“I pushed the car away from where it was parked at so no other cars would get damaged,” Sneed said. “The car caught on fire more and I called for the fire department to show up; we used fire extinguishers to keep it down until the fire department got there.”

Once firefighters showed up, the smoke was quickly extinguished.

The cause of the incident is still to be determined, but no injuries were reported. However, Sneed said one nearby car received minor damage from “overspray” from fire extinguishers.

Here’s a video of the incident:

Due to decreased enrollment, IWU now has an excess of faculty and staff members in relation
to the amount of students. In response to this disproportionality, IWU has presented a one-
time voluntary severance package to its workers, offering six months pay with no benefits to
all full-time employees with 12 or more years of service to IWU, upon their discharge from
employment.

Ever since Duane Kilty, vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer, was
introduced to Marion College in 1985, the budget, student enrollment and faculty have steadily
increased.

After several years of significant growth on the residential campus, “[Indiana Wesleyan
University] made the decision to increase the size of the physical campus and employee
base, in anticipation of this continued trend,” according to Kilty’s recent article for the weekly
communication within the management team.

The school then took on several construction projects and hired nearly 200 additional faculty
and staff members.

However, due to economic downturns and instability, IWU enrollment has declined. Today, the
budget exceeds $210 million, endowment is almost $100 million and there are about 1,000
faculty and staff members, according to Kilty’s article.

The opportunity to decrease faculty and staff members with the severance package was
introduced at the Jan. 25 town hall meeting. According to an email from Kilty, 22 employees
elected to take the package. Out of these, three were from the College of Arts and Sciences,
three from the College of Adult and Professional Studies, one from the School of Nursing and
the remaining 15 were support staff from throughout the university.

“The changes will not increase the student/faculty ratio and will not negatively impact the quality
education that students receive,” said Kilty in an email. “We wanted to create a positive way of
decreasing employment.”

One employee who took the voluntary severance is Lynette Adsit, financial aid secretary. After
hearing about the package, she decided it was a good opportunity to leave Marion and move to
be with her sister and niece in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Adsit’s sister has medical problems, including having two knee replacements as well as other
surgeries. She moved her sister from North Dakota to Milwaukee in 2009 to be with Adsit’s
niece. Now, she said she can help ease the pressure off her niece by taking care of her sister,
as her niece has a full-time job.

In addition, Adsit will get Social Security money, as she turns 65 next February.

Adsit has worked for IWU since it was Marion College back in 1979. She worked on different
buildings around campus as an interior designer. She has a degree in this from Ray Vogue
School of Design in Chicago.

The parts of campus she helped design include: the Commons balcony, the John Wesley
Administration Building, Baldwin, the original Noggle Christian Ministries Building and the old
president’s home.

After years of interior designing for the school, she decided to take a full-time job with financial
aid in 2000.

“I loved all my students,” Adsit said. “I liked customer service. I liked the parents – interacting
with them on the phone, doing anything I could to relieve the anxiety. But just being part of the
campus and the camaraderie of the campus. It’s kind of like being the mom to a lot of students
whose parents live out of state.”

Adsit said once she moves to Milwaukee, she wants to stay active, whether it’s volunteering at a
humane society or creating watercolor and oil paintings like she has in the past.

“When you smile, my heart skips a beat, and when you sing my world becomes more beautiful.
You are just too perfect.” This is one of hundreds of posts made by Indiana Wesleyan University
students to their crushes on the Facebook page IWU Secret Admirers.

Since March 29, students have been anonymously sharing their feelings through an online
survey website. The administrators of the IWU Secret Admirers page then share these posts
with their Facebook followers. This page adds another to the growing list of anonymous social
media accounts at IWU.

The two female administrators of the page answered questions about the origins and intent of
IWU Secret Admirers, requesting their names remain anonymous.

“Basically I saw the saw the [secret admirer] pages from Ball State and IU and I was like, ‘Oh,
why doesn’t our campus have something like this?’” said the original administrator of the page.

After a discussion with the overseer of another popular campus Facebook page, IWU
Confessions, the administrator decided to start IWU Secret Admirers, censoring the posts
enough to ensure appropriateness.

Last week, the administrator said she briefly shut down the page so she could find another
person to help run things. The page reopened later that day.

IWU’s Marketing and Communication Department, which monitors both IWU Confessions and
IWU Secret Admirers, is pleased with the relatively positive content on the latter.

“I am kind of impressed with some of the honest and open discussions that are taking place on
that forum,” said the department’s communication specialist, Trevor Persaud. “So I think if that’s
what happens on there, then it’s pretty beneficial.”

Those in the department are relieved that students have remained mostly respectful on the IWU
Secret Admirers page, stating that it is not their job to shut down any Facebook pages.

“It’s always going to be up to Facebook,” said Erik Fisher, the department’s social media
manager. “If somebody feels harassed, they have the ability to go to the page and mark that
they feel harassed or offended or whatever. If enough people do that, it’ll happen, but it won’t
happen through us.”

The page’s administrators are also encouraged by the fact that most people are taking a
positive attitude in the content being posted.

“I think that a lot of people have gotten out their funny ones about their guy friends or girl
friends,” the original administrator stated, later adding, “A lot of people have been taking on that
encouraging mindset. … I don’t even have to direct it that much.”

Despite the page staying mostly positive, the second administrator believes that some people,
while enjoying the fact that someone admires them, get bothered by the knowledge that
someone is still watching them.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, I have a secret admirer, but they’re watching me constantly,’” she said.

Everything on pages like IWU Secret Admirers and IWU Confessions remains entirely
anonymous. According to the IWU Secret Admirers administrators, neither of them have any
access to the names of the people posting.

The Marketing and Communication Department, despite monitoring the pages, also respects
the privacy of the users, saying workers would never share posts on the pages to get people in
trouble.

Persaud said the most the department would do is, if someone on a page like IWU Confessions
were addressing a serious problem, contacting Dr. Jim Lo, dean of chapel, and requesting
prayer for the person.

With statements ranging from “you’re the bomb diggity” to “I liked you yesterday, I liked you still.
I always have and I always will,” IWU Secret Admirers’ popularity continues to grow, with now
more than 800 followers.

So far players have only had two games because of unpredictable weather. Last week, the team dedicated its game to IWU student and staff appreciation and two weeks ago, the home opener to Autism Awareness.

At the game, which took place April 4, autistic children from the Marion community were greeted with gift bags and opportunities to get their faces painted and create noise makers to cheer on the Wildcats. The game was originally scheduled to take place on April 2 (Autism Awareness Day); however, due to rainy conditions, the game was rescheduled.

Second baseman Lauren Benda (fr) said the results were still “awesome” despite the rescheduling. “We had a lot more people come than we thought,” she said. There was a total of close to 30 autistic children who came to cheer on the women that day.

“We were very surprised and ecstatic at the same time about the number of kids that showed up,” said IWU alum Aubrey Lohser. Lohser is a close friend of the assistant softball coach and was asked to help out with the game.

“Coach Babinski calls me his ‘honorary’ assistant coach because I am helping him with these events. He sometimes has difficulty implementing his great ideas,” she said, “so that’s how I became involved.”

The team sold puzzle pieces to attendees to raise money for the cause. They were asked to put either their name on the paper or someone they know with autism. All proceeds went to American Autism Association.

“We requested that the funds that we raised go to the children in Marion and the surrounding areas, Logansport counties,” Lohser said. The money will be distributed from the association to the families to help pay for groceries and therapy sessions to help the children.

“Anything to get them better and moving forward and progressing, that is what the money is going towards,” she said.

Gabby McIntire (jr) said the team raised more than $300 for their cause. “It wasn’t so much about the money, though,” McIntire said. “Our main goal was to spread awareness about how much autism is growing.”

According to Lohser, today , one in every 88 children is affected by autism. “And it is becoming more and more prevalent,” she said.

At the game, two autistic children threw out the first pitch and one boy ran the bases after the game and met all the players. Lohser, Benda and McIntire all said that was their favorite part of the event.

“He is such a great kid and the smile he had on his face the whole time was unbelievable,” Benda said about the 3-year-old boy.

“It’s something we will all remember forever, watching him run the bases so full of life,” McIntire said.

“We hope to continue doing this event and more in the seasons to come because it was such a joy to see these kids participating, and I know the girls enjoyed every bit of it as well,” Lohser said.

On Wednesday, April 24, the team’s home game will be dedicated to cancer research. Each player (on both teams) will wear a ribbon in her hair with the name of someone she knows who has been affected by cancer. Other events for the season include a community night when IWU will honor those involved in the Marion schools and community and a public health workers’ night to honor Marion police officers and firefighters.

People who say that goodbyes aren’t hard are liars. Goodbyes are hard. They always will be hard.

I’m no different. I’m not fond of goodbyes. You’re saying goodbye to the comfortable, the stable and what you know.

But goodbyes seem to be inevitable. All the greats have said goodbyes at one point or another in their life.

Michael Jordan said goodbye to basketball in 1993. Then hello to it again … and finally goodbye for the final time as a player in 1999.

Bob Barker said goodbye to “The Price is Right” in 2007.

Andy said goodbye to Woody and the gang in 2010.

And now, I am saying goodbye to you, my faithful readers of this column.

I have had the privilege of writing for The Sojourn as your sports editor for the past year and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons and scheduling conflicts, I will not be writing for The Sojourn anymore.

But fear not, I am leaving this section in incredibly capable hands.

I have been blessed with many opportunities this year. I was able to watch the women’s basketball team become the 2013 NAIA Division II National Champions, watch the first-ever women’s golf team start their season and I will be traveling to New Zealand with the athletic department later in the year.

While this decision has not come easily, I promise next year’s sports editor is going to rock your socks off.

This whole process of working with you, my fellow classmates and sports lovers, has been one of the best. I was able to hear your opinions on certain pieces as well as cover stories that you found relevant and interesting.

But I do have one final request of you. Sports editors are allowed to make final requests, right?

In light of the tragedy that has befallen Boston, will you do something for me?

Ignore the media. Don’t give in to the sensationalism that has seemed to plague the society we live in.

I’m not saying being informed is bad. It’s quite the opposite, but there comes a point where we are glorifying the suspects and their heinous acts over the victims who have suffered.

Honor the victims, not the suspects.

Pray for Boston; truly pray for those that have been affected by this tragedy. Don’t let this act of terror consume you. Instead let it strengthen you.

The things that we here at Indiana Wesleyan University can do for those involved may sound cheesy, and you may think it’s a Sunday school answer, but the fact of the matter is it is what we need right now.

Prayer.

I am a firm believer in prayer and I am beyond convinced that Boston needs our prayers more than ever.

I am Erin Alberding, your sports editor. Lover of the Chicago Bears and Butler Bulldogs, but today I am a lover of Boston.

It’s been a pleasure to share what’s on my mind for these 20 issues and I hope that you have giggled, learned or been forced to think at least once.

And I know I speak for the whole Sojourn staff when I say:

The Sojourn stands with Boston.

With this vivid image, Quick may have summarized the views of most Indiana Wesleyan
University students toward the climax of the school year: final exams.

Around this time of year, it’s not a surprise to hear IWU students casually throw around the “s”
word in normal conversations: “stress.”

According to Dr. Nathan Herring, IWU’s director of disability services, who teaches psychology
classes and has counseled students at the ends of semesters, some stress is expected for final
exam week. Herring said most courses are back loaded, meaning they have more assignments
near the end of the semester than the beginning.

“There is an inherent amount of stress and anxiety that comes at the end of the semester. Some
of it is completely unpreventable on the students’ part. There isn’t really anything they can do
ahead of time to reduce it or stop it from happening,” said Herring.

And, like Quick illustrated, stress and anxiety take a definite toll on the body.

Dr. Keith Puffer, psychology professor, has noticed a major trend in his 22 years teaching at
IWU.

“Physically, I would argue that it can wear down your immune system. I just see students getting
sick over and over at this time of year,” said Puffer.

Herring agreed, also adding stress can have other physical effects, such as headaches,
digestive system problems and muscle aches, to name a few. But stress doesn’t only affect
students physically, but cognitively as well, according to Herring.

“Extreme stress and anxiety or prolonged stress and anxiety cuts off your access to short-term
memory, so it gets harder to memorize and learn information,” Herring said. “It also is harder
to access long-term memory, so when you are writing an essay, it’s hard to access all the
information you need for it.”

Worst of all, Puffer also said nurturing a relationship with God can be more difficult during the
end of the semester.

“Stress can, for some, de-prioritize time with God. Meditation, mindfulness with God, prayer —

these can get minimized because it’s not the immediate priority that you have,” said Puffer.

But it’s important to remember, as Herring said, only some of the stress that students carry with
them is actually needed. Jake Rupp (so) thinks many IWU students get too wrapped up about
their schoolwork at the end of the semester.

“I just understand that projects will get done. Even though they may have to be done late into
the night, they will still get done,” said Rupp.

Aside from Rupp’s mentality of accepting the circumstances, Herring has a few more tips for
students looking to bypass their biannual tsunami of stress.

“Start working on bigger projects earlier. If you have a major research project due at the end
of the semester, at some point earlier in the semester, do some of the research for it,” said
Herring.

Herring also suggested a concrete goal of going through notes from each class every day for
five to 10 minutes.

“That way, when you get to actually studying for the exams, you are remembering the material,
not relearning it,” said Herring.

When he gets bogged down with grading, Puffer said that he “never says no to a nap,” and also
increases the amount of time he exercises.

Dr. Betty Jane Fratzke, chair of the Division of Behavioral Sciences, even suggested sucking on
peppermint, because it is a soothing substance.

Rupp also reminds his fellow students not to ignore their social lives.

“It helps to fit in time with your friends, especially because you are winding down to the end of
the semester, and you aren’t going to see them during the summer,” said Rupp.

Herring agreed with Rupp, and summed everything up by giving three keys to avoiding
excessive stress at this point in the semester.

Herring said, “Being really intentional about eating healthfully, keeping a consistent pattern of
sleep and keeping a balance between academics and social life, realizing that you can’t do all of
either one.”

Indiana Wesleyan University’s men and women’s track and field season is well under way. After competing in the Huntington Invitational, three members were given Crossroads League honors.

James Allen (sr) was named Men’s Field Athlete of the Week, and Casey Gauss (so) named Men’s Field and Track Athlete of the Week.

“I am very thankful and beyond blessed to receive it, especially as a sophomore,” Gauss said. “I just want to thank Jesus, my coaches and my team.”

Gauss added that although he struggled with vaulting at the beginning of the year, and breaking a pole last season, he has worked hard to muster up the patience to perform at his highest level.

“During my second meet back, I tied the school record and was out-heighted by only one other guy at NCCAA nationals,” Gauss said. “A lot of my teammates were watching, which made it a lot more fun and helped me to perform at my best.”

Allison Trevithick (fr) was the recipient of the Women’s Field Athlete Award at the meet. She won the high-jump event.

“I am honored to have received this title because I have worked hard in my short time with the track team,” Trevithick said.

“The track team is an amazing group of Christ-focused athletes that compete with a purpose,” Trevithick said about her teammates. “Each day I get to know someone a little better and see how awesome they are.”

Coach John Foss also attested to the character of the team.

“Every team is unique, but like teams in the past, this team is very focused on honoring God through our competition and our attitude and serving those around us,” Foss said. “We have a very deep and balanced men’s team with a lot of experience. Our women’s team is also deep and balanced but younger and currently in a rebuilding season.”

Foss said he loves having the opportunity to work with young people who work to be their best and use their gifts.

“Having several of the athletes win Crossroads League honors was exciting, but we are more focused on what we can accomplish together as a complete track and field team,” Foss said.

With several upcoming meets close to Marion, IWU students can go and cheer on the track and field teams.

The weekend of graduation includes a League meet at Huntington, followed by the NCCAA meet and at the end of May, the NAIA, which is hosted at IWU.

Foss hopes to see IWU students support the teams.

“We would love to see our student body make the trip to Huntington for the League meet or the NCCAA meet,” Foss said. “Some of the IWU track team members are among the best in the nation and they are a lot of fun to watch.”

The physical campus of a university often is an ever-changing organism, just like the student body. Every year brings new faces to the campus, and with them, new needs and attitudes. So it stands to reason the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University changes in sync with the students who attend, and vice versa.

Jay McHenry, assistant vice president of campus planning and construction, says the campus is currently at the end of its second phase and about to enter its third.

“Marion College was ‘Campus 1.0.’ What we have today is ‘Campus 2.0.’ The next iteration is ‘Campus 3.0,’” says McHenry. “I think [our] new president will have a lot of new insight and expectations of what the next iteration will be.”

Marion College – Campus 1.0

Before IWU was Marion College, it was Marion Normal Institute, Dr. John Maher, professor of music, says. Normal schools specialized in the training of teachers, which explains why the education department has been such a highlight at IWU.

According to IWU’s website, trustees of the Indiana Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church were “driven by a desire to establish an institution of higher education in Indiana” and bought Marion Normal Institute in 1919. In 1920, the school officially became Marion College.

Maher attended Marion College as a student and began teaching there in 1978.

“The core is not hugely different,” Maher says, referring to the academics and close-knit community. The facilities, however, have drastically changed, especially within the last 20 years.

“Some of the facilities [used to be] poor, and there were people who would visit and say, ‘Well, I’m not going to let my son or daughter go here.’ I saw it happen. People would just turn around and leave,” says Maher.

McHenry says residence halls used to be a very different atmosphere as well: “More and more families have one or two kids. The old style of [a] residence hall was everybody shared a bathroom. [Now] that’s a hard sell. More people and more students will more likely be attracted to or want to have their own rooms and bathrooms.”

Maher explains that just because the campus was small didn’t mean the academics were poor.

He says visitors would often dismiss the school because of its size and wouldn’t consider “how many great composers learned and practiced from a sheet of paper and pencil and nothing more.

“Be always a little bit suspicious if somebody can’t teach certain things under a tree with a slate board,” Maher says.

Indiana Wesleyan University – Campus 2.0

The name of Marion College changed to Indiana Wesleyan University in 1988. Dr. Eunice Rickey, professor of music, believes changing the name from “college” to “university” has helped the school grow.

“Just the name alone has been a very attractive thing. Students that want to go out of state for a university and want to get away will pick something that’s got [an attractive] name,” says Rickey.

“[The construction] has done more than most students in Marion realize,” says Maher. He explains that the bigger facility attracts more students, which in turn, allows for more programs.

“We’ve always had strong students. There’s just more of them now,” says Maher. “We’re able to do more than we did.”

A larger student body has enabled certain areas, such as the Music Division, to be more ambitious, according to Maher. For example, it now able to utilize a full orchestra, jazz band and other various ensembles, which wasn’t feasible in the school’s early years.

Growth of the student body and the physical campus frequently occur in tandem, but it’s difficult to say which variable prompts the other. McHenry says it’s much like the “chicken or the egg” question.

He asks: “Does the number of students in residence halls drive the plan for more academic space? Or does your academic space bring more students on campus to make more residence halls?”

Regardless of which comes first, growth of campus means a growing list of maintenance jobs.

McHenry explains the current campus is relatively young, but it’s becoming more mature and the challenge that has begun to surface is what he calls “deferred maintenance,” replacing and improving a facility that is beginning to show signs of wear after it has been around for several years.

According to McHenry, a common challenge among all universities isn’t so much building its facilities, but maintaining them. Specifically, donated buildings are tough to deal with.

He explains, “Donors donate buildings, which are paid to be built, but then they become extremely expensive to maintain.” However, he thinks IWU does a good job of having good facilities that aren’t too expensive to manage.

“There’s a real legacy of facilities here and I think there’s a good balance of facilities. We’re making them nice, but we’re not making them so extravagant that they’re becoming maintenance nightmares,” says McHenry.

Future plans – Campus 3.0

As for the future of IWU’s campus, McHenry believes the new president will be the instrumental factor in directing changes. Specifically, McHenry says he thinks more communal spaces and the integration of more graduate school programs will shape the future alterations of campus.

Although he doesn’t know what having more graduate students on campus will look like, he says communal spaces like McConn Coffee Co., which is consistently crowded, will be of priority.

“That’s part of the nature of our institution, is having community,” says McHenry. “We want people to be together, so finding space for them to be together [and] finding spaces for them to do their work are important spaces to find.”

After attending, graduating and working for Marion College and IWU, Rickey is happy with the progression of the school over the years.

“I believe in the next generation,” says Rickey. “I really believe that they’re going to do new things. They love the Lord, and I’ve seen this over and over. They are more in-depth; they’re spiritually strong; they know where their strength comes from. I just see great promise.”

This Catholic-based tradition was brought here by Emily Fussner (sr) after she experienced it in
New Zealand and Italy. The idea behind it is for believers to use artwork to remember and focus
on Jesus’ journey to the cross in the Lenten season. Fussner, a printmaking major, said the idea
to bring Stations of the Cross to IWU came to her last summer.

“It was a random, God-inspired idea,” Fussner said. “I was thinking how, on our campus, it’s
such a busy time of the semester, and we’re rushing to get things done and get home, and we
don’t necessarily take the time to reflect on [the Easter season and what it means].”

Fifteen stations were set up around campus, each with a piece of art based on a scripture about
Jesus’ journey from the garden of Gethsemane to the resurrection. Traditionally, there are only
14 stations, ending with Jesus’ death.

The IWU version included a final station dedicated to Jesus’ resurrection. Fussner summed
it up as “an art installation prayer walk.” The mediums included everything from painting and
illustration to ceramics to origami to video art.

If students walked through all the stations and filled out a booklet provided by the Dean of the
Chapel Office, they received one chapel credit.

“I have believed for a long time that worship is much more than just the music we do in chapel
or preaching — there are different ways of worshipping the Lord,” said Jim Lo, dean of the
chapel. “When Emily came to our office and said, ‘Is this a possibility?’ we jumped on that,
because our God is a creative God. … It’s the whole idea that there are different ways of
connecting with God, and art is one of the ways to do it. … We wanted students to understand
that worship is more than a worship service.”

The entire project was a study in collaboration, according to Fussner. Within the Art Division,
she worked with professors to make some of the stations class projects. Outside that, she
coordinated with the DOC, Campus Police and Conference Services. Some stations had
entire classes working on the pieces, whereas others involved only a couple of students who
volunteered.

Graphic design major Amanda Reller (jr) worked on the seventh station in Noggle Christian
Ministries Center with her typography class and also helped with much of the advertising. She
described her group’s station as a reflective piece about Jesus carrying his cross, portrayed as
a figure covered in shattered mirror pieces.

“We wanted to articulate that we are the ones crucifying Jesus — it’s because of our mistakes,”
explained Reller. “The whole idea was that the purpose of Easter is to reflect upon what Jesus
did and how it’s directly related to who we are.”

In an effort to connect Stations of the Cross to other parts of the campus’ recognition of Easter,
the Holy Week liturgical service and Wednesday chapel emphasized many of the same verses
from the art exhibit, according to chapel coordinator Jennifer Martin. Those in the weekly
Wednesday morning prayer walk specifically followed the path of the stations the week before in
order to pray that those who went through it would feel the presence of God by what was being
presented.

The student response was more enthusiastic than anticipated — the original hundred booklets
the DOC printed ended up being insufficient. Lo said the experience was not limited to IWU
students and staff, however. He witnessed members of the community coming to see the
artwork on campus. This positive reaction is much of the reason he would like to see Stations of
the Cross repeated in the future.

“It was a lot of work, but it was worth it,” said Lo. “The spiritual responses were so wonderful,
and that’s why we feel like it’s something we need to continue doing in years to come.”