Friday, January 23, 2009 Print Edition

COLLEGIATETIMES

friday january 23, 2009 blacksburg, va.

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ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM LABELED WORLD-CLASS The Virginia Tech architecture program in the School of Architecture and Design was recognized by Design Intelligence as one of America’s World-Class Schools of Architecture with highest distinction. The ranking system is composed of multiple criteria, including but not limited to campus environment and individual rankings by professional practice. The tied with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities.

sports HARRIS AND SHUMAN TO TAKE PART IN SENIOR BOWL Tech cornerback Victor “Macho” Harris and offensive lineman Ryan HARRIS Shuman will participate in the Under Armour Senior Bowl on Saturday. The annual contest, SHUMAN which features the country’s top senior college football players and NFL draft prospects, is to be played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. It will be televised on NFL Network and is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.

tomorrow’s weather SUNNY high 56, low 39

corrections If you see something in today’s paper that needs to be corrected, please e-mail our public editor at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com, or call 540.231.9865.

Peruse April 16-related documents recently released by the CT on our Web site.

index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5

Classifieds..............7 Sports....................6 Sudoku..................7

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year • issue 115

Details emerge in GLC attack T. REES SHAPIRO & CALEB FLEMING

ct news staff Officer Nicole Irvine approached a grisly crime scene Wednesday evening when she encountered murder suspect Haiyang Zhu holding the severed head of victim Xin Yang in the Au Bon Pain cafe at the Graduate Life Center.

Irvine, who Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said arrived at ABP less than one minute after a 911 call at 7:06 p.m., placed Zhu under arrest on sight. Yang was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene, according to the police report.

Zhu, a 25-year old international graduate student from Ningbo, China, was charged Thursday with premeditated first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Yang with a large kitchen knife.

Witnesses reported that just minutes before the attack, Zhu and Yang were sitting together at the cafe in calm conversation, Flinchum said.

Yang was a 22-year old graduate student from Beijing, and resident of room 201 in Donaldson Brown Hall.

At the time of his arrest, Irvine found multiple “edged weapons” inside s backpack.

YANG Zhu’ Search warrants have been issued for Yang’s Donaldson Brown room and Zhu’s residence in the 900 block of University City Blvd.

Police have established Yang and Zhu knew each other before the assault, as she listed him as an emergency contact in university records.

Authorities are searching both residences for evidence regarding the premeditated nature of the crime, including telephone records, diaries, additional weapons, documents establishing the victim and suspect’s relationship, and electronic storage and media.

Zhu is currently being held without bond at the Montgomery County Jail in downtown Christiansburg. During an arraignment hearing Wednesday afternoon, Zhu was appointed attorney Stephanie Cox, of Blacksburg. No further court dates have been scheduled at this time, and Cox did not immediately return calls from the Collegiate Times.

Zhu is a PhD student in the department of agriculture and applied economics. He arrived on campus in the fall of 2008 and was currently serving as Denise Mainville’s graduate teaching assistant for her Marketing of Agricultural Products class.

AAEC Department head Kevin Boyle declined comment on Zhu’s academic endeavors.

Mainville also declined comment Thursday on the fatal stabbing and her relationship with Zhu. Yang came to Tech to pursue a master’s degree in accounting within the Pamplin College of Business. She arrived on campus Jan. 8.

University officials informed her mother of her

“Once again we are challenged as a community to offer support to one another as we process this recent event.”

- CHARLES STEGER UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT death late Wednesday evening.

Yang and Zhu were among 477 Chinese graduate students enrolled at Tech this semester.

Karen DePauw, dean of the graduate school, said that the incident would not affect foreign student recruitment.

“I don’t think it will have a negative affect,” Depauw said. “Like April 16, people will read about it but they will also know that we have quality academic programs and that we are dedicated to building community.”

University President Charles Steger sent an e-mail to students late Wednesday evening reminding students that counseling is available to faculty, staff, and students. Free counseling was offered in the Jamestown room in Squires Student Center and in the GLC all day yesterday.

Steger added that he understands the emotions drawn following tragic events on campus after the April 16 shootings. ”Once again we are challenged as a community to offer support to one another as we process this recent event,” Steger said. “Once again we will rise to the occasion. At times like this we are reminded how important friends and family are during a tragedy. We will continue to do everything we can to support the Virginia Tech family.”

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine expressed his condolences to the Tech community in a statement released Thursday.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Xin Yang today — and with the broader Virginia Tech community,” Kaine said.

“The tragic attack on campus this week has no doubt revived terrible memories for countless members of the Hokie family.”

STAFF/SPPS

Police covered the windows of the Au Bon Pain in the Graduate Life Center, mapped below with the area of the assault circled in red, with insulation.

VIRGINIA TECH

Schoolboard RIAA changes tactics against illegal downloaders faces test JUSTIN GRAVES

ct news reporter The Recording Industry Association of America received much publicity in late December when it decided to search for more effective ways to curtail illegal music downloading.

The decision represents a great departure for the association, which has spent the last five years opening legal cases against tens of thousands of defendants.

Using a company called MediaSentry to target people who upload large amounts of music, at least 35,000 people have faced lawsuits from the RIAA since 2003. It previously used the popular peer-to-peer program LimeWire to search for copyrighted song titles.

After receiving scrutiny from many groups that claimed their methods were unnecessary, excessive and an invasion of privacy, the RIAA began to pursue a new technique to catch those who illegally share files, but without all of the examination from the media and home-based interest groups.

“I think the RIAA believes it made huge strides in public awareness with its lawsuit campaign, but they think that it is the right time to change tracks,” said Sarah McBride, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who has covered the RIAA. “It doesn’t seem like they view their changed policy as a sign of failure, although plenty of critics do.”

The old approach that the RIAA used consisted of two different types of communication with university officials: Digital Millennium Copyright Act notices and pre-litigation letters. Now, only DMCA notices are sent.

The recipient of this notice has been caught uploading one or more files illegally. The RIAA then follows up with the university to ensure the infringing material was removed from the network. While the pre-litigation letters made it clear that it was the beginning stages of a lawsuit, the new notices make it clear that they are a DMCA letter.

The new approach is more dependent upon the cooperation of individual Internet service providers, or ISPs. They will now ask providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AOL or universities, to issue warnings to their customers who are suspected of illegally downloading files to which they do not own the copyright.

Warnings range from slower Internet service to verbal or e-mail warnings.

From there, the ISP has the option of cutting off the Internet access without reim-

bursement and reporting this individual to the RIAA. However, not all ISP providers have agreed to these new methods; the RIAA would not comment on which have or have not.

As noted in a recent “facts” document released by the RIAA, the association and several leading ISPs across the nation reached a confidential agreement on the standards outlining this new “graduated response program,” which is intended to help decrease all of this copyright infringement.

“Relative to litigation, a graduated response program is far less blunt, far more efficient and, we believe, ultimately far more effective to protect the property rights of the music community,” said RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol.

Many detractors of the RIAA say that departure from this strategy is because of its ineffectiveness. After numerous lawsuits against teenagers, including several groups of college students, the RIAA came under constant fire from the media and parents who contested the goal behind their methods.

USEFUL LINKS - Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be found at scholar.lib.vt.edu/copyright/ clinks.html#DMCA - CNS’/Judicial Affairs’ Copyright Primer can be found at www.cns.vt.edu/docs/ copyright07.pdf “We are delighted that circumstances have evolved to the point where we could transition from lawsuits to these ISP graduated response programs,” Bainwol said.

“Already, in just the last couple of months, we have seen more notices forwarded from ISPs to subscribers than we filed lawsuits over the previous five years.”

While critics are happy to see a departure from the policy that has reigned over the past five years, the RIAA said that, in retrospect, it definitely caused a cutback in piracy. Overall, on average, about 19 percent of all Internet users download files illegally. However, music downloaded legally and the revenue from those transactions has seen a large increase.

“Digital revenues in 2004 totaled about $180 million. For 2008, they will approach $3 billion, or about 30 percent of our total revenues,” Bainwol said. “And while the marketplace is dominated still by the download model (especially iTunes), con-

sumers enjoy phenomenal choice — subscriptions, advertising-based legal peer to peer, streaming services, mobile music and on and on.”

On campus, Virginia Tech’s Communications Network Services delivers voice, data and video services, including the Internet that is sometimes used by students to download files illegally. Jeff Kidd is the public relations manager for CNS. He is called on to research inquiries concerning network-based copyright infringement.

“This appears to be a return to the practice of sending many complaints monthly to ISPs, primarily institutions of higher education, requesting them to curtail alleged file sharing by their subscribers,” Kidd said.

The same peer-to-peer software that MediaSentry used to track, however, isn’t completely frowned upon. Programs such as LimeWire, Kazaa and Morpheus often have legitimate educational purposes.

“I can tell you... peer-to-peer software has plenty of useful and legal applications,” McBride said.

Kidd agreed, echoing a similar sentiment.

“Use of P2P software over the campus network is not prohibited, precisely because it has legitimate educational applications,” Kidd said.

Having worked at Tech for more than 20 years, Kidd says that students have been notified on campus for network-based copyright infringement on behalf of the RIAA, and that he is often included when they are notified (although it wouldn’t be mandatory).

“CNS receives all takedown notices, and forwards them to Judicial Affairs once they are ready to proceed with a judicial referral,” said Bryon Hughes, assistant director of Judicial Affairs.

Kidd said, however, that it is difficult to violate Tech’s Internet-use policy, and that CNS doesn’t receive as many complaints as some may think.

“The university does not receive complaints about music files being downloaded. It is key that all who would use peer-to-peer software understand that this software is so effective precisely because it is designed to concurrently share or upload copyrighted files to others,” Kidd said. “Peer-to-peer packages are designed to share copyrighted files ... and in some cases without active participation of the user. Even if file sharing is deactivated in the software, peer-to-peer programs typically reauthorize file sharing each time the computer is restarted.”

of faith

GABRIEL MCVEY

ct news staff A former employee has filed an antidiscrimination suit against the Montgomery County School Board in federal court alleging she was discharged in retaliation for her repeated complaints regarding religious hostility in the workplace.

Mecklenburg County resident and former Blacksburg Middle School employee Judith Scott, 56, has filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke to seek remedy for her discharge on what she claims were retaliatory grounds after she complained about the hostile work environment arising from her supervisor’s exclusionary religious activities.

Montgomery County School Board Chairman Wendell Jones said he was unfamiliar with the details of the suit and refused to comment.

Jones is the only named individual in the suit.

The lawsuit does not state whether the school board was ever aware of Scott’s situation. Scott’s lawyer, Roanoke attorney Terry Grimes, said they are responsible for ensuring that school employment is free from discrimination.

“Whether the individual board members know about it is neither here nor there,” Grimes told the Roanoke Times.

The suit documents several alleged incidents while Scott was employed as a media aid assistant that it says amount to religious harassment and discrimination.

In April 2005, when Scott’s supervisor asked to pray for her while at work, Scott complied out of a sense of pressure, the suit says. The same unnamed supervisor later told Scott she loved her, wouldn’t know what to do without her and thanked God for her.

Later that month Scott was invited to attend a religious conference with several faculty members, though she declined to attend. When her coworkers returned, they gave her several Christian themed DVDs, CDs and audiotapes in an alleged attempt to proselytize her.

The suit alleges that the supervisor would dim the library’s lights, hold prayer meetings, “anoint” the premises and “lay hands” on those present. The supervisor would also leave “praise” sticky notes and daily Bible verses around for Scott to see.

When Scott complained to her supervisor about the harassment, the work environment became increasingly hostile with the supervisor saying she felt a “righteous anger” toward Scott and finding more and more fault with her work as well as preparing a poor performance evaluation, according to the lawsuit.

Scott met with the assistant superintendent and other administrators to file a grievance and was offered the opportunity to transfer to another facility, according to the suit. Scott refused, saying she’d done nothing wrong and only wanted to do her job in a non-hostile environment.

Scott’s employment contract was subsequently not renewed; the suit alleges this was in retaliation for her complaints.

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editor: caleb fleming email: nrvnews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: tth 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

january 23, 2009

Competition to get into colleges may be intensifying GENE TRAINOR

mcclatchy newspapers FORT WORTH, Texas — People seeking new skills in a slow economy and a near record number of high school seniors are expected to make the competition fierce for coveted spots in U.S. colleges and universities in the fall.

Applications to elite private schools are expected to continue climbing.

But university officials suspect that state schools in particular could see a spike in interest as some cash-strapped families look for tuition breaks. Even if students get into a desired school, they might not get into the programs they want.

“What this means to students is that it’s going to be more competitive to get into a state college than before,” said Kristen Campbell, director for college preparation programs for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions in New York City.

The application process, which began in the fall with early admissions, is expected to peak in the coming weeks as essays, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores and synopses of extracurricular activities are compiled and sent.

“It was really hard,” said Sandra Alvarez, a senior at Fort Worth’s South Hills High School who applied to several schools. “You have so many things to do, you don’t know where to start.”

Taylor Breen, also at South Hills, recalls getting a call during physics class from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology asking for her father’s income records.

“You have to turn it in tomorrow, so figure it out,” Breen said, quoting the admissions officer. She plans to attend Columbia University in New York City.

College admission officials say there’s no surefire way to get into a first-choice school, though they agree that good grades, high standardized test scores and athletic or other talents help an applicant rise above the competition.

“At the end of the day, colleges want students who are passionate,” Mike Moyer, author of “How to Make Colleges Want You,” writes.

Students who don’t excel on the playing field or who have average grades might consider making a movie, writing for a local newspaper or running a political campaign, he said.

“They want students who have real interests and go out of their way to pursue their interests ... If you are engaged in an activity in which teenagers don’t typically engage, you are someone who will bring a new point of view to a college classroom and a person

who will inspire others to follow their dreams and interests. Colleges love this more than anything!”

Here’s what students can expect at a range of schools:

TOP PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Texas has three: the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University in College Station and Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

With a desire to grow to 40,000 students and an enrollment that averages around 28,000, Texas Tech has room for qualified applicants. The competition is a bit fiercer at UT-Austin and A&M. About 71 percent of those who applied for UT-Austin’s fall freshman class in 1998 were admitted. For the 2007 freshman class, 51 percent were admitted. Figures for A&M follow a similar trend.

Texans who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class automatically get accepted into a state college or university, including UT-Austin and Texas A&M. But they may not get into the program they want.

“I think the RIAA believes it made huge strides in public awareness with its lawsuit campaign, but they think that it is the right time to change tracks” - SARAH MCBRIDE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL At UT-Austin, the competition for spots in the university’s business, communications and nursing schools is fierce, said Augustine Garza, UTAustin deputy director of admissions.

For the most competitive programs, 75 percent of the slots are reserved for top-10 percent applicants. But of those students, often only the ones in the top 1, 2 or 3 percent get in; the rest must compete in the general applicant pool for the remaining slots, Garza said.

Students who don’t get into a desired program are considered for their second choice. If that falls through, they become liberal arts majors but can reapply later to their first choice, Garza said.

At UT-Austin, students who did not graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class are evaluated based on academic and personal characteristics, Garza said. “We look at everything,” he said. Some have started businesses as high school sophomores and now make five-figure salaries or have worked with college professors on research programs, he said. At

A&M, students in the top 25 percent of their high school class are admitted if they have a combined SAT math and critical reading score of at least 1,300, with a score of at least 600 in each section. Those taking the ACT need a composite score of at least 30, with a score of at least 27 in math and English. Students must also take the writing portion of each test to be considered.

Tech admits students in the top 25 percent of their high school class if they also have a composite score of 25 on the ACT or a combined score of 1,140 on the critical reading and math sections of the SAT. Those ranking at least in the top 50 percent can get in with an ACT score of 28 or an SAT score of 1,230.

TOP PRIVATE SCHOOLS Competition is also tough for some private schools, but officials warn against inflating resumes with extracurricular or volunteer activities.

Instead, they say they are looking for applications with focus on and passion for an area.

And you might think twice before have a consultant or parent write essays or handle the application. Both should be authentic, officials said.

“Elaborate on those things that you care most deeply about, so we’re not distracted about something that you tried one year and didn’t return to,” said Julie Browning, dean for undergraduate enrollment at Rice University in Houston. “We’re imagining how you’re going to use your free time at Rice.”

Rice, which ranks among the country’s most selective institutions, accepts about 22 percent of applications, said Chris Munoz, vice president for enrollment. Rice typically looks for students in the top 5 percent of their graduating class and with a combined SAT score of 1,450 on math and critical reading.

After that, the university looks at a student’s characteristics. “Are they involved?” Munoz said. “Are they active? And do they demonstrate leadership qualities?”

CLOSER TO HOME State schools such as the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Arlington typically have more flexible admission standards than some private schools and Texas’ flagship universities.

UNT accepts students who ranked in the top 25 percent of their graduating class and had a combined SAT score of 950 on the critical reading and math sections or a composite score of 20 on the ACT.

UT-Arlington has no test-score requirements for students in the top quarter of their class.

At UNT, students who rank in the top 50 percent of their high school class can get automatic admission if they have a combined SAT score of 1,050 or a 23 on the ACT. Admission officials review applications from those who don’t score that high.

UT-Arlington Provost Don Bobbitt said 75 to 79 percent of applicants are accepted. The 25,000-student school still has room to grow to 28,000 to 30,000 students.

Texas Christian University in Fort Worth worked to limit this year’s freshman enrollment to about 1,600 students after receiving a record 12,200 applications. About half of those applicants were accepted, but typically some students choose other schools, said Ray Brown, dean of admissions.

A typical TCU student is in the top 20 percent of his high school graduating class and has a combined SAT score of 1,781 (writing, critical reading and math) or an ACT composite score of 26.8. The university also looks for musicians, actors, athletes and others to help create an interesting campus environment.

Tarrant County College, which has 40,000 students and is the region’s fastest-growing institution, accepts local residents as long as they’re not on suspension from another university, said Cathie Jackson, associate vice chancellor for student development services.

A high school diploma or a GED isn’t necessary, she said. But students may have to take remedial classes to meet standards.

“We’re here for those who need to proceed with their education, no matter where they stopped along the way,” Jackson said.

Sometimes, simple perseverance pays off in the college admissions game.

Conrad Holub, 22, of Burleson said he neither was in the top 10 percent of his class at Burleson High School nor took any Advanced Placement classes. He said that he got accepted to other schools but that his goal was to attend the University of Texas at Austin.

So he attended Austin Community College for a year, where he achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He then transferred to UT-Austin but was not accepted into the business school.

So he was a government major for two years, earning a 3.56 average. And that got him into the business school.

Holub will have to spend five years at UT-Austin, but to him it’s all been worth it. “I had a goal set, and I did what I needed to do to achieve it,” he said.

School gets bathrooms-in-a-box for lockdown emergencies MERRILL BALASSONE

mcclatchy newspapers TURLOCK, Calif. — They are now fixtures in every classroom.

Teachers returned from winter break to find a bathroom-in-a-box on their desk, complete with toilet paper and all the accessories, marked “For Lockdown Only.”

Staff members assembled the kits to use during long-term lockdowns like the four hours Patterson High School students spent in their classrooms last fall when fights broke out on campus.

Shielded by their classmates, Patterson teens used trash cans as toilets until police allowed students and teachers outside.

The incident spurred school superintendents across Stanislaus County, Calif., to discuss ways to make sure history did not repeat itself.

Hence, in Turlock, the emergency toilets. Maintenance workers put together 701 of them over the winter break, enough to supply every classroom in the district that needed one. They cost $20 each, or about $14,000 total _ the equivalent of nearly 200 high school textbooks.

“It’s a small price to pay for personal dignity,” said Patricia McGuire, a district assistant superintendent.

Most lockdowns last just minutes.

But some can last hours, like the twohour lockdown experienced by several Turlock, Calif., elementary, middle and

high schools last fall.

School violence is only one reason to keep students in their classrooms. Police will tell administrators to lock down a school if they are chasing a criminal suspect or making a raid nearby.

Sixth-grade teacher Melanie Chancellor still remembers what it was like three years ago to be locked inside her Crowell Elementary classroom for almost two hours.

“I had kids who needed to go,” Chancellor said. “So I was like, ‘We all have to hold it.’ It was hard on the kids.”

Chancellor eyed a spot next to her desk where she plans to set up her emergency lavatory. The toilet comes with a plastic seat, steadied by steel legs, and a plastic bag in lieu of a toilet bowl.

On Monday, Turlock High teenagers looked quizzically at the plain cardboard box that housed their classroom commode. Their teacher had offered extra credit for whoever guessed what it contained.

A student began to read the contents: a roll of toilet paper, disposable liners, a tarp (to create privacy in the corner of a room), chemical packs, hand sanitizer wipes, disposal liners and, of course, a folding toilet.

Then came the laughter.

The students, understandably giggly and embarrassed about the thought of relieving themselves among their peers, claimed they could wait. Under any circumstances.

But when you gotta go ...

editor: sara mitchell email: universitynews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Future of school textbooks written in cyberspace MARA ROSE WILLIAMS

mcclatchy newspapers KANSASCITY,Mo.—Northwest Missouri State University students started spring semester classes Monday, but many aren’t lugging thick textbooks around campus.

Instead, most students are carrying a lightweight electronic device that can fit in a coat pocket and hold the textbook material for all their classes. Some students will download their text information onto their laptops.

At Northwest, textbooks — at least the bound kind — are fast becoming a thing of the past.

Besides taking a load off students’ backs, going textbook-free can save them a lot of money.

The pilot electronic textbook program began in the fall with four classes and about 200 students. This spring, roughly 4,000 of the school’s 6,500 students will use electronic textbooks.

“I think that it’s the way the world is going,” said Dean L. Hubbard, Northwest’s president, who is retiring in July after 25 years at the Maryville, Mo., university.

Textbook publishers say many colleges are moving toward using some electronic textbooks, but Northwest’s plan to eventually eliminate all bound textbooks makes it a leader in the movement.

“Right now, digital products account for a small percent of our higher education business, but it is growing at a rate that is breathtaking,” said Jeffrey Ho, a product manager for McGraw-Hill Education.

But Northwest can only move toward a bookless campus as fast as the availability of e-books allows, Hubbard said.

“Publishers don’t have all textbooks online yet,” he said. “But I would think as a realistic measure we could be totally out of the printed textbook business in three years.”

That idea pleases sophomore Mike Jenkins.

“I think the whole concept is pretty cool,” said Jenkins, 19, of Lee’s Summit, Mo. Jenkins used e-books in his history class during the fall semester.

“I would like it if we didn’t have textbooks at all anymore,” he said.

“You wouldn’t have the hassle of messing with books. The e-book is so convenient, and you don’t have to carry all those books around.”

Plus, unlike printed textbooks, e-books have pop-up interactive quizzes and the ability to search the full text within seconds for key words. New electronic reader technology also will allow students to take notes in on-screen posted notes.

Jenkins found a few “minor” problems with the e-reader gadget that he and his classmates used.

“You can’t look at a whole page on one screen, and it doesn’t have a backlight to light up the screen, so you have to be somewhere that is well lit,” he said.

Not all students were as comfortable with the electronic textbooks.

“I always worried that something would happen, like it would crash on the night I had to study for a test,” said Jennifer Martin, a 22year-old Northwest senior from Liberty, Mo.

“It’s a good concept, but I didn’t like it that much. I would rather flip pages back and forth in the textbook when I’m studying. Maybe it would be better to start this with freshmen who haven’t yet gotten used to studying using a regular textbook.”

Students who want a traditional textbook could still get one.

But the cost savings are hard to ignore, even at Northwest, a school that already is unique because of its textbook rental system and its history of giving every student a laptop.

A textbook-free campus would save the university about $400,000 a year. Currently the university spends about $800,000 a year to keep an inventory of about 50,000 to 80,000 textbooks that are rented out to students. Northwest students pay about $80 to $90 a semester on books, a fraction of what students at other schools pay.

Northwest will continue to charge students just a rental fee. But once the e-book program goes campuswide, Hubbard said, Northwest students’ book fee will be cut in half.

E-books are less expensive than bound books, which are updated every few years and then have to be repurchased by the school. E-books can be updated at no cost.

Even at schools without a rental system, students would pay far less for texts on e-books than they would for bound books.

Nationally, the cost of textbooks has soared in the last decade. The average college student spends nearly $1,000 a year on textbooks, according to the National Association of College Stores.

Northwest will purchase the electronic readers and then load them with the e-books each student needs. The student would pick up their loaded e-reader at the university bookstore or have their electronic textbooks loaded on their laptop.

The e-book plan is being phased in, with more faculty members signing up each year to teach classes using electronic textbooks.

“We think that students who are coming to Northwest today are more comfortable with learning from electronic text because they are used to reading from a computer screen,” said Paul Klute, assistant to the president at Northwest.

“It’s nothing for a student to read for two or three hours on a computer screen.”

University faculty members are getting used to the idea of Northwest doing away with bound textbooks, but they hope students can choose to read the e-books on laptops, e-readers or iPods.

“We are going to have to have multiple modes of delivery,” said Rod Barr, an agriculture instructor who used the e-reader gadget in one of his fall classes. “Not all students are the same and not all classes use textbooks in the same way.”

Barr said the e-reader used by his students had limited use for class discussions requiring students to jump around from chapter to chapter.

“It’s a good device for straight front-to-back novel reading, though,” he said.

He said the more technologically savvy students in his class used the device the most, “but they also had the greatest expectations.”

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editor: bethany buchanan email: features@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., f 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

january 23, 2009

He said, she said: Evaluating financial priorities This article will most likely offend people who properly budget, manage and control the ebb and flow of their money. I also will assume TOPHER that these same FORHECZ people are not in college. Nor have features they ever played a reporter game of bar golf.

(Bar golf, to clarify, is a game in which 18 bars are selected in one night, and players must hit all of these bars in order to beat the game or score a hole in one or whatever. Also, they must be dressed as though they HE SAID are about to play golf. This doesn’t mean you have to like golf to play bar golf because if you like golf that must mean that baseball is too exciting and falling asleep standing up feels like NASCAR.) Bar golf is a perfect example of an event where a college student’s money can suddenly disappear.

Their locations — bars — are one of the standard college spending vices. These money suck-holes are part of an appetite unique to the college student. If they weren’t here then you would just have — well, school. Imagine a world in which all that was bought was tuition, housing and food? College would be just, well, real life. Definitely not college. The subjects of the stories that would perpetuate after the weekend would have exciting details mostly about a fun new spinach fondue you bought or what book club you liked best during the weekend book club marathon. It’s true — we would probably get a lot more done, such as reading something other than the books for class or maybe even building something not made solely of beer cans. But how could we have fun?

Bars are the first real temptation in what could be called adult spending, the red Jack-Daniels-filled apple that will have you wearing a leaf and talking to God by the end of the night.

It is something that adults will still spend money on once the more atypical types of college spending fade away. Whatever do I mean by atypical types of college spending? Consider: Halloween, when you were standing in the middle of Kids ’R Us staring at a children’s baby tiger costume trying to decide if maybe you wore it bib style

with jeans and a T-shirt underneath it, would it be perfect for you? Or the hours spent with your roommates at Home Depot trying to figure out the recipe for the ultimate beer pong table. These are the type of things that will disappear when words such as “mortgage” replace “golf pros and tennis hoes.”

When you go into a bar there is always a face to mark the experience for you. This face will cost you money.

Most of the time, it is the bartender.

Depending on how the both of you are feeling on a particular day, this refined peddler of the PBRs will either treat you as a leper who is easily banished by cycles of booze or come at you like a shark in a steakhouse.

These people are trained in draining money and can do it simply by striking up a conversation with you. “How are you doing today?” can become “I’ll probably get $15 out of this Seth Rogen wannabe.” A bartender may be able to help you burn through your money, but only a woman can sit there and smoke it for you.

Behold women, the other expense in a male’s life. Women, in one way or another, will always be taking up some source of a guy’s income.

If you’re friends with a girl, this is slight.

Maybe they forget some cash here or there and require some spotting. Be chivalrous and tell her she’d have better luck ice skating on a liquor luge then ever forcing money out of your regulating pocket. That money is reserved for girls you meet in bars. To put it into the perspective of what guys are going up against, some girls walk into a bar with the mindset of a personal fundraiser who only accepts liquid donations. These walking gala events can be a nice quid pro quo for a guy’s ego; he may even get a smile and a compliment before his money gets sucked down another dead-end, brightly-lipsticked black hole. He might also get a show when she unexpectedly displays the full extent of her earnings all over the table after going past what she

projected (pun) she’d earn that night.

Spending for guys is something that is only skewed by the activities of college. Long after the auto industry implodes and we all end up using our cars for little more than extra space as a four-wheeled external hard drive, the beer industry will still be there to nurture and lubricate the fresh-thinking minds who will find out how to make our cars run off of dreams and smiles. The fact that the alcohol industry will never taste sour defeat unless college kids figure out that brewing your own beer is cheaper, means that college spending will always be a little irregular compared to other ways in which the ages and sexes choose to spend their dough.

I hate that cliche — you know, the one that generalizes women as just pampered, money-hungry lap cats who voraciously eat up several dozen credit cards like catnip (and leave their man to pay BETHANY back their accumulating BUCHANAN debt), only to treat themselves to shoes, clothes, features cosmetics, eating at fancy editor restaurants with the girlfriends and, oh, more shoes.

But what I hate about that cliche the most is that it’s considerably true.

Cue gasping from the feminist chorus. I know, my Vera Bradley-esque SHE SAID wallet aches to admit it.

We’re like m at e r i a l prostitutes — women

MINA NOORBAKHSH/COLLEGIATE TIMES

will do a lot of things for money and the lavish gifts which stem from it.

Want a life of luxury with all that you could possibly desire at your perfectly French-manicured fingertips? Then marry someone the age of your grandfather and deal with his wrinkly-smelly-creepyold-people-skin-that-feels-likedeath (or what you hope is death so that he’ll finally just kick the bucket and leave you the entirety of his estate) caressing you awkwardly in the middle of the night as you pretend to be asleep under your cashmere comforter. In return, you’ll boast the highly coveted bff status with friends such as Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, Marc Jacobs and Donna Karen.

And it’s not like this doesn’t happen all the time — I mean, aren’t cliches just an annoyingly repetitive form of a generalized truth? Young women shack up with geezers all the time just for the sake of a more-than-comfortable lifestyle and access to his credit card numbers and Swiss bank accounts.

It’s totally — and

quite unfortunately — nothing new.

But when it comes to our own budgets outside of the glamorous world of celebrity privilege and scandal, we young collegiate ladies tend to be more judicious of our money, but no less subject to our flights of financial fancy.

There are certain pitfalls that threaten to throw us into our ever growing, student-loan induced debt.

One of the worst things to happen to any humble working girl’s bank account is to

stumble upon the makeup mecca of the aesthetic religious practice: Sephora. As we followed the bright lights welcoming us into the heaven that is this plastic, colorful cosmetic cosmos, we were greeted by what I believed to be an overly effeminate Saint Peter sporting black cat-eye liquid eyeliner and a touch of gloss on his lips. (Gay men are the metaphorical pastors or preachers of this religion who often redeem your makeup mistakes and bring you to redemption with the right shade of foundation.) As blissful as the store is, $14 for a single tube of Sephora mascara will definitely set you back in your budget — trust me, I know.

The desire to buy even more makeup than what you might have in your bag may be one difficult hurdle to jump, but many of us who live off campus have to endure another sort of temptation: We have to resist the urge to buy even more decorations for our cozy Blacksburg abode.

Do we really need to spend our hard-earned money on that tropical fish soap dispenser just to add to the theme of the bathroom? Or what about that set of waxed fruit from Pier 1 that complements the decor of your kitchen but doesn’t leave you with any money in reserve? Totally unnecessary items take away from our wallets and find themselves sprinkled with dust a few months after purchase.

Thinking about it, I believe that we ladies have an unhealthy obsession with the word “cute.” We want to look cute, so we keep Sephora in business even in this economic climate. We want our homes to look cute, so we buy dozens of knick-knacks in an effort to nurture a welcoming environment in our places of residence.

Maybe we should take the money that we waste so superficially and spend it on more important things, like tuition, books, gifts for friends or maybe even — dare I say it — save our money.

Who knows, when you’re old and gray but rolling in the dough that you’ve managed to tuck away for years, maybe some young handsome thing will make you his sugar momma.

Cashmere comforters, in that case, won’t be the only things to keep you warm at night.

page 4

friday, january 23, 2009

Recently released Oscar noms prove surprising YESTERDAY THE ACADEMY ANNOUNCED 2009’S NOMINEES FOR THE OSCARS. LOOK BELOW FOR THE CT’S ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITIES

Oscar Nominees BEST PICTURE

BEST DIRECTOR

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon Stephen Daldry, The Reader Gus Van Sant, Milk

BEST ACTOR

BEST ACTRESS

Richard Jenkins, The Visitor Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon Sean Penn, Milk Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie, Changeling Melissa Leo, Frozen River Meryl Streep, Doubt Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Josh Brolin, Milk Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Amy Adams, Doubt Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Viola Davis, Doubt Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

SARA SPANGLER/COLLEGIATE TIMES

This week has been an exciting and thrilling one in the world of entertainment. Yes, the inauguration was cool, but I’m referring to yesterPETER day’s nomination VELZ announcement of multimedia the 2009 Academy reporter Awards.

That’s right, people, the most thrilling and self-congratulatory Hollywood event since the Golden Globes two weeks ago is less than one month away.

To simplify a very complicated process, the way OSCAR PREVIEW Oscar nominations work is that directors nominate directors, actors nominate actors and so on with everyone allowed to nominate their pick for Best Picture. As a result of this system, directors don’t necessarily mirror their pick with their choice for Best Picture. The point is to honor films that were unlikely to garner a Best Picture, but still were a notable achievement in filmmaking.

A film that would have fallen into this category is Thomas McCarthy for his immigration drama “The Visitor” or Jonathan Demme for his bohemian wedding chronicle “Rachel Getting Married.”

Surprisingly this year’s list of nominees reflects the Best Picture’s with every director getting a nod.

Christopher Nolan of “The Dark Knight” is largely the reason why that movie worked so well and is long overdue for a directing award — if you haven’t seen “Memento,” do so now — but he’s notably absent.

Let’s get right down to it. For the coveted Best Picture category, we have the usual suspects including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Slumdog Millionaire” (all three were considered locks for nominations), but we also have Gus Van Sant’s political biopic, “Milk” and post-WWII Nazi drama “The Reader.”

Notable omissions include suburban drama “Revolutionary Road,” box office smash “The Dark Knight,” and the did-he-or-didn’t-he Catholic school-set drama “Doubt.”

For my own personal predictions, I think “Slumdog” has the best

chance to win as it not only nabbed the Golden Globe, but numerous barometer awards from organizations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association. “Button” is in the same vein of “Forrest Gump” as a sentimental favorite but wasn’t as critically wellreceived as other nominated films.

“Milk” was both powerful and timely as it created an eerie parallel between the film’s portrayal of the efforts to stop Proposition 6 — an attempt to ban gay teachers from working in public schools — and Proposition 8’s passage this past November. Still, the docudrama will have a tough time beating the universal acclaim of “Slumdog.”

“The Reader” was both agonizingly depressing and resonant but, again, it was not as overwhelmingly celebrated as “Slumdog” “Frost/Nixon” was a wonderfully crafted film with fantastic performances, but not a film easy to embrace. After all, it is a movie about an interview, even if in the end I felt more compassion for Nixon as a character than just about anyone else this past year.

WANT TO WATCH THE OSCARS? WHEN: Feb. 22 WHAT TIME: 8 p.m.

CHANNEL: ABC HOST: Hugh Jackman While Danny Boyle has the advantage of being honored with his Globe win, the Oscars typically reward director’s passion projects, which is why my money is on David Fincher for “Button.” He spent three years working in conjunction with special effects artists to craft the technology that allowed Brad Pitt to play an octogenarian and a teenager.

Boyle has a strong chance, but Gus Van Sant may sneak in for creating a film that perfectly integrates archive footage from the 1970s for a truly immersive film.

On the acting side, Kate Winslet adds Oscar nod number six to her resume with her role in “The Reader.”

She won’t, however, be repeating her dual-Globe wins for both lead and supporting actress as her role in “Revolutionary Road” was not recognized.

One interesting note is that she’s

going up for Best Actress for her role that received a supporting win at the Globes. She’s joined by previous winners Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep, and first-time nominee Anne Hathaway.

The big surprise here is Melissa Leo for her role in “Frozen River,” a nomination that was called for by just about every film critic, but one that no one expected would actually be nominated.

On the male side we have another whopper of a surprise with Richard Jenkins’ affecting role in “The Visitor.”

Jenkins and Leo’s nominations give hope to the semi-successful characteractors everywhere that they too can carry a movie.

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon and Sean Penn in Milk get nods for portraying real-life political figures Richard Nixon and Harvey Milk, respectively. Brad Pitt gets recognition for his aging-in-reverse title character in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Globe-winner Mickey Rourke essentially plays a version of himself as a washed-up, has-been trying to restart his career in “The Wrestler.” Notable exceptions include Clint Eastwood in his supposed-final acting role in “Gran Torino” and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Revolutionary Road.”

For Jenkins and Leo, the award was the nomination. The remaining nominees all have to compete with Penn’s all-consuming embodiment of Harvey Milk and Kate Winslet who plays a former Nazi prison guard involved in a passionate affair with a minor. As difficult as that sounds, she comes off as one of the most sympathetic characters in movies this past year.

On the supporting female side, standouts include Penelope Cruz as a crazy ex-girlfriend in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Marisa Tomei as a stripper with the heart of gold in “The Wrestler” and Taraji P. Henson as Brad Pitt’s surrogate mother in “Button.” Amy Adams and Viola Davis both pick up nods for their roles in “Doubt.” The latter two could possibly cancel each other out allowing Henson seize the win. On the male side, we have Heath Ledger. And Heath Ledger will win.

With plenty of interesting nomination choices, the actual telecast promises plenty of surprises.

COMMUTER STUDENTS & FACULTY/STAFF - SAVE MONEY ON GAS AND PARKING - Join the Commuter Alternatives Program* (CAP). There are 2 different CAP permits to choose from: THE FREE BIKE, BUS & WALK (BB&W) PERMIT

CARPOOL PERMIT A Carpool Is:

BB&W is available to Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and commuter students who use alternative transportation methods as their primary means of commuting to campus (i.e. riding BT or the Smart Way bus, bicycling , and/or walking).

BB&W participants receive: • 15 Free daily permits/semester or 30 Free daily permits/year. Additional daily permits are available for $1/day.

• Access to Emergency Ride Home service. All CAP participants receive a ride to their vehicle, or local address, in case of an emergency.

* CAP Participants are not eligible to purchase any other permits, except for additional daily permits.

Two or more commuter students or Faculty/ Staff (with offices on main campus)who choose to ride together and share one permit.

Please note that each applicant must provide proof of separate vehicle ownership.

LEAVE YOUR CAR AT HOME

Carpool Participants receive: • A Carpool Permit - less expensive than a regular permit.

• Reserved carpool parking areas located in parking lots throughout campus.

• 5 free daily permits/participant/semester.

Additional permits are available for $1/day.

• Access to Emergency Ride Home service.

All CAP participants receive a ride to their vehicle, or local address, in case of an emergency.

Register for CAP at Parking Services - 455 Tech Center Dr. or at the Student Services Building.

For more information about alternative transportation at Virginia Tech, visit www.ot.vt.edu or call Debby Freed 1-1787

page

opinions 5

editor: laurel colella, david mcilroy email: opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

january 23, 2009

EDITORIAL

Police and university response to murder in GLC was effective When the police received a 911 emergency phone call Wednesday at 7:06 p.m. about an incident occurring in the Au Bon Pain in the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown, a police officer was on scene at 7:07 p.m.

Police pronounced Xin Yang, a 22-year-old graduate student from Beijing dead at the scene and arrested suspect Haiyang Zhu, also a Chinese international student.

University spokesman Larry Hincker found out about the murder at 7:30 p.m., and sent VT alert messages out to the university at 7:44 p.m.

“It takes a while for 44,000 messages to percolate through the system. We notified the campus community that there was a murder, and that a suspect was in custody,” Hincker said.

For many this tragedy hit way too close to home, bringing up feelings of sadness and anxiety once associated with the events of April 16. In the aftermath of Seung-Hui Cho’s killing spree which left 32 dead and many injured, the Tech administration revamped its notification system for communicating with students in the event of emergencies.

After a student reported hearing gunshots in Pritchard last November, the administration received backlash from students who claimed they did not receive the VT Alerts for which they had signed up, or did not receive them in a timely manner.

Ultimately it was discovered that the noise came from a cartridge containing gunpowder used to drive nails into

concrete, but students still felt discouraged that in the event of an actual emergency, the alert system would not work as intended and we would be left without notification.

Whenever a tragedy occurs on our campus it is devastating. However, police response time on Tuesday evening and the distribution of text message alerts and emails gives us all faith that we are becoming better prepared to handle the worst.

The fact that police officers arrived at the scene in under a minute after receiving the call is amazingly impressive.

Additionally, for all intents and purposes the alert notification system was effective.

Sure the system is imperfect, and probably always will be, but for sending out more than 40,000 messages in such a condensed period of time, the university did a fine job in alerting us all.

It’s unfortunate when tragic circumstances are what it takes for us to measure our improvements.

Ultimately, however, the best we can hope to do is learn from these devastating circumstances to continue to increase campus safety and prevent future tragedies.

We still feel safe here and have the utmost confidence in the administration, Virginia Tech and Blacksburg police to keep us out of harm’s way.

Make positive life changes at start of new semester MICHELLE SKEEN regular columnist Fresh starts. We all need them once in a while, to get our lives back on track, to refocus where we are headed.

What better opportunity than a shiny, brand new semester?

We’ve got a freshly sworn-in president trying to bring change to our country, so perhaps it’s time to look at some changes we could make in our own lives.

I don’t really want to use the phrase “New Year’s resolution” because nobody keeps those. Instead, insert the phrase “New Year’s transformation” and maybe a few changes will actually occur.

There are many traditional promises people make every year, and there are several postings on the Internet listing “top 10” suggestions. Here are a few to try and maybe a few that haven’t been thought of before.

1. Get fit. Losing weight is usually at the top of everyone’s list. If it hasn’t worked before, try sticking to a new kind of diet. Sign up for classes at the gym so there is more of an obligation to go. If nothing else, make a commitment to play racquetball with a friend for exercise a few times a week.

2. Learn something. Lots of adults make this resolution so they can continue to discover new things long after they have left school.

A challenge for college students is to do more than go through the motions and temporarily memorize facts for a test. Find a class you like and put in

some extra effort; it will help you in the long run.

3. Help somebody. There are so many different ways to volunteer.

Countless organizations on campus, fundraisers for a good cause such as Relay for Life, and mission opportunities are calling your name.

Or maybe it’s just that kid walking back to his apartment on a cold day — I bet he could really use a ride in your car.

4. Manage money better. Again, a lot of adults promise this one, but it could be really helpful to college students, too. Ever wake up on a Monday and wonder where all the cash went last weekend?

The real world is coming fast — it would be a good idea to keep a closer watch on that checkbook. Or even (gasp!) get a job.

5. Take a trip. Go somewhere you have always wanted to go. Spring break is a great opportunity to head somewhere warm with your friends.

But this idea could also be filled by a simple weekend excursion to another college. Maybe even take a day outing to the Cascades just to get off campus.

6. Become cultured. There are numerous shows and exhibits in the Blacksburg area to take advantage of. Virginia Tech has theater productions, singing groups, the XYZ gallery and more.

If Blacksburg does not provide enough options, head into Roanoke and check out the brand new Taubman Museum of Art. 7. Go Green. Take the time to

recycle all the soda cans or beer bottles in the apartment. If you go to the grocery store, pick up a cloth bag instead of plastic. When you leave a room, turn off the light. It’s amazing how much energy we can save if we all pitch in a little.

8. Spend more time with family and friends. If your mom calls to check on you, take five minutes out of your day to chat about this semester’s new classes.

Don’t let your relationships weaken just because everyone is busy. In the end, you will remember the ice cream dates at Deet’s with people on your hall, not the extra half hour you spent studying.

9. Stay informed. There are a lot of changes going on in this country, and the world for that matter. It really pays to keep up with what’s going on, and maybe you can even have intelligent conversations about something besides American Idol and Tech sports.

10. Get off of Facebook and YouTube. For many of us, this may be the hardest one. We have become so addicted to all the distractions on the Internet that it’s easy for us to forget what face-to-face conversations with people are like. Try not to become so overly technology-savvy that you become a slave to your laptop.

So that’s a list to start from. There are many more ideas floating around the heads of Tech’s student body of how to create a fresh start this semester.

This year, don’t quit your promises to the year 2009. Think of Barack Obama’s catchphrase: “Yes We Can!”

The editorial board is composed of David Grant, David Harries, and Laurel Colella .

Misconceptions about working at the CT You know that commercial on VTTV with the guy with the shaggy hair standing there talking about how he walked in, got an application CATE and had his first assignment the SUMMERS next day? That’s regular Trees. He works columnist here. And he’s not exaggerating.

His name isn’t actually Trees. It’s Taylor Rees Shapiro; his byline is T. Rees Shapiro. Hence: Trees. You can have a cool nickname like that, too, if you walk into the Collegiate Times office and fill out an application.

There are a few misconceptions when it comes to working for the CT or college media in general. The first and most commonly asserted one is that you need to have experience writing stories. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

The CT is currently hiring reporters, and I’m going to make the assertion that if you are interested in writing but think you don’t have enough experience, you can still become a news reporter.

The features section is always looking for people who want to write human interest pieces and community awareness stories. So if you want to write for Vanity Fair one day, hit up the features editor.

There are plenty of people to guide you on your first assignment. Not only that, but there are five training sessions scheduled throughout this semester tailored to improving reporting skills.

These sessions are led by our editorial adviser, who has taught the editorial staff everything they know. (Except for the times they screw up; he didn’t teach them to do that.) So if you like to read the newspaper and find yourself thinking, “This story was stupid. I can do so much better,” come on in and try it out.

If you think you have much better ideas for stories than what we have been covering so far, climb on board.

Or even if you’re intrigued by how the newsroom works and the hierarchy flows, start as a news reporter and work your way up. Who knows, you could be editor-in-chief one day.

Another misconception about working for the CT is that you have to be a communication major. False — we take anyone who has a genuine interest in perfecting his or her chosen craft. If you’re an engineer who likes to write columns on student research at Virginia Tech, e-mail the opinions editor. Any biology majors who want to write about sports are encouraged to apply. We couldn’t care less what your major is. As

long as you are determined to produce the best work possible, we want you.

People also think that the students who work at the CT just write articles and columns, and the rest of the paper is done by professionals somewhere else. Au contraire.

Every aspect of media production is represented at the Collegiate Times and the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech.

If you’re interested in layout design, we are hiring a new layout designer this semester. So if you know what Adobe InDesign is, fill out an application. We’re also looking for multimedia reporters and web developers.

Those of you who love iMovie or Final Cut Pro can get paid to make incredible videos for the CT. The Collegiate Times wins numerous awards every semester for feature writing, layout design, multimedia, editorial writing — you name it.

Get on staff and you could win awards for your work. How’s that for a resume booster?

College Media Solutions, the division of EMCVT that develops and controls the advertisements that appear in the CT, is hiring account executives and advertisement designers. Anyone interested in graphic design shouldn’t hesitate to seek employment with CMS; your ads could be printed daily. If you’re a business major or interested in a career in sales, selling ad space for the Collegiate Times could be a great stepping-stone toward that career.

Our trusty adviser also offers training sessions on multimedia and layout design throughout the semester. The last thing we want of our staff is to become mundane and outdated in terms of skills and coverage. These training sessions help all of us develop our personal skills and improve the content and visual design of our paper.

We are competitive with other collegiate newspapers and are intent upon challenging ourselves every day. Challenge yourself by taking on an experience that may be new to you.

I started working my freshman year for the Student Publication Photography Staff taking pictures for the CT and yearbook after a year of photography class in high school. I became a photo editor at the end of my freshman year with very little experience.

I was trained by my predecessor and learned from my fellow photographers all year. I moved on to a copy editing position because I’m a nerd and think grammar is cool. Now I’m an editor. I don’t have a cool nickname like Trees; unfortunately that’s not guaranteed with the job. But I am published every other week, and my mom and dad are proud of me. So try something new, because you don’t know what you’re missing.

The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor in Chief David Grant Managing Editors David Harries, Sara Spangler Public Editor Cate Summers Special Sections Editor Meg Miller News Editors Caleb Fleming, Sara Mitchell News Reporters Gordon Block, Zach Crizer, Gabe McVey, Riley Prendergast, T. Rees Shapiro, Rebecca Thomas News Staff Writers Shannon Aud, Justin Graves, Michelle Rivera, Ryan Trapp Features Editor Bethany Buchanan Features Reporters Topher Forhecz, Teresa Tobat, Jonathan Yi Opinions Editors Laurel Colella, David McIlroy Opinions Staff Sally Bull, Jackie Peters Sports Editors Thomas Emerick, Brian Wright Sports Reporters Joe Crandley, Justin Long, Ed Lupien, Melanie Wadden Sports Staff Writers Garrett Busic, Matt Collette, Lindsay Faulkner, Hattie Francis, Alex Jackson, Mike Littier Copy Editors Erin Corbey, Thandiwe Ogbonna, Kristen Walker Layout Designers Go-Eun Choi, Leila Green, Kelly Harrigan, Christine Fay, Josh Son Illustrator Mina Noorbakhsh Multimedia Editor Phillip Murillas Multimedia Producer Matthew Langan, Becky Wilson Multimedia Reporters Candice Chu, Bryce Stucki, Peter Velz Online Director Christopher Ritter Web Developer Jeff Klassen Collegiate Times Business Staff Business Manager Ryan McConnell College Media Solutions Staff Advertising Director Patrick Fitzgerald Asst Advertising Directors Sarah Ford Jenna Given, Katelynn Reilly Ads Production Manager Anika Stickles Asst Production Manager Alyssa Peltier Ads Production/Creation Breanna Benz, Alllison Bhatta, Lisa Hoang, Kaiesha Morgan, Mike Payne, Lindsay Smith, Lara Treadwell National Account Executive Joey Mazzei Account Executives Libbey Arner, Oran Duncan, Tyler Ervin, Jennifer Heimlich, Kavish Hemrajani, Jimmy Henderson, Dustin Hurst, Alex Iskounen, Kelli Lyman, Marcello Sandoval, Amanda Sparks, Jennifer Vaughn, Amanda Whitt Assistant Account Executives Alexandra Boddie, Lauren Klooster, Kaelynn Kurtz, Carissa Nichols, Molly Vaira Marketing Manager Robert Zayaz III Office Manager Joey Mazzei Student Publication Photo Staff Director of Photography Sally Bull Business Manager Paul Platz

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page

6 sports

editor: thomas emerick, brian wright email: sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; t 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

january 23, 2009

Great a-Wake-ning: Hokies close the deal with upset WINSTONSALEM, N.C. — Hank Thorns stretched his uniform tautly across the second page of the Collegiate Times, expressing THOMAS the euphoria of EMERICK Hokie nation to the world. sports Yet it still recalled editor the countless times it seemed Tech’s same old demons – in the form of the Demon Deacons – would down them earlier Wednesday night.

Holding a tenuous lead in a sea of yellow and black, last-minute fortunes for the gang in orange were almost too good to be true. Tech had squandered late leads of winter in the most dramatic of fashion against the nation’s elite. It was only a question of how the next tough loss would occur.

As Jeff Teague drained a trey to drop Tech’s 16-point lead down to 71-69, it surely triggered memories that gave reason for Hokie pessimism, justifying thoughts along the lines of, “Oh no.

Please, please don’t go Hansbrough on us.”

This big-game stretch of unfulfilling, narrow finishes dated back to the end of last season. Just in case you’re a Hokie who succeeded in blanking

this period from your memory, that was when North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough kicked Tech out of March Madness with a last-second jumper in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament. Two games prior, Clemson had permanently edged Tech in the tourney race with a one-point win.

In the early goings of the 2008-2009 chapter, Tech stuck with the near-miss theme, losing by way of: a half-courtshot-induced overtime period against ’08 Elite Eight participant Xavier, a coast-to-coast dagger in the final seconds versus Big Ten behemoth Wisconsin, and a one-point loss at SEC foe Georgia.

Couple that with the fact that Tech hadn’t defeated a team ranked in the final RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) top-25 in two seasons– a factor many said was the major contributor to their 2008 NCAAs neglect – and it became hard not to imagine where it would all go horribly awry for the Hokies that night.

However, like every time Seth Greenberg’s Tech squads face off against a No. 1 ranked team – now 2-2 in such situations – they gave reasons to believe in an upset from the start.

As Tech went toe-to-toe with Wake Forest’s gargantuan frontcourt in the opening moments, Tech looked nothing like the squad that was dominated

in the post at Duke less than three weeks ago.

When the Hokies continued to double the Deacons score late in the first half, at one point to the tune of 32-16, it continued to leave wonder as to whether the much smaller Tech squad could keep the potent Wake offense in check.

Senior A.D. Vassallo’s net-searing throw to start the second half showed the stage’s size hadn’t hit his team.

Though, it wasn’t long before the sleeping giant awoke.

The Deacons eclipsed their first half total within the first 9:30 of the second session.

Then when Teague’s three-pointer cut the Tech lead to 71-69 as the clock fell under two minutes, it called to mind familiar scenes from this winter.

A turnover on the following possession compounded matters, magnifying facts such as the one saying Tech had not beaten a final RPI top-25 team since Jamon Gordon and Xavier Dowdell were in Blacksburg.

As aforementioned, they had found themselves in this exact situation an impressive number of times, but continued to find knew ways not to pull it off.

And in the waning moments this one looked no different, as the Hokies missed five of their 10 free throws over the final 1:17.

However, the difference this time would be a string of defensive stands to

MICHAEL SHROYER/SPPS

The Tech’s bench cheers as the Hokies close in on their win over No. 1 Wake Forest, 78-71, on Wednesday night. cap off an extraordinarily stingy performance and protect the fragile lead.

With each clamp down and then foul, the four other Hokies spread over the court preparing to hold their tenuous lead as more free throws clanged from the rim.

The set paid off, as the visiting Hokies warded off the last three Deacon shot attempts as the clock crept to zero, and the 13-5 Hokies slew Goliath.

Following the 78-71 triumph, it’s important to note that, under Greenberg, the Hokies are only two buzzer-beaters away from posting a 4-0 mark against the nation’s No.1 teams.

A Hansbrough elbow-jumper downed them last March, while Sean Dockery’s half court shot sniped Tech in Durham in 2005.

While massively undersized against a Wake club that ranked second in and eighth in the nation offensive and defensive rebounding, respectively, Tech won the duel on the defensive boards by a 23-20 margin.

Another key for Tech was its frontcourt largely staying out of foul trouble in the first half, while Wake Forest had attempted zero free throws by intermission.

Deacon big men Chas McFarland (7’)

and James Johnson (6’9”) each drew two fouls within the first five minutes.

They would eventually foul out along with fellow starter L.D. Williams.

Following his team’s exaltation on the floor, Greenberg was extremely subdued in the press room. He emphasized that, in the powerful ACC, teams could go from on top of the world to falling hard at any moment during conference play.

Though, after knocking Wake Forest down to 16-1 on Demon Deacon turf, the Hokies dispelled doubts of their size, poise and potential to do damage in the mighty ACC.

ACC weekend preview: Clemson tries to avoid downfall RAY NIMMO

ct sports staff writer MARYLAND 13-5 (2-2) AT NO. 2 DUKE 17-1 (4-0) SATURDAY AT NOON, ESPN With Duke facing off against formerly unbeaten Wake Forest next, the Blue Devils cannot overlook the Terrapins. That’s because Maryland continuously puts up a good fight — or sometimes upsets — a heavily favored Duke team. Terps guard Greivis Vasquez is the unquestioned leader of the team, posting an average of 17 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Fouling him would not be a good idea either, as he boasts a 91 percent free throw rate. Gerald Henderson

and Kyle Singler lead Duke with 14.4 and16.8 points per game, respectfully.

The biggest problem for Maryland could be the boisterous fans, better known as the Cameron Crazies. If they can show the maturity to disregard the crowd, they have a chance to get another big win.

NC STATE 10-6 (1-3) AT BOSTON COLLEGE 14-6 (2-3) Saturday at 2 p.m.

This match-up is a crucial one for both teams jockeying for position in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. For the Eagles, this is a chance to even-up their conference record before facing Maryland.

It appeared that BC was in great

shape after the shocking upset in Chapel Hill, N.C., but they were brought back down to earth with a humbling loss against Harvard in the Conte Forum. Guard Tyrese Rice, as usual, will be a factor in this one.

He’ll be asked not only to score, but to also utilize his 5.9 assists average by dishing the ball to a balanced-scoring starting five. On the other side, the Wolfpack must win this game if they want to finish with a decent record and even dream about going to the Big Dance come March.

Going 1-4 in the brutal ACC is not an option. Team statistics for both clubs are virtually even, so on paper, it’s shaping up to be a tight, hardfought game.

FLORIDA STATE 15-4 (2-2) AT VIRGINIA 7-8 (1-3) SATURDAY AT 4 P.M. The Cavaliers have outscored their opponents this year. So, why are they sitting at 7-8? The answer is close losses. The law of averages says they should win one of them soon, and this could very well be the match-up in which they prevail. Playing at home, with their backs against the wall and National Invitational Tournament dreams disappearing by the game, look for an inspired performance from the team in Charlottesville.

Toney Douglas and Florida State won 11 of their first 12 ball games before a loss to Pittsburgh. They recently evened their record in league play

after falling at Miami on Wednesday by six. Douglas has more than 100 three-point attempts already for the season and is averaging 19.5 points per game, by far the best average on the Seminoles. If he can get going and the team can avoid looking ahead to a meeting with North Carolina, the upset alert could vanish.

GEORGIA TECH 9-9 (0-5) AT NO. 10 CLEMSON 16-2 (2-2) SUNDAY AT 7:45 P.M. How many times over the last few years have we seen Clemson get off to an amazing start only to completely implode and miss the tournament?

Two years ago, the Tigers started

out 17-0 — a record-tying beginning for the program. But the nation’s last undefeated team that season lost 10 of its final 14 contests. They ultimately lost in the championship game of the NIT. This year, they started out 16-0 before a loss to Wake Forest on Saturday and a blowout defeat at the hands of North Carolina on Wednesday. Déjà vu, anyone? The Tigers certainly will enjoy facing a Georgia Tech club that is currently winless in conference play, after having to deal with Wake and UNC back-to-back. Anything less than a blowout would be a disappointment. It will be interesting to see the Tigers’ psyche in the first half. Will they rebound nicely or continue their annual freefall?

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january 23, 2009

Former coach Dungy left speechless by Obama’s inauguration DAVID HAUGH

chicago tribune Words usually come easily to the eloquent Tony Dungy.

But the recently retired Indianapolis Colts coach who has written three books and changed lives with a career’s worth of locker-room speeches struggled to articulate his experience Tuesday in Washington.

After taking the train in from a friend’s home in Maryland, Dungy sat 40 rows from the spot at the U.S. Capitol where President Barack Obama was inaugurated. The man

who made NFL history in 2007 when he became the only AfricanAmerican coach to win a Super Bowl watched in awe as the country marked a victory he believes no scoreboard could measure.

“Seeing how our country was moved . . . I . . . just don’t know how to describe it,” Dungy said Wednesday on the phone.

What Dungy saw as he peered over the estimated crowd of 2 million on the National Mall took his mind back to a day in 1963. On a similar stage, another African-American agent of change, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech

that echoed inside Dungy’s head as he waited for Obama to speak.

Dungy, ever humble, couldn’t think of anything he accomplished as a player or coach that stirred the depth of his emotions.

“I can say from experience that winning the Super Bowl was great and I know how it impacted so many people, but there’s not even a comparison with the inauguration and that feeling I had,” Dungy said. “What President Obama is doing is on such a different level than what I did.”

That doesn’t mean Dungy didn’t see social symmetry between Obama taking the presidential oath in the

same week Steelers coach Mike Tomlin became the third AfricanAmerican to lead a team to the Super Bowl. In fact, Dungy drew parallels that represent the overall theme of his third book, “Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance,” which Tyndale House Publishers will release Tuesday.

“I look at Barack Obama saying I can be president or Mike Tomlin saying I can be an NFL head coach and those guys both said, ‘I’m not going to follow the crowd,’ “ Dungy said.

“That’s the message of the book. It’s really directed at young men, telling them too many people are channeled

by the conformity of society.”

Tomlin’s individuality always appealed to Dungy, who gave him his first NFL job on his Tampa Bay staff in 2001. When the Steelers took a risk in hiring Tomlin as their head coach two years ago when he was just 34, they used Dungy’s recommendation to help justify their decision.

That makes it easy to guess whom the former Steeler (1977-78) will be pulling for in Super Bowl XLIII. “I’m so close with Mike, and my Steeler background makes it a nobrainer,” Dungy said.

The reality of retirement hit Dungy last week when he pulled into the

Red-hot Hokies to face ’Canes MELANIE WADDEN

ct sports reporter With the ACC season in full swing and the NCAA Tournament selection committee looking for teams to compete in the Big Dance, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team (13-5, 3-1 ACC) will take a trip down to Coral Gables, Fla., to hit the Miami Hurricanes (14-4, 3-2) Sunday evening on the wave of one

its program’s best wins.

Tech greatly improved its resume with a seven-point victory over the topranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Wednesday.

And while the Hokies are coming off of a four-game winning streak, the ’Canes have won seven of their last eight games — not to mention the fact that they will have home court advantage at the BankUnited Center.

Though, the Hokies haven’t always

fared spectacularly on the road against tough opponents this season. Example: the 25-point blowout at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils on Jan. 4.

However, after beating the No.1 team in the country just days ago, people around the ACC are starting to realize that Tech is one of the league’s hottest teams.

Last season the Hokies first faced Miami in the midst of a three-game losing streak, falling to the ’Canes by a 74-71 count at Cassell Coliseum on Feb. 9. Tech would find vengeance in the ACC tournament later on, however, pummeling Miami 63-49.

Key players to look for on the Miami side this weekend include senior guards Jack McClinton and Lance Hurdle as well as junior forward Dwayne Collins.

McClinton, who was selected as a preseason First Team All-ACC Selection, scored a season-high 28 points in the ’Canes most recent victory, a 75-69 decision over the in-state rival Florida State Seminoles.

In that same matchup, Hurdle contributed 16 points and Collins produced 10 points to go along with 11 boards, marking his third double-double of the season.

As witnessed against FSU, Miami’s guards have great ability to score.

Luckily, one key advantage the Hokies possess over Miami is size. Tech has four players seeing regular minutes who measure 6’8” or taller, while the Hurricanes’ tallest player in the starting lineup is Dwayne Collins — the only one on their roster who’s listed at 6’8”.

Tech needs to take advantage down

low with post play from forward Cheik Diakite and Jeff Allen, among others, in order to stop the ’Canes on Sunday night.

One thing to worry Tech head coach Seth Greenberg, however, is how the Seminoles handled their size advantage this past Wednesday.

Florida State’s brawn and brute size down low could not make up for their lack of defensive pressure on the perimeter, leaving McClinton and Hurdle open for outside shots at will.

While the Hokies are poised to have big men to play down low and frustrate Miami’s forwards, the orange and maroon also have a large selection of quality guards. From senior A.D. Vassallo to sophomores Malcolm Delaney and Hank Thorns, Greenberg has plenty of ball handlers and outside shooters to compete with the ’Canes.

Miami head coach Frank Haith likes where his group is sitting at this point in the season considering the competition.

“I think we’re in good shape,” he said. “We lost to an outstanding North Carolina team and a Clemson team that was ranked in the top 10 going into last week.”

Greenberg gave similar thoughts on competition in the Atlantic Coast Conference following Tech’s Wake Forest triumph.

“Every single team in this league is a team that can play at the very highest level,” Greenberg said. “It’s brutal each and every night.”

Tech will take on the Hurricanes at 5:30 p.m. The game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Net.

Colts’ complex in Indianapolis to pick up some things and “somebody else’s name was on my parking spot,” he said. He will take another six weeks to decide what’s next for him, and looks forward to visiting coaching proteges around the league such as Bears coach Lovie Smith and new hire Rod Marinelli.

“Rod went through a lot (going 0-16) in Detroit and taught us what being a man was all about and what being a coach was all about,” Dungy said.

Dungy always will remember Tuesday for reminding him what he believes being an American is about.

Virgina Tech at Miami Sunday, 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net, Bank United Center

Projected starting lineups:

VT

Miami

#23 G Malcom Delaney

#1 G Lance Hurdle

6-6, 170, So.

6-2, 183, Sr.

#40 G/F A.D. Vassallo

#33 G Jack McClinton

6-6, 216, Sr.

6-1, 185, Sr.

#33 F J.T. Thompson

#32 G/F Brian Asbury

6-6, 210, So.

6-7, 221, Sr.

#0 F Jeff Allen

#20 F Cyrus McGowan

6-7, 240, So.

6-9, 236, Jr.

#14 F Victor Davila

#21 F Dwayne Collins

6-8, 245, Fr.

6-8, 238, Jr. CHRISTINE FAY/COLLEGIATE TIMES

JIM DICKHANS/SPPS

Tech’s Malcolm Delaney is guarded by Miami’s Jack McClinton. At Cassell Coliseum on Feb. 9, 2008, the Hokies fell to the Hurricanes, 74-71.