Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

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Vol. 90 Issue 27

Of interest online

Informing Arkansas State University since 1921the herald

asuherald.com

Kayla PaineStaff Writer

Today ASU System President Charles Welch announced the three finalist applicants for the chancellor search.

The finalists are:Dr. John M. Beehler, Founding • Provost and Vice President for Academic Excellence and Stu-dent Success at the University of North Texas at DallasDr. Soraya M. Coley, Provost/• Vice President for Academic Affairs and Interim Vice Pres-ident for University Advance-ment at California State Uni-versity – BakersfieldDr. Tim Hudson, Vice Chan-• cellor of the Texas Tech Uni-versity System

"I am extremely pleased with the quality of these three finalists," Welch said in a press release. "Each of these individuals has a stellar re-cord of providing strong leadership at prestigious institutions of higher education"

Candidates were chosen from a pool of 29 applicants, but only 27 were left for consideration when Welch made his decision.

Interim Chancellor G. Daniel Howard, as of July 1, 2010, decided to bow out of the search as an appli-cant yesterday.

Howard was the first to apply on

Oct. 16 and called Welch yesterday to say that after considerable thought he felt it was best for him and the university to return to his position as executive vice chancellor and pro-vost, which his contract allows. He will remain interim chancellor until the new chancellor is selected.

“Dan Howard has the experience and knowledge necessary for the po-sition, but now this removes one per-son from consideration for the job,” said Welch.

Currently the interim chancel-lor position is being paid $230,727, which may have to be supplemented with private funding to attract an out-of-state applicant.

Ultimately, Welch will make the decision on who is chosen for the chancellor position, but he created the Chancellor Search Advisory Com-mittee to aid him in the search.

In the past, ASU brought in ex-pensive consultants for the process of hiring a new official. However, Welch created the 20-person committee comprised of faculty, staff, students and Jonesboro civic leaders to have a well-rounded recommendation.

“A big concern of faculty through-out this process is that Welch would just pick a good ol’ boy to fill the po-sition because it was not uncommon among the past ASU officials to do that,” said Jack Zibluk, faculty sen-ate president.

“Welch went above and beyond to

break this cycle and to bring in some-one that is truly fit for the job.”

The committee met yesterday via conference call and made their of-ficial recommendation to Welch. He spent the rest of the evening mak-ing phone calls to the applicants and making his final decision.

Welch said he was pleased with the efforts of the committee, and that each member provided thoughtful feedback.

"I was delighted that we were able to move the process along this quick-ly," Welch said.

The three finalist applicants will be invited to Jonesboro for a din-ner, meetings, community tour and interviews within the next couple of weeks. Even though the three have been chosen, applications are still be-ing accepted. Welch said that if a new application is considered, it would have to be a very strong individual.

Hunter Petrus, student govern-ment association president and Sharnea Diggs, a masters of public administration graduate student, serve on the committee as the stu-dents' voice.

“We have made a real effort to help pick a chancellor to be a great role model that will interact with student’s well,” said Petrus. “We want ASU to be an institution that will continue to benefit students.”

Welch said the position should be filled before the end of February.

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

SGA votes to add graduate seats

Sara KrimmHerald Editor

The Student Government Association passed an exec-utive resolution to add two senate seats for graduate students in its first meeting of the semester on Tuesday night.

The resolution was opened to questioning and debate, followed by a vote.

“As a graduate student, I really think the addition of two seats is a good idea,” said graduate senator Adri-an Everett during the sen-ate debate.

SGA president Hunter Petrus added, “It will truly help the senate to be well rounded and represent all students equally.”

The resolution was voted on and passed unanimously by the senators, and will now be open for the student body to vote online. The student body must vote in favor

See SGA, page 5

GSC unhappywith resolution

Sara KrimmHerald Editor

The Graduate Student Council expressed irritation with the SGA's passed resolution to add two graduate senate seats on Tuesday.

“The Graduate Student Council congratulates the SGA on finally taking notice to the importance of gradu-ate students at Arkansas State University,” GSC presi-dent LaDesta McCann said.

“While on the surface it appears that it is a good thing that graduate students be given an increase from ap-proximately five percent of the SGA positions to approxi-mately 10 percent despite the fact that graduate students comprise approximately 25 percent of the student body, it in no way validates the false claim that they represent the needs of graduate students.”

Since the spring of 2011, the two organizations have been at odds. The GSC moved into its own office in the

See GSC, page 5

Howard withdraws from Chancellor applicant pool, Welch announces finalists

Dyer cited for suspended license

Lindsey BlakelyNews Editor

During his first week of attending ASU, football star Michaeal Dyer, who recently transferred from Auburn, received a citation Friday for driving on a sus-pended license and play-ing loud music in his car parked at Collegiate Park.

According to the police report, Officer Ron Smith received complaints of loud music and when he got to the area he found Dyer’s vehicle running with loud music coming from it.

Smith said he made con-tact with Dyer and told him why he was there, to which Dyer reportedly replied he

was sorry for playing his music so loud.

When Smith asked for his driver’s license for cita-tion information, the report says Dyer stated that he didn’t have his license with him but gave him his name and birth date instead.

When Smith had com-munication check for a valid driver’s license, he found that Dyer’s license was suspended.

Dyer reportedly told Smith that the suspended license was supposed to be taken care of.

When later contacted by The Herald, Dyer said his license was suspended because he failed to pay a ticket out of Mississippi.

“I was in Auburn when the court date was sched-uled and I couldn’t make it because I was playing foot-ball,” Dyer said.

Dyer also said that he had taken care of the ticket since then.

Dyer was cited with driv-ing on a suspended license and city ordinance loud noise with a court date of

See DYER, page 5

Charges brought on students with gun on campusLindsey Blakely

News Editor

At 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 7, student patroller Micheal Jacobs called in possible shots fired near the ROTC residence hall.

When Officer Billy Branch reported to the area, he was contacted by Jacobs and told that the shots came from the first floor of the ROTC residence hall.

After finding the room where the shots were fired and finding no one in there, they found out that the suspects, juniors Rickey Langston and Kyle Greer had left the room and were

asked to return to the scene.

According to Officer Ter-ry Phipps, when the two returned they both stated they were sorry and that the gun had gone off acci-

dentally.Phipps then asked the

whereabouts of the gun and Langston replied that it had been taken to a resi-dence at Sage Meadows.

According to the report,

both suspects made state-ments saying that Langs-ton had pulled the gun out to show Greer and when Greer reloaded it he at-tempted to close the cylin-der and then gun went off accidentally.

Bullet fragments went into the bed frame and then put a hole in the win-dow screen of the room.

When Residence Life Di-rector, Patrick Dixon, was asked if they will be seek-ing reimbursement for the damaged frame and win-dow screen, he declined to comment.

Once Langston had giv-en his statement, he was

See GUN, page 5

Ashley Helliwell/Herald Photographer

Rickey LangstonKyle Greer

Michael Dyer

Panera Bread open to public

Chancellor Search

Are you happy with the Caraway Road closure?

I'm not sure. 8%

No. 92%

Yes. 0%

Softball comes to JonesboroPaul’s candidacy might attract voters

John M. Beehler Soraya M. Coley Tim Hudson

To read complete bios for candidates visit asuherald.com

The Herald is a public forum. Its content is written by students, for students, faculty and staff of Arkansas State University. Student editors of The Herald have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.OPINION

The Herald is located in Room 224 of the Communications Building.

The Herald is published twice weekly during the fall and spring semesters and is distributed around the Jonesboro campus. Its content is normally written by students. “Our View” represents the opinions of the editorial staff. Columns, letters to the editor, cartoons and other content on the opinion page are the views of the author.

Content does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Herald.Editorial Number Advertising Number(870) 972-3076 (870) 972-2961 asuherald.com

— Our View —

Go Out and Serve!With the recent opening of the Volunteer

Center at ASU, many students are taking the opportunity to serve others around them.

Often, it seems, we hear many people promoting the idea of volunteer work and serving in one’s community. People volunteer for many reasons – some say it is a way to give back to the community. Others want to be part of something greater than themselves.

In many ways though, people are simply encouraged to volunteer but not told why they should. So why should we as ASU students choose to volunteer?

First, volunteering betters the community in which we live. Many students, for example, choose to volunteer their free time in local schools, helping children with their studies. Naturally, volunteering in this way helps children better their skills in their schoolwork and gives them a positive role model to look up to.

Some choose to volunteer by simply helping their fellow co-workers or classmates with projects or assignments. In this way, work can be done in a timely manner and life-long friendships are formed.

However volunteering is done, it has been shown that volunteer work in one’s community makes that place more prosperous.

Second, volunteering helps our own job chances after graduation. While maintaining a high GPA is important, volunteering adds something good grades cannot—experience, something many potential bosses like to see.

It also teaches us an important character quality we will need the rest of our lives – initiative. Taking the initiative to serve in some capacity will always be needed in every career choice.

Third, volunteering takes our minds off of our own troubles and allows us to find joy in serving others. College life can often be a drain, and much of that is our own fault as we worry over things relating to schoolwork and social lives. Volunteering our time can help put our minds in the right place as we discover the joy of putting others before ourselves.

So join us in seeking people we can serve!

“Our View” is written by the editorial staff. The opinions are not necessarily reflective of the student body, faculty or administration of Arkansas State University.

PAGE 2 Thursday, Jan. 26 The Herald

- Sara Krimm, editorsara.krimm@smail.astate.edu- Lindsey Blakely, news editorindsey.blakely@gmail.com- Jeffrey Davidson, opinion editorjeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu

- Abdullah Raslan, photo editorabdullah.raslan@smail.astate.edu- Haley Johnson, features editorhaley.johnson@smail.astate.edu- Daniel McFadin, Sports Editordaniel.mcfadin@smail.astate.edu

- Rachel Carner, online editorrachel.carner@smail.astate.edu- Rachel Meredith, ad managerrachel.meredith@smail.astate.edu Bonnie Thrasher, adviserbthrasher@astate.edu

-Letters to the Editor-

The Herald welcomes letters to the editor in electronic form and under 300 words.

We reserve the right to edit for space.

Please e-mail letters to:

jeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu sara.krimm@smail.astate.edu

The new year is barely underway and already politicians are taking up disproportionate space on the airwaves, online, and in print.

Yes, it is a presidential election year.

Come November, I will have cast my sixth vote for America’s highest office.

Most of my students in my Intro to U.S. Govern-ment class will be voting for the first time.

It’s time to evaluate where we are and what op-tions could be available for making informed decisions about each candidate.

President Obama will be the Democratic nominee; he seeks a second term in office with a huge task of convincing people that the last four years are not go-

ing to be repeated in the next four.

And what of the Repub-licans? Same thing, only they have to promise that the eight years of George W. Bush prior to Obama amount to past mistakes that they’ve learned from and are determined not to make again.

The question on my mind is pretty basic: do enough voters actually buy the sales pitches thrust upon them by both major political parties? Or, are they more than open to supporting a different op-tion?

National polling sug-gests people wanting an independent or third party candidate on the ballot is the largest level in years, coinciding with a marked drop in registered Republi-cans and Democrats.

More voters are simply choosing not to affiliate with either party.

Obama fares poorly with independents while Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich (the two leading

Republican hopefuls) are on thin ice with this key group as well.

What of Ron Paul, the libertarian/Republican hy-brid candidate? He has far higher ratings with inde-pendents and younger vot-ers.

The problem, however, is that people in the lat-ter demographic just do not vote in near the num-bers as their parents and grandparents do.

Traditional college-aged Americans usually do not connect the importance of voting to their futures in many ways because they’re busy with studying, work-ing, socializing and build-ing important lifelong con-nections and other vital activities.

Their attraction to Paul appears to be based mostly on his devotion to cutting government spending and waste, as well as his liber-tarian perspective on cul-tural matters.

Paul is not going to win the Republican nomina-tion. But could he emerge

as a strong third party or independent candidate and turn the political world on its ear this fall?

It’s very possible. The question is whether or not he wants to do so.

Raising money is a huge challenge for those not running under the D or R banner.

Fortunately, voters have the final say, and Paul just might be able to convince enough of them to back his candidacy and make a se-rious statement come No-vember.

I am certain that parti-san Republicans and Dem-ocrats will belittle this pos-sibility because, they’ll say, a vote for Paul or another third candidate would mean a vote for Obama or his Republican adversary.

Is that possible? Of course. Should it matter, though? Probably not.

Childress is a graduate student in political science of Jonesboro.

Paul’s candidacy might attract voters“Fortunately, voters have the final say, and Paul just might be able to convince enough of them to back his candidacy...”

Anthony Childress

I subscribe to a fairly popular Christian news publication called World Magazine. I have made mention of this magazine before in one of my articles last semester, but in one of the latest issues, one par-ticular article by a popular editorialist just seemed to stick out to me.

Joel Belz (the author) made a very interesting observation while trying to interview random shop-pers in a local Walmart.

He asked a very ge-neric question concerning political issues, but in his attempt to do so, he was bombarded with several vague (and even crude) re-sponses.

Reading this article came as no surprise for me, for I understood almost im-mediately the trouble Belz was having.

The “empty” responses Belz received explain much of the problem we here at ASU seem to have with communicating ideas.

Every day, I hear out-of-the-blue comments by students and professors re-garding political, religious, economic, or social issues that are not properly ex-

plained or defined. This is true in both liberal and conservative circles

Here are some example of what I hear:

•“Bush was an idiot” •“Obama is a terrible

President” •“The stimulus package

should have been bigger”•“Wall Street is greedy” •“People who watch Fox

News don’t think for them-selves”

•“Sarah Palin is stupid”And the list goes on and

on. These are just a few of the seemingly vague com-ments I hear regularly, from both students and professors. (And yes, I’ll be honest in saying that I’ve been guilty of making vague comments like these as well).

But my question is very simple: should this be the content of our speech?

If we are going to pride ourselves on our profes-sionalism, why do we make comments and yet refuse to explain them or provide solid evidence for them? Furthermore, why do we feel the urge to emphasize our points with vulgar lan-guage?

In my time here at col-lege thus far, I have seen many people use their free-dom of speech right or so-called academic freedom to make comments that have no basis in reality (or at

least, are too overbroad). On top of this, many of

these same people feel con-tent to use crude language to make their comments sound more compelling.

Instead of open-minded discussion, it seems as if the content of our conver-sations has become conde-scending and close-mind-ed.

But many would argue with this, saying that the context is not always fully understood, and that these comments are only snip-pets of a broader discussion.

This may be partially true. Many of us have al-ready discussed issues such as Obama’s presiden-cy or Wall Street’s financial practices to great length.

So it is only natural for us to reduce our past dis-cussions to witty one-lin-ers.

But can this be justified? Should professional college students and professors assume that all listeners understand or agree with their comments?

In a highly diverse school like ASU, where conservatives and liberals, blacks and whites, Chris-tians and atheists study, I would say no.

Comments that are not easily defended or vali-dated seem to reveal an attitude or world view that should not characterize

the professionally educat-ed world.

On top of this, it would seem as if our use of crude and vulgar language to emphasize our comments makes us unprofessional.

We would not use crude language when speak-ing with the president, a church pastor, or even a job interviewer, so why must it be any different among each other, espe-cially when talking on se-rious topics?

Many would say this is what the democratic pro-cess looks like. It’s free speech after all.

And maybe, at the end of the day, it is. But I think it’s easy to see how rude or baseless comments only help to stir up arguments, not promote meaningful discussion.

As our culture becomes more vulgarized, I think our ability to have open-minded discussions on important topics will de-crease

I’d much rather have a university in which stu-dents and professors can discuss each other in a re-spectful, intelligible man-ner, regardless of each other’s religious or politi-cal opinions.

Davidson is a sophomore education major of Bryant.

Shallow comments hinder discussion“I think it’s easy to see how rude or baseless comments only help to stir up arguments and not promote meaningful

discussion.”

Jeff Davidson

“You carry chopsticks around

in your pocket? I’m Asian, and

I don’t even do that.”

“You’re a journalism major

and you don’t use emoticons?”

“Well, no you can’t! It doesn’t

dissolve, woman.”

For more comments overheard on campus, visit us on Twitter @OverheardAtASU.

PAGE 3 Thursday, January 26 The Herald

Veronica HeatherlyStaff Writer

Stomach grumbling and mind drifting, food becomes all students can think of during class on long days during the semester.

Luckily for Jonesboro, Haag Brown Commercial, a commercial real estate and development company, works to put up new busi-nesses in the Northeast Ar-kansas area.

Over the past year, Haag Brown is responsible for bringing Red Lobster, Long-horns, Cheddar’s Café and Dairy Queen to Jonesboro. The newest edition is set to open this week, Panera Bread Company.

“I think Jonesboro is very excited for the open-ing of Panera Bread. One of our most frequently asked questions the past few weeks has been when the opening will be,” said Joshua Brown, CCIM, co-owner and principal broker of Haag Brown.“Panera is a great combination of high quality food in a laid back atmosphere and I think the residents of Jonesboro are looking forward to experiencing that.”

Joshua Brown and Greg Haag formed Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate and Development in Sept. of 2010.

“It is our motive to create a commercial real estate company that is the most technologically advanced in the industry,” Brown said.

“We want to grow Jonesboro’s retail and restaurant community to keep tax dollars from going across the

bridge to Memphis or to Little Rock. It is our goal to be a Philippians 2:4 company in which we put others interests above our own.”

Ribbon cutting for Panera Bread was Wednesday, Jan. 25. Haag Brown went through a year long process by put-ting together a site, a developer and acquiring numbers that Panera Bread could justify with in order to open a location in Jonesboro.

“Panera does not see any competition in the local mar-ket. They are the only restaurant that will be baking bread in the store,” Brown said. “If there were a com-petitor to come in, Panera would welcome them I assume. They prosper throughout the country.”

Besides Panera Bread, the other restaurants and businesses Haag Brown has brought to Jonesboro gener-ated positive response.

“We’ve had the privi-lege of working with some really awesome people on some really awesome res-taurant projects and I think Jonesboro has loved each and every one of them,” Brown said.

“You can’t go out to eat around lunch-time or din-ner-time at any of these new restaurants without a wait, which is a good thing. It means the people of Jonesboro are really enjoy-ing the growth of our city.”

Students on campus are also enjoying the growth first hand. Junior Radio-Television major Meredith Scott from Bryant looks forward to Panera Bread opening this week.

“Before I moved up here from Little Rock, I would eat lunch at Panera with my mom and I really missed the restaurants that Little Rock and Bryant had,” Scott said. “I’m excited to have all the new restaurants that Haag Brown has built because I ate at most of them when I lived in central Arkansas so I already know my favorite dishes.”

Haag Brown’s motive keeps them pursuing new busi-ness for Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas. With future plans in the works, Jonesboro can look forward to growth of the area.

“I know for certain that the future of Northeast Arkan-sas is very bright,” Brown said.

William KazyakStaff Writer

On Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, my family and I went to see the new-ly released movie Red Tails, a movie by famed producer George Lucas (popularly known for Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Red Tails is about the first all-Black fighter squadron in the U.S. Army Air Force: the 332nd Fighter Group, commonly known as “The Tuskegee Airmen.”

As a World War II buff and a huge fan of the Tuskegee Air-men, I was excited that another movie was being made about this heroic group of pilots.

The fact that the film would also feature combat sequences of P-51 Mustang fighters in action added to my enthusiasm.

The P-51, the aircraft the Tuskegee airmen made their name in flying escort for heavy bombers of the 15th Air Force, is my favorite airplane of all time.

However, my excitement was watered down by the ap-prehension that Lucas might focus too much on the bigot-ry of some Air Force officials, rather than show the efforts of other officials helping the Tuskegee airmen succeed.

After watching the trailers for the movie online, I walked into the theatre excited to see some awesome aer-ial combat sequences, but on guard for ideological lines and scenes.

The movie certainly lived up to its billing.Not only has Lucas told the story of the Tuskegee Air-

men’s fight to overcome bigotry, but he balanced the big-otry of the brass with the respect of other high-ranking officers that support the Tuskegee Airmen and their ef-forts. He exposed all sides of the “experiment” fairly.

The plot is engaging and, for the most part, historically accu-rate. For example: at the start of the movie, the 332nd is relegated to flying largely inconsequential ground-attack mission in hand-me-down P-40 Warhawk fight-ers, and they only get their P-51s when they are given bomber es-cort missions.

The graphics are fantastic. Aside from a minor flaw with the P-51s in the takeoff/landing scenes, the aircraft are rendered so well that it looks like the mov-ie makers actually amassed the hundreds of aircraft that you see in the film.

The combat scenes are intense and realistic, complete with accu-rate gun and engine sounds.

There are only two really ob-vious flaws to the film. The first is a somewhat risqué scene with one of this pilots and his girlfriend that is unnecessary to the plot of the movie.

The second is that at the end the film fails to point out the most important achievement of the Tuskegee Airmen: they never lost a friendly bomber to enemy fighters. No other American fighter group in WWII could boast that achievement.

In conclusion, I would have to say that Red Tails is one of the best WWII movies I have ever seen, and maybe the best movie about the Tuskegee Airmen ever made. If you are looking for a diversion from the pile of homework you have or simply for entertainment, Red Tails will give it to you!

I believe everyone should see it because above all the lines and special effects is an important lesson: if you dedicate yourself and work hard, there are no limits to what you can achieve, no matter the obstacles.

Panera Bread open to public

Students SetGoals For 2012

“I want to improve my English skills.”

Sin Young ParkJournalism

Freshman Exchange StudentSouth Korea

George Lucas’s Red Tails soars

ASU to Plunge for Special OlympicsTricia Mullen

Staff Writer

Arkansas State is taking the plunge.Special Olympics Arkansas is hosting the first

campus-wide exclusive Polar Plunge on Jan. 28 at the Grove Clubhouse.

To help support Special Olympics athletes, Special Olympics Arkansas is inviting ASU students, student organizations and faculty to dress in costume and take the icy, cold Polar Plunge into the Grove Clubhouse pool.

According to Kimberly Shipley, NEA Field Repre-sentative for Special Olympics Arkansas, “The Polar Plunge is your chance to be one of the thousands of chilled souls across the country who have plunged into wintry waters to show their support and raise money for Special Olympics.”

Registration will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday, with the plunge to follow promptly at 5.

Immediately following the frosty frenzy will be a post-plunge party, complete with a chili cook-off at the Grove.

To get the “I Survived” T-shirt, plungers must raise $50 from their sponsors. To enter a team of four in the Chili Cook-off, there is a $20 registration fee.

An array of prizes for both best costume and most money raised in the individual, pairs and best team categories will be awarded. Prizes will also be awarded for best overall taste in the chili cook-off.

Outside of the Polar Plunge, Special Olympics Ar-kansas works year-round to support their athletes. Their mission is to provide sport-training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic type sports for all children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

For more information on Special Olympics Arkan-sas and the Polar Plunge, contact Kimberly Shipley at 870-275-7075. To register online for the plunge, visit the Polar Plunge website at: www.firstgiving.com/soar/polar-plunge-asu.

“I want to be more involved in my com-munity and church.”

Melissa BarkerDiagnostic Medical

SonographyJunior, Paragould

“My resolution for 2012 is an acronym, ‘L.I.F.E.’ It means ‘Living in Freedom Everyday’.”

Colea BlannNursing

Sophomore, Little Rock

“I want to maintain a 4.0 and stop bit-ing my fingernails.”

Zach BrogdonJournalism/Public Relations

Sophomore, Marion

Campus Corner

Veronica Heatherly/Herald Photographer

SPORTSPAGE 4 Thursday, Jan. 26 The Herald

ASU Press Release

The 2012 Arkansas State Recruiting Round-up will be held at the Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall on Feb. 1.

New head football coach Gus Malzahn will intro-duce his staff and they will give a first-hand recount of the their experiences on the recruiting trail with a detailed review, complete with video highlights, of the Red Wolves’ first recruiting class under Malzahn.

The doors to the Fowl-er Center, located on the ASU campus adjacent to the Convocation Center, will open at 4:30 p.m. and food will be served until 5:15 p.m.

The annual program will

begin at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are priced at $10.00 each if purchased in advance and $15.00 at the door.

Tickets may be pur-chased at the Red Wolf Club during business hours and club members will re-ceive ticket priority.

“After last year’s stand-ing room only crowd at the Cooper Alumni Cen-ter, we anticipate need-ing more room this year,” said ASU Assistant Athlet-ic Director for Development Brad Pietz.

“Riceland Hall gives us room for over 900 Red Wolves fans to be a part of history as Gus Malzahn signs his first recruiting class at Arkansas State University.”

Malzahn was named

the Red Wolves’ 28th head football coach on Dec. 14, bringing him back to his home state after most re-cently enjoying highly suc-cessful stints as a top as-sistant coach at three NCAA FBS universities that garnered him nation-al acclaim.

A name highly recog-nized throughout Arkansas and the nation, Malzahn comes to Arkansas State af-ter serving as the offensive coordinator and quarter-backs coach at Auburn for the past three seasons.

A native of Fort Smith, Malzahn was named the winner of the 2010 Frank Broyles Award, given an-nually to the nation’s top collegiate assistant coach.

Malzahn to introduce fanbase to staff and 2012 recruiting class Wednesday

Abdullah RaslanPhoto Editor

12 female students came together six months ago to form Arkansas State University’s first Softball Club with the promise of delivering a “successful softball organization,” quoted in the vision statement in the clubs Facebook page, the ladies have certainly shown that they mean business.

Team captain, junior phycology major Jessica Waggnor of Fort Smith, said it’s about time to have a softball club at ASU.

“Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve heard rumors about people wanting to start a softball team but no one stepped up and tried to go through the process of getting one started,” Waggnor said.

April Arford, a softball enthusiast in the Jonesboro community took this opportunity and created the club in July.

“She realized that it wasn’t hard to get the club

started, so she made a few phone calls and made a few emails and she got us started,” Waggnor continued.

After recruiting all 12 of their players, the club went into a rigorous three months of training with coaches Erica Schabbing, and Kinley Gatewood, ASU alumna.

The club’s first challenge came against Lyon College on Oct. 1st, 2011, a loss .

“We learned a lot, we got beat, but we learned a lot.” Waggnor said.

Since then, the club has managed to rank second in the NCSA conference after beating Eastern Illinois University in a three game series.

Senior early childhood major, pitcher Chance Brown of Marion said that clubs strengths lies in the teams’ chemistry.

“Although we’ve only known each other a short period of time, it would appear that we’ve known each other for years.”

Brown said.Brown said that all the

club members have played softball since their youth.

“The team is comprised of several state championship players, some with prior experience playing college softball elsewhere, who know and love the game.”

After going to a recruiting camp in December, the club was able to recruit players that wanted to study at ASU because of the softball club.

“There are girls from Louisiana that are coming to school here just to play softball, that’s a pretty big deal.” Waggnor added.

The clubs next game is against Mid-Continent University on March 10th.

Both games will take place at Southside Softball Complex on Stadium Blvd.

The club invites you to come and show your support.

“The more support we have, the more the school will take us seriously” Waggnor said.

Courtesy ASU SoftballThe Arkansas State women’s softball club poses with Red Wolves mascot Howl. The softball club is 3-3 after playing in

series against Saint Louis University and Eastern Illinois University.

Softball Comes to JonesboroWomen’s club to continue season in March after reaching .500 record in Fall

Lift Off

Courtesy ASU RugbyThe ASU Rugby club plays on its practice field across from the intramural fields. The rugby team’s 2012

season begins on Feb. 4 when the B Side takes on Emory University at home in the first of five games before the USA Rugby playoffs in May. The A side face off against the University of Arkansas at home on Feb. 11 in the first of nine games in addition to matches against Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Life University and Oklahoma.

Student Speak: The Gus Malzahn hire

“He’s going to bring a change coming from an SEC team. And recruitment, because he’s from Arkansas

he’ll do a lot for that.” – Isaac Bradley, sophomore mechanical engineering

major of Warren.

“I honestly don’t care.” – Daniel Holt, senior graphic design major of

Trumann.

“This is a very good opportunity for the football team. We had a good season and it will be good to

see if we can further that.” – Katie Elms, freshman communication disorders

major of Hardy.

“He will do good for the football team because he did well for Shiloh Christian and Auburn. It’s good we found a head coach that is as qualified, if not more than Freeze was.”

– Nik Ryan, sophomore history major of Hoxie

Lady Red Wolves fall 73-61 in final trip to DenverASU Press Release

Trailing by 17 early in the second half, the Arkansas State Red Wolves (8-13, 2-6) rallied to take a 57-56 lead with 3:27 remaining in the game, but a late run by Denver (14-8, 6-2) gave the Pioneers a 73-61 victory Wednesday night.

The Red Wolves were led by sophomore Jane Morrill’s 25 points, but Denver countered with 33 points from senior Kaetlyn Murdoch, who hit 13-of-14 shots from the field.

“A loss is a loss, but you can certainly leave here feeling better about things,” said ASU head coach Brian Boyer. “The second half

was much, much better offensively and we had stretches that were good on the defensive end. The players kept chipping away, and then we had one big stretch where we had five or six stops on defense.”

Arkansas State trailed 35-21 at the half, with Morrill leading the way with nine points.

Denver built its lead to 17 early in the second half before the Red Wolves began to make a move. Arkansas State cut the Denver advantage to 10 on a steal and layup from Olvera that made it 50-40 with just over 11 minutes to play.

A three-point play from

Olvera with 5:25 to go made it a one-point game at 54-53, and ASU took its first lead of the second half when Morrill scored with 4:30 remaining to give the Red Wolves a 57-56 advantage.

The two teams traded buckets three times, with Denver regaining the lead for good when junior Emiko Smith scored inside to give the Pioneers a 60-59 advantage with 3:27 to play, and Denver closed out the game with a 15-2 run to seal the win.

Arkansas State will continue its two-game road trip Jan. 28 when the Red Wolves travel to Denton, Texas to take on North Texas in a 4:00 p.m. game.

NEWSPAGE 5 Thursday, Jan. 26 The Herald

BriefsThe Dean B. Ellis Library will host a free five-part reading and discussion series called Let’s

Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War. Those who register for the 5-part program will receive a free copy of each book in the reading series. The first discussion will take place January 31, 2012. For more information, to view the reading list or to register online, please visit: http://libguides.astate.edu/civilwar

The application deadline for the summer study abroad program in Costa Rica has been extended until January 31, so there is still time to apply and see the beautiful country of Costa Rica this summer. For program and application information, contact Dr. Ruth Owens at rsupko@astate.edu, or call or stop by the Department of World Languages and Cultures at 870-972-3887 (Wilson 220).

Chinese Student Organization would like to invite all ASU students to join us and celebrate the biggest festival in China. The evend is Jan. 27 from 7-9 pm in the Student Union Auditorium.

Are you ASU s most spirited and craziest fan? Do you want to show off your ASU spirit for a chance to win $100.00? The ASU Athletic Marketing Department and Student Activities Board will be holding the annual Craziest Fan Competition during the ASTATE Pride Day game on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 when the men s basketball team takes on Louisiana-Monroe at the Convocation Center at 8 pm.

The Student Health Center has flu shots available for faculty, family of faculty, staff and students. We still have flu shots available and they are now discounted down to 15.00 dollars each. If you are a student or the family member of a student, the charge will be put on your student account.

GUN, CONTINUED

GSC, CONTINUED

SGA, CONTINUED

of the resolution in order for it to pass.

If ruled in favor of, the two new graduate seats will be open to be filled.

“Hopefully by the next meeting it is on the floor and open,” Petrus said.

The resolution went online today at 9 a.m. at https://webapps.astate.edu.

Students should visit the site, log in just as they would to vote for homecom-ing, and vote on the resolu-tion.

Petrus opened the meet-ing with a list of things to accomplish this semester, which included student sec-tion signage in the Convo for basketball games, and an upcoming event that he called “a miniature Order of the Pack.”

Petrus said the Feb. 13 event, The Coaches’ Panel, will feature ASU coaches giving energetic words to encourage school spirit. Coaches will let students know either how their sea-

son is going or how they anticipate it to go.

The first 200 students at the event will receive a free Red Wolves visor.

“We are very excited about this event,” Petrus said. “It will be a great opportunity for students to get excited about our spring athletics and the great success that we have had so far.”

The SGA is working to-wards having signage post-ed in the student section of the Convocation Center, similar to what was put in the student section of ASU Stadium in the fall.

“We would like to have the signage so that we can fill the section with stu-dents only and get very ex-cited and rowdy and sup-port our Red Wolves and Lady Red Wolves Basket-ball teams,” Petrus said.

In addition to the execu-tive resolution that was passed, a senate resolution was read to the SGA Tues-day night.

The resolution was for the addition of a park area near North Park Quads and the Honors Living-Learning Community.

The resolution suggests that students living in that part of campus don’t have a nice outdoor place to study and relax near by. The park would have tables and benches for studying, as well as barbecue grills for recreation.

Senators moved to fur-ther question and discuss the resolution at the next SGA meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

In other business, there were two open senate seats prior to Tuesday's meeting. The open seats were for the College of Nursing and Health Professions and a Junior senate seat.

The Junior seat was filled, and Austin Copen-haver, a Radio-TV major from Jonesboro, was sworn in. The College of Nursing and Health Professions senate seat remains open.

Library last year, estab-lishing its independence as an organization to solely serve students of the Grad-uate School.

At the time, the GSC asked that 75 percent of the student activity fee paid by graduate students be given to the council. In-stead, they were offered 14 percent of the SGA Action Fund for travel, conference and research expenses.

McCann’s statement about the SGA resolution to add two more graduate

seats alluded to the fund-ing issue.

“If the SGA had really wanted to help gradu-ate students succeed they would not have been one of only two constituency groups on campus to reject the GSC proposal, which would have allowed equi-table representation on all SGOC committees and would have made it easier for the GSC to perform its mission of funding gradu-ate students,” McCann said.

The GSC’s argument is that if the two organiza-tions were able to separate, they could better serve their constituents.

“We would rather they stop resisting GSC efforts for equity among both graduate and undergradu-ate students which would allow both organizations to “play to our strengths” and make ASU a better place for all students,” said Tom Henry, GSC vice presi-dent.

told to take the officers to the location of the weap-on.

When they arrived at his godparents’ house in Sage Meadows, Phipps re-portedly accompanied him to his room where the gun case was lying in the floor.

While pulling the gun out to make it safe, Langs-ton reportedly grabbed an empty water bottle, which

contained marijuana. Marijuana was also re-

ported to be found in his room in the ROTC build-ing.

After leaving the house, Langston and Phipps re-turned to the police de-partment and Langston was told to return at 8 a.m. to meet with Investigator Brian Shelton.

According to Shelton,

Langston was not charged criminally for either pos-session of marijuana.

However, Langston, an interdisciplinary studies major of Jonesboro, was charged for carrying a gun on school property.

This offense is consid-ered to be a class D felony with 1-6 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Ashley Helliwell/Herald Photographer

Austin Copenhaver, junior Radio-TV major from Jonesboro, was sworn in at Tuesday’s SGA meet-ing. Copenhaver is the new junior senator.

Campus CrimeJan.22

20-year-old Paul Roach was found publically intoxicated at University Loop East on Jan. 22. Officer Robert Peevey reported seeing Roach near the fraternity houses where he was stumbling and fell two times. Peevey stated that he approached roach and asked if he was okay and then had to assist Roach to stand up. The report also states that he noticed the front of Roach’s pants were soiled as if he had urinated himself. When Peevey asked Roach how much he had to drink, he mumbled “too much.” When administered a breath test, it registered at .23.

Dec. 13

On Dec. 12, Vanessa Williams came into the dispatch center and reported that she had received several texts from Samuel Cowgill that contained profanity. Williams stated that she had told Cowgill to leave her alone. Gilliam stated that he told Cowgill to leave her alone and to have minimal contact with her professionally.

Jan. 1

At around midnight, Officer Robert Peevey stated that he noticed a vehicle stop in the middle of the street, run onto the curb and switch lanes multiple times before swerving into oncoming traffic. The driver, Brittaney Sharp, was pulled over and made to perform a field sobriety test. After failing three separate tests, she was given a

Breathalyzer test, which came back as .19. After being taken to the BAC room for a 20-minute waiting period, she was made to sit on a stool, which she fell off of.

Jan. 3

According to reports, 29-year-old Joshua Drown was arrested on the charges of possession of a controlled substance, public intoxication and having an out of town warrant. He was arrested and UPD seized 9.1 grams of cocaine.

Dec. 7

At 8 p.m. the communications dispatcher Brian Bailey stated that he had just watched a truck pull up to the gate at North Park Quads, back up six feet and ram through the wooden gate arm, breaking it. Police responded to the area and found the truck and began to perform a pre-tow inventory when the driver returned. After being informed that his vehicle had just been used to run through a gate, the suspect, Jacob McDonald, said “unremorsefully” that he ran through it. He advised that he was not a student and was only there to help his friends move. He was then placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and charged with possession of a weapon when UPD found brass knuckles in his truck.

— Compiled by Lindsey Blakely, News Editor

Feb. 13.Dyer transferred to ASU

after Coach Gus Malzahn was brought in from Au-burn as ASU's new head coach.

Dyer's transfer was made in large part to be closer to his hometown of North Little Rock.

He has received national recognition for his football career, was a five-star re-cruit in 2010 and an All SEC selection in 2011.

He was also named the Offensive MVP of the 2010 BCS National Champion-ship.

Prior to his transfer to

ASU, he did not play in the Chik-Fil-A bowl with the rest of his Auburn team for unknown reasons.

Dyer’s eligibility to play for ASU in the fall of 2012 is still pending with the NCAA. Eligibility may not be granted due to transfer rules.

DYER, CONTINUED

NEWSPAGE 6 Thursday, Jan. 26 The Herald

According to conservative estimations, there are thought to be about 27 million people enslaved or human trafficking victims in the world today.

A few students at ASU realize that slavery is still alive today and have started an International Justice Mission Chapter at the university.

The IJM is an organization dedicated to stopping slavery all across the planet by raising awareness of the problem of slavery, helping the trapped and enslaved, supporting the freed slaves by helping them find jobs and preventing future enslavement.

The IJM’s website states that their vision is “to rescue thousands, protect millions and prove that justice for the poor is possible.”

Nathan Shelby, a history major at ASU, started the IJM chapter at ASU after he and others returned from the Passion 2012 Christian Conference in Atlanta, GA.

“The theme of the conference this year was human trafficking,” Shelby said. “We learned that 27 million people are still enslaved today, and that really opened my eyes and convicted me to do something about it when I

got back to school.”Dylan Travis, a

sophomore chemistry major, and Taylor Burrington, a sophomore English major, attended the conference as well. They said they too felt a burden for the enslaved and started making plans with Shelby for an IJM chapter at ASU soon after returning from the conference.

“Right now there are more people enslaved in the world than any other time in history. There are currently even more slaves than when the Civil War was fought in the 1800s,” Travis said.

IJM’s goals are pretty straightforward: to raise awareness that slavery still exists today, to raise support for the cause through volunteers and monetary gain and to advocate for those who are enslaved by contacting local officials and informing them of the problem.

“I don’t believe in limits. Our group hopes to raise at least $1,000 to go towards stopping human trafficking and helping the former slaves get back to their lives,” said Burrington.

When a sex trading ring or brothel is discovered by the IJM, the local police are informed and are then sent out to raid the compounds and rescue any slaves they find.

The IJM has already gained national attention

and support from some large corporations. Google Inc. donated $11.5 million last month to IJM and 10 other organizations focused on stopping slavery and human trafficking.

The University of Arkansas and John Brown University have the only other IJM chapters at Arkansas universities.

The ASU chapter of IJM plans to meet every Sunday at 5 p.m. on the third floor of the Student Union, in the lobby across from Centennial Hall.

“In our first meeting we hope to just get everyone informed about what IJM’s mission is and to research some of the issues that are going on,” Shelby said.

The ASU IJM is not officially a school-sanctioned organization right now.

“We hope to get it sanctioned for next year as an official organization,” Shelby said.

Shelby said he also wants to emphasize that ASU’s IJM isn’t the only option if someone wants to get involved with the organization.

“You don’t have to join our chapter specifically, we just want people’s involvement in the organization,” Shelby said.

If you would like to know more information about the IJM at ASU, you can go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/IJM-ASU.

The Board of Trustees met Friday and passed multiple resolutions.

The most prominent resolutions for ASU were for the addition of new housing for the sororities on campus and for more honors housing.

“The new sorority housing has been a long term initiative,” Charles Welch, ASU system president, said. “We want ASU to be more of a residential campus. Residential campuses are vibrant campuses.”

Welch said the five new houses will be located on Aggie Road.

“Other campuses, such as University of Arkansas, have experienced significant growth in recent years and we want to experience the same,” Welch said. “I’ve heard nothing but overwhelmingly positive remarks with this plan.”

Natalie Wilbanks, a junior chemistry major of

Jonesboro, said she is really excited for the sororities to get housing.

“Right now we just have suites,” Wilbanks said. “Those are nice, but the fraternities have houses and it will be nice for us to have an equal amount of space for our events.”

Wilbanks also said she thinks the houses will increase the sizes of the sororities on campus.

“You see other schools with a lot more girls in each sorority,” Wilbanks said. “This will definitely make more girls want to go through recruitment, and it will make the university better as a whole.”

Welch said he has also received the same praise for the addition to honors living.

“We can’t accommodate all of the honors students we have, and we want to do that,” Welch said. “We’ve also began turning ASU into more of a research institution which means that we’ll attract more students.”

According to Ed Kremers, Vice Chancellor of finance

and administration, the two projects together will cost over $16 million.

“The funds will come from increased revenue from the students that we are expecting,” Welch said. “It was also come from bonds.”

“Living in the Honors Living Learning Community has been one of the greatest experiences here at ASU,” sophomore mid-level education major, Cody Campbell, said.

“I am very excited that more students will have the chance to experience the family atmosphere that these resident halls provide.”

Campbell said he thinks living in honors makes it a close-knit community.

“It’s not truly home until you are surrounded by your fellow geeks,” Campbell said, of Jonesboro.

Other resolutions passed include the renovation of Kays Hall’s HVAC system, and a loan of $2 million to ASU Newport for the construction of an academic classroom and laboratory facility on their campus.

IJM coming to ASU to end slavery

Chelsea Weaver/Herald

Students gather in the third floor of the Student Union for one of the first meetings for the International Justice Mission at ASU.

Caleb HenningtonStaff Writer

Board of trustees to build new campus housingLindsey Blakely

News Editor

Michelle Davis/Herald

Associate professor of graphic design showcased her photos in an art exhibition titled “Lusitanos on Focus”The work showcased was a part of workshop Vickrey took part of last spring in Portugal. The exhibition opened on the 17th and will end on the 26th at the Fine arts building.