The determined women of the Missouri Western tennis team were busy this week, having played a four game stretch at home which ended Saturday against Minnesota State- Mankato.

Western opened the stretch of matches on April 1, against the 26th ranked Washburn Lady Blues. Although the Griffons gave a valiant effort, they ultimately lost, 9-0, Tuesday afternoon.

With freshman Dominique Leone out for the season with an injury, the Griffons had to make some adjustments in their line-up. Lindsey Frisbie was bumped up to No. 2 doubles to play with Shelby Penno. The duo played hard, but fell to Washburn’s Lauren Harris and Rachel Stevens by a score of 8-4. Penno was also moved up to play No. 3 singles, but lost 6-3, 6-1 to Audrie Miller. Freshman Laura Kokuc got her first action of her young career as a Griffon, playing No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles. She would fall short, 6-1, 6-1 to Lauren Harris in singles play. (Full story)

The Western Activities Council has verified “It’s goin’ down” like “in the club” at the Civic Arena for Missouri Western’s annual Spring Concert.

The WAC sponsored event is scheduled for April 10 and will feature rap performers Rick Ross and Yung Joc.
The announcement came officially March 26 through the public relations department a week after WAC presented the performance line-up at an SGA meeting. (Full story)

For those who do not know, the furniture that was once in the Blum Union was moved to the food court on March 7, the Friday before spring break.

This decision was deliberated for several months because of the noise level and behavior that was on going in the union.
Duane Bruce, associate for student development, said the decision was made in response to several occurrences of disruptive behavior in the Blum Student Union.

Bruce explained what would replace the old furniture in the Blum.

“Because it is our intention to make the lounge a place for students to meet and study, we are adding high top tables and chairs to facilitate a better learning and meeting environment,” Bruce said.

Students and staff have very different opinions about the new changes. (Full story)

Students will soon be able to view faculty evaluations of any Missouri college or university on each campus’ Web site.

The Missouri General Assembly passed Senate Bill 389 with an effective date of August ‘07, which requires all institutions of higher education to include faculty names, credentials and student ratings on their Web sites.

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed the bill in May of last year and is quoted on his office’s home page saying, “I applaud Senate members for taking this bold step to … introduce accountability measures … ”

“I don’t know if you have any more accountability,” said associate professor Kenneth Dagel. “We are still responsible to administration to achieve certain (student evaluation) numbers and if they do not believe we are doing a good job we probably won’t be here. That’s our accountability.” (Full story)

Walking through Potter Hall has become a dangerous sport. There are lockers as obstacles and practicing musicians as hurdles in the stairwells.

While construction of the new incubator is underway and a spring groundbreaking is scheduled for the math and science building, fine arts students and faculty want some upgrades, too.

Potter is on the priority list for capital improvement from the state of Missouri; however, it may be there a long while.
“The best we can hope for is four or five years,” said Beth Wheeler, director of external relations at Western. Wheeler feels it could be several years before state funds for the proposed renovations and expansion of Potter Hall are available.
“Capital is not high on the list when operating expenses cannot be met,” Wheeler said. (Full story)

As construction continues on the science and technology incubator, Western approved plans to develop a separate, non-for-profit entity entitled the Missouri Western State University Research Park Corporation.

The Research Park will lease the incubator from Western and manage it on behalf of the university by subleasing it to entrepreneurial tenants.

A master lease will outline the incubator’s conditions of use and explain how the Research Park Corporation benefits those it leases to. Also, the master lease would require the subleases to have stipulations regarding the profits of the tenants. Briggs explained that this structure was very common when looking at other incubators and research parks already established by universities. (Full story)

Bravo to the Western Activities Council. In light of recent criticism about the delay of the announcement, WAC responds by unveiling a major affair that students should be impressed with. Yung Joc and Rick Ross will be coming to St. Joseph, all due to the efforts of WAC. They have enticed two big names of the hip-hop music world to cross our corner of nowhere and put on a double feature. This is a feat that Missouri Western State University should look upon WAC and say job well done.
Rick Ross weighs in at 300 lbs and stands at 6’2’’, which might be why the New York Times described him as a “hip-hop heavyweight.” Just last week he topped billboard charts with his new single “Trilla” and appeared on such hit shows as “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.

(Full story)