Friday, October 21, 2011 Print Edition by Collegiate Times

‘THE COSBY SHOW’ BY PATRICK MURPHY | features editor Despite the chilly wind and spotty rain, very few Cosby sweaters could be spotted in the audience. In fact, Bill Cosby himself simply wore a

Virginia Tech sweatshirt and sweatpants. Cosby strolled on to the stage lazily — if not laboriously — yet the

74-year-old comic quickly showed he still had some pep left in him. see COSBY / page four

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COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 103

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TEA TIME

Clery Act appeal date set to Dec. 7 ZACH CRIZER editor-in-chief

MALLORY NOE-PAYNE news staff writer

Virginia Tech’s appeal of its $55,000 fine for failure to issue timely warnings during the April 16, 2007, campus shootings will be heard in December. The U.S. Department of Education has scheduled the hearing for Dec. 7-9 after Tech appealed its fine in April. The agency levied the fine as a penalty for two violations of the Clery Act, a federal law that requires universities to report crime statistics and give communities timely warnings of campus crimes. In a May 2010 report, the DOE said Tech failed to provide clear, timely warnings to its students and faculty members after the shootings in West Ambler-Johnston Hall on the morning of April 16. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty members that day before killing himself. Most of the shootings took place in Norris Hall hours after the initial shootings in West Ambler-Johnston. Tech officials filed the appeal in April with the help of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, saying the university complied with the law as it was understood in 2007. “Based on what they knew at the time, law enforcement officers and the Virginia Tech administration acted appropriately,” Cuccinelli said in an April statement. “They did the best they could under the circumstances as they understood them. And that is the only fair standard by which their actions can be assessed.” Tech’s appeal argues that the definition of a timely warning as it stood in 2007 — the act has been amended since the shootings — was “vague at best.” Instead, the appeal says the DOE is enforcing “a standard Virginia Tech was expected to meet that is based on after-the-fact knowledge.”

A small assembly rose in unison Tuesday evening, removing hats and bowing heads to recite the Lord’s Prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance directed toward a small flag pinned on the wall of the Montgomery County Government Center. This ritual starts every meeting of the Tea Party of the New River Valley. Although its member list is up to 125, low attendance that evening was blamed on upcoming elections in the area that are keeping members busy knocking on doors and passing out pamphlets. Roger Averhart is a retired employee of Virginia Tech who has lived in Blacksburg his whole life. He’s been active in the group for a year. “I just think of it as a voice for average people,” Averhart said, “I get to meet different people. I’m more aware of what’s going on with like-minded individuals.” The New River Valley group is just one of the Tea Party organizations that has sprung up in southwestern Virginia since the movement’s beginnings in 2009. Tea Parties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Bedford, Floyd and Salem are all active and were founded to deal with specific local issues, such as water ordinances, income taxes or supporting local candidates for boards of supervisors. The Tea Party is a third-party movement that has made national headlines for two years following its upset-inducing influence on midterm Congressional elections, and more recently with debt debates in the national legislature. As Republican presidential nominees campaign around the U.S., the involvement of candidates who appeal to the Tea Party, such as Michelle Bachmann, is under scrutiny from both the left and the right for the way they’ve shaped debates on national politics. With ardent supporters and loud naysayers, the Tea Party is both blamed and celebrated for its involvement. “In general I see (them) as pretty radical. They are so rigid in their beliefs and unwilling to compromise,” said Trevor Stafford-Walter, a senior history and German major, as well as self-described liberal. “I would like them to not have that kind of power, to hold the government hostage.” Joe Pucci, a freshman engineering major and member of the College Republicans, disagrees. “This country was founded with the idea we could get together and protest as we wish. The Tea Party has done this, I think that’s fine,” Pucci said. “They’re not radical. I think it’s disgusting how they’ve been portrayed by the media. The perception that the American people are given is solely one against the Tea Party.” --The group is primarily driven by local grassroots organizations, which could make it more influential on a small scale than on a national level. level where members would like to see more of the power devolved. The organizations of southwestern Virginia have become movements within themselves to change local politics in the region, not just offshoots of the national Tea Party movement. But the faces of this movement don’t necessarily match the ones often envisioned. see TEA / page two

Sudoku, page 4

MALLORY NOE-PAYNE / SPPS

see CLERY / page two

Jack Selcovitz, a member of the NRV Tea Party and a retired police chief, proudly displays his cap at a Tea Party meeting.

Director screens Egypt documentary at GLC auditorium JAMES SHEEHAN news staff writer On Jan. 25, 2011, thousands of protestors gathered in cities across Egypt to voice their discontent with the Egyptian government. The year preceding those protests, director Lillie Paquette made a film documenting the growing social unrest in Egypt. Her work encapsulates the angst of Egyptians that would eventually manifest itself in a revolution and the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s ruler of 30 years. Her documentary, “We Are Egypt: Voices Leading to Revolution,” screened last night in the Graduate Life Center auditorium. Paquette spoke with the Collegiate Times via phone to discuss her film and provide insights into the Egyptian revolution.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: What led you to filmmaking?

LILLIE PAQUETTE: I had been working in Washington D.C. for many years, and all of my studies have focused on the Middle East — Egypt in particular. I had been working at a nonprofit that administers the U.S. State Department’s grants for public diplomacy and democratization in the Middle East. So, after years of that, I decided I wanted to go into Egypt and actually make a film about the subject I had been

studying for so many years. So, I took my camera, I went there and I spent about a year working on actually documenting the actions of the activists, the opposition movement and the labor movement.

CT: You visited Egypt as an undergraduate exchange student before making the trip to start filming there. How did that experience influence you? LP: I really dove head first into all Middle East classes after Sept. 11 — it was something that drew me to understand the area and the issues more. The Egypt experience was amazing, and I have to say pretty much life changing. Of course I was young and impressionable on many levels, but it was a very enriching experience. I got to meet with lots of amazing people and have really neat debates and discussions with students from the University of Cairo. We also got shuffled around to meet all these famous characters, like Nawal El-Saadawi and even Muslim Brotherhood representatives, which was really a good cross-spectrum and a really enriching experience. I got back, and it solidified my interest in the area and the country even more. CT: The title of your film is “We Are Egypt.” Could you describe a typical protestor who you would encounter during the making of your film?

LP: The reason why the revolution was possible, I would argue, was that more than just the regular people who would normally go out and protest did go out and protest. During the year that I was there, however, it was the same old crowd that would go out, that would stick their neck out and allow themselves to be thrown in jail. Often, many of the people I hung around were young people from the middle class who had a higher level of education, and therefore access to Internet and access to global affairs, and an understanding of what they were looking for. However, you did see masses of economically challenged, working class people going out and staging sit-ins and strikes leading up to the revolution — very significant ones that I touch on in my film as well.

CT: What was the most difficult part about making the film?

LP: A

typical protest took place in police-controlled barriers — a cage pretty much — and you’ll see this in the film. The cage is lined with triple layers of riot police, which is very intimidating. And of course, past the riot police is secret security patrolling the area. So, the minute you leave the sanctioned area, someone will tap you on the shoulder and say, “You either stay, get in the cage or get out of here.” see EGYPT / page two

MICKEY RADOIU / SPPS Lillie Paquette responds to questions following the screening of her documentary Thursday evening.

2 news september 23, 2009 october 21, 2011

page B editors: claire sanderson, michelle sutherland newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

Clery: Tech says Tea: Members focus locally fines are unfair cial meeting. “I stood up and basically asked the whole group, ‘How many people here believe we are going to affect the change we want today by working within the Democrat or Republican parties?’” he said. He described the room, crowded and overflowing, as silenced by his question. Only five hands were hesitantly raised in response. Aldridge became a fundamental player in shaping how the area’s parties evolved. His presence and political history helped to firmly establish Roanoke, and subsequent southwestern Virginia parties, as groups independent of the larger system. “Not all Tea Parties are created equal,” Aldridge said. “I just have a few simple expectations, and one of them is honesty.” Aldridge’s wife Elizabeth serves as the secretary for Roanoke’s Tea Party. She said growth of Tea Parties within the region point to the its overall political influence. “I think one of our successes is getting people involved in their local government, they realize how much more of an effect they can have just past the ballot box,” she said. For the Aldridges, the emphasis is on local politics. They say it’s important for people to understand who really affects their everyday lives more — the U.S. president or their board of supervisors. — Back at the Montgomery Government Center, Jack Selcovitz, an officer, handed out newly printed shirts at the end of the meeting — red featuring a New River Valley Tea Party logo. He pulled a small Constitution booklet out of his pocket, laughing as he explained the purpose of the new shirts. “We’re going to let them know we’re around,” Selcovitz said. Here is where Aldridge and his wife’s vision of local involvement is truly at work. The NRV Tea Party focuses on issues of school board budgeting for Montgomery County, as well as urban planning and development in Blacksburg. “We stop and look at the numbers and then look again at something that appears to be awry at first blush,” Selcovitz said. “The one thing about governments is that they are great with statistics.” Selcovitz pulled out a chart of fiscal year funding for the Montgomery

from page one

DOE officials fined Tech the maximum amount for each violation and said the fines should have been higher. The appeal is technically only related to the fine and cannot change the ruling. However, it gives the university a chance to make its case and perhaps set a more defined precedent for future situations. It could also change the amount of the fine. “We look forward to making

our case showing how the university actions were consistent with DOE guidelines and the actions of many other universities when presented with similar circumstances,” said university spokesman Larry Hincker in a statement. December’s hearings, which are technically an administrative appeal, will take place in Washington D.C. If it is still unsatisfied with the result, the university could take the ruling to federal court.

Egypt: Director speaks on ﬁlming experience democratize, which did actually help influence the Arab spring in 2005.

from page one

For me it was a really interesting, scary, but also very exciting and an extremely rewarding experience being there. I never really knew whether I was in danger or not. People would tell me different stories like, “You’re going to get your camera ripped off,” or, “You’re going to get thrown in a truck, be careful”. One time, on the two-year anniversary of the April 6 movement in Tahir Square, we were filming these lines of heavily armed police, when one of the secret police guys grabbed my camera. So, we were surrounded by these officers, bitterly harassing us, trying to take my camera. A friend of mine, an American journalist, had his camera stolen that day, and was kicked in the ribs and thrown in a truck, so it was nice that we were not hurt that day.

CT: What role did the U.S. play in Egypt’s revolution? LP: If you correlate the time in which the Bush administration started putting pressure on Mubarak to democratize, it was around the same time when we had failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So, there we were — we invaded a country, we had taken down their dictator, and we did it under the auspices that we were protecting Americans against future terrorists attacks because Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. But when we didn’t find the weapons, all of a sudden the rhetoric changed. The media tone totally changed. All of a sudden we were in Iraq for freedom and democracy. So, if we were in Iraq for freedom and democracy, why were we supporting dictatorships in other countries? This is when the Bush administration began pressuring Mubarak to

CT: The uprisings in Egypt demonstrated the power of social networking as a means of political activism. What experience did you have with social media during your time in Egypt?

LP: Actually, I would like to challenge the idea of giving Facebook, Twitter and social media too much credit for this revolution. The fact is that the young people who use such social media are a very small minority, and the main missing ingredient has been this large majority of people who are still part of this old Arab tradition of word of mouth, people gathering in the streets and the normal way in which revolutions have formed for hundreds, even thousands of years.

CT: As an American college student, it is easy to feel detached and out of touch with movements like the one in Egypt. What advice could you offer students who would like to feel more connected to world affairs?

LP: I would strongly advise every college student to study abroad. I would say do not go to Europe, but sure go to Europe. Be somewhere. Your opinions will change so drastically from being in a culture and place that is not our own. It is so used to get used to how we are, to acclimate ourselves and get comfortable to being detached. It’s easy to become bitter. It’s important to find a balance between idealism and realism. Know that things will be better one day, but that you have to deal with the issues at hand. Hold on to your idealism, but make sure you are realistic and confront the facts.

showed her that people are more aware than the Tea Party thinks. “Most citizens of Blacksburg are more informed than those of many other communities, pay more attention to local government than those of many other communities, and are not fooled by one-liners like ‘the U.N. is trying to take over our communities,’” Anderson wrote in an email. “We are fortunate to have constituents who pay attention.” Tea Partiers like Aldridge and Selcovitz are certainly constituents who pay attention. Members of the NRV Tea Party attend school board and board of supervisor meetings, and urge other people to do the same. “We just like to keep an eye on them and let them know we’re there,” Selcovitz said. And Aldridge said the Tea Party plays a vital role in disseminating this information. “We’ve done a pretty good job over the last eight months of alerting people to the issues involved there, and when they find them out, they don’t like it,” Aldridge said of Agenda 21 and ICLEI specifically. “And they wouldn’t have known if the Tea Party hadn’t discovered it. So in that sense we’ve already made a giant dent.” Aldridge also said the Tea Party provides an important venue for college students when it comes to discovering such information. “A lot of people in college are really are looking to learn and discover things,” he said. “In a college setting (we can) encourage people who may be on the fence to go research for themselves and discover real knowledge.” Pucci agrees that it’s important for students to learn about various viewpoints but is unsure about the Tea Party’s student appeal. “A lot of (students) are paying for their own education and taking out student loans, and those issues are related to government spending and fiscal policy,” Pucci said. “I don’t think though that college students, unless they have a well paying job, really understand the full value of the issues the Tea Party is dealing with.” But Aldridge said if the Tea Party can simply encourage students to start forming their own opinions, then maybe students can avoid the political spectrum that eventually pushed him away from politics. Instead, he would like to see young people go straight to being involved in something that’s “honest and may be able to have an effect.”

Pi Alpha Xi to hold annual bulb sale KELSEY JO STARR news staff writer Pi Alpha Xi, the horticulture honor society at Virginia Tech, will be selling Hokie-themed tulips for its Homecoming Bulb Sales on Saturday.

crime blotter

Pi Alpha Xi will offer Hokie Tulips, also known as “Princess Irenes,” are mid-summer blooming tulips with maroon, plum and orange mixed- colored flowers. Hokie Tulips are $14.95 for 25 bulbs. The flowers will be

sold Saturday from 9 a.m. until the start of the Homecoming football game against Boston College on Saturday in the Hahn Horticulture Garden, which is located on Washington Street. The cutoff date for online pre-

orders ended Wednesday, but in-person orders can be made in front of the garden and greenhouse. The proceeds from the bulbs will support Pi Alpha Xi service projects and scholarships.

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V I O L A T I O N - A F F I D A V I T

date reported

time

offense

location

status

10/19/2011

11:57 p.m.

Underage Possession of Alcohol x2

Campbell Hall East

Cleared by Arrest

10/19/2011

11:57 p.m.

Underage Possession of Alcohol x3

Campbell Hall East

Inactive: Referred to Student Conduct

arrestees

N/A

13216540656465514

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Greg Aldridge, his wife and their two kids shop at Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op. They have a garden, collect rainwater, and are currently building their own windmill design to power their house and get off the grid. A family man and an environmental enthusiast, Aldridge is a board member and officer of the Roanoke Tea Party, as well as a founder of other area tea parties. Such “green party” actions aren’t normally associated with Tea Party activists, however Aldridge sees his party’s defining characteristics, and his own, as a separate entity. The issue is not about green living, but who is — or isn’t — enforcing it. “We’re not going to the government and asking them to give us money to do this or asking (them) to make somebody else do it against their will,” Aldridge said. “We’re doing these things because they’re the right thing to do, and we’re doing them the right way on our own as individuals.” After initially being a Democrat in college, Aldridge worked his way through the entire political spectrum. After helping with campaigns and following politics closely for years, he said he was discouraged and angry, disappointed by countless inconsistencies between rhetoric and action. For him, it was futile effort. Aldridge seems to fit the profile of many Tea Party members in the area — many felt jaded by their previous involvement with politics or simply never chose to get involved until now. Aldridge hadn’t been involved with politics for a whole decade when his wife convinced him to go to a Tea Party gathering — Tax Day of 2009. “I was very skeptical. In fact, I didn’t really want to go,” Aldridge said. “I was better off devoting time to family and friends.” With only his previous political experiences to go by, Aldridge was surprised by what he saw at that first Tea Party rally, people like him who he said were honest and genuinely cared. But he wasn’t convinced yet. “It gave me a glimmer of hope that this would be enough people that we could do something,” he said. “I couldn’t find anything wrong with them. With most things in politics it’s easy to find chinks in the armor or the sordid dirty underbelly, but with these people, they were actually the same kind of people as me.” Aldridge remembered his first offi-

County school board and explains his group’s fears, while pointing to the allotment of money for teachers. “We’ve found that 62 percent of the entire county budget goes to the school board. The board of supervisors (then) has zero control of that money,” he said. After the collapse of Blacksburg High School a year and a half ago, Selcovitz wanted Tech to donate money to help repair and rebuild. He said he approached Joseph Ivers Jr., the vice chair of the Montgomery County school board. “I said, ‘You’ve got all your cronies up at the university, can’t you ask them for money?’” Selcovitz said. “Steger didn’t reach into his pocket.” Selcovitz would like to see less funding directed at teachers’ pay, benefits and bonuses and more directed toward repair of buildings and school buses. The group is supporting a member who’s running for the school board, Barbara Skinner. Skinner is a Montgomery resident who worked for 10 years in agricultural research and has homeschooled her children. In a candidate’s forum last month she cited academic excellence, fiscal responsibility and accountability to parents and taxpayers as paramount. The group is also active in issues relating to urban planning in Blacksburg. It takes special interest in Blacksburg’s membership on the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives. ICLEI is a worldwide association of local governments committed to sustainable development. According to its website, the council works under the belief that “locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national and global sustainability objectives.” The Tea Party objects on the grounds that such objectives are coming from Agenda 21, a United Nations objective regarding global sustainability initiatives. The Tea Party’s website characterizes the mission of Agenda 21 as “redistribut(ing) wealth to Third World countries and bring(ing) our great nation to its knees in the name of socialism, fascism, communism or some other ‘ism.’” An August public hearing with the Blacksburg Town Council dealt with a resolution on urban development areas. Susan Anderson, the vice mayor of Blacksburg, remembers it well. She said Blacksburg residents’ involvement and mixed opinions on the resolution

opınıons 3

editors: scott masselli, sean simons opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

october 21, 2011

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Your Views [letter to the editor]

FLAME gives false impression

was shocked by the advertisement (which resembled an article in terms of design) titled “Muslim Arab AntiSemitism,” in a recent issue of the Collegiate Times. It was clearly a hate speech and clearly wrong. For example, the advertisement stated, “Anti-Semitisim is integral to Muslim culture.” In fact, that is the same kind of inflammatory speech that inspired the likes of Anders Behring Breivik, the man who killed dozens of people in Norway recently. The Qur’an, the literal word of God as seen by Muslims, states quite clearly, “Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.” -2:62, 5:69 This theme is found throughout the Qur’an. Monotheists are considered People Of The Book, each group having made a covenant with God. They are to be respected.The Islamophobic advertisement continues by equating anti-Semitism with criticizing the state of Israel. Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has violated 28 resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (which are legally binding on membernations), and almost 100 resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly (which are not binding, but represent the will and understanding of the international community). To quote Steve Rendall of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, “The idea that being opposed to Zionism

US education system falling T

— the movement for a Jewish state — is inherently anti-Jewish is a dubious one. From its inception in the 1890s, many leading Jewish thinkers have opposed Zionism on the modernist grounds that secular states are preferable to religious ones, integration is preferable to separatism, and displacing one people to create a homeland for another is unjust.” Yes, I can both love my Jewish neighbors and also hate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Lands through illegal settlement blocks and separation walls. I am an American-born Muslim and a Blacksburg resident. As a Muslim, I believe in the One God, the God who taught humankind through many prophets and messengers upon whom we are accustomed to invoking God’s blessings — beginning with Adam, continuing with Noah, Abraham, the God of Ishmael and Isaac, the God of Aaron and Moses, the God of Jesus and his mother Mary, who Muslims believe to be the best of women, the God of John the baptist, and the God of Muhammad. To clear up all the falsehoods found in that advertisement, I’d like to welcome any and all community members to visit the Virginia Tech Muslim Students Association, or my house. I am also available to give an “Islam 101” presentation free of charge — part of my civic duty — to any organization. I encourage you to meet and befriend your Muslim neighbors, and to discover our common values. For information, please contact the Muslim Student Association and ask for me.

Javed Memon Blacksburg resident

he American education system is broken, whether we like it or not. For me, sitting in statics class with instructor Roger Chang made this all too evident. Comparing our education system with that of China, a country that dominated the U.S. in every category measured by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, he simply claimed that if he threw American students into the Chinese education system, they would drown, which — dishearteningly — I believe. Although the solutions to our educational problems may be difficult to find, the statistics that show that the problems are not. In five out of the eight criteria measured by the OECD, including math, science and multiple reading scales, American students were determined to be average. Furthermore, the U.S. was below average in math, a truly horrifying statistic. When students in the world’s largest economy test worse than students in 30 other countries, something is wrong. A decade ago, the U.S. had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world — we are now ninth and slipping. Furthermore, the World Economic Forum reports that the U.S. is ranked a shocking 51st in the world in science and math education. Is it any wonder, then, that the death of Steve Jobs has the country worried that the search for the next great inventor may lead us to China? Statistics showing our lack of competitive education could continue indefinitely, but it’s not all bad news for America. Although our students struggle to compete with their foreign peers, the top minds in the world still disproportionately come from the U.S. Just this year, the U.S. produced seven Nobel Prize winners, to go along with four more from last year. But is this simply

a product of our former education system? Possibly, but if it is, we can take solace in the fact that the majority of these great minds are educating the next generation of Nobel Prize recipients in our college classrooms. Nevertheless, a supremely intelligent percentile does not make a competitive country. If we are to compete abroad, as we did throughout the 20th century, then something has to give. The mixed results from George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and the controversies surrounding Obama’s Race to the Top show that although we are attempting to improve our system, it’s not being done so effectively. If there are so many effective educational systems abroad, it seems irresponsible to not look to them for ideas. The fact that 50 countries currently have better education systems than the U.S. should be a wakeup call that something must be done. At the high school level, more emphasis should be placed on advanced level classes. I personally attended high school at an international school in Scotland, where the International Baccalaureate program was essentially forced upon my peers and me. Out of a class of just more than 30 people, 100 percent graduated and 100 percent are now in college. Undeniably, the rigors of that program prepared me for what I would face at Virginia Tech. While I respect the Advanced Placement program and its innumerable benefits, the IB more closely replicates the total academic immersion that can be found throughout countries like China and India, something that we need more of here in the U.S. There are few things that bother me more than when I hear a physical sciences major claim they don’t know how to write “because they’re an engineer.” It’s frustrating because I believe that communication, the most fundamental skill we have,

should have been emphasized in high school. Although the IB, and programs like it, has flaws, it did force students, whether they wanted to become engineers or economists, to become immersed in subjects they would have otherwise avoided. If programs like the IB, le bac (France), and the British A-Levels are successful at putting students into top universities, why not utilize a similar system for students here? The aspect that I believe sets these programs apart from traditional high school curriculum is that they are immersive. After two years of course work in IB, we took 18 total exams for our classes. All of our classes overlapped with another. Students who may have struggled academically prior to the IB were thrown into a rigorous program and had no choice but to learn and grow, thus helping them gain entry into schools that may have otherwise eluded them. As Chang said, if he put our high school students into an Asian education system, we’d all sink. He’s not the first one to voice such an opinion. But how long will it take before Arne Duncan and the Department of Education heed the warning signs? Simply throwing money at successful schools and teachers is not the answer. A revamping of our education system may be the only way to solve this issue. Everybody reading this has succeeded in their education. Now it’s time to make sure the next generation can compete in an increasingly interconnected world. As Thomas Friedman wrote in his book, “The World is Flat,” businesses have “access to cheap genius anywhere in the world.” If we’re to ensure the stability of our own lives and that of the U.S., we must bring genius back home and that starts with our schools.

JORDAN PLAHN -regular columnist -sophomore -general engineering major

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october 21, 2011

WORDSEARCH: 2011 Movies Locate the list of words in the word bank in the letter grid.

Regular Edition Today’s Birthday Horoscope: Practice makes perfect, and the spotlight is on. Keep up the action, and consider accepting new responsibilities. You can handle them. Stay focused on the job at hand to see past confusion or chaos. Listen to your coach.

[THATS YOU]

OCTOBER 28, 2011 // 10AM-7PM

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Spell the phrase in the grid above it writing each unique letter only once. The correct solution will spell the complete phrase along a single continuos spelling path that moves horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Fill the grid from square to square - revisiting letters as need to complete the spelling path in order. Each letter will only appear once in the grid.

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ACROSS 1 Shire of “Rocky” 6 Mortgage insurance org. 9 “__, poor Yorick!”: Hamlet 13 Giving the ol d heave-ho 14 Flippered mammal 15 Tibetan spiritual master 16 Near miss 18 And others, in footnotes 19 Casino game 20 Make smooth, as a transition 21 Glacial ridge

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www.collegiatetimes.com DOW N 1 Notice holder 2 Bridge toll uni t 3 King of the jungle 4 To such an extent 5 Go gray , maybe 6 Lavish dinner 7 Succeed in every way 8 Brown or pale quaff 9 With vigilance 10 “See ya __” 11 Valuable violin 12 Oregon’ s capita l 14 Persian king 17 Lily that ’s Utah’ s state flower 21 In the past 23 George Harrison’ s “__ It a Pity” 24 “Me? Never! ” 25 Storm centers 26 __ of faith 27 Cut the peel from 30 Underar m product 31 “His Master ’s Voice” co .

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33 Field measure 34 Pitching successes 35 Democratic donkey designer 38 “__ makes you happy ...” 39 B olivia neighbor 42 Nativity scenes 45 Craftsperson 47 Take steps 48 Teen facial woe 49 Fender dings 50 The Snake flows along much of its border with Oregon 51 (Has) ascended 52 It’s not an all-new episode 53 Sis and br o 57 Knee-to-ankle bone 58 Zero, at Wimbledon 59 Acme 61 Logan Airport city: Abbr. 62 Messenger molecule Thursday’s Puzzle Solved

63 You, to Quakers 64 Load to bear 65 Worldly-unwise 66 Turgenev’ s “Fathers and __” 67 RR stop 68 Building wing

10/20/11

Cosby: Comedian cracks jokes about marriage from page one

He hunkered down on a chair and immediately began griping about the unpleasant weather. Welcome to Blacksburg. Very quickly he changed his tune and embraced his inner Hokie. Tech’s fight song played for a few seconds before he cut it off and yelled, “Let’s go!” The crowd emphatically responded with “Hokies,” and he instantly won over anyone still questioning why they shelled out $20 to see this guy. His set had a sluggish start, though it certainly wasn’t his fault. For whatever reason, Burruss was slow to fill up. Audience members kept trickling in for the first 30 minutes of the performance. Some frantically grabbed their cell phones in a desperate search to find their correct seats. The result was several unhappy patrons, including one man who very audibly exclaimed,

“screw this,” while struggling to find his way. While the first quarter of Cosby’s set was ultimately a lost cause for many, Cosby easily reeled them back in when he began discussing God and the creation of animals. He explained that several animals in particular must have angered God to incur the wrath. “I don’t what the baboon did,” Cosby said. “But God said to him, ‘A certain part of you will be inflamed’ … and the penguin … ‘you will not have any knees.’” Cosby continued on with several other fictional tales from the Bible before finally attempting to offer some substantiation for his claims. “I don’t know where these pages (from the Bible) are,” Cosby said. “I suspect they’re somewhere in Utah.” From religion, Cosby moved on to the topic of marriage. As he’s been

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married for 47 years, he certainly proved he has a lot to say about the institution. Before he launched into his spiel though, he asked for a little audience involvement, as he did several times during the show. He began the discussion by saying, “Chess is a game of,” then paused and waited for the audience to fill in the blank. Most responded with “war,” but the answer he was looking for was “marriage.” His reasoning was told in typical Cosby fashion, delivered slowly and deliberately for proper effect. “Chess is about marriage — look at the queen, moving wherever she wants,” Cosby said. “The king — the man — trails behind her (moving) one space at a time.” The subservience of a husband to his wife was indeed a common theme throughout the evening. According to

Cosby, the last real decision a man gets to make for himself is on his wedding day. “A man gets to choose six to eight groomsmen because it’s the last time he’ll ever see them,” Cosby said. “Except maybe as pallbearers.” Cosby leapt from marriage to his childhood, then later parenting his own kids. Throughout the nearly two-hour performance, Cosby kept the crowd in near constant laughter. At the end of the show, he simply raised a hand to indicate he was done, and Burruss burst into applause and gave him a well-earned standing ovation. As a man in his ’70s, Cosby may be moving a bit slower, but he proved he’s still got plenty of funny left in him.

MARK UMANSKY / SPPS

Bill Cosby visits Burruss Hall to provide students with wisdom, jokes.

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Top tracks

( ) Last week’s ranking in top five

Sexy and I Know It • LMFAO

(3) 1

Someone Like You • Adele

(1) 2

We Found Love • Rihanna

(5) 3

Pumped Up Kicks • Foster the People

(2) 4

Moves Like Jagger • Maroon 5

(4) 5

sports 5

editors: matt jones, zach mariner sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

october 21, 2011

Repairing basketball image simple for ACC: Just win

MCT CAMPUS

Dukes men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski is leading the Blue Devils into the 2011-12 season. The team, which gives itself high expectations, is ranked No. 2 in the preseason ACC media predictions.

ment regional semifinals last season and are one of two programs — Duke is the other — to win at least 10 ACC games each of the last three years. But the average fan is unaware. “We’re working on that,” Seminoles forward Bernard James said, “just changing the public’s perception of Florida State basketball.” Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton is working on changing his own players’ perceptions. Last season he told them they were capable of making the Final Four, of winning the national championship. But Hamilton said he “could smell” their skepticism. Not anymore. “We believe we can make a run to the final weekend,” guard Michael Snaer said. “There’s no doubt about it.” At Duke and North Carolina, players always believe. “We feel the expectations, because we have those expectations ourselves,” Duke forward Ryan Kelly said. Brownell called Florida State “a great model” for teams looking to crack the Carolina-Duke conclave. But that model requires stability. Leonard Hamilton is entering his 10th season as the Seminoles’ coach. Brownell and seven of his ACC colleagues, including Virginia’s Tony Bennett, have been on the job three years or less.

DAVID TEEL mcclatchy newspapers CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With four national championships in the last 11 seasons, two Hall of Fame coaches, unrivaled heritage and beaucoup future pros, North Carolina and Duke bigfoot ACC basketball. “People are always going to talk about Duke and North Carolina, as they should,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said Wednesday at the conference’s preseason media gathering. But is the Blue Devils’ and Tar Heels’ excellence, and their media omnipresence, a problem for the league’s overall image? Can the ACC’s decline in NCAA tournament bids be traced to the Duke-Carolina domination? “You put Duke and North Carolina in any conference, would they be a cut above? Without a doubt,” Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. That’s not likely to change any time soon. Roy Williams’ Tar Heels start four future NBA first-rounders and are the consensus preseason No. 1. Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils are consensus top-10. Meanwhile, their ACC rivals gasp for media air. Consider Florida State. The Seminoles reached the NCAA tourna-

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“I think there’s a lot of programs that are getting their feet under them,” Brownell said. “The ACC’s been the best league forever,” said first-year Miami coach Jim Larranaga, a former Virginia assistant. “I believe the depth of the league is going to get back to where it was.” Larranaga went to Miami from George Mason, which he guided to the 2006 Final Four and challenged to play ambitious non-conference schedules. ACC programs need to follow suit. Yes, ACC competition is draining and precludes a steady diet of earlyseason games against Big East and Big Ten opponents. But the harsh truth

is, ACC programs have gone soft on scheduling, tainting the league in the NCAA tournament selection committee’s eyes. Collegerpi.com last season rated the ACC’s collective non-conference schedule 26th among 31 leagues. “Our non-conference schedules haven’t been where they need to be,” said Karl Hicks, the ACC’s associate commissioner for basketball. Moreover, if the ACC wants to polish its reputation, stop losing to Yale (Boston College), Kennesaw State (Georgia Tech) and Presbyterian (Wake Forest).

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[THATS YOU]

OCTOBER 28, 2011 // 10AM-7PM

“In the last 10 years, it’s been more us and North Carolina,” Krzyzewski said. “it just kind of happens. Those two programs have stood the test of time. We can add value to everybody.” “They also help us a lot,”Brownell said.”Believe me, we tell recruits, ‘You want to play against Duke and North Carolina.’ “ The Blue Devils and Tar Heels lose their share of ACC games — Carolina was a head-scratching 5-11 in 2010 — but have been the league’s lone beacons in the NCAA tournament. Florida State last season was the ACC’s first Sweet 16 team other than Duke or North Carolina since Boston College

in 2006. “I just look at it and remember it,” Virginia forward Mike Scott said of the Duke-UNC chatter. “I look at it as motivation, positive not negative. I don’t get angry about it or anything. … Those two teams have always been great. You definitely want to (measure) yourself against those two.” “We’ve proven we can beat these guys” Virginia Tech guard Erick Green said. “So if we come to play every night, we can finish in the top two. … Yeah, it does get kind of annoying, the UNC-Duke thing.” Charlie Sheen knows the solution. Winning.

6 people & clubs he september 23, 2009 october 21, 2011

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K, just keep looking forMayb Ma y e they they won’t won ont ward. Maybe on’tt m on akee ey ak eyee co onbother me if I d don’t make cond I ggo o wi w th the he stare sta t re tact. Or, should with pro roac ach? h? Oh, Oh, I got ot it. it. at my feet approach? head he dph phon ones e on on and and I will put my headphones an’tt hear hear them. them em..” These The hese se pretend like I can’t u have have probably p ob pr obab ably ly been been are all things you weeek as as you you cross cro cr oss the thinking this week he massive mass ma ssiv ivee amount a ount of am Drillfield with the campaigning. oodeed by tables, free Paths are flooded cin ing, g, a Lane Lan ne Stadium flyers, girls dancing, nd a roc ock wall — tunnel replica and rock Owen ns Fo Food o Court the trek from Ow Owens all ha al hass become beco be come m a to McBryde H Hall hard rder e tthan han a jo journeyy daunting task harder en tundra, tu und n ra ra, otherwise othe herw rwis ie across the frozen rillfiel e d,, in the t e winter th e known as the Dri Drillfield, season. rsp spec ective ve o ome meon ne From the perspective off so someone any campaign, cam ampa paig ign, this who is not tied to any h most mos ostt annoying an week is one off the r. times of the year. constant ntly whorAcquaintancess constantly ing themselves out for votes may friendship, as test the bonds of your friendship, assive am mount of flywell as the massive amount an ndy thatt flood your ers and free candy pockets. ou give giv ivee yourself yo As a result, you a few tak akee the th long way extra minutes to take d th the circus that is the to class to avoid Drillfield. o helpingg I’ve had the pleasure of gn the hee last lasst two tw wo years, y ars, ye s, friends campaign ver ered h ow dif ffe fere rent nt so I’ve discovered how different ming experience exp x erieenc n e can cn ca the Homecoming be. thou th ough ghtt during duri du ring ng my my I can’t say I thought that at I would wou ould ld actually act ctua uallllyy freshman year th anno noyi ying n p ng eopl eo plee ye yell ll-be one of those an annoying people yellthe heyy crossed cros cr osse sed d th he ing at students as they the Drillfield. was — dr driv iv-But there I was drivhe D r llllfi ri fiel eld d ye yell ll-ing around tthe Drillfield yellack ac k off a truck k and and ing from the b back hov ovin ng fl flye yers rs in incessantly shoving flyers ds, despite ds despit de ite their thei th eiir people’s hands, take ke very apparent desiree to not ta one. shi hirt rt ffor or ttwo wo So I wore thee same shirt don’ n’tt fret, fret fr et,, it was was weeks straight. But don’t reze shower er couldn’t cou ould ldn’ ntt nothing a Febreze fix. n few w games gamees I’ve There have been han been more excited about th than Homecoming. Anticipation builds rter turns into a secas the first quarter ond, and the Hokies' lead stretchts. Halftime es to doublee digit digits. hits, and thee court takes the field. lt off th Waiting to hear th the results the

B editors: chelsea gunter, patrickpage murphy featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

SAID

She said: Homecoming week is best time of year C

n is Homecoming King and Queen one of the one the only onl nlyy times time ti mes yo yyou u will ever eveer hear he ar m sile lent nt iin n La L nee SStadium. tadi d um m. Al mee si silent Lane Allll that th at w o k and loss o or humi m lity ccome omee om work off hu humility down do n to one minute. E Ei th her immense joy oy or or sadness sadn sa dness fo foll Either lows lo ws tthe he results — jjoy oy b ecau ec ause au se allll that tha hat because work has paid off or sadnesss b ecau ec ause see because you feel like it has all been a waste. wast wa ste. e. Whatever the outcome, you u st sstill illl have another great half of a ffootoo otball game to enjoy, along with th ttwo wo o candidates who now represent your school. I’ve been asked many times tim imes es what exactly the H o ec om e om omin ingg Homecoming K Ki ng and d Q ueen ue en do. do. Why Why is it sso o King Queen important?? They represent represen nt Virginia Virg Vi rgin inia Tech and are ideally students who portray the characteri ist s ics of a good characteristics Ho okie. Hokie. Many Ma ny peopleesay n eentiren irent say itis it iss an ly Greek eevent, vent nt,, bu but thatt ssimply implly im isn’t true e. You ca can n be b sponspo onn true. sored by any organization org rgan aniz izat atio ion n on campus. As a matte terr of fact, fac act,t, this thi hiss matter very newsp pap aper er ssponsors pons po nsor orss newspaper one candidat atee th this is yyear. eaar. candidate Last year’s Qu Quee een, n, eeven ven ve n Queen, though she he w ass iin n a was sorority, wass sponsored spon sp onso sore red d by a religious rellig igio ious us organizaorg rgan aniz izaation n. tion. Don’ Do ntt let let th thee fa ffact ctt tthat hatt ha Don’t you yo u are are not not in a fraternity fra rate tern rnit ity o sorority or sor o or o it ityy keep keep you you from fro rom m enjoying a we in week ek ffilled ille il led d with h Hokie prid pr ide. e. pride. It is is ea easy sy to ge gett frustrated frus fr ustrated by the the endless end ndle less ss campaigncam ampa p igningg going in g in go ingg on and and lose los o e focus focu us of w hatt Ho ha Home meco comi ming ng iss all all what Homecoming abou ab out.t. Believe Bel elie ieve ve it it or n ot,, th ot thee about. not, most mo st iimportant mpor mp orta tant nt tthing hing hi ng o off thee week th week iiss no nott th he na name mess the names call ca lled ed out out at halftime half ha lfti time me on on called Satu Sa turd rday ay.. Saturday. As ccorny orny or ny as as it ssounds, ound ou nds, s Home Ho m comi ming ng is is about abou ab out celHomecoming ebrating eb n H okie ok ie Spirit, Spiiri r t, participating partiicipating Hokie in ttradition, radiiti t on o , we w lcoming back alumwelcoming ni in to own, and most importantly, imp portantly, town, wait wa itin ingg in the extremely long line ne at waiting TOTs TO Ts. TOTs.

COLLEGIATETIMES

an’t. Stop. Buyrnie-ing. Voting is over, so I am pretty sure I am allowed to explain how much dancing the Buyrnie these last two weeks has been not only invigorating, but also one of the best times of my life. I’m the kind of person that is goin going to walk up to a complete stranger and show them the social empo empowerm em powe werrment me that the Buyrnie reprep epempowerment rese re sents. Aroun ound midnight on Monday, resents. Around football fo tball players pla saw my roommate and me in Wal-Mart and said, “Oh she’s got a Buyrnie shirt on — show me how you Buyrnie.” You better believe we both busted out right then and there in the middle of Wally World. Other than spring spr prin ingg break, brea br eak, Homecoming Hom mec ecom oming h ha gott to b onee of the the most mos ost fun hass go bee on week we ekss sp spen entt wi with th friends frien ends ds just jus u t letweeks spent ting ti ng lloose. o se oo se. Home Ho meco comi ming ng at at Virginia Virg Vi rgin inia Tech Homecoming i sso is o mu much ch m oree ex or exci citi tin ng than in more exciting high school. sch choo ool.l. At At my high hig igh school, d to choose cho hoos osee our ou court byy we used letting the footba ballll team team decide de football the girl ls and the vo olgirls volleyball team decide deccid idee the guys. Thiss ssysys-ys tem was not in tthe he leas le astt bit fair, I kn know ow,, least know, butt I was a volleyba bu all volleyball play pl ayer er,, so oIw asn’t complaining. g. player, wasn’t Most Mo st of of the the vvolleyball olleyball girls would ld end en d up oon n the court and vice versa — oo oops ps.. oops. Here He re at at Tech, the court is so prestigiou gi us.. I’m talking nominations, an gious. inte in terview process, no sleep and lots interview of smiling. I mean where else are you going to see a flash mob, a rock wall and hundreds of people in matching shirts other than maybe Disney World? I’m not sure if it is because I personally know a lot of people on tthee court this year or what — it th seem se ems so much more intense than seems e er before. ev before. People pulled out the bells ever an nd whistles, but in the end, it’s all and aabout ab o t Tech tradition and bringing ou peop pe ople together. One of my favorite people trad tr a itions I got to be a part of this year traditions consisted of touching the game ball a the Cadets ran by. Knowing that as Logan Thomas is going to be throwiingg bullets this Saturday with that ball in is a pretty amazing feeling. Touching thee sa th ame m ball kind of makes us friends same then th en, right? I’ll take it. en then, The events that are put on throughout the week have given the entire campus a chance to get involved. Between

DANE DANE HARRINGTON HARR HA RRIN I GTON IN -featured -fea eatu turred co ccolumnist luumn mnisistt -j-juniorr -i-industrial ind n us ustrtria iall & sy syst systems stem emss engineering engi en gine neer erin ingg ma majo major jorr

comedians who are borderline inappropriate, concerts, supporting Tech athletics and campaigning, it truly isn’t just for the organizations that sponsor candidates — I love that. Freshman year, I went to the hypnotist, as well as the concert, and I was completely mesmerized. I didn't know those who were hypnotized, but I found myself slightly peeing my pants nonetheless. The parade always al precedes the big ggame, ga me, and all of Blacksburg comes out to watch. I just about melted last year when I was able to hand out candy to the young child children that came. Yes, the parade is earlier in the day than I wake up all week and may take an hour or so out of your tailg tailgating schedule, but it’s definitely worth it. The entire town will be on Main Stre Street watching. If I wasn’t already walking in the parade, I would still be curbside. After walkin walking from South Main Street to Torge Torgersen Bridge, everyone scatters to go tai tailgate, which leads up to my ffavorite a orite part of the week — watchav in ng the th he boys dominate do ing in Lane. I hope that th at tthe h amoun he amount of campaigning is a good go od p ortrayal of o how rowdy it will be portrayal on SSaturday. aturday. If this at t week has been any indi in d cati t on, the ggame will be huge from indication, alll of al o the built anticipation. Hokies youn yo ung and old d have been showing a young sort so rt of anxietyy for f the game, and once "Enter Sandm "E man a is played, prepare to Sandman" unleash hell. In high sc sch ho the Homecoming school, Dance us used ed to to be the highlight of the week, bu butt I ha have been dancing my boot bo otyy of offf al all week w booty for the campaign I’Im m su supp porti t ng — who needs a fancy ti I’m supporting d dr esss? C o le ol l giiate Homecoming has put dress? Collegiate sham sh amee to w hatt I thought was a magical ha shame what week we ek iin n high high school. sc It has shown me that th at b igge ig gerr an and better things await me bigger in eac ch chapter chap ch apteer of my life. At last year’s each game, I got to sit in the stands with my entire sorority sorori cheering our candidate on. Regard Regardless of the results, we had a blast shak shaking our money makers together and ru running alongside bikers to give them a fflyer. Homecoming can get so political and a snide, but together we have remain remained genuine and excited to be a part of such su a beautiful tradition.

KELLEY ENGLISH -featured columnist -junior -marketing & managment major

STEPHANIE LACASSE / COLLEGIATE TIMES

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