THE AUGUSTANA
Friday MIRROR Vol. XCV
October 20, 2006 No. 5
ESTABLISHED 1908 I SIOUX FALLS, S.D.
Referred Law 6
ignites tension
Kaeti Hinck/The Mirror
Sophomore Johanna Snow (left) and freshman Agatta Ngweshemi encourage students to
vote at a table located in the Commons across from the mailboxes.
By Kelly Score
Mirror Guest Writer
Having Augustana's El-men
Center packed with
over 4,000 people by 7:00
p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 25
is a goal of Union Board of
Governors (UBG) co-gov-ernors
Mallory Larsen and
Christina Hausman.
The band Widespread
Panic will be performing
nearly a four hour show
for the second Big Event
held at Augustana. The
By Kari Kintner
Mirror Guest Writer
The debate over House
Bill 1215 is stirring up mixed
reactions in Augustana stu-dents.
A poster reading, "If the
fetus you are fighting to save
was gay, would you still work
as hard?" posted in Com-mons
stairways caused sev-eral
students to be offended.
"They're attacking, and
they know pro-life is often
conservative and against en-couragement
of homosexu-ality:'
sophomore Hayley
Herauf said. "I don't believe
people are born gay, and I
thought it was a slap in the
face
Junior Bobbie Quade was
so upset by the poster that
she decided to write a letter
to President Rob Oliver.
Quade said she inter-preted
it as something that
"pointed fingers" and "tried
to start an argument that's
completely based on as-sumptions
and stereotypes."
She was also disturbed by the
lack of group association on
the poster.
Jeff Venekamp, Augusta-na's
director of student ac-tivities
and the one in charge
of monitoring the posters put
up in the Commons, does
not encourage posters with-out
names or organizations
attached.
"It's rather gutless to not
put your name on some-thing:'
Venekamp said.
However, Venekamp does
not find the poster offensive,
and he believes the poster
asks an interesting question
and presents provocative
thought.
He believes it is an im-portant
part of a liberal arts
education to offer exposure
to multiple expressions and
implications. He says posters
can have multiple interpreta-tions,
but he would rip down
those that promote alcohol
consumption or present
something extremely offen-sive.
"I am disappointed this
group had signs removed by
people who weren't willing to
let an alternative viewpoint
be heard:' Venekamp said.
See ABORTION, page 11
Photo courtesy of widespreadpanic.com
Basketball
moves to
S.F. Arena
By Ashley White
Mirror Staff Writer
The Augustana College Board
of Trustees decided to hold the
six men and women's North
Central Conference basketball
games at the Sioux Falls Arena in
September 2005. Students and
administration hold contradict-ing
viewpoints on this change
as the school prepares to imple-ment
the transition in January.
A 12-member task force for
Augustana athletics initiated the
decision and played an influen-tial
part throughout the process.
The committee was made up of
Augustana Booster Club Board
members, corporate sponsors,
faculty and administration.
Conference games were held
at the Elmen Center in past
years, allowing students the con-venience
of walking across cam-pus
to attend the events. Ad-ministration
argued that while
this was accommodating to the
students, members of the com-munity
lost touch with Augus-tana
athletics as a result.
Athletic Director Bill Gross,
a task force member, defended
the decision. "The primary rea-son
for the decision was to try to
bring Augustana to more people
in the community in an environ-ment
where we felt we could get
to new people. It's part of Augie
reaching out to the community,"
he said.
The Sioux Falls Arena will
hold roughly 7,000 people and
offer elderly fans chair-back
seating, a comfort not available
in the Elmen Center. Ideas of
remodeling the Elmen Center
were discussed but quickly dis-missed
by committee members.
"All of the remodeling to
make it more fan-friendly causes
See BASKETBALL , page 11
Widespread Panic visits Elmen
co-governors teamed up touring at a given time.
with Director of Student "You can't just call up
Activities Jeff Venekamp any band and ask them to
to choose the band. come to Sioux Falls:' Haus-
The three went through man said.
a long and intricate process After looking at which
before finally choosing the artists are touring, the co-band.
This process began governors are faced with
at www.pollstar.com. Ac- the need to see which
cording to Hausman, the bands will be touring near
Web site houses up-to- Sioux Falls in a specific
date lists of artists who are time period. In addition
currently touring across to this, a deciding factor
the United States. Getting is if an artist fits within
a specific artist depends
on whether or not they are See PANIC, page 11 Widespread Panic
Low S.D. teacher salary concerns students
By Kasey Wassenaar
Mirror Staff Writer
South Dakota is the lowest
ranked state in the nation for
teacher salaries. Low salaries are
driving teachers to other states or
to other forms of employment.
According to the American
Federation of Teachers' (AFT)
South Dakota is one of 28 states
where the increase in average
teacher salary is lower than the
national rate of inflation, with
the average teacher salary at
$34,040.
"Unfortunately a lot of our
grads do go elsewhere because
of better salaries," said Sharon
Andrews, chair of the education
department at Augustana.
Many of South Dakota's
teachers are finding it more dif-ficult
remain in the teaching
profession as their lives begin
to develop, and they start fami-lies.
This causes teachers to work
more than one job or quit and
find employment elsewhere, said
Bob Kiner, academic dean and
vice president of academic af-fairs
for Augustana.
"We lost some of our finest
teachers to other industries be-cause
they couldn't support their
families the way they need to,"
Kiner said.
Senior Megan Enger, presi-dent
of the Augustana College
Education Association (ACEA),
said she would love to stay and
See EDUCATION, page 12
Sharon Andrews
Three reasons you
should read this issue:
1 Reasons to get out
and vote on Nov. 7.
Page 3
2 Ole the Viking graces
the beer pong scene.
Page 5
3 Football wins in final
seconds of the game.
Page 11