COLLEGIATETIMES
thursday march 13, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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bulletin board STUDENT MEDIA OPEN HOUSE TODAY The Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech will be hosting an open house for students interested in becoming involved with student media from 1 to 5 p.m. today. EMCVT, which operates the Collegiate Times, The Bugle, WUVT, Silhouette Literary Magazine, VTTV, the Student Publications Photography Staff and College Media Solutions, will have a welcoming table outside of room 342 in Squires Student Center. Interested students will be able to tour the EMCVT offices and speak with members of the staff of each of the divisions of EMCVT.
sports LANE STADIUM TO OPEN DURING YANKEES GAME Virginia Tech will be showing next Tuesday’s exhibition between Tech’s baseball team and the New York Yankees on the video board inside Lane Stadium for those who did not receive a ticket to the game through the lottery. With a valid Tech ID, people can get into the stadium starting at 2:30 p.m. through Gates 4 and 5. Seating will be available only in the West Stands.
news GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK RESIGNS ALBANY, N.Y. — Embattled New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned Wednesday in a televised news conference. Spitzer said he will remain the state’s chief executive through this week. Saying he was “deeply sorry” that he “did not live up to what was expected of me,” Spitzer spoke for just three minutes — but told New Yorkers and the nation: “I sincerely apologize. In the past few days I’ve begun to atone for my private failings ... The remorse I feel will always be with me.” “I hope all of New York will join my prayers for my friend David Paterson,” Spitzer said, in reference to the lieutenant governor who will succeed him. Paterson would become the state’s first black governor and only the third in the nation since Reconstruction. He is legally blind. —Newsday
weather PARTLY CLOUDY high 68, low 46
corrections “Morva found guilty,” (CT, March 12) had a mistake. Cpl. Eric Sutphin was with the Montgomery County Sheriff ’s office. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
coming up Check out Barrineau’s Blog over the weekend - he’s blogging live from every ACC tournament game this weekend.
index News.....................3 Features................4 0pinions................5
Sports....................6 Classifieds..............8 Sudoku..................8
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year • issue 30
SENIOR ALL-AMERICAN PITCHER NOW HOLDS TECH SOFTBALL’S ALL TIME RECORD FOR CAREER WINS
Yankees game spurs ticket controversy
T. REES SHAPIRO
CAROLINE BLACK
ct sports reporter
ct university editor
Her arm swung back like a smooth pendulum, and then forward spin of an upside down trebuchet, loosed a pitch perfectly centered over the plate, barely giving the batter time to flinch. Strike three. Game over. With the same motion that she has executed for years, senior pitcher Angela Tincher pitched her way into the Virginia Tech softball record book yet again on Wednesday night. Tincher, an all-American in 2007, clinched the Tech record for career wins with 94 after slinging her eleventh career no-hitter against the University of North Carolina-Greensboro Spartans 8-0 in the first game of a doubleheader. Tincher’s final out of the first game against UNCG’s Emily Akiyama was her thirteenth strikeout out of the 15 batters, and strikeout number 202 on the season. “It was good, it was a very relaxed game since the offense did such a good job, I was pretty confident going into my last inning,” Tincher said. “I rely heavily on one pitch, my rise ball. I work on it so much that I’m comfortable with it. Tincher pretty I’m willing to throw it anytime at any count, I’m pretty confident in it. That’s the one I threw basically all game. (Breaking the record) was nice to just have it over. It’s something I don’t have to think about anymore.” Tincher, now 9-4 for the season, rested the second game while sophomore Heather Lowry, redshirt senior Elly Gosby, and true freshman Kenzie Roark pitched the Hokies to a 2-1 victory for their second victory of the night. Gosby was given the win, while Roark notched the save in relief. It was a fitting performance for the team’s first pair of home games on the season at Tech Softball Park as the No. 24 Hokies now move to 17-8 on the 2008 season. UNCG struggled to surmount the powerful hitting of Tech’s dug out. It was all Greek to the Spartans who couldn’t seem to get their gloves open when they needed
As thousands of disappointed Virginia Tech faculty, students, staff and alumni checked their e-mails last Monday and saw nothing about the March 18 Yankee game, many of those who did receive the coveted e-mail were faced with a choice: attend the game or give in to the temptation of desperate Facebook messages offering money for the seats. Every qualified person who registered in the lottery for a chance at the tickets was required to check a box before proceeding that warned those registering that it is against the athletic department’s policy to sell or attempt to sell a sporting event lottery ticket above the value it was bought for. Since the Yankees are donating their performance to the school in light of the events of last April, tickets to the event are free for all attendees. Despite the controversy about who should have been eligible for tickets, the bigger concern for students now seems to be the number of offerings to purchase tickets from lottery winners that began to pop up on Facebook marketplace only hours after the winning ticket e-mails were sent out Monday. “I don’t think its right to sell tickets for profit, especially for a something being donated; that’s a charitable event,” said sophomore English major Zaki Barzinji. Barzinji himself didn’t register for the Yankee lottery, but didn’t think selling a free ticket to classmates was fair. The Facebook marketplace is a relatively new feature on the social networking site that allows students to buy and sell personal items, similar to bidding Web sites like eBay. Offering prices for the tickets had topped $200 on Tuesday, and any amount of money earned on the tickets would be 100 percent profit. Though ticket scalping for normal season athletic events at Tech is often rampant, the athletic office has begun pursuing students who attempt to make profit on their sporting event tickets. “We started (monitoring buy/sell Web sites) back during the football season. We first included a dialogue box when students signed up for the lottery that indicates it is against the athletic office policy to resell a ticket above the ticket value,” said Stephen Medley, associate ticket manager for the athletic office. “We want to make sure there isn’t a student using it to profit off something they haven’t paid for. That is not the intention of the lottery.” Medley said that the names of students who had posted offers to sell their tickets on the Facebook marketplace were collected with the help of the IT Department, and those people identified will be receiving an e-mail from the athletic office in the next few days informing them they have gone against the office policy and will be denied entrance to any athletic lotteries in the future for an undetermined amount of time. The lottery access suspension has been the standard penalty for students being caught attempting to make a profit off an athletic ticket since the new system was enacted during the 2007 football season. “Our main concern is the selling of student tickets above their face value,” Medley said. “A ticket sold for face value we don’t have an issue with that, and students are free to give their (Yankee) tickets away.” Ryan Hunt, a freshman communication major, registered for the lottery but didn’t receive a Yankee ticket. “I think it can get a little out of hand,” Hunt said. “(The Yankees) are coming for a good service, and if you’re selling your ticket, you’re abusing that, especially at some of the ridiculous prices. They’re doing the school a big favor, and you’re abusing that.” E-mail requests for interviews to several students found selling tickets on Facebook marketplace Monday were not returned.
Tincher notches career win No. 94
see TINCHER, page six
MIKE SHROYER/SPPS
Angela Tincher struck out 13 of the 15 batters she faced while throwing a no-hitter during an 8-0 win over UNC-Greensboro in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Virginia budget negotiations conclude THE STATE GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES A NEW TWO-YEAR BUDGET WITH MORE SPENDING FOR MENTAL HEALTH REFORM CANDACE SIPOS
ct news reporter Virginia delegates and senators shook hands this afternoon in Richmond to signify the end of their last deal on the state’s $77 billion budget. The General Assembly was supposed to be dismissed last Saturday, but budgetary issues spurred by an anticipated shortfall pushed the assembly past its scheduled end date for the fourth time in the past five years. One aspect of the two-year budget that the Republican-controlled House and Democratcontrolled Senate have agreed on is mental health. In response to the April 16 shootings, almost $42 million has been set aside for mental health reforms. “I think mental health funding has always been an issue in this state, and it has almost always taken a backburner to other issues,” said Gordon Hickey, press secretary to Gov. Tim Kaine. “But because of what happened at Virginia Tech, it got moved up, and rightfully so. It was an opportunity for people to grab hold of that issue and
say, ‘You know, we should have been doing this all along, and now here’s our chance. Let’s do it.’ And they did it.” Although several issues led to spirited debate between the House and Senate, Hickey said mental health was not one of them. “I think that has never been a contentious issue,” Hickey said. “The issue wasn’t so much whether or not we were going to do it; the issue was at what level.” Although this money will not go toward universities, Christopher Flynn, director of Tech’s Cook Counseling Center, said he is happy to see state mental health facilities receive more funding. Just Schiffert Health Center Kaine like and the College Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center, Flynn said the Cook Counseling Center is “funded by a student health fee,” not the general state budget. Other topics did not provoke such unity among the delegates. The House and Senate disagreed on where to place the budget’s extra money. House Republicans wanted it to go to colleges and universities, while Senate Democrats advocated
further funding of Kaine’s pre-kindergarten proposal. Both houses’ proposals allotted $59 million for a Roanoke medical school facility planned by Carilion Clinic and Tech. However, the houses differed on how to fund building projects for colleges and the commonwealth. On Tuesday, Senators were attempting to continue funding for 14 drug treatment courts and to push back the opening date for two regional jails. Delegate C. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) said “philosophical differences” made nailing down the budget difficult. “I was much happier with the House version of the budget than I am with where the compromised budget is heading,” Gilbert said. “The House wanted to try to stress fiscal restraint in … a pretty serious downturn of the economy.” Gilbert added that the House “didn’t want to dip into the rainy day fund.” However, the House negotiators agreed to take $70 million more from this $1.2 billion fund, leaving the final withdrawal amount at almost $300 million. Along with Kaine, the Senate wished to take out $423 million. The two houses have agreed to use the budget’s money to increase paychecks for state employees and teachers and to aid the mentally retarded.
see BUDGET, page two
Women of Power Legacy Award honors Nikki Giovanni GIOVANNI IS ONE OF FOUR WOMEN HONORED BY BLACK ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE FOR THEIR INFLUENTIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIONS THROUGHOUT THE PAST YEAR KEVIN ANDERSON
ct new river valley editor Virginia Tech university distinguished professor Nikki Giovanni was one four recipients of the 2008 Women of Power Legacy Awards, an annual award given to women who impacted the history of the black woman. The award, presented to Giovanni at a dinner gala on Feb. 13, was designed three years ago by Black Enterprise magazine to advise women to move forward in the black corporate world. “We built the award to honor people who are top achievers who have opened doors for women across many fields,” said Alyssa Fant, the event manager for the summit. “In terms of identifying women, a lot of these women haven’t been identified before by their peers.” The recipients for this year’s award also included Academy Award-nominated actress Ruby Dee, Civil Rights activist Dorothy Height, and former CEO of Young and Rubicam Brands Ann Fudge. They were chosen based on their influ-
ential bodies of work. Coincidentally, Giovanni, Dee, and Height are friends who have supported each other over the years. Their accomplishments of the past year, Giovanni’s contributions following the Tech shootings, Dee’s Oscar nomination for her role in “American Gangster,” and Height’s life achievements, just so happened to bring them together. “Nikki was brought in as a trailblazer, which is kind of what the award is all about,” said Andrew Wadium, director of media relations for Black Enterprise. “(She is) someone who has reached the pinnacle of success.” Giovanni was pleased and excited to have been presented with the award, but she remained humble. “Its always thrilling to win something because somebody has noticed that I have labored in the fields and the grapes came up,” Giovanni said. However, with the passing of her mother, who was the inspiration for her work, the acceptance of the award proved bittersweet.
ANNABELLE OMBAC/SPPS FILE PHOTO
see GIOVANNI, page two Nikki Giovanni received the Women of Power Legacy Award for her activism after April 16.
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