From January 8-10, an estimated five to six members of ASG, according to Michael Weiner, acting president of ASG, were suspended to begin the semester for their involvement in alleged underage drinking activities during the 2014 Student Leadership Experience an the Denver Tech Center Marriott. File photo

During the first two weeks of the semester, the Associated Students’ Government progress came to a stand-still because of member losses which ultimately required replacement of 14 positions.

From January 8-10, an estimated five to six members of ASG, according to Michael Weiner, acting president of ASG, were suspended to begin the semester for their involvement in alleged underage drinking activities during the 2014 Student Leadership Experience an the Denver Tech Center Marriott.

Following a judicial investigation of the incident, one director and two senators of ASG were ultimately relieved of their positions, while the remaining members were suspended temporarily.

In addition to the three members relieved from their positions, 11 other members of ASG did not return for the spring semester for various reasons ranging from grades to graduation to other undisclosed reasons.

“They were still operational; there were members in the student government, and they were still working on projects, but there were certain student government members that couldn’t go to their committee meetings and act as a member of ASG for that period of time,” Weiner said.

Ultimately, due to the member losses and suspensions, quorum and the senate were suspended for the first two weeks of the semester.

“Some of the members who had been really stepping up prior to the whole thing at the beginning of the semester were not able to really work on the projects that they had going on, and then some of those people subsequently left and those projects were dead in the water and we had to recover them and get them assigned to new people,” Weiner said.

Once the suspensions were lifted, ASG began to replace members. It confirmed three new members by the third week of classes, and eventually hired four more. Together, the seven new members have been more productive than the previous 14, according to Weiner.

Although the loss of staff may have slowed ASG down at the beginning of the semester, some of the progress it has made since may not have occurred without it.

“I feel like it was a wake up call for the organization,” Weiner said “The fact of the matter is that a ton of people left student government for various issues, different things that happened, and the people that are still here are stepping up their game and they really want to see ASG thrive.”

With a current staff of eight senators, four directors, five justices and one president, Weiner and ASG have been working to improve the university.

One such improvement this semester is a mandatory dean’s advisory council for each college in the university. The advisory councils consist of the dean and any appointed members they would like to see, such as faculty advisors or administrative assistants, and a number of students who have been either recruited by the student government or recommended by the dean or other council members.

The council discusses classes, professors and general changes in the buildings that fall under each category, according to Weiner. The purpose is to allow for productive input to be given to help guide the overall direction of the academics and extracurricular activities based in each college.

In addition to the dean’s advisory council, Weiner and ASG, through the Athletic Fee subcommittee of the Student Fee Governing Board, have begun negotiations with Band Director Alan Mills to begin a pep band that will play at all home basketball games.

Weiner said that the band is absolutely necessary to increase the morale and the environment at the games.

“The band just brings a whole new level to the basketball games,” Weiner said.

Another change the ASG is working on, through Director of Student Affairs Freddy Correamanrique and the Student Affairs Committee, is the possibility of bringing a bar to the Occhiato University Center Underground.

Correamanrique has spoken with various offices around campus about the potential bar, including the Judicial Affairs Office, Alcohol and Other Drugs as well as the director of Auxiliary Services.

“A lot of people are behind the idea. I think it would generate excitement here, we just need to take proper precautions,” Weiner said. “This is in the very early planning stages, but it’s something students should be excited about.”

Kara Mason and Shelby Aebischer contributed to this report.

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Photo courtesy of Tyler Shomaker

Courtesy of GothunderWolves.com

The old adage is that it is difficult to beat a team three times in the same season.  That is something the Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolf women’s basketball team found out the hard way on Friday night as they were stung by the Black Hills State University Yellowjackets, 63-53 in the semifinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout here on the campus of Colorado Mesa University.

The Pack, which had claimed two regular season wins over the Yellowjackets, fell to 22-8 with the loss and will await a hopeful bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament for the sixth time in program history.  That announcement will be made on the NCAA Tournament Selection show, which will be streamed live on http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2014/1345&date=2014/03/09, Sunday evening at 8 p.m. Mountain Time.

Meanwhile, BHSU improved to 15-13 overall and will advance to the tournament’s championship game against the winner of host and top-seed Colorado Mesa and fourth-seeded Regis, which is being played later Friday evening. 

The winner of the championship game receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament while the Pack, who entered the weekend a strong fourth in the South Central Regional Rankings, will be hoping for one of the five at-large spots to be given from the region, made up of the RMAC, Lone Star and Heartland Conferences.

On Friday, the ThunderWolves were guilty of 11 turnovers and were held to 31.1 percent (19-61) shooting from the field. 

Meanwhile, the Yellowjackets shot 49.0 percent (24-49) from the field and made twice as many 3-pointers (8-4) than the ThunderWolves, the tournament’s second seed.  First Team All-RMAC selection Chelsey Biegler led the way for the sixth-seeded Yellowjackets with a game-high 17 points as she went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 6-for-11 from the field overall.

Alex Evans, Jenay Locke and Paige Ramm scored 10 points a piece for the Pack.   Ramm also had a team-high nine rebounds while Calli Bechtel grabbed a game-best 11 for Black Hills State.

CSU-Pueblo led 14-7 8 ½ minutes in before a 9-2 Yellowjacket run tied the game.  Locke then hit one of the ThunderWolves’ four 3-pointers on 20 attempts (20.0 percent) to temporally give the lead back to the Pack.  However, another 7-0 run put the Yellowjackets up 23-19.

Trailing 30-26 at the half, the ThunderWolves would come back to tie the game at 39.

Gabby Haefs then answered with a trey for Black Hills as the Jackets hit three 3-pointers in an 11-2 run that helped put the game away.

Photo from gothunderwolves.com

Courtesy of GothunderWolves.com

The Colorado State University-Pueblo women’s basketball team won their first post-season game since 2010 and matched a school-record for wins in a season as they claimed a hard-fought 51-46 win over visiting Metro State University in the quarterfinal round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout, Tuesday night here in Massari Arena.

The Pack never trailed although the Roadrunners did tie the game at 37 with 8:35 to go in the second half before some turnovers and cold shooting down the stretch cost the visitors a chance.

Meanwhile, CSU-Pueblo, the tournament’s second seed, improved to 22-7 overall and will move on to face sixth-seeded Black Hills State, which claimed an 81-71 upset at third-seeded Fort Lewis, in Friday’s tournament semifinals.  That game will be played at top-seeded Colorado Mesa, which defeated UC-Colorado Springs.  The Mavericks will host fourth-seeded Regis in the other semifinal as the Rangers defeated Colorado Christian at home in the first quarterfinal of the day.

Metro State sees their season end at 13-14.

In Tuesday’s victory, the ThunderWolves received a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double from Paige Ramm.  Alex Evans chipped in 11 points while Taylor Fox chipped in 10 points.  All three were named to the All-RMAC squads earlier in the day

Metro State was led by 12 points from Cassie Lambrecht and 13 boards from Tai Jensen, who went just 1-for-6 from the floor, a microcosm of the night as the ThunderWolves held the Roadrunners to just 29.8 percent (17-57) shooting.

The Pack did not shoot that much better as they scored at only a 32.7 percent (17-52 clip).  However, the ThunderWolves committed just four turnovers and forced the Roadrunners into 10, a major difference in the game.

The ThunderWolves got out to a 10-0 start in the first 4:11 of the game before the Roadrunners clawed back to within 10-5 before CSU-Pueblo maintained a single-digit lead through the rest of the half.

Leading 25-21 at the half, the Pack would build a 37-28 lead with 13:22 to go before the Roadrunners best run of the night, a 9-0 spurt, tied the game.

However, the Roadrunners would be held to just one bucket for the next seven plus minutes as the ThunderWolves went up 43-39 on a Jenay Locke  3-pointer followed by five made free throws on six attempts to put the game on ice.

The ThunderWolves defeated Black Hills State (14-13) both times during the regular season.

On Feb. 19, the university sent out evaluation emails to university email accounts to learn about educational activities, and what students may be gaining from campus experiences.

However, for many accounts, the email went straight into the junk box.

Prizes will be available to participating students, who will be entered into a raffle, upon completion of the survey.

Photo courtesy of gothunderwolves.com

The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets came into the weekend tied for second in the RMAC standings with Colorado State University-Pueblo, while on a nine game winning streak vs. RMAC opponents.

And they would leave Pueblo on Saturday night on a two-game losing streak.

The ThunderWolves women’s basketball team held the Yellow Jackets to 21 percent shooting, allowing 19 points in the first half leading up to a 69-53 victory.

“Our number one goal coming in was, we got to guard them. If you look, they were averaging around 70, 71 [points per] game, coming in. They’re one of the top offensive teams in our league,” said head coach Kip Drown. “We really put an emphasis on coming out and guarding them right off the bat.”

With the victory, the ThunderWolves ensured that they remain in sole possession of second place in the RMAC standings at 11-2, trailing only Colorado Mesa, which is ranked fourth in the nation.

“Our goal is to win it, but that’s out of our control right now,” Drown said. “All we can do is go out and try to play good basketball and keep trying to win games.”

Leading the way for the Pack, who managed to get four players in the double digit scoring range, was Taylor Fox, who finished the game with 19 points and nine rebounds.

“She’s just had a great senior year. I couldn’t be happier for somebody. Super quality kid,” Drown said. “To step up this year and have the kind of year she has had – she’s paid her dues in this program. And as a coach, you appreciate people who keep working hard and she has done that.”

After the weekend sweep, the ThunderWolves will go on the road to play New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico next Friday and Saturday.

“You just try to go and complete, find a way to win. You got to find a way to make a play. It’s always tougher down there, as that’s one of the tough places to play,” Drown said. “Luckily, we still have five kids, four seniors and a junior who have done that now for three years. They understand the trip, they understand how tough it is.”

Photo courtesy of gothunderwolves.com

Eight days ago, the ThunderWolves men’s basketball team blew a 10-point lead in an eventual loss vs. Colorado Christian.

On Saturday night, it happened again.

After only scoring 43 points in the first 30 minutes, the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets would go on to score 43 points over the final 10 minutes in regulation to erase a 10 point Pack lead en route to a 84-76 victory.

“I thought they played very well,” said head coach Ralph Turner. “Lets give them credit. They came ready to play, I thought they played harder than we did, I thought they played better than we did, and when that happens, teams win.

Although the ThunderWolves held the Yellow Jackets to 34 percent from the field and 9 percent from the three point line if the first half, the Yellow Jackets were able to shoot 75 percent from the field in the second half, including 71 percent from three. The Yellow Jackets also attempted 18 more free throws than the Pack in the second half.

“I thought they got great shots,” Turner said. “I just think basketball is a game of nights.”

Next up, the men will travel to New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico next Friday and Saturday.

“We better find a way to sit down and guard.” Turner said. “We just got to keep finding our way. We got some guys on our team, who I believe, have lost their way, basketball wise, and they got to come back a little bit more confident. Our guys are a little beat down. I think they’ve lost a little bit of their confidence, and we got to work this next week to get a little bit better.”

Photo courtesy of Tyler Shomaker

The Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves came into the game on Friday vs. the Chadron State Eagles on a two game losing streak.

But they did not look like the team that had been swept the weekend prior.

The ThunderWolves rode a hot shooting night that saw them shoot nearly 55 percent from the field and 52 percent from three point range to defeat the Eagles 94-88 on Friday.

“I thought we shot the ball well in the first half. I wasn’t particularly pleased by our execution in the second half,” said head coach Ralph Turner. “I thought the game was pretty much stop and go because of the fouls, so much fouling, it didn’t have much of a flow to it.”

Although the Pack led 54-39 at halftime, the Eagles did not go out quietly, as they were able to get within five points of the Pack with a little more that two minutes remaining in the game before a dagger 3 pointer by Stevan Radakovic with one minute left, to extend the lead to eight points.

“That’s just a poise check, and we need games like this so we can get used to finishing games,” Turner said. “You know, we had a 10 point lead against Christian, and when they started coming, we had no answer. In this game I thought when they charged, we answered.”

Nate Tigner led the ThunderWolves, who managed four scorers reach the double-digit mark in scoring on Friday night, with 24 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.

“Nate Tigner is the heart and soul of our team,” Turner said. “When he is good, we’re really pretty good, and tonight he was phenomenal.”

The ThunderWolves will take on the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Massari Arena.

“(They are) a well coached team that’s really big and physical, that pounds the ball inside, runs a lot of sets.” Turner said. “It will be a very physical game against a very good team.”

Photo courtesy of Tyler Shomaker

The Chadron State Eagles went into the half with a three-point deficit after shooting 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.

Although the ThunderWolves went into halftime with only a three point lead after shooting 35 percent from the field in the first half, the Pack began the second half on a 20-6 run to take a 54-37 lead with a little more than 11 minutes left in the game.

“(It was) real big,” Drown said. “The first five minutes really set a tone for the whole second half in being in control in the second half.”

Even though the ThunderWolves managed to shoot from less that 40 percent from the field of Friday night, they accumulated 52 total rebounds, including 21 offensive rebounds.

“(It was) really big because you look at our shooting percentage, we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Drown said. “If you’re not make shots, then you really need to pound the glass, and we did that.”

Leading the way for the Pack, which saw three players reach the double digits was Katie Nehf, who finished with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists only 21 minutes.

“She is such a big part of everything we do, both offensively and defensively,” Drown said. “I’m just really happy for her because I’m hoping confidence wise, this will kind of take her up offensively and give her that boost we need for tomorrow night and the rest of the year.”

Next up, the women will take on the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Massari Arena.

“Saturday night games are really hard because most people are trying to prepare for Friday, get that first win, and then you got to do what you got to do to get ready for Saturday.” Drown said. “They play a little different that Chadron does. They’re going to create some more pressure up the floor, they’re going to zone up a little bit more, they’re going to extend their defense a little bit more.”

Students and faculty held a demonstration against the proposed budget cuts on Jan. 16 at Sister City Plaza. Photo courtesy of Christy Wiabel

Christy Wiabel

Colorado State University-Pueblo students and faculty held a rally at Sister City Plaza in Pueblo on Thursday Jan. 16 to demonstrate a united front against proposed budget cuts and layoffs at the university.

Organizers passed out T-shirts that read “We Are CSU-Pueblo,” along with papers listing talking points and the contact information of government officials. Speakers included students, instructors and community members who oppose the cuts and feel CSU Chancellor Michael Martin does not have Southern Colorado’s best interests in mind.

The crowd of more than 50 people cheered the speakers, waved signs and showcased a huge red and blue banner that said “Save CSU-Pueblo.”

Ramon Padilla, a current student at CSU-Pueblo, told the crowd his education is extremely important, not only for himself, but also his family. Padilla has worked in the fields of southeastern Colorado for almost 15 years to realize his dream of getting a college degree.

“A university education has allowed generations of people from Southern Colorado to come out of the onion fields, and it’s true today for another generation. Thanks to the university, I know where I’m going. We can’t allow Chancellor Martin and his terrible vision for education in this state to force us back into the fields,” Padilla said.

As Padilla spoke, other speakers held bags of onions to drive the point home.

Theresa Trujillo, a Pueblo native, spent many weekends working with her father in the fields east of town. She remembers the lessons about work ethic and the value of manual labor, but mostly she remembers her father’s stories and the smell of onions that would cling to his skin for weeks after the harvest.

She said, “I don’t expect Chancellor Martin to understand what it means to live with the stench of onions on your hands, but it’s shameful that he wants to rob this part of the state of a quality education and deny opportunity. Like the onions, his plan stinks.”

The organizers of the rally said their goals were clear: to demonstrate a strong, united community voice about the value of the university and to provide a clear call to action.

“A lot of sacrifices were made and sacrifices are still being made by families working in the fields so their daughters and sons can be educated. It’s important we are here today to support our university,” Trujillo said.

Speaking of CSU-Pueblo’s proposed budget cuts, Trujillo added, “We know that education reduces poverty, boosts economic growth and helps people to live healthier lives. We also know that the only state in the entire country that spends less on K-12 education than Colorado is Mississippi. So, if we already have such inequality in how we fund and support K-12 education, why would we ever compound those inequities by failing to invest in communities like ours and our university?”

To close the rally, Fawn Montoya, history professor and director of the Chicano Studies program at CSU-Pueblo, drew a stark comparison between the struggle of the people in Southern Colorado today and the struggle of those who were killed in the Ludlow Massacre a century ago.

“We are the children of Ludlow,” she said. “The same battle is still being fought today.”

Montoya urged all in attendance to contact Gov. Hickenlooper, Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia and other state representatives to show support for the university and voice their concern at the proposed budget cuts.