Coffee, a burrito bar, hot dogs and a comfortable seating area are four things that Open Pantry, 824 N. 16th St., began offering on Aug. 30, 2007, when it opened its new location below Campus Town West.

“This great relationship between Marquette University and Open Pantry will not only provide one of the most innovative places to shop for fresh foods and daily needs, but also provide a place for students to gather to study or watch games on TV while enjoying a coffee from the Willow Creek Espresso Bar,” Robert A. Buhler, the president and CEO of Open Pantry, said in an August 2007 press release.

However, according to a former employee, the goal of the store isn’t being achieved and the environment isn’t always appropriate for students.

“The clientele at Open Pantry is mainly composed of homeless people purchasing 4-packs of Milwaukee’s Best and Steel Reserve,” said Tyler Holcomb, a junior in the College of Engineering and former Open Pantry employee. “Most of these people are highly disruptive and cause many problems for Marquette University—for the students, for the employees of the store and for the company.”

Holcomb has noted several instances when the safety of both employees and customers has been compromised.

Once, Holcomb said, a drunken man bought hot dogs and sat down. When employees looked over at the man, there was a puddle of urine on the floor underneath his chair in the seating area. The employees then confronted the man and he was uncooperative. The Milwaukee Police Department was contacted, and the man was escorted out of the store after approximately 30 minutes of arguments with the officers. Holcomb had to clean and disinfect the area thoroughly.

According to Holcomb, several similar incidents occurred, but were ignored by the management. He quit after a threat from a disgruntled customer.

“The reason I quit was because upper management made no changes to try to promote student sales,” Holcomb said. “They do nothing to try to solve the problem of the homeless people hanging out there and causing problems. I think a lot of students don’t go there because of that.”

Because of his experience, Holcomb thought of a couple ways to improve the store. One idea is only selling cases of beer—most of the troublesome customers buy either four or six packs. Another of his ideas would be to have a security guard stationed in the store for late nights. He wrote a letter to the Open Pantry corporate office to share his ideas.

“The number of times Public Safety and the Milwaukee Police Department have been contacted on Open Pantry’s account is absurd,” Holcomb said. “It is completely outrageous that the employees must contact men and women who are trained to use weapons in order to combat a disruptive situation.”

Despite the incidents, many students continue to shop at Open Pantry.

Alex Rios, a senior in the College of Communication, said he shops at the Open Pantry frequently, but has never seen or heard of any altercations.

“I need to buy the necessities, he said. “It has beer and eggs.”

Michael DeSarno, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences said he still buys food at the store even though he hears stories about disruptive customers from his friends.

“Despite everything, I still go there because there isn’t another supermarket-like place.”

Open Pantry management was unable to comment.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Christian voters are always confronted with difficult choices during election years and this year is turning out to be no different. Last Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama was victorious in the Wisconsin Democratic primary. Obama has a consistent record of supporting abortion, including partial birth abortion, the ban on which he did not support when he was in the Illinois legislature.

According to onotheissues.org, a site that tracks politician’s positions, Obama consistently votes in favor of embryonic stem cell research, and fought President Bush’s pro-life Supreme Court nominees. The Catholic Church’s teaching on these issues is clear and well known, especially on abortion, for which the Church has declared that any Catholic who “procures a successful abortion” is automatically excommunicated (Code of Canon Law no.1398). Further, the Church teaches that every citizen has a “co-responsibility for the common good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church no.2240), thereby noting that all citizens should vote for candidates who support the well being of all people, which includes the unborn and life in the embryonic stage.

Mike Movido, a sophomore active in Campus Crusade for Christ, who says, “No president will be able to greatly affect abortion laws. Look at how many years since Roe v. Wade that a pro-life President had been in office. Has Roe v. Wade ever been overturned?” Movido also noted that abortion rates in the United States paradoxically declined during the Clinton administration.

It is important to highlight that the Center for Disease Control data shows that four states saw a decline in abortions during the Clinton administration, including California, stopped reporting abortions to the CDC, which keeps track of abortion statistics.

Professor Dan Maguire, an ethics professor at Marquette, feels that abortion is not the most important social issue facing Christian voters, and that the conflict in Iraq is more pressing. He states, “the ongoing slaughter that our military are engaged in…should be at the top of the voting agenda.” Dr. Maguire points out that “war is an abortifacient (something that induces abortion)”. He notes that many pregnant women have become collateral damage in Iraq, and observes, “that kind of abortion does not seem to bother the right wing”.

Matthew Dambach, a junior and practicing Catholic, disagrees. “Democrats stand against the Church’s teaching on abortion. Being pro-choice is like being pro-murder. I would never vote for anybody who thought it was okay to kill other people, much less one who would put justices in the courts to uphold laws allowing it”.

So, as election season continues to take shape, morally-minded students will have to make choices on who to vote for. For many students, the choice forces them to prioritize their beliefs and vote their priorities. For some students the decision is not a hard one, like Dambach who adds that “if statistics included abortion as a cause of death, it would be the leading cause of death in the world”.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Dear Editor,

My husband is a graduate student at Marquette, and recently brought home a copy of “the Warrior.” I was so impressed with it as a student organized publication that I just had to both congratulate and thank you. It is so refreshing to see a student-led publication that desires to be faithful to the Catholic Church and notes the authority of the magisterium. Despite the failings of some Marquette administration and staff to be consistently faithful to the church due to the dominating ideologies of relativism, you seek to present the blessed voice of truth. Well-done, and keep up the great work!

“Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! If you have an ardent desire for the Lord, you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society.” -Pope John Paul II

Popularity: 16% [?]

Michael Morgan, the actor who performs the role of Zazu for Disney’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Lion King shared his experiences with Marquette theatre students last Tuesday at a speech in the Helfaer Theatre.

“A lot of people think acting is putting on a mask,” Morgan said. “I believe it’s about taking something off — it’s about not acting.”

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Popularity: 13% [?]

College football is one the most exciting sports in the nation. Just look at this year, with an upset virtually every week. This got me to thinking, why doesn’t Marquette have a football team?

Marquette decided to cut the football team after the 1960 season since the team had not had a winning season since 1953 and the University was losing money putting the team out on the field.

At the time, the move could have seemed reasonable. Now, though, college football is a major source of income for universities. According to a 2007 report by CNN, only 15 out of 64 teams in the Football Bowl System (FBS) division (formally Division I-A) that went to a bowl game lost money during the 2006-2007 season.

The 2006-2007 season Florida alone made $32.4 million. Now they are in the SEC and are going to fill seats with a winning team; but that is still an extraordinary amount of money.

According to an NCAA news release from 1996, the average profit for a FBS division school in 1995 was $1.2 million, and I would suspect that since then, it has only gone up.

One big question is where would a Marquette team play? You can rule out Valley Fields. Even if they tore it down, it just doesn’t have the land capacity to house a stadium of the size needed, since the casino is next door and isn’t moving anytime soon.

A stadium would have to be built somewhere in Milwaukee or a suburb close by. Just like the basketball games, Marquette could bus students to the stadium. The cost of a stadium that holds around 50,000 to 60,000 should cost around $140 million, unless Marquette wants to have one of the most state-of-the-art stadiums.

To fund the stadium Marquette could make a deal with the state of Wisconsin that could be like the deal made between the University of Minnesota and the taxpayers of Minnesota. The University comes up with 52% of the funds and the state pays the other 48%.

Marquette could get the money from alumni donations, selling the name rights of the stadium, parking fees and putting in an athletic fee in tuition to raise it an additional $50. This was also a strategy used by the University of South Florida, which started their football program in 1997.

USF has gone 24-14 since joining the Big East football conference in 2003. In a matter of eight years the school was in a BCS conference, and 10 years after the team was founded, they were ranked No. 2 at one point during last season. This proves that a team can start from scratch and quickly rise to a great level of play.

The team did have to spend its first four seasons in the Football Championship System (FCS) conference (formally Division II-A) but now is in the FBS. So Marquette could take a similar path, start a team, play a few years in the FCS to get a team started and then move up.

Since Marquette is already in the Big East for basketball, maybe the conference would let us in for football, which would mean that we would already be in a BCS conference. I’m not saying that it would be easy to bring a football team to Marquette, but it is something worth looking into by the University.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Even though there is still more than a foot of snow on the ground, the Marquette Men’s Lacrosse team is getting ready to start their conference season. Although the weather has been a deterrent to practicing outside, as freshman Carl Anderson said, “You just have to deal with it.”The team opens their year this weekend against nationally ranked Illinois. The team is looking to build off of their fall season during which they ended strong and really came together in their last tournament.

Marquette returns basically the same team from their fall season but this semester the team is much healthier. Marquette also returns reigning coach of the year Panchito Ojeda and second team all conference member Andrew Weber.

Marquette is one of seven teams in the UMLL conference which is part of a Division I league of around 100 teams around the nation. The Lacrosse team has 14 new members which makes them very young. Among them is Anderson.

Anderson joined the team because he has been playing lacrosse since he was 10 years old. He also wanted to be a part of a team that was dedicated to winning.

It is this enthusiasm and dedication on the part of the 14 freshmen that has led seniors Andy Hunt and Adam Caccamise to believe that this is the most talented freshman class that they have seen in their four years on the team.

Hunt, one of five seniors on the team, said that he was “more excited for this year than any other in my four year career. We work hard, but also have a lot of fun.”

Hunt and Caccamise have been on the team since their freshman year. While having five seniors on the team does not sound like much, it is rare for the team to have more than a couple seniors because most players do not stay with the team all four years.

The leadership of the five seniors along with a talented freshman class should give Marquette one of its best seasons in recent memory.

The Marquette Men’s Lacrosse season will be highlighted by back to back games April 4 and 5 against University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and then University of Minnesota at Valley Fields. The April 4th match will be played at 7 p.m. under the lights and the April 5th game is scheduled for 3 p.m. The team always looks forward to their home games because they are so few and far between and because of the great crowd support that comes along with the event.

An estimated 500 fans packed into Valley Fields to watch a home game last year. This season Marquette only has those two home games on their schedule, so they are expecting an even larger crowd this year.

One other highlight of the season will be a spring break trip to the Carolinas and Georgia where the team will face off against Georgia Tech, The University of South Carolina and Wake Forrest. Marquette will also travel to St. Paul in April to play conference foe and 4th-ranked Minnesota-Duluth. While Marquette is not nationally ranked, they did receive votes in the poll this year, something that they have not received in seven years. The team was picked to finished 3rd in conference.

Popularity: 17% [?]

College is usually an interesting time for most students. While some may get down to business and study hard all four years, others try to find a balance between studying and having a fun in such a social atmosphere throughout their time in school. As incoming freshmen, we all remember that first invoice we received the summer following high school graduation. Though the bill was straightforward, there were some charges that we all incurred and never realized their full benefit or drawback. Among those items is the ‘student activity fee,’ which remains a mystery to many people, even after their four years.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

The necessity of the student activity fee is one of the greatest myths imposed on the students at Marquette. Students pay $54 for relatively nothing at all. Students are forced to pay this fee, and it is essentially a tax that is levied on each of the approximately 8,000 undergraduate students at Marquette.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Wanna know the biggest secret on college campuses? It’s how easily duped college students are. Don’t believe me? Just ask your mom and dad. Most of the Marquette student body comes from very conservative households in Wisconsin or the suburbs of Chicago. We come from families that work hard, pray and don’t like paying taxes. And despite this conservative upbringing, many Marquette students are getting caught up in this Obama–craze, ignoring the fact that he stands against what most of our families stand for. These students are discarding their beliefs and principles in lieu of Obama’s supposed “change.” And it’s pathetic and disheartening. But, in twenty or thirty years, most these students will look back and laugh to think they bought into Obama’s “politics of hope.”

Don’t believe me? Call up that straight-laced, conservative father and mother of yours and ask them how they voted in the 1976 Presidential election. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised to hear that they voted for the Democrat, Jimmy Carter. Didn’t think Rush-Limbaugh-listening Pops had it in him? Well, chances are that you’ll end up just like him, semi-embarrassed that you voted for a man who, according to columnist Ronald Kessler, “skipped 17 percent of the votes and sponsored only one bill that became law. That bill was to promote ‘relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.’”

Recently, I was drinking beers with a bunch of like-minded (see: conservative) friends and Barack Obama came up in our conversation. My friends were angry with young people around the country for being so easily tricked into believing in Obama’s simple-minded message and not seeing him for the liberal that he is. I assured them that it was just a phase that kids our age go though- thinking they can change the world- and that eventually they’d grimace at the thought of voting for such a liberal in the same manner that our parents laugh at the fact they voted for Jimmy Carter.

And you know what? Every kid there confessed that their ultra-conservative parents had voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. So, my point is this… Go ahead and believe in Obama’s message, fight for “change,” but don’t kid yourself about what we’ll be getting. Obama’s an unabashed liberal.

Last week, Mr. Obama said, “We need to move in a new direction. We’re here because we still believe that change is possible. And so the question I have for you…is, are you really ready for change? The size of our challenges has outstripped the capacity of a broken and divided politics to solve.”

That’s pretty lofty stuff coming from the most partisan Senator- someone who has always towed the line for the Democrats. With the most liberal voting record in the Senate, Barack Obama claiming that he can fix a “broken and divided politics” is tantamount to Barry Bonds saying that steroids have tainted baseball and that he would be the man to end corruption and restore dignity to the game. Let’s be serious.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Too often we find it extremely easy to criticize Marquette University. We complain about everything: from the services it provides to those it fails to provide. While these complaints are important, it is also necessary for us to mention the many positive things Marquette has given us. One of the best requirements Marquette has in its core curriculum is philosophy. Every student is required to take at least one philosophy class and this requirement helps to shape and improve us all.

Many students feel that philosophy classes are pointless and believe that Socrates, Kant and Aquinas are simply individuals trapped in the clouds, having little to no insight helpful to the average person. This is not the case; philosophy by its very nature deals with our most important questions, such as: how are you going to live your life, what type of person do I want to be, and where am I going to be in ten years?

In answering these questions, we can shape our future. We can discern the truth behind the purpose for which we should live our lives. These answers demonstrate the fundamental value of an education in philosophy but there are many other skills these classes develop which help students not only in other courses, but in their careers in the real world.

Whenever a person reads a philosophical work, he or she is reading an argument. These arguments are carefully crafted and require the reader to analyze the premises and conclusions in order to decide whether or not the argument is sound. This exercise enforces logical thinking and helps students create arguments in a similar fashion. Employers are attracted to individuals who are able to implement these skills in the workplace. They want employees who have the ability to solve problems, communicate, organize ideas and issues, assess pros and cons and simplify complex data.

Outside of the workplace, philosophy strengthens and enhances everyday life. It broadens the range of things one can understand and enjoy. It provides direction, foresight and focus which aid a person on his or her life journey. It can lead someone down a path of self-discovery and self-renewal. Through all of this, it contributes to each person’s individuality and self-esteem.

The next time you are sitting in your philosophy class and you are tempted to doze off or ignore the teachings of Descartes, Nietzsche or Mill, think of the impact their writings have had on the world. Assess what they are saying and discover the strong and weak points of their arguments. Use this information to form direction in your own life and to strengthen your own convictions. These classes may actually contain the most important information you can ever know.

Popularity: 11% [?]