Kyla Quigley/The Courier - Todd Boaz rappells down the side of Haldeman-Thiessen as part of an ROTC demonstration of different rappelling techniques used by soldiers.

For the class of 2012, graduation will mark the end of one journey and the beginning of another. It will mean settling into a new routine , becoming familiar with a new way of life: new job, graduate school or the pressures of a new search for direction and personal development. But for seniors Brian Miller and Christopher Hanson, the end of college will mean the beginning of a stint as commissioned officers in the U.S. Army.

The Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps will hold its spring 2012 commissioning ceremony on May 11, at 4 p.m. at Western Illinois University. Cadets who will be commissioned have met all requirements of their respective degree program as well as those set by the U.S. Army: officer leadership training, physical fitness and medical qualifications.

Like all officers who have served and completed similar programs before them, all new officers will receive a ceremonious first salute as recognition of the authority being bestowed upon them by President of the United States Barack Obama and the Army. By returning the salute the newly commissioned officers recognize that they are accepting, not just an honor, but the duty to those who serve alongside and under their steady leadership, compassion and unwavering commitment.

For Miller, joining the ROTC program at Monmouth felt like a calling.

“Honestly the decision for me came from wanting to live the most purposeful life that I can, and as I developed a relationship with God I felt like it was a calling for me to give back for the life I am so lucky to have,” said Miller.

Hanson joined the ROTC on the advice of an Army recruiter.

“I have always wanted to join the military and during my sophomore year here, I just upped and enlisted,” said Hanson. “During the process my recruiter, who was from this area, told me about ROTC and said that it would be worth it in the long run.”

The Monmouth ROTC program is led by Senior Development Officer College Relations Stephen M. Bloomer, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Bloomer graduated from Monmouth in 1983 as a commissioned officer. Both graduating cadets speak highly of Bloomer and their experience in the program.

“Despite the few cadets here, I have had great mentoring throughout my career,” said Hanson. “Last year the seniors, J.D. Holeman and Sam Graf, helped us out tremendously and still do to this day. Retired LTC Bloomer has also been there whenever anything was needed and has had a large impact on the successes of the ROTC program here.”

Miller feels similarly.

“It has been a great mentoring experience,” said Miller. “I mean, at WIU you get to have hands on training and experience passed on from colonels and majors. Some people would kill for that. I remember back to my sophomore year when Major Jack Thresher would come down to teach, and I was the only one in his class. Talk about getting your money’s worth from a class. One-on-one time with a major for several hours a week, where else could I get that experience?”

Being in ROTC at any campus adds complications to a student’s life, but at Monmouth the burden has been compounded for Miller and Hanson by the fact that nearly all their drills and ROTC involvement takes place at WIU in Macomb.

“Oh boy, not going to lie, it gets rough sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade the experience of it for the world,” said Miller. “ROTC and the Army have really allowed me to develop into who I am as a person and a leader. But it’s the combination of going to a liberal arts college such as Monmouth combined with ROTC that, honestly, allows me to have a flexible unique attitude and approach that is uncommon to both the military and as a college graduate.”

Following graduation newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenants Miller and Hanson will report to their primary training. Following their commission they will report to their first duty station. Miller will be in transportation and his first duty station will be in Fort Bliss, Texas.

“It’s gonna be rough, knowing my whole life is going to change, going on active duty for seven years plus being stationed 24 hours away in Fort Bliss, Texas,” said Miller. “But sometimes life is not easy and it has been my friends and family here at Monmouth that has given me much needed support.”

However, Hanson will be taking a different path.

“I will be an ordinance officer and will try to go into EOD [Explosive Ordinance Disposal] upon graduation from my initial officer school,” said Hanson. 

Ryan Bronaugh
Veteran Writer

Communication instructor Chris Goble drafted the proposal so that student journalists from MC-TV would have the same access to faculty meetings as reporters and photographers from The Courier. Journalists from MC-TV were denied access to faculty meetings by Faculty Senate twice this academic year.

Several faculty members expressed concern about having video cameras in faculty meetings. One concern that was that video taken from meetings could be edited and reposted to YouTube in undesirable ways.

“It’s easy to slice and dice a piece of tape and take things out of context in a way that creates a certain impression about someone that maybe you didn’t mean to create,” said English professor Rob Hale.

Others expressed concern that allowing video cameras into faculty meetings would dampen discussion.

“While faculty meetings are, in fact, open, they really aren’t as open as if we were broadcasting them over a P.A. system,” said sociology professor Judi Kessler. “It might bring chill to the meetings that everything is being recorded.”

Goble defended his proposal, arguing that the exclusion of broadcast journalists from open faculty meetings was unfair.

“The bigger issue I think here is that we have an open meeting,” said Goble. “What we’re doing by saying that print journalists are OK and broadcast journalists are not is really wrong.”

Goble pointed out that he reviewed stories for accuracy before they went on air and that MC-TV issues retractions and corrections for inaccuracies in their stories.

Communications professor Joe Angotti also supported the proposal.

“Our students should be able to see what happens here,” Angotti said. “I think you’re sending the wrong signal to your students that you don’t want visual images of what we do here in their hands.”

The faculty shot down the proposal on a 29-21 vote.

The faculty approved three curriculum proposals. The first proposal approved was replacing INTR-112: Quantitative Reasoning: A Tool for the Liberal Arts with an option to take MATH-114 or complete the online ALEKS math program.

According to Professor Marta Tucker, chair of the mathematics and computer science department, the proposal is meant to be the first step in improving programs to help students with weak math and quantitative reasoning skills.

“Rather than pouring more resources into something that has already not been terribly successful it seems worth a one year try at least while we’re thinking about quantitative literacy and other ways of addressing the problem,” said Tucker.

Some professors expressed concern that change would not be beneficial to students with poor quantitative reasoning skills.

The faculty also approved INTR-110: Intercultural Discovery and Engagement, a course for international students and INTR-101: Academic Cultural Values and Success, an optional three-week summer course for students with low ACT scores.

Political economy and commerce chair Michael Connell was awarded the Hatch Award for Outstanding Service.

Blue Key Honor Society served cake during the meeting in honor of Faculty Appreciation Month.

Wesley Teal
News Editor

Shipp, who served as vice president from 2011-2012, has been drafting goals and has already been taking the initiative to make changes on campus for the fall. According to Shipp, ASMC has accomplished its goal of attracting more students to attend meetings.

“We have had the most attendance at meetings this year than we’ve had since I’ve been on ASMC. I think we’ve done an excellent job this year,”  said Shipp.

Shipp is still looking to find innovative ways to advertise meetings to students. Another goal Shipp is carrying over to next year is involvement. Shipp stated that not many students who attend the meetings realize that they can share their opinions.

“I want people to understand they have a voice,” Shipp said. “Everyone involved in groups needs to be more connected.”

Since creating these goals, Shipp and the newly elected vice president, sophomore Dillon Harris, have taken the initiative to extend library hours for finals week and for a trial period at the beginning of the fall semester.

“I personally know there is always a group at the library at closing time,” Harris said. “If there is a good turnout during finals, then we will definitely look into it further for next year.”

Other ideas Shipp and Harris drafted include converting the Underground into a study lounge, adding mountain bikes to the Scots Cruise line and hosting an academic conference on campus for other ACM schools.

Helping Shipp and Harris for next year are Kyla Earman as parliamentarian, Dan Carlson as clerk, Samantha Stevenson as treasurer and Kayla Corzine as student affairs representative. These four students were chosen from a pool of 12 applicants vying for the paid ASMC positions.

“We wanted an exec board with diversity in years,” Shipp said. “We looked for fresh ideas and people with experience. With tried to get the most qualified people.”

Unlike the 12 applicants who went through a rigorous interviewing process, both Shipp and Harris were given the positions since they were the only runners who met the qualifications and solicited enough signatures from the student body to run for the positions.

“We would like to have elections every year,” Harris said. “It was a little disappointing to not have any competition.”

Shipp is hopeful that ASMC will grow next year.

“I want to make sure ASMC becomes more a presence here on campus. I really love Monmouth, and I want to make sure the students love Monmouth as much as I do,” said Shipp.

Stevie Croisant
Copy/Layout Editor

In order to send a positive message to the community and support Brooks a “Rainbow Picnic” was put together by the community.

“The picnic was a response to what was viewed by many as a hate crime against Mr. Brooks because of his sexual orientation.” said Michael Harrison, a Monmouth professor and gay rights advocate. “The goals were to come together as a supportive community to show both DuWayne and the community at large that Monmouth does not tolerate this type of behavior.”

The event, which was open to the entire community, was a chance for the community to show their support, and several community members as well as faculty and students of Monmouth College were in attendance.

Harrison thought the event was successful in its aim to bring young and old, gay and straight together to send a message to the community at large.

“The picnic brought a number of people together who might not ordinarily have met and sent a strong message to the town and the community at large that bigotry and intolerance are not values this community stands for,” said Harrison.

Sarah Zaubi
Features Editor

1:40 a.m. — False fire alarm in Bowers Hall.

1:40 a.m. — Window broken in North Hall.

1:44 a.m. — Student cited for disorderly conduct in Bowers Hall.

8:30 p.m. — Two students cited for underage alcohol possession in Grier Hall.

Sunday, April 29

2:00 p.m. — False fire alarm in Fulton Hall.

An online survey conducted by my group as part of our citizenship class project found that 49 percent of respondents described the city’s tap water as “disgusting.” Only 8 percent of respondents said they liked the way Monmouth’s water tasted and 3 pecent said they had never tried it.

When we began brainstorming about this issue, and organizing our campaign to reduce bottled water usage on campus, my instinct was to call for the embracing of Monmouth’s municipal water supply; I had hoped that we could end the mass consumption of plastic bottles and needless spending by convincing people that the water’s OK in the Maple City.

But in light of the overwhelming majority opinion, it has become clear that compromises and perhaps more practical measures ought to be taken to solve the environmental waste issue posed by the constant consumption and disposal of plastics.

For instance, 52 percent of our survey’s participants expressed the belief that Monmouth’s tap water is unsafe for drinking, and yet 43.4 percent of the same sample group claimed that if they were hydrating during a workout at the Huff Center, they might get their water from the drinking fountains—which, of course, are supplied with municipal tap water. Over half of participants who hydrate while using the Huff Center facilities admitted to relying on plastic water bottles, such as Nestle or Aquafina; 31.3 percent, however, preferred to use a refillable water bottle.

Therein lies the answer to our hope of reducing plastic waste and widespread reliance on corporate bottling: reusable water bottles.

According to statistics published by MSLK’s watershed project in New York City, the United States alone consumes 1,500 plastic water bottles every second, 80 percent of which will ultimately end up in a landfill. The piece also claims that 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of bottled water annually. For the financially motivated, it should be noted that drinking bottled water costs 1,000 times more than municipal tap water.

Our campaign not only seeks to raise awareness about the adverse effects of plastic bottle consumption, but also to promote the use of refillable water bottles. Of the responses to our survey, 70 percent of Monmouth College students said that they would carry a reusable bottle if the college provided them with one upon admission. An additional 24 percent explained that they would “maybe” use it for drinking water; only 6 percent claimed they would not use a refillable bottle.

If all goes well, we plan to leave behind a legacy with which future students may test our survey’s findings, and our hypothesis that educated young people will generally be mindful of their everyday actions when smart options are made readily available to them.

Should our efforts prove successful, an Elkay EZH2O fountain fitted with a bottle filling station will likely appear on the upper floor of the Huff Center sometime in 2012. Better yet, the first students to make use of the college’s new Center for Science and Business building may have access to several additional EZH2O filling stations. We’re still working out the details, of course, but we — that is, Molly Ball, Quinton Guerrero, Kaci Lierman, Alex Kane, Cody Rogers and Amanda Streeter — would also like to supply donation-funded reusable bottles to all incoming Monmouth College freshmen. So please, voice your concerns about water on campus. Saving our planet is, after all, the thing to do.

Alex Kane
Contributing Writer

Ann Romney continues to impress America with her tactful empathy and firm grasp on poverty.  In a recent television interview, Ann sported a $900 Reed Krakoff bizarre emblazoned with a colorful parrot straight from the runway, a cardinal sin when you’re trying to prove to people how in-touch you are with the 99 percent. Krakoff’s spokesperson stated the shirt didn’t come directly from the designer, but rather was purchased in a Saks Fifth or Neiman Marcus or some other store that carries fowl, over-priced shirts. Personally? I think the whole thing is for the birds.

 Grand Old Bigotry?

In other things Romney related, Richard Grenell, a spokesperson for Mitt Romney’s campaign and an openly gay Republican resigned amid a firestorm of attacks from anti-gay Republicans like those belonging to the hate group American Family Association, which claimed that Grenell’s homosexuality made him a national security threat. Sorry, there’s no joke. Just bigotry.

Sarah Zaubi and Wesley Teal
Features Editor and News Editor

For me, it reminds me that I haven’t accomplished everything I wish I had. There are things I would have liked to do, classes I would have liked to take, experiences I would have liked to have and, of course, bad decisions I have yet to make. Sure, I will be able to complete some of these tasks in the coming weeks, but the vast majority I will probably never again get the chance to do.

At the same time, there are things that I cannot accomplish by myself. These are things that take several years of planning and the help of numerous people. Those tasks will never be done. I can start them. I can help them along, but I will never be able to finish them. Other graduating seniors feel the same way about their interests. The challenge to complete these aspirations now goes to you, Monmouth College.

I firmly believe that Monmouth College, as a whole, has so much potential waiting to be inspired. Some people and organizations have risen to their potential, like the men’s water polo team, who placed third at their national tournament. Others are doing quite well, but have so much untapped potential, by limiting it or failing to see it.

This issue of The Courier concludes my tenure here. Altogether, I assisted in the production of 63 issues, 49 in an editorial capacity. In writing this piece, I looked at the farewell pieces of previous editors for inspiration and remembered what was done to get The Courier to the place it is today. In doing so, I remembered how I came to participate on the staff.

Originally, when I came to Monmouth, I had no interest in writing for the student newspaper, having been burnt out in high school. Despite my initial objections, I eventually came on staff as a contributing writer. After a few stellar years with Lucas Pauley and Adam Kinigson at the helm, I moved up to editor-in-chief this year.

Each year, with the help of advisers Jane Carlson and Joe Angotti, we redesigned the layout to be cleaner and refocused our content to be more student-driven. Over that time, I started to hear more compliments from faculty, staff and students, we started to win more awards at the annual Illinois College Press Association conference, and more people took note of our coverage, giving us various forms of feedback, both positive and negative. I’d like to thank Jane and Joe, the administration, previous staffs and the Monmouth College community for helping me with my work and helping The Courier as a whole in covering campus affairs.

And though I take pride in our accomplishments this year, I could not have done it without the staff. We had our ups and downs and people changing positions throughout the year, but I can confidently say that the newspaper we put out this year was a quality publication of which we should be proud.

I expect great things from next year’s staff. Current features editor Sarah Zaubi will lead the Courier Crew. She’s already told me some of her plans to continue moving The Courier forward and with a stellar incoming staff, I expect The Courier will only continue to improve.

As I wind down my last article and my last few weeks of class, I wonder just when it’s going to kick in that I’ll be graduating soon. It might be once classes are done or when finals are finished. It may be my last Ruby Tuesday with my friends or once I’m on stage Commencement Sunday. No matter when it is, I’ve enjoyed my time here. It’s been an honor, Monmouth College. Good luck to you all.

Andrew Drea
Editor-in-Chief