On Feb. 11, The Tech Theatre Company opened their production of David Auburn’s Proof in the McArdle Theater, directed by MTU Theater Department chair Roger Held. The play, which won the 2001 Tony award for Best Play in its original Broadway performance, was warmly received by the audience.
The Tech Theatre Company’s production starred Nicole Kangas as Catherine, a mathematical genius dealing with mental illness; Dennis Kerwin as Robert, Catherine’s recently deceased father who contributed groundbreaking theories to several branches of mathematics; Frank Sopjes as Hal, a student of Robert, and Trish Goggin as Clare, Catherine’s sister.
Proof deals with the toll of Catherine’s efforts to support her mentally ill father, Clare’s efforts to support them both, and the relationships between Hal and both Catherine and her father. In the end, the play subtlety explores the meaning of “proof” in different contexts, from mathematics to trust.
The play had been in production since the beginning of the semester, Held explained. However, he remarked that amount of time was “not long enough” and although everyone involved did a good job of getting everything together in four weeks, they would have preferred six.
The play, like most events, had been planned since last year, like most events. When asked why Proof was chosen in particular, Held explained that there were a number of reasons. One of them was that it was a small show, within the Tech Theatre Company’s ability to produce. Another thing that motivated decisions on all plays was the ability to cast the play. Held explained that they look for plays that go well with the actors they have. In this case, having an older actor to play the part of Robert was nice, because he could serve as a role model for the younger actors.
Finally, the play was chosen because it was a good piece of literature. “It’s an inherently interesting idea,” Held explained, referring to the meaning of proof in different contexts.
Proof will be shown two more times in the McArdle Theater, on February 18 and 19 at 7:30 pm. It will then travel to the Calumet Theater, where it will be shown on February 27 at 7:30 pm.

Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 marked the first State of the Black Union in seven years held on Michigan Tech’s campus. Twenty-five students, along with Gloria Melton, Dean of Students, Chris Anderson, Special Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity, Susan Liebau, Interim Co-Director of Multicultural Affairs, Director of ExSEL, Associate Director of COMPASS, Kevin J. Walker, outgoing Coordinator of African American Student Support, and Dr. Melvin Norwood, incoming Coordinator of African American Student Support, were all in attendance for the address. Nicole White, President of the Black Student Association gave the opening remarks. Kevin J. Walker delivered the address, which highlighted the academic state of African American students on Michigan Tech’s campus. Kevin began the address by stating, “We are not doing that great.” He announced that after the fall 2009 term, 27 percent of African American undergraduate students were on academic probation. He further announced that the fall 2009 GPA for African American undergraduate students was a 2.43, with a cumulative GPA of a 2.48. Walker did acknowledge that the African American graduate student fall term GPA was a 3.1, with a cumulative GPA of 3.7. Walker also mentioed the decline of African American students enrollment from the fall of 2009 until spring 2010. The graph to the right of this column highlighs the African American student enrollment from fall of 1999 thru fall of 2009. For more enrollment stats, visit www.admin.mtu.edu.

The 2010 Winter Carnival turned out to be an astonishing experience Wednesday night. Parents and members from the community who attended the event had the chance to witness the many extraordinary snow sculptures up close.
The theme this year was “Games We Know Captured in Snow.” Competitors were to build sculptures based on their favorite games. One statue in particular, carried out by Circle K International, presented a Wii console beside a large TV and couch. “It was amazing to see all the admirers,” says Jacquie Blom. “I was glad to see that everybody was getting together and having a good time. That is what Winter Carnival is all about.”
Construction of the month-long statues began on Jan. 11 and ended early Thursday morning. These sculptures were built by fraternities and sororities such as Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Gamma Delta respectively. Other organizations included Army ROTC, MTU Four-Wheelers, and certain residence halls such as Mama’s Boys.
Statue judging began early Thursday morning soon after all sculpture construction ended. Phi Kappa Tau, Delta Zeta, Army ROTC, and First Year Experience (FYE) won first place for the best month-long statues. On the all-nighter statues, first place was given to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Concordia Student Ministries, and Bastille. There was also one tie for second place for the one-night statue competition; the Geology Club and Circle K International both tied as on-campus competitors.
The total results for student organizations came in Monday night for the Winter Carnival fair with Sigma Phi Epsilon topping off at 196 points with Delta Zeta trailing behind at 168 points. The fraternity also topped off the Queens and Stage Revue results with 25 and 50 points respectively. Judges for the Stage Revue chose Sigma Phi Epsilon for first place, Delta Zeta for second, and Alpha Gamma Delta for third at seven, five and three points respectively. Delta Zeta, Phi Kappa Tau, Army ROTC, and First Year Experience all tied for first place in statue building for 60 points. Phi Kappa Tau topped off the special events with 87 points with Sigma Phi Epsilon taking second place.
Several other events were also held during Winter Carnival weekend. One of these events, the Beards Competition, decided on who had the most facial hair based on three categories; beards, goatees, and sideburns. Competitors were to apply clean-shaven early in December. They were then given two full months to grow their beards and sideburns. During competition, contestants performed various skits to manifest their two full months of abstinence from shaving and were then judged based on facial hair and performance.
Other events included broomball, curling, the Human Dog Sled Race, ice bowling, skating, snow volleyball and snowshoe races. One of Michigan Tech’s exciting traditions which can’t be truly experienced outside of Houghton is broomball. Those visiting Winter Carnival weekend were given just that chance to see these thrilling games being played out on the ice rinks in front of Lot 14.
Snow volleyball is very similar to volleyball except you’re playing on snow “Don’t fall down,” one person teased. “But it’s still not as hard as hardwood.”
Curling also brought a substantial amount of attention. The origins of Curling date back to 1541 in medieval Scotland. The object of the game is to throw smooth Conitnued on 2a
granite stones across ice while a second person uses a broom to smooth the ice path that the stone will glide on. Results are based on the distance the stone traveled.
Also held at the carnival was the annual Queens competition. Student organizations who wish to participate select the best possible female candidate. The person chosen will then go through an interviewing phase and perform various skits in front of a large audience. These votes are decided based on the interview, beauty and the performance.
For more information about the event, visit www.mtu.edu or contact blue key at bluekey@mtu.edu.

The sight of university students, bundled in hats, jackets, and perhaps some cozy Carhartts building snowman, or the oddsnowwoman, is not an uncommon sight for many campuses across the Northern regions of the U.S. What turns heads about the traditional symbol of wintery weather in Houghton is that our university peers spend their time diligently shaping giant chess pieces, scrabble tiles, and maybe even a character from our favorite Mario games out of the snow and ice. When the weather is cold and the snow is deep, Michigan Tech students have always known that Carnival is right around the corner.

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The broomball rinks are now in a new, more centralized location, and several games have already taken place among the six conferences and 22 divisions.
The Lode is just gearing up for the spring semester, but as part of our expanded coverage, we will do our best to bring you comprehensive coverage, particularly as the top teams begin to emerge from the pack.
Please closely follow broomball at mtulode.com Also note that we are seeking additional writers to be able to do justice to the hundreds of teams and players. Happy Broomball!

What do you think makes the ultimate fan? Attending every game? Knowing everything about every player? Following every media outlet for every morsel of information you can track down?

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Coming off a split with St. Cloud State, the hockey Huskies have to right back up on that horse this weekend as they will play host to the No. 3 North Dakota Fighting Sioux. No one was quite sure what the Sioux (4-1-1, 2-1-1 WCHA) were going to have coming into the season having lost several top players to the professional ranks or to off-ice issues.
Sophomore Brad Eidsness (3-1-1, 1.78 goals against average, .906 saves percentage) was one player head coach Dave Hakstol knew he would not have to worry about after last season. Eidsness backstopped the Sioux to the Northeast Regional Semifinal game, a 6-5 loss to New Hampshire.
Scoring-wise, the Sioux are led early-on by senior defenseman Chay Genoway (4-3=7). Junior Jake Marto (3-0=3) is also off to a good start from the blueline.
Up front, senior Chris VandeVelde (1-5=6) leads a group of talented forwards that sound like an NHL All-Star Team. Sophomore David Toews (1-4=5), senior Darcy Zajac (1-4=5), and sophomore Mario Lamoureux (2-2=4) all have brothers in the professional ranks. Sophomore Brett Hextall (2-0=2) also has NHL blood in his veins as the son of former netminder Ron Hextall.
The Sioux are going to be hungry, having had a week off after dropping their first WCHA contest of the year to the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves on Oct. 24.
The Huskies (2-4-0, 1-3-0 WCHA) come into the series riding a bit higher after earning a split with the St. Cloud State Huskies last weekend.
The Huskies’ top line of sophomore Brett Olson (4-6=10), senior Malcolm Gwilliam (5-3=8) and sophomore Alex MacLeod (2-2=4) continues to look good in the early going for head coach Jamie Russell’s squad.
On the blueline, freshman Steven Seigo (0-5=5) continues to get stronger with each game he plays. Senior John Kivisto (1-3=4) is also off to a great start and is one point shy of his career high from last season already.
Freshman Kevin Genoe (1-2-0, 2.22 goals against average, .924 saves percentage) may have usurped the starting job for now, but will need to continue to show the poise he held in net against St. Cloud if he intends to hold on to the job.
For full recaps of each of last weekend’s games against St. Cloud State, check out our stories on our web site, mtulode.com.

As the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic progresses, changes are being implemented across campus and on a national level to combat the spread of illness.
Last Friday, President Obama declared the H1N1 pandemic a national emergency.  In the declaration, Obama stated that the “2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve.  The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.”
The President’s administration is calling the declaration a protective measure that is not in direct response to any new development. It is intended to give the federal government more power to help states fight the spread of H1N1.
Locally, many school districts have closed in an effort to curb the spread of the illness.  The Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Area Schools were closed last week for four days while Pelkie Elementary School, which serves students in the Baraga area, was closed from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23.  The Ontonogon Area School District was also closed from Monday to Wednesday of this week with the possibility of a longer closure depending on a re-evaluation of attendance and the health of students.
No lab-reported cases of H1N1 have been reported at Michigan Tech.  The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department (WUPHD) is focusing on diagnosis and treatment of those with flu-like symptoms instead of testing each individual case for H1N1.
Students have been reminded via e-mail to practice good hygiene and to cover coughs and sneezes.  Students are also being asked to alert the University if they are suffering from flu-like symptoms through the Michigan Tech flu Web site: www.mtu.edu Using a form on the flu Web site, students can notify the Dean of Students Office of their illness; the information will then be reported to the student’s instructors.  According to Vice President for Student Affairs, Les Cook, 245 students had completed the form to report flu-like illness as of Tuesday morning.
Students “are responsible for contacting their instructors for arrangements to make up missed work and assignments,” according to the flu Web site.  Michigan Tech faculty are being asked to be lenient regarding assignment due dates and the possible need to reschedule exams and will not require a doctor’s note to excuse a student’s absence.
Due to the ease of reporting illness, some students are taking advantage of the new system.  One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said they reported that they were sick using the form on the flu website to avoid taking an exam even though they had no flu-like symptoms.  Another anonymous student said that they reported having some flu-like symptoms in order to be excused from class even though they knew their symptoms were not indicative of a contagious illness such as H1N1.
“There is really no way to monitor abuse of the online form,” Dr. Cook said.  “We trust that students will have integrity and be honest with us regarding illness.”
Michigan Tech is working closely with the WUPHD to monitor the spread of illness.  Dr. Theresa Frankovich of the WUPHD said that the Centers for Disease Control recommends basing the suspension of classes on the overall increased severity of H1N1 and not on a specific number or percentage of reported infections at a college or university.
In response to the recent outbreak of illness on campus, the Inter-Residence Hall Council decided to cancel the annual Safehouse event.  Travis Pierce, Director of Housing, said in an e-mail that “in an effort to limit the exposure of those visiting campus with our residents, Safehouse has been cancelled…”  No one could be reached before printing to comment on the number of times Safehouse has been cancelled in the past.
In the Sept. 17 issue of the Lode, it was reported that the University would be installing hand sanitizer stations at high traffic areas throughout campus and at the entrances to computer labs.  However, after a recent walkthrough of the first floor of every main building on campus and inspecting the entrances to some computer labs, only eight hand sanitizer stations could be found.  The eight hand sanitizer stations were found either in the Residence Hall lobbies or in dining locations.  Of the eight stations inspected, one was empty.
“Hand sanitizers were ordered some time ago but were back ordered and then we were told they wouldn’t be available until December or later,” Dr. Cook said.  “Hearing that, another company was contacted and sanitizers were ordered.  The sanitizers should be in place early next week.”
The Michigan Tech flu Web site states that the school “is working closely with the Western UP District Health Department to coordinate H1N1 vaccination clinics for students on campus.”  Currently, there is not a sufficient supply of the vaccine to conduct a vaccination clinic.  The clinic is currently planned to be conducted by the third week in November and will be free of charge to Michigan Tech students.  Once details are made available, they will be provided on the Michigan Tech flu Web site and printed in the Lode.

With only Northwood and Findlay needing to face each other on Wednesday, the GLIAC regular season is essentially over for the women’s tennis Huskies. The Huskies (7-2, 7-2 GLIAC) sit in a tie for second place with the Grand Valley State Lakers, the highest finish in school history since joining the GLIAC.
The game between the Timberwolves and Oilers will be irrelevant for tournament seeding as all the seeds are finalized. The Huskies will be seeded third, due to their loss in Allendale, Mich., on Sept. 25 against the Lakers.
They will face the No. 6 Ferris State Bulldogs (5-4, 5-4 GLIAC) on Saturday. If they knock off the Oilers, the Huskies will move on to face the winner of the No. 2 Grand Valley State (7-2, 7-2 GLIAC) and No. 7 Lake Superior State (5-6, 3-6 GLIAC). If they come out of that second match on Saturday with the win, they will likely face top-seeded Northwood.
The Huskies come in as the second hottest team of late with six straight GLIAC victories. Included in those six wins are a 5-4 win on the road over the Bulldogs (Sept. 26) and that 6-3 victory over Lake Superior State last weekend.
Individually, two Huskies have had outstanding seasons. Sophomore Victoria Zhilkina is tied for second among number one singles’ players with eight wins. Sophomore Ploy Suthijindawong is second in wins for GLIAC number two singles’ players with eight wins.
The Huskies got two points each from Suthijindawong, Zhilkina, and juniors Nathalia Rondelli and Asel Otunchieva in finishing off the Lake Superior State Lakers, 6-3. With the win, the Huskies finish the regular season in a second-place tie with the Grand Valley State Lakers.
Wins at numbers one and two doubles put the Huskies in the driver’s seat heading into the singles’ portion of the match.
The Huskies earned straight set wins in the top three singles’ positions and Otunchieva won her match in a three-set supertiebreaker to get the Huskies their six points and the win.
For a complete recap of the match, check out the story on our web site, www.mtulode.com.

After a huge weekend which included a pair of wins over GLIAC opponents Findlay and Wayne State, the women’s tennis Huskies sit currently in second place in the GLIAC Standings heading into the final weekend of play before the GLIAC Tournament.
At this point in the season, with one match remaining against the Lake Superior State Lakers on the road, the Huskies (6-2 overall, 6-2 GLIAC) can finish no worse than a tie for third.
Third will be the highest finish for the squad since joining the GLIAC in 1980. The Huskies will also have the advantage in third, as they have beaten both Ferris State and Wayne State, the two teams who could tie them.
This weekend, the Huskies face a hungry Lakers’ (5-5 overall, 3-5 GLIAC) who are currently riding a two-match winning streak of their own, including a win over Findlay.
Head coach Tom Linhart is still looking for that special player to fill the top singles slot, but for now those duties belong to sophomore Adrienne DiVito (2-4 overall). Sophomore Ingrid Pflieger (3-2 overall) fills in well as the number two singles play. Junior Anais Molina-Rodriguez (2-6 overall) is still struggling in the number three singles slot.
Senior Carolyn Pumford (4-4 overall), sophomore Erin Wiethoff (5-3 overall), and junior Katie Watchorn (3-4 overall) fill out the rest of Linhart’s lineup at four, five and six, respectively.
The Huskies would love nothing more than to head into the GLIAC Tournament riding a six-match winning streak.
Around the GLIAC, Wayne State has completed their schedule with a 6-3 record. Ferris State (4-3 GLIAC) has both Ashland and Tiffin to finish their season.
Grand Valley State (4-2 GLIAC), the only team that can finish higher than the Huskies, needs wins over Saginaw Valley State and Ashland to secure at least a tie for second with the Huskies in the final standings.
Netters Take Pair of Matches to Move up The GLIAC Ladder
The Huskies earned a win Friday over the Findlay Oilers to the tune of 7-2 set up a huge match on Saturday as they faced the Wayne State Warriors. Not only were the Huskies up to the challenge, they came through with flying colors, winning 5-4 and vaulting to second in the GLIAC Standings.
Junior Nathalia Rondelli and sophomores Ploy Suthijindawong and Victoria Zhilkina all earned two points against both the Oilers and the Warriors. Also, the numbers one and two doubles teams earned victories in both matches.
For a full recap of the matches, please check our web site: www.mtulode.com.