Brett Mize

The First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights guarantees us many of our basic rights including the freedom of the press. A free press is vital to liberty and to the society in which we enjoy. Thomas Jefferson noted the benefit of an open media when he stated, “Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.”

Many consider the media to be the fourth pillar of democracy – along with the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Only by allowing open access to information can citizens make informed decisions. In a democracy where responsibility should be shouldered by everyone, only a free press allows citizens to inform themselves and come to their own conclusions.

An open media not only serves to inform the public at large, but also serves as a watchdog for elected officials and other government functions. Elected officials are held accountable and must beware of being exposed if they are not acting in ways that some might consider not in their best interest.

While The Bulletin here at ESU might not be investigating CIA interrogation techniques or corrupt Washington politicians, we do provide a purposeful outlet for informing students on campus as well as being a “watchdog” for administration and elected officials. Students have the right to know what decisions are being made around them and the newspaper has a right to report that information.

What makes a school newspaper valuable to the students is the fact that the purpose is to inform students of their school’s activities – the reader decides if the activities are good, bad, or neither. That value is compromised when the newspaper is no longer allowed to inform its readers freely. This happens when a newspaper becomes censored. Censorship nearly always occurs through a step known as “prior review.”

Prior review is the act of persons in an executive role reading materials before they have been made available to the public. Prior review here at ESU would mean that administrative officials would have the ability to read over The Bulletin before the paper was published. This may seem harmless. The reality is prior review nearly always opens the door for prior restraint and censorship.

What’s the point of prior review if it is not followed by censorship? Administrators would not simply read the paper before publication to get the information before the students and faculty. Why else would administrators want to issue prior review before publication if not only to have the authority to kill or alter a story?

Prior review being enforced on school newspapers is a disservice to all students, including the aspiring journalist. Fully and independently operating a campus newspaper is the best educational and training tool available for those seeking a career in journalism.

Prior review would serve only to stifle critical thinking and brings down the quality of a news source. Once the students no longer have sole independence over their newspaper, a lowering of quality, creativeness and accuracy is sure to follow.

I know if I were told by someone “above me” what I could or could not write about, I would no longer write for the paper. Would the investigative reporter continue to work as hard and ask as tough questions if there was a good chance their hard work would be altered or censored? I doubt it.

Once censorship sets in, which is what only logically follows behind prior review; writers will give up most of their motivation to question and to challenge. Once this happens, who will take their work seriously and listen to their voice? There isn’t much point in a newspaper if the readers feel like they are simply another public relations outlet for the administration.

If the school newspaper were to become censored, who is to say that other organizations on campus would not be as well? It’s not a stretch to say once a newspaper is silenced that the rest of the student voice is in jeopardy as well. Maybe RSOs on campus shouldn’t be able to raise important issues on campus – their activities may be not on par with what others think they should be doing. Maybe the theatre department should only be able to choose from a select few “appropriate” plays a year. The list goes on, but obviously this is a slippery-slope issue.

We enjoy a university that allows students open access to the news and events that are impacting their lives here at ESU. Let’s keep it that way with an open and transparent campus atmosphere.

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Brett Mize

Immigration reform is an extremely controversial topic. What isn’t that controversial is the strain that immigration and especially illegal immigration is placing on our public services. Milton Friedman once said, “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”

One of the public services being stretched the thinnest is our public education system. Public schools are exploding with kids. According to the Department of Education, the number of school-aged children has reached 55 million. By 2100, that number is expected to be over 100 million school-aged children. Immigrants and the children of immigrants account for nearly all of this growth in school enrollment.

The sad reality is that the schools that are being overcrowded and underfunded the most are the schools that need the most help. Inner-city schools where students already have many disadvantages are seeing their limited resources being spent simply trying to keep up with the ever increasing student enrollment. Programs such as bilingual training and bilingual classrooms cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while also making the learning environment more difficult. Big class sizes while being forced to be taught in multiple languages with scarce resources are not the best way to educate children, especially those already disadvantaged.

The biggest problem with the dramatic increase in illegal immigrants in public schools is that it is not financially sustainable. With so many states in financial trouble, many are already cutting into education funds.  Teachers are being laid off or seeing their benefits cut, new learning equipment is being delayed, textbooks aren’t being bought, and so forth. Using reports by the US Immigration and Naturalization Services and figures from the Digest of Education Statistics, in the year 2002 the state of Kansas spent nearly $47,000,000 on education for illegal immigrants. Obviously this cost has only risen in the past seven years.

It seems to me that this money would be better spent compensating teachers, purchasing computers and other education equipment, and paying for other educational programs such as afterschool care.

This is not a matter of not being sympathetic to illegal immigrants or the immigrants we take in legally every year. The fact is, most of the world is poorer (much poorer) than the illegal immigrants crossing over the Mexican border. Are those in Niger, Myanmar, Yemen, Haiti, Laos, etc. not just as deserving of our compassion as any other person we seek to “take in” or rescue from poverty?

Letting a million or so immigrants in legally and watching millions more enter illegally is not a sincere effort into helping the third world and those in poverty. These poor countries are reproducing so quickly that any hope we have to take in immigrants is quickly undone by their rapid population growth.

Foreign direct investment, micro loans, non government organizations, stopping brain drain –  the loss of the brightest individuals from poor countries, are all ways to help developing countries. Immigration is not one of them.

There are many ways we can help the third world. Becoming a third world country ourselves is not one of them. As our education system continues to be questioned and analysts’ claim that our education standards are declining relative to the rest of the world, overcrowding and underfunding schools is not a viable option for developing the next generation of Americans.

I don’t believe there is any hope to reestablish and build on our public education system until immigration reform is accomplished. Until then it will only get worse – we will continue to scrape pennies to build on to overcrowded and badly resourced schools.

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Brett Mize

Eligible students here at ESU should be able to conceal and carry a firearm on campus. I assume a majority of people that just read that first line are not only skeptical but terrified of that idea. I’d like to take some time and try and demystify some of the most common misconceptions about conceal and carry laws on college campuses.

As of March 2006, Kansas is a right-to-carry state. This means that people over the age of 21 may apply for a conceal and carry license through their local sheriff’s department. The past three years we haven’t seen any signs of an increase in violent crime. In fact, according to a study by scholars John Lott and David Mustard in the Journal of Legal Studies, those that hold a concealed and carry handgun license are five times less likely to commit a violent crime than those who do not.

A common argument is that concealed firearms on campus would distract from the learning environment. How can students relax and feel comfortable while the person next to them might be carrying a loaded weapon? I would argue that we do it every day. Since Kansas is a right to carry state, we are most likely shopping in the same stores, attending the same sporting event, or eating at a restaurant where someone is carry a concealed weapon all the time. We don’t notice it because that’s the point- concealed weapons.

Another common argument is the idea that a student could “go off” or “snap” and go on a shooting spree. I find that ridiculous. If someone has the ability to “go off” by murdering people, then they wouldn’t both to legally carry a firearm on campus- those gun free zone stickers and signs wouldn’t keep them from doing it illegally. Much research has been done on the topic of student’s “snapping” and according to the Department of Education, most school violence occurs from individuals on a gradual downward spiral to violence, not by a sudden “snap.”

This doesn’t mean that if a law was passed to allow students the right to carry on campus that tomorrow we’d see thousands of ESU students carrying a concealed weapon. In fact, most national statistics say 1 in 100 people in right to carry states actually do so. The most recent data according to the Kansas Attorney General’s office states that only 22,000 individuals have applied for a conceal and carry license in Kansas. The choice to carry a concealed weapon is a change in lifestyle that brings on much responsibility.

What if a student or two would have had that ability to carry a concealed weapon at some of our most recent violent attacks on college campuses, most notably Virginia Tech? There is no doubt in my mind that the situation would have changed. No matter how the scenarios would have played out, anything would be better than a slow, methodical, execution style massacre. Don’t buy into the “if someone wants to, they’ll do it and we can’t stop it” argument.

I feel as if most students who are completely against a conceal and carry policy on campus have very little or no experience with firearms. While this is understandable, no one would be forced to conceal and carry a weapon who did not want to. In fact, very few people actually would choose to carry. Nonetheless, is it justifiable that those who are unfamiliar or uncomfortable around firearms have precedent over another’s right to self defense?

Universities in Utah have allowed concealed weapons on campus since late 2006. Colorado State University also allows students to carry concealed weapons. So far, there haven’t been any reported incidents. Students’ days move on as normal with the exception being they know some have taken on the responsibility of defending themselves and possibly their classmates.

There is no evidence that proves that concealed weapons on campus would increase violent behavior. In fact, evidence proves that those with conceal and carry licenses are far less likely to act violently than those who do not have a licenses. So what’s the problem?

I encourage people to do more research before simply throwing out the idea. From the Concealed Campus Organization, “A free society does not deny the people a right unless there is empirical evidence that granting that right will do more harm than good.”

Send article as PDF to

Brett Mize

The Emporia State Young Democrats met Tuesday night at the apartment of group President Annabel Osburn, senior social sciences major. Around 15 students gathered to play video games and socialize in an attempt to promote student interest in the group.

Annabel Osburn credited Vice President Stephen Krauska, freshman secondary education social sciences major, for bringing up the idea of such an informal gathering.

“In our group right now there’s only two or three of us who are not actually going to graduate this semester,” Krauska said, “so I figured we needed something to get more people known about us and to bring in people who maybe didn’t think they would get along or didn’t even know about us to get them involved – so I thought we should do something besides boring meetings where we sit and drink coffee and talk about what we need to do.”

Despite the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama, Osburn said the group still has plenty of work to do.

“You can’t ever stop, and I really like that we have a presence on campus and we’re known for a few events especially in the spring… there’s mid-term elections every two years, president elections every four and local elections going on all the time,” Osburn said.

The Young Democrats host two major events in the spring – the Iraq War memorial in March and “Green Week” in April. Osburn said the group has been organizing “Green Week” for the past few years.

“Green Week is known on campus, people expect it,” Osburn said. “I really like that and I hope we maintain it.”

Krauska agreed that there is still plenty of work to be done and said that more people need to become involved with the process.

“We’ve got Obama elected, as Democrats, and now he can’t just pass these things and make the changes we want without us being a part of it,” Krauska said. “One of his slogans was ‘I’m asking you to believe not in my ability to change Washington, but in yours.’ So what I want to do is really get people involved in the process.”

While Krauska hopes to see Obama turn his focus to the environment in the near future, Esteban Gomez, freshman social sciences secondary education major, thinks the economy is the most important issue Obama must face.

“I would really like to see him do something with the economy, because it keeps going downhill and it’s getting worse and worse,” Gomez said. “I don’t think as a country we will be together as much and as strong of a world power if we don’t have a strong economy.”

Both President Osburn and Vice President Krauska expressed hope that a stronger Republican presence on campus will emerge. Osburn said the group’s purpose is not to push their ideas on other people, but thinks both sides of the conversation need to be presented on campus.

“Honestly, it’s sad,” Osburn said. “I think it’s important to get both sides. I think it’s important to be involved, and I obviously have really strong beliefs but I’m not going to try and push them on anybody. We’re not about pushing our ideas on people – we just want people to care, and if you’re Republican and we don’t have a Republican presence what are those Republican going to do?”

Krauska agreed that the development of other political groups on campus is an important process for students.

“I would definitely like to see us get larger,” Krauska said. “I’d like to see us have a much bigger presence, but I would also like to have not it just be the Democrats, I would honestly like to see a Republican group and other people come out so we can have a conversation… I would really like to have multiple groups of people and multiple ideas coming in.”

Osburn said those interested in joining may contact her and that the Young Democrats also have a Facebook group, which is one of the main means of communication among the group. The club will host their next social event Feb. 17.

“We do plan to have social things every other week,” Osburn said, “so if people want to come and they’re not totally democrat or they’re not sure for what we stand for and want to come and find out, this would be a good way to do it without sitting through a meeting.”

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

It’s incredible what takes place when the government gives people “free money” – they take it. The Car Allowance Rebate System, also known as Cash for Clunkers, program was another smashing success.

The Cash for Clunkers program officially began on July 1 with a budget of $1 billion. The idea behind the program was for car owners to trade in their old “clunkers” and the government would then give them a $3,500 to $4,500 towards a new car. People loved the program so much the $1 billion budget was maxed out in about four days. Not to fear, an extra $2 billion was quickly thrown together to continue the program.

There was certain criterion for these “clunkers” but generally it was pretty broad. One requirement was that the vehicle must be in driving condition. My question is if these vehicles are still in driving condition, don’t they still have value to someone?

According to www.edmunds.com, a popular used automotive resource guide, the Ford Explorer was the most common clunker traded in. I’ve rode in a few Ford Explorers. I think they’re good looking cars. I would drive one, as I assume most would if it was an automobile they desired and could afford. And we’re simply throwing them away?

I don’t have a soft spot for Ford Explorers. My point is by throwing away vehicles like these that are capable of providing the means of transportation for years to come, we are providing a disservice to low-income families. By taking older and cheaper cars off the market, the prices of the used vehicles still around are artificially inflated. Economics 101 – supply and demand.

These “clunkers” still serve a purpose. A kid fresh out of high school, the college kid looking for a dependable but cheap car, or the families struggling to make end’s meet are the people that are getting hurt by this program. While we and the rest of the taxpayers are being billed to misallocate $3 billion dollars.

For example, let’s assume that you pay taxes. A random person in another state trades in his beat up Dodge Caravan for a new Chevrolet Silverado. That was very kind of you to help him buy his new truck! Let’s hope he doesn’t default on his new much higher truck payment.

Some environmentalist would argue that the plan did help put more fuel efficient vehicles on the road. According to the Department of Transportation the fuel efficiency of the “clunkers” being traded in was on average around 16 mpg. The fuel efficiency of those being bought with the government handout was around 25 mpg. That’s an improvement of nine miles per gallon for 250,000 vehicles of the nearly 260 million on the road – 250,000 out of 260,000,000.

A report that appeared in The Washington Times states the program will save 7 million metric tons of C02 over the next decade. Sounds good right? Unfortunately 7 million metric tons is only .04 percent of the total auto emissions expected for the next decade. This also doesn’t take into account the amount of energy used to crush these “clunkers” and to assemble these new vehicles.

I’m not sure if nine miles per gallon and .04 percent of CO2 auto emissions over the next decade justifies $3 billion dollars and a regressive program that ultimately hurts lower income individuals.

President Barack Obama said in a recent interview that the program has been “successful beyond anybody’s imagination.” Unless, by successful he means people took money handed to them, I politely disagree.

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

The Didde Catholic Campus Center hosts at least one dollar dinner each month. Emporia State student organizations often volunteer at the events and, in turn, can earn community service hours.

“We select different days during each month and these student organizations can come in and earn service hours by cooking meals for other students, faculty and staff, permanent community members or whoever wants to come for the dinner,” said Joyce Pimple, office manager for the center.

Past meals have included spaghetti, tacos, sloppy joes and breakfast food, said Charlie Sigle, freshman business major and director of the dollar dinners.

“You can just rack up some change from around your dorm or wherever and just throw it in the basket,” Sigle said. “It’s definitely a good opportunity to get a nice dinner and get away from the cafeteria.”

Most students who take advantage of the opportunity do so because of the modest price.          “I usually check for the flyers in the dorms for when the next dollar meal is,” said Logan Forbis, freshman undecided major. “It’s better than the cafeteria and like four dollars cheaper,”

Student organizations are notified of the opportunity to participate through their respective organization mail boxes.

Different fraternities, sororities and other campus organizations have taken part in cooking the meals for past dollar dinners.

“The center provides the food, all the materials and any supplies needed to cook the meal,” Pimple said.

Students can find out about future dollar dinners by watching for flyers posted on bulletin boards throughout campus.

“We put posters out on the poster route the week of the dinner or the week before, letting students know what the menu is going to be and who will be hosting that event,” Pimple said.

Pimple said that student organizations get good exposure and group experience by participating in the dinners.

“They get a really good representation of their organization, coming and cooking and working together,” Pimple said.

Sigle said the event is open to everyone regardless of religious preference. The Didde Catholic Center plans to host another dinner later this month.

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

The Union Activities Council hosted speaker Peter Bielagus last Thursday night in Webb Lecture Hall. Bielagus, Young America’s Financial Coach, focused his speech on how students can avoid getting in financial debt and begin to save money and invest.

Bielagus said that he understands firsthand how quickly a student can fall into financial debt.

“When I was in college, I really messed up my finances,” Bielagus said. “I didn’t know anything about personal finance and I very quickly got in about $5,000 in credit card debt – in about six months… I realized one day when I got a credit card bill and I couldn’t make the minimum payment that it was a big problem.”

Bielagus said that few students are actually familiar with how credit works or even how to find their credit scores.

“The level of knowledge at most schools of understanding personal finance is pretty poor because most high schools don’t teach it and most colleges don’t teach it either,” Bielagus said. “When they enter the workforce with all the stuff going on now, it’s just simply more important, because what you could do four years ago with a so-so credit score you can’t do anymore.”

There are six ways to improve your credit, Bielagus said. These include paying off debt, establishing a payment history and no longer applying for credit cards, among others. The first and easiest way to improve your credit is to check your credit report for mistakes. Around 70 percent of people have mistakes on their credit reports, Bielagus said.

“Anybody in this room or if anybody tells you that you don’t have a credit report because you never borrowed anything is full of garbage,” Bielagus said. “You may have a report simply because there’s a mistake on it.”

Most students said they were unaware of how credit scores worked or how to build credit.

“I didn’t know anything about credit scores, or how to check them, or even really how to build credit before I listened to his speech,” said Ben Graham, junior recreation major. “He did a good job and was actually pretty funny.”

Bielagus recommended using www.annualcreditreport.com to check one’s credit and he said it’s the only truly free credit report Web site.

Bielagus said that most credit cards from retail stores are usually not a good idea for students. They have become more popular over the past several years and include most major retailers.

“Studies have shown that the savings you get (using store credit) are mitigated by your tendency to keep spending,” Bielagus said. “Most people think I can go spend thirty more dollars because I saved thirty dollars.”

Bielagus said that most students don’t save or invest because they simply don’t think they have the money to do it.

“Too many college students think they can’t save or invest,” Bielagus said. “Most of them tell me, ‘Oh Peter, I can’t save $100 a month,’ and I tell them to save fifty cents a day or a quarter a day.”

Bielagus concluded his speech by sharing a personal experience. Bielagus spoke of his college days at the University of Miami where he admitted to spending large amounts of money to impress and basically “buy” friends. After recently learning the news that he was going to be an uncle, Bielagus said there are many things in life that money simply can’t buy.

“You know I could probably fill a book with all the things in life that I do not have, and when I think of those things I get frustrated, I get angry, I get upset and I feel like life is not working out the way it should be,” Bielagus said. “A little over a year ago when my mom told me I was going to be an uncle, I felt like the wealthiest man alive.

“So maybe when I say start before you should start maybe I don’t mean credit scores and budgets, maybe I mean start by realizing that the feelings we try to create by buying more stuff, well if we’d just take a look at some of the wonderful things around us we can create those feelings for free.”

Bielagus speaks to over sixty high schools, colleges, and military bases each year. Outlines of the speech as well as a free e-book on the stock market are available by e-mailing him at peter@peterbspeaks.com.

Send article as PDF to

RISLEY

Jamie Risley, freshman undeclared major, can often be seen speeding across campus on her wheel chair scooter.

“It can get up to seven miles per hour,” Risley said.

Risley has a condition known as rheumatoid arthritis. According to the Arthritis Foundation Web site, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that primarily attacks the joints. About 1 percent of the world’s population suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and women are three times more likely to be diagnosed than men.

“There’s a lot more kids than I thought had arthritis and I think there are over one hundred types of arthritis,” Risley said. “Most people usually think it’s just older people that have it.”

Risley was diagnosed at the age of two. The potent medication prescribed to Risley at that time stunted her growth. Today, she is shorter than average people her age.

“They didn’t really know a lot back then in like 88 or 89 on what they were doing, so I was on massive amounts of medication and it stunted my growth,” Risley said.

This type of arthritis can flare up and be very painful. There are times when Risley said she is unable to go to class because of the pain, which has made it difficult for her to take large course loads. Despite that, Risley said that most professors understand her condition.

Emporia State’s handicap accessibility is part of the reason Risley came to ESU. High school counselors told Risley that ESU was a very handicap friendly campus, and for the most part Risley agrees.

“It really is a handicap accessible campus,” Risley said. “None of the buildings are really a problem, except for Plumb Hall where the elevators are really slow.”

Risley enjoys interacting with her peers and feels that most of them strive to make things easier for her.

“I do like having someone to talk with,” Risley said. “I don’t necessarily like asking for help, but I’ll take it if I get it because people are trying to help and be nice – but I just don’t like having to ask for it.”

Kendra Meyn, sophomore elementary education major, suffers from a milder case of arthritis and finds it comforting that she can talk with Risley about her illness.

“It’s easier on bad days that I can just tell her and she can understand right away, which kind of helps,” Meyn said. “Others who don’t have the pain would try and compare it with themselves, where she would actually understand.”

While others without arthritis will ever be able to fully understand the pain from which she suffers, Risley sometimes wishes that people would become more informed rather than making insensitive comments.

“I’d like for people to know more,” Risley said. “Most people are nice around here, but some people are like ‘oh my god she can walk’ when I stand up in the cafeteria. I would like people to be more informed and maybe a little nicer to people in wheelchairs around here. I mean most people are really nice.”

Risley thinks that part of the reason people don’t know more is because they are simply afraid to ask.

“I know a lot of people are afraid of being rude,” Risley said.

While Risley believes it is normal for people to be afraid to ask questions, she wants others to know that they shouldn’t be.

“I’ve had people in the cafeteria say ‘is that a college student?’ And they say it out loud and don’t realize I can hear them,” Risley said. “That bothers me, but asking questions doesn’t bother me at all. I’m pretty open – I mean, you can ask me anything.”

Outside of going to class, studying and hanging out with friends, Risley enjoys pottery work. Even though she doesn’t believe that she is particularly artistic, pottery provides a good stress relief for Risley, who often makes gifs for others.

Meyn said that, on top of being a nice person, Risley has a great sense of humor.

“Her sense of humor is great,” Meyn said. “Sometimes her facial expressions, like you just know what is on her mind. And she’s single.”

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

AKERS

For Cynthia Akers, Information Literacy and Outreach Coordinator, helping others conduct research is one of the most enjoyable parts of her job.

“I really hadn’t intended on going into academic libraries or anything like that,” Akers said. “But when I was doing my master of arts in English, I was like so many other graduate students. I was a graduate assistant teacher and I taught composition 1 and 2 and I found that my favorite part of teaching was bringing my students over here to the library.”

Akers is an Emporia State alumna, as she completed both her undergraduate and graduate work in English at ESU. After realizing her passion for helping others in the library, Akers decided to earn her master’s in library science. Following several years at different universities, Akers was able to return to ESU in 1996 as a reference librarian at the William Allen White Library.

But now, Akers serves in a different capacity.

“I coordinate our library instruction program and then I also oversee our outreach activities for the library,” Akers said. “A lot of what I do from day to day is working at the reference desk, literally answering questions one on one from students and faculty and helping them find materials and resources – but I also have a teaching role. I spend a lot of time doing what is called library instruction.”

Akers goes to different classrooms around ESU’s campus to provide library instruction, usually demonstrating how to find resources from the library. Akers said she likes to target the instruction to the particular assignments of the class she’s involved with, finding the right mixture of journals, books, Web sites and other materials.

One of the best ways to provide this instruction, Akers said, is for professors to bring their students into the electronic classroom.

“(It) works out really well because then I can spend just a little amount of time saying, ‘well, this is what we’re going to do and these are the resources we’re going to learn about,’” Akers said. “Then the students really have a chance to do some hands on work on the computers and I truly believe that’s the best way to learn.”

John Barnett, assistant professor of political science, has taken his students to the electronic library for Akers’ library instruction demonstrations in the past.

“I am a firm believer in Ms. Akers’ classes because she offers students how to conduct research in any library,” Barnett said. “Most students do not know how to use the library and in my opinion, most students greatly benefit from her demonstrations and presentations.”

Akers believes that most incoming college students have had experience doing basic online searching, such as “Googling” information. Her main focus now is helping students evaluate and select the most useful information.

“Most students that come in now are pretty well versed in terms of knowing how to search, just the mechanics of searching, but again the evaluation of information is what we need to be focusing on now,” Akers said.

Akers also feels that the internet boom has been both a blessing and a curse to research, because having instant access to large amounts of information is convenient, but sorting through the information isn’t always as easy.

“I love the fact that we have so much more available electronically, but it makes the choosing and the selection… more challenging,” Akers said. “I think in some ways you can spend a little bit more time searching now than you used to.”

Akers added that part of being a librarian is not only dealing with these new technologies in research, but embracing them. She remembered that, when she was finishing her library science program, the microcomputer was the latest technology.       The ability to change with the technology is important for potential librarians, Akers said.

“I would say the one thing that someone would have to be aware of if they were getting ready to go into any kind of library, whether it be public, academic, special or even a school librarian, is that you really have to be comfortable with change,” Akers said. “It is a guarantee that the technology that we’re working with right now is going to be different even a few months from now.”

Navigating through these new technologies can be difficult, but so can simply finding references in the different decks in the library, according to one ESU student.

“I was looking for a book in one of the decks at the library and didn’t have a clue on what I was doing,” said Rudy Weiser, sophomore business administration major. “It gets kind of confusing in there and almost eerie because there are all these floors of books and like no one around in there. I went to the reference desk and Mrs. Akers was really nice and helpful and I’m really appreciative of that.”

Akers said that working with all those that use the library is the most rewarding part of her job and that she truly enjoys helping people utilize all of the resources in the library, whether it is for a complex research topic or even simply helping someone find a book.

“Working with all of our patrons – faculty, students, staff – I wouldn’t give that up for anything, I really wouldn’t,” Akers said. “I would say if you feel like you’ve helped people make some sense of the library, make some sense out of all the information we have access to, that is incredibly rewarding.”

Akers worries that sometimes students are simply afraid to ask for help.

“Sometimes I think that there can be a fear of asking questions,” Akers said. “It might be a fear of coming up to the reference desk or just a fear in general that, well, ‘I’m a college student and I’m here at ESU and I should know where things are and I should be able to find information,’ but that’s not necessarily true… I want students to feel comfortable asking us anything because bottom line is that we’re here for you.”

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Susan Samuelson, senior fine arts and theater major, works in the theater costume room in King Hall Friday to get ready for the next theater production. Samulson won the National Barbizon Award for her costume design work in the production of “Rabbit Hole” and will travel to DC to represent ESU in national competition in April. PHOTO BY KATHI WALKER

Emporia State Theatre recently competed in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Lawrence with their performance of “Rabbit Hole.” It was one of five productions invited to the festival out of about 400 productions in the region. ESU received many individual awards for their department’s accomplishments.

Susan Samuelson, senior fine arts major with an emphasis in theater, received a commendation for outstanding costume design. She also won the Regional Barbizon Award in Costume Design for her “Rabbit Hole” designs. Samuelson will now move on to the national competition on an all expense paid trip to winners from the other eight regions.

“You’re not only judged on your concept and how you represented the show, but also how well you draw – your artistic skill is also judged,” Samuelson said. “They look at those in comparison to other shows.”

Jim Bartruff, director of theatre, directed “Rabbit Hole” and praised Samuelson’s hard work and ability to juggle many different priorities.

“She’s really a terrific student,” Bartruff said. “She’s had to maintain almost a full-time job throughout her time at school. In addition to being a really fine young costume designer, she also coordinates the activities of the art education in the Theatre Company.”

Benjamin Howard, senior social sciences major, was awarded first place in Graphic Design at the festival. However, there is no national competition for graphic design. Howard designed the poster for the show and said he was glad to have been involved.

“It was very exciting,” Howard said. “I submitted two designs – this one and another one I did last year – more as a reason to go to the festival and have this experience. I hadn’t had the opportunity to go to the ACTF regional festival before, so this was kind of an excuse to go and see what it was like.

“But it was very exciting and certainly looks nice on my resume. I’m applying for graduate school right now, so that’s a nice little bonus.”

Bartruff received a commendation for outstanding direction of the performance. While Howard could not speak for the cast, he said he believed Bartruff did a fine job at giving the performance the vision it needed.

“Whether it be costumes or graphic designs or scenic design or whatever it is, there seems to be a really good cohesive effort to produce one concept and he seems to be very good at managing that process,” Howard said. “So he’s been good to work with.”

All five members of the “Rabbit Hole” cast were nominated to participate in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. Two members of the cast, Bob Hart, junior fine arts major, and Dylan Lewis, sophomore fine arts major, made it to the semi-finals of the audition. They were two of sixty-four, from an original pool of 400 nominees, to make it to the semi-finals.

“I think it’s noteworthy that all five of our cast members received that acknowledgment of the excellence in their work as performers,” Bartruff said.

Howard said he was not surprised that ESU did so well at the KACTF.

“ESU theatre has been a contributing member of ACTF for decades and the last time we took a show to festival was like three years ago,” Howard said. “So ESU regularly does pretty well at the region five festival, but it’s always exciting to get to take a show and have students do well and overall the department was pretty well represented this time.”

The entire production was judged thoroughly, even in areas that one might not necessarily expect.

“In addition to all the work that went into the original production, our students came back early in January to get ready to go Kansas (University),” Bartruff said. “So that first week of school, we rehearsed every night, and even that Tuesday we practiced loading and unloading the truck a couple of times because part of what is involved in the festival is being able to tour the show and being able to unload and load it safely. Even that aspect of the show is being monitored by respondents.”

Samuelson said she believed that the hard work paid off and was pleased with the representation ESU gave at the performance.

“I had a great experience working with everyone involved with the show,” Samuelson said. “I thought everyone worked to the best of our ability and that when we went to the regional festival we represented our university as well as our department well.”

ESU Theatre’s next production will be “The Glass Menagerie” at the Frederickson Theatre beginning Feb. 25.

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Hua Jiang, a certified pianist and ESU music student, performs “Sposalizio” by Franz Liszt Tuesday night in Heath Recital Hall. Jiang was one of five students chosen to perform at the Emporia State Music Department Honors Recital and will be pursuing his master’s degree in piano performance at ESU in the fall of 2009. KELLEN JENKINS/THE BULLETIN

The annual Emporia State Music Department Honors Recital was held last Tuesday in Heath Recital Hall. Due to departmental budget cuts, the recital was not held in the form of a scholarship competition, as it has been in previous years.

“We use to offer scholarships with this, this is the first year we haven’t been able to do so.” said Terrisa Ziek, music instructor and horn specialist who has coordinated the honors recital for the past three years. “So due to budget restraints, I hope that next year we’ll be able to do that, because like every other area we’ve been having to cut back.”

In past years, the entire music faculty would attend the concert and listen to all the performances and select a first, second, and third place. This year, however, students auditioned to perform in the recital at the end of last semester.

“What we decided to do this past year was I invited some retired faculty members to come during finals week and on a Wednesday night they heard 12 students perform entire pieces and then they chose these five students (that performed at the recital). They felt these were the best students.”

The retired faculty members that judged the performers are from the Emporia and Topeka area. Having retired members helped ensure there were no biases among the judges.

“They did a wonderful job,” Ziek said. “They didn’t know any of the students, which was really good, because they could just come in and listen. They weren’t familiar with the music and, being professionals, they were very thoughtful and considered everyone’s music.”

The retired faculty members selected five students to perform at the Honors Recital, all of which are juniors or seniors.

Hua Jiang, certificate student in piano, performed a piece written by Franz Liszt. According to Ziek, Jiang was born in China and received his first piano lesson from his mother.

The second performer, Nicholas Newhouse, graduate student of music in percussion, played a piece by Bach using the marimba. Ziek said that Newhouse has performed with various groups throughout the region including the premier of the Kansas Concert Opera.

Elizabeth Kosko, senior music major in percussion performance, played the timpani to an Elliot Carter piece. Kosko is also currently the drum line instructor and Percussion Ensemble director for Emporia High School, Ziek said.

“I really liked the timpani piece,” said Aaron Cochran, sophomore digital audio major. “It’s kind of different to hear a timpani as a solo instrument… I had never seen that done before.”

Karsten Burns, senior music major in percussion performance, performed a piece by Keiko Abe on the marimba. Ziek said that Burns teaches private percussion lessons and also plays with several local bands.

Ryan Rhodes, senior music education major, finished with a tuba performance. With the help of Yaokun Yang on the piano, Rhodes performed a Jan Koetsier piece. Rhodes and Yang tied for first place in last year’s honors recital. Cochran said he was surprised with Rhodes’s performance.

“I really liked the last performance,” Cochran said. “He did a lot of things I didn’t know a tuba could do – it was pretty cool to hear.”

Rhodes wasn’t surprised that someone would initially doubt the performance capabilities of a tuba.

“I’ve been playing the tuba since I was in the eighth or ninth grade,” Rhodes said. “And that’s the thing you get a lot with tuba performances. People say, ‘I didn’t know that a tuba could sound like that.’”

Zeik felt that each of the students’ performances were successful.

“We have so many talented students here and it’s just such a really great thing to get them out there playing and show them to the community,” Ziek said.  “I enjoy working with them, they’re all responsible and professional in their behavior.”

Brett Mize/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to