Northern IowanThe University of Northern Iowa’s student-produced newspaper since 1892

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I Volume 107, Issue 26 I Cedar Falls, Iowa I northern-iowan.org

national news

UNI’s cancellation process It’s rare, but it hap-pens – a college snow day. When the weather is severe enough, the University of Northern Iowa will come to a screeching halt and alarm clocks will be turned off with a smile of relief. Students know that it takes a powerful blizzard for UNI officials to shut down campus. Luckily, some pro-fessors who live further away from campus choose to cancel classes and many students are aware of this. “I really appreciate when professors send out an email prior to class time so I don’t

SAM JEFSONStaff Writer

CASSANDRA HAYNE/Northern Iowan

The UNI volleyball team had high hopes for their postseason Friday night as they prepared for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Unfourtantely, UNI fell short, losing a five-set match against Missouri.

See VOLLEYBALL, page 3

Dreams shatteredMissouri derails Northern Iowa’s NCAA

Entering Friday night’s contest against Missouri, the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team had high aspirations for the NCAA tournament. Faster than an Ellie Blankenship jump serve, those dreams were gone.

A raucous McLeod Center wasn’t enough for the Panthers in a five-set match featuring action to make even the most casual volley-ball fan stand up and cheer.

“It was an absolutely amazing atmosphere for the NCAA tournament,” said Northern Iowa head coach Bobbi Petersen. “It was

everything it should have been tonight, so I am very thankful for our fans.”

Entering the match, fifth-seeded Northern Iowa carried a 30-2 record. The team looked unstoppable and hadn’t been pushed to a five-set match since Sep. 10. On Friday, the formula that had proved success-ful all year was stopped. Missouri had an answer for every ace or kill Northern Iowa threw at them.

“It’s hard to be done,” Petersen said. “But to be able to be done in a hard-fought battle with an amazing crowd and a great NCAA atmosphere, I guess if you’re going to lose,

SARAH KELZERStaff Writer

See CANCELLATION, page 3

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY O’LOUGHLIN

UNI closed campus on Dec. 9 last year as a result of inclement weather. Lawther Field was covered in snow as the Cedar Valley received several inches.

NISG senate overhauls

constitutionMany colleges pressed to give credit for work

experience

Laid off at the start of the recession as the market-ing director for a regional homebuilder, Leah Schedin quickly realized she lacked something essential for a new job: a university degree. Schedin had completed courses here and there at a community college, but never enough for a bach-elor’s degree. Without one, she found, her 18 years of experience didn’t matter. “These days, you’re applying online, and you’re filtered out as soon as you get to the question about whether you have a degree,” said the 46-year-old, who’s married and has a teenage daughter. So Schedin put her tal-ents to work finding a uni-versity where she could get academic credit for her work experience. She found one: City University of Seattle, a private, nonprofit institution that’s at the vanguard of a

JON MARCUSThe Hechinger Report

MCT Campus

See WORK EXPERIENCE, page 2

After two weeks of dis-cussion, the Northern Iowa Student Government passed a bill Wednesday that, pend-ing approval by the stu-dent body, will make sev-eral changes to its constitu-tion. Students will vote to approve or reject the bill during the student govern-ment elections in February. The constitutional changes, which passed by a vote of 22-1-2, are largely changes for linguistic clar-ification and changes that reflect how the student gov-ernment operates. The most significant change passed will eliminate interim com-mittees, which are 30-mem-ber bodies that replace the senate during the summer. If the bill is passed, matters that arise over the summer will instead be discussed and resolved during a special meeting of at least half of the total transitional senate members. The bill also removes from the constitution the statement that all senate meetings are open to the public. According to Senator Gage Rewerts, the author of the change, specific guide-lines for when the public may be present at senate meetings will be added to the body’s bylaws to match the way the senate has acted historically. “They will be open unless on matter of debate on appointments of people and persons to the senate, con-firming the appointments of chief justices, justices, and general executive appoint-ments” in order to ensure that senators can speak frankly against a certain appointment without over-stepping propriety, Rewerts said. The original bill pre-sented to the senate by the Government and Legislative Affairs committee on Nov. 24 contained several contro-versial changes that did not make it into the final bill.

JOHN ANDERSONExecutive Editor

See OVERHAUL, page 4

Men’s Glee Club celebrates 50 years at UNI Page 5

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Friday, November 12, 2010Volume 107, Issue 22

Et ceteraThe Northern Iowan is published semi-weekly on Tuesday and Friday during the academic year; weekly on Friday during the summer session, except for holidays and examination periods, by the University of Northern Iowa, L011 Maucker Union, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0166 under the aus-pices of the Board of Student Publications.

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NEWS I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 2

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WORK EXPERIENCEcontinued from page 1

movement catering to the growing numbers of adult learners and military vet-erans who are changing careers in the worst eco-nomic downturn since the Great Depression. At the end of next semester, she’ll head back into the churning job market with a four-year degree in marketing after just 18 months. Universities and colleges are being pressed to increase graduation rates and speed up the time it takes for stu-dents to complete degrees by awarding college credit for their life and work expe-rience. A national campaign that starts Friday will pro-mote the sometimes-derided practice with a program to help adults prepare online portfolios of their job expe-rience that independent fac-ulty will evaluate for aca-demic credit.

One hundred institutions in 30 states are on board. Top higher-education asso-ciations back the coalition, and major foundations are bankrolling it. It hopes to reach tens of thousands of people within five years. The push coincides with President Barack Obama’s goal of boosting the num-ber of college graduates by 5 million before the end of the decade, and it comes as states and higher education institutions are moving away from strict demands for seat time and credit hours. There’s a growing aware-ness that Obama’s goal can’t be reached without encour-aging older students such as Schedin. “My goal is to be back in my career,” Schedin said as she enjoyed some rare downtime in a corner of the CityU cafeteria. “I wanted to get through fast, and I wanted some credit for those years I’ve put in.”

Only a handful of peo-ple take advantage of the opportunity to cash in on work experience: Just two dozen out of CityU’s 2,500 American students have sought such credits, a ratio that’s similar to what other schools report. “It’s just not happening at the pace or scale it should be, given all these people out there with learning that has occurred in other venues,” said Pamela Tate, the presi-dent and CEO of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, which is behind the new campaign. One reason is that many faculty members look down their noses at the practice and discourage their institu-tions and students from par-ticipating. “They still believe that ‘if you weren’t in my class, you couldn’t possibly know it,’” Tate said. The idea of credit for learning from experience also took a hit when Wal-

Mart announced in June that it would team with a private, for-profit university to offer employees academic credit for things they did at work. “People thought employ-ees at Wal-Mart were get-ting college credit for learn-ing how to use the cash regis-ter,” said Marie Cini, the vice provost at the University of Maryland University College, the online branch of the Maryland state uni-versity system. “If you use a really rigorous assessment process, that is not the case.” Credit for work experi-ence can have its downsides. The credits are difficult to transfer if you change universities, and substitut-ing them for introductory requirements can cause problems for students later in their careers, when they can’t keep up with class-mates in writing or other basic academic skills. Experiential learning was first tried after World War I, when returning soldiers who enrolled in college were allowed to skip straight to sophomore year as a reward for their military service. But they proved unprepared for more advanced work, and the practice largely lapsed. Low U.S. college gradu-ation rates are helping to drive a revival. Less than 60 percent of college students earn bachelor’s degrees within six years, and the U.S. has fallen from first in the world to 10th in the propor-tion of 25- to 34-year-olds with associate’s degrees or higher. For a variety of reasons, increasing numbers of the nation’s 16 million univer-sity and college students are older than traditional high school graduates. Forty per-cent are 25 and older. A study of 48 schools by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning found that students who get credit for their experience are more likely to complete degrees. “All of our institutional frameworks have been cre-ated around 18-year-olds coming out of high schools without any experience. They’re the empty vessels into which we pour knowl-edge. But when you’re a working adult, you’re hardly an empty vessel,” said Lee

Gorsuch, the president of CityU. “You learn by doing,” Gorsuch added. “We’re not anti-intellectual, but can you balance a spreadsheet or can’t you?” Even more established institutions such as the University of Maryland University College and Valdosta State University in Georgia are beginning to accept credits from experi-ence. “It’s coming back now in a big way because there is this national push from the federal government,” Maryland’s Cini said. “We’re looking for new ways to help people realize that, even if they’ve been out in the work force and have three kids and a busy life, there are ways to get a college degree that won’t take 20 years.” Universities aren’t doing this solely out of altruism. Adult learners increasing-ly seek schools that give them credit for experience, according to a survey by the higher-education market-ing company Stamats. That means the potential for more tuition and more applicants, which enhances an institu-tion’s reputation. While no one tracks the number of credits awarded in this way, Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges, a consortium whose members offer academic credit for military experience, reports that 45,892 students earned 805,473 credits last year for their military training and experience. For those military students who are pursuing four-year degrees, that’s an average of about 22 semester credits each out of the 120 to 180 credits that usually are needed. Navy veteran John McGowan was awarded enough credits for his elec-tronics training and other military experience that he got a bachelor’s degree in half the usual time from Irvine, Calif.-based Brandman University, even while working full time. “I went from zero college to a bachelor’s degree in two years,” McGowan said.

NEWS I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 3

Dr. Sue Follon Scholarship for Women in LeadershipDr. Sue Follon served as Vice President for Educational and Student Services at the University of Northern Iowa from 1985 until her death from lung cancer on November 4, 1998. She was the first women to be named vice president at UNI.

Scholarship Guidlines for 2011-2012Description and Criteria:This scholarship recognizes students for their leadership contributions to UNI and potential to model leadership for women. Applicants should show evidence of leadership potential through their awareness of social issues, including those affecting women; desire to make a difference; demonstrated commitment to serving others; and ethical behavior. The committee will consider both breadth and depth of leadership activities. Consideration will be given to leadership accomplishments, particularly at UNI, as well as potential future contributions. Applicants must be undergraduate students who have completed at least 30 credit hours and will be returning for the following academic year (both fall and spring semesters) and are required to be full-time students each semester. A cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher is required.

Amount: $3,500 one-year award applied directly to the student’s university bill (half each semester).

Application deadline: You are required to use the Common Scholarship Application at http://www.uni.edu/finaid/. The deadline for submission is Tuesday, February 15.

tree lighting ceremony 2010

have to bundle up and trek through the windiest campus in the world just to find out I get to turn around and trek back home,” said Sara Hermsen, a junior health promo-tion major. “After all, there is nothing better in college than waking up to a snow day and being able to stay in your sweats all day.” An unfortunate effect of “sweat days” is the fact that universities usually do not make up snow days. Therefore, if too much mate-rial still needs to be covered, professors may choose to either assign the material as extra homework or to skip over it entirely. If crews can get the streets, sidewalks and entryways reasonably clear, UNI will have classes. On the rare occasion UNI does make the snow day announcement, the Provost, Vice President of Administration and the Director of Public Safety are the ones making the final decision.

The verdict is not made lightly. The offi-cials are well aware of UNI’s 13,000 student enrollment, with only about 4,200 living on campus. With so many driving to get to class, safety is the number one issue in public officials minds. “Sometimes people don’t always use good common sense and don’t take stock of what the driving conditions are,” said Bob Younie, state maintenance engineer for the Iowa Department of Transportation. For example, Younie recalls an incident when the patrol picked up a college student walking on the highway wearing nothing but flip-flops and shorts when the tempera-ture was 20 degrees below zero. “We’re just asking folks to use their common sense and to think of their own personal safety before they make their trip decisions,” Younie said.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS/Northern Iowan

Students and community members enjoyed an evening of crafts, treats and singing Saturday during the College Hill Partnership’s Tree Lighting and Holiday Soical. The event concluded with a tree lighting ceremoney conducted by Santa Claus.

VOLLEYBALLcontinued from page 1

CANCELLATIONcontinued from page 1

it’s a special way to go out.”The momentum shift-

ing match featured 25 tie scores and 10 different lead changes. The two teams were reminiscent of heavy-weight fighters trading hay-makers back and forth until Missouri dealt the knockout punch in game five.

“You could use the word epic to describe this match,” Missouri head coach Wayne Kreklow said. “It was a bat-tle the whole way and one of the more intense hard-fought matches I have ever been in.”

The match truly did go back and forth, with Missouri winning all of the odd games and Northern Iowa winning games two and four.

Missouri jumped to the early lead by taking game one by a score of 25-19. Northern Iowa surrendered an early lead and could never match pace with the Tigers in the opening frame.

Game two was all Northern Iowa, with the Panthers winning 25-17. UNI received a spark late in game two from Krista DeGeest, who had two blocks and a kill in the last four points of the match.

Games three and four proved to capture the inten-sity and spirit of the match, with each game going into extra points. Missouri claimed game three by a score of 26-24, securing the final point on a tip play from Julianna Klein. In game four UNI’s steely determination

was palpable as they refused to go down easily. Despite jumping out to a 19-14 lead, the Panthers let the Tigers back into the match, allow-ing them to tie the score at 24-24. Points were then traded until 26-26 when DeGeest once again came up with a huge block to put the Panthers in position for a 28-26 game four win.

“The team felt really good about winning that fourth game,” Petersen said. “Especially with how excit-ing it got at the end, they were able to hang on and pull it out.”

In the fifth frame, Missouri controlled play for the majority of the game, pulling away from a 7-7 tie and never looking back. The Tigers eventually took the final set 15-10 on a blister-ing Julianna Klein kill from the back row.

The loss to Missouri marks the end of three fan-tastic careers for seniors Ellie Blankenship, Chelsea Saunders and Beth Discher.

“The hardest part about being done is not being able to be with this team anymore.” Petersen said. “I know each team is different and we are going to rebuild, but this was an extremely special team.”

“We have a lot of tal-ent on the team, even the people that didn’t get to play this year,” Bre Payton said. “We are really going to miss Ellie, Beth and Chelsea, obviously, ‘cause they are a really big part of our team, but year in and year out we are going to fight and play hard as a team.”

PAGE 4 NEWS I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org

EXTENDED LIBRARY HOURS FORFINAL EXAM WEEK

Wed.-Thur.FridaySaturdaySundayMon.-Tue.WednesdayThursdayThursdayFriday

Dec. 8-9Dec. 10Dec. 11Dec. 12Dec. 13-14Dec. 15Dec. 16Dec. 16Dec. 17

7:30 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.7:30 a.m. – 12:00 midnight9:00 a.m. – 12:00 midnight9:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.7:30 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.7:30 a.m. – 12:00 midnight7:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.7:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Library hours for Dec. 8 –14 are extended hours. Please Note: Patrons may check out materials and enter the building until ten minutes to the closing time.

Library online resources are available 24/7; if off campus, you will get a prompt to enter your CatID.

OVERHAULcontinued from page 1

Perhaps the most controver-sial of these changes was the proposal to remove the word “diversity” from the title of the Director of Diversity and Student Life. “As the author (of that change), I felt that having ‘diversity’ in the name took away from the primary goal of the position of Student Life,” said Rewerts, who chairs the GALA committee. “When it was first put in, I was at the senate meeting when we first codified the position and settled it down, and there was lengthy debate on this topic, and ‘diver-sity’ passed by a very small margin. And I was of the opin-ion that in fact diversity was taken to the extreme of student life, and GALA also voted on that and decided that was the case.”

The proposal met with heat-ed opposition in the senate. “As arguably the most homogenous state university (in Iowa), don’t you feel it’s important that we emphasize our efforts to spread diversity?” Senator Robert Conway asked. After questioning how this change would further the goals of student government, Senator Dale Yurz asserted that the change would cause several practical problems as well, as the title “Director of Diversity and Student Life” currently appears on a lot of univer-sity paperwork that would then have to be amended. The senate voted to amend the bill to retain the title by a vote of 27-2-1. Another controversial change was the removal of the power of recall from the student body. As the constitu-tion currently states, elections must be held for the recall of a

specific senator or the student body president after a petition by a certain percentage of that representative’s constituency. The proposed bill, however, removed this power. Rewerts proposed retain-ing this power during the second reading of the bill on Wednesday, stating that it was not as popular as pre-dicted. This was unanimously approved. The bill also proposed removing the guidelines for impeachment from the constitu-tion, which would then instead state that the senate would have the power of “approv-ing the censure or dismissal of any member of the Student Government by a tow-thirds majority.” “This here should prop-erly be put (in the bylaws),” Rewerts said of the impeach-ment guidelines, adding that the current impeachment pro-

cess is extremely slow and should be modified and added to the bylaws. Some senators did not want to remove the impeachment procedures from the constitu-tion before first seeing proposed procedures for the bylaws, how-ever. “I would like to see a pro-posal for (the procedures for the bylaws) and then at the same time move to remove this from the constitution,” said Senator Spencer Walrath. The senate voted to retain the impeachment guidelines with some modifications for lin-guistic clarity 20-3-2. The proposed bill also amended the line of succession for the office of the presidency, removing from it the executive positions – director of admin-istration, director of public relations, director of diversity and student life and director of governmental relations – so that succession would go directly from the vice president to the speaker of the senate to the deputy speaker and to the chairs of the different senate committees. “The officers of the execu-tive branch are appointed pri-marily to fulfill a niche position within the organization. With the exception of the vice presi-dent, everyone in that chain is not elected… So (we removed these officers from the line of succession) in order to keep democratic representation as full as possible as well as to keep… somebody, say, who

is really great at public rela-tions and design, who would never consider going before the regents and making demands and negotiations (from filling that role). Whereas your aver-age senator doesn’t sign up for these things either, but we should hope by putting them-selves up for election they’re at least more conditioned for it than someone who was appointed for their skill on the computer.” Many senators opposed this change. “We don’t feel like we are prepared to take over the presidency,” said Senator Ryan Trump of the senate commit-tee chairs. The original line of succes-sion was retained by a vote of 25-1-0. The initial proposal also removed from the student body president the power to preside over meetings of the student body and the power to call sen-ate meetings, both of which were retained without opposi-tion. “The president should retain the right to call meetings of the senate in case something comes up that they’re aware passed by the university administration, board of regents, state govern-ment — whatever, that requires a vote of the senate to happen in a time frame that does not allow us to do it during our next regularly scheduled meet-ing,” Walrath said.

The University of Northern Iowa’s student-produced newspaper since 1892

5FeaturesTuesday, December 7, 2010 I Volume 107, Issue 26 I Cedar Falls, Iowa I northern-iowan.org

Four University of Northern Iowa campus dining and retail locations – Prexy’s, Essentials, 23rd Street Market and Biscotti’s – have put up Christmas trees for the holiday season. They’re not just for decoration, however. The trees have paper orna-ments attached with an item request, gender and age, e.g., “Clothes, boy, age 1.” Students, faculty and staff are invited to take an ornament off the tree, purchase the item and place it, unwrapped, in one of the boxes near the giving trees. The donations will be col-lected by the Salvation Army in Waterloo and be made available to families in the Cedar Valley in need of assis-tance obtaining clothing and toys for their children. About 1,000 families in the area are in need of help. According to Barb Burbridge, assistant manager of dining services, the giving tree program grew out of an annual Christmas giving project among food service staff in the Maucker Union

administrative office. The staff members would “adopt” a couple of families who were in need during the holidays,

and ended up with extra money to donate.

Glee Club celebrates 50 years at UNI

UNI community invited to give back with giving trees

Graduate Student Highlights

Olesen: Making a difference in the local community

By JACKIE McANDREWGraduate Student Affairs

By KARI BRAUMANNEditorial Staff

By KARI BRAUMANNStaff Writer

Serving as firefighter in Cedar Rapids and working hard in school are among Andy Olesen’s top priori-ties. Olesen, a second-year University of Northern Iowa public policy graduate stu-dent, knows how to keep busy. Among his other com-mitments, Olesen has built his own consulting practice, Olesen and Associates. But his own business isn’t his biggest accomplishment. So what is his top priority at the moment? “Most importantly, I want to raise two healthy kids,” he said. As a father, husband, stu-dent, firefighter and small business owner, Olesen is a busy guy. However, he said the decision to go back to school at UNI was the best choice for him and his family. “Proximity played a big role,” he said. “I had to choose a school with a program that I was interested in and still

be able to make the c o m m u t e from my home so that I could c o n t i n u e to work and raise my family. Also, (UNI) offered the only MPP program in the state. It was best that my interests in public policy suited this program, rather than try to adjust to different programs elsewhere.” Once Andy began his graduate studies, he realized that it would be an adjust-ment. “I have to maintain my full-time career,” he said. “I have an established family to worry about, and after being out of school for a few years, I hadn’t written in awhile. It was quite the transition back into education.” But Andy’s dedication to his career, family and educa-tion is apparent in all of his

ANNA SCHRECK/Northern Iowan

Salvation Army giving trees are located in Prexy’s, Essentials, 23rd Street Market and Biscotti’s.

See GIVING, page 6 See OLESEN, page 8

See GLEE CLUB, page 8

Courtesy photo

Members of the UNI Varsity Men’s Glee Club performed at the 33rd Annual Christmas Variety Show Saturday. The show marked the 50th anniversary of the Glee Club’s founding in 1960.

ANDY OLESENgraduate student

In the dark hush of a packed Great Hall, University of Northern Iowa Varsity Men’s Glee Club members past and present filled the stage and aisles, encircling the audi-ence in a candle-lit procession. As their voices moved through the harmonies of traditional Christmas carols, one could almost feel the audience hold-ing its breath in captivation. More than 100 UNI Varsity Men’s Glee Club alumni joined the current ensemble for the final performance of the Glee Club’s 33rd Annual Christmas Variety Show Saturday night. Their appearance marks the 50th anniversary of the Glee Club’s founding in 1960. “It was so special. ... When you see all these alumni, you can see exactly how important Glee Club has been for a lot of UNI men, and how important it’s going to be for the guys in the group,” said John Len

Wiles, the Glee Club’s director. The alumni performance, which began the second half of the show, was the icing on the cake for a show that did not disappoint. The program followed a time-tested for-mat. Old standbys were inter-

spersed with new delights such as “Betelehemu,” a Nigerian Christmas song featuring spir-ited percussion accompani-ment, and an appearance by the UNI Children’s Choir. “This is one of those things that kicks off people’s holiday

seasons,” said Kyle Ferden, a senior communication studies major in his fifth year with the Glee Club. As in years past, the ensem-ble began the night with “We Need A Little Christmas” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time

of the Year.” An arrangement of “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” by former Glee Club director Bob Byrnes, who ini-tiated the Christmas variety shows, was also featured. After a vibrant dance num-ber by Orchesis, the Glee Club’s play, “The Dark Knight Before Christmas (in 3D)” made its debut. The villainous Joker, played by the play’s author, Ian Goldsmith, plots to cre-ate chaos by unleashing Bieber Fever on the world. Batman is forced to choose between all the world’s presents and the Glee Club. Fortunately, Santa enters to save the day with the Christmas spirit and a much-needed gift for Batman – a cough drop. After intermission, the Glee Club alumni in attendance united with this year’s group in song. The alumni began their singing in the aisles and later joined the current Glee Club members on the stage. “It was really cool, having

PAGE 6 FEATURES I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org

The University of Northern Iowa Strayer-Wood Theatre introduced a production called “Mother Hicks,” by Suzan Zeder and Gretta Berghammer, on Dec. 2-5. The play is set in south-ern Illinois during the Great Depression. Using the power of poetry and sign language to move the audience, it tells the journey of three characters: an orphan girl known only as Girl; a deaf boy, Tuc; and Mother Hicks, a peculiar outsider and alleged witch. There were many reasons why Berghammer wanted to direct “Mother Hicks,” but one stood out more than the rest. “This story itself, despite taking place 65 years ago, is relevant to a 21st-century audience,” said Berghammer, a UNI professor of theatre. “We find ourselves facing similar economic uncertainty, anxi-ety and fear now as we did during the Great Depression. The need for communities to enlarge themselves and adapt to newness is perhaps more

important now then it was back then. We live in times that are changing with great speed; in that effort, how do we all move forward without leaving people behind?” The cast of “Mother Hicks” spent long hours preparing for the production. “My favorite part about being involved in ‘Mother Hicks’ has been the whole pro-cess of learning the sign lan-guage and working for and with the deaf community to bring this show to life,” said Kenosha Carr, a junior theatre performance major and chorus member in the play. “It’s so wonderful to learn new things and be able to share this story with everyone.” Tyler Gracey, a sophomore theatre performance major who played Wilson Walker, has acted since he was 8 years old and has been involved with plays for six years now. “I loved being able to work with a new cast and director,” he said. “Every practice is dif-ferent and it brings new tasks to the table.” The cast’s love for acting was easy to see as the audience

enjoyed the production. “The cast did a fantastic job,” said Jane Barnes, a local resident who attended the show. “I loved the set and you can tell they’ve talked about the inclusion of times when this took place. They related every-thing to the era very well.” The cast and crew of “Mother Hicks” felt the show was a success. “It is my hope that in bring-ing this play to the Cedar Valley that you will leave not only having been touched by the world of this play, but empow-ered to touch the world in which you play,” Berghammer said.

Director of “Mother Hicks”

Gretta Berghammer

“This story itself, despite taking place 65 years ago, is relevant to a 21st-century audience. We find ourselves facing similar economic uncer-tainty, anxiety and fear now as we did during the Great Depression.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The average student debt for bachelor’s degree graduates mushroomed 50 percent from 1996 to 2008, according to a new report. Over the same time frame, debt for associate-degree graduates grew to twice the amount of their 1996 coun-terparts. Analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project found that the higher debt loads were driven by three trends: More students borrowed -- 60 percent of graduates in 2008, compared to 52 percent of graduates in 1996. Students borrowed more -- 2008 bachelor’s degree recipi-ents borrowed an average of $23,000 compared to $17,000 in 1996 (inflation-adjusted to 2008 dollars), and associate degree recipients borrowed an average of $12,600 com-pared to $7,600. More students attended for-profit schools that had higher tuition. The final point indicates

loan-repayment difficulty. The Pew study found that, over the past decade, enroll-ment in private, for-profit schools outpaced enrollment in public or nonprofit schools and that students enrolled in for-profit schools were more likely to borrow money. For-profit schools granted 18 percent of all undergradu-ate degrees in 2008, up from 14 percent in 2003. The report said one-fourth of for-profit school graduates borrowed more than $40,000, compared with just 5 percent of public school graduates and 14 percent of nonprofit school graduates. One takeaway from the study: “Generally, private for-profit school graduates have lower incomes and are older, more likely to be from minor-ity groups, more likely to be female, more likely to be inde-pendent of their parents and more likely to have their own dependents,” Pew reported. “For almost every field of study at every level, students at private for-profit schools are more likely to borrow and tend to borrow larger amounts than students at public and private not-for-profit schools.”

Average debt for a bachelor’s degree is up by half, report shows

By DIANE STAFFORD

McClatchy NewspapersMCT Campus

The Salvation Army told Burbridge that the staff members could help even more kids by donating cloth-ing and presents instead. Last year, the opportunity was opened up to the rest of the UNI community for the first time with the giving trees. “We had an overwhelming response last year with our customers. ... I don’t know how many toys and clothes we got, but we had (about) 10 huge boxes of stuff to donate,” Burbridge said. The ages on the giving tree ornaments range from

0 to 16 and request either a toy or clothing. Burbridge believes this format adds to the appeal of donating. “It gives them a great idea of how they can directly buy a present for, say, a boy, 2 years old, and it’s more of a personal type (of) thing. And it makes it easy for them to do,” she said. There are still some unclaimed ornaments avail-able on the giving trees. Donation collection ends at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

GIVINGcontinued from page 5

FEATURES I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 7

PAGE 8 FEATURES I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org

commitments. To support his fam-ily, Olesen works at the Cedar Rapids Fire Department as the fire captain of Engine #3. At the fire department he sees how his studies and work in the field interconnect and make an impact. “Interestingly enough, I often get to study the results of my work,” he said. “We often work in short 20- or 30-minute calls and studying policy allows me to examine the effects of those calls in the long term.” Olesen makes the time to relax with his family. Whenever he can, he likes to spend time with his children, whether it’s playing with them outdoors,

coaching his son’s baseball team or helping with Cub Scouts. When thinking about the near future, Olesen said that his goals are to graduate and do more to help others through the fire department. “I want to assist in get-ting the two fire stations built in Cedar Rapids and continue developing the Urban Search and Rescue program,” he said. As an individual who is committed to helping others, Olesen’s words of wisdom encourage students to do the same by becoming aware of the world around them. “It’s important for smart and capable people to con-sider government and public service,” Olesen said. “Good government depends on good people.”

OLESENcontinued from page 5

GLEE CLUBcontinued from page 5

all the alumni there,” said Ferden. “There (were) probably close to 260 people onstage.” Les Hale, the founder and former director of the Glee Club, took a turn at conduct-ing the now-mixed personnel in “Angels We Have Heard On High” and the Glee Club’s signa-ture choral anthem, “Brothers, Sing On!”. After Hale finished and began to leave the stage, he received an emphatic standing ovation. Hale seemed overcome. “He told me, ‘I’d like to say something, but I don’t think I can get the words out,’” emcee Marlow told the crowd after Hale exited.

In a more lighthearted turn, the UNI Children’s Choir took the stage as the Glee Club alumni departed. The children performed “Mele Kalikimaka” and were joined by the Glee Club for two more songs. The vocal music for the night wound down with “Silent Night,” which had the audience as enthralled as it had been all night. When the song con-cluded, the applause didn’t start until the director’s hands low-ered to his sides, as the moment sat in the concert hall. Finally, Marlow instructed the audience to prepare them-selves for “the graceful beauty, the visual poetry and the sheer audacity of the Arthur Murder Dancers.” Sixteen Glee Club

members clad in delicate tutus frolicked to “Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairies” and the “Christmas Can-Can,” just as they have for the last 33 years. “You can’t belittle what they do. I mean, that is intense car-dio. Just try dancing on your tippy-toes for four minutes and see if you can do it. It’s hard!” said John Preston, a junior phi-losophy major in the Glee Club. The Glee Club members were enthusiastic about the show and their group after Saturday night’s performance. “It was a wonderful perfor-mance. I think it was the best, by far, of our three performanc-es. I just really enjoyed (it),” said Rebecca Buseman, the Glee Club’s accompanist and a senior

music and accounting double major. Buseman said she loves working with the group and added, “There’s not a group on campus that I would rather perform in more than the Glee Club!” Evan O’Leary, a junior cho-ral music education major in the group, agrees. “I’m a music major and I sing in lots of other groups, but I enjoy sing-ing with the Glee Club ... one of the most.” “It’s great. It’s unlike any-thing else I’ve ever experienced in college,” said Preston. “It’s also a ridiculous amount of fun.” Marty Williams, a senior business management major, thinks part of the Variety

Shows’ appeal is the range of musical acts that appear onstage instead of just one ensemble giving a concert. “There’s one thing too – the ladies love seeing a group of men singing,” Williams noted. “And men in tutus!” Preston added. The Varsity Men’s Glee Club will return to the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in April with its annual spring concert. Director Wiles says that if any male students at UNI are interested in joining the ensemble, “they just have to register for the course and show up on the first day!”

FEATURES I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 9

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Faced with a growing challenge from Facebook and other rivals, Google is reportedly considering the biggest acquisition in its history, with an offer to pay nearly $6 billion for the online coupon service Groupon. The deal would help Google expand its role in local advertising _ and plant its flag at the intersection between social media and consumer spending, analysts said Tuesday. Google dominates the market for advertising tied to Internet searches. But hugely popular social media sites like Facebook, with their ability to target ads to users’ preferences and network of friends, have emerged as a growing threat. Google and Facebook are wag-ing a war for “Web supremacy,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Lou Kerner, who added in a research report that online local ads are likely to be the next big battleground in that contest. Since its launch just two years ago, Chicago-based Groupon has signed up more than 33 million subscribers look-ing for daily bargains in their home-towns -- from massages in New York to restaurant meals in Boston and even guided tours of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Groupon subscribers receive alerts when a merchant agrees to offer a product or service at a discount, which typically becomes available when a certain number of shoppers opt in to the deal. The discounts help mer-chants bring in extra business, while

Groupon keeps up to half the new revenue that its partners garner from each coupon.

Fast-growing category A number of startups offer similar access to local discounts, but Groupon is the market leader in what analysts say is a fast-growing new category of Internet business. In the past year, Groupon’s roster of partners has expanded from small merchants to big retailers such as Gap and Nordstrom Rack. That’s drawn the interest of sever-al suitors, reportedly including Yahoo. But after rejecting previous offers, Groupon is currently negotiating to be acquired by Google for a price estimated at $5 billion to $6 billion, according to reports this week in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which cited anonymous sources with knowledge of the talks. Both companies declined to comment on the reports. The price would be nearly twice the $3.2 billion that the Mountain View, Calif., search giant paid for the display ad service DoubleClick in 2007. It would represent a hefty premium for privately held Groupon, which was valued earlier this year at $1.3 billion and has annual revenue estimated at $500 million. For Google, the price may be “dif-ficult to rationalize” on a purely finan-cial basis, said investment analyst Ben Schachter, at Macquarie Equities Research. But, he wrote in a note to investors: “This is about much more than generating revenue from e-mailed

coupons.”Google could probably build its own service along Groupon’s model, he added, but buying Groupon might offer strategic benefits more quickly.

Targeted Advertising By providing addi-tional information about consumers’ buying hab-its, Groupon could help Google sell more tar-geted advertising. And since Groupon commu-nicates with users on Facebook and Twitter, as well as by e-mail, the deal would give Google more access and insight into the kinds of online social com-munications that occur on those sites. The deal could help Google get a better handle on what industry insid-ers call the “Social Graph,” added Kerner, who defined the term as “the pool of connections between people and what they do and like.” Google and Facebook already are squaring off in the local ad mar-ket: Facebook, which sells advertis-ing tailored to its users, recently launched new forays into online mes-saging and local commerce. These include Facebook Places, which lets users announce their visits to vari-ous locales, and Facebook Deals, which offers discounts to Places users. Facebook declined to comment Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Google has been attempting

to expand its display and location-based ad business. It

recently announced new servic-es like Place Search and Hotspot

that enable it to sell ads keyed to users’ geographic interests and rec-ommendations. As a sign of its importance, Google also announced this fall that Marissa Mayer, one of its most influential executives, had taken over responsi-bility for its location-based efforts. While a majority of all advertis-ing is aimed at local audiences, that hasn’t always been true online, said Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, a Palo Alto startup that aggregates local news reports and packages them with ads. The prospect of Google buying Groupon, he added, means that indus-try giants recognize the potential of local markets.

Google bids to buy Groupon in a battle with FacebookBy BRANDON BAILEY

San Jose Mercury NewsMCT Campus

national news

LIQUID LIBRARY

10OpinionTuesday, December 7, 2010 I Volume 107, Issue 26 I Cedar Falls, Iowa I northern-iowan.org

Many years ago in the Midwest, there was no such distinction between “organic” and “conventional” farm-ing. They were the same thing – the conventional, traditional farmer was one that used no pesticides and whose seed was the healthiest crop from the previous year. However, that is when crop production was far scarcer than it is today and when methods of farming were much more primitive. These days, biotechnology has given the farming industry a key to increased production and higher yields through big-name seed researchers, producers and sellers such as DuPont (Pioneer) and Monsanto. This bio-technology, of course, involves the modification of seeds (GMOs) and the treatment of fields with pesticides, most notably herbi-cides (weed-kill-ers), insecticides (insect pest-kill-ers) or fungicides (fungus-killers). Both of these actions prevent a crop from consti-tuting as organic. In 1990, the U.S. government passed the Organic Food Production Act, which estab-lished standards of growth and distribution of organic foods and “facilitate(d) interstate commerce in fresh and processed food that is organically produced.” In some ways, this law marked the birth of the organic movement because it defined the standards and unified the organi-zations and leaders in agreement. It also marked the divide between the “conventional” farmer who used pes-ticides and GMOs and the “organic farmer” who chose to abide by this law. According to a NY Times article from November 2010, organic farm-ers face a multitude of challenges: “While conventional farmers have a quiver full of chemical arrows to bat-tle the invasion of weeds and pests, the organic farmer has a tougher row to hoe. There simply aren’t organic bug sprays that can match the power of synthetic chemicals and almost nothing in the way of organic her-bicides.” Organic farmers must seek alternative, green ways to prevent

insect infestation, which can lead to great expense and a low yield com-pared to modern farming. This, in turn, explains the expense of buying organic foods. So why go through the trouble of producing organic food? Why the fear of genetically modified crops? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the use of pesti-cides is endangering our fertile farm-land, leaving a greater environmental impact than organic farming. Much of society also considers organic foods to be safer, healthier and more nutritional because pesticides may be harmful to humans, especially young children. However, I argue that the food we eat could be harmful to us in numerous ways through numerous processes. Contamination could occur no matter how natural the seed was or how strictly the growing environment was monitored. In fact, because they

have not been genetically mod-ified or grown in the presence of pesticides, organic foods are more vulnerable to outside harm such as pest infestation, weed p r o l i f e r at i o n , human error, cli-mate influences, etc. The pesti-cides will not be entering the

body, but other threats might. Additionally, if you actually research the genetic modification biotechnological process, you’ll learn that nothing is significantly differ-ent from the natural crop. According to the Monsanto website, “existing, approved GM crops are substantially equivalent to conventional counter-parts” and the only difference comes down to the DNA and protein, which is present in almost everything humans eat, the only exception being foods that are processed to a much greater extent than conventional crops: oils and sugars. Genetically modified crops can increase shelf life, assist in world food and hunger issues, and actually reduce the need for pesticides. Instead of restricting the ways in which this fer-tile area can produce food, we should instead focus on ways to distribute the plentiful food we are able to produce to areas that are too structurally inept or agriculturally deficient to produce their own crops.

What has the Northern Iowa Student Government done for you this year?If you can’t answer this question, it isn’t doing its job.

What does the NISG senate do during its weekly meetings? During a typical meeting, it appears that the senate approves the formation of student organizations and their funding requests, which have already been evalu-ated and approved by the Organization and Finance Committee; approves advertisements and website changes, which have already been created by the Public Relations Committee; and bickers over internal affairs and constitu-tional changes, which are proposed by the Government and Legislative Affairs Committee. These are not necessarily bad things, but it seems that amidst the day-to-day mundanity of their affairs the senate has largely lost sight of the purpose of student government: to further the interests and address the concerns of the student body. During its last two meetings, the senate has been discussing a bill proposed by the GALA committee that would make several changes to the organiza-tion’s constitution. Under the guise of streamlining the constitution, the com-mittee put forth several changes that if passed would have taken power away from the executive branch and the student body and put it into the senate. The potential changes include removing the power of recall from the student body, removing members of the executive branch from the line of succession to the presidency and removing from the president the power to call meetings of the senate and to preside over meetings of the student body, among several other changes. The senate wasted a significant portion of two meetings removing several of these ridiculous changes, including the proposal to remove the word “diver-sity” from the title of the Director of Diversity and Student Life, before finally passing an actually useful bill. Why is so much time in the senate being dedicated to internal affairs and power struggles? As Senator Dale Yurs asked during the first reading of the bill, how does this benefit students? Cohesion of a legislative document is important, but squirreling in controversial changes under the guise of linguis-tic modifications is a duplicitous waste of time and effort. Despite all this, the student government does in fact take measures to benefit students. During Wednesday’s meeting the senate approved a resolu-tion that will be sent to Iowa’s governmental leaders, as well as the Board of Regents and other Iowa officials, that requests a state-wide sales tax holiday on textbooks at the beginning of each semester, which would save students money and help local stores compete with Internet textbook sales. The senate recently created its External Affairs Committee and the posi-tion of Director of Governmental Relations, which is currently held by Jenny Nulty, both of which lobby for student interests with state legislators. Student Body President Joel Anderson and Vice President Emma Hashman both regularly meet with state and university officials to represent student interests and are currently holding tuition discussions with the Board of Regents. These are great actions that truly benefit students. This is what student government should be doing. This is what NISG is doing well. And yet most students don’t even know about it. NISG needs to better communicate its actions to students so no one fails to answer the question of what their student government is doing for them. Students also need to take a greater interest in student government. A quality government that represents student interests needs well-qualified indi-viduals who really care about their constituents, and yet senate elections are often uncontested races with very poor voter turnout where races are won by landslides. Take interest in candidates for senate and president to ensure they are qualified for the position and that they truly care about helping students. Student representatives can’t further student interests unless they know what they are. Speak out against internal redundancy and bickering and share your concerns and interests with your senator. If you don’t know who your senator is, visit http://www.uni.edu/studentorgs/nisg/government/legisla-tive-branch. Attend senate meetings, which are held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the University Room in Maucker Union, and speak to the entire legislative body. Student government elections will be held this February, and any senator who is not working to benefit students and represent his or her constituency should not be reelected. It’s up to the rest of us to ensure that that’s the case. What do you think? Share your opinion on our website:

www.northern-iowan.org

The University of Northern Iowa’s student-produced newspaper since 1892

Not for the Interests of Students Government

This editorial reflects the position of the Northern Iowan’s editorial staff: John Anderson, Leah Jeffries, Brad Eilers, Cassie Tegeler, Anna Schreck and Kari Braumann. All other articles and illustrations represent the views of their authors.

from the editorial staff The organic craze distracts from more important issues

CASSANDRABOEVERS

boeversc@uni.edu

“...because they have not been genetically modified or grown in the presence of pesticides, organic foods are more vulnerable to outside harm such as pest infestation, weed prolifera-tion, human error, climate influences, etc.

OPINION I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 11

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editorial cartoonletter to the editor

Obama administration rules promise to strengthen fed-eral student aid programs as well as protect students from the aggressive and deceptive recruiting practices that are the norm at many career col-leges. A version of the truth in advertising ethos will require schools to disclose the effec-tiveness of their career col-lege and training programs and their graduation and job-placement rates. For-profit education insti-tutions have been loath to put out that kind of information. Here’s why. For an edu-cation sector that has grown tenfold in the last decade, lax oversight has fostered a sys-tem of high tuition costs and low graduation rates. A scathing report by the influential think tank Education Trust offers a damning list of examples. Only 22 percent of students in for-profit colleges’ four-year programs earn degrees within six years. Contrast that with a 55 percent six-year graduation rate at public colleges and a 65 percent rate at private non-profit schools. The most egregious exam-ple is a 9 percent gradua-tion rate at the University of Phoenix -- the nation’s largest

for-profit postsecondary edu-cation provider as well as the recipient of more than $1 bil-lion in federal Pell Grant aid last year. While some career colleges have achieved a level of cred-ibility, the business model at far too many appears to be one based on student failure, not success. Schools must also do a bet-ter job ensuring that only stu-dents that qualify receive finan-cial aid. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, ordered by Congress to conduct a sting, found students at for-profit colleges being encour-aged to falsify their financial aid forms. The Ed Trust report found that many students maxed out on their federal aid and were steered to private loans, which they later defaulted on. Regulations will address some of the abuses but fed-eral scrutiny should continue. As more students pursue post-secondary education, a strong and fair educational structure is critical. Career colleges play an important role as nimble pro-viders of professional and career training. They help broaden educational access to underserved communities. But if they’re going to be in the business of education, they must do it well. Regulatory scrutiny applies the pressure.

NATE BEELER/MCT Campus

After reading the article by Adam Haselhuhn on the trav-esty of Personal Wellness, I felt an urge to voice my opinion. What will become of an educational system

that lacks a requirement for students to critically analyze the manner in which they care for themselves? I would argue in support of Haselhuhn in that the price of tuition makes taking a class in which one is already self-aware a dirty debt bomb. What if Personal Wellness was replaced by Responsible Fiscal Management? Would students then avoid all those enticing credit card applications that somehow make it into an appalling number of UNI students’ mailboxes? A practical suggestion: Allow students to submit a log of activities that lead them to life satisfaction and healthy living; an essay alluding to healthy eating, substance use (alcohol), sexuality and family planning; and a month of planned balanced meals they are able them-selves to prepare. When the applicant has met the guidelines of the university, an exemption could be granted.

Kind regards,Forest S. Hoff, M.A., TESOL

In response to ‘Personal Wellness’

To submit a letter to the editor, visit out website, www.northern-iowan.org, and click on “contact us.” All let-ters to the editor should be fewer than 300 words in length and may be edited for length and clarity.

Looking out for college studentsSEATTLE TIMES EDITORIAL STAFF

MCT Campus

12SportsTuesday, December 7, 2010 I Volume 107, Issue 26 I Cedar Falls, Iowa I northern-iowan.org

Ryan’s Rants

The University of Northern Iowa’s student-produced newspaper since 1892

UNI women claim 72-58 victory over UW-Milwaukee

TIM GETTING/Northern Iowan

Kwadzo Ahelegbe scored a season-high 25 points Saturday to help lead UNI past TCU 64-60. The victory is UNI’s first road win of the season.

The University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team shot a season-high 47.5 percent from the floor on their way to a 72-58 win at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center. UNI senior and Milwaukee native Lizzie Boeck tallied 17 points and eight rebounds for the Panthers (4-3). Junior guard Katelin Oney shot 4-of-8 from three-point range to add 16 points for UNI. Junior guard Rachel Madrigal finished with eight assists for the Panthers. UNI made four of its first five shots, three of them from three-point range, taking an 11-3 lead just 3:30 into the game. After a UW-Milwaukee jump shot cut the UNI lead to six, the Panthers got a lay-up from Amber Kirschbaum and a three-pointer from Boeck to stretch their lead to double-digits for the first time, 16-5 with 13:33 left in the first half. UW-Milwaukee cut the Panther lead to 10, 18-8, but UNI got five straight points from Erin Brocka to extend its advantage to 23-8 at the midway point of the first half. UW-Milwaukee would trim the UNI lead to 11 at 25-14, but the Panthers responded once again, this time rattling off eight straight points to build a 33-14 lead with 4:13 on the clock. UW-Milwaukee ended the half on a 9-2 run to bring the halftime score to 35-23 in favor of UNI. The Panthers would hold at least an eight-point lead until the 6:56 mark when UW-Milwaukee went on a 5-0 run to pull within five at 56-51. Boeck hit a lay-up and a pair of free throws on UNI’s next two possessions. The teams traded baskets to keep the UNI lead at nine, and K.K. Armstrong converted a pair of free throws to return the Panther lead to double digits, 64-53 with 4:55 to

By BRAD EILERSSports Editor

See WOMEN, page 14

The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team was able to defeat Texas Christian University 64-60 on Saturday afternoon behind senior point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe’s 25-point performance. UNI (4-2) handed TCU (6-3) their first home loss of the year. The Horned Frogs were 5-0 at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum before their loss to the Panthers. The victory is

UNI’s first road win of the season. Ahelegbe was 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Coming into the game, Ahelegbe had made just 1-of-18 from three-point land this season. Junior guard Johnny Moran was the only other Panther to reach double figures as he chipped in with 10 points. Sophomore forward Jake Koch scored eight points and collected nine rebounds to lead the Panthers in that category. Senior forward

Lucas O’Rear grabbed five boards to go along with his nine points. The Panthers jumped out to an early 9-2 lead at the 14:28 mark in the first half, with Ahelegbe scoring UNI’s first seven points of the game. The Horned Frogs clawed their way back into the game and took their first lead at the 6:05 mark, 19-17. However, UNI would respond with another 9-2 run to take a 26-21 lead with 1:44 left in the first half. The Panthers held a 28-26 lead at the intermission.

TCU would take their largest lead of the game at 44-40 with 10:26 left in the second half. However, on back-to-back possessions, O’Rear scored a conventional three-point play and another where he scored a basket and was fouled that allowed the Panthers to retake the lead at 45-44. The Horned Frogs responded with a shot in the lane to retake the lead. However, that would be the final lead for TCU as

By BRAD EILERSSports Editor

Courtesy Photo/MCT CAMPUS

Although Boise State won a share of the Western Athletic Conference title, their loss to Nevada knocked them out of the BCS title hunt.

See BASKETBALL, page 14

Ahelegbe leads UNI past TCU 64-60

Long live the BCS Nothing has made me happier this football season than watching Boise State University lose to the University of Nevada. No, I wasn’t just excited because their mascot is the Wolf Pack, even though that was one of the most dynamic wrestling alliances in WWE history. I was happy because I didn’t want to see Boise State in the national championship. I am one of the few who enjoys the current Bowl Championship Series system, and if they would have snuck in it would have surely called for a playoff system. I am a huge sports nerd, and besides March Madness one of my favorite

times of the year is “bowl week.” What could be better than watching a whole two weeks of football where, most often, the teams are matched up based on records and conference placing? Most people complain that the BCS system is a joke because there are way too many bowls. What is the harm in that? Who cares if there is a team that barely qualifies for a bowl? Last year Iowa State was barely bowl-eligible, but their fans embraced the chance to go out to Arizona to watch their team play one more time against Minnesota in the Insight.com bowl. No one else in the country cared one lick about that game, but the players, coaches, and fans

By RYAN FRIEDERICHSports Columnist

See RANT, page 13

SPORTS I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org PAGE 13

of both teams were ecstatic. As a Panther fan, I am feeling empty after our football team played one final home game against Lehigh and lost, something that surely was not supposed to happen. Think how much better our team would be next year if instead we were playing in a January 1 bowl game and we had an extra month to practice with our young players. One of my fondest memories is when I was able to travel down to Orlando with my family for the 2005 Capital One Bowl. Walking around Orlando and throughout Disney World one could only see either black and gold or purple and gold, as Hawkeye and Lousiana State University Tiger fans were everywhere. If you don’t know how that bowl game ended, I would

encourage you to make a quick search into YouTube because I now claim to have seen one of the top five finishes in all of college football history. If we had a playoff system in 2005, that match-up probably wouldn’t have shaken out, and Iowa wouldn’t have “the catch” to relive anymore. College football is fine the way it is, and I say don’t fix something that isn’t broken. I am writing this article before the BCS selection show, and if TCU jumps Oregon or Auburn I apologize, but if TCU really has a beef after being left out of the national championship I have an answer for them: play tougher teams. Even if the Hawkeyes end up in the Caseysbreakfastpizza.com Bowl in northern Montana you could still not contain my excitement on game day. Go BCS, and go Panthers!

RANTcontinued from page 12

Waterloo splits weekend

Courtesy Photo/MCT CAMPUS

Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers will face the Oregon Ducks in the BCS National Championship on Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Central time.

The Waterloo Black Hawks split their road-and-home series last weekend, losing in Kearny, Neb., Friday against the Tri-City Storm 3-1 but bouncing back Saturday night with a home win against the Team USA National Development Program, 4-2. Former Black Hawk Soren Jonzzon scored just 11:16 into the first period Friday on a power play with assists coming from Rick Pinkston and Brad Schierhorn to put Tri-City up 1-0. A second Jonzzon goal, this time assisted from another former Hawk Matt Johnson 28 seconds into the third period, effectively buried Waterloo. Derik Angeli scored unassisted at 2:52 of the third, but Waterloo’s Jacob MacDonald and Andrew Panzarella assisted Aaron Pearce at 8:11 to save the shutout. Christopher Holden stopped 36 of Waterloo’s 37 shots for Tri-City, while Black Hawks net-minder C.J. Motte was able to find a hold on just 32 of Tri-City’s 35 attempts. All told, Tri-City has three former Black Hawks on its current roster (Jonzzon,

Johnson and Mario Puskarich, who dressed in a few of Waterloo’s later-season games last season). Team USA built up a 2-0 lead in the first 8:30 of Saturday’s game in Waterloo, but the Hawks were able to bounce back and steal a win, due largely to their special teams. Matt Grzelcyk assisted Nicolas Kerdiles at 4:20 of the first period for Team USA, and Kyle Osterberg scored on a power play from Brady Skjei and Gavin Stoick at 8:03. Waterloo’s Andrew Panzarella fired a shot that bounced into the net for an unassisted goal at 8:34, and from there it was all Black Hawks. Blake Thompson scored from Ryan Papa on a power play at 2:23 of the second, and Tyson Fulton sprang Tyler Zepeda for a back-handed goal at 13:45. Gunnar Hughes scored an empty-net goal at 19:56 of the third period to bring the game to a close. Waterloo’s Aaron Pearce and Team USA’s Patrick Seiloff both took 5-minute fighting major penalties in the first period, and Team USA’s Henrik Samuelsson was called for a 5-minute spearing major, and also given a 10-minute spearing

game misconduct penalty just under two minutes into the second period. Jared Rutledge stopped 33 of 36 of the Black Hawks’ shots for Team USA, while Jay Williams stopped 17 of 19 in the win. Waterloo moved to 9-7-2 (20 points, fourth in Eastern Conference) with the weekend, and looks forward to a pivotal home-and-home series next weekend. Waterloo takes on Muskegon on Friday, with the first 1,000 fans receiving iWireless player cards. Saturday, the Black Hawks take on an always-potent Des Moines Buccaneers squad. As always, fans are encouraged to head over to Party Town in downtown Waterloo to catch some hard-hitting, fast-paced hockey action, and this weekend, the Black Hawks need the support of college students. Both games this weekend are part of another iWireless College Weekend, where students presenting a valid student ID from any college can purchase tickets for just $7.

By DUSTIN WOODYSports Writer

PAGE 14 SPORTS I Tuesday, December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org

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Ahelegbe nailed his third three-pointer of the contest to give UNI a 48-46 lead with 8:54 remaining in the game. TCU would tie the game for the ninth and final time at 56-56 after a pair of free throws with 3:23 left. Koch would score the next four points in the game to give the Panthers a four-point lead down the stretch. The Horned Frogs had one final chance to tie the game with 30 seconds remaining but a three-pointer from Ronnie Moss was off the mark and the Panthers were able to salt the game away at the free throw line to secure a four-point triumph. UNI returns to action on Tuesday night when

BASKETBALLcontinued from page 12

play. UNI would lead by at least nine points for the remainder of the game en route to a 72-58 victory. UNI shot 28-of-59 (47.5 percent) from the floor, including 14-of-28 (50 percent) in the second half. UNI finished 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) from behind the arc and 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from the free-throw line. The Panthers’ 28 field goals came off 20 assists, one shy of the season-high. UNI will next take the court on Tuesday night when it hosts the University of South Dakota at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center.

WOMENcontinued from page 12

they take on the University of Iowa Hawkeyes (4-4) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The Panthers’ next home game will be Saturday against the Morehead State

University Eagles (5-3). Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center.

ANNA SCHRECK/Northern Iowan

Katelin Oney scored 16 points in the Panthers’ 72-58 victory over UW-Milwaukee. The Panthers improved to 4-3 on the year with the victory.

TIM GETTING/Northern Iowan

The Panthers’ defense has been steller once again this season, holding opponents to a mere 57.3 points per game.

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Close to UNI off Hudson and University in Cedar Falls. Wanted- roommate. Rent $500.00 includes utilities. Newly built house, you’ll have your own bathroom, no fur-niture necessary- shortterm lease available. Available immediately- References required. No pets or smoking. Rent= $500.00 - Call (319) 266- 3935

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PAGE 16 SPORTS I Tuesday December 7, 2010 I northern-iowan.org

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