the Women’s Studies department.

Rachel Mezinis/Illustrator

Commentary

sheri mCCord

We’re letting kids fall by the wayside while instead we spend money on 1940s war tactics in a decidedly 2010 world.

“”

While much of the hype surround-ing the 40th anniversary of Earth Day has faded, the light that has

been shed on America’s grave appeal for envi-ronmental advo-cacy persists. Before delving into an issue as convoluted as environmental policy, however, it is imperative to understand both the language of the debate as well as the needs

of our nation. In fact, it is in our struggle to—as a nation—identify a cohesive definition for ‘advocacy’ that we find ourselves caught in a legisla-tive standstill.

As it is commonly defined, advo-cacy denotes a form of active sup-port, which coincidentally is precise-ly what this nation is missing. As an aging citizenry, each of us must ask ourselves: What does ‘actively’ sup-porting an issue entail?

For millions of the general popu-lace, writing a $25 check to the World Wildlife Fund, or buying a brownie at a bake sale to “Save the Rainforest” is a contribution in which they can be satisfied as having participated.

While both examples are vital causes worthy of our attention, and even disposable income, they are not enough to elevate the environmental movement from a mere trend, to a legitimate social movement. In real-ity, being an advocate constitutes more than simply signing a check or reading this—or any similar—

article. Being an advocate is sparking conversation with others, and ideally generating a dialogue within a com-munity. As trite as it may sound, it is not until we become familiar with the opinions that oppose our own, that we can confidently grasp the debate and begin to construct palatable com-promises.

We can begin by learning from GreenMyParents, an innovative ini-tiative that was officially made public one week ago. The move-ment is the envi-ronmental adap-tation of “pay it forward.” The organization will begin by teach-ing 100 youth simple ways to green their homes and inte-grate environ-mentally friend-ly practices into everyday family life. Those 100 youth, in turn, not only educate their families, but also 100 of their peers, each of whom will then do the same.

The organization’s mission, while inspiring, is indisputably idealistic. GMP, however, boldly epitomizes the type of advocacy for which our country thirsts. I applaud GMP for extending a hand to a generation that will hopefully break from the apathy of current policy makers and place genuine priority on the well-being of our world’s fragile ecosystems.

The fault I find with GMP, howev-er, is its attempt to change the behav-

Commentary

JaCqueline Fuqua

The human side of environmentalism must be acknowledged

If the American public becomes aware of the damages being done to our own people, the need for advocacy becomes all the more immediate and personal.

“”

iors of families through predomi-nantly economic incentives. While money is a powerful tool of persua-sion, GMP dangerously argues envi-ronmental protection as a primarily economic matter, thus draining any humanity from the issue. Until these new initiatives put a human face on environmental policies, a discern-able distance will exist between the general populace and what is left of

our natural sur-roundings.

Since the dawn of pro-gressive con-servationism in the 1890s, con-cern has con-sistently shifted between vari-ous species of e n d a n g e r e d animals and specific regions across the world. While valid, this nar-row image of

conservationism fails to encom-pass the gleaming metropolitan environment that is the American city. Protection of these communi-ties is just as meaningful as protec-tion of our rainforests. Tragically, America’s built environments are often neglected by modern move-ments, even those targeting our impressionable youth.

In short, by limiting our per-ception of what environmental-ism means, and how we can act as advocates, we ignore one of the most human arguments that can be made: environmental justice.

Environmental justice is the proven and widely accepted fact that the concentration of landfills, industrial facilities and pollution are dispropor-tionately higher within low-income, racially ethnic communities.

Our metropolitan environment, intended to be a man-made won-der, has trapped segments of its own population in rapidly declining, harmful environs. We dramatize the percentage of adorable sea crea-tures that become ensnared in plas-tic six-pack rings, but fail to speak a word about the astonishingly higher prevalence of African-American chil-dren with asthma, as opposed to white children. In fact, minorities not only bear the burden of such health -related hazards, but also the risk for civic disengagement that frequently accompanies a justifiable sense of abandonment.

If the American public becomes aware of the damages being done to our own people within our own cit-ies, the need for advocacy becomes all the more immediate and personal. While we can still write that check to the World Wildlife Fund, we must concurrently realize that environ-mentalism is most commonly not a battle to be fought over animals and landscapes of foreign nations. The most significant, yet overlooked, battle is that which we must wage in our own backyards. It’s time to edu-cate our youth, yes, but with a more inclusive definition of environment and an enhanced comprehension of our roles as advocates for environ-mental preservation.

Jacqueline Fuqua is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences

is more than three times the com-bined size of every single potential nation-level threat. That includes China and Russia.

We could be spending this money in so many better ways, in so many better places. Education, for me, is the most important tool a country has for helping its people be the best they can be, to borrow the army’s phrase of choice. With high-quality, well-funded education, we can pre-vent poverty, increase employment and increase the scientific literacy of the country.

As my dad tried to explain to a much younger me, you don’t need a new set of Legos, you just want one. We want a new jet-fighter, but we need to build more schools, establish smaller classrooms and hire more (and better) teachers, and until we can do that, we’re in deep, deep trouble. I opened this piece by talking about rock, and I’ll close it by asking the United States government to listen to the words of the great Mick Jagger: “You can’t always get what you want, but some-times, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Noah Berman is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Senior FarewellsThe University News

6ThursdayApril 29, 2010

Talk to us: call Roberta Singer 314.977.2812, or e-mail

oped.unews@gmail.com

UNEWSONLINE.COM

I started to write this senior fare-well multiple times this year, but could never bring myself to finish. I

figured, theoret-ically, if I never reach the end of the column, I wouldn’t have to actually face this whole “leav-ing” thing. This time, though, there’s a dead-line, literally and figuratively, and I can’t put it off any longer

without becoming a fifth year senior. So, in the spirit of both journalism and college life stereotypes, perhaps it’s all too fitting that my last contri-bution ever to The University News will be started and submitted at the absolute last possible moment.

I know I’m supposed to use this to revel in and reflect on all the deep and profound lessons I’ve learned over the years, preferably draw-

ing parallels to Shakespeare and Chaucer. But similar to those who want so badly to be indie, I’ve found that the harder you try to force it to happen, the more you stray into the realm of a single raised eyebrow and a skeptical “Bitch, please.” So, try to restrain your eyebrows, and let’s do this thing.

I love The UNews. There, I said it. These difficult-to-fold sheets of thin paper with words printed on them have been the source of all my elation, pain, stress, frustration, slap-happiness, sleepiness and lack of doing my homework properly (sorry, professors) for the last three-and-a-half years. Sometimes I won-der what it would be like to go to bed before 4:30 a.m. on Thursdays, and not spend every waking hour of the day in an inexplicably cold news-room with nothing but dry erase boards, dusty Macs and unusually sarcastic and cynical college journal-ists for company.

But then, without The UNews, there would never have been under-

Commentary

Kat PatKe

As my time at Saint Louis University is winding down, and I’m faced with a world full of endless

challenges and possibilities, all I can do is think about all the good times I’ve spent here.

So, if you will forgive me, this is dedicated to my friends.

I’ll remember spending the night in a trailer in East St. Louis

with you, drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade and thinking I was just the coolest thing.

I’ll remember leaping around in a circle with you, fusing our hands together in an imitation of the Billiken mating ritual.

I’ll remember walking down Lindell Boulevard in a rowing uni with you on the way to a spandex party.

I’ll remember the time we made our displeasure with a certain Mexican establishment known.

I’ll remember to always be your Haley Joel Osment, if you’ll be my Winnie Cooper.

I’ll remember the four months I spent in Australia with you—scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, sleeping in the Outback, trying to peel a tick off my foot in a sketchy motel outside of Melbourne.

I’ll remember standing on the bal-cony of the Busch Student Center with you, smoking as you vent with me and keep me sane.

I’ll remember sitting in the park-ing lot of The Pageant and drinking champagne when they didn’t believe your ID was real.

I’ll remember the day you bought me a pack of cigarettes when I couldn’t afford my own, and per-forming an impromptu ABBA sing-

a-long in your car. I’ll remember the time we met

a guy who said he was in Queens of the Stone Age out at a bar, only to realize he was a fraud after we Googled the band.

I’ll remember our harmless flirta-tion, doctor. You freaking tease.

I’ll remember sitting in the school bus on the top of the City Museum in the middle of the night, drinking PBR and wondering how we got there.

I’ll remember sitting on the ‘bitch couch’ with you and yelling random lines from The Last Station.

I’ll remember the Bryan and Pamela wedding reception, even though we weren’t invited to it.

I’ll remember the time we both nearly died while you were trying to apply eyeliner on me and give me a Mohawk.

I’ll remember taking a cab back from South County after we got stranded there—even if you wish you didn’t.

I’ll remember staying out until 4 a.m. just so we could sing Destiny’s Child on a stage in the middle of the track.

I’ll remember finding out that the real party is clearly happening at The Kevin Kline Awards and real-izing there was no way we were ever going to be getting up to that karaoke microphone again.

I’ll remember that, no matter what The New York Times cross-word says, ‘Gotcha!’ to a hippie will forever be known as ‘Yo, I got!’

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, in five years time, what I’ll remember is the people I met, the friends I made and the stories we share.

So, to everyone who made it all possible, thanks for the memories.

Will Holston is the Arts Editor, graduating from the College of Arts

and Sciences.

Commentary

Will Holston

I remember when I found out that “Boy Meets World” lied to me; it can only be described as tragic.

The show spent an entire two-epi-sode arc trying to get Cory over his

fear of the com-munal, co-ed bathroom, and my pre-teen self knew that would be one of those moments of triumph, a realization that I would be an adult, when I too could get over my fear and shower

with the masses.As any Saint Louis University stu-

dent can attest, those don’t actually exist. I blame the Jesuits.

Other than that, my college career has been fairly accurate when it comes to what I hoped for. There have been break-ups and make-ups, tears and triumphs, The Complex and The Situation—don’t ask—and people who I honestly can’t imagine my life without.

These last few weeks and the impending graduation has turned me into a hot mess—and not the good kind, like in that song by the band I only started listening to because they worked with Blair from “Gossip Girl.” The bad kind; the kind that literally starts tearing up when any song that even remote-ly talks about something ending or leaving starts playing. Never in my life have I regretted having so much soft rock on my iTunes. Or, for that matter, music from “Glee.” Damn, those kids reminisce a lot.

Honestly, all I want to do with this column, and with my remain-ing time at SLU, is thank the people who have made my four years here better than even my wildest ’90s sit-coms dreams could have imagined.

First, thanks to The University

News and all its contributors, past and present, who have made pro-duction nights something I’m actu-ally going to miss when, theoreti-cally, spending 12 hours in one room should be unbearable.

Thanks to Lauren, for sharing my love of all things Drake and being the only person with a life more outrageous than my own. Thanks to every past UNewser who saw some-thing in that silent, awkward fresh-man who blindly followed Kat into the first meeting. You have no idea how much you’ve changed my life.

Thanks to the workers at The Bean for not judging me too harshly for the amount of Vanilla Swirls I get. Thanks to everyone who has put up with an off-the-cuff nickname that stuck through the years—Mug, Jernsty, Sworley, Ackels in Action; I’m looking at you. Thanks to SGA for always providing me with absurd quotes. Thanks to SAB and GIC for allowing me to interview people I thought I would never even be in the same room with.

Thanks to Hip Hop Harry for lov-ing to learn. Thanks to my dog Riley for being adorable. Thanks to every-one who I encountered in my semes-ter abroad—yes, even you, cute German policeman who searched through my clothes and unmention-ables at three in the morning. I hope that was as awkward for you as it was for me.

Thanks to everyone who, for bet-ter or worse, entered my life at SLU. Without you, I wouldn’t be who I am today—and I’m damned proud of who I am today.

So, like the “Boy Meets World” characters who graduated and went head-first into the great unknown—here goes nothing. For better or worse, it’s my turn.

“I love you all. Class dismissed.”

Kelley Dunn is the News Editor, graduating from the College of Arts

and Sciences.

Commentary

Kelley Dunn

cover stings set to Miley Cyrus songs (don’t judge, it made sense at the time), nor would I have learned to respect the unwavering authority of a round of Nose Goes. There would be no icing permanently stuck to my textbooks, since I would never have needed them to prop up a very poorly built UNews ginger-bread house. I would never have solved the mystery of what a faux strip tease to “Pomp and Circumstance” in cele-bration of a birthday would look like (I mean, who hasn’t wondered about that at some point?). I wouldn’t have had as many opportunities to dra-matically throw my hands up in the air and loudly demand of no one in particular, “What is the deal with my life?!” a la a “Seinfeld” refer-

ence embedded in an episode of “30 Rock.” Also, my “30 Rock” refer-ences would’ve been met with more blank stares than usual.

Sure, I may go prematurely gray thanks to this job (you’ll get my bill,

UNews). I may have become unusually neu-rotic about cor-rect grammar and spelling. But it’s been r e w a r d i n g , c h a l l e n g i n g and, dare I say it, fun.

For better or for worse, it

was through The UNews that I dis-covered that this is what I like to do. My college years were spent with the generally quirky, outrageous, sharp, witty and irreverent people whom I’ve found to make up the unsteady world of journalism, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s no doubt I’m being propelled into an

industry that isn’t doing so hot at the moment. But I’ll always have the fond memories of learning the tricks of the trade in college to keep me warm later in life. You know, like in winter when I haven’t found a job and am living in a refrigerator box somewhere.

In any case, it’s been a wild three-and-a-half years, yet all good things must come to an end. So, like our new writers upon hearing what allegedly happened years ago on the newsroom couches they’re sit-ting on, I’m outta here.

It’s been said that brevity is the soul of wit. So with my profound literary obligation thus fulfilled, I think it would be best to heed Polonius’ advice and cut myself off here. For me, it wasn’t so much that college was the best four years of my life. Rather, the best three-and-a-half years of my life were The UNews.

Kat Patke is the Editor-in-Chief, graduating from the College of Arts

and Sciences.

Thanks for the memories

I love you all; class dismissed

Outgoing editor finds that breaking up is hard to do, now she knows it’s true

For better or for worse, it was through The UNews that I dis-covered that this is what I like to do.“

”

Many thanks to these other spec-tacular, graduating contributors

for The University News through the years:

Allison ReillyCarly DoengesRachel Mezinis

Chris WeissLandon Burris

Maureen O’MalleyMatt Wilhelm

Daniel HunninghakeDorotea LechkovaBobby SchindlerMichael BrehenyAndrew ZeranteOlivia CooperPete Zagotta

Brigid Kinsella

Rachel Mezinis / Illustrator

Photos by Noah Berman / Photo Editor

Arts 7Thursday

April 29, 2010

Talk to us: call Will Holston314.977.2812, or e-mail arts.unews@gmail.com

UNEWSONLINE.COM

The University News

Dev Patel stars as the villain in M. Night Shyamalan’s newest movie, The Last Airbender. The film is an adaptation of the Nickelodeon kids’ show and costars Jackson Rathbone of the Twilight films.

Summer movie season beginsIndustrial Light & Magic / Paramount

Laminated Cat to rock out at the The Bill Club

By ASHLEY JONESAssociate Arts Editor

Chief film Writer

lANDON BUrriS

Landon Burris previews films looking to set box office on fire

See “Cat” on Page 9 Laminated Cat’s debut album is entitled Umbrella Weather. Laminated Cats

Show is a winner

COmmeNtAry

CArly DOeNgeS

See “Machinal” on Page 8

Laminated Cat feels like two different bands: one on the record and one during the live show. The band’s mem-bers describe their live show as being more loose, free-wheeling and grungy than the album. “It’s more rock ‘n’ roll than the album,” singer and multi-instrumentalist AJ Griffin said. “We just kind of rock out on guitar.” The band released its debut album, Umbrella Weather, in September 2009. The name of

the album came from part of the lyrics of one of the songs, “Aquamarine.” Singer and guitarist Tanner Smith explained that listeners should spend time with the album and take something positive away from it. “The value increases with further scrutiny,” Griffin said. Griffin and Smith collabo-rated in writing the album. Both agreed that girls were part of their inspiration. However, Griffin added that

The beginning of May doesn’t just mean that school is nearly finished and that the weather starts being consistently warm; it also means that all of the year’s biggest

blockbusters are about to be unleashed on screens throughout the United States. After an abysmal April at the movies (save Kick-Ass, which is defi-nitely worth a watch), moviegoers are ready for a hearty helping of big-budget blockbusters, especially those that are sequels or in the third dimension (and in the

case of some titles, both). Here is a list of my most anticipated films for May through early August, though I’m also doing the courtesy of listing titles I’m not so thrilled about, too, for convenience’s sake. The release date is listed in the paren-thesis after each title.

May Picks Iron Man 2 (5/7) – A frontrunner to be the highest-grossing film of the summer also kicks off the season, just like the first Iron Man did two years ago. Iron Man 2 follows the continuing adventures of billionaire playboy/superhero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as he finds new allies and dangerous new foes. Jon Favreau is return-ing to direct, and though it will be hard to top the original, several recent superhero sequels have improved on their predeces-sors (see The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, X2: X-Men United). With two stellar actors in Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell cast as new villains, and the always pleasing-to-the-eye Scarlett Johansson playing Black Widow, Iron Man 2 at the very least prom-ises to be a hell of a ride.

MacGruber (5/21) – It may be hard to imagine the “MacGruber” “Saturday Night Live” sketches being fleshed out to make a decent movie, and past failures in this cat-egory vastly outnumber the successes, but there is something about the hard-R rated MacGruber that makes it appealing. Early word is that this MacGyver spoof, helmed by little-known comedic actor Will Forte,

is actually a crowd-pleasing action-comedy. In a jam-packed May, one can only hope it doesn’t get lost in the fold. And the rest… the aptly titled Babies (5/7) is a documentary about four babies from different countries and looks sickeningly adorable… Queen Latifah and Common headline an urban romantic comedy that could be Just Wright (5/14)… Amanda Seyfried follows up her surprise hit Dear John with another mail-themed flick in Letters to Juliet (5/14)… Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe team up once again for another telling of Robin Hood (5/14)…Shrek gets the 3-D treatment because Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy are strapped for cash in Shrek Forever After (5/21)… Sex and the City 2 (5/27) promises more of the same from New York’s favorite aging fashionistas… Disney tries to replicate its Pirates of the Caribbean success with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (5/28) with Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular prince.

June Picks

Get Him to the Greek (6/4) – Though it may not be a Dracula musical, this spinoff of the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall marks the return of flamboyant British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who is being transported from London to the Greek theater in Los Angeles by an intern from a music label played by Jonah Hill. Hilarity and gratuitous celebrity cameos are likely to ensue.

Toy Story 3-D (6/18) – Considering Pixar’s stellar track record, it’s hard not to be excit-ed for any film it releases. So it is doubly exciting to see that the Toy Story franchise is getting a third installment. Featuring the original voice cast, led by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, people of all ages will likely be lining up to see Woody and Buzz’s third out-ing… in the third dimension.

And the rest… Marmaduke (6/4) gets the same treatment as 2004’s Garfield, which means you should avoid it at all costs…Ashton Kutcher is an assassin and Katherine Heigl is an unsuspecting woman caught in his work in Killers (6/4)…fun with genetic engineering in the sci-fi horror film

Splice (6/4)…Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan star in the Karate Kid remake (6/11)…The A-Team (6/11) also gets a remake sans Mr. T…Josh Brolin is Jonah Hex (6/18) in an adaptation of the western themed com-ics…Adam Sandler continues providing his friends with acting jobs in Grown Ups (6/25)…Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in Knight and Day (6/25), which looks exactly like Killers…Twihards are sure to flock to theaters for the Twilight series’ third installment, Eclipse (6/30).

July Picks

Inception (7/16) – Christopher Nolan, who isn’t in the business of making bad films, fol-lows up his 2008 mega-hit The Dark Knight with Inception. Featuring a distinguished cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine and Marion Cotillard among others, the details of Inception remain a mystery. The viral Internet campaign and a couple of intense teaser trailers are all I need to be excited. Expect Inception to be a sleeper hit and possibly garner some awards buzz.

Dinner for Schmucks (7/23) – Jay Roach’s new comedy revolves the bizarre premise in which a corporate bigwig holds monthly “dinners for idiots.” Whatever executive finds the biggest idiot for the event gets offered special advantages as a reward. Though the film sounds outlandish, any-thing starring Paul Rudd is worth watch-ing, and Steve Carell plays the “idiot” role he has perfected. Color me interested.

And the rest…M. Night Shyamalan directs his first kids’ movie with the live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s popular ani-mated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (7/2)…Steve Carell leads an all-star voice cast in an animated film about the world’s greatest villain in Despicable Me 3-D (7/9)…Adrien Brody stars in the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators reboot (7/9)…Nic Cage is a master wizard in Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (7/16)…a Beverly Cleary novel comes to life in the family friendly Ramona and Beezus (7/23)…the espionage thriller Salt (7/23) returns Angelina Jolie to her most popular genre…pointless sequels galore in Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty

Galore (7/30)…the story of Beauty and the Beast gets the CW treatment in Beastly (7/30)…Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in the Philip K. Dick inspired film, The Adjustment Bureau (7/30).

August Picks (through 8/13)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (8/13) – Edgar Wright, the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, makes his first North American production with an adaptation of the comic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Starring Michael Cera as the titular charac-ter, Pilgrim must defeat “seven evil exes” in order to win the right to date the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The ADD, quick-cut trailer looks wonderfully over-the-top and features fight sequences reminiscent of “Street Fighter” video games.

And the rest… Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell star in Adam McKay’s action-come-dy The Other Guys (8/6)…dancing reaches a new dimension in Step Up 3-D (8/6)…a film adaptation of the bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love (8/13) stars Julia Roberts…The Expendables (8/13) is a tribute to action films of the 80s, starring the king of the action ‘80s himself, Sylvester Stallone…long distance relationships are examined in Going the Distance (8/13), a romcom star-ring real-life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long.

Sadly, this will be my last article for The University News, and I’d like to thank every-one who has read my movie reviews (and other pieces) over the past four years. It has been a lot of fun to recommend and warn the SLU community about which films to watch and which ones to skip. Though I’m leaving my post as Chief Film Writer, you can rest assured that I’ll still be watching and complaining about plenty of movies for years to come. Thanks especially to The UNews; it has been great working with Kelley, Kat and the rest of the fantastic staff since my arrival at Reinert Hall nearly four years ago. Finally, a special mention goes out to Will Holston, whose film snobbery over the years has helped make me look much less pretentious.

This past weekend, Saint Louis University Theatre opened its final play of the school year, the drama

Machinal. On its s e c o n d n i g h t , Mach ina l drew in c r o w d s , with the line to buy t i c k e t s continuing to extend through the

hallway of Xavier Hall’s lower level up to and past the show’s start time. Consequently, the 8 p.m. performance did not begin until 8:20. Despite the

grumblings in the audience about the late start, Machinal proved to be worth the wait. Referring to Machinal as a drama is a huge understate-ment. The play is dark and intense, with very little comic relief thrown in, as it follows a young woman’s struggle to have some freedom in her life. She leaves the apartment she shares with her mother to enter a loveless marriage with her boss, all the while breaking down mentally and emotionally. When she finally encounters a man who brings passion and a sense of free-dom to her life, she is swept

ling and consistent all the way through, made even more impressive by how emotional-ly exhausting the role seems like it would be to portray. Overall, Machinal is a play I would recommend seeing if you have the opportunity. Even if the idea of sitting through a fairly heavy play doesn’t appeal to you, trust me—it’s worth it. For more information about The Saint Louis University Theatre Department, includ-ing a list of the shows per-formed this season and in past seasons, visit www.slu.edu/theatre. Tickets can be purchased at the box office located on the ground floor of Xavier Hall, across the hall from the-ater. Go see it. It’s definitely worth your time!

Arts8 The University News Thursday, April 29, 2010

SLU looks for a few good men and women to go to the movies

By ALLISON REILLYSenior Staff Writer

Machinal is playing in the theater located in Xavier Hall this weekend on April 30 and May 1 and 2.

Chicago band tours the country, fuses music styles

By WILL HOLSTONArts Editor

Noah Berman/Photo Editor

Lubriphonic is a septet made up of seven former sidemen working in the Chicago music scene.

Lubriphonic

Machinal: Play is set in 1920s, has a strong ensemble of student actors

Continued from Page 7

Emily Guck stars as Helen Jones, the central character of the play, in University Theatre’s new production Machinal.

Noah Berman / Photo Editor

up in the affair to the point that she finally commits an act that gives her complete freedom from her husband. SLU Theatre completely delivered with the technical elements of the production of Machinal. The sets were fairly simple, yet managed to possess the same dark, heavy mood as the action of the play. Machinal also sees SLU Theatre’s incorporation of a new technology for the department. At several points a thin screen came over the stage, showing footage, pre-sumably from the ‘20s, to add to the setting. This was effec-tive, but even more so was the use of this screen to broad-cast close-up images of the actors during the play. This technique was utilized during moments of intense mono-logue, and did a brilliant job of drawing the audience into the psyche of the characters. While the set, costumes, lighting and other technical factors all definitely played their part in setting the tone for Machinal, it was the actors who made the feeling of the performance come to life. From the minor roles to the leads, all actors were spot-on in their portrayal of the drama’s characters. However, two performances in particu-lar stood out from the rest. Senior Kevin B o e h m d e s e r v e s a c c o l a d e s for his por-trayal of the young wom-an’s lover. B o e h m s e e m e d totally at ease on stage, and his performance felt incredibly natural. Rather than sounding like he was simply reciting memo-rized lines, Boehm’s delivery of his lines was conversational

and felt real. This unfet-tered, comfortable performance is deserving of even more credit, con-sidering that half of Boehm’s scenes required the actor to be in his under-wear. Being able to maintain that level of comfort and con-trol when acting in front of an audi-ence while wearing hardly anything is certainly impres-sive. But it was senior Emily Guck who was truly the star of Machinal, as she gave an absolutely haunting perfor-mance as Helen Jones, the young woman the play centers around. Guck flawlessly captured her char-acter’s internal struggle, and all the emotion that accompanied it. And this wasn’t just in the verbal delivery of her lines. Guck’s body language and facial expressions, from her tight-ness at the touch of Helen Jones’ husband, to her play-

f u l n e s s as Helen J o n e s interact-ed with her lover, s e e m e d n a t u r a l and fluid, r a t h e r t h a n acted. Although it was

only briefly, the audience was also treated to a sample of Guck’s singing voice, which filled the theater beautifully. All told, Guck gave a per-formance that was compel-

Be inspired. Be unique. Be outstanding. Be in a movie ad. The Marketing and Communications Department of Saint Louis University recently needed students from Omaha, Neb., Cincinnati and Springfield, Ill., to be a part of 30-second spots that will air in movie theaters in those areas. “These are market-spe-cific ads,” Mary Ann Grillo-Ellmo, director of Marketing and Communications, said. “Students want to see other students from their area.” Grillo-Elmo said that there are seven major mar-kets in the Midwest region: St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., Chicago, Central Illinois (which includes Peoria and Springfield), Milwaukee, Omaha and Cincinnati. ”That’s where 95 percent

of students come from,” she said. The movie ads are part of the Be A Billiken campaign to encourage high school juniors and seniors to think about SLU as a prospective college option. They have aired in movie theaters in these mar-kets for the last two years. “[The high-schoolers] love it when they get to meet the student they saw [in the ads],” Grillo-Ellmo said. One of these students they get to meet is sophomore Amit Sood. The St. Louis native works in the Marketing and Communications Department, and was inter-ested when the spots were being shot one day. “I like doing something new,” Sood said. “It’s a great way to show your pride in SLU and represent your hometown.” Junior Mitchell Johnson echoed these sentiments. “It’s fun to see the reac-

tions,” Johnson said. Although not in the movie ads, Johnson, another St. Louis native, can be seen on the billboards and in the view book, the pamphlet given to prospective students. “I get recognized a lot on campus,” Johnson said. “It’s a great way to meet new peo-ple.” Though the Marketing and Communications Department already has all the students it needs for movie ads this year, it will be looking for students next year to participate in the ads and photo shoots. Grillo-Ellmo said that freshmen are preferred, and a variety of students are needed in order to give “a good repre-sentation of the face of SLU.” “They are closer to the demographic the ads are tar-geted for,” she said. “They can relate to [the high school juniors and seniors].” Loof for more information on SLU Connection.

Chicago-based and self-described soulful septet Lubriphonic is making its way across the country, set to land at The Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis on May 7. According to the band’s lead vocalist and guitar play-er, Giles Corey, touring the country playing music is the fulfillment of a dream. “We’ve been crisscrossing around the country,” he said. “It’s fantastic. It’s what we all wanted to do … I love going to new spots, new cities that I haven’t been to … It’s a great way to sample America.” Started in 2000 by Corey and the band’s drummer Rick King, Lubriphonic is made up of seven musicians who met working in the Chicago music scene. “We all come from dif-ferent backgrounds,” Corey said. “We were all working as sidemen. You work for estab-lished acts playing an instru-ment behind them … We decided we wanted to start

our own project.” After Lubriphonic started making headway as a band in 2004, the band members were able to stop working as sidemen and begin playing their own music. “When you’re a sideman, you’re following orders … It’s a great apprenticeship. It’s a great way to learn,” Corey said. “[But] when you’re per-forming your own music, you decide what you’re going to play … It stops being a job and becomes something you do with your heart.” Corey believes that the band’s sound—a fusion of funk, soul and rock ‘n’ roll—comes from the different musical backgrounds each member brought to the table, and believes Chicago had a lot to do with making all of this possible. “Chicago is obviously one of the biggest cities in the country,” he said. “It’s also in the center of the country, so you get a little bit of every-thing ... There’s an opportu-nity to kind of play anything. There’s an audience for it.”

He also believes that the musical culture of Chicago has helped the band grow and flourish. “It’s not like New York where there’s a real pressure-cooker environment,” Corey said. “I don’t think a band like us could exist in a place like New York … There wouldn’t be an opportunity for us to just grow and exist. You have to adhere to some media standard, and you don’t really have to do that in Chicago.” Corey looks forward to continuing the band’s tour across the country, and enjoys seeing the responses of Lubriphonic’s diverse audi-ence. “There’s kind of a wide range of people that get into us,” he said. “There’s not one kind of type. People are dif-ferent in different spots … It’s been great to come in and have such an enthusiastic response to it from an audi-ence.” For more information about Lubriphonic and its tour, visit www.lubriphonic.com.

All told, Guck gave a performance that was compelling and consistent all the way through.

“”

Arts The University News 9Thursday, April 29, 2010

Cat: Group coming to SLU campusContinued from Page 7

Laminated Cat will be coming to perform at The Bill Club in the Busch Student Center on May 4. Laminated Cats

living in a small, rural part of Maine also contributed. “I guess you have to be there to quantify it,” Griffin said. The band is currently on its first tour with The Apples in stereo. “They are well-rounded in a cosmic way…they are teth-

ered to stars,” Smith said Griffin explained that the tour has been good for the band. “Every time we start play-ing there are like 15 people, then we start playing and they crawl out of the woodwork,” Griffin said. As a whole, the band’s members have been playing together since high school. However, Smith and his broth-

ers, Camden and Cooper Smith, have been playing together since they were young. They gather influ-ence from musicians such as The Beatles, Elliot Smith, Pavement and Neil Young. Laminated Cat will be play-ing at The Billiken Club on May 4. The band’s of ficial MySpace, is www.myspace.com/laminatedcatt.

Priya Sirohi, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, asked:

Civic Journalism10ThursdayApril 29, 2010

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Editor’s Note: On this page are the results from this semester’s Civic Journalism section. Students, faculty and staff members in the SLU community were invited to submit any SLU-related question they wanted, at which point we set our reporters to work to find them answers. The Civic Journalism sec-tion will be continued next year. Members of the SLU community are welcome to send questions anytime to unewscivicjournalism@gmail.com.

Why doesn’t SLU have a debate team? Georgetown University and Creighton University, two other Jesuit colleges, have competitive debate teams. SLU had an opportunity when a student a while back tried to start one. Doesn’t SLU, as a Jesuit university, have an obligation to promote competitive academic ac-tivities? Why doesn’t SLU do more to promote debate on campus?

Outgoing Vice President of Student Organizations Amanda Mason confirmed that a student did try to start a debate team back in 2008. A constitution for the organization is on file, but Mason said that she thinks the group didn’t come to fruition be-cause they didn’t finish the probation process in order to go up for chartering. Despite this failure of establishment, Mason also said that if any students would once again like to start a debate team, they are welcome to do so, either through her or in-coming Vice President of Student Organizations Paul Pae-tow. As for Saint Louis University’s role to promote more debate on campus, Vice President of Student Development Scott Smith said “the spirit of debate is very congruent with the Jesuit Mission.” “The concept itself is a good one,” he said. “It helps us to think critically about issues and engage in dialogue to pursue truth.” Smith, however, disagreed with the premise that a de-bate team is the only way to foster debate on campus. “[Debate] happens in our classrooms every day, in the dining hall and in the learning communities,” he said. “Living in a community around a central interest should facilitate the exchange of ideas and the dialogue of tough issues.”—Reporting by Allison Reilly

Shelley Wehmeyer, a senior in the John Cook School of Business, asked:

Where do SLUruba’s palm trees go in October?

During the winter months, the palm trees are kept in a greenhouse in northern Jefferson County and re-installed in the spring.

“Typically we’re able to get two to three growing sea-sons out of the trees before they’re too tall to fit in the greenhouse. At that point, we bring in new, smaller trees and begin the cycle again,” said Jeff Macko, the Univer-sity’s Grounds Director.—Reporting by Kristin McGuire

Teresa Wink, a sophomore in the School of Nursing, asked:

Why doesn’t SLU provide its students with discounted Metro passes the way universities, such as Washington Uni-versity in St. Louis, do?

Washington University in St. Louis used to have a shut-tle system to transport students from the Danforth Campus to the medical campus and vice versa, but found that this service was a duplication of the MetroBus route. Through negotiations, the University has since abolished its shuttle system and now provides every student, faculty and staff member with a MetroLink pass.

“[The duplication of service] was not the best thing to do,” said Steve Hoffner,Wash. U. associate vice chancellor for operations. “We entered into discussions and made a contract with Metrolink.”

Hoffner said that Wash. U. pays Metrolink $2.3 million per year in order to provide these passes. This money comes out of the Employee Benefit Fund and the Central Administration Fund.

“It’s reduced our demand for parking and is a win/win situation for everyone,” Hoffner said.

Ann Gioia, director of Parking and Card Services at SLU described it as comparing “apples to oranges.”

“It’s not cost-effective for us to do this,” Gioia said. “We don’t have an extensive bus system.”

MetroLink passes are available for purchase from the Parking and Card Services office, but there are restric-tions: the passes are only available to undergraduate stu-dents under the age of 23. They are not available to gradu-ate students, no matter what age.

Approximately 80 passes are purchased each semester. They last for one semester, cost $145 and can be used on the train as well as the bus. Gioia said that these guidelines are set by MetroLink and not by SLU.

Officials at MetroLink were unavailable for comment.—Reporting by Allison Reilly

Sean Worley, a freshman in the School of Nursing, asked:

Why is there a cow in the Busch Stu-dent Center?

Although Saint Louis University has a plethora of sculp-tures, students may have taken note of one in particular: the cow. This bovine sculpture was a part of an art project hosted by the city of Chicago back in 1999. A SLU student volunteered to make a SLU-themed cow for the exhibit. The cow was then donated to the BSC as a gift from the student to celebrate the renovation of the BSC.

“It will remain in the building indefinitely,” said Chris Grabau, BSC Building Manager. If anyone is looking, the creature is located outside of Au Bon Pain. He would prob-ably appreciate a visit. —Reporting by Kristin McGuire

Laurel Marshall, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, asked:

Why are all students required to buy a $200 meal plan that is only worth 150 flex points? Chartwells is already over-priced and not conducive to conscien-tious/vegetarian eating, and I resent being forced to spend so much grocery money on food I don’t choose.

“In 2004, the [Student Government Association] passed a resolution that introduced the commuter meal plan along with a reduction of overhead in the residence meal plans,” said Ann Gioia, director of Parking and Card Services.

The $50 difference between the cost of the meal plan and the number of flex points covers the annual cost to maintain the system, replacement of equipment, system upgrades and the staff needed to do so, she said.

“The University works with Chartwells to keep prices comparable to local regular consumer prices for similar goods and services,” said Van Vieregge, Director of Aux-iliary Service.

Gioia said the reason for the resolution creating the commuter meal plan was twofold: to create a connection between commuter students and other classmates and resi-dent students through shared experiences at retail dining locations and to help with the cost of dining overhead ex-penses.

Vieregge disagreed that there weren’t options for veg-etarians or conscientious diners on campus.

“Campus dining features conscientious [and] vegetar-ian options at each dining location, with TerraVe being exclusively dedicated to food for those with a vegetarian lifestyle,” he said.

Anyone wishing to contact the Chartwells nutritionist to discuss individual dietary needs can email her at laura.con-way@compass-usa.com.—Reporting by Kristin McGuire

For what reasons did former Provost Joe Weixlmann step down? Has heresumed working elsewhere?

Joe Weixlmann stepped down from his position last sum-mer for personal and professional reasons, due to a death in the family. Since then, Dean of Parks College of Engineer-ing, Aviation & Technology Manoj Patankar has filled in first as interim provost, and then as interim vice president of Frost Campus after the provost position was discontin-ued.

Weixlmann is currently teaching in the Department of English and is working on improving the Honors Program. He is also up for the position of provost at Loyola Univer-sity Chicago. The final decision for this position will be an-nounced in May.—Reporting by Jonathan Ernst

Chris Wintrode, a fourth year, dual degree candidate in the School of Law,

asked:

What ever happened to the smoke-free campus referendum that was passed a few years ago? Students voted for it, faculty and staff were surveyed and in favor of it, and the [President’s Coordi-nating Council] even heard the issue. I heard it’s because [SLU President Law-rence] Biondi, [S.J.], is a cigar aficiona-do.

For many years now, some students on the Saint Louis University campus have been attempting to transform this campus to a completely smoke-free area. Out of this goal was born a student organization known as Smoke Free SLU. In February of 2008, they came closer to reaching that goal when a referendum presented to students about restricting smoking on campus at SLU passed with more than 60 percent of the vote. As a result, Smoke Free SLU presented its reasons for having a smoke-free campus at the PCC in the May 2008 meeting.

“I’ve researched the PCC minutes re: smoking ban, and [ultimately] the PCC voiced its concerns about enforcement of the ban. It recommended the student[s] discuss options with DPS Director Mike Lauer as well as to ascertain how a similar ban is handled by other universities,” said Assistant to the President Bridget Fletcher.

Jean Puccinelli, current president of Smoke Free SLU, said the PCC was unsure about the issue at the meeting, and that 50 percent seemed in favor, 25 percent seemed against it and 25 percent were undecided.

“The conclusion PCC came to was that it is not practical to make this whole campus smoke free, but it is possible to make designated smoke-free areas,” Puccinelli said. “So right now, we are in the process of writing a student sur-vey to find out which areas students want to make smoke free, and then we will present this case back to PCC for approval.”

For what it’s worth, Biondi is indeed a cigar smoker; he brought it up in a Q&A with the Student Government As-sociation earlier this year.

—Reporting by Niharika Goparaju

Steven Oeters, a flight instructor at SLU, asked:

Why does the sprinkler system across campus keep watering the grass and flowers even though it’s raining outside? Also, why are the lights always on in the parking garages, even though it may be clearly lit from the ambient sunlight? Seems like a possible avenue to pursue when attempting to save resources.

Keith McCune, assistant director of Facilities Manage-ment, explained the lights in the garage:

“People don’t realize how dark the garages would be without the lights. We have to leave them on for safety pur-poses and to save resources, we just reduce the amount of electricity,” he said.

McCune said that, during winter break this year, har-vesting sensors were installed in the outer rows of the four parking garages. These sensors force the lights in the park-ing garages to turn off when there is enough ambient sun-light.

“The Facilities Department partnered with Parks Col-lege [of Engineering, Aviation & Technology] students to come up with this design,” Director of Facilities Manage-ment Dan Goodman said.

To reduce more electricity, Facilities Management has taken the measure to change all the existing 186-watt high pressure sodium fixtures to 84-watt compact fluorescent lights in the parking garages.

“We reinstalled a total of 1,340 lights, and this resulted in an annual reduction in excess of 1.2 million watts. This is the equivalent of removing 764 tons of green house gases and saving 91,600 gallons of gasoline annually,” Goodman said.

These changes on campus also deal with the sprinkler system. Students may have noticed that the sprinklers al-ways seem to run on schedule, rain or shine.

Jeff Macko, manager of Grounds and Custodial Services, said that even this problem has since been solved.

“We have 58 controllers across campus that are linked with a computer program that monitors the weather condi-tions. Depending upon how much rain falls, the sprinkler system is monitored and controlled,” Macko said.

This automated computer system has been running on the campus for 12 years now, but still has some glitches, Macko said. The system cannot recognize small forms of precipitation, such as a slight drizzle.

That’s why the sprinkler system will still function during light rain until it can detect a significant amount of rain.

“There are some overall problems that we do have to rectify, but it has been a continual process, and we will get there. In the meantime to save water and resources, we are just cutting down the days that we water the grounds,” Macko said. —Reporting by Niharika Goparaju

Rachel Mezinis / Illustrator

Victor Lio / Photographer

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See “Top 10” on Page 13

1. Sometime between Nov. 14, 2009 and March 31, 2010 The “Billikids” grew up fast

Once again, the Billikens men’s basketball roster was the youngest in the country. Not a single upperclassman played one minute of basketball for the Billikens in the 2009-2010 season.

This lack of experience led many to believe that the Bills would struggle. Saint Louis University was even picked to finish third-to-last in the Atlantic 10 preseason coaches’ poll.

Fortunately, someone failed to let the green Billikens know, as a feisty group of four sophomores and seven freshmen fought and scraped their way to 23 wins and a definitive fourth place in the A-10.

The Billikens even saw postseason play this season, reaching the finals of the College Basketball Invitational before falling to Virginia Commonwealth University in the best-of-three series.

The surprisingly successful season didn’t go unno-ticed by the team’s head coach, either.

“I’ve had many great seasons, and this is as good a sea-son as I’ve had. What these kids did was nothing short of sensational,” Rick Majerus said.

Majerus’ youthful team will have a lot of excitement surrounding it next year, as the team adds three impres-sive recruits and returns all but one player from last season.

Billiken Bests:

2. Jan. 22, 2010 Donigan resigns

Something about Robert R. Hermann Stadium will seem a bit off when the 2010 SLU soccer season finally kicks off. For the first time in 13 seasons, Dan Donigan will not be stalking the sidelines in some capacity.

The former men’s soc-cer head coach announced his resignation on Jan. 22, 2010. Donigan left to accept the vacant job at Rutgers University in his native New Jersey.

While at SLU, Donigan compiled a 118-42-23 record and made seven NCAA tour-nament appearances.

Donigan first joined the staff as an assistant in 1997 and was named head coach in 2001. He led the Billikens to the national quarterfinals in two of his first three seasons.

He coached seven All-America selections and saw 13 players get drafted into Major League Soccer.

3. Nov. 15, 2009 Soccer wins A-10

Part of the reason that Donigan’s departure was so disappointing was the recent success that his Billiken teams had had.

The 2009 squad finished 15-7 and claimed SLU’s first Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship with a decisive 2-0 victory over Dayton on Nov. 15, 2009.

The Billikens had been among the top teams in the conference since joining the

A-10 in the fall of 2005, even tying for the regular season crown in 2006. But the team had failed to capture the con-ference tournament crown.

However, the Bills, led by sophomore standout Mike Roach, were able to give their coach one last send off and bring home the tournament title.

4. Jan. 9, 2010 Ellis arrives

There was a definite dif-ference between the non-conference and conference performances by the men’s basketball team. And it’s safe to say that the arrival of fresh-man Cody Ellis was a big part of this difference.

To the dismay of many Billiken fans, the Australian struggled to gain eligibil-ity from the NCAA clearing-house for the first 14 games of the season.

However, on Jan. 9, 2010, Ellis suited up for the first time as a Billiken and made an immediate impact. Ellis scored 10 points and chipped in a team-high five rebounds in one of the Billikens best wins of the season, a 63-58 victory over Richmond University.

Ellis became an essential part of the Billikens offen-sive onslaught as the fresh-man, along with sophomores Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed all averaged more than 10 points per game.

Ellis’ play and the win over Richmond catapulted the Bills into their successful confer-ence campaign.

It was a year of ups and downs, surprises, disappointments and upsets for the teams at Saint Louis University. Spring sports are still in full swing, but the sports staff at The University News has nonetheless picked this year’s top 10 sports stories.

File Photos / The University News

(From top) Kwamain Mitchell (left) celebrates with teammate Cody Ellis after a Billiken victory. Head men’s soccer coach Dan Donigan resigned after 13 years with SLU. The SLU men’s soccer team cel-ebrates after capturing the program’s first A-10 title. Freshman Cody Ellis made an immediate impact on the men’s basketball team.

Too many moments to choose fromI have to admit I’m partial.

When looking back on Saint Louis University athletics in

the last year, most of my fond memories either hap-pened on a court or over a net. Being the beat writ-er for the volleyball and men’s b a s k e t -

ball team will do that to you. Regardless of the sport, though, it seemed I was see-ing the same story, just in different phases.

When Anne Kordes came to Midtown five years ago, she inherited an afterthought. SLU volleyball had been nowhere and was headed nowhere fast. She brought

in five young women, Sammi McCloud, Whitney Behrens, Whitney Roth, Bridget Fonke and Sally Warning, who com-pletely changed the trajectory of the program.

In four years, Kordes and her Fab Five have visited the NCAA tournament three times and have been named champs of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament two times, in addition to three reg-ular season titles. The squad also garnered the program’s first-ever national ranking.

The culmination of Kordes’ hard work came on Aug. 29, 2009, at Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens took on No. 1 Penn State in front of a record 6,106 screaming fans. If you weren’t there, my words will not be able to describe the atmo-sphere that evening. Truly, it rivaled the most intense basketball game. While the results weren’t favorable, the

Bills fell 29-27, 25-18, 25-14, SLU showed the nation that they were finally there.

Seeing the Fab Five leave SLU is tough; it’s certainly hard to say that it’s one of my favorite moments of the year. But getting to see those women play their hearts out each and every day, to strive for nothing less than excellence, is one of the fin-est moments of the year. I commend the entire club on another successful year.

Kordes now re-enters the building phase, something fellow coach Rick Majerus is all too familiar with.

Majerus is absolutely right when he says that the men’s basketball team had an excel-lent year. A team that was pre-dicted to finish 12th out of 14 teams and ended up finishing fourth and winning over 20 games and was snubbed by the NIT? Yes, that would qual-

ify as an excellent season.There are too many

moments to recall from this year’s basketball season. From Kwamain Mitchell’s late-bank to force OT against Dayton, to Cody Ellis showing how it’s done Down Under, and all the Willie Reed jam-times in between: Where does one start with favorite moments?

And let’s not forget the head coach himself. Against Wisconsin-Green Bay, in overtime, Christian Salecich was subjected to a poor call (it really was a terrible call). The resulting scene will forever remain in my mind: Majerus walked over to the assistant sports information director, grabbed his laptop and pro-ceeded to slam it twice on the scorer’s table. Then he watched UW-GB shoot two foul shots next to the cheer-leaders. It was certainly a memorable scene.

Commentary

DerriCk neuner

Sports The University News 13Thursday, April 29, 2010

Continued from Page 12

Top 10: Chaifetz, Ream round out list

5. Aug. 29, 2009SLU vs. Penn State

Head coach Anne Kordes has made the Billikens a force on the national volleyball scene. This was never more evident on the night of Aug. 29, 2009, when a record 6,106 fans piled into Chaifetz Arena to watch SLU battle the two-time defending national cham-pions, Penn State University.

While the Billikens would eventually lose the match, becoming just another one of Penn State’s victims in their record streak, they certainly showed that they belonged with big dogs. SLU pushed Penn State to the limit in the first set, 29-27, and never looked intimidated.

The early-season loss wouldn’t dampen the Billikens spirits, though. The team went on to win a share of the A-10 regular season title and an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

6. Kwamain saves the game -- twice

Billiken fans saw plenty of bonus basketball this sea-son, as the Bills played in five overtime games, including three double-overtimers. As if seeing all of this bonus baket-ball weren’t enough, sopho-more point guard Kwamain Mitchell threw in some hero-ics on the side.

Mitchell saved the day in two of the three double over-time victories.

The first came on Feb. 13, 2010. After trailing by as many as 14 points to a red-hot Dayton Flyers team, the Bills battled back to within three points in the final half-minute. The Bills failed to get an open look on the final possession, but it didn’t mat-ter. The ball eventually ended up in the hands of Mitchell, who threw up a 30-footer in 6’8” Chris Wright’s face as the clock expired. The miracle shot banked in, sending the game into OT and eventually in the Billikens favor.

Mitchell’s next act of hero-ism came in the postseason, when the Bills needed it the most. With the Bills trailing 55-53 to Wisconsin-Green Bay in the opening round of the CBI, Mitchell made perhaps the best play of his young collegiate career. In a

diving effort that left Mitchell in the front row of the stands, the determined point guard managed to flick Green Bay’s inbounds pass right to Willie Reed under the basket. Reed laid it in to send the game into overtime.

7. March 6, 2010 Bills win at Dayton

Mitchell’s heroics may have been exhilarating, but the best team effort that the Billikens dished out all season came in the regular season’s finale. Due to a Charlotte loss earlier in the day, the Bills were already guaranteed fourth place in the Atlantic 10 and a first-round bye in the A-10 tournament. They didn’t need to win—Dayton did.

An experienced and deep Dayton team desperately needed wins to bolster their NCAA resume after a disap-pointing campaign. They especially couldn’t afford to lose at home—something they very rarely do, anyway. Not to mention the fact that it was senior night, and a packed house.

But none of that mattered to the Bills. They jumped on Dayton early and had a double-digit lead at the half. Dayton battled back late in the second half, but SLU managed to keep its cool and secured its best, but not big-gest, win of the season.

8. March, 20, 2010 Baseball slugs KU

The heart of the order has been huge for the Billikens all season. This fact was never more evident than when the Bills swept a double-header against No. 19 Kansas on March 20.

The three through five hit-ters for the Bills combined to go 14-for-23 with 16 RBIs in the pair of games.

But these games were just more of the usual for the Billikens corner infield-ers. Senior first baseman Danny Brock and junior third baseman Jon Myers slugged their way to the top of the Atlantic 10 leaderboards early this season, and they show no intentions of leaving it any-time soon.

Currently, Brock and Myers are tied for first with 15 homers apiece. The duo

ranks first and second in RBIs, with Brock leading the way with 58 and Myers close behind 51. Myers leads the A-10 with 126 total bases and a .724 slugging percentage and is second in the league with 66 hits. Brock is sec-ond with a .723 slugging per-centage, third with 112 total bases, eighth with 41 runs scored and 10th with a .466 on-base percentage.

9. Chaifetz rallies home crowds

Last year, Billiken fans became familiar with Chaifetz Arena, the new home of Billiken basketball. This past season, Billiken fans became familiar with the namesake of the building, Dr. Richard Chaifetz himself.

Chaifetz was an inte-gral part of Billiken home games. He was always one of the Bills most passionate and vocal cheerleaders of the team, doing everything from lambasting referees to sprinting on to the court after Kwamain Mitchell’s three against Dayton. The stu-dent section quickly noticed Chaifetz’s enthusiasm. Signs featuring the namesake and chants of “Doc-tor Chai-fetz” became a staple of the Blue Crew, cementing his legacy in Billiken fan-lore up there with a giant poster of Steve Urkel.

10. Jan. 14, 2010 Tim Ream goes pro

On Jan. 14, Tim Ream became the 13th Billiken coached by Dan Donigan to join the MLS. Ream became the 18th overall selection and second pick of the sec-ond round in the 2010 Major League Soccer Super Draft when the New York Red Bulls came calling.

Ream has already seen sig-nificant playing time with the Red Bulls, including playing the full 90 minutes in the first- ever match played at the new Red Bulls Arena and in the team’s season opener.

Ream led a stern Billiken defense during his four years at SLU and was a NSCAA first-team All-Region selection in 2009.

Ream is expected to com-pete for the MLS rookie of the year award.

Fans cheer on the Billikens during the 2OT victory over Dayton on February 13. Kwamain Mitchell banked in a three as time ran out to send the game into overtime.

File Photo / The University News

The volleyball team pumps itself up dur-ing its match against No. 1 Penn State.

File Photo/The University NewsTim Ream was the 18th player selected in this year’s MLS Super Draft.

File Photo/The University News

Baseball

The Billikens are back to .500 play after an 11-4 vic-tory over Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on April 28 at the Billiken Sports Complex.

The Billikens (21-21) matched their season-high with 17 total hits in the game. Sophomore Zack Miller racked up four hits, a career high, to go along with two runs scored and two RBIs.Danny Brock knocked in his conference-leading 59th RBI while going 3-for-3. Brock is now only seven RBIs short of the SLU single-season record.

The Billikens used five pitchers to hold the Cougars (12-28) to only four hits on the night. Sophomore Jerry Mancuso started the game, allowing one unearned run on one hit in three games.

SLU returns to action in a crucial three-game series against Atlantic 10 Conference foe St. Bonaventure this weekend. Game one is set for Friday at 7 p.m. The Billikens are 8-7 in league play and are tied for fifth in the A-10 stand-ings with four other clubs.

Annual Awards

A handful of Billikens were honored on April 26 at Lorenzini’s Restaurant inside Chaifetz Arena.

Men’s soccer player Ross Kaufman, diver Anna Larson and volleyball’s Whitney Roth earned Saint Louis University’s 2010 Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete of the Year awards. The awards are based on academic achieve-ment, athletic accomplish-ment and community ser-

Sports Shorts: Billiken Briefsvice.

Women’s basketball player Amanda Kemezys earned the Inspirational Award.

Last year, Kaufman led the Billikens to the Atlantic 10 Championship and the second round of the NCAA Tournament with 12 wins, including six shutouts. During his career, he helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament four straight years. As a junior, he was the recipient of the team’s Mark Demling Award as the player who puts the team first and foremost and gives everything he has to the team.

Larson finished her career as the top diver in program history. She was a four-time NCAA Zone qualifier and two-time A-10 champion diver on the three-meter board. A three-time team MVP, she fin-ished in first place 16 times as a senior and 72 times in her career.

Roth finished her collegiate career as one of the program’s most decorated athletes ever. She helped the team to three NCAA Tournament bids and the program’s first national ranking. She twice was named honorable mention All-America and was the first to be named A-10 Setter of the Year three straight times. She broke the school record for career assists by more than 2,000, and finished with 5,463. She was also named to the A-10 All-Academic team twice.

One of the most affable and engaging members of the team, Kemezys served as team captain and posted the team’s highest GPA. She battled through numerous injuries to her feet, legs and shoulder. Kemezys holds the

school record for rebounds in a season with 273, and she finished in the top 10 in seven career categories.

Softball

Senior Brittney Schmidt proved to be the difference in both games of a double-head-er against Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, on April 28 at the Billiken Sports Complex.

Schmidt hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning to register the only run in a 1-0 victory during the opener. The infielder then drove in the winning run in the sixth inning of the night-cap.

Hannah Huebbe worked out of a key bases-loaded cri-sis in the top of the sixth inning to finish her complete-game shut out. Huebbe’s record improved to 14-9 as a starting pitcher.

SLU posted an early 4-0 lead in the first inning of the sec-ond contest. Kristin Nicoletti began the rally with a single to left and a subsequent sto-len base. She was moved to third on sacrifice bunt turned base hit by Rachel Faletto. A hit batter and then a walk would lead to the first run, fol-lowed by a bloop-single that scored two more. The final run of the inning scored on a throwing error.

SIUE would tie the game in the top of the sixth, before Schmidt’s single scored Nicki Jost to secure the sweep for the Billikens.

Huebbe would retire three straight batters in the seventh to earn her second straight win of the day. Huebbe moved into 10th place for SLU wins.

~Bobby Schindler

Advertisements from Student Development14 The University News Thursday, April 29, 2010