Look to page 6 for a story on next weeks Studio Series
WKUHERALD.COM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012 • College Heights Herald • Vol. 87, No.25 • Western Kentucky University
Students oppose censorship on Twitter By MICHAEL MCKAY news@wkuherald.com
Dallas, Texas, senior Mario Nguyen was among many of the students who got fired up Tuesday when reading about the university’s policy on external communications. Nguyen was in class in Mass Media and Technology Hall — home of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting — where the
First Amendment is posted on the walls and podiums. “For me, being in that school was really funny when I read the article, thinking about how ridiculous that (policy) was,” Nguyen said. Instead of tweeting his thoughts using the #WKU hashtag, Nguyen created his own, #Bigredcommunism, which he coupled with an image of Big Red surrounded by communist
symbols. Under Big Red, the text reads: “Join the Revolution! As social media constituents, we are the strongest form of marketing WKU has. By Unfriending/Unfollowing, you are helping limit WKU where they want to limit us.” “I figured if I could make this go viral with the very medium they are trying to limit us with against
them, I figured we would win out,” Nguyen said. “Or at least show them a thing or two.” Nguyen said he is going to create images and political cartoons to get the word out for his campaign. He said he’s working to gain awareness of students. “So far, it’s really just getting it out there,” he said. “I’m still in that phase — it’s only been one day.”
Nguyen said he’s going the social media awareto budget his time to con- ness campaign would help tinue his campaign. students take care of their “As long as they keep own accounts, not telling that policy in place and them what they should or they try to do this — I’m shouldn’t post. going to try, in addition to “The social media all of my schoolwork, to do awareness campaign is kind this,” he said. of a different aspect comSGA Senator Keyana pletely,” Boka said. “This is Boka said her organization more just a friendly kind of is working on a campaign reminder about safety. It’s of its own — a social media kind of the other side.” awareness campaign. Boka said the goal of SEE TWITTER, PAGE 3
Officials offer mixed opinion on Twitter controversy
Chinese dancers visit WKU
By CAMERON KOCH news@wkuherald.com
DOROTHY EDWARDS/HERALD
Dragon dancers from Hubei University in China perform in Downing University Center auditorium Wednesday. The event was put on by the Confucius Institute at WKU.
To see more about Chinese Drangon Dancers vist WKUHERALD.COM
Students took to Twitter to voice their opinions in response to Tuesday’s Herald cover story, prompting administrators to offer a response. President Gary Ransdell continued to advise students to use social media responsibly as tweets and posts are always accessible to potential future employers and others. Ransdell said that the First Amendment is a fundamental part of WKU and that students will always be able to speak their minds. But he said he didn’t agree with the recent attention on the issue. “A lot of attention seems to have been given to this matter — there’s probably a little too much attention,” said Ransdell, who as of Wednesday said he had not read the Herald’s coverage of WKU’s social media policy. “I think there’s been some overreaction to all of this.” Chief Marketing Officer Stacey Biggs wrote a commentary to the Herald that she said reflects the position of the university. This commentary can be found on Page 4. Robbin Taylor, vice president for Public Affairs, when asked via email to respond to the unconstitutional wording of a policy in the student handbook, chose to refer to Biggs’ letter. SEE OFFICIALS, PAGE 3
Sophomore beating cancer with Titans player's support By ANNA ANDERSON diversions@wkuherald.com
The summer of 2010 was Kelsey Towns’ last summer as a high school student. When her peers were gearing up for senior year at Father Ryan High School in Nashville, she was going through something different — cancer treatments. Instead of planning for the future, Kelsey was fighting for it. “It was kind of shocking because we hadn’t expected that at all,” Kelsey said. In June of 2010, Kelsey, now an 18-year-old WKU freshman, found a lump on her right upper-thigh. After a doctor’s appointment and MRI at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Kelsey said she wasn’t worried. The doctors had concluded that the lump was benign and arranged for surgery to remove it. It wasn’t until a follow-up appointment that she received the news. The lump the doctors removed wasn’t benign. It was a sy-
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novial sarcoma. Kelsey said fewer than one in a million people are diagnosed with this form of cancer, and not much is known about its behavior. “I have no idea how I got it,” she said. “There wasn’t a real treatment plan.” Within the first two weeks of August, Kelsey had her first chemotherapy session. She received seven chemo treatments and five radiation treatments in all. Kelsey’s mother, Lea Ann Towns, said the first round of chemo was difficult. “Each round you do, you get a little smarter,” Lea Ann said, talking about medicines and tactics used for recovery after the sessions. Lea Ann said that medicine wasn’t the only thing that helped Kelsey recover. Before her second round of treatment, Kelsey made an unlikely friend in Cortland Finnegan, a cornerback for the Tennessee Titans. Finnegan and fellow Titan Ryan Mouton were visiting patients in
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the children’s oncology unit in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center when they met Kelsey. After their initial meeting, Kelsey said that Finnegan kept returning to her room throughout the day to check on her. “I thought that was the last time I was going to see him,” she said. That wasn’t the case. Shortly after seeing her for the first time, Finnegan gave her season tickets to Titans games for that year and established himself as her friend. Finnegan is currently on vacation in Ireland and was unable to comment for this story. In March of 2011, he told the Diocese of Nashville how he was impressed by her strength. “In football you think you learn so much about perseverance and hard work, but you don’t really grasp it until you see someone with a life-threatening situation,” Finnegan told the Tennessee Register, the diocese’s newspaper. “She’s a warrior.” SEE CANCER, PAGE 2
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Kelsey Towns, a sophomore from Nashville, was diagnosed with cancer in July 2010. While receiving treatment at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, she met Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan, and the two became friends. Finnegan visited Towns in the hospital when she was receiving chemotherapy. Towns has been in remission for a little more than a year.
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