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

Send article as PDF to

The Associated Student Government approved The Bulletin’s request for a five-percent increase in funding for the 2011-2012 school year, requiring the fees for fulltime students to increase from $9.12 to $9.58 per student. For part-time students, the fee will rise from $1.29 to $1.35 per student.

Kelsey Ryan, editor-in-chief of The Bulletin, cited rising printing costs and a significant loss in national advertising revenue as the main causes for the funding increase.

The request was approved on March 17 in the Main Street of the Memorial Union during ASG’s line item hearing.

Send article as PDF to

Ryan

Yet another school year begins. For some of us at Emporia State, it’s a familiar routine – check our classes, buy our books, catch up with old friends and make sure our financial aid went through.

But for others, life at ESU is a new experience.

Some are incoming freshman, eager young faces ready to learn and – in some instances – party. Others are transfer or non-traditional students, waiting to see what new opportunities our school can create for them. Still others are international students, of all different backgrounds, religions and cultures, who might not have any idea what to expect other than the typical pop-culture college references.

One thing is certain: all of us have a thread that bonds us together once we come to ESU. Because of that bond, we have a responsibility to make things on our campus better for everyone.

Once the initial excitement wears off and the daily grind begins, think about what you can do to make our campus more inclusive.

For instance, ESU boasts a large international student population. But why do we so often see American students only with other Americans and international students only with other international students?

There’s a large disconnect on our campus between these two groups and all of us should make a greater effort to meet people from other backgrounds and expand our knowledge of the world. That’s what college is about, isn’t it?

International students aren’t the only ones who would benefit from American friends. I cannot begin to explain in the space on this page how much I’ve learned in becoming friends with international students at ESU and how I’ve developed a greater cultural understanding because of those relationships.

It might feel strange to strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know or think you have nothing in common with, but the benefits will greater outweigh that initial awkwardness.

Perhaps an even greater disconnect at ESU is between the students and the community. People often think about ESU as a “commuter campus,” where students leave on the weekends to visit family or work. Some complain there aren’t enough jobs available in Emporia. Others say there just isn’t anything to do for fun. Student apathy is a problem.

We can help change that. Get people talking. Wish there was more live music in town? Want to bring more restaurants closer to campus? Do something about it. Write a letter to the editor. Meet with the ASG president. Talk to different Recognized Student Organizations. Visit with the people in charge of Main Street. The list goes on.

Most of the time, if our college experience hasn’t lived up to our own expectations, it’s because we didn’t do enough with what we were given. The tools are here, so use them.

Send article as PDF to

You’ve done it. We all have. Type the name into the search bar. Hit enter. Bam. There’s the Facebook profile. Is he single? Check relationship status. Does he have any crazy ex-girlfriends? Check photos. Or wall posts.

Are you doing this for everyone you know? “Friending” every single person you’ve ever talked to? You may have a problem.

But if you’re just the occasional Facebook peruser, the following sites might just help you in looking up your date for this Valentine’s.

• The first stop on your Valentine stalk – er, search – is generally going to be Facebook. From there, you might be able to see if the person has listed any blogs that they write.
• The next stop on the love train is Google. Google can be a great, but sometimes daunting, resource. But you can be a smarter Googler by using the advanced search options or by file type.
• Some additional sites that search the deep web include www.pipl.com, www.123people.com, www.whostalkin.com, www.samepoint.com and www.icerocket.com. However, the biggest problem with these sites is the search options, as there are limited advanced searches beyond first and last name and state. If there are over 500 people with the same name, it could amount to some lengthy research.

Care to see if your sweetie has a criminal conviction?

• In Kansas, most court records and criminal information are open to the public. By utilizing these records, a person can easily check to see if the person they’re going out with has been convicted of any crimes.
• One Web site, www.criminalsearches.com, allows users to search by criminal history, neighborhood watch and sex offenders. Users can also sign up to receive criminal reports and can look up crime statistics.
• To take a more serious tone, one resource that must be checked is the National Sex Offender Registry, which can be viewed at www.nsopw.gov. The benefit of this site over regular state offender registries is that the national registry tracks offenders if they move from state to state.
• The violent offenders list for Emporia State can be found at the Police and Safety office. Under the Clery Act, the university must produce the list of offenders upon request. Other court information can be found at www.kansascourts.org and inmate lists for the state of Kansas can be seen at www.dc.state.ks.us.

But in all seriousness, the best way to use these resources is to find out what kind of information is available about yourself on the world wide web. By searching out yourself, you can find out how to better monitor your privacy on social networking sites and restrict what information is available.

Send article as PDF to

Heasley

By Sarah Shaw & Kelsey Ryan/The Bulletin

The Emporia State Foundation currently holds mortgages for five Greek houses totaling $1.2 million, according to a report delivered to the Kansas Board of Regents last month.

The report, a management review of ESU, also said that one of the Greek houses is behind on payments and another only pays interest on the mortgage. Of the five mortgages, the largest – $826,000 – is to Chi Omega.

“We’re not in the loan business,” said Judith Heasley, president of the ESU foundation. “So the board of trustees voted to no longer extend loans and all of the five houses were told that there would be no more (mortgage loans). Then we informed the entire Greek community that we were no longer doing any mortgage loans, so if anybody wanted to build a new house or anything like that, they could go down the street to one of the banks or find a mortgage company.”

The other houses that hold mortgages with the foundation are Phi Delta Theta, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Kappa Sigma. There are 106 students living in the five houses, according to information provided by the organizations.

Another issue regarding Greek organization that was addressed concerned donations to the organizations. This was outlined in the review as follows:

“In the past, the foundation accepted donations to specific Greek organizations to fund operating expenses… the foundation sought a legal opinion regarding this procedure in 2008, and it was determined that the donations to the Greek organizations would not be tax-deductible to the donor because the donations would be viewed by the (Internal Revenue Service) as being for non-educational purposes. At the September 12, 2008, meeting of the Executive Committee of the Foundation, the decision was made to stop accepting non-educational donations. It is recommended that the foundation consider seeking a written tax opinion regarding any possible tax liability on the part of the foundation for this past activity.”

The mortgages were recorded from 2001 to 2008, according to the Lyon County
Register of Deeds.

“If there are Greek houses in arrears, right now it is a private foundation issue that’s being addressed by the trustees,” Heasley said. “Our finance committee and our foundation executive committee are going to be discussing what to do.”

According to documents gathered at the Lyon County Court House, The Bulletin found the following:

• Chi Omega contracted its mortgage in 2001. The current mortgage amount is the highest of the Greek houses at $826,500 and has an appraised value by the county of $798,900.
• The mortgage value for Phi Delta Theta is currently $135,000 and was contracted in 2008 as the most recent mortgage of the Foundation, signed by Heasley. The county’s appraised value for tax of this property is $384,080.
• Alpha Sigma Alpha, which contracted a mortgage from the Foundation in 2002 holds a current balance of $88,000, and has an appraised value by the county of $287,300.
• Sigma Phi Epsilon contracted a mortgage in 2005 and has a current balance of $80,000 and has been appraised by the county for $143,920.
• Contracted in 2004, Kappa Sigma holds the least amount of mortgage at $40,000. Its property appraisal value by the county is $384,080.

Heasley said the foundation monitors the current mortgages and has sold others as opportunities have arisen.

“We work with each house and we watch the mortgages regularly,” Heasley said. “We try to work with them as much as possible and try and be transparent with them. We do let them know if they’re late.”

Michael Lane, ESU president, told the regents at the Nov. 19 meeting that he viewed the problem as a housing issue.

“That’s student housing,” Lane said at the KB0R meeting on Nov. 19. “So the foundation would foreclose on that and dump a bunch of students on the street and I think our foundation has been very appropriate and will be gentle in handling that.”

BKD, formerly Baird, and Kurtz & Dobson, an accounting and advisory firm with headquarters in Springfield, Mo. performed the management review. In addition to the mortgages, the review also evaluated financial transactions, their documentation and relationships between ESU and affiliated corporations. They found that overall, Lane’s leadership has the university “poised for growth.”

Send article as PDF to

“The students’ voice since 1901.” That’s The Bulletin’s motto.

But with the help of administrators, it will soon be “The administration’s voice since 2009.”

For 108 years, this newspaper, the one you’re holding in your hands right now or reading online, has provided the students at Emporia State an outlet to express themselves and a medium for them to learn about their campus and the people on it. It has not, and will not, be a mouthpiece for the administration.

Sometimes what we write is positive. Sometimes it’s not. But something we strive for – above how it reflects on the school or administration – is providing accurate, relevant information to the student body.

From a journalist’s point of view, President Lane has been secretive and very much the opposite of his favorite word – transparent.

It’s hard for a student newspaper to tell all sides of a story when one of the key players repeatedly declines interviews and meetings (please note the blank pulled quote on page one).  The only correspondence I’ve received from Lane is the letter at the top of this page. We’ve printed both letters so that you can decide how well you think Lane addresses the issues at hand. Let me also note, that before I submitted the above letter, I also wrote and hand-delivered a letter requesting to meet. It did not garner a response.

Lanes’ relationship with The Bulletin now mirrors that of his relationship to the entire student body. How can he run a university successfully if he doesn’t make himself available?

I urge you to leave your office on the second floor of Plumb Hall. Mingle with us. Sit in on our classes. Eat the cafeteria food. Paint some pottery in the union. Loosen up.

As always, I welcome any dialogue with the administration and students.

And President Lane, if you’re reading, since you’re reading, please contact me so we can move forward. I’ll be waiting.

Kelsey Ryan/The Bulletin

Click the image and view the PDF file

Send article as PDF to

President Lane will lead a discussion about the Legislative Post Audit Performance Audit Report from 3:30 to 5 p.m. today in Albert Taylor Hall. The report, which was published by the Kansas Board of Regents, addressed what state universities can do to more efficiently reduce costs.

About 655 positions were eliminated, held vacant or laid off and nearly 550 classes were eliminated across the state, according to a press release from the Kansas Board of Regents.

Lane will also discuss some of the key points in the audit, said Marjorie Werly, director of public relations. An open forum where audience members will be allowed to ask questions will follow Lane’s presentation.

Included in the report, which is 111 pages long, is information that compares how costs per student and staffing levels compare at different universities and the actions universities could take to reduce academic and institutional spending.

The report separates the schools as either regional universities (focusing mainly on teaching) or research universities (focusing on research and teaching). The regional universities are Emporia State, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State. The research universities are University of Kansas, Kansas State and Wichita State.

It states that ESU and KU spent approximately $2,000 more per student than their in-state counterparts and that ESU and Kansas State had more total staff per student in 2008 than their counterparts.

From 1997 to 2008, ESU had the largest tuition increase among the regional universities, with exception of fulltime undergraduates who were Kansas residents.

The report also states the top five departments of each university with the highest percentage of undergraduate low enrollment sections. At ESU, those departments were Library and Information Management, Music, Modern Languages, Art and Communication & Theatre.

ESU is the smallest of the Regents universities.

Kelsey Ryan & Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Ted Mechtley and his brother, George Mechtley. George was one of the original bricklayers of the Memorial Union.

During his 65 years as a bricklayer, George Mechtley has seen Emporia evolve. He was one of the original bricklayers for several buildings on the Emporia State campus and throughout the city.

“First, I worked on the lab school, and then on an addition on the girl’s dormitory, then later, on the student union and the bookstore,” Mechtley said. “I’ve been around here all my life and I’ll be 89 next week.”

Mechtley said he enjoyed working on campus and has many photographs in his home of the buildings that he has worked on.

In fact, his home was built from leftover materials from the union, including stones, bricks and the glazed tile from the lab school.

The Memorial Union was built in 1925 in remembrance of students killed in World War I and was the first student union west of the Mississippi.

Bricklaying was part of the Mechtley family tradition. Mechtleys helped build the original Emporia courthouse in 1900 and several houses on Mechanic Street. They also helped build the Granada Theatre.

As a teen-ager during the Great Depression, he did stonework on Peter Pan Park and Highland Park as part of the National Youth Administration, a New Deal agency, in the late 1930s.

“We were paid $7 every two weeks, but I got an extra dollar because I was the straw boss,” Mechtley said.

A few years later, the Mechtley brothers fought in World War II, two of them in the South Pacific and two of them in Europe. Mechtley was in Austria and met the Russians the day after the war ended. Afterward, he and two of his brothers became bricklayers.

“When I came back from the army, I had to get a job. I got into the bricklaying union because my granddad first started the union there,” Mechtley said.

Since that time, the local unions have consolidated into Local #15 in Kansas City.

A view outside of the Memorial Union. Mechtley was the mason foreman on the project. Courtesy photo/George Mechtley.

As a mason foreman, his job was to study architecture plans before they ever started working on the construction. Some other projects Mechtley worked on include William Allen White Elementary and the Commercial Bank Building.

In his decades as a bricklayer, Mechtley had heard of many injuries on the job.

“We were awful lucky. I tried to be pretty careful…I am the most proud that I had my three brothers under me and no one ever got hurt,” Mechtley said.

Two of his children graduated from Emporia State and he said he’s also proud of the fact that his “kids all turned out so good.”

The many faces of the Memorial Union

The upcoming renovations for the Memorial Union will focus on updating the 84 year old building technologically and structurally.

“Some of the things I expect out of this project are much nicer and more open lounge spaces on the first floor, more computer stations, and a much needed renovated cafeteria,” said Dave Hendricks, director of Memorial Union.

Roger Heineken, the administrative officer for the union, said that adjusting to new technology is an important aspect of keeping up with the current generation of students.

“The union is very dynamic because its purpose is to fit student needs,” Heineken said. “We facilitate leadership development and growth, publications skills, employment opportunities to refine skills and build resume credentials; we serve basically the nonacademic needs, and we have to be nimble to change with the changing needs. Those needs change as the lifestyles and technologies of the students change.”

While the current focus is to update the building for students, when it was originally opened, the uppermost floor served as housing for single women in the faculty, and the student areas were only open to certain students.

“When our building opened it was segregated until the early 1940s,” Heineken said. “Caucasian students were charged a fee to use the building, but African American students were not allowed. While it’s a disgrace, I think it’s also a disgrace not to remember that we were there at one time.”

After that time, the union underwent many minor renovations. In the 1970s, when the baby-boomers began to enter college, the first major renovation took place and more than doubled the size of the building.

“I think the highest enrollment was in 1972 with about 7,200 students on the ground,” Heineken said. “That meant almost twice as many students as today, a lot more classrooms and a lot more demand on the classroom buildings. We also had several mobile classes which were scattered around campus. We were full.”

At that point in history, the union served as the central gathering place for students.

“Between classes, if you had an hour to kill and you wanted to bump into friends, you did one of two things, you went to the recreation area or you went to the hornets nest,” Heineken said. “Nowadays people use their cellphones and call their friends during their class break and they meet up and don’t have to go to a central location.

“(Technology) has changed a lot of the social dynamic of the campus, so much so that the hornets nest was eventually closed and some of the function of it was moved up to the main floor.”

Part of the purpose for the renovation is to draw students back to use the union as a hangout.

“The union is like the living room of a campus, and as the living room of a campus, we want to be the gathering place,” Hendricks said. “We would like an environment that makes you want to come back and hang out between classes.

Sarah Shaw & Kelsey Ryan/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

Program Discontinuance Hearing

A Program Discontinuance Hearing will be held today at 3:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s PDK Room. The School of Library Information Management is discontinuing the Master of Science in Legal Information Management and the Certificate in Legal Information Management.

Dwight Moore, associate professor of biology and chair of academic affairs, said that the hearing is mandated by the program discontinuance policy and that the hearing is a chance for faculty and students to voice concerns.

Moore said that there are currently no full-time faculty teaching courses in the program and that it has been nearly two years since any students have been involved in the program.

PRIDE Day of Silence

A Day of Silence forum will be held during the evening of April 15 in Memorial Union’s PDK Room. The national Day of Silence is April 17.

Luke Wolford, sophomore sociology major and PRIDE executive chair, said that 15-20 members of PRIDE participated in last year’s Day of Silence.

According to www.dayofsilence.org, the Day of Silence is “a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and is a student-led day of action when concerned students, from middle school to college, take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment – in effect, the silencing – experienced by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students and their allies.”

The Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996.

One more brief on its way after Zach Hughes sends it to me!

Send article as PDF to

Jill Megredy, former Emporia State registrar who was charged with two counts of felony theft from a local social organization, waived a preliminary hearing last Tuesday at the Lyon County Courthouse.

“(Jill Megredy) had a preliminary hearing set on two felony counts – that’s a hearing to decide if there’s enough evidence to go to trial,” said Rick Buck, first senior assistant county attorney. “She waived that, so it’s the same thing as if they’d found probable cause to bind her over for trial. She can give that up if she wants to.”

Megredy will face four charges and be able to enter a plea at 2 p.m. May 15. Buck said that negotiations are ongoing. Megredy was not available for comment after the scheduled preliminary hearing.

The original preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 4 but was postponed because the defendant had not been able to meet with her lawyer.

Megredy is accused of stealing $4,100 between March 20 and May 20, 2008, from Beta Sigma Phi, an “international women’s friendship network,” by writing herself checks from the organization’s local account during her role as treasurer of the organization.

Buck said that, if found guilty, Megredy could face up to 12 months of jail or probation.

In a Dec. 4 affadavit, David Holmes, an Emporia police officer, swore that “Megredy told me she did write the checks to herself intending to pay the money back,” and that “Megredy said she… wondered why they (the sorority) called the police instead of just coming to her about the issue.”

The sorority did not discover the alleged theft until late last year, when they asked her to return the organization’s Emporia State Bank checkbook for the new treasurer, the affidavit said. The women told police that when they received the checkbook, they discovered carbon copies of four checks that Megredy had written to herself, totaling $4,100.

The affidavit said that Megredy was planning to use money that her husband, Tod Megredy, would receive for his education to pay the account back, but that she never got around to paying the money back.

Megredy was registrar at ESU until April 2008, but remained employed by the university until July.

Before coming to ESU, she was the registrar at Southwestern College at Winfield from 1996 to 2005. She received her bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University in 1984 and her master’s degree in education from Southwestern in 2002, according the Southwestern College Web site.

Kelsey Ryan & Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Send article as PDF to

After last Sunday’s rehearsal, four of the five women that are members of the ZOIKS! improv comedy troupe shared some insight into their lives as students and comediennes at Emporia State. This semester, ZOIKS! has more than doubled the number of women in the troupe, with women making up five of the 15 members.

Lindsay Roland, junior theater major in her second year of ZOIKS!, said that a lot more women auditioned this semester than in previous semesters.

“We try not to take people because of their gender — we take them because they’re funny,” Roland said. “And it just so happened that we had three hilarious girls who came in this year.”

Although there are fewer women than men in ZOIKS!, the women of ZOIKS! say the setting they work in is comfortable.

“All of the guys are really supportive… it’s really nice to work in that kind of environment,” Roland said.

Tricia Stogsdill, senior theater major and three year member of ZOIKS!, offered some advice to students, especially women, who are interested in joining the comedy troupe.

“You really can’t be funny as a girl if you’re afraid to be ugly onstage,” Stogsdill said. “And so many women are afraid to look bad onstage… so many girls are afraid to be ugly because it’s not cute and cool and everything and that’s the best advice that I have for anyone – try to look as ugly as possible all the time.”

Roland said that many of them often switch gender-roles during performances and portray men.

“We love to play men,” Roland said. “It’s kinda fun to bring a new twist on that stuff, ‘cause it’s always funny to see guys acting like girls and I think it’s funny to see girls acting like guys.”

The women of ZOIKS! said that, when it comes to sexuality onstage, things can get a bit awkward.

“My dad was in the audience once when I was playing a dildo salesman and that was pretty awkward,” Stogsdill said. “I tested the merchandise onstage.… (talking about sex is) not awkward for me, but I want it to be as awkward as possible for the audience.”

Originally, Roland said she auditioned for ZOIKS! because she thinks improv is an important skill for actors. Roland is one of several theater majors involved in ZOIKS!.

“I just ended up having a lot of fun with it,” Roland said. “I think it’s just something that will really help onstage. If someone ever freezes then I can help us get out of the situation.”

The women of ZOIKS! said that they draw inspiration from several comediennes, including Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Poehler and Charna Halpern.

“My hero (Madeline Kahn) died years ago, but she was in Mel Brooks movies and she is one of the funniest people I have ever seen on film,” Roland said. “I watch The Office regularly and I love Angela Kinsey’s work. She plays Angela Martin and I think she’s incredible… She improvises a lot of her stuff on the show and I just think it’s so amazing ‘cause you can never tell. Those are my two main influences in female comedy.”

Laura Dossett, freshman theater major, said she is especially inspired by Artemis Pebdani, who guest stars on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

“When I was 15, I was at a summer theater camp and (Pebdami) came down for a week and taught improv every night and then I did a show with her, so I was taught a lot by her,” Dossett said.

One of the newest faces in ZOIKS! is Caelee Gibbs, junior communication major and member of Alpha Sigma Alpha.

“(My sorority sisters) all think it’s terribly fascinating that I made it… now they’re like, ‘We’re coming to every show, even if you don’t perform, we really want to see just how these people go and do things,’ Gibbs said. “They’re a huge support system so that’s really nice.”

Gibbs, Dossett and Briana Julo, freshman theater major, are DOIKS!, or junior ZOIKS!, members who can later “graduate” as full-fledged ZOIKS! members.

“Our first semester is kind of our ‘getting our feet wet’ kind of thing,” Gibbs said. “They let us do off-campus performances and just little things like that, but we don’t actually get to go out there and perform for the big shows.”

ZOIKS! members said they are working more on long form improv, which they will use in their upcoming performance.

“Long-form improv is where it’s not so much a game so much as we make scenes, and they last longer than our regular games do… We get suggestions from the audience and we make scenes based on that,” Roland said.

ZOIKS! performs at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. next Saturday in the R.Q. Frederickson Theatre in Roosevelt Hall. Admission is free.

Send article as PDF to