According to an e-mail sent to Marquette students by Christopher Miller, vice president of Student Affairs, the student was immediately transported to Froedtert Hospital, where he is being treated for “serious injuries.” Campus Ministry has met with the victim’s family at the hospital to offer support and held a prayer service for the student in the Alumni Memorial Union’s Chapel of the Holy Family at 4 p.m. Friday.

The building where the incident occurred, the Balcony Apartments, is located on the intersection of 15^th Street and Kilbourn Avenue and is owned by Shovers Realty. The wire railing the student had been leaning on is now covered by a wooden board, and the Department of Public Safety has posted notices within the building advising students to avoid the balconies.

A representative for Shovers Realty said she was unauthorized to talk about the incident. In his email, Miller said the university was looking into the situation and had contacted Shovers to try to better understand what had happened.

“We have been in touch with both the City of Milwaukee and the building owner to fully understand how the situation occurred,” Miller said.

“This is your education,” he said, handing her the list.

I’ve always been jealous of that story, wishing someone old and wise would scribble out cut-and-dry indexes of things I haven’t figured out yet. Top one hundred comebacks. Fifty cures for insomnia. Ways to stop missing a person. Et cetera, et cetera.

I guess if I have received an alternative education, it’s taken a different shape than a legal pad.

Since starting college, my idea of luxury has changed drastically. Having enough quarters for two loads of laundry now qualifies as a week-maker. Hitching a ride places, and therefore avoiding public transit, is just pure indulgence.

I’m all about community and sharing train seats with strangers, but there’s something sweeter about haphazardly loading meager groceries and garbage bags of clothes in the back of someone’s car, sitting in the passenger seat, and playing with the radio knobs.

There are no better conversations than those had in cars. I’m sure of this. Topics aren’t forced or rushed, like they often are via telephone, but emerge instead as a stream of consciousness: thoughts provoked by song lyrics, questions kindled by DJs.

Last weekend, my dad drove me back to school, setting the scenery to the soundtrack of his smorgasbord of mix CDs. “Impossible Germany” by Wilco came on near the halfway point to Milwaukee.

“This has gotta be my favorite song of theirs,” he said, “even though I have no idea what it means.”

He’s right — the words are a bit of a jumble. But one line translates:

“Nothing more important than to know someone’s listening.”

Before I was hired to write this column, my priorities weren’t much like Jeff Tweedy’s. I valued nothing more than privacy. I kept journals with rubber bands around the edges like an overgrown Harriet the Spy because I loved writing, but only the part that secluded me from reality.

For over a year, I’ve mixed the dirt from my life with the ink on this paper, creating a new reality, page by page, with your help. Some columns required soul searches, others took no more than two hours and a pot of coffee, but regardless of what I’ve put in, you listened.

I’m not saying I deserved it. I’m just saying thank you.

Success in college is based on how well we’re able to listen to people’s life stories and lectures. It’s stifling. It’s exhausting. So if you’ve ever opened up this paper and listened to me gurgle secondhand news and vent about trifles, thank you for your hard-earned attention.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m not a perfect writer. Definitely not the deepest thinker. I don’t have many answers to many questions. I can’t grip a grapefruit, let alone the place we live. I’m a privileged, white college student, in other words, who really can’t offer any more wisdom than the next one.

What I do know is that I’ve learned from listening to people like me and nothing like me, to mix CDs and songs scrawled on paper. As much time as I’ve spent watering my roots in this community, having conversations with strangers and taking notes, I know I could do more. Drop me a line whenever you feel like being heard. I owe you.

In the meantime, enjoy the comfort of the passenger seat. Count the luxuries in your pockets. Treasure your privacy. Treasure your community, too. Listen to the songs people recommend, and remember that they’ll mean more if you set them to your own scenery.

Infant mortality rates dropped to a historic low in 2011, but new statistics show a reversal of such advancements, as white babies are now three times more likely to survive in infancy, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s compilation of the Milwaukee Department of Health’s data.

In a series of studies and stories, the publication found that the disproportion in survival rates between the two races was among the worst in the country.

John McAdams, a professor of political science at Marquette, said the newly released data regarding the aforementioned race gap is characteristic of Milwaukee.

He added that the infant mortality is strongly related to poverty extremes, among other leading factors.

“It’s not just poverty per se that is the problem, but rather certain kinds of irresponsible behavior that go with poverty: substance abuse, failure to get good medical care, absence of a father in the home, abuse and neglect of children,” McAdams said.

According to the city heath department, the black infant mortality rate in 2011 was 14.5 per 1,000, versus five the same year for white infants.

The statistics profiled 10,178 babies born in Milwaukee in 2011, where 100 babies died in infancy — with most of the deceased being black, according to the same findings.

The data showed that a little more than half of Milwaukee’s infant deaths are associated with premature birth, roughly 19 percent caused by unsafe sleep habits and the majority of the remaining 18 percent have untreatable congenital abnormalities.

Barrett said he wants to reduce the black infant mortality rate by 15 percent and the city’s overall rate by 10 percent by 2017, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Barrett Heald, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said Milwaukee needs to be more proactive in combating this issue.

“Historically, Milwaukee has been known to be a segregated area and this report has brought up (negativity-related facts and figures) of the past,” she said. “Milwaukee should offer help to all newborn babies and their mothers regardless of what race they are.”

Heald also said she thinks the main reason black babies are less likely to survive is a result of combined health care and income problems which are notably found in such Milwaukee area communities.

Citywide efforts have included the “Safe Sleep Campaign,” a series of advertisements depicting babies in danger of death (one notable example shows a baby peacefully sleeping while an ominous knife lies nearby). The campaign is intended to on call parents to protect their children and understand the realities of infant mortality.

Representatives for the campaign were unavailable for comment as of press time.

Jordan Torres, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, also said poverty is the root of this problem, adding that many cases resulting in high infant mortality rates are due to teenage parenting.

“It’s an issue because teen parents don’t have an education, which leads to no jobs or if any, a lower income (job),” Torres said. “Then when children are born, they sometimes don’t know how to care for them.”

Other efforts to combat this issue include the city’s “Changing the Determinants of Health” efforts, which will look into influential birth factors such as the environment, drug use and racism as well as starting a rigorous home visiting program for low-income first-time pregnant women in four of the city’s most worrisome ZIP codes.

Over the years, the relationship between Orsen and Amplo has developed on and off the field to the point where Amplo now turns to one of his former players for advice.

“I loved playing for him,” Orsen said. “On the field he is very intense. Off the field, you could talk to him about any problems you might have in your life.”

When Amplo was coaching with the Pride, Orsen was an instrumental player in the team’s run to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Tournament. In his junior and senior year, Orsen served as captain due to his leadership and versatility. He was flexible and open to playing any position on the field, which ultimately strengthened his I.Q. of the game.

“While being a good defender, you have to have an offensive mentality,” Orsen said. “After playing as an attackman my whole life, I knew what an attackman’s tendencies were. As a defender you’re trying to take that away.”

Amplo believes that Orsen’s transition as a player speaks the values of the traits he wants to instill in his team now.

“The most important thing that I want to instill in the guys here at Marquette is to buy into our team concept of doing everything for the team first,” Amplo said. “There’s not a person that I’ve been around that exemplifies that more than (Orsen). He put the team ahead of himself.”

Orsen is still growing as a recruiter and as a coach. Before arriving at Marquette, he spent the last few years as a manager for Trinity Lacrosse, one of the more renowned lacrosse programs that offers summer camps and clinics all around the country.

According to Orsen, teaching fundamentals to five-year-olds is not as easy as it sounds, and he uses the experiences from Trinity Lacrosse to reiterate the importance of nailing the basics on the field.

After working with Orsen for a year, assistant coach Stephen Brundage believes that the coaching staff made do with what it had in 2011-’12 and realized there will be obstacles on the road to the Big East.

“It hasn’t been the smoothest road, but we knew that going in,” Brundage said. “But overall, our guys have been great to and have worked their tails off. All the stuff we don’t have yet hasn’t bothered us because we just want to work and get better.”

Practices for the men’s lacrosse team ended earlier in the week and the team’s last day of weight lifting sessions was on Tuesday. Following the season, Orsen will be suiting up for Team USA in the 2011 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in the Czech Republic. Amplo looks back on the year with his two assistants and could not be more thankful for their work.

“I want to thank them for believing in my vision for the program and understanding that there will be obstacles and challenges,” Amplo said. “They get more excited about those challenges than I do, and I need that as a head coach. I need guys that believe in the same things just as much as I do. They’ve shown that to me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Photo by Dannyl Alfonzo/daniel.alfonzo@marquette.edu

The traditional textbook is on its way out the door. In its place is the new sleeker, cheaper e-book.

M. Ryan Haley is an associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but he is also a successful eTextbook publisher.

Haley recently started CoreTxt Plus Inc., his own independent textbook publishing company, and he is currently distributing free, introductory statistic textbooks to Oshkosh students.

“I got the idea back in ’08 and ’09,” Haley said. “The idea was to find a way to circumvent the publishing houses and how they kept putting out new editions way more frequently than they needed to. All the introductory level statistics classes aren’t changing a lot — 95 percent of the books have been full of concepts that have been the same for hundreds of years, so it isn’t necessary to make a new edition every few years.”

Haley said he and the rest of CoreTxt Plus Inc. have received outstanding reviews from both the students and faculty and are hoping to expand their offerings to cover more introductory courses. To do this, Haley uses an open-source program known as LaTeX.

“It allows a single person to have as much power as a publishing house has,” Haley said.

Haley is creating and utilizing simple e-books, which, at their core, are just .pdf files.

Jon Pray, associate vice president for educational technology, is the person in charge of researching e-books at Marquette. Pray knows from experience that the field is constantly changing.

“It’s such a changing landscape,” Pray said. “It’s really just sort of a Wild West … It’s like every two weeks this stuff changes.”

The simple e-books of today are a trend, but Pray predicts they are just the beginning of the revolution.

Follett Higher Education Group is one of the companies doing e-book publishing.

In its 2011 report, the group predicted that paperback textbooks will continue to dominate the market for the next two to five years, but in the next five to seven years they predict standard textbook sales will drop to half of what they currently are.

Pray said by the time today’s high school freshmen are choosing a college to attend, eTextbooks will be standard practice.

“I’m going to imagine that three to five years from now this is going to be pretty commonplace,” Pray said. “Although we haven’t done any hard surveys here, what you read in the press is most college students today would still rather have a printed book. … But if you go back to the high schools or the middle schools, students are all working with online textbooks. It’s cheap. It’s fast. It’s easy.”

However, before they truly take off and become the norm, Pray said the e-readers will have to become a lot more interesting and interactive.

“It’s just reading; it’s what we call flat text.” Pray said. “You can highlight it, you can leave yourself a note, but there is nothing terribly engaging or interactive about it. So I think the publishers are probably going to try to address that.”

Currently, BookMarq has seen an increase in the sale of digital content over the last academic year, but according to Pray’s committee’s report, sales figures are still quite low, at around 100 units.

Owning a bar in Milwaukee would be pretty cool, right? Especially if the bar was cool in and of itself.

The Riverwest Public House is the only member-owned bar in the state. Photo by Rebecca Rebholz/rebecca.rebholz@marquette.edu.

Guess what? It’s possible.  The Riverwest Public House Cooperative makes dreams happen—if owning a bar so happens to be one of your dreams.

Located at 815 E. Locust St. in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, the Public House is a part of the Riverwest Co-op, a member-owned and volunteer-run grocery store and café.  In 2010, the folks behind the Riverwest Co-op wanted to start another business that would be profitable and promote economic development in the community. The most lucrative idea ended up being a bar, and on St. Patrick’s Day of last year, the Riverwest Public House was opened.

“We want the bar to be acceptable to people. It’s the thinking man’s bar,” said Peter Murphy, events coordinator at the Public House.

Annual membership for the Public House is $40 a year or $200 for a lifetime membership. Perks include member-only drink discounts and legal ownership of the bar. No big deal.

Murphy and others on the board of directors take all members’ suggestions about the bar into consideration. It’s what helps build the community atmosphere the cooperative was made to create.

“We are always taking members’ ideas and trying to make them as possible as we can,” said Murphy.

The mission behind the Public House is quite different from your typical bar. The Public House wants to provide its patrons with not only local and organic beers, but also with an active community space perfect for speakers, live music and regular community events—sometimes as simple as a friendly card game.

“We’ve had politicians, spelling bees, and debates. We try to keep it diverse,” said Murphy.

In May alone, the Public House has a full schedule of events open to members and non-members, with most costing under $10 for admission.

On May 6, Rival FM, the monthly song writing and recording competition, will hold its second event at the Public House. Aspiring musicians submit their music, and audience members come to the listening party and vote on their favorites.

On May 26, the Public House will sponsor Milwaukee’s first Group Hug competition. The competition, inspired by the first Group Hug event in St. Louis, Mo., involves five major Rust Belt cities including Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis and Milwaukee. The idea is to bring people together through the love of their cities.

Participants simply find a favorite place, person or object that defines Milwaukee and then snap a picture while hugging it.  The deadline to submit photos is May 15.

There’s always something happening at the Public House, and everyone behind it wants the city to know about it.

“Like our website says, we want to build community, one drink at a time,” said Murphy.

No, it’s not difficult to see why Buzz Williams likes his newest guard.

The sixth junior college commitment for Williams in five recruiting classes, the 6-foot-4 combination guard from Dennison, Tex. will help fill the void left by Darius Johnson-Odom’s graduation.

“He’s got a great personality and a million-dollar smile,” said Chuck Taylor, T.J.’s junior college coach. “He’s very coachable and respectful, and people really love him around campus. He’s going to be something to see for three years.”

Like Johnson-Odom and Williams, Taylor did not take the easy road to Marquette.

After selecting Oklahoma over Marquette as a high school senior, Taylor spent one semester playing for Jeff Capel and the Oklahoma Sooners, where he suffered a concussion in preseason workouts. He never stepped on the court at Oklahoma, transferring to Paris Junior College, where he played last season.

Taylor averaged 14.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the Dragons, leading his team to a 23-7 record. In addition to his all-conference and all-region team honors, he was also named a third-team All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Jae Crowder, Dwight Buycks and Johnson-Odom (first team), Joe Fulce (second team) and Jimmy Butler (honorable mention) earned All-American accolades at their respective junior colleges before committing to Marquette.

“History has proven that the guys we have signed with three years of eligibility remaining have been really good for us,” Williams said. “And I have great belief that T.J. will be next in that line.”

Taylor also received MVP honors at the Paris JC basketball awards ceremony Monday night and was named the Paris student-athlete of the year.

Taylor was used primarily on the wing at Paris, allowing the freshman to stretch the defense and attack the basket. He said he can play point guard if necessary, and he excels in transition offense. The lefty also took on more of a vocal leadership role as the season progressed.

Taylor originally chose Oklahoma over Marquette because of location and familiarity, but his sustained relationship with Williams and former assistant coach Tony Benford made his second Division I commitment an easy one.

Though he had not taken any visits to Marquette before he committed, Taylor made a trip to Milwaukee for Marquette Madness. Taylor said he enjoyed the atmosphere and formed relationships with sophomores Vander Blue and Jamil Wilson.

Blue, who has made efforts to guide younger players, shared words of wisdom with Taylor on the visit.

“(Blue) told me to come in and work hard, and he told me it was going to be rough but that I’d be able to get through,” Taylor said. “Jamil (Wilson) told me the same thing, that it’s all mental.”

Taylor will arrive at Marquette with no true Division I experience, but he may be forced into a significant role in the Marquette backcourt.

Johnson-Odom started 34 of 35 games last season, averaging a team-high 18.5 points that Marquette will need to replace.

Junior Cadougan, Todd Mayo and Vander Blue are all in line to start, but Taylor’s versatility could push him into an important role off the bench, much like Mayo had last season.

Regardless of position in the rotation, Taylor said he is prepared to make the most of his second chance.

“I get to show everyone what I can do,” T.J. Taylor said. “I’ve been the underdog my whole life, and now I have a point to prove.”

Tom Barrett: 38%

Kathleen Falk: 21%

Kathleen Vinehout: 8%

Doug LaFollete: 6%

Source: Law school poll

In doing so, I am very lucky to have been able to work with a few people that have directly affected my work in a very positive way. Those people are all seniors, and will be graduating later this month, meaning I probably won’t get to work with them ever again. This column is my way of saying thank you to them.

Through Marquette Radio, I got to work with Michael Wottreng, who gave me my first chance last year. Michael hired me as an assistant sports director and gave me the chance to meet people and have experiences I will never forget. He went from being my boss to someone who has become a great friend.

After getting hired by the Tribune in November, I was able to work with three guys who have each been fantastic to me.

Mike Nelson, who was editor of the sports desk until February, gave me the chance to write this column every week. I had a bit of writing background, but he thought I would do well for this paper. Because of that, I have discovered how well this paper is run and the great people that are a part of it.

Mark Strotman wrote most of the content on Paint Touches this year and showed incredible commitment in doing so. He would talk to players and write stories when he didn’t have to. But he did so to keep the Marquette basketball faithful up to date and entertained throughout the season.

Before I was hired by the paper, I would always read Andrei Greska’s columns, and every time I did I would always think the same thing afterward: “Wow.” So when I was hired to be the Thursday sports columnist, I felt plenty of pressure to follow up what he wrote. He has helped me improve my writing through his writing and editing. Because of Andrei, my vocabulary has forever been augmented.

MUTV has introduced me to two people that have both been great examples, and I’m pretty sure neither one knows how influential they have been to me.

Donnie Dwyer is the most enthusiastic and energetic person I have met in broadcasting. Through appearing on the MUTV show he produced, I’ve seen his passion for both the behind-the-scenes and on-air aspects of the show.

I know he has sent tapes to every station possible that is hiring, and I know one of them will see what anyone who has worked with him has seen and will give him the chance to start a successful career.

I also was an intern at 540 ESPN Milwaukee during my sophomore year, and I met plenty of people who have helped me grow. Maria Sapienza works part-time at the station and is also the director of Client Productions at MUTV.

I was able to work with Maria a lot at the station, and from this experience I learned more than she will ever realize. Saying Maria is fun to work with is an understatement, but she also knows when it is time to get work done. I have looked up to Maria’s attitude and energy ever since I worked my first promotional event with her.

It’s not only these six seniors who have greatly helped me throughout my time at Marquette. To the rest of you whom I didn’t mention, and you know who you are, thank you. While things about Marquette are fantastic. The people I have met and the friendships I have made are second to absolutely nothing.

Coming off a home meet against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Illinois-Chicago and Northwestern, the team returns to South Florida, where it opened its outdoor campaign. Coach Bert Rogers is taking his biggest group of qualifiers to the conference championship.

Senior thrower Robert Bleem believes the larger crowd is going to help as one of the team’s strengths is voicing support for one another.

“Marquette definitely has a bigger voice than most teams. We cheer every teammate on and want them to achieve their best,” Bleem said. “Having a big crowd is going to get people amped up and personal bests could be in place.”

For some, like junior sprinter Kyle Winter, it will be a more tactical race as he will see what the competition is doing before he decides how fast he will go. At the 2012 Big East Indoor Championship, everyone started off slow which allowed Winter to kick at the very end and pick off the competition for the win.

If the other runners start off fast, Winter could be getting some help as he tries to reach a regional qualifying time. Winter ran a 48.30 in their last visit to South Florida. This week at practice the sprinters are focused on “revving the engine.”

“We’ve been doing speed all week. We’re not doing miles,” Winter said. “We’re keeping our bodies pretty healthy and just working on speed to rev the engine.”

Rogers sees big performances coming from Winter on the men’s side, where he could be joined by several seniors like sprinter Tyler O’Brien, distance runner Jack Hackett and thrower Jonathan Kusowski to make noise at the championship.

“We’ve got a number of guys in a number of different areas that I think can get us points,” Rogers said. “I’m pretty excited about where our guys stand, and I think we want to do like we did at the indoor championship.”

On the women’s side, the focus will be on individual performances as they finished last at the 2012 Big East Indoor Championship. Rogers believes the athletes will display some personal bests.

There will still be a few meets once the conference championship concludes. The goal of those meets is to serve as a last chance opportunity for those athletes to try and secure their spot in the top 48 of their respective event in order to participate in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Austin, Tex.

With their careers starting to come to an end, Bleem foresees some great times being run by the senior.

“Everyone’s got a little fire in their eyes right before they’re done,” Bleem said. “We’re going to see great marks between Blake Johnson, Peter Bolgert, and Tyler O’Brien because they’re all wanting to go out with a bang and show off what they’ve achieved in their time here.”

This installment of the poll, which surveyed 705 registered Wisconsin voters from April 26-29, focused mostly on the recall of Gov. Scott Walker and the democratic primary on May 8.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug Lafollette will face off in the upcoming week for the spot to challenge Walker for governor in the recall election taking place June 5.

“We are coming into a historic election this fall,” Gousha said. “This is important.”

Franklin said the race has taken a while to unfold.

“This is a developing race in that many candidates are just entering, such as (Milwaukee Mayor Tom) Barrett,” Franklin said. “But entering the race late doesn’t seem to have hurt Barrett much.”

Barrett leads the Democratic field with 38 percent to Falk’s 21 percent. However, he is still edged out by Walker by 1 percent, 48 to 47, among registered voters.

“One thing that’s striking is that Walker is consistently getting 48 to 49 percent of the vote,” Franklin said. “We don’t usually see that consistency. People have made up their mind.”

Franklin added that Barrett is seeing a great deal of support from the Milwaukee area.

“Barrett leads across most demographics in Milwaukee,” Franklin said. “Falk, however, holds an edge among union workers and those interested in labor issues.”

The poll asked Democratic voters what issues were the most pertinent to them going into the primary. Forty-six percent of people said job creation was the most important. Defeating Walker, toning down political divisions and restoring collective bargaining rounded out the list.

Franklin discussed the role Republicans will play in the upcoming primary and whether or not they will turn out to the polls. About 17 percent of Republican respondents to the poll said that they would vote next Tuesday.

“There’s been a lot of talk about crossover votes,” Franklin said. “There is interest in whether or not Republicans will turn out to vote in the Democratic primary.”

Given the nature of Wisconsin’s politics over the past year, the polls showed an increase in political conversation and awareness among state residents.

“(More) people are talking to their family members and coworkers about politics than before,” Franklin said. “But 29 percent of people have also stopped talking to a certain person because of disagreements about politics.”

The poll also asked about the upcoming presidential race. In a matchup between former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, Obama holds a lead of nine points at 51 percent. Franklin added that nationally, there is movement trending toward Romney despite Obama still holding a lead.

“The take-home part would be that over the past year, Obama has held a single digit lead over Romney,” Franklin said. “Compare that to the 14 point lead he held over John McCain in 2008.”

The audience asked questions about the job creation data, political division and whether opinion has changed in regards to Walker’s John Doe scandal.

Audience member Mike Jones said the recall election will clearly be a close race, and that polling data has shown interesting trends.

“One of the things that the Walker campaign seems to want to emphasize is that the political tensions are hurting the job market,” he said.

Gousha added that while most voters seem to have made up their minds, there may be some who are still able to be persuaded before the primary and recall elections.

“It’s amazing, given the political polarization, the amount of people who have put so much thought into this,” he said.

According to the April report, more than 50 percent of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed in jobs that did not meet their skill level last year. In that time, bachelor’s degree-holders were increasingly underemployed as waiters, bartenders and food service helpers — fields with a minimum requirement of a high school diploma or GED.

Still, opportunities for college graduates vary by subject, and high employment rates exist for those majoring in science, engineering, education and health fields, according to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“Job prospects in these areas, as well as in education, health and high-tech manufacturing are flourishing due to increased demand for the particular skills associated with these fields,” said Emily Lechtenberg, a Marquette economics instructor.

Jeffrey Djoum, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said he believes getting hired depends on more than just a degree.

“I feel like a Marquette education should provide the skills and resources necessary to take on a career path, but it depends on how much you put into it and what you’re studying,” said Djoum. “If I can’t get an accounting job after the five-year master’s program here, I messed up.”

Despite reports of a recovering economy, college graduates still face the adverse effects of the recession.

“I don’t think we can say high unemployment and underemployment is a trend among college graduates,” Lechtenberg said. “Even though we have entered a slow recovery, employment hasn’t been picking up as quickly, so the question may be: what’s wrong with our economy?”

Lechtenberg said the slow jobs recovery can be attributed partly to the presidential elections, stating there is always some economic uncertainty during this period.

Marquette’s class of 2015 was the largest in recent years, according to Robert Blust, dean of admissions and enrollment planning, but the Office of Admissions plans on fewer prospective students to be enrolling for the class of 2016.

“The class of 2015 exceeded our projections by about 100 students,” Blust said. “Admissions usually projects a number, so we’re counting on this incoming freshman class to be closer to that number.”

Blust thinks these new findings will have little impact on college attendance.

“Marquette is fortunate because our enrollment is strong in all our seven colleges, but I think some students will look at the job market and choose a major based on that, while others will just pursue their passions,” Blust said.

I’m not mad because I’ve done poorly on a recent test or quiz. And my anger has nothing to do with the fact that I didn’t do my daily work out — mainly because I’ve never gone to the gym or any other facility that houses a treadmill. In fact, the closest I’ve come to exercising in the past three years is running up the 294 stairs of the Bunker Hill monument in Boston, a decision that easily tops my list of worst ideas ever. Second place goes to paying to see “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” in 3-D on opening day.

No, I’m upset because it’s been a week since I last saw a movie.

There’s a good chance many of you just read that last sentence and scoffed loudly. We gain a lot of things when we head off to college – knowledge, privileges, 15 pounds – but one of the things that often disappears is our love of movie-watching. Yeah, we can take film classes, but even for a massive movie nerd like myself, those screenings can feel like a chore after days of long lectures and nights of minimal sleep.

Hollywood certainly doesn’t help its cause. Even if college students wanted to see a movie, the cost of a ticket, plus soda and a bucket of popcorn, is almost enough to require a loan application. I’d say the experience costs even more if you want to see a 3-D movie, but I’m pretty sure no one wants to see 3-D movies anymore, except for James Cameron.

Adding to audiences’ woes is the film industry’s idea that consumers are just walking ATMs, easily distracted by flashy stars and even flashier explosions. How else do you explain “Battleship,” the upcoming summer blockbuster starring Rihanna and Sports Illustrated model Brooklyn Decker? Hollywood doesn’t love me; it loves my checking account and my ability to ignore how fast I’m draining it.

Despite all of these reasons, however, I still love the movies. I’m like Bella Swan, except if she had an unhealthy relationship with money-sucking studio executives instead with blood-sucking vampires. And if she was less annoying. And male.

One of the reasons for my adoration of cinema is that it provides a healthy source of conversation and debate in a time when other arenas of discussion, mainly politics, have become poisonous and vicious. Film discussions seem to be one of the few places where words like “agreement” and “compromise” aren’t considered bad.

There’s more to movies, though. For every “Battleship,” “Transformers” or other equally empty Hollywood creation, there are films that speak to the characters, lives and emotions of the people watching. You may see some horrible abominations of cinema, but you may also see films that move your soul and change the way you walk through the world.

“High Fidelity,” my favorite movie of all time (so stop asking), is, on a basic level, just a comedy, but the way the characters interact with one another and the honesty of their relationships strike a chord in me every time I watch it.

That’s the beauty of movies — and art, for that matter. They give you the opportunity to make a connection with your fellow citizens of the world.

And that’s why the Marquee section exists. We’re here to build the roads that bring art to Marquette, Milwaukee and (not to get too dramatic), the world. My particular road of choice is cinema, and I’m very excited to see where that road leads.

I hope you’ll come with. In the meantime, I’m going to go see “The Raven.”

Sennesbenner Hall. Photo by Elise Krivit/elise.krivit@Marquette.edu

Both former law school Sensenbrenner Hall and the plot of land once housing Hegarty’s Pub on 12th and Wells Streets have been vacant for months, but according to associate vice president and University Space and Infrastructure Committee chair Steve Duffy, the university presently has no plans for either space.

“At this time, we have no specific plans to share regarding Sensenbrenner or the piece of land on Wells and 12th,” Duffy said.

Sensenbrenner Hall has been unused since Eckstein Hall opened in 2010, and the old location of Hegarty’s Pub has been vacant since October.

Duffy said the university has both the Master Planning Committee and the Space and Infrastructure Committee to address the use of buildings.

Duffy said finances and impact are factors in the planning process.

“It is an ever-changing scenario and financial resources are factored into all discussions,” Duffy said. “Making a determination about the use of one space can have an impact on many areas.”

Duffy said the university is currently in the middle of strategic planning that will aid in its decision making.

Arica VanBoxtel and Bill Neidhardt, president and vice president of Marquette Student Government, included a space usage audit as part of their platform when campaigning.

The space usage audit would re-evaluate all space on campus and how it is being used.

Van Boxtel said that although the semester is wrapping up, space is something the MUSG administration is aware of. She wants to ensure student voices are heard while the university is having discussions on current space.

“Looking at spaces – reevaluating what we need, what we don’t need, what we have and improving what we have – that’s how we’re going to make progress,” Van Boxtel said.

Space on campus isn’t just a question of what is open; it’s also about what’s oversized. The number of student organizations on campus recently passed 260 and earlier this academic year, several residence halls experienced overcrowding.

Emily LaJeunesse, a sophomore in the College of Education, has never been in Sensenbrenner Hall. LaJeunesse said that she believes that one of the things that she would like to see is a place for tutoring outreach.

“I’ve always wanted to tutor but I don’t have a car, so I haven’t been able to act on that,” LaJeunesse said. “But a program that could bus kids here, wherever there is space, would be good.”

Learning to embrace life’s complexities is an inevitable lesson in Phillip Naylor’s classroom. The Western Civilization and History of Rock ‘n’ Roll professor has been teaching at Marquette for more than 30 years and is a bit of a complexity himself. Between his office’s arbitrary door decorations — insightful quotes, words in other languages, black and white photos — and his affinity for blues and Northern Africa, Naylor said there is one common thread that defines him: the need to explore.

“In all my classes, I ask my students to explore, but also to see what they’ve got inside of themselves,” he said.

This secular and spiritual experience echoes not only Marquette’s mission, Naylor said, but boyhood adventures he had with his parents, who grew up in Turkey. He grew up reading encyclopedias and traveling. During one trip to Iran, Naylor’s father made him meet members of the Zoroastrians, the oldest religious community in the nation.

It’s no wonder that the Velvet Underground and various blues artists make up Naylor’s favorite music: They’re people who explored, themselves, he said.

“I see music as documentation,” he said. “It helps me understand history.”

For students of Naylor’s Western Civilization II class, music might help them understand history, too. Naylor and other Marquette faculty members formed “Western Civilizations,” a blues band that seems to parody the college classroom experience. The album cover is the image of an infamous test-taking blue book.

“The band enhanced my knowledge of rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “It’s beyond playing. It’s production.”

Naylor’s teaching assistant David DeMarkis, a graduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences, played the harmonica during the band’s performance of “Midterm Blues,” one of his favorite memories with Naylor to date.

“Dr. Naylor was simply amazing on guitar,” DeMarkis said in an email. “His best quality as an educator is his ability to personalize history within the classroom.”

“Having fun is really important when you’re discussing life and death issues,” Naylor said. “If you’re too wrapped up in it, it’s pretty demoralizing.”

Since publishing “North Africa: A History from Antiquity to the Present” in 2009, among many other books, his occupation now seems more like a vocation, he said. In staying true to Marquette’s mission, Naylor said, “I just hope I’m serving in some way.”