www.easternprogress.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

Independent student publication of Eastern Kentucky University since 1922

SEE THREAT, PAGE 3

By TOPHER PAYTON christopher_payto3@mymail.eku.edu

THE

By KASEY TYRINGkasey_tyring@mymail.eku.edu

Graffiti unrelated to last semester's scare, police say

How the threat gained steam through social media

"While there is no evidence of an imminent danger there has been an escalation in the threat, originating from social media."

For many Eastern students, social media was the first time students heard about the EKU threat. On Wednes-day, the conversations on various social media sites hit a fever pitch and the subsequent unease of the campus community prompted Eastern officials to shut down campus.

In an interview with radio station WEKU, Eastern

President Michael Benson explained why social media played a critical part in the decision to close campus Thursday and Friday.

"The chat volume on social media had gone up ex-ponentially and we made that call because it was at the level that people could not feel comfortable and safe, so that's when we made the decision," Benson said.

Between early Monday morning and Wednesday af-ternoon, students and community members shared news stories and different theories about the threat through multiple platforms.

According to Topsy, a Twitter analytics service, a total of 860 tweets specifically mentioned the "EKU threat" over the past 30 days.

In the past 10 days, the term "EKU" has shown up more than 17,000 times on Twitter. While some of the posts mentioning EKU did not pertain to the threat, some of the most prominent posts about threat did not mention "EKU threat" but only EKU.

The first post to be shared widely across social media platforms was a screen-grab from a professor's private Facebook page. The post was published Tuesday morn-ing. The professor said they were unaware an image of their post was being circulated. They said they were only aware of one person related to EKU who even liked and commented on the post.

Another post to go viral Tuesday was a Facebook screen-grab created by an Eastern criminology student.

The post originated on Facebook but the image ap-peared on Instagram, and Twitter.

Kelsey Basham, 21, a criminal justice senior, from Elizabethtown and the post's creator said she made the post after she discussed all the different theories in one of her criminology classes. Once she felt like she had added it all up she decided to share it with her roughly 900 Facebook friends.

SEE SOCIAL MEDIA, PAGE 3

Internet forums conjure a link between graffiti threat and 'beta males'

FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND 4CHAN AMPLIFIED UNCONFIRMED THREATS AND THEORIES

The beta male, a lonely, depressed and misunderstood creature. He surfaces from the depths of his dark computer-moni-tor-lit basement to go out into a world that mocks and deprives him of a mate only to return with a microwavable food supply and porn. His only solace is the message boards of 4chan, scantily dressed anime fe-males and the thoughts of one day righting the wrongs done to all beta males.

This is the image that has been conjured from the online Internet culture.

When the words "KILL ALL BY 10/08/15 THIS BU OOP" were found in a mens restroom in the Powell Building, the inclusion of the letters BU, led some to speculate it signified some sort of upris-ing by the long misunderstood beta males. The speculation intensified when screen-grabbed images of 4chan forums con-

firmed the threat.So what is the beta uprising? A response from Reddit's Out Of The

Loop message board, attempts to explain: The beta uprising refers to the beta men -- men who women have rejected -- some day will have a violent uprising. Because they're so frustrated with being passed over, they'll take back society. The poster later comments: "TO BE CLEAR the beta uprising isn't something real."

According to 4chans statistical data, the majority of 4chan users are young, col-lege-educated men with an interest in Jap-anese culture, video games, comics and technology. Does our elusive beta male lay and wait for an ambush attack within the forums of 4chan?

There are several online forums where beta males vent their frustrations and con-tempt for the alpha male (the beta males natural predator) such as Reddit and Some-thing Awful. These forums and others like them have been dubbed the manosphere.

Some are just forums for lonely guys to share stories, interests, hobbies and other relevant rhetoric to the beta males plight. But others are more menacing and pro-mote gender bias and violence.

Although, not all forum sites are men-acing or promote violence toward wom-en and alpha males, 4chan is anonymous and the rules and regulations of the site are very lax. This leads to virtually no ac-countability and could serve as a breeding ground for a rogue beta male.

According to The Washington Post, Chris Harper-Mercer, shooter at UCC, could have belonged to an Internet com-munity of beta males, calling themselves incels or involuntary celibates.

Even more disturbing, Elliot Rodger, who murdered six people in Santa Barba-ra, California on May 23, 2014, also iden-tified as an incel, according to The Wash-ington Post.

This may shed light into the basement of the beta male.

Most recently, the FBI warned officials in Philadelphia about an anonymous post on 4chan stating "a fellow robot will take up arms against a university near Philadel-phia. His cries will be heard, his victims will cower in fear, and the strength of the Union will decay a little more."

Because the post did not target a specif-ic college, all surrounding colleges alerted their student body and enhanced security

on each campus. No classes were canceled.The following day Philadelphia Com-

munity College issued a Shelter In Place after reports of a man threatened a stu-dents with a gun and then entered a cam-pus building. No shots were fired and it's unclear if the incident was related to the 4chan post or Beta Uprising.

According to The Washington Post, 4chan is the original incubator for most memes and behaviors that we now consid-er central to mainstream Internet culture and is responsible for some of the largest hoaxes, cyberbullying incidents and Inter-net pranks of the past five years.

When users orchestrate major hoaxes or pranks they will often create fake Twit-ter accounts and hashtags to popularize the story or attract media attention, ac-cording to The Washington Post. This in-cludes the meme Pepe the Frog, some-what of a mascot for the beta uprising.

Chances are, the beta male is as real as his mascot; a hoax and/or Internet prank originating from 4chan forums. Just as Pepe the Frog has been fueled by social media to become part of the mainstream Internet culture, so too has the beta male.

By KRISTI BRANHAMkristi_branham5@mymail.eku.edu

SEE BETA, PAGE 3

Theories and continuing threats spread quickly via social media, which administrators said played a role in their decision to cancel school last week.

BUT SCANT EVIDENCE EXISTS ASIDE FROM ANONYMOUS POSTINGS

Eastern was on high alert after graf-fiti was found in a bathroom which said KILL ALL BY 10-8-15 THIS BU OOP. The threat was found ear-ly Monday, Oct. 5, by a campus custo-dial worker. The custodial worker im-mediately called police and from there a public safety alert was sent out to

all Eastern students, said Emergency Manager Gary Folckemer.

Folckemer said that due to the lack of specificity in the threat, the emer-gency management team decided on a timely notification to the community first thing Monday morning.

In response, several campus events were immediately rescheduled and Model Laboratory School closed their doors until the following Wednesday,

Oct. 14.Model administrators made the de-

cision to close in the interest of safe-ty Kristi Middleton, university spokes-woman said. Model was already closed on Friday for a staff development day, and the following Monday and Tues-day for fall break.

So that population serves minor

COURTESTY OF WKYT

Page 2 The Eastern Progress, Thursday, October 15, 2015

BRIEFSCAMPUSBRIEFSCAMPUS

Student organizations rally for pro-life event

Beginning at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21, on Powell Corner, members of Students for Life, College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty will be joining in a silent pro-life protest. PROject LIFE intends to present the scientific argument for defending hu-man life in its earliest stages.

The rally will feature a visual presen-tation to depict the jaw dropping num-ber of lives that were denied the right to live since Roe v. Wade. There will also be literature available for students to il-lustrate the science of pre-born human development, and offer proposals for how to aid women who find themselves in terribly difficult positions.

If you would like to join in the efforts to spread knowledge of human devel-opment and why it is necessary to pro-tect human life, contact Dustin Isaacs at dustin.isaacs1517@gmail.com.

Dustin Isaacs

Lunch discussion to celebrate different cultures

The Diversity Office will host a brown bag discussion from noon to 1 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, in the south ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building.

The event will celebrate people from different cultures and offer an inside look of their world, according to the press release.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own lunch, but beverages and chocolates will be complimentary.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Pau-la Hansford at (859) 622-6587 or visit www.diversity.eku.edu.

Lecture to discuss the philosophy of social media

New York Times best-selling author William Powers will be featured in an upcoming Chautauqua lecture entitled Deeper Digital: A New Philosophy of So-cial Media at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, in ODonnell Hall, in the Whitlock Building.

Praised for its insight on the digital future, Powers book, Hamlets Black-berry, resulted from his research he did at Harvards Shorenstein Center ac-cording to the press release. The book has been selected as a Common Read and is an EKU Read.

As a result of the books impact, Powers became involved with the MIT Laboratory for Social Machines, an in-terdisciplinary collaboration that uses philosophy to rethink social media and to build technologies that the world needs in order to solve big problems and move forward, according to the press release.

All Chautauqua lectures are free and open to the public.

Author presents novel centered on Appalachia

Live @ Your Library will host a read-ing by Robert Gipe, at 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Main Library, Classroom 204D.

Gipe, a director of the Appalachian Program at Southeast Community and Technical College in Cumberland, will be reading from his first novel, Tram-poline, that was published this year, ac-cording to Easterns Appalachian stud-ies page.

Trampoline looks at modern Appala-chia through 15-year-old Dawn Jewell, who lives in a fictional Canard Coun-ty, Kentucky. She lives with her addict mother and her mountaintop remov-al activist mammaw, according to the page.

The novel follows the unconvention-al coming-of-age heroine who listens to Black Flag, learns to drive, deals with mean girls and explores a first love.

Light refreshments will be served at the event.

Week of Nov. 13 Nov. 19THE COLONELS CALENDAR

Week of Oct. 15 Oct. 21

THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY10 a.m. Brains and Bods Unite! Powell Corner 5 p.m. Live @ Your Library: Robert Gipe Reading Main Library, Classroom 204D

7:30 p.m. The Beach Boys EKU Center for the Arts

8 p.m. Volleyball vs. Jacksonville State Jacksonville, Ala.

2 p.m. Football vs. Southeast Missouri Cape Girardeau, Mo.

3 p.m. Volleyball vs. Tennessee Tech Cookeville, Tenn.

7:30 a.m. Second Annual Student Artwork Exhibit Main Library

7 p.m. Rocksoberfest Fitness and Wellness Center

11 a.m. PROject LIFE Powell Corner

11 a.m. Pinterest Party Jaggers Room, Powell Building

5 p.m. Free Dinner and Discussion Wesley Foundation

7:30 p.m. EKU Choirs present An Evening with Jake RunestadEKU Center for the Arts

2 p.m. Soccer vs. Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville, Ill.

THE COLONELS CALENDAR

students so its a different set of safety is-sues when youre dealing with younger children, Middleton said.

Early Tuesday morning rumors were circulated around campus of threatening notes being left under the doors of rooms in Telford Hall.

Upon investigation into this new lead, EKU Police found no notes and could not find anyone who had seen a note, nor could they track where the rumor start-ed.

Residents of Telford Hall were asked to come forward to police if they had seen a note, but the students had only heard that other students had seen a note.

Students received an email on Wednesday morning stating all classes were canceled beginning at 10 a.m., and the whole campus would close for the re-mainder of the week. An official state-ment from university communications

confirmed the threat has been escalated through posts originating on social me-dia.

When things started to progress through Tuesday, eventually to [Wednes-day morning] we made the call," Benson said in an interview with WEKU. "It was to the point where there was no specific threat but in the aggregate chatter, what was happening, what was being said out there, what students were reacting to, we felt the best thing to do was to shut down for a couple days and let police and var-ious investigators look at it and see what they could come up with.

The closing of the university led to multiple cancellations and reschedules of campus events including sporting events.

The football Colonels, who were scheduled to play their second Thurs-day-home game of the season, moved their game to Georgetown University and play in their Toyota Stadium.

Soccers game against Southeast Mis-souri was also changed from 5 p.m. on Thursday at home, to 1 p.m. on Thursday at Transylvania University.

Softball was completely canceled for the week.

Wednesday night's showing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the EKU Center for the Arts was also canceled. There are no plans to resched-ule the performance.

As far as the ongoing investigation goes, Executive Director of Public Safe-ty and Risk Management Bryan Maki-nen said there is information the police department and their partners have that they will not release to the public. How-ever, he did share that they have individ-uals they are looking into. He said EKU Police has been working closely with the Kentucky State Police Cyber Crimes Unit who were able to identify some of the in-dividuals they are looking at.

Makinen also said there is no reason to believe the threat is related to last Feb-ruarys threat found in a mens bathroom in the Combs Building reading "BRING-ING GUN TO HERE 2/11/15 DEAD STUDENTS.

Each one is an isolated incident in and of itself, Makinen said. The two do not appear in any way, shape or form to be linked.not similar handwriting, not anything about the mechanics appears to be consistent with one another.

Benson said the reason they offered the $10,000 reward came from reviewing the actions administrators took while handling the February threat.

After the February incident we did [an evaluation] of how it went and what we could do better and we decided this time, in order to elicit from individuals theyd be more inclined if a reward were offered, and we said yeah, that would probably entice people,'Benson said.

Makinen said they are still encour-aging anyone to come forward with in-formation they might have on the threat and whos responsible.

Benson had this to say about the in-vestigation:

We will pursue every lead as ag-gressively as we need to and pursue ev-ery possible conviction that we need to if this person is found guilty and show folks we will not stand for this.

If any students hear any substantial reports of notes given to students or any-thing else related to the threat, they are asked to immediately contact campus police at 859-622-1111.

THREATFROM PAGE 1

"I was just like, you know what, no one is telling us this stuff and it really makes sense to me and Im sure people would like to know whats going on if this po-tentially was what's happening," Basham said. "So thats when I decided to post it.

Basham said she knew the university was probably already aware of the theory but couldn't share it because it wasn't 100 percent confirmed.

The university is limited on what information they can tell us," Basham said. "Especially if that information isnt verified so my intent was not to put information out there, it was just speculation. I know nobody really knows what the meaning is behind it but if there is a po-tential that I can say something that can put everyone a little bit more aware of whats going on so they can take some precaution on campusthen Id like to take that opportunity with the information that I know and let everyone else know it.

Basham said she didn't know exactly how many times her post was shared but is aware of at least 46 shares be-tween Instagram and Twitter.

The only time she was uneasy about her post getting as much attention as it did was when an anonymous user on 4chan said "Some guy on Twitter put it all to-

gether."My name is associated with putting that [theory] to-

gether and even then I was like its not a big deal but I woke up Wednesday morning to the 4chan post and was like 'Oh my goodness I can't do this,'" Basham said.

She said she called off work at her campus job be-cause she didn't feel safe. She added besides feeling scared on Wednesday, she doesn't regret posting the theory or how much attention her post received.

The purpose was to let [my Facebook friends] know of an ongoing theory; thats the first thing I said," Bash-am said. "This is a theory, its not anything thats posi-tive.

I understand the university doesnt want to draw at-tention and doesnt want to cause this big chaotic rising of everybody freaking out all over the board but at the same time we should be able to know what the possible theories are," Basham said.

Other posts originating from anonymous sourc-es such as Yik Yak, Snapchat and 4chan were quickly copied and posted on social media sites. The most viral anonymous posts included a picture originating from Snapchat.

Another was allegedly from the person who made the threat. They posted anonymously on 4chan, a forum site. The post said "It was me. I plan on killing everyone in that school, you can't stop me. The only way you can stop me from killing all these FUCKING NORMIES in the school is by completing this fourteen letter word."

The post was quickly screen-grabbed and posted to social media sites where it went viral. That post alone was shared and retweeted on Twitter at least 96 times.

The posts were often times used together in a collage or photo album adding all the unconfirmed reports into one post. Shelby Selent, 20, a criminal justice junior from Louisville combined four images and the tweet re-ceived 250 retweets. Selent said the tweet had 36,295 impressions. Impressions are "times people have seen this post on Twitter," according to Twitter Help.

"My intentions of sharing the post was to inform people about what was going on and that was the quick-est way I could think of," Selton said. "I didn't think of it to get that much attention because I took a picture of the last threat and nobody really gave that much atten-tion or retweets."

Emergency Manager Gary Folckemer stressed the importance of using social media responsibly. He said because of these viral social media posts it was hard to control what people knew as the truth.

"One of the things I saw on twitter was a sort of col-lage where they took a piece of this and someone else's theory that they posted and piece of something else all together," Folckemer said. "Whether any of this was tru-ly connected, time and investigation will tell," Folcke-mer said.

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There were a multitude of factors besetting Chris Harp-er-Mercer and Elliot Rodger that led to the mass murders at UCC and Santa Barbara. Mental health issues and gun laws are no doubt included. The forums of 4chan and the "manosphere," at large can not be responsible for their de-cisions to take lives.

The beta uprising theory and the beta males responsi-ble for it seem to be nothing more than Internet angst. The letters BU could be someone taking the prank too far, it could be gibberish or just be the rants of someone desper-ate to postpone a midterm.

BETAFROM PAGE 1

Eastern's recent threat joins a series of violent events happening among college campuses nationwide.

Although miles apart, each event put college communi-ties on edge, fearing the worst would happen on their own campuses.

Oct. 1: Umpqua Community College Oregon

Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, walked into Class-room 15 in Snyder Hall smiling, wearing black clothes and a bulletproof vest, said Tracy Heu, a student in the class-room, to The New York Times.

The first reports of shots fired were received around 10:38 a.m., Heu said Mercer fired a "warning shot" towards the back of the classroom and ordered everyone to lie on their stomachs.

Heu told The New York Times that Mercer told a few students to stand up one by one, then asked if they were Christian. If they answered yes, he shot them.

Armed with multiple weapons, Mercer continued to open fire, killing nine and injuring seven.

However, while in the classroom, Mercer deemed 18-year-old Matthew Downing the "lucky one," giving him a package to give authorities.

When officers arrived at 10:46 a.m., Mercer reportedly fired at two officers without bulletproof vests. The officers fired three rounds, striking Mercer only once in the side.

Mercer returned to the classroom and fatally shot him-self, according to The New York Times.

Federal law enforcement officials said they were ex-amining an online conversation on 4chan, an anonymous

message board, and other social media forum pages, to see if they were linked to Mercer. In that, one writer said, "Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the Northwest," according to The New York Times.

Oct. 9: Northern Arizona University Arizona

Steven Jones, 18, was taken into custody after shooting four members of the Delta Chi fraternity, killing one, with a handgun near a residence hall on the campus of North-ern Arizona University, at 1:20 a.m.

The New York Times reported Gregory T. Fowler, chief of the campus police department, said Jones opened fire after two groups of students were involved in a confronta-tion near Mountain View Hall, the residence housing most of the university's fraternities and sororities.

Justin Sherman, executive director of the Delta Chi fra-ternity, confirmed Jones was not a member of Delta Chi and said the shooting was an isolated incident, not involv-ing the fraternity.

Jones claimed he was punched in the face during a con-frontation in the parking lot, according to the Northern Republic Radio. Jones then was chased as he ran to his car to retrieve his gun, yelling that he had a gun. He then shot two people approaching him from 10 feet away.

Although NAU generally prohibits weapons, they can be in vehicles as long as they are stowed, according to The New York Times.

The Associated Press reported NAU President Rita Cheng as saying the event was isolated and an unprece-dented incident and that classes would continue as sched-uled that day.

Oct. 9: Texas Southern University Texas

Just hours after the NAU incident, someone opened fire at 11:30 a.m., at Texas Southern University, killing one and injuring one, outside of the University Courtyard Apart-ments on campus.

Two suspects were detained while a third escaped, leading the university to call for a lockdown, The New York Times reported. As of Saturday, Oct. 10, the third suspect was still at large.

TSU is no stranger to gun violence with Friday's inci-dent being the third shooting that week on campus. Tues-day night one person was shot and injured and Thursday night another man was shot and injured in the same vicin-ity as Friday morning's shooting.

There was also another incident that occurred in late August where two people were shot, one was killed, after a man shot into a crowd near the same vicinity once again, according to The New York Times.

The university released a statement Friday stating uni-versity police would increase patrols and Houston police would also increase patrols around campus.

The motive for the Oct. 9 incident is unknown.

Oct. 9: Jefferson Community and Technical College

KentuckyAn anonymous call was received at 3:30 p.m. from Jef-

ferson Community and Technical College reporting pos-sible shots fired or a loud boom, according to The Courier Journal.

Students received an electronic alert at 3:39 p.m. tell-ing them to use caution, evacuate safely and seek shelter in locked rooms if possible. Minutes later, another email was sent out reporting an active shooter on campus and that police were responding.

Police did not take the threat lightly with previous threats made to Louisville and Southern Indiana Univer-sity.

Dwight Mitchell, spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department, said eight law enforcement agencies responded to the college.

After searching the buildings thoroughly, police found no evidence of a threat.

News of an all clear was given and the lockdown was lifted at 4:23 p.m., through text and Twitter alerts.

By BRIANNA WHITEbrianna_white68@mymail.eku.edu

SEVERAL SHOOTINGS AND THREATS REPORTED ACROSS THE COUNTRY OVER PAST FEW WEEKS

Campus shootings become prevalent nationwide

SOCIAL MEDIAFROM PAGE 1

KaLeigh Underwood, Editor The Eastern Progress | www.easternprogress.com Thursday, October 15, 2015

Campus safety is nothing to shrug off, and on Wednesday, Oct. 7, Eastern took a threat seriously when it cancelled classes for the remainder of that week.

The decision was a bold one, but not entirely out of line considering our country's history of gun violence and school shootings. In February, when a similar threat was written in the Combs Building bathroom stall, class was made optional for a day so students wouldn't be penalized for feeling unsafe.

The announcement came the day after the univer-sity announced they were committed to continuing classes and pursing their mission of educating its stu-dents.

"Just as we did with a similar threat last Febru-ary, we will get through this difficult time by working together, looking out for each other and remaining vigilant," President Michael Benson said in an email addressed to campus Tuesday afternoon. "I cannot emphasize enough that the University remains open and committed to its mission. Classes are being held as usual."

Less than 12 hours later, Benson released a new statement canceling classes for the week. Students, faculty and parents were concerned by the sudden

news.The bravado of the administration was something

we could all stand behind. They told us every re-source was looking into the threat, and we would all be safe so long as we stood together.

That all crumbled Wednesday morning, as stu-dents panicked over what new information the uni-versity must have had. Parents raced to campus to pick up their students. As the day progressed, the university remained tight-lipped on what caused them to cancel classes.

Later in the day, Eastern officials decided to con-solidate all the students still on campus into a hand-ful of dorms. They did this in order to implement se-curity measures to fewer dorms and better protect all the students by keeping them together.

The idea is sound, but from the students' perspec-tive it seemed like a last minute decision. It made stu-dents worry even more about what university offi-cials knew and weren't sharing.

Through emails with various administrators, we've learned there was nothing specific that caused them to shut down the campus and move the students around, but that it was done to keep residents safe. In an interview with WEKU, Benson said the volume of discussion on social media sites was the main reason for closing the university.

It took a full day for the university to answer any questions regarding their decision, and it was a day of speculation and unease.

The decision to close the university was not a bad one, it was the only one to make in that situa-

tion. Students likely wouldn't have come to campus if classes were still in session. It's hard to focus on learning when you're looking over your shoulder ev-ery other second.

But the way the administration made and an-nounced the decision should have been more trans-parent. You can't send people into a panic when they are already in a panic. And not elaborating on the reasons for the abrupt closings led to an even great-er panic.

We understand the nature of ongoing investiga-tions and how much information can and can't be re-leased, but even a simple, 'no, this rumor isn't true,' or 'yes, this rumor is true,' about the handful of rumors in circulation would have gone a long way toward easing the minds of Eastern students. That's how you create a healthy and safe atmosphere.

Another issue that arises because of this latest threat is what's going to happen next time? It's hard to say whether something would have happened if the campus was full of students Wednesday and Thurs-day, but professors and students alike were discuss-ing the coincidence that the threat was made so close to midterms.

Should we expect the campus to be held hostage every time someone doesn't want to take a test? Is the university going to say it will stand strong, only to back down at the last minute? The only thing cer-tain is that it's 2-0 for threats getting students out of classes. Soon, everyone is going to think they can get out of class by scribbling on a bathroom stall.

Progress Editoral

JenCaudill

Topher PaytonEditor-in-Chief Christopher_payto3@mymail.eku.edu

Kasey TyringManaging EditorKasey_tyring@mymail.eku.edu

Brianna WhiteNews EditorBrianna_white68@mymail.eku.edu

Kristi Branham Features EditorKristi_branham5@mymail.eku.edu

Evan Nichols Sports EditorEvan_nichols11@mymail.eku.edu

KaLeigh UnderwoodPerspectives EditorKaleigh_underwood9@mymail.eku.edu

Kayla LasureSocial/Greek Life EditorKayla_lasure@mymail.eku.edu

Lexi WaltersCopy EditorAlexia_walters29@mymail.eku.edu

Dan KlaphekeVideo EditorDaniel_klapheke@mymail.eku.edu

Amelia Wilson Design Editor Amelia_wilson111@mymail.eku.edu

Tara Leisure Designer Tara_leisure@mymail.eku.edu

Jordan Burke Designer Jordan_burke31@mymail.eku.edu

Reggie BeehnerStaff Advisor Reggie.behneer@eku.edu

Sam DodsonBusiness Manager Samantha.dodson@eku.edu

STA F F

Moving forward after UCC campus shooting

Abrupt closing left more panic than peace-of-mind

EDITOR'S NOTE: Caudill, is currently enrolled at Eastern. She attended high school in Oregon.

Pieces like these are harder to write than most. It is hard to put into words exactly what I want to say and how to convey it in a way that would make sense when I am this emotional.

On Thursday morning, everything was routine. I was meeting with a student who I mentor through the NOVA Program. I decided on a whim to check Face-book on my phone. But my feed was filled not with stu-pid memes and ordinary status updates. Instead, the feed was filled by friends from my hometown calling out for role call and to say that they were okay.

"I think there's been a shooting."I was stunned as more of these messages came in fol-

lowed by a news feed from LEX18 reporting a commu-nity college in Roseburg, Oregon, had been the scene of a shooting. At that point, I was no longer numb. I went to the first office I could before I began to shake and sob, crying out "oh my god" over and over because that's all that was in my head.

When I was in high school, I created an art book called Returning to the Roots which explored my desire to return to Kentucky where I had spent my years be-fore high school. What I didn't realize then was that I had developed stronger roots to Douglas County, Ore-gon, a fact I didn't realize until my second semester at Eastern.

I went to a small high school in Oregon, as many high schools out there are, known as Yoncalla High School. At the time, there was 100 people in total at my school, staff and students. I spent 2009-2012 there, the entirety of my high school days building strong roots to the community and to the area. In 2011-2012, I attend-ed UCC with several of my classmates in a dual-credit set up for creative writing. My mom and I would often drive to Roseburg since it was the closest larger town. By larger, I mean they had a Walmart.

Many times I had been on UCC's campus for school band and choir competitions and I spent a lot of time there for the state's honor band and honor choir. I even took my ACT there where we had been given the wrong classroom number and had to travel through campus looking for the test.

I have memories of sitting at the fountain with my best friend and her boyfriend who has grown to be like a brother to me. We would always just sit around talking while we waited for a ride off campus. There was always a singular feeling of safety on campus. Douglas County itself is a tight knit community that's extreme-ly safe and idyllic. Violent crime just doesn't happen back home. It isn't like Lexington where I regularly hear about yet another gun-related death. Things like this just don't happen, and I know that's what everyone says, but it is extremely true of Roseburg.

Over the last few days, I've felt shaken to the bone even here in Kentucky at what happened. I now know to have been emotionally distressed due to the crisis. I've spent a lot of hours not sleeping and instead talking to my close friends back home to help them through this tragedy. I'm always turning on the news for updates. I felt utterly alone and so far away from home. If I were there I would heal better because I would be with my community who is also feeling this tragedy so deeply.

I've spent hours on the phone and email and texts with my mom who is back in Oregon. Our conversations mostly consist of us just repeating "I love you." We're now hyper aware that one event can change eveything. It took talking to the Disaster Distress Helpline to real-ize that I could heal even being far from home. They ad-vised me to write about it in the coming days.

What also helped was my best friend from high school's words. She told me last night, "You're not alone. You could see it in people's eyes today especially UCC alumni," she said. "We're all trying to get through this but at least we're doing it together. We just need to move forward... Be strong for us."

"We are UCC, we are Douglas County, we are Ore-gon and our roots are strong. Even though we are shak-en now, it'll take more than yesterday's events to bring us down. We'll still be here for you."

I know this tragedy is far from here and that many are, as President Obama said, numb to this. I can un-derstand the sense of numbness for something that isn't close to home. It isn't something I wish anyone to expe-rience, and not something you can understand through

the news as they begin to follow their routine reporting and subsequent arguing over gun control policies.

Look into all the facts and not just what you hear. I offer you the resonating opinion that I share with many in my area that the answer is not more or less guns, but better mental health care for many in this coun-try. Mental health continues to be stigmatized and hard medical care is hard to access for many Americans. While a great majority of people will never commit a crime like this due to mental health, targeting the root of the problem is the only way to start to reduce the rate of violence. After all, a tool is a tool and the only way to reduce the use of a tool is to get rid of the reason it is being used.

Above all else, I ask that you don't remember my home for this shooting but for the people. Our area is full of loving and caring people that are strongly work-ing together to heal this wound. We are made up of so many different people but still exist in harmony with one another. It is peaceful and not a place where vio-lence happens. You may have heard that prayers are not enough, and in a way they aren't, but they are some-thing. Your support, your thoughts, and your prayers regardless of what religion, help us heal. But action is what will help to prevent it from happening again.

I ask you to not focus on the shooter. He doesn't de-serve to be glamorized and sensationalized. Instead, share in the experiences of the survivors, take in the memory of the victims, and don't let this become just another statistic and forgotten tragedy. Please, remem-ber my home as it was and what we try to make it be once again.

Remember Douglas County as I do: tall strong fir trees, people who bring you pie because you just moved in; a community quick to accept someone new as one of their own. Teachers who love their students and care about their personal stories. People who want to learn and give back to the community that nested them and raised them. Think of us as a place of peace, a place where businesses open their doors to those in need. Where despite hardships, people still respect and love each other enough that violence just doesn't happen.

Remember us. Remember them. In remembering, reach out to the people you love and let them know you love them. Hold them close. We lost beautiful people with bright and beautiful minds Thursday. Please don't let their lives be reduced to a single statistic.

Page 5The Eastern Progress, Thursday, October 15, 2015

Do you feel that Eastern handled the threat appropriately?

"Yeah. I feel safe. Although, I think they could have told us more about what it all meant."

Tyler NapierHometown: HarlanMajor: HistoryYear: Freshman

"Everything was good and there was a lot of security. I felt safe. Every-thing was good."

Minyaher UrgessaHometown: EthiopiaMajor: MarketingYear: Freshman

"I don't feel comfortable here on campus because I live in the dorm. I went to my friends house."

Abdullah AlzaraniHometown: Saudi ArabiaMajor: ELS

"I think they handled it well. It was a good idea that we closed on Wednes-day. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Jeremy CarterHometown: CincinnatiMajor: Forensic SciencesYear: Sophomore

"I think closing campus was an ap-propriate response. I was here until Friday and they consolidated us into a few dorms. I didn't think that was the smartest move because if some-thing did happen we were all just sitting ducks."

Ashley PowersHometown: ErlangerMajor: SociologyYear: Senior

"I think they handled it well. You can't take anything like that light-ly. But I thought having two dorms open was a little much."

Catie WellsHometown: Cincinnati Major: Elementary EducationYear: Senior

Campus Sound Off

JustineCaeg

Former colonel shares experience of NAU shooting

EDITOR'S NOTE: Caeg attended Eastern for one semester in 2012. She now attends Northern Arizona University.

The night that will forever live so vivid in my mind, and the minds of countless others began like any or-dinary Thursday night would have in the small, col-lege town in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was a night full of pre-gaming, an outfit my mother would have not ap-proved of, and deciding how we were going to spend our night, because after all, the weekend had finally begun for the students at Northern Arizona University. One of my good friends, who had just turned twenty-one made the executive decision that we were going to ring in the weekend by going bar hopping downtown, and frank-

ly, that was just what I needed after the stressful week I encountered. As we arrived downtown, the energy was electric and so was I after the three mixed drinks and tequila shot I guzzled down.

As my friends and I made our way out of the last bar, the events that followed spiraled my friend and myself into a nightmare I so desperately wanted to wake up from. A guy approached my friend and myself and with a concerned look on his face and told us that there had been a shooting on the campus at NAU. A little buzzed and in denial that anyone would ever open fire in the one of the most uneventful towns in America, I brushed off the comment and headed into the shuttle to take us back to our apartment. As we got onto the shuttle, I re-alized that my friend had not gotten over the claim that someone was firing shots on campus as quickly as I did. She summoned over a shuttle attendant and asked if the rumors were true. In the most solemn tone she nodded her head and quietly whispered that four men from Del-ta Chi were shot and one of them was dead. The face of a guy that I briefly dated and a member of that same fra-ternity appeared in my mind and my heart sank. I cant explain it, but I had this burning conviction that he was one of the victims. I texted him Are you okay?, hop-

ing that I was wrong and that my concern was just the tequila shot talking. A few seconds went by and I was alerted that the text never delivered because his num-ber was disconnected. I cringed, knowing that this was not a good sign. As I tried my best to keep my compo-sure for my friend, who was already beginning to lose it at the seams, I stumbled with her back into our apart-ment complex.

It wasnt long before I had dropped my purse on my bedroom floor, when I received a confirmation text from a friend that one of the victims was indeed my ex. Frantic, I called him and he told me the few details he knew about the situation. Relieved to hear that the guy I had once known so well had a good fighting chance to live, as well as his two other fraternity brothers, my heart ached for the one who was no longer with us. As we talked on the phone, I cried the hardest I have cried in quite sometime. The tears I shed were not for myself, but for the victims, their families, their fraternity broth-ers, and the entire Flagstaff community. In my broken heart and soul, I knew that this senseless decision of the man that pulled the trigger had forever tainted the near perfect, small college town so many had come to love.

Coming off a loss to Murray State, Eastern looked to win big on the road and improve its OVC record.

The Colonels (3-18, 2-4 OVC) made the trek to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to face the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State University. Eastern was on its way to a win in the first set, but the Redhawks rallied late and fought its way to a 26-24

victory. Their strong play carried over into the second set, as Southeast Missou-ri State denied a comeback from the Col-onels and took the set 25-20.

Eastern came out of intermission and killed the Redhawks momentum by coming out strong in the third set and working its way up to a 19-14 lead. Two kills from senior outside hitter Ally Pe-ters allowed the Colonels to establish a comfortable lead and Eastern eventually took the set 25-17.

Eastern couldnt carry the momen-tum into the final set, where SEMO went on to win 25-20, picking up the 3-1 win.

Eastern had to quickly rebound on Saturday when the Colonels took on UT Martin.

In an intense first set, neither the Sky-hawks or Colonels could establish an advantage. Eastern fell behind late and couldnt rebound, losing 25-23. Eastern would have to battle back in the second set, this time leading 23-22. The Sky-

hawks tied the set at 23-apeice, though Eastern went on to win 26-24.

UT Martin came out of the locker room and won big in the third set, 25-18. Easterns hopes of winning were derailed in the fourth set, when the www battled from behind to win 25-22, winning the match 3-1.

Eastern continues its stretch of road games this weekend, where itll face con-ference foes Jacksonville State and Ten-nessee Tech.

Tennessee Tech (2-4, 1-2 OVC) had no answer for Colonel quarterback Bennie Coney as the junior threw five touchdowns to lead Eastern to a 48-17 romp of the Golden Eagles.

After finding points on each of its first seven of-fensive possessions of the game, Eastern (3-2, 2-0 OVC) took a comfortable 41-10 lead into the lock-er room and compiled a to-tal of 489 yards of offense during the first half. The Colonels gained 208 yards on the ground and 281 yards through the air before the intermission.

Eastern finished with a total of 629 offensive yards for the game, while Tennes-see Tech could only muster a total of 211 yards. East-erns aerial attack account-ed for 382 yards and the ground game totaled 247 yards against the Golden Eagles.

The game was scheduled to take place at Roy Kidd Stadium on Thursday night, but due to a security threat on Easterns campus, the game was relocated nearly 40 miles away to Toyota Sta-dium in Georgetown.

Our kids have embraced the new normal, and thats that nothings normal, Eastern Head Coach Dean Hood said post-game.

I think it just shows our kids toughness. Everything just keeps coming at them. Theyve got responsibilities and theyve got things that theyre committed to and their teammates are count-ing on them. When thats happening, you just have to face the brutal facts of real-ity and youve gotta do your job, and theyve done that, Hood said.

Coney and the Colonels offense were firing on all

cylinders from the opening kickoff as Eastern jumped out to a 17-0 lead at 3:03 in the first quarter.

Easterns first score came on the third play of the game when Coney found fresh-man-receiver Arien Beas-ley on a 70-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline of the field. Beasley led all receivers with 136 receiving yards and one touchdown on four receptions.

On the Colonels very next drive, Coney threw a jump ball toward the back corner of the end-zone that his 6-foot-6 wide receiv-er Devin Borders climbed the ladder to bring down. The touchdown reception capped a 13-play, 81-yard drive to give Eastern a 14-0 lead nearly seven minutes into the game. Borders fin-ished the game with five catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.

Coney would go on to find senior tight end Ben Madon and junior running

back Bryan Green on two more touchdown throws during the first half. Both scores came from three yards out. Coney complet-ed 32 of 46 passes for 351 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.

We prepared right and it showed out on the field, Coney said. We could have played those guys in the parking lot and still have put up a fight.

After blowing a 21-point lead during the fourth quar-ter of last years meeting with Tennessee Tech, as well as a 14-point lead late in the fourth quarter against Kentucky during last weeks overtime loss, Head Coach Dean Hood was hesitant to take his foot off the gas and put the reserves in for East-ern.

I really like how they finished, Hood said. We didnt get the job done at Kentucky, we blew a 21-point lead against these guys last year and our guys

just kept going and talking about it out there - Were gonna get this done, lets go, lets get it going - and they really showed a lot of mental toughness.

Senior running back DyShawn Mobley put the final stamp on the game by scoring on a 9-yard touch-down reception with 3:36 remaining in the fourth quarter. Mobley has been rounding back into form af-ter a nagging hamstring in-jury hampered the pre-sea-son All-American during the first few games of the season. Mobley led all rushers with 115 yards on 25 carries. DyShawn is DyShawn, hes elite, Coney said. All it takes is one play for him.

Eastern will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 when the Colonels travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to face the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (2-3, 1-0 OVC).

Evan Nichols, Editor The Eastern Progress | www.easternprogress.com Thursday, October 15, 2015 Page 6

The Colonels lost to the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (7-5-2, 2-2-1 OVC) 1-0 in overtime on Thursday.

The game was moved to Lexington and played at Transylvania University due to campus threats made earlier in the week.

The game was tight throughout as it was the third game in a row the Colonels (2-12, 2-4 OVC) out-shot its opponents. Eastern out-shot Southeast Missou-ri State 10-9, but could never capitalize. Redhawks junior mid-fielder Christine Rohde headed in the game-winner two minutes into overtime to seal the game.

Colonel senior forward Amani Thom-as was all over the field, being moved from forward to defender in the middle of the game and never coming out.

Eastern sophomore goalkeeper Anna Hall made one save on the day.

The Colonels returned to action Sun-day for Senior Day as UT Martin (4-9, 2-3 OVC) came to Richmond once cam-pus activities were allowed to resume. The Colonels won 2-0 as sophomore mid-fielder Emmi Carroll was the hero of the day, scoring both goals.

The game was scoreless through-out until Carroll came off the bench in the 75th minute and caught a pass from freshman forward Bailey Bounds to put

Eastern on the board.Carroll came up big again 10 minutes

later to seal the 2-0 lead and the win for the Colonels.

Eastern had not beaten UT Martin since 2011, which was a year before this senior class had arrived on campus.

Eastern once again out-shot the com-petition by a count of 13-11.

Senior goalkeeper Samm Melton got the start in the net for the first game since Sept. 13, and she made six saves and did not allow a single goal.

The win helped move the Colonels closer to the five conference win mark that its been looking for since the start of the year. Eastern currently sits in a five-way tie for the last two playoff spots with two conference wins and only four con-ference games remaining in the season.

Our girls did an outstanding job to-day of understanding their individual roles, but also putting together a com-plete team effort, Eastern Head Coach Andrew Fleming said following the win. We were obviously very good defensive-

ly against a team that is traditionally as good as anyone in our conference. Im especially happy for the six seniors who showed tremendous perseverance and character throughout the year.

Seniors Dani Cant, Melton, Thomas, Katie Bright, Mikala Ferguson and Mer-rissa Vault were all honored before the game and started for the Colonels.

Eastern returns to action for a 5 p.m. kickoff, Friday, Oct. 16, when the Colo-nels travel to Eastern Illinois (3-10-2, 1-4-1 OVC).

By ROBERT RISTANEO progress@eku.edu

By EVAN NICHOLS progress@eku.edu

By JOEY CHAPMAN progress@eku.edu

After an overtime loss, EKU soccer bounces back on Senior Day

Coneys five touchdown passes fuel Colonels blowout of Tennessee Tech

Eastern dominates Tennessee Tech in second OVC game

Colonel volleyball drops two weekend OVC matches on the road

(Left) Emmi Carrol (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring two goals in EKUs 2-0 victory against UT Martin. (Right) Seniors Samm Melton (0), Amani Thomas (16), Katie Bright (14), Mikala Ferguson (5), Dani Cant (13) and Merrissa Vault (23) pose for Senior Day.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF UTM SPORTS

JOHNNA SPEAKS/PROGRESS

EKU wide receiver Arien Beasley (33) races for the end zone on his way to a 70-yardtouchdown in the Colonels 48 -17 win over TTU.

If the last two weeks of football have taught fans and media anything, its that this Colonels squad is a force to be reckoned with.

Put them in a loud stadium against an SEC team, or change the site of a home game on short notice, this team will deliver.

Junior quarterback Bennie Coney had the game of his life against Tennessee Tech last Thursday, throwing for five touchdowns on 32-46 passing and 351 yards. The offense finished with 629 yards and Coney was honored as the OVC Offensive Player of the Week.

The defense held Tech quiet by only allowing 211 total yards of offense. For the second week in a row, Eastern held the opposing team to un-der 65 rushing yards with TTU only amassing 63 yards. Ohio State transfer Noah Spence has continued to prove his worth, and was recently added to the STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year Watch List.

Dont let the 2-2 record fool you, because the teams worth and strength goes far beyond it. There arent words that can properly articu-late how good this team is and how far theyve come.

To be this good, Eastern still has plenty to do if it wants to win the OVC. Jacksonville State is still touted as the top team in FCS and is play-ing as strong as ever. The Gamecocks will face Tennessee Tech this weekend, which could be a major indicator as to what could happen when Eastern faces the team on Halloween.

For now, Eastern has to focus on the two games ahead of itself, both homecoming dates with plenty on the line. The Colonels will also have to show just how strong it is on the road as only two of the six remaining games will be played at Roy Kidd Stadium.

As the season progresses, there still isnt much to scrutinize about the team. Coach Dean Hood seems to be working his magic with the squad as both the offense and defense are per-forming at their peak.

Its still a long road until the playoffs begin. The Colonels look great now, but no one can be-gin to predict what will happen over the next several weeks. Eastern will have to continue to take it one game at a time and hope that it can continue to ride the momentum of sever-al strong showings that have its season on the right track.

JOEYCHAPMAN

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