@northernermediathenortherner.comThe Northerner NKU’s independent student-run newspaperWednesday, April 18, 2012

Edition 49, Issue 13 Value: 75 cents

SGA pushes to make evaluations public

International Potluck celebrates exchange students

Tennis set to compete in GLVC Tournament

See NEWS, p.7 See p.8 See SPORTS, p. 14

NKUGEOFFREY MEARNSWELCOMES

Photos by Emily Lindeau

After a year-long search, sifting through hun-dreds of applications and hosting three campus visits, the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents announced the university’s next president on the morning of April 17.

Geoffrey Mearns, hailing from Cleveland State University in Ohio, will step in as NKU’s fifth presi-dent and replace current president James Votruba.

“It’s an honor, as I said, not only for me, but for my family,” Mearns said. “This was a decision we approached as a family, and it was so important to me to come to an institution that is not only strong, but it’s part of a dynamic community that has a great relationship with this metropolitan commu-nity.”

Out of the three finalists, two withdrew from the race, leaving Mearns with the position.

Board of Regents chair Terry Mann said the two other finalists were given the opportunity to “reaf-firm” their commitment to their own universities, where both were already sitting presidents.

Mearns is stepping out of his position as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs to make the move to NKU. In an April 9 on-campus forum with students, he informed the students he would focus heavily on retention rates, the Division I transition and how he could better integrate resi-dential and commuter student relationships if cho-sen as the next president.

He also plans on focusing on student relationships and being “physically present” on campus at events and in informal settings. Mearns said that informal settings with students are some of the most impor-

tant interactions the president can have.One of the biggest challenges Mearns will face, he

said, is persuading Kentucky state legislators that their investments in the university are “worthwhile and important” to the future of students and the government.

Mearns also said he wants to continue Votruba’s work on expanding and growing the university in the community.

“Higher education is under extraordinary pres-sures these days, both financial as well competitive pressures, and, in my estimation, Northern Ken-tucky is well-prepared and well-positioned to meet those challenges,” he said.

The next president will spend the summer mak-ing the transition from Cleveland to Northern Ken-tucky, stepping into office August 1. Mearns, who has five children with his wife, Jennifer, is moving

Claire HigginsNews editor

See MEARNS, p.6

Board of Regents officially announces choice for next university president

OpEd April 18, 20122

I busted my Kindle last week. I have no idea how I did it, but I can only as-sume since it was in the bag I carry around everywhere, I jostled it a bit too hard at some point and cracked the screen. As I was trying not to be angry at myself over this, I realized something stranger. It worried me. It worried me because books

for half my classes were stored on the device and I had work to be done over the weekend. It had not been apparent until that moment that, in spite of me, e-books had become something I actually bought and used.

I had always found the idea of e-books repulsive, because I love the texture and smell of books – the older the better. A slight tinge of mold, margins stained by readings and the passage of time; books have always been one of the most significant as-pects of my life. As for e-books, I am young enough to have been indelibly marked by the rise of social media and hand-held computing but old enough to have a bit of perspective. E-books sounded great in some respects, and it was obvious that online retail-ers like Amazon were going to profoundly change the experience of shopping for and purchasing

books. E-books seemed to be the next logical step in the process, but it seemed to me that losing the tac-tile experience that comes with reading would turn many away from the technology.

The deciding factor for me was, honestly, the excesses of the academic publishing industry. I’ve written on this somewhat in the past, but the short version is that academic publishing is a joke in its current state and the industry is guaranteeing that the college experience isn’t likely to get cheaper anytime soon. For my upper division coursework, up to 5 books have been required for the course – many of them separate works used to supplement a textbook. Even if I find them used the cost adds up to a significant amount. I received the Kindle for my birthday, and messed around with adding all the free classics I could get my hands on. I could find a surprising amount of free materials, but I was dis-appointed by the lack of page numbers and gener-ally poor formatting – even when I finally chocked up for the “edited” version of a text. Despite this, when I realized I could buy the books I needed at es-sentially the same price (or cheaper) of a used book without messing with shipping the choice was obvi-ous. I was sold on e-books.

And don’t blame instructors for the cost of books; generally academics are being screwed worse by academic publishing than students – given their choice to “publish or perish.” Some are forced to, quite literally, hand over their research for free to for-profit journals in an effort to get or maintain

tenure, leading to a situation in which a large part of the academic publishing industry rests on the shoulders of essentially unpaid academic labor. Additionally, as an aspiring instructor, I can sym-pathize with the fact that in upper division classes even a quality textbook is insufficient without the support of auxiliary materials. Higher-level courses are, by definition, more focused and therefore re-quire instructors to assign a plethora of materials to get beyond the superficial in a given subject.

I’m told the new Kindles are more akin to an iPad than an “e-reader,” which may become a defunct transitional device here soon – as basically every-thing morphs into a hand-held multimedia tablet. Wondering whether I’ll bother to buy a new one, I have to conclude that I will. A lawsuit against pub-lishers recently broke up a price-fixing scheme de-signed to keep price-points above ten dollars, and it looks like Amazon is going to drop the price on most of them below that in the near future, which bodes well for consumers. Considering the fact that there is virtually no cost to producing e-books and that you are often paying for a badly formatted docu-ment that looks like it had the text cut/pasted into it, a price above ten dollars is ridiculous as you’re doing nothing but paying the copyright holder for an automated facsimile of the work. Regardless, e-books offer a moderate savings and a lot of con-venience for students in the humanities and social sciences, and for that reason receive my conditional recommendation. Oh, and buy a screen protector.

Aaron SprinklesViewpoints editor

E-books can save time and money

Just for laughs

The future of publishing rests on the shoulders of electronic devices

ViewsEdition 49, Issue 13 3

Ron BurseJunior, public relations

“I like that he said that he needs to listen and learn before he leads

here.”

Clayton BholaFreshman, business

“I heard that he had an impeccable leadership history. I hope to get to

know him.”

Chelsea ClarkJunior, psychology

“To be honest I have no feeling. Votruba is more

handsome, but I’ve heard he’s [Mearns] a nice

man.”

rnpCompiled by

Tara Derington & Caitlin Centner

How do you feel about NKU’s

incoming president, Geoffrey Mearns?

norse poll responses

Dani KelseySophomore,

Sports business

“I think it should have been announced when

Votruba retired. Votruba should be celebrated

more.”

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVEAndrew Despotes[despotesa1@nku.edu]

COPY DESK CHIEF Elizabeth Parsons[parsonse3@nku.edu]

VIEWPOINTS EDITORAaron Sprinkles [sprinklesa1@nku.edu]

The NorthernerFounders Hall Rm 314Highland Heights, KY 41099Editor in Chief: (859) 572-6128Newsroom: (859) 572- 6677 or 5620Advertising: (859) 572-5232Fax: (859) 572-5772E-mail: northerner@nku.eduWeb site: www.thenortherner.com

contactinformation

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFKarli Wood[woodk3@nku.edu]

ADVISERJacque Day[dayj6@nku.edu]

northernerstaffSTAFF WRITERSCaitlin Centner[centnerc1@nku.edu]

Tara Derington[deringtont1@nku.edu]

Kevin Erpenbeck[erpenbeckk1@nku.edu]

Zachary Rogers[rogersz1@nku.edu]

NEWS EDITORClaire Higgins[higginsc1@nku.edu]

ASSIGNMENT EDITORRoxanna Blevins[blevinsr1@nku.edu]

PRESENTATION EDITOREmily Lindeau[lindeaue1@nku.edu]

WEB EDITORBrittany Granville[granvilleb1@nku.edu]

furtherdetails Entire content is copyright of The Northerner and may not be reprinted without prior con-sent. Views expressed do not represent those of the administration, faculty or student body.The Northerner is considered a designated public forum. Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censor-ship or advance approval. The Northerner staff respects the right to a free and open dialogue as allowed under the First Amendment.

SPORTS FEATURES EDITORStephen Wilder[wilders3@nku.edu]

SPORTS NEWS EDITORJohn Minor[minorj1@nku.edu] BUSINESS MANAGER

Allison Buchanan[buchanana4@nku.edu]

Turn up the volume!Hoping campus changes inspire new mindset

Staff editorialWith Geoffrey Mearns now officially the

incoming Northern Kentucky University president, there is a lot of talk about what is going to be changed and implemented.

For the most part, The Northerner has been quiet about asking questions or pre-senting requests to presidential candidates.

While we’re not sure when it originated, we have noticed during our time here that NKU seems to have a “culture of silence.”

We’re crossing our fingers that some of the potential changes will include a shift of these attitudes and behaviors.

When working toward finding the truth in many situations there are often roadblocks that don’t seem to be common in other uni-versities or even corporate environments.

Sources, sometimes for the most benign of stories, seem to be fearful. When a recorder is pulled from a pocket and requested to be used in an interview, it often receives the same look as a gun.

When we make calls and request infor-mation, not only do potential sources often deny it for various reasons of policy, but fre-quently rudeness, or open fear is presented as well.

In addition to that, sources occasionally want to see stories before they go to print, to either check the tone or the quotes that were used.

We’re hoping that as NKU continues to grow and change, we can use some poten-tial cultural changes here to educate the

community on how and why we do what we do.

Rather than individuals on campus be-ing fearful to speak due to the possibility of retaliation, we hope they will be enabled to step forward without fear of ostracism, and will be confident in the power of a news source on their own campus.

Our priorities also lie with those that do speak up, but find themselves “flapping in the breeze,” or being reprimanded. Rather than darting out on fellow colleagues and students, we’re hoping that a cultural shift would help individuals support their peers when an issue is raised.

If it is something true and common, it is important to remember that unsolved op-position can have a ripple effect, which can in turn affect the entire campus community.

We acknowledge that as a student news-paper, we can be seen as lacking experience or the know-how to handle professional sit-uations. However, we are truly dedicated to informing the campus community of the is-sues that hit home ethically, truthfully and fearlessly. And that’s a damn good place to start.

Armed with that, a desire to constantly improve, learn from mistakes, and build on successes, we are poised to take on what-ever NKU is faced with in the coming years.

We’re simply hoping that NKU’s growth will include that of the campus social envi-ronment as well. Maybe we’re idealistic, but regardless of what happens, we’ll be here.

News April 18, 20124

Because the trading floor has no ceiling.

TheRedRu

ngs.com

Grad steps into local director positionNorthern Kentucky University graduate Jamie

Grady was recently promoted to Executive Director of Finance and Operations for Interbrand, a leading brand consulting agency. His promotion to Execu-tive Director of Finance and Operations became ef-fective February 1, 2012. Grady graduated summa cum laude with a degree in finance from NKU. He also holds an Associate of Applied Sciences degree in PC support and administration from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.

New initiative benefits veterans, familiesThe College of Health Professions at Northern

Kentucky University joined First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden’s nationwide initiative to further educate our nation’s 3 million nurses so they are prepared to meet the health needs of ser-vice members, veterans and their families. nursing organizations and schools across the country will work to educate current and future nurses on how to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder, trau-matic brain injury, depression and other combat-related issues in ways appropriate to each nurse’s practice setting.

Acr

oss

the

Univ

ers

ity Program added to Advanced Nursing Studies

The Department of Advanced Nursing Studies at North-ern Kentucky University added Family Psychiatric & Men-tal Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) concentration to its advanced practice curriculum. The program targets certified adult and family nurse practitioners and will fo-cus on mental health promotion and mental health diag-nosis and treatment across the lifespan.

New staff regent announcedManager to the Dean of Students and Student Develop-

ment Steve Meier was elected as the next Northern Ken-tucky University staff regent. Meier will serve as the staff representative on the Board of Regents from 2012-15.

Lemonade sells for a good causeNonprofit organization Alex’s Lemonade Stand set up

camp at Northern Kentucky University April 17. The stand sold lemonade and accepted donations that go to research on fighting childhood cancer. The organization hoped to raise $150 to give back; by the end of the day, the total was at $140. To donate, visit http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/81522.

NewsEdition 49, Issue 13 5

April 88:30 p.m. There was a two vehicle accident near Callahan

Hall. No injuries were reported.

April 93:48 p.m. A male reported that an unknown person stole his

Kindle Fire in the lobby of the Student Union.5:45 p.m. A parked car was hit by an unknown driver who

left the scene in Lot U.

April 1011:44 a.m. A parked car was hit by an unknown driver who

left the scene in Lot K.11:18 p.m. A two vehicle accident with injury occurred near

University Drive, and the driver refused transportation by am-bulance to the hospital.

April 111:03 a.m. A citation was issued during a traffic stop on Hid-

den Valley Dr. to subjects who were found in possession of marijuana.

9:29 a.m. A two-vehicle accident occurred in Lot K. No in-juries were reported.

5:07 p.m. In Lot D an unknown person removed a GPS sys-tem from a car by breaking in the passenger side window.

April 121:30 a.m. At the Woodcrest Apartments in the Oak Wing

an unknown male was reported to have been running around knocking on doors.

4:51 p.m. A request was received to check on a student off-campus that was making depressing statements. The police contacted another police agency to do a check on them.

April 133:59 p.m. A report was received that an unknown per-

son took a pocket knife from a locker in the Albright Health Center.

April 144:02 p.m. An NKU employee found money on the ground

near Albright Health Center and turned it in to University Police.

April 152:10 a.m. A male subject was arrested for driving under the

influence of alcohol near Johns Hill Road.

April 1711:18 a.m. A female witnessed a male subject exposing him-

self and masturbating in Lot L. University Police responded but were unable to locate the subject. A statement was issued to the university community.

University Police Beats

The semester is coming to a close, and Northern Kentucky University’s SGA is continuing work on resolutions up until the last minute. At the April 16 meeting, the student senate passed four resolutions, and this time, all were not agreed on unanimously.

A resolution asking the university to extend li-brary hours until 2 a.m., two hours past the current closing time, received two abstentions during the vote. It is more common for the senate to pass reso-lutions unanimously.

The remaining three resolutions were approved without any oppositions or abstentions.

After passing, a resolution asking for membership to the game room in the Student Union will move on to the faculty senate for another vote. A resolution to add a handicap-accessible pathway to the Honors House will also move to the faculty senate. The uni-versity is also being asked to increase funding to the Student Retention Awards, an award that provides

a one-time financial aid bonus to students in need.With an increase in funding, the Student Reten-

tion Awards, presented by the Student Achievement

Center, would be able to assist more people and award higher and more frequent dollar amounts, according to Sen. Jeanne Spaulding.

Spaulding said in 2011, the Student Achievement Center received about 800 requests for assistance and was able to fill 88 of those requests. Recipients of the awards are allowed $1,200 and are only al-lowed the award one time. If funding is increased, the award will be able to go to more people with a higher maximum monetary value.

In SGA’s final weeks at NKU, the senate will vote on one more resolution, as well as honorary reso-lutions, according to President Dustin Robinson. Robinson, who is leaving his seat as president after graduating in May, will host a banquet for the stu-dents, as well as a chance to swear in the incoming members.

Robinson will be succeeded by Sophomore Erik Pederson as president, whose vice president is soph-omore Allen Hornung. For a full list of the incoming senators and executive board members, visit SGA’s website http://sga.nku.edu.

Extended library hours, accessibility and awards important decisionsA few resolutions remain for SGA

Claire HigginsNews editor

News April 18, 20126

Northern Kentucky University’s SGA recently proposed and passed a new resolution that recommends ex-tending the hours of W. Frank Steely Library an extra two hours in the eve-ning.

The new change in hours would leave the library open until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and 7 p.m. on Saturday. The change, according to SGA Presi-dent Dustin Robinson, could be put into effect as early as next semester.

This resolution comes after similar trials of extending the library’s hours were put into effect during the week prior to and the week of final exams in the fall of 2011.

“It was a success during finals week of last semester,” Robinson said. “If we could extend it beyond finals week, it would be a good resource for stu-dents to have access to.”

A majority of the students ques-

tioned about the extension had similar feelings as Robinson.

Sophomore political science major Lauren Gabbard was one of the stu-dents who agreed. “I definitely think that this is a good idea, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, when people need time to catch up on homework,” Gabbard said.

And while the proposal for extended library hours seems to be a popular idea on campus, the reality of how it would be put into action is still ques-tionable.

“Personally, I would love to have extended hours in the building,” said associate provost for library services Arne Almquist. “But we have two is-sues, one obviously being whether this is the best use of resources, and then also there is the issue of usage.”

Almquist then elaborated that the issues with the extension are not with the extension itself, but with why the extension is needed in the first place. He explained that 98 percent of jour-nals available in the library are avail-able to any student online, as well as many other resources that the library has to offer. Due to this, there may not be a need for students to use the library so much as a need for students to use computers or a quiet room for them to study in.

According to Almquist, the in-creased budget, available security that would be needed to extend the hours, the question of whether students would actually use the library’s extra hours and other concerns are part of the reason that the library’s hours have not been extended in the past.

“Are there not better and efficient ways to do this without opening the entire building?” Almquist said, ques-tioning the need for the extension of library hours and the accompanying items of concern.

The idea of leaving the Steely Café area open for the given extended hours for future semesters was then offered as a solution by Almquist, who also added that the café area would be completely different after renovations this summer, with updated furniture, a new restaurant and possibly even a unisex bathroom. These renovations could leave the area to function on its own as a perfect facility to use for computers and online resources, as well as a place to study—all after the main part of the library has closed.

Regardless of any alternatively men-tioned solutions, SGA will soon meet with library staff and administration in order to push their recommenda-tion for the extension of current li-brary hours.

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Extended library hours in questionKevin SchultzStaff writer Students push for staying open later,

but library officials unsure of need

MEARNS, continued from page onethe family to the area.

Professionally, Votruba will act as Mearns’ mentor to help prepare for the transition and position. “While it is a bit daunting to recognize that I have to succeed [Votruba], there is nobody who could be more fortunate than I am to have him as a mentor,” he said.

The search for a new president began in September 2011 with a Presidential Search and Screening Committee. The committee hired a search firm, Isaacson, Miller, to recruit potential candidates that would be a good fit for the univer-sity.

NKU paid the firm $105,000, and search committee chair Marty Butler said he had no second thoughts on the firm’s choices. The process, which in-cluded open forums with students, fac-ulty, staff and the community, gathered good feedback and open participation, according to Butler.

“The students and staff are awesome,” Butler said.

Mearns was up against two other can-didates: David Eisler, president of Fer-ris State University in Michigan; and Jonathan Gibralter, president of Frost-burg State University in Maryland. Both

Eisler and Gibralter announced their resignations from the race days within the Board of Regents’ public announce-ment.

In comparison to the remaining can-didates, Mearns has the least amount of higher education administrative ex-perience; previously he was a practic-ing lawyer and was appointed Dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State in 2005. In 2010, he made the transition into the provost po-sition.

Mearns will act as the university’s fifth president, replacing Votruba, who began at NKU in 1997. Votruba publicly an-nounced his retirement in August 2011.

In his 15 years here, Votruba’s tenure has seen a 34 percent increase in student enrollment, from 11,785 in 1997 to nearly 16,000 today. The university also added multiple degree programs and facilities on campus, including the Natural Sci-ence Center, a Student Union, The Bank of Kentucky Center and Griffin Hall.

Although not immediately, Votruba will return to NKU to teach educational leadership in the university’s doctorate program and remain active in the com-munity.

NewsEdition 49, Issue 13 7

Ryan CahillContributing writer

The Student Government Associa-tion is proposing to make end-of-se-mester course evaluations public to Northern Kentucky University stu-dents.

“It would create, in some ways, an internal, NKU-specific ratemy-professor,” said Dustin Robinson, a senior communication studies ma-jor who currently serves as the lame duck SGA president. “NKU students will be able to access those respons-es from other students for the fac-ulty evaluations.”

Robinson said that when SGA was trying to figure out how to increase the number of students participating in course evaluations, they looked at other universities and found that some had made evaluations avail-able to students.

By making evaluations available to students, SGA hopes that stu-dent participation in the evaluation process will rise and students will receive a better educational experi-ence.

“I think this would give NKU stu-dents more of an incentive to par-ticipate in the course evaluation process,” Robinson said. “What we are trying to do is just make the aca-demic experience better for our stu-dents so that they can see reliable information from other students.”

According to SGA, a Norse2020 survey reported that over half the student body uses ratemyprofes-sors.com. The Website uses categor-

ical ratings submitted by students to determine an “overall quality” average. These categories include helpfulness, clarity, easiness and “hottness.” Robinson believes that an NKU version will be more reliable and helpful to students.

“Easiness wouldn’t be on that website, or hotness, because those aren’t things that we should focus on when talking about learning,” Rob-inson said. “We should look at if the

professor adequately follows the syl-labus and those kind of things.”

Making the evaluations public is no easy task. There are many factors that still need to be addressed should the evaluations be declassified, such as how faculty and students will ac-cess the evaluations.

“That would be something that IT would have to work on for us,” Rob-inson said. “It may be something that takes a little longer to imple-ment, since we are asking them to create something new.”

Other factors include how stu-dents and professors might react to the publication of the evaluations.

“We need to be very careful as to how we go about this process and

to watch out for unintentional con-sequences,” said Kenneth Rhee, the chair of the teaching effective-ness and enhancement committee that oversees the course evalua-tion process. “Professors’ behaviors may change, students’ behaviors may change; and that’s not what we want.”

Another concern is about false and unfair comments.

“In a sense, these evaluations are

somewhat blank grades given to fac-ulty members by students anony-mously for which there’s no appeal,” said committee member Philip Mc-Cartney. “The tendency of faculty is already to feel they have a bull’s-eye on their back that any student can make any comment and give them any sort of rating, and there’s no re-course about it.”

Despite these factors, students are open to the idea of making the eval-uations public.

“I’m all for it,” said freshman edu-cation major Danielle Grout. “Let-ting students see evaluations can let them get the education they want.”

Some students like that it could be a more reliable source than ratemy-

professors.com.“I think it could be better than

ratemyprofessor,” said senior busi-ness management major Nick Fech-er. “With ratemyprofessor, you don’t know who fills it in, but with this, it could be legitimate answers and more accurate.”

“I don’t really use ratemyprofes-sor, because you don’t know if it’s true,” said Adam Gillespie, a junior middle school education major. “But I would trust the NKU version more, since I know some people here.”

Students believe that by being able to see the evaluations, it will allow them to pick professors that fit them best.

“I would use it to choose a profes-sor that best fits my standards and to base my course schedules too,” said junior exercise science major Jillian Moulton.

“It would give me more of a better understanding and could help pick some good teachers to help me un-derstand what’s being taught,” said Aurielle Harkness, a senior psychol-ogy major.

Should the proposal be passed, it must await student senate approval before the executive board can act upon it.

“The proposal would allow stu-dents to really see a universal way to evaluate our professors and give a really credible way to plan your academic experience and for people with different learning styles, that can be a really great thing,” Robin-son said.

SGA hopes to bring records to lightNKU course evaluations may be declassified to students’ perusal

“The proposal would allow students to really see a universal way to evaluate

our professors...” -Dustin Robinson

+Northern Kentucky University | HomeNKU Evaluations | Under Construction

page cannot be found

All photos by Samantha HaydenInternational students shared their culture during a fun day of activity in the Student Union Ballroom. Cultural dances with authentic costumes, lively music and regional cuisine were showcased for the potluck.

Each spring at Northern Kentucky University, people from all over the world gather in the Stu-dent Union Ballroom to celebrate NKU’s interna-tional community.

The 21st Annual International Potluck Dinner and Talent Show took place Saturday, April 14 in the Student Union Ballroom. This year’s theme was “Lights, Camera, Action: Let the good times roll!”

Cellestine Kamau-Cheggeh, president of the International Student Union (ISU) and a senior chemistry major from Kenya, said the interna-tional potluck brings cultures together to promote global understanding. “And we expect that people have fun and enjoy each other’s company,” she said.

Elizabeth Chaulk, the assistant director of NKU’s Office of International Students and Scholars, said the ISU plans all aspects of the event from decora-tions to entertainment. “They do everything from start to finish,” Chaulk said.

The event is planned to promote an understand-ing of each other through sharing different cul-tures.

Before dinner, people had time to enjoy the world bazaar. Outside the ballroom, visitors waited to get Henna tattoos from Indian students wearing traditional garments.

The Saudi Arabian Students Association’s mem-bers offered Arabian coffee and pastries. They also provided Henna to people visiting their booth.

Boróka Bálint, an exchange student from Hun-gary, visited both countries’ presentations to com-pare the Henna. “These are so beautiful. I’m really excited,” she said.

The dinner began at 6 p.m. with a welcoming ceremony by ISU members. The food was one of the main highlights, because attendees make their

home countries’ dishes. There are actually two ways to gain entrance into the potluck. Attend-ees can prepare a dish or people have the option to buy a ticket for admission.

The food was served buffet-style on long tables lining the wall. There were four sections: African and Southeast Asian (Middle East), European, Asian and Australian, and North American.

The international talent show started at 7 p.m. with NKU President James Votruba’s congratu-lations for the 21st Annual International Potluck Dinner and Talent Show. He said this is one of the greatest events of the school year, and he was glad to see so many people.

“There are many ways to judge the progress of the university over the last 10 years,” Votruba said. “One of the most important ones is the size and quality of this event. This is a wonderful event that celebrates diversity, globalization and the fact that we’re an international community. I couldn’t be happier to be here with my wife to enjoy it all.”

The talent show featured traditional dances and musical performances. There was an Indian dance, Aaja Nachel, which means ‘let’s dance;’ an Egyptian rap Ay Kalam with a Tabla, which is an Egyptian percussion instrument; and a Myanmar rain dance, to name a few.

Two American students played the Djembe, a traditional African drum. Senior international studies major Martin Reed and sophomore inter-national studies major Joe Brennan said they at-tend this event to share community through mu-sic.

“We try to open people up to the spirit of the music,” Brennan said.

The fashion show is the most popular part of the evening, because the international students wear their costumes and show off the beauty of their home nations. Traditional costumes from Moroc-co, Philippine, Korea, Vietnam, Chile and Russia, among others, were on the stage during this time.

SunKyung Lee, an exchange student from South Korea, performed for the fashion show and played the piano version of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme song, “He’s a Pirate.”’ She said it was the most fantastic international party ever for her, because she got to sample foods that she hadn’t tasted before and saw beautiful traditional clothes from multiple countries.

“This potluck was more special for me, because I participated in the party. I cooked Korean food, wore a Korean costume—Hanbok—in the fashion show, and played the piano on the stage,” she said. “They were such great experiences.”

Steven Kohus, an NKU alumnus, has attended the international potluck six times. He said he thinks it is a great way to experience many differ-ent cultures in one night. “I love to learn and see new experiences from around the globe,” he said.

However, Kohus would like to see the event pro-moted more widely around campus.

“They put up posters, but most students ignore the posters,” he said. “I think they need to do bet-ter at reaching more students. Friday was relay for life—people walked until 6 a.m. to help raise money for cancer research, but no ISU members were there.”

According to the ISU President, this year an es-timated 300 to 400 people were in attendance for the potluck. However, as Kohus’s opinion indicat-ed, most of those who attended were international students and their families or friends. Also, some of the NKU faculty and staff are usually invited, and a few of them were able to attend.

The Annual International Potluck was spon-sored by The Student Collaborative Grant, NKU Athletics and the NKU Alumni Office to name a few. Also, local companies, such as Hofbrauhaus, Tokyo Dragon and Mae Ploy, sponsored the door prize for this event.

NKU currently has over 600 international stu-dents from 72 countries on campus.

Hana KimContributing writer

potluck celebratesInternational students gather together to share cuisine, dance and dressworld culture

The lawn in front of Griffin Hall was draped in purple on Friday, April 13, as Northern Kentucky University students, staff and community mem-bers geared up for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life walk-a-thon.

Bodies, balloons, benches and blankets sported the color purple to show support for the event and the fight against cancer. Relay for Life is the larg-est non-profit fundraiser worldwide in which teams work together to stay walking for a total of 12 hours.

“Relay for Life is not just a fundraiser,” said Northern Kentucky Community representative of the American Cancer Society Courtnie McKinney. “It is a unique opportunity that is about empower-ing individuals to fight back against a disease that has taken so much from them.”

The team-oriented event went overnight, last-ing from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. with one member of each team remaining walking at all times. According to McKinney, over 100 participants registered to take part and roughly 1,000 people were expected to at-tend.

NKU sophomore Sarah Napier said, “I have been participating in Relay for Life for the past five years,

because I’ve had three family members pass away from cancer.”

This is the sixth year that Relay for Life has been held at NKU, and according to McKinney, over $10,000 was raised in 2011. The goal for this year is $30,000.

The Relay for Life is a signature event of the American Cancer Society, with the goal of bringing communities together to celebrate cancer survival and remember those who have lost the battle with the disease.

Tents and blankets covered the lawn as dozens of NKU students, including several branches of university Greek Life, alumni, faculty and com-munity members, walked the circular surrounding sidewalk. While music resounded throughout the campus, scores of supporters turned a once-empty patch of grass into a place of courage and compan-ionship.

Junior public relations major Rebecca Potzner said she took part in the event because “It’s a fun way to fight cancer.”

“It really hits home because both my grandmoth-ers had breast cancer, I lost my grandpa to lung can-cer and a close friend also battled cancer,” Potzner said.

Since its start in 1985, Relay for Life continues to garner fundraising, advocacy and support from communities across the country. Cancer affects ev-

ery member of society in one way or another, and Relay for Life is a way to fight against the disease together.

“Today is the four-year anniversary of my grand-pa’s passing from cancer,” Napier said. “I’m really glad that I could come and celebrate and remember him.”

McKinney said the total amount raised from the event for cancer research is currently being pro-cessed and will be available later this week.

Northern Kentucky University stu-dent organizations threw their Norse up as they gathered in the Student Union Ballroom to celebrate and re-flect on another year of community service at NKU.

The Office of Student Life hosted the second annual Student Organi-zation Celebration to honor students and the organizations that excelled in community service. Awards like the Northern Kentucky Leadership Insti-tute Leadership Development Award and Academic Excellence were given throughout the evening to recognize student organizations.

Multiple student organizations from Greek life and others like Norse Force gathered for this celebration. Student organizations applied for the awards that were given out.

Individual awards also honored stu-dents who personally displayed attri-butes of what it means to be a leader and community servant at NKU.

The event kicked off with a slide show of pictures displaying aspects of student life through the 200 organiza-tions at NKU. The slide show moved from picture to picture as the pop song “We are Young” by artist Fun. played throughout the dimly lit ball-room. Attendees who recognized the song hummed along.

Senior organizational leadership major Joni Riewoldt won two awards for her community service in the Best Buddies organization. Riewoldt start-ed the Best Buddies organization at NKU. The friendship-building pro-gram matches individuals with dis-abilities to college-aged buddies.

“It’s really exciting that we won two awards. We are such a new organiza-tion, and we’ve grown so much this year, so it means a lot,” Riewoldt said.

The evening also included new awards.

Dean of Students Jeffrey Waple presented the Office of Student Life “Norse Up” award. During his speech, he requested that the audience “throw up their Norse” by bringing their fin-gers to their temples like viking-hel-met’s horns each time he said “Norse Up.” Although this spurred many laughs, the audience participated.

The Baptist Campus Ministry got this award in the end but had to “throw up their Norse” to receive it.

NKU President James Votruba and his wife Rachel received several un-expected “thank yous” throughout the ceremony. A video to honor the Votrubas brought emotion to many faces, including the Votrubas them-selves.

The video showed a number of stu-dents with handwritten signs describ-ing their dreams turned reality. One student’s sign read,“I didn’t think I

could afford to go to college, but now I’m going for free!”

Rachel Votruba received the Arête Panhellenic Award. Arête is Greek for “excellence.” Rachel accepted her award with a smile and teary eyes amid receiving cheers and a standing ovation.

“You have welcomed me into your community and lives. Be proud of yourselves and this university,” Ra-chel said.

The evening ended with a flash mob of students dancing to a song written especially for the Votrubas.

After the dancing and awards, President Votruba told a story about a mentor of his who told him to find purpose in his life.

“My hope for all of you is that you find a deep purpose for finding your dreams like I have mine. Thank you for sharing your journey with us,” Votruba said.

Students at the registration table wait for participants to come and sign up to walk for 12 hours in support of cancer awareness

Photo by Courtney Pugh

Arts & Life April 18, 201210

Courtney PughContributing writer

Casey BinderContributing writer

Relay for Life event held on campus

Student organizations recognized with awards

Students walk through the night to raise money and awareness for cancer

Arts & LifeEdition 49, Issue 13 11

campus eventsEnvironmental group organizes daily activities during Earth Week

Northern Kentucky University is observing Earth Week this week, and the Environmentally Concerned Or-ganization of Students (ECOS) is cele-brating by informing the student body about what it means to be green.

Earth Week is an extension of Earth

Day, which is celebrated April 22. For the past eight years, ECOS members have organized Earth Day events on NKU’s campus. NKU Green, NKU Horticulture, Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement and the Center for Environmental Education helped ECOS to present some of the events.

Junior Spanish and integrative studies major Rosie Santos, who is Co-

President of ECOS organized most of the events for both

last year’s and this year’s Earth

Week cel-e b r a -

tions.“It’s really important for people to

stand up for what they believe in,” Santos said.

The week kicked off on April 16 with NKU playing host to 193 middle school students from Pendleton County. While on campus, the seventh graders interacted at environmental learning stations with NKU students pursuing careers in middle school education, science professors and staff from the Center for Environmental Education.

Each middle school student re-ceived a journal with questions for the individual learning stations and space for drawings and sketches. The learning stations covered subjects in-cluding recycling, microbes and a lab focused on the decline of amphibian

populations.Later that day, representatives from local businesses and the

Covington mayor’s office vis-ited campus for a panel dis-

cussion. Samantha Brown represented Northern Kentucky’s wastewater and storm water man-agement facility, Sani-tation District 1. Green Umbrella, a Cincin-nati non-profit which aims to improve the region’s sustainabil-ity, was represented by Executive Direc-tor Brewster Rhoads. Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Carran spoke on behalf of the Cov-ington mayor’s office.

With only six attend-ees, the panel discus-

sion quickly became an open discussion between

the panel members and the audience.“Everybody takes our nat-

ural resources for granted,

at least in the United States,” Carran said. “The way you manage them, they can be renewable, but if you don’t that’s not the case.”

The quality of natural resources, such as water and air, was a recurring topic. The discussion also touched on the cost and health benefits of sustain-ability.

Wednesday’s event is a food sam-pling and discussion on the lawn in front of Griffin Hall. The discussion will focus on the differences between local or global foods.

Costume design students and the-atre and dance students will present a fashion show Thursday on the Stu-dent Union Plaza from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. The show, “Trashy: Classy: Re-cycled Couture,” will feature fashion created from recycled materials col-lected from around campus. Some of the materials which will be incorpo-rated into the fashion are unusable keyboards, computer cable, books and newspapers, according to the co-chair of the President’s Climate Commit-ment Task Force, Jane Goode.

Earth Week events will conclude Friday with a combined Earth Day and Arbor Day celebration on the Student Union Plaza from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. The event will include a tree-planting, live music, craft-making from reused items, tye-dying and henna tattoos. More than 20 environmental vendors will be on site as well with information about volunteer and career opportu-nities.

Going along with this year’s Earth Week theme of “Take a Stand for Sus-tainability,” a soapbox will be on the plaza Friday, as well. A megaphone will be provided for students who wish to stand on the soapbox and share their Earth Day message.

“I’ve been really happy to see how it’s branched out this year,” said assis-tant professor of science and environ-mental education Steve Kerlin.

offer earthly insightsRoxanna BlevinsAssignment editor

Arts & Life April 18, 201212

Dozens of students gathered in Regents Hall Thursday, April 12 for the first annual Gator-Aid Pong Tournament hosted by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) of Northern Kentucky University.

Enthusiasm filled the gym as music blared from the speakers and players sported blue Gator-Aid Pong T-shirts.

The SAAC put its own spin on a popular drinking game to raise awareness of the dan-gers behind drunk driving and alcohol abuse. The twist? Organizers filled cups with Gato-rade instead of an alcoholic beverage to show that college students can be safe and have fun at the same time.

“We try to look for ways to get student athletes engaged in the community and vice versa,” said SAAC co-president Joel Belcher.

Pong participants paid a $10 registration fee, which goes directly to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes to children with life-threaten-ing medical conditions.

According to Belcher, the committee decid-

ed to go with the spelling, Gator-Aid to sym-bolize its goal of giving back to charities such as Make-A-Wish.

In this event, two-member teams alternat-ed shots in an attempt to sink ping pong balls into plastic cups filled with Gatorade. The top three teams won prizes, including gift cer-tificates to local restaurants, retail stores and NKU’s on-campus bookstore.

Senior Randy Wynelle played to “help sup-port people against drunk driving and to sup-port the SAAC members and what they’re do-ing,” he said.

Elizabeth Fernandes, SAAC member and representative of NKU’s women’s golf team, said 33 teams participated in the tournament, equaling out to 66 players total.

Participation exceeded the original esti-mate of 40 people.

According to Fernandes, NKU students Patrick Hyde and Zach Toerner won the tour-nament. Both winners received two $100 gift certificates to the on-campus bookstore.

With the help of all who participated, assis-tant athletic director and athletic coordinator Chrissy Soards said SAAC raised $365 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Courtney PughContributing writer

Students play pong to raise funds, awareness

Photo by Courtney Pugh

NKU students gathered to play Gator-Aid Pong, an event hosted by the Student Ath-letic Advisory Committee in an effort to show students can have fun without alcohol.

Gator-Aid Pong Tournament lets students have fun sans alcohol

J E E P.COM /COL L EGE /G LBC

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Sports April 18, 201214

The Northern Kentucky University tennis teams finished the regular season over the weekend and will compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tour-nament.

The teams faced Lewis in the final regular season match on April 14, ending in mixed results.

The men’s team, ranked No. 36 nationally, defeated No. 37 Lewis in a tightly contested match, 5-4. The Norse were able to claim victory by winning the bot-tom-seeded matches.

Freshman Drew Schroeder and junior Guillaume Berman won the No. 3 doubles match, while sopho-more Pierce Kohls, junior Andre Correa, freshman Christopher Angulo and senior Tyler Fraser won their singles matches.

“We are feeling pretty good, as we got a good win against Lewis,” senior Martin Leroy said.

The women’s team lost to No. 47 Lewis 6-3. The Norse victories came in the singles matches as seniors Jenny Hand, Whitney Thomas and Jillian Sturgeon all won in straight sets.

“Despite the loss, the women’s team is playing much better, and I think they have high expectations going into the GLVC Tournament,” head coach Brian Nester

said.The results brought the men’s record to 13-4, 4-1 in

GLVC play, while the women finished the season with a 13-4 record, including 4-2 against conference oppo-nents.

The teams will compete in the GLVC Tournament, hosted by Drury University April 20-21 in Springfield, Mo. The teams with the four highest divisional win-ning percentage from each of the two divisions earned a spot in the eight-team tournament.

The men earned the East No. 2 seed and will take on the West No. 3 seed, Missouri-Saint Louis, at Gillen-waters Tennis Complex at 11 a.m. April 20.

The winner will face the winner of West No. 1 Drury and East No. 4 Indianapolis in the semifinal, sched-uled for 4 p.m. at the Cooper Tennis Complex. Drury is the No. 20 ranked team in the nation.

“We need to take care of business in the first round,” Leroy said. “We would have a tough semifinal. Getting to the final would be great for us.”

The women also earned the East No. 2 seed and will take on the West No. 3 seed, Missouri-Saint Louis. The women will play at 8:30 a.m. at Gillenwaters Tennis Complex.

The winner will face the winner of West No. 1 Drury and East No. 4 Southern Indiana in the semifinal, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Cooper tennis Complex.

“Drury would be a tough competitor,” senior Whit-ney Thomas said. “But we don’t need to overlook UMSL [Missouri-Saint Louis] by any means.”

The third place matches will be at 9 a.m. and the championship matches will be at 1 p.m. April 21.

The top six teams ranked in the Midwest Regional advance to the NCAA Tournament, and the winner of the GLVC Tournament earns a bye into the second round of the tournament.

“The stakes are extremely high,” Nester said.

Tennis teams set for postseasonBoth squads will play Missouri-Saint Louis in GLVC Tournament

John MinorSports news editor

Junior Andre Correa and the tennis teams finished the regular season April 14. Correa has a 17-1 record in singles matches.

Photo by Tim Downer

SportsEdition 49, Issue 13 15

Several students, faculty, alumni and community members participated in the Northern Kentucky University 22nd Annual Walk for Women’s Athlet-ics on April 14 in the midst of both rain and shine. The walk is held every year to raise money to support scholarships for NKU female student athletes.

Participants were asked to raise pledges for the event and present them at the start of the walk. A silent auc-tion and raffle were also held to raise additional money. The NKU Women’s Walk has raised over $620,000 for fe-male student athlete scholarships over the history of the event. A final financial result for this year’s event will not be determined until May 1.

Peggy Casey, the 2012 chair for the event, said that fundraising activities like this are vastly important for the student athletic program.

“When I was playing here, a lot of us didn’t have full-ride scholarships,” Casey said. “I had a partial scholarship, and you were lucky to even get that ad-ditional funding. Having this support for women’s athletics is so important in this time.”

Casey hopes that with the transition into Division I athletics next year, fu-ture NKU Women’s Walk events will be able to receive more sponsorships than

before, so that even more money can be raised for women’s athletic scholar-ships.

“Being a Division I school will bring a lot more focus and attention to NKU athletics,” Casey said. “That alone should be bring an even bigger crowd to this event, and hopefully a lot more sponsors will join in.”

President James Votruba, who has participated in 15 NKU Women’s Walk events, said that women’s athletics has

“really come of age” over the past two decades.

“You can see how important wom-en’s athletics has become on our cam-pus, especially with our two national championships in women’s basketball,” Votruba said.

Votruba went on to credit that high recognition of women’s athletics on campus to one specific person.

“Head coach Nancy Winstel repre-sents the very best of what intercolle-

giate athletics is all about,” Votruba said. “She was a pioneer in women’s athletics. She persevered and led this university through the rough early years. Everyone who is in NKU wom-en’s athletics really owes her a debt of gratitude.”

Winstel, who retired from coaching NKU women’s basketball at the end of this season, said that she has made many fond memories and friends at the NKU Women’s Walk, which she has participated in every year since 1990, when she and former athletic director Jane Meier created the event.

“It’s as much of a fundraiser as a “friend”raiser,” Winstel said. “We’ve made so many friends over the years with this event. It’s a great way to keep in touch with a lot of friends and a lot of alumni that have gone through here. That’s what really makes the event so special.”Winstel credited the success of the

event to the alumni that came back to help out and raised money themselves.

“The alumni really steps up when they come back and help out,” Win-stel said. “We’ve been very fortunate to have great alumni here that want to give back, whether it be financially or with their presence. Hopefully we’ll continue to have great alumni in the fu-ture to come.”

Kevin ErpenbeckStaff writer

Women’s Walk held over weekend22nd annual event raises money to support female athlete scholarships

Photo by Kevin ErpenbeckNKU’s 22nd Annual Walk for Women’s Athletics was held on April 14. Walkers gathered at Regents Hall to start the event, which is hosted every year to support female student-athlete scholarships.

BaseballThe Northern Kentucky University baseball team split a dou-

bleheader against Indianapolis April 15. Indianapolis dominated the first game by winning 17-3, ending the Norse’s 16-game win-ning streak. NKU won the second game, 3-2, with junior infield-er Kris Hecktor driving in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. The Norse are now 24-10 overall and 17-3 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action. The team will play Bellarmine on April 18.

Men’s GolfThe Northern Kentucky University men’s golf team earned

an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships held in Paducah, Ky. on April 15-17. The team finished first in the 54-hole stroke play competition, led by senior Corey Richmond who earned the medal, finishing with a 224 (+8). Michael Schmidt tied for fifth

place with a score of 231, earning All-GLVC honors. The top four teams advanced to the match-play competition on April 17. NKU defeated Rockhurst in the semifinal round, winning four of the five matches. NKU defeated Indianapolis, 3-2, in the champi-onship. The match came down to the 18th hole, where a par by Richmond claimed the victory for the Norse.

SoftballThe Northern Kentucky University softball team swept a

doubleheader against Kentucky Wesleyan on April 15. The Norse won the first game, 7-6, on a walk-off single by fresh-man infielder Katelyn Roy. NKU cruised to a 11-2 victory in the second game, scoring eight runs in the second inning. The Norse are now 27-15 on the season, including 17-11 against Great Lakes Valley Conference opponents. The team will host Bellarmine on April 18 and Cedarville on April 19.

Sports Shorts

Sports April 18, 201216

Studio 89The Series Continues April 23

Majestic Man Broadcast live on

From: Griffin HallAt: NKUTime: 7 p.m.

Visit www.WNKU.org To Reserve a Seat in The Audience

Walk-ons work hard to compete Athletes without scholarships have equal opportunity to earn playing time

Most athletes only dream of cutting down the nets or dousing their coach in Gatorade after a big win in front of thousands of fans. Those who get to do it are usually the highly recruited high school athletes, but at Northern Kentucky University that is not always the case.

The majority of NKU’s athletes are on athletic scholarship. In exchange for their athletic abili-ties, NKU pays for their tuition, housing and books. However, there are athletes that pay the same amount as the average student; these individuals are called walk-ons.

A walk-on is an athlete who tries out for an ath-letic team without having been recruited or offered a scholarship. A notable walk-on is Clay Matthews III, a former University of Southern California foot-ball star and three-time NFL Pro Bowler.

A preferred walk-on is an athlete who is guaran-teed a roster spot without trying out but receives no

financial assistance through an athletic scholarship.Todd Asalon, head coach of NKU’s baseball team,

said that walk-ons can earn athletic scholarships, but it is very difficult. They do, however, have an equal chance to play as scholarship players.

“They absolutely have an opportunity to play as a walk-on,” Asalon said. “Our golden rule is that the best players play.”

Asalon’s lone walk-on this season is pitcher Jordan Adkins. He walked on in August and has pitched in two innings of work this season, allow-ing no runs. Adkins said that he has been given the same opportunity to play as the players who were given scholarships.

“The coaches have all been fair to me and have given me a shot to show them what I can do, and I have run with it,” Adkins said. “I am not treated any different than scholarship players at all. I am on the NKU baseball team whether it is by scholarship or walk-on.”

The basketball team holds open tryouts for walk-ons to fill needed spots, and about 10 to 20 men are

cut each year. There were six walk-ons on the ros-ter last year, and each one contributed to the team’s success. Dave Bezold, the men’s head basketball coach, said they push the team every day in prac-tice.

Bezold said that every member of his team is treated equally regardless if they are a walk-on or on scholarship. “We don’t call them walk-ons; ev-ery player is a member of the team,” Bezold said. “If they’re beating people out they’re playing. I don’t care if they’re a walk-on; I care what they do on the court.”

Walk-on players are well-respected by scholar-ship athletes and coaches. “To try out for a college team with all odds not in your favor,” Asalon said, “shows that hard work can and will pay off. It’s an underdog mentality and tells me that they aren’t afraid to fail.”

“I am living a dream right now, whether I am a walk-on or recruited player, because I am doing something I love,” Adkins said.

Matt ReedContributing writer