Thursday, January 20, 2011 Print Edition by Collegiate Times

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

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COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 3

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Bike stores roll into new Blacksburg locations CLAIRE SANDERSON news reporter The eviction of Hokie Spokes from its North Main Street location has sparked a chain reaction of movement among bike shops in Blacksburg. Hokie Spokes moved out of its long held 422 North Main St. location because of its inability to pay rent. The shop now sits at 145 College Avenue, which previously housed Ice House Bikes and Campus Cruisers. “The relationship with the landlord soured,” said Dave Abraham, Hokie Spokes owner. The former Hokie Spokes location will be filled by two other local bike shops, Bike Barn and Radford Bike and Paddle. The two shops will share the space, which is owned by Bigfy Realtors. For many years, Abraham also owned the New Wheel bike shop in Radford. Now, he has made an agreement with the owner of Ice House Bikes in which each will take over each other’s lease and rent, effectively switching shop locations. Abraham took over the space after the owner of Ice House Bikes failed in an attempt to sell the store to employees. He said he felt blessed by the opportunity to focus his energy on the new College Avenue location. “It worked out well,” Abraham said. “The other options for me weren’t so close to campus.” Abraham said he is optimistic about the new store, despite a significant downsizing.

“We’re doing more online, and we don’t need a big space for that,” Abraham said. Bike Barn and Radford Bike and Paddle plan to open by mid-February. “The space was in such disorder when we got it, we’re having to do a lot of work to get it ready,” said Bike Barn owner Yusef Messallam. “Right now, we’re still finalizing the plans for the layout, which is very important for customers.” According to Radford Bike and Paddle owner Johnny Garrett, both shops will retain their own names, products and employees, but the businesses will be one financially. Plans for the partnership between the two shops began in the summer, when Garrett expressed a desire to tap into Blacksburg’s bike market. “Dave (Abraham) had the right spot, and Yusef (Messallam) had the business that I wanted to work with,” Garrett said. When Garrett and Abraham began considering their options, including a buyout of Hokie Spokes, Garrett contacted Bigfy Realtors. “Basically, the landlord told me that Hokie Spokes was on a month-to-month lease, and it would not be transferrable,” Garrett said. Garrett then began to talk more with Messallam, and the resulting relationship between the two shops developed. “I approached Yusef last summer about partnering,” Garrett said. “He’s probably more the bike expert a n d I’m

more the business expert. And we’re both Raleigh dealers, so it’s a perfect marriage.” When Hokie Spokes was asked to move out, Garrett and Messallam took the opportunity to move into its old space. “Dave and I talk a lot, so he knew what was going on,” Garrett said. “He knew I was taking an advantage of his unfortunate situation.” However, Abraham speculated that the Bike Barn name will not last. “To say their partnering will be true for a little while, but it won’t last,” Abraham said. “Yusef is not partnering, Yusef is selling his business to Johnny Garrett.” Messallam, for his part, was not concerned about competition. “To be honest with you, I felt that Hokie Spokes never ran their business very well, and there’s been a lot of complaints about that,” Messallam said. “At Bike Barn, I make sure my customers leave happy.” Messallam previously worked under Abraham at Hokie Spokes. “In the case of Hokie Spokes, I don’t think they’ve been able to adapt and stay competitive, and that’s ended up bringing their business down,” Messallam said. Abraham said the competition will “benefit all of us.” “We will all have to have a sharper game, and the customers will be better off.”

WEI HANN/ COLLEGIATE TIMES

The move of Hokie Spokes from its location along North Main Street to College Avenue has led to a large scale shift in bicycle shop locations and ownership in both the Blacksburg and Radford areas.

Tech preps new enrichment Study shows lack of critical program for senior citizens thinking in college students ERIN CHAPMAN news staff writer Senior citizens will soon be able to take advantage of a Virginia Tech classroom experience without the hassle of tests and quizzes. The new Tech Creative Learning Academy for Senior Scholars will hold an open house Jan. 27 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Inn at Virginia Tech to showcase the program, which is designed to give people 50 and older a new learning experience. Program facilitator Cathee Dennison, a retired Tech English professor, brought the idea for a senior scholar program to Tech after spending time in Ashville, N.C., and seeing the opportunities available to senior citizens and retirees there. “I thought that Blacksburg would be a great place for a program like this,” she said. “Blacksburg has a large retiree population.” In March, classes will be offered on a variety of topics. Some of the classes include “The Elusive Composition of the Universe,” taught by Brian Dennison, “The Circle of Wellness,” taught by Jocy Surface of New Tech Fitness and “The Violin in History,” taught by violin maker Dan Foster. Another featured class will be based on the Corps of Cadets’ Leader Development Program, taught by Maj. Gen. Jerrold Allen, the Commandant of the Corps.

Because this is the first year the program will run, the classes are being offered as a “spring sampler.” Classes will run on six consecutive Tuesdays in March. The program costs $45 to attend any or all six classes. The teachers, all volunteers, have been selected because of their expertise in their respective fields. Ann Brown, the assistant director of continuing and professional development at Tech, hopes the program will give retirees in the area different opportunities than those offered by recreational centers. Brown also pointed out the large retiree community that exists in Blacksburg and the surrounding areas. “This program will highlight Virginia Tech’s desire to reach out to all citizens, especially non-degree professional needs,” Brown said. “We wanted to do something more educational and intellectual for senior citizens in the community.” Organizers are hoping to expand the program to include a fall series and a summer program. The summer program would allow seniors to spend two nights in a Tech residence hall while participating in mini workshops, allowing retiree students from outof-town to participate. The program’s organizers hope for high success rates because of Blacksburg’s diverse community of older people. “Seniors are staying active and healthier longer,” Dennison said. “Hopefully a program like this will catch on.”

SARA RIMER mcclatchy newspapers An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn’t learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education. Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn’t determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin. Arum, whose book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” (University of Chicago Press) comes out this month, followed 2,322 traditional-age students from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2009 and examined testing data

and student surveys at a broad range of 24 U.S. colleges and universities, from the highly selective to the less selective. Forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college, according to the study. After four years, 36 percent showed no significant gains in these so-called “higher order” thinking skills. Combining the hours spent studying and in class, students devoted less than a fifth of their time each week to academic pursuits. By contrast, students spent 51 percent of their time — or 85 hours a week — socializing or in extracurricular activities. The study also showed that students who studied alone made more significant gains in learning than those who studied in groups. “I’m not surprised at the results,” said Stephen G. Emerson, the president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. “Our very best students don’t study in groups. They might work in groups in lab projects. But when they study, they study by themselves.” The study marks one of the first

times a cohort of undergraduates has been followed over four years to examine whether they’re learning specific skills. It provides a portrait of the complex set of factors, from the quality of secondary school preparation to the academic demands on campus, which determine learning. It comes amid President Barack Obama’s call for more college graduates by 2020 and is likely to shine a spotlight on the quality of the education they receive. “These findings are extremely valuable for those of us deeply concerned about the state of undergraduate learning and student intellectual engagement,” said Brian D. Casey, the president of DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. “They will surely shape discussions about curriculum and campus life for years to come.” Some educators note that a weakened economy and a need to work while in school may be partly responsible for the reduced focus on academics, while others caution against using the study to blame students for not applying themselves. Howard Gardner, a professor at see THINKING / page four

Senate prepares for debate of health care reform after House repeal NOAM N. LEVEY & LISA MASCARO mcclatchy newspapers House Republicans passed a largely symbolic resolution Wednesday to repeal the nation’s new health care law, fulfilling a top campaign promise and setting the stage for a renewed battle in the Senate. The Senate showdown may not begin for several weeks, but promises to be substantially messier and more drawn out than the debate just completed in the House. The result could be a return to bitter, partisan gridlock ahead of a budget confrontation in March, when the health law repeal could become intertwined with a debate over federal spending. House GOP lawmakers, who hold a commanding majority, easily passed their two-page repeal resolution Wednesday after less than two days of floor debate. Three Democrats joined all 242 Republicans in support of the repeal resolution. The remaining 189 Democrats, including 10 who opposed the law last year, voted against repeal. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was

wounded in this month’s shooting rampage in Tucson, did not vote. In the Senate, Republicans will have to use contentious procedural maneuvers to pressure Democrats to vote on a repeal measure. Democrats retain a 53-47 edge in the Senate, counting two independents who caucus with them, and Democratic leaders firmly oppose repeal. “The Democratic leadership in the Senate doesn’t want to vote on this bill. But I assure you, we will,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement Wednesday after the House vote. If Senate Democrats block a repeal vote, as they have vowed to do, GOP lawmakers could look for ways to force Democrats to debate unpopular parts of the law like the insurance mandate, a move that could further inflame partisan tensions.”It will be a procedural game of cat and mouse in the Senate to bring up repeal votes,” saidMichael Franc, who works closely with congressional Republicans as head of government relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation. “It’s guerrilla tactics.” Even if the moves fall short, they are likely play well with the GOP base. Conservative Republicans and

tea party activists are looking to GOP senators to be as aggressive as their House counterparts in pushing repeal. “If you throw it over to the Senate ... and these senators are sitting on their hands not getting anything done ... you can expect the senators to have a very unhappy first recess home,” said former GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now leader of FreedomWorks, a Washington-based advocacy group that supports the tea party movement. Senate Republicans are being challenged to use every rule at their disposal to engineer a showdown. “If the supporters of a full repeal of ‘Obamacare’ don’t use the Senate’s rules to force a vote on full repeal, don’t take them seriously when they say they really want to repeal President Obama’s de facto government takeover of health care,” wrote Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, in a blog posting. The rules of the Senate give a single senator enormous power to stall legislation. And repeal-minded senators could threaten to filibuster even the most routine floor procedures until a vote is scheduled, including those

“

The Democratic leadership in the Senate doesn’t want to vote on this bill. But I assure you, we will,” MITCH MCCONNELL SENATE MINORITY LEADER, R-KY

expected next week on the rules and organization of the Senate. Conservative GOP senators — including Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — are already preparing repeal strategies, according to aides. Some are preparing for a two-year legislative campaign. “This isn’t a oneshot deal,” said Coburn spokesman John Hart. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is also among those urging a vote on repeal. Hatch faces re-election in 2012, two years after tea party activists drove Utah’s other incumbent GOP senator from office. “House Republicans have listened to the American people by acting to repeal this law. The question is whether the White House and its allies in the Senate will follow,” Hatch

said in a statement. The brass-knuckled repeal strategy is not without risk, some conservatives warn. Independent voters, who were critical to GOP electoral gains in November, do not want years of gridlock that produce no alternative to the current health care law, said Frank Luntz, a GOP pollster who helped develop the Republican strategy to discredit the health care law in 2009. For their part, some Democrats say there is a political opportunity in defending their signature law using personal stories from Americans now benefitting from the changes in insurance industry practices. More targeted GOP legislation that focuses on eliminating unpopular parts of the new law — such as a new tax reporting requirement for businesses — could make Republicans look more constructive. And Republican lawmakers are confident they could peel off conservative Democrats on such initiatives. During last year’s health care debate, a handful of Democratic senators voted for unsuccessful GOP amendments to strip out provisions of the law. Among the provisions, which survived, were taxes on medical

device makers, a new government long-term care insurance program, and a new board to review Medicare spending. Frontline Democrats up for re-election in 2012 — including Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, Florida’s Bill Nelson, Montana’s Jon Tester and Missouri’s Claire McCaskill — may agree to some of these fixes now. But legislative fixes also carry political risks for Republicans. “The things that may be fixed might make ‘Obamacare’ look better,” said Joe Antos, a health care economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “That might take away some of the issue for the 2012 election.” For their part, GOP leaders aren’t saying when or how they will produce an alternative, or push more limited legislation targeting pieces of the health care overhaul. “I don’t know that we need artificial deadlines,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday. House Republicans start a series of hearings to highlight what they see as problems with the Obama overhaul Thursday. The Senate returns to work Monday.

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university editor: philipp kotlaba, liana bayne, gordon block newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

january 20, 2011

COLLEGIATETIMES

blacksburg & virginia Tech professor in for lecture series

Here goes nothing

A Virginia Tech professor has been selected to speak at the prestigious TED2011 conference. Dennis Hong, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and roboticist, will speak on the Blind Driver Challenge, which is looking to create a car that can be operated

autonomously by blind people. Thefour-dayTED2011conference, put on by the Sapling Foundation, allows for high profile thinkers and artists to give 18-minute presentations on topics of their expertise. Hong will make his presentation on Mar. 3.

Other speakers at the March conference include Bill Gates, Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford Motors, film critic Roger Ebert, and musician Jason Mraz. -gordon block, associate news editor

Naval ofﬁcial guilty of child exploitation A former Pentagon intelligence official was sentenced Tuesday to 80 years in prison in what the judge called probably the worst child exploitation case he has seen in 26 years on the bench. Scottie Lee Martinez, 38, of Dumfries, Va., received the maximum penalty from U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman. Martinez previously pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and abusive sexual conduct with a minor. Martinez admitted that in 2009, he produced sexually explicit images of two minors, ages 5 and 11. He

papers proclaiming his innocence to most of the crimes. The judge denied the request. Then his attorney, Greg McCormack, asked for leniency, citing his client’s “service with honor and dignity” in the Navy and his lack of a criminal record. The judge sided with the government, saying he could not recall a child abuse case as egregious as this in his career on the bench. -tim mcglone, mcclatchy newspapers

nation & world Duvalier faces charges in Haitian court

what you’re saying //comments from online readers... On Chu Cho’s: Snerdly Poindexter>> Yipee! Somebody is learning shapes in geometry class! The problem is that a “circle” is not only a childish way of describing a tortilla, but it’s also somewhat incorrect (“disk” would be more accurate). Also, I believe those “triangles” she describes would be “circular sectors.”

Anonymous >> So Yelp! has 5 5-star, 3 4-star, and 3 3-or-fewer-star reviews. From the sound of most of the reviews, it’s possible that a restauranteur in Blacksburg has finally realized that there are people in town who like to eat something other than pizza, burgers, wings, and nacho cheese. As for the lack of “true Mexican” experience, I wonder if you’ve ever been to Mexico. I assume that your take on a true Mexican experience would be similar to a restaurant in Mexico full of US flags and bald eagles playing Taylor Swift on the PA.

Fo forcible fondling near Chipotle: On

Anonymous>> WHO CARES? I don’t see why I should get an e-mail about this and the other events they have e-mailed us about recently...VTPD is just crying wolf to me...If I wanted to know about this I would read or see it on the news. VTPD is now a member of my junk e-mail folder.

Haiti on Tuesday filed embezzlement and corruption charges against former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who is accused of torturing thousands of Haitians and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars during his 15-year reign. Haiti’s top prosecutor brought the charges against Duvalier in a day of high drama surrounding the ailing one-time despot, who stunned Haitians on Sunday when he stepped off an Air France flight at the international airport. After a hearing that lasted more than five hours, complaints of corruption, misappropriation of public funds and criminal conspiracy stemming were filed. The charges could be dismissed or sustained by a judge who will now investigate whether there’s sufficient evidence to go to trial. The process could take months. Duvalier, 59, was picked up by police early Tuesday amid a flurry of activity at the posh Karibe Hotel in Petionville, where he has been staying. Judge Gabriel Ambroise and Haitian attorney Reynold Georges arrived at the hotel about 10:30 a.m., as Haitian police officers were asked to secure the premises. A helicopter buzzed overhead. Duvalier said nothing as police, guns in hand, escorted him out the back of the building. Scores of journalists trailed the convoy as he was transported to the courthouse. Duvalier has been mum about his reasons for returning to Haiti, and neither prosecutors nor the minister of justice made public statements

about the charges or what comes next. In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the French government notified the United States about Duvalier’s arrival in Haiti “roughly an hour before” he landed at Port-auPrince’s international airport. “We don’t believe at this point Haiti needs any more distractions,” said spokesman P.J. Crowley. “Our focus right now is to help Haiti through this delicate period, have a new government emerge that is credible enough and legitimate enough and viewed positively in the eyes of the Haitian people so that the country, with international support, including the United States, can move ahead with the ongoing efforts to — to rebuild Haiti.” Duvalier’s presence and the government’s move add to an already tense political climate, where election officials are deciding which of the top three finishers from November’s disputed presidential elections should advance to a two-person runoff. During Tuesday’s hearing, hundreds of angry protesters demanded the arrest of President Rene Preval and supporter inside warned that he, too, could find himself facing a similar fate. “This game will destabilize the country,” said Henry-Robert Sterlin, an ambassador under Duvalier. “We don’t have a Duvalier problem. We have a Preval problem. Mr. Preval should know there will be a warrant against him, too.” Preval has not publicly commented on Duvalier’s return, but shortly after taking office in 2006, he said

that all Haitian citizens are entitled to return home under the Constitution but they should be prepared to face justice. Still, Haiti remained relatively calm even as hundreds of supporters protested outside the court house, burning tires and chanting. They cheered as the dark SUV he was a passenger in drove him back to the hotel. Gervais Charles, a high profile lawyer who has represented Duvalier, called the move against Duvalier a “scandal” and the charges “political.” He said they stem from a 2008 criminal complaint against Duvalier that was lost in the quake. Even then, he said, the statute of limitations had expired. “We remain at the disposal of the justice system,” said Charles, among several lawyers called to Duvalier’s aide early Tuesday as word spread that the Haitian government was moving to arrest him. He said authorities had confiscated Duvalier’s expired diplomatic passport, which he used to travel to Haiti from French-controlled Guadeloupe. “He’s a Haitian citizen who is at home,” Charles said. “The most difficult question to answer is when will he leave his home.” He might not be allowed to leave anytime soon. Still to come are possible human rights complaints by local Haitians, who say they were tortured and then forced into exile during his regime. -jacqueline charles, lesley clark and trenton daniel, mcclatchy newspapers

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This diver has no qualms about using a Virginia Tech ﬂag as a makeshift parachute as he dives off a platform at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. photo by luke mason

crime blotter

also admitted that he molested a child, who was between 7 and 9, at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, between 2001 and 2004. Martinez’s crimes came to light when an Air Force officer discovered child pornography on a computer network at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, and it was traced to Martinez’s computer, according to court filings. Martinez had been stationed in Norfolk before leaving for Qatar. After realizing, according to the government, that he was essentially facing a life sentence, Martinez tried to back out of his guilty plea and filed

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editors: scott masselli, gabi seltzer opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

january 20, 2011

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

Cutting benefits not best answer ut the government. The public sector is bloated. The sky is fallC ing. Thanks Chicken Little, I mean Chris Christie, for the lovely words. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has become a YouTube sensation for his attacks on public workers and unions (especially the teachers union). So, why are people so upset that teachers have a decent pension, health care benefits and basic livelihood? No one was complaining about how high the salaries of public workers were during the 1990s when the stock market was booming. This is a case of sour grapes and jealousy more than anything else and it needs to stop before we have a race to the bottom. The public sector workforce still holds and represents what used to be offered from private sector jobs. Until the 1980s, the private sector offered benefits comparable to or better than those of the public sector workers. We should look to private industry to build up its own employees’ livelihoods instead of lashing out at public sector workers. I think there are also some risks that come with cutting the public sector that are often overlooked. Someone who would make a great teacher might not want to become a teacher if it no longer offered retirement and every five years there was a risk of being fired. Police might not stay honest if their pay is frozen or reduced. Federal workers in the intelligence field might be more inclined to share state secrets after their pay freeze goes into effect. Will you attract great teachers to the field if it does not offer a living wage and benefits? Would someone want to collect garbage for a living

if it did not come with health care, retirement or a decent wage? But if we are not cutting the government, how do we balance the budget? The answer is carried interest. Hedge fund managers and others working on Wall Street for the financial sector are paid with carried interest. Carried interest is taxed as capital gains, even though it is essentially their salary. Why does that matter? It matters because millions of dollars are being taxed at 15 percent instead of the normal income tax level. As Allan Sloan of CNN Money says, “Public investors in Blackstone and other publicly traded partnerships would get stuck paying higher taxes, because some of their share of the partnerships’ income would be taxed as ordinary income rather than as capital gains.” Sloan continues by saying, “they’d also have somewhat higher gains (or lower losses) when they sell their partnership units. It’s probably not a big enough difference to really matter to public investors, who own 16 percent of Blackstone. Another 10 percent is owned by China’s sovereign wealth fund, which I’m sure can look after itself.” If you taxed carried interest as income tax instead of capital gains, the government would be closer to balancing its budget and the people who caused the recession would finally be paying for it.

JEFFREY HOMAN -regular columnist -political science -junior

Winter break brings peace to Blacksburg is back-to-school time at Virginia Tech. Nothing in this column It will be news to those who spent their break in the New River Valley. But for the majority of the student body who just returned from spending the holidays somewhere other than Blacksburg, I am going to fill you in on what you did not miss over break. Being that I have spent the past four winter breaks in Blacksburg, I am somewhat of a seasoned veteran on the customs and festivities of the locals. I know that you will breathe a sigh of relief when you learn that you did not miss mile-long lines of traffic on North Main. As a matter of fact, a day or two after you left town, every construction worker took a lengthy vacation himself. Lucky for you, they started right back up a mere two or three days before school started. After all, it would totally ruin the Tech experience if you didn’t have to cross Southern California-style rush hour traffic every time you wanted to grab a Chipotle burrito. Speaking of Chipotle, those of you who enjoy “the experience” of standing in line for 30 minutes just to order a taco bowl can sleep soundly knowing that you did not miss a thing. Those lines that snake their way along the window, out the door and past the next three restaurants? Well, they disappeared the day you did. During break I grabbed two or three burritos and not once did I have to wait more than a few minutes. A similar thing can be said about the local grocery stores. You did not miss out on the standing-room-only shopping that takes place in the neighborhood Kroger. When perusing the aisles I actually got to use a shopping cart. During school I forget the place even has them because the hoards of students carrying big boxes of frozen pizza and cheap American beer block the carts from view. (By the way, you did not miss out on any weekend food shortages, either — the pizza and Ben & Jerry’s never ran out.) For all you guys who love seeing nine out of 10 women wearing skintight blue jeans or ultra-conforming black tights paired with Uggs or freaky

knee-high boots that haven’t graced American soil since working girls sported them on Sunset Boulevard in the 1980s, do not worry. You did not miss a thing. Apparently local women did not get the memo, because few of them trekked through town sporting skimpy pants and humongous boots. Or perhaps, like me, they don’t own a TV so they rely on their own tastes when shopping for clothing. To all of my classmates who love living in this pseudo-police state that America is morphing into, you definitely did not miss a thing while you were away. While driving to work Christmas and New Year’s, I did not run into one warrant-less, suspicionless DUI checkpoint. I never drink or do drugs, but was extremely ecstatic over this because driving through 1940s Germany just to get to work is no fun. Aside from the usual drunken idiot engaging in misdemeanors, a real emergency happened when an explosion rocked Federal-Mogul on South Main. Thank God nobody was killed. Hopefully nothing of this magnitude happens again. Lastly, do not feel shortchanged because you missed local Christmas festivities. Nothing out of the ordinary happened while you were away. The New River Valley didn’t have a spiritual awakening and realize that, because the nation is on the verge of economic collapse, people shouldn’t blow debt-ridden money on useless material goods from big-box department stores. Like every other town in the nation, area residents loaded up on trinkets, cheaply made toys and electronics from China. All is not lost, though. To promote honesty and build trust with their children, area parents took them to see the real-life Santa who made appearances at both the Blacksburg and Christiansburg parades.

CHRIS DUNN -regular columnist -political science -senior

MCT CAMPUS

Facebook latest technology to alter generation’s behavior hile my winter break was mostly dedicated to spending W time with family, I tried to sneak in some social time for myself by occasionally going on Facebook. The site is like the best friend we never had. We hear about everything from inside scoops on people to the most happening social events in town; it is the ultimate means of socialization and communication. So just to see what my friends on Facebook were up to during the break, one day I went on the news feed and found out that one of my friends had a warning on his status, saying Facebook will shut down by March and that everyone should save their pictures. This development wasn’t quite clear to me. Facebook is the most popular social network — millions of people from all around the world use it almost everyday. Every means of socialization and communication is available on this website within a couple of clicks. The founders of this famous social network have understood human curiosity so well that they know how to lure all kinds of customers to the site with different types of attractions. So, why would the creators of this popular website walk away from such a booming business? After doing further research, my friend told me that he had found a false article and none of what he had written was true. By the time my friend did a follow-up on his sources, I had already started relating the shutting down of Facebook to the 2012 armageddon theory — lives all around the globe would turn upside down. I wondered what would happen to the millions of Facebook users who use it for a good amount of time each day to socialize and communicate. Specifically, I wondered what I

would do to keep in touch with my friends back home and my relatives back in Nepal. I would have to start using Live Messenger to chat with my relatives, AIM to chat with my friends, Yahoo! to write e-mails and send pictures, and texting to see what my friends in college were up to on the weekends. Users who rely on Facebook to consolidate all these means of communication would soon have to prepare themselves for a major inconvenience. But the convenience of Facebook comes with a price, and the price we pay to know the intricate details of our friends’ lives should be no secret. When television first came around, people were so fascinated by the entertainment it provided they slowly started to become introverts. Facebook is even worse than television. It has sucked all the users into the cyberworld with no possible escape. Even worse is the fact that it has turned out to be the social “weight scale” and also the mirror of the society. The users judge one another by the type of pictures that are posted, the type of things that are written and the language they are written in. All of a sudden, everyone is all over each others’ business. The scary part is people have become more judgmental, even about themselves. Comparing and competing is human nature, but Facebook has taken it to a whole new level. Our situation is exactly like in the short story, “The Cat Who Thought She Was a Dog and the Dog Who Thought He Was a Cat,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, where the introduction of a mirror turns a peasant’s simple family into a chaotic mess. Before the peasant’s wife bought the mirror, all the family members, including the cat and the

dog, were living in harmony. After the mirror joined the family, the peasant’s daughters couldn’t stop complaining about their facial structures. Even the cat and the dog, who lived peacefully, started fighting after they saw the physical differences in one another. The story is finally resolved by the peasant returning the mirror and restoring tranquility to the house. I am not suggesting that we should get rid of Facebook. I agree that it has made positive differences in our lives, which is what technology aims to do. But because of our curiosity, we have turned its usefulness against ourselves. People post pictures to share with friends and family, but we have misused this convenience by “stalking” and insisting on knowing the minute details of people’s weekends. What we see isn’t always true and what’s true isn’t always seen. Rather than spending hours looking at others’ posts and pictures and judging them, we could use that time to get to know these people in person. I am sure it would be much different than what we had learned from their profile. Instead of turning into an introvert and cyborg with Facebook, we can always catch up with old friends over warm coffee in this cold weather, or just finish the novel we started reading since last semester. Before an official term on Facebook addiction is announced, we should stop our dependency on the social network.

NAMRATA SHRESTHA -regular columnist -economics -sophomore

Deepwater Horizon debacle shows need for more regulation he report released Tuesday on the Deepwater Horizon debacle uses T two words the drillers didn’t want to hear: “systemic failure.” Make no mistake: The report says the oil and gas industry is unprepared for disasters like the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster of 2010. Despite the deaths of 11 workers, sinking the region’s economy and again fouling its own Gulf Coast nest, the industry spent the day spinning the findings as an isolated instance caused by rogue operators. That’s an insult to every American, especially the families who suffered in the disaster this year, and it ignores the commission’s clear, hard-hitting findings. This summer we all watched in horror as an undersea volcano of oil spewed into the Gulf for 91 days. But this is a rare instance where something good can come from tragedy. For starters, we can use BP’s fines to restore a way of life to the region that has suffered the worst environmental and economic harm. The commission recommends devoting at least 80 percent of BP’s guilt money to restoration and that requires an act of Congress. The report’s recommendation to fund coastal restoration in the Gulf is a critical first step toward rebuilding an ecosystem that

has been shattered by an unfettered energy industry and well-intentioned but terrifically destructive Mississippi River management. We know that the natural buffers, the wetlands and the forests can re-grow. It’s just a question of political will and money. The commission says we should bring both to bear, and Congress can make that happen. The commission also called for a new generation of robust scientific studies and long-term monitoring efforts to understand and mitigate the spill’s effects and to guide and evaluate restoration efforts. The report is clear; the Interior Department was outgunned by drillers and needs the people and the dollars to police the industry. Regulatory agencies need funding, staff and support to enable development and enforcement of regulatory standards. Even now, the Obama administration is considering Shell Oil’s proposal to drill in the Beaufort Sea in Alaska next summer, despite the lack of a credible oil spill response plan. This is the definition of insanity: repeat the behavior, hope for a different outcome. Think of what we witnessed in the Gulf this summer, and imagine the challenges of cleaning up a large oil spill in severe weather and broken ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean,

perhaps during the perpetual darkness of winter. A uniquely fragile marine environment, Beaufort is a crucial migratory route for endangered whales and it was also recently designated as critical habitat for the threatened polar bear. With no basic infrastructure — no roads, hotels or port facilities — recovery vessels would face a thousand mile journey from the nearest Coast Guard base, at Kodiak. We must heed the clear warning laid out by the commission. It’s time for a “timeout” for drilling in America’s Arctic Ocean. Co-Chairs Sen. Bob Graham and William Reilly and all the members of the Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling have shown a willingness to face hard and unpopular truths, and given us a pivotal opportunity. Can this Congress empower the drilling police? Can the oil and gas industry balance lives, nature and profitability? Can the people of the Gulf Coast dare to hope that their fractured landscape can be put back together again? All of that is possible, the commission said. And they’re right.

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page 4

Thinking: Many graduates can’t sift fact, opinion from page one

Harvard’s Graduate School of Education known for his theory of multiple intelligences, said the study underscores the need for higher education to push students harder. “No one concerned with education can be pleased with the findings of this study,” Gardner said. “I think that higher education in general is not demanding enough of students — academics are simply of less importance than they were a generation ago.” But the solution, in Gardner’s view, shouldn’t be to introduce high-stakes tests to measure learning in college, because “the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.” Arum concluded that while students at highly selective schools made more gains than those at less selective

schools, there are even greater disparities within institutions. “In all these 24 colleges and universities, you have pockets of kids that are working hard and learning at very high rates,” Arum said. “There is this variation across colleges, but even greater variation within colleges in how much kids are applying themselves and learning.” For that reason, Arum added, he hopes his data will encourage colleges and universities to look within for ways to improve teaching and learning. Arum co-authored the book with Josipa Roksa, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia. The study, conducted with Esther Cho, a researcher with the Social Science Research Council,

writing, as well as students spending more time studying, the study’s authors found. Students who took courses heavy on both reading (more than 40 pages a week) and writing (more than 20 pages in a semester) showed higher rates of learning. That’s welcome news to liberal arts advocates. “We do teach analytical reading and writing,” said Ellen Fitzpatrick, a history professor at the University of New Hampshire. The study used data from the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a 90minute essay-type test that attempts to measure what liberal arts colleges teach and that more than 400 colleges and universities have used since 2002. The test is voluntary and includes real world problem-solving tasks, such as

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learning. “We haven’t spent enough time making sure we are indeed teaching — and students are learning — these skills,” Bradley said. Christine Walker, a senior at DePauw who’s also student body president, said the study doesn’t reflect her own experience: She studies upwards of 30 hours a week and is confident she’s learning plenty. Walker said she and her classmates are juggling multiple non-academic demands, including jobs, to help pay for their education and that in today’s economy, top grades aren’t enough. “If you don’t have a good resume,” Walker said, “the fact that you can say, ‘I wrote this really good paper that helped my critical thinking’ is going to be irrelevant.”

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determining the cause of an airplane crash, that require reading and analyzing documents from newspaper articles to government reports. The study’s authors also found that large numbers of students didn’t enroll in courses requiring substantial work. In a typical semester, a third of students took no courses with more than 40 pages of reading per week. Half didn’t take a single course in which they wrote more than 20 pages over the semester. The findings show that colleges need to be acutely aware of how instruction relates to the learning of critical-thinking and related skills, said Daniel J. Bradley, the president of Indiana State University and one of 71 college presidents who recently signed a pledge to improve student

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showed that students learned more when asked to do more. Students who majored in the traditional liberal arts — including the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and mathematics — showed significantly greater gains over time than other students in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills. Students majoring in business, education, social work and communications showed the least gains in learning. However, the authors note that their findings don’t preclude the possibility that such students “are developing subject-specific or occupationally relevant skills.” Greater gains in liberal arts subjects are at least partly the result of faculty requiring higher levels of reading and

By Julian Lim

ACROSS 1 2007 Oscar 26 Sound dur ing a winner (Best massage Original 27 Do a Screenplay) goalk eeper’s job about a pregnant 28 Island in th e teenager French West 5 Greenish-b lue Indies , familiarly 9 Astronaut ’s 30 Ho ckey great thumbs-ups 31 Elect 13 “Gimme __” : “Be 33 Lennon’ s last right with y ou” album released 14 Turn one’s nose before his deat h up at 39 Uses a LaserJet 15 __ the fat 40 “Oh, what a 16 Words of protest tangled __ we 19 High nest weav e”: Scot t 20 Very capable 42 Island natio n 21 King’s west of Haiti memorable 45 Mineral used in ord s glassmaking

WORD BANK Ayers Basham Cantley Cassell Crosby Davis Dunkenberger Evans Fenyn Gordon Greenman Hadley Harrison HinesAllen Hokies Jameson Maroon Montgomery Orange Tellier White Wilson

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DOWN 1 Boxer’s target 2 Esco rt to a seat, in slang 3 Cultural funding gp. 4 C to C, e.g. 5 Nuisance to gardeners 6 Kooky 7 Suffix with sub 8 Singer/songwriter DiFranco 9 Low-pH substance 10 “Goodness!” 11 Try and tr y again 12 Mo wed str ips 14 Pr icey strings, for shor t 17 Witnesse d 18 Chess sacr ifice 21 Altar words 22 Gnus ’ group 23 Hairstyle for Hendr ix 24 These , in Juarez 25 “... two fiv es for __?” 29 Prefix with gram 31 __ ca vae: large blood v essel s

32 Frequently , to a bard 34 Dance-storm link 35 Li ke som e showers 36 Wingless parasite s 37 Gulp from a flask 38 “Gross!” 41 Creature that “sees” using echolocatio n 42 Pulling one’ s leg 43 Schooly ard argument retor t 44 Contro versial rocker Mar ilyn 45 Old P ersian rulers 46 Heracles’ beloved 47 Klut z 50 Gearshift letters 51 Heads , to Henr i 53 Partner of yin 56 __-tzu 57 Pasta ending 58 Nativ e of Niger ia 59 Prohibi t 60 “Gloria in Excelsis __” Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved

65 Makes slick, in a way 66 Letters at th e end of a lo ve letter ( )2010 T ib

M di S

1/19/11

sports 5

editors: michael bealey, garrett ripa sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

january 20, 2010

Hokies heading into hostile territory against Terrapins

CHRISTINA NESTOR / SPPS

Jeff Allen stares down former Terrapin forward Landon Milbourne in last year’s matchup against Maryland. Allen is second on the team in scoring for the Hokies with 12.6 points per game this season.

TECH LOOKS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GRADUATION AS MARYLAND SEARCHES FOR SCORING THREATS MATT JONES sports reporter CHRISTINA NESTOR / SPPS

The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will travel to College Park, Md., Thursday for a chance to move above .500 in ACC play. The Terrapins (11-6, 1-2 ACC), led by legendary coach Gary Williams, are looking to bounce back from a non-conference loss to No. 7 Villanova on Saturday. “We had a lead in the second half against Duke, and we had a lead in the second half against Villanova, and those are the type of games you would like to be able to finish,” Williams said. “Hopefully (the close losses) have made us tougher as we get deep into the ACC schedule.” The Hokies (11-5, 2-2 ACC) under head coach Seth Greenberg are 4-4 against the Terrapins, most recently losing 104-100 in double overtime a year ago in Cassell Coliseum. “It was really a terrific, wellplayed game,” Greenberg said. “But (Maryland) made one more play.” Had Tech defeated Maryland a season ago, it likely would have sealed an NCAA tournament appearance. This season, Tech has forgotten last year’s heartbreaking defeat and is focused on the important tasks at hand. “This is no personal vendetta against Maryland,” Greenberg said. “It’s a big game for us, because if you get a road win, that’s significant. That sets you apart from other teams.” Thursday’s game is one of three CHRISTINA NESTOR / SPPS remaining road games against the RPI Allen goes up for a rebound in last year’s game. He scored a season-high 25 points in the 104-100 loss. top 100 for Tech. While the Hokies

Malcolm Delaney defends against former Maryland standout and 2009 ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez. Delaney will rest well knowing Vasquez won’t be there. He scored 41 points in last year’s game.

have been solid at home in recent years, they have struggled to secure crucial road victories — a quality many NCAA Tournament at-large teams have on their resumes. A win Thursday will not be easy to come by for the Hokies, as they travel into one of the ACC’s most hostile environments — College Park’s Comcast Center. “(The fans) say anything that comes to mind,” said Malcolm Delaney, Tech guard. “They might have the worst fans ever.” The atmosphere two years ago at Maryland provoked Tech forward Jeff Allen to flip a middle finger to the student section. Delaney does not believe the crowd will cause that kind of behavior again. “We don’t have to talk to Jeff about it,” Delaney said. “He won’t make that same mistake twice, so we don’t really have to talk to him.” Tech also faces an opponent that is much bigger and much deeper across the board. Maryland sophomore center Jordan Williams is a big reason why so many Terrapins fans are excited about their team this year. Williams, standing 6-foot-10-inches tall and weighing in at 260 pounds, is a beast in the paint. He averages 18.1 points and 12.2 rebounds per game and has notched 11 straight doubledoubles. He is the key player in the Terps offense, and is certainly the focal point of Greenberg’s game plan this week. “He’s a throwback low-post guy that doesn’t mind getting in traffic and coming up with a rebound,” Greenberg

said. “I hate to say it, but he’s going to rebound the ball.” Greenberg, long known as a manto-man defensive coach, has employed more zone defense this season than ever before. With only eight healthy scholarship players, and even fewer big men, the zone has allowed the Hokies to stay in games when they would have likely been outmatched. “This year we know we have limited numbers so we know we have to play zone sometimes,” Delaney said. “We put more effort into it in practice, we spend more time working on it.” While Maryland has lost Cousy Award winner Greivis Vasquez from last year’s team, they have improved dramatically on defense. The Terps are currently fifth in the country in opponent field goal percentage (37 percent) and sixth nationally in rebounds (41.9 per game). “Defensively, we’re a good defensive team,” Williams said. “We’re playing good defense and playing against some really good players and making them work hard to score.” With defense comes rebounding, a facet of the game Greenberg worries about heading into Thursday’s game. “A concern to me right now is probably rebounding the basketball,” Greenberg said. “I think (Dino) Gregory is an underrated rebounder, and in the flex (Sean) Mosley is a terrific rebounder from the wing position.” While plenty is at stake for both teams, Greenberg doesn’t believe extra motivation is necessary. “I don’t think I have to push any buttons for this game.” The Hokies head to College Park Thursday for the key ACC battle. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. on ESPN2.

As NFL playoffs roll on, teams looking for a lack of respect SAM FARMER mcclatchy newspapers Nobody believed in them. Only the people in their locker room thought they could get this far. They are a team of destiny, and Super Bowl XLV is just one win away. They are the New York Jets. And the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. With all due respect, where’s all the respect that’s due? All of the four NFL teams in this weekend’s conference championship games have at some point claimed they have been overlooked, undervalued, ignored by all but those rare true believers. These aren’t title games; they’re just-hopped-on-thebandwagon bowls. People have been waiting for weeks for the Bears to come unglued. The Steelers were doomed from the start, and playing their fourth-string quarterback by Week 3. As for the Packers and Jets, they barely made it into the playoffs as sixth-seeded teams. “Maybe everybody else didn’t believe in us or whatever, but we believed,” said Jets coach Rex Ryan, whose team followed the example set by Green Bay and knocked out the No. 1-seeded team. “We worked too hard to get back here, and we came for a reason. We thought we were the better team.” The Jets latch on to the disrespect card the way Santonio Holmes hangs on to the football with gusto. Yes, there have been slights, but, as is the case with all teams, everything that can be magnified will be. “We’re all still little football players at heart and little football players like to be motivated, like to have an edge going into a game, some sort of anger, some reason to be more focused,” said CBS analyst Boomer Esiason, a former All-Pro quarterback who spent three of his 14 seasons with the Jets. “Even as juvenile as it sounds, football players have been conditioned since we began playing that it’s an emotional game that requires great focused intensity. So every single one of these coaches are going to try to do that with their teams.” Before the Packers played their divisional game at

Atlanta, Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers apprised his players of dismissive comments allegedly made by Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli. While saying he didn’t know where Capers came up with the comments Mughelli supposedly made after a threepoint win over the Packers in November, Green Bay’s B.J. Raji said the remarks “kind of fueled our fire a little bit.” Said Raji, in the wake of Saturday’s win in the Georgia Dome: “(Mughelli) was saying after the first game how we were soft. When somebody challenges your manhood, you have to respond. It had nothing to do with football. It was just strictly being a man.” Whether those comments were as advertised, or spiced up for effect, they seemed to do the trick. It’s not uncommon for coaches and players to go in search of bulletinboard material for snubs, interpreting everything in the most negative way possible. Last summer, for instance, Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward talked about how no one believes in the Steelers, no one was willing to give them the respect they deserve. It’s one of his favorite refrains. It dampened the argument a bit when a reporter reminded him Sports Illustrated had picked the Steelers to win the Super Bowl. That’s not to say Ward was (and is) entirely off base. The Steelers have overcome a lot to get this far, including going 3-1 during Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension, losing offensive tackles Max Starks and Willie Colon for long stretches, losing their punter, parting ways with their longtime kicker, and generally dealing with turbulence better than many teams would. If Ward is looking for some backup on the we-get-norespect argument, he doesn’t have to look far. “People are doubting Hines? Good,” Roethlisberger said recently. “He loves proving people wrong.” That’s not a unique sentiment in the NFL. The Bears, for one, will happily use disrespect, actual or perceived as motivation. “First, we weren’t going to make the playoffs,” Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers said, according to ESPN. “Then, we couldn’t win the division. Now, I think I hear it already. ...” And if he doesn’t hear it, he’ll just listen harder.

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Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is sacked by Jarius Wynn in the loss at the Packers in week 17. Chicago split the regular season series and will face Green Bay this Sunday for a trip to the Super Bowl in Dallas.

BCS gets it right this season, but needs to decrease number of meaningless bowls MATT MURSCHEL mcclatchy newspapers The question was raised even before the final piece of confetti floated from the ceiling of the University of Phoenix Stadium. Had the BCS gotten it right? Auburn was crowned the national champion on Jan. 10, but somewhere off in the night, TCU and its fans wondered, “What if?” For BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock, speaking to the Football Writers Association of America

earlier that day, his message was loud and clear. The BCS got it right. I agree, Hancock is right. The BCS does work ... but it needs to be tweaked. Now before you toss your paper/ computer/mobile device into the fire, hear me out. I agree with some of Hancock’s points about the BCS. Eliminating the bowl system would cost studentathletes the opportunities to see new places and experience new things. Players visited Orlando, Hawaii,

Memphis and so on and were treated to great experiences at local attractions. For some of these student-athletes, the travel experience was a first, many never having traveled beyond their home state’s borders. Yes, there can be only one. However, for every Auburn there are handfuls of teams that had the best season their school has ever had and they deserve a championship moment. I saw this with my own eyes when moments after N.C. State defeated West Virginia in the Champs Sports

Bowl, Wolfpack players were highfiving fans in the stands and celebrating the win on the field. The euphoria wasn’t dampened by the fact that their trophy wasn’t crystal. In a playoff system, many teams that deserve that bowl championship moment are robbed. In a playoff system, they’re losers. On many levels, the bowl system works. However, here are my points of contention. I believe the bowl season is too long. The national championship game

was played on Jan. 10, 37 days after Auburn took its last snap. Yes, there are hardcore fans but attention spans are short and in the days of are you even still reading this column, more than a month is an eternity. It’s too long for fans to wait and it’s too long for players to sit cold. The rustiness by both teams was evident during the first quarter of the game. Oh, and by the way, these are schools and second-semester had already started for both. Remember when it actually meant something to play bowl games on

New Year’s Day? Second, there are just far too many bowl games. Thirty-five to be exact. C’mon, do we really need the BBVA Compass and the Kraft Fight Hunger bowls? It cheapens the championship moment I was referring to when teams that are barely .500 are sent to bowl games because the game demands opponents. With so many bowl games, it spreads the dollars thin and many teams are losing money. It may not be a perfect system but it’s the best one we have.

6 weekend january 20, 2011

editors: lindsey brookbank, kim walter featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

[Thursday, January 20]

Wondering what’s going on around the ‘burg? Check out the events of the upcoming week.

[Saturday, January 22]

[Sunday, January 23] What: 14th Annual VT Hono Band Concert Where: Burruss Aud. When: 1 p.m. Cost: Free

What: Writers Workshop Where: Blacksburg Library When: 6 p.m. Cost: Free

What: Music: Will Ayers Where: Gillie’s When: 7 p.m. Cost: Free

What: Music: Carter Brown Where: Gillie’s When: 7 p.m. Cost: Free

What: Community Meal Where: Filedstone United Methodist Church in Christiansburg When: 6:30 p.m. Cost: Free

[Friday, January 21] What: Music: Grass Monkey Where: Gillie’s When: 9:30 p.m. Cost: Free What: Music: Third Eye and Boogieburg present: The Malah w/ Silo Effect Where: Awful Arthur’s When: 9 p.m. Cost: $8

What: Internatißonal Day of Collaborative Music Where: Squires Recital Salon When: 7 p.m. Cost: Free What: White Out Frzen Party w/DJ Flex Where: Awful Arthur’s When: 9 p.m. Cost: $5 for guys and under 21, 18+ needs to be there before 10 p.m. to stay the rest of the night What: Movie: The Black Swan opens Where: The Lyric When: 7 and 9:15 p.m. Cost: $5

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