2 Edition 44, Issue 14

Note from the Newsroom

Cover StoryBreaking apart NKU:The cool and not-so-cool facets.

6 & 7

VIEWSWhat’s cool and not cool on campus according to Viewpoints editor Heather Willoughby.

8 & 9

A&ETitanic review: Rendition of tragic ship gives a voice to people who in-habited it.

11

NEWS 4 & 5Impeachments dominate SGA:Student Government pres. the second to face impeachment charges.

3December 9, 2009

The NorthernerUniversity Center Room 335Highland Heights, KY 41076Editor in Chief: (859) 572-6128News & Sports: (859) 572-6677Features: (859) 572-5859Advertising: (859) 572-5232Fax: (859) 572-5772

E-mail: northerner@nku.edu

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.

PRINT EDITOR-IN-CHIEFTim Owens[owenst1@nku.edu]

WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEFJoe Castelli [castellij1@nku.edu]

MANAGING EDITORMark Payne[paynem3@nku.edu]

PRESENTATION EDITOREmily Teaford[teaforde1@nku.edu]

ASST. PRESENTATION EDITORKarli Wood[woodk3@nku.edu]

VIEWS EDITORHeather Willoughby[willoughbh1@nku.edu]

A&E EDITORJeremy Jackson[jacksonj6@nku.edu]

SPORTS EDITORMichael Collins[collinsm4@nku.edu]

PHOTO EDITORCharlotte Etherton[ethertonc1@nku.edu]

COPY EDITORSChelsea Asher[asherc1@nku.edu]

Emily Christman[christmane1@nku.edu]

Betina Kemker[kemkerb1@nku.edu]

ADVISORGayle Brown[browng@nku.edu]

AD MANAGERWilliam Fisher[fisherw1@nku.edu]

northernerstaff contactinformation

EDITORIAL CARTOONISTPatrick Delaney[delaneyp1@nku.edu]

Dan Robards[robardsd1@nku.edu]

Alex Owsley[owsleya1@nku.edu]

Brandon Barb[barbb1@nku.edu]

Rodney Moore[moorer2@nku.edu]

Justin Mattingly[mattinglyj1@nku.edu]

ASST. PHOTO EDITORSEmily Christman[christmane1@nku.edu]

Ed Morris[morrise2@nku.edu]

STAFF WRITERSSamantha Del Vecchio[delvecchis1@nku.edu]

Michael Willis[willism2@nku.edu]

WHAT’S INSIDE

SPORTS 10No rest for the Norse: Men’s and women’s teams have a busy schedule over winter break.

I bullshit a lot. By this I mean I talk to a lot of people every-day, sparking conversations with people I don’t know. This usu-ally gives me some great conver-sation. It also has its fair share of awkward moments, which I have come to accept and relish.

The other day I met an older gentleman on campus, through somebody I was speaking to — I don’t know if he was a professor, or student, but he was an intel-ligent man. Somehow we got on the subject of newspapers. I briefly touched on the fact that I was an editor here at The North-erner, which led to him giving me some pertinent insight.

He told me that when news-papers were strong, our nation was strong. It wasn’t as discom-bobulated as it is now. He said he felt like with so many differ-ent news sources, there isn’t one news source he could trust. He remembered when there was a day where you came to know and trust the publication you read every morning. It was a part of your life that you woke up and read. It informed you and helped you to make deci-sions regarding issues in your community.

I took what this gentlemen said to heart — I would be a fool not to.

We, as a nation and university, have a lot on our plate. We have a lot of tough decisions to make.

Sometimes newspapers, in-cluding this one, forget their role of disseminating quality, important information to the public. Readers also forget how important it is important to pick a newspaper up every day. De-manding more out of newspa-pers is expected and should be-come more commonplace.

This paper is always open to criticism and we would appreci-ate it you would post comments on our Web site. Hell, I wouldn’t mind if you stop by and chat with me about the paper — my door will always be open, along with my mind.

This is the last issue for the semester and our staff looks for-ward to continue to participate in the community here at NKU. We hope you continue to par-ticipate with us.

-Mark Payne Managing Editor

4 Edition 44, Issue 14

NEWS

Mark Payne/Managing EditorAlthough Kaseke was impeached, it was decided that he would continue to hold the of-fice of SGA President.

Mark PayneManaging Editor

Impeachments dominate SGAStudent Government pres. the second to face impeachment charges

Two weeks, two impeach-ments. The Northern Ken-tucky University Student Gov-ernment Association had its second impeachment hearing Dec. 7. This time it was SGA President Keith Kaseke,that faced impeachment charges on the grounds he violated SGA procedure and violated the SGA Constituition.

Last week was the impeach-ment of former Vice President Dennis Chaney, which passed and resulted in his removal from office.

Kaseke thinks his impeach-ment, which was voted down 12-6, was a retaliation for the impeachment of Den-nis Chaney. He said it was the same people who voted against Chaney’s impeach-ment. Overall, though, he is glad with how his impeach-ment turned out.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Kaseke said. “Whenever stu-dents are not happy they need to speak out.”

SGA Senator Nicholas Georgescu brought the impeachment to SGA in The Articles of Impeachment. The Articles said Kaseke “has repeatedly violated the Constitution, his oath, and the trust of the faculty and stu-dents; discredited SGA; shown repeated disregard for the SGA standing rules of order; and violated and neglected his duties as prescribed by: Article IV, section 1, A, 2, e: [which states the president]”Shall enforce the provisions of the Constitution, the Standing Rules of Order, mandates of the Student Senate, decisions of the Judicial Council, and referendum of the Student Body”

The Articles said Kaseke did numerous things wrong, including the process impeach-ment brought against Chaney.

“Kaseke discredited SGA

when he produced defama-tory and libelous material for the impeachment of Dennis Chaney under allegation five of The Articles of Impeach-ment ‘I do not care what you (SGA President) or the Deans think but I am going to Fac-ulty Senate,’” according to The Articles. “This conversation never included that statement and there is audio recording of the entire conversation, made in pursuance of KRS 526.010.”

The Articles also said Kaseke is either ignorant or dishonest in his actions as a Student Regent, on the Board of Regents.

“Kaseke discredited SGA when he was asked the ques-tion from Senator Georgescu, on Nov 30, inquiring if Keith Kaseke amended the impeach-ment and removal process article of the Constitution on Nov 11,” The Articles said. “He replied no but had in fact changed the impeachment time-line for appeals in the SGA Constitution. Either he is dishonest or grossly ignorant of his own actions as Student Regent.”

Georgecu drafted said that when Chaney got impeached it was all about how Chaney broke the rules, but Kasked himself has broken the rules and acted poorly.

“That kind of behavior you wouldn’t expec out of an SGA president,” Georgescu said.

Since the impeachment didn’t pass, Kaseke will stay in office. However, appeals can be filed. SGA will resume meeting in the Spring 2010 semester on Mondays at 3:30 p.m. in Student Union room 104. The first meeting will be Jan.12.

To view The Articles of Impeachment visit www.the-northerner.com.

Northern Kentucky Uni-versity restricts Freedom of Speech — that is what the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Web site says. FIRE is a non-profit educational founda-tion devoted to free speech.

FIRE has labeled NKU a “red light” school. Ac-cording to FIRE, a red light school “has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech. In other words, the threat to free

speech at a red light institu-tion is obvious on the face of the policy and does not depend on how the policy is applied.”

The preamble to NKU’s Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities states: “Students must take the initiative in expressing opin-ions when they feel these will benefit the university in some way, but they must restrain themselves from the expression of views or taking of action that will in some way damage or infringe upon the rights of others.”

The first policy FIRE finds to be questionable is the Sexual Harassment policy. FIRE finds that Sexual Harassment poli-cies at universities — in this case NKU’s — can be restrictive because they tend to go “beyond the limits of genuine harass-ment.” FIRE also says the

policies are usually ones that are adapted for the businesses that do not list “Freedom of Expression” as a central mission of the workplace. Colleges, how-ever, usually do.

NKU’s policy states, “Sexual harassment is de-fined as: unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: (3) such conduct is sufficiently severe, persis-tent or pervasive to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working, living, or academic environment.

To constitute sexual harass-ment, a sexually objection-able environment must be both objectively and sub-jectively offensive, one that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive, and one that the victim in fact did perceive to be so under the circumstances.” NKU’s policy, however, does say its policy is to protect students from sexual harassment, not regulate content of speech.

The other policies FIRE finds to be of question are, Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities: Offenses Against Persons, Code of Student Rights and Respon-sibilities: Offenses Against Persons, Acceptable Use Policy for Technology Re-sources and Free Expression Policy.

To view the full page on NKU’s red-light rating visit thefire.org, and search Northern Kentucky Univer-sity.

Mark PayneManaging Editor

NEWS

5December 9, 2009

The Northerner is still hiring for next semester!

Go to www.thenortherner.comor stop by our office at

UC 335

The following positionsare open:

- News Editor- Sports Editor- Views Editor

- Managing Editor- Multimedia Editor- Graphic Designer

- Staff Writers

One of the greatest feats about turning 21 is you can finally get into a bar. Legally, that is. What’s cool about Northern Kentucky University is that you can go to the bar right off campus. You don’t have to wait until after 9p.m. to go and have a drink.

Now, I am not saying that you should go and get drunk in between classes or anything, but having one beer won’t hurt anything. It is just a nice way to relax, especially if you have had an extremely bad day at school or a test you may have flunked. Either way, going to Skyline Tavern, could be a way to release some of that stress. Listen to some music, have some lunch, do some homework or chat with friends.

If you are really feeling adventurous and you need an even more relaxed “night” out, you could go there on Wednesday night for karaoke. Don’t sing? You don’t have to, but you could listen to everybody else.

How many other college campuses have a bar that is directly behind the school? I know the University of Cincinnati has several around the area, but there are quite a lot of schools that are in a dry county- meaning no alcohol at all. Imagine having to drive through two or three different counties just trying to find a bar. Not so cool. Better make sure you have a DD though. Don’t

want to get into any trouble driving under the influence.

-Chris Miller

The bas-ketball programs at Northern Kentucky Uni-versity are among the nation’s elite in Division II competition, and the teams are led by coaches who carry on the tradition of winning.

The NKU men’s and women’s bas-ketball teams are continuing to grow as they attract players from all around the country. The programs are even becom-ing known to players who are looking to transfer from Division I schools. Com-bining a rich basketball tradition with the new Bank of Kentucky Center has been a recipe for drawing top talent to NKU.

Tradition and new facilities are impor-tant, but the coaches are the key ingredi-ent needed to recruit and teach the game of basketball and to implement a system that leads to victory.

Head Coach Nancy Winstel has a young squad that will face many chal-lenges during the 2009-2010 season. Winstel has established an overall record of 577-187 as she heads into her 27 season on the bench for NKU. She has 616 career wins as a head coach, the third most in GLVC history. Throughout her illustrious career, Winstel has coached the Norse to two national championships, five NCAA II Final Four appearances, six NCAA Elite Eight appearances and three GLVC titles.

The Lady Norse finished with a 29-3 record last season, which helped them claim the GLVC East Division title and the GLVC tournament championship to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II tournament. NKU lost to Michigan

Tech in the second round. Look for them to return and compete in the NCAA tournament again this season.

Head Coach Dave Bezold has a very talented group to work with as he enters his sixth season at the helm. Through five years at NKU, Bezold has estab-lished an overall record of 100-50, with a winning percentage at .667. His overall conference record is 61-34 with a win-ning percentage at .642. The friendly confines of Regents Hall and, now, The Bank of Kentucky Center have certainly been advantageous for Bezold, as he currently owns a 59-15 record at home with a winning percentage of .797 for his career.

Last season, NKU put up 24 victories against just seven losses and a most impressive 14-4 record in a conference that put five teams in the NCAA Tour-nament. Bezold led the Norse to their third straight GLVC East Division Title and their first GLVC Championship since the 2002-2003 season. NKU lost in the first round of the Division II NCAA tournament, in a hard fought game that went into two overtimes, to Lake Supe-rior State University.

-Michael Collins

When I first enrolled at NKU way back in 1994, I had only seen cell phones on T.V. and in movies. Zack Morris on Saved By the Bell had a large walkie-talkie sized phone and was always using it in class, much to the dismay of Mr. Belding. There were still pay phones in public places and all over campus. I had a pager which I used to screen my calls. Nobody had a cell phone.

Now everybody has a cell phone, and they take it everywhere. It is the most important possession some people own. Their life would stop if they lost or broke their phone or had to do without it for one day. This is troublesome to me because I actually remember when there weren’t cell phones.

A 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article reported that cell phone users have increased from 34 million in 1996 to more than 203 mil-lion. While pricey when first introduced for sale to the public, cell phones are now afford-able and available in many places. They are a great way for families to stay connected, helpful to parents for reaching their children and good to have in case of an emergency. But how are there no rules for using cell phones anymore? There doesn’t seem to be any place sacred enough that people will refrain from us-ing their phones.

In the grocery store, while driving, in line at Kings Island, in the waiting room at the doc-tor’s office, etc. The place I loathe cell phone usage the most is school. I understand that Facebook and updating your status every five minutes is important to some, but while you are sitting in class? It really can wait until the end of the school day or when you are having lunch or taking a smoke break. I find it extremely disrespectful to see fellow students with their phones under the table or desk and texting during class.

Having inappropriate conversations on cell phones at school is an annoyance as well. Sometimes walking through a busy college campus or sitting in the hallway of the Fine Arts building is not the best place to discuss Uncle Johnny’s hepatitis scare or how wasted you got the weekend before. I don’t know how many times I have found a nice quiet corner to read in only to be ambushed by a student in the middle of a conversation on their phone. They pay no mind to the student reading or study-ing. They just sit down next to you and carry on their conversation daring you to even look their way or raise an eyebrow.

-Holly Henson

Students pay an average of $3000.00 per semester while attending Northern Kentucky University. They may pay another $200-300 for books per semester. Add housing, food and entertainment, and it is no wonder there is the common stereotype of the “poor college student.”

Especially in economic hard times like we are facing today, it’s obvious that people are going to try new ways to cut corners financially, enter

the dreaded parking pass. A parking pass at NKU costs almost $200 for one full

year. Add that on top of the al-ready towering expenses,

and it becomes clear why

many

students try to dodge buying the parking pass.If one doesn’t have a parking pass, where

do they park? What happens when they are caught parking without a pass?

In the economic crisis America is facing, you may think that NKU would be a little easier on students who don’t have a parking pass. But that is certainly not the case. If a student parks in a faculty parking lot, they will receive a $50 ticket. If a student parks in a student park-ing lot without a valid pass, they will receive a $35 ticket. And if that doesn’t seem ridiculous enough, once a student receives their third ticket of any kind, a immobilizing “boot” will be placed on their tire of the car. This boot costs $50 to be removed. And if the student doesn’t have the money? Tough luck. Under no circumstances will the parking service cops

remove the boot until the fee is paid. -Katie Blair

I want to pose this question to the administration at NKU. What was so bad about Norse Express that made you want to do away with it in favor of MyNKU?

From a student’s perspective, Norse Ex-press did just what we needed it to do. We could easily schedule classes, get a degree audit and check in on our financial aid.

With the newly instituted MyNKU, you can’t do either of these things without having a step-by-step pamphlet beside you to instruct you on what to do.

MyNKU was rushed into action before all the kinks could be worked out, thus causing numerous horror stories of this going wrong or that going wrong. Getting through classes is sometimes a hassle enough; we don’t need another headache when we try to check our records.

Yes, it looks nice, but looking nice and working properly are two different things. The

new NKU Web site looks good and works well, but the same simply can’t be said about MyNKU.

In the past, scheduling classes was a breeze. All you needed to do was to write down the six-digit course number and type it in the proper section on Norse Express. With MyNKU, you almost need to know how to perform brain surgery before knowing how to schedule a class.

-Chad Hensley

8 Edition 44, Issue 14

The coolest of the cool Some well known, and not so well known, facets of NKU

VIEWS

This time in the semester always gets me feeling quite nostalgic. It brings to mind my favorite things about this university.

So, without further ado, I bring you the coolest...

Professor:While at Northern, I have

had my fair share of doozies, but, for the most part, I have had a slew of fantastic profes-sors. The coolest professors I have had are Mika Wolfford and Andrew Miller. Mika Wolfford, also known as “Wolfford Sensei” to those who have not had the plea-sure of being her pupil (...or me), is Northern Kentucky University’s resident Japanese language professor. While I’m definitely not a pro at the

language, I can honestly say that despite my lack of effort sometimes, I have definitely learned a lot from her.

Andrew Miller, fondly known as “Andy” by some of his students, is an English professor. He teaches courses rang-ing from the honors class “Supermen & Wonder Women” to Creative Fic-tion Writing to Greek and Ro-man Mythology. He’s a cool professor because he actually cares about his students. He works with you if you have

issues or have trouble under-standing something, but he is

definitely not a professor who lets his students

walk all over

him. He makes me laugh — usually not

because he is funny (which he is), but largely because he laughs at his own jokes.

Food place:The coolest food place at

NKU is more of a beverage place. The Steely Cafe within Steely Library is my most-frequented dining location at NKU. I like it more than Star-

bucks and you can get nor-mal food there now. (Soup or a sandwich with my Caramel

Machiatto? Yes, please.)

Service offered by NKU:There is a service offered by

NKU that I don’t think many people know about, and it is definitely cool. It is a program called the “Lending Library.” This service is offered by the

Early Alert program in the Student Achievement Cen-ter, University Center 120. Qualifying students are able to “rent” one textbook for the semester, which, depend-ing on the book, can be a real money-saver. (Anything that keeps me from spending more money is cool in my book.)

Thing to happen this semes-ter:

It was pretty cool when NKU Regents approved the new general education requirements. Starting next fall, even current students will have the option to follow the new gen-ed guidelines, saving us all a lot of time, money and energy we could be spending on our majors. It is cool to make life easier.

Heather WilloughbyViews Editor

9December 9, 2009

Get the heck outta here!Last words from the departing editors-in-chief

VIEWS

I swore I wouldn’t do this. I promised myself that I wouldn’t do what countless other parting Northerner staff members have done in the past. I wanted my good-bye to be unique. In short, I wanted to not focus it on The Northerner itself.

But attempting to do so only left me with a blank page. How can I omit it? How can I not focus the thesis of my goodbye on anything else but The Northerner? The truth is I can’t. After all, it’s only through the pages of this publication that I had any semblance of a “college experience.” More importantly, The Northerner saved me from total insanity.

Prior to the start of my tenure here, my day went as follows: class, work, home-work, sleep and repeat. This routine had me feeling out of place, and out of touch with the NKU community. It was just a place I was going to get my degree. But that all changed when was hired on staff at The Northerner in the fall of 2008.

Since then, I’ve gone on to be an A&E editor and am now writing these parting words as print editor-in-chief. To describe everything I have learned and gained both on this campus and at this paper into this goodbye is to not do either of them full justice. I’ll just say that NKU used to mean nothing more to me than a venue to earn my degree, but is now a university that I love and believe in. My only regret is that I didn’t realize how great this university was earlier on in my career.

The professors here have played a fundamental role in my development as a person and a writer. As for The Northern-er, well, it’s taught me a lot more than how to write on deadline. I have learned more about myself in the three small rooms that make up this office than anywhere else in my life. In my time here, I have had the opportunity to work alongside some of the most colorful and passionate people I have ever, and will ever, meet.

For my fellow ‘Northerners’ who read this, know that all of you have greatly impacted my life and I will never be able to thank you enough — Tuesday nights will never be the same again. Thank you to everyone, both Northerner staff and NKU faculty, who ever believed in me and gave me the opportunity to build a better life for myself. This goodbye piece is typical, but all of you made my college experience and my life anything but.

I wish I got to put more work into this farewell thing, but the truth is I’ve had to allocate an un-holy amount of time to ensuring it ends up being merited (that I do in fact graduate, if you didn’t catch that). Truthfully, I thought I’d have had this written a long ago, yet here I am, finishing it on production night.

As predicted, it has been the craziest semester I’ve taken on since I began attending college in the fall of 2003 — I’d say something to the effect of ‘yeah, yeah, laugh it up’ if I couldn’t so confi-dently bet money that 70 percent of the students reading this are in the same boat, i.e., on an ex-tended plan of some sort.

Considering only the somewhat ominous open-ing of this piece, one might assume I’ve had this ridiculous semester of intense time juggling and confused, intellectual debauchery. Though it has been crazy, the truth is mostly to the contrary.A great deal of my personal growth in the past year has been a direct result of my work at this publication. I’ve done everything from graphic design to Web programming, and I genuinely feel prepared for an entry-level job in an exception-ally wide array of disciplines.

I remember entering college a bare-assed freshman with an odd mashing of talents, and just sort of playing football and studying computer science because it felt right. No particular rea-son. I just sort of closed my eyes and felt my way through the hallway into my higher education.

It took three years to figure out that I was unhappy with where I was. I came to NKU and chose journalism because I liked to write and was pretty good at it — oblivious that my computa-tional thinking and background in computer pro-gramming would be significant.

Then I threw a few e-mails around with the arts and entertainment editor for The Northerner — some ridiculous character… I think his name was Timothy Owens. Knowing vaguely of my techni-cal abilities, Tim got me on board here at the pa-per as part of the layout team, doing some writing here and there.

In all seriousness, if not for the guy whose fare-well is on this same page, I’d not be, err… on this same page. It is similarly unlikely that I’d have taken the same path of independent exploration into journalistic programming that I did, or had this opportunity to expand upon each of my exist-ing talents and discover new ones.

Thanks are in order for Timowens (you can’t articulate the space, so why spell it with one?) for getting me in and making it a great semester, to Gayle for naming me to this position, and to all of my coworkers and friends who have not only been awesome at life, but also put up with my over-the-top Joemania.PS – Happy Birthday Tim!

Charlotte Etherton/Photo EditorTim Owens (bottom left) and Joe Castelli (bottom right)get a grand farewell from their successors Mark Payne (top left) and Emily Teaford (top right)

Tim OwensPrint Editor-in-Chief

Joe CastelliWeb Editor-in-Chief

Mike CollinsSports Editor

No rest for the NorseMen’s and women’s teams have a busy schedule over winter break

The semester at Northern Kentucky University is coming to a close as students prepare for final exams. Campus will be bare and classes will be empty as people head home for the holiday season.

The NKU basketball teams don’t get a break; they will be entering the heart of their schedules. The men’s and women’s team will host two games at The Bank of Ken-tucky Center.

Coach Nancy Winstel’s squad will host West Virginia Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m. on Dec. 22 at the BOKC to kick-off holiday hoops action.

The Bobcats have gotten ex-cellent guard play through the first three games of the season. Sophomore guards Lydia Bridenbaugh and Danae Hill have helped WVWC claim back-to-back overtime victo-ries. The two have combined for an average of 42 points per contest and they have record-ed 18 assists. Bridenbaugh is a versatile guard who is solid of-fensively and disruptive defen-sively with the nine steals that she has recorded thus far. She leads the Bobcats in scoring

with 24 points per game and averages 7.7 rebounds a game. Hill averages 18 points a game; but she is one who can create opportunities for her team-mates as she leads the team in assists with 14 on the year.

The NKU men will battle UC-Clermont for the second time this season at 7 p.m. on Dec. 23 at the BOKC. The Norse trounced the Cougars 90-65 in Cincinnati on Nov. 23 and they hope to repeat their performance.

Senior center David Palmer was the source on offense for NKU in the previous match-up and feeding the post will be the game plan for the second go-around. Palmer scored a career high 25 points off of 10-12 shooting from the floor and proved to be too much for Clermont to handle. The Norse had four players score in double figures and 23 assists as a team, according to the NKU Sports Information Web site.

The Norse will host a double-header against Great Lakes Valley Conference rival, Lewis, on Jan. 2 at the BOKC. The women’s team will play at

1 p.m. and the men’s team will follow at 3:15 p.m.

The key for the NKU women is to control the Flyers leading scorer in junior for-ward Jenny Turpel. Turpel is averaging 19 points and seven rebounds for Lewis. She has fouled out in one game so far this season and if the Norse can draw her into foul trouble, they will take away a scoring threat. Senior combo-guard Kelly Dianis is second on the team in scoring with an aver-age of nine points per game. Keeping Turpel quiet will force the other Lewis players to step up their game.

The Norse has a balanced scoring attack with three players averaging in double figures. Sophomore forward Sadie Bowling is averaging 19 points a game, sophomore guard Casse Mogan averages 16 points and senior forward Brandi Rayburn is averaging 13 points per contest. NKU has four other players who are averaging seven points or more. And the Norse team has been solid at the free throw line, shooting 73 percent from the stripe. Getting to the

line and sinking shots will be a key of the game for NKU to win the game. Driving to the basket will draw the fouls and will create opportunities for outside shooters. Playing ag-gressive on the defensive end of the floor, a characteristic of Winstel’s teams, will also be on the ‘keys of the game’ list for the Norse.

The NKU men’s team will enter its fourth conference game of the season when they battle the Flyers. Lewis hawws three players that are averaging double figures in the point’s category. Junior guard Dennis Thomas Jr. is averag-ing 17.8 points per game and sophomore forward/center Matt Toth is second on the team with 11.6 points. Sopho-more center Marty Strus fol-lows close behind Toth with 11 points per contest.

The Flyers have a young squad this season as they bare just one senior on its roster. The team has some experi-ence with four juniors, but four sophomores and five freshmen make up nine players on the squad with limited experience at the collegiate level.

The Norse men have two players on the team who are averaging double figures. Palmer leads the team with 18 points per game and junior guard Dustin Maguire is av-eraging 11 points. Guard play will be important in the battle against the Flyers. Senior guard Scott Bibbins is the floor general, and his ability to spread the floor and find team-mates will have to be a point of emphasis in preparation for the game. Freshman guard Ethan Faulkner has stepped into a role that has helped NKU execute fundamental aspects of the game. Faulkner has 34 assists on the year and his unselfishness has led to points for his teammates. A good mixture of aggressive de-fensive, unselfish passing and hitting shots will be the recipe for a victory over Lewis.

The men’s and women’s teams will host a double-header against Quincy to open the second semester on Jan. 4, 2010 at the BOKC. The women will play at 5:30 p.m. and the men will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

10 Edition 44, Issue 14

SPORTS

Tim Downer/Staff Photographer Photo Illustration by: Charlotte EthertonScott Bibbins (left) and Rachel Lantry (right) play ball against Southern Indiana. Men’s and Women’s basketball has a lot to look forward to. Each team has a long list of games over the holiday break.

Jeremy Jackson A&E Editor

Courtsey of NKU Theatre DepartmentJunior Cindy Head (left) and Senior Aaron Brewer (right) play Mr. and Mrs. Strauss in Titanic.

No voice silencedTitanic focuses on the people that filled ship’s hull

From the outset, we know that she is perpetually doomed. No matter which way you spin it, the colossal ship that underwent its maiden voyage in 1912 is going to sink in the second act. Therein lies the challenge for Northern Ken-tucky University’s theatrical perfor-mance of the events surrounding the ill-fated Titanic. With precision, the mu-sical production must somehow, and in someway, hoodwink the audience into forgetting the facts of history — that the sinking of the boat is not the entire story, but much more lies within the un-fortunate souls that filled its hulls; not so much within the fate of the ship.

Within the two-hour production, the audience is immediately reassigned to another era, one in which the Industrial Revolution catapulted technology to its eminent heights — producing advances that allowed the 883-foot vessel, with the capacity to carry some 3,500 pas-sengers, the ability to successfully set sail; however, alongside the advances in technology came the scourge of opportunistic wealth, industry barons, massive gulfs in class distinction and of the mounting frustrations that followed

the classes aboard the Titanic.During the opening scene, the pas-

sengers board the ship, carrying their luggage and the burden of their various backgrounds. Soon after, the curtain drops, the lights dim and the audience is seamlessly whisked away with the boat; meandering from Great Britain, due west, (overly) eager to arrive in America — land of new beginnings and opportunity. Unbeknownst to them, for the next couple hours, the passengers aboard take audience members for a hell of a ride.

For director Mark Hardy, the inher-ent class divisions of the boat seem to be a focal point throughout the produc-tion. What may seem like a precarious subject, a true juggling act of political correctness turns out to be well within the wheelhouse of Hardy’s directing and the execution of the storyline for the 37 cast members and their tremen-dous, often collective, voices.

With thunderous clamor, the cast of the musical brings down the house, leaving each scene with a crescendo of song and music, each converging for our senses. The lower decks of the

ship — the third-class quarters, mostly populated by immigrants — deliv-ers songs of hardship and grief, while the upper decks croon about money and their elevated status. The cast is adept at evoking true emotion for the controversial estimation of those 1,523 lost and their inalterable wade into the frigid Atlantic.

In the final scene, as the ship resigns to its fate, the very wealthy seek to fill the majority of the lifeboats, leaving the indigent to icy deaths. With such overt pursuance of inequality, accom-panied by frustration among the ship’s manifest, one shouldn’t question why the great Titanic was lost to the sea, but one should consider those thankless workers who died by feeding her boil-ers for three hours to keep her afloat.

There were many standouts among Titanic’s performers, but a great deal of credit goes to the orchestra who worked in tandem with singers to present a immense wall of audio that successfully induced a standing ovation when the final curtain dropped.

11December 9, 2009

A&E