Thursday, April 12, 2012

What we asked you Monday on asuherald.com:

SportS, page 4CampuS Corner, page 3 newS, page 6

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Vol. 90 Issue 46

Informing Arkansas State University since 1921the herald

asuherald.com

Should marijuana be legalized for medicinal and personal use in Arkansas (and the U.S.)?

Theatre department brings weekend comedyMusic festival preview: Wakarusa Red Wolves to debut Saturday

No 48%

Yes 49%Hear something funny or interesting on cam-pus? Tweet it to @OverheardAtASU and you could see it printed in The Herald!

Of interest onlineI'm not sure 3%

Biggers wins big126th R.E. Lee Wilson Awardgiven to CandiceMey-Biggers

Xinzhong Zhao/Herald

Candice "Candi" Mey-Biggers received the 126th R.E. Lee Wilson Award last week during a ceremony at the Cooper Alumni Center. The Wilson Award is given annually to the university's most outstanding graduate. The award is given to someone who displays character, determination, involvement and academic achieve-ment.

Lindsey BlakelyNews Editor

Candice “Candi” Mey-Biggers, a communications disorder major of ASU, is this year’s recipient of the 126th R. E. Lee Wilson award, the highest Distin-guished Student award at ASU.

Biggers, who graduates in May 2012, was recog-nized Thursday, April 5 as Distinguished Student Awards were given in a ceremony at the Cooper Alumni Center.

Biggers grew up in Jonesboro, AR where she graduated from Valley View High School. Upon graduating, Biggers en-rolled at ASU as an early childhood education major.

At ASU, Biggers became an implementer through Abilities Unlimited for a

now 19 year old girl with Down Syndrome.

“Through working with her and volunteering at a summer program, I was exposed to the different therapy fields and soon

changed my major to com-munication disorders,” Biggers said.

A member of Alpha Gamma Delta, Biggers has been an Orientation Lead-er for two years and was

head Orientation Leader this past year.

She has also served two years as a member of the student conduct board and is vice president of the

See BIGGERS, page 5

Petrus announcesstaff appointmentsfor next term

Kayla PaineStaff Writer

Now that the new senate is sworn in, staff appointed and budget approved, the 2012-2013 Student Govern-ment Association is ready for the upcoming year.

“We’re off to a great start and everyone has a lot of ambition,” said SGA President Hunter Petrus.

“I think a lot will be ac-complished this year.”

Petrus announced his expectations of the senate. All college senators will be meeting with the deans of their respective colleges. They are also required to have a list of 50 contacts in their college before April 20 for a mailing list of SGA updates.

“I really want to improve my college and get more in-volved in all aspects to rep-resent them to the best of my ability,” said College of

Communications Senator Latasha Moore.

Each member of the senate is also going to be assigned to an internal committee and shared gov-ernance committee to en-sure that the student voice is heard across campus.

“It’s my goal to bridge the gap between SGA and the diverse students at ASU,” said Junior Senator Leonard Jones.

All members of the sen-ate approved the $76,300 budget without debate. It reduced by $480 from last year’s budget. The SGA budget is funded through a portion of the student ac-tivity fee.

Amounts were reduced and moved into different categories, but is almost the same as the previous budget. Funding decreased for advertising because of less printing expenses due

See SGA, page 5

Students get swabbed

Alejandra Hernandez/Herald

Michelle Stafford, a sophomore social work major of North Little Rock, swabs her mouth a with a cotton swab to see if she's com-patible with someone for a bone marrow donation at the Bone Marrow Drive on Tuesday.

Alejandra Hernandez/Herald

Shane Broadway spoke at the Richmond-Haydar Scholarship Din-ner on Wednesday. The Richmond-Haydar scholarship is given annually to an international student at ASU-J. Broadway, an ASU alum, had personal relationships during his time at ASU with both men that the scholarship is named after.

Broadway speaks at scholarship dinner

Lindsey BlakelyNews Editor

Shane Broadway made his way to ASU Monday evening when he spoke at the Richmond-Haydar Scholarship Dinner.

The former senator and current deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, was the guest speaker at the banquet meant for inter-national students.

Other honored guests included the vice chancel-lor of student affairs, Rick Stripling and his wife, in-terim chancellor Dan How-ard and Lonnie Williams, associate vice chancellor of student affairs.

During his time at ASU, Broadway was the presi-dent of SGA, on the deans

advisory committee and a member of the faculty ath-letic committee. According to Stripling, Broadway is a member of the ASU fam-ily.

“I always learned some-thing from the two men this scholarship was named af-ter,” Broadway said, speak-ing of Mossie J. Richmond and Afak Haydar. “They were both visionaries who created opportunity for students all around the world.”

Broadway, who was a pallbearer for Richmond’s funeral, said that the two opened his eyes to the in-ternational population at ASU.

When he was in college, Broadway said he took full advantage of his

See DINNER, page 5

UPD undergoes accreditation process, results expected by JulyCasey RinaldiStaff Writer

The ASU police depart-ment has been undergoing an accreditation process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA).

Established in 1979, the Jonesboro Police Depart-ment is also accredited un-der this organization.

Lieutenant Jarrod Long,

a full-time officer since 2003, said the department has just switched over to a new accreditation agency.

“During these last three years we decided to go with CALEA, who we signed on with in June 2010,” said Long.

“The purpose of the ac-creditation is to make us compliant with the same standards that the best police departments in the world follow. It helps keep

us professional and insures everything’s standard-ized.”

UPD had an on-site visi-tation from CALEA last week.

“The assessors came and looked at everything and as far as the differ-ence between the two, our standards pretty much mirrored the ones out of the CALEA manual, so we already pretty much had everything in place," Long

said. There were, however,

a few minor adjustments that the department had to make.

"We did have to make one change to the dispatch center by placing a tele-phone beside the door to the center, so that every-one must use it to speak to the dispatcher, as we are not allowed to have any unauthorized personnel in

See UPD, page 5

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 —

Proposed policy may hurt schoolOn Feb. 6, March 10 and more recently April

9, The Herald ran stories about a recent proposal by the university which would revise the current policy on intellectual property.

The proposed policy would grant ASU “full legal title to all Intellectual Property created by any person or persons to whom this policy is applicable,” essentially causing students and faculty to lose the property rights of their work here at the school.

We think this is a dangerous proposal and would cause unnecessary damage to students, faculty and the university as a whole if implemented.

One of the main objectives of ASU’s present policy, last revised in 2005, is to “encourage and protect the creative endeavors of all members (faculty, staff and students) of the Arkansas State University community.”

Unfortunately, the revision to this policy would not improve this. Instead, the proposal to have ASU own the research, discoveries or anything eligible for legal protection will stifle research and ideas.

We believe many will be discouraged to invest time and resources in research if they realize they have no legal ownership of their work while at the university.

For this same reason, we believe ASU will have difficulty attracting professors and students around the country to conduct their research here should the policy go into effect.

But another, perhaps more serious problem with this proposal is the fact that it may violate the rights of students and professors.

When we create anything of our own, whether an essay, research project, work of art or music composition, we are, with some exceptions, entitled to ownership of that work.

Some on the faculty senate have argued this policy would infringe on copyrights, something courts and legal systems take very seriously.

Of course, there is the argument this revised policy would allow ASU to sell the work of others and spread it among the research community, enhancing the school’s reputation.

However, we believe this proposal goes beyond any reasonable limits and will bring far more harm than good to our educational community by stifling independent, enterprising work.

“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, April 12 The Herald

- Sara Krimm, editorsara.krimm@smail.astate.edu- Lindsey Blakely, news editorlindsey.blakely@gmail.com- Jeff 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

“They break up every day, but this •one is for real.”

“Y’all – I’m hot in a real bad •way.”

“We watched closely from the •bushes...”

“I’m wearing the same clothes from •last night.”“Walk of shame. Nice.”“I plan on having several in my life.”

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

– Letters to the Editor –The Herald welcomes letters to the editor inelectronic form and under 300 words.

Please email letters to:

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

Sorority housing may be an ASU milestone but are the costs and effort put into building these houses really worth it? I believe, and so do many of my fel-low students, the answer is a resounding no.

Sororities and fraterni-ties have been at ASU since it was Arkansas State Col-lege back in the 1940s.

The oldest sorority on campus, the Alpha Gamma Delta’s, was established at ASU in 1948. Currently, 15 percent of students at ASU are members of one of the sororities or fraternities on campus.

The plans for the new sorority housing are for the four largest sororities on campus, Alpha Gam-ma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega and Delta Zeta.

My main concern with sorority housing is the fact that, although the housing might make “Greeks more visible,” it will do nothing to improve our campus’s educational endeavors.

Why should the univer-sity, whose main goal as an institution of higher learning is to educate stu-dents for the future, spend money on something that shouldn’t even be connect-ed with the university?

ASU has an unfinished liberal arts building, im-provements being made to the Marion Berry Parkway, new honors housing in de-velopment, and a new head football coach to pay, who by the way is getting paid a far larger salary than any ASU football coach in the school’s history.

How in the world are the new sorority houses being paid for?

The estimated cost for the new sorority housing totals $5.5 million. The university also said they would be putting forth $335,000 for parking, which I’m not sure if that number is figured into the total cost of the housing.

If you don’t believe me about the price tag, just go to asusystem.edu and click on the link for the last Board of Trustees System Construction Report.

I’m concerned that students’ tuitions are going to go up.

Usually, when a uni-versity needs funding to construct a new building, they will increase tuition, or include fees such as an “infrastructure fee.”

Then the issue of what will happen to all the resi-dents who are currently living in the houses on the corner of Aggie Road and University Loop where the new housing is being built comes up.

Yes, the houses are owned and rented by the university, but the new housing is forcing resi-dents to move out and find a new place to live for the sake of four, 20 bed, 8,051 square feet houses.

Some of the university’s faculty also live in those houses and are being re-quired to move out. Are they being compensated? Is the university paying them to be relocated?

Why can’t they build the sorority housing in the huge unused grassy area behind the Village? There seem to be a lot of unan-swered questions.

But what really dis-tresses me is the question of what they are doing with the old Kays House, which was constructed in 1936

as a personal residence for ASU’s first president V.C. Kays.

It’s a historic building on campus—granted, most people don’t seem to know what or where the building is due to the fact there are no markers around it.

Even so, you can’t just destroy something that is part of our university’s his-tory simply to make room for unnecessary Greek housing.

It’s not wise to consider the construction of the so-rority houses as compa-rable to the construction of the Red W.O.L.F. Center, because the Center actual-ly serves a viable purpose on our campus.

To put it simply, Greeks can function on campus without fancy million-dol-lar-housing.

Before we start con-structing more buildings on campus, shouldn’t we at least attempt to finish the buildings that are more important to the growth and education of students?

The answer, for me, is a no-brainer.

Hennington is a sopho-more news editorial major of Hamburg.

“My main concern with sorority housing is the fact that, although the housing might make ‘Greeks more visible,’ it will do nothing to improve our campus’s

educational endeavors.”

Caleb Hennington

Sorority housing not worth the investment

I decided to write in re-sponse to Andrei Varney’s recent column entitled “Trayvon Martin shooting raises racial tensions.”

As readers may recall, there was the recent atroc-ity of Trayvon Martin’s death.

I sympathize with Mar-tin’s family, but the writer of this previous opinion argues that guns and gun-friendly laws must be banned to prevent such crimes. This is problem-atic.

Certainly, this writer has the right to express his opinions, but he has not thought things through.

The writer argued that the 2nd Amendment was drafted because the found-ing fathers intended to have a means to protect themselves from home in-vasions by British troops.

This is a sound thesis, but we must take this fur-ther. It was argued that guns are no longer neces-sary because home inva-sions are rare.

Yet if one stops and thinks about why home in-vasions are rare, one would know why the 2nd Amend-ment and guns are needed in the first place.

The fact remains that home invasions are rare

because we have guns as well as the right to bear them for protection. As long as crime is in this world, guns are necessary for said protection.

Google statistics about home invasion, and you will find out that burglar-ies are rare because of gun ownership.

What about the argu-ment that we can use other weapons besides guns? Is it likely that you will pre-vail, short of some miracle, with a knife or stick when a person is pointing a gun at you from a 10-50 yard distance? Think about it.

I must tell personal sto-ries to further my point. My landlady has told me that she does not care if I keep a gun in my apart-ment.

The Jonesboro Police have also told me I may keep a gun in my home without a permit. They have advised that once someone breaks into my home, I have a right to use my weapon if I feel that my life or the life of another is threatened.

And those who know me quite well know that if I feel threatened for myself or another, I will do what-ever it takes within my power to protect my life and the lives of those in my proximity.

My stepfather, a former sergeant in the Marines, advised that I need to keep

my gun loaded and read-ily accessible to me when I sleep should someone at-tempt a home invasion in the middle of the night.

Of course, I would never use any type of weapon on another person unless they were attempting to pull a weapon on me.

This is also why Zim-merman has no grounds for a self-defense claim be-cause Martin did not pull a weapon on him at the time of his shooting.

But there is another personal story that, to me, puts a gun ban out of the question.

At this time, I am plan-ning to attain a different means of housing options in the future.

A matter of days after I gave my landlady a notice of vacating the premises, a man came to my door and knocked.

Having been taught by my biological father to al-ways have my gun with me and easily visible when someone I do not know comes to the door, I put my holstered Colt 45 semi-automatic onto my belt as soon as I heard the knock.

I looked outside my win-dow, only to see the man looking angrily back at me. I answered the door, ask-ing if I could help him.

After he saw my gun, his look in his eyes changed immediately to a fearful expression as he said that

my landlady had sent him over to look at my apart-ment because I was mov-ing.

Having received no no-tice from my landlady of this man, I felt that this man was lying and had the possible intent to harm or rob me.

I told him I could not let him in, gave a reason why, he understood, we shook hands, and he left.

After asking my land-lady about this matter she told me that she sent no-body over to my place and that she appreciated my stopping by.

Needless to say, I fortu-nately did not have to use my gun.

The bottom line, howev-er, is that the man thought twice about a possible in-tention to bring harm to me once he saw my pistol, and that is what it is all about.

I sympathize with Mar-tin’s family. This shooting should not have happened, but banning guns will not solve the problem.

Everyone has the right to defend his/her life, and we must never lose, or take for granted our 2nd Amendment rights.

Do not punish law-abid-ing citizens because of the lawbreakers.

Holland is a gradu-ate student in history of Jonesboro.

“The bottom line, however, is that the man thought twice about a possible intention to bring harm to me once he saw

my pistol, and that is what it is all about.”

Jason Holland

Banning guns is out of the question

PAGE 3 Thursday, April 12 The Herald

Campus CornerTitanic celebrates 100th anniversary

Oscar-winning fi lm re-released in 3DDaniel McFadin

Sports Editor

The year of 1985 was a good one. My parents tied the knot in March

and one of my favorite comic strips, “Cal-vin and Hobbes,” was first published on November 15th.

Just a month before that, on Sept. 1st, underwater explorer Robert D. Ballard rediscovered an icon that had been miss-ing for 73 years.

It has been 100 years since it slipped beneath the surface of the North Atlan-tic on the morning of April 15, 1912; but the R.M.S. Titanic, a ship that was sup-posed to be “unsinkable,” is once again on the public’s mind.

These days, whenever the word “Ti-tanic” is mentioned, images of a young Leonardo de Caprio yelling, “I’m king of

the world!” and Celine Dion belting out how her “heart will go on,” most likely come to mind thanks to James Camer-on’s Oscar winning film “Titanic,” which was first released in the simpler time of 1997.

Now the film has been re-released in 3D for yet another generation of movie goers to experience the ships first and only voyage.

I have had a life long interest in the ill-fated White Star Lines ocean liner for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories, from when I was about seven, is of me flipping through a book by National Geographic of pictures of the Titanic’s ghostly, yet elegant wreck on the ocean floor.

I still own that book and a few more of the countless publications that have documented every imaginable element

one could apply to a century old incident, some obviously trying to play on the James Cameron movie, like “The True Stories of 13 Honeymoon Couples on the Titanic,” by Helen B. Stanford.

However tacky it may be, it is an ex-ample of both the staying power of Titan-ic’s myth and how we as a society pass along stories of events we weren’t alive to remember, let alone experience.

Its influence is far reaching, but there are people whose only knowledge of the disaster comes from the Oscar winning movie. Monday night a screen shot of Twitter users shared their astonishment at the Titanic actually being a historical event.

One of my favorites was from @Baby-Doe22, who said, “Guys, the Titanic was real! #mindblown.”

While most of the users who ex-

pressed this are teenagers, should we be surprised they have no idea the second highest grossing film in American his-tory ($628 million earned as of April 9th) is based on an actual event that claimed the lives of more than 1,500 passengers?

Part of me says no since the sinking, while one of the most devastating mari-time incidents in history did not play that much of a factor in world events. The sinking might be nothing more than a footnote in many high school text-books.

That’s why movies like James Cam-eron’s exist.

No matter what you think of the qual-ity of the film itself, its efforts by Cam-eron and Robert Ballard to preserve both the ship’s remains and legacy it left be-hind on the surface, will keep it in our memory for the next 100 years.

Caleb HenningtonStaff Writer

With the spring 2012 semester quickly coming to an end, the time to be thinking about exciting sum-mer concerts and festivals is rapidly approaching.

While there are many music fes-tivals this summer for students to choose from, a lot of the most pop-ular festivals take place in other states and places too far for many students to afford to travel to.

However, the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival is one event that is both local and popular, and is a great option for students who want to listen to great music but don’t want to drive too far away from Arkansas to do so.

Wakarusa takes place this year from May 31 to June 3 on Mulber-ry Mountain in Ozark, Ark. Ozark, which boasts a population of 3,525 citizens, has been the site of Wakar-usa for the last four years.

Before the festival moved to Ar-kansas in 2009, it was held in Law-rence, Kan. It was established in 2004 by co-founders Brett Mosiman, Timothy L. Smith, John Brooks and Nathan Prenger.

In a 2010 interview with conse-quenceofsound.net, Mosiman said Wakarusa was started by “four bud-dies sitting around having a beer

in the middle of winter thinking it would be a good idea to start a music and camping festival.”

The festival has been the host of numerous big name artists, includ-ing a few Grammy award-winning artists such as The Flaming Lips and Wilco. Artists ranging from Ben Folds to The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and Cake have all played at Wakarusa. Last year’s festival in-cluded My Morning Jacket, Minus the Bear and even dubstep artist Skrillex.

This year’s lineup is sure to be just as popular as the past years, with The Avett Brothers, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and headlining artist Pretty Lights.

Andrew Fleeman, a sophomore marketing major from Manila, is planning on attending this year’s Wakarusa with a few of his friends.

“I have never been to Wakarusa but I have wanted to go for the past four years,” Fleeman said. “I decided to go to Wakarusa this year because I wanted to have a small summer re-treat and also wanted to see some of my favorite bands such as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and the Avett Brothers,” he continued.

Fleeman said the band he is most excited about seeing at Wakarusa is the Avett Brothers.

“Seeing them live is going to be amazing,” he said.

Wakarusa isn’t like every other music festival where you pay to go listen to a lot of bands play for one long day. Wakarusa is a four-day event that not only allows camping, but encourages it.

Fleeman said he plans on fishing right beside the river while camp-ing. He also hopes to meet some new people at Wakarusa.

Festivalgoers have the option to either buy a two-day pass for $99, a three-day pass for $139, or a full event pass for $179. The camping passes are purchased separately ranging in price from between $29 and $149, depending on how close you want to get to the main venue grounds.

With the camping passes, concert goers can bring their own tents and set up a campsite right outside their parked vehicle.

Wakarusa is said to be worth the price, for not only the music, but the experience of the event as well.

“It will totally be worth the price! I don’t mind paying at all,” Fleeman said.

Fleeman is also hoping to attend other music festivals this summer, such as the Vans Warped Tour in Dallas, Texas, and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.

For ticket and artist lineup infor-mation on Wakarusa 2012, visit Wa-karusa.com.

Music festival preview: Wakarusa This month marks the 100 year anniversar y of the sinking of the Titanic, which set sail in April of 1912. The ship sank a mere three days later, causing the death of over 1,500 passengers. The remains of the ship were not found until Sept. 1985. The life, death and memory of the Titanic can be seen in the above timeline.

Abdullah Raslan/Herald Photo Editor

http://wakarusa.com/

Zach LottStaff Writer

Cody Woodhouse pitched five score-less innings, Claude Johnson collected three hits and accounted for two runs, and John Koch tied single-season and career records for saves as the Arkansas State Red Wolves bested Memphis 4-2 Tuesday night at Tomlinson Stadium.

The win was a redeeming one for ASU (19-15, 8-4), who were out scored 25-8 and won only one game in last weekend’s series with Louisiana-Monroe.

Against Memphis, however, the Red Wolves scored early, going up 1-0 in the first when Logan Uxa drove in Johnson on a bloop single after Johnson clobbered a double that nearly left the park.

The Tigers almost answered in the top of the third when Uxa made a div-ing catch to rob Ethan Gross of an extra-base hit that would have sent home Ja-cob Wilson. After that, Woodhouse, who surrendered only two hits, held the Ti-gers in check, and they were only able to score once he was pulled at the top of the sixth.

“I thought he did a good job making quality pitches in the strike zone that were down in the zone,” said Arkansas State head coach Tommy Raffo.

With Woodhouse out of the game,

Adam McClain doubled off Seth McWil-liams to bring in Gross, and T.J. Rich notched a single against Chandler Hawk-ins to score McClain.

Morgan Croft then entered the game and issued a single and a walk before whiffing Ford Wilson to retire the Tigers without additional damage.

The Red Wolves proved to be resilient, loading the bases in the bottom of the third. Memphis reliever Jonathan Van Easton got a force-out at home plate on a ground ball from Zach George but walked Alex Potts to earn Johnson his second run.

Shortstop Dustin Jones then had the opportunity to nab the lead but ground-ed out to third base.

Croft stayed in the game and hand-cuffed the Tigers in the seventh, walk-ing Keaton Aldridge before striking out the next three batters.

Arkansas State then battled back of-fensively to score two runs and regain the lead for good, as Johnson hit an in-field single to score Michael Faulkner and Zach Maggio, who arrived at home plate thanks to a throwing error by Gross.

“They responded back with two runs in the sixth and we responded right back at them. So essentially the game was played in the sixth and seventh [in-

nings],” Raffo said.Red Wolves reliever Brandon Far-

ley struck out the side in the eighth to set up the save for John Koch, who tied school records for both saves in a season (7) as well as saves in a career (11).

Raffo extolled Koch’s tendency for “quality strikes” and praised his work this season, but Koch down played the situation and credited his teammates.

“I try to get as consistent as I can. I almost think as good as the pitchers be-fore me did tonight [it] really carried me to do better,” he said.

The win revitalizes ASU heading into this weekend’s conference series with Western Kentucky, who currently rank seventh in the Sun Belt standings. Fri-day’s opener is set for 6 p.m. at Tomlin-son Stadium.

SPORTSPAGE 4 Thursday, April 12 The Herald

One and DoneRed Wolves win one-game series over rival Tigers

,Student Speak: Should ASU charge?

“It doesn’t bother me because I’m sure the money benefits the department in some way. You should support the pack either way.”

–Karmen Howers, senior criminology major of West Helena.

“It should be free so everyone can see what the upcoming season will be like.”

– Harry Higgins, a freshman international business major from Brisbane, Australia.

“Five dollars is a steal. Other school’s ticket’s cost a lot more. I think we could ask a little more for the tickets.” – Grant Cagle, a senior biology major of Bernie, Mo.

“Some high school games are $5. It’s really not that big of a deal, especially if you like football.”

–Maria Biancamano, a senior political science major of Florence.

Compiled by Staci Vandagriff

With Saturday’s football Spring Game. Arkansas State joins a

short list of schools (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Auburn ) to charge

non-student fans $5 for entry to their spring game and receive a

ticket to Saturday’s baseball game. ASU students and children 12

and under are admitted for free

“It’s a small price to pay to see what our new offense and defense will be like in the fall.”

–Jonathan Mbaya, a political science major from Pretoria, South Africa.

Daniel McFadinSports Editor

After weeks of closed practices, the 2012 Arkan-sas State Red Wolves foot-ball team will make their eagerly anticipated debut this Saturday in the annual Spring Game.

Fans will finally get at a glimpse at what first-year head coach, Gus Malzahn, has in store for a program that went 10-3 last season and earned a spot in the Go-Daddy.com Bowl.

The spring practice will begin at 1 p.m. at ASU Sta-dium.

While it is a full-length practice session, Malzahn said the event will be some-thing for Arkansas State fans to enjoy.

“We’ll try to make it as game-like as possible with our players and play four quarters of football and have a halftime.“

Malzahn also institut-ed an entrance charge of $5 for non-students and fans above the age of 12, for the first time at an ASU spring game.

Malzahn said the rea-soning for the institution of

the charge is to benefit play-ers and supplement costs in an athletic program that ranked last in the Football Bowl Subdivision in terms of funding last season.

With the charge, Arkan-sas State joins a short list of schools that charge for admittance to their spring games, including Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Oklaho-ma and Malzahn’s previous school, Auburn.

At least 400 potential ASU recruits will be in at-tendance at the event, also acting as the school’s Junior Day.

Malzahn said the “family

atmosphere” the team gives off has impressed many re-cruits who have visited cam-pus.

The school is going to great lengths to bring that atmosphere to the game Sat-urday with activities before and after.

The first 500 students at the stadium will receive a free Gus Malzahn t-shirt, and the band, Heading South, will begin performing at 11 a.m.

Fans will be able to re-ceive autographs from play-ers and coaches following the game.

Alejandra Hernandez/HeraldArkansas State players observe drills during a spring practice session

at ASU stadium.

Chelsea Weaver/Herald

Senior first baseman Daniel Short nabs a throw to get Memphis base runner Bryce Beeler out Tuesday night at Tomlinson Stadium.

Red Wolves to debut SaturdaySpring game begins Malzahn era

Malzahn statement on Dyer trial testimonyDaniel McFadinSports Editor

ASU running back Mi-chael Dyer gave testimony Wednesday morning in an armed robbery trial at the Lee County (Alabama) Cir-cuit Court.

Head football coach Gus Malzahn issued a statement in an ASU press release Wednesday night regarding Dyer’s day in court.

“I am fully aware of Mike’s circumstances,” Malzahn said. “He knows very well the high standard we have of all our players here at Arkansas State, and I’m confident that he will meet those expecta-tions.”

Dyer said in the statement, “I regret that I made some mistakes during my time at Auburn that unfortunately I

cannot go back and change, but I’m back home now, a changed person and moving forward with the help of my family and coaches at ASU.”

Dyer, a native of Little Rock, transferred to ASU from Auburn following Malzahn’s hire in December.

Dyer will have two years of eligibility remaining at Ar-kansas State and is partic-ipating in the Red Wolves’ 2012 spring camp.

Dyer’s testified Wednesday morning in the third day of the trial of former Auburn Tiger wide receiver Archie Good-win, who is charged with armed robbery trial.

Goodwin was arrested and charged on March 11, 2011, along with three other Au-burn players: Kowaski Kitch-ens, Michael McNeil and Har-rison Mosley, all teammates

of Dyer’s in 2010, according to an article on NBC 12 WFSA’s website.

The four former Auburn players are charged with multiple counts of first-de-gree robbery, first-degree bur-glary and third-degree theft of property, according to the Opelika-Auburn News.

Dyer testified that a pis-tol he owned was used in the armed robbery of five people at gun point.

Dyer also testified he was asked to participate in the crime and that he refused.

All four of the players charged in the crime were dis-missed from the Auburn foot-ball team following their ar-rests.

More on the trial can be found at the Opelika-Auburn News website, www2.oanow.com.

NEWSPAGE 5 Thursday, April 12 The Herald

BriefsUnited Voices Gospel Choir is holding its annual Spring Concert on April 21, 2012 at

6:30 p.m at the St. Bernards Auditorium located at 505 E. Washington in Jonesboro, AR. Admission is free to the public and everyone is invited. We will have a National Recording Artist Vincent Tharpe and Kenosis as well as locally known group Extol performing. For more information contact Denesha Roberts at denesha.roberts@smail.astate.edu.

Volunteers are needed for the Annual Brain Awareness Day scheduled to take place at the HMG Health and Fitness Expo at the ASU Convocation Center on Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22. Training meetings for volunteers will be held on Wednesday, April 18 from 12-1 p.m. and Thursday, April 19 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the College of Education room 207. If you would like to volunteer for this community science outreach activity, please attend one of the volunteer meetings. Lunch will be provided. If you are not able to attend either of the meetings but still wish to volunteer then please contact one of us. For more information contact Dr. Amy R. Pearce at 972-3282, apearce@astate.edu or Dr. Malathi Srivatsan at msrivatsan@astate.edu.

Volunteer ASU is in need of students, faculty, or staff to assist with the Area Special Olympics on Friday, April 20. Shifts begin at 7:30 a.m., and the event lasts until 4 p.m. This event will take place on campus at the ASU Track. To register to volunteer contact jcherry@astate.edu.

Volunteer ASU is seeking volunteers to assist with the Non Trad Spring Fling on Saturday, April 21. Volunteer shifts are 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 1 p.m.-3 p.m., and 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Volunteers will assist with managing kids on inflatables, set up , clean up and with the operations of the event. For more information or to sign up for shift contact jcherry@astate.edu.

The Arkansas Hall Residence Association is hosting Arkansas Hall’s first Flag Football Tournament. In celebration of National Residence Hall Month, the tournament will be set up for students from each Residence Hall to compete against one another. This event will take place on April 30, and teams are to report to Arkansas Hall lobby by 5 p.m. For all those willing to participate, sign-ups are available at the Front Desk of each participating Residence Hall complex. Anyone with questions please contact Corey Parara, A-Hall President, at corey.parara@smail.astate.edu.

For students applying to medical or dental schools for Fall 2013 admission: in addition to a Fall term interview process by the Preprofessional Committee there will also be a Spring interview period. This particularly applies to students seeking early admission. Spring interviews will be April 16 and 17. Informational packets and sign up sheets are available in the Biology office. For further information, please contact Ronald Johnson, Assistant Chair, Biological Sciences, rlj@astate.edu.-

BIGGERS, CONTINUED

Have a news tip?We want to hear from you.

Please email your tips to:

lindsey.blakely@smail.astate.edu sara.krimm@smail.astate.edu

National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA).

This past year, Biggers participated in the Global Student Leader program. She was also chosen as Who's Who among colleges and universities, served on the executive committee of Relay for Life and had the honor of being named ASU Homecoming Queen.

Biggers currently serves on two shared government committees -- one for finan-cial aide and scholarships

and one for admissions. Following graduation

in May, Biggers plans to attend graduate school at ASU and obtain a master’s in communication disor-ders. After which, she will become a speech-language pathologist where she will specialize in working with children with developmen-tal disabilities in a private clinic.

For the aspiring student finding their way, Biggers says, “Find some aspect of campus to get involved in,

whether it be big or small. Make the most of your ex-perience at ASU and it can do marvelous things for you in return, it has for me!”

The other students who received Distinguished Student Awards are as fol-lows:

Adrian Everett of McGehee, JoNece Carter of North Little Rock, Kohl McCone of Monticello, Mor-gan Fincher Trevathan of Jonesboro, and Neena Veil of Jonesboro.

SGA, CONTINUED

Staci Vandagriff/Herald

Hunter Petrus, SGA president, swears in senators at a meeting on Tuesday night. Petrus also announced all of the appointed staff at the meeting.

to the Internet and social media. A new line item of $3,000 for the bike

program was added. The resolution for the bike program was passed March 6.

It will allow students to check out bikes from the Red Wolf Center. The fund allots 10 bikes to be purchased.

Twelve senate seats were left open af-ter elections. There were nine seats filled at the meeting.

The students do not directly elect the seats now open; the senate fills them at

meetings. The senate makes a vote of ac-climation, a yes or no, if an individual runs unopposed.

The staff appointments were announced at the meeting:

•Chief of Staff: D’Andre Anderson•Secretary: Courtney Bolin•Public Relations Director: Stevie

Overby•Cultural Enrichment Director: Charl

Stander•Parliamentarian: Chad Easton

there ever. That’s a tem-porary fix, but we’re hop-ing to construct another wall inside there to sepa-rate the dispatcher, and make a little public area so the public can actually come in and speak to him through the window,” he said.

Some of the dispatch-ers underwent some basic Spanish training earlier this year in order to bet-ter communicate with the growing Hispanic commu-nity.

“That was something we decided to do on our own. We saw an advertise-ment from the Jonesboro Dispatch Center saying

that they’d be hosting a class and we decided, ‘Ok, that’d be a good idea to help our dispatchers com-municate.’”

All UPD dispatchers attended the three-day course in March with the goal of helping them to bet-ter communicate with and understand the plights of Hispanic students and citizens when they call the desk in the event of an emergency situation.

The next assessment date for UPD is April 25, 2015. However, the de-partment will not know if they have received ac-creditation until the end of July, during the next con-

ference of CALEA, where the commission will decide to award the agency with accredited status or not.

CALEA holds commit-tee meetings three times every year to decide on awarding accreditation to worthy agencies. Howev-er, Long said the assessors were very pleased with what they saw.

If the UPD obtains ac-creditation status, they will be only the eighth agency in Arkansas to do so.

“It’s going to be a good deal, especially consid-ering our size, since our department only has 20 people,” said Long.

UPD, CONTINUED

opportunities.“I love being on cam-

pus,” Broadway said. “I went to everything when I was a student. Every game, school event and even choir concerts.”

Broadway, who said there were only 200 in-ternational students dur-ing his time at ASU, said without Richmond and Haydar, his experience wouldn’t be the same.

The scholarship’s re-

quirements were that the student must have at least 30 semester hours and a GPA of at least a 3.0 for the undergradu-ates. For the graduate students, they must have completed at least nine semester hours at ASU-J and a GPA of at least 3.5. Applicants weren’t able to have studied at any U.S. institution except ASU-J.

The families and

friends of Richmond and Haydar endow the award. Richmond was a former vice president for Stu-dent Affairs and Haydar was a former director of International programs at ASU.

The undergraduate winner was Yuchen Duan of China. The graduate winner was Jose Tovar of Peru. There were six un-dergraduate finalists and 5 graduate finalists.

DINNER, CONTINUED

ASU Press Release

Tim Hudson, who will officially begin his duties as chancellor of the ASU-Jonesboro campus on May 1, announced today that he is forming a transition ad-visory committee to assist him by providing advice and consultation over the next few weeks.

“This is an important time of change for every-one,” Hudson said. “I am grateful that colleagues proven to have the con-fidence of others have agreed to provide me coun-sel and to give me context for planning this transi-tion. I want everyone to know that I welcome their input and especially their ideas, directly or through the committee.”

Those he has asked to serve on the transition com-mittee are Hunter Petrus,

president of the Student Government Association; Robert Engelken, profes-sor of electrical engineer-ing; Beverly Boals Gilbert, dean of Continuing Educa-tion and Community Out-reach and past president of the Faculty Association; JW Mason, associate vice chancellor for administra-tion; and Ed Way, chair of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce and executive vice president at Liberty Bank.

The committee will have a relatively short term mis-sion, as Hudson expects the group to “advise itself out of business” during the early part of the fall semes-ter.

“I am very excited to serve on this transition committee,” commented Petrus, who is starting his second term as president of the Student Government

Association. “I believe that this is an outstanding idea that will really benefit Ar-kansas State University. I am ready to work under Dr. Hudson’s leadership and I believe that this is a great start.”

Mason, who has ob-served numerous admin-istrative changes during his career at ASU, added, “Utilizing a small group to assist with the transition is an interesting, novel ap-proach for a new chancel-lor. I think this demon-strates Dr. Hudson’s desire to reach out to the campus community and to make himself more available.”

Although his appoint-ment officially begins May 1, Hudson is spending some time on campus this month, attending special events and becoming more familiar with the univer-sity.

Hudson forms advisory committee

Janice MorganNews Reporting Student

The ASU Delta Sympo-sium for 2012 will kick off on April 18, and admission is free and is open to the public.

There will be a variety of presentations, which will include music, poetry read-ings, panel discussion ses-sions, keynote address and the Roots Music Festival.

The Departments of English and Philosophy sponsor the symposium with their theme, “Roots and Generations.”

Highlights of the sympo-sium include review of the new films, “We Juke Up in Here: Mississippi’s Juke Joint Culture at the Cross-

roads” by Roger Stole, Jeff Koneke, and Damien Blay-lock.

A separate screening of “American Women: Roots Musicians/Women’s Tales and Tunes” to include a dis-cussion on this documen-tary by its creator, Dyann Arthur. This year’s event includes musical perfor-mances as well as lectures.

There will be a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 19 in the Cashe River Room by ac-claimed poet, Tony Tost, at the Reng Student Union.

The musical perfor-mances are scheduled to begin on Friday night, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the ASU Reng Student Center auditorium. Mississippi

Delta Bluesman, L.C. Ul-mer will perform the clos-ing events that will be held on campus.

The symposium activi-ties will move to downtown Jonesboro with the “Roots Music Festival” to be held at the CWL Park at the in-tersection of Culberhouse and Cherry Streets. This event begins at noon with a musical showcase of local talent.

There will also be a free music festival. Everyone is encourages to come early to watch and listen to a jam session beginning at 11:00 on Saturday, April 21.

So if you are a Blues, bluegrass, and folk mu-sician you are invited to come and join in the fun.

Delta Blues Symposium to begin April 18

ASU’s Health, Physi-cal Education and Sport Sciences Department along with the senior ex-ercise science majors will be hosting Run with the Pack on April 21 to raise awareness of exercise in conjunction with raising donations for the March of Dimes.

Exercise is Medicine is a nonprofit initiative launched by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medi-cal Association. EIM calls for physical activity and exercise to be a standard part of disease prevention and medical treatment.

“Exercise is more than prevention of diseases, it is also focusing on the internal benefits of physi-cal activity and how these can also benefit and con-tribute to the longevity and quality of life,” said Stasha Seirs, a senior ex-ercise science major from St. Louis, Mo.

Run with the Pack is a free event open to the public. A course will be mapped out for partici-pants to walk or run, and could be anywhere from a mile and a half to two miles long.

The race will begin at 10:30 a.m. in front of the ASU Football Stadium and will also feature ath-letes from ASU of differ-ent athletic teams to walk/run in the race.

“This is going to be something for all ages, it is going to be a chance to get out and get healthy,” said Robert Stafford, a se-nior exercise major from Salem, Ark.

While raising aware-ness about health and fitness, the students are also raising donations for the March of Dimes.

The March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization that has been funding the research of premature ba-bies, vaccinations given to children, and the develop-ment of NICU, the Neona-tal Intensive Care Unit.

Marla Graves, an exer-cise science professor and a mother of twins who were born prematurely,

has been a dedicated vol-unteer for the March of Dimes since the birth of her children. With a great deal of passion and her own personal story, Graves has incorporated her senior exercise sci-ence students to help in raising donations for the March of Dimes.

“I have always let the students pick and orga-nize their own events; I have never told my stu-dents they had to partici-pate and help raise funds. These students are so pas-sionate and driven to help raise donations for the or-ganization,” said Graves.

At 10 a.m. there will be a silent auction before the start of the race. Some of the prizes that will be auctioned include a $200 personal training pack-age with Personal Train-ing, Plus Inc., gift cards for massages, Subway gift cards and several other things donated by local businesses.

With the help of do-nations from Chic-fil-a, Tropical Smoothie, and other local businesses, an estimated $1,500 has been raised for the March of Dimes.

Senior exercise major Megan Stoltzfus of Ti-jeras, New Mexico said, “It has been really great to see the community come together and help others in need by donating to the March of Dimes. I really didn’t realize the willing-ness of people if you just asked.”

Coordinators of the event are hoping the num-ber of donations will rise dramatically during Run with the Pack.

Every year seniors of the exercise science pro-gram have put on events to help raise money for the March of Dimes. Accord-ing to Graves, students have raised anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 dol-lars.

The students helping raise donations are also selling “Run with the Pack” wrist bands for a dollar and setting up a ta-ble in the Student Union on April 19 where stu-dents can donate to the March of Dimes.

NewsPAGE 6 Thursday, April 12 The Herald

Ashley HelliwellStaff Writer

Convocation of Scholars

Spring Entrepreneurship

The Convocation of Scholars has kicked off and the banquets are in full swing. Fea-tured are the Faculty Honors Convocation of Academic Affairs and Research and the Diversity Excellence Awards Luncheon.

The banquet for faculty was on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and the Diversity Luncheon was

on Wednesday at noon. On the left is Robert Engelken, Dixie Keys, John Beineke and Rollin Tusalem all recipients of academic advising, professional service, scholarship and teaching awards. On the right is Lillie Fears and Cody Campbell. Campbell received the Student Diversity Excellence Award.

Alejandra Hernandez/Herald Shan Huang/Herald

From Tuesday, April 10 to Wednesday, April 11, students from the International Management class will be displaying their business plan proposals in the lobbies of the College of Business building and the Delta Center for Economic Development. From Thursday, April 12 to Friday, April 13, students from

the Family Business Management will be highlight-ing US and Foreign based family firms in the lob-bies of the College of Business building and the Delta Center for Economic Development.

For more information, visit https://www.face-book.com/EntASU.

Staci Vandagriff/Herald

HPESS students to raise money for March of Dimes

Jessica RainwaterStaff Writer

The ASUJ Theatre presents “I love you, You’re perfect, Now change” at 7:30 p.m. on April 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18 at the Fowler Center with a cast of 8 theatre majors under the direction of Tim Bohn, As-sistant Professor of Theatre.

The play is a comedy that portrays many aspects of love.

It’s a celebration of the mating game taking on truths and myths about relationships.

“It’s a musical that goes through different re-lationships,” junior theatre major Samantha Cole from Jonesboro and costume designer said, “There are dating couples, married couples, people trying to figure out what their relationship is, and so on.”

Sarah Ring, a freshman theatre major from Cabot and actress, says, “It’s a bunch of different scenes tied together with one central theme, rela-tionships.”

Each character appears only once in each scene, and each actor plays a different role in each scene.

“I play about six different characters. They’re all easy to relate to,” Ring said “One character goes through a dream sequence because the guy she likes calls her and another is a daughter in a car ride with her family and you see how dysfunctional they are.”

“There is something in this show for everyone,

and it’s easy to relate to. Every girl gets excited when the guy she likes calls her just to tell her he’s been thinking of her,” Ring said.

There will be a “Meet the Cast” dessert reception following the opening night performance.

Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 the night of the performance.

Tickets can be purchased at the ASU Central Box Office in the Convocation Center or by calling (870) 972-ASU1.

Theatre department brings weekend comedy

Courtesy of Arkansas State University Theatre

Dru Ergle, a theatre major of Jonesboro performs during opening night.