COLLEGIATETIMES
wednesday april 8, 2009 blacksburg, va.
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news SQUIRES CLOTHING DRIVE TODAY Phi Kappa Tau will hold a Clothing Drive for Flint, Mich., today from 2p.m. to 7p.m. at the Squires Information Desk. Several other chapters around the country will join the Virginia Tech chapter of Phi Kappa Tau in the project. Three brothers of the fraternity will deliver clothing, books, and monetary donations to the Flint residents on April 17, 2009.
MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BEAR BAITING CHARGES Merrill Conley, 54, of Pembroke, Virginia, pleaded guilty last Thursday to six charges stemming from an incident last October in which he was caught baiting and hunting bear at the Cascades Recreation Area in Giles County. Among the charges were illegally baiting bear, maintaining an illegal trail on national forest, and knowingly hunting in a baited place. Conley will face more than $2,700 in fines, but will avoid jail time in his plea agreement.
Pioneering statistician and professor passes away GORDON BLOCK
ct news reporter Virginia Tech professor and statistics pioneer Irving John “Jack” Good died Sunday evening at the age of 92. Good died of natural causes. Starting as a professor of statistics in 1967, Good was paid more than the university president at the time, Thomas Marshall Hahn Jr. Good was appointed university distinguished professor in 1969 and attained emeritus status in 1994. Good was an inspiring figure for many at Tech. “One of the reasons I came here
to Virginia Tech was to work with him,” said Eric Smith, department head for the department of statistics. Born Isidore Jacob on Dec. 9, 1916, in London, Good was a child prodigy, tackling difficult mathematical principles by the age of nine. went on to GOOD Good earn multiple degrees at Cambridge and Oxford. Good also was critical to Britain’s war efforts during World War II, developing computing systems in order to break German codes.
Good was critical in increasing the popularity of Bayesian statistics along with the theory of the weight of evidence. “Jack was one of the pioneers of Bayesian statistics,” Smith said. Good published numerous books, including “Probability and the Weighing of Evidence,” “The Estimation of Probabilities: an Essay on Modern Bayesian Method,” and “Good Thinking: the Foundations of Probability and its Applications,” and contributed to countless publications. Good’s work inspired many future works, especially his methods for the fast calculation of discrete Fourier
transforms. Good also advised Stanley Kubrick during the filming of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Smith, who worked with Good on certain projects, said Good was a good collaborator. “I found him to be a very easy person to work with him. His door was always open,” Smith said. “Often times he had some really good advice.” Smith added that Good was knowledgeable in a wide variety of subjects. “We in statistics tend to have a narrow focus, but Jack had a broad base of knowledge,” Smith said. “His ability to publish leading author papers was a lot more diverse than most
UVa to ax computer labs by 2011
sports VASSALLO TO PLAY IN PORTSMOUTH INVITATIONAL Shortly after his final game in a Tech uniform, A.D. Vassallo is taking part in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this week. Held in Portsmouth, Va., the annual event showcases some of the top seniors in college basketball. Players scheduled to participate in this year’s tournament include Goran Suton of Michigan State, Levance Fields of Pittsburgh and seven ACC players. Games will begin Wednesday night and run through Saturday.
FINAL NONCONFERENCE MATCH FOR WOMEN’S TENNIS The Tech women’s tennis team, ranked No. 62 in national polls, looks to end a six-match losing streak when they host Marshall on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Marshall, a club that’s won four in a row, will be the final out-of-conference opponent for the Hokies this season. All six of Tech’s consecutive defeats came against top 25 teams.
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index News.....................2 Features................4 0pinions................3
Classifieds..............5 Sports....................6 Sudoku..................5
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 106th year • issue 42
faculty.” Smith added Good kept a widespread circle of colleagues and was also an active member of Mensa, a prestigious intellectual group. “He worked with a whole variety of people,” Smith said. He is survived by a half-sister Yemaiel Aris, nephews Raymond and Desmond Good and their families in England, cousin James Randall of New York City, other relatives, and close friend Leslie Pendleton. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center.
DANIEL LIN/SPPS
Jin Xie, a first-year master’s degree student in Industrial Systems Engineering, prepares a formula sheet in Torgersen Bridge.
IN THE WAKE OF A DEEPENING FINANCIAL CRISIS, UVA LOOKS TO SAVE NEARLY $200,000 A YEAR BY EXCISING LABS VANESSA WILLIAMS
ct news staff writer The University of Virginia recently decided to get rid of computer labs by the year 2011. UVa believes that closing the computer labs will ultimately save money, especially with the changing economy. “Currently we spend about $300,000 a year on upkeep and purchasing new software. We believe we can save at least $200,000,” said Michael
McPherson, associate vice president and CIO. UVa discovered that 95 percent of the time students who use the general-purpose labs use applications such as Microsoft Office and the Internet, which are programs that students already have on their personal computers. “Taking a look at the usage in the computer labs and according to statistics, there is an overwhelming use of commodity computing; 95 percent of the time students are Web surfing, using Microsoft
Word and Microsoft Excel,” McPherson said. UVa does not require its students to own a computer; however, according to the university, 99 percent of its current freshmen class owns a computer. Just four freshmen arrived to UVa last fall without a computer. “Effectively we have universal computer ownership. We are looking for ways to economize. We don’t believe that we are undermining the needs of our students,” McPherson said. The university plans on creating a network where students can access expensive software that the average computer does not have. “We’re looking for alternatives for delivering soft-
Tech to award returning students financial aid packages in April PHILIPP KOTLABA
ct news staff writer University financial aid offices everywhere are feeling the pressure as they confront a deluge of scholarship applications left and right. Virginia Tech’s financial aid office coordinated delivery of $302 million in university, state and federal aid to its students last year. That number includes undergraduate, graduate, and professional loans, grants, scholarships and work programs. Back then, such an undertaking was hard enough. Tech received more than 20,000 applications in 2008. Barry Simmons, financial aid director, expects a 9 percent hike in scholarship applications that will intensify the already fierce competition for aid. “It’s critical for students to apply early for financial aid. It truly is a business when there’s not enough money for all needy students that the early bird gets the worm,” said Marilynn King, senior associate director of financial aid. New and transfer students can generally expect their award package notification to occur in April, shortly after notification of acceptance and certainly before the May 1 deposit deadline. Given the current economic situation, one would expect offered financial aid to play a major role in the enrollment decisions of many incoming students. That’s why many public universities in the state try to offer financial award packages for accepted students only a few business days after acceptance notifications. “We can’t go out before people have been admitted by the university,” said Brad Benett, senior associate director of financial aid and scholarships at James Madison University. “We have to make sure the student knows that they’ve been admitted to the university before they receive their financial aid package.” “It’s usually about three or four days behind the
admit notices,” Benett said. “We’ve actually had the same timeline for years, and it’s worked out very well.” Current students applying for financial aid do not receive notification of their award packages until much later, usually in June at Tech, Simmons said. This is so staff can verify the student’s “reasonable academic progress.” For example, students must earn 75 percent of credits attempted — withdrawing courses midsemester counts against this requirement. If an application is rejected because they fail such a requirement, the student has 30 days to appeal. Next year, Tech will try something different: currently enrolled students will start to receive their preliminary award packages around the same time as incoming students, in April. The trade-off is that packages are conditional on a number of factors. Awards are based on estimations of tuition and fees. If the estimate is off, the award must be revised. If the student does not show “reasonable academic progress” when grades become available, their offer may be rescinded. For both incoming and currently enrolled students, Simmons advised they apply as early as possible. One myth, he said, was “that they don’t have to apply for financial aid until after they receive the admissions decision. That’s not just a problem at Virginia Tech.” Simmons encourages all students, regardless of individual circumstance, to apply for aid. “Donald Trump, if he had students going to college, they could at least get a student loan through the feds by filling out a FAFSA,” he said. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a required document for any general scholarship application, becomes available every New Year’s Day. Students must submit their General Scholarship Application — FAFSA included — by March 11. Next year, that date will be moved up to March 1 to help deliver award packages to students earlier.
ware packages over the network. Until we come up with alternatives we have to keep some computer labs open,” McPherson said. At Tech, even though students own computers provide them with a great deal of software, it is evident that students still need access to certain computer labs for courses that require specialized and expensive software. “When I was in college, there were a lot of labs that students could go to, to pound out papers and the like, because laptops weren’t around yet. Today, we live in a different world,” Mark Owczarski, university relations, said. “So the computer lab isn’t going away, per se, it’s simply changing,” Owczarski said. For the past 11 years, it has been a requirement for each Virginia Tech student to own a personal computer. However, this requirement raises the issue of whether Tech should continue to provide general-purpose computer labs to students. Although there seems to be a diminished need for computer labs, some argue they still serve a significant purpose. “There are some computer labs that remain extremely beneficial to students. Those labs are those that combine hardware with unique or highly specialized software and instructors, teachers, professors or GTAs/TAs who can help students apply the software to their discipline,” Owczarski said. One of the biggest examples of the benefits of specialized computer labs is the Math Emporium in University Mall. The Math Emporium is, in the purest sense, an enormous computer lab. “I think students like to go to areas where they are more apt to work. The atmosphere allows them to have a schedule,” said Brenda Hendricks, librarytraining coordinator. There are various majors including engineering and architecture that use smaller computer labs, which are useful to students because of an effective combination of software, hardware and professors. “Reducing the number of general purpose labs should be OK, but there will be a need for special purpose labs for programs that the average student isn’t going to have,” said Tech webmaster Robert Sevek.
Virginia Tech Timeline January 1: FAFSA for next school year becomes available
JMU Timeline January 1: FAFSA for next school year becomes available
March 1: Priority FAFSA filing date
March 11 (moved to March 1 next year): General Scholarship Application due, priority FAFSA filing date
March: review of FAFSA
After FAFSA is submitted: Student Aid Report (SAR) receieved, any needed corrections made
April 1: regular decision acceptance/rejection notification April (before May 1): financial aid preliminary award packages (may change based on third-party scholarships and tuition changes) May 1: deposit deadline
April: preliminary award package notification (sometimes late March, but always after acceptance notification)
May 1: deposit deadline (this is uniformly federally enforced across public institution in Virginia)
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april 8, 2009
Land swap and planned vision moves Dairy Science Complex The Board of Visitors voted to relocate the current Dairy Science Complex on Virginia Tech’s campus to Kentland Farm. This plan is in line with the university’s long-range master plan, which is created every 10 years concerning the core of the Blacksburg campus. This is part of a long-range land use plan to relocate several of the university’s agricultural activities. The multi-phase project will see several areas of agriculture research and teaching facilities moved. More up-to-date financial estimates should come following comprehensive planning efforts, but the board now sees the cost of this project at $500,000. The current Dairy Science Complex is visible along South Gate Drive
via one of the primary entrances to campus. Currently, only non-lactating herds will be moved from the Dairy Science Complex east of the Route 460 Bypass to Kentland Farm in Northeast Montgomery County. Eventually, both non-lactating and lactating herds will be relocated in favor of the increased space and operations. “The campus takes part in long range master planning every 10 years for the core of the campus. One of the things that came up was that we need to do a master plan solely for agricultural land,” said Larry Hincker, university spokesman. “There are several things coming into play.” Some of the land where the cattle are now will be used for Corporate Research Center phase two expansions as well as a runway extension to the Montgomery County Executive Airport, which ties into the runway
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protection zone effort. Martin Daniel is the director of operations in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “There are several immediate impacts in the next couple years for all parties involved, such as the expansion of the CRC, the airport, and areas over near Southgate and 460. Those
changes will impact our dairy operation,” Daniel said. “Original plans saw these projects being completed by the end of the decade, but now we’re looking at a date closer to 2013,” Hincker said. “There are a number of cattle that will be relocated within the next year or so. The airport will impact the
Drug-resistant tuberculosis may ‘spiral out of control,’ WHO reports TIM JOHNSON
mclatchy newspapers BEIJING — The world is on the cusp of an explosion of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases that could deluge hospitals and leave physicians fighting a nearly untreatable malady with little help from modern drugs, global experts said Wednesday. “The situation is already alarming, and poised to grow much worse very quickly,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization. With Bill Gates at her side, Chan urged health officials from 27 countries at a three-day forum in Beijing on drug-resistant TB to recognize the warning signs of what looms ahead, saying that traditional drugs are useless against some strains of tuberculosis and health-care costs for treating those strains can be 100 to 200 times more than for regular tuberculosis. “This is a situation set to spiral out of control. Call it what you may: a time bomb or a powder keg. Any way you
look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation,” Chan warned. Gates, the software magnate turned philanthropist, said scientific overconfidence had led to a lack of innovation and urgency in fighting tuberculosis, which affects 9 million people each year, killing nearly 2 million of them. “The most commonly used diagnostic test is today more than 125 years old,” Gates said. “The vaccine was developed more than 80 years ago, and drugs have not changed in 50 years.” Tuberculosis is a highly contagious bacterial infection that attacks the lungs and can affect other organs as well. Coughing, sneezing and even talking can spread the bacteria. If untreated, a person with TB can infect 10 to 15 other people in a year. Once thought conquered in developed countries, virulent forms of tuberculosis are again on the march, caused often by improper use of drugs and poorly managed treatment
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regimes. It remains largely a disease of poverty. Chan said that traditional treatment often left the patient wishing to end the medicine. “Instead of taking two to four pills, one has to take 13 pills. Put yourself in the position of the patient. Thirteen pills are not 13 candies,” Chan said, noting that courses of treatment can last four to six months and patients don’t like the hassle of taking the pills for so long. Outbreaks of multi-drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are highest in India, China, Russia, South Africa and Bangladesh. Scientists now see even worse strains, which they label extensively drug-resistant TB, that can be treated neither with the two principal anti-TB drugs nor with more expensive second-line drugs. In early 2007, 20 countries reported cases of the more fatal TB. By the end of last year, 54 countries reported the malady. Jorge Sampaio, the U.N. secretary
general’s special envoy to halt TB, called the extensively drug-resistant strain “a very deadly and devastating epidemic.” Later in the day, Gates offered a grant of $33 million to China’s Ministry of Health to finance what he called an innovative pilot program for TB prevention that other nations could use. The program uses new systems to reduce pill intake, offers incentives for doctors to monitor TB and pays for the development of new diagnostic tests. China has about 1.5 million cases of TB each year. Under the pilot program, TB patients will get medicine kits with built-in reminder alarms as well as receive cell-phone text messages reminding them to take their medicines. Gates said that his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was financing research on a new TB vaccine and that “it’ll be about five to six years from now before we could have a completely new vaccine.”
dairy itself, and we will have to move the dairy operations to another place,” Daniel said. In the late 1980s, 1,700 acres were acquired by the university on the other side of the McCoy community relative to campus. Lately, Kentland Farms had been considered underused, and development will soon come to the area,
including barns and research plots. “The exchange with Montgomery County is simply a small part of a bigger program that’s going on with Tech’s land. The university facilitated a study of land use around the university that is consistent with the university’s master planning process,” Daniel said. “This money is to continue the planning process for how land must be managed to facilitate campus building.” Kerstin Roan is the director of communications for CALS and reflects the same sentiment. She says that the process is very collaborative and looks out for the mutual goals of both the college and the university. “We want to make sure that the folks who are going to be impacted are part of the project,” Roan said. “We want to make sure that the different groups can have a voice in the whole process.”
Women’s lacrosse
SALLY BULL/SPPS
Junior Jacquelyn Duggins defends a Longwood Lancer as she attempts to cut into goal-scoring position.
VOTER Act aims to increase student turnout in elections RYAN PETCHENICK
ct news staff writer State-funded universities such as Virginia Tech could soon become designated as “voter registration agencies” through the Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration Act. Introduced to the House on March 26, the VOTER Act would thereafter require universities to give all students the opportunity to register to vote at the same time they register for classes. The Student Association for Voter Empowerment is the force behind the measure. SAVE orchestrated the measure more than a year ago to follow along with one of its organizational philosophies that voter registration should be institutionalized wherever possible, and state-funded universities served as the perfect spot to encourage young voters. “It would just make sense to apply the same principles of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and apply that to colleges and universities that receive state funding.” said Matthew Segal, SAVE president, referring to legislation that creates easier registration through locations such as the Department of
Motor Vehicles and libraries. “We’re striving to weave voter registration into the very institutions people are a part of.” A 2004 study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement revealed that 22 percent of 18 to 29 year olds did not vote because they missed the registration deadline, and an additional 10 percent of that age group did not know where or how to register to vote. SAVE recognized there was a problem and set out to find a solution. Since the VOTER Act’s conception a year ago, SAVE began to approach senators from various states in an effort to build supporters for the act. Sen. Dick Durbin, Reps. Jan Schakowsky, and Steven LaTourette responded took on the mantle of the VOTER Act and introduced to the House. The act doesn’t address any issues related to establishing domicile prior to registering. Currently, 49 of 50 states require that a person establish domicile prior to registering to vote, said Randy Wertz, general registrar of elections in Montgomery County. Wertz is also president of Voter
Registrars Associates of Virginia, which is an organization that has three members working alongside three members of the Registrars Association of Virginia, a representative from the State Board of Elections, plus the chairman of the Virginia State Board of Elections to see whether there is a way to work around the problem. The task force wants to utilize Virginia law to develop these policies, but Wertz said, “I don’t know how Congress will deal with that issue,” and later added “they may not.” “Many students have an ideological conception that voter registration is harder than it actually is,” said Craig Brians, professor of political science at Tech. While he commends the VOTER Act for making the registration process easier for those students that may be hesitant, Brians recognized that for some who may be registered, it may “require too much effort to get up and go do something you didn’t plan on doing that day.” Instead of making the process easier, Brians said the real key was to “make young voters excited about voting.”
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editor: laurel colella email: opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
april 8, 2009
EDITORIAL
UVa shouldn’t do away with computer labs completely The University of Virginia recently announced plans to phase out student computer labs by the year 2011 in an attempt to save money. The university plans to save at least $200,000 by eliminating the general-purpose labs. Being that 99 percent of the UVa freshman class owns a computer, during these trying economic times it is realistic to expect students to rely more on their personal laptops and save money on computers that are being underutilized. With all of the budget cuts going on right now, it is smart to cut the resources that are expendable. Five to 10 years ago, more people had desktop computers, increasing the necessity of an abundance of on-campus computers for student access. Now, it’s time for universities to catch up with modern mentality and realize the way students use technology has changed. It is a smart move to push toward decreasing the number of computers publicly available to students, as the vast majority of students do have access to their own laptops. However, there are people who will require fancy software or rendering programs, and there should be public computers available on a lesser level, to help students complete their assignments. Getting rid of computer labs all together is a bad decision. It would be a poor investment to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into computer labs right now because they are not being used. However, they shouldn’t be cut completely as there are always going to be
exceptions and people who will need access to computers. Right now there isn’t a high demand for public desktop computers because most people have their own lighter, portable, more technologically advanced computers. However, for people who can’t afford their own computers, can’t access necessary software, or have computers that break, alternative resources do need to be made available. Being that Virginia Tech requires each admitted student to own a personal computer many question whether public computer labs are still a necessity on our campus.There are some computer labs that are still very beneficial to students because of the software they provide. Many students also find general-purpose computer labs to be positive study environments. Minimizing the number of computers open to the public, while not eliminating them all together, gives the students who need to take advantage of said environment the opportunity to do so. The utility of a small number of computers is good if they’re going to be used, especially for more than Microsoft Word and Facebook networking. However, having an excessive number of computers that merely sit as academic departments freeze salaries is a waste of money. Funding for computer labs is a smart thing to cut if the resources are being underutilized.
As graduation approaches, look to eliminate senioritis I’ve been sick ever since spring break, and I can’t seem to shake it. I have moments of fever when I can’t seem to sit still. I can’t concentrate LIZA on anything but lying outside, MILLER taking trips to regular the Cascades or columnist walking around downtown. Then sometimes I have violent chills where I can’t seem to make myself leave my roommates on rainy days and can’t focus on anything but Sex and the City marathons. Schiffert can’t help me, and there are no medicines for my symptoms at CVS: I’ve caught a ferocious case of senioritis. An epidemic of senioritis is common among students my age. Without proper precautions, senioritis can be fatal. With graduation around the corner, we are in the home stretch of our college careers, but it is not too late for us to strike out. Senioritis can also be extremely contagious, and even those who have not entered into their final year can be at risk. I have come up with a list of home-remedies for others who feel the symptoms of senioritis coming on. 1. Make plans to stay on campus Even if you don’t necessarily have something due, make time each week to be spent on campus to catch up and review. It is easy to get distracted when you stay cooped up in your
room, and a change of venue can help keep you on track. Pack a bag for the day, and spend some time in the library or on the Drillfield if the weather is nice. 2. Arrange weekly events to see those to whom you will soon be saying goodbye Graduation can take us all in many directions, and it is hard to think that next fall we will not be reunited with everyone. People can react to senioritis in different ways. Some of us feel the need to spend as much time as we can with our friends before parting ways, which can interfere with other priorities. Others handle the impending separation by denying its approach and may feel regret for not spending time with friends while there’s still time. By setting up routine gatherings, you can budget time in a way that won’t take away from other responsibilities and ensure quality time is spent together. 3. Compete with friends over number of classes attended I live with four friends who are also coping with senioritis, and we invented this silly game to keep one another motivated as the semester goes on. We keep a sheet on our refrigerator that holds a running tally under each of our names. We are on the honor code to add to it after each class we attend. You also earn a tally if you get a good grade or attend a study session. So far the winner just claims to be smarter than everyone else, but you can think of your own prizes. 4. Replace Facebook with job
searching For those of us still unsure of what the future holds post-graduation, the job search can feel just like that: a search. Next time you find yourself browsing Facebook or procrastinating online, turn to sites that can help you plan for the future. Especially in this economic climate, you can’t expect a job to find you, so try to stay active in your job search every day by keeping up with possible leads. If you do find yourself drifting back to Facebook, play a little game I like to call WWBD — What Would your Boss Do if they saw your Facebook profile — and make sure that everything is employer friendly. 5. Go out with a bang We will never have this time again, so make sure to live up the short time we have in Blacksburg in and out of the classroom. For many of us, this may be our last academic forum, so make sure to give it your all. As a tribute to your parents and professors who have helped you flourish the past four years, make this semester the most successful yet. Outside of academics, explore new places around Blacksburg and soak up as much of the community as you can. It is easy when suffering from senioritis to become blinded by feverish hallucinations of the future and forget that the short time we have left at Virginia Tech is precious. We may not be able to cure senioritis completely, but we can’t let the side effects stop us from having the best senior year imaginable.
The editorial board is composed of David Grant, David Harries and Laurel Colella.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Concealed carry owners have a right to anonymity As a Virginia concealed carry permit holder, I feel compelled to reply to the editorial “Privatizing concealed carry database threatens public safety” (CT, Apr. 2). First of all, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, any person who owns a handgun can carry it openly, WildWest style, anywhere they want (with a few exceptions). Someone I know once openly carried a very tiny pocket pistol into a Kroger and was asked by his trembling cashier whether he was going to kill her. It is not surprising that in this environment, those of us who wish to carry firearms on our person choose to conceal them in order to avoid the fearful reactions like those of the Kroger cashier. So, instead we go through the thorough and lengthy process of concealed carry permit application. Many of us do; in fact, you have probably encountered people like us at the supermarket or at the theater, or anywhere other than on campus or in a bar. That should not give you pause because concealed carry holders are the most law-abiding citizens there are. In the absence of data about Virginia, I will mention that a study of Texas concealed carry permit holders indicated that they are 5.7 times less likely than the average citizen to commit a violent crime. In Florida and Arkansas, respectively, those with concealed carry permits are 300 and 1,000 times less likely to commit a violent crime. If average people were as law-abiding as average permit holders, the United States would have the lowest crime rate in the entire world. Imagine the consternation we feel when those of us who have so diligently applied ourselves to obtaining the permit to carry a handgun hidden in public suddenly have our names published in a major newspaper for all to see. Those of us who wish to carry
a handgun in public do not wish to deal with the hysteria of some people if we openly carry — like with the aforementioned cashier — and also do not wish to be made a spectacle of by the horrific misuse of the Virginia concealed carry database by the Roanoke Times. It should be completely obvious why we want our names to be hidden from the public. Second of all, I would like to say that the process for obtaining a Virginia concealed carry permit entails a criminal and mental health background check as well as passing a class, which demonstrates that you are adequately capable of using and accurately firing a handgun. I would like to know where anyone, usually those who loathe and know nothing about firearms, get off second guessing the Virginia State Police when it comes to firearms safety and qualification. The whole point of the Virginia concealed carry criterion is to establish a clearly defined set of conditions for the issuing of a concealed carry permit. Part of the reason this exists is to safeguard the right of responsible gun owners to self-defense from the irrational bias of those who fear guns. As my final point, when the authors of the earlier editorial write “the average citizen can no longer check to see whether the babysitter to whom they entrust their children is packing heat,” not only do they show themselves to be hopelessly biased by their use of the sophomoric term “packing heat,” but they also show their ignorance of the law. It states that any person may refuse the right of a concealed carry owner to carry a firearm on their property. Any person can, for any reason, demand that their private property should remain gun free. That should be the end of their problem with the privatization of the Virginia concealed carry database. James Dorman senior, aerospace engineering
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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 News Editors Caleb Fleming, Sara Mitchell News Reporters Gordon Block, Zach Crizer, Justin Graves, Kelsey Heiter, Riley Prendergast, T. Rees Shapiro News Staff Writers Debra Houchins, Phillipp Kotlaba, Gabe McVey, Will Thomas, Ryan Trapp Features Editor Bethany Buchanan Features Reporters Topher Forhecz, Teresa Tobat, Jonathan Yi Features Staff Writers Ryan Arnold, Mary Anne Carter, Drew Jackson, Tom Minogue, Alex Pettingell Opinions Editors Laurel Colella 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, Michelle Rivera Layout Designers Go-Eun Choi, Velechia Hardnett, Kelly Harrigan, Rachel McGiboney, Mina Noorbakhsh, Josh Son Illustrator Mina Noorbakhsh Multimedia Editor Phillip Murillas Multimedia Producer Candice Chu Multimedia Reporters Kevin Anderson, Peter Velz Online Director Sam Eberspacher Collegiate Times Business Staff Business Manager Ryan McConnell College Media Solutions Staff Advertising Director Patrick Fitzgerald Asst Advertising Directors Tyler Ervin Jenna Given, Katelynn Reilly Ads Production Manager Anika Stickles Asst Production Manager Allison Bhatta Ads Production/Creation Breanna Benz, Jennifer DiMarco, Lisa Hoang, Rebecca Smeenk, Lindsay Smith, Katie Sonntag, Lara Treadwell National Account Executive Kaelynn Kurtz Account Executives Libbey Arner, Nik Bando, Brandon Collins, Chris Cunningham, Oran Duncan, Lee Eliav, Judi Glass, Kendall Kapetanakis, David Morgan, Marcello Sandoval, Arianna Rouhani, Jennifer Vaughn Assistant Account Executives Madeline Abram, Diane Revalski, Devon Steiner, Tyler Terhune Marketing Manager Amanda Sparks Office Manager Kaelynn Kurtz Student Publication Photo Staff Director of Photography Sally Bull Business Manager Paul Platz
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Secular liberalism as consensus threatens traditionalist values ROD DREHER guest columnist Recently, I got into a lengthy blog debate with liberal secularist writer Damon Linker on the topic of samesex marriage. It ended, as these things always do, with mutual frustration. Linker decided that I, a traditionalist conservative, believe gay marriage should be illegal because ... I believe it should be illegal. And I reached the same conclusion about his support of same-sex marriage. To Linker, my argument looks like faith-based special pleading. Likewise, his rationale struck me as little more than emotivism — the idea that something is true because it feels right. We talked past each other, not only because neither of us can agree on what constitutes the Good, both public and private, but also because — indeed, especially because — we cannot agree on how to determine the Good. Because moral reasoning in our postmodern culture is largely incoherent, the Linkers and the Drehers are doomed to remain mutually incomprehensible — which, said philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, helps explain the shrillness of contemporary public debate. But the Linkers have one great rhetorical advantage: In our culture, the framework for these arguments favors secular liberalism. As James Kalb explains in his important new book, “The Tyranny of Liberalism” — which, despite the redmeat title, is an intellectually invigorating read — liberalism “has become an immensely powerful social reality,” one so dominant “that it has become invisible.” “To oppose it in any basic way is to act incomprehensibly, in a way explicable, it is thought, only by reference
to irrationality, ignorance or evil,” Kalb writes. “The whole of the non-liberal past is comprehensively blackened. Traditional ways are presented as the simple negation of unquestionable goods liberalism favors.” Chief among those goods is the defining idea of modern liberalism, which Kalb calls “equal freedom.” That is, liberalism’s social goal is to maximize both equality and freedom. How does it propose to do that in a world that is to some degree both unequal and unfree? Through social engineering. Liberalism depends on the modernist conviction that neither religion nor tradition nor inherited loyalties has any binding authority on us. Anything that denies equal freedom is to be condemned as oppressive and marginalized, even outlawed. This is what Kalb means by liberalism’s “tyranny.” Having abandoned the idea that the Good stands outside the individual’s judgment, our common life becomes a matter of negotiating preferences and satisfying wants. To trads, the same-sex marriage debate is inescapably about liberals trying to redefine marriage as primarily an expression of personal desire. “Aha!” says the liberal. “Who are you to impose your morality on me?” That’s supposed to settle the argument, even though, logically, the traditionalist could say the same thing to the liberal. But the liberal speaks from what he presumes is a position of neutrality, even though his views are every bit as dependent on axioms as the conservative’s. But that does the traditionalist no good. The broad liberal view is the consensus in American establishment, a social and political fact that conceals — especially from liberals — how much power liberalism exercises in determining not only the parameters of
discussion but also the outcome. Conservatives find it hard to articulate a case for traditional marriage in terms acceptable in liberal rights discourse, as well as in the shallow rhetoric of contemporary debate. Defending traditional marriage requires burrowing deep into the meaning of the human person, sex, gender, society and law — and that’s just for starters. Life in community is a mysterious and complex thing that cannot be radically remade to suit a preferred outcome. “If you can redefine (marriage) so that the sex of the parties has nothing to do with it, then you can redefine anything in human life any way you want,” Kalb told me in an interview. “Man becomes the artifact of whoever is in power.” This, I think, is what scares ordinary people the most about the swift attempt to kick the foundation out from under traditional marriage. They intuit that there is something, well, tyrannical in the idea that virtually overnight, the long-settled meaning of marriage could change in a vast social experiment without historical precedent — and that any attempt to resist this radicalization stands condemned as God-intoxicated bigotry. Trads are on the losing side of this argument, at least in the short run, given the cultural conditioning of latter-day Americans. Still, it is instructive to ponder the fate of modern Western societies that have cast out the biblical god as the source of moral reality. Wrote eminent historian Paul Johnson, “The history of modern times is in great part the history of how that vacuum has been filled.” For those fearful of despotism, it is not a happy tale. Rod Dreher is a Dallas Morning News editorial columnist.
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april 8, 2009
Twitter provides micro-blogging technology
Twitter is only a couple years old, but we’re seeing its residual effects trickle down the media front at an exponenJONATHAN tial rate. YI This growing social networkfeatures ing service has reporter even seeped into the frontal lobes of pop culture. The growth is noticeable — Twitter began experiencing problems related to its rising number of users in 2007. The service has experienced outages resulting from traffic overloads because of its increased popularity. But I suppose that’s a good thing. In a nutshell, Twitter is a social network and micro-blogging service founded by Cornell students Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. The service enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as “tweets.” Tweets are textbased posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them, referred to as “follow-
ers.” Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends to their discretion. Micro-blogging allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia (photos, audio) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group, which can be chosen by the user. According to the official Twitter Web site, Twitter’s function is to exchange “quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” Basically, Twitter is an innovative, less-gated form of communication. It allows you to share information with those you wouldn’t normally exchange email or IM messages with, thus escalating your contacts to a community of like-minded people. Whether you see it as a remedy to Facebook or AIM is up to you. One makes an account, creating a personalized homepage. Much like Facebook, it will ask what you’re doing, and your input is compiled into a “Tweet” thread with other Twitter members — while every entry gets its own webpage. The true essence of Twitter is being able to browse conversations (hopefully intellectual ones) and browse an individual’s micro-blogs. You can even send information to your AIM or your Blackberry. I
find one would find this fascinating or completely useless. I first caught onto the Twitter buzz when President Obama spoke of economic calamity and war during his informal address to the joint session of Congress. As lawmakers watched him with the dignity Americans have come to expect of their leaders, they whipped out their phones and began sending text messages like they were in McBryde 100. However, Twitter is all about immediate reactions, and that’s exactly what we got from a few legislators who got a little carried away with partisan rhetoric. Everybody’s doing it. Even YouTube has succumbed to Twitter mania — below every video, if you click on the “Share” link, you will find three options: MySpace, Facebook, and now Twitter. You can expand the box for even more sharing options, but those are the main three, and Twitter was just recently added. Social applications of Twitter can seem limitless, but it can be especially utilized for business use — it can be used to broadcast your company’s latest news and blog posts, interact with your customers, or to enable easy, internal collaboration and group communication in real time.
FedEx, Comcast and Jet Blue have already introduced Twitter into their organizations’ procedures. Even police are now using Twitter to keep the public up-to-date on everything from road closures to AMBER alerts. Twitter circumvents conventional media outlets and creates a portal where police can pass on urgent information to the public in a safe, efficient manner. In a personal sense, Twitter is a constant pulse product, meaning it can really sap your attention span. That seems antithetical to life-hacking, or at least to limit procrastination. Twitter may be a great way to keep in touch with your friends and quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you’re up to. Nevertheless, I am a strong opponent to becoming so engulfed in virtual relationships that you lose a sense of reality. Twitter offers a degree of instantaneous information that assimilates consequences and contingencies similar with other social networking websites. It is up to us to maintain virtual composure. With great power comes great responsibility. Perhaps if Peter Parker used Twitter. Uncle Ben would still be with us.
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april 7, 2009
Evans, Williams give Tech’s backfield a mix of talents JUSTIN LONG
ct sports reporter “Do you see him walking right now?” redshirt freshman Ryan Williams said about starting tailback Darren Evans. Evans, the 6-foot, 213-pound hoss from Indianapolis, Ind., was trotting off of the practice field in his pads holding his helmet in his left hand, a stoic expression on his face. Evans was all business, even on a warm Saturday afternoon in the off-season. “He looks like he wants to run somebody over,” Williams said with a wide smile on his face. Williams, who is this year’s highly touted redshirt freshman tailback, will look to follow in the footsteps of Evans, who ran for 1,265 yards and 11 touchdowns in his own first-year campaign. “Redshirting helped me out with the change of pace from high school to college,” Williams said. “Even though I still feel like I could’ve played last year, I probably would’ve been more acclimated to the game speed around midseason or late in the season, instead of the beginning of the season, like how I feel right now.” The 5-foot-9 halfback from Stonewall Jackson High School will complement Evans and provide a solid one-two punch this season for the Tech ground game. “Obviously, he was good enough to play with a ball in his arm carrying the
football,” said associate head coach and running backs coach Billy Hite. “I think Evans is a perfect example of soaking for a year, learning everything and being able to turn yourself loose. … He’s gotten so much better since he’s been here. You could see it through the preseason camp and on through. This is a very talented group out there. It really is. We haven’t been this way in a while.” “It was game speed, getting in the weight room and getting bigger, faster and stronger,” Williams said. “Last year, when I came in I was 196 (pounds). Now I weigh 213. I feel like I put on some good weight and gained a lot of muscle. I feel a lot better. I think that’s the biggest difference.” Hite, who has helped take 24 Hokie halfbacks to the National Football League, is entering his 31st season on Tech’s coaching staff. And what hasn’t gone unnoticed by that staff is that, since Williams has emerged as a serious threat in the backfield, Evans has pushed himself even harder to retain his starting spot. “He’s going to get even better this year than he was last year,” Hite said. “I think that any time you’re satisfied with what you’ve
accomplished so far, you’re in trouble. I know Darren, and he’s not satisfied. He wants to keep doing the things that got him where he is. He’s got a baby. He’s got a lot on his plate, but he finds time to get everything done.” Confident, yet laid back, Williams appeared to be at ease and take everything in during the start of his promising career. Williams also appears to be bluntly honest and up for any challenge. “I think, in the open field, I’m the most dangerous person,” Evans said. “I’m excited to get the ball, period, however I get it. I want to be the most dangerous person on the field. … We have a lot of weapons, but I want to be that guy. When people come into our stadium, or when we go to their stadium, they know No. 34 is the most dangerous person on the field.” The Hokies will also look to utilize Williams’ velocity and agility on special teams. The coaching staff will strongly consider him as a potential punt and kickoff return man. “Every time he touches the ball he has the chance to make a big play,” Hite said. “That’s just another phase of football where you want to get him with the ball in his hands.” “Punt returning is one of my specialties just because it’s a lot of open field, and that’s what I feel like I’m most dangerous at,” Williams said. “I’m very excited about it. I’m going to keep practicing so that catching punts becomes second nature.” The two tailbacks started off with two very different running styles. Williams has always been about speed, while Evans was always known for his toughness. However, they knew that they would have to improve their deficits to become the best all-around back for the Hokies. “Williams has the shake and bake and has good moves, but he also has very good power,” Hite said. “Evans breaks tackles, and he’s a load when h e’s
NICK JEREMIAH/SPPS
LUKE MASON/SPPS
Running back Ryan Williams races past defensive end Steven Friday during practice on Saturday afternoon. Williams, who redshirted last season, is likely to see his share of playing time in a backup role to Darren Evans. running downhill. They might make a tackle two or three times on Darren, but once you get later on in that game, people don’t want to tackle him.” The Hokies will look to create havoc for opponent defensive coordinators by devising offensive sets that will allow Evans and Williams to be on the field together along with mercurial junior quarterback Tyrod Taylor. “I’ve been trying to put a word in to (wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman), because I can play receiver, too,” Williams said. “If we can have all of the weapons on the field at the same time, however we can do it, if it can be done, let’s do it. … If we go split-gun, pro-back, with all of us on the field on the same time, I feel like that will be something a lot of defenses won’t want to mess with.” The coaching staff seems to oblige. “We have a pony package, so you could see both of them on the field at the same time,” Hite said. “It really is (a nightmare) for opposing defenses. You will see some of that. We’ve talked a bunch about that.” Arguably the most important intangible about the new Tech tandem is selflessness. Each runner knows that
the other will be an integral part of what figures to be a successful season. “The best thing about Evans is his durability,” Williams said. “You could give him the ball 20 or 30 times, and he’ll run it like it was his first carry. That’s the best thing about him. He’s like a working horse. He doesn’t stop. … It seems like he doesn’t get tired throughout the game. This is probably the first time I’ve been on a team where I probably won’t be the only person getting keyed on. We have a group of guys that are very talented.” Evans knows that Williams provides a special asset to an already stacked backfield that includes well-renowned 2009 recruit David Wilson, freshman Zac Evans, along with Lewis and redshirt sophomore Josh Oglesby — who received significant playing time in 2008. “Williams is probably faster than me,” Evans said. “I don’t know about him and Tyrod, though. Talent will take you a long way, and Williams has it.” Although Williams is inexperienced and Evans only has one full season under his belt, they both possess the maturity and poise to take their game to the next level. Evans averaged 4.4 yards
per carry last season, but the Hokies will have even higher expectations for their 2009 season. “I feel like I really didn’t get the whole experience of walking down that tunnel, because every time I walked down that tunnel I knew I wasn’t going to play,” Williams said. “I don’t really know what it’s like to get amped and go in there and play. I get so emotional when it comes to football. I don’t know what type of emotion is going to come, but I know that once I step out on that field, it’s going to be a good game.” Hite knows that while Williams is getting accustomed to the basics of Division I football, Evans will be there for assistance. “Darren will help him,” Hite said. “I guarantee it. Kenny Lewis has been the leader with doing that with all of our young players. Even though Kenny and Darren were competing for the same position last year, Kenny was like having another coach out there... “I know that Darren will carry on and do the same thing with Ryan. He’ll take him under his wing and help him out. It’s amazing how when one of the tailbacks is in the ball game, the other tailbacks are their biggest cheerleaders.”