T HE V OLANTE THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA April 15, 2009 THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887 volanteonline . com Check with VolanteOnline.com throughout the week for updated sports scores and news stories. MUSIC SHRINE The National Music Museum has plans for future expansion. Verve, B1 MONEY MATTERS USD Athletic programs continue to raise money for scholarships despite the economic crisis. Sports, B5 By SArAh pAuluS The VolanTe A finalist of “Country Music’s American Idol” will be having a show in Vermillion to honor America’s veterans and their families. Nashville Star finalist Shawn Mayer will be performing Sat- urday at the Valiant Vineyards Winery as part of her 2009 Vet- erans Tour, with the proceeds going to support the Veterans Resource Center. Tickets are $10 and pre-performances start at 6 p.m. The concert will wrap up a day of fundraising efforts by the VRC. The VRC is also hosting Race Judicata, a 5K Run/Walk with the USD School of Law, Saturday at 9:15 a.m. Mayer has often supported veteran’s causes and VRC Executive Director Jathan Chicoine had spoken with Mayer’s sister and brought the event together to honor both veterans and their families. “The idea was to make a deeper connection and create deeper empathy and under- standing,” Chicoine said. The money raised will go into supporting the VRC’s efforts to help veterans and their families. Graduate student Evie John- son is in charge of the Race Judicata events. Her brother is in the Air Force Academy and she sees being part of the VRC as a means of supporting him from afar. “It all started with a vision of giving back to the community, veterans, and their families,” Johnson said. “We talk about the veteran’s sacrifices, but not so much the family’s.” Chicoine said even though the date was chosen by chance, it now holds special signifi- cance for the concert because that is the day that the local National Guard unit, Charlie Battery, is being activated for duty. Because of that, it deep- ens the significance of the con- cert, Chicoine said. “This is an opportunity to honor our brothers and sisters,” said Chicoine, a U.S. Navy vet- eran. “It will also remind our community that family mem- bers are being left behind.” Eldon Nygaard, owner of Valiant Vineyards Winery, said he has volunteered for and supported the VRC for a year and a half and liked the concert because, by funding the VRC, it will give veterans a place to come together. “I believe in this concept of a veterans resource center as a place for veterans who are on the GI bill attending college to get together and having a place to meet,” Nygaard said. Nygaard is also a veteran, who served 34 years in the Army and having fought in the Vietnam War. He now serves in the South Dakota House of Representatives and practices before the U.S. Court of Veter- ans Claims in Washington, D.C. All members of the local National Guard battalion received free tickets to the event, Chicoine added, as a way to thank them for their sacrifice. Reach reporter Sarah Paulus at [email protected]. *Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series examining the foreign language offerings at USD. By Ngoc ThAch The VolanTe After taking four years of French in high school and studying Hebrew on his own, freshman Jacob Urban decided to venture into Arabic, a lan- guage rarely taught at the university. “I figured it would be a chance I wouldn’t have later on,” Urban said. “It’s very applicable to modern times, especially in obtaining a career later down the line overseas and in the Middle East.” Unlike Urban, other USD students may never receive the opportunity to take Arabic. Due to budget cuts and limited resources, Arabic instructor Ghada Mahdi was told she probably won’t be teaching Arabic again next year. Arabic 102 will be offered in the first session of summer classes from May 11-June 6, but the question of offering Arabic in the fall 2009 semes- ter is still up in the air, Mahdi said. Mahdi, a native of Iraq, said she was impressed to find students who were eager to learn a language that is seldom taught and generally per- ceived as a difficult language. After teaching and learning from the stu- dents this year, she can only hope to continue teaching the course next year, though it seems unlikely, she said. “I’m very glad and very happy to be teaching this class and I wish I was teaching this class next semester,” Mahdi said. Mahdi said it is important for a liberal arts institution like USD to not only place a greater emphasis on lan- guage, but to offer more than just Spanish, French and German. With By Nick WolTmAN The VolanTe The economic recession that has gripped the nation for the past several months has struck USD. Last Wednesday, USD and the Sanford School of Medi- cine announced they would lay off three faculty members and 13 staff members to cope with budget cuts handed down by the Board of Regents and the state Legislature. Out of a combined budget of about $163 million, the two institutions will cut $852,000 and reinvest $2.07 million in university programs, including a new interdisciplinary health sciences major. In addition to the layoffs, the university will eliminate 19 vacant positions. USD President James Abbott said no more cuts will be neces- sary this year but cautioned that the issue will have to be revis- ited next year and further cuts may be necessary at that time. The layoffs come about a month after Abbott called on his vice presidents to identify 3 percent of their division that could be eliminated. “I’m operating on the side of caution,” Abbott said. “I’m try- ing to get everything on bud- get — to get our costs down as much as possible — so that we can operate in the most efficient way possible.” Abbott suggested the cuts should be made in areas where they would do the least amount of harm to the university as a whole. He added that layoffs were inevitable because person- nel costs constitute such a large percentage of the total budget. USD is not alone in dealing with hard times. South Dakota State University has also had to make significant cuts to their budget, said Bob Otterson, exec- utive assistant to the president at SDSU. Although they haven’t Nashville Star to headline benefit USD fires 13 staff members, 3 faculty Arabic only super critical need language offered at USD STUDENT LIFE ECONOMY PleASe See Cuts, PAge A6 PleASe See Languages, PAge A7 JohN lArSoN / The volANTe Instructor Ghada Mahdi serves traditional Iraqi dishes during her Arabic 101 class Tuesday. Arabic is the only critical or super critical need language offered at USD out of a total of 20 languages designated by the U.S. Department of State. LANGUAGE BARRIER POLITICS Student files wrongly disclosed The university archives, housed in I.D. Weeks Library, were visited during The Volan- te’s audit of USD public infor- mation to see how university information was archived. Unexpectedly, private infor- mation of former USD students was uncovered in the Novem- ber 2008 archived files of Royce Engstrom, former provost and vice president of academic affairs. The files connected for- mer students’ names to ACT scores, high school GPAs, eval- uations by a scholarship direc- tor and personal reasons for transferring schools. The student files were removed from the library upon discovery. The archive staff said the November 2008 Engstrom archives had not yet been pro- cessed and that the student information would have been removed after processing. The I.D. Weeks head archivist posi- tion was vacant at this time. The incident was later report- ed to the president’s office. The office, which also sends archive material to the library, said the student information should have been sorted from the files before they were sent from the office. “I understand we have not always been as careful as we should be,” USD President James Abbott said about the university’s archives. “There have been a couple of instances By JoSie kerk The VolanTe PleASe See Open, PAge A8 ONe Of fOUr iN A SerieS • recap of April 1: Articles about passage of new open records statute amendments and explanation of The Volante’s campus open records audit. • recap of April 8: Highlights from USD open records audit. • April 22: in-depth look at the new law and where South Dakota is headed. Proceeds to support veterans croSS meDiA couNcil To hoST uSD BuDgeT Forum Join the USD community Thursday for a panel forum to discuss the recent bud- get issues afflicting USD, the adminis- trative process to deal with budget cuts and the fiscal future of this university. Included on the panel will be Coun- cil of Higher Education Vice President Wil- liam Sweeney and SGA President Blake Alberts. The remaining panelists are yet to be determined. The forum will begin at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 16 in the Freedom Forum Conference Room at the Al Neuharth Media Center. U.News and U.Radio will broadcast the forum live.
Transcript
The VolanTe The universiTy of souTh dakoTa
A p r i l 1 5 , 2 0 0 9
The sTudenTs’ voicesince 1887
volanteonline.comCheck with VolanteOnline.com throughout the week for updated sports scores and news stories.
music shrineThe National Music Museum has plans for future expansion.Verve, B1
money maTTersUSD Athletic programs continue to raise money for scholarships despite the economic crisis. Sports, B5
By SArAh pAuluSThe VolanTe
A finalist of “Country Music’s American Idol” will be having a show in Vermillion to honor America’s veterans and their families.
Nashville Star finalist Shawn Mayer will be performing Sat-urday at the Valiant Vineyards Winery as part of her 2009 Vet-erans Tour, with the proceeds going to support the Veterans Resource Center. Tickets are $10 and pre-performances start at 6 p.m.
The concert will wrap up a day of fundraising efforts by the VRC. The VRC is also hosting Race Judicata, a 5K Run/Walk with the USD School of Law, Saturday at 9:15 a.m. Mayer has often supported veteran’s causes and VRC Executive Director Jathan Chicoine had spoken with Mayer’s sister and brought the event together to honor both veterans and their families.
“The idea was to make a deeper connection and create deeper empathy and under-standing,” Chicoine said.
The money raised will go into supporting the VRC’s efforts to help veterans and their families.
Graduate student Evie John-son is in charge of the Race Judicata events. Her brother is in the Air Force Academy and she sees being part of the VRC as a means of supporting him from afar.
“It all started with a vision of giving back to the community, veterans, and their families,” Johnson said. “We talk about
the veteran’s sacrifices, but not so much the family’s.”
Chicoine said even though the date was chosen by chance, it now holds special signifi-cance for the concert because that is the day that the local National Guard unit, Charlie Battery, is being activated for duty. Because of that, it deep-ens the significance of the con-cert, Chicoine said.
“This is an opportunity to honor our brothers and sisters,” said Chicoine, a U.S. Navy vet-eran. “It will also remind our community that family mem-bers are being left behind.”
Eldon Nygaard, owner of Valiant Vineyards Winery, said he has volunteered for and supported the VRC for a year and a half and liked the concert because, by funding the VRC, it will give veterans a place to come together.
“I believe in this concept of a veterans resource center as a place for veterans who are on the GI bill attending college to get together and having a place to meet,” Nygaard said.
Nygaard is also a veteran, who served 34 years in the Army and having fought in the Vietnam War. He now serves in the South Dakota House of Representatives and practices before the U.S. Court of Veter-ans Claims in Washington, D.C.
All members of the local National Guard battalion received free tickets to the event, Chicoine added, as a way to thank them for their sacrifice.
*Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series examining the foreign language offerings at USD.
By Ngoc ThAchThe VolanTe
After taking four years of French in high school and studying Hebrew on his own, freshman Jacob Urban decided to venture into Arabic, a lan-guage rarely taught at the university.
“I figured it would be a chance I wouldn’t have later on,” Urban said. “It’s very applicable to modern times, especially in obtaining a career later down the line overseas and in the
Middle East.”Unlike Urban, other USD students
may never receive the opportunity to take Arabic. Due to budget cuts and limited resources, Arabic instructor Ghada Mahdi was told she probably won’t be teaching Arabic again next year. Arabic 102 will be offered in the first session of summer classes from May 11-June 6, but the question of offering Arabic in the fall 2009 semes-ter is still up in the air, Mahdi said.
Mahdi, a native of Iraq, said she was impressed to find students who were eager to learn a language that is seldom taught and generally per-ceived as a difficult language. After
teaching and learning from the stu-dents this year, she can only hope to continue teaching the course next year, though it seems unlikely, she said.
“I’m very glad and very happy to be teaching this class and I wish I was teaching this class next semester,” Mahdi said.
Mahdi said it is important for a liberal arts institution like USD to not only place a greater emphasis on lan-guage, but to offer more than just Spanish, French and German. With
By Nick WolTmANThe VolanTe
The economic recession that has gripped the nation for the past several months has struck USD.
Last Wednesday, USD and the Sanford School of Medi-cine announced they would lay
off three faculty members and 13 staff members to cope with budget cuts handed down by the Board of Regents and the state Legislature.
Out of a combined budget of about $163 million, the two institutions will cut $852,000 and reinvest $2.07 million in university programs, including
a new interdisciplinary health sciences major.
In addition to the layoffs, the university will eliminate 19 vacant positions.
USD President James Abbott said no more cuts will be neces-sary this year but cautioned that the issue will have to be revis-ited next year and further cuts
may be necessary at that time.The layoffs come about a
month after Abbott called on his vice presidents to identify 3 percent of their division that could be eliminated.
“I’m operating on the side of caution,” Abbott said. “I’m try-ing to get everything on bud-get — to get our costs down as
much as possible — so that we can operate in the most efficient way possible.”
Abbott suggested the cuts should be made in areas where they would do the least amount of harm to the university as a whole. He added that layoffs were inevitable because person-nel costs constitute such a large
percentage of the total budget.USD is not alone in dealing
with hard times. South Dakota State University has also had to make significant cuts to their budget, said Bob Otterson, exec-utive assistant to the president at SDSU. Although they haven’t
Nashville Star to headline benefit
USD fires 13 staff members, 3 faculty
Arabic only super critical need language offered at USD
sTudenT Life
economy
PleASe See Cuts, PAge A6
PleASe See Languages, PAge A7
JohN lArSoN / The volANTeInstructor Ghada Mahdi serves traditional Iraqi dishes during her Arabic 101 class Tuesday. Arabic is the only critical or super critical need language offered at USD out of a total of 20 languages designated by the U.S. Department of State.
LANGUAGE BARRIER
PoLiTics
student files wrongly disclosed
The university archives, housed in I.D. Weeks Library, were visited during The Volan-te’s audit of USD public infor-mation to see how university information was archived.
Unexpectedly, private infor-mation of former USD students was uncovered in the Novem-ber 2008 archived files of Royce Engstrom, former provost and vice president of academic affairs. The files connected for-
mer students’ names to ACT scores, high school GPAs, eval-uations by a scholarship direc-tor and personal reasons for transferring schools.
The student files were removed from the library upon discovery. The archive staff said the November 2008 Engstrom archives had not yet been pro-cessed and that the student information would have been removed after processing. The I.D. Weeks head archivist posi-tion was vacant at this time.
The incident was later report-
ed to the president’s office. The office, which also sends archive material to the library, said the student information should have been sorted from the files before they were sent from the office.
“I understand we have not always been as careful as we should be,” USD President James Abbott said about the university’s archives. “There have been a couple of instances
By JoSie kerkThe VolanTe
PleASe See Open, PAge A8
ONe Of fOUr iN A SerieS• recap of April 1: Articles about passage of new open records statute amendments and explanation of The Volante’s campus open records audit.• recap of April 8: Highlights from USD open records audit.• April 22: in-depth look at the new law and where South Dakota is headed.
Proceeds to support veterans
croSS meDiA couNcil To hoST uSD BuDgeT Forum
Join the USD community Thursday for a panel forum to discuss the recent bud-get issues afflicting USD, the adminis-trative process to deal with budget cuts and the fiscal future of this university. Included on the panel will be Coun-cil of Higher Education Vice President Wil-liam Sweeney and SGA President Blake Alberts. The remaining panelists are yet to be determined.
The forum will begin at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 16 in the Freedom Forum Conference Room at the Al Neuharth Media Center.
U.News and U.Radio will broadcast the forum live.
a2 n Wednesday, aPriL 15, 2009 n The voLanTe
CaMpus & CItYDigestvermillioN police log
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15 1718
April 61. a 22-year-old female reported damage to her vehicle in a hit-and-run incident at the 1300 block of Roosevelt Street.2. officers assisted the fire department with a dumpster fire at the 700 block of east Cherry Street.
April 73. a 24-year-old male was arrested at the police station on the 10 block of Washington Street for an outstanding warrant.4. a 36-year-old female reported petty theft of prescription medications from the 100 block of east Cherry Street. no suspects have been identified and the investigation is ongoing.
April 85. a 22-year-old female reported intentional damage to her vehicle at the 600 block of north Dakota Street. a 21-year-old female was identified as a suspect.6. a 19-year-old male was arrested at the 500 block of Pinehurst avenue for ingestion of marijuana and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
April 97. a 20-year-old male was cited for underage consumption at the 400 block of east Cherry Street. 8. a 19-year-old female reported that two suspects, a 20-year-old male and 22-year-old female were tampering with her vehicle at the 400 block of Cottage avenue. The victim did not wish to pursue charges, only to have the damages repaired. after police left the scene, the 22-year-old female reported being a victim of a simple assault by the 19-year-old female.9. Several callers reported fraudulent banking solicitations under the pseud-onym of the Federal Credit Union.10. Three people reported an incident of identity theft that occurred in Sioux Falls. The case remains under investigation.11. a 22-year-old male was arrested for simple domestic assault at the 200 block of Prospect Street. The victim was a 27-year-old female.
April 1012. a 22-year-old female reported petty theft of her purse and its contents from the 900 block of north Dakota
Street. 13. Intentional damage to an aTM machine was reported at the 10 block of east Main Street. 14. a 42-year-old female reported intentional damage to the exterior window coverings of her residence at the 400 block of Stanford Street.
April 1115. a 26-year-old male was cited for open container at the 10 block of west Main Street.16. a 65-year-old male was arrested for DWI at the intersection of the highway 50 bypass and highway 19.
April 1217. Graffiti was found on playground equipment in Prentis Park. no suspects have been identified.18. Two 14-year-old juveniles were found shooting air soft gun pellets in Prentis Park. They were located and returned to their homes. *for a complete listing of all police log activity, please visit VermillionPD.org.
Job fund reaches
low level The ASSociATeD preSS
Benefit payments from South Dakota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund continue to be larger than had been expected, state Labor Secretary Pam Roberts said Tuesday.
The system recently paid $1.65 million in benefits in one week, much higher than the $608,000 paid in the same week a year earlier, Roberts said. The state’s unemployment rate has continued to rise since Octo-ber, she said.
“South Dakota’s economy continues to follow the nation-al trend, and the Trust Fund condition is deteriorating,” the labor secretary said in a writ-ten statement.
The trust fund held $25.5 million at the end of last year, but the balance has now fall-en to $14.1 million. If it drops below $11 million at the end of any quarter after Sept. 30, a surcharge will be placed on employers.
Officials earlier predicted the trust fund would maintain a sufficient balance so that no surcharge payments would be required until at least March 30, 2010, which would give next year’s Legislature time to take any action that might be needed. But conditions have changed.
Roberts said earlier projec-tions were based on a normal seasonal decline in payments as construction companies hire more workers when the weather warms, but construc-tion companies have delayed hiring because of bad weather.
Roberts said she has called a meeting of an advisory council that deals with unemployment insurance issues. The council will meet April 27 to assess the situation.
iN oTher NeWS WeDNeSDAy
TuNe iN AT NooN
• listen for information on the Greek Week blood drive.
• Tune in to hear about the university’s policies towards the refunding of classes not completed due to student deployments.
live AT 5
• Watch for a story about the only Veterans Resource Center in South Dakota.
• Tune in for the latest Sports Shorts with Ryan Moore.
The VolanTeVolume 133, Number 20April 15, 2009
The VolanteAl Neuharth Media Center555 Dakota St.University of South DakotaVermillion, S.D. 57069
hOw tO reaCh useditor in Chief 677-5494Advertising Manager 677-6469Business Manager 677-5493Managing editor 677-5512Advertising Dept. 677-6469News Dept. 677-6894Opinion Dept. 677-6891 Verve Dept. 677-6890 Sports Dept. 677-5571 Photo Dept. 677-6893fAX 677-5105
MIssIOn stateMent The Volante covers issues relevant and interesting to USD students. faculty, staff and community members are welcome readers, but the newspaper is written and presented for a diverse community of students from the students’ point of view. The paper should provide a variety of information, entertainment and educational opportunities for the readers. The Volante encourages everyone to write letters to the editor. The Volante wishes to be viewed by students as respectable, objective, accurate, fair and trustwor-thy. if you have comments, concerns or questions, please contact The Volante at 677-5494. The Volante is distributed Wednesdays during the academic year free of charge locally with the cost of $1 for each additional copy. One school-year sub-scription rate is $35, which includes mailing costs. The Volante does not endorse, promote or encour-age the purchase or sale of any production service advertised in this paper. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The Volante disclaims all liability for any damage suffered as the result of any advertisement in this newspaper. The Volante reserves the right to refuse any advertising.
student staffSarah reinecke eDIToR In ChIeF
Wayne curry CReDIT anD ColleCTIonS ManaGeR
Samantha Sayler aDVeRTISInG ManaGeR
kory veenis aSST. aDS ManaGeR
heather Fluit ManaGInG eDIToR
patrick morrison neWS eDIToR
Nick Woltman aSST. neWS eDIToR
matt Dahlseid SPoRTS eDIToR
Justin rust aSST. SPoRTS eDIToR
matt hittle oPInIon eDIToR
Jessica kokesh VeRVe eDIToR
Josie kerk aSST. VeRVe eDIToR David Whitesock onlIne eDIToR
Drew Quandt Web PRoDUCeR
michelle rydell MUlTIMeDIa DIReCToR
TJ Jerke aSST. MUlTIMeDIa eDIToR
John larson PhoTo eDIToR
Brian Broekemeier aSST. PhoTo eDIToR
ricky elliott GRaPhICS ManaGeR
Jennifer muhmel DeSIGn eDIToR
Jessa Waters aSST. DeSIGn eDIToR
Sarah paulus michelle rydell catherine patrick Deanna Johnson CoPy eDIToRS
Your Graduation Party Specialists
Seniors, Make Graduation Easier Than The Finals You Had To Take To Get You There!
Catering, Meat and Cheese Trays, Bakery Fresh Cake , Fresh Flowers, Bakery Fresh Buns, Balloons, Beer and Wine, Vegetable Trays, Shimp and Seafood Trays, One-Hour Photo, Hallmark Greeting Cards, Gift Cards, DiLusso Deli, All Special Orders Are Welcome!
Reserve your
kegs early!
Hy-Vee will make everyone happy supplying you with:
525 W Cherry St (605) 624-5574
Stop By ourGraduation
Open HouseFriday April 17th 3PM-7PM
Saturday April 18th 9AM-2PM
USD Jazz Ensembles in ConcertWith guest artist Chuck Tumlinson, trumpet
Thursday, April 16, 7:30 PM
Free Admission
Colton Recital HallWarren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts
This event is partially sponsored by a generous donation from First Band & Trust.
Free, confidential pregnancy options counseling.Adoption options also available.
Opening on April 14thMonday---SaturdayHours of Operation
12-----6 PMBUY- SELL-TRADE-& PAWN GUNS
Will also buy WWII items: Knives, Flags, ect.
On Sale This Week:
.22 Cal. Plinkerton Revolvers $159.99
G&S Antique Guns
46534 307th Street
Phone: 605-659-1683 or 605-253-2134
Just 10 Miles North of Vermillion on University Rd. or 1 Mile South of Hub, City
The voLanTe n Wednesday, aPriL 15, 2009 n a3
newsbRIeFlyrounds pushes
trainingBy cheT BrokAWThe aSSoCIaTeD PReSS
The state will hold meet-ings in a number of cities as part of the effort to get job-less people back to work, Gov. Mike Rounds said Monday.
The meetings will help determine what kind of employees businesses want, Rounds said during a radio show on the Dakota News Network. The state’s technical schools then can train people to move into new jobs quickly, he said.
The meetings will be in Yankton, Madison, Mitchell, Aberdeen, Watertown, Sioux Falls and Rapid City in the next few weeks, the governor said. The technical schools will work with local chambers of commerce and the state Labor Department to orga-nize the meetings, he said.
South Dakota is emphasiz-ing job training in its effort to overcome the recession, Rounds said. Some industries will begin hiring new workers sooner than other industries, he said.
“The one thing we want to be doing now is preparing for the next round of economic activity,” he said.
Many who have lost their jobs in the past year will need training in new skills because some kinds of jobs will dwin-dle in the future, Rounds said. For example, manufacturing plants will turn to automation and robotics, meaning less assembly work will be done by hand, he said.
Business school to host guest lecturer
VeRMIllIon
During troubled econom-ic times, Chuck Gallagher isn’t afraid to share his story of success – and how he lost it all. Gallagher, a business executive and motivational speaker, will be a guest of the Beacom School of Busi-ness April 27 at 7 p.m. in the Wayne S. Knutson Theatre.
Gallagher, a former CPA who suffered financially because of poor choices, will present the program “Choices: Negative Conse-quences, Positive Results” in which he will discuss some of the decisions he made in his attempts to make a bet-ter life for him and his fam-ily. Gallagher spent time in federal prison, but has found success again by making the right choices – personally and professionally.
rockin’ ouT
JohN lArSoN / The volANTeUSD senior Pat Albertson climbs a rock wall in Prentis Park Tuesday. Vermillion may have finally emerged from the grips of winter with the National Weather Service forecasting a week of temperatures in the mid-60s.
grB receives grant to help non-profits
VeRMIllIon
USD’s Government Research Bureau, through the South Dakota Community Foundation, received a grant to help strengthen nonprofit organizations in South Dako-ta.
With the South Dakota Community Foundation Nonprofit Assessment, the GRB will gather informa-tion from more than 10,000 of South Dakota’s nonprofit agencies through surveys to better understand training and organizational require-ments.
Bob Sutton, president of the South Dakota Communi-ty Foundation, said the GRB came highly recommended and that their selection was based on “strong work they’ve done in the area of statewide surveys.”
uSD students to host art exhibition
VeRMIllIon
“Photos, Words, and Robots,” a student art exhibit crossing a multitude of dif-ferent disciplines and media, will be on display in the Main Gallery of the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts, April 14-17.
Students Justin Brunick, Matt Heller and Patrick Kern combined their talents to display photos that come off the wall and become real; words that take shape in three dimensional forms; and sculptures of robots that become characters.
A reception for the student artists is scheduled for Friday, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Main Gallery. Tours and special showings during non-pub-lic hours are available upon request and are free and open to the public.
By AmANDA lee myerSThe aSSoCIaTeD PReSS
An 18-year-old high school student caught with his 48-year-old math teacher in her bedroom was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who was a former student of hers, police said Tuesday.
Chandler police said 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena told them he never meant to kill Samuel Valdivia. He alleg-edly told police “the blade went in like going into but-ter” and that he just wanted to show Valdivia how much he hurt him by sleeping with Tamara Hofmann.
Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after police found him covered in blood and told them about the killing. He was in jail Tuesday and did not have a lawyer.
Balbuena found his girl-friend naked and Valdivia in his boxer shorts in the woman’s bedroom around 2:40 a.m. Friday, according to police reports and court documents.
Balbuena told police that Valdivia apologized to him before Balbuena began kick-ing, punching and throwing things at him, according to a police statement.
Police said Balbuena told them he “wanted to teach the victim a lesson,” and stabbed him in the lower side with a kitchen knife, according to the court document. Valdivia later died at a hospital.
oscar howe summer program dates set
VeRMIllIon
Applications are now being accepted by University Art Galleries to attend the 19th annual Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute.
Applications can be found on the Web at OscarHowe.org/summerart.php.
Neuharth Conference Room, Neuharth Center“Native Response (special reference to Western
Shoshones) to U.S. Policies, 1863-1946”
A reception, open to the public, will precede the Lecture.
Dr. Steven Crum is Chair and Professor in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. He is an enrolled tribal member on the Duck Val-ley Reservation in Nevada.
The Volante Hiring Soon for Fall 2009 Editorial Positions
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508 Washington St.Gayville, SD
Wild Bill’s Thursdays from 3pm-9pm ALL you can eat BBQ Ribs! $6.50/plate or $8 for a dinner
(605) 267-9453
in the April 8 edition of The Volante, “The Art of german Translation” was erroneously reported as being offered on campus in the graphic “300-400 level foreign language courses offered on cam-pus.” The Volante regrets this error.
correcTioNS
Cherry St. Grille USD Student Value Menu
2 eggs & toast 1.99Small Hash Brown 1.591.4# Hamburger 1.99Crispy Chicken Wrap 1.99Small French Fry 1.59Cup of Soup 1.59Tossed Salad 1.59Soft Drink .99 with 1 refill
Coffee .99 with 1 refill
Available 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday
At Cherry St. Grille we understand that students are also being affected by these trying financial times. As a result, we will be offering our version of a fast food value menu.
Just ask for the USD Student Value Menu. Available for a limited time. Full service lunch at fast food prices.
Open 24 hours Friday and Saturday ∙Master Card/Visa/Coyote Cash
Aldine ISD will be interviewing locally. To arrange for an interview, please contact Aldine ISD at 281-985-6314.
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Business Research Bureau loses university funding
usd disaster mental health institute loses state funding
By Ngoc ThAchThe VolanTe
The Business Research Bureau has served as a resource for economic research and advice for the university and the state of South Dakota for many years, but the organi-zation will be discontinued within months due to budget cuts.
Michael Keller, dean of the Beacom School of Business, said the BRB’s main goal has been to seek funded grants and contracts from through-out the region. It was intended to be a venture that sought and delivered enough funded grant contracts to cover expenses for operations and produce income for the university.
Two full-time positions and one part-time position will be cut with the discontinua-tion of the BRB. Keller said he feels badly about the situation
because it will cause pain for people, but it is the right thing for the business school.
“If you think you’re doing the right thing for the orga-nization, which I think we are, then it’s the right thing to do for everybody that’s left,” Keller said. “That’s how you have to view it to make your-self not go crazy.”
More recently, the BRB was also the organizing body seeking to recruit East Asian students through a program called the East Asian Institute. The program recruited nearly 35 students in the past three to four years, Keller said.
“We certainly thought the East Asian Institute would add a lot of strategic value,” Keller said. “We thought we would be able to recruit about 20 or more students a year, but we just couldn’t seem to get to that level.”
“The state is losing the
benefit of the South Dako-ta Business Review and the organization that was ready to provide information and research when the state need-ed it,” Keller said. “Regrettably, the state didn’t need it very much.”
Associate business profes-sor Leon Korte said the BRB performed an outreach func-tion to the entire state and by losing that element, it dimin-ishes a bit of what USD offers to the state. But in times when resources are scarce, cuts are inevitable, he said.
“I’m not sure if that’s the best place to make cuts, but cuts have to be made,” Korte said. “I think we’re losing an important asset that would connect the academics to the business community through-out the state.”
After June 30, the USD Disaster Mental Health Insti-tute will no longer receive state funding.
Phil Carter, manager of media relations for U.Relations, said the program will not lose personnel, and the univer-sity will encourage the Disas-ter Mental Health Institute to continue their operations and activities, even without state funding.
USD Provost Chuck Staben said the funding from the state amounted to 25 percent of the DMHI’s total budget.
Gerard Jacobs, director of DMHI declined to comment on the current state of program.
Randal Quevillon, chair of the department of Psychology also declined to comment.
The DMHI was established in 1993 and was designated a
South Dakota Board of Regents Center of Excellence in 1997. The institute offered under-graduate and graduate degrees in areas including disaster response and disaster mental health. It also offered a summer intensive program for mental health professionals and gradu-ate students.
In a statement on their Web site, the group said they were informed April 8 of the deci-sion to cut their state funding. They also said they hoped they had made a difference in situ-ations around the world and had advanced disaster psycho-logical support and produced students who will make a differ-ence in the world.
Nancy Hanneman, execu-tive director of the Red Cross Sioux Empire chapter, said the DMHI and the Red Cross have worked closely together in the past and will continue to col-laborate even though the pro-
gram’s funding has been cut. Hanneman said she is con-
cerned the program will not be able to continue to function without state funding and the loss of the institute would hurt South Dakota.
“They were a leader in the nation. USD was progressive in giving what other universities don’t and now people will have to look elsewhere,” Hanneman said.
Junior psychology major Rosalie Brueske said she thought the DMHI added a unique aspect to the campus and drew students from other states that didn’t have a similar program.
“I think it was really good for our campus and I wish the funding could continue,” Brueske said.
Cuts: Length of service to usd not a factor in firingshad to resort to layoffs at this point, Otterson said the possi-bility hasn’t been ruled out.
“I think USD and SDSU are in different places right now,” he said.
Abbott declined to reveal the specific positions held by those who had been laid off, saying he would release this information at a forum to be held Wednesday afternoon.
USD Provost Chuck Staben, who also acts as vice president of academic affairs, shouldered the majority of the responsibil-ity in selecting which employ-ees would be laid off.
Staben said the fear created by the layoffs is regrettable but unavoidable.
“When people are laid off, it’s certainly bad for the people who are laid off. But there’s also a lot of uncertainty in other peoples’ minds,” he said.
Abbott said the responsibil-ity of deciding which employ-ees to lay off is never taken lightly.
He added that the layoffs were not reflective of the per-formance of the individuals
who were selected.“This isn’t necessarily a
value judgment on anybody,” Abbott said.
Staben admitted that many of the employees who were laid off had been members of the USD staff for decades, but said this did not enter into the decision-making process.
“Length of service was not a consideration in the layoffs. I actually think that’s an inap-propriate criterion,” he said.
In addition to laying off individual faculty and staff, funding to two university pro-grams was also cut.
The Disaster Mental Health Institute and the Business Research Bureau will no longer receive state funding to contin-
ue their research operations. “It shouldn’t be a surprise
to any faculty member that the university doesn’t have unlimited resources to support research,” Staben said.
He added that both of these entities were failing to secure enough external funding to meet the expectations of uni-versity administration officials.
The recommendations for-warded by the vice presidents went through several commit-tees before they ended up on Abbott’s desk for final approv-al. Although he admitted that the process was not foolproof, Staben said it was carefully designed to be as fair as pos-sible.
“I’m pretty willing to admit
that we may not have made perfect decisions,” he said. “I think we have made very responsible decisions.”
Higher education officials are looking for places to cut because of restricted budgets and one place they are con-sidering is duplicate graduate programs that aren’t graduat-ing enough students.
Records show nearly 20 per-cent of graduate programs at Tennessee colleges and univer-sities have duplicates at anoth-er public school in the state, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. And 56 programs are under performing because they fail to graduate a minimum number of students over five years, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission said.
The state may not be able to support an array of graduate programs, given the millions in budget cuts expected over the next two years, said Jim Mur-phy, vice chairman of the UT board of trustees.
“The luxury of allowing mul-tiple schools to do the same thing may not be something we can afford anymore,” he said.
The Tennessee Higher Edu-cation Commission has asked the state’s governing boards to respond by May 1 about wheth-er the low-producing programs should be retained, consoli-dated or ended, said Betty Dandridge Johnson, assistant executive director for academic affairs.
The agency said in January that 12 master’s programs pro-duced less than five graduates in the last five years. Twenty-four doctoral programs pro-duced less than three graduates in the last five years.
However, there’s no easy way to assess the true cost of
graduate studies because pro-fessors teach both undergradu-ate and graduate level courses, said Howard Roddy, a Board of Regents board member.
Local communities benefit from graduate programs that funnel graduates into the local economy, such as nursing pro-grams, he said.
“One of the things that needs to be considered is the accessibility of the programs,” Mr. Roddy said. “The goal is to have more college graduates and graduate school graduates across the state.”
Closing duplicate programs may also make it harder for people to get a master’s or a doctoral degree who cannot travel away from families or jobs.
Dawn Ellis, 46, a doctoral student in computational engi-neering at University of Ten-nessee at Chattanooga, said she would not have been able to attend graduate school if her program were not available in the city because she has two children and a full-time job.
“I have been educated at UTC all the way through,” said Ellis. “Chattanooga is a new thriving technology center.”
State schools need to focus on programs that are in demand, said A C Wharton, mayor of Shelby County and a member of the higher educa-tion commission’s board. But he says some areas of the state need more help to produce highly educated individuals.
“We are a long state,” he said. “Like it or not, we supply doctors and researchers and educators for Arkansas, Mis-souri, Mississippi and western Tennessee.”
Gay marriage forum draws crowdBy DeANNA JohNSoN
The VolanTe
Senior James Taylor served in the United States military for six years before being dis-charged for violating its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. This experience caused Taylor to become involved in gay rights issues as a student at USD.
Last Wednesday, Taylor organized the Marriage Equal-ity Forum to allow students and community members to ask questions about the recent Iowa Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage.
Matthew Skuya, deputy field director for One Iowa, a gay rights organization, was on hand to answer questions from the audience. Skuya spoke briefly about the events leading up to the landmark decision.
“We won in the court but we have not yet won in the court of public opinion,” Skuya said.
Skuya went on to talk about what the ruling meant to him as an Iowan and a member of the gay community.
“This has been one of the proudest weekends of my life,” he said.
One Iowa organized forums around the state in the days leading up to the ruling in an effort to raise awareness of gay
rights issues. Skuya pointed out that the decision to legalize gay marriage in Iowa was unex-pected in the minds of many people.
“It’s huge, absolutely huge. I think just from a national standpoint, having Iowa move this direction is shocking for a lot of people,” Skuya said.
Among those in attendance
was District 17 Democratic Sen. Ben Nesselhuf. Although Nes-selhuf was not a formal speak-er at the forum, he answered a question from an audience member regarding what the response in South Dakota’s leg-islature would be to the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision.
“Nothing, unfortunately,” Nesselhuf said.
He went on to explain that South Dakota is too conserva-tive for similar discussions to go on in its state Legislature.
JohN lArSoN / The volANTeUSD senior James Taylor watches Matthew Skuya, deputy field director for One Iowa, at the Marriage Equality Forum held last Wednesday.
“i’m pretty willing to admit that we may not have made per-
on the recent firing of 13 staff and three faculty members.
• returns to the Board of regents: $599,000• interdisciplinary Health Sciences major: $140,000• Admissions and Market-ing: $300,000• Structural deficit: $710,000
By The NumBerS
The voLanTe n Wednesday, aPriL 15, 2009 n a7
USD students bring home top national honors
After studying abroad his sophomore year, senior Zach Crago said he caught the “trav-el bug.” The desire to travel and study in a different coun-try prompted Crago to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship, which he received this spring.
The Fulbright Scholarship is a research grant for students who wish to pursue research in another country and cov-ers their living expenses while in that country. Crago said he will be traveling to Venezu-ela in the fall to research the effect new land reform policies in Venezuela have had on the food security of the country.
When Crago’s application was sent in, it was chosen by the State Department and then sent to Venezuela to compete with other students applying for the same county before being chosen.
“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to get the first-hand experience with what is going on in that country and get their perspective on the developments going on,”
Crago said. Crago, originally from Sioux
Falls, is finishing his majors in economics and Spanish. He said in the future he hopes to get involved with an interna-tional organization that works with economic development in Latin America. The research component of the scholarship as well as the opportunity to speak Spanish will be very beneficial, Crago said.
“The biggest draw for me was to be able to do research on, I think, an incredibly per-tinent issue in Venezuela and to be part of that research,” Crago said.
Senior Jane Gullickson has been working in long-term care facilities for the elderly for the past eight years and working with people has become her passion. Gullickson said she applied for the Rotary Ambas-sadorial scholarship not only for the monetary support, but to gain a world understanding and more knowledge about service.
The Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship grants a flat rate of $24,000 to attend a graduate school abroad and is designed
for students interested in public service. Gullickson, a native of Brandon, S.D., will start graduate school in Lis-more, Australia, in February of 2010 with undergraduate degrees in political science and contemporary media and journalism. Until that time, she said she will continue to work with Rotary Interna-tional.
While in Lismore, Gullick-son said she plans to volunteer in Rotary service projects and complete a graduate degree in health leadership administra-tion. She said she doesn’t have any solid plans for a career after she receives her graduate degree.
“I know I’ll find something that makes me happy and I know I’ll find something in which I’ll work with people,” Gullickson said. “When I get home, I’ll have a better under-standing why it was in God’s plan for me to do this.”
By Deanna JohnsonThe Volante
This year, four USD students received nationally recognized scholarships. The Goldwater, Fulbright and Truman schol-arships were awarded to USD students last year. Susan Hackemer, associate director of the Honors Program, said applying for and winning the scholarships not only pro-vides students with an addition to their resumes, it also teaches them how to examine who they are, what they want to do with their future and what kinds of things are going to help them achieve their goals.
Hanging up on the presi-dent of the university is some-thing few students can claim, but junior Heather Fluit is one that can. Fluit said when USD President James Abbott called at 8:30 a.m. to inform her she had won the national Harry S. Truman Foundation scholar-ship, she accidentally hung up on him and the president had to call back.
“We were both kind of confused at first. Afterwards, I was freaking out. It was a great phone call. He can call me at 8:30 a.m. any time he wants if he’s going to give me news like that,” Fluit said.
Sixty students nation-ally, including Fluit, received the Truman scholarship this year. The scholarship is given to students planning on entering public service
careers. The recipient of the scholarship receives $3,000 for their senior year of college and $27,000 for two years of graduate school.
Fluit, a native of Sioux Falls, will be graduating next May with a major in political sci-ence and minors in contem-porary media and journalism and Spanish. The scholar-ship allows up to four years
between receiving an under-graduate degree and entering graduate school.
After graduation, Fluit said she wants to take a few years to travel and possibly join the Peace Corps.
“I just like doing new things and mixing it up; I don’t real-ly like to settle down,” Fluit said.
Fluit said she applied for the scholarship because she thinks the Truman Founda-tion is more than a check for $30,000.
“If I was out for the money, I wouldn’t be going into pub-lic service,” Fluit said. “(The foundation) is a network of people who are successful. These people go places, and I want to be one of those peo-ple.”
When sophomore Winnie Zou saw the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for academics and research, she was hesitant to apply and decided to wait until her junior year. Then, Susan Hackemer, associate director of the Honors Program, reminded Zou that it never hurts to try.
Zou applied for the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship and was informed the first week in April
that she had won. The scholar-ship will pay $7,500 for tuition, fees, room and board and a portion of book costs for Zou’s junior and senior years at USD. Applicants must be science, math, or engineering majors to qualify for the scholarship.
Born in China, Zou and her family moved to Vermillion during her freshman year of high school. Zou said she is currently working toward a chemistry undergraduate major and hopes to attend medical school in the future and earn an M.D./Ph.D. to unite her chemistry major and her research in basic biomedicine. The six-year M.D./Ph.D. degree will allow Zou to become a doc-tor and visit patients while still conducting research in a lab.
“One of the biggest prob-lems that I’m concerned about
right now is that research in the medical field is so sepa-rated from what the doctors are actually doing. So, I’m hoping I can merge these two branches of things together,” Zou said.
In order to apply for the scholarship, Zou said she had to create her own, unique research proposal. She said her proposal covered molecu-lar chaperons, and a potential cure for cancer.
Zou said she has never won a national scholarship before and would promote research to all students and hopes other students won’t be afraid to apply for scholarships.
“I would encourage people to try research and get as much experience as possible and don’t afraid be to try out for these things, really it doesn’t hurt,” Zou said.
heATher FluiT WiNNie Zou
Languages: Limited resources to blame for lack of offeringsmore than 22 Arabic-speaking nations and 300 million native speakers, Arabic has become relevant and critical to world issues. By learning another lan-guage students are enhancing their careers, increasingly gain-ing opportunities and breaking stereotypes, she said.
“Nowadays with the Mid-dle East and the international efforts there is a need for foreign speakers,” Mahdi said. “Espe-cially with globalization, there is a need for people who are pro-ficient in languages other than English and other European languages. It’s very real and very important and very urgent.”
Sophomore Austin Hofeman took Arabic as a requirement for the Honors Program and will finish his one-year requirement this summer. He said offering the course as an experiment to gauge student interest was a good idea and he hopes to see Arabic offered again next year.
“I think this is the best way to see if it’s feasible,” Hofeman said. “Offering the same basic languages works, but if people want more obscure languages, then I see that it’s a good way to do it.”
Susan Wolfe, language, lin-guistics and philosophy chair, said Arabic received an enthu-siastic response when it was offered this spring with a full class of 30 students and a wait-ing list to enroll in the class. While she wishes to see first and second year Arabic in the fall, it all depends on whether the department has the money to offer it, she said.
Wolfe said a faculty member is retiring in May and the depart-ment is hoping to retain some of that money to turn the French
instructor’s part-time position into a full-time position. USD President James Abbott has yet to approve the request. But if he does, French instructor Katia Maroun, a native of Lebanon, would then be able to teach both French and Arabic next year, Wolfe said.
Abbott said everybody is working with limited resources, but the main problem with sus-taining and expanding language offerings lies within the lack of variety in language courses in high schools. Many students who come to the university will take the language course they are already familiar with, such as Spanish, making it harder for universities to offer languages high schools do not offer, he said.
“I would support and I do support the offerings of as many languages as reasonably pos-sible,” Abbott said. “With that being said, if the tendency is to fail to teach other languages in high school, then it’s going to be hard to support other languages in college.”
Timothy Schorn, director of international studies, said the language, linguistics and phi-losophy department is doing all it can with the resources it has, but the university needs to expand beyond French and German to include non-western languages like Russian, Manda-rin Chinese and Arabic.
Abbott said the university should offer more non-western languages, but it is difficult to find a non-western language instructor to teach that lan-guage for more than two to three years. Also, high schools don’t teach those languages, making it harder to sustain the language at the university.
“I think languages are very
important and in my opinion we should try a non-western language if we can,” Abbott said. “For some reason, American institutions have concentrated on western languages, and I’m not positive that makes a great deal of sense in our world.”
Junior Jackson Schwandt took Arabic for a general under-standing of the language and culture, and found that he learned much more. The class gave him insight and dissolved stereotypes about Arabs for him, he said.
“I’m really glad they actually offered it,” Schwandt said. “It got rid of a lot of stereotypes of what I thought Middle Eastern people were. I found that they’re just like us but they speak a dif-ferent language.”
Mahdi said the students gain understanding by learning about the Arab culture through the cuisine, arts and people of the Middle East along with learning the language.
“Unfortunately, they are just presented with a one dimen-sional stereotype of Arabs from the mass media,” Mahdi said. “It comes from the TV shows that present Arabs as uneducated, having camels and subjugating women. I tell my students, ‘You are making a great contribu-tion to yourself for learning this important language.’”
For Urban, the experience he has received from learning Ara-bic from a native speaker like Mahdi has been one of great value.
“The insights that Ghada pro-vides, as an Iraqi, have taught me a lot,” Urban said “She brings to the table a lot of things that you wouldn’t otherwise learned, had you been learning the language from somebody who studied Arabic for a few years in the United States. Her insights are just invaluable.”
This event is partially sponsored by a generous donation from the First Bank and Trust.
April 22, 23 & 25, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. April 24 & 25 at midnight
Wayne S. Knutson Theatre Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts
$12 adults • $7 youth/non-USD students • $5 USD students w/ID
Reservations: 605-677-5400 or www.usd.edu/cfa/Theatre
University Theatre presents
Richard O’Brien’s
“The biggest, baddest rock’n roll musical ever!”
If you are a person with a disability and need a special accommodation to fully participate, please contact Disability Services at 605-677-6389 48 hours before the event.
JeSSA WATerS / The volANTe
The sTudenTs’ voice since 1887The VolanTe
Visit www.volanteonline.com to stay up to date with news, opinion, Sports,
Verve and more.
volanteonline.com
critical Need languages• azerbaijani• bengali• Catonese• Kazakh• Korean
• Tajik• Turkish• Turkmen• Uzbek
• Kurdish• Kyrgyz• nepali• Pashto• Russian
Super critical Need languages• arabic*• Mandarin
• Dari• Farsi
• hindi• Urdu
* offered at USD Source: US Department of State
a8 n Wednesday, aPriL 15, 2009 n The voLanTe
open: Student records regulated by ferPA
By ANgelA mcclurgThe VolanTe
More than $2 million in fund-ing will accelerate four of USD’s projects and provide students with more resources to learn, Vice President for Research Laura Jenski said.
“I think every time we have research projects underway, it raises the entire academic value on campus,” Jenski said.
The passing of the 2009 Omnibus Act in March by the United States Congress has allowed USD to receive the funds needed to speed up the four projects. The $2 million will be divided between the South Dakota Oral History Cen-ter Digital Preservation Project ($409,000), the South Dakota Catalysis Group ($1,046,650), Research Education and Eco-nomic Development Network ($381,000) and the Gradu-ate Education and Applied Research Center ($285,000).
Kurt Hackemer, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the South Dakota Oral History Center Digital Pres-ervation Project is an important project because some of the voice recordings from the 1900s are starting to deteriorate.
“The problem with magnetic tape is, over time, the tapes start to degrade,” he said. “If noth-ing is done, we will lose every-thing.”
A consultant tried estimat-ing the value of the tapes last year and said they are worth more than $5 million, Hacke-mer said.
“If we didn’t have funding, the digitalization effort would still continue but the longer that we wait, the more likely we are to lose the tapes, and the tapes are irreplaceable,” Hack-emer said.
The funding will speed up digitizing the tapes by provid-ing more stations and workers to transfer them.
Digitizing the tapes will also allow them to be more acces-sible to students and the public for research because people can access the interviews via the
Internet or CD copies, Hack-emer said.
There are more than 5,000 interviews on the tapes, he said. More than 2,300 are interviews of Northern Plains Indians including Dewey Beard who survived Wounded Knee.
“It’s the largest collection in the U.S. and it’s sitting here in the basement of Dakota Hall,” he said.
Graduate student Nick Estes has been working to digitize the tapes since last fall. He said it is very important to save the tapes because they are invaluable and there are already more than 30 tapes that cannot be repaired.
“It is very important to save the tapes because they preserve a voice, a voice that is often times deceased,” Estes said. “But the most important thing about hearing voices of the past is that they are telling their own stories without filter of emotion and biases.”
This could benefit students who are doing research papers, especially for classes like histo-ry, anthropology and American Indian studies, Hackemer said.
“I used the tapes for a paper on the history of the Big Bend Dam and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s response,” Estes said. “I’ve heard several interviews of my own grandparents and relatives and interviews from former professors that were revealing to the characters they were.”
Assistant professor of chem-istry James Hoefelmeyer said the increased funding for the Catalysis Group will allow stu-dents to gain first-hand experi-ence doing lab research which will look good on resumes and make the student more com-petitive in the job field.
Graduate student Vikul Rajpara is part of the Cataly-sis Research Group and helps undergraduates with research projects. He said he enjoys helping students use their criti-cal thinking skills.
“Individual thinking helps them come up with their own experiment and new ideas,” he said.
Researchers at USD are cur-rently focusing on solar utili-zation and ways they can pro-duce energy without having to emit toxic gases into the air, the known cause of global warm-ing, Hoefelmeyer said.
“If we don’t solve this prob-lem I think we are going to leave a terrible legacy for future gen-erations,” he said.
Hoefelmeyer said it’s impor-tant that research groups dis-play their progress to the com-munity through papers and meetings because it is a deter-minate in who gets funding.
“It’s an enormous privilege to receive this type of funding,” he said.
where the library had released information that they prob-ably shouldn’t have without realizing. There was no inten-tion, but as I understand it, occasionally they’ve had archival records with names in it, which they have released but shouldn’t have.”
Abbott said none of his office files have been sent to the archives, and that he has not yet given thought to how his records will be saved.
“I think the propensity has been to save things for quite a length of time,” Abbott said. “I actually think it’s just not very good management.”
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is the national governing document of student records main-tenance. It allows students 18 and older and parents of minors to review educational records. It also keeps specific student information private and allows disclosure without a release from the student only in special circumstances.
“I think it’s something that really does have applicability to students. There are some classes that still put grades up by student names,” said Michael Card, associate pro-fessor of political science.
According to the USD Stu-dent Records policy, students must be annually notified of FERPA rights in the stu-dent handbook, printed with course schedules and posted around campus.
Deborah Dodge, director of student rights and responsi-bilities, is the official record holder of student disciplinary files at the university.
“I think everybody talks about their records as if there is this neat little package sit-ting in one office, and that’s so not the case,” Dodge said. “There are educational records everywhere.”
A link to a list of student record locations is available on the school student records policy, which is posted on the
registrar’s Web page. Students are entitled to
review their records and may make a request to do so using the university’s student record request form. The university has 45 days to respond to the request, according to the pol-icy.
“Which seems, I’m sure from student frame, ‘My God, that’s a huge chunk of time. Why on earth do they need that much time?’” Dodge said. “It’s because there might be records everywhere. If a stu-dent really is making like a large request, like I want to look at my (whole) record, there is work that needs to go into that.”
The institution is obligated to provide access to a student’s whole record, but Dodge said the process of compiling information would be faster if students requested to view a specific part of their record.
Some student records are retained for a mandated peri-od by the Board of Regents and others are saved for lengths set by the professional asso-ciation of the holder, Dodge said.
Dodge said she retains dis-ciplinary records according to standards set by the Asso-ciation of Student Judicial Affairs.
In the case of an alcohol violation sanctioned as a first offense, for example, Dodge said she keeps the confiden-tial record and is required to hold it for seven years after the date of the latest infraction in the student’s file.
“If a student has a disci-plinary suspension or expul-sion from the institution, that record is then to be main-tained forever and ever amen, really, as a confidential record with the institution,” Dodge said.
Once students are 18-years old, they are no longer classi-fied as minors, but parents can still have access to a students record if the parent claims them on their most recent tax return, Dodge said.
Student information is housed in a data system called the Student Information Sys-tem, SIS.
“It’s a grueling process to have any access, and it’s limit-ed,” Dodge said. “The burden of proof is on the professional that they need to have access to particular information.”
For example, faculty mem-bers can only have access to student information if they have an educational need, which they must prove, Dodge said.
The USD Honors Program signs agreements with stu-dents that allows the program access to disciplinary infor-mation regarding academic dishonesty, Dodge said.
FERPA was amended to allow parents to be notified of alcohol and drug violations, Dodge said. The amendment permits parents of students under the age of 21 to be alerted if any alcohol or drug infraction occurs on campus, but USD’s internal policy noti-fies parents upon the second instance, Dodge said.
“It used to be that if a stu-dent was having troubles, we couldn’t talk to their parents, like if they’re life is in danger or if we think somebody’s in danger of harming themselves and others,” Card said.
FERPA allows specific student information to be released in a directory, but students can opt out of the listing by filing out a form at her office, Dodge said.
if you’re going...• The show is at the Dakota Theatre, downtown yankton on april 16, 17 and 18
• Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.
• Tickets are available for $8 in the MUC and old Main
• buses will be available to and from the show with a ticket and photo ID and leave from the library parking lot
• bus seats must be reserved by Thursdayimage source: orgs.usd.edu/strollers/
JeSSA WATerS / The volANTe
USD programs to receive $2 million
volanteonline.comVisit The Volante’s Web site to see documents obtained during the audit.
gives parents of minors and students 18 and older the • right to review the student’s educational records maintained by a school.
Applies to all schools receiving federal funding. •
Parents or students may request corrections to inaccurate • or misleading records.
Schools must have written permission from the parent or • student to release information from a student’s record.
exceptions:
School officials have legitimate educational interest•
Student transfer•
Audit/evaluation purposes•
financial aid requirement•
Judicial order or subpoena•
Studies done on behalf of the school•
Health and safety emergency•
When pursuant to state juvenile justice system law•
iNFormATioN ABouT FerpA (FAmily eDucATioNAl righTS AND privAcy AcT):
Soucre: U.S. Department of Education Web site, ed.gov
South Dakota Oral History Center Digital Preservation Project
research education and economic Development Network
graduate education and Applied research Center
Omnibus bill allocations
$409,000
$381,000
$285,000
South Dakota Catalysis group
$1,046,650
JeSSA WATerS / The volANTe
A4 n WednesdAy, APRIL 15, 2009 n The VoLAnTe
OPINION “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
— attributed to Voltaire
The VolanTeThe sTUdenTs’ VoICe sInCe 1887
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sarah Reinecke, editor in ChiefHeather Fluit, Managing editorJessica Kokesh, Verve editorMichelle Rydell, Multimedia director
Matt Hittle, opinion editorJustin Rust, asst. Sports editorDavid Whitesock, online director
Administration forgets Usd’s purpose
Last week, USD’s administration abruptly fired 16 people.
Three professors and 13 staff, some of whom have served USD for several decades, were quietly informed they will no longer be USD employees by some-time in June. These firings, when combined with other actions, show that USD’s administration has forgotten the uni-versity’s purpose. Before the firings, the USD administration announced it would be adding to its perma-nent budget the equiv-alent of 7.3 full-time employees. These positions will almost exclusively be science-related. Addi-tionally, the adminis-tration has announced the creation of a new health sciences pro-gram. In order to under-stand the situation, one must understand USD’s compensation system. USD uses a measure-ment called FTE, or “full-time equivalent.” If an employee receives one FTE, it means he is receiving 100 per-cent of the pay a full-time employee in the same situation would receive. The precise num-ber varies, depending on the job and the employee’s qualifica-tions. USD can use the equivalent of one employee’s salary to pay two or three part-time professors, as the case may be. USD’s administration is using FTE to per-manently budget for mostly science faculty who had previously been paid using one-time money. Also, a new posi-tion, a full-time physics professorship, is being added. Finally, funding for the Disaster Mental Health Institute is being eliminated. Written at the bot-tom of every USD press release is: “Founded in 1862, the Univer-sity of South Dakota is designated as the only public liberal arts insti-tution in the state…” Apparently, USD’s administration hasn’t read its own press releases; it seems the administration fancies USD not a liberal arts university, but a land
grant college. Indeed, budgeting for the science posi-tions and creating the new health sci-ences program both run counter to USD’s purpose as the state’s premiere liberal arts institution. It seems the admin-istration’s lust for new students and new money has led it to the conclusion that com-petition with South Dakota’s premiere science-oriented uni-versities is a good idea. As a land grant col-lege, South Dakota State University’s mission is to offer a science-oriented edu-cation. While USD does offer science and SDSU does offer liberal arts, the schools largely stick to their specialties. USD’s administration is forsaking the univer-sity’s original charge and is firing valued workers for the sake of money alone. That’s the real injus-tice here. By abruptly fir-ing employees with decades of service to USD, the administra-tion has shown it isn’t above eliminating long-time employees. What message does this send to employees who have worked at USD for shorter peri-ods of time? Who will be fired next to make way for new programs? Sadly, the employees fired last week will face difficulty finding simi-lar positions in the cur-rent economic climate. Indeed, other colleges may not be firing, but they certainly aren’t hiring. We don’t like dispar-aging our own admin-istration, but we must bring these poor deci-sions to the campus’ attention. We hope the admin-istration takes greater care to explain itself in the future, as firing 16 employees while hir-ing others and cancel-ling programs while creating others are both more than a little suspicious.
cONtact uSThe Volante welcomes contributions to the let-ters column in regards to campus, local, state and national issues. Letters will be edited for clarity and length and will be printed as space allows. The Volante reserves the right to hold letters for publication in a later issue.Submissions must include the author’s name, address, telephone num-ber and year in school and major or job title. Letters must be exclu-sively for The Volante.We will not publish anonymous letters.
Send letters to:Letters, The Volante Al Neuharth Media Center 555 Dakota St. Vermillion, S.D. 57069Fax to: 605.677.5105E-mail to: [email protected] our Web site: www.VolanteOnline.com
tHey SaID It
“It all started with a vision of giving back to
the community, veterans and their families. We
talk about the veteran’s sacrifices, but not so
much the family’s.”
–Graduate student evie Johnson, on how the
Veterans resource Center’s concert on april 18 was
conceived.
“the problem with magnetic tape is, over
time the tapes start to degrade. If nothing
is done, we will lose everything.”
– assistant dean of arts and Sciences
Kurt Hackemer, on why the South dakota oral History Center digital Preservation Project converts oral history
recorded onto magnetic tape into digital files. the center received $409,000
from Congress’ 2009 omnibus act.
“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to get the first hand experience with what is going on
in that country and get their perspective on the
developments going on.”
– Senior Zach crago, on receiving a Fulbright
Scholarship for studying in Venezuela.
“I know I’ll find some-thing that makes me
happy and I know I’ll find something in which I’ll
work with people. When I get home, I’ll have a
better understanding why it was in God’s plan for
me to do this.”
-Senior Jane Gullickson, on receiving the rotary
ambassadorial Scholarship. the
scholarship gives Gullickson the
opportunity to travel overseas for graduate
school.
cONtact uSReach Opinion Editor Matt Hittle at [email protected] or at 677-6890.
eDItORIal
SPecIal eDItORIal:aDMINIStRatION SecRecy MuSt StOPThey’re intensely secretive,
they’re unapologetic and they increasingly deal in misleading statements.
They’re members of USD’s administration.
They’re a group led by President James Abbott and it increasingly seems their mis-sion is to squelch negative news and muzzle dissent among fac-ulty and staff.
Just a few weeks ago, Abbott downplayed the recession’s effects on USD in a forum. He assured us personnel and pro-gram cuts were last resorts.
Now, despite the fact that USD is a liberal arts institution, science programs are being expanded at the expense of 16 faculty and staff, who were abruptly fired last week.
We weren’t we told we had so quickly reached our last resort.
And the administration’s secrecy didn’t start with the firings.
Earlier this semester, we wrote about the secrecy surrounding the administra-tion’s controversial plan to fund the Promise Scholarship.
That’s the scholarship centralization scheme.
Seemingly plucked from thin air, it seemed hurried and reactionary. Students, faculty and staff were blindsided by the administration’s sudden, unpro-voked power grab.
Many faculty and staff had strong opinions on the secrecy, but their opinions weren’t print-ed in The Volante. And that’s not because we didn’t ask.
It’s because the administra-tion seems willing to punish when secrecy is violated. This has created a culture of fear.
The Volante was refused interviews by several facul-ty members, citing possible administration retaliation. Oth-ers insisted on off-the-record interviews, saying even the lightest criticism of administra-tion policies or decisions could end their careers at USD.
Faculty and staff have even requested we contact them through non-USD e-mail accounts, in case university e-mail was being read.
We recently received an anonymous letter from a faculty member decrying the adminis-tration’s Promise Scholarship secrecy. While it is our policy to not publish unsigned letters, this statement is quite telling:
“I’m not signing this note because I honestly believe that doing so would cost me my job,” they write.
We can’t be sure why these faculty and staff believe their jobs are at risk.
We’re no conspiracy theo-rists, but that feeling seems ubiquitous on campus.
Is the Abbott administration actively punishing faculty and staff who dissent from its poli-cies and decisions? We demand an answer.
We note that the Abbott Administration has complied with The Volante’s every inter-view request.
They routinely meet with our reporters for interviews on many topics, and they’re nice about it.
But we’re not concerned with their manners. We’re concerned they’re not telling us the whole story. We’re concerned that, with faculty effectively silenced, they can spin information any
way they’d like.Abbott even refused an invi-
tation to participate in the Cross Media Council’s Budget Forum on Thursday. He would have been forced to answer to fel-low faculty sitting next to him onstage, unlike in his own forum, which occurs an hour earlier than the CMC’s.
So his refusal is quite telling.Of course, some degree of
secrecy is necessary. We know some decision-making pro-cesses are sensitive and must be kept from the general public.
But Abbott and company are treating the rest of USD like the enemy by withholding informa-tion and downplaying negative news.
This secrecy is unwarranted. Indeed, if we’d have been told layoffs were coming, we may-have been better able to accept them when they did. But instead, we were consis-tently left in the dark about the imminent danger of layoffs. We were consequently dismayed by last week’s firings.
Faculty and staff are fearful. They were suddenly thrust into a world of layoffs, a world from which the administration sug-gested they’d be protected.
More, they’re being pressured to not criticize their superiors. Is this the kind of work environ-ment that would be tolerated in any other state institution?
The administration’s secre-tive tactics have been tolerated for far too long.
It is imperative that students, faculty and staff make it known to the administration that under no uncertain terms will they accept undue secrecy and bullying tactics.
letteR tO tHe eDItORIn Olmstead v. United States,
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote, “Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.”
The same insight can be applied to institutional actions in general.
What then are the substan-tive and procedural lessons to be derived from USD’s decision to fire 13 staff and three faculty? In this privileged environ-ment, students are encouraged to confront essential questions, including: “Who am I?”, “What are my duties to myself?”, “What are my duties to others and the world in which we live?”
In our time at USD, we have been honored and humbled to observe many students using their liberal arts education to give voice to the voiceless, offer support to those in need and work for the benefit of their communities.
In this work, our students demonstrate a clear under-standing of the importance of community and the inher-ent value of other humans. It is paramount to proclaim that students learn the values of community, advocacy and respect from their time at the university.
These firing decisions, how-ever, strike a dissonant chord and we are concerned by the message they send and the grief and loss they cause.
We hope students, faculty and administration will con-sider some of the questions raised by the decision to termi-nate members of the university
family. Does the substance of these
termination decisions and the manner in which they were carried out represent the best this university has to offer in response to budgetary con-cerns?
Are other regental institu-tions reacting in similarly blunt and brutal fashion or have they devised more creative and com-passionate plans of action? If our circumstances are so dire as to require significant sacrifice, then why are all of us not being asked to shoulder the burden more equitably?
How can it be right to ask our brothers and sisters who are paid the least to sacrifice the most? Has the university decided to treat these employ-ees as a means to a less inher-ently valuable end? If so, is this ethical?
We write because: 1) We believe that one pur-
pose of a liberal arts institution is to provide students with the ability and compassion to be neither indifferent to suffering nor disinclined to mercy and justice.
We respectfully submit that these decisions appear to lack both justice and mercy and we question the decision to jetti-son those virtues.
2) We believe the decision to fire employees rather than search for other methods to decrease expenditures is unfor-tunate. We know the university community is capable of far more creative and intelligent problem solving.
3) If indeed the decision was unavoidable, we wonder why
the university chose to inform the affected employees in such a crude and callous manner.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Students, faculty and admin-istration, we encourage you to join us in speaking about what matters: the individuals affect-ed by these decisions.
To those who have lost their jobs:
We express our dismay, con-dolences and support.
We acknowledge the devas-tating financial blow to you and your families.
We realize this may force you to relocate.
We worry that it will be dif-ficult to find employment and that you might not be able to pay the added costs for health insurance.
We recognize and applaud your years of service.
We hope you know that we do not think only of “the num-ber of people laid off.”
We see your faces and remember your stories and contributions.
MiCHael P. roCHeProFeSSor oF CriMiNal JuStiCe
SteVe FeiMerProFeSSor oF CriMiNal JuStiCeCriMiNal JuStiCe dePartMeNt CHair
lila ruCKerProFeSSor oF CriMiNal JuStiCe
CaSSaNdra McKeoWNProFeSSor oF CriMiNal JuStiCe
essentially, a public institu-tion specializing in science
and technology-orientededucation.
a laND GRaNt cOlleGe IS ...
tHe cROSS MeDIa cOuNcIl BuDGet FORuMPresents
Thursday, April 16, 2 p.m.Freedom Forum Conference Room
Al Neuharth Media Center
The VoLAnTe n WednesdAy, APRIL 15, 2009 n A5
CommentaryBible can support
gays
Iowa and Vermont’s histor-ic addition to the list of states that allow gay marriage have already drawn loud praise and sharp criticism. I support individuals voic-ing their opinions. But what really irritates me is when people use the defense, “Well, this is what the Bible says…” It’s irritating because one cannot legislate morality as dictated by a certain religion. If we took everything in the Bible verbatim, society today would be incredibly different. Would that be a good thing? Most criticism about allowing gay marriage comes from the religious commu-nity. They often cite the Bible as proof that gay and les-bian couples should not be allowed to wed. So I will use the Bible to defend gay marriage. I know it sounds like I’m some sort of Bible basher, but that’s not it. I simply think that everything presented in the Bible must be followed in an exacting manner, which I will illustrate. Multiple places through-out the Bible — Titus and Matthew, to name a few — present references and state-ments not condemning slav-ery, but condoning it. Indeed, if one were to fol-low every idea present in the Bible, slavery would still be a part of our lives. Some of the uncouth behavior in the Bible would create quite the upris-ing if they were instituted in today’s society. The Bible also speaks against divorce, except in the instance of infidelity. With over 50 percent of all American marriages end-ing in divorce, I can’t believe they’re all based on infidelity. But I’ve never seen a group of individuals assemble for the purpose of protesting divorce so passionately as they pro-test gay marriage. I must ask why. I know that I’ll be accused of cherry pick-ing certain issues to highlight that best illustrate my point. But aren’t those who protest gay marriage doing the same thing? Also, what about the sepa-ration of church and state? Let’s look at it another way. Say Zach and Kevin get married in Vermillion. That marriage will be a recognized marriage by that church. The state has nothing to do with that marriage. What if the state marries Zach and Kevin? Now church-es have nothing to do with that marriage. You don’t have to be OK with gay marriage. A lot of people disagree with what the government does. They are being fair according to what is equal treatment to all people. This article will be met with some resistance and, if I’m lucky, acknowledgement of the hypocrisy of just pro-testing gay marriage. That said, while you are compos-ing your letter to the editor, please include the date and time that your protest of divorce will be taking place because that is a protest, one which does not infringe on an individual’s civil liberties, that I can support. To quote Matthew 7:5, “You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Think about that quote the next time you feel the need to protest gay mar-riage, the very thing that you are allowed to do but want to keep from others.
An interesting thing hap-pened Nov. 4, 2008. I started a steady move toward apathy — political apathy, that is. It has taken the nearly six months to decipher why I have lost interest in politics, but I’m certain: the interest is gone. For the Democrats out there thinking that my apathy is due to Obama’s election, hold that thought. If anything, because Obama was elected, one would think the Libertarian bones in my body would be all charged and ready to fight the anti-liber-tarian policies that are ahead. But nope, I just don’t care. Don’t get me wrong, I am always game for a good intellec-tual roll in the hay, just ask my fellow Volante staff, but when it comes to sloshing through the everyday political rhetoric, I couldn’t give a damn. For instance, I am a fan of Keith Olbermann. In fact, until about three months ago I watched his show “Countdown” every night. I know his politics and I know that he’s willing to admit when he’s wrong, so I can tolerate the Obama love, but now I can’t even make it to No. 4 on the count-down. This is bad news, people. Apathy is bad. Once we stop caring about the way our repub-
lic is maintained, we may as well put our heads down and be lead to the edge of the cliff. This is a mentality I have vehemently written against countless times in the past, and here I am on the brink. The only thing saving me is the current state of affairs here at our dear old USD. The economy, which is largely in shambles due to the meddling of our federal government (see, not complete-ly gone), is negatively impacting the functioning of this univer-sity. Look across this opinion sec-tion. There are two editorials and a letter to the editor that combat the dismal outlook at USD. On Thursday, there will be a cam-pus-wide forum on the budget crisis. I urge everyone to go. We should have a problem finding a seat for everyone. The grip of the federal govern-ment on state and local issues
must have the Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves. However, what they knew 220 years ago was that the people would always have full control over their local affairs, or at least they better. The symbolic tax day protests of sending teabags to U.S. Congressmen and women isn’t going to do anything. The Founding Fathers are laughing. This isn’t revolution! This isn’t comparable to Boston. These actions are absurd. What we need to do is take over our local issues. We, The University of South Dakota stu-dents, faculty and staff, need to forget about gay marriage bans, Obama’s new dog, and what car the execs at GM are driving and show up on Thursday. Your tuition is going up 5.9 percent next year, yet this campus is fir-ing staff and professors. Does that make sense? I understand apathy now. It’s easier. It’s easier not caring. It’s easier letting others do your bid-ding for you. For now, with the national issues, I’m going to let others do my bidding, but on these local matters, the ones I know will affect me directly, here I am. Care to join me?
IN THE KNOW: U.S. Navy Seals. It was U.S. Navy Seal snipers who killed the pirates who held an American freighter cap-tain for several days. We’re glad we’ve got people who train and toil for years so they’re ready at a moment’s notice when America needs them.
IN THE NEUTRAL: The MUC. Workers infiltrated our new student center this weekend to fix the flaws we noted in last week’s In The Dark. We’ll put them In The Know when we see improvements.
IN THE KNOW: Easter Break. If it weren’t for the thousands of pages we needed to write and the stack of books we needed to read, it would’ve been fun.
IN THE DARK: The C and E crowd. They’re the ones who only go to church on Christmas and Easter, just in case there’s something to that whole “God” thing. He knows, and He isn’t pleased.
IN THE DARK: Public Safety. The Neuharth lot is for visitors. Yet you ticket our cars when there would be no visitors. Like 7:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. on a vacation Monday.
IN THE DARK: Twitter. Now that you’re all the rage, you really should update your capacity. We get enraged when we see the “too many tweets” page.
IN THE KNOW: Shorts. Temperatures are heating up and we’re wearing sunglasses. Not because of the sun, but because we don’t want to get blinded by your pasty legs.
IN THE DARK: Minnesota politics. We’ve had a second Min-nesota senator, then we didn’t. After a five-month battle between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Seriously. Five.
Here you will find the weirdest, funniest and stupidest things that we’ve heard during the week. Context is for suckers.
OVERHeard“Come, sit on Santa’s lap.” - tHe MuC
“You got a haircut. You kind of look like Romulan.” - tHe al NeuHartH Media CeNter
“While you were gone, I ate, then regurgitated, your food. Enjoy.” - tHe CoMMoNS
“I’m sorry, was I petting you?”“Yes.”“Oh, I was dreaming about a dog.” - elM Street
“Ahh! Too many tweets!” - tHe MuC
“I’m writing a paper about Guantanamo Bay”“Gitmo, eh?”“What’s Gitmo?” - i.d. Weeks library
“I gave up not smoking for Easter.” - Pine Street
volanteonline.com
The USDictionary is a new feature that will run until the end of the semester. Go to www.VolanteOnline.com to see more entries and to submit your own entries. The best submissions will go to print.
Link Lounge (link lownj) n.1. nickname for the area located inside the MUC that leads into the Link Lab. This area contains comfortable chairs and tables. students usually study in this area. Those passing through the Link Lounge to and from the Link Lab have called it “The Gauntlet,” as they note that students sitting in the chairs on each side tend to stare at them as they pass by.
Etymology: Recently conceived of by Usd senior, Volante opinion columnist and Volante online editor david Whitesock, this term has yet to enter into regular use. however, despite Whitesock’s lack of influence on campus, the term is expected to garner heavier usage upon the Link Lab’s renovation.
USDictionary
The InconsideratesBy BRaNDI OvIeDO
“ . . . ”
Keep an eye on The Volante for weekly installments of
“The Inconsiderates.”
Check out blogs, Opinion Continued and other features on
www.VolanteOnline.com.
We’re quite critical of the administration in The Volante this week.
But we just want answers.So, as a member of the Cross
Media Council, The Volante is
involved in the CMC’s Budget Forum at 2 p.m. this Thursday. The forum will feature a panel of campus leaders .
We e-mailed President James Abbott an invitation to the forum,
and drafted this more formal let-ter in case he declined.
He did, so here it is.We think it’s vital that he join
the panel of his fellow faculty in our open forum.
our letter to President Abbott
VERVEThe VolanTe
Wednesday, april 15, 2009 volanteonline.com the university of south dakota
sCaRE timE Did “The Haunting in Connecticut” scare up a good review from Gabe Jorgensen?Verve, B2
Food is the language of
love
ERiCa KniGGEI may have made it through
another ham-filled holiday, but it wasn’t easy. Every slice of ham reminded me of the guilty, disgusting dietary com-binations and left me hoping I didn’t get food poisoning.
In my family, food is a lan-guage of love. From my great-grandmothers to my grand-mothers, to my mother and to me, cooking is of the utmost importance.
Unfortunately for our clos-est loved ones, all is fair in love and war. Each side of my fam-ily has taken special care to ensure that, while I adore food, I loathe it too.
It seems that in every family there is one particular side with food that makes you cringe. The grub isn’t particularly awful, just questionable.
In my world, this is my dad’s side of the family. Call it taste aversion or post traumatic stress disorder, but because of his mother I have more dis-turbing food memories that make it impossible to stomach certain meals.
“What, you don’t like ham?” My dad’s mom condescend-ingly quipped in my general direction.
I was all of seven years old, trying to be well-mannered, and I had discretely bypassed the large roasting pan of ham. I didn’t whine, “Mom, I hate that stuff,” or pick at it with my fork. I didn’t try feeding it to her cat or to my brother. I simply bypassed the freaking ham.
My hatred of ham goes beyond the basic, “it doesn’t taste very good.” I have night-mares about the texture of ham. The thought of swallow-ing it makes me gag.
But every year at Grandma’s I have to eat ham. If there isn’t a tablet sized chunk of the meat on your plate, she will write the non-eater out of the fam-ily with guilt-inducing little remarks like, “Everyone else likes my ham.”
While I should just get over my ham disgust, I can’t do it. Thirteen years later I still see her face every time I come into contact with a thick slice of porky ham.
She also serves the weird-est combinations of food. It’s like eating with Aunt Bethany from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” While we don’t get cat food on our Jell-O, we do get ham with things like spaghetti, stroganoff and hot dogs.
I know my family isn’t the only one that mixes and match-es our foods. The fact of the matter is that there is always a picky relative who requires an out-of-place dish because they hate everything else. And if you don’t pony right on up to the weird food with the ham, you’re an awful person.
Sometimes those extra dish-es fight back. While leftovers are known to pack a potent, regurgitated punch, any food could be bad. The matter is that sometimes (like when ham is served with sloppy joes on the side), something isn’t cooked right, or it won’t sit right and ultimately the consumer pays.
To this day, I cannot eat ham or sloppy joes. I remember my stomach turning inside out as I held my hair back. It wasn’t pretty. Though I spent only a brief amount of time vomiting, I have spent a lifetime dodging cans of Manwich.
Why? Because it’s her favor-ite thing to make. And after ham, it’s her second favorite thing to confront me about.
It’s free, fast-paced, fun and filled with scandal, sex, love and drugs.
Senior Tim Cone says there will not be a dull moment onstage during USD’s opera workshop performance.
Junior Ashley Evelyn Mazur says one guy even gets stripped down to his boxers onstage.
“People think opera is very straight-laced and so stiff, but it’s so not,” Mazur said. “There’s always sex. There’s always scan-dal.”
USD’s opera workshop stu-dents will present “A Night of Opera” with 11 scenes from
various operas onstage in the Colton Recital Hall in the War-ren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The show will be directed by Rick Piersall and Tracelyn Gesteland and accompanied by Parker Knox.
Cone, a music education major, said this semester has been an awesome experience. He took the class last year and signed up again this semester to get the training and get more exposure to opera.
“It is so much fun,” Cone said. “You are with all these other people that share the same pas-sion for music that you do. I’m just looking forward to singing and having fun onstage.”
Piersall, assistant professor of voice opera, said the opera workshop class gets young singers acquainted with sing-ing, acting and opera. The class consists of 13 students.
“They get to find out what it’s like to be a professional singer, actor,” Piersall said. “They get up in front of an audience and tell a story.”
Students have worked all semester building the sets, designing the costumes and props, studying the characters and practicing the music.
“This is very much a do-it-yourself opera workshop class,” Piersall said.
And the results have been fabulous, Piersall says. He
says the students have grown throughout the process and the most difficult scenes are where the students are having the most fun and performing the best.
Mazur is planning on going into opera performance as a career after graduation and says opera workshop has been one of the best experiences she has had. She will perform in two scenes Saturday and is looking forward to seeing the audience reaction.
“I like to think of this opera workshop scenes program as kind of an appetizer plate … If people are not sure they like opera, they can go to this and with 11 scenes, I’m sure there
is something they can connect to,” Mazur said. “It’s very short spurts, it’s very high intensity, so they can get a good sample of opera.”
There will be one scene in Italian, but the rest will be in English. Piersall also said the scenes are from a variety of time periods and will acquaint students with a broad range of opera.
“It’s going to be a very fun evening with lots of variety,” Piersall said. “If you don’t like something, just wait a couple of minutes and the next scene you will probably fall in love with.”
Students to get a taste of classical opera SaturdayBy saRah REinECKE
The VolanTe
On the south edge of campus stands the National Music
Museum, overlooked by many students, which contains more history and musical instru-ments than any other collection in the west-ern hemisphere.
Sarah Richardson, a curator of musi-cal instruments for the museum, said the
National Music Museum is the only musical instru-
ment-specific museum in the country and is known
throughout the international music community.
“Some of the other museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Smithsonian have collections of musical instruments, but that’s not
their main focus. It’s always been our main focus. If you want to see another museum comparable to this, you need to go to Europe,” Richardson said.
Featuring displays of instruments
Photo illustRation By John laRson / thE VolantETop: The National Music Museum displays a variety of intruments like this collection of horns located on the second floor. Bottom: The National Music Museum opened in 1973 with a donation of 2,000 musical instrutments. The museum now owns more than 14,000 instrut-ments, most of which are in storage.
By CathERinE PatRiCKThe VolanTe
PLEasE sEE museum, PaGE b3
OverhaulingvermilliOn’s
Ode tO theOpus
Expansion of National Music Museum building in the works
b2 n Wednesday, april 15, 2009 n the volante
eNTeRTAINmeNTDigest
Watch each week in Verve for a new sudoku puzzle! For those who don’t know how to play, finding the solution is tricky, but the rules are simple.The object of sudoku is to fill the empty cells with numbers between one and nine (one number only in each cell). a number should appear only once on each row, column and a region. Remember, there is only one solution for each grid, and you can solve it using logic alone.
all aRounDtoP tEn
What’sPlayinG
Breaking up is hard to do. No one likes to do it,
whether you’re the one doing the breaking or the one being broken. Well, that is unless you’re an emotion-al sadomasochist, in which case you need more help than I can provide. Seek help elsewhere, now.
Breaking up sucks. Because it’s so crappy, peo-ple tend to make some gen-erally stupid mistakes.
The first, most common and possibly most ridicu-lous reaction to a break up irritates me more than any other: “My life is over. I am nothing without Insert-Name-Here.”
Gag. It’s an overly melo-dramatic statement, so wrought with adolescent angst that it demands eye roll and a suppressed dry heave.
Your life is not over. You lived before them, and you will live after them. Trust me on this one. If this is the hardest thing you experi-ence in your life you should count yourself amongst the lucky people.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen friends break up with an ex, only to take them back again within a
matter of months, weeks, days, hours, and in a few cases, minutes.
Apparently, a person’s memory for their former partner’s faults is very fleet-ing after a break up. No lon-ger can you remember all of the times they stood you up.
The only thing that comes to mind now is how they looked the first time they told you they loved you. If you continue on that train of thought, you will suddenly lose all per-spective and fail to remem-ber why you shouldn’t be together.
In my opinion, there is nothing more pathetic than the poor soul who goes crawling back to an ex time after time. There is a reason that you broke up in the first place, and you need to focus on that reason. Spending all
of your time thinking about all the good times is only going to make things harder for you. Sometimes it makes it easier to think only of the bad things and all the reasons the relationship ended. It may seem cynical, but it will curb those urges to go crawling back again and again.
This is the age of social networking, and that makes it very easy to stay in con-tact with your ex after a breakup, with or without their knowledge.
Creeping on your ex’s Facebook profile is NOT ok. Don’t do it. I know you said you still want to be friends, but that isn’t going to hap-pen if you keep checking their wall to see how they’re doing, if they’ve moved on, or if they’ve started seeing someone new. Do not let them have that much con-trol of your life.
The key to a successful relationship is to make sure you’re capable of having a life without another person. Someone who isn’t ok on their own has no business being with someone else.
Words are hard to describe the emotion and brilliance of the latest album, “Swoon,” from the Silversun Pickups.
Silversun Pickups first gained attention with their mid-tempo classic “Lazy Eye,” which pushed their first full-length effort, “Car-navas,” into the charts.
The Los Angeles-based quar-tet, which features Brian Aubert (vocals), Nikki Monninger (bass/vocals, Christopher Guanlao (drums), and Joe Lester (key-boards), originated from the Sil-ver Lake music scene, which has also produced the likes of Elliot Smith and Rilo Kiley.
The band members have said
artists such as My Bloody Val-entine, the Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Sonic Youth, Sweet, Modest Mouse and Secret Machines heavily influ-ence them.
Silversun Pickups released their sophomore album, “Swoon,” on April 14.
The first single, “Panic Switch” is a violent fury of gui-tar and crashing drums that mirrors “Well Thought Out Twinkles” from their album “Carnavas.”
“There’s No Secrets This Year” is a fast-paced track com-pared to previous Silversun Pickups material that shows off Aubert’s unique vocal styl-ing.
“The Royal We” showcases more of Aubert’s vocals. As he changes from high to low, mel-low to crazy, his voice remains purely smooth.
Toward the end of each verse there is a great guitar part that will give you the shivers.
“It’s Nice to Know You Work Alone” has a quaint guitar and keyboard opening that includes the beautiful, raw voice of Mon-ninger.
“Growing Old Is Getting Old” is a rather mellow track that soars on the high notes that Aubert hits and the gratifying sound of the guitar.
“Surrounded (Or Spiraling)” is a song of dark-toned rock-pop expressed with lyrics such as, “Remember when I played assassin/remember when my joking turned grim/remember how we thought if we followed the dots/it would stop all the accidents/surrounded or spi-raling/is it perfect/ in our little hell.”
A great thing about this band is that even though the track seems mellow, the guitar, drums and keyboards are still slashing
away. Not a lot of bands can make
a track seem so cool and mellow while thrashing the instrumen-tals at the same time. On most of the tracks, whether they are more upbeat or mellow, Aubert’s voice is so unique and exquisite that each song is enrapturing.
The multiple overdubs of dis-torted guitar, reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins, give Sil-versun Pickups the sound they are known for, labeled “shoegaz-ing,” a unique place in today’s indie rock world.
The “shoegazing” sound is classified by significant use of guitar effects, and indistin-guishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars.
“Swoon” is a fantastic album from Silversun Pickups and a worthy follow-up from their amazing debut, “Carnavas.”
Take this advice and give this record a listen and you will be surprised at how the album sucks you in.
thrashing instrumentals, vocals make ‘swoon’ great
In case you were wondering if Hollywood gets tired of recy-cling old horror movies into “new ones” based on “true sto-ries,” they don’t. “The Haunting in Connecticut” is a fine example of their inability to ever be cre-ative and original.
After Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner) is diagnosed with can-cer, constant hospital bills and house payments force his caring mother, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen), and the rest of the fam-ily to find a home in Connecticut to be closer to the doctor and Matt’s chemotherapy.
Shortly after moving in, Matt begins to see strange and super-natural things that threaten his safety. As he and his cous-in Wendy (Amanda Crew) dig deeper, they discover that their new home used to be a mortuary which holds a dark past, and it wants Matt.
I’m not saying this was a completely terrible movie by any means. It was pretty scary and had me jumping quite often. However, the scares are all it really has.
“The Haunting in Connecti-
cut” lacks character develop-ment. The only two interesting characters are Matt and Sara. The rest of the cast pretty much fade into the background or saunter meaninglessly through the movie. If we could have got-ten a more personal look into these characters, we may have actually cared about them a little more.
Most of the performances are decent. The only real acting comes from Madsen, and it real-ly takes full form with her emo-tional scenes with Matt and the other family members. Gallner was tolerable, but is obviously a graduate of the School of Card-board Acting, carrying only one expression the entire movie.
There were a lot of random side plots that went nowhere, one being the father’s drink-ing problem. He honestly cares more about getting a drink than ghosts brutally attacking his own son, and is such a bland and unimportant character, the movie would actually be better without him.
“The Haunting in Connecti-cut” feels like several movies rolled into one. It had so many cliché horror techniques and a couple cheesy lines I actually had to stop and tell myself that I was still watching “The Haunting in Connecticut,” not a combina-tion of “The Amityville Horror” and a Nicholas Sparks novel.
The one major thing that still bothers me in all horror movies to date is people’s stupidity. Take Matt, for example. He follows all the scary noises in dark places, sees dismembered and terrifying ghosts on a daily basis, has sev-eral hallucinations throughout the day and doesn’t tell anyone.
So, why such a good score with all this negativity? It was actu-ally scary and made me jump quite a bit. With only a couple
new scares, the old ones were still effective in telling a pretty good ghost story. Although it doesn’t offer anything new, it is a decent scary movie with only some minor defects.
“The Haunting in Connecti-cut” is an effective ghost story in the fright department but lacks a good plot and new ideas. Over-all, it’s all been done before.
I recommend seeing it if you’re in the mood for a scary movie, but if you are looking for a story with great acting and char-acter development, just leave the haunting over in Connecticut.
Cast: Virginia Madsen, Kyler Gallner, amanda Crew, Martin Donovan, Ty Wood
MoVie ReVieW
horror clichés haunt the plot, acting in ‘connecticut’
RumoR has itactor Mel Gibson’s wife has filed for divorce after 28 years of marriage citing irreconcilable
differences. Robyn Gibson is seeking a share of the money and assets the “braveheart” star, 53, has earned during his career.
as it is thought no prenuptial deal was signed, Robyn could receive half of the star’s reported $640 million wealth under California law.
source: www.news.bbc.co.uk
all aRounDtoP tEn
What’sPlayinG
1. “Hannah Montana: The Movie”
2. “Fast & Furious”3. “Monsters vs. aliens”4. “Observe and Report”5. “Knowing” 6. “I Love You, Man”7. “The Haunting in Connecticut”8. “Dragonball Evolution”9. “adventureland”10. “Duplicity”
Box O f f i ce mov ies
1. Keith Urban, “Defying Gravity”2. Prince/bria Valente,”Lotus Flow3r/MPLsoUND/Elix3r”3. Diana Krall, “Quiet Nights”4. Various artists, “NOW 30”5. “Hannah Montana: The
Movie” (soundtrack)6. UGK, “UGK 4 Life”7. “Twilight” (soundtrack)8. Flo Rida, “R.O.O.T.s.”9. Lady GaGa, “The Fame”10. Taylor swift, “Fearless”
B i l l board A lbums
1. The black Eyed Peas, “boom boom Pow”
2. Lady GaGa, “Poker Face”3. Flo Rida, “Right Round” 4. soulja boy Tell ‘em featuring
sammie, “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”5. Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain,
“blame It”6. T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake, “Dead and Gone”7. Kid Cudi, “Day ‘N’ Nite”8. The all-american Rejects,
“Gives You Hell”9. The Fray, “You Found Me”10. Miley Cyrus, “The Climb”
B i l l board songs
F i c t i on Books1. “Long Lost,” Harlan Coben2. “The Host,” stephanie Meyer3. “Handle With Care,” Jodi
Picoult4. “The associate,” John Grisham5. “True Detectives,” Jonathan
Kellerman6. “Corsair,” Clive Cussler and
Jack Du brul7. “Lavender Morning,” Jude
Deveraux8. “Malice,” Lisa Jackson9. “smooth Talking stranger,”
Lisa Kleypas10. “The Lost Quilter,” Jennifer
Chiaverini
Vermi l l i onmuenster university Center
• Quietdriveapril 218 p.m.
Washington arts Center• thunder Power, scott Erickson,
Black Pentadragonsapril 177 p.m.
Omaha , Neb .Qwest Center
• Fleetwood macMay 78 p.m.• ColdplayJune 13
minneapo l i s , m inn .First avenue
•G love and special sauceapril 178 p.m.
•Franz Ferdinandapril 188 p.m.
stEPhaniE simons
new Releases:
“swoon”
laBEl: Dangerbird Records
lEnGth: 43 minutes, 12 seconds
GEnRE: indie rock
sonGs: “There’s no Secrets This Year,” “The Royal We,” “Panic Switch,” “it’s nice to Know You Work alone”
RElEasE DatE: april 14
GaBE JoRGEnsEn
“the haunting in Connecticut”
mElissa Johnson
• “The open Door (eP),” Death Cab For Cutie
• “Fantasies,” Metric
• “FaCT,” FaCT
• “Spring Tides,” Jenifrevr
MuSiC ReVieW
the volante n Wednesday, april 15, 2009 n b3
Quietdrive brings energy, surprises to live showsYou may recognize their
sound from their hit cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” but the guys of Quiet-drive never like their music to sound the same way twice.
Fresh off their tour of Japan, Quietdrive, an alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minn., will be performing April 21 at the Muenster University Cen-ter. Quietdrive has been togeth-er for five years and released their latest album, “Deliver-ance” October 2008.
Bassist Droo Hasting and guitarist Justin Bonhiver answered questions from The Volante reporter Jessica Kokesh via e-mail.
Jessica Kokesh: You per-formed in Sioux Falls, S.D., back in December. Was that the first time you’ve played in South Dakota and how did that performance go for you?
Quietdrive: It was honestly the end of a tour so it was kind of a blur. I remember there was football on! Sioux Falls is always a blast and we actually made some new friends at that show!
JK: You recently got back from a tour of Japan. What was your favorite part of going over-seas and performing?
QD: Japan was amazing. The response we got there was overwhelming. We performed at clubs in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka as well as in-store acous-tic performances at Tower Records and the Apple Store. Every single show was packed
to the gills. In-between songs you
couldn’t hear a peep out of the crowd because they wanted to hear what we had to say but as soon as the next song starts they go crazy again. We plan to go back to Japan very soon armed with new music.
JK: How would you describe your sound to people who might not have listened to you before?
QD: It’s an ear orgasm (ear-gasm?). I hate this question only because it asks me to put
sonic parameters on what we do. There is too much variety for that. I’d rather you decide for yourself.
Go to Myspace.com/quiet-drive, listen to three songs, and if you’re still confused, I’ll buy you ice cream.
JK: Who are your influences? What bands are on your iPods?
QD: The Fray’s new self-titled album. Kings of Leon’s “Only by the Night.” Our buddies in White Tie Affair put out a great album that has been blowing up lately. 3OH!3 is always fun
and if you dig them, check out Hollywood Undead.
I’ve been listening to the Beach Boy’s album “Pet Sounds” the last few days. Searching for music to listen to and be influ-enced by is one of our favorite things to do.
JK: How does your lat-est album “Deliverance” dif-fer musically from “What’s All That’s Left Is You”? How have you grown as a band since then?
QD: As musician, as with anything, the more you do
it, the more you learn. Like a chef, as you continue to cook sonic recipes, your taste and repertoire evolves. We love to throw in new ingredients to keep things interesting. We try to do that every time we write, record, and perform new music. It’s honestly probably never the same twice.
JK: You’ve been together for several years. What’s the best part about playing together? The worst part?
QD: Five years, yeah. The best part about playing
together after that many years is that you have an established comfort level with each other. You know what to expect and how to play off of each other on stage. The worst part is that Brandon (Lanier) smells like eggs after a show.
JK: What can people expect from your live shows?
QD: Lots of energy! At this point we’ve played so many shows together that our chem-istry should be listed on the periodic table, ha ha. Really there are a lot of things that come across live that you don’t hear on the records. Many sur-prises.
JK: What plans do you guys have for the summer?
QD: A U.S. tour, another Japan tour, and some new music. Keep checking quiet-drivemusic.com for more on that. Droo would also like to get a tan.
JK: Anything else you’d like to share with the USD com-munity before you visit on April 21?
QD: We feel truly blessed that we get to share our pas-sion for music with people all around the world. Music is the great entertainer, the great motivator, the great healer. It’s so much more than sound.
We want everyone to come to the show and forget about whatever else is going on in their world and just enjoy themselves. The more fun you have, the more we have!
CouRtEsy PhotoQuietdrive is made up of (from left) guitarist Justin Bonhiver, bassist Droo Hasting, guatarist and vocals Matt Kirby, drummer Brandon Lanier, and vocalist Kevin Truckenmiller.
By JEssiCa KoKEshThe VolanTe
Museum: 1,200 rare instruments on displayfrom all over the world, the music museum features musical instruments from time periods spanning thousands of years. Some of the rarest instruments in the world can be found at the National Music Museum, including the only collection of four Amati violins, a gamelan from Indonesia and a wide vari-ety of electric guitars that have belonged to stars like Johnny Cash.
Junior Julie Dieltz, a vocal music performance major, says that she has toured the music museum in some of her classes and appreciates being able to link her classroom studies to the displays.
“There are tons of differ-ent instruments, ranging from very old to quite new. It’s very appealing to go in and see all these instruments, and not only that, but some students are able to play them. It’s really cool to be able to say, ‘I’ve not only seen these things, but I’ve played these instruments.’”
The National Music Museum first started in 1973 with the donation of over 2000 instru-ments from Brookings band director Arnie Larson. Original-ly part of the university, the col-lection became known as The Shrine to Music Museum. In the 1980s, the museum acquired the Witten-Rawlins collection, a collection of string instru-ments, which took the museum to the international level. With the world renown, the museum changed its name in the 1990s to the National Music Museum.
Internationally acclaimed, the museum attracts many
kinds of people. Richardson said researchers and musicians travel from Europe and Cen-tral America to see rare instru-ments.
“We have researchers who will travel here to see specific instruments. For them it’s kind of a pilgrimage. If you want to make a copy of an Amati instru-ment, you need to see an Amati
instrument, so they’ll come here because we have four of them; this is the only place where there are four.”
Richardson said the muse-um’s prestige attracts students to USD’s graduate programs, too. The Center for the Study of Musical Instruments holds classes at the museum, teach-ing students to be curators.
Developing the collection of instruments has put the Nation-al Music Museum at the inter-national level, but the museum is running out of space to keep them.
“The museum is filled to the brim and we need a lot more room. We have instruments in three other buildings on cam-pus and then a house in Vermil-lion. On display are only about 1,200 instruments, but we have over 14,000 in our collection,” Richardson said.
However, the space short-age will be relieved within a few years. Richardson said plans for the future include expanding galleries and collections into the Union building located just west of the museum.
“We’re going to build a con-necting link between the two,” Richardson said. “In the link we’ll have more galleries, and then we’ll have an educational
center, an area for visitors to have lunch, like an atrium, and the Union building will have more galleries and office space.”
Not only will the expansion let more of the stored instru-ments be displayed, but Rich-ardson said it will also allow a greater focus on unique instru-ments.
“We want to expand not only what’s on display, but the instruments in storage. We want to revamp the whole place and put a lot of emphasis on the non-Western. The (Indonesian) gamelan, for example: What is on display is less than half of it because we just don’t have room to put it all out.”
Ultimately, the new expan-sion will help to broaden the amount of depth the museum can provide. Until then, Rich-ardson advises students to experience their proximity to
such rare and cultural history.Some students already take
advantage of the museum. Richardson said that many of the music history classes take tours of the museum to supple-ment to classroom instruction.
“We can relate to what they read on paper; they can see a tactile object. You can visually see harpsichords dating back to 1520,” Richardson said.
Non-majors also appreci-ate the National Music Muse-um, either by audio-tour or by requesting a tour guide.
Senior Laura Beall, a biol-ogy and anthropology major, has been to the music museum six different times through the last four years and said having a human tour guide gives addi-tional insight into instruments.
“You get to hear stories of the different instruments; the instruments are very unique. I don’t think a lot of people go there of their own accord,” Beall said.
However, with the new addi-tion coming in the next few years, Beall said student interest might increase.
“I think interest (in the muse-um) will increase, especially at first, and it will give the museum the chance to put more instru-ments out,” she said.
Dieltz agreed and said more students should take advantage of the museum.
“I think some do (visit the museum), but not enough. The stuff (the museum) gets to do is so amazing; I wish everyone could see it,” she said.
John laRson / thE VolantECreated by Domenico Sellas circa 1670, this guitar is one of many antique instrutments found in the museum.
John laRson / thE VolantEThe Music Museum holds several famous guitars, including one owned by June Cash.
Concert tickets on first come, first serve basis at doors
On April 21, Quietdrive will be the first band to play in the Muenster University Center ballroom.
Sophomore Matt Tucker, the Program Council entertain-ment chair, was inspired to bring Quietdrive to USD after he saw their show at Mankato State University last year.
Tucker has been working throughout the spring semester to bring Quietdrive to campus
and has had fun planning the event.
“They’re (Quietdrive) really good guys,” he said. “It’s been a blast.”
There are approximately 500 tickets available, and they can be purchased for $5 with a stu-dent ID, $10 without an ID, or by donating three canned food items at the door. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the concert starts at 8 p.m.
Tucker said the concert is open to the public and tick-ets will be given out on a first
come, first serve basis. “Unfortunately, once we’ll
reach the limit, we’ll have to turn students away,” Tucker said. “We’ll admit as many as we can without risking safety.”
PC will also be hosting sev-eral promotional competitions throughout the week, including a VIP meet-and-greet with the bands, and free CD giveaways.
Joining Quietdrive on stage will be Into Arcadia, a Milwau-kee, Wisc.,-based alternative rock band and USD’s own Avian Sunrise.
Tucker said PC was look-ing for a local band to add to the concert and he felt it was a “good gamble” to go with Avian Sunrise, as they will draw a solid local crowd.
Junior Bryan Wehrkamp, vocalist of Avian Sunrise, said Program Council approached the band around a week ago to ask if they wanted to open for Quietdrive. The band sent Qui-etdrive a link to their MySpace page, and Quietdrive approved of their music.
Avian Sunrise will perform a
30 to 40 minute set before Into Arcadia goes on stage.
“We’re really excited,” Wehrkamp said. “This is a great opportunity for us to play for our local fans. It’s going to be a fun show.”
Tucker said PC as a whole is excited for the concert.
“I’m really pumped to see the turnout,” he said. “I expect it to be a good show, and I’d love to see everyone show up.”
After starting the season out at a fast pace, the softball team has struggled in recent weeks.
Sports, B8
TOUGH TIMES
It has been a while since I have written a column for the sports section, and since today is my birthday, what would be a better way to cel-ebrate it than writing a ridicu-lous column?
Everybody loves a good rivalry. The New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics, the Detroit Lions versus anyone.
Rivalries bring an extra little bit of excitement and drama into a game, and the players show even more of their team spirit and pride than usual. The fans absolute-ly love rivalries as well. But one thing about the rivalries which can make them seem almost ridiculous are the teams’ mascots.
For example, let’s exam-ine the make-up of the mas-cots between The University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University. We are the Coyotes and they are the Jackrabbits. Now I have to ask, in a competition between a coyote and a jackrabbit, whom would you pick to win?
Of course the coyote would because it has speed, strength, stealth, and hunts animals like rabbits. The jackrabbit basi-cally has big ears and great eyesight, since it eats a lot of carrots. When looking at it this way, it almost seems prepos-terous. Besides, coyotes are more intimidating and more exciting than a small, timid rabbit. However, if a jackrab-bit is found with antelope ant-lers, that would be amazing.
When your team seems to be the more dominating one because of their mascot, the team needs to live up to its name. The Kansas City Royals are a great example. Just for the record, I am a big fan of the Royals, but with their name meaning royalty, they are not even close to being seen as a top-tier team in Major League Baseball. The closest item the Royals have to being ‘royal’ is their scoreboard, which is a big crown.
Lately, it seems the mascots have taken to settling matters on the court. It’s becoming more common during games to see the furry creatures duke it out against each other. This can be entertaining to the masses, except to the little kids who see their mascot take a fist to its cuddly nose.
No matter what your team mascot is or if your team is living up to its name, rivalries are always fun. It can bring the fans and the team players a lot closer together. The play-ers want to beat their rival so they can be proud and prove to their loyal fans why they follow that team. The fans want the team to win so they can have bragging rights over their friends, at least until the next game is played.
Hopefully down the road, USD and SDSU will meet up once again to bring back the rivalry. Then USD fans can once again see how a predator like a Coyote can bring down a creature with floppy ears.
By the way, on a side note, the Kansas City Royals defeat-ed the New York Yankees this past Sunday 6-4, and now have a record of 4-3 to start the year. The Yankees are 3-4, which temporarily makes the Royals the better team. Just thought I would throw that out there for all of you Yankee supporters.
No matter how successful a coach is at USD, he or she won’t be able to garner a long-term contract. The coach can win a national championship and still only have a one-year contract at USD because of South Dakota’s constitution.
It’s not just the coaches who have to comply with this statute. Every state employee in the state of South Dakota has a one-year contract and their performance is evaluated
each year before determining if they should be retained.
This statute has been in the state constitution since it first ratified in 1890.
District 17 Democratic Sen. Ben Nesselhuf said he didn’t know about this statute and thinks many other senators and legislators don’t know about it either.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it and it’s not something we have dealt with in a significant way,” Nesselhuf said. “I haven’t dealt with the direct contracts for state employees so I was
unaware of this.”This affects coaches and
other members in the athlet-ic department because other programs can offer multiyear deals.
USD Athletic Director Joel Nielsen said it’s common for states to have statutes for the length of a contract, but not just a one-year contract.
“The statutes state that the multiyear contracts can only be a certain number of years, but the one-year statute is very unusual,” Nielsen said.
If the statute was changed,
Nielsen said it would put the university on equal ground with other peer institutions.
“It would put us in a more competitive situation, but if it were changed, we wouldn’t just go out and sign everyone on staff to multiyear deals,” Nielsen said. “But this could make a difference if we are looking at a head coach and so are other schools in the area. That person then has to decide if he wants a multiyear deal or one-year deal. It hasn’t
By juSTin RuSTThe VolanTe
PlEASE SEE contracts, PAGE b8
usd earns 41 top 10s at unl invite“Bittersweet” would proba-
bly be the best way to describe how USD women’s track and field head coach Lucky Huber felt about the team’s perfor-mance last weekend at the Nebraska Invitational.
The positive part of the meet was that USD took home 41 top-10 finishes in a meet that included the University
of Nebraska as well as pow-erful Barton Community Col-lege (KS). Of the 41 top 10 placements, 23 came from the women’s team in the meet that featured eight teams.
The part of the meet Huber said he was displeased with, however, was the perceived lack of intensity from his team.
“I was a little disappoint-ed in our performances this weekend,” Huber said. “I just
didn’t feel like we stepped up and competed quite as well as I thought we should have.”
There were bright spots that came through for the Coyote women. Senior Heath-er Kuhlmann brought home USD’s lone title in the 5,000-meter run. Teammate and fellow senior Kelsey Maloney chipped in with a third-place finish in the 5K.
Huber said he was pleased with Kuhlmann and Maloney’s
effort and said he hopes they can continue to compete with that same effort as the outdoor season progresses.
Maloney said the meet pre-sented an opportunity for a competitive race.
“It was just good to get out there on a pretty nice day and get a decent 5K time in before we go to some of the bigger meets,” Maloney said.
Like Huber, Maloney found some positives and negatives
with her race.“I was pretty happy with
my effort this weekend, but I know I can go quite a bit fast-er,” Maloney said. “(I’m) just looking to getting better every day and every week.”
Huber added that although the team may not have been at its best last weekend, there’s no need for the team to panic. He said the athletes are work-
PlEASE SEE TRaCk, PAGE b7
By Ryan mOOReThe VolanTe
STaTuTe STiPulaTiOnS
· Only one-year contracts can be offered to state employees.
· The contracts run from June 22 of the current year to July 21 of the next year.
· This stipulation has been part of the South Dakota state consitution since it was originally ratified in 1890.
2milliondollars Great expectations hopes to raise during the five-year transition
10million 62,500dollars donated during five years to choose the sport and name of a scholarship dollars in annual resources for
scholarships, staff and operations
Increase scholarships from 103 to 165 annually
Great expectations currently funds 31 full scholarships
UsD atHLEtIcs scorEs D-I DonatIons
When President James Abbott announced the school’s aspiration to transform into a Divi-sion I athletics program in 2006, an additional $2 million in annual resources was required for scholarships, staffing and operations for the 17 sports during the five transitional years while the Coyotes prepared to enter as full members in the division.
Since this move, the university went to a Divi-sion I model for fundraising with donations steadily increasing yearly, USD athletic director
Joel Nielsen said. “One of the goals and necessities is to raise
more money externally for the move,” Nielsen said. “We have had a lot of support from the Foundation, instituted a new fundraising model, and hired a consultant whose soul purpose is to raise revenue for the department.”
Through fundraising and donations, the ath-letic department received $520,895 in 2006-07, $722,045 during the 2007-08 year and more than $750,000 this year, Nielsen said.
To accommodate the transition, the athletic department stopped individual team fundraisers and concentrated on Howling Pack fundraising,
the athletic department’s general fund. It also started the Great Expectations scholarship pro-gram, said David Herbster, associate athletic and development director.
Unlike regular endowments to the USD Foun-dation where only interest from the donation is spent, endowments to the Great Expectations programs are spent in their entirety each year, Herbster said.
“(Scholarships) are everything,” Herbster said. “It’s going to be one of our most significant efforts that we’re undertaking right now regardless of
By jOSie keRk and Tj jeRkeThe VolanTe
Foundation brings in big bucks despite economic crisis
• BonUS BonUS •
FoUlS FoUlS
SCoRe SCoRe
PlEASE SEE FUnDs, PAGE b7
mike dailey
baseballAfter spending the first half
of the season on the road, the USD club baseball team played its first home games of the sea-son at Prentis Park last weekend and took three of four games from the Iowa State Cyclones.
Both teams had hot bats throughout the weekend, scor-ing 93 combined runs over the four games.
USD claimed game one 18-15 Saturday. Freshman Elliot Smith had two home runs in the game and sophomore Trevor Freudenthal had a grand slam to help the Coyotes come out on top.
“Our first game was a massive shootout,” senior club president Adam Gale said. “It was one of those games where everyone was hitting. We were fortunate to have some solid pitching at the end to get the win.”
The Coyotes won Saturday’s second game 12-8, scoring 12 runs on just seven hits with nine walks.
USD got off to a slow start Sunday against the Cyclones, losing the first game 13-2. The team bounced back in the series finale, winning 13-12 in eight innings. Senior Wes Robertsen had three hits and three RBIs to
lead the USD offensive attack.Senior Chase Hetland went
9-for-17 over the weekend, col-lecting seven RBIs and four doubles. Senior Randall Water-bury also had a strong series at the plate, going 10-for-15 with five RBIs.
The first three games of the series counted toward USD’s Central Plains Conference record. The Coyotes are now 7-7 overall and 4-2 in the confer-ence.
Although USD won three of the four games against Iowa State, Gale said he is worried about the team’s pitching, as the Coyotes gave up 48 runs and 25 walks over the four games.
“There were a lot of runs scored,” Gale said. “Our bats are always going to be there, but we’re getting concerned with our pitchers and their ability to throw strikes. They just can’t seem to find the strike zone sometimes, but we did have a couple of our relievers step up when they needed to.”
USD will resume conference action this weekend against Minnesota State University-Mankato at Prentis Park. The Coyotes have their next two weekend series at home.
Gale said the crowd support and playing on their own turf has been a welcomed change since the Coyotes started out
the first month of the season on the road.
“It was really nice that we were able to sleep in our own beds,” Gale said. “It makes it a lot easier on the guys when you get to play on the same field you practice on and it’s reassuring that we don’t have to travel for awhile.”
Gale said the games against Mankato will be very important since USD has to take on the University of Iowa, the confer-ence’s top team, the follow-ing weekend. Last year against Mankato, Gale said the Coyotes had some accuracy issues from the mound and struck a couple of Mavericks batters, which may lead to some bad blood between the two teams.
“In the season preview they said they were gunning for us,” Gale said. “We’re going to have to get off to a good start against them this weekend and come out with a few wins to keep our
position in the conference.”
lacrosseThe young USD club lacrosse
team gained valuable experi-ence Saturday at Dordt College, but with just 10 players mak-ing the trip, the Coyotes didn’t stand much of a chance against the Sowers.
Because USD had just 10 players at Sioux Center, Iowa, for the game, the team was unable to make any substitutions and ended up losing 18-0.
Junior David Hansen, the club president and team’s lead-ing scorer, had to play goalie for the game. It was his first time ever playing that position, and without his scoring ability on offense, the Coyotes were unable to muster any goals.
With no seniors on the ros-ter, Hansen said he was just happy some of the younger players were able to get some more playing time under their
belts against Dordt, which has been one of the Coyotes’ rivals over the years.
“It was a good experience for the new guys because they got a feel of what it’s like to play a team that comes with a lot of contact and hits a lot,” Hansen said.
Hansen said the Coyotes gave up 13 goals in the first half and five in the second, which he said was an encouraging sign.
“We kept them down once we got the hang of it and that made me happy for the fact that next year they’re going to know what it’s like against these guys,” Hansen said.
The Coyotes will host Cornell College in their season finale April 25 at 4 p.m.
Hansen said USD eas-ily defeated Cornell last year on the road when the Coyotes were playing with a small roster and expects his team to have a good showing against Cornell this year since the game is at home and more players will be able to participate.
“We should be able to win and end the season strong,” he said.
RugbyAfter a few weeks between
games, the USD men’s rugby club will resume action Sat-urday on the road against the Black Hills men’s club team.
Senior Sam Clikeman, the team’s president, said the Black Hills team is just a year old, but has men on the roster who have 10 to 15 years of experience and expects them to pose a strong challenge.
“It should be good game,” Clikeman said. “We’ve had a couple of guys drop out in the last few weeks, but we should have enough guys that we’ll do a little bit of damage and I’ve got a feeling we should be able to beat those guys.”
ment announced the foot-ball team will host Drake University Sept. 19, 2009, in the DakotaDome.
Drake is a Division I program that competes in the Pioneer Football League. The Bulldogs fin-ished the 2008 season with a 6-5 record after winning the final four games of the season.
The game against Drake will replace the game with Wisconsin-Stout that was originally scheduled for Sept. 19.
With the addition of Drake to the schedule, the Coyotes will now play nine Football Championship Subdivision opponents in 2009.
eye On The GWC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week The Vol-ante sports staff will interview a member of the USD athletic community and ask them off-the-wall questions. Enjoy the hilarity.
Mel Johnson is a sophomore out-fielder and pitcher for the USD softball team. She is batting .283 with 19 RBI’s and leads the team in homers with five. On the mound, she has a record of 3-2 with a 3.50 earned run average.
Justin Rust: You lead the team in homers, so have you always been a power hitter?
Mel Johnson: Actually no. I didn’t hit my first home run until I got to college. That was a surprise to me. Then coach told me she wanted me to be the clean-up hitter this season, so I worked on my strength in the offseason and my swing.
JR: Now the power is all natural, cor-rect? No performance-enhancing sub-stances?
MJ: People say that I do, but defi-nitely not. My friends who don’t play soft-ball do give me crap about it.
JR: You actually played against a high school teammate this past weekend against Missouri-Kansas City.
MJ: It was tough because Taya (Upkes) is one of my best friends and we’ve played together for a lot of years. It was weird playing on opposite sides. Plus she pitched against us and I haven’t hit off her since I was about 12. It was difficult.
JR: Was there some friendly banter
going between you two before or after the game?
MJ: Not really after the game because she won. Before the game, we did. We had this whole thing planned out that she was going to hit me and I was going to charge the mound. We didn’t do it, but it would’ve been funny.
JR: You are a veterinary medicine major. Why did you choose that major?
MJ: I have loved animals my whole life and I have wanted to be a vet since I was little. I’m in all the classes now so I can become one.
JR: Did you always have a pet when you were younger?
MJ: I actually didn’t get my first pet until I was 10 when we got a dog and I was begging my parents for a pet for a while before that. The dog that we adopted was eight and he lived until he
was 17, so we grew up together. Once he passed away, we got two dogs and now it’s tough being away from them because I am so used to them.
JR: One of your favorite shows is the TV game show “Lingo.” How would you do on that game?
MJ: The catcher Rachel Fricke and I would dominate. We watched that show every day in Florida and yelled out what the words were. We should be on that show because we were getting the words before the contestants.
JR: For baseball, you are a Yankees fan. Are they going to make the playoffs this year?
MJ: I hope they do. I am a big Derek Jeter fan and the reason I wear number two is because of him.
South dakota 22-17Houston baptist 13-18Utah Valley 15-22North Dakota 6-25
Results, fri., april 10north dakota 6, South dakota 5missouri-kansas City7, South dakota 5Missouri-Kansas City 6, North Dakota 1Utah Valley 8, Northern Colorado 7
Results, Sun., april 11South dakota 9, north dakota 5missouri-kansas City 5, South dakota 2North Dakota 3, Missouri-Kansas City 2
upcoming Games, Thurs., april 16Sioux falls at South dakota, 4 p.m.
upcoming Games, fri., april 17jamestown at South dakota, 4 p.m.
uSd Club Sports ReportBy maTT dahSleid
The VolanTe
CaRiSSa GROSS / The VOlanTeA USD batter connects with a pitch during one of Sunday’s two games against Iowa State. USD scored 45 runs during the series.
CaRiSSa GROSS / The VOlanTeUSD sophomore pitcher Allan Scherschlidt makes gets ready to release a pitch during Sunday’s games against Iowa State.
anything else that happens. If we don’t have the scholarships, we can’t recruit.”
Jeanette Hubert, assistant athletic director for adminis-tration, said 278 USD student-athletes received athletic aid during the 2007-08 school year. About 103 students received full scholarships, which includes tuition, fees, room and board and books.
The Howling Pack is a six-level membership club for those who make a donation in turn for benefits ranging from seating, parking, tailgate slots, football and basketball game Webcasts and video board rec-ognition. Nielsen said the ath-letic department is aiming to increase the membership base to expand contributions back to USD.
Because state funds are not allowed to be used for athletic scholarships, Great Expecta-tions, now in its second year, is a major gift campaign that currently funds 31 full scholar-ships from private donations. The program aims to raise $10 million during the transition-al years to increase total full scholarships from 103 to 165 annually.
“Great Expectations is a short five-year window looking at raising additional money that will go to increase the budget and provide more funding for expenses,” Nielsen said. “We are asking people to give a five-year commitment to help give to this new campaign.”
Scholarship dollars need to increase from $1.3 million to $2.3 million annually to be competitive with other Division I schools and accommodate inflation costs, Herbster said.
“Once we’re at our funding level in each one of those sports, we’ll be as competitive as our peers in Division I,” Herbster said.
Donors who pledge at least $62,500 in support over five years are able to chose a pre-ferred sport and name the scholarship, a regular policy by the Foundation, Herbster said.
Though the program relies on private donors, Herbster is not worried about the effect of the economy on fundrais-ing $125,000 annually for Great Expectations.
“It’s still such a reasonable investment, that’s why I’m still optimistic that we won’t be hurt dramatically,” he said. “In the next week we’ll have a really good idea of how the economy
is affecting us in those areas,”This week, the athletic
department will begin renew-ing season football tickets and corporate sponsorships, Herb-ster said.
Although they will receive donations from corporate sponsorships and revenue from ticket and concession sales, the fundraising must rely on indi-vidual donors for the majority of the funds.
“We are cautious but hopeful that fans will stick with us with donations and tickets,” Nielsen said.
On April 1, senior USD golfer Brett Bennett was named the Great West Golfer of the Week.
Years ago, Bennett would never have imagined earning such an honor. In fact, it took awhile for Bennett to realize he had a future in golf.
When Bennett was younger, baseball was his sport. He played it for many years in grade school, but was not one of the heavy hit-ters on the team.
During the weekends in the summers, Bennett and his father would go out to the course to play golf.
“It was something that I just picked up by playing with him during the summer,” Bennett said. “I was having trouble hit-ting the baseball so I decided to take up golf when I was in sixth grade.”
Bennett soon realized when he entered high school the sport of golf was not just a hobby, but also a challenging competition
and a social experience.“Since we played within the
state, I made a lot of new friends by playing against them over and over again,” Bennett said.
Golf became a serious pas-sion for Bennett. Each year in high school, Bennett improved his game and realized he may be able to continue his passion into college.
“Golf in high school was a great learning experience for me,” Bennett said. “Overall, I had fun and got to be very good at golf during high school.”
Bennett was also an avid hockey player. On the ice, Ben-nett’s team developed a rivalry against the team from Brook-ings. With college coming up, Bennett had to decide which school to attend. Bennett said this hockey rivalry helped make his decision.
“I actually never even visited USD’s campus for a tour before I came to school here,” Bennett said. “I hated Brookings because of our hockey rivalry. But I met with the USD golf coach (Dennis
Chandler) and played some golf with him. I like playing with him so I decided to come to USD.”
Through the next few years, Bennett continued his growth as a golfer.
He said he was nervous at first playing for USD in the North Central Conference, but eventu-ally adapted to the higher level of competition.
“High school and college just has this gap of where you are and where you should be,” Ben-nett said. “But the first two years are gaining more knowledge of the sport and getting the feel of the college game.”
Assistant coach Wally Byrne, a former teammate of Bennett’s at USD, said Bennett’s personal-ity has been an asset to the team since his arrival.
“He is always upbeat and always has a smile on his face,” Byrne said. “He is very laid back, both on and off the course, and always is having fun.”
Now in his senior year, Ben-nett has become USD’s top golf-er. After the hard work and prog-
ress he made in his first three years, Bennett said he was aim-ing to make his senior year of college a successful one.
Bennett, however, had a new task to take on. In USD’s first year at the Division I level, he has had to become the leader of the team, since he is the only senior on either the men’s or women’s rosters.
“In the past, there were always seniors there to help everyone out,” Bennett said. “Now I’m the only one. But I definitely try to help out everyone just by tell-ing the team to take every meet one shot at a time. And I try to get to know the women so I can help them out as well. I’m just trying to make everyone better golfers.”
Byrne said even though Ben-nett is the only leader of the team now, it does not get to his head.
“Brett is our senior leader and has developed some good leadership this year,” Byrne said. “But he’s still just one the guys.”
Members of the men’s team have been greatful for Bennett’s
guidance.“Brett is an incredibly solid
player,” sophomore John Flaten said. “He definitely fills in the leadership role for the team.”
With the added pressure of being a leader, Bennett still aimed for success in his senior year. During USD’s opening meet at the Augustana Fall Invitation-al, Bennett achieved success by winning the individual champi-onship by four strokes. Then the Coyotes held their home invite March 29, where Bennett led the Coyotes to a second-place finish while he placed fifth overall.
A few days later, the Great West Conference recognized Bennett’s success by naming him the Male Golfer of the Week.
“It was a very nice honor, but I didn’t even know there was such a thing until (head coach Danny Sinksen) told me,” Bennett said. “It’s the first time I’ve been given anything like that and there it was on the front of the Great West’s Web site.”
After giving up one sport, turning a hobby into a competi-
tive drive and developing his game through high school and college, Bennett continues to strive to improve his play.
“He has found a new drive to get better at the game this year,” Byrne said. “It has been nice to see.”
With the conference cham-pionship April 19-21, Bennett is now focusing on finishing his college career as a golfer on a high note.
“I’m feeling pretty good going into the competition,” Bennett said. “I would like to finish in the top five and help the team get to compete for the championship and just have fun.”
Flaten said having Bennett on the team both helps lower USD’s score and makes the environ-ment more enjoyable.
“His scores help carry along and he just makes things fun,” Flaten said. “He’s a fun guy to be around.”
Though this is the last year of collegiate golf for Bennett, this is not the end for him and his sport.
“I’m definitely going to be keeping up with golf after grad-uation,” Bennett said. “I could never give it up because I just have too much fun with it. I would really like to go pro in it, but I will have to keep play-ing and playing and two or three years down the road, I could be there.”
Funds: athletic department has $10 million goal for transition
CONTINUED FROM PAGE b5
maRCuS BROOkS / The VOlanTeUSD senior Brett Bennett holds his follow through as his teammates look on during Tuesday’s practice for the upcoming Great West Conference Championships in Houston.
maRCuS BROOkS / The VOlanTeBennett watches his putt go in the hole during practice Tuesday.
ing and training hard in prac-tice.
“(The Nebraska Invite) was kind of our first real (outdoor) meet of the year,” Huber said. “I think we have some rust to get knocked off.”
But rust has not been a problem for sophomore sprinter Jared Clement so far this season. Clement has been running well of late and continued that trend with a fourth-place finish (10.8 sec-onds) in the 100-meter dash in Lincoln.
The men’s team also received a fourth-place per-
formance from senior Tane Owens in the pole vault com-petition. Owens also pocketed fifth place in the javelin throw.
USD men’s head coach Dave Gottsleben said he was extremely happy with his team’s performance, specifi-cally Clement’s races.
“Jared Clement had a tre-mendous meet,” Gottsleben said. “He leads the conference in the 100, and he ran a per-sonal record in the 200.”
Gottsleben mentioned several other athletes he was pleased with, including senior thrower Ben Walters.
With his throws this week-end, Walters currently leads
the Great West Conference in all of the throwing events (shot put, discus and hammer throw).
After the performances of Clement and Owens, the Coyote men featured many placements between sixth and 10th.
Gottsleben said although the placements weren’t very high for the team, he’s looking beyond meets like the Nebras-ka Invite.
“We’re not a Nebraska yet,” Gottsleben said. “But I feel like we’re a Great West Conference team, and that’s what I’m most concerned with.”
Gottsleben added that as time goes on and USD track and field becomes better fund-ed with the move to Division I, he expects he’ll be able to evaluate his team against the likes of Nebraska and other big-time D-I schools.
“For now, we’re in good shape,” Gottsleben said. “We didn’t beat too many people (at the Nebraska Invite), but we’re right there.”
The USD track teams will continue their journey into D-I this weekend. Some ath-letes will travel to Kansas to compete in the Kansas Relays from Thursday through Satur-day and others will stay closer to home to compete in the Sioux City Relays Friday and Saturday.
Both Huber and Gottsleben said the athletes who will be in Sioux City will be looking for more repetitions in their respective events.
After the two meets this weekend, USD will be compet-ing in five more meets before the Great West Conference Outdoor meet May 14-16 in Houston.
BRian BROekemeieR / The VOlanTeSenior Ben Walters works on his throws during practice last week. Walters has the top mark in the Great West in all throwing events.
The howling Pack• The annual fundraising program of the athletic Department at The University of South Dakota.
• Initially established in 1991 to support special needs by the athletic department that were not covered in the budget.
• Formally a Sioux Falls, S.D., based booster group for Coyote athletics.
• every donation will receive documentation as a receipt showing where the funds are allocated.
• Designed to only support Coyote athletics through scholarship and programmatic support.
• Gifts may be designated to specific sports while the donor receives the full benefits of the howling Pack.
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come into play yet, but it is a consideration.”
Nielsen said he hasn’t had any conversations with state legislators about changing the statute. The only time the topic has come up was during USD’s consultation on mov-ing to Division I.
The topic has been brought up at South Dakota State Uni-versity in the past couple of years.
Last year it was brought up when SDSU’s volleyball coach Andrew Palileo left for Wash-ington State. This year, SDSU supporters have fired away on message boards and blogs wondering if the university can keep women’s basketball coach Andrew Johnston after the success he has garnered the last few years.
Despite the recent talks, Nesselhuf said he doesn’t see a change in the near future.
“If it’s brought to us from an athletic standpoint, then it might get more traction, but the state doesn’t have a high opinion of state employees,” Nesselhuf said. “Anytime we have tried to change the con-stitution, the default answer has been no.”
Nessulhuf said any change to the statute would mean a change in the constitution, which would require a vote by the public.
The earliest the public could vote on the issue, if it is even brought forward, is in 2010, he said.
“It would be a difficult change to make,” Nesselhuf said. “I don’t know who would come against it, but there are always people who don’t want changes to the constitu-tion. Anytime anyone in this state wants to get ahead of the curve, you can bet there will be someone ready to pull them down.”
Nielsen said he only knew of one state which had the same statute as South Dako-ta.
“Montana revised its policy
two or three years ago, and at that point they mentioned there were only a handful of states who were working with this same statute,” Nielsen said.
The typical contracts for coaches and administration are multiyear contracts which include a buyout, and the contract is agreed to by both parties involved.
The buyout is there just in case the coach decides to leave or if the coach is termi-nated before the end of the contract.
Even though USD cannot offer the security of a long-term contract, Nielsen said it hasn’t affected the athletic program.
“It’s something that is talk-ed about, but it hasn’t h i n d e r e d us being able to hire, what I feel are capable and com-petent head c o a c h e s ,” N i e l s e n said. “I’m not saying this won’t come up in the future, but to this point it’s been a discussion topic and hasn’t affected the talent pool we look at.”
Each year in May, Nielsen puts a performance evaluation together for each employee and after the reviews, he will make recommendations to USD President James Abbott.
Nielsen said his recom-mendations are usually fol-lowed.
“I’ve had discussions on employees, but I haven’t had a situation that my recommen-dation hasn’t been approved,” Nielsen said. “It’s like any other place. You have dis-cussions about how they are doing, but you hire someone to do their jobs and you trust them to know who should be retained and who shouldn’t.”
The USD softball team has hit a bump in the road as it looks for its first winning sea-son since 2003.
Last weekend, the Coyotes traveled to Kansas City, Mo., for four games. Two were against the University of North Dakota and the other two were against the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
USD lost three of the four games and is went 2-7 the last couple of weekends.
Despite the rough stretch, head coach Amy Klyse said she doesn’t really have any con-cerns.
“We just need to get back to playing our brand of softball,” Klyse said. “What we are focus-ing on is not letting whoever we are playing answer back when we score some runs and just getting it done out on the field.”
In the three losses last week-end, USD had the lead in two of the games and was tied in the other contest.
Junior Jasey Goedeken said the team is just making some silly errors in the field.
“We need to play defense for all seven innings,” Goede-ken said. “We are kind of let-ting down our defense when we get ahead.”
The Coyotes have 63 errors on the year for a fielding per-centage of .941, compared to their opponents’ percentage of .960.
“Our defense has had its ups and downs, and now is a down time,” Klyse said. “The errors have hurt us in a couple of games. We just have to bear down, keep it simple and make the play.”
Klyse isn’t planning on mak-ing any changes to the defen-sive alignment because most of the players see time already.
UND and UMKC came into the round-robin tourna-ment last weekend with less than stellar records. UND was 4-23 and UMKC was 12-26. USD went 1-1 against UND and dropped both games to UMKC.
Klyse said the team should’ve
won at least three out of the four games last weekend.
“Those are the games when afterwards you don’t say ‘Good job, you gave it your all or they are just a good team,’” Klyse said. “These are definitely teams we should’ve beat and should’ve had a better out-come.”
The Coyotes had a chance to redeem themselves Tuesday with a doubleheader against UND at home.
USD did just that as the Coyotes won the first game by a narrow 3-1 margin, and then handled UND in the second game 7-3.
The two wins put the Coy-otes seven games over .500 with a record of 24-17.
UND now drops to 6-27 on the season.
Klyse said the team gets more excited when they face UND this year than other teams on the schedule.
“Right now it’s us and UND because you don’t have that feel for any conference games,” Klyse said. “It’s really the only rivalry we have right now that we can build on and that makes it more fun to come back and play that game.”
The games against UND were originally scheduled to
be played in Grand Forks, but due to the flooding in North Dakota, the games were moved to Vermillion. USD will now travel to Grand Forks on April 24 for a doubleheader against UND instead of having the games in Vermillion.
The change in the schedule also means USD will conclude its home schedule for the sea-son this week.
The Coyotes will take on the University of Sioux Falls Thursday at 4 p.m. and then Jamestown College Friday at 4 p.m. Both matchups will be doubleheaders.
Klyse said it’s great to finally have some games back home again.
“I think everybody is ready to be back and do what they can do out on the field,” Klyse said. “It’s a big benefit to just be able to sleep in your own bed, eat at home and be around people you are familiar with for once.”
USD did have another change to its schedule. The Coyotes were slated to play Morningside College on Sun-day in Sioux City, Iowa, but the games have been cancelled.
