The Merciad, May 4, 2011

Page 4

Intel professor headed to Israel

for academic fellowship

Page 5

‘Opera 1, 2, 3...GO!’ showcases

the college’s opera singers

Page 6

Bin Laden’s death gives students chance to stay

informed

Page 7

Four athletes from four sports

earn weekly honors

NEWSPage 2 May 4, 2011

News Briefs

A Mercyhurst College student was assaulted and robbed Tuesday, April 26.The student was attacked from behind at approximately 9:30

p.m. when he was walking on East 38th Street on the side-walk in front of St. Luke Church, according to Mercyhurst offi cials. The suspect, who is described only as a black male, took the

student’s wallet, according to Mercyhurst Police and Safety Chief Robert Kuhn.The student suffered an injury to the head, but he was able

to walk to Police and Safety for help. He refused medical treat-ment, and his mother took him to the Erie Police Department, Kuhn said.To avoid possible attacks, Kuhn suggests students walk in

pairs at night or call Police and Safety for a ride at 824-2304.

Mercyhurst student assaulted, robbed

This year’s Communication Trade Show advocates an “Anti-Texting and Driving Campaign.” This annual event challenges junior and senior communication students to create their own businesses from marketing materials to products and unveil them at the trade show where their efforts will be judged by Erie professionals and Mercyhurst alumni in the fi eld. With this year’s theme, the students will focus on the

increased efforts of the prevention of texting and driving. The student-created businesses will present intriguing ideas that promote smart driving practices. This event will be held on Tuesday, May 10, from 10 a.m. to 3

p.m. in the Hermann Student Union Great Room.

Students create anti-texting, driving businesses

Marcellus shale drilling is occur-ring across the U.S., with large con-centrations in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and has been referred to as the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.

Josh Fox, creator of the Sun-dance Award winning and Oscar nominated documentary, Gasland, met on Tuesday afternoon with more than 50 students, faculty and community members in the Her-mann Student Union Great Room, addressing questions not only about his documentary, but also about the hydraulic fracturing that is sched-uled to start locally. Fox also spoke later to the community.

Fox is a Milanville, Pa., resi-dent who became involved with the fracking debate when a gas company approached him and his neighbors about leasing their land.

Originally just a local effort, Fox quickly found himself immersed in what he calls a “new thing going dreadfully wrong.”

Fracking is the process of insert-ing water and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to release gas trapped in the shale. This pro-

cess has led to ground water con-tamination by both the chemicals used in the process and the natural gas that has been released.

“When I began to look into it I got very confl icting stories from the gas industry and from neighbors of mine,” said Fox. “I started becom-ing concerned with this proposal and quickly became an activist.”

Environmental issues weren’t always what Fox had in mind when he started his own theater company in 1996, but he doesn’t think they are that far off.

“My reactions to the things that come into my life as an artist is to make a project out of it,” said Fox. “Drama is always about the con-fl icts of its time,” and Gasland is no exception.

Fox took this issue and made a “sincere attempt to persuade land owners who were going to lease” their land not to do so with his documentary.

“We did things that were artisti-cally interesting and were narratively interesting. It’s a whole lot of efforts all happening at once,” he said.

Until fi ve years ago, this process was unheard of and today it is feed-ing to the largest natural gas boon in U.S. history.

“For the fi rst time you have mil-lions of people in a drillable zone,”

Fox said. This includes some Pennsylva-

nia universities, which are facing 50 percent budget cuts in 2011. Penn-sylvania Governor Tom Corbett has suggested that universities invest in shale drilling as an additional source of revenue.

“We are in the middle of a great divide of politicians,” said Fox. “There are those who are just satis-fi ed with taking that money, which creates an uncomfortable dilemma for the people who aren’t okay with that.”

The talk also focused on the local drilling scheduled for Nort East, in Erie County, and what citizens can do to prevent it.

“Right now this is a true test of whether democracy will sur-vive,” said Fox. “Is democracy still a bottom up process or is it about whoever pays the most money?”

Fox encouraged interested stu-dents to create an anti-fracking group on campus, and numerous

students expressed a variety of emotions after the session, includ-ing concern for the environment and the community.

“I am in shock of how unaware people are about the environment and how political fi gures are trying to take money by trying to discour-age us from fi guring out the truth. The environment is so important and many more people have to get involved because it’s our life,” freshman Kathleen Reveille said.

“This is just another example of how unaware people are, how much there is to learn and to stay informed as to what’s going on in the world around you. It’s within our own state, so it’s just important to stay involved and stay informed, even as students, because these things apply to us, too,” freshman Natalie Pertz said.

On a lighter note, “It’s great to see students and the community come together for an event like this. We need to stick with it and keep the community informed,” junior John Weber said. Weber is from Hagerstown, Maryland, an area that is also being affected by fracking.

“I feel a responsibility to what is in the fi lm,” Fox said. Fox is now working on Gasland 2.

“We had a great turnout. Fox’s knowledge, combined with his wit and experience with the people affected by fracking, did an ample job of informing people without raising alarm,” communication department Chair Anne Zaphiris, Ph.D., said.

For more information on Mercy-hurst’s new anti-fracking club, con-tact Zaphiris at extension 3382.

By Joseph PudlickContributing writer

‘Gasland’ director speaks at college

Director of ‘Gasland’ Josh Fox came to Mercyhurst College to talk to the community and stu-dents about hydraulic fracturing.

Jill Barrile photo

Right now this is a true test of whether democracy will survive. Is democracy still a bottom up process or is it about whoever pays the most money?

Josh Fox”“

Page 3 May 4, 2011 NEWS

Ripley steps down as dean of faculty; Reed to take over in fall

Brian Ripley, Ph.D., the current dean of faculty at Mercyhurst College and political science professor, is voluntarily stepping down from his position to once again devote himself full time to the pursuit of his pas-sions—teaching and scholarship.

Brian Reed, Ph.D., will be replacing Ripley as dean of faculty beginning in the fall term.

According to Vice President for Academic Affairs Phillip Belfi ore, Ph.D., Ripley requested to move back to a full-time faculty position after three years of serv-ing as dean of faculty.

“Dr. Ripley served as an outstanding dean of fac-ulty, and when he requested to return to the class-room, I honored his request,” said Belfi ore, further explaining, “Dr. Ripley is one of our fi nest faculty members.”

According to Ripley, the “dean of faculty position is always evolving in its focus on matters involving faculty such as hiring, promotion, tenure, recruiting

great faculty members and keeping them here and being the voice in the administration for the fac-ulty.”

Reed, who currently directs the Center for Teaching Excellence, said, “The role I am stepping into as dean of faculty has different duties than the job Dr. Ripley was doing.”

Reed explained that unlike Ripley, “I will remain as a faculty member, with a reduced teaching load. This will allow me to remain in the classroom, which is some-thing that Dr. Ripley understandably missed.”

This change in positions began, as Ripley explains, when “I initiated my move back to faculty.”

Ripley states with genuine conviction that “it is a privilege to be a member of the Mercyhurst faculty,” and he likes “the idea of other faculty members having an opportunity to rotate in and get a better sense of the administrative side of the college.”

He said he never saw being the dean of faculty as a longterm spot.

“But I have learned a lot and enjoyed the insight on how a college administration operates. We have a great faculty, and it is a privilege to be one among my col-leagues.”

By Mike GallagherStaff writer

Student symposium gives chance to present research

Senior Amber Kissman presented her research at the Research Symposium hosted by the sports medicine department and the Honors Program.

Tyler Stauffer photo

Through research and presenta-tion, students took an extra look and found several startling results at the Research Symposium on Thurs-day, April 28 at the Mercyhurst Ath-letic Center (MAC).

Though the event was hosted on campus, it was not only for Mercy-hurst students. Gannon, Edinboro, Slippery Rock, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Uni-versity of Buffalo were represented, too.

The Honors Program and sports medicine department co-hosted the event with help from Instructor of Sports Medicine Tim Harvey.

The symposium, an annual event, provided graduate and undergradu-ate students an opportunity to dis-play their research to the public through posters as well as oral pre-sentations. This research was done in order to prepare students for future occasions and formal pre-sentations at regional and national

levels.Senior Amber Kissman did her

project on stink bugs and how the weather affects them.

“I found that the bugs were inva-sive and rely on super cooling, while staying at subzero temperatures. When I told people about my topic, most responded by asking me how to get rid of them rather than on how they survived,” Kissman said.

Senior Jacob Gdovin did his research on two different portals about football equipment and pos-sible neck injury.

“‘The National Athletic Trainers’ Association has an ‘all or nothing’ principle, and I thought their posi-tion they have currently was incor-rect,” Gdovin said.

Rows and rows of projects were displayed in the MAC. Mostly seniors were among the researchers at the symposium, but a few juniors attended.

Senior Richael Forde did her project on electromyography com-parisons with different exercises and measured muscle activity.

“It was interesting to do research, but better equipment would have

been nice to conduct my research, since some of my data was skewed,” she said.

For students in the Honors Pro-gram, the symposium fulfi lled a senior thesis presentation require-

ment, one of the main conditions of graduating from the Honors Program.

By Stacy SkiavoStaff writer

FEATURES May 4, 2011Page 4

Now that Osama Bin Laden has been killed, do you think the global war on terror is over?

“Saying the war is over would be hasty, but I believe this is a signifi-cant and symbolic step in changing world perspectives.”-Jeff Knell, senior

“Although I believe the war on terror is far from over, it is a symbolic blow for al-Qaeda and gives a little closure to the families of his numerous victims.”-Joe Krajcik, senior

“I think it is a great accomplishment for our military and a milestone in the war, but I feel like the terrorist threat from the Middle East probably hasn’t ended with the death of one man, so I think the war will con-tinue.”-Katie Wagner, junior

Professor headed to Israelfor academic fellowship

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, D.C., is an organization that believes educators should have access to the experience of top practitioners in their respective fi elds.

In order to better teach their students, professors should have a more hands-on experience with the topics that they teach. Intelligence studies professor James Brecken-ridge has been selected as one of only 20 academics who will partici-pate in a 10-day course in Israel.

The FDD is a non-partisan policy institute. Its goals are to promote pluralism and defend the values of democracy. According to its website, the FDD believes “no one should be denied basic human rights, including minority rights, women’s rights and religious free-dom.”

The men and women chosen for this course come from colleges and universities nationwide, and their backgrounds are diverse.

“Because terrorism is a global threat, they’re interested in a

wide selection of academic back-grounds,” Breckenridge said.

The course will take place in Israel this June where the men and women will “learn more about the phenomenon of terrorism and Middle Eastern politics,” Brecken-

ridge said.Breckenridge is not a stranger to

the Middle East. He has traveled to Israel on an academic tour, and he took 30 Mercyhurst students to Egypt two years ago to study abroad.

The FDD emailed Breckenridge with the announcement that he would be offered the chance to par-ticipate in the fellowship.

Breckenridge thinks this course is a great opportunity.

He believes one of the major problems in his area of study is that “academics do not have access to practitioners,” Breckenridge said. “It’s a fellowship for that time, but it continues the relationships as long you want them to be main-tained. One of the objectives is to build a social network to commu-nicate with.”

The course itself will take place in several locations in both indoor and outdoor environments.

“It’s designed to expose you to central Israel,” said Breckenridge. “I think what’s important about this fellowship is that it unifi es a group of academics who can discuss this and look through a multitude of academic lenses.”

Upon his return to Mercyhurst in the fall, Breckenridge plans to use what he has learned in classroom instruction.

He regularly teaches intelligence courses on the Middle East.

By Chris JamesStaff writer

James Breckenridge, the chair of the intelligence department, will travel to Israel in June.

Jill Barrile photo

Intel students now published authors

Professor Daniel Mulligan of the intelligences studies program has created an exciting educational opportunity for students in his Introduction to Competitive Intel-ligence course.

Twenty-six students are now published authors of a paperback book edited by Mulligan titled “Insights and Analysis in 10 Min-utes (or Less).”

Instead of assigning each stu-dent to read a business book, write a paper summarizing it and deliver a report to the class, Mul-ligan decided to motivate students by creating a more exciting oppor-tunity.

Letting it be known that the results would be published, Mulli-gan hoped students would put forth more effort.

The book summarizes and analyzes 26 different books on leadership, business and motiva-tion. Students were expected to go beyond a regular summary by researching and analyzing the book’s contents and its author.

“I think I may have enjoyed this report slightly better (than a normal intelligence presentation) because I really got into the book I was read-ing,” said Mitchell Mahfoud, one of the student authors. “Aside from the assigned reading, I did extra research to learn about the author of the book, who was also the CEO of the company the book focused on, and also looked up the com-

pany online.”Mulligan provided his students

with a list of books to choose from. Based on which book they chose to assess, he then determined when the analysis and presentation were due.

Students appeared to enjoy the project and were excited that the publication would be available for them to keep both as a reference and as something substantial they could produce at future job inter-views.

“I thought it was a great learn-ing experience,” said Mahfoud. “The book I chose, “Leading for Growth,” by Ray Davis, was very insightful and helped me to better understand the develop-ment process of a company. It was interesting and had concepts that applied to what we were

doing in class.”Being part of a project like this

is benefi cial to students in the intel-ligence studies program because they now have an experience col-laborating on an actual published work, though only a few dozen are actually printed.

“The books are essentially ‘vanity press,’ but my goal is to go back and compile the best of all three volumes and possibly make them available for free through our department’s website,” Mul-ligan said.

The new book, completed at the close of winter term, rep-resents the second volume in a series. Students in Mulligan’s cur-rent Intro to Competitive Intel-ligence course are working on Volume 3.

By Lynn DulaStaff writer

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Page 5May 4, 2011

‘Opera 1, 2, 3...GO!’ showcases young opera singers

On Saturday night, students from the D’Angelo School of Music pre-sented a collaborative concert of various operatic arias, duets and trios titled “Opera 1, 2, 3...Go!”

Under the direction of Louisa Jonason, the program featured the music of many well known operas such as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Madama Butterfl y,” “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Il Trovatore.”

All of the students involved in the performance were enrolled in the music department’s yearlong opera workshop class.

Twice a week throughout the school year, students work on the development of their particular scenes in class as their peers observe and offer constructive criticism.

Students must have advanced musical ability and acquire effec-

tive characterization to successfully communicate with their audience the intent of the story, making it believable.

For the students, this concert was the product of a year of hard work and attention to detail in class.

Sophomore Alianna Whiteaker-Chudecke performed “The Dew Fairy Aria” from “Hansel and Gretel” by Engelbert Humperdinck and the Der Rosenkavalier trio by Johann Strauss.

Whiteaker-Chudecke says it was an amazing experience and while the singers worked hard to perform for one night, they know that it is important to know that they could be inspiring someone in the audi-ence.

One of the diffi cult aspects to this piece was the variety of the works that were performed. The production took comedic and tragic operas and effectively blended them into the same concert.

Junior Brianna Steves loved the concert because she thought that “while all of the operas were very different, they were able to fl ow from one another creating a story.”

For the senior performers, including Andrea Baker, Megan Duane, Lynn Dula, Nathan Katus and Mary Spinelli, this concert was one of their last performances as students in the music department.

Spinelli says she “was honored to have participated in this fantastic production and that it was wonder-ful to be able to perform a selection from Jacques Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman, as it will not be included in her senior recital next week.”

Junior Lindsey Nikithser said of the evening, “the performance was well done, the music was especially great.

Everyone performed with such emotion. You could tell how invested all the performers were in their characters.”

By Natalie PertzStaff writer

‘Every Second Counts’ shows the Plain White T’s have musical merit

In the spirit of Spring Fest, a solid sit-down with the concert headliners is in order.

The Plain White T’s have been around for a while, releasing their fi rst album back in 2000.

Their latest endeavor was just last year when “Wonders of the Younger” was released. This show-ing wasn’t something to get excited about.

Instead, let’s rewind a bit and take a look at what is arguably their best album: “Every Second Counts,” released in 2006.

Naturally, the fi rst issue that needs to be addressed is (ironically) the last track on the album—the T’s seemingly ubiq-uitous hit, “Hey There Delilah.” Anyone perusing the radio within the last fi ve or six years will have inevitably come across the inter-national smash.

However, it is not even close to being their best song overall, let alone on the album.

At best, “Hey, There Delilah” is a cute little ditty about a boy loving

a girl from a long distance. It’s just an OK song—nothing extremely special about it but not hard on the ears either.

Incessant playing on the Top 40 radio stations has effectively killed it, easily making it one of the most overplayed songs of the last fi ve years.

The Plain White T’s are more than the one-dimensional band everyone makes them out to be; “Hey, There Delilah” is but one song on a musically varied album.

For example, “Our Time Now” is a great opener. It’s upbeat, catchy, with an excellent melody. At the heart of the song is a youthful exuberance of unre-stricted love.

The song is almost an anthem or self-admitted “dance for all the lovers” living free and having “times that we’ll remember.”

This song segues into the track which is the best musical show-case of the album. “Come Back to Me” is the classic crooning of a boy longing for his girl that’s just left.

The catchy guitar riffs and excel-lent breakdowns accompanied by the chorus hold the song together

and really keep it from being overly melancholy.

The power lineup doesn’t end there. On the heels of “Come Back to Me” is what some crit-ics say the band’s best song over-all -“Hate (I Really Don’t Like You).”

The lead singer, Tom Higgenson, bemoans the loss of an ex-lover. And yet, he couldn’t care less about her.

The word “hate” is such a strong word and Higgenson tongue-in-cheek, makes light of this, by referring to the runaway girlfriend: “Hate is a strong word/But I really, really don’t like you.”

The lyrics are clever and crafted well around the guitar melodies.

Other songs of interest on the album are “You and Me,” “Friends Don’t Let Friends Dial Drunk” and “Making a Memory.”

They are solid supporters to a cast of well-rounded tracks on a fantastic album. The Plain White T’s are more than their most popu-lar hit.

“Every Second Counts” is an exemplar of the musical talent the T’s possess and hopefully that talent will be showcased this week-end.

By Aaron Ullman Staff writer

Lynn Dula and Adam Ferrari play a scene from “Il Trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi in “Opera 1, 2, 3... GO!”

Tyler Stauffer photo

‘Oscar-Nominated Live Action Shorts’ promises a wide range of emotions

This afternoon and evening, a showcase of live action short fi lms will be presented as a part of the ongoing Guelcher Film Series in the D’Angelo Performing Arts Center.

Airing at 2:15 and 7:15 p.m., the fi lms were all nominated for this year’s Oscars including: “The Con-fession,” “Wish 143,” “Na Wewe,” “The Crush” and “God of Love.”

In the UK fi lm “The Confes-sion,” an earnest young boy named Sam (Lewis Howlett) is of age to receive religious sacrament but does not see the need to because he possesses a clear conscience and is nervous to confess.

In an attempt to fi nd an alterna-tive, Sam looks to the companion-ship of his friend Jake (Joe Eales).

Directed by Tanel Toom, this dramatic tale takes the innocence of youth and horseplay and ends in a twisted tragedy.

The Village Voice wrote that the fi lm is “a coming-of-age tale

that examines Catholic guilt with a heavy hand.”

“Wish 143” comedically tells the story of David (Samuel Holland), a terminally ill young man, and his one last, unconventional wish to lose his virginity.

With the assistance of an unsus-pecting hospital chaplain (Jim Carter) and a good natured girl named Maggie (Jodie Whittaker), David’s seemingly diffi cult wish becomes reality.

Directed by Ian Barnes, The Independent Critic called the fi lm’s script “intelligent and nothing short of remarkable.”

In the Belgium fi lm “Na Wewe,” Ivan Goldschmidt directs his inter-pretation of a civil war, set around 1994 in Burundi.

The ongoing confl ict between the Hutus and the Tutsis encompasses the plot line of this drama on the realities and casualties of war.

Cinema Verdict Review said the fi lm “gives us a sense of precari-ous hold one had on life living in Burundi in the ‘90s.”

To read the complete version of this article, visit merciad.mercyhurst.edu.

By Natalie PertzStaff writer

I initially sat down to type this column Sunday night as a call for more young folks today to read, watch and follow the news more closely.

Created the fi le at about 10:45 p.m. Drafted a lead. Stared at a blank page.

Jumped on Facebook for a quick writing respite.

Osama bin Laden dead, friends began to post. An hour later, Presi-dent Obama confi rmed that item in a press conference with other details on the U.S. combat strike.

Late into the night, I watched as Twitter and Facebook traffi c reached peaks that must have been similar to the 2008 Election Night

and a few recent Super Bowls. Everyone had heard the news.

There went my rant’s entire premise.

But this weekend, I had fi nished the fi rst book in a line of suggested titles for my upcoming two-year graduate study in mass commu-nications. Though a slightly dated read with its 2005 publication date, David Mindich’s “Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don’t Follow the News” was still an engaging and quick foray into current news con-sumption trends.

I put it down having realized his observations from the early 2000s remained extremely relevant—about how more young people watched and cared about “Survi-vor” and “American Idol” than they did the disputed 2000 President Election and the early years of the War on Terror. Substitute “Dancing

with the Stars” and “Jersey Shore” versus the headlines emanating in recent months from Libya, Egypt and at home with nationwide budget battles; nothing’s changed.

Most importantly, his conclu-sions that this trend has weakened our democracy continues today.

On Sunday night, I couldn’t help but notice how many of those social media posts revolved around “Team America” videos, short-sighted celebratory statuses (one I saw actually declared terrorism to be over) and the ever-present “USA, USA, USA.”

I was right there with them, for about 18 seconds.

But then, anyone who has fol-lowed serious news outlets with even a modicum of interest or read any books about the War on Terror during the past decade should have quickly awakened before they went

to bed.Were those uninformed citizens

bombing Facebook and Twitter feeds Sunday night aware that a shortage of U.S. troops near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in October 2001 likely delayed this moment by nearly 10 years?

Aware of the fantastic irony surrounding the fi nality of the May 1 date in recent U.S. history? President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier exactly eight years before and declared combat operations in Iraq—a country we’d invaded in supposed retribution for its involve-ment in the 2001 terror attacks—to be over.

Mission accomplished?Hardly. Nor is it now. If you

briefl y read or watched the news on Sunday or Monday, or even gar-nered what had occurred by brows-ing Facebook, you might have reached the false assumption that the game’s over.

Don’t be fooled. Stay tuned. There will be news next week of

more suicide bombings, more improvised explosive devices kill-ing American or coalition troops around the world, more reports of heightened security at airports across the country.

Continue to fi nd out why this is all happening. Ensure that Presi-dent Obama uses this moment to strengthen our domestic security and global reputation. If he doesn’t, vote him out in 2012.

Just don’t replace him with Donald Trump because you enjoy his absurd reality show.

Mercyhurst sponsors a great campus readership program—copies of The New York Times, USA Today, the Erie Times-News and, of course, The Merciad. Take advantage of free news content while you can, and then support good journalism after you leave.

Democracy depends on our abil-ity to become better informed. Cel-ebrate bin Laden’s death? Absolutely. But work still needs to be done. And you need to know about it.

September 3, 2008 OPINIONPage 6 May 4, 2011

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Bin Laden’s death offers chance to stay informedBy Ethan MagocStaff writer

Res life squelches patriotism

During Sunday’s historic eve-ning, as thousands of united Americans took to the streets of Washington D.C., New York City and college campuses across the United States to revel in long over-due justice being brought to the ter-rorist murderer Osama bin Laden, Mercyhurst College Residence Life offi cials descended upon celebra-tions in student housing with a far more sinister agenda. While the entire nation took a collective sigh of relief and banned together for the fi rst time in 10 years, Residence Life set out to disband and shat-ter the glimmers of patriotic unity that had begun to emerge on our campus. Led by an AD, a posse of seven RAs patrolled the campus demanding people return to their dorms during quiet hours, search-ing apartments for harmless fi re-crackers and writing down names at a feverish pace, announcing, “You will be hearing from us.”

On campuses far more prestigious

than our own, students and faculty joined together in a patriotic union to honor the memory of those lost during the tragedies of 9/11 and to show their support for our troops at home and abroad. Gatherings at Holy Cross, Notre Dame and Georgetown were endorsed and led by key religious and administrative fi gures. The occasion was viewed as an opportunity for the campus to grow together and heal spiritually as a community. These prestigious Catholic institutions held prayer services and sang together. While the country celebrated, the divided campus of Mercyhurst College lay in silence: a silence enforced by Res-idence Life that was broken only by a patriot’s fl eeting fi recracker snap or a passing car horn.

I am a proud American, and I have always been proud to be a stu-dent at Mercyhurst College until this moment. Those of you who rejoiced this past Sunday evening, I salute you. However, those of you who worked tirelessly into the night to thwart patriotic expressions, I con-demn your unnecessarily oppressive actions. My fellow students and dis-tinguished faculty, both American

and international, we must remem-ber and cherish those who have died to ensure the freedoms that we enjoy today. We must also support and appreciate those who continue to fi ght for these same freedoms. Let us strive to create and foster a profound sense of community here on campus. This is an element that is blatantly missing on our campus and something from which Mercy-hurst could greatly benefi t.

In closing, I would like to make a plea to all of you to refl ect upon the recent events of the world. If you feel so compelled, which I am certain you will, then you should exercise your constitutional right to demonstrate the pride you have in our great nation. If the aforemen-tioned prestigious Catholic colleges across the country are the measure by which we evaluate our academic worth, and they should be, then we, the faculty, students and espe-cially Residence Life of Mercyhurst College, need to follow suit. Never again should our campus be silent while the United States of America celebrates victoriously.

God Bless America.

By Neil B. Apfelbaum IIContributing writer

Sports Page 7May 4, 2011

Four athletes, four different sports, earn weekly honors

Traditionally, schools have a strong athletic week in a sport or two. Even the top athletic schools have up and down weeks, or up and down sports.

Men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, baseball and women’s water polo all had a player of the week in their conference during the week ending April 24.

The impressive part of what Mercyhurst athletes were able to do is that the athletes play in four dif-ferent sports. To have four different student-athletes in four different sports be the top player in their respective sport in a given week is quite a feat

These accomplishments came with only another week or so left in each team’s season. The hope is that the award marks players hitting their stride, or playing their best, heading into the playoffs.

Kim Masterton, women’s lacrosse, was named PSAC co-player of the week with 17 points on nine

goals and eight assists over their fi nal three games. She had an out-standing individual season headed into playoffs. Masterton led the

team in overall points this season with 81. But the player of the week honor was not on Masterton’s radar of things to accomplish.

“Playoffs are more important

and keeping the season alive, rather than winning player of the week,” Masterton said. “The award doesn’t make a difference, I play because I love to.”

Rachel Griepsma, women’s water polo, had an equally impressive individual season. She was named CWPA player of the week after tal-lying 16 points on seven goals and nine assists. She led the team during the year with 55 goals and 68 overall points.

“It’s defi nitely special because we play against D-I athletes and to be recognized among them is an honor,” Griepsma said.

Unfortunately for both Griepsma and Masterton, the late success only lasted another week. Griepsma and the women’s water polo team beat Gannon, but lost to Brown Univer-sity in the CWPA Eastern playoffs to end their season with a record of 16-10.

Masterton and the women’s lacrosse team opened up the play-offs looking at three teams, all who beat them in the regular season, standing in the way of a champion-ship. After beating Bloomsburg, the

Lakers fell to No. 1 West Chester in the semi-fi nals of the PSAC tour-nament ending their season with a record of 13-6.

Kevin McCall, baseball, and Zach Nash, men’s lacrosse, were both named PSAC players of the week in their respective sports. McCall batted .611 with six RBIs during a 5-0 week for the Lakers. Nash held Limestone, the nation’s top offense, to only eight goals and helped the Lakers continue their climb up the rankings.

“You can’t think too far ahead. I just play in the moment and stick to the same routine,” McCall said.

Nash continued his success by being named PSAC defensive player of the week again this past week after the team beat No. 7 New York Tech. The men’s lacrosse team still has two games remaining before playoff selections will be made on May 8.

McCall helped the Lakers go 3-1 against Slippery Rock to earn the PSAC West regular season champi-onship. The Lakers have one game remaining against Urbana before their play-offs begin.

By Spencer HuntSports editor

Zach Nash Kevin McCall

Kimberly Masterton Rachel Griepsma

Sports May 4, 2011Page 8

Practice beginning to pay off for men’s lacrosse

The phrase, practice makes per-fect, is often thrown around with reckless abandon. However mis-used it may be, it does apply to a number of successful teams. The Mercyhurst men’s lacrosse team appears to be one of them.

Sitting in second place with a 10-2 record with two games left in the regular season, the Lakers are looking to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. After last year’s team was snubbed of a play-off spot despite a 13-1 record, this year’s team has been working even harder to make sure it doesn’t happen two years in a row.

Since strength of schedule proved a pitfall for last year’s Lakers, this season’s team was determined not to suffer the same fate. The team fought through its fi rst seven games—six of which were on the road—to get through half the season with a 6-1 record.

After fi ghting through the tough road schedule, the Lakers dis-patched highly-ranked Dowling at home before heading back out on the road. During their penultimate road game, the Lakers had to face top-ranked C.W. Post. The Lakers

suffered a 4-3 loss, their fi nal defeat to date.

As if the schedule wasn’t hard enough already, the Lakers still had then-No. 1 Limestone and No. 7 New York Tech on the schedule.

“Before the Limestone game, we

had an amazing week of practice. Everything was crisp and pinpoint accurate which added to our confi -dence,” coach Chris Ryan said.

The practice work led the Lakers to a 12-8 victory over Limestone.

Goalie Zach Nash stood at the

heart of the win and has pushed the season’s upward trajectory. The Lakers have not given up 10 goals in one game this season. The reign-ing ECAC goalie of the year had 12 saves against Limestone and was just as critical against New York

Tech.“We proved last year that we need

to be perfect down the stretch,” Nash said. “Being a senior, I want to go out and play the best I can and help the team win.”

After a solid week of practice and the Limestone victory, the team didn’t have the same stellar week of practice headed into the New York Tech game.

“New York Tech has become such a big rivalry game, even though practice wasn’t as solid as I would like, the guys came out and played hard and won (10-8),” Ryan said.

Ryan has said he doesn’t plan on “adding anything new” going forward, but the last two games are must-wins for the Lakers. Win its last two games and Mercyhurst is likely to get the Division II at-large bid.

“If we lose one, then things will become very interesting, and we don’t want that,” he said.

The Lakers are fortunate enough to spend this last week of the season at home, with both Seton Hill and Dominican coming to Erie.

The team will face Seton Hill Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Tullio Field, and Dominican will come to town on Saturday at 1 p.m. The selec-tions for the NCAA tournament are slated for Sunday.

By Spencer HuntSports editor

Senior Zach Nash has been the backbone of the Mercyhurst defense for the last two seasons. Nash has held every opponent this season, including the nations’ top offense in Limestone, to under 10 goals. The Lakers have two games remaining before post-season play begins.

Ethan Magoc photo

Men’s golf having best season in history

Mercyhurst’s men’s golf team is having one of the best seasons in history. The team’s continued hard work and competition since Sep-tember proved successful with their last tournament at the IUP invita-tional.

The men secured a fi fth-place fi nish, earning a selection to the regional competition at the NCAA Division II Golf Championship at the Hershey Links Golf Course in Hummelstown.

This success stemmed from a pair of back-to-back victories. In the 2009-10 season, Tyler Bidwell became the fi rst Mercyhurst golfer

to qualify for the regional compe-tition since Dave Hewett in 1987. Hewett is now an assistant coach for the men’s golf team.

Senior Brian Corbitt has greatly contributed to the team’s success this season, both with his leadership and consistent improvement on the course.

“My career here at Mercyhurst has been great,” said Corbitt, “I am glad that we made it to regionals again.”

Corbitt talked about how the team earning a No. 10 seed in the tournament was a big achievement.

“We are a young team, which makes this such an important accomplishment.” Corbitt said, “It is so perfect this is happening in my senior year. It feels great to go out

on a high note.“If people saw us at the begin-

ning of the season, they would never have said we would make it to where we are now.”

The regional tournament con-cludes Wednesday, and as of May 3, Mercyhurst sits in 16th place, after shooting an 11 under par in the second round for a two round score of 43 over par.

Sophomore Jake Pilarski has a team-high 6 over par after 36 holes of play. Freshman Evan Watkins shot a team best 72 in the second round, and 9 over par overall.

If the Mercyhurst men secure at least a top-fi ve fi nish, they will then qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championship tourna-ment in Florence, Ala.

By Matt CirellStaff writer

The men’s golf team is having its best season in history, en route a NCAA tournament birth.

Sports Information photo

The Mercyhurst baseball team continues its meteoric rise through the nationatal D-II polls.

The Lakers sit at No. 22 according to Collegiate Baseball News and 17th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

After winning 13 of their last 14 games, the Lakers have cap-tured the PSAC West regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the PSAC postseason tourna-ment.

The Lakers have one game remaining before the PSAC tournament.

Baseball earns top seed in PSAC West