Rough and tumble see page six
MCT CAMPUS
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
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Resident advisor jobs County prepares for draw stiff competition demolition of school CLAIRE SANDERSON MEIGHAN DOBER news staff writer More students are competing for Virginia Tech’s resident advisor positions. Despite a very detailed application process with Tech’s Residence Life, there are still many students who apply. “I need the money and I do not want to get a job,” said Purvi Vyaz, a freshman applicant. “I like working with other people.” Roxanna Seltzer, another freshman applicant, said she liked “getting to know people on a one-to-one basis.” Donald Walker, a coordinator for residence life, said approximately 400 students applied for an RA position last year. From the 400 applicants, about 200 students were offered interviews to move further along in the selection process. From that number, 98 new RAs were selected. Added to the 128 returning RAs, the final number of RAs comes out to 226. Students must pass certain criteria in order to be eligible to become an RA. They must have completed two semesters on campus by the time they would serve as an RA, hold a 2.25 cumulative GPA and have good standing with student conduct, meaning they are not on current active sanction. “There are so many candidates applying we have to set limitations,” said Lis Ellis, a residence life coordinator. The application contains an essay portion and requires three recommendations.
2009 RA selection breakdown
98 given RA positions ~200 given interviews 400 applicants After all the applications are submitted, a staff board reviews and scores the applications. If the applicant’s score is high enough, he is offered an interview. If it is too low, the applicant doesn’t advance further. In the interview stage, the applicant must participate in individual and group interviews. The applicant gets a combined score from the two interviews. If a candidate’s score is high enough, he is placed in one of two categories: “hired with placement” or “alternate”.
Man assaulted on Drillfield GORDON BLOCK associate news editor Virginia Tech Police Department is investigating a group assault on the Drillfield in front of Burruss Hall early Tuesday morning. According to an e-mail release sent Tuesday afternoon, the male victim reported he was assaulted by a group of four or five unknown white males. One suspect was described as a “heavy set” male wearing a white shirt and a bandana on his head and a second male was said to have worn a black hooded sweatshirt.
The suspects exited in a red SUV-type vehicle with tinted windows after pushing the victim to the ground. After the assault, the suspects fled in the vehicle toward West Campus Drive. The victim sustained minor injuries, including abrasions to his hands, and was transported to Montgomery Regional Hospital for treatment. Detective R.L. Taylor of Tech Police declined to speculate on a motive for the assualt, saying the investigation is still open. Those with further information on the incident are encouraged to call (540) 231-8121.
“Hired with placement” applicants are offered a position in a certain dorm. “Alternate” applicants are not given a dorm immediately, but are offered a position if someone drops out of the program. Applicants with low scores are dismissed from further review. There are many benefits for those who are selected to become an RA. In addition to having their room paid for, RAs are paid approximately $125 every two weeks. RAs working in themed housing are paid slightly more.
news reporter The old Blacksburg Middle School building on Main Street is on track for demolition by Jan. 31, but first it must go through asbestos removal. After sitting vacant for five years, the building is being pushed toward eventual rezoning and development in order to generate new funds for schools, including repairs on Blacksburg High School. According to town code, the money generated from the sale and development of the site will go toward schools since it was previously owned by the Montgomery County School Board. At a Nov. 9 meeting, the Montgomery County Economic Development Department found that demolishing the building and rezoning the property for mixed-use development would provide the greatest return to county tax payers and schools. With the building removed, the 20acre site could sell for about $2.8 million as it is currently zoned, but could sell for $8.1 million if it is rezoned for mixed-use development. “Mixed-use basically allows a combination of retail, offices and residential development,” said Brian Hamilton, Montgomery County’s economic development director. The department plans to have the property building-free and officially rezoned by next summer, when it will issue bids for developers. But before it can be legally demolished, asbestos must be removed from the 1950s-era building. Hamilton said that process will begin in less than two weeks and should last 60 to 90 days. The county contracted Richmondbased Waco, Inc., for the process.
COURTESY MONTGOMERY COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
The asbestos removal, which will cost $135,617, is scheduled to begin within the next two weeks and could take up to three months. At a cost of $135,617, it had the lowest estimate of the eight contractor bids the county received. Hamilton said while the removal process can be very technical, it is one that is performed across the country every day. “They have to suit up, almost like in an operating room,” Hamilton said. “You build tents around the areas where asbestos is to be removed, and you spray it with hot water the entire time as you bag it as hazardous waste.” Fences will be erected during the
removal to reduce unsightliness. The next step for the county is to contract an engineer to design the demolition of the building. “As soon as the asbestos contractor will step off the site the demolition engineer will step on. That is our goal,” Hamilton said. The building was built in 1954, and it served as the town’s high school until the high school on Patrick Henry Drive was built in 1973. It then became the Blacksburg Middle School until 2003, but has been vacant since 2005.
Facebook launches messenging service JESSICA GUYNN mcclatchy newspapers SAN FRANCISCO — In a bold challenge to its rivals, Facebook Inc. is launching a messaging service for its more than half a billion users, setting off a battle that could shape the future of communication on the Internet. Facebook Messages will meld the three major forms of communication — e-mail, instant messages and text messages — so that users can manage all their communications through a single inbox on their personal computer or mobile device. The common gateway will be an “(at)facebook.com” e-mail address. This kind of unified digital communication is the wave of the future, said Jeremiah Owyang, a social media analyst at Altimeter Group. If anyone has a legitimate shot at remaking Internet communication, and even eventually replacing e-mail, it’s Facebook, analysts say. It has a distinct advantage: It already knows who your friends are and most of
Who dominates in e-mail users Microsoft’s Hotmail and Yahoo Mail are the world’s most popular e-mail services, but Google's Gmail has the most momentum, with Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL all losing share during the past 12 months. Facebook is widely expected to launch its own e-mail service. Global audience Change since E-mail service in Sept. 2010 (in millions) Sept. 2009
361.7
Microsoft Hotmail
273.1
Yahoo Mail Google Gmail QQ.com Mail 163.com Mail AOL Mail
193.3 86.4 46.8 30.8
Source: ComScore Graphic: San Jose Mercury News
them are already on its site. In the process, it would lay claim to one of the Web’s largest e-mail services. By way of comparison, Microsoft Corp.’s Hotmail has 361 million global users followed by Yahoo Mail’s 273 million users, according to research firm ComScore Inc. Google Inc.’s Gmail
-2.8% -10% +21% +4% +17% -18% © 2010 MCT
has 193 million users, But big question marks remain. It’s unclear how popular the service will be, particularly with older users. And more traditional e-mail users will miss some functions such as subject lines, carbon copy and blind carbon copy that are not built into the
Facebook service, which is designed to be simple and minimalist. Facebook seems to be betting on future generations. The first e-mail was sent in the early 1970s, and it looked a lot like e-mail today. And that’s the point of the new system, Facebook Inc.founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in unveiling the feature at a news conference in San Francisco. It’s time for e-mail to catch up with the way people interact, he said. “We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail,” Zuckerberg said. E-mail is just too slow and clunky for young people who gravitate to real-time, informal communications such as online chat and text messaging, he said. Young people, in particular, will take to Facebook Messages, which will roll out over the next few months, “like fish to water,” Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray said. Studies bear that out. E-mail remains the primary way adults see FACEBOOK / page two
2 news
news editors: philipp kotlaba, liana bayne, gordon block newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865
november 17, 2010
[
virginia headlines
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Poll finds Virginia supports Obama Half of the state’s residents approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing, according to a survey released today by Public Policy Polling. Another 45 percent disapprove and five percent said they are unsure. Obama also appears to be faring well against potential opponents in 2012. Matchups between Obama and four potential Republican presidential nominees show him in a strong position, beating them all by healthy margins. He posts the slimmest leads over Mike Huckabee (49-44) and Mitt Romney (48-43), and the biggest against Sarah Palin (52-41) and Newt Gingrich (51-40), according to the poll. Public Policy surveyed 551 voters from Nov. 10-13. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. “It’s clearly far too early to write Virginia off the list of swing states for 2012, with Obama looking about as good now as he did in 2008,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. Tom Jensen, the poll’s director, wrote that the numbers for Obama “may seem surprising after two good Republican years in Virginia but they’re a reminder that a huge part of that GOP success was Democratic voters staying home.” Exit polling here in 2009 showed that the people who voted had supported Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., by 8 points in 2008, “a huge contrast to Obama’s actual 6 point victory in the state.” -olympia meola, mcclatchy newspapers
COLLEGIATETIMES
Facebook: Service challenges Google from page one
communicate, but text messaging is more common than any other means of communication for U.S. teens with only 11 percent of them using e-mail every day, according to a 2009 survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “Facebook wants to be at the center of most personal communication,” Ray said. “It’s fine with leaving the boring stuff to Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. You can get your newsletters or bills over there. But Facebook wants you to come to Facebook for the most meaningful dialogues with your friends.” Zuckerberg said he expected the communications revolution he is trying to incite to take time to catch on. “This is not an e-mail killer,” the 26-year-old chief executive said. “This is a messaging system that includes e-mail as one part of it. We don’t expect anyone to wake up tomorrow and say, ‘OK, I am going to shut down my Yahoo mail account or Gmail account and switch exclusively to Facebook.’” But, he said, “maybe we can help push the way people do messaging more toward this simple, real-time, immediate, personal experience.” The stakes are high: If Facebook succeeds, it will have won another key advantage in the
bid for your time, attention and dollars. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have been revamping their e-mail services to make them more about interacting with friends wherever they happen to be. Yet Google has struggled in its broader social-networking efforts. Its Google Buzz service built on users’ Gmail contacts prompted privacy complaints when Google automatically imported e-mail contacts into Buzz. It is working on adding a social layer to all of its products that it is expected to roll out soon. Yahoo, the most popular U.S. email provider, has also tried to get more social by allowing users to broadcast their status on Facebook and Twitter. In offering an alternative to these services, Facebook is ramping up pressure on its rivals. More than 350 million of Facebook’s more than half a billion users now actively send and receive 4 billion messages every day on the site. Zuckerberg’s argument: People will begin to shift to an all-in-one communications service like the one his company is offering. A sign of how important the project was to Facebook: Facebook’s director of engineering, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, said 15 engineers worked on the project for 15 months. In an interview at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt shrugged off the
DAILY
Facebook’s market penetration as a percentage of all Internet users, by regions:
2009
2010
42%
North America
69% 44
Middle East/ Africa
67 35
Latin America
36
Europe
Asia Pacific
58 57
13 17
© 2010 MCT Source: ComScore Graphic: Los Angeles Times
new entrant in the e-mail melee and rising tensions with Facebook, saying Google is very pleased with the explosive growth of Gmail. “More competition is always good, because competition makes the market larger,” Schmidt said. But technology blogger Robert Scoble said the new Facebook service could threaten Gmail and other e-mail services because they would find it increasingly challenging to attract new users. “This just makes those other ser-
CRIME
BLOTTER
Name and Age
Offense
Date
Time
Location
Status
None given
Follow-up to larceny of a laptop
Sept. 9
1:45 p.m. 3:15 p.m.
Whittemore Hall
Inactive
None given
Follow-up to larceny of a laptop
Sept. 21
4:45 p.m. 9:25 p.m.
Owens Hall
Inactive
None given
Follow-up to larceny of a laptop
Sept. 21
4:45 p.m. 9:15 p.m
Owens Hall
Inactive
None given
Larceny of steel sheets
Nov. 12 Nov. 15
5:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m.
Plantation Road
Active
None given
Assault and battery
Nov. 16
12:50 a.m.
Drillfield (front of Burruss)
Active
CORRECTIONS JUSTIN GRAVES -Contact our public editor at publiceditor@ collegiatetimes.com if you see anything that needs to be corrected.
It’s a smaller world now
vices look old and creaky,” Scoble said. Facebook’s current messaging system allows users to interact only with others on Facebook. The new service will let them communicate with any e-mail service. It will also have a “social inbox” that filters messages from people who are not part of a user’s social circle on Facebook. Facebook will also show ads in Messages. But the new service could set off privacy alarm bells: Every conversation will be kept for posterity, unless users delete them. Some also worry that becoming the dominant communications hub would hand too much power to Facebook. “The notion of letting Facebook essentially capture my identity online is not just disturbing, but dangerous,” Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship atArizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, wrote on Salon. com. “The company has shown repeatedly that its assurances on privacy are at best treated with skepticism. But that’s only part of the issue,” he said. “If you let Facebook become the method by which you are known online, you are giving it permission to start charging you for the privilege someday. The only party who should own your identity online is you.”
Daily Fire Log--No incidents to report Traffic--No incidents to report
[
nation & world headlines
]
Ireland faces down debt issues BRUSSELS — Eurozone finance ministers were trying to find a way out of Ireland’s debt problems on Tuesday, as a European Union official acknowledged for the first time that rescue talks were underway with the International Monetary Fund. Worries over Ireland’s solvency have grown after a 45 billion euro ($61 billion) bill to bail out private banks pushed its 2010 deficit to a 32 percent of gross domestic product. The sector is also being propped up by large cash injections from European Central Bank. “The (European) Commission, together with the ECB, the IMF and the Irish authorities, are working in order to resolve the serious problems in the Irish banking sector,” EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn said. The president of the Eurogroup panel of eurozone finance ministers, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, said he and his colleagues were waiting to see “if, yes or no, Ireland (was going to) put forward a request” for help. In Dublin, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told parliament he had not asked for the EU and the IMF’s intervention. His finance minister, Brian Lenihan, speaking before meeting Eurogroup counterparts in Brussels, remained coy. “There are difficulties in the markets. We will be discussing this evening how we address those difficulties,” he told reporters. Ireland is under strong pressure to accept a bailout, as EU officials fear that if it does not, market jitters over Ireland could spread to other weak eurozone economies such as Portugal. The risk premium attached to Irish government bonds rose again on Tuesday, with traders demanding an 8.24 percent yield as compared to 7.96 percent on the close of business on Monday. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, denied he was behind calls for Dublin to take the plunge. “Ireland can make a better judgment on that than the German government can,” he said. -alvise armellini, mcclatchy newspapers
White House eyes delay in withdrawal in Afghanistan NANCY A YOUSSEF mcclatchy newspapers WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday unveiled a plan for Afghanistan that foresees U.S. troops remaining there until at least the end of 2014, more than three years beyond when President Barack Obama promised he would begin withdrawing troops from the wartorn country. White House officials, briefing reporters, said the U.S. will introduce the plan at a NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, that begins on Friday. In outlining the proposal, the officials made no mention of U.S. troops withdrawing in 2011 and instead referred to the date as the beginning of “a responsible transition.” The plan is the latest iteration of an unfolding U.S. strategy in Afghanistan that began with a months-long policy review last year followed by the deploy-
ment of 30,000 more U.S. troops over the summer. In announcing the additional troops, Obama said a withdrawal would begin in July 2011 and that there would be an extensive review of the strategy in December of this year. McClatchy Newspapers reported last week that the Obama administration would use the Lisbon meeting to begin de-emphasizing the 2011 withdrawal date in favor of a 2014 date. There was no mention of a withdrawal of troops during Tuesday’s telephone briefing, which was conducted on the record by Douglas Lute, the president’s special assistant for Afghanistan;Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the senior director of European affairs for the National Security Council; Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO; and Ben Rhodes, an NSC spokesman. Under the latest plan, U.S. and NATO officials will begin next year
MCT CAMPUS
Plans released Tuesday will see troops in Afghnistan until 2014. Afghan troops will take over some security responsbilities next year. handing responsibility for security to Afghan forces in some communities where NATO officials believe Afghan forces are capable of taking control.
The process will continue through 2014. The U.S. and NATO will remain in Afghanistan through that period.
As the Afghan forces “stand up, they will not have to stand alone,” Lute said. The plan is the first time the Obama administration has offered a timeline for the pace of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which hinges on the progress of the Afghan security forces U.S. troops are now training. But even the 2014 date could change — something some military commanders fear might be necessary because of the difficulty of training Afghan forces. Many Afghan soldiers and police officers can’t read, and U.S. soldiers complain of their heavy drug use and lack of discipline. The administration’s plan comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week publicly criticized the U.S. for its increased use of night raids on Afghan homes. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, instituted the raids after he took command in July in an effort to round up Taliban fighters. Karzai
called the raids an affront to Afghan sovereignty. Obama and Karzai will attend the two-day summit. In addition to Afghanistan, the NATO countries also plan to discuss the organization’s structure, missile defense, economic cooperation among the member countries and how they should address climate change. It’s unclear whether weary NATO nations will commit troops through 2014. Many of the largest contributors are reducing their combat presence altogether or replacing them with trainers. The White House officials said Canada, which plans to withdraw its combat troops by the end of 2011, has committed to sending 950 trainers. At their peak, 2,900 Canadians were deployed in Afghanistan. The Netherlands has announced that it, too, will withdraw its forces. There are roughly 100,000 U.S. troops and 50,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan.
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editors: scott masselli, gabi seltzer opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
november 17, 2010
The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
Our Views [staff editorial]
Town students deserve praise for perseverance outines are a key aspect of grade school. RWhether it’s knowing when to catch your bus, where you’ll eat lunch or what classes you’ll take, the lives of schoolchildren are organized to provide structure to their at-times chaotic development. But the academic lives of Blacksburg students have been anything but dependable in recent years, as students, teachers and school board members have labored in the face of funding cuts, asbestos-contaminated buildings and the infamous roof collapse. The Blacksburg school system has been forced to use four different buildings in the past decade to accommodate middle and high school students, including the current system of shipping middle school students to Christiansburg each day. Despite these unbelievable circumstances, students, parents and teachers
have persevered day after day. Additionally, the university community came to the aid of time-crunched students as Virginia Tech students tutored area youth to help prepare for the Standards of Learning tests. The forward-looking attitudes of Blacksburg residents are a testament to their strength, and the lack of hesitation to help by Tech students provides just one more example of the commitment we have made to the community. As the school board gets closer to restoring order in Blacksburg’s educational community, local students deserve enormous applause for showing devotion to their learning experience, because as we all know, grade school years are anything but routine. the editorial board is composed of peter velz, scott masselli and gabi seltzer
Your Views [letter to the editor]
Double standard a slight to gays ublic displays of affection are a regular occurrence P on any college campus and Virginia Tech is no exception. Couples can be seen walking together, holding hands and even a smooch here and there. Should two people who care for each other be denied the right to express their love? Seems like a simple enough question; PDA is relatively accepted by the campus population. However, when a gay or lesbian couple displays such affection, they only receive hateful stares and ridicule. In Cassy Sims’ article, “Rutgers accident relevant to Tech” (CT, Oct. 7), she explains how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people cannot be who they are for fear of judgment by others. Some may try to argue that here at Tech no student would ever face such ridicule. This is not the case. Just the other day as my boyfriend and I were leaving a dining hall, a guy looked at us and said “faggots” as he passed by. We didn’t even show a distinct form of affection. Tech is progressive, but there still remains a lot of discrimination that needs to be dissolved. Discriminating against people who just want to express their
love for a significant other is simply wrong. No one, especially Tech students, should be ridiculed for such actions. There have been many movements to gain acceptance for the LGBT community here at Tech and around the world. However, more still needs to be done. I’m not saying it is a death sentence for two guys or two girls to walk across the Drillfield holding hands. I am saying, compared to a man and a woman, a gay or lesbian couple would receive much more ridicule and subjection than a straight couple. Tech students should not have to face any form of discrimination in the safety zones of campus, gay or straight. While this is a fairly extreme idea, it is an idea we should always strive to achieve as a community of Hokies. Times are changing, new ways of thinking are being considered and society needs to hop on board. College campuses are the main routes for progression in society. This makes it our main duty to show acceptance of others who are different can lead to a better world, so society will follow our example.
Ethan Poole freshman general engineering major
Offensiveness standard for free speech too subjective llow me to set the scene for what is sure to be an interesting tale: A It was a comfortably chilly Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg, and I found myself sitting outside trying to subdue a hangover with a little caffeine from a local coffee shop. I sat, minding my own business, occasionally interacting with friendly people who made their way in and out of the cafe. Across the street, atop a balcony, there was a man who appeared to be working on a future hangover. Dressed to impress with untamed long hair, sunglasses and a football jersey, this wonderful source of entertainment marched solo against something that at first was a mystery to me. I became intrigued when I heard what I believed to be death-vocals, followed by a visual of some furious headbanging. As he raised a pointed arm to salute his audience of none, his goosestep marching confirmed that this gentleman was not practicing his opening act for Slayer — he was raging a oneman war against colors, faiths and sexual orientations that didn’t match his own. It feels very weird to say this buffoon inspired me; however, it would be a true statement. I pushed back my previous column idea and began writing these words. While my entertainment became mere background noise, I began to really consider what freedom of speech means in terms of individuals like this. My first conclusion is freedom of speech as we understand the concept today was probably written to protect people like this. The thought of which made my stomach turn a little. Yet, it makes sense the right to freedom of speech would exist primarily to protect individuals who operate on the extreme — after all, would you have to protect everyday safe speech? Generally I think everyone understands the idea that not all protected, legal actions are ethical. However, I know from talking with students there are at least some folks who still believe speech itself can be harmful to others, and thus is worthy of regulation. We all know the classic adage of yelling “fire!” in a crowded room. Speech such as this lacks expression
and can result in harm to others and a person being liable for damages. What would not be included in a category such as this is hateful speech, offensive speech or even plain stupid speech. As a man with a skin complexion slightly darker than Aryan walked by the balcony, the great scholar of “Mein Kampf” began to gibber at this offensive sight. Slowly the gibberish turned into chants involving a certain God-gifted race of man. I lowered my head once again to focus on writing. There was no doubt now the speech by this idiot on the balcony was offensive and would probably enrage or upset a lot of people. Negative reactions to what this guy was saying are perfectly understandable; what he was saying was downright disgusting. Yet, he never once made an aggressive move against anyone. No one was physically hurt at all. You could now make the argument that emotional distress caused by this kind of speech is equivalent to an actual physical assault. This would of course be reason enough to assume “hate speech” such as this should regulated by the law. To people who would take such a position, I would ask only that you no longer also identify yourself as being supporters of the protected right to freedom of speech. All speech can be taken as offensive and damaging. A brief glance at past columns I’ve written would reveal comments from people who find my words to be venomous and awful. One gentleman even took it upon himself to strike me in the face at a party after reading “I didn’t love my country” — I’m excited I can finally use this as an example. My comment, “I didn’t have a sense of nationalism, and thus didn’t feel it was important to love my country” may not anger some of you. Others may find this to be a direct attack on you as a person (I’m not sure how, but let’s just pretend.). There can be no objective standard as to what speech would be emotionally damaging to everyone. Unless the speech puts you in a position where you feel a physical threat to your safety is imminent, all speech is protected speech. I know none of us like the idea of being allowed to have
our feelings hurt, but sometimes we must all make sacrifices in order to have certain liberties. Criminalizing hateful, racist or sexist speech is the equivalent of banning thought itself. If we outlaw an ability to say it, your ability to even have such thoughts is put into jeopardy because the ideas you have would be criminal once voiced. Like it or not, there is also no objective standard to what speech is racist or sexist — such questions are only answered at a subjective level through discourse. Some individuals may have extreme ideas which can really change the way others think and feel. Granted, this probably doesn’t apply to people like the loudmouth racist on the balcony. Just keep in mind, regulating extreme speech may sometimes involve silencing more than just racists or homophobes. Simply because an idea is unpopular or offensive does not mean it’s always wrong. So how does society handle individuals such as our Aryan friend on the balcony? Well, with other speech. Let’s make people who speak this way feel very uncomfortable in normal society; so long as they maintain such an ignorant viewpoint, don’t interact with them. The answer to hate speech is good arguments, personal ethics and maybe even a sense of humor — come on, there’s something funny about this long-haired freak babbling on a balcony about why homosexuality is evil. The ignorance of the speech helps to make the effects benign. To quote Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” What better way to describe the position we all should take toward offensive and hateful speech? I find what truly racist people believe to be both disturbing and unethical. However, because I respect the values of freedom and liberty, I defend their right to speak. Freedom of speech also means we have a right to speak back — that’s what liberty is all about.
CHAD VAN ALSTIN -regular columnist -senior -communication major
Polarization a poor sign for American politics hether you’re a Republican, Democrat or Independent, we W all lost on Election Day. The way in which the Republicans took their sweeping victory, which was by no means surprising, is a troubling one. Not for the fact that it was those “evil” Republicans who became king of the hill, but because of the process that led to such a historic political swing. Some retrospective analysis is needed here, and even though the win/loss columns have been filled, the all-too-ignored examination of the past highlights six troubling takeaways. First, polarization became good. Moderates on both sides of the aisle were ousted in a historic fashion and rather than campaigning on concrete solutions for the problems we face, speeches, ads and news coverage were rot with jabs and counters. Demonizing the opposing side and distancing themselves from the Obama administration became a key for candidates, with little insight on any compromise. While the presidential election of two years ago was hailed as a step in the post-partisan direction, this election undoubtedly took several more steps back to what seems to be the status quo of American politics. Second, special interest groups cemented their influence in our
democratic elections. The Citizens United decision of last January showed its stirring impact through the countless attack ads aimed at both parties. Often filled with baseless allegations and funded by anonymous sources which few Americans were cognizant of, these derisive ads seized the opportunity presented by an already anxious populace while hiding their true purposes in supporting one candidate over another. Beyond this, some voter movements that vehemently opposed the roles of special interest groups were actually funded or propagated by such groups. Take the Tea Party for instance — whose influence consumed much of the political drama this past year. It had much of its funding come from conservative movements such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which are propped up by business interests such as Koch Industries, Phillip Morris and The Sarah Mellon Sciafe Foundations (financed by the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune). Third, the state of the economy became a talking point, with little explanation of all of its complexities. While this was arguably the central issue of this election, little examination was given to the his-
torical realities of how we got into this predicament we see ourselves in. Few seem to comprehend the financial operations that caused the crisis in 2008, and little coverage has been given to the devolution of regulation intrinsic to understanding the abysmal status of unemployment and small business growth.
“
Little of the political discourse we’ve seen in the past several months focused on educating, addressing and proposing solutions for the major problems we face.
Furthermore, the unemployment rate has somehow become representative of the failings of a two-year administration and ignores economic facts. These misconceptions become even more apparent when you look at the exit polls, where 39 percent of voters said cutting the budget was most important and 37 percent said more spending to further kick-start the economy was the necessary remedy. The fourth takeaway was that important issues of debate were categorized in terms of black and white. To borrow from the previous
three problems, little of the political discourse we’ve seen in the past several months focused on educating, addressing and proposing solutions for the major problems we face. It seems like voters and politicians don’t want to address the complexities of any issues or any sense of time and history, deciding instead to focus on antagonizing opponents and throwing out politically ambiguous conceptions of “freedom” and “tax cuts” with little integrity. Saying “no” became a winning strategy for the GOP. Especially since the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Republicans in Congress adopted a politically brilliant strategy of obstructing nearly all formidable pieces of legislation (not to mention the numerous holds on political appointments still not filled). Possibly because they actually knew the economy would not rebound over night, they understood that by weakening or blocking legislation they could avoid ownership of any shortcomings and take a critical stance on everything that was passed. What is truly scary about this strategy is its political efficacy, meaning that this could be the path for success for any minority party in the future — having dire implications for any capacity of governance.
Lastly, Obama supporters became apathetic and seemed to expect a quick fix. Democrats were by no means mere victims of a broken system, Republican gaming or an inept media; they had the “shellacking” coming to them. One reason for this was millions of the supporters caught up in the hoopla of Obama’s candidacy became disinterested and ignored the political reality that “change” (however idealistic) doesn’t occur overnight. The 18- to 29-year-old voter group dropped from 18 percent in 2008 to 11 percent of the voting share this election. This is just a microcosm of an electorate that became discouraged after a Democratic administration was only in office for two years. None of these aspects can be as fully fleshed out as they should be here, but rather than just accepting the results at face value and waiting to see what happens until the next election, we should do our best to examine a process that is becoming all-too-common in our representative democracy.
OWEN DAVIS -regular columnist -senior -political science major
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ACROSS 1 Jane Austen classic 5 Lose it 9 Marathoner’s pants? 14 Campus area 15 Sport with mallets 16 Like Andean pyramids 17 More than suggest 18 Loud laugh 19 Swordsman of lore 20 Promo after promo after promo? 23 Ike’s WWII arena 24 Gumshoe 25 Chowed down 26 Old Olds creation 27 Bon mot expert 28 Artificial 30 Put into words 31 Fourth century start 32 Well-endowed, so to speak 34 Oil-yielding rock 35 Thesis on promos? 39 “Doe, __ ...”: song lyric 40 Metallic mixtures 41 __ and turn 42 Astern 43 Black Sea port 47 Printers’ widths 48 Keebler cookiemaker 49 “__ Beso”: Paul Anka hit 50 Part of D.A.: Abbr. 51 Portuguese king 52 One who takes a promo off the air? 55 Forest bucks 57 __ Star State 58 “By __!” 59 Little laugh 60 Knock off 61 Aggressive Greek god 62 Sci-fi writer __ Scott Card
By Mark Bickham
63 Snow coaster 64 “Winning __ everything” DOWN 1 Put “=” between 2 Scream bloody __ 3 Voodoo and wizardry 4 Yemeni port 5 Wine-and-soda drink 6 Nary a soul 7 Jai __ 8 Actor’s job 9 Thingamajig 10 “Wheel of Fortune” purchase 11 Twist-off top 12 Word with board or physics 13 More stuck-up 21 Darth, to Luke 22 One-eighty 29 High points 30 Long-legged bird 31 Banking giant 33 Building repair platforms
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34 World of espionage 35 Waits on hand and foot 36 Dashboard gauge 37 Saviors 38 Detail to tie up 42 Matterhorn or Monte Leone 44 Really enjoys
9/28/10
45 Director Spielberg 46 Motionless 48 Museum Folkwang city 49 “Sesame Street” regular 53 Saw or plane 54 City east of Santa Barbara 56 Political beginning?
november 17, 2010
editors: lindsey brookbank, kim walter featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865
food & drink
COLLEGIATETIMES
Sustainable dining brings W local, organic food to Tech MIKA MALONEY features reporter They say you are what you eat, but very few of us stop to consider where our food comes from and how it is produced. Virginia Tech Dining Services has joined the movement to increase sustainability with the Farms and Fields Project. “Dining services has made a commitment to sustainable foods systems, working to incorporate more local-produced food campuswide. It’s a process, and Farms and Fields has been the first (of its kind),” said Angie De Soto, campus sustainability planner. Farms and Fields opened in Owens Food Court in January 2009 to provide students with a local, organic and sustainable dining option that incorporates products from both nearby producers and the university’s own Kentland Farm, according to Rachael Budowle, dining services sustainability coordinator. “While we do purchase produce from local farms when available and organic vegetables otherwise, one aim of the venue is to primarily use produce from the dining services garden at Kentland Farm when available,” Budowle said. “The garden is a collaboration between dining services and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. We just completed our first successful season of nearly two acres of sustainable vegetable and herb production.” Since opening, Farms and Fields has been continuously evolving, working to add a greater variety of food from more local sources. During the past year, the shop has introduced an expanded selection of products, including milk and ice cream from the Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Va. “The Farms and Fields Project was purposely named a ‘project’ to indicate it is dynamic — always changing and improving. This allows us to flexibly include more local and sustainable foods as they become more available,” Budowle said. The shop’s recipes are primarily developed by the chef and
manager at Owens, with the long term aim of incorporating seasonally-based items. Over the summer, about 150 recipes from a variety of sources which lent themselves to the project’s needs were tested. “Our goal is to have a library of recipes that encompass the local products available to us throughout the year. We are already looking at additional recipes as we learn more about what is available,” said Darlene Conrad, Owens assistant director. Located between Frank’s Deli and the Carvery on the left hand side of Owens, business has steadily increased for the shop over the past year. “As the options grow, the shop appeals to a large population, which increases business,” Conrad said. And the project continues to evolve. Plans are underway to add a grab-and-go area and expand the menu options. The project has become a model for increasing sustainability at other venues around campus. “We have already introduced local and organic tofu campus wide, local ice cream at Deets Place and West End Market and Tech produced meat as special items and produce from our garden at D2 during summer orientation and conferences,” Budowle said.
5
arm up any cold Blacksburg night with this healthy and easy-to-make soup. For a more hearty version you can add Italian sausage or rotisserie chicken. by Mika Maloney, features reporter (adapted from cookinglight.com)
CT Recipes
Soup Prep Time: 30 minutes Serves: 5 Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped carrot 1/2 cup chopped celery 2 garlic cloves, minced 4 cups vegetable broth, divided 5 cups kale, stemmed and chopped (about 1 small bunch) 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas (cannellini beans), rinsed and drained 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. In a large pot, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and saute until soft (about six to seven minutes). Add garlic and a pinch of salt and cook for one minute. Stir in three cups of vegetable broth and add the kale. Simmer covered with a lid until the kale is tender (about five minutes). 2. In a food processor, puree one can of the chickpeas and the remaining one cup of broth. Add this mixture, the remaining can of chickpeas and the can of black beans to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste before simmering for five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the red wine vinegar and fresh rosemary.
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Farms and Fields dishes prove flavorful and healthy ince January 2009, the Farms and Fields Project has been serving S Virginia Tech’s hungriest and healthiest foodies with local, organic and sustainable meals. I took on the ultimate healthy eating challenge: eating Farms and Fields meals for four days straight. I wanted to know if its dishes truly met its criteria and had flavors that tickled the tongue and provided a broad variety. MONDAY To start off the week, I sunk my teeth into a chicken Brie panini topped with red pepper jelly, organic basil and Brie cheese on locally made, organic seed bread. The combination of the warm, creamy cheese with the tender, juicy chicken simply melted in my mouth in perfect harmony. Without the chicken, the Brie would’ve been too rich to stand-alone. And, without the cheese, the chicken would have been too dry for the mouth to handle. Watching the friendly worker spread a red mixture on one piece of bread and a green mixture on the other, I wondered what these creations were. Biting into the panini, my palette was met with a burst of sweetness, which I soon realized was the red pepper jelly. However, the flavor was not too sweet to overwhelm the rest of the ingredients. It provided a pop to a somewhat basic panini. On the other hand, the basil spread was more understated, which my taste buds appreciated considering the many flavors swirling around my mouth. The herb simply added a touch of freshness, complimenting the other ingredients. In my opinion, the bread is one of the most important parts of a panini. If it is too dry or unflavored, then the panini is ruined. After all, it is the first ingredient the tongue touches, creating a backdrop and core for the meal. Luckily, this bread was to die for. It was toasted and heated to perfection — not too soft, but not too crunchy. And, the overall whole-wheat taste didn’t overpower the rest of the panini. To compliment the panini, I chose garlicky spinach and a bowtie pesto pasta salad — I was more hungry than usual. Now, let me make it clear, I am not a fan of spinach. But, I thought I might as well try to miserably suck down the dripping greens to make myself feel healthy for the day. To my surprise, as I prepared myself for the grotesque spinach taste with squinting eyes and a curled-up nose, my palette went wild for the vegetable. Who knew spinach could taste so savory and creamy? During my meal, I found myself scarfing down bites of spinach instead of the sandwich itself. Shocking. Topping off my lunch was the bowtie pesto pasta salad. Although it was not as flavorful as the panini and spinach, it was still delicious and didn’t overpower the other meal parts. The pasta itself was cooked to perfection, and the pesto sauce was light, giving the pasta just enough texture and flavor. TUESDAY By Tuesday I was already having a difficult week, so I went a little overboard on my carbohydrates. At first, I ordered a grilled cheese. But as I waited for this to be freshly made, I found my eyes creepily staring at the butternut squash lasagna under the heater. Once my sandwich was finished, I could not hold myself back from ordering the lasagna, so I went for it. Word of advice: Too much cheese is exhausting but extremely savory. The grilled cheese was classic. The
rocky knob bread was again cooked to perfection, adding a warm and toasty backdrop for the melted organic mozzarella and havarti cheeses. The soft raisins scattered throughout what seemed to be whole-wheat bread provided a pleasant flavor pop. However, the real flavor came from the cheese blend. The havarti’s creamy flavor mixed especially well with the more pungent mozzarella taste. To top off my already carbohydrateladen lunch, I took my first bite of the butternut squash lasagna. The first few bites were delicious. The whole-wheat pasta was layered with melted mozzarella, parmesan cheese, butternut squash, basil and nutmeg. However, the lasagna suddenly became too heavy to handle. The creaminess felt like it was sitting in the pit of my stomach. Although the lasagna was supposed to have marinara sauce, I could not taste it. Had it been more prominent, perhaps the lasagna wouldn’t have been so heavy. Additionally, the outside rims and top of the pasta layers were extremely overcooked, making them difficult to cut through and chew. I also ordered an organic salad topped with cucumbers, radishes, herbs, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Although the salad was a small portion, it added a crunchy, refreshing
pop to my cheesy meal. However, it was not enough to help the fat-filled lump in my stomach. Next time, I will opt for fewer carbohydrates in one meal. WEDNESDAY To counteract Tuesday’s heavy meal, I decided to go vegetarian on Wednesday. I ordered a grilled Italian vegetable panini that had eggplant and organic roasted red peppers with organic Italian seasoning and olive oil topped with lusk cheese on an organic garlic bagel. Continuing on my veggie craze, I also ordered a blend of zucchini and squash. But of course I had to have some carbohydrates, so I chose organic white rice. The entire meal was fresh and quite flavorful. However, I realized I could never be a vegetarian. I missed the meat. But I made the best of the meal and was pleasantly surprised. The bagel was my favorite part. It was warm and toasted — a little crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. However, the large piece of eggplant was slightly overwhelming and slipped off the bagel easily. The red peppers were flavorful, complimenting the eggplant well. The cheese provided the perfect creamy texture to hold the veggies in place. Unfortunately, the white rice was dry and bland, though the menu said
it was seasoned with salt, pepper and a vegetable base. It was not bad, just not as flavorful as I would have liked. To counteract the rice, the zucchini and squash mixture was extremely tasty and seasoned perfectly. This was my favorite part of the meal, however, I would have liked them to be a bit crunchier, as some pieces were a little mushy. So, for all you meat haters out there, this vegetarian dish proved to be a success, despite a couple downfalls. THURSDAY Looking for something rich to top off a long day? Try the pot roast made in a red wine and natural beef base. On
a chilly evening, it was the perfect meal to welcome fall weather. The grass-fed beef was seasoned with organic salt, pepper and garlic. The meat broke off with a fork. Its tender consistency paired wonderfully with the juices flowing from the meat. Plus, this dish definitely gave me the meat fix I had been craving. I harmonized the meat with the winter pot roast vegetables: organic potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and thyme seasoned with garlic and apricots. The veggies were in a Dijon mustard and natural beef base blend. This combination melted slowly in my mouth. I held them against my tongue for as long as possible to savor
the sweet flavors. The sweet potatoes especially popped. They were cooked to the perfect consistency: soft and moist. The rest of the veggies were also soft, but not too squishy. They provided a perfect side to the meat. When mixed together in the mouth, both aspects of this meal blended harmoniously.
LINDSEY BROOKBANK -features editor -senior -english and communication
6 sports november 17, 2010
editors: michael bealey, garrett ripa sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
Hokies’ second-half collapse leads to defeat at K-State MICHAEL BEALEY sports editor
The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team traveled into a hostile atmosphere Tuesday against No. 3 Kansas State, and was no match for the Wildcats in a critical early-season test. The Hokies fell to the Wildcats 7357 in a sloppy matchup that featured 44 fouls and 32 turnovers between the teams. Senior point guard Malcolm Delaney led Tech with 22 points on six of 18 shooting, as he received little help on the offensive end from his teammates. Delaney accounted for 38 percent of the Hokies’ points. Besides his efforts, Tech shot 13 for 36 from the field and had just 35 points. Tech also had trouble moving the basketball and registered just seven assists as a team for the entire game. Coming into the season, the Hokies were decimated with injuries. Senior forward J.T. Thompson and sophomore forward Allan Chaney were lost for the season, and the lack of depth on the front line hurt Tech mightily. The Hokies were outrebounded 41 to 33 and were forced to rotate forwards Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell and Victor Davila constantly in the second half as all three had picked up four personal fouls — Bell and Allen ended up fouling out. Despite losing leading scorer Jacob Pullen for much of the first half because of foul trouble, the Wildcats fought through their own offensive troubles to outscore the Hokies 42-28 in the second half. Pullen finished with 13 points on four for eight shooting, leading the Wildcats to a commanding victory in their first
matchup with a ranked opponent this season. The Hokies had no answer for Kansas State’s size inside, and were unable to capitalize on Pullen’s foul trouble or the Wildcats’ free throw shooting woes. They finished 14 for 28 from the line, as Tech struggled against the Wildcats’ tenacious defense. There was a litany of foul calls during the game, and both Tech head coach Seth Greenberg and Kansas State head coach Frank Martin were not pleased with a number of the calls. In one case, Delaney dribbled the ball up the floor on one possession in the second half and appeared to be bumped by Pullen. Greenberg was incensed and drew a technical foul — his first of the season. The Hokies were also called for another bench technical in the second half. Despite hanging with the Wildcats for much of the game — Tech was only down 30-29 at halftime — Kansas State proved why it was one of the nation’s best teams last year and advanced to the Elite Eight. On the other hand, the Hokies were looking to prove the naysayers wrong after being snubbed from the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. Last year, Tech was the first team ever to win 10 games in the ACC and miss the Big Dance. Most criticism came from its weak nonconference schedule, and as a result the Hokies beefed up their schedule with big-time nonconference opponents such as Kansas State, Purdue and Mississippi State. Up next, the Hokies will look to rebound at UNC-Greensboro this Sunday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. and it will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet.
MCT CAMPUS
Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen scores over Tech’s Malcolm Delaney. Pullen finished with 13 points despite only playing 14 minutes.