Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012

What we asked you Monday on asuherald.com: Hear something funny or interesting on campus? Tweet

it to @OverheardAtASU and you could see it printed in The Herald!

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Vol. 90 Issue 31

Of interest online

Informing Arkansas State University since 1921the herald

asuherald.com

What was your favorite part of Super Bowl XLVI?

Adele predicted to win big at Grammy'sRed Cross reaches out to honors students

ASU professor to run for CongressKayla PaineStaff Writer

He might be found lecturing about macroeconomics, search-ing for 60s era poly-vinyl records, playing golf or shaking the hands of Arkansans in the First Dis-trict.

Gary Latanich, professor of economics, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives as a democrat. His two opponents are Clark Hall (D) and current Rep. Rick Crawford (R).

Latanich has spent the past 31 years educating college students in economics at Arkansas State University.

Completely new to politics, he felt that this was a good time in his life to run for office.

He has never worked for a campaign, but served on Presi-dent Clinton’s Economic Advi-sory Board when Clinton was governor.

Spending a majority of his life teaching economics and studying it, he believes he should use that

knowledge for something he sees as good, and not simply slide into retirement.

Politics piqued his interest and now that his kids have grown up, he thinks it’s the right time.

“I like the idea of an economics professor representing our area, but as a house representative from Arkansas, I believe he will have little influence,” said Lanny Richmond, a senior marketing major from Williford.

“If his fellow congressional members open to what he has to

say, he may make a difference.”Latanich said he would like

to lay a better foundation for the generations to come than what they have right now.

“This is the first generation ever where parents look at their kids and say ‘I don’t know if they’re going to live as good as me’,” he said.

Education

The cost of a higher education is talked about in many social

See CONGRESS, page 5

SGA votesto buildpark areas

Lindsey BlakelyNews Editor

After recently passing a resolution to create a park and study area for the Northpark Quad and HLLC popu-lation, the Student Government Association resolved to also include the Red Wolf Den area.

After meeting on Tuesday evening, senior senator Ashdon Floyd brought up the point that many students in Red Wolf Den have said they want a park and study area as well.

The areas will include an outdoor area including benches and tables that can be used for studying and conversing. It will also include barbeque grills for recre-ational purposes.

“I think it would be great if we had this, it’s a great way for students to meet each other and hang out near their residence halls,” sophomore senator Zach Brogdon said.

The resolution was then voted on and amended to in-clude an area for Red Wolf Den.

The resolution will now be sent to vice chancellor of student affairs Rick Stripling.

SGA president Hunter Petrus also announced that there would be a coaches’ panel on Monday, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m.

The coaches’ panel will feature head football coach Gus Malzahn, men’s basketball coach John Brady and athletics director Dean Lee pumping up the students about ASU sports.

“The first 200 students will receive a free visor when they come to Centennial Hall on Monday,” Petrus said. “It’s going to be a mini Order of the Pack so we want a ton of students to show up.”

The SGA also swore in three new senators during their meeting.

The positions for the college of engineering, the col-lege of business and the college of math and science were filled in.

The position for the college of nursing and health is still available.

Natalie Wilbanks, SGA vice president, announced that applications for the 2012-2013 senator positions will be available on Monday and will be due by Feb. 29.

Staci Vandagriff/Herald

Aniket Awachat, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from India, Calvin Diaz, a biology and chemistry freshman from Bryant, and Deane Marks, a economics sophomore from DeWitt are sworn in as the new senators for their colleges.

C-SPAN bus visits campus

The C-SPAN Campaign 2012 Bus stopped at ASU on Wednesday on its “Road to the White House” tour.

The Campaign 2012 Bus travels the country to promote and enhance C-SPAN’s resources and political coverage by stopping at major political events such as candidate de-bates and speeches in early primary states and meeting

with voters on the campaign trail.Via HD TVs and touch screen computers, visitors were

able to watch videos of candidates and campaign events, and learn about C-SPAN's Campaign 2012 website, key state races and ways to follow social media related to the campaign.

Journey takes Wednesdays off campusLeah McDaniel

Staff Writer

Journey Campus, the northeast Jonesboro branch of Central Baptist Church, recently moved some of its previously on-campus col-lege activities to a new off-campus location.

For the past several months, the Journey Cam-pus has been meeting for two services at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings on the third floor of the Student Union, as well as Wednesday nights in either the auditorium of the Student Union or the Pavilion.

This semester, the Jour-ney Campus is mixing things up.

The new Wednesday night service, 2919, meets from 7- 8:30 p.m. off campus at 2919 E. Matthews Suite C at the Journey Campus

offices. Unlike traditional Wednesday church ser-vices, 2919 is meant to be engaging and relational—a “living room” environment for students.

In this environment, stu-

dents are welcome to grab a cup of freshly brewed cof-fee, have a seat on a couch or pillow and fellowship with other students before the night’s activities begin.

Alesha Haub, a sopho-

more graphic design major of Little Rock and Journey Leadership Team member, said 2919 is not the type of service where students come, listen to some music, hear a sermon, then leave.

She said 2919 consists of topic series where students watch a short video and en-gage in discussion.

“We wanted an environ-ment specifically for col-lege students, where they could connect with other students and get involved, which is why we launched 2919 at the beginning of this year,” Haub said.

The Journey Campus was launched out of Cen-tral Baptist’s college minis-try, previously called “The Journey.”

On Jan. 9, 2011 about 400 of Central Baptist’s congregants moved their Sunday morning worship

See JOURNEY, page 5

Red Wolves take on Hogs Saturday

Leah McDaniel/Herald

Austin Green, a senior finance major of Jonesboro, greets Anna Williamson, a sophomore exercise science major of Jonesboro, as she enters the third floor of the student union for Journey Cam-pus on Sunday morning.

Gary Latanich

Evan Reikhoff/Herald

The half-time show. 22%

I didn't watch it. 22%

The game, of course. 56%The commercials. 0%

The Herald is a public forum. Its content is written by students, for students, faculty and staff of Arkansas State University. Student editors of The Herald have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.OPINION

The Herald is located in Room 224 of the Communications Building.

The Herald is published twice weekly during the fall and spring semesters and is distributed around the Jonesboro campus. Its content is normally written by students. “Our View” represents the opinions of the editorial staff. Columns, letters to the editor, cartoons and other content on the opinion page are the views of the author.

Content does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Herald.Editorial Number Advertising Number(870) 972-3076 (870) 972-2961 asuherald.com

— Our View —

Express your opinionsIn the U.S. Constitution, the 1st Amendment

clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...”

U.S. citizens have been given the freedom to worship and express their opinions in the way they choose. These are rights we all cherish.

However, since the founding of this country, we have had ongoing debate on the extent of our rights. Some have believed that our rights as Americans extend only to a certain point, while others have believed our rights are limitless.

It is a fascinating debate that continues to define the country as we know it, and as college students, we are in the center of it.

Every day, we hear arguments and opinions on various subjects, whether in class, in daily conversation or through the media.

How we go about discussing different issues and forming our opinions will have immediate impact on our rights as Americans.

The opinions we form during our time in college will very likely affect the way we vote during election season, which will in turn affect the laws politicians try to pass.

Here at The Herald, we want to be part of the conversation. As a newspaper produced by students and for students, we believe all ASU students should have the right to express their opinions.

As conversation flies back and forth across this campus, we invite all students to express their opinions, whether through our online comment section, letters to the editor or tweets to @ASU Herald.

Every student’s opinion is valuable.

“Our View” is written by the editorial staff. The opinions are not necessarily reflective of the student body, faculty or administration of Arkansas State University.

PAGE 2 Thursday, Feb. 9 The Herald

- Sara Krimm, editorsara.krimm@smail.astate.edu- Lindsey Blakely, news editorindsey.blakely@gmail.com- Jeff Davidson, opinion editorjeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu

- Abdullah Raslan, photo editorabdullah.raslan@smail.astate.edu- Haley Johnson, features editorhaley.johnson@smail.astate.edu- Daniel McFadin, Sports Editordaniel.mcfadin@smail.astate.edu

- Rachel Carner, online editorrachel.carner@smail.astate.edu- Rachel Meredith, ad managerrachel.meredith@smail.astate.edu Bonnie Thrasher, adviserbthrasher@astate.edu

The Herald welcomes letters to the editor in electronic form and under

300 words.We reserve the right to edit for

space.

Please email letters to:

jeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu

sara.krimm@smail.astate.edu

– Letters to the editor –

Understanding secularism and the human mind

I decided to write this piece in response to Aar-on Kurtz’s latest column entitled “Understanding the Christian Faith: the Bible,” in which the he be-lieves that God is the only person you should live for.

I grew up in California and Wisconsin (where I did my undergraduate work), where religion stays where it is supposed to—in the private sphere. Religion in general is not something you read about spread across local papers.

There is rarely govern-ment intrusion of religion in the public sphere, but that seems to be a con-cept Arkansas hasn’t quite grasped yet, even though it is the law.

I have to be honest and say I would not be where I am today if it were not for me. Call me selfish, but I simply say it is the power

of perseverance and belief in you that allows you to succeed in life.

Never have I turned to a Bible to help me finish a paper or expected that reading the Bible or pray-ing for an exam will mi-raculously give me a good grade.

I have always reduced it to either you know the material or you don’t.

What the Bible tells—stories of murder, war, poverty and greed—is not something I choose to read before bed or on a cozy Sunday morning.

I derive my strength from other inspirational people, people who I know exist and have made real contributions to society since the founding of this country, not Jesus who ex-isted 2000 years ago.

My biggest problem with religion is the fact that it is not tolerant of those who are different.

Religions are quick to tell you that they have the right to preach whatever they want, and even go

so far as to receive mass amounts of tax breaks and government assistance, but they are also just as quick to say you cannot marry who you want, or that you cannot consume alcohol.

I do not choose to follow a book, but rather my own moral inclinations, which I have derived from my ex-periences in real life, not in a church pew or a book.

The founders of this great nation specifically clued us into the fact that this is not supposed to be a religious country (even though it was founded by those seeking religious freedom).

There is no official reli-gion, and religion did not appear on money or in our Pledge of Allegiance until the 1950s.

Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a De-ist, meaning he believed in many gods. He flatly rejected the doctrine of the Trinity.

But today, religion has

become a powerful influ-ence in government and politics in the U.S., an influence you don’t see as much in the rest of the world’s democratic societ-ies.

I will believe in religion when it can make changes that are beneficial to this country, ones that are not isolating, condescending or bigoted.

I would not be so quick to consider this as an at-tack on religion, but rather a way to “get people think-ing” as others have stated.

What I advise is that you think freely, and do not let a 2000-year-old book writ-ten by man to guide your life choices.

You should believe in yourself, because a book or a preacher cannot change your life or tell you where you are going. You, and you alone, control your destiny.

Varney is a graduate student in political science of Green Bay, WI

“I will believe in religion when it can make changes that are beneficial to this country, ones that are not isolating,

condescending or bigoted.”

Andrei Varney

Letter to the editor:

For more comments overheard on campus, visit us on Twitter @OverheardAtASU.

“Your hair poof isn’t so sorority-like. It just says…librarian. Like

my second life.”

“I’m laughing at you with my pants off…that’s how ridiculous I

think Macs are.”

I am an ASU student, and I am writing in regards to the last two articles written by Aaron Kurtz.

It is my opinion that since Arkansas State University is not a Christian insti-tution, the school newspaper shouldn’t be publishing Christian articles.

Our school has a very diverse popula-tion, consisting of people of many faiths.

They shouldn’t have to be confronted with Christian articles in the newspaper of a secular college.

Christianity may be the most popular religion, but it isn’t the only one.

– Submitted by Braxton Blanton, ASU student

The times, they have been a changin’.

A few weeks back, pop culture and changing so-cial attitudes made quite a splash at a local high school: Lady Gaga some-how managed to channel her spirit of acceptance, compassion and all things bold into a talent show where a male student used her hit “Born This Way” to make his own statement.

In all honesty, I hadn’t even heard about the inci-dent until a friend pointed out a letter to the editor in The Jonesboro Sun from a woman whose sensibilities were apparently offended by the performance.

She wrote of how shock-ing it was (in so many words) to see a display of “gay pride” and even made a reference or two to Ga-ga’s song lyrics. I’ll leave

the task of finding those words to you.

I read the letter over again, just to be sure I cor-rectly grasped the point. It wasn’t hard.

The woman stated pro-fusely that gay people had pretty much shed the closet and now actually seemed proud of who and what they are.

On top of that, they have the full backing of complicit school officials whose lack of religiosity only encourages such bar-baric behavior. Do I have this down right? Oh yes.

It is nothing new for people with devout doctri-nal views to insist they’ve been offended by this, that or the other thing.

Over the years, I’ve read plenty of letters to the edi-tor in which appalled read-ers have written of their outrage regarding adults drinking wine with a meal or daring not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance word-

for-word at a sporting event (it is not, contrary to popular opinion, a con-stitutional requirement of Americans), yadda yadda.

Pick up a newspaper or read an online version and the anti-everything crowd is right there in print, blasting away about a longing for the good old days when only “normal” people had a voice.

They are shocked to learn how many young peo-ple in 2012 do not believe in blind discrimination simply because a minister tells them the Bible says it is okay or the ignorance of previous generations dic-tates such a stance.

Another example is the recent passage of a same-sex marriage bill in Wash-ington state.

One news account I read included a quote from a woman whose opposition to the legislation hinged completely on being a Christian.

She worried about why more upstanding people hadn’t made their voices heard against it.

Maybe God doesn’t agree with her. Ever thought of that?

My rant is a broad cri-tique of how organized re-ligion manages to poison the water we, as citizens of a great country, are sup-posed to drink from collec-tively.

Make no mistake about it—the ticked-off letter writer is a mere symptom of this incredibly self-righ-teous mentality.

She, and many like her, opines that decent, moral people must take their country back.

Ah, those blissful days of inequality, segregation, male-dominated marriages and the like. Who doesn’t miss them?

Childress is a graduate student in political science of Jonesboro.

Writer believes ‘good old days’ not so great

“My rant is a broad critique of how organized religion manages to poison the water we, as citizens of a great

country, are supposed to drink from collectively.”

Anthony Childress

PAGE 3 Thursday, Feb. 9 The Herald

Campus CornerAdele predicted to win big at Grammy’s

Allie McKinleyStaff Writer

With over ten million users and counting, Instagram has become increasingly popular in the Apple App Store.

The quirky application creates a social network that allows users to share their life through a series of snap-shots. Users can take pictures and share them on the service, or on a variety of other social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Tumblr.

Photography enthusiasts, along with novices, can en-joy the user-friendly app. It allows users to take a photo, which is then confined into a square shape, rather than the 4:3 aspect ratio normally used by iOS device cameras. In addition to taking photos with the app, users can also use pictures that are already located in their photo li-brary. Users can then edit their photos through a filter, which transforms the color, mood, border and tonality of the image. There are currently 11 custom filters, all of which were produced from scratch by the Instagram team.

The popular app pays homage to both the Kodak In-stamatic and Polaroid cameras. The Instagram web-site states, “We loved how all the old Polaroid cameras marketed themselves as ‘instant’ (something we take for granted today). We also felt that the snapshots people were taking were kind of like telegrams in that they got sent over the wire to others -- so we figured why not com-bine the two?”

Instagram launched in the Apple App Store on Oct. 6,

2010. By December of that year, the app had one million registered users. By June 2011, they reached 5 million, and by September 2011 Instagram had passed 10 mil-lion registered users. They announced that 100 million photos had been uploaded to their service as of July 2011; the total then reached 150 million in August of the same year. This previous December, Apple Inc. named Insta-gram “App of the Year” for 2011.

Instagram has become a popular app among college students. Freshman Spanish major Sarah Seibert from Cabot started using the app after she heard about it from her friends. “My best friend had the app and I thought it was cool. I’ve had it for about a year now, and I check it every day,” Seibert states. “It makes me feel like a pho-tographer, even though I’m really not one.”

Andrew Fleeman, Sophomore Marketing major of Ma-nila, discovered the app by browsing through the App Store at random. “I found it for free so I was like...what the heck, I might as well try it,“ Fleeman states. Since then, he has been using the app for about a year. “My favorite part about Instagram is its simplicity. They were able to take a simple photo app and make it to where peo-ple could edit and share.” Fleeman says that his favorite filter to use for editing is X-Pro II. “The reason that it is my favorite filter is because it decreases the exposure and has the black lens correction around the outside. It makes the picture look more professional.”

Instagram also has a blog that lists information about the app. Blog.instagram.com allows for users to look up different tricks and features to enhance the quality of

their photos. In addition to these tips, the blog also con-tains a series known as the Weekend Hashtag Project, which encourages users to take photos that are described by a particular hashtag every weekend.

Instagram is currently available in the Apple App Store for free and is compatible with any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.2 or above.

“I’m going with Drake forBest Album.”

Sean BrockSophomore EconomicsSouth Africa

“Adele’s done pretty good this year. I hope she wins something.”

Brittany CheekFreshman NursingHighland

“Adele’s got a shot at Best Artist.”

Alex HewittSophomore AccountingLittle Rock

“I’m hoping for Lil Wayne or Drake to win something. Not Jay-Z though -- he’s too old for my time.”

Coreion HendersonSeniorExercise ScienceLittle Rock

“Bruno Mars would be

good for Best Pop Solo

Performance. He’s been

very exposed in the

industry this past year

and his overall style and

presentation are good.”

Adonias FinchSophomore Music EducationDyer, Tennessee

Haley JohnsonArts and Features Editor

One of my favorite events is about to occur on Sunday. It’s the one night of the year that great music is celebrated and celebrated big. Huge before and after parties are thrown, the red carpet is laid out and all of the big names in music come together to appreciate each other’s talents.

This night of celebration is also known as the Grammy’s.I’m sure many people will be tuning in to see Lady Gaga’s next weird outfit, or to see if Katy

Perry will be brighter than Nicki Manaj. For me, there is only one reason I will be watching: to witness Adele kick serious tail.

Adele’s sophomore album, “21,” has been nominated for three of the biggest categories the Grammy’s have to offer: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. That’s a triple whammie. I think she has a great chance of sweeping all three, and here’s why.

Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” has been nominated for both “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year.” With this song being the number one most digitally downloaded song in the history of music last year, she’s definitely the frontrunner for both of these categories.

Radios could barely be turned on without hearing Adele’s proverbial post-break-up stomp-ing (rumor has it that she recorded the song out of anger just hours after ending her relation-ship with an ex-boyfriend). It’s crazy how that break-up led to the biggest women empower-ment song of 2011.

For me, “21” quickly became one of those albums that I knew every word to every song. The music is simple and the lyrics are relatable, which makes it easy for people to love.

Piano ballads such as “Someone Like You” and “Don’t You Remember” are classics for any-one (male or female) who has experienced heartbreak. Musically, both were created using very simple chords.

Yet my favorite aspect of the Adele’s “21,” and the reason I think she fully deserves Album of the Year, is the honesty and boldness in every song. Her vocals are confident and intense, yet straightforward and believable. This balance is what easily marks “21” as the best album of 2011.

Join me on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. on CBS as I watch Adele dominate the biggest night of mu-sic. “21” was easily my favorite album of 2011, and hopefully The Recording Academy agrees.

Who would you like to see win at the Grammy’s?

“Carrie Under-wood. I don’t know if she’s nominated for anything, but I like her a lot.”

Coreion HendersonSeniorExercise ScienceLittle Rock

Instagram: new favorite Apple application

Photo courtesy of: Billboard.com

Photo courtesy of: Kelsey Cherry

SPORTSPAGE 4 Thursday, Feb. 9 The Herald

Ashley HelliwellStaff Writer

Rakeem Dickerson, a freshman point guard for the Arkansas State men’s basketball team is lead-ing the Red Wolves with confidence, and giving the Red Wolf Nation hope for the future.

Typically a student’s athletic eligibility is four seasons—a number de-rived from the four years of academic work, but some college athletes are given the opportunity to redshirt.

Redshirting allows the athlete to spread those four years of eligibility for five and sometimes six years.

Athletes who begin playing are recognized as “true” freshman.

With his superb ball handling, aggression and shooting ability, Dicker-son, as a “true” freshman, is making moves that are playing a pivotal role in the Red Wolves’ success.

Dickerson is no strang-er to success in his basket-ball career. Playing high school basketball at Lit-tle Rock Hall, Dickerson led his team to the 2009-10 6A Arkansas State Championship. Dicker-son averaged 12.8 points, 4.8 assists and three re-bounds per game at Hall.

Playing one year at Bre-hm Preparatory School in Illinois, Dickerson aver-aged 14 points and six as-sists per game, leading the team to a 38-10 over-all record.

After completing high school, Dickerson was given many different op-tions to play basketball at the collegiate level, but chose to play at ASU.

“Being in Illinois, I be-came really home sick, and wanted to be close to home. Brady was loyal to me from day one, and I really liked the campus when I came for a visit,” Dickerson said.

Recruited as a point guard, also called the

“play maker” or “the ball-handler”, Dickerson is taking on essentially the most important role on the court.

“He makes the players around him better, is un-selfish, and a good defend-er and understands win-ning,” said head Coach John Brady.

Making the transition from high school basket-ball to D1 basketball was a major adjustment for Dickerson.

“It is totally two dif-ferent games, college is much faster,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson is one of three freshmen who joined the pack for the 2011-12 season.

“At first it was intim-idating and really tough the first few practices, but I just continued to push through, listening to Coach Brady and even-tually it all came togeth-er,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson has played in 23 out of the 27 games

played so far this season, averaging 3.3 points and 1.5 assists per game for the season.

Dickerson scored a ca-reer-high against Louisi-ana-Lafayette, scoring 12 points.

He is a player who is excelling on the court with a look at the score-board and not the record books mentality.

“My role this year has been to lead and defend, scoring will come later, “ Dickerson said.

With three seasons of eligibility left with the Red Wolves, Dickerson is looking to the future with hopes of one day being a college basketball coach, but until then be on the look out for Dickerson as he continues to make plays on the court.

Dickerson, along with the rest of the Red Wolves, will be on the road to play South Alabama in Mobile, Ala. on Thursday and at Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb 11.

Dickerson a building block for the future

True freshman ‘understands winning’

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Rakeem Dickerson attempts a shot duirng the Feb. 2 game against Louisiana Monroe at the Convocation Center.

Daniel McFadinSports Editor

While most of Arkansas State’s attention is focused on the rise of the football pro-gram, the height of the bas-ketball season and the up-coming baseball year, one program is enjoying a great deal of success in the late stages of it season.

Through six of eight events, the ASU bowling team has come out in the top three of every one, with their sole win coming at the Big Red Invitational at Lincoln, Neb., in January.

“It’s really frustrating, be-cause we all want that win, we always want to bring home a trophy,” junior bowl-er Rachael Gittings said. “When we got it, it was def-initely a fulfilling feeling, it was over whelming and ex-citing.”

The win came against schools including Nebraska, Central Missouri and Sam Houston State.

ASU was led by third year head coach Justin Kostich’s knowledge of Nebraska’s lanes after playing and then coaching Nebraska’s men’s

bowling club from 2004-06.“We kind of had an idea of

what was going to take place, the left side was not favor-able there so we played all five left handed players that travel and ended up getting the victory,” Kostich said.

The Lady Red Wolves en-tered the final day of com-petition at the Prairie View A&M Invitational this past weekend in first place before finishing in third place.

Through their eight events so far, the Red Wolves are

57-19 in matches, with their lowest finish a 3rd place fin-ish at the Crusader Classic in Merrillville, Ind.

“We’ve led every tour-nament going into Sunday. With the first two days, you add up your pin fall and then you go into a bracket [on Sunday], so all of your pin fall is eliminated,” Kostich explained.

Kostich attributes the Sunday struggles to having underclassman having a lot of playing time and to the

team having to learn how to win again, which they did at Nebraska.

Under Kostich, ASU ad-vanced to the semifinals of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Bowling Championships, and two players have earned All-America honors.

“He actually changed me as a bowler. I think every girl can say the same about him, how he’s made us bet-ter,” said Gittings, an early childhood development ma-jor of Glen Allen, Va..

“He doesn’t change our game for how he wants us to bowl, he works with our nat-ural talents and makes us the bowler we can be.” Git-tings continued.

The team’s schedule has the girls on the road for all of their events save for the sole home tournament that was held in Jonesboro in Janu-ary

“It’s been a pretty diffi-cult semester because we’ve been traveling so much. We missed the first week of the

semester, I think we’re all pretty burnt out right now; we’ve been bowling non- stop,” Gittings said.

The long trips have just bolstered the teams camara-derie and sense of family.

“We’re all friends, so we pretty much talk about ev-erything,” said senior Lela Dudley, an animal science major from Blue Springs, Miss. “We all kind of learn from each other. The fresh-man bring in a lot of new things and the seniors add to it.”

The girls hope to take meshing of experiences to a national championship.

“I think, obviously, hope-fully we can be the first sport to win a national champion-ship at Arkansas State at the division one level,” Ko-stich said. “That would be a pretty nice feat.”

The squad also hopes to have bigger turnouts for fu-ture home events.

“Our home tournament, we had very few students there, it was mostly parents,” Dudley remembered.

“I just hope that the stu-dent body comes out when we’re at home.”

Under the RadarASU Women’s bowling team among best in nation

Ashley HelliwellStaff Writer

Ranked third in the na-tion, the ASU Rugby team is setting high standards for its 2012 season.

“We are pushing for a national championship and will continue to do so every year,” said head coach Matt Huckaby.

The Red Wolves 2011 season was filled with highs and lows, but the road to the national championship began in Jonesboro.

The pack took home a huge victory against long time rival Life University, 25-19, exposing the level of intensity needed to achieve its goal of a national cham-pionship.

In 13 years the Univer-sity of Tennessee had nev-er lost to the Red Wolves on its home soil, but just when all had seemed to be lost, ASU broke the long standing history, taking a win from the Vols territo-ry.

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame experienced its first loss to the Red Wolves, with the final whistle blowing on a Red Wolf victory of 70-21.

The pack played its last game in the semifinals of the College Premiere Di-vision against Brigham Young University.

The Cougars defeated the Red Wolves 36 to 15 to move on to the CPD Na-tional Championship.

“There was a different attitude out of the guys at the BYU game, they came out of that game with more confidence, “ Hucka-by said.

This year the program added a 7’s team, which was in response to the of-ficial word of Rugby 7s be-ing recognized as a new Olympic sport for the 2016 Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The team competed in the first college 7s Nation-al Championship and end-ed taking third in the na-

tion.With the confidence

gained and the momen-tum of the program being nationally recognized, the 2012 15’s season is sure to be another successful sea-son for the Red Wolves.

The new addition to the pack is assistant coach, Alex Houser.

Houser has won four Di-vision One National Cham-pionships at the Universi-ty of Berkeley where he played and graduated.

“Alex is extremely well versed in strength and con-ditioning, and has taken the team to a whole differ-ent level with the Olympic lifts, as well as his knowl-edge of coaching defense and attacking,” Huckaby said.

This season the team is not as deep with substitu-tions, and has lost three strong competitors — Raon Farr, Roland Evans and Paul Raath, but Huckaby is confident in the ability

of the younger players to step up and take on those roles as leaders.

“The team chemistry has been outstanding, you can see that the younger guys are wanting to step up and create a program that does have high stan-dards and expectations,” said Senior Danie Swane-poel.

The Red Wolves will open this Saturday against the University of Arkan-sas at 1 p.m. at the Rugby Pitch, located in-between the railroad tracks on Car-away Rd.

“We should beat them convincingly, but the score board is not going to be our main focus,” Huckaby said.

This weekends match against the U of A will be more focused on technique, ball possession and tack-les missed verses tackles made; as well as evaluat-ing players and possibly future starters.

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Dylan Carrion, an exercise science major from Plano, TX practices at his scumhalf/wing position for the ASU Rugby club.

ASU Sports Info

The Arkansas State bowling team has finished in the top three of all eight of their events this season and took home first place at the Big Red Invitational in Lincoln, Neb.

ASU Rugby Club begins 2012 year

Red Wolves take on Hogs Saturday

NEWSPAGE 5 Thursday, Feb. 9 The Herald

BriefsThe Volunteer Center at ASU is seeking 12 volunteers to serve as a Girl Scouts Community

Program Facilitator for a 6 week duration. Volunteers must be available at least one day a week, Monday – Thursday, for 2 -3 hours. Volunteers will be working one on one with elementary and middle school aged girls. There will be a mandatory training for volunteers on Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. If you are interested in serving as a volunteer please contact jcherry@astate.edu, or call the Leadership Center at 870-972-2055. The deadline to sign up to volunteer is Friday, Feb. 10.

The Volunteer Center at ASU is seeking volunteers to assist with the Girl Scouts Cookie Drop on Feb. 17. This event will take place at the Armory, and students, faculty, or staff wishing to serve can sign up for a shift between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. For more information, or to sign up to volunteer contact jcherry@astate.edu, or call the Leadership Center at 870-972-2055.

The Muslim Student Association is bringing Mr. Amad Shakur to speak on campus in commemoration of Black History Month. Shakur is Founder and Director for the Center for the African Diaspora, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Director of Development for the Museum of Muslim Cultures and Senior Consultant for Unity Productions Foundation, a Washington DC film company. Shakur will be in campus on Feb. 15 and 16. The lecture will be at 6 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Centennial Hall, followed by question and answer. For more information or to schedule meetings, please contact Siddique Aboobucker at 870-882-1292 or at msa.asuj@gmail.com

Muslim Student Association invites all students, staff and faculty to its educational program, Welcome to Islam series. “Introduction to the Series” is the first lecture in the series. The program will be at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 in the Black River Room, 3rd floor, Student Union. For more info, contact msa.asuj@gmail.com or visit http://rso.astate.edu/muslim to learn more about us.

The ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Nu Omega Chapter will host a Healthy Heart Event, Friday, Feb. 10 at 6:00 p.m. This year a registered dietitian will speak about eating healthy and changing our attitude towards food. This event will be held at the Allen Park Community Center on Race Street.

Come out and join Student Activities Board, Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 5-8 p.m. on the 3rd floor of the Student Union for the 2012 Mardi Gras/ Casino Night. Featuring hypnotist Chris Jones from 6:30-7:30 p.m.! For more information please contact the Leadership Center at 870-972-2055 or sierra.burris@smail.astate.edu.

The Upward Bound Program, a college preparatory program for low income and potential first generation college students, is currently seeking tutors for their Saturday tutoring program. Tutors are needed for high school chemistry, biology, physical science, AP calculus & statistics, French and Spanish. Applicants must be able to provide proof of passing those classes with a B or better. Interested applicants are encouraged to visit the Upward Bound website http://www2.astate.edu/a/university-college/upward-bound/ or come to the Upward Bound office (Eugene Smith Hall Room 314) to pick up an application.

The office of International Programs would like to send you away in the fall. There are over 200 study abroad options around the world. We work with you and your adviser to make sure the credits you earn abroad will transfer back to ASU. You pay the same tuition and fees that you do at ASU and all of your current financial aid will apply. We have summer programs, single semester programs, and academic year programs. Come by our office, Room 104 of the Administration building, to begin your application right away.

“A college campus is a diverse place. For each field of study, there is some way that the government is affecting what you can and can’t do. I want to bring more awareness to how politics and government are relatable to us as college students.”

-Kayla Paine

politicalhowl@gmail.com

@PoliticalHowl

PoliticalHowl

Follow journalism student Kayla Paine’s blog at asuherald.com

Campus CrimeFeb. 5

Officer Bobby Duff reported to Kays Hall to investigate a complaint of smoking cigarettes. Duff went to the floor he suspected the smoke to be coming from and found Andrew Gadberry finishing a cigarette in the middle stairwell. He took Gadberry to his room to get his I.D. where he met with Zane Turner. After a room inspection, several violations were discovered according to the report. They were charged with possession of instruments of crime and possession of a controlled substance (marijuana).

Feb. 1

Officer Ron Smith reported to the area outside of Wilson Hall when Dr. Lonnie Williams reported two men attempting to catch squirrels with a net. When Smith reported to the area, he made contact

with William Boyd and Alex Pavan. They reportedly had a box and net and were told that they couldn’t catch squirrels on campus.

Jan. 31

Two women reported being followed by three men at around 9 p.m. near Kays Hall. According to the report, the three men had repeatedly asked the girls for their number and followed them when they didn’t get it. UPD was called and Officer Keith Gilliam spoke to Ramon Johnson, Dmoico Coleman and Paul Love. Coleman and Love were told not to return to campus and Johnson was given a university referral.

— Compiled by Lindsey Blakely, News Editor

from the sanctuary to the gym where the stage had to be rebuilt every week and the audio and lighting equipment was portable.

A crew of volunteers ar-rived in the gym every Sun-day morning at 5:45 a.m. to begin setting up and would stay several hours late tearing down to make room for other activities.

When Journey Campus moved to the ASU campus on April 17, 2011, the Jour-ney’s leaders began brain-storming what Wednesday nights would look like for college students involved

with Journey Campus.Dan Reeves, teaching

pastor for the Journey Campus said the mission of Journey Campus is to “lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Reeves wanted to bring that goal to the Wednes-day night college service. It was from this mind set that 2919 was formed this semester.

Haub said the quickest and easiest way for stu-dents to get involved with the Journey Campus’ col-lege ministry is to just show up. She added that

there are people at both Sunday morning services and 2919 who would be more than happy to help students get involved with the college ministry at the Journey Campus.

Taylor Burrington, a sophomore English ma-jor of Cabot has attended services at the Journey Campus for about seven months.

“I think every person there, leader or not, is gen-uinely interested in meet-ing and building a relation-ship with any newcomer who walks in that door,” Burrington said.

JOURNEY, CONTINUED

circles. When it comes to col-

lege, Latanich said the re-ward is phenomenal in a business sense.

A college graduate will make $550,000 more than a high school graduate over a lifetime according to MSN Money. If a student takes out a $40,000 loan in college, then he sees it as an investment. If he were to plan how federal loans were distributed, he would do it based on a sliding scale of expected income of the student’s chosen pro-fession with no interest on the loan.

Essentially a same-as-cash offer and only what a student can afford. Stu-dents wouldn’t be able to take out loans for personal use, only academic.

To be more globally competitive is also some-thing he would like to see improve in the U.S. during his time in office. He wor-ries about the U.S. losing its standing in being one of the most educated nations.

Jobs

The job market is grow-ing slowly in the U.S. and Americans want to be sure that they can work.

“It would be scary to be looking for a job right now as a young graduate,” La-tanich said.

Jobs is one of the most talked about subjects in the world of politics. He said the major cause of a lack of jobs is the lack of demand in the economy. People just don’t have the money to buy anything, and therefore there is no need to produce.

Reducing income tax is something Latanich thinks will help fix the situation, because now they will have money to spend on prod-ucts and create a demand for jobs.

Healthcare

The first thing Latanich talked about fighting for in Congress is health care. He believes in the Affordable Care Act and thinks it is incredibly important.

His wife and daughter have been through two very costly operations and he said he wouldn’t want to make anyone pay those amounts out of pocket.

“When you’re sick, you’re sick, and it needs to be fixed now,” he said.

He explained that a sys-tem without requiring all

citizens to pay for insur-ance is one that is not a plan for success, because of the now illegal pre-existing condition clause.

If only sick people are on insurance, then the com-panies will be paying out without collecting and will no longer be in business. Wanting insurance to be affordable and available to everyone is a top priority for him.

Visiting different coun-ties for meet and greets is something Latanich said he loves most about cam-paigning. Utilizing social media and launching a mo-bile page soon, Latanich wants to reach all demo-graphics in the First Dis-trict.

Although he is new to the political realm and cam-paigning, Latanich said he has enjoyed the ride thus far and being able to share his views and knowledge with others.

“Part of me says, if peo-ple just listen to me, it’s easy to win, but can I re-ally imagine winning and sitting across from the President eating lunch as a Congressman?” he said. “It almost sounds too good to be true.”

CONGRESS, CONTINUED

Jessica RainwaterNews Reporting Student

President Obama gave his State of the Union ad-dress on Capitol Hill before a joint session of Congress, in which he spoke about jobs and education prob-lems.

Obama called on uni-versities to handle tuition problems on their own saying, “If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from tax-payers will go down.”

He said increasing stu-dent aid would only make the problem worse. He also said universities have the tools to fix the problem.

For example, a group of college presidents have done this by redesigning courses so that students graduate quicker and some

that use better technology.He said it is possible. He

said higher education must be a priority of every Amer-ican, and should be afford-able for all citizens.

ASUJ has increased tu-ition as recently as May 2011 when the board of trustees approved a tuition increase that ranged from $60 to $204 for a full-time student, depending on which ASU campus a stu-dent attends.

Carol Byrd of Student Account Services says she doesn’t think ASUJ tuition is excessive.

“I’ve compared our tu-ition to other tuitions, such as U of A, and it’s re-ally about the same,” Byrd said.

According to www.col-legedata.com an in state ASUJ student pays tuition

and fees of $6,934 and an out-of-state student pays $12,238.

In comparison, Univer-sity of Arkansas in-state students pay $7,174, and out-of-state students pay $17,606. That’s a differ-ence of $240 for in-state students, and $5,368 for out-of-state students.

Obama also called on universities to double their work-study jobs, so that more students have the chance to work their way through college.

Terry Finney, director of financial aid and schol-arships, said, “It would be great if federal funding for work-study doubled.”

The possibility of in-creasing work-study has been a discussion on cam-pus for sometime now, but nothing has been set.

Obama urges universities to control tuition

NewsPAGE 6 Thursday, Feb. 9 The Herald

FREE COFFEE!

Panera Bread is heating things up with Warm Up Wednesdays. It began on this Wednesday when they handed out free coffee from 6:30 a.m. until 9 a.m.

For the rest of February, each Wednesday Panera will be go-ing out to the streets and handing out coffee to workers such as

police, firefighters, municipal and construction workers. They are also encouraging Jonesboro residents to log on to their Facebook page and nominate someone who they think should be given free coffee. Each Wednesday, one nominee will be chosen to be “warmed-up” by Panera.

Yuri Shimizu/Herald Photographer

The American Red Cross and members of ASU’s Hon-ors College have teamed up to help the Jonesboro com-munity through volunteer work.

An Honors College Asso-ciation meeting was held in the Honors Living Learn-ing Community classroom on Tuesday, Jan. 24 and featured two members of the Northeast Arkansas Red Cross chapter.

Pam Carver and Jody Carter spoke to the HCA about opportunities for stu-dents to get involved with the Red Cross through vol-unteer work.

Camden Harrell, stu-dent public relations direc-tor for the HCA, explained how the Honors College be-came involved with the Red Cross volunteer program.

“HCA was looking for volunteer opportunities,” Harrell said. “Amanda Nguyen, assistant direc-tor for the Honors College, brought to our attention the possibility of working with the Red Cross.”

The Red Cross needs vo lunteers to help out in other areas as well.

“The Red Cross is al-ways look-ing for peo-ple who can help in the creation of the comfort kits, help with office jobs such as stapling, en-tering data, a n s w e r i n g phones or copying pa-pers,” Har-rell said.

C o m f o r t kits are bags of supplies that the Red Cross gives to disaster victims.

They include necessary items such as toothbrush-es, deodorant, shampoo, ra-zors, toothpaste and soap.

“We agreed that making the comfort kits with the Red Cross could be a good

experience,” Harrell said. In addition to helping

out with office work and comfort kits, the Red Cross also needs more volunteers to help out in disaster ar-eas.

Redcross.org states that

every year the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters nation-wide.

The Red Cross also vol-unteers through blood drives. More than 155,000 Red Cross volunteers col-

lect half the nation’s blood sup-ply, which equates to 6 million pints annually.

The rep-resentatives from the Red Cross spoke to hon-ors students at ASU, but anyone can volunteer to help out.

H a r r e l l said there aren’t a set number of vo lunteers needed, but vo lunteers are wanted and always welcome.

V o l u n -teers for the

Red Cross learn the skills necessary to help out with disaster relief after apply-ing; first aid, CPR, swim-ming and other health and safety skills are all taught by Red Cross volunteers.

“The Red Cross has

training days to help train volunteers,” Harrell said.

Last year, more than 158,000 volunteers helped teach the disaster relief courses in Arkansas.

In addition to learning disaster relief skills, volun-teering for the Red Cross is also a great way to find job opportunities.

“Students will gain ex-perience with working with disaster relief, and it doesn’t look bad on a re-sume either,” Harrell said.

There are currently more than 650 chapters of the Red Cross in the Unit-ed States. Northeast Ar-kansas has two locations, one in Blytheville and one in Jonesboro.

Students who would like to volunteer to help the Red Cross can pick up an ap-plication at the Jonesboro chapter located on West Jefferson Ave. Applications were also sent out to Hon-ors students in emails and can also be found online at redcross.org.

The Northeast Arkansas chapter also has a website at nearkansas-redcross.org.

ASU is among the top 20 institutions in the nation with 40 or more teachers who received their under-graduate degrees and also achieved status as Nation-al Board Certified Teach-ers.

In Arkansas, there was an increase of 311 teach-ers that were National Board Certified from 2010 to 2011.

This was an increase of 18 percent for the year.

The total numbers of teachers now certified are 2,000 in Arkansas.

Dan Howard, interim chancellor, said, “This was a signal accomplishment for the ASU faculty and the teachers.”

He said that 56 teachers who earned one or more ac-

ademic degrees from ASU obtained National Board Certification, which ASU is now ranked 13th in the na-tion.

The national board no-tified Greg Meeks, interim dean of the College of Edu-cation, in December of the award for ASU and he stat-ed that ASU is truly hon-ored to be one of the top in-tuitions in the nation.

Meeks said this speaks to the quality of undergrad-uate and graduate profes-sional education programs but more over it speaks of the caliber of graduates.

Mitch Holifield, chair of the Department of Educa-tion, Leadership, Curric-ulum and Special Educa-tion, said

“This recognition is espe-cially gratifying because it is ultimately about serving children in our schools.”

ASU among top 20 in nation for National Board Certification

Janice MorganNews Reporting Student

Caleb Hennington/Herald PhotographerThe Northeast Arkansas Chapter of Red Cross is located on West Jefferson Ave. Students interested in vol-

unteering can pick up applications at this location and get information about more volunteer opportunities.

Red Cross reaches out to honors students at ASUCaleb Hennington

Staff Writer

The 2012 flu season has been mild compared to past years, but it doesn’t mean the public is out of the woods just yet. The months of February and March bring peak season, which still gives time for the flu virus to pick up and wreak its havoc.

According to the online edition of the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, flu is viral infection of the lungs and airways in a body’s respiratory system that spreads hurriedly from person to person. In is characterized by fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, headache, muscle aches and a general feeling of malaise. The infection can last from a few days to a week, depending on the severity of the infection.

One can also chart the severity of the flu regionally across the country through the Center for Disease Control’s website or through Google’s Flu Trend

website.There are

many ways to prevent from c o n t r a c t i n g flu, but none as important as vaccination. CDC statistics hold around 130 million doses have already been circulated this year.

“I cannot s t r e s s v a c c i n a t i o n enough. It’s the best way for people to protect themse lves , ” says Kelsie Jones, an ASU alumna and nursing instructor with Allied Health. “It’s never too late to get vaccinated.”

Jones also says the groups that are the best candidates for vaccination are children, especially those younger than five, anyone 65 or older and high-risk groups such as individuals with asthma,

heart disease or those who have had pneumonia in the past. Any person who is immune-compromised, the circumstance in which the body’s ability to fight infections is non-existent or absent, should not be vaccinated.

“Anyone with lupus, undergoing chemotherapies, or with

Leukemia or HIV should avoid the shot because inactive viruses are entering the body, which could be disastrous.”

With rising health care and prescription medication costs, Jones says it is much more economical for a student’s budget to receive a $25 flu shot than it is to pay for a

visit to the doctor. V a c c i n a t i o n s are available at Student Health Center or campus or any health care provider.

More and more influenza vaccinations are being offered in nasal form, which has rising in popularity across the country at Elementary schools, and in those who are afraid of being pricked.

Although the nasal vaccination may be more painless than its counterpart, the

spray often comes with a higher cost.

Jones also says that even though it is a mild flu season, it is still important to observe good flu etiquette.

“Everyone should wash their hands, almost religiously. Hand washing is one of the best ways

to prevent the spread of infection,” she says.

Jones also says people should opt for traditional soap and warm water over hand sanitizers when available. While sanitizers still kill the flu virus, it doesn’t actually remove the virus from one’s hands like soap and water, and retains a very low chance for a surviving virus to still remain on the hands.

The most important thing, Jones says, if you are sick you should stay home to prevent the risk of spreading infection.

It is also essential not to visit those who are immune-compromised so as not to infect those who may not have the resources to fight the virus.

“Beyond getting a shot, avoid close contact, keep your hands away from your face, cover your mouth while coughing or sneezing.

These are essential to preventing the flu. Don’t think because it’s a mild season there is not a risk.”

Lindsey Blakely/News EditorStaff member Laurie Gould gets a flu shot at the ASU health center

Zach RoachNews Reporting Student

Flu season coming to peak in February, March