UVU Review, 2012-10-08

              Womens soccer on the tj rebound, B2 Marriase in Utah Vallsy, B4 Ron Paul to visit campus, A5 1 r-v. I 1 V t i i ! f The Independent Student Voice uvureview.com mi w Snubbed no longer: Wolverines getWAC invite rrrr7fl Post-season hopes get brighter for UVU athletics By Kevin Olsen Sports Editor After coming so close a year ago only to be rejected, the Western Athletic Conference has officially extended an invite to Utah Valley University for membership. According Neil Warner of the Daily Herald, "a source close to the school's athletic department" broke the news early Friday afternoon. It's rumored on Facebook and around campus that the school has a press conference scheduled for Oct. 9 in the UCCU Center. The press conference will hopefully reveal more information along with an official statement from the school in regards to the WAC invitation. The timing all seemed to make sense for the school. UVU Athletic Director Mike Jacobsen has worked for an invite into a larger conference in the past. Last year's Sports Editor for the UVU Review, Matt Petersen, reported that Utah Valley was rejected and denied an invite into the WAC, following which, the conference accepted Seattle University to fill the spot. Jacobsen seemed to be dropping hints to the UVU Review earlier last week in regards to the invitation, specifically during an interview with sports contributor Garrett Coleman and news contributor Tyler Gray. "I'm convinced that in a very, very short period of time, we're all going to be getting together and having a press conference and be very, very excited about a big, all-sports conference that UVU is going to be a part of, " Jacobsen said. Following the news on Friday afternoon, Jacobsen's statement seems to be clearly talking about the conference change. Utah Valley will be leaving the Great West Conference and will begin play in the WAC for the 2013 season. The GWC cur rent teams include Chicago State University, Houston Baptist University, NJ1T, and University of Texas-Pan America. Also joining the WAC in the 2013 season will be Cal State Ba-kersfield. UVU and Cal St. will be joining Idaho, Denver, Seattle and New Mexico State. Utah Valley is no stranger to conference championships so if their performance in the GWC can be matched in the WAC, then UVU could be seeing their first ever NCAA tournament bid, something that comes automati cally as a WAC Champion. Calls were made to the athletics department on campus but no further information was given. "We are not commenting right now on anything and I can't confirm anything right now," said Clint Burgi, Assistant AD for Sports Information. "We are still working everyday as per usual. We have obviously been in contact with the WAC. It's our goal to join a conference like the WAC." He continued, "We saw Neil's article and we are running with it but we cannot confirm anything." Former professor presented with peace award r M 11 t - MALLORY BLACKA1VU REVIEW Behavioral science scholar, Kathryn French, was recognized by the Gandhi Alliance for Peace By Mallory Black News Editor mblack47 ' Acclaimed for her project, "The Oral History of Utah's Peace Activists," which includes a collection of 155 interviews from peace activists across the state, former UVU professor Kathryn French was named the 2012 recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award at a ceremony held Sunday, Sept. 30 at Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park. . - Dressed in a cobalt blue shirt and a long, turquoise skirt, the behavioral science scholar accepted the award from Allan Smart, vice president of Gandhi Alliance for Peace, a non-profit organization based out of Utah, in front of a crowd of 175 community members. "I consider this award to represent all of the Utah peace activists, not only the ones who have been interviewed, but all of you," French said. "The goals of this project have been to preserve historical stories of people and events in Utah, and to record motivations and personalities of these wonderful heroes and heroines." The Oral History of Utah's Peace Activists has been a project six years in the making. The archive, most of which has been transcribed and is available online, includes interviews from former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, UVU senior artist in residence Alex Caldiero and Stanley Holmes, a Vietnam War veteran whose activism be-, gan when he returned to the states after the war. . Debuted i n March 20 1 2 , teachers, musicians and health and community advocates are also included among the interviews. French said she considered the award for her project a "double honor." "I got my real rewards from getting to know the activists," French said. "This award is icing on the cake." Micheal Iroz, French's stepson, said he was surprised when French told him the news of the award. "It's really exciting, she certainly deserves it. She See PEACE AWARD, A3 i il rite W W ) i fVA DO YOU THINK HAVING A FOOTBALL TEAM WOULD INCREASE SCHOOL SPIRIT? 7 v. IF UVU HAD A FOOTBALL TEAM, WOULD YOU GOTO A GAME? DO YOU THINK UVU IS READY FOR A '7 FOOTBALL PROGRAM? X. J A recent survey of 225 UVU students was performed to get a feeling of how a football team would be received. Despite being the fastest growing school in the state, UVU lacks one key element others have By Tyler Gray and Garrett Coleman Football has become ahighly-favored sport in the U.S. and some even believe it has surpassed baseball as America's favorite sport. With professional and college football seasons in full swing, many students hope that UVU will have a football team one day, but is that really the case? The prospect of a UVU football team has been a topic of debate for the past few years, and questions have only increased since Utah Valley State College transitioned to a university in July 2008. There are however a few obstacles standing in the way of a UVU football program, specifically the financial environment in which all universities find themselves, the school's academics and UVU's current athletic conference."The fact of the matter is, football programs are very expensive propositions and we're in the middle of a tough financial environment right as we've moved to become a university," President Matthew Holland said. "We have some really fundamental needs to build out the academic programming in support of the institution and that has to be first and foremost in my mind." Holland further elaborated on the various factors that would have to be overcome in order to start the process. "If we can get into a conference, that needs to happen, then we have to take assessments year by year to say, 'What does the financial picture look like? What does our academic programming look like?' Once those things get put into place then I think the institution can think about a football program. But we're not there right now," Holland said. Financially speaking, it's hard to undertake an endeavor like starting a football program from scratch. Athletic Director Mike Jacobson also commented on the financial aspects of a football program. "It's tough when the economy is down and there are faculty members that aren't getting any raises," Jacob-son said. "Then to start a program like football, which is an expensive program to get started, football will pay for itself. So after a short period of time it's not going to be a drain, but initially to get it started it would. We would love to play football. It would be great for our community, great for our university, great for our students." Aside from finances, UVU must first get into an athletic conference that I think the institution can think about a football program. But we're not there right now. PRES. MATTHEW HOLLAND not only includes football, but that is a better fit geographically. Holland is making it a priority to move UVU into a larger conference. "My biggest push this first part of my administration has been what can we do to get into a better conference," Holland said. "It's the thing that all sports need and it's the thing you have to do before football." Jacobson echoed his sentiment regarding a better conference for UVU. "I think it's important that our students know that for the last five years specifically, we've worked really hard to get into a regional all-sports conference that would accept us," Jacobson said. There are a few reasons why UVU hasn't already moved to an improved conference. First, the university will not rush into a situation that isn't beneficial. For this reason there area number of conferences that make more sense than others. "The fact that we don't have football is a plus for us right now," Holland said. "Due to conference expansion in football, select conferences have chosen to move forward without football and that is where UVU can carve out a niche." Secondly, UVU's GRAPHIC BY NICK BLUTH AND DREW MILTON own history can be a hindrance to some. "For a lot of different reasons we haven't been accepted at this point," Jacobson said. "A lot of presidents have trouble with us being a junior college just ten years ago and now being a university today. They don't look at our academia at the level that it is and needs to be recognized at, even though we've been very competitive athletically." UVU administration is working hard and prospects of a football team are slowly getting better. The university is poised to move quickly when a better situation comes along by implementing conference affiliation fees and with the recent purchase of 100 acres of land. "We have purchased that land for expansion for the state's fastest-growing school," Holland said. "The immediate plan is to have intramural fields, then we will take it year by year." Both Holland and Jacobson are optimistic that a move to a better conference will happen soon. "I'm convinced that in a very, very short period of time, we're all going to be getting together and having a press conference and be very, very excited about a big, all-sports conference that UVU is going to be a part of," Jacobson said. Either way, a majority of students feel that UVU is ready for a football team and would be there to support it. Unfortunately they will have to be patient and wait for that day to come.