THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 VOL. 67, ISSUE 10

VantagetheSTUDENT VOICE OF NEWMAN UNIVERSITYsince 1968

Newman student finds solace in AmericaBy LAUREN SPENCERStaff Writer

When Newman freshman Saska Timarac was 2 years old, her family fled from Bosnia, a country that had just been at war seven years earlier, where poverty and violence had yet to cease.

They left, she said, in hopes of find-ing refuge and a fresh start in America. However, the American dream was far

from what awaited the Timarac fam-ily.

16 years later, Saska is a college stu-dent and a newly minted American citizen who says that her past makes her all the more appreciative of her present at Newman.

Saska’s mother, Demila Mujkanovic, met her father, Nenad Timarac, during the war. He had recently been injured, getting shot in the lung, Saska said. Demila began bringing him meals and

caring for him, though she was mar-ried to another man at the time. Things changed when Demila’s husband, the father of her three children, was killed in the war, then Demila’s feelings be-gan to grow much deeper for Nenad, an orphan who fought for Bosnia de-spite his Serbian roots.

Soon Demila and Nenad moved in together and soon after Saska’s older brother Aleks, was born, quickly

WWW.NEWMANVANTAGE.COM

By ANDREW REGOLIStaff Writer

First-semester students taking Concepts and Foundations of Nurs-ing created a display entitled “Cul-tural Awareness in Nursing” that was shown for all students and faculty in Eck Hall on Oct. 20. The displays were assigned to promote cultural awareness, said Assistant Professor of Nursing Dana Rose.

Newman nursing student Suzanna Gehrer said she found the assignment interesting.

“Studying these differences helps me to know more about the patient’s background so that I can give them the best care possible,” Gehrer said.

For the assignment, students each created displays that identified a se-lected culture and covered many points about their differences, includ-ing food, language barriers, values,

and other factors. Rose said she coordinated the dem-

onstration and believes incorporating cultural awareness is important when caring for the sick.

“As nurses, we need to have cultur-al competency to treat our patients,” Rose said. “Not just their medical needs, but we work as Holistic Prac-titioners.”

Rose said in an email that she was pleased with the presentation, which

happens with the onset of each semes-ter.

“I was proud of the students. They were professional in their presenta-tions and were able to answer ques-tions,” Rose said. “We would enjoy for everyone to join us [at the next event] in the spring. The students will have some snacks or drinks available to share related to the culture they stud-ied, i.e. this semester we had Russian tea, tamales, and other tasty treats.”

Business provides TV monitors to campus buildings

See “Solace” on Page 2

SASKA TIMARAC, freshmen Newman student, fled her home country of Bosnia to seek refuge in America. She and her family now live in St. Louis. Denise Neil, Adviser

See “Monitors” on Page 2

Cultural awareness display showcased by nursing students

By WELSEY WILLIAMSSports Editor

A business in Wichita is bringing a closed circuit program to Newman.

Sonny Smith, a local business owner approached J.V. Johnston, Vice President of Advancement, about in-stalling television panels as a sort of case study.

“He’s paying for the TVs, he’s giv-ing us the software, he’s paying for us to install the TVs,” Johnston said. “It’s actually costing us zero for the whole deal.”

Johnston said that the only cost to the school is the actual operation of the screens.

“We do have to manage it, and that will take some time, but that’s really the only cost for the program,” he said.

The project was approved prior to the start of the school year and the monitors have been installed across campus over the past few weeks. The school is currently waiting on one piece of hardware for the monitors be-fore they can be operational.

Director of University Relations Clark Schafer has been put in charge of the content of the monitors and says that a wide variety of things will be displayed around campus.

“We can put video on there and show anything we would put up on YouTube,” Schafer said. “There is the ability to do a Twitter feed, and of

Student fled Bosnia as child, is working toward a better life

News BriefsTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 NEWS 2

Stay on top of the Newman news!

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with all your campus news!

From “Solace” on Page 1

Fall semester instrumental concert

The music department will be holding its first instrumental concert of the year at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the Performance Hall.

The instrumental ensem-ble will be performing vari-ous fall classics. Admission is free.

Free Taco Bell breakfast

Taco Bell will be serv-ing free A.M. Crunchwraps from 8 - 11 a.m. due to its Steal a Base, Steal a Breakfast promotion during game one of the World Series.

If the Royals stole a base during the game, Taco Bell agreed to give away free breakfast. Royal’s outfield Lorenzo Cain got the job done in the sixth inning, stealing second.

Enjoy breakfast. Live mas.

From “Monitors” on Page 1

Service fair on campus

SGA will be holding a service fair from 2 to 5 p.m. on Monday in the Dugan Conference Center.

The event is open to all students and aimed at edu-cating them on the oppor-tunities to volunteer in the Wichita community.

course showing the news.”In addition to the universal mes-

sage that will be sent out to each board on the system, Schafer says that he can customize the message on a per build-ing basis.

“If there is a specific event going on in Dugan that doesn’t apply to Eck, we can put stuff that would only show in Dugan,” Schafer said. “It’s the same with residence halls. If there is ameet-ing in Merlini but not in New Hall then the message would only be shown in Merlini.”

While the panels won’t be function-al for a few more weeks, Schafer en-courages students to think of ideas for content and to keep their eyes open for feedback purposes.

“Pay attention and give us feedback o what you like or what you don’t like,” Schafer said. “It’s pretty flexible in what we can deliver and we will definitely be looking for ideas.”

followed by Saska in 1997.Two years later, it was announced

that Bill Clinton was helping refu-gees from the Yugoslavian war come to America. Saska’s parents, suffering from poverty and lack of opportuni-ties, decided to take their chances in a new country.

“My parents wanted us to go to college and become something bigger than we could ever be in Bosnia,” she said.

Even though they had finally reached “the land of opportunity,” the family of seven still found themselves living in poverty in St. Louis. But the Timarac siblings didn’t let that define them.

One of Saska’s sisters is now liv-ing in Colorado and working as a university admissions counselor. An-other sister resides in Israel, where she works with Egyptian refugees. Saska’s oldest brother lives in Australia with his young family and works for home-land security.

Saska is working to earn a sociol-ogy degree at Newman, though she’s also interested in interior design.

“I’ve been watching a lot of ‘Fixer Upper’ on Netflix lately,” she said.

Almost all of Saska’s sibling’s at-tained or are in the process of attaining the dreams their parents had for them.

All except one.

In August, Saska got a text from her older brother, Aleks, asking her where she was. She replied that she was at a friend’s. He asked if she wanted to grab lunch, and she said he was wel-come to pick her up. But then he said he had too much to do.

The next call Saska got was from a police detective informing her that she needed to go to the hospital immedi-ately.

“I got a phone call from the police stations asking me if I was Saska,” she said. “I said yes. Then they were ask-ing me questions about my brother. When was the last time I had seen or talked to him? Was he having and fi-nancial problems? Any problems at all?” Saska said.

Two social workers took Saska and her mother aside and said that Aleks had shot himself in his bathroom ear-lier that day.

“I was the first one to get the call, the one that told my mom, the one that told my entire family, his friends, and my friends,” she said.

Watching the social workers help-ing her family only solidified her de-sire to become a social worker. Al-though she recognizes now, and first hand, that the job is going to be far from easy, she also better understands the need for such work, she said. She also believes that she can help others work through their loss the way they helped her work through her own.

Saska started college a week after her brother’s death, and continues to work towards achieving her goals. In April, she even became a U.S. Citizen.

“I am proud to become a citizen of a country that has some major flaws, but still gave my family the second chance they needed,” she said.

Even with her citizenship, though. Saska said she likely won’t stick around after college.

“Wanderlust consumes much of my brain,” she said. “I don’t plan on staying in America for very long after I graduate college. Too much to see, too much to learn, and too much to under-stand.”

“I don’t plan on staying in America for very long after I graduate. Too much to see, too much to learn, and too much to understand.”

SASKA TIMARAC

DUGAN LIBRARY ATRIUM has had one of the new TV monitors installed on its wall. It will display Newman news and events as well as information specific to Dugan. Hank Griggs, Photo Editor

Newman senior Anna Aniel was chosen to be Miss Philippines in De-cember of 2013 by the Filipinos of Greater Wichita. She participated in the Miss Asian Festival in October of 2014 and was crowned runner-up.

She said she’s been a member of the community for a while as she’s been in Wichita since she was in high school. She said she was scared at first to be chosen be-

cause she was experiencing culture shock, but has found that the commu-nity has become like family to her.

“They’re like my extended family,” she said. “Especially since it’s just my brother and I here. They treat me as if I’m their daughter or granddaughter.”

Aniel said at the time, the Filipinos of Greater Wichita would pick a repre-sentative to participate in the pageant.

However, she said the community has created a mini-pageant to decide a winner.

She said that she is part of the com-mittee that made this decision and was also made the chairperson for the Youth Committee.

“I just encourage other youth to join activities,” she said. “We support each other and we do service together.”

She said she gets recognized at events on occasion.

“People recognize me as Miss Phil-ippines at Christmas parties and ro-saries and other events,” she said. “I was really proud to represent the Phil-ippines because even though I didn’t win, I still placed and the Filipino community seemed to be proud of me.

Aniel said she plans to stay in Wich-ita after she graduates, but hopes to visit her family in the Philippines.

She’s been at Newman for three years and is a secondary education major with an emphasis in English and a member of the Newman cheer and dance team.

“I’d like to get a job as a teacher or dance coach,” she said.

a&eTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

3

HER CROWNING MOMENT

By WESLEY WILLIAMSSports Editor

ANNA ANIEL congratulates and crowns the winner of the ‘Miss Wichita Asian Festival.’ Courtesy Photo

By KATI BUSHA&E Editor

Representing her country with pride

A nationally known Christian re-cording artist performed a free con-cert on campus last night.

Sarah Kroger, a Catholic singer/songwriter from Florida, was brought in by Campus Ministry for their annual concert that was held last night in St. John’s Chapel.

“We asked stu-dent leaders who they would like to see come to the university,” Campus Ministry ad-ministrative assistant Monica Borg-er said. “We put out a list of four art-ists and Sarah was the number one pick.”

But Kroger was not the only mu-sician at last night’s concert. Junior Nate Siple opened the evening and was a decision made by Borger.

“I’ve heard Nate play a couple of times,” Borger said. “It was re-ally important for us to have New-man represented. Nate has such a unique sound and voice that we really wanted to take this oppor-tunity to highlight one of our own as well as to bring in a different type of audience.”

Siple, who began playing the gui-tar at the age of 10, traces his play-ing roots to his youth worship band at River Lawn Christian Church.

“I was given the opportunity to help start the youth worship band at my church and God used that op-portunity to help me grow,” Siple said.

For Siple, this isn’t a full time op-portunity, but instead something

Student opens for Christian concert

Newman student crowned Miss Phillipines

Sarah Kroger

Nate Siple

See”Concert” on Page 4

Anna Aniel

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 A&E 4

CAB creates new incentive to draw attendance

Campus Activities Board has start-ed a new program that will not only allow it to track what events students are interested in but will also offer stu-dents a chance to win prizes.

CAB, the campus organization that hosts events ranging from small craft-ing opportunities to Breakfast and Bingo, has been using the app “Check I’m Here,” a program that allows CAB to track how many students attend its events using the iPhone app and stu-dents’ ID numbers.

Every CAB event receives a number in the program that is unique to that particular event, and the CAB mem-bers in charge of the event can scan students’ IDs or manually enter the ID number into the app to check them into that specific event.

“It’s interesting to track attendance for each event and see how well ad-vertisement went for the event,” said Megan Hemel CAB’s chair. “Some-times other CAB members will text me so they can see how successful the event was.”

CAB members also like that the app can show them how attendance at an

event compared to previous events. “We can look at charts for one event

or for a whole semester. We can see the student who attends the most events, data, and statistics.”

There’s also a little something in it for the students. CAB has developed a new incentive plan, which will be out-lined on posters that will soon be put up around campus.

“For example, for every five CAB events you attend, you get a little prize,” Hemel said.

After a student attends five events, they might receive a candy bar, cou-pons, Scooter’s drinks, even T-shirts.

While the students benefit from this new idea, Hemel said, it should also help CAB improve its events.

“It’s like an incentive for us to cre-ate new events in order to beat our previous attendance numbers,” she said. “It’s an awesome feeling.”

Dani Buedden, member of the A&E committee for CAB, said that members of CAB are hoping the new program will boost student involvement.

“I am excited for the incentive pro-gram because it’ll help boost attend-ance for events and encourage stu-dents to be even more active than they already are,” she said.

FUN IS GOOD

By RACHEL ADDUCCIStaff Writer

nothing I focused on,” Siple said. “It’s something that God has given to me that I use when He wants me to.”

The concert, a part of a full sched-ule of events for Campus Ministry, started with Siple at 7:30 p.m. and Kroger took the stage at 8. There was a short mass following Kroger’s per-formance and the evening ended with a reception in the Heritage Room that gave students the opportunity to talk with both Siple and Kroger.

According to Borger, events like these help shape students’ lives.

“We really want to create events that not only enrich spiritual life, but that also help students gain friends and that helps enrich their entire lives in a unique space,” she said.

Despite it being officially consid-ered a concert by Campus Ministry, Siple found it hard to identify with it in that way.

“It’s worship,” Siple said. “I play for God. I don’t want this to be about me.”

SENIOR JOSH RODRIGUEZ smashes a pumpkin during a CAB’s pumpkin smashing event last week . Hank Griggs, Photo Editor

From “Concert” on Page 3

FATHER FOGLIASSO listens to Nate Siple practice the guitar in an episode of Newman 360Five this week. Courtesy Photo

sportsTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

5

MEN’S SOCCER (10-7-1) WOMEN’S SOCCER (6-8-2)

PAST GAMESOct. 29at Rogers State, L 0-2

Nov. 1at Oklahoma Christian, W 3-2

UPCOMING GAMESToday at 11 a.m.at Texas A&M International*

*Heartland Conference Tournament

PAST GAMESOct. 29at Rogers State, W 3-1 Nov. 1at Oklahoma Christian, W 1-0

this week in sports...PAST GAMESOct. 29at St. Edward’s, W 3-0

Oct. 31at Dallas Baptist, L 1-3 UPCOMING GAMESTomorrow at 7 p.m.vs. West Texas A&M

Saturday at 11 a.m.vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State

PAST RACESOct. 24at Heartland Conference ChampionshipsMen: 3rdWomen: 7th

UPCOMING GAMESSaturday, Nov. 7at NCAA RegionalCanyon, Texas

VOLLEYBALL (21-7) CROSS COUNTRY

@newman_jets

A tale of two Kyles: freshmen basketbal duoTeammates turned roomates share experiences, similarities, and differences

One Kyle hails from tiny Ness City, a small town in western Kansas with a population of 1,437. The other Kyle is from Oklahoma City, the country’s 27th largest city.

One Kyle likes hunting. The other prefers golf.

One Kyle likes T-shirts. The other Kyle is a polo kind of guy.

But the list of things that the Newman men’s basketball team’s only two fresh-men have in common is much longer.

This is a tale of two Kyles – Kyle Harris and Kyle Mazza – both 6’1” freshmen guards this year.

They’re roommates, friends, and teammates who, despite their simi-larities, are not easily confused.

Harris, 18, and Mazza, 19, met in the summer at Newman’s fresh-men registration day. Not an hour after meeting, they two realized they

wanted to be roommates.“I came to registration day and

there was like 100 people in the room,” Harris said. “I came in late, because I’m always late to stuff, and sat at this table with three girls who I didn’t know. So as soon as we started icebreakers, I walked over to a table with a guy sitting at it, and said, ‘Hey, what’s up? My names Kyle.’”

“And then I was like, ‘Who is this guy, this jokester making fun of my

name?’ Then I read his nametag and realized he was being seri-ous,” Mazza said. “We started talking and found out we both were playing basketball for Newman. We talked for a while

and were like, ‘Hey, we should just room together!’”

The two didn’t communicate much after that until move-in day the last weekend of August.

“The second we starting moving in, I noticed how different we were,” Mazza said.

“This dude brought his clothes on

“We play very well to-gether. We’ll only get beter as we play together longer.”

KYLE HARRIS

all these racks,” Harris said. “That’s when I knew we for sure had some lifestyle differences.”

In their third floor room in New Hall, it’s evident which Kyle resides on which side of the room.

The closets are the first thing vis-ible upon entering. The left closet, which belongs to Mazza, is neatly

organized by style of shirt. There are a myriad of pressed button-downs, col-lared polos galore, a couple of suits, and the floor is lined with a variety of neatly organized shoes. The opposing closet that belongs to Harris has T-shirts on hangers. A lot of T-shirts

KYLE MAZZA, LEFT, AND KYLE HARRIS, RIGHT, met during freshman regis-tration and the rest is history. Hank Griggs, Photo Editor

By DELANEY HIEGARTManaging Editor

See “Kyle” on Page 6

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 SPORTS 6

2015 World Champions

on hangers. There is also a respect-able collection of Wrangler jeans and the floor is lined with boots and ten-nis shoes.

Their closets clearly stay true to their personalities because Harris said if he could describe Mazza in one sentence it would be, “This guy loves polos.” Mazza had similar thoughts about Harris, his sentence being, “This guy likes the farm.”

Although the duo has its differenc-es – ones perfect Sunday consists of a day golfing while the other consists of dove hunting – they get along rather well, they said.

“We hang out together on the

weekends, too,” Mazza said. “We’re really together a lot of the time.”

“Sunday evenings we’ll go shoot in the gym. Play games, do some fun drills,” Harris said. “Or we play Ping-Pong and just mess around in the dorms.”

Another thing the pair agrees on is music. Harris and Mazza both said they love country music.

“We like late ‘90s, early 2000s stuff. Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks. All those guys,” Harris said.

The Kyle’s also get along well on the hardwood.

“We play very well together,” Har-ris said. “We’ll only get better as we play together longer.”

The pair isn’t hard to spot on the

roster or on the floor, their numbers being only one digit apart. Mazza is number 30 while Harris is number 31.

The two said their similarities help them bond, but their differences pro-vide quite a bit of entertainment as well. Many arguments occur between the two over pronunciation or use of words, video game preferences, and car brands.

“He didn’t know what roping was,” Harris said. “I was talking about it with a buddy and Kyle got all upset.”

“Yeah, because ‘rope’ isn’t a verb! It’s a noun,” Mazza said. “He uses it like it’s a verb. You can’t ‘rope’ something. That’s not how that word is used.”

The pair also can’t decide on video games – Harris preferring “Call of Duty” while Mazza only plays “2K15 Basketball”.

“Oh, and this guy likes Dodge! He drives a Challenger,” Mazza said.

“Yeah, and you drive a Honda Ac-cord!” Harris said.

“Well let’s just say his car will fall apart and mine will last forever,” Mazza said.

The tale of two Kyle’s won’t end after this year. The pair already has plans to room together next year in Beata Hall with three other friends.

“People look at us and they see a lot of differences,” Mazza said. “But we’re actually pretty similar. It works really well.”

From “Kyle” on Page 5

where they finished 7th. The men’s team found a decent result

on Oct. 24 at the Heartland Conference Championship finishing 3rd, but like the women’s, their best finish through the previous three meets was 13th.

Senior Joey Kenneson and junior Jacob Wallace were named All-Heartland Con-ference runners and freshman Paul John-son was named All-Heartland Conference Honorable Mention prior to the Heartland Conference Championship.

Clara Lane was named the Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year and All-Heartland Conference First Team prior to the Heartland Conference Championship.

“I think we’ve had several good races and there are individuals on our team that have run good races and bad races,” Kenneson said. “But I think that as a team we’ve only shown up all together only one or two times.”

Kenneson said that while the team is full of talent, the timing for the peak of each runner has not lined up like he had hoped.

“We’ve got a lot of good runners on our team but we haven’t shown up at the same time as often as we would like,” he said.

Kenneson’s belief is illustrated by the men’s and women’s results in the Missouri Southern Stampede. The men took 18th,

The Newman men’s cross country team started the year off with two consecutive wins, one at the JK Gold Classic and one at the Newman Dual. The women’s began their season with two high place finishes taking third at the JK Gold Classic and then winning the Newman Dual. Both of them saw struggles throughout the middle of the season though.

The women’s team didn’t see a place greater than 11th until they reached the Heartland Conference Championship

while the women followed taking 19th. The fastest men’s time was Wallace, who clocked in at 26:15, with only a 1 minute and 54 second difference between Wallace and the last finisher for the Jets.

On the women’s side, the team finished 19th in the Missouri Southern Stampede but Lane turned in a strong individual performance, setting a freshman record with a 18:44 finish in the 5k race.

Both teams look forward to finish-ing off their seasons on a high note this Saturday in Canon Texas at the regional qualifier.

Courtesy Photo: KC Star

Racing to the championship: cross country recapMen and women’s cross country look to finish strong at NCAA RegionalBy KYLE MAZZAStaff Writer

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals, winners of the 2015 World Series. They beat the New York Mets, 4 games to 1, on Nov. 1 to win their first world championship since 1985.

#ForeverRoyal

Courtesy Photo: WikipediaCourtesy Photo: Wikipedia

For most people, presidential de-bates can be a bit of a bore, but for me they are something I look forward to. For me, watching the debates trump everything else (pun intended).

Why? Partly because

I’m weird and I like to watch old white guys – here’s looking to you Mr. Sanders – with a small mix of young bloods, women, and even a minority or two squawk back and forth for an hour or two.

But, regardless of the bad rep that they have, debates serve a very important role in shaping the political landscape of the United States. On the campaign trail you can hear candidates like Ben Carson, Rand Paul, Martin O’Malley, and Hillary Clinton propose ideas that they would like to see happen if they win the White House. But the debates give the chance for these ideas to be

challenged, and for the candidates to be challenged themselves.

“Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work,” Republican candidate Jeb Bush said, referencing Senator Marco Rubio’s record in the Senate during the latest GOP debate. “You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job.”

This was a blatant attack on Rubio who has been ahead of Bush in recent national polls, and one of the first shots fired at such a level. But unlike on his campaign trail, Bush opened up the opportunity for immediate retaliation from the freshman Senator from Florida.

“The only reason why you’re do-ing it now is because we’re running for the same position,” Rubio said countering Bush’s attacks. “Someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.”

In one way these debates can really help a candidate. This is the only en-vironment where all of the candidates (well, at least the ones who are poll-

ing well) are side-by-side and able to fully interact with each other. Voters can compare the candidates and their ideas easily and see who they like the most with one convenient televised broadcast.

Debates can also help those candi-dates who may not be doing as hot as the Sanders, Clintons, Bushes, and Trumps of the presidential race. With the strong bases and lack of ability to make the waves of the “top-tier” runners, candidates like Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum can get national attention. Their campaigns won’t gain much traction unless their debate, which has always been shown prior to each prime time debate, get views and is well-received.

Carly Fiorina is a prime example of this phenomenon. Prior to the Fox Re-publican Debate, the first of the elec-tion season back in July, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard was in the basement of the polls. After a strong performance in the warm up debate, however, her stock rose and she was quickly considered a serious contend-

er for the Republican candidacy.On the other hand, debates can

hurt candidates’ chances at winning the presidency. As an article from a 2012 issue of the “New York Times” put it, debates “are the one time when the major candidates appear together side by side under conditions they do not control.” It is this lack of control that can unravel one’s plans for the rest of the campaigning season.

These heated exchanges can serve a purpose other than just putting some audience members to sleep and giv-ing material for a Saturday Night Live skit. You can learn more about a cer-tain candidate and how they handle themselves under pressure.

So watch the debates. You may just find that you support a candidate that you may not have even heard of prior to the evening. You may find an issue that you feel passionate about. Worst case, you’ll be able to crack a joke or two around the water cooler (or water fountain nowadays) the next day.

opinionTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

7

Presidential debates: They’re (kinda) important

We’re only a Catholic university when it suits usNewman claims to be 100 percent

Catholic. For the past three years, I have had it drilled into me that “We are a Catholic uni-versity, named for John Henry Cardinal Newman and found-ed by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for the purpose of empowering gradu-ates to transform society.” To the out-side observer, then, it would appear as though we are completely immersed in the religion: a Catholic university founded by a Catholic religious order, and named for a Catholic saint.

This is what we market ourselves as. We hold no illusions as to what kind of university we are and what sort of standards we hold. We are

proud of our Catholic heritage un-less, of course, that Catholic heritage inconveniences us. Then, we are only 40 percent Catholic.

At last week’s Town Hall Meet-ing, where students were given the opportunity to ask questions directly to the President and her cabinet, I, a Catholic student at a Catholic univer-sity, felt as though my faith was being exploited. The beliefs that I hold and that form me as an individual – more so than Newman ever has – were held up as a double standard for our students. When asked about the request by SGA that Newman’s class schedule be shortened or cancelled for two Holy Days of Obligation, the President and her cabinet denied the request on the basis that there were ample opportunities for Catholics to attend Mass in Wichita or at the Ador-ers’ convent, and that there was not a significant portion of the student

body that would be affected by such a change. We are, after all, only 40 percent Catholic.

While I understand and accept that there are several other Mass times available for students, I was disap-pointed that my faith – Newman’s faith – was being pushed to the side yet again. The Catholic identity we seem to pride ourselves on did not matter in that moment; it had been deemed an insignificant statistic.

A few minutes later, however, the same look of frustration entered the eyes of my fellow students as that same Catholic identity was used as a shield in order to deflect the request for a Gay-Straight Alliance group on campus. Here, instead of brush-ing off the 40 percent of Catholics on campus, the president and her cabinet embraced our religious heritage. Any such organization, they declared, would have to be in accordance with

the Catholic Church’s teachings. While the “Catholic teachings” that they cited were not elaborated on, my problem again rests with the double standard presented here. That same Church they professed to follow and that is represented by 40 percent of the student body had been deemed inconsequential only moments before.

Yes, we are proud to be a Catholic university, but only when we’re try-ing to appeal to a certain demograph-ic or to donors that happen to be on campus. If, however, our students want to demonstrate their faith or embrace it fully, then we are only 40 percent Catholic.

While the majority of our students are not Catholic, that is the heritage that we as a university claim to em-brace. If Newman chooses to identify as a Catholic university, then all I ask is that we truly do accept and uphold that identity in all that we do.

Maureen Hogan

Make up your minds.

Wesley Williams

Williams 2032

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 OPINION 8

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I’ve been helping a friend out with a project recently, because she’s a nurs-ing major. And in a frenzied phone call of last minute cor-rections on her proj-ect, she began vent-ing to me about her work load. Hours in the hospital. Projects due. Presentations too. Homework pil-ing up. And while we all know the nursing major has an intense work-load, future Nurses of America aren’t the only people I see crumbling under a heavy workload.

I’m a theatre major, and my work-load compared to Nurses is quite a bit less, but that’s just my traditional classes within my major. Now, there are papers to write and scenes to study. But the busy schedule of a the-atre major includes 4 to 5 days of the week being dominated by rehearsals. Those rehearsal take up anywhere between 1 to 8 hours of my day. Sud-denly, my only time to do homework

is either just offstage or in the late eve-ning and early morning. So I ask my-self, when will I sleep? When will any of us college students sleep?!!

Science majors: writing lab reports. English majors: writing 12-page the-ses. Communication majors: scribing out an hour-long interview for a proj-ect. Athletes practicing all day, travel-ing to games, and then being expected to also get massive amounts of home-work done. It’s a wonder any of us have time to go to a campus speaker or attend a show.

And then, when you finally finish your gen-eds, and you think you’re home free to just focus on your per-sonal craft, favorite subject, or your major...we get slammed in the face with NSP courses, which have about twice the workload because they have double the instructors.

We’re bombarded with assign-ments, due dates, papers, projects, and some of us also have work, or rehears-al, or practice.

And it’s crushing. It’s dishearten-ing. And it’s hard.

Now, I know the instructors will never lighten the workload. In fact, if

you’re an instructor reading this don’t send an angry letter to me. (Send one to the Vantage so we can publish it) But don’t take it personally. Because I know things add up for you, too. Pa-pers to grade. Tests to finish. Projects to review.

We’re all busy. Every single one of us. So this opinion is less of a plea for less work, and more of a call to action. Give your fellow human being a break, or the benefit of the doubt. We’re all busy. So instead of getting flustered or frustrated with other people. Remem-ber they’re human. Don’t disvalue the work they’re doing. Whether it is an insane nursing project, a science lab, a rehearsal, or volleyball practice it’s still work to be done. And work takes time. But don’t forget to put things down, take a break, and stay healthy.

And please, for the love of Santa Claus (Christmas is around the corner WOO!) don’t put others down because you think you’re work is superior to theirs. I’m beating this into your skulls by now...but we’re all busy. And we’re all human.

So give us a break.

...Ellipses... ‘Give us a break,’ Prof

Justin Ralph

Maybe just one less paper.