Vol. XCVII No. 7

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

University Newsthe

A student voice of SLU since 1919

NEWS 2

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DE: OPINION 4 ARTS 7

LiveOneWorld Magazine has started the ‘Be An In-formed Voter’ campaign this semester with the hopes of keeping students in the loop about the upcoming presi-dential election.

The ‘Be An Informed Vot-er’ campaign is about giving students unbiased infor-mation that can help them make educated decisions in the upcoming election. OneWorld was stationed in the quad handing out flyers containing information con-cerning the various policies of President Barack Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as the Libertarian and Green Par-ties.

“We realized that it’s more important to be an informed voter, not just a registered voter, especially with this generation,” Managing Edi-tor of OneWorld Magazine Mary Shannon said. “We wanted to be able to provide unbiased information on both Romney and Obama and the other secondary parties.”

Each flyer was com-prised of a summary view of the economic, foreign, social, education, environ-mental and healthcare poli-cies of each candidate.

In addition to the flyers, tables were set up with a more detailed description of the beliefs and policies held by each camp.

The stand was dedicat-ed to Romney Oct. 8 and Obama on Oct. 9. On Oct. 10 OneWorld held a mock elec-tion, with the booth display-ing the same information from the first two days side by side.

Romney’s table was decked out in red with posters detailing Romney’s

Alex Tepoorten was on the fence.“I didn’t know if I wanted to join

a sorority or not,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was all about, and to be honest, I wasn’t really sure if it was for me.”

She had heard all the negative con-notations. She knew the stereotypes, those promulgated by movies and newscasts and state schools. She felt she could make friends through other means.

But she also had noticed other so-rority girls on campus. She admired their drive, their involvement, their unified passion. She recognized some-thing in them.

“So the last night before recruit-ment began,” she said. “I decided I’d give it a shot.”

Active members of a fraternity or sorority on campus make up approxi-

mately 18% of Saint Louis University’s student body. One-thousand, four-hun-dred and sixty-one students are a part of what is known as the Greek system, a group of social organizations dedicated to the building of friendships and cel-ebrating shared values.

SLU has nine fraternities and six so-rorities on campus, engaging 541 male members and 920 female members. Each of them is a chapter of nationally and internationally recognized organi-zations, and all have Greek letters to their names.

For many, fraternities and sororities provide an outlet to meet friends and develop bonds based on mutual inter-ests and common personal values.

“Right away I could feel the impact of being in a fraternity,” says sopho-more Kevin Fitzsimmons, who rushed Sigma Phi Epsilon during his fresh-man year. “All of a sudden, I really felt like I was a part of something.”

The first week of freshman year

is, for many, a whirlwind of getting to know new people and adjusting to a new place. Greek rush events try to help provide some structure to this process, especially for students who do not know many classmates coming in.

“I was far away from home, and I didn’t know a single person,” says sophomore Carlie Lavin of her fresh-man year experience. “The recruit-ment process allowed me to really put myself out there and meet people.”

Lavin, now a member of Alpha Del-ta Pi, says her sorority friends are like the sisters she never had growing up.

Joe Orf, vice president of the Inter Fraternity Council and senior member of Phi Delta Theta, said that fraterni-ties and sororities are so much more than just a social gathering. The ben-efits, he said, go way beyond just mak-ing friends.

See “Election” on Page 3

>> Meet Mitch Garrett >> SLU Theater’s Fall Debut

SPORTS 9

>> Men’s Soccer: 1-1 in A-10>> Discussing Debates

The tiny wooden cross-es in the Quad last week raised some eyebrows at first. Though the Cem-etery of the Innocents has been a standard part of Students for Life’s Respect Life Week, the display has undergone a makeover.

“We modified the Cem-etery of the Innocents to include five subjects this year, many of which don’t traditionally align with what people think of when they think of pro-life issues,” said Students for Life president, Patrick Grillot. “This year we included things like rape, poverty and physician-as-sisted suicide instead of just abortion and the death pen-

alty.”The expanding of the

display was not the only change, however. Students for Life also included a new ‘Garden of Justice,” which consisted of fake flowers meant to represent some of the positive aspects of the pro-life movement.

“The Cemetery of the Innocents is usually pretty negatively focused, but we wanted to promote the posi-tive movements happening on campus and else where,” Grillot said.

The Garden of Justice featured statistics relat-ing to Saint Louis Univer-sity’s Pregnant and Parent-ing Services, the efforts of Campus Kitchens, the

Living the greek life at SLU

By CHRIS ACKELS Senior Staff Writer

SLU ranking slips; B-school improves

By DERRICK NEUNER Senior Staff Writer

Fraternities, sororities offer students a variety of experiences

Students support pro-life efforts

By KRISTEN MIANO News Editor

OneWorld event highlights election By WOLF HOWARD Associate News Editor

See “Life” on Page 3

See “Greek” on Page 3

See “Rankings” on Page 3

In the recently released 2013 edition of “America’s Best Colleges,” U.S. News ranked SLU 92nd among nearly 270 institutions listed in the magazine’s “National Universities” category. In the 2012 edition of the list, SLU was ranked 90th.

The University’s un-dergraduate business pro-grams took a major jump in this year’s rankings, ris-ing to 87 from 115 last year. The magazine also gave high marks to SLU’s un-dergraduate programs in entrepreneurship (No. 13) and international business (No. 18).

“I’ve said for years that we’re a top 50 school. So what we have to do is tell our story, Ellen Harshman, J.D., Ph.D., dean of the John Cook School, said. “Our students are great, our fac-ulty are terrific, and there’s great scholarship here at SLU. But it doesn’t matter if nobody knows.”

Earlier this year, U.S. News named the Universi-ty’s health law program No. 1 in the nation for the ninth consecutive year.

In its “Best Graduate Schools 2013” issue, the magazine also ranked sever-al other graduate programs in the top 25, including pub-lic health administration at No. 9, geriatric medicine at No. 13, entrepreneurship at No. 17, international busi-ness at No. 20 and supply chain management at No.

21.Harshman notes that

among Midwestern schools, SLU’s ranking ris-es to No. 20. That puts the university amongst good company – schools like Notre Dame, Ohio State and Creighton.

Among the highlights of the recent rankings are the undergraduate business programs, which have been under Harshman’s direc-tion since she became dean in 2003. She attributes the rise in the Cook School’s profile as the result of a con-certed effort to spread the word about SLU and her high-profile position among fellow business school deans.

“A lot of these rankings are done by reputation, which is done by deans and chairs,” Harshman said. “I work hard to be visible and be a leader among those deans.”

Currently, Harshman is on a national committee re-writing accreditation rules for business schools in the United States. She also notes that two faculty mem-bers from SLU have left in the last year for deanships at other institutions.

But while the rise in the rankings is an encouraging sign for the university, the numbers fall well short of the strategic goals of the SLU Board of Trustees and Lawrence Biondi, S.J., uni-versity president. In a letter sent to the SLU community

Courtesy photo of Tony Teabon

promises should he win the election. These commit-ments included his intent to approve the Keystone Pipeline and begin to repeal Obamacare within the first day of his presidency.

Obama’s table was lined with blue and gave infor-mation about his intention to continue to strengthen and reform social programs such as Medicare and So-cial Security, as well as his dedication to continued economic stimulus and his

progress in job creation.The source of the infor-

mation for OneWorld’s post-ers and flyers varied.

“We have multiple sources. We got a lot of the information from each can-didate’s website and from their published platforms, but we also have second-ary unbiased sites as well,” Shannon said. “We didn’t want to focus on anything

Melissa Ohden, an abortion survivor, spoke to students in the Lee Lecture Hall on Tues. Oct. 9 as a part of Respect Life Week.

Kristen Miano/ News Editor

Students vote in a mock presidental election hosted by OneWorld magazine on Wed., Oct. 10

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OCTOBER 11, 2012unewsonline.com2 NEWS

Let Us Introduce You: Mitch GarrettGIC president plans on law school, enjoys playing soccer

By KATHERINE KELLIHER

Staff Writer

SGA discusses administrative issues By WOLF HOWARD

Associate News Editor

The highlight of this week’s Student Govern-ment Association meeting was a presentation by Sena-tors Becky Killian and An-drew McLaughlin voicing student grievances.

Killian and McLaugh-lin detailed continued is-sues with SLU’s standing amongst other universities and administration-student communication.

Amongst the grievances were concerns with the the failure to bring in adequate funding compared to other schools. According to the presentation, gifts over the past 10 years have not risen above 1.9 percent of market value, while the average at other schools has remained between 2 and 3.5 percent.

Another complaint was

the lack of student involve-ment in important issues until after decisions have been made. Issues men-tioned were the housing and security reforms last year, as well as the creation of the College for Public Health and Social Justice. Killian highlighted that the complaints were not against the choices, but against the choices being made without student input.

Further concerns were presented over the contin-ued downtrend in SLU’s place in the top 100 schools, moving from 77 to 92 over the past 5 years.

The Arts and Sciences Faculty Council will be holding a meeting on Oct. 11 in Beracha 121 at 3:30 PM. Students are invited to attend and speak.

The Office of Academic Advising introduced the

new director of disability services, Jane Jones, and talked about developments in academic advising.

There was a presenta-tion concerning the univer-sity-wide undergraduate learning outcomes being developed at SLU. The learning outcomes are to be framed by the SLU mis-sion statement and the five dimensions of a Saint Louis University education. Lit-erature regarding the de-velopment of the plan, its current draft and ways to voice student opinions are available online on SLU’s website. There will be mul-tiple open fora held over the next month.

SGA also approved new charter funding for Dumb-ledore’s Army, spot funding for Decadence and funding allocations for Smoke-Free SLU and Alpha Psi-Omega.

Mitch Garrett is your everyday, video-playing college student, with a few exceptions. As this year’s president of the Great Is-sues Committee, this Dal-las native gets the chance to meet and host some of the most influential people who come to speak at Saint Louis University.

Garrett has been in-volved in GIC since his freshman year. His favorite part of working with the organization has been the opportunity to interact with speakers.

His favorite speaker, in particular, was Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and au-thor of the book “Night,” who came to speak at SLU in 2009.

Garrett’s interest in the work of GIC began with his interest in the Supreme Court.

“[I’ve] always been in-terested in law and poli-tics…and the issues that go along with it,” Garrett said.

As a political science and international studies double major, Garrett saw GIC as a way to get involved with something that catered to his interests.

During his sophomore year, Garrett traveled to Ma-drid through SLU’s study abroad program, and he said the experience allowed him to learn more about the politics of a foreign country. His favorite class was Euro-pean Political Economy.

“I really enjoyed learn-ing about the politics of Spain,” Garrett said.

While in Spain, Garrett also tried to break out of his American roots and em-brace the local culture by taking a Latin rhythm and dance class.

Garrett credits his inter-est in political science to a high school government

teacher. He recalled watch-ing Saturday Night Live skits as part of a lesson in class and he appreciated how personable the teacher was.

After graduation this year, Garrett plans to at-tend law school, ideally at the University of Texas, to continue to build on his ed-ucation in legal and political matters.

When he’s not rub-bing elbows with famous speakers or studying the political climate of foreign countries, Garrett likes to participate in intramural soccer, play his favorite video game, FIFA, and go camping. He recently went hiking and camping in the Rocky Mountains with the

Boy Scouts. Garrett has been a Boy Scout since kin-dergarten.

He is also involved in the fraternity Beta Theta Pi and a Greek bible study group at SLU.

Garrett doesn’t watch television, instead using his free time to listen to coun-try music and to make a point of getting eight hours of sleep a night.

Garrett is one of three children in his family. He has an older brother, a sis-ter and a chocolate lab for a pet. Despite being away from home, Garrett main-tains that his dog loves him the best.

“I’m his favorite mem-ber of the family,” Garrett said.

John Schuler/ Photo Editor

Be a Responsible BillikenSTOP. CALL. REPORT.

314-977-3000witness.slu.edu

dps.slu.edu

All Information Provided by Department of Public Safety

and Emergency Preparedness

Saturday, Oct. 610:29 a.m. - AUTO ACCIDENT

A student reported witnessing a vehicle strike a parked vehicle as it backed out of a parking space. The striking vehicle then drove off. There was damage to the parked vehicle. The owner of the parked vehicle, a student, declined to file a report with SLMPD at this time.

12:11 p.m. - MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT A student reported the theft of his vehicle while it was parked on the street between the hours of 0200 and 1000. The student filed a report with SLMPD. 1:22 a.m. ELEVATOR ENTRAPMENT Two students were trapped in an elevator between the 2nd and 3rd floor of the building. Maintenance responded but was unable to open the elevator. SLFD was contacted, arrived and released the students.

Monday, Oct. 86:50 p.m. - ACCIDENTAL INJURY

Two students were playing flag foot-ball and ran into each other. Both students received a cut above their left eye. EMS arrived, however, both students refused medical transport. Pro Staff was on the scene.

THE SLU SCOOP

“To help prevent auto theft use a steering wheel lock. They can be purchased at the BSC Book Store.”

Excellence Awards2013 College of Arts & Sciences Excellence Awards

Faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences as well as undergraduates with majors in the College and graduate students pursuing an advanced degree are encouraged to submit nominations for the Col-lege’s Annual Excellence Awards. One full-time professor in each of the College divisions (humani-ties, sciences, social sciences) will be chosen for an Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. An Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring Award will be given to one full-time faculty member from the College.An Excellence in Graduate Teaching and an Excellence in Graduate Mentoring will be awarded to a faculty member in Graduate Education. An Excellence in Adjunct Teaching Award and an Arts and Sciences Staff Excellence Award are also being offered this year. Faculty, staff and students are encour-aged to submit nominations for the Staff Excellence Award.Pick up your nomination form at an A&S department office, Student Records (VH 218) or access at http://www.slu.edu/x12648.xml. Submit your nomination by dropping it off or mailing it to Verhaegen Hall, Room 321, Linda Thien or send it by email to thienlr@slu.edu.

Deadline to submit nominations: Wednesday, December 19, 2012.

WEWANTYOU!

Apply to be a UNews staff writer or photographer.

managing@unewsonline.com

NEWS 3unewsonline.comOCTOBER 11, 2012

Kristen Miano/ News Editor

John Schuler / Photo Editor

Cardboard City, an annual Habit for Humanity event, took place on Saturday, Oct. 6 in the Saint Louis University Quad. The event gives students an opportunity to construct houses out of cardboard boxes and then spend the night sleeping in them in an effort to raise awarness about homelessness.

Life: Student groups unite for cause

Continued from Page 1

Greek: System strives to live out their values

We must trust ourselves to know what do to get bet-ter and tell the world what we’re doing right.

“”

-Ellen Harshman

Rankings: B-school bumped despite overall slump

Election: Magazine raises election awareness

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

on Sept. 24, board chair-man Thomas Brouster, Sr., said that the trustees “uni-versally affirmed its goal to rank the University among the top 50 universities in the United States.”

Harshman addressed the shortfall, saying that the SLU must stay committed to achieving that goal.

“Rankings are not sim-ple. They are driven by a formula,” she said. “We do what we do to affect the halo, and we move forward as much as we can. Ev-ery year we have to keep moving forward. Is 50 a magic number? No. But mov-ing towards 50 is a nice target. We must trust ourselves to know what do to get bet-ter and tell the world what we’re doing right.”

The issue of school rank-ings has become a discus-sion topic among the stu-dent body. Because U.S. News uses a variety of vari-ables in its methodology, some argue that the rank-ings are too subjective to be reliable.

According to Robert Morse, lead researcher in the U.S. News report, the rankings “allow you to com-pare at a glance the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted in-dicators of excellence” but also factor other variables, such as campus visits by researchers and varsity sports.

Student Government As-sociation President Blake Exline says the recent rank-ings should be viewed as a trend, not individually.

“While U.S. News and World Report is not the only ranking system used

to evaluate institutions of higher educat ion , it is an im-portant mea-sure of how Saint Louis U n i v e r -sity ranks against oth-er colleges and uni-vers i t i es , ” Exline said. “U.S. News and World R e p o r t ,

among other ranking bod-ies, can positively or nega-tively affect the curb appeal SLU offers to its applicants. A large enough swing in rankings could arguably have an affect on the value of a SLU degree; however, a two-position decrease is not particularly alarming.”

number of Incest National Network centers and the number of states that have outlawed the death penalty and physician-assisted sui-cide.

In addition to the chang-es to the Cemetery of the Innocents, Students for Life is widening the focus of life issues, giving a new angle on Respect Life Week.

“We collectively as a group wanted to take a new stab at Respect Life Week and plan it internationally rather than just base it on things we have done in the past,” Grillot said, “So we got rid of some events, added some new ones and changed some around.”

Grillot also said that Students for Life wanted to

present a side of the pro-life movement that isn’t just against abortion, but a side that seeks to create a culture that values the life and dignity of every human person.

“It’s about dialogue and bringing these issues to the front of the consciousness of students who may not be thinking about them other wise,” Grillot said, “People experiencing homelessness or people who have been raped, these people still have dignity no matter what their situation is, no matter what they’ve undergone.”

The Cemetery of the In-nocents was the kick-off event, but Students for Life has several other events planned for the week. On Tuesday, they brought Me-lissa Ohden, an abortion survivor and pro-life speak-

er. Ohden lived through a saline infusion abortion and was born alive at seven months.

She was put up for adop-tion and now speaks about her experiences as an abor-tion survivor.

According to Grillot, the speech was attended by 85 students, the most stu-dents Students for Life has ever had attend one of their speeches.

“We wanted to bring someone different than the usual ‘abortion is bad and should be stopped” speaker,’” Grillot said. “We had some people attend who were either undecided or were pro-choice and in-trigued by Melissa’s experi-ence.”

On Thursday, Students for Life is bringing Vera Thomas, the mother of Mis-

souri death row inmate, Reggie Clemons, to speak about the impact the death penalty has had on her own life and the impact it has had on society. Past speak-ers on the death penatly have been activists and ad-vocates, but Thomas is the closest presentor to the is-sue that Students for Life has featured.

“Our death penalty events have been pretty well attended in the past, but Vera is the most inti-mate speaker we’ve had so far,” Grillot said.

Thomas will be speaking at 7 p.m. in the Wool Ball-rooms. The last event is a new feature of Respect Life Week.

Students for Life is co-sponsoring a health fair in the Wool Ballrooms with several other organizations, including Pregnant and Par-enting Services, the School of Nursing, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Active Minds, Relay for Life, Physical Therapy Council, Occupational Ther-apy Program, the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, National Student Speech-Language Hear-ing Association and SLU Health 101. They have also invited Thrive Saint Louis, a pregnancy resource center, to promote their services to students. Overall, Gril-lot said he hopes to inspire conversation on campus with these events.

“We recognize we aren’t going to win over every-one,” Grillot said. “But our goal is to bring up the topic, and if we can’t discuss it, we hope to at least make people aware of the issues so they can have some reflection on it and see what the issues mean to them.”

The Cementery of the Innocents is a display of crosses with each representing a variety of pro-life issues. The display featured a Garden of Justice, representing postive aspects of the movement.

Habit for Humanity hosts Cardboard City

“My fraternity is built around the shared values of friendship, sound learn-ing, and moral rectitude,” said Orf. “Everything we do as a fraternity is meant to live out those values. And the older I get, the more I realize that these values re-ally are what unites us. And I believe that is true with each of the fraternities at SLU.”

Sororities and fraterni-ties live out these values through social events, philanthropy, community service, and academic pro-grams. The Greek com-munity at SLU raised nearly $20,000 last school year for causes ranging from St. Ju-de’s Children’s Hospital, to Ronald McDonald House, to Girl Scouts of America.

Greek students in all fif-teen chapters participated in more than 1,100 hours of community service last aca-demic year, a practice Orf said is meant to enhance each member’s connec-tion to the Jesuit mission of Saint Louis University.

Academically, Greek students strive to excel in the classroom. While the overall average Grade Point Average for SLU students is 3.17, the Greek average GPA is 3.24. Many chap-ters require study hours, have scholarship commit-tees and require achieve-ment minimums for their members. Beyond that, the network of friends also allows opportunities for tu-toring, academic mentoring and other services.

“For the most part, Greek students really work hard to achieve the values set forth in their charters,” says Orf. “It really is a way to improve the whole per-son.”

Greek Life has worked to improve campus as well. Greek students hold lead-

ership positions in some of SLU’s most influential stu-dent organizations, includ-ing SGA, Oriflamme and OneWorld Magazine. They participate as RAs, Micahs and Presidential Scholars. They are involved in Stu-dent Activities Board, Great Issues Committee and Campus Ministry Mission Trips. They are Ambassa-dors, SLU 101 leaders and intramural referees.

Despite the extensive involvement, the Greek system often gets a bad rap. Stereotypes of exces-sive alcohol use, hazing and exclusiveness seem to haunt Greek students everywhere they go. Mov-ies like Animal House, Old School and Legally Blonde have perpetuated the labels often placed on fraternities and sororities.

But Greeks at SLU are working hard to dispel those misgivings.

“Greek students do a lot for campus, and we want people to see that the posi-tives far outweigh the nega-tives,” Orf said.

Alex Tepoorten agrees. She is a sophomore now, but she remembers Bid Day like it was yesterday.

She cannot remember ever being more nervous than when she was holding that envelope.

Inside was a piece of pa-per that held the name of her new sorority and the Greek letters that would be attached to her name for-ever.

When she opened the envelope, she screamed with joy.

“The sisters of Kappa Delta cordially invite Alex-andra Tepoorten to join in their sisterhood of a life-time.”

Today, that small 6-by-8 inch note card sits next to Tepoorten’s bed.

She says those words, over and over.

“The sisterhood of a life-time.”

Republicans

GreenLibertarian

Democrats

Write-Ins

39.02%

52.22%

2.64% 5.04%

1.08%left wing or right wing, we wanted to get middle of the road information.”

OneWorld promised none of the information was interpreted, allowing students to gather the facts as they stand and make up their own minds on what their vote would mean. The mock election had a turnout of 883 voters, with Obama winning 52 percent of the vote, trailed by Romney with 39 percent, Gary John-son with five percent, and Jill Stein in last with rough-ly three percent of the vote. There were nine write-ins, which made up 1 percent of votes.

“We wanted to kind of get the competitive juices flow-ing for our mock election,” said Shannon concerning the reasoning behind split-ting up each day by candi-

date. “Also so we can just focus on both candidates and give them the attention that they deserve.”

OneWorld originally planned to register stu-dents to vote and host the informational event simul-taneously, Editor-in-Chief Julia Brucks said. However, it is illegal to provide politi-cal information and register voters, so OneWorld de-cided to focus on providing information. OneWorld be-lieves the event was a great success.

“Overhearing a few stu-dents talking politics made our time, energy and en-thusiasm completely worth-while,” Brucks said.

“We had high hopes, and the event met each one,” Shannon said.

Brucks highlighted the fact that their campaign is still going, despite the clo-sure of the three-day event. One World is looking in to

different ways to continue to keep students informed in the days leading up to the election.

Brendan McDermott, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences said that his original desire to avoid being accosted by flyers was subdued when he real-ized the information he had

been handed was actually interesting to him.

OneWorld Magazine is a social rights publication that prints biannually. There will be a release party, with a presentation on how One-World came to be, as well as food and a binder detailing the development of the lat-est issue.

Correction:In the Oct. 4 issue of The University News, it was stated in the article, “Two into one: Public Health, Social Work com-

bine,” it was stated that the programs of Public Health will become departments. This is incorret, as the departments of Public Health will not be changing. They will remain the same during the transition to the new college. The University

News regrets this error.

Keep reading The University News in the coming weeks for more on Saint Louis

University Greek Life.

Results from the OneWorld mock elections on Wed., Oct. 10.

unewsonline.com

UOPINION

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Editorials are opinion pieces written by the Editorial Board of The University News. The editorials printed in this space represent the opinion of The University News. Commentaries and Letters to the Editor represent the opinions of the signed authors but do not necessarily represent the opinions of The University News.

EditorialsThe University News reserves the right not to publish any letters that are deemed intentionally and/or inappropriately inflammatory, more than the 300-word limit or unsigned by the original author. The following are letters and/or website comments. Because the identities of website posters cannot be verified, all website comments should be treated as anonymous. Actual letters to the editor may be submitted online at unewsonline.com or e-mailed to opinion@unewsonline.com. Please include your cell phone number.

Lettersto the editor

Erika Klotz / Chief Illustrator

Over a week after the presidential debate between Gov. Mitt Romney and incumbent President Barack Obama, media personalities throughout the country are still picking apart every detail of the encounter. Yet less attention has been paid to the more funda-mental questions surrounding the televised presiden-tial debates: Do they even matter? Why do we have them?

Statisticians and election analysts tend to say that generally, no, they do not matter. The outcome of a debate seldom sways voters from one ticket to an-other. Polls seem to indicate a swing toward Romney after this debate, but it remains to be seen whether this will have any effect in the long run. Some might argue that the debates are targeted to truly undecid-ed voters, but after months of campaigning, it seems unlikely that there are very many people who aren’t leaning one way or another.

Perhaps this isn’t bad news, though; maybe the de-bates really shouldn’t matter. Dozens of articles and television programs both before and after the debates analyze how body language and appearance can be highly important factors in how debaters are per-ceived. While body language is certainly an impor-tant means of communication, a presidential contend-er’s ease before the camera shouldn’t be the deciding factor in determining the next commander-in-chief.

Furthermore, the format of presidential debates makes it nearly impossible for candidates to elabo-rate on their proposed policies. Debates often seem to consist of candidates taking turns addressing plati-tudes to the audience, rather than entering into criti-cal dialogue with one another. Witty zingers do not an effective leader make.

Ultimately, though, it probably isn’t the body lan-guage or the clever ripostes that matter anyway; it’s the media’s coverage of them. There is no “points system” for the debate, yet afterward, media outlets insist on trying to determine a “winner.”

Media personnel can undertake the necessary task of fact-checking the claims of the candidates, but they can also promote either candidate based on their biases. It might be mildly significant that one candi-date made a certain facial expression at some point during the debate, but it becomes even more signifi-cant if that same expression is shown repeatedly in slow motion on a television news network.

This brings us to the question of why the debates continue in the first place. They don’t usually affect the election, they probably shouldn’t be decisive fac-tors in determining who to vote for, but they are often highly entertaining. By setting up the debates as po-litical sporting events, major television networks can haul in viewers. More importantly, they can use the debates as fodder for pundits for weeks afterward, dissecting and replaying each statement more often than the Seahawks’ “touchdown” or the Cardinals’ infield fly.

Sure, the debates can be entertaining. They can even give a vague outline of each candidate’s plat-form to the truly uninformed voter. It would be won-derful if the candidates could be convinced to go into greater depth on their policies, or if more than two candidates could be allowed into the debate. But for now, presidential and vice presidential debates don’t seem to be changing or going away. So watch them if you will, but please, don’t base your vote on who has the best cosmetics and comebacks.

Midterms are around the corner, and the apoca-lypse predicted by the Mayans is just over the hori-zon. We at the UNews choose not to believe in either of these things, but that doesn’t mean that we’re un-afraid. Quite the contrary! Here are the top 10 things terrifying us today:

Google. We certainly aren’t afraid that near-in-stantaneous digital access to almost all the collected knowledge of mankind will render print media obso-lete. Of course not. That would be silly. We’re really just worried about the Internet megalith’s monopoly on access to information.

Sure, Google looks friendly, with its colorful letters and cute little doodles, but behind that interactive Flash façade lurks a mindless corporate monstrosity. We’ve got our eye on you, Google. Seriously, you’re open on our desktops.

Bacon shortage. This might happen. Need we say more? Hide your pigs, hide your slice.

Mosquitoes. Seriously, this is pretty scary: as of October, there have been nearly 4,000 reported cases of West Nile virus in the U.S. Skeeters were annoying enough before they carried deadly pathogens. And it’s just our luck to live by a campus with decorative pools of standing water every 10 feet.

Flying monkeys. A prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” is set for a spring 2013 release, and while we hope for the best, we fear the worst—the worst being hordes of sweater-wearing airborne apes. On second thought, we’ll take the mosquitoes instead, thank you.

Scientology videos. Rumor has it that Scientology centers show potential converts a video chock-full of

subliminal messages that convince the viewer to join the church. As a Catholic institution, we prefer live-action displays of evangelism. This Scientology video rings of… well, “The Ring.”

Magnetic pole reversal. NASA maintains that this is a natural occurrence, and that fossils show us pre-vious reversals had little or no effect on plant and ani-mal life. Sure, but the dinosaurs didn’t have iPhones. Who knows what will happen if the poles flip? Be-sides, we’ll either have to start calling this place South America, or we’ll all have to buy new compasses—an orienteer’s nightmare.

NHL lockout. Hockey was just gaining steam after the last lockout lost lots of its fan base. By the time it comes out of cold storage this time, people might have forgotten the rules—heck, football and baseball people can barely remember their rules on a week-to-week basis. Sports slide into anarchy.

The Darkness. The Soulard haunted house is one of the most famous in America. And their website claims they have 75 live “monsters.” They must have a bigger budget than “The Walking Dead.” That also explains why it costs over 20 bucks a ticket… scary.

Winter is coming. With a summer this hot, who knows what horrors winter will wake upon the SLU campus? Expect a winter too mild to cancel class, but mean enough to make your commute miserable.

Bath salt zombies. So that’s what they meant by “Bed Bath & Beyond.” Just kidding, the hallucino-genic drug isn’t actually sold at your local spa store, but beware of doped-up maniacs eager to get your brains into their aromatic maws anyway.

The debates go on, but do they matter?

Nightmares from the newsroom

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Quotesof the week

”“

“[Bassnectar] is a place where you can find avant-garde costumes, fire dancers... not unlike an electronic “Rocky Horror Picture Show” midnight viewing.

”-Kelly Childress, junior

See Page 7.

We aren’t the SEC athletes that everyone hears about on the news.

”-Brian Conklin, former SLU basketball player

See Page 11.

“

“It’s about dialogue and bringing these issues to the front of the consciousness of students who may not be thinking about them otherwise.

”-Patrick Grillot, Students for Life president

See Page 3.

“The girlier a line is, the easier it is for me to get into character.

”-Lauren Griffin, Saint Louis Fashion Week Project: Design! model

See Page 13.

OPINION 5unewsonline.comOCTOBER 11, 2012

Mike Hogan / Opinion Editor

Editor’s note: This email was sent to Dr. Manoj Pa-tankar, vice president of aca-demic affairs, on Oct. 9 by Dr. Steve Harris in response to Patankar’s comments at the Student Government As-sociation meeting on Sept. 26. Dr. Harris submitted the email to The University News for publication.

Dear Dr. Patankar,As interim president of

the SLU chapter of AAUP, I feel it is i n c u m -b e n t u p o n me to respond to some of the remarks y o u m a d e at the meeting of the

Student Government Asso-ciation on Sept. 26, where I was in attendance.

I do not do this lightly or without some qualms about whether it is truly my place to rebut you at length. But I believe it is my duty, in virtue of my office, to safeguard the interests of the faculty, as rooted in the ideals of the AAUP, where I perceive those interests threatened by actions and statements of the leader-ship of the university.

Your attribution to hys-teria of the actions of the faculty—as embodied in the near-unanimous calls for No Confidence from both the A&S Faculty Council and the Faculty Senate, re-flecting an overwhelming negative response by the faculty and deans to your four proposals—presents

a singularly dismissive at-titude towards the deeply felt concerns of the faculty. It is no small matter to com-pletely overhaul the basic relationship of our employ-ment: both vitiating the cru-cial matter of tenure (the very foundation stone of an academic career) and im-posing onerous accounting practices inherently ill-suit-ed to what we do as instruc-tors and researchers in our highly varied fields.

The issue of how well or how poorly the universal quantificational scheme you envisioned would fit with the actual practices of the faculty is a matter of judg-ment. But the faculty have spoken with one voice on this issue, both loudly and with fine analysis; their col-lective judgment, so strong-ly expressed, of how badly it would serve the university, cannot be dismissed. The astonishment with which the faculty greeted this ba-roque apparatus was palpa-ble on campus within a few days. It is not only the spe-cious quantification in the evaluation and workload proposals that is profoundly disturbing, but the entire concept of subordinating the role of the department chairs in determining equa-ble workload and evaluation of faculty efforts to a point-scheme foisted upon them from the administration, and subjugating the chairs’ determination to that of the VP (section III.G of the Faculty Manual specifies this as the chairs’ respon-sibility, subject only to the review of the respective deans). This amounts to a micro-managerial assault upon the internal function-ing of the university, wholly

The vote of no confi-dence by the Faculty Sen-ate of Saint Louis University

aga ins t the vice p r e s i -dent for academ-ic af-fairs, Dr. M a n o j P a t a n -kar, last m o n t h h a s c a u g h t the at-t e n t i o n of many. F r . B i o n d i respond-ed last w e e k with a l e t t e r that re-b u t t e d some of

the specifics related to the vote, but he failed to react to the larger issues that have preoccupied the fac-ulty. SLU’s administration, in fact, seem to think this vote was simply the result of “hysterical” and “petu-lant” faculty. These words have been used to suggest that we acted only out of self-interest.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Rather, the faculty has acted in the interests of our students and alumni, and of those who care deeply about the University’s mis-sion of scholarship, educa-tion, service and the pursuit of academic excellence.

We voted against Patan-kar because we are driven by the shared conviction that SLU is in need of ef-fective leadership. Without such leadership, SLU is in trouble. One sobering example highlights SLU’s troubling trajectory. In the past decade, SLU has slipped 15 places in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” rankings. The drop from 77th to 92nd represents one of the worst declines of any school in the top 100.

The modern university must change or else spiral into decline. The bold goal of becoming a top-50 uni-versity is exactly what SLU needs to spur itself toward greater success. But sim-ply stating an intention is not enough. Actions speak

much louder than words. For the last three years

at SLU, specific actions have indeed spoken louder than words. These actions have been chaotic, contra-dictory and confused. Ini-tiatives such as Patankar’s initial Strategic Plan for the University in 2010 were de-veloped without consulting the faculty and, when criti-cism mounted, have been quietly abandoned. SLU’s mission as a Jesuit, Catho-lic university has ultimately been ignored in strategic planning.

Spending on resources vital to our students and faculty, such as the acquisi-tions budget for the library, has been cut. Such deci-s i o n s i g n o r e the fact t h a t t o p - 5 0 univer-s i t i e s s p e n d far, far m o r e than we do on t h o s e s a m e r e -s o u r c -es. The ways in w h i c h depar t-m e n t s f u n c -tion, re-s e a r c h is sup-p o r t e d or col-leges or schools are man-aged has been subject to arbitrary and whimsical redirection, as was the case with Patankar’s recent pro-posal to move the library into a new School of Infor-matics in order to generate revenue. This is not plan-ning. This is not bold lead-ership. It is chaos. This is what a spiral of decline feels like.

Effective leadership cre-ates a sense of ownership. Ownership means that all of us – administration, fac-ulty, students and alumni--enthusiastically share the goals and strategic plans of our university because it belongs to all of us. The University does not belong to any one interest group, let alone any one individ-ual. Ownership is not cre-ated by spurious, top-down

Professor responds to Patankar’s charges of faculty ‘hysteria’out of keeping both with the norms of the academy and the legal requirements of the Faculty Manual.

The thought that the VP for Academic Affairs could have so hugely misjudged the acceptability of these strictures within the acad-emy, was enough to bring forth anger, fear, and frus-tration in all corners of the university. It is no hysteri-cal re-a c t i o n to give v o i c e to the natural conclu-s i o n : T h e r e is no c o n f i -d e n c e by the facul ty in such a VP for Aca-d e m i c Affairs.

T h e i s s u e of the a t t a c k on ten-ure is not even a matter of judgment: The proposal on Faculty Evaluation, sec-tion 4.4.4, stated, “One of four potential outcomes of a post-tenure review is pos-sible … d. Receipt of a ter-minal contract. … The final decision will be made by the Vice President for Aca-demic Affairs.” This is in di-rect violation of the Faculty Manual, section III.I.1:

Tenure involves a con-tractual recognition by the University of a faculty member’s right to continu-ing employment. Contracts between the University and

Steve Harris

Why we voted no confidence

James Ginther

Jay Hammond

Responding with all the forcefulness the faculty are capa-ble of, when facing violation of the fun-damental nature of our employment... is, again, no hysteri-cal reaction.

“

”

Social justice: About people, not politicsI am not a math person.

The fact that I am not a numbers person is part of

w h a t m a k e s a dis-play like SLU Stu-d e n t s for Life’s C e m -etery of the In-nocents and Gar-den of

Justice difficult to process. Upon closer examination of the wooden crosses, how-ever, they do not represent numbers.

The crosses and the flowers represent people. And the human person is at the center of the social jus-tice movement.

Therefore, Respect Life Week gives us the oppor-tunity to really contemplate the meaning and inherent value of each and every hu-man person—no matter the origin, GPA, ability, socio-economic status, race, gen-der or circumstance. We are called to look at the in-herent dignity we all share.

Recognizing the dignity of the human person should call us to action—to social justice, which is rooted in love.

While it is easy to divide moral stances along tra-ditional party lines, social justice calls for an authentic devotion to all human life. Social justice means striv-ing against all that treats persons as objects rather than persons with inher-ent dignity. Social justice means advocating for all

that protects, upholds and fosters the human person.

It is this consistent eth-ic of life that Students for Life’s Respect Life Week works to foster. The Cem-etery of the Innocents calls for reflection and solidarity, the speakers on abortion and the death penalty call us to see the world from the perspective of the oth-er, the health fair calls for practical living in a manner in which life can thrive and the prayer service calls for assistance from God to be the change in a world thirst-ing for the justice, love and community to which God calls us.

One of the SLU commu-nity’s largest achievements and points of unity is the commitment of its students to social justice. We stand for what is good, living in a world that tends to cut corners for convenience or exploitation. Part of being an advocate for social jus-tice is standing for all that is good. We cannot exclude certain issues that pertain to human life for the sake of convenience, adhering to political party lines or popu-lar belief. I cannot advocate assisting those in poverty without assisting those who suffer from abuse. I cannot advocate justice for those living within a prison without advocating justice for those living within the womb. In light of the digni-ty of the human person, so-cial justice calls me to stand for all life.

Respect Life Week strives to call to attention those injustices that our world experiences as a re-

sult of disrespect for human life. The topics of abortion, capital punishment, as-sisted suicide, poverty and rape are extremely diverse social justice issues. While diverse, they all affect peo-ple. So if we believe in social justice, we must recognize that these issues require us to act. Whatever affects an-other human being should also affect us and stir us to action.

Each cross, each flower represents something more than a statistic. Respect Life Week is about a person. Each person affected by injustice must be defended, and the crosses call us to never forget to stand for justice and solidarity with the vulnerable. Each flower represents hope, the hope and love that can happen on a person-to-person level when we work for justice. While the cemetery calls us to reflect upon diverse injustices, it also calls us to action across political party lines or traditionally divided moral issues. It calls us to work for that which is just.

As men and women striv-ing to be with and for oth-ers, Respect Life Week is a call to what Joseph Cardinal Bernadin refers to as a “con-sistent ethic of life,” remind-ing us that being pro-life is not a single-issue stance. Rather, being pro-life is a way of living that encom-passes all of social justice. Similarly, being socially just cannot exclude standing with the vulnerable in any situation. May we live jus-tice, truth and love, not only this week, but every day of our lives.

Amanda Hicks

The faculty has act-ed in the interests of our students and alumni, and of those who care deeply about the Univer-sity’s mission of scholarship, educa-tion, service and the pursuit of academic excellence.

“

”

“consultation,” but rather by shared planning where all stakeholders contribute their effort and energy.

Time and time again Patankar has ignored the voices of those stakehold-ers. The vice president has claimed, for example, that he did “consult” with the faculty on his recent evalu-ation proposals. There were certainly committees and public meetings, but there is no evidence that anything central to the proposals came from the faculty or that their voices were even heard. His actions, in other words, spoke far louder than his words. His action was to ignore what he did not want to hear.

E f f e c -tive leaders build own-ership with trust. This is risky, b e c a u s e it means l e a r n i n g to rely on others. You rely on deans, di-rectors and chairs to do their jobs. You trust the fac-ulty (in the same way that faculty must trust s tudents) and you recognize that they are the en-

gine of success. You erode trust when you micro-manage colleges and de-partments, make arbitrary decisions or are fearful of transparency. You erode trust when you cannot dis-tinguish between what is truly innovative and what is merely faddish jargon. Without this risky, collabor-ative trust, a university will not improve. It will decline.

The pervasive lack of trust undermines any at-tempt at effective leader-ship. Trust is what is lack-ing at SLU. There has been no indication that the vice president has recognized this problem. Our decision to vote for no confidence was, and still is, a clear demand for effective lead-ership. We voted no confi-dence to protect our univer-sity.

tenured faculty members are permanent in the sense that they may be terminated by the University only for situations involving medical or other extended leaves, and then only as provided for in Sec. III.H.12.b or pur-suant to academic realloca-tion or financial exigency under Secs. III.I.11-12, or for cause, and then only on the grounds given in Sec.

III.I.5. R e s -

p o n d i n g with all the f o r c e f u l -ness the faculty are capable of, when fac-ing viola-tion of the fundamen-tal nature of our em-ployment—not to men-tion abro-gation of contractual obligations and of the af firmative r e q u i r e -ments of

the AAUP—is, again, no hysterical reaction.

Your public statement that post-tenure review is an established practice at notable universities is dis-ingenuous, as the punitive nature of your proposal is wholly out of keeping with anything existing at a re-spectable institution. The AAUP has strong guide-lines about what constitutes acceptable post-tenure re-view (“Post-Tenure Review: An AAUP Response”):

“Post-tenure review should not be undertaken for the purpose of dismiss-

al. Other formal disciplin-ary procedures exist for that purpose. …

Some proponents of post-tenure review, motivated by a desire to facilitate the dismissal of tenured faculty, seek to substitute less pro-tective procedures and cri-teria at the time of post-ten-ure review. But demanding procedures and standards are precisely what prevent dismissal for reasons viola-tive of academic freedom. …

The heightened protec-tion of the tenured faculty is not a privilege, but a re-sponsibility earned by the demonstration of profes-sional competence in an extended probationary pe-riod, leading to a tenured position with its “rebuttable presumption of professional excellence.”

These guidelines are ad-hered to by the universities you mentioned; but not by your proposals.

But what of the fact that, at the time of the votes of the A&S Faculty Council and of the Faculty Senate on No Confidence, these propos-als had already been with-drawn? The A&S Council deliberately tabled the vote until after the Sept. 14 meet-ing at which the proposals were to be discussed and possibly withdrawn, specifi-cally in order to express its opinion, not on the propos-als being still on the table, but on the fact of their hav-ing been issued in the first place; and such also was the motivation within the Sen-ate. This was not hysteria born of immediate concern, but considered judgment after the fact: judgment on the reasonableness of your continuing to hold the lead-

ership of academic affairs at the University.

The fact that at the SGA meeting, you expressed the need for a faculty review process containing an “exit strategy” shows that this judgment was not wide of the mark: In spite of the ex-istence of measures within the Faculty Manual for ter-minating the contracts of non-producing faculty—

III.I.5.b: “Irresponsibility in discharging University obligations, incompetence in meeting the faculty re-sponsibilities”

III.I.5.i: “Documented serious and persistent substandard performance which fails to meet contrac-tual obligations”

—you even yet are bent upon finding a mechanism beyond our contractual re-lations, to remove faculty according to your deter-mination. (Section 4.4.4 of Faculty Evaluation on post-tenure review specifies an evaluation and appeal pro-cess designed for the usual granting or withholding of tenure, thereby supplant-ing the procedures and safeguards given in section III.I.6 of the Faculty Manual for processing perceived grounds for tenure termina-tion allowed in III.I.5.)

Being the face of the AAUP on campus, it is my obligation to give voice to the united aspirations of the faculty to resist this con-templated abrogation of our rights and of the nature of our profession; and to force-fully oppose any suggestion that these aspirations and the means to assure them are without intellectual merit.

Respectfully,Steve Harris

OCTOBER 11, 2012unewsonline.com6 GAMES

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unewsonline.com OCTOBER 11, 2012UARTS

October 12eighth blackbirdTouhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL8 p.m.$25

OUTOn The

TOWnArTs ediTOr’s Picks

MusicOctober 11

Sheldon Concert Hall 100th Anniversary CelebrationSheldon Concert Hall8 p.m.from $25

October 12-13Dave Black/Paul DeMari-nis GroupJazz at the Bistro in Grand Center7:30-9:30 p.m.$20 ($10 student)

October 12-14Beethoven 6Powell Symphony HallFri and Sat: 8 p.m., Sun: 3 p.m.$30 ($10 student)

October 11-14Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey: DragonsScott Trade CenterThurs: 7 p.m., Fri: 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., Sat: 1 and 5 p.m., Sun: 12 and 4 p.m.from $15

October 9-12Labrador Retriever National SpecialtyPurina Farms8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Theatre

Daddy Long LegsRepertory TheatreTues: 7 p.m., Wed-Fri: 8 p.m., Sat: 5 p.m., Sun: 2 p.m.from $16

October 12-13History HayridesFaust Park6, 7 and 8 p.m$10

Theatre department presents‘Wonder of the World’

Photo Courtesy of Sarah Griffith

SLU’s theatre department opens with its first show of the school year, “Wonder of the World.” Performances this weekend are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $9 for faculty and staff and $7 for students.

Bassnectar leaves Chaifetz pulsing‘Bassheads’ fill up Bass Center VII for music, arts, fluorescence

‘Spring Awakening’ sings of adolescent confusion

By MAGGIE NEEDHAMAssociate Arts Editor

Pointergeist comes to STL; headbanging ensues

See “Awakening” on Page 8

Until November 4

Other

October 12-14Soulard OktoberfestSoulard Neighborhood, 3rd and Lafayette$5

October 12-21Greater St. Louis Res-taurant WeekVarious restaurantsvisit www.restaurant-weekstl.com for more information

By STEPHANIE MUELLER Staff Writer

By JASON McCOYStaff Writer

Inside an abbey is not where you’d expect to hear the lyrics, “Yeah, you’re f***ed alright, and all for spite / you can kiss your sorry ass goodbye.” How-ever, the cast members of “Spring Awakening” sing just that at the Stray Dog Theatre this month.

The stained glass win-dows and cushioned pews provide a poignant contrast

to the story being present-ed onstage. Set in late 1800s Germany, “Spring Awaken-ing” is a show that explores the taboo topics of sexual discovery, domestic abuse and suicide. The teenagers that make up the majority of the characters wrestle with these topics as well as the overarching theme of the ignorance that society (i.e. adults) encourages in the youth.

These are some heavy topics, but the cast pulls them off with a sincer-

ity that invites the audience into the story. The actors’ vulnerability and rawness treats the story with all the respect it deserves, espe-cially in the more somber second act.

This sincere treatment of the story, combined with talented vocals, provides an intense theater-going expe-rience. Melissa Southmayd opened the show as Wendla Bergman with the simple

Until now, my biggest fear had been large dogs. Now, thanks to Rob Zom-bie and Marilyn Manson, I know how juvenile that was.

The two came together for Pointergeist at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater as a stop on their Twins of Evil tour, striking the fear of all that is bad into the decid-edly sparse crowd.

I said I would never pay to go to a concert like this and, in a twist of fate that only Manson himself could have dreamt up, my friend won tickets and there was no backing out.

As a fan of bands like fun., The Head & The Heart and The Civil Wars, Marilyn Manson is about as far from my spectrum of en-joyable music as possible. Yet, there I was, in a crowd of cloak-clad individuals sporting red, light-up devil horns. My jaw dropped in awe at what transpired on stage.

Following more than a mildly inappropriate ver-bose speech for the benefit of seeing the sign language interpreters translate, Man-son began singing, the heads of his faithful crowd flailing up and down in an effort to catch a tune, an ad-mirable effort.

Manson, streaked in blood red paint and an in-definable black leather en-semble, displayed his sense of irony in full: white snow confetti shot from cannons to counteract the silhou-etted face that appeared behind him near the end of

his set. As the confetti fell, the half portrait of Manson in his terrible glory was highlighted with flashing colors, strobe lights echo-ing around.

If you’ve ever bopped along to “Sweet Dreams” from the Eurythmics in your car, Manson was hap-py to ruin that for you.

Replace the 1980s style electronica with deafening guitar and the monotone harmonies with a guttural growl, and you have Man-son’s terrifying rendition, followed by a clear crowd favorite of “Beautiful Peo-ple.”

After what seemed like years, Rob Zombie en-tered. As he did, a King Kong backdrop raised and then immediately dropped, seemingly without purpose. After Zombie acknowl-edged his underperforming flames and the potential that had to completely ruin the show, he went on to scream indeterminable lyrics into a skeleton microphone, the only clue to what he was singing flashing across the screen behind him in one word increments.

As the director of the “Halloween” movies, Zom-bie’s Davy Jones-dread-locks should not have been surprising, but they were. His bandmates’ elaborate skeletal, zombie makeup was somehow equally as shocking. The whole set was full of all that could ever be perceived as “scary.” Gi-ant robots floated across the stage, and the faces of serial killers were shown on the screen.

Surely, the emotional scarring will fade ... one day.

“No Backpacks or Glow Sticks” was the greeting extended to bass fans on a cold Saturday night. The lure of Bassnectar was all but irresistible, and his Bassheads were decked to the nines for this magical night of diversions and en-tertainment.

Bassnectar’s Bassheads are similar to any other group of adoring fans: Lady Gaga has her Little Monsters, The Black Eyed Peas have the Peabodies, and Bassheads represent Bassnectar. Clad in fuzzy rave boots, lacy tutus, skin-tight fluorescent tank tops and the banned back-packs and glow sticks, the Bassheads marched down Laclede Avenue wishing they brought coats.

Once past pat-downs and ticket scanners, the Bassheads arrived on the scene. The scene in the outer rooms of the arena looked very much like a kindergarten lit by black lights. Tables were erected for fans to create flags, ban-ners and other celebratory materials. The Bassheads lovingly crafted party props with DayGlo paint, sharpies and highlighters.

The familiar basketball area morphed into a spec-tacle of sights and sounds. Massive speaker columns hung from the rafters, ro-botic lasers and spotlights traced patterns into the smoky atmosphere, and massive screens pierced the retinas of all assembled. Bassheads of all genders, ages and races spun LED poi and hula hoops. A select few wore gloves with LED lights on the tips of each fin-ger, which were used to pre-form personal light shows for friends and strangers.

“Half of what makes Bassnectar shows fun is the underlying culture.” Kelly Childress, Basshead and SLU junior, said of the scene. “It’s a place where you can find avant-garde costumes, fire dancers… not unlike an electronic Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight viewing”

The crowd whipped into a raging frenzy as Zeds Dead took the stage. The Canadian pair was miss-ing a member, but Hooks mashed keys, turned dials and manipulated software with the flair of the com-bined duet. Near the end of the set, Hooks mixed in Zeds Dead’s leading track: a remix if White Satan by The Moody Blues.

Zeds Dead rapid rise to bass culture stardom earned them the privilege to take the same stage as Bassnectar. Zeds Dead re-mains unsigned by a label. The band promotes their act by releasing music for free.

Zeds Dead is part of a growing community of art-ists releasing music either for free or at a buyer cho-sen price. This movement includes big names like Prince, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Girl Talk.

The florescent crowd pressed inward to the stage

as Lorin Ashton, Bassnectar front man, took his place. He whipped his mop of glorious mid-back length hair back and forth as he turned dials that release un-speakable bass blasts at the crowd. The low frequencies were powerful enough to be felt in the throat and vibrate in the lungs.

“If you’re on the floor, get on someone’s shoul-ders!” Ashton yelled.

The crowd obliged. Le-gions of security employees moved in with flashlights and motioned people back to the floor. The crowd‘s cries, of “We paid for tick-ets,” were ignored.

Bassnectar’s video DJ showed great talent by mix-ing obscure anime, original material and live feeds from many cameras onto huge screens that dominated the stage. Ashton ended the night with a new, still un-titled track while the video DJ mixed images of Ashton into images of the Crowd.

Jason McCoy / Staff Writer

An enthusiastic crowd of ‘Bassheads’ cheers in front of the stage at Chaifetz Arena as Bassnectar performs.

Jason McCoy / Staff Writer

Colorful lights shine throughout Chaifetz for Bassnectar.

October 14Columbus Day Parade and FestivalThe Hill12-6 p.m.

OCTOBER 11, 20128 ARTS unewsonline.com

Re-imagined production of ‘Les Mis’ at Fox

By KRISTIN McGUIRE Staff Writer

Betsy Morgan performs the song “I Dreamed a Dream” as Fantine in the touring production of “Les Miserables”.

Photo courtesy of Deen van MeerPhoto courtesy of Deen van Meer

The cast of the 25th anniversary tour of “Les Miserables”comes together to perform the song “Beggars at the Feast” during the second act.

International indie rock band Metric makes tour stop in St. Louis

By T.K. SMITH Staff Writer

The members of the band Metric, from left to right: James Shaw, Emily Haines, Joules Scott-Key and Joshua Winstead.

Photo Courtesy of www.ilovemetric.com

Grouplove throws a party in the Pageant

By JOE STEIN Staff Writer

ballad “Mama Who Bore Me.” Her nerves seemed to shake her voice at first, but the explosion of female vocal power that came in the reprise a few minutes later eclipsed any doubts that may have formed. Dy-namic and almost tangible harmonies continued to fill the theater for the next two hours.The show closed with the cast members in modern clothing, singing “The Song of Purple Sum-mer,” a beautiful retelling of

Awakening: ‘dynamic’ rockContinued from Page 7 the lessons learned by the

characters and, hopefully, the audience.The songs act-ed as windows into the ado-lescent characters’ minds. The minimal choreography was just the right amount, giving the actors room to be natural and exposed. With-out strict choreography, movement during the songs ranged from slight gestures during the tragic “Left Be-hind” to chaotic jumping in the unflinchingly honest “Totally F***ed.”

The Stray Dog Theatre celebrates its 10th anniver-sary season this year.

On the night of Tuesday, Oct. 2 the lights came up as Metric took the stage. The international indie rock band, originally from Toronto, graced the stage of Delmar’s popular music venue, The Pageant. 

Metric began in 1998 and features the vocals, guitar, tambourine and synthesizer by Emily Haines; guitarist James Shaw; bassist Joshua Winstead; and drummer Joules Scott-Key. Metric is known for their angst and defiant, yet danceable, pop rock, using both the synthe-sizer and the guitar to pro-duce their unique sound.

The show’s set was a mixture of their popular older music and music from their newest album

“Synthetica.” Haines’ danc-ing, skipping, jumping and shaking around the stage along with the laser light show created an interactive experience and pushed the crowd into a frenzy. The band put so much energy into the music that they produced a completely dif-ferent sound than their rec-ognized recorded songs on the radio. The high stamina show ended on a somber acoustic note as they said goodbye with their lullaby, “Gimmie Sympathy.”

The band has been con-sistently producing music since its inception. Their debut album, “Grow Up and Blow Away,” was released in Canada in 2001. It fea-tured the popular songs, “Help I’m Alive” and “Gold Guns Girls,” which were both performed in the show’s set. Their first offi-

cial album, released in 2003, was called “One World Un-derground” and featured the popular song, “Combat Baby.” 

“Synthetica,” was re-leased in June of this year. The new album stays true to Metric’s defiant nature. The first single, “Youth without Youth,” is a dark song de-picting social decay with an energetic enthralling beat.  Other songs premiered at the show were “Clone” and “Artificial Nocturne.”

In 2005 they broke into America by being featured on the soundtrack of two major Hollywood films. Their song “Black Sheep” was performed alongside names like Beck and Frank Black in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” The “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” soundtrack featured “Eclipse (All Yours).”

One of the most iconic and beloved musicals will make its way to the Fabu-lous Fox theater this Oct. 16-28.

“Les Miserables,” a 25-year-old musical, was originally a novel written by Victor Hugo. This particular re-imagined production has been called “born again.” “Les Mis” is often known for the turntable scenery that rotates throughout the show; however, this produc-

tion uses projections of Vic-tor Hugo paintings instead. This new take on scenery has been highly praised throughout the show’s run.

Lauren Wiley plays Co-sette, the young, love-sick ingénue of the show. Hail-ing from Savannah, Ga., Lauren began acting and singing at the age of three with her church.

She landed the role of Cosette after she heard about auditions while working as a performer at Disney World. After three separate trips to New York to audition, she was offered

her first role on a national tour.

This young actress has already played the role of Cosette two times prior to the national tour, but she admits that the role is still a dream. “Marius sings to me and…. I get to fall in love eight times a week!” Wiley said.

Her portrayal of the role has also become more “well-rounded,” as she is older and more experi-enced now. “She’s a very passionate person…. I want to give her the dimension she deserves. [Cosette]

has been through so much as a child… I don’t want her to just be a sweet ingénue.”

After six months on the road, Wiley admits that liv-ing out of two suitcases and keeping the performance fresh every night is not al-ways easy. “I try to remem-ber what it was like for me to be in the audience for the first time… and that’s why I give 100 percent each time.” Wiley is also able to give an authentic perfor-mance every night because she relates to her character. “I lost my father at a young age… the whole bond she

has with Jean Valjean… I understand what it’s like to lose him at the end.”

In addition to the musi-cal, there is much antici-pation regarding the “Les Mis” movie coming out in December. The movie will introduce a new genre of movie musicals in that ev-ery actor sings live, leading to more acting-driven per-formances.

“We’re all super excited for the movie… kids might go to the movie, get ex-posed and want to see musi-cal, too,” said Wiley.

Take a study break this

October and get out to see this breathtaking musical. “It’s the most poignant story of all time that anyone can relate to,” said Wiley. “It has everything: redemption, the power of love, mercy, ro-mance and battle.”

Tickets are available for $20 to students and educa-tors for select performances of “Les Miserables.” This discount offer is available at the Fox box office, be-ginning two hours prior to show time with a current valid school I.D.

For more information, visit fabulousfox.com.

Half Moon Run, a fresh, new band also from Cana-da, opened for Metric. The young, four-man group per-formed songs from their debut album, “Dark Eyes,” including the songs “Full Circle” and “She Wants to Know.”

Half Moon Run is also indie rock band with strong influences from folk and electronica music. They in-corporated multiple drums, acoustic and electric gui-tars, keyboard and a har-monica into their very mov-ing set that previewed the best of their album.  Though the album is currently only available in Canada, it can be found online.

Metric and Half Moon Run only graced the city streets of St. Louis for one night as they continued their American tour across the country.  

Flailing glow-in-the-dark drumsticks blur your vi-sion. Plastic orbs daubed with fluorescent colors il-luminate your face. Chris-tian Zucconi’s weathered voice blooms from massive speakers as he clutches a microphone stand draped in flowers. This is Grou-plove.

Certain bands perform well only in the comfort of the studio. Other bands flourish only when the stage lights are shining on them. Grouplove’s most re-cent album, “Never Trust A Happy Song,” delighted au-diences and critics alike, so I knew the former was not the case.

After seeing them twice now, I make this plea: If you enjoy any of Grouplove’s music, even just one song, go see them live!

At the risk of sounding like a MasterCard commer-cial, I promise that, while the ticket may cost you some dead presidents, the live experience that Grou-plove brings to stage is priceless. Simply the smiles projecting from each and every member of the band are enough to boost your mood.

The quintet took the stage after Alt-J’s relaxed, beautiful opening perfor-

mance and brought a new level of excitement to the crowd.

Grouplove’s aura is infec-tious. It’s all in the name! After just a song or two, everyone in the audience seemed to get closer. Ubiq-uitous dancing and singing erupted throughout the Pageant’s pit.

In search of the source of Grouplove’s charisma, I came to this conclusion: It isn’t just a show for the members of Grouplove; it’s a party. You can see it in each one of their faces. There’s nothing in the world they’d rather be doing.

That kind of passion and love is what makes their performances memorable, and it’s why these guys have been steadily gathering a following amongst the indie crowd.

Monday’s show at the Pageant came with an ex-tra cause for celebration: it was Grouplove drum-mer Ryan Rabin’s birthday. As Zucconi led the crowd in a heartfelt rendition of “Happy Birthday,” Rabin grinned with childlike faux embarrassment. Rabin and his talented buddies gave the audience one heck of a birthday show.

As Grouplove left the stage, Rabin approached the florally festooned micro-phone, encapsulating the night deftly: “Thanks guys, that was fun!”

UOCTOBER 11, 2012unewsonline.com

SPORTSThe demise of the student-athlete?As society and schools increasingly value athletics, where do academics fit in?

By TONY TRAINA Associate Sports Editor

Bri Radici / Design Editor

The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate measures the eligibility and retention of a team’s student-athletes. An APR score of 1000 is equivalent to a 100-percent graduation rate, while a score of 925 is equivalent to roughly a 50-percent graduation rate.

Men’s soccer splits its first two conference games

Courtesy of Billiken Media Relations

Robbie Kristo scored a goal against Xavier and assisted to Dayton’s own goal. Kristo leads the team in scoring with five goals and two assists.

New wild card only helps our

Cards

See “Playoffs” on Page 10

By CHARLES BOWLES Sports Editor

It’s almost game day at Saint Louis University again. Soon, the ubiquitous yard signs will pop up on West Pine Boulevard; stu-dents, alumni and fans alike will flock to Chaifetz Arena to watch 15 of their favorite student-athletes throw a ball around.

But don’t forget about the 300 other student-ath-letes on campus. And just about every one of them will go pro in something other than sports, as the NCAA so kindly reminds viewers during every multi-million dollar televi-sion broadcast. Don’t tell that to the student-athletes though. In a 2010 NCAA survey, 76 percent of men’s basketball players and 37 percent of athletes in all other sports felt they were at least “somewhat likely” to go pro in their respective sport.

If that average NBA ca-reer of 4.7 years doesn’t pan out though, at least they have that valuable Saint Louis University degree to fall back on, right? The average basketball player at Division I private institu-tions comes to school with an SAT score about 200 points lower than that of the general student body, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The wealth of tutors and other academic assistance offered to athletes intends to keep them up to par. Stu-dent-athletes graduate at a slightly higher rate than their counterparts, albeit with lower GPAs.

So after their sneakers set foot on SLU’s lawn, how do athletes fit in with the rest of the student body? Beyond the stereotype that they “ride motor scooters and are taller than me,” as a junior sociology major put it, how does an athlete’s col-lege experience differ from that of a “normal” student?

Everyone has to choose a major when they arrive on campus. For the gen-eral student body, the most popular picks are nursing, biology and physical thera-py. For the athletes in “high profile” sports (defined as baseball, basketball, foot-ball and hockey), a full 50 percent choose business administration, followed by 14 percent in communica-tion.

There are many theories for this difference, some real and some contrived.

“A common stereotype I’ve heard thrown around campus is that athletes are communication or business majors, [the] ‘blow-off ma-jors’ in certain regards,” a junior education major said. “It’s quite understandable, as sports take up a lot of time.”

“For us [the business school], it’s fortunate; they’re in a top-level busi-ness school. If they are coming here for an easy ride, they’re going to get

smacked around,” said Dr. Anastasios Kaburakis, a sports business professor in the John Cook School of Business. “They have lists of classes student-athletes would cluster in at Stan-ford; if you have it there, you’re going to have it ev-erywhere.”

There is also a natural tendency to want to take classes that one’s peers are taking, creating a cer-tain “athlete culture” in this case.

“There is a unique sense of community and connec-tion among student-athletes that can’t really be under-stood from the outside,” Brooke Urzendowski, a sophomore tennis player, said.

This athlete culture in-cludes many things. First, according to the earlier mentioned NCAA survey, 91 percent of athletes report feeling a strong connection to campus, much more than any other student subset. However, a 1996 study also

shows that “athletes report having grown less as people in college and having spent limited time at cultural events or pursuing new in-terests.”

“I do not have a study-first mentality per se,” said Nishaad Balachandran, a junior tennis player. “I have always maintained [that] education is important, but not as important as my ten-nis.”

While some athletes have this “single-minded” focus, as Balachandran phrased it, they may be missing out on other things while they shed sweat on the court.

“They are missing out on chances to interact with faculty, students, and en-joy other initiatives,” Ka-burakis said. However, he added that, “SLU is a good example of an institution that tries to keep a good balance…you will still see

The Saint Louis Univer-sity men’s soccer team split their Atlantic 10 road open-er as the team was defeated by No. 17 Xavier 3-2 and edged Dayton 1-0. The Bills (7-3) gain three points in the A-10 conference stand-ings with the victory over Dayton.

The Bills started their conference season in Cin-cinnati where they faced the Xavier Musketeers. Kingsley Bryce scored a goal within the first two minutes of the game, but Xavier quickly responded with a goal to tie the game 1-1.

In the ninth minute, Xavi-er scored their second goal, but in the 24th minute Rob-bie Kristo scored the Bills’ second goal of the game. In the 32nd minute, Xavier scored the eventual game winner, as a wild first half was followed by a scoreless second.

After the wild game against Xavier, the Bills travelled up the road to Dayton, Ohio to take on the Dayton Flyers.

The game was unevent-ful until the 74th minute when Kristo crossed the ball into the box. The Fly-ers defender attempted to fend off Kristo’s cross, but accidently knocked it into his own goal.

Bills goalkeeper Nick Shackelford posted the fourth shutout of the season during the Dayton game.

The Bills will play their A-10 home opener against the Virginia Common-wealth University Rams on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at Hermann Stadium and then will face Richmond on Sun-day, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.

VCU brings one of the best players in the A-10 to Hermann Stadium in junior

forward Jason Johnson. Johnson has been named A-10 conference player of the week twice this year already and was named the NCAA player of the week last week for his perfor-mances against Charlotte and George Washington.

Johnson scored a goal and made an assist in the games against Charlotte and George Washington. Johnson has scored 8 goals

and 3 assists this season and will prove a formidable challenge as he applies con-stant pressure to the Bil-liken defense.

VCU has a 2-0 confer-ence record. The Bills are hoping to supply the first blemish to the Rams’ con-ference record.

Richmond will bring se-nior midfielder Houston Oldham to Hermann Sta-dium on Sunday. Oldham

has 5 goals and 1 assist this season. Oldham was named A-10 Player of the Week on September 24. Richmond is seeking its first conference win of the season.

The Bills will have a tough test at Hermann Sta-dium this week as they face robust competition from VCU and Richmond, who house some of the Atlantic 10 conference’s finest indi-vidual talents.

The Infield Fly Rule

WHO TO

FEAR

WHAT TO

CHEER

Yes, the call was questionable at best. But why question something that con-tirbuted to keeping the Cardinals alive in the post-season? That’s akin to giv-ing back your tax re-bate come April. And a celebratory half-cheer to umpire Sam Holbrook for making the call, saving hope for the Cardinals’ “No. 12 in ’12.” Oh, Atlanta fans, you weren’t going to win the World Series any-way. Sorry, Chipper Jones.

WHO TO

JEER

Courtesy of bleacherreport.com

Brandon WeedenBrowns Quarterback

Geno SmithWest Virginia QB

In the 3rd quar-ter of last weekend’s game against the Giants, a pass by Weeden was knocked at the line of scrim-mage. Weeden caught the rebound and tried to throw into the end zone again. Too bad you can’t throw two forward passes in a play, buddy. On the bright side, he only threw two intercep-tions this weekend as the Browns almost pulled out their first victory.

After putting up basketball-like num-bers against Baylor, Smith continued to terrorize his new con-ference. He added an-other 4 touchdowns to bring his season total to 24 while lead-ing the Mountaineers to a 48-45 victory over No. 11 Texas. And, he hasn’t thrown an interception. Take notes this Saturday, Mr. Weeden.

By TONY TRAINAAssociate Sports Editor

Courtesy of wikia.com

Courtesy of hesimanpundit.com

Shortly before the be-ginning of the 2012 Major League Baseball season, fans were treated to another little Turkish delight from the often witch-like mind of commissioner Bud Selig: an additional Wild Card team from each league. The addi-tion of the teams was collec-tively bargained last year, but Selig had been tossing around the sweet morsel of an idea for years.

At first brush, it seemed genius. After all, profes-sional hockey and basket-ball both bring eight teams from each conference for a total of 16. The MLB was stuck in the 1800s and Selig wanted to introduce more competition. But this is not the way to do it. The new playoff format is an insult to fans and players alike.

Under the new rules this year, one extra team made the playoffs (your St. Lou-is Cardinals!). This team counts as a second wild card. In order to determine which team will face a divi-sion winner, the two wild cards face each other in a one-game playoff. The win-ner goes on and the loser goes home.

Not many people got riled up about simply in-cluding two extra teams. The real issue is the one-game playoff that decides

See “Athletes” on Page 11

Women’s SoccerCross CountryMen’s SwimmingMen’s TennisField HockeyMen’s SoccerWomen’s BasketballBaseballMen’s Basketball

10001000995994994989985

984983980979976965957945923

SLU’s Academic Progress Rates

By DJ BARGER Commentary

Men’s TrackWomen’s TennisWomen’s TrackWomen’s Cross CountryWomen’s SwimmingVolleyballSoftball

SLUStudentAthletes

Billikens

OCTOBER 11, 201210 SPORTS unewsonline.com

Women’s soccer off to a sound start, loses to Dayton after beating XavierBy CHARLES BOWLES

Sports Editor

Returning home for the women’s soccer team had mixed consequences. The team won its first Atlantic 10 match of the season in dominating fashion at Her-mann Stadium with a 3-0 victory over Xavier but fol-lowed it up with a 1-0 loss against the Dayton Flyers on Sunday.

The Bills are now 1-1-1 in conference and are 3-6-3 overall. However, SLU does have four points in the con-ference standings, putting them in solid position after two matches.

The Bills had a fantastic game against Xavier; they scored their first goal in the 22nd minute off a free kick. Alli Reimer kicked the ball to Maddie Gebauer off the free kick, who zipped it past the Xavier goalkeeper. Ge-bauer’s goal was her second of the year.

The Bills scored their next 2 goals off corner kicks. In the 42nd minute, Jenny Hummert kicked the ball into the box and Kailey Pretzlaff easily collected the ball and put it in the net. In

Abbey Stock (20) breaks away from the Dayton defender on Sunday, Oct. 7. The women’s soccer team lost to Dayton 1-0, falling to 1-1-1 in conference play.

Continued from Page 9

the fate of an entire 162-game season. As Atlanta Braves third baseman Chip-per Jones put it, “I think it’s stupid.”

Baseball has always ap-pealed to the statistic nerd lurking deep within all of us. The season is long and the sample size is grotesquely large (but that’s for another commentary). “The cream rises to the top,” as the cli-ché goes.

A one-game playoff flies in the face of all that and throws away a seasons’ worth of careful scout-ing, planning and playing. Teams accustomed to play-ing in a series and battling through the dog days of summer are thrown into an arbitrary one-game gaunt-let.

Because of human error and baseball’s archaic anti-replay laws written on stone

tablets, umpires decide a game or two throughout the season. A team might have an off day (even during the playoffs) or make several errors. But teams train to get past these games be-cause they are small drops in a 1 6 2 - g a m e bucket.

The one-game play-off removes all ability of the teams to play past a n o m a l i e s like blown calls and fielding er-rors. Any of those problems might sway the one-game playoff just like any regu-lar season game. Unlike a regular season game, how-ever, it really is game over, season over.

We all know the story by now: on Friday the Car-

dinals played the Braves in the National League’s Wild Card game. In that game the Braves committed three errors, despite being the best fielding team in the league. Also in that game,

an um-p i r e m a d e a judg-ment call on an in-field fly call that many la-beled as question-able, to censor a few Geor-gians.

That fielding perfor-mance and that umpiring in-cident were not exemplary of an average game. They were anomalies, which hadn’t appeared together in 162 games worth of data. Even so, they both contrib-uted to a team’s season end-

ing.Most outside of St. Louis

would agree-- it wasn’t right. The fans in Atlanta certain-ly let everyone know what they thought. Irate over the lackluster ending to their hero, Chipper Jones’, career, Braves fans threw trash and debris onto the field during and after their loss to the Cardinals.

In a bit of irony, Jones did manage to reach base on yet another blown call from the umpires in the bot-tom of the 9th inning.

Meanwhile, in Arlington, Texas, the Rangers played the Baltimore Orioles in the other wild card game. The Rangers had been having a rough two weeks at the end of the season, blowing a four-game division lead in the final nine games. Af-ter spending every day of the regular season in first place, they lost their divi-sion by one game on the last day and had to compete

in the one-game playoff. Baltimore went on to elimi-nate Texas, sending them home for good after an un-fortunately timed two-week slump.

The one-game playoff simply does not work for baseball.

Under different circum-stances, the additional wild-card team is a brilliant move. The two wild card teams should play each other in a best-of-three se-ries. The team that wins two games first would go on to face the best team.

Just a few slight chang-es will improve the game and keep the bitter taste of baseball injustice out of the mouths of the competitors and fans. Unfortunately for the Braves and the Rang-ers, the sour aftertaste will be an entire season long.

For now though, St. Lou-isans can enjoy the sweet justice of another Red Oc-tober.

BILLIKEN BRIEFS

Baseball Alumni Game

SLU baseball will host its annual alumni game this Saturday, Oct. 13, at noon at The Billiken Sports Center. Admission to the game is free and batting prac-tice wil begin at 10:30 a.m.

Men’s Basket-bal Tickets on

Sale

Individual game tickets go on sale on Friday, Oct. 12. Individual tickets range from $12-$32. SLU is offer-ing a five-game mini-plan as well. The mini-plan, will be $99 for a General Reserved seat.

BILLIKEN SCOREBOARD

L 2-3

Men’s Soccer

W 1-0

Volleyball

W 3-1

Men’s Basket-ball Fanfest

On Saturday Oct. 13, fans will get a first glimpse of the basketball teams. The team will be-gin practice at 5 p.m. After prac-tice the team will be around for au-tographs and pic-tures.

Follow us @TheUNewsSports for the latest Billikens sports coverage

Wild Card: One game does not account for a season of planning

A one-game playoff ... throws away a sea-son’s worth of careful planning and playing.

“”

A-10’s new media dealBy BRIAN HAENCHEN

Staff Writer

The Atlantic 10 Con-ference has released its new TV package, which includes eight-year part-nerships with ESPN, CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Group. The agree-ments, which will begin in 2013-14, will provide over 192 total basketball expo-sures, including 146 men’s basketball appearance and coverage of both basketball championships.

“Our commitment to bas-ketball at the highest level has allowed us to leverage our national exposure in the best way possible for the Atlantic 10,” Bernadette V. McGlade, A-10 Com-missioner, said in a state-ment released by the A-10 conference.”Par tnering with ESPN, CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network for the next eight years is truly a historic mo-ment for the A-10 and its member institutions.”

Up to 30 men’s basketball games will be broadcasted on ESPN, ESPN2 and ES-PNU, 54 on CBS Sports Net-work and 50 on NBC Sports Network. ESPN, which has sublicensed the men’s bas-ketball championship to CBS Sports since 2010, will retain the rights to both the men’s and women’s basket-ball championship games. CBS Sports Network will carry the semifinals of both championships, while NBC Sports Network will pro-duce the quarterfinals.

“The Atlantic 10 is a very deep conference with a proven track record of success at the highest lev-els of the sport,” Burke Magnus, ESPN Senior Vice President of College

the 59th minute, Hummert got another assist off a cor-ner kick. This time Maddy Bush was there to score the goal, her first goal as a Bil-liken.

However, the Bills faced a tough task as Dayton came into town. The Flyers controlled the game early and had a few opportuni-ties at the net, but could not convert. The Bills did not gain possession of the ball for much of the first half. The game remained score-less going into halftime.

The Flyers, though, quickly notched their only goal off of a corner kick as Dayton’s Ashley Campbell gathered the corner kick and got the ball past the keeper.

The Bills had two chanc-es very late in the match. The first opportunity came when Gebauer’s shot at the 87:11 mark hit the goalpost. The second opportunity came off the corner kick when the Bills nearly got the ball across the line, but did not convert. Home fans groaned for a foul in the box, which would have re-sulted in a penalty kick, but no call was made.

“Dayton is a tough team

at the top of the conference, they have some special play-ers going forward,” Head Coach Kat Mertz said, “I thought we were giving them too much respect and not coming out and playing like we did on Friday night.”

Mertz said that the last minute corner kick where there appeared to be a foul was a “referee’s call.”

“On Friday we scored on [a] three-set piece so I thought we might have a chance with the last minute corner kick,” Mertz said.

The women’s team will travel to Richmond, Va. on Friday to take on Virginia Commonwealth University followed by a match against the University of Richmond on Sunday.

After the road trip, the Bills will return home to play Saint Joseph’s Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the “Kicks Against Breast Can-cer” game. The Bills will wear pink jerseys during that game.

“I think the schedule is a good schedule for us go-ing forward, our goal is to make the A-10 tournament. We will take it one game at a time and VCU is next on our schedule,” Mertz said.

John Schuler / Photo Editor

Atlantic 10 media day lays blueprint for Bills’ season

By TONY TRAINA Associate Sports Editor

Let the madness begin. Just days after rapper Jay-Z opened the Barclays Cen-ter with a sold-out concert, the Atlantic 10 hosted their men’s basketball media day in the new, $1 billion arena.

Over 200 guests and media members were in an empire state of mind as they descended upon the new arena for a chance to see the coaches of all 16 teams together.

Saint Joseph’s was picked to win the Atlantic 10, receiving 11 first-place votes. Saint Louis Univer-sity followed close behind

though, receiving 10 first-place ballots. Overall, six teams received votes to win the A-10. While SLU is an early front-runner for the league title, it will certainly be a hard knock life for them as the league added two traditional basketball powerhouses, and Temple does not leave the league until next season.

Saint Joseph’s will wel-come the return of all five starters from last season’s (20-14) team. Saint Joesph’s returns the best frontcourt in the A-10, led by NBA prospect C.J. Aiken. Like-wise, SLU will see the re-turn of four of their starters, only losing forward Brian Conklin.

Of course, SLU is also

missing perhaps its most important piece, as coach Rick Majerus continues to recuperate in a California hospital. National media outlets in attendance, in-cluding ESPN’s Andy Katz, speculated as to if Majerus’ absence swung the pre-sea-son voting in Saint Joseph’s favor. Interim coach Jim Crews will seek to fulfill the lofty expectations thrust upon this Billikens squad.

There was certainly a palpable buzz around this season’s media day, as the A-10 further strength-ened its position as the top basketball-led conference in Division I. To add to the

See “Atlantic 10” on Page 11

Sports Programming, said. “This long-term extension will continue to serve fans with the Conference’s pre-mier content across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU into the next decade.”

“The Atlantic 10 has been a terrific partner and we’re proud to continue showcasing action from one of the top college basket-ball conferences for many years,” Dan Weinberg, CBS Senior Vice President of Programming, said. “Our partnership has been an unquestioned success, and with the quality of basket-ball throughout the confer-ence now stronger than ever, we’re excited to an-nually feature an extensive line-up of games.”

The NBC Sports Group agreement includes a six-game package for the up-coming season. Games list-ed on the original schedule as A-10 TV, including Saint Louis University’s games on Feb. 2 versus Dayton and March 9 vs. La Salle, will be featured on NBC Sports Network.

“These agreements, which will allow our fans the ability to watch Atlantic 10 basketball on national television more than ever before, further separates and solidifies the A-10 as the best basketball-centric conference in the country,” McGlade said. “This deal also provides the A-10 in-creased control over future intellectual property rights and positions the league to be digital innovators. Hav-ing completed the national television agreements, my primary focus will now be on securing partnerships for the future A-10 digital network we are contemplat-ing as well as our A-10 cor-porate partner program.”

W 3-0

Women’s Soccer

L 0-1

1. Saint Joseph’s2. Saint Louis3. VCU4. Temple5. Massachusetts6. Butler7. La Salle8. Dayton

9. Xavier10. Richmond11. St. Bonaventure12. Charlotte 13. George Washington14. Fordham15. Rhode Island16. Duquesne

All Atlantic 10 first team: Kevin Dillard (Dayton), Chris Gaston (Fordham), Chaz Williams (UMass), Kwamain Mitchell (Saint Louis), Khalif Wyatt (Temple)

SPORTS 11unewsonline.comOCTOBER 11, 2012

This year Saint Louis is going to be good, so we need to stay aggressive.

“”

-Kwamain Mitchell

Athletes: social life, studying, sleeping and training - pick two

athletes being involved in different things.”

In that 2010 NCAA sur-vey, men’s basketball play-ers reported spending two hours more on athletics than on academics during a typical week.

It’s important to re-member though, that SLU student-athletes “aren’t the SEC [Southeastern Con-ference] athletes that ev-eryone hears about on the news,” as Brian Conklin, former SLU billiken, said.

While there is a percep-tion that athletes miss out on many aspects of the vaunted “college life,” the vast majority have no re-grets in their decision to pursue collegiate athletics.

“I don’t have any regrets as far as not being able to spend as much time on other extracurricular ac-tivities,” Urzendowski said. “The tennis team puts a great emphasis on academ-ic achievement.”

When looking at the NCAA Academic Progress Rate, an NCAA measure of athlete eligibility and re-tention, for different SLU athletic teams, it is easy to see truth in Urzendowksi’s claim.

The women’s tennis team had a score of 1000 for the 2010-2011 season, representing a 100 percent graduation rate among its players.

This compares favorably to the two lowest perform-ers at SLU, baseball with a score of 945 and basketball with a score of 923, the lat-ter being roughly equiva-lent to a 50 percent gradu-ation rate.

In fact, after recent NCAA reforms, a four-year average score below 930 will soon confer postseason bans for the offending team.

So, what does the term student-athlete mean at Saint Louis University now? Part meme and part mar-keting ploy, the term was once as pristine as the dol-phin pond.

Originally, intercolle-

giate athletics was a way for schools to espouse their mission, coaching students in the “game of life.” Some-where along the way, amid the two-a-day practices, tax-ing travel schedules and multi-million dollar televi-sion contracts, athletics lost its way. Its role on campus and in the community has undoubtedly changed.

“We are like a walking image of campus,” Conklin said.

Athletics provides a tan-gible link between the cam-pus and the outside com-

munity or alumni. A much stronger connection is felt to the uniformed hero com-manding the court than the quirky intellectual or virtuo-so violinist.

The very term student-athlete is meant to perpetu-ate the myth that the ath-letes in high-profile sports are still students first, that athletics is secondary to ac-ademics—something akin

to being a student govern-ment senator, a member of the pep band and yes, even an editor for the school newspaper.

Division I athletes re-port a stronger athletic self-identity than academic and attribute their college choice more to athletic con-siderations than academic. Unfortunately, this pattern is often reflected in schools’ own behavior.

“That is definitely rea-sonable and understand-able,” Kaburakis said. “The overall environment that

has been created in the past 100 plus years is some-thing innate in American culture.” Athletics call upon humans’ passions in ways that even the most spirited of academic debates cannot fathom.

So, if it looks like an ath-lete, spends more time on athletics and identifies as an athlete, why is there an insistence upon calling it a student-athlete?

For many athletes in low-profile sports like Urzen-dowski, it remains the truth.

Even Conklin, a star on last year’s Billiken squad, felt this way, earning an MBA in just four years.

“We really enjoy the same chance at a free meal that every other student is excited for. You just have to interact with the student body and show that you struggle with professors and homework too,” Conk-lin said.

“You get the best of both worlds, I get both in my classes too,” Kaburakis said.

These few remaining student-athletes are in-creasingly in the minority though. Not only do many feel they are athletes first; increasingly, schools and society treat them this way.

From a young age, stu-dents are indoctrinated with the notion that athletic pursuits are more valued than intellectual endeavors.

And nowhere is this di-chotomy more entrenched than in the country’s uni-versities, the supposed har-bingers of intellectual pro-gressivism.

Now, it’s off to Chaifetz Arena for tipoff. It is game day—time to watch every-one’s favorite athlete-stu-dents.

Continued from Page 9Continued from Page 10

Atlantic 10: SLU picked second

Business AdministrationCommunicationPsychology

NursingBiologyPhysical TherapyPsychologyCommmunication

Top Majors of High Profile Athletes

Top Majors of General Student Body

50.0%14.3%

4.8%

8.8%6.9%4.3%4.1%2.9%

hype, Jim Crews and other coaches were seen in pro-motional videos lounging in Jay-Z’s newest 40/40 Club in the Barclays Center.

Newcomers to the league, Virginia Common-wealth and Butler, were picked to finish third and sixth, respectively.

The two teams have com-bined for three Final Four appearances in the past three seasons. Traditional powerhouses Dayton and Xavier just cracked the top 10, coming in at eight and nine, dem-onstra t ing the depth of this year’s 1 6 - t e a m league.

X a v i e r reached the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA tour-nament, but a number of o f f - season depar tures and dismiss-als leave reasonable doubt as to if the Musketeers can repeat their traditionally strong showings.

Temple was picked fourth and Massachusetts fifth, rounding out what promises to be one of the deepest basketball confer-ences this season.

This will be the only sea-son the Atlantic 10 has 16 teams, as Temple and Char-lotte will depart after this year. The returning regular season champion Temple Owls lost two leading scor-ers, but will look to make a final splash before they leave for the Big East next season.

SLU is one of five teams

in the new Atlantic 10 seek-ing an encore to last year’s efforts that landed them in the NCAA tournament. Outside of the “big six” conferences, The A-10 has sent the most teams to the NCAA tournament this cen-tury.

As interim coach Crews said though, “you don’t start off with 25 wins, you start of with zero.” While Saint Joseph’s and Saint Louis are expected to fin-ish atop the conference, they will have to watch their throne as every team in the league comes in with high expectations.

W h i l e the entire B i l l i k e n squad will c e r t a i n l y be in the Atlantic 10 s p o t l i g h t this season, a couple individuals will be as well. Se-nior guard K w a m a i n M i t c h e l l

garnered first team All-At-lantic 10 honors, and junior Jordair Jett was named to the All-Defensive team.

“The difference between this year and last year is that people didn’t know Saint Louis was going to be good [last year],” senior Kwa-main Mitchell said. “This year Saint Louis is going to be good so we need to keep the same agressiveness.”

Now that the blueprint has been laid to return to the Barclays Center for the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, fans will watch with baited breath to see which team will be crowned Brooklyn’s finest in March.

Interested in Graduate Studies in Theology?

Come talk with the Admissions Director and a current student from the Jesuit School of Theology on

Tuesday, October 16 12pm to 2pm

In the Eckelkamp Center for Campus Ministry

UFASHION

Project: Design! models in the LB by Lauren Bander line wore a multitude of trapeze-style dresses throughout the show.

unewsonline.com OCTOBER 11, 2012

Thoughts on female Halloween costumes

From scarily-clad to scantily-lacking

If you want to rock

one of these less-than-

modest costumes,

fine, but it would be

cheaper to wear a bi-

kini and call yourself

a ‘spring-breaker.’

“

”

Local designer wins fashion contest

Combating cold, lackluster skin

Autumn is a wonderful time of the year with changing leaves, pumpkin-spice anything, cozy scarves and relief from the hot days of Midwest summers. However, the trifecta of lower temperatures, lower humidity and higher winds can be harsh on the skin. Complexion losing its vibrancy? Skin looking dull? That summertime glow may be lost, but a few any-season steps can help bring it back.

The first thing to consider is hydration. A glowing complexion starts from within, and while it might be tempting to down hot latte after latte, they aren’t helping like water would.

Being well hydrated is an important and easy step to achieve radiant skin; try to aim for eight, eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Adding a cup of hot tea in the morning and hot decaffeinated tea at night can be an easy way to boost water consumption without feeling bored with your beverages.

Secondly, in order to achieve a glowing complexion, you need to get rid of the dry, dead skin built-up on most outer layers. To achieve this, you can use an exfoliating brush such as Clarisonic ($119 and up at Sephora.com), or simply pick up St. Ives Fresh Skin Invigorating Apricot Scrub ($3.49 at Walgreens.com).

Be gentle, use warm water and scrub in circular motions to remove the dead skin. Then, rinse with warm water and pat dry. Be careful not to over exfoliate. Depending on your skin type, you may only need to do this one to two times a week.

Believe it or not, your lips can also benefit from a light scrub.

Lip scrubs will make all your favorite lip colors look flawless and prevent feathering. Add one-half tablespoon of honey with one-half tablespoon of granulated sugar— since you already have both for the aforementioned tea, this should be easy.

Simply rub the mixture on your lips with a finger, apply to both upper and bottom lip, and scrub gently. Remove with a warm wash cloth, and voila—you will instantly have soft, supple lips. Add your favorite lip balm and you are good to go.

After you have gently

exfoliated your face (and lips), it is crucial to moisturize, especially in the colder months when skin loses moisture more rapidly. Apply a generous amount of your favorite facial cream to the face and neck after cleansing to lock in moisture. Besides having healthier, more radiant skin, a well-moisturized face will hold makeup longer with fewer touchups. Use an oil-free face lotion such as Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer ($7.30 at Target.com), which also includes SPF 15.

Using a moisturizer with SPF is very important. Just because the months are fuller of cloudy days does not mean you can skip the step of SPF. Skin damage can and will take place if one does not protect the skin, no matter if it’s clear skies or cloudy days.

You do not have to make this an extra step. Many facial moisturizers and makeup foundations have SPF built in, making it easy to protect your skin from harmful UVB rays. Using sun protection now will ensure a healthy, youthful complexion years down the road. You’ll be thankful then.

After your skin is exfoliated and protected, you can then proceed to do your makeup. However, now is a good time to check if your foundation color is still suitable. It is very unlikely that one person can use the same foundation over the course of the year— if you can, you are lucky.

To check if your color is suitable, place the foundation on your jawline and blend lightly. Make sure you are in natural light and check in a mirror.

A subtle difference is OK because it can be blended out, but you may realize your foundation color is a couple shades too dark or too light.

If you go searching for a new color but can’t find a correct match, simply buy the two closest shades and custom create your own foundation. You can tweak as your skin lightens and darkens with the seasons.

L’oreal True Match (starting at $8.49 at Target.com) has a great selection of foundations making it easy to find a correct foundation fit.

These steps are easy and will be sure to make a difference in your complexion. Raise your cup of water/tea and cheers to healthy, more radiant skin, even as more and more of it is covered in fall sweaters and scarves.

I love Halloween. It’s one night of the year when everyone has the chance to take on a completely differ-

ent per-s o n a and no one will f i n d it odd ( d e -p e n d -ing on w h a t or who you are p o r -

t r a y -ing…) because everyone else is doing it.

Taking on a new identity is part of the reason I love fashion— it just takes one item that is a little out your style norms to change your attitude or the way you car-ry yourself.

What I do not love about this holiday is what it be-comes after the age of 14.

When did the 31st of October transition from trick-or-treating to the legendary “Mean Girls” line of, “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it”?

We all remember the bunny outfit Regina George sported throughout this cult-classic scene.

This idea of putting on animal ears has transformed tried-and-true costumes like Minnie Mouse from a cute little mouse wearing polka-dot bloomers with a flower in her hair into a miniskirt, bustier and thigh-high combination.

It’s more like her dirty evil twin than Mrs. Mickey. I wonder why people think they need to wear a foot of fabric in order to dress up for this holiday. I simply do not understand.

Maybe it’s because I am always cold.

Ladies, we wonder why and often complain about men objectifying us… well, maybe it’s because we wear costumes smaller than our childhood garments in representation of the spookiest holiday.

There are certainly people who wear less clothing than the average girl on a regular basis and own it (get it, girl!), but for those of us who are not normally that open with our bodies, is it necessary to need an excuse or a reason to wear minimal clothing?

Saint Louis Fashion Week kicked off Tuesday night with Project: Design!, the designer-versus-design-er fashion competition. Af-ter an evening of runway shows, brand LB, created by designer Lauren Bander, took home the grand prize with Elise Lammert win-ning the People’s Choice Award.

The LB collection show-cased several trapeze-style dresses, a few with trains so long and flowing they almost hit front-row attend-ees while marching down the catwalk.

Other LB looks included crop tops with high-waisted bottoms and semi-full, balle-rina skirts in a lightweight fabric.

Bander, of St. Louis, is “…specializing in dresses for every occasion (casual to couture), while begin-ning to introduce ready-to-wear separates,” according to AliveMag.com.

As winner, Bander will receive a trunk show in St. Louis, a video by Brian Brunner Photography and a Fabric.com gift card, among other items.

Lammert, the People’s Choice Award winner,

presented a collection pri-marily of dresses; the line showcased an alternative-vibe mixed with proper fit in ensembles like a plaid, gray, sweetheart-neck or back-less, blue-and-black striped dresses.

The event took place in-side the Saint Louis Science Center’s Exploradome— a

giant, bubble-looking area that brought a level of in-dustrialism to the event and showcased the added scaf-folding around the lounge seating and runway.

Colorful lights shone onto the ceiling of the dome, creating a proper ambiance for an aesthetically-focused event.

Centered around a large bar, the cocktail pre-party was complete with shoes meticulously placed on ta-bletops and an ice sculpture in the center.

A car— a Chevrolet Spark, to be specific, as the line had worked with the designers prior during a car-meets-fashion collabo-

ration— was parked in the corner of the room near a few merchandise booths. Live music and painting took place in the opposite corner and Brown Shoe Company advertisements on the last wall, engulfing

Saint Louis Fashion WeekNow through

Saturday, Oct. 13

Events take place at a variety of locations,

including local malls. Tickets are required.

J. Crew at Samuel Cupples House

Thursday, Oct. 115 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Clothing and accessories, both men

and women’s wear, will be presented while

personal shoppers assist fashion addicts. Appetizers and wine will be served, and a piece of J. Crew

jewelry will be given away. Admission is $5.

Style in the LoopFriday, Oct. 126 p.m. - 8 p.mDelmar Loop

This free event will feature special sales, artistic performances

and music.

Men of StyleThursday, Oct. 25

6 p.m.-9 p.m.J. Bucks Clayton

Stylish males will be celebrated with

complimentary beverages, music and

appetizers. RSVP online to attend. A $10 charitable donation is

recommended.

STL STYLE

Fashion Happenings

Call me conservative or tell me I sound like your mother, but is it really necessary to leave that little (or nothing at all) to the imagination?

Part of the fun of Halloween is the inevitable debauchery and devil-may-care activities we all partake in.

How are those things feasible when you are sporting something low-cut, backless and latex?

I cannot comprehend why anyone would wear something that constricts your body and requires you to have a designated friend to make sure nothing slips out.

While the front of the “Vixen Kitten Costume” from Johnny Brocks Dungeon makes complete sense to me (long sleeved, black, bust-enhancing), how

in the world is Catwoman supposed to do her super-heroine duties in a backless cat suit? Catwoman’s normal outfit— back covered and all— is sexy enough, isn’t it?

If you want to rock one of these less-than-modest costumes, fine, but it would be cheaper to wear a bikini and call yourself a “spring-breaker.”

For females searching for adult-sized costumes that are less come-hither and more, dare I say, festive, know that those costumes exist.

Personally, I’m a sucker for ironic or cutesy costumes that resemble old-fashioned or even childlike Halloween ensembles.

They are adorable, unexpected, incredibly easy to deal with and, better yet, they are comfortable.

Most all of us have a photo somewhere of our

By ANNE KEPPLERStaff Writer

By JULIA CHRISTENSENFashion Editor

Saint Louis Fashion Week’s Project: Design! crowns winners

See “Design” on Page 13

first Halloween costume. In mine, I was seven months old, sporting a pumpkin suit with ghost themed tights that are bunched up at my toes because my mother could not get them all the way up my fat little nugget legs.

Miss that kind of simplicity? FredFlare.com is a great website for kitschy holiday items and every year they always have a few costumes.

If you are dead set on the animal theme, the “Panda Dress” ($72) from FredFlare.com is the peak of black-and-white adorableness.

Let the cute panda face shine and stay warm by adding thick, black tights and black flats.

For the perpetually freezing, FredFlare.com offers the “Sweet-Hearted Sailor Dress” ($88)— this navy number with white accents and a sailor collar just needs a jaunty sailor hat to complete the look.

The three-quarter sleeves offer some warmth without covering the adorable costume.

To further the look, add a gold anchor bracelet and some red shoes.

For those interested in innocence and Halloween tradition, FredFlare.com has a few more options. The sweet “Cutie Candycorn Dress” ($78) has a mini-dress length and trapeze shape, complete with the white, orange and yellow stripes any proper candycorn would have. It’s demure and classy and it comes with a hat, which makes it downright hilarious.

FredFlare.com’s little “Jolly Jack-O-Lantern Dress” ($78) is one of my favorites; it’s a great example of innocent fun for females on Halloween. Between the short sleeves and the petite collar, it’s perfectly playful and still manages to showcase the legs of the owner.

This Halloween, have fun, be safe and do not accept candy that is not in its original wrapper... Let me rephrase that to fit our college lives: have fun, be safe and do not drink anything in a bathtub, trashcan or large tub.

While this is one of the few times of the year when anything goes, how about we go all out but not all-off?

Annie Garea

Noah Berman / Contributor

Call for fashionable students

Calling all style-savvy students! Nominate

yourself -- or a fashionable friend! -- to be featured in

the University News’ Search for Style. Those who have what it takes will be highlighted in the fashion section.

Send your best picture to fashion@unewsonline.com.

FASHION 13unewsonline.comOCTOBER 11, 2012

Find protec-tion from the bit-ter breeze with an oversized scarf

“”

Continued from Page 12

Top left, child models strutted down the runway in petite ULICNI dresses and ballet flats, stealing the show. Top right, a fitted minidress made of cigarette packs, complete with matching pointed-shoulder jacket, was one of three cardboard looks by Elise Lammert. Bottom left, a bouffant-styled model with equally retro cat eye makeup wore a fitted plaid dress with a sweetheart neckline by Lammert before the designer won the People’s Choice Award. Bottom right, the Sansone show featured both male and female attire, including a suit with a red-orange, patterned vest and tie.

In design and fashion there is a propagated con-cept that less is more—

the less f l a s h a n d g l a m , t h e m o r e f o c u s and em-phasis is p l a c e d on one’s stylistic choices.

A d r e s s

sported by Lady Gaga is not so much a dress as it is a meat market and a case of E. coli waiting to happen— so much shock value is placed on the piece that we forget about the essential components of the outfit. While this is an extreme ex-ample, it illustrates the fact that we are able to process the fundamentals of an out-fit very quickly.

We’ve seen this trend of minimalism over the years in our own chain and de-partment stores— how tacky is a dragon-print graphic T-shirt from Kohl’s compared to a sleek V-neck from Gap? The pronounce-ment of “Hello! I’m quirky and indecisive with an ugly, irrelevant reptile on my shirt” is proof that just because an article of cloth-ing is flashy and attention grabbing does not make it flattering or fashionable. All that glitters is not gold.

The truth is that sim-plistic style is louder than bright plaid cargo shorts— summer 2007 was great while it lasted. Ralph Lau-

ren may have bought an ex-cess of colorful madras for a season, but that doesn’t mean you have to perpetu-ate it five years later.

My favorite outfits are monochromatic; note that this is not an excuse to dress in all black or an un-obtrusive red jacket. Stay-ing within one hue is the goal— color matching is not. Your name is not Sher-win Williams, and it doesn’t matter in either fluorescent or incandescent light, pair-ing shades of the same col-or looks too contrived and forced.

For a smoky look, try this: a heather grey T-shirt covered by a black car-digan, accompanied by a checkered gray and black scarf. Don’t go overboard, though. Skip the black skin-ny jeans because dark wash blue jeans will give the eyes a break with the black loaf-ers.

If that’s too dark, con-sider a fall alternative: an olive-green V-neck sweater overlaying a striped green and white button down. Khaki corduroy pants of-fer texture and warmth for chilly mornings— keep the belt brown and driving moc-casins along the same tone. Neutrals are your friends when creating a one-palette ensemble.

Minimalism subtracts the fatigue of an over-the-top outfit. Isn’t it tiring to figure out the intent of a look? Mystery is intrigu-ing, but trying to piece to-gether an Agatha Christie of a wardrobe is not fun, even during the time of year when suspense and horror

are prevalent. Halloween is the only time when one should guess your costume.

Mentioned in a video report by BBC, available at BBC.co.uk, the return to minimalism is attributed to the global economic crisis. This isn’t just for fashion; design in general is return-ing to the basic fundamen-tals of function.

At the end of the day, profitability will trump a conceptual design. Money makes the world go around.

This isn’t to say that your outfits have to be drab. Add-ing accessories adds per-sonality and flavor to your ensemble.

But in the wise words of my elementary school art teacher on the usage of glue, “A little dab’ll do ya!” You don’t want to be a walk-ing pawn shop.

There are very few in-stances when you should roll out of bed, throw some-thing on, and get on with your day— it just so hap-pens that those days I get the most compliments. This is because I use a simple technique: forethought.

I may not finish my homework before going to bed, but I do know exactly what I am going to wear the next day. It’s a math equa-tion to me. Clean laundry, plus what has looked fabu-lous before, divided by the weather equals preparation for the next day’s attire.

Maybe when the stock market is back on track and the world is making money again, we will party like rockstars with prints and sequins— but for now, lay low and save the dough.

Robbie Barnhart

Staying warm, fashionable during impending months of cold

With fall crisping into winter, the landscape of St. Louis is definitely chang-ing. And with such a stark drop in temperature as seen last week, things are changing quickly, but keep-ing warm doesn’t necessar-ily mean bundling up à la Ralphie from “A Christmas Story.” The transition from flirty summer dresses and cool Bermuda shorts to fluffy scarves and sweaters can be made seamlessly and fashionably.

Late fall can be pretty windy, and when that wind is chilly, the wrong attire can really put a damper on the day. Find protec-tion from the bitter breeze with an oversized scarf. Whether it is a standard or loop-knit, bundling up un-der a fluffy scarf not only protects from the cold but can be a statement piece of its own. Stores like The Gap and J.Crew offer fashion-able and functional scarves for both sexes.

While many univer-sity students love school-themed hoodies and fleece pullovers, apparel in winter months need not be limited to pilled, academic zip-ups.

The timeless camel-col-ored wool coat is a great way to class up any cold day. The J.Crew Double-Cloth Metro Coat ($298) accentuates one’s waist and allows for statement pieces like a bright scarf or pat-terned leggings.

If one’s personal style is a little bolder, the same coat

by J.Crew also comes in Jade and Vintage Berry.

Dark-wash jeans in the colder months are not only slimming (which comes in handy in the carb-heavy hi-bernating months), but also a bit warmer than the light-er wash jeans by absorbing the sunlight.

In addition, darker wash jeans provide better cam-ouflage for the unfortunate puddle splashes or unex-pected drizzles anyone spending time outdoors should anticipate.

Although all must bid a

solemn adieu to sandal sea-son, the news is not all bad. Take a moment to mourn and then remember boots can be equally comfortable, stylish and practical. Rang-ing from the very expensive to the college-budget-friend-ly, there are tons of options in style and function.

For the rainy days of late fall, rain boots like Hunter come in an array of colors to match any personality, and department stores like Target offer affordable and trendy alternatives.

The trend of the tall leather boot is still going strong. It’s easy to see why; they are available in myriad

stains and leather. The Frye Company has perfected the fall and winter boot for both sexes, showcasing dozens of styles. Although they are a bit of an investment, the boots are made with exqui-site detail, which leads to many years of comfort and wear.

Whether preferring the mid-calf look to the over-the-knee style, the ankle bootie to the fur-lined slip-on, with or without a heel or suede to polished leather, there is assuredly a perfect winter boot out there for all styles. If overwhelmed, Zappos.com helps shoppers narrow down the results with user-friendly search criteria.

When selecting a boot, be careful with the mate-rial of the sole of the shoe. If you anticipate wet sur-faces or snowy sidewalks, steer clear of leather soled shoes. They are notorious for becoming very slick in inclement circumstances. Stick with rubber or other synthetic materials to keep tailbones bruise-free.

For those particularly cold winter days, throwing some tall socks under a pair of leather or rain boots can be both functional and trendy. This look is chic, ca-sual and (best of all) keeps toes perfectly warm. A lace-topped or brightly colored sock can add that extra de-tail that really pulls an outfit together.

Don’t be afraid to be bold this winter. Staying warm doesn’t have to mean bor-ing and utilitarian. Dare to be a beacon of color in an otherwise wintery and beige landscape.

Minimalistic fashion, design is the new black

all attendees in pure, un-daulterated style. Attend-ees wore outfits ranging from casual to semi-formal. The black, closed-toe stilet-tos— a popular choice for the night— clicked across the colorful c h e c k e r e d floor of the Exploradome while the wearers show-cased trends like shorts-with-tights.

Saint Louis U n i v e r s i t y graduate and employee Ty Sondag volunteered for the event, as he is hoping to work in fashion eventually. Although he missed the shows to work by the door, he found the event to be “very interesting… Unlike anything I’ve seen before in real life. I got to see almost everyone walk in and walk out, and you see some crazy outfits you wouldn’t see ev-ery day.”

In the runway room, four rows of seating were on either side of the catwalk, complete with swag bags for the lucky few who had a chair, with designated standing room behind the “velvet” ropes.

Attendees bottlenecked in the entrance and waited under the shoe chande-lier— VIP ticket holders allowed in first, then those who bought a seat, finally the general fashion-loving party crowd.

Momentarily the room was chaotic as extra seats were snapped up by guests darting through crowds and under ropes.

“I think it’s one of our best groups to-date,” Eliza-beth Tucker, co-founder of STLFW, said of the latest Project: Design contes-tants. “It’s really exciting.”

Described as “emerg-ing artists” by Tucker, the designers of Project: De-sign! compete during each STLFW with several previ-ous contestants moving on to television-favorite “Proj-ect Runway.”

LB model and high school student Carley Nick-el said, prior to the winner being announced, that she thought her designer would take home the coveted grand prize.

“I loved it,” said Nickel of

the LB collection. “All of her stuff was so everyday wear-able.”

Bander and Lammert may have walked away with the main prizes, but other competing designers were able showcase their unique looks and trends at the

event. Long,

v i s i b l e b a c k z ippers w e r e s h o w n in sever-al outfits by final-ist Jes-sica Af-fsprung in the I

AM SLY collection, along with a repeating tribal-meets-chevron patterned fabric.

The Sansone collection was the first of the evening to showcase both male and female fashion. The collec-tion seemed part military and part equestrian with a touch of sex appeal, as seen in the first look, a red slip dress with metal details.

The collection also showed a new take on go-ing-out wear with female, fitted tuxedo jackets with tails and a semi-long two-button men’s trench.

Children’s style was not ignored at the event, as brand ULICNI included three ultra-petite models showcasing child versions of the gowns that dominat-ed her runway show.

The line, both in adult and child forms, was a col-lection of dusty-colored, pastel dresses with airy skirts (think Glinda from “The Wizard of Oz” mixed with Carrie’s opening-cred-its outfit from “Sex and the City”).

ULICNI model Lauren Griffin said she “felt like a princess” in her gown and noted how much she en-joyed the metallic hairpiece that she and other models wore during the event.

“The girlier a line is the easier it is for me to get into character,” said Griffin.

The final designer of the evening, Whitney Manney, presented a collection of street fashion, according to her AliveMag.com biogra-phy.

The colors and fabrics were distant from other contestants, as Manney’s designers showcased out-fits like pleather, circle

miniskirts with matching bicycle shorts below a mul-ticolored, shiny jacket.

The color purple resur-faced a multitude of times in Manney’s line, along with colorful vinyl and plush leopard print.

After the shows, attend-ees voted via Twitter, us-ing designated hashtags, to pick the People’s Choice

winner.Tucker and Dwight

Carter, co-producer of Proj-ect: Design! according to AliveMag.com, explained before the show started that the six finalists were selected from 46 submis-sions.

The submissions were narrowed down to 20 by a panel of professionals and

morphed into the top six by fashion-adoring voters.

Project: Design! is one of five events during STLFW, excluding the two launch parties from weeks prior.

“A team of us who felt like there was a need for a fashion week in the Mid-west” created STLFW, said Tucker in an interview pri-or to the most recent event.

“At the time, Chicago wasn’t even doing it.” Tucker esti-mated it took approximately six months to plan the first fashion week in 2007.

STLFW will wrap up this Saturday at the Liquid Style boutique show with nightly shows during the days pri-or. Information for the up-coming events can be found at AliveMag.com.

I think this is one of our best groups to-date“

”-Elizabeth Tucker, STLFW Co-Founder

Design: Local fashion designers competed, presented during Saint Louis Fashion Week event

By EMILY THELANDER Staff Writer

Noah Berman / Contributor Noah Berman / Contributor

Noah Berman / ContributorNoah Berman / Contributor

OCTOBER 11, 2012unewsonline.com14 ADVERTISEMENT

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Saint Louis University students, faculty and staff who want to visibly

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