THE VARSITY NEWSWednesday, Oct. 2, 2013Vol. 95, Issue 2 The student newspaper of the University of Detroit Mercy

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

BYTOMMYZIMMERVN NEWS EDITOR

The rancorous contract talks between the uni-versity and its full-time professors have led thephilosophy department to cancel its popularEthics Bowl.

Prof. David Koukal, chair of the department,informed UDM President Antoine Garibaldi ofthe decision in a letter.

Citing the “current state of negotiations,”Koukal told Garibaldi that the department “hasunanimously decided to not sponsor the UDMEthics Bowl this academic year.”

“We look forward to continuing this 13-yeartradition next fall, assuming a contract agree-ment has been reached by then,” Koukal wrote.

Students interviewed by The Varsity News

said they were disappointed by the cancellation.Some sided with the professors and others

with the administration, but all wished the eventwere being held.

“It is for the students and about the students,”said Jacob Vanassche, a junior studying softwareengineering. “You may have other stuff going onbut you have a commitment to the students.”

University spokesman Gary Lichtman couldnot be reached for comment.

The bowl usually draws more than one hun-dred participants. It features teams of three, fourand five students, who debate ethical issues be-fore a moderator and a panel of judges.

The judges include professors and staff fromvarious departments, alumni and special guests.

Koukal said that he and Prof. Marty Leever,founder of the event, met over the summer, re-

served rooms and put a date in place for thisyear’s bowl, not foreseeing any problems.

But after contact negotiations deteriorated inlate July, they began discussing whether to holdthe event.

For the past several weeks, the professors’union has encouraged its members to fulfill theircontractual duties while reevaluating whether tovolunteer for activities.

The Ethics Bowl is a voluntary event.“Faculty are not paid to do it,” said Leever.

“They do it out of the kindness of their hearts.”In an ordinary year, absentee judges are “the

most anxiety-inducing part of Ethics Bowl,” saidLeever. The contract dispute adds another levelof uncertainty, he said.

“We don’t want to put people in an uncom-fortable position where they might have to

choose” between Ethics Bowl and loyalty to fel-low faculty, Leever said. “If the philosophy de-partment could just run it themselves, we woulddo it.”

But the popularity of the event has made thatnot possible, he added.

Leever noted that philosophy professors didnot consult colleagues outside of their depart-ment before cancelling the event.

“We realize that the students are going to suf-fer,” he said. “We would do it if we could but wehave to balance other values at stake here.”

Koukal noted that many non-unionized staffmembers have had benefits taken away, and thatit played into the decision, as well.

Leever left open the sliver of a possibility thatEthics Bowl could still be held if there were aquick breakthrough in negotiations.

BY IAN THIBODEAUVN CO-EDITOR

Though large differences remain over salary and re-tirement benefits, tensions have eased slightly betweenthe university and professors’ union with the extensionof the current contract by 30 days.

UDM had notified the union in late July that it wouldmodify or terminate the contract on Sept. 24 if no agree-ment existed by then.

The decision was seen as a threat by the union, and itsoured negotiations over the summer, according tounion officials.

While anxieties remain high on campus as talks entertheir 11th month, the threat of a strike seems to havebeen averted at least until Oct. 24.

According to union president Prasad Venugopal, fac-ulty members are relieved that the administration askedto temporarily extend the current contract.

“We are grateful,” Venugopal said. “But we also rec-ognize that there were factors that played into their re-quest for that.”

He said he believes that protests and negative pub-licity contributed to the decision.

Steven Nelson, association vice president for humanresources and payroll, stated in an email that the ad-ministration has “believed all along, and continues to

BYANNIE MENDOZAVN STAFF WRITER

Students looking for a fun way to kick off the fall sea-son may want to check out the eighth annual Heat Upthe Mall event Thursday, Oct. 3, 5:30-8 p.m.

The event, hosted by the StudentAlumniAssociation,will be held in the mall between the Fitness Center andthe engineering building.

Heat Up the Mall offers hay to sit on, hot dogs, bon-fires for roasting marshmallows for smores and hotchocolate and hot cider for drinking. It also offers a per-fect opportunity for students to get into the spirit ofchanging leaves, cold nights and warm clothes.

The event draws between 250 and 300 people, so it isan easy way to interact and get to know other studentson campus.

BYKAMARAFANTVN STAFF WRITER

Walking around campus, communica-tions major Isis Gibson seems like everyother student.

As a senior, she juggles the stress ofschool, work and preparing for her nextstep in life – in her case, grad school.

But every Tuesday afternoon finds herdoing something unlike any other UDMstudent: headlining at a legendary Detroitjazz club.

Performing under the name Isis Damil,Gibson sings tunes for a noon-to-3 p.m.lunch crowd at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge,one of America’s jazz venues. It is locatedalong Livernois south of Eight Mile Road.

Damil came to know the club throughher father, well known Detroit keyboardistHenry Gibson,

“My father has a photo on the billboardat Baker’s,” Damil said. “When he asked ifI could sing, they agreed.”

Gibson has not disappointed with thesuggestion of Damil for the lunch session.

Damil sings standards – songs everyjazz musician should know. However, she

also performs other songs, such as “Imag-ine” by John Lennon and “I Don’t WannaBe” by Gavin Degraw, that she gives herown distinctive twist.

Damil has no single favorite song.“The next song is always my favorite,”

Damil said. “I try to keep moving.”At Baker’s, her act can be a duo or a

family performance. Gibson, her father,backs her up on piano.

“Sometimes my mom, Mecca Lathan,plays the saxophone,” she said. “Everyonehas a solo and they always clap at the end.”

Damil prefers not to focus on familyties. She said she doesn’t want to be treateddifferently, and prefers not to tell peoplewho her father is.

“I want to be cool like everybody else,”she said.

When it comes to promoting, it’s all fly-ers, cards, Facebook and Instagram.

“For a brief amount of time I was beingpromoted on Twitter as well,” Damil said.

Damil also sings at Northern LightsLounge, located in the New Center, onBaltimore Street and West Grand Boule-vard. There she sings as part of pianistMike Jellick’s act.

“We practice every week,” Damil said.“I’m always singing or at least humming.”

Damil ran for the Young & Free Michi-gan spokester to become a news reporterfor Michigan First Credit Union.

“I was going to make funny videos andthe like for more involvement with thebank,” Damil said.

But she has since set her sights on grad-uate school. She will be studying public re-lations at Syracuse University in NewYork– and singing jazz.

“It’s about a four-hour drive betweenNewYork and the university,” said Damil.“I would just stay the weekend in NewYork and be back at school for the week.”

Damil and her father are going to visitNew York in a month to figure out whatclubs would be best for her performing.

While acknowledging that Los Angelesand New York have better jazz scenes,Damil still would like to expand her basein Detroit.

The crowd at Baker’s Keyboard Loungeis growing every week.

She tries to make every song she per-forms there – or anywhere – special. “I tryto make it new every time,” Damil said.

Ethics Bowl cancelled due to contract turmoil

FROM CLASS TO STAGEEvery Tuesday sees Isis Gibson transition from UDM

student to jazz singer at famous Baker’s Keyboard Lounge

VN PHOTO BY IAN THIBODEAU

New deadlineeases striketalk; emotionsremain raw

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Mall to heat up withactivities Thursday

There are a few decisions we face that toe theline between a simple choice and existential crisis.

Such as: Is an 8 a.m. class a smart choice for me?Should I drink that? Solid or pinstripes? Bacon or

sausage? Provolone orSwiss?

I’ve knocked downmost of those dilemmaswithout much delibera-tion, but it wasn’t until aweek ago that I was trulyfaced with a choice thatcould alter the course ofmy life: Do I ditch myiPhone, or not?

The upgrade was sup-posed to be easy.

My phone companysent me a text telling methat first it wanted to buymy current iPhone 4 back

from me, and second that I was due for an upgrade.When I went to the store, I did my best negotiat-

ing and told them to tell me exactly what I couldget with my upgrade.

They, of course, turned on the charm and told meI could have anything in the store; the charmworked despite my best effort to resist, and I pro-ceeded to zip around the store and touch everyphone on the floor.

I’m an easy sell, I guess.While I purused my various selections, all tailor-

made to fit my hands precisely, I asked myself howimportant my iPhone allegiance was to me.

We’d been together for nearly a year and a half,and it’s been a part of some of my most intimateand clandestine conversations.

Often times that little iPhone plays some of myfavorite songs to cheer me after a tough day.

It wakes me up in the morning.But then sometimes it’s a little too clingy, and I

began to ask myself if all smartphones were thesame – if maybe nothing would change no matterwhat phone I bought.

Would this new phone still always be there?I do my best not to be the guy who has his phone

out at every chance he gets to snap a picture or an-swer a text or tweet a witty tweet, but it’s easy tonotice those obsessed with their phones.

Did I really want to continue to be one of them?During my investigation at the store, I even went

over to the lonely and depressed section of flipphones, where no one in the store ventured.

Those neglected phones beckoned to a simplertime, when I could hang out with my friends andnot have to worry about the phone in my pocket,because the only person calling on that phone wasmy mom, and she only wanted to know if I’d behome for dinner.

And, of course, my friends had their own opin-ions.

My iPhone friends said they had it best, whilethose with Android devices disagreed. I have amore free-spirited friend who thought I could justjailbreak a phone to make it compatible with anyoperating system and switch between them when-ever I wanted.

I’m too loyal for that, though.There were plenty of flashy phones with big

speakers and bright screens, and then some othersthat were less gaudy and more about the power be-hind the screen.

By the time I was ready to leave, my mind wasracing.

I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to use my upgradeanymore, because I didn’t want to make such a bigdecision when there were so many phones tochoose from.

Since then, I haven’t been back to the store, al-though I still haven’t made a decision.

My iPhone 4 currently sits comfortably and loy-ally in my pocket with its broken lock button andpoor memory space, and various TV commercialstell me I’ll be happier with a different phone.

Thibodeau is VN co-editor

OCT. 2, 2013PAGE 2

IanThibodeau

www.thevarsitynews.net

Contact us at the Neal Shine Media Center in 305 Briggs,by email at thevarsitynews@gmail.com or through Facebook.

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Ian Thibodeau and Curtis PulliamTHE VARSITY NEWSNEWS EDITOR: Tommy Zimmer FEATURES EDITOR: Maggie Jackson

STAFF MEMBERS: Colin Bennett, Vito Chirco, Kamara Fant, Angeles Gavia, Joe MacLean, Annie Mendoza,Kyle Moore, Anthony Shepherd, Jack Walsworth and Nick Yim. Faculty Adviser Tom Stanton

FOUNDED IN 1918, THE VARSITY NEWS IS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY.

Loyalty settlesthe great 21stcentury debate

BYKAMARAFANTVN STAFF WRITER

Conversation filled the lobby of the HealthProfessions Building Sept. 24 as visitors stoodelbow-to-elbow along the edges of the room,giving plenty of space for speakers and for theadmiration of a sculpture on the wall.

“The Spirit of Mercy,” a bronze relief wasbeing blessed as part of UDM’s Mercy Day cel-ebration.

Created by Sr. Marie Henderson, a long-timeadjunct architecture professor, the work depictsCatherine McAuley (with two children), Nel-son Mandela, Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu,St. Elizabeth Seton, two healthcare workers andtwo sisters of Mercy.

“It is just inspiring,” said Dr. RosemaryWeatherson, director of Women’s and GenderStudies. “It is the breath of the Mercy tradition.”

The work also depicts the original Mercy

house on Baggot Street in Dublin, Ireland, andcarries the Mercy cross.

After Sr. Brigid Johnson blessed the sculp-ture following a prayer, visitors took a closerlook at the piece and snapped pictures.

Sr. Charlotte Young described the sculptureas an anonymous donation commissioned foranother institution.

Lori Glenn, an assistant professor for thenursing program, remembers seeing Hendersonworking on the sculpture.

“It was really exciting to see,” she said.Henderson was not in attendance. She in-

stead was in Dublin for the celebration.But the words of gratitude about her rang

clear.“A lot of people don’t think nuns are artists,”

said Glenn, praising Henderson’s talents. “Sis-ter Marie is extremely humble.”

According to Henderson, the sculpture re-flects “God’s Mercy,” the source of Catherine

McAuley’s actions.She said that it embodies the belief that

“mercy” is more inclusive than the Mercy com-munity, and that is why the sculpture is interde-nominational, interracial and historical.

Glenn said she felt that tradition as a studentunder Sr. Judy Mouch, a professor.

Glenn had gone away to another college butfound she was missing a piece of what she hadfelt at UDM.

“It was the Mercy tradition – the closenessand comfort,” she said.

There is a sense of happiness at the sculp-ture’s place on the UDM campus now.

Young feels that now the sculpture is home,and that it brings even more depth for celebra-tion of Mercy Day.

“The spirit of Mercy is the commitment tobring mercy to the world,” Young said. “Theworld needs mercy. It is something that shouldbe alive in all of us.”

Sr. Marie Henderson’s bronze relief “The Spirit of Mercy” was blessed during the Mercy Day celebration.VN PHOTO BY MAGGIE JACKSON

BYANGELES GAVIAVN STAFF WRITER

The newly added fall breakOct. 14-15 will give studentsand professors a four-day week-end.

The change will bring UDMin line with many other univer-sities that have a midtermbreak.

Without it, students wouldhave to wait three months afterthe start of school for Thanks-giving break.

For some, the fall break willbe long enough to allow fortravel back home in the conti-nental U.S. For others, it willjust be a longer weekend bur-rowing into textbooks and Pow-erpoint slides cramming formidterms.

Criminal justice Prof.Charles Wilson looks at the fallbreak from a work standpointand wants to know what kind of

impact it will have on the stu-dents.

“Is it a rest for them or doesit disrupt the learning process?”said Wilson.

Wilson doesn’t know wherehe is going to go, but plans toleave town.

Prof. Claire Crabtree, who isteaching Transatlantic Mod-ernism and a creative writingseminar, thinks that the breakwill be a good thing.

“It’s a little hard to get usedto,” she said. “My understand-ing is that we have the break foracademic reasons.With once-a-week classes missing LaborDay and Thanksgiving, it wouldcause problems.”

David De Bianche, 27, a psy-chology major, said he willhang out around campus andsouthwest Detroit during thefall break, but doesn’t thinkmuch of it.

“I think they created the

break for accreditation – not be-cause they actually care aboutthe students because tuition isso high,” said De Bianche.

English Prof. Heather Hill-Vasquez sees it is as good forthe university to look at its aca-demic calendar and make ad-justments.

President Antoine Garibaldiapproached the calendar with afresh perspective and decided itwas time for change, she said.

“We had to come back aweek earlier because we aretaking extra days off,” she said,noting that the semester beganin August before Labor Day.

Related to the change,Thanksgiving break will starton Wednesday, Nov. 27, whichwill give students an extra dayto travel or spend time withfamily for the holidays.

The university will stay openon Nov. 27 for staff and thenclose Nov. 28 through Dec. 1.

BYMAGGIE JACKSONVN FEATURES EDITOR

One of the hallway display cases inBriggs Building will be getting amakeover with help from the Detroit His-torical Society.

Students in the Introduction to MuseumStudies class, with help from members ofthe History Club, will be working with cu-rators to develop an exhibition case fea-turing objects from the DHS collection,said history professor Daniel Kroupa.

“Students will be responsible for de-veloping the theme, selecting objects andwriting labels,” said Kroupa. “The projectwill provide students with the experienceof working with a museum curator andtaking on some of the challenges involvedwith developing a small exhibition.”

Joel Stone, DHS curator of history anda university alum, and Adam Lovell, cu-rator of collections, will be working withstudents on this project, which will beginthis Thursday and be developed through-out the semester.

History clubgives life todisplay cases

Students, staff prepare forUDM’s first October recess

Sculpture celebratesMercy spirit

It started off as a normal doctor’s visit.OK, it wasn’t exactly normal because it was my birth-

day and it was the only timethey could fit me in, but it wassupposed to be a routine physi-cal so I thought nothing of it.

When the doctor came in, shewas carrying a folder that wasprobably big enough to houseall of my papers from last se-mester, so I knew somethingwas up.

She sat down and dropped abomb, something that I knewdeep down but did not want toaccept. She told me that I haveCeliac disease.

A few years ago, I had sometests done to see what I was al-

lergic to because I kept getting sick all the time.I knew it had something to do with my diet because it

seemed after every time I ate, I would feel nauseous. Wegot the results soon after, but never had them read, untilnow.

Celiac is an immune reaction to eating gluten, whichis anything that has wheat in it.

By anything, this means pretty much everything.If too much gluten is ingested, a variety of things can

happen, such as intestinal damage.There is no cure, but living a gluten-free lifestyle

manages everything.The diagnosis shocked me, but I was a little relieved

because this was a stepping stone to getting better.That doesn’t come without its challenges. Going cold

turkey on things like bread, pasta and dessert was diffi-cult and it is still a challenge, but it has also been an ad-venture trying new things.

I used to secretly pity all those who couldn’t enjoy allthat gluten has to offer, but I didn’t know how goodsome of the gluten-free food can be.

Some things are better with gluten in them. But aftertrial and error, I have been able to find delicious gluten-free breads and pastas. When the new Meijer opened, Idiscovered that it has two whole aisles of gluten-freefoods.

It was overwhelming to say the least.Throughout the summer, my friend and I met down-

town for lunch and to go exploring. We ventured intonew parts of the city and found little restaurants that aregenerally unknown.

On one of our expeditions, we stumbled upon a littlehole in the wall French restaurant. It was not totallygluten-free, but it also grows its own fruits and vegeta-bles and was very accommodating.

We also tried Small Plates, which has a very diversegluten-free menu.

On these trips, I discovered that Detroit is one of thetop gluten-free cities in the U.S. Just one more reason tolove our amazing city.

Another challenge has been that I have not been ableto bake.

Baking is my stress-relief and it pays off.I bake, burn off steam and then give whatever I bake

to my friends. It was a win-win.For the most part, my friends have been supportive

with all of this.I am sure that when I feel the urge to bake, they will

be open to some gluten-free baked goods.There have been a few slip-ups and I have paid the

consequences.Being stuck in bed being unable to move because you

are in so much pain is a big motivator for sticking to theplan.

It really is amazing how a few little words can changeyour life.

But it is not just the words, it is the attitude behindthem, as well.

When I first told some of my friends, they apologizedand related how difficult it must be for me.

I never understood.Why should I feel sorry about this new outlook on

life? It may have been a shock at first, but I know thatthis diagnosis is going to change me for the better.

Jackson is VN features editor

THEVARSITY

NEWS CCaammppuuss LLiiffeeOCT. 2, 2013 PAGE 3

MaggieJackson

Ordinary doctorvisit set writer onCeliac ‘adventure’

BY CURTIS PULLIAMVN CO-EDITOR

Former assistant basketballcoach Carlos Briggs’ lawsuitagainst the University of DetroitMercy is “progressing throughthe pre-trial stage,” according tohis attorney, Michael L. Stefani.

The university’s attorney,Donald B. Miller, also con-firmed that the case remains inthe discovery phase.

Briggs filed suit on Jan. 29,claiming he was wrongfullyfired in November 2012 aftertelling university officials thatathletic director Keri Gaitherand assistant coach DerekThomas were engaged in a sex-ual relationship.

Gaither and Thomas, bothmarried to other people, re-signed within hours of one an-

other on Oct. 31, 2012. Briggswas dismissed the next day.

Briggs contends he was firedfor blowing the whistle on animproper relationship. He issuing the university, Gaitherand Mort Meisner, a media con-sultant who has worked forUDM.

In court filings, university of-ficials have responded that theyhad just cause for dismissingBriggs.

Several developments haveoccurred in the case over thesummer months:

� The case has been movedfrom Wayne County CircuitCourt to federal court.

� The various sides havefiled their lists of potential wit-nesses. Among them are UDMPresident Antoine Garibaldi,coach Ray McCallum, former

sports information directorMitch Wigness, Free Press re-porter Perry Farrell, many ex-Titan basketball players(including Eli Holman, JasonCalliste and LaMarcus Lowe)and numerous other individuals.

� Meisner’s motion to havethe case dismissed was rejectedon four of five counts. Briggshas accused Meisner of defam-ing him.

Judge Robert Cleland ruledthat most of Briggs’ chargesagainst Meisner can proceed totrial, except Meisner’s allegeddescription of Briggs as a“piece of s---.”

“Foul, abusive or vitupera-tive language does not consti-tute defamation,” said Cleland.

In his lawsuit, Briggsclaimed that during the 2009-10Titans basketball season he be-

came aware of an affair be-tween Gaither and Thomas, andthat several Titan players toldhim of improper activities be-tween the two on road trips.

Briggs said he took his con-cerns to coach McCallum, andthat by the end of the 2010-11basketball season, Gaither hadbegun “displaying favoritism”toward Thomas.

The lawsuit charges that afterBriggs told Gaither that he wasaware of the relationship,Gaither grew “hostile” towardhim.

The men’s basketball teamplayed most of last season withjust head coach McCallum andassistant Jay Smith.

Over the summer, the Titansadded two new assistants, ErnieZeigler and Steve Payne, to re-place Briggs and Thomas.

Briggs case moves to federalcourt; ex-players may be called

BY TOMMY ZIMMERVN NEWS EDITOR

Two recent bus-stop rob-beries outside the campus gateshave heightened some students’sense of danger.

UDM Public Safety issuedemail alerts after each of theSeptember incidents.

In the first, on Sept. 14around 5:30 p.m., a UDM em-ployee was waiting at the busstop along Fairfield across fromCalihan Hall when two men intheir late teens or early twentiesapproached.

While one made small talkwith the victim, the otherpointed a sharp object into theemployee’s back and demandedmoney.

The employee surrenderedthe cash, and the two men fledeast on Grove Street.

The men were described asblack, about 5’10” and ofmedium build. One had shorthair. The other was wearing abeige cap.

In the second incident, onSept. 19 at 6:45 p.m., two mentargeted a UDM student at thebus stop on McNichols acrossfrom Gesu School.

The student was on her cellphone when the culprit tried tograb it.

In the struggle, the phonebroke into two pieces.

The student recovered herphone case, but the thieves gotwhat was left of her cell phone.

The two ran across the street,and north on Oak Drive.

The victim described themen as thinly built black malesin their early twenties. One hada light complexion and braidedhair, was about 5’6” and waswearing a white T-shirt with acamouflage belt.

The other was about thesame height with short hair and

dark complexion.Letitia Williams, director of

public safety, said Monday shehad no additional informationto release on the robberies.

The department’s safetyalerts encourage students totake precautions by securingtheir belongings, keeping valu-ables out of sight, being awareof their surroundings and walk-ing with others or requesting acampus police escort.

Students interviewed by TheVarsity News offered differingviews related to safety on the

streets around campus.Bobby Campbell, a sopho-

more nursing major, said hethinks there is nothing to worryabout.

With a gated fence and secu-rity, people should feel com-fortable walking on campus atany time, he said, but should bemore alert when they are offcampus.

Genna Ramey, a freshman inthe pre-dental program, saidshe does not feel safe off cam-pus.

She said she never walks

outside the fence thatsurround the campus,and always locks herdoors.

Clara Popard-Ste-car, a freshman biol-ogy major in thepre-dental program,said she is concernedabout safety.

She thinks UDMshould increase secu-rity in the area.

Alex Sexton, a sen-ior biology major, saidhe thinks studentsshould know the risksof wandering off cam-pus without using thebuddy system.

He said he has livedon campus for threeyears, and has heardgunshots.

“You just do not goout there,” Sextonsaid.

Robert Homant,professor of criminaljustice, does not thinkanything is much dif-ferent than it was 30years ago.

“Because the areaaround campus is rela-tively small, a few rob-beries here or theremake it seem like a

large fluctuation but I doubtthere’s been a significant statis-tical difference over the pastmany years,” Homant said.

He said that the city as awhole has seen a decline incrimes but still lags behind therest of the country for any num-ber of reasons.

Michael Witkowski, profes-sor a criminal justice studies,recommends simple precau-tions.

“When at bus stops or onpublic streets, we should pay abit more attention,” he said.

Bus-stop robberies hit UDM areaPublic safety recommends students secure belongings, not walk alone

The Fairfield bus stop in front of the frat house was site of a robbery.VN PHOTO BY TOMMY ZIMMER

PAGE 4 OCT. 2, 2013

BY PAIGE ZMUDCZYNSKIVN STAFF WRITER

When someone brings up rock groupSwitchfoot, some of the first descriptionsthat come to mind include “surfer/Chris-tian rock,” “2003 breakout artists,”“Grammy winners” and, if you’re a fanfrom the beginning, “A Walk to Remem-ber.”

Now, “documentary makers” is aboutto join that category.

“Fading West,” a new documentary tobe released in theatres in early 2014, starsthe band as they travel the world.

Tim Foreman, the group’s bassist andbackup vocalist, talked with The VarsityNews about the making of the film.

“It’s been a dream of ours for a whileto make this film that combines musicand surfing, and to bring people along thejourney we’ve been on as a band,” hesaid.

This journey includes traveling to Aus-tralia, Indonesia, South Africa, NewZealand and parts of the United States, aswell as making the music that would ac-

company the film.Foreman said that Indonesia and South

Africa were some of his favorite places tofilm, especially with a group of kids closeto the band’s heart in South Africa.

“South Africa is always special,” hesaid. “There’s a group of kids we’veknown for about eight years now thathave a choir. They’re all orphans, sothey’ve been through so much at such ayoung age, but yet they have this amazinghope and this brightness about them. It’sreally inspiring to be around them.”

“Fading West” is accompanied with analbum, both of which will be shown tofans on the upcoming tour.

“We’re playing the entire film as ouropening act, and then we go on stageafter,” said Foreman. “No one’s ever donethis before. It’s been really exciting to feellike, 17 years into this band, we’re stillfinding new ways of doing things, chal-lenging ourselves and the audience.”

As with any film, there is always someform of drama that occurs.

“When we set up to make this film, Idon’t think we realized what we were get-

ting into,” said Foreman. “It really tookon a life of its own, and it actually has areal story that unfolded.

“There’s some really heavy stuff thatjust kind of happened while filming,which, you know, I think is part of ourstory as a band. We have been through alot together.”

While filming in Australia, Jon Fore-man, the bands lead vocalist and guitarist,as well as Tim Foreman’s brother, had afamily medical emergency and was notable to make it back immediately.

Such events brought the band closer,said Tim Foreman.

“We’ve really endured some heavystuff that kind of cemented the respectand brotherhood that we have for eachother,” he said. “That type of bond isn’tformed through just fun times, it’s formedthrough carrying each other through somedifficult things.”

Switchfoot will be premiering “FadingWest” and playing an intimate show withnew music at the Royal Oak Music The-ater on Oct. 4. “Fading West” will be re-leased digitally Dec. 10.

BY TOMMY ZIMMERVN NEWS EDITOR

In the spring of 2011, economicsProf. Joseph Weglarz was contacted byDr. David Dieterle, editor of “Eco-nomic Thinkers: A Biographical Ency-clopedia.”

He asked Weglarz to partake by au-thoring some essays.

“He was well aware that I taught theHistory of Economic Thought courseat the University of Detroit Mercy,”Weglarz said.

Dieterle knew Weglarz was well ac-quainted with the economic writers ofthe Austrian School, and this ulti-mately led to his authorship of essayson economists Ludwig von Mises,Friedrich August von Hayek and JacobViner.

The book, published in August,

presents over 200 biographies of eco-nomic thinkers from ancient Greeceand Rome through the modern era, andaims to provide a reference for schol-ars and the general public.

The project was published byGreenwood Press, which focuses onreference scholarship in the humani-ties.

Weglarz was particularly interestedin Mises, von Hayek and Viner be-cause he believes them to be “truly ex-ceptional twentieth centuryeconomists.”

“Mises was not only the drivingforce and influence behind many con-temporary Austrian-born economists,including Hayek, Gottfried Haberlerand Fritz Machlup, but also made im-portant contributions in the areas ofepistemology, history, political philos-ophy, trade-cycle theory and the eco-

nomic effects of monetary and fiscalpolicy,” Weglarz said.

He said Mises’ output, which hecalls “prodigious,” laid the ground-work for a significant revival in Aus-trian and neo-Austrian economics.

Hayek, too, added to this revival.“Hayek not only made many impor-

tant theoretical contributions in hisfield but blazed new paths in politicaltheory, history, philosophy and theo-retical psychology as well,” Weglarzsaid.

Hayek accepted the Nobel Prizefor Economics in 1974 for his workduring the 1920s and 1930s in thearea of business and trade-cycle the-ory and the effects of monetary andcredit policy.

Of Jacob Viner, Weglarz said he wasan accomplished economist of interna-tional stature spanning the spectrum

from pure theory to public policy.He said his major fields of research

and influence were in the theory of in-ternational trade and the history of eco-nomic and social thought.

Book editor Dieterle met Weglarz atWalsh College, where they worked to-gether.

“As I was developing the list ofeconomists who would be featured in‘Economic Thinkers,’ Joe was an ob-vious choice for me to approach towrite the biographies of the AustrianSchool economists,” Dieterle said.

He said he knew he would get high-quality contributions from his oldfriend.

Economics Prof. Bruce Brorbynoted his colleague’s reputation speaksfor itself.

“The fact that they have been ac-cepted into that prestigious publication

validates Professor Weglarz’s reputa-tion as an economic scholar as well asan authority on the Austrian School ofEconomics,” Brorby said.

He said that in addition to his out-standing scholarship, he is an excellentteacher as well.

Prof.’s entries focus on Austrian economists

BY JACK WALSWORTHVN STAFF WRITER

When it comes to the availability of exercise equipment,students at the University of Detroit Mercy have got it made.

But many people in the Detroit area do not have the luxuryof access to a multi-million dollar fitness center when theywant to exercise.

Two UDM professors of the McAuley School of Nursing,one nurse practitioner and one doctor of nursing practice stu-dent are looking to change that for 24 women starting in Jan-uary.

Last June, professors Patricia Rouen and Carla Groh wona grant from the American Heart Association (AHA) for aproject called “Stepping Into Health.”

The grant was far from easy to obtain. Out of 172 propos-als, only 29 were funded.

“It’s a wonderful award,” said Groh. “We didn’t know howcompetitive it was going to be. We’re very pleased.”

The program will be funded for one year and will focus onexercise and nutrition for two groups of women who are unin-sured and in their early 40s.

“It’s a 12-week program,” said Rouen. “There are sixweeks of nutrition and cooking classes and six weeks of ex-ercising. We’ll be focusing on two areas of the AHA’s ‘Life’sSimple Seven’ – eating better and getting active.”

The women who will be enrolled in the program are oneswho don’t have access to safe exercise or even a place to gowork out.

The women will meet at McAuley Health Center, whichwill have rooms on site to accommodate the cooking and ex-ercising classes.

Located on Conner Street, the center is housed in the for-mer Samaritan Center, about 20 minutes from UDM’s McNi-chols campus.

According to Rouen, the women in the program will al-ready be members at McAuley or referred to the program.

The program will also be a community effort, as GleanersFood Bank will be assisting during the six weeks of nutritionand cooking classes.

“Gleaners will be coming to McAuley with a chef,” saidRouen. “The women will work with the chef to prepare low-cost healthy meals. They’ll also get all the groceries so thatthey can make it at home.”

In addition to the classes with the chef, the women will par-take in a “recipe rehab,” where they will compete to maketheir favorite recipes with tasty but healthy ingredients.

Once the women complete the nutrition and cooking por-tion, they’ll begin exercising.

“So far the women have been interested in doing yoga andzumba,” said Rouen. “We’re hoping to do six weeks of that.We’ll also have them use pedometers, which are devices thatmeasure how many steps a person takes in a day.”

The program will serve as the capstone project of GraceJacek, a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) student.

“This program is going to take a lot of effort and work toget off the ground,” said Groh. “It’s always great to have aDNP like Grace.”

While the program doesn’t start until January, Rouen andGroh are looking forward to it.

“This is something that the ladies have been asking for,”said Rouen. “We’re happy to be able to do this for them.”

Nursing projectaims to put womenon healthy journey

Swtichfoot blending

music, film at Royal Oak concert

OCT. 2, 2013 PAGE 5

BY ISIS GIBSONVN SPECIAL WRITER

Student-privacy rights can be a touchy subject betweenstudents and parents.

Among other things, the Family Educational Rightsand Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of students’educational records, including their grades.

FERPA generally prohibits improper disclosure of per-sonally identifiable information derived from studentrecords.

“It’s the protection of the student’s identity,” saidDorothy Stewart, dean of students and former associateregistrar.

Stewart said that officials are allowed to give directoryinformation and verify information for educational andemployment purposes but not for any other reason.

Under FERPA, parents can’t even gain access to theserecords without the written consent of the student.

FERPA allows students to have control of the educa-tional information their parents can access.

All students are under FERPA but students gain controlwhen they are 18 years of age, she said.

Student Anitra Moore from the dental school said thatshe appreciates FERPA.

“Even though my parents don’t have to pay for my ed-ucation, students whose parents do have to pay shouldn’thave access to their records either,” said Moore.

Moore said it’s the same as parents not wanting chil-dren to know about the finances. Students don’t want par-ents to know about their transcripts.

But parents sometimes view the situation differently.When parent Gina Rembert was asked her thoughts on

FERPA, she said that she understands how a studentwould want privacy but believes she should still have ac-cess because of her investment in her daughter, AngelaRembert.

If students want to grant access to their parents, theyhave to compose a statement for each particular depart-ment that they want to allow parents to access.

FERPA does not cover information that can be ob-tained through personal knowledge or observation.

All employees who work in a department whererecords are held have to sign a FERPA release form.

Employees cannot look up information on other em-ployees or students unless there is an educational need toknow.

If the contract is broken, it could lead to a lawsuit.Stewart told a story of how this was broken when she

was a student at the university and a member of a studentorganization gained access to her home address.

“He showed up to my house,” she said.FERPA was established in 1974.

BY ANNIE MENDOZAVN STAFF WRITER

Campus renovations have resulted in fewerplaces to promote and advertise events, frus-trating some UDM staff and students.

Over the summer, facilities officials elimi-nated a majority of the campus bulletinboards, including those in high-traffic areasnear the Fountain Lounge and on the firstfloor of Briggs.

Among the campus organizations impactedis the UDM Theater Company.

Melinda Pacha, instructor and costume de-signer for the UDM Theater Company, saidthe removal of advertising space has madegetting the news out more difficult.

The visibility provided by the bulletinboards allowed “people to get the familiaritythat we are there, that the students can actu-ally come out and get an audition,” she said.

But the goal, according to David Vandelin-der, director of facilities, was to help clean upthe appearance of the campus.

Vandelinder said that having numerousboards in one area created unnecessary clut-ter.

“There’s a lot of duplication of everythingposted,” he said.

The aim was to give renovated areas oncampus a neater look, he said. That’s why thelarge boards were not reinstalled in Briggs,which was refurbished this summer.

But in response to the complaints, a fewboards will be reinstalled in the Fountain

Lounge.Pacha said that though keeping the campus

looking tidy is important, the lack of boardslimits advertising and communication.

“I think it just has a general impact on whatis available to students on campus and what isavailable to the organizations,” she said.

Greg Grobis, marketing and managing di-rector for the theater company, said it is muchdeeper than just a clean campus.

“The tradition of higher education is to cre-ate a community where we can all communi-cate,” said Grobis. “Where does the creativitycome in? Where is the art?”

Both Pacha and Grobis feel that thechanges give the campus a more impersonalfeel.

“I guess I just don’t want to see the uni-versity become so sterile and so business-like

that we forget we are a liberal arts institution,”said Pacha. “I’m sorry, but I guess we can bea little messy sometimes.”

Vandelinder said part of the reason officialsreduced the number of bulletin boards aroundcampus was to draw more attention to otherspots, such as the new student lounge in thebottom of Briggs.

The focus was to not only reflect the newrenovations, but to also draw attention to thenew spaces available for students.

Vanderlinder said he hopes the new studentlounge will attract students and become moreof a common area.

The more active the new student lounge,the more effective the advertising there willbe, he said.

The year should reveal how well the planworks for students and organizations.

BY ANDREW HULLand ALYSSA LOTITOVN SPECIAL WRITERS

Mark Krgovic is a self-proclaimed“Tigers stats man” who takes his fan-dom of the division-winning Detroitbaseball team seriously.

He is one of many UDM studentswho count themselves as Tigers fans.

“I like to go to as many games overthe season as I can so I can check theteam out in person and get a better feelfor how players are performing overthe course of the season,” said theUDM senior.

Krgovic believes that nothing insports tops a close pennant race in theMLB.

“I actually wanted Cleveland orKansas City to make a run at us in thepast few weeks instead of just havingthe countdown of wins that we had,” hesaid.

For Krgovic, one of the definingmoments in Detroit’s regular seasoncame in the series against Cleveland

when the Indians came to town rightbefore the All-star break and got swept.That series set the tone, he said.

On a recent day on the McNicholscampus, 21-year-old Dan Fioritto stoodout in the crowd dressed in orange andblue gear, including his neon orangeNike sneakers. He wears his passionfor the team most days.

He jumped at the chance to talkabout the Tigers last week as they wereclosing in on a third straight divisiontitle.

“Everyone else sees fall as footballseason and I say it’s playoff baseballtime,” said Fioritto.

He is looking forward to post-seasonaction, which begins this week.

He feels the Tigers are going into theplayoffs with their best chance of win-ning it all out of the last three seasons.

Another fan, Jason Marzette, had aninteresting view of the Tigers season sofar.

Marzette felt that the Tigers mightbe benefiting from a little bit of luck.

“We got Cleveland the last few

times when they were struggling to winand beat them in all of those games,”he said.

It’s been a little nerve-racking thepast few weeks with the Tigers tryingto clinch and simultaneously strugglingto score runs, he said.

Mike Pugh, a senior in the nursingprogram, has been to a few games thisseason.

“It’s great to watch the Tigers andMiguel Cabrera, knowing he is one ofthe best players to play the game,”Pugh said. “It’s always an exhilarating

time when you’re at Comerica.” Pugh, like many other Detroiters,

was biting his nails as the final gamesof the regular season came to an end.

As they entered their last homegame series against the Kansas CityRoyals, the Tigers’ magic number wasdown to four.

Emily Oberheim, a senior at UDM,watched last Wednesday night’s divi-sion-clinching victory over the Twins.

“(It) is a good thing for Detroit,” shesaid. “After the recent news of thebankruptcy and all of the negative pressabout our city, it’s nice to have some-thing we can hold onto and hope for.”

It looked as if the Tigers might winthe division the night earlier, untilJason Giambi of the Indians hit a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of theninth to defeat the Chicago White Sox5-4.

“That was a frustrating finish,” saidChris Kelly, a senior. “Everyonethought the White Sox were going topull of the win that night and then Gi-ambi hit a bomb into the outfield.”

Cy Young candidate Max Scherzerfinished out his tremendous regularseason with a 21-3 record, ending itwith the victory over of the Twins.

“He is out of this world this year,”Junior Tyler Harper said. “It is unbe-lievable that Scherzer was able to comeout of the regular season with such agreat winning percentage. If he doesn’ttake home the Cy Young Award, Iwould be in shock. No one this yearcan compete with that record.”

The Tigers will begin their journeyto the World Series title against theOakland Athletics.

“I think the Tigers will match up finewith the A’s,” said Kevin Gill. “Theydon’t have anything the Tigers can’thandle and played them last year in thepostseason. Hopefully history repeatsitself. The Tigers are coming off a greatending to their season and a lot of mo-mentum into the postseason. They willbe hard to shake off their game. And itdoesn’t hurt that we have the 2012Triple Crown and MVP on our team,Miguel Cabrera.”

FERPA helpsstudentskeep privacy

Campus Tigers’ fan geeked about playoffs

Removal ofbulletin bds.makes PRa challenge

The large bulletin boards from the first floor of Briggs Buildings have been removed.

VN photo by MAGGIE JACKSON

Varsity News wins five state awardsIn results released this week, The Var-

sity News was named the winner of fiveMichigan Collegiate Press Associationawards.

Co-editor Ian Thibodeau took threehigh honors:� First place for best news story for

“Badges or Badgering,” which delved intothe controversy over UDM’s ID policy.

Judges described the story as “well de-veloped” and “engaging.”

� First place for best column for his

personal reflection on visits with hisgrandfather, who has Alzheimer’s Dis-ease.

Described by a judge as “really wellwritten and poignant,” the column was se-lected as best out of 60 entries.� Second place for editorial writing for

his piece on student senate election pro-cedures.

Staff writer Joe MacLean captured sec-ond place for best sports story for his fea-ture on UDM’s international women’s

tennis players, titled “Russia, Belarus andGeorgia.”

Judges commended his ability to bringthe subjects to life as people, not just ath-letes.

Staff writer Colin Bennett received anhonorable mention for his piece on thehistory of the iconic tower on the McNi-chols campus.

The VN competes in division three forpapers published less frequently thanweekly.

PAGE 6 OCT. 2, 2013

believe, that a negotiated set-tlement through the collectivebargaining process is the bestoutcome for all.”

The unrest on campus hasbeen palpable.

Not only have many blue-and-white signs calling for afair contract popped up ondoors and windows in almostevery building on campus, butstudents have also taken toasking their professors whatmay happen in coming weeksif the contract expires.

Some students have alsosent letters supporting theunion to the administration,Venugopal said.

The acrimony has promptedlong-time university academicFr. John Staudenmaier, assis-tant to the president for mis-sion and identity, to beginregularly sending poems andprayers to his colleagues in aneffort to quell the hard times.

What’s obvious is despitethe contract extension, thefundamental situation – thatthe administration and the

union remain millions of dol-lars apart in their offers – hasnot changed.

“We are not sure what willhappen over the 30-day periodthat we currently find our-selves in,” Venugopal said.

In addition to the extension,both sides agreed to continuemediated bargaining sessionsuntil an agreement has beenreached. But as of Tuesday’smeeting, not much hadchanged, he said.

Venugopal said the admin-istration still fails to acknowl-edge how much the union hascome down from its initialoffer.

“The university is not will-ing to acknowledge those con-cessions and sign a faircontract,” he said.

“Our vision of a fair con-tract is one that allows us toretain and hire the best facultywhile at the same time ac-knowledging the financialchallenges that the universityfinds itself in… Unfortunatelyit seems that the universitydoes not share that vision.”

In early September, bothPam Zarkowski, provost andvice president for academic af-fairs, and Vince Abatemarco,vice president for business andfinance, said the offers the ad-ministration has made reflectthe reality of the times, andthat the union’s offers weren’tfiscally responsible to theoverall university.

In a recent an email to fac-ulty, President AntoineGaribaldi said that “the uni-versity remains committed toresolving the remaining issuesthrough negotiations … (andlooks) forward to the next ne-gotiating sessions with theUDMPU and the federal me-diator.”

Some professors have taken

to bowing out of non-contrac-tual, voluntary activities in re-sponse to the dissension.

As reported elsewhere inthis issue, the philosophy de-partment has cancelled whatwould have been its 13th an-nual Ethics Bowl.

Other faculty-run eventsand committees have taken ahit, too.

“Our members have beenvery angry, outraged and feeldisrespected,” Venugopal said.

Much of the voluntary serv-ice professors put forth helpsthe university immensely, hesaid, and some professorshave taken to only actingwithin the confines of theircontracts to prove their impor-tance – and in effect, the im-portance of a fair contract – tothe university.

“The university works be-cause we do,” he said. “We doa lot of things we’re not re-quired to do, but we do it forthe best interest of this univer-sity, and faculty have startedconsidering whether or notthey should be providing thosevoluntary services.”

Seven members of the Mc-Nichols Faculty Assembly an-nounced recently that theywould not serve on the assem-

bly while the contract negotia-tions continue.

Carol Weisfeld, professor ofpsychology, said the decisionto withdraw her services fromthe assembly was extremelydifficult, because she was un-sure how much it would hurtstudents’ education.

The assembly makes deci-sions on curriculum, whatgrades are needed to take cer-tain courses or advance withina major and what faculty havethe necessary qualifications toteach certain classes.

“I’ve never had to make adecision this difficult,” Weis-feld said. “This is one of thefew things I can do to remindthe administration of the im-portance of our expertise.”

Weisfeld wrote in a letterthat she read in front of the as-sembly and Vice President /Provost Pam Zarkowski thatbecause of the way negotia-tions have gone, she and theother members who steppeddown were forced to concludethat the administration sees noend to the good will of the pro-fessors.

Mediated negotiating ses-sions are scheduled for thenext couple of weeks, accord-ing to Venugopal.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Negotiations

Protest signs have begun appearing on faculty doors.VN PHOTO BY IAN THIBODEAU

Brandon Carey, a juniornursing student and co-chair ofthe association, says that it’s agreat break from studying.

“It’s a chance to get outdoorsfor a little bit, get out of yourdorm room and get out of theclassroom,” said Carey. “Justtake a break with your friendsand mix it up a little.”

Alyssa Fazi, coordinator ofalumni relations and a 2010alumni of UDM, said that asso-ciation is not only for graduatesbut also to help make memo-rable experiences for currentstudents.

“The Student Alumni Asso-ciation’s goal is to get studentsinvolved on campus and in-volved in the traditions so thatwhen they graduate and be-come alumni they are just as in-terested in being involved,” shesaid.

Junior biology major NickLabus attended the event lastyear after he saw it on his wayback to his dorm.

“I stopped by because it waskind of interesting,” saidLabus. “You wouldn’t normallysee a bonfire in the city.”

Labus said that the atmos-phere of Heat Up the Mall pro-vides a good escape from citylife.

“A lot of people grew upwith those types of activities soit made it more familiar andhome-like,” said Labus.

Even as a commuter, Labusplans on attending the eventagain this year as a way to es-cape from schoolwork for a fewhours.

Fazi encourages students tostop by so they can continue tomake special experiences atUDM.

Heat Up the Mall will alsobe offering free glow-in-the-dark cups for those who attend.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Heat Upthe Mall

BY JACK WALSWORTHVN STAFF WRITER

Her smile and her silver earrings shine as shehands a student two toasted peanut-butter-and-jellysandwiches.

“There you go, baby. Thanks for being patient,”she says, her friendly demeanor unaffected by thelong line that winds past the pop machines in theTitan Dining Room (TDR)

Her name is Patricia Clark, but many studentsknow her simply as Pat.

Clark works at the McNichols Deli inside theTDR, where she makes sandwiches and wraps.

“I’ve been working at the university for sevenyears,” said Clark. “I love it all. I used to work thegrill but now I’m only at the deli, which is a lotcooler than being by a grill all day. Plus, by work-ing at the deli I get better hours.”

Her commute from her home on Ohio Streetusually takes 15 minutes, depending on whethershe drives or catches a bus.

Once she arrives on campus around 10 a.m., shebegins prepping for the day.

“I always cut up the turkey and ham and get thedeli bar set up first,” said Clark. “I’m open by11:30 a.m. for lunch and close at 1:30 p.m. Then, Ireopen at 4:30 p.m. for dinner. I’m usually here till8 p.m.”

Once her workday is done, Clark heads backhome and relaxes until the process starts again thenext morning.

“I usually play a game, take my shoes off andgo to bed,” said Clark. “I love playing Mario Carton Nintendo 64. I’m always Toad.”

During her long days of making countless sand-wiches, one thing keeps Clark motivated: UDMstudents.

“If it weren’t for the students, I couldn’t makeit,” said Clark. “They keep me going. It can getcrazy in the kitchen doing what we got to do to pre-

pare. … We all work hard to make the studentshappy.”

Students appreciate Clark, as well. “She brings a sense of energy that always brings

a smile to my face,” said sophomore Kevin Palmer.“I also like it when she puts extra bacon on mysandwiches. Things like that really make my day.”

Clark has formed a special bond with student-athletes from several teams, something she tracesback to former Titan basketball stars Chase Simonand Eli Holman.

“I’ve got my ballers, my soccer team, my baby-girl ballers and my lacrosse babies, who are alwayshungry,” said Clark. “I love them.”

Clark and her husband enjoy going to UDMgames, especially when athletes invite her person-ally.

It’s uncommon for Clark to not have a line ofcustomers, and though she always works by her-self, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love being by myself,” said Clark. “The otheremployees don’t know the students like I do.Sometimes when I see certain students in line I’llmake their sandwich ahead of time and surprisethem. Treatment like that is just who I am. God put

that in me.” A mother of three and grandmother of seven,

Clark has come to appreciate the summers she getsoff from work.

“When school’s out I get to watch my flowersand play with my grand babies,” she said. “It’s allabout me and the grand babies. Towards the end ofsummer, I do miss my babies from school. I alwayslook forward to coming back.”

Students are also aware of her love for hergrandchildren.

“I go to her station at least once a day,” said 19-year-old Michael Ponkowski. “I usually talk withher while she makes my sandwich. She’s alwaystalking about her grandbabies. She’s a really kindlady.”

According to Clark, one of her favorite partsabout the new school year is seeing all the newfriendly faces.

“I like to show the new students how I am,” saidClark. “One guy just joined the soccer team andit’s like I’ve known him for a long time.”

Her life philosophy is pretty basic.“It’s simple, really,” she said. “You love me and

I love you. God is good and I’m full of joy.”

Do you really knowyour UDMlunch lady?A grandmother of seven, Patricia Clark says her bondwith students lifts her spirits

Patricia Clark prepares a wrap for a student. According to Clark, the students keep her going. VN PHOTO BY JACK WALSWORTH

THE VARSITY

NEWS SSppoorrttss OCT. 2, 2013 PAGE 7

BY VITO CHIRCOVN STAFF WRITER

From walk-on to State Farm three-point win-ner, Brigid Mulroy enjoyed a career at the Uni-versity of Detroit Mercy that was reminiscent ofa Lifetime movie.

After seeing little playing time in her first twoseasons as a Titan, Mulroy, a native of WestBloomfield, was offered a scholarship for the2008-09 season by Autumn Rademacher, then afirst-year coach.

Mulroy lacked playing time initially becauseshe was the last player on the bench, and herteammates were all on scholarship.

According to Mulroy, she’s also always lackedathleticism, and has been hurt by it.

Mulroy was uncertain about continuing to playuntil Rademacher came on board.

“Coach Rad made my teammates and me feelthat we could win,” Mulroy said.

With Rademacher, Mulroy saw an increase inplaying time.

“Coach Rad came in and saw my abilities andhow that could fit into her scheme,” Mulroy said.“She was willing to give me a chance where oth-ers wouldn’t.”

According to Rademacher, only seven players

were on scholarship when she arrived on campus,and Mulroy came highly recommended.

“She’s the most motivational player I’ve evercoached, and she constantly was working hard toget the most out of her limited athleticism,”Rademacher said. “So after convincing her tokeep playing, I saw every reason in the world tooffer her a scholarship.”

Mulroy’s former Titan teammate Heather Hat-ter also loved her work ethic and was inspired byplaying alongside her.

“She had more passion than some of the play-ers that had a full ride,” Hatter said.

Mulroy even became a key asset on defense.“She became the master of the charge,”

Rademacher said. “Every game, she was con-tributing defensively in this manner, and was ableto keep herself out on the court 35 minutes-plusas a result of it.”

The Titans struggled to score beforeRademacher arrived, and needed somebody toprovide an offensive spark.

Enter three-point specialist Mulroy. In her first year with Rademacher, Mulroy,

then a junior, started every game, and helped theTitans win more games, 12, than in her first twoseasons combined.

After a slow 2-9 start to her senior season,Mulroy and the Titans went on an impressive 15-5 run to close the season.

“Everything began to click for us, and wenever lost confidence,” Mulroy said. “We hadhard-fought contests against U-M and Georgia tostart the season, and in very few of those games,we were blown out and embarrassed.”

After losing out to Green Bay for the right tohost the Horizon League Tournament, UDMmatched up against Butler in the league semifi-

nals. Leading up to the tournament, Butler was the

lone HL team Mulroy had never beaten in herTitan career, and the Bulldogs proved to be theonly team Mulroy would never beat.

While the loss ended Mulroy’s time with UDMwomen’s basketball, she had the chance to repre-sent the university one final time at the 22nd an-nual State Farm Slam Dunk and Three-PointChampionships in Indianapolis, Ind.

She was chosen to participate in the three-pointcontest after finishing the season with the bestthree-point percentage in the country, at 50.5 per-cent.

Mulroy’s teammates showed up and supportedher in Indianapolis.

And she won the women’s three-point compe-tition.

“I wanted to do so well for everyone that cameout to see me, and I still remain extremely proudof how I represented my Titan family,” Mulroysaid.

She then went head-to-head against the men’sthree-point contest winner, Maryland’s EricHayes.

She came up one shot short against Hayes afterfailing to make the fourth moneyball shot on thefinal rack.

After graduating, Mulroy played profession-ally overseas for Wasserburg, a German team.

While playing in Europe, she learned someGerman and saw many parts of the world that shenever thought she would.

When she returned home, she spent a fewyears coaching at her alma mater Marian HighSchool before relocating to the San FranciscoBay area.

“I wanted to try something new by relocatingto Cal,” Mulroy said. “It also allows me to be-come re-acclimated with some family members.”

Mulroy will always be remembered byRademacher for helping lay the foundation forthe program.

“Brig helped build the foundation for whatwomen’s basketball is today at Detroit Mercy,”Rademacher said. “I will never forget the impactshe had on the program.”

BY DERRICK JONES IIVN SPECIAL WRITER

Former Titan basketball starRay McCallum may be playingprofessionally in the NBA thisseason, but for most UDM stu-dent-athletes a well-paying ca-reer as a professional athlete isnot an option.

Only a few UDM Division Iathletes move up to the majorsfrom the fields and courts of theMcNichols campus.

So what becomes of the vastmajority of other student-ath-letes?

The Varsity News checked inwith four recent standouts.

SHARONDA VESEYTw e n t y - t w o - y e a r - o l d

Sharonda Vesey, known tomany as Shay, has been a run-ner since childhood.

Now 22, the Romulus nativehas always had to be the fastestat everything – from runningoutside in the street to taking fit-ness tests at school.

In the sixth grade Veseyjoined the Michigan Accelera-tors track club, beginning thesport that would dominate herlife for more than a decade.

Vesey participated in the100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and long jump throughhigh school.

Later on, she stopped jump-ing and focused on runningevents, even adding the 400-

meter hurdle. Her talent in the hurdles

earned her a scholarship to theUniversity of Detroit Mercy.

But after receiving a fullscholarship, she tore her ACL inhigh school, forcing her to getreconstructive surgery on herknee the summer before enter-ing college.

“My father was my biggestfan,” said Vesey. “I hated to dis-appoint him.”

Still, Vesey returned to thesport and performed for the Ti-tans. “Eleven years is a longtime to be running,” said Vesey.“But I stuck with it.”

She also obtained bachelor’sdegree in business administra-tion this past year. Vesey is nowan advertising associate at Ab-sopure Water Company.

Though missing the sport is adaily thing, Vesey stoppedthinking of going pro after herinjury.

“Everything happens for areason,” she said.

JA’QUAN PATTERSONA former star jumper on the

men’s track-and-field team,Ja’Quan D. Patterson, 22, of Yp-silanti didn’t pursue the sportuntil the summer of his junioryear in high school.

Prior to that, he was a notablehigh school basketball player.

“I just got fed up with bas-ketball,” he said. “I got bored.”

But track interested him, so

he took it up. “I felt I could geta scholarship from this,” hesaid.

Beginning with indoor trackthat winter at the former Ypsi-lanti High School, Patterson ranthe 400-meter dash, 4x400meter relay and the 4x200 meterrelay.

His favorite event was thelong jump, in which he oftenplaced.

“I’ve been the best at itthrough high school and col-lege,” he said.

UDM scouted him the end ofhis senior year. He chose DetroitMercy because it is a Division Iprogram with good academics.

The long jump was his focusas a college athlete, and he alsotook on the triple jump.

Though he dealt with kneeproblems all throughout col-lege, Patterson ended up amongthe all-time Titan leaders in sev-eral categories.

Academically, he majored inbusiness administration, gradu-ating in 2013.

“At the end of my track ca-reer, I was sad it was over,” saidPatterson. “I had more in mytank.”

Patterson is currently work-ing as a middle school track-and-field coach in Ypsilanti.

He still harbors thoughts ofpossibly doing some unattachedmeets and possibly getting a probooking.

“Setting a strict discipline

level and setting goals for your-self, you can go anywhere,” hesaid.

NINA CARTERNina Carter, a former captain

of the women’s soccer team,took an interest in the sportwhen she was only 8.

“From then on, it pretty muchconsumed my life,” she said.

For 14 years, she loved thesport. Carter was a forward andoutside midfielder. Speed washer strength.

“I can out-run pretty muchanyone on the field,” she said.“I was never the most talentedplayer on the field but I workedharder than anyone else.”

Carter went out with a bangin her senior year as a Titan.

Battling the cross-town rivalsat Oakland University, shescored two goals to push thegame into overtime and allow

the Titans to win. “It was great to see my hard

work re-energize my team,” shesaid.

Carter noted that her momhas been a huge supporter, andshe works hard to make hermom proud.

Graduating with a bachelor’sdegree in communication stud-ies, Carter has already landed acool gig in Bismarck, NorthDakota.

She works for KFYR-TV, anaffiliate of NBC, where she re-ports three times a week and an-chors news shows over theweekend.

“I love it,” said Carter. She credits soccer and caf-

feine for allowing her to wakeup at 5 a.m. to start her 13-hourdays.

Carter does miss soccer, justnot as much as she thought.“There’s no money in goingpro,” said Carter laughing.

Still, she’s proud of what sheaccomplished.

Although being consideredan “average” soccer player inher early days, she made it ontoa Division I team, became acaptain and pursed her dream ofbeing a broadcast journalist.

“If you’re comfortable,you’re not trying hard enough,”she said.

ANDREW DHAENENSHowell native Andrew Dhae-

nens was a three-time athlete in

high school who came to col-lege looking for something todo and was introduced to cheer-leading.

“I quickly fell in love with itand walked on,” he said.

Dhaenens became somewhatof an expert at back-tucks whilegoing to UDM for the acceler-ated five-year MBA program.

He brought his charisma andschool spirit to all things he pur-sued at UDM.

But in his senior year, he torehis posterior cruciate ligament.

“It was a bummer to havehappen halfway through my lastseason, but our training staff didan awesome job of helping merecover and get back to cheer-ing,” he said.

The performance that reallystuck with Dhaenens was whenUDM made it into the NCAAmen’s basketball tournamentand played against Kansas.

“Even though we lost thatgame, my team and I cheeredour hearts out,” he said.

After his many years on thecheer team, Dhaenens gradu-ated with his MBA and a minorin psychology.

He is currently a women’sgymnastics coach and judge andis working on his PhD in man-agement at Mississippi StateUniversity.

“I absolutely miss the sportand Detroit,” said Dhaenens. “Ilove talking to the cheerleadershere at MSU.”

Former Titan athletes go pro in more than sports

Mulroy reflectson turningpoints inUDM career

Nina Carter

Brigid Mulroy, credited with helping revive the Titans, now calls California home.PHOTOS COURTESY OF UDM SPORTS INFO

The same clichés surface over and over. Never take anything for granted.Live life to the fullest. You don’t know what you have until it’s

gone.You always hear people saying things like

that and you think to yourself ‘OK, I know’ andmove on with your day.

You want to knowwhy you hear them allthe time?

Because they aretrue.

My favorite one:Enjoy the simple thingsin life.

I have been trying todo that more in recentmonths.

There are times inlife when you have tostep away from thedaily grind and reflect. Ithink my summer andthis past weekend re-

minded me of that. In the summer, I had a lot of fun, hanging out

with old friends and new ones, going to concertsand Tigers games. In addition, I worked in ashop four to five times a week, making a littlebit of money.

I was able to spend quality time with peoplemy friends.

This past weekend, my aunt got married andit made me realize just how lucky I am.

All my family was there, making the cere-mony extraordinarily special.

I had not seen most of them in a while, beingbusy with school and writing and work.

And with some making the trip back toMichigan, it was very special. I was happy tosee everyone.

However, there was a moment at the weddingwhen I realized that I was the only one in myfamily who didn’t have a date.

Now, at first it was kind upsetting. The more I thought about it, though, I was

glad I didn’t have one. Why? Because I loved seeing everyone else in my

family happy. Later that night, I went out for a buddy’s

birthday, he turned 22 at midnight and waspretty happy about it. It would be his last birth-day at home for a while, as he is scheduled toleave for the Marines next month.

I hope to get to see him again before heleaves, but with a schedule like mine, you neverknow.

Sitting there with him made me think aboutjust what I am doing with my life.

He’s doing what he wants, and I applaud himfor that.

But is this what I want to do with my life? The question lingered.But the answer came with certainty.Absolutely. The whole writing gig can be overwhelming

sometimes. Long hours, deadlines, being alert and on the

lookout for story ideas – it’s a struggle for mesometimes.

But for me the struggle is going to be worthit, because of the little moments along the way.

And it will continue you to be a struggle as Ikeep following the journalism path, trying tofind a balance between social life, school, workand sleep.

Time management is key in all this, some-thing that, even as a senior in college, I’m stilllearning.

Yet if I have learned one thing about timemanagement, it’s to make time for the simplethings in life.

They may seem small in the grand scheme ofthings, but they are the moments you will neverforget.

Pulliam is VN co-editor

THE VARSITY

NEWSSSppoorrttss PAGE 8 OCT. 2, 2013

CurtisPulliam

Happily alone at thewedding and reflectingon life lessons, cliches

BY CURTIS PULLIAMVN CO-EDITOR

Most people who knowCarlton Brundidge knowhim as a basketball player.

But it wasn’t always thatway.

“When I was little, myfirst sport was swimming,”said Brundidge. “I won sixfirst-place medals in thestate finals.”

He was 8, 9 and 10.Since then, it has been

all basketball for Brun-didge, the red-shirt sopho-more who will besucceeding Ray McCallumfor the Titans.

Starring locally atnearby Southfield HighSchool, Brundidge was ahighly touted prospect re-cruited by plenty of teams,including Michigan.

He chose to join JohnBeilein and the maize andblue. But he never got theopportunity to play much atMichigan, mostly due tothe fact that fellow guard

(and now Utah Jazz mem-ber) Trey Burke emerged asthe team’s star.

Brundidge left Michiganafter appearing in only 15games.

The most he played in asingle game was 13 min-utes against AlabamaA&M.

“Coming from Michiganand coming here, in the be-ginning I didn’t have a lotof confidence,” said Brun-didge. “At Michigan, I did-n’t play that much. It took alot of my confidenceaway.”

The move to UDM feltnatural for Brundidge, es-pecially because he was ex-cited to play withMcCallum.

“I knew Ray for a longtime, since high school,” hesaid. “(Some) people thinkthey were too big-time totalk to Detroit but I wouldbe the first person to say,‘Hey, coach McCallum,how you doing?’ I alwayssaid, ‘Detroit – that’s a nice

school.’ ”Furthermore, when

coach McCallum con-vinced him to come to De-troit, Brundidge had noidea that young Ray wouldbe leaving for the NBAdraft.

“I didn’t know,” said thecommunications major.“He was like, ‘You cancome play with me’ and Iwas like, ‘Cool.’ ”

Now instead of playingalongside Ray, he will besucceeding him, a poten-tially stressful role thatBrundidge doesn’t mind.

“It’s kind of big shoes tofill because everybodythinks Detroit ain’t going tobe nothing this year,” saidBrundidge. “I think that weare going to be real goodthis year. People just kindasleeping on us. I like play-ing underdog for some rea-son. I like to prove peoplewrong.”

Brundidge is now ex-cited to play with one of hisAAU teammates, Juwan

Howard Jr. “Me and Juwan go way

back, since we were tenyears old,” said Brundidge.“We played on the sameAAU team, The Family, sothat was kinda neat andwe’re both from Detroit.”

Brundidge sees Howardplaying a big role on thisyear’s squad.

“He brings leadership tothe table,” said Brundidge.“If you’re not working,Juwan will tell you. If I

have a problem with any-thing, I’ll go to Juwan.”

Brundidge thinks he willgrow into the role, too.

“That’s what I have beentrained to do,” he said. “AtMichigan or in high schoolI didn’t feel like I was agood leader to take myteam to the next level. Inhigh school, my team madeit to the semi-finals at Bres-lin, and I wasn’t that guy tosay, ‘Hey, calm down.’Here I feel like I can takeon this leadership role.”

Head coach McCallumfeels the same way.

“What he’s done is workhard, put in time in the gymand spend a lot of time onhis game,” said McCallum.“He studied the game. Wewatched film in the off-sea-son. He has a lot of abili-ties.”

With all of his abilitiesand him seizing the under-dog mentality, Brundidgemay be able to add anotherfirst-place medal to his col-lection.

Carlton Brundidge

Brundidge will be key for post-Ray Titans

BY CURTIS PULLIAMVN CO-EDITOR

There was so much conversation three yearsago when Ray McCallum decided to come to De-troit Mercy.

Had he made the right choice? Would he liveup to all the hype? How would he be doing whileplaying for his dad?

Three years later – after leading the Titans to aHorizon League Tournament championship, anNCAA berth, a NIT berth and back-to-back 20-win seasons – McCallum had answered all ofthose questions and more: He had fared prettywell during his time at Detroit.

Now, it’s all part of his past.McCallum was drafted in the second round

(36th overall) of the 2013 NBA draft by the Sacra-mento Kings.

In July, he signed a three-year deal with theteam, and, according to hoopsworld.com, will bemaking $524,616 this season.

His dad, Ray McCallum, head coach of the Ti-tans, said his son achieved what he wanted to dur-ing his stay at the school.

“That was a goal for him, to win a HorizonLeague championship,” said coach McCallum, who is entering his sixthseason with the Titans. “With him being gone, I think he feels good aboutbeing a part of helping us turn the program around and getting to a cham-pionship level.”

Now Ray McCallum’s focus is on his NBA career. And at this stage,things couldn’t be better.

“It’s going real well,” said McCallum by phone from California. “I’vebeen out here for about a month, just been working out with the team andthe coaching staff, trying to prepare for training camp.”

In the summer league with the Kings, McCallum, last year’s HorizonLeague Player of the Year, averaged 12.6 points, 4.0 assists, 4.2 reboundsand 2.2 steals per game.

Despite his solid offensive numbers, he knows that it will be his abil-ity to distribute and play defense that will keep him moving up the Kings’depth chart.

“Coming in as rookie, I’m just trying to contribute to the team as muchas I can, whatever the coach and team needs me to do,” he said. “I justwant to be that guy, kind of a do-it-all guy, just be a true point guard.”

His dad couldn’t agree more. “He’s been the only guy that’s been in there each and every day with the

coaches working out,” said coach McCallum. “He’s putting in five, six,

seven hours a day in the gym and that’s what heshould do.”

Both McCallums realize there will be plenty ofcompetition in the backcourt for the Kings thisyear, including Isaiah Thomas (University ofWashington) and Greivis Vasquez (Maryland).Both Thomas and Vasquez averaged 13.9 pointsper game, but Vasquez was third in the NBA with706 assists, averaging 9 per contest.

McCallum feels the competition will make hima better player.

“Right now it’s a lot of individual drills andtraining, just getting prepared for training camp,”said McCallum, who is eighth on the Titans’ all-time scoring list. “But we’ll have open gym and ithas been competitive. Guys are really trying to getbetter and trying to earn some playing time.”

Added coach McCallum: “I think he’s showingthe coaches that ‘Hey I’m committed to do what-ever you need me to do’ and I think that makes astatement in itself. He’s got to be able to handlethe ball, not turn the ball over, get the ball to theright people, defend the position. It is a differentgame.”

McCallum will be one of two former Titans inthe NBA this season.

The only other active player from UDM is veteran shooting guardWillie Green, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.

“For him, it’s a dream come true,” said coach McCallum. “The blue-print formula was simple. He listened, he invested each and every day onhis game, and when people do that – it just happened to be my son – weare really happy and proud of him.”

At Calihan Hall, the Titans will undoubtedly miss McCallum’s pres-ence on the court.

Jumping into Ray’s spot will be red-shirt sophomore guard CarltonBrundidge, a transfer from Michigan.

“We need him coming in and just playing at a high level right away,”said coach McCallum. “He practiced with us last year. Even though hehasn’t played in a lot of games, he has a lot of experience from practice.”

No matter how well Brundidge does, coach McCallum will miss thepresence of his son, for personal reasons, if no other.

He said it is just starting to sink in that his son is across the country.“He’s been gone for three weeks now, out in Sacramento. Before that

after the summer league, he was up here every day,” said coach Mc-Callum. “It’s like it was old times. So just kind of looking around andnot seeing him out here shooting and in the weight room, we are ad-justing to that.”

FROM TITAN TO KINGDrafted 36th overall, Ray McCallum prepares for life in the NBA with Sacramento

Ray McCallumPHOTOS COURTESY OF UDM SPORTS INFO