otterbein university

wednesday, feb. 29, 2012

vol. 93, issue 20

www.otterbein360.comtan cardinal&

‘Spotlight!’ swings into CowanAnnual dance concert calls jazz into the limelight

photo by blythe maloneset to sinatra: Hayden Clifton and Lauren Kreischer jump, step and spin together to the energetic genre of music.

wednesday, feb 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal2 newsMike Cirelli

Editor-in-ChiefLindsay Paulsen

News Editor Katie Taggart

Assistant News Editor Holly Takach

Opinion Editor Sabrina Kohls

Assistant Opinion EditorLaina Thompson

Arts & Entertainment Editor Ally Nagle

Sports Editor Katelyn Hanzel

Copy EditorDonny Shallahamer

Copy EditorKristen Davis

Photography EditorBlythe Malone

Photography Editor Anna Schiffbauer

Business ManagerLindsey Hobbs

Web Editorassistant editors

Josh AdkinsSteven CollinsLeah Driscoll

Dominic PorettaKathleen Quigleycontributing staffMonica BegazoAnaJaye’ DiggsTyler Dubiak

Morgan HendricksonSabrina Kohls

Danielle LanningEvan Matsumoto

Katie McClainJeremy MorganTurp Ricketts

Dennison Sleepercontact us

614-823-1159TCeditor@otterbein360.com

Tan & CardinalOtterbein University

Westerville, OH 43081advertising

For advertising information, contact Anna Schiffbauer at 614-823-1159 or by email at

sales@otterbein360.compolicies

The views expressed on this page do not necessarily refl ect the views of the faculty and administration of Otterbein University. Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer and not of the newspaper staff. Positions in unsigned editorials represent a consensus of the editorial staff. The fi rst copy of the Tan & Cardinal is free to the public. Each additional copy is $0.50, and payment can be made at the offi ce at 33 Collegeview, Westerville, OH 43081. Offenders will be prosecuted. The T&C staff would love to hear from you. Write a letter to the editor and tell us what you’re thinking. Letters to the editor are letters responding to a writer or an article published in the Tan & Cardinal. Please keep your letter to 300 words or less. It is at the discretion of the Tan & Cardinal staff as to whether or not the letter will be published. Letters attacking an individual will not be accepted. Letters must include the author’s fi rst and last name, signature, phone number, address and affi liation to Otterbein University.

&t&c editorial staff Loaded ballot on Super TuesdayLocal and national issues up for the vote

BY JEREMY MORGAN,ANAJAYE’ DIGGS AND JOSH ADKINS

Contributing Writers

University Summit MeetingFeb. 21, 2012

• There is a 2-3.5 percent projected increase in tuition for the next academic year. • Acceptance rates have increased by 4 percent this year.• Nursing applications have increased by 21 percent this year.• In 2010, retention rates were 75.3 percent. Retention rates for 2011 have yet to be determined. • Increasing male retention rates have been named a new goal, as well as reaching out to withdrawn students and researching students who thrive. • The university gained 66 transfer students this year.• The university has noted an increase in super-single dorm rooms around campus, which has led to greater revenue.• Base salary increases have been named a priority.• There are new goals to increase adult enrollment and summer graduates.

News briefs from around campus

The fate of a Westerville City School District levy and No-vember’s Republican Presidential nominee will be decided next week on Super Tuesday. Issue 10, a $6.71 million emergency operating levy, would allow the school district to operate with a balanced budget through June 30, 2015. The levy would cost property owners an additional $205.49 per year per $100,000 of home value, according to the Westerville City School District. It will raise $16.54 million annually and will expire at the end of 2017, unless voters renew it. Vice president of the Wester-ville Board of Education Denise Pope said that if Issue 10 fails to pass, the district will suffer. “Without voter approval, this will take our district to state minimums,” Pope said. According to the school dis-trict, new revenue will be gener-ated as early as January 2013. Pope said that local govern-ment, vibrant businesses and strong schools are key. “If one of these is at risk, then the whole system is at risk,” she said. “Issue 10 is about … preserving our community, which is vital.” Pope has the support of Westerville City Council after a resolution to support the levy was passed unanimously at last week’s council meeting. While Westerville voters will have the chance to make change

on a local level, the nation as a whole will be paying greater attention to the primary election for the Republican presidential nominee. Candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have waged war in recent primaries and are currently head-to-head in Ohio, a state historically crucial in win-ning the nomination. In a release last week, Rom-ney announced the support of Congressman Steve LaTourette. “His support will be crucial as we take our message to Ohio and the nation in the months to come,” Romney said. LaTourette said that Romney is the only candidate who can de-feat President Obama and create jobs for Ohioans. At a Toledo rally on Tuesday, Santorum asked attendees to help him “score a decisive vic-tory” in Ohio, according to an article published in the Toledo Blade. According to a survey by the University of Cincinnati released on Tuesday, Santorum was ahead of Romney in Ohio by 11 points. In a release from the Associ-ated Press, Ohio Attorney Gen-eral Mike DeWine announced his support of Santorum because he believes that Santorum can win the race. “You have to give the Ameri-can people a reason to vote for you, a reason to hope, a reason to believe that under your leader-ship, America will be better,” DeWine said. “Rick Santorum has done that.”

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From the Faculty Development Committee: Proposal to change name of the Faculty Develop-ment Committee to Faculty-Scholar Development Committee – Second Reading

Proposal to grant an honorary degree to 2012 commencement speaker Peter Lee

Senate Meeting: Feb. 23, 2012

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From Jennifer Bechtold, director for the Center for Center Involvement – “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

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&WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

&Voter How-To:

inFormation CompileD by anaJaye’ DiGGs anD tUrp riCKetts

How do I vote absentee?Visit the Secretary of State’s website, click on “Vote by mail” and submit a written request for an absentee ballot to your county board of elec-tions. It must be submitted by noon on the Saturday before the election, and the ballot

must be postmarked no later than the day before the elec-tion. The website is http://www.sos.state.oh.us/.

Where can I vote locally?For a full list of poll locations, visit the website for the Frank-lin County Board of Elections at http://vote.franklincoun-tyohio.gov/.

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Board of Trustees Meeting Feb. 25, 2012

An updated plan was proposed to change the layout of Otterbein’s campus. This plan suggests: • New dorms and classrooms be placed in the Equine Center• Part of Grove St. will be closed down to help make Main St. the entrance• A new health center will be built• Renovations will be made to the athletic building The Church Relation Task Force plans to associate with churches around campus to try and increase religious and spiritual interest on campus. They also plan to create scholarships for Ot-terbein students. The fi nal plan will be fi nished in May and more details on the Church Relation Task Force will be talked about in the next Board of Trustees meeting on May 18 through the 19.

www.otterbein360.com vol. 93, issue 20 3news

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Rike Center

Park and University

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1. 2/23 A wallet and credit cards were stolen from Rike Center.

2. 2/24 A bag of pretzels was stolen from the OtterDen.

3. 2/25 Drugs and paraphernalia were found during a traffi c stop on the intersection of Park Street and Grove Street.

4. 2/25 A traffi c stop found an underage, intoxicated person on the intersection of Park Street and University Street.

5. 2/25 Alcohol was found in the Home Street Commons when some-one fi led a noise complaint.

6. 2/25 A door handle was broken at Clements Hall.

According to the Otterbein University Police Daily Crime Log, the following has been

reported from Feb. 23-25. & POLICE REPORT

inFormation CompileD by Katie taGGart

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BY KATIE MCCLAINStaff Writer

Otterbein’s initiative to switch to Google Apps is approaching after having been delayed for several months. The transition was anticipated to begin in December, but Jeff Kasson, the information tech-nology director at Otterbein, is looking forward to beginning the transition within the coming months. “There were some technical and logistic problems to deal with, but we plan to migrate to Google in March,” Kasson said. The fi rst set of Otterbein email accounts to be switched over will be the 2011 graduates and retired faculty and staff. After those transitions, all students will be switched to the new system alphabetically, and

the entire transition is expected to be completed in a few months. Information Technology is easing into the transition by sending instructions and infor-mation about the program’s key features via email. These emails will include helpful links to vid-eos that will provide tutorials for using the program. Many students on campus use Google, and Kasson said he believes that this will be an easy transition for most students, faculty and staff. An informational email from Kasson that was sent to students in the fall said that Google Apps contains over 50 applications. These include email, calendar, contacts, documents, instant messaging, audio and video chat, web sites, search, pictures, videos, mobile, blogs, language translation, maps, phone calling

and more tools that could be of use to students. Kasson said that the new Google account is a permanent account that can be used beyond graduation, and all emails, calen-dar appointments and settings will be automatically moved over. Why Google? “Google Apps for education is the premier communication and collabora-tion platform for higher educa-tion,” Kasson said in an email interview. “Google is a world leader in innovation and provides a full suite of applications that allow students, faculty and staff to live in an open, collaborative and productive digital environment. Google’s style is to provide a user-friendly and intuitive online experience,” Kasson said. Some aspects of student email will remain the same. For

example, email addresses will continue to end in “@otterbein.edu.” The new system will also provide features that Microsoft Outlook currently does not, including video chatting and compatibility with outside emails and other Google+ features.

“With the growing Otterbein community, we want to keep everyone together in hopes that they will use chat, video chat and other sharing features of Google to remain in contact,” Kasson said.

photo by blythe malone

Home Street Commons

Otterbein goes Google in March

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mail time: The new system contains over 50 applications, including video chat and language translation tools.

Information technology department plans for upcoming transition

wednesday, feb. 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal4 newsJunior plants greener seeds Otterbein student Kristen Giesting talks about life on the farm

For Kristen Giesting, trying to convince her parents to get a herd of milk goats seems like a typical request. The junior environmental science and biology double major grew up on 14 acres of land in Indiana, where she and her family owned a goat, a dog, a cat, three horses and a chicken. Giesting’s interest in environmental issues has motivated her to become a student leader in Otterbein’s Plan-It Earth after being a member for the past two years. Plan-It Earth is an environmental

BY DANIELLE LANNINGStaff Writer

awareness organization that is currently sponsoring campuswide initiatives such as Nike Reuse-A-Shoe, Campus Conservation Nationals and Recyclemania. More information on these programs can be found below. Giesting is also involved in the Science Center community garden, which is located near the Equine Center. There are 20 different plants to grow, including some vegetables and a handful of herbs. She became interested in food issues after watching the documentary “Food Inc.,” which is about America’s current food industry. Giesting focuses her

majors specifi cally on sustainable agriculture. She works to promote environmental awareness during the school year, but also continues her environmental studies during the summer. This past summer, she spent eight weeks on an internship with Jennifer Bennett, a professor in the biology and earth science department at Otterbein. They did research in microbiology, looking at the bacteria in Alum Creek to see if the bacteria are resistant to triclosan, which is used in anti-bacterial hand soaps. According to Giesting, the preliminary data supports evidence of bacteria resistance. Her environmental efforts carry over into her life beyond school at her home in Indiana. One of the horses she and her family owns is at a nearby barn, so she still gets to ride him while at Otterbein. Her family also had six chickens, but are now down to only one because the others were eaten by their neighbor’s dog. “We’re planning to get more chicks this year, and the neighbors have a better fence for their dog, so hopefully they will survive this time around,” Giesting said. Animals are not only a part of her life now, but were also a part of her childhood. “My sister and I used to take our goats for walks on a leash down to get the mail when we were little. My sister sewed a mail pouch and we would strap it to (our goat) Samson’s back and have him carry the mail back up to the house. One time, a guy driving down the road asked us what kind of a dog he was,” she said. Leaving her home was a big adjustment for her since she grew up on 14 acres of land, and Westerville is the biggest city she has lived in. “Living away from wide open spaces and trees was a change for me … I spent some of my free time as a freshman walking over by Otterbein Lake and going in the woods.” When she does return home, she brings her knowledge back home to her family and tries to

convince her parents to try new things that relate to sustainable agriculture. “I think my interest in all aspects of environmentalism have really rubbed off on my parents,” she said. “My dad used to think we were a little crazy, but now he’s on board with many of our ideas and is getting interested in growing more of our own food … I think the biggest change is how we look at things. So many things are not trash. Tons of things can be reused or recycled.” Giesting’s enthusiasm for recycling can also be seen in the three campuswide initiatives she is involved in right now. Nike Reuse-A-Shoe involves gathering 500 pairs of old, worn-out tennis shoes from anyone on campus. There will be boxes around campus until March 30 for drop off. After that, the shoes will be sent to Nike to be recycled and used to make playgrounds, tracks and tennis courts. Giesting said that the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe drive and Campus Conservation Nationals are new projects that Plan-It Earth is participating in for the fi rst time this year and that both of these projects are ultimately hosted by national groups. Campus Conservation Nationals is a national competition that monitors electricity use. On campus, the

taKinG a Dip: With her fishing waders on, Giesting takes a look into the aquatic life swimming in the watery depths beneath her.

photo proViDeD by Kristen GiestinG

competition is between Garst, DeVore and the Home Street Commons. There were two baseline weeks to record the use of electricity beforehand and will be used to track improvements in electricity usage. The competition began Feb. 19 and will continue until March 10. Recyclemania is another event that encourages recycling as well as a competition against other colleges. The recycling is measured before pickup and recorded until March 31, which marks the end of the event. Last year, Otterbein was ranked fourth out of the schools who participated in Recyclemania. After graduating from Otterbein, Giesting plans to either go to graduate school for environmental research or work in sustainable agriculture. She said someday, she hopes to have her own organic, sustainable farm. “I admire farmers like Joel Salatin that are raising their animals in a way that is good for the environment, healthier for people and takes the happiness of the animal into consideration. Profi t isn’t everything,” Giesting said. “I admire anyone, or any company, with enough integrity to do what is right simply because it is right and not for any personal or monetary gain.”photo proViDeD by Kristen GiestinG

birDs oF a Feather: This feathered friend loves the camera, as she poses in the arms of Otterbein junior Kristen Giesting. t&c

Last Saturday, the Philomath- ean Room was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people. Their laughter and applause shook the stained glass windows and fi lled the room. They were all there to see Mainstage Improv’s debut show. Even President Kathy Krendl was there. The improv troupe, which formed last semester, includes nine Otterbein students from the Theatre Department. Through-out the night, various members played several improv games. In the fi rst game, called the dance game, three members took audience suggestions for a location. The Titanic was chosen and the game began. They then began to quickly retell the story of the Titanic by improvising the movie’s most memorable scenes.

While they did this, Sean Murphy, the head of Mainstage Improv, was in the back of the room playing music at various times. Whenever the music was played, the members in the scene had to take the action they were doing and then turn it into a dance. “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” by Das Racist, “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” by The Ink Spots and “I’m on a Boat” by The Lonely Island were some of the songs played in this scene. The standout moment in this scene was when Marina Pires, who was playing the part of the captain, hit the iceberg. She mut-tered an obscenity and held her hand to her mouth. The entire show ended with a game that all members participat-ed in called improv survivor. The members took on a character of

their choice and improvised a scene set at CiCi’s Pizza. After they performed the scene, it was up to the audience to determine who was voted out of the scene by a round of ap-plause. They would then play the scene again, improvising in new dialogue; however, the remaining players would have to fi ll in for the player that was voted out. After they did the scene again, they would vote someone else out until there was only one member remaining. This member had to do a one-person show of the scene. In Saturday’s case, it was Murphy. He handled the situation well, remembering each character and making the audience laugh his entire perfor-mance. The troupe was very witty. The members were able to come up with clever and funny things to say and do even though they

were given scene topics moments before. They all fed off each oth-er’s styles and allowed the scenes to go for long periods of time without boring the audience. The troupe was also not afraid to say anything. Profanities were found in every scene, and they poked fun at subjects such as Jesus, pregnancy, wetting your pants, vibrators made of cottage cheese and stereotypes. Standout performers were Murphy with his crude humor; Joyah Spangler, who clearly had a long history of performing be-hind her and a promising future ahead; and Pascal Domicone. While Domicone seemed to have the least amount of per-forming time out of the group, his humor was always edgy and totally unexpected. He wasn’t afraid to humiliate himself and put himself out there for the laugh. He was the one to watch.

The audience was very engaged in the show. When Murphy announced they just had a couple games left, the whole room groaned. When the show was over, everyone clapped and cheered and gave the troupe a standing ovation . The fi rst improv comedy show went very well, not just in the eyes on the audience, but of the performers as well. “I’m very happy with how the show went. We had a pretty big audience, and the reaction was really positive. For our fi rst show, I couldn’t be happier,” Murphy said. Due to scheduling, the troupe doesn’t plan on having a show in March, but hopes to do one in the fi rst weeks of April.

Student improv act brings laughs to full houseMainstage Improv received a standing ovation after performing a successful fi rst show last Saturday evening

BY LAINA THOMPSONArts & Entertainment Editor

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www.otterbein360.com vol. 93, issue 20 5arts & entertainment

Rating:

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MarchSunday Monday SaturdayFridayThursdayWednesdayTuesday

Share your information: Want to announce an event in the T&C? Just email us at arts@otterbein360.com, and we’ll put it in the monthly calendar. Send it to us by the 25th of the previous month. You can also submit events to the calendar on www.otterbein360.com.

Information compiled by Laina ThompsonInformation from amazon.com, imdb.com and otterbein.edu

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Video Game Releases▪ “Ridge Race Unbound▪ “X-Com”▪ “MLB 12: The Show”▪ “Mass Effect 3”4 10

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Movie Releases▪ “Jeff Who Lives At Home”▪ “Casa de Mi Padre”▪ “Detachment”▪ “21 Jump Street”

CD Releases▪ Adam Lambert “Trespassing”▪ The Shins “Port of Morrow”▪ Esperanza Spalding “Radio Music Society”

Movie Releases▪ “The Raid”▪ “The Deep Blue Sea”▪ “The Hunger Games”

TV Premieres ▪ “Mad Men”

Campus Events▪ March 21-22, countdown to commencement, gown pickup and ordering day,10 a.m. to 6 p.m., bookstore

CD Releases▪ All-American Rejects “Kids in the Street”▪ Macy Gray “Covered”▪ Madonna “MDNA”

Campus Events▪ Women and the New American Dream sympo-sium ▪ Baseball vs. Wheaton, 3 p.m.

Campus Events▪ Disability and Classic Horror Cinema, 4 p.m., Towers 112▪ Dance Concert, 7:30 p.m., Cowan Hall

Campus Events▪ Feminist Pride Day

Campus Events▪ Dance Concert, 8 p.m., Cowan Hall▪ Baseball vs. Thiel, 1 p.m.▪ Women’s tennis vs. Wilmington, 1 p.m.

Campus Events▪ “King Richard III,” 8 p.m., Campus Center Theatre▪ Softball vs. Bald-win-Wallce, 1 p.m.▪ Baseball vs. Ohio Christian, noon

Campus Events▪ “King Rich-ard III,” 8 p.m., Campus Center Theatre▪ Softball vs. Mt. St. Joseph, 3:30 p.m.

Campus Events▪ “King Rich-ard III,” 8 p.m., Campus Center Theatre

Campus Events▪ “King Rich-ard III,” 8 p.m., Campus Center Theatre▪ Baseball vs. Mount Union, 1 p.m.

Campus Events▪ Faculty Recital Series: EOS Duo,8 p.m., Battelle▪ Baseball vs. Grove City, 1 p.m.

Campus Events▪ Softball vs. Roger Williams, 9 a.m.▪ Baseball vs. Babson, 9 a.m.▪ Softballvs. Washington, 11 a.m.

Movie Releases▪ “Dr. Seuss: The Lorax”▪ “Project X”▪ “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie”▪ “Being Flynn”

wednesday, feb. 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal6 calendar

TV Premieres ▪ “Dancing With the Stars”

www.otterbein360.com vol. 93, issue 20 7arts & entertainment

BY SARAH PATASHINSKY ANDLAINA THOMPSONStaff Writer and

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Music from ’40s crooner mixed with jazz, tap and several other dance styles are included in this year’s showSinatra sets the stage for dance concert

photo by blythe malone

animal behaVior: For this number, several dancers dressed in exotic, almost animal-like costumes leaped and twirled around the stage holding rainsticks and other similar instruments.

The smooth croon of Frank Sinatra and the clap of tap shoes can be heard throughout Cowan Hall as Otterbein students and staff prepare for the annual dance concert this upcoming weekend. The theme of this year’s dance concert ranges from Sina-tra to Fosse and much more. This theme has given each choreographer freedom to do whatever he or she wants. “It’s a very diverse concert,” said junior musical theater major Lili Froehlich, a choreographer. The concert will include many different dance styles, some of which include jazz, tap, classical, ballet and modern, along with music from Frank Sinatra, classical music and a hint of Amy Winehouse. There are two acts with a total of nine pieces and 27 cast members, including two student choreographers. Froehlich has performed in past dance concerts throughout

her years here. “Choreography is one of my greatest passions, and though I am a musical theater major, I hope to have a career in it,” Froehlich said. “It is so wonderful that this opportunity even exists and that the faculty has put their faith in me to create my own piece. It is a wonder-ful feeling to see something that has been stuck in your head get brought to life right before your eyes, and then to have an audi-ence for it. The audience is get-ting a view of my imagination,” she said. Froehlich will not be in the concert itself due to recent surgery on her ankle, but she is looking forward to watching her friends perform, even though it has been diffi cult watching everyone else. Sophomore musical theater major Anthony Murphy, the other choreographer, is work-ing on the choreography for the bows at the end of the concert. He said he loves working on bows, but they are challenging. “The most people I ever choreographed was fi ve people,” Murphy said. “Now there is, like, 30.”

In past years, the perfomers in the dance concert have been heavy on the upperclassmen, but this year several freshmen are on the bill. “It’s really exciting to see the work they have been doing and what they bring to the table,” said Stella Kane, the artistic director of the show. A lot of work goes into this annual display of dance. “I think the concert is a great refl ection of the training and diverse nature of what we teach here at Otterbein and the quality of the dance students,” Kane said.

stretCh: Hayden Clifton and Lauren Kreischer twirl to Frank Sinatra.

t&c

photo by blythe malone

Cowan Hall Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m.

&Dance 2012: Spotlight!

wednesday, feb. 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal8 opinion

t&cDENNISON SLEEPER IS A SOPHOMORE PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR AND A CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR THE t&c.

Researching for papers has become as quick and simple as pressing a button

Searching for the easiest way out

t&c

HOLLYTAKACH

HOLLY TAKACH IS A SOPHOMORE PUBLIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR AND OPINION EDITOR FOR THE t&c.

Search engines, like Google, have diminished the value of research in college-level papers. Even though Otterbein students have access to websites like EBSCO and LexisNexis, I often see students pull Google up on their comput-ers to search for something. I recognized my depen-dency on Google when I had to research someone for one of my classes who, when Googled, only came up with results for geneal-ogy websites. No articles or any-thing online mentioned who he was. (Apparently ministers from the late 1700s aren’t a popular topic to write about.) So, I ventured down to the library and started looking through books that were so old they fell apart in my hands as I searched for the total of fi ve pages of literature I was able to fi nd on him. But, without help from the library, I wouldn’t have known where to look. And I think this stems from my dependency on Google — I’m so used to having results almost instantaneously at my fi n-gertips that I’ve lost all desire for looking through the library. Sure, I learned the Dewey Decimal System back in the third grade with everyone else, but that information never stuck with me because I never had to use it. Additionally, search engines have made the research in our papers more about ease than quality. I’ll be the fi rst to admit that if what I’m looking for doesn’t pop up on the fi rst few pages of results on Google that I rephrase what I’m searching for until I get what I want. And I’m not alone on this. “I usually go about three pages into the topic, unless I’m really

into the subject, then I might go four or fi ve. But that’s rare,” said Bri Amposta, a freshman global studies major. Overall, I think that we have trouble fi nding information be-cause we’re just looking for evi-dence to support what we want to say or that is specifi c to our topic, as opposed to research-ing and drawing our conclusions from that. This leads to the issue of the quality of the material we use in our papers. If we’re just using information we’re fi nding from Google, how do we know what sources are truly legitimate? Sure, you can tell with some of the larger Internet entities, but anyone can purchase a domain name, write information and make it appear authentic. In order to determine if a website is credible, Amposta said, “I feel a source is legitimate if, at the bottom of the website, they have a copyright, and books are usually always legitimate.” But Kerry Strayer, associate professor of communications at Otterbein, said, “I don’t think enough students have a great sense of what are credible sites and what are less credible sites.” When using Google, students are left to fi gure out on their own whether a source is legitimate. But, if you use a website like LexisNexis, you’re sure to be pulling articles from reputable journals. In regard to the advantage of using the websites provided by Otterbein, Strayer said, “the search is scholarly versus popular. If you know the type of citations you need, it helps you get the good ones.” Taking that extra moment to fi gure out EBSCO will not only make your research more ac-curate, but will also increase the credibility of your paper.

photo From FliCKr/401K

money hoGs: Campaign funding is crucial to the success of presidential candidates.

Sophomore examines the sources funding presidential candidatesFooting the campaign bill

DENNISON SLEEPER

Money fuels and directs American politics. Candidates cannot run for president if they don’t have the money, and people aren’t going to give them money un-less they can get something out of it in return. It is important to understand who is giving our candidates money and why they are doing so because it gives us insight into the actions they might take as president and who it is they’re really fi ghting for. The two main sources candi-dates receive funding from are super political action committees (PACs) and people called “bun-dlers.” A bundler is somebody who raises money from other people in support of a candidate and often receives benefi ts such as a position in the party or other privileges. Legally, super PAC funders do not have to reveal themselves to the public, and at this point no Republican candidate has released all of their bundlers’ information. According to the Open Se-crets Blog, a website dedicated to keep politicians and their spend-ing transparent, the majority of Mitt Romney’s funding comes from special interest groups in the business and energy sector.

Romney is heavily pro-business and his fi nancing shows how dedicated he is to ensure corpo-rate success. Romney has spent the majority of his funding on ads attacking his fellow candi-dates, a common trend among this year’s candidates. Newt Gingrich has relied heavily on just one man, Sheldon Adelson, for the majority of his funding. Adelson is a Republican billionaire casino owner who said, “Why is it fair that I should be paying a higher percentage of taxes than anyone else?” Most of the rest of his funding comes from extremely wealthy business-men who gave over $500,000 at once. This seems to show that Gingrich prioritizes the wealthy few rather than the majority of Americans. A lot of the candidates’ funding this year has come from small, wealthy special interest groups. The danger in this is that it limits the power of the Ameri-can people to change anything when our president has to pay back the favors he used to get the job. Thanks to laws that largely protect the identities of donors, the race for the presidency has become increasingly reliant on who can raise the most money, and we often have no idea who is providing the money or why. The Huffi ngton Post re-ported that this is because of the Supreme Court decision in

the Citizens United case to allow undocumented and unlimited funding for candidates. Super PAC donations are anonymous, unlimited and tax-exempt. This has created huge problems as money and corporate interests have to be placed above the interests of the average Ameri-can. Because the donations are tax-exempt, there have been cases where groups send money through the super PAC but the money never actually gets to a candidate. In a convoluted way that I don’t really understand but smarter people with calculators do, this is a form of money laun-dering, and it illustrates just how corrupt our system of funding is. The real power in this country is being held by those with the money to pay for a candidate, and if we don’t know who is paying for whom, then we don’t know what our candidate will do once in offi ce. Many congressmen and other groups have been pushing for the Supreme Court to change these laws, but nothing has been done yet. Until something happens, our government is in danger of being nothing more than a bidding war.

That glorious moment when there’s an open washer when you go to do your laundry at a reason-able hour.

Zumba classes. Sure, my “dancing” looks more like the jerky puppet cho-reography *NSYNC did for their “Bye, Bye, Bye” video, but I’m too busy laughing to notice the workout.

Fifteen people respond-ed to the poll on the T&C’s new sex column, “Between the sheets,” on Otter-bein360.com. Not only did we get a positive response, but we’re excited we had more than three people respond.

The wireless refuses to work in my room, and the Ethernet is temperamen-tal. C’mon Internet, I just want to watch Netflix … I mean, do homework.

In a moment of pro-crastination, I went to the “Like a Little” website, only to be disappointed it’s barely updated. People, you need to anonymously flirt so I can have a distraction.

thUmbs Up thUmbs DoWn

If we were still on quarters, we’d be halfway done with this term.

www.otterbein360.com vol. 93, issue 20 9opinion

Freshman notices a rising trend in the popularity of writing and reading memoirsReal-life stories trump tall tales

BY HOLLY TAKACHOpinion Editor

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SABRINAKOHLS

Throughout history, people have loved reading novels. Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and J.K. Rowl-ing wrote what are considered some of the best fi ctional works. In recent years, though, the memoir has taken its relat-able emotional backgrounds and forged ahead of the novel. I’m currently in an honors course that deals strictly with memoirs. The fi rst book we read was called “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. After reading the fi rst few chapters, the class agreed that each event that took place in Walls’ life was more heart-wrenching because we all knew it had actually taken place. With novels, I’ve been able to connect with the characters on

SABRINA KOHLS IS A FRESHMAN JOURNALISM MAJOR AND A CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR THE t&c.

a deeper level, and even feel like I’ve understood them better than some of the people around me. But the memoirs I’ve read just instill that “mutual” understand-ing within me at an even higher level. I remember reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 10th grade and talking about how Harper Lee had based a large portion of the novel off her personal experiences, though the book ended up being published as a novel. My intrigue at the thought of someone seeing all of the events described fi rsthand went up tenfold. Aside from “The Hunger Games,” I see many of my friends reading works by David Sedaris, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey and even Hollywood “celeb-rities” like Paris Hilton or Snooki of “Jersey Shore.” What seems to be the driving force in memoirs’ recent popu-

larity is the fact that Americans, and the population in general, are intensely curious about other people. (And partially that our lives are so boring that we need to read the juicy parts of other people’s mess-ups.) When all anyone does is watch shows like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” read magazines devoted to Brad and Angelina’s love life and devote all of their precious Thursday eve-nings to “Jersdays,” why wouldn’t book lovers follow suit? The New York Times book review called Tina Fey’s book, “Bossypants,” a “spiky blend of humor, introspection, critical thinking and Nora Ephron-isms for a new generation.” Fey’s collection of personal stories has sold 1 million copies since its release last April and currently sits comfortably on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. 6.

And while books such as Jodi Picoult’s recent “Sing You Home” continue to appear at the very top of New York Times and USA Today book lists, memoirs seem to have grabbed America’s short attention span and held it, at least for now. Maybe what Americans re-ally want is to be involved in someone else’s life so that they don’t have to worry about how mundane their own lives can be. Anyone can “write” a memoir —even Ms. Hilton. This just gives us everyday people something more to focus on — whether it’s the stupid-ity of many celebrities or the brilliance and wit of others. Real people are tangible. And in a so-ciety obsessed with objects, that’s what we crave.

photo by Kristen DaVis

memorable memoir: Sometimes it’s nice to get out of your head and delve into the depths of someone else’s life scribbled across the pages.

The new season brings high hopes for Otterbein

batter Up: Junior Scott Staarman analyzes the incoming pitch to hopefully score a run for the Cardinals.photo by Kristen sapp

For the point: Senior Steven Albert looks to score a point.photo by Kristen sapp

Softball Finishing its 2011 season at 23-15, the Otterbein softball team aims to play better in con-ference after it fi nished with an OAC record of 8-10 last year. With 10 of 28 women enter-ing their second season, the sophomores make up a large part of the roster. The team is fi lled with an assortment of players, which should add to the success this year. Interim head coach Liz Allum said, “Each young lady brings a different type of leader-ship: experience, vocal, game sense, even humor.” Outfi elder Laura Basford started all 38 games as a fresh-man and earned Third Team All-OAC honors. Basford also set the Otterbein single-season record of runs scored and triples with 45 and eight, respectively. The pitching core is made up of sophomores Maggie McMa-han, Kelsey Long and Chelsea Burns, as well as senior Natalie Zwicker. In 2011, Zwicker post-ed a 2.09 ERA, which ranked as the lowest in the OAC. Also in the senior class is utility player Liz Holthaus and outfi elder Casey Clarridge.

Baseball Coming from a disappointing 2011 season, the Otterbein base-ball team looks to a solid pitch-ing rotation and competition at every position to push back into the national spotlight. “Overall, in terms of our expectations, it was a little bit of a disappointment,” head coach George Powell said. “(Otterbein) had a run of 10 straight years of being in the Ohio Athletic Con-ference tournament … Last year we thought we had the pieces to do it, we were just inconsistent and really didn’t start playing well until the end of the year.” The Cardinals have a strong returning pitching staff led by

BY EVAN MATSUMOTO ANDTYLER DUBIAKStaff Writers

senior Dustin Reuter. Reuter, a product of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, pitched a win last season against DI Cincinnati. “Dustin Reuter is a kid who went down there and beat Cin-cinnati last year. (He) has a lot of ability and really falls in line with some of the really good start-ers we’ve had in this program,” Powell said. “I’m excited about the energy we have, especially our under-classmen. They have proven they are here to compete,” junior Wes Meadows said. Adam Schwartz, Evan Whit-ten, Steve Swiger, Marcus Caplin and Josh Young are just some of the underclassmen battling for a starting spot. The younger talent is led by a deep junior class including Dom Porretta, David Cydrus and Matt Frey. With the return of junior Wes Meadows from an ankle

injury, the team regains valu-able experience. As a freshman, Meadows hit .342 with 41 runs and 28 runs batted in while earning Second Team All-OAC honors. “Wes is probably one of the best players in the conference,” Powell said. “He had a great summer and then a terrible in-jury; it’s just a miracle where he is now. Nobody thought he would be where he is. It’s a credit to him and who he is as a person.” The depth of the team al-lows the Cards to move play-ers around and pushes them to compete for starting spots. “I expect us to win the OAC this year. The talent has always been there, but I think our team is determined to win,” Meadows said. Otterbein opened up with a sweep this past Sunday against Centre and has a four-game home stand starting March 3.

Holthaus is a three-year letter winner and earned Academic All-OAC honors. Clarridge is also a three-year letter winner and earned First Team All-OAC and First Team All-Region honors and was a Second Team Aca-demic All-American. The team has been working to build upon the foundation which coach Christine Steines and Allum have created. “Now that we have that, coupled with the experience we gained last year, we’re going to put a lot of pressure on teams and make a name for ourselves. In short: It’s on,” Allum said. The ladies’ main focus may be winning a championship, but that does not stop them from giving back to the community. The team participates in a com-munity service project at least once a month and has adopted the project as part of the team’s mission statement. “It’s an incredible platform to impact people in a positive way, and our players see the value of that,” Allum said. The ladies start their season with a 10-game set to be played over fi ve days in Kissimmee, Fla. starting March 11.

wednesday, feb. 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal10 sports

Hey you! Yes, you reading the newspaper. Did you know that WOBN streams online for your convenience? 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on

www.wobn.net. Just click “Listen LIVE” and follow the instructions. Or, you can always catch us on the dial at 97.5-FM.

Shows not to be missed:Cardinal Sports Wrap -

Mondays, 9-11pmThe Whoa Show - Wednesdays, 6-7pm

Working for the Weekend - Fridays, 6-7pm

For coverage of the Westerville State of the Community address and a photo gallery of the Otterbein Hunt Seat Team, visit Otterbein360.com. Don’t forget to send your weekly Cardinal Complaints to webeditor@otterbein360.com by Friday.

www.otterbein360.com vol. 93, issue 20 11sports

Men’s Tennis Head coach Mark Anderson, who is in his fourth season, looks to improve from last season’s record of 1-2. One of the team’s most impactful players, Ryan Shutt, returns this year as a sophomore after winning All-OAC honors as a freshman last year. The team includes two seniors, Steven Albert and Ryan Roberts. Their next match will be their home opener against Wilmington March 3 at 1 p.m.

Women’s Tennis Pat Anderson, the head coach, enters her 16th season and will use her experience from winning the 2003 OAC tourna-ment to help improve the team overall. One of their biggest return-ing starters this year is sopho-more Julie Stroyne, who won OAC Player of the Year last year. The team will also look to their three returning seniors, Cassie Brungarth, Christine Kuester and Angela Sammons, to help improve on the season. “We’re excited about the up-coming season. We have been working very hard and we are confi dent we will be competitive for the OAC Championships,” Brungarth said. Their next match will be against Wilmington here at Ot-terbein March 3 at 1 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse The women’s lacrosse team will be entering their program’s fi rst year here at Otterbein. The university named Stephani Schmidt the head coach in December 2010, and she is ready to start the program off on the right foot. “I look forward to the chal-lenge to grow the program into one that can one day be com-petitive in Ohio and the West region.” The team consists mainly of freshmen and sophomores; how-ever, there are two juniors and one senior on the roster as well. The women’s team will look to the 19 players on the roster to start the program off. Their season opener will take place at Otterbein against Ober-lin March 10 at 11 a.m.

Men’s Lacrosse The men’s lacrosse team will be entering its third year at Ot-terbein, and many of the players believe that this team can get the program’s fi rst winning record. Coach Hartnett believes in his team. “We have the talent and the leadership to make it into the playoffs. Now we just have to go out and accomplish it,” he said. The team will take to the fi eld in its season opener against Cen-tre in Danville, Ky., March 10.

Men’s Golf With a pair of fi rst-place fi nishes and a second-place fi nish in the fall season, the men’s golf team looks to continue its domi-nance this spring. The team has two seniors; Westerville natives Brock Neigh-bors and Taylor Ford will be leading the team along with fi fth-year player Ben Adams. Adams posted a 75.7 stroke average along with a low round of 70 at Wittenberg and two top-10 fi nishes. Ford tied for 11th at the 2010 Fall OAC Champion-ship while averaging 80.3 strokes and recording a low of 76. Neighbors had three top-fi ve fi n-ishes, a 73.9 stroke average in the fall of 2010 and a tournament-low 69 at the Mount Union fall invitational. Sage Engel, Matt Mosca, Nicholas Rhodes and John Ste-fanik make up the large sopho-more class. The Jekyll Island Invitational in Jekyll Island, Georgia, is host-ing Otterbein’s fi rst spring match March 16-18. “We are all very excited for this spring. I think all of us be-lieve that if we practice hard and play to our potential, we can ex-pect to be competing in Orlando for the national championship in May.” Neighbors said.

Women’s Golf The women’s golf team looks to build upon the success of this past fall season, in which they had two fi rst-place fi nishes. There is only one senior on the team, Heidi Mitchell, who had two top-fi ve fi nishes in the fall of 2011 and posted an 89.4 stroke average with a low round of 83. Allie Pulos and Christine Foppe are the two juniors on the team. Pulos averaged 89 strokes over the fall season and shot a season-low 85. Foppe averaged 90.1 strokes and shot a low of 82 strokes at the Wittenberg Pat Clouse Invitational. Freshmen Airaka Bernac-chi and Kathryn Rogers, along with sophomore transfer Marie McGinnis, who led the team with an 86.4 stroke average, will add to the women’s efforts to compete like they did early in the fall season. The fi rst matches of the spring season are scheduled for a trip to Tampa, Fla., March 14-16.

Continued from page 10

ForWarD Vision: Sophomore Drew Watson carries the ball up the field.photo by Kristen sapp

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New Zealand is her place of choice to visit. “Every photo I see of New Zealand is absolutely breathtaking, and I would love to see such natural beauty,” Bennett said. Along with her favorite place to travel, she also loves reading with her friends. Mystery and ac-tion books capture her attention the most. During the summers, she can be found reading outside. “I usually read two-three books a week,” Bennett said. Other than reading, a favorite hobby of hers is staying in shape and being active. The summer before starting college, Bennett signed herself up for a triathalon with her uncle. “I never felt more accom-plished, training for the triatha-lon and everything on my own.” It may appear to you after reading this that Bennett appears to be a superwoman, and to many she is. Sophomore educa-tion major Liz Palmer, Bennett’s best friend and volleyball team-mate, said, “Kristen is a fantastic individual, and I know we can expect even bigger things from her in the future.”

Never to be outworkedJunior Kristen Bennett’s work ethic helps her compete on all levels

BY ALLY NAGLEAND MORGAN HENDRICKSON

Sports Editorand Staff Writer

aboVe the rest: Bennett has set numerous records in the long jump.photo by brUCe bayman

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wednesday, feb. 29, 2012Tan & Cardinal12 sports

The sacrifi ces and commit-ment that are required to play two college sports can crumble even the most dedicated athlete. But after enduring the year-round training, three knee sur-geries and the months of rehab that followed, Kristen Bennett can still be found circling Ot-terbein’s track and playing on the volleyball court. Playing both volleyball and track, working at an internship and having a job on top of it has consumed her schedule. Being a dual-sport athlete is not a common accomplishment. Bennett, however, has made the challenge appear easy, as she has excelled in both sports. This past volleyball season, she was named Second Team All-OAC and earned Academic All-America for her efforts. In track, Bennett is consis-tently setting records. This past weekend at the OAC Champion-ships, she set both the school record and the OAC record for long jump. Her jump of 18.925 is good enough to sit her at sixth nationally for long jump this year. Bennett will compete in Iowa March 9 for the NCAA Champi-onships. She remains humble about all of her accomplishments and accredits teammates and coaches for her successes. “I really feel blessed to have been surrounded by great teammates and coaches in both volleyball and track. Without their help and support, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish my goals,” Bennett said. Bennett is passing her volley-ball knowledge to younger play-ers in the area, as she coaches a club volleyball team for The Vol-leyball Academy. “It is the great-est feeling to see improvement from the girls on my volleyball team. I love it when I hear them say, ‘I did it!’ about something they didn’t think they could do,” Bennett said. She is not only focused on sports, but also has a strong academic drive. “I am graduat-ing a semester early,” she said.

“I transferred from Xavier, and a lot of my credits transferred over.” She also recently got an internship with 10TV News. She was given the chance to be a reporter on a story dealing with lead being found in certain lipstick brands. “I had to call profession-als and ask people on the street what they thought about it. Being behind the scenes of news is a lot different than what you see on TV,” Bennett said. Her future possesses many opportunities, one of which in-cludes the possibility of a move to Texas. “I love Texas. I have family there. It is a fun atmo-sphere, and I do not like the cold either,” she said. Along with the move, she is excited to pursue her career. “I am very excited to begin my professional career and approach it much like my athletic career — not letting anybody outwork me,” Bennett said. It may be possible to think that Bennett is all work and no play, but she fi nds the time to be with her friends and do some of her favorite things.