Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Friday, Oct. 8, 1999
Volume 88,Issue
Columnist reflects
on Maya Angelou
as inspiration
Page 3
Review: 'That '70s
Show' premiers with
`special brownies'
Page 4
Football team
wins Viking Days
game
Page 6
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Lefse lineup
Food service worker Brita and Director of Food Service Steve Johnson make Iefse from
scratch as a special Viking Days treat last Tuesday in the Commons. Photo by Carrie De Ryter
Photo by Tom Stodola
Advisor Heather Aldridge helps first-year student Kiera Hatton
and sophomore Megan Rohrer practice through mock debate.
The novice team placed third in its most recent tournament.
Group looks for new president
BY BEN SCHUMACHER
MIRROR FORUM EDITOR
The search for a new presi-dent
of Augustana is under
way, and students will have a
say in who it will be.
"Ralph leaves impossible
shoes to be filled," said Sandra
Looney, English professor and
member of the Presidential
Search Committee.
But filling these shoes was
exactly the point of creating
this committee, which met for
the first time on Friday, Oct. 1.
The committee, chaired by Rob
Oliver, the Board of Regents
chair, will compile a list of
traits desired in a presidential
candidate, search for a person
to fill them and make his rec-ommendation
to the Board of
Regents.
The Presidential Search
Committee is composed of
seven Board of Regents mem-bers
(including Oliver and
Vance Goldammer, vice-chair
of the board), two faculty
members (Looney and Jim
Meader), and one 'member
from each of the following:
support staff (Mary Jane Min-nig),
administrative staff (Doug
Noteboom), the student body
(Matt Jensen) and the alumni
(Doug Olson). The 13 mem-bers
will compile the opinions
from their respective groups
and bring that information to
the committee's next meeting,
to be held on Friday, Dec. 3.
"The effort here is to be an
all-inclusive one," Oliver said.
"We are seeking input from all
groups."
The committee will receive
that input via surveys, which
will be made available to all
members of each group by the
end of next week. The informa-tion
will then be deciphered
and organized by the represen-tatives
from each group.
Senior Matt Jensen is the rep-resentative
for the student body.
"It's quite an honor to sit on
this committee," he said. "I'll
be able to get a feel for what
the students are really looking
for."
The survey asks for impor-tant
characteristics in a presi-dential
candidate, issues that
Augustana faces and that need
attention, any nominations for
candidates and any other sug-
Presidential search
continued on page 8
Transfer, part-time
students decrease
BY GARRICK A. MORITZ
MIRROR STAFF WRITER
Last week the registrar
reported that the number of
incoming full-time transfer stu-dents
has dropped 20 percent,
and the total number of part-time
students has dropped 12
percent since last year.
John Bylsma, registrar and
associate academic dean,
explained that for the transfer
students, percentages are one
thing and numbers are another.
"When you have small num-ber
(of students), then a relative
number of people makes a pret-ty
big percentage difference,"
Bylsma said. This year Augus-tana
had 87 transfer students.
Last year there were 108, and
in 1997 there were 81 transfer
students. These numbers can be
attributed to simple fluctuation.
However, even though the
part-time students share the
same kind of percentage drops,
Augustana intentionally cut
that population of students.
Since 1991, the number of
graduate and undergraduate
Student numbers
continued on page 8
Debaters finish third at Wheaton
BY KIM KARLI
MIRROR STAFF WRITER
Augustana debaters made an
impressive showing at their last
tournament.
The two teams that partici-pated
placed third in their
respective divisions at the
Wheaton College Fall Invita-tional,
Sept. 25 in Wheaton, Ill.
In the open division, the team
of senior Mike Muilenburg and
junior Megan Rohrer repre-sented
Augustana. The division
consisted of 20 teams made up
of the most experienced col-lege
debaters.
In the 15-team novice di vi-sion,
the team of first-year stu-dents
Kiera Hatton and Kristin
Barnett competed. Heather
Aldridge, advisor of the debate
team, was pleased with the
results.
"It's quite remarkable that
our novice debaters ended up
in third place, considering they
have little to no prior experi-ence,"
she said. "Last year was
a tough year. We had many
new people and lost a lot of
good debaters to graduation.
This year, however, should be
strong."
Members of the two teams
also were happy with the results.
"The tournament was fairly
competitive," Rohrer said.
"But because it is the begin-ning
of a fresh season, it's real-ly
more about the defining of
our skills."
Hatton also commented on
the level . of stress. "We debated
almost constantly from 8:30
a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Satur-day,"
she said.
The debate team usually
attends five to seven tourna-ments
a year, and debaters pre-pare
extensively for each one.
The next tournament for the
debaters will be Oct. 15-17 at
Emporia (Kan.) State University.