where to go... what to do... Friday, February 8, 2013
Valentine’sDay
see page 8
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 www.collegiatetimes.com
COLLEGIATETIMES 109th year, issue 1 News, page 2 People & Clubs, page 5 Opinions, page 3 Sports, page 6 Study Break, page 4 Valentine’s Day, page 8
Tech battles Terps hoping to end skid
CLE course to undergo reform LESLIE MCCREA news staff writer
TREVOR WHITE / SPPS
Erick Green leads the Hokies in an attempt to end a four-game losing streak. Check online at www.collegiatetimes.com for full coverage.
The Undergraduate Committee for the Curriculum of Liberal Education (UCCLE) is currently discussing ways to improve the system. “People have been talking about what they don’t like about the CLE for years. We are just now getting to the drafting stage, so that we can have something to show staff and students for feedback,” said Dan Thorp, Director of Curriculum for Liberal Education. For the past 25 years, Virginia Tech has been operating under the Curriculum for Liberal Education (CLE) with only small changes made along the way, frustrating some students. Due to CLE requirements, Brandon Weidemann, a sophomore finance major, barely took classes in his major during his freshman year. “I don’t see the point (in CLE’s). I think college years could be eliminated two to three years if used in your major,” said Weidemann, “If I know I want finance, let me jump in.” The CLE system has always been a distributive model, or what Jill Sible, Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education, likes to call a “cafeteria model.” Students have broad area requirements with endless classes to choose from whether it relates to their major or not. “I think in a broader sense, it’s the fact that the CLE courses often don’t have relevance for students,” Sible said. In order to improve the CLE, the hope is to begin integrating general education courses with specific majors across campus. “There seems to be this notion that general education is something you kind
of have to hold your nose and just get it over with,” Thorp said. “We think it’s a mistake to encourage students to believe that knowledge is compartmentalized.” This idea has been in the works for about two years, and could take a few years to take effect. After this current draft is complete, the ideas will be released to the public for a response period this spring. “In the past, there was faculty and students grumbling about the CLE, but there was nobody in the higher administration that really seemed to think it was a high priority,” Thorp said. “Now, people that are responsible for undergraduate education really want this to happen, so we hit the ground running.” With all of these improvements in mind, the UCCLE plans to keep the CLE requirement between 33 and 36 hours, as is required for accreditation. “We want to change the nature of the CLE experience, rather than the duration,” explained Thorp. Thorp and Sible agree that the reason for making these changes is based around the improvement and expansion of each student’s career at Tech, but they also hope that this will challenge teachers to think differently about what happens in the classroom. “The idea is that a student should be well rounded, so we want to take the opportunity when you come to a university to learn deeply and broadly,” Sible said. “We want to give students the opportunity to be the authors of their own education, and to make meaning across the different courses and have a more integrated and engaged experience.” Follow the writer on Twitter: @lesliemccrea
Israeli builds community relations German Club to JESSICA GROVES features staff writer
Ivan Goncharenko says Americans think two things when they think of Israel: Judaism and conflict. He also says they couldn’t be more wrong. The Jewish Agency Israel Fellow to Hillel at Virginia Tech isn’t here to ask for America’s help at all; he wants to help us. “Israel is really about technol-
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The mission is to be social and to build a connection to every department (at Tech).” Ivan Goncharenko Jewish Agency Israel Fellow to Hillel at Virginia Tech
ogy,” Goncharenko said. “We’re creating thousands of jobs for Americans. We’re building American plans with Israeli thoughts, and that’s where the Friends of Israel club comes from.” He doesn’t want Friends of Israel to be thought of as a religious group though. To Goncharenko,
the club’s mission is in its name. “The mission is to be social and to build a connection to every department (at Tech),” Goncharenko said. “It’s not about helping Israel. It’s saying, ‘I have a connection to Israel that can help me.’” Israel has already given Goncharenko beneficial connections. In Israel, young adults serve in the military before going on to universities. Goncharenko served in the Israel Defense Forces for three years in the K-9 unit, where he bonded with a Belgian Sheperd Malinois. “She was the best girlfriend I ever had,” Goncharenko said jokingly. He also crafted a strong bond with his company in the military. Goncharenko’s experience as a commander in the IDF has inspired him to work with the Corps of Cadets at Tech. Even though he meets with non-Corps students in organizations at Tech, he feels a special bond with the students in the Corps. Goncharenko is redefining their idea of the IDF by bringing speakers to the cadets. “We’re bringing an American author who served in the Israeli army and who compares between American business
host annual dance ANDREW KULAK news reporter
BEN WEIDLICH / SPPS
Goncharenko and Andrew Lindsay discuss Krav Maga, a defense system. companies and the Israeli army,” Goncharenko said. “In Israel, everyone has to go to the army, but they go to schools and hospitals and help. It’s volunteering.” The cadets are just one of many groups Goncharenko and Israel are reaching out to. Speakers come from places such as Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, and CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. “We have The David Project
too, which gives grants to students to just meet and grab coffee and talk,” Goncharenko said. “I think when I meet people and I’m funny and Israeli, it helps people understand that Israel is absolutely normal.” Like other Israeli students, Goncharenko came to Tech after his time in the military, where he studied Islam and international relations. He plans to use his skills as a leader to unite Tech and his country. see ISRAEL/ page five
The G.E.R.M.A.N. Club at Virginia Tech will host their 120th annual Midwinters dance in Squires Student Center at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9. “Th is event is for the university,” said Andrew Sunderman, a junior agricultural economics major and German Club Fellowship Chairman. “We love to provide entertainment for people, that’s why we put it on.” Sunderman encouraged students to bring a date or come with a group of friends to meet new people. The event will feature live music by the band Trademark, playing a mix of contemporary hits and favorite classics. This year’s theme is “An Evening in London.” Members of the club have been busy transforming the Commonwealth Ballroom into England’s vibrant capital city.
Months of planning and weeks of preparations have gone into orchestrating the event and crafting decorations. Semi-formal dress is suggested, and Sunderman encouraged attendees to incorporate the British motif into their evening attire. The German Club — which traces its roots to the Cadet Dancing Club
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Our motto is leadership through fellowship. Virginia Tech is our philanthropy.” Andrew Sunderman German Club Fellowship Chairman
— was founded in 1892 when Tech was not a coeducational institution and Corps training was compulsory. The club organized dances where cadets could meet and socialize see DANCE/ page two