Lead singer of Beebop Flim Flam performs Thursday night at Albert Taylor Hall during UAC’s Battle of the Bands. Beebop Flim Flam lost out the Paperclips. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Emporia State’s Albert Taylor Hall was rocking last Thursday night with the UAC sponsored Battle of the Bands. The Black Tuxedos out of Emporia, Beebop Flim Flam from Lawrence, Voice Issue of Kansas City and The Paperclips from Kansas City, Mo., battled to decide who would open for Ha Ha Tonka and Antennas Up at Flintstock April 28, but The Paperclips came out on top.

“We’re super excited to win, that’s pretty awesome and honoring,” Paperclips’ bassist Jason Richards said.

Judges from Beer:30, Kiss 103.1 FM and the ESU music department determined the winner. Zoiks! performed improvisational comedy in between musical performances and a free raffle was held with prizes like a discounted piercing, an ESU blanket and sugar-free Redbull. Admission to the event was free because it was paid for by student fees.

“It was a chance for them to watch Zoiks! perform and hear local artists. I mean it’s hard because there are not a lot of activities that don’t involve alcohol or pain and this is completely free to students,” UAC music chair and senior English major Sarah Kirby said.

Kirby said this was not the first time the university has had battle of the bands, but it was the first year where the reward is to open at Flintstock.

“I just thought it’d be a cool prize because they will be opening for Ha Ha Tonka and Antennas Up, which are both nationally recognized bands, so it’s a pretty big deal,” Kirby said.

Kirby said the event was not only a way to find someone to open for Flintstock, but mainly a way to expose students to local music.

“It’s a great way to showcase local music, so we just wanted to do that and get the music out there and we just thought it’d be a good idea,” Kirby said.

Junior communications major Brett Wyrick said if he had been judging, he would have voted for the Paperclips, too. He said he thinks it’s cool that they won because their southern rock style is similar to that of Ha Ha Tonka.

“That southern rock that they played was real, real good and especially since they’re opening up for Ha Ha Tonka, which has kind of a southern-esque lead singer too, a lot like them, so it’s going to be real solid to open up for them,” Wyrick said.

The Paperclips’ guitarist and vocalist Jake Briscoe said he felt like the band didn’t play as well as they could have but no one else except for them would have noticed. Briscoe said a lot of it was due to how Albert Taylor is set up.

“I’ve got mixed emotions because I feel like we played the worst that we’ve played in a long time. Just because of some faulty equipment and I couldn’t get the right guitar tone that I wanted tonight,” Briscoe said.

Despite technical difficulties, the band said they enjoyed playing because the crowd got really into it. At one point, Briscoe just started tapping his foot and everyone began clapping.

“They were participating at every turn, like you did something cool and they were like ‘Whoo!’” Richards said. “This was a very enthralled audience, they were fun tonight.”
Having played in Emporia before, at Beer:30, Briscoe said it seems like people in Kansas care more about music.
“A lot of the places we play, it’s like you can play your best show you’ve ever played and people are just like ‘alright’. Sometimes they’re into it, sometimes they’re not it just depends,” Briscoe said.

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Faculty Senate discussed topics ranging from email encryption to budget cuts at yesterday’s meeting.

President Carol Russell announced that the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents faculty input survey was completed and will be looked at by the Faculty Senate Executive Board. She said collective results would be shared and taken to the different departments for input.

“Obviously, there’s some things we can’t change, but there are things that we can look to the future and have some directions for the future,” said Russell.

Also, Russell talked about the COFSP February meeting, where the Kansas Board of Regents requested a response to budget cuts. Russell said that ways to respond included a web site with information, a list of legislatures and their resolutions, a statement from student government and other information. She said that the board requested copies of what Emporia State will be doing.

“We have our cumulative report with numbers from each institution in addition to collective, so that we have talking points of the state in addition to our own in regular communities,” Russell said.

Russell also discussed a Shared Governance Meeting, Tuition Assistance Proposal work and reminded senators that new elections are approaching.

Academic Affairs committee head George Durler reported progress on revisions to policies on Faculty-Initiated Student Withdrawal. Committee on Campus Governance chair Kevin Rabas spoke about University committee reviews and updates on the Days on Campus survey. Faculty Affairs chair Mike Morales introduced new businesses of Modifications to Regular and Interim Policies and Procedures and the Furlough policy. He also updated the senate on Grievance Policy progress.

Old Business that was brought up included a second reading for the Information Technology Usage Policy in which Durler proposed an amendment to lines 51 and 57 of the policy. The existing line 51, which read “which should not be sent in an email transmission to a non-university account” was replaced with “should not be sent using email transmission unless encrypted using a university supplied encryption product.” Line 57, which read “no expression of privacy or confidentiality,” was amended to “no expression or expectation of personal privacy or confidentiality.”

Durler said that Technology and Computing Services is looking for an encryption program that would be available to all of those on the university server. The program will allow confidential information to be sent via email while being protected. Emails sent from university accounts to outside email would not be readable due to the encryption software.

“It may cause some inconvenience, but it would also create a situation where if there’s automatic forwarding, it will not compromise the data and confidentiality,” Durler said.
Announcements of upcoming events in the music and art departments were made before the meeting was adjourned.

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SIUC Professor Jonathan Bean speaks about civil rights Tuesday night at the Granada Theater. Professor Bean addressed issues from early government racism to affirmative action. Kenny Thompson/The Bulletin

The second of this semester’s three Lectures on Liberty occurred last Tuesday at the Granada Theater. Professor of history at Southern Illinois University Jonathon Bean gave his presentation titled, “God Almighty Made but One Race, Separating Race and State,” based on his latest book, “Race and Liberty in America: the Essential Reader.”

“It’s the first book to tell the story of classical liberalism, to bring it together, and yet people like Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington and the NAACP, they all breathe classical liberalism,” Bean said.

In his presentation, Bean showed a slideshow, gave a history of civil rights leaders and explained the ideas of classical liberalism. Bean said classical liberals believe in individual freedom, individual liberty and limited government.

“Classical liberalism is liberalism as it should be,” he said.

Bean explained in his presentation that he wrote two other books over the history of government that resulted in him having to testify before the Supreme Court because he exposed that “affirmative action creates racial discrimination.” He said what he discovered in writing those books inspired him to write “Race and Liberty.”

“Programs designed to help disadvantaged minorities ended up hurting them in the worst way and I began to see that there were connections between what our government does today for the common good and what it did and said 100 years ago, 200 years ago,” Bean said.

Bean said that many of the civil rights leaders he talked about in the lecture and in his book are often forgotten about because they “don’t fit.”

“They’re not ‘big government’ liberals and they’re not ‘big government’ conservatives and so how do we put these people in a box?” Bean said.

Associate professor of history Gregory Schneider is teaching the course, Liberty and the American Tradition, at Emporia State which is in conjunction with the lecture series. He said it’s important for students to be exposed to classical liberal thought and to have a chance to see if some of those ideas appeal to them.

“This is not meant to, in the course especially, proselytize or to push my agenda on them, but it’s meant to expose these ideas to them to see if they make sense for them and make sense in their own lives when it comes to issues of liberty,” Schneider said.

Schneider also said the lecture, being on civil rights, was timely with Black History month. He said people tend to think of civil rights as being tied in with government, but Bean explained that the government gets in the way more than  it helps.

“It’s government that actually interferes with that rather than helps, so it’s a different kind of approach towards understanding the development of equality of civil rights under the guise of the ideas of liberty and the American founding,” Schneider said.
Abbie Morrison, junior elementary education major, said she enjoyed that Bean brought up figures that are sometimes overlooked in the fight against racism. She also said she agreed with his ideas.

“I agree with it because it’s something we’re discussing a lot more in our teaching classes is that, you know, things are changing so much that we’re not going to have a race, and so it kind of was an issue that I see needs to be dropped,” Morrison said.

Bean said he’s answered questions from all over the country, but he loves talking to students because that’s what he does for a living. He said he wrote the book with the hope that teachers might use it in their classrooms because everything else out there is “same old, same old.”  He said with teaching you have to love what you study and convey that love to students.

“You have to have a compulsion to be a good teacher, to try to be a good teacher and to take a subject, history, that so many students found boring in high school and make it interesting and that’s my job. And it’s fun… and it beats working in a factory,” Bean said.
Lectures on Liberty are free and open to the public. The next lecture will be April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Granada Theatre. The speaker will be Benjamin Powell, professor of economics at Suffolk University.

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Greek life is about being involved in the community, according to Ashley McCullough, Alpha Sigma Alpha president and senior communications major. Kappa Sigma President and junior history major Kyle Lococo says it’s about a bond that you form with your brothers in a fraternity.

“It’s more just like a choice that you make when you get here to join something more than just you in college and get away from the normal experience,” Lococo said.

McCullough said Alpha Sigma Alpha’s core values are generosity, growth, responsibility, enjoyment, relationships and learning balance and integrity.

“By keeping those in mind, it just really helps you to be an overall well rounded person and really caring of everybody else,” McCullough said.

There are 59 members in the sorority and McCullough said one of their goals right now is recruiting more girls. She said they are also focusing on encouraging members to get involved in more activities and keeping a strong sisterhood.

The sorority had its district convention in Kansas City this past weekend and some of the girls participated in the Polar Bear Plunge to support Special Olympics on Feb. 20. Alpha Sigma Alpha is also participating in the Lyon County Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society on April 23.

“(Relay for Life) is a fundraiser for the Cancer Society and we have a team called the ‘hard working hippies’ and we just raise money and then we walk from 5 p.m. until 6 in the morning, just to raise awareness and help support the cancer association,” McCullough said.

Freshman English major Katie Galliart said she joined Alpha Sigma Alpha even though she wasn’t sure about being involved in the Greek system. She said the girls were very welcoming and when she walked into the house “it felt like home.”

“I’d seen a lot of TV shows and movies and I was like I don’t know about sororities and stuff but I went over to the house and everybody just seemed really nice,” Galliart said.

Lococo said that Kappa Sigma’s core values center around serving the community. He said it’s important to help out because the fraternity wants to give back to those that help them.

“These are people that we actually spend time with that help us, that help out the community and make sure that this campus continues to run, so we want to give back to them and help them out as best as we can,” Lococo said.

The fraternity gave carnations to the elderly on Valentine’s Day and they are going to Village Elementary School on Monday to play dodge ball and hang out with the kids.

Lococo said the boys are also working to stop the Emporia School Board from making cuts to the music program.

“We’re having a showing at the hearing to try and to show them that even though it’s meant for the elementary schools that the kids of this campus aren’t going to stand for it,” Lococo said. “We feel like those kids need the right education. Even those of us who aren’t specifically in the music program feel that that’s a huge part of their education and they should be allowed to get that the right way.”

Lococo said athletics are important to Kappa Sigma. He said one of the fraternity’s goals is to win a sports championship yearly.

“We’re big into the sports, we compete in (Intrafraternity Council) sports and we usually win that every year,” said Jake Winkler, Kappa Sigma treasurer and sophomore pre-physical therapy major.

Lococo said some other goals they have are to improve their GPA and do more community service than is required.

Lococo said he got involved with Greek life because he came to Emporia not knowing many people. He said when he went to the house for the first time, he connected with everyone.

“Everyone had the same interests I did, did the same kind of stuff I did, and then just getting to know those guys just created a great bond,” Lococo said.

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Speakers, films, poetry readings, award ceremonies and conferences are all on the March agenda as part of a celebration of Women’s History Month.

Karen Smith, director of the Ethnic and Gender Studies Program, coordinated the events for Women’s History Month and also for Black History Month in February.

“Black History month and Women’s History month are important because we need to be reminded of our history and these are recent additions to the United States calendar,” Smith said. “They came in post civil rights movements and post women’s liberation movement.”

She said that it is important not to forget those who changed history.

“Time goes by, it’s been 50 years since the student involvement aspect to the civil rights movement,” Smith said. “People who are in college now don’t know anything about that.

“They know there was Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks, but the actual story I think kind of gets lost and so that’s why we’re kind of trying to keep it alive with having these kinds of events. The same with women’s history. Even though a lot of the events are not actually about history, it’s a way of recognizing women’s accomplishments, achievements, struggles.”

The Women’s History Month Reception at 3:30 p.m. March 5 at the Sauder Alumni Center will host an award ceremony for Leslie Lewis, former professor at Emporia State and founder of the Ethnic and Gender Studies program.

“She’s going to be receiving the Ruth Schillinger Award which we give every year to a woman who has served the women of Emporia State,” Smith said, “And she certainly did by establishing that program.”

Lewis remembered the first Ruth Schillinger award that was given.

“We gave Ruth Schillinger the first award and I have a very distinct memory of that so it’s quite an honor to be thinking about her and her legacy and that award in the context of what the Ethnic and Gender Studies program has done for Emporia State University,” Lewis said.

After eight years of working for ESU, Lewis left in 1999 to teach at the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York, and is currently the Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Ithaca College. She will return to Emporia to receive the award and to give a lecture on the value of liberal arts education at 7 p.m. March 4 in the Kanza Room.

The next event, on March 6, is an all-day conference for middle school girls. It will feature various women speakers with careers in math or science as well as workshops such as “You can do WHAT with Paper!” which is about chemistry and a biology session titled “Chocolate, Past, Present, and Tasty.”

“Women are under-represented in a lot of science and math careers so we just think it’s important for these young women to realize the opportunities that are before them and to plan accordingly to keep working on math and science and see what it can lead to in their future,” said Elizabeth Yanik, professor of mathematics, who helped coordinate the event.

The event will give the girls an opportunity that some presenters said they never had.

“A lot of the women who present, they ended up in math or science but they say ‘I really wish I’d had an opportunity like this,’” Yanik said. “So a lot of women give up their time thinking that it’s a good thing for young women today to see.”

Yanik said that the month overall is a chance for people to reflect of the advancements that women have made.

“I just think it’s a nice time to stop and consider a lot of the important contributions that women have made to society and to this country and I think that’s becoming more well known but certainly in the past.”

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Peggy Lane, associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems and President Michael Lane speak with guest at the Founder’s Day Luncheon Tuesday afternoon in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom. The celebration titled, “Honor the Past – Celebrate Today,” marked the147th year as a university for ESU.

Emporia State celebrated its 147^th year as a university on Tuesday in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom with this year’s Founders’ Day Luncheon themed “Honor the Past – Celebrate Today.” ESU was originally established as the Kansas State Normal School in February 1863.

“It’s an opportunity for students and alumni and supporters of the college to all get together and kind of reflect on the past and then look forward to what we have coming at Emporia State and the many things that the university has accomplished and is doing for students and the community,” said David Sparks, media relations coordinator.

Sparks said members of the Black and Gold and Kellogg Societies were especially invited because of their support and contributions to the school.

“We have people from the Black and Gold Society, which is kind of a support arm of the foundation and also the Kellogg Society and those are people that have indicated a gift to Emporia State in their estates and that kind of thing when they pass on,” Sparks said.

Photos of ESU campus throughout the years were set up outside the ballroom for people to look at.

“It’s kind of a historical look at what’s gone on on-campus in the past,” Sparks said.

A Cajun buffet was served in conjunction with the luncheon’s Mardi Gras theme. The buffet was $8 for guests, but staff and faculty received a discount based on how many years they’ve worked at the university. Sparks said the event was funded by the money it earned.

“I think it’s neat to combine it to the Mardi Gras theme. You know, it’s either Mardi Gras or Valentine’s Day. We kind of fall right in the middle of that aspect,” said James Williams, associate provost and vice president for strategic partnerships.

A welcome was provided by Alumni Association Board of Directors Russ Everhart followed by a student saxophone quartet performance. Students Ethan Francis, Ben Reilly, PJ Stephenson and Matt Vossler performed selections from “Yuppieville Rodeo” by Mike Mower, “Heads Up” by Bill Holcombe, “Night Song,” “Crumpets for Two” and “Cheek to Cheek” by Irving Berlin. Senior music major PJ Stephenson said he thought the luncheon was a good way to display the music department.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to showcase the music department as well as the woodwind portion of the department and it’s a great opportunity for us to meet other people involved with the university, faculty and the donors,” Stephenson said.

ESU’s birthday cake was cut by Paula Sauder who represented the Kellogg Society and Qassim Almukhtar, junior computer and information systems major.

ESU President Michael Lane gave a Founders’ Day message and reception entertainment was provided by pianist Hua Jiang.
Williams said he thinks it’s important to celebrate Founder’s Day because ESU has played an important role in the state and in the lives of many people. He said that the school’s mission is a foundation in providing public access to higher education and that it takes an inclusive approach, creating an institution that supports the students.

“We don’t look at the old cliché of look to your left, look to your right and they’re going to be gone, you know, we want to look to your left, look to your right and everybody’s here at graduation, and I think that makes it special,” Williams said.

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Students for Life, a group of students that support the pro-life movement against abortion, is trying to become a Recognized Student Organization. Junior elementary education major and president of the group Lauren Halstead said her main goal is to spread the word.

“I think my personal goal is just to expand this group and to really get the word out about what abortion is and really promote the fact that it really is a child inside a mother’s womb while she’s pregnant and not just a clump of cells like I hear abortion doctors say over and over,” Halstead said.

There are currently about 13 members in the group. For it to become an RSO, Halstead said they need 21 people to sign a petition, a constitution and an adviser on campus, then they need the approval of Associated Student Government.

Sophomore elementary education and Spanish major Lauren Brown said if ESU Students for Life is an RSO, more students will get involved.

“I think it’s going to make it a lot more accessible for students around campus and it will make it more well-known as well,” Brown said.

At their meeting on Monday, officers were elected, the mission statement was discussed and members planned a movie night featuring the film “Juno,” scheduled for 8 p.m. March 11. Halstead said she hopes to have the event on campus.

“We just planned our movie night with the movie ‘Juno’ because she’s a teenager and it’s kind of controversial in the abortion issue,” Halstead said.

The group has been meeting Monday nights at the Didde Catholic Campus Center, but Halstead said she wants to move to a room somewhere on campus in order to encourage non-Catholic involvement.
“For now, I think we’re going to keep our meetings here but I think we’re gonna get a room on campus so that it becomes more welcoming to people and not just tied down because I know the church can be kind of intimidating sometimes,” Halstead said.

Halstead said that although being pro-life is a big part of being Catholic, people outside of the church believe in the movement too.

“From going to the March for Life in Washington two Januarys in high school, it’s not just Catholics who believe that,” Halstead said. “All around the nation and different faiths, different beliefs, different public standpoints or political standpoints, so I really would like to branch out to other organizations.”

Halstead said she decided to start the group after attending the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) national conference in Orlando, Florida, over winter break. A speaker there, Lila Rose, was 21 and had been working for the pro-life movement since she was about 15 years old.

“I heard her speak and that really kind of inspired me to bring something back on campus,” Halstead said.

Junior elementary education major Taryn Lobmeyer said she joined the group because she is against abortions. She said the people in the group are great.

“They’re fun to hang out with and fun to be around with and they’ll help you through anything,” Lobmeyer said.

Brown said she likes being around others who share her pro-life standpoint and she hopes other people help support them.

“I like being around people who share my beliefs and who share my convictions and who see it as an important issue that needs to be tackled and needs to be dealt with as a society and being able to do what we can as students,” Brown said.

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If you’ve looked at the Emporia State Web site this month, you may have noticed some changes to the design. Director of Marketing Brad Goebel said the changes were made to make navigation easier and cater to prospective students.

“That’s probably one of the biggest changes we made to the web server is trying to bring in all of these pages so that they’re more visible to prospective or future students.,” said John Parton, student assistant to the webmaster and senior mathematics and computer science major.

Parton said there are new pages that serve to highlight the degrees and courses that ESU offers in order to give prospective students information. He said that because the old site was a little dated, they wanted to bring it up to speed, especially in the 21^st century where the web is an important medium for attracting potential students.

“There are a lot of really nice things that perspective students would see and say, ‘Oh this looks nice, this is somewhere where I’d actually want to go to school,’” Parton said.

Goebel said changes were made to make the site cleaner and less cluttered so people could find information more readily. He said the goal was to make the site simpler.

“The idea is that we really need to make things easy to find so navigation was a key component in the new design to try and get people to find what they need very quickly and very easily,” Goebel said.

Freshman elementary education major Becky Young said she likes the tabs at the top of the site because they are easier to find and make it easier to navigate.

“The new layout is really easy to get to and easy to find things that I need to find and I like it a lot better,” Young said.

Parton said the drop down boxes in the top left hand corner have always been on the site in a “quick links” drop down under the banner, but now it’s higher up on the page to show that it has priority over some of the other things. He said there were about 20 links in the middle of the page that are now included in the drop down bar.

“We’re more focusing on the drop down, which was on the old template, but we’re focusing on it because since we removed all this stuff, it might make navigation easier for new students,” Parton said.

Goebel said the Web site was many years old and had 37,000 web pages, so redesigning was a large project. He said he uses the analogy of a family that buys a house and keeps adding rooms to the house as the family grows until they’ve created something that’s not very efficient to describe the site.

“It’s a very, very large Web site, so it’s a lot to get everything together,” Goebel said. “It’s been a process and continues to be.”

Goebel said marketing has worked to move pages over and eliminate broken links, but with all the web pages it has been difficult to keep up.

“Fortunately all the departments do a really good job of trying to keep their areas up to date and that sort of thing so that helps a lot”, Goebel said.

Although a lot of change has been made to the design, Goebel said there is still work to be done. He hopes to bring more media to the Web site, like embedded video, audio and more photography.

“We have a very competent university photography department and they’re working overtime to get stuff put together for that,” Goebel said.

Parton said small changes are being made to the site every day.

“What I keep saying is that it’s a living thing, because it is,” Parton said. “Every day, even an incremental or small change can be significant.”

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Junior Elementary Education major, Liana Farnen makes decorations while at the speed mixer table Wednesday afternoon in the Memorial Union. The mixer, hosted by UAC, is one of several events planned for the holiday. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Love is in the air at Emporia State as students celebrate Valentine’s Day across campus.

The art department is showing their Valentine spirit with their 6^th annual Valentine’s Day Art Show at the Emporia Arts Council. The show opened Feb. 2 and ends with a reception on Sunday. Works from ESU faculty, former students and current students are featured. All artwork is for sale and proceeds go to the art department’s general scholarships. Admission to the show is free.

“We’ll have refreshments and some food and it’s before all of the really big stuff starts, so it’s kind of a prelude to Valentine’s Day events,” said Roberta Eichenberg, assistant professor of sculpture.

Students who live in the Towers Complex can send each other V-Grams. There will be a table in the Towers lobby from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Hearts are 50 fifty cents and cans of crush soda are $1. Profits from the V-Grams go to Shiloh House, a local women’s shelter. Complex coordinator Carol Blade said she’s done this at other schools and called it “a crush for a crush.”

“It’s only for Towers this year. We’re kind of just starting it, so we want to see how it goes before we start working on making it any larger,” Blade said.

V-Grams will be delivered in students’ mailboxes or to their rooms, depending on how many are sold.

“It’s just kind of a program to help people spread a little bit of Valentine’s joy to each other,” Blade said.

The Towers Complex will also host a stoplight party on Feb. 15 where those who are single wear green, those who are dating wear yellow and those who are taken wear red. Blades said there will be food and games at the party.

“The Towers is all first year students so we just want to have a lot of activities to build up that first year class and help people to get to know each other and also just to build a community between the first years,” Blade said.

The Union Activities Council is holding a two minute Valentine mixer tonight at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. It is free for all ESU students, but donations will be taken for Hearts for Haiti, sponsored by the American Red Cross.

“It’s a freewill monetary donation so you don’t have to donate right when you come in, but we will accept them,” said Christina Holt, sophomore elementary education major who planned the event.

Holt said there will be cookie decorating and Valentine making.

“It kind of is like the high school dance set up,” Holt said. “It’s just a night for fun and to relax and be with everybody. It’s kind of cheesy so everyone likes that.”

The A Capella choir is doing Valentine-O-Grams on Friday and Saturday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. around Emporia. Valentine-O-Grams are singing telegrams that come with a hand-made Valentine. Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Terry Barham said they have been doing these valentines for 10-12 years and people seem to love them.

“People call and say ‘they made me cry,’” Barham said. “We’re talking really good singers, you know.”

Orders for the valentines had to be made by Feb. 7. People got to choose two of four songs: “Baby Face.” “I Love You Truly,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and “I Love You a Bushel and a Peck.” They were $10 for ESU students and the proceeds are helping students make payments on the choir’s tour of England, which will be from May 27 – June 4.

“We think it’s a public service and the students they love doing it, they really do,” Barham said.

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“Are oral and anal sex okay in God’s perspective?” a curious student asked anonymously last Thursday at the second of a triad of dating, sex and love discussions sponsored by Christian Challenge.

The forum featured Christian rock music, a brief history lecture on God’s plan for sex as depicted in the bible and an open discussion where participants could ask questions verbally or anonymously about sex. Anonymous questions were submitted in a jar at the beginning of the meeting. Questions spanned topics from “what’s acceptable in a dating relationship?” to “is it okay to have sex if we plan to get married?”

“I try to talk about sex and relationships every year at least once because I feel like there are lots of opportunities for students to hear other perspectives,” said Jason Huebner, director of Christian Challenge. “If you want to know what your roommate thinks about sex or relationships, your roommate’s right there. I think if a student wants to know the Bible’s perspective on sex or what God would say about it or how relationships are supposed to work from a Christian perspective, there’s not a lot of opportunity to ask hard questions or to be really honest about that stuff.”

Huebner’s goal was to create an atmosphere where students could comfortably ask questions and voice their concerns about sex while soliciting answers from a biblical viewpoint.

“I think a lot of these questions, students are asking each other, are asking someone or they’re asking themselves,” Huebner said. “I would be surprised if they asked these same questions in church, or with a stranger, or with a lot of people, but we try to make people as comfortable as they can be, to be honest and to be real and that’s why I try to be as straight forward as possible about what I think is right or what I think the bible says.”

By informing college-aged Christians of their responsibilities regarding sex in God’s perspective, Huebner hopes to give them the “tools to be able to make more mature decisions,” despite their changing environment.

“I think we would be naive if we assumed that college students go from the shelter of living with their parents to the freedom of college, and with that complete freedom always make wise choices, regardless of whether a person is a Christian or whatever their world view or belief system,” Huebner said.

He says the issue of premarital sex is not one defined socially, but rather biblically.

“The Bible doesn’t say (premarital sex) is a problem, but the bible’s language is that it is a sin, and that just means that it’s something that goes against what God desires,” Huebner said. “I would say that’s a problem no matter who you are or what your age. If you are making decisions with your life that go against what God desires, I think you need to know about that.”

As relating to the college campus, Huebner said sex is a concern of many individuals.

“It’s not a problem on the same level that starvation or war are problems, but it’s not a good thing,” he said. “If it wasn’t an issue, the university wouldn’t bring speakers in to talk about sex and college students wouldn’t get pregnant or contract STDs or end up emotionally broken by relationships that fall apart and sexual relationships that end in a bad breakup.”

He acknowledges that the discussion is not appropriate for all settings, but instead focused on those who are likely to share his viewpoints because of a common belief system.

“My guidance from the Bible isn’t for everyone on campus,” Huebner said. “I wouldn’t go visit the fraternity or the sorority or a gathering of students on campus and say, ‘none of you should have sex until you’re married because I said it’s right.’ All I can say is that if you are pursuing a relationship with Jesus, then he has something to say to you about sex: that sex should be in the context of marriage and that’s the only context where it’s right. In that context it’s great, it’s beautiful, it’s how he designed it and it connects a husband and a wife together. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

Katrina Kinnan, senior secondary education social studies and art major, complimented the discussion for addressing a topic that she feels Christians often avoid.

“It’s good for people to be able to hear that perspective and be able to ask questions if they need to,” Kinnan said, “because I know that it’s kind of true that if people come to Christian things like this, they may come from a Christian background where maybe they got a perspective that they shouldn’t talk about it or should avoid it or something like that and I think it’s good to talk about and discuss it.”

Daniel Buller, graduate student in history, felt the forum presented a fresh view on a familiar topic, and in doing so clarified misunderstandings about the Christian perspective of sex.

“I think there are misconceptions out there about what the Christian view is on a lot of this stuff,” Buller said. “I think it’s good that Jason addresses it and he does it from a biblical perspective. I’ve benefited from it. Hearing about it more kind of makes you think about it more. You can always learn something new even if you feel like you agree with it.”

Kinnan said the topic of the discussion is important because it can relate to everyone.

“Sex seems to be part of our culture and part of the way we are,” Kinnan said. “I’d be shocked if somebody never has to deal with it.”

The next discussion will focus on love tonight at 7 p.m. in Visser Hall 330.

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A model wearing clothes designed and made by Angelia Barbee walks the runway Saturday night at the Post Abandon Thrift Store at 427 Merchant St. The fashion show was held prior to a live concert to mark the opening of the venue as a new place for live music in Emporia. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Music thumped as the lights came up on a model dressed in a creation by designer Angelia Barbee at the Post Abandon Thrift Store’s “Black Lace” fashion show.

            “I like how nobody else in the world has (Angelia’s clothes),” said Jordan Peterson, junior dental hygiene major. “They are so individual, they are so edgy and they are so like pretty and gothic mixed together – they are so different.”

            The show on Jan. 10 at had a concert after featuring bands Coronado Left for Dead, Mariner, The Overseer and A Weekend in December.

            Angelia and her husband, Joshua Barbee, opened the thrift store three months ago. The couple moved to Emporia, where Joshua grew up, to take care of his terminally ill mother.

            Joshua said they opened the store to create something positive for the town. He hopes to have bimonthly live music performances in the back room of the shop, where the fashion show was held.

“We’re going to be doing music because there’s nowhere else for people to go except for the bars,” he said. “There’s not a place that’s really a positive environment not that those places are bad by any means.”

            Having played in four or five signed bands and with experience as a guitar technician for the band Yellowcard, Joshua said that he wants to create a venue where it’s all about the music.

            “A lot of the places end up doing a makeshift stage, a makeshift PA hook, and the experience kind of lessens if you’re just there for the music,” he said.
            Joshua said he also wants to create a venue that’s safe for all ages. He said some parents might be uncomfortable letting their children attend a show at a bar.

            “We’re just trying to give parents the peace of mind that this is a somewhat moral environment,” Joshua said. “I mean at any given time nobody’s going to come by and say that there’s anything bad going on other than people just enjoying themselves, having a good time and listening to music. And that’s the goal.”

            The thrift store not only offers used clothing, but Angelia’s fashions and Joshua’s screen printed t-shirts are sold there as well. Prices on Angelia’s designs range from $20 to $200. She also does custom designs.

            “Instead of driving an hour and a half to go to Kansas City, you can just drive down the street and get the same thing for probably cheaper,” Angelia said.

            Angelia said she began designing when Joshua bought her a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago. For the show, she said some of the models influenced her designs. She said fashion designer Betsey Johnson also inspires her work.

            “My main goal is to make girls feel confident in what they wear,” she said.

            Over 200 people attended the event, including the models and band members. Joshua said that he was shocked that so many people came.

            “Hopefully if people really enjoy it and word of mouth spreads we can keep doing this because that’s really why we’re doing this is getting people there and giving people a little something extra to do and adding character to our community,” he said.

            After growing up in Emporia, Joshua said he wants to bring something new for young people in town to do. He said some places try to cater to the younger demographic but may not be as in touch with college students as they think.

            “We’re kind of hoping to create a niche for a lot of people that just don’t necessarily feel like they always fit in,” Joshua said.

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