Students are forgoing flu shots so far this season, according to student health center officials. Anita Yurek, RN and staff nurse at the student health center, was surprised by how few students have taken advantage of the $10 vaccinations. The health center has had the shots in stock since early in the semester, but only a handful of students have stopped in to get one. “We sell the vaccinations at cost to the university. It’s not like we make money on giving people the flu shot. We pay $10 for the vac-cinations. We sell them for $10 a vaccination,” she said. Junior communications major Brittany Lovette said she was not aware that the health center had the vaccines available and went

a local CVS to receive hers. She walked away when the pharmacy attempted to charge her $35. Lovette caught the virus last year, and she said she does not want to suffer again. “I really want to get a flu shot because I never want to be that sick again. Last year was awful. I would hate to deal with that again,” Lovette said. Lovette plans to make a trip to her hometown of Berwick to get the shot from her family physi-cian. Junior nursing major Tamara Bradley received her vaccina-tion over fall break so she could be in contact with patients at the Giesinger Medical Center in Danville where she serves as a nurse’s aid.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu is a con-tagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Some people, such as older people, young children and people with certain health conditions, are at high risk for serious flu complications. The flu vaccination is the best way to avoid illness. The 2012 vaccine protects against the three influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the season, including influenza H1N1 virus, influenza H3N2 virus and influ-enza B virus. Bradley recently learned how to give shots and vaccinated elderly residents at the Mercy Center in

early October. “It’s important for elderly people to get vaccinated because they have a suppressed immune system. Giving them the shot provided me with guided experi-ence and supervision. I feel well prepared for the next time I need to give someone a shot,” said Bradley. Bradley feels that it’s equally important for students to get vaccinated because they live in close quarters with other students and come into contact with many people every day. “When I get sick I stay on campus, which puts those around me at risk for getting whatever I am sick with. Getting vaccinated greatly decreases that risk for my roommates and classmates,”

Bradley said. Yurek agrees and thinks every-one should make an effort to get vaccinated, especially those who live in areas like dormitories. Junior speech language pathol-ogy major Hilary Hoover has yet to get a flu shot because she is too busy to leave campus and did not know that the health center is offering them. “Working as a resident assistant, volunteering and doing observa-tion hours is time-consuming. Had I known that the health center was giving flu shots I would have gotten one. I may still go get one now that I have been made aware,” said Hoover. Influenza can occur at any time but is most likely from Oct. to May. Receiving the flu shot later

in the fall is still effective because in recent years, the flu has been most prominent in Jan. and Feb. Vaccinations are low doses of live viruses. Common side effects include soreness, hoarseness, fe-ver, aches, headaches, itching and fatigue. If these problems occur, they will most likely end in one or two days. Yurek is prepared to give a flu shot to any student who stops in the health center and requests a vaccination until Thanksgiving break. Hoover feels that the health center did a poor job publicizing the flu shots and had staffers done a better job of spreading the word, more students would have already gotten them. Hardinm2@misericordia.edu

November 6, 2012

Viewfinder: Boom in the Night

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Science experiments turn students into mad scientists during the annual event, Boom in the Night, held in the Wells Fargo Amphitheater by the Dead Alchemists Club. The event provides structured havoc for those who choose to dawn witches hats and create bubbles, bubbles, toil and trouble. More photos can be found in the viewfinder on page 2.

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Science Goes Bump, Boom in the Night

Ready for Students to Stick ItBy Morgan Harding, Print Editor

COLLECTIVE SITE READY TO LAUNCH By MaryKate Smith, Reporter

Ars Liberalis, a new digital humanities website, will be avail-able this fall as a preview, and humanities students are invited to contribute their artistic and scholarly works. “Ideally, the digital humanities collective is open to all students who are majoring or minoring in a field within the humanities,” said Dr. Trisha Brady, faculty advi-sor for the collective. “And that’s including communications.” Brady says the collective is a multimedia website that will in-clude writing, photography, videos and graphics. The collective works with programs like Photoshop, Adobe Muse and Creative Cloud, as well as flash players, which gives student members invaluable experience for the future. “We want students who are interested in multimodel scholar-ship, students who are interested in learning about website design, and students who are interested in writing feature articles,” she said. This site offers publication op-portunities to students. “We are interested in getting contributions from students who are creative, and either write creatively or produce artwork, whether it’s paintings or photog-raphy, that could be featured in an online gallery,” Brady said. Ars Liberalis is the first site of its kind at MU, and Brady believes it will do wonders for students and

professors in the humanities. “Creating a digital humanities collective and initiating an online magazine would allow students to celebrate the value of the humani-ties and share what they do with the public,” Brady said. Brady hopes faculty in the hu-manities will embrace Ars Liberalis and encourage their students to contribute. Brady said the media frequently criticizes the humanities, and when schools are cutting program funding, humanities disciplines are among the first to take the hit. The collective is a way for those who are passionate about the hu-manities to demonstrate the value of their work, and speak back to the critics. “A study of the humanities and the human experience and condition allows students to encounter difference and different perspectives that prepare them for a diverse workforce, while also allowing them to negotiate difference within the classroom,” Brady said. Brady cites her passion for litera-ture as a driving force behind her degrees. “I was pre-law, and I was on my way to law school, and my senior year, I applied to law schools and I also applied to graduate programs in English,” Brady said. “And for me, the study of literature just appealed to me, and I took an op-portunity to attend the University

Sophomore Sam Messner reads over the Digital Humanities Collec-tive flyer to learn more niformation about the new project.

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Students Explore Housing OptionsBy Ellen Hoffman, Editor-in-Chief The campus housing lottery is months away but students are already wondering whether off campus housing is a good idea, or if staying on campus is a better move for them. Assistant Director of Residence Life AJ Nudo believes this deci-sion varies according to the needs of each student. “It’s a different experience living off campus, not to say it’s a good or bad experience, any experience is truly what you make of it.” Nudo wants students who are considering moving off campus to think of the impact of many factors before making a decision: Cost, commute, meals, landlord, and location are some of the issues that students should care-fully consider. “It’s a style of independent liv-ing. I think it does force you to be more responsible because you are responsible for that place and you are signing a contract with a landlord,” he said. “Maybe you’re paying bills for the first time because the landlord requires that you cover utilities, and maybe you’re worried about your electric bill or your water bill and how much water you’re using.”

Junior medical imaging major Alyssa Gotzman moved off cam-pus with a friend from her major after her sophomore year. They found an apartment nearby and haven’t found a major problem so far. The two said the move made summer clinicals more manage-able and feel it will make it easier for the rest of their time as MU students. “It was helpful for us because we moved our stuff in and kept it there until the fall,” she said. “It was just easier so I didn’t have to keep moving in and out.” But they have encountered snags they didn’t expect. With classes in session and their friends still on campus, they sometimes find it hard to stay in touch and make time for everyone. “You have to really make an effort to see your friends that live on campus,” she said. “I miss my friends on campus and going into their rooms every night just to hang out or watch a TV show.” Gotzman also said traveling to campus for school functions or to the library can be difficult. She said it can be a “hassle” to have to drive back to campus after already getting back to her apartment.

“I just think because I was so used to living on campus that it’s taking some time to get used to.” Gotzman said she likes the pri-vacy in her Country Club Apart-ments space, but she has to be more aware of her neighbors. Her apartment is sandwiched between other Misericordia students and a family with children. “Living outside of just a student environment is different. You have to be cautious about the families and little kids that live around you.” The Dallas area is different for off campus housing compared to regions with larger schools like Penn State University, Nudo said, because larger universities tend to have off campus areas full of stu-dents who don’t have to worry as much about keeping quiet because of their neighbors. “In Dallas you may have a rental and then all private homes around you,” he said. “You have to be more mindful of the people around you, not that you shouldn’t be mindful of your fel-low students here on campus, but if you’ve got a house next to you that’s got four kids, you may have to keep your noise down.”

Living in a residential area, or anywhere off campus for that matter, provides students with some valuable lessons, including personal safety. Nudo reminds students that in the event of an emergency our problem, they need to remember that they cannot call Campus Safety. They must call the local police. “It can teach you some good values. It can get you prepared for some things you need to know later on, but I think that if you’re looking for a college experience, that’s [on campus],” he said. “The college experience [exists] in what the school can provide for you.” If an off campus student does decide to return to campus hous-ing, the process becomes tricky, Nudo said. Students are placed on waiting lists, and Residence Life hasn’t offered housing to students on last year’s list because of the high number of incoming students. “You can try to get back on but it’s not easy. With our housing situation right now we are very, very limited in availability and housing.” Hoffmae3@misericordia.edu

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

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The Highlander reserves the right to edit submissions for grammatical errors and length. All submissions must be signed. Letters to the Editor and/or materials for publication may be submitted by any reader. Items can be sent via e-mail.

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Metz Culinary Management staff is continuing to promote food safety, a topic brought into the public spotlight after recent media coverage of tainted food. In spite of wide reform of food safety laws, the number of Americans falling ill or dying from contaminated food has increased 44 percent since last year, accord-ing to a CNN report. Resident Dining Manager Heidi Franssen said it’s crucial for Metz to uphold food safety standards while it caters to all students. “In our eyes, it [food safety] is common sense, but it’s things you need to know,” she said. Franssen and management staff provide staffers with refresher lessons and tests on ServSafe regulations. The class reviews food handling at proper temperatures, proper food storage methods, and temperature, bacteria, cross-con-tamination and personal hygiene information. ServSafe “blends the latest FDA Food Code, food safety research and years of food sanitation train-ing experience,” while requiring that managers and supervisors be certified in this training, accord-ing to the ServSafe website. All Metz managers and supervisors are certified and have extensive knowledge of food safety. “We cover food safety right from the beginning: how food is delivered, where it comes in from the back, where it goes, where it’s stored, how it’s stored. You know, in others words, raw meat on the bottom shelf versus fruits on the top shelf. And we have separate cooler areas for meats, a cooler for dairy, so it’s right here in particular. Not everybody has that of course, but there’s protocol on how things are stored,” said Franssen. This protocol is something that freshman pre-medicine/chemistry major Greg Yelnosky understands. He said he came to feel strongly about the importance of proper food storage after working at a confectionery bakery on another

university campus. “At certain temperatures, certain meats go bad very quickly and easily contaminate all of the other foods around it. Certain things like this are very strict – like raw eggs. Vegetables are very strict, fruits are probably the most strict when it comes to produce because when they go bad, they can attract all kinds of pests,” said Yelnosky. Other students across campus acknowledge and promote the im-portance of food safety, especially with the potential of students coming down with and transmit-ting foodborne illnesses. First year Dustyn Bebee said safety measures are particularly important on college campuses. “When we’re dealing with a large amount of people, I feel like safety with our food is very important because if one person gets sick from the food that means the rest of the campus is getting sick off of the food,” said Bebee. Food safety is more than just storing food, said Franssen. It includes protocol on all aspects of personal hygiene and the role that hygiene plays in food contamina-tion and foodborne illnesses. “We have policies in place about hygiene. So, with the employ-ees, they took a test that had to do with personal hygiene and coming in with clean clothes you know, which may sound like com-mon sense, but it’s important be-cause a lot of food contamination can come from lack of personal hygiene. So we wear gloves, we wash our hands, we wear gloves, we wear hats or hairnets, stuff like that to keep it clean. And we have had very few issues. In the year that I’ve been here we haven’t had any issues,” said Franssen. Safety also has a great deal to do with where dining services pur-chases produce, said Franssen. “We buy food from food vendors where everything is already ap-proved – meat is approved, dairy is approved and seafood is certi-fied from there,” said Franssen. Smitha10@misericordia.edu

KEEPING CLEAN IN CAFETERIABy Alexandria Smith, Content Manager

Viewfinder: Boom in the Night Experiments

Sophomore communications major Mary Bove captured these photographs of the ‘Boom in the Night’ event where students participated in Halloween themed science experiments that fizzled, popped and sparkled against the dark October sky in the Wells Fargo Amphitheater.

No joke: comedy is political information for manyBy Shawn Kellmer, Web Editor Lampoons have been a part of the political landscape for a very long time, and some students and professors say public distrust of the media is turning some media consumers toward comedy as a source of political information. Since the days of political car-toons in the early newspapers of Colonial America, lampoons have helped shape the political land-scape through humor, which often attacked politicians, candidates and political parties. The political lampoon jetted to television screens with the advent of Saturday Night Live in 1975, which has covered almost every major political story as fodder for skits. Comedy Central debuted a satirical “news” show called The Daily Show in 1996. The Daily Show proved so popular that in 2005 Steven Colbert, a Daily Show correspondent, started a spinoff show, The Colbert Report. Shows focusing on political lam-poons have proven very popular among young adults, including college students. According to The Huffington Post, more young adults ages 18 to 34 watched Comedy Central’s 11 p.m. to midnight hour, which is when The Daily Show and Colbert Report airs, over Fox News during the Republican National Convention.

Comedy central programming drew 450,000 viewers, while Fox News only attracted 329,000. Critics have blasted shows like the Daily Show warning that they are comedy and not the news, but people still watch and feel that they become more informed. First year English major Julia Whitesell believes comedy shows can serve as a starting point for political information. “They do all the stories I’m interested in and after I watch them I can look stuff up on my own and read more about it.” Whitesell notes that a reli-ance on comedy as an informa-tion source can be troublesome because voters may lack solid, fact-based information. “I think there is a tendency, especially now, that people don’t trust the actual news and so they don’t want to listen to the news. As a result, I think there are a lot of people that only watch the satirical things and they don’t get the full picture so they end up not being fully informed,” said Whitesell. Fine arts professor Darlene Smith said that even comedy can offer information that young people might otherwise miss. “I do see credibility to it. They frequently speak the language of common man and often times the

newscasters fail to do that, but on the other hand they certainly do slant their opinion their way,” said Smith. Smith said most viewers do not confuse facts with humor, which often relies upon wild exaggera-tion. “I think that most people that watch those shows are pretty intelligent people, because those are intelligent shows. I think that if they are getting the humor that they certainly understand the is-sues,” said Smith. Pat Burman, an undeclared transfer student, believes that lampoons can be an effective news source if–unlike traditional news sources--it uses humor to attract the attention of young people. “In order to make the joke funny, they have to tell you the news story. You have to understand what happened to make the joke funny,” said Burman. Smith sees political humor as a potent communication tool. “Humor helps everything. Humor is something that reaches everybody,” said Smith. The lack of heaviness in a parody is why people tend to gravitate to-wards shows like The Daily Show, said Burman. “It’s easier to share a joke, to share something funny, to share something that’s not so heavy and

deep as ‘this guy said this and we need to go along with this because here’s all the evidence here.’ It’s easier to just go, ‘well this is funny.’ This makes this guy look like an idiot, so this guy must be an idiot,” said Burman. One of the largest criticisms is that political satire is often biased. “It can be looked at as biased because you’re picking on a certain person who has certain views who, if you’re picking on them, it gener-ally implies you don’t agree with them. People have a tendency to laugh at things they don’t associ-ate themselves with as opposed to laughing at themselves,” said Burman. Whitesell said she views much of the televised political comedy as fair because all candidates and parties are open to funny criti-cism. “Despite the fact that its satire and it’s supposed to be comedy, I don’t think they [the hosts] really care what party you belong to. I think they’re obviously more liber-al than conservative or anything, but they’ll call out Democrats just as easily as they’ll call out Republi-cans,” said Whitesell. The problem, said Burman, is that everyone has a different defi-nition of what is funny, and varied tastes can lead to highly charged political contention.

“If you’re making a joke about something you’re always going to offend someone because people don’t always find the same thing funny,” said Burman. He adds that political figures might lose the public’s respect. “When people don’t sit down and actually look at facts, when they just look at the jokes it can

create an opinion that this guy is just a clown or this idea is just funny and stupid and we’re going to laugh at it and not think about it,” said Burman. Smith added that while lam-poons have their place in the political discourse, no one should

make them a sole source of infor-mation. “You just have to balance everything, just like you can’t use Wikipedia, you have to watch your sources. Be careful about making judgments that are sort of off of people’s heads and so forth and listening to other people. I think you need to actually listen to can-

didates. I think you actually have to listen to debates. I think you do have to pay attention to what is truthfully written, and you have to be careful of biased newspapers. You have to be careful of biased television shows,” said Smith. Kellmers@misericordia.edu

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Sophomore Kara Slack views the latest SNL Weekend Update during a study break in the Alumni/McGowan study room. The skit is the Do’s and Don’ts of a Presidential debating.

CORRECTION“Study Abroad: No Tango in Paris?”, an article that ran in the October 9 issue of The Highlander was incorrect.

Other study abroad courses, including those in the busness department have run in the past.

November 6, 2012highlandernews.net 3News

CAPSCORNER

Man On The StreetStudents in the Banks Student Life Center feel for those who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy and shared their thoughts on the natural disaster with The Highlander.

“I think there is a culture bubble here where people don’t get it. People may lose their power, but in my town, people lost their homes,” said junior Cheyne Kulessa.

“I feel bad for those af-fected and hope for a strong recovery. I am praying and wish to help anyway I can,” said senior Christelle Patrice.

“Hurricane Sandy was a tragic storm. It was heartbreaking to see all the families affected and I hope they recover from the natural disaster,” said sophomore Cale Evans.

“Although I wasn’t great-ly affected by the store, I feel bad for those who lost their power and face a lot of clean-up,” said sopho-more Kelsey Heimbach.

“I think it was very trau-matic and devastating for the people. It was a very sad thing to happen to the people,” said first year David Perez.

The CAPS Center exists to assist students address personal and developmental issues which hinder their ability to achieve their

educational and career goals.

Goals:1. Provide high quality counseling services to assist students ad-dress developmental and psychological issues which hinder their

ability to achieve their personal, educational and career goals.

2. Create and maintain collaborative relationships with depart-ments within the Student Affairs division and be a supportive resource for academic and other university personnel regarding

students’ psychological health.

3. Offer a peaceful and aesthetically appealing environment that supports the delivery of services to students in a comfortable and

confidential manner.

4. Utilize ongoing assessment and existing data to develop or modify services.

of Pittsburgh, and complete an MA degree in English there with a concentration in cultural studies.” Most humanities students hold a similar passion regardless of discipline, and it leads them to become exceptional intellectuals, Brady said. “The humanities build creative and divergent thinking, along with critical thinking skills that are valuable in the workforce,” Brady said. “It is important for students to be able to appreciate multiple perspectives, because that appre-ciation of difference, along with the critical thinking skills humani-ties majors develop, allows them to become good citizens who have a care in providence for others.” Editors Nicole Mostik, Sarah Hausze, and MaryKate Smith focused on issues that would catch student interest for the first issue of Ars Liberalis. Mostik looked into the recent changes to the Dining Hall and Cougar’s Den for student meal plans this year, while Hausze wrote about Banned Books Week and other happenings at the library. Smith wrote a response to

a blog post written by a New York Times journalist diminishing the value of the humanities. Brady would love students to contribute articles on anything that interests them, on campus or not. “For example, students who recently attended the Goldstone lectures would be able to talk about, not just the content of lectures, but also how having the Goldstones come here benefitted them and added depth to their studies,” Brady said. Students should not feel con-strained to news or feature articles as Ars Liberalis will showcase cre-ative submissions as well as news worthy pieces. Brady encourages students to check out a preview of the fall issue. Students should contact her with ideas, questions, and submis-sions at tbrady@misericordia.edu. Smithm9@misericordia.edu

Collective Continued

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Struggling students are now receiving invitations to attend workshops and take part in other services offered by the Student Success Center, but officials say all students are invited. The Student Success Center is home to the Tutoring and Writing Centers as well as the offices of advisors for undeclared majors. The center also runs the univer-sity’s Summer Bridge program, which allows recent high school graduates to come on campus before the school year starts. “It’s for students to come in early and get just a hands-on jump-start to their college experi-ence which is really nice,” Riley

said. The SSC also houses the college retention liaisons, who are the people in charge of ensuring that students have the services they need to stay until graduation. Some of the center’s most popu-lar offerings are workshops on note-taking skills, time-manage-ment skills, test-taking strategies, study skills strategies and reading strategies. “Students, they have study skills,

they have test taking skills, but it’s always something you can build upon and make better,” Riley said. “I think you can always take your performance in those areas to the next level.” Riley tries to schedule the study skills and test taking skills workshops in the beginning of the semester to help students start off on the right foot. “We try to strategically place them at the beginning of the semester, you know, so that students can come down and they can sharpen their skills and be prepared to take tests throughout the term,” Riley said. Not all students take advantage

of early–semester workshops, though, so Riley often provides on–demand workshops for those in need. “I do an awful lot of on-demand service with that type of thing as well, and again, that comes back to students realizing that they have a test coming up that they want to perform very well on,” Riley said. “So they’ll come and see me to get that study skills workshop or that test taking skills workshop.”

Riley said one of the best things about working at the postsecond-ary education level is the student population is always changing, so his workshops are fluid as well. “I can’t give test taking strate-gies to one student the same way I would give them to another student, because, again, the ever-constant change,” Riley said. “I have to be mindful of their learn-ing styles, I have to be mindful of what works best for them.” The goal is to help students so they can succeed on their own, he said. “With the test taking strategies workshop that I do, I show stu-dents how to strategically look at a

question and look at the answers,” Riley said. “If they understand that there’s certain clues and keywords and components of that question that they’re supposed to be looking for, it helps them with the deduction process, through narrowing it down and selecting the best answer.” Riley presents workshops according to each student who comes into the center because each has different strengths, he

said. “Are they an auditory learner, a visual learner, or a tactile kinesthetic learner? I have to be mindful of my audience and what they do best.” Riley said he has always believed in the value of student services like the SSC. “I frequented the learning center at my college quite often,” Riley said. “I’ve always known it was im-portant, ever since I was a student myself.” Riley also credits his academic advisor in college as one of the reasons he understood the impor-tance of a center like the SSC. “I had a very good relationship with my academic advisor from when I was an undergrad, and we’re still very good friends to this day,” Riley said. “The only differ-ence is now instead of advising me on classes, we kind of talk shop a little bit more, and you know, our experiences and day to day problems, you know, ‘How did you deal with this?’ or ‘How did you deal with that?’” Riley encourages students to see the SSC as a resource to use before they really need academic help or are referred by a teacher. “If you look over your schedule and think a class is going to be challenging, by all means, sign up for tutoring as soon as you can,” he encourages. “Don’t wait until the class becomes a problem, be-cause if you wait until it becomes a problem it’s already too late.” Riley hopes students will use the SSC to become the best student they can be. “It’s very helpful, and the door is always open,” Riley said. “Students just need to walk through it.” Smithm9@misericordia.edu

SSC offers custom course helpBy MaryKate Smith, Reporter

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Left, first year Jevin Fluegel awaits the start of his tutoring session in the Student Success Center.Right, sophomore Marianna Wright logs in for a tutoring session on the ADP portal.

Roving the halls, ready to serveBy Alexis Vaskas, Reporter A librarian is coming to a place near you. Information Literacy Librarian Hilary Westgate said the library is offering a roving reference ser-vice to students in need of some extra assistance. The service is new, but Westgate said the concept is not.“Actually a lot of academic librar-ies, a lot of colleges and universi-ties are trying this now. So it’s not really a new idea in general, but it’s new here,” said Westgate. The on-the-go service will offer help with library, writing and research questions such as how to recognize scholarly articles and where to find them, how to use databases and how to properly format and cite research papers. “It’s basically just meeting stu-dents where they are doing their work. We still have services at the reference desk, but we also wanted to branch out and go to other buildings,” said Westgate.Westgate plans to make rounds

at Insalaco Hall, Banks Student Life Center, the Writing Center, the Student Success Center and Passan Hall, targeting high-traffic zones during the most populated hours. “I try to work the roving refer-ence in at a time where people would actually be in that area, so especially if it’s the cafe area in Insalaco, then I’ll try to go around lunch,” said Westgate. Junior Brittany Lovette likes the concept of having a roving reference librarian on campus be-cause it will allow her to get help without stopping her studies to go find help. “Students may have questions but by the time they get the an-swer they get distracted and stop studying. The new librarian would stop this problem,” said Lovette. Westgate said she will offer at least one roving reference librar-ian session per week and will rotate locations on a weekly basis.Students need to be aware of the

roving reference service to guar-antee the helpful program stays intact, according to Westgate. She plans frequent EMU an-nouncements, which will detail her roving reference times and locations, and provide updates on the Library Club’s FaceBook page.Head of Reference and Informa-tion Literacy David Marks said word-of-mouth combined with Westgate’s physical campus pres-

ence will help students become more aware of the library’s roving service. Marks said support of campus departments, including the Writ-ing Center, will also ensure the program’s success.For more information about the roving librarian service contact Hilary Westgate at hwestgat@misericordia.edu. Vaskasa@misericordia.edu

ALEXIS VASKAS /THE HIGHLANDERHilary Westgate poses for the camera while sitting at her desk in the Mary Kintz Bevevino Libary.

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November 6, 2012highlandernews.net4 News

Pretty in Pink WeekBy Brittany Lovette, Reporter Colleges Against Cancer hosted its annual Pink Week to help raise awareness of breast cancer. Pink Week lasted for five days during the campus lunch rush in Banks Student Life Center. Mem-bers of CAC provided facts about breast cancer and raised funds for their Relay for Life event in the spring. Relay for Life is the biggest event the CAC group hosts in the spring semester. It is the largest fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. The club plans to fundraise all year to support CAC, the relay, and ACS, said senior Megan Ro-gan, CAC co-president. She hopes to raise more awareness and have a bigger relay than last year. Her goal is to have more than 30 teams participate. “If every club on campus had a team, we would exceed that goal by a lot. To exceed that goal would be amazing,” said Rogan. Buy a Cup and Save a Cup, Save the Rack and Pink Hair and Nails are a few activities that CAC used during Pink Week. Buy a Cup and Save a Cup enabled students to buy cups of pink lemonade adorned with pink ribbons. Save the Rack was a phrase scribbled across black t-shirts with a pink ribbon offered for sale. Pink hair dye and nail polish were available. A human pink ribbon was created on the third day of Pink Week to develop campus involvement. This year’s relay will mark the

100 year celebration of ACS and Rogan wants to aim higher to raise more funds. The goal for this year is $15,000. Last year’s relay raised just under $13,000. “We’re happy that the ACS are letting us aim even higher instead of having us aim lower,” said Rogan. “Normally they would go from 7,500 to about 10,000 at the most, but they are letting us scooch by that.” CAC is different from other clubs because cancer has touched every person in some way, said Rogan. “It’s not just your major. It’s not just a hobby. It’s something that has touched you either person-ally or a friend of yours has been touched. So we have more of a community or personal connec-tion to each other,” said Rogan. CAC co-president and junior Kathleen Lord has a strong con-nection to people with cancer. Her mother is two-time breast cancer survivor, and she has other rela-tives going through cancer. She also lost a high school friend to the disease. These experience have motivated her to transfer to MU for the Medical Imaging Program and becoming involved with CAC. “I wanted to be a part of the cancer field, and I wanted to make a difference after realizing what a big part it had played in my life,” said Lord. “So immediately I decided I needed to be involved with relay and anything else that I could.” Lord believes she is proactive

with her participation in Pink Week and Breast Cancer Aware-ness Month, and she hopes to raise money, and perhaps more important, awareness. “I know personally it seems a lit-tle crazy that as a 20, 21-year-old to even be thinking about breast cancer because most women don’t worry about it until they are in their 40’s and 50’s,” said Lord. She said young women often experience benign tumors as she once did. She hopes to help edu-cate younger women about early detection, the best way to keep the survival rate high. “I think that it [CAC] is one of the best opportunities I ever could have taken and that I am so glad I am involved because I really made a family of friends that are all as passionate about awareness as I am,” said Lord. Pink Week is her time to advo-cate for something that is so close to her heart. She hopes to use this week to help accomplish all of the goals CAC hopes to achieve this year. “So if they have the right means to continue on, CAC is just going to grow. It’s just going to be big-ger; it’s just going to be better,” said Rogan Rogan will step down as presi-dent of CAC at the end of the year, but she is confident others will grow CAC and cancer awareness after she graduates. Lovettb@misericordia.edu

The pub is alive with the sound of musicHighlander Staff Reports Alumnus Will McHale invites students to open their minds – and ears – to Dubstep at Mul-ligans Irish Pub in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Dubstep electronic dance music originated in England but made its way into the U.S. after Dubstep artists like Skream and Zinc started remixing popular radio hits by pop artists such as Britney Spears and Rihanna. The bi-weekly musical event attracts a crowd to Mulligan’s for a new clash of drum and bass music. McHale recently changed the event’s name to “Heavy” as a way to attract a wide range of listeners who follow many types of electronic music. “It all began by performing at house parties,” McHale said. “I also worked at Mulligan’s at the time it started and was able to work my way into starting my own event.” McHale added other deejays to the event once word spread and crowds grew large. Casey Husted and Cheyne Kulessa now join McHale every other Wednesday at Mulligan’s. “When I met Casey, he wasn’t playing out anywhere but I could tell he was passionate about music

and that he wanted to do it,” McHale said of the new deejay. “He kind of jumped right into it. You’d think he’d been performing for years.” McHale and the other deejays feel that they formed a “scene”

with their Dubstep nights and en-courage more people to come out and see what it’s all about before counting it out. Kulessa is happy to be a part of the new musical scene and wants others to give it a chance instead

of sticking with the same main-stream artists. “Mulligan’s is a lot of fun. I don’t even care if many people show up. I’m just happy to be up in front of everyone hitting the play button,” he said.

The deejays say working at Mul-ligan’s can be a struggle at times because Dubstep is a new kind ‘of sound, and some people don’t understand it just yet, according to McHale who used to bartend at Mulligan’s. “It’s not really Mulligan’s. It’s just a general struggle in this area,” McHale said. “It’s difficult sometimes when the area you’re trying to entertain is essentially 15 years behind in things like fashion, music and ideologies.” McHale said many in the Wyo-ming Valley still expect typical bands and old school songs from N’Sync and the Backstreet Boys. He encourages everyone to try something new, like their elec-tronic sound. “The Valley just seems very behind and doesn’t approach new age ideas like this with open arms.” The deejays hope to play at dif-ferent venues and events in the future. “We are getting a lot of sup-port from local groups and DJ’s like Sector 1, a group of deejays that have been performing for 10 years or so,” McHale said. “They have more of an old school feel. At first they thought we were trying

to compete with them, but they eventually learned that we were doing it for the experience and because we love what we do.” Mulligan’s is the only area venue to feature Dubstep on a regular basis. Concerts are sometimes held at the Mohegan Sun Arena or Casino but, McHale said, those shows are more mainstream and well known with better known bands and artists. “Besides the Arena, if a good artist comes through Wilkes-Barre and wants to perform but won’t necessarily sell out a huge venue like that, where do they go?” McHale said artists need underground or smaller venues, but popular alternative venues like Cafe Metropolis didn’t last in this area. Other popular venues like Redwood Art Space and The Vintage Theater needed to relocate after not gaining enough support. The deejays are grateful for their crowds, and they thank the sup-portive fans who come out to hear their music each week. “It’s a small crowd, but they have a lot of heart.” Highland@misericordia.eduBRYCE EDWARDS /THE HIGHLANDER

Will McHale gets ready to spin his next set during the dubstep night at Mulligan’s Irish Pub in downtown Wilkes-Barre. McHale runs the bi-weekly event and often features guest deejays from Misericordia. Guests must be of age to attend the electronic music night.

MU students experienced a number of Pink Week activities during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Senior Nikki Helwig offered a zumba class in honor of the awareness month and Colleges Against Cancer set up tables in Banks Student Life Center offering free pink hair dye and nail polish. The CAC members also formed a human pink ribbon in front of McHale Hall.

ALEXIS VASKAS, ALEXANDRIA SMITH /THE HIGHLANDER

November 6, 2012highlandernews.net 5Sports

NCAA switches shooting string regulationsBy Joshua Horton, Reporter Men’s lacrosse coach Jim Ricardo wants the sport to be known as the fastest game played on two feet–and rule changes for the up-coming season may grant his wish. Each December coaches from all three of the NCAA’s levels meet to discuss flaws in current rules, propose new ones and vote on whether or not they will be put into action. Changes this year include stricter regulations on the stringing of the stick, lengthen-ing the substitution box by ten yards on each side and limiting the amount of procedures on a faceoff. The regulations were made to increase player safety--as well as increase the pace of play. The stringing of the stick affects the depth of the pocket, which Ricardo said provides less effort for a defender to knock the ball loose, therefore limiting the number of vicious hits on offensive players. “This is a safety issue concerning sticks and stick checks, and cross checks,” Ricardo said. “They are trying to eliminate that pocket so the ball can come out a little easier when you throw a stick check. Hence, get rid of so much more body contact.” Senior defenseman Drew Abatangelo feels the new guide-lines will definitely be an advan-tage to his fellow defensemen.

“From an attack standpoint, the ball comes out a lot easier,” the second team All-Freedom defense-man said. “As a defender once we hit it’s more likely to come out so we don’t have to wail on their arms. I like it a lot.” Another decision that will impact defensemen is the lengthening of the substitution box. This year the box will be ten yards longer on both sides, which will provide an advantage to the offensive player coming onto the field ten yards closer to the net. “It makes mark ups tougher because you have to do them a bit quicker,” Abatangelo said. “But, on the other hand, it’s easier for us to get off the field on the other end and get a new guy on.” Ricardo compared the rule to ice hockey. In hockey, if a team is try-ing to kill a penalty and its player jumps out of the box at the right time, he can be hit with a pass and have an easy breakaway. In lacrosse, if a defensemen comes off the field, an offensive player can enter 20-yards down the field and give a jump start on opposing defenders. “A lot of games at the division one level have slowed down where they are trying to get good ball possession and trying to get differ-ent guys out there,” Ricardoo said.

“This rule makes it so the game just keeps going. It’s a little more fast-paced.” Ricardo is also in favor of new limits on procedures. A procedure is called when one player in the faceoff circle tries to gain an early advantage on the opposition. The new rule states that once a player is called for two procedures, he must serve a 30-second penalty giving, the other team a one-man advantage. “I think there were a lot of long faceoffs, a lot of jam ups and a bunch of guys cheating so this rule should help in a lot of ways,” Ricardo said. He also feels this is much safer than some of the alternatives the NCAA had proposed. “They actually had a rule where they wanted the two guys going for the face off to start further away and that would have just caused more impact,” Ricardo said. “The faceoff rule is simply meant for people to stop cheating. Some guys are timing the whistle and jumping.” The final change that occurred this season was the addition of a 30-second shot clock. Ricardo doesn’t necessarily agree because different people have different views of the definition of a shot. “I don’t think that was needed,

but it’s in there,” Ricardo said. “If you’re not attacking the cage the referees will tell you clock’s on. and once it gets to ten they count the rest out loud and you have to get a shot on the cage. That’s a little suspect. What’s a shot? Not a lot of our shots are on cage.” Ricardo and his staff plan to implement a different condition-ing program for the pre-season as the speed of the game increases. The team used its fall season to become acclimated to the changes.

“We will make some condition-ing changes,” Ricardo said. “We only get four weeks of practice in the fall so we ran pretty hard then. Now we are going to have to have two-way middies guys who are going to have to play both sides of the ball.” The team had its first taste of plat under the new rules at the HEADstrong Foundation’s 6th Annual Nicholas Colleluori Fall Men’s Lacrosse Classic on Oct. 7 at Ridley High School in Folsom, PA.

“With change you are a little hes-itant until you do it, but we loved it,” Ricardo said. “I thought the fall went great and we are ready to get going in the spring.” Hortonj@misericordia.edu

Below, junior Tyler Hutchenson has restrung his lacrosse head according to the new NCAA standards.

PETER FALVEY /THE HIGHLANDER

SWINGING TO SPRING SUCCESSBy James Fisher, Reporter The baseball team’s season finish on Oct. 6 marks the last organized team activity before spring train-ing gets underway. The fall baseball season gives teams a total of 16 practices and one game against another school, according to NCAA rules. The team divided practice into four sessions a week for a four week pe-riod, said head coach Pete Egbert. Players maintained good work-out shape and had intrasquad scrimmages to work on game day situations. Coach Egbert said the scrimmag-es were new this fall season. Senior Pitcher Matt Karabin felt that the scrimmages kept the play-ers ready and showed that they take the game seriously regardless of the season. “Everyone took the competition seriously,” said Karabin. “I felt like we got a lot out of it.” Karabin is pleased with the team’s performance in the season-ending game against Penn-State Brandywine. Karabin said that it was a terrific test. “I think we did good,” Karabin said. “The bats came alive and our team hadn’t hit like that in a while. Pitching wise and defen-sively, we were solid and everyone had a solid performance.” The team practiced and played on campus grounds for the first time in almost two years. Coach Egbert said the new field and field house were good contributions to the team’s season. “It was nice having the new facil-ity,” said Egbert. “It was difficult transporting everyone off campus, so the new facility was huge for us and it made everything a lot easier.” Egbert said now the task is to reevaluate the team as a whole. “I think the fall [season] went well overall, “Egbert said. “It’s a

good time for us to evaluate our new players and see where we think they’re going to fit in and see how our returning players have improved.” Karabin said he expects more success. “We had a lot of freshman so we were unsure about how it was going to be. Everyone worked hard and I like we accomplished a lot of things and we look good going into the spring.” Egbert said he feels confident with the players returning to the team this season, and he feels the transfer and freshman players will contribute this spring. “We feel good. We’re return-ing a lot guys that have been in situations for us,” said Egbert who spoke of returning players Kenny Durling, Evan Robaczewski and Karabin. “We have transfers that will help as well. We feel confident about where we stand, we know we need to work to get better. We didn’t finish where we wanted last year.” This year’s roster is one of the biggest in recent years. “We have a big roster,” said Karabin. “[We have] guys that work hard and a lot of returning guys. If everyone works hard this off-season, I feel we will be very successful.” The baseball team finished 36-10 overall last season and won its sec-ond consecutive Freedom Confer-ence Title, an accomplishment the team hopes to repeat. Karabin said for now, players need off-season training before spring rolls around. “I got pretty banged up this fall,” said Karabin. “My priority is getting healthy, getting in shape, getting stronger and get ready to move on. The others will push me like I push myself.” fisherj3@misericordia.edu

New intensity benefits teamHighlander News Reports Swim team members are embracing new head coach Matt VanDerMeid as they prepare for the 2012-2013 season. Junior Doug Ranson said the team was hesitant at first because they didn’t know what to expect from VanDerMeid after working with previous coach Jason Morini. “As the weeks have gone on it becomes more apparent that he knows what he’s doing,” Ranson said. VanDerMeid looks forward to working with the men’s and women’s teams this season and said he has something new to offer as a coach. He wants to work with the team on yardage by increasing the swimmers practice time in the pool. “We’re just getting into some of the more intense practices and those will ramp up throughout the

rest of the season,” VanDerMeid said. Ranson and other swimmers agree that even though these practices are more intense than they expected it will help them in the long run. “Even though we are more tired now, it’s going to be beneficial. It’s just about the amount of time that we put into the pool now and what we get out of it in the end,” Ranson said. “Right now, since it’s technically the beginning of the season everyone is just getting the endurance back up to where they need to be.” Senior Michelle Bruno said it is hard not to compare VanDerMeid and Morini. She feels VanDerMeid has a different perspective but may help them succeed in the end. Bruno looks to improve on her times in individual meets as well

as get to MAC’s at the end of the season. “It’s definitely a different pro-gram,” she said. “We swim a lot more than we used to so hopefully that will give us an advantage.” VanDerMeid hopes to avoid injuries this season and is already working heavily with injuries sustained from last season, such as junior Megan DiPalo’s shoulder injury. DiPalo has not been able to compete in any of the team’s early season meets. Coach VanDerMeid is in hopes of a strong recovery and has given her advice for improving her events without re-injuring herself. “I really like that he definitely tries to talk to everyone and I’m hoping that the whole team can come together and improve this season,” she said. VanDerMeid set a goal to win

the Mid-American Conference Championship which he doesn’t think is out of the question. He credits the strong freshman squad and returning upperclassmen to his MAC Championship goal. Ranson though, set a bigger goal up for himself as he hopes to qualify for National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA’s) in the 200 meter and 400 meter medley relay’s. “We do have a handful of high end swimmers who had very good races so far,” he said. The teams have upcoming meets against King’s College and Lycom-ing College before the Diamond City Invitational at the end of the month. Highland@misericordia.edu

Election Day is November 6

VOTE

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

Cougar swimmers took to the pool on October 31 against Marywood University. The men and women swam away with a win.

Need a ride to the polls? Campus Ministry is offering rides to students from 9 a.m. to

5 p.m. Vans will leave every hour.

November 6, 2012highlandernews.net6

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