Month: October 2014

Vol. 93, Iss. 3 Editors Kimberly Bennett Editor-in-Chief Mindy Allen Assistant Editor Emily Lucia Assistant Editor / Web Manager Editing Team Mindy Allen Kimberly Bennett Emily Lucia Donna Bick* In This Issue Mindy Allen Sharon Beard Kimberly Bennett Donna Bick Joseph Blasdel, Ph.D. Katie Herath Earnest Johnson Emily Lucia Benjamin Richter Jenna Teetor Natalie Van Booven Chelsey Wheeler Connor White * volunteer The McKendree Review is a student-run organization of McKendree University. The mission of The McKendree Review is to give students the opportunity to learn the news process and publish articles pertaining to their opinions and ideas. The staff does not agree with all statements and opinions, which rightfully belong to their writers. The McKendree Review Office can be found in Eise...

Hello everyone! First of all, we printed our first issue last Tuesday, and if you have not checked out the printed copy, you can find the McKendree Review all around campus, especially in 1828, PAC and Ames. We want to thank all of you who helped us with all of the articles. We would like to formally apologize to Benjamin Richter as his name is not Eric Richter as stated in the “In This Issue” section of the printed edition. We have corrected his name in the online version and are incredibly sorry for the mishap. In this issue, in addition to the articles you have read (or did not read) in the printed edition, there is a write-up regarding our school’s debate team, there are more pictures and videos for you to watch. Enjoy!

There’s more to the Bearcat than What Meets the Eye! BY KIMBERLY BENNETT Editor-in-Chief A few days into the 2014-15 academic year, McKendree University installed a new Bearcat statue in front of Holman Library as a way to begin a great semester. While some students welcome the statue with open arms, others are curious as to why McKendree bothered spending money on a mascot statue rather than a statue of the school’s founder, William McKendree. Makes sense, do you not agree? I, myself, wondered the same thing, but after interviewing Joni Bastian, Ph.D., who co-led the project with President James Dennis, Ph.D., I am satisfied with her answers. Hopefully, others will be too. Had I known the Bearcat statue was something a majority of students wanted, I would have been less harsh on the pro...

BY MINDY ALLEN Staff Writer Sometime after the week of Sept. 15, Alton Street is scheduled to be closed for road construction, as long as weather or other issues do not cause further delays. The project is following previous construction, which moved the water line from under the street to beside the street. The past road construction explains why the street was half rock, half pavement during the beginning of the semester. Sally Mayhew, McKendree’s Vice President for Administration and Finance explains that the road construction is “all in the name of progress” and Alton will be “a very nice street with curbs and gutters.” When the construction finally begins, the road will be closed to through traffic, and it is important for McKendree students to know how to navigate around the constru...

BY KATIE HERATH Staff Writer Between 1890 and 1893, Reverend Thomas H. Herdman served as president of McKendree College, serving one of the shortest terms for a president in McKendree’s history. So What makes this president interesting, and why did he only hold this position for three years? Thomas Herdman attended three different colleges, the last being McKendree, where he received his A.M. and D.D. (Associates and Doctorate in Divinity). While serving as a pastor in the Southern Illinois Methodist Conference, he pastored the church in Lebanon twice, spending a large portion of his life as a resident of the town. Shortly after receiving his D.D., he was asked to fill the vacant seat of president of McKendree College, following Isaiah Villar’s sudden departure of the seat. During his a...

BY EARNEST JOHNSON Contributing Writer Earnest Johnson, new to McKendree University, seeks to share with the university his experience in the Google Student Ambassador program. Johnson is a junior majoring in Business Management and a transfer from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Over the summer, Johnson had the opportunity to attend one of Google’s training sessions in Mountain View, California as a part of the ambassador program. Throughout the year, Johnson plans to host fun events on campus as well as introduce fellow students to the latest Google products and programs. He is currently working on organizing a new campus organization and is excited to begin this first year as a Bearcat. For more information and/or ideas you would like to share, “like” and “message” Google at M...

Over the summer, McKendree University hired a total of 12 new faculty and staff members during the summer of 2014. For the next several issues, the McKendree Review plans to publish profiles for each of our new faculty and staff members, but for now, we simply want to welcome them to the family. The following names of the new faculty and staff members was provided by our dean, Christine Bahr, Ph.D so we would like to thank Dr. Bahr for generously sending us their names. Janice Albers, M.S.N.* || Division of Nursing S.J. Creek, Ph.D. || Division of Social Sciences Sameer Dutta, Ph.D. || Division of Computing Elizabeth Erickson, Ph.D. || School of Business Allison Fahsl, Ph.D. || School of Education Haliman Herjanto, Ph.D. || School of Business Kim Yun-Hee, Ph.D. || School of Business Angela...

BY NATALIE VAN BOOVEN Staff Writer NOTE: Because this story is still happening (the most recent event being the blockade of Interstate 70), I will focus on the first 17 days of events, from the shooting to the funeral.DAYS 1-5 The first and most important event is the shooting itself. At noon on Aug. 9, a police officer (later revealed to be Darren Wilson) left a call concerning a sick child. Unaware of the convenience store robbery that allegedly happened 10 minutes earlier, Wilson saw Michael Brown walking in the middle of the road. Depending on the account, Brown might or might not have been stopping traffic, but that did not stop Wilson from confronting and eventually shooting Brown. After Brown’s death came a series of peaceful memorials. Following one candlelight vigil, however, s...

BY DONNA BICK Staff Writer Have you heard of A.L.P.H.A? A.L.P.H.A. stands for Amazing Ladies Pursuing Holistic Appreciation. It is a registered student organization comprised of mainly African American females, but all ethnicities and genders are welcome and highly encouraged to attend meetings and functions. Jessica Lewis is the President of A.L.P.H.A. and Nicole Stamps (also known as Shamika Brown-Stamps) is Vice President. A.L.P.H.A. is designed as a support group. As you already know, college life can be extremely stressful with homesickness, tensions, relationship struggles, homework, deadlines and so many more concerns that affect students’ daily lives. A.L.P.H.A. is a wonderful organization comprised of intelligent, caring, compassionate, friendly women who support each other and...

BY EMILY LUCIA Assistant Editor While the weather begins to cool down in the early days of September, the official start of fall does not begin until Sept. 22. This is known as the Autumnal Equinox. Scientifically, an equinox is when there is an equal amount of daylight and nighttime. This occurs twice a year, in the fall and in the Spring. But historically, the equinoxes are tied to mythological and traditional events going all the way back to the Ancient Greeks (though a majority of their celebrations occur during the solstices, but that’s for another article in another issue). In Ancient Greece, the Greeks recognized Autumn as the time of year when Persephone, wife of Hades and daughter of Zeus and Demeter, would return to the Underworld. They called this Mabon. If you do not know the ...