For the first time since 2003, The Bulletin was named the All-Kansas college newspaper for four year public institutions. Seven members and adviser Max McCoy attended the annual Kansas Associated of Collegiate Press on Sunday and Monday in Hutchinson, where the paper received the All-Kansas award, the top award given by the KACP, Gold Overall for its website and 21 other individual awards.

“I’m very proud of our staff this year,” said Kelsey Ryan, senior political science major and editor-in-chief of The Bulletin. “We’ve worked hard and I’m glad we’ve been recognized by KACP.”

Ryan joined The Bulletin staff during the spring semester of her freshman year and has been the editor-in-chief for the past two years. She said that despite ESU’s lack of a journalism major, the paper’s quality comes from a diverse staff and supportive adviser.

“Our staff comes from different backgrounds and majors, so each staff member brings a unique skill set that helps strengthen the paper,” Ryan said. “Having a strong advocate for adviser has also helped tremendously.”

Max McCoy, assistant professor of journalism, has been The Bulletin’s adviser for the past four years and said the paper has improved consistently each year.

“I’m very proud of all the staff, and The Bulletin leadership in particular,” McCoy said. “I’ve been lucky to have a number of talented people in key positions.”

McCoy said that over the years, each staff has had their own strengths which were reflected in the different sections of the paper.

“Looking at the judges’ comments in the overall competition, they stressed the variety of news, the solid coverage, the consistency between issue to issue and the willingness to tackle significant and in depth reporting, and I can only agree that those are the strengths of this year’s staff,” McCoy said.

McCoy said the All-Kansas is a validation of the staff’s efforts throughout the year and that a new benchmark has been set for future staffs. Whereas other areas of the competition focus on single aspects of the paper, this award is given for overall excellence of the publication.

“Journalism has taken a beating in the current economic climate,” McCoy said. “No one knows what’s going to happen to newspapers… but awards like this are particularly important for the future of journalism – it’s going to thrive in the universities.”

According to the KACP’s competition results, The Bulletin staff received awards for the following categories:

• Editorial Writing

Eric Hemphill, 3rd place, “Brownback Already Turning His Back on Education”

Eric Hemphill, HM, “Ban Bombs, Not Books”

• Single Ad Design

Juhye Bak, 2nd place, “www.esubulletin.com”

Ellen Weiss, 3rd place, “Reporters and Columnists Wanted”

• Special Section

Kelsey Ryan, Kellen Jenkins & Shane Wilson, 2nd place, “NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Champions”

• Headline Writing

Kelsey Ryan, HM, “Yoga Mama Gets Bendy: ‘You’re as young as your spine is supple’ ”

• Infographics

Ellen Weiss, 1st place, “Red Hot Chili Peppers”

• Sports Column

Brandon Schneeberger, HM, “The Beauty of the DII Athlete”

• Review Writing

Steven Stanek, 1st place, “Choo-Choo!”

• Series Writing

Kenzie Templeton, HM, “‘Pot’ Culture”

• Sports Photography

Kellen Jenkins, 1st place, “Hornets hang on for late win”

Kellen Jenkins, HM, “Women loose to Gorillas”

• Feature Photography

Kellen Jenkins, 3rd place, “A Look Through the Lens”

Megan Gartner, HM, “All in the Family”

• Illustration

Ellen Weiss, 1st place, “Student use online dating to find <3”

• Columns

Eric Hemphill, 2nd place, “Kansas Arts in Trouble”

Eric Hemphill, HM, “Literary Censorship: The Comeback Kid?”

Kelsey Ryan, 3rd, “No News Not Always Good News”

• Cartoons

Ellen Weiss, 1st place, “Brownback Already Turning His Back on Education”

Ellen Weiss, HM, “Ban Bombs, Not Books”

• Individual Online Newspaper

Kellen Jenkins, 2nd place

Kenzie Templeton

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This week, I’m feeling funny… Alright, maybe not so much, but I did decide a long while ago that I eventually wanted to feature ZOIKS! in this column.

Improvisational comedy has always mesmerized me. From an early age, I would stay awake after I was told to go to bed and watch episodes of “Who’s Line is it Anyway” in secret. It always fascinated me that these guys and gals had the talents to think so quickly on their feet, and the incredible talent to entertain, which is an extremely valuable skill to have.

So, four years ago, when I arrived on Emporia State’s campus to start my college career, I was amazed to find there was a group on campus similar to the show I had watched for so long. I’d never thought about the fact that guys like Colin Quinn and Wayne Brady had to start somewhere.

So, when I first attended ZOIKS!, I was taken back to those nights I’d spend in my room, keeping the volume down so my parents wouldn’t hear, and stifling laughter with a fist in my mouth at nearly every joke.

Since that point, I have always found ZOIKS! to be one of the most interesting and almost enigmatic groups on campus. I was, and still am, amazed that these people have the frame of mind and frame of reference to crack jokes to a crowd of college kids whose views and senses of humor vary about as widely as humanly possible. But somehow, they pull it off, night in and night out.

With that in mind I decided to try to get into the collective head and funny bone of some members of ZOIKS!. I attended a ZOIKS! rehearsal, and was quite figuratively blown away.

When I arrived at King Hall, at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, I found a few ZOIKS! members, met the ones I didn’t know, and sat in on discussion of different types of “long-form” improv that the group wanted to try. It took me about as long as I would last in a ring with Pacquiao to become confused. “Short-form,” “long-form,” “the gauntlet,” “freeze tag”… What the hell was going on?

Eventually, I think they kind of realized how lost I was, and attempted to explain some of the terminology to me. I was completely taken aback. Me, in my ignorance, figured they just got up on stage and made shit up. I had no idea that there were volumes upon volumes of books written about different improv techniques and theories. I had no idea that my improv idols, the guys from “Whose Line” practiced a type of imrov called “theatersports.”

All at once, my respect for improv actors and actresses everywhere shot through the roof, and particularly, my respect for ZOIKS! members increased tenfold.

So maybe I could never be an improv actor. Perhaps I’m not cut out for the “think on your feet” atmosphere, or the self-inflicted pressure of participating in a group like ZOIKS!, but I’ll tell you one thing: I just became a damn good audience member.

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This is the 30th year of employment at Emporia State for Dick Garvey, Emporia State University’s senior photographer.

Garvey grew up in Wichitaand began attending ESU in 1972. Throughout his collegiate career, Garvey worked for several departments in different capacities, all of which involved photography.

“I basically worked every place on campus where I could be a photographer,” Garvey said.

Though Garvey said that he was always interested in the arts, his interest in photography began at a very early age.

“My dad took quite a few photos when I was a young kid, and when I got about 10 or 11, there was a (camera) sitting around, so I started teaching myself… I was on the yearbook staff (in high school) and started hanging out with the photographer and I thought it was pretty cool,” Garvey said.

As senior photographer, Garvey’s duties include taking display photos, directory photos, taking photos for the ESU website, photographing sporting events at ESU, photos for the National Teacher’s Hall of Fame and marketing the school through photos.

“(Part of my job is) marketing our students, professors, our campus and what we offer,” Garvey said. “We show how good of a place Emporia State is and photography is a really good way to give people an impression, that’s why it exists.”

Laura Eddy, director of Admissions, described what Garvey provides for the Admissions Department at ESU.

“Dick Garvey has helped Admissions for many years capture the best part of ESU–its students, faculty and staff,” she said.“He has helped us show prospective students how beautiful the ESU campus is during all four seasons. Also, he has photographed the many opportunities that students have to get involved including Union Activities Council that brings speakers, comedians and bands to ESU, athletic and theatre events, band and orchestra concerts through the music department and much more.”

Garvey said that he likes the senior photographer job because it offers diversity.

“It’s not the same thing everyday, which is the best thing about this job. Some days you sit at a computer all day, some days you go out and shoot (photos) all day, some days it’s a little of both,” he said.

Stephan Anderson-Story, who worked as a student photographer under Garvey for four years before graduating last spring, said he enjoyed working under Garvey.

“I think what I learned most from him was to try to stay calm and everything will work out in the end,” he said.“You might be stressed for one shoot, and you realize it will work out, and I think that goes for other things as well, not just photography.”

Anderson-Story also expressed that Garvey is a good fit for ESU because he is a likeable person.

“He gets along with everybody really well. I don’t know anybody that doesn’t like him, and I was there for four years,” he said. “For me, he was the best boss I’ve ever had, and I feel pretty confident saying he will be the best boss I will ever have.”

Garvey said he has no plans to retire anytime soon, and that he is still enjoying the job after 30 years.

“I think what keeps me going is the thought that the next photograph is going to be better than the last,” Garvey said.

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As I hope most of you know, this week is Green Week. In the name of doing what is surely a small percentage of what would be considered “my part” in helping promote this week and be environmentally conscious, I thought I would do something environmentallypositive.

So, on Tuesday, I pulled my work gloves on, grabbed a trash bag, and headed to the intersection of 12^th Street and Commercial Street to participate in the community clean-up project, sponsored by the ESU Environmental Club.

I first heard about the event through Facebook, and thought it would be an interesting installment for this column.

I think I need to say right off the bat that I personally do not do all I can to help the environment. I mean, I don’t pour vats of industrial waste into bodies of water or anything like that, but I don’t do everything I could be doing. I recycle, when it’s convenient, but I don’t go out of my way to throw away every Snicker’s wrapper I see on the sidewalk.

This is another reason I thought this would be a good subject for this week’s column – as a person who is only semi-environmentally aware, I thought I could try a little more when it came to the environment and what we can do to keep it healthy.

The clean-up started in front of the Emporia State sign on the South side of campus. When I got there, I met with some of the Environmental Club members and off we went. The 15 or so students who participated in the event broke off in groups of two or three and worked their way down Commercial Street, picking up any loose trash we saw.

Other than a few particularly filthy items, the trash we picked up was pretty standard as far as trash goes—wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic cups, paper bags, you know, normal stuff people toss on the ground when the nearest trash can is just a few steps too far away to basketball toss it into.

Overall, I liked the experience a lot. It was easy, and yet, I feel like it was a pretty beneficial thing. Sure it was just a little bit of trash (and I got to see the surprisingly large amount of trash that is thrown on the street in the six blocks between campus and 6^th Street), but it felt good.

The entire time I couldn’t help thinking how awesome it would be it this kind of thing happened every week, or better yet, how awesome it would be if everyone would just put their own trash in a trash can. Sure, maybe I wasn’t saving the planet, but it did make Emporia’s busiest street look just a little bit nicer.

It made me feel good. It made me feel like I was doing something, and I could see the results instantly. So, if for no other reason than quieting my own selfish conscience, the community clean-up was a success. Nothing quite like a bit of trash to brighten your day.

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About two weeks ago, a friend and I had the pleasure of giving a presentation to a freshman class on a topic I feel very strongly about—studying abroad.

The presentation went relatively smooth and my perception was that the class enjoyed it. Maybe they were interested in studying abroad, or maybe they thought it was a nice break from the normal classroom routine, in either case, they all seemed to pay attention.

Afterwards, I was satisfied and excited about how the students seemed to be listening to what we said. I cannot remember a time in my entire collegiate career when a student group or RSO came into my classroom to talk to my fellow students and I about what the group was all about.

This thought stuck with me, and I find it relevant to use this article as a kind of question box. Why doesn’t this type of thing happen more often? Not just study abroad but any RSO or student group. Maybe I have had a perpetual case of “wrong place, wrong time,” but I feel like at least one or two of my classes would involve something like this at one point.

It seems to me that the answer to this question of why this doesn’t happen is more complex than it looks on the surface, but something easy remedied.

The easiest answer is that professors have a strict syllabus and list of coursework they have to cover in any given semester. That makes sense. But I think that a professor’s job (especially in freshmen-dominated classes) is not only to teach the subject material for a class, but also to introduce students to the extracurricular opportunities involving the subject material.

Why couldn’t one political advocacy group talk to a political science class about their RSO or student group? Why not have members of Quivira talk to an English class about creative writing?

It seems like this would help students connect what they are learning about with real world events and inform them on how they can get involved in an organization they feel passionately about. It is just my opinion, but this would help them learn in the classroom setting as well. Getting students passionate about a topic, which then helps them in their studies is a win-win situation in my book.

I’m not saying that there should be a presentation on a different RSO for every class period, all I am suggesting is maybe once or twice a semester, a different on-campus group speaks to a class about joining or supporting their organization.

I think, ultimately, the problem is that RSOs and on-campus groups don’t ask professors to present because they think professors are too busy teaching the coursework to allow it, and since no one asks the professors, professors stick to their coursework. This may be presumptuous, but I think it is close to the truth.

So, my “mission statement” is this—if you are in an on-campus group or RSO, ask your professors if giving a presentation in his or her class on the subject the group advocates would be something they would be interested in. You never know if the professor would support something like this if you don’t ask, and the worse they can say is no.

Our campus has many noteworthy organizations that cover a wide array of topics. One of the few elements they all have in common is that they are all always looking for new members. By promoting their group and their events in class they have a direct audience in which to appeal to and hopefully generate interest in what they are doing.

Try it. A 10-minute presentation may be just the catalyst some students need to get on board. When your group grows, awareness grows with it.

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For this installment, I thought I would highlight my incredible athleticism…

I wanted to write about something physical, because at least then there would be some comic relief involved. I thought about what club sport would be the most foreign to me, or else something that men of my stature usually do not even try to play. I finally settled on rugby. A sport, which met both criteria I set for myself, and also one that, I felt most certain had the highest risk of injury.

Let me preface this by saying that I am 5’6’’ and 125 pounds (after a good meal). Through the wonders of the Internet, I found that the average weight of a rugby player in the United Kingdom (where rugby is a major sport, just behind soccer) is 235 pounds. So, I am only at a slight disadvantage physically.

Rugby is played outside of the UK as well, and is extremely popular in South Africa, Australia,NewZealand and throughout Europe. ESU has its very own rugby team, Old Yellow Rugby club, which competes with regent schools, as well as schools from Missouri. I decided to get a better glimpse of the game by attending an Old Yellow practice.

When I arrived at the rugby pitch, located between Glennon Field and campus woods, I found a group of about 15 guys throwing around a ball shaped like an over-inflated football. I knew this experience was going to be interesting, but I had no idea what I was in for.

Once I met some of the guys and started asking them about the rules of the game, I realized how much I underestimated the intricacies of the game.

Rugby is an incredibly complex game, which doesn’t help a guy like me, who just wants to discover what it’s all about.

The team has a game this Saturday, versus Missouri Northwest. So I, not wanting to detract from practice time, decided to sit the practice out and try to analyze the game as they played it… My athletic prowess would have to wait to be unveiled to the rugby world at a later date.

But I did learn a lot for one afternoon, which was my primary purpose in attending the practice. I feel like I now have a better, albeit sideline, view of what the hell this game called rugby actually is.

I found a deep appreciation for the game, and respect for those like the Old Yellow Club, who play it. These guys go out there with next to zero padding on, ready to crush somebody, and often times get crushed in the process. That takes an incredible amount of gall, and a ton of intestinal fortitude, no matter who you are.

I feel like rugby doesn’t seem so foreign to me now. I am still a lowly greenhorn, but I think I could really get into this game— as a spectator, of course. There is so much rich history in it, even here at ESU. Andrew Rutter, the president and captain of the club explained that different groups of students have been playing rugby at ESU since the ‘70s. There is even an alumni game set for April 24, which I strongly urge everyone to attend. Rutter estimated that around 50 alumni were set to attend the event.

Rugby is an amazing game, and I am really thankful that the guys of Old Yellow took the time to painstakingly explain it to me.

There aren’t many organizations at ESU that practice a craft that has so much history and tradition behind it.

From my perspective, a scrum still seems like one giant mosh pit, and something I would be mildly terrified to be involved in, but for the guys of the Old Yellow Rugby Club, it’s all in a day’s work. And for that, I commend them. Keep scrumming guys.

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The Emporia State Philosophy club sponsored a formal debate on Monday to discuss the topic of abortion.

The debate was organized so that each side of the debate was allowed opening statements, rebuttals to opponents opening statements and a question and answer session between the debaters and the audience.

Leo Arellano, senior social science major and ESU Philosophy Club president, moderated the debate and said that he believed the debate to be a positive thing.

“Normally we hold Socrates’ Café, which is an event where everybody can come in, and it’s sort of like a ‘group hug’ conversation (where) everybody gives their opinion. I wanted to create something that is a little more specialized,” Arellano said.

There were three students participating in the formal portion of the debate. Richard Stephenson, junior chemistry major presented the “pro-choice” side of the debate. Lauren Halstead, junior elementary math education major, and Lauren Brown, sophomore elementary education and Spanish major presented the “pro-life” side of the debate.

Halstead and Brown both said that they were expecting the debate to be more controversial and more heated than it was.

“We prepared for the worst,” Halstead said.

Brown also mentioned that she thought the debate went better than she expected, and that the purpose of the debate was fulfilled.

“I think the exact purpose of this debate was to make people, ourselves included, think about things that we wouldn’t necessarily normally think about, and I think it did just that, and (did it) very well,” Brown said.

Halstead also said that she believed debates in this format were a good thing for the ESU community overall and were something that she would support in the future.

“I think the point of (this debate format) was to keep an open discussion on both sides instead of a head-on battle of conflicts of interest, and I think it worked well this way. I would definitely support future debates in this format,” she said.

Stephenson agreed with Brown and Halstead’s contention that the debate was enjoyable and informative.

“I enjoyed myself. I thought it went well,” Stephenson said.“It seemed to be rational, which is what we wanted to promote—rationality and discourse, and polite disagreement, even over controversial issues.”

Stephenson, who is a member of the ESU Philosophy club, addressed why he felt it was important for debates like this to occur.

“I think it is a lot of fun, and also, it is part of what philosophy should be—exploring questions in a public nature,” he said.

Arellano expressed that he and the Philosophy Club are exploring other topics to hold similar debates on.

‘There are a couple other things in the works, but we’re not really ready to announce them until we have the people completely lined up,” he said.“Largely, it depends on if there are people who are willing to come forward, and who have strong feelings, and are willing to do their homework. But if we can (have more debates) we will.”

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This past week, I took on the World… of WarCraft…

Okay, I stole that from South Park, but WoW is something that has always fascinated me. It is amazing to me how dedicated some WoW players are. I have heard the stories about WoW becoming so addicting that players spend countless hours on gameplay, but I wanted to find out what it is about this specific game that so intrigues people that these stories could even be in the public sphere.

I asked a friend who had played the game extensively to be my “WoW mentor.”

What I found when I began the game under his trusted guidance was almost overwhelming… okay, it was overwhelming.

First thing I had to do was make a character. This is a lot more complicated than it sounds. First, there are 10 races to choose from: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf and Orc… wow… no pun intended.

I chose Troll because I just felt like I could connect with a Troll on some level… don’t ask why.

Next was deciding a class… For the sake of not leaving the reader as inundated as I was, I will not mention all the classes. My “WoW mentor” advised the Hunter class. He mentioned something about being a “noob.” I tried not to take offence.

Then came the fun part—choosing weapons. According to my “mentor” and the description of classes I found on www.worldofwarcraft.com, Hunters are “deadly marksmen.” This appealed to me. Again, don’t ask why. I chose an ax for my close combat weapon, because it seemed fitting for a troll. I chose a crossbow for my long range weapon—a no-brainer.

At this point, about 45 minutes after I started the game, it was time for a break—I got a snack, wiped the sweat from my brow, and went back to work.

I then chose my talents, professions, dancing animation and stopped into the barbershop to adjust my appearance (and to learn how to emphasize my distinguished cheekbones, which I deemed to be my most attractive feature).

I was, at this point, nearly an hour into game play, and had not actually started the game yet. Therein lies one of the reasons this game can be so addictive and time-consuming—the game has so many intricacies that it becomes nearly impossible to start the game without spending hours working your character into a formidable player in the World… of WarCraft.

So there I was… The typical WoW student: A Troll Hunter, blacksmithing and mining major (with a minor in first aid), equipped with an “epic” two-handed ax and a crossbow. My beginning talents included beast mastery, marksmanship and survival. I was dressed in cloth from head to toe and ready to “pwn” some “noobs” on the fields of Warsong…

See what I mean about being overwhelmed? If not, consider that I now had to learn all the controls, figure out the WoW-speak language everyone around me was talking in (which I needed a glossary to achieve), learn about items, combat techniques, find out what the hell a quest was AND last but not least, wrangle myself a nice pet, and name him “flabbergasted.”

My quest continues, but no, I’m NOT addicted. I can stop whenever I want… I can. Honest…

There are over 11.5 million monthly subscribers to the World of WarCraft. This means that if WoW were its own country, it would be the 90^th most populated country in the world. The fact that many users play this ultra-complex game says something about the players.

There are those who immediately write WoW players off as “weird” or “different,” but there has to be something said about the dedication it takes to actually play this game. I mean, I was exhausted after playing for almost three hours, so I find it hard to believe that anyone who actually achieves something substantial in this game can be labeled so quickly, not to mention the implications of labeling 11.5 million people into a single category.

WoW is not weird. It’s not a sign of being “anti-social.” It’s the same as any other leisure activity. There is community involved. There are friendships. Chances are numerous ESU students play this game and to write them off with the aforementioned or any other derogatory terms is simply ignorant. After all, with 11.5 strong and no signs of stopping, WoW is much more than a fad–  it’s the baseball of the internet age. Simply put, this game is a homerun.

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With President Barack Obama’s signature of the Health Care and Education Reform Act last Monday, there will be minor changes for Emporia State students when it comes to financial aid.

“Student loans have always been government backed, so that part of it is really no different… Instead of going to ‘bank ABC’ and filling out all of your paperwork with them, and then ultimately paying SallieMae, or whomever the servicer is, you now just do all your loan business with the federal government,” said Elaine Henrie, the Financial Aid Director and Registrar for ESU.

According to a press release from The Office of the Press Secretary for The White House, the bill is a “significant down payment on the President’s ambitious agenda to make higher education more affordable.”

The press release explained the changes to student loans enacted by this bill.

“Starting July 1, all new federal student loans will be direct loans, delivered and collected by private companies under performance-based contracts with the Department of Education,” the press release said.

This means that no “intermediary” will be involved in the acquisition and repayment of federal student loans.

According to Henrie, because ESU began using direct loans during the summer 2009 semester, ESU students will be affected less than students from colleges using an intermediary in their student loan programs.

“Student interest rates and entrance loan counseling and exit counseling, all that is still really the same. I don’t think that students in general will see much difference,” she said. “We are a little bit ahead of the curve (because) we have been a direct loan school for a year already, so we did all of our awareness and reaching out and letting students know that there was going to be a change last year,” she continued.

The bill also stipulates that, starting July 1, the maximum payment a graduate is required to make per year is 15 percent of his or her income. Starting in 2014, the maximum payment a student is required to make becomes 10%. After 20 years of payment, any additional debt is forgiven.

According to Henrie, before the bill was passed, students simply had to pay their loans off in a maximum of 10 years.

The Pell Grant, a federal grant for undergraduates given on the basis of financial need, is also affected by the bill.

According to the White House press release, the bill “invests more that $40 billion in Pell Grants to ensure that all eligible students receive an award and that these awards are increased in future years to help keep pace with the rising costs of education.”

According to Henrie, 34 percent of all ESU undergraduate students receive the Pell Grant, while 50 percent of students who apply for financial aid to pay for school receive the grant.

“It’s always been authorized by congress that Pell Grants can go up a certain amount, but this process kind of works very slowly. So really, (the changes in the Pell Grant) makes it more predictable. We’re not waiting till the last minute. It’s legislated that it is going to go up a certain amount for students, and we all know that up front. I think for Pell Grant students, that is a definite good thing,” Henrie said.

The base amount that the Pell Grant for 2011 can be, according to the new legislation, is $5,273. Before the bill, there was simply a maximum amount of $6,000 a student could receive for the grant.

According to President Obama’s speech at the signing of this bill, the average student graduates with over $23,000 of debt. Henrie said that at ESU, the average student graduates with $18,501 of debt.

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Last June, the Emporia State Alumni Association agreed to a partnership with Liberty Mutual, an insurance company based in Springfield, Mass., to exchange alumni mailing addresses for a portion of the profit Liberty Mutual makes from alumni using their insurance programs.

According to Judith Heasley, executive director of university advancement and the ESU foundation, the ESU Alumni Association provides the mailing addresses of alumni who have agreed to be contacted about these partnerships and special offers.

“(Liberty Mutual) sends a letter out to alumni on the Alumni Association’s behalf, who have agreed to be contacted… If (alumni) decide to use Liberty Mutual, we get back a source of revenue for the Alumni Association,” Heasley said.

Heasley said the exact amount that the Alumni Association will receive in revenue from Liberty Mutual has not yet been determined because promotion to alumni started in January.

Heasley addressed the accusation that the Alumni Association is selling Alumni names through these partnerships.

“We do not sell our alumni lists, we have conflict of interest and donor confidentiality policies here in the Alumni Foundation and Alumni Association,” she said. “We never sell our lists, ever. If (an alumni) doesn’t want to receive something, they can let us know, and they will be put on a ‘do not contact’ list in our database.”

Though Heasley is unsure at this point how much money the affinity partnership with Liberty Mutual will produce, she stated she was excited about the contract, and hopes more affinity partnerships will become available in the future.

This “affinity partnership,” according to Heasley, is aimed at providing benefits for ESU Alumni, as well as generating more funds for the ESU Alumni Association.

Some students thought targeted benefits after graduation were a good idea.

“We spend so much money here that it is good to know they offer something for us after college,” said Lacey Bishop, freshman psychology major.

Heasley explained the nature of the relationship between ESU and partners like Liberty Mutual.

“Affinity partners are partners that we (partner with to) offer as many services that we can give to our alumni,” Heasley said.

The Alumni Association sends emails to alumni to promote these affinity partnerships.

According to a Liberty Mutual Brochure, 650 institutions nationwide have some type of partnership with Liberty Mutual. As stated on Alumni Association Web sites for Regent institutions, Kansas University, Kansas State University, ESU, Fort Hays State University and Pittsburgh State University have affinity partnerships with Liberty Mutual.

“These affinity partnerships are very normal in higher education,” Heasley said.

Because the ESU Alumni Association does not charge annual dues for members, Heasley said that other sources of income become essential to the association because of increasing statewide budget cuts.

“We all know what’s happening with state funds—they’re being cut. So in order to operate the association, we do need to have some partners and do need to be bringing in money,” Heasley said. “The Liberty Mutual contract is great… and it’s a nice discount (for alumni).”

Heasley did not give an exact amount for discounts that alumni receive.

Through Liberty Mutual, ESU alumni are offered car, life, short-term medical and renter’s insurance at discounted prices. According to the Alumni Association Web site, other affinity partnerships with ESU include GoNext, a company offering travel opportunities, the Emporia State Federal Credit Union and a partnership with the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles, which offers Emporia State themed license plates to alumni and friends of the university.

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It seems likely that most around ESU have heard of Chat Roulette, it has been featured on CNN, The Huffington Post and certain late-night Comedy Central shows, which is definitely where it belongs.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, here is the low-down: chatroulette.com is a kind of social networking tool, in the same vein as Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz and any of the countless others which have sprouted up following Facebook’s large and mostly warranted success. Chat Roulette is different, though. Instead of adding friends for the purpose of keeping in touch or sharing ideas, Chat Roulette connects the user with another random user via video chat for the purpose of… Well, actually, I’m not really sure what the purpose is.

Anyway, when a friend and I logged on to Chat Roulette to do some “research” for this story, what I found was… eye-opening, I guess.

I decided that simply logging on to the site probably wasn’t enough to get an accurate picture of the viral leviathan that was Chat Roulette, so I decided to play a game I first heard of through a stumbleupon link: Chat Roulette Bingo.

By logging on to chatroulettebingo.net, one can generate bingo cards and download them in PDF form. In Chat Roulette Bingo, a person logs onto Chat Roulette and attempts to find the things listed on the Chat Roulette Bingo card. We decided that the loser had to pay for dinner.

I had a space on my card that read, “Dude who looks like Jesus.” The gotee’d man wearing a robe who I spoke with briefly after first loading the site worked great. Another space read “inappropriate sign,” and a piece of notebook paper ordering me to show my private areas seemed to fit in that category.

This went on for about 45 minutes before I clicked the next button, and a large man with no shirt on devouring what looked like a whole calf’s leg between two slices of bread engulfed my screen. At this point, my buddy rose out of his chair with glee, and yelled “BINGO” at the top of his lungs. Apparently, his bingo card called for an overly comfortable man showcasing his unique talents to the world.

That was it. I had lost the game, thanks to one very hungry man and the wonders of Chat Roulette. After nearly an hour of contorting my face into odd expressions of confusion and laughter, I had nothing to show for it. Except perhaps a better view of how many people are comfortable with themselves to the point where I felt very uncomfortable.

There was one conversation I had on Chat Roulette which seemed to redeem the Web site, at least in my eyes. I talked with a fully clothed, socially adept girl from New York for about five minutes before my buddy told me we had to move on so he could get his free #2 with pulled pork from Bobby D’s.

The conversation was normal: name, age, birthday, location, and then, of course the usual jokes about not being in Kansas anymore, but I think that conversation is the most probable point of Chat Roulette. Meeting new people and talking about normal things, experiencing different lifestyles. Making connections.

Sure, the large majority of people on Chat Roulette are just in it to mess with people, but the conversation I had with that New Yorker humanized the entire experience for me. For that, I thank her and the makers of Chat Roulette, who seem to have hit the nail on the head in terms of Internet randomness, and the subtleties of the human condition.

Eric Undercover is a weekly Arts and Entertainment article in which Eric experiences a different facet or interesting aspect of society and life at ESU. Email Eric Undercover suggestions to entertainment@esubulletin.com.

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