Wednesday, September 21, 2011 An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
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COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 89
News, page 2
Food & Drink, page 6
Opinions, page 3
Sports, page 5
Classifieds, page 4
Sudoku, page 4
Man to drive 24 Va. passes new abortion law (Abortions) will still be available, and it’s not outlawing “ hours for charity it or making it illegal, it’s just making it safe.” VIRGINIA TECH GRADUATE WILL DRIVE 24 HOURS FOR TOURETTE SYNDROME AWARENESS OCT. 25 compete in an international SAE competition near Detroit, Mich. The race Shannon is participating in — 24 Hours for TSA — will take place at New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana on Oct. 25. The track had to meet a list of specifications to be used for the world record. The course cannot be oval shaped and has to be between 0.75 and 1.25 miles long, Shannon said. The course that he will use at NCMP has 14 turns, long straight aways, and is 0.92 miles long. Shannon said this track is a fairly large go-kart track — most are a half of a mile to three quarters of a mile long. To train for the event, he started working out in the gym two hours a day, six days a week. “(I worked on) personal fitness and muscle endurance, especially in my shoulders, neck and forearms. Go-karts vibrate, and they can tire you out fast,” he said. Shannon also went to a track in northern Virginia to get practice time in the go-kart. He drove for eight hours straight. He also practiced at NCMP to test how long his tires would last and when his team would need to re-fuel the car. He said they tested these things to determine when to fix the breaks within the 24 hours. NCMP is not charging for Shannon to use the track, said Mike Adams, the director of operations for the park. According to the track’s website, usual fees range from $22 to $25 a day for practicing on the track. An ambulance is required to be on site as well, which Shannon said can cost $15 an hour. “They’re saving us about $1,000,” Shannon said. Infinite Nutrition, one of his sponsors, is donating a specialized energy drink, which Shannon will have access to in his car throughout the race, to help keep him alert. “The main danger is fatigue, not injury,” he said. Infinite Nutrition will design a customized drink based on Shannon’s body type and the activity he’s performing. While, 24 hours for a Cure has already raised more than $1,000, Shannon said his goal is to raise $10,000. “I don’t have a concrete goal, but the more the better. I want t o get people talking about (the syndrome).”
JENN BATES news staff writer Driving a go-kart is harder than people think, especially when you’re driving for 24 hours with Tourette Syndrome. Trey Shannon, who has the syndrome, will be driving solo for 24 hours to raise money for the Tourette Syndrome Association of America — an attempt to break the goSHANNON karting world record. The current record, which was last set in October 2010, is 801.38 miles. The syndrome is a neurological disorder that affects about 200,000 people in the United States. But, it frequently goes undiagnosed, according to the TSA’s website. The disorder is characterized by tics — involuntary, rapid, sudden movements or vocal outbursts that occur repeatedly. Eye blinking, head jerking, throat clearing, sniffing and tongue clicking are examples of tics. Although Shannon, who attended Virginia Tech as an undergraduate, has a relatively mild case, some daily activities, such as reading and driving, require more concentration. “I make it a point to be more aware of what’s going on around me (when I’m on the highway), that way if I have a tic that lasts for 10 seconds, I can guess where everything is while the tic is going on,” he said. My dad was always worried that I’d get hit in the face while I was playing baseball because I’d have a tic and wouldn’t be paying attention.” There is no known cure for those with the syndrome, regardless of its level. However, the money donated to TSA will help to find one. Shannon said he is fortunate that the syndrome has never stopped him from accomplishing his goals. Shannon has been a racing enthusiast his whole life and began go-kart racing when he was 16. He took time away from racing while he was a student at Tech, but he was a member of the Formula SEA — Society of Automated Engineers — Team. Shannon worked on the mechanical engineering senior design project, which consists of 30 design engineers build a Formula One racecar a n d
COURTESY OF TREY SHANNON
Squirrel causes Oak Lane power outage JOSH HIGGINS news reporter A squirrel tripped a power line and caused a blackout, affecting areas near Prices Fork Road, including the Oak Lane Community. This is the second power outage the Greek community has experienced this week. An underground wire between the Veterinary Medicine building and the Cage parking lot failed on Sunday around 2 p.m., knocking out power on the western side of campus and the surrounding area. In addition to Oak Lane, the outage caused areas near U.S. Highway 460 — including the new Visitor and Undergraduate Admissions Center and buildings near Toms Creek Road and Southgate Drive — to go without power until Sunday eve-
ning. The Virginia Tech Electric Service repaired the wire after it became aware of the outage, and power was restored later that afternoon. Around the same time, an electric circuit tripped, leaving Oak Lane in the dark until Monday morning. VTES wasn’t aware of the issue until Monday morning. “Virginia Tech Electric thought they had fixed the problem,” said Mark Owczarski, a Tech spokesman. “Nobody (from Oak Lane) had called to say they were still without power until Monday morning.” Electricity at Oak Lane was restored around 9:15 a.m. Monday. According to its Facebook page, VTES has fixed most of the outages, and power should be restored at the locations.
CATHERINE SLUSHER, OB/GYN, MEMBER OF VIRGINIA BOARD OF HEALTH
“Planned Parenthood is already subject to the same regulations as existing outpatient hospitals. These targeted regulations don’t do anything to protect women. First trimester abortions remain to be one of the safest in-office procedures.
”
CATHERINE SLUSHER
MALLORY NOE-PAYNE news staff writer Blacksburg’s Planned Parenthood is likely to stop providing medical abortions because of a new set of regulations approved by the Virginia Board of Health last Thursday. The regulations require Virginia clinics providing five or more abortions per month to upgrade their facilities to meet hospital standards. Otherwise, clinics offering surgical or medical abortions, those using an oral pill to induce miscarriage, can not offer the procedure. The new rules were written after the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill requiring additional restrictions to be put in place. Health centers that fall under the purview of the regulations will be required to provide a plan to meet the requirements within two years, beginning Jan. 1, 2012, if approved by Gov. Bob McDonnell. Upgrades required include
wider hallways and larger operating rooms, which are norms for new construction. The regulations will be enforced through government inspections, which could be performed unannounced. Tanya Semones, the Planned Parenthood in Southwest Virginia field coordinator, said the restrictions are “onerous” and “the most restrictive in the nation.” “Planned Parenthood is already subject to the same regulations as existing outpatient hospitals,” she said. “And these targeted regulations don’t do anything to protect women. First trimester abortions remain to be one of the safest in-office procedures.” Catherine Slusher, an obstetrician and gynecologist, who is a Board of Health member recently appointed by Gov. McDonnell, said the purpose of the regulations were to ensure abortion safety, not to decrease women’s access to the procedure. “They will still be available,
and it’s not outlawing it or making it illegal,” Slusher said. “It’s just making it safe.” Because Planned Parenthood’s clinics in Roanoke and Blacksburg provide surgical procedures, they were built in anticipation of possible regulations such as these, Semones said. “But we did not expect anything to this extent,” she said. “We will have to do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on these two facilities just to make it so we can be up to code.” Planned Parenthood plans to focus its efforts and funds on meeting regulations in other locations, aside from Blacksburg. At that point, the nearest location where one can receive an abortion will be in Roanoke. Planned Parenthood centers in Charlottesville and Roanoke provided 1,470 surgical abortions in 2010. Another 417 surgical abortions were provided in other clinics in Roanoke, according to the Virginia
Department of Health website. “If some of the clinics are forced to shut down because of the standards — even if there’s not a planned parenthood in your backyard — there are still other options,” said Matt Hurt, the College Republicans president. Hurt is a regular opinions columnist for the Collegiate Times. The regulations could also affect students. “The cost will be the biggest issue (for students),” Semones said. “Meeting these regulations will require that the cost be passed on to our patients.” Mary Eileen Barber, an active member of the Right to Life at VT, said she doesn’t think an increased cost for abortions is necessarily negative. “Hopefully, this increased cost will help deter students from having abortions,” Barber said. Although Barber said she doesn’t think the Board of Health’s motive was to decrease abortion access, she said it is a “little victory” for her organization’s cause.
Tech hosts 32 Senegalese professors DONAL MURPHY news staff writer Virginia Tech is hosting 32 research representatives from Senegal to teach them about agriculture, language training and e-learning to help combat food security issues — knowledge they will bring back to their country’s farmers. Since 2007, food security issues stemming from food price spikes, with subsequent riots, have been prevalent in Senegal, a country in western Africa — although 75 percent of its population works in the agriculture, it imports 70 percent of its rice, according to the Tech Office of International Research, Education and Development. The same year, led a consortium — consisting of Perdue, Michigan State and Tuskegee universities, as well as the University of Connecticut — to create a proposal for the United States Agency for International Development to help Senegal with the food security issues. Tech later received a $28-million grant from USAID through the Feed the Future initiative. The representatives visiting Tech are all professors and Senegalese experts in agriculture and education through the Senegal Education et Recherche en Agriculture Program. Four Tech employees have been working with the Senegalese representatives for about six months to prepare them for the program. Patrick Guilbaud, a curricula, education and training coordinator in Senegal, is Tech’s representative in Dakar, Senegal, serving as the primary liaison between the university and the 13 participating Senegalese institutions. “This is really a broad based effort to kind of get all partners to fully understand that agriculture has many levels,” he said. “By putting emphasis on all aspects, we’ll be able to have a greater system for Senegal where food security is more emphasized.” Guilbaud, who was born in Haiti, but raised and educated in the United States, has been working for OIRED for four years. He moved to Senegal to oversee the program’s foreign aspects. “Being a person who was born in Haiti, I am very aware about food and food security, and how that affects the population,” he said. The representatives are split into three groups — agriculture, English as a foreign language, and e-learning and pedagogy. Since the initiative’s concentration is food security, the overall theme is agriculture and biological information. The agriculture group has been trav-
MAZIAR FAHANDEZH / SPPS
A group of faculty from universities in Senegal visit Virginia Tech to learn about agriculture techniques. eling around Virginia, visiting farms, agricultural centers and markets to learn about the American agricultural production and agronomics system of agricultural production and agronomics, said Demba Mbaye, a visiting professor. The EFL group is training to teach English to students in Senegal, given that much of the material on food security is only published in that language. “They’ll have content-based classes where they’re going to have to be teaching English and learning content at the same time,” said Amanda Johnson, the EFL coordinator for the program The courses are tailored to each representative’s English level, as it is a “train the trainers” program. “For us, it is more learning how to use the technologies to better the teaching and make it more attractive and more challenging,” said Babacar Diop, an English professor at the Université de Ziguinchor in Senegal, who is currently participating in the program as an EFL group member. Diop was in the U.S. for six months prior to this trip with the International
Leaders Communication program in Minneapolis, Minn. “My thought now, though the program is not yet finished, is that we’ve learned a lot of new things, a lot of new sites we were introduced to,” he said. “(They are) very interesting and important tools to enhance our teaching practices.” The e-learning and pedagogy group is studying how to use Internet sites and computer software to help with course availability. Many of the participating universities in Senegal are in areas with minimal infrastructure, making traveling to the schools difficult. Therefore, many students opt to take courses online. The professors are being trained to use Moodle, a learning platform similar to Scholar, and other software programs that make teaching online courses easier. Fan (Luisa) Li, a graduate assistant for the OIRED, is leading the group. “I feel that it is really interesting,” said Mariama Sene-Wade, a parasitology and biology professor at the Universite Gaston-Berger in Saint-Louis Senegal. “It is very important to meet all these
people, to see what they are doing for the school — it’s a good thing.” Li is participating in the program as a member of the e-learning and pedagogy group. The program is also addressing gender equity — a major issue in agriculture. “If you go to do a project with the farmers, you teach them how to deal with the crops, and you have to understand who is actually doing the work in the fields,” Li said. Because women do most of the agriculture labor in Senegal, information is frequently lost when a husband teaches a wife. This topic is being addressed through a gender workshop, led by VT Advance. It discusses the issues of gender equity and how it can be used for agriculture. The group is mostly male but has several female representatives as well. Tech plans to continue this program, possibly bringing a larger group of representatives for a longer period next year, if it is covered under the USAID grant.