VOLLEYBALL
COACH SEE STORY PAGE 6, PICTURES PAGES 5 & 10
HITS 500
THE BG NEWS Wednesday
November 18, 2009 Volume 104, Issue 61
CAMPUS
WWW.BGVIEWS.COM
Fair lessens pre-graduation stress Today’s Grad Fair allows seniors to purchase necessary items for graduation | Page 3
FORUM
Evictions offer few options for students The BG News staff editorial discusses the last-minute announcement forcing students in two fraternities to find new homes | Page 4
University uses ‘due diligence’ to combat fraud By Gina Potthoff Editor-in-chief
While the University may or may not be out $15 million from a fraudulent investment announced earlier this year, it is working to protect current assets with its new investment consultant. Hammond Associates out of St. Louis, Mo., began handling the University’s investments after the University pannounced the $15 million invested with Westridge Capital Management Inc. could
be lost after the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed enforcement actions against Westridge in federal court. At that time, a federal district court in New York ordered all Westridge assets be frozen and appointed a receiver to assume control of Westridge’s assets and funds to take actions to protect Westridge clients. Chris Adkerson, Hammond Associates senior consultant, said his company manages
roughly $50 million in assets and consults more than 200 clients, including Michigan State University. Specializing in institutions, Adkerson said Hammond Associates has 23 people researching different investment opportunities for clients. “Higher ed is our niche,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty wellrounded amount of people in research. That’s a big plus for us.” Meanwhile, the temporary receiver, Robb Evans and
City Editor Ella Fowler urges people to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their health by skipping meat weekly | Page 4
N O I H S A F
Denise Van De Walle becomes the first BG coach to reach 500 career wins after an intense game against Toledo | Page 5-6
SPORTS
See FRAUD | Page 2
BEN LOHMAN | THE BG NEWS
GET UP N’ GO: Alexandra Harrison from Oregon, Ohio, prepares a cup of coffee for a customer at “The Flying Joe.” Newly renamed from “The Flying Bean”, this shop is a popular coffee spot located in Perrysburg.
By Michelle Olmstead Reporter
Basketball falls to Xavier The Xavier Musketeers crushed the Falcons 57 - 101 in the heartbreaking second game of the season | Page 5
Volleyball owns the court Check out highlights of last night’s volleyball game against Toledo in the Sports photo spread | Page 10
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREA MARCHI | THE BG NEWS
The Apparel Merchandising and Project Development major has students learning what’s in and what’s out in the fashion business By Allison Borgelt Reporter
PEOPLE ON THE STREET
some assets for proportional distribution among all clients, some investors are not on board with the idea. “There’s a lot of jostling for who gets in line,” Stoll said. Dave Kielmeyer, senior director of communications at the University, said one of the biggest and time-consuming duties the receiver has is deciding how far to “claw back”, or retrieve funds involved in the fraud.
‘The Flying Joe’ takes off with new name
Coach makes historic win
What’s one thing you would change about fashion?
RYAN PIROG | THE BG NEWS
“I would do away with the Ugg industry.” | Page 4
Associates LLC, is determining what the lost assets are, who is entitled to them, and what the proportional distribution between the 30 to 40 institution investors affected by the fraud should be. University Chief Financial Officer Sherideen Stoll said she expects it will be three to six years before they know what portion of the $15 million the University will get back. She said while the receiver has requested the court authorize select investors pay back
N I D E L O O H C S T GE
Make it a Meatless Monday
SARAH KOCH Senior, Criminal Justice
ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
PUSH PIN: Sophomore Alyssa Phillips pins back a French seam in her AMPD 2510 Assembly and Fit class
University students looking to dress up their educational experience may want to consider a major in Apparel Merchandising and Product Development. Around 250 students are in the AMPD program, one of the largest majors in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, said Jean Hines, AMPD associate professor. Hines said before the AMPD program changed in the mid-90s, its emphasis was on the history of fashion and fashion design. She said Diane Frey, AMPD coordinator and associate professor, played a big role in shifting the program’s focus to apparel merchandising and product development to reflect changes in the industry. “It’s really looking more at the retail side of the industry and then product development ... coming up with ideas of what the product’s going to be and then deciding how it’s going to be made and where it’s going to be made,” Hines said.
See APPAREL | Page 2
Coffee and airplanes may seem like an odd combination, but to John Ohm and his wife Becky, the pairing is all too natural. “They go hand-in-hand,” said Ohm, who is a pilot. “If we could hook it up through an IV, then we’d probably do that.” Aside from keeping the Ohms alert during long flights, coffee has become a business for the couple, who are currently serving as pilots in the International Guard and running their own coffee shop, “The Flying Joe.” Nestled in Levis Commons, an outdoor mall in Perrysburg, this aviation-themed coffee shop first opened its doors in 2007. Initially named “The Flying Bean,” the shop features an airplane-inspired mural, propellers as wall hangings and many more flight decorations speckled here and there. The Ohms were recently forced to change the name of their company, due to an outof-state coffee roasting company of the same name. “We got a call from a coffee roaster in the state of Oregon,
“In the end, it’s kind of like renaming one of your children, though” John Ohm | Coffee shop owner and they were called, ‘The Flying Bean,’” John Ohm said. In response, the Ohms opened up a re-naming contest to all of their customers, and ultimately decided on “The Flying Joe,” because they wanted to keep the flying theme. “It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of great names,” Ohm said. “In the end, it’s kind of like renaming one of your children, though.” Although the big sign out front still reads, “The Flying Bean,” the menus, merchandise and a new wall mural all bear the new name. “Hopefully by the end of the year everything will be reestablished as ‘The Flying Joe,’” Ohm said.
See BEAN | Page 2
Waitlisting leaves students’ schedules in limbo Jessica Hanna Reporter
Even after registering for the spring semester, many students are still unsure what their class schedule will be. With no way to know when and if they will be admitted to some classes, some students have no choice but to wait. Laura Waggoner, director of registration and scheduling for the office of Registration and Records, said individual departments can offer waitlists for full classes. When enrolled students drop a class, the vacated seats are reserved for
students on the waitlist. On a nightly basis, students from the list are automatically enrolled by the system in the order they signed up. Students can lose their place on a waitlist if they don’t meet the prerequisites or have scheduling conflicts, Waggoner said. Departments also have the opportunity to change the waitlist order. “It’s possible that they may have somebody up for graduation who desperately needs that class,” Waggoner said.
VISIT BGVIEWS.COM: NEWS, SPORTS, UPDATES, MULTIMEDIA AND FORUMS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE
See WAITLIST | Page 2