Wednesday, February 2, 2011/ Edition 47/ Issue 4/ Value: 50 centsthenortherner.com

The NorthernerUniversity considers speech restrictions

insideTheNortherner

Black History Month events.Pg. 11

Homecoming photo essay. Pg. 13

Professor’s art sparks controversy.Pg. 9

Controversy has occasionally visited the Northern Kentucky University campus when uninvited speakers planted themselves some-where on the university plaza and spouted off their ideas. Students have shouted back or made complaints. The university’s admissions offi ce has even considered altering campus tour routes to move around them.

These “outside speakers,” as a proposed re-vision to a university policy has labeled them, have had few rules placed on them when they appeared on campus unannounced. However, the university is seeking to change that stan-dard through the proposal. If passed, it would place several new restrictions on when and where unsolicited speakers can address the public at NKU.

Under the current policy, last updated in 1981, campus visitors are only required to “act responsibly” and avoid violating laws or other university policies. Additional restrictions ap-ply if they are sponsored by a campus organi-zation.

If the proposed change goes into effect, these speakers will no longer be allowed to come to campus unannounced. Instead, they will be required to submit an application to the Dean of Students at least fi ve days in advance. The Dean of Students can then take up to three

See SPEECH, p.8

Jesse CallInterim editor-in-chief

Illustration by Walter Deller

OpEdEdition 47, Issue 4 3

AD MANAGERWilliam Fisher[fi sherw1@nku.edu]

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: northerner@nku.eduWeb site: www.thenortherner.com

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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.

INTERIM EDITOR-IN-CHIEFJesse Call[callj1@nku.edu]

PRESENTATION EDITORKarli Wood[woodk3@nku.edu]

ADVISERGayle Brown[browng@nku.edu]

northernerstaff

STAFF WRITERSBrandon Barb[barbb1@nku.edu]

Derick Bischoff[bischoffd1@nku.edu]

Roxanna Blevins[blevinr1@mymail.nku.edu]

Danielle Wesley[wesleyd1@nku.edu]

Cassie Stone[stonec2@nku.edu]

COPY DESK CHIEFEmily Christman[christmane1@nku.edu]

PHOTOGRAPHERAli Hedges[hedgesa3@nku.edu]

FEATURES EDITORClaire Higgins[higginsc1@nku.edu]

SPORTS EDITORNick Jones[jonesn5@nku.edu]

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORJohn Minor[minorj1@nku.edu]

NEWS EDITORMatt Brewer[brewerm4@nku.edu]

A&E EDITOR Shawn Buckenmeyer[buckenmeys1@nku.edu]

PHOTO EDITORAlysha Durrett[durretta1@nku.edu]

COPY EDITORElizabeth Parsons[parsonse3@nku.edu]

Nicole WeberFreshman, Nursing

“I don’t really care if they are here or not, I

just don’t talk to them.”

Sarah MartinJunior, Elementary

Education

“I think there should be, we get a lot of weirdos.”

rnpCompiled by

Brandon Barb & Nick Jones

“What do you think about placing

restrictions on uninvited speakers in the

university plaza?”

norse poll responses

For more Norse poll responses and video, visit www.thenortherner.com

Bill SchwartzSenior, Secondary

Education“I don’t think it’s fair for students at NKU to have to put up with uninvited

speakers.”

They’re annoying. They yell at you. They pass out the same green bible to you each and every time. They tell you that you are sinful and will burn in hell forever. Sometimes they do not even make sense and it seems like more of a sideshow than a person with a valid viewpoint.

Those people who wander onto campus to share and ex-press their ideas can cause a lot of frustration and comedy for students. But they do have something to say and North-ern Kentucky University and other colleges and universities throughout the country have had a long-standing tradition of welcoming them into the exchange of ideas, invited or not. We honor their constitu-tional right to free speech and to express their ideas.

NKU now wants to change that tradition. They want to place signifi cant limitations on free speech in an effort that has little to do with the claimed concerns about secu-rity, disruption of the academ-ic atmosphere or misrepre-senting campus to prospective students.

Instead, it is a purposeful

action designed to push those speakers not enjoyed by the majority of campus into places where they can be avoided and

to create bureaucratic steps to make it more diffi cult to be on campus in the fi rst place.

We at The Northerner stand up against these restrictions on free speech. We do not en-dorse this proposed change

to university policy -- neither should you.

If passed, the changed policy

would continue to hold all the window-dressing of respect-ing diversity of opinions and allowing novel and unpopular views to be expressed. It is, however, nothing more than decoration.

Its enforceable provisions send an opposite message: the university is basically stuck with dealing with speakers having novel or unpopular opinions, but they are going to shove those speakers in some convenient corner.

The draft changes requires the Dean of Students to des-ignate certain areas of cam-pus as appropriate zones for sharing ideas, giving the dean the ability to pick and choose where that designated area is in every individual instance.

Apparently, NKU does not want to be perceived as one of those universities with one designated free speech zone. Instead, it has decided to open itself up to a different kind of controversy by selectively choosing where certain speak-ers with certain messages can go on certain occasions. That may pass the public relations test with a check plus, but it

Proposed policy goes too far

See POLICY, p.4

Staff Editorial

February 2, 20114 OpEdPOLICY continued from page three

Just for laughs

fails the fairness test in the real world.

The current Dean of Stu-dents, Jeffrey Waple, has given an assurance that creating one designated free speech zone is not part of the plan, nor is picking and choosing where certain groups may go based on the content of their speech. However, that appears to be his personal philosophy and is not written or dictated any-where within the proposed changes to the actual policy.

There is nothing in the pro-posed policy to keep him from changing his personal view-point, or in a university known for its revolving door of staff in student affairs, from the whims of a new dean that could have a different perspective. There are absolutely no criteria or factors that dictate what can contribute to the dean’s deci-sion as to where these speakers may share their opinions.

Similarly, the Dean of Stu-dents would be required to make decisions as to whether a speaker could come to campus at all. At his or her sole discre-tion, a group of speakers could be denied access to the univer-sity because “the request can-not be approved as submitted.”

The criteria for what can be denied are also vague, and it

is not clear from the proposal that it is limited only to the time, place and manner re-strictions listed within specifi c formal policies of the univer-sity. This leaves room for the interpretation that informal, unwritten policies are also en-forceable and an acceptable reason to deny access to cam-pus. Will NKU do this? They say no, but the proposed policy would allow it.

Apparently, in both instanc-es, the policy requires students and the public to trust the Dean of Students to make the appropriate decision. Nothing personal, but he does not have our trust.

“Trust us” is not an ap-propriate policy for a public university, part of the state government, to espouse. Gov-ernment is based on checks and balances for a reason -- be-cause it cannot be fully trusted. There are ample opportunities for misuse of power under the proposed policy. Any policy aimed at limiting free speech access on campus must in-clude carefully crafted criteria as to what will be allowed and what will not for the fairness of those groups and speakers seeking to utilize this public forum.

However, the university has avoided crafting any specifi cs

within the policy. Drafting spe-cifi cs is a diffi cult task because it tends to focus on the content of speech. State government limiting speech based on con-tent could be unconstitutional. Even if they pass constitution-al muster, they severely limit public access for free speech on campus areas where free speech can occur. This would open it up to a public relations nightmare.

We offer a solution to you: do not change the current policy. Instead, continue to welcome outside speakers with their varying perspectives to speak on campus as long as their conduct is lawful. And, quit being embarrassed that you are doing so.

One of the main rationales offered by the university for the creation of this policy is that the Offi ce of Admissions often must reroute certain campus tours of prospective students around guest speakers. There is absolutely no reason for the Offi ce of Admissions to do this. NKU should be proud that we are public forum where ideas can be expressed openly. And, if sadly the Offi ce of Admis-sions is not proud of that fact, they should not be dishonest in portraying the campus as a place where students will not run into these types of speak-

ers.It seems unlikely, too, that

the Offi ce of Admissions is re-routing campus tours around all guest speakers. Instead, they are likely making a deci-sion whether or not to allow certain ideas to be heard by guests on campus based on the content of the speech. This is exactly what NKU is trying to avoid.

Universities are the market-place of ideas, but we cannot stock the shelves only with those things that everyone likes. We need new tastes and fl avors and they should not be hidden in a back corner that no one visits.

Even when someone is talk-ing “crazy,” presenting an er-roneous or irrational perspec-tive, there is something to be gained from hearing them.

By allowing others to voice their opinions and views to the public, not only is the speaker heard, but students are, too.

Almost every time you see the angry bible thumpers or crazy conspiracy theorists, something inside of you has something to say. That’s great. We need more communication through different modes of expressing ourselves. Because those who come to preach are ready for argument and dis-cussion, we can get the best of

what we may lack. We are here to learn, to think and to fi nd our place in this world. By uti-lizing these opportunities, we can gain knowledge and exer-cise our freedom of speech.

These speakers are great ex-amples for college students. Their claims and methods show NKU students how to properly form an argument or opinion, and express it effec-tively. Most students do not take them seriously and see them as more of a nuisance and for that reason they help us realize why we are in col-lege. These “speakers” serve as a reminder of our fi rst amend-ment, and what makes an in-telligent opinion versus an an-noyance.

In any case, the proposed policy is likely ineffective as written. The loopholes it cre-ates defeat its purpose. A stu-dent organization that values free speech, such as a campus newspaper, could simply spon-sor those unpopular speakers and free them from the restric-tive policy.

If NKU were to fi x the loop-hole and adopt a policy further restricting the speakers spon-sored by campus organizations it would likely be more contro-versial and create new head-aches for students. It, like this proposal, is not advised.

NewsEdition 47, Issue 4 5

NKU GreenThe department of Campus Space and Planning extend-ed the deadline for the com-muter survey sent to approxi-mately 5,000 students Jan. 26. Submissions will be open until 11:59 p.m. Feb. 2. Stu-dents completing the survey can win $50 All Card vouch-ers. According to Campus Planning, survey-takers do not need to be commuters to participate.

American Cancer Society Relay for LifeThe American Cancer Society will be hosting registration for the 2011 Relay for Life of Northern Kentucky Univer-sity on from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 1 to 3 in the Student Union. The relay will take place from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. April 8 and 9. For more infor-mation about Relay for Life visit http://www.relayforlife.org/NKU.

Salmon P. Chase College of Law

Chase Law students earned second place in the 2010-11 National Arbitration Compe-tition held in Jan. 21 and 22 in Chicago. Teammates Alyse Bender, Jessica Biddle, Jona-than Davis and MyLinda Sims beat competitors from the law schools of Stetson Univer-sity, Chapman University and Fordham University.

NKU Business WeekCincinnati Bell Inc., President and CEO John F. Cassidy de-liver the keynote address of the Northern Kentucky Uni-versity Business Week 2011 at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 3 in Otto M. Budig Theater. His address is part of a week of activities hosted by the NKU Haile/ US Bank College of Business that helps students prepare for ca-reers after college.

NKU Surplus SaleNKU will be holding a surplus sale open to the general pub-lic, faculty, staff and students at the Surplus Center at Cen-tral Receiving on Nunn Drive. Viewing times will be from 11 a.m. to 2 2 p.m. Feb. 3, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 4 and from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Feb. 5. Bid forms are avail-able at http://procurement.nku.edu/bids/index.php. For more information contact Don Johnson at (859)572-6449 or johnsondon@nku.edu.

The NorthernerCorrections to the Jan. 26 edi-tion: In the photo caption on page 4 for “Saving green be-fore going green,” Jane Goode was incorrectly identifi ed as director of campus planning. Her correct title is campus planning and space coordina-tor.

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Beyond theUniversity

Sen. Paul wants major cuts

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Critics Wednesday questioned a proposal by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul to slash numerous fed-eral programs, including food stamps, to save $500 billion in a single year.

“Some of the elements of the plan, which would remove the safety net that poor and vulnerable people need, we would fi nd morally objection-

able,” said the Rev. Patrick Delahanty, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.

Paul introduced legislation in the Senate on Tuesday that would slash $42 billion from the U.S.

Department of Agricul-ture’s food stamp program — a 30 percent reduction from the current funding level. It also would eliminate other programs, including the Cor-poration for Public Broad-casting, the Consumer Prod-uct Safety Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Paul said the propos-al would roll back federal spending to 2008 levels and eliminate what he considers the most wasteful programs.

“By rolling back to 2008 levels and eliminating the most wasteful programs, we can still keep 85 percent of our government funding in place,” Paul said in a state-ment.

News February 2, 20116Congressman shares wisdom for future

NKU did not always have wireless Internet access in every room in every building on campus. It wasn’t until the summer of 2009 that Uni-versity Housing partnered with the Offi ce of Informa-tion Technology (IT) to have something done about this. Following this, every dorm received Wi-Fi in their room for free.

The student body, howev-er, has had many complaints concerning the Wi-Fi in the dorms. The problem: stu-dents need the Internet at the exact same time everyone else needs it. Whether it is a proj-ect, checking their e-mail or completing an assignment be-fore class, students constantly have an excessive need for the Internet. According to SGA

Secretary for Public Relations Mike Johnson, the university is now requiring professors to convert to using Blackboard more frequently than they have in the past.

“A lot more students are taking online classes and they have videos necessary for the course and [those materials] don’t load on the computer. On campus it’s not a prob-lem, but the buildings close at midnight and the Student Union closes at 11. This has an impact on work getting done when students work well into midnight.”

Everyone wants a solution to this problem; it has be-come a common issue among the entire student body. The Student Government Asso-ciation (SGA) is completely with housing to have this sys-tem fi xed among the dorms.

In 2007 and 2009, the SGA talked with IT for resolu-tions to actually get Wi-Fi in dorms, and they were willing

to work with them to make this happen.

Johnson believes that be-cause Residential Housing Association (RHA) is a coun-

terpart in this issue, once it is brought to their attention by the student body, it will be fi xed.

Housing has once again partnered with IT to make this problem go away. As of right now, they have 35 additional wireless access points on order. Once these devices come to NKU, they will immediately be installed throughout the Residential Village by a team.

As said by Director of Housing Peter Trentacoste, “We believe this addition of 35 wireless access points to the ones already in place will greatly improve the reliability of wireless signals found in students rooms.”

In addition to these 35 wireless access points, ac-cording to Doug Wells, Direc-tor of Infrastructure, there

has been a total of 120 access points ordered. Out of that to-tal number, 100 have already arrived to NKU, and a team is setting them up currently. Installation began in the Stu-dent Union and will move to the dorms after it is complete. The problem is being fi xed sooner than anyone thought.

“About fi ve or six access points are being installed each day. Once everything is set up, it only takes about 10 minutes,” Wells said.

IT made a student survey concerning wireless cover-age to discover poor wireless spots and help students to ac-quire an effi cient Internet ac-cess. They plan on doing this once a year to get students’ feedback so that they are able to better the wireless connec-tion for the student body each year.

Danielle WesleyStaff writer

IT tackles spotty Wi-Fi service in dormitories

Wi-Fi Stats • 35 new wireless access points are on order for the residential village. • 120 access points have been ordered for the university. • Five or six access points are being installed daily.

Source: NKU Information Technology

He has prosecuted a sit-ting president of the United States. He has successfully taken the battle against par-tial-birth abortions from leg-islative committee to the U.S. Supreme Court. He attributed both of these political success-es to the lessons he learned as a student at Northern Ken-tucky University.

Congressman Steve Chabot (R) of Ohio’s fi rst congressio-nal district told these stories to students sitting where he once did when he attended law school at NKU’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law. The district Chabot represents in-cludes a large part of the Cin-cinnati metropolitan area.

Students participated in a Q&A session with Chabot on Jan. 31 in Nunn Hall. The event was held to coincide with the university’s deci-sion to honor Chabot with

the “Outstanding Alumnus Award for Chase College of Law.”

Students and faculty asked the congressman a variety of questions, ranging from con-cerns about health care re-form and the current confl ict in Egypt, to tips for success in their legal careers and fi nding jobs and internships in D.C.

Chabot told the audience that most students that fi nd success-ful internships with congres-sional members through net-working and not through resumes.

“We get a lot of resumes,” Chabot said, adding that most people who tend to work for him have gotten involved early on in the political

process. Chabot says those peo-ple did this by volunteering with

campaigns and giving them a chance to get to know them and how they work.

However, Chabot told The Northerner that being apa-thetic about the political

process can do much more than damage a student’s ca-

reer opportunities.“It’s not a very good choice to

be apathetic or stay out of the process because when they do, somebody else is just going to

make their decisions for them,” Chabot said.

The involvement of young people in the political pro-cess is essential, according to Chabot, because of the serious ways in which their lives are directly affected now.

“[F]olks that are young-er tend to be the ones

that are fi ghting in Iraq and Afghani-stan. It’s young

people … having

a tough time when they get out of college fi nding a job,” Chabot said, adding that government and poli-tics is what impacts those circumstances.

For Chabot, the economy should be the single most important issue for young people today because it will affect their ability to be suc-cessful, even with a college degree.

“With this tough econ-omy right now, it’s not a very bright picture at least for the next couple of years,” he said.

Chabot also said the young people need to be involved in the political process now because they are going to have to deal with the systems that he says are ex-pected to fail, without reform, during their lifetimes, such as social security.

Jesse CallInterim editor-in-chief

NewsEdition 47, Issue 4 7

It’s a new year. The holi-days are over, the celebrations have ended, and for many Northern Kentucky Universi-ty students, their usual daily grind has resumed. Days full of attending classes, study-ing, working, and trying to balance everything out have once again become the status quo.

But not for everyone.Among the student popula-

tion of NKU, the school has only a 50% retention rate of its enrolled Native Ameri-cans. This means that, after their fi rst year, only half of the total number of enrolled students are returning for the following academic year.

The Fall 2009 to Fall 2010

year had the highest percent-age, with 50% returning, all of those being male students. To give you a better idea of how that compares with oth-er years:

The Fall 2008 to Fall 2009 school year had only 25% of the total enrolled students return. No male students returned, and only 33% of the total enrolled female stu-dents returned.

The Fall 2007 to Fall 2008 school year saw 33% percent of the total number of stu-dents return, with 50% of en-rolled women returning, and no men.

Essentially, even though the number has been going up each year, there are still less than half of all enrolled Native American students re-turning each new year.

On campus, the university has two student groups re-volving around Native Amer-ican culture. One is called the First Nation Student Organi-zation. The other is known as Kiksuya, which in the Lakota language means “remember.”

Both groups are sponsored by Dr. Nicole Grant. First Na-tion, according to its website, was founded in 2006 and its mission is to raise awareness, challenge stereotypes and misconceptions, and work towards understanding of circumstances Native Ameri-cans have faced in their his-tory.

Kiksuya raises funds for and serves the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Several members of the group journey there every year to help out and they raise

money through fundraisers on campus and throughout the community.

With such return rates, it begs the question of why? Why are so few students re-turning each new school year, and what could NKU do, if anything, to raise their reten-tion rates?

Speaking about the reten-tion rates, Provost Gail Wells said, “It is disappointing that NKU has not been successful recruiting and retaining more Native American students.” She said that even though the enrollment for Native American students rose ap-proximately 10% in fall 2010, there were still only 39 Native American students enrolled.

“NKU draws the major-ity of its enrollment from our surrounding counties

of Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati,” she said. “Unfortunately, there is not a large population of Native Americans in our region.”

When asked about what the college is doing to raise the diversity and recruitment of students to the school, she said, “NKU is actively en-gaged in developing a diver-sity plan that will guide our work as together with seek to recruit and retain a diverse student body and workforce.

This process,” she said, “and the resulting plan should result in strategic ini-tiatives to recruit and retain a diverse student body.” She also noted that Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Zeb Davenport and Dr. Miriam Kannan, Professor of Biology, are chairing the effort.

Sean DressmanContributing writer

Half of NKU Native American students leave

Northern Kentucky Uni-versity mourns the loss of a distinguished anthropol-ogy professor. Dr. Timothy D. Murphy died January 24, 2011 at the Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indiana, Pa. near the home of one of his sons. Services were held at the Bence-Mihalcik Funer-al Home in Indiana, Pa. on January 29, 2011.

Murphy suffered a stroke in August of 2010 before the beginning of the fall semester and was unable to return to teaching. His students and colleagues were shocked to hear of his passing because they thought he had made progress in his recovery.

Murphy was born on Sep-tember 30, 1936 in Cincin-nati, Ohio. He held a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from

the University of Pittsburgh and received a bachelors de-gree in anthropology from Ohio University. He began his teaching career in anthro-pology in 1964 at the Univer-sity of Cincinnati. He taught classes at NKU for 21 years beginning as a part-time pro-fessor in 1987.

Murphy taught anthropolo-gy, international studies, Lat-in American and Caribbean studies and Spanish. Murphy was well known for his re-search on the contemporary Aztec people of the Tlaxcala/Puebla region of Mexico and was accompanied by NKU students on his research trips on several occasions.

Murphy’s research provid-ed much insight into the con-temporary Aztec people and spanned over fi ve decades. His research was highly rec-ognized and published. He wrote many papers and gave

many presentations about his research. He was the faculty sponsor for the NKU Student Anthropology Society for sev-eral years and a past secretary of the Anthropology Division of the Kentucky Academy of Science.

Murphy also served in the Navy aboard the destroyer escort, the USS Eaton from 1954-1957. He held many other interests out side of the anthropology fi eld including acting. He was a member of the Indiana Players, a non-profi t volunteer community theater group, and appeared as the lead in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Harvey, Look Back in Anger, and Waiting for Godot.

Murphy’s presence, per-sonality and professional re-search will be greatly missed not only by his friends, fam-ily, colleagues and students, but by the university itself.

Matthew BrewerNews editor

In memory: Dr. Timothy Murphy

Dr. Timothy Murphy, an NKU anthropology professor, spent many of his years studying Meso-American culture. On Jan. 29, he passed away in Pennsylvania.

Photo courtesy of Melony Stambaugh

days to notify the speaker as to whether or not he or she is approved to speak on cam-pus.All decisions denying a speaker’s request must be “based on the [u]niversity’s time, place, and manner re-strictions and its need to as-sess and provide appropriate security.”The draft policy also requires the Dean of Students to “designate areas on campus where public speech and dis-tribution of literature will be permitted for outside speak-ers unaffi liated with the uni-versity.”According to Dean of Stu-dents Jeffrey Waple, who has endorsed the proposed changes, this part of the policy is not designed to cre-ate one certain area that will serve as the exclusive zone where outside speakers may address the public. Instead, it is designed to allow the dean to place outside speak-ers in a place where they have the least likelihood of disrupting university func-tions or academic classes.“It’s not a manner of saying ‘this is the place,’” Jeffrey

Waple, dean of students, ex-plained about the proposal. “It’s a matter of if we know there’s something happen-ing.”He said that he would like to avoid having speakers in the plaza area between Founders Hall, Landrum Hall, and the W. Frank Steely Library be-cause this tends to be a more “academic area.”For some students, this is a welcomed change.“We have to function as a campus,” said Kevin Golden, student body president and voting member of the uni-versity’s Board of Regents. “The policy is put into place to make sure there is some sort of decorum.”Another restriction on un-sponsored speakers is that while they may pass out lit-erature, they are would no longer be allowed to leave any of their literature on campus once they leave. The policy would also limit un-invited speakers from using motorized vehicles in the plaza without prior authori-zation.The proposed revisions to the policy also offer a new protection to unsponsored, off-campus speakers. In the

event that they may “engen-der a strong or hostile re-sponse,” the university will provide security but will not accept liability if that secu-rity fails.Some students welcome the change because they fi nd the speech shared by these visi-tors unacceptable or worthy of a “strong response.” These students say they are tired of being belittled and de-meaned by people claiming to know the truth and fi nd many of their messages of-fensive.“I don’t think the ques-tion is how often students are offended by the outside speakers, but how offended students become,” Justin Dial, an NKU student, said. “Everyone understands that people have opinions that differ from theirs, but it is when someone feels that they are being attacked or their beliefs belittled that people begin to respond negatively.”Dial, who serves in student government, said he feels the changed policy would provide the appropriate bal-ance and help to better set the tone for campus discus-sion of controversial issues.“I do like the ideas behind

this new policy, in that each speaker must check-in with administrators to allow us to know of their presence,” Dial said. “It’s creating a stronger and more respectful bond between the two parties, ad-ministration and guests.”When free speech issues arise, students and outsid-ers often begin to question whether NKU, as a state university, might be over-stepping its constitutional bounds.John Valauri, a professor of law who has taught courses on constitutional law and law and religion at NKU’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law, gave his assessment of the draft policy’s lawfulness.“Most of the university is a non-public forum,” Valauri said, meaning that it is al-lowed to place restrictions on the timing, location, and organization of speaking events. “The policy appears to be constitutional to me.”Nonetheless, when people perceive their free speech rights have been taken away, they may decide to take legal action, even if their case is unlikely to prevail.“You never know for sure, but I don’t think that a chal-

lenge is likely,” he said.Waple said his offi ce will not engage in restrictions based on the content of an appli-cant’s intended speech.“They will be allowed the opportunity for free speech; we’re not going to hinder it,” Waple said. “We have to fol-low the law .... We don’t want to be the content police.”The dean said his offi ce will intervene only in cases where speech is obscene or the literature violates anoth-er policy. He said he is com-fortable with his offi ce taking on this challenge and that for the most part his offi ce has been dealing with outside speakers already and they have voluntarily notifi ed his offi ce of their visits.The policy is on track to go to a vote at the March 16 Board of Regents meeting.Golden, who represents students on the governing board, said he plans to en-dorse the policy at the meet-ing and vote for its approval.NKU’s Offi ce of Legal Affairs, which Waple said drafted the policy, refused to comment publicly about the proposed changes until the Board of Regents votes on the mea-sure.

News February 2, 20118

SPEECH continued from page one

(Left) Dr. W.A.S. often sets up elaborate displays when he decides to speak on the campus at Northern Kentucky University. The proposed policy would require speakers to receive approval for dis-plays such as this. (Right) A religious speaker argues with a student in the university plaza. The proposed policy would require such speakers to schedule visits and hold events in designated areas.

Archive Photos

A&EEdition 47, Issue 4 9

Burning crosses. A hang-man’s noose. Hate. Fear.

Images of white robes with pointed hoods evoke a myriad of images and emotions. An art display featuring an image of a Ku Klux Klan member is raising concern for some W. Frank Steely Library visitors.

Created with two rubber stamps and black ink, “First Class, Second Class” depicts a portrait of a Klansman in full costume between two smaller pictures of a woman and a black man.

“When you look at it, the largest piece, the center of the focus, is the Klansman,” said Michael Providenti, an associate professor at Steely Library. Providenti helps ac-quire and organize Steely Li-brary’s art collection.

A closer inspection of the artwork reveals the Klans-man stamped with the words “fi rst class,” and the woman and black man with the words “second class.”

Almost as soon as the piece was installed, some library visitors complained.

“We had a student come up [to my offi ce], very up-set, asking why we were glo-rifying the Klan,” said Arne Almquist, associate provost of library services.

At the time the complaints were received, the artist’s statement was not posted, so there was nothing to ex-plain what the piece means, Almquist said.

“When people look at it, they don’t grasp the message,” Providenti said. “It’s a prod-uct of a time and place.” When “First Class, Second Class” fi rst appeared in the li-brary, it was part of a contest sponsored by the now-defunct Institute of Freedom Studies at Northern Kentucky Univer-sity.

The trio of photos, created by then-student Hans Schell-has, was displayed in the Eva G. Farris Reading Room with other works that represented struggles people involved with the Underground Railroad might have faced.

Robert Wallace, an English professor at NKU, oversaw the contest. He called “First Class, Second Class” provoca-tive, saying it’s not something people can understand at fi rst glance.

“Instead of just saying, ‘We

don’t like that the city favors the Klansman,’ it makes you work through and think about it,” Wallace said.

Schellhas is now a graphic design professor at NKU. He said he was inspired to cre-ate the piece after witnessing what he viewed as Cincinnati Police violating some demon-strators’ free speech in 2001.

“[It] had to do with a protest led by the black community in regard to two deaths of Afri-can-American males that died in police custody within 24

hours of each other,” Schell-has said. “I was very in tune with a lot of the issues that were going on in Cincinnati in terms of racial profi ling with the police.”

Schellhas said he saw false arrests, police offi cers using tear gas on crowds and some people being restricted from attending protests as he at-tended a rally sponsored by Trans-Atlantic Business Dia-log in 2001.

“The stuff I witnessed that day was shocking,” Schellhas

said. “I came out just pretty much outraged as a citizen of what went down that day in terms of how people’s rights were violated.”

Schellhas decided to cre-ate something to make people aware of what was going on in Cincinnati.

“[Art] was my sword. It was my way to respond back in a positive way, but hopefully an effective way,” Schellhas said.Schellhas said “First Class, Second Class” has been shown on campus three times before, and has not had a complaint until its recent move. But the artist’s statement was not there to put the piece in con-text, he said.

“Oh my God,” Joanna Frasi-er, a junior elementary educa-tion major, said the fi rst time she looked at an image of the artwork on Steely Library’s website. Frasier said she was offended the library would display the piece.

“Most people aren’t going to stand and read [the art-ist statement],” Frasier said, after reading the statement posted online. She added that she thinks the piece should be part of a themed exhibit so it cannot be taken out of context.

Christian Smith, a junior so-ciology major, said he thinks the piece is appropriate for Black History Month, but the artist’s statement didn’t change how he felt about the piece.

“People are going to make their own assumptions,” Smith said.

Schellhas said he didn’t design “First Class, Second Class” to be shock art, but to document real events.

“Yeah, it’s scary to see,” Schellhas said, “but if you want to see something really scary, see the real deal. See the cross on the Square and see real-life Klansman in front of these people, erecting the cross.”

Cassie StoneStaff writer

Professor’s art sparks controversy

Photos by Jesse Call

Prof. Hans Schellhas created a trio of images in response to experiences he had during a protest in Cincinnati in 2001. His art seeks to illustrate how the Ku Klux Klan gets preferential treatment in Cincinnati, but is being interpreted by some library guests as glorifying Klan members.

A&E February 2, 201110

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold bor-ders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sukoku.org.uk

The transition into your freshman year of college can be stressful, even scary. Mov-ing away from home, being separated from your parents for the fi rst time and meeting the stranger randomly assigned to be your roommate can all be areas of concern.

The new movie “The Room-mate,” set to release Feb. 4, questions the safety of new roommates. When new college freshman Sara Weber (Minka Kelly, “Friday Night Lights”) fi nds her safety jeopar-dized by her mentally unstable roommate Rebecca Woods, played by Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”). Rebecca be-

comes unhealthily fi xated on Sara and things turn deadly.“It’s scary moving in with a stranger,” Meester said in a conference call with multiple college publications.

“The Roommate” deals with the interesting subject of living with a stranger, but people will still be able to relate, according to Meester, who said she has also had her share of bad room-mates and can understand the stress of college.

In the beginning, Rebecca seems fun, friendly, even artis-tic, but as the movie progresses, she unravels into “a woman who sort of loses her grip on reality.” Meester did her best to maintain her role as Rebecca, but it was an “intense experi-ence.”

The transformation into such an unstable character was diffi -cult for Meester.

“It’s dark in the mind of someone living like this,” Meester said. “It was a quiet time for me.”

Rebecca was diffi cult for her to understand, especially when Meester likes to “fi nd human-ity” in the characters she plays. But when the character isn’t easy to turn off once fi lming subsides Meester is satisfi ed.

To prepare for the role of Re-becca, Meester read psychol-ogy books and talked to psy-chiatrists who told her stories of women who were mentally unstable. She focused on men-tal disorders and delusion, es-pecially in women.

Rebecca is a very different

than Meester’s character Blair Waldorf on The CW’s hit tele-vision series “Gossip Girl,” which is why it was so hard for Meester to break her down, care for and love her, like she does with Blair.

Meester said playing Blair is fun and the show is displays a heightened reality about fash-ion and drama, while “The Roommate” is on the opposite end of the spectrum and Re-becca is “barely hanging by a thread.” But the fact that they are different is what makes it fun for Meester.

Some parts of the movie were disturbing for Meester to fi lm, such as one with a cute, little kitten she talked about with a nervous laugh.

“I was genuinely scared at

some points,” the actor said af-ter watching the movie herself. Meester described the thriller as jarring and disturbing, but fun and sexy at the same time.She said she believes people can relate to the situation because it happens every day.

“You never know who you’ll be paired with,” Meester said. And that person may not al-ways be who you think they are, which is made clear in “The Roommate.”

For more information and show times on “The Room-mate” visit http://www.the-roommate-movie.com. “The Roommate,” directed by Chris-tian E. Christansen and starring Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Alyson Michalka and Cam Gi-gandet, hits theaters Feb. 4.

New thriller questions roommate safetyShawn BuckenmeyerA&E editor

OutAnd

About

February, 2nd

February, 3rd

February, 4th

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE HOUR - The Offi ce of International Students & Scholars invites you to the IN-TERNATIONAL COFFEE HOUR Join for student pre-sentations about life in France. Free refreshment will be served. All students, faculty, and staff are invited! Spon-sored by NKU’s World Languages and Literatures Depart-ment 116 at 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Black History Trivia Game - Join BWO for a fun night playing the Black History Trivia Game! This event will take place in Norse Commons 116 at 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

THE GREAT DEBATE! - The Miseducation of a Generation: Are we producing 21st century leadership or life-long needership? Students from Northern Kentucky University, Xavier Uni-versity, and University of Cincinnati will present debate arguments and showcase their musical and artistic talents during The Great Debate. The Great Debate, an intellectual and cultural ex-perience promoting the highest cultural, intellectual, moral, philosophical and spiritual princi-ples of leadership, debates and artistic expressions will be held at Xavier University’s Gallagher Theater, 3800 Central Parkway, in Cincinnati, OH at 7:00 p.m. The event is FREE. Donations to support scholarships for NKU, XU and UC students will be accepted. Accessible seating is available. For more information, contact Tommie Lewis, Event Manager at 513-502-9605 or info@makeitplainconsulting.com.

ECOs Meeting - Come join ECOS for a semester of fun events. Throughout the semester, we’ll need your help planning for our huge Earth Week Event, coming this April! If you’re concerned about the environment, would like to learn more, or just make connections with interesting people, then join us for this event! In room SC 300 from 2 p.m.-3p.m.

The Northern Kentucky University Offi ce of African-American Student Affairs has organized a full sleight of free events to entertain and edu-cate the campus about Afri-can-Americans for Black His-tory Month in February.

According to the schedule put out by coordinator Debo-rah Strahorn, lead organizer for this year’s events, there will be 12 unique events through-out the month, beginning on Feb. 2 and running through Feb. 23. With the exception of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, all of the events are being created and produced by NKU’s stu-dents and faculty.

“We have a ton of talented students, and so our offi ce defi nitely supports their tal-ent. We love them to take ini-tiative and to lead programs,” Strahorn said. “We have some wonderful leaders here. We’re here to support them in any

way that they need our assis-tance.”

There are several highlights in this year’s lineup of Black History events on NKU’s cam-pus. One such event that Stra-thorn mentioned is “Passing The Flame,” performed by the Freedom Center.

“They re-enact key fi gures who were present in the Un-derground Railroad,“ Stra-horn said. “They do some event re-enactments, so we’re real excited to have them on campus.”

Also, Part I of “The Great Debate,” titled “The Mis-ed-ucation of a Generation: Are we producing 21st century leadership or life-long need-ership?” is being hosted and moderated by an NKU stu-dent. The debate is set to take place at Gallagher Center The-ater, 3800 Victory Parkway, on Xavier University’s campus at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 4th. Competing teams from Xavier, the University of Cin-cinnati and Central State Uni-versity will compete, with the

winner gaining the privilege to face NKU’s debate team for Part II on NKU’s campus in March.

The debates, held annually every year since 1985, allow teams to debate the headline

issue from the viewpoints of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and a combination of their ideological perspec-tives. Each team’s arguments will be critiqued by nine judg-es from several leading aca-demic and religious organiza-tions in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Additionally, the collabora-tive event features authentic dancing, music and dramatic interpretations from some of Cincinnati’s and Northern Kentucky’s brightest students.Dr. Leesha Thrower, profes-sor of communications at NKU, will be hosting “Venus vs. Mars, Part 2” as a follow-up to the 2010 program. Co-sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and The Black Women’s Organization. Dr. Thrower will be analyzing the male-female communication differences that lead to say-ings like “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.”

Another event, “Moments in Black History,” begins its weekly effort when students

sponsored by the Black Unit-ed Students kick off their se-ries. “We have some students who will be downstairs on the second fl oor in the Student Union during lunch time,” Strahorn said. “They’re going to be re-enacting moments in Black History. They’ll be per-forming on the 2nd, the 9th, the 16th and the 23rd. They’ll be down in the Union at 12 and at 1, and hopefully we’ll get a pretty good crowd.”

Strahorn feels that these events are very important and encourages students and the public to attend.

“We’re defi nitely trying to get the word out to our cam-pus community. We want everyone to get involved,” Strahorn said. “This isn’t just for our African-American stu-dents, it’s for everyone. And we want them to take advan-tage of the programs we offer and just learn a little bit about our history. Black history is American history.”

A&EEdition 47, Issue 4 11

Chuck HeffnerContributing writer

AASA gets students involved in black history

A Northern Kentucky Univer-sity graduate is making dreams tangible.

Graphic Designer David Mack has helped illustrate com-ic books in “Alias,” “Daredevil” and “Justice League of America, as well as create his own series of art books called “Dream Log-ic.”

In the “Dream Logic” series, Mack said he wanted to create something that was “dreamy and imaginative.”

“You have an idea and it doesn’t exist anywhere, except in your head,” Mack said.

“Then you write it down on a piece of paper and suddenly it exists in a three dimensional,

material world.”“Dream Logic” is a comic-

book style series of four art collections. Two have already been released and the third is scheduled to be released within weeks.

“So you can dream it,” Mack said. But, if the artist can articu-late his idea, other people can experience it too, he believes.

Most recently, Mack said he completed a project based on the TV series “Dexter.” He has also written some children’s stories and wrote and illustrat-ed “Kabuki.”

While a student at NKU, Mack studied Japanese culture, including kabuki, which is a tra-ditional form of Japanese story-telling with highly dramatized singing and dancing. He wrote

“Kabuki” while he was still a student, never intending to il-lustrate it himself. He searched for other artists to help him, but couldn’t fi nd a good fi t.

“There was a distance be-tween the story and the art work,” Mack said. “Then one day, I just started drawing and I was able to bring the two to-gether.”

Some of Mack’s work from “Dream Logic,” “Kabuki” and pieces of other comic book se-ries he has illustrated are on display at the PAC Gallery, an art gallery in East Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.

The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 26. PAC Gallery is open from 12 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, or by ap-pointment.

Graduate’s illustrations on display in Cincinnati

Photo by Shawn Buckenmeyer

A gallery visitor views David Mack’s art in the PAC Gallery in East Walnut Hills Cincinnati.

Roxanna BlevinsStaff writer

Black History Month Events

Black History Trivia Game

5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 3 in Norse Commons 116.

The State of Hip HopHosted by Dr. Bettina Love at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8 in Student Union Room 109.

Passing the Flame Showcase

By the Underground Railroad Freedom Center frm 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10 in Otto Budig Theater.

A&E February 2, 201112

As homecoming week’s events came to a close Satur-day evening at the basketball game, the committee’s goal of more student involvement and transforming the events seemed to have been met.

Homecoming Chairman Chris Ruth found the changes to the event schedule to be very successful, “a few events better than expected,” he said.

In comparison to other years, participation and in-volvement increased greatly

this year, according to Ruth, but he thinks the week still has room for improvement. Ruth attributes the low par-ticipation count to the time of year NKU homecoming takes place.

Without a football team, the committee is forced to move homecoming week to basketball season. “When it’s fi ve degrees outside, no one is going to want to come to an event,” Ruth said. But he be-lieves after this year’s success, homecoming will continue to grow greater in importance in the future.

Homecoming week often does not appeal to students not involved in student and Greek life because the week’s events are focused on student organizations and competing as a team.

Athletics also play a big part in homecoming, with the whole week leading up to the homecoming basketball game, but many students are “apathetic towards NKU ath-letics,” Ruth said, which af-fects the participation num-bers.

Ruth said he believes home-coming participation will

continue to fall short until the student body as a whole starts to care more about the uni-versity. This year, Ruth saw changes that he thinks have set the tone to usher in a new appreciation for homecoming week.

“It was a good step towards just celebrating homecom-ing, kind of eliminating the competition aspect and just celebrating our NKU pride,” Ruth said.

The Nearly Naked Mile, the new kickoff event, exceeded expectations when about 200 people showed up and 100 of

them participated in the run. The event also brought in $500 that will go to St. Jude’s Children Hospital.

Another big event was the talent show Jan. 24. Ruth said Comedian Michael Pala-sack, who has appreared on Comedy Central, was “a pret-ty funny guy” even though he reused some of his joke from past shows.

Ruth said other new events had good turnout as well. Step Afrika!, sponsored by African American Student Af-fairs, fi lled Greaves Hall Jan. 25, Ruth said.

Claire HigginsStaff writer

Packed crowds bring energy to homecoming

Rodgers and Hammer-stein’s “Cinderella” is a musi-cal slightly different than the Disney version the younger generation is used to see-ing. Disney has the blond-and-blue-dress Cinderella, whereas Rodgers and Ham-merstein’s has the brunette-and-white-dress Cinderella.

NKU’s theatre department will be showcasing their ver-sion of the classic musical be-ginning Feb. 17th.

With songs in the musical, created in 1957, such as “In My Own Little Corner” and “Impossible; It’s Possible,” the music of “Cinderella” is just as nostalgic as the story.

Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) major Elizabeth Sun-derhaus stars as Cinderella. She stood out amongst the 120 total students who audi-tioned for the play.

“I’ve had a few other cam-eos, but this is my fi rst lead role,” Sunderhaus said. “I grew up watching the Disney version and I’m very excited to portray her and be a role model for younger girls.”

“She’s beautiful, has a great singing voice and is a great ac-tress. There are plenty of girls that could be Cinderella, but in my mind she looks like the perfect Cinderella,” Director Ken Jones said.

There are 26 total actors cast in the play and right now they are rehearsing with no set design, no costumes and no props. The actors will not see any of this until Feb. 16, the day before the play’s run begins.

“It’s like in a movie when an actor performs in front of a green screen with nothing there and then all of a sud-den in the movie there’s a gi-ant monster snarling behind him,” Jones said.

This process has little effect on Sunderhaus who has been on set either on-stage or back-stage for the past four years.

“I am nervous, but I’ve been here four years. I feel confi -dent because the professors have trained and prepared me very well,” Sunderhaus said.

The reason for lack of set pieces is because Scenic De-signer Ron Shaw and assist-ing students are building and painting set pieces every day

up until showtime. These stu-dents take required classes to learn how to work in the shop.

The students are working on seven complete settings throughout the play which will be rotated in and out.

To do a show with this many different settings and people involved, Jones believes orga-nization is key, instead of just throwing things up on stage and running with it.

“It’s like a military expedi-tion. Every person has an as-signment, even the actors. They have to know when they need to be here, so they don’t get hit in the head with a piece of scenery. They need to know when to move and when not to move,” Jones said. “Also the backstage people need to know when to move the set pieces and where the pieces need to be at any given mo-ment.”

A few theatre tricks the au-dience can look forward to right before their eyes are a pumpkin turning into a car-riage and mice turning into horses. Jones would not re-veal how these theater tricks are done, but says it is truly spectacular.

Derick BischoffStaff writer

Photo courtesy of Mikki Schaffner(Left to right): Senior Elizabeth Sunderhaus as Cinderella and Senior Bradford B. Frost as the Prince in NKU’s upcoming production of Cinderella by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Feb. 17-27, 2011.

Cinderella coming to life at NKUHomecoming 2011Edition 47, Issue 4 13

February 2, 201114 Sports

Quinton TurnerFreshman, Undeclared

“Steelers. Because they are experienced and have

a good defense.”

Katie RussoFreshman, Pre-Nursing

“Packers. Because Roethlisberger is

overrated.”

Chastain NapierSophomore, Pre-Nursing

“Packers. Because their team colors are gold and

green.”

rpCompiled byJohn Minor

“Who do you think will win the Super Bowl and

why?”

Sports Poll Responses

sDylan Richardson

Freshman, Counseling/Entrepreneurship

“Packers. Because of Aaron Rodgers and all

their weapons.”

John Basalyga, the head coach of the Northern Ken-tucky University men’s soc-cer team, received a national honor after leading the Norse in a great season that had a picture-perfect ending.

Basalyga was named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year by the Na-tional Soccer Coaches Asso-ciation of America in a season that saw the Norse win the program’s fi rst NCAA champi-onship.

The Norse fi nished with a 20-2-3 record this year, in-cluding winning their fi rst Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship in 15 seasons and their fi rst national cham-pionship in program history by defeating Rollins College 3-2.

The 2010 Norse team fea-tured Steven Beattie who won the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year for the sec-ond consecutive year. He led all Division II players with 68 points and ranked second na-tionally in goals scored with 26 and in assists with 16. In this championship season, he also became NKU’s all-time leading scorer.

Other contributors to the

team were Paul Andrews, who ranked second on the team with 10 assists and led a defen-sive unit that allowed just 24 goals over a span of 25 games and collected nine shutouts, earning him a spot on the All-GLVC Second Team.

The Norse also had the GLVC Freshman of the Year in Michael Holder, who was also a key factor in the success of the team throughout the sea-son, and by netting the game-winning tally in the national championship victory.

Prior to accepting the NKU job, Basalyga compiled a 325-93-58 record as boys’ soccer coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati for 24 years. He led the team to 15 sectional cham-pionships, and was named the Ohio High School State Coach of the Year in 2001.

Basalyga carried his success over to NKU. When he ac-cepted the head job in 2003, the Norse had posted losing records in fi ve of the last six seasons. In his fi rst season, the team had a 4-9-3 record. He was able to turn the program around as the Norse have fi n-ished the last seven seasons with winning records.

Basalyga has been able to gradually have his teams get a little bit better each year. In

2005, Basalyga’s squad won the fi rst GLVC Tournament game for the men’s soccer program since 1997 by upset-ting the third-seed Wisconsin Parkside. In 2006, he led them to the program’s fi rst appear-ance in the NCAA Tourna-ment. In 2007, his team set a school record by winning 22 games, including a perfect 13-0 conference record. That performance earned him his second consecutive GLVC and Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year awards.

In 2008, Basalyga set a new standard for the program by taking the Norse to the Divi-sion II Final Four. In 2010, he topped all of his previous successes by leading the team to NKU’s fi rst men’s national championship.

In his eight seasons as the Norse head coach, Basaylga has an impressive record of 116-39-19.

During his time he has coached seven All-Americans, 19 All-GLVC performers, two GLVC Offensive Player of the

Year award winners in Beattie and Braden Bishop, one De-fensive Player of the Year in Andy Bacon and a Division II Player of the Year in Beattie.

Also in his tenor, the soccer team has transitioned into the $6.5 million NKU Soccer Sta-dium, ending a 10-year period of Norse soccer playing off-campus in Wilder, Ky.

The 1,000 seated stadium al-lowed the Norse to host NCAA championship tournaments.

John MinorAssistant sports editor

Basalyga honored for great season

Archived Photo In his eight seasons, John Basalyga has led the men’s soccer team to a 116-39-19 record and a national championship.

SportsEdition 47, Issue 4 15

Photo by Jesse CallRiding a three game winning streak, the NKU men have re-entered the NCAA Division II polls at 24, and were able to push their overall record to 16-4 and 9-3 in the GLVC. Last week the Norse won two games at the Bank of Kentucky Center. NKU put on a defensive clinic against Saint Joseph’s College, defeating them 68-59, and used 14 3-pointers in defeating the University of Illinois-Spring-field 99-83.

Photo by Jesse CallNKU women were able to get off of a losing snide with a couple of home wins this week and improving to 14-6 and six overall and 8-4 in the GLVC. NKU is still undefeated at home, holding onto an 11-10 mark. The Norse were able to hold off Saint Joseph’s College and escaped with a 62-57 win. NKU carried the momentum into the next game, blowing out the University of Illinois-Springfield 75-45.

When a team loses 15 se-niors, many would think that this means it’s time to rebuild, but the Northern Kentucky University men’s baseball team simply plans to reload.

The Norse enter this season ranked 17th nationally, and are picked to fi nish second in a strong Great Lakes Valley Conference Eastern Division.

While losing a large num-ber of producers from last season’s team will be a chal-lenge, the Norse should have plenty of young guys who can step up and make a difference this season, according to head coach Todd Asalon.

“We have a bunch of fresh-man and sophomores that are going to try and lead the way this year,” Asalon said. “The seniors understand how good these freshman need to be for

us to be good.”One challenge for the Norse

will be playing in a newly re-formed GLVC East this sea-son. Joining the East this season will be the defending national champions, the Uni-

versity of Southern Indiana. USI sets put to defend its

title with a highly touted team, boasting the top rank-ing in the preseason Division II poll. Indianapolis Univer-

sity enters the season also in the rankings, starting at 25th. Bellarmine University and St. Joesph’s College also received votes in the national poll.

The Norse will not, howev-er, be able to enter the season

without some controversy. Last season’s starting center fi elder, Jason Cisper, is ap-pealing to the NCAA in hopes of gaining an extra year of eligibility. If he is granted a

medical hardship, he will be allowed to play this season.

“It’s a red-shirt issue from when he transferred from Mi-ami of Ohio,” says coach Asa-lon. “He played here for three years. Played there as a fresh-man for only seven games and was injured. So we’re ap-pealing to the NCAA to get that year back. We’re on the last part of our appeal so we should know within a week if we’re going to have him back or not.”

Last year Cisper fi nished with the team’s best batting average (.442). He was the catalyst for the offense hitting in the lead off spot the entire season. Cisper also led the team in steals with 39.

Another notable player re-turning is senior pitcher, Da-vid Middendorf. Middendorf is the top returning pitcher for the Norse. He fi nished

the season with an 8-2 record last year and boasted a 2.64 Earned Run Average. He was named to the All-GLVC fi rst team. Middendorf was draft-ed by the New York Yankees in the 44th round, but did not sign because the money wasn’t right and it wasn’t a good situation, according to coach Asalon.

The fi rst game of the season for the Norse will be against the University of Montevallo Falcons on Feb. 19 in Mon-tevallo, Ala. The fi rst home game will be against the Ohio Dominican University Pan-thers on March 12.

The Norse fi nished last sea-son with a 43-17 record over all. The Norse won the GLVC East with a 24-6 record, and fi nished runner up in the con-ference tournament, before being eliminated in the NCAA Regionals.

Basketball briefi ng

Stephen WilderContributing writer

Underclassmen to lead Norse baseball

The seniors understand how good these freshmen need to be for us to be

good. -Todd Asalon

,,

,,