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Wednesday January 20, 2010
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COLLEGIATETIMES 107th year, issue 02
News, page 2
Short on service
Features, page 3
Opinions, page 5
Sports, page 7
Classifieds, page 6
Sudoku, page 6
Helping hands extend to Haiti
Faculty to student comparison 700
Hospitality & Tourism Management Breakdown
651
Majors
600
581
Faculty
651
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362 362
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THANDIWE OGBONNA/COLLEGIATE TIMES
HTM department grapples with growing population HOPE MILES news staff writer As budgets face cuts and enrollment numbers continue rising, the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management has scrambled to address a shortage of faculty and available classes that threatened to prevent students from graduating on time. On Nov. 4, Rick Perdue, professor and HTM department head, sent an e-mail to HTM students notifying them of insufficient faculty to teach required courses. This would possibly require students to take these courses during the first summer session or during another year. In the following weeks and months, department administrators have grappled with how to find more resources for class sections despite decreasing funds and an expanding student body. “There has been dramatic growth in enrollment over the last three years,” Perdue said. “We have not had corresponding growth in the number of faculty.” The numbers of students in HTM have almost doubled in the past three years, but the budget has remained steady. Consequently, more students are being served with the same budget and fewer faculty members. As a first step, Perdue, working with Pamplin College of Business Vice President Daniel Wubah, gave top priority to students planning to graduate this spring for registration in classes required for graduation. Juniors are guaranteed to get at least one of their required classes. Casey Ademski, a senior HTM major, would have been one of the students most affected by the shortage. “I was really worried when I got the e-mail from Perdue,” he said, “but I ended up being fine. I only needed a few classes and I got them.” A second strategy being pursued is adding additional class sections, Perdue said, in order to eliminate prolonging any student’s graduation date or forcing anyone to attend summer courses. Additionally, extreme demand for a short supply of class sections contributed to overworked advisers, who
faced a flood of students locked out of a required course. “The major issue was that people had to spend every other day in their adviser’s office trying to get approved for classes,” Ademski said. “It took hours and it was a big inconvenience.” “In any department, if you have a growth in the number of students and you don’t have the faculty resources, they will face that pressure,” Wubah said. Six years ago, total student enrollment at Virginia Tech was projected to be 29,000 in 2012. However, by 2009 the enrollment was already about 30,000, Wubah said. Tech has tried to cut down on enrollment numbers to ensure students will get the classes they need. The freshman class of 2012 was 5,400. This year’s freshman class was cut to 5,000. Only 5,000 of the 21,000 applications received were accepted. This move took place despite the state’s intentions that public universities maintain enrollment numbers regardless of diminishing financial support, Wubah said. “If there were no budget cuts, we would be able to add in faculty to those departments,” he said. Since 2007, Tech has gone through five budget cuts, taking away a total of $68 million and more than 33 percent of state funding from the university. Tech’s operational budget for the 20092010 school year is $1.1 billion, with the state supplying less than 20 percent of that amount. Increasing class size alone would not have solved the problem, Perdue said. As classes become larger, the size affects what can be done in the classroom. Any class that depends on writing, case studies, a laboratory component, or analytical studies cannot be taught in large group sections. “There is also a reality that there aren’t a lot of big classrooms on this campus,” Perdue said. “In order for students to get a quality education, they should get engagement with faculty members,” Wubah said. see HTM / page two
COURTESY OF MICHAEL SHROYER
Junior chemistry major Leah Heist and Tech alumnus Forrest Shroyer play with two Haitian children in Port-au-Prince several days before the quake.
HOKIES UNITED TO PARTNER WITH AID ORGANIZATIONS IN HAITIAN REBUILDING EFFORTS FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE
help
LIANA BAYNE news reporter Students, faculty and community members came together last night to coordinate Hokie United’s response to the tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti, drawing on previous ties between the Virginia Tech community and the Caribbean nation in efforts to offer support and hope for the future of the country. A 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti on Jan. 12. Since then, various relief groups have been working to try to provide aid to a nation already riddled by poverty and violence. Hokies United is a specialized group that only convenes to respond to tragedies. Faculty representative Judi Lynch, director of special initiatives for the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, explained that the group’s mission is to seek ways to give back in the name of the Tech community. Lynch said that she hoped that the Hokies United efforts could help produce a global awareness of the situation in Haiti. “After all of that was given to us after April 16th, we have a responsibility to be able to assist when there are opportunities,” she said. “This is our way to give back.” “If it were up to us,” Lynch said, “Hokies United would never have to come together again.” However, in light of the recent tragedy, Hokies United threw itself into action. In a Tuesday night meeting run by SGA president Brandon Carroll, student leaders came together to discuss ways to raise funds, and identify various charities that those funds can be channeled to. Hokies United has already joined forces with Partners in Health, the most prevalent aid group to be found in Haiti. Established in 1985, they have continued to grow, providing medical and other services to Haitians and connecting with other U.S.-based aid groups. Paul Farmer, who wrote last year’s freshman common book, founded PIH. He spoke on Tech’s campus in April 2009.
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Donate through Hokies United at hokiesunited.org.vt.edu. All funds go to Partners in Health.
PIH has already coupled with Hokies United and created a Web site through which people can donate money to Haiti. A feature of this Web site allows for the tracking of funds to monitor just how much the Tech nation as a whole is giving to aid efforts in Haiti. On Tuesday night, representatives from PIH contributed their ideas to different student-run focus groups that dealt with the issues of logistics, broad fundraising, the hosting of special fundraising events, and educating the public on the issues facing Haiti. PIH has had ongoing projects in Haiti since 1985. They have also been working with Engineers Without Borders, whose Tech chapter president was also present at the meeting. Tim Moore, a Blacksburg-based Tech graduate, has worked with Engineers Without Borders since his graduation. Moore became involved with the aid effort in Haiti three years ago after he and his wife adopted their daughter from the country. “Haiti holds a special place in my heart,” Moore said. Since 2006, Moore has been working with PIH and EWB to build clinics and schools. The two major projects that Moore is involved with are an outpatient clinic in the town of Hinche and a school, orphanage, agricultural center and medical clinic in the town of Zaranger. In Hinche, Moore said, the outpatient clinic would be large enough to treat
about 600 people per day. Moore also said that one of the more important features of his multiple projects in Zaranger would probably now be the orphanage and school complex. “There’s probably a significant number of orphans now,” he said. “The number has probably tripled or even quadrupled.” Moore has travelled to Haiti multiple times for project assessments. His next trip, planned for this March, has been postponed. Moore is also teaming up with Tech students through Foundation Mamno. “This is a small consortium of people getting together to develop a better way of life for the people in Haiti,” Moore said. He’s also teamed up with international charity Oxfam. The Tech chapter of Oxfam, Moore said, was in the process of raising about $16,000 to develop and build water wells for the Zaranger project before the earthquake hit the country. Despite obvious delays as the relief effort now focuses on helping deal with damage from the earthquake, Moore intends to see his projects through. “There’s still going to be a need for these things after they get the initial damage under control,” he said. “Maybe there’ll be an expedited growth. Maybe we can get these other projects developed in the meantime.” As EWB works through PIH and Hokies United to provide relief, other relief organizations are also continuing their previous efforts in Haiti and hoping to tailor them to the needs of those affected by the damage inflicted by the earthquake. Theo Dillaha, faculty adviser for the Tech chapter of EWB, is also the director of the Tech Office of International Research, Education and Development. The office has been working in Haiti for the last three years. They were initially approached by the Richmond Catholic Diocese, which cooperates with the Hinche diocese in Haiti. A connection was then forged between Tech and PIH. In later projects, the office has connected with Haiti via an agriculture-focused arm of PIH, Zamni Agrikol. Another group, Caritas, is also involved in office’s construction work. Dillaha said that his office has been working towards the development of a
demonstration farm and getting new farming methods into the central plateau of the county, east of the capitol city Portau-Prince. Dillaha is also the director of the office’s SANREM CRSP project, a five-year research program that would support conservation agriculture and sustainable food programs in Haiti’s central plateau. This project would hopefully help make changes to the way the people do their farming, to try to increase their food production, Dillaha said. Members of Dillaha’s team were in Port-au-Prince for SANREM CRSP’s initial meetings just before the earthquake hit. The team had left the city and was en route for the central areas in which the farms would be concentrated just over an hour before the earthquake hit. LUKE MASON/SPPS
More than 100 students attended a meeting to plan fundraising efforts. “We were very lucky that the first two days of the conference were in Port-auPrince, but that a few hours before the earthquake hit, they were not still there,” Dillaha said. One member of that team who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake was Wade Thomason, an extension grains specialist and assistant professor of crop and soil environmental science at Tech. On Tuesday, the day of the earthquake, Thomason had left the city in the late afternoon and was traveling out of the city and to the farm sites on the central plateau that he’s planning on working on. “We didn’t feel the first earthquake,” he said, “because we were in the Land Rover and driving up into the mountains.” Thomason and his traveling companions did feel the aftershocks, but there wasn’t any physical damage in the area he was in, about 40 miles outside of Portau-Prince. Thomason’s travel plans changed after they realized the severity of the earthquake. “We very quickly realized that the partners we were going to work with were going to help them, so we decided to get see HAITI / page two
Tech plans to extend wireless Internet service to residence halls PRIYA SAXENA news staff writer Dorm renovations and added equipment are being phased in to increase wireless Internet coverage on Virginia Tech’s campus. Kenneth Belcher, associate director for occupancy management, said there would be renovations of all dorms built before 1983 within the next 15 to 20 years. This will include expansions in regards to wireless connectivity. East Ambler-Johnston Hall is currently under renovation and will reopen in fall 2011. “Before we started the renovation, Ambler-Johnston only had one location that had a wireless port in it,” Belcher said. “But when we finish this renovation, we’re going to have about 1,200 beds that will have wireless coverage. It’ll be a big boost for us.” Most residence halls lack wireless cov-
erage, but the newly opened New Hall West is breaking that pattern. “New Hall West was designed as wireless pretty much throughout. That’s really our first building that has that kind of structure,” Belcher said. Belcher stated that the goal is to attempt to have at least one wireless spot in each of the facilities, and afterwards to try to expand coverage. “Hokie Stone and cinderblock walls and everything are wonderful, but they also block a lot of the signal,” Belcher said. According to Belcher, Housing and Dining Services are working very closely with Communications Network Services. He said that the number of wireless points has probably been tripled over the past year. “(CNS) really gave us a pretty big boost this past year,” Belcher said. “We’ve got some more coming as money and equipment and personnel that can
install them are available.” The equipment will not be a major expense, according to Belcher. “It’s really the design and having the time and capability to do it when you’re pulled in a thousand different directions,” Belcher said. “Everybody needs something right away and we’re one of the groups that needs something.” “We’re constrained by physics,” said Steven Lee, a communications research engineer. “We use the unlicensed spectrum for wireless connectivity, and that’s limited. So we can theoretically only put in so many access points in a given location before interference kicks in and it’s turned into a negative effect. So we kind of hit that limit, and then performance will drop.” Although it may not be entirely resolved in the near future, Lee confirmed that there would be changes. “What you will see happening is that the access points are getting more intelli-
gent so that they can reduce their power to help minimize the effects of other access points,” Lee said. He also said more advanced equipment would help alleviate the high traffic in the campus airwaves. Tech offers two main wireless connections: VT-WLAN, which has a login screen, and VT-Wireless, its encrypted equivalent. “As far as performance goes, either one is just as good as the other,” Lee said. “VT-Wireless is preferred just because it provides another layer of encryption for your data between yourself and the access point. ... It takes a data packet and encapsulates it so that it’s difficult for others to read that data.” VT-Wireless might also be preferable because there is no need to open a browser and log in every time. “It’ll log in for you automatically,” Lee said. However, Lee said many complain
that it is difficult to install the personal network access certificate, decreasing VT-Wireless usage. The Network Access Certificate for the network has been available since the summer of 2008. There are no plans to merge both networks into VT-Wireless, Lee said, because it uses a technology not all devices support. “Guest users inversely have to log in through VT-WLAN, so we’ll keep VTWLAN or something that will replace VT-WLAN, but it will still be a Web browser access, functionally the same,” Lee said. “We may decide to change the name.” For students who are sitting in class and complaining about the time it takes to log in, Lee and Kidd suggest to call 4HELP (campus extension 1-4357), as there are no tips in getting around that issue. “It’s probably demand-based. It shouldn’t take that long to log in, even if the room is loaded. So, open up the
trouble ticket and someone will take a look.” Jeffrey Kidd, a spokesman for Communications Network Services, said those experiencing trouble can either call the 4HELP number or if they can log on, they can submit a request for assistance at the 4help.vt.edu site. The more that students provide feedback to technicians behind the scenes, the more attention can be called to it and the more deeply the problem can be looked into. “So if you have trouble, I encourage you to report them,” Lee said. “If you get online go to the Web site or send an e-mail.” Kidd said there would not be any change in the wireless networks in the foreseeable future. “Technology changes, but based on what we know now and things of that sort, they’re both going to continue to cooperate.”
2HTM:news Budget limits faculty growth january 20, 2010
from page one
“Large class sizes aren’t a solution to the problem.” Sue Murrmann, a professor in the HTM department, agrees. “When you have lower numbers of students in class you have more time to interact with individuals in the class,” she said. “When the class sizes increase you can’t engage in that kind of discussion.” Perdue, who will be teaching four or even five classes this semester, stressed the department would ensure students would graduate as promised. “I am going to get these kids out of here. I’m going to make it happen,” Perdue said. “It is frustrating to see these kinds of challenges that we are going through right now,” Wubah said. Perdue indicated the situation has
been resolved for the upcoming semester. The same cannot be said for next year. “If they keep cutting our budget, we will get to the point where we have no options,” Wubah said. The cuts and high enrollment are also affecting the morale of faculty members, who have received no pay raises for the past two years. “Interaction with students is personally satisfying,” Murrmann said. “As the numbers of students go up, you can’t interact with them, so it isn’t as personally satisfying. Outside of the class I have more interaction with students, there are more students to talk to, so it also increases satisfaction. There is a trade off.” HTM professors have switched
some graduate and undergraduate sections and increased enrollment in their classes. “In the past I had 30 to 35 students, and now I have somewhere between 50 students,” Murrmann said. Faculty members are also exploring the option of the “pathways” plan. When students attend freshman orientation, they will set up a schedule that maps out the classes that will be taken during their college career, with the hope that the department will be able to predict the number of seats needed for students ahead of time, Wubah said. “Unless we add some faculty members, the problem is not going away,” Perdue said. “We are working on a long term solution, but do not yet have a definitive plan.”
new river valley news editor: zach crizer university editor: philipp kotlaba newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
Haiti: University uses ties to channel relief funds from page one
out of the way so they could focus on medical assistance,” Thomason said. “The most unfortunate thing,” Thomason said, “is that it seemed like the country was beginning to gain momentum, just within the past few months. Port-au-Prince seemed cleaner.” Both Thomason and Dillaha said that they hope their projects can continue at a later date. Most of the projects that go through the Tech Office of International Research Education
and Development have to be approved and funded by the agency that coordinates aid activities in Haiti, the United States Agency for International Development. Dillaha said that after discussions with their partners in Haiti, talks would resume within about a month to determine priorities. “I feel they will want to continue with planned projects to rebuild the country,” Dillaha said. For now, Dillaha’s office is working with Hokies United and PIH. All funds collected by his office are being donated to the PIH Web site so that
Hokies United can keep better track of the total funds donated by Techaffiliated groups. Thomason said that although there have been somewhat shocking scenes featured in the media, such as people brandishing machetes in the streets of Port-au-Prince, he doesn’t believe that’s the true essence of the Haitian people. “This is a terrible disaster in a country that on its best day struggles,” Thomason said. “Desperate times bring out desperate actions. What would we do if it had happened to us?”
look down.
pick up.
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editor: topher forhecz featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865
january 20, 2010
COLLEGIATETIMES
Tucked away projects showcase history of experimentation
CALLIE HYDER/SPPS
These stairs are a concrete replica of a flight of stairs from the Inn at Middleton in South Carolina. Created in spring 2002 by students of associate professor Hunter Pittman, the stairs go as high as 10 feet up.
CALLIE HYDER/SPPS
The “space frame” was created by architecture’s associate dean of research Bob Schubert’s class.
THREE MILES OFF CAMPUS, A CENTER WITH STUDENT PROJECTS FROM THE PAST INSPIRES THE FUTURE RYAN ARNOLD features reporter It has the stillness of a graveyard, but the landscape’s icons, vivid and poised, are hardly tombstones. The unkempt grass adjacent to the College of Architecture and Urban Studies’ Environmental Systems Laboratory is dotted with unique projects executed by faculty and students, both past and present. Whether showcasing masonry or metal, the grounds are a curious archive of experimentation. Tucked within the expansive Prices Fork Research Center, the laboratory is approximately three miles west of campus. Its walls contain, among other things, a woodshop and wind tunnel. The facility origins backpedal more than half a century. Soon after World War II, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Engineering Homer Hurst first utilized the land to test construction methods for agricultural buildings. Bob Schubert, School of Architecture and Design associate dean of research, said Hurst pushed various structural setups to their collapsing limits. “What was left over ended up being the facility,” Schubert said, “and it got added onto over time.” Entering the 1980s, Schubert said the school funneled favorable resources into the Environmental Systems Laboratory, which at one time maintained an on-site staff of four technicians and one secretary. “It was a very vital and thriving organization,” he said. Faculty managed large, innovative undertakings including building a 28-foot diameter geodesic dome that simulated universal sky conditions and a house that hosted early solar
energy studies. Budget cuts eventually slimmed the operation, Schubert said, although students maintained the laboratory’s enthusiasm, migrating from campus to realize loftier, hands-on blueprints. “Typically projects of that nature that are large or particularly messy or you’re not quite sure what the outcome’s going to be, they get done out there,” he said. “It’s essentially our backyard.” And some products literally occupy the lawn. A tractor-trailer’s length behind the solar house resides a cluster of notable student efforts best described as a roof, a set of stairs and a tower. Hovering slightly less than eight feet, the roof is known as a “space frame.” It is a truss system, which has a frame formed by repeating triangular units such as inverted pyramids. The system is rigid yet lightweight, allowing long spans with limited column supports. The roof originated from an architecture course Schubert taught in 1989-90 alongside Jack Davis, current College of Architecture and Urban Studies dean. They prompted students to design an “open-air pavilion” based on a kit of truss components. The class collectively determined and built the winning entry. The stairs, too, derive from an architecture course, specifically in the third year of study. “There’s a semester that is spent where a group of students immerse themselves in a particular building,” Schubert said. As part of the immersion, students occasionally mock full scale a certain aspect of the building. In spring 2002, associate professor Hunter Pittman’s students poured a concrete replica of one flight of stairs in South Carolina’s celebrated The Inn at Middleton. The
16 steps peak at 10 feet where a wall of cinder blocks supports a small platform. “It’s always been this kind of oddity,” Pittman said, “this stair that leads to nowhere.” Opposite the stairs is the tower, which was a solo endeavor by graduate student Jonathan Foote in 2001. More than 5,000 orange and blush-colored bricks rise 18 feet, topped by a dome with a round opening in the center, known as an oculus. “I only know that (the oculus is) the width of my shoulders,” Foote said, “because how the building was constructed was from the inside out.” After ducking the tower’s low entry arch, a modest wooden seat juts from the rear wall, asking for occupants. Moss and vines give the five-by-five foot room character, and spider webs are sparse. “When I look at it now … I wish I could take a chainsaw and cut (the seat) out of there,” Foote said, laughing. “It’s really a place to stand.” But that’s how design goes, Foote said. You build to find what ideas flourish and those that require shaping, and reshaping, ad infinitum. Bob Schubert said the Environmental Systems Laboratory and similar research facilities give students the leeway to venture, and possibly fail. “These happen to be the surviving projects,” he said, “the ones that we felt were particularly successful, that a student going there today could learn something from it just by looking at it.” The College of Architecture and Urban Studies rarely rejects student proposals, Schubert said, sometimes donating hundreds of dollars for Student Initiated Research Grants. The monetary program upholds the disciplines’ emphasis on using hands in conjunction with the mind. And often the mind conceives what a desk simply cannot support.
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january 20, 2010
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editor: debra houchins opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
january 20, 2010
The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
Your Views [letter to the editor]
Thanks for your support
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elcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their winter break. I would like to thank all of our great students that took the time to come see us during the break. Your support is sincerely appreciated. You helped us get off to one of the best starts in school history! The grind of the ACC schedule is upon us. The next 13 games will challenge us physically, emotionally and mentally. You can’t get too high after a big win or too low after a heartbreaking defeat. It is about playing one game at a time, learning and moving on. You must defend your home court and find a way to steal a
win on the road! We need to have an ACC environment in the Cassell each and every night. Simply put, you are a big part of our success. Our players feed off of your energy and passion. The Cassell Guard helps us guard and compete at the level needed to win. If your schedule permits, join me for Chalk Talk at noon on Thursday, Jan. 21 for insight into our game preparation for Boston College. I look forward to seeing you in the Cassell on Saturday for our 1:30 p.m. tipoff. Please arrive early and set the tone as together we defend the Cassell! Thanks again for your support.
Seth Greenberg Men’s basketball head coach MCT CAMPUS
Genetically altering embryos an unethical step T
hink about what Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, Shawn Johnson and Diane Lane all have in common. Babe, with his hands gripped tightly around a bat, once made the crowd hush in awe. Einstein was able to easily calculate numbers, mixed with letters, and so forth, in only a matter of seconds. Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson continues to twist flawlessly and flip her body into various mesmerizing contortions. Actress Diane Lane, at age 43, is still as beautiful as ever. These four people have succeeded in life because of their strong passions, which ultimately drove them to success. Some characteristics may have been genetic or natural. Those traits passed down from their parents, enabled them to be born with an innate ability to excel. The key word here is natural. If everyone were born with the same capabilities and talents as these four were, then no one in this world would be considered “special.” No one in this world would be considered famous, or be able to run faster, or think quicker, or have better physical features than the other — everyone would be the
same. Not one of the previously listed people was genetically altered as an embryo. Not one of them was subjected to the combined processes of preimplantation genetic diagnosis and in vitro fertilization. The process of genetically altering embryos using PGD combined with IVF should be considered illegal. The combination of these processes allow for the creation of “savior siblings” which are unethical in nature. A savior sibling is “a child selected as a result of genetic screening to have some innate characteristic that will help save the life of an existing brother or sister,” according to the entry for “savior sibling” taken from WorldWideWords. com. By using PGD, we are creating a life solely to save another life. This coincides with the Kantian idea of practical imperative. This idea suggests that people shouldn’t use others in order to obtain personal goals or to seek an unfair advantage. Parents shouldn’t be using these helpless embryos as spare body parts. Many of the embryos that are not implanted into the mother’s uterus are
Proposition 8 and the trial that should be seen I
t’s too bad the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that California’s Proposition 8 trial on same-sex marriage — Perry vs. Schwarzenegger — may not be broadcast beyond the courthouse. Like the Scopes “monkey trial” with which it is sometimes compared, Perry is not a legal case in the strict sense. It is a morality play aimed at all of us, speaking in a sense for all of us, and we should get to hear it. In 1925, the national media descended on the small mountain town of Dayton, Tenn., to watch legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow go up against Populist leader William Jennings Bryan. The ostensible basis for the suit was whether barring an instructor from teaching evolution violated his rights. In truth, Scopes became a stage play reflecting a brewing public debate between fundamentalist Christian values and enlightenment scientific positions. The trial was covered by hordes of print journalists and was the first to be broadcast nationally by radio, and countless Americans tuned in. The parallels with the Perry trial are telling. It too is peopled by star lawyers, most notably David Boies and Theodore Olson, who faced off in Bush vs. Gore and have now joined hands in support of gay marriage. The issue is equally fundamental. And what happens in San Francisco may be the first step in the resolution of an issue that not only affects, but implicates, us all. The question of cameras in the courtroom involves a trade-off between every citizen’s right to watch the processes of government and fairness to the parties, witnesses and jurors. It is all the more complicated here by questions of whether the trial court followed procedures in allowing the broadcast in the first place. But Perry, like Scopes, is no ordinary trial. In most court cases, something happened, and the purpose of the trial is to ascertain exactly what that was. Did the defendant mug the victim or cook the corporation’s books; was a company negligent to design the car the way it did? When it comes to courtrooms, we worry about fact-finding biased by the presence of cameras, and about witness and juror safety. The questions being tried in Perry are of an entirely different nature. To “prove” their case, the plaintiffs must show that California has no legitimate — let alone compelling — interest in regulating who gets married. So the witnesses are “testifying” about the history and meaning of marriage, the profoundness of their love for one another, the morality of homosexuality and animus about gays. Guess what. Legal procedure won’t resolve these “facts.”
The current trial is but the first step on a ladder that was always designed to end in the Supreme Court. Cases like Perry have almost nothing to do with the parties in them (though those parties will surely be affected). They are aimed at social change, and in this dispute, some see the Supreme Court as the brass ring. The thing about social change through the courts is that it invariably rests on what the broader public thinks. Consider the famous social change cases: Brown vs. Board of Education on segregation in public schools; almost any abortion case; Lawrence vs. Texas on gay rights and anti-sodomy laws. In these cases the court did not buck or define social views so much as confirm them. More and more, for better or for worse, Supreme Court decisions on social issues reflect opinion polls. That’s why the plaintiffs in Perry want the trial televised, and the defendants do not. There’s a huge national to and fro going on over gay marriage. The plaintiffs hope to out the opposition to gay marriage as nothing but irrational hatefulness. The trial record is intended to be Exhibit A in the Supreme Court. But to prevail, the plaintiffs and their supporters ultimately must capture the hearts and minds of the American people. The high court, perversely, felt broadcasting should be banned precisely because “this case ... inolves issues subject to intense debate in our society.” The majority stressed that studies had not shown “the effect of broadcasting in high-profile, divisive cases.” What, imaginably, could that bad effect be? That the American people might have views on the subject and debate them? Many proponents of same-sex marriage in the gay community opposed the Perry litigation, believing that the suit came too quickly; that public opinion is unsettled. Scopes may be instructive here as well. John Scopes lost and paid a small fine, though even that was overturned on appeal. It’s wrong, of course, to think the Supreme Court will “resolve” this issue, any more than it managed to resolve the issues of segregation, abortion, the death penalty or gay rights, for that matter. But what the court ultimately decides (if it decides), and on what basis, will profoundly affect the terms of the debate. If matters of social change are going to be debated in the courts, we all should get to view the process — and, through our reactions, to participate in it.
BARRY FRIEDMAN -mcclatchy newspapers
left to disintegrate or are used in scientific experiments. According to the president’s Council on Bioethics, “there is no comprehensive, uniform, or enforceable mechanism for data collection, monitoring or oversight relating to the use and disposition of human embryos in the context of clinical practice or research”. However, the creation of savior siblings isn’t the only criticism of PGD and IVF. These processes combined can also create “designer babies” and ultimately have the power to disrupt humanity. If all humans were meant to be skinny, pretty, blue-eyed with good hair, smart, athletic, and be perfect in every way, then that is the condition in which this world would already be, right? When we start to genetically alter the genes of our children we are starting to mess around with evolution. Natural selection becomes not so natural and the concept of “survival of the fittest” is thrown out the window. “If we’re going to produce children who are claimed to be superior because of their particular genes, we risk introducing new sources of discrimination
in society,” stated Marcy Darnovsky, associate director of the Center for Genetics Society. If we continue to enhance our healthy children, what would our message be to society? Today as Americans we are already faced with class differences that have the potential to evolve into genetic differences. Will we soon be classified as “gen-rich,” those who possess the magic genes, and “gen-poor,” the majority of what we, as humans, are today? Our society has the potential to be great, to be every so often blessed with the athleticism of Babe Ruth or the bewitching routines of Shawn Johnson. But these incredible individuals are meant to be sporadic — to come and pass — and most of all, to be natural. The insufficient laws concerning PGD allow for both parents and doctors to join forces in an open playing field. PGD is not formally monitored in the United States. There is no limit to what a parent can ask for, and no limit to the outrageous possibilities a practicing doctor could fathom. The only established guideline allowing for
a method to be moved from scientific testing to the clinical realm is the approval of two peer-reviewed papers showing that the risk/benefit ratio is “acceptable.” “PGD will allow parents to choose the child they want, not simply reject the ones they don’t want. It will change the overriding purpose of IVF, from a treatment for fertility, to being able to pick and choose embryos like consumer goods — producing many, discarding most, and desiring only the chosen few,” claimed Stephen Baird, author of “Designer Babies: Eugenics Re-packaged or Consumer Goods.” The method of combining PGD with IVF to alter the genetics of embryos needs to be considered rationally. Impulsively creating “savior siblings” and “designer babies” under inadequate laws is a recipe for disaster.
FINLEY HINES -regular columnist -junior -communication major
Keep an open mind no matter what your religious views are “
Like a parachute, the mind is useless unless it is open.” We’ve all heard that before — probably read it on a Garfield poster in the fifth grade, but it’s true. And my experiences with religion are that some people use it as an excuse to be closed-minded and to take others’ opinions as their own because it’s easier than exploring for themselves. I do not understand why it is more important to people to love their religion than to love themselves. Let me digress: Why is it that people use religion as a way to keep from getting to know themselves and what works for them? People do this because it’s easier to love Jesus (or whomever they choose) than to learn to love themselves. It’s easier to love said religious figure than to let their fear of love go and love another person. It’s easier to think that premarital sex is wrong than to explore themselves and figure out what is right for them. It’s easier for people to say that marriage is only for a man and woman than to open their minds and keep their nose out of other people’s business, or to show hate than love — even though their religion most likely preaches the opposite, or even to hide behind the pages of a book than
to form their own opinions. And, furthermore, it’s easier to absorb everything their parents feed them than to look out onto the world with their own two eyes. These things have all become the easy way out because people have learned how to use, and twist and manipulate their faith into something that it was never intended for. Does anyone else see how this is just a huge slap in the face to one’s beliefs? I was baptized Catholic, I grew up as a Christian, and I attended an evangelical bible camp for eight years of my life, until I realized that as the years went by the people that were telling me about this awesome God were the same ones that were trying to tell me what to think about other issues. I don’t do well being told what to think and no one should let someone hold that power over them. Nowadays, I consider myself agnostic. I appreciate everybody’s religion, I truly find learning about religion fascinating, and I know that there is something out there bigger than myself. But I also know myself well enough to know that to put a name, face and story to that being would go against everything that I stand for.
Why isn’t the Bible’s message of acceptance more important than that of who should be able to marry whom? Why aren’t the peaceful messages of the Quran more important than the violent acts that people use the Quran to justify? Why isn’t the “everything is the property of God” passage in the Torah more important than the lives being taken in Israel over physical property? I know these are radical examples, but they are legitimate and they are real in our world. Religion is supposed to give people a purpose; it is supposed to make one be a better person. When did being a better person start meaning to ostracize, judge and force one’s beliefs on other people? Keep an open mind; don’t use your religion as an excuse to be judgmental and hateful toward people whom are different than you — I’m almost positive that’s not what Jesus would do.
REBECCA SAMUELSON -regular columnist -sophomore -engineering major
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january 20, 2010
To reach NCAA goals, Tech teams must excel in ACC play WOMEN NEED ACC WINS FOR TOURNEY BID MICHAEL BEALEY sports staff writer With twelve games remaining in the regular season, the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team (11-6, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) looks to make a crucial run for the postseason. The Hokies decisively beat then-No. 10 North Carolina for their first ACC win Thursday. It was the first time Tech had beaten a ranked opponent since 2006, and it was the first time it had beaten UNC in 25 years. The team believed it was building momentum for a late-season run. However, the Hokies fell to No. 25 University of Virginia and Wooden Award candidate Monica Wright at home Monday night, 56-70. Now, with 11 of their final 12 games against ACC opponents, the Hokies face a difficult challenge — to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. “We’ve got a whole lot of basketball left,” said Virginia Tech head coach Beth Dunkenberger, who looks to guide the team to its first winning record since 2007. “We have played just a handful of ACC games so far and I think (UVa women’s head basketball coach Debbie Ryan) is right, this league is wide open, there are a lot of young teams.” With 11 of the 12 teams in the ACC having at least one conference win and a winning record overall, nearly every team has an opportunity to play in the postseason. The Hokies have compiled an impressive resume thus far considering the stiff competition they have faced. They knocked off a top-10 opponent, stayed competitive in their first three ACC contests and have a winning record in their non-conference schedule. However, Tech missed an important opportunity by losing to UVa. With a victory, the Hokies would have beaten consecutive ACC opponents for the first time since the 2006-07 season when they knocked off UVa and Miami. Tech would have also moved from its current standing of 10th in the ACC to potentially as high as fifth, which would have improved its seeding for the ACC Tournament. “I don’t think there’s any lack of focus (following the UNC game),” Dunkenberger said. “I think this team knew what they needed to do. I do think that we struggled to execute it though.” Dunkenberger felt optimistic when
KUMAR VEETRAG/SPPS
Junior center Brittany Gordon posts up against Virginia on Monday. looking toward the final stretch of the season. “Long term, I think that this team has a chance to play in the postseason, and that certainly needs to be a goal for them,” Dunkenberger said. “Everything we do during the regular season prepares us for March Madness. When you go to the ACC Tournament, I think anything is up in the air, so we’ve just got to get better each and every game.” To reach the NCAA Tournament, the Hokies would have to realistically win at least nine of their final 12 games to bring their win total to 20. Only nine of the 64 teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament had fewer than 20 wins, and only five of the 33 atlarge bids had fewer than 20 wins. Last year, the ACC received six bids to the NCAA Tournament, including bubble team Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had a top-10 win against North Carolina, a winning record in nonconference games, and started off their
ACC schedule 1-2 — a nearly identical resume thus far for the Hokies. In order to achieve a similar resume, the Hokies would have to win at least seven of their last 10 ACC games. Junior guard Nikki Davis believes the improvement of the team and the parity in the ACC could allow the Hokies to make a late season push. “I think we’ve definitely grown as a team,” Davis said. “We were playing together in the North Carolina game, so that just shows ... we can beat any team in our conference. But then again, like tonight, if we don’t play together, we’re out of sync and don’t execute on offense then clearly we can get beat by anyone.” Senior guard Lindsay Biggs, who was named ACC Player of the Week after her performance against North Carolina, agreed. “The past two years we’ve struggled a little bit, and I just think we can beat anyone in the ACC right now it’s so up and down this year,” Biggs said.
KUMAR VEETRAG/SPPS
Tech junior Malcolm Delaney attempts a layup on Monday night.
HOKIES’ BEAT-DOWN AGAINST NC CENTRAL MARKS IMPROVEMENT AS TEAM HITS ACC GRIND The Hokies hosted an ole’ fashioned beat-down Monday night against North Carolina Central, as they won 72-30. The last non-conference game of the season was more of a scrimmage for the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team than anything else. Tech needed its game Monday to help recover from its loss to Florida State just days ago. Its matchup with NC Central was an example of why non-conference games are so important — they allow teams to make adjustments without having to worry about a conference loss. While the Hokies upset then-No. 23 Miami on Jan. 13, losses to FSU and UNC showed there is still much room for improvement. Fans have seen the Hokies struggle from the free-throw line. They have
watched them miss multiple opportunities that may have helped in their three losses thus far. Over the past two seasons, the Hokie Nation has also watched Malcolm Delaney become what seems to be the only weapon on the Tech offense. So what did Tech need to accomplish with its win over the Eagles? It needed to capitalize on turnovers. It needed to have someone other than Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen make shots from the field, and it also needed to increase its rebounds. Let’s look at its report card. We begin with the turnover situation. It was proven in the Miami game that the Hokies are capable of maximizing turnovers as they scored 19 points off of 13 turnovers to top the Canes.
Against Florida State, however, the Hokies scored 19 points off of 23 turnovers — a statistic much less impressive than the former. Monday night, Tech scored 20 points off of 21 turnovers. While there was subtle improvement Monday in this area, the Hokies didn’t do enough against a much weaker opponent. When it comes to goal No. 1, the Hokies deserve a “D.” But all is not lost. The Hokies’ second goal of the night was to find another scorer not named Delaney or Allen. In this case, the Hokies certainly made strides in their latest game. To put it simply — against NC Central, Tech’s four freshmen stepped up their play. “It was a good win,” Delaney said, “and it was good to let the guys who don’t play as much play, and they played good.” You bet they played well. While the Hokies bench combined for 39 points of the night, just their freshmen outscored the Eagles by themselves. Forward Cadarian Raines went three of four from the field Monday, ending the game with seven points and four rebounds. Freshman guard Ben Boggs went a perfect four for four at the line, finishing with six points, six rebounds and four assists. If that wasn’t enough, first-year guard Manny Atkins shot 50 percent from behind the arc, and Erick Green threw down a dunk that had all of Cassell standing on their feet with 6:45 left in the second half. Atkins finished with eight points and four rebounds while Green was the leading scorer for Tech, finishing with 11 points and two assists. “It’s going to be really important for me to get some extra playing time,” Green said. “You know, help Malcolm (Delaney) get off the ball and getting valuable shots up. Just let him do his thing off the ball instead of him bringing it up on his own.” Well Erick, from your play against NC Central, you’re off to a great start to accomplishing this task. Because of all the outstanding freshmen play, I give the goal of having other individuals score an “A+.” Now to the rebounds where yet again the freshman made their presence known. Boggs was tied with junior Jeff Allen in total rebounds at six each when the night ended Monday. Raines and Atkins also had four rebounds each, while junior see HOKIES / page eight
january 20, 2010
page 8
To swag or not to swag?
Here’s what they got for playing:
— Football & gift card
— $250 gift card
CURTIS COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Tech senior defensive end Nekos Brown hoists the 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl trophy alongside head coach Frank Beamer after Tech’s win on Dec. 31 in Atlanta.
AFTER SEASON OF HARD WORK, COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S BEST REAP MINIMAL REWARDS FROM SPONSORS To give swag or not to give swag — that is the ethical question, which produces many contradictions. For years, college football’s bowl season has provided fans with countless memories, both good and bad. On New Year’s Eve, Virginia Tech soundly defeated the Tennessee Volunteers, marking the first time the program has won two bowl games in a row. But the Hokies didn’t just win a trophy and some pride for the Atlantic Coast Conference after ACC teams lost four straight to the Southeastern conference in the Chick-fil-A Bowl — they left with up to $500 worth of gifts from the bowl sponsor, Chick-fil-A. Every participant in bowl games receives these gifts, and it’s perfectly within NCAA rules. For participating in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, each player received the following: a $250 Best Buy gift card, a Fossil watch, a Russell Athletic knit cap, a Russell Athletic travel bag, a football and a Chick-fil-A gift card. Not bad for the Hokies and Volunteers. Now wait, didn’t former University of Southern California basketball player O.J.
Mayo and former USC football player Reggie Bush get in trouble for allegedly receiving gifts? Their investigations are still active, but their gifts were violations. What’s the difference? The NCAA allows gifts totaling up to $500 for each player one time a year — bowl games. Bush and Mayo received gifts much more than that amount, but the bowl gifts seem to contradict the NCAA’s stance on what an amateur athlete should be. Amateur athletes do not receive any sort of salary for playing sports while professional athletes do, and the NCAA takes it a step further to say players cannot be on any team where one teammate is paid. This makes it difficult for foreign players to come over to America and play college sports without facing NCAA violations. Without the high level of collegiate sports, foreign athletes look to their country’s professional leagues for seasoning. This rule is on shaky ground right now, so it seems the once hard-nosed stance on amateur athletes is weakening. This may be a product of the bowl swag giveaways, but
the NCAA is finally realizing this isn’t that big of a deal. Amateur athletes should never be paid, and that will never change. There is no problem with rewarding players beyond just their scholarships once a year for their hard work. This isn’t thousands of dollars we’re talking here. It’s only up to $500, and the bowl sponsor isn’t required to reach that limit anyway. The players don’t have a say in what they get, and they aren’t asked to appear in commercials for these products. They aren’t pitchmen. Perhaps wearing apparel received at the bowl game promotes product recognition a tiny bit, but the player isn’t standing on the Drillfield passing out flyers. One of they keys here is that it’s the bowl sponsor that does all this. The NCAA is not dishing out its own money to the players like the NFL does. College players still don’t receive a salary. Let the players enjoy their bowl experience. If the sponsors want to dish out some free gifts, so be it. The NCAA was smart enough to put a limit on the gifts and also how often this can happen. The next time the Hokies or your favorite team misses a Bowl Championship Series game, don’t think the players aren’t getting rewarded. Just because the BCS games are
more prestigious, they don’t get better gifts. Orange Bowl participants received a Sony gift suite, Tourneau watch, New Era cap and an Ogio Politan laptop pack. Participants of the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl received a Sony gift suite, Garmin GPS, parka, Nike pullover, gloves, hand warmers, skullcap, Ogio Fugitive laptop pack and a football. Either way, the players are getting something, but receiving that Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl bid might be less of a disappointment and more of a hope for players considering the abundant swag. The reason behind the practice of offering swag to players is to justify the bowl system and make it a revenue-producing juggernaut for the sponsors offering an added perk for players. That’s certainly an interesting contradiction: using non-paid athletes to make millions of dollars.
— Fossil watch
RAY NIMMO -sports reporter -senior -communication major
— Knit cap & travel bag
Hokies: Steadily improving, focusing on whole team from page seven
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Terrell Bell led the team with nine total rebounds. “I really put an emphasis this last week on coming back to rebound,” said head coach Seth Greenberg. “That’s an area where we’re not doing as good a job as we need to.” “I thought Terrell Bell was outstanding,” Greenberg continued. “Nine rebounds in 20 minutes.” “We’ve got to team rebound,” he said. “We can’t get pushed underneath the backboard. We’ve got to be more physical in our rebounds and blockouts.” As a team, the Hokies had a total of 44 rebounds against the Eagles, only one less when compared to their win over Miami when the team posted 45. Against Florida State, they only had 34. Based on the numbers, I give
another “A+.” Good work, Hokies. You took full advantage of 4-16 NC Central. You put in the hard work, the freshmen continued to improve and you proved that losing to Florida State isn’t going to make you stumble against a non-conference team. In my book, the Hokies deserve an “A-” for their performance Monday night. Now only time will tell if they can do it against a more worthy opponent.
HATTIE FRANCIS -sports staff writer