WWW.NEWMANVANTAGE.COM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 VOL. 65, ISSUE 12

since 1968

‘Legally Blonde’ censorship rankles cast membersBy DELANEY HIEGERTStaff Writer

Vantagethe

Newman’s production of “Legally Blonde the Musical”, opening tonight, will be a censored version of the full musical, Provost Michael Austin said.

There were at least six lyric changes to the musical, as well as multiple dia-logue changes, in order to make the play more appropriate for all audi-ences, he said.

The changes involved taking out any sexually derogatory remarks, ref-erences to sex and drugs, any use of the word “Christ,” and most all curs-ing.

For instance, Elle Woods’ line “masturbatory emissions” has been changed to “accidental emissions,” and Professor Callahan’s line, “Get you high and laid,” has been changed to “Get you entertained.”

“When we do plays, we are inviting not just the campus, but the commu-

nity to come watch,” said Austin. “We have to be very careful to represent the values of the institution.”

Austin said the decision to produce a certain play or musical is made by the Theatre Department and that pro-ductions are not submitted for admin-istrative approval prior to their selec-tion.

C.L. Smet, a senior theatre major who plays the role of Paulette in the musical, said she was excited to put on a humorous and lighthearted pro-duction until the censoring began. Cast members began to notice the line changes in the past few weeks, she said.

“To me, it’s almost silly,” she said. “At the collegiate level, we shouldn’t have this strict set of rules about what words we can and cannot say.”

Smet said she understands that pro-ductions need to be appropriate for the age range of viewers that come to see them, but said she feels like a line

was crossed. “I feel like it’s really insulting to the

Theatre Department and to the people in it,” she said. “It’s one thing if the changes were coming from my direc-tor and they were from her own artis-tic interpretations. It’s another when they’re coming from administration. They shouldn’t be able to force a di-rector’s hand.”

Newman’s Director of Theatre Mark Mannette declined to comment for this story.

When a school chooses to put on a show, they must first go through a royalty house and sign a contract with them in order to receive a performance license and use a certain writer’s show.

Music Theatre International holds the rights to “Legally Blonde the Musical,” so Newman signed a con-tract with MTI to put on the musical. Though individual contract agree-

STUDENT VOICE OF NEWMAN UNIVERSITY

Director of Food Service to retire in springBy JESSICA SPONSELA&E Editor

Students will likely not see the fa-miliar face of Lou Murdick in Mabee Dining Center after next May. Murdick said he plans to retire from the posi-tion of food service director of Great Western Dining Service Inc., New-man’s contract feeder, at that time.

Murdick said he plans to retire in either July or August of next year.

“I’m very flexible. I won’t be here after August,” unless he is asked to stay for some of the large beginning-of-the-year events, such as freshman orientation, he said.

“I want to make sure the continuity is good for the university and good for the person going in,” he said.

Murdick said he is retiring from his 60- to 80-hour workweek job be-cause he wants to spend his time do-ing things that are less physically de-manding and enjoying his hobbies.

“You get to a certain age and you just get tired,” he said. “It’s just time to step back and do something that’s a little less demanding.”

He said he wants to get back to his hobbies of fishing and stained glass, which he said he has not been able to do as much because of work at New-man.

However, Murdick said he will still seek a low-stress part-time job.

“I want to do something that gives me a bit of a challenge,” but not a job in management, he said.

Murdick started working for Great Western at Newman in 1996. He worked for two and a half years, left for a year and a half, and has been at Newman again ever since 2000.

When he first arrived at Newman, the cafeteria was located in the base-ment of Sacred Heart Hall, where the Mail and Copy Center is currently located. The cafeteria later moved to Mabee Dining Center, a building orig-inally used for maintenance.

Tracy McGarey, executive assistant

See “Murdick” on Page 2

ILLEGALLY CHANGED?

LEGALLY BLONDE opens at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Performance Hall. The administration made changes to the script that included dialogue and lyrics. Kati Bush, Managing Editor

See “Censorship” on Page 2

News BriefsTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 NEWS 2

‘Legally Blonde’ opens tonight

Newman’s Theatre Department is debuting the fall musical production “Legally Blonde” tonight in the Performance Hall lo-cated in De Mattias Hall at 8 p.m.

Admission is free for Newman students with ID. General admission is $12; seniors, faculty, and staff $10; students $5.

Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday through Satur-day and Sunday at 2.p.m.

Thanksgiving Break

Newman University will be closed for Thanks-giving Break Wed. Nov. 26 through Sunday Nov. 30.

Newman plays WSU Sunday

Newman’s men’s bas-ketball team will play a scheduled game against Wichita State at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Charles Koch Arena.

The game will be tel-evised on Cox Kansas 22.

From “Censorship” on Page 1

From “Murdick” on Page 1

to the president, was on the committee that unanimously hired Murdick.

“He was extremely pleasant, pro-fessional, and his level of expertise in that area was impressive.”

McGarey said Murdick has been loyal to Newman University.

“I’m really going to miss him. He’s a really good friend,” she said.

Murdick said his career at Newman has been a good one.

“I enjoy coming to work and New-man has been a great place to come and work,” he said.

Murdick said the hardest part about leaving Newman will be not being able to see students every day.

“It’s a joy to be able to see young people grow, almost like my chil-

dren,” he said. “I want them to feel comfortable here, which you can’t do at every campus.”

Murdick said Newman has high-quality students who are friendly and have good manners.

“I felt so wonderful to be here just because of the type of interaction I’ve been able to have with the students here,” he said.

ments may vary, MTI’s website lists guidelines about its copyright provi-sion in general: “Under federal law, you may not make changes of any kind, including but not limited to changes of music, lyrics, or dia-logue…no changes may be made to the play without written consent of the authors.”

Austin said he is fair-ly sure the changes be-ing made abided by the rules of Newman’s contract with MTI.

“My interpretation is that we are making changes that are minimal enough to fall within the normal dis-cretion allowed,” Austin said. “Plays are always adjusted a little bit.”

Deb Campbell is guest-directing “Legally Blonde” for Newman this semester. Normally, Campbell directs

plays at the Wichita Scottish Rite. “When I was asked by the school

to do the show, ‘Legally Blonde’ had already been chosen for the produc-tion,” she said. “I was not involved in the contract process.”

Regardless of the technical-ities, cast mem-bers say these changes are affecting their opinion of the Theatre Depart-ment.

Freshman theatre major Trevor Far-ney said he had been happy with his theatre experience up to this point, but this has left a sour taste.

“I loved being a part of ‘Buried Child.’ I love the directors and the people I’ve gotten to work with,” Far-ney said. “But I don’t want to act in something that’s just going to be a wa-

tered-down version of what it should be. In ‘Legally Blonde,’ the censorship is annoying but it doesn’t hurt the pro-duction that much. But if the censor-ship continues, I don’t even know if I’d want to stay in the program. And that’s a shame.”

Smet said she agrees with Farney and hopes situations like this will be avoided in the future to maintain the integrity of the department.

“When you have people worrying so much about what is the safe, politi-cally correct way to do things, no one is going to want to be a part of this the-atre department,” she said. “I’ve been a part of this program since my fresh-man year and worked to build it up. It’s had tons of success this year and now it feels like the school is trying to stunt our growth. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it to them, but to us it’s like they’re taking our success away. Like we’re losing our support.”

“Maybe it doesn’t seem like it to them, but to us it’s like they’re taking our success away.”

C.L. SMET

Student Government Association’s Week in ReviewAt SGA’s bi-weekly Senate meeting on Tuesday, the student senators voted on the following measures.

APPROVED the allocation of up to $1,500 this year for the Newman Pride Club Involvement Budget, in an effort to improve school spirit at athletic, theatrical and music performances. (23-0)APPROVED the authorization of $300 for Corwin Nozari’s ASC capstone project. (23-0)APPROVED the spending of up to $750 to put on a Newman community Christmas tree lighting on Dec. 4. (23-0)APPROVED spending $200 with other departments to buy a new Christmastree for Dugan Library. (23-0)SGA’s next regular meeting is at 12:10 p.m. Nov. 25 in the Cardinal Newman Room in first-floor Sacred Heart Hall.

What a cool guy.That’s what I was left with after

I walked away from WSU’s Hughes Metro-politan Complex last Friday after watching Stephen King’s book tour presentation, brought by Water-mark Books in part-nership with Wichita State. The tour is part of the promotion of his new book, “Revival.”

King is smart, funny, and he curses a lot. He makes you want to sit down

and have coffee with him for a whole day. Share your fears. Or his.

Being a book lover is getting the same chills holding a book as rock n’ roll fans do holding their favorite al-bums. King was welcomed onto the stage with the incessant applause of a rock star’s reception.

“It’s like I’m Led Zeppelin,” he said. “Someone told me I couldn’t fill a

room with book lovers,” he said. “But I did it.”

“We’re all here because we love books and we’re not home watching TV,” he said.

Mr. King has been one of the most

popular writers of his time, since his bestselling novels like “The Shining,” “Carrie,” and “Salem’s Lot” came out. Now, he has an enviable number of 69 titles to his name, of which a signifi-cant number became movies and TV shows. However, he is not done yet. His newest book, “Revival,” brought him to Wichita, one of only six cities in the book tour schedule. The line out-side was long and there were people that had been waiting for as long as six hours in freezing temperatures.

King’s mellow tone set a chatting feeling to the audience. He started by

Stephen King lecture leaves student impressed

Jessica Fagherazzi

Staff Writer

See “King” on Page 4

Final Friday is next week

The NU Steckline Gal-lery will open “Jataka Tales” at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28. The show will also feature a range of NU stu-dent artwork.

sportsTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

3

Newman to match up against ShockersMen’s basketball to take on No. 11-ranked Wichita St.

VOLLEYBALL (15-14)MEN’S BASKETBALL (1-0) W. BASKETBALL (1-0)

Newman vs. Emporia StateW 86-80

Newman vs. Bethel CollegeW 52-48

Newman vs. Kansas State (exhibition)L 30-80

Newman vs. Wichita State (exhibi-tion)L 32-81

newmanjets.com

scoreboardNewman vs. St. Edward’sL 1-3

Newman vs. BakerL 0-3

Newman vs. North Western Okla. State UniverstiyW 3-1

Newman vs. Okla. Panhandle StateW 3-0

CROSS COUNTRY

Heartland Conference Championship:

Men - First place teamWomen - Third place team

Oklahoma Baptist Invitational:

Men - second out of 11 teamsWomen - third out of 11 teamsRubi Torres- first place medalist

Newman’s men’s basketball team is preparing to face Wichita State Uni-versity this Sunday, a team currently ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division 1.

The game, which will be played in front of a crowd of 10,506 people at Charles Koch Arena, will cap off a tough week, with the Jets going up

against Emporia State and Washburn.“It’s an exciting opportunity for the

players and our fans, and it will be a big publicity opportunity for New-man,” Head Coach Mark Potter said. “We honestly aren’t thinking about this matchup until after our big games against Emporia and Washburn.”

The Jets opened their season with a game against Emporia State on Tues-day, winning with a score of 86-80.

The Shockers similarly opened their

season Tuesday with a win against the University of Memphis 71-56 in Mem-phis.

The Jets will likely look to Reggie Baker in Sunday’s matchup, as the junior scored a game-high 19 points in the Jets’ contest against Emporia State.

“We can’t get too ahead of our-selves,” Potter said. “We have to take it one game at a time, but we will match the best of our ability with theirs and work hard at the mental aspect of the

game to handle the hype level of 11,000 people. Overall I want us to have fun and embrace it.”

Senior Jeremy Espinoza said he looks forward to the matchup Sunday.

“The guys we have this year are warriors,” he said. “We are all com-petitive and aiming to win.”

The Jets will play Washburn Uni-versity at 7 p.m. tonight in Fugate Gymnasium.

By TAYLOR PARSONSStaff Writer

The final buzzer sounds.Pundits on Cox Kansas 22 sit,

mouths agape. Words are futile at this point. The sound of a lone basket-ball thump-thump-thumping to the hardwood is the only acceptable sound to be heard. An entire arena of 11,000 people falls deathly silent, ex-cept for a precious 50 fans hooping, hollering and toss-ing their commem-

orative towels up into the air.Newman has just pulled off the up-

set of a generation.In a stunning result, the Jets squeak

by the Shockers with a final score of 70-67 on Sunday.

The game was won on a Ryan Mc-Carthy buzzer-beating three-point shot over a stumbling Ron Baker. Upon seeing the shot rim around but still drop in, Fred VanVleet buries his head in his jersey.

Gregg Marshall, in a stupor of sorts, slowly removes his glasses and pon-ders the inside cuff of his Johnston’s-tailored suit.

Noreen Carrocci, in a fit of ecstasy, leads a group of 10 rowdy Newman fans and ASC sisters onto the bas-ketball court, all while brandishing a school pennant in one hand and an “affordability” calculator she used earlier in the afternoon as a prop for a television interview.

As Shocker fans file out, one New-man fan plays the Jet fight song on a portable Bluetooth speaker he brought along for the occasion, and the fans half-mumble the words to the chant.

Later that evening on SportsCenter, ESPN analysts debate the validity of Wichita State’s No. 11 ranking, com-

menting that there would be no per-fect season this year. The esteemed Dick Vitale comes on saying, “I like these Jets. And when Dickie V says he likes something, that’s a sign! That game was flat-out scary, baby!”

Carrocci, upon seeing the Sport-sCenter broadcast, takes to her iPad and composes an all-campus e-mail: “Class is cancelled tomorrow!”

However, Dr. Chris Fox quickly fol-lows up on that e-mail with another to his students, saying that discussion questions are still due on Blackboard

FourTwentySeven: An accurate prediction of the Wichita State results

See “Prediction” on Page 4

Matt Riedl

Editor-in-Chief

You can quote me.

by 9:25 a.m. that morning.Fugate Gymnasium was hastily re-

named the “Mark Potter Family Sta-dium,” even though its seating was far

from stadium-like. Also, a bronze stat-ue of Potter has been commissioned to stand next to St. Maria De Mattias on Founder’s Plaza.

And when all was said and done, Mark Barrett’s heart grew three sizes

that day, as he composed handwrit-ten letters to each and every student at Newman, forgiving them of their stu-dent debt and reducing tuition to what it was in 1985.

That, kids, is the story of when

Newman University upset Wichita State University in men’s basketball in 2014. Now I’m off to go vote – Pancho Fields maintains a slim lead over his Republican challenger in the 2022 gu-bernatorial election.

From “Prediction” on Page 3

Published every Thursday, except during University breaks and the summer session. De Mattias Hall, Room 266 3100 McCormick Ave., Wichita, KS 67213.

About this paper — The Vantage is a weekly stu-dent produced newspaper serving Newman University and the surrounding community. The content of the opinions page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Newman University, nor the opinions of the entire paper staff. The views expressed by columnists are their own.

Advertising matter — Except as clearly implied by the advertising party or otherwise specifically stated, advertisements in The Vantage are inserted by com-mercial activities or ventures identified in the adver-tisements themselves and not by Newman University or The Vantage. Advertising material printed herein is solely for informational purposes. Such printing is not to be construed as a written and implied sponsor-ship, endorsement or investigation of such commer-cial enterprises or ventures. Complaints concerning advertisements in The Vantage should be directed to the Business Manager, De Mattias Hall 266, 3100 McCormick, Wichita, KS 67213 or e-mailed to vantage.nu@gmail.com.

Letters to the Editor Policy

Letters to the editor are welcomed on any topic relating to Newman or the contents of The Vantage. Letters should include the writer’s name, year or position, and major or department. Letters are subject to editing for space and clarity. Nameless letters will not be printed.

Send letters to:

Opinions Editor, The VantageDeMattias 266, 3100 McCormickWichita, KS 67213or e-mail: vantage.nu@gmail.com

Matt RiedlEditor-in-Chief

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Joe Molina Sports Editor

Jessica SponselA&E Editor

Hank GriggsPhoto Editor

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Denise NeilAdviser

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John DennyStaff Writer

Jessica FagherazziStaff Writer

Taylor ParsonsStaff Writer

VantagetheFirst copy free, all extra copies 50¢

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Joseph KennesonCartoonist

Katy MessengerCartoonist

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 OPINION 4

‘Extracurricular’ activities provide experience, career prep“Extracurricular” An adjective that

is defined (of an activity at a school or college) pursued in addition to the normal course of study.

That is the definition of extracur-ricular as according to Google. Just did a quick Google search. And that google search reaffirms my annoyance at throwing the term “extracurricular” around.

I am a theatre major here at New-man. And it really bothers me when people consider productions “extra-curricular.”

Now, I know that’s problematic be-cause some people involve with these productions are not theatre majors. But recently the show “Buried Child,” which was received well across cam-pus had no one involved who was participating in an “extracurricular” activity. Every single actor and tech-nical worker was a theatre major or minor. There’s nothing extracurricular about us performing. Doing a play or a musical is part of my normal course of study.

I haven’t considered theatre an ex-tracurricular activity since I was 16.

I’ve been performing since second grade. My first play was “Mother Goose Goes Hollywood” and beyond playing sports, boy scouts, and video games, when I was in seventh grade acting and perform-ing really became a hobby. When I start-ed high school, I made the decision to audition for a play instead of try out for the soccer team. A decision I have never regretted to this day.

Becoming a “drama kid” was easy, and finally my sophomore year of High School, when I played Lord Capulet in our post-apocalyptic “Romeo & Juliet” was when I knew I wanted to be an ac-tor. To study theatre. And to pursue a degree in Fine Arts. That was my first school play. And it was a milestone in my career.

The big dramatic scene for Lord

Capulet involved me digging into a darker side of my psyche and angrily lashing out at Juliet, both physically and verbally. I would leave the stage after the scene and walk away from my fellow actors backstage. I needed a minute to cool off. The audience gasped when I screamed and struck Juliet. I caused emotion in the audi-ence, which is what I strive to do as an actor now. If I can hear a pin drop after delivering a line, I get goosebumps. It got me hooked.

And now two and half years into my college career and my love for per-formance and theatre and drama and acting is still alive and strong. And now I am set to graduate Newman in 2016 with a BFA in Theatre with an emphasis in performance.

What once was a hobby is now go-ing to be my career. In high school be-yond taking drama class, all the shows I were a part of were either outside performing groups or after school re-hearsal processes. It was considerably extracurricular, but I wanted to make a living out of it. A career out of it.

The term “extracurricular” feels

belittling to my major. To my future career. But it isn’t just for people with majors. If an athlete here at Newman aspires one day to play professionally, then he or she does not consider all the hours of blood, sweat, and tears spent practicing and playing as an “extracur-ricular” activity. It’s what they value. It’s what they hope to do one day. Stu-dent Government, is “extracurricular” but some of the members in it hope to one day be lawyers or politicians.

Plus there are scholarships from these “extracurricular” activities. If I’m getting money from the uni-versity to play or perform or write a student newspaper or be a “student leader” then how is that no part of my course of study in this university? At that point it is directly related to my study here at this university. There is nothing “extracurricular” about some of the experience we can get here at Newman. It’s one of the reasons why a private liberal arts college has its ad-vantages. The ability to get highly in-volved. I don’t consider anything I do here as a theatre major “extracurricu-lar” just extra experience.

Justin Ralph

Guest Writer

Eliminate the term “extracurricular.”

cracking jokes about not being good at making them, moving on to talk-ing about his writing process and the source of his creativity.

“My process starts with visualiza-tion. The story arises from the image of a string, and I pull the string. Most of the time you get the whole string and then you got the story- might be a short one or a novel, but it all starts from that one little idea. But some-

times the string breaks.”King talked a lot about his new “Re-

vival.” He said the book is a mix of sci-ence and religion. “I wanted to write about healing and Frankenstein and explore that idea of science and knowl-edge outracing any sense of morality,” he said. The book tells the story of a young boy named Jamie Morton, who meets a minister who tries to cure peo-ple with electricity.

King said “Revival” is one of the darkest books he’s written.

After mesmerizing the audience by reading the first pages of “Revival,” King answered a few questions from the audience. “I’ve heard you sleep with the light on. Do you still do so?”

He hesitated. “That’s embarrassing. No, I don’t. I sleep as close as possible to the switch where I can grab it in a hurry. I’m also a freak about bed cov-ers because that’s where monsters can creep at night, so I keep my feet under them where I know nothing can reach and grab it/them.”

At the end, King smoothly talked to the audience about how we were all having a good time together. He said: “We’re all here and you’re not thinking if you locked your car. Right? Some of you probably didn’t and anybody could have crawled in the back… any-body could be out there. I’d hate for you to be driving home and see a face rising on your mirror.”

The legendary Mr. Stephen King, ladies and gentlemen.

From “King” on Page 2