The Northerner Print Edition - April 6, 2011

thenortherner.comtwitter.com/northernermedia

The Northerner

Wednesday, April 6, 2011Edition 47, Issue 11

Value: 50 cents

insideTheNortherner

Faculty “OK” outside speaker policy.Pg. 4

Senior Art Exhibit opening.Pg. 9

Robinson campaign wins election.Pg. 6

Three new plays will have their world premier in the 15th Biennial Y.E.S. Festival. Held every two years by the Northern Kentucky University Department of Theatre and Dance, the Year End Series Festival will be held at the Corbett Theater from April 7-17.

“Monstrous Beauty” by Karla Jen-nings, “One Good Turn” by Jacqueling T. Lynch and “Marfa, Texas, Based on an Almost True Story” by Kelly Kings-ton-Strayer. were selected to be fea-tured from a pool of never before pub-

lished or produced plays submitted for consideration, according to project director Sandra Forman.

“Monstrous Beauty” is a play that parallels the lives of Germans Marlene Dietrich and infamous documentary fi lmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. While Riefenstahl remained in Germany and created the groundbreaking docu-mentaries “Triumph of the Will” and “Olympia” for the Nazi party, Dietrich left Germany in the early 1930s, and refused to return as long as the Nazis were in power.

The quality of the character devel-opment in “Monstrous Beauty” is a

1133

1010

stage.stage.plays.plays.

days.days.Chuck HeffnerContributing writer

See YES Festival, p.5

ViewsEdition 47, Issue 11 3

AD MANAGERWilliam Fisher[fi [email protected]]

The NorthernerFounders Hall Rm 314Highland Heights, KY 41099Editor in Chief: (859) 572-5812Newsroom: (859) 572- 6677 or 5620Advertising: (859) 572-5232Fax: (859) 572-5772E-mail: [email protected] site: www.thenortherner.com

contactinformation

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFCassie Stone[[email protected]]

PRESENTATION EDITORKarli Wood[[email protected]]

ADVISERGayle Brown[[email protected]]

northernerstaff

STAFF WRITERSBrandon Barb[[email protected]]

Derick Bischoff[[email protected]]

Roxanna Blevins[[email protected]]

Stephen Wilder[[email protected]]

COPY DESK CHIEFEmily Christman[[email protected]]

FEATURES EDITORClaire Higgins[[email protected]]

SPORTS EDITORNick Jones[[email protected]]

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORJohn Minor[[email protected]]

A&E EDITOR Shawn Buckenmeyer[[email protected]]

PHOTO EDITORAlysha Durrett[[email protected]]

CARTOONISTSBrittany Granville[[email protected]]

Walter Deller[[email protected]]

furtherdetailsEntire 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.

PHOTOGRAPHERKevin Jo[[email protected]]

MANAGING EDITORJesse Call[[email protected]]

Cassie Stone Editor-in-chief

Editor fail: guilty as charged

Just

for

laug

hs

The only thing more difficult than fixing a mistake is admitting it ever happened.

Last week, I broke the first rule of report-ing. I ran a story without first checking the facts.

In “Faculty vetoes outside speaker policy,” run on page seven of issue 10, I wrote that the Faculty Senate did not support the Student Government Association’s proposed outside speaker policy.

In SGA’s proposal, visitors who are not in-vited to campus by someone affiliated with Northern Kentucky University must apply to the Dean of Student’s Office at least five days before they plan to visit, and then disclose the content of the message they plan to speak about. Then, the dean’s office will determine if the visitors can speak and where they will be speaking.

My information came from an announce-ment made in SGA’s March 28 meeting, where

Jamie Hazenfield, Jr., legislative liaison and vice presidential candidate, announced that the NKU faculty did not support the proposed policy because they thought it gave Dean Jef-frey Waple too much power.

What I should have done is get in touch someone on the Faculty Senate and get a copy of their meeting minutes to verify the vote and get information about what happened in the meeting.

If I had, I would have known that my pri-mary source was wrong about the vote and only represented one side of the discussion at the meeting.

NKU faculty actually voted to support the proposed the policy. While some faculty were concerned about the dean having too much power, others were concerned about expos-ing children visiting campus to inappropriate messages.

For more information about the Faculty Senate’s vote, read our follow up story on page four of this issue.

News April 6, 20114

Proposed changes to the outside speaker policy are one step closer to being enacted at Northern Kentucky University, but not everyone thinks the change is a good idea.

The new policy allows Dean of Students Jeff Waple to desig-nate outside speakers to certain areas on campus. The policy states that the restriction will be made based upon time, place and manner. However, some still fear that the policy will al-low the potential infringement of free speech laws under the First Amendment.

At a Faculty Senate meeting March 21, Salmon P. Chase Col-lege of Law Professor Ken Kat-kin moved that the Senate op-pose the changes to the policy. Senate voted on the motion,

with a result of 13-12 in support of the policy.

“I certainly believe in free speech, but even the Supreme Court said it’s best if there is a set of rules to follow,” said mathematics professor Phil McCartney, who voted in favor of the policy.

McCartney was in college during the Vietnam War, and he said that the opposing view-points of individuals led to po-lice being called in to counter the threat of violence.

Another argument in favor of the policy was that the Uni-versity hosts programs for el-ementary and high school-age children, and things may be said by speakers that may not be appropriate for them to hear. However, this argument does not justify the restriction sug-gested, according to Katkin.

“If he’s making the judgment

where to put someone based on what he thinks they’re going to say, it’s a content-based restric-tion, and that’s not legal,” Kat-kin said.

A speaker whose materials are inappropriate for children may be designated to an area where elementary and high school students will not be, ac-

cording to Waple. The speaker may also be assigned a different time to speak. If the speaker’s message is not perceived to be controversial, they may or may not be designated to a part of campus out of the way of chil-dren.

“It’s circumstantial,” Waple said.

History and geography pro-fessor John Metz voted in favor of Katkin’s motion, opposing the change in policy.

“The concern is that if they disagree with the message, they can allocate them…where they won’t be effective,” Metz said.

The revised policy would not only give Waple the ability to allocate speakers to given loca-tions, but requires that Waple give permission to any outside speaker wishing to bring their message on campus, according to Katkin.

“We’re not denying anyone the right to come here and ex-ercise free speech,” Waple said. “This is about time and place.”

The change in policy has been vetted by Student Government Association, Staff Congress, and Faculty Senate and is currently awaiting approval by President Votruba’s Executive team.

Roxanna BlevinsStaff writer

Faculty debate free speech rightsSenate narrowly approves changes to outside speakers policy

Students and graduates of North-ern Kentucky University may have to start paying a $10 fee to get copies of their offi cial transcripts if the registrar moves forward on a plan to use an on-line, automated clearinghouse to pro-cess offi cial transcript requests.

Registrar Michele R. Hall presented a proposed fee for transcripts at the April 4 Student Government Associa-tion meeting. The Offi ce of the Regis-trar has not yet established the amount of the fee, but Hall said the NKU ad-ministration is discussing a price of $10 per transcript, and $15 for a rush order.

Hall said the registrar’s offi ce has been absorbing the costs of creating and printing transcripts, and it’s an ex-pense they “simply cannot afford” any-more. She said the largest cost is time

spent preparing transcripts, but they also must pay for printing, envelopes, stamps and overnight shipping on rush orders.

According to Hall’s presentation, the rush fee would be higher than all other Kentucky universities. Murray State has the lowest fee at $3 per order, and $5 for a rush. Kentucky State Univer-sity has the highest rate, at $10 for an order, and $10 for a rush.

Hall met opposition from several members of SGA.

Student Rights Committee chair Paul Bell held up a stack of papers and said he visited the registrar’s offi ce Monday to get some transcripts. He said he got 10 transcripts printed off in about 10 minutes, something that would cost him $100 if the new fee goes into effect.

Right now, students and graduates can request a free transcript online through Norse Express and MyNKU, by fax or in person at the Offi ce of the

Registrar. Under the proposed fee, even if

someone visited the registrar’s offi ce in person, they would be directed to complete the online form, pay the tran-script fee and then they would receive a printed transcript, Hall said.

When the university switched to MyNKU from Norse Express, any stu-dent who graduated before fall 2009 did not receive a MyNKU account. They can still order transcripts online through Norse Express, but their de-gree audit is not automated.

Instead, the registrar’s offi ce must hand-check the offi cial transcript, and Hall said that could mean weeks of waiting.

Under the current plan, there is no way for any students to check the sta-tus of their offi cial transcript online, but people will be able to check the sta-tus of their order online with the new system.

Despite the new system offering an easier way for students to track their transcripts, Senator Josh Moermond said he didn’t see the value in it for cur-rent students because they would have to pay the fee for every request. He said the new system and accompanying fee was a better benefi t for past students who do not have access to MyNKU.

Several senators asked if there were any alternative solutions to using the clearinghouse to process transcript re-quests; but Hall explained that NKU would have to develop the technology from the ground up, and that would drive up costs.

Hall said the registrar’s offi ce han-dles anywhere from 20 to 80 tran-scripts a week, with heavier traffi c around graduation dates. She said they still get requests from about 50 gradu-ates a week whose records are not in MyNKU and must have their transcript hand-checked.

Cassie StoneEditor-in-chief

SGA members stand against transcript fees

NewsEdition 47, Issue 11 5

Long printing lines and long hours spent in computer labs working with Northern Kentucky University software programs may soon become a trend of the past for students, according to plan developed by the NKU Infrastructure Team that is scheduled to be fully put into place by spring 2012.

Take a ride in the DeLorean with Doc and Marty McFly for a second and see a fu-ture where students can use computer programs like the Microsoft Offi ce and Adobe suites from home without purchasing them individually. Printing can be done wireless-ly from any computer, too!

Under a new software pro-gram called VMWare View,

these advancements may be-come a reality for all NKU students. This software can make programs and home-work easy, fl exible and conve-nient for students, according to Doug Wells, a member of the NKU Infrastructure Team.

However, implementing the change will require a lot of be-hind the scenes work from the Information Technology de-partment to make sure every-thing works fi ne and essential-ly will not crash the university network due to a high level of usage, Wells added.

Waiting until spring 2012 allows time to avoid such a crash.

“We need to make sure we have enough bandwidth be-cause we’ll have a lot more network traffi c from students using the network at home,” Wells said. “We need to fi gure out what the average usage

will be and work from there.”

The IT department will hold trial runs of the VMWare View program during fall se-mester 2011. The depart-ment will be issuing out 100 trial licenses of the program to students to try out and report back.

VMWare View could also potentially reduce a lot of energy waste on campus, according to pro-ponents. Once the program starts running fl uently lesser used computer labs could transform into classrooms and in turn allow the univer-sity to offer more classes with more fl exibility on days and times.

For students who are in-trigued by this new technolo-gy and cannot wait to get their hands on these programs from

home; there is a program a v a i l a b l e now to students called Sky-drive that launched January 1, 2010. Skydrive allows stu-dents to create Web docu-ments of Microsoft Offi ce programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote from a home computer or laptop

w i t h i n the NKU web mail system. The created documents save right into the student’s web mail and are available for print.

Questions about VMWare View or Skydrive programs can be addressed to the IT de-partment at 859-572-6911.

Derick BischoffStaff writer

New way to work

source of pride for the play’s director.“The character Leni – She is the ‘mon-

strous’ beauty of the title,” said Mike King, director of “Monstrous.” “Her energy, her drive, her ambition are fascinating; but then again and again, she makes these ter-rible choices about the ethics of what she does. It really examines the morality of the artist.”

“Marfa, Texas” is a story about a pro-moter, a woman and a small town. Direct-ed by Mary Jo Beresford, “Marfa” is set in a desolate west Texas area “fi fty miles away from the nearest highway.” accord-ing to the play’s promotional materials. Facing foreclosure, the owner of Hotel Del Rio, the only hotel in town, tries or-ganizing a big party to attract tourists for the 25th anniversary of the fi lming of the blockbuster “Giant” in Marfa.

When Hollywood refuses to partici-pate in the event, all seems lost. However, when a runaway bride who “slightly re-sembles Elizabeth Taylor” passes through town, the hotel owner comes up with a daring idea to save the event.

“One Good Turn” is a suspense drama dealing with the character of Martha Rob-ertson, a graduating college valedictorian. Directed by Project Director Sandra For-man, the play revolves around the rela-tionship between Martha and a woman she once saved from an assault.

As reporters delve into Martha’s past, dark secrets surface that “threaten more than just stirring up the past.”

When asked what audiences will take away from the series of plays, Forman said “it will depend on what each person brings to the play,” and that different people will bring different values to each of the shows they see.

“Monstrous Beauty” is showing from April 7 through April 16, “One Good Turn” runs from April 8 through April 17 and “Marfa, Texas” is on from April 9 through April 16. For show times, contact the NKU Theatre and Dance Department’s box of-fi ce at 859-572-5464.

YES Festival, continued from page one

Program will allow students to multi-task from home

Photo by Mikki SchaffnerIn “Marfa, Texas - Based on an Almost True Story,” Senior Grayson Wittenbarger (left) plays Little Joe, Junior Monica Tenhover plays Hillary HIll Davenport and Senior Kieran Cronin plays Goody.

News April 6, 20116

They stood on the third fl oor of the University Center, faces close to the windows, watch-ing Stephen Meier, manager in the Dean of Students offi ce, for a sign the election results had been posted.

“If I don’t win, I’ll have to fi g-ure out what to do with the rest of my life,” said presidential candidate Dustin Robinson.

“You will pick yourself up off the fl oor and keep serving stu-dents,” said Alexandra Hedg-es, who will be the Secretary for Student Involvement in the fall 2011 semester.

Across the plaza, president and vice-presidential candi-dates Danielle Hawks and Jamie Hazenfi eld, Jr. calmly stood outside the Student Gov-ernment Association offi ces in the Student Union.

“Last year I was on the edge of my seat,” said Hawks, cur-rent SGA vice president. “This year, I’m mature enough to know I can’t do anything [after

the polls close].”Once the votes were count-

ed, it took two tries for Rob-inson to get the call. The fi rst one dropped before he got the fi nal results; on the second, he smiled.

“We won by over 100 votes,” Robinson told the crowd of about 20 supporters waiting with him.

Robinson and Erik Peder-son won the president and vice president positions in the SGA elections March 31 by 139 votes. They will step into their new roles after the spring se-mester ends.

Throughout the campaign, Robinson and Hawks used different techniques to try to reach voters.

Robinson and Pederson spent more than $1,000 on their campaign—money that was used to buy Facebook ads, handbills, door hangers, pins, T-shirts and other mer-chandise. Hawks and Hazen-

fi eld, however, relied more on a shoe-leather campaign, spending less money and do-ing things such as handing out more than 4,000 handbills to students.

“I guess that’s what you get when you spend more than $1,000 on an election,” Hawks said after Meier read the re-sults. “At least I’ll get to gradu-ate a semester sooner.”

President-elect Robinson at-tributed his success to prepa-ration and support.

“I knew that a successful marketing campaign would require fi nancial resources, so I started saving money a few months ago,” Robinson said. “I think that our campaign was organized, and we were fortu-nate enough to have the sup-port of friends who helped us get out the vote.”

Robinson chose a young running mate in freshman Erik Pederson, who Robinson is ex-pecting to bring a fresh take on issues presented to SGA.

“Things were not going as well as they needed to go, and

they haven’t been for the past two years,” Pederson said.

Despite knowing there may be some contention between his and Robinson’s goals and the senate, Pederson said he is excited about his new position in SGA.

“This opens so many more doors for me in the future, not only in SGA, but in my student experience as a whole,” Ped-erson said. “Being this young would also help to encourage other freshmen to get involved with SGA because of the com-mon ground we [share].”

Student participation in-creased in this election with 916 votes, 225 more votes than the 2010 SGA election.

In the meantime, Hawks and Hazenfi eld will be wrap-ping up their terms in SGA, and fi guring out what’s next for them.

“Sheesh, that seems to be the million dollar question,” Hawks said. “I think the free time will be a blessing. I’m planning on working more, maybe fi nding an internship.”

Next to president and vice president, the other contest-ed election was for Judicial Council, with six candidates competing for fi ve positions. Stacey Grippa, Abby Gross, Kirti Sapra, Mitchell Green and Kayla Justice were elected. William Enderle was the only judicial candidate not chosen.

Three uncontested positions went to the candidates listed on the ballot. Alexandra Hedg-es was elected secretary for student involvement, Michelle Forlenza was elected the sec-retary for public relations and Robert Hornung was elected secretary for administrative affairs.

The 21 senate candidates on the ballot were elected, and four write-in candidates waged successful campaigns to fi ll the remaining seats. Charles Rust, Roya Headley, Kevin Surface and General Bowen rounded out the senate.

Hawks said she wants to thank the student body for let-ting her serve on SGA for three years.

Cassie Stone & Claire HigginsEditor-in-chief and Features editor

Campaign preparation pays off(Left photo) Danielle Hawks and Jamie Hazenfield, Jr. lost their bids for president and vice president, respectively. (Right photo) Dustin Robinson (left) and Erik Pederson beat the opposing candi-dates by 139 votes in the Student Government Association election March 31. Robinson and Pederson ran on a platform of always putting NKU students first.

Photos by Cassie Stone

Robinson and Pederson plan for upcoming term, say its ‘time for change’

FeaturesEdition 47, Issue 11 7

For 17 years, three months and one day, Juan Melendez fought the demons telling him to take his own life. Condemned to be put to death in Florida for a crime he says he did not commit, he was tormented with the idea that he could only be freed by dangling from a rope.

“I would pray to God to send me a beautiful dream,” Melendez said about how he coped with the tempta-tion.

Each time, he said God sent him that dream. He would dream of being back in his native Puerto Rico, swim-ming in the Caribbean Sea and enjoy-ing time with his family. What Melen-dez did not know is that one day that dream of freedom would come true.

On April 5, Melendez shared his sto-ry with Northern Kentucky University students.

Melendez said he was wrongfully ar-rested and convicted after a police in-formant lied to investigators and told them Melendez had confessed to the murder of Delbert Baker. According to Melendez, there was no physical evi-dence introduced by the prosecutor. Nonetheless, the judge condemned Melendez to death.

“I was fi lled with hate ... I was scared, very scared to die, for a crime I did not commit,” Melendez said about his im-mediate reaction to his sentence.

In prison, he said that those serv-ing with him taught him how to read, write and speak English.

“If they would have never taught me, I would not have survived that place,” Melendez admitted, adding that he would not have been able to communicate as effectively with his post-conviction attorneys.

Later on, an investigator working for a new team of attorneys discov-ered exonerating evidence that his tri-al attorney had ignored. This evidence would lead a court to vacate his judg-ment and grant him a new trial. The new prosecutor dismissed the case against Melendez when faced with the evidence. He was fi nally freed.

“I was not saved by the system; I was saved in spite of the system,” Melen-dez said about his release from death row, attributing his freedom to his faith in God and to those around him who had the courage to believe him.

Melendez’s time in prison left him with scars. He shared with the audi-ence how many other prisoners lis-tened to the voices and took their own lives, how one inmate lie dying on the ground and medical staff did not make an effort to save him and how his de-parture from the cell was bittersweet because he knew that other innocent

people were still locked up and fac-ing death. Later, some of these friends were executed in Florida.

He said he remembers the faces of those he saw die in front of him.

“[Death penalty verdicts are] made by human beings, and given out by human beings, and we know humans make mistakes,” Melendez said. “There is always going to be a risk to kill an innocent man, but we can nev-er release an innocent man from the grave.”

The event was open to all NKU stu-dents, but was also targeted at stu-

dents from the Salmon P. Chase Col-lege of Law. Several law students and professors were in attendance. Melen-dez commented on how ineffective his counsel had been in his initial trial.

According to Melendez, one month prior to trial, his defense attorney was provided with an audio record-ing of another person confessing to the crime for which he was convicted, along with sixteen pages of documents corroborating the confessor’s account. Melendez said he only discovered this when an investigator looking into his case several years later discovered the evidence in a fi le that was turned over by his prosecutor.

He also urged law students to be-come criminal defense attorneys and help people like him. He warned them, however, that taking on death penalty cases will wear you down, citing the mental strain he witnessed from members of his post-conviction team that had seen many of their cli-ents executed.

Deifi lia Diaz, the Chase student who organized the event, said that the goal of the event was to bring more His-panic speakers to campus. She said she was not familiar at fi rst with the story behind Melendez’s conviction, but that the message he shared with students at the event was “life-chang-ing.”

As a law student, Diaz said she took heed to the warnings that Melendez emphasized for attorneys.

“We are going to be out there rep-resenting clients and we have to make sure we are representing clients cor-rectly,” Diaz said.

The event also took a local turn. At the end of the event, students were encouraging attendees to sign a peti-tion to support the release of Shawn Hawkins, who is on death row in Ohio and scheduled to be executed on June 14, 2011. Speakers at the event claim that he, like Melendez, is also inno-cent of the charges.

Melendez received a standing ova-tion from a full room of attendees in the Student Union Multipurpose Room. Event organizers said they were impressed by the attendance.

Jesse CallManaging editor

‘Saved in spite of the system’Man freed from death row gives account of his 17 years in ‘hell’

Juan Melendez said that his experience on Florida’s death row was like “hell” as he spent more than 17 years condemned to die for a crime committed by someone else.

Photo by Kevin Jo

Features April 6, 20118

The daredevils and adrena-line-driven students at North-ern Kentucky University can explore their adventurous sides in one of the university’s newest clubs—Adventure Ad-dicts.

Adventure Addicts is about getting out and being active, all while building long-last-ing friendships, said Marissa Smith, the club’s president.

“You’re not just, like, going to a coffee shop and sipping tea or something,” Smith said.

The club plans to go rock climbing, whitewater rafting

in Gatlinburg or West Virgin-ia, hiking and camping at Red River Gorge or Big Bone Lick, attending Cincinnati Reds ma-jor league baseball games and just being active.

To join, the club asks for a $50 fee that would cover lo-cal events; but for bigger trips, there are some extra fees.

Before semester’s end, the club is planning an overnight climbing adventure for its members at Climb Time of Blue Ash, a rock climbing gym in Cincinnati.

Smith said Adventure Ad-dicts will rent out Climb Time for a night and learn the basics

of climbing. To stay overnight, it runs about $15 to $20 per person.

Smith said she decided to start the club after NKU’s pre-vious adventure club had failed from lack of communication and meetings.

As a member of the old club, Smith said she learned how important it is to have such an active group on campus, but it needed to be done the right way. By planning more meet-ings, events and trips, and be-ing more involved in general, Smith sees success for the club in the future.

With help from fellow Ad-

venture Addicts and club offi -cers, Matt Gardner and Jame-son Ballou, Smith said she should have no problem. Gard-ner and Ballou said they are excited to get people involved on campus.

Smith, Gardner and Ballou all credited their love of ad-venture to simply growing up that way, Gardner specifi cally. Ballou said after he went bun-gee jumping, he knew he was addicted. And Smith said she loves all types of activities and she cannot choose just one as her favorite, but rock climbing and skiing are high on her list.

With Adventure Addicts,

Smith said she hopes to get people involved in something new because there is nothing offered at NKU for adventure.

“NKU is a commuter-based campus, so it can be hard to get to know people,” Smith said. “But this club is an opportu-nity for students to get out and into activities that build long-lasting friendships.”

For more information on Adventure Addicts, contact Marissa Smith at [email protected] or Matt Gardner at [email protected]. Ad-venture Addicts are also on OrgSync; go to http://nku.or-gysnc.com to join.

Claire HigginsFeatures editor

Thrill-seeking students revive adventure club

When she fi rst came into class, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a sweater and a fresh pair of sneak-ers, with her hair in long dread-locks.

No, this isn’t a description of a student at Northern Kentucky Uni-versity, but a professor. Chances are that if you are an education major, you have had a class with, or have at least heard about, Bettina Love.

“Dr. Love is an amazing teacher,” said Katie West, a secondary educa-tion major. “She talks about things that students need to learn, but no one else will say.”

Although Love has only been teaching at NKU for two years, she has grabbed the attention and re-spect of students in the College of Education.

English education major Katie Merrit said, “Her method of teach-ing is so profound and can easily be translated into practical use. I learn how to develop my own philosophy of education and how to apply it to

my classroom.”Love’s traveling teaching career

has taken her to four states — New York, Florida, Georgia and Ken-tucky. She is returning to Georgia at the end of this semester. “If I didn’t have a family, I’d be a gypsy,” Love said. “If I could move every four or fi ve years I would do that … it keeps you fresh, it keeps you motivated, you don’t get stale.”

Love has taught in elementary and high school classrooms, and has focused on teaching classes like Introduction to Education at the collegiate level. In that class, Dr. Love is able to share her passion for teaching to her students, while showing just how important teach-ers can be to them.

On top of being a college profes-sor and writing a book about how hip-hop music infl uences educa-tion, she has started up The Kindezi School, her own charter school in Atlanta, Ga. The school has kinder-garten through third grade classes, but Love plans to go up to eighth grade.

She has been on the school board

for two years, but The Kindezi School opened its doors this year.

Love strives to prepare future teachers for the pressures and joys of teaching. She stresses the fact that the classes within the educa-tion program “aren’t for you, it’s for the kids.” Even when a student says that he or she does not think they are meant to teach, she knows she is doing a good job.

“Those kids out there deserve 125 percent. When someone says, ‘I’m not cut out for this,’ that’s what you want … I want them to be honest with themselves,” Love said.

There are fi ve weeks left in the 2011 spring semester before Love leaves for the University of Georgia. Though she is leaving, it is apparent that she has left an impression on her students.

“I’ve met some incredible stu-dents—people that are not only passionate about education, but just so focused in their second year of wanting to be a teacher. You just can’t get that everywhere,” Love said. “It’s not about me—I want them to be great.”

Love’s passion inspires studentsBrandon BarbStaff writer

Photo by Aly DurrettBettina Love inspires her students by discussing things other professors will not say.

Education professor, author and charter school founder leaving NKU

FeaturesEdition 47, Issue 11 9

It’s time for Northern Kentucky University Bachelor of Fine Arts stu-dents to get a taste of what to expect in the professional art world. The fi rst round of the BFA Senior Exhibitions for the spring semester will be on dis-play at Northern Kentucky University starting April 7.

Seven students will get the oppor-tunity to display their best artwork. Among the pieces displayed in the show are black and white photogra-phy, painting, sculpture and mixed media.

Besides creating artwork for the BFA Senior Exhibitions, students also have to hang their own artwork and create PR materials such as

show announcements. It is through the combination of art creation, self-promotion and exhibition set-up that students are able to gain professional art experiences.

Christian Dallas’ oil paintings ex-plore his interactions with people around him. His exhibition entitled “Ordinary Specifi cs” explores the uni-versality of struggles that stem from personal relationships.

“When I speak of struggles and con-cerns I face, I am referring mainly to relationships I have with others, and the ups and downs from those rela-tionships,” Dallas said.

“I create art because I have found art, painting specifi cally, as the most effective vehicle for me to express my emotions and experiences in my life,” Dallas said. “As a writer would ex-

press their struggles and concerns in a journal, I do the same — but with a brush on canvas.”

According to Anita Redmond her mixed media paintings in the exhibit entitled “Refl ections” are “metaphoric representatives of the narrative of my own life experiences.” Working with oil paint and gold, copper and silver leafi ng on birch panels, Redmond takes an artistic glance back on her life and personal experiences.

“It’s a way for me to communicate my thoughts and creativity in a much more effective manner than by words alone,” Redmond said. “I’m much like a kid in a candy store whenever I buy my art materials. There are so many possibilities to art, and it makes me happier to make art than almost any-thing else.”

Anna Klaene’s exhibition “A Back-ward Glance” explores the past through black and white photogra-phy. As part of her creative process, Klaene’s incorporated vintage cos-tumes, scene preparation and refer-ences to the Golden Age of Hollywood into her work.

“I’ve been obsessed for quite a while with portraiture of the 1930s and 1940s,” Klaene said. “To me, that time period seems so much more formal and refi ned than current times.”

The BFA Senior Exhibitions will be on display in NKU’s Main Gallery April 7 through April 15. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information on the exhibit, visit the Department of Visual Arts at http://www.art.nku.edu.

Shawn BuckenmeyerA&E editor

Senior exhibit practice in professionalismStudents create art then design, set up and market their own show

Photos by Shawn BuckenmeyerThe Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Exhibitions, opening April 7, give BFA help students prepare for professional art exhibits. Seven students will display oil paintings photography, sculptures and mixed media. The exhibit is on display Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through April 15 in the main gallery of the Fine Arts Building.

Sports April 6, 201110

The Northern Kentucky Uni-versity baseball team held its fi rst home games on campus this weekend in a four-game se-ries against Kentucky Wesleyan College at the freshly renovated Bill Aker Baseball Complex.

NKU came out strong in the fi rst game Saturday, outscoring Kentucky Wesleyan, 12-1, in a seven-inning game.

This game held the highlight of the weekend with senior out-fi elder/catcher Bryan Rose’s grand slam in the fourth inning.

Senior pitcher Dave Mid-dendorf allowed only three hits and walked two in the victory.

Other contributors were fresh-man infi elder Zac Asman with a two-run double and junior outfi elder Max Colaner with a two-run homer.

Game two went differently with the Norse struggling to score, and losing to the Pan-thers, 9-2.

On Sunday, NKU came out swinging again in the fi rst game, roughing up KWC, 10-3. Senior catcher Brian Erie and sophomore infi elder Brett Cis-per fi nished with three RBIs apiece. Rose, Asman and soph-omore infi elder Bradley Van-derglas all scored twice.

NKU fell short once again in game two, losing to the Pan-thers, 6-3. The Norse struggled

in the fi eld, committing two errors which allowed the Pan-thers to score two unearned runs.

Head coach Todd Asalon still has faith in his team, but plans on going back to the fundamen-tals in practice.

“We need to work on a ton of things,” Asalon said. “At prac-tice on Tuesday we are getting back to the basics of catching and throwing the baseball. Our errors have been costly, to say the least. We will be fi ne, but right now we are not playing with confi dence.”

Asalon is not sure why the Norse have been able to get off to quick starts and falter in the second game of double head-

ers. In the fi rst game of double-headers this season, the Norse are 7-2, but are just 3-6 in the second game.

“I wish that I had an answer about game twos of our series,” Asalon said. “I’m not sure if it’s a lack of focus, overconfi dence or desire. As a coach, I need to do a better job of having our guys ready to play. It’s not from the lack of talent. We just need to understand that we need to fi nish off our opponents and have a passion to win.”

The team had previously been playing at Champion Window Field in Florence, Ky., because their home fi eld was under construction with ir-rigation and sod renovations.

The players are glad to be back home, according to Asalon.

“I know they were very hap-py to be on campus and in the friendly surroundings.” Asalon said. “I think we adjusted well, but just didn’t play consistent ball.”

The Norse are currently 14-11 overall and 4-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NKU will travel to Louisville April 6 to battle Bellarmine University, in a doubleheader beginning at noon.

Stephen WilderStaff writer

Baseball returns to campusNorse split fi rst four home games at Bill Aker Baseball Complex

CorrectionIn issue 10, The Northerner said Bill Aker picked up his fi rst win in 1962. His fi rst win came in 1972.

SportsEdition 47, Issue 11 11

The Northern Kentucky University baseball club team is hoping for a bounce back season. A more experi-enced roster may raise op-portunities for the team to rebound from last year’s 1-5 record.

“We have a lot of returning

upperclassmen,” President Andrew Hovekamp said. “This should give us a clear-cut advantage this spring over other teams.”

One of the problems the club is facing is finding a field to host games. Previ-ously, games were held on NKU’s campus at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex, ac-cording to former club presi-

dent Keegan Davis. But scheduling conflicts

with the Norse varsity base-ball team as well as renova-tions to the on-campus field forced the club team to use Meinken Field in Latonia, Ky., for the site of their home games.

The team will be compet-ing this year in the second division of the National Club

Baseball Association. The NCBA is a national

league, divided into regional districts.

Regional districts are split into different divisions based on a college’s enrollment.

Each district champion ad-vances to a national tourna-ment at the end of the sea-son.

The club provides baseball

fans the opportunity to com-pete without the pressures of participating full-time on the NCAA team.

“The club team was started by a group of guys who just wanted to play baseball,” Jill Kleiser, assistant director of campus recreation, said. “They wanted something more competitive than intra-mural softball.”

The men’s and women’s track and fi eld team at Northern Kentucky University consists of mostly fresh-man and sophomores, but they are quickly gaining experience.

The track and fi eld team is spon-sored by NKU Athletics, but it is not funded by the athletic department. The team is made up mostly of ath-letes from the cross country team.

Head coach Steve Kruse says this allows the team to improve for the fall. He added that it allows the cross country team to stay competitive against Great Lakes Valley Confer-ence teams. All of their conference foes offer track and fi eld and cross country.

“It exists primarily for the cross country team so we can remain com-peting in the off season and stay up with the competitiveness,” Kruse said.

The team is very young this year, as both the men’s and women’s team has only one senior each. Kruse’s goal for the team is to gain experi-ence through competition.

“For distance squad, it is improv-ing and gaining confi dence and ma-turity in sport,” Kruse said.

The team has had some individ-ual success this year. In the Mount St. Joseph’s Lions Invitational on March 25, two Norse won events and both were named the GLVC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week. Brendan

Chwalek, a sophomore transfer from Nova Southeastern, won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.

“He is coming on strong,” Kruse said. “He is really having a breakout season.”

Senior Alisha Hansman won the same event on the women’s side. This being the fi rst time she has competed in the event this year, Hansman sees areas where she can improve and also has big goals for the rest of the year.

“I would like to improve on my time in the steeplechase and the way

I jump over the water pit,” Hansman said. “I would really like to have the school record in steeplechase and I would like to be an all-conference runner.”

Kruse would like to see Chwalek and Hansman qualify for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Turlock, Calif., held from May 26-28. Only around 15-20 athletes from the conference are selected to compete in nationals, so it will not be easy for them to advance.

“We have a lot of work ahead,” Kruse said. “They will need to train

smart to stay on track for consider-ation.”

To compete, the Norse have to achieve the minimum number of athletes on a team required by the NCAA. Athletes from sports other than track have come out to be part of the team.

Frances Schultz, a volleyball play-er, is a thrower (shot put, discus throw and javelin) for the team. In the shot put, she set an NKU record this year. Schultz continues to try to improve on her technique in each event.

“Throwing does have a lot to do with strength; but at the end of the day, it comes down to technique,” Schultz said. “My technique now is decent at best, so fi ne tuning is what I am trying to improve on at prac-tice.”

In order to be able to fi eld a team that can compete in every event, the team would need to be funded by the athletic department, something Kruse hopes to happen in the future. Without the funding, it is impossible to recruit for events such as jumpers, sprinters and throwers.

“I’ve been pulling for that since I was a student-athlete,” Kruse said. “Interest is an all-time high on cam-pus, and there are great hopes to add track and fi eld, so we can recruit for fi eld events and sprints.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams next event will be the Cumberlands Invitational April 9 in Williamsburg, Ky.

Young track team looks for success

Sophomore Brendan Chwalek clears a hurdle on his way to winning the steeplechase at the Mount Saint Joseph’s Lions Invitational in Cincinnati.

Photo by Tim Downer

John MinorAssistant sports editor

Baseball club team works to improve recordJeff KleynenbergContributing writer

A&E April 6, 201112Happenings

Celebration of Student Research and CreativityWhen: Check http://www.nku.edu for timesWhere: SU BallroomStudents showcase their scholarly and creative talents through various forms.

French Film Screening: ‘The Wedding Song’When: 3:30 p.m. Wed.,7 p.m. Thurs.Where: Otto Budig TheaterIn 1942 Nazi-occupied Tunis, friendship blooms between two Muslim and Jewish teen-agers.

International Potluck Dinner and Talent ShowWhen: 4 - 9 p.m.Where: SU 107Meet people and try food from around the world.Cost: $10 or free if you bring a dish.

Student Organization CelebrationWhen: 5:30 - 7 p.m.Where: Student UnionThe celebration recognizes the outstanding achievements of our student organizations and their members.

NKU TennisWhen: 10 a.m. Where: Joyce Yeager Tennis ComplexMen’s and women’s teams will be going against Bellarmine. Come out and show NKU your support!

BFA Showcase Artist ReceptionWhen: 5 - 7 p.m.Where: Fine Arts BuildingSee the astonishing work of NKU’s own Bachelor of Fine Arts Majors. As always, there will be free food.

Pay Equity Day Bake SaleWhen: 10 a.m.Where: SU lobbyIn awareness of wage dis-crimination, Panhellenic will sell baked goods. Proceeds will be donated to the Women’s Crisis Center.

NKU SoftballWhen: 3 – 7 p.m.Where: Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field Start the season off right. See the ladies of NKU run for home as they face off against Malone.

April 6-7

April 12-15April 12April 9April 9

April 7April 7April 6

The BFA Showcase Artist Recption hon-ors NKU BFA majors.

Photo by Shawn Buckenmeyer

The Northerner Print Edition - April 6, 2011

Documents

Transcript of The Northerner Print Edition - April 6, 2011