Tag: Franci Mara

Sanders Appeals to Local, Young Voters

Written by: Cody Neuenschwander, Franci Mara, Samantha Whiting

Volunteers, some of them IPFW students, gathered in the Bernie Sanders campaign headquarters on Wells Street in Fort Wayne April 26, as they prepared to go out into the community to knock on doors to garner more support for Sanders.

A poll by Harvard University found that 54 percent of those between 18-29 had a favorable opinion of 74-year-old Sanders, a democratic Presidential candidate.

According to Dr. Michael Wolf, professor of political science at IPFW, Sanders’ appeal to young people comes from his “anti-establishment” views.

“Younger voters have grown up in a time of political polarization, that has led them to potentially view politics as being especially negative,” Wolf said. “He’s [Sanders] talking about reform, and moving things that they associate with causing that.”

Those things include money in politics and social inequality, which Wolf said young people view as part of what has led to political polarization.

Another of Sanders’ policies that has been viewed favorably by young people is his claim of free tuition for public universities. However, according to Wolf, Sanders would still have the young vote without that policy.

Janelle Hall, president of the IPFW organization Students for Bernie, held a social event for Sanders supporters at the Fort Wayne coffee shop Firefly on April 19.

The event brought more than just IPFW students. In fact, according to Hall, only a few of the estimated 15 people that showed up were students. Many of them fell into the under 30 demographic.

Hall asked everyone who showed up to stand and say why they support Sanders. Some spoke of Sanders’ political policies; others spoke of his opposition to inequality. An overarching theme, however, was the consistency in his message throughout his political career.

Dria Kirkpatrick, a Sanders supporter, has never volunteered for a presidential candidate before. But, for Sanders, she has gone door-to-door and made telephone calls in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.

“I truly believe he’s just a voice that covers everyone, no matter if you’re old, no matter if you’re young,” Kirkpatrick said.

Rebecca Burton, another local Sanders supporter, has also never volunteered for a candidate until now.

“I was uninvolved completely. I felt like I didn’t have a voice,” Burton said. “I was just going to vote Democrat because I liked the policies better, but I didn’t actually volunteer for any candidate until now.”

Burton said she is impressed with Sanders’s activism in the past, specifically pointing out his support of the civil rights movement.

“He’s been fighting so hard for us, I can’t just sit back and not fight for him,” Burton said.

She also said that young people want their own place in the government.

“We’re the ones starting this new way of thinking,” Burton said. “We want our government to be for us, and not for money.”

After losing key states in the primary elections to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Sanders announced he is considering cutting back on his campaign staff to reserve his resources and elongate his campaign.

According to Wolf, Sanders is behind Clinton in the Indiana polls. Sanders is visiting the IPFW campus Monday and Indiana primaries are on May 3.

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Current Negotiations Over IPFW Governance Remain Unclear

Written by: Franci Mara & Samantha Whiting

IPFW officials had been kept in the dark since the January announcement that the presidents of Indiana University and Purdue University would renegotiate IPFW’s governance by a June 30 deadline, until April 14, when the presidents announced that they will be crafting a new agreement.

The LSA recommendations and report were delivered to Presidents McRobbie and Daniels in January, which had suggested the formation of small oversight groups in order to research each part of the recommendations.

“Since that time they have been in communication, and I am not involved in those discussions at a system level,” Vicki Carwein, IPFW’s chancellor, said.

A possible roadblock in the negotiation process could be the future of the nursing program, according to separate statements from Carwein and Andy Downs, the presiding officer of the IPFW senate.

“IU was very open to say we don’t want to start any of these other discussions until the nursing issue is resolved because for IU that was such a big ticket item for them,” Carwein said.

According to Downs, there have been multiple, unofficial proposals concerning the nursing program. The proposals include the splitting of the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs between IU and Purdue, giving both the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs to IU, or the College of Health and Human Services would become the IU campus and everything else would stay the same.

An oversight group was going to be formed shortly after the recommendations were presented in January, but has yet to be formed. Each of the three universities was supposed to name a representative to lead the oversight groups. IPFW named Vice Chancellor Carl Drummond, Purdue named Provost Debasish Dutta and IU has yet to name their representative.

“Since [the oversight group] doesn’t exist then none of the individual groups that would look into specifics of the proposal have been created,” Downs said.

Carwein said that she wants the Fort Wayne community to know that there are some good things in the recommendations, such as a medical research center, but there are also some problematic aspects of the recommendations. According to Carwein, the oversight groups need to be formed in order to make sense of the recommendations.

“The details of how you make that happen in a way that doesn’t harm existing students in terms of how they’re being educated, and the quality of the educational experience they have and how to actually promote that and make it better, is what they need to be talking about,” Carwein said.

Neither President McRobbie nor President Daniels returned phone calls concerning the negotiations between Purdue University and IU.

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Don’t Neglect Your Noggin

Photo credit: Aaron Stevens

Concussions are a growing topic of concern among people due to the ongoing issues present in the NFL with player injuries and problems that the injury can cause long after it has been treated.

Anyone can experience a concussion at any moment on account of the human brain being fragile. Traumatic brain injuries, or more commonly known as concussions, are a becoming an issue that is taking up more and more airtime on news stations and striking up public curiosity.

One of the biggest factors causing the curiosity of concussions is that the NFL, the biggest professional sports organization in the U.S., has been in a longtime legal battle with former and current football players over player safety in regards to brain injury. Professional athletes are not the only people who can experience a concussion. Young people who are still in college athletics suffer from these types of issues.

Josh Blevins, who played football from grade school through high school in Fort Wayne, has experienced three concussions in his life that are still affecting him now as a senior in college.

“I got one in grade school in the middle of a game. I don’t remember anything after being tackled in the second quarter. I woke up at home the next day,” Blevins said. “The other two were at practices for [high school football]. One felt like a normal headache. The one I sat out for, made me feel like I was being put under at the dentist but I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Blevins said that he still gets a “migraine everything month or so.”

Football is not the only way that people can experience a concussion. Playing any contact sport can open the door to head injury. Cheerleading is a sport that can create serious brain trauma because the body is tossed around, which can cause the brain to shake. Violent falls or car accidents are also serious causes of concussions.

Dr. Manny Manalo, a physician with the Lutheran Medical Group in Fort Wayne, says that whether or not there are lasting effects to the body long after a concussion is treated, depends on the level of severity of the head trauma.

“Usually in mild conditions, patients recover fully. In severe concussions, permanent damage to the brain could occur ultimately affecting the rest of the body.” Manalo said.

A concussion is a trauma induced condition that alters the way the brain functions and could cause loss of other bodily functions. A hard blow to head is what usually can cause the trauma, but it can also happen when the body is shaken violently. The Mayo Clinic states on its website that a person can experience unconsciousness when getting a concussion, but most concussions do not cause a person to lose consciousness. Because of this, some people do not realize they have a concussion.

A concussion can affect the body by causing serious headaches, a ringing in the ears, stomach pain, and muscle fatigue. Those are just a few of the immediate problems that could arise from head trauma, but recent research has found that concussions could possibly have lasting effects.

CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), is a degenerative disease that can cause symptoms of dementia, memory loss, anger, confusion and depression. Many of these symptoms appear years later, and in some cases, decades after the multiple head injuries have happened.

In the event of a concussion, the brain can go through many different scenarios depending on the severity level of the injury. Brain swelling is a possibility, and a shift out of its normal place can happen if the hit is hard enough. Symptoms of concussions vary with the level of how hard the causing hit was.

Other immediate symptoms upon getting a concussion can be loss of consciousness, loss of bodily functions, sensitivity to light and nausea or vomiting. Considering that the brain is the control center of the body, a bad enough concussion can lead to loss of feeling or paralysis in certain areas of the body.

“If the pituitary is affected, hormonal regulation would be affected. In terms of the nervous system, the cranial nerves would be affected. For example, if the optic nerve were affected, then vision would be impaired. The effects on these systems depend on where location of the trauma in the brain occurs,” Dr. Manalo said on the effects on the anatomy and physiology of the body.

The disruption of the endocrine system, which produces hormones, can lead to issues down the road. An imbalance of hormones and chemicals in the body can cause disorders like depression, anxiety, insomnia, and mood swings just to name a few according to Mayo Clinic research. Many of the former NFL players experienced many of these problems at the same time.

Before the 2013 football season, the NFL reached an agreement to payout $765 million in concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players who were a part of a lawsuit that accuses the league of concealing the problems that come from concussions, and profiting off of the bone-chilling hits that the league uses for its highlight reels.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was the family of Junior Seau, who died of a suicide in 2012. Seau, who had been retired for a few years by that time, had been suffering from injuries he sustained during his playing career which included concussions. The autopsy revealed that Seau had been dealing with CTE as so many former NFL players who passed away were later revealed to have.

Brandon Payton, who also experienced multiple concussions in his life due to his involvement with contact sports, spoke about the affect his injuries had on his vision.

“After I had a constant headache for about two weeks, and whenever light hit my eye, they got really sensitive and my headache got worse,” Payton said.

Dr. Manalo says that in the event of a head injury to be sure to pay attention to symptoms. Not everyone is a professional doctor, and should be sure to go see a doctor when in doubt. He also says to be proactive and not reactive. Take some rest and reduce head movement as much as possible.

Concussions are a danger for anyone because everyone has a brain that is sensitive. Contact sports, accidents and car wrecks are leading causes of head trauma, but even a violent shake of the body can lead to serious injury. College students, kids and adults can get hurt at any time because accidents happen.

If you experience a blow to the head that is hard enough to cause a blackout or headache then you should immediately consult with a medical professional.

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John Kaufeld: The Perfect Storm of Talent

When walking into John Kaufeld’s office you will most likely see one of two things happening: he is working on the IPFW Chancellor’s newsletter, or working on a dozen other projects that are displayed on his computer screen.

His office is decorated with Star Wars themed Mr. Potato Head figures, Looney Toons mailing stamps, and other items that are not typically seen in someone’s office that works within a university’s head administration, and has the job title that Kaufled holds.

He reads the work he has done so far that day fact checking every little detail to make sure he has left nothing out or mistyped any key information. He fixes grammatical errors meticulously and quickly like his life depended on it.

He is the voice of IPFW. Almost everything and anything relating to news about the university goes through Kaufeld.

If anyone has a question regarding the school they are sent to talk to him, because he has all of the answers. He runs the university’s Twitter news account, creates newsletters regarding faculty achievements on campus and publishes content on his personal blogs.

John Kaufled’s experiences in life have all played a role in getting him to where he is today.

“I really enjoyed being a journalist. I liked the idea of writing,” Kaufeld said about what his interests were as a young man. “I wrote for every school newspaper at every school I was ever at, because I just found that fascinating.”

His interests in writing led to him becoming a best-selling author of the international book series “…For Dummies.” His books have sold almost 3 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 15 different languages.

His primary work focused on teaching people how to use computer software and programming. His books not only influenced readers in the U.S., but all around the world.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ball State where he first found that he had an interest in computers. During his time in college, Kaufeld said, “At one point I had seven majors. I changed my major a lot, and I ended up falling in love with computers. I found that I really enjoyed system design.”

It was through his experience of being an IT manager and working with computers in the corporate world that he was able to write his books helping people understand computers easier because he wanted to understand how and why computers worked the way they did for people. A career in computers services had to end though as Kaufeld said that he felt that “burned out” by all of the work.

Though the stress of his corporate career began to get a little too overwhelming, there was another passion that Kaufeld could go to help relieve the stress. A passion that started long before everything else.

“I was an only child… so with board games I found that I had an easier time connecting with people my age. As I got older and became a parent, I found that there were moments I was having trouble connecting with my kids, and I learned that when we were playing those games we were connecting and communicating better,” said Kaufeld about what board games have meant to him throughout his life.

That passion for board games, especially foreign board games, led Kaufeld to own and run his gaming business in Fort Wayne and writing a column in the News Sentinel newspaper. Kaufeld describes his column on his LinkedIn page as, “…gives hope to frustrated, time-stressed dads. The Dad Game gives you hands-on advice about connecting with your kids by using board games as a tool, specifically European-style board games like The Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne. (But not Monopoly. Never, ever Monopoly. Ew.)”

Among his work in business, communications and journalism, he also does speaking seminars on the side. He is currently doing work in a concept he refers to as, “imposter syndrome.” He speaks to college students about embracing their accomplishments and ideas rather than believe that no one will care or appreciate the work they are doing. His speaking engagements are something that he sees himself doing more of in the future.

His journey to IPFW began when Kaufeld was working as a communications manager at STAR Financial Bank. Before working at the university, a friend working at IPFW asked him to join her in the social media department. Soon, he became the social media manager of the school. While working for the university, he also became a student. He was able to earn a Masters of Arts from IPFW in 2013.

In 2014, he was introduced as IPFW’s new chief communications officer.

“John is a unique professional who brings a singular set of skills, insights, and experiences to our executive team,” said Chancellor Vicky Carwein in the university’s online news letter announcing Kaufeld’s new position. “Our ability to communicate with our partners, constituents, faculty, staff, and students is a key part of IPFW’s future. John’s expertise will help us continue to grow and develop in those areas.”

Dr. Dan Tamul, who is an assistant professor in IPFW’s Department of Communication, has worked with Kaufeld before. Tamul has brought him into his journalism classes as a practice interview subject that students can use to talk to and is familiar with Kaufeld’s work.

“The kind of position he occupies here, if he were at Purdue or one of those big universities, he would have a team of people helping him, but it’s just him,” said Tamul “I’m really glad that we hired him. He is the perfect storm of all the talents and skills to do that job really well. He’s all about IPFW.”

IPFW has a published author, business man, marketing strategist, computer wizard, journalist and professional speaker in one man. His office located in Kettler Hall is open to anyone who has questions that need answered. Kaufeld can provide help to any student seeking his experience, or anyone who just wants to play some board games.

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