COLLEGIATETIMES
tuesday november 18, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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Check out video from the CT’s trip behind the scenes of game day preparation at Cassell Coliseum.
Hokies, at last, rock Mountaineers
news
Behind the game-day curtain
SPENCER HIRED AS VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS Edward Spencer was appointed Virginia Tech’s vice president for student affairs on a three-year term beginning Nov. 1; he had previously been serving as the interim vice president for SPENCER student affairs following the death of Zenobia Hikes. With this position, Spencer will now oversee 15 different departments at Tech, including housing and dining, multicultural affairs, student activities, and the Corps of Cadets. Spencer, who has worked within student affairs at Tech since 1983, had been associate vice president for nearly four years prior to his appointment.
POLICE INVESTIGATE CHRISTIANSBURG SHOOTING Christiansburg police believe a shooting that occurred on Saturday where a Christiansburg man was injured at a home on Wayside Dr. is now the result of an accident. Curt Roberts, 28, is currently in serious condition at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after suffering a single gunshot wound from a rifle during the incident. Though it’s believed to be accidental, the case is still under investigation.
sports WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HOSTS RADFORD Two local teams will square off in Cassell tonight at 7 p.m. as Tech faces Radford. The Hokies try to open the year with two straight wins after beating UNC Greensboro on Friday.
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coming up TOMORROW’S CT Find a movie review of the latest James Bond feature “Quantum of Solace.”
index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Classifieds..............6 Sports....................7 Sudoku..................6
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year issue 106
SALLY BULL/SPPS
Kent, Sheets, facilities manager for Cassell Coliseum walks down the hall where Hokies enter and exit their locker room.
ZACH CRIZER
ct news reporter
CALEB SHARP/SPPS
Mount St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown moves to avoid forward A.D. Vassallo’s attempt to in-bound the ball.
BAILED OUT BY A LATE MOUNT ST. MARY’S FOUL, TECH STAYS UNDEFEATED EN ROUTE TO A TOURNAMENT APPEARENCE THURSDAY IN PUERTO RICO. ED LUPIEN
ct sports reporter After a sluggish season opener, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team played another close game — this time against Mt. Saint Mary’s — ultimately defeating the visiting Mountaineers in a sloppy 62-57 victory. “It would have been tough waking up at three o’clock in the morning to wake up to go to Puerto Rico after losing that game,” Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. “To be able to hang in there and stay the course is a credit to
our guys.” With 1:27 left on the clock, the Hokies took their first lead of the second half, 53-52, on a three-pointer from senior A.D. Vassallo. With Enter Sandman blaring in Cassell Coliseum, the Tech crowd got the loudest they had been all game, but the Hokies fouled guard Jean Cajou in the lane, allowing him to hit two free throws to retake the lead. On Tech’s ensuing possession, Malcolm Delaney was fouled on a three-point attempt by senior Markus Mitchell. The sophomore guard then hit all three shots from the charity
stripe to reclaim the lead, 56-54. With 49.5 seconds left to play, the Mount took the ball and missed a trey. Vassallo rebounded, forcing the Mountaineers to foul Delaney with under 30 seconds left to play.Delaney converted on both tries, putting the Hokies up four with only 24.8 seconds left. Four more Delaney free throws mixed in with a traditional three-point play by Cajou provided the final tally and the five-point difference. Tech played excellent defense throughout the first twenty minutes of play, holding the Mount without a field goal until the 16:02 mark, with their only prior point coming on a
When the Hokies basketball team runs through the curtain to enter the court in Cassell Coliseum, the crowd roars in anticipation. Behind that curtain, however, lie hours of preparation. The Collegiate Times got an exclusive look behind the scenes of game day at Cassell Coliseum. Game day came on a blustery, cloudy morning yesterday in Blacksburg,. With the clock not even showing noon, Cassell Coliseum is already preparing for an 8 p.m. tip. Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball team stepped off their bus at 10:55 a.m. Monday and walked down the ramp to the floor entrance. As the Mountaineers warmed up, sports information directors for the two schools chatted as they maneuvered through the corridors on the ground floor. They discussed the pronunciation of player names and the setups of the various media rooms. They walked past the visiting team locker room, a room numbered simply 217, that contains lockers, folded chairs and a full
On Norovirus, epidemic unlikely SARA MITCHELL
ct copy editor
GORDON BLOCK
ct news reporter
SALLY BULL/SPPS
Last year, the SGA’s Relay for Life, some of which is pictured above, had the greatest participation for a similar collegiate event nationwide. major. Along with dining hall table cards, flyers and posters, a major aspect of the personal interaction that Armstrong and others will provide is the assignment of mentors to each of the teams signed up for the event. The level of interaction will be dependent on a classification of a team as red, yellow or green. “People in the red haven’t even done the first registration fee, they don’t have full teams, and they haven’t done any fundraisers. Teams in the yellow have begun the process, and teams in the green are the ones that are leading the way,” Armstrong said. Armstrong stressed that any contact wouldn’t be overbearing for Relay participants. Contact for team leaders will start with e-mails, and depending on the progress of a team, additional contact may be made with a team leader. “We’ll start things with e-mail, keep things comfortable,” Armstrong said. “We’re not going to try to overwhelm people.” As the event comes closer, the mentors will work to ensure teams are reaching their goals. “We’ll analyze the teams in the spring
see CASSELL, page two
see HOKIES, page two
SGA gets head start on annual Relay for Life Leadership at Virginia Tech’s Relay for Life will attempt to increase its success after Tech was ranked No. 1 in the country for the 2008 event. Tech’s 2008 Relay was ranked first on the collegiate level for total number of participants with 3,100 and second in total fundraising on the collegiate level with $294,000 raised. Relay for Life, the signature event of the American Cancer Society, brings together communities nationwide to raise money for cancer research and treatment. Those involved with Tech’s 2008 Relay were excited with how successful the event was. “It’s been growing here,” said Josh Burnheimer, senior financial planning major and director for the 2008 Relay for Life event at Tech. “Word has gotten around, and the students here are very service oriented.” Members of Tech’s Student Government Association have already started their preparations for the 2009 event. Tech’s Relay for Life co-directors Alice Wagner and Chris Armstrong hope for a turnout of 350 teams and 3,500 total participants, bringing in a total of $350,000 for the 2009 event. “This university has 26,000 people, so the sky’s the limit,” Wagner said. “Our real goal is to have 26,000 students.” A major emphasis for those planning the 2009 event is to keep the focus throughout the year. “This year we’re trying to make Relay a movement,” Wagner said, a senior psychology major. “People do think that Relay for Life is an event in the spring. We’re trying to get people informed and educate students about cancer.” The year-round focus reflects the relentless nature of the disease. “Cancer is a year-round thing, not just something that happens in the spring,” Burnheimer said. To reach their fundraising goals, Relay officials are working to reach out with participants on raising money. “Any kind of personal interaction with every participant in Relay for Life this year, by our planning committee’s standpoint will really help,” said Armstrong, a senior civil engineering
stock of training supplies. Virginia Tech radio play-by-play man Bill Roth walked through the curtain after setting up his radio equipment and meeting some of Mount St. Mary’s players. Upstairs, the concourse is silent, but behind the walls, facilities are being prepared for the hustle and bustle of game day. Facilities workers are stocking soda in a media lounge at 11:15 a.m. while a TV truck is arranging for adequate electric power. Shoot around for the Hokies begins at 1:30 p.m. and Associate Athletic Director Tom Goddard team said the team gathers for a “hearty” pregame meal at 4 p.m. in the Bowman Room. Media members are also treated to dinner at 4 p.m. A single worker from Sycamore Deli Catering serves radio and television workers a three course meal of salad, lasagna and pumpkin pie. Kent Sheets, the facilities manager of Cassell Coliseum, is the busiest man in the building for most of the day. Sheets can be spotted testing the Public Address system or repairing the façade on the concourse. He is the man who turns on the lights in the morning and
to see how they’re doing. If they are in the green, we aren’t going to focus on them as much, because they’re doing well,” Wagner said. “The red and the yellow we’re going to encourage. Sometimes it takes that extra little kick to get them going.” Armstrong is confident that Tech’s Relay will reach their goals, even in difficult financial times. “The American Cancer Society even the year before saw a decrease because of financial difficulties,” Armstrong said. “Our Relay has grown each year. It may not have grown as much as what we’d thought we would, but we’ve still grown.” Armstrong pointed to the importance of the money raised to his hope of the planned funds being raised. “Cancer’s not going away. It doesn’t matter if we are in hard financial times, it doesn’t matter if times are good and people are buying houses and cars,” Armstrong said. “We would encourage people to donate, because this is something that we can take care of now.” As of Oct. 16, 525 participants on 164 teams had raised $15,581.47. The 2009 Relay for Life event will take place April 24.
In this season of colds and the flu, another virus has found its way onto the Virginia Tech campus. The norovirus — a virus similar to the stomach flu — causes diarrhea and vomiting for 1-3 days and makes the patient contagious for up to two weeks. According to Schiffert Health Center, there have been 40 cases of the norovirus in this semester alone, but the school is far from an epidemic or the cancellation of classes. “That’s really not a lot of people if you think about the population of Tech,” said Colleen Farmer, registered nurse at Schiffert. In addition to Tech’s 40, the Montgomery County Health Department noted 20 cases through the Montgomery Regional Hospital. The virus is spread easily through human contact and surfaces such as doorknobs and keyboards. Symptoms of both diarrhea and vomiting can begin just 10 hours after catching the virus. It can run rampant on college campuses thanks to the close quarters provided by residence halls and dining centers. “With condensed populations … One person coming from another college can sit in on a class of 70 or 80 students, and if 1 percent get it and spread it to other classes, it’s a trickle-down effect,” Farmer said. 40 students is less than 1 percent of the student body at Tech, and Farmer does not see the number reaching anything near an epidemic. “We saw maybe seven cases on Monday, and less and less, maybe one on Thursday,” Farmer said. Although the rate of cases has slowed, Farmer stressed the importance of prevention in regards to the virus. “It’s really not extra work, as far as hand washing and routine daily cleaning with Lysol. It’s really dayto-day cleaning,” she explained. Robert Parker from the Montgomery County Health
Department agreed. “The advice doesn’t change if there’s 10 cases or 50 cases, or in this case 60 cases,” Parker said. “That doesn’t change the nature of the risks.” For some schools, the norovirus hit full force. Hope College in Holland, Mich., had to cancel classes for two and a half days because 420 of the 3,200 students had the norovirus. “It started on Thursday with a few cases,” said Tom Renner, public relations for Hope College. “We realized we had a growing problem on Friday. The campus was closed Friday midday — at that point we had 180 cases.” Hope College closed halfway through Friday, Nov. 7, and the university asked the students to maintain good hygiene of themselves and their living spaces. However, by Monday the number had doubled, and so classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday, and the dining halls started using only take-home containers and silverware. Hope College increased the housekeeping in the residence halls and provided cleaning supplies for students to disinfect their rooms. “It’ll be significant (financially) for the college when it’s all said and done,” Renner said. Farmer has no specifics on any magic number of cases needed for Tech to cancel classes. If a huge number of cases came through Schiffert, then the university would evaluate the situation. Farmer explained that the norovirus is extremely similar to the flu, and that Tech has successfully avoided a flu problem before. In March 2008, Schiffert treated 300 students with the flu in one day, and avoided a potential rampant spread of the flu. “They’re not gonna get their classes canceled,” Farmer said. If a student has diarrhea or vomits at least twice in one day, then he or she is encouraged to go to Schiffert for treatment. The virus just has to run its course, but treatment for the symptoms include Tylenol, anti-nausea medication, and hydration.
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