Interactive graphic: 2017 Student Body President voter guide

State News PageOne A guide to learn more about this year's student body presidential candidates.


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Pingeton, Cunningham and Smith among recipients of top SEC basketball awards

The Maneater: Latest Stories Missouri women’s basketball had a big morning Tuesday as head coach Robin Pingeton, sophomore guard Sophie Cunningham and freshman guard Amber Smith all received conference honors for their performances this season.Pingeton was named the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year for leading the Tigers to an 21-9 record en route to a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. She became the second coach in program history to receive Coach of the Year honors. Joann Rutherford, who coached the Tigers from from 1975 to 1998, was given the award three separate times, in 1984, 1985 and 1990.
This is Pingeton’s third time receiving Coach of the Year honors. She won the award in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2004 and 2010 while coaching at Illinois State.
Cunningham was named to the All-Conference first team Tuesday. After being named to the All-SEC freshman team last year, Cunningham came out even stronger this season and led the Tigers with 17.8 points per game, second in the SEC. She becomes the first Tiger to receive an All-Conference pick since Bri Kulas in 2014.
The Rock Bridge High School graduate also received a pair of National Player of the Week honors in February, averaging 22.8 points per game in seven games during the month.
Smith was tabbed for this year’s All-SEC freshman team. The guard has had an impressive first year with the Tigers and is on pace to break the program’s single-season 3-point percentage record. She shot 48.5 percent from behind the arc in the regular season and finished second among freshmen in the SEC.
The start of the season for Pingeton’s Tigers was tumultuous, as the team lost two key players before a single minute was played. All-SEC senior forward Jordan Frericks and junior forward Bri Porter each suffered ACL tears in preseason workouts. The injuries left the Tigers without two key players from last year’s team ...


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With Kentucky and Florida on deck, Commodores’ NCAA chances hang in the balance

Vanderbilt Hustler February 25, 2017 – Riley LaChance (13) and Jeff Roberson (11) celebrate during the Commodores' 77-48 win against Mississippi State Saturday afternoon in Memorial Gym.
When Vanderbilt got demolished in a key road game against SEC bottom-feeder Missouri February 11, the Commodores’ postseason hopes appeared to be dead.
While an NIT bid wasn’t out of reach, Vanderbilt’s 12-13 record after losing to a Tigers team ranked around 250 in RPI suggested any hopes of an NCAA tournament appearance were gone. No team with more than 15 losses has ever made the Big Dance without winning its league’s automatic spot, meaning the ‘Dores had to go on a long hot streak to stay in the conversation.
With six games remaining, Vanderbilt’s longest winning streak this season was a measly two games in length. According to statistician Ken Pomeroy’s rankings — generally considered the best predictive system available — the Commodores had less than a one percent chance to win out. A despondent performance in Columbia provided little optimism for the team going forward.
“It looked like [Missouri] had eight guys out there to our five,” head coach Bryce Drew told Joe Fisher of the IMG Radio Network after the 72-52 loss. “They pretty much dominated the glass, dominated every loose ball.”
Four wins later, things have changed. Head coach Bryce Drew’s squad has tossed its season-long inconsistency aside and crawled back onto the NCAA tournament bubble. As of Monday night, 56 of 108 bracket projections aggregated by BracketMatrix.com since the Commodores’ win against Mississippi State have Vanderbilt in the tournament if the field were selected now. The website projects Rhode Island as the first team left out, as the Rams appear on 50 entries.
But what must Vanderbilt do to separate itself from its bubble competition?
The Assembly Call’s Andy Bottoms, the Matrix’s No. 1-ranked bracketologist, believes the relatively weak crop of bubble teams means ...


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Breaking the Stigma on Mental Health

The George-Anne - news









Active Minds, a student organization which has been on campus since 2011, hopes to start an open discussion on mental health and to break the stigma that surrounds it.











“In order to get rid of the stigma, there first has to be a conversation about it. Talking about stigma will raise awareness and get people familiar with the mental health disorders, ways to discuss the disorders in a non-judgmental way, and what it means to be healthy not just physically, but mentally too,” Jasmine Parker, the president of the Active Minds organization at Georgia Southern Unives, said.








Active Minds’ goal is to educate people about mental health so that it will end the negative stereotypes and misperceptions about mental disorders.





“I do believe educating people will end the stigma. It is found that stigma has a detrimental effect on treatment outcomes and hinders efficient and effective recovery from mental health problems," Parker said. "When you are informed about things, you have a more open mind, and if people knew that 1 in 4 adults have a mental disorder... then there would be more conversations about mental health, better access to resources and hopefully help from many."





These misunderstandings can also make people who have a mental illness feel isolated from others.





“People might not like talking about it, especially if they’re diagnosed with it, because they might worry that other people wouldn’t relate,” Molly Ziblut, sophomore psychology major, said.





The Active Minds organization meets twice a month on Tuesdays at Russell Union in room 2054 to discuss upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and mental health information and awareness.





To find more information about breaking the mental health stigma or about the GSU organization, visit www.activeminds.org or the GSU myinvolvement page.






















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South African swimmer diving into TCU

TCU 360
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For many TCU students, this is their second semester of the year. For Dayne Odendaal, this is his first. The first-year transfer comes all the way from Durban, South Africa. The TCU swimmer and hopeful Olympian is living the dream of a Division 1 athlete.
“Coming [to TCU] is like a dream come true,” Odendaal said. “There is a whole team dedicated to making sure you are the best athlete you can be.”
In South Africa, the quality of the collegiate system is not as high as it is in America. School and athletics are often separated from each other, making it hard to pursue both simultaneously. Odendaal was not prepared to sacrifice his education or his swimming career. So, he got an agent to put a profile together and send his information out to a number of different colleges. TCU was one of them.
“It was an easy decision,” Odendaal said. “TCU has a Division 1 program, it is in a competitive conference, and they’ve got all the facilities an athlete could possibly want.”
Odendaal is majoring in business, yet he said he dreams of one day competing in the Olympics. Watching the 2004 South African swim team win Olympic gold inspired him to set goals just as high.
“The Olympics has always been the ultimate goal,” Odendaal said. “That’s the dream. I just have to put in the hard yards over the next few years and give it a shot.”
The hopeful Olympian will be competing in the Big 12 Championships next week in Austin, Texas. He will swim the 200-fly and the mid-distance freestyle.
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Candidates gear up for final campaigning before primary

The Daily Northwestern Candidates for mayor speak at a debate co-hosted by The Daily and Northwestern Political Union. The candidates will face off in the mayoral primary tomorrow.Daily file photo by Allie GouldingDaily file photo by Allie GouldingCandidates for mayor speak at a debate co-hosted by The Daily and Northwestern Political Union. The candidates will face off in the mayoral primary tomorrow. Nora Shelly, City EditorFebruary 28, 2017A shortened, contentious mayoral primary campaign will culminate in Election Day on Tuesday, as Evanston holds its first mayoral in more than two decades and second in city history.
The primary was announced in December, after all five candidates had filed their petitions, and was a surprise to many. Several candidates said the primary drastically altered the way they campaigned.
Candidates said the shortened campaign season negatively impacted their ability to connect with voters, but said the possibility of a general election was a way to dig deeper into the issues defining the campaign. Although truncated, the campaign has been nothing short of contentious.
State law requires a primary for any municipal race with more than four candidates, but the issue of a primary was brought forward early in the election cycle. Ald. Brian Miller (9th) filed for the election earlier than the preset filing dates, later citing a seemingly forgotten 1992 referendum passed by Evanston voters that requires a primary for mayoral elections with two or more candidates.
The city announced a primary would be held in late December, which shortened the campaign season by nearly six weeks. It will be the first mayoral primary held in Evanston since 1993. If one of the candidates wins over 51 percent of the vote, they will win the election outright. In 1993, none of the candidates won a majority of the vote during the primary, necessitating a general election. The candidate who won the plurality of votes in the primary, Ald. ...


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Rita Dove represents writers and poets

The Reflector - news

At 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in McCool Hall’s Taylor Auditorium, Mississippi State University’s Institute for the Humanities, an extension of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be hosting Rita Dove as a continuation of the Writer-in-Residence program.
The Institute for the Humanities runs programs on humanities initiatives that involve hosting different events, inviting speakers for the Distinguished Lecture Program and, beginning in 2014, the Writer-in-Residence program.
William Anthony Hay, current director for The Humanities Institute, said he began organizing the lecture series in 2005, shortly after the institute began with Gary Myers. Then, Myers was the director of the newly installed institute and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“We brought scholars from a range of humanities fields and noted artists and creative writers to campus,” Hay said. “The lecture series became a big draw among students and many community members.”
Following Myers, Dr. Hay took over and began working with the creative writing faculty in the MSU English Department, which was when the Writer-in-Residence series was created.
Now, each public reading for the Writer-in-Residence program doubles as an event in the Distinguished Lecture Series.
Since its beginning, the Writer-in-Residence program has hosted an impressive line-up, alternating poetry and fiction artists including Pulitzer Prize winning fiction writer Robert Olen Butler, Terrance Hayes, a poet who later went on to receive the MacArthur Foundation “genius” award and Dorothy Allison, who is also a Pulitzer Prize winner. Dove, distinguished poet and essayist, is no exception.
In 1987, the Akron, Ohio, native was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her poetry book “Thomas and Beulah,” making her the second African American to ever receive the distinguished award.


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Western Michigan synchronized skating team skates at nationals

Western Herald - sports

The Western Michigan University synchronized skating team competed at the National championship in Rockford, Illinois this past weekend.

If you’re unfamiliar with synchronized skating, it’s essentially dancing on ice with the goal in mind to create a routine where the entire team enacts the same movements at the same time, all working together. This requires a lot of skill and practice to master, especially at the collegiate level, according to head coach Alyssa Sutter.

“We jump right into it, we train 15 hours a day during the school year, between our on-ice sessions and off-ice workout sessions,” Sutter said.

This is necessary, especially when they are considered a club sport competing against varsity programs. The only difference between the two, when it comes to synchronized skating, is the funding. This is due to synchronized skating not being under control of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, but U.S. Figure Skating instead.

Since the Broncos had such a young team with 11 new girls coming in, they had a different approach to their goals for the season to accomplish success. They wanted to get their training all on the same page and have everyone looking the same.

“When you have so many new skaters, it can take almost a full season to get it there and beyond,” Sutter said.

The team was taken at a slower pace this year to ensure they had success before they moved on with the routine.

“We were never, this season particularly, given goals for our placements,” Sutter said. “It was always, you know, how could we make our season, moving forward.”

Junior captains Courtney Dziadosz and Lauren Karlin are motivators for the team and help Sutter stay informed when it comes to things that she may be unaware of. Communicating often about how things are going and what the mood of the team is like.

“ ...


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Trump can’t handle criticism he dishes out

The Daily Illini

CloseU.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Governors Association meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. TNSTNSU.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Governors Association meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Jessie Webster, ColumnistFebruary 28, 2017Filed under Columns, Opinions, Top StoriesIn the midst of historic levels of animosity between the press and the White House, President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would not be attending the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.Trump will be the first president since Ronald Reagan not to attend. Reagan missed the annual event in 1981 with good reason: He was recovering from an assassination attempt.Politics has been an integral part of the dinner since it was started in 1921. In recent times, a celebrity or other famous person is invited to lampoon the media and the president — Republican and Democrat alike.Trump has certainly not been exempt from ridicule. In 2012, comedian Seth Meyers responded to Trump’s plans to run for president by saying: “Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.”While Trump’s refusal to attend the dinner suggests he can’t handle the same level of mockery he so readily gives out to others, his absence from the evening presents a unique opportunity for the media.Trump is more skilled at personally influencing the news than any president in our nation’s history. Any bombastic tweet he writes or any factually inaccurate statement he makes in a news conference is covered by the press nonstop until he one-ups himself.Normally, blatant racism and lies from a president would be front-page news. However, Trump isn’t just any president.By intentionally flooding ...

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Why Vanderbilt doesn’t have pre-professional majors

Vanderbilt Hustler Freshman Kelly Champagne always figured she would major in business in college. That wasn’t an option for her at Vanderbilt, though.
“Because there was no business major at Vandy, I had to do my research to find the closest thing,” she said. “I ended up in HOD, and I have loved it, but it is definitely a different path than majoring in business would have been.”
For years, Vanderbilt undergraduates have been asking why there is no business major at the university. Many students who want to pursue a business career have settled for a major in Human and Organizational Development or Economics, or a minor in Managerial Studies.
Business is not the only sought-after major Vanderbilt doesn’t offer. Other common student requests are journalism and pre-law or pre-med majors. Coursework in these specific career areas doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon, though.
“Vanderbilt is a traditional liberal arts education,” said Professor and Associate Provost for Digital Learning John Sloop. “We are going to provide the students with a top-notch, world-class liberal arts education where they understand how to communicate and they understand what’s important to communicate.”
Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science Yollette Jones feels that pre-professional and career-oriented majors simply aren’t necessary at Vanderbilt.
“The College of Arts & Science has approximately 50 existing majors and 50 existing minors in which they have invested tremendous resources,” she said. “These areas of study are examined and improved upon routinely by faculty who are knowledgeable about those disciplines and willing to share with students the benefits of their cutting edge research.”
How does Vanderbilt compare to other to other top colleges in terms of pre-professional majors, though? Of the 17 schools that rank the same or higher than Vanderbilt in the U.S. World and News Report rankings, nine offer a business major, five offer ...


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Candidates concerned that Mayor Garcetti will leave position midterm

Daily Bruin Candidates in Los Angeles’ mayoral race said they think incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti will be too preoccupied with running for higher office in 2018 to tackle the city’s fundamental issues.
Although political consultant Bill Carrick said Garcetti has not yet decided about running for higher office, some candidates believe he will run for governor or senator when Gov. Jerry Brown or Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein steps down next year.
Mayoral candidate Mitchell Schwartz, who ran former President Barack Obama’s California campaign in 2008, said he thinks Garcetti is planning to run because he abandoned campaign finance programs that would set spending limits on political campaigns. Doing so allows him to raise an unlimited amount money for any campaign, he said.
Due to a change in election dates, the next mayor will serve five and a half years, rather than the standard four. Schwartz asked Garcetti last month to pledge that he will refrain from running for higher office in the first year of his term as mayor if he is re-elected. Since the election for governor or senator is in 2018, he said Garcetti would have to start campaigning immediately after being re-elected as mayor.
“Being elected as mayor is a commitment to serve,” he said. “If you have no intention of holding that position, you should not run.”
Garcetti refused to take the pledge, calling Schwartz’s demand a political stunt, the Los Angeles Times reported. Schwartz said he thinks Garcetti’s refusal to commit to just one year of being mayor without running for higher office is further proof of Garcetti’s intentions.
In his first term as mayor, Garcetti raised the minimum wage and lowered the business tax. He backed two measures, Measure M and Measure HHH, which voters approved to expand the city’s public transportation system and address homelessness, respectively.
The candidates said they think Garcetti’ ...


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GS drops tough series to UGA 2-1

The George-Anne - sports

The Eagles faced off against UGA this weekend at J.I. Clements Stadium and lost the first two games, but were able to salvage the final game.

Friday
The series started on Friday with game one going back and forth and down to the wire with the Eagles falling 4-3. The Eagles bullpen was able to pitch six solid innings, only giving up one run in those final frames, but the offense was not able to prevail.

Saturday
Game two on a beautiful Saturday afternoon saw donors to Georgia Southern baseball get honored on the field before the game, and it drew a crowd that broke the J.I. Clements Stadium attendance record with a total of 3,435 fans.
Not much went right for the Eagles in a 7-0 loss that saw the Bulldogs rough up the Eagles in every phase of the game. For the Eagles, junior Logan Baldwin made a spectacular catch in the top of the fourth inning that ended up as number three on SportsCenter's top 10 plays.

Sunday
The final game in the series ended up being an emotional one for the Eagles. This game saw a pitching duel with sophomore Chase Cohen starting for the Eagles and an outstanding effort from the bullpen.
With a 1-0 Bulldog lead in the seventh inning, a scary moment occurred when senior Evan McDonald was struck in the head with a foul ball waiting on deck and was carted off the field by ambulance.
Georgia Southern was able to get a run in the seventh with a great slide by CJ Ballard to break up the play with the catcher. In the ninth, CJ Ballard was able to reach second on an error, and then a beautiful bunt by sophomore Tarez Miller saw another Bulldog error that scored the winning run for the Eagles.

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