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Triggered by what multiple sources said was an alleged physical confrontation at a Kappa Sigma party last month, the Judicial Review Board of the Interfraternity Council held a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The hearing was closed and JRB met in multiple locations over a two day period, starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Flint Hills Room of the Memorial. When the building closed at 10 p.m., the board relocated to a meeting room on the fourth floor of William Allen White Library until 11 p.m. when the library closed. JRB met again yesterday at 9 p.m. in a Towers Complex Conference room and adjourned after about 45 minutes.

Joseph Marten, junior and chief justice of JRB, refused to comment on anything that was discussed but did say that the board had made its decision, though he would not say what it was. It must be sent in writing to both of the parties involved within five days.

After that, any appeals will be handled by the Appellate Board, which consists of Jason Bosch, assistant director of student involvement for Greek life, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Lynn Hobson, and IFC President Cody Pritchard, senior secondary mathematics education major.

Three confidential sources said the JRB hearing was taking place because there had been confrontation between a student who attended a party at Kappa Sigma and a member of Kappa Sigma. The student was allegedly asked to leave and refused.

Two eyewitnesses said when they entered the party, they had to sign in, show their ID and were marked because they are underage. They both noted a “black list,” which held the names of people who were not allowed in the party.

The student who was later escorted out was on the “black list,” said Kyle Lococo, president of Kappa Sigma. He refused further comment on the party or the hearing.

It is unclear whether the disciplinary action is targeted at the student, a Kappa Sigma Member or the entire Kappa Sigma fraternity. All parties refused comment.

One eyewitness said underage drinking did not occur at the party, while another said it did. However, both agreed that alcohol was a factor. They also agreed that there was confrontation as the student was asked to leave the party.

“(The student) threw a huge fit, (his or her) arms were flailing and (he or she) was kicking and was like ‘no, no, no, I don’t have to leave,’ and then finally they calmed (him or her) down and (the student) said ‘fine, I’ll go,’” said an eyewitness who testified at the hearing. “They were walking up the stairs and I don’t really know what happened on the stairwell.”

Another eyewitness at the party noted the same incident.

“(The student) had been asked to leave and didn’t at first,” said the eyewitness. “So they tried to lead (him or her) upstairs and (he or she) was all twisting and turning and then it turned into a huge confrontation in the staircase and you could kind of hear it and then they left and afterwards it got really quiet there were lots of whispers and no one could really tell what was going on for sure.”

Accounts of what happened on the stairwell varied, but all witnesses agreed that there was confrontation and two of them said it was physical.

The parties involved will receive the decision by the JRB in writing and from there will decide whether or not they would like the case to be reviewed by the Appellate Board. Lococo said he expects the process to extend over the next few weeks.

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Photo Illustration by Jonathan Elliott/The Bulletin

Starting April 1, students can no longer add funds to the vending account on Hornet Cards. Assistant Director of Business Greg Larson said lack of student usage and lack of program support from vending companies lead to the discontinuance of the service.

“There are a number of reasons for that as far as non support from the vending companies, they just don’t see the upside as far as sales,” Larson said. “Sales have decreased over the past three years in that program and also it’s very costly to maintain.”

Any student with money still on the vending account can stop by the Hornet I.D. Office in the Memorial Union. Funds less than $5 will be added to the student’s “Hornet Bucks” account, or declining balance account. For amounts greater than $5, students have the option of putting it in the declining balance account or getting a refund check.

Larson said the office is accepting requests for refunds or transfers until April 1, 2011. Senior administrative assistant Terri Conger said the process for finding out how much is in a student’s account and transferring it to the declining balance takes about five minutes.

“If it’s over $5, they have a choice to put it on the declining balance or we can get a refund check for them, which of course will take a couple days to do,” Conger said.

Larson said the decline in the service’s usage began about three years ago and it corresponded with an increase in the use of credit and debit cards in other retail areas like the Hornet Express.

“It’s just sort of replacing that spending,” Larson said.

Conger said she’s had one student come in to transfer her funds. She said although the amount in that particular account was small (Conger said it was around 23 cents) students should check in case they have more money than they think on their accounts.

“I think the one woman had just a little bit. It’s lost money and it’s not much, but its money that they’ve forgotten about that they won’t utilize that just sits there and they forget it’s even on there,” Conger said.

Larson said a large part of the change is that the magnetic stripe on the back of the card is old technology. He said the office is working on issuing a request for proposal for the beverage contract on campus to change the vending machines to either an online system like the “Hornet Bucks” account, where all account information is on a computer, or a system that is compatible with credit or debit cards.

Larson said right now the programs are too expensive, but in a year or two there’s a possibility of it being integrated.

“I think we’re sort of on the bleeding edge of that technology right now where it’s very costly and within the next couple years we’ll see the cost for that sort of a program decrease, and that’s when you want to jump on board, not when it’s so costly that it’s not cost efficient to implement it,” Larson said.

Larson said that when the Hornet Cards were changed to cards without the Lyon County State Bank identification on it, they couldn’t find a company that produced cards with the vending stripe on them. He said if students were using the program and it was cost effective, they would have found cards with vending stripes.

“It really was a dying technology and because fewer people were using it we just saw less benefit for that and we see greater things on the horizon for Hornet Card accounts that are tied to newer technology, better reporting, more transparent for everyone, better for auditing purposes, and if they lost their card, they wouldn’t lose their funds in an online account- much better off for everybody,” Larson said.

No other uses of the Hornet Card were affected with the change.

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Bracelets were made to raise funds for Jessica Miller who was injured in a car accident Feb.18, 2010. Bracelets are $5.00 and go to the care of Miller. Erica Cassella/The Bulletin

In the living room of her family’s home in Americus, Jessica Miller, senior elementary education major, has been constantly surrounded by friends and family.

After a car accident on Feb. 18, Jessica and her cousin Matt Peres, both in critical condition, were flown to Stormont Vail, a hospital in Topeka. Miller was later taken to Kansas University Medical Center for a series of tests and then brought home by her family over spring break, where she now receives hospice care.

Because standard life support procedures were causing her body stress that was proving detrimental, her family decided home hospice care was best.

“For Jessica what hospice care really means is she’s been taken home to sort of decide for herself which way she’s going,” said Lindsey Smith, a close friend of Miller and recent graduate of Emporia State. “She’s still being monitored 24 hours a day by people, and hospice nurses are checking everything from her medications to output for her systems and her responses. But if she were to go, they want her to be able to go peacefully.”

While Miller’s responses have been attributed to reflexes, her family said Peres, though still unable to speak, has been making progress at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb.

Carrie Miller-Hinz, Miller’s mother, said that Miller is very family oriented.

“She has a very active social life with friends and family,” said Miller-Hinz. “Her two little sisters are just so close to her. She would always do anything to help anybody out.”

Miller’s father, Darold Miller, added that she always helped on the farm and is a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan.

“She was a very blessed child to have,” Darold said. “She was very easy to raise and a very big daddy’s girl.”

After meeting her about three years ago at CATO, Smith said that she and Miller had “date night” once a week where they would frequently watch “The Biggest Loser.”

“I loved our date nights because it didn’t matter what was on television or what we were doing,” Smith said. “We just made homemade pizza or tacos and sat around in our pajamas and we always had ice cream. It meant a lot to me that we kept doing that even though we had homework or other things going on. I miss those.”

To help the family with their medical expenses, Smith and Miller’s grandfather have organized fundraisers, the first of which took place during the first weekend of March at Wheat State Pizza, where Miller worked for about a year during high school.

Wheat State Pizza donated 30 percent of their profits for the entire weekend, an amount totaling about $1,500.

“We always want to do better for her family,” said Ryan Murphy, owner of Wheat State Pizza. “But I think we did well.”

In addition, Wheat State Pizza discount cards can be purchased on site or from Smith and other friends of Miller for $10 and include five punches for buy one large or extra large pizza and get one free deals. Wheat State Pizza donated 500 of these cards to be sold.

Over the past couple weeks, Smith, and others, have organized a bracelet fundraiser. The bracelets are imprinted with the phrase “Jessica in our Hearts” and the date of the accident. So far, 300 have been sold at a minimum price of a $5 donation each.

“She has so many different networks that are coming through and everybody is really concerned,” said Lori Sparkman, her boss at CATO, a women’s clothing retail store who has known her since childhood. “Everybody’s really rooting for her so we were just thinking that the bracelets would be something we can give people and also help the family with bills and things.”

Upcoming fundraisers will be held today at Gambino’s and at the Chicken House in Olpe, on April 1. Gambino’s will donate 25 percent of their profits for the day and Olpe Chicken House has offered 20 percent. The proceeds of these fundraisers will be divided to cover both Peres’ and Miller’s medical fees.

“It’s just been amazing how much help and support that we’ve gotten with prayers and everything from this community has been overwhelming,” said Miller-Hinz. “It’s been a very giving town and we greatly appreciate it.”

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2010 brings about another U.S. Census, and with every person needing to be counted, some students have questions about the Census and its purpose.

“Required once every 10 years by Article 1 (Section 2) of the U.S. Constitution, the census will count every person living in the United States, both citizens and noncitizens,” said Michael Aumack, census partnership specialist. “Census data are used to reapportion the U.S. House of Representatives, re-district each state and determine the distribution of the Electoral College.”

The U.S. Census was first conducted in 1790 by President George Washington to count every individual in the U.S. for the purpose of determining the number of representatives for each state, Aumack said.

“The USA was the first country in the world to base its democratic form of government on a ‘house of representatives’ based on total population,” Aumack said. “The Senate has two reps per state, but the House of Representatives has 435 seats that are allocated based on the total population of each state.”

For most ESU students, this is the first time that they will be filling out the U.S. Census, and the process presents a new and different task to those that are new to living on their own.

“This will be my first census, but I haven’t received it yet,” said Katie Galliart, freshman English secondary education major. “My family moved here in June of 2000 from Heidelberg, Germany, and I’ve never really thought about the census much since I wasn’t even here when the last one was conducted.”

Some students believe that doing a census every 10 years, while not intruding too often, may not be as accurate as one that could be done more frequently.

“I think three to five years would be better since everything in our country changes so fast,” said Aaron Thomson, sophomore physics major. “10 years ago everything in our nation was totally different.”

Thomson discussed his belief that the census was an important part of the US tax system.

“I think it’s very important,” Thomson said. “If everybody fills out everything then our government will know what’s going on, and where to put our money.”

Aumack emphasizes the necessity for college students to participate so that their government knows where to put the tax dollars they contribute.

“The college students living on-campus in dormitories will be counted by a census taker who will work with the Residential Life staff to count everyone living in the dorms,” Aumack said. “Those students who live off-campus will get a census form delivered to their door by the postal service or a census worker, and each student living in the apartment or house should answer the questions on the form.  Once the form is completed, the students should simply put the completed form in the envelope and deposit it in a mailbox or give it to a postal worker.”

If students have any questions about answering the Census, Aumack said that students should call 1-866-872-6868 for English instructions, and for instructions in a language other than English they should visit the official U.S. Census Web site at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/contact/index.php.

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Worrell

For Vicki Worrell, associate professor of health and physical education, a love of helping people makes teaching an obvious choice.

“I like teaching because I love people,” Worrell said. “I love to help people and help them to get better at what they are doing.”

Worrell said she knew she wanted to be a teacher since she was in elementary school and that she loves “to help people learn.”

Worrell grew up in a small farming community in Nebraska and then moved to Kansas to go to college.

“I went to Wichita State University for undergraduate degree, University of Kansas for my master’s degree and Oklahoma State University for my doctorate degree,” Worrell said.

After graduating from school, Worrell taught in elementary school for 19 years, and then taught at Wichita State University for six years. She is now in her sixth year teaching at Emporia State.

Teaching elementary school was fun for Worrell because of the energetic kids, but she also loves to instruct teachers how to teach better.

“(New teachers) show more respect and are more willing to learn how to be a teacher,” Worrell said.

Another reason that Worrell likes teaching at ESU is because she can teach online. ESU is the very first graduate program to teach physical education online. The entire master’s program is online and is very hard to get into.

Worrell believes it is a great way to learn about assessment and how to use it in student’s own classroom. In the class, Worrell gives students ways to assess and grade, but students have to partake in the activities, so they know how to use them.

“It was a great tool so we know how to use the assignments in the future,” said April Huddleston, graduate student assistant in health, physical education and recreation.

Huddleston got her bachelor’s degree at ESU in December 2008, and she thinks what she learns from Worrell’s classes are in a “real-life” setting.

“Dr. Worrell is always doing whatever it takes for her students to become great teachers one day,” said Alison Norlen, junior physical education major.

Norlen said that the classes she took with Worrell were really interesting and full of tips that she could be able to use in her future career.

Worrell strives to help her students understand the importance of her profession, so that they may share the same passion. She said she does not only care about students in the class, but also always involved in what the students are doing.

“She is a problem solver and always tries to find the best way to go about the solution to a problem,” Huddleston said. “She has been a leader in numerous state and professional organizations and is very passionate about what she does.”

Worrell took over as President for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. It is a nationally recognized organization in all 50 states. The goal of this organization is to teach people to be healthy and physically active, and tell all the people in the profession how to be better at what they are doing and supporting First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Initiative.”

“The organization encourages the nation to eat healthier and be more physically active so they don’t have to go to the doctor as much and use health insurance,” Worrell said. “It also deals with women and sports, recreation and leisure, people with disabilities and health educators.”

This summer, Worrell will direct a leadership development conference, in charge of having all the presidents and executive directors from all over the states, to lobby on Capitol Hill about healthcare issues and talk to representatives and senators.

Out of classes and work, Worrell loves to travel, pets, cooking, exercise and watching sports. She has been to 47 states in the U.S., Australia and Europe.

Worrell said that she would love to go to the summer or winter Olympics and she tries to keep a healthy life style by drinking a lot of water instead of soda, eating balanced meals with protein and vegetables and getting enough sleep.

“She is what I think of when I imagine where I want to be in 10 years,” Huddleston said. “Dr. Worrell is someone that when you meet her, you will never forget. Once you come in contact with her, you are a better person because of it.”

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The Budget Development and Tuition Committee decided in a meeting held yesterday afternoon to approve the Student Health Center’s request for a fee increase but could not decide whether or not athletics should receive an increase as well.

A fee increase of 2.4 percent was approved unanimously for the Student Health Center, which would amount to $64.85 per full time student, up from $63.35.

However, the measure that was approved is only a recommendation because the increase would still need to be approved by Emporia State President Michael Lane and the Kansas Board of Regents.

In the original fee increase request, Jaque Schmidt, director of student wellness, provided a breakdown of why they were requesting the fees and for what the additional income would be used.

Carol Russell, associate professor of elementary teacher education and president of faculty senate, said that the Health Center’s requests to get new furniture in order to expand services to students was within reason

The Athletic Department is requesting an increase of 6 percent which would bring their full time student total to $130.28 per student, up from $122.87.

“We have courses for summer that are full that we can’t sponsor,” Russell said. “We have to cut a full class because we don’t have funding. I can’t justify giving a 6 percent increase to athletics. I understand it’s a different pot of money but I’m still having difficulties with it.”

However, in the request submitted by John Rich, chair of the Athletics Advisory Board, there was not a detailed listing of what additional fees would be used for. This caused some uneasiness among the members of the committee.

“I think they should be held accountable as to where that money is going,” Russell said.

Along with the rest of the university, athletics had to cut their budget in order to make up for money they would not be receiving in state funding.

“I would struggle with 6 percent,” said Joella Mehrhof, professor of health and physical education. “I’m close to athletics so it’s difficult for me to say that. It’s pretty difficult to say that we’re going to raise athletics when the faculty is not going to get another raise for two to three more years.

The Budget Committee denied a request from Athletics for an increase for FY2010.

“I’m doubting that any department will get a 7 percent increase,” Meherhof said. “I know that athletics is different but I have to say that as a representative of the faculty.”

A main concern was the number of scholarships athletics would be able to give out.

“They are already decreasing the number of scholarships that they are giving out,” said Mary Mingenback, controller for ESU. “They gave out over 100 scholarships (last year) and this year they were able to give out 90.”

Another concern was whether or not income received from a fee increase could be used toward increasing salaries.

“A little bit of it would be going towards the salaries that are not financed through general use,” said Raymond Hauke, vice president of administration and fiscal affairs. “Head coaches are likely funded through general use. If they have assistants that aren’t covered they have to fund it out of here.”

The possibility of instituting an additional fee for off campus and online students was also discussed.

“The bigger question is if we are trending away from on campus enrollment do we have to start looking at the fee structure sooner,” said Jonathan Krueger, senior political science major and president of Associated Student Government. “If we are having to increase on campus fees to make up for a difference in the online presence, it also brings the question that we also have to consider some change. I don’t know how I feel about every time we have a decrease in on campus students piling an increase on on-campus students when other students can benefit from it.”

Although the committee met with members of athletics at a previous meeting, with all of the unanswered questions, the committee decided to table the issue until they had a chance to meet with Kent Weiser, athletic director.

“I wouldn’t be comfortable making a cut to the recommendation that they’ve made without hearing back from them but I’m also not comfortable accepting what they’ve presented,” Krueger said.

The next meeting will be held at 12 p.m. on March 31. The meeting is open to the public but those who are not on the committee may not be allowed to speak during the meeting.

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Using an acoustic guitar and audience participation, Grant Jenkins, associate professor of English and director of writing at the University of Tulsa, and Cheryl Pallant, Lubell visiting assistant professorship and teacher of creative writing at the University of Tulsa, read excerpts of their book “Morphs” last night in the William Allen White Library.

“Morphs,” which was released in 2009, is an experimental collaboration over the course of 18 months in which the authors sent 36 poems back and forth via email then altered and revised, or “morphed” them.

“I think it’s more about communicating than it is anything else, you know the barriers and ways of coming up with fresh ideas and ways of understanding one another,” Reference and Instructional Librarian Caleb Puckett said.

Attendants of the reading were given four note cards at the beginning, asked to write whatever came to mind during the reading and then the authors asked them to read some of the phrases out loud during pauses in one of the poems. Another poem became a country western song in which the audience was encouraged to sing along after hearing the chorus a few times.

Pallant said Jenkins comes at poetry from a scholarly perspective and she comes at it from a writing perspective, so they were always learning from each other.

“His writing became a little bit more like mine and mine became a little more like his and I don’t think it will ever be the same,” Pallant said.

Jenkins said the two never argued about the poetry, but he did post their work to his Myspace without asking Pallant first, which he said was their only controversial moment. In the book’s intro, he said he posted the poems because he “didn’t take them very seriously at first.”

“We never thought we would do a series and like having a process that would fit everything we did under it. I mean, before we did just maybe a poem here or there, but this turned out to be something more extended,” Jenkins said

Puckett met Jenkins while working at the University of Tulsa before coming to Emporia State.  The two served as editors on the literary journal there, the Nimrod National Journal, and worked on poetry workshops together. Puckett said the two kept in contact and Jenkins told him he was trying to set up some readings.

Associate Professor of University Libraries and Archives Cynthia Akers said she thought it was wonderful when Caleb approached her about the library hosting the event. She said the library is working to create better spaces for events with constant remodeling and the seminar room where the reading was held is one of those places. Akers said the goal is to get away from the stereotype that the library is only a place for information.

“We really want to see it actually become more of a space where students feel welcome and where they can start becoming more aware of the fact that these types of activities are going to start going on more,” Akers said.

Admission to the reading was free and copies of the book were available to be purchased and autographed by Pallant and Jenkins.

“Basically, they just did this out of their own pocket, which is absolutely wonderful and that to me just says even more about their commitment,” Akers said.

Pallant said she hopes people learn to enjoy language through the book because a lot of times, especially when she’s teaching, students think there’s one way to write and they get so caught up in getting it right that they forget to savor the reading.

“It’s so important that you know, that you’re enjoying words, so I would hope that they would enjoy and laugh and ponder,” Pallant said.

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No one will deny that there is a communication problem on campus. Groups plan and put together amazing events, and experience little attendance. Conversely, students are constantly complaining that there is never anything to do on campus.  This leads us to believe that it is in the communication of the events that problem exits – getting the information to those who are interested.

On campus there are only a select few ways to promote for an upcoming event. Groups can use the Buzz-In feature of student email, and it will be displayed on the school Web site. Groups can also promote their event by tabling in the union, passing information to those who walk by.

The most popular method for disbursing information is the poster route, used to hang posters across campus. This allows the information to be seen evenly throughout the school by every department, staff student and faculty alike.

Though it may be the best way to currently advertise on campus, it is not as efficient or as fairly run as it could be. There are numerous rules and restrictions that exist within the poster route, and the process can be confusing to those unfamiliar with it.

The poster route policy is as follows: only recognized student organizations (RSOs) or university departments are allowed to put up posters anywhere around campus. They must be approved by the CSI office and contain the Power E, name of the organization, and some basic contact information.

This restricts a sizable amount of people who would like to advertise on campus for one reason or another. If someone is looking for a roommate, lost dog, or information on employment opportunities, they must look elsewhere to spread or find information. Because of this, organizations and businesses in the Emporia community cannot advertise at all on campus unless somehow connected to an on campus organization.

There are a handful of free bulletin boards throughout campus that allows anyone to advertise whatever they would like, but they are difficult to locate and because of that are sparsely noticed.

The school’s official reasoning for why they do not permit businesses or organizations to advertise on campus is because they wish to retain stability on campus. They believe that by allowing outsiders, or even students unaffiliated with an organization, to advertise their cause it would create a chaotic environment on campus.

College should be a time of open ideas and new mindsets. People come to college to grow as people, not only educationally but also politically, socially, and spiritually. We can understand the school’s desire to keep campus an argument free area, free of any intense debates or discord. But by doing so, they are actually robbing their students of the full college experience.

If you look at campuses like KU or WSU, you’ll see fliers all over the place advertising everything from church functions to bar specials to local musical acts.  These campuses have little restrictions, outside of general vulgarity or profanity rules, and their students do not seem to be suffering because of it. If anything, their student body is flourishing for all the great activities that are presented to them.

No one is saying the school has to take a position on the issues and the activities that are present on campus. No one would want that. All we are asking is that the school gives students the freedom to make up their own minds about these issues. Present us with the situation and trust in us to do what we feel is right for us. That is one of the true goals of a good college.

The university won’t be there forever to shield us from the controversial issues of life. Eventually we will be in the real world and will have to decide how we feel about it. We should be experiencing that now so that we can be even more prepared once we leave here.

We ask that the school reconsider their restrictive policy towards the poster route, and open the conversation about what should be acceptable and what shouldn’t. We realize it can be subjective, but we would like the right to make that decision as a student body, and not be told what we are ready or not ready to see.

The benefit would be an increase in attendance and awareness about the great things happening on campus put on by groups and the campus itself. The other advantage would be students would get the experience to create their own opinions about important issues, and will grow as people because of it.

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I went home last weekend to hang out with my folks and my brother. I was goofing around the house waiting for dinner to happen. I began to rummage around the kitchen for something to tide me over, but then stopped. I felt the urge to ask my parents if I could have a snack before dinner. I had to stop and remind myself of a few things. I’m 22 years old. I know I’m hungry. Dinner wasn’t for another 30 minutes. If I wanted to eat, I should eat.

I’ve talked about this before, but there’s something about being back home that makes me feel like a little kid no matter how old I get. I regress back to my role as a dependent child waiting for my parents to tell me what to do next.

Up in Emporia, I’m my own boss. I decide when to eat, when to sleep, and when to go hang out with my friends. Back home I feel like I should check in with my parents before making any big decision.

It’s not a matter of being considerate. I think if you are sharing a roof with somebody you should keep them up to date with your comings and goings. For me it’s about getting permission to do the simple things I do on my own all the time.

And it isn’t brought on by my folks – they are fully capable of treating me like a full-fledged adult. I’m the one that seems to have problems thinking of myself as a grownup when I go back home.

But maybe it’s not all bad. The point of going home, and getting away from Emporia, is to relax and take my mind off the stress of school. It’s kind of nice to go home and not take any of my worries with me and let my parents tell what to do again. It’s a nice change of pace when you can give up the responsibility of making every little decision.

The other thing I’m starting to realize is that I have a strange desire to prove myself to my parents. Does that happen to anyone else? Maybe it’s because I know how important being in college is to them. They didn’t get their college degrees until much later in life, so I’ll be the first in the family to get one right after high school.

It’s costing us a pretty penny to put me through school, so whenever I come home I feel compelled to prove to them, (and to myself I think) that it’s worth all the money. I tend to do that through elaborate, very abstract conversations about current happenings in the news or in society.

Maybe I’m over-analyzing the situation. Back in high school I would talk to my folks for hours about anything under the sun, from politics to history to art. And I didn’t think much of it. But now that I’m a full time student, I guess I feel more pressure to prove my worth?

It doesn’t really matter I guess, because I love all the conversations I get to have with my family. Most of the students I know in Emporia hate talking about school when off the clock, so getting able to really discuss the material I’m learning is not a common experience for me.

I know my parents are proud of me, and would be proud of me no matter if I were in college or not. I think I’m really just more interested in proving my progress to myself in an attempt to show that I’m really growing up, and I’m not the same person I was when I lived at home.

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During Spring Break, while most of us were getting some much needed rest and relaxation on a beach, or in some large metropolis, the Emporia State Debate Team was hard at work, preparing for the National Debate Tournament held in Berkeley, Calif. last week.

Four of the debaters from the ESU team competed in the 78-team tournament, an impressive feat by itself. The team of Chris Loghry and Kurt Fifelski received an invitation by qualifying at the District Three tournament held in Dallas, Texas, and the team of Ryan Wash and La Toya Williams-Green received an at large bid.

Though supporting all of ESU’s extracurricular activities is important, the reason why I make such a big deal about the debate team is this– in collegiate debate, there is no such thing as Division One or Division Two, every school is included regardless of size, which means that debaters at Emporia State compete against teams from large and prestigious colleges such as Harvard, the University of Texas and pretty much any other big school you can think of.

The fact that the ESU Debate Team not only competes with teams like these, but wins against such teams on a consistent basis is simply incredible.

It seems like it would go without saying that any team competing on that level deserves recognition. It is my impression that this is not the case. The only publicity or credit I have seen for the team comes from press releases, which come few and far between.

These guys and gals work hard all year long, and fly relatively under the radar when it comes to campus-wide acknowledgment.

I realize debate is not as exciting to non-debaters as some of the spectator sports and entertainment activities on campus, but it seems to me that in order to live the most complete student life possible, it is crucial that one have a good grasp on what the University is known for and what it is good at.

Ladies and Gentlemen… Emporia State is good at debate, and has been for several years. They even won the National Championship in 1993.

My fellow opinion staffers and I are major supporters of getting involved, and I see a brilliant opportunity to get involved and show support for a highly successful facet of our student body. The debate team works hard all year to compete nationally, and they deserve respect and support from the university, just as any other extracurricular activity who shows success would.

Though this debate season is over, I encourage everyone to go to The Bulletin’s Web site and show your support. Leave a comment on the electronic version of this story to encourage the teams of Fifelski/Loghry and Wash/Williams-Green and the entire debate team in their endeavors.

If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that the most distinct advantage we have here at ESU is the incredible opportunity to create a sense of community not available at larger colleges. This sense of community will come from encouraging individuals like those on the debate team to continue to succeed in their undertakings. Everyone could use a little encouragement, even if it is from strangers, and a little bit of pride in ourselves and peers never hurt anyone.

I’m not going to debate you on it, but I truly believe the ESU debate team deserves the respect and support of the entire ESU community. If someone can convince me otherwise, they should probably be on the team.

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