The DA 09-28-2015

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”

Tuesday September 29, 2015

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Volume 128, Issue 30

www.THEDAONLINE.com

Program offers students police training by robert lee staff writer @dailyathenaeum

A new law and safety program in Monongalia County allows high school juniors and seniors to receive training, similar to taught at the state police academy, but with some limitations. The law and safety program is held at the Monongalia County Technical Center and teaches students about jobs in the fields of public safety, law enforcement, fo-

rensics, court systems and corrections. The new program is meant to give students the training necessary to obtain a job in these fields, said MTEC Law and Public safety instructor Kevin Clark. “(The program has) never been offered before in Monongalia County and is a good opportunity for anyone wanting to pursue a career in law enforcement to obtain some skills,” Clark said. “It gives them a head start over someone who hasn’t had

this opportunity and better equips people with the necessary needed skills.” Due to the decrease in interest for law enforcement jobs nationally, this program is crucial, Clark said. It helps develop an interest early on, so students can start working right out of the program in the positions that don’t require a degree. “Many law enforcement agencies or police departments don’t require college degrees; I think it’s extremely important that they’re teach-

ing this to students who are interested in high school,” said Danielle Palitto, a criminal justice student at West Virginia University. “College isn’t for everyone, and it’s great that they started this program” said Palitto. Students will graduate with a certificate that allows them to pursue a career within the justice field, said Nancy Napolillo, principal director of Monongalia County technical education center. “This program started be-

cause we want to offer something that many students may be interested in,” Napolillo said. “It’s important students look now, during high school, to determine if this is something that they want to continue with in school or to pursue towards a career.” The program consists of four semesters, requiring the completion of two morning sessions and two evening sessions, according to Napolillo. Currently there are 15 people enrolled. Each session

ARE YOU HIP...OR NAH?

can only take a maximum of 17 students, but because this is brand new, only the morning session is available at the moment, Napolillo said. “Juniors will take the (morning) sessions during their first year and will come back next year to take the (night) sessions as seniors,” Napolillo said. Students can attend this program to enhance their self-defense skills, but Napolillo said priority is given to

see safety on PAGE 2

A look at 2015 WVU Homecoming King and Queen Candidates by Madeline hall correspondent @dailyathenaeum

As fall approaches, so does Homecoming, and 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 Oct. 10.

Justine Schultz

WVU students act as audience members during a game show hosted by the WVU NAACP organization in the Mountainlair.

Askar Salikhov/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

WVU chapter of NAACP hosts “Are You Hip...Or Nah?” trivia to kick off Diversity Week by jordan miller correspondent @dailyathenaeum

Students were challenged to show off their trivia knowledge at Monday evening’s “Are You Hip... Or Nah?” Diversity Week event hosted by the West Virginia University chapter of the NAACP. The program started at 6:30 p.m. in the Shenandoah Room of the Mountainlair, and was played as a game show. Four teams competed, answering questions over two regular rounds and a final round, to win prizes from Amazon Student and gift cards to Applebee’s. The game show’s trivia covered a wide variety of

subjects, including WVU history and sports, what’s happening on twitter, pop culture trends, black history and current events, said Jihad Dixon, WVU’s NAACP chapter president. “This is a student-led event, and a lot of the (other) events are lecturebased, so it’s fun, interactive and brings a diverse group,” Dixon said. “From freshman in their orientation classes to members of our organization and others in the community, it overall just (gave) a diverse representation of our campus.” Elizabeth Mesogianes, a freshman biology student, said she attended the trivia event because she had to go to a Diversity Week pro-

gram for her honors orientation class, but chose “Are You Hip Or Nah?” since it seemed like a fun way to test her knowledge and see what other people had to say. “Lectures tend to go on and on, and aren’t really interactive, but this kind of peaked my interest,” she said. She said this event was a good way to bring everyone together for Diversity Week, while competing in a fun and friendly atmosphere. “I think it’s a great way for other people to get in touch and meet other people’s culture. Its kind of like a ‘getting to know you’…” she said, “I just (like) to see how people interact,

and it’s nice to see other people accept it, and who they are.” Dixon said being a person of color at WVU is both challenging and educational, and he is happy to be able to bring a different cultural perspective that not all may have experienced. He said Diversity Week is a great way for the University to create a dialogue across different cultures. “I think (Diversity Week) is well-done. I’d love to see a year of diversity; it’s sort of like Black History Month, why do we (have to) narrow down a culture in a month? But it’s a good thing that we have it, I’m so glad we do.” danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

Despite efforts of law enforcement, gay escorts continue to work by jake jarvis city editor @newsroomjake

Adrian and Chandler were scared. The two gay escorts logged onto Twitter about a month ago and saw the news: RentBoy.com had been shut down. For years, the site had been a safe place where gay sex workers could find clients, but FBI agents seized the site’s servers and it was ultimately shut down. The company’s CEO and several other current and former employees were arrested and charged with promoting prostitution. Other gay escorts the couple followed on Twitter were just as nervous, many wondering if they, too, could be arrested.

Adrian, a West Virginia University student, and his boyfriend, Chandler, had much to fear. Only a couple of months ago, the two young men had only started using the site to find men who would pay to have sex with them. Like the couple, the gay escort community was in disarray—but just for a few days. Despite fear of the looming investigation from the Department of Justice, the community quickly sprang back into work. For them, the cost of not escorting was too high and the fear of getting caught was not high enough. “We have friends in New York who escort to pay their way through medical school,” Adrian said. “A lot of gay advocacy groups are going crazy over the shutdown.”

77°/65°

NOT JUST FOR WIZARDS

INSIDE

Quidditch team feature A&E PAGE 4

THUNDERSTORMS

News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 8, 9, 10 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 8

Only days after the shutdown, thousands of gay escorts in the United States like Adrian and Chandler migrated to RentMen.com, a site whose servers are based in Bulgaria. Since the server isn’t based in the U.S. and since Bulgaria has more lax prostitution laws, the federal government can do little to prevent the site’s activity. Advocacy groups like Lambda Legal and the Transgender Law Center support decriminalizing sex work and say websites like these are crucial to the safety and health of sex workers. Without sites like RentBoy.com, RentMen.com and Backpage.com, sex workers are forced into unsafe alternatives to find clients—like working on the streets.

Allowing sex workers to advertise their services allows them to negotiate higher prices and safer sex, according to Alison Bass. Bass is a WVU journalism professor whose forthcoming book, “Getting Screwed: Sex Workers and The Law,” comes out next Wednesday. After she interviewed sex workers and experts from across the country, Bass feels that decriminalizing prostitution would help sex workers. “What happened when Craigslist closed its adult section? Everyone gravitated to Backpage,” Bass said. “The people that want to close these sites say, ‘Well, they’re used by traffickers to advertise underage prostitutes.’”

see escorts 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

SIXTH SENSE Study shows ‘sixth sense” at determining sexuality doesn’t exist

Justine Schultz, a mechanical and aerospace engineering student from Stewartsville, New Jersey, said she has always been passionate about math. Growing up, Schultz played field hockey for 15 years, participated in Key Club and completed volunteer work with her Church while at Phillipsburg High School. Upon graduation, she promised herself to “step up her game” and become more involved in college. Schultz has lived up to her pledge, creating or assisting in creating four different on-campus organizations—including the Society for Collegiate Leadership and Achievement and the Space Public Outreach Team—involving technical science and mechanical and aerospace engineering. One of her associations, Alpha Omega Upsilon, is a sorority for women in engineering and the technical sciences. The sorority began with only 15 girls but now brings together more than 70 women for support. Additionally, Schultz has been the president of the Student Partnership for the Advancement of Cosmic Exploration, for the last three years. Schultz said she is running for Homecoming Queen in the hopes of putting a spotlight on women in engineering and technical sciences. She said she has witnessed first-hand the underrepresentation and discrimination women struggle against in STEM fields and believes it needs to change. “The best decision I ever made in my entire life was to come to WVU,” she said. While winning Homecoming Queen “would be extremely humbling,” Shultz said she is honored to be a finalist.

Jon Salazar Jon Salazar, a civil engineering student with a minor in military science, is from South Charleston, West Virginia. Salazar went to high school in Maryland however, where he excelled in track, cross country and tennis. He participated in leadership activities such as the Boy Scouts of America and 4H Club. On campus, Salazar is involved in Greek life, the Mountain Honorary and Army ROTC, an elective curriculum specializing in competitive leadership, experience and training. He serves as President of Sigma Nu. Salazar was also President of Scabbard and Blade, a national military honors society founded in 1904. Salazar said he is not running for Homecoming King to achieve campus fame or recognition. Rather, he chose to run because he feels he would effectively represent campus values. “Being in the army and being president of a fraternity, I think I stand for a lot of the values this campus stands for,” he said. Salazar said he lives according to army ethos and the values of love, truth and honor. As he has always been very competitive and ambitious in setting goals and achieving them, Salazar said he has always been driven to do better and do more, like winning Homecoming King. “Why would I want to win? I hate losing!” He said. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

BALLHAWKS GALORE WVU defense forcing turnovers like never before SPORTS PAGE 7

OPINION PAGE 3

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