It may seem an impossible task: Inform college students about legal issues around social media, online safety, and appropriate online behavior.

Also, keep them interested.

Fortunately for attorney C.L. Lindsay, speaker at this year’s McPherson College Mohler Lecture on Oct. 27 and 28, he’s done this before and knows the secret – humor and action figures. To illustrate each point, rather than any human models, he employed posed pictures of action figures – everything from Spider-Man to Chuck Norris to Bilbo Baggins.

Covering everything from privacy to Pokémon Go, Lindsay helped share advice to help keep college-age students out of trouble – both in an on-campus gathering on Friday and a lecture open to the public the Thursday evening before.

He said that the basic rule was simple.

“If you wouldn’t do it without technology, don’t do it with technology,” he said. “99 percent of the time that will keep people out of trouble.”

Lindsay said one of the clearest examples is when using email or text. He asks people to imagine walking up to someone and saying to their face what they are about to type. If it feels wrong “in real life,” don’t do it online, either.

“We change our expectations when we go online,” he said. “We change our ethics when we go online.”

He also gave the example of people posting their bad behavior on social media such as Facebook.

“It’s like printing off infinite copies all over campus,” he said.

The focus of his law career took a sharp turn in 1998 with a single phone call from a friend and professor where he went to college – at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. This professor was facing issues of academic freedom, with other faculty trying to pressure him to stop teaching in a certain way. He reached out to Lindsay for help, as the only attorney he knew who could assist him.

In this process, Lindsay realized that there was a true lack of legal assistance in the area of education. As a result, he left his New York law practice to found the Coalition for Student & Academic Rights (CO-STAR). As executive director, he has since built CO-STAR into a national student rights organization that each year helps thousands of college students with their legal problems – free of charge.

To broaden the reach of the lessons he learned by leading CO-STAR, Lindsay wrote the book on legal problems in post-secondary education… literally. His 2005 book “The College Student’s Guide to the Law” continues to be an authoritative guide for students and counsel at colleges and universities nationwide.

Originally, he thought the organization would mostly assist professors, but he quickly discovered that most of the requests for legal help were pouring in from students. Apart from this clear need, he sees a benefit of introducing young people to participating in the legal side of the United States democracy.

For all the warnings in his presentation, Lindsay had a final word of caution – remember that the Internet is like indoor plumbing.

Indoor plumbing can go very, very wrong when toilets back up and bathtubs overflow, but that doesn’t mean anyone really wants to go back to outhouses.

Similarly, the Internet can have terrible consequences, but that doesn’t mean one should give it up entirely – just using common sense.

“Be careful, but don’t shun this stuff,” he said. “This is some of the greatest benefit of getting to live in this day and age.”

McPherson College’s oldest continuous-running lecture series, the Mohler Lecture was made possible starting in 1975 by the generosity of Dr. Robert and Mrs. Fern Shoemaker Mohler. The lecture is supported by permanent funds from the Mohler’s initial gift that are now held in the McPherson College endowment, meaning that the Mohler lecture will continue to bring great speakers to McPherson College for years to come.

Homecoming queen and king: Erika Doty of Ottawa, KS and Landon Stang of Limon, CO.

McPherson College announced its 2016 Homecoming king and queen during homecoming weekend on Oct. 15 – Landon Stang of Limon, Colo., and Erika Doty of Ottawa, Kan.

Stang is an honor roll student majoring in physical education and health with a minor in business administration and management. He was nominated as “emerging leader” in the college’s “Light and Life” Awards in 2014 and has worked as a resident assistant on campus.

He’s also a wide receiver on the football team, has served as a manager for the Bulldog volleyball team, and has competed as a jumper on the track and field team, contributing to the Bulldog men winning the program’s first-ever KCAC Championship in 2014.

Doty is also an honor roll student, majoring in business administration: management/marketing with double minors in psychology and international business and has worked as an MC resident assistant.

She was named a 2016 NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete last spring for her performance in the classroom and on the cross-country team as well as the track and field team, as a distance runner. The same year that the men took the KCAC Championships, Doty was part of the 2014 women’s track and field team that also took the Championship crown. For them, the 2014 victory was the first championship since 1977.

The members of the “Homecoming Court” were: Matthew Goist of Navarre, Ohio; Aaron Parrott of Wichita, Kan.; Austin Hiebert of Newton, Kan.; J’Moi Penn of Road Town, British Virgin Islands; Johanna Hoffman of Hillsboro, Kan.; Emily Warner of Wichita, Kan.; Molly Kelley of Shawnee, Kan.; and Jasmine Helms of Manhattan, Kan.

Also see: Homecoming court presentation video

When CHS McPherson Refinery called with the news she’s receiving this year’s Leadership Award, Miranda Clark-Ulrich’s reaction was a natural one.

“I was very excited,” she said. “I might have yelled a little.”

CHS awards a $1,500 scholarship annually at McPherson College two senior students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership. This year’s recipients are Clark-Ulrich of Russell, Kan., and Kevin Ndongo of Mobile, Ala.

The award recognizes MC students who are contributing to the campus and McPherson as a whole through their leadership roles, studies, jobs and volunteerism.

Mark Cantrell, human resources manager at CHS, said it was important to their business to provide financial backing and recognition to these young local leaders.

“The CHS Refinery at McPherson is proud to continue its support for students at McPherson College that show outstanding potential to become tomorrow’s leaders,” Cantrell said. “We congratulate the recipients of this year’s awards and wish them success.”

Ndongo has served in a number of leadership roles at MC. These roles include: a McPherson College ambassador to visiting students, a resident assistant in Metzler Hall, vice president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, and captain of the MC men’s soccer team.

He ultimately wants to become a professional soccer player or a business owner; he’s open to the possibilities.

“I tell people I’m a free bird,” he said. “When the opportunity comes, I’m going to take it.”

Clark-Ulrich has served as the photo editor and editor-in-chief at the “Spectator” student newspaper, has won multiple awards from Kansas Collegiate Media for newspaper photography, received multiple entrepreneurship grants under the college Horizon Fund, and was a member of the McPherson College KCAC Championship Track and Field team in 2014.

She has been accepted to the University of Kansas School of Law – the number one law school in Kansas in nine categories – for fall 2016. Ultimately, Clark-Ulrich plans to return to her hometown of Russell to work as an attorney. She said the CHS Leadership Award has provided her with valuable connections already.

“I’d like to give a big ‘Thank you’ to CHS for giving me this opportunity,” she said.

Ndongo said that while he was surprised to receive the award, he felt that it was a validation of his hard work throughout his college career.

“It makes me feel that no matter what you do, somebody’s watching it,” he said. “You will be rewarded somehow. God is great.”