THE VARSITY NEWSWednesday, March 26, 2014Vol. 95, Issue 9 The student newspaper of the University of Detroit Mercy �� www.thevarsitynews.org

BY JACK WALSWORTH VN ASSISTANT EDITOR

University of Detroit Mercy’s club hockeyteam, founded in 2009, is folding.

It was not an easy or quick decision. The entire team, along with faculty advisor

and supporter Dr. Don DiPaulo, met beforespring break to discuss the future of the team.

“We had a team meeting with all the guysgoing on next year, as well as those who are

leaving,” said Vince Recchia, one of the club’sfounders. “They couldn’t come to a decision sothey decided to table it and come back afterbreak and have a second meeting. The guys thatwere leaving weren’t at that meeting. We wantedto leave it in the hands of the younger guys andthey decided.”

One of those younger guys was sophomoreMax Landry.

“It was a vote decision,” said Landry. “Theyesses had it, but when we looked at it we real-

ized we can’t start a team with that many guys.It was a realistic no. Of course, we wanted to seethe team move forward and be able to carry it onafter those older guys left but we didn’t want todo it half-assed either.”

For outgoing captain and soon-to-be graduateIan Beaver – commonly known on campus as“Beaves” – the decision was surprising.

“I thought the guys would pull through andfind a way to make it work,” he said. “I thoughtwe definitely had the resources. Maybe we did-

n’t have them right away but they weren’t out ofreach. It’s disappointing.”

Beaver described this past season as the bestone yet. After seeing improvement year afteryear, he found the reality of the team foldingtough.

Landry, who played the past two years,agreed.

“This past year all together was a great expe-rience,” said Landry. “We had some big wins

Club hockey disbands after 5 years

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

HEADING TO ITALYTHREE UDM SYNCHRONIZED SKATERSADVANCE TO WORLD EVENT > PAGE 3

IN THE MAJORSADAM BEDELL FIRST TITAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER > PAGE 7

BY IAN THIBODEAUVN CO-EDITOR

After 16 months of negotia-tions, UDM professors finallyhave a new contract.

In voting that ended Friday,teachers ratified a three-year pactin what Prasad Venugopal, unionpresident, called “an amazingturnout.”

“We are relieved and pleasedthat the contract has been rati-fied,” he said.

Venugopal said he can’t re-member a higher percentage ofMcNichols faculty casting bal-lots. Ninety percent voted online.Of those, 96 percent favored thecontract.

Faculty will receive no salaryincreases in year one, 1.45 per-cent in year two and 2.5 percentin year three. UDM will make 8percent retirement contributionsin years one and two, and 9 per-cent in year three – down fromthe current 10 percent.

Although the contract isn’t ac-tually legally binding until bothsides sit together and sign it,Venugopal said that he foreseesno further obstacles.

The two sides were able toreach an agreement on when thecontract will go into effect oncesigned – a stumbling block thatapparently halted ratification inDecember, bringing negotiationsto a stand-still again.

Once signed, the contract willbe retroactive to May 16, 2013,and run through May 15, 2016,Venugopal said.

UDM President AntoineGaribaldi was equally relieved, itseemed.

“We are pleased that an agree-ment has been reached with theUniversity of Detroit Mercy Pro-fessors Union,” he said in a state-ment. “I am very appreciative of

the work and time of the respec-tive bargaining teams during thenegotiation process.”

Venugopal said that thelengthy and heated talks severelystrained the relationship betweenthe administration and faculty.

“We’re not happy with theway we were treated,” he said.“We were not shown respect forthe central role that we play” inthe education UDM offers.

Venugopal said that he wasglad a compromise was reachedon the outstanding issues,though.

“We’ve reached a satisfactoryagreement,” he said.

Venugopal hopes the unionand administration can build aproductive and constructive rela-tionship for the sake of future ne-gotiations, and that the entireuniversity is guided by the teach-ings of Pope Francis.

He quoted the pope as sayinglast year, when advocating forthe rights of workers in Dhaka,Bangladesh, that “not paying ajust (wage), not providing work,focusing exclusively on the bal-ance books, on financial state-ments, only looking a personalprofit – that goes against God!”

Negotiations deteriorated lastsummer and fall, when facultyaccused administrators of tryingto bust the union, resulting in talkof a strike and protests by someteachers and librarians.

BY TOMMY ZIMMERVN NEWS EDITOR

Mark Krgovic, a junior biology major, is just gettingby with his tuition.

But like college students everywhere, he will face ahigher bill this fall.

Tuition will be increasing by 3.9 percent – or $700 persemester – for UDM undergraduates who take 12-18credit hours in most colleges. Engineering and architec-ture undergrads will pay $733 more.

In a letter sent to students over spring break, universityofficials touted the hike as UDM’s “lowest increase inmore than 16 years.”

But for some students, that distinction wasn’t muchconsolation.

Krgovic called the hike “disappointing,” noting that heworks hard so he can attend school.

Garrett Hartinger, a junior nursing major, said he canaccept the increase – “as long as they use it to make thelearning experience better, such as the addition of air con-ditioning to rooms or cleaning up the bathrooms,” he said.

“I feel like there are improvements that can be made,”Hartinger said. “Briggs is the biggest one.”

Chelsea Thompson, another junior, believes UDM of-ficials should increase scholarships to compensate for thehigher costs.

She said she suspects cuts could be made, but isn’t surein which areas. Thompson noted that the size of her stu-dent loans troubles her.

Junior Viola Pino said the school should offer greaterdetails than outlined in the email letter.

“With the increase, it would be nice for them to tell uswhy the increase is happening and where the money isgoing,” Pino said. She said she would like to know if thefunds will be applied to improvements on campus.

The March letter echoed the description used last year,when that tuition hike was described as “the lowest in-crease in more than 15 years.”

Both years’ letters noted accomplishments the schoolhas made, though the 2014 version listed only minor up-dates to academics (such as the new MAP-Works pro-gram), facility improvements (such as the renovations tothe first floor of the Briggs Building) and the increase inWIFI services in many buildings.

The Varsity News sought to meet with UDM PresidentAntoine Garibaldi to discuss the reasons for the tuitionhike, but was unable to do so before deadline due toscheduling difficulties.

UDM Media Relations Director Gary Lichtman offereda statement on behalf of Garibaldi, reiterating some ofwhat was stated in the letter.

“Like last year, these rates will be the lowest in morethan 15 years, and they are considerably lower than theuniversity’s 11-year average of 6.66 percent,” he said.

Professors ratify contractafter lengthynegotiations

Roche documentaryshowing on Thursday

Fresh off a best-of-show winat the Free Press Film Fest, pro-fessor Jason Roche’s “StealingHome” documentary will beshown Thursday at 6:30 p.m. inthe Architecture Building.

A panel talk will follow, andthe event is open to all.

Students bracefor 3.9 percent tuition increase,seek answers

Some of Detroit’s top sportsjournalists will be on campus nextweek for a Wednesday, April 2,conference targeting aspiringsports reporters.

The event, running from 9 a.m.to 1:30 p.m. in the FountainLounge, will feature panel discus-sions on “Covering the Tigers”and “Adventures in Sports Jour-nalism,” as well as a keynote ad-dress by Channel 7’s TomLeyden.

Panelists will include long-time

Detroit News baseball beat writerLynn Henning, former ESPNw ed-itor Joanne Gerstner, Perry Farrellof the Free Press and MichaelHappy of Fox Sports Detroit.

High school students fromthroughout the region will be at-tending the event, which is alsoopen to UDM students.

The $10 admission covers abuffet lunch, and reservations arerequired.

For details, email professor TomStanton at tstanton@udmercy.edu.

Leyden, Henning headline UDMsports-journalism conference

Lammers ties school record Senior golfer Lindsey Lammers tied a university record withher seventh career medalist honor Monday in Indiana.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UDM SPORTS INFO

Really, we didn’t get off to a good start.I was in New York two weeks ago, so I texted a friend I

haven’t spoken to in over four years who lives there, unchar-acteristically instigating a “catching up” of sorts, and therewas a momentary feeling of excitement that was quicklyovershadowed by fear.

I’d known the guy – we’ll call him John – since first grade.We became close in eighth grade when a mutual friend,

Gabriel, lost his father to cancer, and John and I began tospend entire weekends withGabriel, doing boy stuff.

The three of us spent hours play-ing any video game we could digup that summer between juniorhigh and high school, and pushedeach other into the weight room toprepare for high school football.

We ate too many Hot-N-Ready’sfrom the Little Caesars on the cor-ner.

Sometimes we went to John’s,where his parents let us throw smallparties, even with girls, in theirpool or hot tub.

We were inseparable until some-time early in our sophomore year.

John got in with a different crowd, and began to party moreand more.

Though he’d once been a three-sport athlete, he stoppedplaying any sports altogether.

Gabe and I still loved John, and we saw him at parties oraround school and our conversations were always filled withtoo many “remember whens” and “we were idiots” for a cou-ple of teenagers, but that was it.

We never got back together, so to speak, and once I enteredcollege, I stopped seeing John around, and I hadn’t spoken tohim in about four years until two weeks ago.

I mean it; we really didn’t get off to a good start.John walked through the revolving door into the lobby of

my hotel, and I felt the urge to give him a hug.I hug his father when I see him.But John went for the handshake, and we were momentar-

ily caught in an awkward, dead-fish handshake combinedwith a half-hug.

John is in culinary school in New York City, and he had anight planned, he said. The first restaurant we were going tohit wasn’t far away.

I only realized how nervous John was after his third Marl-boro in ten minutes.

So, I opened up.I told him how scared I was to graduate, and how simulta-

neously nerve-wracking and exciting being single for the firsttime in three years is.

And he told me about how he cleaned up and moved toManhattan because he felt such an urge to change his life.

He’s doing well.John works 90 hours a week as an extern at a high-end

restaurant in Chelsea, has a girlfriend and loves what he’slearning.

Beneath everything we said to each other at the first of tworestaurants lay a bit of guilt – guilt that we had lost touch;guilt that I didn’t try to help him; guilt that he let himself slipinto different, bad things.

It wasn’t until I told him I was glad to see him doing sowell and that he didn’t have to apologize for anything at all,and he told me not to feel bad about failing to keep in touchthat something snapped us back to six years ago.

The rest of the night was phenomenal.We ate like we used to, still too much, only this time we

weren’t stuffing ourselves full of junky pizza, and John didn’tsmoke as many cigarettes.

I caught him up on how everyone from home was doing,and told him how they were all just as lost as we were, and helaughed.

He told me he couldn’t get any good Arabic food in NewYork and nothing he’d had compared to Dearborn, and I toldhim that when he got home, I’d have my Sitty – Lebanese forgrandmother – cook for him.

I don’t know how long it will be before I see John again,but at the end, we hugged goodbye without any hesitation andtold each other it’d been great, and we’d see each other soon.

There’d been a sort of forgiveness granted over thosemeals we shared, and despite all the buildings and people andwonderful things I learned in Manhattan, the highlight of mytrip was seeing an old friend doing so well.

And I got to eat some great food, too.

Thibodeau is VN co-editor

MARCH 26, 2014PAGE 2

IanThibodeau

Contact us at the Neal Shine Media Center in 305 Briggs, by email at thevarsitynews@gmail.com or through Facebook.

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Ian Thibodeau and Curtis PulliamTHE VARSITY NEWSNEWS EDITOR: Tommy Zimmer FEATURES EDITOR: Maggie Jackson ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jack Walsworth

STAFF MEMBERS: Colin Bennett, Carlton Brundidge, Vito Chirco, Kamara Fant, Joe MacLean, Alyssa Lotito, Emily Oberheim, Joe Oster, Anthony Shepherd, Tyler Staruch, Chantel Watkins, Veronica Whitehead and Paige Zmudczynski. Faculty Adviser: Tom Stanton.

FOUNDED IN 1918, THE VARSITY NEWS IS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY

www.thevarsitynews.org

BY CHANTEL WATKINSVN STAFF WRITER

UDM Theatre Company willopen its comedy “MemoryHouse” on Friday.

Written by Kathleen Tolan,the dynamic play will be di-rected by UDM’s David Regal.

The story begins with ayoung woman trying to figure out what towrite for her college entrance essay threehours before the deadline.

She turns to her adoptive mother forguidance about her roots, background andpersonal history to create her own mem-

ory house.The play’s theme focuses on

trying to discover who you arewith the guidance of your par-ent.

“Everybody will be able torelate to this play. All of ushave been children and had todepend on parental guidanceand comfort from our parents,”

said Regal.The play stars UDM’s Ashe Lewis

playing the daughter, Katia, and Equityguest artist Stephanie Nichols playingMaggie, her mother.

“Both characters are well defined and

decent human beings, with the kind offlaws and shortcomings that many of usshare,” Regal said.

The play wraps up UDM’s 43rd theatreseason.

It will run March 28, 29 and April 4and 5 at 8 p.m., as well as March 30 andApril 6 at 2 p.m. at the Grounds CoffeeHaus on the McNichols Campus.

UDM and Marygrove students pay $5for admission; other students, $10. UDMfaculty, staff, alumni, donors and Detroitresidents pay $17.

The box office is open from noon to 5p.m. Call 313-993-3270 for tickets ormore information.

BY EMILY OBERHEIMVN STAFF WRITER

Sarah Cornwell spent part of springbreak working on a former drug house.

A sophomore biology major, Cornwellwas at Nazareth Farm in Salem, W. Va.,helping less fortunate people with homerepairs as part of UDM’s alternativespring break.

Sponsored by University Ministry, theprogram takes student and staff volunteersto spots across the country to volunteer forservice-learning projects among diversecultures and environments.

In West Virginia, Cornwell met Chrys-tal, who had bought a drug house in 2012but was unable to make repairs or changesto the house because all of her moneywent into buying the home.

Cornwell and her team helped Chrystalput in insulation and dry wall. The previ-ous day the team had demolished the wallsso they could build them back up.

Chrystal’s home was just one of fivesites where the alternative spring breakershelped out.

Each group rotated between the fivesites, spending only one day at each site.The groups had no idea how long theywere at the owners’ homes because they

were never told what time of day it was.Cornwell said that not having a cell

phone or any electronic device meant fora peaceful change.

“It really helps you connect with yourgroup members on a different level,” shesaid.

The alternative spring break partici-pants travel together, by plane or bus, andlive together in a community-like atmos-phere, almost in a dorm-type setting.

Each day one group always stayed atcamp and prepared all the food that thegroups were to eat.

“You give care to yourself and yourhome before you can give it to the com-munity,” she said.

Each person takes on specific roles butmembers keep rotating throughout the

week so they do each task. When group members arrive in their

designated city, they are usually greetedby other alternative spring breakers fromdifferent schools. They are then brokeninto smaller groups made up of studentsfrom different schools.

Teaming students with people theydon’t know helps them to bond and cometogether as a whole in a different way.

To be part of an alternative spring breaktrip, you must sign up in the fall.

Candidates are interviewed to deter-mine the ways in which they can help.

After the interview, each participantmust raise at least $150 by attending bas-ketball games, selling paczki, sending so-licitation letters or participating in abowling fundraiser.

BY VERONICA WHITEHEADVN STAFF WRITER

It was a year ago that whitesmoke billowed from thechimney atop St. Peter’sBasilica, marking JorgeBergoglio’s transition to PopeFrancis.

This was an important mo-ment for UDM, and the manyJesuits who reside here.

The Rev. Gerard Albrightwas delightfully surprised bythe Jesuit roots of Pope Fran-cis, and prayed for him as hewould for any new Pope.

“I hoped he’d have thestrength to carry on the veryimportant and complicated job

of being Pope,” said Albright.“It’s a big job. We all raisedour prayers for the sake of thenew pope.”

Now, a year later, PopeFrancis has done a lot of workin the church, and has madesome progressive strides.

“His first year has certainlybeen strongly positivethroughout the world,” saidAlbright. “All of us here,being Jesuits, are glad that hewas chosen for the job.”

In his first year, Pope Fran-cis has created a synod ofbishops to advise him on im-portant issues, has shocked theworld with his examples ofhumility and has been namedTime Magazine’s Person of

the Year. “I think he approaches

things in a more humaneway,” said Fr. Gerald Ca-vanagh. “I don’t think he’scontroversial at all.”

Cavanagh also appreciatesthe changes Pope Francis hasmade within the Vatican.

“I’m more than happy withwhat he’s been doing,” saidCavanagh. “He’s extraordi-nary. Just the way he doesthings, he’s so sensitive, brightand he has a marvelous way ofshowing the Jesuit tradition.”

The Jesuit tradition has afocus on mission and humility,which Pope Francis has exem-plified during his papacy,UDM Jesuits say.

Pope Francis has been seenwashing feet, and embracingand praying with men andwomen all around the world.

“From the very beginning,he was open to meeting thepeople directly,” said Albright.“I think the cardinals recog-nized that, and that’s why hewas picked to be pope.”

Albright will continue topray for Pope Francis through-out years.

“I hope he’ll have thestrength to do the job, and thathis health holds up, ofcourse,” said Albright. “I praythat his work, determinationand views will reflect the be-liefs of the church a have aneffect on the whole world.”

Sarah Cornwell (right) works outside of Nazareth Farm in West Virginia.PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH CORNWELL

‘Memory House’ comedy opens Friday

THE GIVING

BREAKStudents grow, learnhelping others duringalternative to break

Jesuits celebrate first year of new pope’s tenure

Years of awkward silenceevaporate as friends from firstgrade bridge distance in NY

I have never understood why March Madness is calledMarch Madness.

True, March is usually the time when everything hap-pens at the same time, but is thatreally a reason for madness toensue? For the first time ever, Ihave found that the answer tothat is “yes.”

It is pretty obvious that I amnot the sportiest person.

I have tried to follow sportsbefore, but nothing has stuck.Maybe it is because I swam for16 years and sports that occuron land are a foreign concept ormaybe it is because I have ashort attention span.

It is probably a combinationof the both.

When it comes to MarchMadness and a little thing called bracketology, I chooseto let all the sports maniacs that I know handle every-thing. This year, however, was different.

At my internship, my director started a museum-wideMarch Madness pool.

Being the lowest on a very large totem pole, I decidedto make a bracket because I honestly had nothing to lose.(I can just feel our sports editor’s eyes rolling now.)

Making my bracket entailed hard work, determinationand research. (OK, a little bit of research and flipping acoin to decide between teams.)

Not thinking that I would have a chance of winningthe very large grand prize of $25, I submitted my bracketto my director without a second thought.

When the games started, something strange occurred.I was guessing every win correctly. Dayton, Harvard,Pittsburgh and others were correct and I was winning thepool.

Frequent emails were being sent to the staff and infirst place was Maggie Jackson, PR intern.

Besides a lot of shock at my standing, I felt a bit ofcompetitiveness coming out. I was doing well and Iwanted to do whatever I could to make sure that it stayedthat way. I finally started to pay attention to sports, andwhile winning, it was going to stay that way.

Now imagine the shock that I caused when I toldeverybody on the first night that I had the perfectbracket. It was so awesome that it is hard to describe.The girl who only goes to sporting events for the socialfactor had beat out people who have been following theteams since the beginning of the season.

Of course, I feel bad about it now, but doing a happydance around them felt pretty good that night.

My seemingly amazeballs bracket did take a few hitshere and there, but I was still in first place – until re-cently.

A coin flip can really only go so far before the mad-ness of March begins to take its toll.

The determination of my Final Four rested on the sim-ple game of heads and tails and it went like this: Dayton,Michigan State, Nebraska and Kentucky; my final two,Dayton and Nebraska; and the overall winner, Nebraska.

If you follow the tournament, you now know that Iwas telling the truth. I really don’t pay attention tosports.

Of course, I was mad, but I also knew deep down thatI was not going to have a perfect bracket and somethingdid come of that. I learned a lesson. Never put your trustin Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt or Washington becausethey are really not that reliable.

Seriously, though, if I am going to make a bracketnext year or ever again, I need to know what I am actu-ally getting myself into. I need to open myself up to newhorizons and actually watch a game or two.

Maybe I have been too haste with my assumptionsabout March Madness and sports in general.

Maybe this experience will make me a fan of basket-ball or football.

This may even lead to me writing a sports columnnext year, (I feel some more eyes rolling.)

Whatever happens between me and the world ofsports has yet to be decided, but I have wet my feet in itand whether or not I will dive in, who knows?

For now, I will just enjoy watching the trials and suc-cesses of bracketology.

Jackson is VN features editor

THEVARSITY

NEWS CCaammppuuss LLiiffeeMARCH 26, 2014 PAGE 3

MaggieJackson

A taste of bracketssuccess helps her seethe interest in sports

BY VITO CHIRCOVN STAFF WRITER

He’s a “Badman” on the guitar who’s beeninfluenced by the likes of fellow guitarists andlegendary musicians Chuck Berry, AlbertKing and B.B. King.

He’s also a Detroit alum, who wrote forThe Varsity News when the university wasknown as the University of Detroit.

His name is Luther Keith. While he’s a “Badman” blues vocalist and

guitarist while performing in concert, thenickname doesn’t transcend to Keith’s life offthe stage.

And, boy, has his life taken its twists andturns. The U of D class of ’72 graduate startedas a journalist who wanted nothing to do withmusic and believed music wasn’t for him.

“I didn’t think of myself as a musicianwhen I was growing up,” Keith said. “I lovedthe Tigers and loved listening to them on theradio.”

Keith wanted to be a centerfielder for theTigers when he was growing up.

He played baseball with other children inhis neighborhood during his grade schoolyears on a baseball diamond located at North-western High School in Detroit.

When he realized he wasn’t good enoughto play major league baseball, he turned hisattention to writing.

In fact, while attending the university, heworked for The Detroit News, where he

helped load daily editions of The News ontotrucks.After graduating, he became a reporterat The News, where he covered the Titans forfive years.

He rose to the rank of editor and stayed atThe News until 2005. A year later, he startedhis own non-profit organization called “AriseDetroit!”

Through “Arise Detroit!,” Keith seeks toprovide opportunity for less fortunate indi-viduals by producing more resources in areassuch as drug prevention and education.

Along the way, Keith found a love for bluesmusic.

In doing so, he has effectively taken on thepersona of “Badman,” a moniker handed tohim by the drummer of his band, The Luther“Badman” Keith Band.

“I got the ‘Badman’ nickname in either1998 or ’99,” Keith said. “The bad is a goodkind of bad for me, as it implies that I give itmy all and put on good, fun shows for myfans.”

Keith lives up to the stage name, no matterwhere the show is and no matter how manypeople are in attendance.

As a performer, he lives for the next gig, al-though he does possess an extremely fondmemory of performing at Ground Zero inMemphis, Tenn., as part of the internationalBlues Challenge in 2008.

At the renowned Memphis club, Keith metAcademy Award-winning actor Morgan Free-man, who owned the club and was in atten-

dance the night Keith and his band performed. Although it was an awe-inspiring perform-

ance for Keith, he doesn’t believe Freemanwould even remember him.

Keith, however, put on a memorable showfor UDM students Feb. 27. He put his highlevel of energy on display at Grounds Coffee-haus, captivating the audience.

He mixed his signature blues music withsome old-time rock n’ roll throughout the per-formance.

For Keith, the whole night was well worthit. “It was surreal to perform at the school Iwent to and graduated from,” Keith said.

When he’s not performing, he finds time tostay true to his journalism roots by teachingadvanced journalism as an adjunct professorat Wayne State University on Thursdayevenings.

Keith still has room in his heart for writing,alongside the substantial spot that performingblues music holds.

He loves giving back to the community,and wants to assist in the rebuilding of Detroitthrough “Arise Detroit!”

It’s his goal to personally witness the come-back of Detroit.

And when Detroit does become rejuve-nated, Keith will be able to say he told thosewilling to listen about the capability of the cityto come back strong.

He’s a man inspired to do good, contrary tothe vibe given off by his “Badman” stagename.

BY MAGGIE JACKSONVN FEATURES EDITOR

Three UDM students will starttheir trip abroad Friday to preparefor their largest competition thisyear, the World SynchronizedSkating Championship.

Liberal arts majors SharonNeff, Josephine Zolynsky andJacquelyne Zolynsky – the lasttwo are twin sisters – are part of ateam of elite synchronizedskaters, the Dearborn Crystal-lettes, who make up Team USA.

A few weeks ago, the Zolyn-skys and Neff, along with the restof their team, traveled to Col-orado Springs, Colo., to competein nationals, the competition thatdecided whether or not theywould travel to Courmayeur,Italy, for the world championship.

“Our team traveled to Col-orado before our competition sothat we could adjust to the alti-tude,” said Jacquelyne Zolynsky.“When we first got there, wecould barely get through one ofour programs because the air wasso thin. By the time we competed,we were all fine. Both programs,

the long and the short, went well.Nobody fell, which is always agood thing.”

The Crystallettes’ performanceat nationals landed them in sec-ond place overall, earning them aspot to compete for the world titlestarting on April 3.

The team is leaving Friday forFrance for more practice time.

“We are traveling to Francefirst so that we can practice andadjust to the altitude again,” saidZolynsky. “From there we willtravel to Courmayeur, which isright outside of Milan, where thecompetition will start. We did notqualify to go to worlds last year,so it is exciting to be able to com-pete in the competition again.”

Before leaving, the team is stillpracticing and also fundraising.

“The practices are pretty muchthe same as they were before na-tionals,” said Zolynsky. “Thepractices are more structured,though. There really is not a lotwe can change at this point.

“Besides practicing, we arealso fundraising because foreveryone to go, the skaters andthe coaches, it is going to costover $100,000. Our club and theU.S. Figure Skating Associationare helping out a lot, but we stillwant to meet our goal.”

Once the skaters leave Francefor Italy, Jacquelyne Zolynskysaid that they will have to makesure that they represent Team

USA positively at all times.“Once we get there, we are

going to have to look like a teamat all times, so we are going tohave to wear the same thing andhave our hair slicked back in abun,” said Zolynsky. “We will alldress up for the opening cere-monies where all the teams walkin and the draw the skating or-ders. Then we compete.”

There are two teams represent-ing the U.S., and Zolynsky saidthat she hopes that her teamplaces in the top six.

“We are really focusing our at-tention on the other Team USA,Team USA 1. We are Team USA2,” said Zolynsky. “People areguessing on who will win, but itis really up in the air. Really, I justlove watching all of the otherteams.

“The Finnish, Swedish, Russ-ian and Canadian teams areamazing to watch. The sport isvery appreciated in Europe. TheFinnish team who won last yeardid not qualify this year so it is in-teresting to see what will happen.It really depends on the day andhow you skate then.”

Josephine Zolynsky, Sharon Neff and Jacquelyne Zolynsky.

UDM skaters head to world event

For alum Luther Keith, it’s beena long journey from McNicholscampus to national blues stages

‘BADMAN’

PAGE 4 MARCH 26, 2014

over some competitive teams.Those are the cool things to have inyour pocket.”

Among them were wins overAdrian College’s gold team, whichhas won the national championshipthe past three years, and Oakland’sclub team, which also made a tripto nationals this year.

For Recchia, the most memo-rable game will always be his firstwearing the UDM sweater.

“The first game we ever playedwe won, which was huge,” saidRecchia. “None of us had ever seena club hockey game before. Halfthe guys were juniors, seniors andsophomores. They’d been out of thegame for a couple years. Nobodyhad any expectations.”

The players aren’t the only onesdisappointed with the decision, soare faculty, professors and studentsalike. The team was popular oncampus, sometimes outdrawingUDM’s Division I teams.

“We, as a team, worked reallyhard at building a relationship withstudents, which I think no othersports team at this school hasdone,” said Recchia. “For regularstudents to be sad that we’re notcoming back next year is tough tohear. It means more to us that webuilt that relationship. It’s not thatwe just can’t play but we won’thave that bond anymore witheverybody that we used to. I’ll begraduating regardless but it’s toobad it’s not carrying on.”

Beaver said that whenever hewore his team jacket around cam-pus, professors would stop and askhim how the team was doing,something he appreciated.

Both Recchia and Beaverstressed how much the supportfrom students and key staff mem-bers, such as Dorothy Stewart,Monica Williams, Adam Hollmannand DiPaulo, among others, meantto the team.

“It was one thing to continueplaying, which was huge. But with-out certain people, we wouldn’thave had certain games,” said Rec-chia. “So many people stepped upand they didn’t even have to.”

Beaver echoed the point.“We weren’t able to pay any-

body because everything was com-ing out of our pockets,” saidBeaver. “We really appreciatedthem and tried to provide as muchincentive as we could to the peoplewho helped us out.”

Despite the door being closed fornext season, it doesn’t need to re-mained closed forever.

Beaver said the team gave itsleague, the Michigan CollegiateHockey Conference, an earlyenough answer that it would bewelcomed back should the UDMclub ever resume operations.

“It takes the right guys,” saidRecchia. “We’re in the hockeyhotbed of America. Eventuallythere’s going to be enough interestand enough talent to do it again.”

Landry is also optimistic.“I think that door is always going

to be open,” said Landry. “I knowwe won’t have a team next year.However, if we do some recruiting,do some searching within theschool next year and find out thereare more hockey players than wethink, then we can work on it formy senior year. … Hopefully wecan get some more guys becausethat’s the biggest thing.”

In the end, Recchia’s take on theteam is simple. “We had our mo-ments and we’ll always havethem,” said Recchia. “I hit my fiveyears of eligibility anyways.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Hockey

BY EMILY OBERHEIMVN STAFF WRITER

For the first time ever, the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers will be bring-ing some of its competition to UDM’s his-toric Calihan hall.

Though it’s been around for about 30years, the competition has never beenhosted on the McNichols campus.

The event will be held on March 28-30,with 10 universities from across Michiganand Ohio participating.

It is made up of three main events: steelbridge, technical paper and concretecanoe.

The steel bridge competition deter-mines which entry can hold the mostweight without collapsing. The event isalso judged on the time it takes to put thebridge together.

Five races comprise the concrete canoeevent. Males and females will competeseparately in a 200-meter race before join-ing to race in a 500-meter endurance race.

This year, the concrete canoe races willbe at Belle Isle on Sunday, March 30.

The technical paper focuses on a spe-cific topic given to each team a month inadvance. The paper is read at the compe-tition and judged. It plays a big part in de-termining which team goes to nationals.

If a team comes in first in the canoerace but didn’t submit a paper, it cannotcontinue to nationals.

Junior Julie Roberts, the UDM societypresident, is awaiting the competition asshe continues working on her team’s con-crete canoe.

Roberts said that in the last five yearsthe team has been taking the concretecanoe event more seriously.

“We have the right mix of students whoare willing to devote their time,” saidRoberts.

“It’s especially harder for us becausewe don’t have any resources or money.The money we get from fundraising is allwe have to work with,” she said. “Otherschools get money from their school, wedon’t.”

Roberts said that Michigan Tech is usu-ally number one, in part because they re-ceive money from their school.

Another drawback is that UDM’s teamhas only 12 members. Teams are allowedup to the 35 members.

BY CHANTEL WATKINSVN STAFF WRITER

Alumni returned to campus last week,sharing stories, experiences and advice.

Major events occurred all over campusthroughout the week.

Among the more than dozen speakers:� Emily Doerr, director of community

and economic development for the city ofOak Park;

� Louis Guston, founder of theGreater Works Foundation; and

� Trevor Prawl, a 2011 MBA gradwho directs Pure Michigan’s BusinessConnect Michigan Economic Develop-ment Corp.

“I really owe so much to the Univer-sity of Detroit Mercy,” said Prawl at the“Detroit: Beyond Bankruptcy” event.

Some students enjoyed the alum visits. “Alumni week is a great opportunity

for alumni to come back and share theirknowledge and experience with us,” saidsenior Jameela Muhamed.

BY IAN THIBODEAUVN CO-EDITOR

A controversial Wayne Countyjudge, whom one UDM student cred-its with helping him stay out of jail,will be a featured speaker when theSchool of Law hosts a diversity lunch-eon Thursday, April 10, on the McNi-chols Campus.

Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow,who could be suspended for miscon-duct by the state Supreme Court, willspeak at 12:45 p.m. in room 114 of theChemistry Building.

The event is being hosted byUDM’s Black and Latino law-studentassociations. Edward Martell, a UDMsenior who will enter law school in thefall, planned the event to encouragestudents of all backgrounds to considerlaw school.

“The purpose is to create a more di-verse legal community,” he said,“which makes for a more just environ-ment.”

Too many students, especially mi-nority students, fail to even entertainthe possibility of becoming a lawyer,Martell said.

He said that as a Latino pursuing alaw degree, it’s important to him thatother students keep an open mind.

“The Latino law student is almost

non-existent,” he said, adding that issomething that must be changed.

Judge Morrow has been a mentor toMartell, who is 36 and doesn’t havewhat he would call the typical back-ground of a law student.

When he was 15, Martell droppedout of school and spent 12 years com-mitting crimes that took him in and outof jail – until 2005 when he found him-self in front of Morrow.

Morrow could have sentenced himup to 20 years in prison, Martell said.Instead, Morrow gave Martell proba-tion and encouraged him to do some-thing with his life.

Decisions like the one Morrowmade in Martell’s case have resulted inthe judge being questioned by the legalcommunity.

According to a Detroit Free Pressstory, the Michigan Supreme Court, onthe recommendation of the JudicialTenure Commission, may disciplineMorrow for disregarding the law.

Paul Fischer, a commission generalcounsel, said that Morrow “failed to re-main impartial, (and) advocated for thedefendant,” according to the FreePress, which cited occasions in 2005,2007 and 2009 when Morrow madedecisions or acted in ways in the court-room that are not seen as appropriatein the legal community.

But Martell defends Morrow.He said all of the scorn Morrow has

received isn’t warranted, and it’s im-portant that students hear Morrowspeak about his experiences as a judge.

“If it wasn’t for him, I’d still bedoing what I was doing,” Martell said.“I’d still be outside those gates.”

Since Morrow granted Martell asecond chance, Martell has earned anassociate degree from Wayne CountyCommunity College and nearly com-pleted a bachelor’s degree at UDM inpolitical science, with certificates inlegal studies and Spanish. He willgraduate in May, and plans to enter lawschool on a Jesuit Founders Awardscholarship.

For Martell, his current success as aminority student heading into lawschool shouldn’t be the focus of theluncheon. It’s important that studentsreceive Morrow’s message, he said.

“He is what makes the current judi-cial systems diverse,” Martell said,“both racially and philosophically.”

According to Martell, that is whythe event isn’t only for minority stu-dents.

“It’s for everyone,” he said. “Iwould love to see all the students cometo UDM Law … but the purpose of theevent is just so they understand thatthere is a need for diversity.”

Alums return tocampus to sharewisdom, advice

A FIRSTEngineering studentsfrom 10 universitiescompeting at UDM

BY JOE OSTERVN STAFF WRITER

“Endless Love,” quite simply put, is idiotically embar-rassing. Based on the 1981 film of the same name, the film,directed by Shana Feste, centers around Jade Butterfield(Gabriella Wilde), a beautiful high school senior who is setto go to Brown University next fall.

She somehow went unnoticed by virtually all of her class-mates for four years, which is never the case for an attrac-tive and highly intelligent girl.

The film explains this through the mourning of the deathof her older brother, which occurred about five years prior.But I still find it extremely hard to believe that Jade nevermanaged to make anything even remotely close to a friend.

She lives in an old-fashioned mansion with her fatherHugh (Bruce Greenwood), a cold, stern heart doctor, andher mother Anne (Joely Richardson), a former author whoonly wrote a single novel.

Jade’s brother Keith (Rhys Wakefield) is also home fromcollege for the summer with his girlfriend.

Alex Pettyfer stars as David Elliot, the cool, kind, brood-ing, good-hearted kid from the other side of the tracks who’s“madly in love” with Jade.

Feste tries way too hard to show how “rugged” and “hard-working” David is. His life is one humongous cliché.

His dad is a mechanic and his mother is out of the picture.They’re less fortunate than most financially, but they’re con-tent and happy. And, of course, David scored exceptionallywell on his SAT without the thought of attending collegeever crossing his mind.

Apparently his lone interest is finding true love, and he isconvinced that is Jade. Faced with only a few weeks beforeshe leaves for her summer internship at Brown, David ishell-bent on making his dream a reality.

The problem with all these potentially interesting char-acters is that they’re paper-thin. We’re told early on thatJade’s best friends are her parents. They never truly interact.

Jade’s father is constantly scolding her for running aroundwith David, while her mother is always melancholy and un-

derstanding. Keith is always goofy and rebellious againsthis father, but never bonds with his sister, with whom he isallegedly close.

Every character has only one gear. There’s zero depth.This sort of film relies heavily on the romantic leads and

their chemistry, which ends up being the movie’s pitfall. David is supposedly this romantic prone to making grand

gestures in the name of true love. His love for Jade is “end-less.” This becomes almost laughable.

Feste only shows their relationship develop through mon-tage scenes, where the two engage in stereotypical teenageromantic activities (concerts, waterparks, etc.)

This scene spans over the course of maybe a minute.Never do we hear David and Jade have a conversation aboutanything other than how much love they have for each other.

Hugh’s hatred for David is befuddling and, quite frankly,stupid. Other than the fact that he’s dating Hugh’s daughter,David is literally flawless. He’s respectful, kind, handsome,hardworking, unassuming, morally sound and pretty muchevery desirable quality for an 18-year-old guy even if thesecharacteristics contradict.

Even the big reveal of his dark past turns out to be un-derstandable and forgivable. It all becomes exhausting. AsJade, Wilde is permanently, innocently wide-eyed and fluc-tuates between lovey-dovey and on the verge of tears.

On top of that, she seemingly has zero thoughts that donot involve her burning love for David.

The whole story is teenage romantic-fantasy banality,complete with brushes with death and the obligatory overlydramatic run through an airport.

The performances seem lazy and mailed in except forDayo Okeniyi’s. As Mace, David’s buddy, Okeniyi showsgreat timing and wit in an otherwise limited character.

You can see a spark in his acting that is promising. It’sthe same flicker of talent he showed as Marcus in “TheSpectacular Now,” a coming-of-age love story that also hap-pens to take place during the summer after high school.

Ironically, “Endless Love” plays like a dumbed-downMTV version of that exact film. Save your money. Go rentit. GRADE: D+

ENDLESSLYppaaiinnffuullMovie will assault your intelligence

Embattled judge to speak at law luncheon

MARCH 26, 2014 PAGE 5

BY JOE OSTERVN STAFF WRITER

Oh, what a missed opportunity this was.All the pieces were there for a sleeper indie

hit or at least a cult classic.Charming leading man? Check. Gorgeous female lead who actually can act?

Yep.Internet sketch comedian making the leap to

the big screen? Got it.First time writer/directors ready to burst onto

the scene? And we have a problem. A major problem.“Better Living Through Chemistry,” directed

by Geoff Moore and David Posamentier, has itsmoments, but not enough to make up for a blandscript.

The film centers around Doug Varney (SamRockwell), a nerdy, pushover pharmacist seem-ingly on the verge of a typical midlife crisis. Hegets trampled and bullied by his wife (MichelleMonaghan), his father in-law and even his 12-year-old son.

Rockwell is one of the most underrated,charismatic supporting actors of his generation,

who works best going off the cuff and stealingscenes and is surprisingly convincing as a spine-less dweeb.

Unfortunately, watching Rockwell do thisisn’t really entertaining for the audience.

We want Rockwell to be the coolest guy in theroom, talking at 200 miles an hour, zipping one-liners over our heads. It’s one thing to go againstan actor’s typecast; it’s completely different todo so at the expense of an entire film.

Doug is held back from being anything otherthan pathetic until he’s introduced to the actualuse of over-the-counter drugs by Mrs. ElizabethRoberts (Olivia Wilde, who’s really quite goodhere).

Once the two married individuals develop anaffair, Doug’s straight edge becomes a littleduller, saving the film.

Doug and Elizabeth go on a pill binge that ri-vals even Jonah Hill and Leo in “The Wolf ofWall Street,” but it doesn’t amount to nearly asmuch amusement.

Thanks to a mixed bag of specially madecocktail capsules, Rockwell is finally allowed toreturn to where he feels most comfortable. Hiscomb-over is spiked up. Passive facial expres-

sions turn into crude, witty snaps at his foes. It’s fun for a while, but quickly the laughs run

dry and the weak script just idles out.For a comedy, “Better Living” is strangely de-

void of laughs and even casual chuckles. Even with the script problems, Rockwell and

Ben Schwartz, who plays Noah, a druggy assis-tant at the pharmacy, should’ve been able to im-prov one or two classic, gut-busting scenes.

Schwartz is a gifted, relatively under-the-radar comic, best known for his random, high-energy humor on College Humor’s “Jake &Amir” web series.

In “Better Living,” he’s completely wasted.Schwartz only shows up in a handful of scenes(maybe two?) and is given next to nothing towork with.

Additionally, the film’s underlying messageis a little misguided and convoluted.

Basically, Doug shows the audience that eventhough overdosing on over-the-counter pillsmade his life spiral out of control, those drugswere necessary to improve his life.

On top of all this, the film is narrated exces-sively by Jane Fonda, who only appears in char-acter once late in the film.

She goes on these overly long monologuesexplaining Doug’s actions and thoughts, somuch so that it feels a little degrading to the au-dience.

I began to feel as if I were watching the firsthalf of “Stranger Than Fiction,” without thehumor or irony.

Fortunately, Rockwell refuses to say die anddoes everything he can to yank this film out ofneutral.

“Better Living” is worth a look for him alone,but other than that, there’s not much else goingon here. GRADE: C-

BY ALYSSA LOTITOVN STAFF WRITER

Despite progress, women are under-represented in leadership roles through-out the world and in the Catholicchurch, a decorated scholar told aUDM audience March 19.

Dr. Lisa Cahill, a professor of theol-ogy at Boston College since 1976, de-livered the George Pickering MemorialLecture in Ethics as part of the seventhannual Cushing Distinguished Lecturein Religious Studies.

Her talk was titled “Catholic Womenand Gender Equality: Models of Re-newal Since Vatican II.”

Cahill said that while the world maybe learning to recognize all races ofpeople as equals, its recognition ofwomen lags behind.

She noted that men still hold moremanagerial positions than women, andthat when in those positions womenmake only 73 percent of the salary ofmen. Further, she said, only about 40 ofthe CEOs of Fortune’s Top 1000 com-panies are women.

As a group 20 percent of women

earn at least half or more than their hus-bands, with that number decreasinggreatly after kids, she said.

Cahill explored issues of “genderequality” as they relate to the Catholicchurch.

From a theological point of view,women cannot hold the higher posi-tions when it comes to the Catholiccommunity. They cannot be ordainedand are seen as ideal for more of a gen-tle, nurturing role rather than one ofpower, she said.

Recognition has been increasing, shenoted.

Pope John Paul II specificallythanked women for their work and inhis 1995 “Letter to Women” at the Vat-ican advocated for men and women tohave equal access in the CatholicChurch.

The current pope, Francis, has alsomentioned that the Catholic Churchneeds a new view of women, Cahillsaid. In January in Italy, he noted thatthe role of women in the Catholic com-munity has grown.

But, according to Cahill, he addedthat it is due to their tenderness.

This is a common stereotype thatwomen hold and one that Cahill wishesshe could diminish.

Cahill said that not all of the scrip-tures in the Bible rely on man.

In Paul’s letters to the Romans,chapter 16, he mentions Junia, wife toAndronicus, as an outstanding amongthe Apostles, which in the Catholic re-ligion usually only refers to men, shesaid.

While detailing her views of theCatholic Church’s unequal treatment ofwomen, Cahill did note that althoughchange has not been as quick as de-sired, the church has come a long wayon these issues.

For example, women can earn a de-gree in theology, attend graduate schooland teach in the Catholic church, shesaid.

But they cannot hold the higher of-fices in the Vatican nor be ordained.

These are issues Cahill wishes to bechanged.

But she said she fears that if theCatholic community does not stay in-terested and invested in these issues,they may never change.

Church, corps. failing on genderequality issues, scholar says

BY ALYSSA LOTITOVN STAFF WRITER

Blake Reedy became a graduatestudent at UDM this winter.

In pursuit of an MBA, with a spe-cialization in finance, Reedy hopesto broaden his career path uponcompletion. He is one of more than2,000 graduate students – includingthose in the law and dental schools– who attend UDM.

The university’s graduate schoolprograms are well known, and drawstudents of all ages.

Reedy graduated with honorsfrom Oakland University’s businessschool in December with a bachelorof science in economics, after trans-ferring from Valparaiso Universityin 2011, where he was a member ofthe men’s varsity soccer team.

“I chose UDM’s MBA programbecause after researching differentbusiness schools in the area, I felt itwas the best fit for me,” he said.“My dad is a successful business-man and always told me that inorder to be great at what you do,you have to separate yourself fromthe competition. By pursuing myMBA, I feel as if I am doing so.”

Still, there have been adjust-ments.

“Grad school isn’t what I ex-pected it to be. I expected to do

hours of reading,” he said. “My ex-perience at UDM has been quite theopposite. My classes are small andthe teachers genuinely care aboutthe information they are teaching.It’s refreshing.”

Gabriella DiFiore completed herundergraduate work at Xavier Uni-versity in Cincinnati before choos-ing to attend UDM on therecommendation of a family mem-ber currently enrolled in an under-grad program.

“After grad school, I am hopingto attain a job in HR (human re-sources) at a hospital,” DiFiore said.“I am hoping to get experience inHR first, and then work my way upto administration at a hospital.”

She believes her UDM degreewill be an advantage.

“It is a well-established schoolwith strong academics,” DiFioresaid.

As for his educational journey,Reedy plans to complete his mas-ter’s and get out into the real world.He doesn’t see himself pursuinganything further at this time.

“Maybe I’ll go back for my doc-torate, but for now I plan to com-plete my MBA and hopefully startmy own company,” Reedy said.“The professors I have had so far inmy MBA courses have been somemy favorite of my college career.”

‘Better Living’ might’ve been ... better

BY JACK WALSWORTH VN ASSISTANT EDITOR

2014 is a plastic world – for credit and debit card plastic, that is.But there is one place on the UDM McNichols campus where youcannot use plastic: Tommy’s.

Not yet at least.Named after UDM’s beloved mascot, Tommy’s is the place to go

for smoothies and other healthy snacks in the Fitness Center.Tommy’s currently accepts cash, flex and even munch money but,

according to fitness center director Jeff Latinen, that might changein the near future.

In order to accept credit and debit cards, the registers at Tommy’sneed to be outfitted to be like the ones found in the gift shop at Cal-ihan Hall.

Latinen said that the inability to accept plastic hasn’t affected busi-ness but that he still wants to add the plastic option.

Plastic may be in Tommy’s future

Graduate studentsmake up large partof UDM’s enrollment

BY COLIN BENNETTVN STAFF WRITER

The university will behosting an urban healthsymposium on April 4,where healthcare expertswill discuss the impact ofthe Affordable Care Act andexplore ways to better servethe healthcare needs of thecity’s underserved resi-dents.

The symposium will fea-ture a keynote presentationby Nancy Schlichting, CEOof Henry Ford Health Sys-tem, and attendees with beable to pose questions to apanel of health professors,healthcare executives andhealthcare providers.

Dr. Mary O’Shaugh-nessey, chair and associateprofessor of Health Serv-ices Administration, saidthat the symposium willprovide participants an op-portunity to examine ways

they can satisfy patientneeds while adapting to thechanges in healthcare provi-sioning and financing underthe Affordable Care Act.

“You have someonecome into your clinic oryour hospital that now hasnew insurance, how are yougoing to satisfy the patients’needs while satisfying yourfinancial needs, because thereimbursement is chang-ing,” O’Shaughnessey said.

Although the changescreated by the AffordableCare Act may not be on theminds of many studentswho are covered by theirparents’ insurance, the issueshould concern students asthey get older and espe-cially those whose parentsare uninsured and must findtheir own, she said.

“Depending on the riskstatus of the student, theymay want to look into get-ting their own health insur-

ance through the AffordableCare Act, which is hope-fully a little bit better forthem financially than in thepast,” she said.

Dr. Carla Groh, professorin the McAuley School ofNursing and one of the fea-tured speakers at the sym-posium, will be discussingnurse-manager centers as astrategy to providing healthcare within Detroit’s urbansetting, noting the work thatis currently being done byMcAuley Health Center.

A psychiatric nurse prac-titioner, Groh hopes to dis-cuss the issue of behavioralhealth needs in Detroit andher experience with provid-ing care to some of thecity’s uninsured residents.

Groh said that health care– as well as how to ensureaccess to that those whocurrently have little or nocare – is especially pertinentat UDM, given its urban

setting and mission of peaceand social justice.

“It really is a social-jus-tice issue here, with healthdisparities in minority pop-ulations,” Groh said. “Ifpeople have poor health itaffects everybody, either di-rectly or indirectly. So Ithink it has relevance foreverybody.”

Groh encourages stu-dents to become moreknowledgeable abouthealthcare and the Afford-able Care Act because suchissues will ultimately affectthem directly.

“They might not bethinking about what hap-pens once they turn 26, or ifthey get a job that doesn’tprovide health insurance,”she said.

The symposium will beheld on April 4, 7:30 a.m. to12:30 p.m., in the StudentFitness Center. Student reg-istration is $10.

Symposium focuses on healthcare act

PAGE 6 MARCH 26, 2014

BY TOMMY ZIMMERVN NEWS EDITOR

“Ask not what your country can dofor you but what you can do for yourcountry” – those 1961 words of Presi-dent John F. Kennedy may seem likeancient history for many of us but forstate Sen. Steve Bieda they resonateyet.

“I grew up in a family of KennedyDemocrats that wasn’t ever in politics,but were very involved in the commu-nity,” Bieda said.

But Bieda’s aspirations for publicservice came from somewhere entirelydifferent.

He was originally attracted to draw-ing, and his father would read him thenewspaper cartoons.

Bieda had trouble understanding theeditorial ones that poked fun at politics.

“So I started to try to figure out whatthose were and figure out whatthe editorials were about,”Bieda said.

Bieda won an arts scholar-ship for school, choosingWayne State University for hisundergraduate education.

He jumped around a bit,going from art to premed to bi-ology, until he discovered hecouldn’t stand the sight ofblood.

Eventually he graduated witha bachelor’s in public policyand political science.

After attending Wayne Statefor his master’s in public ad-ministration, he earned a lawdegree at the University of De-troit Mercy before making afinal return to Wayne State’sLaw School to get a master’s in tax law.

He wasn’t a huge fan of law school,he admits, but he loved the sense of his-tory, logic and ability to build uponlegal precedents.

Before jumping into the politicalring, Bieda worked as director of laborrelations for the city of Warren, andwent on to be senior policy analyst forthe Michigan House of Representa-tives.

In 2002, he began his first real daysin the Lansing legislature as a repre-sentative for the 25th District. He stayeduntil term-limited, and then ran andwon for the Michigan State Senate inNovember 2010.

During his time in office, Bieda haswitnessed some historic economic mo-ments in American history.

In 2008, many banks on Wall Streetwere heavily invested in subprimemortgages and mortgage-backed secu-rities, and with the result of the firmsnot knowing the value of them, a lot ofthem began to go under.

Faced with this situation, PresidentGeorge Bush began to get himself moreinvolved in the financial sector of theeconomy than arguably any other pres-ident in American history.

Bieda saw this as the “politics ofpragmatism,” fearing any inactionwould harm the economy in Detroit.

“It is one of those things where youhave a bunch of undesirable actionswhere you would say on paper, ‘I don’tlike this, I don’t like this, I don’t likethis,’ and you have to pick the most ob-jectionable one,” Bieda said.

He said that if the Bush administra-tion had done nothing, the economywould have been in dire straits rightnow. Bieda said it would have been fiveto 10 years of recovery before anythinggot better.

“When the ground shifts, you haveto do what’s best for your constituents,and cannot remain tied to one ideol-ogy,” Bieda said.

He said Bush had to do this because,though a conservative Republican.

After Bush finished his final monthin office, President Barack Obama tookover in January 2008 with an economythat had not yet begun to rebound.Worse yet, the auto companies were fi-nancially suffering and heading closerand closer to bankruptcy.

Obama decided to back a bailout ofGeneral Motors and Chrysler in June2009. Ford did not seek government in-tervention.

The deal was that Obama wouldoffer them loans. But for the first timein a bailout, the government would buya piece of stock within the company,granting it a controlling interest in thefirm.

Bieda said he comes from an autofamily, and his district is heavily auto-based, which made him concernedabout the auto sector during theseevents.

“The economics of it, if you took alook at how many people would havebeen unemployed if you go down, itmade good economic sense to do thoseloans, which have been largely paid offby now,” Bieda said. “It was a resetmechanism that was needed.”

He said he understands the puristswho believe in keeping government outof business but Obama had the samesituation as Bush in looking at the bestof the worst decisions one could makewith regards to fixing the economy inthe short-term.

Had those two companies goneunder, a lot of the suppliers, third-tierand independent, would have goneunder too, which would have affectedFord, as well, Bieda said.

In November 2012, Gov. Rick Sny-der signed into law the controversial“right-to-work” law, which essentiallygave workers the ability to remain intheir positions at union shops withoutpaying union dues or belonging to aunion.

“I spoke against it, and the way itwas done was anything but transpar-ent,” Bieda said.

He said it was the singularly mostundemocratic bill passed in all his timein office because, for one, there were nohearings whatsoever on the bill and thegovernor was going against what hesaid during his campaign in that he wasnot interested at all in passing it.

According to Bieda, he felt like hewas living in a “police state,” with statepolice and peaceful protesters every-where.

He said Snyder used the state police

to guard state buildings to prevent pro-testors or anyone from interrupting thevotes or his signing of the bill.

He said he thought this was retalia-tion by the Republicans for what theunions did with trying to get their ballotproposal passed. But Bieda was quickto say that union backers did it legallyand not through the closed-door ses-sions of Snyder and his party.

Bieda, however, expressed supportfor the controversial Affordable HealthCare bill passed in 2008, though criticshave said it was similarly pushedthrough with only one party’s support.

The Democrats actually did holdhearings on this bill, Bieda said, andObama did campaign on it in the presi-dential election in 2008.

During his tenure in office, Bieda hashad success working to get certainpieces of legislation passed.

The reform of the Paternity Act wassomething he felt stronglyabout. It reached Snyder’s deskin 2012.

“There was a presumption ifsomebody was married and hada child that the child was aproduct of that marriage, andsociety is not quite built thatway,” Bieda said. “So we didthis revocation of the PaternityAct, and I think it is more re-flective of what is happening insociety today.”

He said it took him about ayear to get that passed but therewas also another huge piece oflegislation he thought was sig-nificant.

“The Legal Defense Report-ing Act was signed by Gov.Granholm, and dealt with situ-

ations where an elected official mayform a special account because theymight be under some legal challenge orwhatever,” Bieda said.

He said the obvious poster child wasKwame Kilpatrick, former mayor ofDetroit, but Bieda actually got the ballrolling before the chaos of the Kil-patrick regime began.

He said he had seen it nationally andin other states, and this piece allows forgroups giving money to different polit-ical candidates and vice-versa to bepublic, so the electorate can see and un-derstand who they are voting for.

“It’s a piece of legislation I am veryproud of, because I came up with thisidea on my own. I was the sole pusherof it for several legislative sessions, andwas able to pull several governmenttransparency groups together to help,”Bieda said.

He feels this is one part whereMichigan is lacking, and has also pro-posed legislation requiring a full dis-closure of elected officials’ finances.

“If you own stock in this company,if you have an ownership in this com-pany and are on the board of directorsin this company, you should disclosethat,” Bieda said. “We are one of threestates with no disclosure requirements,and we are the only state with a full-time legislature that doesn’t have one.I think it’s appalling.”

He has also worked on what he calls“dark money,” the 527 accounts thatpoliticians and third-party groups puttogether because there are no reportingrequirements.

Coming up, he is promoting judicialreforms, new-alternative energy ideas,no-excuse absentee voting, online voterregistration and some reforms for localunits of government so they can putmillages on the ballot.

This week, I was interviewing Wayne County executive Robert Ficanofor the last installment of my “Alums in Politics” series that began last se-mester with the story of a UDM veteran trying to get back into the gameand help the state of Michigan.

During my conversation with Ficano, a west-sider like me, the topicturned to legacies.

What legacy will you leave behind, Mr. Ficano?He was quite adamant that he would be

judged over the timespan of his entire career,which began working with Wayne County ClerkJim Killeen as an attorney all the way up to hisnow 12 years in office as county executive.

Ficano said he believes he is leaving a posi-tive legacy, having been the first to start an inter-net police task force, where officers posed asunderage women to catch sexual offenders. This,along with being a champion for economic de-velopment in Wayne County, has what seems onthe surface to be a great legacy.

Regardless of what people think of him, hewill always have what he believes, and that isimportant.

When I look back on my career at The VarsityNews and at the University of Detroit Mercy as a

whole, I wonder what legacy I will leave behind. Will I be remembered astime goes on for my career at the newspaper, which began with an award-winning story about the failed presidential career of Thaddeus McCotter,one-time congressman from Livonia.

Though I can say I never meant to harm his character, he probablythought differently. I merely tried to show the reader who he was and whatimpression he had left on people who were still around and had taught him,like professors Victoria Mantzopoulos and Donald Burkholder. In my in-terview with him before an election-petition scandal brought him down, hecompared himself to Abraham Lincoln, and while their life stories do havequite a bit in common, I will admit, corruption was certainly somethingLincoln would not stand for; McCotter was lax in that end.

Months after his resignation from Congress, I wrote how I felt let down.He disappointed me, and his legacy will forever remain as maybe not acorrupt congressman but a lazy one for sure.

So, where does this lead me? I am a senior student graduating from pro-grams in English writing, multimedia journalism and economics. Does thatreally mean anything?

It means, to me, that I tried to stress myself as much as I could academi-cally, but also give myself a chance to adapt myself to new studies. I al-ways knew, even from my one year at Kalamazoo College, that I wanted tostudy English and journalism, but low would I learn I had a gift for eco-nomics.

I cared about the way the economy worked and affected average people.I had seen it affect my family and the families of my friends, so after doingan economic forecast for my final article of my first semester at The VN, Irealized I wanted to add an economic impact part to as many articles withfinancial aspects to them as possible.

I wanted to make sure students had the truth about the way the economywas headed, and had an understanding of how political problems or de-bates would impact markets and, in turn, them. I sought out, since I haveseen a lessening of emphasis on learning economics in my generation, totry to point those factors out by educating myself and speaking to some ofthe brightest economic minds at the university.

In addition, I tried to make sure students were heard in most of mypieces. I want any person who comes across me to understand that I docare about what the student has to say, and hope, if they are unhappy, theywould be willing to alert me to an issue.

This happened when I wrote a story last semester on a veterans organi-zation and its struggles for reforms to the President’s Council’s Constitu-tion that governs all extracurriculars on campus.

Other groups on campus felt the same reforms should be made, so I feltespecially strong about the story. In addition, I was spurred on to do it byan alum I interviewed.

I don’t know what legacy I will leave behind here. I know quite a lot ofpeople here have told me they like me, think I am talented and would bewilling to help me with anything I need. I can also say many of them havecared about me personally, which has been very encouraging.

I could not find a better university to attend that really fit everything Iwas looking for as a student with the opportunities that arose for me andthe experiences I have gotten; heck, I got to interview Robert Ficano. Thatjust about tops it for me. He is someone I have followed all my life, andknows various people I know.

It was cool to have such an opportunity, which I would not have hadotherwise. I would have just been anyone else, but I worked hard, and itpaid off.

Some alums out of UDM’s journalism program, such as Mike Martinezat The Detroit News and Nina Carter on TV in North Dakota, are achievingtheir goals. Looking forward, I wonder where I will be living in a fewmonths. I wonder if that will be Detroit, but I have been encouraged tomove while I am young.

I feel a strange somewhat sense of responsibility to stay in Detroit, but Idon’t know. Like many of my friends, I have applied to many places, andhope that something pops up.

As time goes on, I know that, like the events of Martin Scorsese’s“Gangs of New York,” all of our lives will be lost to the history books astime erodes. The war between Amsterdam Vallon and Bill “The Butcher”Cutting was lost to time as New York developed into a modern Metropolis.

I hope to be remembered not just by my friends at UDM, but by all theprofessors I have worked with, and the great souls I have met like Birdieand the librarians in the library.

But like Amsterdam Vallon said, other promising students will come,and dazzle the university.

For many of us, it will be like “we were never here.”

TommyZimmer

‘What will my legacy be?’VN news editor wonders

ALUMS IN POLITICS: One in a series of stories

“When theground shifts, you have to do what is best for your constituents...”-- SEN. STEVE BIEDA

‘Kennedy Dem’ battles inGOP-controlled senate

THE VARSITY

NEWS SSppoorrttss MARCH 26, 2014 PAGE 7

BY VITO CHIRCOVN STAFF WRITER

Adam Bedell is part of an elite crew of Detroitathletes who have been drafted by professionalsports clubs.

In fact, Bedell is the first men’s soccer playerin school history to be selected by a MajorLeague Soccer franchise.

The 2012 Horizon League Offensive Player ofthe Year was taken in the third round of this year’sMLS SuperDraft.

Bedell, a two-time All-Horizon League firstteamer, signed his first professional contract –with the Columbus Crew – on March 5.

“It was something special,” Bedell said. “I’vebeen wanting to do it for a long time now.”

The journey leading up to the inking of hiscontract was comprised of intense practices andtraining sessions.

“It took me a couple of weeks to figure out thequickened pace of the game plus the extra phys-icality involved with it,” Bedell said.

While this is the case, Bedell said playing atDetroit for four years under coach Nick Deren en-abled him to be prepared for the new opportunity.

And Deren enjoyed every second of the timehe spent coaching Bedell.

“He understood what I was talking about al-most from the get go,” Deren said. “I appreciatedthe fact that he’s a student of the game, who

wanted to make everythingwork for his teammates.”

Deren told Bedell it washis team during his sopho-more year – in the middle ofa spring match against West-ern Michigan.

Bedell then knew he hadto be the man, and he neverlooked back.

He became the go-toscorer as a junior, using hisgreat 6-foot-7 inch frame inleading the Titans to a Horizon League regular-season championship.

Despite a disappointing senior season that sawBedell and the Titans win only three games over-all and zero games in conference, Deren willnever forget the impact Bedell made on the men’ssoccer program.

“We were not very good for an eight- to 10-year period,” Deren said. “So he came in andbrought winning back to the program.”

Deren believes Bedell will be most remem-bered, however, for his high degree of “coacha-bility” and maturity.

These two attributes, along with his size andtechnique, are his strongest ones as a soccerplayer, according to Deren.

With Columbus, the Livonia native has alreadyseen 75 minutes of action in three preseason ap-

pearances. One of his more impres-

sive outings came againstToronto FC on Feb. 19, dur-ing which he recorded thethird goal of a 3-1 victoryfor the Crew.

“Playing against Torontowas surreal,” Bedell said. “Itwas a great game, and I gotto play the entire secondhalf, applying everythingI’ve been working on in

training.”Additionally, Bedell played in the team’s sea-

son opener, which took place on March 8 againstD.C. United.

In the match, Bedell logged three minutes andwas on the field when the Crew scored its thirdand final goal in a shutout victory over Washing-ton’s MLS club.

Bedell’s father and brother were in attendanceto watch his MLS debut.

“It was something special and even a little bitsurreal,” Bedell said. “You think about it, dreamabout it and you wonder how it’s going to be. Andfor me, it was a rush of emotion.”

Playing with Columbus has been a unique ex-perience for Bedell so far. However, it won’t everreplace the relationships he had with his Titansteammates.

“I’ll miss the guys, as everybody on the teamwas great to me during my time at Detroit,” Be-dell said.

The feeling possessed by Bedell toward his Ti-tans teammates is shared by class of ’12 gradu-ate Pat Lepera, who spent his final year at UDMas Bedell’s roommate.

“Bedell was a great teammate on and off thefield, as well as a friend, and he still is,” Leperasaid. “He was my roommate so I was able to getto know him a bit better than anyone else on theteam, although our team was very close to beginwith.”

Lepera is not surprised that his former team-mate has the opportunity to play in the MLS.

“He put in a lot of extra work outside of ourteam and that’s what helped his game get to thenext level,” Lepera said. “He’s one of those guysyou want on your team for more reasons than oneand the Crew will quickly realize this.”

Lepera believes if Bedell maintains the samework ethic he had at UDM, only good things willcome.

Bedell strives to become a better soccer playerevery day.

He is passionate about the game, and hopes toshow it during his time with the Crew.

According to Deren, Bedell will do just that. And Deren believes the former Horizon

League Player of the Year will make a name forhimself as an MLS player.

Allthis sea-son, IcouldonlythinkabouttakingUDM

back to The Big Dance, whichmany may also know as the

NCAA Tournament. Having had the experience

of going with the Universityof Michigan in 2012, I can re-member the atmosphere of thearena.

There were hundreds offans cheering us on, the loudmusic and our hearts poundingout of our chests.

It was and still is one of the

most remarkable days of mylife.

So upon making the transi-tion to Detroit, I can even re-member seeing the Titans wintheir conference championshipand make it into the NCAAtournament.

I wanted to be a part of that,and I can say that it was a keyfactor into making the ulti-

mate decision to come here. After falling short this year,

we now know, as a team, thethings we need to do in orderfor us to make it to The BigDance next year.

From the outside lookingin, with all the losses that wefaced this past season, it mayseem as though “we never gotthe memo.”

However, in every experi-ence wisdom can be obtained.

By that I mean, we’velearned teams’ strengths andweaknesses – and not justtheirs, but our own, as well.

Prior to some of the great-est victories there are a mil-lion failures.

The things we want to ac-complish aren’t going to be

easy or handed to us. We have to, and will, work

for it. This summer we plan to not

only change our game play,but also convert our mindsinto one of a winning team.

Brundidge is a VN staffwriter and Titan student-athlete

TitanInsiderCARLTONBRUNDIDGE

Watching others in The Big Dance inspires Titans for next year

“You think aboutit, dream about itand you wonderhow it’s going tobe... It was a rushof emotion.”

Adam Bedell, now a member of the Columbus Crew, led the Titans as a 6-foot-7 goal scorer. Said UDM coach Nick Deren: “He came in and brought winning back to the program.”

Bedell first Titan to make leap to ML soccer

PHOTO COURTESY OF UDM SPORTS INFO

I still have a long way to go. There is no doubt I have had many

marvelous experiences over the last fouryears at the University of Detroit Mercy,

but a recentweekend has tobe one of my fa-vorites, if not thebest.

Going to NewYork for a col-lege journalismmedia confer-ence was an ex-cellent andunforgettable ex-perience. But thecity itself wasincredible.

The way thecity lights up at

night is almost indescribable. There isnever a dull moment, hence the nick-name “the city that never sleeps.”

When not attending media sessions,our group (fellow editors Maggie andIan, with professor Tom Stanton and hiswife) walked around the enormous city.

Getting there, however, was also veryexciting. It was my first plane ride everand it was a memorable one.

As expected, the take-off caused themost anxiety. I was pretty nervous afterhaving everyone tell me that it was theworst part of riding a plane.

When we took off, I immediately feltthe popping of my ears. I knew it wascoming but it still hurt a tad.

The popping of the ears ultimatelyforced a tough headache. Somehow,though, I was still able to take a nap.

When I woke suddenly and lookedout the window, I saw one of the great-est sites in the world, the Statue of Lib-erty. It was a welcoming site, and itlooked absolutely stunning.

There were a couple of spots thatmade a larger impact on the visit, how-ever.

Seeing the Freedom Tower rise aboveall the other buildings in the toweringcity was magnificent. It hurt my neck tolook up at it from the ground. It wasnothing I have ever experienced before.It was almost like a dream.

Even more dreamlike was the view inNew York’s Central Park.

Located in a city with millions ofpeople, it felt like a place you could eas-ily escape from the hustle and bustle ofthe big city. When we walked throughit, my breath was taken away.

Overall, it was a great experience andI learned a lot about the city.

It is a huge place that combines manydifferent cultures and people from allover the world.

Unfortunately, we were only there fora couple days.

There is so much to do and see there– so much stuff that we didn’t catch onthe short trip but I would no doubt loveto go back on a visit.

I have another month of undergradu-ate school to finish before starting myjourney into the “real world.”

That said, who knows? Maybe myjourney will one day take me back tothe striking city.

While the trip was awesome, it istime to get back to reality.

With the semester almost over, theemotions are starting to hit me.

But I will save that for next time.

Pulliam is VN co-editor

THE VARSITY

NEWSSSppoorrttss PAGE 8 MARCH 26, 2014

CurtisPulliam

BY CURTIS PULLIAM VN CO-EDITOR

Being a big brother/role model is always a hardthing to do, but senior lacrosse player Troy Den-nis embraces the role.

“My brother, he’s 14. He does the same thingslike I do (lacrosse and football),” said Dennis. “Iwanted him to look up to me and know that hisbrother did the best that he could, that he wasn’tjust an average student.”

An average student Dennis is not, as he hasbeen a two-year member of the MAAC AcademicHonor Roll and All-Academic team, as well as afour-year member of the University of DetroitMercy’s Athletic Honor Roll.

“My mom and dad were really hard on me.They knew that I was smart and they just wantedme to do the best that I could,” said Dennis, acriminal justice major. “My parents have beenvery supportive for all the years I’ve been playingsports.”

Dennis’s dedication paid off recently when hewas a nominated for the Lowe’s Senior ClassAward, which is given to a top senior in their re-

spective sport for demonstrating excellence infour key areas: classroom, character, communityand competition.

Dennis, who came to Detroit Mercy fromBaldwin, N.Y., has felt very welcomed by thepeople at the university, especially those on histeam.

“It’s been everything I thought it would be andmore,” said Dennis who will graduate in May.“For all four years that I have been here, myteammates have made the most of my college ex-perience.”

Chris Shevins, a junior defenseman, said Den-nis has been a great teammate.

“Considering we’re both from Long Island, itis not unusual to find talented players. But he hasa work ethic and hard-working mentality thathelps set him apart from others,” said Shevins.“He is a focused and charismatic individual andplayer that is essential to any team.”

Nick Garippa, a senior midfielder like Dennis,says Dennis is the right man for the nomination.

“It’s always great to see a teammate excel,”said Garippa. “I know how hard Troy works onand off the field.”

In addition to being an excellent teammate,Dennis also prides himself on being an activemember in the community whether it be in hishometown or here in Detroit.

“Growing up I received almost everything Icould ever ask for so I feel that helping peoplewho unfortunately do not have much is the bestthing to do because giving back to the commu-nity is a high priority, said Dennis.

Dennis has played in 44 out of 46 games forthe Titans, contributing 16 points in that timespan.

Also in that time, Dennis has played in twoMACC title games, with a win over Siena lastseason to advance to the NCAA tournament.

“It was probably one of the best experiences ofmy life flat out,” said Dennis. “Once Mike Bir-ney hit that shot it was kind of like, finally I’vedone it, I’ve won a championship.”

Although Dennis’ lacrosse career will morethan likely come to an end after this season forthe Titans, he has plans after his playing days.

“I am looking to go into law enforcement,”said Dennis. “My dad is a police officer so I amgoing to try and go through his department.”

New York visit inspirespossibilities

BY CURTIS PULLIAMVN CO-EDITOR

For Juwan Howard Jr. thisyear was drastically differentfrom last year for the redshirtjunior.

The forward went fromaveraging 7.6 points pergame to 18.3 points.

“The coaches at the begin-ning of the year were like,‘We need you to play hard,be a leader. They didn’t bringup scoring once,’ ” saidHoward. “I didn’t think Iwould be scoring 18 pointsper game but hard work paidoff for me.”

The Titans, after endinglast year with a 20-13 recordand losing four of theirstarters, finished with a 13-19 mark this season.

“This year was an up-down year for us,” saidHoward, who averaged 5.3rebounds per game as well.“Coming off years of beingat the top of the HorizonLeague, you know it’s been alearning experience for all ofus. We just have to learn howto get back to winning andget back on the right foot.”

The second-teamAll-Horizon Leagueperformer, who shot83.9 percent from thefree-throw line, wasdisappointed he wasnot chosen for first-team all-conferencebut Howard is notoverly worried.

“I just did what Icould control andthat’s play on thebasketball court ashard as I could,” hesaid. “I thought Ishould have beenfirst-team but it justgives me anotherchip on my shoulderfor next year to goharder and proveeverybody I should’ve beenon that first-team.”

Ugochukwu Njoku, seniorcenter, said it was a good ex-perience to have Howard onthe team this season.

“It was really great,”Njoku said. “He had a greatwork ethic and he set an ex-ample of what it takes toachieve success. He broughta lot of energy every day andthat rubbed off on everyone.”

Senior forward Evan Bru-insma described Howard as agreat competitor and player.

“Juwan was fun to playwith,” said Bruinsma.

Howard Jr., the son ofJuwan Howard, a formerNBA player and Fab Fivemember at the University ofMichigan, said his parentshave had a great influence onhim but never forced him toplay basketball.

“They let thegame come to me,”said Howard, whosemother also playedcollege basketball.“They only took it asserious as I wouldtake it. When theysaw me getting seri-ous, that’s when theygot serious.”

Then, Howard Jr.said, his dad wasconstantly talking tohim about the game.

“My dad is proba-bly my biggestcritic,” he added. “Heknows the game, heknows what it takesto get to where I wantto go and I’m glad to

have him here.” Howard Jr. scored a ca-

reer-high 35 points againstValparaiso this season andhad multiple big shots at theend of games.

He looks forward to thoselate-game situations.

“I just took it as a chal-lenge to knock down thoseshots,” said the Detroiter.“The ball is in your handsand everybody has confi-

dence in you. You gottaknock it down.”

While this year taught hima lot about himself and histeammates, Howard – whowill be returning to the Titansfor his senior season – knowsone valuable lesson the teammust focus on going into the2014-15 season.

“We gotta take pride ineach possession more,” hesaid. “A missed layup ormissed steal or missed offen-sive rebound can change theoutlook of the game. We alsolearned the last four minutesare very important.”

As for next year, Howardthinks he will be playing asimilar role.

“I still see myself a bigleader on the court,” he said.“I have to improve as beingthe leader and lead this teamto a Horizon League champi-onship.”

Howard also has a predic-tion.

“NCAA Tournament andNCAA championship,” saidHoward Jr. “That’s what weare fighting for each andevery year, and that’s we’restriving for next year.”

Howard led the Titans in scoring.

Howard topples expectations, eyes next year

Dennis’ greatest marks may be off fieldHeading into law enforcement, he takes his obligations as a role model seriously

PHOTOS COURTESY OF UDM SPORTS INFO

Troy Dennis, who is fromNew York, found UDM awelcoming environmentduring his four years here.