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A POLL COMPILED BY The Times-Delphic on its website shows the results of whether students thought the FYS Friday sessions were beneficial. The poll ended on Monday, Oct. 3 and had a total 430 votes.

DES MOINES, IOWA | THURSDAY, OCT. 6, 2011 | VOL. 131, NO. 13 | WWW.TIMESDELPHIC.COM

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER FOR DRAKE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884

THE TIMES-DELPHIC

by Erin McHenryStaff Writererin.mchenry@drake.edu

Petition, complaints led to cancellation of classes

Free Food. Free Entertainment. Prizes.

What more could a college stu-dent want?

Celebrate Drake, a variety of ac-tivities and entertainment compiled together into one event, will take place this Saturday from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. in Olmsted Center.

“It is a collaborative event that aims to bring together the entire Drake community,” said Tasha Stiger, director of campus programming. “It’s important to have something like Celebrate Drake to let people know there is a wide array of things to do on the weekend. You don’t have to go out.”

Several organizations work to-gether to put on the event, including the South-Asian Student Association, Ballroom Dancing Club, Student Ac-tivities Board and the Pan-Hellenic Council.

“It was a hit last year,” Stiger said. “We’re looking to have this become an annual event.”

Ballroom dancing, hip-hop dance, henna tattoos and a DJ are just a few of the featured events.

Stiger said “The Price is Right” and “Mission Improvable” are two acts students will especially enjoy.

“The past two times we’ve done

‘The Price Is Right,’ it’s been hilari-ous,” Stiger said. “It’s a fan favorite.”

In the past, prices from the C-Store were used for the game; how-ever, this year prices from local con-venience stores such as Kum & Go may be used.

“Mission Improvable” is an im-prov group from Chicago that will perform at the event. Stiger has seen the group before and said they were entertaining.

“‘Mission Improvable’ is a hilari-ous act,” she said. “They’re always a crowd-pleaser.”

There will be a special perfor-mance by the Isiserettes that starts outside Olmsted at 9:45 p.m. Stu-dents can come and go at any time, but the doors will lock at midnight.

“All Drake students are welcome,” Stiger said. “We’re even allowing stu-dents one guest for the evening.”

Even Spike will make a guest ap-pearance.

Stiger said that the variety of ac-tivities offer a little something for ev-eryone. There will be free food, pos-sibly free T-shirts and lots of prizes, such as an iPad2 and merchandise from the bookstore. The prizes will be announced at the end of the event.

Celebrate Drake will also mark the beginning of the “To Write Love On Her Arms” series, and it will also have an interactive “Live Your Story” tree.

“The idea around the ‘Live Your

Story’ tree is that each person can write their hopes, dreams, fears or create a post secret on a leaf that will then be displayed throughout the eve-ning,” Stiger said.

The tree will be available for stu-dents to add to throughout the night.

While “Live Your Story” begins at Celebrate Drake, the 3-Mile Project, a Residence Hall Association service project, will be ending.

“Over the last few weeks, the 3-Mile Project has encouraged orga-nizations to collect cans for the world food prize,” Stiger said. “When RHA talked to our office, (the Office of) Student Involvement and Leadership, they referenced having the end date be on Celebrate Drake. Then RHA approached SAB about collaborat-ing, and the event ‘Canstruction’ was formed.”

“Canstruction” will last during the entire event, and students can create structures out of the cans their orga-nizations collected. Wanda Everage, vice provost for student affairs and academic excellence, and student votes will determine the top two can-masterpieces, and those organiza-tions will win prizes.

The night offers entertainment for students of all interests and is a safer alternative to other activities.

“We hope students will see that they can have fun on a Saturday night without being intoxicated,” Stiger said.

Celebrate Drake for the second yearEvents, performances in Olmsted

Celebrate Drake

Pomerantz Treble Makers perform at 10, and the Brochal Chords will take over the stage at 12:30

10:30 – 11:15 If you loved Club Olmsted earlier this year, swing by for a live DJ and mocktails.

Bulldog Theater10:15 – 10:45: Get ready to come on down! Students will be called from the audience to play for prizes through the popular game show The Price is Right

11:00 : Time for even more prizes with A Minute to Win It. 11:30 – Mission Improvable. This improv group out of Chicago is sure to keep you laughing

All NightSpice Up Your Space – Dorm room looking dreary? Spice Up Your Space offers lots of crafts and decorating ideas to liven up your dull living space.

Canstructions – Let out your inner sculptor with these can structures. The top two winning organizations will win a prize.

Live Your Story – Stop by the TWLOHA sponsored activity to anonymously write down your hopes, dreams or secrets on the “Live Your Story” Tree.

Game Truck – The game truck comes equipped with over 160 video games for several different gaming systems. Only 12 people are allowed at a time, for 15 minutes per group.

Upper OlmstedBallroom dance – Stop by between 10:15 and 10:45 to learn how to practice ballroom dancing. No prior experience necessary!

Hip Hop Dance – Skip the bell center and head to Olmsted for a fun hip-hop aerobics class from 11:15-11:45

Henna Tattoos – From 10 – 11:45, a henna tattoo station will be open

Hip Hop Dance – Skip the bell center and head to Olmsted for a fun hip-hop aerobics class from 11:15-11:45

Events

An email from one professor sealed the deal for the cancellation of the First-Year Seminar Friday Ses-sions.

“Based on the feedback we have received in the last week, we have come to the conclusion that continu-ing these sessions will not accomplish the goals of the program,” Arthur Sanders, associate provost for cur-riculum and assessment, said in an email. “Therefore, we are ending the Friday sessions.”

Sanders sent the email to first-year students on Tuesday.

Earlier that day, Sanders had said that the necessity for the Friday ses-sions came out of discussions with colleagues and students who thought the regular FYS sessions were miss-ing opportunities to practice concepts that were taught.

“We wanted a different way to have students think about, learn, be exposed to particular types of skills or dispositions,” Sanders said.

He added that students had ex-pressed the desire to get together with other FYS sessions more formally to share experiences.

Vice President of Student Life Matt Van Hoeck is currently the head of the First-Year Interest Committee. He said that it was interesting to see the entire class come together for a

cause so early on. “It’s the thing that is at the front

of every first-year’s mind right now,” Van Hoeck said.

He said in his first meeting he asked the members what they wanted to focus on. The group agreed that the Friday sessions needed to be dis-cussed.

First-year student and FYIC member Natalie Larson said the Fri-day sessions are just an extension of the regular classes but do not focus on any specific topic. Instead they focus on different ones.

Sanders said the topics covered in the three sessions were reflections, discussions and active learning.

The sessions, which were sched-uled each Friday afternoons, hap-pened in six classrooms that were hooked up via video connections. In each of the rooms, there was a host that would facilitate discussions and the learning goals.

Sanders sat in the control room during the sessions. He said that the hosts were in constant communica-tion during the sessions to see if more time was needed during certain parts.

The sessions were designed to build upon one another, which made the attendance required. If students missed a session, they were assigned a short paper that would then be hand-ed in to Sanders.

Sanders said that he was con-stantly receiving feedback about the sessions from students and faculty.

“We constantly evaluate what we are doing,” he said, “because we are trying something different.”

He also said the evaluation pro-cess was still on-going. That was, until he announced the cancellation of the sessions.

In the email, he said that discus-sions to find “alternative” ways to reach the goals of the Friday sessions would continue.

At the time of publication, Sand-ers could not be reached to comment on why he decided to announce the cancellation of further Friday ses-sions.

Justin Kochanski, a first-year bio-chemistry and microbiology major, was one of the first-year students who took the initiative to try and change the Friday sessions.

“After the second or third Friday session and after already hearing the constant complaints of the freshman around me, I thought maybe some-one should do something,” he said.

Kochanski ate lunch with his PMAC, and they discussed an idea on how to take action. While sitting in his room with one of his friends, he drafted a mission statement and a petition.

The petition reads: “We, the first-year student body,

believe that the current design and implementation of First-Year Video

SEE FYS, PAGE 2

No more Friday FYS sessions for first-years

by Lauren HorschManaging/News Editorlauren.horsch@drake.edu Times-Delphic Poll

First-Years: Do you think the FYS Friday sessions are beneficial?

Iowa State professor James Mc-Cormick addressed President Barack Obama’s foreign policy from an ar-ray of angles at Drake on Monday night, encompassing everything from environmental actions to the U.S. military’s killing of Osama bin Laden.

McCormick, a professor and chair of the university’s department of po-litical science, was the feature speaker for this week’s Fall 2011 Speaker and Film Series, which is presented by the Principal Financial Group Center for

Global Citizenship.According to the group’s director,

David Skidmore, McCormick is “a leading scholar on American foreign policy,” making him an ideal speaker for this year’s series.

The fall portion of the series, which includes roughly 40 events each year, focuses on the United States’ global role in public pol-icy. McCormick’s presentation “Barack Obama: A Foreign Policy of Change?” featured a formal lecture session followed by questions for the audience.

“This is part of our mission to educate the campus and community about global affairs,” said Skidmore,

a professor of politics and interna-tional relations.

To begin the lecture, McCor-mick elaborated on the differences between the foreign policy of the George W. Bush and Obama admin-istrations. He paid special attention to Obama’s liberal internationalism style of policy change. Obama’s ap-proach to foreign policy, he said, is driven by domestic values, the pro-motion of democracy, individual rights and a global leadership posi-tion for the U.S.

McCormick also connected for-

Foreign policy questioned during speechby Taylor SouleStaff Writertaylor.soule@drake.edu

SEE SPEAKER, PAGE 2