THE HALFTIME
May 4 2020
Corona
Containment
By Andrew Jackson
There is so much going on
in the world at this time. A
virus is spreading rapidly
from continent to continent
and thousands of people
are dying from it every
day. Since the virus started
growing and spreading so
quickly, the government
from all around the world
has encouraged people to
stay home and engage in
“social distancing”. The
idea of “social distancing”
is for people to distance
themselves far enough
away from each other so
the virus will not spread as
quickly. Due to the social
distancing that people are
doing, many jobs have laid
people off so the workers
can stay home and avoid
the outdoors. With there not
being so many people out-
side all the time, the popu-
lation around the world has
gone down.
A lot of factories have been
closing so the people work-
ing at the factories would
engage in social distancing,
due to this a lot of rivers
and lakes around the world
have been cleaned up since
people aren’t outside to
throw things in them.
Also a lot of streets are
about to maintain the trash
that was on it and have
become clean again. Peo-
ple are also not able to go
anywhere because a lot of
businesses have temporar-
ily shut down due to the
virus spreading so rapidly
which means that not as
much plastic is being used.
Although this virus has
been terrible for the peo-
ple who have had to suffer
with it, it has been a wake
up call to the world. After
everything has shut down
people are really able to see
how much population we
cause on a daily basis.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Sigma Pi Students Meets Sports
The inside scoop on fraternities and how recruitment works into them.
By Douglas Walker
Sport coats were everywhere.
The representatives of several fraternities introduced themselves to possible new recruits. It was the largest recruiting
night of the semester for many of the fraternities was underway with six different presentations to about twenty possi-
ble recruits, and I was one of them.
Every semester, the fraternities that make up the Interfraternity Council put on a formal recruitment night to attract
potential recruits and educate them on why their fraternity is the best option for the recruit.
The leader of the representatives was Tyler Nelson of Lambda Ki Alpha.
“Formal recruitment night for the fraternities have never been that big, so we might get 15-20 guys,” Nelson said. “For
formal recruitment it’s not really a big show out, but this is where you go if you want to learn the most about a fraterni-
ty because they tell you everything about them, you get to meet the brothers.”
Us recruits were first offered pizza in the University Center, though only half of us took up the offer, as there was a
wave of nervous excitement in the room. I was one of the students who got a piece, there was nothing for me to be
nervous about.
Soon, we were split into two groups of ten and brought to six different presentations over a two-hour span. The presen-
tations were from the fraternities Phi Sigma Kappa, Lambda Ki Alpha, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma
Phi Epsilon, and Sigma Pi.
In every group there was a member from each fraternity, there just to observe the other presentations to make sure no
other fraternity was speaking negatively about the others. I would like to think that if one had, there would’ve been
hands thrown.
Every room had an assortment of props and trophies that the fraternities were happy to talk about in their presentations.
They were unafraid to brag about each of their varying successes in either the academic, community, or sports fields.
These presentations ranged from formal presentations about the accomplishments of the frats to almost comedy scenes
with 20+ performers.
The most bazar presentation of the night went to the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha. In the largest conference room in the
University Center, 45 men surrounded the potential recruits and proudly talked about the size of their deck. There
wasn’t any form of recruiting going on, just a healthy conversation about the deck of the fraternity house. This hap-
pened all while these 45 men were exchanging their sports coats with each other every 60 seconds.
Each fraternity focused on creating a comfortable atmosphere for potential recruits. Their goal, after all, was to gain
future members from the men who were attending. Even though I was adamant that I was there just to observe, the
brothers of every fraternity were happy to invite me to events that they were holding around campus. Some even went
so far as giving me their Snapchat contacts. They were understanding that some recruits weren’t ready.
“Formal recruitment is probably where to go if you’re looking at all the fraternities, if you don’t know anything about
them, and if you aren’t ready, there is one every semester so you can go to the next one and whatnot,” Nelson said.
Admittedly, I doubt I’ll ever become a frat brother. The social life isn’t for me. But to be able to see the positives that
each fraternity was able to provide about joining their family is an experience that I will look back on positively. While
I do see myself as a brother in the future, I’m sure many others will after they attend this event.
5 Ways to Avoid Spreading
COVID-19
1
WASH YOUR HANDS!
Soap and water kills COVID-19 tracces on materi-
als and hands, rendering it inert and making it able
LIMIT TRAVEL
The less people move around, the less the virus
is able to spread due to a lack of hosts. By reduc-
3
to be touched without spreading of the virus. ing car travel and general movement, the virus
is contained faster.
2 SOCIAL DISTANCING
Keeping a minimum of 6 feet from people (when
WORK FROM HOME
4
By keeping work-related activities remote, you
outside of the home) is vital to avoid giving or stop the potential of being around others and
receiving droplets containing the virus, which are spreading the virus further. This along with reduced
normally spread through touch or by coughing. travel allows the virus to die out quicker.
5 KEEP HANDS FROM FACE
Hand contact with the face is the biggest spread of
disease. By having the virus in contact with your
face, you are allowing it to enter your respiratory
system and potentially damage your lungs.
Apple Securty and How It Affects You deceased shooters possessed. Apple said it aimply was not
possible. Why? Because Apple designs their operating sys-
tem with the users privacy in mind. They offered the FBI
their iCloud backups, but they were useless as the newest
By Ashley Garlan backup was months old.
The FBI then paid a third-party firm $900,000 to
break into the phone and then filed a motion for Apple to
A famous court case from 2015 is rearing its ugly head be legally required to build a backdoor into their OS for
again, as it does with every shooting since then. After law enforcement. The FBI lost. The firm used a method
the Moncure, North Carolina shooting that took place on of brute force. They tried every passcode possible for the Security on digital device
March 15th, rumblings of this case have been circulating. 4 digits by wiping the part of the storage that remembers can impact all of us in the future.
This revived the question; Should Apple have to build a failed passcode attempts until they got in.
backdoor into its OS for law enforcement agencies? The The good thing is the vulnerability that the third
problem here is the lines can get so blurry so fast. party used, doesn’t work on any iPhone 6 or newer be- this makes the FBI and
The case mentioned above was after the San Ber- cause of something called the Secure Enclave. This makes other law enforcement
nardino shooting in 2013. The FBI requested that Ap- the memory responsible for storing the number of failed agencies push even harder
ple unlock the passcode protected iPhone 5C one of the attempts inaccessible to anyone. While this is a good thing, for Apple to build in back-
doors.
The main issue
taken with this case is if
Apple is forced to grant
this unprecedented access,
it will be publicized, and
the “bad guys” are going
to try their absolute hardest
to gain this access as well.
Crime groups have money
to spend on this kind of
stuff and will eventually be
able to figure out how to
have this access as well and
who knows how that will
turn out.
We don’t know
the scale or the method,
and we, civilians, proba-
bly never will. We don’t
know if this is going to be
kept the FBI and CIA, and
they will need the physical
device for this access, or if
an officer can hop on their
laptop, type in our name
or phone number, and be
presented with the contents
of our iPhones.
There are some,
though that are in favor
of this. They argument is
that it’s our civic duty to
give up our right to privacy
in favor of protecting the
country. This is a tough
argument to refute because
if you do, you look unpa-
triotic, but in reality, we
have a constitutional right
to protect us from unlaw-
ful search and seizure and
this argument shouldn’t be
made until we know the
sheer scope of what the FBI
is asking for.
While we all
would like to do our parts
to prevent these horrific
incidents like shootings, we
need to take a serious look
at the facts and make sure
there are strong checks and
balances put into places to
protect the average citizen.

Digital Demands
from Ferris State

By Shelly Wiles

Ferris State University has decided to go completely online for the

rest of the school year due to the massive outbreak of the Corona-
virus. This virus started in China but has reached the United States
and many other countries where officials are calling it a pandemic.
The first reported case in the United State was filed on January 20
in Washington State and in just under two months the virus has
spread over all 50 states resulting in over 43,000 people testing
positive and just over 500 deaths. But the virus is only spreading
quicker and getting much worse.
Although there are no confirmed cases in Mecosta County, Ferris
made the choice to make all classes online until June 1 and move
students off campus completely. On March 23 2020, Michigan
Governor Gretchen Whitmer, issued a “stay-at-home” order for all
Michigan residents, meaning no one is able to leave their house
unless it is essential.
Many students are not used to taking classes online and are find-
ing it difficult making the change.
“Since I am in a major where some of my classes require a lab,
it has been hard to keep up with the work,” said chemistry junior
Drew Kindle. “I am not sure how Ferris will make up the labs,
since it is required for my degree.”
Ferris students aren’t the only ones that are having to get used to
classes being fully online. Professors are also struggling to keep
up and deal with online work. Since many professors have only
ever taught in-person classes, many have to learn how to go fully
online.

Hockey for Charity

By Brandom Smith

Ferris will host its first ever staff vs. players hockey game Satur-
day, March 28, to benefit the United Way.
The game will take place in the Ewigleben Sports Arena at 7 p.m.
Admission will be $5 for students and faculty and $10 for every-
one else with all the proceeds going to United Way.
Ferris Assistant Professor of English Dr. Garrett Stack helped to
create the event and believed it will benefit the players, faculty,
university, and community.
“I thought it’d be a neat opportunity to get more people in the
stadium and show that some of the faculty have some skills too,”
Stack said.
Stack grew up playing hockey and despite his busy life, enjoys
the game enough to find time to play as an adult. He believed the
event will be fun if for no other reason than for students to watch
their professors get “decked into the boards” by the current hock-
ey players.
“I’m hoping the players will take it easy on us, but we have a
few faculty here who have some decent pedigree,” Stack said.
“There’s a couple faculty who have some rust on their blades but
can probably still play.”
Stack believed the faculty game will present the Bulldogs an op-
portunity to play easier competition after a difficult season (7-26-
2).
The game will be three 12-minute, running clock periods. Stack
believed that this, along with fundraising for United Way, will
encourage the players to take the game seriously and have a good
time.
United Way will benefit in multiple ways. Not only will the ad-
mission money be donated to the organization, but Ferris athletics
will host a raffle and chuck puck with half the proceeds going to
United Way and the other half to the winners.
 Celebration of Culture at Ferris nized in the U.S.,” pre-op-
tometry sophomore Brook-
lyn Wagner said.
By Tina Dinh
When events such as the Lunar New Year Festival occur, it’s just another reminder of how What may be even cooler
students at Ferris are able to put their own cultures on display to help broaden the horizon of is the number of students
others. who showed up to celebrate
the event. At the start of the
Many people who attended this event entered the IRC not quite knowing what Lunar New Year event, there were a little less
was about, but they quickly learned that Lunar New Year is the celebration of a new year for not than 100 people in atten-
only the Chinese, but also people in other Asian countries. dance. And that number
doesn’t even account for
The holiday begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon the line of people trying to
of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. get in that went all the way
outside.
“It’s cool that students at Ferris put on this event to celebrate a holiday that’s not really recog-
A lot of that may have to
do with the authentic Asian
cuisine that was made for
the event, as it drew a lot
of attention from people
in attendance. This helps
to serve as a reminder that
food is an effective, yet also
convenient way to help
learn about new cultures
other than your own.
“2020 is the Year of the
Rat,” student organizer Tina
Phan said. “It is the first of
the 12 zodiac animals.”
And that was a major
emphasis at the event. You
could hear people as they
passed by you talking about
how accurate or how far
off their zodiac animal was
from their actual personali-
ty. This enthusiasm was the
case regardless of whether
their animal was a rat, a
dragon, or any of the other
10 signs.
Overall, the event was quite
the outlier compared to
events that usually go on at
Ferris and it was a unique
experience to be able to
showcase all the diversity at
the university.
events that usually go on at
Ferris and it was a unique
experience to be able to
showcase all the diversity at
the university.
 Difficulties in Distance Learning
By Brandom Smith

Big changes occurred across the world in response to the coronavirus, and college stu-
dents were forced to make the difficult switch to online learning.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States ended sports, closed schools, and put
Michigan in lock down until Friday, May 15. In response, Ferris elected to continue edu-
cating its students via online learning, but multiple problems initially arose.
“It has impacted how I will approach my work, and it has definitely increased my stress COVID-19 has changed the wya professors interact with
level because I need to figure out how to complete my work with limited internet ac- and teach their students.
cess,” Ferris freshman Gavin Booher said.
Ferris professor of communications Dr. Neil Patten mentioned that multiple of his stu- students, saying the virus puts a “damper” on their social
dents expressed concerns about internet/computer access, with one student needing to lives and makes learning more stressful. He also longed to
use his grandfather’s computer to do homework. see his students but remained optimistic about the coun-
This is not only an inconvenience for the student, but a danger to both the student and try’s ability to move past the pandemic and recover.
grandfather as both must violate safe social distancing practices for the student to keep “I miss the interaction with my students,” Patten said.
up with his schoolwork. “It’s going to be a long haul, but we’ll get through this.”
Ferris classes will remain online for the remainder of the semester and for the summer Everyone is doing the best they can in this trying time.
semester, and campus will be closed to prevent the spread of the virus. While this step Despite the struggles many students have and stress they
is necessary to keep students and faculty safe, online learning added stress to already feel, staying home is the safest thing to do. Campus will
stressed students. only reopen in the fall if students practice safe social dis-
For many students, stress levels will remain high if there is schoolwork to do, regardless tancing practices now and stay healthy.
of whether learning is happening in the classroom or online. However, online classes can
be more frustrating for students.
Booher described online classes as “extremely subpar” compared to face-to-face learn-
ing and expressed frustration with some of his professors for the way they handled his
classes.
Outside of changing the way students learn, the campus closure effectively eliminated
all social events that Ferris students participated in and all athletic events, including
intramural and club sports.
Booher expressed his disappointment about Ferris closing and the lack of social activity
he will have, saying that his social life “has completely shut down.”
Patten believed that the university acted appropriately to this point but sympathized with