Rec Center Reaction Article

Rec Center Reaction: Let the Circuses Begin!

By Jason McGill

Senior, Mass Media major

It wasn’t until I went to the groundbreaking ceremony on April 16 for the University Recreation Center that I finally understood what it was all about.

The ceremony took place on a breezy, cloudy afternoon capping nearly two weeks of the best weather spring had to offer.  A long line of luminaries ascended to the stage to laud the project and thank those who needed thanks.  Student Government Association thanked the administration, the administration thanked the students, and everyone thanked the donors.  President Nietzel took some time to recognize the close, “special” relationship between SGA and the administration.  They are close.  Very close.  Very very close.

And I felt like a killjoy.  There were actual storm clouds looming over the stage, rushing toward us on ever stronger gusts of wind.  Seeing the storm on the horizon, I couldn’t help but think of the budget cuts and tuition hikes afflicting many other state schools, cuts we’ve been asked to prepare for, cuts that must inevitably come.  Why doesn’t preparedness extend to making some sober decisions about how our economic outlook has changed since 2006, when the Rec Center project got underway?

Many justifications were given at the groundbreaking for the Rec Center.  These arguments centered on the three main points President Nietzel described in his time at the podium.  The first was promotion of wellness.  Andrew Garton, Student Co-chair of the Rec Center task force, observed MSU had been named fourteenth fattest campus in the nation in 2005. 

I wonder what criteria were used to compile the study, and whether “lack of giant new recreation center” was the primary reason for our low score.  I suspect the study looked at a whole host of factors, diet and exercise habits of students probably being chief among them. 

Wellness depends on the many choices each individual makes every day.  All the Rec Centers in the world won’t help people who are already finding ways to avoid exercise.  Fancy machines or new facilities aren’t necessary to improve health.  Since when does cardio require more than a sidewalk?  Since when does strength training require more than gravity?  The key element in physical fitness is the will to work on it.

President Nietzel and others also were proud to tout the building’s “green” certification.  I, for one, am skeptical of any building on campus certified “green” when they can’t even certify Craig Hall as “leak free.”

This “green” certification is part of this myth that we need to buy our way into environmental responsibility.  It’s often more efficient to repurpose or refurbish old buildings rather than consume resources to construct, maintain, and run utilities in a new “green” building.  Remember the old slogan, “reduce, reuse, recycle”?

Finally, President Nietzel said the Rec Center represents the University’s fulfillment of its commitment to students.  Many speakers emphasized the Rec Center providing much needed space for socializing.  Really?  SGA and the administration looked around and said, “There aren’t enough places for students to hang out”?

I’m the first one to admit, while students are spirited in their own activities and interests, campus spirit is lacking in general.  Witness the low attendance at sports games, or the low attendance, not only at the rally against the Rec Center, but also the groundbreaking for the Rec Center.  But is lack of structures really the issue?  Somehow, I don’t think so.

So I’m thinking all this during these speeches, looking at the artist’s rendering of the Rec Center above the stage, and it occurs to me the thing looks sort of like an amusement park.  Then it all started falling into place.  The Rec Center’s basically a playground, a waterslide, a new toy.  Ironically, the Rec Center’s a bit like picking up that chocolate bar in the grocery checkout line.  You know you shouldn’t, but it’s fun.  What’s so bad about feeling good?

What is thirty million dollars, anyway?  Students would never vote for a fee for boring things like hiring teachers or creating scholarships.  Did you know the Rec Center will have a zip line?  Hooray!  Donors can’t brag about fixing leaky pipes or ridding buildings of mold.  They want to put plaques in the Rec Center lounge.  Did you know the lounge will be decked out with dozens of flat panel televisions?  Now that’s green!

People criticize the Romans because, at the height of the empire, they spent almost half the year celebrating holidays.  As the shovels hit the dirt for the Rec Center groundbreaking, and the band played our fight song, I shrugged and thought, “When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.”  Life is too short to always be prudently planning for the future. 

To end the groundbreaking ceremony, they released hundreds of maroon and white balloons.  The wind picked up and tipped over the American flag on the stage, knocking it into the podium.  The gusts pushed the balloons away from the stage and hard into Freddy.  Several balloons were caught in the tree out front.  I turned my back on the stage and its canopy of storm clouds to watch the balloons sail off into a bright blue patch of sky.  That’s when I realized the lesson in all this; maybe the best way to deal with an impending storm is to just look the other way.  Let the circuses begin!

Video Game Article

Video Games, an addiction?

By Jason McGill

Mike and Steve are brothers.  Mike attends Missouri State University and Steve is starting at Ozark Technical Community College this year.  They didn’t want to use their real names because they are revealing a habit that can be embarrassing to talk about, excessively playing video games.

How much is excessive?  Both men said they play more than they should.  Steve said he’ll play nine hours on his days off from work and a couple of hours on work days as well. 

Mike admitted, “[At the height of my gaming,] I would be pissed at myself if I didn’t play 25 to 30 hours just on the weekends.”  Though he said in the last few months, he’s spent closer to 20 hours a week playing.

Both spoke of the sense of achievement they felt from playing, even while acknowledging it was all virtual.  “I love the teamwork aspect,” Mike said, “how everyone has a job to do and we all rely on each other to get things done.” 

Steve liked how games are always available.  “Doesn’t matter what time it is, you can always play.  It’s easy; it’s a good way to fill time,” he said.

Behaviors like these are having an impact on college students all over the country.  According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment, 10.8 percent of students reported internet use or computer games had a negative impact on their academic performance, compared to 11.2 percent for depression and 4.0 percent for alcohol use.  Sleep difficulties were reported by 19.3 percent of students, some of which may be caused by late nights of gaming or internet use.

“I’ll get home from work at eleven,” Steve said, “and I’ll be like, I’m only going to play for an hour, and suddenly it’s three in the morning.”

“It’s not that I put off this or that specific thing to play,” Mike said, “but I’ll be so tired the next day that I won’t do as much as I want to or need to.”

Dorothy Warner, in Current Psychiatry, wrote video games facilitate, “the experience of ‘flow’ -- a mental state of positive energy and effortless focus.”  She compares it to the sensation reported by athletes and artists, including how time seems to become distorted.

Liz Woolley is the founder of On-Line Gamers Anonymous, whose website, www.olganon.org, supports an online community helping people recover from the problems caused by excessive game playing.  She believes warnings about excessive gaming should get equal time in university programs with warnings to students about drug and alcohol abuse.

“The gaming companies spend millions of dollars a year on ‘research’ [sic] to try to figure out how to keep the gamer,” Woolley said.  “Supposedly, it is better than drugs or alcohol, but I don’t think so.”

The OLGA website offers a list of over 40 questions people can use to assess their relationship with gaming.  Some of the questions in this self assessment describe symptoms commonly associated with alcoholism, such as, “Do you try to hide how long you've been gaming?” and “Have you missed work/school because of your game playing?”  It’s offered as a guide, not a diagnostic tool, with the website telling visitors, “You must determine if you think excessive gaming is a problem.”

Whether excessive gaming amounts to addiction is still an open question.  As reported in Current Psychiatry, the American Medical Association determined last June the evidence was insufficient to conclude this activity is an addiction.  The report said the American Psychiatric Association may consider adding gaming or internet addiction to its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-V, due to be published in 2012.

Woolley supports the addition of a gaming diagnosis to call more attention to the problem, but she doesn’t like the word “addiction.”

“Some people call it excessive gaming, others say obsessive, others say compulsive, others use gaming addiction,” Woolley said.  “We tell a person, if they think they have a problem with excessive gaming, they probably do,” she said.

Woolley also urges more research to be done on the effects of excessive play on the brain.  “I have seen day after day, the effects excessive gaming can have on a person’s life,” she said, “it is very sad.”

Mike said during his heaviest playing, in 2007, he has trouble remembering what happened outside the game.  “It’s weird, it’s like everything I value, my family and friends, just disappeared,” he said. 

“A year of my life is gone, and I know how, but I don’t really remember why I did those things.  That’s what’s scary,” Mike said.

Dr. Doug Greiner, Director of the Counseling and Testing Center here at MSU, shies away from the word “addiction” in connection with gaming as well.  He describes addiction as involving chemical and biological changes in the brain, as well as social and behavioral effects.  Dr. Greiner said behaviors like obsessive, uncontrollable thinking about gaming are symptoms he doesn’t see often.

“Usually, behaviors like these are symptomatic of avoiding other activities, like going to class or going out with friends,” he said.  In this way, excessive gaming or internet use can mask deeper problems such as social phobias, depression, or other addictions.

Steve acknowledged, since he’s moved back from Kansas City, he plays games more and goes out drinking less.  “Now that I’m back here,” he said, “I don’t really know anyone anymore and playing video games really fills the time where I used to be partying a lot.”

Steve’s experience of adjusting to a new social setting mirrors that of many college freshmen.  Woolley said freshmen are more vulnerable to excessive, habitual playing.  “This may be their first time away from home,” she said, “They may feel overwhelmed with life as an ‘adult.’  They may be failing some classes.  An easy escape is gaming.”

Dr. Greiner said that freshmen do typically go through an adjustment period, but they are not any more at risk than other students.  “You usually see, as time goes on, freshmen getting more involved with classes and with activities at the dorm and so on, and so I would say anyone is at risk,” he said.

“Anybody can get pulled too far into it because it's not something they ever think they have to be careful about," said Peter Mastroianni, Health-Education Coordinator of the State University of New York at Stony Brook to The Chronicle of Higher Education. "They know about the risks of drugs and sex, but who ever thinks they have to approach a computer carefully? Their guards are down," he said.

How can students be on guard?  Dr. Greiner said this kind of problem develops slowly over time.  Students may notice more and more preoccupation with the game or the internet, manifesting in avoiding commitments, cutting class, or missing assignments.  He said a particular warning sign would be spending extraordinary amounts of money on your habit, and borrowing or even stealing to support it.

Dr. Greiner also suggested using common sense.  “We’ve all been there, where we look up something on the internet and ten minutes later we look up and say, How did I get to this site?”

Woolley said to remember to not let any one thing dominate your time.  “We promote balance in a person’s life,” she said, “Do all things in moderation.”

The Counseling and Testing Center at MSU has counselors experienced in dealing with gaming and internet compulsion.  Students seeking help with these or other issues can visit their offices at Carrington Hall, Room 311 or call them at 836-5116.  The Center also encourages students whose friends may be showing signs of trouble to contact them for a consultation about the best way to help.

The OLGA website, www.olganon.org, has many active forums for gamers or friends and family of gamers dealing with the fallout from excessive gaming problems.  They also host live weekly chats and can help find face-to-face counselors.  Their services are free and anonymous.

“When I was at my worst, I was deep in denial about it,” Mike said, “I would keep making plans to cut back and control it, but they never worked.”  The futility of these efforts, Mike said, lead him to see the extent of the problem and begin to make real changes.

Mike is going cold turkey from games this semester, taking it as far as deleting Minesweeper and Solitare from his computer.  Steve said once he gets into school, he’ll be able to put down the games and focus on studies.  Neither one ruled out seeing a counselor if gaming continues to be a problem.  They also will be supporting each other.

“Besides,” Steve said, “if I’m not doing well in school, then it’s like I’m wasting my tuition money, and I work too hard for my money to be wasting it.”

To see our complete interview with Liz Woolley, including her list of warning signs students should look for, please visit our website at www.msu-underground.com

SGA article

SGA Records Policy Disservice to Students, Conflicts with Laws

By Jason McGill

As the Student Government Association transitions into the 09/10 session, the new administration would do well to look into record keeping practices at SGA that are at best suspicious and at worst illegal.

On February 23, The Underground requested SGA budget and attendance records going back to 2005, the year that SGA became wholly funded by student fees.  It took 18 days for SGA to produce this year’s budget. The attendance information provided for the current year was incomplete, as it didn’t list the names or total number in attendance for many of the meetings. 

For budget and attendance information from years past, we were referred by Courtney Wendell, junior and SGA’s Director of Public Relations, to the SGA archive in Meyer Library.  However, there were no recent attendance records, and the most recent complete budget in the archive dates from 1993, twenty-six years ago.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law states that all records of public governmental bodies, with certain explicit exceptions, shall be open to public inspection.  The Law also mandates that such bodies appoint a custodian of records, who will respond within three business days in writing to any records request.  The Law states that in the minutes of public meetings, a record of members both absent and present will be included.

Currently, SGA minutes do not include information on attendance.  Jon Stubblefield, sophomore and SGA’s Sergeant-at-Arms, said his sign-in sheets, the method of taking attendance at Senate meetings, are used primarily to track absences and determine if a quorum is present.  “When I first took on the position, I don't know if I counted everyone in attendance, but since January I've had a numerical count,” he said.  Overall attendance numbers and trends are not collected or reported to anyone.

Additionally, in the Bylaws of the Senate, Article I, Section 2, Paragraph A states that minutes will be available in the Senate office and, “on the SGA website no later than 5:00 p.m. one day prior to the next meeting.”  The minutes from February 17, 24 and from March 3 weren’t on the website until March 13.  As of this printing, minutes from SGA meetings since March 3 are not on the website.  Far from a small matter, Article IV, Section 9, Paragraph D of the SGA Constitution states that SGA officers are subject to impeachment by the Senate for, “failure to uphold this constitution and it’s bylaws.”

Nick Maddux, leader of the College Republicans and a former SGA Senator, said accountability is the number one issue that needs to be addressed in the Senate, and that a better system of accountability would help attract and retain quality Senators.  “You have thirty or so Senators that are good Senators, that do their office hours.  I'll bet half the Senate doesn't sit their office hours,” he said.

SGA does not have a custodian of records position, but Ashley Hoyer, junior and SGA’s Chief of Staff, said that she is in charge of keeping records and uploading minutes to the website.  When asked if SGA had something equivalent to an Inspector General or Government Accountability Office, Hoyer said, “Our Senate is our accountability office.”  However, in the SGA Constitution, the Senate is not given the power to conduct investigations, compel witnesses, or audit records.

Maddux said that some Senators use their position to pad their resumes.  “Not all, but some Senators speak out and raise motions just to make it look like they’re doing something,” he said.

Without complete records or a clear charge of responsibility for checking and auditing those records, accountability becomes impossible.  For example, Wendell said there were significant decreases in the amount of payroll taken by the cabinet in the past couple of years.  “I’ve only taken six hours this semester.  Whitney [Paul] works entirely for free,” Wendell said.  As of December 2008, salaries accounted for forty cents of the one dollar charge each student pays to support SGA.  This is roughly in line with the amount spent in 1993 (thirty-nine percent).  But, without recent budgets to compare, it is impossible to gauge how much progress is being made in saving money, or even whether Wendell’s statement is accurate.

The SGA Senate Archival Act of 2009, passed on February 3 of this year, begins to address the problem of record keeping.  It mandates that all resolutions, memoranda, executive papers, and Campus Judicial Board decisions be delivered to the library archive, and all those documents from the current session and the past two sessions be made available in SGA’s online Document Management System. 

However, attendance and voting records are not addressed in the Act, and neither are budgets.  There is also no mention of a system for organizing the records or summarizing their content, making it onerous for students or SGA members to sift meaningful information from the data.  The Act does not create a system for handling record requests, nor does it charge any officer or committee with investigating and auditing records.  The new administration needs to look into these areas for SGA to become more accountable to the student body and in compliance with state laws and it’s own bylaws.

Reset, possibly moving

So I've removed all the previous posts.  I haven't weeded through them like I wanted, but I may still do that.  Its eighty-six posts, not really that many.

Anyway, my next two or three posts are going to be articles I wrote for the Underground, or at least the text of the articles I have on my computer.  Some of my stuff is on the Underground website, but not all of it.  At least not these pieces.

Also, this may generate automatic updates on Facebook.  I had some system set up for doing that.  If you came here based on those updates excited for new content, I'm sorry to disappoint.  And now, on with the show!

PS, I might chase Nathan over to wordpress.  We'll see.