It has been quite the season this year for Emporia State University. We recently celebrated an amazing victory against Washburn during our annual Can the Bods food drive competition. Together with KVOE and their Pack the Pantry Event, ESU collected 39,548 cans, while Washburn collected a little over 17,000 cans.

During this time of thanks, it is important to remember the significance of these annual food drives. In partnership with KVOE, our community was able to help countless families in need. Not only did we Pack the Pantry and Can the Bods, but we made nearly 40,000 food items available to the Salvation Army. I am so proud as both a student and member of the Emporia community to witness the generosity that took place during the Pack the Pantry event. It is absolutely amazing to know our university and community can band together to support one another, especially during the Thanksgiving season.

On behalf of the Associated Student Government, I would like to thank the entire ESU campus and the Emporia Community for their support during the Can the Bods event. We would also like to thank KVOE for their significant contribution through Pack the Pantry, as well as Sigma Alpha Lambda, The Bulletin, ESU Athletics, the Memorial Union Bookstore, Wal-Mart, Zoiks!, and Residential Life for directly partnering with us. There is absolutely no way we could have achieved this outcome without their collaboration.

Associated Student Government is extremely excited about future partnerships with both campus and community members. We have an amazing year to look forward to with the 150th celebration soon nearing. It’s a great year to be a Hornet. YOTH! (Year of The Hornet)

Sincerely,

Brooke Schmidt

Associated Student Government, President

I wish to express my thanks and heartfelt congratulations to the students who put up the anonymous, happy Post-It notes on Thursday morning, Oct. 25. On the day the weather turned cold and dreary and toward the end of a hard and busy week, it was a joy to come into the office and encounter the brightly colored Post-Its on doors and hallway walls. In my building they led up the formidable Plumb Hall stairs, calling out encouragements such as: You sparkle! You are strong! You’re amazing! Have a great day!

I heard that some of these anonymous spreaders-of-good-cheer received criticism because the messages had not been sanctioned by a university authority and because they created a (minor) clean-up for staff. I understand the university view. I understand the need for public institutions to protect against wrongful actions or hurtful speech by requiring all university citizens to submit their actions and words to approval processes.

Yet I also remember a time when college campuses bristled with postings of events of all type, with public performances, with open debate and even, yes, protest. I worry that our public desire for safety creates a homogeneity that has quelled some of the creativity and vibrancy that college life and public discourse itself is supposed to be about.

I am heartened by the spirit of the anonymous Post-It students, who gave of their time to perform such a random, small act of kindness. And, I find it inexpressibly sad that ours are times in which such gestures would be read as wrongful, or so quickly erased.

Amy Sage Webb, Professor of English

Next Tuesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will not enter to the Darth Vader theme from “Star Wars.” But he should. The No Child Left Behind death star is devastating American education.

As students, you have seen your teachers “deprofessionalized.” The American teacher who, for decades, was unique in the world in having the professional leeway to customize lessons for diverse students from rural or urban backgrounds is now an assembly line worker whose sole goal is test preparation.

Many teachers hoped that this standardization, begun under President George W. Bush, would end under President Obama. Unfortunately, NCLB continued “on steroids” (to quote its proponents).

Standardization of education has moved from state standards to a national Common Core curriculum in math and reading, to be followed by diluted-down national science. Lacking the authority to directly mandate a national curriculum, Duncan’s department is extorting compliance by making federal Title money dependent on adopting it. Assertions that it is not a national curriculum do not pass the smell test: It works like a national curriculum. It will test like a national curriculum. And it tastes like pork.

In more and more states, veteran teachers can be fired if their students’ standardized test scores decrease for two years in a row. In response to the impossible NCLB goal of 100 percent of students being proficient by 2014, Sec. Duncan is giving waivers to states only if they make student test scores the major criteria for evaluating teachers. A mediocre teacher in an affluent school is safe; a superb teacher in a poverty school is toast.

School curricula have narrowed. Across Kansas, art and music teachers are losing their jobs because the only courses valued are those that are tested. Student dropout rates are going up, not because students are flunking out, but because they are bored with a narrower curriculum and test drillwork. Fewer high school teachers are recommending their students enter teaching. And more veteran teachers are looking for early retirement – or another profession.

For over 10 years, measures of American student creativity have plummeted as teachers have been forced to abandon the questioning and inquiry that made U.S. education unique.

This outcome is not unexpected. Other nations with national curricula score high on international tests. As the Ministry of Education in Korea states: big deal. We train students to take tests, but they do not get Nobel Prizes. Many such countries are trying to get off of teach-to-the-test schooling while the U.S. moves in the opposite direction. The last 10 years are truly the “Dark Ages of American Education.”

ESU students have a sober opportunity with Secretary Duncan’s visit. This is not a time to politely applaud. This is a time to ask Secretary Duncan the hard questions about bad education policy.

John Richard Schrock, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology Education and Director of Biology Education

Czarli Rex

I would like to take a moment to correct some errors and clear up some confusion that may have been created by the article “BDSM group strives to gain RSO status” published in the Aug. 30 issue of The Bulletin.

BDSM is an acronym which stands for five words: Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission and Sadomasochism. Bondage & Discipline, Domination & Submission and Sadomasochism (the combination of sadism and masochism) as subsets have distinct meanings. There are many other subsets, roles and identities that fall under the umbrella term of “BDSM.”

In the BDSM community we bastardize and pervert the English language in some very interesting ways. BDSM has its own dictionaries with terms and definitions that are not included in mainstream dictionaries. For instance a “fetish” in the BDSM community refers to an object or idea that is required in order for an individual to reach orgasm.

While it might be acceptable to define BDSM as a fetish in mainstream media, it is not acceptable by the BDSM community. BDSM is a lifestyle for some, a type of sexual activity for others, or a kinky addition to liven up the bedroom for others. These kinds of misunderstandings are a great example of why our group discussions are so important. We take the time necessary to clearly define terms and bring alternate terms or definitions to the discussion.

S.C.A.L.E.S. provides a safe community with support and education specifically for students who live alternative lifestyles and those persons who are curious about where they might belong in regard to alternative lifestyles. While there are individuals within the group who are dedicated to bringing awareness and education to the general public, those individuals do not represent the intent of the group as whole.

Mainstream media portrays practitioners of BDSM as taboo at best, as abuses illegally perpetrated by the mentally unstable at worst. From a legal standpoint there is no distinction made between consenting practitioners of BDSM and criminal predators that abuse their victims non-consensually. Because of these perceptions, people who are connected to BDSM can lose their reputations, jobs, friends, family and rights to custody of their children. These perceptions create an environment of fear in BDSM communities, making the line between protecting members and educating the public very hard to walk. As the President of S.C.A.L.E.S., my first obligation is to ensure the safety of our members.

Our group specifically chose a social network because of its focus on building alternative lifestyle communities and encouraging education and support within those communities. The intent of Fetlife.com is not to provide education and awareness to the general public at large. People who are sincerely curious are welcome on FetLife.

However, the members of FetLife.com do not want their family, friends, acquaintances and co-workers invading their safe space out of a curiosity created by mainstream media.

S.C.A.L.E.S. has not yet applied for RSO status yet because we do not have a faculty adviser or sponsor.

Czarli Rex

crex@emporia.edu