Friday, October 2, 2009 Print Edition

Friday, October 2, 2009

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COLLEGIATETIMES 106th year, issue 94

News, page 2

Features, page 3

Opinions, page 5

Sports, page 7

Stipends not rising with graduate fees JENNIFER DAWOOD & ZACH CRIZER

Classifieds, page 6

Sudoku, page 6

Walk the line

Selected Graduate Fee Trends

news staff As student fees continue to dramatically increase across the board, many graduate students who work assistantships are struggling, as they have yet to see their pay rate increase accordingly.

Student fees are complicated, but the lack of power students have in deciding what fees are required concerns the Graduate Student Assembly.

“The issue we have been talking about in the GSA, and I’m sure undergrads are concerned about this as well, is the rising cost of student fees, and how students have no input in determining these fees,” said Laura Freeman, GSA president.

This year, fees for out-of-state students, which includes international students who cannot become residents, are nearly $900, partly because of a $200 capital fee that experienced a significant hike from last year.

For in-state student, the fees still amount to around $700.

However, this rise in fees is particularly troubling to graduate students who work assistantships for stipends, but have not received pay increases for their work. Assistantship pay was frozen as a result of state budget cuts.

“There has been a pay freeze on graduate student assistantships, but fees keep going up without considering that discrepancy,” Freeman said. “Since student fees themselves cannot be waived, and must be paid upfront, the issue now is that graduate students with an assistantship have to pay (on average) one full paycheck each semester to cover their fees.”

Graduate students often treat their assistantships as full-time jobs, very frequently not receiving any other source of income during the length of their assistantships.

“Fees have gone up across the board and there’s no accountability on the university’s part for stating why they need this much more in their fee,” Freeman said.

“I trust that they are debating that pretty well, but at the same time, there’s no student input (regarding the question) ‘Is this a worthwhile increase in fees?’”

The hike in fees in turn naturally affects Virginia Tech as well.

Prospective graduate students can assess where they are going to attend graduate school based solely on cost.

The marked discrepancy between in-state and out-of-state fees may harm the appeal of Tech to perspective graduate students.

The GSA has a plan to change the process.

Capital fee for non-residents under six hours

over six hours

2006-2007

$30

$60

2007-2008

$42.50

$85

2008-2009

$42.50

$85

2009-2010

$97.50

$195

under six hours

over six hours

2006-2007

$81.25

$162.50

2007-2008

$87.50

$175

2008-2009

$131.25

$262.50

2009-2010

$140.25

$280.50

Academic Fee

source: www.vt.edu JOSH SON/COLLEGIATE TIMES

Michelle McLeese, vice president of membership for the GSA said many former graduate students have discussed fees and looked at the actual numbers.

“What these students found based on the research they have done is that if you’re a nine-month employee with the university, which most graduate students who are on assistantship are, one is actually an eight month employee, once you account for the fees, because their salary goes towards paying them off,” McLeese said.

The GSA’s fees committee was created informally to tackle this issue and was solidified as an official committee this year.

“The committee was formulated because we wanted to see what the trends were, and actually it was kind of shocking,” McLeese said. “We did not know it was that much, that an actual month’s worth of salary was going towards fees.”

Graduate student Fadel Megahed chairs the committee.

“If you’re giving assistantships to the graduate students, how do these assistantships’ (pay rates) move up with the increase in fees?” Megahed said. “There should be some correlation to keep these (students) experiencing the same rate of change. That rate of change needs to be taken into account, and it’s not taken in account.”

Depending on what department or college the student works in, the rates of pay may fluctuate.

This fall, the graduate school worked out a process for a graduate student on an assistantship to break up the fees over the months of the student’s tenure.

The fees are now deducted from each paycheck instead of upfront payment.

Unlike the budget tuition plan, which costs $65 to enroll in, this service is free and designed only for graduate students on assistantships.

The committee still has further plans to resolve the issue.

“We are planning to do a study about graduate students over the last five years,” Megahed said.

“The reason for selecting five years is because we have many Ph.D. students here.”

A second reason for selecting five years is because there is evidence that one to two years, at times, is not enough for a graduate student to complete his studies.

“We assume that, on campus, (pay) rates is something the university can control, so a graduate student who was living on campus five years ago should have an equivalent amount of money after paying for his meal plan, medical insurance, etc.,” Megahed said.

After the study is complete, the GSA will assess the situation.

“We are going to work on a sample consisting of graduates from different departments and colleges, even some from our delegate body, to gain an idea about how the (discrepancy) in pay happens,” Megahed said.

“We also hope to gain an idea of the number of students who are actually paying with their own money.”

Once the committee has enough information to develop an adequate survey, it intends on releasing its findings to the public, in hopes that it will help to get students involved. “(We hope to) share it with the undergraduate body in general,” Megahed said. “We are hoping to generate enough interest in the university, while having the proper tools to be able to push things through the GSA. But, it’s

TRAVIS CHURCH/SPPS

Sophomore biology major Melise Edwards spent the afternoon yesterday honing her balance and slacklining skills on the Drillfield. Slacklining differs from tightrope walking because the nylon webbing isn’t as taut.

[news in brief] Democratic lieutenant governor candidate to hold forum Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Jody Wagner will meet with Virginia Tech students Sunday afternoon in a forum regarding the upcoming election.

The Young Democrats at Tech and the SGA are sponsoring the event, which will take place in the Hillcrest Ballroom at 4:30 p.m.

According to Kathleen Newbould, president of the Young Democrats, Wagner will speak about her whole platform and why she is running.

It will be similar to a Q&A format, as the floor will be open to students with questions.

“Wagner wants to hear from the students about what

they have to say,” Newbould said.

Wagner was treasurer of Virginia under Gov. Mark Warner and secretary of finance under Gov. Tim Kaine.

Newbould wants to remind students that the deadline to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m.

Students can re-register if they moved and their address location has changed. She also emphasized that it is legal to declare your school address as your residence for the purpose of voting. by priya saxena

see STIPEND / page two

Conservative enmity toward Obama affects Olympics bid STEVEN THOMMA mcclatchy newspapers WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama decided to go to Denmark, he hoped to win international support Friday for the U.S. bid for the 2016 Olympics to be in Chicago. The moment he signed on, however, he also generated a storm of criticism from the right at home.

Some Republicans and right-wing commentators are blasting him for going, saying it’s a waste of presidential time when he should be doing other things, such as deciding on an Afghanistan strategy.

Some say Chicago itself is unworthy, calling it a crime-ridden city filled with corrupt Obama cronies waiting to line their pockets with Olympic-sized graft.

Some openly suggest that the United States should lose the competition.

“If they knew what brand of toothpaste he uses, they’d be against it,” said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. “It’s like the old song that said, ‘Whatever it is, I’m against it.’ If Obama said the sun came up in the east, somebody would show up with a study arguing against it.”

Obama initially had said he was too busy to go to Copenhagen, though the national leaders from the other

MICHAEL TERCHA/MCT

Olympian Bart Conner speaks at Chicago 2016’s 24 Hour Countdown in Cophenhagen, Denmark. three finalists for the 2016 Summer Games — Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid, Spain — were planning to show up to make their cases. Obama initially planned to let Michelle Obama and a coterie of Chicagoans, including Oprah Winfrey, make the U.S. pitch.

No American president ever before has traveled abroad to present the U.S. Olympics bid. The competition changed in recent years, however, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair showed up to help win the 2012

Summer Games for London, and then Russian President Vladimir Putin pitched in to help win the 2014 Winter Games for Sochi, Russia.

Obama decided earlier this week to make a quick trip, leaving Washington on Thursday night, making his pitch Friday morning, then flying back Friday afternoon.

That sent the right around the bend.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said that while it was a noble idea to support

the U.S. bid, it was wrong for Obama to make the trip with the country in recession, Americans worried about the economy and health care, and the nation facing international challenges.

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, his party’s leader in the House of Representatives, said that it was fine to promote the Chicago bid, but the job should be left to the city’s mayor. As for the president, he said, “the problems we have here at home affect all Americans, and that’s where

his attention ought to be.”

Neither Boehner nor Steele noted that Republican President George W. Bush went to China for four days last year to watch the Olympics, at a time when the country was sinking into a deep recession and was fighting two wars.

Right-wing pundits also lined up, pointing to the gruesome murder of a Chicago student by gang thugs as evidence that the city could be an embarrassment.

“Obama is Chicago, Chicago is Obama,” talk-show host Laura Ingraham said Thursday. She went on to ridicule the White House statement that Obama found video of the student murder chilling, saying, “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of similar beatings” had occurred in Chicago “since Obama was cutting his teeth at ACORN.” Obama worked with the liberal advocacy group in Chicago, representing it in a lawsuit and conducting leadership seminars for it.

Talk-show host Sean Hannity also linked the murder to the Olympics bid, saying that Obama turned the crime into a political issue when he decided to travel to Denmark.

Several commentators charged that Chicago is corrupt and that Obama pals will profit, such as adviser Valerie Jarrett, who had a Chicago real estate business before she came to the White House, where she’s a

top adviser.

“Some people say she was a slumlord and she may personally benefit,” said Glenn Beck of Fox News.

“What we’re going to have is gangster politics that will make Al Capone so happy,” added Fox News contributor Pat Caddell, a former adviser to Democratic President Jimmy Carter. “This is the biggest outrage ever done.”

Grover Norquist, an anti-tax lobbyist and conservative strategist, said that the U.S. bid should be rejected because Obama was being hypocritical.

“Obama told the United Nations that under his presidency, America’s values and interests would take a back seat to the interests of the world community, but evidently not when it comes to bringing the pork home to Chicago,” Norquist wrote in The Washington Post. “Let’s be nice and let some other country have the Olympics.”

“Chicago is an easy target because of its reputation,” said Peter Brown, an independent political analyst and the assistant director of the Polling Institute at Quinnipiac University.

“Whether it’s fair today or not, its history makes it easy.”

Chicago isn’t really the target, however. Obama is.

“This is much less about Chicago than it is about Obama,” Brown said. “It’s another opportunity to go after him.”

2 news

new river valley news editor: zach crizer university editor: philipp kotlaba newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

october 2, 2009

COLLEGIATETIMES

Stipend: GSA studying how Tech’s rising fees affect student finances from page one

going to take time.”

The next move the GSA plans to make is to work with SGA, since undergraduates form the majority of the university.

“One of the problems is that undergraduate students have to pay the same fees, but normally what happens is, the average undergraduate student at Virginia Tech has tuition and fees paid for by their parents or student loans,” McLeese said. “There aren’t as many undergraduate students who

are in the same situation as graduate students, where they are paying for it out of pocket.”

Even when an undergraduate is involved in undergraduate research, he is still not eligible for the same fee plan that graduate students on assistantships have recently received.

“Undergraduate students are in a very different situation,” McLeese said. “They have to pay the same fees, and so the fees are still going up for all of us equally, but their situation is very different. So trying

to work with SGA is something we have already started dialogue with.”

They hope that by combining forces, they will be able to get much more done, particularly since a majority of undergraduates are likely to continue on to graduate school during the economic crisis.

“We may not all be graduate students, but that’s not the point,” McLeese said. “The point is, we all pay the same fees, we’re all students, period.”

McLeese said students simply

would not be able to continue paying the mounting fees.

“We’re not able to survive as the fees keep going up,” McLeese said.

McLeese and Megahed insist that understanding the process is important for students.

“For graduate students, there is definitely a need for more transparency so that we understand why fees are going up,” McLeese said.

“When it comes from an organizational structure, we don’t know the details of why fees have to go up so much.”

Scientists discover pre-human ancestor ROBERT S. BOYD mcclatchy newspapers WASHINGTON — Move over, Lucy. A 4-foot-tall female nicknamed Ardi, who lived 4.4 million years ago in Africa, has replaced you as the earliest best known ancestor of the human species.

Ardi’s nearly complete skeleton is 1 million years older than Lucy’s, pushing back the point when hominids — pre-human primates — are known to have split from the evolutionary line that led to chimpanzees and gorillas, an international team of scientists announced Thursday.

“Ardi is not a chimp. It’s not a human. It’s what we used to be,” said paleontologist Tim White, an authority on human evolution at the University of California, Berkeley.

White and his colleagues spent 15 years recovering and studying Ardi’s bones before Thursday’s announcement.

Ardi is “on our side of the family tree, not the chimpanzee side,” White told a news conference in Washington sponsored by the journal Science.

Ardi is named for her genus and species, Ardipithecus ramidus, a distant cousin of Lucy’s line, Australopithecus afarensis.

The discovery sheds new light on human evolution during a previously little known epoch. Scientists believe that humans and apes both descended from a “last common ancestor,” an even more primitive primate that lived between 7 million and 9 million years ago.

Ardi isn’t the last common ancestor, White said, but “it’s the closest we’ve come to the last common ancestor.”

A few older hominid skulls and teeth have been discovered, but nothing as complete as Ardi or Lucy.

The first of Ardi’s bones, a single tooth, was discovered in 1992, not far from where Lucy’s skeleton was buried in the fossil-rich Afar Rift of Ethiopia. Later, more than 100 other pieces, including bits of a skull, hand, foot and pelvis, were carefully

[

nation & world headlines

]

IRAN

U.S., Iranian officials meet one on one GENEVA — A senior U.S. diplomat and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator met one on one Thursday in Geneva in what appeared to be the highest-level official contact between the countries since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The meeting between Undersecretary of State William Burns and the Iranian, Saeed Jalili, took place during a break in negotiations at a villa outside Geneva among the United States, Iran and five other nations.

It was announced by State Department spokesman Robert Wood, who offered no other details.

Senior U.S. officials had said Wednesday that they’d use the sessions in Geneva to press Iran to pull back on its nuclear development program, which Western governments charge is aimed at fashioning a nuclear weapon.

The Burns-Jalili encounter is the latest attempt by the Obama administration to engage Iran, which Washington also has threatened with “crippling” sanctions if it doesn’t suspend the nuclear work.

The State Department allowed Iran’s foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, to visit Washington on Wednesday, waiving regulations that usually confine Iranian diplomats within a 25-mile radius of downtown Manhattan. Mottaki didn’t meet with U.S. officials but visited Iran’s interests section, which is overseen by Pakistan, because the United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations.

The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in early 1980, soon after radical students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and took American diplomats hostage.

There have been sporadic U.S.-Iranian contacts in the ensuing three decades, official and unofficial, secret and overt. by warren p. strobel, mcclatchy newspapers

Iran agrees to ship enriched uranium to Russia for refinement

eased out of the volcanic soil and reassembled.

The remains of 35 other individuals, plus birds, animals and plants, were also found there.

White called the project to assemble Ardi, which eventually involved 47 scientists from 10 different countries, “a scientific mission into the very deep past. ... It was like discovering a time capsule from a period and place we knew nothing about.”

Owen Lovejoy, an evolutionary biologist at Ohio’s Kent State University, said Ardi is “an image of what our early ancestors must have looked like.”

Ardi’s hands, feet, pelvis and teeth are more like the bones of modern

humans than of chimpanzees or gorillas. For example, her pelvis is modified for walking upright on the ground, as well as climbing trees.

“Ardi was not a knuckle-walker (like apes),” Lovejoy said. But she probably couldn’t have outrun the smaller, more advanced Lucy.

“If Ardi and Lucy had a race, Lucy would win handily,” Lovejoy said.

Ardi was a woodland creature, with a small brain, long arms and short legs. Her discovery disproves the earlier theory that pre-humans learned to walk when they came down from trees to live on open savannas, White said.

She probably ate fruit, berries, mushrooms, birds, bats and mice and other small mammals, judging

by her teeth and the remains found where she was discovered. Scientists can tell she was female because of the shape of her canine teeth and her pelvis.

The Afar Rift is a large basin created when the Arabian peninsula split off from Africa millions of years ago. The breakup also produced the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Afar is often called “The Cradle of Humankind,” because so many hominid remains have been found there. Ardi was the subject of 11 scientific papers published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. It will be the subject of a two-hour program, “Discovering Ardis,” on the Discovery channel at 9 p.m. EDT Sunday.

GENEVA — Iran agreed in principle Thursday to ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be refined for exclusively peaceful uses, in what Western diplomats called a significant, but interim, measure to ease concerns over its nuclear program.

The agreement was announced after more than seven hours of high-level talks in Geneva among Iran and representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, which also featured the highest-level official U.S.-Iranian encounter in three decades.

Iran also pledged that within weeks it would allow the inspection of a previously covert uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, announced that he’d head to Tehran to work out the details.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the talks marked “a constructive beginning” and showed the promise of renewed engagement with Iran, but added that “going forward, we expect to see swift action. We’re not interested in talking for the sake of talking.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the talks had “opened the door” to potential progress on the nuclear issue. “It was a productive day, but the proof of that has not yet come to fruition, so we’ll wait and continue to press our point of view and see what Iran decides to do,” she said.

In Geneva, Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said he hoped the talks — which are to reconvene later this month — were the beginning of intensive engagement with Iran after a 15-month pause.

Despite the outward signs of progress, however, Solana and U.S. officials said Iran gave no ground on demands that it halt the enrichment of uranium, which can be used for both civilian nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

The Obama administration, along with Israel and many lawmakers on Capitol Hill, also worries that Tehran will string out diplomacy with small concessions while it continues covert work toward fashioning a nuclear weapon.

“The overall problem of Iran’s nuclear program remains,” said a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Under the tentative deal, Iran would ship what a U.S. official said was “most” of its approximately 3,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be further refined. French technicians then would fabricate it into fuel rods and return it to Tehran to power a nuclear research reactor that’s used to make isotopes for nuclear medicine. by warren p. strobel and margaret talev, mcclatchy newspapers

Prime Minister Al-Maliki unveils new national, nonsectarian Iraqi party BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday unveiled his alliance for parliamentary elections in January, billing the ticket as a national, nonsectarian force to challenge a rival Shiite Muslim slate that has broader support among the country’s religious authorities.

The announcement, made from a heavily guarded Baghdad hotel and broadcast live on television, ended weeks of speculation over whether alMaliki’s State of Law bloc would join the Iraqi National Alliance, a more Islamist faction that includes the largest Shiite party and supporters of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Maliki, whose Dawa Party historically was a conservative Shiite Islamist opposition group during Saddam Hussein’s regime, appears to be seizing on voters’ disenchantment with the religious parties and positioning himself as the candidate who can reach across sectarian lines to stop violence and provide better basic services.

The Obama administration’s hopes for speeding a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq depend heavily on whether the elections produce a government that most Iraqis consider legitimate, and not one that deepens the country’s religious and ethnic divides or drives it closer to Iran.

Al-Maliki’s speech Thursday stressed the rule of law and a strong central government that would handle foreign policy, sovereignty and security, and control of natural resources. by mohammad al dulaimy, mcclatchy newspapers

features 3

editors: topher forhecz, teresa tobat featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

he she

SAID

She said: Women get close, share space A

KYLE MOIR/SPPS

fter a long night of margaritas and karaoke, my mom and I reclined together on the couch, cuddling. Although I’m 23 years old, I didn’t mind having one tiny throwback to the early ’90s when I would lie around and let my mom play with my hair. Although maybe my situation was warranted — I wouldn’t be caught dead doing that while sober — it made me think.

I could never envision my brother hugging my dad, or my mom, or really anybody.

In the issue of personal contact, there’s a definite double standard.

Since women travel to the bathroom in packs and share dressing rooms, the space bubble between female friends isn’t very big. Upon a friend entering even a crowded bar, many girls will scream and throw themselves into a ridiculous, full-body embrace with one another.

We won’t hesitate to pull some lint off of a fellow girl’s boob. When crashing at a friend’s, we can even share a bed without worrying about how it makes us look. (I have spooned with many a woman in my life!)

He said: Greetings are ‘touchy’ subject a recent football tailgate, I watched from a distance as three cheery dogs inhaled thoughtful whiffs of each other’s hind parts. I felt a connection with them.

I guess I could mean that somewhat literally; many of us find ourselves chasing tail with great enthusiasm.

But that isn’t the direction of my thought. Rather, while it’s easy to wince at Lassie’s greeting, it might be equally as curious to reflect on our own catalog of peculiar gestures.

Now I’ve never witnessed anyone say hello with a back-pocket sniffing, but a little caboose cupping isn’t out of the question. What once was a behind-the-scenes flirtation for couples is now apparently free game in the public forum. It’s most often a sneak approach from behind, the recipient tensing up like someone tried to take their temperature babystyle. You’d think more people would find it invasive, but the pincher tends to get a warm smile in return.

What doesn’t elicit a grin is when dudes reverse the method and execute the warped practice of frontal “taps.” That is far less a salutation than it is a violent attack against defenseless (potential) children; the blow turns your knees into pudding and vacuums your oxygen supply.

Much more appropriate would be something like, you know, a handshake. And it’s wild how far that expression has come.

With some quick Internet research, I reviewed several accounts of the handshake’s origin. One of them pinned its start in medieval Europe.

Opposing knights would present their mitts to one another, and a shared grasp would suggest that neither concealed any weapons.

But I’d like to further that theory.

I bet some of those knights’ battle instincts remained overwhelming; they couldn’t help but upturn a certain digit mid-shake, thus creating thumb wars.

And that’s what I think of when I complete a modern “cool” handshake.

It’s essentially the same motions: slap hands, slide palms backward, interlock fingers. All it takes is one person announcing, “One, two, three, four ... ” and suddenly cordiality turns into a competition. (That should happen more often.)

I can also imagine an armor-clad cavalier getting upset after losing such a contest. In his anger, he would strike the winner’s hand, ultimately creating what we know as the fist pound. This has certainly yielded many variations.

A notable alternative is when friends

pretend their fists explode, retracting their jazz hands like they just threw dice at a Vegas craps table. The participants might even add an emphatic, “Boom.”

Human appendages double as fireworks apparently — awesome.

But our extremities aren’t meant solely for collisions. Arms can spread wide to deliver the biggest of bear hugs. Interestingly, I’ve found this form of affection very polarizing. I know people to either fall freely into an embrace or stiff-arm the attempt.

I can understand the latter, though, especially if we’re talking opposite sexes. There are numerous ways it can go awry.

Any kind of sideways, half-hug shouldn’t even be an option. It’s a veiled insult, like politely stabbing at terrible food someone cooked you.

When you go in for the real thing, heights must be considered: Do your arms go above or under the shoulders? Or wait — the other person might prefer the diagonal cross. The confusion could leave you staggering like a zombie, your wings swaying like you’re fighting off vertigo.

Once you’re in the squeeze, what is expected of your hands? They’re capable of numerous motions see HE SAID / page four

We even go so far as to do some hot booty-dancing up on our friends like animals in heat — but hey, no sweat.

At least you’re not some dancing with some smelly, skeezy guy.

Since women are historically thought of as the “emotional” gender, it seems that even sharing a bed together is not necessarily discouraged. Supposedly, we are “naturally inclined” to show our feelings, especially toward one another. Sure, maybe my conjecture is a misogynistic one, but it’s the way our society works.

Women are constantly being shoved into that mold of loving, caring, sweet little emotion-stuffed things. Why wouldn’t we hug our friends? Why wouldn’t we spread cheer? (Unless you’re a cigarette-smoking, hateful old wretch — like me.)

For men, the situation is exactly the opposite. To see the men in today’s society, to me, is like seeing Sparta reincarnated. Men are expected to be the epitome of straight masculinity.

Hug another guy? No way, bro. But a cordial high five? A knuckle-bump? A congratulatory slap on the bum after a first down? OK, that’s as far as it gets.

Men have perfected the technique of being stolid, rock-steady people.

They don’t touch each other. Sure, the sideways hug is always acceptable, after some sort of mysterious manhandshake. Men will carry their friend home from downtown only if he’s unable to walk otherwise, and they wouldn’t be caught dead with their leg so much as gracing another dude’s on the couch. That’s just … not cool.

As a woman, this sacred distance between men is something I don’t quite understand. Is it because of the fear of being labeled “emotional” and therefore “emasculated”? We live in an age of modern wonders such as iPhones and microwaveable taquitos, yet calling a straight man either a woman or a homosexual is considered a horrible insult.

As far as I’m concerned: Chill out, straight dudes. It shouldn’t be a negative thing to be either a female or gay.

Get a grip — and don’t bring us into your personal space issues!

But when flirting between two people happens, the old barriers break. When you’re digging that hotsee SHE SAID / page four

october 2, 2009

page 4

He said: Find the right expression that fits your style

She said: Assert Phi Sigma Pi to host 5K run your personal in honor of fallen brother space as needed

from page three

from page three

including patting and caressing. Your decision could be interpreted as anything from insincerity to molestation. It can be tough to find that comfy medium.

And if the hug is on campus, backpacks sabotage the whole thing; you pull away with zipper imprints on your arms.

Regardless of how you prefer to engage your friends, the point is to affirm your esteem for them.

While it’s conceivable to stand at a distance like gunslingers and only voice your adoration, it seems we’re hardwired for more. To feel the appreciation is also important.

So coordinate that 12-part-hand-jive-into-a-backsmack-then-hip-bump. Or you can be as frank as a buddy of mine, who prefers to connect with a simple high five and the declaration, “Allies.”

His low five? Adversaries.

tie, of course you’re going to be wrecking her space.

You might sit elbow-to-elbow with her at the movies, or share some french fries with her using the same ketchup cup. Or it might get to a more personal level, which for several reasons I won’t mention.

However, the worst personal contact issues occur when you would rather visit the drunk tank than go home with that sketchball. You do your best to put the person down lightly, but he just won’t get it. And though someone throwing himself at you might be flattering, it’s not so good if he’s pinching your butt and calling you the wrong name.

This is when you have to assert your personal space. Shout. Shove. Get one very big friend or a scary-looking mob to back you up.

And maybe if the downtown scene doesn’t work out for you, you can always come home and cuddle with your mom — if you’ve had enough margaritas.

RYAN ARNOLD -features reporter -favorite movie: “Almost Famous” -swam in a Swiss thermal bath

CARA MCBROOM features staff writer

LAKEN RENICK -features staff writer -favorite movie: “The Shawshank Redemption” -favorite book: “The Bell Jar”

PG-13

The Lyric Theatre 135 College Avenue ~ Movieline: 951.0604 www.thelyric.com

Virginia Tech student and Blacksburg native Michael Perry was killed in a drunk driving accident 12 years ago. Perry is being honored at the 12th annual Michael B. Perry 5K Saturday, Oct. 3.

Perry graduated from Blacksburg High School in 1995 and came to Tech that fall.

By his sophomore year, he told friends that he needed a change.

He considered going to the University of North Carolina for a cooperative exchange program.

One of his friends suggested that he instead rush for the national honors fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi. Perry became a brother of Phi Sigma Pi and proceeded to make close ties with the other members.

He realized the fraternity was the change he needed.

Perry was leadership chair in the fraternity and was accredited with organizing the first 5K and 10K events.

The following summer, Perry was killed in an alcohol-related car accident.

“He was full of energy,” said Hilda Roberts, his mother. “He loved biking, running, and the whole aspect of being in the fraternity.”

From that point on, the fraternity decided to name the 5K in his honor.

“From my point of view and the family’s view,” Roberts said, “we always felt it was a wonderful thing and an appropriate way to remember him. We feel humbled in a way that he’s continued in the race.”

His brother, Dave Perry, said he appreciated that students in the fraternity have continued the tradition. He said when tragedies like this happen, people usually forget about them and move on.

“The continuity is great there,” Dave Perry said. “It shows how much they care about the Virginia Tech community. The fraternity has always included the family. They call and let us know the dates, make sure our mom knows what’s happening ... They’ve shown a lot of class and dedication.”

COURTESY OF PHI SIGMA PI

This Saturday, Phi Sigma Pi will sponsor a 5K race in memory of brother Michael Perry, who was killed in a drunk driving accident.

want to go?

[ ] When: Registration starts at 9 a.m., race begins at 10 a.m.

Where: Meet at the Duck Pond Gazebo

on the web

For more information, visit www.phisigmapivt.com/5k.

Summer Mullis, a senior biology major and the public relations chair for Phi Sigma Pi was responsible for spreading the word about the event.

“I love this event because I think it is such a relevant problem within college environments and just our age group in general,” Mullis said.

“The mindset of a lot of college kids is that a few drinks won’t hurt, but in reality, that could be all it takes.”

Mullis emphasized the importance of educating people on drunk driving awareness.

“I think it’s great that the proceeds from this race are going to educate young kids about alcohol and the consequences of drunk driving,’’ Mullis said. ‘’I think if we can teach these children, starting when they are young, we can prevent even more lives from being lost due to alcohol-related accidents.”

Ashley Gold, a senior hospitality and tourism management major, is

currently Phi Sigma Pi’s Michael B. Perry chair.

“We know the money is going to such a good cause,” Gold said.

“Everyone benefits from that. It’s one more life saved and one more person to not drive drunk.”

Over the past two years, there have been almost 200 runners and walkers who have participated in the 5K. “I think that we will at least meet last year’s turnout,” Mullis said.

“And I certainly hope to exceed it.”

In 2007, the amount raised for drunk driving awareness was $1,055.99.

The amount raised in 2008 was $463.88.

In previous years, the proceeds were donated to Hurricane Katrina relief groups. Most years, like this one, the fraternity has donated all the proceeds to a local Blacksburg charity. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Montgomery County Educational Foundation for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program and drunk driving awareness programs.

“From the stories I have heard about Michael,” Mullis said, “he was an inspiring individual who made a lasting impact on many people’s lives. I think it’s great that we are able to pay respect to his memory by educating others about the consequences of driving under the influence.”

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october 2009houchins editor: 2, debra opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

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COLLEGIATETIMES

october 2, 2009

Your Views

The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

[letters to the editor]

Hokie respect out of the arena When I first stepped foot onto our beautiful campus, I could not help but be in awe of the architecture, sense of community and immense pride — pride I felt internally for the achievements that got me here. I truly felt a sense of belonging that I had never had before. I know I am not alone in this feeling as it is almost palpable as you cross the university grounds. We are truly blessed to part of such a tightly-knit community that cares immensely for the safety and success of its student body.

Yet it pains me when I witness occurrences of the opposite end of the emotional spectrum; little, almost unperceived acts of disrespect for oneself and one’s school.

The other morning I was outside of Deet’s reading the latest Collegiate Times, when I noticed two students exiting the coffee shop with their ice cream sundaes in hand. One of them dropped their spoon on the ground. Stopped in their tracks, they stood staring at the fallen utensil. As if dumbfounded, they pondered their next course of action. One of them suggested picking the spoon up, but the other quickly uttered, “That is gross!” Now we all can agree that using the tainted spoon to finish one’s dessert is sanitarily unsound. So the friend of the rather un-dexterous, ladle-wielding one offered to fetch a new tool for the would-be litterer.

Unconcerned for the plastic they now contributed to our beautiful Hokie Stone patio, they sat and finished their sweet creations, then eventually meandered off to participate in whatever it is self absorbed, unconcerned people do.

Now I have belabored the point a bit, yet I am sure we all witness similar events every day.

Whether it is the spilled drink and crumb explosion on the table no one is sitting at, the fallen rice crispy treat that jumped out of

the tongs on the floor, or the left over plates from the eating competition, I have noticed a growing trend in the lack of accountability for one’s actions. One could draw parallels here, but that’s an argument for another article. Here I am speaking of our home, for I consider Virginia Tech to be my home for the next few years, and then I (we) will pass it on to the next generation of future Hokies.

Some might consider my point to be trivial, but my upbringing suggests otherwise. Stop placing the responsibility of cleaning up after ourselves on others. We do not tip those who work for VT Dining to do this for us. Have some dignity and Hokie respect for our home. With that I will step down from my soap box.

Thank you to all of you who work hard at keeping our campus one of the most beautiful across the nation. Go Hokies!

Wayne Bruce junior computer science

Thanks for the Greek Guide On behalf of the Greek community at Virginia Tech, I would like to thank the Collegiate Times, particularly the reporters who contributed to the Greek Guide, for its dedication to representing all students at Tech in an equal and fair manner. While the Greek community is very active on the Tech campus, in previous years there has been a lack of coverage of the many wonderful events that our members put on for Tech and Blacksburg community. I commend the CT for making the choice to represent two of the largest student organizations on campus and to help educate the Tech and Blacksburg communities on what the Virginia Tech Greek community is really about.

MCT CAMPUS

Learning from experience: Older students have edge M

any years ago, I realized there are two types of college student.

There are those who go straight to college out of high school, and there are those that go to work for some time before returning to school to earn a degree.

The students straight out of high school fall in a wide range, from the prodigies who could earn a 4.0 GPA every semester, to the students that are on academic probation.

The students who have worked for a few years, while they may not have 4.0 GPAs, certainly find a way to consistently make the dean’s list. I have been lucky to be both types of college student.

After graduating high school, I enrolled at NC State to pursue two degrees in mathematics and meteorology. I was a decent student, graduating cum laude with those degrees.

Camille Waldron However, it irritated me that these older students could come in and junior throw the grade curve for many of communication my classes. I would study to the brink of losing my sanity and pull all-nighters writing papers and doing homework. Meanwhile, they would seem to outperform me on those tests and projects with ease. Some would say it was due to their maturity or their determination or their skills from the workforce, but I was mature and determined, and they came from so many different walks of life that none of them had the same skills.

I chose not to dwell on it when I napped dozens of domestic and foreign graduated from NC State. After all, reporters in recent years and killed four I had achieved my goals, and had of them.

The United States, NATO and the United Nations practically created the modern state of Kosovo, which proclaimed its independence last year. Like most Central Asian states, newspapers and television stations are generally attached to political parties. Still, some reporters are showing encouraging early signs of independence. But when RTK, the state’s lone independent, public-television station, broadcast a news show this spring that discussed issues such as ven as a freshman reporter last drug addiction, homosexuality, human year, I hear endless comments in rights, and press freedom — a novel the dining halls, across the Drillfield, broadcast for Kosovo — the reporter and in class about how the Collegiate received death threats, and others in Times receives very little student input. the media launched a smear campaign. As a student who works for the paper, Perhaps we should give Kosovo a little obviously this upset me a bit. I thought more time. to myself, “Really?” Or I thought, “Well Before that, the United Nations occu- then why don’t these students contribpied Cambodia in 1993 and 1994 and ute themselves?” staged elections with the aim of estabSo, this year, in my role as public lishing a new democracy after decades editor, I thought it would be nice to of genocide and war. The United States help provide those students with the contributed one-third of the $3 billion opportunity to easily give some feedspent on this effort. Under U.N. patron- back to us. The rest of the staff was age, new newspapers, radio and TV on board, and we began to organize a stations began publishing and airing an Meet and Greet. In one fell swoop, we array of aggressive news reports. thought we would let everyone meet Since that time, however, freedom of some of the CT staff and give us some the press has been on slow slide south. feedback. Along with introducing Reporters Without Borders ranked ourselves, we formulated some core Cambodia 71st out of 139 countries in questions. In this column, I’m going 2002. By 2008, the ranking had slid to to share some of those that stood out 126th out of 173 nations — in the com- to me. pany of Kazakhstan, a dictatorship; and We started by asking what expectaJordan, a monarchy. tions of a college newspaper were.

Over the summer, the government Answers varied from relevant news sued several newspapers for defamation stories, to coverage of local events, because they had published articles that and of course the all-important mateoffended senior officials. One news- rial that we as college students care paper was forced to close. In July the about. Tech students look for student government sued the Cambodia Daily, opinions, but also views from both an excellent English language newspa- side of an issue in an article that is wellper, for merely quoting someone who researched. criticized the government. Last week, I also wanted to know how often the court found the paper’s editor guilty. people actually read the paper. Answers Critics of former President Bush have varied even more. A lot of people read long argued that, no matter how inspir- it weekly, while some read it daily. Most ing those images of Iraqi voters with people read it about two times a week, purple fingers may have been, elections while some read it only when they find alone cannot create a democracy. The one lying around — they don’t actually fate of the news media in several new, take it off the rack. One of the more Western-imposed democracies is a sad amusing answers was, “Only when but honest demonstration of that. my friends peer-pressure me into doing so.”

As far as sections that are read most often, the online content was by and RANDY large more read than the print version.

CLARK When people do read the print ver-McClatchy-Tribune sion, however, sports, and especially the football previews, ranked most popular. Next came opinions — I guess students like to see what other students think. Ironically enough, even

Free press is the key to healthy democracy I

f you want to know whether a nation is truly democratic, one measure will give you an answer with near certitude: How does the state treat the press?

Nothing so directly challenges a corrupt or authoritarian leader than an aggressive news media. So, wherever the United States and its Western allies have wielded influence over the formation of a new government in the last half century — from Japan to Iraq — freedom of the press has been a core value the United States has tried to imprint on the culture of each new state. The recent results are mostly discouraging.

I first worked in Iraq in the months after the 2003 invasion, and it was thrilling to see a dozen or more independent Iraqi newspapers for sale on the streets, a new one every week or so. With financial help from the United States, several television stations began broadcasting relatively independent news. After decades of brutal repression, freedom of the press and expression flowered — though, of course bombers and militants made life dangerous and harrowing for journalists and everyone else. At least 170 journalists were killed during the war’s first five years.

Today many of the surviving reporters are scared. The government is censoring, suing and harassing reporters. In July, The Economist reported, police arrested a journalist for taking pictures of a typical, massive Baghdad traffic jam, saying the photos reflected badly on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s campaign to demonstrate that the quality of life was improving.

Last month about 100 Iraqi journalists staged a raucous protest of growing restrictions on their work, shouting: “No, no to muzzling; yes, yes to freedom!”

The government is now censoring the Internet and certain books, on the pretext of protecting citizens from pornography and hate messages. But as every journalist knows, that is the leading edge of a slippery slope. Reporters Without Borders places Iraq near the bottom of its press freedom index, and its ranking continues to fall.

The United States introduced the notion of a free press to Afghanistan in 2002, but during the election in August state security forces assaulted and arrested numerous domestic and foreign journalists reporting on violence during the voting. How could President Hamid Karzai steal the election if the news media had been free to show mayhem and chicanery at the polls?

Now we can clearly see that Karzai is not a democrat, and the news media is a victim of that. But then he is not the only villain. Taliban militants have kid-

been an Air Force ROTC cadet, and had earned my commission. A bright future lay ahead for me as a lieutenant, where I would be using my degree in meteorology to help win the global War on Terror. That is until there was a budget cut, and I was given orders to return to North Carolina with an honorable discharge.

I moved back in with my parents on Sept. 11, 2006, humbled, but ready to make a rebound with a dream and a plan. The dream was to become an engineer for NASCAR, and the plan was to use the GI Bill that I invested in and return to school. I enrolled at UNC Charlotte, thinking that an engineering program with strong connections to NASCAR would help me live my dream.

Many of my friends thought I was insane since mechanical engineering is a more difficult program than mathematics or meteorology. I was unsure how well I would do for that very reason. At the very least, I should have been able to graduate with the same GPA that I had at NC State.

Then again, I was one of those older students now, and I began to wonder if it was now my turn to throw the curve.

It turns out that while I may never turn a wrench on a Sprint Cup racecar, my return to school has been far more successful than I could have imagined. I still do not know what made those older students at NC State so good, but I know what worked for me.

I think the greatest change for me

has been my ability to stay awake in class. After having to work a twelvehour night shift monitoring a radar screen, analyzing a satellite image and interpreting other data, staying awake through a class held in the middle of the day is not so tough. I also have a lot more confidence, especially when it comes to giving presentations.

Once it was my greatest flaw, but after extensive training in ROTC and having to make shift change presentations in the Air Force for an audience that had a combined 300 years of experience in weather, presentations now seem easy and not nearly as intimidating. The Air Force also taught me that you should work hard, but also play hard. You should give your full effort toward a project, but not let it consume you to the point that you lose your senses.

Take time to enjoy life, which for me means playing the occasional poker game or practicing my guitar.

And now, I am here at Virginia Tech to pursue that elusive master’s degree.

Using the skills that I gained in the Air Force, I am taking the next step toward a new dream, to one day be Dr. Randy Clark, professor of mechanical engineering.

RANDY CLARK -guest columnist -grad student -mechanical engineering

Collegiate Times benefits from feedback, improved by readers E

though the CT is a “newspaper,” news was second least popular followed by features. You guys should read features more — there’s some interesting stuff in there.

What’s the best thing about the CT, in my opinion? It’s free. Like the ad says, save your quarters for the meter.

A majority of our readership might agree with me. The fact that it’s easily available, and the content within it is accessible was also important to readers. Others thought the Sudoku, crossword puzzles, event calendar and the fact that we are entirely student-run were the best aspects of the paper.

This year, our lovely managing editor of design Bethany Buchanan decided to take on a child; figuratively speaking, of course. She slaved over the print redesign for months, and the product hit stands the first day of classes. The following were comments from those we surveyed: “It’s nice,” “inviting to the reader,” “too professional and Washington Post-like,” “love it, catches my eye,” “didn’t realize it until you brought it to my attention” and “completely neutral.”

Finally, I saved the most important question until the end.

What would you like to see more or less coverage of? Optimistically, not one individual surveyed said they would like to see less of something.

Common themes that you would like to see more of, however, are topics such as political issues, on-campus issues, local Blacksburg news about downtown and upcoming local events, and student organization topics and briefs.

On the bright side, there was one person that rated us with a score of nine as an overall rating, and claimed we don’t need to change anything. Of course, we like hearing that.

The last question was my inspiration for organizing the Meet and Greet in the first place. Overall, about 60 percent of those surveyed claimed to never have contributed to the CT. Reasons for not doing so included: not being asked, only liking to read

the paper, not knowing how to submit, being too busy or having plans to submit in the future. A small margin declined to answer the question.

About 30 percent, however, have put material in print, whether it was through letters to the editor, responses to articles as columnists, being interviewed or taking photographs.

One individual let us know through this question that they like turtles.

That’s mostly irrelevant though, and I appreciate those who contributed online comments at our Web site CollegiateTimes.com.

All of this being said, I think the Meet and Greet helped us get to the core of what I would term “social loafing.”

Because the majority doesn’t contribute to the CT, others feel as if they can’t, or shouldn’t do so. As you would know if you’ve read this column so far this year, I would love it if you contributed to our paper. The more the merrier.

We appreciate your critique of our paper. With an average rating of 8 from a small percentage of our readership, we would also love it if more of you guys came out to the next Meet and Greet we hold. I will let you know when we schedule another.

You want incentive? Those who filled out surveys got free stuff. I saw some great things given away from our swag cabinet, such as the sixth season of Scrubs, and a Nintendo Wii game. Don’t you want a whole season of Lost on DVD? That’s how we lure you in — all while you’re helping us out in the long run.

Thank you for your feedback.

Have any questions? E-mail me at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com.

JUSTIN GRAVES -public editor -sophomore -sociology major

Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor in Chief: Sara Mitchell Managing Editors: Peter Velz, Bethany Buchanan Production Manager: Thandiwe Ogbonna Public Editor: Justin Graves News Editors: Zach Crizer, Philipp Kotlaba News Reporter: Gordon Block Features Editors: Teresa Tobat, Topher Forhecz Features Reporters: Ryan Arnold, Mary Anne Carter, Dan Waidelich Opinions Editor: Debra Houchins Sports Editors: Joe Crandley, Alex Jackson Sports Reporters: Ed Lupien, Ray Nimmo, Ryan Trapp, Melanie Wadden, Thomas Emerick Sports Staff Writers: Garrett Busic, Matt Collette, Hattie Francis Copy Editor: Mika Rivera Layout Designers: Kelly Harrigan, Josh Son, Lindsey Bachand, Sara Spangler, Cecilia Lam Illustrator: Mina Noorbakhsh Multimedia Editor: Kevin Anderson Multimedia Reporter: James Carty, Riley Prendergast Online Director: Zach Swasey Online Programmer: Jamie Chung Collegiate Times Business Staff Business Manager: David Harries College Media Solutions Advertising Director: Tyler Ervin Asst Ad Director: Kendall Kapetanakis Account Executives: Nik Bando, Brandon Collins, Lee Eliav, Wade Stephenson, Allison Walton Inside Sales Manager: Judi Glass Office Manager: Kaelynn Kurtz Assistant Account Executives: Maddie Abram, Katie Berkel, Diane Revalski, Devon Steiner Creative Director: Sara Ford Asst Production Manager: Lara Treadwell Creative Services Staff: Jenn DiMarco, Kara Noble, Adam Sexton, Kyle Waldrop Student Publications Photo Staff Business Manager: Luke Mason

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sports 7

editors: joe crandley, alex jackson sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ telephone number: 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

october 2, 2009

Grimm proving to be the real deal

KYLE MOIR/SPPS

Redshirt senior linebacker Cody Grimm rushes Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee during Tech’s thrilling 16-15 victory over the Huskers on Sept. 19. Grimm is third on the team in tackles this year with 31 total.

ALEX JACKSON sports editor At the beginning of the season, many critics highlighted Tech’s linebackers as one of the weaker parts of the team.

Prior to 2009, two of Tech’s starting linebackers, sophomore Jake Johnson and redshirt sophomore Barquell Rivers had one combined start and just 11 combined tackles in their careers as Hokies.

Tech’s third starting linebacker, redshirt senior Cody Grimm, began the season with just two starts in his career.

Despite the fact that he only started twice in his career before this season, Grimm doesn’t look like a guy with little experience.

“He’s had a great year so far,” said defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

“The kid’s pound-for-pound probably our best football player on this football team.”

Grimm is currently third on the team with 31 total tackles. He has two forced fumbles, four pass break ups and four quarterback hurries to boot.

The senior has been a major factor in the improvement of Tech’s

defense from week one’s performance against Alabama when it allowed 498 total yards, to week four when it held then-No. 9 Miami to just seven points.

“Just from playing more, you get calmer out there, more relaxed,” Grimm said. “You understand what they’re trying to run. I think they’re better at understanding more of what the offensive is trying to do against us ... I think that helps a lot as well.”

Last week, in the Hokies’ 31-7 victory over Miami, Grimm lead his team with 11 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

“I think I’m just playing smarter.

Knowing how to disguise stuff better, I mean, like our blitz packages and stuff like that. I think I’m tackling as good as I have ... at least over the past two weeks, I’ve been pretty good tacklingwise,” Grimm said.

He credits Bud Foster for his improvement as well “Just blitz packages, before I’d be all anxious. Now, I run a bunch of my blitzes from my normal alignment.

The good thing about coach Foster is our defense — we always look like we’re running the same kind of defense every time. Then, sometimes we’ll

“

(Cody’s) had a great year so far. The kid’s poundfor-pound probably our best football player on this football team.

BUD FOSTER DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

|bring the house and sometimes we don’t.”

Along with redshirt senior Cam Martin, Grimm has had the duty of guiding first-year starters Rivers and Johnson in the right direction in their first years in new roles.

Johnson says Grimm’s work ethic has really had an impact on the way he prepares for game day.

“He definitely has that mindset. He’s a football player and it really translates I think to everybody else on the team,” Johnson said.

Foster agrees.

“He’s a guy that was here all summer working out and you know, pushing people to their best, because that’s what Cody does,” Foster said. “He works hard here all the time and pushes himself, and that’s how he’s going to bring the other guys along with him.”

Grimm said while he tries to help the younger guys as much as he can, it’s all about Johnson and Rivers getting the experience themselves.

“I think overall, I mean, as we see stuff more – a bunch of our checks and stuff we’ll make every week,” he said. “It’s just little things like getting everyone on the same page.

“Checks like that and then, there’s different calls where the back lines up, we’ll do different stuff ... and as they do it more, they know which situations to do it in and how to play different things — like long yardage, stuff like that.”

When Cody isn’t working hard to help his teammates and himself, he’s quite the prankster.

In his redshirt freshman year, Grimm and his teammates victimized now-redshirt senior guard Richard Graham with his favorite prank of all time. “(Graham) lost his wallet and we’re not sure if it was the bank or who it was but someone kept calling him, trying to ask for his social security number,” Grimm said. “And they called like 15 times for an hour, so he’s all freaking out.

“The guy finally quit calling and Richard called the police earlier — he’s like ‘some guy’s trying to get my information, I lost my wallet, I think he wants to get into my bank account and stuff like that.’”

Then, like an opposing quarterback who’s been under pressure all day, the vulnerable Graham couldn’t have seen what was coming next.

“When we left practice,” Grimm said, “(redshirt senior linebacker) Mark Muncey started calling him from his house with like star 67 or whatever.

(Muncey) just typed stuff into the computer, so the computer voice would be like, ‘Richard Graham, this is your last opportunity.’ He ended up having his buddy come over with a stocking on his face and break through the door.

“Once he came flying through the door — we all started yelling, pretending, ‘Ahh, what do you want from us?’

That was a pretty good one. Richard’s face got white and I had to immediately tell him it was a joke because I thought he was going to faint,” he laughed.

It’s easy to see why teammates and coaches alike have nothing but good things to say about Cody Grimm.

Well, everyone except maybe Graham.

AP Rankings TEAM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

RECORD

FLORIDA TEXAS ALABAMA LSU BOISE STATE

VIRGINIA TECH USC OKLAHOMA OHIO STATE CINCINNATI TCU HOUSTON IOWA OKLAHOMA STATE PENN STATE OREGON MIAMI (FL) KANSAS GEORGIA BRIGHAM YOUNG MISSISSIPPI MICHIGAN NEBRASKA CALIFORNIA GEORGIA TECH

4-0 4-0 4-0 4-0 4-0 3-1 3-1 2-1 3-1 4-0 3-0 3-0 4-0 3-1 3-1 3-1 2-1 4-0 3-1 3-1 2-1 4-0 3-1 3-1 3-1

october 2, 2009

ACC Standings

page 8

ATLANTIC

1 2 3 4 5 6

CONF. OVR.

1-1 BOSTON COLLEGE 1-1 N.C. STATE 0-0 MARYLAND 0-0 FLORIDA STATE 0-1 WAKE FOREST 0-1 CLEMSON

2-2 3-1 3-1 1-3 2-2 2-2

COASTAL

CONF. OVR.

1-0 2-1 2 MIAMI (FL) 2-1 3 GEORGIA TECH 0-0 4 DUKE 0-0 5 VIRGINIA 6 NORTH CAROLINA 0-1 1 VIRGINIA TECH

3-1 2-1 3-1 2-2 0-3 3-1

Hokies focus on game at hand despite modest opponent

KYLE COTHERN/SPPS

Junior quarterback Tyrod Taylor changes a play at the line of scrimmage during Tech’s 31-7 victory last weekend over the University of Miami. Taylor and the Hokies’ offense enter Saturday’s game against Duke University ranked 79th in total offense nationally.

AFTER TOUGH FOUR GAME STRETCH TO OPEN SEASON, TECH FACES OFF AGAINST BLUE DEVILS JOE CRANDLEY sports editor Until this week, Virginia Tech football has been on a roller coaster ride featuring a heartbreaker against Alabama, a beatdown against Marshall, a thrilling victory over Nebraska and a surprising win over the overrated and always despised Miami Hurricanes.

Now, the Hokies finally get a breather against Duke this Saturday.

Some teams like Virginia and Maryland just have bad seasons, but then there is Duke — a perennial doormat and a team never taken seriously within the Atlantic Coast Conference.

However, the Hokies remain focused on the opponent ahead and are not allowing themselves to be set up for a letdown.

“We weren’t supposed to win the past two games or something supposedly,” redshirt senior linebacker Cody Grimm said. “We know any team nowadays has good enough athletes. There’s as much on this game as there was on last game for an ACC in-conference game. There’s just so much on the line that you can’t let down that the other team has good enough athletes that they will beat you. Every team has really good athletes nowadays.”

“I think we got smart kids,” Tech head coach Frank Beamer said.

“They understand. The reality is we can turn on the video from last year and this is a Duke team without their quarterback. They’re well coached. I think they’re doing a good job down there — got some really good players and getting more good players so the reality of it is better be ready to play.”

It’s true. Despite Duke being Duke, the Blue Devils nearly shocked the Hokies last year without their starting quarterback in Lane Stadium but eventually lost 14-3. Tech only sealed the game in the final two minutes when Victor Harris returned an

interception for a touchdown.

This year, though, the Hokies will face starting quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, and he is just as good or better than all of the quarterbacks Tech has faced so far.

“He’s a good player,” Grimm said.

“I think this is like his fourth year starting. I remember back when he played against us. He’s a good player.

He’s a big athletic quarterback. We know what kind of athlete he is. We went to the fourth quarter with their team last year. They’re a good team and you can never take anyone lightly.”

In last year’s game, the Blue Devils featured a limited triple option attack with little passing until the very end of the game.

Don’t expect that this Saturday, though, as Lewis will be airing the ball out early and often to wide receivers Johnny Williams and Austin Kelly, both of whom have 19 or more receptions for the year.

Duke’s passing offense currently ranks third in the ACC with 267.2 yards per game, but the rushing game lags with 104.2 yards per game for the season. If Tech can sit back on the pass and not worry about the Blue Devils rushing attack, Lewis may struggle.

On the other side of the ball for Duke, the Blue Devils defense comes back fairly strong.

Stud defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase returns to anchor a solid defensive line, but star defensive tackles will be nothing new for Tech after facing Terrence Cody and Ndamukong Suh. “(Oghobasse) is very talented, just like everyone

we’ve faced,” redshirt junior center Beau Warren said. “Not only him, but the entire Duke defensive line I think is very underestimated. They’re all very athletic. (Oghobaase’s) similarity I would probably attribute that to (Suh) of Nebraska. He’s good.”

Tech gave up five turnovers in the first half last season against Duke, and had Lewis been able to play at quarterback, the outcome may have been different.

“The five turnovers really killed us, it killed us really bad, so that’s one thing that we have to come into this game and make sure we don’t do,” redshirt freshman running back Ryan Williams said. “We’ve been doing a great job and being consistent with that not turning the ball over.”

So far, the Hokies lead the ACC in turnover margin

with only four total turnovers, three of which were fumbles.

Provided the Hokies hold on to the ball like they have all season, Tech should not have much trouble with the Blue Devils, but the team is determined to not let higher expectations get the best of them.

“Last year in the fourth quarter,” Williams said, “the score was 7-3, so I’m not really going to dwell on what they’ve done in the past. I know they’re capable of coming in and trying to win the game just like they did last year, so I can’t really underestimate the team or the program or the players at all because they were very close to beating us last year.

“We just have to come out and play our game and execute like we did Saturday and hopefully we can come out with the win.”

The game will be broadcasted exclusively on ESPN 360 at noon.

Duke football still behind times H

ead-ringing clamor. Heartpumping battles. An eerie and overwhelming sense of the past.

All adequately describe aspects that form the inimitable aura of the infamous Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Mecca of college basketball and one of the first images that comes to the minds of many when they hear the word “Duke.”

It’s difficult to fathom that one of the most intimidating arenas in all of sports, both professional and college, is located less than 50 yards away from one of the least intimidating settings in Division I-A football — Wallace Wade Stadium.

Wallace Wade seats almost half the capacity of Lane Stadium and is more comparable to an oversized Texas high school stadium than any of the other 11 stages in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Complete with a track surrounding the football field, Wade has a horseshoe-style seating frame and awards fans with a view of the Blue Devils’ practice field through the awkward opening of the facility. The visiting team’s locker room is located beyond the practice field in a miniscule twosection box that has the look and the feel of a state park restroom. The press box is much like the media sideline in Cameron without the prestige — cramped and primitive.

If you are an onlooker taking in a game, you have to constantly remind yourself that you are, in fact, watching ACC football.

The prehistoric conditions of the facility, which was built in 1929, would be overlooked if the program fielded decent teams.

So many more times than not, however, games played at Wallace Wade become exhibitions for the visiting team with few supporters of the home team present to witness the slaughter. The opportunity to pay 40 dollars or less to see the Hokies play does not come around often for the public and Tech fans seize it. In recent years Hokies’ broadcaster Bill Roth has continually referred to Wallace Wade as “Lane Stadium South.”

In the places around the stadium where most other schools would choose to feature signs commemorating conference championships or bowl appearances of years past, the Blue Devils keep a running tally of the years when they boast the highest graduation rate in Division I-A football.

For most teams in the conference it’s a second “bye” week no matter how many times Frank Beamer states that Duke is a “real good football team.”

But credit must be given to Duke, which can begin to see the gleaming light of a low-tier bowl game at the end of a long and dark tunnel that’s remaining length is a couple more losing seasons. Ever since David Cutcliffe took over the head coaching duties in 2008, there has been an extremely faint pulse coming from Durham, a location where any intensity of resonation signals progress from the Ted Roof era that lasted four seasons prior and produced as many wins.

Senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis was the top returning passer in the

conference coming into this season with over 194 passing yards averaged per game in 2008. A mobile quarterback in his own right, the general consensus around the league is that he is a better player than Tyrod Taylor.

With Lewis at the helm, Duke is fourth in the conference in scoring offense this season and members of the team’s receiving corps currently lead the ACC in touchdown catches and receptions.

But perhaps the statistic from which the Blue Devils are garnering the most confidence in preparation for Saturday’s contest is the result of last year’s game between the two teams with Tech only defeating Duke by 11 on a cold and wet November night in Blacksburg.

“Don’t let the name of the school fool you, everybody is human,” Lewis said in an interview for GoDuke.com.

“You can go out there and play against anybody on any given day. We had a successful day against them last year and who’s to say we can’t have the same success against them this year.”

“I think there’s some confidence that was gained from playing in that game, but this is a better Virginia Tech team than that team,” Cutcliffe said. “Our team knows that, so we obviously have to be a better Duke to find a way to have a chance in the fourth quarter to win this game. There’s some confidence you draw from that game, but you still have to go out and play every snap and compete with them. But that’s something that, looking back at last year, that they drew on.”

And at 2-2, the Blue Devils don’t even hold a losing record at the moment, albeit their wins coming against Army and a cross-town Football Championship Subdivision program, North Carolina Central. Two weeks ago, Duke gave an above-average No. 22 Kansas team a run for its money in the first half before succumbing to the Jayhawks’ proficient offense and losing 44-16.

But with the Hokies winning nine of their last 10 meetings with Duke dating back to the late 1960s and the Vegas lines favoring Tech by 17 points, the stars are still highly unlikely to align for the Blue Devils on Saturday.

So the encore performance for the statement win over Miami will most likely be anticlimactic and lackluster with the majority of Tech fans only having to drape themselves over their computer screens watching the ESPN360.com feed for one or maybe two quarters before receiving affirmation of their foregoing perceptions of the contest. Solace can certainly be taken, however, in the fact that the Hokies’ ranking in the top-10 is all but secured for another week with a record improving to an attractive 4-1. And this weekend, that will have to suffice.

ED LUPIEN -sports reporter -senior -communication major

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