Coates is running for a U.S. Senate seat again this election. According to the Vice President of College Republicans Zac Aument (fr), Coates chose to speak to IWU because he believes that it is imperative for the college-age generation to know how important we are to our country’s future.

Prior to serving in the U.S. Senate, Coates attended WheatonCollege in Illinois. He then went on to receive his juris doctorate from the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis in 1971.

He practiced law in Fort Wayne, Indiana for several years. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1989 until 1999, but did not seek reelection. On Aug. 15, 2001, Coates became a U.S. ambassador to Germany. He remained in that position until 2005. Coates is currently campaigning for reelection into the U.S. Senate. Aument said, “Dan Coates is a man who places God at the center of what he does.”

This is the reason that SGA will be hosting Coates as he speaks to the campus. The event is also co-sponsored by the College Republicans. Both hope that students will come to hear what he has to say.

The Polish elite flew to western Russia on April 10 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of 20,000 Polish soldiers who were massacred by the Russian secret police in 1940. Though advised not to, the pilot attempted to land amidst heavy fog, missed the runway and crashed into a nearby forest.

Those on the plane included the deputy foreign minister, deputy parliament speaker, the head of the National Security Office, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, the Army’s chief of staff, the president of the National Bank, the Army chaplain and the commissioner for civil rights protection.

Associate Professor of Political Science Kris Pence whose emphasis is in global politics and international relations, was shocked at the number of leadership on the plane.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Kaczynski personally invited his guests to travel with him, thereby making the trip a civilian flight rather than a military flight. Protocol states that no more than 10 military personnel can fly together without approval, but Kaczynski’s invitations nullified the procedure.

“It wasn’t a military flight,” Polish Deputy Defense Minister Marcin Idzik said. “In my opinion this situation would not have happened [if it had been.]”

In addition, an article by the Associated Press described aviation culture, explaining that pilots flying VIPs are pressured to stay on deadline, regardless of warnings given by air traffic control.

“The pilot was informed of severe weather conditions, but nonetheless made a decision to land,” said Aleksandr I. Bastrykin, chief of the prosecutor general’s investigation committee in Russia, to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Though Poland and Russia share a history of tension, Putin personally took over the investigation of the crash, while President Medvedev declared last Monday a national day of mourning.

“Obviously there’s a number of ways to take [Putin’s involvement],” said Pence. “One, it could be that Russia is showing serious effort to make sure that they’re a part of the solution and that they’re not perceived that they are not apart of the problem. Another way to take it is that you circle the wagons and make sure things don’t happen.”

Pence and the media have steered away from any conspiracy theories due to lack of evidence.

“I tend away from conspiracies unless there’s lots of proof,” Pence said. “So this is one of those times where I don’t know that I’d put much stock in it. Ask me again in six months, maybe I’ll have a different take on it as evidence comes up.”

Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were laid to rest in Wawel Cathedral in Kroków, Poland, last Sunday.

President Barack Obama and a number of Europe’s heads of state and government were unable to attend the funeral due to an Icelandic ash cloud that covered most of northern Europe and put a hold on air travel.

First reported as a 6.9, the earthquake was re-evaluated as a 7.1 by China’s earthquake administration. The earthquake shook the region, destroying approximately 15,000 houses in Yushu county and leaving thousands homeless. China’s Health Ministry indicated that more than 1,000 critically injured victims have been removed from the overwhelmed region to better medical facilities.

Rescue teams consisting of soldiers, civilian rescue works and Buddhist monks have been using their bare hands, pickaxes and shovels to rummage through the destruction for survivors. Danchujiasi, a monk from the Sichuan province, said. “For us monks, the most important thing is life. … So many people have died, and we want to save the ones still living.”

The monks have also been collecting bodies in order to prepare them for funerals in order for proper ceremonies to be conducted. “Many of the bodies you see here don’t have families or their families haven’t come looking for them,” Monk Lopu said.“It’s our job to take good care of them.”

Among the dead, those being prepared for funerals were children and teachers from three main schools that collapsed entirely during the earthquake. According to Yahoo News, rescue crews mainly focused on pulling children from underneath the rubble at the Yushu County No. 3 Primary School.

Xu Lai, the spokesman for the Quinghai-based educational NGO Gesanghua, said, “Most of the collapsed buildings were the first-and third-grade classrooms because they were fragile structures made form mud rather than brick and cement.” He also said that local workers are visiting families to ask if they are missing children.

After three days, the Buddhist monks began cremating hundreds of the 1,144 victims at a huge funeral pyre in northwestern China on Saturday, reported by Voice of America News.

China also suffered a 7.9 earthquake two years ago that killed 90,000 people. China is thankful that the toll was not as high this time, but is still in a state of mourning for the loss of loved ones.

Along with the homes and schools that crumbled quickly to the ground, the 800-year-old monastery did also. Resident Sonam Duden explained, “The worst thing is the monastery. … It has so many treasures the monks and ordinary people all respect and protect. It is the most important thing in our lives.”

BBC News stated that Premier Wen Jiabao has promised “all-out effort” to rebuild the area.

Student development has decided it is going to implement a new Student Conduct Review Board. The new system consists of a board that reviews students’ behavior and decides what actions to take after they break a rule from Indiana Wesleyan’s Student Handbook and code of conduct.

SGA wants students’ voices to be heard in determiningwhat course of action should be taken concerning a student who has broken the conduct code. However, there was some concern about whether enough research was going into this new review board. The constitutional amendment regarding the Student Review Board will be tabled until next fall.

Meanwhile, two resolutions passed Monday night at the SGA meeting. The first approved the creation of a work group to further research the idea of a Student Conduct Review Board. The second consisted of a Student Handbook Resolution, which will allow administrators to reevaluate the Student Handbook and some of its policies.

SGA President Cory Sprunger is hopeful about the idea of the Student Conduct Review Board.

“Many universities have students regulating other student’s behavior. This is also a dramatic step in making SGA a more credible institution and not just something far off in the distance,” Sprunger said.

While SGA is confident in the resolutions that were passed Monday night, some senators have concerns. One of those senators was G.B. McClanahan (sr), commuter senator.

“My major disagreement is that those with authority on the student handbook committee, who have the power to say we will/will not enforce something, have very limited authority,” McClanahan said.“Their ability to determine whether or not a rule will be enforced is limited to a certain number of things in the handbook. I think we need some of the big shots (board of trustees or people who have that kind of authority) on this type of committee so they can determine what we will enforce and what we will not enforce.”

Only time will tell if these resolutions pay off and the Student Conduct Review Board will be beneficial to Indiana Wesleyan or not.

Menjares, who currently serves as the associate provost of leadership diversity at Biola University in California, spent t ime at the Marion campus in order to produce a cultural climate report and offer suggestions for leaders at Indiana Wesleyan to use to improve diversity on campus.

“Based on statistics, the cultural landscape is changing, globally, and in order for us, and other institutions of high education to really accommodate and really support students, now to the next 10 to 15 years, we have to be prepared to equip ourselves and educate ourselves and train our campus to be culturally minded,” said Michael Moffitt, the vice president of student development at IWU.

According to a 2007 survey, IWU’s small campus consists of at least 82 percent white or non-Hispanic students, making it seem that IWU may not seem to need to focus on diversity. Yet, according to student Diversity Coordinator Libby Watson (jr), diversity goes beyond race or ethnicity.

“I’m not just talking about celebrating a person’s culture based solely on the color of their skin, but celebrating who they are as a person, down deep,” Watson said. “I would like to see the campus start to think about these issues less as a race issue, and more as an issue of loving each other.”

Approaching diversity in this way would broaden the term to encompass a greater part of campus than just those who are ethnically diverse. Instead, the term would refer to anyone with different interests and talents, as well as culture and heritage.

“Diversity is just recognizing what God has created in each of us and celebrating those differences, celebrating the parts of Christ and the parts of God that have been placed in us, whether we recognize it or not,” Watson said.

Diversity at Indiana Wesleyan is not only an important issue for campus, but it also plays a role in determining how the Marion community interacts with the institution as a whole.

“I think the communit y viewed us as an ivory tower,” Moffitt said. “Only certain people can come in and that’s it. I think what this allows us to do is to open those floodgates and say, ‘Hey, this community of learners wants to embrace around it and everybody around it. There needs to be an awakening, so to speak not just on our campus, but in our community.”

As a member of the Marion community for the past 22 years, pastor Alex Huskey of (New) New Bethany Church of God and Christ is familiar with both the Marion community and Indiana Wesleyan. He said his interactions with students and IWU President, Dr. Henry Smith, have demonstrated the passion university leaders hold for diversity at Indiana Wesleyan, as well as the importance of increasing cultural sensitivity at the university.

“When we learn how to operate together regardless of our ethnic backgrounds or racial backgrounds, we become very much more like the picture I believe the body of Christ is supposed to be,” Huskey said. “We can have so much more to offer by adding more diversity and being aware of our diversity in this community.”

Changes are coming for theculture at IWU. According to Moffitt, these changes are for the betterment of the university, the student body and the Kingdom of God as a whole.

“I think God calls to embrace, to love one another. He didn’t say love that type of person, he just said love one another,” Moffitt said. “I think we’re called if we are going to reach people for Christ … to be comfortable and engaged in the masses.

And the masses look like every color in the world. So if that’s our challenge, I think as an institution of higher education it’s a natural fit for us to want to embrace that and to want to be all that God’s calling us to be.”

That is when I realized that what I write to you now probably does not really matter very much because if it is my goal to leave a legacy, that opportunity has already passed. The image that I leave this phase of life with has already been established, my imprint has already been made. And there is really not much I can do now to change that.

It has been great, it really has been great. I have been changed by IWU. The accumulation of all of your legacies are much more influential than mine. It is just hard to believe that this phase – this phase that I have anticipated and dreamed about since elementary, throughout junior high and in all of high school – has come to a close! Whether I am ready or not, I am being forced to take my next step forward in my journey. And interestingly, I am not who I thought I would be as I move forward from this stage of life. Probably one of the hardest things since being here has been watching myself change in ways that I did not expect, and lose parts of myself that I did not anticipate losing. But I am learning that I am growing into the woman that God made me to be and that the Lord did not make His people the same for a reason.

I came here excited and optimistic for what this campus held for my life, and I leave with a similar optimism and hope for what the Lord holds for my future. I came here one way, and I am leaving different – and that is not a bad thing.

You have changed me, IWU, and prepared me for an adventurous future that I am just only beginning to understand. I will never forget my time here and am extremely grateful for the people with whom I have had the privilege of meeting and growing with. You are the ones who have impacted me the most and made my experience what it is.

So remember, time does go quickly, relationships are probably more important than your studies and your relationship with the Lord is always what matters the most.

Farewell, IWU! You will be missed!

Because of last week’s win, the Wildcats are now ranked No. 12 in the nation, the highest ranking IWU golf has ever had, said Coach Steve Evans. This guarantees the Wildcats a place in the NAIA National Tournament no matter how they play in their tournament next week.

“Our golf coach and athletic director are calling it the biggest win in the golf team’s history, which is really cool for us, especially for Austin [Conroy] (sr) and myself since we are the two seniors on the team,” Joe Madda (sr) said.

The Wildcats have played six tournaments this year, three this semester with a total of five wins and one second-place finish.

Team member Conroy has an opportunity to be one of three NAIA golfers to represent the United States in the World University Games in Malaga, Spain, this June.

“Austin is clearly one of the best athletes that’s come to Indiana Wesleyan as a golfer,” Evans said. “He may be arguably the best that’s ever come through [the] Indiana Wesleyan program for four years.”

Conroy won the award due to his individual win at a tournament last fall in Silvis, Illinois. Fifteen-20 countries will compete in the tournament that’s held every two years by the International Sport Federation, said Conroy.

Conroy is also a three-time all-conference member and has won 11 tournaments as an individual along with 26 other top-ten finishes.

“This comes as a great honor to me, and is one I’m not sure I deserve,” Conroy said. “I am very excited to have been chosen to compete in such a great event with so many great players.”

Conroy said he wishes he could take his team to Spain with him. Without them and their hard work this year he would have never been selected for the USA Team, he said.

For more information on the tournament, go to the WUC Web site at www.wucgolf2010.com.

The Wildcats will finish out the season competing in a tournament at Cobblestone on April 26-27 in Kendalville, Ind., and nationals at TPC Deere Run on May 18-21 in Silvis, Ill.

“Getting to NAIA and Christian Nationals is an accomplishment in itself,” Luke Montgomery (so) said.

According to the IWU Tennis page, the NAIA Men’s Tennis Coaches’ Top- 25 Preseason Poll ranks them at No. 24 in the nation, and the women’s team is currently ranked No. 17.

Before last week, the women’s team was on a 17-game winning streak. Under Coach Terry Porter’s leadership, the women’s team is a force to be reckoned with.

“We lost up at Hope College, a Division-III college up in Michigan, but we are doing well,” Porter said. Both teams have earned their rank and position in Nationals.

“IWU finished the fall season 9-1 and a perfect 7-0 record in the Mid- Cent ral Col lege Conference. The Wildcats also won the MCC Tournament championship,” according to the IWU Newsroom. The men are practically uncontested, and have a record of 7-0 in the MCC.

The women, however, have done even better. Under coach Porter, they are undefeated in the MCC, and currently have an 18-1 record during this spring season.

Despite its ranking and record, Porter believes that the women’s team doesn’t get a lot of respect, because members play against primarily Northern schools instead of Southern schools, like Florida, Oklahoma, California or Georgia.

“So, when we go to the National tournament, we need to show ourselves to be worthy of our ranking—which we normally do,” Porter said. Generally, the women’s team wins their first round, but end up losing to a really high seed. Last year, however, that was not the case.

According to Porter, last year’s team went against a team that was pretty close in ranking. Through a tough battle, the Wildcat’s lost. The team that beat us was Lewis Clark State College, and this year the rankings are just as close. Regardless of records, Coach Porter has new goals for the women this year.

“My goal is to go out to the tournament and show that we can compete with those other schools,” he said.

Both teams have made it to the finals, which as Montgomery said, is an accomplishment in itself.

He said, “For me, [Nationals] is a culmination of the season, but it is also an opportunity to have fun.”

Going into the post season, the overall No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers are a heavy favorite to take home the title. Standing in their way is the No. 8-seeded Chicago Bulls, which barely squeaked into the playoffs with a .500 record. LeBron James and company are determined and have their sights set out on winning Cleveland’s first ever NBA Championship as they took a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The No. 2-seeded Orlando Magic is another force to be reckoned with in the East. This season the Magic finished with the second-best record in the league behind the Cavaliers. After losing in the finals 4-1 last season, Dwight Howard and the Magic are on a quest to capture Orlando’s first NBA championship. Orlando has a first-round date with the Charlotte Bobcats, who are only in their sixth year of existence and are making their first playoff appearance.

The Western Conference is a bit more competitive than the East with all of the qualifying teams accumulating 50 or more wins. Only seven games separate the No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers from the No. 8-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

As the Lakers look to win back-to-back titles, they will also get starting center Andrew Bynum back from injury to start their playoff run. Even with the struggles as of late, the Lakers are still one of the favorites to come out of the Western Conference. With Kobe, anything is possible, although recently crowned scoring champion Kevin Durant will have his troops ready to put up a fight. Throughout first two ga,es, this series has lived up to the hype, with the Lakers barely edging out both wins behind the play of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

The No. 2-seeded Dallas Mavericks, which made the most significant moves at the trade deadline for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, are predicted to make it to the Western Conference finals and beyond by Bill Simmons, a columnist for ESPN. The Mav’s last finals appearance came in ’06 when they were defeated by the Miami Heat in six games.

The Mavericks will be taking on the state rival the San Antonio Spurs in the first round, with intentions of moving on. The Spurs, who are aging, have different plans as they have closed out the season with a plethora of big wins. Not to mention future Hall of Famer and head coach Gregg Popovich always seems to have his team focused come playoff time. The San Antonio Spurs have also been the most productive team this decade, winning three championships, with the last coming three years ago versus the Cavs.

Like the Spurs, the Boston Celtics are also aging, which means the Mavericks are probably the best defensive team in the NBA with the likes of Shawn Marion, Butler and Haywood. As we know, defense wins championships. The Phoenix Suns are another legitimate threat to come out of the West. With two-time MVP Steve Nash quarterbacking the team, Amare’ Stoudemire controlling the post and depth, this team could make its first finals appearance since the ’93 season.

Depth proves to be very beneficial to any teams contending for a title because when the star players take a rest, they are assured and trust that the bench players will step in and get the job done. The Suns go 10 deep, with every player contributing in some way, whether it’s points, rebounds, blocks, assists or steals. Since starting center Robin Lopez has been injured, other players have stepped up their game, such as reserve centers Luis Amundson and Channing Frye.

Each of these five teams are currently up 2-0 in their respective series,’except the Suns, who tied the series at one game a piece and play tonight for the lead.

But now I get it. I guess I used to think that college would last forever. It seemed like my life was destined for the eternal torture of deadlines, homework, research and five different formatting styles for writing papers. I never thought I would emerge from the bubble—I felt forever trapped by RAs who asked nosy questions, like what are you watching, what have you been drinking, what are you wearing, and the list goes on and on.

Now I am staring down the barrel of real life. I just completed my loan exit counseling session online. I have been researching health-care plans and comparing premiums. I have been trying to decide what to do about car insurance. And I have a summer job lined up at a place that is not run by Christians, and it’s not even in the Midwest. Basically, it’s time for me to grow up, whether or not I feel ready and whether or not I want to.

All of this responsibility is showing me just how good I’ve had it these past four years. I’ve been surrounded by Christian friends who have held me accountable. They have questioned my motives and given me their two cents about the way I should be living, whether or not I wanted to hear it, just because they care about me. I have always had people around me who want to know how I’m doing and are willing to pray with me, even if they are stressed or distracted or in a bad mood. I have had the pleasure of working with people who have extended grace to me, letting extra sick days slide and letting homework take priority over a job.

But most of all I have been in classes with professors who incorporate their faith into every class they teach. Their worldview is the foundation of the logic they use in the way they sift through textbooks, and Christ is at the center of that foundation. Classes begin with devotionals and prayer, and students freely offer up what’s going on in their lives, and people actually listen. I know that this campus is prayed over and cared for, and I know that God’s presence is in this place, whether or not the entire student body is aware of it.

So I guess it’s bittersweet. I am so thankful for the years I’ve spent in this safe environment. Even when I was frustrated with the rules or sick of the complacency I found myself in, I was able to grow past it and flourish in spite of it. I’ve had so many Godly people pour into my life, and it shows. My faith is stronger, and I’ve learned so much about academic subjects, but most of all about life. And I guess now I’m ready to take all of that growth and put it to use. I’m ready to take all of that solid foundation, with Christ at the center, and carry it into wherever I work and whatever I do from this day forward. I know that it’s not going to be easy, that I’m not going to have dozens of Christian friends at my everyday disposal, but I know now that I’m strong enough to stay faithful no matter what. And to me that makes this experience of four years well spent.