Volume 25 issue 1 August 22, 2002

Metro announces new assigned ID numbers
New numbers protect students, faculty and staff from identity theft
Megan Ehlers
The Metropolitan

Metro students, faculty and staff will be assigned new identification numbers in October. The new numbers will replace the Social Security Numbers currently used to identify people.

"We’re just trying to protect people’s privacy," said Karen Raforth, dean of student life.

On Oct. 1, the school will mail out close to 30,000 stickers to current and continuing students, as well as faculty and staff. The stickers will have the new Metro State Assigned ID number on them and are designed to be placed over the social security number on the current ID card.

The school decided to use stickers instead of new ID cards for everyone for two reasons. One was money. The stickers cost about $1 each, including postage. ID cards cost $10 each, making the cost prohibitive.

The other reason is practicality.

"If everyone had to get a new ID in a two week period, lines would be very, very long," said Eugene "Skip" Ackler, assistant registrar, adding that not all students would be willing to wait in such a line and would forego getting a new ID card. The stickers will be mailed to each student’s home address.

"We thought, ‘Let’s try this instead,’" Ackler said.

Students who want new ID cards printed with their Metro State Assigned ID Numbers will be able to get them for $10 in the Commuter Resource Center, located in Tivoli 269, starting in early October. They will need to present the letters that came with their stickers or current copies of their registration printouts that include their Metro State Assigned ID Numbers.

The Metro State Assigned ID Number will be used for spring registration in November, so everyone will have a chance to get used to the new system before then.

Metro officials decided to start the new ID system last fall after a bill was introduced in the Colorado Legislature that would stop the collection of Social Security Numbers from consumers, including students. The bill did not pass, but school officials figured it was just a matter of time until a similar bill did pass.

"We thought, ‘Do we want to wait until we have to comply, or do we want to do this now?’" said Ackler.

The Social Security Administration has been asking for years that Social Security Numbers not be used for identification, Ackler said. If someone’s Social Security Number gets into the wrong hands, identity theft can occur. Existing bank accounts and credit cards can be accessed and used, and new ones can be obtained, among other problems.

Officials do not know of any Metro student who has had this problem as a result of a lost ID card, said Raforth, and they want to keep it that way.

"We’re not going to wait until something like that happens," she said.

More is involved in the process than just printing and mailing stickers. The school has to reconfigure its computer programs so that students will be identified on lists by their Metro State Assigned ID Numbers rather than their Social Security Numbers. All offices have been asked to change their forms so they do not ask for Social Security Numbers for identification.

Metro will still collect Social Security Numbers from students, faculty and staff. Applicants will still have to supply their Social Security Numbers on their applications. The numbers will not be used for identification, though, nor will they be listed on any Webpages or reports. They will only be used for specific purposes, such as reporting wages, financial aid and life-long learning credits.

The Metro State Assigned ID Number will be composed of nine digits. The first three numbers will be 900, which will be followed by two more groups of three numbers. For example, the first number will be 900-000-001. There are several reasons for this configuration.

One reason is that it simply does not look like a Social Security Number, which is configured in a 3-2-4 pattern. Another reason is that no Social Security Numbers begin with the number 900, so a Metro State Assigned ID Number without its hyphens will not be mistaken for a Social Security Number. The third reason is to make the new numbers easier on students.

"Until we hit 999,999, everyone will know that the first three digits of their number are 900," said Ackler. "They’ll only have to remember six digits."

Students can expect to find the stickers in their home mailboxes in the first week of October. All they need to do is place the stickers on their current ID cards. If the sticker does not arrive for some reason, or if the student loses it, he or she can obtain a new one in the Registrar’s Office, CN105, with a photo ID.

If students want to find out their Metro State Assigned ID Numbers, they can do it online on Metro’s Website. There will be a yellow bar on the homepage that reads "Get my assigned ID." When students click on this bar, they will be prompted to enter the last four digits of their Social Security Numbers, their six-digit dates of birth and their genders. If they correctly answer these three questions, their Metro State Assigned ID Numbers will be provided for them.

If Metro students, faculty and staff lose their new ID cards, they no longer have to worry about identity theft.

"If you do lose it, you know no one’s getting into your checking account or your mortgage," Ackler said.
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Auraria bookstore comes clean
Ian Neligh
The Metropolitan

Most Metro students will find themselves going to the Auraria Campus Bookstore this fall in search of their required textbooks. Many students feel that the process of getting ahold of their required course material is often complicated by expensive book prices, late book orders, shelf shortages and almost no other book store competition.

Orders for textbooks are based on actual enrollment figures periodically updated by the Auraria schools, including Metro, the University of Colorado at Denver and the Community College of Denver.

"It’s really hard for us to get exact information on how many students the professors are going to have in their classes," said Colin Vito, sales floor coordinator for the Auraria Campus Bookstore. "Let’s say you’re taking Biology 2310. When the professors turn in their textbook adoptions they put on what their estimated enrollment is. They requested 200 copies and we only sold 50 last year. The bookstore is not going to order 200 copies. We may cut it down to 70 copies."

Before fall classes start, the Auraria Bookstore has about $6 million in inventory.

"If we ordered everything requested, we’d probably have close to $12 million in inventory, which is double what we have here. We only have a certain amount of money that we can borrow from the state to purchase textbooks," said Vito.

In some cases, students have to wait days or even weeks for their course books to be shipped to the school.

"If a professor hasn’t decided what they are going to use or maybe they came in late and forgot to order a text book from the date of order, it takes a week to three weeks, depending on the text book, to get it in stock," said Vito.

Another reason a lot of textbooks are not yet at the store is because they are not yet published.

"New editions usually come out just before the fall semester," said Vito.

A few of the text books ordered every semester also come from overseas, which can take three or four weeks to reach the bookstore.

"If you buy a pair of Nike shoes, they may have come in the door at $14 and they sell them for a hundred. Our textbooks come in the door at $75, and we sell them for a hundred. We don’t make as much money per unit," said Vito. "That’s why there’s not as much competition."

Another reason there is not a lot of competition with the Auraria Bookstore is because of high rent in the downtown area.

"It would be very expensive to start up a new store because it would have to be big enough to have to compete with us, which means the rent would be huge," said Vito.

The Auraria Bookstore offers suggestions for students to save time and money. They should: Shop early when more used books are available; buy used textbooks when available; encourage professors to select their textbooks early; and share their opinion of the textbooks with professors.

"One of the things I like the most is seeing the new students come in with their parents," said Vito. "It’s their first time in college. I like letting them know about things on campus and being able to help them with their first experience in college."
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SGA president tells his side of the story
Walter Gant
The Metropolitan

"Things started off bad from day one," said Brotha Seku.

He looked somewhat tired of all of the drama that has surrounded the newest administration of SGA since the day they took office. There have been lots of stories written about the incidents that have occurred in SGA meetings, but none has gotten what Brotha Seku has to say.

Seku, AKA Stephen Evans, was elected SGA president in last spring’s election. According to Seku, there have been many incidents discussed without both sides of the story coming out. There was talk of tirades in meetings, issues of prior police encounters, and a plain unbearable work atmosphere. Seku believes these allegations have been blown out of proportions.

The first and most serious allegation is the charge of misconduct brought up against him in by Assistant Dean of Student Life and SGA counselor Joanna Duenas. In a June 14 letter to Judicial Affairs Officer Elyse Yamauchi, Duenas claimed that Seku has showed "intimidating behavior" during meetings.

Seku has his own thoughts about the charges against him.

"The administration has no right to set the agenda for the SGA meetings," he said.

His first alleged outburst occurred after a meeting agenda that he had not approved was issued amongst the group. Seku then handed out his agenda for the meeting. Words were exchanged, and various members of the group were offended. According to Seku, the main people who were offended are the ones who later filed complaints against him.

At another meeting, Auraria police were called during an outburst by Seku. The police were there, in Seku’s opinion, "to publicly embarrass me." The police reprimanded him for old charges that had nothing to do with his actions in the meeting.

"The main people against me so far have been from the ticket that lost in the election," said Seku. "The discussion board on the Student Activity board has been filled with things about me by my enemies.

"The allegations about past campus indiscretions have been misconstrued also," said Seku.

The incident to which Seku is referring is his confrontation with former Metro Vice President Curtis Wright. The event happened when Seku attended Metro in the 1970s in the presence of three black officers from the Denver Police Department. An anti-Apartheid event was thrown on campus. Seku said that when he went to receive money for the event, Wright told him, "I will not pay you nigger one American dime for your nigger political event against the legitimate government of South Africa."

Seku admits to choking Wright and acknowledges his suspension from campus. He says the act was in self-defense. Charges were never filed against him.

Wright could not be reached for comment.

The second mark against Seku was also racially motivated. Officers from the Glendale Police Department and management at Builder’s Square interrogated his wife. When Seku went to see what the problem was, he was told, "I don’t have to answer any of your questions, nigger. Get out of my store."

Seku said he then became physical with the man who made the racist comment. He was charged with second degree felony assault, which was later dropped to a misdemeanor. He paid a fine and went through one year of unsupervised probation.

The most recent case against Seku was over a parking ticket, which brought all types of police from local to federal on campus. The Auraria police took him to the downtown police station, where he took care of the indiscretion.

All of these incidents have heightened fear of Seku, who says he has done nothing but protect his name when it was targeted.

According to both Seku and Duenas, the two of them have settled their differences at an SGA retreat. However, charges have still been filed, and procedure is being followed. Seku has been offered a deal that stipulates that if he had any more outbursts, he would be removed from his seat. Seku has declined that offer.

"I’m trying to do this the right way, but we still aren’t seeing eye to eye on everything," he said. "I believe that there is a lot of good that we can do.

"The parking situation is a serious thing. I want to try my best to make the broken home a real home. I want this campus to be a real community," said Seku.
‘I’m trying to do this the right way, but we still aren’t seeing eye to eye on everything.’
- Brotha Seku,
SGA president
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Trustees come from diverse backgrounds
John R. Crane
The Metropolitan

What do a licensed pilot, a banker and a former college president have in common?

They are all members of the Metro State Board of Trustees.

They have been on the board since July 1, when HB 1165 went into effect, giving Metro financial and governmental independence from the state college system.

Since then, the board has voted unanimously to raise Metro tuition 4.7 percent starting this fall, when Colorado’s universities were asking Gov. Bill Owens for a 7.7 percent tuition increase. That figure, at the governor’s recommendation, was trimmed down to 6.2 percent in the face of a lagging state economy and a spate of wildfires. The requests for increases came after higher education in Colorado saw $200 million in cuts authorized by Gov. Owens in the first half of 2002.

"Access to education should be both geographical and financial," said Bruce Benson, chair of the board of trustees, in a past interview with The Metropolitan.

It was this philosophy that brought individuals from diverse backgrounds to vote to cap the tuition raise at Metro.

Benson, past chairman of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, is president, owner and CEO of Benson Mineral Group, Inc., a gas and oil production company. He is also chairman of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Higher Education for the 21st Century, chairman of the Colorado State Republican Party and chairman of the Denver Public Schools Foundation.

Benson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and has received several awards, including the University of Colorado University Medal and the Arthritis Foundation Humanitarian Award.

Ann Rice, vice chair, is a litigation attorney with McClure& Eggleston in Englewood. She is also a former trustee of the State Colleges in Colorado, has served on committees in Cherry Creek Public Schools and is former president of the Arapahoe Lake Public Park District.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Duke University and her J.D. at the University of Denver School of Law.

Secretary of the board Virginia "Gin" Butler is deputy director of Office of Economic Development/Small Business Programs, State of Colorado. She is a former partner and chief operating officer of Burks/Butler Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, and she worked for US West for 28 years.

Butler was also vice chair of the Stapleton Development Corp. and chair of the Black Chamber. She received the Colorado Women’s Leadership Coalition "Woman Leader of Excellence" award.

Alex Cranberg, board Treasurer, is president of Aspect Resources LLC, a company involved in oil and gas exploration and investments. He is also chairman of Alliance for Choice in Education, a private scholarship organization that he founded. He is also founder of "The School Fair," an exposition that provides information about public and private schools in the Denver metro area.

Cranberg received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University.

Board member E. Patrick Wiesner is CEO of Wiesner Publishing in Castle Rock and received his bachelor’s from Canisius College. He is also founder of the publishing company that bears his name. His company publishes regional home and lifestyles magazines and business-to-business trade publications.

Wiesner also serves on the board of the International Institute of Education and the Colorado Aeronautical Board. He has been a licensed pilot since the early ‘70s.

Board member Adele Phelan consults nonprofit organizations on strategic planning, organizational and leadership development. She was president of Loretto Heights College from 1975 to 1983 and is president emeritus of The Clayton Foundation.

Phelan serves on the boards of the Piton Foundation, Educare Colorado and the Public Education and Business Coalition. They are all nonprofit organizations.

A member of the Governor’s Council on Small Business, Mark Martinez has worked in the banking industry in Colorado for over 20 years. Besides being a member of the Metro State board, he is also executive vice president of Heritage Bank in Arvada.

Martinez is chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. He was named corporate advocate of the year in 2000 by the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

He received a bachelor of science degree from Regis College.

Eugene W. Saxe is the faculty trustee to the board. He has been an instructor of English at Metro since 1967, concentrating in American and British drama. He was president of the faculty senate at Metro from 1995 to 1997 as well as faculty trustee to the Board of Trustees for the State Colleges of Colorado from 2001 to 2002.

He received Metro’s Golden Key for Excellence Award and the Distinguished Service Award.

Saxe earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Denver.
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Student Life offers advice, services
Office helps students to succeed in, out of classroom
Ian Neligh
The Metropolitan

The Office of Student Life at Metro provides students with a wide variety of services and programs designed to enhance their classroom experiences.

The office’s goal is to make sure that students have the services they need to become successful both in and after the classroom. Programs encouraging cultural, educational and social interaction help the office reach its goal.

"We are lucky here to have staff to be able to see what it is that’s missing on campus and try to offer or create something," said Karen Raforth, associate vice president of student services.

"We provide services for students who may need extra assistance in some way."

By helping students get in contact with the college community, the Office of Student Life works at improving enrollment and the graduation rates for students who use their many programs.

Student Life is campus wide, according to Joanna Duenas, interim assistant dean. It includes both academic and student services staff who assist students in finding their way through the bureaucracy of higher education systems.

"It may be as simple as ‘where do I go for study skills, I’m not prepared, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in college.’ Or as complicated as medical issues, ‘I had to drop a class, I didn’t have time to notify my instructor, what do I do?’" Duenas said.

"We help them understand the what the process is in terms of appealing a grade if that’s the case, or figuring out what the process is to get them back on track even academically."

With student parents needing on-campus child care and only a limited number of slots available, the Office of Student Life can help by referring them to the larger community of services that can support them, allowing parents to stay in school.

"It’s not about one person, it’s about a whole community of professionals doing something," said Raforth. "I wish we had more time, energy, money, and people to do what I think our students deserve."

"More important is to teach students how to be the best advocates for themselves," said Duenas.

"To be able to understand how to get through some of the hurtles and challenges that they will face similarly out in the real world."
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Offices switch around in Tivoli
Jenni Grubbs
The Metropolitan

Several changes have been made recently to the Tivoli’s office space. Three Auraria student services organizations have jumped ship from their old headquarters and found bigger, better offices.

The Student ID office moved across the hall to the space abandoned last winter by Tiki Jon’s ice cream parlor. The office also houses the housing finding service and transportation information center. (see story page 3)

Student Legal Services also moved to 219 from being split between 262 and 311. Student Legal Services takes over the space vacated by Veteran’s Services, which moved to the St. Francis Center.

The reason for the move, said Director Christian John Rataj, was the "opportunity for a bigger space to address the legal needs of the students of the Auraria Campus."

"We had a very small office and a large demand," said Cook Easterly, legal services paralegal.

Another office moved out of 311, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services. The GLBTSS is now located in 213 next to Student Legal Services.

The new office is a mansion compared their old corner in Metro’s Office of Student Life, said GLB TSS Program Assistant Nico Baker.

"It’s fabulous and amazing," he said. "We just have all this space and much better visibility."

Director Karen Bensen also loves the size of her new office, but loves the storage space even more. The office has a large closet.

"We joke about have a practice area for people to come out of the closet," she said.

"We’re thrilled to have somewhere to put all our stuff," Baker said.

But storage space is not the most important part of the move, he said.

"We’ve been growing and we need room to keep on growing."

The office now offers a lounge area for students complete with chairs, a couch and a computer.

Bensen said she wanted to thank all of the people who made the move possible, both monetarily and support-wise. She said the reaction to the move has been positive overall.

"It’s almost like our program is all grown up now," Bensen said.
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Campus adds new classrooms as enrollment sets records
Megan Ehlers
The Metropolitan

Some classes this fall will take place in new classrooms in a remodeled building.

Fall enrollment numbers are at an all-time high. As of Aug. 20, the number of enrolled students stands at 19,381. That’s an 8 percent rise over fall 2001 figures, according to Eugene "Skip" Ackler, assistant registrar.

"That’s a significant increase in enrollment," he said.With such a jump in enrollment, new classrooms were needed.

Last year, the Auraria Higher Education Center Facilities Planning and Use office was working on the "classroom improvement project," which placed high-tech items like stereos, movie projection systems, DVD players and other multimedia items into several classrooms. As the project wrapped in spring 2002, the office heard rumors of higher-than-usual enrollment figures, said Dick Feuerborn, division director of facilities planning and use for AHEC.

First, officials considered adding more temporary classroom trailers, Feuerborn said. Three such temporary buildings are currently located by the Arts Building on 9th Street. Trailers, however, are costly, so the facilities planning and use office decided to turn three rooms in the Facilities Management Annex building into classrooms.

"It was a better financial solution," Feuerborn said.The building, located at 7th and Lawrence Streets, is across from the parking garage. It houses the three new classrooms, which can each fit about 30 people.

While the new classrooms do not have the serious multimedia equipment provided by the "classroom improvement project," they all have Internet jacks, monitors and overhead projectors.

Auraria buildings all go by a two-letter abbreviation. The new classrooms will have the abbreviation "FA," short for "Facilities Annex."
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news briefs

Police sting stops bike thieves

The Auraria Police Department arrested six people on suspicion of stealing bicycles during a sting operation at the end of June.

The sting ran for three days as undercover police watched bike racks, said Auraria Police Chief Heather Coogan. On the first day, police arrested three men who were together. They had a truck, and one of them had pawn tickets for other bikes in his pocket.

As far as police could tell, none of the tickets were for bikes that had been stolen from Auraria, but they couldn’t be sure because not everyone knew their serial number.

On the second day, police arrested two more men, and another on the third day of the sting. According to Coogan, there has only been one bike theft on campus in the month since the arrests were made.

Coogan offered advice to bike-riding students.

"Record your serial number, keep your receipt, use a decent lock, and if something happens, contact the police."

Enarson promoted

Elaine Enarson has been named the Interim Associate Director of the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services.

Enarson has been an adjunct faculty member in women’s studies for two years.

She is a sociologist with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Santa Cruz and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.

She was previously Director of Women’s Programs and Coordinator of Women’s Studies at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Enarson replaces Tara Tull, who was recently appointed Interim Assistant Dean of the School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

Auraria AIDS Walk team wants you

The Auraria Campus will be participating in AIDS Walk Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Region’s largest AIDS fund-raiser. The Auraria team will join hundreds of other teams Sunday, Aug. 25, in Cheesman Park.

AIDS Walk benefits Colorado AIDS Project and 30 other HIV and AIDS service and education providers throughout the state.

To register to be on the team, visit the AIDS Walk Colorado Website at www.capwalk.org and click "Register Here." When prompted, choose the "Join a Team" option and select Auraria Campus #1170 from the drop-down menu.

Contact team leader Ryan Hensly with any questions about the walk at (303) 556-2597.
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What happened to talk among neighbors?
David Hindman
Opinion Editor

There’s this thing neighbors used to use to settle their differences: talk. Now people in the "I have a three-car garage and you don’t" suburbs have stopped talking to each other and started turning to .the homeowners' associations, or H.O.A.s, to settle their disputes. It's an association where nobody associates.

It means upwardly-mobile-pride is killing relationships among neighbors. It means, "I’m too busy to know you. Why would I want to work out our differences in person?" H.O.A.s have become common recently.

I lived on a street called Grand. We just moved. Didn’t turn out as grand as I thought. A couple neighbors were dear to us, but mostly it was a neighborhood of closed garages, shut houses and empty driveways.

The H.O.A. rules said all garage doors must be closed when not in use.

It was a neighborhood of loneliness and isolation where people had time for everything but each other. A place where you had to be good enough and do your part to make the block look perfect. Heaven help you if your lawn didn’t look good.

"We have been informed that you are storing building materials in your yard adjacent to your home. This is an infraction of Harrass Often Association rules," was something like what the letter said.

"I’m building a fence!"

My sister-in-law is being fined for weeds. She does the best she can. Sometimes you work so hard to keep a job — and your house — you can’t do much with your yard. Her lawn contractor can't start for two weeks. Her neighbor doesn’t care. The H.O.A. refuses to wait.

Whatever happened to loving our neighbor as we love ourselves? Would it ever cross her neighbor’s mind to say, "Hey, you look kind of busy. Do you mind if I help out with those weeds?"

It may sound ridiculous, but what if we all helped each other that way?

Did my sister-in-law pull her weeds? No. She got mad and got a lawyer. So much for the problem solving skills of the H.O.A.

Some nice retired people from Germany lived next to us. They bucked the trend. They would confront us. I came to respect them for it. Their yard was pristine. I respected them for that too. So, when they approached us and said, "Would you please keep your St. Bernard from drinking out of our reflecting pool?" I was down wit' that. Taken aback, but down.

I built a fence. The dog stayed in the yard and they invited us over for wine and dessert. I like sorting out neighborly conflicts amicably. Beats an H.O.A.

I live in an H.O.A.-free zone now. Though houses are more expensive, the attitude is different. Everyone leaves their garages and front doors open. They come out and talk. I just want neighbors who aren’t afraid to associate with us.

It feels like a community. Maybe I’m finally home.
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Baseball strike: who cares
Walter Gant
Staff Columnist

The baseball players' union has set a strike date for Aug. 30. The nation weeps.

Yeah right, nobody really cares if baseball goes on strike. They lost the last bit of power they had years ago. It's not like we will be lost for sports. Football starts in about three weeks and hockey and basketball follow shortly after. Baseball is not America's pastime anymore. Football is. The minute that the Super Bowl became the bonanza it is, baseball's days were numbered. I'm a sports fan like the majority of people. I have my own take on what's wrong with baseball.

The first problem is Bud Selig as commissioner. No other sport allows an owner to preside over it. That is, and will always be, a conflict of interest. You are guaranteed to have a one-sided argument — the side of the owners. They can come on TV and say what they want but Selig needs to step aside. Anybody can take the position as long as they don't have an interest in a team.

Problem number two is the drug testing. No other sport has as lenient a stance on drug abuse as baseball. You can't repeatedly flunk tests and keep getting reinstated. That doesn't happen in any other sport. For years I had assumed baseball tested for steroids. Every run-of-the-mill sport tests for steroids. Cycling and figure skating test but baseball doesn't. If that many players use steroids, then there is a problem that needs to be handled. Get the mandatory drug-testing going and stiffen the penalty on those who flunk. If you can't make it without dope there is always someone willing to take your place.

Problem number three is just as serious as drug testing; the league needs some type of revenue sharing agreement. It's refreshing to see the Twins run amok on all these teams. The problem with baseball on a competitive level is the majority of small market teams won't get to do that. Their best players will run to where the money is. That's what you have to do. You can't play sports forever. It does get pretty boring to see the same three or four teams win every year. It doesn't happen in any other sport. The Lakers and Bulls both had down periods. The Redwings have had down periods, and football, as a whole, changes just about every year. Baseball has basically been guaranteed to feature the Yankees in the World Series every year.

What I am alluding to is that every team has a chance in every sport but baseball. Agreements have been placed to allow every team some sort of chance to compete. The only way you don't compete is if you have inept management.

The next thing wrong with baseball is that there is no salary cap. This only reinforces the idea that you have to play for a big market team to succeed. It takes away every team not located in one of the ten major metropolitan cities in America. That's not good for the sport or good for the fans. It leads to the over-pricing of tickets, as well as players.

The biggest problem with baseball though is that it's boring as hell. The real fun is going to games, though the price for a good ticket is outrageously high. It doesn't move me to watch it on television like it did when I was a child. Most people I talk to feel this way. Hockey is better on television than baseball. Every sport has taken a bit of baseball's power.

The final thing about baseball is it will never regain the form or power that it had. Football is the sport that brings everybody together. Football got into expansion at a time before other teams really embraced it. When a state gets an expansion team the whole state embraces it. Football rarely has a problem filling a stadium. That's because football is America's pastime. It's the only sport America cares about.

Super Bowl or World Series? Which would you rather attend? The average person would say Super Bowl. The only events that rival it are boxing matches, yet even they lack the elements that make the Super Bowl the supreme event every year.

This year will be no different. Baseball will falter. Even if the World Series is good they have ruined the year with all the pointless negotiations about nothing. All the other sports will do their best to make sure they don't fall into the same problem. The other sports realize that everything in the long-run is pointless without the fans. If every person holds true to their threat and doesn't attend baseball games anymore for this, then a point will truly be made and understood. Baseball needs to get their act together before they lose the last few fans they have left.
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Don’t bomb Iraq to punish Hussein
John R. Crane
Staff Reporter

Bush's well-oiled propaganda machine is belching out bellicose noises in full force.

We've been inundated over the summer by reports anticipating an invasion of Iraq. "It's not a question of if, but when," the top brass chants.

Cryptic references have been made by U.S. military officials to biological weapons facilities in Iraq, yet no one can pinpoint their location.

According to an essay by Helena Cobban in the Aug. 15 edition of the Christian Science Monitor, Shai Feldman, head of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, recently wrote: "Despite the deterioration of the monitoring and verification regime applied against Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein failed to rebuild the facilities for the production of chemical and nuclear weapons."

Even if the U.S. found weapons facilities in Iraq, so what? Hussein has done nothing that can be construed as a threat to our so-called democracy to justify an attack by the U.S.

Countries such as Israel and other allies are producing "weapons of mass destruction" as well. Are we going to invade them, too?

Anyone who says that Hussein might assist Osama bin Laden (a mere bit player in Bush's Middle East Theatre of the Absurd) misses a major point. Bin Laden has little affection for the secular Hussein, whom he would describe as a bad Muslim for suppressing Islamic fundamentalism.

Iraq's use of gas to kill its opponents in the 1981 to 1988 war with Iran has also been cited as justification for "regime change" by Bush's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice. However, according to an Aug. 18 article in The New York Times, the Reagan administration "provided Iraq with critical battle-planning assistance at a time when U.S. intelligence agencies knew Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war."

Why did the U.S. provide such assistance? So Iran would be unable to take over oil-producing countries vital to U.S. interests.

The idea of such a "regime change" in Iraq has been a hard one to swallow in the Middle East. An article in the Aug. 14 edition of the Christian Science Monitor tells how Middle Eastern opposition is so pervasive, the Bush administration is considering advertising the invasion as an assault led by Iraqi opposition.

Even if such an exercise in international hucksterism works, it won’t change that there is nothing linking Hussein to Islamic terrorists involved in 9/11. But hey, it's all in the name of making the world safe for democracy.

Indonesians are experiencing such democracy firsthand. Eleven recently tried to sue Exxon Mobil for alleged murders and beatings by Indonesian gas field guards. Bush blocked the suit, saying it would hurt America's relationship with Indonesia in the war on terrorism.

Many innocent lives will be taken on both sides of this unjustified proxy war if and when it comes about. And it will be too late when America realizes, as the rest of the world has long known, that the Emperor Bush has no clothes.
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The teachers of generations
Elisabeth Seaton
Guest Columnist

It’s the end of the summer and I’m thinking of old people. They are the teachers of generations. They are the ones who’ve lived. They did it for us, suffered so we don’t have to. But look at the era we’re disguised in. We re-invent ourselves daily, into what? Into the imminent laconic machine.

What would happen if we took what these grandparents are saying to heart? Would we live a more courageous life? Would we ponder more about quality?

I had a conversation with Elfriede, a lady I work with who happens to be eighty-two years old. She has had a colostomy bag due to cancer. She has had a cornea transplant due to glaucoma, which changed her eyesight. She just picked up her new glasses. She still can’t see. We chocked it up to being old. When you’re old, you can’t see, right?

They gave her the wrong prescription. We all felt awful. I could picture her in the mornings, grabbing her glasses, squinting one eye, then the other, trying to get a hold on what was supposed to be her new sight. It never came.

She still walked to the bus, rubbing cartilage on cartilage for knees. She came into work five minutes early. Some morphine — not a lot — got her through the afternoon.

"Hi, how are you?" she always asked in an earnestness beyond my unconcerned smile. I was immediately guilty. I wished I could somehow live up to her standards of selling clothes, but it was already past me. I wanted something different than Elfriede. She had something to prove.

Every day, seniors are trying to prove their worthiness, instead of us recognizing it on a daily basis. Every day, we could honor someone for some kind of achievement. It’s there. They have lived since the 1910’s, 20’s, 30’s and we don’t have questions? We put them in a nursing home, with what my friend calls "Tofu Heaven", some kind of optional food, and hope they don’t bug us too long as we visit the linoleum floored, secured building, slightly urine-smelling homes.

They look at us — sometimes with eyes of hope and sometimes with eyes of knowing. Those are the worst stares. The knowing look. The look that says, "I know you’re placating me, visiting me for a half hour while they get my supper ready. I know you want to leave."

I kept bugging Elfriede, after many stories about the war and how she met her husband, to let me come over for a look through old photos. She was reluctant. It took her a few hours just to get her colostomy bag in order, hair washed and brushed. She laughed and put me off. "Sometime, honey. Sometime when I don’t have these doctor’s appointments."

When I heard about the wrong eyeglass prescription I demanded the doctor’s number. "You give me their number, and they’ll stop placating an ‘old’ person."

It threw me back to the last two weeks I spent with my grandma. She was sharp and alive. She was someone everyone enjoyed meeting. She was special.

I took her to one of the last doctor’s appointments she would ever have. He examined her well enough. He chit-chatted well enough. He might have been a nice enough guy. Then came the placating. "You’re strong as a horse. Nothing is wrong." She was dying of cancer. She had shingles on her shoulder and lower back that made it impossible to sit up. To this man, she had become a geriatric patient, one of many. I wanted to do many things that would have embarrassed my grandmother. I could’ve told him how she taught me to read, tie my shoelaces and continually stood behind my lofty goals of life. I needed him to know she was dying of cancer, not stupidity.

Elfriede finally invited me over. It was lovely. Her seventies, harvest gold sofa was not indicative of her style. I realized that you unwillingly relinquish the rights to how the world sees you when you’re old. Cancer can age you in seconds. You take what fits in a small apartment when you don’t move well.

Her hair was strawberry blonde in the photos. I didn’t know the strawberry blonde Elfriede. I only knew the white haired, thin, elegantly dressed, perfectly put together Elfriede with the coral lipstick. In the photos she was so changed. It almost made me afraid, apprehensive to speak to the current Elfriede. Like the previous Elfriede would have treated me with disdain and would not have taken me in.

She’s on a ship with a cabin boy, her hair — so much more of it — is blowing and she’s smiling this healthier, glowing smile, with a warm make-up enhanced glow. She looked like my mom, not as if she were my grandmother. How can someone jump from mom to grandmother status in five years?

We ate chips and salsa, something easy for her arthritic knees. She kept apologizing for not preparing dinner for us. What do you do to entertain when your brain is thirty and your body is eighty-two?

I asked her if she felt eighty-two. "Honey, that’s what I’m saying. Always look out for your health. Don’t let it pass you by." She was speaking about the wrong prescription that she finally, through much time on the phone, corrected.

As she deposited me in the correct elevator, she showed me the lobby. People don’t care about lobbies anymore. We cannot marvel over a lobby. We are not allowed. We don’t own the marvelous.

The elevator was open and a youngish guy was pushing the doors closed. Elfriede rolled her r’s, "Hold the door, we are approaching." I was transferred into the twenties, where men still held elevators.

I liked the lobby, "It looks like a renovation, is it new?" Elfriede assured me it was. She was proud.
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Everyone has a first semester
Josh Pacheco
Guest Columnist

As you walk to your first class, the ferocious warriors growl and snicker, wiping away saliva from their chins. You sit down and sigh, looking meekly at your notebook feeling pins and needles poke the back of your head as others stare at you. But behold, hope from the doorway! It is a well-groomed student who sits next to you with a smile — near tragedy averted — you have a friend!

Now is the time to stop thinking about the past and ponder your future. It’s the middle of August and your anxiety levels are up and down like the temperature in our scorched state of Colorado. You may not believe it but every student has had a first semester and every student, no matter how brainy or buff, can relate to the feelings you are experiencing.

Of course, there is the nightmare that all college kids are smarter than you. Yeah, right! College is like most everything else in this sarcastic world of opportunities — it’s what you make of it. The trick is to make your experience at Metro fun and exciting while accomplishing your hopes and dreams. Don’t get caught up in the type of ‘fun’ that will lead you to a dead end, yet don’t just arrive at campus like a business person ready to catch up on the day’s information. College is a time to have fun and a time to learn.

You get to start over. You have been promoted to a higher rank, you’re taking on a better job, and you should feel honored to be in the top 1 percent of the world’s population that attends college.

College is not all fun and games. Girls, you have a whole new selection of hunks and punks to choose from. Know the difference!

And guys, a whole new type of fish in the sea — college girls! If you thought high school was hard to find the "right one," try college. You have to deal with older people, younger people, extremely healthy people, sickly people, people that don’t care, people that do — the list goes on, my new friends. Relationships don’t get any easier but your experiences are more fun and exciting so don’t give up.

Oh, I almost forgot that one small detail about college. Professors. There was a smart man who said you have to jump into their skin and walk around before you can cast judgment. They are people too. People with feelings that would rather be anywhere else than with 30 kids ripping apart their character. So be nice…wink.

Now that we have the important things out of the way, I trust you will enjoy your adventures here at Metropolitan State College of Denver. And remember, if you mess up at anything, there is always tomorrow.
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Letters Policy

The Metropolitan welcomes letters of 500 words or fewer on topics of general interest.
Letters must include a full name, school affiliation and a phone number or e-mail address.
Letters might be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

Mailbox:
The Metropolitan
900 Auraria Parkway, Suite 313
Denver CO 80204

e-mail: haraburd@mscd.edu
phone: 303.556.2507
fax: 303.556.3421
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AIDS Walk Colorado is entering its fifteenth year. Fifteen years of raising money – millions of dollars – benefit all of the companies and organizations that help and support the victims of the disease that has killed 5,688 people in Colorado.

AIDS Walk is a fundraising walkathon where the walkers get pledges for donations. Those donations are collected and distributed to organizations like Meals on Wheels for People Living with HIV/AIDS, which provides nutrition to the infected and University of Colorado Hospital’s HIV/AIDS Primary Care Program which treats patients comprehensively whether they can pay or not. These are only two of the 30 organizations benefiting from the walk. They all help people who are living with HIV/AIDS to live with the disease.

The volunteer and celebrity fundraisers who will walk on Sunday will tackle a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) course that starts and finishes in Cheesman Park, running through Capitol Hill and City Park.

Several celebrities will join in the festivities as grand marshals. They are Robert Gant, who plays Ben, an HIV-positive professor on Queer as Folk, Scott Lowell, who plays Ted on Queer as Folk, gay Survivor contestants John Carroll from Marquesas and Brandon Quinton from Africa, and Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn.

It is estimated that 10,000 men, women and children will join these four celebrities on Aug. 25. Of that 10,000, close to 100 will be from the Auraria Campus. As of Aug. 20, 72 people have signed up to part of the Auraria team.

AIDS Walk is being held two weeks earlier than it has in the past, said Karen Bensen, Auraria Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services director. This may have affected the number of people signed up this year, she said.

However, Bensen said she expects a higher "show rate" over last year.

"We’ve had some hardcore salespeople sitting at tables signing people up who never intended to walk" in years before, she said, causing a 30 percent "show rate." This year Bensen expects a much higher turnout.

So far, the team has collected $915 and they have hundreds more in pledges that will be collected after the walk.

Team Auraria has incentives for its walkers. Everyone who raises at least $35 gets a Team Auraria T-Shirt and bigger prizes are in the works for top fundraisers. They could include movie tickets, meals at local restaurants and free stuff from the Auraria Health Center, Benson said.

The walk’s purpose is obvious, yet sometimes people
AIDS has killed 21.8 million people
Roughly 166 students are infected on this campus alone
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Institution of opportunity
Armando Manzanares
The Metropolitan

Established in 1965, Metro is in its 38th year of operation. The 2002-2003 school year is one full of new momentum. Enrollment is up 6.5 percent from the previous year, new independent governance -our own board of trustees, and a freshened approach to retention Metro is in overdrive.

Adding to this is recognition of Metro as one of the top public colleges in the western U.S. and one of the leaders of four-year institutions offering students the best quality of education for their dollar within the past few years.

A modified open enrollment policy, low tuition, combined with efficient financial aid awards all contribute as well.

How does this break down to students? Well, with the increase of students, all programs have to be adjusted for more students. Usage of support services for students increases and traffic of students on the campus increases.

How does Metro prepare and execute its plan to provide all of the services pertinent to a student's success? The division of Student Services.

The mission of Student Services is to meet the needs of students by creating opportunities to complement and support their educational experience in the classroom.

The division provides the services for recruiting, enrolling and progressing students through to graduation.

The Vice President for Student Services Yolanda Ortega-Ericksen heads up this operation? She has worked here at Metro just about as long as she has lived in Colorado. Ortega-Ericksen is going on her 30th year as an employee of Metro and her fifth year as V.P.

Student services is split into three sections: Enrollment Management Services, Student Development Services, and Student Life services. Each section utilizes and is integral to that of each other. "Every student will touch at least one of our programs," says Ortega-Ericksen.

What does our own board of trustees mean for students? Well, Ortega-Ericksen visions the full benefit will be for the student. "Students welfare, educational welfare will be represented 'at the table'," she states.

Metro will be represented directly instead of as a part of a consortium - along with the four other state colleges. This ultimately means faster approval of Metro's urban agenda; issues and conditions specific to Metro's diverse, urban setting and curriculum.

What about retention? Retention is a school-wide issue, however, a focused approach is extended through the division.

What is and what isn't keeping students at Metro? The fundamental question Kate Lutrey, Assistant to the Vice President for Retention Projects, confronts every school year.

She drives many initiatives for retention under the division of Student Services, directed by the V.P. of Student Services. She, along with Yolanda Ortega-Ericksen, has put in her time here at Metro. Lutrey is beginning her twenty-first year here as an employee, adding to her already alumna status.

This year the division will be conducting a Student Satisfactory Survey, the third of its kind since1998, which furnishes data integral to figuring out the factors involved with retention. From this, focus groups on the major factors of the survey are confronted and an action plan is drawn up to attempt to curb these factors. Last school year Metro's retention was around sixty percent.

Metro is fortunate to have its pool of students. Its diversity in not only ethnicity but in age and experience both in life and career. A major factor that Metro has to deal with opposed to that of the other state colleges is its non-traditional element.

The non-traditional student makes up nearly half of all students enrolled. "Its very challenging to figure how Metro can be all it can be for its students," says Ortega-Ericksen. She wouldn't change her job for the world though. "We have absolutely the best students." "I enjoy working with students, having that interaction and following their progress." "All of that would be compromised," replies Ortega-Ericksen when asked why aren't you the president. Having an involved faculty and staff assists her in achieving the division's mission and the college's mission.

She is particularly proud of the fact that students employed by the division of Student Services gain viable, exceptional experience equating to, "the best world experience," Ortega-Ericksen adds. Over 300 students are employed by Student Services. That's more than twice the professional staff Metro as a whole employs. Metro is definitely an institution of opportunity, referred to by Ortega-Ericksen.

Metro has its work cut out for them this school year. With a motivated and experienced board of trustees and people like Yolanda Ortega-Ericksen driving ship Metro is embarking on a renewed purpose and direction.

Overall, the division of Student Services works directly with students, helping them finance their college education, supporting their educational experiences and providing extracurricular activities at Metro.

FINANCIAL AID
303-556-4741

STUDENT HEALTH CENTER
303-556-2525

STUDENT FINANCE RESOURCE
303-556-4435

CAMPUS RECREATION
303-556-3210
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Metro’s Men’s soccer team has been in the process of revamping the offense that kept them from winning more than three conference games in 2001.

The Roadrunners feature 14 new players, seven of which were recruited in an attempt to improve upon the 1.5 goals per game they averaged last season.

"We will be able to score goals this year," head coach Brian Crookham said. "We’ve brought in more attacking players. We are not necessarily changing the system a lot, but we got a couple players that are a little more dangerous forwards. Whereas last year we relied on very few people, now we have kind of expanded the number of attacking players on the roster."

Anticapation is building with several transfer students who should prove to be valuable members of the team. Junior forward Alex Grecu transferred to Metro from Mesa Community College in Arizona, where he made the Junior College All-American first team. Junior midfielder Chris Bluml moved from Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan., where he made the All-Conference first team. Crookham also sees plenty of upside in walk-on freshman Zack Cousins.

If the newcomers can quickly mix and mingle with the seven returning players with starting experience, Metro should have no trouble rectifying last year’s dismal record of 8-7-4, including a 3-6-3 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Among the returning leaders are seniors Eric Butler, Jimmy Zanon, and Domonic Duran. Butler, the team captain and standout goalie, is one of the top keepers in the RMAC, as well as the current school record holder in goals against average (0.95), wins (28), and shutouts (18).

"He keeps getting better and better," Crookham said, "and we’ve been able to add players in front of him that make his job a little bit easier."

It has also made Butler’s durability instantly swell. In three seasons, he has missed only four out of 58 games.

"Sometimes he doesn’t have to make a brillant save," Crookham added, "because he directs the players in front of him to cut off a play before it becomes dangerous."

Zanon, primarily a defender who sneaks in for goals, finished with five goals and six assists in 19 games. Duran, who had only two goals from his midfield position, will switch to forward this season, as Crookham looks to draw an offensive spark from his speed.

Even though there are big gaps to fill, chiefly from the graduation of 2001 RMAC Player-of-the-Year Tony Thomas, Crookham hates to use the term rebuilding (as all coaches do). One thing that doesn’t need to be rebuilt is an already substantial line of defense.

"We do a good job from minute one in defending and that just translates into all the success we had in that area," Crookham said. "Plus, we got a darn good goalkeeper."

Metro had its best defensive season ever last season, holding their opponents to less than one goal per game, and limiting opposing shots to 13.1 shots per game. Butler led the defense, receiving honorable mention on the 2001 All-RMAC team.Yet, Metro lost five games by one goal last season and were shutout six times.

"We played very well defensively last season, but it all comes down to who can score more goals," Crookham said.

The annual RMAC pre-season coaches poll forecasts a third place finish for the Roadrunners. Although preseason polls are dismissed by many, including Crookham, they often reflect the final standings. Fort Lewis College is picked to win the RMAC tournament again this year, with the Colorado School of Mines coming in second, while Regis is the quintessential sleeper of the conference.

Fort Lewis, ranked No. 12 in the nation at the end of last season, lost their top two scorers, but will still pose a looming obstacle in the Roadrunners’ path to the top of the conference. The two face off for the first time this season on Sept. 22 at home. On Sept. 2, Metro will play host to the 2001 Division II champions, Tampa University at Regis. It’s a one-time chance to deploy all weaponry to see what kind of damage can be done.

"It’s a great measuring stick for us right away," Crookham said. "We’ve got nothing to lose. We can just fly at them and see what happens."

Although it will be the toughest opponent Metro faces this season, the next six games, all against conference opponents, will likely decide the top RMAC contenders.

With a subpar season behind them, the Roadrunners have made changes to combat the lack of offense that was so prevalent last season. While an RMAC title might be a difficult goal, it is never out of the question with Butler patrolling between the pipes. If Metro can take at least one victory from Fort Lewis and Mines, it might be right at their fingertips.

2001 RECORD: 8-7-4 (3-6-3 5th in RMAC)

2001 RMAC Champion: Fort Lewis College
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Blueprint unclear as Metro rebuilds
Eric Eames
The Metropolitan

The world as we know it is divided between the known and the unknown. Those things known are comforting, but eventually become dull and mathematical, like rotating tires on a car.

It’s the mysteries of exploration and discovery that serve as our sustenance. It’s what takes us out of our comfort zone. It’s why athletes push their bodies to limits never imagined. It’s why people eat sushi. It’s why you look up at the stars and wonder if someone is looking back.

"It’s all unknown," senior midfielder Meghan Sanders admitted. "That’s all there is."

While they are not after the Final Frontier, plenty of spelunking lays ahead for the Metro women’s soccer team as they delve into their own version of Trivial Pursuit. Can new head coach Danny Sanchez bring his winning ways to Metro? Will the 14 newcomers and seven returners fuse or fuss together? Who will start? Is it possible to go from contentious to contention in one year?

Such questions coupled with the new arrivals have surprisingly brought a level of refreshing excitement back to a program trying to rebuild after a dispiriting 6-13-1 season, in which they finished last in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (2-9-1).

"I think everybody that was on the team last year deserves a medal for sticking through the season," said senior forward Jenelle Brandt, who led the team in scoring with four goals and six assists. "Everybody suffered. We all stuck it out together, even though it was extremely difficult.

"This season will be a much more pleasurable experience. I just think last season was completely uncharacteristic of this program because every other season we’ve done fine. We’ve been in the (RMAC) championship tournament by the end of the year."

Last year was the first time since 1985 the coach was not named Ed Montojo, who retired in 2000 after 16 seasons and 163 victories which ranks seventh all-time in Division II.

Under new guidance in 2001, the team felt misguided in the hands of new head coach Colin Gilmartin.

"That one person, the coach, didn’t connect the whole team last year," senior goalie Danielle English said.

In the preceding whirligig months following the late firing of Gilmartin and the drawn out coaching search that eventually brought Sanchez into the fold, eight players fled the program. Sanders, Brandt, English, Meisha Pyke, Elin Otter, Louise Kjellquist, Joslyn Brough and Brittany Quillen decided to stay, proving their mettle to Sanchez, who applauds their dedication.

"They were the ones that were committed," Sanchez said. "They are the ones who stuck to the training program when there was no coach. They are the ones that worked and stayed eligible and did what was asked by Joan (McDermott) our athletic director and Brian (Crookham) our men’s soccer coach, who was keeping the momentum going while they searched for a new coach. The players that wanted to be here are the players we want here and those are the ones that are back."

The fresh new outlook begins with Sanchez, who has attractive credentials and is conversant at getting strangers to play for each other. While coaching both the men and women’s soccer teams for seven seasons at Mesa Community College (Ariz.), Sanchez stockpiled an impressive 199-51-12 record, despite the frequency of players transferring and the fact it is only a two-year college. Every year it seemed like he was starting over. But the essence of Sanchez is he prefers to start with a clean slate.

"I wasn’t here last year. I don’t know what happened. To be honest with you, I really don’t care," Sanchez said. "We are starting from scratch this year. It’s a brand new team and a brand new level of expectations."

With 11 freshmen, mainly from neighboring high schools, and four college transfers outnumbering the eight returners, the resulting competition for the 11 starting spots is intense and will probably last till midseason. But by Metro’s first conference game (Sept. 8), Sanchez expects to have some form of a starting lineup and rotation.

"There are no preconceived notions of who can do what," Sanchez said. "The players that are performing we will go forward with."

Freshmen Mandy Allen and Beckee Flynn have looked good in practice and are pushing English for the starting goalkeeper job.

Junior Colleen Fellin and sophomore Melissa Miller are two newcomers with lofty backgrounds. Both followed Sanchez to Metro from Mesa Community College, where they helped the Thunderbirds to a No. 2 national ranking. Fellin collected seven goals and eight assists from her back position and was named to the Junior College All-American second team. Miller was a first-team All-American selection after scoring 18 goals and recording 20 assists.

Despite the experience of the few, the rest of the field remains green, the waters uncharted and progress could be slow from the onset. Yet, Sanchez wants a quick fix to go with the firm foundation of high standards he has applied. The moment to bridge the chasm over last season’s collapse starts August 31 with the first game.

We want to win now," Sanchez said. "We don’t want to wait two or three years down the road."

2001 RECORD: 6-13-1 (2-9-1 7th in RMAC)
2001 RMAC CHAMPION: Regis University
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Metro sports looks to add 2 sports
Eric Eames
The Metropolitan

Since joining the NCAA Division II, Metro has dropped six sports. Softball was the final one to go in 1990, and while that expiration date is long overdue, now could be a perfect time for a revival.

By the fall of 2005, Metro will need to add two new sports, athletic director Joan McDermott said. Softball, cross-country, and men and women’s golf are strong considerations. Women’s lacrosse and track and field are also possibilities.

"My plan over the next six months to a year is to research into the cost of these programs," McDermott said.

This past year the NCAA raised the amount of sports required for Division II status from eight to 10. Metro currently has 10 sports, but the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference requires schools without football to have two more sports over the minimum. Just don’t expect the replanting of yellow field-goal posts at Metro.

Before 1990, Metro had an oval track hugging the rim of a regulation-sized football field. Club football at the school was highly popular in the late 1980s, until equipment costs overwhelmed the wallets of students who formed and ran the team. To bring football to Metro at today’s price a significant budget increase would be needed, perhaps adding to tuition costs. On average, the RMAC schools with football spent $427,421 in gridiron costs alone in 2000. Last year, Metro spent over $1.6 million in athletics, matching revenues.

The last time Metro asked for an increase in the intercollgiate athletic fee was in 1990. Students denied the request that would have raised the fee from $14 to $20. As a result, Metro cut softball to meet expenses.

From 1988 to 1989, McDermott split time coaching the Metro softball and volleyball teams. The softball team collected a record of 50-37 in the two-year span, and tied a school record with 26 wins in 1989.

Although, McDermott left after 1989 to coach softball and volleyball at Morningside College in Iowa, the bitterness of softball’s annihilation at Metro was felt across the board like molded jam spread on hard toast.

Bill Helman swallowed the most of it.

Helman was athletic director at Metro from 1982-1998. Since Metro joined the NCAA in 1983, he had to drop wrestling; men’s gymnastics; and men and women’s track and field and cross-country mainly due to inadequte scholarship money.

"That was the lousiest part of the job," Helman said from his Florida home. "That was really bad, because we had good athletes and coaches. We tried to help them all go to other schools to compete and carry their scholarships if they stayed with us—with what little scholarships we had. But if somebody was on one, they still kept their scholarship. But at the same time we still dropped the sport they were competing in, so it wasn’t any fun."

Helman believes he made the right decisions. He recalls how players had to sleep on mats in a opponent’s gym because they couldn’t afford to stay at a hotel and how a decrepit traveling van caught fire and burnt down on interstate 25.

The softball team was cut by default. Having to travel to Missouri, Nebraska and Utah for road games stressed travel expenses. (Adams State and the Colorado School of Mines were the only other Colorado schools sponsoring Division II softball at the time.)

"I would love to bring softball back," McDermott said.

To do so the old softball field would require a major facelift to comply with Title IX, which requires equal facilities for both sexes. That means the field, batting cages, and dugouts would have to equal the current baseball field.

Go online at www.mscd.edu/~themet to vote for the new sports you would like to see at Metro by 2005.
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Basketball camps appeal to all ages
Eric Eames
The Metropolitan

Lindsey Berens ambled into the lush Colorado Athletic Club at Inverness and onto the plush red carpet rather timorously. Yet, full of optimism, too.

Wearing dark blue warm-up pants, a neon orange basketball t-shirt that said "Girl Power," glasses, and a shy grin. Berens was excited and nervous at the same time. She loved basketball, but felt she was a "so-so" player.

As she walked through the double doors the first thing she saw was a lengthy thin-framed man with a long stride, big hands and arms longer than she was tall. The man disappeared down the steps to her left as she approached the information desk.

"Basketball camp?" the nine-year-old asked softly.

"Follow that tall guy down the steps" the clerk said.

That was easy enough. The "tall guy" was Metro men’s basketball player Patrick Mutombo, who stands at 6-foot-5 and has a 7-foot wingspan. The 2002 Elite Eight most outstanding player is not one to disappear from view quickly.

Soon enough, though, Berens blended in with 50 or so other children, between the ages of 5 and 10, during the morning session of Metro’s Smart Start Basketball Camp. A group of 11- to 15-year-olds, numbering about 69, participated in the afternoon session.

"I have fun with them all summer long," junior center Lester Strong said.

And the children have fun with Strong. Eight-year-old Courtney Fromm got one look at the 6-foot-7, 220-pound junior-to-be and could have sworn she had seen him at a Denver Nuggets game. Not in the stands, but on the court playing.

"Which team do you play for?" she asked eagerly. "Huh? Which one? Do you play for the Denver Nuggets? I bet it’s the Nuggets."

"Naw," Strong replied humbly and with a slight blush to his cheeks, "probably in the future though."

The camp ran from July 15 to July 19. It was the eighth and final week-long camp the Metro men’s basketball team conducted this summer. Other camps were held at various elementary schools, middle schools and recreation centers throughout Colorado, including a camp in Castle Rock. Most camps are for children between the ages of 5- and 15 years-old, but one camp at the Denver Athletic Club was available for players of all ages.

In addition to the camps, Metro sponsors a high school varsity and junior varsity basketball tournament that head coach Mike Dunlap said is one the biggest in the state. Assistant coach Derrick Clark acknowledged that 64 varsity basketball teams competed at Thornton, Ralston Valley and Broomfield high schools this summer, while 30 junior varsity teams competed at the Auraria Events Center.

Ironically, it is the same high school tournament that Strong garnered recognition as a possible Division I player and where Metro coaches noticed his abilities.

About 2,000 partcipants took part in the eight camps , where they learn poper passing, footwork, dribbling, shooting and leadership techniques. Each youngster is invited to a Metro game, said Dunlap, whose three children took part in the camp at the Inverness athletic club.

Mutombo, Strong, Clayton Smith and Ryon Nickle joined new Roadrunner recruits Michael Morse, a Northern Colorado transfer and former Fairview High School standout; Jimmy Dadiotis, a former East High School star; and walk-on freshman Greg Muth to coach the camps along with Dunlap, Clark, assistant coach Tim Harrison and new assistant coach Brady Bergeson.
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