THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Tuesday September 22, 2015
Volume 128, Issue 25
www.THEDAONLINE.com
WVU invites those seeking recovery to D.C. by paige czyzewski staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Editor’s Note: The subject of this story, who we refer to as Rob, asked us not to use his full name because of the negative social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Wrapping his car around a tree wasn’t enough to make Rob stop drinking the night he tried to kill himself.
“If I weren’t an alcoholic, I could have stopped. But I got a good lawyer, I pushed the court date for nine months and I drank the whole time,” Rob said. “I wanted to quit, I had every reason to quit.” He couldn’t. Rob is a graduate student at West Virginia University. He’s also one of 23 million Americans who experts say are recovering from alcohol and drug addictions. On Oct. 4, interested
WVU students and community members will travel to Washington, DC as people in recovery and individuals against addiction across America gather for the first time at the UNITE to Face Addiction rally. The goal, as the rally is called, is to “Break the Silence” for those 23 million and the 22 million more struggling with addiction daily. Like many others, Rob started drinking when he
was young. Rob’s first sip of alcohol was of his uncle’s beer at 10 years old. He didn’t exactly understand the appeal right away, yet he found himself looking at alcohol differently when, at 13 years old, his friend stole a bottle of gin. He wasn’t trying to escape something or feel better about anything— a simple answer to the root of his addiction can’t be pinned down. He just wanted to fit in.
Despite the burn flowing down his throat, he was determined to finish the bottle. “We found that if you tapped some gin out and struck it with a match, it would light blue,” Rob said. “I remember thinking at the end of the night, ‘We really shouldn’t have wasted any of that.’” Three years later, Rob found his sweet spot—the moment where he had the perfect amount of buzz to be “enough.” Rob had be-
come an alcoholic. “Next thing I know, I’m drinking past any point... And I never got to where I needed to be,” Rob said. At 15, alcohol couldn’t give Rob what he needed anymore. He needed help. Addiction was no longer fun for Rob because just that—addiction isn’t fun at all. WVU has a collegiate recovery initiative for students in recovery that
see recovery on PAGE 2
A look at 2015 WVU Homecoming King and Queen Candidates
‘THIS IS MY LIFE’
by jordan miller correspondent @dailyathenaeum
As fall approaches, so does Homecoming. Last Thursday, the top five candidates for Homecoming King and Queen were announced by West Virginia University. For the next four days, each issue of the Daily Athenaeum will feature a short biography for a potential king and a potential queen, so students can learn more about the elects before voting. Voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and Wednesday, Oct. 7 at the Mountainlair and the Student Recreation Center. The 2015 Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned during halftime at the WVU football game against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Askar Salikhov/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
William Bayless, Chief Executive Officer of American Campus Communities, gives a lecture on business and success-making inside the Mountainlair Ballrooms.
WVU alumnus speaks to students about learning from mistakes, becoming successful by amy pratt
correspondent @dailyathenaeum
During his first semester as a junior at West Virginia University, Bill Bayless’ GPA was a miserable 1.0. Now, he manages multimillion dollar enterprises. “(Bill Bayless) is a phenomenal role model. We love nothing more than bringing back success stories,” said Nancy McIntyre, interim dean at the College of Business & Economics. Bayless, CEO of American Campus Communities, spoke to WVU students Monday morning in the Mountainlair Ballrooms as a part of B&E’s Distinguished Speaker Series. His company’s mission is to “be the nation’s premier provider of quality student housing communities and services.”
Bayless founded ACC in Austin, Texas, in 1993 as company with just four employees and one thirdparty student housing management contract. It quickly grew into a $250 million enterprise. It developed Lincoln Hall, Honors Hall and the College Park Apartments at WVU and also owns property in Sunnyside that will eventually be converted into a new student community. Bayless offered students advice about his keys to success, the most important being his personal motto, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” His experience at WVU is what shaped his motto. He said receiving the poor GPA was the wake-up call he needed to get back on track. “All of a sudden it hit me. ‘This is my life. If it’s
Askar Salikhov/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
WVU students attend a lecture from the B&E Distinguished Speaker Series on Monday morning inside the Mountainlair Ballrooms. to be, it’s up to me,’” Bayless remembered. “What I am doing here is going to determine my career and my fate for a long time to come.” That year, he accepted a position as a resident assistant in Summit Hall. Putting together experience from classes and
his knowledge of student housing in America was the foundation for ACC. At the time, the only oncampus housing options were only residence halls built in the 1960s, and off-campus housing was low-quality with absentee
see speaker on PAGE 2
Project manager says Evansdale Crossing will be ‘sexy’ by hollie greene staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Students and West Virginia University officials are anxiously waiting the Evansdale Crossing building to open later this semester. On Monday, The Daily Athenaeum took a tour of the facility where developers hope to connect the upper and lower parts of the Evansdale Campus. “It’s going to be very sexy,” said Project Manager John Sommers. What could possibly be sexy about a building? The view from the very top, overlooking the entirety of the Evansdale campus and the natural beauty of West Virginia. Aside from the “sexy” views, the building will also be a beacon of accessibility and convenience for students spending all
day on Evansdale. Richard Strasburger, director of Accessibility Services for WVU’s Division of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, thinks the Evansdale Crossing building will improve the quality of life for WVU students with disabilities. “Just in general, Morgantown is such a difficult town to get around in that any buildings that take into account the needs of people with mobility issues is important,” Strasburger said. “Certainly having a building like this on the Evansdale campus will give students better access to all of the student services that are available in the Mountainlair.” Accessibility is one of the major components of this project. A walkway will directly connect the building to the Engineering PRT station. Inside the new build-
78°/55°
TRASH TO TREASURE
INSIDE
MAC breathes new life into old junk A&E PAGE 4
CLOUDY
News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 8, 9, 10 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 8
Andrew Spellman/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Workers inspect the tunnel leading from the Engineering PRT to the connector building. ing, students will be able tion Center, according to to access services such as Sommers. Financial Aid, the RegisThe project will be comtrar and Student Accounts. pleted in stages, Sommers The new building will said. Retail areas such as also house several res- Barnes & Noble and the taurants, general purpose food court should be finclassrooms, a branch of ished and ready for use by Barnes & Noble and PNC the end of October. Bank, a café and the Reed College of Media’s Innovasee sexy on PAGE 2
THE DA’s HIRING WRITERS Inquire about paid positions at The Daily Athenaeum at DA-editor@mail. wvu.edu or pick up an application at our office at 284 Prospect St.
CONTACT US Newsroom 304-293-5092 or DAnewsroom@mail.wvu.edu Advertising 304-293-4141 or DA-Ads@mail.wvu.edu Classifieds 304-293-4141 or DA-Classifieds@mail.wvu.edu Fax 304-293-6857
ATHLETE’S PROTECTION Players face permanent brain damage from repeated concussions OPINION PAGE 3
Ansh kumar
deonna gandy
Ansh Kumar is a petroleum and natural gas engineering student from Charleston, West Virginia. He aspires to be a petroleum engineer and earn his masters in business administration before taking a position as upper-level management in the petroleum industry. Kumar would like to stay in West Virginia for his career and would be honored to come back as homecoming king to show friends and other alumni what WVU has to offer. “I feel like I have done a lot to help the cultural change we’ve seen on campus throughout my four years here,” Kumar said. “We can see now that the school has changed tremendously, and I can say that I’ve been a part of that change.” On campus, Kumar is affiliated with Student Advocates for Legislative Advancement, American Association for Drilling Engineers and the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He has served as the formal chair for Sigma Alpha Epsilon and also as their vice president. Adding to his involvement with Greek Life, Kumar served as the vice president of the Interfraternity Council before later becoming president. He is also a former governor of the Student Government Association. Kumar was IFC president when Greek Life was placed on moratorium last year and said that while the situation itself was bad, he is proud of the results it achieved toward pushing Greek Life in a more positive direction. As for his accomplishments, Kumar worked a very successful internship with EQT, a local oil and gas company, as well as working on Earth Day CleanUp, one of the first collaborative projects between the city of Morgantown and SGA, where they filled two industrial-sized dumpsters with trash. In his free time, Kumar is a sports enthusiast, from being a part-time lacrosse referee to enjoying
Deonna Gandy is a business administration student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She hopes to one day take the entrepreneurial route and own her own business: Although she is not certain exactly what she wants to do, she knows she wants to innovate, lead and create in the fashion retail industry. Gandy is running for homecoming queen because she believes she represents WVU’s forward-moving vision of innovation. “I came into the University not really knowing where I wanted to go,” Gandy said. “Sooner or later, I started becoming a leader, and networking and working with so many amazing people.” As for her affiliations on campus, Gandy is the president of the Residence Hall Association and president of the WVU chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She was the campus representative for both Amazon and Victoria’s Secret PINK brands and established the PINK brand as a recognized student organization. Gandy was also the professional development chair for the American Association of University Women. Additionally, she was a resident assistant in the Honors Hall, which lead to her current position as community assistant at the University Park Apartments. Gandy is graduating a semester early and seeking full-time employment. She said she is ready to represent mountaineer nation in the best way possible. Her greatest accomplishment was being able to serve as a student leader and help her peers truly embrace what it means to be a mountaineer. “Honestly, it means hard work, it means commitment, it means sacrifice, because these are three words that I actually
see kumar on PAGE 2
see gandy on PAGE 2
GAINING CONTROL Howard proves his position in first two games SPORTS PAGE 9