The Western Illinois University online learning system, Western Online, has experienced a few maintenance difficulties this past week, frustrating students and faculty alike.

"It has grown into a major incon-venience,” said junior law enforce-ment justice administration and political science double major Ryan Hanlon. “The University pushes the teachers to learn how to use this system and requires many of the students assignments to be sub-mitted electronically to avoid pla-giarism, yet allowing the system to be shut down for over a full day not only doesn’t permit stu-dents to turn in assignments, but it also alters the teacher’s plan for the course because students were unable to complete things on time.”

Junior broadcasting major Garrett Knock said that this is especially frustrating because some students take a majority of their classes online.

“It is an inconvenience because a lot of students have online classes where that is their main resource to get assignments and work done,” he said. “It’s also frustrating for the other students that have professors post notes and homework on there and we can't always access it.”

However, Associate Provost Kathleen Neumann said none of the technical difficulties are the fault of the faculty.

“Western Online utiliz-es Desire2Learn (D2L) as its course management system,” Neumann told the Courier in an email. “D2L is a popular course management system, and as such the company has expe-rienced recent rapid growth. Our data is hosted at the D2L

site in Canada. “Their recent rapid growth has

necessitated an upgrade to their hardware and software facili-ties,” she said. “To migrate our data to this more robust system, D2L employed a method to move live data without taking the sys-tem offline. According to D2L, this migration process has caused unanticipated service disruption for WIU and other schools. Recent problems are not the result of any actions by the faculty. We under-stand everyone's frustration and we appreciate your patience.”

Friday, there will be a open forum discussing the current Western Online system at 10 a.m. in the University Union Capitol Rooms.

As of now, Western Online is functioning, but Neumann said that the system is still experi-encing a few sporadic outages. D2L has reported that the system should soon be stable.

Despite the fix, Hanlon said he thinks the University should take precautions so that this doesn’t happen later on in the year.

“Perhaps the worst part is if this happened during finals. There

would be many students unable to access PowerPoints to prepare for finals, and that would impact the teacher, the University and most of all the student’s future,” he said.

Political science major Beth Vandernoot expressed concerns also echoing Hanlon’s statement.

“I think it should be a top pri-ority because its purpose is to serve as a link between students and teachers,” she said. “Western should really get this problem fixed before it gets even further into the semester.”

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Applying for jobs?

Read this.

Call it Western Offline?

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Friday, Feb. 1, 2013

Blame Canada

page 4

page 2

By Garrick Hodgemanaging editor

Flutist professor makes big city sound

Alumgoespro

With the spring semester only a few weeks in, the idea of finding a job after graduation may seem like a far off concern for some students.

However, according to Martin Kral, Director of Career Services, current job market trends indicate that students should be making this concern a priority as early as fresh-man year.

“Having the Baccalaureate degree and maybe a class in [the field] no longer suffices,” he said. “They bet-ter have two or three experiences before they walk off campus. That’s why the need for early career plan-ning is important.”

While trends like this may be easy to brush off, consider The National Association of Colleges and Employers Annual Job Outlook Survey for 2013, which says that 71 percent of employers prefer to hire students with relevant experience.

For most students, this experience comes from internships.

“Now, this poses a problem because how do the students get experience while they’re still in school? It’s kind of a catch-22,” Kral said. “Students need to think between sophomore and junior year and between junior and senior year that they need these intern-ships that are related to the field they’re going into.”

This idea of entering the job market with real-world experi-ence comes from employers’ desire to look at candidates who don’t require training.

This comes as good news for stu-dents whose majors, such as law enforcement and justice adminis-tration or social work, include a built-in internships, but what about those whose majors don’t?

According to Kral, these students need to rely on their transfer-able skills, such as those gained in part-time jobs or involvement on campus, and use that informa-tion to market themselves. The same goes for students graduating who didn’t think to complete an internship beforehand.

Trendspage 3

By Elana Katzeditor-in-chief

John McMurtery started off his week differently than most faculty members at Western Illinois University.

The flute-playing assis-tant professor of music per-formed at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. on Monday, he performed in at the University of Mississippi on Tuesday. By

Wednesday morning, he was back in Macomb to rehearse with the Western Illinois University faculty ensem-ble, the Camerata Woodwind Quintet. He’s preparing for a faculty recital on Tuesday, and to top it all off, he has to keep tabs on his phone and email for whenever the New York City Opera orchestra needs him to perform.

“(The New York City Opera)

basically only has 20 perfor-mances this season, and if they need to hire players, they always call their core players first and that would be me,” McMurtery explained.

McMurtery first started play-ing the flute when he was 11 years old and never put it down. By 2007, he was performing with the City Opera and living his childhood dream.

But in 2011, the orchestra took

a 90 percent pay cut, leaving many of the musicians scram-bling to find jobs. He got a six-month contract with the Oregon Symphony in Portland, and then found himself at Western Illinois University alongside his former graduate school class-mate, professor James Romig.

By Sarah Tomkinsoncourier staff

McMurterypage 2

NewEntry

GLASSDOOR.COM

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/JAMES NEEDHAM

School shootings are anything but a rarity these days, which might make some students wonder how Western Illinois University would handle the situation. Fortunately, Western Emergency Medical Services (WEMS) has gone the extra mile to make sure it would be pre-pared for such an event.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, WEMS staged a mock shooting to test how it would respond if one

was to occur on campus. The drill took place in Horribin 82 and 21 and simulated a typi-cal weekday when respon-dents are off-duty, according to WEMS Assistant Training Officer Brian Stadter.

“It’s never been tested before,” Stadter said. “We were treating all the patients and getting them to the hospi-tal, which is basically what the role of a respondent is.”

Volunteers from various classes and organizations, including Western’s All Volunteer Effort (W.A.V.E.), EMS first responders classes and fire sci-

ence classes, acted as gunshot victims for WEMS to treat. The volunteers were given notecards with a spe-cific wound and were told to act as if they had actually been shot. Between the volunteers, 16 injuries were assigned, such as gunshot wound to the face, gunshot wound to the foot, bruised face and gunshot wound to the abdomen.

“We had all types of injuries (from) minor to life-threatening,” Stadter said.

According to Stadter, the drill had been in the works since November of last year. After

receiving approval from the Office of Public Safety, WEMS spent months planning what the drill would look like and what its response would be.

Susie Brown, a junior psychology major, was a volunteer at the event after signing up through W.A.V.E. According to Brown, some of the first responders were not fully aware that it was a drill until arriving at the scene.

“It was crazy,” Brown said. “The EMS was really scared until they realized it was fake.”

In addition to an assigned injury,

volunteers’ notecards were also marked with a color — either green, yellow, red or black. Green cards meant “victims” had “minor injuries.” While black indicated that the victim was beyond help.

Brown, who was assigned a gunshot wound to the neck, said that she was given instruc-tions to “scream as loud as possible and to say that we were dying.”

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Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013

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Adam Link

By Elana Katzeditor-in-chief

This is only a test: shooter at Horrabin

edge editor

page 3

Poor History

Oregon Trail

THE

WCVol. 113 Iss. 59

CARRIE CARLSON/COURIER STAFFWestern Emergency Medical Services (WEMS) — the University's first responders unit — held a mass shooting drill at Horrabin Hall on Saturday. Students volunteered to feign injuries commonly associated with shooting events and WEMS worked to handle the load.

Drillpage 2

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It started off as a simple acci-dent. What followed, however, was a video that became so popular, national television shows such as “Sportscenter” and “Good Morning America” showcased the clip to their audiences numerous times.

The YouTube video features Rocky, Western Illinois University’s mas-cot, colliding with a cheerleader during a timeout at a wom-en’s basketball game.

Kali Webster — the cheerleader who col-lided with Rocky — explained that the collision was a simple mistake.

“The accident was miscommuni-cation,” she said. “There’s a random time they play the Rocky theme song, and (once it is played) he just comes out in the center (of the

court) and does his own thing. Well, they started playing the music in the middle of our routine, and of course, it just happened to me.”

After Webster and Rocky collided, Webster appeared to bounce right back up off the court, and Rocky pro-ceeded to attempt a few push-ups.

Fortunately Webster, a sophomore social work major, was not harmed in the incident. H o w e v e r , the student (whose name was not released) in the Rocky cos-tume suffered a mild con-cussion and a sprained ankle.

“I’ve been dancing and tumbling for 18 years, and I’ve never fall-en in front of a crowd like that,” Webster said. “When I was in the middle of my back chuck, I kind of blacked out and hit the

floor. When I woke up, all I could think of was ‘get up off the floor. You’re fine.’”

After originally airing on “Sportscenter” on Wednesday, Webster and Rocky’s collision aired on ESPN again on Friday. Only this time, the clip appeared in the popular segment “Not Top 10 plays of the Week,” and landed as the No. 1 Not Top 10 play.

“I never expected all this,” Webster said. “When I first saw it on YouTube, I was upset, but eventually I laughed it off. My mom saw it, and she knew I was embarrassed, but I told her to leave it alone because I didn't care anymore and I thought it was funny.”

Webster also said she has had her phone and Twitter account blown up in recent days.

Facilit ies Management Architectural Superintendent Michael Hott and his team have recently begun renovations on the Morgan Hall server room.

Hott said that after working at Western Illinois University for 18 years, he’s used to proj-ects like these. But on Jan. 31, he woke up at 5:30 a.m. because of “all the delicate stuff going on.”

The server room is crucial for everyday life at the University. It provides students and fac-ulty with working Internet, Zimbra service and Western Online. A problem with these services, as last week showed, could make it difficult to get classwork done. Because of this, the renovation crew must be careful while it works.

Hott said he considers the data center to be “the cam-pus’ heart and soul.” Facilities Management plans to replace the heating and cooling system in the room. This step is espe-cially important because the server room has to stay cool all year long.

“It will reduce the chances of the equipment overheating,” Hott said.

He added that they also plan to do some structural work to the room.

“We’re making it a lot more stable (by) replacing the floors that were from the 1970s.” he said.

Even though they are tak-ing place in such an impor-tant location, Hott said that the renovations will not set campus back.

“All that equipment has to stay active.” Hott said “And all the heating and cooling has to stay operational.”

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Monday, Feb. 4, 2013

Superbowl

page 4

page 3

Western web redemption

Road game win

Morganpage 2

Wine tasting

1909 1952 1955

2009

NAACP founded - led by W.E.B. Du Bois

1947Jackie Robinson is signed to Dodgers, breaking the baseball color barrier.

Malcolm X becomes a minister of the Nation of Islam.

1954Racial segregationin schools declared unconstitutional.

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus.

1957“Little Rock Nine”- are protected by the National Guard.

1963

Martin Luther King arrested and jailed during protests in Birmingham, Ala.

1964Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed.Martin Luther King receives Nobel Peace Prize.

1965

Malcolm X assassinated. State troopers attack demonstrators led by Martin Luther King.

1966Black Panthers founded.

1967

Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black Supreme Court Justice.

1968Martin Luther King assassinated.The Civil Rights Act of 1968 signed.

1992Race riots in Los Angeles.

Barack Obama becomes the first African American president.

1972

The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment ends.

2008

Barack Obama becomes the first African American to be nominated for president.Court Justice.

By Garrick Hodgemanaging editor

Students and faculty across campus will celebrate Black History Month this February, which is annually designated to celebrate African-American contributions to society.

The idea for Black History Month came from Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926 when he discov-ered that there was no informa-tion about the African-American population in the history books he had been studying.

Woodson gave the sec-

ond week of February the name, “Negro History Week” because it marks the birth-days of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln — two men who greatly impacted the African-American population.

So, what are students and faculty at Western Illinois University say-ing about the month-long event? Associate professor of sociology Robert Hironimus-Wendt said it is a good thing.

“I think it’s essential,” he said. “Far too many people don’t know the history. We all can benefit from it.”

Joanay Shepherd, a senior journalism major, agreed with him and took it one step further.

“Just one month is not enough, and there are more people that should be applauded in the African-American community,” she said.

Beginning in 1976, every US president designated February as Black History Month to acknowl-edge the courageous black peo-ple throughout American histo-ry. W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X are just a few of the remark-

able individuals remembered during this month.

A couple of events will take place on campus this month to celebrate the tradition. “Celebrating Civilization, Contribution and Culture:The Black Experience Through the Years” is one such event. It is a month-long exhibit that consists of about 75 to 100 photos and artifacts displayed at the Western

Western to celebrate black history during February

University data server room to be remodeledBy Nici Fannincourier staff

By Sanche Carmonacourier staff

Historypage 2

NICHOLAS STEWART/PHOTO EDITOR

“ ”I've been dancing and tumbling for 18 years, and I've

never fallen in front of a crowd like that.

–Kali WebsterCHEERLEADER

Collisionpage 2

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Gun control

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013

Free throw shooting

Shady Business?It looks like students might to

have to be more careful about who they sell their textbooks to.

Last month, a company called DormBooks hired students at Western Illinois University to go to other students’ rooms and col-lect their books to send to the company, as a sales transaction. However, while a few did receive checks for their services, there were several students who did not get paid for selling their books or for collecting books from dorms.

According to Jude Kiah, Western's bookstore director, students were told they could choose to get a check in either December or January. Students opting to receive their check in January were offered a larger amount of money.

“That in and of itself is very odd because selling books is a cash business,” Kiah said. “You should never sell your book back without a certainty of payment — immedi-ate payment in most cases.”

Numerous students who opted for the December option still have not received a check.

Efforts have been made by the non-paid students to contact the company, yet they have largely been ignored.

“I talked to someone in the com-pany, and they said that they would immediately send out emails to confirm it. They did not,” Kiah said.

According to the DormBooks website, the company was start-ed in May 2006. It offers to buy back books at higher prices and sell at lower prices than campus bookstores offer. Self-described as a student operation, DormBooks hires buyback agents, who pick up textbooks from students’ dorm, and buyback captains, who assist agents in transport-ing the books from the campus to DormBooks’ warehouses.

Along with the lack of payments, Kiah said the company is doing its business illegally.

“Students are not allowed to run a business inside the resi-dence halls,” he said. “The stu-dents are in violation of their lease.

The business (is) in violation of the law.”

Another issue that has come up is that students are under the impression that D o r m B o o k s is affiliated with Western.

“We have no associa-tion with them whatsoever,” Kiah added. “We want to stop any association with this c o m p a -ny. We d o n ’ t w a n t o u r s t u -

d e n t s signing up for something that’s illegal, and we don’t want students selling their book to somebody they aren’t going to get money back from.”

There have been at least 10 stu-dents that haven’t received pay-ment from DormBooks, Kiah said.

Karl Grzesiak, a DormBooks employee that hired one of the unpaid students, declined to com-ment on the issue of the legality of the business, but did say that he sent out an email on Tuesday to students saying that if they have not gotten paid to contact the com-pany immediately.

Grzesiak said that DormBooks strives to help students and doesn’t want anything to interfere with that.

Kiah suggests only selling text-

books to repu-table people and places.

“Your books are liquid money, so you (have) to pro-tect them — not only from theft, but from scam,” he said. “I would not (use) enti-ties that don’t provide you immediate pay-ment, or (if) it sounds too good to be to true, it probably is. Use repu-table places to sell your books back. It’s just too expensive. The risk is too great not to.”

Hey Dormbooks.com, where’s our money?

By Hannah Schrodt

KELLIE

JULIUS

PRODUCTION

MANAGER

Django Unchained

Page E1

assistant news editor

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WESTERN COURIERServing the Macomb Community Since 1905 Volume - Issue

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There was some chatter on the university’s Facebook page recently about the Western Emergency Alert System (WEAS). Many have complained that during the Wednesday West Murray Street incident, they didn’t receive an emergency alert text, call or email.

Others are complaining that they received their text late — hours after the fact. So, what gives?

It turns out, those waiting for an email or phone call alert won’t be receiving one. Only one of the three legs of the WEAS, a text message, was used to contact students.

WEAS can alert students in one of three ways: a text, phone call or email. In some situations, all three of the options are used.

But Western Illinois University spokesperson Darcie Shinberger said that the univer-sity decided to send only a text on Wednesday.

“That was something that we decided as a group,” Shinberger said. “The area was sealed off. The perimeter was secure. The police were on the scene. We figured that would be the quickest way to get to everyone.”

But WEAS malfunctioned. “It has been determined that

the emergency alert text mes-sages sent March 6 were sent through e-mail system proto-cols, rather than through an SMS (text) delivery,” Shinberger said in an email. “Which may have caused a delay for some.”

Here are the facts.Shinberger received a phone call

from the Office of Public Safety at 6:47 p.m., nearly an hour after the 911 call was placed. Shinberger began to collect information for the alert then.

The information was passed to Dana Biernbaum, emergen-cy alert coordinator, who sent it out at at 7:37 p.m. — an hour after Shinberger received the call.

“If there was a situation on campus where there was a con-firmed gunman, there would not be a 30-minute delay,” Shinberger said. “The emer-gency alert is going to be out within a matter of minutes.”

Shinberger said that the uni-versity is planning on having a debriefing to address the issue. Among other topics, the unof-ficial committee members will discuss sending future alerts in all three forms.

“We’re going to talk about doing a blanket from now on,” Shinberger said. “We don’t want WEAS to go out with any inconsistencies.”

113 65Friday, March 8, 2013

page 3back pageSummit League preview

After five hours of flashing blue lights, occasional noise from a megaphone, arriving tactical vehicles, regular media updates and a buzzing Twitterverse, police were relieved — and maybe a little embarrassed.

Dispatchers received a 911 call around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The woman on the line, Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker said, claimed that a gunman was inside the home at 509 W. Murray St. A man could also

be heard in the background.“Every call we have to

take seriously like it could be a worst-case situation,” Barker said.

And Macomb police did take it seriously. They arrived on the scene within minutes and attempted to communicate with whoever was in the house.

They dialed the phone that they suspected made the 911 call. They also used their P.A. system to try and get a response from inside the home.

There was no response.

That’s when it became a problem that Macomb police couldn't handle alone. They didn't have the equip-ment to safely deal with a suspected barricaded gunman.

“We just didn’t want to take a chance on confronting that individ-ual with our officers,” Barker said.

Barker called on the Illinois State Police Tactical Response Team for help — and help they did.

Many of the officers arrived on the scene in armored vehicles. They could be seen donning bulletproof vests and toting assault rifles.

Soon, a negotiator approached the

home and attempted to commu-nicate with the people inside with a megaphone.

Again, no response.Hours passed. The moment finally

came — squad members approached the door with their guns drawn and opened the front door.

An armored vehicle blared its sirens at a deafening level. Perhaps it was to warn whoever was inside; perhaps it was to muffle potential gunshots.

Minor revived

Hoaxpage 3

By James Needhamnews editor

Prankster’s phone call amounts to nothing at all

Alert system failureBy James Needhamnews editor

OLIN TORKELSON/COURIER STAFFMcDonough County Special Response Team members (top) prepare for the night ahead at the corner of Albert and West Murray Streets on Wednesday. A Macomb police officer (bottom left) walks toward the blockade surrounding the house at 509 W. Murray St. (bottom right).

WC addresses hoax