The Griffon News is the student newpspaer of Misosuri Western State University.
8
For an institution that re- ceives the lowest state appro- priations in the state, West- ern may be looking forward to a change of pace. During a speech to admin- istrators of Missouri colleges and universities, Gov. Jay Nixon presented a new fund- ing model for higher educa- tion. The model will be based on performance versus what the Gov. has deemed as “cri- sis driven” funding. Missouri Western administrators re- main skeptical since details of how the model will oper- ate have yet to be ironed out. Western President Dr. Robert Vartabedian hopes that the new model will allow for more fair funding, which he believes has not been the case for Western recently. “What I’ve argued all along is that we’re all for ac- countability,” Vartabiedian said. “We’re all for fair fund- ing as long as it’s not more unfair funding which is what we’ve been subjected to in the past.” The new model will set four state wide goals for each university to meet. While these goals are still being dis- cussed, Vartabedian believes that it is likely that they will be based on graduation and retention rates. Alongside the four state wide goals, each university will be able to set a specific goal for themselves. Associate Provost Cynthia Heider said that before West- ern administrators can make any decisions on what the university’s goal is, the four state wide goals must be set in place. “We already work on things like encouraging students to complete their degrees,” Heider said. “So, degree at- tainment is important. Not just for the student but for the region.” Vartabedian said that there are two possibilities for West- ern that come to his mind for specific institution goals. “Our unique outcomes of Missouri Western would be the graduation rate of first generation college students,” Vartabedian said. “I think another one that would be interesting, if we could quan- tify it, would be how effective we are at workforce develop- ment, in terms of graduating students who are well pre- pared and find jobs quickly.” During Nixon’s speech, he said that all the goals should be quantifiable and easy to track. As far as when the tracking will begin, the 2012- 2013 fiscal year will serve as a base line for all of Missouri’s schools. From her under- standing, Heider said that the baseline funding is the lowest that an institution could re- ceive. For additional funding, intuitions would have to meet or go beyond the goals. “We haven’t seen all those details,” Heider said. “A lot of that hasn’t been flushed out.” Currently, Western receives NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 32 St. JOSEPH, MO MISSOURI WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY the griffonnews.com news Vol 94 | Issue 2 September 15, 2011 Caitlin Cress | Managing Editor [email protected]Western prepares for eighteenth Convocation Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas L. Friedman will be the featured speaker at this year’s Con- vocation for Critical Issues Tuesday, Sept. 20. Friedman currently holds the position of Foreign Af- fairs columnist for the New York Times. His five best- selling books, including his most recent, “Hot, Flat and, Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew Ameri- ca,” deal with topics that the Convocation is not unfamil- iar with, like “green” issues and globalization. Dan Boulware, former president of Missouri West- ern’s Board of Governors, founded the convocation series 20 years ago. He had some ideas as to what Fried- man’s message to students may be. “Average is over. You can’t expect to be average any- more,” Boulware said. “We need to have the mentality of an immigrant: nothing is owed to us. We’re going to work hard; nobody is go- ing to give us anything. We shouldn’t expect to have peo- ple to give it to us; we need to earn it.” Friedman has been on the Convocation wish list for a several years, according to Western Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dan Nicoson. Nicoson said that scheduling conflicts have Thomas Friedman is an award-winning journalist who writes for the New York Times. 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 2009 Graduation Rates ADMISSION TYPE Moderately Selective Open Enrollment Selective Highly Selective 75% 35% 58% 52% 54% 19% 27% 34% 63% 67% 73% 49% 47% Brooke Carter | Graphics Editor Budget: Performance based funding may bring hope for Western This week Jesse Bilderback reviews “Paul,” an out of this world comedy with Seth Rogen and Simon Pegg. See page 5 On Saturday, the Division of Student Affairs brought Mad Chad Taylor to campus. In the Potter Hall Theater Mad Chad juggled everything from purses to chainsaws. See page 3 Gary Weidemann writes about the burden of tuition on students and how an increase furthers that burden. According to Weidemann, the burden of state cuts should not be placed on the students. See page 6 A candlelight vigil was held outside the Commons to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Roughly twelve students attended and lit candles. Photo by Eboni Lacey Dave Hon | Editor-in-Chief [email protected]See Budget page 2 See Convocation page 2 Family Weekend brings in kin Missouri Western State University hosted a day designed to honor the family of students enrolled here Sept. 9 and 10. The event included a free showing of “Thor,” a 5 and 10 kilometer walk/ run, a free pancake brunch, viewings at the planetarium, tailgating before the football game and various other activities. The University hosts similar events every year. “Tailgating is always a family event but it’s nice to know that the Univer- sity cares about us,” said Andre Dean Lance, a 14 year old who attended part of the events. Hundreds of students and their fam- ily members took advantage of the free activities despite occasionally hav- ing to brave less than ideal weather. “When we first got here it was rain- ing pretty hard,” said Rodney Saun- ders, the father of a Missouri Western student. “After that it was off and on throughout the day.” The rain couldn’t keep the spirits of the families down as many kept doing what they were doing despite the rain. “A little rain isn’t enough to keep us away from doing something like this,” said Saunders. Many of the activities such as brunch, the planetarium tour and a free tour of the sports complex did not require the risk of getting wet. “Thankfully, there was always some- thing to do when it started raining,” said Lance. “It was a fun way to keep dry and entertained.” Once the main activities for the day See Family page 2 Austin Goacher | Photographer [email protected]James Goodrich, father of a Central Missouri student, flips burgers while tailgating. Photo by Austin Goacher Students at Missouri West- ern State University are forced to walk a path of mis- fortune in the aftermath of an 8.2 percent budget cut. Western’s Student Govern- ment Association planned a rally on June 22 this year to voice their concerns that they were dissatisfied with the State’s budget cut towards Western. “Missouri Western shouldn’t be singled out to lose more funding than any other school,” SGA Vice President Jacob Scott said. “Even before the cuts, we receive less per student from the state than any other uni- versity in the state.” After taking office SGA President Alison Norris wanted Western’s disapprov- al of State cuts to be heard, but she had no idea that the fight was already lost. “At the time the rally was set, we never dreamed the 8.2 percent budgets were perma- nent, but later discovered they were,” Norris said. President Robert Varabedi- an believes that Gov. Nixon’s search for extra money was aided when he discovered the tuition increase and the extra revenue our University was getting. “The Governor SGA continues fight against state cuts See SGA page 2 Matt Hunt | Staff Writer [email protected]LETTER TO THE EDITOR PREVIOUS SPEAKERS • Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House • Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lawyer and political activist • Bob Woodward, Washington Post reporter • Steve Forbes, Editor-in- Chief of Forbes magazine
Transcript
For an institution that re-ceives the lowest state appro-priations in the state, West-ern may be looking forward to a change of pace.
During a speech to admin-istrators of Missouri colleges and universities, Gov. Jay Nixon presented a new fund-ing model for higher educa-tion.
The model will be based on performance versus what the Gov. has deemed as “cri-sis driven” funding. Missouri Western administrators re-main skeptical since details of how the model will oper-ate have yet to be ironed out.
Western President Dr. Robert Vartabedian hopes that the new model will allow for more fair funding, which he believes has not been the case for Western recently.
“What I’ve argued all along is that we’re all for ac-countability,” Vartabiedian said. “We’re all for fair fund-ing as long as it’s not more unfair funding which is what we’ve been subjected to in the past.”
The new model will set four state wide goals for each university to meet. While these goals are still being dis-cussed, Vartabedian believes that it is likely that they will be based on graduation and retention rates.
Alongside the four state wide goals, each university will be able to set a specific goal for themselves.
Associate Provost Cynthia Heider said that before West-ern administrators can make any decisions on what the
university’s goal is, the four state wide goals must be set in place.
“We already work on things like encouraging students to complete their degrees,” Heider said. “So, degree at-tainment is important. Not just for the student but for the region.”
Vartabedian said that there are two possibilities for West-ern that come to his mind for specific institution goals.
“Our unique outcomes of Missouri Western would be
the graduation rate of first generation college students,” Vartabedian said. “I think another one that would be interesting, if we could quan-tify it, would be how effective we are at workforce develop-ment, in terms of graduating students who are well pre-pared and find jobs quickly.”
During Nixon’s speech, he said that all the goals should be quantifiable and easy to track. As far as when the tracking will begin, the 2012-2013 fiscal year will serve as a
base line for all of Missouri’s schools. From her under-standing, Heider said that the baseline funding is the lowest that an institution could re-ceive. For additional funding, intuitions would have to meet or go beyond the goals.
“We haven’t seen all those details,” Heider said. “A lot of that hasn’t been flushed out.”
Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas L. Friedman will be the featured speaker at this year’s Con-vocation for Critical Issues Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Friedman currently holds the position of Foreign Af-fairs columnist for the New York Times. His five best-selling books, including his most recent, “Hot, Flat and, Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew Ameri-ca,” deal with topics that the Convocation is not unfamil-iar with, like “green” issues and globalization.
Dan Boulware, former president of Missouri West-ern’s Board of Governors, founded the convocation series 20 years ago. He had some ideas as to what Fried-man’s message to students may be.
“Average is over. You can’t expect to be average any-more,” Boulware said. “We need to have the mentality of an immigrant: nothing is owed to us. We’re going to
work hard; nobody is go-ing to give us anything. We shouldn’t expect to have peo-ple to give it to us; we need to earn it.”
Friedman has been on the Convocation wish list for a several years, according to Western Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dan Nicoson. Nicoson said that scheduling conflicts have
Thomas Friedman is an award-winning journalist who writes for the New York Times.
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
2009 Graduation RatesADMISSION TYPE
Moderately Selective
OpenEnrollment
SelectiveHighly Selective
75%
35%
58%52% 54%
19%
27%
34%
63%67%
73%
49%47%
Brooke Carter | Graphics Editor
Budget:Performance based funding may bring hope for Western
This week Jesse Bilderback reviews “Paul,” an out of this world comedy with Seth Rogen and Simon Pegg.
See page 5
On Saturday, the Division of Student Affairs brought Mad Chad Taylor to campus. In the Potter Hall Theater Mad Chad juggled everything from purses to chainsaws.
See page 3
Gary Weidemann writes about the burden of tuition on students and how an increase furthers that burden. According to Weidemann, the burden of state cuts should not be placed on the students.
See page 6
A candlelight vigil was held outside the Commons to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Roughly twelve students attended and lit candles.
Family Weekend brings in kinMissouri Western State University
hosted a day designed to honor the family of students enrolled here Sept. 9 and 10.
The event included a free showing of “Thor,” a 5 and 10 kilometer walk/run, a free pancake brunch, viewings at the planetarium, tailgating before the football game and various other activities.
The University hosts similar events every year.
“Tailgating is always a family event but it’s nice to know that the Univer-sity cares about us,” said Andre Dean Lance, a 14 year old who attended part of the events.
Hundreds of students and their fam-ily members took advantage of the free activities despite occasionally hav-
ing to brave less than ideal weather.“When we first got here it was rain-
ing pretty hard,” said Rodney Saun-ders, the father of a Missouri Western student. “After that it was off and on throughout the day.”
The rain couldn’t keep the spirits of the families down as many kept doing what they were doing despite the rain.
“A little rain isn’t enough to keep us away from doing something like this,” said Saunders.
Many of the activities such as brunch, the planetarium tour and a free tour of the sports complex did not require the risk of getting wet.
“Thankfully, there was always some-thing to do when it started raining,” said Lance. “It was a fun way to keep dry and entertained.”
James Goodrich, father of a Central Missouri student, flips burgers while tailgating.
Photo by Austin Goacher
Students at Missouri West-ern State University are forced to walk a path of mis-fortune in the aftermath of an 8.2 percent budget cut. Western’s Student Govern-ment Association planned a rally on June 22 this year to voice their concerns that they were dissatisfied with the State’s budget cut towards Western.
“Missouri Western shouldn’t be singled out to lose more funding than any other school,” SGA Vice President Jacob Scott said. “Even before the cuts, we receive less per student from the state than any other uni-
versity in the state.”After taking office SGA
President Alison Norris wanted Western’s disapprov-al of State cuts to be heard, but she had no idea that the fight was already lost.
“At the time the rally was set, we never dreamed the 8.2 percent budgets were perma-nent, but later discovered they were,” Norris said.
President Robert Varabedi-an believes that Gov. Nixon’s search for extra money was aided when he discovered the tuition increase and the extra revenue our University was getting. “The Governor
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lawyer and political activist
• Bob Woodward, Washington Post reporter
• Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine
News September 15, 2011The Griffon News
Page 2
prevented Friedman from coming in the past.
Friedman is not as commonly recognized as past Convocation speakers, but Nicoson is not worried about that.
“It’s kind of different because being not a sitting politician or not a television/media figure,” Nicoson said, “he’s not as immediately recognizable to people, even though within the print media he’s as big a name as any of them.”
the lowest state funding of any four year school in Mis-souri. In comparison to other open enrollment schools, Western graduation rates are the highest. In 2009 the Mis-souri Department of Higher education reported that open enrollment Harris Stowe State University graduated 18.9 percent of its students. The MDHE also reported that year that Western grad-uated 34 percent of its stu-dents.
In a news release, Nixon announced that a task force has been assembled to work on the details of the perfor-mance based model.
“This will move us away from a system of spending money based solely on what an institution has received in the past, to a system where
Budget: continued from front
Convocation: continued from front
were finished, the families and other Missouri Western fans got together for a tailgating bash, which included food, drinks, Frisbee and other games.
“Tailgating might be the best part,” said Saunders. “You get to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends while knowing that there’s plenty of food and good will to go around. It doesn’t hurt that watching football afterwards is always a blast.”
The Griffons delivered for the families during the game dis-mantling Central Missouri 23-6.
For more information about future family days and other upcoming events visit www.missouriwestern.edu.
Family: continued from frontfelt that because of Joplin and the need for extra mon-ey, he felt he had to get the money from somewhere,” Vartabedian said.
Norris and SGA continue to urge students and com-munity leaders to sign the petition online voicing their concerns with Gov. Nixon’s cuts toward their University.
Norris said that the peti-tion is more “symbolic” at this time, and she went on to say that the SGA petition has over 1,000 signatures from students to community lead-ers.
The petition is making noise around the St. Joseph community, but has the state of Missouri heard the cries of our students?
“We don’t plan on handing the petition off to anyone,” Norris said. “We just want to show that students are upset with the budget cuts, and we plan to take action.”
Student leaders and Di-rector of External Relations Beth Wheeler plan to make a visit to Jefferson City on September 13. Their goal is to meet with Governor Nixon’s right hand man for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mike Neitzel. SGA hopes to gain more in-formation about this cut.
“Now that school is in ses-
SGA: continued from frontsion, we will probably have some type of forum once we meet with Dr. Neitzel, and have received more informa-tion on where this budget cut of 8.2 percent will go,” Nor-ris said.
It is the worry of the stu-dents, as well as that of facul-ty and administrators, where these cuts may be forced to take place. When looking at what budget cuts may affect, we may be looking at a whole list of adverse circumstances.
“With the budget cut it could at some point hurt stu-dent organizations on cam-pus,” Norris said.
If professors who advise organizations on campus lose their jobs, then who would be left to advise? Western could see organizations dis-appear, which is one of the main forms of entertainment and involvement for students. The fact is, Missouri Western raised their tuition for the school year, but is still below most universities regarding out-of-pocket costs.
It seems that Missouri Western took the direct hit. So the fight to gain the bud-get back continues, with SGA and the St. Joseph com-munity behind the school’s effort. It has been expressed many times: “You can’t keep a Griffon down.” Scott said.
Guest speaker piques staff and student interest
SGA plans to get more information on cuts
Campus Information
Calendar of EventsCampus Crime Reports
If your organization would like to announce an event, e-mail the information to
we invest money in those institutions that are meet-ing their goals and whose students are reaching their potential,” Nixon said in his news release.
While Western does not have a representative on the task force, President of Northwest State University John Jasinski, is part of the task force.
Despite a lack of details, Vartabedian is optimistic about the new model and doubts that the new model will hurt Western, but real-izes that challenges lie ahead.
“We’re starting this perfor-mance funding model so far behind everyone else,” Var-tabedian said. “It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge for us.”
Nixon’s news release means future challenges
Food, football and fun on family weekend
Missouri Western State University will honor the 224th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution with an hour-long panel discussion at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 16 in the Kemper Recital Hall, Leah Spratt Hall Room 101. The event is sponsored by Western’s department of economics, political science and sociology. It is free and open to the public.
The Constitution Day discussion is titled “Consti-tutional Perversion: Money, Free Speech and American Politics.’’ Panelists include political science faculty mem-bers Dr. Jonathan Euchner, Dr. David Steiniche and Dr. Edwin Taylor.
Constitution Day com-memorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.
Artists who would like to draw, paint, sculpt or photo-graph live models are invited to a life drawing event from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 in Potter Hall, Room 207. The event is open to the public at no charge, but artists are asked to bring their own art supplies.
The Griffon Arts Alliance, Westerns student organiza-tion dedicated to the arts, will hire fully clothed models to pose in a variety of costumes and poses. Artists in atten-dance can request changes in lighting and specific poses.
“It can be so hard to find models to draw from life, so we invite all age groups to take part in this great oppor-tunity, from young children on up,” said Ali Dalsing, Griffon Arts Alliance mem-ber and a senior art major from St. Joseph. “We hope this will be a fun event that we can make an ongoing part of the local arts community.”
Dr. Mark Mills, assistant professor of biology at Missouri Western State University, and Shelly Cox of the Missouri Department of Conservation will gave a brief presentation on turtles and turtle conservation at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13 in the outdoor amphitheater behind the Department of Conservation’s Northwest Regional Office on the Western campus. The presentation emphasized local species, and included live turtles. The turtle talk is sponsored by Western, the Department of Conservation and the
Midland Empire Audubon Society.
“Turtles are disappearing from the planet faster than any other group of animal,” says a statement on the Part-ners in Amphibian and Rep-tile Conservation website. “Today, nearly 50 percent of turtle species are identified as threatened with extinc-tion. However, it’s not too late for our turtle heritage to be salvaged. Our careful stewardship can preserve the rare species and keep com-mon species common.”.
Nicoson seems to be right: the Convocation Dinner, which will take place Mon-day, Sept. 19, is nearly sold out.
Senior history major Gary Weidemann is excited to hear Friedman speak, even though he doesn’t know much about him.
“I know he’s a foreign af-fairs correspondent, so I hope that he talks about American relations with Libya,” Weide-mann said.
Missouri Western Presi-
dent Dr. Robert Vartabedian is also excited to hear Fried-man speak.
“I’ve not heard him speak, but I’ve been told he’s a very good speaker,” Vartabedian said. “Sometimes you get these big names come in and they just read to you, and it’s not very interesting. My understanding is that he’s a very compelling speaker.”
Students like Weidemann should take advantage of Western’s unique Convo-cation series, according to Boulware.
“We’ve been blessed from
the standpoint that we’ve been able to get top speak-ers,” Boulware said. “The Washington Speakers Bureau says that we have as fine of a college speaking series as any in the country. This doesn’t happen everywhere across the country—this is different and this is exceptional.”
The Convocation will take place in the M.O. Looney Complex at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20. The event is free and open to students and the community.
Constitution day
Western talks turtle
Art event planned
Kari Rapp, a junior biology major, throws a Frisbee during a tailgating event on Saturday. Photo by Austin Goacher
NEWS NOTES
NewsSeptember 15, 2011The Griffon News
Page 3
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As the Student Govern-ment Association meet-ing got underway Sept. 12, SGA President Alison Norris spoke about several issues in-cluding their Sept. 14 trip to Jefferson City, to discuss Mis-souri Western’s current bud-get situation.
Several pieces of legis-lation were discussed and passed during the meeting including that of a newly recognized student organiza-tion, Residence Hall Associa-tion, which was presented by Bridget Janssen, president of Residence Hall Association.
The goal of the newly formed organization is to im-prove the on-campus experi-ence for those living on cam-pus, according to Janssen. Previously, Residence Coun-cil was a part of SGA and any money they spent was general budget money and
had to benefit the entire stu-dent body. This new organi-zation will not have the same restrictions, because they will get their money elsewhere.
“One of my personal goals is to get a bike room for every building, because a lot more students have started riding bikes around campus and we don’t have racks to keep them in,” Janssen said.
Dallas Henry, assistant pro-fessor of theatre and cinema, was in attendance requesting funding for “Student Rush,” which provided 25 free tick-ets to the first students to line up at the box office. This was done last year and Henry said it was extremely success-ful.
“We have four main-stage productions,” Henry said, “but we would like to top that [free tickets] this year; we want to bring pizza one of those nights. We want to pay for it out of our own pockets, to pay for Aramark to bring pizza to the 25 waiting in line
on a surprise night.”Henry said that they are
anticipating placing a new 42-inch TV above the box of-fice to play movies in the hall-way to entertain people while they wait. Henry also assured the members of SGA that if the tickets went unused they would refund the leftover funds.
Henry’s theatrical presen-tation was well received and SGA allocated the $4,050 requested for purchasing the tickets for every perfor-mance. Henry was elated by the support provided by SGA.
“I won the World Series,” Henry said as his proposal passed a Senate vote.
Jacob Scott, SGA vice pres-ident, requested non-mem-bers to leave as the meeting moved into closed session, as there were three people in the gallery awaiting their op-portunity to be added to the Senate.
Dallas Henry provides some comic relief during his proposal to SGA for purchasing tickets to main-stage events throughout the year.
Photo by Jason Brown
New student organization, free tickets at SGA meetingTodd Fuller | News [email protected]
Lights flicker on each of the “Mad” and “Chad” suitcases placed apart on the stage. A man “accidently” flings a chainsaw toward the crowd, but they are relieved when he snatches it back with a rope. He laughs satisfyingly as he jogs to the “Mad” suitcase to grab his next props.
When “Mad Chad” Tay-lor fired up three 15-pound chainsaws, he tossed the run-ning chainsaws above his head with no effort.
Taylor, who is also known as the evil knievel of comedy, finally catches the objects. The audience screams and Taylor thrusts a fist above his head.
Because of Student Af-fairs, chainsaw juggler Tay-lor was able to close family day by showing off his wild and dangerous stunts when he took the Potter Hall stage Sept. 10.
Taylor, who is from Santa Monica, Calif., learned to juggle chainsaws when he was asked to do it for a Miller Lite commercial. He prac-ticed for a while, and he end-ed up surprising the director when he got on set.
“I learned it and once I got there to shoot it, they didn’t expect me to actually do it running—they were just go-ing to put a sound effect over it later,” Taylor said. “They thought it was totally crazy.”
Chainsaws weren’t his first items to juggle, how-ever. He had to start small. Once Guinness World Re-cord holder Taylor was giv-en a “Learn to Juggle” kit for Christmas when he was young, he couldn’t stay away from it.
“I started juggling in junior high,” Taylor said. “I was obsessed. I was literally prac-ticing for four hours a day.”
He performed acts on Venice Beach and worked his way up to juggling on shows like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and the TV series “Time Warp.” He has sev-eral videos on YouTube and has his own website at www.madchadtaylor.com. He has been performing his acts for 12 years.
Although his main attrac-tion is juggling chainsaws, Taylor’s act also consisted of juggling tricks mixed in with quick jokes, fake props, comi-cal stories and a lot of jawing with the audience. He even had a segment for his show called the “Audience Chal-lenge” where people from the crowd voted on an object for Taylor to juggle with an egg and a shot put. A large purse was chosen, and Tay-
lor had no problems as he hurled them in the air.
“The audience entertains me,” Taylor said.
Student Pierce Karguth enjoyed the show and Tay-lor’s passion for shocking his audience with his clever tricks.
“I had many favorite parts, and most involved his crowd interaction,” Karguth said. “He captivated the whole audience. He made us laugh, and even gasp at the fake in-juries that he would inflict on himself.”
Because Taylor’s act was for people of all ages, Student Life Director Isaiah Collier believed he was a good fit for the end of family day.
“When I saw [Taylor] at Bradley University, I thought he would be a perfect cap at the end of family day,” Col-lier said.
“Mad Chad” is a nationally recognized juggler know for his chainsaw act. Photo by Dave Hon
After amassing over 80 applications for its open Athletics Director position, Missouri Western whittled the list down to four final-ists.
Over the next several weeks, Western will wel-come those finalists to pres-ent their vision of Western Athletics, and make their claim as the right person to lead it into the future.
President Robert Vart-abedian said that the search for the new AD has gone extremely well, and he has been really impressed with the quality of the candi-dates.
“The first cut was twelve,” Vartabedian said. “I thought the pool was so deep that I thought any one of those twelve could be a very good AD.”
Vartabedian said that the committee just kept at try-ing to find the absolute best possible candidates and they have settled on the four coming to campus.
Don Kaverman, Harris-Stowe
UniversityKaverman is a former
Athletics Director at Mis-souri Western for four years [1995-1999]. After leaving Western, Kaverman took over as Athletic Director for Division I Southeast Missouri State before ac-cepting director's position at Harris-Stowe. Redhawks Women's basketball made the NCAA tournament in 2005 and 2006.
He has also worked in the
National Football League as a conditioning coordinator and assistant athletic trainer for the Detroit Lions.
Kaverman has a bache-lor's degree in business ad-ministration and a master's in physical education from Michigan State University. His presentation is Friday, Sept. 23 in Spratt Hall, Room 205.
Jeremy McClain, Delta State University McClain has been at
Delta since 2007, and while there he has increased the graduate of student-ath-letes close to 20 percent.
The football program placed second in the Divi-sion II National Cham-pionship in 2010. Besides running the athletics pro-gram, he also performed as an All-American pitcher for the baseball team while he attended Delta. He would eventually be drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1999.
McClain has a bachelor's degree in business admin-istration. His presentation is Monday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. in the KCP&L Lecture Hall in the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.
Kurt McGuffin, Colo-rado University
McGuffin is the Asstistant Athletics Director at Colo-rado, which he has held for the past two years.
He has been involved in Big XII sports for the past decade, previously working with Kansas State. McGuf-fin has been influential on basketball, as he was the director of men's basket-ball operations at Eastern Washington University, a student assistant at Kansas State and also was involved with the women's basketball
program while they steadily had a top 10 ranking.
McGuffin graduated from Wichita State with a Master of Science in edu-cation in 1999. His presen-tation is Thursday, Sept. 15 in the KCP&L Lecture Hall in the GISC.
Mark Alnutt, Mis-souri University
Currently at Missouri, Alnutt is the senior asso-ciate athletic director for administration. Alnutt has committed plenty of time to sports overall, including football and golf.
He helps plan trips that the Tigers must take during post-season play. As a Tiger, he played football at Mis-souri from 1992-1995 be-fore graduating. This past year, at Missouri, Alnutt re-ceived the Barbara S. Ueh-ling Award, an award given out to an administrator who shows leadership and im-proved working conditions to the Missouri staff.
He has bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in public administration. His presentation is Thurs-day, Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. in the KCP&L Lecture Hall in the GISC.
As the first recognized sorority at Missouri Western, Tri Sigma is all about school and community. They hold quite a few fundraisers, as well as walks for breast can-cer and autism. They also adopt a highway to clean each semester.
As for school, Homecoming and Greek Week are a must
for participation. Tri Sigma also has a rule that 75 per-cent of the chapter must show up to each school event that takes place. According to junior and long-time Tri Sigma member Jordan Oldani, who is from Hawaii, the 75 percent rule gave her the chance to get involved on campus more as well as meet new people.
Tri Sigma not only takes community and school seri-ously, but sisterhood as well. After meeting the members of the sorority for the first
time, Oldani knew Tri Sigma was the place for her.
“I fell in love with Tri Sigma. Everybody was friendly and caring from the very first time I walked through the door.”
With the motto “Faithful unto death,” each member must treat each other with respect and have each oth-er’s back, which comes easily Oldani said.
“What I noticed with Tri Sigma was that they didn’t just build friendships— they built a sisterhood.”
Girl Power: get involved, join a social sororityAlpha Gamma Delta
Founded in 1995 at Missouri Western, Alpha Gamma Delta’s goal is to improve their lives and the lives around them and in the community. With their motto, “Inspire the woman, impact the world,” Alpha Gamma Delta raises money for the Alpha Gamma Delta foundation, which is for diabetes research and aware-ness. They take donations through their Teeter-totter-a-Thon event in the fall, which is when they teeter-totter on campus for 24 hours straight, as well as hold a Mr. MWSU Pageant each year.
Senior and President of Alpha Gamma Delta Celeste Hass has been a member of Alpha Gamma Delta since her freshman year. She says she became a member because of the principles they stand for, the friendly atmosphere, and the ability to become better involved with the school and
the community.“They made me feel com-
fortable from the very begin-ning,” Hass said. “I could be myself around them. I felt that they were real-true friends.”
Hass would like students to check out Alpha Gamma Delta in the near future.
“We are a very diverse group of women. You should get to know us and see what we’re all about.”
Alpha Sigma Alpha
With their motto “Aspire, seek, attain,” Alpha Sigma Alpha focuses on the intel-lectual, physical, spiritual and social development of their members. The members attend various school events as well as help out with the Special Olympics each year. In fact, working with the Special Olympics changed senior and President of Alpha Sigma Alpha Amanda Benjamin’s mind about what she wanted to do after col-lege.
“Before I joined Alpha
Sigma Alpha, I wanted to be an elementary school teach-er,” Benjamin said. “After working with people with dis-abilities, I now want to be a special education teacher.”
Benjamin, whose sister was also a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha, has been a member since her freshman year.
“I already knew lot about the sorority before I joined because of my sister, but when I walked in the room for recruitment I just knew Alpha Sigma Alpha was right for me,” Benjamin said.
Alpha Sigma Alpha has
members from all different clubs including cheerlead-ing, basketball, honors pro-grams, Student Government Association and Western Activities Council. No mat-ter what organization or group students are involved in, Benjamin says Alpha Sigma Alpha can provide a good college experience.
“Being a member has taught me leadership skills, encouraged me to keep up my GPA and has overall left me with a lot of great memo-ries.”
Graphics by Brooke Carter | Graphics Editor
Don’t see your Greek organization
listed here?
Our next issue will cover historically
black fraternities and sororities.
Time for some turtles
Above: Main speaker Dr. Mills, professor at Missouri Western, holding a common snapping turtle. Below: Shelly Cox, who works with the Missouri Department of Conservation, holding a soft-shell turtle. Photos by Jason Brown
griffonnews.com
FeaturesSeptember 15, 2011The Griffon News
Page 5
NEXT TO PANARA BREAD AND EAST HILLSMon - Sat 10:30 AM - 9 PMSun 11 AM - 8 PM
Whether you love sci-fi movies or enjoy a good com-edy, you definitely want to rent the movie "Paul." "Paul" is written by and stars the amusing British actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ("Shawn of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz"). The two actors are accom-panied by the voice of Seth Rogan ("Green Hornet," "Pineapple Express") playing the title character, who hap-pens to be an alien from a distant galaxy. Aided by vet-eran director Greg Mottola ("Superbad"), Pegg, Frost and Rogan together put a fresh comical spin on an extraterrestrial encounter.
British comic and movie geeks Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) arrive in Las Vegas to spend their holiday at the grand Comic-Con convention and to visit a few extraterrestrial hotspots along the way. In a rented RV, the two Brits head out on the open road through America's UFO heartland. The two soon have a close encounter with an alien named Paul (Rogan). After the shell shock of meeting an alien wears off, they learn that Paul has been kept pris-oner by the U.S. Government since his spaceship crashed on Earth in 1947. Paul dis-plays some interesting abili-ties to Graeme and Clive and explains to them how much he has influenced life on Earth since his arrival. Paul, however, has had his fill of life in captivity and
has plans to return home to his own planet. Inspired by the opportunity of a life-time, Graeme and Clive decide to help Paul elude the authorities and get home. The U.S. Government has other plans for Paul. Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman) is sent by the “Big Guy” (Sigourney Weaver) to apprehend Paul at any cost. Zoil is a very clever agent and he is persistently hot on their trail. Along the way to get Paul to his rendezvous
location with his people, our main characters inadver-tently pick up another com-panion, Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig) a very religious fanat-ic. Extraordinarily enough, Ruth is just as much of an alien to Graeme and Clive as Paul, due to their lack of experience with the oppo-site sex. Graeme and Ruth soon engage in a flirta-tious relationship and grow closer throughout the film. Continuously persued by government agents and Ruth’s hillbilly father Moses (John Carroll Lynch) who thinks Graeme and Clive kidnapped his daughter, the four fights to get Paul back home.
The film Paul is filled with tons of great humor and action. Pegg and Frost stay
true to their roots in making Paul. If you enjoyed any of Pegg and Frost's other films than you will definitely like this flick. With a much larger budget and a star stud-ded cast, this movie may be their best film to date. Pegg and Frost's cheeky British humor mixes brilliantly with the American comedic style of Rogan. Playing the voice of Paul is one of the best roles Rogan has done and is a much needed refreshing break away from his redun-dant pot humor. With some extraterrestrial action and some gut busting dialogue, Paul is a must see movie for comedy and sci-fi lovers. Paul is rated R and runs 104 minutes.
The ideal life for Carol Le Elliot and her fiance, Gene Braden, would be to teach American Kenpo and have it be supportive enough finan-cially for it to continue as a lifelong project. They will be experiencing a dream come true on Sept. 26 when Elliot and Braden officially intro-duce American Kenpo to St. Joseph with the opening of Scholar and Warrior Kenpo Academy.
According to american-kenpo.com, this style of mar-tial arts is characterized by quick, ceaseless movement, designed to overpower the opponent. American Kenpo is derived from Japanese and Hawaiian roots.
Elliot realized that American Kenpo was her true passion in life when she started out by taking classes in Cameron, Mo.
It was there that she real-ized American Kenpo would change her life. Not only did it show her how to overcome self confidence issues, it also was through Kenpo that she would meet her future husband Braden. Braden, a
third degree black belt, and Elliot, a third degree brown belt, will be the co-owners of the academy.
“Our academy is definite-ly focused on self-defense,” Elliot said. “Not only does it give you the ability to defend
yourself, it also gives you the confidence to do everyday tasks, such as speaking in public or going to a job inter-view.”
Elliot is definitely some-one who is aware of the possible anxiety issues that
come out with public speak-ing and audiences. She is a theater and cinema major in her junior year here at Missouri Western. She plans on becoming a high school theater teacher when she gets her degree. Education and American Kenpo are what she always wants to be a part of. Elliot has always looked up to the creator of American Kenpo Ed Parker, and she lives her life by Parker’s say-ing “condition and guts take over where knowledge and skill end.”
Condition and guts are exactly what American Kenpo gives you, and has given Elliot. This was proven when Elliot broke her wrist the day before her first tour-nament. She decided to deny getting a cast on it in order to stay qualified to compete. Not only did she compete with no cast on a day old bro-ken wrist, she took first place in her division. “Scholar and
Warrior Kenpo Academy” was named “Scholar and Warrior” to emphasize exactly what is important to them.
“You can’t just train your mind, you can’t just train your body,” Elliot said. “You have to train both.”
The academy already has approximately 15-20 people ready to start Kenpo class-es and are inviting more to join. Elliot and Braden are eager for newcomers into Kenpo to at least give it a try. For the people who have never tried American Kenpo before, the academy is hav-ing their first two classes to be free of charge. You can find more information about the academy at www.swKen-poacademy.com or by calling (816)-689-3669. Carol and Gene are ready to welcome anyone interested into their new facility at 709 Edmond St., right next to the Missouri Theater.
Paul (voiced by Seth Rogan) and Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg) in Paul. allmoviephoto.com
Student opens American Kenpo Academy
Carol Le Elliott and her fiance, Michael Braden, are co-owners of Scholar and Warrior Kenpo Academy. The Academy is set to open on Sept. 26. Jason Brown | Photo Editor
Le Elliot and Braden practice Kenpo karate. Elliott is Assistant Instruc-tor and has a third degree brown belt. Braden is the Senior Instructor and has a third degree black belt. Jason Brown | Photo Editor
Scholar and Warrior Kenpo Academy709 Edmond St. // (816) 689-3669
www.swKenpoacademy.com
Opinions September 15, 2011The Griffon News
Page 6
There is no parking problem.
At least that’s the word from parking services, and we agree. For years now when students have complained they have been rebuffed by the final and only defensible position: There are plenty of parking spaces for every stu-dent, faculty and staff to park on campus.
That is rare. Some univer-sities have solved their park-ing problem by not allowing freshmen to park on campus at all. They are forced to use public transportation. It is a tough policy but it solves the problem.
Many students keep a bicy-cle on campus to hasten their trip across campus. Missouri Western State University ad-ministration could do more to provide bike racks at every building. Students are hesi-tant to park bicycles with-out a secure place to attach them. This makes a bicycle a little less appealing.
Then, if bicycles became the norm, there would have to be the inevitable rules. The concern for the safety
of pedestrians would keep bicycles restricted to Downs Drive and other roadways. But, walking your bike from Downs Drive to your build-ing and securing it would be easier than trying to find a parking spot close to your building.
It’s a student problemIt may sound unsavory
to some, but walking across campus is a viable solution for most students. Eventually students become acclimated to the parking issue, but the whining of new students is something seasoned students tire of easily.
Everyone wants to park in front of their building. West-ern could never build enough parking spaces to accommo-date every student’s wish, and the additional spaces to handle temporary demand would go unused most of the time. It’s not cost effective and students won’t pay for it.
If the cost of parking seems high now, just imagine the price if there were new multi-level parking garages on campus. Plus, security is-sues increase inside parking
structures, so the cost of se-curity and lighting would in-crease. Students would whine about the stairs, so we all would have to share the cost of elevators.
When does it end?Students can solve their
problem by arriving around 7:30 a.m. when most parking lots are empty. This is not an option for many but it also solves the problem, and you get the parking spot you want. Parking across campus from the building or area you wish you could have and walking without whining works well also. Some students arrive early for their class and drive through the parking lot over and over till some parking spot opens. This works well if you have the time.
The only true solution is changing students’ minds about what is expected of the campus and what is expected of them. The early bird gets the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese. Life isn’t fair. Grow with it. The only way it works is when everyone knows and understands the rules and plays well with each other.
Students should stop complaining about parkingIN ATTEMPT TO SAVE HIS PRIME
PARKING SPOT, JOE THE STUDENT SLEPT IN HIS CAR ALL WEEK
The Griffon News is written and published by students of Missouri Western State University dur-ing the fall and spring semesters. The first copy of each issue is free; additional copies are 50 cents. Content of this paper is developed independently of the faculty and administration, or other campus organizations or offices. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas, information and advertising to The Griffon News office, Eder 221, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, Mo. 64507, or by phoning (816) 271-4412 (advertising and news room). You may also e-mail [email protected]. Copy and advertising must be received by noon Friday, the week prior to publication.
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The Griffon News Staff
Letter to the Editor: State funding cuts should not be shrugged off on student’s tuition
Griffon News,It seems that your publica-
tion has come under the spell of MWSU administration officials in their attempts to falsely convince students that tuition hikes are the answer to decreased state appropria-tions.
Much of your previous is-sues have been devoted to deriding these admittedly un-fortunate cuts to our univer-sity while championing the position of the administra-tion and the unanimous bloc of tuition-hiking student rep-
resentatives. The unanimity of SGA’s favorable position on tuition hikes only proves one thing, though: SGA does not effectively represent its constituents.
If MWSU receives a bud-get cut because of hard eco-nomic times that cut should not be shrugged off on its students. Cuts are difficult, but they can be made in ar-eas that won’t affect the qual-ity of our education.
Many cuts are feasible even if they impinge on some pe-ripheral areas that can await
more favorable conditions, such as beautification.
In an ironic twist on a re-cently devised slogan, the new tuition hikes are exactly what is keeping us Griffons down.
While the administration and SGA weigh in positively on tuition hikes, many stu-dents would like an added amendment that could make these increases more ac-ceptable. Let’s cut the ad-ministrator’s salaries by the same percent as the tuition increase students are facing.
That way, the administra-tion can be sure to do their part in supporting the qual-ity of our education in these troublesome times and we students can see that this bur-den is truly being shared.A few years ago, SGA failed to pass a recycling bill that would have skated through a vote had it not been wedded to entirely unrelated student fees.
Even though the MWSU administration forced its way with the fees in the end, the bill failed to pass a stu-
dent vote. That was because the students and some SGA senators refused to accept an underhanded ploy to sneak in additional fees on the back of a popular program. I am sure a silent majority of stu-dents feel the same on this “voluntary” tuition hike. We are tired of an SGA being cajoled and bullied by the MWSU administration and of representatives who are apathetic to the interests of their constituents.
It is time our student rep-resentatives and SGA leader-
ship stop behaving like toad-ies for the administration and defend our interests.
This next election, let’s get an SGA president and some senators that aren’t afraid to buck the MWSU administra-tion if such action is needed. It probably won’t change the way of things in the end, but at least our voices will be heard.
Sincerely,Gary Weidemann
It still surprises me when I talk to students and find they have no idea that the State of Missouri has drastically cut appropriations for Missouri Western State University. The cuts are greater than any other university in Missouri despite the fact that we were already the lowest in the state considering appropriations per student.
Maybe students got lost or lost interest somewhere be-
tween Senate Bill 389 and Gov. Nixon’s new idea about “performance based fund-ing.” This issue is important because all of the confu-sion and numbers really boil down to one basic fact. Stu-dents are going to pay more.
What went wrong?Senate Bill 389 was sup-
posed to limit increases of student’s tuitions to only the amount of the consumer
price index. It was a good piece of legislation at the time. Universities across Mis-souri were increasing tuitions to offset costs at what seemed to be an alarming rate. The bill was very popular at the time. No one saw or thought about the future.
After Senate Bill 389 uni-versities including Western eased up on tuition increases. For many years when West-ern could have increased tu-
ition justifiably they didn’t. When they did increase tuition they didn’t actually charge students the increase that was approved by the board.
Meanwhile the cost of operation was going up ev-erywhere. Things such as utilities and insurance were jumping as much as 20 to 30 percent. The number of stu-dents entering Western every semester was setting new re-
cords. That placed higher demand for faculty and class-rooms.
It soon became obvious that we could not continue this course. Western’s ad-ministration proposed and the board approved a tuition increase higher than Senate Bill 389 allowed. As Western was about to be hit with a large fine for ignoring Senate Bill 389 the board lowered the increase to just what was
needed for the campus to op-erate. The fine came any way from the state in the form of lower appropriations and then they cut even more for good measure.
The real twisted part of this tale is that Gov. Nixon stated that he approved of these cuts because he was concerned about students and their tuition costs.
Tuition increase gets lost in translationWITH ELLIS CROSS
“I was in the fifth grade. My grandma came and picked my sister and I up from school. Then we went home watched the news. It was a lot of tears.”
“I was at the Marine Corp recruiting depot in Gladstone ready to ship out, watching the news as it came on. That place went up in hysterics.”
Megan Craig Junior
Ashley ChastainSophomore
Kelsi RoeblingJunior
“I was going to my class and my history teacher turned on the TV. I saw the first plane hit and thought it was an ac-cident. I didn’t understand.”
Kevin WoodsonJunior
“I was at school and my teacher turned on the TV. Some kids started crying. I didn’t know what was going on.”
:
Brooke Carter | Graphics Editor
Where were you on Sept. 11?
Campus
Voice
SportsSeptember 15, 2011The Griffon News
Page 7
Two local Missouri Western football players cap-
tured the heart of the nation over this past week.
Griffon co-captains and starting safeties Jack Long and Shane Simpson have
been in the national spot-light since saving the life of a young boy days before the Griffon's home opener.
17-month-old Liam Snook was accidentally locked in a hot car and was suffering from heat stroke when Long and Simpson drove by. They noticed the boy's grandmoth-er frantically and unsuccess-fully trying to break out the windows with a ham-mer. Not understanding
why she was doing this, the duo kept driving,
but then decided the scene didn't look
right.They turned
the car around and Simpson broke out the window with one swing. The
boy's life was saved. The heroes then went back to check on the boy later in the day to make sure everything was alright.
“The family was defi-nitely grateful. We were just trying to be good human beings,” Simpson said. “It's a humbling, good experience, and it's just crazy how fast it's blown up.”
The feel-good story hit national coverage from every major network in the country including ESPN, CNN, NBC and
FOX.
The family wanted to give the pair a monetary reward, but the two football heroes turned her down. NCAA regulations won't allow them to even be treated to din-ner, and the guys didn't feel they deserved a reward any-way. Saving a life and being lauded for their good deed is enough for them.
“Mostly teachers bring it up in class and a couple people walking around,” Simpson said. “It's not too crazy. Facebook is really what's been blowing up, going crazy everywhere.”
The original story, broke by Ryan Menley [Western Director of Athletic Video
Production] through a YouTube video that now has 166,000 views.
“I thought that it would get regional play, but when I saw it on the main page of ESPN, that's when I thought this might go big," Menley said. "It made a great story because the woman was able to talk about it. It's a feel good story and people need to know what these kids did."
People don't have to look very hard to find stories of college football arrests and other negative stories in the news, and Long credits that for the reason the story went national.
“I'm absolutely positive
that's why. People told us that when we were being inter-viewed: that they were glad there was something positive about college athletes,” Long said. “It kind of counter bal-ances all the negative stuff in the press.”
This story will be remem-bered and talked about for a long time. The two are thankful for the attention that they have received and feel they were just doing what any decent human being would do.
“I just want to say thank you and we appreciate it from everybody and everyone giv-ing us respect for doing the right thing,” Long said.
Volleyball coach Cory Frederick watches his team high five and get pumped up for a game. Jason Brown | Photo Editor
Griffon Volleyball goes 2-2 at UNK Fall ClassicThe Griffons Volleyball
team broke even with two wins and two losses in the UNK Fall Classic tourna-ment in Kearny, Nebraska over the weekend.
“I’m overall happy with how everything turned out and I think we are getting closer to playing competitive with the top 25 teams every time we get on the court.” said Coach Cory Frederick.
Senior Tahler Johnston was named to the All-Tournament team for her outstanding play during the tournament. She tallied 43 kills and 31 digs during the weekend.
“We are kind of our worst enemy right now. Nobody is outplaying us or beating us we are beating ourselves. We are making errors and we can change that and get better.” Johnston said.
Chadron State was the Griffons first opponent of the weekend. Western swept all three games, winning 25-17, 25-23 and 25-23. Freshman Shelby Corkill led the team with 13 kills in the first match.
The Griffons faced off against 5th ranked Nebraska-Kearny Lopers in their second match of the tournament. Western was outplayed by the home team and lost the match 3-0 25-10, 25-17, 25-14. Western was led by Tahler Johnston with nine kills while Stephanie Hattey had 18 assists and 11 digs.
On Sunday the Griffons started the day by defeating Black Hills State 3-0 by game scores of 25-14, 25-13, 25-9. Alexandra Behnke led the Griffons with 12 kills.
“I think we played pretty well for the beginning of the season,” said freshman Sarah Faubel. “Our team has real-ly good chemistry for being such a young team.”
The second match of Sunday featured the Griffons facing off against the 10th ranked Wayne State and got beat 3-0 with scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-15. Tahler Johnston led the Griffons with 14 kills on the match.
Western will play their first home game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 17 against MIAA Conference opponent Fort Hays State at 4 p.m.
Griffon Safeties Save Baby, Garner National Attention
Long and Simpson’s good deed recieved national attention, including being featured on ESPN.go.com
Missouri Western safeties Jack Long (6) and Shane Simpson (7). Jason Brown | Photo Editor
The first game — ouch — but it became better.
Missouri Western football heard all week from the media and the people around them that they looked awful. It was a disaster, a performance that people couldn’t believe was the same team that made the play-offs a year ago. But it was. It was a game that could let a coach know where he stands and how he is perceived by the “true” fans, as well as his first-time quarterback. Until they played again.
Western did what they needed to do to keep the fans from not selling out on them so early in the season. The Griffons de-feated a better team, according to AFCA’s rankings, this past Saturday. Rankings can easily be misleading, especially in the pre-season. How else can Pitts-burg State, unranked, defeat the Griffons; yet Central Missouri lose?
Coach Jerry Partridge said af-ter his team’s win over Central Missouri that his team just plays football, that Western doesn’t look at wins and losses to deter-mine how they play, nor do they look at how good other teams are that they play. This was de-termined to be true as his team dominated both sides of the field against the Mules, the same way Pittsburg defeated them on opening weekend.
For people to bash both of the Partridges over one game was senseless. That game looked bad from every angle, but that didn’t mean the whole season would turn out that way. In one game, Western’s season was supposed to be determined as well as the play of a sophomore quarter-back who was making his first start, which happened to be an MIAA opponent?
Now, for people to think be-cause they beat the No. 12 team in the country, and Partridge shredded the defense with rigid force as he implemented to-tal excitement in a crowd that hadn’t sounded as loud in two seasons with one 68-yard-touch-down, that this team is far better than week one might not stand true either.
It was two teams with two dif-ferent game plans, and a team that wasn’t nearly as prepared week one, or motivated, as they were in week two. Now, as the season continues, Western must play as they did against Central, behind pre-season All-Ameri-can defensive end David Bass and the defensive line, who lived up to the hype finally. If they do that, the football season won’t be as bad as it appeared to be heading after week one.
Griffons defense delivers, upset No. 12 Central Missouri
The first game — ouch — but it became better.
Missouri Western football heard all week from the media and the people around them that they looked awful. It was a disas-ter, a performance that people couldn’t believe was the same team that made the playoffs a year ago. But it was. It was a game that could let a coach know where he stands and how he is perceived by the “true” fans, as well as his first-time quarterback. Until they played again.
Western did what they need-ed to do to keep the fans from not selling out on them so early in the season. The Griffons de-feated a better team, according to AFCA’s rankings, this past Saturday. Rankings can easily be misleading, especially in the pre-season. How else can Pittsburg State, unranked, defeat the Grif-fons; yet Central Missouri lose?
Coach Jerry Partridge said after his team’s win over Central Missouri that his team just plays foot-ball, that Western doesn’t look at wins and losses to determine how they play, nor do they look at how good other teams are that they play. This was determined to be true as his team dominated both sides of the field against the Mules, the same way Pittsburg defeated them on opening weekend.
For people to bash both of the Partridges over one game was senseless. That game looked bad from every angle, but that didn’t mean the whole season would turn out that way. In one game, Western’s season was supposed to be determined as well as the play of a sophomore quarterback who was making his first start, which happened to be an MIAA opponent?
Now, for people to think because they beat the No. 12 team in the country, and Partridge shredded the defense with rigid force as he imple-mented total excitement in a crowd that hadn’t sounded as loud in two seasons with one 68-yard-touchdown, that this team is far better than week one might not stand true either.
It was two teams with two different game plans, and a team that wasn’t nearly as prepared week one, or motivated, as they were in week two. Now, as the season continues, Western must play as they did against Central, behind pre-season All-American defensive end David Bass and the de-fensive line, who lived up to the hype finally. If they do that, the football season won’t be as bad as it appeared to be heading after week one.
Senior tight end David Fowler (85) avoids a tackle while run-ning up the sideline. Photo by Jason Brown
Sophomore quarterback Travis Partridge (12) escapes the pur-suing defense. Photo by Jason Brown
WEEKOF TH
E
ATHLETE WEEKO
F TH
E
ATHLETE
Sport: Women's Soccer
Year: Freshman
Position: Forward
Stats this week: Shots on goal — 6Total shots — 8Goals — 4
Ramsell scored four goals in her first two games as a Griffon. Last season, the team totaled nine goals all year. The Griffon's lost their first game in overtime despite Ramsell's breakout
performance, but won their second game 2-0.
K.C. RAMSELLK.C. RAMSELL
Junior kicker Scott Groner (34) punts the ball as junior defen-sive lineman Ben Pister (90) blocks. Photo by Jason Brown
