The university has created a culture where It gets crazy ... but it is not only rewarding ... it is my passion.

. their obvious favorite is the chess program.

Matt Mason Webster baseball player Danny Ruzicka Creator of Late Nite Grindhouse

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THE JOURNAL
council Billboard slap in the face, athletes say City out of step,
By Sam Masterson
Contributing Writer

The News Source For Webster University

Volume 67 Issue 10

November 6- November 12, 2013

websterjournal.com

A billboard along Interstate 70 in central Missouri paid for by Webster University states Our top recruits are chess players. Senior forward on the womens soccer team, Katie Aubuchon was one of the first Webster athletes to share the story through Twitter on Oct. 31. Its like a slap in the face, Aubuchon said. It just pissed off a lot of athletes and they (Webster) arent giving us the recognition we deserve. Websters chess team moved from Texas Tech University in 2012 and tied for first place at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship last year. Freshman forward on the mens soccer team, BJ Dryer said the billboard was off-putting as an athlete. I think it is a knock against athletes, Dryer said. I dont want to take away from the chess team but other teams are doing great too. Webster athletics is a member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and has won the All-Sports Award all but two years since the award began in 1989. The award is given to the school which earns the most points throughout the year in terms of what place they finish in conference competition. Webster University Director of Marketing Communications John Costello said the Webster University chess billboard was a unique opportunity that we could not pass up. Costello said the billboard is not about the chess team. Webster Director of Public Relations Patrick Giblin said the words on the billboard are not meant to be taken seriously. The point of the billboard was humor, Giblin said. I think most people driving down that freeway will know that simply because of all the Mizzou (University of Missouri-Columbia) billboards that come right before it. Mizzous billboards pro-

according to poll
News Editor

By Kavahn Mansouri Seventy-one percent of Webster Groves residents believe the City Council should allow the university to use buildings on Eden Theological Seminarys campus, according to a survey of 404 residents commissioned by Webster University and Eden. The survey, released on Oct. 29, conducted by Stakeholder Insights, was used as an attempt to measure and evaluate community sentiment on the City Councils decision to deny Webster University use of Luhr Library and Wehrli Center. While 71 percent of residents disagreed with the Councils decision, 11 percent agreed with the decision and 18 percent did not know or were undecided. On Aug. 20, Webster Groves City Council voted 4-3 to reject an application for a conditional use permit (CUP) for Webster University to repurpose Luhr Library and the Wehrli Center for university use and demolish Edens White House. The city denied the bill after the citys Plan Commission unanimously recommended the city grant the CUP to the university. I am upset about our inability to arrive at a collaboration that will work for both the city and the university, said Mayor Gerry Welch. We value the university. The university is an important part of the community. Welch said the lawsuit Webster University and Eden filed against the city on Sept. 19 has made it difficult for the city to have a conversation with the institutions. This issue is over a conditional use permit that I was hoping we would have the ability to resolve at this table, Welch said. Once a lawsuit is thrown at you, you lose the ability to sit together at a table. Webster Groves resident Frank Janoski was one of the three speakers at the Nov. 5 city council remarks of visitors. He said he hopes the Council will not give in to Webster University and Edens tactics. I wanted to express my disappointment over the conduct of institutions that claim to be good samaritans, Janoski said. They apparently believe that bullying tactics and spreading of misinformation is acceptable conduct for trying to get their way. Councilmember Kathy Hart addressed the issue of the CUP denial at the Nov. 6 City Council meeting. She said there was nothing else the Council could do about the application. When theres a CUP application that comes through for the city, we apply the legal standards and apply the law to the CUP application as it comes to us, Hart said. That is what we did. Theres nothing else we can do about that application. Webster Groves has 23,056 residents, according to the 2012 United States Census. The 404 residents were surveyed through a randomly selected telephone sample of Webster Groves residents from Oct. 10 to 27. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent, according to a Webster University press release. Lisa Richter, managing director of Stakeholder Insights, said it was clear the City Council See Survey Page 2

Contributed by Webster University The billboard placed along Interstate 70. It is placed 10 miles after University of Missouri-Columbias billboards advertising its sports programs.

mote its nationally ranked Division I athletics like football and volleyball. Maggie Zehner, member of the Webster womens basketball team from 2009-13, texted all 70 of the Webster student contacts she had in her phone, and urged them to tweet at Webster (@websteru) about the billboard posted on Interstate 70. Zehners text was sent at 9:28 a.m., Nov. 3. Two University of MissouriColumbia billboards on I-70 sit less than 10 miles before Websters billboard eastbound on I-70. After speaking to a few people, I would like to try and bring more attention to this chess billboard. Webster relies heavily on social media, so I think by using Twitter, we could really get the attention of the powers that be and make them

respond to us. If every athlete would tweet @websteru multiple times for the next few days letting them know how we feel about the billboard, it would not only get directly to them, but it would be made public how the university has upset such a high percentage of the student population. Our tweets need to be respectful, yet thoughtful, and please include #WUBillboard in your message so that we can get this trend going! We shouldnt insult the chess team or degrade the school, we should just voice the degradation and embarrassment the billboard has caused so many of the students. PLEASE take a moment to pass this message along to all current/ former athletes that you know and start tweeting! Lets make them take it down! Remember to post See Billboard Page 2

Alyssa Sapp
You can acknowledge accomplishments without disrespecting and downgrading Webster athletics @websteru #WUBillboard

Hunter Ward

@websteru The REAL ATHLETES do not get a cent of scholarship money. But yet chess players get a full ride? #Angry #Disrespected #WUBillboard

Katie Aubuchon

Chess is not a sport pic.twitter.com/8IOlXRwwVb

Matt Mason

Im a deans list student and played on a team that finished 5th in the college World Series. Am I not a top recruit? @websteru #WUBillboard

Webster students confess on social media

By Megan Washausen When the Webster Confessions Facebook page was created on Oct. 10, invites to like the page were delivered rapidly, with an introduction message awaiting each visitor: Welcome to Webster Confessions where you can profess your undying love to somebody, confess your crimes or talk smack about your roommate. All anonymously of course. By the next day the page attained 200 likes, and almost a month later it rests at 796. Ted Hoef, associate vice president and dean of students, said he has read about similar social media pages at other colleges in higher education publications. Well sometimes hear about things before they come to Webster University, so social media sites like that have sometimes sprung up in other places, so its usually a matter of time before we might see them here, Hoef said. However, Webster Confessions was not the first anonymous social media page brought to Hoef s attention. On April 17, the first tweet was posted on WebsterSecretAdmirer, a Twitter page designated for Webster students to anonymously confess their
Lifestyle Editor

campus crushes; however, the posts that appear on the page are often suggestive in nature. The majority of the posts mention crushes by name. Sophomore Ruby Weaver was searching a friends name on Twitter when the search engine took her to WebsterSecretAdmirer. She said she was appalled by a post that mentioned her friend by name. She alerted her friend immediately. The post was removed within 24 hours of the time Weavers friend requested it be taken down. But Weaver said she was still upset the following day, not only about the post, but also the existence of the Twitter page. Maybe Im just too deep into the Webster bubble, but I didnt think those kinds of people (who would post to the site) are here, Weaver said. I dont walk around campus and hear people demeaning women and saying this stuff. She contacted Hoef and expressed concern that a prospective student could stumble upon the page and get the wrong impression of the university. Hoef said that because they didnt know who sent the message, or who runs the page, there is no good avenue to prevent such statements from appearing on the page. If its all anonymous theres not really much that can be

done, Hoef said. Some sites like Facebook and Twitter do have some standards, and if someone violates those then they might remove something. Craig Carmichael, director of digital marketing and communications, said that he and his team do their best to monitor media that discusses or is even loosely affiliated with the university. If the Global Marketing or Public Relations department do discover or are made aware of a page like WebsterSecretAdmirer or Webster Confessions, they make sure that it does not misrepresent itself as an official university run account and that it does not infringe on the Webster University brand or copyrighted material. Additionally, they watch for statements that could damage the Webster brand. They take action if it is legally necessary. Patrick Giblin, director of public relations, explained that when they encounter an issue, they redirect the matter to student affairs. Beyond that, whatever the students do, the students do, Giblin said. We know theres not much we can or even should do about it because theyre adults. Call for provocative content Although the Webster Con-

Photo illustration by Mackenzie Wilder and Victoria Courtney

fessions Facebook administrator remains anonymous as the posts that appear on the page, the comments and likes on each post are visible to all visitors name, picture and all. The tone and seriousness of the

comments are as versatile as the posts themselves. Senior Patrik Coyne said he has read almost every post on the page with hope that one day See Confessions Page 7