Are You Sexy Enough to Talk to Me?

“Oh no, you are not even sexy enough to talk to me!” This was one of the first things I heard at IUSB after I enrolled as a student.

I was walking in front of the SAC where I saw a short, slightly overweight man walking toward a young woman in a mini skirt. He had made eye contact with her while they were walking towards each other on the sidewalk and he said hello softly as a courtesy…… and the above was her reply. I have written about civility before and it is time to write about it again.

What is it with so many people today? There seems to be a greater lack of civility then ever before. The above act of viciousness is not the only one I have witnessed since enrolling on campus. I saw a left-wing activist student cuss out a member of the College Republicans over a minor disagreement over the position of a sign. The College Republicans here at IUSB had to get a plexi-glass covered and locked display board because some of the more “tolerant” among us repeatedly vandalized it.

There is also the hate mail that has been sent to student publications. Some of it is just unbelievable. Some of the hate mail sent to me has been a litany of warm and fuzzies like, “you better shut up Chuck,” “you better watch your back Chuck,” “you better watch your mouth,” and not to be left out, the myriad of colorful metaphors (read cuss words). The Vision had to suspend the posting privileges of a professor for repeatedly posting cuss word filled rants. By the way, I love hate mail so please send more.

We cannot have an article about civility at IUSB and forget to mention the parking lot. I witnessed a man side swipe a car in the parking lot and just drive away (yes I turned him in). There was also the rash of “support your troops magnets” that were repeatedly taken off cars, including my own.

Incivility is not just a problem at IUSB. I have a stack of news articles in my archive that tell of campaign offices being attacked and vandalized, college student groups being attacked physically by other students while administrators sat on their hands, and a disturbing trend of increased anti-Semitism on campus across the country. I have even run across a few anti-Semites on our campus.

Why is this happening? It’s not just the old folks acting this way it’s the young as well. It has been my experience that many students and some professors are simply incapable of being on the losing end of a conversation or debate without losing their temper or walking away. Too often they simply do not have the skills to understand an opposing argument or effectively articulate their own and still behave in a civil, adult manner.

We did not have this problem to this degree 150 years ago. Each town had two or three partisan news-papers and they argued in a very lively manner as to why their point of view was correct and the other papers were wrong. The result was an average citizen that was exposed to debate and argument with an applied critical thinking process every day. The Founding Fathers debated every facet of our society vigorously face to face and in letters to each other and still had great respect for each other. We have lost that in today’s society.

One of the worst acts of incivility has been brought to us courtesy of the Columbia School of Journalism. Colombia awarded a 2004-2005 photo showing the execution of three Iraqi election workers by insurgents. The Associated Press (AP) reporter was a few feet away snapping the photos in complete safety because the insurgents tipped off the AP to be there at the right place and time. This slaughter of the innocent could have easily been stopped if the AP had a residue of humanity; instead they chose to exploit the murder of three innocent people and were rewarded for such revolting behavior with a Pulitzer Prize from the Columbia School of Journalism.

Professors being persecuted for their political views are also a problem in civility that I could write about in every issue of The Vision. Professor John Lewis (no relation to our own John Lewis) at Ashland University in Ohio had received a $100,000 gift to the university to do research in objectivism, a philosophy that also has a political angle involving small government and free markets. Ashland U. was thrilled to take the money and Prof. Lewis received letters of praise from Ashland U’s president. When it came time for Prof. Lewis’ tenure he was denied:

…the Board of Trustees voted to deny your application for promotion because it was concluded that there had been a lack of support on your part for the University’s Mission Statement. … Specifically, concern was expressed at all levels of the process about writings, submitted by you as part of your scholarly activities in support of your application, that advocate for Objectivist views that are hostile to the University’s mission. (http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8226.html)

Ashland’s published rules guarantee that professors are “free from institutional censorship or discipline.” Prof. Lewis asked the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (thefire.org) to intervene on his behalf.

Perhaps Bill & Ted were on to something when they said, “let’s be excellent to each other.”

Chuck Norton

The Illegal Employment Loophole

How many of you are currently seeking employment, but are unable to find it? Do you believe your job is currently filled by someone working illegally? Have you ever taken the time to see why it is that businesses hire illegal workers? The secret is in the fine print.

Law abiding Americans are being scammed out of jobs by loopholes in the system of citizenship and employment verification. Here is how the scam works: There are certain people allowed in this country, but are not allowed to work, international students on student visas, for example. However, when a person applies for a job, in section 1 on the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I9), an applicant can check one of three options: 1) A citizen or national of the United States; 2) Alien authorized to work; or 3) Lawful Permanent Resident.

The employer is required to ask for documentation proving the applicant’s identity. This can be any of a number of easily forged documents such as a social security card or a driver’s license, which by the way does not have “citizen” printed upon it.

However, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, under “Employee’s Responsibility Regarding Form I9”, it states, “The documentation presented is not required to substantiate information provided in Section 1. The employer must examine the document(s) and accept them if they reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee who presents them. Requesting more or different documentation than the minimum necessary to meet this requirement may constitute an unfair immigration-related employment practice.” 

This loophole allows for employers who are seeking illegal workers to hire them. As long as the documentation “reasonably appears to be genuine” then the business can hire that applicant. It is the subjective opinion of the Human Resources manager as to whether the documents reasonably appear to be genuine or not.

This loophole also allows an illegal applicant to bully the business into hiring them. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website also states, “Requesting more or different documentation than the minimum necessary to meet this requirement may constitute an unfair immigration-related employment practice.” This means that if an employer challenges the documentation, a lawsuit could be in their future!

I spoke with one former HR associate who told me that the problem is widespread and well-known in the industry. Stereotypically, many Americans immediately point to Hispanics in the factories as the guilty party in this scam. While that does happen, it is not the only place. Another source explained that the Healthcare industry in South Bend is full of employees who have used this loophole to find employment. In that source’s experience, it is international students from Africa who are taking the jobs using the loophole.

This whole issue has created some strange bedfellows. It has brought together the conservative Wall Street Journal and the liberal New York Times. It has also brought together conservative talk radio and powerful liberal trade unions. Even here in South Bend, the mainstream media has ignored this problem. The same source who came to the IUSB Vision with this information gave the names of companies and the names of employees to WNDU, WSBT, and the South Bend Tribune. Remember you heard it from the Vision first.

Jarrod Brigham

Do You Know Who This Man Is?

 

“Hay que endurecerse pero sin perder la ternura jamás”

You have probably seen the picture:  The ubiquitous effigy of the fervent revolutionary, looking solemn and pensive as Alberto Korda shot the photograph that would turn him into an icon. Pop culture has immortalized him, rock stars wear t-shirts emblazoned with his face, but only a few can claim to know who he was. Most cannot even pronounce his name correctly. His legend, however,  lives on.

But before Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the icon, there was Che Guevara the guerilla leader, the fearless combatant, The Butcher of La Cabaña who personally oversaw – and had the final decision upon – the execution of hundreds of his own countrymen. Before the romanticized Che, there was the bloodthirsty Che, the soldier who fought for the utopian socialist ideal and stopped at nothing to see that ideal become a reality.

“One must endure without losing tenderness”, is the famous quote attributed to Che – a far cry from the man who once claimed hatred as being “an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become.”

The dichotomy is perhaps the most telling feature of the cult of Gue Guevara, the icon: years of romanticizing by the media have turned the fiercest defender of authoritarianism into a symbol of liberty. He hated the West and its ‘money fetish’ and blamed Washington for the woes of South American peasants. He fought side-to-side with Fidel Castro to extirpate Cubans of their most basic freedoms and fundamental human rights and exterminated those who dare to stand between him and his ultimate goal: the destruction of capitalism and democracy.

Che Guevara, the sympathetic rebel lauded by the likes of Carlos Santana and Tom Morello, the figure whose physiognomy is known the world over, the most renowned symbol of social equality and freedom, was actually an enemy of freedom.

The adoring fans of the rebel free-thinking revolutionary, blinded by the obfuscating light of saint-in-waiting Che, seem oblivious to two inescapable truths: First, Cuba is in turmoil. It is a pressure cooker of social instability, aided by decades of military dictatorship and lagging growth that have rendered the nation’s economy virtually stagnated. Second, communism is dead. It has been proven time and again to be a failed system because it infringes on one of the most ingrained, natural tendencies of human beings: the desire of having more.

The Soviet Union, East Germany, and Albania, all have succumbed to the sweet bosom of el capitalismo salvaje that Che Guevara fought against. With Chaves’ Venezuela not-withstanding, Cuba and North Korea are the swan songs of an antiquated ideology that was predestined to fail. Even China is slowly waking up to that reality and opening up its markets to foreign investments and as a result it has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. From raw materials to finished goods, the awakening Asian giant exports billions of dollars each year to their western counterparts.

Meanwhile, Cuba’s main export is, well…Cubans.  Every year, thousands of dissidents flee Fidel Castro’s little utopian Club Red in search of the ‘better tomorrow’ promised by Castro and Che Guevara during the Cuban Revolution. Yet, where are the t-shirts and the movies with the faces of these thousands? Is their struggle less important, their cause less ‘sexy’ than that of the Argentinean hero of the Latin-American indigenists, himself born with a silver spoon? Does Hollywood give a damn about them?

To all these dissenters, this is the legacy of Che the icon: not The Motorcycle Diaries, but a nation-island marred in oppression and discontent. To hundreds, perhaps even thousands that were victimized by Che Guevara’s rampant and egocentric wanderlust, he wasn’t a martyr or a saint. To them, his image does not symbolize a struggle for freedom, but rather it brings them back memories of the ruthless ‘supreme prosecutor’ appointed by Castro to execute their political enemies.

Yet, there he stands. The unmovable obelisk of communist rhetoric, becoming what he hated the most: a product for capitalist exploitation. That is, perhaps, the irony of Che Guevara: The man who spent a lifetime speaking against the tyrannical hand of the imperialist capitalist West didn’t live long enough to see his face adorning t-shirts and coffee mugs and being lauded by musicians, sports starts, and other pseudo-celebrities.

The iconoclast became an icon himself. And as he stares into the oblivion, the hundreds that were killed under his watch are again victimized by his ambiguous fame as a freedom fighter. His face may be a hot commodity, but the cloth of all the shirts in the world cannot cover the scars left by his legacy.

Ed Lima

My Attorney Insists I Offer My Most Sincere Apology

I am sorry, I was wrong. Does it really seem so hard? Remember when mom used to make you apologize to your sibling. It may have been a hard thing to do but that was supposed to teach us the lesson of how to be accountable for your actions. This is a lesson that seems to have been convoluted and lost in the lives of many high profile figures to the idea of damage control or self interest. The ironic part is that if these high profile people would just be honest in the first place, the damage would be far less severe.

I am talking about Larry Craig, Trent Lott and even Bill Clinton. All of them start with denial of the wrongs they have committed, and stop at nothing to avoid the blow to their careers. The truth is the truth, but we do not even see a shred of it from many of our public officials until they have no other choice. Even when many of our officials finally apologize, many still try to deny the truth, or the idea that they did anything wrong.

Let’s start with a recent case: Larry Craig. The Senator from Idaho was caught in a Minnesota airport bathroom using foot taping and other codes to solicit sex from an undercover police officer. The police officer was there to work an undercover sex sting set up.  Oops!

My point is not to focus on whether what he did was right or wrong (it was wrong) but on how he handled it afterwards. Craig first came out trying to say the police misconstrued his actions. We also found out that he had pled guilty to a lesser charge. His response was that he acted rashly and should have sought council before pleading guilty.

It was not until almost a week later that he had no other choice but to resign. Here is the part that bothers me the most:  “To Idahoans I represent, to my staff, my Senate colleagues, but most importantly, to my wife and my family, I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry. I have little control over what people choose to believe.” (emphasis mine) WOW, this guy has the audacity that even in his apology he puts it on what “people choose to believe.” This is by far one of the worst no-apology apologies ever!

In December of 2002 Senator Lott, the incoming majority leader, was celebrating the birthday of Senator Thurmond, who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948. While speaking at this event Lott made a remark about Thurmond’s run “We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.” 

The same guy went from saying this to just one week later saying “I apologize for opening old wounds and hurting many Americans who feel so deeply in this area…” Obviously not talking about himself. He started to end with “I’m not about to resign for an accusation that I’m something I’m not.”

Again, this is a horrible apology. He did not apologize for anything he did, just for the effect that what he did caused.  This is very similar to what Craig did. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Finally we end with the big one…former President Bill Clinton. I am sure everyone knows this story. Let me go straight to the main point. In January 1998 President Clinton strongly denied having sexual relations with Miss Lewinski.

He then spent the majority of the next year trying to play damage control. In the end, he had to discuss the ordeal eight times publicly. On December 11th, 1998 he said the following “What I want the American people to know, what I want the Congress to know, is that I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and deeds.”

All definitions of the word “is” aside, (or any other disputed definition by the Clinton legal team) he directly lied to everyone at one point. It was bold, and he was caught.

My point is that our public officials know they have committed wrongs, and yet their first reaction is to lie about it, or articulate their words in a way that it was not their fault. The truth is the truth. I understand damage control, but it should never be at the cost of your integrity. The only time you even get the hint of an apology is when there is no way they can get away with their wrongful deeds.

In the end I wonder if these situations would have turned out better if each person had instead come out and publicly admitted the truth. I have no doubt that they would have. If they had told the truth then at least that aspect of their personal and public integrity would still be intact. Hey…if a five year old can tell the truth and be accountable for their actions, all of us should be able to.
   
Marcus Vigil

Simply Sydney: Does This Mean We Are Breaking Up?

We believe in a world of make-believe. And most of the time it is because we are raised to. As children, most of the tales we hear end with the ever so cliché happily ever after. During our years of development, we are only given half the story. We see the initial tribulations leading to the beginning of the relationship between princess and shining knight and then it is over. Since we do not see the anything passed that point we assume that the birds are always circling over their heads. In many cases we see the struggles our parents endure, but our minds are already filled with the romanticized image, therefore we do not separate reality from fantasy.

What does this have to do with people in the real world? That’s simple. Since we already have the image of what we think is the “ideal romance” we assume that when the euphoria of the relationship wears off that the relationship itself is coming to an end. Often we do not realize that the stability that replaced the euphoria is a good thing. Nonetheless, when people see stability they end up thinking they are in a rut. And what do people do when they get into a rut? They try to spice things up. Obviously there is only so much spicing one can do before you end up with an undesirable mess. When people “save” their relationships by beefing up the physical they end up setting themselves up for a real problem. Instead of strengthening the couple they have become, they have just reintroduced themselves to a euphoric state. And obviously, those feelings do not last. If they started with small surprises that are great for getting the much needed “awe” response they might notice that the relationship is still there and getting stronger. Plus there is the added hint of the exhilaration they thought they had lost.

The onset of stability and being comfortable with each other in a relationship, no matter how old, does not mean the relationship has run its course. It is the perfect time to gain a real relationship with someone. The time when you can discover if you really care about the other person and if you are willing to let them care about you. For better or for worse, my little cliché for the week.

Sydney Chase

Toilet Tolerance: Asian and Western Styles

“Oh the bathroom! I wish it was the exact same as the Asian style!” screams one student from Japan.  A student from Taiwan adds, “It is a kind of embarrassing to use American bathrooms” and another student from Thailand says, “American bathrooms have no privacy!”  Some Asian students on campus complain about distinct differences between Western and Asian style restrooms. 

Visualize the restrooms at IUSB. When someone is in a bright red stall at Wiekamp, you can see the person’s legs, which means the door has a space to show somebody is in it. The space would be helpful for security reasons, etc; however, the door is one of the reasons Asian students feel uncomfortable. 

Most Asian bathrooms have full cover doors, which means that you cannot see inside and need to knock on the door to make sure nobody is in it. You may think that it is not good for security but there are emergency call buttons in most restrooms and stalls. If you are in a stall and a person knocks your door, you simply say, “Somebody is in here!”

Asian bathrooms promise a very nice private room with a music box, called Oto Hime. A Japanese bathroom company, To To Toilet, exploit noise problems and relaxation in the stalls. Some people are embarrassed when they make bathroom noises; therefore, they flush twice—before and after—using bathroom. The company produces the music boxes, which make the sound of running water, classical music, etc so when those sensitive people, when using the bathroom just push a button to reduce the noise. 

Moreover, some music boxes have emergency call buttons just in case something happens in the stall. These music boxes are popular in all kinds of public restrooms, even schools in some Asian countries, especially Japan. The music boxes decrease wasting water and promise users relaxation and a safe environment while in the restroom.  

In addition, one reason for the full cover doors are differences between Western and Asian style toilet seats. Western toilets are like chairs; however, some Asian toilets are not like the chair style. Users stride over a toilet and squat, so they need to hide themselves with the full cover doors. To keep those traditional Asian toilets clean, there is a sweeper in each public restroom, so in some Asian countries people tip the sweepers one to two cents after using.

However, if IUSB wants to adapt for those minority opinions—it may be difficult to exchange all doors for Asian students but they may be able to adopt the music box idea since people in the stall can feel more relaxed and safe— IUSB needs to budget about two hundreds dollars for each music box.  So if IUSB were to add this idea for the library, it would need at least fifteen music boxes. (Hopefully they could find some discounts for educational industries.)    

The most important thing is that bathrooms should be clean and safe. Some bathrooms at IUSB, especially some restrooms in Northside, may not be perfectly safe since not many people are around. If restrooms have enough toilet paper, soap, paper towels, sanitary maintenances, and security, the bathroom should be perfect. Flush away any cultural differences if you find the perfect restroom for you.   

Naoko Fujimoto

Volume 4, Issue 2 Game Page Answers

If you would like to see the solutions to the fun and games section of Volume 4, Issue 2 simply click the image below.

Thanks for playing!

How To: Rid your Dog of Fleas

Nothing is worse than a dog that scratches and bites its self all the time. My dog recently has been doing just that. One night she even cried while laying on our bed because it was so bad for her. So I was determined to relieve her of her suffering. 

First, I bought her a flea collar. It looked pretty cheap; but I thought that it might do the trick. Well it didn’t work, but I was determined to win that battle.  My next step was to give my dog a flea bath. According to some, flea shampoo is not necessary but I’m not taking any chances. 

So I gave my dog a bath.  I’m not sure if this is going to work for I just did it tonight. If this fails I have heard of some kind of pill that you give your dog for two months that will kill fleas through the medicine oozing out of their sweat pores. 

According to How to Get Rid of Stuff.com, “to help rid your dog of fleas you need to rid your house of them as well.” Fleas can hatch and live in almost anything, including furniture, carpet, and bedding. Wash everything in hot soapy water that your pet comes in contact with such as rugs, bedding, even curtains.  You will also need to vacuum your furniture and main area rugs. A great way to get rid of fleas is to not get them in the first place. There are preventive measures that you can take to be sure you don’t get fleas. 

One of the biggest ways to prevent fleas is to keep your house clean. Vacuuming weekly and doing a thorough clean of your home are vitally important keys to keeping your house free of fleas.
    
Sarah Chamberlin
 

Listen To Your Mother

Ladies, let me tell you something. Listen to your mother. She says to you that you shouldn’t get married until you are ready. She tells you not to date this person or that person. She tells you not to move out on your own until you have to.

Essentially, it sounds like Mom just wants you to live under her roof until she is dead and gone. She wants you not to have a social life, and if you do, don’t let it be anything to serious. Let your social life be something that you can come home and forget about. Don’t worry about those boys. They don’t stick around for very long.

That’s not what she wants. She wants to save you and protect you from yourself and anything that might come out of your behaviors. I say this because mothers are normally right. They have been there and done that. They know everything you have done or will do, because, yes, they did it too. They just want to protect you.

I’m not trying to preach to you about listening to your mothers. I’m not trying to convince you that you have to agree with everything or anything they say. Rather, just listen to them.

This is something that has really hit home for me over the last few months. In April, you would have found me involved in Student Government, volunteering across the county, taking a full course load, working, etc… I could go on and on.

My mother reminded me that I needed to take a breather every once in a while or I was going to have some kind of melt-down. I wish I had listened to her then. It might have saved me some sanity. See, I ended up almost landing in the hospital because of the sheer amount of stress I had caused myself. It wasn’t until I got to that point that I even listened to my mother about slowing down. Yes, I am still very much active in most of the things I was then, but I don’t say yes to every task that I am handed. My mother’s advice might have saved me a lot of heart ache and grief.

So do yourself a favor. Listen to your mother, father, family and friends. They might save your life.     

Misty Perrin

From the Vice-President’s Pen

Hi all- I hope classes are going well for you so far and welcome new students! I’m Jessica Jackson. I’m from Mishawaka and went to Mishawaka High School. I attended Purdue my freshman year for Aerospace Engineering before coming here. I’m a junior and Criminal Justice/Psychology double major and I plan to go to law school when I graduate to be a prosecutor.

I am also interested in politics. I work at the Student Activity Center (SAC) in the mornings and have already met many of you there as well as through my job at the bookstore during “Rush.” I hope I’ll meet the rest of you around campus.

Last year was my first at IUSB and I confess I had no idea IUSB had a Student Government Association (SGA) until right before Spring Break when I saw a table asking for applications to fill empty Senate seats. I was embarrassed by my ignorance of the organization’s existence until I found that the majority of students don’t know the SGA exists and many who do don’t know what the SGA does. Only 475 of 7,420 students this year voted for the student leaders who represent you.

So what does the SGA do? Students are automatically charged a Student Activity Fee that goes to the SGA’s budget committee to allocate to, for example, Athletics, the SAC, Titan Productions, the Preface, the Health and Wellness Center, and every club on campus, including the Vision. Any student organization can request funds.

The SGA has three branches. The Executive branch consists of a President, Vice President (me), Secretary, and Treasurer. The Legislative branch is made up of 12 Senators and chaired by me, as I am also the President of the Senate. The judicial branch handles legal concerns, disputes within the SGA, etc. Funding and judicial requests can be submitted via forms outside the office or on the webpage.

Besides funding organizations, Executive and Senate members serve on academic committees such as Academic Personnel, Athletics, Budget, Curriculum, Facilities, Technology, and Student Affairs with faculty and administrators. If you have concerns or suggestions the SGA can present your ideas.

We also do things within the community like joining Notre Dame for the Gulu Walk, representing IUSB in AUSA (All University Student Association) and helping prepare for the Higher Learning Commission’s visit that will determine our university’s re-accreditation. I’m also the captain of the IUSB team in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on October 6th. The website (http://main.acsevents.org/goto/iusb) is available to donate or join the team and I have a Facebook group.

These are but a few examples of what your virtually untapped SGA can do for you. To ask for assistance, request funds, or present ideas or concerns, visit us in our office on the second floor of the SAC, room 202 or visit our website at iusb.edu/~stuassoc. The SGA e-mail is iusbsga@iusb.edu and my       e-mail is jacksojs@iusb.edu. We’re here for you but we can only be truly effective with your participation.

Jessica Jackson
SGA Vice President

Are You Ready For Re-Accreditation?

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is coming to IU South Bend November 12th, 13th, and 14th and you need to be ready.

Accreditation is important to your university, but it is also important to you. An accredited college, according to the U.S. Department of Education, is prepared fiscally, academically, and physically to meet the needs of its students.

Without accreditation your degree may not be recognized by employers, or you may be ineligible for federal student loans and government positions. IU South Bend is an accredited university and this fall the campus will undergo the rigorous process that will enable IUSB to remain accredited.

A working group of IU South Bend faculty, administrators, staff, and students have been preparing for the visit over the last few years. Co-chaired by Drs. Bender and Torstrick, they have put together an extensive self study document entitled Bridge to the Future you can see it in its entirety by accessing the HLC website www.iusb.edu/~hlc .

The document focuses on five criteria that the HLC deems necessary for a university to be an affective learning institute. It covers such areas as 1) Mission and Integrity 2) Preparing for the Future 3) Student Learning and Effective Teaching 4) Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge, and 5) Engagement and Service.

The main purpose in creating the self study document is to take an in-depth look at the university. It is important for us to understand how we assess our programs, what our future plans and goals are, and whether or not we are upholding those future (strategic) plans and our mission.

In November a team of “Consultant Evaluators” representing the HLC will visit the campus after reading the self study. They will look for evidence that supports the claims of the self study; they will be having formal meetings with groups and individuals, they will also be speaking informally with people on campus including students. The team consists of seven people who are administrators and faculty of other colleges and have been trained by the HLC in accreditation.

It is important to you to know and understand all you can about this significant event. There will be many opportunities over the next few months to educate yourself about the reaccreditation process. There will be round table discussions and other public forums, articles in several papers, professors may talk about it, or maybe you’ll see a podcast or other media event. At the website you will also find links to important campus documents like the mission statement and strategic plan. So take a few minutes and get prepared, but most important of all, be here November 12th – 14th.

Article Contributed by:

Terri Vega
Student Research Assistant to the HLC Self-Study Committee

Club Showcase: The Poker Club

Perhaps playing poker should be some kind of club on campus. Wait a minute, it is! The IUSB Poker Club has been up and running for about a year now. This club’s main objective is to get the student body and the community involved in playing Texas Hold ‘em against each other.

Tournament Director, Mike Renfrow states, “The community, students and faculty are all more than welcome to join in any of the games.” In other words, if you can find the gaming room, you can play in the poker tournament; and don’t forget to bring your friends.

Winning money doesn’t sound like a bad idea. At least that is what most people who regularly attend these events seem to think. Every tournament has a winner and the winner walks away with $100 cash. No questions asked. The best part is that this entire club is free! That’s right, FREE.

There is no gambling allowed at any of these events. You simply win the money by being the best player at the event. Renfrow says, “The club doesn’t allow gambling. The definition of gambling is taking a chance with something that you have brought with you with the possibility of losing it for good.”

The winner of the tournament from August 31st was Andrew Ewald. He is currently the highest on the rankings on the club’s website, iusbpokerclub.com, where the club ranks players by points, determining who plays at the final table for the school year.

This website also lists the dates for all of the other events to be held throughout the remainder of the school year, starting with the next tournament which is to be held on November 2nd.

As stated above, Mike Renfrow is Tournament Director. Justin Matthews is Club President with Joe Spencer being his humble Vice President. These three fellows would love for you to join them at the next event where you have the chance to earn points, prizes and of course, free cash!

Misty Perrin