Eastern News
Thursday
“Tell th e t r u t h a n d d o n ’ t b e a fr a i d . ”
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Two senators resigned during the second installment of the “Senate on the Road” program in Thomas Hall on Wednesday. Alex Boyd, a junior political science major who has been a member of the student government since his freshman year, said he resigned for personal reasons. “I have been on the fence about this for quite sometime,” Boyd said. “It wasn’t as enjoyable as it had been in the past.” Boyd said the main reason for his departure was he felt he needed to focus more on school and other aspects of his life. He said he also was not happy with the direction in which student government has been going. “I was a little upset about some of the way things were going,” Boyd said. Boyd said he alerted Speaker of the Senate Zach Samples, a sophomore history major, to his resignation on Monday, as well as some of his close friends in the Senate. Samples said he has no hard feelings between himself and the members who quit. “They quit for necessary reasons,” Samples said. “It was a necessary thing for them.” Alex Lais, a sophomore undecided major and co-chair of the University Development and Recycling Committee with Boyd, also resigned during the meeting, but said he has no hard feelings toward stu-
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EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. D A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M T WIT TER.COM/DENNE WS
Long climb to the top for Panthers
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Boyd, Lais resign from Student Senate By Kathryn Richter Staff Reporter
OC TOBER 27, 2011
Check this week’s edition of Fresh!
STUDENT SENATE
Senators leave for personal reasons
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dent government. “Student government is moving along really well, they’re doing amazing things,” Lais said. “The progress the group will make will be unbelievable.” Lais said the main reason for his resignation from the Student Senate was his involvement with other activities. “It’s not fair to the organization if I’m not there giving my hundred percent all the time,” Lais said. Lais said he was in the application process of other leadership opportunities. “I’m going for different type of leadership positions throughout the campus and the community right now,” Lais said. Samples said he will begin actively seeking new members within the next few days, but will give a strong focus to students who have previously applied for a Student Senate position, as well as non-Senate committee members. Joe Sherman, a senior kinesiology major and Student Senate member said the resignations of Boyd and Lais caught him off guard. “I definitely did not see it coming,” Sherman said. “I was a state of shock and confusion for the most part.” Sherman said right now he is just trying to figure out what is going on, but he feels that these resignations will not negatively affect the student government. “It’s definitely sad, but I don’t think it’s going to slow us down,” Sherman said. Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-2812 or kjrichter@eiu.edu.
Serious business
SABRINA DUNC AN | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
John Mefford, a senior political science major, sits with Mike Ruybal, the student veterans coordinator, and Dan Hart, a senior biological science major, discuss future plans during the Student Veterans of Eastern meeting Wednesday evening at Jackson Avenue Coffee.
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Professor to discuss southern roots By Andrew Crivilare Staff Reporter
A visiting professor will address the American South’s association with a literary tradition lionizing dying civilizations today in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Lecture Hall. Michael Goode, associate professor and chairman of the department of English at Syracuse University, will deliver the lecture titled “The Sir Walter Disease: Reenacting American History After Walter Scott,” in affiliation with Phi Beta Kappa academic fraternity. Suzie Park, associate professor of English and president of the Eastern Illinois Phi Beta Kappa association, said this will be the 21st an-
nual Phi Beta Kappa lecture at Eastern, in spite of the fact that Eastern does not have an official chapter on campus. Goode said that Sir Walter Scott was a 19th Century Scottish author who wrote historical novels emphasizing the romantic aspects of cultures, especially the Scottish, during their demise at the hands of modernity. “In the eyes of some people the novels kind of glorify regional cultures at the moment of their twilight,” Goode said. “They produce identification and nostalgia for the culture about to be lost.” Scott’s novels had a Harry Potter-like following and were part of standard education across continents during the 1800s, Goode
said. “Walter Scott is not a name on the tip of the tongues of many people today,” he said. “It was really only in the early 20th Century that his literary star fell.” Goode said that while Scott never wrote directly about the South, his ideas had a profound effect on the Antebellum South, who saw themselves as civilized people being prayed upon by the modernized North. “The title (of the lecture) refers to the American South having a Walter Scott disease,” Goode said. “Their thinking of history was affected by Scott’s historical novels, it influenced their perception of self.” ROOTS, page 5
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‘Volpone’ adaptation incorporates gender switching, tricks By Samantha McDaniel Activities Editor
SETH SCHROEDER | DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Julie Zielinski, a junior theatre arts major, and Alexis Evans, a senior communication studies major, perform Sunday during dress rehearsal for “Volpone” in the Mainstage Theater of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.
Gender switching, tricks and deception were all themes incorporated into the opening night of “Volpone.” The Department of Theatre Arts presented “Volpone” by Ben Jonson Wednesday. The play was an adaptation from the 1606 production by Jonson. In t h e a d a p t a t i o n , t h e c a s t switched the genders of the characters, setting and time. The play is set in present day Venice, Fla., instead of its original setting of Venice, Italy. Volpone, a man in the original play, is conniving and greedy while plotting to trick many people out of their money. However, in Eastern’s adaptation,
Volpone is played as a woman. Volpone deceives many of the other characters into believing that she is on her deathbed and is looking for someone to make her heir. The characters go as far as tricking Corbaccia, an older women, into writing Volpone as her heir instead of Corbaccia’s daughter, Bonaria. Presents are brought to influence Volpone’s decision while her assistant Mosca plots each one against the other. Volpone in disguise also falls for the husband of Corvina, one of the pursuers of her heir, and sends Mosca to trick Corvina into giving Volpone her husband. Believing it would make her the heir; Corvina bullies her husband into staying with Volpone, even
though he refused. Christopher Mitchell, the director of “Volpone” and an associate professor of Theatre Arts, said this adaptation of the play excluded a subplot that he believed would be comical to the audience, but could not present it in the play because of time constraints. “I think the main plot is pretty funny and has a very satisfying ark to it,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think the audience is missing anything.” Mitchell said he believed the changed genders added more comedy to the play. “They (the audience) seem to really be getting a kick out of it,” Mitchell said. “I noticed on certain lines where the genders play differently, they (the cast) were getting laughs or raised eyebrows.” VOLPONE, page 5