Vol. XCVIV No. 9

Uunewsonline.com

Thursday, November 1, 2012

University Newsthe

A student voice of SLU since 1919

NEWS

>> Meet the man leading BNS

2

INSI

DE: OPINION

>> Weighing the issues

9 ARTS

>> Rap rocks Chaifetz

11 SPORTS 15

>> SLU preps for A-10 tourney

FACULTY, STUDENTS VOTE ‘NO CONFIDENCE’

Students stage sit-in and march in protest; Biondi responds By KRISTEN MIANO

News Editor

Satirist gets serious about going green

Campus polls set for presidential electionSee “Vote” on Page 3 See “SGA” on Page 3

See “GIC” on Page 3

By KRISTEN MIANO News Editor

By WOLF HOWARD Associate News Editor Voting in the 2012

general election is easy for Saint Louis University students this year, as the school is hosting a polling place in the Busch Student Center specifically geared toward students at the University.

“It really makes it easy, especially since I don’t have real transportation. If it was too far, it would be too difficult to vote,” said freshman Erica Seal. “It also encouraged me to register to vote in Missouri rather than vote absentee.”

The BSC polling place was put in place to cater to students who registered to vote using their student mailbox at the address “20 N. Grand Blvd.” The polling place was opened in an effort to make voting more convenient for students who may not have transportation or might be from out of state.

The polls will be set up in the Saint Louis Room, located on the third floor of the BSC in Room 300, and will open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6 and will close at 7 p.m. In order to vote at this locations, voters will need to present either their SLU ID, an ID issued by the federal government or the state of Missouri, or a driver’s license or state identification card from another state.

“It definitely helps for

students who may not have voted otherwise because traveling would have been a hassle,” said Kenneth Warren, a professor in the Department of Political Science and SLU’s resident expert on polling and political campaigns. “Though there are usually polls around SLU, naturally, having a polling place on campus, a lot more students would come out to vote than normally.”

The first time the BSC

featured a polling place for students was during the 2008 election. That year, approximately 1,000 SLU students utilized the location. For the upcoming election, it has not yet been released how many student have registered for the BSC location.

According to Dean of Students Mona Hicks, however, approximately

Equipped with nothing but a projector and satirical wit, Bob Hirschfeld brought an ecologi-cal educa-tion to the Saint Louis Room last T h u r s -day that would have turned Jay Leno green with envy. Hirschfeld, a self-pro-c l a i m e d “cyber-sati-rist,” has been performing and educating across the U.S. for the last 12 years. On Thursday, Oct. 25, he came to Saint Louis Uni-versity to speak as a part of Sustainability Week.

Not limiting his scope to college students, Hirschfeld

has also worked with nu-merous businesses over the years to show employees how “going green saves green.”

“I think there’s an oppor-tunity for humor to reach

a lot more p e o p l e , ” Hirschfeld said in his o p e n i n g comments, explaining why he at-tempts to e d u c a t e with come-dy. Indeed, the first half of the night found

him riffing in a manner sim-ilar to the opening of any late-night talk show.

His jokes, both intel-ligent and well-delivered, focused on the confusion

I think there’s an opportunity for humor to reach a lot more people.

“”

-Bob Hirschfeld

The Faculty Senate voted no confidence in President Lawrence Biondi, S.J. as president of Saint Louis University in their meeting on Tues-day, Oct. 30.

In a secret ballot vote of 51 senators in favor, four against and two abstaining, the vote express-es that the faculty do not feel that Biondi is lead-ing the University in the best possible direction.

“This has been building for a long time,” said a faculty representative from the Department of Political Science, “We can’t seem to imagine a life beyond Biondi, but there’s a whole other world out there.”

Discussion prior to the vote mostly concerned whether or not this was the right time to take the vote and if the Senate should save the vote for a later date, but the majority of senators present agreed that the vote needed to take place. Fac-ulty councils of most of SLU’s colleges had meet previously and expressed similar sentiments.

“I want my mission back,” said Department of Theology representative Ruben Rosario-Ro-driguez. “I want this university to be a Catholic,

Jesuit university, and I want leadership that I can believe in. How are we going to be top 50 or even top 90 [when] we don’t have confidence in our leaders? We need to vote together on this.”

This vote comes after a vote by the Faculty Council of the College of Arts and Sciences two weeks ago expressing no confidence in Biondi in respect to his continued retention and support of Vice President of Academic Affairs Manoj Patan-kar, following a previous vote by the Faculty Sen-ate expressing no confidence in the vice presi-dent’s leadership. The vote taken most recently by the Faculty Senate, however, is to express no confidence in the totality of Biondi’s leadership.

“A vote of no confidence is a statement of fact, not a charge,” Faculty Senate President Mark Kneupfer said in a letter sent to the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Oct. 31. “As since, it is more than the sum of the particulars that can be set forth in its support.”

The letter sent to the Board served to both ex-plain to the trustees why the vote passed and to call on the Board to remove Biondi and Patankar from their respective offices.

“No forward movement of the Univer-sity is possible under such conditions, and

By WOLF HOWARD Associate News Editor

The Saint Louis Universi-ty Student Government As-sociation seconded the Fac-ulty Senate’s no confidence sentiments on Oct. 31. SGA declared no confidence in President Lawrence Biondi, S.J. and Vice President for Academic Affairs Manoj Pa-tankar. The senators voted 38 in favor and zero against, with one voter abstaining.

The vote comes just a day after the vote of no con-fidence made by the Fac-ulty Senate, and following weeks of controversy within the school concerning the current administration and its relationship with the rest of the school.

“I think our senators made it pretty clear tonight what they think is in the best interest of the student body,” said SGA President Blake Exline. “They clearly stated that their constitu-ents have no confidence in the president of the univer-sity to continue in his posi-tion.” Exline said the next step is for the executive board to write a letter to the Board of Trustees, request-ing the removal of Biondi as University president and detailing the logic of the As-sociation’s vote.

Following the success-ful vote of no confidence, senators made a motion “to bar all student body repre-sentatives from attending any meetings in an official capacity with Fr. Lawrence Biondi and/or Dr. Manoj Patankar presiding.” This motion was passed with the intention of making clear to senators what was expected of them as representatives, following their vote.

Ryan Giacomino/ The University News

INSIDE: YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2012 ELECTION

Students and faculty participate in a march and sit-in protest in the Quad (Left, Top Right), Mark Kneupfer annouces result of Faculty Senate vote (Bottom Right) on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

John Schuler/ Photo Editor

Saint Louis University students wait in line to vote in the Busch Student Center during the 2008 election .

the longer it takes to resolve the crisis, the harder it will be for the University to recover. The present discontent on campus must not be mistaken for the disaffection of a few,” the letter stated.

The letter continued on to state that this dis-content concerns SLU and its mission as a whole.

“The vocal protests and discourse are a thoughtful and earnest attempt by many students and faculty to find a way forward that leads to a university strengthened in its dedication to teach-ing, research and service--a beacon for the Jesuit ideals of the pursuit of truth for the glory of God and the service of humanity in the spirit of the Gospels,” the letter stated.

There was more than one voice heard on the matter on SLU’s campus on Tuesday. That after-noon, approximately 200 students and 20 faculty members gathered in the Quad to participate in a sit-in protest to not only show their support for the decisions of the faculty, but also express their own lack of confidence in Biondi.

“We had a sit-in protest to show not only the

See “Polls” on Page 2

Kristen Miano/ News Editor Kristen Miano/ News Editor

SGA joins the fray

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com2 NEWS

Be a Responsible BillikenSTOP. CALL. REPORT.

314-977-3000witness.slu.edu

dps.slu.edu

All Information Provided by Department of Public Safety

and Emergency Preparedness

Thursday, Oct. 258:15 p.m. - TRESPASSING

Officers responded to a person sitting in someone else’s seat who refused to move. He was escorted from Chaifetz Arena. The same per-son returned two other times. The person was issued a trespass warn-ing and escorted off the property.

Monday, Oct. 299:56 a.m. - AUTO ACCIDENT

A SLU truck tried to pass a Sysco truck which was parked in the alley behind DeMattias Hall. The truck made contact with the driver’s side mirror of the Sysco truck.

10:45 p.m. - ROBBERY A student reported he was the vic-tim of a robbery that occurred at ap-proximately 0900hrs. The suspect placed an unidentified object on the student’s back and demanded his wallet. The suspect took the victim’s wallet. SLMPD was contacted.

Tuesday, Oct. 302:00 p.m. - SICK CASE

A SLU professor became ill while conducting class. SLFD was con-tacted and responded. The patient was conveyed to SLU emergency room for treatment.

THE SLU SCOOP

Let Us Introduce You: Maurice RoperPresident of Bare Naked Statues likes R&B, Judge Judy

Kristen Miano / News Editor

By KRISTEN MIANONews Editor

Several students have been victims of “employment scam” emails. Students recieving mail that seems suspicious or offering jobs that are “to good to be true” should notify DPSEP.

CorrectionIn last week’s article,

“SLU’s Greek Life com-munity housing celebrates

unusual unity,” it was reported that Fr. Nick

Smith was a member of the Society of Jesus. Fr. Smith is a Diocesan Priest, not a Jesuit. The University News

regrets this error.

Polls: Convenient campus locationsstreamline student voting

Continued from Page 1 feels that having a polling place at SLU is appropriate because civic learning and democratic engagement is an important part of the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and is an important endeavor for students’ future as members of the larger community.

Many students agree with Hicks, stating that the presence of a polling place on campus is a positive addition that will make voting on Nov. 6 easier.

“I like having a voting place here,” said senior Joseph Cacchione. “ It’s my first time voting and having a polling location in the BSC is actually why I registered to vote here and not absentee.”

Students who are not sure if they are registered to vote in the BSC or in a polling location off campus can look up their designated location online at the Missouri Secretary of State’s Missouri Voting Rights website.

Senior Maurice Roper joined the Bare Naked Statues his freshman year simply because he liked singing. He stuck around, however, because he found a group of people he could bond with.

“The people I met were the main factor for why I stayed,” Roper said. “You don’t want to be in a group with people you can’t connect with. They’re what I’ve enjoyed about the experience.”

Roper is the current president of BNS and has been since January. He has been a member of BNS all four years of college, but began singing long before joining Saint Louis University’s all-male a cappella group.

“I’ve been singing ever since elementary school,” Roper said. “I’ve been in choir most of my life and did musicals in high school.”

Now, Roper said he really enjoys singing R&B style music. Some of his favorite artists include Beyonce, Sia, Miguel and Brandy, but his favorite songs to perform with the a cappella group include “I Believe I Can Fly,” in which he sings the solo, and “Who You Are,” where he is a part of the chorus.

Roper’s favorite part of being president of BNS has been the opportunity he’s had to make a positive impact on the organization.

“I’ve gotten us to a better point than when I first started,” Roper said. “We’re doing different things than we’ve done before and I feel like we’re working toward the best possible outcome.”

During his tenure as president, Roper has gone with BNS to A Cappella Fest in Chicago, attended a cappella classes to improve group motivation and performance and has began to work on BNS’s fourth album.

“We’re working on a new

CD with some awesome a cappella producers,” Roper said. “I really feel like BNS is on its way up right now.”

Though he loves working with the guys in the group, Roper said it is not always the easiest endeavor.

“It’s kind of hard to get a group of fifteen males to focus and pay attention,” Roper said. “Everyone has different personalities and I’m trying to figure out a balance that works best for everyone.”

As a finance major graduating this year, Roper said he has plans to work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City as a consumer affairs bank examiner after he leaves SLU.

In the long term, however, he hopes to go to law school and become an attorney.

“I’m not sure what kind of law I want to go into,” Roper said. “It’ll come to me

eventually, I’m sure.”When he’s not singing at

SLU, Roper is involved on campus as the treasurer of the Black Student Alliance and as a member of SLU Step, the campus’s step team.

He also enjoys playing tennis, catching up on the latest news and world events on CNN, and reading books by Ayn Rand. One of his favorites by Rand is The Fountainhead.

“I also really like watching Judge Judy,” Roper said. “That’s something I look forward to.”

Roper said that though he’s graduating this year, he will definitely miss working with BNS and watching them grow.

“It’s sad because I feel like we’re on our way up and going even farther than we have now,” Roper said. “But I’ll definitely keep in touch.”

500 students registered to vote through the SLU voter registration drives.

“I want our students to have the opportunity to serve through opportunities like Make a Difference day but also the opportunity to exercise your right to vote to enact social change in those communities in which we serve,” Hicks said, “For example, it is my hope that students learn and have the opportunity to address clean up at a public school but also vote for leadership and resources that maintain and advance the learning in that public school.”

Hicks also said that she

NEWS 3unewsonline.comNOVEMBER 1, 2012

Bob Hirschfeld speaks in the Saint Louis Room on Thursday, Oct. 25 as part of Sustainability Week.

Continued from Page 1

Kristen Miano / News Editor

Academic Affairs Vice President of the Student Government Association Richard Joubert reads off the results of a secret ballot to decide if the association would declare no confidecne in President Lawrence Biondi S.J and Vice President for Academic Affairs Manoj Patankar in the SGA meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 31. The vote passed in favor of no confidence with 38 senators voting ‘yay’ and one senator abstaining.

SGA: Lengthy list of grievances lay foundation for voteContinued from Page 1

Vote: Biondi rebuttal points to progress

and difficulty inherent in attempting to live a green lifestyle. The seamless flow from goofy to factual and back again served to keep the audience both informed and interested.

One issue featured in Hirschfeld’s speech was the difficulty in replacing in-candescent light bulbs with LED bulbs, which are so ex-pensive that the question, “How many dollars does it take to change a light bulb?” is raised.

Another joke centered on the development of bio-degradable fast-food con-tainers, which decompose naturally to avoid pollution. Hirschfeld reasoned, it would make sense to throw the container out of your car with the leftovers, a form of eco-littering.

The talent in his writing could be seen when his fo-cus turned to corn’s role in developing an eco-friendly society, where he argued that corn, while considered useful by most people, is subject to the whimsy of corn lobbyists.

Concurrently, Hirschfeld claimed, “Ethanol is actu-ally shown to reduce mile-age and pollute more,” not skipping a beat in his move from deriding lobbyists to debunking a generally-believed myth about the environmental benefits of ethanol.

After giving the audi-ence a pseudo-historical look into technological de-velopments, opening with dinosaurs causing their own extinction from all of their carbon emissions, Hirschfeld attempted to ad-dress commonly presented counterpoints to the theory

of global warming. In response to the fact

that carbon dioxide is a nat-ural component of Earth’s life cycle, he raised the point that too much of any-thing can be a bad thing. He moved on to address the cooling and heating cycles of the Earth, saying that while the cyclical nature of the planet is relevant, it’s very possible that humans could throw off the natural balance of these cycles and harm the environment.

Hirschfeld’s central claim was that resilience is key to developing a sustain-able technological environ-ment. He defined resilience as “the ability to absorb eco-logical, social and economic changes, and to develop self-sufficiency.”

His concept of resilience was made up of three parts:

Continued from Page 1

administration but also stu-dent government that there is a large student voice. We’re ready to move on this issue,” Colin Pajda, a rep-resentative of the student groups, SLU Students for No Confidence, said. “We had a short march as well to show the faculty that we support what they’re doing and we want to be a part of it.”

The people who partici-pated in the protest wore red armbands and carried signs featuring statements of support for the faculty. Some protestors carried signs with statements criti-cal of the administration.

After the demonstra-tion in the Quad, the group marched to the front of Du-bourg Hall, which houses the offices of many of SLU’s administrators.

“[Biondi] says it is a small number of students and faculty upset about this, but this is really a campus-wide event,” Pajda said. “The campus is worried about it.”

The same afternoon, Biondi and the vice presi-dents of the University sent a letter to students, faculty and staff sharing his own thoughts on the situation.

“Some members of the faculty have presented a distorted view of the Uni-versity in an attempt to di-vide our SLU community, which has lead to signifi-cant disagreements among the faculty ranks in the col-leges and schools as well as between the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Council of

the College of Arts and Sci-ences,” Biondi stated in his letter. “The information pre-sented during the so-called teach-ins and on social me-dia has done nothing but harm our University. It is one thing to have honest disagreements; it is quite another to degrade this institution that we all care about so deeply.”

The letter featured slides and details exhibiting the ways the University has been progressing and reaf-firmed Biondi’s own confi-dence in Patankar.

“The administration be-lieves the vote of no confi-dence is unjustified,” Clay-ton Berry, assistant vice president for communica-tions, said. “Father Biondi has dedicated the past 25 years of his life to moving SLU forward, and he has been very successful.”

Berry said that Biondi’s success hasn’t been limited to new buildings or campus improvements, but also in-cludes major enhancemants to academics and research.

“The progress at SLU is not just what you see walk-ing through the quad. It is also in the classroom and the lab,” he said. “Despite what has been suggested, SLU is a where people can express their opinions. SLU is a large and diverse com-munity and not everyone’s voice was heard [at the demonstration.]”

The faculty is currently making plans as to where to go next, including how they will communicate with Patankar and Biondi mov-ing forward and making an effort to reach out to the Board of Trustees.

GIC: Ecologist offers tips for “going green”

diversity, which is the abil-ity to get energy from multi-ple sources; modularity, de-veloping big systems made of small components for more flexibility; and a feed-back loop, where the conse-quences of our choices are close to home and hard to ignore.

The rest of Hirschfeld’s presentation talked about the ongoing developments in green technology, their future potential and the sources of the green push with reference to transpor-tation and business and in-dustrial buildings.

On the topic of transpor-tation, Hirschfeld cited a re-markable statistic: only 15 percent of the energy from the fuel in a car goes to mak-ing it move. He went on to discuss the development of aerodynamic, light-weight

car designs that reduce the frictional force on vehicles; improvements in automo-tive design are going to in-crease fuel efficiency by 50 percent over the coming de-cades, Hirschfeld said.

In at-home green de-velopments, Hirschfeld pointed out that solar pan-els are constantly decreas-ing in price and increasing in efficiency, while getting recycled newspaper insula-tion in his home saved him 50 percent on air condition-ing in one year.

Hirschfeld closed with a number of ways the audi-ence could convince their friends to “go green” and provided encouragement about the opportunities col-lege students will have in getting involved in careers centered on ecologically-intelligent developments.

Wolf Howard/Associate News Editor

Debate on the bill endured for nearly five hours. Most of the discussion centered on the list of grievances to be included with the bill. The list of grievances in-cluded 24 points that the sponsors of the bill intend-ed as evidence for their drafting a bill to vote no confidence in Biondi and Patankar. The chambers suspended parliamentary rules in order to systemati-cally review and debate any points of contention in the list of grievances.

Multiple senators felt that including a list of griev-ances directly with the bill left an opportunity for criti-cism on the basis of the fac-tual value of the statements made. The legislative com-mittee involved in drafting the bill defended the accura-cy of the grievances, claim-ing that all of the points had been fact-checked multiple times over.

Many senators also ar-gued that putting out a vote of no confidence without a document backing up the decision with demonstrable proof put the image of SGA in jeopardy.

Further, Sen. Becky Killian argued not including the list of grievances would dismiss the fact that hours of work was put into the research and conversation that culminated in a bill of no confidence.

Sen. Andy Wilmes ex-pressed displeasure at requesting the forceful removal of Biondi, citing his excellent history at the school and his long tenure as reasons for respecting his position and making a more docile move to in-cite his departure. Wilmes moved to amend the bill to request Biondi’s retirement at the end of the academic year.

Senators largely dis-agreed with the motion, and the amendment was voted down.

Another large part of the debate centered on whether to include Manoj Patankar, vice president for academic affairs, in the vote of no con-fidence.

Those against including Patankar on the bill argued that his presence took away from the focus on SGA’s in-tention to remove Biondi. Sen. Nate Klosterman also argued that sending one piece of legislation to Bion-di to remove Patankar but then telling the Board of Trustees to remove Biondi sent a mixed message.

“I think we need to just get rid of Dr. Patankar [in the bill] and go after the problem, which is President Biondi,” Klosterman said.

Those for Patankar’s inclusion in the vote of no confidence argued that the actions of Patankar have demonstrated a lack of com-petence in his position and that SGA needed to make a statement of that effect.

Vice President of Student Affairs Richard Joubert called to attention the fact that Patankar had a measur-able hand in enacting many of the controversial policies and proposals that SGA has found issue with.

Guests representing various student groups at-tended the meeting to voice their constituents’ opinions on the vote.

Alex Giltner, a gradu-ate student representing a group of 34 graduate stu-dents, presented a signed petition asking SGA to vote no confidence in Biondi. In the statement the students attributed the lack of com-munication and pervasive fear to a downtrend in SLU’s reputation under Biondi.

Giltner and Sen. Kyle Lincoln stated that the list would have been longer but many students did not include their signature for fear of losing their positions at SLU.

Also in attendance was one of the administrators of the SLU Students for No Confidence Facebook group, first year law student Liz Ramsey, who spoke on behalf of the students that has been vocal about Bion-di’s removal through their support of the group.

As of 11:23 p.m. Wednes-day night, the group had 968 “likes.”

The conclusion of the vote was met with applause throughout the room.

“Overall, [the conversa-

tion] was productive,” said McLaughlin, author of the bill of no confidence. “The bill was not passed without scrutiny of the entire sen-ate, which was great.”

There was also an exten-sive discussion concerning the Student Learning Out-comes earlier in the eve-ning.

There will be a vote as to whether the University will adopt the proposed Student Learning Out-comes on Wednesday, Nov. 7. McLaughlin and Killian expressed hesitation about the learning outcomes due to the lack of time the Senate had to consider the outcomes, as well as the apparent subjectivity of the rubrics suggested and the undue burden of the out-comes.

Vice President Joubert expressed support for Stu-dent Learning Outcomes, foremost due to the neces-sity for outcomes in order for the University to main-

tain accreditation as well as the ability for outcomes to concretely demonstrate the effectiveness of education at the University. Joubert showed a strong desire for student feedback on the Student Learning Out-comes and their possible

implementation. Assistant Vice President

of Student Development Mona Hicks made clear that the group of administrators developing the Student Learning Outcomes has remained open to student feedback and have been re-

ceiving and responding to e-mails sent to the group over the past months.

Multiple senators felt that the bill was not proper-ly formed to address the is-sues the authors expressed.

The bill was tabled for next week’s meeting.

Help fill our issues. ads.unews@gmail.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com4 GAMES

CROSSWORD

WORD SEARCH

SUDOKU

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

UVOTE 2012 VOTER’S GUIDEThe University News

On the campaign trail, President Barack Obama has a witty response when his supporters boo Repub-lican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, “Don’t boo - vote!” Voting is the foundation of the American democracy; it gives you the chance to bring change. If you don’t support a candidate or an idea, don’t just talk about it - vote. For many of you, this may be your first presidential election. For others, Mis-souri isn’t your native home. This guide is here to assist you - free of partisan charges - and educate you about the candidates and the issues on the 2012 ballot in St. Louis. Take time to understand the prob-lems and the proposals. The election is Tues., Nov. 6. As the saying goes, you can’t boo unless you vote. - Derrick Neuner, Enterprise Editor

Voting Information

PRESIDENTIAL

• Pollsopenat6:00a.m.andcloseat7:00p.m.• Thoseinlineat7:00p.m.areallowedtovote.• YoumustpresentoneformofpersonalI.D.• Findyourpollingplaceat:sos.mo.gov

Election is Tues., Nov. 6th

Barack Obama Mitt RomneyAGE: 51

HOMETOWN: Honolulu, Hawaii

RESUME:Ill. State Senator (1997-2004)

U.S. Senator (2005-2008)44th President (2009-)

EDUCATION:B.A., Columbia UniversityJ.D., Harvard Law School

VICE PRESIDENT:Joseph R. Biden, Incumbent

www.barackobama.com

ON STUDENT LOANS

ON HEALTH CARE

ON SAME-SEXMARRIAGE

ON THE BUDGET

ON TAXES

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

ON FOREIGN POLICY

ON IMMIGRATIONSupports the DREAM Act; Announced a policy to lift the shadow of

deportation from young, hardworking immigrants who were brought here as children; Is for comprehensive immigration reform and opposes

a patchwork of state laws to fix our broken immigration system; Pro-posed a new rule to keep families together by allowing certain undocu-mented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for legal status

from inside the U.S. (Obama for America)

Kept his promise to end the war in Iraq and bring all troops home; Has a plan in place to responsibly end the war in Afghanistan in 2014; Ordered the bold raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan;

Worked to gain the support of Russia and China to pass the most crip-pling international sanctions the Iranian government has ever faced; Stood up to China’s unfair trade practices, filing trade complaints at

twice the rate of the last administration; Has consistently stood up for Israel at the United Nations and elsewhere. (Obama for America)

Supports an “all of the above” strategy to develop every available source of American-made energy -- including oil, gas, clean coal, wind,

solar, biofuels and nuclear energy -- and taking steps to protect our climate; Goal of cutting our foreign oil imports in half by 2020; Doubling fuel economy of cars and light trucks to 54.5 mpg by 2025, which will reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million barrels a day; Supports the safe and responsible development of our near 100-year supply of natural

gas. (Obama for America)

Cut taxes by $3,600 for middle class families over his first term; Will eliminate tax breaks for companies that send jobs and profits overseas;

Signed 18 small business tax cuts into law to encourage more hiring and investing, and would extend income tax cuts for 97% of all small

business owners; Supports the “Buffett Rule” – raising taxes on families making more than $1 million annually. Would slash the corporate tax

rate to 28% from 35% and pay for the reduction by eliminating “dozens” of business tax breaks. (Obama for America/CNN)

Neither candidate has been specific on their plan to balance the budget. He is in favor of letting the “Bush-era” tax cuts expire. Doing so would end up stabilizing the debt -- meaning the country’s deficits would stop

growing faster than the economy. The annual deficit in his proposal would fall to 2.5 of GDP by 2017 -- well below the 8.1% projected for

this year, but they would climb back to 3% by 2022. He has supported cost-saving reforms to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, along

with cuts to defense spending, to curb federal deficits. (CNN)

Reversing an earlier stance, he is now in favor of same-sex marriage. In May, he explained his change in thought during an ABC interview, say-ing, “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” He supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama continues to believe, however, that same-sex marriage is a state, and not federal,

issue. (CNN/Obama for America)

Passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, expanding access to free pre-ventative services like flu shots, diabetes screenings and mammograms for 54 million Americans, allowing 3.1 million Americans under the age of 26 to receive coverage from their parent’s provider; Eliminated $716 billion in waste, fraud and abuse from Medicare, adding eight years to the life of the Medicare Trust Fund and removing caps for 100 million Americans who otherwise were denied coverage due to pre-existing

conditions. (Obama for America)

Set a goal to cut tuition growth in half over the next decade with a plan to expand student aid and work with states and colleges to keep tuition growth down; Capped repayments on federal student loans at 10% of

income; Established the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which helped 9.4 million students and families in 2011 afford higher education;

Doubled funding for Pell Grants so more Americans can afford college. (Obama for America)

Has voiced skepticism over the DREAM Act; Criticized Obama for reversing course on deportations to woo Latino voters. Romney’s own solution includes securing the borders -- in part, by building a border fence. He says he will develop an effective, mandatory employment

verification system that will enable employers to be sure that those they hire are eligible to work. This will discourage illegal immigrants from

coming to America to seek jobs. (CNN/Romney for President)

Romney has constantly criticized what he calls the president’s failure to lead on international issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran’s

nuclear ambitions and Syria. On closer view, though, some details of Romney’s foreign policy appear similar to Obama’s: advocating sanc-tions, coalition-building and other diplomatic moves. The main differ-ence is in visibility; Romney says his presidency would bring about an “American Century,” in which the United States “lead[s] the free world

and the free world leads the entire world.” (CNN/Romney for President)

Has not expressed support for climate change theories; His energy plan includes increasing domestic energy supply by allowing oil drill-ing on federal land. Romney also supports deregulating many of the

energy industries. One of Romney’s “day one” initiatives would include approving the Keystone Pipeline. He also wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up systems of regulation, signaling an approach to energy independence that would include more nuclear power plants.

(Romney for President/CNN)

Romney supports permanent extension of the “Bush-era” tax cuts. He would reduce the current top rate paid on income from 35% to 28%,

with similar reductions across all tax brackets. Americans in the lowest bracket would pay 8% instead of 10%. Individuals closer to the middle

would pay 20% instead of 25%. The campaign, and the candidate, insist that the plan is “budget neutral,” though Romney hasn’t said how fast he expects the economy to grow under his plan or which tax breaks he is

willing to curtail. (Romney for President/CNN)

Neither candidate has been specific on their plan to balance the budget. Broadly, the GOP nominee wants to cut both tax rates and spending, while reforming the tax code and entitlement programs. Specifically, Romney has promised to cap government spending at 20% of GDP and balance the budget by 2020. He has ruled out raising taxes, so he would achieve these goals by cutting spending, although not on defense. On the revenue side, Romney has promised to cut today’s

income tax rates by 20%. (CNN Money)

As president, he would not only appoint an attorney general who will defend the Defense of Marriage Act, but will also champion a Federal

Marriage Amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Romney repeatedly said it was up to the vot-ers to decide, not the courts. Romney, however, does support domes-tic partnership. “My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital

visitation rights and the like are appropriate, but that the others are not,” Romney said in spring 2012. (Romney for President/CNN)

On his first day in office, he will issue an executive order issuing “Obam-acare” waivers to all 50 states. In place of Obamacare, Mitt will pursue

policies that give each state the power to craft a health care reform plan that is best for its own citizens. The federal government’s role will be to help markets work by creating a level playing field for competi-tion. Placing the patient at the center of the process will drive quality

up and cost down while ensuring that services are designed to provide what Americans actually want. (Romney for President)

Consolidate duplicative and overly complex programs within the De-partment of Education; Focus the department on giving students and

families with financial need the appropriate information so they can intel-ligently weigh the risk and benefits of the many loan options; Reverse

President Obama’s nationalization of the Pell Grant loan market; Encour-age market entry by innovative new education models; Emphasize skill retainment instead of time spent in the classroom and support research

and development. (Romney for President)

AGE: 65

HOMETOWN: Detroit, Mich.

RESUME:CEO, Bain Capital (1984-2002)

CEO, 2002 Winter OlympicsGovernor, Mass. (2002-2006)

EDUCATION:B.A., Brigham Young University

M.B.A., Harvard University

VICE PRESIDENT:Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

www.mittromney.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com6 VOTER’S GUIDE

SENATORIAL

GUBERNATORIAL

Claire McCaskillDemocrat

AGE: 59

HOMETOWN: Kirkwood, Mo.

RESUME: U.S. Senator (2007-present),

Missouri State Auditor (1999-2007)

EDUCATION: Juris Doctor (J.D.), University of

Missouri School of Law

“A Senator On Our Side”

www.clairemccaskill.com

W. Todd AkinRepublican

• Helped to pass the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2007, which increased the value of Pell grants.

• Supported President Obama’s decision to allow the fed-eral government to issue Pell grants instead of banks.

• Co-sponsor of “Post 9/11 GI Bill” to assist veterans in paying for secondary education.

AGE: 65

HOMETOWN: Wildwood, Mo.

RESUME:Missouri State Rep. (1989-2001)

U.S. Representative (2001-present)

EDUCATION:Masters of Divinity (M.D.), Covenant

Theological Seminary

“The Status Quo Has Got To Go”

www.akin.orgCourtesy of: Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate Courtesy of: United States House of Representatives

EDUCATION & STUDENT LOANS

“OBAMACARE” & HEALTH CARE

JOBS, TAXES & ENERGY

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

• Supports abolishing the Department of Education.• Opposed “No Child Left Behind.”• Has compared student loans to “stage three cancer of

socialism.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)• Believes education is best left to parents, teachers and

local communities.

• Voted in favor of the “Afforable Care Act,” also known as “Obamacare.”

• Supports providing free screenings and contraceptive services to women.

• In Congress, helped the Department of Defense to estab-lish a suicide prevention program for veterans.

• Is opposed to “Obamacare” and in favor of its full repeal.• Supports free market solutions, which will improve health-

care. • Supports removing federal funding for Planned Parent-

hood; Opposes abortions in all instances, including rape.• Believes Medicare is unconstitutional. (Columbia Tribune)

(Positions from Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate except where noted.) (Positions from Akin for U.S. Senate except where noted.)

• Voted in favor of the “Jump Start Our Business Startups Act,” easing regulations and taxes on investors.

• Delivered more than $12 billion in lending support to small businesses, including rural businesses in Missouri.

• Opposes “cap and trade” energy bills; supports efforts to expand use of clean domestic sources of energy.

• Introduced bipartisan legislation in 2011 that would permanently ban earmarks.

• Has investigated the Department of Defense for waste in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars and abuse by contractors.

• In favor of reducing regulations on the economy and giving tax breaks to small businesses.

• Supports the “Bush tax cuts” and eliminating the IRS, giving taxing powers back to the states.

• Supports the exploration of domestic energy and the dissolution of the Energy Protection Agency.

• Co-sponsor of a “balanced budget” amendment.• Voted against the “American Recovery and Re-investment

Act of 2009.”• Advocates a “cut, cap and balance” approach.

Jeremiah “Jay” NixonDemocrat

AGE: 56

HOMETOWN: De Soto, Mo.

EDUCATION: J.D., University of Missouri Law School

RESUME:

Mo. Attorny General (1993-2008)Mo. Governor (2009-Present)

Dave SpenceRepublican

AGE: 54

HOMETOWN: Overland, Mo.

EDUCATION: B.S. in Home Economics, University of Missouri

RESUME:

CEO, Alpha Packaging (1985-2012)Chairman, Legacy Pharmaceutical

SPENCEHe believes Obamacare is unconstitutional and would work to fight against implimentating its reforms in Missouri. He hasn’t otherwise outlined health care reform policies he supports.

SPENCE

ON HEALTH CAREDue to a changing electorate in Missouri., he does not support Obamacare. However, he has hallmarked his expansions of state programs to help austistic and blind Missourians.

NIXON

As governor, Spence would work to reduce burdensome regu-lations and eliminate unnecessary red tape, as well as reduce taxes and modernize the Missouri workforce.

ON MISSOURI JOBSNixon balanced Missouri’s budget without raising taxes on indi-viduals or businesses. He believes in training Missouri students for the jobs of the future and expanding exports to China.

NIXON

SPENCEHe will reprioritize education in Missouri’s budget and increase funding for job retraining programs such as technology train-ing, vocational schools and community colleges.

SPENCE

ON COLLEGE AFFORDABILITYOrdered the University of Missouri system to freeze tuition upon his election. Expanded the A+ Schools program, giving two years of free tuition at community colleges to students.

NIXON

Believes the EPA has overstepped its bounds and would fight its carbon-emission regulations. He supports the building of coal-fired power plants, nuclear power and natural gas drilling.

ON CLEAN ENERGYHas outlined policy to develop Missouri energy sources, such as ethanol and nuclear power. Supported emissions standards, but also the construction of oil pipelines through Missouri.

NIXON

(Positions from Jay Nixon for Governor) (Positions from Dave Spence for Governor)

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com7 VOTER’S GUIDE

THE SWINGIN’ SHOW ME STATE

50.42%47.08%

53.30%

46.10%

49.36%

49.23%Obama/Biden

McCain/Palin

Kerry/Edwards

Bush/Cheney

Gore/Lieberman

Bush/Cheney

2004

2000

2008

50%

IN 2008..BARACK OBAMA JOHN McCAIN

50% 50% 50%

Ages 18-29

59% 39%

2,925,197Missouri voters

In 2012, Missouri no longer center stageAfter close margins in ‘08, ‘12 election bypasses the ‘Show-Me State’By DERRICK NEUNER

Enterprise Editor

On Oct. 18, 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama spoke to over 100,000 supporters under the shadow of the Gateway Arch; it is, to date, the largest presidential campaign rally ever on U.S. soil.

Missouri was a popular stop for candidates in the ’08 election: Obama held 12 rallies; his Republican opponent Sen. John Mc-Cain stopped by 6 times; and Washington University in St. Louis hosted the Vice Presidential debate be-tween Sen. Joe Biden and former Gov. Sarah Palin.

But for the 2012 presi-dential election, Missouri has been largely ignored.

Obama last visited the state on May 21 to deliver the commencement ad-dress at Joplin High School, one year after the deadliest tornado in U.S. history hit the town.

GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been in the state once as a presidential nominee – June 7, when he visited a defense produc-tion company in St. Louis County. His vice presiden-tial nominee, Paul Ryan, attended a fundraiser in Springfield, Mo., on Aug. 23. There’s a reason for this.

The time of the candi-date is the most valuable resource any presidential campaign has. In today’s age of campaigns, resourc-es do not get wasted on any more than a handful of states where polls and demographics allow either party to win electoral votes.

As of this publishing, FiveThirtyEight, the fore-most blog on predicting

electoral outcomes, gives Romney a 99.5 percent chance of winning Missouri’s popular vote. A Post-Dispatch/News 4/Kansas City Star poll released Oct. 26 showed the Republi-can leading Obama 54-41 in the state.

It’s a remark-able shift for a state that provided Mc-Cain in 2008 with his slimmest vic-tory amongst the 50 states – 3,903 votes.

But in the last four years, as Obama and his Democrat allies pushed a massive federal spending bill, the American Recovery and Rein-vestment Act, and “Obamacare,” Mis-sourians have react-ed negatively to the President’s policies and leadership.

And without the anti-Bush sentiment of 2008, the state has shifted decidedly conservative.

“Missouri may be losing its status as a bellwether state, but it is still a pretty good microcosm of the country,” Dr. William T. Horner of the University of Missouri said. “In 2008, people were voting for a change and Obama represented that change. However, things have not rebounded as quickly as people expect-ed.

“Just as the electorate is less enthusiastic about President Obama at the national level, it is also less enthusiastic in Missouri, which tends to lean in the

conservative direction anyway. Even when Mis-souri was dominated by the Democrats, they were dominated by conservative rural Democrats, not liberal Democrats.”

Dr. Joel Goldstein, a pro-fessor of law at Saint Louis University and an expert on the vice-presidency, echoed Horner’s sentiment.

According to Goldstein, in 2008, Democrats were extraordinarily unhappy with the administration of George W. Bush, the Iraq War and the economic col-lapse in 2007, leading to an inflation of Obama’s margin both nationally and in Mis-souri.

He notes that the 2010 mid-term elections showed

the nation’s reac-tion to the “inflated” margin of victory for Obama. That, coupled with the tough economy, has made the incum-bent vulnerable.

But while Mis-souri may not be competitive in the presidential elec-tion, it’s anyone’s bet which man is named victor on Nov. 7.

Polls across the nation show the race within 3-4 percent-age points, although Obama holds an electoral advantage because of his sup-port of women and minorities in swing states such as Ohio and Nevada.

Should he secure four more years in the White House, Obama will re-write conventional wisdom. No presi-dent has ever been elected with an un-employment rate over 7 percent, with favorability ratings under 50 percent, or losing independents by double-digits, as polls show he may.

Diana Carlin, As-sociate Vice Presi-dent for Graduate Education and a professor in the

department of communica-tion, says that Obama suf-fers from an impatient elec-torate angered by a chang-ing economy.

While Obama is person-ally liked by a majority of the nation, Carlin points to technology as a major crux for the president.

“There are 3 million

unfilled jobs in this coun-try with millions of people that aren’t skilled for those jobs,” Carlin said. “People are waiting around for someone to bring back what they had. Those jobs aren’t coming back.

“I think there are very angry people who feel left behind by the economy, they are struggling, and they don’t see a path out. They thought in 2008 that Obama was the path out, and that hasn’t been true, so he’s lost support,” she said.

Although Obama not-ed in his victory speech on Nov. 4, 2008, that the change he believed in would take more than four years, Carlin says that has been largely forgotten and ignored by society.

“We are still a young country,” she said. “It is very difficult for us to take the long-view on any poli-cy making, really. We are “bumper-sticker” politics. Our nation is a teenager, and we still have a lot of the lack of attention span, in-stant gratification, it’s part of our culture, and we get frustrated.”

Regardless of who wins the keys to 1600 Pennsylva-nia Ave., the next president has the opportunity to sub-stantially change the nation.

The next president must face a decision almost im-mediately upon inaugra-tion, including how to avoid a major tax increase and cuts to Medicare.

Though the government seems divided, Goldstein offers a reminder to SLU students for Nov. 6.

“Ultimately, people get the government they de-serve. If people don’t ex-ercise their rights, you get what you pay for.”

10Number of electoral votes for Missouri

270Number of electoral votes needed to be

elected President

13Number of consecutive elections in which

Missouri correctly picked the President (1956-2008)

PICKING POTUS: BY THE NUMBERS

3,903Difference between the number of votes for John McCain and Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

11Fewest number of states needed to reach 270

electoral votes and be elected President

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com8 VOTER’S GUIDE

THE OFFICIAL 2012 BALLOT

EXPLAINING THE PROPOSITIONSPROPOSITION A PROPOSITION B

PROPOSITION E PROPOSITION R - CHARTER AMENDMENT

Shall Missouri law be amended to:

• allow any city not within a county (the City of St. Louis) the option of transferring certain obligations and control of the city’s police force from the board of police commissioners currently appointed by the governor to the city and establishing a municipal police force;

• establish certain procedures and requirements for governing such a municipal police force including residency, rank, salary, benefits, insurance, and pension; and

• prohibit retaliation against any employee of such municipal police force who reports conduct believed to be illegal to a superior, government agency, or the press?

State governmental entities estimated savings will even-tually be up to $500,000 annually. Local government entities estimated annual potential savings of $3.5 mil-lion; however, consolidation decisions with an unknown outcome may result in the savings being more or less than estimated. Simple majority is required.

Shall Missouri law be amended to:

• create the Health and Education Trust Fund with proceeds of a tax of $0.0365 per cigarette and 25% of the manufacturer’s invoice price for roll-your-own tobacco and 15% for other tobacco products;

• use Fund proceeds to reduce and prevent tobacco use and for elementary, secondary, college, and university public school funding; and

• increase the amount that certain tobacco prod-uct manufacturers must maintain in their escrow accounts, to pay judgments or settlements, before any funds in escrow can be refunded to the tobacco product manufacturer and create bonding requirements for these manufacturers?

Estimated additional revenue to state government is $283 million to $423 million annually. The revenue will fund only programs and services allowed by the pro-posal. The fiscal impact to local governmental entities is unknown. Simple majority is required.

Shall Missouri law be amended to prohibit the Governor or any state agency, from establishing or operating state-based health insurance exchanges unless authorized by a vote of the people or by the legislature?

No direct costs or savings for state and local gov-ernmental entities are expected from this proposal. Indirect costs or savings related to enforcement actions, missed federal funding, avoided implemen-tation costs, and other issues are unknown.

A simple majority is needed.

Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended in accordance with the Board of Alderman Amendment Ordinance?

This Amendment restructures the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis as a body of fourteen Aldermen representing fourteen wards, provides for a transition schedule to implement the restructuring, and other re-lated matters, all as set forth in the “board of Aldermen Amendment Ordinance,” a copy of which is avialable at all polling places.

60 percent is required for passage.

Proposed by Initiative Petition Proposed by Initiative Petition

Proposed by the 96th General Assembly

(Board of Alderman Amendment)

PROS

CONS

PROS

CONS

PROS

CONS

PROS

CONS

• Local taxes are used to pay the cost of the St. Louis Police Department.

• The wording of the measure allows the creation of a civil-ian review board while offering police officers adequate protection.

• Local control would bring politics into the police depart-ment, encourage corruption and jeopardize the pension system.

• The new police review system would lack the ability to investigate charges of police misconduct.

• Missouri has the lowest ciga-rette tax and the 11th-highest smoking rate in the U.S., cost-ing the state millions of dollars in health care costs.

• If the price of tobacco in-creases, the number of people who smoke will decrease.

• The revenue generated will provide needed funds for smoking-cessation programs and education.

• Missouri will lose tax revenue from consumers who cross state borders to buy cheap cigarettes.

• Increased education revenues will not improve the quality of Missouri schools.

• The target taxes will dispro-portionately hurt lower-income people who are addicted to tobacco.

• The free market is the best way to provide consumers with health care insurance options.

• The exchange program may cost consumers more than presently available policies.

• Federal assistance to set up and maintain health care insurance exchanges would not produce programs that would improve medical care for Missourians.

• Missouri must follow federal law and the state risks losing targeted funds to pay for Medicaid and Medicare.

• Exchanges will provide consumers with a variety of high-quality, economical insur-ance policies.

• More people will get the care they need, lowering the cost of Missouri Medicaid pro-grams.

• St. Louis has lost substantial population since the city’s charter was adopted in 1914; The city could save about $500,000 per year in payroll.

• It would streamline city govern-ment, increase the profession-alization of city services, and eliminate duplicated services between city and county.

• A decrease in wards and alder-men will make the city govern-ment less democratic.

• Aldermen will be less respon-sive to constituents’ needs and requests.

• Questions about the amount of revenues to be saved; alder-men would need more full-time staff to serve constituents.

(Select information for these propositions provided by the League of Women / St. Louis

Post-Dispatch)

INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS: To vote for a candidate, darken the oval to the left of the name of the candidate of your choice. To vote on judicial retention, if you are in favor of a judge's retention, darken the oval to the left of the word "YES." If you are against a judge's retention, darken the oval to the left of the word "NO." To vote on an amendment or proposition, if you arein favor of the amendment or proposition, darken the oval to the left of the word “YES.” If you are against the amendment or proposition, darken the oval to the left of the word “NO.” Do not try to punch through the ballot. Use only a pencil or blue or black ink to mark your ballot. If you tear, deface, or make a mistake and incorrectly mark your ballot, notify an election official to obtain a new ballot.

VOTE BOTH SIDES OF THIS BALLOT

For Polling Place Judges Only OFFICIAL BALLOT[ ] [ ] GENERAL ELECTION

WARD PCT CITY OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI [ ] [ ] NOVEMBER 6, 2012 JUDGES' INITIALS @precinct

TO VOTE, COMPLETELY DARKEN THE OVAL TO THE LEFT OF YOUR CHOICE, LIKE THIS:

BARACK OBAMA / JOE BIDEN - DEM

MITT ROMNEY / PAUL RYAN - REP

GARY JOHNSON / JAMES P. GRAY - LIB

VIRGIL GOODE / JIM CLYMER - CST

Write-In

FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT(A VOTE FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT

IS A VOTE FOR THEIR ELECTORS)(VOTE FOR ONE PAIR)

CLAIRE McCASKILL - DEM

TODD AKIN - REP

JONATHAN DINE - LIB

Write-In

FOR U.S. SENATOR(VOTE FOR ONE)

JEREMIAH W. [JAY] NIXON - DEM

DAVID [DAVE] SPENCE - REP

JIM HIGGINS - LIB

Write-In

FOR GOVERNOR(VOTE FOR ONE)

SUSAN MONTEE - DEM

PETER KINDER - REP

MATTHEW COPPLE - LIB

CYNTHIA L. DAVIS - CST

Write-In

FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR(VOTE FOR ONE)

JASON KANDER - DEM

SHANE SCHOELLER - REP

CISSIE W. SPRAGINS - LIB

JUSTIN HARTER - CST

Write-In

FOR SECRETARY OF STATE(VOTE FOR ONE)

CLINT ZWEIFEL - DEM

COLE McNARY - REP

SEAN O'TOOLE - LIB

Write-In

FOR STATE TREASURER(VOTE FOR ONE)

CHRIS KOSTER - DEM

ED MARTIN - REP

DAVE BROWNING - LIB

Write-In

FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL(VOTE FOR ONE)

LACY CLAY - DEM

ROBYN HAMLIN - REP

ROBB E. CUNNINGHAM - LIB

Write-In

FOR U.S. REP. DISTRICT 1

(VOTE FOR ONE)

JAMILAH NASHEED - DEM

Write-In

FOR STATE SENATORDIST. 5

(VOTE FOR ONE)

MICHAEL BUTLER - DEM

Write-In

FOR STATE REP.DISTRICT 79

(VOTE FOR ONE)

JENNIFER M. JOYCE - DEM

Write-In

FOR CIRCUIT ATTORNEY(VOTE FOR ONE)

GERARD A. NESTER - DEM

JUSTIN EDWARD STROHM - REP

ELSTON K. McCOWAN - GRN

Write-In

FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR(VOTE FOR ONE)

JAMES W. [JIM] MURPHY - DEM

ROBERT VROMAN STERNBERG - REP

Write-In

FOR SHERIFF(VOTE FOR ONE)

TISHAURA O. JONES - DEM

TIM BACHMANN - REP

ANTHONY STEVENS - GRN

Write-In

FOR CITY TREASURER(VOTE FOR ONE)

MISSOURI SUPREME COURT JUDGE

YES NO

Shall Judge GEORGE W. DRAPER III of the Missouri Supreme Court be retained in office?

MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS JUDGES,EASTERN DISTRICT

YES NO

Shall Judge GARY M. GAERTNER, JR. of the Eastern District Court of Appeals be retained in office?

YES NO

Shall Judge SHERRI B. SULLIVAN of the Eastern District Court of Appeals be retained in office?

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN LIBERTARIAN CONSTITUTION GREEN (DEM) (REP) (LIB) (CST) (GRN)

Card 4

SAMPLE

unewsonline.com

UOPINION

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Editorials are opinion pieces written by the Editorial Board of The University News. The editorials printed in this space represent the opinion of The University News. Commentaries and Letters to the Editor represent the opinions of the signed authors but do not necessarily represent the opinions of The University News.

Editorials

We at The University News stand behind the Faculty Senate of Saint Louis University and believe that the fac-ulty represent the best interests of the student body and the university as a whole.

Such a statement would be uncontroversial and innocu-ous at almost any other school. The fact that it is not so at SLU is just proof that there is something terribly wrong with this university.

After all, one of SLU’s stated missions is to teach, and so the relationships between students and instructors form the cornerstone of a healthy university community. As students, we see the faculty every day. They teach us, collaborate with us and mentor us. Without a faculty, this university is nothing but bricks and shrubs.

So when an overwhelming majority of faculty represen-tatives express dissatisfaction with the direction taken by our administration, we listen. It would seem prudent that everyone involved with this university do the same. More than that, there should be firmly established avenues for both faculty and students to effect change when they per-ceive problems with the direction of the university.

It is not clear that these avenues exist at SLU, and this, more than anything else, is the issue at hand. The prob-lems at SLU go beyond any single administrative decision; they dwell in the flawed structure of governance that ren-ders faculty and students alike powerless and silenced.

The legitimate concerns of the faculty have been called petulant, selfish and hysterical and subsequently ignored. Mass demonstrations of dissatisfaction by the students have been treated with contempt. Whenever a student or faculty member has criticized the administration, the re-action of University leadership has been condescending and unprofessional to the point of insult. This is not what

“shared governance” looks like. This is a culture of fear, where dissent is suppressed and dialogue is impossible.

Some might wish to see this university run like a ma-chine, where students enter one side with their tuition and come out the other with a diploma. Some students might even prefer that, like a well-oiled engine, the work-ings of the university remain silent, out of sight and out of mind. This naïve view might prove costly. Education is an active experience, and students must act now to continue the forward progress of their university. For if the reputa-tion of SLU declines, the value of our degrees falls with it.

Right now, the grinding gears of our university are be-ing heard around the country, and the publicity is far from positive. The longer these controversies go on, the more damage SLU will sustain. University leaders claim that they’re acting in the best interests of the students, and no one would dispute that in the past 25 years under Presi-dent Lawrence Biondi, S.J., this university has shown great progress in many metrics. But when administra-tive decisions are being lambasted around the country, it becomes difficult to see how obstinacy and a refusal to cooperate helps the students, the faculty or anyone else.

What SLU needs now is for its students to take charge of their education. As our representative body, we com-mend the Student Government Association for making a timely response in support of the Faculty Senate, and we hope SGA will continue to be proactive in working to re-solve the governance issues at SLU.

Doubtless the days ahead will bring challenges, but we believe they can be surmounted with communication and earnest effort. And in the future, we hope that we will all still be proud to put our Saint Louis University diplomas on display.

This November, Americans have a decision to make. Though there are many bubbles to be filled on the ballot, the selection of our country’s next president is the most far-reaching of all decisions to be made next week.

Here at The University News, our goal is to provide fair, accurate and complete coverage of every election is-sue. Even so, when dealing with such polarizing topics it is impossible to remove all bias. Though we cannot com-pletely eliminate our biases, we can make our readership aware of them, and with that in mind our editorial board sat down to discuss whether we should endorse a particu-lar candidate as other major media outlets have done.

But this newspaper is far from a monolithic entity, and our editors are, in fact, very divided on the issue of the upcoming election. So rather than endorsing any one can-didate, we will try to address each of the major candidates in terms of the issues most important to our readership: the economy, education and health care.

President Barack Obama’s policies are mostly clear since we have seen many of them debated and enacted over the past four years. Inheriting an economic crisis, Obama passed into law an $825 billion stimulus pack-age. Today, unemployment is at its lowest in four years, though it must be noted that labor force participation re-mains low.

Obama would cut taxes for the middle class while raising taxes on the highest-earning Americans. Obama also supports the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which tightens regulations on banks and other financial entities.

As for education, Obama has reformed the Pell Grant distribution system so that funds come directly from the federal government, rather that through subsidized loans from banks. This was done in order to maintain the avail-ability of funds for the program even in times of economic

crisis. In health care, Obama passed the Affordable Care Act. Under this law, young adults may stay under their parents’ health insurance until they are 26. Beginning in 2014, people cannot be denied insurance coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The act also gives millions of women access to free preventative services such as birth control, pap smears and mammograms.

Gov. Mitt Romney’s stated priority for the economy is putting people back to work. He wants to preserve the Bush-era tax cuts and lower taxes for everyone. Also, he plans to lower the capital gains tax rate to bring big businesses into the country. Romney has vowed to repeal Dodd-Frank but replace it with legislation that would re-tain some of its elements.

In education, Romney wants to foster more private-sec-tor funding for college students. He also wants to develop partnerships between businesses and community col-leges and trade schools. As for healthcare, Romney plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He would give state governments the responsibility of regulating insurance and caring for the poor and chronically ill. Romney would reform Medicare so that future seniors would receive a fixed amount to spend on private insurance plans.

These two candidates have sharply diverging visions for our country, and it is up to each voter to determine the pros and cons of each. To that end, this issue of The University News contains a detailed election guide.

Many Americans may be dissatisfied with both of the major candidates. Regardless, your vote is your voice, and it is vital to use that voice. Voting for a third-party can-didate can give voice to that dissatisfaction, whereas not voting at all implies apathy or disinterest.

So, no matter what bubble you plan to fill, get to that ballot box next week. Otherwise, as they say, you have no right to complain the next four years.

Defending the value of our degrees

Your vote is your voice in election

“Freedom of the press—print, online and broadcast—is a basic

right in a democratic society and is valuable in promoting

the development of students as socially responsible persons ...

The University News is a student voice, not the student voice. The views of The University News are the expressions of the students

involved ... If [The University News] can represent a point of view around which discussion may develop, it serves a legiti-mate and needed purpose.”- From The University News’

Charter

The University News is a member of the Associated

Collegiate Press, the Student Press Law Center, the College

Media Advisers and the Missouri College Media Association, a division of the Missouri Press

Association.

First copy, free. Each additional copy, $1.00.

Unews

editor-in-chiefBrian Boydeic@unewsonline.com

managing editorTJ Keeley managing@unewsonline.com

news editorKrisTen mianonews@unewsonline.com

assoc. news editorwolf howardnews@unewsonline.com

oPinion editormiChael hoGanopinion@unewsonline.com

enterPrise editorderriCK neUnerenterprise@unewsonline.com

sPorts editorCharles Bowlessports@unewsonline.com

assoc. sPorts editorTony Trainasports@unewsonline.com

arts editoralanah nanTellarts@unewsonline.com

assoc. arts editormaGGie needhamarts@unewsonline.com

design directorBrianna radiCidesign@unewsonline.com

multimedia directoremily diehlmultimedia@unewsonline.com

PhotograPhY editorJohn sChUlerphoto@unewsonline.com

coPY editorhallie Kaisercopy@unewsonline.com

coPY editorlizzie BarTeKcopy@unewsonline.com

online editorChrisTopher weBBwebmaster@unewsonline.com

fashion editorJUlia ChrisTensenfashion@unewsonline.com

science editorGaBriele GeerTsscience@unewsonline.com

religion editoradnan syedreligion@unewsonline.comdesign@unewsonline.com

general managerConnor Berrygm@unewsonline.com

account executivesraChel CamBellnaTalie GrassoniCK sTeinaUer

advisorslaUra Thomsondon hiGhBerGeradvisor@unewsonline.com

the editorial board of the university news recognizes avis meyer, ph.d. as the newsPaPer’s facultY mentor.

2012-13 ediTorial Board

Founded by Claude Heithaus, S.J.

Busch Student CenterSuite 354

20 N. Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63103

Newsroom: (314) 977-2812newsroom@unewsonline.com

Advertising: (314) 977-2813advertisng@unewsonline.com

unewsonline.comfacebook.com/theunews

twitter.com/theunews

“How are we going to be top 50 or even top 90 when we don’t have confidence in our leaders?

”-Faculty Senator

See Page 1.

Mike Hogan/ Opinion Editor

The University News reserves the right not to publish any letters that are deemed intentionally and/or inappropriately inflammatory, more than the 300-word limit or unsigned by the original author. The following are letters and/or website comments. Because the identities of website posters cannot be verified, all website comments should be treated as anonymous. Actual letters to the editor may be submitted online at unewsonline.com or e-mailed to opinion@unewsonline.com. Please include your cell phone number.

Lettersto the editor

Quotesof the week

”“

“We take the music very seriously. We just don’t take ourselves seriously.

”-Ryan Ahlwardt, member of a cappella group Straight No Chaser

See Page 11.

“It was nice to let him see me as a man; it was important to let him see that part of me.

”-Nick Shackelford, referring to his dad watching him play for the first time in five years. See Page 17.

“All that I learned in prison helped me later in life as a scientist.

”-Gunther von Hagens, founder of Body Worlds exhibit

See Page 14.

OPINION 10 unewsonline.com NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Editor’s note: This is the last of a series of commentaries focusing on issues that are impor-tant to voters in the upcoming presidential election. One commentary is written by a repre-sentative of SLU Democrats, the other by a representative of SLU College Republicans.

No one is going to argue with the fact that President

O b a m a i n h e r -ited a m e s s . O u r e c o n o -my in 2 0 0 8 was al-r e a d y a car h e a d e d over a c l i f f .

But when Obama got be-hind the wheel, he didn’t hit the brakes or turn the car around. He accelerated. And we fell faster and we fell harder. Our credit rating went out the window, unem-ployment went through the roof and the housing mar-ket is still bouncing around in the back seat

When he took office in 2008, Obama promised to create jobs. But he went about it in precisely the wrong way: by throwing money at the problem, mon-ey that we didn’t have and still don’t have. The 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus, poured $825 billion of borrowed money into the economy, but lord knows where it went. Job growth remains anemic, investment even more so, and because the Federal Reserve is basically print-ing money now, inflation will become a big problem in the not-so-distant future. It has been estimated by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers that ev-ery job the stimulus “saved or created” cost the tax-payer $278,000. Unemploy-ment peaked at 10 percent, though Obama promised it wouldn’t go over 8 percent.

You cannot spend your way out of an economic re-cession, a fact the Obama administration refuses to acknowledge. Federal spending remains out of control, at 25 percent of our national GDP. That’s a 5 percent increase from what it has been for the last 50 years, according to the Office of Management and the Budget. In one term, Obama added $5.3 trillion to our national debt. To help balance this, Obama wants to raise taxes, another thing you just cannot do during a recession because it stifles economic growth. Busi-nesses aren’t going to hire more workers, and families have less disposable income if you raise their taxes. No, no, he says, I only want

It’s neither a secret nor debatable that President

B a r a c k O b a m a i n h e r -ited a horrible, p l u m -m e t i n g e c o n o -my, the w o r s t since the G r e a t Depres-s i o n .

What is debatable to some is whether or not the econ-omy is worse than it was four years ago. It should be needless to say that we are not worse off now than four years ago. Unemploy-ment is down and still de-creasing. The stock market and consumer confidence are up and still increasing. The economy is recovering. This is a result of not just stimulus and financial regu-lation, though both have helped us recover. It’s been a rough ride, with credit downgrades influenced by an obstructionist Congress, but, according to the Bu-reau of Labor Statistics, the country has been treated to 30 straight months of job growth with an estimated 3.5 million jobs created. We are coming out on top, and the next four years are cru-cial to continued success.

Obama believes that an economy grows from the middle out, not from the top down. Putting money in the hands of the middle class helps everyone – they buy products from the rich and pay taxes that fund social programs for the poor. The economy is a circle, and the best place to start is in the middle, because the middle class helps both sides. Ac-cording to the BLS, Obama has already cut taxes for the middle class family by an average of $3,600 over four years. By ending ridiculous tax ideas like Bush’s tax cuts, more money can be funneled to the middle class through social programs and other tax incentives.

Gov. Mitt Romney, how-ever, has expressed an al-most quantifiably insane tax plan. He calls for across-the-board tax cuts for ev-eryone including the top 1 percent of earners, many of whom have requested tax increases rather than tax cuts. This plan would add trillions to our deficit, and Romney has yet to identify how he’s actually going to address this explosion. He’s requested more mili-

tary spending rather than less as the joint chiefs have asked. He keeps discussing closing tax loopholes and ending different programs, but aside from funding for PBS, voters have no idea what will be cut and how they will be affected.

Romney’s budget is a five-point plan that lacks specifics. However, Rom-ney selected a running mate with a very detailed budget, one that Romney essentially endorsed when he chose his running mate, though he may not follow it exactly. Still, the Ryan budget must be considered, and it is, to put it lightly, ir-rational. The decimation of social programs and the reduction of the tax rates of the wealthiest to less than 1 percent are insane. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called the budget plan, specifically the cuts to programs, “unjusti-fied and wrong.” Romney, when fighting for the GOP nomination, called federal disaster relief “immoral.” Well, I call destroying the social safety net that lower and middle class citizens rely on in favor of cutting rates for the rich “immoral.”

Our president, on the other hand, has quantifiable plans, actually released to the public, to decrease the deficit by $4 trillion. These plans begin with the end of the expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They con-tinue with tax increases on the wealthiest in the coun-try, those making more than $250,000 a year; the closing of corporate loopholes, an end to tax breaks for com-panies that send jobs over-seas and more. Obama’s efforts to shrink the deficit are already beginning—$2 trillion in reduction have already been signed into law and these laws have an increasing effect over the next four years. The presi-dent’s budget is aimed at the middle class and will af-fect families nationwide.

Romney has spent the past eight months changing his mind and policies and labeling half the country as moochers. Obama stands for everyone. Democrat or Republican, rich or poor, West Coast, East Coast or Midwest, President Obama is our advocate in the Oval Office. As he said in 2008, “We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

Better off after four years Obama’s economic crash

Joey Klinker Kelsey Massa

to raise taxes on the rich. They need to pay their fair share. Well, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent of earners already pays 22 per-cent of the nation’s income taxes. The top 20 percent of earners pay around 70 percent. The bottom 20 per-cent pay three-tenths of a percent of the total income taxes. Besides this not actu-ally being fair in any sense of the word, it won’t help pay off the debt. Know why? Because raising tax rates does not magically raise tax revenue. That’s a dirty little secret that people won’t tell you. But you can look at the 1920s or the 1980s -- if you cut tax rates, especially for higher tax brackets, tax rev-enue soars. High tax rates encourage foreign invest-ment, the use of tax shel-ters or outright tax evasion. Cut taxes and you increase the size of your tax base be-cause there is less incentive not to pay them. Also, when Obama says he ‘ll only raise taxes on the rich, he is con-veniently forgetting that Obamacare will enact $500 million worth of new taxes, which will disproportionate-ly affect the middle class.

What needs to be done to help the economy get back on its feet is, basically, have the government get out of the way. Reduce federal spending, cut taxes, sim-plify the tax code, reduce the amount of bureaucratic red tape that businesses are forced to wade through. The government’s job is to foster an environment that encourages businesses to grow. Where the govern-ment does have a respon-sibility to be proactive, we need to make sure it is do-ing so efficiently and effec-tively. Every federal agency should justify every dollar that it spends, because that is our money. (Or at least, the Chinese’s money.) Rom-ney has a plan to do these things I just mentioned. He has run a successful busi-ness, so he knows what he’s doing when it comes to ef-ficiency. Obama has never run anything except a cam-paign, and it shows.

The great economist Friedrich Hayek wrote, “The curious task of eco-nomics is to demonstrate to men how little they re-ally know about what they imagine they can design.” Obama imagined that he could steer our economy in the right direction. But just think of the mess he will in-herit if reelected.

The Cards vs. our collegeThis commentary was

submitted by the Public Rela-tions committee of the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences.

In the ongoing struggle at Saint Louis University over questions of admin-istration, governance and evaluation, many, including Father Biondi in his Octo-ber message to the Univer-sity community, have point-ed out that the votes of no confidence against senior administrators took place after Vice President Manoj Patankar had formally with-drawn his controversial proposals to abolish ten-ure. Since the proposals are dead, why has the faculty been clamoring for Patan-kar’s dismissal?

For us faculty, this fight is about our duty to protect Saint Louis University from mismanagement that im-perils its future.

Let’s draw a parallel with the St. Louis Cardinals. Imagine that the Cards had appointed a new assistant general manager. He was given the assignment by the general manager to create a comprehensive formal eval-uation matrix for the entire roster. This rubric would determine assignments, sal-aries, the starting line-up, the pitching rotations and, most importantly, whether the players would be kept on, sent down to the minors for additional coaching or fired at the end of the year.

The new guy came up with nearly 50 pages of defi-nitions, complex mathemat-ical formulas, tables, evalu-ation matrices, surveys and procedures. Sending it out to his manager and coaches for review, he made it clear that the plans were going to be implemented mid-sea-son. Struggling to decipher its formulas and impene-trable jargon, the coaches and players d i scover ed that the plan diverged rad-ically from a n y t h i n g ever attempt-ed in Major League Base-ball.

The new guy was going to judge the pitchers based on their total number of in-nings. He was going to dock the bullpen for not being on the mound as long as the starters. For the other play-ers, even many pitchers, only batting averages appar-ently mattered. A home run was now seemingly worth no more than a bunt. If - and only if - a player batted in the top tier of the league for five years running would he be eligible for a meager pay raise. If a player’s five-year batting average was .314 - .280 for the first two years, then .336 for the next three -- no raise.

To top it off, the new boss warned his players that if they didn’t want to be penalized for “underper-formance,” all batters had to hit .350 and all pitchers needed ERAs of less than 2.00. This was necessary to make sure that the Cardi-nals remained a top five ball club that could consistently compete with the likes of the Yankees and Braves.

This is, essentially, what has just happened to the faculty at SLU. Patankar’s guidelines punish teach-ers who teach the small classes that SLU proudly advertises. Never mind that many upper division semi-nars are formally capped at 10 students, or that enroll-ment can fluctuate widely depending on the time of day that a course is offered, the number of majors and the total number of under-graduates and graduate stu-dents admitted in any given year. Online courses are given a greater weight than regular courses. Anyone can predict the result. Class size will increase, and SLU’s place in the U.S News and World Report rankings will plummet, since class size is a critical variable in the equations employed.

For researchers, the plan’s matrices are even worse. They could assign the same evaluation score to a 10-page conference paper or a book chapter as they do to a 300-page book. That different disciplines

have different benchmarks does not seem to matter. Biologists generally don’t publish books; theologians and historians do – and are expected to do so at the top 50 schools which SLU seeks to emulate. Yet under these formulas, pub-lishing an internationally-respected scholarly mono-graph would not even meet minimum annual standards -- and it takes an average of six to 10 years to publish a book based on significant pioneering research. A pro-fessor could have to publish as many as 30 - and in the most extreme case, 60 – articles per year simply to avoid being labeled an un-derperformer. There is no one even at Harvard capa-ble of spewing out research at this rate.

Trying to impose met-rics across the board for ev-ery department, moreover, is inherently unworkable. Why would you use the same matrices for rheuma-tology researchers, Shake-speare scholars, chemists and specialists in interna-tional finance? Why should quantity be given priority over quality? Why should a dozen hastily-dashed off articles published in jour-nals with dim reputations really be worth more than a groundbreaking study developed over years that changes the field?

Were the Cards to imple-ment such a plan, the team would become a perennial cellar-dweller. The start-ers would leave as soon as their contracts were up; the best free agents would shun the team. Those drafted by the Cardinals would defer for a year and re-enter the draft a year later. The fans would abandon the team, as the roster would be filled

by desper-ate aspir-ing major l e a g u e r s and vet-erans on their last legs who c o u l d n ’ t find a place with any oth-er team and who

would likely to be shown the door at the end of the season. The club would be left with a first-rate physical infrastructure and a minor-league cast.

The same fate will befall SLU should similar plans return. A once iconic and proud St. Louis institution will never again be a serious contender in the academic big leagues. As top faculty flee or are dismissed, alum-ni and current students will invariably find SLU’s na-tional ranking gashed and the value of their degree drastically reduced.

Which graduate stu-dents would come to SLU for five-year Ph.D. pro-grams, knowing that their faculty advisers could be dismissed at the end of any given year?

Why the no confidence votes, when Patankar has seemingly taken these plans off the table? The Sept. 24 letter from the chairman of SLU’s Board of Trustees to faculty, staff and students left the door open for simi-lar proposals to return un-der the window-dressing of a “blue-ribbon committee.” The new university-level strategic plan specifically calls for imposing account-ability and performance standards on all faculty and staff. The vice president has continued to defend his brain-child even after more than 180 faculty and deans showed convincingly that it would and could not work. He defended them at a pub-lic meeting with students and ominously called for an “exit strategy” for faculty. He has given no sign that he has read or understood the objections raised.

Would the Cardinals re-tain executives whose plans showed no understanding of how a baseball club is to be run? Clearly not, and this is why the Faculty Senate at SLU voted no confidence in Patankar. This is also why the Arts and Sciences Faculty Council backed up this vote with a vote of no confidence in Biondi that remains in effect until Pa-tankar is no longer serving

Making sense of the dismal science (while staying sane)“It’s the economy, stu-

pid,” said William Jefferson Clinton in his successful

1 9 9 2 p r e s i -d e n t i a l c a m -paign.

Wel l , B i l l y Boy, the e c o n -o m y m a k e s me feel s t u p i d .

Media outlets inundate their respective audiences with facts, figures and a lot of finger pointing. Con-sumer confidence, gross domestic product, unem-ployment, bulls and bears buzz around the airwaves and blogosphere. All the noise can be a bit chaotic. I have a general understand-ing of the data. I get most of the pundits’ points. Still, I wrestle with the big pic-ture: Where have all the good economic times gone? More importantly, when are they coming back?

Fact: math is hard. Yet without it, I’d be carv-ing this article into a cave wall. Dig deep enough and you’ll find that mathematics have played a role in pretty much every technological and scientific innovation since … well … math was discovered. Euclid laid out the elements. Newton and Leibniz cooked up calculus, much to the disdain of col-lege freshmen everywhere. From Euler to Riemann, the

breakthroughs have been breathtaking, but the by-products have been mind-blowing. The ever-increas-ing depth and complexity of mathematics gave Einstein the tools to bend space and time. The logic of Boole laid the foundation for the com-puter I’m typing on.

Economics is not im-mune to the sway of math-ematics; modern econom-ics uses complex maths and statistics to model ev-erything from consumer demand to optimal deci-sion making. I emphasize the complex part—Google “Econophysics” and see for yourself. Even the prices of securities flying around the financial markets are deter-mined by heavy number-crunching.

Trying to wrap my head around the economy leads me deeper into the rabbit hole, where I’m greeted by man-eating partial differen-tial equations. I feel like I need a Ph.D. to figure out an economy I’m a part of.

What if understanding the economy isn’t as scary as it seems? Perhaps the dismal science has left me in dismay without reason. Yes, the math behind it all can be terrifying. What if it’s not necessary? Maybe people like me can glean a thing or two from good old reasoning and common sense. That might not be a bad choice. The 2012 presi-dential election is a week away and economic plans are a key issue, per usual.

So instead of trying to turn the behavior of billions into a smooth stack of symbols and numbers, we can get back to the big picture with some sweet simplicity. What happened, and where’s the economy heading?

In the past four years, the world has flirted with financial Armageddon and teetered over the fiscal cliff. Right now, the world economy seems to be care-fully clawing itself out of a recessionary quagmire. Be-fore pointing fingers at Wall Street or the White House for the recession and slow recovery, take a step back. Complex financial deriva-tives blew up some banks. 831 billion Uncle-Sam-ap-proved dollars later, and a full-blown meltdown was averted. Housing prices were bopped off their bub-ble, and people couldn’t pay their mortgages. Inter-est rates are sniffing the all-time floor. Today our economy is still in a tough spot with slowing GDP and high unemployment. Even without the math, figuring out the economy is com-plex. There are a lot of vari-ables that go into it, and the causation between events is tough to pinpoint. There are some themes in the pro-posed causes to the “great recession,” and anyone can grab them: practice some discipline and be account-able for your actions.

Debt plays a prominent role in the U.S. economy. As of Aug. 2, 2012, the St. Louis

Federal Reserve reported that household debt is 86.92 percent of GDP. That’s 12,945.06 billion U.S. dol-lars. Follow along with the zeroes: 12,945,060,000,000. In January 2008, the figure stood at $13,821.55 billion.

Debt is an element of any modern economy. Con-sumers, corporations and governments rely on it for financing. It can be destruc-tive when the borrower drowns in the debt. Loose lending standards became the norm—the loan origina-tor generates more loan vol-ume and profit, and the sub-prime borrower buys that dream home that’ll take 80 years to repay. Eventually, reality comes roaring back and the loan can’t be repaid. The consumer loses, the business loses, and, if wide-spread, the economy loses. Making short-sighted deci-sions to boost income isn’t sustainable for any eco-nomic agent. Greed has disastrous consequences. Avoiding the consequences exacerbates the problem.

Where the economy heads has a lot to do with what we the people—the consumers, the business owners and the legisla-tors—decide to learn from the past. The math and data are good, no doubt. But they’re limited by how rational people are. A little economic rationality and a dose of discipline can help us thrive.

Touche, Clinton. Touche.

Brian Boyd

For us faculty, this fight is about our duty to protect Saint Louis University from misman-agement that imperils its future.

“”

unewsonline.com NOVEMBER 1, 2012UARTS

November 2

Natalie MacMasterSheldon Concert Hall8 p.m.$35

OUTOn The

TOWnArTs ediTOr’s Picks

MusicNovember 1

Madonna World TourScottrade Center8 p.m.from $45

November 2-3

Pronfman Plays BrahmsPowell Symphony HallFri: 10:30 a.m., Sat: 8 p.m.from $30 (students $10)

November 3DatsikThe Pagaent8 p.m.$25

November 4Matt & KimThe Pagaent8 p.m.$20

Hip Hop SymphonyPowell Symphony Hall3 p.m.$12

Until January 20Federico Barocci: Re-naissance Master ExhibitSt. Louis Art MuseumTues-Sun: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.free

November 4

Art

Until January 30Juan William Chavez on ViewLaumeier Sculpture Park8 a.m.-sunsetfree

November 1

So You Think You Can Dance 2012Fox Theatre7:30 p.m.from $39.50

Celtic Festival featuring Black 47Touhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL8 p.m.$25

November 3

Freelance WhalesThe Firebird9 p.m.$18.50

October 26

Wiz Khalifa brings his crew to ChaifetzThe Taylor Gang works and plays hard in St. Louis

By JOE STEIN Staff Writer

Subtlety is not Taylor Gang’s forté.

This powerful hip-hop collective from Pittsburgh makes no mistake about what they stand for. The packed crowd on the floor at Chafeitz Arena watched smoke rise from a massive, winged bong in the center of the stage, which per-fectly exemplified Taylor Gang’s individuality..

Wiz Khalifa, founder of Taylor Gang, keeps his lov-ing relationship with canna-bis very public and knows many Taylor Gang follow-ers share his love. But the Taylor Gang movement is about much more than weed.

On stage, Khalifa thanked his supporters and addressed the Taylor move-ment as such: “It’s about doin’ you. It’s about being who you are and enjoyin’ life.”

Though one may not approve of Taylor Gang’s methods, the movement’s core values are hard to dis-agree with. Smile, be happy, love life . . . who wouldn’t want that motto?

Khalifa and the Tay-lor Gang derived their name from two sources: the Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers Khalifa came to be known for and Taylor Allderdice High School, the group’s alma mater in Pitts-burgh.

Staying true to his roots on this 2050 Tour, Khalifa had Taylor Gang artists Tuki Carter, Berner, Lola Monroe, Chevy Woods and Juicy J warm up the stage for him. Each opening act was incredibly impressive; Taylor Gang has shown the world that Pittsburgh is the epicenter of new wave hip-hop.

After five openers, Khal-ifa finally graced the stage with his presence. This man exudes confidence. He’s no newbie to the art of stage performance and definitely knows how to get a crowd going.

Khalifa came out with a set list beyond expecta-tions. He likes to provide his audience with a wide variety of tracks, traversing different stages in his musi-cal career.

Songs fluctuated from mainstream radio hits such as “Young, Wild and Free” to thumping party an-thems like “On My Level”

and stoner jams like “Still Blazin.”

Taylor Gang faithfuls range from ratchet club-hoppers to focused honor students; Khalifa loves to break boundaries.

That’s the beauty of Khalifa. He brings together people from all walks of so-ciety. Though the people may be different, they all share a love for his mu-sic. With several Grammy nominations, an American Music Award and the title of Billboard’s Best New Art-ist, Khalifa isn’t an “under-ground” rapper anymore.

A new album is currently in the works, and after the success of his debut album, “Rolling Papers,” this up-coming album is much an-ticipated.

Khalifa revolutionizes his sound with each new mixed-tape and album, from the deep electronic beats of “Flight School” to the styling of “Cabin Fever 2.” Hardcore fans can’t wait to hear what’s next.

Some may love it, or some may hate it at first, but most fans are guaranteed to grow to like it. Khalifa’s sounds are, after all, infec-tious.

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Records

(above) Wiz Khalifa is the founder of the hip-hop collective Taylor Gang and recently played a show at Chafeitz Arena in St. Louis. (below) The cover art for Wiz Khalifa’s recent single “Work Hard Play Hard.”

‘Cloud Atlas’ soarsPhoto courtesy of Atlantic Records

By TJ KEELEY Managing Editor

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Halle Berry and Keith David perform in the various stories that weave throughout “Cloud Atlas.”

It is hard to find anything terribly fresh at the multi-plex. That is the nature of commercial cinema: easily digestible, predictable, ac-cessible, likeable. These films are often served on a tray, fresh out of the oven from the same cookie cut-ter.

“Cloud Atlas” disas-sembles that cookie cutter. It breaks it, throws it away and goes back to the start

while questioning the very fundamentals of baking.

No, “Cloud Atlas” has nothing to do with cooking or baking, but it has every-thing to do with ambitious filmmaking. At $100 mil-lion, “Cloud Atlas” marks the most expensive inde-pendent film in American history.

Six stories that span 600 years are wound and cut to-gether to create a tapestry of a cinematic epic.

Jim Sturgess (“Across the Universe”) plays Adam Ewing, a sailor sent in 1849

to negotiate the purchase of a plantation island when he falls ill. His journal falls into the hands of Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw, Q in the upcoming “Skyfall”), a gay composer in 1930s London who makes him-self the assistant of Vyvyan Ayrs, one of the greatest and oldest living musicians. Frobisher’s lover, Rufus Sixsmith (James D’Arcy) serves an important role in a nuclear energy

Straight No Chaser comes to the Fox

Straight No Chaser, an a cappella group originally formed at the University of Indiana, performs live at the Fox Theatre on Sat-urday, Nov. 10 for a night of fun, entertainment and some unbelievable singing.

Member Ryan Ahlwardt said that the premise for starting the group back in 1998 was to “sing for soror-ity girls and get some free meals out of it.” No one could have imagined that just 13 years later, they would be touring the coun-try, recording albums and hosting live television con-certs.

Straight No Chaser be-gan as a college a cappella group at Indiana University. The group was incredibly popular within their circle, but when members gradu-ated, they accepted that the days of a cappella had come to an end. The 10 men went on to pursue a variety of paths, most not even in mu-sic.

However, in 2006, one of the members posted a video of the group singing “12 Days of Christmas,” and the video immediately went viral. When Atlantic Records contacted the orig-

By KRISTIN MCGUIRE Staff Writer

inal group and asked them to get back together, group members thought it was a hoax.

Charlie Mechling, a bass in the group, was pursu-ing a career on the stage in New York City when he got the call about reunit-ing the group. Mechling had played violin and saxo-phone throughout his child-hood, but got involved with singing in high school when he was cast in Oklahoma.

“Singing meant I didn’t have to carry an instrument case around,” Mechling said.

As one of the original members of Straight No Chaser, Mechling was ec-static about the prospect of singing with his friends again.

“To think that the 10 of us could go our separate ways after college, start professional lives, and then commit to putting SNC back together after all these years is nothing short of a minor miracle,” he said. “With each opportunity to perform that comes our way, we are reminded of how fortunate and blessed we are to be able to do what we love to do.”

See “SNC” on Page 12

Other

Until November 15

The Lemp ExperienceThe Lemp MansionNovember 1, 8, 15reservations required$30

See “Atlas” on Page 12

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com12 ARTS

Theater department provides unique offering in Italian musical revue

By SARAH MALLICK Staff Writer

Primus rocks with Les Claypool

By JASON MCCOY Staff Writer

Typical is precisely the wrong word to use to de-scribe Primus’ collection of curiosities displayed at the Peabody Opera House last Sunday.

Primus is best known for writing and performing the opening song for the popu-lar satire cartoon “South Park.” Channeling the same irreverence that “South Park” is famous for, Primus filled the dignified opera house with deadheads, hip-pies and other vestiges of a bygone psychedelic era.

While the clientele var-ied greatly from the stan-dard, they possessed the same passion for music. The urban parking lot was stocked with cars from states as far as Florida and Minnesota.

Without supporting bands or warning, Les Claypool walked out on the stage and unleashed volleys of sound from his bass gui-tar.

The fans, restrained to seats, stood and cheered. As Claypool strummed out rhythmic blasts of bass, the 3-D screen responded ap-propriately. The videogra-

pher mixed film live on the screen in response to the set list.

Huge, inflatable Ameri-can astronauts flanked the central screen, their hel-mets filled with the pro-jected image of a male as-tronaut.

His visage panned back and forth across the audi-ence, meeting the eyes of all in attendance.

If Jimi Hendrix is the master of the electric gui-tar, then Claypool of Primus is surely the master of the bass guitar.

Traditional rock con-certs are dominated by the high wail of electric guitars, whereas a bass guitar domi-nates a Primus show.

This fundamental change draws a dedicated fan base for Primus’ funk-inspired metal tunes. Clay-pool’s unique accent and punk singing style adds an atypical facet to a strange collection of sounds.

Early in the set, Claypool improvised a jam session for a quarter of an hour before breaking into an ode to Lee Van Cleef, an ac-tor typecast as a villain for Western movies.

Claypool’s funky bass beats reverberated around the room as the videogra-

Jason McCoy/ Staff Writer

Les Claypool performs as a part of Primus with a 3-D screen behind him projecting images related to the songs they play.

Atlas: complex film weaves together sprawling plots

Continued from Page 11

SNC: Unique and entertaining a cappella

The concert will feature songs from a variety of genres: pop, soul, oldies and even some holiday tunes.

“We like to make ar-

rangements unique [and] not a direct cover,” Ahl-wardt said. “People respond most to hearing songs in a completely different way. Some people even like that better. That’s very reward-ing as an arranger.”

Whether eight or 80

years old, Straight No Chas-er will entertain audiences of any age.

Ahlwardt shared the se-cret to Straight No Chas-er’s success. Staying light-hearted is their key.

“We take the music very seriously,” he said. “We just

The 10 men of Straight No Chaser, a professional a cappella group that began as a collegiate group at Indiana University.

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Records

don’t take ourselves seri-ously.”

To purchase tickets through the Fox Theatre box office, visit www.fabu-lousfox.com.

For more information about Straight No Chaser, visit www.sncmusic.com.

Continued from Page 11

pher remixed movies star-ring Van Cleef.

Stage video for concerts is often unrelated to the mu-sic being played.

The stage video for this concert was always related lyrically to the songs play-ing live. A funky song called “To Defy the Laws of Tradi-tion” often used Christmas as a lyrical theme.

The videographer re-mixed Christmas footage of an American family in the 50s while showing 3-D snowflakes falling in the foreground.

In most 3-D movies the depth attained is shallow and images will only pro-trude several feet from the actual surface of the screen.

Through some techno-logical wizardry, Primus’ videographer pushed snow-flakes to what seemed like 20 feet deep. While it pained the eyes a bit, the effect was pleasing.

The second set of the concert began after an in-termission. The screen played reruns of “Popeye the Sailor Man” until Clay-pool returned.

The second set featured old Primus standards like “Jerry Was a Race Car Driv-er” and “My Name is Mud.”

However, the songs dif-

fered from the familiar stu-dio recordings, and there were several improvised solos.

During a Primus hit called “Mr. Krinkle,” Clay-pool donned a pig mask and switched from electric bass guitar to electric upright bass.

Reverberation and dis-tortion effects over the very traditional instrument made for unique and creepy sound.

The set ended with tracks from their newest al-bum, “Green Naugahyde.” The final images on the 3-D screen were majestic Amer-ican flags waving in the wind, Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial and the Statue of Liberty.

The end of the concert was oddly uplifting. It start-ed in a very dark, subverted place and ended with blunt American images accompa-nied by an uplifting funky tune.

The song Primus ended with, as fan’s exited the Peabody, was “Pure Imagi-nation” from the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Choc-olate Factory.”

As in the lyrics of the song, “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.”

Last weekend, Alpha Psi Omega, the national hon-orary theater society, and SLU theater presented “Sto-ria Italiana: An Original Mu-sical Revue” at the Studio Blackbox Theater.

The student-produced cabaret, directed by Mollie Amburgey and Kristin Rion, used a wide range of music to tell a story. This story c e n t e r e d around four couples in m a g i c a l Italy. Not quite a mu-sical but not quite a play, the cabaret had no specific script, but the actors sang specific songs the entire time and had well-choreographed dances.

The setting was 1950s New York City and Ascoli Piceno, Italy. Interestingly, the mood of the play varied depending on the song be-ing sung, from the glamour of songs like “Sway” and “Mambo Italiano” by Dean Martin, to the theatrical, bold “Be Italian” from the musical “Nine” and “Stupid Cupid” by Connie Francis.

It was certain that the cabaret was able to fit to-gether sophisticated, clas-sical songs from the 1950s, such as “Beyond the Sea”

by Bobby Darin, and songs from today, such as “Quan-do, Quando, Quando” by Michael Buble. The ac-tors themselves sang and danced very well.

In addition, it was fasci-nating to recognize the inte-gration of music into Ameri-can culture in the 1950s culture.

Both Sinatra and Mar-tin were great names in

A m e r i c a n music and were both also of Ital-ian descent. The song c h o i c e s were built into the story. Rion, the scenic artist, mod-eled the sets after Italy and New York,

complete with piazzas and visions of “Little Italy.”

The show was captivat-ing, and offered a small taste of what 1950s Italy must have been like, some-thing most people today probably could not relate to.

Amburgey, Rion and company will also be hold-ing a series of one-acts in December at the blackbox theater. One-acts are small plays which last approxi-mately 20 minutes each.

SLU’s one-acts will fea-ture plays written by David Ives, Richard Greenberg, Darryl Watson and Chris-topher Durang. The perfor-mances will be produced and directed by students.

Fans flock to bass guitar master’s funk metal

Every moment and every image feels in-fused .... with a sin-cere appreciation for momentary and cos-mic beauty.

“”

The show was captivating, and of-fered a small taste of what 1950s Ita-ly must have been like.

“”

-Sarah Mallick

conspiracy that is being in-vestigated in the 1970s by Luisa Rey (Halle Berry).

In the contemporary scene, Jim Broadbent plays Timothy Cavendish, an ec-centric book publisher who finds himself quickly with a fortune and even more quickly struck with misfor-tune. In futuristic Korea, Sonmi-451, a clone, rebels against her society and be-comes an icon for a future island tribesman (Tom Hanks) struggling to pro-tect his family from tribes of cannibals.

Everything is connected. And while many of gems in “Cloud Atlas” sound like fortune-cookie wisdom when isolated from the whole (indeed, some crit-ics say they remain so, but these critics are mistaken), the film creates a spectacle by challeng-ing tradi-tional cine-matic form. For exam-ple, each of the principal actors oc-cupy four to six parts, appearing in roles large and small in each of the vignettes.

In addi-tion, writers/directors/pro-ducers Tom Tykwer and Lana and Andy Wachowski choose to cut between the stories, rather than let the stories unravel mostly unin-terrupted, as David Mitch-ell’s novel does. As a result, “Cloud Atlas” becomes a pastiche of tone and genre while opening up connec-tions between the stories that may take several view-ings to fully grasp.

Many critics say “Cloud Atlas” is “too much”— too many directors directing too many actors playing too many roles in too many stories. But to give in to this criticism is to miss the splendid excess and maxi-

malism of “Cloud Atlas.” The film gives us things we have never seen before (namely Hugh Grant as a cannibalistic war chief in an inspired bit of cast-ing), and that’s commend-able enough. Still, though, I found myself deeply and profoundly moved. “Cloud Atlas” has the ability to elicit intense emotional re-sponses and to vibrate at the very core of its audi-ence’s being. It is one of the year’s best films.

This is a rare and unique film. It is made not be scru-tinized, but to be experi-enced and cherished. Not all of its idiosyncrasies and emotionally moving parts work: the most futuristic story employs a vernacu-lar that sounds silly when spoken, and Hanks simply can’t pull off multiple roles. Hanks is like a lovable un-cle playing dress up.

The film starts and ends with a long gaze upon the stars. In between, “Cloud At-las” breaks your heart and seizes your soul. “Cloud At-las” cap-tures fears and sad-ness, even t r i u m p h s large and

small. All the stories deal with humanity’s ability to consume each other and with the constant struggle for freedom.

Every moment and ev-ery image feels infused with this struggle and with a sincere appreciation for momentary and cosmic beauty. “Cloud Atlas” pos-its a cosmos in which all actions have consequences and voices echo across the universe. By exploring the nature of transience and eternity, of love and vio-lence, of souls and bodies, “Cloud Atlas” has the poten-tial to make all of its viewers more fulfilled human be-ings. Don’t miss it.

UMYTH:

Only coastal areas are affected by

hurricanes.

Front pages of papers flood with news of hurricanes crashing onto shores but

effects are felt inland. Usually it comes in the form of strong winds to tornadoes. Houston owed $4.8 billion after Hurrican Allison, far from the storms landfall.

BUST

MYTH:Hurricane Katrina

was the deadliest U.S. hurricane in history.

The total number of deaths attributed to the

storm was 1,800 but it is a misconception to believe that was the worst of all

time. The great Galveston hurricane caused 8,000

deaths back in 1900. BUST

MYTH:Atlantic hurricanes

always spin counterclockwise.

The rotation of the Earth and the Coriolis Effect are responsible for this one.

These two spins combined cause the direction to always be the same in the Atlantic,

counterclockwise. TRUST

MYTH:The surge of the storm is the deadliest part of

a hurricane.

It’s hard to believe that a wall of water pushed ashore as the center of the hurricane

hits land isn’t the worst of it. However, most people are

injured during flash floods and flooding due to the

disrespect of moving waters strength. BUST

MYTH:The right side of the

hurricane is more dangerous than the

left side.

Knowing that the hurricane always rotates counterclockwise makes

this an easy answer. Since it travels in a forward direction, the right side of a hurricane will have faster wind speeds

than the left. TRUST

By ADNAN SYEDReligion Editor

John Schuler / Photo Editor

Top: A recycling cage was planted in the Quad for the week to promote recycling. Left: Bins line the mailboxes for easy disposal of junk mail. Right: Signs make recycling easy.

unewsonline.com NOVEMBER 1, 2012

TRUSTor

BUST?

Hurricanes

The turn of season provides vibrant colors

John Schuler / Photo Editor

Three pigments are responsible for the colors of fall: chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanins. Chlorophyll is responsible for the green color, and during the fall, it does not have time to grow due to the shorter days and longer nights leaving a feast of autumn eye candy.

Sustainability week at SLUBy GABBY GEERTS

Science Editor

Wednesday wrapped up the first ever Sustainability Week at Saint Louis Uni-versity. The events started on Oct. 24, aligning per-fectly with the designated Campus Sustainability Day by the Association for the Advancement of Sustain-ability.

The United Nations defines sustainability as, “meeting the needs of to-day’s generation without compromising the poten-tial for future generations to do the same.”

The University’s strong partnership with Facilities Services began in 2009, when single-stream recy-cling was first instituted. Since then, the collabora-tion has grown and rooted itself throughout the Uni-versity, promoting aware-ness and fueling action within departments, orga-nizations and students.

A large movement of the week has been the imple-mentation of the new sin-gle-stream recycling pro-gram recently installed on campus, in the form of sis-ter blue garbage cans next to the normal black ones.

These new cans hold pa-per products, metal, plastic and glass; trash in the form of food, liquid and Styro-foam is to be placed in the traditional cans.

Even pizza boxes caked in day-old melted cheese can be recycled. This im-provement to campus was only one of many steps for the betterment of the Uni-versity’s environment.

Efforts are not going un-noticed, either. In October 2011, SLU was awarded a bronze rating from the As-sociation for the Advance-ment of Sustainability in Higher Education, an hon-or recognizing efforts in environmental, social and economic sustainability.

This trend won’t soon pass, with the first class from the master’s program in sustainability graduat-ing this upcoming May

Plastic bags go green

By WOLF HOWARDAssociate News Editor

Green technology isn’t just a thing of the future; researchers in Buenos Ai-res and France have made breakthroughs in edible plastic to help cut down on plastic waste across the globe.

The Environmental Pro-tection Agency estimates 31 million tons of plastic waste were generated in the U.S. in 2010.

In response to the mod-ern world’s issues concern-ing plastic waste, research-ers at the University of Bue-nos Aires have developed nontoxic edible plastic built around starch extracts from corn and cassava.

The novel polymer is be-ing called bioplastic.

The key ingredient in bi-oplastic is a form of starch nanoparticle from a com-mon corn variety called waxy corn.

According to Profes-sor Silvia Goyanes, the nanoparticles are 50,000 times smaller than a hair and allow starch plastics to be stronger and more re-sistant to breaking, making them more like your aver-age plastic materials.

The result is a strong plastic that protects both food and the environment and can be safely discarded since it breaks down like vegetable matter.

The research team is working on creating a stron-ger plastic that they hope can be used commercially to replace shopping bags.

Just across the ocean, a team of researchers in France is developing a line of edible containers with food inside them.

Called WikiCells, the edible plastic containers were designed with nature

SCIENCE

Tropical storm Isaac visited the Gulf Coast just a few months ago. Major Hurricane Bret and tropi-cal storm Arlene came last year. The aftermath of Hur-ricane Katrina lingers.

The connection these At-lantic storms (originating and forming in the Atlantic Ocean) have to each other is their human names.

The latest storm, Sandy, just passed through the East Coast causing a 10-day electricity outage in New York City.

One wonders how and why these names are given.

According to Geology.com, tropical storms that form in the Atlantic Ocean,

with wind speeds reaching 39 mph are given a name. When the storm’s wind speed reaches more than 74 mph, it is categorized as a hurricane.

Thus a hurricane is ac-tually a tropical storm that has retained its name.

In regards to the history of naming Atlantic hurri-canes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration website states, “For several hundred years many hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the particular saint’s day on which the hurricane occurred.”

Hurricanes Santa Ana and San Felipe are exam-ples of hurricanes from that time.

The practice of using

– putting SLU alumni in ca-reers that further develop sustainable efforts within government, business and education.

On Oct. 29 and 30, a sustainability conference was held here on campus. The conference worked to restore areas struck by natural disasters, using sustainable, energy-saving practices.

Even Make a Difference Day (MADD) jumped on board, making the service day’s theme sustainability. MADD promoted green practices by providing reus-able water bottles to volun-

teers and using biodegrad-able bags for complimen-tary lunches.

There is even a solar-powered golf cart rolling around. The cart was creat-ed and developed by a team of undergraduates in Parks College of Engineering, giv-ing hands-on experience to the students and a new set of wheels for Facilities Ser-vices.

The speed of the cart has not been released but a video was leaked of a race between the normal cart and the solar cart. The so-lar cart won.

All of these improve-

ments are helping the envi-ronment but also deflating the bottom line. Replacing one light bulb may not be that influential, but replac-ing all of the light bulbs on campus can make a huge difference.

At the SLU Medical Center, one switch of the lights has cut electricity by more than 370,000 kilowatt hours. Annually, this adds up to nearly $25,000 saved.

Sustainability Week is over but that doesn’t mean efforts to educate and im-prove SLU have stopped. Go green and throw it in the blue.

Playing the hurricane name gametraditionally female names for hurricanes became the norm during World War II among the forecasters. Army and Navy meteo-rologists who strategically planned military move-ments around the weather also adopted it.

This method made com-municating information about storms easy, leading to more awareness about hurricanes.

Finally in 1953, The U.S. abandoned the plan to name storms by a pho-netic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) and started us-ing the method of naming storms by female names. In 1979, meteorologists start-ed using both male and fe-male names to identify the storms.

Caffeine is a common staple among American adults. According to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, almost 90 percent of adults ingest caffeine every day, mak-ing it most people’s drug of choice.

Caffeine keeps many college campuses running. Faced with a full night of papers and studying ahead, college students consider an all-nighter full of caffeine to be normal. However, col-lege students often over-look or are unaware of the dangers of repeatedly in-gesting too much caffeine.

The Mayo Clinic recom-mends that most healthy adults can safely consume 200 to 300 milligrams, or about two to four cups of coffee a day. Going beyond that number on a regular basis or in a person with outlying health issues may present a problem.

While it’s easy to forget that caffeine is a drug, it is possible to abuse caf-feine. In fact, a 2006 study at Northwestern Univer-sity found that 265 caffeine abuse cases were reported to a local U.S. regional poi-son control center from 2001 through 2004, and the average age of abusers was 21. Many college student feel more comfortable with pushing a project off to the last minute when they know caffeine will keep them up all night to complete the as-signment.

However, what most stu-dents don’t realize is that the caffeine may be work-ing against them and their study plans. Researchers at Duke University found that caffeine increases heart rate and blood pressure, intensifies the hormone adrenaline in the body and causes the body to experi-ence more panic than alert-ness.

While the idea of staying

up all night with a looming deadline already induces stress, the excess caffeine consumption may only unnecessarily add to this stress. Additionally, college students often complain of feeling tired or sluggish, attributing this feeling to their large workload, job schedules and late nights. In actuality, it may be that morning cup of coffee that begins the vicious cycle.

About 12 to 16 hours af-ter the first cup, the body goes into withdrawal, so the student interprets this as a need for sleep. When he or she wakes up the next morning, the body has al-ready slipped further into withdrawal. Understand-ing the fuzzy feeling as a need for more caffeine, the student allows the body to work through the cycle again by feeding the addic-tion. There are several caf-feine substitutes that can help college students transi-tion to a healthier lifestyle, while also lessening the pain of withdrawal.

For example, ensuring that vitamin B12 is a part of a daily diet or taking a supplement can greatly improve mental clarity, en-ergy levels and regulate the sleep cycle. An easy caf-feine substitution found in many college food courts and cafeterias is an apple. The fructose levels and vita-mins contained in one apple make it equal to drinking one cup of coffee. Another option is regular exercise, especially in the morning. Studies show that exercise has stronger energizing ef-fects than caffeine.

Regardless of the re-placement method, it is im-portant to remember that it will always take some time to adjust to the slower, less intense effects that these substitutes offer. Spending several weeks concentrat-ing on kicking the habit and picking up a good one will be well worth it for the long-term benefits.

By KATHLEEN KAYSENStaff Writer

See “Bioplastic” on Page 14

Caffeinated consciousness

SCIENCE 14unewsonline.comNOVEMBER 1, 2012

Titled “The Skin Man,” this creation is one of many done by von Hagens. And yes, that is his real skin he is holding.

You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody that hasn’t once dreamt of becoming a rock star. Luckily, becom-ing one doesn’t require a drug habit or smashing good looks.

Scientists are breaking rules and pushing limits much similar to the way that Gene Simmons and the gang did back in the 70s, but replacing the face paint with goggles and the micro-phone with a microscope. One of these scientists is Gunther von Hagens, an anatomist, inventor of plas-tination and developer of Body Worlds.

Von Hagens was born in 1945 in Poland, which was then a part of Germany. Russia was closing in on his homeland at the time, forcing his parents to pack up five-day-old Gunther in a laundry basket and set west to Greiz, a small town in eastern Germany.

Growing up, von Hagens was diagnosed with a rare bleeding disorder that hos-pitalized him for much of his childhood.

Von Hagens’ constant surroundings of doctors and medicine are what fu-eled his desire to become a physician himself; the hos-pital was also responsible for creating his feelings of alienation and uniqueness.

Fast forward to 1965. Von Hagens was attending medical school at the Uni-versity of Jena.

Here, professors noted his ambition and unortho-dox personality. Luckily, his unusual behavior usu-ally ended up benefiting the entire class, opening their minds to ideas that allowed critical self-evaluation

Outside of the classroom, von Hagens immersed him-self in politics, questioning Communism and Socialism.

He attempted to break for freedom from East Ger-many into Austria but was caught, arrested and im-prisoned for two years as a young 23-year-old.

Later, though, von Ha-gens recalled this time as being a positive one, stat-ing, “All that I learned in prison helped me later in life as a scientist.”

After release, von Ha-gens completed medical school and began working as an anesthesiologist at Heidelberg University.

It wasn’t for him, and

he soon began working as a lecturer, which led to the invention of plastination – a technique for preserving anatomical cell tissue.

The process works by pushing plastic into the cells rather than surround-ing them, allowing the plas-tic to be picked up and held. Decomposition of the speci-men must be stopped first; then, it is treated with heat, light and gas.

The final product is rigid, oderless permanence of the specimen that is immune to decay.

What von Hagens did with this technique was unprecedented: he started Body Worlds in 1995.

The traveling exhibit has been viewed by over 34 million people across three continents.

It showcases preserved human bodies posed so that inner anatomical structures are visible.

This technique has raised controversy and re-sistance, with many believ-ing that the displaying of dead bodies as art is irrev-erent to the human body.

Von Hagens has re-sponded to this accusation by bringing up the fact that all of us will end with a simi-lar fate; his intentions are to push his viewers toward seeing this truth.

Regardless of one’s be-liefs, the final products that von Hagens and his team create are a sight to see.

Bodies that have under-gone plastination are not arranged in standard posi-tions.

Bodies are situated in positions that enhance the role of certain internal sys-tems.

A baseball player’s ab-dominal cavity is opened to reveal the tense contracted muscles while another is specialized to show all the blood veins running throughout.

There is even a showcase that compares the organs of smokers and non-smokers, as well as those who are obese and those who are of normal weight.

To do all this requires about 1,500 hours of work in order to complete just one body.

There are about 340 em-ployees constantly work-ing on creations for Body Worlds and all displays are authentic, meaning the bod-ies were donated willingly. Von Hagens’ best friend even signed up to be part of the show.

By GABBY GEERTS Science Editor

Exposed: The man responsible for body worlds

France is devel-oping a line of ed-ible containters with food inside them.

“”

Bioplastics: Waste goes

from landfill to full stomach

Continued from Page 13

Photo courtesy of Paul Stevenson

in mind. The packaging is meant to mimic the way fruits are encased in shells and peels.

The hope is to make strides in replacing the plas-tic and paper packaging of-ten used at grocery stores.

Professor David Ed-wards of Harvard Univer-sity is leading the project.

A report by Daily Mail claimed that the plastic, made of a combination of algae and c a l c i u m , gets mixed with food p a r t i c l e s that cause the packag-ing to taste like what is inside of it.

The team has cre-ated several e x a m p l e s : an orange membrane filled with orange juice, tomato-flavored skin hold-ing soup, and grape mem-branes filled with wine.

Edwards has claimed that WikiCells will be avail-able to the public by the end of October.

He believes that they will make their way to the U.S. by next year.

But according to a re-cent study done by the Fed-eral Environment Agency

of Germany, biodegradable plastics are no better than common plastics in terms of environmental benefit.

“Whereas their [carbon dioxide] emissions and con-sumption of petroleum are lower, they place greater strains on other environ-mental areas, particularly through the use of fertil-izers,” said an FEA press release.

Such environmental strains included causing eutrophication of water and acidification of soil to

a much greater ex-tent than in the pro-duction of c o m m o n plastics.

E u t r o -phication is a process that pro-motes ex-cessive al-gae growth, which leads to depletion

of available oxygen in the water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website.

Soil acidification has been attributed to a decline in crop and pasture produc-tion.

However, both sides agree that preserving the planet is important.

Reducing plastic waste is a large step in achieving this green dream, regard-less of the technique.

Help fill our issues. ads.unews@gmail.com

UNOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com

Soccer reunites father and sonGoalkeeper’s dad watches his son play for first time in five years

SPORTS

After recent successes, the men’s soccer team hit a speed bump as the team fell, 1-0, to nationally-ranked Charlotte Friday night. The team quickly bounced back on Sunday to defeat George Washington, 5-0.

The Billkens (12-4 over-all, 6-2 in the Atlantic 10) had two very different games. The Charlotte game was the first time all season that the Bills did not score a goal, while they produced a season-high of 5 goals in the GW game.

The Charlotte game was intense, as the Bills came into the game at the top of the A-10 conference stand-ings, while Charlotte was ranked second.

The Bills had an early op-portunity to score, but Alex Sweetin missed a penalty kick off the post in the 6th minute. After that, Char-lotte controlled the game.

Charlotte broke through early in the second half when Donnie Smith collect-ed a ball deflected by a SLU defender and shot the ball past the Bills goalkeeper for the only goal of the night.

The Bills had very few opportunities, but in the 82nd minute they nearly scored a goal. Michael Rob-son was able to collect the rebound but hit the ball off the post.

The game became con-frontational at the end as Sweetin received his sec-ond yellow card, knocking him out of the game after a hard tackle. The team be-gan to argue and jostle, but order was quickly restored.

“It is obviously disap-pointing. I thought we played hard, but they were a step quicker,” Head Coach Mike McGinty said. “They put us under a lot of pressure, and we knew they were going to, but we need

LSU Fans

WHO TO

FEAR

WHO TO

CHEER

Before this week-end’s huge Alabama-LSU tilt, some Tigers fans walked over to Tuscaloosa and pinned the tail on the Saban, providing a bit of laughter before this interstate rival-ry. Probably not the smartest idea to piss off the No. 1 team in the country though, Tigers. At least Sa-ban’s statue is still standing though, right Joe Pa?

WHAT TO

JEER

Courtesy of bleacherreport.com

NBA Season

Big Ten Basketball

Wait, it’s that time of year already? Didn’t we just start caring about the NFL season? It was a lot better last year when no one had to listen to the NBA hype un-til Christmas Day because of the lock-out. Why can’t it be like that every year? Now we have to listen to eight months of questions about the Lakers, and if they can come together as a team. Come on guys, everyone knows Kobe’s the consum-mate team player, right?

While their football teams are either sus-pended from post-season play or just flat out stink, the Big 10 seems primed for a stellar year on the hard wood. Indiana leads the way as the preseason No. 1 in every significant poll, while Michigan and Ohio State also sit in the top 5.

By TONY TRAINAAssociate Sports Editor

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Courtesy of USA TODAY

By CHARLES BOWLES Sports Editor

SLU men’s soccer goal-keeper Nick Shackelford was looking for someone very special on the sideline after the Virginia Common-wealth University game.

“I’m very proud of you, and I’m sorry it took so long,” Brad Shackelford, Shackelford’s father, said after his son had found him.

The two embraced as tears fell from their eyes. It was a reunion five years in the making.

For Shackelford, his fa-ther had been distant from his life, but in that moment, they were able to reconcile their time apart.

“I know he has his own things that he has to deal with, but I’m happy that he is finally back and able to be a part of [my] life again,” Nick said.

Brad Shackelford was his son’s first coach as he grew up. It was his dad that got Shackelford interested in soccer.

“He never wanted me to be a goalie, he wanted to be a forward because I have a good left foot and he said that ‘you could be a goalie if you want, but I want you to be out on the field,’” Shack-elford said.

Shackelford became a goalkeeper and played the position after his dad coached him.

However, his dad then became distant from his life after his parents divorced in 2001. Brad Shackelford remarried and moved to the mountain areas of Cali-fornia.

“He kept to himself and just worked. It was all he knew was just how to work. It was mainly my mom, my grandparents and I…They were supporting me,” Shackelford said.

As Shackelford became a better goalkeeper, he began to have success. He was a part of the U.S. club team that won a regional championship and his club team was a national finalist the next year while he was

John Schuler/ Photo Editor

Nick Shackelford is the goalkeeper for the men’s soccer team. He has six shutouts on the season. His dad saw him for the first time in five years during the VCU game.

in high school. As he entered the Uni-

versity of California for his freshman year of college, it was hard for Shackelford to maintain a relationship with his father.

“It was hard to contact my dad at home because my life was training and soccer, and I was trying to stay focused…My dad was not really involved at that point,” Nick said, “I tried to keep him informed of what I was doing, but it was not relevant to keep in touch.”

Shackelford, after red-shirting his freshman year at California decided to transfer to Saint Louis Uni-versity in hopes of more playing time. After two years at SLU, Brad Shackel-ford decided to contact his son in hopes of a reunion.

“My dad contacted me last summer saying that we should have a dinner and that ‘I have not seen you in a while.’ I decided to go,” Shackelford said.

Shackelford describes the dinner as “very emo-tional” since the two men had not seen each other in a long time.

“He was very sad, he felt that he had not been in my life,” Shackelford said. “He wanted to try to be a part of my life again.”

There was only one way that Brad could be a part of Nick’s life again and that was watching a soccer game, the game that he had introduced his son to as a boy.

“I told him that was the biggest thing that [he] needed to do. I felt that was necessary because soccer was such a big part of my life,” Shackelford said.

After the team began to have some success this sea-son, beating some top-25 teams like Creighton and the University of Louisville, Shackelford hoped that his dad would keep his promise of coming to a soccer game.

“Finally, he texts me and let me know on Wednes-day that he was coming to the VCU game on Friday. I

See “Shackleford” on Page 17

Men’s soccer clipped by Charlotte but trounces George Washington

John Schuler/Photo Editor

Jonathan Svigos and his teammates celebrating his first goal as a Billiken. The Bills defeated George Washington 5-0 after suffering a tough loss to Charlotte the previous Friday.

By CHARLES BOWLES Sports Editor

to manage things a little bet-ter.”

However, Sunday was a completely different story for the Bills.

The team rebounded from the performance against Charlotte with a 5-goal game against George Washington. Five different players scored for the Bills that day.

The scoring began in the 11th minute when Jon Roeckle received a pass from Marco Heskamp off a corner kick by David Gray-don. In the 17th minute, the Bills got their second goal of the game. Nick Magla-sang scored for the Bills off the assist from Robbie Kristo.

In the 33rd minute, Kristo got his team-leading eighth goal of the season

after charging down the center of the field. The Bills were up 3-0 at halftime, but the team was not done scor-ing. In the 82nd minute, Adnan Gabeljic came in and scored another insurance goal. In the 89th minute Jonathan Svigos scored his first career goal as a Bil-liken.

“I thought we played well. We came out strong and [were] able to get on the board quick, and we did not give up,” Roeckle said.

The Bills have their fi-nal, regular season game on Sunday, Nov. 4 against Butler. It is senior day for the Bills and will likely be the last game at Her-mann Stadium for Robson, Joda Holloway, Svigos and Maglasang.

The Bills however are

not done with their sea-son as they will play in the Atlantic 10 tournament in Charlotte, N.C. The Bills currently have 18 points in the conference standings which puts them in third place.

The Bills will be fighting for seeding during the But-ler game. Butler is looking to get into the conference tournament with a victory against the Bills. The top eight teams in the A-10 get into the conference tourna-ment which runs from Nov. 7-11.

The Bills will be in the tournament, but Sunday’s Butler game will give them an idea of their seeding and road through the A-10 tournament and even to a possible NCAA tournament berth.

Dumb jocks? Not

at SLU

The derogatory utter-ances can be heard at least once on an average walk

d o w n W e s t P i n e B o u l e -v a r d . “ W e l l he’s an athlete,” “ t h a t ’ s just a blow-of f m a j o r anyway,”

or any flippant stereotypes used to diminish the col-lege experience of another student.

One of Saint Louis Uni-versity’s goals is to “allevi-ate ignorance,” according to its mission statement. Isn’t it time to foster under-standing between students first before we attempt to project an outward image of understanding the world’s bigger problems?

Too often though, stu-dents are content with pi-geon-holing others, assum-ing they know everything they need to about a person after learning her major and one or two of her favorite extracurricular activities.

The Polo-wearing, Cha-nel-toting sorority girl; the bookworm engineering student; the overly zeal-ous pre-med student; the career-minded business student; and the dumb jock are all existing stereotypes, like it or not. One should avoid these shallow labels promptly applied to some-one after briefly meeting them. Not only is it unfair to

See “Stereotypes” on Page 16

Tony Traina

NOVEMBER 1, 201216 SPORTS unewsonline.com

BILLIKEN BRIEFS

Basketball Preview

The University News will be pub-lishing our 12-page basketball preview next week. The special sec-tion will feature an exclusive interview with Head Coach Jim Crews, player features and our in-depth analysis of the Billikens’ 2012-2013 season.

Volleyball

For her dominat-ing performances against Eastern Il-linois and Rhode Island, freshman blocker Megan Gil-bert was named Atlantic 10 rookie of the week. She recorded 37 kills and 14 blocks over the week.

BILLIKEN SCHEDULE

Men’s Soccer

Men’s Basketball

Field Hockey

The women wrapped up their season with a loss to VCU on se-nior day, 2-0. The game caps a 1-19 campaign for the Billikens, another rough season for the squad.

Follow us @TheUNewsSports for the latest Billiken sports coverage

Volleyball

Nov. 4 Butler

Atlantic 10 Conference Championship

Nov. 3 Rockhurst (exh.)

Nov. 9 USC-Upstate

Nov. 2 Temple

Nov. 3 La Salle

Nov. 10 at Butler

After late season charge, women’s soccer misses Atlantic 10 tournament

Billiken Media Relations

By TONY TRAINA Associate Sports Editor

The Billiken women’s soccer team ended their season on a sour note, los-ing at George Washington on Sunday. The Bills (5-9-4) finish the Atlantic 10 sea-son in 12th place, outside the eight-team conference tournament being held this weekend. The loss caps an-other roller-coaster season for the Billikens, as they had hopes of making the tournament going into the final weekend.

Before heading to the na-tion’s capital, the Billikens picked up their first Atlantic 10 road win of the past two seasons, beating Charlotte 1-0 on Friday evening. The win briefly catapulted the Billikens into 10th place, on the cusp of a tournament berth. Jessie Jarrett scored the lone goal for the Billik-ens, her first of the year. Se-nior Katie Walsh was again strong in the net, adding one last shutout to her ca-reer total that will leave her second on SLU’s all-time list.

SLU then headed to Washington D.C. to face the George Washington Colo-nials, hoping to pick up a vic-tory over the conference’s last place team. The game was moved up because of Hurricane Sandy. A victory would have clinched a place in the Atlantic 10 tourna-ment for the Billikens, their first appearance in the tour-nament since 2009.

The Colonials played perhaps the best 20 min-utes of their soccer lives, tallying 4 goals en route to their first Atlantic 10 victory

of the season. The loss was ill-timed for the Billikens, as they ended up 3-4-1 in the Atlantic 10, and will have a sour taste in their mouths the entire offseason.

In the end, first-year Head Coach Kat Mertz sea-son looked much like last season’s effort, when the Billikens finished 5-10-3. There were positives to take from the season though, not the least of which was the road-win against Char-lotte. Charlotte will play in the Atlantic 10 tournament this weekend. Mertz will look for positives like this to build from as she attempts to further implement her system and bring in new skilled recruits this offsea-son.

The Billikens have much work to do, as they have not reached the NCAA tourna-ment since the 2006 season. Now, the Billikens have not had a winning season since their 2008 campaign. While the program experienced steady success around the turn of the century, it has not seen this kind of consis-tency since that 2006 tour-nament year.

Mertz is just one of a few newly hired coaches attempting to rebuild pre-viously fledging programs at Saint Louis University. New women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone begins her first year as head coach next week, and men’s soc-cer coach Mike McGinty has returned the program to national prominence in just his second year on the job. Mertz will look to fol-low in this path as she goes to work over the offseason, beginning by coping with the loss of four seniors.

Sophomore Lindsay Elking dribbles downfield, attempting to beat the defense. The forward has scored five points for the Billikens (5-9-4) this season, who ended their season with a lost against George Washington on Sunday.

Stereotyping: Subtracts from the college experience

Continued from Page 15

them. Not only is it unfair to the person being judged, it is most unfair to the culprit.

Students come to SLU to learn, not only from pro-fessors, but also from their peers. The beauty of col-lege is the intellectual atmo-sphere created by bringing together a disparate group of young people, all with di-verging interests and points of view. Every student brings something unique to the university, creating a whole vastly greater than the sum of its parts. Every student should feel obliged to invest his talents into the university.

Student-athletes are per-haps one of the most vis-ible and most talked about groups on campus. Other students often belittle their on-campus participation to the hours spent train-ing in the gym for compe-tition, the weekend trips away from campus, and the glossy media guides circu-lated by media relations. Professors do it too, attrib-uting classroom perfor-mance to their athletic par-ticipation instead of viewing them as a normal student struggling the same way any other student does.

The fact is athletic ex-periences go much deeper than this. By all accounts, the companionship and sense of team developed is something unmatched any-where else on campus.

Teams often spend more time serving the commu-nity than other groups on campus, feeling more con-nected to their campus and their community. Student-athletes develop lifetime communication and leader-ship skills. They achieve a work-life balance while pur-suing the sport they love for at least four more years. For most, their athletic par-ticipation serves as a step-ping-stone and a way to pay for a valuable education.

These aren’t the super-star athletes that people are so accustomed to watching on television, dropping in for a few classes in under-water basket weaving on their way to the pros. For the most part, student-ath-letes at SLU are commit-

ted to contributing to the overall atmosphere created here.

College athletics would not exist if they did not contribute to the scholastic environment. They are yet another characteristic that differentiates the United States’ higher education system from the rest of the world; it is the only system that has such formalized intercollegiate competition in such a diversity of events.

The college-athlete sys-tem forges a lifelong bond of students to the university. I can’t wait to be the angry middle-aged man yelling at the television when the Bills can’t stop Draymond Green in the NCAA Tour-nament. Athletics appeals to humans’ most innate passions and serves as a reminder that it’s just an organic chemistry test, not Jonas Salk trying to cure polio.

The student-athlete’s goal is the same as that of any other student partici-pating in extracurricular activities: to develop valu-able skills for the rest of his life. Everyone’s college experience is different, and to think yours is better than another’s is simply uni-formed. Indeed, maintain-ing this air of superiority subtracts from your own ex-perience, as it entails miss-ing out on learning from your peers, arguably the most valuable aspect of the college experience.

In 20 years, you won’t re-member how to find a deriv-ative or calculate elasticity. What you will remember is the friendships formed, the time spent abroad, even the daily acquaintances who went on to do great things.

Listen, all of us are head-ed to the real world in a few years, and boy does it look dismal out there. Re-gardless of forces largely outside students’ control, what one does in college is much more important than the name of the university on the diploma. A college degree is only as valuable as you the student make it.

So next time you’re walk-ing down West Pine and you hear one of those awful little utterances, hope to yourself that that person figures out soon what college is really about.

Cody Ellis and Company get ready for the season

Emily Diehl/ Multimedia Editor

The Basketball Fanfest ushered in the beginning of what promises to be an exciting Billiken season. It also brought the beginning of our comprehensive basketball coverage, which will begin with our 12-page preview next week.

NOVEMBER 1, 2012 unewsonline.com SPORTS 17

Shackelford: Father returns for key game

Cross Country can’t crack top ten at conference championships, finishes season

Continued from Page 15

...the little things that he says mean so much more than anyone could understand

“”

-Nick Shackelford

By CHARLES BOWLES Sports Editor

After running all season, the Saint Louis University cross-country team began to see the finish line of their season at the Atlantic 10 Championship at Temple University in Philadelphia.

After being pleasantly surprised with the team’s success all year, Head Coach Jon Bell was hoping for a top-five performance from the women’s team and top-10 performance from the men’s team in the con-ference championships. Be-fore the season began, he set expectations high, say-ing he expected just such a finish from his women’s squad.

The Billikens had a strong day and were very close to meeting Bell’s ex-pectations going into the meet. The women’s team placed fourth overall in the conference and the men’s team placed 11th. Both sides matched their best performances of the season in the conference cham-

pionship. The teams had multiple succeses to write home about.

The women’s side was led by Margo Richardson who has lead the team all year. She placed fourth overall in the 5K with a time of 17:50.5. Richardson also claimed all-conference hon-ors. She has now claimed all-conference honors all three years she has been at SLU.

Not far behind Richard-son was her teammate Jes-sica Hoefert, who placed 13th in the 5K with a time of 18:20.3. Hoefert also re-ceived all-conference hon-ors. Richardson and her performances were a key reason that the Bills were able to place fourth in the Atlantic 10 meet.

Two other female run-ners placed in the top 30. Natalie Myers finished 20th with a time of 18:34.2 and Lauren Fyalka placed 26th with a time 18:38.8. The Bills had a strong showing from the women’s side.

The men’s side, not to be outdone by the women, had some good performances of their own.

The men’s team was led by sophomores Tim Zellmer and Michael Sco-larici. Zellmer placed 12th in the 8K with a time of 26:07.8, and Scolarici fin-ished 15th in the 8K with a time of 26:09.1.

Both men earned all-con-ference honors. They are the first two male runners at SLU to earn all-confer-ence honors.

James Collins placed 75th with a time of 27:27.7 in the 8K and freshman Na-than Rubellke placed 77th with a time of 27:31.3.

The cross-country team was formed in 2005, and Bell took over the team in 2006. In the past few years, the team has found success despite being the newest Bills sports program.

Richardson, Hoefert, Zellmer and Scolarici have shown how the program has grown in just the past few years, with the four earning all-conference hon-ors.

SLU still has a few meets left this season. The team will compete in the NCAA Midwest regional on Friday, Nov. 9 in Springfield, Mo.

Volleyball continues to vex on the road

Courtesy of Billikens Media Relations

Freshman Megan Gilbert, tallying one of her 37 kills last week. Gilbert’s stellar performance earned her Atlantic 10 rookie of the week honors, after she broke onto the scene with a dominant performance against Western Illinois.

By TONY TRAINA Associate Sports Editor

Another weekend on the road brought mixed results for the Billiken volleyball team. The women fought hard but lost in five sets to Rhode Island on Saturday before sweeping Fordham in three sets on Sunday.

The Billikens finished the weekend at 8-17, with three games remaining in Atlantic 10 play.

The Billikens dropped the first two sets against Rhode Island before fight-ing back to force a fifth set. The Billikens turned it on between sets two and three, with senior Cassie Clarke leading the way, perhaps due to some motivational words from coach Kent Miller. Setter Clarke tallied

47 assists in the game, 11 in the third set, which the Bills won 25-20. In the fi-nal set, the Billikens could not keep the momentum, as they alternated scores with the Rams until Rhode Island finally managed to string together a short run, winning 12-15 to take the match.

As usual, the Billikens defense was led by Grace Bonoma, who had 32 digs, adding to her season total that is good enough for sec-ond-best in the Atlantic 10.

The next day at Ford-ham, freshmen Megan Gil-bert and Anna Church took advantage of Clarke’s set-ting skills, combining for 21 kills.

Church led the way with 11 kills, and the Billikens had no problem putting away the Rams to catch

the early flight back to St. Louis.

Besides the strong of-fense, the Billikens also sti-fled the Rams attack, as the Rams managed to hit just .065, the lowest percentage they’ve allowed this season. The Billikens faced a tiny threat to their sweep bid, as they led just 13-12 when junior Erin Klostermann stepped up to the service line.

However, Klostermann led the Bills to five straight points and the team used the momentum to propel it-self to a 25-17 victory.

Freshman Megan Gil-bert also took her chance to shine at the net, leading the Bills with 37 kills. Most im-portantly though, she had a .478 hitting percentage, and also contributed to the Bil-likens’ defensive effort, re-

cording 14 blocks. Gilbert built on the momentum she began in the Billikens’ previous game against Eastern Illinois, when she burst onto the scene with a career-high 14 kills.

SLU now has just three regular season games left in what has been an adver-sity-laden season for the Billikens in Miller’s second season.

They return to Chaifetz Pavilion this weekend, capping off the home sea-son with Senior Night against La Salle on Nov. 3. Seniors Clarke, Aleksan-dra Niemiec, Andrea Bolt, Carly Marcum and Carly Schumacher will be hon-ored before the game. The Billikens will be looking to prepare for the Atlantic 10 Championships, which be-gin Nov. 16.

Courtesy of Billikens Media Reliations

The men’s cross-country team ran to an 11th place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championship last weekend, ending their season on a solid note.

There are many ways to celebrate Halloween: trick-or-treating, handing out candy to little princesses and pirates, or going to blowout costume parties, wearing costumes that one outgrows lifetimes ago. The Parks College of Engineer-ing, Aviation, and Technolo-gy takes a slightly different approach though, using the holiday as a teaching expe-rience for its students by hosting their fourth annual “Great Pumpkin Launch.”

“The contest may sound like fun and games, but it’s serious stuff,” Mary Jenner-john said in a press release. The contest gives students a chance to apply their in-class knowledge to real-life problems. Contestants are assigned the task of launch-

Bombs away: It’s the Great Pumpkin Launch, Charlie Brown

By TONY TRAINA Associate Sports Editor

Continued from Page 15

texted and asked him if he got his ticket, but I got no response,” Nick said.

Shackelford had to main-tain his focus as the team was preparing to play its third ranked opponent, Vir-ginia Commonwealth Uni-versity. Brad Shackelford eventually contacted his to and let him know he was in St. Louis to attend the game. The arrival of Nick’s dad was well-timed, as it coin-cided with S h a c k e l -ford’s 22nd birthday.

“If there was any doubt or focus that I was miss-ing for that game, him saying that ‘I’m here’ was just [like] an exhale, a sigh of relief,” Nick said.

The game itself was an emotional roller coaster for the Billikens.

The Bills were down 1-0 and then equalized the game, but then were down 2-1 for nearly the rest of regulation time until near the end when the Bills had a free opportunity.

Raymond Lee kicked the ball in the back of the net with seconds to spare and tied the game. In double overtime, the Bills com-pleted the comeback and won 3-2.

The game was a difficult match for the Billikens, they multiple opportunities to score but could not score a goal until the final seconds

of regulation and then got a golden goal in overtime for the victory.

For Nick, the game was already emotional drain-ing, but having his dad at a game for the first time in years made it even more so.

“It was such an intense game. We had high expec-tations going into the game and having Dad there was so nice. It was nice to look up into the stands and ac-tually see him there,” Nick said.

N i c k was not only happy that his dad got to see him play soc-cer, but that Brad got to see him on the field as both a leader and role mod-el.

“It was nice to let him see

me as a man; it was impor-tant to let him see that part of me. This season I was trying to step up and be a role model and leader,” Nick said.

After such a long time apart from each other, the two men put the past be-hind them.

“No matter how far away that he is, those little texts that he sends me and the little things that he said, means so much more than anyone could understand,” Nick said of his father.

Nick and Brad Shackel-ford will never forget the VCU game, not just for the double overtime win, but the long-awaited reunion of between the father and son.

ing large pumpkins across Tegeler to a 12-inch target, 75 feet away from where they lay their trebuchets or catapults.

While Charlie Brown will not be in attendance, physics and engineering students alike will vie for the top prize, launching themselves into the annals of Pumpkin Launch victors. Fame may be the primary prize, but this does not de-ter motivated students.

While one may be ask-ing why this tasty morsel of news falls in the sports sec-tion, fear not.

The competition has rules, scorekeepers and judges to determine the kings and queens of fall. Last year proved an inter-esting compilation of team names ranging from Mor-pheus to Pumpkin Head. Much more then the cliché “Smashing Pumpkins” title

is required of teams that want to compete here.

Like any good sport though, the referees do not deter from the spirit of competition. They serve as invisible judges, letting the students duke it out on the field.

Some professors will be on edge, as two years ago one trebuchet backfired, sending a pumpkin flying through a window in Ritter Hall.

“I couldn’t help but laugh,” Jessica Rozycki, the then coordinator of the event, said.

Not only does the launch help students put their engi-neering skills to good use, it also raises money for char-ity.

Canned goods are col-lected at the event, and a cornucopia of fall treats will be sold, with half of the pro-ceeds going to charity.

Andrea Royals/ The University News

The Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology will host their 4th annual Great Pumpkin Launch this Saturday, Nov. 6.

NOVEMBER 1, 2012unewsonline.com18 ADVERTISEMENT