Thursday, May 27, 2010 Print Edition

COLLEGIATETIMES

May 27, 2010

what’s inside News .............2 Opinions........4 Features ........7 Sports ...........9 Classifieds ...10 Sudoku ........10 107th year issue 61 blacksburg, va.

13-year-old student Report says Tech did not brings guns, ammo to school Tuesday provide ‘timely warning’ ZACH CRIZER news reporter

DANIEL LIN/SPPS

Blacksburg police stood guard outside BMS Tuesday afternoon.

LIANA BAYNE news editor Blacksburg High School classes at Blacksburg Middle School were canceled on Tuesday night after a middle school student brought a gun to school.

Brenda Blackburn, Montgomery County schools superintendent, said that school officials were alerted that there was “potentially a weapon” inside BMS Tuesday afternoon.

Police apprehended a 13-yearold BMS student at 12:26 p.m. and took two hand guns and ammunition from the student.

That student has been charged with two counts of possession of

weapons on school property and two counts of possession of firearms by a minor. The student is currently being held in the New River Valley Juvenile Detention Home.

High school classes are normally scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., after middle school classes end at 1:30 p.m.

Middle school classes ended normally and middle schoolers were sent home on buses. At the time of the incident, middle school students had just left school and high school students were arriving before their classes started.

They were told to return home as soon as they arrived. see GUN SCARE / page three

Virginia Tech’s actions during the April 16, 2007, campus shootings have been deemed violations of federal regulations by the Department of Education, solidifying a stricter interpretation of “timely warning” requirements.

“First, the warnings that were issued by the university were not prepared or disseminated in a manner to give clear and timely notice of the threat to the health and safety of campus community members,” the report said.

“Secondly, Virginia Tech did not follow its own policy for the issuance of timely warnings as published in its annual campus security reports.”

Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 Tech students and faculty in the shootings. His first two victims were killed in West Ambler-Johnston Hall before he left campus and returned to kill 30 more and injure 17 in Norris Hall before committing suicide.

In January, after a 27-month investigation, the Department of Education issued its initial findings on Tech’s compliance with federal timely warning regulations. Tech responded on April 20, and posted the report and response on its Web site on May 18.

The review process allows the Department of Education to consider the university’s response and then issue a final report. The initial investigation was notably lengthy, and many expect the final report to be completed in six to eight months.

If the violations remain in the final

Department of Education Preliminary Findings: Timeliness violation — “As documented in the Review Panel Report and confirmed by our own examination, Virginia Tech officials had information available to them that required a timely warning to the university community much earlier than 9:26 a.m. For this reason, the Department has concluded that the timely warning requirement was not met.”

Policy violation — “During the events of April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech did not comply with its own policy on the issuance of timely warning as published in its campus security reports. The university policy that was in place on April 16, 2007 was vague and did not provide students and employees with actual notice of the types of events that would warrant a timely warning or explain how those warnings would be transmitted.”

THANDIWE OGBONNA/COLLEGIATE TIMES

report, Tech could face a fine of up to $55,000. The university could appeal the fine, but the findings will be final.

Security on Campus Inc. initially filed the request that led to the investigation. The group was founded by the parents of Jeanne Clery, the namesake of the Clery Act, which was enacted in 1990 and requires universities to report crime statistics and give communities timely warnings of campus crimes. Clery was raped and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986.

The report asserts Tech officials knew enough about the situation to warn the community prior to the first mass email sent at 9:26 a.m. on the day of the shootings.

Tech’s response counters with examples and arguments that a “timely warning” on a college campus has no quantitative definition and has not typically been expected within two hours of an incident.

“The record clearly supports that a ‘timely warning’ is provided at best sev-

eral hours post incident and normally within 24 to 48 hours,” the response said.

Michael Mulhare, director of Tech’s office of emergency management, prepared the university’s 73-page response.

After the report was made public Tuesday afternoon, he said the notion of a “timely warning” was not clearly defined, and his response attempted to show that.

“I think that’s what the report does a very good job of — it demonstrates that the guidance documents provided by the Department of Education refer to timely warning and when you look at what its examples and illustrations of what a timely warning is, it is certainly measured in 48 hours,” Mulhare said.

“So, clearly, ‘timely warning,’ prior to the events that happened on our campus, was something that happened in days, not minutes.”

Daniel Carter, Security on Campus director of public policy, pointed to a see REPORT / page two

Tech professors speak out against Cuccinelli investigation LIANA BAYNE news editor Virginia Tech faculty and researchers have weighed in on another of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s recent forays into state university policies.

About 70 Tech faculty members, among almost 740 others from universities around the state, signed a letter sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which was sent to Cuccinelli on May 18. The letter expressed concerns over Cuccinelli’s current investigation into allegedly fraudulent research on global warming conducted by former University of Virginia professor Michael Mann

and discouraged Cuccinelli from continuing the investigation.

“In the interests of the people of Virginia, we urge you to halt this burdensome and entirely unwarranted investigation,” the letter read.

In an effort to discover evidence to support the claim that Mann tampered with data to reach his conclusions about global warming, Cuccinelli’s office has requested numerous e-mail correspondence between Mann and various other researchers, as well as all other documents and information generated by Mann since 1998.

Cuccinelli served that request in the form of a civil investigative demand, which has essentially the same powers as a subpoena, to the rector and mem-

bers of the UVa Board of Visitors on April 28.

The demand seeks to determine whether Mann engaged in fraudulent practices as defined by the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act during his research on global climate change, specifically pertaining to research for which he was awarded about $485,000 of state grant money.

The deadline for UVa to respond to the demand is today.

The letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists called the civil investigative demand “unfounded,” saying it “could undermine the effectiveness of not only climate scientists but also thousands of other Virginia researchers.”

“The freedom of scientists to openly disagree and discuss critical scientific topics has brought Virginia and the United States prosperity and global leadership in science,” the letter said.

“Research shows that scientific discovery is held back when government officials harass scientists.”

Mann was an assistant professor at UVa between 1999 and 2005 when he moved to Penn State University. He has been at the forefront of research on climate change and global warming since the early 2000s. Among his notable research was the development of the “hockey stick graph,” which shows global temperature to have remained consistent until 1900, at which point a drastic increase occurs.

Mann used paleontological evidence such as tree rings to support his conclusions.

Many Tech faculty members who do not work in the field of climate research and had not been closely following Mann’s work have nonetheless added their signatures to the letter of public support.

Ted Koebel, department chair of Tech’s urban affairs and planning program, signed the letter because he opposed Cuccinelli’s actions, calling them “politically motivated intrusions.”

“The whole thing is bogus,” Koebel said. “This is a step back toward the Dark Ages.”

BREAKING NEWS, MULTIMEDIA, UPDATES AND MORE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT COLLEGIATETIMES.COM

see CUCCINELLI / page three

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collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

NEWS

2

Tech will not push for background checks on prospective students SARAH WATSON news reporter Virginia Tech does not support background checks for all applications going through undergraduate admissions, as proposed by University of Virginia President John Casteen.

Casteen met with Gov. Bob McDonnell on May 11 to discuss the idea of state mandated criminal background checks for all colleges and universities. The recent murder of UVa lacrosse player Yeardley Love prompted Casteen to request the meeting. He hopes for universities to be able to gain access to law enforcement records on students.

Background checks would be run on students upon receiving applications and with every new semester in accordance to Casteen’s plan.

Mildred Johnson, director of undergraduate admissions at Tech, b elieves Casteen’s actions are admirable but said “implementation is problematic.”

Johnson said when tragedy occurs, the first instinct is to leap into the problem and see what can be done. However, these background checks would not divulge information pertaining to the mental health of a prospective student, which leaves Johnson to question their value. “Are you really going to get the information you hope to get?” Johnson said.

Tech tries to remain proactive in

gaining information about prospective students and maintaining safety on campus.

“We are doing, to the best of our ability, our due diligence to get as much information about a student as we possibly can,” Johnson said.

As part of the Tech application, prospective students are required to fill out six questions about disciplinary actions, arrests and convictions, adjudications, probation and suspensions and poor financial standing at any past school. If a prospective student answers “yes” to any of those six questions, that application is then sent to Johnson for individual review.

Johnson can grant or decline admission based on these answers, or she can ask for follow-up interviews with prospective students. The infractions are often minor, so Johnson tries to “put all the information into context.”

While these questions are helpful in determining the character of a prospective student, they are only as useful as the honesty of that individual.

Changes are currently being made to the application to include future infractions, explained Johnson.

If students are under disciplinary action after submitting their applications, students are obligated to divulge the information. If students are not honest with the university, their offer of admission can be withdrawn.

“Students — be honest. This is important,” Johnson said.

Report: Tech challenges findings from page one

2005 clause added to regulations that mandates warnings be issued as soon as “pertinent information is available.”

Carter said that while the emergency notification requirements of the Clery Act were added largely in response to the shootings on Tech’s campus, the university had already looked into faster ways of issuing timely warnings. He said the university had already discussed implementing text message alerts in 2006, prior to emergency notification being part of federal regulations.

According to Carter, the dialogue about text message alerts began after the 2006 incident in Blacksburg when convict William Morva escaped a nearby correctional facility. Tech’s campus was locked down because of fears that Morva may have been headed toward the school.

Tech’s response compares the timeline of April 16, 2007, to the timelines of other universities’ incidents to show examples of other “timely warnings.”

“On September 21, 2007, five months after the Virginia Tech shooting, two Delaware State students were shot on the campus mall,” the response said. “The headline of the cbsnews.com story dated September 22, 2007 was, ‘Delaware State Reacted Quickly to Shooting.’ The story provides a timeline. The shooting was reported at 12:54 a.m., by 2:11 a.m. University officials were meeting to discuss the school’s response and notices were posted on the school web site

Department of Education Review Timeline August 2007

January 21, 2010

April 20

May 18

Security on Campus, Inc. files complaint with the Department of Education, leading to a Clery Act program review of Virginia Tech's actions during the April 16, 2007, campus shootings.

Department of Education sends 11-page preliminary report to President Charles Steger, with findings of two Clery Act violations by the university. The university is asked to respond to the findings.

University sends 73-page response to Department of Education disputing “many of the initial findings of the DOE concerning timely warnings and application of policy.”

Citing multiple Freedom of Information Act requests, Tech posts the preliminary report and response on the university Web site.

THANDIWE OGBONNA/COLLEGIATE TIMES

around 2:40 a.m.”

Tech’s response continues to say that the chairperson of the Virginia Tech Review Panel commended Delaware State on a timely response. It then emphasizes with bold font that the timelines of the two events, measured in minutes, are nearly identical.

Dolores Stafford, a nationally recognized expert on Clery Act enforcement whom Tech brought in as a consultant, wrote in a letter attached to the university’s response that she did not believe Tech violated the federal regulations.

She conducted a survey and concluded only 25 percent of universities were issuing timely warnings within one hour in 2006.

Carter responded that a widespread lack of compliance does not relieve Tech of liability.

“Their defense is right that most other institutions were not issuing warnings in that timeframe,” Carter said. “The report from Dolores Stafford says that about a quarter of institutions in 2006 were working within that one-hour timeframe. But just because a majority of institutions were not up to speed with the 2005 guidelines, doesn’t mean that wasn’t the law.”

Mulhare said the regulations were not clear about enforcement in situations such as Tech’s, and hopes the response’s arguments will alter the agency’s view of Tech’s actions.

“They demonstrate that there is an appearance that the Department of Education is trying to apply a standard that didn’t exist at the time of the incident,” Mulhare said.

Carter said he was not aware of any other universities that were being reviewed because of violations during that time. He acknowledged a point Stafford made that, “if the events of that day had ended with the two murders in West Ambler-Johnston, it is likely that Virginia Tech would not be responding to this inquiry from the Department of Education.”

“The fact that there were consequences from the timeframe — that is, quite frankly, why the department took this case,” Carter said.

The example being set through Tech’s case could further advance what Mulhare called the “proliferation” of alert systems similar to Tech’s emergency notification plan. Tech has implemented text mes-

sage alerts, classroom LED signs and a desktop alert widget since the shootings.

Another point in the university’s response argues Tech officials could not have known the threat level that existed on April 16.

The university letter to the Department of Education said that, “there are many instances in which the Department did not benefit from having all pertinent facts or university operational procedures.”

Mulhare’s response goes on to say that Tech “disputes many of the initial findings of the DOE concerning timely warnings and application of policy.”

“It is the university’s positions that Virginia Tech complied with the Clery Act during the events that occurred on April 16, 2007,” Mulhare wrote.

“DOE’s determination that Virginia Tech’s warning was not timely and inadequate is based on DOE’s knowledge now that a threat existed on April 16, 2007,” the response said. “However, in context, this finding does not fit the known facts early in the morning on April 16, or the law that existed at the time.”

The response claims Tech’s reaction to the initial shootings in WAJ, which occurred around 7:15 a.m. and eventually left both victims dead, was appropriate given the known information. The first warning to the campus community was sent at 9:26 a.m.

“The potential danger to the campus community was considered,” the response said. “The evidence at the crime scene presented as an act of targeted violence. The crime scene was evaluated by experienced, trained and nationally accredited law enforcement professionals from three jurisdictions (VTPD, Blacksburg Police Department and the Virginia State Police).”

Carter said the policy group, which was a collection of university officials making decisions on warnings, may have believed the suspect had left campus, but they could not have been sure.

“Could anybody have foreseen that 30 more murders would have been perpetrated? No,” Carter said. “But that’s not the point. Was it reasonably foreseeable that an unknown attempted murder suspect at large might have another target? That was a reasonable assumption.”

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LIANA BAYNE associate news editor Drivers across the state and in Montgomery County will notice an increase in law enforcement patrols on the roads this Memorial Day weekend.

The holiday weekend falls in the middle of the statewide Click It or Ticket campaign, which runs between May 24 and June 6. On all roadways during this time, there will be an increased police presence to encourage drivers to wear their seatbelts, Although seatbelt violations are secondary offenses, meaning drivers cannot be pulled over solely for not wearing their seatbelts, the Click It or Ticket campaign is designed to raise awareness of this law, especially since Memorial Day Weekend is usually heavily traveled, said Lt. George Jackson of the Virginia Tech Police Department.

“Click It or Ticket in general is about awareness of the importance ofwearing safety belts,” Jackson said.

Montgomery County Sherriff Department deputy James Dowyer said his department would be participating in a statewide “blitz” of U.S. 460, which runs the length of the state.

The “blitz” will feature increased police presence along U.S. 460, Dowyer said.

He said although there are not currently any safety checkpoints scheduled, the county does have “pre-approved locations” where checkpoints might be established. Dowyer also said although none are currently scheduled, “that

doesn’t mean we can’t have them.”

Jackson said there are currently no checkpoints scheduled to be manned

by Tech police, on or off campus. He said there would be standard Tech police presence on campus over the weekend, but because many students aren’t on campus right now, there were no plans for significantly increased coverage.

New signs have appeared around campus advertising the Click It or Ticket campaign. Many local radio stations are also raising awareness of the program.

Dowyer said his department generally conducts surveys of drivers before and after the annual campaign to gauge how it affects driver seatbelt use.

“We typically see a 4 percent to 7 percent increase in use after Click It or Ticket,” he said.

Dowyer and Jackson both advised standard driving safety procedures, including wearing seatbelts and avoiding driving under the influence of alcohol or other substances. Jackson acknowledged that in college towns such as Blacksburg, the number of people drinking and driving tends to rise over holiday weekends.

“Traffic safety is something people should practice every day,” Jackson said, especially in a “bike and pedestrian friendly area” such as Blacksburg.

Dowyer suggested motorists “drive defensively: Try to keep distractions down, be aware of your surroundings.

Wear a seatbelt, and don’t drink and drive.”

Cuccinelli: Investigation into former UVa scientist’s research continuing from page one

Peter Kennelly, head of Tech’s biochemistry department, said he believes Cuccinelli’s actions are politically oriented, and the attorney general’s office is trying to send a signal to members of the state academic community.

“This isn’t about global warming or who’s right or wrong,” Kennelly said.

“It’s about protecting the ability of scientists to work free of political intimidation. This is a slippery slope.”

Kennelly noted the mechanisms within universities and within the scientific process itself designed to discover whether a researcher’s findings are accurate.

“The nature of science is that other people following up will find inconsistencies,” he said. “Scientists are people, too, and we do stumble.”

Koebel said he did not have an opinion on whether Mann’s research was indeed factual, but he believes that university administration should be the party responsible for investigating research fraud.

“If the systems aren’t adequate for detecting and addressing fraud, they should be removed,” Koebel said. “This shouldn’t be a matter of the attorney general coming into the university.”

After tips about potential research defrauding were brought to Penn State’s attention, Mann was recently subjected to a similar investigation — not by the state’s attorney general but by members of Penn State. An inquiry com-

mittee composed of three Penn State administrators conducted an investigation in November 2009 into allegations of research misconduct made about Mann’s work.

The investigation ended in February 2010 and involved the examination of hundreds of e-mails and other written communications as well as personal interviews with Mann himself, and it found Mann innocent of research misconduct between 1998 and 2009, a time period overlapping years that are currently being investigated by Cuccinelli.

“After careful consideration of all the evidence and relevant materials, the inquiry committee finding is that there exists no credible evidence that Dr. Mann had or has ever engaged in, or participated in, directly or indirectly, any actions with an intent to suppress or to falsify data,” the committee’s Feb. 3 final report stated. “While a perception has been created ... that Dr. Mann has engaged in the suppression or falsification of data, there is no credible evidence that he ever did so and certainly not while at Penn State.”

The report also clears Mann of “actions with intent to delete, conceal or otherwise destroy e-mails, information and/or data,” “misuse of privileged or confidential information available to him in his capacity as an academic scholar,” and “actions that deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research or other scholarly

“

The whole thing is bogus.

TED KOEBEL HEAD OF URBAN AFFAIRS AND PLANNING

3 NEWS

Safety belt enforcement campaign to ‘blitz’ U.S. 460 this holiday weekend

activities.”

Despite the Penn State inquiry committee’s findings, Cuccinelli’s office seeks an independent conclusion.

Bill Carstensen, head of Tech’s geography department, characterized Cuccinelli’s investigation as another piece in a “pattern” of “things against universities.” He also noted the attorney general’s March letter to public universities that sparked debate over discrimination against gays.

“I understand the pretense, but what I’m seeing is a pattern,” Carstensen said.

He said he signed the letter because he supports “honest, legitimate research,” from which students can learn.

“It’s not a political thing on my part,” he remarked. “The request may have been completely logical. But it’s the second or third in a list of little digs at universities about politically oriented topics. ... Academic freedom is what makes all of this work, and if we lost that, we won’t have a university.”

Kennelly believes Cuccinelli’s investigation may discourage free debate of potentially controversial research findings in the future.

“This isn’t about global warming, it’s about the principle of protecting the integrity of science from political interference,” he said.

Gun scare: Student arrested from page one

“

BRENDA BLACKBURN SUPERINTENDENT OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY SCHOOLS

but did not locate any.

School for middle school and high school students was in session as normal on Wednesday. All after-school activities for middle schoolers were canceled for Tuesday afternoon.

“No one was hurt, the police and school officials responded expeditiously, and I think we’ve had a good day,” Blackburn said.

Blacksburg High School students have been taking classes at Blacksburg Middle School ever since the high school gym collapsed on Feb. 13. High school classes run from 2 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

Students were evacuated from the building to the rear school bus parking lot. Those with cars were allowed to leave immediately; other students boarded buses around 2:30 p.m. The entire building was evacuated of both students and faculty by 3 p.m.

Faculty of BHS was not informed of the reason for the evacuation because they had not been in the building for very long, Blackburn said. A general announcement was made through the overhead speaker system that cited “safety concerns” as the reason for evacuation.

Blacksburg Police continued to search the building for the “possibility of additional weapons” after the school was evacuated, Lt. Joe Davis of the Blacksburg Police Department said. Three police dogs swept the school for any additional weapons or ammunition,

No one was hurt... I think we’ve had a good day.

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collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

OPINIONS

4

Eggs teach life lesson Oil spill: Obama’s regulatory Each year Tech sends dozens of students abroad. This past January, I was one of them. Everyone has their own reasons to go abroad; some do it to fulfill a requirement, others to spend a summer hanging out with their friends, but not me.

I was a freshman engineer who made a small change: Now I study English and have dreams of going to culinary school in Paris. However, there was one small problem with my plan: As you may know, they speak French in France. Being Cuban, I studied Spanish but had never spoken French a day in my life.

So like any logical person, I decided to spend a semester in France to learn the language.

Montpellier, France. Never heard of Montpellier? I hadn’t either. I took this as a good sign, a sign that the number of English speakers there would be limited. My hunch proved to be quite true.

On January 15, 2010, I arrived in Montpellier. I spoke no French, and didn’t know a soul. This was going to be fun.

A few days later I was settled into my university dorm room. It felt like a castle compared to the miniature rooms of Cochrane Hall. I had my own bathroom, a kitchen, and best of all, plenty of space all to myself. Even if nothing else went right for the next six months, the room would do just fine.

Quickly I noticed that things are different in France. The notebook paper has too many lines on it, everyone wears black, everyone speaks French, and the food can be amazing and strange at the same time.

It’s that strange and amazing food that led to one of my first run-ins in France.

Monoprix is a French grocery store.

And while it may not be the worst place to do your shopping, it is certainly not the best. However, it is convenient.

So on occasion, when my stomach called, I paid a visit to Monoprix. And each time I went I was greeted the same way: smell. And it was bad. Really bad.

And after several visits I finally determined the cause of the smell.

Eggs.

I absolutely love them. Really, I love eggs. For breakfast, on sandwiches, in cakes, for dinner, you name it. I love eggs. But my love affair with them came to a screeching halt when I first arrived in France.

There, sitting on the Monoprix’s floor, were piles and piles of eggs.

Eggs that were not in a refrigerator!

The idea was a bit too disgusting for me.

My initial confusion was followed by rationalization. Eggs come from chickens, not refrigerators. Eggs on the floor is… normal. I have heard about unrefrigerated eggs before.

But I still couldn’t do it.

I spent weeks avoiding eggs until finally I could stand it no more. I needed them. Finally I sucked it up and bought some eggs.

I approached the pile and began examining the eggs. I checked the date twice to make sure they were fresh.

The egg box said, A conserver au refrigerateur après achat. “Refrigerate after you buy.” I made sure that happened as soon as a got home. Top shelf of the fridge.

And in the fridge, the eggs sat.

Finally, the inevitable happened.

I came home from school, starving, to find that I had no food. All I had were the eggs. The time had come.

I pulled them from their perch in the refrigerator, opened the cover, and BAM! I suddenly was transported to Monoprix. Cause of the smell solved, but now I had another problem on my hands…. the eggs.

I began to panic. It was occurring to me that I was actually going to have to eat these eggs.

Had Monoprix tainted my dinner?

Were they safe to eat? How gross was this really going to be?

I had to eat. It was dark and cold outside and I was starving. It was do or die.

Initially, the plan was to have a fried egg, but I chickened out and decided to go for hard boiled… just to be safe.

I put two eggs in a pot filled with cold water and turned the burner to high.

Before I knew it, the water was boiling.

I turned off the heat, put the lid on, and began the 13-minute countdown to my perfect eggs … or not.

Thirteen minutes came and went.

I ran the eggs under cold water, and began to peel.

After some salt, I boldly popped an egg in my mouth.

How was it?

In fact, and to my surprise, it was fine.

Shockingly, or not, it tasted like an egg. Who would have ever predicted that?

My lesson had been learned. First, it is OK to eat unrefrigerated eggs, and second, never judge France by how it smells.

Cheese, anyone?

BRITTANY BURKHALTER -guest columnist

we’re YOUR newspaper. send a letter to the editor and express your views.

reaction falls short in the gulf Editor’s note: Eric Biber and Holly Doremus are professors at the UC Berkeley School of Law. They wrote this column for the Los Angeles Times.

Before April 20, most Americans had probably never heard of the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that oversees oil and gas production in federal waters.

Now, with oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout closing wildlife refuges and fishing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, the MMS is facing tough questions about its role in the disaster. Its cursory environmental review minimized the prospects of a large spill, and it failed to demand that BP have a realistic response plan in place before drilling.

While Congress holds hearings, the Obama administration has announced its intent to split MMS into two agencies — one with responsibility for offshore leasing and development permits, the other for environmental and safety enforcement. That split may be desirable, but it wouldn’t be enough to protect workers or fragile coastal environments from another catastrophe.

It certainly sounds like the right approach. After all, maximizing oil and gas development — and the revenues they bring to the federal treasury — mix with protecting worker safety and the environment like oil and water. The proposal follows the lead of Norway, Britain and Australia, all of which have independent safety enforcement agencies. Moreover, the administration has promised to ask Congress to double MMS’ current enforcement budget.

Still, there are two important reasons why the proposed reforms fall short of what’s needed.

First, the MMS is not solely responsible for the heavy emphasis on approving oil and gas development. Remember the calls to “drill, baby, drill”? Congress, the White House and coastal state politicians have all had their eyes on the money offshore production brings into government coffers (more than $10 billion in 2009), the hope of energy independence and, no doubt, the political contributions of oil and

gas interests. The political pressure to prioritize rapid development over safety won’t evaporate if the MMS is split. The new safety agency would still be under the supervision of the Department of Interior, where it would have to compete with its bureaucratic sibling. Environmental and safety interests have been losing that competition for years. Giving them a new name and logo won’t

“

Until the president and Congress clearly denounce the ‘drill, baby, drill’ approach, there will inevitably be oil on the water.

automatically change that outcome.

Second, environmental protection is not just a matter of enforcing a clear set of regulations as wells are being drilled or operated. The key environmental questions come much earlier, when the MMS decides where to offer leases, sells those leases and approves permits for exploration and development.

That’s when the fateful decision was made to allow oil production in ultradeep waters, on the basis of what turned out to have been absurdly rosy predictions about the likelihood and magnitude of spills and about the efficacy of response measures. Under the administration’s plan, those key decisions would remain with the leasing agency, not with the newly independent enforcement arm.

If this plan is not the answer, what is?

Environmental and safety review of proposed operations must be much more rigorous. The administration says it will seek new oil spill legislation extending the current 30-day deadline for the MMS to review exploration plans.

That’s good; it will provide some time for environmental analysis of those plans. But we doubt that extra time would have changed the verdict on BP’s plan.

That plan was quickly approved without site-specific environmental analysis, relying on the fact that the MMS had prepared an environmen-

tal impact statement for the leasing program as a whole, and another for the lease sale. The real problem was that those environmental impact statements were woefully inadequate. That’s not likely to be discovered, much less corrected, when an exploration plan is being reviewed.

What’s needed is a wholesale shift in the agency’s culture. Culture change is not as simple as creating a new agency. But it can be accomplished, with determined leadership and sustained outside oversight.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has already halted new offshore drilling until the end of this month, while his staff prepares a report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster. That moratorium should be extended until the MMS prepares new environmental impact statements that include explicit analysis of worst-case spill scenarios and the technically daunting challenges of responding to a deepwater blowout.

Even better, since the MMS apparently can’t be trusted to do an independent environmental analysis, that task should be assigned to an agency with an environmental protection mission, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency (with an accompanying budget transfer).

Better environmental analysis would allow more effective citizen oversight. Congress and Interior’s internal watchdog, the inspector general’s office, could also do a better job of checking the MMS’ environmental and safety reviews.

Of course, no agency can ever be completely insulated from politics.

Whatever its future structure, the MMS will continue to face pressure from a powerful industry and its allies. That kind of pressure must be battled at the very top.

Until the president and Congress clearly renounce the “drill, baby, drill” approach, there will inevitably be oil on the water.

ERIC BIBER AND HOLLY DOREMUS -mcclatchy newspapers

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wants to do that, then he or she can do that through another opportunity.

I can speak from the vantage point of having participated in a study abroad as a student at the University of Florida, where after my freshman year I spent 10 weeks at the joint program at Cambridge. Looking back 19 years later, it is as vivid as it was yesterday, and the experience was pivotal in my personal development.

Today, I speak from the other perspective of having coordinated study abroad experiences, and I am actually coordinating one right now in Europe. I write this column from London where our program started this past Friday. Coordinating a study abroad trip is a great way to witness real learning taking place right before your eyes as students slowly begin to get out of their comfort zones and begin to observe their surroundings.

It is certainly not all fun and games, as a lot of planning goes into the logistics of a study abroad program, and there are a number of regulations that need to be followed. The goal is to provide the student with an opportunity to explore and learn about the area and topic.

Most of the students who have

participated in my study abroad efforts have never traveled outside of the U.S. before, so the experience takes on added meaning for them. In some cases, these students may never have the opportunity again, so it is an once-in-a-lifetime moment.

This summer, for example, Tech students are experiencing opportunities throughout the entire world with programs in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, the Pacific Islands and elsewhere.

This global knowledge and awareness is critical for the development of the students and for the university.

Our society is much more interconnected than ever before, and this global awareness is critical. These students become ambassadors for Tech, and in many respects, they are representatives for the American culture to others.

Some will say that these students are the privileged ones, because they can afford it. I would argue that in some cases these students are relying on help from financial aid and families to make these experiences happen. I only wish that more could take the opportunity to engage in these efforts.

My philosophy in developing an experience is to keep program costs

low to prevent money from becoming a barrier to students. When I went on my trip in the summer of 1991, I took out educational loans through the university to pay for the program fee and tuition, and then I used my first credit card to help pay for my airfare.

My family could not afford this effort without the financial aid. While I did not have a lot of spending money, I was still able to experience something that forever changed me.

As we see study abroad opportunities expanding, I hope that faculty, staff and students will look into the benefits that these opportunities provide.

The Education Abroad office is a great resource to help you get started. So as you think about your future plans, consider a study abroad effort before you graduate from Tech.

I look forward to sharing more throughout the summer of this year’s experiences with the students. Cheers!

RAY PLAZA -regular columnist

Summer brings slower pace of life, chances to build skills at the CT Summer break and time spent away from Blacksburg always feels misleading to me. You knock your exams out of the park, pack everything up, and head home expecting to be able to relax and enjoy some time off. You don’t have any nagging teaching assistants, no 8 a.m. classes, or anything that might make you want to stay in bed and nap until noon so you can avoid the nagging pressure. You’ve got the summer off.

In my opinion, “off” isn’t really the word for it. “Off” would imply no work, no early wake-up calls, no daily to-do lists or anything of that nature. As students, if we truly got the summer off, we wouldn’t still have mom and dad nagging us for three months to complete trivial household chores or our boss at the internship encouraging us to grasp yet another new task. As you hopefully know by now, the Collegiate Times doesn’t really take the summer off, either.

As I sit behind this keyboard, thinking of some witty words of advice and knowledge for you as you examine my column, it’s an 80 degree, sloppy, rainy day in Northern Virginia, my home away from Blacksburg. It’s the middle of May, so it should certainly

be warmer, and May flowers should be in bloom rather than the current postponed April showers. However, with spring weather, you never know what you’re going to get.

“

As you hopefully know by now, the Collegiate Times doesn’t really take the summer off, either.

The news is pretty unpredictable as well; nothing stops that ticking clock where events happen and need to be covered. For example, in the time between the beginning of summer classes and the end of spring semester classes, graduation was postponed because of that aforementioned unpredictable weather, our basketball’s leading scorer and guard Malcolm Delaney decided to stick around for his senior season and there was an unfortunate assault near Lane Stadium.

All of this was information that you could have found in the online version of our newspaper, www.collegiatetimes.com. Just because most students aren’t around or near campus for the two six-week sessions of summer classes, that doesn’t mean that your

Collegiate Times stops covering the news. We are still at our loving home in 365 Squires with our summer staff working just as diligently to bring you the latest news and happenings in and around Blacksburg.

The main difference between our paper now and its version produced during the academic year is that instead of being published Tuesday through Friday, it is only published on Thursdays. The paper we deliver gives you the dish on everything that you may need to know that has been newsworthy over the past and upcoming week.

I’m sure you’d like to be a part of the action, wouldn’t you? If you have any interest in gaining a little experience — and spending cash — over the summer months, you should stop by our offices and show us what you have to offer. The CT over the summer can offer you everything it offers you during the regular school year: reporting, print design, Web programing, writing, photography, editing, and everything in between. This is also one of the best times to start as a part of the paper since the pace is easier, and your academic work is likely lower.

With a smaller population to serve

[

get involved

Want to learn more about opportunities at the ct? E-mail editor@collegiatetimes.com.

]

and often slower news days than during the academic year, the paper might not be intimidating. Not that you wouldn’t be able to handle it, but everyone likes to ease into things they are doing for the first time. No matter your role, we want you to feel free to stop by, hang out with us on our three comfy couches, and get to know us and our paper.

Who knows, maybe come August you’ll be a full-time reporter, being the one who breaks all of the pressing news to the Blacksburg and Tech community.

Until next time, contact me at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com.

JUSTIN GRAVES -public editor

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

Subscription rates: $65 semester; $90 academic year; $105 full year. The first copy is free, any copy of the paper after that is 50 cents per issue.

Another summer session is upon us in Blacksburg, but for many Virginia Tech students, their summer school experience is happening far away from the confines of Blacksburg. This is made possible through different study abroad experiences taking place around the globe.

The summer session often provides the best time for some students, because it doesn’t interfere with academic schedules. Instead of Blacksburg being students’ home away from home, it is a completely different location such as China, Malawi, Fiji, the Dominican Republic or the Czech Republic.

We often take Blacksburg and its surroundings for granted, but on a study abroad trip, students are literally thrown into new surroundings. Sometimes, as participants, we are not prepared for what to expect. In the end, a lot of the experience will also depend on the students and their motivations and desires. A study abroad experience is not just a glorified vacation as some would say; it is an intentional and experiential learning experience. I have certainly faced those students who just want to shop and party, but that is not the purpose of these efforts. If a student

OPINIONS

Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief Peter Velz Managing Editor Claire Sanderson Production Manager Thandiwe Ogbonna News Editor Liana Bayne Features Editor Debra Houchins Sports Editor Alex Jackson Head Copy Editor Taylor Chakurda Photo Editor Luke Mason Online Director Jamie Chung

Studying abroad brings global experience 5

page

NEWS

6

Construction projects move ahead this summer CLAIRE SANDERSON managing editor As the summer begins, a couple of construction projects both on and off campus are pushing quickly forward.

Parking Garage The $26 million Perry Street parking garage project has recently reached an important milestone. The concrete structural form of the building is complete, and workers have begun adding Hokie Stone to the exterior of the building.

“They are putting the Hokie Stone on now and building the steel and glass stair towers,” said project manager David Chinn.

Among the work that remains is installing the elevators, painting traffic lines and landscaping, Chinn said.

Efforts have also been made to make the structure more sustainable. Though LED lighting was not a part of the original plans, it has since been incorporated into the design. Solar panels will go on the roof of the structure to help power these lights.

“As we moved forward, the technology for LED has improved. It will reach a payback stage in the neighborhood of six years,” said Richard McCoy, parking services manager.

“It’s very far along, but there’s still a lot to be done,” he said. “We do not have a set opening date yet but we look forward to opening in early fall.”

Construction on the five-story garage began in fall 2009 and is designed to add more than 1,200 new parking spaces. Several hundred spaces were removed to build the garage. In spite of the inconveniences caused by

“

It’s very far along, but there’s still a lot to be done. We do not have a set opening date yet but we look forward to opening in early fall.”

RICHARD McCOY PARKING SERVICES MANAGER

the ongoing construction and loss of parking spaces, Chinn said that the addition of new spaces will outweigh the losses.

During construction, extra commuter/graduate spaces were made available in the Upper and Lower Smithfield lots, as well as the lower section of the Duck Pond resident lot known as “the Cage.”

“I’m sure people are mad that we’ve lost some spaces, but you’re gaining an awful lot of spaces back,” Chinn said.

The garage will not feature any additional residential student parking.

Parking pass prices are expected to rise for the upcoming school year to help cover part of the cost of the new building. However, the exact costs will not be known until the Board of Visitors meets in June, McCoy said.

“I anticipate them to go up modestly,” he commented.

In the future, a signature engineering building is expected to be built beside the garage, according to McCoy. However, that project is currently in the planning stages and construction will not begin for at least several years.

“That’s the only new building on the immediate horizon,” McCoy said.

LUKE MASON/SPPS

The Perry Street parking garage construction as seen from above.

Main Street Improvements Before construction of the Main Street improvement project begins in a few short weeks, the town of Blacksburg will hold an open house discussion today to give the public a chance to ask questions.

The open house is not intended to alter the project, but simply to give citizens the opportunity to ask specific questions about the construction process.

“We’re not changing the project, that’s not the purpose of the meeting,” said project manager Brandon Steele. “But if there’s a concern that we can assist with, or if there are ways that we can have less of an impact on various individuals, we can try to help with that.”

“For example, if a business requests that we give it two days’ notice before we begin work in front of the

store, we can try to accommodate that,” Steele said.

The Main Street project will affect the stretch of North Main Street from College Avenue to Kabrich Street. It will reduce the road from two lanes in both directions to one lane in both directions, widen and brick the sidewalks, and install shade trees and decorative lighting to match the rest of downtown. The intersection of Main Street and Prices Fork Road will also be replaced with a roundabout.

According to Steele, the project is on schedule.

“We’re hoping to have it started by June 14,” he said.

The open house will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Blacksburg Community Center at 725 Patrick Henry Road.

Summer enrollment rises CLAIRE SANDERSON

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

managing editor After a short but much-needed break from finals, students taking summer classes are getting settled back into the work routine.

But with more opportunities and online options than in years past, many students are finding it easier to take classes while also doing other things over the summer.

This summer, 9,354 students are enrolled in 2,457 on-campus classes as wellas308onlinecourses,saidMichael Herndon, director of university summer sessions.

“Many people see it as an opportunity to get ahead and ensure that they graduate in the timeframe that they desire,” Herndon said. “Online classes also offer more flexibility and employment opportunities, allowing students to fulfill their financial goals as well as their academic goals.”

Some students also prefer the smaller class sizes that provide a lower

student-to-teacher ratio and more opportunities for individualized attention.

“I’m trying to get into graphic design, a restricted major,” said rising sophomore Libby Rosebro. “I’m trying to get the prerequisite classes over with. It’s been good so far, although I already feel swamped with the work.”

Others, such as junior transfer student Kevin Hummell, “just need to catch up.”

Herndon said the most popular classes to take over summer are classes that fulfill the basic requirements of the Curriculum for Liberal Education, a university-wide standard.

Summer classes are also offered at the graduate level. This summer, 1,427 students are enrolled, according to Jacqueline Nottingham, director of graduate admissions and academic progress.

“We see an influx of people who have been part-time students during the year, and a lot of high school teachers take recertification classes here to keep up with their accredita-

tions,” Nottingham said.

Summer classes and recertification courses make the most sense for teachers who work during the year, she said.

“Many graduate students also do it to keep in progress with their curriculum. People are just making the best of their life circumstances,” Nottingham said.

Herndon said the number of students taking summer classes is expected to grow because more students typically sign up for second session classes as that deadline approaches.

“In 2009 we saw a drop in enrollment, but the really promising thing about the number this year is that it already exceeds the total from last year,” he said.

Though summer classes offer some advantages, Herndon reminded students not to take it too easy. “I don’t want students to think that summer is less rigorous than fall or spring.

In many cases classes are taught by the very same professors,” Herndon said.

page

DEBRA HOUCHINS

Bruschetta

features editor

“

It’s taking a few hours out of your hectic life to spend quality time a fellow female . . . maybe our best friends are our real soulmates.

What you’ll need: 6 Roma tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup canned sundried tomatoes in oil 3 cloves minced garlic 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup fresh basil Salt and black pepper for tasted 1 baguette 1 large block of mozzarella cheese

COURTESY OF CHRISTINA BOHNENKAMP

A homemade cosmopolitan martini garnished with lime is an easy drink to make. Cosmos are the perfect touch to any girls’ night in.

Cosmo The first thing to consider when making a cosmo is whether it’s going to regular or virgin. To make a virgin cosmo, just substitute tonic in the place of vodka. Your drink is going to be a little bubbly but equally delicious.

glass.

Take a sip. If it’s too strong or sweet, add a few tablespoons of water until it’s right for you. Garnish with a lime wedge and enjoy.

First set your oven to broil.

While it preheats, mix together the Roma tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil and basil in a large mixing bowl.

This mixture needs to sit for 10 minutes so the tomatoes absorb the flavor of the spices.

In the meantime, start to slice you the baguette so that each piece is 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.

Arrange them on a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven for about three minutes or until they are slightly toasted.

This guarantees the bread will be crispy despite the moist toppings.

Don’t turn off the oven when you remove your bread, as there is one more step.

Divide the tomato mixture

evenly on all of the pieces of bread. There should be about one tablespoon on each piece.

Grab a grater or knife and slice mozzarella so that the top of each piece of bread has a nice layer of cheese.

The bruschetta goes back into the oven for five to 10 minutes. When it’s finished, the cheese should be melted but not browned.

Give them a few minutes to cool before arranging them on a plate or platter.

“

When it’s finished, the cheese should be melted, but not browned.

After we finished mixing and baking, my friend and I took our spots in front of the television and debated what movies to watch.

The first “Sex and the City” film was a given, but she didn’t feel up to my choice, “Ninja Assassin,” and I can’t ever bear to watch another Nicolas Spark flick.

In the end, though, it’s not the movies or the cosmos — or even the delicious bruschetta — that makes girls’ night so great. It’s taking a few hours out of your hectic life to spend quality time with a fellow female.

Like the show says, maybe our best friends are our real soul mates anyway.

What you’ll need: -vodka or tonic water -cranberry juice -lime juice -water It’s important to note that our homemade cosmo doesn’t have as many ingredients it as the kind you would get a bar or restaurant, but we’re going to keep it simple — and still delicious.

When choosing vodka, look for a good brand. My personal favorite is Rain, an organic corn-based drink.

It’s a little on the pricey side, at least by college student standards, but it’s well worth it.

As for tonic water, look for ones with real sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup; it tastes a lot better.

For the juice portion, mix two parts cranberry juice with one part lime juice and stir well.

The amount of juice mix you make depends on how many glasses you want to make. For each severing, use two shots of the juice mix and one shot of vodka or tonic water.

Add these into a shaker, along with plenty of ice. Give it a good shake and then strain the cosmo into a cute

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

I was a 12-year-old tomboy at my first real preteen girls’ night in. Having experienced sleepovers vicariously through TV shows and movies, I felt confident in my ability to be “girly.”

My best friend insisted on painting my fingernails, a ritualistic rite of passage for all girlhood cliques. While I munched popcorn and watched a goofy teen movie, happily unaware of whatever color she was smearing on my nails, she gossiped about middle school drama and swooned over attractive boy celebrities.

“Done,” she announced triumphantly as she blew on my nails.

“Now you do mine.”

It was a command, not a request, and before I could stutter that I had never painted another person’s nails, she had presented me with blue nail polish and stuck her hands in front of my face.

Fifteen minutes later she gave up on me and painted her nails herself.

As an adult, I’m still painfully unfeminine at times. Yes, I straighten my hair and apply my makeup with well-trained hands, but ask me what I did last and I’ll tell you about video games and action movies, or maybe how I painted a van Gogh replica onto an egg while watching an episode of “Deadliest Warrior.”

My absolute girliest tendency is my obsession with a certain show. I admit that it can be shallow, stereotypical and frequently inappropriate, but I love “Sex and the City.”

Oh, I look like a girl, but I’ve never been good at acting like one — at least by traditional standards.

But then again, isn’t that what “Sex in the City” was all about? Rejecting the stereotypes that women have to conduct themselves in predetermined manners based on societal expectations?

To celebrate “Sex and the City 2,” opening Friday, one of my female friends and I decided to have our own girls’ night in. So we decided what better way to celebrate a show about being “single and fabulous” than with cosmopolitans and bruschetta?

There’s an easy way to do this without any real effort — just buy a cosmo mix and pick up bruschetta at a local restaurant — but then it wouldn’t be DIY. (Note: Some might argue that a girls’ night requires high heels and short skirts, regardless of whether it’s a night in or out. My friend and I opted for socks and sweatpants)

This is delicious and easy. You can make it as an appetizer for large groups or as a meal for you two.

7 FEATURES

Do It Yourself : Recipes for a girls’ night in

page

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

FEATURES

8

Final Fantasy XIII satisfying but imperfect DEBRA HOUCHINS features editor Between homework, exams, extracurricular activities and downtown adventures, video games take a serious back seat for many college gamers. Fall and summer breaks are the perfect times to catch up on all of the serious gaming — first- person shooters and MMORPGs are generally relaxed enough to keep up with during the stress from school.

For the next few weeks, the Collegiate Times will review some of most played games of spring and summer — those titles you wanted play but didn’t have time. The first choice of the summer selection was the long awaited Final

Fantasy XIII, which was released in March of this year.

Let it be known that I am, and always have been, a Final Fantasy fangirl. I invested in a PS3 just because I knew FFXIII would look the best on it (oh X-Box, your graphics are just not as pretty). So imagine my surprise — and disappointment — at the slow and linear start of the game.

The first 10 hours I played, I couldn’t help but feel, well, cheated. It was pretty, but the 80-hour turn base RPG just seemed so daunting. I was also very annoyed by just how incredibly linear it was.

I’m not talking about the storyline, I am all for a well-formed story — in fact, it was the interesting and linear

story that kept me playing through my disappointment.

What I mean is that the game itself is very linear. In the first three chapters you follow a specific trail with predetermined platforming, meaning you can’t even control where or when the characters jump.

It’s like the game’s designers made this pretty world for you to explore, and then made it impossible for you to do so.

In other words, the game’s designers are teases.

I reminded myself that I loved the franchise and pushed forward, trying to remember the difference between a fal’Cie, l’Cie, and the Cie’th (if you haven’t played the game, look up a plot

summary because it’s really too confusing to even begin). The cut scenes were frequent and necessary because there is so much to explain — but I still managed to get confused.

However, once I hit the game’s third chapter, I was grateful for the slow start and my patience with it.

The battle system takes a while to get used to. The game introduces the battle system slowly throughout the first few chapters, and then drops you into a hectic and satisfying battle system that requires both strategy and speed. Some of the battles are so quick and intense, I actually had to go into the setting and change the battle speed from average to slow just to keep up.

The weapons upgrading system is also a bit confusing and difficult.

Another problem I had with the game is that there really aren’t enough places to grind.

Grinding, also called farming, is basically repeating an action to gain experience or items. In most RPGs, this means trying to encounter as many bad guys as possible in hopes they’ll drop something you need or want. Since most of the monsters disappear after they are defeated, FFXIII only allows for grinding a handful of times — and it’s hard to notice unless you have a game guide to point out it to you.

Despite my long lists of complaints, I ultimately loved the game for more than just its plot and battle system — both were fantastic for most JRPG fans. The music was compelling, catchy, and fit perfectly with each scene, even though typical Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu was not behind this game’s sound track.

The characters are interesting, despite their initial obnoxiousness. All of the character started out seeming whiny, immature, dumb or emotionally stunted. Luckily, that changed during the course of the game, and all of characters are given interesting backstories and promising growth. In the end, most of the good guys are likeable.

The plot is complicated and at times convoluted, but the game designers added a database that expands with each new level and encounter. This database helped to remind me of minor plot points and characters.

Picking the game back up when college ended, I can say that the graphics maintained the wow factor despite the weeks I hadn’t played. The story line sucked me right back in, and although I was still very frustrated at times with cheap mini-bosses and the linear paths, I enjoyed most of it.

If you’re not an RPG person, especially if you’re not one for an RPG with a linear plot, Final Fantasy XIII probably isn’t a game for you. Any fan of the series won’t be disappointed, except perhaps when it comes to exploration. At least you get to explore the plot, right?

If I had to give this game a grade, I’d say it’s an A- or a B + and that’s not the fangirl in me talking. It was fun, interesting, compelling and beautiful — everything a game should be.

Unfortunately, it’s by no means a perfect game either.

If you’re solely an FPS fan and are not particularly up for a sometimes tedious 80-hour adventure, I’d avoid this game completely. But if shininess (and this game is really shiny) attracts your interest, pick it up. It’s well worth a week of your summer.

Next week, I’ll cover either God of War III or Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. You can vote online.

JOSH PARCELL sports staff writer

NIELS GOERAN BLUME/SPPS

Tech first baseman Ronnie Shaban tries to make a grab for an out at first base during the Hokies’ win over Duke on May 16 at English Field. at that time in the year,” Hughes said.

In Clemson and Georgia Tech, the Hokies will face two of the most powerful offenses in the conference.

The Yellow Jackets produced 111 home runs during the regular season, more than 20 ahead of the next highest total in the ACC. Hughes’ lineup has some firepower of its own. The Hokies are fifth in the league with 70 home runs, and the team features Austin Wates and Steve Domecus, two of the best hitters in the country.

Wates became the first Hokie ever to be named first team AllACC in 2010, thanks to a .369 batting average and 48 runs batted in.

[

ACCs on the web

]

Check out the CT’s Web site at www.collegiatetimes.com for updated tournament coverage.

“It’s been a long, long road … seeing the goals I’ve set for myself being met is a huge reward,” Wates said.

Domecus was named to the AllACC second team. He led the Hokies with a .372 batting average while also driving in 56 runs. He knows it will be a challenge to match the offensive firepower of Georgia Tech.

“We’re going to have to get a lot of guys in scoring position.

When we do that a lot, we win,” Domecus said.

Getting guys across home plate is easier said than done when the enemy on the pitching mound is Deck McGuire. McGuire is the ace of the Georgia Tech staff. ESPN rates him as the seventh-best pros-

pect in next month’s Major League Baseball draft.

“He’s got the best curveball we’ve seen all year. That thing drops like an anvil,” Domecus said.

When the Hokies faced McGuire earlier this year, they managed only four hits in seven innings before he was relieved. Eventually, the Hokies won that game 3-1 in 11 innings.

In Hughes’ mind, pitching is the key to winning the championship.

Even more important to the Hokies’ success is the health of its pitching staff. Jesse Hahn, a junior who has proved to be the most reliable starter on the team when healthy, missed over a month near the end of the season with issues related to an arm injury.

Prior to missing time, Hahn was 5-2 and in the discussion for pitcher of the year in the ACC. In two starts since returning, he has allowed nine runs (eight earned) in eight and one-third innings pitched, leading to two losses.

Hughes insists, despite Hahn’s poor performance against North Carolina, though, that he is ready to pitch at a high level this week.

“I don’t even worry about him after what I saw (on Saturday),” Hughes said.

The biggest concern as a team for the Hokies has to be the fourgame losing streak it ended the season with, including a threegame sweep at the hands of North Carolina.

The Tar Heels were in a mustwin situation all weekend, however. They needed all three wins and some help to make this week’s tournament. The wins came, but the help never did, and the team is on the outside looking in.

“If we want to get caught up in being swept by Carolina, a team that was playing for its last breath…I tell our guys to look at what we’ve done against the teams in this tournament,” Hughes said.

“If you look at it from that per-

spective, we’ve got a chance to win this tournament, so let’s go.”

The format for the tournament is pool play, where the four teams from each division play each other, and then the teams from each group with the best records meet on Sunday for the championship.

The Hokies will need a strong start in order to make a run for the title.

Because Tech’s first two games are against Clemson and Georgia Tech — the two highest-seeded teams in the division — beating both would almost assure the Hokies a spot in the finals on Sunday.

That’s why Hughes is going to put Justin Wright, who held the Yellow Jackets to just one run earlier in the year, on the mound against the Jackets Thursday night.

“We just need to play clean baseball, and when we do that, we’re pretty good,” Hughes said.

ACC Tournament Schedule 5/26/10

5/28/10

Virginia v. Boston College - 12 p.m.

Miami v. Florida State - 4 p.m.

Clemson v. NC State - 8 p.m.

Florida State v. Boston College - 12 p.m.

Virginia Tech v. Clemson - 4 p.m.

NC State v. Georgia Tech - 8 p.m.

5/27/10

5/29/10

Boston College v. Miami - 12 p.m.

Florida State v. Virginia - 4 p.m.

Georgia Tech v. Virginia Tech - 8 p.m.

Virginia v. Miami - 12 p.m.

Clemson v. Georgia Tech - 4 p.m.

Virginia Tech v. NC State - 8 p.m.

5/30/10 ACC Championship Game 1 p.m.

THANDIWE OGBONNA/COLLEGIATE TIMES

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

When Pete Hughes became the head baseball coach at Virginia Tech in 2006, postseason play in Blacksburg hardly seemed possible.

Why would it? Hughes and the Hokies entered their first season together, coming off a 4-25 season in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

If the conference tournament was the penthouse, they were in the hotel lobby.

Just four years into his tenure, however, Hughes has his team locked in as the sixth seed in this week’s ACC Tournament. It’s the team’s first postseason berth since the tournament included every team in 2005.

The Hokies finished this season tied for second in the ACC in terms of series victories, meaning they won at least two of three games against each opponent.

Virginia led the way, going 9-1 in ACC series. Virginia Tech finished 7-3, along with Georgia Tech and Florida State.

The Hokies have played lightsout against the league’s elite, but there’s one glaring thing missing: postseason experience.

The only player on the Hokies’ roster who has played in an NCAA Tournament is Tim Smalling, who transferred from Arkansas. The Razorbacks made the tournament during Smalling’s freshman season in 2007.

However, Hughes isn’t too worried about his team’s inexperience.

“No other team in the ACC has played a tougher schedule than our team has; it’s not even close.”

Hughes said, “Our conference schedule prepared us to play in any kind of venue and in any kind of atmosphere.”

This weekend’s tournament will feature more cutthroat competition than anywhere else. Six of the eight teams playing in the ACC tournament are ranked in Baseball America’s top 25, more than any other conference in the country.

The Hokies join second-seed Clemson, third-seed Georgia Tech and seventh-seed North Carolina State in Division B for weekend play.

“I look at the ACC, and it doesn’t really matter (what division you’re in). The league is really good,” Hughes said.

That said, the team had mixed results against division opponents during the year. Clemson swept the Hokies in mid-March, but a month later the Hokies went to Atlanta and took two of three games from the Yellow Jackets.

“When Clemson swept us, I don’t think we were playing well

9 SPORTS

Hokies prepared for ACC Tournament

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collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

SPORTS

10

Club baseball team reaches World Series ALEX JACKSON sports editor The Virginia Tech club baseball team is back in the National Club Baseball Association World Series and is ready for action.

After topping East Carolina University and North Carolina State twice in the Mid-Atlantic regional championships in the beginning of May, Tech found out last week that it would be heading as a six-seed to the Series, which takes place in Fort Myers, Fla. on May 28.

The Hokies will take on the thirdseeded University of Arizona Wildcats — who won the Southern Pacific Region — in the first round of play.

It will be Tech’s first appearance in the World Series since the team made it as an eight-seed in 2008.

While Tech didn’t last long in the tournament two years ago, this season’s team enters the tournament’s field of eight with a fresh confidence.

Tech entered this season with low

national expectations but overachieved, compiling a 15-6 overall record and a 12-3 mark in conference play en route to being crowned the Mid-Atlantic Regional Champions.

The team’s road to a Regional Championship was much different than it was in 2008. “(Two years ago,) that team was really experienced,” said team vice president and second baseman Tyler Atkins. “It’s kind of weird because we were kind of expected to be really good that year.

This year, we didn’t start out in the top-25 and we kind of sneaked up on some teams.”

Two years ago, Tech rolled through its regular season schedule, but fell quickly when it reached World Series play. The Hokies lost their first game of the Series against top-seeded Penn State in 2008, and got knocked out of the tournament with their second loss two games later. Players described that team, a team ranked No. 5 in the nation at one point, as a power-hitting bunch and a team that relied on its offense.

COURTESY OF CONNIE DUPRE

The Virginia Tech club baseball team gathers for a photo after a home game this season in Salem, Va. This season, the Hokies enter the World Series with a completely different style.

Despite outscoring its opponents in

the regional championships by a tune of 42-14 in just three games of play, Tech doesn’t pride itself on a highpowered offense.

“Even though we outscored the teams in the regionals… that’s the most runs that we’ve scored all year,” Atkins explained. “I mean, we don’t really hit a lot of homeruns. We don’t have power hitters on our team.”

Instead, Tech relies on playing “small ball” offensively and getting the job done through its pitching and defense to earn wins.

“We’re just base-hitting them to death,” Atkins said. “Defensively, we’re very confident. We haven’t made two errors in a game this year since I can remember. But, aside from our defense doing really well, one thing that’s really carried us is our pitching. We’ve got a couple of key people who have really stepped up and played big parts.”

“We kind of established a new identity for ourselves,” added Tech’s ace pitcher Brandon Mackey. “We’re more of a small ball team, working more as a team — less power.”

The Hokies didn’t start out the season with success, though. In midFebruary, as the season got underway, Tech dropped three-of-three to East Carolina, beginning its year far from the way it wanted. A 12-3 run over the final 15 games of the season, however, vaulted Tech back into contention.

“We re-identified ourselves as more of a unit,” Mackey said. “It was definitely a process. At the beginning of the year, we weren’t doing very well with that. We struggled with producing runs at some points, but I think we’ve really come along in the past couple of months and now I think we’re set up to do really well in the World Series.”

“This year has been unlike any other year that I’ve been on the team,” said junior third baseman Randy Buonviri.

“It’s been a complete turnaround. I mean, every weekend we’ve gotten better. I knew that we had potential and stuff but it’s been a little bit of a surprise.

We’ve had a bunch of contributions from the new freshmen this year ... and we just keep on getting better.”

Steady improvement over the course of the season and a team chemistry that has grown into what some team members call the best they’ve ever had both have the team excited about its chances in Florida.

“Something that’s really gotten us this far this year is the chemistry with the team,” Atkins said. “Everybody’s just really come together and are willing to do whatever it takes to see the team win. We’re pretty much all best friends on the team.”

His teammates agree.

“Ever since I’ve been on the team, it’s just been an awesome experience,” Buonviri said. “I’ve made some of my best friends at college on the team. It’s almost like joining a small fraternity — I mean, we hang out on the weekends, get together at other colleges and still play very competitive baseball.”

That friendship off the field has made it easy for Tech to succeed on the field.

“We just really want to see everybody do well,” Atkins said. “Pretty much everybody’s ready to play any role that they can, no matter what it is.”

When the team takes the field in Florida against the best the NCBA has to offer, its players hope their excellent chemistry and new, improved style translates to success and a shot at a championship.

“I think we’re better all-around this year and have a deeper pitching staff.

I think we do have a legitimate chance (at a championship), actually,” Buonviri said.

“I think that if we can continue how we played in the regionals,” Mackey added, “there’s no reason why we can’t make it to the championship game and compete for the national title.”

Tech’s first game against Arizona begins at 11 a.m. on May 28. If Tech wins, it will face the winner of secondseeded Colorado State against seventhseeded Georgia. If the Hokies lose, the team will face the loser of that game in a win or go home situation.

The World Series will last through June 3. Games will be webcast on the NCBA’s website, www.clubbaseball. org.

page 11

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Americans working out the kinks before Cup O

collegiatetimes.com May 27, 2010

12 SPORTS

page

n Tuesday night, the United States men’s soccer team looked off, falling to the Czech Republic 4-2 in its first friendly match since March.

With just two weeks remaining before kickoff at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the loss was not what U.S. fans wanted to see.

It wasn’t exactly what the U.S. squad wanted to see either.

Over the past two years, the

Americans have worked hard to recapture the hearts of their fans.

Last February, the U.S. started the fourth and final round of World Cup qualifying with a bang, taking down Mexico 2-0 at home. A few months later, when qualifying resumed, the Americans almost took down Mexico again, but fell despite a valiant effort, by a score of 2-1 at Estadio Azteca.

After the American’s embarrass-

ing showing in the 2006 World Cup, just being competitive had its fans excited. American soccer hadn’t seen significant international success since the 2002 World Cup and its close matches with Mexico looked promising.

Then, the Americans got on a roll.

Post-Mexico, the U.S. defeated El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago en route to securing its ticket to the World

Cup with a 3-2 win over Honduras. A game later, the Americans captured first place in the fourth round with a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica.

And then things got really interesting.

In June, the Americans entered the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup with a World Cup berth in hand and seemingly, not a lot to play for. At least, that’s what it looked like when the team was beat soundly in its first two matches by the Italians, 3-1, and then Brazil, 3-0.

When it seemed as if the U.S. stood no chance to advance further, though, a 3-0 win over Egypt in its final game of group play shifted the tide. The win forced a three-way tie for second, in which the U.S. held the tie-breaker over Italy and Egypt.

Out of nowhere, after the Americans seemed dead in the water, the U.S. earned an unexpected trip to the Cup semifinals.

There, the Americans drew internationally top-ranked Spain – and believe it or not, won.

Shocking the world and the tournament field, a 2-0 victory vaulted the Americans to the Confederations Cup final and the team officially recaptured the hearts of its fans.

While the U.S. would go on to lose in the final, 3-2 to Brazil, a fresh following had emerged behind an American team that four years ago, was the joke of the World Cup. Tuesday’s loss was tough.

Two fans at downtown Blacksburg’s Sharkey’s, donning U.S. soccer jerseys, held their heads in their hands and sighed as the Czech squad went up 3-2 with less than 20 minutes remaining.

The American’s defense, supposedly its strength, looked porous against a mediocre Czech squad and with the World Cup quickly approaching, U.S. fans weren’t impressed.

But, Tuesday night wasn’t all negative.

Returning to the lineup after seven months of rehabilitation for the U.S. was six-foot-four defender Oguchi Onyewu. Onyewu, who plays for A.C. Milan, injured his left knee against Costa Rica in October and has spent the past half-year in Italy working to get back for the World Cup. While the monster on the American’s back-line looked rusty, finding himself out of position on several occasions, U.S. coach Bob Bradley was happy with what he saw.

“We’ve seen improvement in this camp in terms of just how he moves around, so that was encouraging,” Bradley told the Washington Post.

“His overall reactions to the game were good. His on-the-ball passing, that kind of thing, pretty solid. Now it’s just all those things being moved up a few more notches – the ability to size things up (and) get good position on players.”

Along with Onyewu’s return, the Americans were pleased to see an unexpected offensive boost from Herculez Gomez, who earned his flight ticket to South Africa by way of a header 66 minutes in, knotting the score at two.

The U.S. also got a boost from forward Edson Buddle, who much like Gomez, came from obscurity to land a spot on the final 23-man roster, announced Wednesday.

And while it was the American’s second-straight friendly loss leading up to the World Cup, there’s a reason it’s called a friendly.

Tuesday night marked the final game before Bradley had to make his seven cuts to the 30-man roster. In result, Tuesday’s game was more of a final NFL exhibition game than a final NFL regular season game, days before the playoffs – despite being days before the Cup. Bradley fiddled with the lineup for the majority of the night and when games do begin in South Africa in two weeks, the Americans hope to have come together as a team.

Only time will tell how the American’s will fare when the matches get a lot more important, and a lot less friendly come June 12, when the team walks onto the pitch in its first World Cup game against England.

Until then, the team has two more friendly’s to figure things out.

On Saturday, the U.S. takes on Turkey in Philadelphia, Pa. Then, the team will leave the States, arrive in South Africa and on June 5, will have its final warm-up opportunity against Australia.

World Cup action begins on June 10 and will last a month.

ALEX JACKSON -sports editor -senior -communication major