COLLEGIATETIMES
thursday september 11, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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news BLACKSBURG SONIC GETS SECOND LOOK FROM TOWN The Blacksburg Town Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday evening that allows town attorney Larry Spencer to proceed with a court order permitting an amended application for the Sonic drive-in project on South Main Street. The new application will include changes to the restaurants’ original siteplan, but there is no guarantee that the council will not veto the plan a second time.
Hokie is youngest Va. RNC delegate ZACH CRIZER
ct news staff writer Many Virginia Tech students such as Kate Maxwell are preparing to vote in their first presidential election, but this political science major is exerting her influence in arenas beyond the voting booth. The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., was her most recent stop, in
her role as a Virginia state delegate to the Republican National Convention. In May, she attended the Republican Party of Virginia Convention in Richmond. There, Maxwell ran for and won an “at-large” delegate spot to represent Virginia at the RNC. Maxwell, 20, said she was clearly the youngest participant. “There were no other college students,” Maxell said. College Republicans chairman
Carlin Crowder said Maxwell’s enthusiasm is noticeable to both college students and adults. “She has a passion and a dedication that few people her age or any age possess,” Crowder said. Maxwell plays the statewide role of political director for the College Republicans of Virginia. “I’m basically a volunteer coordinator,” Maxwell said. “I’m the liaison between the McCain campaign and
all the congressional campaigns to college campuses across Virginia.” College Republicans adviser and director of special initiatives Judi Lynch said Maxwell worked hard to earn opportunities and responsibility. “I think it boils down to commitment, enthusiasm and belief in what she stands for,” Lynch said. Lynch is the Republican delegate for Virginia’s ninth district. Maxwell was
MILITARY FLYOVER BEFORE GEORGIA TECH GAME
GORDON BLOCK
ct news reporter
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets announced that Navy Fighter Attack Squadron 106, from Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, will conduct a military flyover during the National Anthem prior to Tech’s football game against Georgia Tech on Saturday. The aircraft will be flown by graduates of both universities.
corrections
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index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Classifieds..............8 Sports....................6 Sudoku..................8
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year issue 79
see MAXWELL, page two
Bookstores compete for dollars
Late night outside Pritchard
sports
In Monday’s article, “In search of savings: Energy at Tech” (CT Sept. 8) the wrong unit of measure was used to describe the energy consumed by a 1500 kW hairdryer. The total amount of energy consumed is 1.5 kilowatthour, not 1500 watts. Watts refer to refers to energy expenditure for a given device. Kilowatt-hours reflect the amount of energy consumed by a given device. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
elected as an “at-large” delegate, not representative of a specific district of the state. Volunteering is where Maxwell marks her beginnings. She affirmed that it’s possible for anyone to make his voice heard. “Start getting involved. If I can be a delegate, any college student can do it. It’s not out of reach at all,” Maxwell said.
JOSHUA WEI CHEN/SPPS
Students, long forbidden from smoking inside their dorm rooms, congregate outside Pritchard Hall for an evening cigarette.
Mixed signals on sign policy T. REES SHAPIRO
ct campus news editor A major sponsoring partner with Virginia Tech Athletics handed out about 2,500 promotional posters inside Lane Stadium last weekend during the first home football game, while students and ticket holders are strictly forbidden bringing their own homemade signs. The Hokiesports Web site clearly states in the football fan guide, “Banners, signs and flags will not be permitted in Lane Stadium/Worsham Field.” Associate athletics director for internal affairs Tom Gabbard offered an explanation of the inconsistency. “The reason for our banner rule is for visual purposes,” as certain signs could impede fans view of the field, Gabbard said. “If somebody wants to slip something in their pants and get it in the stadium then that’s probably going to happen. Are we going to catch one in 60 thousand, ten in 60 thousand? No. They were in there but they shouldn’t have been. Our policy prohibits it. We shouldn’t have allowed it.” This contradictory treatment of sponsors and paying ticket holders could possibly violate first amendment rights, said Megan Rhyne, acting director of Virginia Coalition of Open Government. “It’s perfectly OK under the first amendment to have a time, place and manner regulation in place, that may restrict freedom of speech, but does so in the least restrictive means,” Rhyne
said. “They applied the policy in a non-content neutral way. I would think that it would require some explanation by the administration as to why their supposedly on its face neutral policy is being applied in an inconsistent manner.” Tech athletics sold the multi-media rights, including all sponsorships, to ISP Sports, a national sports marketing company. Through their partnership with Tech athletics, ISP controls all material relating to sponsorships and advertisers. The orange and maroon “Go Hokies” signs passed out at the game were sponsored by Terrace View apartments, a partner with ISP. “We are partners through ISP sports so we consider (Terrace View Apartments) our sponsors as well,” said Tim East, associate athletic director for external affairs. “We’ve worked with ISP to sell the rights for promotional items, and so they must have thought (the Terrace View posters) would be a promotional item, not a quote-unquote poster or banner.” Terrace View apartments manager Emma Calvert said she can not speak with the media because of a company wide policy. Stonemark Property Management, the parent company of Terrace View apartments did not return multiple phone calls for comment. ISP assistant vice president and general manager Rick Barakat left a voicemail deferring his comment to Gabbard. Jeremy Wells, assistant director athletics for marketing and promotions said he is not authorized to speak with the media, and declined to talk on the record on the
topic of the Terrace View posters. Tech has implemented the no-signs, banners, posters, and flags rule for over a decade, Gabbard said. These posters were classified as “promotional items” which are generally allowed in the stadium. Promotional items are funded by Tech athletics sponsors, and usually handed out inside the stadium by ISP or employees of the advertising company. “This has opened up an area of discussion for us,” on how to define future promotional items, and strategy to more stringently employ their own ban on posters, East said. “Posters, in my definition, would be the team posters that we print with the schedule on it. More times than not it has a sponsorship on it. We hand those out at various sporting events. But they’re not something that people hold up during the game, it’s something for them to place on their walls in their homes,” Gabbard said. “Promotional items (at games) are normal. It ended up that this could really easily be classified as a banner so we’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” Smith’s Landing Apartments handed out “Hokies Prevail” posters almost identical to Terrace Views’, last season outside of Lane for ESPN GameDay’s appearance on campus. To Easy and Gabbard’s knowledge, this is the first time the poster-style advertisements have been handed out inside Lane. Gabbard assured it will be the last time, as well. “We probably should have caught it,” Gabbard said. “But we didn’t.”
With thousands of students pouring into local bookstores for the start of the semester, bookstores in the Virginia Tech area are working to ensure they have enough supplies to handle student need. These book sales provide big business, even with rising prices for the books sold. Bookstores both on- and off-campus are on short timetables to order books. With a high demand for textbooks from the student body, local bookstores have to work quickly to ensure they have their shelves stocked for the first week of classes. “People don’t realize how much work it takes to get ready for the first week of school,” said Jerry Diffell, manager of the Tech Bookstore, located on Main Street. “ It’s not like you get some master book list. Every day you’re getting some book information, then as you order something in April, an instructor leaves in July and the new professor wants something different. So you’re just gathering stuff up trying to get stuff organized for back to school.” Both the on- and off-campus official bookstores labor intensively to prepare for student book sales. According to records from Virginia Tech Services, the organization that runs both of the university bookstores, $438,000 was spent on textbooks to stock its two stores. “We don’t get into the business of picking and choosing,” said Dave Wilson, associate director for Virginia Tech Services. “If a professor says they need something, we do whatever it takes to get it.” Providing students with textbooks is profitable for both local stores and stores around the country, with recent figures showing a steady increase in price. A 2005 study from the US Government Accountability Office showed a 186 percent jump in overall textbook costs for students from 1986-2004. Diffell speculated that textbook publishers were the reason for the price increase. “Every two years they put out a new edition, and the reason they do, and they’ll say it’s so they can provide the latest information; well how much can you change calculus in two years?” Diffell said. “The primary reason for so many new editions is to kill the used book market.” Diffell was pessimistic on any change in price. “All students can really do is try to look for used books,” Diffell said. Despite talk of overly high prices, both stores defended their prices. “Our prices are very competitive. Textbooks are expensive, but we do something different here that most other college bookstores don’t do, which is give a 10 percent discount, which saves students thousands of dollars,” said Don Williams, executive director of Virginia Tech Services. “And since we give a 10 percent discount, Tech Bookstore, and competing book stores have to give a 10 percent discount to stay in business.” While both Virginia Tech Services and Tech Bookstore did not disclose their sales figures, Virginia Tech Services was quick to note that they donated $1.5 million in surplus funds from their operations to the Virginia Tech Foundation, bringing their total money raised for the university to over $40 million during its 40 years of existence. Both university bookstore officials point out that excess funds go back to the university, helping to keep student fees from increasing. “If we didn’t do what we do, student fees could be even higher than they are now,” Williams said.
Hurricane Ike weakens after causing havoc in Cuba FRANCES ROBLES & PATRICIA MAZZEI
mcclatchy newspapers Hurricane Ike left western Cuba Tuesday afternoon after making landfall a second time in the storm-wrecked nation. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said Ike’s eye emerged in the Gulf of Mexico about 90 miles west of Havana Tuesday afternoon. The borderline Category 1 storm had 75 mph winds as it moved away from the island after a two-day assault. Ike killed four people since first striking eastern Cuba Sunday night as a Category 3. Ike reemerged from the Gulf of Batabano Tuesday morning. It
reentered Cuban territory near El Mambi, a southern city of 200,000 people in Pinar del Rio province, which was pummeled 10 days ago by Category 4 Gustav. ‘’Gustav was a Category 4. It had a destructive capacity that was 16 times what this hurricane has,’’ Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera said on Cuban TV. ``While Ike is a hurrican — and hurricanes are to be respected — this is not even a shadow of what Gustav was.’’ The Associated Press reported that some buildings in Havana had already begun to collapse, and that several balconies had crashed to the ground. Civil defense authorities were out in the deserted
streets during the storm moving rubble, AP reported. The Cuban government lifted the hurricane warning in the eastern provinces and declared the region in a ‘’recovery phase’’ Tuesday. Elsewhere on the island, the picture looked dire. In Camaguey, the Cuban state newspaper Demajagua said the damage was “principally to the electrical and telephone system, industrial and tourist facilities, schools, homes, warehouses and forestry.’’ The city was completely without power as the north and south coasts were flooded by sea surge and the three rivers overflowed inland. A second evacuation operation was
RONNA GRADUS/MCT
Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham tours a school in Great Inagua, Bahamas. underway in Camaguey where up to 4,000 people were being moved due to rising waters. ‘’After bidding farewell to this unwelcome visitor, another equally damaging one arrived: the flooding due to the over-
flowing rivers,’’ the newspaper said. The Cubaencuentro Web site reported heavy damage to Chaparra in Las Tunas, saying 80 percent of the homes were damaged. In Ciego de Avila,
the state government news agency said the largest fruit company in the country, La Cuba, was severely damaged. Only 20 percent of Santiago de Cuba has electrical service, the Cuban media said.
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