VIEWPOINTS Oct. 24, 2007

THE WICHITANFinalist

2004 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award

Sweepstakes Winner 2006 Texas Intercollegiate

Press Association

THE WICHITAN Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief Krystle Carey Managing Editor Brittany Norman Entertainment Editor Konnie Sewell Op-Ed Editor Christian McPhate Sports Editor Josh Mujica Photo Editor Patrick Johnston

ReportersRichard CarterRachel TompkinsCourtney Foreman

PhotographersJoel AbeytaLauren Williams

Graphic ArtistRobert Redmon

Advertising ManagerRebecca Ferguson

Copy EditorHaley Cunningham

AdviserRandy Pruitt

Staff Editorial

Copyright © 2007. 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.

3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 • Wichita Falls, Texas 76308News Desk (940) 397-4704 • Advertising Desk (940) 397-4705

Fax (940) 397-4025 • E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.eduWeb site: http://www.mwsu.edu/~wichitan

Parking lot closing causes more problems V e r y few students would argue with me if I say that parking is a problem on our campus. So as a rem-edy to this

problem, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I come to campus 20 minutes early, park in the parking lot of the Mercantile Building and walk to the Dillard building so I can be on time to class. Most students just circle the parking lot for hours trying to find a closer space and still end up late for class. I’d rather come early and walk. This past Wednesday, I came at 9:40 a.m., bypassed the Dillard Building as I routinely do, and pulled into the Mercantile Build-ing parking lot and to my amaze-

ment, there were orange street cones blocking every entrance of the student parking lot. I find out that the bonfire for Homecoming week is being held in the parking lot on Thursday. So I circle the campus one time hop-ing to find an empty space, but as anyone who has a class at 10 a.m. knows, that is near impossible. Outraged, I park in a reserved spot and start my walk to the Dil-lard Building. On my walk across campus, I see MSU’s finest circling trying to find cars to ticket, so I flag them down and ask where they would suggest we park. The officer tells me, “Any-where that is not resident or re-served parking.” I explain that the parking lot is closed and tell him what kind of car I drive and he says he will try not to give me a ticket. I go to my two classes and hur-

ry to my car, and sure to his word, my car has no ticket, but I can’t say the same for every other stu-dent car parked around me. All of those cars had tickets blowing under the windshield wipers. Outrageous! I began research to find out when the students were notified that the parking lot would be closed for those two days. My first call was to the Student Activities office. The impolite response when I asked if arrange-ments had been made was that there are never very many cars in the parking lot. So the following Monday, I counted the cars in the parking lot and there were at least 40. That may not be many, but enough to show that closing the parking did affect students. After the person I spoke with in the Students Activities office and received a perfect answer, I called

the police station. I was told that to their knowledge, there was no notification that the parking lot would be closed. Parking has been a problem at MSU since I started in the fall of 2004, so closing a parking lot, even for just 2 days, may have not been the best administrative move. But, since they felt the need to close the parking lot, students should have been notified in a proper amount of time and ar-rangements should have been made with the police department to let them know that there may be some illegal parking for those two days. Students pay over $30 to park in the parking lots on campus, and its our right to know if changes are being made, and it would be nice to know that before we get to campus for class.

Chilly weather freezes out creativityI sat

down to write my c o l u m n for this issue and never in my life have I felt so un-i n s p i r e d

before. None of my usual muses seem to be working.

My “fav songs” play list isn’t doing its job. Neither are the peo-ple in my life.

(And in case you haven’t no-ticed yet, the people I associate with are normally the subject mat-ter of my random babblings.)

There could be just too much going on in my mind right now that I can’t sort it all out. Or maybe I don’t want to take the time to.

Actually, you know what? I’ll take the easy way out and blame the weather. I think it’s a pretty reasonable excuse.

I rolled out of bed the other day

and my excuse for not putting on make-up was that it was way too cold outside. If only I could use that excuse to not study and to not go to class I’d be in business.

There are few things in life that I hate, and the cold, and the things that go along with the cold, are some of them.

I loathe it; I despise it; I detest it.

My fingers and toes won’t be warm again until April.

There’s no point in fixing my hair because I’m always wearing a hat.

I don’t like getting all bundled up in a coat, hat, gloves, and scarf just to run to the store.

I don’t like how everything is dead and brown and crunchy.

Overcast and rainy days are just depressing to me.

It always seems to be super windy in the winter time, which means I have to basically walk sideways in order to maintain any form of balance.

The cold weather just makes

me cranky and very anti-social. A word of advice - don’t talk to me until it warms up. Seriously.

I can tolerate the cold when I’m curled up in a big blanket, with a good book in my hands, and a cup of cocoa on the coffee table next to me.

There is one good thing about the cold though - it means that The Nutcracker is just around the corner.

(You’ll hear more about that one come closer to December, don’t worry!)

On a completely different note, I think “snow-cold” is an entirely different level of cold. I actually like “snow-cold.” I might even enjoy “snow-cold.”

For some reason, I don’t think it’s quite as cold. Maybe because at that point I feel the need to get so bundled up for such a strange phenomenon.

In my girly mind, snow is fun. I like reverting back to childhood days where having snowball fights and making snow angels were the

cool things to do.Forget bulky sweaters and jack-

ets – I live for cute sundresses and strappy tank tops.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a summer girl. I love the sun and getting freckles on my nose.

I think my love of summer comes from my dad’s line of work. It’s not every day some one prays for temperatures to be in the high 100’s, is it?

In some weird way, I’ve grown to love the heat just as much as he does.

We covered our pool at the beginning of October and I’m already counting down the days until we uncover it. I miss my lounging days terribly.

I’m about to retreat into my hi-bernation stage. I’ll emerge again when it’s warmer and the sun is warm and shining.

As of now, I’m just biding my time until April when I can finally unearth my cute summer clothes again.

SHINICE CURRY

FOR THE WICHITAN

REBECCA FERGUSON

AD MANAGER

Higher costs increase debts

Students are already struggling to pay for

college, often graduating with mountains of debt

from student loans hanging over their heads. The

price of a college education has been on a steady

rise, and this year is no exception. On Monday,

the College Board reported that tuition and fees

at public and private universities have risen at

more than double the rate of inflation.

The cost of public institutions is rising more

drastically than at private schools.

The rate of fee increases outpaces the rise

in prices of other products and services. In the

past three years, consumer prices have only

increased by about 3 percent annually, while

public university fees and tuition have jumped by

6.6 percent.

The result? Students and their families are

taking out more loans, resulting in more debt to

pay off post-graduation.

The culprit? State governments.

Over the past seven years, state and local

support for colleges and universities has faltered,

leaving the institutions in a bind.

Instead of wasting our tax dollars with

petty disputes in the Texas State Legislature,

our elected officials should be spending their

time making sure that higher education stays

affordable.

The Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit orga-

nization financed in large part by the Pew Chari-

table Trusts, stated that while there is financial aid

out there, it doesn’t always go where it’s needed.

Student debt is up by an even greater level than

tuition, which is disconcerting. The average Pell

Grant last year did not increase in response to ris-

ing costs. In fact, it declined for the second year

in a row. Congress, however, has taken a step in

the right direction by promising over $1,000 in

increases over the next five years.

That alone isn’t enough. The state needs to take

an interest in higher education and make an effort

to keep the cost from continuing to rise.

THE WICHITANOct. 24, 2007 3Op-Ed

A Circle of Men

New knights at a Round TableWould you like to improve your friendships or important relationships? Do you want more from your marriage? Do you find people often misunderstand from where you are coming?

I invite you to take part in a free men’s group designed to help you get closer to other people. This group of men will meet during a 6 week period as a part of a Master’s research project. Your participation will remain anonymous. The group will be limited to 8 men. Members

will be selected without regard to race, marital status, age, economic status, or gender preference. Please contact Frank Patin, graduate student in counseling at Midwestern State

University for more information (940)733-5816.

National ID revelation of fearT h e

Real ID Act of 2005, a law that p u t s t e r r o r in ter-rorism, s lowly slithers to its in-

ception upon the lives of the Ameri-can public in 2009.

It is a law that establishes nation-al standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and that requires a cardholder’s name, address, Social Security Number (SSN), financial information, driv-ing record and a number of other personal details not deemed news-worthy yet.

After the 9/11 attacks, Larry El-lison, head of Oracle Corporation, stated he was going to develop a national identification system with digitized thumbprints and cardhold-er photographs and then donate the technology to help make it happen.

And the birth of the Real ID Act spewed forth from the minds of capitalists and Republicans.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and chair-man of the House Judiciary Com-mittee, inserted the Real ID Act of 2005 into a military spending bill. It went before the Republican-con-trolled Congress under the mask of Emergency Supplemental Ap-propriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief 2005 and passed with over-whelming approval.

Department of Homeland Secu-rity (DHS) will require 240 million Americans to register for the new federally sanctioned ID card by 2013.

The implementation of the na-tional ID system will cost states nearly 23 billion to change their da-tabases.

Republicans believe that the identification cards are a way to enhance national security, unmask terrorists and guard against illegal immigrants.

However, on January 25, 2007, Maine passed a resolution that re-fuses implementation of the Real ID Act and demands that Congress repeals the unconstitutional law.

And on February 16, 2007, Utah rebelled and passed a resolution that

ignores the hated law. In addition, Arkansas, Colorado,

Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ne-vada, New Hampshire, North Dako-ta, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington have passed resolutions that points out the unjustness of the Real ID act.

Of course, Texas is standing firm in its support of a national ID for residents of the lone star state. Governor Perry is a firm believer in tagging his cattle of supporters and constituents for “protection” against illegal immigrants.

And yet, Americans have been rejecting the idea of a national ID card since the creation of the Social Security Number (SSN) in 1936.

President Jimmy Carter’s admin-istration reiterated that SSN was not an identifier for the American peo-ple, and President Ronald Reagan “explicitly opposed” the creation of a national ID card.

But after December 31, 2009, the will of the American people will no longer matter as the government brings the national identification system online.

Your private data will be stored in one of 56 state and territory da-tabases that can access each other, providing officials across the na-tion with your private information, including criminal history, motor vehicle violations, financial infor-mation, Social Security account number and citizenship status all on a small bar code.

DHS sees the implementation of the Real ID cards across the social spectrum from employers to social services like Medicare, Medicaid and student financial aid.

In addition, the dreaded master-minds at DHS have not ruled out the possibility of implementing manda-tory radio frequency identification tags within the cards that will help keep track of people… just in case of a kidnapping or a terrorist at-tack.

And if Americans decide to stand up to “Big Brother” and refuse to register under the Real ID act, then the American government will strike back, and citizens of this once free country will not be able to enjoy air travel, open a bank account or use or receive federal services.

Citizens will have to use a pass-port for federal purposes, which is similar to the national ID system.

In 2002, the Federal Food and

Drug Administration decided to al-low companies to manufacture com-puter ID chips that embed under a person’s skin and into their lives.

Radio-frequency (RFID) tags are the next step in protection against terrorists and criminals of all clas-sifications.

And it is the Republicans’ way of ensuring the arrival of their Christ with the implementation of “secu-rity” measures straight out of the Revelation prophecies that is be-ginning to leave Americans feeling not-so safe.

RFID tags are little devices with a small chip attached to a tiny an-tenna but with a very large identi-fication number carried within the tracker. It is the size of a grain of ground pepper. When a special ra-dio signal strikes the antenna, the RFID broadcasts back its identifica-tion number. It is kind of like a “bar code on steroids.”

However, RFID tags are not just for the infestation of humans; it is also for the infestation of society.

It is the technology behind cash-free highway tolls, the military uses the devices as tracking devices in Iraq, casinos are installing the track-ing devices in their gambling chips; retail monster Wal-Mart is using the RFID tags for inventory manage-ment and embedding the chips in the tires of their forklifts, and librar-ies, credit card companies and many more facets of our society are using the tracking and identification sys-tem.

And as of Jan. 1, 2007, every U.S. passport carries an RFID tag.

The thought of a tracking system where the eyes of the government can follow you no matter where you go has freaked out some major poli-ticians.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger banned forced im-plantation of RFID tags for citizens of his state.

And yet, the government has been watching us long before the creation of credit cards, driver’s li-censes and social numbers.

So as we prepare to celebrate the unholy of unholy holidays, let us give thanks to the Republicans for initiating the mark of their beast and blind-siding us by self-fulfilling their Armageddon prophecy.

Now, we just need to prepare a welcoming party for their anti-Christ.

CHRISTIAN MCPHATE

OP-ED EDITOR

Road rage leads to irate rantingJ u s t

over a year ago I was p u l l e d over on K e m p for “road r a g e ” driving.

N o worries, I didn’t get

a ticket. Of course that is only because he

had a more important call, but still. I didn’t get a ticket.

When I got pulled over my re-sponse was “It wasn’t my fault, it was that ass over there.”

That got me a look that I don’t want to see again.

So I managed to escape from what probably would have been a very big ticket for speeding, road rage, not using my blinker and whatever else he could manage to hit me with.

However, I’m not denying my rage one bit.

I learned how to drive in Denton and Dallas.

Everyone knows that Dallas drivers are very aggressive drivers and I just so happened to pick up that trait.

I love to drive and I have no prob-lem in driving just about anywhere.

I used to drive in rush hour on I-35 after school to relax.

Nothing like bumper-to-bumper traffic to really calm someone down after a hard day in the classroom.

But there are some things that other road rage drivers do that I think are absolutely ridiculous.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago I was driving back from my brothers down in San Marcos.

I was in a bad mood to begin with because I woke up and discovered that my car had been towed some-

time during the night. There went 100 bucks out of my

pocket.So I’m driving through Ft. Worth

around one in the afternoon and there isn’t too much traffic because it’s after the lunch hour on a Mon-day.

Apparently, this almighty ass wipe wanted over into my lane and I wasn’t paying enough attention to let him over before I passed him.

As I’m reaching his car I finally see his blinker.

Why did I suddenly notice his blinker?

Because he was waving his hand out of his window like a moron sig-naling that he had his blinker on and that meant that I had to let him over.

I looked at him as I passed, raised my arms in the air, put on my best “I don’t care about your stupid blink-er” look and shrugged at him.

Then I continued driving.I look back and the guy switch-

es lanes right behind me and then passes the car that was in front of him and then switches right back over.

Then I said aloud (yes, I was speaking aloud to myself…don’t mock me. Everyone does it when they get pissed off and are driving), “Just because your stupid blinker is on, doesn’t mean you are getting over.”

Really now? Where was this man going that

it was so important that he have an arm temper-tantrum out his window while going at least 75 mph on I-35?

I’m sorry, but get over it sir.And then a little while back I was

sitting at a red light by the hospital. There is a car coming and they stop in the middle of the road when their light turned red and they just sat there.

My light was green and I had no

way to get around them. They just decided to stop in the middle of the intersection.

So I did what any rational per-son would do and I laid on my horn and gave them the “what the hell!! Move!!!” yell and gesture.

Then of course them stopping right in the middle of the intersec-tion is my fault, so they flip me off and start cussing at me.

What kind of crazy crack were they smoking?

I want someone to take all of these stupid drivers back to drivers- ed and teach them that it is not al-right to use your violent waving as a blinker (mainly because you look like an angry fool).

In no conceivable way is it okay for a driver to stop in the middle of the intersection only to get mad at the people they are blocking.

And (this one is for the grandma’s and grandpa’s of Wichita Falls) it is perfectly fine and safe for you to go faster than 2 mph while taking a turn.

I am sure that when I am weav-ing in and out of traffic someone is complaining just as much about my driving as I am about other peo-ple’s.

And when I don’t look as well as I should before switching lanes and I cut someone off, I know they are wishing death upon me.

And yes, I am even the rude driver who rolls down my win-dows, opens my sunroof and plays my music like the whole world was meant to hear it.

But I guarantee you that I have never stopped in the middle of an intersection as though I had stopped behind the appropriate white line and just sat there.

Thank you village idiots for pro-viding me with something else to rant about.

CARLY BURRES

FOR THE WICHITAN

Letters to the editorDear Editor:

I applaud your interest in pro-moting recycling on campus. It’s an issue that the entire university can get behind. At a recent Faculty Senate meeting, President Rogers stated that he would like to make recycling a higher priority. The Faculty Senate passed a motion at its last meeting to encourage more recycling on campus.

Everyone should take advantage of the recycling possibilities that already exist on campus and in the community. First, all white paper can be recycled in the computer labs. Secondly, all of the United supermarkets have newspaper and

glass recycling in their parking lots.

Thank you,Stuart McClintockAssociate Professor of French

Hello,I read the newspaper the other

day and I was shocked to read what Nichol Phillips had to say about the MSU cheerleaders.

I know for a fact that the cheer-leaders practice 4 times a week, cheer at all home soccer games and all football games, plus all of the extracurricular activities going on during the weeks (spirit booths, or-ganization fairs, decorating locker

rooms, making appearances, all school picnics, bonfire, buffalo wild wings every Wednesday night, mustang rally, clinics.. just to name a few).

I’m sure the cheerleaders are trying their hardest to get the fans invovled at sporting events, but they can’t help the fact that the fans would rather talk to each other than cheer for their team.

Maybe Nichol could write an ar-ticle about the fans, and not blame the lack of school spirit on the cheerleaders.

Sincerely,A disappointed student

Christian’s HorrorscopesToday’s birthday (10-24-07): Give in to temptation. Buy everything you see. You will enjoy the downward financial spiral of Republican-like spending.

Aries (March 21-April 19): You are finally excited this week. Lose control. Tell your boss or your professor what you really think.

Taurus (April 20-May 20): Enjoy losing your mind to research. Ignore help from your friends. Their lives are a chaotic mess.

Gemini (May 21-June 21): Friends pester you for help. Give them the number to the Dr. Phil show. Cancer (June 22-July 22): A controversy looms on your horizon. Enjoy the chaos of gossip.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): You are finally beginning to get mind full of new ideas. Ignore them. Change sucks.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Money sharks are after your money. Prepare the harpoon and enjoy the fillet.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It is time to speak your mind... literally.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It is time to turn off World of Warcraft and get back to work.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It is time to heed the romantic advise of your single friends. Break up with your loved one.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It is almost time to start your night of terror. Take your coveralls to the cleaners, sharpen your axe and bleach your mask. It is going to be a hellish night Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) It will be easier to achieve your goals if you take the mask off when you go to job interviews. If it is not a mask, then try plastic surgery. It worked for Paris Hilton.

Pices (Feb. 19-March 20): You are getting a raise. It is time to kiss your boss’s ass for another year. Enjoy.

THE WICHITANOct. 24, 20076 News

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Student Success Series The Student Success Series is proud to bring Dr. Andrew O. Fort to campus this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Clark Student Center’s Comanche Suites to pres-ent a thought provoking and interactive seminar on World Religions. Dr. Fort received his PhD in Religious Studies from Pennsylvania State Univer-sity in 1982 and has been teaching at TCU ever since. His courses and areas of ex-pertise include Understand-ing the World’s Religions, Hinduism, Buddhist and East Asian religious per-spectives, Indian texts and traditions, Mysticism, Islam, Sanskrit and the Nature of Values. All MSU students, faculty and staff are invited to attend what should be a wonderful and enlightening program. For more information, please contact Matthew Park in the office of Student Activities and Orientation at 397-4500.

Imagine Graduation December graduation

candidates will have the op-portunity to finalize every-thing related to graduation in one outing today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Clark Student Center Atrium.

Representatives from the registrar’s office, bookstore, president’s office, admis-sions office, business office, financial aid, career manage-ment center, public informa-tion and marketing, alumni relations, Wai-Kun, annual fund office, credit union and Moffett Library will be on hand to help students with any last minute plans so that the last semester will be less stressful.

Guest Voice Recital

Former student of MSU professor Dr. Don Maxwell will return to her alma mater for a performance Thursday in the Akin Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Shaunette Hildabrand graduated in 1985 and has since continued her studies in New York City. She is currently active in the classi-cal and jazz scenes in Europe and the United States.

Across Campus

residences. The newest figures rep-resent an increase of 49 percent when compared to 2004 when 43 in-room alcohol violations were re-corded.

When alcohol is discovered on campus, it is usually found within the housing facilities.

Alcohol violators are reported to the housing office. Wayne Shields, assistant director of housing in charge of judicial affairs, said he assesses the situations on an indi-vidual basis.

While the punishment for each violator varies, all alcohol viola-tors are placed on probation and required to attend a judicial hearing and alcohol education.

Based on his findings, Shields decides the level of punishment.

Arrests for alcohol violations dropped from four in 2005 to two in 2006.

“The crime report is based on actual violations of law, so in most cases, the charge is minor in posses-sion,” Police Chief Michael Hagy said.

Arrests for drug violations on campus property totaled four, the same number in 2005.

Twenty-three referrals were made for drug violations last year compared with 29 in 2005.

One referral was made for weap-ons violation in 2006. No arrest was made in that case.

According to Hagy, none of these violations can be directly associated with a specific group at MSU.

“Arrests are made by the police and this means that somebody went to jail or got a ticket,” Hagy said. “Referrals mentioned in the report include arrests, but not all of the re-ferrals were arrested.”

According to Hagy, the police department is not contacted for each alcohol and drug violation.

Police are contacted only if the offender is in no shape to handle himself or herself appropriately.

If police are contacted, that per-son is issued a citation, he said.

“If the police department is the one who finds an alcohol violation, we handle it with a citation and we make a referral,” Hagy said. “If housing or someone else discovers an alcohol violation, they usually handle it through Student Life and report a referral to the dean of stu-dents.”

According to the report, one forc-ible sexual offense occurred during 2006 and it was related to residence housing.

One forcible sexual offense was also recorded in 2005 in residence housing.

None was reported in 2004.“The most serious crime ever re-

ported on campus is sexual assault,” Hagy said.

Overall, on-campus burglaries have increased.

On-campus burglaries in 2006 totaled eight compared with five the previous year and 14 in 2004.

Burglaries in residence housing increased from five in 2005 to seven

in 2006. “The crime report provides in-

formation to the general public so that individuals can make a choice, based on crime statistics, if they would like to attend the university,” Hagy said. “These statistics are based on actual reported crimes to the police.”

All of the crimes reported on campus are not conducted solely by MSU students, Hagy said.

Visitors are also responsible for some of the crime reported on cam-pus, he noted.

According to Hagy, there isn’t a national ranking system for univer-sities regarding the safest campuses, but the U.S. Department of Educa-tion provides a Web site to use as a resource for crime information on the Office of Postsecondary Educa-tion webpage, which is www.ope.ed.gov/security/search.asp.

“Crime is usually higher at the beginning and the ending of a se-mester,” Hagy explained.

The Crime Awareness and Cam-pus Security Act of 1990 certifies that MSU has established a campus security policy and has complied with the disclosure requirements of section 485(f) of the act.

The police department receives complaints and reports of crime 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The most common complaint re-ceived by the police department is in regards to parking on campus.

The MSU police department em-ploys nine officers.

Crime____________________________________________continued from page 1

the MustangsHIRE website, and students can search the database based on their job interests.

Students can also post their re-sumes on the site and allow those same companies to search for stu-dents based on career plans, majors, and resumes.

The system will also give stu-dents feedback on the appropriate-ness and professionalism of their submitted resumes.

As mentioned, MustangsHIRE is replacing CareerTRAK, the on-line job database that was offered by MSU through Monster.com. The old system was free to MSU, since employers had to pay a surcharge to post their jobs online through Mon-

ster. The new system allows all busi-

nesses to post jobs free of charge, but turns the cost of the system over to MSU and the Career Manage-ment Center. However, students will not be charged for the services.

Sophomore Jeannie Pase thinks “the idea is great.”

Pase, who is employed by MSU in the student center says, “I have a lot of students come by asking about jobs on and off campus.”

The new system should also be beneficial to international students.

These students are at a monetary disadvantage due to the fact that many businesses in the commu-nity won’t hire students from other

countries for reasons of legal com-plication.

“There are handful of companies that have already said they will sup-port and sponsor international stu-dents,” Sealock maintained.

CareerTRAK had 436 students active on its website, and Mus-tangsHIRE is hoping to have even more.

“This is tailored just to us,” Sealock finished.

To create a new username on MustangsHIRE, visit www.mwsu.edu/career and click the icon on the left toolbar.

If you have questions, contact the Career Management Center at 397-HIRE.

Hire______________________________________________continued from page 1

MSU granted Olson develop-mental leave and in late February 2007, he began his 12-week expe-dition with an Omani film produc-tion crew.

Olson and his four-man band developed a great working relation-ship, he said. Khalfan Al Barwani represents Oman’s Ministry of In-formation and is the collaborator-interpreter for the project.

Cameraman Mohammed Khal-fan Saif Al Hadhrami, lighting tech-nician Assam Abdullah Salmeen Al Kharousi and sound technician Juma Ahmed Rajab are all from Oman TV.

Olson’s past experiences work-ing in radio and television proved handy. Together, they traveled across all nine of the administrative regions of the country, interviewing people from each. In total, they talked to 18 Oma-nis, 10 men and eight women, from a range of economic status and from the “right” age groups. “Our only criterion was to inter-view somebody from the right age group who would be able to talk on the transformation since its begin-ning, and had experienced pre- and post-renaissance Oman. We also in-terviewed those who were born just after the transformations began to allow a different perspective,” Ol-son explained. Olson and Al Barwani composed a list of topics for the interviewees to elaborate on which they modi-fied depending on each person’s economic standing. These topics

included childhood experiences, memorable people of their time, historical events and other personal topics. The Oman Oral History Project consists of three phases. The first, which is currently in progress, is to collect and edit data. All interviews were conducted in Arabic. All tapes must undergo a translation process. As of now, Olson possesses twelve of the translations, while the other six are still being worked on. The second phase involves put-ting the information collected into a manuscript form. Olson already has peaked publishers interest and expects to have a typewritten draft approximately a year and a half after receiving the remaining six translations. Despite being overwhelmed with the work required for the second phase, Olson has plans to use the materials for a 50-minute video presentation. Olson has a multi-year project on his hands and is hopeful his book publication will financially support and promote the video. Olson said MSU has been pro-viding him and his project with im-mense support since he began his quest to preserve Omani history. “For Omanis, it’s a documenta-tion of the evolution and expansion of their country, but for us here, I think this is one of the best things a university can do to make people know about other cultures,” Olson said. “It’s a proverbial feather in the cap for MSU.”

Olson__________________continued from page 1

Hirschi rent costumes for UIL competitions. The Midwestern State University Theatre department purchases make-up, wigs and other accessories from them. “My husband is an excellent make-up artist,” said Brown. Her husband will usually put a scar or make some blood drops on the customers face to go along with their costume. If a customer wants to do it them-selves, he will show them right there in the store. They do not charge the customers extra for the make-up. Pansy’s not only rents and sales Halloween costumes, but they also rent and sale tuxedos for weddings and proms. They also have wedding dresses and brides maid dresses as well. Pansy’s also rents out cos-tumes for other holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. “We rent out all sorts of cos-tumes,” said Brown.

During Thanksgiving Holi-day they also rent out Pilgrim costumes as well as Indian and turkey costumes. The Christmas season is a very busy time for Pansy’s. Many churches in the city will rent Santa Claus costumes, snowmen, elves and Bibli-cal costumes for their plays. Other costumes available during Christmas time also include An-gel Wings and Halos, which are very popular during the holiday season. Pansy’s normal business hours are usually from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Fri-day and Saturday’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. During the Halloween season this week they have ex-tended their store hours, which are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mon-day through Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. They will also be open this Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Pansy’s______________continued from page 1

MSU isn’t the first university to attempt a project like this, though; Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Keith Lamb described MSU as “the last on board to do something like this in Texas.”

In fact, though Experience MSU is particular to MSU, other institu-tions across Texas, including Texas Tech, Texas A & M and Stephen F. Austin have been attempting similar partnership programs.

At the onset of the program in fall of 2008, university officials ex-pect no more than 30 Vernon Col-lege students to participate, though some administrators expect “closer to 10.”

Housing may be set aside for stu-dents who wish to participate in the program, also, though students who are worried about Vernon College students taking up valuable housing space should be reminded that con-

current students are students too.To alleviate these concerns, MSU

personnel have requested proposal from the MSU Board of Regents to construct an additional housing building on campus containing ap-proximately 300 beds, which should be far more than enough to facilitate the admittance of new concurrent students.

Also, current students should note that their concurrently enrolled peers aren’t using the Experience

MSU program as a “backdoor” to MSU.

“I do not think that it’ll infringe on the on the academic integrity of this university,” stated Vice Presi-dent Howard Farrell. Once enacted, the proposal will be marketed to prospective Vernon College students during the spring semester of 2007, and will be ex-pected to grow exponentially from that point.

Experience______________________________________continued from page 1

PATRICK JOHNSTON | THE WICHITAN

The ghostly couple costumes are displayed in the Pansy’s costume store.

Entertainment THE WICHITANOct. 24, 2007 7

How are we doing?We want to hear fromYOU!

Go to http://library.mwsu.edu/libqual for the Moffett Library survey which ends on November 16th.

Enter the drawing to win prizes such as $5oo text-book voucher card, Aramark campus dining gift

card, Marsa’s hair salon gift certificates for men and women, or a Thai Orchid gift certificate.

Call ext. 4698 for details.

Straight out of Chicago, theAu-dition is making major headway in the world of alternative rock. Af-ter touring for half a year locally, theAudition gained exposure and caught the ear of Victory Records. The band was signed shortly after forming in 2003. The band began work on their debut album “Controversy Loves Company” and released it in 2005. TheAudition instantly began to ex-pand their fan base and become a band to look out for. I had the op-portunity to personally speak with Danny Stevens, vocalist for theAu-dition, and asked him a few things that make theAudition a band worth listening to. The band is on tour now with Boys Like Girls, All Time Low and We The Kings. “The tour’s been great, ton of kids every show,” Stevens said. “Really no complaints.” Playing over 300 shows last year, Stevens said he has probably met and seen more people than 95 percent of people have in their en-tire lives. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and I think I’m better for it and I’m really happy that I’m doing this,” he said about his journey touring with theAudition, with whom he’s been

with since he was 19 years old. The new record is expected to be released in January. “For the most part it’s just us go-ing down to the basement jamming and putting stuff together,” Stevens said. TheAudition wrote and complet-ed their latest album in less time than it took for their first record. The band recorded the new album in about 10 weeks, which is an ac-complishment of its own because it can take bands on the road some-times two years to complete an en-tire album. “Sometimes it’s better that way because you don’t second guess yourself,” Stevens said. “Usually when you’re writing things it’s always your gut instinct that is al-ways the better of whatever choice you have.” “Controversy Loves Company,” released almost three years ago, is a mix of power-pop sounds and dance-rhythm that anyone can get into. Stevens said fans can expect ma-turity and a different sound when picking up the new album. “We’re not trying to write the same record twice, you know?” he said. “This record is very different but it is also still theAudition.” For the band’s inspiration, Ste-vens believes R&B singers are the

most talented singers of any genre and also likes to listens to country music. “Country music is just unbeliev-able song writing,” he said, ex-plaining that there is a reason why country music is the best selling music – because the songs are so well written. “Whoever’s writing them knows how to write songs and I listen to that and I try to learn from it,” he said. With the rising popularity of the music industry today, it is hard for some bands to break out of the “bubble” and gravitate forward to-wards something greater. As the interview concluded, I asked where he sees theAudition in five years. Stevens remains confident. “Hopefully, [we’ll be] able to have a career,” he said. “This is what every musician dreams of, being able to support yourself and support a family one day and, you know, not have to do it 300 some-odd days of the year.” Stevens hopes the band “can be successful and get through to peo-ple with our music and have fun. Always have fun.” “Controversy Loves Company” is in stores everywhere and be sure to check out their new album, set for release in January.

COURTNEY FOREMAN

STAFF REPORTER

theAudition’s fanbase growsNew Releases MUSIC: “Get Damned,” Agony Scene; “Living Hard,” Gary Allen; “Smile for Them,” Armor for Sleep; “Help!,” the Beatles; “Sym-phony,” Sarah Brightman; “This Moment,” Steven Cur-tis Chapman; “No World for Tomorrow,” Coheed & Cam-bria; “Hourglass,” David Gahan; “Dreamboat Annie Live,” Heart; “The Wolf,” Shooter Jennings; “La Vida es un Ratico,” Juanes; “De-ify,” Keak da Sneak; “As I Am,” Alicia Keys; “Greatest Hits,” Kottonmouth Kings; “Christmastime in Larry-land,” Larry the Cable Guy; “Voices of the Young Peo-ple,” Lil Mama; “Better Than Blood,” Megan McCauley; “Men Without Pants,” Men Without Pants; “Liberation,” Mya; “Greatest Hits and Remixes,” Paul Oakenfold; “Raising Sand,” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; “Christ-mas,” Relient K; “Number 1’s,” Lionel Richie; “In-side Out,” Emmy Rossum; “System,” Seal; “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces,” Seether; “Back to Front,” the Temptations; “Teenager,” the Thrills; “Carnival Ride,” Carrie Underwood; “Dwight Sings Buck,” Dwight Yo-akam; “Live,” Rob Zombie DVD: “Mr. Brooks,” “Meet the Robinsons,” “Hos-tel,” “Fido,” “Into Great Si-lence,” “Home of the Brave,” “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures,” “Nearing Grace,” “Mala Noche,” “Commune,” “O Lucky Man!,” “Under the Volcano,” “The Tripper,” “Cutting Class,” “10 Ques-tions for the Dalai Lama” BOOKS: “Book of the Dead,” Patricia Cornwell; “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House,” Valerie Plame Wilson; “A Lick of Frost,” Laurell K. Hamilton; “Now and Then,” Robert B. Parker; “Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life),” Cathie Black; “The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z!,” Steve Martin and Roz Chast; “Out of Sync,” Lance Bass and Marc Eliot; “ VIDEO GAMES: “Ratch-et & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction,” PS3; “The Eye of Judgement,” PS3; “Ace Combat 6: Fires of Libera-tion,” X360; “Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution,” Wii; “Painkiller: Overdose,” PC; “Clive Barker’s Jericho,” PC X360, PS3; “Conan,” X360, PS3; “Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles,” PSP; “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure,” Wii; “Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties,” PC; “Bat-tlestar Galactica,” X360, PC; “Dancing With the Stars,” Wii, PS2; “Dawn of Magic,” PC

Events that occurred on Oct. 31:Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (445 BC) * Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed Roman Emperor (475 BC) * Martin

Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg (1517) * Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state (1864) * Arthur Conan Doyle

publishes “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1892) * The Battle of Britain ends (1940) * After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount Rushmore (1941) * In the Soviet Union, Joseph

Stalin’s body is removed from Lenin’s Tomb (1961)

Halloween births:Pope Clement XIV * John Keats * Chiang Kai-shek

Dan Rather * Michael Landon * Kinky Friedman Deidre Hall * John Candy * Jane Pauley * Peter

Jackson * Johnny Marr * Dermot Mulroney * Rob Schneider * Adam Horovitz * Vanilla Ice * Piper

Perabo * Eddie Kay Thomas * Frank Iero

Halloween deaths:Cosimo de’ Medici * Harry Houdini * Federico

Fellini * River Phoenix

Countdown to Halloween

THE WICHITANOct. 24, 20078 Sports

MSU TIMEOUT

Name: Heather PrimaveraSport: SoccerPosition: GoalieNumber: 1Classification: JuniorMajor: Mass CommunicationsHometown: Mansfield, Texas

1. Do you have any nick-names?

“Primo. It’s a family nickname my dad had first

when he played baseball and soccer at Arlington High and again when he played soccer at UNT. It comes from my

last name. ”

2. If you could play an-other sport in college, what

would it be?“Volleyball, because I

used to play it in high school and I miss it.”

3. What is your toughest class this semester?“Spanish III, enough

said.”

4. Who is your favorite athlete? Why?

“Derek Jeter, because my family is from New Jersey and are huge Yankee fans. I’d be disowned if I didn’t like him. He’s cute and I would have his babies.”

5. What is anon-athletic talent you

have? “I can whistle?”

6. Who is your favorite singer or band?

“U2 and Radiohead rock!”

7. Why did you choose MSU?

“It has a great soccer pro-gram and it’s 2 hours away

from home.”

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? “Married with 2 kids and

a great job. Maybe I’ll be playing some co-ed soccer.”

9. What is your favorite movie of all time?

“I can quote all of Dumb and Dumber!”

10. What is the best thing about MSU Women’s

Soccer? “The girls. We all have

fun and have a great rela-tionship. It’s nice to have a

group like that.”

There was a certain buzz around the MSU campus and Memorial Stadium for almost the entire week.

After all, it was Homecoming week at MSU.

Following two heart-breaking losses, the Mustangs were look-ing forward to coming home and getting their team back into the win column.

No one could have expected Saturday’s onslaught as MSU manhandled the Javelinas, 73-6.

Almost from the opening play of the game last Saturday night, you expected something special was going to happen.

As the Mustangs won the coin toss and chose to differ until the second half, their defensive unit came out onto the field looking to get the game started off on the right hoof.

The Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville came out looking to spark some offense themselves, opening with some trickery.

Sophomore defensive end, Aus-tin Shields, wasn’t fooled though.

He never bit on the reverse play, and made the solid tackle to stop the play in its tracks.

Seemingly stemming from that very moment, the Mustangs put the pedal to the metal on both sides of the ball and never looked back.

The Mustangs dominated on the offensive side of the ball, decisively scoring on all but four possessions in the entire ball-game.

MSU took the game over on the ground, attacking from all different positions and accounted for 426 to-tal rushing yards from scrimmage.

Midwestern’s rushing attack was led by senior quarterback, Daniel Polk, who finished with his eleventh 100-yard rushing day in his record-setting career.

Polk finished with 113 rushing

yards on nine carries, highlighted by a 57-yard scamper to the end zone on the opening drive of the second half.

Also attributing to the massive day on the ground were six differ-ent rushers, who amassed 313 rush-ing yards and the other six rushing touchdowns for the Mustangs.

Leading all other rushers were both running backs fashioning the same last name.

Freshman, Marcus Mathis, ac-counted for 99 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 total carries.

Junior, B.J. Mathis, ran for 71 rushing yards and a pair of touch-downs on 11 carries.

Steven Harper also ran for two scores, accompanied by Adrion Butler, who ran for a touchdown of his own.

Polk also completed 11 of 20 passes for 141 yards and two touch-downs.

He completed at least one pass to six different receivers, with sopho-

more wide-receiver, Eric Russell, leading all receivers with 57 yards on three grabs.

DelJuan Lee and Cody Thomp-son were the receivers targeted by Polk for scores, each contributing for one touchdown through the air.

Despite the impressiveness of the highly potent Mustang offense, the defensive unit played lights-out football.

They held the Javelinas to only one score, and even on that one touchdown, the Mustangs managed to block the PAT.

The Lone Star Conference an-nounced their weekly awards last Sunday, naming Ryan Craven, a true-freshman free-safety, the LSC South Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Craven played stellar ball-hawk-ing defense: recording five tackles, deflecting two passes, forcing and recovering a fumble, and blocking the PAT, after the only score of the Homecoming night.

MSU remained at No. 23 in the polls this week after deal-ing Texas A&M-Kingsville their worst loss in their storied, sev-enty-plus years of football his-tory.

The Mustangs’ 73 points were more than anyone has ever scored against the Javelinas.

It was only enough points to equal the third-highest scoring output in MSU history, match-ing the 73 points they put up at Northeastern State on Sep. 15, 2006.

The Mustangs will take their show on the road on Saturday for their final crossover match-up of the season.

MSU will travel north to Du-rant, Okla. to face off against the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm.

The game will serve as SEO-SU’s Homecoming, Senior Day, and Parent’s week rolled into one.Kick-off is set for 2:30 p.m.

BOBBY MORRIS

STAFF REPORTER

PATRICK JOHNSTON | THE WICHITAN

MSU sophomore receiver, Eric Russell, 83, jumps on a dropped punt return by Texas A&M-Kingsville Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. The Mustangs stomped the Javelinas, 73-6 and Russell led all receivers with 57 yards on three receptions.

Mustangs lower the boom on Javelinas, 73-6

The MSU cross country team traveled to Commerce on Saturday to compete in the Lone Star Confer-ence Championships.

Sophomore Hassie Sutton fin-ished 26th in the 6K running course with a time of 25:02.11, but the

Mustangs were limited to four run-ners due to injuries. Sophomore An-drea Borgman clocked a 25:38.55 and came in 42nd place.

Mindy Briones and Chloe Lander earned 60th and 78th, respectively.

The Mustangs will now sprint and battle in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional on Nov. 3 in Joplin, Mo. at Missouri Southern State University.

The MSU Mustangs volleyball team has officially hit its stride.

The team is looking unstoppable on both the offensive and defensive sides of the net, rarely even losing a game of a match over the past month.

Trying to solidify their standing at the top of the Lone Star Confer-ence, they took their seven-game winning streak on the road this past week to take on two conference foes, Texas A&M-Kingsville and

Tarleton State. Allison Schreiber, the junior set-

ter out of Windthorst, TX, led the attack, while recording her first tri-ple-double of her collegiate career.

She has come painfully close to accomplishing this before, but last Thursday it all fell into place, fin-ishing with: 15 digs, 51 assists, and her new career-high of 10 kills.

Even without one of the Mus-tangs key offensive players, Krissa Johnson, because of an illness, MSU cruised to victory over the TAMKU Javelinas: 30-23, 30-17, 28-30, 30-21.

Whitney Maxwell and Alysha

Pritt both combined to have 14 kills in the match, while junior, Shay Velasquez, came up huge for the Mustangs on defense, recording a team-high 20 digs.

Middle blocker, Sesley Graves, also helped pick-up the slack in the absence of Johnson, hitting for a .500 attack percentage and record-ing 15 kills.

Next came a road-trip to Ste-phenville, TX to take on the Tar-leton State Texans.

The Mustangs, once again, rode the hot hand of Schreiber to yet an-other victory, making it 21 of their last 22 matches.

Pritt provided an early spark for MSU, recording two aces on her first two services of the match.

Then the domination was on, as the Mustangs went on to win the match: 30-17, 30-23, 30-22.

Maxwell came up big again, leading the team in kills with 13.

Pritt and Jessica Ransom also chipped in by contributing nine kills apiece.

Monday, when it came time to announce the weekly awards, Sch-reiber was honored with LSC Setter of the Week honors for the fifth time this season.

Along with her triple-double

game on Thursday, Schreiber re-corded 36 assists and eight digs in their match at TSU.

The Mustangs will host a giant match-up this Thursday against No. 15 West Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m.

The Mustangs will look to keep both their 10-match home and 9-match current win streaks going, while also looking to get into a tie for first in the LSC standings.

“We have a lot of confidence and enthusiasm coming off a win like this,” MSU Coach Venera Flores-Stafford said after the TSU game. “I couldn’t think of a better way to go into Thursday’s match.”

BOBBY MORRIS

STAFF REPORTER

Lady Mustangs continue to dominate, await West Texas

Sutton posts best time for MSU

The No. 8 Midwestern State Mustangs Men’s soccer team domi-nated the play on both sides of the field last Sunday afternoon at the MSU Soccer Field, coming away with a lop-sided 4-0 win over St. Mary’s (Texas).

The Mustangs were led to victory by the play of sophomore forward Kyle Kmiec, who added three as-sists in the game, giving him eight

on the season.The first of his helpers was a

sweet, post-to-post crossing pass to the team’s scoring leader, senior Daniel Brown, giving MSU the lead for good in the 27th minute.

The next goal wasn’t scored until later in the second half when Brian Martinez hooked up with Rob Hum-phrey on a long cross pass, giving Humphrey his third goal of the sea-son in the 60th minute.

Kmiec found mid-fielder Estavio Alexandre, later on in the half, cut-ting at the top of the box in the 83rd

minute to go up 3-0.Then, a mere 38 seconds lat-

er, Kmiec hit mid-fielder Scott Magliaro for his first goal of the season, setting the final score of the game at 4-0.

MSU improved its record to 13-2 on the season, as they head into the final games left on their Southwest Soccer Conference schedule.

They will be facing Missouri Southern on Friday at 7 p.m. and Northeastern State on Sunday at noon, before returning home for their final two matches.

BOBBY MORRIS

STAFF REPORTER

Mustangs stand up to St. Mary’s, 4-0

Emotions were running high for Midwestern State as they fought through the high winds and the emotions of Senior Day.

But nevertheless, the Mustang Ladies came out on top with a 2-1 win against the Northeastern State RiverHawks.

Ashli Smith helped the team take advantage with a put away goal in the 58th minute leading the team to the Lone Star Conference win.

Coach Jeff Trimble praised the performance of seniors Brittany Burney, Tory Broadhurst, Melissa Brown and Cassidy Guice.

“The seniors really played well,” Trimble, said, “I was really proud of the way they came out and kept the intensity.”

Broadhurst helped in the 58th minute by working her way up the right wing from her defenders po-sition taking a serve from Kendra Clemons striking a cross to the far post.

After receiving the cross, Smith

headed into the crossbar.The ball came down past the

goal line to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.

The change of wind early in the second half of the game helped Northeastern in their fight for a comeback.

MSU’s Dani Watson claimed a misclear that was held up by the stiff breeze in the MSU box and converted it for her sixth goal of the season to narrow the deficit to 2-1 with 12 minutes to play.

Brittany Subia helped Midwest-ern out by giving them an early lead after recovering a ball midfield. She worked it down the left wing before beating Nardy to the far post in the 23rd minute.

The win wraps up a five-game homestand for the Mustangs, who went 4-1 during the stretch, leaving MSU 10-3-2 on the season and 6-2 in conference.

The Mustangs will close the regular season next weekend with a couple of road matches facing West Texas A&M on Friday and Eastern New Mexico on Sunday.

CARLY BURRES

FOR THE WICHITAN

MSU shoots down RiverHawksJOSH MUJICA

SPORTS EDITOR

Please

Recycle!