dakota student nov. 5
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November 5th Dakota StudentTRANSCRIPT
DakotaStudenttheReaching the students, faculty and staff of the University of North Dakota since 1888volume 128 issue 20
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friday november 5, 2010
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WSC (14 meals/week
UM (300 meals)
BSC (17 meals/week)
NDSCS (300 meals)
VCSU (declining balance)
UND (unlimited)
NDSU (unlimited)
DSU (19 meals/week)
$1,396
$1,400
$1,480
$1,620
$1,622
$1,890
$1,925
$2,616
The results are in
About 47 percent of North Dakota’s eligible voters came out and made their voices heard this election. With all precincts re-porting on Wednesday, 236,233
Dining services across North DakotaCollege: Meal plan cost:The low-down on the differences between regional universities’ meal plans
>BRANDI JEWETTThe Dakota Student
As food costs rise each year, uni-versity students may feel like they are throwing away dollar bills each time they dump their trays at the dining centers. But even among increasing costs, a question must be answered: are all meal plans created equal? Read on to see how UND stacks up to other schools in meal plan prices. Declining Cash Balance
Valley City State University (VCSU) cannot be lumped in with the rest of the university system in this comparison. VCSU offers a declining cash balance instead of block, unlim-ited or meals-per-week plans.
Purchasing food is similar to using a debit card. Each time the student eats in the cafeteria or fast food portion of the dining center, the cost is subtracted from the purchasing power of the card. The school’s website proclaims “unlike other campuses in the region, if you don’t eat a meal at VCSU, we don’t take your money!”
The amount spent to acquire the
plan is not the same amount credited to the account. For example, meal plan number one costs $1,094 but has a purchasing power of $846.00. The re-maining $248 is used for a “facility us-age” fee. According to the university’s dinning website, Sodexho Food Service and Valley City State University utilize the facility usage fee to “maintain and update food service facilities.”
Sodexho Food Service is a food and facilities management provider inde-pendent of Food Service America, the chief food distribution company North Dakota University System. This com-pany also offers national brand food in university settings, including A&W, KFC, McDonalds and Coldstone Creamery. Unlimited Plans
Of the eleven universities and col-leges in the state’s offi cial system, only UND and North Dakota State Uni-versity (NDSU) offer unlimited plans. NDSU features two plans, basic and elite. UND also offers two plans, un-limited and unlimited plus.
North Dakota State’s basic plan costs $1,745 and includes three guest passes. The elite plan totals $1,925 and
presents students with $200 dining dollars and seven guest passes for use. UND’s unlimited plan, comparable to NDSU’s basic, can be purchased for $1,800 and includes $50 dining dollars and three guest passes. For $90 more, students can acquire the unlimited plus plan, gaining $150 additional dining dollars and nine more guest passes. Meals-per-Week
This year UND discontin-ued the 10, 14 and 19 meals-per-week plans, leaving only the three and six meals-per-week plans for off campus students. The weekly meal plans were replaced with the aforementioned unlimited plans. A majority of North Dakota’s higher educa-tion institutions offer the meals-per-week plans. Most plans
6FOOD > page
people voted in Tuesday’s elec-tion, according to North Dakota’s Secretary of State.
The North Dakota State Data Center in Fargo estimates that 502,873 people of voting age live in the state. The turnout is simi-lar to North Dakota’s voter num-bers in the state’s previous two elections when the president and governor were not on the ballot.
On Tuesday night, the state saw the loss of the Governor as John Hoeven, and it will now be-
Flying team makes nationals
How accessible are your professors? ELECTION With
236,233 voters tallying, Hoeven, Berg and Jae-ger win.SURVEY Princeton
Review ranks UND as 19th in having the least available faculty.
3VOTE > page
>CARTER HILLThe Dakota Student
>CARTER HILLThe Dakota Student
COMPETITION UND takes top scores at regional conference, will proceed to May contest in Ohio, advisor confi dent in performance.
>JOE CATANZARITIThe Dakota Student
Offi cial Competition Results posted to the NIFA web-site, UND’s score was nearly three hundred points higher than the closest competitor’s score (Dubuque’s) of 383. Looking forward to the National Competition for which their score has qualifi ed the UND team, an event that is to be held in Columbus, Ohio between the 16th and 21st of May, 2011 and is to hosted by the Ohio State Univer-sity, the UND Flying Team’s faculty advisor Lewis Liang spoke proudly of UND’s past performance and looks forward to demonstrate the team’s skill in the national competition.
“The team came together and was ready for this air-meet,” said Liang, who is also an assistant professor of aviation, of UND’s winning performance in the Region V SAFECON. “We have achieved our fi rst goal this year, which now allows us to advance to the National Compe-tition in 2011.” Liang also remarked that he is confi dent
The University of North Dakota’s fl ying team, fresh off a performance in May in which they achieved top honors in the Region V National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s (NIFA’s) Safety and Flight Evaluation Con-ference (SAFECON) will be advancing to the national competition. The UND’s combined winning score of 672 points was good enough to beat the other Region V schools competing in the SAFECON—including teams from the University of Dubuque, Minnesota State University at Makato, St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota at Crookston. According to the 6FLY > page
It is Friday and a student is trying to study for their make it or break it test next week, but they have a question and are not able to continue in their studies. Will this student be able to contact their professor for help? According to the 2011 Princeton Review, the Uni-versity of North Dakota was named one of the top 373 colleges in the United States, but when it comes to how accessible our professors are—UND is lacking.
Not only does the Princeton Re-view name the top 373 universities, they also then survey over 122,000 students from those schools and collect massive amounts of informa-tion to help students fi nd the perfect school choice. From these surveys they ask current university students to partake in question answering, af-ter Princeton receives the completed survey they dish out 62 rankings in certain areas to the schools. They name the best in an area and the worst including anything from stu-dents who study the most and least to schools with the best and worst libraries.
The Princeton Review ranked UND as having the 19th least acces-
6PROF > page
‘Some professors walk into class and teach, and immedi-ately walk out...
Sonora Robisonfreshman, pre-physical therapy
NATHAN TWERBERG > The Dakota Student
NATHAN TWERBERG > The Dakota Student
02 DATEBOOK friday november 5, 2010
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Submit information via email to [email protected] or call 777-2677
>today, november 5, 2010
> concert: The Grand Forks Master Cho-rale will host “The World Beloved: A Blue-grass Mass” at 8 p.m. at United Lutheran Church. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.
sunday, november 7, 2010
> music: The North Dakota Museum of Art Concert Series will present the St. Louis Brass Quintent all day at the Mu-seum. Student tickets are $5 at the door, and $15 for non-members.
monday, november 8, 2010
> multiculturalism: Christus Rex will host a Conversation on Islam and Christian-ity at 7 p.m. at the International Centre. Discussions will be facilitated by gradu-ate student Mosab Bajaber, Pastor Chad Brucklacher and Kathy Fick of the Chris-tus Rex Lutheran Campus Ministry Center.
It’s all here: dakotastudent.com> Find the most up to date stories, columns and photos all in an easy to use, convenient place> Comment on issues and stories affecting your lives as students> Search the archives for past stories> Read campus highlights and features
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Tell us what you think: How do you feel about the recent election results?
> Good, now the US can get back on track > N.D. just lost two of it’s great est political representatives > It makes no difference either way > I hope things turn out better
03NEWS the Dakota Student
come Senator Hoeven, winning with 178, 906 votes over Potter’s 51,947 votes. North Dakota also saw long time Congress member Earl Pomeroy lose his seat in the House of Representatives to Rick Berg. Berg won with 127, 809 to Pomeroy’s 104,748 votes. Incum-bent Secretary of State Al Jaeger held his spot winning over Corey Mock, 143,774 to 85,840.
“The Secretary of State has over forty duties, and I serve on three boards and commissions,” said Al Jaeger, ND Secretary of State. “Because of my background as a construction worker, high school teacher, member of the ND Army National Guard, col-lege graduate and a business own-er, I have demonstrated in my 18 years as Secretary of State that I have the necessary skills, have the experiences, and the judgement, to carry out the responsibilities of my office effectively and effi-ciently.”
This rang true as North Da-kota once again elected Al Jaeger, Secretary of State, with over 62
percent of the vote. Jaeger, first elected in 1992, has now been elected to his 5th term as the Sec-retary of State for North Dakota.
On Tuesday, as the precinct tallied and reported their votes, former Representative Pomeroy and now Representative Berg were in a nail biter race.
“Pomeroy has given North Dakota good service, but it’s time for a change, as the needs of the state and nation have changed,” said the Bismarck Tribune in an Editorial last week.
Well, the time has come and the change has been made.
As Berg will soon head off to Washington D.C., his first goal is to ‘fix’ Washington.
“Washington is at the heart of our nation’s problems. Whether it’s spending, healthcare, energy policy or immigration, Wash-ington has ignored the will of the people and has this country heading in the wrong direction. We are at an important place in our nation’s history, and we must start thinking about the next gen-eration, not the next election. We can fix this country, but first we must fix Washington.”
Tuesday showed that slightly more North Dakotans agree with Berg and his views on Washing-ton than Pomeroy’s views, Berg ;won with just over 54 percent of the vote.
In Hoeven’s decade as Gover-nor, he has improved North Da-kota tremendously. While doing this, he also received some of the highest approval ratings out of all of the Governors in the United States. This was his advantage as he ran to be one of North Dako-ta’s U.S. Senators.
With 40,000 jobs created during his decade as governor, Hoeven would like to see similar progress while he serves in the Senate.
Hoeven also emphasizes the importance of getting federal government deficit spending un-der control so it is not a “burden to future generation.”
Hoeven won over Potter with 76 percent of the vote.
On Tuesday North Dakota citizens went out and performed their patriotic duties, now with the votes counted, North Dakota has spoken.
DS> Carter Hill is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
VOTE > From page 1
These days, it seems like a lot of places are swapping traditional prac-tices with new or more convenient forms of technology, and the Ralph Engelstad Arena is no exception. This year, a few changes have been made to the processes of purchasing and selling student tickets for men’s hockey games. In addition, tickets have gone paperless—all ticket trans-actions will be conducted via the in-ternet and U-Cards. Heather Rear-don, the Box Office Manager at the Ralph, shared a few of the reasons for the recent changes.
According to Reardon, one of the major reasons was the simple matter of convenience. Instead of having to camp out for two nights to buy and receive tickets, students in-terested in purchasing season tickets
could simply do so by going online. “It’s more convenient for everybody,” says Reardon. Going paperless is a way for the Ralph to “go green” by saving paper. It’s also a good oppor-tunity to utilize technology. “I think, in the future, it will be faster,” added Reardon.
In addition, it’ll be a lot harder to lose your tickets. All student tick-ets are loaded onto the U-Cards of their owners. Instead of having to keep track of paper tickets, students simply enter the Student (southwest) Entrance at the Ralph and have their U-Card swiped. A slip will be print-ed out confirming their seats.
By logging onto their accounts at www.fightingsioux.com and go-ing to “Manage my Tickets” option, students can view which events they already have tickets for, post tickets for sale, purchase tickets, or forward their tickets to another student’s ac-count. Those involved in these trans-actions should, however, make sure that they receive emails confirming the transaction; otherwise, the ticket may not have transferred.
Though these changes have been made for the convenience of the stu-
dents using the tickets, not everyone is happy with the new system. One of the major complaints regards re-selling the tickets: students are not allowed to sell their tickets for more than $10 ($15 for the UND vs. Min-nesota games). Reardon explained that they didn’t want the students who were selling tickets taking ad-vantage of those buying. “We don’t want students to rob other students,” she said.
Like all new forms of technol-ogy, this one initially had a few bugs, which led to the second major com-plaint: there have been a few prob-lems swiping cards. According to Reardon, these problems stemmed from three main factors. First, a student can only have one ticket in their account for any single game. Second, some of the students with problems had bought tickets for the wrong day—they had bought tickets for Friday and showed up for Saturday’s game, or vice versa. And finally, those who had obtained new U-Cards discovered that the tickets
Upgrading mens’ hockey ticketsPAPERLESS Going to a game is now as easy as buying online and swip-ing a U-Card.
>MEGAN SEVIGNYThe Dakota Student
12TICKET > page
04 friday november 5, 2010 >commentary
The Princeton Review has posted a ranking that UND has, out of the top 373 schools nationwide, the 19th least accessible professors. For an article in today’s paper, “How accessible are your professors?” a staff writer asked students on campus for their opinion. Overall, the response was positive, suggesting this ranking may not be representative of UND.
But maybe we need to be taking into consideration other factors. Professors teaching lower-level lecture bowl classes are simply going to be less accessible on average that professors teaching upper-level smaller, discussion-based classes. Class type is also dependent on one’s de-partment; some programs just yield to more face-to-face interaction with professors. It may be a matter of which students take the extra step to stop by an offi ce or e-mail a question after class.
Some professors are indeed guilty, however, of passing off the instructor-student relationship to teaching assis-tants, especially in large lecture-bowl based classes. This is understandable—having 500 students in three sections of a 100-level class can be intimidating, but faculty mem-bers should be happy to help their students. Otherwise, what’s the point of teaching?
Also, students shouldn’t think of this relationship as a simple transaction—professors will be happy to meet with you if you have a question that comes up after giving an authentic and involved effort to studying the material. Teachers are not interested in meeting with students to discuss why their grade is low when the student misses half of the lectures in the class.
Students, have confi dence in your instructors, and don’t be intimidated. They were once in your position, and their presence in academia is dedicated to your growth as an intellectual individual. When you interact with professors, do so with respect. Don’t treat them like they owe you anything, no matter how much you pay in tuition. Instructors dedicate their lives to their fi elds and care about their students more than it may seem.
Regardless of the ranking, students should take mat-ters into their own hands when they can. Professors are often looking for students to join department clubs, par-take in research, go to conferences or work on projects with. If a professor knows nothing more of you than a face and a grade, they likely won’t approach you with the opportunity.
At the same time, students must be respectful that the majority of university professors are a bit overloaded and many have good intentions but slip up occasionally.
As we go through college, we should acknowledge the importance of the teacher-student relationship, and we should make an active effort to improve those relation-ships and making education a true interaction instead of a mere monetary transaction.
DS ViewReview Accessibility to instructors is key for success in college.
Professors
Editorial board
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Editorial Policy
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Th e Dakota Student is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas. Opinion columns and letters to the editor will not be edited for content reasons, except in cases of criminal or civil liability. Th e Dakota Student reserves the right to edit or reject columns or letters for various reasons. Th e ideas ex-pressed in columns and letters refl ect the views of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the staff of the Dakota Student.
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Letter: EERC funding correctionI am writing to provide clarifi cation
and correction to a statement made in an article entitled “Digesting Dollars” (October 29), where it was stated that the EERC “…is allocated $43 million for its services.”
Dakota Student readers should be informed that the EERC is responsible for its own funding.
We have never asked for or received any noncompetitive funding from the state for EERC research projects.
However, we have received funding
from over 1100 clients in 51 countries and all 50 states.
The EERC is extremely busy per-forming work on the $43.6 million in competitive contracts that were secured by the EERC last year through propos-als sent out by our researchers (about one proposal each business day).
Through the contract funding that we secure, we pay for all of our expens-es.
In fact, we provided $1.6 million of funding to the University of North
Dakota last year to be allocated to other departments for their services.
Sincerely,
Erin O’Leary
Deputy Associate Director of Busi-ness
EERC
Democracy and elections
Several days ago, my roommate from freshman year sent me a link debunking one of the most common college myths: if your roommate dies, the university sympathizes with your situation and grants you a 4.0 GPA for the semester.
My roommate and I were invested in this rumor; we would argue over who had to lock the door each night. My argument was always that I was invisible due to the position of our loft beds within our room and so I had nothing to fear. She, on the other hand, was quite noticeable and would be closer to a potential in-truder. Further, where our loft beds were concerned, hers produced a dis-concerting squeak that suggested her bed was about to collapse. I was also consuming high percentages of iron supplements at the time and was con-vinced she was trying to lead me into overdosing, if such an event were even possible. Therefore, we had adequate cause to rely on the rumor.
Another myth of which I was quite fond until I heard otherwise was the promise of free tuition if a student were to be hit by a car while crossing the street. Of course, the student would need to have been a responsible pe-destrian by remaining inside crosswalk lines and not intentionally darting in front of oncoming traffi c to access the university’s apology in monetary form. I had heard this rumor while on a cam-pus tour and as a result, had just rea-
son to trust its legitimacy, but several months ago I overheard another tour guide proclaiming this promise as false, which I found to be very disappoint-ing, especially as I have observed my confi dence in crossing University Ave. to be steadily decreasing. However, I did not put as much stock into this ru-mor as I did the GPA myth.
I have read that the 4.0 GPA rule supposedly operated on a scale, which
is news to me. For example, if the stu-dent was not present at the time of the roommate’s death, only a 3.5 would be awarded. Additionally, if the student had multiple roommates, not all would receive a 4.0. The scale is also prob-lematic in that suggests certain forms of death are more deserving of higher GPAs, as is the context of the discovery of the traumatic occurrence.
It is also a bit strange that 4.0 GPAs would be offered should a room-mate die, but not if a parent, signifi -cant other, etc. were to die. In this way, it almost seems as though a university would not be sympathizing so much with the death itself but with the stu-
dent witnessing the physical aftermath, which is interesting in the emphasis placed on trauma over grief.
I think that the rumor is so preva-lent is indicative of perceptions sur-rounding it. Perhaps we accepted the rumor because it seems like a sympa-thetic, welcome and even necessary response to tragedy. A university’s reac-tion of granting a 4.0 to grieving college students initially seems like it should be an understood and expected form of what could almost be interpreted as compensation.
However, upon further contem-plation, I have decided that I am not sure if universities should offer 4.0 GPAs or free tuition to account for traumatizing events. I have not been hit by a car, nor have I suffered the loss of a roommate, so I cannot say one way or the other if I would require fulfi llment of the rumors. However, I can say with certainty that
free tuition or a guaranteed 4.0 for the semester would be appreciated in the face of tragedy.
Even so, I don’t know that a uni-versity should be responsible for pro-viding for “damages” of this nature or be obligated to even react in any form, although some expressed sympathy would probably be a given. And so, I strongly recommend thinking twice before plotting the demise of a room-mate or jaywalking across University Ave., as the myth is just a myth.
>MADi WHiTMANThe Dakota Student
DS> Madi Whitman is a columnist for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]
‘Maybe we accept the idea of vigilan-tism [...] because of our own frustra-tions... Madi Whitman
columnist
these days. In the toys department I almost collided with two children racing on skate-boards while simultaneously dribbling bas-ketballs.
I filled my cart with various low price, made in China goods and cheap generic groceries. At the checkout lanes I waited 18 minutes to pay for my rollbacks while the lady in front of me argued with the cashier over the price of cat food. Apparently they were ringing up at $.38 per can and they were supposed to be on sale for $.36 each.
The cashier finally bagged my items and sent me on my way. My breadcrumbs had disappeared, though, so it took another half an hour to find my car.
Like most Ameri-cans I loathe the Wal-mart experience. De-spite this, I can’t seem to stop giving them my money. Any huge
corporation will of course be subject to scrutiny, but Walmart is in a league of their own.
There’s the age-old belief that any time one of Sam Walton’s big boxes comes to town it destroys all of the mom-and-pop small businesses on Main Street.
This argument has some truth–one study found that a small town can lose 50% of its businesses after Walmart arrives. Of course, Walmart’s rebuttal to critics is that they started out as Walton’s Five and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas.
05COMMENTARYthe Dakota Student
Should I tell you the joke about the bed? Unfortunately, I can’t; it hasn’t been “made” up yet. However, the subject of sleep and anything related to it is no laughing matter. For college students, sleep is traditionally near the bottom the priority list, if it even makes the list at all. In my personal experi-ences, this is for a variety of reasons. Some students procrastinate papers or studying for exams until the last possible second and end up pulling all-nighters to prepare. Others ig-nore schoolwork altogether and spend their nighttime hours partying instead of sleeping. And then, there are the select few who sched-ule literally every single second of their day with school, internships, meetings, jobs, and extracurricular activities, leaving only the wee hours of the morning to write that response to Milton’s Paradise Lost and compose that case study for the Nonprofit Management class.
I admit to cheating on my bed with my desk, but it wasn’t until this year that I really began to evaluate the consequences of getting too little sleep. After doing some research, I discovered that the National Sleep Founda-tion claims that nearly two-thirds of college students aren’t getting enough sleep on a reg-ular basis. For that two-thirds of the college population, yawning through your 8:00am class isn’t the only consequence; lack of sleep can put you at risk for obesity, greater levels of stress, depression, and even can put you at greater odds for car accidents. Of course, nodding off in class is also a consequence of a lack of sleep. One of my friends is of the school of thought that professors should ac-tually be impressed when you fall asleep in class, because your exhaustion proves your hardcore commitment to academia. I, on the other hand, claim the opposite. Falling asleep is not only rude, but it is disrespectful to your professor. Besides, why go to class to nap when the couches in the Union are much more comfortable than any classroom desk?
For busy college students, I’ve always thought that a useful skill would be the abil-ity to accomplish other tasks while sleeping. Many suffer from sleepwalking. Perhaps we could condition sleepwalkers to complete other tasks while they are wandering about, asleep. We could play tapes that send sub-liminal messages with useful tasks to fulfill that are often forgotten or put off during the day: “Take out the garbage…take out the garbage….” Or, the university could take measures to help students. Among the other health and wellness classes offered for credit, like yoga or swimming, a course like napping could be offered. The grading scale could be based on positive sleep traits, like interesting dreams, and it could take away points for drooling or snoring.
All jokes aside, it is important for stu-dents to get enough sleep. If your education really is a priority, then the best way to absorb your lectures and textbooks is if your body and mind are in a healthy state, and getting enough sleep is an important aspect of your health. One of my favorite professors has a saying I have heard from him many times: “You can sleep when you’re dead!” That may be true, but it is also important to be sure to sleep enough while you are still alive. After all, Halloween is over, so the only zombies I want to see are sleepwalkers taking out the garbage.
Class, work, then sleep
As an American consumer, I can’t think of a single business that affects my life more than Walmart. They are the largest public corporation in the world, with over 8,000 stores and 2 million employees. I seem to wind up there at least once a week to buy everything from manicotti to motor oil.
The last time I visited the big blue be-hemoth I made the mistake of arriving on a busy Sunday after-noon. I circled the lot, trying to find a parking space and fi-nally settled on one a mere three miles from the store entrance. If Walmart’s stores get any larger they’re go-ing to need to install a monorail similar to Disney World.
While dropping breadcrumbs on my trek to the door, I noticed license plates from seven states and two Canadian prov-inces. For many people, a trip to Walmart is a pilgrimage.
When I finally made it inside the store, I instantly became a part of their three-ring retail circus. Trying to push a shopping cart through the aisles was like rush hour in Los Angeles.
There were middle-aged women fight-ing over closeout clearance deals and old men complaining about the price of tires
Others hate Walmart because they view the company as an evil, giant conglomerate. They own stores in 15 countries and have recently created their own power company in Texas. Naysayers claim that Walmart uses predatory pricing policies to intentionally drive competitors out of business, including selling cheap prescription drugs imported from India.
Labor unions despise Walmart more than anybody. They claim that the com-pany’s employees are subject to low wages, hazardous work conditions and poor health insurance. Sam Walton once said, “I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that.” Unions accuse the company of closing stores where employees attempt to organize, and Walmart has faced accusations of child labor and employing illegal immigrants.
I don’t know anybody who admits to loving Walmart.
The poor service, long lines and some-times shoddy merchandise can be a bane. As much as Americans claim to despise the store, we can’t get enough of their cheap, cheap merchandise. Over 100 million of us visit a Walmart store each week.
One study found that the store saves consumers over $250 billion per year. Sure, sometimes the things they sell are contami-nated with lead or cadmium, and on week-ends the store is an Istanbul bazaar.
But they’re cheap. And we’re American. It’s a match made in heaven.
Democracy and election resultsBy the time you read this election sea-
son will officially be over and, in choosing the best individual to represent our mutual self-interest in Washington D.C., we will have once again completed another cycle in our great American experiment.
I won’t lie, even though I do not con-sider myself a partisan, I had hoped the publication of this editorial would have found Earl Pomeroy and Corey Ray Mock lifted up to their positions of choice; one to continue serving us admirably and the other to begin what I believe to be a career in public service.
However, my candidates did not win, and we will see Rick Berg and Al Jaeger lifted instead; one to continue serving us admirably, and the other to begin a new chapter in his career of public service.
This is not what I want. But then again, democracy isn’t really
about what I want. I say this not because what I want
doesn’t matter, but because what I want is only part of the picture. My aspirations exist alongside the needs, desires and ex-pectations of 300 million other Americans with a myriad of different ethnicities, re-ligious beliefs, ideologies, preferences and backgrounds.
Given the oftentimes conflicting de-sires of all the citizens in this country, it becomes extremely difficult to distinguish between what people collectively want and what is best for our country.
Complicating this task is the fact that we are more diverse now, by any metric, than we have ever been in the entirety of human history, and our attempt to find a common good within all of this diversity threatens to tear us apart.
Perhaps it is part of human nature. In-stinctually, we are driven to protect our-selves and our progeny from perceived harm, and like the uncertainty involved in any election, our ability to accurately per-ceive the risk of harm in any decision we make is limited by our imperfect knowl-edge.
As our society grows and becomes increasingly complex, this uncertainty is magnified and becomes as significant and as even the worst repercussions of contem-porary society’s most complex, conten-tious, and difficult problems.
As we struggle to determine the best course of action, we invariably fall back on our core beliefs and desires when making decisions, causing them to be-come so intertwined that we cannot sepa-rate a valid criticism of policy from an ar-bitrary indictment of our most deeply held beliefs. In conflating the two, we expose ourselves to the risk of irreparable harm that accompanies the po-tential loss in any impassioned fight over principles.
Everyone alive knows what it is like to lose a battle like that. To our credit, rather than give up, most of us pick ourselves up and move on. We publicly laud our col-lective determination, even as we ought to privately condemn ourselves for methodi-cally fortifying our fragile hearts and cher-ished beliefs behind reinforced walls of ideology, distrust and skepticism capable of weathering even the greatest storms of cognitive dissonance.
As a result we hate the opposing party and its leaders, even as we lack any dis-
>DAviD bARTAThe Dakota Student
cernable ability to articulate any tangible reason for doing so, because it seems easier than doubting our resolve or questioning, even for a moment, the beliefs we hold dear. Such doubt would force us to ques-tion what we’re doing, what we believe, and what we want, and might reveal our intentions and desires to be at odds with what is best for our country, or worse, flat out wrong.
And in the end, we can come up with no answers, because the same uncertainty that drives our partisan rhetoric prevents us from really truly knowing the best path for our future.
This is why democ-racy isn’t about what we want. Its goal is not to provide us our heart’s de-sires, but to safeguard our freedom to achieve them by protecting the free and unhindered exercise of our God given rights to life, liberty, and the pur-suit of happiness.
These rights do not include protection from uncertainty, a guarantee of benefi-cial outcomes, or a universally good out-come. These things cannot be controlled or predicted. However, by protecting our individual freedom we are able to take the action necessary to make whatever deci-sion we’ve made the best possible choice for ourselves and our country.
The results of this election are not good or bad; they just are. As citizens of this country and participants in this great system, it falls to us to make sure they ben-efit our nation, ourselves, and our future.
>EMilY buRklANDThe Dakota Student
‘At the checkout lanes...the lady in front of me argued...over the price of cat food.
Andy KinnearColumnist
‘But then again, democracy isn’t re-ally about what I want.
David BartaColumnist
The wacky world of Walmart
DS> Emily Burkland is a columnist for The Da-kota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]> David Barta is a columnist for The Dakota
Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
>ANDY kiNNEARThe Dakota Student
DS> Andy Kinnear is a columnist for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
06 NEWS friday november 5, 2010
are grouped by 10, 12, 14, 15, 17 or 19 meals available per week.
Schools featuring these plans in-clude Williston State College, Minot State University, Jamestown College, Mayville State University, Dickinson State University and Bismarck State College.
Dickinson (DSU) tops the list as most expensive, charging $2,616 per semester for 19 meals per week. UND’s unlimited plans are based off of a 19 meal-per-week plan and are $726 and $816, are cheaper than DSU‘s 19 meal plan. Price for any of the meals-per-week plans for other schools range from around $1,300 to $1,500.Block Meals
Block meal plans are the second most popular meal plan of choice for ND universities and colleges. The University of Mary (Bismarck) and the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) offer block plans as the core meal plan option. Other schools offer them in addition to the central meal plan choices.
NDSCS features a 300 meal block plan for $1,620 per semes-ter with $50 dining dollars and five guest passes, and the University of Mary offers a similar plan for $1,400 including $75 dining dollars. UND’s block plans, introduced two years ago, run $1,644 per semester for 125 meals and $400 dining dollars, and $1,693 per semester for 155 meals and $150 dining dollars.
FOOD > From page 1
DS> Brandi Jewett is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]
DS> Carter Hill is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
PROF > From page 1
sible professors. This ranking is based upon the question, “How accessible are your instructors outside the class-room?”
Students may have answered that they are not very accessible on this survey, but when stopped and asked on campus the answers received were much different.
Fifty people were stopped at random on campus and asked, “Do you feel as though you could con-tact your professors outside of the classroom?” All 50 of the students stopped answered, “Yes.”
When students were asked how comfortable they would be ap-proaching a professor, the answers were much different; only about half of the students stopped would actu-ally feel comfortable approaching and talking with a professor outside of the classroom.
Just under 20 students ques-tioned were freshman. These are the students that answered they would not be comfortable accessing their professors.
“Some professors walk into class and teach, then immediately walk out without the chance of even be-ing stopped and asked a question,” said Sonora Robison, freshman Pre-Physical Therapy major. “This makes them seem like they don’t want to be talked to, but this wouldn’t stop me if I ever did need to contact them.”
However, some freshman did say they believe their professors are very accessible and would they would feel comfortable contacting their profes-sors.
“They make themselves easily available,” said Kate Berg, freshman Engineering major. “They want you to meet and talk with them.”
Of the other 30 non-freshmen students that were stopped and asked this question, they were mostly settled into a major which seemed to help make professor more accessible.
Amy Redman, a senior Elemen-tary Education major, said last se-mester it was very easy to contact her professors, but now without a build-ing and the professors not having of-fices makes it much harder to contact them. But this does not mean they are not willing to be contacted.
“All of my professors have said if I am not able to meet with them during their office hours that they would be more than willing to find a time to meet with me,” said Max Bu-chholz, junior Pre-Nursing major.
While the Princeton Review found UND professors as inaccessi-ble, every UND professor is required to set office hours, and these hours are for the students.
in the UND Flying Team’s ability to succeed, but to do so will not come easy in the stiff competition of-fered by the other regional winners against whom UND shall be com-peting in Columbus. While some other Regional SAFECON’s have not yet been held (those for Regions IV, IX, and II are all to take place between this November and Janu-ary of 2011), in the end there will be a total eleven regional winning teams facing off in the National SAFECON Event. Liang expressed satisfaction with the Flying Team’s performance to date but has his eye on the upcoming competition, which will be stiff as the country’s top teams take to the skies.
The UND Flying Team consists of aviation students who voluntarily participate within the organization and performs regularly in two com-petitions each year: a regional quali-
fying competition, like this year’s successful Region V SAFECON, and, when successful, the sort of na-tionwide competition as will be oc-curring in May in at the University of Ohio.
This year’s team is composed of captains Jamie Marshall and Wil-liam Gardner, as well as Brandon Anderson, David Edmonds, Jacob Lange, Matthew McGrath, Scott Meter, Louisa Millar, Lauren Peter-son, Kyle Schurb, Paul Valenstein, and Tyler Van Heel.
The UND Flying Team has en-joyed considerable success in these sorts of competitions in the past: all in all, the Flying Team has won 16 of the 26 most recent National Competitions, including two con-secutive victories during the past two years, in 2009 and 2010.
FLY > From page 1
DS> Joe Catanzariti is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
culture&mediafriday november 5, 2010DS > Inside: Rock climbing, rock and roll
YACHT ROCKa retrospective
story by Josh Brorby
Music, like a crushed velvet jacket, a good gin-and-tonic and a gentleman’s freshly-shaven face as he leans in to kiss a beauti-ful woman, should be smooth. Bieber’s beats and Ke$ha’s musical sensibilities are, to say the least, notsmooth, and today’s aural afi cionados are probably turned off when the radio is turned on. That being said, there’s still a place for soft souls to turn when they feel the need to keep the fi re—the need to stay warm.
Yacht Rock is the playful name given to a genre of soft/smooth music that became prevalent in the late ‘70s, characterized by such artists as Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Hall & Oates and Steely Dan. Of course, the term became popular with the advent of the Channel 101 show Yacht Rock, created by J.D. Ryznar, which sought to lend credence to the genre by fl eshing out its origin stories to create a veritable mythos of characters and narrative threads.
The charm of the web series lies in its ability to utilize popular songs of the Yacht Rock subgenre to add meaning to the story, be it through the story of Loggins’ inevitable downfall to primal screams and heavy beats (as he made music for the Caddyshack soundtrack) or Christopher Cross’s rise to fame with possibly the smoothest song ever written. The series is, admittedly, pretty old by internet standards, originally airing on Channel101.com between 2005-06. However, for those who saw it in its original run (and probably for anyone who has seen it at all), there’s still a certain something that draws viewers back.
The music, then, grows on you, too (if you’re one of the viewers of which I write). What at fi rst begins as sort of an ironic connection to smooth music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s becomes a soft spot, and soon you’re sitting at your desk at the Dakota Student listening to Loggins and McDonald double-teaming “This Is It,” turning to the Sports Editor to remark, “It’s so smooth.”
Perhaps you’re wondering why this is in the paper at all. “Why am I reading this?” you might ask. “Why am I blah blah blah blah?” you’d continue. Well, friend, if you have to ask, I’m afraid the answer is right in front of you (and no, this ain’t pretzel logic). Clearly, you need some smooth in your life. Don’t stress out, just chill out, kick back, relax. Get smooth.
If you’re wondering where to start (with the music—if you’re wondering about the show, start with Episode One), maybe try out the song “Time Out of Mind” by Steely Dan or “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers. Perhaps you’ll be taken in by the refi ned production and start dreaming of
sipping cocktails by the seaside, or perhaps not. Whether you do or not, remem-ber: there’s always room aboard the yacht. There’s always room for the smooth.
DS> Josh Brorby is the Features Editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
Photos courtesy of MCT
08 friday november 5, 2010
On their fourth release, Sweet Saint Me, Two Cow Ga-rage steadily build on the great fun rock and roll music that was heard on their 2008 re-lease Speaking in Cursive. The Columbus, Ohio outfit play catchy songs filled with great guitar hooks, memorable lyr-ics and piano parts that will get stuck in your head for days. While it’s hard to hear Sweet Saint Me and not be reminded of earlier albums by The Hold Steady when keyboardist Franz Nicolay was with them, singer Micah Schnabel’s distinct voice gives Two Cow Garage a dis-tinct flair.
The album opens with “Sally, I’ve Been Shot,” which starts with a muted guitar and then picks up with the whole band joining in. I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again, but Andy Schell’s key-board playing is phenomenal on the whole album, and this is really one of the tracks that he stands out on. On 2008’s Speaking in Cursive the keys were there, but they’ve been polished and brought forward on this album, and that is re-ally a great thing. The next track “Sweet Saint Me,” where the album gets its name, per-fectly demonstrates Schnabel’s
Have a desire to prove that you can climb higher and better than anyone else? Do hangers, large branches that have broken off and are only held up by other branches in a tree, tremble at the sight of you? Tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 6 you have an opportunity to peak. The Northern Heights Rock Gym is hosting their Cliffs of Insanity fall climbing competi-tion this Saturday. Located in the Grand Cities Mall, the Northern Heights Rock Gym has been in operation for seven years. For the $35 registration fee, you can burn calories instead of putting them on slurping back holiday-flavored shooters over at the Metal Bar & Grill. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the climbing starts at 10 a.m.
Sarah, a representative I spoke with at the Northern Heights Rock Gym, said, “For the last few
Steep climb awaits cragsmenSCALIN’ Northern Heights Rock Gym holds competition to see who’s the best of the best.
>NIChoLAS GowANThe Dakota Student
years we’ve had around 60 people at the competitions. The climb-ers are divided into classes based on sex and skill level; beginner, intermediate and advanced lev-els.” Sarah enlightened me on how a competition works, since I haven’t done any competi-tive physi-cal play for as long as I can remem-ber. “On T h u r s d a y night, all the hand-holds will be re-moved and changed for the competition. It will take the next day and a half to put them all up.” Each prob-lem, or route to the summit, will have a specific number of points associated with it for each class. “Flashing a route, or not falling while climbing, is the best way to score,” while grabbing hand holds outside of the prob-
lem is the best way to fail. The rock wall dominates the
hallway at the end of the mall opposite Rumors Lounge. If you find the DMV, turn around. If I had to guess, I’d say the rock wall is thirty feet high and is more of a
climbing fence than climbing wall. Across the parking lot from the mall, to the south, is the ag-ing Metal Bar & Grill. What better time to stop in the al-most year old bar, and put
back another $35. The bar has had their kitchen in operation for a few months now, and you don’t have to worry about the calories from the fried food and alcohol, because you just spent the last two hours climbing. No doubt
Rock group keeps rollingDSMUSIC REVIEw
‘Sweet Saint Me’Two Cow Garage
>MATThEw RoyThe Dakota Student
lyrical and singing style; he’s got a lot to say and he’s going to be honest and he’s going to make sure that he fits it all in, similar to Titus Andronicus’s singer Pat-rick Stickles.
The third track on the al-bum, “Lydia,” which has also been released as the album’s first single, is probably one of Two Cow Garage’s best songs. It’s a simple song, but when it’s over it’s hard to not want to listen to it over and over again. In the song, Schnabel sings about a love that’s much too young for him: “Lydia, you’re much too young to have your teeth on the tip of my tongue / If only your lips were a little older.” It’s al-most as humorous as it is fun to listen to.
Things slow down a bit after with “Jackson, Don’t You Worry” and “Wanted to Be.” “Jackson, Don’t You Worry” is a straight acoustic track similar to Speak-
‘For the last few years we’ve had around 60 people at the competitions.
SarahNorthern Heights Rock Gym
9RoCK > page
9RoLL > page
09
>DS ClassifiedsHOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTCOST: $4.00 for 40 words or less per issue.DEADLINE: Classifieds for Tuesday’s paper are due on Friday at noon. Classifieds for Friday’s paper are due Wednesday at noon.FORMAT: No classified ads will be taken over the phone. They can be dropped off at 170 McCannel Hall, located right behind the Memorial Union.PAYMENT: Payment must be paid in full with cash, check or mailed with payment before a classified will run. Contact the Dakota Student office at 701-777-2677 with questions.
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ROCK > From page 8
you can catch a happy hour some-time after noon there. Open until two a.m., the Metal Bar & Grill is sure to leave you satisfied.
Now is your chance to reach for the sky, reader. Time to dust off the old Cab Crawler card and party like it’s Halloween outside of a downtown bar; maybe you could get into a fight. Now, I’m not condoning drunken violence, but if it’s going to happen, I would prefer the violence took place in a parking lot near the Grand Forks Public Library and Kmart, not out where I walk with my chil-dren on fall evenings. Trying to explain to them why the men are fighting with the police is made even more awkward when having to step around broken glass and drawn blood.
> Nicholas Gowan is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
ROLL > From page 8
ing in Cursive’s “Swingset As-sassin,” with Schnabel singing to a friend about how they used to be “the toughest kids the mohawk had ever seen.” On “Wanted To Be,” bassist Shane Sweeney takes over the vocals.
I wasn’t a huge fan of his tracks on the earlier albums, but I found them more enjoy-able on Sweet Saint Me, espe-cially on the later track “Lucy and the Butcher Knife” where Sweeney and Schnabel switch off back and forth.
Sweet Saint Me is an al-bum that doesn’t really quit, and it’s paced perfectly. Slower tracks like “Closer to Me” and “Soundtrack to My Summer” are sandwiched between faster paced tracks like “My Great Gatsby” and “Angeline.”
As it comes to a close with the tracks “Insolent Youth” and “Brothers in Arms,” it became clear to me that this is one of the best albums I’ve heard all year, as Two Cow Garage perfectly wedge themselves between the fun antics of The Hold Steady and the brutally honest lyr-ics of Titus Andronicus, both of whom have already released great albums this year, and cre-ate something that’s unique in its own right.
Especially now that The Hold Steady is without key-boardist Franz Nicolay, Two Cow Garage may soon find a place with those missing Nico-lay’s frantic keyboard antics.
DS> Matthew Roy is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
sportsfriday november 5, 2010
>Inside: UND Golf recap, Volleyball road trip to Utah, MN Wild hope to deliverDS
>scores &schedules
vs UM-Crookston11/5 @BEA
W. BBALL vs UMD11/5 @REA
MHKY@ GWC FinalsHouston, TX11/5-8
Soccer
Last Monday, UND once again smote the jabbing Jame-stown Jimmies with a jumping score of 87-60. The jalopies of Jamestown entered Grand Forks for their annual exhibition game. Unfortunately for the Jimmies, UND freshman Alyssa Wall (no relation to John Wall) decided to showcase her skills in the rout.
The freshman from North Sioux City, S.D. led her team-mates with rebounds with an as-
UND sinks baskets on JamestownSLIM JIMMIES North Dakota steamrolled their opponent at home last Monday.
>JOEL ADRIANThe Dakota Student
tonishing 13-point, 11-rebound double double-double effort. Wall also paced the team with six of-fensive boards off the glass, which played a key role in UND’s 49-36 rebounding advantage. Alyssa Wall made head coach Gene Roebuck’s job very easy Monday night.
W a l l seemed to play with an aggres-sive enthusi-asm, which the UND bench seemed to crave. UND’s leader in scor-ing was sopho-more Nicole Smart from Ada, MN. Smart drained five of eight behind the arc to tie her career-high of 15 points.
The senior captains seemed to hop on the Jimmies as Mallory Young-blut swagged for 12 points and Corey Lof swished for 11 points of her own. Lof remained perfect, going 4-for-4 in the paint and 3-for-3 at the free-throw line.
The jumping Jimmies would not be steam-rolled in the game however, as Bridget Sc-huneman and Krista Shaiko-ski. Shuneman shot 5-of-7 for 15 points while Shiako-ski shot from
the perimeter and drained 4-of-5 to keep the game somewhat com-petitive.
Youngblut found the hoop at the beginning of the game twice, however Shaikoski, the Jimmy, drained a three pointer.
The score was an ablaze with a 7-4 Jamestown lead at the time of 17:33. Wall answered with a jumper followed by a three point-er by Youngblut to give UND an 8-7 lead.
UND hit the gas left Jame-stown trailing and continued their assault on the visiting opponent. UND hustled back to the locker room to discuss cromulent matters that would embiggen the players, as the second half was about to start.
The second half seemed to be a casual trade of baskets like cards in a Pokemon trade, as a relent-less UND score answered every
‘Smart drained five of eight behind the arc to tie her career-high of 15 points.
Joel AdrianSports Editor
Jamestown basket. With a point difference of 27, it became clear that North Dakota was clearly the better team.
Bursting with young talent and a boisterous clan of veterans, UND seems to be sinking baskets as the competition becomes more fierce. North Dakota will play their sec-ond and final exhibition game of the season as they play host to the gleaming Golden Eagles of Min-nesota, Crookston. Tip off will be at 5 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Golden Eagles will be limping into Grand Forks after submitting a 65-89-exhibi-tion loss to NDSU.
DS> Joel Adrian is the Sports Editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
Any questions that have cloud-ed the future of UND Athletics have given way to one Big Sky.
Athletic Director Brian Faison, alongside President Robert Kelley, announced Monday that UND has accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning in
2012.Dr. Kelley’s words said it best, in
a press release: ““This is the best of all possibilities for the University of North Dakota.”
Faison, hired in 2008, was tasked with finding a permanent home for North Dakota’s sports teams. There were high expectations for Faison, who needed to find a competitive conference with an automatic bid for basketball and other sports. Fai-son also needed to find a home for football.
The Big Sky, without a doubt, is all that and more.
“We are excited and pleased to
have a stable conference home that has a high profile, and that will bring great teams to Grand Forks for our students, alumni and fans,” Faison said.
The conference announced that both UND and Southern Utah, both currently Great West Confer-ence members, will make the jump to the Big Sky on July 1, 2012. That ensures that UND’s full status as a Division I program—making them eligible for postseason—will coin-cide with entry into one of the elite FCS conferences in the nation.
With South Dakota expected to announce their entry into the con-
ference this week too, the Big Sky becomes not only a competitive con-ference, but one with rivalries new and old.
South Dakota and Northern Colorado, who joined in 2006, are former members of the North Cen-tral Conference that UND played in until their reclassification in 2008. And when South Dakota joins, it will mean that all current members of the Great West Football Confer-ence will be together in the BSC, with UC-Davis and Cal Poly set to join Big Sky as football-only mem-bers in 2013.
The additions of UND, USD,
and SUU will bring the number of football teams in Big Sky to 14, and the plan is to split into two seven-team divisions. The goal of expan-sion, commissioner Doug Fullerton explained, is to bring Big Sky to the next level.
“The moves we’ve made aren’t about protection,’’commissioner Doug Fullerton said. “If the talk out there is true that playing at the FBS level of football is unsustainable for many schools, then FCS will play an even bigger role in the future.
North Dakota set to join Big Sky Conference
>TIMOTHY BOGERThe Dakota Student
SWITCH UND has recently been accepted to be a part of the BSC in the near future.
12SKY > page
Football vs UC Davis11/6 @ Alerus Ctr.
STAFF PHOTOS > The Dakota Student
Sophomore guard Nicole Smart
Senior forward Corey Lof
11SPORTSthe Dakota Student
The UND men’s golf team wrapped up the fall season a week ago from today with a fifth place finish in the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Intercollegiate tour-nament. North Dakota finished ahead of three teams in the eight-team field and two spots better than rival South Dakota.
UND sophomore Alex Robb continued to lead the way for North Dakota—as he has done through-out the fall season—with an overall tournament score of 224, which was good enough to put him in a fourth-place tie in the individual standings. His final-round 71 put him one-under-par for the day and tied him with tournament medalist Will Hogan for the lowest score on Tuesday.
Robb wasn’t the only golfer who had an impressive performance for UND; sophomore Nick Schaefer finished tied for 12th (230) and ju-nior Tyler Monda finished tied for 16th (233). Other UND partici-pants were Matthew Wrolstad who finished with a 242 and Mike Slo-minski who finished with a 253.
Missouri St. won the tourna-ment handily with a score of 897, which was 16 strokes better than second-place finisher and host Southern Illinois. North Dako-ta’s team score of 929 was just six strokes off of a third-place finish and four off of a fourth-place fin-ish. UND shot a team-best 309 in the final round of the tournament, which was the third-best score on the final day among the eight-team field.
With winter just around the corner, North Dakota will be off until March when the spring season begins.
Tough shots
DS> Brandon Becker is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
>BRanDOn BeckeRThe Dakota Student
MeDaL PLaY The Men’s golf team recently competed at the GWC championships.
It’s that time of year again and the NHL season is under way. The Minnesota Wild are looking to progress in some way after having a downer year, not qualifying for the playoffs for a second consecutive year, and this year should be no dif-ferent. It doesn’t look promising.
Minnesota looks like a new team with new faces, and fans feel the same way. The sellout streak that dated back to the first game in 2000 was broken last season only seven games into the year. Fans want to see improvement, and they haven’t seen any since 2003-04 where they had an unbelievable run in the playoffs. That was the only year the Wild have had even a sniff at the Stanley Cup.
I wanted to ask fellow students around UND to see their feelings about the upcoming season. UND student, Junior Scott Michela said “I am a huge NHL follower and I see my self wanting to watch other teams than the Wild, they’re just not exciting like back in the day. Don’t get me wrong; I would love to see them win, but lets be realistic.”
The Wild need to improve in many ways, and it starts with the General Manager (GM). The Min-
nesota Wild were at one point the most profitable NHL Franchise, with sellouts lasting over nine years and minimal salary cap being spent. The Wild haven’t spent the money needed to win. If you were a business man, like the Wild’s owner Craig Lei-pold, why would you spend money if fans still kept supporting you with sellout crowds even though you are one of the worst teams in the past few years in the NHL? That’s prob-lem number one for this franchise; To run it like a business. Granted it is a business, but whats the rule with a business? Keep your custom-ers happy. I would say the fans of the “State of Hockey” will start to speak, and attendance will start to diminish if the Wild don’t produce. The Wild need a superstar, and I’m not talking about Cal Clutterbuck or his Mustache even though it has its own Twitter page.
The Wild lost former heavy weight Derek Boogaard to free-agency this summer, another player Wild fans came to see every game police the ice.
Boogard wasn’t good at all, in a skill standpoint; he hasn’t scored in three years, but Boogaard was top three in jersey sales for the Wild. They didn’t offer him the money to keep him here in Minnesota.
After statistically starting most of their seasons with a terrible start, the Wild are making progress so far. They are at 5-4-2 and the sea-son isn’t over before it started. They won 1-0 last night against a tough San Jose Sharks, but the Wild were
outshot 36-15 in the game. That’s the team to expect this year, a low scoring team just trying to keep it close. Squeaking out wins every now and then.
The Wild were 13-24-4 on the road last season, if you want to make the playoffs, you have to learn how to play away from the Xcel Energy Center. With all new faces, I see the wild finishing in the bottom five in the conference and finishing 4th in the division.
The only highlight of this season I see will be November or should I say, “Movember” when the Wild, aka “Mo-Bros” grow mustaches for charity. Its a great moment for the Wild as they support prostate can-cer. It’s also a way for fans to enjoy the games seeing players growing the ugliest facial hair. That’s the way the Wild team is this year, a bunch of grinders (hardworking) with a lack of scoring ability, that make up for it by distracting fans with mus-taches.
I hope I am wrong, because Minnesota needs a win from one of their teams. The Twins were dev-astated by the New York Yankees in the first round. The Vikings are 2-5 on the season with speculation of winning a Super Bowl, but that dream is diminishing week by week. Let’s see the Wild blow everybody’s expectations and bring pride back to Minnesota and fans.
DS> Tadd Powers is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
>TaDD POweRSThe Dakota Student
wILD The Minnesota team will try to spur in-terest in professional sports.
NHL team holds fan attention
12 SPORTS friday november 5, 2010
Tuesdays 4 p.m. to Closeand All Day on Sundays!
Admit it. You can’t contain your love for juicy, savory, mouth-watering burgers, fries and onion rings. Who can? Especially when they’re only
Dine-In or Carry OutOpen daily at 11 a.m.
$499 Additional chargesfor toppings.
Regularly $689
Burger Lovers Clubhouse conveniently located in the Columbia Mall parking lot.
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had not transferred over. “Those seem to be our top three problems,” said Reardon, “and we’d eliminated 75% of problems by Saturday.”
These changes may take some getting used to, but they definitely have their advantages. After all, misplaced tickets will no longer be an issue and students should find it a lot easier to find buyers for their unwanted tickets. As for using the U-Cards as tickets, it seems that most students use theirs on a daily basis anyway, so really, what could be more convenient than that?
DS> Megan Sevigny is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]
TICKET > From page 3
SKY > From page 10
DS> Timothy Boger is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
The UND volleyball team defeated Southern Utah on Mon-day 3-1, giving them their ninth straight victory.
In the victory, two UND players recorded double doubles. Junior Annika Smed posted her 12th double -double of the season with 12 kills and 20 digs while freshman Ellen Krueger had her 5th of the season with 42 assists and 14 digs.
The victory gave North Da-kota a 19-5 overall record and the Thunderbirds fell to (11-13) los-ing to UND for the second time this season.
Redshirt freshman Ronni Munkeby had a career-high 10 block assists while freshman Erica Turner and junior Taylor Bohan-non had 16 and 14 digs each. As a team, UND had 86 digs com-bined.
UND head coach Ashley Hardee thought the team played well, especially the defense. “I thought our defense was the dif-ference tonight in another tough, hard fought win. Southern Utah did a nice job of digging and ex-tending rallies, which frustrated us early,” said Hardee.
In the first set, Southern Utah took command and led 18-11. But UND would rally and tie it up at 20-20. After 16 more points, the match would be tied up again.
At 28 all, Southern Utah would make back-back crucial er-rors and complete the set victory
for North Dakota. In the second match, similar
to the first it would come down to the wire. The Thunderbirds would end up taking it 26-24.
Early on in the third set, it was tied 4-4 but UND would take control after that. North Dakota went on a 10-2 and downed SUU 25-11 to take a one set lead.
The fourth set was close all the way through until North Dakota closed the set on a 6-2 run and defeat Southern Utah. This was the third victory of the season for UND over a Summit League team.
In the game, Munkeby add-ed 7 kills to go with her career high blocks, and senior Erin Joki (Grand Rapids, MN) had 11 kills.
North Dakota will return to Great West play this Thursday against Chicago State. It will be a home match at the Betty En-gelstad Sioux Center starting at 7pm. If victorious, UND will clinch at least a share of their sec-ond straight Great West Confer-ence regular season title.
The Big Sky presidents want the Big Sky to be the first ma-jor player coming from the FCS ranks.
Big Sky sponsors 14 sports, and UND’s addition of a men’s tennis program ensures that they will participate in all 14. North Dakota’s swimming programs will continue to participate as an af-filiate member in the Conference USA conference meets. Golf will remain in the American Sky con-ference, and baseball will likely remain in the Great West Confer-ence.
The vast majority of sports, however, will leave the GWC, a success-filled stepping stone for North Dakota on their way to full Division I status.
“I want to salute the Great West Conference and Commis-sioner Ed Grom for providing us with a conference home in our first years of Division I competi-tion,” Faison said. “This allowed our student-athletes to compete for conference championships, all-conference and academic all-conference honors.”
>KYlE ROSSEauThe Dakota Student
DS> Kyle Rosseau is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]
SERVED North Dakota visited Cedar City, UT and walked away with a 3-1 victory.
UND thumps T-Birds