Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Print Edition

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

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COLLEGIATETIMES 107th year, issue 59

News, page 2

Features, page 7

Opinions, page 5

Sports, page 3

Classifieds, page 6

Sudoku, page 6

Virginia Tech evaluates campus accessibility SARA MITCHELL editor-in-chief Michele Shebroe began avoiding the stairs on campus her sophomore year.

After her father, who suffers from a long-term back injury, complained of Virginia Tech’s hilly campus while moving her in freshman year, Shebroe wanted to survey the campus’s accommodations for those with a physical disability.

Using only paths that accommodate wheelchairs, she discovered the lack of disability access on the stair-covered residential side of campus, and the mechanical engineer decided to contact the Americans with Disability Act office on campus.

Virginia Reilly, director of the university’s ADA office, informed Shebroe of a task force that was created in 2009 to analyze the accessibility of the north side of campus — the entire academic area between McBryde Hall and Hahn Hall North. The task force is part of an ongoing mission to not only comply with federal standards but to also create a more inclusive environment on the campus for those with a DISABILITIES. While she hopes to improve the access points on campus for students, faculty and visitors, Shebroe doubts her dad will be making the nine-hour drive from New York back to Tech.

“He might not even be able to come and see me graduate,” Shebroe said.

A FEDERAL LAW SETS THE STANDARD When Virginia founded the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in hilly Blacksburg in 1872, the state planned for the enrollment of ablebodied cadets, and not the diverse Tech population that exists today.

Now 138 years later — and with the help of a federal law — Tech administrators, professional staff, faculty and students are working to enhance the growing campus to accommodate the nearly 550 students with a documented disability on campus as well as those who aren’t documented or are visitors.

“How do you make the university work for all these folks?” asked university architect and Blacksburg Town Council member John Bush.

“That’s a struggle on a campus as large as ours, with as many buildings as we have.”

Tech as a government entity has to comply with

the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination based on a disability and also sets architectural standards for any buildings built after 1990. A 300-page guide outlines all ADA regulations for buildings, from entrances to ramps. Even miniature golf facilities and amusement park rides are regulated.

Tom Tucker is the building information manager for University Planning, Design, and Construction and has worked for Tech for the past 25 years.

When the ADA was enacted, he took classes on what the new laws required and was responsible for reviewing architectural plans to ensure they included the new regulations.

“As you can imagine, it was new to everybody,” he said.

Additionally, the university had to make accessibility priorities and present them to the state every two years to determine the budget.

“The federal and state government said you shall do this, but there was very little funding for that,” Tucker said.

Bush said that ADA codes have been integrated into the architectural planning process.

“Good design isn’t adding a piece,” he said. “It should be integral.”

A lot of regulations are ones that Bush said people no longer consider intentional design aspects.

Doorways must be wider than 32 inches, but Bush said most at Tech are 36 inches; bathrooms must have a five-foot turning radius for wheelchairs; doorknobs are all replaced with door handles to accommodate those who can’t turn a knob.

This all falls under universal design, a concept that is generally defined as accommodating everyone and keeping everyone in mind when planning a facility.

Tucker said the university has people with disabilities check out the access plans. He said the university’s attitude is to go beyond its most basic responsibilities.

“This is what the law says we have to do at minimum, but what would be the best practice for you?” he said.

Bush said that while new buildings on campus are ADA compliant, some alterations are still necessary. The Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science behind McBryde Hall was built fully ADA compliant in 2008, but some users of the building asked that the doors be replaced with

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EVALUATING THE CAMPUS Buildings opened before 1990 did not have to be completely renovated to comply with ADA regulations, but any renovations made after 1990 must be ADA compliant.

The north campus task force was created to go back and look at older buildings and evaluate their accessibility and potential for ADA-compliant renovations. The group contains professional staff, faculty and students.

“Prior buildings were designed without that awareness,” Bush, a member of the task force, said of the campus. “We found ourselves going back for a whole host of issues.”

While the final report of the evaluations isn’t finished, Bush said there were a few main conclusions that came out of the research.

Bush said the group did not look at the interior of the buildings but focused on making the academic side accessible from a parking spot to the curb through a route to the entrance of a building.

“There’s a lot of change in topography,” he said, noting in total there is a 30-foot slope from the McBryde side of campus to Burruss Hall.

The group also reported that many sidewalks

CT NEWS STAFF

POLICE INVESTIGATE WEEKEND ROBBERY IN COLLEGIATE SUITES; VIRGINIA TECH STUDENT SUFFERS BROKEN JAW shirt and tan shorts. The other was described as a 6’0” white male with brown hair wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

The suspects may have sustained injuries during the altercation. The victim attempted to defend himself before sustaining the broken jaw.

Blacksburg police ask anyone with information on this incident to call 540-961-1150 or the tip line at 540-961-1819.

SOPHOMORE ENGLISH MAJOR PUBLISHED IN NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLLEGIATE SCHOLARS LITERARY MAGAZINE Sophomore Katelyn Noland’s short story has been featured in a national literary magazine, The Collegiate Scholar, published online each semester by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Noland’s story, “Peeling Peaches,” is one of 18 submissions that were accepted. Noland is the only student from the state of Virginia to be

published.

The magazine is published every spring, summer, and fall semester. It is one of the recognition programs run by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, an honor society that invites high-achieving freshmen and sophomores to participate in scholarship and leadership programs.

BASKETBALL PRACTICE FACILITY NAMED IN HONOR OF FORMER UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT T. MARSHALL HAHN The new basketball practice facility on Washington Street has been named after former university president T. Marshall Hahn and his daughter, Anne Hahn Hurst.

The Hahn and Hurst families were the largest donors to the $21 million, 49,000 square foot building that opened in August.

Hahn served as president of the university from 1962 until 1974. Cassell Coliseum and

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less heavy ones, and that there be a color difference between the sidewalk and the beginning of the access ramp.

Bush said these two renovations are in the works.

David Bingham, Tech’s ADA services architect, came to Tech as an architecture graduate student in 1988, before the ADA was legislated. He was one of only two people in a wheelchair on campus at the time, and he remembers there only being one Blacksburg Transit van that could pick him up.

Before there were federal regulations, he said, Tech was still fairly accessible. Even so, “we’ve come very far over the last 20 years,” he said.

Blacksburg news in brief Police are investigating a robbery in the Collegiate Suites apartment complex that occurred Sunday morning.

A 21-year-old male Virginia Tech student was walking along Mary Jane Circle around 2:20 a.m. Sunday when he was approached by two male suspects who punched him in the face, stole his wallet, and fled the scene.

One suspect was described as a 6’3” white male with long dirty blond hair wearing a blue polo

on the web

This story is the second part of a series on disability access on campus. Check collegiatetimes.com for a video of assistive technology.

Lane Stadium were both opened during his time as president.

The Tech Board of Visitors recently approved the dedication of the building to be named the Hahn Hurst Basketball Practice Center. The Center is hoped to not only improve the quality of basketball practices for the men’s and women’s team but also to assist in recruitment of potential players.

COURTESY OF VIRGINIA TECH

The $21 million basketball practice facility on Washington Street opened in August.

see ACCESSIBILITY / page TWO

LUKE MASON/SPPS

Michele Shebroe became concerned with the accessibility of campus after her father, who has a back injury, was unable to navigate the hilly terrain.

Times Square terror suspect admits involvement in plot JOHN VALENTI mcclatchy newspapers NEW YORK — Faisal Shahzad told law enforcement authorities he “received bomb-making training” in Pakistan and admitted his involvement in the failed car-bombing attempt in Times Square, court records show.

Shahzad was trained in the lawless tribal region of Waziristan, where the Pakistani Taliban operates with near impunity, according to a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court detailing charges against him.

The Connecticut man faces terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges after admitting his role and providing investigators with “useful information” since his arrest overnight, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier Tuesday.

His arraignment had yet to take place as of Tuesday evening.

“Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country,” Holder said at a Washington, D.C., news conference.

According to court records, Shahzad used a prepaid cell phone he bought April 16 to call Pakistan several times, to arrange to buy fireworks in Pennsylvania and to call the seller of the Nissan Pathfinder he purchased, then loaded with explosives and drove to Times Square.

Shahzad paid $1,300 in $100 bills for the Pathfinder on April 24 after receiving four phone calls from a Pakistani phone number, court records said.

Officials, among them Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, said the case was quickly solved with “exemplary investigative efforts,” the awareness of average citizens and the vigilance of law enforcement officials.

“If successful, it could have resulted in a lethal terrorist attack,” Holder said, adding that the United States faces a “constant threat from those who wish to do us harm.”

“The most dangerous lesson we can draw (from this) is the false impression that this threat no longer exists,” he said.

The news conference came after intelligence officials in Pakistan had detained several people in Karachi believed to be connected to Shahzad, according to news reports.

“We have picked up a few family members” related to Shahzad, a security official in Karachi told Reuters. He declined to elaborate.

Holder said while he had heard those reports he was not in a position to confirm them.

Earlier, President Barack Obama said the FBI is investigating potential ties between Shahzad, 30, and terrorist groups.

Government officials said Shahzad, believed to have been living in Bridgeport, Conn., drove a bomb-laden Nissan Pathfinder into Times Square just before 6:30 p.m. EDT Saturday in an attempt to unleash an attack on what Holder called “innocent tourists and theatergoers.”

Two street vendors alerted police and mounted officer Wayne Rhatigan quickly responded. That helped avert disaster and saved “hundreds of lives,” Obama said.

Federal officials said Shahzad became a naturalized U.S. citizen in April 2009, just before visiting his native Pakistan for five months. Shortly after returning, Shahzad bought the Pathfinder.

Kelly said tracing the vehicle to Shahzad began simply enough — when an NYPD detective crawled under the Pathfinder and found its identification number. That enabled investigators to find the owner of record and learn the car was sold to Shahzad.

The net closed on Shahzad late Monday, when he was

arrested aboard a Dubai-bound flight on Emirates airline at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. Law enforcement officials said Tuesday agents were on the lookout for Shahzad on flight manifests at regional and international airports — but his name only appeared at the last minute because he booked his ticket just before the flight and paid in cash.

Emirates officials said Shahzad’s paying cash was a red flag that led the airline to contact law enforcement.

Questions were raised about why the FBI and other investigators allowed Shahzad to get on the plane and the plane to leave the gate with him on it, as earlier reports had said. Holder and Napolitano at the news conference said they never worried he would get away.

“Let me say, I was here all yesterday and through much of last night, and was aware of the tracking that was going on,” Holder said. “And I was never in any fear that were in danger of losing him.”

Later, a federal law enforcement official confirmed that Shahzad had actually gotten on the plane and sat down. But, the official said, “CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) apprehended the subject before the plane pushed back. However, once he was off-loaded, the plane pushed back from the gate, and the FBI requested it be brought back to off-load two additional persons of interest.”

Those two people were interviewed and later cleared to fly, the official said.

Another law federal enforcement official said Shahzad was added to the no-fly list as a result of late-breaking developments in the investigation. It appears it was a last-minute catch.

“TSA sent notifications to airlines; however his information had not yet been populated in the airline’s system to the point of triggering an automated alert,” the official said. “CBP officers discovered the suspect’s intentions to leave the U.S. when they received the passenger manifest, at which point they acted to apprehend him.”

Pistole said authorities had homed in on Shahzad by Sunday night and had him under surveillance. Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement agencies were alerted in case he tried to leave the country, Pistole said.

It’s not clear if authorities followed Shahzad to the airport.

“The bottom line is, we were able to identify, locate and detain Mr. Shahzad,” Pistole said.

The flight was delayed about seven hours.

The aircraft and passengers were then rescreened before taking off Tuesday morning, Emirates said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.

A law enforcement official said a 9-mm semiautomatic rifle and ammunition were found in a car Shahzad parked in a lot at JFK Airport.

FBI agents and New York City police detectives from the Joint Terrorism Task Force made the arrest at about 11:45 p.m.

EDT after Shahzad was identified by Customs and Border Protection agents at the airport, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in New York.

Investigators have not established a connection to the Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility in three videos. Nor had any link been confirmed between Shahzad and any other foreign terrorist groups, a law enforcement official told the AP. “He’s claimed to have acted alone, but these are things that have to be investigated,” the official said.

Also Tuesday, Obama telephoned Rhatigan and fellow Officer Pam Duffy to commend them on their quick response Saturday.

At a Tuesday morning news conference, Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed gratitude for the work of investigators who broke the case.

The Collegiate Times will cease production of the print version until June 3. See our web site for updates.

2 news

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

may 5, 2010

COLLEGIATETIMES

Accessibility: Student seeks residential side changes Google to start Professor selling speaks from e-books experience from page one

For Craig Brians, the selling point of Virginia Tech was the renovated elevator in Major Williams Hall. Coming from flat, warm California, the political science professor needed to know he could get to his fifth-floor office just fine.

“I also like the carpets,” he said, because they are easier to walk on.

After an injury while working in law enforcement, Brians felt he had to be upfront about his disability with Tech when interviewing for a position with the political science department. He wasn’t sure how accessible the Roanoke Airport or Tech’s campus was going to be when he came in for an interview.

“I found from Day One the university to be very accommodating,” he said.

Brians has been here for 12 years, and he said the university has shown a “new awareness” for accessibility. He rarely has trouble now that a power door has been installed in Major Williams, and the university supplied him with a zero-gravity chair to help him sit more comfortably in his office.

He also believes his disability makes him “a little more approachable” with students with disabilities in his classes.

Brians makes a point to explain his injury to his classes and read out loud the university-mandated statement in his syllabus describing how to get accommodations for class. He feels students are responsible for finding accommodations within the Services for Student with Disabilities office. He recommends they become educated on their rights under the Americans with Disability Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Although he recommends students use SSD if they can, Brians wishes SSD was more heavily staffed, as it can be swamped, and non-emergency requests have taken up to two weeks, in his experience. He sees two issues with how the campus deals with disabilities.

“One is the framing of disability as an accommodation,” he said, instead of designing so that things are accessible and used by everyone.

With universal design — a concept of designing for all potential users — someone with a disability would not have to feel like they have to get special treatment when they need a special accommodation but rather the accommodation would already be there.

The second issue for him is that a lot of disabilities are hidden, so it’s hard to be able to provide accommodations when it’s not so obvious.

“It’s sort of obvious I have a situation,” he said, pointing to his cane, “but students need to make others aware that they have a situation.” by sara mitchell ct editor-in-cheif

were damaged and the accessible routes are generally lengthy across the north side.

Reilly said that six power doors have been installed on the academic side of campus. A new ramp to the back of Burruss has been added in the tunnel to the left of the building.

Bush noted that even the campus landmark wasn’t very accessible.

“Burruss is our landmark; people are drawn to it naturally,” he said.

“And the building’s main entrance is not accessible.”

Those who can’t use front entrance stairs must use the tunnel’s new entrance or go through the side near Norris Hall and take elevators to the Burruss Hall lobby.

LOOKING AHEAD WITH ACCESSIBILITY After the task group finishes evaluating the north campus and making its recommendations to the university, Reilly said the group would turn its focus to Squires Student Center and the upper quad area that includes the corps of cadets dormitories.

While Michele Shebroe originally approached the ADA office to discuss the residential side, Bush said he was not sure when the task force would look at that area. He added that when a community member calls attention to something specific, like Shebroe did, it does have a possibility to switch the direction and focus of a group.

“They want to look at it,” he said.

Shebroe said one of the biggest concerns on the residential side was the lack of access from the Drillfield through Slusher Tower to the West End/Ambler Johnston Hall area. A student would have to go around by Owens Dining Hall or travel the steep West Campus Drive.

She also wanted to bring to the university’s attention the turnstile going into the DX facilities. Rick Johnson, director of housing and dining services, said the situation was evaluated, and the department concluded that it was effective to allow students to enter through the DX exit door if they have a disability.

The university could also focus more on proactive design as opposed to reactive, Bingham said. For example, something as small as the Hokie Passport swipe into buildings could have been proactively designed to be accessible to those without the use of their hands. Instead, the campus has to add magnetic proximity readers onto buildings as students and faculty need them, which reads the magnetic strip on a card from a few yards away.

He said such functions “do the same job for the same price” if added originally, but the university couldn’t afford to go back and replace every swipe with a magnetic reader.

Progress can also be slow in renovating and adding to the campus.

Bingham said that while all ramps on the residential side of campus are regulation, they are still “a long stretch” for someone in a wheelchair.

He mentioned that some universities use underground tunnels into buildings to avoid big hills into the

regular entries, and that all students could utilize them during the winter.

“Sometimes the amount of red tape ... just feels like a long time,” said Susan Angle, director of Services for Students with Disabilities. “There’s a process — meetings, architects, regulations.”

She said even small projects could take more than a semester.

Funding can also be a roadblock.

The ADA office has a $100,000 project budget and additional funding comes from the university capital budget or from department budgets.

However, one project can eat up a lot of a budget.

“A simple solution could be $20,000 to $30,000,” said Mike Coleman, associate vice president for facilities.

“Unfortunately, these things are not cheap.”

Coleman said implementing the ramp in the Burruss tunnel had cost several hundred thousand dollars.

Prior to that there was a lift, which Tucker said was “a fix we could afford at the time,” as a lift costs around $10,000. A ramp is more reliable and doesn’t require maintenance like a lift would.

Bingham said that while the university budget cuts have put certain projects on hold — such as entire renovations of buildings — smaller projects are generally able to find funding, although it might be split between offices and departments. He added that the university has been willing to help with access projects.

Tucker said some renovations and additions were products of other projects. Sometimes the university would decide to install a ramp instead of stairs when creating sidewalks, and this project would come out of a different budget.

“How can we make the biggest bang for the buck?” he said.

Tucker pointed out that a project could be evaluated by the cost versus how much access was created. For example, implementing an elevator in a five-floor building might be expensive, but it is creating access to five

floors that didn’t have access before.

Not every building lends itself to the kinds of projects people have in mind. Coleman said in the example of the Burruss tunnel, the campus was lucky there was enough space to build a ramp.

Angle hopes that the recent formation of a new executive ADA committee is a step in the right direction. Karen Eley Sanders, interim vice president of diversity and inclusion, heads the committee, which consists of administrators, professional staff, faculty and students. Angle, Reilly and Bush all sit on the committee, which has met once so far.

The new committee “will have an awareness to move the process on a little quicker,” Angle said.

In addition, Bingham said the new committee will have spending power, something an older ADA executive committee didn’t have.

The committee plans to revise its mission this summer and set more priorities.

Bush believes that the university

and architecture in general is in a transition period of shifting to more natural disability access.

“That’s just the way designers think now — more about connectivity,” he said.

He said that as the baby boomer generation gets older, there would be a general emphasis on satisfying the needs of those with physical disabilities.

He said he also hopes design evolves so nothing is considered a “separate” accommodation for someone with a disability.

For example, he believes the front entrance of a building won’t require stairs anymore, and other accessible features will become less obvious.

“The eye won’t see the ramp,” he said. “You’ll just say, ‘that’s how I get into the building.”

“We won’t sense that there’s a separate community for disabled,” Bush said. “That we’re not just jerry-rigging to accommodate them.”

KATIE BIONDO/COLLEGIATE TIMES

Sophomore Michele Shebroe brought up the lack of an accessible route through the Slusher Hall area (accessible routes in blue).

ADA accessibility guidelines

from the July 2004 handbook

ENTRY AND RAMPS - at least one accessible route must connect all accessible floors and elements of a building - ramps must have a slope of one foot for every 20 feet of ramp length - doorways must have a clear opening of at least 32 inches wide PARKING FACILITIES - for every 500 - 1,000 spots, 2 percent of the spots must be accessible spaces - ten percent of hospital parking spots must be accessible spaces - twenty percent of rehabilitation facility parking spots must be accessible spots VISUAL AND HEARING - fire alarms must have permanent visual and audible alarms - general signs must be in all capital letters with sans serif font - braille will be separated at least 3/8 inch from the corresponding text - braille text must be located between 48” and 60” from the floor MICHAEL MCDERMOTT/COLLEGIATE TIMES

DAN GALLAGHER mcclatchy newspaper SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. plans to begin selling e-books this summer over a platform that would allow readers to load the books onto multiple electronic devices, the company said Tuesday.

The search giant outlined the plan during a panel discussion in New York that was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The service is called Google Editions and will allow users to buy e-books directly from the company, as well as through other retailers.

No details were given regarding the price of books or which publishers would participate in the project.

Gabriel Stricker, a spokesman for Google, acknowledged Tuesday that the Google Editions service was being targeted for a launch sometime this summer. The service would also be “device-agnostic”— meaning that any Internet-enabled device could download and read the books, he said.

Such a move would position Google to compete in the fast-growing e-book market with Amazon.com and Apple Inc. Amazon launched its Kindle ereader in late 2007 and has since taken a commanding lead in the market.

Apple launched its iPad tablet last month, along with its iBookstore service to sell e-books for the device. The company said Monday it has sold 1 million iPads and 1.5 million copies of e-books in the past month. Amazon has never released sales data for the Kindle.

The Kindle is a proprietary device that only reads e-books purchased from Amazon. Books for the iPad must be purchased through Apple; if a user has downloaded the Kindle app, titles can be downloaded from Amazon.

Google’s proposed system would not be locked to a particular device.

The service also has the potential to offer far more titles than those offered

by Amazon and Apple, as Google has already digitized some 12 million books into its Google Books service. Many of these are out-of-print titles.

The company is working to win over publishers to its proposal. The event Tuesday was sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group and held at Random House’s Manhattan offices under the title: “The Book on Google: Is the Future of Publishing in the Cloud?”

The Google Editions service will launch whether or not the company is able to reach a settlement with authors and publishers over rights to millions of out-of-print books that are still under copyright protection, according to Stricker. The service will involve titles that are in print and covered under an agency deal with publishers. Out-ofprint titles may be added if the settlement is successful.

sports 3

editor: alex jackson sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com / 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

may 5, 2010

Hokies’ fastest female puts track team on the map ALEX JACKSON sports editor Most Olympians have trained for decades, learning the ins-and-outs of their respective sports, developing world-class skills since grade school.

For Virginia Tech senior hurdler Queen Harrison, who in 2008 became the first Tech female track and field athlete to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad, that’s not the case.

“Back in middle school and high school, I didn’t really take track seriously,” Harrison said. “So it was kind of like — I’d just go to practice and just do whatever, whatever coach told me to.”

It wasn’t until Harrison’s first year at Tech when she realized she wanted to do more than just earn a scholarship with her legs.

“I really think it was my freshman year indoor, when I didn’t make it to nationals in the 60 hurdles,” she explained. “I mean, I was right there, I was close — I understood it was my first year of really being a short hurdler, but I had really wanted to go and it kind of put things in perspective, like — maybe you’re not taking this as seriously as you need to, so, I think that was kind of a rude awakening to let me know I need to step it up a little bit.”

Two years ago, Harrison not only earned a role on the U.S. Olympic squad, but advanced to the semi-finals in the 400-meter hurdles competition at the Beijing games.

Despite missing out on valuable learning experience early on in her career, she has done everything and more to make up for that time lost at Tech.

“Since I got to college, collegiate track is a whole different level and it’s like, you won’t be successful if you don’t put the work in,” Harrison said.

While her journey to track and field stardom was unlikely, her focus is unwavering.

“What I had to do to prepare, was just mentally decide that this was something I wanted to do, that I wanted to be successful and hopefully make a career out of it,” she said. “That’s really what motivates me, is just the mental aspect of it. Once you do that — I mean, you can push your body to places you never thought you could if you get it in your mind that you’ll do that.”

In her former Olympic event, the 400meter hurdles, and what her coach calls her best event, the 100-meter hurdles,

FILE/SPPS

Tech senior hurdler Queen Harrison competes in the 60-meter hurdles last year at Rector Fieldhouse, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

Harrison has spent the past four years setting a precedent in ACC competition.

Since arriving to Blacksburg, Harrison has continued to improve at a remarkable rate.

In her freshman year, she finished with a season-best time of 12.98 in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAAs and was the top-ranked World Junior hurdler in the 400-meter event with a time of 55.81 seconds.

Improving in 2008, she upped the ante by setting school records, recording a 12.70 in the 100-meter event and a 54.60 in the 400-meter event at the Olympic trials.

Despite a slow year in her junior season, thanks to an injury that sidelined her for the NCAA Championships, she swept the hurdles competitions at the ACC outdoor meet, earning her the conference’s Women’s Performer of the Year honor for her efforts.

Then, in her senior year, Harrison took over.

After taking the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash crowns at the indoor conference meet, the Hermitage

High alum nabbed the ACC Women’s Indoor Track MVP honor on March 6.

Three days later, the United States Track and Field Coaches Association named Harrison the Southeast Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.

On March 19, Harrison earned ACC Women’s Track Performer of the Year honors, after capturing Tech’s first 100-meter hurdle national championship.

Capping off a conference season in which it seemed no ACC runner or hurdler stood a chance when lining up against her, Harrison nabbed the conference’s Women’s Outdoor Track MVP honors after sweeping the ACCs again, setting meet and facility records in Clemson, S.C., with times of 54.66 in the 400-meter event and a wind-aided personal best of 12.44 in the 100-meter event.

“It feels really, really good,” Harrison said. “It feels like a lot of hard work paid off. It definitely didn’t come easy, I definitely had a lot of ups and downs, but it feels really good.”

Looking back at her jaw-dropping

college career, which remains in progress with NCAAs approaching in late May, Harrison humbly credits her family first.

“There’s a lot of people. My family, of course — they’re always supporting me.

I have a really huge family, so I’m always getting a text or a call or something before my race to give me that extra bit of motivation,” she said. “Or when practice is getting really, really hard and I just feel like I need a break, I always have someone like my sisters or my dad or my mom to kind of push me to keep going.”

Her Grammy acceptance speech-like appreciation doesn’t end there.

“And I have a really good support system here at Virginia Tech with my coaches and my teammates and my friends,” she said. “Everybody in my life is in really big support of what I’m trying to do.”

With her name on almost every school record possible, a national title and an Olympic appearance already in the books, it begs the question – what exactly is she trying to do?

“Just staying healthy and getting faster,”

Men’s tennis earns fourth consecutive trip to NCAAs GARRETT RIPA sports reporter The No. 23 ranked men’s tennis team earned its fourth consecutive team appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The field of 64 teams was announced yesterday evening with the Hokies set to take on No. 38 Vanderbilt in their opening match.

“They’re a very good team — we haven’t played them in a couple of years but it’s going to be a good match,” said head coach Jim Thompson.

The Commodores have been inconsistent toward the end of the season, including getting shutout 7-0 to Kentucky and 4-0 to Mississippi State in the past two contests.

The match will be played on the campus of regional host University of Louisville. If the Hokies were to advance past Vanderbilt, they would face the winner of the Eastern Kentucky and No. 15 Louisville match.

The Hokies will look to advance further than they did in the tournament last season. In 2009, they lost 4-1 in the second round to Georgia after getting past UNC Wilmington 4-2 in the opener.

Tech played at Louisville earlier in the season, falling 5-2 to the Cardinals on March 10. Despite the earlier loss, the Hokies don’t appear to be phased at this likely rematch.

“We lost to them but I don’t think we should worry about changing our game plan a lot,” said junior

Sebastian Jacques. “I think we need to be more focused for this match and I’m sure we will be since it would be for a chance to go to the Sweet 16.”

The previous match was played indoors, which usually favors the home team. However, with the warmer weather this one will likely be played outside, leveling the playing field.

“

I have to keep the momentum. I am playing a lot better than I was on my losing streak. Last year I was a little bit nervous for the (NCAA Tournament) match.

YOANN RE SENIOR

In addition, the Hokies must start out strong to have a shot at redemption.

“We’re going to have to win doubles. It was really tough to come back last time after losing doubles,” said senior Yoann Re. While the singles and doubles draws for the NCAA Tournament will not officially be announced until later today, Thompson learned that Re made the singles tournament for the second consecutive year.

“I think he can win the whole thing if he plays up to his potential,” said Thompson. “It’s hard because there are a lot of good players in the tournament and it takes the right kind of draw. But if he gets into it

and plays well there is not anyone he can’t beat.”

Re lost 6-3, 6-0 in the first round last year to Dennis Nevolo from Illinois, but has greatly improved his game since then.

Re currently sits at No. 55 in the nation, but was ranked as high as No. 38 before a fivematch skid that ended with a 6-1, 6-0 singles victory over Derek DiFazio from Clemson on April 17.

“I have to keep the momentum. I am playing a lot better than I was on my losing streak,” said Re. “Last year I was a little bit nervous for the [NCAA Tournament] match. I’m going to try and be more relaxed.”

Re believes winning his first two matches to make the Sweet 16 is a realistic goal. Anything more will be extremely difficult, but as Thompson said, is certainly possible.

Although Re found his way into the 64-player field, second singles player Luka Somen narrowly missed receiving a bid. Somen is currently ranked No. 73 nationally and was the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year.

“He’s really close too, but he is only a sophomore.

He can set his goals for making it the next two years, just like Yoann has done. He will get all the opportunities in the world playing No. 1 for us likely,” said Thompson.

The NCAA singles tournament will begin on May 26, after the team tournament is completed.

Harrison said. “And really leave a mark when I leave Virginia Tech, on Virginia Tech track and field. It’s been known to be a football school and sometimes a basketball school, but I really wanted to make sure that I came and established myself and the program and kind of put Virginia Tech track and field on the map.”

According to her coaches, she’s done just that.

Tech Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Cianelli attempts to put Queen’s accomplishments into perspective every time he’s asked of his star.

“I don’t think many people really understand what those numbers mean because our sport is so different,” Cianelli said. “If I told someone that Queen ran a 12.44 and 54.56, most people would probably respond, ‘is that good?’ If she’s able to continue to run those types of times for the remainder of the summer, she’s going to rank in the top 10 in the world.

“She’s been able to master the skills to be successful in both events,” Cianelli said. “That’s very rare. She’s been the

cornerstone of our program. In terms of what she’s done to our program with exposure and the type of person that she is, she’s unbelievable.”

Sprints, hurdles and jumps coach Charles Foster agrees.

“12.44 — that’s the fastest that I’ve ever seen a human run the 100-meter hurdles,” Foster said. “I’m watching her grow and mature. She’s always had a willingness to accept a challenge. She doesn’t back off very well. That’s probably one of her greatest talents in that she’s not scared.”

So, with her career at Tech just about wrapped up and her name well engraved in the Tech track and field program for years to come, Harrison will look for national success after the NCAAs in late May. “I’m just training to hopefully keep running fast and keep running, basically,” Harrison said. “The good thing about the 400 hurdles is I was blessed enough to go (to the Olympics) when I was 19. But a lot of big time 400 hurdlers, you know, are really successful when they’re older, at a more seasoned age, because it’s a race where you really have to learn it.

“Hopefully that’s an indicator for the next two Olympics — I’ll hopefully be able to go there. But that’s definitely what my goal is — 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio and in between that time, running on a professional level,” Harrison said.

Realizing ability and being able to harness it, and put it into action at its full capacity is what some call the toughest challenge for athletes.

“I feel like in high school, if you have a certain amount of talent — you win all these things and everyone talks about how good of an athlete you are in high school, it’s really hard to translate that into college,” Harrison said. “So, it was very important, especially once I put my mind to it that this was something that I really wanted to do for the long run — was to you know, make Virginia Tech proud of me being here, because I’m proud to be a Hokie and I’m glad that I go to school here.”

The toughest challenge for some comes naturally to Harrison.

“I wanted to make sure that I did the same thing,” she said. “And it was very important, I think for anyone, it’s very important for whenever you do something to leave your mark and that’s really what I’m trying to do.”

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Wayback Wednesday: A streak of excitement

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Federal agency postpones safety awards

Groups say online privacy bill falls short

WASHINGTON — This was supposed to be the week that the oil sector and government regulators got together for some back slapping good times in Houston.

The Offshore Industry Safety Awards were to have been given out on Monday and a trade conference.

In a move showing tremendously good judgment, the Minerals Management Service, part of the Department of Interior, late last week postponed the awards luncheon.

“The ongoing situation with the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling accident has caused the MMS to dedicate considerable resources to the successful resolution of this event, which will conflict with holding this ceremony,” said last week’s announcement.

The awards ceremony is to be rescheduled soon, the agency said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Consumer watchdog groups say a draft congressional bill falls short of its proclaimed intention of protecting the privacy of consumers using the Internet.

During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, the groups said they would push for changes to the bill.

The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., on Tuesday unveiled their online privacy proposal, which would regulate how marketers in the $25 billion online advertising industry collect, use and share information about consumers.

Boucher and Stearns said the public would have two months to comment on the bill.

Watchdogs such as the Center for Digital Democracy say the bill draws attention to the gaping need for privacy rules but does very little to protect consumers.

They argue that marketers should have to get consumers’ explicit consent before tracking and targeting them. The industry, which also took issue with the legislation, contends that responsible data collection benefits marketers and consumers alike.

The bill would require companies to disclose when they collect information from consumers and use it to target ads. Consumers could opt out of targeted advertisements. Marketers would have to get consumers’ explicit consent before collecting sensitive information such as race or sexual orientation. The Federal Trade Commission would be charged with enforcing the rules.

“Consumer privacy groups are extremely disappointed that this bill maintains the status quo,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

staff, mcclatchy newspapers

April 25, 2000 — Two Virginia Tech students shed their inhibitions — and their clothes — while frolicking Friday afternoon across the Drillfield. spps file photo.

Census begins door-to-door campaign JENNIFER JACOB BROWN mcclatchy newspapers

CORRECTIONS - In “Hokies’ matchup against Boise State comes at inopportune point in the season” (CT, May 4), the ECU game was at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. to begin the 2008 football season.

- In “Disabled students blaze different campus routes” (CT, May 4), the phrase is “assistive technology,” not “assisted technology.”

The Collegiate Times regrets these errors.

JUSTIN GRAVES -Contact our public editor at publiceditor@ collegiatetimes.com if you see anything that needs to be corrected.

MERIDIAN — If you haven’t filled out your census form or haven’t received one yet, you can expect a knock on your door soon, according to Kat Smith, who came from the census bureau office in Dallas to talk to the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors Monday.

Smith, a media specialist from the U.S. Census Bureau regional census center in Dallas, came to Meridian to address concerns from supervisors who said some constituents had never received their census forms.

Smith said the people who hadn’t received forms most likely got their mail through a post office box. She said the census doesn’t send mail to post office boxes, only to residential addresses.

But that doesn’t mean people who don’t have a home mailbox won’t be counted, Smith said. In fact, the census bureau is working aggressively to count as much of the population as possible.

People who have not returned census forms in the mail will soon be getting a visit from a census worker, Smith said. She said workers will return to a residence up to seven times if they get no response, and will interview neighbors after the seventh unsuccessful visit.

Smith said people who did not receive a form or lost their form can also give their census information over the phone by calling 866-8726868.

The census bureau will have 7,500 workers going door-to-door in Mississippi alone. The reason they are putting so much effort into collecting census data, Smith said, is because population counts have a profound impact on communities.

“What’s at stake is over $400 billion a year (in federal funding allocated based on population),” said Smith. “That money goes out to communities. It helps in the allocation of the funds for schools, hospitals, roads, and things like senior citizen’s facilities. ... So that money can be used to help rebuild and to help communities move forward.”

Smith said the census count also establishes the number of congressional representatives each state has. Mississippi is especially aware of that function of the census, because our state lost a representative after the 2000 census showed a decrease in population.

“We want to help regain that, and getting an accurate count can ensure that,” Smith said.

The census also affects economic development, internet access, and anything else for which companies or organizations look at population data.

Smith said the number one reason people do not fill out their census forms is a lack of education about the census. Many people simply haven’t been informed of how the census can affect their communities.

“This census is historical in the sense that it is the first time we’ve gone full fledged with a campaign to educate the public,” Smith said.

She said the census bureau has been airing commercials about the census, sending out reminder letters, and entering into partnerships

with community organizations in an effort to educate the public on why getting an accurate count is important.

Smith said distrust of the government is another reason some don’t participate in the census. But she said census workers are sworn to protect any personal information that they collect, and don’t share their information with any other organization, government or otherwise.

“Not even the president can request it,” she said.

She said people also needn’t worry about getting into trouble for filling out their census.

“We don’t enforce any laws,” said Smith. “We don’t care if you don’t pay your taxes, if you’re here illegally, if you owe back child support. None of that stuff matters to us. We just want to count.”

Smith said census workers started going door-to-door May 1 and will continue to do so through mid-July.

For more information on the 2010 census, visit the census Web site at www.2010census.gov

by jessica guynn, mcclatchy newspapers

opınıons 5

editor: debra houchins opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

may 5, 2010

Technophilia, Shake Weight: Why are these things appealing?

M

y most insightful and exciting academic experiences as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech have been comprised of my courses in the College of Science and Technology in Society. The questions raised beg critical analysis of how we define our world and how our definitions in turn affect our planet.

The origins of modern “science” are rooted in the Enlightenment period when Francis Bacon endorsed the deductive methodology for scientific inquiry of our world as a replacement for mystic understandings.

Bacon called for a “una scientia universalis,” a grand totaling of scientific knowledge, where we could then make rational decisions, the ultimate effect: the dissolution of myth and the “substitution of knowledge for fancy.”

The Enlightenment, however, in its race to quantify what we know, devised alternative myths all its own.

These myths are different from our original mythic understandings and possibly more dangerous for our society. They appear in our societal allegiance to rationing and our love of technology (technophilia). These are the myths that equate 100-yearold Sequoia trees to an acre of genetically modified saplings. Myths that make it more “efficient” to transport a shirt reliant on child slave laborers along the equator than to purchase clothing from local manufacturers.

It is obvious our current, dominant mode of rationing does not reflect the enlightened decision-making Bacon envisioned.

On a trip to a cabin with neighbors last fall, I played a card game that asked the question, “Would you rather?” Often the binaries were gross or graphic: “Would you rather eat two pounds of live worms or a fillet of dead cat?” One question made an impression on me that will last a lifetime: Would you rather live in the cartoon “The Flintstones” or “The Jetsons.” I posed it to the larger group and every single person, save myself and my roommate, without hesitation chose the latter.

That cartoon very much represents to me the ultimate loss of freedom — a kind of cosmic prison, where the choices are much shinier than their earthen counterparts but are infinitely scarcer.

Nothing is more emblematic of our whole-hearted embrace of technique and love of rationing than the advancement of the Shake Weight.

For those of you who have not been graced by knowledge of the Shake Weight, it’s basically a lightweight dumbbell meant to be shaken vigorously with both hands in front of the face. One can imagine slightly obese adults closing their blinds, gearing up for exercise, turning on their televisions and aggressively thrusting the phallic Shake Weight inches away from their mouth and eyes, because if they do it for the full 30 minutes as advertised, they’ll surely lose the elusive 2,000 calories.

Maybe those salivating at the chance to try out the Shake Weight

should use that time and energy to lift themselves into a fruiting tree or plant a garden. The desire to get in shape might be better served by walking a dog or volunteering at a day-care center.

I’m not advocating for those obsessed with the Shake Weight to transfer their obsession to small children, but I think we all can identify with the Shake Weight’s logic. We have all had a turn at the proverbial Shake Weight with our “low-carb” diets and calorie counting workout regimes. We accept the Shake Weight whenever we prescribe to the idea that credit hours measure wisdom or that the cost of a suit jacket is a rubric for who deserves our respect.

I am not a Luddite, and I am aware of the good intention behind our university’s motto. Our problems with technology stem from a lack of critical thinking on whether it is appropriate or efficient in the long term, not whether technologies should exist. I am confident that specific technologies will play a defining role in sustaining the planet (and thus, our future) — but I am also appalled and embarrassed by our collective adherence to rationing, our blatant and embarrassing technophilia.

Pagan myths before the Enlightenment were often mysterious and “irrational.” The phrase “knock on wood” stems from an early Britannic tradition of praying to trees. People would knock on the tree to initiate the conversation.

Recent studies in psychology are leaning toward outdoor experiences as cures for mental troubles. This of course is still within the rationing paradigm, which calls for thousands of data sets to prove the positive correlation between mental health and outdoor exposure, but their conclusions remain the same.

Our indigenous traditions might seem superficially silly, but they evolved with us for thousands of years because they worked. More importantly, they were rooted in value systems based on ecologic understandings and affinity for the Earth rather than dogmatic fanaticisms with numbers, which by any measure are destroying the Earth.

The Shake Weight is an egregious example of our technophilia, and sometimes it takes outlandish examples to curb delusional thinking. Before you laugh at the Shake Weight commercial — and you will laugh, it’s hysterical — first figure out how you use the “Shake Weights” in your own life.

It is only when we decide to become aware of our technophilia that we can overcome it.

CHRISTOPHER COX -regular columnist -senior -communication major

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

MCT CAMPUS

Religiosity, close-minded ideas polarizes right-wing L

ately, the blogosphere has been buzzing about what Cato Institute fellow Julian Sanchez calls the “epistemic closure” in American conservative politics. Theories have ranged from the increasing regionalism of the Republican Party into a southern party, to the increasing heterogeneity into an old, white, Christian party, to cultural inertia keeping conservatives out of the higher ranks of media and academia.

Some writers who represent the institutional conservatism have lashed back and claimed that it is, in fact, the left that is more closed-minded, myopic and, of course, wrong. The backlash culminated with right-wing talk radio host Mark Levin calling the National Review’s Jim Manzi a “global warming zealot.” This characterization that the Atlantic’s Megan McCardle described as “a little like describing Christopher Hitchens as an apologist for the Catholic Church.” (Hitchens, an atheist, has said, “religion should be treated with ridicule, hatred and contempt.”)

I do not think it is a stretch to say that was described by conservative ideology is moving further to the right, and in doing so, it is marginalizing itself.

Congressional Republicans refused to give President Barack Obama a single vote on his fairly moderate health care proposal. Further, with Sen. Bob Corker’s defection on financial reform and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s change of heart on cap and trade, that trend may continue for the Democrat’s major agenda items for the rest of the year. During the debate on health care reform, Republicans claimed that they wanted to focus on jobs. But when Obama did a jobs bill — the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act — only three of them (one of whom is now a Democrat) voted for it.

Candidates such as Marco Rubio in Florida and J.D. Heyworth in Arizona are determined to make the Republican Party look more and more like the Tea Party.

So why are Republicans becoming more right-wing and more closedminded? Here’s my thesis: Since Ronald Reagan rose to power with a coalition of traditional Republican

ideas such as small government, strong defense and Jerry Falwell’s moral majority, Republicans have seen themselves as the party of “Christian values.” Republicans increasingly saw themselves as the “values” party after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and the election of George W. Bush, an evangelical Christian. Over time, as “family values” became more and more entrenched in Republican Party policy, Republicans developed a religious devotion for traditional conservative ideas like free markets and low taxes, ideas that are thoroughly nonreligious (the person with the biggest impact on Adam Smith’s ideas was atheist David Hume).

This religious treatment of the conservative economic ideas has led to an attempt to purify conservative politicians and thinkers. Dissent from the party line is seen less as a problem of intellect than a problem of morals.

While purification is a fine way to treat one’s soul, it is a terrible way to do politics. Republicans increasingly live in a fairyland where lower taxes and more guns are always better, because of Jesus.

It leads a party to reject a moderate proposal such as the Affordable Care Act, to purge occasional dissidents such as John McCain or Charlie Crist from the party, and to see its opposition as evil and demonic rather than “wrong.”

The conservative movement in the United States is no longer based on facts and empirical realities. Principles and slogans such as “small government,” “tough on crime” and “global war on terror,” seem more important than facts such as “France has better health care and pays less for it,” “the war on drugs has failed, and when Portugal legalized most drugs, drug use fell and they didn’t all die” and “there are only 100 al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, but our country is going bankrupt.” Unfortunately, conservatives think of “cut taxes” as dogmatically as they think of “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

Republican Christians seem to care far more for the Second Amendment than the Second Commandment.

Reagan has been apotheosized, and

Glenn Beck shouts like someone who wears camel skins, eats locusts and wild honey. But when Beck talks or Reagan is mentioned, conservatives listen, and they usually follow, despite the fact that Reagan lived in a much different world than ours.

Is my explanation perfect? Of course not. It sees conservatives as a more homogeneous group than they are. It disregards the contributions of brilliant conservatives such as David Frum, Ross Douthat and Bruce Bartlett, and does not account for the election of pro-choice conservatives such as Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.

A long time ago, I was a pretty serious right-winger. I typically drove home from school listening to Rush Limbaugh, detested moochers of the welfare state and hoped to attend the U.S. Naval academy. A variety of conversations, life experiences and intellectual conquests have led me to reject many of the premises and opinions I once held. I do still have a lot of conservative intuitions: skepticism of government and the nanny state, a preference for the free market when it is practical, a sincere respect for physical and intellectual property rights and a slight preference toward business interests over environmental interests.

I no longer value militarism or religion as I used to and have a much greater respect for the importance of a social safety net. Generally, I think of myself as positioned center-left on economic issues, a strong civil libertarian, an opponent of war, a pragmatist on domestic issues such as education, immigration and health care, but I like to think that I can be persuaded by strong, factual arguments on either side. I’ll keep looking for better arguments as to why the apparent epistemic closure on the right exists or that it does not exist at all.

MIKE LAHAYE -regular columnist -junior -economics major

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Same sex couples just as qualified parents, studies say

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number of states and agencies are loathed to allow gay and lesbian parents to adopt or even grant custody after a divorce to the parent in a samegender relationship. Unfortunately, this bigotry is not founded on any kind of science. In fact, most of the stereotypes and fears of these institutions are unfounded and even disproved by such organizations as the American Psychological Association. In this column, I will give a very brief but poignant summary of some intriguing findings regarding gay and lesbian parents.

I examined one brief specifically that pulls data from a slew of studies done over the decades, ranging from the 19th century to 2005. This brief can be found at the American Psychology Association’s Web site and is an excellent source for information concerning legitimate studies and statistics on lesbian and gay parenting relationships with their children.

The APA’s brief, “Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents,” has some interesting things to say about gay parenting.

Amid recognizing that as a group gays and lesbians are actively discriminated against at all levels and that negative attitudes toward them are culturally transmitted and not legitimized through experience, it has also been quoted as saying, “common stereotypes are not supported by the data.”

However, before I discuss the studies that have been done appropriately, I’ll discuss some of the confounding factors that may account for studies that

have been done otherwise.

The APA found that many previous studies claiming a deficit in parenting between lesbian and gay households and heterosexual ones did not consider a variety of confounding factors, some of which include: “The children raised by gay and lesbian parents experienced unusually high levels of extreme social ostracism and overt hostility from other children and parents, which probably accounted for the formers’ lower levels of interaction and social integration with peers) nearly all indicators of the children’s functioning were based on subjective reports by teachers, who, as noted repeatedly by the author, may have been biased; and most or all of the children being raised by gay and lesbian parents, but not the children being raised by heterosexual married parents, had experienced parental divorce, which is known to correlate with poor adjustment and academic performance.”

With the first point, some issues regarding gay and lesbian parenting are caused by bigoted heterosexuals and homophobia, compared to homosexuality.

Paul Cameron, a popular dissenter who attempted to demonize homosexuality and parenting, is also invalidated by the APA and its studies. In its words, “Cameron’s research is methodologically suspect. Cameron’s key findings in this area have not been replicated and are contradicted by the reputable published research. Unlike research that makes a contribution to science,

[

on the web

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The entire American Psychological Association brief can be seen at http://www. apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/ parenting.aspx.

his key findings and conclusions have rarely been cited by subsequent scientific studies published in peer-reviewed journals as informing their scientific inquiry.”

Indeed, the APA found that there was no difference and, at times, even a positive deficit between the two parenting gender types. Lesbian parents, for example, tended to be more egalitarian, which is psychologically healthier for children and tended to evenly split household duties as opposed to reinforcing gender roles such as many heterosexual households. Gay men were also likely to divide child rearing responsibilities, reporting that they were happy with their couple relationships.

In fact, some studies even report that gay and lesbian parenting styles were superior to their heterosexual counterparts.

But don’t take my word for it, look at the APA’s summary of “Family functioning in lesbian families created by donor insemination:” “One study by Flaks, Fischer, Masterpasqua, and Joseph (1995) reported that lesbian couples’ parent-

ing awareness skills were stronger than those of heterosexual couples. This was attributed to greater parenting awareness among lesbian nonbiological mothers than among heterosexual fathers. In another study, Brewaeys and her colleagues (1997) likewise reported more favorable patterns of parent-child interaction among lesbian as compared to heterosexual parents.”

Further, studies showed that heterosexual parents were more likely to use physical discipline whereas gay and lesbian parents preferred “positive techniques” such as reasoning. Studies concluded that there was no reason to believe gay and lesbian parents to be unfit and that they were just as likely to provide supportive home environments for their children.

As far as the claims of confused gender identity go, these also have been debunked. Since there is no research among gay fathers in this area, I will look at lesbian parents. Among them, children noted that they were happy to be their gender and had no desire to change. There was no evidence of gender identity confusion whatsoever among the children of lesbian parents.

Gender roles also fell within typical range of conventional sex roles. In other words, just because a boy was raised by two mothers does not mean he will turn out to take on feminine roles exclusively.

Even in social environments children of lesbian and gay parents were no less likely to fail or succeed. Development of peer relationships, social groups and

romantic endeavors were all matched by heterosexual counterparts. None of these factors seem to change with sexual orientation.

Examining what I have said so far, I see that lesbian and gay households are no less capable of parenting than their heterosexual counterparts and have, in some cases, proven themselves more capable. The APA has found no reason but unfounded bigotry to substantiate policy against adoption or childrearing by gay and lesbian parents. The APA further concludes in its writings, “Fears about children of lesbians and gay men being sexually abused by adults, ostracized by peers, or isolated in singlesex lesbian or gay communities have received no support from the results of existing research.”

There are few sources more reliable in this regard than the APA. It is clear that with no data backing discriminatory stances and policies toward gay and lesbians, we need to better educate the public regarding this community and childrearing. Individuals also need to take some personal responsibility and do the research instead of relying on commonly held cultural beliefs.

JOHN DRIESSNACK -regular columnist -junior -biology major

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Sub-Lease STUDENT ROOM FOR SUMMER Student Room For Summer- 1 bedroom available in 4 bedroom with 2 baths apartment in Hunter’s Ridge on Patrick Henry. Right behind Food Lion on time check for bus route. Lots of parking, and the kitchen and common room fully furnished. Only $265-without utilities, lease starting end of exams in May till July 9, 2010. Call 757848-3895.

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may 5, 2010

COLLEGIATETIMES

WUVT DJs pick the top alive musicians of our time entertainers go, musicians tend to have the shortest life spans. Their fast-paced lifestyles mixed with the demands of the road have taken some of the era’s most shining stars while in their prime and those who have survived their heyday do not go unscathed.

Heck, look at Poison’s Bret Michaels. He’s not in the best health these days.

Below is a list of the greatest musicians who are still alive. This list was developed by the Woove Editorial Staff: Matt Clark, Matt Dhillon, Miles Ellenberg, Stu Ruiz, Peter Tesh, Alex Tallant, Rosalie Wind and Ben Woody.

B.B. KING (SEPT. 16, 1925) B.B. King as a guitarist, singer and songwriter cannot be contained to any one locale. His music is rooted in the Mississippi Delta, lives in Chicago, Muscle Shoals and Detroit.

It’s impossible to imagine any musician with knowledge of the blues who isn’t inextricably linked to the man’s legacy.

King’s style of guitar is difficult to describe. The playing is never virtuosic, but it still impossible to replicate. There is a sense of emotional depth, brought through with his timing and delicate phrasings, that makes his works a continued touchstone to this day. His guitar tone is the perfect complement — elegant yet raw — marked with occasional squalls of distortion and feedback that match the ragged soul of voice being torn to shreds by an impassioned performance. Now 61 years into his career, King remains the essence of what the blues is about: the opportunity to throw it on the line in a fit of passion in order to cleanse the soul. — Stu Ruiz

BOB DYLAN (MAY 24, 1941) Bob Dylan’s career may not be as long as King’s, but it certainly is just as influential to his genre. There is not a single American folk-rocker out there who has not paid homage to his work.

Dylan is to American music as T.S. Eliot is to American literature. Both are inno-

TOM WAITS (DEC. 7, 1949) Somewhere in an ancient opera house, at an empty train station or beside a farmhouse cemetery where a hoarse bird croaks, Tom Waits is composing his trademark haunting sound.

Waits has created some of the most captivating music in the last few decades

DAVID BOWIE (JAN. 8, 1947) David Bowie is one name that has continued to define rock music since his rise to the top in the ’70s.

His dominating success captured this era through androgynous alter egos such as Ziggy Stardust. Here, he is only considered one of the greatest living songwriters, but Rolling Stone ranks Bowie as the 39th

NIELS GOERAN BLUME/SPPS

vative, subversive voices that have experimented with different lyrical narrative structures. Their content also similarly matches up as both discuss the gradual decay of American society in their narratives.

Dylan is a musician who needs no introduction or explanation. His albums “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Blonde on Blonde” were two of the best albums of the 20th century. — Ben Woody

with some of the most unconventional equipment around. The macabre, gypsy quality of his atmospheric songs, his intimate, storytelling lyrics and his broken voice have earned him little radio time, but this hasn’t stopped him from amassing a large following. When you hear him play, you know you’re listening to someone with a touch of insanity who has managed to combine the grotesque with the sublime. — Matt Dhillon

greatest rock artist of all time.

With his soaring success of selling an estimated 136 million records, Bowie is the multi-instrumentalist who crafted 24 groundbreaking albums.

Mostly known for his hauntingly wide ranged voice and his intense live show. Bowie has also inspired future androgynous ringleaders of popular culture such as Prince, Madonna’s ’90s career and Lady Gaga. —Matt Clark

WILLIE NELSON (APRIL 30, 1933) Willie Nelson was really an obligatory choice on a list like this. Not that he doesn’t deserve the spot, of course as few artists have had as either illustrious or as long a career as Nelson. He has written hit songs, played with artists from Bob Dylan to Snoop Dogg, appeared in movies, campaigned for causes and — most of all — become an American cultural icon.

There’s just too much to say about this man’s career than will fit in this top 10 list. There’s a commanding legitimacy in his music that hasn’t faded over his 50-year career. Not one to rest on his laurels, he’s still active, still playing, collaborating and innovating his sound. Country and folk music wouldn’t be what they are today without his signature sound — and it would be better if more of them still followed his example.

—Peter Tesh

PAUL MCCARTNEY (JUNE 18, 1942) Though it seems debatable these days, Paul McCartney lives. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records labeled him the most successful songwriter ever in pop music. His song “Yesterday,” one of the most covered songs in history, has been played by more than two thousand artists.

McCartney gained fame as bassist and vocalist for the Beatles, his rock group Wings and his constant social activism. The Beatles, a rock band that undeniably changed music forever, has been cited by many of today’s popular artists as an enormous

inspiration. McCartney’s influence comes from his creative songwriting, positive messages in his lyrics, music and lifestyle.

His musical stylings have crossed several different genres from psychedelia to straightforward rock ’n’ roll. He wrote a majority of Beatles songs such as “Let it Be,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Hello, Goodbye,” “Penny Lane,” “Hey Jude” and “Here, There & Everywhere.”

He still performs to this day, most recently in November 2009.

Truly a living legend, one cannot deny the many generous gifts and masterpieces Paul McCartney has granted music since 1957. — Rosalie Wind

GEORGE CLINTON (JULY 22, 1941) The only thing as colorful as George Clinton’s hair is his style of music. With his back up band, Parliament Funkadelic, Clinton has been a funk and soul legend since his start in the ’70s. Today he is still kickin’ it with a 2008 solo release and recent live shows.

A testament to his legacy, his work is some of the most sampled in musical history and has naturally influenced all musicians in similar genres. This is largely because of his trailblazing sound that has been labeled “P-Funk,” which added a futuristic element to his funk foundation. Today, it’s a given that Clinton is on the same level as James Brown when it comes to innovation and funk-ability. —Miles Ellenberg

GLENN DANZIG (JUNE 23, 1955) Danzig “ain’t no god damned son of a bitch,” or at least he thinks not. Finding his spot on this list, Danzig may be one of the more influential figures in modern metal music today, in spite of his immediate affiliation with punk and hard rock genres.

His ridiculous lyrics and behavior have made him a standout since the late ’70s, with one of the more recent highlights being

an internet video of him getting his ass whooped by a fan. While that may not impress his Jeet Kune Do master, it has done little to affect his legions of loyal fans that have followed him through his stints with the Misfits, Samhain and his solo career.

And his legacy is not yet forgotten. Younger generations are still exposed to his songs on “Guitar Hero” games and characters based on him, like Nathan Explosion of Cartoon Network’s “Metalocalypse.” — Alex Tallant

QUINCY JONES (MARCH 14, 1933) Quincy Delight Jones Jr. is best known for producing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” but the man is an intensely successful musical composer whose work spans five decades. Born in 1933, Jones has earned 79 Grammy Award nominations and won 27 Grammys, including the Grammy Legend Award in 1991.

Jones has arranged albums for iconic performs such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr. and

Aretha Franklin.

Jones is also a performer himself. After 30 years of attempting to perform with Miles Davis, Jones and Davis finally convened for Davis’ last album “Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux.”

Known for association and arranging the great musical innovators of the twentieth century, Jones further composed soundtracks for several films such as “The Color Purple,” “The Wiz,” “In Cold Blood” and “In the Heat of the Night.”

— Matt Clark

SONNY ROLLINS (SEPT. 7, 1930) If you have not heard “St. Thomas,” then you are lying to yourself.

It has one of the most recognizable melodies of any jazz tune, and its creator has one of the most recognizable tenor saxophones of all time.

Rollins began his career at an early age and has not stopped playing since.

I luckily got to attend his concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., back in 2008, and it was quite a mov-

ing experience. You get that feeling you are in the presence of an icon — you get nervous, scared even.

Then, Sonny took to the stage and belted out one of his famous standards, “Oleo.”

Rollins might be the second-best jazz tenor saxophonist of all time behind John Coltrane, and the impression he has had on the genre since the decline of bebop is comparable to Bob Dylan’s influence on folk.

Please check out his magnum opus, “Saxophone Colossus,” if you don’t know who this legend is. — Ben Woody

Showing some ‘Merlove’: Documentary’s director showcases film, visits Tech LIZ NORMENT features reporter The 2004 wine-soaked comedy “Sideways” inspired people around the country to flock to their local markets to sip a glass of red or white. The movie, which was about two friends who tour California’s wine, spread vast enthusiasm for wine in general. Despite all of its apparent successes, the movie also produced another side effect: It put a cork in sales of merlot.

In the movie, McCLAIN Paul Giamatti consistently puts down merlot, which he feels is simply a mediocre variety of wine, while hailing pinot noir as a much-preferred grape. In one scene, Giamatti and actor Thomas Haden Church begin to argue over this debate, which results in Giamatti enthusiastically responding, “No, if anyone orders merlot I’m leaving. I’m not drinking any fucking merlot!”

His abhorrence for the wine led manywine drinkers to think twice about the grape, leading to a sort of “fall from grace” for merlot with sales dropping in the United States.

Newly released wine documentary “Merlove” attempts to combat this “Sideways” effect by celebrating not only merlot wine but also encouraging viewers to embark on their own personal journey throughout the vast wine industry without being swayed by the influence of pop culture.

In the film, producer and director Rudolf McClain offers a glimpse into the wine industry through interviews and commentary from wine makers around the world. Professor John Boyer discovered the film while doing research for his Geography of Wine class. After he had watched the film, Boyer contacted and convinced McClain to come show the independent film in Blacksburg, predicting its success in a small town of big wine drinkers.

McClain agreed and will be flying in from Sonoma, Ca., for the screening as well as for a Q&A following the film.

The event, which will be held at the Lyric, will also feature glasses of merlot for sale during and after the event.

On his way to the airport, McClain took time to answer a few questions about the film and the event, as well as to pose a few of his own regarding our intrigue of the Old Dominion.

CT: What gave you an interest in filmmaking?

McCLAIN: I don’t know really. I got out of

[

Check it out: When: Wednesday, May 5 Where: The Lyric When: 7 p.m.

Cost:$5

]

college and I had this horrible job. I sat myself down one day and asked what do I really want to do?

CT: And that lead to a documentary?

McCLAIN: I realized I wanted to make movies, and so I started writing screenplays for myself while I was working on other things.

CT: Have you made other films other than “Merlove?”

McCLAIN: This is the first film I’ve produced, but I have a few crazy shorts on my Web site that I did, famedwolf. com. The site has the trailer for “Merlove” and the shorts that I just got the guts to put up, they’re pretty crazy.

CT: What has been your reaction to the power of film and pop culture in general over people’s everyday decisions?

McCLAIN: It’s huge, especially with teenagers and young adults. Everyone is trying to fit in to some kind of group but also be their own person. It’s kind of like a “Let’s be independent together” kind of thing, know what I mean? It’s especially true with movies. With “Sideways,” I think it had so much of an effect because the wine scene is intimidating and scary for a lot of people to get into, so it really influenced people with that movie when they say this varietal is horrible.

CT: Can you give us a brief synopsis of the film “Merlove”?

McCLAIN: Well, it’s a documentary celebrating merlot wine in response to Sideways, but we also try to examine the general influence of pop culture.

The last third of film is mostly an exploration of wine. There are literally thousands of varieties in the world, so it’s just encouraging people to get out of their comfort zone and experience, get out and try something new because

that’s the most enjoyable part of wine and of life. If people are trying new things and exploring something like the effect of “Sideways” can’t happen again.

CT: What has been the reception so far?

McCLAIN: It’s been really great. When you get an audience together, especially people who are new to wine, they really have fun. I think it sets them at ease little more, and they feel comfortable exploring wine. Some people expecting an expose style documentary see it and wonder where all the grit and dirt is, but we didn’t want to fall into that tradition.

We wanted to make a film that was fun and just celebrated wine. It’s not typical.

CT: How do you think it encourages people to explore wine on their own?

McCLAIN: A lot of the people in the movie — when you see them on paper in magazines and in the wine world — they seem really serious and intimidating. In the movie they are talking about merlot and wine in general in a way that almost gives permission to get out there in the

world and enjoy, have fun. The whole culture is about enjoying the wine and discovering what you like, and having the right to say a wine is crap even if it’s expensive or has a high numeric rating.

It makes it not so intimidating, which is refreshing.

CT: How do you feel about this Wednesday?

McCLAIN: I’m really excited. I saw John Boyer’s online interview about “Merlove” and it was really heartening to see that he completely got it. The whole thing about pop culture spinning out of control, how he tells his students to get out there and go try new wines for themselves.

He totally gets it. To have him embrace the movie and to say, “Hey we can get a big crowd together,” it makes me excited to come out. Also, Boyer seems like the perfect person with great enthusiasm, which is good because I want to learn more about Virginia culturally. I feel like I always hear about things about the state, so I mean, what is it about Virginia anyway?

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may 5, 2010