Scary sights on Friday 13th
COLLEGIATETIMES FRIDAY
www.collegiatetimes.com
Spooky stories scare American economy
Friday, Oct. 13, 2006
Flightless Hokies easy prey for Eagles CLARK RUHLAND CT Associate Sports Editor
Features pg. 6 >
Covucci’s Corner
Frank Beamer’s 300th career game could not have come at a worse time. The Hokies’ undefeated streak on the road and 11 game winning streak on Thursday night games snapped as Tech, beaten in every facet of the game, lost to Boston College 22-3 last night. Techs turned the ball over four times and were penalized nine times for 88 yards, including four personal fouls. “We had a bunch of holding calls and a personal foul call at the end,” said a distraught Beamer after the game. “The game was not over, but when we got that personal foul, it was over. I’m not happy about that.” Early in the second quarter, with the game tied at 0, Beamer gambled on fourth down and one in field goal range. Tailback Branden Ore was stuffed at the line, short-circuiting the Hokies’ momentum. “It was a shame we didn’t get it,” said Tech offensive guard Ryan Shuman. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. We had momentum and then that play stunned us.” The turnovers stunned the Hokies even more. The Eagles scored 15 points off of turnovers. “They took advantage of turnovers,” Beamer said. “I’d say we need to evaluate our football team in how we’re doing and what we’re doing. Two weeks in a row, turnovers in the third quarter got us. I know it’s hard to win football games when you turn the ball over.” But the Eagles were relentless, holding Glennon to 23-34 for 148 yards with two fumbles and two interceptions. His performance hurt the Hokies when they got pushed into a corner by the Eagle’s defensive line.
HOKIES pg.10 >
RYAN ARNAUDIN/SPPS
B. J. Raji pummels Hokies quarterback Sean Glennon in the Hokies’ 22-3 loss. The Eagles held Glennon to 148 yards, forced two fumbles and picked off two passes.
Study says college grads found lacking skills Morva faces Our resident ‘expert’ waxes wise on the ‘Keg of Nails’ Sports pg. 7 >
News Notes UVa knocks off Women’s Soccer 2-1 The Virginia Tech Women’s Soccer team fell in the Commonwealth Challenge to the University of Virginia Thursday evening, 2-1. With the loss, the Hokies drop to 5-7-2 on the season and 1-5-1 in the ACC. Robin Chidester attacked first for Tech, but Cavalier goalkeeper Christina de Vries campe up with the save. Lindsay Alexander continued the barrage, but missed high. On the next possession UVa tried for the advantage, but goalkeeper Mallory Soldner severed the attempts. Both teams went into the second half scoreless, but within the first ten minutes of the game Cavalier’s Jess Rostedt found the back of the net to give UVa the one goal advantage. The Cavalier’s continued the onslaught with a score from Kristen Weiss off an assist by Rostedt. The Hokies fought for the remainder of the half and scored a goal with under a minute remaining in the match. Emily Jukich found the net off an assist from Julian Johnson. Tech returns to play Sunday against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels
Dean agrees to move money for Senate campaigns After weeks of arm-twisting, Sen. Charles Schumer has persuaded Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean to rush $7.5 million to Democratic Senate campaigns, Newsday has learned. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., head of the Democrats’ effort to take back the House, who has battled with Dean publicly over cash, is trying to work out a similar arrangement, according to party sources. The cash will be used to offset the Republican National Committee’s anticipated $20 million to $30 million fundraising edge in the final days of the campaign. Under the deal finalized last week, the DNC will kick in $5 million to hotly contested Senate races in New Jersey, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri. That’s on top of the $2.5 million Dean previously pledged for state parties, money which will indirectly benefit Senate hopefuls. -The Washington Post
Book says White House exploited Evangelical support A new book by a former White House official says President Bush’s top political advisers privately ridiculed evangelical supporters as “nuts’’ and “goofy’’ while embracing them in public and using their votes to help win elections. The former official also writes that the White House office of faith-based initiatives, which Bush promoted as a nonpolitical effort to support religious social service organizations, was told to host pre-election events designed to mobilize religious voters who would most likely favor Republican candidates. The assertions by David Kuo, the former No. 2 official in the faith-based initiatives program, have rattled Republican strategists already struggling to convince evangelical voters to turn out this fall for the GOP. -Los Angeles Times
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An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 104th Year, No. 32 Blacksburg, Va. October 13, 2006
MEG MILLER CT Staff Writer
Skills Seen as Deficient in Community College Graduates
The Conference Board, a business group, released a survey Oct. 2 rating the preparedness of two-year college graduates and four-year college graduates in specific skills identified as important by employers. Skills ranged from written communications, to diversity to teamwork collaboration. Employers deemed graduates of two-year colleges deficient in written communications, writing in English, lifelong learning/ self-direction and creativity/innovation. Oral communications and ethics/social responsibility were the lowest ranked skills in community college graduates. For graduates of four-year colleges, at least one in five employers found the recent graduates deficient in written in communications, writing in English and leadership. However, information technology application, diversity and critical thinking/problem solving were the three top ranked for skills seen as excellent in four-year college graduates. “Employers consistently report deficiency in written and oral communication skill. They also consider communication skill essential to success,” said Rachel Holloway, head of the department of communication. Donna Cassell Ratcliffe, the director of Career Services, has received similar feedback from employers saying that many of their employees that graduated from technical fields at Virginia Tech did not have the level of written and oral communication skills that were needed. “Many companies are hiring graduates to work with clients and customers,” said Ratcliffe. “They are required to make presentations and so much of it requires verbal communication skills. Employers are saying that these students aren’t really up to the task.” Tech has recognized and approached this problem by launching its new ViEWS (Visual Expression, written and spoken) requirement to recognize the importance of communication skill generally and to encourage ongoing skill development within majors. “Communication and English departments work to provide a strong foundation in the first-year and assist through other courses as resources allow,” Holloway said. Many courses at Virginia Tech are assigning students projects that not only have to
Skill
% HR Officials Seeing Deficiency
Written communications Writing in English Lifelong learning / self-direction Creativity / innovation Critical thinking / problem solving Oral communications Ethics / social responsibility
47.3% 46.4% 27.9% 27.6% 22.8% 21.3% 21.0%
Skills Seen as Deficient in 4-Year College Graduates Written communications Writing in English Leadership
27.8% 26.2% 23.8%
be submitted in writing but also have to be presented to the class. This is to prepare students with the essential verbal presentation skills that employers look for when hiring for jobs. “The challenge is figuring out how to meet a range of learning goals in the few hours of class we have with each student. It’s a pretty complicated puzzle,” Holloway said. The English department has started to design their composition courses using the National Writing Program Administrators’ Outcomes Statement for College Composition this year. However, much of the lack of communication and writing skills is found in students that studied technical fields. To try to solve this problem, Diana George, professor of rhetoric and writing and director of composition said that some members of the English department and the Writing Center are collaborating with engineering education. “We are trying to make it more likely that students do connect their work in writing and speaking with the outcomes important to engineering curriculum,” said George. Mike Lautenschlager, a senior English major, feels that many students are more prepared in science and technology because
Skills Seen as Excellent in 4-Year College Graduates
Skill
% HR Officials Seeing Deficiency
Info. technology application Diversity Critical thinking / problem solving English language Lifelong learning / self-direction Reading comprehension Oral communications Teamwork / collaboration Creativity / innovation
46.3% 28.3% 27.6% 26.2% 25.9% 25.9% 24.8% 24.6% 21.5%
Source: Inside Higher Ed ANNE FOLEY
that is what the world today is mostly focused on. “There are more science and technology oriented jobs available right out of undergraduate school so that is what everyone is concerned with,” said Lautenschlager said. George believes that both fields are important and need to be put to work together. “Our students absolutely must prepare to work and live in a world saturated by fast-changing technologies,” George said. “At the same time, our students also need to understand that these technologies do not function free from communication.” Ratcliffe said that despite some deficiency in verbal and written communication areas, Ricky Morris, manager of College and Professional Recruiting at Norfolk Southern, a Norfolk-based transportation company and a huge recruiter of Tech students, said that Norfolk Southern certainly looks for candidates with good communication and written skills. “Although a number of candidates don’t possess these skills, we weed through them and are able to find a number of candidates that demonstrate a master level of written and oral communication skills,” said Morris.
additional murder charges A Montgomery County grand jury indicted William Morva on two additional counts of capital murder Tuesday, adding to the several charges that the 24-year-old Blacksburg native already faces. Morva escaped from custody Aug. 20 and is charged with killing security guard Derrick McFarland and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Sutphin. He then led police on a manhunt that lasted until he was taken into custody on the afternoon of Aug. 21 in the vicinity of Huckleberry Trail. Morva is now being held without bail at the New River Valley Jail in Dublin, Va. Previous to receiving the latest indictments, Morva had already been charged with felony escape, Morva assault and battery and capital murder in the shooting death of McFarland. The grand jury levied two more counts of capital murder, one for the death of Sutphin, and the second for committing two murders within three years. Morva was also charged with the use of a firearm while committing a felony. “We’re pleased that the grand jury found probable cause to support the indictments against William Morva,” said Brad Finch, commonwealth attorney for Montgomery County. “Now we’re going to continue to move forward with the prosecution in this case.” At the time of his initial escape, Morva was being held on charges of attempted armed robbery of a Deli Mart in August 2005. Anthony Anderson and Tom Blaylock, Morva’s attorneys, could not be reached for comment. Morva will have a preliminary hearing on Nov. 3.
Taking stock of Sudan: Squires PA system a cause for alarm ANA FONTES UVa drops investments CT Staff Writer HEATHER HANCOCK CT Staff Writer Many universities across the nation have found a way to take a stand on the genocide in Darfur through ending investments with companies who conduct business with the Sudanese government. UVa announced on Sept. 29 their decision to divest from companies who do business with the Sudanese government. Their decision follows that of several other schools making efforts to divest including Harvard, Duke, Columbia, the University of California — Los Angeles, Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University, said Adam Sterling of the Sudan Divestment Task Force in Washington, D.C. According to the UVa Board of Visitors resolution, for a company to qualify as connected, it must meet the following criteria: “Provide revenues to the Sudanese government through business
with the government, government-owned companies or government-controlled consortiums; offer little substantive benefit to those outside of the Sudanese government or its affiliated supporters in Khartoum, Northern Sudan and the Nile River Valley; and have demonstrated complicity in the Darfur genocide.” The ability of such efforts to make a difference is questionable, however. “Any means of pressure one can use should be pursued (including that of divestment),” said Edward Weisband, professor of political science at Virginia Tech. However, university divestment is more a tool for raising social awareness, Weisband said. Sterling agreed that divestment does raise awareness for the cause. The involvement of universities in Virginia helps to raise awareness and motivate the Virginia State legislators,
In the wake of the William Morva incident, many students and staff are concerned over the failure of the public address system in Squires Student Center to provide coverage over the entire building. Many students and faculty found out the hard way, when they were the among the last people to be evacuated from the building during the Aug. 22 incident in which an escaped prisoner, William Morva, was suspected to be in the building. “I was on the third floor when they made the
emergency announcement and didn’t hear a thing. An employee had to come and tell me,” said Kelly Furnas, editorial adviser for the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, the parent company of the Collegiate Times. Squires is equipped with two separate warning systems: the fire alarm system, which includes lights, sirens and warning beacons, and a public address system used primarily for operational uses, such as opening and closing announcements. The latter does not reach a large portion of the building, including
SQUIRES pg. 2 >
ERIC CONNOLLY/SPPS
SUDAN pg. 2 >
During the manhunt for William Morva, police surround Squires Student Center.