Advance-Titan 2/24/11 A section

Vol. 116, No.17

ADVANCE-TITAN

University of Wisconsin OshkoshThe Feb. 24

2011

Photos:Check out the photos of the week.

Weekly Poll:Which side of the budget battle do you believe is right?

www.advancetitan.com Bridging the campus and community since 1893

MISSION:IMPASSABLE

I am going to stand with the hardworking taxpayers of Wiscon-sin.

-Scott WalkerWisconsin Governor

”“

-Mark MillerWis. Senate Minority Leader

-Richard WellsUW Oshkosh Chancellor

Everybody here is serious about collective bargaining.

-Paulette FeldAFMSCE Local 579 President

”“

With no end in sight to budget stalemate, UWO braces for the worst

Our overall compen-sation is falling further and further behind. ”

“

More inside

• Hundreds rally on UWO campus. See page A3.

• Editorial: Budget crisis could yield severe problems for UWO.

• Photo Essay: A look at the rallies held at the state capitol. See page A12.

It is a full-on assault on workers, which is really unfortunate. ”

“

Chris steinert/AdvAnCe-titAn

Students, faculty and staff gather outside of Polk Library Feb. 27 to rally against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. An estimated 600 people attended the event.

With the Friday deadline for Gov. Walker’s budget repair bill inching clos-er, students, faculty and staff at UW Os-hkosh continue to rally and debate while bracing themselves for impact.

Student groups, such as College Re-publicans or College Democrats, have used the recent events and the rally to voice their opinions regarding the budget debate.

Rocco Frievalt, president of the UW Oshkosh chapter of College Republi-cans, said that the rallies reveal how po-

litically active the campus really is.“I am very happy to see such a large

number of people participating at the rallies,” he said. “Many college-aged students tend to shy away from politics and think their vote doesn’t matter but it truly does.”

Although students are getting in-volved, Frievalt hopes that their opinions are educated and actually represent their beliefs.

“I encourage all students to get in-volved but yet make sure you know all the facts,” he said. “I hear some people listen to one Democratic or Republican person about issues and they automati-cally jump on that bandwagon.”

Since the rallies in Madison and at UW Oshkosh mostly take place during

Budget repair Bill, page a3

Repair bill spursactions, worriesby Ryne Eberle

[email protected] Wells sat down with the

Advance-Titan to discuss the current events surrounding the budget repair bill.

Ryne Eberle: What does the budget re-pair bill mean for UWO?

Chancellor Wells: What this means, if it all passes, is average benefits and well below average salaries, so our overall compensation is falling further and fur-ther behind the peer institutions we have to compete with for good faculty and staff, so that’s a major issue.

RE: A lot of the state universities are

asking for more flexibility in regards to their budgets. What does this mean ex-actly?

CW: The UW System and its institu-tions are the most overregulated system in the country…we’re asking for more leadership and management flexibilities. It’s not just on buildings, but we can use our resources to do a better job, provid-ing better compensation for faculty to re-cruit and retain. We understand the prob-lem, but we can help the government and legislature if they let us lead.

RE: Why is it important that the UW schools have this flexibility?

CW: If you think about the economic challenge we have, it’s like a landslide. If it’s a financial disaster, then give us these leadership flexibilities to let facul-

Wells discusses flexibility, billby Ryne Eberle

[email protected]

Wells, page a3

DANCE!UW Oshkosh dance crew Beat2SouL is open to new dances and new members. Find out more about them and how to be involved in The B-Side.

NewsFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A2Samantha Strong [email protected]

Advance-Titan

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Feb. 18, 2011(8:25 p.m.) - A community adviser called

the Oshkosh Police Department to report an odor of marijuana coming from a room on the third floor of Fletcher Residence Hall.

An officer responded and began investigat-ing the odor, the police report said. The officer was able to determine that the odor coming from the room was consistent with that of burning marijuana.

The officer confronted the room and found marijuana and drug paraphernalia, which be-longed to the occupants of the room.

A 19-year-old UW Oshkosh student was cited for the possession of marijuana and the possession of drug paraphernalia.

The two other occupants of the room, both 19-year-old UW Oshkosh male students, were also cited for the possession of marijuana.

Feb. 19, 2011(8:55 p.m.) - Officers were called to report

to Titan Underground in Reeve Memorial Union because there was a 24-year-old non-affiliated male who was causing a disturbance and refusing to leave, the police report said.

Officers arrived and made contact with the male, and the male became angry and loud, then the male became scared and tried to run away crying, the police report said.

The male admitted to being under the in-fluence of drugs. When asked to leave by staff of the Titan Underground, it was report-ed that the male grabbed the arm of a staff member

and was yelling and swearing loudly. The male was cited for disorderly conduct

and escorted from the building.

Feb. 20, 2011(12:10 a.m.) – An officer on patrol con-

fronted a suspicious vehicle parked in Uni-versity Parking Lot #34.

Three visiting MATC-Madison students were found to be smoking marijuana inside the vehicle, the police report said. They ad-mitted they had been drinking alcoholic bev-erages in the room of the UW Oshkosh stu-dent they were visiting at Evans Residence Hall.

In a follow-up investigation, officers con-fiscated the alcoholic beverages from the room in Evans Hall. The vehicle was left parked and locked in Lot #34.

The three MATC-Madison students were all cited for the possession and use of mari-juana. Two UW Oshkosh students were also cited for their first offense of underage drink-ing.

(11:45 p.m.) – Community Service Offi-cers reported a suspicious burning odor com-ing from a student’s room in Stewart Hall.

A University police officer responded to the hall. After the officer confronted the room, the residents admitted they had cov-ered the smoke detector in their room with a bag.

The residents also admitted they had been drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking Shisha from a hookah in the room. They were verbally warned for the alcohol viola-tions and the fire safety hazard of covering the smoke detector, the police report said.

The residents of the room, both 18-year-old UW Oshkosh students, were cited for smoking in a residence hall.

A 22-year-old visiting Green Bay resident as well as a 20-year-old visiting Chilton resi-dent were also both cited for smoking in a residence hall.

Bus t e d !Tales from the Police Beat

By Samantha Strong of the Advance-Titan

Compiled from University Police reports

Acclaimed job market expert and entrepreneur Brad Karsh is visiting UW Oshkosh tonight to talk to students about land-ing a job after college.

This is not billed to be the usual corporate “how-to semi-nar,” but rather an invigorating exposé.

At 7 p.m., Karsh will give his presentation, “Confessions of a Recruiting Director: The Insider’s Guide to Landing a Job,” at Reeve Memorial Union, Room 227.

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn about the world from a recruiter’s per-spective,” Angela Victor, the marketing and communica-tions manager at Career Ser-vices, said. “It might be great inspiration for students to con-tinue work on sharpening pro-fessional skills.”

Karsh, who has been fea-tured in the Wall Street Journal and CNN for his insight into the professional world, has given a plethora of talks to col-lege students on behalf of the organization JobBound, which he founded.

He will use his expertise and knowledge gained from the evaluation of over 10 thousand résumés to give a condensed and comprehensive overview on how to land that ever-im-portant first job.

Some of the topics that will be discussed include why re-cruiting directors spend less than 15 seconds on a résumé, how to answer the most puz-zling interview questions and the universally desired traits of a résumé and interviewee.

After the presentation is over, Karsh will hold a ques-tion and answer session in or-der to satisfy the needs of those in attendance Stan Sweeney, the assistant director of Reeve Union and Student Leadership and Involvement, said.

The program is sponsored by Order of Omega, the Univer-sity Speaker Series, the Pepsi Fund and UW Oshkosh Career Services.

“Order of Omega is an orga-nization in which its members strive for excellence in leader-ship, scholarship and service,” Nicole Korn, vice president of programming for Order of Omega, said. “Brad Karsh will offer students information about what they need to do in college in regards to schol-arship and community and campus involvement in order to land a job when they gradu-ate. We brought this speaker to benefit the whole campus.”

Korn also said it is important for students of all professions to attend this presentation. Since everybody will need to write a résumé and be inter-viewed someday, the inside information that Karsh will be

sharing can benefit anyone.Sweeney advocates that it is

never too early to begin honing your professional skills, even if you are an undeclared fresh-man.

He also said “Confessions of a Recruiting Director” is a great experience to help you achieve that goal.

Sweeney said, “If you don’t have a job secured right now, you need to be there.”

The Black Student Union held a discussion about racism Wednesday night, letting students voice their opinions and concerns about racism and its prevalence in the 21st century.

Donavon Johnson, President of the Black Student Union, led the discus-sion called “Judge Me Not By My Color,” by playing several videos that showed past and current examples of racism that he said are still common.

After each video, Johnson encour-aged audience members to discuss their opinions about what they had just seen.

Both black and white students raised questions and concerns with acts of racism they had encountered very close to home.

Whittany Byrd, vice president of BSU, said she was both surprised and discouraged when she realized she was being discriminated against while trying to find an apartment.

“The woman told me over the phone that I had to put down a $200

deposit just to go look at the apart-ment,” Byrd said.

She said she and her roommate decided to investigate for themselves whether other people had the same problem by going door-to-door and asking around.

“[Other people] told us they didn’t even have to put the security deposit down until they moved in,” Byrd said, attributing the treatment she re-ceived to the fact that she is black.

Several other students shared nega-tive experiences they had involving racist comments and discrimination from students and others.

Johnson said the reason a discus-sion was chosen instead of a lecture-based event was to gain feedback from the participants who were from different cultures and ethnicities.

“We all know this is a school, and you get tired of hearing lectures,” Johnson said. “We know people like the discussion-based [events] and they like watching [videos], so we… combined those two together to get the two strongest aspects of entertain-ment, while still being educational at

the same time.”Byrd said she hopes discussions

like the one held Wednesday night will encourage people of different ethnicities to come to BSU meetings.

“Eventually, if more and more peo-ple start coming, it won’t be a minor-ity or a majority, it’ll just be people, and that’s what I really want BSU to be like,” Byrd said.

Johnson said the message he want-ed students to get out of the discus-sion, no matter what their ethnicity, was not one of stereotyping or label-ing of a group, but rather one focused on the individual.

“Judge a person by their person, not by what they look like,” Johnson said. “Even though it’s so simple, that’s the underlying subject.”

Ashley Barrett, a junior at UW Os-hkosh, said the mission of BSU is to promote cultural awareness and to support the African-American stu-dents on campus.

Johnson said that BSU meets every week to organize events and discuss what’s going on in the lives of its members.

Recruiting director to give UWO students job adviceBrad Karsh to help future employment seekers write better resumes, prepare for interviews

Black Student Union holds race discussionby Anna Coenen

[email protected]

by Michael [email protected]

If you go...

Who: Recruiting Director

Brad Karsh

What: Learn interview skills and build a resume

When: Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.

Where: Reeve Memorial

Union Ballroom Room 227

AndreA Weber/AdvAnce-TiTAn

Ashley Barrett, junior, discusses race and discrimination at the “Judge Me Not By My Color” event on Wednesday.

www.advancetitan.com

NewsFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A3Emily [email protected]

Advance-Titan

Hundreds of people gathered outside of Polk Library Feb. 17 to rally against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

A crowd of students, faculty, staff and community members displayed their anger and dis-agreement with the bill through handmade signs and loud, ver-bal protesting.

Paulette Feld, Polk Library employee and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Em-ployees local 579 labor union in the Fox Valley area - was among nine rally speakers who took to the microphone to ex-press their opinions and con-cerns for the bill.

“What we are dealing with is a bill deemed unnecessary by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that turns the clock back on Wisconsin history of collective bargaining and labor manage-ment cooperation,” Feld said.

Secretary of AFSCME local 579 and Polk Library employee Sara Stichert also spoke at the rally, noting that the proposed bill asks all state employees to pay more for their health ben-efits and pensions.

Stichert, who is also the chairwoman of the Winnebago County Democratic Party and an alumnus of UW Oshkosh, said although she is willing to pay the increases the bill would

cause, the changes would come at a great personal cost.

“I make about $35,000 per year,” she said. “After state and federal taxes, parking fees and paying my bills, including my mortgage, I am left with about $25 per day to live on. Should the bill pass in the state legis-lature, the amount of money I will have to live on would drop to about $15.50 a day.”

Rally speaker Bryan Ernst, a UW Oshkosh student, for-mer Marine and an Iraq War veteran, also said he would be hit financially if the bill were to pass.

“I’m going to school here full time because the GI Bill helps pay for my schooling,” Ernst said. “But the GI Bill doesn’t pay for all of my bills, so therefore I also have to work part time as an EMT for the am-bulance.”

Ernst added that his wife, a recent UW Oshkosh graduate with a master’s degree in spe-cial education, is a teacher at Montello High School where she would face threats of re-duced health care benefits if the bill were to pass.

“(If the bill passes) her dis-trict is actually going to make us pay back an entire year’s worth of our health care premi-um, coupled with the cuts they are already proposing,” Ernst said. “They will make my wife and I actually pay back $9,000 to the school board.”

Students who are currently pursuing a degree in education are also worried about the im-pact the bill might have.

“People need to be informed about what’s going on and how it’s going to affect them,” UW Oshkosh education major Ai-ren Pfeiffer said.

As a future teacher, Pfeiffer said he doesn’t want to start his career in Wisconsin because, in his opinion, teachers aren’t paid enough and are being further marginalized.

“I love Wisconsin and I plan on coming back here and teach-ing,” he said. “I just don’t want to get started here.”

Pfeiffer said even though the rally wouldn’t have an immedi-ate effect on stopping the bill, he was still pleased to see so much support.

“I’m glad to see people aren’t cool with it,” Pfeiffer said. “I’m glad to see that people aren’t going to just lay down their signs and give up. No, we’re going to fight.”

Students voice opinions at protestby Emily Williams [email protected]

Photos by Chris steinert/AdvAnCe-titAn

Students stand outside Dempsey Hall in a rally aimed at protesting the budget repair bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker. Below: Homemade signs displaying attitudes toward the budget bill filled the campus mall Feb. 17.

Budget repair Billfrom page a1school hours, there has been the issue of students or educators not attending class in order to protest.

Frievalt said that even though he encourages political par-ticipation, there is a time and a place to do so.

“I do not believe professors or students should be missing class for these rallies,” he said. “Pro-fessors are getting paid to teach students and students are paying to get taught by professors.”

Jim Simmons, the head of the Oshkosh chapter for the Associ-ation of University of Wisconsin Professionals, also feels that the political discourse doesn’t inter-

fere with teaching.“I’ve just been attempting to

make sure this kind of discus-sion remains civil and it doesn’t dominate classes to the point where the learning is affected,” he said.

While Simmons doesn’t want learning to be affected by the political discussions, he says that learning could be affected by other components of the bill.

“The budget repair bill will bring changes,” he said. “The full budget – depending upon the size of the money that we’re going to have to give up – will trend toward larger class sizes, fewer electives, fewer course offerings and maybe the loss of instructors.”

Even thought some instruc-tors’ jobs are at risk, they have

done a good job keeping their priorities straight, according to Frievalt.

“I am proud of our profes-sors for continuing to do their job even during this difficult and controversial time,” he said. “You are all very much appreci-ated by all students on campus.”

One of the speakers at the event, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Paulette Feld, said that the involvement of students shows that they are concerned for the faculty but also for their future.

“The students I’ve talked to understand what’s going on,” Feld said. “They’re concerned about it and how it’s going to af-fect their future.”

The impact on their future not

only involves the quality of their education, but also the economic conditions of their family.

“If their parents are public employees in any way, shape or form, it will impact their fami-lies…it’s just such a wide rang-ing group that this impacts.”

According to Simmons, keep-ing public employees salaries safe is a key factor in employee retention, which is essential for a university to thrive.

However, the recent debates have led faculty to considering other options.

“I’ve never heard so many faculty talk about retirement.”

Institutions have to find a way to deal with the retirements and other complications from the bill after Friday, which is the dead-line for the proposed reductions.

ty, students and staff at the local level dig themselves out of the mess that they didn’t put us in. That’s the other thing that’s really frustrating about this. We don’t have this financial collapse or recession because of a public sector employee. They didn’t cause that problem. That problem was caused by a lot of things. First and foremost, in my opin-ion, was the failure in moral leadership in the financial sector of this country…that’s

what bothers me a lot. The public sector un-derstands the financial disaster that we’re in and they don’t deserve to be blamed for it.

RE: There have been reports that UW Madison wants to separate into its own sys-tem. How do you feel about this?

CW: The thing that’s bothersome about Madison is to spin Madison off as a sepa-rate public agency with an additional board of regents. That is a very bad idea because the UW System is highly regarded in the United States and around the world for how efficient it’s run…why can’t we give them (leadership flexibility) and stay within the

system? Madison rose to worldwide recog-nition as one of the best research universi-ties while they’re part of the system. To keep that spot and to even maintain and be-come even better if they’re nice, they need the flexibilities and they don’t need to be spun off. That’s inefficient. We’re going to spend more money on more administration?

RE:When the budget debate began, stu-dents and faculty received an e-mail outlin-ing what political behavior was acceptable. Have there been any violations of those policies? What has the general attitude been on campus?

Wellsfrom page a1

The anatomy of an explosive bill

NewsFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A4Emily [email protected]

Advance-Titan

Fire, explosions and experi-ments are just a few of the ways UW Oshkosh’s Science Out-reach program spreads science in the community.

Science Outreach has a num-ber of science programs to help children from preschool through middle school. They serve schools and organizations all over the Fox Valley.

“Basically, it’s our job to teach upper-level science courses to younger kids,” Sara Seidling, Science Outreach cur-riculum specialist, said.

According to Ann Murphy, the Science Outreach event co-ordinator, teachers and organi-zation leaders contact Science Outreach, explain what they’re teaching and Science Outreach plans the activities accordingly. Science Outreach has a number of preplanned activities, but they’re constantly coming up with new ideas in order to best teach students. They cover all different types of science, in-cluding physics, geology and astronomy.

“Whoever we’re working with usually calls us and says, ‘This is the grade we’re teach-ing and this is the topic we’d

like you to do,’” Murphy said.The Science-In-Residence

program allows Science Out-reach teaching assistants to go to the schools and work directly with the students.

“We go to a class for a week and have an hour or so a day to teach (students) about a specific concept and get them involved,” Science Outreach teaching as-sistant and biology student, Lauren Hahn, said.

Hahn said one of her favor-ite things to participate in is the chemistry demonstrations, which often involve fire and ex-plosions.

“I think one of my favorite

memories from a chem demo is when I first saw ‘elephant tooth-paste,’ Hahn said.

Hahn explained that “el-ephant toothpaste” consisted of mixing certain chemicals and soap in a flask. Once these chemicals react, they explode.

Science Outreach also offers a number of other programs meant to be supplemental to classroom instruction, including Science Safari, Science Olym-piad, planetarium shows at the Buckstaff Planetarium on cam-pus.

“A lot of time, the elementary teachers don’t have the science background to really convey the

details of the topic,” Seidling said. “And they also don’t have the money for the resources to do a lot of the hands-on things we do.”

Hahn said she really enjoys making a difference in the lives of the students and teaching them that science can be fun and interesting.

“We give kids the opportunity to find out that science isn’t like a lot of the other subjects that they have to take in school,” Hahn said.

The teaching assistants and those involved with the program also benefit as much as the kids.

“A lot of our TA’s are going

to be teachers, so they get a lot of classroom experience,” Sei-dling said.

Murphy added that since the teaching assistants are working together planning and organiz-ing, they learn a lot about team-building.

Hahn said since becoming a TA she’s expanded on her own knowledge of science.

“I’ve flat out gained a lot of knowledge about things that I normally wouldn’t know a lot about, especially with physics and what not,” Hahn said. “It’s not all just biology based, which is my major. It’s a culmination of everything science.”

The University of Wiscon-sin Oshkosh will place its first historical marker Fri-day to commemorate Black Thursday, a protest that took place in 1968.

The ceremony will take place on the second floor of Dempsey Hall and it’s speak-ers will include someone from administration, a pro-testor from 1968, members of the Black Student Union and history Professor Ste-phen Kercher. The marker will be placed in the exact spot the protest took place, in front of the former president of the university’s office. The marker will also include a name list of the 94 students who were expelled on Black Thursday.

For members of the Black Student Union here on cam-pus this event is one they hold very close to their hearts and is a historical event they meet to remember every year.

“This event is very per-sonal for African Americans on campus,” Donavon John-son, executive board member of BSU, said. “Every year we gather to commemorate the event. It’s very emotional be-cause those 94 students sacri-ficed a lot for us, and we are living their legacy everyday.”

“It will be a solemn dedi-cation of a historical marker that observes what happened there,” Stephen Kercher, who has done extensive research on Black Thursday, said. “We want to declare our acknowl-edgement and respect for this historical event.”

Though Black Thursday occurred nearly 43 years ago, interest and awareness have been peaked in the past few years. In 2008, the 40th an-niversary of Black Thurs-day was celebrated here on campus with an exhibit in Reeve Memorial Union and a documentary put together by Kercher and Joshua Ranger, an archivist here at the uni-versity. There was also a pro-

gram held at the Grand Opera House, which had higher at-tendance than anticipated.

“At that event at the Op-era House, it was clear that something more permanent was needed to remember this historical event,” Ranger said. “Black Thursday led the way for many changes both at the University of Oshkosh and the other schools in the state university system. The large interest from the com-munity showed us how im-portant it was that we com-memorate this.”

Kercher said after the 2008 exhibition, the University was dealing with a painful event of its past.

“An onsite marker is a great way for institutions to observe a significant event in their history,” Kercher said. “Hopefully this will be the first of many markers to come so future generations can come face to face with significant parts of campus history that too often go ig-nored.”

The day referred to as Black Thursday occurred on Nov. 21, 1968. From 1966 to 1968, the university put great effort into recruiting black students from nearby urban areas such as Milwaukee, Racine, Beloit and Chicago for the purpose of taking advantage of certain federal programs.

“The biggest problem was that the university didn’t know what to do with these black students once they got to campus,” Ranger said. “The administration thought they would adapt to college life like everyone else, but that wasn’t the case. Most of the students came from predominantly black urban neighborhoods and high schools and were coming to an almost completely white community that wasn’t as welcoming as it could have been.”

Leading up to Nov. 21, black students became in-creasingly frustrated with

their situation and construct-ed a list of their demands to give to the administration in October. In response to the demands, the university cre-ated a committee to discuss the issues, but students did not feel their demands were being acknowledged.

So on the morning of Nov. 21, 1968, 94 black students went to Dempsey Hall to pro-test outside the president’s office. The students again handed him a list of their de-mands and requested that he it sign immediately.

“When the president re-fused their demands, a cou-ple, though not most, of the students vented their frustra-tion with violence including tearing down paintings and tipping over office furniture,” Kercher said. “Though only a small portion of the students participated in the violence, all 94 of those present were arrested, taken to jails all over the county and nearby counties and were then ex-pelled. The event caught a lot of attention of media and community members at the time.”

The event caught media at-tention in both the immedi-ate area, as well as all over the state and nation. Though some students were readmit-ted after court hearings, most chose not to come back.

The ceremony this Friday will be followed by a re-ception at the Multicultural Education Center. This loca-tion choice is fitting because included on the students’ list of demands back in 1968 was a building where they could congregate.

There is a website dedicat-ed to Black Thursday that in-cludes the documentary and a more detailed analysis of the events of that day (www.uwosh.edu/blackthursday). The exhibit from the 40th anniversary will also be on display on the 2nd floor of Reeve Memorial Union for the remainder of the month of February.

UWO remembers ‘Black Thursday’

Packer legend Kramer honors UWO coach

by Emily [email protected]

by Erin [email protected]

When Green Bay Packers all-time great and iconic legend Jer-ry Kramer speaks, people listen.

On Saturday, at the Russ Young Award Banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oshkosh, Kramer stepped to the micro-phone and captivated the audi-ence.

Kramer described what it takes to achieve success.

“You decide what your life is going to be,” Kramer said. “You decide how successful you’re going to be, and you decide what kind of an impact you’re going to have on the people around you.”

Dave Hochtritt is one indi-vidual who made excellence a lifelong habit.

For his leadership, commit-ment and lasting impact at UW Oshkosh, Hochtritt was present-ed with the 2011 Russ Young Leadership and Achievement

Award at a banquet in his honor. The Russ Young Award was

established in 2009 in honor of Russ Young, head football coach at UW Oshkosh from 1963 to 1976.

The award recognizes an in-dividual who has exhibited the ideals of Russ Young’s legacy throughout their career, commu-nity involvement, character and immense contributions to Titan athletics.

Hochtritt accepted the award in front of current and former Ti-tans’ coaches, the senior football players, friends and family.

“Russ was a good friend of mine, and I can’t think of any-body I cared for more,” Hochtritt said. “He was a good man, and I am really proud to accept this award on his behalf. Thank you.”

After taking control of the Ti-tans’ football program in 1963, Young’s teams won three Wis-consin State University Con-ference Championships (1968,

1972 and 1976), stockpiling a 68-63-2 overall record.

Hochtritt followed Young’s departure, and is the second most winning coach in Titans’ history behind his predecessor.

Hochtritt was a part of Titan football for 17 years - 10 with Young - but his career also in-cludes coaching in the Canadian Football League and working as a professional scout for teams in the NFL.

Russ Young played a large role in sculpting the career of his friend and colleague until 1983 when Young died after battling a long illness.

Before Young passed on, he made one final request of Hoch-tritt.

“Coach Young made a wish,” Hochtritt said. “He said, ‘I want my ashes sprinkled over Titan Stadium.’ ”

Hochtritt fulfilled his friend’s last request, and Young’s legacy to this day has stood as a beacon

for UW Oshkosh Athletics.What few understand, how-

ever, is Hochtritt almost gave up his dream before ever finding his niche in Oshkosh.

“I was coaching at a small liberal arts school over in Min-nesota, with not much of a fu-ture,” Hochtritt said. “In fact, I was considering getting out of coaching and even investigated a truck-driving job.”

Hochtritt met Russ Young in Oshkosh as he was visiting a former teammate. Young offered Hochtritt a job as assistant coach of the Titans.

“That was the best decision of my life, accepting Russ’s offer,” Hochtritt said. “I had the best 10 years of my life coaching with Russ Young.”

Kramer illustrated an eerily similar situation in which ad-versity nearly crippled his career with the Green Bay Packers.

He was selected by the Pack-ers in the 1958 NFL Draft, but

the early stages of Kramer’s playing days were far from ex-cellent.

Following a team scrimmage in which Kramer committed several penalties and missed a key block, he received a tongue-lashing from the coach Lom-bardi and felt all hope of success slipping away.

“I go up to the locker room, shuck my shoulder pads off and put my head in my hands,” Kramer recalled.

Lombardi’s intent was not to belittle one of his best players, but rather instill a hunger for success that he knew lie within Kramer.

“He walks over, slaps me on the back of the neck and says, ‘Son, one of these days you are going to be the best guard in football,’” Kramer said. “Boom, filled me up. Something started a fire in me and warmth was cre-ated inside my body. [Lombardi] had the wonderful ability to paint

pictures of what is possible if you really want something, and so I worked my tail off from that point on.”

Both Kramer and Hochtritt nearly abandoned their passions for something far less demand-ing, but both found the will to persevere.

Kramer garnered five NFL Championships and two Super Bowl victories as a player for the Green Bay Packers, while Hochtritt is a member of the UW Oshkosh Titan Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000.

The two men have led very different lives, each with ample success in their own right, but their achievements stem from a fire that was once planted within.

Head football coach Pat Cer-roni placed the night in perfect perspective.

“This night has been very, very special,” Cerroni said.

by Richard [email protected]

UW Oshkosh students gain knowledge through Science Outreach program

Photo EssayFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A5Emily Williams

[email protected]

Advance-Titan

Freezin’ for a reasonCommentary by Deniz CakmakPhotographs by Chris Steinert

More than 1000 Fox Valley residents flocked to Menominee Park in Oshkosh last Saturday for the Polar Plunge, an event to help raise money for local Special Olympics athletes by jumping into the icy waters of Wisconsin. Since 1999 Wisconsin Polar Plungers have helped raise more than $10 million statewide. Last year, the Oshkosh Polar Plunge raised nearly $380,000 and had 1,876 par-ticipants.

Teams that plunged dressed up in costumes to get into the spirit. Various super-heroes surveyed the park, waiting for their turn to plunge, while tooth fairies, “Wizard of Oz” characters, Mother Nature and men covered in pink paint waited in line with nervous looks on their faces. Music blared loudly to pump up the brave souls that dared to jump into the dark icy water. “3, 2, 1 Plunge!” followed by faint screams could be heard every couple of minutes as each team jumped in, then raced to shore in order to reach the warmth of the hot tubs, towels and warm beverages awaiting them. Spectators and participants kept warm in tents set up by companies that sponsored the event. Inside the tents, booths were set up with raffles, prizes, food and games. A live band played in one of the tents. Those who preferred to keep their feet on dry land but still wanted to support the cause gave a donation and were registered as “Too chicken to plunge.” Whether participants plunged or chickened out, they were all there to support Special Olympics and join in all the fun.

Above left: The Donner/Webster hall team took the Polar Plunge and raised $650 for Special Olympics of Wisconsin. When asked why the guys painted themselves red, they answered they didn’t have any red t-shirts.

Above right: A member of the Oshkosh Fire Department dives into the freez-ing water. OFD raised $4000 for Special Olympics of Wisconsin.

Right: Member’s of UWO’s PRSSA team took to the air before splashing into Lake Winnebago. PRSSA raised $800 for Special Olympics of Wisconsin.

Below left: Members of UWO’s Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority made quite a splash at the Polar Plunge this year by raising $1500 for Special Olympics of Wisconsin.

Below right: The UWO Women’s rugby team didn’t let the icy cold waters of Lake Winnebago stop them from plunging for Special Olympics. The team makes the Polar Plunge an annual event and was one of the largest groups to dive in this year.

Polar Plunge participants fundraise for Special Olympics

A6/7

Story by Adrienne HilbertPhotos by Katie Holliday

and Emily Williams“I just can’t believe you chopped

my hair off,” I repeatedly shouted to my hairdresser, Lana Mellin, as I looked at the four 10 1/4 inches of lifeless ponytails lying on the table in front of me.

My hair was a big part of who I was physically and emotionally, but it was not something that would land me a job or save my life some day.

So I decided to chop off my dirty blonde hair for the first time in over three years.

“You know you don’t have to do this if you really don’t want to,” Mellin said as I sat shaking in her chair as she separated my hair into ponytails.

Mellin had been telling me for over a year to wait to cut my hair until I was ready.

“I have to, Lana, I can’t back out now,” I muttered while staring at the hair nearly down to my butt for the last time.

I covered my eyes as I sat in her chair on Valentine’s Day night, lis-tening to the snip of the scissors. I thought of the impact this would have on my life, but more impor-tantly, what it would do for some-one else.

“I’m doing this for a good cause,” I said to myself over and over again for reassurance.

Three weeks prior to chopping my hair off, I researched the hair donation charities Wigs for Kids, Locks of Love and Pantene Beauti-ful Lengths. Though all are for a great cause, I felt like donating my hair to a popular charity first, Locks of Love.

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvan-taged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis,” the Locks of Love website states.

The organization focuses on children with a medical condition called alopecia areata, a disease where the immune system attacks the hair root and makes a child lose their hair, the American Academy of Dermatology website states.

Locks of Love also helps chil-

dren who have been severely burned, endured radiation treat-ment or any other skin disorders that causes permanent hair loss.

The organization’s mission is to “return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financial-ly disadvantaged children.”

Hair is donated through individ-uals and through organizations that hold events for Locks of Love.

“First time I donated my hair was in seventh grade,” Kelsey Gilbert-son, a UW Oshkosh freshman, said. “I actually did it for my grandmoth-er who was going through cancer treatment at the time.”

According to the Brigham Young University website, its Center for Service and Learning held a Locks of Love event that teamed up with the Paul Mitchell School of Beauty event on Sept. 16, 2010 in order to give the students an opportunity to help someone who was suffering from alopecia areata.

UW Oshkosh has also held an event for donating hair to Locks of Love sponsored by Titan Volun-teers. This year’s event will be in the end of April in Reeve Memorial Union. The date is not yet finalized.

Kristin Matyas, president of Ti-tan Volunteers, runs the Locks of Love event and said even though she has not cut her hair for the char-ity, she continues to donate money.

“My hair is too short, but I did donate the $5 to just get my hair cut,” Matyas said. “Last year peo-ple donated over 150 inches from Oshkosh and raised $80.”

The campus event is also open to the public, so anyone can come in or bring their kids for haircuts.

“Locks of Love is a great or-ganization showing that we sup-port those people who are going through a really hard time,” Gilb-ertson said. “I remember that the ponytails were in a bag and we mailed them. After Locks of Love received my donation, they sent me a card thanking me.”

The donated ponytails are put through a rigorous process in order to be made into a wig that provides

“the highest quality hair prosthe-ses,” the Locks of Love website states.

Microbiology student Shannon Johnson said she donated 12 inches last week in order to give hair to someone who needs it.

“After my hair was cut, I felt bewildered,” Johnson said. “Since I looked very different without the longer hair, and it was lighter and contrasting, [but] it’s better to have one’s hair go towards someone who could use it than to pile up on the floor, be swept up and thrown away.”

According to Locks of Love, they require at least 10 inches of hair for donation because, “most of the children who receive hairpieces from Locks of Love are little girls, and most want long hair. When [they] need to provide a hairpiece to a boy, [they] use some of the shorter lengths that have been sep-arated by hand from each donated ponytail.”

Many people are told they are not able to donate colored or permed hair, but the website states they can as long as it is not wet or dirty. However, if hair is bleached, it can’t be donated.

According to the USA Today article “Donating hair supply is kids’ sweet dreams,” by Jill Lieber, Locks of Love receives 2,000 to 3,000 hair donations a week; un-fortunately 70 percent of them are unusable.

Lauren Kukkamaa, communica-tions director for Locks of Love, said to date, over 3,000 children have received wigs from them.

“The hairpieces return confi-dence and self-esteem and allow kids a normalcy in their day-to-day lives,” Kukkamaa said.

After the ponytail or braid is cut, it is placed in a bag and then in a padded envelope, allowing the hair to not be damaged during ship-ment.

Once the ponytail arrives at the Locks of Love plant in West Palm Beach, Fla. it takes approximately four to six months to finish a hair-piece.

The hairpieces are custom-made and are either free or on a sliding

scale based on financial need. The wigs, however, retail at $3,500 to $6,000 because they are not regular hairpieces.

“Wigs are different from hairpiec-es because they form a vacuum seal and do not require the use of tape or glue,” the website states.

This vacuum seal helps the wearer to feel secure that no one will pull it off. It will not fall off while playing sports and the wearer can have it on while swimming. Showering will re-quire shampoo and conditioner.

As Mellin cut my hair, under my cold hands I felt my face heat up and tears soak through the creases of my fingers, but all I could think about was a smiling little girl with my long hair framing her face.

“For donors, giving hair is giving of yourself and is a very personal do-nation,” Kukkamaa said.

I tried to sneak a peak after each ponytail was separated from my head just to see the changes, but Mellin would catch me and encourage me to cover my eyes again.

Even with that small peak, I could not imagine my hair shorter than it was or even styled different.

“You can look now, I’m done with that part,” Mellin said, interrupting the depressing images I had in my head of me walking around bald. “Don’t be scared, be happy.”

I was happy, but not with my hair at that point. Happy it was gone, happy I wouldn’t get the major head-

aches or neck aches anymore. The happiest part of me was my heart, that feeling where I wanted to cry because I knew my hair was going to make a sick kid feel better about himself or herself.

“After I had my hair cut, I was re-lieved, but also very sentimental,” Gilbertson said.

Though I cut off 10 1/4 inches, it would not make a full wig for one person, because a wig is made up of at least six to ten ponytails. But I knew that those ponytails were not ordinary.

I was blessed with thick, dirty blond hair. Hair that many people wished they had, but running their hands through it was as close as they get.

I rarely blow-dried my hair, be-cause if I did, Jimi Hendrix’s afro would have been miniscule to mine. Therefore, I always let it air dry be-fore I wanted to straighten it. Even then, I had to blow dry some parts of it.

If I did plan on straightening my hair, I had to plan my schedule ac-cording to my hair, because I had to leave about three hours to straighten it, then re-straighten parts that may have gone wavy during the process.

Now, with shorter hair, I knew I would have to spend less time on it.

As I released my palms from my face, I rubbed away the tears so my fellow journalists, Katie Holliday and Emily Williams, wouldn’t see

how much I really did cry.Both girls were so excited, and

then they saw my cherry red eyes. Apparently, they couldn’t help but laugh at me for crying, but they didn’t laugh in spite of me, but be-cause I was laughing at myself for crying.

I had gotten my stomach in knots thinking I wasn’t ready, but deep down I knew it was time to give a child a wish of their own.

I imagined a little girl sitting in a black leather chair, like I was, cry-ing. Not because she was sad, but be-cause she finally had her hair back, just like the other kids.

That feeling created a lump in my throat so big that I was having a hard time swallowing back my tears.

I composed myself a bit, but stared at myself with hair that was once nearly down to my butt and now barely touches my shoulders.

“It’s not done, don’t worry so much,” Mellin reassured me.

Mellin washed and then patted my hair dry. She spun me around to look at it wet and I think she noticed the disappointment in my face.

“I look like a boy,” I winced at Mellin. “It’s so short. Can we tape my hair or even glue it back on?”

Holliday and Williams chuckled at my dismay, while Mellin smirked and again told me that she wasn’t done.

Mellin parted my hair and started snipping more off to give it some

style. She would randomly laugh at the scared look on my face, yet con-tinued to reassure me.

With every clip and snip of her shears, Mellin got closer to a mas-terpiece, and her final cut came with a little happiness and sadness at the same time.

“Alright, head goes upside-down so I can dry it a little before you walk outside into the cold,” Mellin said. “Then I’ll put a little product in to keep it from going out of control.”

Since my hair is naturally wavy, the products that Mellin put in my hair made it stay wavy without poof-ing out into an afro.

The final product made me smile, but I still couldn’t grasp how short it was. I felt like this new hairdo was something people would like. Most of all, it was something I liked, creat-ing a new person.

Although I have not gotten the postcard from Locks of Love thank-ing me for my hair like Gilbertson did, I still feel like I have accom-plished something.

In three years or so, I plan on do-ing it again and donating it to Pan-tene Beautiful Lengths, an organiza-tion for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.

I know I will get emotional again, but I will be stronger because I now have gone through the experience of giving something priceless to some-one who will cherish it more than I most likely will.

Advance-Titan staffer Adrienne Hilbert donates three years worth of hair

to a noble causeRight corner: Adrienne Hilbert nervously waits for hairdresser Lana Mellin to begin cutting her hair to donate to Locks of Love, Below: Hilbert anxiously covers her face while Mellin prepares her hair for cutting. Lower left corner: Mellin

begins cutting Hilbert’s hair after separating it into four, 10 1/4 inch ponytails. Lower right: Hilbert’s hair has been cut and set aside for donation. Lower right corner: Mellin puts the fin-ishing touches to Hilbert’s new, shorter hairstyle.

Emily [email protected]

A6/7

Story by Adrienne HilbertPhotos by Katie Holliday

and Emily Williams“I just can’t believe you chopped

my hair off,” I repeatedly shouted to my hairdresser, Lana Mellin, as I looked at the four 10 1/4 inches of lifeless ponytails lying on the table in front of me.

My hair was a big part of who I was physically and emotionally, but it was not something that would land me a job or save my life some day.

So I decided to chop off my dirty blonde hair for the first time in over three years.

“You know you don’t have to do this if you really don’t want to,” Mellin said as I sat shaking in her chair as she separated my hair into ponytails.

Mellin had been telling me for over a year to wait to cut my hair until I was ready.

“I have to, Lana, I can’t back out now,” I muttered while staring at the hair nearly down to my butt for the last time.

I covered my eyes as I sat in her chair on Valentine’s Day night, lis-tening to the snip of the scissors. I thought of the impact this would have on my life, but more impor-tantly, what it would do for some-one else.

“I’m doing this for a good cause,” I said to myself over and over again for reassurance.

Three weeks prior to chopping my hair off, I researched the hair donation charities Wigs for Kids, Locks of Love and Pantene Beauti-ful Lengths. Though all are for a great cause, I felt like donating my hair to a popular charity first, Locks of Love.

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvan-taged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis,” the Locks of Love website states.

The organization focuses on children with a medical condition called alopecia areata, a disease where the immune system attacks the hair root and makes a child lose their hair, the American Academy of Dermatology website states.

Locks of Love also helps chil-

dren who have been severely burned, endured radiation treat-ment or any other skin disorders that causes permanent hair loss.

The organization’s mission is to “return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financial-ly disadvantaged children.”

Hair is donated through individ-uals and through organizations that hold events for Locks of Love.

“First time I donated my hair was in seventh grade,” Kelsey Gilbert-son, a UW Oshkosh freshman, said. “I actually did it for my grandmoth-er who was going through cancer treatment at the time.”

According to the Brigham Young University website, its Center for Service and Learning held a Locks of Love event that teamed up with the Paul Mitchell School of Beauty event on Sept. 16, 2010 in order to give the students an opportunity to help someone who was suffering from alopecia areata.

UW Oshkosh has also held an event for donating hair to Locks of Love sponsored by Titan Volun-teers. This year’s event will be in the end of April in Reeve Memorial Union. The date is not yet finalized.

Kristin Matyas, president of Ti-tan Volunteers, runs the Locks of Love event and said even though she has not cut her hair for the char-ity, she continues to donate money.

“My hair is too short, but I did donate the $5 to just get my hair cut,” Matyas said. “Last year peo-ple donated over 150 inches from Oshkosh and raised $80.”

The campus event is also open to the public, so anyone can come in or bring their kids for haircuts.

“Locks of Love is a great or-ganization showing that we sup-port those people who are going through a really hard time,” Gilb-ertson said. “I remember that the ponytails were in a bag and we mailed them. After Locks of Love received my donation, they sent me a card thanking me.”

The donated ponytails are put through a rigorous process in order to be made into a wig that provides

“the highest quality hair prosthe-ses,” the Locks of Love website states.

Microbiology student Shannon Johnson said she donated 12 inches last week in order to give hair to someone who needs it.

“After my hair was cut, I felt bewildered,” Johnson said. “Since I looked very different without the longer hair, and it was lighter and contrasting, [but] it’s better to have one’s hair go towards someone who could use it than to pile up on the floor, be swept up and thrown away.”

According to Locks of Love, they require at least 10 inches of hair for donation because, “most of the children who receive hairpieces from Locks of Love are little girls, and most want long hair. When [they] need to provide a hairpiece to a boy, [they] use some of the shorter lengths that have been sep-arated by hand from each donated ponytail.”

Many people are told they are not able to donate colored or permed hair, but the website states they can as long as it is not wet or dirty. However, if hair is bleached, it can’t be donated.

According to the USA Today article “Donating hair supply is kids’ sweet dreams,” by Jill Lieber, Locks of Love receives 2,000 to 3,000 hair donations a week; un-fortunately 70 percent of them are unusable.

Lauren Kukkamaa, communica-tions director for Locks of Love, said to date, over 3,000 children have received wigs from them.

“The hairpieces return confi-dence and self-esteem and allow kids a normalcy in their day-to-day lives,” Kukkamaa said.

After the ponytail or braid is cut, it is placed in a bag and then in a padded envelope, allowing the hair to not be damaged during ship-ment.

Once the ponytail arrives at the Locks of Love plant in West Palm Beach, Fla. it takes approximately four to six months to finish a hair-piece.

The hairpieces are custom-made and are either free or on a sliding

scale based on financial need. The wigs, however, retail at $3,500 to $6,000 because they are not regular hairpieces.

“Wigs are different from hairpiec-es because they form a vacuum seal and do not require the use of tape or glue,” the website states.

This vacuum seal helps the wearer to feel secure that no one will pull it off. It will not fall off while playing sports and the wearer can have it on while swimming. Showering will re-quire shampoo and conditioner.

As Mellin cut my hair, under my cold hands I felt my face heat up and tears soak through the creases of my fingers, but all I could think about was a smiling little girl with my long hair framing her face.

“For donors, giving hair is giving of yourself and is a very personal do-nation,” Kukkamaa said.

I tried to sneak a peak after each ponytail was separated from my head just to see the changes, but Mellin would catch me and encourage me to cover my eyes again.

Even with that small peak, I could not imagine my hair shorter than it was or even styled different.

“You can look now, I’m done with that part,” Mellin said, interrupting the depressing images I had in my head of me walking around bald. “Don’t be scared, be happy.”

I was happy, but not with my hair at that point. Happy it was gone, happy I wouldn’t get the major head-

aches or neck aches anymore. The happiest part of me was my heart, that feeling where I wanted to cry because I knew my hair was going to make a sick kid feel better about himself or herself.

“After I had my hair cut, I was re-lieved, but also very sentimental,” Gilbertson said.

Though I cut off 10 1/4 inches, it would not make a full wig for one person, because a wig is made up of at least six to ten ponytails. But I knew that those ponytails were not ordinary.

I was blessed with thick, dirty blond hair. Hair that many people wished they had, but running their hands through it was as close as they get.

I rarely blow-dried my hair, be-cause if I did, Jimi Hendrix’s afro would have been miniscule to mine. Therefore, I always let it air dry be-fore I wanted to straighten it. Even then, I had to blow dry some parts of it.

If I did plan on straightening my hair, I had to plan my schedule ac-cording to my hair, because I had to leave about three hours to straighten it, then re-straighten parts that may have gone wavy during the process.

Now, with shorter hair, I knew I would have to spend less time on it.

As I released my palms from my face, I rubbed away the tears so my fellow journalists, Katie Holliday and Emily Williams, wouldn’t see

how much I really did cry.Both girls were so excited, and

then they saw my cherry red eyes. Apparently, they couldn’t help but laugh at me for crying, but they didn’t laugh in spite of me, but be-cause I was laughing at myself for crying.

I had gotten my stomach in knots thinking I wasn’t ready, but deep down I knew it was time to give a child a wish of their own.

I imagined a little girl sitting in a black leather chair, like I was, cry-ing. Not because she was sad, but be-cause she finally had her hair back, just like the other kids.

That feeling created a lump in my throat so big that I was having a hard time swallowing back my tears.

I composed myself a bit, but stared at myself with hair that was once nearly down to my butt and now barely touches my shoulders.

“It’s not done, don’t worry so much,” Mellin reassured me.

Mellin washed and then patted my hair dry. She spun me around to look at it wet and I think she noticed the disappointment in my face.

“I look like a boy,” I winced at Mellin. “It’s so short. Can we tape my hair or even glue it back on?”

Holliday and Williams chuckled at my dismay, while Mellin smirked and again told me that she wasn’t done.

Mellin parted my hair and started snipping more off to give it some

style. She would randomly laugh at the scared look on my face, yet con-tinued to reassure me.

With every clip and snip of her shears, Mellin got closer to a mas-terpiece, and her final cut came with a little happiness and sadness at the same time.

“Alright, head goes upside-down so I can dry it a little before you walk outside into the cold,” Mellin said. “Then I’ll put a little product in to keep it from going out of control.”

Since my hair is naturally wavy, the products that Mellin put in my hair made it stay wavy without poof-ing out into an afro.

The final product made me smile, but I still couldn’t grasp how short it was. I felt like this new hairdo was something people would like. Most of all, it was something I liked, creat-ing a new person.

Although I have not gotten the postcard from Locks of Love thank-ing me for my hair like Gilbertson did, I still feel like I have accom-plished something.

In three years or so, I plan on do-ing it again and donating it to Pan-tene Beautiful Lengths, an organiza-tion for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.

I know I will get emotional again, but I will be stronger because I now have gone through the experience of giving something priceless to some-one who will cherish it more than I most likely will.

Advance-Titan staffer Adrienne Hilbert donates three years worth of hair

to a noble causeRight corner: Adrienne Hilbert nervously waits for hairdresser Lana Mellin to begin cutting her hair to donate to Locks of Love, Below: Hilbert anxiously covers her face while Mellin prepares her hair for cutting. Lower left corner: Mellin

begins cutting Hilbert’s hair after separating it into four, 10 1/4 inch ponytails. Lower right: Hilbert’s hair has been cut and set aside for donation. Lower right corner: Mellin puts the fin-ishing touches to Hilbert’s new, shorter hairstyle.

Emily [email protected]

“ T h e Oregon Trail” was once a big hit, enter-taining and e d u c a t i n g e l e m e n t a r y school stu-dents and parents about the histori-cal 19th cen-tury Oregon Trail. Living through the buggy break-downs and animal deaths brought a

sense of discouragement, but it brought also a sense of victory when the family overcame health difficulties and travel fatigue. The thrill of becom-ing a pioneer urged people to sit at their computers to relive the past.

The idea of “becoming one with a character” through tech-nology has become more and more appealing. Vicariously living through other people on a T.V. screen, computer game,

or an online profile provides an uncanny fulfillment that allows a person to forget about our own lives and enter one in a controlled atmosphere.

According to the Entertainment Software Association in 2010, 67 per-cent of American households played computer or video games, and 34 was the aver-age age of the players.

On top of that, Facebook reports they have more than 500 million active users and they spend over 700 bil-lion minutes per month on Facebook. We are spending hours upon hours creating virtual images of ourselves, tagging pictures of our best moments and untagging the ones we do not want displayed.

Author Donald Miller in his blog, “The Great Stumbling Block of the Creative Mind,” said “We can project an image and score that image based on immediate Facebook and Twitter feedback, thus mak-ing a video game of life and a false-reality composed of lies.”

We have turned life into a video game—becoming voy-

eurs filled with false portray-als and unrealistic expecta-tions. Clicking the off button does not make the real world go away, and in the real world we can not alter our image to meet social approval or fulfill all our desires.

“The Sims” is a game steps up from “The Oregon Trail.” Instead of focusing on the Oregon Trail in a historical, academic sense, a player cre-ates a virtual human to live in a community stricken with lust, poverty and desires. The virtual character can fall in love, go to the bathroom, eat and ride around in a mini car. We create their society. We can watch them kiss, touch and form relationships.

Chuck Klosterman, author of “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,” said, “Clearly, video technology cages imagination; it offers interesting informa-tion to use, but it implies that all peripheral information is irrelevant and off-limits.”

Creativity is not exercised when we are blatantly staring at a screen. The Kardashians are entertaining to watch and full of drama, but they should

not be a substitution for a person’s own drama. What fun would it be at the age of 70, realizing we never let loose our imaginations and risked stepping out of our comfort zones?

Take a road trip, random-ly go to a concert or start

a weekly poker tournament. Human interaction is vital to happiness and spending hours online stalking others, prohib-its spending quality time with them.

Instead of watching a romance movie this weekend, wishing it was you kissing the

attractive actor or actress, ask a person out to a movie or go out for a drink.

Movies, computer games and human interaction sites are not reality. They are false por-trayals of the real world. Be careful how much time they demand from your real life.

OpiniOnFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A8Adrienne [email protected]

Advance-Titan

50 points if you get his nose!

On Feb. 17, hundreds gathered outside of Polk Library to protest the highly controversial budget bill from Gov. Scott Walker. As I was walking to the event with a friend, she turned to me and said, “So, what’s the deal with this bill anyways? What is it all about?”

That’s when it struck me: most students bare-ly seem to be keeping up with current events. You would think with all of our news outlets, like newspapers, TV, Facebook and Twitter, people wouldn’t be able

to avoid the news, but somehow, they are.Knowing about what is going on in the

world is vital in this day and age. We are in such a global community that what hap-pens in Japan or what happens in Brazil directly affects us at home, whether we realize it or not. America is no longer this isolated nation surrounded by two enor-mous oceans. It’s as if we are all next door neighbors.

Journalism Department Chairman Mike Cowling said that while the news may not be the most exciting thing on TV, it is necessary for everyone to watch and understand.

“Some news might seem boring or diffi-cult to understand because of the complexi-ty of certain issues,” Cowling said. “Budget deficits, tax levies, court rulings, primary elections and other seemingly mundane issues nonetheless lead to decisions that affect your lifestyle and your livelihood.”

He said current events affect us in ways never before thanks to the Internet and social media transmitting news faster than ever before.

“In the media today, there is a great emphasis on hyper-local news,” Cowling

said. “While local news is vital, people also need to realize that global events have a significant impact on their lives.”

Take Tunisia as an example. The public was able to effectively overthrow the gov-ernment and force its leaders out of power. The idea of usurping the regime at hand has encouraged other countries all over the world to do the same, including Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya. Obviously what happens in one nation has a huge effect on every other nation on Earth, some more than others.

Assistant professor of political science Tracy Slagter said these events happening halfway across the world will impact us, including our wallets.

“When crisis breaks out in Libya, the Libyans likely produce less oil,” Slagter said. “When the Libyans produce less oil, the price of a barrel of oil goes up. And when the price of oil goes up, you pay more to drive to school each day.”

Students should not only be concerned about current events for financial reasons, Slagter said. They can even change our social issues.

"The impact goes beyond mere pocket-book concerns,” she said. “As we’ve seen very clearly in the past weeks, technology has made it possible to share political fail and triumph which you can see in the pho-tos of Egyptians holding up signs of support for workers rallying in Madison.”

Since events going on in northwest Africa have created a huge ripple effect on countries in the Middle East, shouldn’t Wisconsin students be at least concerned on what is going on in their very own backyards?

This new budget bill has the potential to alter every single person in this state, whether they realize it or not. Let’s look at both arguments and how it might change this state.

The Republicans are saying we need to slash the budget. As Walker has said on several occasions, “Wisconsin is broke.” If Walker is correct, our state may become bankrupt and might become a financial disaster like California, which has been cut-ting jobs and even selling off land to help

balance the budget.If nothing is done, Wisconsin may

become an economically unstable place to live, where everything is bought and cre-ated on loans and handouts. Is throwing away the rights of public union workers and forcing them to pay more for their pen-sions the right thing to do? After all, public employees have to pay a lot less for their pensions than private employees.

Most Republicans also say the protests, the teacher walk-outs and the Democratic State Senators who are hiding in Illinois are holding up the legislative process and cost-ing the state millions.

Democrats and union members strongly disagree. Most argue that public employees, namely teachers, can barely afford their basic needs as it is. The last thing they need is to pay more for insurance and their pen-sions, while at the same time losing their bargaining rights and their unions.

The tens of thousands of protestors out-side of the Capitol in Madison agree that the budget needs to be balanced, but this is not the efficient way. Pushing a bill through Congress that not only dimin-ishes unions but doesn’t allow the public to voice their opinion is inexcusable. And why should public employees suffer because the government is in debt? They did nothing wrong.

Many feel that this bill will crush the teaching process in Wisconsin, forcing teachers and professors into early retire-ment while deterring current students from pursuing a profession in the education field. Many want to continue Wisconsin’s high education levels, including how high school students ranked third nationwide for ACT scores, according to the Forward Wisconsin website.

This bill will affect all of Wisconsin, including UW Oshkosh students. There is no excuse not to read up on your facts, launch up the New York Times website sporadically and understand what is hap-pening in your world. As taxpaying voters, it is our duty and obligation to become smart, articulate, informed citizens of the United States.

Current events make a big impact on studentsby Tom Hanaway

[email protected]

Tom Hanaway is a senior J o u r n a l i s m major. His views do not n e c e s s a r -ily represent those of the A d v a n c e -Titan.

“I get my news from the newspapers on campus or somewhere online. I think it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in the world and the country so we don’t become wrapped up in our own lives. We see how fortunate we are and what’s really important.”

-Taylor Krentz, juniorJournalism major

-Candice Lane, senior Communications major

-Carmon Breitlow, seniorChemistry major

“I follow the news so that I can be educated about the world around me that I am so very much a part of. Be-ing a part of the health care team, working in a pharma-cy, I find it very important to know what new changes may be coming about. Especially changes dealing with health care reform.”

“Staying up-to-date on cur-rent events, whether they be local or worldwide, cre-ates an educated individual. It seems as though there are plenty of people who base their opinions from the con-ceptions of others around them, rather then gathering their own factual informa-tion. When cognizant of current events, people can back their opinions with factual arguments and research, thus proving their credibility to an audience.”

“Do you follow

current events and

why?”

Word has it:

Virtual reality becomes replacement for human interaction, real lifeby Elise Stuebs

[email protected]

Elise Stuebs is a senior English major. Her views do not necessar-ily represent those of the A d v a n c e -Titan.

Yes! My forest friends are getting married!!

In 1976, February was made Black History Month by Presidential proclama-tion after the valiant efforts of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History website.

This would ensure that at least a small portion of the year would be dedicat-ed to honoring the African-Americans who helped shape this country.

This tradition is celebrated across the country, but what does UW Oshkosh do to honor Black History Month?

The library displayed a large number of books written by or about black influential people during the month of February. There are also a number of books about hate crimes and extremist groups, which are closely related to the treatment of African-Americans.

On Feb. 1, UWO’s People of Wisdom organi-zation put on a demonstration that included 100 word essays, dance performances and photo presentations dedicated to black history.

On Feb. 21 a dramatic readings gathering dedicated to black lesbian writers occurred, and on Feb. 23 the “Judge Me Not by My Color” discussion in Reeve Memorial Union took place. These are just a few of the events UWO has hosted this month.

The campus also offers classes and a minor in African-American studies.

“I think UWO tries to do the best they can to honor Black History Month,” Spanish professor Teresa Valero said. “I know they also dedicate other months to honoring the history of differ-ent minority groups.”

There is a Multicultural Education Center and a Center for Equity and Diversity. The student

population is more diverse than ever thanks to the efforts of our Black Student Union and Oshkosh’s Human Relations Council, which is supported by UWO. These organizations put in a lot of effort to support and maintain the diverse population on campus, explains phi-losophy professor Alfred Kisubi.

“I think UWO does a good job at honor-ing Black History Month,” Kisubi said. “The programs and events are there. I feel that more people should take advantage of these programs and the information that is available to them.”

UWO does a lot to honor Black History Month, but what may be lacking is the partici-pation.

“I haven’t attended any of these programs,” UWO junior Dave Wentland said. “With work and school and little free time, it just isn’t a top priority.”

A.J. Daczyk, also a UWO junior, said time is a major factor of why he doesn’t attend the presentations on campus.

“Most of my classes are in the morning, and the events are in the evening,” he said. “With being in school and needing to work and do homework, staying on campus for three hours or more just doesn’t work with my schedule.”

Time is an understandable reason why many students do not attend these extracurricular activities, but maybe there is more to it.

Does only the black population need to be taught about the African-Americans who helped shape America’s history? This seems a little unbalanced.

According to a blog entitled “Black History Meditation: Remembering the Presence of Our Ancestors,” by author Albert Raboteau and posted on The Huffington Post website, honor-ing this tradition helps “remedy the wide-spread ignorance, neglect and distortion of African-American history due to racism.”

Valero admits that when she was growing up in Green Bay the black population wasn’t large.

“Not much was done [in school] to honor Black History Month,” she said. “I think it’s a good idea [to honor Black History Month]. There is a lot to be learned and it helps to inte-grate people more.”

OpiniOnFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A9Adrienne Hilbert

[email protected]

Advance-Titan

February 24, 2011Vol. 116 No. 17

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Letters to the EditorWalker’s bill threatens Wisconsin’s education

Gov. Walker’s budget adjust-ment bill is both ill-conceived and dangerous. It threatens to undermine the quality of life in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin public employ-ees have a record of providing quality service to the people of Wisconsin. Cost analyses have repeatedly shown that state employees deliver high quality public service at a lower cost than private contracts.

Decimation of our public sector bargaining laws threaten to undermine this proud tradi-tion and drive our best public employees out of public ser-vice.

Wisconsin educators have a history of providing high qual-ity education to Wisconsin youth. By all empirical mea-sures, Wisconsin youth have repeatedly scored at or near the top of the nation.

All Wisconsin educators have asked for is average pay for above average work. Yet under the QEO, Wisconsin teachers saw average salaries decline from the top of the Great Lake EPs Region to the bottom.

Our governor feels this isn’t enough and seeks to further attack our dedicated public educators.

Other states are already recruiting Wisconsin’s highly respected teachers, and the migration of Wisconsin’s best teachers to other states will only accelerate if Walker’s bill passes. Wisconsin’s reputa-tion as an educational leader is threatened.

Gov. Walker seeks to undo labor laws developed over nearly a century, laws which served Wisconsin well for more than 50 years and provided a quality of life we could be proud of.

Wisconsin’s public employ-ees did not cause the econom-ic crisis faced by our state. Yet they have consistently expressed a willingness to work with the administration to find positive solutions to the challenges faced by Wisconsin while maintaining high-quality services.

Gov. Walker has refused to meet with them to find solu-tions which would best serve the people of Wisconsin, opt-ing instead to destroy years of labor law and use the military to suppress any opposition.

I encourage all Wisconsin citizens to inform their legisla-tors that they will not tolerate this outrage.

Robert BeglingerMinong, Wis.

SEND A LETTERTO THE EDITORPlease e-mail atitan@uwosh.

edu or deliver to Reeve Union 19 by 5 p.m. Tuesday. E-mail is the preferred method.

Mail letters to: Advance-Titan, Reeve Union Room 19, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI 54901.

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If your letter is chosen for publication, we will attempt to contact you for verification.

If you’ve been watching the coverage surrounding the current budget crisis in Wisconsin, it may seem like teachers are the largest group that will suffer from the new bill. Since elementary, middle and high school teachers are getting a lot of attention, it’s easy for college students to think they won’t be affected by the proposed actions.

Due to the constant focus on high school teachers, it’s also easy to think that the majority of employees at the university won’t be affected, but that’s far from the truth.

The university’s faculty doesn’t belong to a union, so they aren’t threatened by the loss of bargaining rights.

Faculty members are often paid more than other university staff, so the increase in the amount they must pay for benefits won’t be as difficult to deal with.

In addition to the faculty, there are still hundreds of other staff members that are in a union that will lose their rights.

Therefore, the bill could have just as much of an impact at the university level as it will everywhere else.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that facul-ties at Wisconsin universities could end up earning less money for the services they provide, which will inevitably affect stu-dents and their education.

Universities already have the burden of competing with the private sector to keep professors on campus. It doesn’t help that UW System faculty already earn less money

than surrounding states, according to the Competitive Workforce Commission’s final report in June 2010.

The report also says that UW Oshkosh faculty members are paid 10 to 20 percent lower than those at comparable universities throughout the nation. Therefore, the com-petition to retain faculty will become even more difficult.

Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of Public Affairs at UW Madison and CNN contributor, said cutting spending on educa-tion is not only unjustified, but also detri-mental to the public sector.

In an article from Feb. 21, Reschovsky said, “Labor markets are competitive, and once the economy improves, many public sector workers will look for other employ-ment opportunities.”

Reschovsky also said employees would be agreeable to reducing the deficit by cut-ting public workers’ compensation if the workers’ salaries were above average, but that isn’t the case.

A recent study by Rutgers University professor Jeffrey Keefe for the Economic Policy Institute, on the EPI website, found that the total compensation, including wages and benefits, for Wisconsin public employees was still about 5 percent below that of private sector workers.

If workers leave for the private sector or higher paying universities, the quality of students’ education will suffer due to a reduction in the quality of the university staff.

The UWO Faculty Senate drafted a state-ment voicing their opinion regarding the budget repair bill and fear of a decline in faculty qualifications and competence.

“We provide a substantial share of (the state’s) nurses, teachers, accountants, infor-mation technology professionals, scientists, public servants, etc,” the senate said in its statement. “Our ability to do this is contingent on the skill, knowledge and dedication of our faculty. The severe cuts proposed by the governor will cause us to have more difficulty filling positions than we already have, will force us to rely more on temporary staff, who as a whole are not as well qualified as permanent faculty and we will find it much harder to retain quality teachers.”

Given the magnitude of the debates regarding the budget repair bill, there are bound to be opposing viewpoints and opin-ions. However, we can all agree on one thing: nobody wants our state to be in debt.

While there may be no obvious solution and it seems cutting spending is the only viable option at the moment, there is one reasonable way to go about doing so, and that is to let the decisions rest with the pub-lic institutions.

The UW System is fighting for “flex-ibility” and the autonomy to decide how their respective institutions will deal with the cuts.

If the reductions must come from educa-tion or from other public services, it is best to let them figure out how to do that.

by the Advance-Titan StaffUWO community should fear budget changes

Diverse population on campus addresses the history, importance of Black Historyby Sonia Zimmerman

[email protected]

S o n i a Z immerman is a junior J o u r n a l i s m major. Her views do not n e c e s s a r -ily represent those of the A d v a n c e -Titan.

Important Black History dates

Early 1500s: Spaniards im-ported slaves from Africa.

1777: Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery.

1820: The Missouri Compro-mise leads to the American Civil War.

1850: Harriet Tubman began helping free slaves through the Underground Railroad.

1861: Civil War begins.

1947: Jackie Robinson was the first black person to play in Major League Baseball.

1954: Brown v. Board of Ed-ucation Topeka case occured because of racial segregation in schools.

1955: Rosa Parks’ protest on a city bus.

1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers the “I have a dream,” speech.

1968: Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

1982: Michael Jackson’s Thriller album was released. It sold 40 million copies.

2002: Halle Berry becomes the first African-American woman to win an Oscar for best actress in a leading role.

For more, visit: www.npr.org

SportSFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A10Jaren Haser [email protected]

Advance-Titan

Men’s basketballOshkosh 88, Silver Lake College 69

Women’s basketballLa Crosse 67, Oshkosh 59

Men’s tennisCoe College 7, Oshkosh 2

Oshkosh 6, Central College 3

Scoreboard

Playing in the National Football League is the holy grail for nearly every male to strap on a pair of shoulder pads and trot onto the field.

Realizing that dream is even more difficult for a player coming from a Division III school. In more than 100 years, only a handful of UW Oshkosh players have ever ac-complished that feat. Just don’t tell Titans senior Nate Heard that.

“I’m better at football than any-thing else,” Heard said. “People tell me I can’t do something, it just gives me extra motivation to prove them wrong.”

The 6-foot-1-inch, 180-pound cornerback has been exceeding ex-pectations since he started playing organized football.

Heard didn’t join his high school team until his senior year at Mil-waukee Lutheran. The most inex-perienced varsity player, he won a starting position based on his natu-ral athleticism and work ethic.

Fast forward to the end of last season. The criminal justice major was the only player to represent Wisconsin in the 2010 Tazon de Estrallas (Bowl of the Stars) game in Toluca, Mexico. The game showcased the 41 best Division III seniors in the country.

“Absolutely no doubt in my

mind he was the best defensive player in the conference last sea-son,” head coach Pat Cerroni said. “He covered the opposing team’s best receiver the majority of the time, and you could count on him every week.”

Heard was so good that opposing quarterbacks feared him enough to avoid throwing the ball at him.

“It was a chess match out there with us and the other teams,” Cer-roni said. “We kept flip-flopping him to get him where the action was. That’s the only reason he didn’t cover the other team’s best receiver every time.”

In his first season with the Ti-tans, Heard had four interceptions, including a 72-yard return for a touchdown.

Despite opposing quarterbacks’ tendency to avoid throwing toward the speedy cornerback, Heard still managed to lead the team with three interceptions.

He has been an asset to Oshkosh on the offensive side of the ball, too. Junior receiver Garrie Fox said facing him in practice each day helped him to get better.

“Nate [Heard] is one of the top corners I have gone against,” Fox said. “He is a very tall, athletic corner which is rarely seen in this league.”

Titans sophomore quarterback Nate Wara agreed.

“Nate helped me become a bet-

ter quarterback and student of the game,” Wara said. “I believe Nate is a special player.”

Heard doesn’t merely rely on the natural talents that won him a start-ing spot on his high school team.

“I don’t drink a lot, I don’t party and chase girls a lot,” Heard said. “People would ask, ‘Where’s Nate at?’ I’m in the gym Saturday night working on my backpedalling. It’s the things we choose to do off the field that affect our performance on game day.”

It’s not just the speed and agil-ity drills and countless hours in the weight room. It’s not just the physical aspects he works on.

A self-described perfectionist, Heard runs through game sce-narios in his head, visualizing the routes receivers he faces will run and how he will react. This goes hand-in-hand with his obsession with game film, something many players find tedious, but Heard ac-tually enjoys it.

“I’ll stay up all night watching film,” Heard said. “I’m going to watch the guy I have to cover and every single thing he does. I want to know what he’s going to do be-fore he does.”

Heard acknowledged that he may not get drafted because he spent his career in Division III, and said he would go to team tryouts and attempt to join a professional team as a walk-on.

“Ideally I would get picked up by a team with a good defense like Green Bay, Pittsburgh or Balti-more,” Heard said. “I would prefer to go to the Packers, but I’m not going to be picky.”

Despite the potentially difficult road to the NFL, Heard believes he has both the work ethic and physical tools the league typically looks for. In fact, he is exactly the same height as Packers cornerback Charles Woodson.

“I feel like I’m a Charles Wood-son Junior,” Heard said. “I think that we have instincts not every corner has. Granted his are way more developed, but I feel that one day I could be at that level.”

If his football dreams are not realized, Heard has other ways to challenge himself.

He would like to work for the FBI or follow in the footsteps of his many friends and family mem-bers and become a firefighter.

Aside from the challenge of those potential careers, he would embrace the opportunity to help people.

“I have always enjoyed helping people,” Heard said. “I feel like I helped other players on the team when I was the experienced senior, and if football doesn’t work out, the backup plan is helping people for a living.”

But that is the backup plan. Right now he is chasing his dream.

by Paul [email protected]

FridayMen’s tennis

Marian University at Oshkosh, 7 p.m.

Men’s track & fieldWIAC Championship in

Menomonie, TBA

Women’s track & fieldWIAC Chamionship in

Menomonie, TBA

SaturdayWomen’s softball

Oshkosh vs. University of Dubuque (Iowa), 7

a.m.Oshkosh vs. Edgewood

College, 9 a.m.

Men’s tennisEdgewood College at

Oshkosh, 3 p.m.

Women’s gymnasticsPiper Invitational in St. Paul

Minn., 1 p.m.

Women’s softball

WrestlingWIAC Championship in

Platteville, 10 a.m.

SundayUpcoming Events

Oshkosh vs. Concordia University Wisconsin,

11 a.m.

Oshkosh vs. Simpson College,

7 a.m.

Men’s basketball finishes season with historic victory for Van Dellen

The UW Oshkosh women’s basketball team’s dream of advancing in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament has ended with a loss to UW-La Crosse, 67-59, Wednesday in La Crosse.

“It’s disappointing to get this far and lose and is definitely disappointing to our seniors,” head coach Terri Schumacher said. “Overall we played hard and very competive.”

This is the first time in roughly four years the Titans have made it to the WIAC tourna-ment. Their desires to continue down the road to the WIAC Championship ended when UW-La Crosse, one of the toughest teams in the conference, beat UW Oshkosh by eight points.

During the second half, the Titans were able to get within three points of UW-La Crosse with 33 seconds left in the matchup. Howev-er, senior Michelle Boeder fouled and UW-La Crosse player Taylor Larson sank both foul shots, upping UW-La Crosse’s lead to eight, ending the game.

Oshkosh entered the tournament with the best free-throw percentage in the NCAA Divi-sion III at 78.9 percent and as the lowest seed, with a 7-9 conference record. The team went 100 percent from the free-throw line in the sec-ond half.

Both starting seniors Shelby Churchill and Boeder ended their collegiate career in the tournament.

Churchill shoots at 84.1 percent from the free-line and ranks fourth in the conference with 8.6 rebounds per game. Churchill ended her collegiate career going four for ten from the field and snatching four rebounds.

Boeder led the Titans with 10.8 points per game. She went two for eight from within the circle, one for three from the outside and to-taled three rebounds.

Schumacher said it is sad to see them go, but appreciates all the hard work and effort they have both put in here at Oshkosh.

“Their four years here, they have created a good, solid foundation for our young kids and our young kids now know what to do and how to work harder to get there,” Schumacher said.

Sophomore Megan Wenig led the Titans with 18 points, six coming from the outside. She also grabbed four rebounds.

Schumacher said she played a great all around game tonight.

“We told her and Kitzke that they needed to start looking to take their shots and Megan re-ally stepped up tonight and did that, and when she didn’t have a shot she dished it inside,” Schumacher said.

Sophomore Katie Kitzke, who has shot over 84 percent throughout the season from the free-throw line, helped by adding 15 points to the Titan’s final score.

Schumacher says this is one of the best sea-sons the team has had and is very hopeful for the 2011-2012 season.

“We have a lot of good things to build on and if the young kids work on what they need to over the summer we should have successful season next year,” Schumacher said. “If I could start tomorrow, I’d start tomorrow.”

Early exit for Titans in tourneyby Hannah Brems

[email protected]

Trying To be HeardSTandouT cornerback aTTempTS To make THe leap inTo THe nfl

With no chance to make it to the postseason, the Titans still man-aged to make it a memorable night for head coach Ted Van Dellen af-ter an 88-69 win over Silver Lake College on Saturday.

With the victory, Van Dellen moved into fifth place in Wiscon-sin Intercollegiate Athletic Con-ference history with 354 wins, passing former UW-Platteville (1985-99) and current UW Madi-son head coach Bo Ryan.

Van Dellen now holds a 354-204 mark in 21 seasons.

To start the contest, the Silver Lake College Lakers (7-18) made just a single shot from the field in the opening 11 minutes as the Titan defense forced 1-of-12 shooting on the way to an early 13-5 lead.

The lead fluctuated for the re-mainder of the half but did not dis-appear for the Titans, as they went into the intermission with a 31-25 advantage.

Silver Lake would finish the first period shooting just 27 percent, including 1-of-10 from beyond the three-point line.

“Our first half wasn’t very sharp in terms of our offensive execu-tion,” junior Greg Schrimpf said. “Our defense was the only thing keeping us in the game. It also hurt us to have two of our starters sitting most of the first half with foul trouble.”

Sophomore guard T.J. Kell-ner agreed with Schrimpf on the team’s relatively low scoring out-put in the first half.

“We started out a bit slow with a poor offensive performance in the first half, still somehow holding on to a small lead at halftime,” Kell-ner said.

In the second half, the Titans lead vanished after a 12-5 run led by the Lakers’ Zac Zablocki, which tied the game at 44.

Oshkosh then went on a 9-2 run of its own, showing complete team effort as four different play-

ers scored.The Lakers came back to within

three points midway through the second half, but a 14-0 run on 62.5 percent shooting from the Titans eventually put the game out of reach for good.

“Our lead was really extended late in the second half once we strung a couple scoreless pos-sessions together on defense,” Schrimpf said.

Kellner said that rebounding and solid defense were the keys to vic-tory.

“We started to turn up the inten-sity on the defensive end, creating a few steals and a bunch of con-secutive one and outs,” Kellner said. “With that defense we started converting on the other end with a bunch of strong finishes inside by our bigs and offensive rebounds on top of that.”

Flanigan led the Titans with 20 points and 10 rebounds, earning him his fourth double-double of the season.

Sophomore Paul Wojahn was the second leading scorer with 18 and fellow sophomore Brian Washing-ton had 14 points along with nine rebounds.

Zablocki led the Lakers with 14 points and guard Dwight Weathers had 13.

The Titans had its way with the boards, out-rebounding the Lakers 41-18 for the game, including a 14-3 offensive rebound total.

Oshkosh finished the season with a final record of 11-14.

Van Dellen said he is disappoint-ed with the season’s results but is looking to the underclassmen to step up next year.

“The younger guys gained valu-able experience, but as far as wins and losses go we didn’t live up to the past,” Van Dellen said. “I think there’s some solid talent in the program here, that we’ll continue to add to, but there needs to be more solid commitment. That will be the determining factor for next season.”

by Lance [email protected]

For coverage of other action from the week, check out www.advancetitan.com/sports

Former Titans baseball players Jeremy Jirschele and Vince Mancuso were two of 16 players chosen by D3base-ball.com as part of its NCAA Division III All-Decade Team for the 2000s.

In both 2004 and 2005, Jirschele earned NCAA Di-vision III All-America first team honors and WIAC Po-sition Player of the Year as a second baseman.

Mancuso, an outfielder, was a three-time All-WIAC selection and was named NCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2003.

The two helped Oshkosh to a 37-8 record and a fifth place finish at the NCAA Division World Series in 2003. Mancuso

Jirschele

Two Titans collect all-decade honors

SportSFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A11 Jeremy Ott [email protected]

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The UW Oshkosh wrestling team is poised and ready to take the mat in Platteville Sun-day for the Wisconsin Inter-collegiate Athletic Conference Championship.

“Mentally, when the goal is going to nationals, it’s not too hard to stay focused. We just keep that goal in mind,” junior Carl DeLuca, who finished the regular season with a 17-9 re-cord in the 125 pound weight class, said.

The Titans will look to have success without undefeated freshman Nazar Kulchytskyy from the Ukraine who broke his foot during the Eau Claire Invitational last week.

Wrestlers who win indi-vidual titles along with those who earn at-large bids will ad-vance to the NCAA Division III championship in La Crosse.

At-large bids are earned by receiving votes from the conferences coaches after the championship.

UW Oshkosh and the rest of

the conference will be look-ing to dethrone UW-La Crosse who has won the last 13 WIAC titles.

The Titans ended WIAC play with a 3-2 conference re-cord.

Conference wins came against UW-Whitewater (24-21), UW-Eau Claire (27-16) and UW-Plateville (38-3). The losses came against UW-Ste-vens Point and UW-La Crosse.

A first-place finish out of 11 teams in December at the Mil-waukee School of Engineering Invitational highlighted the season for the Titans.

The Titans will spend this week preparing their minds and resting their bodies for Sunday.

“Physically, most of the preparations have been done already,” DeLuca said. “We’re not training hard this week, mostly focusing on good tech-nique and keeping our bodies fresh.”

Junior Zach Mueller said one of the keys to the week is to stay mentally strong.

“A lot of the preparation

we do this week is focused on recovery time; we shorten our practices considerably so our minds and bodies can be fresh for Sunday.”

The wrestlers are not only focused for Sunday but have emphasized keeping up on their studies.

“You want to concentrate on your school work and make sure you stay ahead of that, get enough sleep and just act like an ordinary week,” junior Sam Engelland said.

While the preparation for the WIAC Championship has

the wrestlers focused on being at their mental and physical peaks, they are also aware of their conference opponents.

“It helps that I’ve seen these guys earlier in the season. I know a lot of the techniques they are going to use,” De-Luca said. “At the same time though, they know things that I’m going to do.”

Despite losing Kulchytskyy, the Titans look primed to com-pete with the conference’s best Sunday at 10 a.m. in Platteville behind the strength of DeLuca, Engelland and Mueller.

Kolf Sports Center was the host for the gymnastics meet as UW Oshkosh came away with a narrow victory over fellow conference member UW-Eau Claire, 181.575 to 181.550 this past weekend.

Former UW Oshkosh gym-nast, now head coach, Lauren (Mareno) Karnitz was encour-aged by her team’s perfor-mance at its home meet.

“It was great to see their

confidence displayed through their gymnastics even when someone fell,” Karnitz said. “I have so much pride in this school and faith in this pro-gram.”

Senior All-American Stacie Jenkins won the all-around award with a score of 37.025, competing in four events. She can tell the morale of the team is positive as they continue to progress through their season.

“Our confidence is up from the win we just had,” Jenkins said. “We need to show that to

the judges in order to receive the scores we need.”

Freshman Khrystyna Ly-chagina led the Titans in the win over team totals for beam with a second place score of 9.375 followed by senior teammates Jenkins (9.350) and Paula Delsart (9.275) to round out the top four.

Sophomore Abby Zubella added to Oshkosh’s advantage in the floor exercise routines, winning the event with a score of 9.525.

With successful experience

as a former competitor from her coach, Jenkins is eager to compete for the rest of the season.

“We have improved every season and I know we will continue to get better,” Jen-kins said. “Coach Karnitz is very determined to make us the best we can be and will push us to make it to Nation-als as a team.”

The Titans will travel to St. Paul, Minn. to partake in the Piper Invitational on Feb. 27 scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

by Zachariah [email protected]

Liz GranberG/advance-TiTan

Senior Stacie Jenkins performs on the balance beam during the Titans’ close victory over Eau Claire on Saturday in Oshkosh. Jenkins took first place in the all-around competition earning her WIAC Gymnast of the Week honors.

Jenkins’ all-around effort vaults UWO to victory over Eau Claire

by Brian [email protected]

Matchup of the Week

WIAC WRESTLINGCHAMPIONSHIP

Hosted By:UW-Platteville

Wrestling team prepares for WIAC finale without standout freshman Kulchytskyy

WIAC records fall as Titans take 5th

by Brian Vogel [email protected]

Athletes of the weekSponsored by:

For more information check out www.titans.uwosh.edu

Phil DevineMen’s swimming & diving

Stacie JenkinsWomen’s gymnastics

UW Oshkosh junior Phil Devine set the Wisconsin In-tercollegiate Athletic Confer-ence championship record in the one-meter and three-meter dives this weekend, as he was part of the Titans’ fifth place finish.

Devine posted a score of 579.90 in the three-meter dive shattering the previous record of 564.95 held by John Karpe of UW-Eau Claire since 1999.

Devine’s score of 574.40 in the one-meter dive also topped Karpe’s 1999 record of 553.15.

Devine has taken first place in both dives in each of his first three seasons at Oshkosh.

Despite earning two con-ference records, Devine still strives for more.

“This year my strategy was to learn more difficult dives and refine them to a point where even if I had a bad day I would still put up some big scores,” Devine said. “That is exactly what happened at this conference championship. I didn’t dive spectacularly, but I still managed to better both of the conference records.”

Devine was named Diver of the Meet and, as he approaches his senior season, shows no signs of being content.

“This off-season I’m con-sidering training in Georgia at a competitive training camp to see if I can reach the next level in my diving career,” Devine said.

With limitless potential, Devine approaches this off-season with a drive to be the best.

“With the Olympic trials around the corner, it would be good to have some guid-ance from coaches who have sent athletes there in the past,” Devine, whose goal is to get an invitation to Olympic trials,

said.Despite the two conference

records by Devine, the Titans finished fifth out of six teams at the conference meet while WIAC swimming powerhouse UW-Stevens Point captured its 12th straight conference title in Brown Deer.

The Titans did capture some school records outside of Devine’s as sophomore Dalton Anderson exhibited his prow-ess in the pool.

Anderson set school records in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly, as well as the 200-yard individual medley.

He was also a member of the school record setting 200-yard freestyle relay that included Eddie Dominguez, Matt En-gelhardt and Brian Markovich.

Markovich attributed some of his success to the diversity of his events.

“If one of my strokes isn’t doing well, I can look forward to the next one as being a com-pletely different kind of race,” Markovich said.

The Titans, led by record setters Devine, Anderson, Dominguez and Markovich, will look to build off the results of the WIAC Championship to improve for next season.

WIAC RECORD• Phil Devine - one-meter dive (574.40) - three-meter dive (579.90)UWO RECORD• Dalton Anderson - 100-yard butterfly (49.71) - 200-yard butterfly (1:52.53) - 200-yard individual med-ley (1:56.47)• Anderson, Dominguez,

Engelhardt, Markovich - 200-yard freestyle relay (1:28.09)

Record Setters

Photo EssayFebruary 24, 2011 — www.advancetitan.com

A12Jay [email protected]

Advance-Titan

last name

WORKER REVOLTThousands flock to Madison to protest budget repair bill

Over the past eight days, thousands have gathered at the Capi-tol building in Madison, Wis. to protest a controversial budget repair bill proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The bill aims to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers and to raise worker contribution to pensions and health care benefits in hopes of balancing Wisconsin’s budget.

In recent days, the nation’s eye has been focused squarely on Wisconsin and its vocal rejection of Walker’s budget repair bill.

At press time, there has been no progress on either passing or rejecting the bill, and 14 Democratic State Senators are still in Illinois, protesting the bill.

Above: Arnold Chevalier, a member of the Menominee tribe, joins thousands of protesters at the Capitol building in Madison on Monday to oppose Gov. Scott Walker’s budget bill. Right: A prominent “Kill the Bill” sign pierces through the huge crowd of protestors. Bottom right: One protester holds high a banner in front of the Captiol building alongside thousands of other pro-testors. Bottom left: Protesters dance to drum music and wave protest signs in front of the Capitol building.

Photos by Adam Jungwirth of the Advance-TitanCopy by Jay Spanbauer and Adam Jungwirth