The next step: Hokie backs declare for the NFL Draft BY JOSH PARCELL | sports reporter It wasn’t a great start to 2011 for the Virginia Tech running game. In the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, the Hokies were held to 66 rushing yards in a crushing 40-14 loss to Stanford. Less than a week later, both Darren Evans and Ryan Williams announced they were leaving school early to enter the NFL Draft. The pair combined for 4,251 rushing yards
and 54 total touchdowns in their careers. Evans set the school’s freshman record with 1,265 rushing yards in 2008 before Williams shattered it the next season, rushing for 1,655 yards while Evans was out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Without question, both rank among the best players to ever come through the program. see DRAFT / page twelve
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
www.collegiatetimes.com
COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 1
News, page 3
Arts & Entertainment, page 6
Opinions, page 5
Sports, page 11
Classifieds, page 8
Sudoku, page 8
Student service projects split from SGA SARAH WATSON news reporter Two of Virginia Tech’s largest community service programs have stepped out from under the Student Government Association umbrella while attempting to maintain positive relationships with the group. The Big Event and Relay for Life, both held in the spring on the Tech campus, are now independent student organizations. SGA president Bo Hart said both The Big Event and Relay for Life applied to become registered student organizations at the end of the 2009-10 school year. This process was finalized at the beginning of this school year, according to Hart, allowing the two programs to work as independent organizations. The split from SGA by both events during the same time period was “just a coincidence,” Hart said. SGA is a university chartered student organization and works under a specific set of policy guidelines. As part of SGA, The Big Event was held to the same standards as a UCSO. However, in order to maintain its non-profit status, The Big Event had to disaffiliate from SGA and become an RSO. With the creation of The Big Event Association in 2009, the
program at Tech became an official 501(c)3 non-profit, according to Nathan Lavinka, co-director of The Big Event. The goal of this non-profit is to “expand, promote and support” The Big Event across the country, Lavinka said. This initiative began with The Big Event director of 2009, Michael Jabs. Tech gave The Big Event the option of remaining part of SGA and dissolving The Big Event Association or becoming an RSO and continuing with the program. Lavinka said leaders with The Big Event assessed the situation and made the decision to break apart from the SGA in order to keep The Big Event Association active and to expand the organization’s fundraising options. “The Big Event is growing and SGA money will eventually cap off,” Lavinka said Hart agreed with the decision. Lavinka noted that the “SGA can only give so much money” to The Big Event. According to Hart, Relay for Life had been discussing disaffiliating from SGA for the past five years. The American Cancer Society had hopes of running Relay for Life at Tech, Hart said. Chris Saccoccia, Relay for Life executive committee member, said many factors were part of the decision to
KATIE BIONDO / COLLEGIATE TIMES
separate from SGA. National regulations for Relay for Life and ways of operation for the program affected their decision, along with the desire for growth beyond SGA. “In order to grow and benefit more people, Relay needed to split off from the SGA,” Saccoccia said. Saccoccia said it is very difficult for a large entity such as Relay for Life to work under another large entity like SGA. Both organizations have
their own committees and money to handle. “These organizations will be able to grow and foster by finding other funding and revenue,” Hart said. While the groups are no longer part of the SGA umbrella, they will still receive a donation from SGA. Both organizations presented to the House and Senate of SGA and received approximately $20,000 each, Hart said.
the past several years. Student leaders with SGA, The Big Event and Relay for Life insist that the relationship between the three groups is a positive one. “SGA, The Big Event and Relay for Life all have the purpose of serving the student body,” Lavinka said. “It’s an exciting time right now,” Hart said. “They are able to be themselves and grow.”
Bearing witness
What you missed: Top stories from winter break VIRGINIA TECH FAILED TO COMPLY WITH CLERY ACT ON APRIL 16, 2007 The U.S. Department of Education issued a final ruling on Dec. 9 that Virginia Tech failed to comply with two Clery Act regulations during the April 16, 2007, campus shootings, which left 32 people dead. The DOE investigation was conducted as a Clery Act program review. Initial findings were sent to the university in January 2010. Tech officials then responded in April. The final rulings took the response into account but upheld all previous findings. According to the findings, Tech failed to issue a timely notice of the initial shootings in West AmblerJohnston Hall. “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. Second, Virginia Tech did not follow its own policy for the issuance of timely warnings as published in its annual campus security reports,” the report said. It goes on to say that Tech’s warning, issued about two hours and 15 minutes after the West AJ shootings, “was not prepared or disseminated in a manner to give clear and timely notice of the ongoing threat to students and employees as a result of the Clery Act reportable crimes that occurred in WAJ.” In an attached letter to university President Charles Steger, the DOE advised the university the findings could lead to “adverse administrative action.” Penalties for Clery Act violations can range from fines to suspension from the federal financial aid program. The case has been referred to a sub-department of the DOE and no time frame was given for when penalties would be handed down. A response to the report from university spokesman Larry Hincker shows Tech does not feel it failed to comply. “We disagree with the U.S. Department of Education ruling that the university actions on the morning of April 16, 2007 are in violation of the federal law, The Clery Act, which requires a ‘timely
According to Hart, SGA has established a contract for funding with Relay for Life for the next five years. However, Lavinka said no formal agreement has been made between the SGA and The Big Event. The funding will be determined on an annual basis. While The Big Event has been a program within the SGA since its inception at Tech in 2001, it has been raising funds outside of the SGA for
DANIEL LIN / SPPS
Reverend Nathaniel Spencer, Pastor of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Christiansburg was the keynote speaker of a remembrance ceremony Sunday for Martin Luther King Jr. WEI HANN / COLLEGIATE TIMES
An explosion rocked Federal-Mogul’s plant in Blacksburg on New Year’s Eve, sending several workers to the hospital. warning’ to a campus upon knowledge of certain crimes committed on the campus,” the statement said. “As we demonstrated in our 72 page response and analysis, we believe that the timely warning actions on April 16 were well within the standards and practices in effect at that time.” One of the university’s main complaints with the ruling is its view of timeliness. Hincker’s statement says the university is being penalized for failing to comply with standards developed as a reaction to the Tech shootings. “It appears the university is being held accountable for a new federal standard that was adopted after the April 2007 shootings. It is inconsistent with regulatory process or traditional jurisprudence to hold Virginia Tech to standards that did not exist at the time or, as portions of this report do, to hold Virginia Tech to a new Clery Act standard that was developed after — and in response to — the tragic events that took place on our campus,” the statement said. The statement says Tech will exercise all appeal options. Findings cannot legally be appealed, but any penalties stemming from the findings are subject to appeal. -zach crizer, managing editor
BLACKSBURG BUSINESSES MAKE IT THROUGH THE HOLIDAY SEASON Many of Blacksburg’s businesses miss out on the holiday season retail spike, but that’s something they are used to. Businesses do see seasonal rises in sales, but these usually follow Tech’s academic schedule rather than the holidays. Each year, by mid-December, the population is suddenly reduced by almost half when students leave for Christmas break. “In a lot of ways it’s atypical,” said Susan Mattingly, executive director of the Lyric Theater. “But another way they cope is to market more to the local audience.” Not surprisingly, Mattingly said the bars and restaurants that cater more specifically to students see the biggest difference during breaks. “The retail probably do a better business than bars and restaurants,” Mattingly said. “I’m sure the retail gets a bump during the holidays. The local population certainly comes downtown. I would say that bars and restaurants suffer, but most retail does OK.” Employees at The Cellar said the restaurant still does good business, see BREAK / page eight
Plenty of news to go around to end first decade of century GORDON BLOCK associate news editor HELP FOR HAITI Following devastating earthquakes near the Haitian capital of Port-AuPrince in January, Virginia Tech students raised $10,810 with aid group Partners in Health. Students planned several events during the year to aid the relief effort. MORGAN HARRINGTON The remains of junior education major Morgan Harrington were found Jan. 25 at a farm outside Charlottesville. Harrington, who went missing the previous October, was last seen outside the city’s John Paul Jones Arena. No suspects have been named in her death. ELECTIONS Fourteen-term Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher was defeated in November’s general election by Republican state senator Morgan Griffith. The vic-
FILE SPPS
Students packed into Squires to prepare relief packages for Haiti. tory for Griffith was one of several for Republicans throughout the Commonwealth.
delayed its tuition decision due to the late submission of the state budget to administrators.
TECH INCREASES TUITION Tech’s Board of Visitors approved a tuition increase of about 10 percent for all students in April. The board
ZHU SENTENCED TO LIFE Haiyang Zhu, convicted in the January 2009 murder of Xin Yang, see 2010 / page three