www.obusignal.com Ouachita Baptist University

the

Signal 10.23.14Volume 123

Issue 6

IN THIS ISSUE:

Desert Storm to OuachitaDr. Mark McGraw shares stories of his life as a Marine, p.3

A+ TeachersShould students be able to grade their professors? p.4

Junk Rock BandRecycled Percus-sion to play one night show at Ouachita, p.2

Outdoor Rec plans November tripsBy WILL LECHNERStaff Writer

The month of November promises to be an exciting month for students who enjoy outdoor activites as Jason Bean, Ouachita’s director of recreational life, and his associates have been planning several fun, upcoming activities for stu-dents to take part in both on campus and in the surrounding areas. The biggest annual event is the hike up Pinnacle Mountain. Ouachita students, led by Bean, hiked Pinnacle Mountain in Little Rock on Tuesday. Each year after

the hike, they then will treat themselves to Chipotle for dinner. “We always go up to Pinnacle and climb it. Then you earn yourself some Chipotle burritos,” Bean said. Along with the hike up Pinnacle, some other holiday activities are being put to-gether to both celebrate school spirit and have some Halloween fun. The night before the football game against the University of Arkansas-Mon-ticello, students are invited to go camp-ing at the Eubanks’ lake. The night of the event will be Halloween and there will be a bonfire and pumpkin carving to help put everyone in the Halloween mood.

“We have also invited the International club to come out, so many of those who haven’t experienced this holiday can have some fun with that,” Bean said. Rec Life has a few other activities planned including a trip to Winding Stairs and their big trip of the year, a ski trip to Colorado during Christmas break. The trip is in conjunction with Campus Ministries. Weekly, Rec Life and Campus Activities send out an email detailing any upcoming events. For more information about Rec Life events, contact Jason Bean in the Recre-ational Life office or email him at beanj@obu.edu. n

see HUCKABEE z 2

Education students practice parenting skills with new “My Virtual Child” project

By CHELSEA WHELPLEYNews Bureau

Rec Life z CourtesyOuachita’s office of recreation life takes students on a number of trips each semester including hiking, camping, rock climbing and rafting excursions. Director of recreation-al life, Jason Bean, plans and leads all of the trips. Upcoming events include a hike up Pinnacle Mountain and a fall bonfire.

The voice of the millennial generation is powerful – and one that is increasingly receiv-ing more attention. Former Arkansas governor and political commentator Mike Huckabee recently ad-dressed this topic on his Fox News show “Huckabee” in a segment titled, “Does the GOP need to start listening to mil-lennials?” Huckabee, a 1976 Ouachita alumnus, hosted a panel of three college students includ-ing Ouachita senior Molly Bowman, a mass communica-

tions and Christian studies/theology major from Conway, Ark. During the segment, students discussed issues of concern to millenials and how they felt about the current state of the Republican Party. Other panelists included stu-dents from the University of Notre Dame and Marist Col-lege. Molly Bowman in NYCGov. Huckabee contacted his alma mater, looking for a Ouachita student to add to the panel. After consulting with sev-eral campus leaders, Trennis Henderson, vice president for communications, decided to

Movin’ On UpTiger football team moves up in AFCA Top 25 poll, p.5

nS News 1nS Features 3nS Opinions 4nS Sports 5

Bowman featured on Fox News’ “Huckabee”

This year’s Child and Ado-lescent Development class is pioneering a new online proj-ect called “My Virtual Child” in which students participate in a trial parenthood, raising the virtual child from a new born to the age of eighteen. Through this project, stu-dents are able apply what they have learned in class and gain a new understanding of the impact you can have on a child. The program starts out with a personality assessment and short questionnaire which as-signs students a child, living situation and spouse. From there they have to answer questions on raising their child that vary from “What material of diaper will you use?” to “How will you disci-pline your child?” The answers to these ques-tions are what determine the development of the child and the family unit represented. The professor of the course, Dr. Merribeth Bruning, pro-fessor of education and the dean of the Huckabee School of Education, approves of the new project and its impact on the students. She explains that the course’s objective is to review the physical, cognitive, social and spiritual development of children in their different

By SUZANNA RIEVESStaff Writer

Molly Bowman z CourtesySenior Molly Bowman had the opportunity to visit New York City and appear on the Fox News show “Huckabee” earlier this semester.

stages of life. This project helps to put that in perspective by seeing the importance of every deci-sion made for a child’s life. “The Virtual Child experi-ence gives us an opportunity to apply what we are learning as we make decisions for our virtual child. We can consider the impact of our decisions on the child and our virtual fam-ily,” Bruning said. Haley Brown, a student of Bruning and an early child-hood education major, says that this class has been insight-ful and given her a unique set of skills to be a better teacher. “We are learning that as teachers we will have a huge effect on the inner develop-ment of a child’s life,” Brown said. “So by understanding what’s going on in their minds at each age we are teaching, we will be able to better un-derstand how to talk to them, rationalize with them, disci-pline them, reward them and ultimately just get across to them. Knowing these things is going to help us be all-around more effective teachers.” She also says that the virtual child is especially helping her grasp the concepts of the class and how important her role will be as a teacher, and even one day a mother with chil-dren of her own. For more information on the “My Virtual Child” project contact Bruning at bruningm@obu.edu. n

Thursday, October 23, 2014 www.obusignal.com

Things you shouldn’t ask bae when navigating a corn maze

TOP554321

“So how about that Ebola?”

“Remember on ‘American Horror Story’ when that clown . . . ?”

“Are your feet not hot in those UGGs?”

“Are your feet not cold in those Chacos?”“Are you going to drink all of that pumpkin spice latte?”

this weekzCALENDARCAMP WAR EAGLE will be on campus recruiting this week in the student center. A recruiting video will be shown today between 4:30-7:30 p.m. in the Hampton Board Room.

REFUGE is tonight at 9 p.m. at Second Baptist Church. For more information, contact: James Taylor at taylorja@obu.edu.

SCREEN ON THE GREEN presented by Chi Rho Phi will be showing “It Happened One Night” Friday night at 9 p.m. at the intramural fields to raise money for PATH. For more information, contact: Hannah Sweeden at swe51728@obu.edu.

FOOTBALL VS. AR TECH kicks off Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cliff Harris Stadium. Tailgating begins at 11 p.m. outside the stadium. For more information, contact: Todd Knight at knightt@obu.edu.

VERITAS women’s discipleship will be Monday night at 9 p.m. in Berry Chapel. For more information, contact: Kendall Calvert at calvertk@obu.edu.

RECYCLED PERCUSSION will be in concert Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in JPAC. Students receive a free ticket with student ID. All other tickets are $15. For more information, contact: Adam Wheat at wheata@obu.edu.

By Rachel GaddisNews Bureau

HUCKABEEz Continued from Page 1

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submit Molly Bowman’s name for consideration. “With Molly’s strong aca-demic record, campus involve-ment and international travel experience, several faculty members suggested she would be a great fit,” Henderson said. “Molly was eager to accept the challenge and did a great job representing Ouachita.” Bowman was interviewed by the producer byphone about her worldview and opinions on how the nation’s authority figures should handle various situations. Within 30 minutes, Bowman was chosen to partici-pate and booked on a flight to New York City. The whirlwind experience included Bowman being rec-ommended on Wednesday, contacted by the producer on

Thursday, flying to New York on Friday and taping the show on Saturday. “I am so proud of our uni-versity and the truth that it actively takes a stand for, so it was easy for me to wear the Ouachita name with confi-dence,” Bowman said. “I think Ouachita’s liberal arts educa-tion has helped me to com-municate more effectively on every realm. “I am not a political science major, nor do I see myself as an expert on the topic, but OBU has instilled in me a love for learning and interacting with the world around us.” On the panel, Bowman had the opportunity to commu-nicate some of her views and opinions about what attracts her to a particular political candidate or cause. Bowman emphasized her desire for can-didates to possess consistency. “I want someone that is go-

ing to back up what they say. I think most of the millennials get frustrated when they see someone in their campaign make promises they can’t keep. “My goal for the show was to speak truth with grace and love,” said Bowman. “My de-sire was to treat others with respect while representing Christ and our university well both on camera and behind the scenes.” “Our students are excellent ambassadors for Ouachita in a variety of settings,” noted Henderson. “Molly’s role on the ‘Huckabee’ show was a great opportunity to provide Ouachita national exposure while highlighting the quality of our students and their edu-cational experience.” To view the segment of “Huckabee” in which Bowman appeared, vis-it http://video.foxnews.com/v/3810141400001. n

News Bureau z CourtesyBowman appeared on “Huckabee” along with two other college students to discuss her opinions about what attracts her to a particular political cause or candidate. Former Governor Huckabee also attended Ouachita, graduating in 1976.

Ouachita will welcome Recy-cled Percussion for a performance Monday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Performing Arts Center. Recycled Percussion is a high-energy, junk rock band that in-corporates athleticism and humor into its performances. The group has maintained a show in Las Vegas for the past two years and performed more than 4,400 shows and corporate events in more than 15 countries. The band has been voted Na-tional Act of the Year a record-breaking six times and featured on the cover of USA Today since its premiere on America’s Got Tal-ent in 2009. Recycled Percussion has also made guest appearances on Carson Daly, The Today Show, China’s Got Talent and the Latin Grammy Awards. Ouachita’s resident percussion expert, Dr. Ryan Lewis, said the show will be enjoyable for anyone with an appreciation for sound. “Anyone who has ever tapped on a cooking pan or glass vase, enjoyed the sound of a pencil on a desk, or shaken a box of cereal or keys like a maraca will be im-mediately drawn into this perfor-

mance experience,” said Lewis, who serves as assistant professor of music at Ouachita. Recycled Percussion’s perfor-mance will be the first ticketed event of the School of Fine Arts’ expanded Guest Artist Series. Fine Arts Administrator Adam Wheat said he believes Recycled Percussion will appeal to a broad audience because of the group’s creativity and reputation. “It’s going to be a high-energy show,” Wheat said, affirming the quality of the group and its per-formance. Wheat said he hopes Recycled Percussion’s visit will increase students’ interest and appreciation for programs that are already accessible to them through Ouachita. “Art is all around us here; we have a lot of great faculty and student artists on campus all the time,” Wheat said. “Our goal is not only to develop them and our audience through interactions with professional artists but also to draw attention to the quality of their work.” Tickets are $15 and may be purchased from the OBU Box Of-fice or online at www.obu.edu/boxoffice. Ouachita students may receive one free ticket by present-ing their student ID at the box of-fice. n

Ouachita to host junk rock band Recycled Percussion on Oct. 27

Courtesy

features nS 3Thursday, October 23, 2014www.obusignal.com

Ouachita Baptist UniversityOffice: Evans Student CenterE-Mail: signal@obu.eduPhone: 870.245.5210

The Signal is the student newspaper of Ouachita Baptist University, and is published every Thursday during the fall and spring semesters when school is in session. The newspaper is distributed free of charge; 1,200 copies are placed in more than 20 locations across campus.

Opinions expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the newspaper staff or university. The Signal is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press and is printed by the Hope Star.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Letters to the editor are encouraged and accepted, unless libelous, irresponsible or obscene. Letters should be typed and include a signature and contact phone number, and must be less than 500 words. The Signal reserves the right to edit letters for space and style. Letters should be sent via campus mail to Box 3761 or via e-mail to signal@obu.edu.

Emily Terryz EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Sam Cushmanz ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Anna Kumpurisz NEWS EDITOR

Noah Hutchinsonz OPINIONS EDITOR

Dixon Landz SPORTS EDITOR

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Dr. Jeff Rootz ADVISER

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Two decades as a U.S. Marine officer, 35 coun-tries visited and more than 60 triathlons under his belt. Dr. Mark McGraw does not have the biog-raphy of a typical Spanish professor, but it is the wisdom of his personal experience and the stories of his adventures abroad that make his Spanish classes so engaging for his students. Still a new face to many on campus, this is only McGraw’s second year teaching at Ouachita, but he and his family have already made a home of the campus, and in the small town of Arkadel-phia. “When I was getting close to finishing my Ph.D., I started looking around for places to ap-ply. I applied for the job here and came up to visit, and it was just the perfect fit,” McGraw said. “I wanted to go to a small, teaching-centric place, rather than a big research-centric place. And I wanted to go to a place where we felt like we would have a good quality of life, not sitting in traffic all day, not spending every last dime on a place to live, so Ouachita has been perfect. It’s just exactly what we were looking for.” Thirty years ago however, the thought of one day becoming a Spanish professor at a school like Ouachita was far from McGraw’s mind. His heart was set on joining the Marine Corps. “I read a book when I was in junior high en-titled Guadalcanal Diary, and it was about the Marines in World War II. It affected me in that it inspired me to go do that,” McGraw said. “I just thought, ‘Boy that would be cool to go do that,’ and at the time I was a little chubby kid in a small town in Louisiana and my friends kind of laughed at me and said, ‘Oh you’re not going to do that. They don’t take fat guys.’ So it kind of became a personal quest to prove them wrong.” As an undergraduate student, McGraw at-tended Texas A&M with a Marine Corps scholar-ship, and he was commissioned into the Marines on his graduation day—just the beginning of an adventure that would last for the next 20 years. “I only had a four-year commitment, but I just really liked it. It started to get tough after I got married and after I had kids and I had pretty much decided to get out, but the assignments I kept getting were so cool,” McGraw said. “I got a chance to learn Spanish and go work on the Amazon River in Peru. I can’t quit now. Even though it tore me up to leave my wife, and at the time little bitty kids, to me it was an invest-ment in a future chance to do something really significant.” Throughout his time in the Marines, McGraw had the opportunity to be the Marine officer instructor at Texas A&M, to work on a special team out of Miami that allowed him to travel all over Latin America, to lead a task force of Italian Seals, U.S. Marines and a Turkish recon platoon

Dr. Mark McGraw discusses a life of ambition, adversity and adventure From Desert Storm to Ouachita:

By ANNA KUMPURISNews Editor

@anniebananie14

“The idea that God has a plan

for me and cares about what I do

was really fundamental.”

-Dr. Mark McGraw

in Turkey, and to parachute with Israeli para-troopers in Israel. His travels as a Marine took him all over the world—from Thailand, Singa-pore, the Philippines and Korea in East Asia, to Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Italy and Turkey in the Mediterranean. He was also able to live in Chile for two years with his family. “Chile was just such an impactful experience for us. It was like being on a mission with your whole family, and we all had to come together to have success,” McGraw said. “Because it was initially so hard when I was the only one who spoke Spanish, the kids were in first grade and play school and you’re just having to work through so many layers of confusion that are not

the games and watch them warm up and I re-ally got a charge out of people around me kind of ‘ooh’-ing and ‘ahh’-ing when she would spike the ball,” McGraw said. “Just in warm ups she looked like she was flying and she would just flatten the ball. She was tall and athletic, good looking. She was big deal. And we met when I was a senior, when I was just about to graduate.” Two years later after Margaret graduated and Mark had two years of Marine service under his belt, the couple married. They have two sons, J.D., who is 21 and Jackson, who is 17. After his time in the Marines came to a close, McGraw eventually returned to school at Texas A&M to pursue his doctorate in Spanish, where he never felt out of place despite being nearly twice as old as many of the other students. While there he even joined the university cycling team. “It was a lot of fun, and it was tough. You’d go to a race weekend somewhere and you’d do three races in a weekend, and you’d come back Sunday just destroyed but with so many good memories of racing other schools on these cours-es that you’d never been on,” McGraw said. “But you race in different categories so while your cat-egory is out there racing, your other teammates that are in other categories are cheering for you. So for that moment, you’re not a 48-year-old grad student, you’re another guy on the team. It was kind of a chance to go back and relive col-lege again in a really limited way.” McGraw’s passion for cycling was another aspect that drew him to Arkadelphia, with the miles of mountain biking trails available just down the road at Lake DeGray. This passion also carried over into an enthusiasm for triathlons. McGraw tries to compete in about three or four triathlons a year and has completed about 60 to date. Throughout all of his travels, adventures and athletics, McGraw’s faith has been key. “The idea that God has a plan for me and cares about what I do was really fundamental in all of that. Going to Desert Shield, Desert Storm where you see people get killed and you have this feel-ing of responsibility for the people who are with you, you’re very strongly confronted with your own mortality,” McGraw said. “I don’t know how nonbelievers do it, because that was one of the main factors that helped me be brave enough to do my job. When I saw people getting killed and people were scared, that eternal assurance was one of the main factors.” McGraw’s faith also carries over into his teach-ing, and this along with the wisdom gained from his many life experiences and his fun teaching style, draws the admiration of his students. Overall, McGraw hopes his students learn to be open and receptive to God’s plan for their lives. “Don’t ball up your fists and say ‘No, I want to live in Bentonville and nowhere else.’ Don’t miss out on the adventure of going and living in a place like Viña del Mar, Chile. Don’t trade the good thing for the best thing. Be receptive to change. Be a little bit incredulous about your

even language.” While in Chile, McGraw’s wife and children also learned to speak Spanish, though none of them speak it much anymore, and as their two years in that country passed by, they began to fall in love with it. “It’s the only place I’ve ever lived where you go to somebody’s house for a dinner party and you stay there until four in the morning. And just the natural beauty was spectacular. You’d drive up and down the coast to this beautiful coastline and on a clear day you could see the Andes,” Mc-Graw said. “We came back from that and we see the world now through different eyes than before we went down there.” McGraw’s wife Margaret also works at Ouachi-ta now as the Assistant Athletic Director. The two met in college at Texas A&M, where Mark was roommates with Margaret’s brother. “She was a really good volleyball player, and she was kind of a big deal. I remember I’d go to

Dr. Mark McGraw racing for the Texas A&M Cycling Team. Dr. McGraw was on the team while he was attending the school.

Dr. Mark McGraw with his wife and two sons. Dr. McGraw met his wife at Texas A&M where she was a volleyball player. They have two sons, one is a senior at the University of Texas and the other is a senior at Arkadelphia High School.

Dr. Mark McGraw z CourtesyDr. Mark McGraw z Courtesy

4 opinionsThursday, October 23, 2014 www.obusignal.com

Should teachers be graded?

On October 13, we celebrated Columbus Day. And by celebrated, I mean that some of us looked at the calendars on our phones, saw it was Columbus Day, and then moved on to find what we were really look-ing for. But in doing this, we have passed right over one of the greatest indignations of our time, preserved right on Google Calendar. When we celebrate Colum-bus Day, we are celebrating a thief, murderer and ty-rant; a man who committed crimes against human-ity, and helped jumpstart the Atlantic slave trade and Native American genocide. That sounds like someone we name a holiday after, right? I’m thinking Sponge-bob had it right when he celebrated Leif Erikson day. As it almost always does, all of Chris’s problems started with his daddy issues. Columbus’s dad was a middle class wool-weaver and cheese seller. This wasn’t exactly the social standing Chris wanted peo-ple to associate with him, so it was a pretty sore sub-ject, so much so that he applauded when his brother humiliated and mutilated a woman for suggesting that he was of lowly-birth. Columbus’s family prob-lems don’t stop there though. Eventually Columbus “settled down” and married the daughter of the gov-

ernor of the Portuguese island of Porto Santo. How-ever, he later abandoned her, dropped his young son Diego at a monastery, and two years later had a new 20-year-old Spanish mistress. So even before his American adventures started, this dude pretty much sucked at being a good guy. Chris’s bad decisions don’t stop there though. Even before they hit the mainland this guy was a liar and a thief, all at the expense of poor Rodrigo de Triana. Ya see, Ferdinand and Isabella had promised a life-long pension to the first person to see land, and good ole Rodrigo here was the lucky winner. It was 2 am when he saw land, and thus claimed the pension. Rodrigo could make it rain all the way into the nursing home. However, his jubilation didn’t last for long, because at about that time, Chris came up on deck and said, “Oh yeah, I saw that four hours ago,” (which wasn’t even possible). So ha. The pension was his. Rodrigo even-tually converted to Islam after he saw all the atrocities that took place under the umbrella of Christianity. Chris’s behavior didn’t improve once he hit shore either. There he hung men for rebelling against him, tortured people, enslaved thousands more and ex-ploited everyone for his well-being. Indian tribes were forced to pay tribute to him in gold, and to work in mines and farm camps to gather resources for him, where one third of them died. Native Americans liter-

ally committed mass suicide rather than serve him. They destroyed their food supplies so the Europeans couldn’t have them, set their fields on fire and even throw themselves off cliffs to avoid enslavement. Anyway, Chris finally did get punished a little bit, but sweet talked his way out of prison time and was allowed to go back to America one more time. After his third voyage he was removed as governor of Hispaniola, then was sent back to Spain in shack-les, where he was stripped of all titles and wealth. A priest, Bartolomé de las Casas, was sent to look into all of Columbus’s actions and stated, "My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write.…” “[the work of Columbus] was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if [the natives] tried to kill one of us now and then..." Your elementary school teachers probably didn’t mention that part. So basically, on October 13, kids get out of school because a man who pretty much just sucked at being a human being claims he saw America fist. So next year, instead of honoring a man who mutilated and murdered people for what seems like fun, I vote we celebrate Rodrigo de Triana day, the man who really discovered America and got totally ripped off in the process. It’s the least we can do. n

By Noah HutchinsonOpinions Editor

I really wanted to talk about Brad Pit running over Nazis in a tank this week, but unfortunately, that’ll have to wait. Even more unfortunate than that though, is the fact that we 20 some-things constantly feel the need to an-nounce that we know how to teach a class better than people with walls full of degrees saying that they’ve devoted their life to the pursuit of knowledge. I would never give someone my re-spect solely on the grounds that they’re a professor. I’d never even give some-body my respect based on the fact that they’re older than me. When run of the mill old people tell me what to do, I typically challenge them to a fight and bray like a bull ape until they hobble away in confused terror. The majority of professors at Ouachita, however, have earned my respect. I didn’t give it to them because they were old or went to school for a long time. They earned it through knowledge and wisdom and experience and compassion. The professors of Ouachita prove on a regular basis that they, for the most part, are above criticism from the av-erage student. Let’s say that for even a semester students were allowed to give their teachers a grade for their methods. Think about how dangerous it would be for a trained professional to try to wade through and seriously consider mounds of written heckling from what would add up to be hun-dreds of uneducated voices. “I prefer for the professors to put the powerpoints online so they’re easier to study.” Taking written notes helps you re-member things. Next. “I really wish the teacher would in-clude more visual examples, since I just really feel like I’m a visual learner.” Well, you’re in a composition class, so it looks like you’re sunk. Next. This is the exact process that any sane professor would go through when presented with this avalanche of sundry whining, which would basi-cally make it a moot point. But what if they didn’t? What if, by tapping into some shaolin monk level of willpow-er, they actually managed to take all student-submitted criticism seriously? It’d be a nightmare. Bobby, Jenny and Sue would be off in the visual learning corner while Joey, Bill and Sarah were in the verbal learning chamber. There’d be a special morning session for Chad, all read-ings would be kept to 15 minutes at the slowest reading speed in the class to accommodate club meetings and intramurals, and everybody would be allowed to use their laptops for “note taking.” If there was a more passive aggres-sive form of punctuation than quota-tion marks to put around those words, I would use it.

Even worse than the fact that stu-dents don’t know what they’re talking about is the fact that, in general, people don’t like to be made to do hard things. Think about something you care about more than school. Sports. Coupon-ing. Video games. Dance. Whatever. If you’ve worked hard to be good at something, you’ve probably run into that person who swears up and down that they want to be good at that same thing, but won’t go through all the ri-diculous preparation to get there. With academics, almost everyone is that person at some point. You’re here. You want an A in Con-temp World. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing that could make you care what the difference is between Mongols and Huns. You’re not going to take the time to go through all the processes to truly learn that information. You’re going to sit in the student center for a few hours the night before the test look-ing at flashcards while talking to your friends, and then blame it on the pro-fessor when you don’t get the grade you want. That doesn’t qualify you to pass judgment on somebody twice your age who’s doing a job that you know nothing about. If students really want to have a “say in their education” they’re free to go ahead and have one. Take an early pre-registration appointment and ask around beforehand to figure out which professor matches up with your “pre-ferred learning style,” you bunch of special little snowflakes. Start a study group. Since you know so much about how you need to learn, you could totally just teach yourself all the information from the book and notes in the exact way you need to receive it, right? If the professor of a class is really and truly the only reason you aren’t getting the grade you want, drop and take it next semester with somebody else. You’ve got four years. I say all of this because I understand that the reason I’m an A-B student at best is because I’m a college kid. Sometimes I wind up talking to my roommate for an hour or decide to watch “Sherlock” at half past midnight or close my textbook and realize that my eyes were just scanning the pages while I had imaginary conversations with that girl from my 2:00 class last semester. If I studied for school like I studied up on how to optimize my titan in “Destiny,” the class could be taught by a stray dog and I’d still know the mate-rial by heart. Students, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and stop complaining. Pro-fessors, keep doing what you’re doing. But don’t step into my lobby in “Des-tiny” unless you want to graduate with honors from Hutch’s School of Hard Knocks. I’ve spent as much time shotgunning pretend aliens as you’ve recommended I spend reading John Locke. n

By FAITH SINELEStaff Writer

How about we give the teachers a grade for a change! I know we’ve all thought about how great it would be to be able to give teachers a taste of their own medicine by evaluating their work and giving them a grade at the end of the semester (or maybe even each week). Sure we do teacher/class evalua-tions and those are great, but do you ever feel truly satisfied after turning one of those things in? I can’t be the only one who would like a little bit more of an opportunity to share my opinions about my classes and teach-ers. We need another anonymous way of being able to evaluate our teachers that will allow for a more detailed re-sponse. Of course there are pros and cons to this idea, just like any other, but in thinking about this I feel as though the pros win the battle. Here is what I could come up with:PROS:• Lets students have a voice in their education• Gives teachers the opportunity to grow• Students can let out bottled up feel-ings about a certain class • Teachers may open up more to their students about their teaching • Being anonymous will give students more courage to be honestCONS:• Some students wouldn’t take the op-portunity seriously• Many teachers might not agree with this method, and ignore their “grades”• Students might take out their frus-tration on their least favorite class/teacher• Could be emotionally harmful for teachers I may have only scratched the sur-face with these lists, but these pros and cons certainly cover the main point that I am trying to make. Looking at the cons list, I can see why this idea has been shot down so many times, but looking at the pros I think the reason for rejection is biased. Doing something like this where the students get to share their true opin-ions about classes and teachers, there is a fine line between it being right and wrong. Because you cannot know what each student will put, you cannot know how many hurtful things will be said, but also you can’t count out all the good things that will be said. In the list of pros you can see how this would be beneficial to both teachers and stu-dents. Students get to have a voice in their education and they can let out things that may have been bothering them about a certain class. Teachers benefit by learning from a younger generation, and being able to grow in their profes-sion. In the cons list we can only see the

harm being towards the teachers. Yes of course teachers have feelings just like we do, and they’re sure to have opinions about their students. Techni-cally they do get to share these feel-ings with their students, not so much by grading because there are right and wrong answers and they can’t help it if we get something wrong, but by the comments they are free to leave on anything they hand back to us. I’ve certainly gotten tests and papers back with comments that let me know what I was doing wrong and this is a teach-er’s way of expressing how I can better myself in that class. Now, because the pros prove that this is beneficial to both parties, I think that they outweigh the cons which prove that this could only be hurtful to one party. Thinking about this fur-ther, and trying to back up why it is OK for the teachers to take the blow on this one, I find that this type of exercise would create a better balance within the classroom. If we changed the sub-ject to “should teachers be allowed to grade students?” the pros and cons list would be exactly the same, just with students and teachers swapping places. This would mean that in the pros, all is equal between student and teacher, but in this situation in the cons list, it is the students who are taking the hit. Therefore I think that students evaluating/grading teachers perfectly balances out the scale. Some might argue that it is inappro-priate for teachers and students to be equals. This point is valid, and I agree that it is not appropriate, but I do not think that this type of exercise would give teachers and students the type of equality that most of us think of when we hear that word. This would not by any means give students the right to be less respect-ful towards their teachers. Instead, it would allow students an outlet for criticism while still mainting respect for their professors. There is no way to set a filter on this sort of thing, so teach-ers are sure to receive some grades that would be emotionally hard for them to process. But this is what comes with the territory. Maybe I’m wrong to say this, but students will have al-ready been thinking these things, so why not give them the chance to share their thoughts? There are dangers in so many things we do, and we have to be careful because of this and that. Some-times I think it is more important to think about how not doing something can be just as harmful for one group as doing it can be for the other group. If students were able to grade teach-ers in the same way that they are able to grade us, then the world might be a tiny bit happier. It is indeed hard to know if this would be beneficial or not, but how will we know if we don’t at least try it out. Let’s do more than just evaluate our teachers, let’s grade them! As long as you promise to behave and be respectful…I think it might work. n

By HANNAH HINESStaff Writer

Yes, they should. Nah, they’re fine.

Why celebrate Columbus Day?

-Zach Parker

“Winning a championship

is the most difficult feat to

accomplish in sports. Winning multiple

championships is almost

impossible.”

Winning a championship is the most difficult feat to ac-complish in sports. Winning multiple championships is al-most impossible. When discussing modern dynasties in sports, the Miami Heat, Alabama Crimson Tide football team and Connecticut women’s basketball team are usually the teams that come to mind. However, there is one team that has consistently been overlooked. The San Francisco Giants are in the process of trying to make history by winning their third World Series title in five years. This would put them in some very prestigious company, yet no one is talking about them as a dynasty. Since 1970, only two teams have pulled off such an impres-sive run: the Oakland Athletics who won three consecutive titles from 1972-1974 and the New York Yankees who won in 1996 and from 1998-2000. Despite the rarity of win-ning three out of five champi-onships, the Giants have been

outshined in the spotlight in recent years by the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and even the Los Angeles Dodgers, who haven’t won a World Se-ries since 1988. A lack of star power is one potential reason why the Gi-ants don’t receive the attention that they deserve. With only three representa-tives at the All Star game this year that puts them in com-pany with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, who finished at or near the bottom of their respective divisions. Madison Bumgarner, Tim

Hudson, and Hunter Pence are hardly household names to anyone who isn’t an avid base-ball fan. The inability to hit the long ball is another way to avoid the headlines like the Giants have, even with their immense suc-cess. Playing home games in pitcher-friendly AT&T Park is one of the reasons that Buster Posey led the team in home runs this season with a pedes-trian 22. In fact, in the last five sea-sons, San Francisco has aver-aged 125 home runs per sea-son, as a team. In that same timeframe, the New York Yan-kees have averaged 192 and the Boston Red Sox have aver-aged 176. To the average fan, the Gi-ants just come off as a boring team. They don’t get in free agent spending wars in the offsea-son like big market teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers. Manager Bruce Bochy

Why the Giants are the most underrated dynasty in sportsdoesn’t get in arguments with umpires nor does he provide overly entertaining press con-ferences to the media. There are no celebrity fans in atten-dance at home games, and per-haps the most famous player in team history, Barry Bonds, has been considered a villain in the baseball community since his retirement due to alleged steroid use. There really isn’t anything special about the San Francisco Giants. That is, besides their ability to win. They aren’t flashy, they have no real superstars and they just get hot at the right time during the end of the season. Despite all of this, the Giants deserve and must demand more respect than they are get-ting. If they are able to get past the Kansas City Royals, the San Francisco Giants should undoubtedly be considered a modern dynasty and move ahead of teams like the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardi-nals when discussing the best teams of their era. n

Tigers tie, field named after Kluck family

Tiger Volleyball defeats Arkansas Tech

Following a chance to put it away on a penalty kick in dou-ble overtime, the Harding Uni-versity Bison tied the Ouachita Baptist Tigers 0-0 after 110 minutes of play on Tuesday. David Henley had eight saves in the contest and played the entire 110 minutes. The Tigers took fifteen shots, with only five on goal. All five of those shots were saved by Thomas Shults of Harding, who played all 110 minutes as well. The Bison had two yellow cards issued in the game, one coming in the 75th minute and the other in the 104th. The Tigers played to a com-pletely scorless first half, with only four shots taken, allowing ten shots for the Bison. David Henly had five, first half saves. The Bison would take three corner kicks in the first half, compared to only two from the Tigers. In the second half, Harding was limited to just seven shots, and Ouachita took seven. Harding would take three corner kicks in the second half and would only get one more in the second overtime. Ouachita would rack up four corner kicks in the first

overtime, after recording two in the second half. They ended with seven corner kicks on the game, compared to Ouachita’s eight. The Tigers had one issued as well, their yellow card came off of a David Henley trip. That trip was inside the goalie box and allowed Harding the chance at a penalty kick in the second overtime. The kick sailed high and time expired on the game just a few minutes later. The biggest storyline from the match came before the match ever began. The field, which has been rennovated recently, was named after Dr. Wesley and Debbie Kluck. The ceremony took place just minutes before the game began. Dr. Kluck currently serves as the vice president for student affairs at Ouachita. Along with the naming of the field, the soccer complex also boasts a brand new score-board, a pressbox with wire-less internet and a state-of-the-art field house that will host locker rooms and a players’ lounge. The men’s soccer team plays again on Monday, Oct. 27 against Southern Naza-rene University at Wesley and Debbie Kluck Field. The game starts at 3 p.m. n

The Tiger volleyball team dropped sets three and four as they were defeated by Arkan-sas Tech on Tuesday evening in Russellville. Abby Pickett had eleven kills and two blocks. Kelley Ballard had eight kills and three block. Ashley Wake also scored an ace in the contest. After going up 6-3 in the first set, OBU allowed a 7-2 run from Arkansas Tech to make the score 10-8. Off an attack error from Kaci Jackson, the Tigers would lead the set 16-4. Tied at 19, Arkansas Tech would score four time and only allow two more Ouachita scores, as they won the set 25-21. In the second set down 9-7, the Lady Tigers went on a 10-1 run with a kill from Jayme Shell and two from Abby Pick-ett. In response, Arkansas Tech would score five of their own, making the score 17-15. The Tigers would finish the set scoring the next six points, un-

answered and closing out the set with a kill from Stephanie Pollnow. In the third set, the Lady Tigers set an early run with a 6-1 run. At one point, they led 7-2. However, Arkansas Tech scored 7 of nine with the score 14-12 to grab a 19-16 lead. They would go on to win the set 25-22 with a kill from Emily Todd of Tech. In the fourth and final set, Tech racked up a 13-2 run in a 25-18 victory in the set and a 3-1 win in the game. Chelsea Hess recorded 14 digs, Ashley Wake added 15 for herself and Jayme Shell put up 11 more for the game. Tara Wait led the team with assists at 32 on the game. Hess also had two and Pickett added an-other to the team total of 35. The Lady Tigers did record 39 total spikes on the evening. The Lady Tigers record is now 13-8 on the season and 5-6 in conference. However, OBU has already clinched a spot in the GAC playoffs. The Tigers play Central Bap-tist at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. n

Dr. Wesley Kluck and his wife Debbie Kluck deliver remarks at the ceremony to name the soccer field “Wesley and Deb-bie Kluck Field.” The Tigers would tie the Harding Bison in the men’s game that followed the game.

Tyler Rosenthal y Courtesy

Zach Parker Guest Columnist

Volleyball Schedule:

OBU vs. Central Baptist10.28.14, 6:30 p.m.OBU vs. Henderson St.10.28.14, 7 p.m.OBU @ SE Okla. St.11.01.14, 1 p.m. OBU @ Texas A&M Com-merce11.01.14, 7 p.m. OBU vs. Harding 11.06.14, 7 p.m.

Heather Ellis y Courtesy

BY: DIXON LAND Sports Editor

BY: DIXON LAND Sports Editor

sports 5Thursday, October 23, 2014www.obusignal.com

Bleeding red, cheering blue Section 244. Row 15. Seat 15. I was two hours early just as I had planned. Clinging to my friend’s jacket, I found myself walking fast and pushing through the thickness of the crowd. I was too excited to feel the countless number of people that stepped on my toes. The bruises would have to remind me the next morning. With our tickets in our hand, we flashed them to the woman guarding the escalator and stepped on. Impatiently awaiting the rise to the top, I glanced around, and all I saw was red. I leaped over the grates of the escalator and skimmed the num-bers posted on the wall. 242. 243. 244. Finally. Pulling my friend along, we went out the glass doors and stood in shock. My first sight was the bright, white let-ters spelling out “Postseason” in the perfectly cut grass. The

second was the thousands of people dressed in red, waving white towels in the air. The third was by far the best. I looked out into the outfield and saw four Cardinal players in red jackets warming up their arms. Anxiously awaiting the start of the game, we found the stiff, red chairs that were going to be the reason our legs went numb for the next four hours. That certainly was not an exaggeration. Our legs did go numb, and our stomachs felt as if they had been stuffed enough to last for at least four more days. We yelled until our voices were strained and cele-brated each strike delivered to the Giants. By the looks of the ninth inning, extra innings was a definite possibility. Know-ing an eight hour drive home awaited us, we started to gath-er our things to leave. Seconds before we got up to leave, Kol-ten Wong hit a walkoff home run to end the game. Cardinals win 5-4. While this was an ideal game for myself, an avid Car-dinals fan, to watch, the boys could not pull off the rest of the series. The Giants clinched the pennant and advanced to the 2014 World Series to play against the Kansas City Royals. So, is the World Series worth watching this year? I believe so. This year will be the first time in World Series history for

two teams to play each other that have both won less than 90 games during the season. San Francisco won 88 games and clinched the wild card after the Brewers lost to Cincinnati. In contrast, Kansas City won 89 games and clinched the wild card after their win over the Chicago White Sox. To some, it is a shock that the Royals have made it thus far. The team’s one and only World Series title was won in 1985 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Unfortunately, that was the last time, 29 years ago, that the Royals made it to the postseason until this year. Now, they are once again competing for their second title. San Francisco has had a bit more luck in the past couple of years. Snagging titles in 2010 and 2012 from the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers, the Giants are prepared to continue their streak. For many, the Royals are the favored pick of the Series. With a batting average 4th overall in the regular season compared to the Giant’s being 10th overall, it will definitely be interest-ing to see which of the two teams shows up to play. Nobody expected this match-up for the Series this year, and that is the whole point of October baseball. No matter who you cheer for, the 2014 World Series will be worth your time. So, use it as an excuse to put up the homework, invite friends over and splurge on the pizza you’ve been craving for the past month. As for myself, I will be temporarily wearing blue over my red shirt for the week. Sometimes you just have to give the underdog a shot. n

BY: HANNA DEANStaff Writer

As for me, I’ll be temporarily wearing blue over my red shirt for the week. Sometimes you just have to give the underdog a shot.

—Hanna Dean

OBU defeats Harding, moves up in polls The Tigers defeated the Bi-son by three points in over-time this past Saturday as the Matthew Ehaz nailed a kick to win the game. Ouachita would start the game with 17 unanswered points in a 17-0 lead with just the first quarter gone. The second quarter was all Harding with an Eric Sim-mons touchdown run of 44 yards and another touch-down, set up by a 50 yard pass to Donatella Luckett, to give the Bison a 17-14 deficit going into halftime. In the third quarter, the Bi-son and the Tigers would not do much on offense with the only points from either team coming from a Matt Ehasz field goal of 27 yards. With the third quarter ended, the Tigers led the Bison 20-14. But the Bison would not go quietly into the night, scor-ing on a possession that came from a Tiger fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter. Simmons would carry the ball in from 11 yards out to make the score 21-20. On the next Harding posses-sion, Romo Westbrook would take a run 92 yards for a touch-down to make the score 28-20. Ouachita would get the ball

with 2:37 left in the game. With few seconds left in the game, Frazier snapped the ball. Af-ter looking for a bit, he found Brandon Marks in the corner of the endzone for a touchdown with no time left in regulation. The Tigers would then convert a two-point conversion to tie the game at 28. In overtime, Zack Mitchell recovered a Harding fumble and the Tigers would take over with a chance to win the game with a score. Matt Ehasz set up to kick the game winning field goal from the Harding 18-yard line, but the try was blocked. Before the snap, the Tigers were called for a false start, which negated the play, giving Matt Ehasz anoth-er chance which he would not miss. The Tigers would win the game 31-28 in overtime. Previous to the game, Hard-ing was ranked no. 13 in the country; Ouachita was ranked 22nd. Following the game, the Bison fell to 23rd. The Tigers advanced to the 18th spot in the country. With Henderson St. defeat-ing Arkansas Tech 24-3 last Saturday, Henderson St. moves up to No. 4 in the country, be-hind Minnesota St.-Mankato, Minnesota-Deluth and North Alabama. All three of those teams play unranked oppo-nents this weekend. Henderson St. could be

ranked higher when Ouachita travels across the street in just a few short weeks. Both teams could be undefeated. Henderson St. has a tougher road ahead of them, as they still have to play 5-1 Harding. That game will likely say alot about the outcome of the GAC. Ouachita will win the GAC championship if they win out. If Harding wins and Hender-son St. beats OBU, the three teams would be in a three way tie. If Henderson St. wins and the Tigers defeat Henderson St. later this season, the Tigers would win the GAC outright. There is a chance for a two team GAC entrance into the division two playoffs if Hen-derson St. and Ouachita go un-defeated up to the Battle of the Ravine. The selection commit-tee could choose both teams or just one to represent the GAC. If Henderson St. beats Hard-ing and wins out, and like-wise, do the Tigers, this Battle of Ravine could be the biggest one in recent history. Imagine a game where both teams are undefeated in a winner-take-all mentality. With their performances in Saturday’s game, Ehasz and Frazier were named GAC Players of the Week. The Tigers will play the Ar-kansas Tech Wonderboys at Cliff Harris Stadium, this Sat-urday. Kickoff is 1 p.m. n

BY: DIXON LAND Sports Editor

This Week: OBU Athletics update with Zach Parker and Dixon LandIntramurals: Tyler Davis cover women’s and men’s upper league soccer.

New Episodes Debut Fridays at NoonDr. Jack’s Coffeehouse

Watch online atwww.obusignal.com

1. Henderson State 6-0 1.000 7-0 1.000 2-0 5-0 0-0 W72. Ouachita Baptist 6-0 1.000 6-0 1.000 3-0 3-0 0-0 W63. Harding 5-1 0.833 5-1 0.833 2-1 3-0 0-0 L14. East Central 4-2 0.667 4-2 0.667 1-1 3-1 0-0 W25. Southern Arkansas 4-3 0.571 4-3 0.571 4-0 0-3 0-0 W26. SE Okla. State 3-3 0.500 4-3 0.571 3-1 1-2 0-0 W37. Arkansas Tech 3-3 0.500 3-4 0.429 3-1 0-3 0-0 L28. SW Okla. State 2-5 0.286 2-5 0.286 2-2 0-3 0-0 L49. UA-Monticello 1-5 0.167 1-5 0.167 1-2 0-3 0-0 L210. NW Okla. State 1-6 0.143 1-6 0.143 1-3 0-3 0-0 L411. So. Nazarene 0-7 0.000 0-7 0.000 0-3 0-4 0-0 L7

Ehasz, Frazier named GAC Players of the Week

tMatthew Ehasz: 2/2 on PAT’s 3/3 on field goals Game-winning kick 11 total points

Kiehl Frazier: 337 yards total offense 215 Passing yards, 122 Rushing yards2 TD’s

t

No. Team Conf. Perct. Ovr. Perct. Home Away Nuetral Streak

Great American Conference Standings: Dr. Wesley Kluck y Courtesy Dr. Wesley Kluck y Courtesy

6 sportsThursday, October 23, 2014 www.obusignal.com