The WichiTanpage 5

The sTudenT voice of MidwesTern sTaTe universiTy

WEDNESDAY, DEcEmbEr 3, 2008

Animal anniversaryThirty years later, ‘Animal House’ still holds some truth when it comes to fraternities.

page 7‘Stepp’ing upKatie Stepp become’s cross country program’s first ever All American at national meet.

Mid-year graduates get to strut across the stage, snap up their diploma and toss their caps high into the air come Dec. 13.

Four hundred and ninety-one students are scheduled to re-ceive their degrees. The com-mencement ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. in D.L. Ligon Coliseum. It is expected to last about two hours. MSU President Dr. Jesse Rogers will be the key-note speaker.

Four hundred and eighty-one prospective graduates are current

students. Sixty-two are August graduates. Fifty-two graduate candidates will get their diplo-mas in absentia, meaning they cannot attend. Following the commencement, a graduation celebration will be held inside the Clark Student Center Atri-um. Here the graduates can pick up their free alumni membership card and certificate, purchase a Wai-Kun yearbook and learn more about job-finding through the Career Management Center.

For further questions contact the Office of the Registrar at (940)-397-4116.

When it comes to racial diver-sity, MSU has come a long way.

But most students don’t real-ize how much progress the uni-versity has made in assimilating different cultures since the era of segregation. In fact, it would be very difficult for them to find out, since information on the topic is almost non-existent.

Seniors Robert Stewart and Michael Thornton, both Student Government Association Sena-tors, are trying to fix that prob-lem.

They’ve provided Moffett Library with transcripts of the landmark civil case that chal-lenged segregation at MSU in 1951, Battle, et al v. Wichita

Falls Junior College District, et al.

They’ve also given copies to county archives and the African American Museum in Dallas.

Their goal: to make sure no one forgets the legal battle be-tween MSU and prospective black students.

“We’re going to make sure this information is out there and people have access to it,” Stew-art said.

The mission began as an as-signment for Dr. Ernest Dover’s Black Politics class. Stewart ini-tially wanted to find out how the local press handled desegrega-tion in the early 1950s.

After some digging, however, he switched gears and began re-searching the history of MSU’s

desegregation and assimilation.Thornton, a political science

major, came on board to help re-search and interpret legal docu-ments.

The two began laying the groundwork for the project in April. Stewart gained valuable information from articles in the Wichita Daily Times and the Re-cord News. Beyond that, there wasn’t much to be had.

His findings were troubling, not because of what he found, but what he didn’t.

“I went around to see what I could find on the subject,” Stew-art said. “I went to the [MSU] administration and said, ‘Have you heard of this case?’ I just got funny looks.”

Even county officials had no

information about the case.“There was nothing at the

county,” Stewart said. “I even went to the district court and they didn’t have anything on file because it was so long ago.”

The two had their work cut out for them. With so little informa-tion available in Wichita Falls, they traveled to the National Ar-chives in Fort Worth to scrape up what they could.

“This is the history of Mid-western State University,” Stew-art said. “It may be viewed as a black mark, a part of history we don’t want to remember. But without knowing what happened here, we can’t understand where we are today.”

In 1951, inequality was preva-lent in the United States. Whites

had the privilege of attend-ing college, while the majority of blacks were forced to work in maintenance or vocational trades.

MSU, then known as Mid-western University, was segre-gated. Six local blacks, Mary-land Menefee, Helen Davis, Willie Battle, G.E. White, Carl McBride and Wilma Norris, would try to change that.

They, along with NAACP and church leaders, formed a council to plead that MU allow black students to attend. The school’s Board of Trustees unanimously rejected this idea. Their decision was guided by a Texas state law that would later be declared un-constitutional.

Undiscouraged, the six blacks

applied to MU for the fall se-mester of 1951. They were sent six letters of rejection the same day.

The civil case that followed was unprecedented.

Civil rights leaders and the lo-cal NAACP filed suit against the school district after it refused the students. It was the first case to challenge the constitutionality of segregation on the college level.

All previous decisions, such as Murray v Maryland and Sweatt v Painter, had regarded one in-dividual, but this case pertained to all African-Americans.

In November, the blacks won the suit. It would still be some time before they could actually attend the university, though.

Two former MSU graduates, one a Hollywood producer, and the other a physicist who spe-cializes in satellite imaging, shed some wisdom with May graduates.

Glen Veteto and F. Lynwood Givens delivered separate speeches to the Spring 2008 class.

Veteto has acted in, written, directed and produced many films in Hollywood but it is the ocean that is his passion.

Veteto, an avid scuba diver, said he spends his spare time looking for underwater treasure.

“I have never found an emer-ald necklace yet my soul is filled with treasure,” he said.

“You are one step away from magic if you will take that step,” he told the graduates. “Make this life yours. I am grateful for what you will do to improve my life and the ones I love.”

Veteto, an actor in “Who’s Happy Now?”, said that students choose their future careers from a list.

“But have you chosen from the right list?” he asked them. “You belong to yourself. Create yourself.”

He told students that if they have become the person they do not wish to be then they should change.

“Change your name. Color your hair. Bond your teeth. Have something tucked or enlarged or reduced. Get lipo, implants, lips. Speak with a different accent or in a different language. Wear an eyepatch. Walk with a limp.”

The audience laughed.“Do anything you want to

do. If you’re an engineer and want to run a guided bus tour, do so. If you’re a musician and want to be an accountant, do so. Let there be no fence sur-rounding your possibilities.”

Spring speakers offer hard-earnedwords of wisdom

Diplomas awaitwinter grads

Russ LawRenz

For the Wichitan

Russ LawRenz

For the Wichitan

MSU history remembered, for better or worse

Lori Shirah is the ears for deaf students at MSU. She attends classes, registration, advising sessions, and extra-curricular activities with her charges. She is an interpreter for the deaf. Shirah began to learn to sign when she was five because she has a friend who was deaf. She has not stopped since. Shirah began taking for-mal classes in sign language when she was ten. A native of Arizona, she became ac-tive in the Phoenix Theater

for the Deaf. At the age of 15, Shirah taught sign lan-guage at a community col-lege in Phoenix. When she married and moved to Alaska, she signed there as well. She has been an interpreter for the deaf for almost 20 years and working with MSU students for six years. According to the Disability Support Services web site, six deaf or hard of hearing students attend MSU. Shirah does both signing and oral interpretation (lip

Denise MiLLeR

For the Wichitan

See SIGN LANGUAGE page 4

See SPEAKERS page 4

See DESEGREGATION page 4

Sign language interpreter acts as ears for deaf students

ChRis CoLLins

Managing editor

Staff Editorial

ViewpointsThe WichiTan

Finalist2004 Associated Collegiate Press

Pacemaker Award

Sweepstakes Winner 2006 Texas Intercollegiate

Press Association

The WichiTan

Copyright © 2008. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Asso-ciation. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before in-tended publication. Letters should be brief and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

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Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Brittany Norman

Managing Editor Chris Collins Entertainment Editor Courtney Foreman

Op-Ed Editor Alyssa Edson Sports Editor Bobby Morris

Photo Editor Patrick Johnston

ReportersRichard CarterJosh MujicaLauren Wood

PhotographersLoren Eggenschwiler

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Copy EditorPatrick Johnston

AdviserRandy Pruitt

Finals Freak-out

This week is unbelievably stressful.

Between five-page essays, speeches,

research papers and, of course, the

ever-so-lovely cumulative two-and-a-

half hour tests, the atmosphere around

campus seems like it should be more

stressed than it is.

However with events like “Finals

Frenzy” and RA-sponsored study

groups, the school has managed to help

everyone transition into finals-mode.

Finals week may become more bear-

able with help from the school, but the

schedule for the actual exams seems

like it still has some kinks.

If a student doesn’t have any exams

until the 12th, are they just supposed to

sit in their apartment or dorm for a full

week?

If the schedule was shorter and in-

cluded more tests scheduled each day

it seems like students would receive

a more ideal schedule that wouldn’t

leave then sitting mindlessly bored for

days on end.

Finals week is never going to be the

best week of the year for any student,

but the school is obviously making an

attempt to ease the stress, which is very

comforting.

Introducing the new Secretary of StateAlyssA Edson

Op-ed ediTOr

THINK GREEN:Please recycle The Wichitan

after reading.Bins are located in Clark Student Center and Bolin Hall

Something to say?The Wichitan is seeking guest

columnists. If you have something you’d like to write about, e-mail an opinion piece to wichitan@mwsu.edu. We welcome opinions from students, faculty and staff.

Use your voice!

Even though I do consider myself a republican, I will al-ways support the decisions made by our president elect, no matter what political party he may be with. However, Barack Obama’s most recent decision has me a bit skeptical. Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State? Really? I’m not so sure. I mean, this may just be me, but I don’t think I would choose some-one to be Secretary of State if while on campaign trail for presidency they threatened to “totally obliterate” Iran if the Islamic Republic launched a nuclear attack on them.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t feel so com-fortable with the fact that our future top diplomat has made rash statements like this. Obviously, Obama had rea-son to hand a very authorita-tive position to his once-en-emy. With this title, Clinton will continue her career path in politics by leading U.S. for-eign policy. But, how well will Hilary be able to abide by another’s ruling? Even with the power-ful position, Clinton will have to stand for Obama’s rule; not hers or her husband’s. According to the job de-scription, Hilary will have to project Obama’s policies rather than her own; an idea I’m not seeing going very far on either side. Just a few months ago the

two politicians were battling it out big time via campaign ads and snarky remarks made in interviews and debates. Now they’re supposed to work to-gether? Now add foreign countries to that mix. Hmm. Ever since the announce-ment was made, a lot of the pessimistic viewers have been saying that Obama just gave this position to Hilary as a con-solation prize. The title of Secretary of State seems a bit big to be con-sidered a consolation prize. Hilary does have past expe-rience in dealing with foreign affairs due to her years as first lady, but I’m afraid she won’t be able to keep her personal bi-ases out of her work. So far, however, the coun-

tries that would be affected by these biases have said that even though they are aware the ideas exist, Hilary has not been assertive towards anyone. I guess for now I’ll just need to follow in Hilary’s footsteps and keep my own pre-con-ceived ideas about her out of my head as she joins Obama’s cabinet. Maybe her experience will end up helping her, and will lead her to do great things for our country under her new job title. We will witness the outcome of Obama’s choice of Secre-tary of State as Hilary begins her term. Meanwhile, I’ll be working on not judging her performance until she actually has the time to prove herself.

Feature The WichiTanDec. 3, 2008 3

“I grew up judging people. In my opinion, a good person went to church and followed all the rules, and a bad person went to the bar and smoked. It was as simple as that. Because I went to church, prayed every night and at least thought about telling my unsaved friends about Jesus, I was a good person. This para-digm produced a ‘me versus them’ mentality. Through my warped perspective people who did not act righteously did not love Jesus, and people who did not love Jesus were God’s enemies and there-fore my enemies, too. I was shocked when I discovered that Jesus truly loved people even if they didn’t act the right way. Based on this discovery, my work is a humorous look at how Christianity has become about judgment instead of love. In my acrylic paint-ings and kinetic sculptures, I highlight this dichoto-my by portraying Jesus as a stereotypical American Christian.”

Juicy crimson lips, satiny porcelain skin and sensual curves are all associated with the sex appeal of a 1950s pin up model. From Bettie Page to Betty Boop, sassy, voluptuous women have dominated my perception of the ideal woman. Her silky hair has the aroma of fresh honeysuckle and flows to the curves of her plump bosoms and hips. She has the ability to silence even the most boisterous of crowds and her presence is felt immediately as her spicy scent wanders through the room and finally swirls up the nostrils and causes a shiver up the spine. A mere laugh from her is like casting a spell over each unsuspecting

being that causes all eyes to fixate directly on her sparkling white smile and buxom body. The acrylic paintings in this exhibition are playful, vividly colored, sexual and reminiscent of the pin up genre. Each model was chosen because of their individual style and presence. An open mouthed uninhibited posture of one woman is equally as seductive as the reserved kittenish come-hither gaze of another. The pure animal attraction that each woman exudes is captured through life size scale and detail in each painting.

Taking a walk for parking

Photos by Patrick JohnstonStudents gathered in the Quad on Nov. 20 to protest the lack of student parking on campus. Students assembled between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., carrying signs and wearing their ‘Puck Farking’ T-shirts despite the cold weather.

Students hold protest despite chilly weather

The WichiTanDec. 3, 20084 News

P/T Package Handler4am-8am, Tue-SatTuition assistance.Weekly paycheck.

Fast paced job,loading/scanning

packages.Apply in person.

208 Randy Dr.Wichita Falls, TX

EEO/AA

58613

1400 Borton LaneWichita Falls, TX 76305

Lively music anddown home

preaching andteachings.

Sunday School 9:30 A.M.Morning Worship 10:45 A.M.

Bible Study Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M.

“A Church That Will MakeYou Feel at Home”

New Jerusalem Baptist ChurchRev. Angus Thompson,

Pastor

Come Worship With OtherMSU Students.

Campus briefs• Dec. 4 Finals Frenzy; CSC;

Thurs. 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.

• Fine Line - Mental Health/Mental

Illness; Wichita Falls Museum of Art

at MSU; Thurs. 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.

• Dec. 5 Mass Communication

student-produced documentaries;

Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU

Media Room; Fri. 3:30 p.m.

• Fantasy of Lights Opening Ceremo-

ny; Hardin Building, front lawn; Fri. 6

p.m.

• Opening reception: student exhi-

bition-studio; Fain Fine Arts Foyer

Gallery; 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

• Fantasy of Lights Christmas Con-

cert; Akin Auditorium; Fri. 7 p.m.

• Dec. 7 Combined choir con-

cert; University United Methodist

Church; Sun. 3 p.m.

Fiscal woes inflate student loan interest Already-high student loan rates are going to go up even more because of the bad econo-my, according to the Project on Student Debt, a group focused on cost-effective education. “Student debt was a big bur-den even before this economic downturn,” said Edie Irons, communications director for The Project on Student Debt. “With unemployment on the rise ... and wages not keeping up with the costs, it’s certainly going to be that much harder for students graduating now to stay afloat.” In total dollars, student loans were up 17 percent over last year. Nationally, almost 1.3 mil-lion more FASFA’s were submit-ted, according to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals Library, a government organiza-tion. The nation’s credit crunch will likely cause another increase. One-third of parents are slowing college savings because of de-clining home values and rising unemployment, leaving students with less money, according to a survey by TD Ameritrade Hold-

ing Corp., an investment firm. The United States is losing 200,000 jobs per month, accord-ing to Jared Bernstein, an econo-mist at the Economic Policy In-stitute. Graduates of all degree levels will be eight percent less likely to be hired this year com-pared to last year, according to a study by the Collegiate Employ-ment Research Institute at Mich-igan University. With money tight, students are relying on private and fed-eral loans to get them through school, but fear graduation and paying off their debt. Yael Hartmann, 31, from Bethesda, Md., took out a $60,000 loan for Columbia Uni-versity’s School of International Public Affairs, a master’s pro-gram. “I’m worried I’m not going to be able to take a loan out next year because of the financial sit-uation,” she said. “Even if I do, my interest rates will go up.” But getting a second loan is just the start of her worries. Af-ter graduation, she hopes to get a job at the World Bank. “It’s competitive, especially in my market ... there have been a lot of layoffs,” Hartmann said. “I

think it’s almost better to be in school right now, you can at least stay out of the job market and hope it will get better when you get out. I’m banking on that.” Nina Wu, a third-year student at the University of Maryland Law School in Baltimore, esti-mates she will have $84,000 of debt by graduation. She wants to work in public juvenile law. “It will require a lot of sacri-fices,” she said. “The extreme of it is I might have to move in with my parents.” Wu said her classmates are giving up dream jobs in pub-lic service for jobs that pay more. For example, her room-mate turned down a family law job because the $37,000 salary wouldn’t cover her debt and cost of living. “Student debt is a deterrent to people taking important, but low-paying, jobs,” said Irons. “College is supposed to open doors and expand opportunities for young people to follow their dreams.” In 2007, Maryland had 55 percent of graduates facing an average debt of $17,243, accord-ing to a study by The Project on Student Debt, a group looking at

cost-effective education. Nationally, in 2007, 60 per-cent of graduates had debt aver-aging $22,700, according to the College Board. While six percent more stu-dents were in debt in 2007, start-ing salaries rose only three per-cent, according to the Project on Student Debt. Its report also said debt is rising faster than tuition. The biggest problem is private loans, which have uncapped in-terest rates and rigid repayment plans. “Private loans are a terrible tool for promoting college ac-cess,” said Stephen Burd, a se-nior fellow at the New America Foundation, a group dedicated to fixing challenges for the next generation. Federal loans are capped so “borrowers can only get into so much debt,” Burd said. But pri-vate loans aren’t guaranteed by the government and have fewer protections. Universities often add private loans automatically to aid plans to cover unmet need, Irons said. Meanwhile, crushed by debt, graduates may face a harsh reali-ty of bad credit reports and lower wages.

Alysson DickmAn

McT

SIGN LANGUAGE....................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 reading.) Deafness, she explained, has many degrees, and every individual is different with different needs. “Some students can speak, depending on the severity of their deafness and, in many cases, the cause of their deafness,” she explains. Shirah attends all classes with her students, and her job covers all aspects of student life. If a student attends a play, she will go and interpret. “My services are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and I am contracted out of the Disability Support Services at MSU.” Almost all of the professors Shirah has encountered have been open to having an interpreter in their classes. Those who have not eventually warm up to the idea once they understand that Shirah is a professional and she conducts herself as one. Because of very strict confidentiality rules, she cannot talk about professors or students. When instructors realize that she does not discuss their classes, they become comfortable and

usually forget she is there. “What happens in class, stays in class.” American Sign Language (ASL) is a language with its own grammar rules and syntax. Not every word translates. Just like some foreign words or phrases, there is not always a literal translation. For example, the German word shoddenfreud does not translate in ASL. It does not have a precise English translation either. The closest word in English would be gloating, but that does not completely capture the whole spirit of the word. In the case of a deaf student, the word would have to be spelled out by the interpreter. If the professor goes on to explain the meaning, Shirah would translate to explanation. If the professor does not explain the word, the student would be responsible for researching the word on his or her own. Every language has its own sign language. A deaf person in Mexico would not understand sign language from France, for example. Shirah interprets everything

that goes on in the classroom. She explains, “If the air conditioner clicks on, I explain that the AC just turned on.” The most difficult thing for Shirah to interpret is a film shown in class with no closed captions. She said movies are hard to sign because of all the characters involved. Surprisingly, math courses are not difficult to interpret because most professors write problems and examples on the board, an accommodation for deaf students. “The verbage is the most difficult thing about interpreting in a math class,” she said. Group work is not an obstacle for the hearing impaired, thanks to Shirah. With the aid of an interpreter, a deaf student is fully able to participate in group discussions and activities, though there are times when Shirah does have to intervene and ask everyone to speak one at a time. Shirah attends class on test days as well. Her main function on those days is to interpret the instructions. Because of the difference in sentence structure

for deaf students, she is there to assist with interpreting questions. “I can’t give then the answers,” she said with a laugh. Shirah admits that she does get attached to her students and she has never had one that she did not like. Sign interpreters work under a strict code of ethics, and confidentiality is most important. Shirah explains that that rule is the one that gets the most people in trouble and causes them to lose their licenses. Another problem for some interpreters is taking on assignments they are not equipped to handle. “For example, a medical situation. If you make a mistake, it could cost a life. I know of incidents where this has happened.” Dealing with Child Protective Services can be another landmine for an interpreter. A situation dealing with abuse, especially a child, can cause an interpreter to

become too emotional. “The most important thing is to know when to say no. You must know your own limits,” she said. Shirah recalls that for her it was being asked to attend an abortion. Because it goes against her beliefs, she had to say no. It is important to understand that the deaf community is a community with its own social rules and etiquette, she said. When approaching two deaf people having a conversation, it is extremely rude to not walk through the middle of them. To walk around is an insult. Another insult is to wave your arms wildly around in order to get a deaf person’s attention. You should tap them on the shoulder or stomp your feet. They will feel the vibrations. A huge faux pas is to ask an interpreter to, “Tell him I said….” The correct way is to simply tell the interpreter whatever it is you want to say. Shirah explained that when a person speaks that

way through her, she translates every word exactly. “Talk in the first person,” she said. Don’t assume all deaf people read lips. They don’t. In fact, few do. She said it is rude to move your mouth in an exaggerated way assuming the deaf can understand you. Word order and syntax is different in sign language. Words are merely codes to be translated. Because of this, the average deaf person reads at a fourth grade level. Some hearing persons make the mistake of assuming that deaf people are not as intelligent because of the way they read or write. This is false. “They are just like everyone else. They just can’t hear,” she said.

DESEGREGATION................................................continued from page 1MU would appeal the deci-

sion of a Wichita Falls judge who ruled that segregation was unconstitutional. It was three years later, after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, that black students would finally be allowed to receive higher edu-cation

The university has become a bastion of cultural assimilation in the last half-century, Stewart said. Twelve percent of MSU students are African-American. Students represent 43 coun-tries.

“We’re talking 54 years since this came through the court sys-tem,” Stewart said. “That’s a lot of change. A lot of progress has been made.”

MSU Immigration Special-ist Gidget Pettibon thinks the school’s diversity is a great thing. She relates the situation – a hodgepodge of various cul-

tures, ideologies and beliefs – to a two-way street.

“Diversity gives everybody a chance to learn about other cul-tures,” she said. “They have to submerge themselves in our cul-ture and adapt. When you step off the plane in another country, you have to do the same thing.”

Assistant Director of Housing Wayne Schields said he thinks Stewart and Thornton’s project is a great idea.

“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “My first instinct was, ‘why are two white guys doing this?’ But the fact that two white, conser-vative guys did the work says a lot.”

Schields said the project is important because it examines history.

“Tragic as it is, it should be celebrated because it shows how far we’ve come as a people and as a university,” he said. “We’ve just selected the first black pres-

ident. That’s a very important symbolic gesture of the country. Our university should follow suit with that gesture.”

Stewart said he was surprised no one has tackled the topic in previous years, but is glad he did the hard work.

“I found it very rewarding,” he said. “We’ve taken a piece of history that was missing – fall-en off the face of the earth – and we’ve brought it back. Now it’s home where it belongs.”

Stewart would like to include something about the case at Moffett Library during Febru-ary, Black History Month. He also plans to put a resolution to the SGA to have a tree planted in commemoration of the event. Stewart doesn’t know where or when the tree will be planted.

“We honor people who are important in the community or at the school, and these people are no less important,” he said.

Veteto said everyone should ask himself or herself if the road you’re on is your road.

“There are seminal mo-ments in the “Y” on the road to life that determines every-thing,” he said. “With the best of intentions you can make the worst choices. Now is your most important time to find

silence, to contemplate what’s next to make this life yours.”

Givens became the vice president of product and ap-plications for a company that launched the first high-resolu-tion commercial imaging sat-ellite.

Givens reminded students of the kind of education one

can receive at MSU.“I have worked closely with

colleagues whose degrees come from Harvard, Stanford and Berkley and have never found the education of Mid-western State needing to take a back seat to any of these uni-versities,” Givens said.

Givens encouraged students

who are from Texas to stay here.

“The opportunities are great here. Texas offers low taxes, affordable land, and an edu-cated workforce. We are in the sweet spot of the U.S.,” he said, noting that Texas is home to many Fortune 500 compa-nies, including Exxon Mobil,

J.C. Penney and American Airlines.

The current generation is the first to be fully educated about modern technology, he said. He challenged graduates

to use this technology to leave their mark on the world.

“You can’t bury this unique-ness that has just come about in your generation,” Givens said.

SPEAKERS.................................................................................................continued from page 1

It’s that time of year again. It is the season of giving, as well as being with friends and family.

The lights go up on the roof, the inflatable Santa takes its place in the front yard and the tree and all of its pine needles are consume the living room.

This year, however, it doesn’t really seem like Christmas is less than a month away. Sure the stores are decorated and the Sal-vation Army has its bell ringer outside of Wal-mart, but it just doesn’t feel like the holidays.

To help it feel more like Christmas, sit down with fam-ily or friends and watch a couple of holiday movies. Whether it be in theaters, or in the comfort of your own (decorated) home, classics like these are sure to get any person in the holiday spirit.

In theaters this season is “Four Christmases,” which was released Nov. 26, and “Noth-ing Like the Holidays,” which comes to theaters Dec. 12. “Four

Christmases” is a holiday com-edy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a mar-ried couple who has to attend four relative-choked festivities. In “Nothing Like the Holidays” a Puerto Rican family living in west Chicago face what may be their last Christmas together. The film features stars including John Leguizamo, Debra Mess-ing and Jay Hernandez.

“The Holiday” and “The Fam-ily Stone” are recent holiday films that have hit the shelves. “The Holiday” stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, two un-happy women in two different continents that switch houses for the holidays to escape from their troubles back home. “The Fam-ily Stone” is full of drama and humor that expresses the joys of bringing your girlfriend home to meet the family during the busy Christmas time.

If you are looking for a laugh, “Bad Santa” is the movie to watch. Billy Bob Thorton stars in a film containing vulgarity, promiscuity and armed burglary.

An all ages movie is none oth-er than “Elf,” starring the comic-genius, Will Ferrell. He plays an oversized elf that tries to find his place in the real world.

Films great for the smaller children include “Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas, “

starring a very green Jim Carrey, and “Polar Express,” an adap-tation of the beloved children’s book featuring an ensemble of Tom Hanks.

Two holiday films from the 1990s include “Home Alone,” the film that made Macaulay

Culkin the ultimate child star, and the Tim Burton classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Culkin plays an eight-year-old kid that tosses burglars Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern a good old-fashioned Christmas beating. In the Burton film, a skeleton tries to take over Christmas. A bit of an odd concept, but it became a hit during the holiday season.

If you are in the mood for an old clas-sic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a tale of de-pression and almost suicide that serves as a beloved testament to everything Christ-mas embodies: fam-ily, friends and joy of life.

“A Christmas Story” is the 1983 classic that tells the story

of a young boy’s epic quest to get his hands on a Red Ryder BB gun. It provides the hilari-ous backdrop for a timeless tale full of family incidents, frozen tongues and sex-oozing lamp legs.

These are just a few of the many holiday films that are sure to get you in the Christmas mood. So this season, curl up with hot chocolate and a blanket and enjoy.

It’s been exactly 30 years since the Delta Tau Chi’s of Ani-mal House fame were placed on double-secret probation at the fictional Faber University.

Thirty years later, the animals are still on the loose.

“Hey he can’t do that to our pledges.”

“Yeah, only we can do that to our pledges.”

– Animal House

In early November, the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity at MSU was officially placed on a three-year chapter suspension. The sentence was in response to an Oct. 4 incident that involved two KA pledges being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning during a fraternity event in Nocona. The ruling means that for at least the next three years no organized chapter events can be held, no new pledges allowed member-ship and current members can no longer wear fraternity letters.

“For all intents and purposes, Kappa Alpha doesn’t exist on campus,” said Keith Lamb, vice president for university advance-ment and student affairs.

“But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the

behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not go-ing to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America.”

– Animal House

Unfortunately for Greeks at MSU, the school has and will continue to come down on the entire system instead of just pun-ishing individual members. After a few less than favorable events in their pasts, some MSU frater-nities have had a rough time be-ing recognized as a productive part of campus life. What might have been considered innocent fun 30 years ago by a rag-tag group of young men fighting the establishment, is now looked upon as a black mark on the his-tory of fraternities rather than a badge of honor.

In 2004, four MSU Greek or-ganizations were placed on pro-bation following a drunken brawl at the former Tau Kappa Epsilon house. In 2007, Sigma Nu was placed on temporary suspension when an MSU student claimed

she was raped after attending an unregistered house party. The fraternity was believed to have sponsored the party, but after an investigation by the school and their national headquarters, they

were cleared of all charges.Such incidents are hard to

downplay.“Every Greek has become

a stereotype thanks to Animal House,” said Iggy Cruz, a senior

mass communications major and member of Omega Delta Phi fra-ternity. “Whenever people think of that movie and fraternities in general they automatically think about beers, kegs and hazing. I don’t like that at all. My frater-nity is a service first, social orga-nization second. We try to give back to the community, not set a bad example for it.”

Cruz acknowledges the OD Phi’s were among the fraterni-ties placed on probation follow-ing the brawl. However, he said the group has since tried to pro-mote a better image.

Cruz pointed out that his fra-ternity’s Young Knights pro-gram, a mentorship initiative with local schools, is just one of the ways the Omegas try to give back.

His fraternity is not alone in leading the charge for change.

In November, members of Phi Sigma Kappa took a trip to the hurricane-battered area of Galveston to help with clean up and rebuilding efforts.

“From what I can remember about the movie, it pretty much portrayed fraternities as mind-less guys just wanting to get messed up every night,” said Patrick Lyne, a junior business major and president of Sigma Nu fraternity. “We are trying to get away from that image and more toward one that greatly

benefits the students and the community.”

In order to promote their new shift in focus, Lyne said the Sigma Nu’s participate in phil-anthropic activities such as help-ing out with Habitat for Human-ity, the Association for Retarded Citizens and the Wichita Falls Humane Society.

“The movie puts Greeks into such a negative light and I just don’t think things are really like that anymore,” said Chance Gibbs, president of Kappa Sig-ma fraternity.

Still, the recent violations by Kappa Alpha gave a black eye to the Greek way of life. But members of other Greek organi-zations remain confident that the time for change is now.

“Obviously it is unfortunate what happened with the KA’s, but incidents like that only show the rest of us that it is important to abide by our risk reduction policies,” said Lyne. “I don’t think things like that will ever be completely gone from Greek life, but when situations like that do arise, it’s important to stop and think about the reason you wanted to join the fraternity in the first place and what you hope to get out of it.”

Thirty years later, it’s more evident than ever that most Greeks wish the animals would all just die out.

The WichiTanDec. 3, 2008 5Entertainment

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Members of the women’s cross country team who competed at the NCAA championship in Slippery Rock, Penn., November 22.

Number of December graduate candidates, the largest fall graduating class in school history.

Matt LedesMa

For The WichiTan

Kick-start the Christmas season with the classics

‘Animal House’ hits home

John Belushi

Wichitan needs

writers:wichitan@mwsu.edu

30 years later, movie continues to mirror college life

Jude Law and Cameron Deaz

Lauren Wood

For The WichiTan

The WichiTanDec. 3, 20086 Entertainment

When it comes to holiday shopping, it always seems that the common shopper is at a loss when thinking of exactly what to get that special someone. It doesn’t have to be a gift for a boyfriend or girl-friend, but finding the perfect gift for anyone on your list can be quite challenging. You could always go for gift cards to their favorite restaurant or clothing store, but that always seems a bit impersonal. There is the option of trying to buy someone articles of their favorite clothing that they might pick out themselves, but that seems next to impossible, too. One other alternative includes buying their favorite DVDs or CDs. However, in this generation, with almost everything accessible for download or available on iTunes it’s almost not worth the money you’ll spend at the store for something they can later get for free. With all these options failing at the get-go, it almost seems impossible to find the perfectly original gift without looking impersonal, tasteless, or cheap. But don’t get discouraged. Luckily, this list below will help you find that ideal gift that wont leave anyone wondering, ‘why?’ or ‘where is the receipt so I can exchange this ASAP?’

Apparently Baz Luhrmann couldn’t decide which movie he wanted to make.

So he made them all and called it “Australia.”

Like the country that is its namesake, this movie is big: 2 hours of romance, action and history, a Down Under “Gone With the Wind.”

It’s also a big mess: emotion-ally incoherent, laughably sim-plistic and narratively graceless.

It wastes Nicole Kidman, who looks silly through most of it, and reduces Hugh Jackman to a macho sex object, which at least should appease female viewers.

On the eve of World War II, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) travels from England to Austra-lia to check up on her husband, who years earlier retreated into the Outback to operate a cattle ranch.

Sarah’s arrival in Darwin and her trek into the interior with the rugged horse wrangler Drover (Jackman) are depicted in a style Luhrmann loyalists would call “operatic,” like his “Moulin Rouge,” but in fact is shameless-ly cartoonish. You half expect to see Tom & Jerry running around underfoot.

Sarah is absurdly prim (she

marches around like Marga-ret Hamilton as the nasty Miss Gulchin “The Wizard of Oz”), and the locals are braying, drunken boors.

At the cattle station Sarah discovers she’s a widow, her husband having just died mys-teriously and violently. The

foreman, Fletcher (David Wen-ham), encourages her to sell everything to her late husband’s biggest competitor, the ruthless cattle baron King Carney (Bryan Brown).

Sarah has other ideas, particu-larly after she discovers Fletcher has been working secretly for

Carney. She and Drover will drive her cattle across the con-tinent with a mixed-race crew of cowpokes. Their goal is to reach Darwin with the beef be-fore Carney can, thus landing a fat contract to feed Australia’s fighting men.

Along the way they face not

only natural hardships but also attacks by Fletcher. Sarah and Drover, who have nothing in common but good looks and increasingly grimy wardrobes, fall in love, though there’s never much heat between the two. And they take a parental interest in the youngest member of their party, a half-breed Aborigine boy named Nullah (the astonishingly beautiful Brandon Walters), who narrates the film.

Hovering at the film’s edges is Nullah’s grandfather (David Gulpilil, who played the Aborig-ine boy in 1971’s “Walkabout”), a white-bearded shaman who trails the trekkers, casting pro-tective spells.

This cattle drive is by far the best part of “Australia,” filled with Western tropes and spec-tacular scenery.

Our protagonists and their herd finally arrive in Darwin, and that should be the trium-phant end of the movie.

If only. “Australia” still has another hour to go.

The screenplay by Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan (way too many cooks) now pits Sarah against nouveau riche Darwin society. There’s even a charity auction in which the local men vie for the right to dance with her (yeah, like in “Gone With

the Wind”).And then the Japanese flatten

Darwin with a Pearl Harbor-style bombing raid.

At times “Australia” is a light-hearted romantic adventure, sort of an “African Queen” in the Outback. At other times it’s an historic epic that views WWII as the forge in which the country’s national identity was shaped.

It’s an examination of the class system that develops even in a rough-and-tumble town like Darwin. And it’s an outraged expose of the racism that until quite recently was one of the pil-lars of Australian society.

“Australia” feels as if it were conceived as a four-night TV miniseries, then pared down to one feature film. It has a big cast of tangential characters. Just about every actor you ever saw in an Australian movie shows up, but they’re fragmentary, as if most of their footage was left on the cutting room floor.

Perhaps in an extended DVD presentation Luhrmann’s tale will make more sense and find the emotional resonances that now elude it.

As it stands, “Australia” is of-ten gorgeous to look at and gru-eling to sit through.

Would the real movie please stand up?

Romantic adventure travels overseas to ‘Australia’

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in motion picture “Australia”

RobeRt W. butleR

McT

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enTerTainMenT ediTor

Have you ever been around someone you can’t stand but didn’t have the nerve to tell them off? Well now you can with this book entirely filled with Yiddish curses and insults that will allow you to get your point across with no hurt feelings. This book is recom-mended for anyone wanting to branch out and extend his or her vocabulary (that is to someone who preferably isn’t fluent in Yid-dish). At only $13.00, this unique gift is affordable, comical, and can be proved useful if in the right situation.

There is nothing more beautiful than art and all the history that it has to offer. With that in mind, why not take one of the most famous paintings known to man and compose your loved one’s photo to be transformed onto Mono Lisa? Talk about an original gift, I guarantee no one else will have this kind of creativity under the tree this year. Also great for art history buffs! This, or 27 other styles of transfer-ring photos to paintings is available online and will set you back about $45.00.

If you have a golfer in the family, it gets old just buying new clubs or golf balls every year. This time, try the Designated Driver Bever-age Dispenser and give the gift of refreshment while they spend tire-less hours on the course. This gift can save your special golfer friend a ton of money from buying drinks from the caddies on the course and can allow them to be the only one drinking in style. This gift can be found online and costs around $50.00.

Everyone knows at least one person in their family that is a die-hard dog lover, right? Well, this one-of-a-kind Dog Toilet Water Bowl allows you to offer the proud owner of any dog the oppor-tunity to provide their beloved pooch to drink straight from the toilet, without getting in trouble! Instead of setting out bowls of water that topple over and cause messes, this visually appealing water bowl is perfect for any size dog and is a hilarious gift that is only $25.00.

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the wintertime, that is if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. For the rest of us that happen to be single, this luxury can’t be a real-ity…until now. This unique Boyfriend Arm Pillow allows anyone the option of curling up to the closest thing to a real man without actually getting in a relationship. This wacky gift is available for just $19.95 and can be found online for purchase.

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Christmas gifts for everyone on your list

There’s only one sport in the known, modernized world that doesn’t have it.

It’s not even a sport, because even the smaller, less-market-able divisions of the sport have come to their senses.

A sport, the most common display of teamwork and com-petition, has one singular divi-sion of play not determined on the field.

Not only is it not determined on the field, but when some of the sports most powerful con-ferences get into their fifth and sixth tiebreakers the best team is determined by a bunch of poll-sters and a computer.

No playoffs. Just a game, numbers being typed into a

computer and then voila!Yeah. A computer. The same

piece of equipment that con-stantly freezes, gets infected with viruses, and sometimes even gets thrown up against a wall is the determining tiebreak-er to the Big 12 football confer-ence champion this season.

So, as you can tell by now, the NCAA Division I football championship and bowl-eligible teams are selected by a DELL somewhere.

So, if you’ve been in a cave for a couple of months, or don’t care, why does this matter?

The fact of the matter is that college football is slowly creep-ing further and further into America’s living rooms.

Games are being scheduled every day of the week nowa-

days, not just Saturdays, and more games are getting prime-time time spots as even televi-sion executives are realizing that wherever and whenever college football is on the tube, people will watch.

So millions of dollars in ad-vertising and endorsements all ride on some computer formu-la?

I wonder if it’s some sort of Excel formula that some genius came up with, or if it’s just a wacky series of numbers. What-ever it is doesn’t add up. At least not in normal math and logic.

Oklahoma is ranked number two in the country, while poor Texas is ranked third and is firmly implanted into the back seat of the national champion-ship picture.

Oklahoma has one loss, but so does Texas.

Then, the great equalizer: Texas defeats Oklahoma 45-35 on a neutral field.

So, as math would have it UT > OU. Right?

Nope. Because UT lost by five, three weeks later to No. 7 Texas Tech and obviously that erases the computer’s memory.

So, UT loses by five at TTU at night when they were undefeat-ed. That’s not that bad, is it?

Well obviously the moth-erboard inside that DELL had other plans, because when the Sooners beat the Red Raiders at their own home field it sealed Texas’s fate. Wow!

So, Oklahoma will be en-joying the cold Kansas City weather this weekend at the Big

12 Championship, while Texas sits back and watches two teams they have already beaten this season compete for their confer-ence championship.

Oklahoma beat the seventh best team in the nation, Texas Tech, but lost to the third-ranked Longhorns. Yet the Longhorns beat the second-best team while barely losing to the seventh-ranked Red Raiders.

The math just doesn’t add up.Piling on the points at the end

of obvious wins shouldn’t fac-tor into things. Oh wait, Sooners would have you think those are “style points”, right?

Whatever it is that is in the computer system or tiebreaker system, needs to be fixed, be-cause it’s blatantly obvious that this “system” has a virus.

The WichiTanDec. 3, 2008 8 Sports

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College football match-ups shouldn’t be decided by computersBoBBy Morris

SporTS ediTorOn Deck for the holidays

Women’s Hoops

Monday Dec. 15

@ Northeastern State

Saturday Dec. 17

Texas A&M-Commerce

at 6 p.m.

ThursdayDec. 18

Univ. Texas Permain-Ba-

sin at 7 p.m.

SaturdayDec. 20Texas

Woman’sat 2 p.m.

TuesdayDec. 30

@ St. Edward’s

Men’s Hoops

MondayDec. 15

@ Northeastern State

WednesdayDec. 17

Texas A&M-Comm.

at 8 p.m.

SaturdayDec. 20

@ River City Classic

TuesdayDec. 30

Univ. Texas Permian-Ba-

sin at 7 p.m.

Home Events are Bolded

Mustangs Conference Standings

Lone Star Conference

Basketball

Men’s

North#6 Central Okla. (7-0)SW Oklahoma (5-0)Texas A&M-Comm (3-2)Cameron (2-2)East Central (0-1)Northeastern State (0-4) SE Oklahoma (0-5)

SouthAngelo State (3-0) West Texas A&M (4-1)Tarleton State (4-2)TAMU-Kingsville (3-2)Midwestern State (3-3)Abilene Christian (2-2)Eastern New Mexico (2-3)

Women’s

NorthCentral Okla. (4-0)Texas Woman’s (4-0)East Central (2-0)SE Oklahoma (4-2)Cameron (3-2)Texas A&M-Comm (3-2)Northeastern State (2-3) SW Oklahoma (2-3)

SouthWest Texas A&M (5-0)Eastern New Mexico (5-2)Tarleton State (3-2)Abilene Christian (2-2)Angelo State (3-4)TAMU-Kingsville (2-3)Midwestern State (1-3)

Southwest Soccer Conference

Men’s Soccer

W-L-T#3 MSU (19-3) 7-1-0WTAMU (12-5) 6-2Eastern NM (6-10-2) 3-4-1NE State (3-14-1) 2-6 MO Southern (1-14-1) 1-6-1

Sports The WichiTanDec. 3, 2008 9

The snow kept coming Satur-day afternoon in the NCAA Di-vision II Championship meet at Cooper’s Lake Campground.

But so did the Mustangs, as Katie Stepp became the pro-gram’s first All American af-ter covering the demanding 6,000-meter course in 22:21 to lead MSU to a 15th-place na-tional finish.

“Running in the muck and slush and all of that, that’s cross country,” MSU coach Koby Styles said. “This is very much

a strength-oriented course and everyone ran so well.”

Freshman Kayla Hendrix fin-ished 37th with a time of 22:40, while junior Andrea Borgman and freshman Lindsey Pate fin-ished with close times of 23:51 and 23:53 to earn placements of 106th and 109th.

“We started at the back of the pack as we started a climb into what seemed to be a mountain,” Styles said. “Then everyone just kept moving up.”

The Mustangs overcame Mis-souri Southern, who claimed the South Central Region cham-pionship two weeks ago in San

Antonio, to finish as the top team in the region and just one spot ahead of the Lions.

F r e s h -man Brittany Barr ington finished out

scoring for the Mustangs by finishing 139th with a time of 24:25, while sophomore Hassie Sutton and freshman Kourtney Aylor finished with strong times of 24:59 and 25:56, respective-ly.

It was an end of an historic season for MSU, which claimed its first regional and national ranking before claiming its first Lone Star Conference title. To put it in proper prospective, the Mustangs had never achieved higher than an eighth-place fin-ish at the LSC meet since the school restarted cross country in 2005.

“I’m so proud of the girls,” Styles said. “What a way to fin-ish the season. The nation now knows Midwestern State has a cross country team. We’re here to stay.”

Mustangs finish 15th following Stepp’s All-American effortMSUMUStangS.coM

For The WichiTan

The Midwestern State men’s basketball team is about to take a two-week break along with the rest of the campus. And the break couldn’t have come at a better time.

MSU is currently on a two-game skid after double-digit de-feats to No. 6 University of Cen-tral Oklahoma and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Most recently, the Mustangs traveled to Odessa Monday night to take on the Falcons. Despite Craig Green’s 19-point outburst, a rash of injuries was too much to overcome as UTPB took the 83-72 victory.

“We’re a wounded team right now,” MSU head coach Jeff Ray said. “We are trying hard, but it’s tough to get any time or chem-istry with the situation we have right now.”

The Mustangs were without leading scorer Trajinski Grigsby for the contest, while he stayed home to heal from a leg injury sustained against UCO.

Then, in Michael Godwin’s first game of the season coming back from injury, he tweaked his ankle again, forcing him to leave midway through the second half after scoring eight points in 19 minutes of action.

A bright spot on the team’s injury report came from Earl Rabb’s first-half performance. In his first action of the young sea-son Rabb played 14 minutes in the opening half and scored six points.

But even Rabb couldn’t avoid injury long enough to compete in the second half, as his foot hurt too much to reappear in the lat-ter half.

It was the second-straight loss for MSU after the Mustangs were

unable to pull the upset victory on the road against No. 6 UCO.

Senior Nolan Richardson led the Mustangs with 17 points, all of which came in the second half.

But an early second-half push wasn’t enough to overcome the 46-30 halftime deficit, as the Bronchos eventually won 92-78.

“Early in the second half, we showed just what type of basket-ball team we can be,” Ray said. “This team can be really good, but we’re not there right now.”

The two-game skid evened the Mustangs regular season record at 3-3, coming immediately af-ter a three-game winning streak which included wins over Way-land Baptist and the University of the Southwest.

The Mustangs return to action Dec. 15 when they will travel to take on Northeastern State.

Mustangs ready for extended break after pair of lossesBoBBy MorriS

SporTS ediTor

Patrick JohnSton | The WichiTan

Hendrix

The Midwestern State Ath-letics Department announced the addition of women’s golf last Thursday afternoon as the program’s 12th sport.

“I am very pleased our board has approved the addition of another women’s sport,” MSU President Jesse W. Rogers said. “It means a lot to the Univer-sity and to the Lone Star Con-ference.”

With the addition of golf, Midwestern State now offers seven women’s programs which also include tennis (added in 1927), basketball (1977), vol-leyball (1985), soccer (1995), softball (2004) and cross coun-try (2005).

“I’m excited to add another women’s sport to our pro-gram,” MSU Athletics Direc-tor Charlie Carr said. “This is another excellent opportunity for talented young women in Wichita Falls and the North Texas area.”

Midwestern State has flour-ished since adding men’s golf in 2006 as the Mustangs ad-vanced to the NCAA Super Regionals in its first year of existence.

“The success of our men’s team leads me to believe we’ll add another successful compo-nent to our program,” Carr said. “As in all sports, we expect to compete at the highest level and we look forward to com-peting for championships.”

Midwestern has used the same formula to recruit its first women’s golf team, which will be announced in the coming days, and will extend previous agreements with the many out-standing golf facilities in the Wichita Falls area.

“Jeff Ray has done a great job of getting us off on the right track,” Carr said. “The out-standing golf facilities in the area combined with great lo-cal talent makes women’s golf a natural addition to our local

and regional efforts at MSU.”Carr believes the utilization

of The Wichita Falls Country Club, The Champions Course at Weeks Park, Hawk Ridge and the Wind Creek Golf Course at Sheppard Air Force Base gives Midwestern a tremendous competitive and recruiting ad-vantage.

Members of the first MSU signing class are Taylor Klutts and Lauren Romines of Cal-lisburg High School, Grape-vine High School’s Lindsay Burkhart, Midlothian High’s Megan Richardson and Jordan Hoffman of San Angelo.

Midwestern State, which be-gins competition this fall, be-comes the 10th member of the Lone Star Conference to add women’s golf.

MSUMUStangS.coM

For The WichiTan

MSU adds women’s golf to athletics’ program

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Katie Stepp became the MSU cross country program’s first ever All American last week as she completed the grueling national championship course in 22:21 to take 23rd-place. The effort led the Mustangs to the 15th overall finish and undoubtedly put the Mustangs on the map in cross country.

Phillip Homere (4) and Quincy Sarpy (1) lead the MSU fast-break against the Dallas Baptist Patriots earlier in November. MSU reeled off three-straight wins following the 83-88 loss to DBU before losing two-straight this week. The Mustangs now are scheduled for two weeks without competition with hopes of healing and gaining chemistry as a cohesive unit.

The WichiTanDec. 3, 2008 10 Sports

The advocates of the Bowl Champi-onship Series' fraudulent way of doing business (and their willing accomplic-es in the Big 12) are apparently of the mind that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Outrage and indignation are easily interchangeable with praise and plea-sure with these folks. It doesn't matter that the BCS and the Big 12 are being ripped from coast to coast over a failed system that relies on weird science, not the simplest math in all of sports (I beat you, therefore I am better than you) to decide their championships. It doesn't matter to these folks that ev-eryone with a sense of fair play knows that Oklahoma has no business in the No. 2 slot in this week's BCS rankings, and by extension has earned an undeserved trip to this weekend's Big 12 championship game.

The BCS advocates are so lost in their well-rehearsed rhetoric of this indefensible "national championship" system that even when faced with the overwhelming evidence that it is greatly flawed, they continue to recite the same tired talking points: A true college postseason playoff will make people stop caring about the regular season. Wrong. It will destroy the bowl system. No, it will enhance the bowl sys-tem. Look how much everyone is talking about college football now. That's be-cause of the BCS. OK, they're right about that. People are talking, but they're saying nothing but bad things. But before we get too far down the BCS road, let's deal with the Big 12 and how it wrongly arrived at putting Oklahoma in its championship game. Don't get me wrong, I happen to think that the once-beaten Sooners are scary good.

They're probably the hottest team in America right now after scoring 60 or more points in their last four games and winning by an average margin of 34 points. But there's only one prob-lem with OU being in Arrowhead Sta-dium this weekend instead of once-beaten Texas representing the Big 12 South in the conference championship game. Texas beat Oklahoma. But this is what happens when you place your faith in the BCS to deliver the credible goods. How in the world can the so-called best conference in football be comfortable with the out-come of this three-way tiebreaker that decided (wrongly, I might add) its South Division champion by the whims of the BCS rankings? By virtue of the BCS rankings, Oklahoma edged

out Texas and Texas Tech for the South title. This is a particularly curious cir-cumstance that has left Texas sitting at home this week while two teams it beat by 10 (OU) and 25 points (the Longhorns smoked North Division champ Missouri 56-31) get to fight for the title Saturday night in Kansas City. The Big 12's tiebreaking procedures need to be changed. A better solution would have been to use the tiebreakers that both the SEC and ACC use, which is to immediately eliminate the weak-est link in the three-way tie by the lowest BCS ranking (goodbye Texas Tech). Or you could just use plain old common sense. Any team that gets lit up by 44 points at any point in the season (that would be you again, Red Raiders) should have no earthly busi-ness in any national championship or conference championship conversa-tion. Either way, that would leave us with a two-way tie between Texas and OU, and all we have to do once again is refer back to the simplest math in sports. Texas beat Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field. 'Nuff said. On Thanksgiving night as the Long-horns were trouncing Texas A&M, many of the clever folks among the record crowd of 98,621 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium car-ried subtle reminders that they thought would help sway the voters of the Harris and USA Today coaches polls. Everywhere you looked, fans held up "45-35" signs that were shown repeat-edly during the nationally televised game. "It's true," said Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller after the game. "We did beat them. I think the important thing the fans were doing was mak-

ing sure that everybody remembered it. I don't know what the voters will do, but I hope they will take that into consideration." Sorry, Roy, the voters and computers either can't read, can't count or don't know anything about the old "I beat you, therefore I am bet-ter than you" rule, because the coach-es' poll had the Sooners ranked ahead of Texas (including two first-place votes), and three of the six computers used by the BCS had OU ranked first, two second and one fourth. A week ago, Texas was the second-best team in the country according to the BCS and Oklahoma (did I men-tion that the Longhorns beat OU by 10 points on a neutral field?), was ranked third in the BCS standings, and at the time that sort of made sense. But by Sunday afternoon, after both had won their final regular-season games, sud-denly OU was a superior team to Tex-as. And if you ask me, based on the simplest sports math, the wrong team got its ticket punched. So once again, we're on the verge of picking a na-tional champion the wrong way. It's computers and pollsters. It's politick-ing and subjectivity. This is sports, not a political campaign. We shouldn't be testing which way the wind blows in a national championship discussion ex-cept after a coin flip. Hate is not too strong a word to describe how much acrimony I feel about this warped system. But if it will make you feel better, let's kick around a few less acrimonious verbs. We can go with abhor, detest, despise or re-vile. Does "loathe" work for you, or perhaps a pithy phrase like "a strong aversion" will do? Nah, I'm definitely sticking with hate, and right now I suspect that most of the state of Texas is right there with me.

Broken SystemCreators of Bowl Championship Series still finding ways to defend flawed system

MCTFor The WichiTan

Midwestern State knows a little bit about home-field ad-vantage as it ran through the 2008 with a perfect 10-0 mark at the MSU Soccer Field.

The No. 3 Mustangs got a taste of the flip side against No. 9 California State-Dominguez Hills in last Saturday’s NCAA Division II national quarterfinal as the Toros claimed a 2-1 re-sult.

Dominguez Hills (19-2-4) claimed its 17th-straight vic-

tory at Toro Stadium and will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships on Dec. 5 and 7 in Tampa. The Toros will face the winner of tomorrow’s quar-terfinal between the University of Tampa and Tusculum Uni-versity.

“It’s hard to be on the road and play in front of a good crowd,” MSU coach Doug El-der said. “They went through a 20-minute spurt in the second half where they really took it to us.”

The Toros took advantage of a misclear in the third minute of

the second half as Chris Perkins collected the ball near the top of the box and served a pass to Jor-dan Rover who one-touched the ball to Scott Mariano who beat MSU keeper with a one-timer.

“The conditions were re-ally dense and foggy so it was a little slick. Swanny (Robert Swann) slipped and they got to it before Brannon could get to it,” Elder said. “It was definitely a good finish.”

Dominguez Hills tacked on a second goal on a counter in the 63rd minute when Rover once again hit Mariano breaking free

on the left. Mariano shot a laser from just outside of the box to give the Toros a 2-0 lead.

The Mustangs, who placed seven of their 13 shots on goal, were unable to take advantage of a golden opportunity just 40 seconds before intermis-sion. Junior Nick Auditore took a through ball and beat Dominguez Hills’ goalkeeper Miguel Benitez to the far post, but the shot narrowly missed as the teams went scoreless into intermission.

“We did everything we need-ed to do in the first half,” Elder

said. “We held them without a shot on goal and had the bet-ter opportunities. I felt really bad for Nick because he usually buries those.”

The Mustangs broke through in the 85th minute when Audi-tore notched his 12th goal of the season when he collected a long pass from center back Robert Swann. Auditore dribbled into the box and beat Benitez to the near post to cut the margin to 2-1.

Midwestern continued to put the pressure on the Toros, but Bentez came through with

his sixth save of the match on a sprawling dive to snarl Craig Sutherland’s drive from the top of the box in the 88th minute.

“We just couldn’t miss the keeper and they cleared the ball off the line once. We just couldn’t get it done,” Elder said. “This one hurts, but you can’t take away anything these boys have accomplished all sea-son. It’s frustrating.”

The Mustangs close the sea-son with a 19-3 mark after ad-vancing to the NCAA Division II national semifinals last sea-son.

MSUMUSTangS.CoM

For The WichiTan

No. 3 Mustangs fall short of national title hopes with 2-1 defeat

Mustangs handed 106-57 blowout defeat before two-week breakMSUMUSTangS.CoM

For The WichiTan

PaTriCk JohnSTon | The WichiTan

Sam Bradford (left) and Colt McCoy (right) are the leaders behind center of the two top teams in arguably the tough-est division in college foot-ball of all-time.

Highlights were hard to come by for Midwestern State Tuesday night at Hamilton Fieldhouse.

Andrea Buben hit a 15-foot jumper 28 seconds into the crossover matchup with No. 11 Central Oklahoma to give the Mustangs an early lead.

Oh, and junior guard Brittany Bryant recorded her first double-double of the season leading MSU with 17 points and 12 re-bounds.

But the highlights were plen-tiful for Central Oklahoma as the Bronchos scorched Midwestern 106-57 to improve to a perfect 5-0.

“They are a good team,” MSU coach Noel Johnson said. “They make you pay for any mistake you make offensively and defen-sively.”

The point total was the most allowed by an MSU team as the Mustangs needed a runner in the lane by Katiya Jackson with 22 seconds remaining to avert their

largest defeat in program his-tory.

Midwestern surrendered 102 points in a 51-point defeat at Abilene Christian on Jan. 27, 1996.

UCO senior forward Lizzie Brenner fell two assists shy of a triple double to lead a group of six players in double figures. Brenner finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists.

“There’s a reason why Lizzie Brenner was the preason player of the year in the north,” Johnson said. “She outworked us tonight and we didn’t compete.”

Regiane Araujo added 14 points and eight rebounds for MSU, which fell to 1-4 on the season.

Michele Kenney poured all of her team-high 12 points in the second half, but it wasn’t to carry Midwestern State Statur-day night at Rhodes Field House as Harding held on for a 71-60 win.

Kenney, a junior forward from Wichita Falls, canned a pair of 3-pointers to key a 10-2 run in

the game’s final minute.The Burkburnett High School

product hit three of her six treys as the Mustangs recovered from a 15-point first half output to score 45 after intermission.

Outside of Kenney, the Mus-tangs connected on just 1-of-15 shots from beyond the arc, in-cluding an 0-7 effort in the open-ing half as MSU managed just a 6-of-30 showing - 20 percent - from the floor.

After making to the free-throw line just four times in the first half, the Mustangs got more aggressive in the paint

The aggression resulted in 29 trips to the charity stripe, but the Mustangs misfired on 14 of them allowing the Bison to build an 18-point advantage at 57-39 with 6:27 to go.

Araujo added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Mustangs, who fell to 1-3 on the season.

The Mustangs enjoy a 13-day break before traveling to Tahl-equah to face Northeastern State on Monday, Dec. 15.

Freshman Sunny Satery (23) attempts to set up the offense earlier in November against Howard Payne. Satery has stepped right into the new offense brought in by rookie head coach Noel Johnson. Satery has scored 11 points during the young season.